TNA Review By Flea

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MATCH RESULTS

Hangman’s Horror match: Sonjay Dutt d. Raven (fireball, hanging) 

X-Division Title Match: Petey Williams d. Chris Sabin (Canadian Destroyer,
pin – Williams retains)

Best of 3 (2nd Match) XXX d. AMW (Daniels pins Sabin w/ roll-up – series
tied at 1-1)

Alpha Male Monty Brown d. Canadian Truth Killings (Pounce, pin)

NWA Tag Title Match: The Naturals – Douglas /Stevens d. 3 Live Cru – Road
Dogg / Konnan (3 Live Cru DQ’d because of Dusty – Naturals retain) 

Street Fight – A.J. Styles d. Kid Kash (Cradle, pin)


OVERALL SHOW QUALITY:  Tough
one to call this week. 3 really strong matches, but each match was booked to be
self-defeating. Crowd was nowhere to be found (again) and please, no more
letters about how it’s NOISY live but doesn’t translate well to TV. You know
what that means to me? TNA is really the pits if they can’t figure out
how to mic a crowd after two years. But that’s not the case. People just ain’t
cheering…not much anyway. Speaking of Nashville, the light at the end of the
tunnel has been officially confirmed as a train – 

NWA:TNA officials held a meeting with their wrestlers this afternoon…

Breaking the wrestlers up into small groups, management informed them of
the company’s plans from this point forward. As previously reported, the company
will end their weekly Wednesday evening Nashville PPV events after the 9/8 PPV.
They will move the Impact! tapings to Tuesdays starting the week of 9/14 to
allow more time for post-production. Current plans call for the first three hour
PPV to take place on Sunday 11/7, although that date is not confirmed.

TNA wrestlers were also informed that that the promotion would cover their
hotel expenses, starting 9/14.

Despite the fact that they were going down to one payday a week, I was
told that none of the wrestlers spoke up about the situation. I have also heard
that they didn’t have chance to ask questions about the situation, partially
because Jeff Jarrett ended the meeting at 5:30 PM, noting that they had to
prepare for tonight’s PPV event.

Wham, Bam and thank you Ma’am. 

THE MATCHES

Hangman’s Horror match – Sonjay Dutt d.
Raven (fireball, hanging) 

If you don’t read this here, I’m sure
it will be mentioned elsewhere – during the pre-PPV countdown and all the way up
to Raven’s promo, Raven vs. SABU was hyped heavily. Of course, THREE HOURS
before the PPV, it was announced BY
TNA THEMSELVES
,
that Sabu would not be competing due to injury. Raven,
of course, is incredulous, saying that Sabu is faking because he’s a chickenshit.
Raven is also in the mood to to kick someone’s ass, so here comes…Sonjay Dutt?
Yes, it fits into the storyline (at least) but Dutt is hardly someone you would
expect to be in a "Hang by Chain" match. The crowd sides with me on
this one and pretty much "What the Fuck?’s" their way through the
first few minutes…and then something beautiful happens and reconfirms my faith
in not only Raven, but what’s good in the wrestling
business…   

Raven, rightly pissed off that Sabu
backed out of having to do a second job in a row by crying the blues about
"soreness", calls for a Dutt babyface comeback in the middle of the
match and then proceeds to make Dutt look like one million dollars. Selling, to
the point of Hennig-esque ridiculousness and eventually putting the kid over
clean (as clean as a gimmicked match can be, anyway). All in the name of doing
what is right for the business and to rub it in that no-j.o.b.-ing  Sabu.
"Let him cry in alleged pain", howls Raven, post match. "anyone
with cognizant rationality and occularity past the front of their outstretched
index fingers can bear witness to the unprofessional behavior of not only Sabu,
but TNA as a whole". Quote the Raven, eat my shorts. Raven made a star
tonight, but it’s most likely in vain because no one in their right minds would
believe it.

