By Wade Keller, PWTorch editor

KELLER'S NWA-TNA PPV REPORT
FEBRUARY 11, 2003
LIVE FROM NASHVILLE, TENN.

-A bunch of recaps aired from last week's big angles, which have little or nothing to do with this week's show, but at least those who paid to see Jeff Jarrett got a dose of him and his lawyer talking about power struggles behind the scenes.

-Mike Tenay and Don West introduced the show, then previewed the tournament and explained the rules. In Demand had some problems with the feed, so most of this, along with interviews from both teams, was mostly missed.

1 -- CHRIS SABIN vs. JUVENTUD GUERERRA

In this week's Torch, Jason Powell's "On Topic" column is titled "The Little Things in Wrestling That Drive Me Nuts Lately." I've got one of my own. It's when wrestling promotions contradict themselves between their website press releases and the broadcasts. TNA advertised on its website and press releases this week that the America's Cup was prerecorded. They did that in part to tout the finals of the tournament as a "match of the year candidate." Then, in the opening minutes of the PPV, Mike Tenay said Jeremy Borash was fired last week and is still missing this week. TNA's own website says that this show was taped over the last few weeks. There's no need to have conflicting information that makes Tenay look stupid or makes viewers thing the promotion is trying to pull the wool over their eyes. The audio mixing on this show is pretty bad to the point of being nauseating to listen to. Good action in the opening minutes with back and forth action. Juvi the Move Stealer, as Rock essentially called him in his "Torch Talk" a few years ago, did the 619 on Sabin at 6:00. They went into a series of pinfall reversals at 7:00 ending with Juvi coming out on top.

WINNER: The picture and audio went blank as they went to the finishing sequence, but later Tenay said Juventud won the match.

STAR RATING: Approx. ** -- nice action, but having not seem the finish, and since it lasted less than ten minutes, it's difficult to put a firm rating on it.

-Jeff Jarrett and Shane Douglas and their cronies yapped backstage about the new Director of Authority.

-Tenay said he didn't know who the new DOA is going to be.

2 -- HECTOR GARZA vs. SONJAY DUTT

During the opening minute of this match, In Demand put a little statement at the bottom of the screen stating "Video Difficulties." A lot of good that does. Since the show isn't live, TNA can't have Tenay fill viewers in on what they missed or replay the lost finish. The much larger Garza dominated Dutt, including the insulting "lifting of the shoulder at the two count" routine at 4:00. Dutt then came back and was suddenly able to execute a flip over the top rope at Garza in the ring. Garza caught him, dropped him over the top rope on the back of his neck, then powerbombed him to the mat. Garza then hit an impressive twisting moonsault for the win.

WINNER: Garza at 4:55.

STAR RATING: * -- Short squash, but good for a short squash. Some nice energy from both wrestlers.

-Hudson interviewed Jerry Lynn about being down 0-2. Lynn said they have no choice but to go 2-0 in the next two matches.

3 -- JERRY LYNN vs. MR. AGUILA (a/k/a Essa Rios from WWF)

Tenay called Lynn one of the pioneers of the X Division. Now "Audio Difficulties" showed up on the screen. The match was a solid exhibition of some good moves, but these matches are just getting started when they go to the finishes.

WINNER: Lynn at 7:45.

STAR RATING: *3/4

-James Mitchell told Jarrett that he will do anything for him. He said he's already gotten rid of Raven for him and told Jarrett he hoped that would be remembered down the line. Jarrett said he'd like hem to get rid of Sandman and Terry Funk. Jarrett asked if they were sure they got rid of Raven. C.M. Punk said they are sure because his destiny was to win the NWA Title, but because of them he can never get another title shot. Jarrett asked who the new DOA is. They speculated it was Tenay. Jarrett said, "I knew it was!"

4 -- ABISMO NEGRO vs. ELIX SKIPPER

When West confronted Tenay about whether he was DOA, Tenay accused West of being naive for believing those guys. Hey, Tenay believed Glenn Gilberti when he claimed either Simon Diamond or Johnny Swinger had signed a loyalty pledge. Skipper walked the top rope and took Negro to the mat with a head scissors. Negro came back with dominating offense. Skipper made a comeback, but Negro finished him off with a Majistral Cradle for the win.

