Written by: Bob Colling
National Wrestling Alliance/Total Non-Stop Action Weekly PPV #58
Date: 8/20/2003
From: Nashville, TN
The show opens up with Shane Douglas and Raven brawling. CM Punk and Julio Dinero are brewing with Sinn and Slash outside the ring. Raven ended up hitting a DDT on Douglas and addressed the mystery attack he has been dealing with. As Raven mentions him, the lights go out and the mystery man is in the ring and has a noose. The lights go out again and Raven is bloodied along with being hung over the top rope. James Mitchell appeared and had a pair of scissors, but CM Punk and Julio Dinero made the save to end the segment.
Backstage, Jerry Lynn talks about how he loses money every time Don Callis keeps him off the show. Callis tells Lynn he has been fined $5,000 for hitting an official. Lynn is thrown out of the building by security and Callis comments that he will not accept a personal check from Lynn.
Opening Contest: Frankie Kazarian vs. Michael Shane vs. Chris Sabin for the vacant NWA-TNA X-Division Championship in an Ultimate X match: Sabin tries to avoid both Shane and Kazarian by going to the floor but that doesn’t work. Kazarian rams Shane head first into the ring steps but is stopped by Sabin with a kick to the head. Shane stops Sabin from getting on the rope and hits a swinging neck breaker. Kazarian stops Shane as well and hits a swinging neck breaker of his own. Kazarian has Sabin on his shoulders but Shane comes over on the rope and hits a head scissors on Sabin only for Frankie to hit a yakuza kick! Frankie goes across the cable but Sabin stops him and Frankie crashes to the canvas. Shane and Kazarian both go to the cables and attempt to get the title. Sabin hits a springboard dropkick to knock both men off the cable! Sabin whacks Shane over the back with a steel chair and the same for Kazarian to keep control of the match until Shane blocks another chair shot and wedges the chair in the corner.
Sabin rams Shane head first into the chair in the corner and gets the chair kicked into his face by Kazarian! Shane has been busted wide open. Sabin hits a swinging side slam driving Kazarian back first across the chair! Sabin goes to the floor and works over the bloodied Shane. Sabin tries to climb the cable but Shane whacks Sabin with a chair shot to drop him! Kazarian whacks Sabin over the head with a steel chair. The referee calls for the bell because the belt dropped and they have to hang the belt back up. On the floor, Sabin sends Shane into the guard railing. Sabin hits a Samoan Drop on Shane and dropkicks Kazarian at the same time! Sabin dropkicks Kazarian while in a double leg slam and Kazarian still drops Sabin on his head somehow.
Kazarian tries his luck to climb the cable, but Shane kicks Kazarian off. Sabin is on the cable as well and plants Shane with a power bomb! Sabin tries to climb the cable but gets met with a spear from Kazarian, but the belt drops off the cable again. Kazarian knocks Shane off the steel structure and climbs the cable with Sabin. They are trading kicks and they both drop down to the canvas. Frankie and Sabin again climb the cable with Frankie knocking Sabin off but Shane comes out of nowhere and grabs the championship to win the match! (***1/2. Aside from the two times that the title dropped off, which hurt the momentum of the match, this was a really good match and innovative. This performance cements Shane as a credible character in TNA without a doubt. I really enjoyed his performance here.)
Backstage, Sonny Siaki and Trinity arrive with a casket for the burial of D’Lo Brown’s career taking place tonight.
Second Contest: NWA-TNA World Tag Team Champions America’s Most Wanted vs. Simon Diamond & Johnny Swinger in a non-title double bull rope match: All four men are brawling in the ring with Harris tied to Diamond and Storm tied with Swinger. Harris and Diamond quickly go to the floor to brawl with Storm and Swinger not far behind them. Harris uses the bullrope to clothesline Diamond on the floor. Storm scoop slams Swinger on the outside while Harris chokes Diamond with the bull rope and drags him around ringside. AMW hit the Hart Attack on Swinger but only get a near fall. Harris hits the Catatonic on Diamond but doesn’t go for the cover. Glen Gilbertti enters the ring and plants Harris with a stunner. Diamond recovers and goes for the cover but only gets a two count. Diamond works over Harris while Swinger controls Storm on the floor. Swinger has removed the protective padding on the floor to hit Storm with a snap suplex on the concrete!
