Evening everyone. I’m Tom Pandich. You might remember me from such previous Pay Per View coverages as Halloween Havoc 94 and WWF In Your House Night of the Taker. Tonight though, I’m here to write you through TNA’s Destination X 2006 which has a jam packed card. The card for tonight’s show is as follows:
NWA World Heavyweight Title
Christian Cage vs. The Alpha Male Monty Brown
X-Division Title
Ultimate X Match
Samoa Joe vs. AJ Styles vs Christopher Daniels
Jeff Jarrett, AMW, and Abyss vs. Rhyno, Team 3D, and the Truth
Kip & BG James and Bullet Bob Armstrong vs. the Latin American Exchange (Konnan, Homicide, & Machete)
International X Division Showcase
Lance Hoyt vs. Matt Bentley
Team Canada vs The Naturals
Alex Shelly vs Jay Lethal
(pre show match) The Prince of Punk vs. Cassidy Riley
(pre show match) The Diamonds In The Rough (Skipper & Young) vs. Shark Boy & Norman Smiley
All of this plus Steve “Sting” Borden’s return and a ton more surprises. Keep it tuned here all night as I’ll be keeping you posted on all the big action that Destination X promises.
Pre-Show
My cable box crapped out and I didn’t see it. Yay. Shannon Moore and the Diamonds in the Rough won though in case you’re wondering.
The Main Show
The Pay Per View starts out with the excellent Sting/Jarrett video. Fireworks and we’re ready to roll.
Alex Shelly vs Jay Lethal: Rising Star vs Silly Beret
The crowd is solidly behind Jay Lethal. Alex Shelly looks as doofy as ever. Shelly starts out with a hammer lock which Lethal counters until they go to a neutral position. Lethal and Shelly lock up again and we get some great mat based wrestling. Lethal bridges Shelly but Shelly breaks out of it. The two go upside down and slap each other in the face. This is followed by a series of hip tosses and then sweeps. The two give each other a star of respect.
Back and forth action leads to Lethal hitting a running cross body off of the second rope. Lethal rolls to the apron and Shelly charges. Lethal hits Shelly with a head butt in the mid-section and goes over the top to hit a hurricanerana. Shelly bails but Lethal hits him with a suicide dive. Lethal rolls Shelly back in and gets two.
Shelly gets an eye poke to take over. He hits an enziguri and puts Lethal into a body scissors/half nelson. Shelly rolls Lethal over for two and slaps on a side headlock. Shelly hits another enziguri. Lethal makes an attempt at some offense but eats a big clothesline for two. Shelly tries for a Lionsault that misses. Lethal gets up and hits a wonderful neck breaker to high hip toss to a drop kick for two. Lethal tries for a fisherman’s suplex which gets two. Lethal heads to the top, but Shelly catches him. Super inverted atomic drop off the top gets two. Lethal is down, but only for a bit. He takes out Shelly and hits a flying headbutt off the top for two. Shelly is brought up, gets an elbow, and hits Sliced Bread #2. 1, 2, 3. The crowd is upset at Shelly’s win, but that was a pretty great match.
Winner: Alex Shelly
Jeremy Borash is in the back with Team Canada. They run down the Naturals. Scott D’Amore also runs down the rest of the countries that’ll compete in the International X-Cup.
“Maverick” Matt Bentley vs Lance Hoyt: Does every TNA wrestler have to have greasy locks?
Bentley tries to take over early but eats a huge back body drop and lands on the outside and into the guard rail after a big clothesline over the top. Bentley looks like he’s about to take off as Traci tries to distract Hoyt. Lance doesn’t fall for it as Bentley eats a big clothesline. Bentley gets tossed into the corner but gets a foot up. Hoyt is in trouble”¦until he hits a huge power slam for two. Hoyt tosses Bentley into the ropes and gets his head kicked as he gets caught going for a back drop, but Hoyt drops Bentley with a big side slam. Hoyt moves and mounts Bentley in the corner, but Traci distracts the ref allowing Bentley to get a low blow and hit a swinging neck breaker off the second rope.
