By Marc Donmoyer, Torch Team Contributor

NWA-TNA PPV
September 8th, 2004
Live From Nashville, Tennessee

Surprise, surprise. After a 5 month absence, I decided to find a way to see the final NWA-TNA PPV, and review it. I was doing these suckers for the Torch for quite awhile before throwing in the towel compliments of RCN. Since then NWA-TNA has all but fallen off the map for me. Next thing I know I�m reading these columns talking about the final Wednesday night PPV.

I just couldn�t let that slip by without dropping my two cents, for what it�s worth. After spending over 500$ determining what the NWA-TNA PPVs were worth, I decided it was only fitting to come back for this final one, and bottom line the sucker.

So, for the final time, and after a long hiatus, It�s time to figure out what the first ever pro wrestling weekly Wednesday PPV was worth, one step at a time. Some things have changed, but oh how things have stayed the same as well. TNA�s cleared out of Nashville, but there legacy of pleasant surprises and amazing let downs will forever live on.

For the record, all you cynics of my cynicism, I went out of my way to find a way to catch this PPV and support TNA. I was completely jazzed going in, and for that reason I still enjoyed myself, but damn if there wasn�t some let downs. The main event was so paint by numbers they should have called it a coloring book match.

TNA is still what it always was to me. A ton of raw potential generally wasted.

Get that frikkin� belt of Jeff Jarrett if you want to make money. How many people have to say it? I�m not some Jarrett basher (okay I am), but mainly I�m just saying the guy is not an exciting champion for an upstart promotion. Not at all, period.

Uh oh, I�m sounding bitter. Not my intention, just my reaction to the main event of TNA�s PPV. There was some fun stuff tonight. On with the show, and what it was worth.

The show opened with a brief recap, helping viewers like me get caught up with tonight�s card.

This is my first time seeing the six sided ring, cool.

(1) Mikey Batts & Jerelle Clark and Michael Shane & Frankie Kazarian defeated Johnny Devine & Petey Williams and Shark Boy & D-Ray 3000 and Delirious & Sonjay Dutt and Amazing Red & Chris Sabin in a Battle Royal Thingy. Did I get all that right? Who knows. Anyway, the point is, these six teams all had a Battle Royal. Whichever two guys remained would gain back their tag partner and battle the other team. This of course left little explanation of what happens if two members of the same team were who remained, but c�est la vie. The X-Division champion Petey Williams was the first to go thanks to a �skin the catcanrana� from Michael Shane. The rest of the Battle was very spotfest, going down in a typical fashion. Highlights included Don West explaining how Battle Royals usually have someone new coming in every 60 seconds, and Mike Tenay correcting him, pointing out that�s a Gauntlet match. The other highlight was Sonjay Dutt swashbuckling his way out of the ring after some nice one on two action. After some okay action, Batts and Kazarian remained.

Match Value: 75 cents. A little interesting and unpredictable.

(2) Mikey Batts & Jerelle Clark defeated Michael Shane & Frankie Kazarian (w/Traci). This tag match was a bit sloppy. The ending was good, and clean, and out of nowhere, but the rest of the action was a bit o� a crowd killer. They announced James Storm couldn�t wrestle tonight, so Triple X would face The Naturals for the titles by default. Meanwhile, Batts got ganged up on for awhile. After Clark got in and flurried, he went for the 630 on Kazarian (after stumbling on the turnbuckle a bit), but Kazarian dodged. This wasn�t too important, as two seconds later Batts rolled up Shane for the surprise 3 count.

Match Value: 75 cents. Loved the upset, the rest of the story wasn�t so hot. Still, I figured these two were jobbers, and I�m sucker for a surprise like that.

Hudson interviewed Elix Skipper and Chris Daniels backstage. Skipper�s promo style has improved. They cut good promos saying they�d forgot to focus on the tag belts, but tonight was the night. They acted like Low Ki didn�t exist (double X???)

The Naturals jumped them with powder and a chair, focusing on Daniel�s hurt shoulder. Skipper did a smart spot where he jumped on Daniels to guard the shoulder as security dragged off The Naturals.

(3) Erik Watts & Sonny Siaki & Desire defeated Goldylocks & Abyss & Alex Shelley. Abyss looks cooler! Who the hell is Alex Shelley? I guess its Goldylock�s new tool. The match consisted of Watts & Siaki getting beat up Abyss. Then Shelly would try to glory hound, then get beat up by the faces, thus tagging in Abyss again. Pretty standard stuff, until the women managed to get tagged into the match. Goldylocks and Desire don�t have much �in ring chemistry,� however did look like they really loved each other. Abyss ended up setting Desire up for the chokeslam or something, but was interrupted by some third women on the apron. Wow, that chick was Erik Watts wife.

What the hell is going on?

Okay, so I guess she talked Abyss into beating up Goldylocks instead of Desire, because after she slapped him, he rocked a backbreaker on the ex-Scott Hudson. Desire climbed on top for the sexy pin.

Match Value: 75 cents. So far this has been a lot of crap, but kind of entertaining crap. Abyss� new outfit is such an improvement, thumbs up. Desire has a perm now. I�ve been away so long.

Hudson was with Scott D�Amore and team Canada. He cut a rad promo calling out Dusty Rhodes for being a selfish American. Seriously, I fear this guy wrestling, but this promo was terrific.

They showed a video hyping the Kid Kash-A.J. Styles feud. I haven�t been watching, but it looks like a good feud.

