The Chrononaut Chronicles: TNA Slammiversary 2006 — Sunday, June 18, 2006
– The PPV-opening video puts over the King Of The Mountain match as the most perilous event a champion can face as we see clips from the two previous KOTM matches, including the finish of the first one on June 2, 2004, when Jeff Jarrett blasted Ron Killings with the guitar and hung the belt to win the match. Good hypejob for one of TNA’s signature matches.
– Bingo Hall Brawl: Team 3D vs. The James Gang
The two teams emerge from the entrance tunnel already brawling with each other as Mike Tenay explains that they started fighting during the Preshow. We don’t get the Preshow here, but that’s a good hook for the PPV. When they get to ringside, Ray starts throwing chairs into the ring as Don West mentions the riot in Philadelphia at TNA’s Hardcore War show. Slick Johnson is wearing his retro WWF referee outfit with light blue shirt and oversized bowtie, by the way. They brawl in the ring and BG throws a chair at Ray, who catches it as Kip smashes it into his face with a chairshot of his own for a two-count. Devon comes in to cane the Jameses and scores a two-count on Kip after the back-suplex/neckbreaker double-team. The brawl unsurprisingly spills into the crowd and BG whips Devon “across the border” into the Spanish announce table, so LAX immediately pounce on the former Dudley and pound him. BG flashes a thumbs-up and touches knuckles with Konnan, but LAX assault him too and dump the two gringos over the railing onto the ramp. Meanwhile at ringside, Ray lays a section of the guardrail across four chairs and ends up hiptossing Kip onto the railing. Elsewhere, BG jumps off the ringsteps over the guardrail and into the crowd with a clothesline on Devon. More brawling through the crowd as Ray rams BG’s head against a chair being held by a fan and Kip waffles Ray & Devon with a trashcan lid.
Everybody heads back to the ring as Ray tosses the ol’ Trashcan of Weapons in and chokes Kip with a bra. Ray produces a cheesegrater and rips open Kip’s forehead with it before 3D go for the “Whazzup” headbutt on BG, but BG holds the trashcan lid on his groin so Devon hits it head-first. Ray places the lid on BG’s groin and whacks it with a golfclub, but Kip drops Ray with the Famouser on a trashcan for a near-fall. Kip punches Devon in the corner, but Ray canes him across the back and lifts him on his shoulders as Devon leaps off the top turnbuckle with the flying clothesline to trigger the Doomsday Device for a near-fall. Ray leads the crowd in ordering Devon to get the tables and he retrieves one as the crowd chants “We Want Fire”, which 3D did hint at it during a promo on Impact from the old ECW Arena. Of course, we don’t get fire and Devon throws BG over the top rope before countering Kip’s Missouri Boat Ride with a mulekick to the sac. Kip is driven through the table with the 3D and Devon covers him for the pin. Afterwards, Ray gets on the mic and claims that that’s how it should be done, since the infamous premiere of ECWWE had recently taken place. Solid crazy brawl, but nothing we haven’t seen before.
– Jeremy Borash interviews Jeff Jarrett, who states that “do or die” nights like tonight are the reason he became a wrestler. Jarrett actually cuts a really good promo about how he’s proved his critics wrong throughout his life and lists off his accomplishments, such as Academic All-American in college basketball and Rookie of the Year in pro wrestling. The former NWA Champion refers to himself as the Joe Montana/Reggie Jackson/Michael Jordan of wrestling because he always comes through in the clutch, and mentions that critics didn’t give TNA six weeks to survive yet here they are celebrating their four-year anniversary, which gets a pop from the crowd in the arena. JJ claims that it’s his blood, sweat, and tears that brought TNA this far and promises to regain the NWA Title in the King Of The Mountain match. Larry Zbyszko interrupts and informs Jeff that the New Face of TNA Management is exactly who JJ thought it was, since in addition to being the greatest wrestler, he’s also the smartest guy in the world. They walk off without telling JB who it is.
– A video package recaps Rhino’s problems with Team Canada to set up tonight’s handicap match.
