The History Of S.E.X In TNA

Written by: Bob Colling

On November 20th, 2002, Jeff Jarrett won the NWA World Championship from Ron Killings after a hard fought match. Jarrett had some help by the mysterious Mr. Wrestling III, who had been appearing for a few weeks prior to the title match. After the match, Mr. Wrestling unmasked and was revealed to be former WWE/WCW head writer, Vince Russo.

Russo is anti-NWA and everything that the company stands for. He hates “traditional rasslin” and heavily favors sports entertainment. It wouldn’t take long for Russo to make that very clear as at the end of 2002, Russo revealed a new group take out the NWA and overtake the company. The name of the group, as you can tell, was called Sports Entertainment (e)Xtreme. The group officially formed on December 18th with Christopher Daniels, Elix Skipper, Low Ki, Ron Harris, Don Harris, BG James, Sonny Siaki and David Flair. AJ Styles took part in a beatdown on Jarrett, but insisted he wasn’t part of the stable.

The NWA World Championship holds power and it was something that Russo and his group didn’t have. Russo would often remind fans that he was good friends with Jeff Jarrett and would continually recruit Jarrett to join them and change the wrestling business forever.

Heading into 2003, Jarrett refused to be part of S.E.X and as a result would wrestle all three members of Triple X in the main event on the 1/8 PPV. Jarrett managed to prevail over all three men and was attacked again by Styles. The show also featured Dusty Rhodes appearing and the Road Warriors to help NWA against S.E.X. Mike Sanders also officially joined SEX on the show.

On the 1/15 PPV, S.E.X. continued to be heavily featured. Russo and his members would attack Percy Pringle with a literal soap box and leave the legend bleeding. On the same show, Russo would team with Triple X to take on Jarrett, Dusty and the Road Warriors in the main event. S.E.X was able to win after a masked Mr. Wrestling IV got involved and helped Elix Skipper pin Rhodes. The masked man unmasked and it was Nikita Koloff. Koloff joined S.E.X to spit in the face of tradition.

Since winning the tag match on 1/15, that meant that S.E.X. controlled the title matches for 1/22. As a result, Triple X won the NWA Tag Team Championships from America’s Most Wanted. Sonny Siaki easily retained the NWA X-Division Championship over Chris Vaughn and Athena. However, the group again failed to win the NWA World Championship from Jarrett despite having the match be a handicap match with BG James, Christopher Daniels and Don Harris failing to win the title.

Despite not winning the title, S.E.X ended the show with momentum as Raven made his TNA debut following his WWE departure. Raven attacked Jarrett and stole the NWA World Championship.

The 1/29 PPV started off with a heated brawl between Raven and Jarrett, but Jarrett was unable to regain possession of the championship. AJ Styles continued to insist that he’s not part of S.E.X and was in fact part of nothing as he was on his own. The Rock n’ Roll Express made their debut and turned their back on tradition and America’s Most Wanted by hitting them with chairs. Tony Schiavone made his TNA debut and insulted commentator Mike Tenay in a lengthy segment. Schiavone would not appear again on TNA television. Rock n’ Roll Express would win a tag match against AMW in the main event. The possession of the NWA World Championship continued to change as AJ Styles stole the belt after Raven and Jarrett were laid out in the ring to close the show.

At the start of the 2/5 PPV, S.E.X appeared wearing army clothes and attacked Jarrett and abducted the champion. At the end of the show, Russo thought that he managed to get Jarrett to join the faction, but in reality, Jarrett switched places with Gilbertti and proceeded to attack Russo to end the show. After the show went off the air, S.E.X brutally whipped Jarrett with leather straps.

On the 2/12 PPV, JJ Dillon and the Sandman made their debuts to assist against S.E.X. NWA X-Division Champion, the most successful out of everybody, Sonny Siaki lost the championship to Kid Kash. At the end of the show, Raven defeated Sandman in the main event and S.E.X continued to attack Jarrett. Styles, who is still not part of the group, nailed Jarrett with the Styles Clash onto a chair.

Jarrett would defend the NWA World Championship on 2/19 against Styles, who would be seen with Vince Russo in the parking lot at the start of the show. Russo was assuring Styles that he’d help him win the championship. Jarrett managed to retain after a middle rope Stroke, but after the match Russo appeared on the big screen in his car saying he was going to have a conversation with Jarrett’s family.

On 2/26 PPV, Raven and Styles are arguing over who would be the top guy for S.E.X as Styles revealed he’d finally sign with the group. Russo was also on the show wearing Dustin Rhodes WCW ring jacket and promised that Jarrett would join the faction. Jarrett teased wearing a SEX shirt, but at the end of the show a video of Russo’s kids complaining about how bad a father Russo was played on the big screen. Jarrett ended up attacking Russo until the new group of Erik Watts, David Flair and Brian Lawler attacked Jarrett with Watts chokeslamming Jarrett through a table.

The following week on 3/5, Russo talked with Mike Tenay and revealed that the video had struck a nerve with him and helped him realize he needed to go home and be a father. Sonny Siaki is trying to become the leader, but isn’t have much success in rallying the troops.

