by The Dames

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The Dames’ Diatribe on NWA:TNA Week 29

HEY!!!!

I’ve got some GREAT news...well, at least for those of you who give two pieces of gold plated turds about me. It looks like most likely, I’ll be starting a full time job on Monday for the first time since 2001. (For those of you who know me, yes I worked at a radio station in 2002, but that was part time.) Even BETTER news is that I started a temp assignment today which lasts ‘til the end of the week, so I’m going to do my best to get this Diatribe out as soon as possible without losing TOO much sleep over it.

Before we go right to the preview, I’d like to thank all of you who took the time to check out my Royal Rumble Diatribe over at my site, TheSmartMarks.com. Also, do yourself a favor and check out Bryan Staebell’s NWA:TNA Week 29 preview on the site as well as he included one of the best rants I’ve read in a LONG TIME regarding the former “Big Three” companies and why they ran into trouble.

Anyway, lets get RIGHT TO IT~!

Last week, after a successful title defense by Jeff Jarrett, RAVEN jumped in the ring, DDT’ed him and stole the NWA Title, aligning himself with Vince Russo! Also, Low-Ki & Elix Skipper defeated Americas Most Wanted for the NWA Tag Team titles and gave the Sports Entertainment Extreme faction 2 out of the 3 NWA titles.

The show starts with a video package showing Low-Ki & Elix’s tag title victory from last week. We then head into the arena where all of the lights go out and the spotlight is put on Raven sitting near the balcony steps wearing the NWA Title he stole last week. He starts out by stating that possession is 9/10th’s of the law and that he is the rightful owner of the NWA title. He puts over the title and its lineage...but he then puts down what he feels is a lack of evolution. He says that he’ll teach Jarrett the error of his ways...”I will urinate in your bone marrow. I will rip off your head and use your neck for a latrine.” Geez guy...did Jarrett bone your mama or somethin’? Raven: “Welcome to Raven’s Clockwork Orange House of Fun.” He walks down the steps to hit his “Quote the Raven, Nevermore” catchphrase...but IMMEDIATELY gets nailed in the head by Jarrett with a trashcan! They end up in the ring where JJ hits him a few more times with it before Raven tries to bail. Jarrett gets a table from under the ring and then waffles Raven across the back with a chair! Raven gets back in the ring and Jarrett takes the title back! He nails him with it, sets him up on the table and heads to the top rope with a trashcan when Vince Russo comes running down to stop him! The distraction is only temporary, allowing Raven to get up and suplex him through the table! Russo (wearing my favorite jersey, the away Yankee jersey) steals the belt back as he and Raven retreat due to Lynn, The Truth and AMW come running down.

Goldylocks is in the back with Jorge Estrada (the fro is down tonight). Goldy asks about Sanders offer from last week, which Estrada tries to blow off. Goldy persists and Estrada confesses that he’s considering their offer. Goldy tells him that accepting a SEX position (get it?) reeks of desperation. Jorge replies by stating that his career lately has been a disaster (flubbing the word disaster, ironically), so he doesn’t have much to lose.

We go to West & Tenay who introduce us to another video package. Borash did a really good job with this one, throwing in nice little graphics like “SEX Sells” and “All Proceeds of the SEX T-Shirt Go to Vince Russo”. The package then segues into the recent events of TNA, such as Nikita Koloff joining TNA, Raven, Piper and Dusty Rhodes getting involved as of late. Hell, do more video packages, this makes my job a lot easier!

Red vs. Jorge Estrada

Match Background: These two men have only hooked up in the ring just one time in TNA, back in Week 8 when the SAT’s & Red lost to The Flying Elvises. Red has faced the other two members of now defunct Flying Elvises in TNA before, defeating Yang, yet losing to Siaki. Both Estrada and Red can be considered spot monkeys (thanks YNA), but Red has actually been able to hold together a match with the right opponent. As for Estrada...he’s VERY hit or miss...and lately, he’s been missing. This match will either be spotalicious or a one way ticket to Botch City.