X-Division Title Match – Petey
Williams d. Chris Sabin (Canadian Destroyer, pin)

At least the guys from SabinSection.com
not only got plenty of TV time, but got to see their man in action, in a
good match, for probably one of the last times. Hey guys! What did I tell you
about TNA bailing out of Nashville? 9.8.04 – the end of an error. Please get a
FLEA sign on TV in the next few weeks…or at least GRUT FIRED LANCE STORM!. The
later preferably. Grazi. Good chain wrestling and Indy Standoffishness to start
and then on with the crazy bumps! Gawrdrails($), a wicked DDT by Williams,
perfectly countered a few minutes later by Sabin grabbing the no good Canadian
in a "Razor’s Edge" type maneuver and then running 100mph across the
length of the ring to firmly IMPALE Williams into the top turnbuckle – back of
the neck first. What is wrong with these people? More high impact spots until
Scott D’Amore and his Hockey Stick ruin the match. I take that back…it gets
worse. Dusty waddles out to take umbrage with D’Amore, which distracts the ref,
which allows Williams’s Canadian Brother in Arms Booby Roode to sneak in and
blindside Sabin. The Canadian Destroyer and 1,2,3 ends it. D’Amore and Rhodes
almost get into it… 

ha ha ha – you can have all the Nash’s,
HHH’s HBK’s Russo’s, Undertaker’s, Bischoff’s, Sullivan’s, etc. that you want –
NO ONE can hijack a show / promotion and make himself the center of attention
like Dusty Rhodes. Absolutely disgusting. And to really make a promising evening
turn into rubbish, here comes Vince Russo and his Stupid Fucking Powerwalk to
give Dusty a piece of his mind. Bottom line – Williams and Sabin are suckers for
taking those bumps when the end result is to be overshadowed by a feud that is
as interesting as paint drying on growing grass.    

XXX – Daniels / Prime Time Skipper d.
AMW – Harris / Storm (Daniels pins Sabin w/ roll-up)

Another solid match, but am I missing
something? AMW worked total heel, while Skipper played Ricky Morton (quite well,
by the way) and Daniels used about 13 different "hot babyface
comeback" moves in a two minute time period. Match was good, as is to be
expected by these two teams, but I just don’t understand why you would put AMW,
the 2nd and 3rd biggest babyfaces in the company, in a position to work a basic,
by the book tag match as heels. I’m sure someone can rationalize this, but it
really would have helped the crowd to wake up if they could have gotten behind
and rallied AMW, like they usually do. Maybe it’s because it’s a best 2 out of 3
series and XXX HAD to win this one to send it to Match 3. Of course, XXX could
have used every dirty trick in the book and possibly one or two foreign objects
to do it – definitely BLOOD AND BEATDOWNS – thereby leading to a heated, take no
prisoners 3rd match, with the winner in suspense until the final count is made.
Who is booking this crap?($).    

Alpha Male Monty Brown d. Canadian
Truth Killings (Pounce, pin)

I’ll give Brown credit – he is
dedicating himself to his craft. About 2 years ago, the guy was put into a high
profile slot here, only based on his look and previous football
"legit" experience. That didn’t fare well, so he went to Japan for a
bit and came back – still green green green($), but he has a "presence"
now, especially in his interviews. This is why it would be good if they ran
house shows – even though the "house show" (at least as we know them)
is quickly working it’s way into extinction, just the experience of someone like
Brown working 15-20 minutes 4 nights a week against Jarrett, or better yet Raven
– someone that can show him how to do what and when, would turn this guy into a
Superstar. Canadian Truth was on his way to greatness at one time in WWE, but
got caught up in "entertaining" the crowd by breakdancing before
throwing a punch or kick, bullshit that belongs in the * real * bush leagues,
not just a downgrade to  Total NonStop Action. With all that being
said…Kid Kash interferes, Brown lands the pounce and Truth is out like a
light.  

NWA Tag Title Match: The Naturals – Douglas /Stevens d. 3 Live Cru – Road
Dogg / Konnan (3 Live Cru DQ’d because of Dusty – Naturals retain) 

More Dusty bullshit. Road Dogg managed
to sneak in the old DX intro…still no pop. Yikes.

Street Fight – A.J. Styles d. Kid Kash
(Cradle, pin)

Knock down, drag out brawl, very
intense, which is what I like. It still bothers me to no end that the REF is
bigger than both of these guys, but fortunately most of this was outside the
ring…high spot of the match was a combo fall from the lower tier balcony
though a table. Guess they couldn’t decide which sucker was going to take that
stupid bump, so they both held on to each other and took the plunge together. In
any other situation that would be romantic, but here? Just f*cking stupid.
Finally back in the ring – great series of near falls with AJ sneaking in a
roll-up, much to the chagrin of Kash and his sidekick Dallas, who beat the hell
out of Styles post match. Canadian Truth runs in to even the odds, but Monty
Brown comes in – two Pounces later and the odds are unevened again…here’s Jeff
Harry! Wow! That woke everyone up! And look! Didn’t blow that move, made CONTACT
on his twisting whatever the hell that is and…ummm he still punches like a
girl, but other than that, he finally looked like Jeff Hardy. Great match and
segment, and sweet way to end an otherwise frustrating show.  

