July 17, 2002
Replay of Jeff Jarrett’s actions from last week.
Footage of Goldylocks chasing after Ken Shamrock earlier in the week to get an interview. He yells “Back off, bitch!” at her then yells about how he wants everyone else to back off. The top face is now calling the female interviewer a bitch.
Live from the Tennessee State Fairgrounds in Nashville, TN.
Your announcers are Mike Tenay, Don West, and Ed Ferrara.
Jeff Jarrett is shown brawling with Hall in the back. The announcers mention how he has a #1 contender ladder match with Malice coming out as security is holding the two back. As security is dragging Jarrett out of the arena, Bill Behrens yells to Jarrett that he has forfeited his match which angers Jarrett some more.
Announcers are asking what will happen now as the New Church heads down to the ring. Mitchell grabs the mic and says with deep regret that Jarrett will not be able to bleed tonight. He says Malice is extending an offer to anyone in the arena who wants a match. The lights go out and when they turn back on, Sabu is standing in the ring.
#1 Contender Match for the NWA-TNA World Heavyweight Championship
Malice w/James Mitchell vs. Sabu
The two trade shots in the corner. Malice eats boot on a charge and Sabu gets a tornado DDT. Sabu then hits a springboard leg lariat. Sabu fires away but runs into an elbow. Malice takes off his vest and drops some elbows. He slams Sabu and Tempest tosses him a chair. He motions towards Sabu, who takes him down with a baseball slide. Sabu tosses the chair at Malice but gets caught after a springboard crossbody attempt off the chair and hit with a backbreaker. Malice gets a suplex and a legdrop as Tempest wedges the chair between the turnbuckles. Sabu gets rammed into the chair headfirst and Tempest is yelling in Sabu’s ear while he is on the mat. Malice gets a few chops but then gets sent to the floor after a charge in an ugly looking spot. I don’t know what the fuck they were going for there. Malice fucks around with the ladder for a long time and Sabu dropkicks the ladder into his face in the most telegraphed spot of the night. Sabu then uses the chair in a double springboard axehandle to Malice. He hits Malice with a leg lariat off the steps and knocks down Tempest as well. Slash and Mitchell scurry away as Sabu reaches under the ring for a table. Malice gets up and drags him around before throwing him onto the ladder, which was lying across the guardrail and the ring. He does it again before rolling Sabu into the ring. Sabu is bleeding from a cut near his nose. Malice puts the ladder in the corner and whips Sabu into it, following that up with a charge. Then, in a cool spot, Malcie picks up the ladder, with Sabu between him and the ladder, and slams him down. Malice hits him with a chair and holds the ladder until Sabu gets a springboard leg lariat. That looked quite shitty. Sabu places the ladder across Malice and hits a senton. He uses the ladder to head up top but gets powerbombed off. Malice then hits an overhead suplex, tossing Sabu onto the ladder in the process. Malice with a big boot and then tries to grab the contract but Sabu climbs to the top turnbuckle and dropkicks him off. Malice misses a charge and runs into the ladder, allowing to Sabu to hit another springboard leg lariat off of a chair. Sabu climbs up top and pushes the ladder onto Malice and follows that with an Arabian Facebuster. Tempest roughs up Sabu as the ref is distracted by Mitchell. However, that didn’t stop Sabu from climbing up the ladder. He gets yanked off with one hand though. Sabu then comes back with a few weak chairshots before getting caught with a spinebuster. Malice heads up top but Sabu shoves him off the ladder, causing him to land on a table outside of the ring. Sabu then climbs up top and grabs the clipboard for the win (13:20) *1/2. Tempest and Slash immediately attack Sabu. Malice comes back in and beats on him some more before chokeslamming Sabu off of the apron and through the table. Malcie then takes some of Sabu’s blood and rubs it in his hands.
Thoughts: The match itself was a mess. Sabu hit less than half of his spots and the two had very little chemistry. At least the effort was there. Once again, the New Church loses. They spend all of this time trying to build up Malice, who has already been pinned three times and yet to win a match. Hell, no one in the New Church has one a match so far. I will say that Sabu is far from the worst they could have used in this spot though. The fans liked Sabu a lot.
Camera cuts to Jarrett, who is still outside of the building. Behrens yells at him to leave, calling him a bastard in the process. Furthering along the Jarrett is unstable angle.
