NWA-TNA 2003 aka a passive-agressive way to deal with depression

[Alucard]

TNA delivered the goods for two weeks straight at least!

 

I haven't watched it since it aired but I remember loving the Juvi/Teddy Hart match at the time. I sense it probably wouldn't hold up on rewatch.

[El-P]

I thought Teddy Hart was ridiculous, both in look and work. Indierrific spotfu is probably the worst kind of pro-wrestling to me.

 

PPV 61

 

At least, the two main events delivered, in their own way.

 

Raven vs Shane Douglas in a hair vs hair match was a total veteran minimalistic main event, Douglas being obviously far from his own self physically. It shows whenever he has to bump or do something requiring any speed, so Raven’s offense which is never the strongest doesn’t look that great here. On the other hand, Douglas is a master in getting heat and antagonizing the crowd, which he does in spades. So they don’t do much but make it mean something and managed to get some cool moments like Raven making fans hold a chair for him to bust Douglas, or Shane showing Raven’s blood on his hands to a girl at ringside. And then, well, Dougals pukes in the ring. He puuuuuuuukes ! Yep, not in ring-shape anymore. And then the match kinda goes into stupidity with the tables and run-ins of both factions and finally the lights going out to reveal : the comeback of Sabu ! Fuck. It’s Vampiro. Damn. He looks all Muta-esque and creepy, but he still sucks, as showed by the horrendous, sub-Onita DDT he gives to Raven. The post-match hair cutting was really good though, with Douglas holding a mirror so Raven has to watch his own humiliation. Don West and particulary Tenay totally overselling it was fucking hilarious.

 

AJ Styles vs Jerry Lynn was short, but excellent for what it was. These two were the MVP’s of 2002, hell, they were the only thing worth watching the promotion in 2002, and AJ is even better now. Lynn bleeds a gusher which was a dubious decision considering the main event which had double blood to come. Still great chemistry though, and Trinity is a good working valet.

 

The only other fun match of the show was a casket match, with the casket inside the ring so it can be used as a weapon, between D-Lo Brown & Sonny Siaki. Ok, it’s a ridiculous WCW 00-like Nitro match, but it was dynamic enough and the casket inside the ring prevents a shitty WWF-like match with « rolling people on the apron » spots. And the debut of « He-was-Jamal-of-3-Minutes-Warning-in-WWE-fame ». Just give these guys fucking names already, this WWE fetish is exactly what made this company a joke from the get go.

 

X-division guys have a 6-men spotfest which wasn’t good. Eric Young debuted and bumped on a phantom dropkick, nice idiotic spot that exposed how much these guys work like robots instead of reacting organically. Frankie Kazarian just forgot about the match to hit on a blonde at ringside. Well, I guess there are no babyface in the X-div anymore, and Juvy hasn’t been able to reign these guys at all, on the contrary he’s just doing the same spotty thoughtless style.

 

A pretty poor N°1 contender match between four teams. Only one pinfall, which is always a recipe for crappy matches. So 3 Live Kru are the N°1 contenders now. Not that I wanted to see that feud, but the whole minority against racist Harris Boys has been completely forgotten, 3 Live Kru are just happy-go-lucky now. They’re like a Benetton commercial.

 

And Kid Kash is seemingly feuding with Terry Taylor who screwed up his balls shot.

 

Piper showing up to ramble like an irrelevant old guy, which he was. He can’t even catch the hard cam. Russo, Dusty, whatever. Dusty once in a while is cool. Dusty all the time is quickly tiring. Jeff Jarrett is beating up Chris Daniels minions now. Oh man, we don’t need another evil preacher gimmick with « mind control » for fuck’s sake. Tenay & West already dropped the "mind control" phrase about Jim Mitchell, Raven, Kid Kash... Why is that every Jarrett feud is the worst ? He hasn't been very good himself, he doesn't need shitty angles to boot.

