Here is the NWA-TNA NWA-TNA PPV 4 in this week’s edition of the NWA-TNA Sunday Night Retroview. It’s hard to imagine that in the ever-changing landscape of professional wrestling that a company like NWA: Total Nonstop Action/TNA/Impact Wrestling has been able to survive for nearly 20 years. From absolute innovation in the industry to the constant butt of fans jokes, no other company outside of Stamford has reinvented itself and maintained a national spotlight like IMPACT. You see, folks, the numbers don’t lie.
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So, join us as we take a deep dive into the early history of this company with The NWA: TNA/Impact Sunday Night RetroView series. Tonight we are treated with our fourth installment in their weekly PPV series aptly named NWA: TNA PPV 4 (Catchy, I know). This show clocks in at a digestible one hour and fifty-one minutes and emanates from the Nashville Municipal Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee. Quick notes on the venue: It is a hotbed of wrestling history. It was the site of the 1989 Match of the Year between Ric Flair and Ricky Steamboat at NWA Wrestle War. Other notable events include WWF In Your House 2 and WCW Starcade for 1994 to 1996. Masato Tanaka also won the ECW title from Mike Awesome in this venue in 1999. Keep these facts in mind as tonight’s card plays out.
We start off tonight’s show, being welcomed by Mike Tenay as he runs down the card, including a tag team and world heavyweight title match and number one contenders match to the X Division title.
Jeremy Borash is in the ring as he announces our opening match for the NWA Tag Team Championship. Next, the Disciples of the New Church are introduced as we cut to a highlight package from last week’s Tag Team Title Tournament. After the package, our Tag Team champions, Jerry Lynn and AJ Styles, come to the ring.
NWA-TNA PPV 4
Match 1: NWA World Tag Team Championship Match –
The Disciples of the New Church (Slash and Tempest) vs. Jerry Lynn and AJ Styles (C)
Lynn and Slash start the match. A back and forth ensues with Slash going for power moves and Lynn countering speed and agility, showing a clash of styles. A couple of quick pin attempts yield only a two count for Lynn. He opts to make the tag to Styles and a quick double team with Styles hitting a running senton to Slash’s back for only a 2 count. Slash recovers and makes the tag to Tempest. Tempest and Styles exchange holds until Tempest hits a body slam; Styles counters with a flurry of kicks, but Tempest catches the arm and drops him on his face. He then connects with a few punches, Tempest hits the ropes, and AJ counters with a drop toe hold, sending Tempest out of the ring.
Styles teases a dive but springs off the rope and invites Tempest back into the ring. Styles meets Tempest at the ropes and gets his throat dropped on the top rope for his efforts. Tempest rolls in for the pin but only gets a 2 count. Tempest and Styles exchange blows, and Tempest hits a hurricanrana like move and starts laying shots into Styles. Styles counters a powerbomb attempt and lands a few punches and kicks; Tempest blocks the Styles Clash attempt. Styles goes up and over Tempest to the ring apron and hits a springboard dropkick. Slash comes in, Styles whips him into Tempest and hits him with a monkey flip.
Lynn comes in, and they dump the Disciples out to the floor. Styles goes for a dive but is caught by Slash and Tempest; Lynn backflips and takes everyone out. Lynn catches Tempest in ropes with a guillotine leg drop, props him up, and Styles connects with a moonsault. The pin only gets a 2 count. Tempest shoots Styles into the ropes; Slash grabs Styles’ leg. Slash gets up on the apron, but Styles pushes him into the barricade. Tempest grabs Styles and hits the Death Valley Driver. Tempest with the pin but only a 2 count. He throws him into the ropes and hits a jumping back elbow. Lynn starts to argue with the ref, which allows the Disciples to double team Styles.
Another pin and only a 2 count. Slash picks up Styles for a whirlybird. Styles to ropes but grabs on to avoid a dropkick. He whips Slash into Tempest and hits discus lariat, both men down. Both tags are made. Lynn with a back body drop to Tempest. He follows it up with a couple of clotheslines. Slash comes in and gets hit with a clothesline, followed by a tornado DDT. Tempest counters with a kick to the face. Lynn counters the Irish whip with a bulldog, makes the cover, and only a 2 count. Referee Slick Johnson gets distracted, and Tempest takes advantage with a low blow.