Bentley keeps on Hoyt hitting a few drop kicks, swinging neck breakers, and body blows. Hoyt gets back into the match hitting a giant one handed slam on Bentley. Hoyt is up to his feet first and nails Bentley with a big lariat. Bentley gets hung up on the top rope. Huge kick lays out Bentley. Hoyt hits a huge pump handle slam for two. Bentley is able to take over after that and sets up for a super kick. Super kick is blocked and Hoyt tries for a Texas Towerbomb which Bentley floats through.
The match is then interrupted by Alex Shelly and Eric Young who are up in the rafters and dropping flyers with Steve Borden’s picture. Bentley gets distracted by the flyer and Hoyt destroys Bentley with a big boot. That’s all she wrote.
Winner: Lance Hoyt
In the back, Jeremy Borash is with Team 3-D, Ron Killings, and Rhyno. Pretty standard interview. We’ll beat them good and so forth. Brother Ray asks Brother D-Von to teach him ebonics after Truth starts to free style a bit.
Team Canada vs The Naturals: Interference Guaranteed or Your Money Back
Big back and forth action goes on. Andy Douglas is worked over until he makes a tag to Stevens. Stevens takes over for a bit but quickly becomes your face in peril. Eventually Eric Young takes over as Chase Stevens misses a big dive to the outside. Stevens is worked over by Eric Young and Bobby Rude. Chase Stevens fights back to his feet as a big USA chant happens, but is tossed into a corner. Eric Young takes out Douglas before going back to Stevens. Stevens is able to toss Eric Young into the opposite corner. Young does a Flair Flip and thinks about going up but Douglas freezes him. Young gets rocked off the top rope by an enziguiri and lands on the floor outside. Stevens tries for a tag but A1 brings Eric Young over to his corner. Bobby Rude gets taken out and Stevens makes the hot tag.
Douglas works over everyone but gets dumped. Team Canada tries for a two man superplex on Stevens. Douglas makes the save. Tower of Doom Superplex takes out all of Team Canada and Stevens. Douglas gets a two count. The Naturals try for the Natural Disaster but it gets broken up. Stevens gets dumped and Scott D’Amore hands Eric Young the hockey stick. A1 distracts the ref and Douglas has the hockey stick broken over his head. That’s all.
Winners: Team Canada
We get sent to the back and Monty Brown is going to Pounce Christian Cage tonight. Larry Z promises a fair match and Earl Hebner will be calling it straight down the middle tonight.
LAX promo video and that match is next.
LAX vs the James Gang and Bullet Bob Armstrong: Old Grey Maid, She Ain’t What She Used To Be
Konnan cuts his pre-match promo. BG James cuts his pre-match promo. LAX hits the ring and they get tossed. The crowd starts chanting “Let’s go Bullet”. BG James starts out with Machete and it’s a slugfest. Machete gets beaten down and tags in Homicide. Kip James hits the ring and gets tossed which allows for Machete to get a few cheap shots on the outside. Homicide and Machete work over BG James. James looks to reverse things as he hits the Shake, the Rattle, but gets dropped after being distracted.
BG James is in trouble. Homicide tries for a tornado DDT but gets tossed. BG James tries for a flying crossbody off the ropes and the collision puts both men down. Machete gets tagged in, but so does Kip! Kip takes over but the match degenerates. We end up with Bob Armstrong and Konnan in the ring. Konnan tries for the slap jack but Bullet Bob ducks it and hits Konnan outside. Konnan gets beaten down on the outside. Machete brings a chair into the ring and tries to hit Bullet Bob. BG James hits the ring and kicks the chair into Machete’s face. Kip hits the ring and they all pound him down. Kip hits his finisher and its all over.
Winner: The James Gang
We head to the back with Shelly, Borash, and Eric Young looking for Sting. They find AJ Styles and he’s a bit pissy with Shelly.
Petey Williams vs Puma vs Sonjay Dutt vs Chris Sabin
Sonjay and Puma start out the match and do some of that X-Division transitional stuff we all love. Things go to clusterf*ck pretty quickly until we’re left with Chris Sabin and Sonjay Dutt in the ring. Sonjay is working over Sabin and moves over to the corner for Puma to tag in. Puma works over Sabin for a bit until he moves close enough for Williams to make a blind tag. Puma is worked over by Williams until Sonjay gets a blind tag on Williams. Sonjay works over on Puma and he takes a huge kick. Puma is dazed but is able to tag in Williams who goes after Dutt hard.