 

2003/09/17 AJ Styles vs Jerry Lynn
2003/09/17 Raven vs Shane Douglas

[El-P]

PPV 62

 

The Raven vs James Mitchell feud keeps on carrying this promotion, with strong promos, logical build and this week a chaotic and bloody six-men dog collar match between Raven & CM Punk & Julio Dinero vs Shane Douglas & Slash & Sinn, which had a few interesting spots and, despite an anti-climatic finish not even caught on camera (nice TNA prod), felt like an old IWA Japan match. That’s a positive. The post match with a group hanging was actually very good, CM Punk doing a great job looking hung.

 

Jeff Jarrett has its first good match in a while against Chris Daniels, who’s got a bunch of creepy zombi-looking minions with him. That gimmick feels pretty forced.

 

3 Live Kru is a perfect instance of the whole being better than the sum of its parts, as their match against Gilberti, Diamond & David Young (subbing for an injured Swinger) was pretty good and heated. Of course, the tag titles were on the line despite only Diamond being a legit tag champ. Always hate when that happens. Anyway, 3 Live Kru goes like this : Konnan does his sequence with funky submissions and rool-up sequences then tags out to catch his breath for the rest of the match, Ron Killings does athletic spots then sells, and James gets the hot tag and does his routine. It kinda works.

 

Russo is a petty mysoginic pussy. Why ? Ok, a useless Dusty Rhodes vs AJ Styles bunkhouse match which ends with AJ getting a bare ass spanking, then Dusty threatens to hit Russo with his leather belt only to have Trinity (in a short dress, that’s important) putting her body on the line and getting, yes, a spanking too. So, World champ AJ Styles and former powerful female figure Trinity show ass, while Russo doesn’t even get one belt lash. Big fucking pussy.

 

The X-div elimination match between Jerry Lynn, Chris Sabin, Juventud Guerrera, Frankie Kazarian & Nosawa was pretty decent since they didn’t need to sell a lot, although it kinda degenerated into a little bit of a cluster when they got to the final three. Kazarian hits on every hot girl now (Lollipop this week, can't blame him), so I guess he’s a heel now.

 

The Kid Kash stuff against Terry Taylor was bad, with Rooster looking worse than pretty much every other veterans that have showed up (not working since 1995 probably explains it though, as he was in really good shape physically), and the Red Shirt Security vs Black Shirt Security was kinda ridiculous aesthetically, although not that bad as Kevin Northcut looks like a decent power hoss. The Black Shirt are complete jabronies though.

 

2003/09/24 Jeff Jarrett vs Christopher Daniels
2003/09/24 3 Live Kru vs Glen Gilberti & Simon Diamond & David Young
2003/09/24 Raven & CM Punk & Julio vs Shane Douglas & Slash & Sinn

[El-P]

PPV 63

 

This plays like a fun equation : you’ve got Jeff Jarrett & Dusty Rhodes (in tights, yick) vs AJ Styles & Vince Russo (with hockey/football protection, don’t ask me these sports are too exotic). Jarrett is having his big title shot (which he’ll win, of course) in three weeks against Styles. So, who pins who ? Wait : Jarrett is basically the owner of the promotion; Vince Russo is still the head-writer; Dusty Rhodes is most probably the soon-to-be head-writer of something. So, who pins who ? No, the answer is not «one guy in the title shot match pins the old guy or the non-wrestler ». The answer is, old Dusty Rhodes pins AJ Styles clean and spanks his ass. Yep. And gets a gimmick title shot next week, so Jarrett ain’t happy. I guess he’s channeling Hulk Hogan now, as he’s acting like a petty little prick. Dusty looked better than you thought he would, but this booking is horrendous.

 

However, Raven is fucking over and the biggest star in this company. He cuts a would-be-money-anywhere-else-promo after his run-in at the end of 3 Live Kru vs Vampiro & Slash & Sinn, which was watchable all things considered, despite Vamp looking like his old self (sucky like only Vamp can). Shane Douglas announces at the color mic that he’s having big plan for a new Franchise. At least things are moving forward. 3 Live Kru are an over bunch too. Mic work gets you that far.