Into the corner they go, hurricanrana attempt blocked by Lynn, he hits the crossbody into a pin and only gets the 2 count. Lynn shoots into the ropes, gets picked up for the DVD, counters into a spike piledriver. Slash into the ring the interfere, and Lynn dumps him to the floor. Styles tags himself in hits Spiral Tap, and gets the fall.
The winners of the match at 10:35 and STILL NWA World Tag Team Champions, Jerry Lynn and AJ Styles.
Styles is celebrating, but Jerry Lynn is upset. Lynn starts jawing at Styles from the floor and leaves Styles in the ring glaring back at him.
Mike Tenay, Don West, and Ed Ferrara talk about last week with the despicable actions of Jeff Jarrett, K-Krush, and Brian Christopher. First, we cut to a video package highlighting the match with Brian Christopher’s betrayal of Scott Hall. Next, we get Scott Hall on the phone. Hall says he’s been beaten up before, but they didn’t do enough. It’s not how many times you get knocked down; it’s how many times you get back up. Hall is coming for them one by one; Brian Christopher is first. K-Krush is next, and he’s got something special for Jeff Jarrett.
Brian Christopher comes out of the ring, asks for a mic. There comes a time when everyone transitions from a child to an adult, from a child to a man. He’s always been labeled a child, labeled as Jerry Lawler’s son. Growing up in Tennessee, he’s always lived in Jerry Lawler’s shadow. People say Brian Christopher is in the business because of Jerry Lawler; he says bulls**t.
After 14 years in the business, he can finally say screw, Lawler. “None of you were there; none of you walked in my shoes”. Jerry Lawler was a “great father”. Brian only wanted someone to look up to, but he was never there. All that is going to change started with “hey yo” Scott Hall. Last week Brian kicked some ass. He can finally speak my mind, finally, tell Jerry Lawler to go to hell. Things are going to change; it’s always been about the King. He’s never been there, gave all his time to the business and Vince. It’s going to be all about Brain now. It is no longer about Jerry Lawler; it’s not all about Jerry’s kid. It’s all about Brian Lawler.
Match 2: Brian Christo…excuse me, Lawler vs. Norman Smiley.
Out, comes Norman Smiley. Brian Lawler jumps on him immediately with punches and kicks in the corner. Smiley counters and shoots Lawler into the ropes. Lawer grabs Norman by the neck and throws him down. Brian hits a hangman’s noose neckbreaker. Norman shoots to rope and counters with a dropkick and another. Norman hits the ropes and lands a shoulder block. Lawler leapfrogs into a wind-up slam. Norman whips Lawler to the ropes, but he slides under Norman. Norman with a couple of dance moves to the chagrin of Brian Lawler. Lawler with a swing and a miss, and Norman connects with an atomic drop followed up with another.
Jerry was hanging on the ropes; Norman chooses to hump him in the ring. Lawler gets up and grabs the arm, and spikes Norman with a DDT. The crowd starts chanting, “Jerry’s kid” Lawler shows his disapproval. Norman in the corner, Lawler hits a spear. He chokes Norman with his bandana, shoots him to the opposite corner. Another corner spear. He shoots him to the opposite corner again, spear into the post. Smiley, with punches and a head butt, shoots to the ropes. He hits the elbow and follows up with a clothesline, covers, and gets a 2 count. Lawler to the corner, Norman with the 10 count punches. Lawler counters with a low blow. Brian goes to the top rope, goes for the goggles, but throws them away. Brian hits the Hip Hop Drop for the 1 2 3.
The winner of the match at 4:46, Brian Lawler.
Brian grabs the mic. He says he hopes Hall was watching because he’s next on the list.
We then see Goldylocks in the back running after Jarrett. Jarrett asks about his title shot, but Bill Behrens informs Jarrett that he does not have a title shot against Shamrock and he is, in fact, suspended. Father James Mitchell can be heard screaming off-camera.
K-Krush hits the ring. A video package rehashes the feud with K-Krush and Hermie Saddler leading up to tonight’s match. K-Krush says this is the last damn time coming to Trashville, trashes NASCAR and its fans. Jaws with fans until Hermie’s music hits.
