Re-Making an iMPACT - #8 - Jeff Jarrett v Shark Boy

TNA Xplosion #87 Results (17th July 2004) - Total Nonstop Action Wrestling #107 (21st July 2004)

Let's be honest, the first seven episodes of iMPACT have hardly been a tour de force of wrestling. There's been some good matches here and there, but on the whole things haven't been great, especially when looking at Jeff Jarrett's NWA World Heavyweight title reigns' coverage on the show. So with even more enhancement matches this week and Jarrett in action in the main event...this was going to great, yeah? 

What an utter treat on 23rd July 2004's iMPACT as Jeff Jarrett defeated Shark Boy [The Stroke] in the NWA World Heavyweight Champion's debut on the show. This was actual a much more entertaining bout than I was expecting with Boy getting in a surprising amount of offence in against the top heel in the company, pulling out a couple of missile dropkicks. Boy also works as a perfect whipping boy for Jarrett earlier on, willingly bumping around the iMPACT Zone, as they brawl in the audience. A nasty slam on the steps and a couple of chairs shots, whilst the commentators are putting it over as Jarrett sending a message to potential challengers Monty Brown and Jeff Hardy, made for a entertaining brawl. It was a shame however that the referee had actually called for the bell before all this, because of course, everything Jarrett was doing should have resulted in disqualification. The show would conclude with Hardy making the save for Boy, only for Brown to deliver a Pounce and stare down with Jarrett as the episode went off the air. 

In tag team action, "The Monster" Abyss and "The Baby Bear" Alex Shelley would overcome Team Mexico's Abismo Negro and Mr. Aguila [Double Stomp to back of the head, Shelley to Aguila] in a fun match with a shoddy ending. The finish was a real shambles, as Abyss would get pissed off with Shelley for pinning Aguila, because "The Monster" had been about to pin Negro, clearly forgetting that only the legal man should be able to get the pin and that the legal man was Shelley. Either Abyss was supposed to look stupid or the booker decided that this rule that the audience was stupid and wouldn't recognise. It was a real shame that the match would end this way, as after a bit of a shit start, things began to turn the corner with Shelley pulling out a sweet head-scissor takedown on Aguila using Negro's shoulders, Negro hitting a dropkick to knock Shelley off the top and too the outside and Aguila would handspring off the rope and straight into a Shock Treatment backbreaker from Abyss. 

Team Canada's Bobby Roode, Eric Young, Johnny Devine & Petey Williams conquered a make-shift X Division team including Chris Sabin, Mikey Batts, Sonjay Dutt and The Amazing Red in a pleasing but brief eight man tag bout. As seems to be the way with these multi-man X Division style bouts, there were a couple of guys that shone brighter than others. For me that was Bobby Roode in Team Canada and Chris Sabin on the babyface side. Both men looked extremely crisp on the offence pulling out some nifty moves, including a butterfly suplex from Roode, whilst Sabin hit brilliant three person version of his enziguiri/DDT combo, before nailing stereo tope conhilo's with Red. The finish would nicely build throughout the match, with everyone but Batts on the outside, before he'd be corner by Roode and Williams for a spectacular, yet heely finish. These guys deserved more time to fully showcase what the four could do together, as what they did in five minutes was easily the best match on the show.

X Division Champion AJ Styles collected a quick win over Jerrelle Clark with a lovely double underhook transition into the Styles Clash, he'd have a stare down with Kazarian and Michael Shane after the match. Raven dominated (Kid) Romeo, slamming him into barricade with three Russian leg sweeps and finishing him off with a Raven Effect DDT, before having a brief pull-apart brawl with Sabu. Another squash match for "The Alpha Male" Monty Brown this week as well, as he destroyed Antonio Banks (Montel Vontavious Porter) in minutes with the Pounce! 

