A2Z Analysiz – TNA Turning Point 2004 (America’s Most Wanted, Triple X)

PPVs, Reviews, Wrestling DVDs

turning point 04

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Universal Studios – Orlando, Florida – December 5, 2004

Intros

The opening video focuses on the six-man tag team match featuring the Kings of Wrestling against Randy Savage, Jeff Hardy, and AJ Styles. Yeah, remember when Macho Man was in TNA? Mike Tenay and Don West are calling the action. They hype the X-Division Title match, the Steel Cage match, and the six-man tag team match.

MATCH #1: NWA World Tag Team Title Match – BG James & Ron Killings vs. Eric Young & Bobby Roode

The 3Live Kru have been the champions since 11.7.04, and this is their first defense. Konnan actually won the belts with BG, but he is injured so Ron Killings is allowed to take his place. Team Canada is accompanied by Coach Scott D’Amore. Young and James start the match. The champions dominate in the early going, doing all the usual stuff they do. Killings lets Young make a tag for some reason. Roode doesn’t fare much better. Finally the challengers cut Killings off and go to work on him. That doesn’t last too long before James gets the hot tag. Roode perseveres and hits James with a spinebuster for two. The Kru hits a double-team maneuver but D’Amore distracts the referee so there’s no count. James goes for the Pumphandle Slam but Johnny Devine sneaks in behind the referee’s back and hits James with the hockey stick, allowing Roode to get the pin and regain the titles at 8:31. That was an adequate opener and a good choice to get the belts off the Kru.
Rating: **

MATCH #2: Hector Garza, Sonny Siaki & Sonjay Dutt vs. Matt Bentley, Kazarian & Kid Kash

The main feud here is between Kid Kash and Sonjay Dutt, and is a direct result of the way Kash treated Superfly Jimmy Snuka. Kazarian and Matt Bentley are accompanied by Traci. They give away the big match right off the bat, as Kash and Dutt start the match and don’t get much of a reaction. Everyone else gets a chance as well, as neither team can gain a sustained advantage. Traci interferes to help out her team. Now Kash, Kazarian, and Bentley work together on Dutt’s left arm while keeping him isolated in their half of the hexagon. After several minutes Dutt hits Kazarian with a double springboard hurricanrana and makes the tag to Garza! The captain of Team Mexico is en fuego here. Garza hits Kazarian with a moonsault but Kash and Bentley break it up and the referee loses control. Traci tries to interfere but accidentally hits Kazarian with the Pie in the Sky. Garza then follows up with the Tornillo to get the pin at 11:00. That was classic tag team formula stuff and good work from all involved (even Kash), but it just lacked a spark to really get the crowd involved.
Rating: **¾

MATCH #3: Serengeti Survival Match – Abyss vs. Monty Brown

This match can be won by pinfall, submission or throwing your opponent into a pile of tacks. Brown comes out with a microphone and challenges Abyss to start the match in the aisle. Abyss does exactly that and away we go. Brown is the aggressor but Abyss fights back and goes after the injured ribs. They take the battle into the ring and Abyss stays in control using his size advantage. Abyss uses a steel chair to further injure the ribs. He follows up with a chair-assisted Earthquake Splash for a two-count. When the Monster tries another Earthquake Splash he lands on the chair and Brown follows up with a vicious chair shot to the head. Brown delivers a running powerslam onto the chair and then goes for the Pounce but Abyss counters with a Black Hole Slam for two! Abyss sets up a chair in one of the corners but Brown reverses the momentum and slams Abyss’s head into it! This time Brown connects with the Pounce, knocking Abyss to the floor. Back in the ring it gets a two-count, so the Alpha Male goes for another Pounce but Abyss moves and he crashes through a table that had been previously set up. Both men roll to the floor and grab a bag of tacks. The table bump sure didn’t keep Brown down for too long. Abyss sets up for a Chokeslam but Brown avoids it and pulls the Monster’s shirt off. Brown goes for a powerbomb but Abyss reverses to an attempt of his own, and Brown reverses that to an Alabama Slam to get the win at 12:17. That was a fun hardcore brawl, and a reminder that Abyss used to be awesome. I miss Monty Brown.
Rating: ***