NWA-TNA PPV 4
Match 3: K-Krush vs Hermie Sadler
The bell rings, and both men are jawing at each other. They both shove each other and trade a couple of slaps. K-Krush with a kick the gut and gets a couple of shots in. He whips Hermie into the ropes, but Hermie grabs on and avoids the back heel kick from K-Krush. K-Krush gets hung up on the ropes, and Hermie takes advantage and knocks him to the floor. Hermie steps through the ropes and delivers a diving forearm, and follows up with a flurry of punches. K-Krush with an eye rake and a couple of shots. He grabs Hermie and drags him to the ring post. He goes to punch him, but Hermie ducks, and K-Krush punches the ring post.
Back into the ring, they go. Hermie with a boot and 10 mounted punches in the corner. K-Krush is down. Hermie with the pin and only a 2 count. Hermie shoots into the ropes. Kick in the midsection by K Crush and follows up with a scissor kick. K-Krush now with a little showboating around the ring. 1 finger pin for only a 2 count. K-Krush with two more pin attempts for 2 counts. Krush hits a vertical suplex. A non-chalant cover and another 2 count. He follows this up with a running power slam.
Another 1 finger cover for a 2 count. Krush into a figure 4 and uses ropes for leverage. Hermie reverses the figure 4, and K-Krush has to grab the rope to break. He then ducks the clothesline, hits a pop-up powerbomb, pins K-Krush, and only gets a 2 count. Hermie with a dropkick and a couple of punches. K-Krush goes with a double leg takedown and the roll-up pin with the legs on the rope for the 3 count.
The winner of this match at 5:07, K-Krush.
K-Krush with a couple of cheap shots after the match. That’s enough for referee Slick Johnson as he reverses the decision and awards the match to Hermie Sadler.
The actual winner of this match, Hermie Sadler (Yup, the NASCAR Driver).
In the back with Takao Omori warming up. Alicia shows up, and Takao goes to his bag and pulls out a wad of cash to give to her. Tenay implies Ed Ferrara knows something about this.
The Briscoes are in the ring already, and we see the Hot Shots entrance.
Match 4: The Briscoes vs. The Hot Shots
Tie up with an exchange of holds and chain wrestling. Tags are made on both sides, another exchange of holds. Blind tag from Mark Briscoe and Chase Stevens hits Jay with a spine buster. Mark hits Chase with a missile dropkick. Mark is dumped to the floor, Jay follows. Hot Shots with a double dive to the floor on the Briscoes. Malice hits the ring and nails Stevens, with a spine buster calling for the DQ. Malice proceeds to attack everyone in the ring and clears them out one by one. Mitchell takes the mic and says vengeance is mine, so sayeth me.
They are not leaving this ring tonight until the blood of Shamrock is on Malice. The way he sees it, there are 2 options. A, come to the ring and face annihilation in the ring like a man, or B, stay in the back like a coward and be responsible for the bloodshed because Malice will pummel everyone here. Times up, Mitchell points out the timekeeper. Before the powerbomb, Shamrock comes out, fights off the Disciples, but the numbers game catches up. Malice has Shamrock ready for a chokeslam when Omori hits the ring and helps Shamrock fight them off. Stare off in the ring between the two of them.
The winners of the match in 2:10, The Hot Shots by DQ on a technicality because they got hit first.
Cut to the back with Goldylocks interviewing the Dupps. What’s their strategy? Stan Dupp says it’s simple, ain’t you ever seen a coon dog not get some in a while? Licking himself doesn’t help, but when Aunt Bell comes, and he gets that scent, he’ll latch up on those varicose veins and make her squeal like a pig. Bo Dupp says it’s like my brother said, you have to ask the questions first and strike later. If you see a fork in the road, you got to take it. Never look a deaf man in the eye. If the shoe fits, it’s probably the right size. Our daddy taught us that if it looks like, smells like, and feels like sh*t, don’t put it in your mouth because it is sh*t!
While Jeremy is trying to introduce the Dupps, someone else music plays over theirs. Outcomes Jasmine St Claire. She’s been watching for 3 weeks and has been patiently waiting to see some ass. We know what the letters TNA actually stand for. Are there any guys who want to see some real TNA tonight? Well, tonight’s your lucky night cause I got it, and I’m going to flaunt it. Slick Johnson gets a chair in the ring in record time. Jeremy Borash is the lucky man who gets to sit in the chair. Jeremy gets a lap dance for his troubles. Bill Behrens tries to stop the striptease, and Ed Ferrera spears him. Bill finally breaks through and throws a jacket over Jasmine, and escorts her out of the ring.