 

Not much notable stuff, as this show was really about forwarding angles and feuds, which at least is a good, logical thing. Except during the awful main event, you can feel Russo’s influence fading away pretty clearly. A few decent matches on the undercard :

 

_Jerry Lynn vs Micheal Shane, who didn’t click that well together. Total overstatement of Jerry Lynn’s career going nowhere if he can’t win that title tonight, because he’s 40, you know. No idea where this is going, but seems like Lynn is getting the old WCW Dean Malenko/ WWF Vader treatment. Meanwhile, Shane will feud with Sabin. Two heels.

 

_Chris Daniels vs D-Lo Brown was good as a Nitro sprint, but it’s getting obvious now that D-Lo has some limitations in term of building a match, too weak on selling, not that great on fiery comebacks. He’s right at his place in the undercard having solid match which can be spectacular and fun in terms of spots. That’s why he’s still feuding with Sonny Siaki & Ekmo I guess, who win a decent JTTS match against Shark Boy & Mad Mikey. For all the old hype about Erin O’Grady back in the days, he sure never went further than comedy guy. Kinda sad.

 

AMW are going to feud with Abyss & Kid Kash, but their first match wasn’t too good. Because Kash & Abyss aren’t too good. At least it keep them occupied while Simon Diamond & Johnny Swinger have their little reign. Good interview segment with Tenay. Gilberti is an asshole to David Young, whose gimmick seems to be « perenial wannabee » after months doing deeds for Siaki. They beat him up after he loses to the Sandman. This bunch have a decent little chemistry as characters.

 

The product is way less crazy than it was, makes more sense and has more developped feuds. The main event scene is still dead because of the booking and presence of Russo, and now Dusty. AJ Styles has really been wasted big time.

 

2003/10/01 Jerry Lynn vs Michael Shane
2003/10/01 Chris Daniels vs D-Lo Brown

[Laz]

Kevin Northcutt be and quite the guilty pleasure toward the end of his run in TNA. He was there, getting a push, turning into a pretty damn solid talent when he just disappeared.

[Alucard]

Kevin Northcutt be and quite the guilty pleasure toward the end of his run in TNA. He was there, getting a push, turning into a pretty damn solid talent when he just disappeared.

 

I always liked him as well and thought he would be a much bigger star than he ended up being. He was a regular for NWA Southwest in the years prior to TNA (99-02) and seemed to have a great look, good in the ring, solid on the mic, etc. Rodney Mack was a regular there as well and I thought when he moved on to ECW then WWE, that Northcutt wouldn't be far behind. Shame he never ended up doing much outside of his 9 reigns as NWA Texas champ.

[El-P]

I have no memory of Rodney Mack in ECW. What did he do ?

 

PPV 64

 

I had hoped for a gimmicky three minutes angle match. But no. AJ Styles vs Dusty Rhodes went at it for nearly twenty minutes, Dusty working at a snail pace, bleeding and making AJ Styles look stupid, even getting a visual tap out on him. Dusty did not even put AJ over clean, he had to cheat his way into Dusty «passing out ». So, my best guess is that Dusty was booking. Amazing level you wankfest here. AJ did the best job possible though, but this is just wrong. Oh, and Russo is acting drunk as fuck. Horrible stuff, much like the post-match beating with Jeff Jarrett (now heel ? face ? who the fuck knows) saving Dusty’s fat ass.

 

Rest of the show was not much better, Raven’s being hang again was redondant. The Gathering waiting for the last moment to jump in kinda made sense since Raven asked them to let him deal with this alone, but it felt like rehashing. Sinn doesn’t mind getting darts thrown in his back. Gross.

 

In another booking fuck up , 3 Live Kru vs Diamond & Swinger & Gilberti elimination match was not only not too good, and Gilberti going over at the end is mind-boggling. Again, is Gilberti part of the booking team or what ? Konnan working more than thirty seconds is a recipe for awfulness eventually. David Young is a fool again, which he plays rather nicely.

