By Wade Keller, PWTorch editor

TNA PPV REPORT
AUGUST 25, 2004
LIVE FROM NASHVILLE, TENN.

-Frankie Kazarian, Michael Shane, and Traci told viewers not to steal cable. I still can't over the sheer stupidity of having heels tell viewers not to steal cable. I can't over the sheer counter-productiveness of drawing attention to cable theft in the first place. It just tells everyone who paid that they're paying on an "honor system" and if they didn't know already, there's a way to get the shows for free. InDemand should order TNA to stop drawing attention to the issue.

-A highlight package aired of recent angles and feuds.

-They went backstage live to Scott D'Amore demanding to Larry Zbyszko that Dusty Rhodes get banned. D'Amore complained about getting banned from ringside. He said everyone should be treated equally. Zbyszko said he needs to talk to Vince Russo. D'Amore said he thought Zbyszko would help, but if he needs to he'll go find Russo himself.

1 -- FRANKIE KAZARIAN & MICHAEL SHANE (w/Traci) vs. PSICOSIS & LA PARK

Tenay said the Asylum was jam-packed with fans. Word must be spreading that TNA is moving out of that building next month. At 4:00 when La Parka tagged in, he got too cute with a dance giving Kazarian a chance to take control. La Parka came back quickly and dove onto Kazarian at ringside. Shane hit La Parka from behind with a chair at ringside as Traci distracted him. Shane and Kazarian dominated for several minutes and finished off Psicosis thanks to Traci distracted La Parka by hitting the leg sweep/superkick combo.

WINNER: Shane & Kazarian at 9:23 when Shane pinned Psicosis.

STAR RATING: *3/4 -- Nice opening ten minute match.

-D'Amore and Team Canada charged to the ring and demanded to speak to Russo or they wouldn't leave the ring. Russo told D'Amore to set up an appointment to see him, not demand to see him on live TV. When he tried to leave the ring, Team Canada stopped him. Russo told D'Amore if he bumped into him again, it's be the last time he bumped into anyone. Oh, goodie, an executive acting like a tough guy on TV. Eventually Konnan, B.G. James, and Dusty Rhodes came to the ring. Russo got in Dusty's face and said he's going to instill a riot in the people if he keeps up his "shenanigans." "As much as this kills me," Russo said, "you have been out of control and given me no choice. As of tonight you are suspended and banned from this building." Team Canada celebrated on the rampway and began singing the Canadian National Anthem. Tenay and West wondered about the implications of that suspension on the six-man tag match scheduled for later with Dusty. West said Russo has been taking things too personally. Russo told Dusty the decision was made and it was time to accept it and get out of the ring.

-A Goldy Locks vignette aired.

2 -- ALEX SHELLEY (w/Goldy Locks) vs. "LA PARK" (w/Desire)

A wrestler came out in the black La Parka outfit as Desire's mystery opponent. The crowd reacted like it wasn't much of a surprise. Tenay immediately noted, preserving his credibility, that the wrestler in the La Parka outfit is much taller. La Parka won with a chokeslam in less than a minute. Desire celebrated the reacquisition of Sonny Siaki's contract. The real La Park stepped out in his red outfit to confront the black La Parka. The black La Park then unmasked as Erik Watts. Goldy freaked out. My question is, how did Shelley lose in less than a minute to Erik Watts of all people? I don't get this booking approach at all. Not at all. Goldy then began jabbing at Abyss, as if to blame him for the loss. Abyss got so upset, he set up Shelley for a chokeslam. Shelley had to act completely helpless, which did even more to undermine any drawing power. He eventually released Shelley before slamming him.

WINNER: "La Parka" at 0:49.

STAR RATING: DUD

-Hudson interviewed Larry Zbyszko, asking why he was there. Zbyszko said Sept. 8 is going to be the biggest night in TNA history and that's where his focus is. Hudson said, "Just between us, is it Dusty Rhodes who brought you here tonight." Watts interrupted and said Goldy forgot that his contract expired Aug. 20, so now he's a free man. He said Desire called him up as a free agent and returned to put it all back on the line. He challenged Abyss and Shelley to a tag match against himself and Siaki. He said the hostages would be free if they won.