The two are at it and Sabin tags himself in. Sabin hangs Sonjay in a tree of woe and hits a huge drop kick to the face. Sabin gets tagged out but the ref doesn’t see it. A couple of two counts nearly end the match in Sabin’s favor. Chris Sabin works over Dutt until he powers out. Sonjay gets tagged out by Puma. Puma gets tagged out by Williams. Williams hangs Sabin in a tree of woe and stomps on his man parts. Puma gets a blind tag but Williams doesn’t come out. Williams dumps Sabin to the outside with a huge hurricanerana. Puma follows with a gigantic flip to the outside. The match turns into pure chaos at this point. Five straight minutes of gigantic moves and high risk maneuvers.
The end comes when Petey Williams hits the Canadian Destroyer on Sonjay Dutt. Sabin gets caught in the Canadian Destroyer but Puma makes the save. Puma then eats an enziguri from Sabin. Sabin hits the Cradle Shock on Puma and get the three count. Crowd is chanting “That was awesome” as Sabin celebrates.
Winner: Chris Sabin
In the back, Borash is with Team Evil. Abyss has signed up with Jarrett officially apparently. Jarrett says that he’s through looking for Sting. Sting can come find him now.
Promo video for the 8 Man Tag and it’s on next.
Jeff Jarrett, AMW, and Abyss vs. Rhyno, Team 3D, and Ron “the Truth” Killings
Team Bad Guy comes out first. Gail Kim is quite possibly the ugliest woman in the history of professional wrestling. Rhyno comes out hard and fast. Truth gets a WHASUP chant going. Team 3D gets quite the nice reaction too. Christ, I’m such a mark.
Everyone hits the ring at the same time. Truth gets his WHASUP chant going on as he takes out Jarrett. Rhyno moves Abyss to the stands and is looking for the same gore that took out Abyss in their hardcore match. Abyss is able to get the boot up though. Truth and Jarrett fight on the Spainish Announcer Table. Abyss takes some chair shots. Killings takes some chair shots. Brother Ray has a big advantage over James Stevens and Ray heads over to take on Abyss. Harris and D-Von are beating the hell out of each other on the entrance ramp.
We finally get into the ring and its Rhyno and the “Cowboy” James Storm. Rhyno takes over and tags in D-Von. Brother Ray finds his way over to the ring while none of Team Evil is over yet. Brother Ray puts James Storm up for a Doomsday Device but D-Von gets nailed with James Mitchell’s cane by the Wildcat. Brother Ray eats a major chokeslam from Abyss and things almost calm down.
Rhyno gets a tag and both members of AMW get in the ring and tossed into the corner. Rhyno hits a GORE GORE GORE on them both. Jarrett gets a tag in and both sides clear to fight. We’re left with Rhyno setting up Jarrett for a GORE but Gail Kim comes in to protect Jarrett. Gail Kim slaps Rhyno and he gets destroyed by Abyss. Abyss works Rhyno over and tags Jarrett in. Jarrett hits a drop kick and tags in James Storm. Storm takes Rhyno down and gets two. Storm and Harris double team Rhyno as a huge Brokeback Mountain chant breaks out. Chris Harris slows things down and puts a side headlock on Rhyno. Rhyno fights up but gets dropped by Chris Harris. Jarrett gets tagged in and tries to cover a few times before tagging in Storm.
Storm hits some shots to the breadbasket and Abyss gets a tag in. Abyss kicks Rhyno and hits a big splash from the second rope. One, two, Brother Ray breaks the count. Jarrett gets tagged in and it’s a double clothesline. Rhyno can’t make the tag though and Chris Harris hits a few shoulder blocks in the corner. AMW double teams Rhyno, but Rhyno is able to dodge the shoulder block and get a second taking out AMW. Big tag to TRUTH! WHASUP!
