Total Non-Stop Action presents Xplosion
Date: 5/3/2003
From: Nashville, TN
MATCH #1: MIKE AWESOME VS. CLIFF COMPTON
NOTE: Cliff Compton would go on to be known as Domino in WWE for a bit.
FINISH: Awesome wins following the running Awesome Bomb.
Bob’s Take: Compton may be the one of the best looking enhancement guys to appear on Xplosion to this point from a physical standpoint. Compton could easily pull off a male model gimmick at this point in his career. Awesome takes out Compton with a top rope clothesline to the floor, which gets a rare ‘TNA’ chant on Xplosion. Awesome hit a top rope splash, but Compton kicked out, which the fans didn’t like. I am stunned by how much Compton is getting on this show. Awesome may have been better just winning with the splash off the top. Regardless, Awesome was entertaining here.
Match Rating: *1/2
Jeremy Borash and Bert Prentice are hosts for Xpolsion and they discuss the match between NWA World Champion Jeff Jarrett and Raven. Desire enters the scene and is annoyed by Trinity being on the cover of a newspaper. Desire believes Trinity looks like a man.
MAIN EVENT: KONNAN & RON KILLINGS VS. FUTURE SHOCK (BRANDON P & JAY FREEZE)
FINISH: Killings hit a front suplex and Konnan gets a submission with the Tequila Sunrise to win the match at the same time.
Bob’s Take: Brandon P looked pretty good in the match hitting a nice reverse DDT at one point, which popped the crowd. However, right after that happened Killings and Konnan got a pin and submission at the same time. TNA loves doing stereo finishes for tag matches on Xplosion. Future Shock would be a fun team to use on a regular basis to put guys over, or at least Brandon P.
Match Rating: *
The remainder of the show focuses on the match between NWA World Champion Jeff Jarrett and Raven. Jarrett retained the title and the crowd was not thrilled by this direction.
Final Thoughts:
An average episode despite only two matches on the show. The issue between Jarrett and Raven was a major angle and probably the best business they had done to this point, so even that being a major focus on the show was fine by me. I left this show also hoping for Mike Awesome to get a much bigger push because he’s very enjoyable.
Thanks for reading.