– Bobby Roode & Coach Scott D’Amore vs. Rhino
D’Amore does some micwork claiming that Rhino asked for this to be a handicap match because he was afraid of facing the Coach one-on-one and tells Roode to stand on the apron and be dazzled by his “catch-as-catch-can brilliance”. Rhino’s music finally cuts him off as the War Machine roars into the ring and D’Amore immediately bails out while Rhino pounds Roode. The Canadians regroup at ringside and it looks like D’Amore is going to start, but he tags his Enforcer and Rhino clotheslines Roode before whipping him into his corner and demanding that D’Amore tag in. The Coach refuses and pats Roode on the back, but the referee considers that a tag and Rhino slingshots him in. D’Amore runs away and Rhino chases him around ringside until Roode cuts him off with a flying clothesline off the apron and rolls him back in. D’Amore hooks the leg for a two-count and does jumping jacks as Rhino rises behind him, but Roode stops him from punching the Coach and drops him with a Stunner, allowing D’Amore to score another two-count and perform pushups. Roode gets the tag and controls Rhino before tagging D’Amore, who executes a jawbreaker as Tenay puts over his wrestling background. Rhino sets up D’Amore for a piledriver, but Roode breaks it up and D’Amore drops the knee for two.
The Canadians basically dominate Rhino, with D’Amore tagging in and putting over his own ego by outwrestling Rhino as well. Rhino catches Roode in the belly-to-belly, but the Canadian Enforcer comes back with the Roode Awakening for two and tags D’Amore, who misses a moonsault. Rhino unloads on the Canadians and spears Roode in the corner, but D’Amore cracks the hockey stick across Rhino’s back and tries to lift him in a fireman’s carry for the “D’Amoralizer”. However, the War Machine counters with a spinebuster and tosses Roode over the top rope. D’Amore gets up and Rhino rips into him with the Gore for the three-count. What a dumb, backwards match. The way it was built up, Roode should have done most of the work for his team with D’Amore sneaking in a few cheapshots until Rhino finally wiped out Roode and got D’Amore alone to completely massacre him. Or they should have just had a Rhino/Roode singles match with the old “if Rhino wins, he gets five minutes alone with D’Amore” stipulation. Instead, D’Amore used the opportunity to put himself over as some world-class wrestler and it came off pretty flat to me.
– Jeremy Borash interviews Samoa Joe and notes that he made his TNA debut at last year’s Slammiversary to begin his unbeaten streak, but adds that Joe has never faced anyone like Scott Steiner. The Samoan Submission Machine replies that Steiner has never faced someone like him and he won’t be intimidated like Steiner’s other opponents. Joe mentions that Big Poppa Pump has never been pinned in TNA either and promises to take that away from him tonight.
– Senshi vs. Shark Boy vs. Petey Williams vs. Jay Lethal vs. Alex Shelley vs. Sonjay Dutt
This is an elimination “X Division Ranking” match with tag rules, as Tenay explains that the order of elimination will directly affect the X Division rankings. Petey starts off against Shark Boy and hangs him in the tree of woe for the “O Canada”, but Sharky counters with a vigorous rimjob and Petey bails out to the floor. Sharky follows out with a slingshot plancha and tags Lethal, who hits Petey with a high heelkick as Sharky holds him in the air. Lethal scores a two-count, but Petey tags Senshi as a fan holds a “Senshi for X Champ” sign; I wonder if he still feels that way. We get some nice exchanges and Senshi whacks Lethal with the released hook kick for two before tagging Shelley, who drops Jay with a necktie lungblower for a near-fall. Lethal comes back with the hiptoss/cartwheel-dropkick combo and tags Sonjay, who snaps off a huracanrana and drop-toeholds Alex, followed by a somersault splash and a standing moonsault for two. Dutt goes for the top-rope Sprinkler, but Shelley trips him up and drags his groin along the rope in a very unique ropeburn spot. Shelley lands a sweet Lionsault for a near-fall and sticks his hand down his pants before using that hand to pieface Sharky, constituting a tag, and sets up a double suplex on Dutt, but Sharky decides to help Sonjay instead and hooks up Shelley. However, Petey comes in to help Alex so Lethal comes in to help Sharky and Sonjay, and Senshi joins in to even the sides. The heels go for the triple suplex, but the faces block it and triple-suplex the heels in a cool spot as the fans chant “TNA”.