Truth clears house but eventually falls to the numbers game. The entire house is cleared and Jarrett gets the guitar. He tries to hit it, but tastes a GORE GORE GORE! Abyss hits a black hole slam on Rhyno though taking him out. Brother Ray dumps Abyss and looks to hit the WAZZUP head butt on Jarrett. Gail Kim comes in though but gets dumped. Jackie comes in and it’s a DOUBLE WAZZUP! Abyss comes in and hits a double clothesline on D-Von and Bubba. They pop up and nail a gigantic 3D though. AMW hits the ring and Brother Ray gets dumped. AMW hits the Death Sentence on D-Von and it looks like its over. Truth hits the ring but AMW double teams him and tries to handcuff him to the ropes. It’s the WILDCAT WHO ENDS UP HANDCUFFED THOUGH. Axe kick to Storm. Jarrett comes in to break it up though. Jarrett goes for the Stroke but Truth breaks it. Truth goes for the axe kick, but Wildcat stops him while still handcuffed. Stroke and that’s it. Quite the clusterf*ck, but boy oh boy was it fun.
Winners: Team Evil
Jarrett comes back to ringside after the chaos clears and he gives Sting a ten count to come down to the ring. He counts, no Sting. He says that he’s coming for Christian Cage or Monty Brown and the NWA Heavyweight Title.
Ultimate X promo and we’re ready to go to that NEXT!
Borash is in the back with Samoa Joe. Joe’s compared to Goldberg but he says with Goldberg it was who’s next, with Joe it’s who’s left. He hasn’t slept since they hung that belt from that “God forsaken structure”.
Ultimate X Match: AJ Styles vs Samoa Joe vs Christopher Daniels
AJ Styles is 1-2 in Ultimate X matches
Christopher Daniels is 1-1 in the Ultimate X Match
AJ and Daniels go for the belt and Joe takes them both down. Joe takes out both Daniels and AJ and he eyes the belt. AJ keeps him climbing up and AJ Styles hits a sweep while Daniels hits a drop kick. Styles and the Fallen Angel both go up top and Daniels takes AJ down. Joe is back up and destroys Daniels with his flying knee. Samoa Joe eats a springboard right fist and is dazed. AJ charges at Joe but is dropped to the outside by Joe. Styles lands hard on Daniels and Joe follows with a crazy corkscrew to the outside. Joe tries to climb but falls. Daniels and AJ are both back in the ring and AJ is leveled. Daniels nails Joe with a power bomb and a big “Fallen Angel” chant starts up.
Daniels tries to climb the steel structure but he is caught by AJ. Styles takes him down temporarily. AJ tries to climb the steel structure but Daniels grabs him. AJ flips down and hits a gigantic powerbomb on Daniels!!!! What a crazy spot. AJ shimmies across the rope but Joe catches him and yanks him down to an inverted atomic drop. Joe crushes Daniels in the corner and brings him to the outside. Joe sets up Daniels on the chair and charges him, but AJ catches him with a fantastic clothesline out of no where. Styles tries to climb the ropes but he falls. Joe comes back in. AJ tries for a splash on Joe in the corner which is blocked and turned into a gigantic slam. Joe heads right back out to get the chair. He tosses it in and sets up AJ for a top rope muscle buster. Daniels makes the save. Daniels works on Joe and is trying to get him off the top rope. Joe grabs him and puts him in a Cobra Clutch on the top rope! AJ comes and dropkicks Joe in the head while he’s on the top rope! AJ and Daniels then hit a DOUBLE MUSCLE BUSTER ON JOE!!!!
Styles and Daniels go after each other and its some back and forth action that leads to Styles getting the upper hand. Styles goes up and begins to shimmy across the ropes but Joe nails him with a chair! Joe is holding the chair and Daniels hits a drop kick into the chair! Daniels is up. Daniels is shimmying across the ropes. HE’S GOT IT! DANIELS WINS
Winner and NEW X-Division Champion “The Fallen Angel” Christopher Daniels
After the match, AJ and Daniels shake hands and Joe is pissed. What a fan-f*cking-tastic match.
In the back, it’s Christian Cage. Cage runs down Borash and says that he’s going to make sure that Monty Brown’s Super Bowl record will end up like his record against Christian Cage. Winless.
We get a video package of Monty Brown and Christian Cage and that match is next!
A Tale of the Tape and here we go.
“The Alpha Male” Monty Brown vs Christian Cage: TNA/NWA World Heavyweight Championship Match
Monty Brown comes down first. Great reaction for Christian as he comes down in the classic black and white CC jacket. Jeremy Borash does the introductions. Earl Hebner is the ref for the main event. Monty Brown weighed in at 267 pounds today and comes from the Serengeti. Tee Hee. Christian Cage weighs in at 230 pounds and comes from Toronto through Tampa, Florida. Huge Christian Cage chant after his introduction. Hebner checks Cage and Brown, Cage kisses the belt, and it is on!