Results 

Singles Match: X Division Champion "The Phenomenal" AJ Styles def. Jerrelle Clark

Tag Team Match: "The Monster" Abyss & "The Baby Bear" Alex Shelley (with Goldylocks) def. Team Mexico - Abismo Negro & Mr. Aguila 

Singles Match: "The Alpha Male" def. Antonio Banks

Eight Man Tag Team Match: Team Canada - Bobby Roode, Eric Young, Johnny Devine & Petey Williams (with Scott D'Amore) def. Chris Sabin, Mikey Batts, Sonjay Dutt & The Amazing Red

Singles Match: Raven def. Romeo

Singles Match: NWA World Heavyweight Champion Jeff Jarrett (with The Elite Guard - Collyer, Hernandez & Onyx) def. Shark Boy

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 4.67/10

Whilst the amount of squash matches is worrying, this was the strongest episode of iMPACT since the original, thanks to three solid matches. Nothing particularly spectacular, with the eight man tag being the strongest bout of the show, but unlike previous episodes there hasn't been anything to majorly drag things down. The booking of the main event scene has begun to improve and this has definitely been a big problem for the company thus far. With Jeff Hardy being positioned as a challenger for Jeff Jarrett and whilst Monty Brown is hardly a favourite of ours, he's at least been built up very well by the company for a similar role. 

As we move closer towards the end of the weekly PPV's, I've a feeling we'll see the quality of these shows begin to increase. At least that's what I'm hoping!

Written content by James Marston. Additional content by David Marston. 

Re-Making an iMPACT - #5 - Team Canada v 3LK (James & David Marston)

TNA Xplosion #84 Results (26th June 2004) - NWA Total Nonstop Action #104 Results (30th June 2004)

iMPACT was now into it's second month, we'd seen the show start off warm with a promising first episode, before struggling to find the right formula to improve over the following three weeks. There was plenty of talent on the diverse roster like America's Most Wanted in the tag division, Chris Sabin and Frankie Kazarian in the X Division and a brief glimpse of Sabu. The undoubted star of the piece however had been AJ Styles, who had competed on each show pulling out a series of strong matches. Would the fact that Styles wasn't present on the show we look at today mean the show struggled? Or would someone else step up the plate? 

2nd July 2004's main event was a grim six man tag that Bobby Roode, Eric Young & Petey Williams of Team Canada would win over 3 Live Kru's BJ James, Konnan & Ron "The Truth" Killings, after NWA World Heavyweight Champion Jeff Jarrett had nailed Killings with a guitar. The bout was pretty much all 3LK, as they dominated from dull face shine to a horribly awkward section of brawling that would lead to Jarrett's inference. Outside of the match there was so much going, like Dennis Rodman being at ringside for 3LK and doing fuck all and Director of Authority Vince Russo telling a returning Ken Shamrock to jump Jarrett if he left his desk at the commentary table. Great job there Shamrock, great job. The former NWA World Heavyweight Champion did eventually come out, leading to a stare down with Shamrock and 3LK on one side and Jarrett and Elite Guard members Collyer, Hernandez and Onyx. The eight men were scheduled to take part in a Gauntlet for the Gold match for Jarrett's title on five days later. 

The episode would feature more six man tag action earlier in the hour as America's Most Wanted teamed with D'Lo Brown to defeat Team Japan members, NOSAWA, Miyamoto and a debuting masked bloke called Makeinu (who according to cagematch.net was MAZADA of AJPW fame), who ended up taking the fall to James Storm after taking a Superkick and AMW's Death Sentence tag finish. Considering the match was only ever going to go one way, we thought this ended up coming out as a solid bout. AMW and Brown seemed to gel as a trio, pulling out a triple team neckbreaker whatsit, whilst Team Japan made the most of their limited offence, highlight by Makeinu's overhead belly to belly suplex on Chris Harris. The closing stages picked things up very nicely indeed as Brown excelled with the hot tag, nailing a double jump mid-rope moonsault for a near fall, before flying through the ropes with his massive suicide dive. After an initial reluctance to Brown's appearance on these shows, the former WWF Intercontinental Champion has begun to impress us with his performances. 

Michael Shane and Kazarian were on the winning end of a tag bout with Chris Sabin and The Amazing Red, in a match that didn't quite manage to live up to expectations. The contest managed to finish strong, following a superb hot tag sequence from Sabin, who looked the capable of the four competitors at this time, despite only three years of experience. The finish was also well done as Kazarian blocked Sabin from hitting a Cradle Shock on Shane with a bicycle kick, before Shane sealed the deal with a superkick. The problem this match had though was a lack of drive at the start. The bout plodded along, waiting for a face shine from Sabin & Red that took ages to arrive, before FSN went to a break and on the other side Shane and Kazarian had taken control. The production of this was, of course, part of the problem, but for an X Division match I was expecting all four competitors to kick things off in style. 

