Written By: Matt Peddycord
January 16, 2005
Orlando, FL
Universal Studios
The current NWA & TNA Champs were as follows:
NWA World Champion: Jeff Jarrett (6/2/2004)
NWA World Tag Team Champions: Bobby Roode & Eric Young (12/5/2004)
TNA X-Division Champion: Petey Williams (8/11/2004)
Your hosts are Mike Tenay & Don West.
Jeremy Borash is standing by with the NWA world champion Jeff Jarrett. He runs down DDP, Nash and Monty Brown who compete in a three-way elimination match where the winner faces Jarrett in the main event. He says they will all find out that TNA is Planet Jarrett and there’s nothing they can do about it.
3Live Kru vs. Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian & Matt Bentley
Since the Triple X split at Turning Point, Christopher Daniels is trying to find some direction by teaming up with Kazarian and Bentley. Konnan catches Daniels early on with the Rolling Clothesline. Bentley runs in and takes a spinebuster out of the corner so 3LK can deliver the WASSUP leg drop from Killings. Da Truth follows up by ducking all of Bentley’s blows and leveling him with a crossbody. Kazarian tags and receives the Too Cool dancing double punch to the face from Killings and BG. We see a little more dancing from 3LK and then they stomp a mudhole in Kazarian. BG James grabs an armbar and lets Kazarian get just close enough to his partners to not make a tag. Blind tag to Daniels proves to work well against BG James as he takes a low dropkick from behind to become *your* face in peril. Kazarian hits a slingshot dropkick on BG down in the corner. Daniels unloads with forearms until BG counters a rana with a powerbomb and makes a HOT TAG TO KILLINGS! He goes insane on the heels. Axe Kick to Bentley! Cover, 1-2-NO! Kazarian takes Killings down with a high knee. Daniels receives the K-Factor from Konnan. He blocks a superkick from Bentley, but then they run the ropes and charge into a double-KO spot. Everybody’s down. Once everybody’s up, everybody pairs off and unloads. Kazarian and Daniels get dumped out, leaving Bentley all alone with the 3LK. They go for another WASSUP leg drop, but Kazarian pulls Killings down and drops him with a clothesline. Meanwhile in the ring, Daniels levels BG James with the Reverse STO. On the floor, Kazarian is holding Killings for Daniels, so he tries a Split-Legged Moonsault off the apron and nails Kazarian by accident. Back inside, BG and Konnan catch Bentley coming off the ropes and hold him up high as Killings delivers the Jumping Sidekick for 1-2-3. (8:20) Fun little opener to get the crowd going. **½
We head over to the TNA Director of Authority’s office. It’s actually in Dusty’s pickup truck. To show he’s still the common man, yaknowwhatImtalkinabout? He plays a game of Survivor with Johnny Fairplay, Traci and Trinity. You remember Johnny Fairplay, right? He’s the guy who lied on Survivor about his grandmother dying to gain sympathy from the other players. Yeah, that guy. What a standup guy he turned out to be. Anyways, according to the contest – two will win, one will leave TNA. All three have to search around for clues and then we figure out what’s going on, says Dusty.
Elix Skipper vs. Sonjay Dutt
Crowd seems split right down the middle for these two. Sonjay tries to get the win early on Skipper with a bunch of nearfalls. A satellite headscissors takes Skipper to the floor for him to regroup. Dutt baseball slides Elix back into the guardrail, but then he gets launched over the guardrail. Sonjay doesn’t let that stop him for too long – he comes off the guardrail for a somersault plancha. Back in, that gets two. Now we get a little psychology as Sonjay works the arm. After some arm grinding, Dutt delivers a springboard dropkick to the arm. Skipper won’t let Sonjay set up the whip because his arm’s hurting too bad, so Dutt gives Skipper’s arm an Ace Crusher instead. Dutt heads up top, but Skipper comes up behind him and springboard dropkicks him to the floor. Skipper crotches Dutt on the guardrail and levels him with a spin kick. Elix arm-lifts Dutt into the air and drops him down hard on the mat. Ooo, Skipper sells the arm work. Skipper starts kicking Sonjay’s back and then hits Low-Ki’s Black Magic. PLAY OF THE DAY is blocked by Sonjay, but an Asai Moonsault hits knees. Skipper connects with the slingshot somersault lariat. They fight on the top where Sonjay pounds away on Skipper to set up a sunset flip powerbomb! HERE COMES SONJAY! Spin kick followed by a clothesline sets up a back suplex for two. Satellite DDT gets 1-2-NO! Primetime avoids the HINDU PRESS and drills Sonjay with a Gunn Slinger for the 1-2-3. (10:13) Solid action from start to finish. Elix Skipper is on his way to…oh, a lower mid-card stable with Simon Diamond. Wow really? That sucks. ***
We see a video teaser for Tryton. He looks cool, but he’s not.
