NWA-TNA Weekly PPV #43 5/7/2003

Written by: Bob Colling

National Wrestling Alliance/Total Non-Stop Action Weekly PPV #43
Date: 5/7/2003
From: Nashville, TN

A video highlighting what happened last week on the program is shown. Chris Sabin is the number one contender for the X-Division Championship. Konnan and Ron Killings are now an alliance. Amazing Red won the NWA-TNA X-Division Championship by defeating Kid Kash, only to be attacked by a mysterious masked person. Plus, Raven failed to win the NWA-TNA World Championship in a long anticipated match with Jeff Jarrett.

Opening Contest: Low Ki & Elix Skipper vs. AJ Styles & D’Lo Brown: Early on, Brown gets the better of Ki by using his size. Ki fights back with a series of chops but is stopped by a missile dropkick from Styles. AJ continues to work over Ki, until Ki nails AJ with a somersault kick. Styles hits a nice kip up hurricanrana on Skipper for a two count. Brown slams Styles onto Skipper to maintain control of the contest. Ki drops Brown with a springboard kick as the referee has been knocked down. Brown absorbs the offense and takes Elix down with a snap suplex and a flapjack. AJ gets the tagged and cleans house on both Ki and Skipper. Elix sends Brown to the floor and delivers a series of kicks before sending D’Lo into the guard railing. Styles is battling Ki in the ring but is stopped by Skipper on the apron so that Ki could deliver a kick. AJ is getting face washed into the corner by both Ki and Elix in the corner. AJ counters the Play of the Day by hitting a sit down powerbomb! Brown and Ki get tagged in and Brown gets the better of the heels with power moves. Brown and Skipper fly over the top to the floor. Ki kicks Styles into the corner but Ki gets caught with a Sky High and a neck breaker combo to give Brown and Styles the win! (**. A pretty obvious outcome with Brown and Styles being the top guys for the company. Some good action here with Styles and Brown coming across like a good tag team, oddly enough.)

Goldylocks interviews Glenn Gilbertti who says he is going to win the battle royal tonight and get a title shot. He demands that the rest of the SEX locker room supports him in his goal. Gilbertti ends up going into Jeff Jarrett’s locker room and viciously attacks the champion with crutches and chairs before security was able to come in and stop the beating.

Second Contest: The Sandman vs. Sabu vs. New Jack: Sandman is hanging out in the crowd while Jack and Sabu start off the match. Sabu tosses a trash can into Sandman’s face, which had a trash lid in front of it while hanging upside down in the corner. Jack uses a staple gun on Sabu. Jack has been busted wide open. Sabu has a spike to work over on Jack. Sabu places Jack on a table and went for the triple jump but Sandman whacks Sabu with a kendo stick. They head into the crowd to continue the brawling. Sabu is put on a table and Jack gets on a scissor lift. Sandman wanted to dive off the balcony, and they argue over who gets to do it. Jack is higher than the balcony! Sabu moves out of the way and Jack crashes through the table. Sabu covers Jack and wins the match. (*. It’s what you’d expect from these three guys.)

Tracy Brooks uses sexual advances on Bill Beherns to convince him to make a women’s match, with the winners getting into the battle royal later on in the night.

Backstage, James Storm says that tonight they will find out which side Chris Harris really is on. Harris is going to prove himself, but he will be all business inside the ring.

Third Contest: James Storm vs. Chris Harris: They start off with a standoff after a series of exchanges and the crowd gives them a half hearted applause. Storm backdrops Harris, who didn’t like that and clotheslines Storm over the top to the floor. Harris mounts Storm with a series of left hands. Storm comes back with a kick to the head and heads to the top rope. Harris crotches Storm on the top rope. Harris hits a superplex and both men are down. Harris hits a top rope elbow drop but Storm kicks out at two. Storm hits a superkick and nearly won the match. Harris misses a splash in the corner but takes Storm off the middle rope with a running ace crusher! Storm is out of it and Harris follows up with a DDT! Harris heads to the top and misses an elbow drop. Storm manages to hit the Eight Second Ride but Harris manages to get his shoulder up and Storm flips out. Harris spears Storm in midair after leaping off the middle rope but can’t get a three count on the cover attempt. Storm counters a sunset flip by sitting down and gets the win. (**. Some good action throughout this one as well. It’s pretty clear that these two are the future of the company. It’s very important to elevate homegrown talent.) After the match, Harris leaves the ring but comes back and shakes Storm’s hand and they hug.

Backstage, Erik Watts is crying over Jeff Jarrett’s beaten body and says he should have been there for Jarrett. Watts gets a phone call and says that “Eric from WCW is interested in coming to TNA.” That would be true in about six years.

Kid Kash comes out with handcuffs and prevents Trinity from competing in the next match. She didn’t take the easy way and was attacked by Kash before escorting her out of the ring in handcuffs.

Fourth Contest: Desire vs. Tracy: Desire worked over Tracy early on leaping off the ring steps to clothesline Tracy on the floor. Tracy fights back with a spear in the ring. David Young distracts Tracy and gets in the ring but punches Desire on accident. Tracy gets the pin. Nobody cares.

The Harris Brothers sat down for the Interrogation segment. They put over SEX as a great concept. They’d rather go to Japan over Puerto Rico for the money. They’ve held twenty five tag team titles and they consider the tag team of Ron Killings and Konnan to be great stars.