The opening match was also from the X Division as Primetime overcame a debuting Alex Shelley (most regularly seen in IWA Mid-South before this), with a Play of the Day (Overdrive). Knowing of what both men were capable of at different points in their career, it's perhaps a little underwhelming. In a short clash, both men do get a chance to show something of what they can do, with a lovely high-angle moonsault from Primetime and straight-jacket lung blower from Shelley, particularly standing out. The Impact Zone continue to go absolutely nuts for Primetime's tightrope rana as well. The match isn't always as smooth as it could have, which is a shame considering the pair only had four minutes, but the finish is done well, giving Shelley a quality false finish as he turned Primetime's Play of the Day finish into a pinning situation.   

In other action, "The Alpha Male" Monty Brown would squash Abismo Negro in under three minutes. 

Results 

1. Singles Match: Primetime defeated Alex Shelley in 4 minutes, 32 seconds

2. Six Man Tag Team Match: America's Most Wanted - Chris Harris & James Storm & D'Lo Brown defeated Team Japan - Makeinu, Miyamoto & NOSAWA in 6 minutes, 20 seconds 

3. Singles Match: Monty Brown defeated Abismo Negro in 2 minutes, 55 seconds 

4. Tag Team Match: Kazarian & Michael Shane (with Traci) defeated Chris Sabin & The Amazing Red in 7 minutes, 20 seconds

5: Team Canada - Bobby Roode, Eric Young & Petey Williams defeated 3 Live Kru - BJ James, Konnan & Ron Killings in 4 minutes, 5 seconds 

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 3.56/10

Despite being just two days before Independence Day, this show didn't illuminate the wrestling world like a firework, which is ironic considering all of the random pyro on the show. The main event was a complete shambles and I've still to find anything to like about the 3 Live Kru, whilst the rest of the action may have been mostly solid it wasn't much to excited about either. When looking at the card heading into the show, it's difficult not to disappointed heading out America's Most Wanted and D'Lo Brown provided the best action of the evening with their six man against Team Japan, which would have been improved had Makeinu, Miyamoto and NOSAWA not felt so faceless. 

Without beating around the bush, this was the worst episode of iMPACT so far. 

Re-Making an iMPACT: #3 - Killings v Young (James & David Marston)

TNA Xplosion #82 Results (12th June 2004) - NWA Total Non-Stop Action #102 Results (16th June 2004)

After a strong start, TNA seemed to stutter with it's second episode of iMPACT last week, with the weekly PPVs proving difficult to run alongside a weekly hour of television. Would TNA begin to iron out the creases with it's 3rd episode, aired on 18th June 2004 and headlined by Ron "The Truth" Killings taking on Team Canada's Eric Young, or would it be more of the same?

Ron Killings' disappointingly straight forward victory over Team Canada's Eric Young, turned out to be more of a way of getting Killings into an angle with NWA World Heavyweight Champion Jeff Jarrett than it did an attempt to put on a satisfying main event match. There were some nice touches in the match, like Scott D'Amore tripping Killings with his hockey stick, only to be chased off by Jerry Lynn, and Killings nailing a lovely overhead belly-to-belly suplex of the middle rope, but boiled down to spell of control for both competitors before Killings hit an dancey axe kick situation for a flat win. The segment that followed was a weird way to built to Killings' challenge for Jarrett's belt on Wednesday's PPV, as Jarrett nailed Dusty Rhodes (who was on guest commentary) with his guitar, before getting the best of Killings and sending him into the crowd. Killings looked like a punk, whilst Vince Russo would steal the spotlight to pointlessly mention that titles can change hands by DQ in TNA. Not good. 

The show kicked off with a pacey six way bout where Hector Garza pinned Miyamoto following a Tornillo, in a match that also involved Michael Shane, Chris Sabin, Primetime and Kazarian. The match involved lots of twists and turns with guys tagging themselves in at various points, keeping the turnover of different performers high, but for a match with so much talent there was little actually worth talking about here. Mike Tenay's reference to the debuting Miyamoto being from "the Orient" and his use of red mist show an outdated view of Japanese performers even for 2004. The idea of legal men becomes a distant dream in the closing stages, making the earlier tag in and tag out situation entirely pointless. A fun opener, but mainly fluff and pretty pointless.