Kevin Nash wants to join an alliance with DDP to take out Monty Brown tonight. Page is a little reluctant to trust Kevin Nash though.
Kid Kash vs. Dustin Rhodes
Since Kid Kash doesn’t like Dusty Rhodes because he’s an authority figure and a legend, he wants to beat up on his son. Hey look! SoCal Val is a ring girl! Rhodes stays one step ahead of Kash to start. Kash finally crotches Rhodes up top and goes for a superplex, but it’s way too early for that. Rhodes shoves him down and Kash sells a knee injury. Of course it’s all a ploy though and Kash starts working over Dustin’s knee. Rhodes fights off a spinning toe hold and surprises Kash with a backslide. Kash stays on the knee until it gives out on poor Dustin. Kash climbs up top and delivers a Frog Splash to the knee. It’s figure four time! Rhodes turns the hold over and escapes. They trade sleepers. Rhodes’s arm drops once, twice, but not THREE TIMES! He mounts a comeback and tries an inverted atomic drop, but his leg gives out. Flying Crossbody by Kash connects, but Rhodes rolls through for 1-2-NO! Kash flips out of a CURTAIN CALL and hits an enziguri for 1-2-NO! But then out of nowhere, Dustin hits the BULLDOG for 1-2-3. (10:50) Great stuff. I’m always a sucker for the old school-style matches. **¾
In the back, Johnny Fairplay has a little fun with Dusty’s hat in a room that…looks like his office. But I thought Dusty’s office was in his pickup truck? Inside the hat is a piece of paper with the word clue on it, so Fairplay puts two and two together and realizes what he’s found. He runs off to find Dusty.
Raven vs. Erik Watts
So Erik Watts turns on DDP at the last PPV. Not effective enough of a turn to cost Page the match against Raven, but still. Since Turning Point, Raven has been going around and saying that he has Erik Watts wrapped around his finger, which Watts heard because ITS ON TV and blasts Raven with a trashcan for saying it. Erik makes amends with DDP and bang, here we are. Watts brings a chair to the ring, but Raven stomps on him until the chair disappears! Oh, no, the ref just slid it out of the ring. They head to the floor where Raven delivers the Russian legsweep into the guardrail a couple times. Back in, Raven face washes Watts and then follows up with a running knee. Watts comes back with a freakin flying mule kick? That’s just silly. Raven tries to bail out and Watts nails him from behind. He gives Raven a taste of his own medicine with the Russian legsweep to the guardrail. Back in the ring, Watts hits the CHOKESLAM and brings a chair in the ring. The ref takes the chair away, allowing Raven to nail Watts in the nuts. Now Raven brings the chair in and wedges it in the top and middle turnbuckles so he can smash Erik’s face in it. Watts blocks the Drop Toehold on the Chair and slams Raven’s face on it instead. Watts runs and leaps off the chair for a jumping clothesline. E-BOMB connects, which is a turnbuckle powerbomb. Cover, 1-2-NO! Raven counters a CHOKESLAM into an ankle lock. Watts escapes, but turns around into a superkick for two. Raven gets tripped up into an STF. Wow. Raven counters the STF into another ankle lock. Watts kicks him off into the corner and goes for another CHOKESLAM. Ugh, that was like Taker-Hogan at Judgment Day bad. He goes for another one and it looks better for the replays and all the national coverage that this match will receive. Haaaaa. That gets the win for Erik Watts. (10:21) Not a fan of this one. Erik Watts would be leaving TNA in a matter of weeks. Because hey, he left on a high note, right? Raven tries to apologize to Erik Watts because now he has respect for him. Not for DDP, just for Erik. Watts takes his apology with a grain of salt and then gets nailed from behind with a trashcan. Nothing says I’m sorry like an aluminum trashcan to the skull. Apparently all the Raven chants hurt Erik’s feelings – as if all the hate in 1992-93 wasn’t enough to make him go away. *½