WINNER: Negro at 7:03.

STAR RATING: *3/4 -- More solid action.

-Juventud cut a promo in Spanish with a translator stating the obvious. "We're going to win." When he asked if he thought Low Ki and Christopher Daniels were present, Juvi blew his top and apparently said it doesn't matter, Team AAA would still win.

5 -- SONJAY DUTT & JERRY LYNN vs. ABISMO NEGRO & JUVENTUD GUERRERA

Dutt sold the majority of the opening six minutes with a few hope spots thrown in before hot-tagging Lynn. Lynn got in some early offense, but was quickly grounded by the Mexicans. Abismo hit a frog splash on Lynn at 7:15. Dutt got a hot-tag at 8:00 and hit a flurry of offense at 8:00. West said, "That's the Sonjay Dutt we know!" Juvi fired back with some chops. Dutt flipped into the ring and hit a huracanrana into a roll-up for a near fall. Lynn then battled Negro at ringside. Dutt flew over the top rope with a flip dive that overshot Negro at ringside. Lynn knocked Juvi to the mat and Dutt hit an elbow drop off the ropes for a near fall at 10:15. Juvi hit an inverted huracanrana for a near fall ending with a Lynn save. Lynn and Dutt each had their opponents down for pins and the ref counted both, but both Mexicans kicked out before three. Four-way action ensued. Negro rolled through on a sunset flip attempt by Dutt and scored the pin.W

WINNERS: Negro & Juvi at 11:45.

STAR RATING: **3/4 -- Best match of the night so far. Exciting highspots and all-action, with some psychology thrown in for good measure.

-Hudson interviewed Sabin and Skipper who both said they'd work together for the good of the team.

6 -- ELIX SKIPPER & CHRIS SABIN vs. MR. AGUILA & HECTOR GARZA

Tenay and West talked about how shocked they were that the Americans didn't win the singles matches. Tenay said he thought the Mexicans would have the advantage in the tag matches because they're most used to teaming with each other.

WINNERS: Sabin & Skipper when Sabin pinned Garza at 10:43.

STAR RATING: **1/4

-Jarrett demanded from some backstage workers and referees that they vow 100 percent loyalty. Then he demanded to know from Hudson whether he had heard about the new DOA. Hudson said, "Maybe Tenay." Jarrett said, "I knew it!"

-Terry Funk entered the ring and said he doesn't like being called a living legend because he loves the wrestling business as a job and he will love it until he dies. I don't quite understand what he was getting at. He said he called Raven and asked him to return to TNA and be his partner. He said Raven agreed to return. They spliced the interview heavily.

-Tenay and West talked about the news that Raven & Funk will face against C.M. Punk & Julio Dinero next week. West also plugged the debut of "Playing Fair with Jonny" featuring Chyna Doll next week. Tenay announced the new DOA would be revealed next week.

7 -- ELIX SKIPPER & JERRY LYNN & SONJAY DUTT & CHRIS SABIN vs. AGUILA & JUVENTUD GUERRERA & HECTOR GARZA & ABISMO NEGRO -- Finals in the X Cup Tournament