X Division Champion AJ Styles continued his fine run of form, both in kayfabe and performance-wise, with a victory over Mr. Aguila with a Styles Clash. Whilst it's hardly the best representation of the X Division style, it does show off "The Phenomenal One" as a performer well with Aguila making sure Styles looks his shiny best. The finish is intriguing as Styles seems to have suffered a legitimate injury being unable to lift Aguila up for a Styles Clash, grabbing his back. I'd be willing to chalk this up to selling, had the pair not immediately gone to repeat the move, that would grab the win for Styles. When Kid Kash and Dallas attempt to jump the X Division Champion after the match, 4 time WWE European Champion D'Lo Brown turned up to make the save, before cutting a promo staking his claim to an NWA World Heavyweight Championship. No, D'Lo, get yourself away from the World title picture. 

In his iMPACT debut, Sabu teamed with Sonjay Dutt in a losing effort against The Naturals' Andy Douglas and Chase Stevens. Before the match began America's Most Wanted attacked The Naturals with security separating the two teams with Mike Tenay explaining that The Naturals had stolen some of AMW's clothes on the recent PPV. Nothing actually came of the attack, the tag match carried on like nothing happened and AMW weren't seen again. I thought that Dutt shined the brightest here, bringing a nice energy in both his rana littered face shine and his come back. He's far from polished at this point, but you can tell there's some real talent in there. The finish ended up a bit of mess with way too many elements coming together at once, not helped by their being a steel chair in the ring that almost killed Dutt on his Hindu Press attempt. No appearance from Raven either despite the commentary team pushing his rivalry with Sabu hard throughout.

Abyss also picked up another squash victory, this time over D-Ray 3000. 

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 4.25

A bit of an improvement on last week's episode, which is mainly down to their being a lot less talking, as the match quality remained average, at best. There were some promising performances from the likes of Sonjay Dutt, whilst AJ Styles has quickly became the star of the show. The booking continues to be the main thing that's holding the show back, with a lack of intelligence or forethought. Having to build a PPV every week is still not helping the situation either. 

Next Time - AJ Styles & D'Lo Brown vs. Abyss & Dallas

Re-Making an iMPACT - #2 - Team Canada v Team Mexico (James & David Marston)

TNA Xplosion #81 Results (5th June 2004) - NWA Total Non-Stop Action #101 Results (9th June 2004) 

With the first episode setting out the show's stall nicely in the ring, but featuring a weak World title talking segment, how would the 2nd episode of iMPACT, headlined by a Team Canada vs. Team Mexico six man tag bout, go about building on it's strengths and sorting out it's weakness? 

This 11th June 2004 edition of iMPACT was main evented by Team Canada's Bobby Roode, Eric Young and Petey Williams besting Team Mexico's Abismo Negro, Heavy Metal and Mr. Aguila with Roode pinning Metal following some interference from Scott D'Amore and a Roode Bomb. Team NWA's Chris Sabin, Primetime and Jerry Lynn came out after the match to stop the villainous Team Canada from delivering any further damage, with show finishing with everyone brawling in the ring to lead into their Flag Match on the PPV. The two teams didn't seem to mesh, with offence often looking a bit unrefined, with Team Mexico just doing a lot of rolling about and mainly hitting clotheslines. To be fair to the Mexican lads, Aguila and Negro did do a pretty sweet suicide dive and tope conhilo double team at one point. I have got a lot of time for Team Canada however and they are beginning to look like a well-polished team in the ring with D'Amore on the outside bringing that extra heely edge to group with his interference. 

3 Live Kru's BJ James, Ron "The Truth" Killings and Konnan quickly disposed off David Young and The Natural's Andy Douglas & Chase Stevens, thanks to a Corkscrew Scissors Kick from Killings to losing streak gimmick inflicted, David Young. The match wasn't particularly good, but I'd take it over the talking that followed any day of the week. It was all a bit messy, again with weekly PPVs to thank for this. NWA World Heavyweight Champion Jeff Jarrett would come out, only to be interrupted by Dusty Rhodes on the other ramp, who would book Jarrett in a title match with Killings on 23rd June. It was awkwardly worded and with a PPV to push for next week, booking a match for a future PPV begins to make things more complicated than they should ever need to be. The segment would finish with Jarrett promising a "public execution" on this week's PPV. Yay. What? Why? The one saving grace here was that the iMPACT zone's dual entrance ways gave the moment a unique visual. 