Jeff Hardy vs. Scott Hall – Special Referee: Roddy Piper
Gosh I love Roddy Piper. But what about Scott Hall’s Elvis impersonator look? And Jeff Hardy’s paint-sniffing look. It’s aiiiite. Piper pats both guys down. He finds nothing on Jeff, but Scott Hall’s another story. Does Hall get his weapons from Abdullah the Butcher? Hall stops Piper and decides to pat him down too. Uh oh, Scott Hall finds some handcuffs on him. KINKY! Interesting tidbit of info: Jeff Hardy’s debut match in the WWF was a squash match with Scott Hall in 1994. Hall slaps Hardy around and pays for it with some Whisper in the Wind. Hardy catches an elbow and takes the Fallaway Slam for two. Hall complains about the count and gets rolled up for another two. Hall takes a breather out on the floor and then mocks the count. Hardy keeps him on the floor with a baseball slide and a pescado. Back in, Jeff delivers the double legdrop to the balls. Hall blocks Hardy’s Reverse STO with a bunch of stiff looking elbows and takes over with running clotheslines. Chokeslam gets two. Hardy gets shoved off a headlock into Piper, which allows Hall to find some taped knux in the turnbuckle. Piper wakes up and sees what the crap is going on. He spins Hall around and pokes him in the eyes to set up the TWIST OF FATE and SWANTON BOMB for the win. (5:52) This gets a star just for the pat down routine and another star for the match. Afterwards, Hardy challenges Jeff Jarrett. Then Abyss shows up and gives Jeff the Shock Treatment/BLACK HOLE SLAM. Ladies and gentlemen, this is how TNA kickstarts a feud! **
Trying to find a clue, Traci Brooks tantalizes a stagehand by popping off a few buttons on her “shirt” for a little help. He doesn’t tell her a thing because apparently he’s not into men with implants. Trinity comes over and tells Traci that Dusty needs them both in his office. But that’s only to get her away so she can flirt with the stagehand too. He doesn’t KNOW anything!
Diamond Dallas Page vs. Kevin Nash vs. Monty Brown – Three-Way Elimination Match
You can be eliminated by pinfall, submission, or over the top rope. Brown outwrestles Page to start while Nash stands over in the corner. Monty blocks the DIAMOND CUTTER attempt, so now its Nash’s turn. Big Kev mocks Monty Brown and pays for it with right hands from corner to corner until Nash gets knocked on his butt. Nash yanks Monty into the corner and gets a nearfall with the Side Slam. Brown counters a headlock with a back suplex which causes Nash to roll out to the floor. Page does his bit where he won’t take anything and levels you with a clothesline. Brown comes back with a DDT and Nash breaks up the cover. Nash and DDP double-team in the corner. Once Page looks too busy beating up Brown to notice, Nash steps away and picks his moment to charge at Page. DDP sees him coming and weakly backdrops him over the top rope to eliminate Nash. (5:53) Brown takes over on Page and looks for the Running Powerslam, but DDP slips away and hits the DIAMOND CUTTER. Cover, 1-2-NO! Nash pulls Page out and posts him. They get a few surprise two-counts on each other. Brown nails DDP with a couple running lariats in the corner, nearly knocking Page over the top rope. Brown hits the Fallaway Slam followed by a Running Powerslam. That gets two. Page catches Brown with an elbow and goes for a second DIAMOND CUTTER, but Brown shoves him off into the corner and hits DDP with the POUNCE for 1-2-3. (9:41) Good to see TNA try and make a star here over the two old timers. **