 

Abyss & Kid Kash finally split up, it seems. Their team sucked anyway, as they had another bad match with AMW, who have good matches with anyone. Abyss is the least intimidating monster ever.

 

A mediocre Kazarian vs Daniels match in which Daniels didn’t care for reigning in Kazarian’s bad instinct. Again, Daniels had good matches with everyone else, says a lot about Kazarian.

 

A pretty good but totally heatless X-division match between Chris Sabin & Michael Shane. Hey, both are heels, do you expect the crowd to care ?

 

I guess only the opener was really fun, as the Red Shirt Security vs D-Lo Brown & Chris Vaughn was a pretty decent tag match, I’m getting into Kevin Northcut hoss offense, which Vaughn made to look big time, and D-Lo is working well in this undercard quick match context.

 

Totally heatless crowd. The three coolest things on the show : Shane Douglas is reaching to TV-land to get a new Franchise in a B&W vignette that reeked of old-school; Don Callis cut his hair and is carrying a pipe, which makes him a thousand time more obnoxious. And there’s a new hot brunette cage dancer. Hey, gotta focus on anything somewhat exciting.

 

2003/10/08 Red Shirt Security vs D-Lo Brown & Chris Vaughn.

[Laz]

Joe Legend eventually replaces the other half of Red Shirt Security and gels well with Northcutt. They have a few good matches with AMW and then disappear into the ether.

 

I blocked the end of 2003 out of my memory. Everything is a blur from Ultimate X 1 to Ultimate X 2, and then I tapped out HARD after the third World X-Cup.

[El-P]

I enjoy Northcut, but the Red Shirt Security gimmick is stupid and lazy.

 

PPV 65

 

Hogan is coming. Or he was supposed to at least. I totally forgot they ran an angle at the Tokyo Dome show press conference with Jarrett squashing a guitar on Hogan. Which makes him the heel after months of posturing as the big babyface of the company, and makes AJ Styles an afterthought in the process. Typical Hogan dealings, although the fact Russo resigned because of this is awesome. Last appearance after a crappy « street fight » against Jarrett.

 

Nice opener with AMW & Dusty Rhodes vs Sonny Siaki, Ekmo & Legend. Pretty good although Dusty has more than overstayed his welcome as an active wrestler and even a character as a matter of fact. I'd settle for him on color sometimes though, only to hear "pay window".

 

Match of the show was X-div title match between Michael Shane & Christopher Daniels, who will save this division if he works the way he did here. Although he’s technically a heel, he went toward babyface work during the match as Shane is a full fledge heel. Excellent work by Daniels showing he can get over in both roles. The whole disciples thing has to go, although them selling Daniels' injuries and reacting to his offense in real time is a funny idea. Building toward a three way feud with Chris Sabin, who’s showing some babyface fire too. Shane Douglas was taking notes. Scouting angles usually never go anywhere good, but I always loved them. Plus, judging from the vignette earlier, it seems like the Franchise is looking for a new valet. That's cool.

 

A bunch of nothing matches like Abyss vs Kid Kash, Abyss showing what a clueless worker he is already. His goofy pose just annoys the hell out of me. You don’t have a body, you wear a shirt, why the fuck do you pose ? Plus you’re supposed to be some kind of monster, not a bodybuilder. Anyway, he’s gonna be useless like I feared.

 

Erik Watts vs Kevin Northcut was a short hoss Nitro match, the most notable fact was the comeback of Goldylocks as Watts girlfriend. Wonder if she wears panties now that Russo is gone.

 

A decent tag match with a nice ECW flavor, as Diamond & Swinger lost a non-title match against Danny Doring & Roadkilll of all people. Never was been a big fan, Roadkill doing his usual stuff (basically the only things he can do, really) while Doring lookes like his old self. They havent changed or improved a bit since 2000.

 

A clusterfuck X-div tag match with some jabronies named El Fuego & Jerrel Clark (feel the star power with that name) vs Eric Young and the debut of Sonjay Dutt, who looked impressive as hell athletically speaking. They ran through a shitload of stuff they should have kept in their bags, but what can you do, that’s the indy mentality.