The Match: Estrada comes out in his usual Elvis gear, still doing all of his posing before the match. They lock up and do a bunch of reversals and counters in the first few seconds with nothing hitting. They hit the Indy Applause Stance and they get a small one from the crowd. Estrada just CAN’T DO ARMDRAG SPOTS as he ends up botching another, but thankfully didn’t cause any bodily harm to himself like he did against Kid Kash. Red gets a dropkick and Estrada bails as Tenay states that a former associate of his contacted him recently and will answer the plea that he made a few weeks back to stand with the NWA. Red fakes a dive to the outside, catching Jorge with a kick before moonsaulting off the apron onto him for a “TNA” chant. Red then goes for the 718 (which he REALLY should stop doing), but Estrada moves out of the way and drops him neck first onto the top rope. Arabian Press attempt by Estrada misses, allowing Red to climb to the top! Estrada stops him though and hits a top rope All Shook Up (hiptoss into neckbreaker) that looked really crisp! Funny how he can’t do it on the mat, but he can do it perfectly off the top. It gets a two count as Jorge follows it up with a flapjack and single leg crab. Red comes back with an enziguiri for two. Red goes for a head scissors in the corner, but gets placed on the apron where Estrada attempts a springboard dropkick. He doesn’t hit it...but Red sure as hell sells it. Estrada tries to recover from the botchness with a springboard legdrop to the back of Red’s head for two. The crowd doesn’t give a SHIT except for about three kids chanting “Let’s Go Red....Let’s Go!” Estrada goes for the chinlock as he’s winded from blowing spots. Red fights out but gets clotheslined for two. Estrada whips Red into the corner and charges, but Red is able to hook himself onto his back for a Code Red attempt. Estrada practically blows the spot by letting Red go, but puts himself back into position so Red can hit it for two. I wish that was the finish. Red comes off the top, but Estrada catches him and gets a Northern Light suplex for a close two! If he had gotten the win over Red, that would have been sad. Estrada goes for a superplex off the top, but gets shoved off. INFRARED~! He follows it up with the RED STAR PRESS~! for the pinfall!

My Opinion: Jorge Estrada adds nothing to the product and needs to go. Sorry buddy...you’ve gotten enough chances and all you’ve ever done is blow spots and almost hurt yourself and other people. Not only that, but you’ve been stinkin’ up the ring lately. This was probably Red’s worst match in TNA so far. ½* and that’s for Estrada’s All Shook Up and Red’s offense.

After the match, MIKE SANDERS~! comes down to the ring to offer Estrada a position in SEX again. My best friend Keith looked over at me and says “Why is Sanders offering positions to garbage wrestlers? First that Australian guy....” Before I can answer him, Estrada turns down the offer. Sanders slaps him, but Estrada nails him with a punch! DISCO INFERNO jumps Estrada from behind with a chair! Sanders introduces him as the Director of Talent Development...Glen Gilberti! Wow...it took him 7 years to go with a different name...his real name. He’s tailor-made for SEX though.

Goldy is in the back with Bullet Bob, who gets thrown against the wall by Jeff Jarrett! He tells him that he wants Raven and Russo in the ring tonight! Truth and a few other guys off camera come to Bullet Bob’s defense as Jarrett runs off.

David Flair vs. Jerry Lynn

Match Background: This match came about because of the Sanders/Flair vs. Truth/Lynn match from last week. The finish of the match had Flair nailing Lynn over the head with his “loaded” burlap sack and causing Sanders to get the pinfall on Lynn. That is all....

