By Marc Donmoyer, Torch Team Contributor

NWA-TNA PPV #75
January 7, 2003
Live From Nashville, Tennessee

Happy New Year, and welcome back to the mother of all TNA reviews. I didn�t get TNA the last two weeks, I was traveling. For those of you who did drop twenty dollars to spend Christmas Eve & New Years Eve watching TNA flashback episodes, I would like to know what the hell you were thinking. Please drop me a note at Marc@Thescallywags.com and tell me what possessed you to watch TNA video packages on New Years Eve.

I got TNA tonight though, the first trip to the Asylum in 2004. I was quite excited for Ultimate X 2, and it delivered. The rest of the show was laborious, but it�s been worse. I didn�t take as many notes as usual tonight, as I was enjoying it with some non fans. I figured it was a good way to see what it�s like from the view of a �TNA party,� if those even exist.

They aired a video from the TNA Christmas party. Callis was harassing Goldylocks to join him and leave Watts, offering her money.

At 3:50 p.m. today Jeff Jarrett was on the phone with a man named Tom. He asked Tom if he could make the big announcement (what, Hogan will never be in the Asylum?) after he won Mr. TNA tonight. Tom said to keep it a secret. Kash entered, and Jarrett told him to get signatures of who was �with him.� He said Watts was going down.

Raven cut a promo putting over The Gatherings guts, but said he was going to destroy them.

Three Live Krew opened the New Year with their new song. It was awful.

Mike Tenay lectured the people at home about not pirating their PPVs.

A new opening montage aired. Nice new opening featuring the current roster hitting their better spots.

Jeff Jarrett came out with Don Callis and Kid Kash. He talked himself up and said there would be no title match since there was no #1 contender. Jarrett called out Erik Watts and �Golddigger.� Erik Watts and Goldylocks entered. Callis told Watts they had a lawyer, Tom T. Stenenbaum. He said they were going to get rid of Watts. He said Tom ran a background check on Watts. Watts came up clean, but not the people on the Board of Directors who hired him. He told Watts to step down as Director of Authority. Watts refused. It was 8:17 and this was pretty lame so far. Watts said his new year�s resolution was to help Jeff Jarrett lose weight. He was referring to the belt. Jarrett asked him if he was hung over. An enormous masked man then jumped Jeff Jarrett from behind, apparently a buddy of Watts. This guy was super jacked up big. Jarrett fled.

�Rowdy� Roddy Piper cut a fun promo. He put over the NWA and said he was fighting for them. He said he�d wrestled every Guerrero in California. Pretty funny stuff. He said he was finally doing something right.

Scott Hudson interviewed Simon Diamond & Johnny Swinger. Swinger said it was a crappy Holiday because they weren�t champs, but they held out because they get a shot tonight. Glenn Gilberti interrupted and asked like they were buddies, and told them to bring the tag belts to Jarrett�s camp. Diamond got annoyed and said they�d bring it to their own camp, and to mind his own business. David Young was behind Gilberti. Diamond told Gilberti things were fine until he brought Johnny Apple Seed into it. Swinger & Diamond crack me up.

Oh wow, finally there�s a match.

(1) Abyss & The Red Shirt Security defeated A.J. Styles & America�s Most Wanted. The crowd was hot for this match. Pretty cool six man action. Storm took a beating for awhile. After about seven minutes everyone was everywhere, and Styles had Abyss alone. Styles nailed Abyss with a DDT, but there was no ref. Styles went for a Styles Clash on Abyss, but didn�t get him up. Jarrett ran in and nailed Styles with the belt. Abyss hit a big Black Hole slam on Styles for three. The Red Shirts still don�t do it for me, but the other four kept it interesting.

Match Value: $1.25. Fun opener, crowd was into Styles & AMW big time. Usual crappy finish.

A video on Trinity aired. She talked about her stunts, and they tried to make her look sexy.

Hudson was live with Trinity. She cut a promo saying thank you for being Babe of the Year, but Sonny Siaki interrupted and took credit for her success. Kash showed up, ogled Trinity, and then told them to sign the loyalty oath contract. Siaki said he�d been advised not to sign anything. Trinity asked Siaki who was advising him. Neither ended up signing.

(2) Three Live Krew(Ron Killings & B.G. James)(w/Konnan) defeated Simon Diamond & Johnny Swinger to retain the NWA-TNA Tag Titles. Really disappointing match, simply because it was three minutes long. Three Live Krew is just not reliable for great Tag Title action. Get the belts off of them. David Young blew a run in and clotheslined Simon Diamond by accident. Killings hit his sit out front face buster for on Diamond for three. After the match Diamond & Swinger freaked out on Gilberti & Young.

Match Value: Fifty Cents. Wasted title match. Diamond & Swinger still own.

The Spanish Announcer was on video putting over TNA�s relationship with AAA and IWA. He said we would see some of their best superstars this year. They showed clips of TNA guys wrestling in their promotions, including one with a hexagonal ring.

Back in the Asylum Kid Kash forced the bell ringer to sign the loyalty oath. He then tried to get black shirt Chris Vaughn to sign.

Scott Hudson interviewed Raven. Raven cut one of hit better promos detailing his payback of Julio Dinero & C.M. Punk. He didn�t name his partner.

In the ring Kash continued to pressure Vaughn to sign. Vaughn ended up attacking Kash. The bell rung for match.

(3) Chris Vaughn defeated Kid Kash. Vaughn got some licks in before taking a fisherman�s shoulderbreaker. Kash took control, but Don Harris ran in. He delivered a superkick and some spinning slam. He rolled Vaughn on top for three.