"The Phenomenal" AJ Styles retained his newly won X Division Championship in a rematch from the last PPV's main event, against Kazarian in a disappointingly brief encounter. The pair wrestled a balanced match, full of smooth transitions and crisp execution, but they never really get to go to that next level and the match suffers from never really changing gears. As beautiful as Styles transition to the Styles Clash is, it comes at a point where I was hoping the pair would begin to up the ante and therefore left me feeling slightly flat. Styles was quickly shifted into a feud with Dallas and Kid Kash after the match, with the tag team taking out "The Phenomenal One", jumping him from behind. 

Kash was in action himself, with "The Notorious K.I.D." beating The Amazing Red in another bout that didn't quite live up to my expectations. The one highlight of the bout was a worldie though as Red turned a top rope powerbomb attempt Kash into a hurricanrana! However, I find Kash in control to be really dull, there's not much wrong with what he was doing technically, it just didn't engage me. A spot where he attempted to hit three moonsaults, the first from the bottom rope, second from the middle rope, only for Red to get his knees up on the third, bugged me more than probably should have for it's lack of sense, as did Kash hitting a Double Underhook backbreaker, despite his finish being a Double Underhook Piledriver.

Elsewhere on the show, Monty Brown would go over Sonny Siaki in a squash match. 

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 3.94/10

After a strong start, iMPACT already seems to be going off the rails in it's second week, with a big drop in match quality. The shift to two singles matches, should have seen an improvement and more satisfying action, but despite both Styles vs. Kazarian and Kash vs. Red having their moments, neither will live long in the memory. A PPV main event rematch on TV should have felt much more special than the X Division Championship bout did. The show was once again harmed by an over-complicated and wordy talking segment involving NWA World Champion Jeff Jarrett and Dusty Rhodes, with #1 Contender Ron Killings and his 3 Live Kru buddies ending up feeling like an after though. With twelve more weeks until TNA abandons the weekly PPV concept, I'm expecting more of the same until then.

Next Time - Killings v Young

Remaking An iMPACT - #1 - AMW vs. Kash & Dallas (James & David Marston)

Welcome to a new series of reviews looking at the history of TNA's iMPACT (later Impact Wrestling) television show. We'll be moving episode by episode, starting with three episodes a week, following the storylines and giving opinions on the matches and moments. This first episode was broadcast on 4th June 2004 and comes at an interesting time for TNA as they had been running weekly PPV's on Wednesdays since June 2002 and an hour-long show called Xplosion had been syndicated since November of that year. 

The company is also still affiliated to the NWA, using the NWA World Heavyweight Championship (held by Jeff Jarrett) and World Tag Team Championships (held by Dallas & Kid Kash) on their product, whilst they have re-branded the NWA X Championship as the TNA X Division Championship (held by Kazarian) just prior to the launch of iMPACT. In a questionable move, titles can change hands by disqualification and count-out. Vince Russo is the on-screen authority figure. When the show launched on FSN, time limits were used for all matches with title matches being allowed 30 minutes and non-title match 10 minutes. If the matches go to a draw then a judge will used to choose the winner, with Dusty Rhodes initially taking on that role. The show aired at 3pm on a Friday and held a TV PG rating. Mikey Tenay and Don West are our commentary team.

NWA TNA Xplosion #80 Results (29th May 2004) - NWA Total Non-Stop Action #100 Results (2nd June 2004)

The biggest match on the card see's "Wildcat" Chris Harris and "Cowboy" James Storm, known collectively as America's Most Wanted win their fourth NWA World Tag Team Championship, after sealing a victory over Dallas (Lance Archer, Lance Hoyt, Vance Archer) and "The Notorious K.I.D." Kid Kash. It's a great idea to have a title change on the first episode, as it gives the show some gravitas from the very start, telling us that despite the company still running weekly PPV's that they'll be taking their television product seriously as well. It's a fairly basically structure tag match with Dallas and Kash controlling the pace with a series of cool looking double teams. The heels look much better as a tag team than as they do as individuals, with Dallas especially looking very ropey in there on his own. The finish of the bout could have a been a little tighter as Harris rolls up Dallas after Dallas awkwardly gets back into ring after crotching himself on top rope. Special mention to Harris seemingly killing Kash with a spear in the closing stages. 