Crowd is about 70-30 in favor of Christian. Christian starts out by getting behind Brown who back Christian into the corner. Monty Brown gets a little slap on Christian as he heads out. They lock up again and Christian locks on a side head lock. Monty fights out with a few punches to the mid section and then he drops Christian with a standing shoulder block. Christian signals for a test of strength and hits some kicks to the mid section of Monty Brown. Brown doesn’t break the hold though and he tosses into the ropes. Christian slides underneath Brown and hits a series of chops, but Brown dumps Christian to the outside. Brown and Christian go into the stands exchanging blows with Christian getting the upper hand.
They move back into the ring and exchange position and blows in the corner. Christian gets dumped a second time and gets tossed into the guard rail a few times. Monty Brown grabs a chair, but misses the shot. Christian tosses Monty back into the ring and goes for a double axe handle off the top but eats a big fist. They move to the apron and Monty Brown elevates Christian straight down on his ribs from the apron to the floor. Brown tosses Christian across the guard rail and keeps hitting him with chops and closed fist punches.
Action moves back into the ring and the Alpha Male tosses the Captain into the corner and demolishes him with a clothesline for two. Brown keeps hammering away at the ribs and tosses Christian into the corner. Brown hits multiple shoulder blocks in the corner. Christian fights back but gets tossed with a front suplex into the top rope. Brown then uses an Irish Whip to toss Cage into the steel ring post. A pinfall gets two and Christian gets stretched.
Christian fights out of the half nelson but Brown quickly drops Christian and drops a knee to the injured ribs for two. Christian fights up and tries for a tornado DDT but gets tossed instead. Brown covers but only gets two. Cage fights his way up, gets tossed into the ropes, almost gets dropped with a backdrop but counters with a huge spike DDT! Hebner gets up to seven before either men moves. Christian gets up first and Monty charges. Christian dodges and hits a clothesline. Brown is right back up and he looks for a Pounce but Cage hits a flying dropkick. Cage mounts Brown twice in the corner and hits a few knees followed by a Y2J style bulldog. Cage tries for a frog splash but misses. Brown locks on a body scissor which Cage fights out of. Brown catches Christian though and drops him across the corner. Brown looks to do some high risk damage from the top rope but Cage holds on to the Ultimate X structure and hits some head butts. Christian tries for an Unprettier but Brown counters. ALPHA BOMB! 1, 2 NO!
Monty sets up for another Alpha Bomb which Christian counters. Unprettier, nope! Monty Brown just drops Cage hard. 1, 2″¦ no. Monty Brown tosses Cage into the ropes POUNCE misses! Cage hits the Unprettier! 1, 2, 3!
Winner and STILL Heavyweight Champion: Christian Cage
Jarrett’s music hits and here he comes. Jarrett wants his rematch now. Cage will give it to him if he says he wants him to retire if he wants this match. Christian has the words get caught in his mouth and he’s ready for another ass kicking. Jarrett charges and here comes Monty Brown too. Christian fights them both off but here comes Abyss. Rhyno tries to make the save but all of Team Canada and AMW hit the ring. Cage gets handcuffed to the ring and everyone starts to beat Christian with a belt. Christian takes about twelve shots from the belt before Steve Borden hits the ring!
Borden takes out EVERYONE! Abyss is out. AMW is out. Jarrett is down. It’s down to Borden and Showtime Eric Young. Borden growls at Young and Showtime bails. Sting beats Jarrett with the belt. Scorpion Death Lock! Sting has it hooked for a good twenty seconds before Jarrett’s back up comes.
It’s SCOTT STEINER! Steiner beats the hell out of Borden and everyone hits the ring. Steiner hooks on the Steiner Recliner and Sting is out. Jarrett hobbles over with the guitar and busts the guitar over his head. Jarrett chews out Sting as we fade to black.
All in all, a fantastic show. The Main Event was a bit slower then it should have been but the two X-Division matches were insane, the 8 Man Tag was a blast, and the Shelly/Lethal match was a great match that will ultimately be forgotten. This is an early contender for Show of the Year. Order the replay or buy the DVD. This was a great Pay Per View! Good night everyone.