Match Value: 30 cents. I enjoyed both minutes before the rushed ending.

Hudson interviewed Punk & Dinero, who cut a solid promo back at Raven. They mocked him with his own catch phrase.

They aired a video of Punk & Dinero�s turn on Raven.

(4) C.M. Punk & Julio Dinero defeated Raven & Sandman. Not only was the mystery partner obvious, the masked man who ended it was too. Sandman was actually pretty on, and worked most of the match. Punk & Dinero finally got control of him, but Raven got the hot tag. He cleared the heels with a barrage of clotheslines and a bulldog. A portly man dressed as the Grim Reaper then got on the turnbuckle and took out Raven with chloroform. Punk hit a DDT on Raven for three. On the ramp the masked man revealed himself as Father James Mitchell. Personally I don�t think Dinero & Punk need a mouthpiece.

Match Value: $1.00. Nothing too exciting, but not a bad match either. Sandman was on his game and hit some nice moves. Not what I�d hoped for.

Hudson interviewed Shane Douglas, Michael Shane, and Traci backstage. Douglas got Shane all pumped for his match, and told him to focus on Sabin. He said Daniels and Low Ki would take care of each other. I wish Wade Keller had never compared Michael Shane to Shannon Moore. It makes me wonder how Shane is the longest reigning X-Division champ.

Mike Tenay was in the ring with Goldylocks & Erik Watts. He said they were going to award Mr. TNA on PPV, since it was so important. The finalists were A.J. Styles and Jeff Jarrett. They showed mini windows of both of them. Tenay teased being upset when he looked at the name in the envelope, but then got excited as he announced Styles.

Styles came out, took the trophy, and asked for the mic. Styles is the only TNA Triple Crown winner (X, Tag, and Heavyweight). He thanked everyone as they chanted �A.J.� He said 2003 was great, but he wanted more in 2004. He wanted the NWA Title back.

Jeff Jarrett and company interrupted, and said this was ridiculous. He said he took out the Tennessee Titans, Toby Keith, Dusty Rhodes, Hulk Hogan, and Vince Russo in 2003. He said he deserved it for Russo alone. Tenay told Jarrett to settle this old school. One on one match, winner takes all. Styles-Jarrett, title and title of Mr. TNA on the line. Jarrett didn�t totally agree, he said next week it would be a tag match. Jarrett & Abyss vs. Watts & Styles. If Watts & Styles win, Styles gets his shot. If Jarrett & Abyss win, Watts is out of a job. Goldylocks answered for them, accepting. Watts looked slightly concerned. Jarrett and his cronies were thrilled. Goldylocks� headlights were on most of this segment, and she looked as tall as A.J. Styles.

They plugged the TNA calendar. Okay, straight up, who actually got the TNA calendar? Does that actually sell? Email me at Marc@Thescallywags.com if you got it. I�m seriously curious.

They showed a collection of clips and promos from the four guys in Ultimate X two. Very good video stuff that got my friends and I excited for the main event. The rest of the night was slim pickings. I�m glad this is the main event.

(5) Chris Sabin defeated Low Ki & Michael Shane & Christopher Daniels to win the NWA X-Division Championship. I preferred this match to Ultimate X one. It didn�t utilize the match type nearly as well, but it was still a very cool match. I wish it would have gone on a few more minutes, but it must have been hurting. My buddy Steve was going for Sabin, because he�s from Detroit and Sabin�s age. My money was on Low Ki. After Sabin hit a suicide dive, things got going. There was a table on the outside that was a vacuum the whole match. Low Ki and Daniels had a sweet finisher war on the apron, with Ki almost ending up going through it. Shane was trying to use a chair in the middle of the ring, and jump up to the belt, fun idea. Daniels tried to scale the cables, but Shane hit him with the chair. Daniels took him out, and got a new chair. Daniels was trying to do a running jump with the chair, but ended up eating a Low Ki kick. Low Ki started delivering the Dragon Sleeper, including one on Shane on the cables. He took a huge springboard drop kick from Sabin as they both fell. Shane Douglas brought a ladder to Shane at ringside. Elix Skipper came out and attacked Douglas, still hoping to reform Triple X. Low Ki tried to hit his cartwheel corner kick on Shane, but took a sweet chin music. Shane tried to use the ladder to get the belt, but Daniels hit a ladder to mat Rock Bottom. Ki nailed Sabin with a nasty German suplex from the top of the ladder. Daniels called for the best moonsault ever, and hit it on Low Ki. Daniels was kicking some ass. Low Ki and Daniels were brawling on top of the ladder, but got pushed off, both wiping out on the outside. Referee Mike Posey came in and removed the ladder. I was glad they established a ladder is cheating in Ultimate X. Shane was pissed at the ref, and ended up being thrown through the table on outside by Sabin. Sabin scaled the cables in solitude and hung from the belt, bouncing until it came down. Sabin celebrated. Daniels was bummed.

Match Value: $5.25. It wasn�t the greatest match on the planet, but it was very good, and smart. It was put in the main event slot, delivered as a main event, and was without a doubt a PPV match with a clean finish. For all those reasons it was worth over half the ticket price.

Jarrett was on the phone bragging to Tom as the show closed.

Total Value: $8.05. The main event carried the show to a passable level, but man the undercard was awful this week. The only really significant match, the tag titles, was a washout. A show that could have broken ten dollars with a vengeance ended up being a one trick pony. My guests were pleased they got to see the main event, but asked why there was so little wrestling for the rest of the pay-per-view.

Email Marc feedback/comments to Marc@Thescallywags.com. Read my Lounge column on Monday�s. Make sure to check out this week�s if you haven�t.

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