 

The big angle was Raven almost hanging Jim Mitchell only to have Slash drop an elbow on him. From a balcony. Through a table. With a chain. And after a clusterfucky and short Slash & Vampiro vs CM Punk & Julio match, Raven does a run-in on the heels. The issue with this feud now is that Vamp sucks, so there’s really no match to look forward to, despite Raven being the most over babyface in the company.

 

2003/10/15 Christopher Daniels vs Michael Shane

[Mad Dog]

They were supposed to do the original Bound for Glory that year headlined by Jarrett vs. Hogan for the NWA Title.

[Jingus]

I have no memory of Rodney Mack in ECW. What did he do ?

The job. He only worked a few house shows in late 2000.

 

Again, is Gilberti part of the booking team or what ?

Not officially, but Disco is/was close friends with Russo.

[El-P]

Who booked after Russo was gone ? Mantell ? Dusty ?

 

PPV 66

 

So, Jarrett’s second reign of terror begins after a pretty good but rather flat match against AJ Styles, who never looked in danger of winning, despite carrying Jarrett’s ass. I guess now the focus is all on Hulk Hogan, as the big angle was Jarrett whipping Jimmy Hart for bringing up Bash at the Beach 2000. Funny how Jarret came into his first title reign as a babyface after a build as a heel and how it was the reverse here. Nothing seems to work with this guy.

 

Match of the show was Raven vs Slash in a good dog collar match, just enough blood and some good use of the gimmick, playing with the ropes and the whiplash effects and shit. I dread the up-coming Vamp match though.

 

Triple threat match for X-div assured a spotfu between Chris Daniels, Chris Sabin and Micheal Shane, who came out to a production fuck up as they launched Shane Douglas' Perfect Stranger ripoff. Man, I really wonder who’s gonna be the one being apart of Douglas’ new Franchise... Clap clap clap. Match was actually decent for a while, with not too many ridiculous spot apart from a triple superplex. It's so hard to have a good triple threat match, this is such a bad match inducing gimmick.

 

In another spotty X-div match, Kid Kash vs Sonjay Dutt at least was a good shwocase of Dutt’s amazing athletic skills and charisma. He’s clearly got tons of potential, but Kash is not the one to have a really good match with. More Abyss nonsense. Yawn.

 

Diamond & Swinger vs Roadkill & Danny Doring was a watchable ECW on TNN match, but a far cry from the AMW feud. Roadkill was one of those ECW mirage, he really doesn’t bring much to the table. Gilberti carrying a tennis racket was neat both in a meta (the Russo friend making fun of Corny) and straight (Glenn is actually doing a good job as an old-school working manager) way.

 

Meanwhile, AMW have a decent match with the Naturals, total Nitro rush style with a few nearfalls too many, but it could build into a decent little feud.

 

Opener was pretty fun too, with 3 Live Kru against Siaki, Ekmo & Legend. And, oh, Siaki doesn’t seem to get along with Trinity, who costs him the match. Not this again... Trinity's been there and done this already.

 

Russo gone, Hogan in, well theorically. The booking is making more sense as far as building feuds, but Jarrett on top is a major yawner, even as a heel. And not enough really good workers to carry the load, too many young guys without a clue and too many bad guys hurting the matches. It’s still much more watchable than before, although there’s been a lack of notabe matches lately. Jerry Lynn & D-Lo seemingly gone do hurt the cards overall.

 

2003/10/22 Raven vs Slash
2003/10/22 Jeff Jarrett vs AJ Styles

[Mad Dog]

Mantell. It was a semi big deal at the time because he turned the IWA around.

[El-P]

Well, his booking doesn't strike me as very good thus far. The Dusty overdose has been painfull. And then, there is this show :

 

PPV 67

 

When the show peaks with the opener of AMW vs Glen Gilberti & David Young, in a *pretty decent* match, you’re in trouble. Young is Gilberti’s gofer at this point, and they have a good character chemistry. AMW are so efficient that they can have a heated match with anyone.

