By Marc Donmoyer, Torch Team Contributor

NWA-TNA PPV #50 (1 Year Anniversary Show)
June 18th, 2003
Live from Nashville Tenn.

Show opened with a really good video showing highlights of TNA's first year.

A white limo pulled up, Mike Tenay and Don West assumed it must be Sting. Instead Shane Douglas steps out and yells about tearing the house down on TNA's one year anniversary.

I was upset I missed the show last week, as I was away for a wedding. I would have enjoyed seeing the "immortal" Jeff Jarrett finally drop the belt. I guess time will tell if it's too early for Styles, or if he'll be just the champion that TNA needs to take it to the next level.

It was a big night in the asylum tonight, and hopefully casual TNA fans dropped their ten dollars to support the anniversary of this turbulent promotion. The show was full of ups and downs. The question is: On this important night, how much was the "paper anniversary" of TNA worth?

(1) Sandman & D-Lo Brown & Frankie Kazarian defeated Don Harris & Sonny Siaki & David Young. Tenay and West said Brown and Sandman had both requested to team with Kazarian, because he was so impressive last week. At least they tried to explain why this was opening the big show. This was an entertaining match, but it lasted all of four minutes. Kazarian hit the Back to the Future on Young early, which is a really nifty modified northern lights suplex. Young kicked and hit his spinebuster on Kazarian. Brown broke up the pin. Siaki broke out some suplexes, including a pretty solid T-Bone. Brown hit his sudden impact on Young. Sandman drank beer on the outside. Harris didn't do much, except attack Sandman on the outside, kind of. Kazarian hit his twisting DDT on Young, and Brown hit a twisting frog splash for the pin. After the match Sandman brought in some beers, and the faces took a drink. The heels jumped them from behind, and Siaki hit a DDT on Sandman. Mike Sanders and Ron Harris came out and aided in the beat down. In a pleasant surprise, Sting and Jarrett came out and cleared the ring. Sting had a nice rally and Jarrett hit a guitar shot. The crowd popped big. It helped give this really short filler match some sense of purpose.

Match Value: 75 cents. Fine match, very short, the end helped it seem less like wasted time.

Tenay and West welcomed the new Spanish announce team. Not the tag team, an actual Spanish announce team. One of the announcers is Konnan. Tenay and West then ran down the card for tonight's show. I appreciate Don West's enthusiasm, but man he can be a freak sometimes.

The show hit a dangerous area as Russo came to the ring and talked until 8:30. I had hoped they would run this particular show like a serious PPV, with heavy action, and short promos. Guess I was wrong. Russo cut a standard heel promo, ripping on the Southern fans. He then put over the new champion, A.J. Styles, who entered. People were chanting for Styles, but he told them to be quiet and let him speak. Styles' approach to being a heel is to be very loud. Mike Tenay got involved, and asked Styles what he was thinking aligning himself with Russo. Russo told Tenay Styles did what he had to do to get on top. I went to the bathroom. D-Lo Brown came out and bitched. Russo said he made Brown when Vince McMahon wouldn't do anything for him. Brown said he doesn't know who Russo or Styles are anymore.

In the end Russo actually bested Brown physically (ugh), and took him down. Styles stomped Brown. Raven came out to confront Russo, but got jumped by Shane Douglas. Raven is a super good guy now. This segment could have been done in half the time, easily, on an important night for TNA. Fine: 50 cents.

Tracey and Veronica complained in the back that the NWA board put a stop to inter-gender matches. They said they had a plan.

C.M. Punk had now become a wannabe Raven. He spoke to the gathering, who felt Raven may have left them. He wants Raven to take him under his wing, so to speak.

(2) Chris Sabin defeated Paul London to retain the X-Division title. This was an exciting X-Division match. It needed three more minutes to hit any sort of a major success, but it was fun none the less. The crowd got behind London, who looked really solid again. He seems to over-think more than use instincts, but he's got some really amazing ability. London hit an incredible shooting star press over the ropes early, to ensure the crowd's attention. London tried to skin the cat, later, but Sabin kicked him outside and dove over the ropes on him. Sabin hit an incredible swinging gut buster. I wish London would have sold the gut more through the end of the match. They had a great counter exchange ending with London landing a big Huracanrana. C.M. Punk came out and sat in the corner, a-la Raven. Paul London hit the best shooting star press I've ever seen (called the London Calling). Punk got involved and delivered the Raven Effect (i.e. DDT) on London. Sabin hit the future shock(double hooked fisherman's brainbuster) for the win.

Match Value: $1.75. Great athletic showcase. It lacked some panache, and needed some more time, but it was still pretty sweet.

New Jack cut a great promo with Goldylocks in the back. He went off on Mike Sanders. Shark Boy showed up, and Jack said he had no time for him. Shark wanted New Jack to play with his new Incredible Hulk green hands. Jack said he would later. He then turned to the mic and said he didn't know wrestling, or holds, but he knew kicking Mike Sanders arse. This was a great, funny, effective bit. Bonus: 25 cents.

Kid Kash told the man locked in the cage he would need his help again tonight.

(3) New Jack defeated Mike Sanders in a Hard Ten semi-final match. Pretty entertaining for this crappy format, thanks to New Jack. Sanders was winning early on, but New Jack rallied and took it to ol' Mike. The hilarious finish came when Shark Boy entered and gestured to New Jack to use one of the Hulk hands, instead of jumping from the turnbuckle through a table Sanders was on. The crowd chanted "use it," and New Jack gave in. Sanders got on the apron, and Jack punched with "hand" on his hand, causing Sanders to fall through the table for the loss. New Jack posed afterwards.

