NWA-TNA Weekly PPV #49 6/18/2003

Written by: Bob Colling

National Wrestling Alliance/Total Non-Stop Action Weekly PPV #49
Date: 6/18/2003
From: Nashville, TN

Outside the arena, a limo arrives to the building with Mike Tenay believing that it was going to be Sting. Instead, it was Shane Douglas who stepped out and let out his trademark laugh stating that it was time to make some noise.

There is a new set as this is the first anniversary show for NWA-TNA. The new set gives the show a more lively feel.

Opening Contest: Don Harris, David Young & Sonny Siaki vs. Sandman, D’Lo Brown & Frankie Kazarian: Kazarian and Siaki start off the match with Kazarian hitting a springboard back elbow. Sandman is sharing his beer with fans. Kazarian gets a near fall with a swinging neck breaker and tags in Brown who continues to work over Kazarian. Harris tags in but is arm dragged a few times but stops D’Lo with a big boot. Don drives Brown to the mat with a swinging side slam. Young tags in but is worked over as Frankie hits a slingshot leg drop for a near fall. Kazarian gets a back bridge cover for a near fall. Young gets a two count following a spine buster on Frankie. Siaki takes Kazarian over with a suplex and a t-bone suplex for a near fall. Kazarian drops Siaki with a bicycle kick and tags in Brown while Sandman remains on the floor. Brown cleans house with clotheslines and right hands. Brown plants Young with a swinging side slam but Siaki breaks up the cover. Harris is pummeling Sandman on the floor. Kazarian and Young are left in the ring and Kazarian hits a reverse Stroke. Brown comes off the top and hits a twisting frog splash to get the three count. (**. Not a bad start as they worked fast and well. Sandman didn’t do anything in the match which isn’t a bad thing.) After the match, the heels attack to get some heat as Siaki beats down Sandman with a kendo stick. Mike Sanders and Ron Harris come down to beat down the good guys. Sting and Jeff Jarrett come out with Sting cleaning house with a baseball bat. Jarrett smashes his guitar over Young’s head.

Vince Russo comes out to the ring to cut a promo. Russo talks about how his new hairstyle costs more than the fans homes. Russo credits Jeff Jarrett for being a fighting champion and having the fans turn on him in the process. Russo introduces the new NWA World Champion, AJ Styles. Russo puts over Styles as being better than guys like Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart and Sting at the same point in their respective careers. D’Lo Brown comes down and tells Russo they worked very well together in the WWE. Brown discussed his friendship with Styles and AJ offers to be tag team partners tonight. Russo chimed in and credited himself for making D’Lo a star. Brown didn’t like that and attacks Russo. That leads to a brawl involving Raven running down. Shane Douglas appears and hits a belly to belly suplex on Raven. Douglas, Styles and Russo continue to beat down Raven and Brown to end the segment.

Backstage, Goldylocks interviewed Tracy and Veronica. She appreciates what they are doing, but apparently TNA won’t allow them to wrestle men anymore. Anyway, Erik Watts enters and asks if Goldylocks took care of business. Goldylocks says she had been working on it. What is going on there?

Outside, CM Punk approaches Julio Dinero and Alexis Laree about joining the Gathering. Dinero isn’t sure there is a Gathering. Punk says that there will always be a Gathering one day or another.

Second Contest: NWA-TNA X-Division Champion Chris Sabin vs. Paul London: Sabin slaps London and soon takes London over with a standing hurricanrana. London hits one of his own and dropkicks Sabin to the floor. They trade strikes on the apron but Sabin is sent shoulder first into the ring post. London hits a shooting star press off the apron onto Sabin! London gets a near fall back in the ring. Sabin kicks London off the apron to the floor as London attempted to skin the cat. Sabin hits a twisting cross body onto the floor. Sabin catapults London chest first into the guard railing. Sabin counters a top rope cross body with a gut buster but can’t keep London down long enough. London hits a reverse head scissors dropping Sabin on his head. London follows up with a spinning heel kick and dropkick. Paul is on fire and pretends to hit his face on the top turnbuckle. London drives Sabin chest first into the canvas for a near fall. Sabin hits a swinging gut buster but Paul kicks out just before three.

CM Punk comes down to ringside to sit in the corner acting like Raven. London knocks Sabin off the middle rope and hits the shooting star press but can’t followup with the advantage! London stares at Punk and turns around only for Punk to hit the DDT and does Raven’s arm taunt. Mike Tenay is making it seem like Punk wants to be part of the Gathering. Sabin gets the pin following the Future Shock. (***. Yeah, the finish was kind of lame and took focus away from the match, but they had an entertaining match. London hit some nice spots and they meshed well together.)