Sharky lands a nice slingshot splash on Sonjay for two, but Dutt avoids a flying elbowdrop off the top and scores the 1st elimination via pinfall with the standing shooting star press on Sharky. Shelley drops Dutt with a rope-assisted lungblower, but Lethal had tagged Dutt and springboards in with a dropkick. Shelley drops Lethal’s face on the middle turnbuckle with a reverse STO and follows with a dropkick to Jay’s ass to push his face against the turnbuckle in a unique setup. Damn TNA, this guy needs a singles push NOW. Shelley plants Lethal with a brainbuster and goes to the top, but Lethal gets the knees up when Alex dives with the senton backsplash. Lethal quickly slams Shelley with the release dragon suplex to earn the 2nd elimination and Petey catches Jay in a release German suplex as all four men end up in the ring. Lethal knocks Senshi to the floor and Dutt tosses Lethal out on the opposite side before running for a dive through the ropes on Senshi, but Senshi meets him with a kick to the face. Petey slingshots out with a huracanrana on Senshi and Lethal follows through the ropes with a suicide dive on Williams. Sonjay ascends the turnbuckles and moonsaults onto all three opponents at ringside as we get a “TNA” chant and West proclaims this to be “extreme”. Well it’s a lot closer than ECWWE, that’s for sure.
Back inside, Lethal nails Petey with the “Jaytrix” kick, but he misses the swandive headbutt off the top and Petey drills him with the Canadian Destroyer for the 3rd elimination. Sonjay tries to powerbomb Petey off the apron, but Senshi chops him and Petey drops the leg across Dutt’s neck. Senshi rolls Sonjay back in and Petey gets two, but a double-team goes awry when Dutt ducks and Petey inadvertently hits Senshi, who tags himself in and clotheslines Williams. They slug it out on the top turnbuckle and Petey tries a sunset-flip powerbomb, but Senshi blocks it and Dutt lays Petey out with the Sonjay Cutter. Senshi immediately follows with the Warrior’s Way off the top to make Petey the 4th elimination and goes back to the top, but Sonjay climbs up with him and snaps off a superhuracanrana. Swinging DDT gets two for Sonjay, but Senshi blocks a sunset flip and counters with the double-stomp to the chest for a close near-fall. Dutt comes back with a facebuster on the knee and a neckbreaker, but misses the Hindu Press off the top and Senshi blasts him with an explosive dropkick. Senshi hangs Petey in the tree of woe and finishes him off with the nasty Ghetto Stomp for the deciding pinfall. Awesome finish to a great spotfest-style match. The result would earn both Senshi (the winner, obviously) and Sonjay (the only competitor to score two eliminations) a shot at the X Division Title in a three-way on Impact.
– Jeremy Borash interviews Kevin Nash & Alex Shelley, who is all sweaty from his match and claims that he lost because there were 10 or 20 guys in there with knives and guns, adding that the camera adds 15 pounds, lighting has a lot to do with it, and his mind was on their celebration later after Nash beats Chris Sabin. Big Kev refers to himself as a “7-foot juggernaut” and sends a Father’s Day message to “Walt Sabin” that he won’t be picking up Chris’ doctor bills, ending with his “Size Matters” catchphrase.
– A video package recaps the Nash/X Division storyline.