In a great opener, Hector Garza, Sonjay Dutt and The Amazing Red went over Team Canada trio Bobby Roode, Eric Young and Petey Williams in a six man tag contest that showcases the X Division style brilliantly. Following some good heel work from Team Canada that saw Red in the face in peril role, the match would come alive with a spectacular breakdown sequence that saw all six men bouncing around the ring. Despite a slight timing issue in the closing moment involving Garza being out of position, the closing two minutes see Young nailing Youngblood, Red hitting Code Red, Williams busting out the Canadian Destroyer, Dutt turning a Crucifix Powerbomb from Roode in a lovely hurricanrana before Garza got the pinfall with a Tornillo. It's exciting and ridiculously pacy and act as strong hook for the rest of the show, as there's another multi-man X Division bout advertised to close the show. 

iMPACT's first major talking segment is a bit of mess, as it begins with Mike Tenay interviewing Dusty Rhodes and some how segues to BJ James (Road Dogg) challenging Jeff Jarrett to a match with the entire 3 Live Kru (also including Ron Killings (R-Truth) and Konnan). Rhodes rambles on more than a little, but basically he was saying that Jeff Jarrett was disrespecting the history and tradition of the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, with a cocky Jarrett then running Rhodes down for being old. By this point Rhodes is almost 60, so Jarrett does have a point! "Double J" then uses a weird ten paces and turn gimmick, only for "The American Dream" to hit with his hat a few times. It looks as ridiculous as it sounds. Killings would try to make the save, although ended up looking like a real chump as he takes a guitar shot to the head within minutes. I have no idea who this segment was supposed to get over, but we're left with Jarrett having to run a gauntlet of 3 Live Kru member on the next PPV. 

The closing match of the show is a Four Way match with AJ Styles coming out victorious over Chris Sabin, Primetime (Elix Skipper) and Michael Shane for a shot at Kazarian's X Division title, after pinning Shane with a Styles Clash. For the final match on the first episode, this is lacking a big match feel, as only Styles receives an entrance with it being made very clear that the story was "The Phenomenal One" had returned to the X Division. The match however is fast-paced and spots based and makes for very easy viewing. There's a smashing moment where Primetime walks along the top rope and delivers a rana to Shane sending both men crashing to the outside. Although the time gimmick means we couldn't have seen much more action, the bout does feel a tad too short (just over 6 minutes) and lacks the excitement that the six man tag bouts closing sequence had. 

In other action, Abyss would be victorious over Shark Boy in a squash match.

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 4.81/10

As first episodes go, this was a good effort from TNA with the in-ring action all being of a high quality. Choosing to focus on the X-Division and Tag Team ranks was a wise decision as we get to see some exciting action, that feels different from the other products available at this point. Talent likes AJ Styles, Chris Sabin, James Storm, Bobby Roode and Amazing Red shine bright across the card, however it's interesting that no one who a mainstream audience would have been previously exposed to has a match. The non-wrestling segment is the only real drag on the show, as it doesn't seem to have been thought through. This might be a case of the weekly PPV's causing irregular storytelling, we've got those running simulataneously with iMPACT until another three months though, so we better used to it! 

Next time -  Team Canada vs. Team Mexico

Retro Review: NWA Bunkhouse Stampede

Get your retro hats and your old-school slippers on and settle in for Retro Review!


In this week's edition we travel back to 24th January 1988 for NWA's one and only Bunkhouse Stampede PPV. WWF just so happened to hold the inaugral Royal Rumble on the same day, Mats Wilander was defeating Pat Cash in the final's of the Australian Open Tennis and Belinda Carlise was rocking the UK charts with Heaven is Place on Earth. 


The PPV focused around the eponymous Bunkhouse Stampede match, an eight man battle royal with a Steel cage around the ring. Arn Anderson, Dusty Rhodes, Ivan Koloff, Lex Luger, Road Warrior Animal, The Barbarian, The Warlord and Tully Blanchard are all on hand to take part it that one, whilst Ric Flair, Road Warrior Hawk, Bobby Eaton, Barry Windham, Nikita Koloff and more appear on the undercard.


Before the show kicked off the Nassau Colliseam was treated to a dark match that saw Sting & Jimmy Garvin go over The Sheepherders by disqualification in 11 minutes and 45 seconds.

 Match 1 - NWA World Television Championship - 

Nikita Koloff (C)

 vs. 