The Match: David Flair is apparently now from Minneapolis, MN. What ever happened to Flairs being from North Carolina? Flair comes to the ring with his loaded brown sack as I realize how dirty that sounds. Lynn comes into the ring and goes after Flair with the sack, but Flair bails. They run around the ringside area before coming back in where Lynn gets a dropkick, a clothesline in the corner and a bulldog for two. Lynn stays on offense for the next half a minute or so before Flair charges at him into the corner and misses. He awkwardly falls to the outside as the poor guy can’t even make his own offense look good. Lynn is still in control on the outside, ramming Flair into the steps and ring apron. Flair finally comes back by crotching Lynn on the steel guard rail and hitting some chops. Back in the ring now, Flair gets a two count with his feet on the ropes. Flair heads to the top, but gets thrown off the top like his father. Lynn with a jumping back elbow for two. Lynn gets 10 punches in the corner....and Flair flops. Legdrop to the back of the head also gets a two count for Mr. JL. Lynn starts working on Flair’s leg with stomps and elbowdrops....before Lynn almost botches a figure four attempt! I’m SO surprised. He puts the hold on and Flair reaches the ropes. Tenay: “You would think that David Flair, after watching his father all these years, would have the perfect counter to this”. Replace “the perfect counter to this” with the word “talent” and you’d have everyone’s thoughts. Flair shoves Lynn into the ref, knocking him down, allowing him to go for the sack on the steps. VERY awkward moment as either someone messed up their cue or Flair just didn’t know what to do, but Lynn ends up shoulder tackling him against the ropes...twice as Flair attempts to the use the sack. Truth comes down and takes the sack away from him and goes to nail Flair, but Flair pulls Lynn into the way and Flair gets the pinfall. Truth could have stopped the pin, but just walked away.

My Opinion: David Flair, sadly, is even worse than Jorge Estrada. However, he was in the ring with a much better worker, but Lynn is NOT a miracle worker. The match was booked with Lynn having a majority of the offense to not highlight Flair’s weaknesses as much, but they were still apparent in other ways. The finish of the match seemed very awkward and looked as if it was meant to start some problems with The Truth for Jerry Lynn, but instead just came off sloppy. ½*

We go to ANOTHER video package, this time reviewing the events surrounding BG James joining SEX and turning against his family. They really highlight the altercation between BG and his brother Scott Armstrong from last week.

BG James is shown sitting with Mike Tenay earlier in the day, for a sit down interview. Tenay talks about his family history before bringing up his time in the WWF, particularly his stint as The “Real” Double J. BG laughs about it, saying that it was Vince McMahon’s way of trying to get back at Jeff Jarrett and that the gimmick “sucked”. Tenay then called him the most entertaining person in the WWF during DX’s heyday as they bring that subject up. He was actually one of the more charismatic guys on the roster during that time, but I wouldn’t call him THE most entertaining person. Especially not with guys like The Rock & Austin there at the time. BG claims that the root of his family problems is jealousy. He says that he “sold out Madison Square Garden 20 weeks in a row”. He goes through all of his “accomplishments”, embellishing as bad as Curt Hennig did before Scott Armstrong interrupts. They get into a verbal altercation, but Tenay ends the interview and that’s the end of the footage. Why cut it there?

As we come back, Americas Most Wanted come into the ring and wrestle the mic away from Jeremy Borash. Harris takes the STICK~! and boasts about how far they’ve come since TNA started. He talks about winning the titles, defending against all teams, regardless of their styles and their feud with the New Church. If this was EWR, the purpose of this promo would be “Self Promotion”. They start complaining about the way they lost last week, due to Chris Daniels’ interference and they want their title shot tonight. Storm takes the mic and spews some hate for a few seconds before BG James and the rest of SEX interrupt, minus XXX. BG says that XXX aren’t there tonight, but AMW seem “SEXually frustrated”. Hardy har har. BG tells them that they’re going to get a lesson in “Group SEX!” before they run in and start brawling with AMW. To quote Dr. Evil, “I don’t think that’s something one dude should say to another dude, OK?” AMW get BEAT DOWN 6 on 2 before they clear the ring for the ROCK & ROLL EXPRESS!? Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson come brandishing steel chairs.....but end up NAILING AMW with them! The beatdown continues as they use the chairs repeatedly on them while Tenay has a heart attack for both he AND West! Security finally gets them out of the ring and R&R leave with SEX.

Mike Sanders vs. The Truth

Match Background: Unlike the aforementioned Flair/Lynn match, this has a little more meat to it. When Sanders made his debut in Week 26, he attacked both The Truth and Jerry Lynn after their match with BG James and Ron Harris. After the tag match last week where Sanders and Flair got the victory, Sanders got on the STICK~! and told Truth that the SEX roster was full....implying that Truth wanted a part of the organization and came to Sanders. Tonight, they come to blows.