– Kevin Nash vs. Chris Sabin
Tenay notes that this is Nash’s first match in over a year and West actually references Big Kev backing out of the World Title match last year. Nash overpowers Sabin to start until Sabin fires back with numerous punches and forearms, but Nash stops him with a kneelift to the gut and pounds him. Sabin comes back with punches again, but Nash thumbs him in the eye and scoops him up for the Snake Eyes. However, Sabin slips off and hits a dropkick that sends Nash rolling out to the floor, where the former WWF/WCW World Champion calls for Alex Shelley to come down. Shelley gets up on the apron to distract Sabin, who stupidly falls for the oldest trick in the book as Nash blindsides him with a clothesline and chokes him with his foot in the corner. Meanwhile, Shelley removes the turnbuckle pad in another corner and Nash lifts Sabin to run him into it, but Sabin slips out and rams Nash’s chest into the exposed turnbuckle. That looked bad, as Nash could barely lift Sabin and then stumbled around like an idiot. Sabin slams Nash’s head into the buckle and nails a missile dropkick off the middle turnbuckle for a two-count, but he can’t lift Nash for the Cradle Shock and Shelley grabs Sabin’s foot from ringside, allowing Nash to level him with the big boot. Sideslam gets two and Nash stretches Sabin over his knee in a backbreaker for another two-count as a section of the crowd chants “Sabin sucks”. Yeah well, f*ck you too.
Nash squashes Sabin in the corner with knees and elbows and we get dueling chants as Nash has apparently cycled through his entire moveset already and drops Sabin with another big boot. Nash hauls Sabin up for the Jackknife, but Sabin punches away and lands on top of Big Kev for a near-fall. Sabin impressively hoists Nash across his shoulders for the Cradle Shock, but Shelley hops up on the apron and grabs Nash’s leg to pull him out of it. Sabin escapes a double-team attempt and dropkicks Nash’s knee before wiping out Shelley at ringside with a suicide dive through the ropes. Back inside, Sabin stomps Nash’s foot and lands a springboard clothesline for a near-fall. Guillotine legdrop off the top earns another close near-fall, but when Sabin goes up on the exposed turnbuckle, Shelley trips him up and Sabin lands scrotum-first on the buckle. Shelley signals for the Jackknife as Nash pulls down his straps and Jackknifes Sabin for the three-count. Afterwards, West & Tenay claim that Nash proved nothing with his victory as Nashelley celebrate. Before we cut away, Nash holds up his hand as Shelley runs off the ropes for the high-five just like Shawn & Diesel used to do, which was kinda cool. This angle was originally funny, but disappointing in retrospect when you realize that Nash was just amusing himself and getting himself over at the expense of the X Division… just like everybody said.
– Jeremy Borash interviews AMW with Gail Kim and points out that they’ve been in TNA since day one. Chris Harris claims that the Styles & Daniels experiment has failed and boasts that AMW are the longest-reigning tag champs in NWA history. Gail isn’t worried about the mystery Neutralizer and James Storm adds that he’s as happy as “a fat gopher in soft dirt… sorry ’bout yo’ damn luck.”
– A video package builds up the tag title match as the “Last Chance” for Styles & Daniels, who promise that they found a way to neutralize Gail.
– NWA World Tag Team Title: AJ Styles & Christopher Daniels vs. America’s Most Wanted [champions]
The Phenomenal Angels are in a blue-and-silver motif tonight, which is a nice touch as a tag team to wear matching colors. On AMW’s way down, Chris Harris forces Don West to say “Happy Father’s Day, Wildcat’s Dad” and forces a high-five on him, while James Storm kneels near the ringsteps and looks suspiciously behind the steps before getting in the ring. Tenay notes several times that AMW have held the belts for 8+ months as Storm and Styles start off with some nice exchanges and AJ smacks the Cowboy with a dropkick. The Angels tag in-and-out as they work over Storm’s arm until Storm finally backs Daniels into the AMW corner and tags Harris, who trades wristlocks with the Fallen Angel. Daniels steps on the Wildcat’s head and connects with a heelkick off the ropes, then drop-toeholds Storm onto Harris in a 69 position when he runs in. AMW end up on the floor and Styles soars over the top rope with a beautiful swanton dive onto both men. Back inside, Daniels drops a slingshot elbow on Storm for a two-count and tags Styles, who ends up on the floor when Harris pulls down the top rope. All four competitors brawl around ringside and AJ tries to springboard off the guardrail, but Storm takes out his feet and AJ’s ribs crash down on the railing. Back inside, Harris lands a nice jumping lariat on Styles for two and AMW isolate the Phenomenal One in their side of the ring, controlling him with their superior teamwork.