The Dupps hit the ring. The Flying Elvises are second out, Jorge Estrada and Sonny Siaki.
Match 5: The Dupps vs. The Flying Elvises
Elvises jump the Dupps, and Estrada gets dumped to the floor. Siaki gets hit with the double-team slam. There is a shot of a downed Siaki (great camera cut from TNA to miss this), and both Elvises are on the floor. Mortimer Plumtree comes out to observe the match and joins the announce team. Estrada and Bo lock up, a little back and forth. Bo gets the upper hand with a strong clothesline. Shoots Estrada to the corner, up and over, reverse Irish whip into the corner, and Bo hits a spear in the corner. A tag is made to Stan, and he hits an Atomic Drop and shoulder tackle combo. Then, he hits a big leg drop and pin for only a 2 count. Shoot to the corner, up and over by Siaki is countered into an Alabama Slam, cover but the foot on the rope.
Tag in, and Estrada mounts a brief comeback but gets cut off with a power slam. Cover and Siaki breaks up the pin. Stan is busy with the ref, and Siaki fakes the tag and covers Bo for only a 2 count. Siaki with chops with the corner, Bo counters with his own chops. Reverse whip to the opposite corner, Siaki is lifted over the ring post, lands on the apron, and delivers a shot to the jaw of Bo. He follows up with a split-legged moonsault. Both men back up, Siaki goes for the whip but is countered, and Bo hits the spine buster; both men down and crawl to the tags.
Stan with a couple of big boots and elbows to down the Elvises. Estrada dumps Bo to the floor and comes after him with a cross body; Stan hits Siaki with a Full Nelson slam and picks him up. They double reverse whip, Siaki hits Stan with a pump handle flapjack, and Estrada hits a springboard corkscrew Swanton (called “The Perfect 10”) to pick up the pinfall.
The winners of the match at 5:03, The Flying Elvises.
There’s a disturbance in the back, and we find Jerry Lynn and AJ Styles are going at it tooth and nail in the catering area! Lynn gets the upper hand and tosses Styles into the steel barricades lined up on the back wall. He picks him up and hits him with a spike piledriver. He throws the tag belt and Styles and says, celebrate now, you glory hound and walks off.
Match 6: NWA World Heavyweight Title match
– Takao Omori vs. Ken Shamrock (C)
First introduced, The NWA representative, 8 time NWA World Heavyweight Champion Harley Race. The tale of the tape is displayed; Takao Omori has the height and weight advantage. Shamrock is the mast of submissions, while Omori is a high-impact striker. Additionally, Shamrock has the “big match experience.” Omori is out first, Shamrock second. The bell rings, and the two combatants circle each other. Ken Shamrock opens up with a few knew strikes to the gut. Omari ducks a roundhouse kick, Shamrock ducks the clothesline, kick to the gut, and plants Omori with a DDT. Pin and barely a 2 count.
A couple more headshots from Shamrock as we cut to Harley Race “enjoying” the match. Shamrock applies what Mike Tenay describes as a “Figure Four Head Scissors.” Omori grabs the bottom rope and forces the break. Shamrock with more strikes with Omori on the ground. Now into the corner and Shamrock with a couple of kidney strikes. Omori finally gets some offense with a forearm smash followed by a European uppercut and a spinning heel kick that drops Shamrock. Shamrock is in the corner now, and Omori is landing his own body strikes.
After a couple of forearm smashes, he shoots Shamrock into the ropes, lands a dropkick, and applies a rear chinlock. Shamrock won’t submit, and Omori releases for more head strikes. Back to the corner, Omori hits a boot to the gut and shoots Shamrock to the opposite corner, and hits another spinning kick. He shoots him to the opposite corner and attempts another kick, but Shamrock ducks, and Omori’s knee is caught over the top rope. Shamrock starts working that knee in the corner to soften it up. Omori out of the corner, and Shamrock hits more strikes, shoots Omori, who dodges the back body drop and counters with a swinging neck breaker and pins for only a 2 count.