MATCH #4: The New York Connection vs. Pat Kenney & Johnny B. Badd

Jacqueline is the special referee for this very important tag team match. The New York Connection is Johnny Swinger and a bloated Glenn Gilberti. Kenney is the “Empire Saint” right now, but when he was known as Simon Diamond he was an NWA Tag Team Champion with Swinger. Speaking of the former champions, they start the match brawling with each other. Badd and Gilberti tag in and that doesn’t go well for the former Disco Inferno. Kenney and Badd work Gilberti over, but some chicanery by the NYC allows them to take advantage of the Empire Saint. After several minutes the hot tag is made and Jacqueline loses control. Gilberti shoves Jacqueline out of the way so Jacqueline fights back and bodyslams him. Badd follows up with the TKO for the pin at 8:00. Get that back on Impact where it belongs please now please now.
Rating: *¼

MATCH #5: Raven vs. Diamond Dallas Page

Erik Watts joins Tenay and West for commentary. DDP attacks right away and it’s an old man brawl from the get-go. He is all over Raven and even takes referee Rudy Charles out of the picture with a boot to the face. A steel chair is also used, so this is pretty much a Raven’s Rules match. They take the fight to the floor and brawl through the Impact Zone. Eventually they make it back to the ring and Raven takes over on offense for a good long while. Two cloaked men come out and surround ringside as Raven hits the Raven Effect. DDP kicks out at two. Erik Watts comes in and beats up the two guys in cloaks, and then turns on DDP with a clothesline. Tenay and West sell this like a big deal but I have no idea what this feud was about anymore, so meh. Watts tries a Chokeslam but DDP kicks him low and hits a Diamond Cutter to take him out. Moments later DDP hits Raven with the Diamond Cutter to get the pin at 12:02. These two had good chemistry years prior to this in WCW, but they were just too far past their primes in 2004 to make anything worthwhile, and adding Erik Watts certainly didn’t help matters.
Rating: *¾

MATCH #6: TNA X-Division Title Match – Petey Williams vs. Chris Sabin

Williams has been the champion since 8.11.04, and this is his fourth defense. He’s accompanied by Coach D’Amore. Sabin almost hits an early Cradle Shock so Williams takes a powder to regroup. The break does him good, as he’s able to avoid the Cradle Shock and dump Sabin to the floor. That ends up backfiring though, as Sabin wipes the champ out with a flying forearm from the pit area. They go back to the ring and Williams cuts Sabin off and gets a breather. Williams distracts the referee so D’Amore can get his shots in. The champ focuses his attack on the neck, which is wise given his finisher. Williams goes up top but Sabin runs up and delivers a super belly-to-belly suplex and both men are down. They rise to their feet and slug it out. Sabin wins the battle with an enziguiri and follows up with a Liger Bomb but it only gets two! He dumps Williams to the floor and then follows him out with a somersault dive off the top rope. Back in the ring Sabin gets a two-count. Williams comes back with the Canadian Legsweep and tries the Canadian Destroyer but can’t connect so he locks on a Sharpshooter instead. Sabin has to reach the ropes to break the hold. They fight up on the top rope and Sabin hits an Alley-Oop and then a huge piledriver but Williams kicks out! Sabin goes for Cradle Shock but D’Amore interferes to distract the challenger and the referee. Williams then grabs a pair of brass knuckles and drills Sabin in the face to get the win at 18:11. That was a great back and forth for both guys but the finish was just lazy.
Rating: ***¾

The Kings of Wrestling

This is about a two-and-a-half minute video package about one of TNA’s more desperate attempts to recreate the nWo. It was bad.