Storm sets Styles up for the Swinging Noose, but AJ blocks it and blasts Storm with the Pele Kick. Daniels gets the hot tag and unloads on the NWA Tag Team Champions, covering Storm after the Arabian moonsault and moving when Harris tries to break the pin, causing Harris to elbowdrop Storm. Daniels thunderbombs Harris, but Gail Kim distracts the referee and Styles pushes her into the ring. The Angels trap Gail as the Amazon Neutralizer (later identified as Sirelda) makes her TNA debut by chokeslamming Gail and carrying her up the ramp. Meanwhile, AMW set up a Steiner Bulldog-like double-team on Daniels, but Styles shoves Storm off the top down to the floor and Daniels wraps up Harris in a victory roll for a near-fall. Harris counters the Angel’s Wings with a back-bodydrop and Daniels rolls him up, but Harris pushes Daniels off toward the ropes and Storm throws a chair in his face. Harris scores a close near-fall and Daniels tags Styles, who springboards in with a flying forearm on Harris and drops Storm with the springboard-moonsault inverted DDT. Styles misses the Spiral Tap off the top on Harris and Storm distracts the ref as Harris punches AJ with the handcuffs and covers him, but Daniels yanks the ref out before he can finish the three-count.
AMW set up AJ for the Death Sentence, but Daniels breaks it up and brings Harris off the top with a Death Valley Driver. Styles adds a somersault splash for a near-fall on Harris and tags Daniels, who goes for the Angel’s Wings but Storm breaks it up with a clothesline. Storm puts on his cowboy hat and fires off a superkick, but Daniels catches the foot, kicks him in the yambags, and plants him with the Angel’s Wings on his own hat. Harris stops the pin by elbowdropping the ref and tossing him out as all four wrestlers are in the ring. Harris sets up Styles for the Catatonic as Storm aims a beer bottle at Daniels, but Daniels ducks and Storm accidentally smashes his own partner in the back of the head. The Fallen Angel slams the Wildcat with a standing uranage into position for the Phenomenal One’s frogsplash off the top before Daniels adds the Best Moonsault Ever for the 1-2-3 on Harris to capture the NWA World Tag Team Championship. The crowd erupts and the new champs celebrate with the belts amongst the fans. Great match with somewhat of a surprise ending at the time, since I figured AMW would hold onto the belts and resume their feud with Team 3D. The extended post-match celebration really helped put over the importance of the title change too.
– Jeremy Borash interviews Sting, who claims that after 20 years of wrestling he’ll be able to multitask in the “first-ever” King Of The Mountain match and warns Christian not to let his mouth override his rear end. The Stinger states that he’ll grab the belt if he gets the chance, since he doesn’t want Jeff Jarrett to have any power in TNA (yeah, we wish) because… IT’S SHOWTIME, folks! That last bit didn’t really make sense.
– A well-done video package set to the “Fighter” song documents the history of TNA starting with Ken Shamrock winning the NWA Title on the debut show, featuring Harley Race, Dory Funk Jr., and Ricky Steamboat. Also featured, among many other clips of the past and present: Toby Keith, Brian Urlacher, Tito Ortiz, Roddy Piper, a barely-recognizable Randy Savage, DDP, Hacksaw Duggan, Curt Hennig, Tom Arnold, Chris Rock, Scott Hall, Insane Clown Posse, Dennis Rodman, Hulk Hogan, and the SpikeTV debut. Cool stuff for those of us who haven’t been around for the whole four years; I didn’t even know Rodman or Duggan ever appeared in TNA.