Full nelson, and he slams him down. Omori to the top rope and misses the diving knee. Shamrock starts kicking the knee, goes to shoot Omori into the corner, reverse whip, and Omori catches Shamrock with the Axe Bomber short clothesline. Pins and a long 2 count. Picks Shamrock up, Shamrock fights back with strikes, lands a dropkick. Applies a leg bar on the damaged knee. Omori is fighting off and finally grabs the rope. Shamrock back to the leg, another reverse whip, and Omori lands a spinning back elbow. Omori goes to pick Shamrock up for a piledriver. Shamrock blocks, boots to the midsection, and Omori fights back, applies the full nelson.
Shamrock fights off and drops Omori with the armbar and spins it into the ankle lock. Omori is fighting it off as Jeff Jarrett runs to the ring with a steel chair in hand. He hits Shamrock with the chair in the back, and the ref calls for the bell. Jarrett starts lying into Shamrock, and Omori and Harley Race comes in to stop him and eats a chair shot to the head for his efforts. Security comes in trying to stop him, and Jarrett lays them out. Bullet Bob Armstrong tries to stop him, and Jarrett will not let him in the ring. A few more chair shots and Jarrett finally leaves, letting the NWA officials verbally have it.
The match has been declared a No Contest. Still your NWA World Heavyweight Champion, Ken Shamrock.
We see the carnage in the ring, and we send it to the back with Goldylocks. She finds Jerry Lynn crouched against a wall and asks him about the attack on Styles. She starts to ask, “could you give me some…” when Lynn snatches the mic. Lynn says, “you want some? I’ll give you some, open up and say ‘ah’”. James Mitchell walks by and refers to Goldylocks as “the whore of Babylon” and asks if she sees Jeff Jarrett. He needs to speak with him urgently.
He doesn’t like messy situations, but Jarrett is about to commit a sin for which he might not be able to grant him absolution, for he is not a charitable God. So the choice is up to him; Mitchell can either be a bearer of light or the bringer of great darkness. A strange cry has been emanating from the back, and Goldy motions for the camera guy to follow her, and she finds NWA vice president Bill Behrens stripped and gagged, screaming for help with the letters FU painted on his stomach.
We cut back to the ring as Low Ki hits the ring, followed by Elix Skipper, Kid Romeo, Tony Mamaluke, Christopher Daniels (making his debut), and finally by Jerry Lynn. It explained the order in which the competitors are eliminated will determine their ranking in the NWA TNA X Division.
NWA-TNA PPV 4
Match 7: Contendership Ranking Six-Man Elimination Match for the X Division – Low Ki vs. Elix Skipper vs. Kid Romeo vs. Tony Mamaluke vs. Christopher Daniels vs. Jerry Lynn.
Kid Romero and Daniels start off in the ring. Opponents must tag in and out. Both men exchange some chain wrestling and keeping it in the middle of the ring. They ran the ropes, leapfrogs, and dropdowns for all. Both men block the hip toss; Daniels hits the ropes, catches Romeo with a backdrop, and runs off the rope to get countered with a dropkick. Daniels avoids a dropkick, and both men square off again. Elix Skipper tags himself in on Kid Romeo and him and Daniels’ trade-off on chain wrestling. Elix avoids Daniels with a backflip off the second rope. He Hits Daniels with a spinning heel kick and covers him for a 2 count.
A couple of shots from Elix and Daniels counters back to the ropes and takes Elix down with a clothesline. Both men are grappling back to the corner where Tony tags Daniels to enter the match. Elix doesn’t realize the tag was made, and Tony hits Elix with a forearm. Daniels and Tony double-team Elix and Tony pins him for only a two count. A couple of shots and Tony shoots him to the ropes and hits Elix with a pinning suplex combo for a 2 count. Reverse whip and Tony counters the back body drop as Elix holds on. Tony counters a German suplex attempt. Tony goes for the armbar, Elix counters, and Tony rolls him up for a 2 count. He then goes off the ropes and a dropkick to the knee.
Tony picks up Elix and sends him to the ropes, and Elix counters with a shoulder tackle; both men are down. Both men to the corner, and Elix tags in Jerry Lynn. Jerry comes in a tag Tony right away. Tony shoots Jerry to the ropes, and Jerry hits a should tackle leading to another ropes segment, hips toss blocked into a monkey flip from Lynn, and Tony lands on his feet. Another arm drag from Tony, and he looks for the hip toss as Jerry counters into a backbreaker. Instead, Jerry picks him up and hits him with another backbreaker. Low Ki tags in and starts laying in big kicks on Tony. Low Ki with the pin, and Tony gets the rope break.