On 3/12, D’Lo Brown made his debut for the company and was courted by SEX to join the group. D’Lo was promised a title shot and that with SEX he’d win the championship. D’Lo responded by slamming Siaki and declining the offer because he’s his own man in TNA. Siaki got some revenge by attacking D’Lo in the parking lot later on. Mike Sanders lost to Jim Duggan in embarrassing fashion.

Glen Gilbertti continued to try and recruit D’Lo Brown to join SEX on 3/19. Gilbertti tried to use their mutual friendship with Russo as a reason to join the faction. SEX continued to be embarrassed by Duggan and his partner Moondog Spot when they lost to the two legends. AJ Styles was cost the number one contenders match against Raven in a ladder match. Raven is the number one contender to NWA World Champion Jeff Jarrett.

AJ Styles didn’t take the screw job very well and on 3/26, Styles stormed into the SEX locker room with a chainsaw. Styles won a match against Mike Sanders and effectively ended his association with SEX. Gilbertti revealed that D’Lo Brown would be getting a title shot next week against Jeff Jarrett and would join SEX following the victory. For the last several weeks, Triple X and the Harris Brothers had been involved in hardcore matches with the New Church and lost a Sadistic Madness this week.

SEX wouldn’t gain possession on 4/2 because D’Lo Brown failed to win the NWA World Championship from Jeff Jarrett. On 4/9, Mike Barton joined SEX and lost to Saturn by submission. AJ Styles won a singles match against Glen Gilbertti. David Young turned on Athena and joined SEX. Raven successfully gets in NWA World Champion Jeff Jarrett’s head when at the end of the show they had a confrontation and that led to Jarrett accidentally hitting Dusty Rhodes with a chair over the head.

4/16 was a good week for SEX. Raven was victorious over D’Lo Brown. Glen Gilbertti earned a shocking win over AJ Styles in a street fight after hitting the Last Dance on a chair. David Young picked up the biggest win of his TNA career by pinning James Storm. Raven’s followers Alexis Laree and Julio Dinero defeated NWA World Champion Jeff Jarrett in a Clockwork Orange House of Fun match in the main event. Daniels and Skipper did lose the NWA Tag Team Championships to Jerry Lynn and Amazing Red. Plus, Sanders failed to win the X-Title from Amazing Red.

4/23 saw Raven have a surprise in store for NWA World Champion Jeff Jarrett. It was revealed at the end of the show that Raven had recruited Team Extreme (Credible, New Jack, Sandman and Saturn) to be on his side as he challenges for the title next week. They wrapped Jarrett in barbed wire and powerbombed Jarrett through a table. Triple X also won a tag match against America’s Most Wanted.

4/30 Glenn Gilbertti isn’t happy about Raven ditching SEX to join with Team Extreme as their goal has been to win the NWA World Championship since the beginning. Neither group actually knows where Raven aligns with. D’Lo & Styles won a tag match against Siaki and Young. In the highly anticipated main event, Jeff Jarrett retained the NWA World Championship over Raven after a lot of interference.

5/7 Styles and Brown continue to win as a tag team defeating Elix Skipper and Low Ki. Christopher Daniels regained the NWA Tag Team Championships from Jerry Lynn and Amazing Red in a handicap match by disqualification when Lynn got disqualified. In the main event, Glen Gilbertti defeated Sabu to become the number one contender after they were the final two in a battle royal. Gilbertti will have a chance to win the NWA World Championship for SEX.

5/14 Jarrett believes that Gilbertti wants the title for power and to present a different product. Triple X defeated Styles and Brown to retain the titles and SEX left all the babyfaces laying with Gilbertti enjoying every minute of it.

5/21 Gilbertti has a State of TNA address and believes that Vince Russo should be back in NWA. Gilbertti wants to erase the NWA and replace it with SEX. Gilbertti believes he knows what the fans want in the future. Amazing Red attacked Raven to end the show and put Raven through a table.

5/28 Jarrett wants to settle his issues with Raven and Raven wants it in the Clockwork Orange, but Jarrett is given a suspension letter during the segment. BG James returned and was associated with TNA and not SEX. Vince Russo returned in the main event hitting Raven with a baseball bat allowing Gilbertti to win the match.

6/5, Gilbertti gets his chance to win the NWA World Championship and gets screwed by Vince Russo when Russo hits Gilbertti with a baseball bat allowing Jarrett to win the match.

6/11 Gilbertti doesn’t know why Russo did what he did, but thinks Russo is jealous because Gilbertti brought SEX to another level. All Gilbertti has ever done is praised Russo, so he doesn’t understand it. In the main event, Russo helped AJ Styles defeat Jeff Jarrett in a triple threat match involving Raven to win the NWA World Championship by hitting Jarrett with a guitar. This would appear to be a heel turn for Styles.

On 6/25 it’s revealed that Vince Russo stripped SEX of their name because he owned the name and thus ended the SEX group.

What are your memories of SEX in TNA?

Thanks for reading.