THE PROMOS

Earlier in the day, we are told, Mike
Tenay had a chance to catch up with Jeff Jarrett. The burning question? What is
* his * opinion of Russo vs. Dusty? Boy, they never give up, do they? They
finally get around to talking about the upcoming Hardy match as well as
Jarrett’s opinion on another challenger, Alpha Male Monty Brown. Jarrett:
"The Charismatic Enigma and The Charismatic Nigga? It’ll take more than the
both of them to take this belt away…" blah blah blah. I have my doubts he
will lose to either one of them, but 9/8 is the date to see for your own self.
Jarrett vs. Hardy, at least that’s what is advertised. Never know till the bell
rings.  

Alpha Male Monty Brown keeps up the good work and threatens to kill Canadian
Truth, among other people. Moment of The Night: Kid Kash interrupts and tells
Brown he is pissing up a rope with all these threats of murder and promises of
being champeen, cause it’s all about politics. Brown’s reaction when the smarmy
little redneck is giving him the whatfor – tryin to SPLAIN sumpin sumpin – is
absolute classic. I hope they go somewhere with these two…the interaction is
great.       

Michael Shane and Kazarian (w/Tracy)
did a strange interview that can go either way, literally. To prove to Scott
Hudson and the rest of us naysayers that there IS NO FRICTION betwixt the two,
Shane starts of by complementing K’s good looks, flowing hair and all around
"sex appeal" (hmmm….K is looking remarkably like
Antonio Bandares this evening), while K uses his opportunity to crow about how
he and Shane have a" brotherhood" and are "rich women’s lovers
and poor girl’s dreams". Actually, Tully said that last part. Remember
Tully? I do($). You can’t help but pick up the homoerotic undertones, whether
intentional or not. Maybe it’s just because wrestling is pretty goddamn gay to
begin with, who knows. What happens from here is either they break up and feud,
or start wearing dresses, acting queer and get married on the debut of the 3
hour-once-a-month PPV. I guess it depends who is booking at that
time.            

Showing this isn’t all in my head, Big
Vito is the next interview and he questions the manhood of all involved,
including Tracy. No idea what he is yelling about after that, but He’s Mad, He’s
Italian and He’s Russo’s friend. So like it or lump it is the final verdict.
Beware David Young!

THE ANGLES

Most of our time this evening was
wasted by Russo vs. Dusty. Russo thinks Dusty is a f*ck-up for costing all the
Good Guys their matches, while Dusty’s excuse is he is old and set in his ways.
Russo’s method acting resembles Brando post 7.1.04…and he just can’t seem to
make up his mind what to do with Dusty. After all, he did promise him a job for
life, but rules are rules and this whole thing is like a broken record…this
may or may not be coincidence, but this is the longest running feud in TNA right
now…and no one gives a shit. I mean, when Dusty can’t get a crowd pop
threatening a blatant Anti-American (D’Amore with his O’ Canada schtick), then
maybe it’s time to book Sabin vs. Williams for 15 minutes and have a CLEAN
ending. 

I should probably mention the two
hooded individuals who watched the Raven / Dutt match with great interest.
Surfing around for a spoiler, Meltzer says it could be Father Jim Mitchell,
while everyone else believes that it is the "New Church" in one form
or the other. Who are they, you say? Never even mind, that angle just kind of
faded into Stardust, if you get my drift. I’ll put 3-1 odds on the same hooded
figures being there next week, but after that, all bets are off. This angle
looks like another hot potato, waiting to be dropped. 

NEXT WEEK

Shane / K. vs. la Parka and Psychosis

XXX vs. AMW in the final best of 3
match

Vito and David Young will do something,
says Vito

PAGE SIX

Check out the Wrestling Dead Pool at 1ryderfakin.com

Thanks for reading

FLEA

FLEA is an Inside Pulse Original in every sense of the word, from his unique style and viewpoint. You can send any feedback to ryderfakin@yahoo.com, or just type it the comment box below. also but follow FLEA on Twitter @ryderfakin.