AJ Styles heads to the ring and grabs the mic from Jeremy Borash. He gets cut off by Jerry Lynn, who tells him to shut up. Lynn says he has been wrestling for 14 years, not for three like AJ. He says AJ ain’t shit until he pays his dues. Says he let him be is tag partner and will not let him steal the glory. Lynn tells Styles that he will follow his lead for now on. Lynn turns around and is jumped by AJ, capped off with a Styles Clash. Well, at least the AJ/Lynn dynamic is interesting
Goldylocks shows the recap of Francine and Jasmin St. Claire from last week. She goes to interview Jasmin in the locker room but she is jumped by Franicne and tossed into the shower. Francine turns out the water as Jasmin is laying on the ground withering in pain half naked.
K-Krush heads to the ring. He wants everyone watching to look at him. Says he looks and sounds like a star at all times. Says he even smells like a star but asks why he isn’t the biggest damn star in the business. Says they put him in the ring with a NASCAR driver athen asks why did the WWF/WWE let him go? Says its all because they were afraid K-Krush would become something that would scare them and someone they would have to promote. Closes by stating he will take what is supposed to be is. Krush was the best promo guy they had at this point. This wasn’t bad at all.
K-Krush vs. Norman Smiley
K-Krush attacks Smiley before the bell. Smiley reverses an Irish whip and gets a hiptoss. The Big Wiggle is followed by a wind-up slam. Smiley catches Krush in a wheelbarrow and spanks his bottom before getting the slam, which gets two. Smiley gets a few European uppercuts in the corner but eventually gets caught with a kick, which gets two. He covers him again for two. He beats on Smiley in the corner before choking him out with his feet. Smiley eats boot off of a charge but comes back with a crappy waistlock suplex as both men are down. Smiley gets up and knocks him down a few times with some basic offense before getting caught with the Truth conviction for the pin (3:20) ½*. After the match, Krush whips Smiley with his belt and chokes him out until his wife, a large middle-aged woman makes the save but gets choked herself. It crystal clear that Krush is barely grabbing her shoulder.
Thoughts: This was ridiculous. They build up K-Krush with the promo before the match and they have Smiley essentially dominate the match. If you are trying to build up a heel, they shouldn’t be selling for all of Smiley’s comedy spots. The part with Smiley’s wife at the end seemed pointless.
Goldylocks walks by Puppet, who is in a trash can and appears to be masturbating. He asks Goldylocks if she wants some “porridge” and says he is suffering from PMS (Pissed Midget Syndrome) and says the only cure is to beat some midget ass. He promises to show her his “cobra.” She walks away in disgust as the Dupps are playing spin the bottle. Stan says that Goldylocks as some pretty lips, but does not mean the ones on her face. An instant “Wrestlecrap” sequence if there ever was one.
Flying Elvises vs. Elix Skipper & Christopher Daniels
Yang is still not here. All four men bawl to start and Daniels and Estrada get dumped. Skipper then hits Estrada with a somersault plancha. Siaki takes out Skipper as Estrada hits Daniels with a facebuster and the two go at it outside. In the ring, Siaki with a Samoan Drop for two. Tag to Estrada who gets a running shooting star press for two. Siaki joins the announcers booth and puts himself over on commentary as Estrada gets a double underhook suplex for two. Finally, Siaki heads back to the ring and tags into the match. Siaki with a few kicks and gets a backbreaker for two. He tags Estrada, who hits a split-legged moonsault for two. Estarda with a cutter-type move but Daniels breaks up the pin attempt. Siaki continues on commentary. Skipper lands on the apron off of a backdrop. Estrada charges but Skipper flips back in and hits a clothesline. Both men are down as Siaki heads back to the ring. Both men tag as Daniels runs wild. As he is hitting Estrada with a bulldog, he uses the other arm to clothesline Siaki. Estrada hits Daniels with a backdrop suplex but Skipper springboards off of the back of Daniels then off of Estrada’s shoulders before hitting Siaki with a hurricarana. That looked decent. Daniels with a spinout powerbomb on Estrada, which gets two. Siaki trips up Daniels, allowing Estrada to hit a top rope legdrop, which gets two. Siaki tags in and chops Daniels in the corner. A comeback attempt by Daniels is stopped with a knee by Siaki. Skipper gets knocked off of the apron and the ref pushes him back into his corner. Estrada tags in but poses a bit too long and gets hit with an enziguiri. Both men are down and then tag out. Skipper runs wild on the Elvises. He sends Estrada outside with a crappy looking spinkick then hits Siaki with a belly to belly suplex. Estrada breaks up a pin attempt off of a double underhook suplex then tags back in. Estrada with a facebuster then a springbard into a rolling senton gets two. That did not look as intended. Daniels tags in after a comeback by Skipper and gets a STO. Daniels gets the BME but Siaki breaks up the pin attempt at two. Siaki tags but gets caught with a legsweep and tags Skipper. Missile dropkick gets two. Siaki with a pumphandle toss and Daniels breaks that up. Siaki and Daniels spill over the ropes. Estrada reverses the Play of the Day but Skipper lands on his feet after a German suplex and then hits the Play of the Day. He goes for the pin but the ref is paying attention to the action outside. He goes over to the ref but Siaki slides in and gets the Siakialypse for the pin (9:47) **1/2. After the match, the Elvises pose in the ring as the Dupps run out. Siaki bails but Estrada is unaware and gets beat with wooden boards by each member.