Backstage, New Jack is interviewed about Mike Sanders but he doesn’t care about him. Shark Boy comes over with a pair of Incredible Hulk fists and they decide to play around with them.

Backstage, Kid Kash is yelling at Abyss inside a cage and thanks him for his help last week and he will need help again tonight.

Third Contest: New Jack vs. Mike Sanders in a Hard Ten match: Sanders attacks Jack from behind with a trash can shot. Sanders tosses several weapons into the ring but Jack is first to use them on Sanders. I’m not going to note every weapon shot as it would just be repetitive. Sanders is leading 6-1 to the surprise of the announcers. Jack misses a running dive off the apron and hits the railing. Jack smashes a wooden board over Sanders groin. Jack places Sanders on a table on the floor and goes to the top but Shark Boy hands Jack Hulk hands. Jack knocks Sanders off the apron with the Hulk hand and wins the match 10-7. (*. This was just your typical New Jack match with some humor at the end.)

Fourth Contest: Jerry Lynn vs. Justin Credible: They don’t waste any time locking up and they trade slaps. Credible works over Lynn in the corner with chops but Lynn gets some himself. Lynn attempts the cradle piledriver but Credible gets out of it and knee lifts Lynn to cut off his offense. Credible flips in the corner onto the apron and clotheslines Lynn. Justin leaps off the top and hits a cross body but Lynn rolls through for a near fall. Credible nails Jerry with a super kick right on the chin for a near fall. Credible looks for the tombstone but Lynn counters. Credible counters the rollup with one of his own and uses the ropes for leverage to win the match. After the match, there seemed to be some confusion but they brawl with Lynn diving over the railing and taking out Credible in the crowd. (*. That was far too quick of a match to really form any kind of judgment on.)

We get an interview involving BG James, Konnan and Ron Killings. They insult each other with stereotypical jokes involving chicken, taco bell and trailer parks. These three are forming an alliance, by the way.

Fifth Contest: Kenzo Suzuki vs. Perry Saturn: Kenzo opens the match dropping Saturn with a clothesline but Saturn quickly comes back with one of his own. Perry works over Kenzo in the corner and plays to the crowd afterward. Kenzo low blows Saturn to avoid a German suplex and hits a back suplex. Kenzo gets a near fall following a vertical suplex. Saturn almost wins following a rollup and barely hits a springboard dropkick. Saturn takes Kenzo over with a t-bone suplex. Saturn loses his footing on a scoop slam and misses a springboard splash. Suzuki hits a spear and a high knee for a near fall. Saturn drops Kenzo with a German suplex for a two count. Saturn drives Kenzo down with a spine buster and heads to the top rope and hits an elbow drop but here comes Justin Credible to attack Saturn with a kendo stick. Jerry Lynn comes in and brawls with Credible as the match is thrown out. (*. Saturn botched several moves in this match and they never got anything substantial going.)

Backstage, AJ Styles says he trusts Vince Russo to find the perfect partner for the tag match later tonight.

Backstage, Christopher Daniels and Elix Skipper attack America’s Most Wanted right before the scheduled tag team title match.

Sixth Contest: NWA-TNA World Tag Team Champions Christopher Daniels & Elix Skipper vs. America’s Most Wanted: Harris and Storm are healthy as they come down to the ring and all four men brawl to kick off the title match. Skipper misses a spin kick and is kicked by Storm for a near fall. Skipper lifts Storm up and Daniels hits an STO! Daniels hits a spinning heel kick on Storm and tags in Skipper who delivers a kick to the midsection and an overhead belly to belly suplex for a near fall. Daniels and Skipper hit a vertical suplex/springboard cross body. Harris hits leaping double clothesline on the champs but is sent to the apron by the referee. Storm fights back dropping the champs with right hands and a clothesline. Harris gets the tag and he cleans house with clotheslines. Harris catches Skipper in the corner to hit a running power slam for another near fall. Harris counters the Play of the Day to hit swinging side slam for a near fall.