Swinger continues to choke Storm while Diamond chokes Harris in the ring. Diamond and Swinger attempt an elevated reverse DDT but Storm recovers to super kick Swinger and saves Harris. AMW is fighting back with strikes and send Diamond and Swinger into each other. Harris yanks Diamond shoulder first into the steel structure but Diamond returns the favor. Diamond accidentally hits Swinger with a steel chair from the floor but Storm only gets a two count on the cover! Swinger low blows Storm to stop the momentum of Storm. Diamond drops Harris throat first across the top rope but Storm uses the bull rope to low blow Swinger. Harris spears Diamond off the apron to the floor! AMW attempts the Death Sentence but Gilbertti yanks Harris off the top to the floor! Swinger has the tag title and nails Storm to get the three count. (***. An enjoyable brawl between these two teams. It’s a much needed victory for Diamond and Swinger since if they were to lose they wouldn’t be credible contenders any longer. However, the victory can extend the feud longer. They work a good brawling style together and didn’t seem limited by the bull rope stipulation.)
Backstage, Julio Dinero lets us know that Raven has been severely injured and wanted the New Church right now in a tag match. Shane Douglas and the New Church enter the scene and a brawl breaks out until security enters the scene.
Sonny Siaki and Trinity make their way down to the ring with the casket already at ringside. As Siaki reads a eulogy, D’Lo Brown comes out of the casket and attacks Siaki! Brown takes care of Trinity slamming her onto the casket with Siaki going on top of it, too. Brown put them both in the casket and stood not eh casket. Siaki and Trinity are rolled to the backstage area.
Backstage, Legend and Christopher Daniels are interviewed. Legend is sorry that he is going to have to beat up the local legends in Jeff Jarrett and Erik Watts tonight. Daniels says the fans rejected him and now they will pay for it. Daniels says that Watts will need to “pay for the sins of his father.”
Third Contest: CM Punk & Julio Dinero vs. Slash & Sinn: Slash is double teamed in the ring after Sinn was taken care off on the floor. Punk backdrops Dinero over the top to take out Sinn and Punk hits a suicide dive as well. Slash is kicked into the air and Sinn is knocked off the apron again. Sinn pulls the top rope down to cause Punk to crash over the top to the floor. Punk is hung upside down over the ropes and Slash dropkicks Punk off the apron. Punk gets worked over by the New Church but kicks out of pin attempts. Slash drives Punk down to the canvas with a delayed vertical suplex. Punk tries to make the tag but is unable to tag in Dinero. Punk drops Sinn with an arm trapped clothesline and hits a clothesline on Slash. Dinero gets the hot tag and cleans house with kicks followed by a bulldog on Slash and a swinging neck breaker on Sinn. Sinn drops Dinero with a super kick but Punk enters the match only to have powder thrown in his face and Sinn hits a middle rope power bomb for a near fall. Dinero clotheslines both Sinn and Slash and hits the Near Death Experience on Sinn for a near fall. Slash hits a suplex on Punk sending him into the corner. Alexis Laree kicks the middle rope to low blow James Mitchell. Laree hits a tornado DDT on Slash! Dinero hits a full nelson swinging slam on Slash but Shane Douglas nails Dinero with a steel chain and Slash pins Dinero. (*1/2. There were a few fun spots in the match, but I didn’t really care for the action nor this part of the feud. The main focus is on Douglas/Raven, which is what I care about.) After the match, Shane Douglas hits a belly to belly suplex on Alexis Laree and cuts some of her hair off.
Erik Watts had a sit down interview with Mike Tenay earlier in the day. Watts says that h wis the director of authority because the company wants someone young and someone who wouldny play favorites. Watts says he represents the NWA part of the company while Don Callis represents the TNA side of the company. Watts says that when in another company with Jeff Jarrett, he wasn’t helped at all. Erik admits to settling things wrong the first time around he was in the company when it came to Jarrett. That would be why he was on Xplosion for several months. He learned his lessons and owes it to Jeff Jarrett. Watts finishes off saying that he thinks Callis is in cahoots with Vince Russo and NWA-TNA World Champion AJ Styles.
We get footage from poolside of Vince Russo and NWA-TNA World Champion AJ Styles. Russo is trying to get a tan, but it is night time when the segment was shot. Styles said that he would defeat the winner of the gauntlet match on next weeks show and dives into the pool while Russo was proud of the champion.