Tony drags Low Ki’s neck first into the middle rope and drops him on his head with a back suplex. Tony with the pin and Low Ki kicks out. He then hits a double arm DDT and hooks in a choke; Low Ki breaks out. Tony slaps Kid Romeo, and it’s not a tag? Tony tags in Daniels. Daniels with a side suplex for a 2 count pin. Low Ki reverses an Irish Whip into a Pele kick and falls back to tag in Kid Romeo. Romeo starts laying into Daniels; Daniels hits the ropes, ducks Romeo hits the dropkick, and tags in Romeo. Lynn sets Romeo up in a reverse Gory special, spins Romeo around. Romeo slips out and gets Jerry in the Gory special. Lynn rolls through and pins Romeo for a 2 count.
Romeo shoots Jerry to the corner, and Jerry hits a tornado DDT and pins for a 2 count. Jerry tags in Daniels, who hits the top rope and misses with a splash. Romeo tags in Lynn, and Lynn jumps on Daniels. Reverse whip, and Jerry hangs on to the ropes. Daniels goes for the monkey flip, and Lynn reverses it and pushes Daniels out of the ring, but Daniels hangs on and Dumps Lynn to the floor. Christopher Daniels hits the ropes and misses the baseball slide; Daniels slams his head into the ring and hits a springboard moonsault. Kid Romeo goes to the top rope and hits a crossbody, Tony follows up with a summersault splash, and Elix and Low Ki jump over the top rope to dive on everyone.
Fighting on the outside and Daniels and Lynn get back in the ring. Knife-edge chop by Lynn, Lynn shoots Daniels to the rope, Daniels holds on, tries to up and over Lynn, reverses the punch, Lynn catches him over the second rope with the guillotine leg drop. Lynn to the top as Tony cuts off Lynn and crotches him. The ref starts the count on Lynn as we cut to a replay of the action. Tony gets in the ring with shots and a series of suplexes and a Russian leg sweep, goes for the pin, but there was afoot on the rope. Meanwhile, Jerry Lynn has been counted out of the match for being unable to get back in the ring.
Daniels hits a jawbreaker and falls back into the corner where Elix tags himself in. He Hits Tony with a clothesline. Taunts Tony they trade backslides, Elix hits the Play of the Day, and Tony is eliminated. Low Ki gets in how and hits Elix with kicks and a couple of chops. Low Ki whips Elix to the ropes, but Elix slides through the ropes. He comes out and chops Elix again and throws him back in the ring. A couple more strikes, and Elix counters and goes for the Play of the Day again, but Low Ki counters, picks him up on his shoulders and rams him into the turnbuckle. He pins Elix and only gets a 2 count. Low Ki picks him up and lands some kicks, goes for a springboard, and Elix dodges and hits a belly to belly.
Elix goes to the top and hits a missile dropkick; Low Ki rolls the corner and tags in Daniels. Daniels with a kick, Elix counters the whip to a belly to belly, 2 count. Another reversal to a suplex and another 2 count. Daniels gets back on offense and drops Elix. Picks up Elix for a German, Elix counters, goes up and over Daniels. Daniels catches him, drops him with the Last Rites, and gets the 3 count. Kid Romeo gets in and hits Daniels with a couple of shots and a face suplex. Daniels then goes for a pin but only got a 2 count. Daniels reverses the whip and picks Romeo up; Romeo counters with a bulldog and pins for a 2 count. Kid Romeo with a dropkick to Low Ki on the apron.
Romeo to the top rope, and Daniels counters and gets up to the top. He then gets him on his shoulders and hits a White Noise from the top rope for what appears to be a 3 count, but Daniels’ foot was on the rope. Romeo goes to celebrate, but Low Ki sees this and tags in off of Daniels, and jumps Romeo with a springboard kick. Low Ki then hits a backhand spring kick and leads into the dragon clutch. Romeo taps out, and we’re down to two men. Low Ki goes for the pin, but Daniels ‘leg is on the rope. Low Ki drags him to the center and pins again but kicks out at 2.