Match Value: 75 cents. This is as good as this crap gets.

A solid video of Trinity aired, putting over her aspirations to be the best women's wrestler today.

(4) Justin Credible pinned Jerry Lynn. Boo. They brawled for two or three minutes, and the Credible won a pinning war by using the ropes. They both tried their finishers. It was a fine match for the two minutes it lasted. They fought afterwards to the back, but the damage was done. It was a big let down. I understand extending the feud with a cheap win, but why so quick?

Match Value: 50 cents. This was an awful idea, to waste this chance at the one year anniversary show. Major flop.

A funny segment aired where B.G. James impersonated Mike Tenay interviewing Ron Killings, and Konnan. He made stereotypes, and came off clueless. Not great, but short and kind of fun.

Throughout the night there were flashbacks from the previous year. At this point they relived the midget beating off in the trash can.

(5) Kenzo Suzuki wrestled Perry Saturn to a no contest. I knew nothing about this match, but I was excited to see it. I think Suzuki has a really good look. To bad the match was sloppy, and sucked. I don't know what's up with Saturn, but he use to rarely miss spots. Not the case these days. Suzuki was equally mediocre. I assume it was just an off night. For some reason Credible and Lynn ran in to cause the no-contest. Credible hit Saturn with a kendo stick before Lynn rallied him out of the ring.

Match Value: 25 cents. Ouch.

Goldylocks went up on her lines when she questioned Styles about his mystery opponent tonight. Styles said he didn't know who his mystery partner was, but he trusted Vince Russo.

(6) Triple X (Christopher Daniels & Elix Skipper)(w/Low-Ki) defeated America's Most Wanted (Chris Harris & James Storm). Thank god for this awesome tag match. Too bad it was, again, too short. Jeremy Borash was announcing the match, but they showed Triple X jumping America's Most Wanted in the back. Triple X then entered, and a wounded Low-Ki escorted them to the ring. Great to see Low-Ki, he's quite missed. America's Most Wanted entered and the teams had a scorching eight minute match. Triple X hit a tight double team move early, and were all over Storm. Once Harris got in he was on fire. Skipper went for the play of the day, but Harris countered with the catatonic. The pin was broken up. Daniels nailed the angel wings on Harris. Daniels is the best. Storm broke up the pin. AMW hit a great spot where they had Daniels on Harris' shoulders, and Storm hit a high tornado reverse DDT. It was either that or Harris hit it on Skipper, either way it was cool. Storm dodged Daniel's springing moonsault. AMW hit an incredible death sentence on Daniels, who took it like a champ. Finish came after Low-Ki had the belt in the ring, and Skipper hit Storm with it for three.

Match Value: $2.25. Really electric tag match. They didn't seem to want to blow their load for next week, so it wasn't too epic. Really good though, and it brought life back to the show.

Mike Tenay did a special interview with Jerry Jarrett. Jarrett said he was doing it because of the one year anniversary. He said it's been a tough year, and Russo is nuts.

Erik Watts was in the ring, and pointed out how boring the previous segment was. He brought back up the Erik that would be coming to TNA soon. Wow, I thought that plotline was dead. Watts called out Kid Kash. Kash came out and put himself over as a woman beater. Watts is a lot bigger than Kash, and taunted Kash over it. Watts was about to chokeslam Kash, but the screen showed Goldylocks in the back, stuck in the cage with the scary man. Watts dropped Kash and went to save her. Watts got to the cage, but Kash attacked him from behind.

America's Most Wanted came to ringside and announced next week would be TNA's first ever cage match, between AMW and Triple X. A very good hook for next week, after that rocking tag match.

Styles entered for the main event. Russo came out and introduced his mystery partner, who was Syxx-Pac. I'm not a huge fan of Sean Waltman, but I was surprised. They emphasized that Pac said he'd never work with Russo. Waltman came out in black sweats, as a heel. Jarrett and Sting entered together next, and the crowd went nuts.

(7) Jeff Jarrett & Sting defeated A.J. Styles & Syxx-Pac. An interestingly booked main event that managed to keep the crowd, and my own, attention. If this main event would have failed, it would have been a really rough night for TNA. Sting brought a ton of energy, and really delivered as a special attraction. He went for the scorpion death lock early, but ended up getting one of his own from Styles. Sting hit his splashes and did some great swashbuckling. He also hit a really nice DDT/scorpion death drop combo on both Styles and Pac. The ref got bumped in the match, and Russo got involved. Jarrett hit the stroke on Styles, but got hit with a bat from Russo. Pac did fine, adding a strong dynamic in the match, while playing fourth fiddle to the other three. Raven came in before Russo could do much damage, but Shane Douglas rallied him out of the ring. The finish came as Jarrett hit a 2nd rope stroke on Styles for the pin. Russo hit Jarrett with the bat again. Sting then hit Russo, who seemed to not mind so much, as he left the ring. Jarrett and Raven were about to brawl, but Sting broke them up and held both their arms in the air. Really good action, and a well told story.

Match Value: $3.25. Sting really did his job, and this main event felt special, and full of life. I guess JJ needed to get a pin back on Styles, and the usual run-ins were there, but it was really fun to watch.

A disappointing show for what it could have been. However, Sting was well utilized and came off like a superstar, and I was pessimistic. Bonus: 25 cents.

Total Value: $9.25. The let down of most of the show kept this from feeling like even a ten dollar pay-per-view, but it had two great matches. There were only three matches here that belonged on a PPV.

I'd love to hear more from fellow TNA fans, send me some feedback at MDonmoyer@PWTorch.com.

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