3 -- JASON CROSS vs. JOEY MATTHEWS vs. SONJAY DUTT vs. CHRIS SABIN

WINNER: Dutt pinned Cross at 8:41 with the top rope twisting moonsault Hindu Press.

STAR RATING: *1/2 -- A nice spotfest with good athleticism, but there's only so much you can to tell a story with four wrestlers in eight minutes dong one spot after another.

-Hudson interviewed The Naturals.

-A vignette aired on the Christopher Daniels & Primetime vs. America's Most Wanted best of three series, which is tied at one each.

4 -- CHRISTOPHER DANIELS & PRIMETIME vs. AMERICA'S MOST WANTED

At 8:00 James Storm hot-tagged Chris Harris in after taking a sustained beating. Then they went into a series of a back and forth near fall sequences. When AMW set up their finisher, Daniels headbutted Storm to escape his grip. Primetime and Storm knocked each other out of the ring. Daniels then shoved Harris who knocked the ref down. Daniels set up his Angel's Wings. The Naturals entered the ring and threw power in both of their faces and then hit them both with chairshots. The ref called for the bell. The Naturals bragged that now there is no top contender team, so they won't have to defend the tag titles next week. Zbyszko stepped out and said he's not going to watch these two jerks try to pull something on two of the greatest tag teams. He said those two teams will have a sudden death tag match next week, and they will be banned from ringside, then they will have to defend the tag titles against the winners. The Naturals protested when Zbyszko said they would be banned from ringside. Here's the obvious question: What does it mean to be "banned from ringside." That usually means someone who usually is at ringside for one of the wrestlers in a match isn't allowed to be at ringside. In this case, the Naturals should have already been banned from ringside, so what's the point of saying they're banned? They would have been allowed at ringside otherwise? How does banning them stop them from coming out and interfering again? And why were the Naturals so upset considering next week they will be facing a tag team that had to wrestle a match earlier in the night rather than a fresh team. Basically, Zbyszko did nothing but give the Naturals an advantage next week and make an empty threat banning the Naturals without any explanation for how that "ban" will be enforced. You just get the feeling with TNA that they completely underestimate their audience's ability to think for themselves, or else they're just unable to ask the obvious questions that result from their one-dimensional booking.

WINNER: No contest at 11:50.

STAR RATING: ** -- Same solid ol' match these two teams keep having. Not bad, but they feel the same and follow a similar formula.

-Hudson interviewed an intense Konnan and B.G. James backstage. Konnan really went off on Russo banning Dusty.

5 -- ERIC YOUNG & JOHNNY DEVINE & SCOTT D'AMORE vs. KONNAN & B.G. JAMES

They've set this up as being a huge disadvantage for Konnan and James without having Dusty with them, but considering the partner of Young and Devine is D'Amore, a chubby ex-wrestler big mouth manager, how exactly does having the opportunity to isolate him in the match and pin him count as a disadvantage for Konnan and James? If I were a baseball coach, and my opposing team added a retired, chubby ex-baseball player as a tenth man in the batting order, that'd hardly be considered a disadvantage. It would instead be a "sure out" every time that guy stepped up to the plate. So either D'Amore never tags in, in which case it's two-on-two, or he tags in and is a big step down from the actual wrestlers he manages, in which case Konnan and James get to beat him up instead actual current wrestlers. Tenay and West must get a headache having to act so absolutely stupid when reacting to each of these dumbed-down angles. I hate to be so negative, but there's no point in sugarcoating a product that is so half-assed because you want to be "supportive of the industry." It doesn't do the industry any good to have a legitimate contender to be a no. 2 promotion that employs dozens of wrestlers full time with a dream money backer funding it week after week be putting out such a shoddy product, blowing such a great opportunity, and turning away potential fans who check out the product for the first time each week. I can only hope when the schedule slows down, they are able to catch their breath in September and October and produce a more intelligent, compelling product once a month starting in November. If they think this shallow booking makes no difference, they're limiting themselves to fans who don't notice or care about the product making any sense. That's a smaller audience than the majority of potential customers who want to be drawn emotionally into a well-told story, but won't settle for nonsense like this. With James beat down at 6:00, D'Amore tagged in and took some cheap shots, then tagged Young back in. That hardly constitutes a "major advantage" for James and Konnan. At 8:40 Konnan hot-tagged into the match and worked over Young and Devine at the same time with a double-clothesline. Then they shoved D'Amore into the ropes, but he bailed out of the ring. Konnan tossed young out of the ring. Dusty made his way to ringside through the crowd. He went after D'Amore as he threatened to hit James with a hockey stick. Dusty gave him a series of bionic elbows. James then gave Young a pump handle slam for the three count. Vince Russo then came to ringside and reversed the decision due to outside interference. Tenay said that was the first time he could recall Russo overturning a decision by a referee. Russo then yelled at Dusty as Dusty was about to drive away. Dusty said, "This is not over." Russo said, "Don't show up at Impact on Friday. You're suspended."