Thoughts: The match started to pick up at the end but the main focus was one Siaki trying to get himself over. I can’t say that it was a success. At least it was an attempt to elevate someone.
Teo is shown in the cage with one of the dancers.
Goldylocks gets insulted by K-Krush before he is attacked by Scott Hall. So, faces and heels all threat Goldylocks like shit.
Hardcore Midgets Match
Meatball vs. Puppet the Psycho Dwarf
Puppet smashes Meatball with a trash can as he was looking down and follows that with a Russian leg sweep onto the can. Puppet then gets two off of an eye rake from a boot. Meatball catches the trashcan then has it dropkicked into his face. Meatball reverses an Irish whip and it sends Puppet outside. He follows that with a double axehandle off of the apron. He then slams him onto the ramp. He uses a cartwheel into an elbow drop. He tosses Puppet near a shopping cart filled with groceries and the hits him in the face with a pie and some spray cheese. He tosses a tomato at him but Puppet ends up hitting him with a low blow. Puppet drops a bag of flour onto the back of Meatball’s neck before breaking a watermelon over his head. Puppet tosses him down the ramp and hits him with a trashcan lid. He dropkicks the chair into his face and tosses him into the stairs. A Tornado DDT off of the steps gets two. Both men are on the apron and in an incredibly contrived spot, Puppet has Meatball laying across the bottom rope and he just rests his arms and head on the chair, allowing Puppet to get a top rope leg drop. Puppet then places the chair across of Meatball and gets a top rope splash for the win (6:12) ¾*. Teo is then shown removing the dancers top and running out of the cage.
Thoughts: Mildly entertaining for what it was. It could have benefited from being shorter though. The part with Teo I could have done without.
Jasmin St. Claire vs. Francine
Jasmin enters wearing her shower sandals, wet t-shirt and no bra. They do some hairpulling and Jasmin rips off Francine’s top. Francine then tackles Jasmin and yanks off her shorts. She pulls off her belt and starts whipping Jasmin until the Blue Meanie runs in and DDT’s Francine. Ferrara is outraged and heads to the ring. Meanie carries Jasmin ot the bac and the crowd boos. Francine is stretchered out as Ferrara looks on in concern. The bell never rang. Another segment that was pointless.
A video package featuring the finishing moves of Low Ki and AJ Styles. A nice, little segment that makes the match and X-Division title important.
X-Division Championship Match
Low Ki vs. AJ Styles (Champion)
The two start off by doing some matwork as a somber Ferrara describes Francine’s condition. Tenay plugs the X Division and it’s open door policy as a way to create new stars. They trade kicks until Low Ki takes him down and puts on a front facelock. Styles breaks but then gets beaten on in the corner. Low Ki tries a cartwheel kick but is dropkicked by Styles. Flipping senton by Styles gets two. Low Ki blocks an Irish whip and connects on a rolling wheel kick before knocking Styles onto the apron as Tenay mentions the winner of this match will be wrestling at an upcoming Ring of Honor show. Styles climbs up top but gets kicked off. He tries to suplex Ki outside but he lands on the apron. Styles takes him off with a discus clothesline but misses with an Asai moonsault. They beat on each other and Styles goes into the ring. He tries for a diving attack but is met with an enziguri as he is coming theough the middle rope. They brawl onto the apron until Low Ki gets the Dragon Clutch on Styles while he is hanging on the ropes. Ki locks Styles in the dragon sleeper until he reaches the ropes. Styles gets an inverted DDT, which gets two. Styles charges but is met with a super kick. Ki charges but is caught with a powerslam, which gets two. West states how kids should not try this at home. Brainbuster gets two. Styles misses a corner splash and Ki puts him on top. Styles blocks the superplex attempt but misses the Spiral Tap as Low Ki covers for two. Ki picks up Styles for the Ki Crusher but rams him in the corner instead. He then tries it again but Styles turns it into a DDT. Both men are down for a bit until Ki gets the advantage. He gets the cartwheel kick. He heads up top and tries a twisting senton but AJ catches him and turns it into the Styles Clash for the win (10:33) ***. As Styles heads up the ramp, Lynn spears him from behind. He drags Styles into the ring and beats the crap out of him. He pulls a ladder from underneath the apron and throws Styles into it. He beats on Styles and then the refs steps in and Lynn goes away, only to return and beat him some more. The crowd was chanting “Jerry” during parts of this segment.