The Match: Sanders is wearing a white singlet this week....weird. They lock up with Sanders getting a cheap shot on Truth in the corner. Sanders goes for a hiptoss, but Truth counters with a hiptoss bomb! Sanders does some weird spinning maneuver to wring Truth’s arm and nail him in the knee...and I’ve never seen him do that before or anyone else for that matter. He starts going after Truth’s right knee with GUSTO~! and Truth is really selling it! The crowd keeps trying to get Sanders to go HEY~!!...but no dice just yet. Truth tries kicking Sanders off, but instead, Sanders transitions into a grapevine. The crowd is just SILENT without Sanders playing to the crowd. He puts on a leg lace and Truth bangs his open hand on the mat...but the match continues. Tenay actually miscalls a move bigtime calling it a figure four as Truth makes it to the ropes. Truth gets back up and nails Sanders with right hands and a Downward Spiral. Truth can’t recover because of his leg. He goes for a kick, but it’s caught by Sanders. He looks at the crowd...no HEY~!? The crowd is begging for it....but he won’t give it to them. He’s not even trying to get them into it. Sanders puts on a single leg crab on Truth as the crowd is just so dead. Truth makes it to the ropes finally and he’s able to dropkick Sanders into the corner. Truth comes at him, but Sanders dropkicks him in his right knee! Sanders looks on at the crowd, still not playing up to them at all and ends up eating a Truth missile dropkick off the top! The cameraman missed Truth heading up there. We get a replay as Truth sells the leg upon impact. Truth with a flying forearm and a back body drop....followed by a powerslam. Truth tries to float over Sanders in the corner (the first part of his usual split => spinning leg lariat combo), but lands hard on his knee and crumbles!! PSYCHOLOGY~! The fans couldn’t care LESS at this point and I’m just BEGGING for a HEY~! Sanders laughs at him, but Truth rolls him up for two. Truth gets his split and leg lariat combo when David Flair appears at ringside with the sack! Jerry Lynn runs down and nails him, taking the sack from him! Lynn tries to enter the ring, but Truth KNEES him in the stomach! Sanders rolls him up, holding the tights....ONE....TWO....THREE! Lynn and Truth start arguing and they get in each others face...

My Opinion: The only thing I can think of is that someone told Sanders to stop the HEY~!! gimmick because it was giving him face heat. The crowd just didn’t care... TNA, take my advice...let him do it, it gets the fans into it, which is what you want and if he gets over as a face, then LET HIM BE ONE! The match was decent, with some nice leg work although Sanders really does need some more polishing in the ring. The finish was kinda goofy the way it was executed and now Mike Sanders has a win over the former NWA Champ...but of course, they won’t play that up. Sanders pinning him should have been a big deal, but it was overshadowed by his confrontation with Lynn. Who knows where this is going...*1/2.

We go to the back with Goldylocks who is with The Rock & Roll Express. Morton cuts the promo on behalf of the team as he states that when they were in the NWA....they were ALL about sports entertainment. They were the first to have their own music, their own pryo and the light treatment. Nice explanation. Bullet Bob gets in their face and tells them that they’re facing AMW tonight. Gibson needs to SERIOUSLY shave his armpits.....sorry, just making an observation.

AJ Styles comes to the ring sporting a COOL new T-Shirt, with “The X Styles” on the front, “The Phenomenon Continues” on the back. It’s in the style of the X Files logo, but in its context, its just so much cooler. He wants to tell the world about his allegiance again and his plea to be a heavyweight champion. Raven answers his plea....as he says that if he wants the title, he’ll have to go through him. They insult each other in various ways (with AJ taking a shot calling Raven a heroine addict) and get into a big staredown. Before they can go to blows, a ton of refs come in to separate them. Jeff Jarrett all of a sudden runs into the ring and nails AJ and Raven with right hands! He throws Raven out of the ring and gives The Stroke to AJ before taking his title belt back!