Harris misses a splash in the corner and Daniels plants him with the Angels Wings for a near fall. Storm plants Daniels with a power slam for a near fall. Storm is stopped on the top turnbuckle by Daniels. Harris puts Daniels on his shoulders and AMW hit an elevated reverse DDT but Skipper breaks up the cover! Skipper hits a headlock suplex and is sent into the railing by Harris. Daniels slams Storm but misses the BME and is speared by Harris who nearly gets a three count. Skipper nearly rolls Harris up for the win. Low Ki slides the tag title into Daniels who misses Harris and Storm super kicks Daniels! AMW goes for the Death Sentence on Daniels and they hit it! Skipper pulls the referee out of the ring to save the titles. Low Ki has the referee distracted and Skipper hits Storm with the title belt. Daniels covers and wins the match. (***1/2. Talk about a hot crowd wanting a title change and not getting it. The match was nicely done as these two teams are working extremely well together. Triple X going over yet again is perfectly fine as when AMW finally wins the crowd will explode, I’d imagine.)

Mike Tenay interviewed Jerry Jarrett saying that the first year anniversary was a special occasion and that it had been a rocky road. Jerry says the NWA once dominated wrestling and they are looking towards the future. Their association with the NWA gets stronger every month. He believes that Vince Russo is getting frustrated about a lot of things and has developed an obsession. Jerry believes that Russo has the mindset that getting Jeff Jarrett as a friend will help his success. Jerry hopes for Vince that it is not a fatal obsession.

Erik Watts calls out Kid Kash who admits that he beats women. Watts attacks Kash and they brawl around the ringside area. Watts goes to deliver a choke slam but we see on the screen that Abyss has Goldylocks in a cage. Erik runs to the back and kicks the cage but is attacked by Kash from behind.

Main Event: NWA-TNA World Champion AJ Styles & Syxx-Pac vs. Jeff Jarrett & Sting: I believe this is the first appearance for a North American promotion since WCW closed its door in March 2001. All four men are in the ring to start off brawling. Styles and Pac are sent into each other as Sting plays to the crowd and remains in the ring with AJ. Sting no sells a few kicks and elbows Styles. AJ misses a dropkick and Sting puts the Scorpion Death Lock on AJ but the champ reaches the ropes quickly. Sting takes Styles out with a slingshot cross body to the floor. Jarrett runs into a back elbow in the corner while Sting works over Styles on the floor. Pac misses the bronco buster in the corner. Jarrett power bombs Pac and locks in the figure four right in the middle of the ring but Styles breaks it up with a springboard leg drop onto Jarrett. Styles tags in and scoop slams Jarrett followed by a knee drop for a near fall. Styles hits a dropkick on Jarrett and taunts the fans.

Pac enters the match and chops Jarrett before putting a sleeper hold on Double J. Pac nails Jarrett with a spin kick for a two count. Pac scoops slams Jarrett and drops a quick leg onto Jarrett. AJ enters the match to maintain control of the contest. Styles and Jarrett collide in the middle of the ring following a clothesline. Pac gets tagged in but Jarrett makes the tag to Sting who cleans house with right hands. Sting splashes Jarrett in the corner and the same goes for Pac. Sting locks in the Scorpion Death Lock on Styles but Pac whacks Sting over the back with a baseball bat. Styles puts the Scorpion Death Lock on Sting but can’t get a submission. Pac gets tagged in as AJ knocks Jarrett off the apron. Sting drops both Styles and Pac with a double clothesline. Sting hits a Scorpion Death Drop on Styles and a DDT on Pac! Sting tags in Jarrett who dropkicks Styles and the same to Pac. Styles misses a super kick and hits the referee on accident sending him to the floor. Jarrett hits the Stroke on Styles! Vince Russo enters and whacks Jarrett over the back with a bat. Raven runs into the ring and puts his hands on Russo. Raven goes to DDT Styles but Shane Douglas comes down and attacks Raven again! Styles comes off the top but is kicked by Jarrett. Jeff hits a second Stroke but there is no referee. Styles is able to kick out at two while Sting uses a chair on Pac on the floor. Jarrett stops Styles on the middle rope to hit a middle rope Stroke and gets the three count. After the match, Douglas is attacking Raven in the corner and Russo chokes Jarrett with a bat until Sting holds him to allow Jarrett to hit him with the bat. Russo runs away from Sting while Raven sends Douglas to the floor. Jarrett and Raven have a face-off but Sting separates them and raises their arms to signify a unity! (**1/2. A standard tag match between these four guys. Sting’s return was pretty neat and the fans ate it all up. The finish was oddly flat probably because it seemingly took awhile to set it up in the first place. An entertaining way to end the program.)

Final Thoughts:
This was a really good show that highlighted the strength very well. The Sabin/London, tag title match and main event were all good matches and the angle progression involving Douglas/Raven was interesting as well. I think Douglas in TNA is nothing but good and he is usually booked fairly well by Russo. A good show with the memorable return of Sting to competition in North America.

Thanks for reading.