The match began with Skipper vs. Juvi in the ring. Tenay and West commented that the Americans couldn't afford to suffer many eliminations since they were already behind on points and would lose two more points for each elimination since it was 5-3 entering this match. Lynn and Aguila entered the ring next. Dutt hit the first flying move to the floor onto Negro. West said, "Dutt's moves have moves!" That's a good line. They settled into a one-on-one battle with Lynn chinlocking Juvi. Juvi tossed Lynn off, then went for a suplex. Lynn reversed it and suplexed Juvi, then gave him a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Lynn then tagged in Skipper. Skipper let Juvi tag out to Garza, which made him look pretty dumb considering Lynn had just really worn down Juvi. Garza immediately overpowered Skipper with some shots in the corner. He then gave Skipper a huracanrana off the top rope. Negro then hit a frog splash and went for the pin. Lynn entered the ring and applied a reverse chinlock. Aguila did the same to Lynn. Sabin then hit Aguila. Juvi then nailed Sabin. There didn't seem to be any semblance of rules to what anyone could or couldn't do, which made tagging seem largely irrelevant since the ref never punished anyone for interfering or even entering the match without a tag. Stuff like that should make sense and be explained. Dutt went to work on Garza, but Garza came back right away with an easy pin on Dutt. Boy, Dutt sure was the whipping boy of this tournament. That made the score 7-3. Negro faced off against Skipper next. Skipper applied his Prime Time Submission. Negro tapped out, but it took the ref about ten seconds to communicate that fact to the bell ringer, who didn't understand his hand signals. Aguila dove onto Skipper at ringside with a dive over the top rope. Lynn did the same to Aguila seconds later. Sabin went to the top rope, but Juvi caught him up there and gave him a huracanrana attempt, which sent Sabin onto Lynn, Skipper, and Aguila at ringside. Garza then did a twisting corkscrew plancha off the top rope onto everyone on the floor. Back in the ring, Garza powerbombed Sabin in center ring, then went for a moonsault, but Sabin moved out of his path. Sabin then scored a two count. Sabin gave Garza a cradle slam for the win, making the score 7-7 at 12:30. Skipper faced off against Aguila. Michael Shane stepped out onto the stage to watch the match. Aguila hit Skipper with a shooting star press at 13:30 for the win. Skipper hugged Aguila's head during the cover, as if to be sure he pinned him, which looked bad. Juvi worked on Sabin next. They exchanged a series of pin attempts and reversals. At 15:30 both Sabin and Juvi were down. Sabin scored a near fall at 16:15. Juvi gave Sabin a cradle suplex for a pin at 17:00 to put Team AAA ahead 9-7. Lynn and Aguila entered against each other. Lynn gave Aguila a running suplex onto the back of Aguila head for a pin at 17:40. That left the team captains, Lynn and Juvi, against each other with the scores 9-9. Juvi and Lynn circled each other carefully in center ring. Lynn had a limp. Juvi dropkicked Lynn's sore lead and then applied a half Boston crab. Juvi switched into a figure-four at 19:15. At 20:15 Lynn reached the bottom rope. Lynn gave Juvi a TKO for a near fall. Juvi fought back with a Juvi Driver for a near fall at 21:00. Team NWA cheered on from the stage as Team AAA watched from a more advantageous position at ringside. Juvi springboarded into the ring, but Lynn stepped back and Juvi hit the mat hard. They went for a backslide against each other. Juvi turned it into a suplex attempt. Lynn escaped. Juvi gave Lynn his 911 Juvi Driver for the pin. Team AAA celebrated with Antonio Pena in center ring with a bottle of tequila and the America's Cup Trophy.

WINNERS: Team AAA when Juvi pinned Lynn at 22:13.

STAR RATING: **** -- A very good spotfest, one of the better matches in TNA in months. They did a nice job with the drama of the points, which AAA won 13-9 over Team NWA.

-Jarrett ordered everyone out of his ring. He ordered Tenay enter the ring. Don Callis made sure they all left the ring as Jarrett demanded Tenay tell him who is the new NWA Director of Authority. Tenay said, "I have no idea!" Jarrett threatened to fire him. Tenay screamed at Jarrett that he lives for TNA. He said he flies to Nashville from Las Vegas every week because he believes in TNA and that it's going to the top whether he likes it not. Jarrett told Tenay he was giving him one final opportunity to fess up. Jarrett told him if he doesn't tell him he will be fired. "You don't have the balls to fire me, Jarrett," Tenay screamed. Jarrett said, "Mike Tenay, and everybody in this building, I want everyone to hear this - you are fired!" West screamed, "No! Hell no, you bastard! You can't do it." Jarrett ordered Tenay out of the ring. West said Tenay is TNA.

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