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 - #7 - Kazarian & Shane v AMW

TNA Xplosion #86 Results (10th July 2004) - Total Non-Stop Action #106 Results (14th July 2004)

A little worryingly iMPACT seems to be shifting to feature more enhancement contest and less to clashes between regular roster members. This started on the previous week's episode and continues on the 16th July 2004 episode that we look at today. After just seven weeks on the air, the show is already beginning to feel less important. Would there be any diamonds in the rough, though? Let's have a look. 

This week's main event featured America's Most Wanted (Chris Harris & James Storm) going over Kazarian and Michael Shane after Dusty Rhodes named them the winners following a ten minute time-limit draw. I have to say that I came away being a little disappointed with the match that four-some put on, as all four have shown potential on previous episodes, but this match never didn't show much of that potential. Everyone seemed to be going through the motions with both their wrestling and character work with no one seemingly wanting to make the most of their main event slot. The action was okay, with James Storm's hot tag sequence probably being the brightest of the bout, but these men can definitely do better than they show here. A personal highlight of the match was when Chris Harris hit a Catatonic (Swinging Side Slam) so strong that it resulted in Kazarian landing on Harris' back! The Naturals and Triple X would get involved after the decision was made with the show ending in an eight team brawl. 

Another disappointing tag match would open the show as Triple X (Christopher Daniels & Primetime) would best Team Japan (Miyamoto & NOSAWA) [Powerplex] in a clunky collision. It felt like Miyamoto & NOSAWA were a step slower than they needed to be at any given moment and this in turn would harm Christopher Daniels' hot tag attempt, removing any real excitement that could have been had. Neither Team Japan member has impressed me so far with what they have to offer, with fairly sloppy offence, whilst struggling to keep up with the pace of their American colleagues. It's a shame the pair were chosen to represent Japan when competitors like Katsuhiko Nakajima, Kaz Hayashi & TAKA Michonoku were all on the AJPW at the time. 

The best match on the show came in the form of "The Baby Bear" Alex Shelley's victory over Roderick Strong [It Came From Japan II]. Both men are still pretty green at this point, with just over two years experience each and their best work still a head of them, but put together a short, technically sound encounter, that was more balanced than I was expecting to be. Both men hit tasty back breakers, with the match having an "Anything you can do, I can do better" type of vibe and Strong even manages a decent near fall after hitting his Death by Roderick double knee gutbuster. I'm not a massive fan of Shelley being partnered with Goldylocks and Abyss, the Baby Bear gimmick is very cringey, but Shelley himself has been impressive in what he's shown, despite clearly not being comfortable in the heel role. 

There's another two matches on the show, which feature Sabu squashing Alistair Ralphs (A1) and "The Alpha Male" Monty Brown making short work of Lex Lovett, before demanding a future NWA World Heavyweight Championship match.

Results

Tag Team Match: Triple X - "The Fallen Angel" Christopher Daniels & Primetime def. Team Japan - Miyamoto & NOSAWA

Singles Match: Sabu def. Alistair Ralphs

Singles Match: "The Baby Bear" Alex Shelley (with "The Monster" Abyss & Goldylocks) def. Roderick Strong

Singles Match: "The Alpha Male" Monty Brown def. Lex Lovett

Tag Team Match: America's Most Wanted - "Wildcat" Chris Harris & "Cowboy" James Storm def. Kazarian & Michael Shane via Judge's Decision

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 3.25/10 

If two week's ago was the worst iMPACT to date, then we have a new contender to the crown. Three matches of any substance and I enjoyed one of them. Shelley v Strong was the best match on the show without the pair coming close to what they could do at the time, let alone what they'd be able to produce in the coming years. Two tag team matches that failed to deliver, as well as two enhancement bouts, there wasn't much else to say about this as iMPACT edges ever closer to a "Very Poor" rating. 

Content by James Marston. Additional content by David Marston.

Re-Making an iMPACT - #6 - The Naturals v Triple X (James & David Marston)

TNA Xplosion #85 Results (3rd July 2004) - Total Non-Stop Action Wrestling #105 Results (7th July 2004)

We called the last episode we looked at "The worst episode of iMPACT so far" and considering the show has hardly set the world a light in it's first five week's on the air, that's not a great sign for this fledgling product! Could TNA do any better for this 9th July 2004 edition of the show? 

The main event would see the first use of the time limit gimmick as a newly re-formed Triple X (Primetime & "The Fallen Angel" Christopher Daniels) would come out victorious over new NWA World Tag Team Champions The Naturals (Andy Douglas & Chase Stevens) via judge's decision after Larry Zybszko awarded them the match. This was one of the strongest tag bouts that has featured on iMPACT over the last six weeks, with the two teams gelling well and producing a pacy contest that played to the strengths of the two teams. A sequence following the hot tag, where Daniels would hit both the Best Moonsault Ever and the Angel's Wings for near falls was extremely well put together. The one thing that majorly bugged me about the match was that the teams ended up swapping the sides of the ring they were in, which made the production feel a tad amateur. The time limit gimmick was used nicely, building up Primetime & Daniels, whilst not having to have the World Tag Team Champions get pinned. America's Most Wanted ran off Douglas & Stevens after the match, but the main beat at the very end was the tease of a potential rematch between the teams after they had two well-received bouts in 2003. 