With AJ down in the ring, Larry Zbyszko strolls down to the ring in his ring gear! He says that he sees a lot of himself in AJ Styles. He took exception to some of the comments AJ made tonight about how he could beat him twice in 10 minutes as he tries to give AJ a pep talk. Larry Z then says that he’s challenging him to a match right now...and if AJ can beat him twice in 10 minutes, he’ll do what he can to get him a World Title shot. He then says that he “Double Dog Dares” him! If AJ comes back with the Triple Dog Dare, it’s OVER!!! AJ: “This isn’t A Christmas Story!” HAHAHA! AJ then denies Larry......prompting him to slap AJ in the face! AJ nails him back and asks to ring the bell!

AJ Styles vs. Larry Zbyszko

Match Background: Two weeks ago, AJ Styles defeated The Truth after David Flair interfered. Larry Z then came down to ringside and tried to talk to Styles about respect and how to earn it, but only got a slap in the face for it. This set up a match that took place last week where AJ won rather quickly after putting his feet on the ropes.

The Match: He nails Larry in the corner with a clothesline, follows it up with a senton and a STIFF kick to the back! West then states that the rest of the stipulation is that should AJ NOT defeat Larry Z in 10 minutes twice, Larry will be his manager! Why didn’t they let Larry say that!? Larry gets an abdominal stretch on AJ....and then moves it into a pin for a few two counts! Larry then puts on a great submission hold (the one Evil Doink used to use when he first started wrestling in the WWF) and then wraps AJ up for a two count! Zbysko gets a full nelson, but AJ gets to the ropes...and Larry spin kicks him in the midsection! Standing Figure Four by Zbyszko! He holds onto the ropes for leverage, but the ref catches on and makes him break the hold. HARD back suplex by Larry as he gets a “Larry” chant from the crowd. Larry is just putting on wrestling hold after wrestling hold after wrestling hold onto AJ and the crowd is actually into it! He gets an inside cradle on AJ for a two count. AJ comes back and goes for his Quebrada into reverse DDT, but Larry moves out of the way. He scoops AJ for a slam...AJ floats over...Reverse DDT! ONE..TWO..THREE! AJ needs to beat him one more time in the next 3:45 minutes! There’s a clock on the screen counting down to zero as AJ misses a splash in the corner. Larry gets AJ in a Boston Crab as Mortimer Plumtree comes running down to support AJ! He helps AJ get to the ropes...and hands him a foreign object! Styles goes to use it, but Larry punches him first! Plumtree gets on the apron and throws powder at him....Larry ducks and nails Mortimer with a HARD punch to the upper body! Two minutes left! Swinging neckbreaker by Larry gets two! Dropkick by AJ to recover! One minute left in the match! Plumtree wedges a steel chair in the corner as both men are down with less than 30 seconds left! He whips Larry into the corner, but its reversed and Styles gets it right in the face! The roll up....ONE....TWO....NO! The time limit has expired! Larry Z is now AJ’s manager! Mortimer is going INSANE!!!!! He’s absolutely hilarious as he’s practically weeping!

My Opinion: MUCH better than their first encounter...and Larry Z has a lot of great offense for a man who barely wrestles! Say what you will about his announcing skills, but I’d rather watch him in the ring than Jerry Lawler. VERY interesting angle with Zbyszko now acting as AJ’s manager, although it would have been a lot more effective on the live crowd if the stip was announced to them. **1/4.

We go to the TNA girls as Miss Lollipop shows us her ass again this week. No Australia tattoos this time, but I’m thankful for them because they started her booty showing tradition.