WINNERS: Team Canada via reversed decision at 10:15.

STAR RATING: *1/4

-A brief vignette aired plugging Jeff Jarrett vs. Jeff Hardy on Sept. 8. This feud has been so undeveloped, also. They have been promoting it for a month and you couldn't even write ten sentences detailing any depth to the storyline. It comes down to this: "Jeff Hardy was in the WWF, he has charisma, and he's cool to watch; he won a no. 1 contender's match and now gets a title shot. Jeff Jarrett doesn't want to defend against him because he isn't a fighting champion, but he spend as much time bad-mouthing Monty Brown. Jeff Hardy wants the title, or so we assume based on him talking about his destiny. Hardy also hangs around the Asylum and runs in on brawls at the end of shows he isn't even scheduled to wrestle on." That's about five sentences. Am I missing anything? And how much of those five sentences wasn't established three or four weeks ago? What's happened since then to add layers to the hype and build to a crescendo? Nothing.

-Tenay and West got in their weekly ringside plugs for the website and the announced matches for the next two weeks.

-Hudson interviewed Monty Brown who gave an intense promo vowing that he's in line for a title match against the winner of the Sept. 8 match. Jeff Jarrett interrupted and told Brown that he isn't standing in his way of a World Title shot because he'd give him a shot any day of the week. He said Jeff Hardy is the one standing in his way. Jarrett tried to trick Brown into taking out Hardy so he can have his title shot. Brown said it all sounded good, "but you look like a liar, you smell like a liar, and the Alpha Male doesn't trust you one bit," he said. Jarrett said he doesn't trust anyone in the arena, let alone the wrestling business. He said they do share a common enemy, Vince Russo. He wished him luck later.

-A vignette aired with Kid Kash trying to talk Monty Brown into siding with him against the favoritism in TNA that holds them back.

6 -- JEFF HARDY & RON "THE TRUTH" KILLINGS & A.J. STYLES vs. MONTY BROWN & KID KASH & DALLAS

West and Tenay said Jeff Jarrett obviously fears Jeff Hardy based on trying to talk Brown into taking Hardy out of the picture this week. All three faces hit slingshot crossbody blocks onto the heels at ringside all at once in the opening minute. Dallas continues to morph more and more into Kevin Nash each week, which can be taken as a compliment or an insult depending on your perspective. Killings sold for several minutes, then Styles tagged in and he sold for several minutes. At 12:00 Styles hot-tagged Hardy in for his first sustained action of the match. Hardy cleaned house on the heels for a minute, then turned his back on Kash. Styles and Killings entered the match leading to six-way chaos. Styles hit Brown with a nice springboard elbow to the chin. Kash knocked Hardy to the floor. Styles and Killings threw Kash to the floor. Styles and Killings lifted and slammed Dallas, billed at 6-10 and 300-plus pounds. Hardy then hit the Swanton for the win. Jarrett came out and helped Brown double-team Hardy afterward. Brown gave Hardy the Pounce. Jarrett then put the figure-four on Hardy as the show ended.

WINNERS: Hardy & Styles & Killings at 14:04.

STAR RATING: **3/4 -- Above-average match, but not much more. I'd like to have seen Hardy featured a bit more given his big match in two weeks, but the post-match angle at least added some concrete heat to the Jarrett-Hardy situation. It's about time they did something to give some juice to the feud beyond Jarrett and announcers talking about what a big match it is.

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