– Mike Tenay is in the ring to introduce the New Public Face of TNA Management: Mr. Jim Cornette, who comes out to some goofy music and throws away his cane as West explains that he recently underwent knee surgery. Cornette puts over the tag title match we just saw as the epitome of tag team wrestling and calls TNA the “New Face of Professional Wrestling”, which is good because he’s sick of looking at the old one. Who could he mean? Larry Zbyszko is shown watching on the monitor backstage as Cornette explains that since TNA’s owners (a nameless but successful corporation) didn’t know much about wrestling, they hired “experts” who had their own agendas, and that kept TNA from reaching greater heights. Cornette makes a good analogy comparing TNA hiring him to major corporations hiring white-collar criminals to protect them from fraud and malfeasance (there’s a word I bet I’ll never type again), and states that he’s been brought in to oversee the wrestling operations on behalf of the fans as Sabin, Lethal, & Dutt are shown watching backstage. Cornette says that his job is to get the fans chanting “TNA” and they do as James E. wants wrestlers who can have great matches, sell PPVs, and draw TV ratings. Cornette claims that TNA Management is on his side and “if it comes down to me or you… you ain’t gonna make it.” Cornette urges somebody to test him and advises them to have cab fare in their pocket, because they’ll be going out the back door. Cornette wants what’s best for the fans and leads them in another “TNA” chant as he exits the ring. The fans didn’t react much in the beginning, but by the end Cornette had them in the palm of his hand due to his great promo. Unfortunately, TNA f*cked it all up almost immediately, but we’ll get to that.
– Jeremy Borash interviews Scott Steiner, who renames Samoa Joe to “Sloppy Joe” because he’s a “halfbreed” and a “fat bastard”. No one talks trash like Big Poppa Pump. Steiner brags about beating Sting, Goldberg, HHH, Batista, and John Cena (??), infers that Joe can only beat X Division guys, and makes fun of fat people. He hates Joe so much that he plugs Joe’s Unstoppable DVD, renaming it “Unsellable”, and promises to end Joe’s undefeated streak tonight.
– A video package recaps the buildup for the epic Joe/Steiner confrontation.
– Scott Steiner vs. Samoa Joe
Joe is the X Division Champion but this is non-title obviously, as West states that this is Joe’s biggest test to date. The fans chant “Joe’s Gonna Kill You” right off the bat, but Steiner utilizes his amateur background and a hiptoss to take Joe down before paintbrushing the back of his head on the mat. Steiner poses proudly, but Joe spits in his face and levels him with a flurry of kicks. Joe chops Steiner across the back, kicks him in the chest, and drops the big knee off the ropes as we get a “Joe” chant. Steiner comes back with an overhead belly-to-belly, but Joe responds with kicks and facewashes. Steiner bails out to avoid the running facewash, so Joe follows him out with the suicide elbowdive through the ropes. Steiner regains control by whipping Joe into the steps and takes him back in the ring, where he hits a Steinerline and the flexing elbowdrop, but stops the pin after a one-count and opts to do pushups instead. Steiner plants Joe with the rotation belly-to-belly and impressively powerbombs him, but Joe holds onto Steiner’s arm and traps him in a triangle choke. Big Poppa Pump gets his leg over the rope to break the hold and Joe pummels him in the corner with rapid-fire punches, but when Joe whips him to the opposite corner and charges in, Steiner catches him with a standing uranage, which the commentators note is one of Joe’s trademarks.