Goldylocks is in the ring with Percy Pringle. She asks him what it felt like to be publicly humiliated by Vince Russo two weeks ago when he was attacked by SEX after asking them to be a part of their organization. He talks about being invited to the Cauliflower Alley Club, a place where wrestling legends are honored and how he’ll be there this April, but Russo never will. He makes some threatening remarks regarding Russo before TONY SCHIAVONE comes into the ring, sporting a black beard and an ugly ass Hawaiian shirt, with a Kiss shirt underneath. Mike Tenay is glad to see him as apparently he is the one that he was in contact with earlier. He shakes Percy Pringle’s hand and gives him a verbal blowjob. He then tells him that 2 weeks ago, however, he’s never seen anyone kiss as much as Pringle to get into an organization. He says that he’d NEVER stoop that low. He then looks at the camera, looking eerily like Brian O’Halloran of Clerks fame and wonders why he hasn’t had a job in two years. He then focuses on Goldylocks, implying that she slept her way to get her job and how she doesn’t deserve it. He says that “Tits and Ass” is what got her the interviewing gig. Mike Tenay is getting upset at this, when Tony tells him to get in the ring. Small talk out of the way, he then asked Tenay why he’s not part of the TNA organization. He then talks about how he was in the NWA during the Horsemen, the Great American Bash, Magnum TA’s car crash. A “Shut the fuck up” chant erupts as Schiavone tells Tenay that he was told that Tenay didn’t want to work with him because Tenay felt he was held down in WCW due to Schiavone. Schiavone actually DISPUTES Tenay’s claim that Russo destroyed WCW! He calls it the Titanic and that it was going to go down anyway. They start arguing when Russo comes down to the ring with a microphone as well. Russo looks at Tony and offers a spot with Sports Entertainment Extreme as their interviewer if he wants it. Schiavone accepts and tells Tenay that Scott Hudson can do his job (he probably could). Tenay says that he was all about politics and not about performance when it came right down to it.

VERY weird, heated segment that really went over the heads of the live crowd. It’s nice to see Schiavone back in the business, but keep him away from the announce table....and what was with that wardrobe!?

Video package covering the mini-feud between Kid Kash and Sonny Siaki.

Sonny Siaki & Desire vs. Kid Kash & Trinity

Match Background: Sonny Siaki took on Kid Kash for his X Division title in Week 27 and defeated him due to inference from Desire. Even though Trinity had been in Kash’s corner to prevent it from happening, Siaki was still able to get off his new move, Siakalypse NOW for the pin. After the match, Trinity came into the ring and took care of Desire before she and Siaki took off to fight another day. Last week, after a successful “title defense” against both Athena and Chris Vaughn, Desire wanted Sonny Siaki to dish out some more punishment to Athena. Trinity ran down to make the same for her...but Siaki then got a hold of Trinity before Kid Kash came in for the save, setting up tonight’s mixed tag.

The Match: The first thing I think about when I see this pairing is how short changed Divine Storm are. We’ll be lucky to ever see them again. Kash and Siaki start out, trading armdrags. Kash gets a hard chop in the corner, but falls victim to a fallaway slam. Kash comes back running up the turnbuckles for a rana on Siaki. He comes off the top again, but Siaki clotheslines him in mid air for two. Kash hits a kick on Siaki....and then hits a springboard somersault into a kick from ACROSS the ring on Siaki, a move he calls the 130. Siaki bails and Trinity comes off the top with a moonsault to the outside! Siaki comes back in and Kash goes for a swinging DDT, but gets Northern Light suplexed into the corner. He tags Desire in...and she wants a part of Kash, but he’s a gentleman so he tags out to Trinity. Desire shoves Trinity into the corner...but Trinity comes back with a head scissors and gets a cross armbreaker out of it! Trinity isn’t bad in the ring at all, hitting an armdrag and some nice european uppercuts. Desire comes back with a few elbows and a straight up kick to the chest. Desire gets a suplex for two. She tags out to Siaki and he drops Trinity onto the top rope! He clotheslines her (protecting her with it though), while taunting Kash. Overhead belly to belly on Trinity! Desire comes back in....but Athena gets on the apron and hits a shoulder block to the midsection! Trinity gets a quick roll up and the win!

My Opinion: The women work better than both Jorge Estrada AND David Flair combined. Let’s see how long it takes before WWE snaps up Trinity. Desire wasn’t too offensive in the ring this time and the guys didn’t get to do much against each other. They’ll most likely be squaring off again soon. *1/4.

After the match, Tony Schiavone takes the X Title and directs his attention to Tenay. He tries to calm Siaki down before attempting to interview him about a title match he has next week with Red. All of a sudden, Konnan comes into the ring and starts beating the HELL out of Siaki with a kendo stick! Bert Prentice once again comes in and Konnan bails to yell at Tenay saying “You’re the problem!!!!” He then tells Tenay that he’ll give him an interview next week!