Bobby Eaton with Jim Cornette

I can't get my head around the opening match of a PPV going to a 20 minute time limit draw. I mean, maybe if it's a balls to the wall kind of bout with loads of near falls, fought at a fast past that leaves both men exhausted, then perhaps it might just about work, lifting the crowd for the rest of the show. But this is completely the opposite. Despite the commentary team of Jim Ross and Bob Caudle putting over the idea that Eaton should be using his pace to get the better of the stronger Koloff, he decides to do the complete opposite and we get Eaton slapping on a hammerlock at every given opportunity. One of them lasts for four minutes. Four minutes of Nikita Koloff in a hammerlock. Take my monies, NWA. 


There's a few moments that manage to stop this one being a complete dud, like a sweet missile dropkick from Eaton and Jim Cornette running his mouth at ringside (although he's pretty redundant in the story of the bout), but that's maybe a minute worth of stuff in a 20 minute bout. I found myself willing the time to go quicker, with the ring announcer letting us know how long was left in the bout, and anyone with a brain knowing exactly what was going to happen when the pair refused to up the pace for the entirety of the bout. If someone offer you the opportunity of watching this match or placing your testicles in deep fat fryer, take up the latter option. 


Winner - NO ONE via time-limit draw in 20 minutes *STILL CHAMPION*


Next PPV - Koloff would be in action at NWA's next PPV The Great American Bash in July, teaming with Sting to challenge for Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard's WORLD tag team titles in ANOTHER time limit draw! Eaton would also be in tag team action, with Midnight Express partner Stan Lane, winning the UNITED STATES tag titles from The Fantastics.

Match 2 - UWF Western States Heritage Championship

Barry Windham (C)

vs.

Larry Zybszko with Baby Doll

There is absolutely no need for this one to go almost 20 minutes, after the previous bout had gone to a time limit draw. The three (including Baby Doll as she plays a big part in the bout, well it's conclusion, at least) clearly didn't have 20 minutes worth of ideas and therefore this bout is full of stalling and rest holds. Although, I'm not sure I'd call a heel hook a rest hold, but that's how it's treated here. I found it hard to suspend my disbelief that Windham would either be able to take the pain for the length of time he spent in the hold, or it the hold wasn't hurting that much that he would just quickly get out of it. Windham sold the leg well for a while, but quickly forgot about towards the end. The one big spot that the injury lead to, the looked like Zybszko was supposed to rotate out of a vertical suplex to get a cover, was completely botched and ended up in a some kind of weird brain buster situation. 


That being said, this a much better bout than the opening contest, with the duo at least trying to put together some decent sequences of action, with the pace really building in the last five minutes or so. I thought that the finish was perhaps trying to be a bit too clever, with the ref getting bumped and Windham believing he won the match with a small package because, according to Jim Ross, Baby Doll was counting the pinfall at ringside. Of course, the cameras completely missed this and Windham celebrated like the stupid babyface he is with the referee clearly down in the corner. Baby would hand Zybszko hear shoe, which would lead to "The Living Legend" winning the title when the ref miraculously recovered.


Winner - Zbyszko via pinfall in 19 minutes and 16 seconds


Next PPV - Barry Windham would defend his newly won United States Heavyweight Championship against Dusty Rhodes at The Great American Bash. Zybszko wouldn't be seen again on PPV until February 1991's WrestleWar where he'd team with Barry Windham, Ric Flair and Sid Vicious to defeat Flyin' Brian, Sting and The Steiner Brothers in the main event War Games match.

Match 3 - NWA World Heavyweight Championship - 

Ric Flair (C) with JJ Dillon

vs.

Road Warrior Hawk with Paul Ellering

With the majority of NWA's World title calibre talent in the main event, Road Warrior Hawk got World title shot, because why not? This is the strongest match on the card, but it featured Ric Flair so you should have known that already. Flair leads Hawk to an enjoyable 21 minutes (yes another, long ass match, but this one probably deserved the time most) that tells a solid story of Flair being unable to match Hawk's power, so resorting to a number of cheap tricks (low blows, eye rakes etc.) to take control of proceedings. The prototypical chicken shit heel, it was cool to see all the Flair trademarks present here, including working the leg after Hawk injures his knee doing a fist drop (Figure that one out!)

It's a real shame that this match has such a terrible finish. Flair just twats Hawk with a chair in front of the referee and get's disqualified. Like what the fuck Flair? You're more clever than that. Get Dillon to distract the ref then hit Hawk in the knee with the chair and slap on the Figure Four. Was it that hard? This is babyface levels of stupidity. This finish may have been acceptable if we'd gone less than ten mintues, but heading past the 21 minute mark and pulling this shit is not cool. I was invested in the action and wanted a conclusive finish. Damn you, Dusty Rhodes and you're stupid booking.