Steiner pounds Joe around ringside and tries to use a chair, but Joe punches it back in his face and charges at the Big Bad Booty Daddy. However, Steiner moves and Joe clotheslines the ringpost before Steiner smashes the chair into the post in one of those spots where we’re supposed to think he hit Joe in the head full-throttle. Ring announcer David “Disembodied Voice” Penzer announces that the referee is threatening a double-countout as the ref begins a 10-count and Steiner quickly rolls in, but Joe barely makes it in just before 10. Steiner hammers Joe, who replies with an inverted atomic drop, the one-foot dropkick to the face, and the senton backsplash. Steiner reverses an Irish-whip into the corner, but Joe catches him in the standing uranage and thunderbombs him for a two-count. They hit each other with clotheslines and neither man goes down until Joe ducks one and takes Steiner down in the Kokina Clutch, but Steiner powers out of it. Joe immediately reapplies the choke, but Steiner breaks it with a mulekick to the pineapples. I can actually buy Steiner not succumbing to the choke because of his thickly-muscled neck. Steiner dumps Joe on his head with a brutal half-nelson suplex and locks him in the Steiner Recliner, but Joe stands up with Steiner on his shoulders and drops him on the top rope. Joe snap-powerslams a charging Steiner for the 1-2-3. Well, it wasn’t the definitive win I was hoping for, but it was a good stiff match and gives Joe another clean pinfall on another former WCW World Champion.
– A promo airs for TNA Victory Road ’06 on Sunday, July 16.
– Jeremy Borash interviews Christian Cage, who wishes JB a “Happy Slammiversary” and infers that JB is gay for him. Christian asks who the champ is and gets no response from the crowd in the arena, so he covers up by telling JB that he’s still talking to him. Good save. Cage compares the NWA Title to a drug and claims that once you’ve had it, you can’t live without it. The NWA World Champion puts over his challengers and vows to be the first champion to retain the belt in a King Of The Mountain match because THAT’S… (how he rolls).
– A video package builds up the King Of The Mountain match and the motivations of each participant.
– NWA World Heavyweight Title – King Of The Mountain: Ron “The Truth” Killings vs. Abyss vs. Sting vs. Jeff Jarrett vs. Christian Cage [champion]
After the entrances, we get JB’s Super Special Ring Introductions. To win the match, one man must take the NWA Title belt from Larry Zbyszko and climb the ladder to hang the belt on the hook; however, before you are eligible to do that, you must pin one of the other competitors, who must then spend two minutes in the cage-like Penalty Box at ringside. It’s really not as confusing as it might sound, as some critics claimed. Truth and Christian double-team Jarrett in the ring while Sting dominates Abyss on the floor. Truth superkicks Christian for a two-count, but Cage tosses him to the floor and clotheslines Jarrett over the top rope before diving off the top turnbuckle onto JJ. Back inside, Sting and Truth pinball Abyss, who bails out to ringside after the Axe Kick from Killings. Killings takes a running leap over the top with a somersault dive onto Abyss, Cage, and Jarrett, and Sting follows it up by climbing on top of the Penalty Box and diving off onto all four men. Back inside, Sting squashes Jarrett with the Stinger Splash and stands back as Truth adds a dropkick off the top and pins Jarrett, who is forced into the Penalty Box by Sting. Christian catapults the ladder into Truth’s face and covers him, but Abyss stops the pin and presses Cage overhead. However, Cage slips out and rolls up Abyss for the pin. Jarrett’s two-minute period in the cage expires just as Abyss enters and looks like he wants to hit Jarrett.
Abyss rocks the Penalty Box as Jarrett rams Christian with the ladder at ringside and squishes him in the ladder. Meanwhile, Sting manhandles Truth in the ring and scores a two-count as Abyss is released from the cage and helps Jarrett stack four tables at ringside, two-on-two. They go after Sting and Truth, but Sting clotheslines Abyss over the top and goes out with him while Jarrett Strokes Killings off the apron onto the guardrail and pins him on the floor. Christian and Jarrett brawl through the crowd while Sting and Abyss do the same elsewhere in the arena for the entire two-minute period Truth is in the Penalty Box. As soon as he gets out, Truth sets up the ladder and climbs up with the NWA Title belt, but Abyss tips the ladder over and Truth crashes into a corner. Jarrett and Abyss work together again using the ladder to clothesline Killings, Sting, and Cage, but Killings ducks a second shot and jumps onto the ladder, so Abyss and Jarrett just dump him over the top rope to the floor with a loud thud. Sting and Cage double-dropkick the ladder into Jarrett and Abyss before Christian sets up the ladder upside-down and traps Jarrett in the middle, standing on his back and the rungs as he attempts to reach the hook with the belt. He can’t reach and Abyss carries him away on his shoulders, but Christian goes over the top rope with Abyss in a victory roll and they hit the floor.