In the show closer, Team Canada's Petey Williams would come out victorious over X Division Champion AJ Styles and Chris Sabin in a triple threat, after nailing Sabin with a Canadian Destroyer. Now, when you look at  the three names in this bout, you know you're going to get a good match and that's exactly what we got here. With a superb pace, the match was full of spots involving the three men, like Williams reversing a middle rope Styles Clash attempt into a rana sending Styles crashing on a grounded Sabin, a DDT combination by Styles and Sabin's funky enziguiri and DDT combination. There's also a great near fall thrown in, when Sabin hit Williams with a Gory bomb, only for Styles to break up the cover with springboard 450 splash. The timing of the spot makes the moment. The finish was put together nicely with Styles being more focused on hitting a tope conhilo onto rivals Michael Shane and Kazarian at ring-side,  before Scott D'Amore's distraction prevented Sabin from hitting the Cradle Shock and Williams to take advantage for the pinfall. A fun and clever match featuring three of the brightest talents for the first month and a half of the show. 

If two previous matches made this sound like a pretty good show, we also had The Elite Guard (Collyer, Hernandez & Onyx) going over 3 Live Kru (BJ James, Konnan & Ron "The Truth" Killings in a seriously shite match. Considering all three of The Elite Guard have a number of years of experience under their belts, they all look incredibly green, awkwardly taking 3LK's offence and barely being allowed any of their own. To be fair to them, when Konnan hits the ring for a hot tag, the 39 year old just stands still in the centre of the ring, whilst the Elite Guard bump around him, including a nasty hip toss to the outside. The finish is a load of bollocks also, as Jeff Jarrett turns up while Konnan has a Tequila Sunrise on Collyer, whack old Konnan 2012 on the head with a guitar, before Hernandez gets the pin. IF HERNANDEZ WAS THE LEGAL MAN, WHY HAD KONNAN GOT COLLYER IN THE TEQUILA SUNRISE? You fucking shitter, Konnan. The best thing about this entire debacle was when Elite Guard marched to ring in their berets! Then to make things just that little bit worse, Dusty Rhodes (58) & Larry Zybszko (52) meandered to the ring to scare off Jarrett & Elite Guard after the match. 

The rest of the show, featured a couple of squash matches as Kazarian & Michael Shane went over D-Ray 3000 & Shark Boy, whilst Abyss and the newly christened "Baby Bear" Alex Shelley (because he's managed by Goldylocks, geddit? Hawhaw) dispatched of Jerrelle Clark & Mikey Batts. We also got a rambling promo from Dusty Rhodes & Larry Zybszko following their run-in, to promote a ten man tag team GUITAR ON A POLE match for the PPV in five days time (wowza). 

Results 

Tag Team Match: Triple X - "The Fallen Angel" Christopher Daniels & Primetime def. The Naturals - Andy Douglas & Chase Stevens in ten minutes

Tag Team Match: Kazarian & Michael Shane (with Traci) def. D-Ray 3000 & Shark Boy in 3 minutes, 15 seconds 

Tag Team Match: "The Monster" Abyss & "The Baby Bear" Alex Shelley (with Goldylocks) def. Jerrelle Clark & Mikey Batts in 2 minutes, 58 seconds 

Six Man Tag Team Match: The Elite Guard - Collyer, Hernandez & Onyx def. 3 Live Kru - BJ James, Konnan & Ron "The Truth" Killings in 3 minutes, 48 seconds

Three Way Match: Petey Williams (with Scott D'Amore) def. AJ Styles and Chris Sabin in 5 minutes, 47 seconds

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 4/10 

The two top matches on this show are strong television bouts, both with different things to enjoy about that and both being very easy to watch. It's unsurprising that these matches feature those who have become the highlight of iMPACT in it's first 6 weeks, like AJ Styles and Chris Sabin, with Christopher Daniels being added to the mix this week and heavily impressing. Like previously, the storyline surrounding the NWA World Heavyweight title continue to hold the show back, as the weekly PPV's mean that TNA is having to try to promote ten man tag team bouts with a guitar on a pole. Over-looking the major talent on their roster, guys like Dusty Rhodes and Larry Zybszko, who are years past their prime are being presented as world beaters, for reasons that continue to escape me. That's before getting into the ridiculous Elite Guard or how much 3 Live Kru suck. 

Still, it was definitely better than last week's edition! 