 

Then another decent match with Micheal Shane vs Sonjay Dutt in a non-title match (thankfully since Dutt lost to Kid Kash the week before). As impressive as he looks doing athletic spots, Dutt needs someone to lead him. Shane is too green to do that but he shows some good instincts.

 

Then, well, show goes to hell. A bunch of nothing matches like Siaki & Ekmo vs Doring & Roadkill, with Trinty not doing a moonsault but apparently leaving the side of her team. Good for her. Another nothing match between Kid Kash & Abyss, in a chair-on-a-pole-first-blood-match. Is Russo back booking already ? Everything about Abyss makes me long for a Kane match. Red Shirts vs Erik Watts & Don Harris (who came back as a babyface, because he’s old-school TNA security, you see) was as bad as it sounds.

 

Raven vs Vampiro in a Gallows of Retribution match. Interesting gimmick in which you have to hang your opponent with a dog collar until he passes out or submits. But there was no way to have a good match with Vamp, who’s clearly one of the worst worker I’ve ever seen. Nothing he does looks remotely decent : selling, bumping, stricking, everything looks terrible. Raven worked hard and had good ideas, but this was doomed. Too bad, as it was good « in theory », including the way the match was laid out. Postmatch sees another undesired CM Punk interference in favor of Raven.

 

And then, the obligatory Jeff Jarrett wankfest including a long promo segment in which he confronts AJ Styles, then Dusty Rhodes (whose presence is really exhausting at this point) and then Jimmy Hart, who’s got a surprise. I really wanted Ed Leslie. ED LESLIE PLEASE !! Well, the result sucked, as most surprise do, but no Ed Leslie. Jim Duggan. In a meta, WCW 94-cosplaying, it actually made sense to see a Hogan croonie getting some airtime at the expense of TNA originals. Match was terrible although Duggan showed some good fire and was better than Abyss. Then another surprise, Rick Steiner. How many « worst worker ever » are we gonna see in this show after Vamp, Heavy D. & Abyss ? Anyway, two guitar shots later, Jimmy hart reveals that next week, Sting is gonna face Jarrett. Yay ! WCW 2000 is back !

 

Terrible show. Way to many bad workers featured. I feel Abyss is gonna be a torture to watch. A convoluted X-division tournament with battle royal, brackets and thriple threat matches to come, I didn’t even try to understand, but it takes all of this to get to Michael Shane apparently, who put this together by himself. I always love when workers put together matches, especially when you already have two authority figures in the company. Damn, and I thought Russo going away was gonna make things easier, but seems like TNA was just supposed to suck anyway.

[Mad Dog]

Yeah, it's pretty bad until they get monthly PPV.

[conker8]

Abyss is still in this company so yes, you will suffer.

[Matt D]

Damn, and I thought Russo going away was gonna make things easier, but seems like TNA was just supposed to suck anyway.

 

This might be easier for you:

 

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLChv0pBLKwSz8ySu_UdvxPb6syzLG44_J

[Mad Dog]

Abyss gets better in the ring and they do give him James Mitchell as a mouthpiece. You might still hate him but the inring quality gets a little better.

 

The Fox Sports version of Impact has some decent stuff and the concept is an interesting take with the time limits and such. But things don't really pick up until Impact goes online only between TV deals and the first year of Spike TV.

[Jingus]

If you think you hate Abyss like this, you shoulda seen him during his rookie days as Prince Justice, when he was unmasked and fifty pounds heavier and wearing a hideous aqua-colored singlet. The style he eventually wrestled as Joseph Parks was basically a parody of what he looked like when he was starting out.

[El-P]

Damn people, you've been around. No, I won't watch Herb's UWF. And no, I don't wanna watch Abyss' rookie days. But thanks for scaring me.

 

You all deserve another one.

 

PPV 68

 

Things are taking a peculiar turn.