Truth climbs the ladder with the belt again, but Abyss tips it over and Truth sails over the top rope to the floor. The Monster inadvertently wipes out referee Earl Hebner when he flings the ladder back and clutches the NWA Title belt, but Jarrett yanks it away and they argue until James Mitchell gives the “Doomsday” signal and Abyss crushes Jarrett with the Black Hole Slam for the pinfall counted by referee Slick Johnson, who runs in since Earl is down. Slick prepares to hand over the belt, but Zbyszko steps in and grabs it while Abyss counters a chairshot from Christian with a boot to the face. Slick locks Jarrett in the Penalty Box as Abyss climbs the ladder, but Sting pushes it over and Abyss soars over the top rope and crashes through the tables he and Jarrett had set up at ringside, leaving Sting and Christian alone in the ring to face off. Cage punches away, but Sting no-sells and squashes Cage with the Stinger Splash before locking him in the Scorpion Deathlock. Meanwhile, Jarrett somehow escapes from the Penalty Box 15 seconds early (I think Larry let him out but they didn’t show it) and climbs the ladder with the belt, but Sting releases Cage and pulls Jeff down. Jarrett whallops Sting with the belt and retrieves the guitar, but Christian snatches it from him and discards it while Sting plants Jarrett with the Scorpion Deathdrop.
Sting traps Jarrett in the Scorpion Deathlock and encourages Christian to go for the win as Cage climbs the ladder with the belt, but Zbyzsko comes in and lowblows the NWA Champion before tossing him through the ropes. Sting punches Larry to knock him through the ropes and Jarrett hooks up Sting for the Stroke, but the Stinger counters with the Scorpion Deathdrop and counts his own pin on Jarrett with the unconscious Hebner’s hand. Although it wasn’t announced as an official pinfall, Sting climbs the ladder with the belt, but Christian climbs up the other side and they struggle over the belt until Earl stumbles to his feet and tips over the ladder, causing Christian and Sting to crash over the top rope to the floor. Jarrett quickly scurries up the ladder and hangs the belt on the hook to win King Of The Mountain III and capture the NWA World Heavyweight Championship for the sixth time as bottles and other debris rain into the ring from the extremely unhappy crowd. Yeah, we had the same reaction at my place. Zbyzsko helps Hebner escape in yet another nod to Montreal 1997 and Jarrett flees up the ramp with the belt, but Jim Cornette appears on the stage and has referee Rudy Charles retrieve the belt. Cornette holds the gold as Jarrett drops to his knees and freaks out to end the PPV on a somewhat hopeful note.
Afterthoughts: Another strong show with some great-to-good matches and the newsworthy debut of Jim Cornette, but unfortunately it was overshadowed by the stunningly retarded decision to completely negate any positive steps TNA had taken since moving to Thursdays by having Jarrett regain the NWA Title. Then they tease us by having Cornette reclaim the belt at the end, only to hand it over to Jarrett a couple weeks later, followed almost immediately by a drop in the TV ratings for Impact. As soon as JJ won, my casual-fan buddy (who enjoyed the PPV up to that point) said he’d never watch TNA again and so far he hasn’t. So yeah, this was pretty much the dumbest, most backwards, absolute-worst thing TNA could have done in such an early stage of their development at arguably their second-most important PPV.
Other than the result, the KOTM match itself was pretty good with some memorable spots, solid brawling, and great story between Sting and Christian that led to Christian’s heel turn a couple months later. The tag title match was awesome stuff with an emotional finish, Joe scored a clean win over Steiner in a good stiff contest, and the X Division Ranking match was pretty damn good too. Everything else was solid and nothing (other than the main event finish, obviously) was bad, so I’d still give this PPV a thumbs-up. Thanks for reading, and see you in the future.