Thoughts: Match was a bit disappointing, actually. Still, it was easily the best match on the card.
Tenay runs down next week’s card and is interrupted with the news that the Sabu vs. Ken Shamrock match is a ladder and submissions match, meaning both men can win either way. Lynn & Styles defend the belts against unnamed opponents and some X Division action will take place too.
Lawler heads to the ring and grabs the mic. Addresses the crowd that he is no longer “Jerry’s Kid” as a dozen or so people were chanting that. He proceeds to give us some Jerry Lawler facts. They include that he has been married three times and all three times his wife was younger than Brian was. He also left a ticket for Lawler tonight but he no-showed because he hangs out as the local high school on Wednesday nights with a fistful of candy. He is about to give us a fact about Lawler, JR, and Vince McMahon until Hall’s music plays. He doesn’t come out at first and Lawler continues to speak, unaware that Hall snuck in behind him and refers to him as “last call Hall.” He continues to challenge the crowd as Hall is still behind him. This went on for far too long. The crowd was nowhere as interested as Lawler was.
Brian Lawler vs. Scott Hall
Hall beats on Lawler and sends him over the ropes with a punch. He wails on Lawler and beats him up on the announcers table. He sends Lawler into the guardrail as West refers to this as “mass murder.” What the fuck? He tosses Lawler back into the ring but he escapes. Hall chases after him up the ramp and slugs him down. Lawler goes back towards the ring and ends up hitting Hall with a purse that he took from a fan in the front row. He rolls Hall in the ring and grows upset at the “Jerry’s Kid” chants. Lawler gets some mounted punches in the corner. He headbutts Hall in the groin and flips off the crowd before hitting a suplex for two. He whips Hall in the corner and for some reason the ref holds his own back in pain, like he was the one who took the brunt of the move. Lawler gets some thrusts in the corner and jaws some more with the crowd. He slides out of the ring and punches Hall and grabs the mic from Borash. He says everyone that says “Jerry’s Kid” to him can kiss his ass. Hall fights back but Lawler ducks a discus punch and hits a super kick. Lawler heads up top but takes too long and gets tossed off. Fallaway slam and the crowd is tiring. Super back suplex by Hall and he goes for the Razor’s edge. K-Krush comes in but Hall tosses him and hits the edge on Lawler for the win (8:48) ½*. K-Krush comes back in and Hall gets hit with low blows by Lawler. Krush whips Hall with his belt. Krush chokes out Hall with his belt as Lawler tosses the ref. Security comes in and gets Lawler and Krush out of the area. The EMT’s comes out to load Hall on the stretcher as another EMT comes out with a chair that turns out to be Jeff Jarrett. He beats everyone with a chair as the how goes off the air.
Thoughts: The match sucked and the crowd was quiet for a majority of this match, which was anything but total nonstop action. The Jarrett stuff was alright I guess but saying how he snuck into the arena as an EMT made zero sense at the EMT were just dressed in polo shirts and khakis. Jarrett even popped his collar and had wristbands.
Final Thoughts: Another terrible show. The attempts to be edgy with the swearing, sexual humor and catfight segment as well as everyone verbally abusing Goldylocks is akin to a 16 year old being edgy by smoking cigarettes and having two beers. It came off as a low rent ECW with more sports entertainment. The Lynn/Styles stuff and the X Division overall is the only positives out of this company. Their champion wasn’t even on the live show and has been a total bust as well.