NWA World Tag Team Champions Team Canada (w/Scott D’Amore) vs. America’s Most Wanted
Team Canada meets their biggest challenge to date in Chris Harris and James Storm. Anybody seen that “Best of Braden Walker” DVD? DY-NO-MITE! Four-star matches all over the place! Lots of awesome outside brawling to start. Eric Young gets a big knot on his forehead at the hands of James Storm. Not sure how, but it looks pretty sick. Harris OWNS Young and beats him in and out of the ring. Roode comes in and gets tossed onto EY. When he goes to the floor to regroup, AMW toss Young on top of Roode down on the floor. Back in, Storm dominates Roode with clotheslines and a rana for two. EY steals a page out of the Bret Hart playbook and knees Storm from the apron. Awesome. The tide has been turned! James Storm is *your* face in peril. Eye gouging, chokes and stomps follow. Harris gets drawn in to cause trouble here and there. Storm tries to break free with enziguri kicks for both men, but Roode barely manages to cut off the tag. Team Canada wears Storm down with chinlocks. Once he’s loose, Roode charges shoulder-first into the ringpost. HOT TAG TO HARRIS! He’s got face slams for Canada! Full Nelson Slam to Roode! Stalling suplex to Young gets two. Storm stops Roode with a powerslam for another two. DEATH SENTENCE is stopped by EY to set up a Tower of Doom which launches Chris Harris into Bobby Roode. Didn’t look too good on the replay. Storm hits the Superkick for 1-2-NO! D’Amore pulls out the ref. He’s get stuck in between AMW and handcuffed to the Ultimate X post. Hart Attack to Young! Cover, 1-2-NO! AMW look to finish with the Death Sentence when they see fellow Team Canada member Johnny Devine on the apron. Harris chases after him only to be drawn into a Roode clothesline on the floor. Meanwhile, Storm delivers the EYE OF THE STORM to Young when Devine whacks him from behind with a hockey stick! Devine puts Young on top of Storm as the ref gets back in the ring and counts 1-2-NO! Devine goes to whack Harris with the hockey stick, but Harris ducks and kills him with the AA Spinebuster. Harris blocks a suplex from Roode and sets him up for the POWER-PLEX! Storm covers, 1-2-NO! WHAT! Young clotheslines Storm out and turns around into the CATATONIC from Harris! Now Devine puts a chair in the ring. Harris grabs the chair, but Roode blasts him from behind with the NORTHERN LARIAT onto the chair. Harris looks KO’ed! Young covers for 1-2-NO! With Devine up against the ring apron holding the chair, EY goes over and taps on his shoulder for the chair. Devine doesn’t look up and swings the chair hard right up in Eric’s face. EY stumbles back into a roll up from Harris for 1-2-3! (19:11) America’s Most Wanted have won the NWA world tag team titles for the fifth time. That was some classic ’80s tag formula and the crowd ate it all up. A little overbooked at the end, but it’s forgivable. ****¼
In the back, Johnny Fairplay skips around with Dusty’s hat on his head. Trinity and Traci Brooks runs into him and beats him up when he calls them bimbos. They find the piece of paper that says “clue” and fight over it until the paper gets ripped in half. Instead of fighting over both pieces, they run to Dusty and show him the “clue”. He tells them to find a tag team that isn’t in TNA and the one who brings in the best tag team, gets to be his own personal secretary. Umm, Dusty, it’s 2005, they’re called Administrative Assistants now. Well, in Dusty’s case, it’s called ‘Meals on Wheels’. Ouch! Dusty’s wondering why Johnny Fairplay is crawling on the ground.
And right after that stupid segment, Tenay mentions how TNA has “raised the bar” with their PPVs.