MATCH #7: Jeff Hardy, AJ Styles & Randy Savage vs. Kevin Nash, Scott Hall & Jeff Jarrett

Jarrett is the current NWA World Champion. Randy Savage is questionable due to the Kings’ attack on him earlier tonight. Styles and Jarrett start the match for their teams. It starts as a handicap match, as Tenay and West are pretty much saying Savage isn’t going to be there. Hall and Nash are wrestling in Elvis-type jumpsuits. Styles specifically wants to fight Nash, but that doesn’t go that well for him at first. Hardy tags in and has much better luck with Nash. That doesn’t last long before Nash cuts him off and the Kings go to work. Styles makes a hot tag and goes for the Styles Clash but Jarrett counters and pushes Styles towards the ropes, where Nash takes a cheap shot to reclaim the advantage. Jarrett and Styles collide in the middle of the ring and both men are down. Hardy gets the hot tag and hits Jarrett with the Whisper in the Wind, and takes out Hall and Nash as well. Jarrett comes back and tries the Stroke but Hardy fights it off and hits the Twist of Fate. Nash pulls the referee to the floor to break up the count, and while Hardy is on the top rope Hall hits him with a guitar, but in a pretty cool spot Hardy falls like the Swanton and still hits Jarrett. Styles takes out Nash with a dropkick and wipes Hall out with a dive. Savage finally makes his way out, looking all old. He tags in and unloads with punches on all three Kings. The good guys lock the Kings in triple sleepers. Jarrett slips out and tries a sunset flip but Savage delivers the weakest punch of all-time and sits down for the pin at 17:55. That was a standard tag team match with good work from Styles and Hardy, but they tacked on a brutally awful looking finish that made the whole thing look bush league.
Rating: **¼

Cookie Gate

This was a brutally stupid video featuring Shane Douglas, Traci Brooks, BG James, Konnan, Ron Killings, and Abyss, when they went and tried to invade a WWE show in Orlando. BG says mahi-mahi about a thousand times.

MATCH #8: Steel Cage Match – America’s Most Wanted vs. Triple X

The losing team will have to disband forever. These two teams had a fantastic cage match back in June of 2003 for the NWA Tag Team Titles, but this is on an even bigger scale. Looks like tag rules will apply, as Christopher Daniels and James Storm start the match. It doesn’t take long for Chris Harris and Elix Skipper to tag in. They all go back and forth without anyone taking sustained control in the opening minutes. Daniels is the first one to be busted open, but even so Triple X takes the first advantage on Harris. Triple X gets some handcuffs and lock Harris in the corner while they beat Storm unmercifully. Daniels uses the key as a weapon, further taunting Harris while his partner suffers. Storm and Harris are both busted open now as well. After several minutes Storm makes a desperate comeback and knocks the key off Daniels’s neck! Storm gives the key to Harris and the Wildcat unlocks himself! Now it’s Harris’s turn to unleash offensive fury. Storm is fired up by his partner being back and AMW is rolling. Triple X fights back and the referee has decided that tags are no longer necessary. Daniels and Skipper hit Harris with the Death Sentence but it only gets two! Skipper goes to the top of the cage and Storm takes him down with a powerbomb from the top of the cage! Amazingly that only gets two. Daniels and Harris climb to the top of the cage and Harris knocks him down. Skipper goes up there as well as the crowd chants “Please Don’t Die,” and he walks across the top of the cage to deliver the rana! That is one of the most incredible things I’ve ever seen in wrestling. Daniels then follows with an elbow from the top of the cage and all four men are down. Storm and Daniels battle back up top and that leads to a big Tower of Doom spot with Daniels taking the worst landing. The battle continues and all four men are looking worse for wear. Harris finds the handcuffs and hooks Daniels to the top rope now. Storm blasts Skipper with a Superkick and then AMW hits Skipper with the Power Plex to get the win at 21:05. Not only is that match memorable for the awesome Skipper spot at the top of the cage, but it was a well structured and intense tag team cage match. This is one of, if not the best, tag team match in TNA history and absolutely the 2004 TNA Match of the Year.
Rating: ****¾

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