Both men are up, and Low Ki is landing some huge chops. Daniels throws Low Ki into the rope and starts chopping; Low Ki does the same back. They reverse a whip and hang on, both duck a clothesline, and Daniels catches Low Ki and drops him on his face. Both men stagger to their feet, and Daniels hits a reverse Russian leg sweep. Daniels to the top rope, but Low Ki catches him. Low Ki up, and both are fighting on top. Daniels knocks Low Ki off and hits the double springboard moonsault. CD struggles to the cover, and Low Ki kicks out at 2. Daniels picks him up and goes for a suplex, Low Ki counters and rolls up for a 2 count.
Both men chain together several pin attempts that each are broken up at 2. With a kick to the midsection, Daniels goes for the double underhook, and Low Ki counters with and up and over into the dragon clutch. Daniels struggles for a bit and is able to take Low Ki over with a snap mare. Both men up, and Daniels drives Low Ki to the corner and puts him on the top. An uppercut on Low Ki and Daniels throws him over for a vertebreaker called the Fall From Grace, pins, and only gets a 2 count. Daniels pleads his case to the ref, picks up Low Ki, Low Ki counters, hits the Pele kick, gets Daniels up, hits the fisherman’s buster, and pins Daniels for the 1, 2, 3.
The winner of the match in 21:42 and the number one contender for the X Division title, Low Ki!
Low Ki’s hand is raised as pyro starts to go off, but the Flying Elvises hit the ring and start laying into Daniels and Low Ki. Sunny Siaki goes to the announce table and says the NWA doesn’t want the Flying Elvises involved in the X Division; screw it, the Flying Elvises are the X Division. We cut back to the ring, and Elix Skipper is out now fighting off Jorge Estrada. Siaki comes back to the ring and cuts him off; they hit a double superkick. Tony and Kid Romeo hit the rings and the Flying Elvises powder and taunt up the ring.
Next week AJ will defend the belt against Low Ki. Then, Scott Hall faces Brian Lawler. Jarrett is back to ringside. Screw you, Tenay, screw the Church, screw the NWA. He’s getting his title shot next week. Screw the Church, screw the Tennessee Titans; they’re losers. Members of the Titans are front row and don’t like that. They jump the rail and attack Jarrett. The Church comes out to attack Jarrett, but Jarrett has his chair again, starts lying in shots, and escapes everyone. Malice catches Jarrett, and the two spills into the crowd as the broadcast ends with them fighting.
Today in #IMPACTHistory: @RealJeffJarrett got into a WILD confrontation with @Titans! (NWA-TNA PPV #4) pic.twitter.com/6v3j3e0OAW
— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) July 11, 2021
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There you have it, folks, the perfect microcosm of the insanity that was and still is TNA/Impact Wrestling. From the amazing and innovative X Division to the hokeyness of the backstage segments, the celebrities getting to play professional wrestlers, and the probably past their prime stars holding down the main title scene. This PPV had it all.
Was it the greatest show you’ve ever seen? Not at all. Was it entertaining from start to finish? Eh, that’s up to each individual to decide. Was there stuff in there that’s worth seeking out? Absolutely. The tag title match exceeds expectations and holds up to even today’s viewing standards. The Flying Elvises were an amazing team and, even though the gimmick aged worse than a bucket of milk in the middle of July, the Dupps were a talented enough team to hang. The main event is the must-see match, if you haven’t, one of the best X Division matches of all time. The rest of the card? Take it or leave it.
The X Division was what the Cruiserweight Division should have been for WCW. You had bonafide studs in AJ Styles and Jerry Lynn, who could both easily slide into main storylines and outshine everyone. Low Ki, Christopher Daniels, Elix Skipper, Kid Romeo, Jorge Estrada, and Sonny Siaki were innovative and brought something completely different to the table than what you were getting elsewhere in 2002. Ken Shamrock and Jeff Jarrett are questionable top-of-the-card guys, but TNA had barely been up and running for a full month. Knowing who came in and eventually balanced out the roster, you have to credit TNA for accentuating a lot of young, up-and-coming talent at the beginning. They eventually sprinkled in some household name vets solidified themselves and the number two promotion in the country behind the recently rebranded WWE.
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