(4) A.J. Styles defeated Kid Kash in a Double Tables Match. It�s like a table match, but two tables to win. After some standard action, Styles hit a tight springboard flying shoulder. Ah yes, there are things I love about TNA. They did a split scene where they checked on Daniels, who was hurting. That sucks, I dig Daniels. The good news, though, is that the trainer is named Kenny Gee. Meanwhile, Styles wanted to splash Kash through a table on the outside, but Kash rolled off. Styles compensated by hitting an Asai Moonsault over the table and onto Kash. It looked sweet, and painful. That�s awesome that this promotion has this guy, but their champion ends matches with a modified front leg sweep. In the ring Styles had control, nailing a really swift kick, and a sick wheelbarrow front face buster. He attempted to German suplex Kash through the table, but Kash countered and hit a German suplex of his own. The table (which was propped on the ropes) didn�t break all the way. The ref didn�t call it, so Kash front slammed Styles through for the point. Posey, the ref, was hilarious by the way. Basically he marked out the whole match. After some decent action, Styles hit a surprise springboard drop kick on Kash, who fell through a table on the outside. The score was tied one to one. Styles could not get another table into the ring. Damn legs on the things weren�t working. He got frustrated, Kash took him out, and brought the table in. Kash hit his modified drop suplex, and Styles hit the springboard reverse DDT. Eventually they were on the rope, looming over the table. The camera work has improved. The match took an annoying turn as Test, er Dallas, ran in and accidentally hit Kash instead of Styles. Styles hit the Styles Clash through the second table to win the match.

Match Value: $2.25. Not amazing, and a bit messy at times, but still a really fun match. They put some serious balls into it.

After the match Styles tried to exit, but Petey Williams stopped him and threw him in the ring. Dallas and Kash ganged up on him. Williams hit The Canadian Destroyer on Styles (flipping piledriver). Three Live Krew cleared the ring to save Styles from more pain.

Dusty Rhodes lost his mind backstage. He cut a promo, sort of, but mostly he made no sense.

(5) Dusty Rhodes defeated Scott D�Amore with Special Guest Referee Vince Russo. Dusty�s future in TNA was on the line. I didn�t expect much from this, but it was ten times worse then I ever could have fathomed. The match opened with a wicked �exit to ringside� by Scott D�Amore. Later, Russo was mad at Rhodes who�d elbowed him, but still counted the three after Rhodes elbowed D�Amore twice in a row.

Match Value: 25 cents. Well, it was set up well.

Hudson interviewed The Naturals backstage. They said they�d taken out all real competitions, and there was no one left to face them. They mocked the teams from earlier in the program. Hudson insisted there was a tag match, Larry Zbyszko set it up. The Naturals laughed, saying there was no one left, and left for the ring.

(6) �Primetime� Elix Skipper & �Wildcat� Chris Harris defeated The Naturals to become NWA-TNA Tag Team Champions. (Chase Stevens & Andy Douglas). Zbyszko announced the thrown together tag team at the ramp. They both had a common enemy, which West reminded us of 37 times. At one point Harris set up Skipper for the suplex crossbody. The rest of the match was The Naturals dominating Skipper, until the end. Harris accidentally punched Skipper who threatened to leave. When he saw The Naturals hit a double team move on Harris, he changed his mind. He stopped a chair shot, and Harris nailed Stevens with a spear for the three.

Match Value: 75 cents. Very disappointing match. It was passable, but should have been so much more. Meanwhile, Jeff Hardy thought he was having an acid flashback in the back when he saw the monitor, assuming Stevens & Douglas were the Hardy Boys.

Various superstars voiced their opinions of Jarrett-Hardy. The faces liked Hardy to win tonight.

Tenay and West hyped the next three weeks of replays, and the big November PPV.

Hudson interviewed Monty Brown backstage, who plans to become champion someday.

They showed Jeff Hardy and Jeff Jarrett preparing in the back. There�s like 2 seconds left in this PPV.

(7) Jeff Jarrett defeated Jeff Hardy to retain the NWA-TNA Heavyweight Championship. The first 3 minutes were the ring announcements, as it kept getting broken up by the two guys trying to attack each other (and succeeding). This was cool, but would have made more sense if it wasn�t 9:43 PM. Jarrett was bleeding before the bell even rang. Then, the match started. It started out okay, but was quickly followed up by some blown spots, a lack of flow, and a basic apathy to making this anything special. They fought through the arena, got back to the arena, went through their signature moves in order, with no one picking up the pin. Jarrett didn�t sell the swanton at all. It was pathetic. It was like a piece of paper fell on him. Real shocker he kicked out. Hardy�s �spine line� finisher is basically a sloppy Texas cloverleaf. Dusty Rhodes was ringside and got involved, but Russo came in and stopped him. Abyss, Monty Brown, and Raven were all watching the match. Raven was in a straight jacket I think, obviously having gone insane trying to figure out how he keeps losing to �the champ.� Anyway, the ref got distracted, and at 12 minutes Jarrett hit Hardy with the friggin� guitar for a lame, uninspired victory.

Jarrett called this the biggest match of his career. In the sense of exposing him as a champion, it was. The dude�s finisher sucks, and somewhere he thought guitar shots were main event material.

Match Value: $1.75. For being the main event and with all the hoopla, it could have been worse, but it was a real disappointment. Just being an average match with the build up could have got it $2.50 easy. This was poor, and it exposed the �main event� of NWA-TNA.

Bonus 25 cents: The new voice-over stuff they used on the PPV was great.

Total Value: $7.50. Sorry guys. All I wanted to do was put over TNA tonight, but this show went from pretty good to pretty sad, pretty quick.

This promotion has the potential more then ever, but will never succeed with this booking and these failures who keep getting pushed.

One time only baby, throw me the feedback. marc@thescallywags.com. You a fan of Jeff Jarrett?

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