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 #4 - Styles & Brown v Abyss & Dallas (James & David Marston)

TNA Xplosion #83 Results (19th June 2004) - NWA Total Nonstop Action #103 Results (23rd June 2004)

As iMPACT rounded off it's first month on the air, you'd be expecting TNA to be finding the correct formula for it's hour of television each week running alongside a weekly PPV. Coming out of last week's PPV that celebrated two years of the company by having both the NWA World Heavyweight and X Division Championship matches end in No Contests, how would TNA look to explain the results? With D'Lo Brown teaming with AJ Styles to face "The Monster" Abyss and Dallas in a big tag team main event, would this be the episode where TNA would finally crack the code?

Larry Zybszko replaced Dusty Rhodes as the shows judge, "in case" a match went to a time-limit draw.

After X Division Champion AJ Styles had niftily turned Dallas' chokebomb attempt in a hurricarana and scored the pinfall, the June 25th 2004 show concluded with  Monty Brown attacking D'Lo Brown, being aided by "The Monster" Abyss' chain, whilst Kid Kash nailed Styles with a Money Maker and continued the beatdown with Dallas. A fairly straightforward way to build to the Brown v Brown PPV match, although weirdly Kash and Styles wouldn't face off again for sometime. Before this, the tag main event had been a strong television clash, following a simple storyline where Goldylocks would give the heels the advantage on the outside, which built into a wonderful hot tag sequence from Styles. Whilst Dallas & Abyss aren't the smoothest wrestlers and Brown's timing was off on a couple of the points, the closing stages of the match feature some fast-paced and exciting action, with a few twist and turns and a devastating looking suicide dive from Brown, before Styles secured the victory.

In more tag team action, Team Canada's Bobby Roode and Petey Williams picked up a big victory over America's Most Wanted, after The Natural's had interfered and nailed Chris Harris with a nasty chair shot. The match follows your regular tag structure, with James Storm in the face in peril role, before Harris cleaned house on a hot tag, but did seem to be going in a different direction in the last few minutes. All four men were involved in a back and fourth melee, which included a superb Tower of Doom that got a big reaction out of the iMPACT zone. It seemed like the ten minute time limit was about to hamper the action, as I'm sure the two teams could have launched into a blistering final stretch with more time, so in a way I was happy to see the screwy finish over having the match go to a judges decision. 

Another tag team match saw The Amazing Red, Chris Sabin & Primetime overcome Kazarian, [Kazushi] Miyamoto and NOSAWA [Rongai] in a decent X-Division affair. The standout competitor of the bout was Sabin, whose offence always looked polished and seemed to be the most creative competitor of the match, pulling out a lovely enziguri and DDT combo on Kazarian and NOSAWA at one point, as well as a stunning dive over the top rope. If everyone in the match had been as composed as Sabin, I think this would have been a much better contest as a lot of the action felt rushed and therefore became botchy. The biggest culprit of this is The Amazing Red, who has two major slips whilst trying perform slingshot moves, which stop the match from having the usual free-flowing feel that we've come to expect from the X-Division

If you've read the previous editions of Re-Making an iMPACT, you'll know we aren't the biggest fans of the non-wrestling segments and despite it's absurdity this week was no different. Basically, on the recent PPV, Jeff Jarrett's NWA World Heavyweight title bout with Ron Killings had ended in a no-contest after Killings had used Jarrett's guitar, a move that Director of Authority, Vince Russo had decried would lead to an automatic disqualification and therefore title change. For unexplained reasons a quartet of trumpets played Jarrett to the ring, before Larry Zybszko came out to tell Jarrett he'd have to wait until the next PPV to find out who Russo had decided to give the belt to, despite the decision being surely what this show was made for! We did pop pretty hard when Jarrett nailed Zbyszko with his guitar, for rambling with phrasing like "I just left the big room, Jeffrey". The segment ended in a disappointing scrap between 3 Live Kru and Jarrett's Elite Guard (Collyer & Hernandez)

"The Alpha Male" Monty Brown would continue his undefeated streak with a victory over "Irish" Pat Kenney (Simon Diamond) in a dull as dishwater contest. To say that we're big fans of "The Alpha Male" would be like saying we're big fans gouging our own eyes out. The match was full of wear down holds as the duo struggled to fill their three minute bout with anything remotely interesting. To be fair to Kenney, he did pull out a sweet float over in a superkick, but his character came across a just a generic bloke. I've no idea why he has "Irish" in front of his name either. Is their another Pat Kenney running around, so we need to distinguish between the two? The finish is an awkward set-up into the piss-poor Pounce. 

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 4.05/10

The most-action packed episode to date, there's some top quality wrestling on display here with the main event and semi main event tag bouts both delivering. However, there's also a segment with Jeff Jarrett and Larry Zbyszko which answer none of the questions that the previous PPV asked and kind of paints the companies top heel as a babyface (He takes out an annoying authority figure and then gets attacked by three men) whilst Monty Brown appeared for much longer than I'd have liked. There's a core group of guys that are beginning to become the highlight of the show each week, like AJ Styles and Team Canada, whilst others are proving a drag on our enjoyment of the show, *cough* Monty Brown *cough*. 

Next Time - Team Canada v 3 Live Kru

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