Goldylocks is in the back with Jeff Jarrett, who is just pissed off. He says that by the end of the night, it’ll be just him and Russo.

Americas Most Wanted vs. The Rock and Roll Express

Match Background: Only the angle and interview that took place earlier during tonight’s broadcast.

The Match: AMW charge the ring and get irish whipped into each other, but they square dance around it and clotheslines R&R. R&R bail, but eventually Morton gets into the ring. Morton goes for a hiptoss, but can’t get it and he gets clotheslined by Storm, who follows it up with a superkick. Harris comes in with a bulldog as Ricky Morton plays....Ricky Morton. Ok, I got the bad joke out early. Gibson comes in with Harris, who powers out of a full nelson and slams both men. Double team missile dropkick on Gibson lead to the move they botch EVERY WEEK. WHY DO YOU BOTHER! Morton trips up Storm allowing R&R to continue. Now James Storm is playing Ricky Morton...and I’m tired of the Ricky Morton jokes. Wow....these guys are boring the hell out of me. Storm almost gets a sunset flip on Gibson, but its blocked. They work over Storm some more as Gibson jumps back into the ring, attempting a stomp to the knee, but trips over the damn top rope. Storm comes back with a flurry of punches, but he misses a corner splash. Double clothesline on both men allows Storm to get some separation before he’s able to make the lukewarm tag to Harris. They double team R&R and get the Death Sentence...but the ref is distracted and Elix Skipper comes off the top with a tag title onto Storm and R&R steal the victory. After the match, Brian Lee & Slash come into the ring and start beating up on Elix!!!!! Slash with a neckbreaker and a knee drop off the top by Brian Lee! “Evil” chant! AMW & The New Church are on the same side of a fight!

My Opinion: Wow, that match was incredibly boring. I’m trying to stay up to finish this damn thing and they put THIS on? I don’t really care for the Rock & Roll Express these days. I am pumped about the New Church as possible faces, although there was no Father James Mitchell or Belladonna...hmm. The match was about ¾*

West and Tenay run down next week’s card which included the sit down interview with Konnan, Red vs. Siaki for the X title, The New Church vs. XXX, 4 Corners Elimination Match: Jerry Lynn, Mike Sanders, The Truth & David Flair.

In the back, Schiavone is with Raven & Russo and Russo wants a title match next week between Jarrett and Raven. Raven can’t wait though and wants the shot NOW! Raven says that if he has ANY balls, he’ll face him....and Jarrett attacks! Tenay is going CRAZY screaming “YEAH, HE HAS BALLS! BIG ONES!! “ They brawl back to the ring with Jarrett attacking him with a trashcan again. They brawl through the announcers area, but Russo grabs Jarrett from behind, allowing Raven to get a low blow and the Evenflow DDT. Raven gets his usual drop toe hold into a chair spot as Russo has some technical difficulties trying to get a table into the ring. Raven goes to superplex him though it again, but its blocked by Jarrett! He throws Raven through the table and then nails him with the World title! Jarrett calls out Russo.....but gets attacked from behind by AJ Styles! THE STROKE BY AJ! He takes the title and leaves with it!!!! Russo gets back into the ring and gets in Jarrett’s face as we fade to the credits...

End of PPV!

Overall: Not a great show PPV wise and Raven’s first week in TNA didn’t exactly set the world on fire. Due to the gag order that WWE put on him, he wasn’t allowed to cut the killer promo on them and I’m sure that a lot of people were looking for that. I was very happy with the development of the AJ Styles storyline and I can’t wait to see where that goes. The “main event” tag match bored me to death and the X Division still hasn’t had a great match since AJ & Red got it on. I wouldn’t go out of my way to get this show...especially if there’s no HEY~!!

HEY~!!, I’ll be back next week,

The Dames, Damian Gonzalez

Any questions, comments, fan mail, hate mail.....send it all to [email protected]

My archives can be found....RIGHT HERE BABY.

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