 

On the nice surprise side, the X-division battle royal was actually good. The return of Low-Ki, the debut of Chad Collyer who looked solid, decent booking with a XXX reunion before the inevitable split, and a new guy getting over as the monster of the division : X. With a goofy outfit including a crappy mask and tight black jean shorts. It took me a few seconds before I recognized Carl Oulette's style of working, and he did look impressive. That gimmick is immediate death as far as ever getting over though.

 

The tag team situation is kinda cool with AMW having a good little match with Siaki & Ekmo, David Young being the goofy and too honest Gilberti gofer putting his boss into problematic situations like a match against 3 Live Kru, which wasn’t too good but now we have three teams gunning for the title, and Roadkill & Doring aren’t one of them. Gilberti is a good old-school working manager, ironically enough.

 

Raven beating up Jim Mitchell was as good as this match/angle could be, with Mitchell bleeding a gusher and looking grotesque as he should. Basically a transition before Raven gets himself back into the main event scene. Oh, and he frees the Gathering too. This almost felt like a lovers break-up. You always hate to hear the words « You’re free now. ».

 

Tracy Brooks, unamed, helped Shane Douglas win a cool little match against the Sandman. I like this association, Douglas always worked well with valet and gives them a lot to do, and Tracy can work. If he managed to get anything out of Torrie Wilson, this can only be really good.

 

Then, and it’s where it’s getting peculiar, Jarrett vs Sting in your typical Nitro main event with minimal effort from Jarrett who used a whole one offensive move, a sleeperhold, and sold for Sting the whole time, getting a hardway blood in the process. Schmooz ending with Callis and the Red Shirts guys, which doesn’t make much sense as there’s no reason given why Callis would protect Jarrett. Lazy booking. Oh, and AJ Styles, and Raven, and Abyss (fuck, they’re already booking this goof into the main events ?). And Jarrett dropping a bomb : next week, it’s AJ & Sting vs Jarrett & … Lex Luger, all while people are still chanting for Hogan during Jarrett's segments. Yes, TNA has officially become Nitro.

 

2003/11/05 AMW vs Sonny Siaki & Ekmo Fatu
2003/11/05 X-division Battle Royal

[Mad Dog]

You're missing out on the UWF. It's charmingly bad.

[El-P]

I'm sure it is. I doubt it beats the stories on Herb himself.

 

PPV 69

 

TNA is Nitro, the follow-up. And likewise, you can get a pretty good show out of the blue.

 

What would a TNA PPV be without a Gauntlet match for a N°1 contender spot ? And this one is quite good too, with five teams taking parts, 3 Live Kru (minus Konnan), AMW, Gilberti & Young, Dinero & Punk, Ekmo & Siaki. Both Ekmo and Punk have tribute to Crash Holly, who just died, on their outfits. Ron Killings wins the thing thanks to Gilberti’s interference, which leads to an AMW and 3 Live Kru face off later on.

 

And while the tag division is looking fun, so does the X-division, with the match of the night in Low-ki vs Christopher Daniels in a battle of former XXX partners. Nice attention to details with Daniels wearing his old XXX tights and doing their old hand gesture to Low-ki, only to have him kick it away. Excellent match, superb selling from Ki, great focused work with a heelish edge from Daniels. These two are above most anyone else save for Styles as far as in-ring work goes. The ROH connection I guess.

 

Chad Collyer vs Sonjay Dutt was also pretty good, Collyer grounding Dutt who worked well from underneath and also showed nice selling. X beats him up after the match, probably angry about these tights jean shorts. Also, Tracy was taking some notes. She’s the hottest assistant ever. I love this new Franchise already, and they are teasing that the next guy is part of the X-division. Nice job.

 

Raven, who had « Crash » painted on his body, is fighting on both front, cutting another good promo on Jarrett but having to choose a partner for himself against the Red Shirts who beat him up pretty badly. Ends up choosing the Sandman, to the dismay of poor Julio & Punk. This is progressing pretty organically and Raven makes sense out of everything he does. The match was also quite decent with a very good Ricky Morton-like performance by Raven. Northcutt is efficient in this setting, kinda like a Bradshaw from APA days.

