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