Backstage, Amazing Red says that Jerry Lynn has taught him a lot. Lynn suggests that Red learn about integrity and give him an X-Division Championship match.

Fifth Contest: NWA-TNA Tag Team Champions Jerry Lynn & Amazing Red vs. Christopher Daniels: Yes, this is a handicap match, and yes the championships are on the line. Lynn has really developed a mean streak as he is being a no nonsense type of wrestler against Daniels. Lynn head butts Daniels in the corner. Lynn has Daniels on his shoulders for Red to hit a top rope spinning heel kick for a near fall. Elix Skipper is on the apron and Low Ki is as well. Daniels whacks Red on the knee with a steel chair! Daniels puts a half Boston Crab on Daniels in the middle of the ring. Lynn breaks the hold by slapping Daniels. Daniels continues to focus his attack on Red’s knee. Red avoids the Best Moonsault Ever! Lynn gets the hot tag and Lynn drops Daniels with a series of moves. Lynn plants Daniels with a DDT for a near fall. Daniels goes for the Angels Wings but Lynn counters with the TKO! Lynn knocks Skipper and Ki off the apron. Lynn tries for the cradle piledriver, but Daniels sends Lynn into the referee and hits an STO. Red kicks Daniels but is shoved off the top by Ki. Lynn avoids a chair shot from Skipper. Daniels plants Lynn with another STO. Lynn has the chair and hits Daniels! Lynn hits Ki and Skipper with the chair as well. Lynn smashes Daniels over the head with the chair and gets disqualified. That means the title changes hands. (*1/2. A ridiculous finish, as I hate that stipulation. The match got Lynn’s attitude over and I’d imagine a feud between Lynn and Red is on the horizon. Triple X as champions is a better fit, anyway. The stipulation is just awful, in my opinion.)

Sixth Contest: Anarchy Battle Royal: Brian Lawler and D’Lo Brown started off the battle royal. Sonny Sikai is the third entrant and quickly goes after Brown. David Young hit Brown with a spine buster and Chris Harris accidentally clotheslines Storm. Siaki is able to eliminate Storm, as a result. Kid Kash is next into the bout. Here comes Rick Steiner! Steiner eliminates Siaki with a clothesline over the top. Mike Awesome makes his way out with a table. Justin Credible runs down with a kendo stick and goes after Awesome. Ron Killings enters and drops Brown with a scissors kick. Awesome and Credible are brawling on the floor. Tracy is next to come out and she is attacked by Lollipop. She manages to get into the ring. Kash nearly kills Tracy with a Money Maker to quickly eliminate her. Kash is eliminated by the masked person.

Glenn Gilbertti is next to compete in the battle royal with the Harris Brothers by his side. Rick Steiner is eliminated by the Harris Brothers. Killings is also eliminated by the Harris Brothers. Lawler tried to get the Harris Brothers on his side, but that didn’t work at all. Konnan goes right after Gilbertti. Konnan gets H-Bombed through a table and pinned by Gilbertti on the floor. Buff Bagwell makes his return to the company. Bagwell retired the last time he was in TNA, and they make zero mention of it.

Bagwell hits the Blockbuster on Credible. Bagwell backdrops Lawler over the top to the floor. Gilbertti hits the Chartbuster and clotheslines Bagwell over the top. AJ Styles comes down to compete in the battle royal. Mike Sanders runs in and superkicks Awesome off the apron through a table on the outside. Perry Saturn came into the match at one point that I didn’t notice. Sabu is the last entrant for the battle royal.

Credible is eliminated by Sabu. Styles manages to eliminate Brown with a springboard dropkick. Sabu plants Saturn with a springboard DDT. Sabu head scissors Saturn over the top to the floor and they both hit the floor, but only Saturn is eliminated because Sabu intiated the move. Give me a break. Sabu, Styles and Gilbertti crash to the floor. Sabu nails Styles with a chair shot.

Sabu sets up a chair in the ring and hits a triple jump dive into the crowd. He isn’t eliminated because he did it himself. Gilbertti is busted wide open. I mean, he is busted up big time. Back in the ring, Styles goes for the Styles Clash but Gilbertti backdrops Styles to the floor to eliminate AJ!

Main Event: Sabu vs. Glenn Gilbertti in a number one contenders match: Sabu nails Gilbertti in the head with the spike a couple of times to cause Glenn to be busted open even more. Sabu can’t get a three count on the cover attempt. Sabu accidentally splashes the referee in the corner and tosses a chair at Gilbertti. Sabu follows up with a springboard moonsault. Raven enters the ring and hits Sabu over the head with a chair and plants Sabu with a DDT! Gilbertti rolls over and covers Sabu to win the match! Glenn Gilbertti is the number one contender!

Final Thoughts:
The battle royal wasn’t too bad. I’m really enjoying how Gilbertti is being booked. There is just something about how they are presenting him that’s making me buy into him as a challenger to Jarrett. He is really excelling as the leader of the SEX group, as well. A lot of decent action, but nothing memorable. Quite a few feuds are being developed and could be interesting. We have the Jarrett/Gilbertti stuff, Storm/Harris drama, Styles/Brown, Sabu/Raven (I’d assume), Red/Lynn, and Kash/Trinity. That’s not all that bad. I’m interested to see how they can grow those feuds moving forward.