TNA X-Division Champion Petey Williams (w/Scott D’Amore) vs. AJ Styles vs. Chris Sabin – Ultimate X Match
Everyone has a right to be in this match. Petey Williams is the longest reigning X-Division champion to this point, Chris Sabin is 3-1 in Ultimate X matches, and AJ Styles is AJ Styles. We have a little Three Stooges action to start with everybody wailing on each other. Petey heads out to the floor and tries to bait Sabin around, but Petey backs up into AJ and gets ping-ponged. The babyfaces Sabin and Styles work together against Williams. Sabin whips AJ into Williams for a jumping lariat while Styles launches Sabin into Petey for an awesome dropkick. Now that Petey Williams is incapacitated, AJ and Sabin get together for a little match. Styles flips over Sabin out of the corner and makes the first ascent for the belt, but Styles stops him. AJ tries to springboard onto the Ultimate X ropes, but couldn’t reach them. When AJ goes for the leapfrog/dropkick sequence, Petey trips Sabin up and pulls him to the floor. AJ seizes the moment and levels them both with a somersault plancha. Back in, Styles starts the climb for the belt, but Sabin reaches him in time and dropkicks AJ into the Ultimate X structure! OUCH. Sabin makes it halfway across the Ultimate X ropes when Scott D’Amore comes in and grabs his feet until Petey can come in and pull Sabin down into an inverted atomic drop. The referee isn’t going to have any more of this Scott D’Amore character screwing up the matches, so he sends D’Amore to the back. “Nah nah nah, nah nah nah, hey hey hey, goodbye.” Back to the ring, that lights a fire under Williams as he posts AJ Styles and goes to work on Sabin with the snap suplex/back suplex combo. Sharpshooter is applied to Sabin as AJ makes it to the apron and starts to climb for the belt. He makes it halfway there when Petey releases the hold and pulls AJ down to give him a release German suplex. You can’t pin him, Petey! He puts AJ in the tree of woe for a stirring and somewhat ball-bruising rendition of ‘O Canada’. AJ comes back with the Pele Kick. AJ and Sabin try to stop each other from making the climb. AJ ends up putting Sabin on his shoulders as Petey makes it halfway down the Ultimate X ropes and ranas Sabin off AJ! Terrible overhead camera shot though. Thank goodness the replay looks much better. Tilt-a-Whirl Russian Legsweep from Petey to AJ. Now they both make the climb and they actually reach the belt. AJ tries to kick Petey down, but he’s stopped by Sabin who pulls AJ down. The thing is, Petey is right in the middle of the X where the belt is. That knocks this match down a peg because Petey should have realistically won the match right there. Both Sabin and AJ go through their X-Division stuff before AJ springboard forearms Petey down. Sabin makes the climb and in order to save himself, he has to turn around and rana AJ off the top rope! Sabin and Petey trade finisher attempts. Petey has Sabin in an inverted DDT position when AJ springs up and hits the Asai DDT on Petey, causing both Sabin and Petey to take the effect of the move. Awesome. AJ goes for the belt, but Sabin somehow springboard dropkicks AJ down to the point where he does a complete flip and falls HARD on his back. Probably the best spot of the match. Sabin and Williams tumble out to the floor, leaving AJ all alone to climb and get the belt. Williams climbs up the X structure and AJ meets him there. Williams bashes AJ’s head into the steel and then wrenches his arm through the structure. Petey goes as far as to snap AJ’s arm across the steel! So much so, that AJ is hanging on the structure by his arm! Yeah, that’ll do some damage. Back in the ring, Sabin delivers the CRADLE SHOCK to Petey! He goes for the belt, but AJ is back in the ring to stop him. Styles tries to pull Sabin down into the Styles Clash, but AJ’s arm is too weakened and hurt. AJ pulls him back up anyway for a powerbomb, followed by a one-armed STYLES CLASH! Styles goes for the belt, but once he tries to hang on by hooking the Ultimate X rope with his bad arm, he sends himself crashing to the mat. Too bad, so sad. With AJ in pain, Petey takes advantage and KO’s him with a CANADIAN DESTROYER! Tornado DDT to Sabin. Petey acts like he’s going to wait for Sabin to get to his feet for another Canadian Destroyer, but says screw it and goes to get his belt. Sabin stops him and proceeds to give Petey Williams a running crucifix bomb into the corner! Once both men make to their feet and down the Ultimate X rope to reach the belt, both men get a hand on the belt and play tug-o-war with it. Since AJ can’t climb because his arm, he can still do springboard punch the belt down and grab it for the win, which is actually what he does. (19:57) Easily one of my all-time favorite TNA matches. It has its problems, but it’s a fun spotfest with a story. ****½
On his way to the ring, Jeff Jarrett stops Kevin Nash in the back and tells him “welcome back to the king’s court.” Well that doesn’t make Big Sexy happy at all and he has to be restrained.