Fourth Contest: Christopher Daniels & Legend vs. Jeff Jarrett & Erik Watts: All four men are brawling on the floor with the heels being sent into the guard railing. Watts leaps over the railing and takes out Legend with a cross body into the crowd. Jarrett and Daniels are brawling into the crowd as well. Jarrett tosses a chair into Daniels face while Legend and Watts are trading strikes. They get back into the ring where Jarrett drops Daniels with a standing dropkick. Legend comes in and tries to attack from behind but fails at that. Legend drop toe holds Jarrett across the knees of Daniels. Legend and Jarrett trade strikes until Legend hits a clothesline for a two count. Jarrett is met with a big boot from Legend in the corner and Daniels hits a heel kick to maintain control of the match. Jarrett backdrops Daniels and atomic drops Legend. Watts gets tagged but the referee didn’t see it. Legend and Daniels hit a side slam/neck breaker combo on Jarrett.
Daniels gets a near fall on Jarrett following a moonsault. Jarrett fights out of the corner and tags in Watts again but the referee didn’t see it. Legend has Jarrett lifted up to allow Daniels to hit an ace crusher. Watts remains in the ring hitting two bicycle kicks on the heels. Legend prevents Watts from choke slamming Daniels. Watts power bombs Legend into the corner and plants Daniels with a choke slam for a near fall. Watts hits a backwards dropkick off the top to hit Legend but Daniels stops Watts with a kick to the head. Jarrett plants Daniels with a spine buster for a near fall. Daniels drops Jarrett with an STO and signals for the BME, but Jarrett moves out of the way. Legend super kicks Jarrett to prevent the Stroke but Daniels still can’t pin Jarrett. Jarrett randomly rolls Legend up and wins the match. (*1/4. The ending seemed to be a little messy and the match wasn’t all great, but it could have been a lot worse.) After the match, Legend attacks Watts and Jarrett with a steel chair. Security enters the ring and stops the attack. The black and red shirt security begin to brawl with each other. Daniels is attacking Jarrett on the floor as Jerry Lynn comes in and attacks the red shirt security until Lynn is stopped by a clothesline. Legend and Daniels drop Watts throat first across the guard railing. Two people wearing Freddy and Jason masks handcuff Watts to the railing. The masked guys enter the ring and kick Jarrett followed by the Styles Clash. Yeah, so Jason is actually AJ Styles and Freddy is Vince Russo.
Vince Russo remained in the ring and said that there would be no title shot for Jarrett and he wouldn’t compete in the gauntlet match either! Daniels, Legend and Styles hit a triple power bomb to put Jarrett through a table. They toss Jarrett into the back of the hearse and drive off with Jarrett in the back.
Next week, Dusty Rhodes will finish his business with Glen Gilbertti in a bull rope match.
Fifth Contest: Lucky 13 Gauntlet Match:
Order Of Elimination:
Sonny Siaki was eliminated by D’Lo Brown
Ron Killings was eliminated by Abyss
Kid Kash was eliminated by Abyss
Sandman was eliminated by Abyss and Legend
Legend was eliminated by Konnan
Abyss was eliminated by a bloodied and bandaged Raven
Konnan was eliminated by Christopher Daniels
D’Lo Brown was eliminated by Christopher Daniels
Christopher Daniels was eliminated by Raven. That leaves just Raven and Douglas in the finals.
Main Event: Shane Douglas vs. Raven finals of the gauntlet: Douglas is not thrilled about being left with Raven. They begin to trade strikes with Raven hitting a clothesline to send Douglas over the top to the floor. Raven drops Douglas throat first across the top and Douglas nails Raven with a steel chair for a near fall. Raven drop toe holds Douglas face first onto a steel chair. Raven gets an inside cradle for a two count but Douglas recovers to clothesline Raven. Raven gets another inside cradle and is met with another clothesline. Douglas attempts the belly to belly suplex but Raven head butts out of the move and plants Douglas with the Evenflow DDT to win the match and is the new number one contender! (*1/2. Raven needs to be the champion and it should have already happened. I’d say it was a suitable ending to the show with Raven finally getting some positive momentum against Douglas.)
Final Thoughts:
I thought it was a really good show this week. Ultimate X was pretty good and the bullrope tag match was a fun brawl. Raven going for the gold has my interest for next week as I hope he wins the strap sooner rather than later. He is by the far the most entertaining performer in TNA.
Thanks for reading.