Winner - Hawk via disqualification in 21 minutes, 39 seconds. *STILL CHAMPION*

Next PPV - At The Great American Bash, Flair succesfully defended his title against Lex Luger in the main event. Road Warrior Hawk would slip down the card to compete in the Tower of Doom match, teaming with Jimmy Garvin, Ronnie Garvin, Steve Williams and Road Warrior Animal to defeat Al Perez, Ivan Koloff, Kevin Sullivan, Mike Rotunda and The Russian Assassin

.

There's a lovely bit of stalling before the main event, as Ross and Caudle scramble to cover time as the steel cage is put up. Highlights include Caudle running down the behind the scenes staff who have put the show together, the pair trying to make sense of the finish of the Windham vs. Zbyszko bout and covering the previous Bunkhouse Stampede bouts. It's at a point like this that WWE would throw to a backstage segment today.

Match 4 - Steel Cage Bunkhouse Stampede

Arn Anderson

vs.

Dusty Rhodes

vs.

Ivan Koloff

vs.

Lex Luger

vs. 

Road Warrior Animal

vs.

The Barbarian

vs. 

The Warlord

vs. 

Tully Blanchard

This gimmick is just stupid. It really is. Think about it, it's a battle royal, so to be eliminated your feet need to touch the floor, but the ring is surrounded by a steel cage. So how on earth is someone going to make your feet touch the floor, if you don't want them to? Stay on the ground and stay away from the door and you'll perfectly fine, right? Nah, guys are climbing onto the top rope and rolling around by the open door and all sorts. This makes it ridiculously hard to suspend your disbelief for the entirety of the bout.  I get the idea that the cage is there to make things harder and to make a wrestler look stronger for eliminating everyone, but in practice it just doesn't work. 

The first elimination is Warlord and Barbarian getting Koloff over the top after SIXTEEN minutes. SIXTEEN minutes for the first elimination. What happened in those first sixteen minutes? Absolutely nothing. There's some brawling and some more brawling and then a little bit more brawling. With eight men in there, all going at for themselves, this is pretty boring. The other eliminations come through the door and involved multiple people falling out the door, with Warlord and Animal both tumbling out at around the 18 minutes mark, before Anderson, Luger and Blanchard awkwardly exit the cage about four minutes later. None of these eliminations make anyone look good and neither do they make me want to see a fight between any of the competitors in the near future.

In fact, no one comes out of this one looking like a star, because there is really no attempt to tell a story and what you get is eight guys wandering around hitting each other for 26 minutes. Even the winner Dusty Rhodes doesn't look as good as I'm sure he was hoping he would have when he booked himself to win his FOURTH Bunkhouse Stampede in a row, as despite being a little bloodied, he only manages to eliminate Barbarian and does very little else all match. On the strength of this shit alone, Rhodes deserved to get fired from his job as booker, if you look at the booking at the booking for the rest of the PPV it's surprising that he ever got given the book again.

Winner - Dusty Rhodes in 26 minutes, 21 seconds

Next PPV - At The Great American Bash, Dusty Rhodes would get a shot at Barry Windham's NWA United States Heavyweight Championship, Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard would team up to defend the NWA World Tag Team titles in a time limit draw with Nikita Koloff & Sting, Lex Luger would challenge for Ric Flair's NWA World Heavyweight championship and Road Warrior Animal and Ivan Koloff would be on opposite sides of a Tower of Doom match. The Barbarian and The Warlord would jump to the WWF, becoming the Powers of Pain, defeating The Bolsheviks at SummerSlam in August.

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 3.5/10

This is a piss-poor PPV, avoid it in it's full form at all costs. Ric Flair, at least, manages to pull an entertaining bout out of Road Warrior Hawk, that is worth a watch if you get the chance, but even that is hampered with some stupid, stupid booking. The opener and the main event are just terrible, with the opener being one of the most boring bouts that I've ever seen. 

This PPV deserves it's place on the ATPW Scale (for the time being, at least) of dead last!

NEXT TIME - WCW Halloween Havoc 1998

Diamond Dallas Page challenges Goldberg for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship in the main event. Chris Jericho, Bret Hart, Sting, Scott Hall and Raven are also on the card. Oh...and the infamous rematch between Hollywood Hogan and The (Ultimate) Warrior.