 

The main event was totally out of Nitro. I amazed Lex Luger did work after Liz’s death. He looked pretty great physically for his age and what he went through. He did a funny mic spot putting down AJ Styles, who was put over big time by his partner Sting. Luger did a few decent power spots, but he can't really move nor bump that much. That being said, all things considered, he did quite okay, with Jarrett carrying the load and Styles making both look much better than they are. Styles got the pin on Luger. Damn, they booked it right (although with mucho assist from Stinger). Raven drags himself in the ring to jump on Jarrett again, and Hogan is looking further away on the horizon, despite Jimmy Hart being there again.

 

Didn’t watch Abyss vs Heavy D., because I'm not that stupid. The Interrogators with Erik Watts & Goldylocks was decent. Goldy’s new style is bitchier.

 

2003/11/12 Gauntlet match
2003/11/12 Christopher Daniels vs Low-ki
2003/11/12 Chad Collyer vs Sonjay Dutt

[Mad Dog]

Oh I forgot. It does start to get shitty when Russo comes back but the first year and a half of the Knockouts division is pretty awesome.

[SomethingSavage]

Even then - wasn't it always acknowledged that Dutch was in charge of the Knockouts around that time?

I know I've heard Dutch himself talk about it in shoot interviews, and some of the ladies have also praised him for his ideas with the division as well.

[El-P]

I remember also a worker (don't remember who though, maybe Daffney but I could be totally wrong, it could be someone else) not praising him as he treated the lady as "special attraction".

 

PPV 70

 

Two minor miracles. A triple threat match that was actually pretty good between X, Christopher Daniels & Sonjay Dutt. Three reasons to this : Chris Daniels directing traffic, never got cutesy with ridiculous spots, simply played around the quickness and brain of Dutt & Daniels respectively vs the power game of X. Oulette and the Angel looked excellent, so of course the green guy won. I like Dutt, but he’s not at this level yet.

 

Second miracle was Abyss being able to have a really good match against AJ Styles. Damn, Styles is close to a miracle worker, he was fantastic here. I gotta give some credit to Abyss, who does some things well, like bumping, which he overdoes, too. He looks less like a monster than like a constipated truck driver with a Halloween fetish though.

 

The tag team scene was still fun with a decent Ekmo & Siaki vs CM Punk & Dinero match, in which Trinity screwing up cost the samoans the match. Ekmo is looking better and better each time. Siaki is not.

 

Then the tag team scene got screwed at the end of a pretty good Simon & Swinger vs 3 Live Kru (Konnan always at ringside, thankfully) tag title match. How to ruin what was a perfectly nicely going feud ? With a double referees count of course, and the titles being held up. So, the refs screwed up and the champs are punished because of this ? Fuck that Dusty finish.

 

Talking about Dusty, he’s playing the savior again at the end of the show and books himself against Jeff Jarrett for the following week in a strap-fans-lumberjack match. Gawd…

 

David Young loses against Chris Sabin because of Gilberti. Tracy & Douglas are taking notes on the X-div guys. Kid Kash has a sloppy match with Shark Boy. Usual business.

 

Raven cuts yet another strong promo with the stricking visual of blood driping from his banded forehead, after a beating following the six-men of him & Sandman & Watts vs Red Shirt Security (with Legend as a recruit), which had some interesting use of handcuffs and a run-in by sexy as hell Goldylock. Nothing nice looking, but a pretty good Clockwork Orange brawl.

 

Mixed bag. Jimmy Hart is showing up every week to confront Jarrett, so Hogan is still kept in the mix, but not coming anytime soon, as AJ Styles & Raven are being built for upcoming title matches.

 

2003/11/19 Raven & Sandman & Erik Watts vs Red Shirt Security
2003/11/19 Christopher Daniels vs Sonjay Dutt vs X
2003/11/19 AJ Styles vs Abyss