NWA World Heavyweight Champion Jeff Jarrett vs. Monty Brown
Monty Brown has already lost to Jarrett on iMPACT!, but he NO-SOLD the guitar shot, so you know he’s legit. These two want at each other bad. Security has to come down and separate them so we can have our pre-match introductions. Once the bell rings, we get a bit of strutting from Jarrett. A press slam from Monty turns things around. Jarrett blocks a Fallaway Slam with a thumb to the eyes, but Monty catches him coming off the ropes with a powerslam for two. They head out to the floor where Brown screws up a pescado spot. He was supposed to catch Jarrett in mid-air for a backbreaker, but he showed up too late to catch him properly. They fight through the fans as Jarrett beats Monty back to ringside with a steel chair. Tenay and West have to leave the announce table once Jarrett and Monty brawl over that way. Jarrett picks up a swivel chair and drops it hard across Brown’s back. Don West thinks those chairs weight 30 pounds! After all those weapons, the referee finally steps in to stop Jarrett when he wants to wallop Monty with the NWA title belt. Back in the ring, Jarrett applies a sleeper and Monty’s arm drops once, twice, but not three times. Monty shoves out and applies a sleeper of his own. Jarrett counters and goes for the FIGURE-FOUR, but Brown tries to counter that into a small package for two. Jarrett misses the Bossman straddle before a double-KO spot occurs. They’re up at seven. Monty punches Jarrett around and hits the Alpha bomb for 1-2-NO! Circle of Life (one-armed swinging neckbreaker) gets two. Jarrett buries a knee and tries the STROKE, but Monty shoves him off into the ref. Jarrett grabs his guitar and KABONGS Monty. Will he go down? Yeah, he does. LAME! Cover, 1-2-NO! Jarrett grabs a chair and stuck in an electric chair drop position. He hits Monty in the head to try and get down, only Brown falls backwards and Jarrett takes the move after all. Jarrett covers anyways for another nearfall. Monty takes the NWA title belt in the face after all for 1-2-NO! HERE COMES MONTY! He goes for the POUNCE, but Jarrett ducks and the ref takes the blow. Jarrett finds another guitar underneath the steps and tries to come off the second rope for the KABONG, but Brown goozles him in mid-air. Chokeslam to Jarrett! Monty KABONGS Jarrett! He looks to the crowd instead of going for the quick cover. Another ref runs down for 1-2-NO! Monty launches Jarrett over to his broken down guitar and then goes for the POUNCE only for Jarrett to get in one more guitar shot to set up the three consecutive STROKES for the 1-2-3. (16:19) This has TNA main event-style written all over it. They had a chance to make a monster star out of Monty Brown, but they just killed the monster off instead. Having him no-sell the guitar shot on free TV may sell a PPV or two thinking that he might have a chance (considering TNA’s timeslot and the channel it was on – probably not any at all), so why not have him do it at the PPV as well. Making you believe that the babyface will overcome all the odds and beat the dastardly champ even if in the end he doesn’t is a work of art that only the best artists can achieve. Whether it’s because of the booking or whatever, Jeff Jarrett is really not one of those artists in my opinion that can make you believe. It did maintain my attention though. **½
Final Thoughts: What was promised to be good, delivered in my view. I’ve seen a fair share of the Ultimate X matches and for my money, it’s still the best of all-time. If you love a great formula tag match, the tag titles match is worth your while. Everything else is pretty mediocre though. The Sonjay/Skipper match is good, but there’s a hundred X-Division matches just like it. I’ll go with a slight thumbs up for Final Resolution 2005. If Don West offers you an INSANE deal for this show on DVD, you should probably take him up on it.