TNA Impact 10.1.05
Stupid blogger. This was done hours ago, but I couldn't get the site to load. At least I beat the WWE show I mention at the end.
Tremendous! The debut of TNA Impact on Spike is *finally* here. Seems like it's been years since they made the announcement. At any rate, I think my love and hate relationship with this company is fairly well known, at least by most of the people who regularly read my stuff. They've mastered the "two steps forward, five steps back" form of promotion, but at the same time they're cockroach-like in their ability to survive through whatever giant fuck up they find themselves in.
I've never really questioned the in ring product too much, as it's typically fairly solid. As is the case with most things, though, it's nowhere near as good as the TNA apologists claim and not half as bad as the haters want it to be. Good workers breed good matches and they've had enough of both to keep me content. Whether or not they're going to be an "alternative" to WWE remains to be seen...
-Nice intro/opening montage to open the show. I've pretty well had enough of the James Earl Jones sound alike, though. He pushes their video packages into the realm of melodrama, which shouldn't be what they're aiming for. They highlight the current champions:
-AJ Styles, who they incorrectly refer to as a 3-time X champion (it's actually 5). They even manage to dig up a clip of him hitting the Spiral Tap clean. That had to be a chore. I loves me some AJ Styles, but he should drop that move like...yesterday.
-The Naturals. They suck. And if they really are leading the renaissance of tag wrestling, I'm a sad panda.
-Jeff Jarrett. Ah, the much maligned Double J. He doesn't suck, but does remain the most overexposed and/or stale wrestler possibly in the entire world. The less I see of him tonight, the better this show will be. I have no hope of happiness with that wish, though.
-Mike Tenay's disembodied voice opens the show as the camera pans through the crowd. TNA has action figures? How'd I miss that? Later tonight, Rhino squares off with Jeff Hardy and we'll recap the "Controversy in Canada" that has Jarrett once again wearing the NWA belt.
Roderick Strong (already in the ring) v. AJ Styles -
I wonder if this is a title match? No one bothered to tell us. And Strong not only doesn't get a proper intro, but they can't even give him a chyron. Even the lowest of the low WWE jobbers usually get that much.
Strong jumps Styles as he's removing his jacket. He goes for a whip, but AJ reverses it and armdrags him. AJ rams him into the corner. Strong ducks a spin kick and grabs a rear waistlock. He takes him over for a German suplex, but AJ lands on his feet and spears him into the corner. Looks like he has a bloody nose, though I'm not sure what would have caused it. Strong reverses a whip and lifts AJ for a tilt-a-whirl slam. AJ lands on his feet and goes for a rollup. Strong elbows free.
He ducks a second spin kick and again goes for a German suplex. AJ blocks. Strong pounds on him with a few forearms to the back, but still can't get him over. AJ elbows out of the rear waistlock and goes for a whip. Strong reverses. They do a crisscross sequence that ends with Strong eating a dropkick that sends him rolling to the floor. Bad idea, as AJ follows him out...with a somersault plancha! AJ lands hard on the floor.
He rolls Strong into the ring and covers him for two. Sickle Hold (AKA the Muta Lock or a deathlock bridged back into rear chinlock) from AJ. He releases pretty quickly, though. Camera cuts to Christopher Daniels at ringside, as Tenay goes into hype mode for Ironman II at Bound For Glory. AJ, naturally, is distracted. That allows Strong to dropkick him in the back. AJ goes facefirst into the buckle *HARD*.
Strong lifts him for a backdrop suplex, but since it is Roderick Strong, he drops him into a backbreaker instead. Cover gets two. He locks AJ in a nice looking Camel Clutch, but AJ reaches the ropes. Strong pulls him up, but ends up taking a jumping enzuigiri. AJ follows up with his Pelé kick. He charges Strong and gets elevated onto the apron. AJ nails Strong with a forearm. He slingshots into his quebrada DDT, then follows with the Styles Clash to get the win. (3:55)
Perhaps it's just me, but if I were advertising myself as the "wrestling alternative," I'd want to open my debut show with something a bit more...epic. This was a fun match, but a sub-4 minute squash isn't what TNA needs to hook the fans. This was a good Velocity match, nothing more. Styles was under the weather, which I'm sure played some role, but I was expecting more from these two.
-We actually get to see Tenay and West, who proceed to hype the rest of the show. Monty Brown, more X-Division action and of course JARRET, JARRETT, JARRETT still to come! Huzzah!
-Commercials. Lots of UFC hype for Monday.
-Introductory video for Monty Brown. Tenay refers to him as, "legit." Guess that means all the guys in the locker room who don't have NFL experience are just faking it. Many clips of the Pounce.
-Shane Douglas interviews Brown. Same old Serengeti shtick as always. Period. He walks off as Douglas gets word of a commotion backstage. Cut to Raven, randomly wailing on people with a trashcan. Security grabs him and Larry Zbyszko tells them to throw Raven out.
Lex Lovett v. Monty Brown -
This'll be short. Brown opens with a knee to the gut. He tosses Lovett with a capture suplex, then whips him into the corner. Lovett floats over and lays in some punches. He goes for a whip of his own, but Brown shortarms him into a backbreaker. He holds on to Lovett and follows with a fallaway slam. Pounce. Pin. (1:02)
Uh...okay. This was entirely pointless. Doesn't do much to get Brown over. Perhaps giving him some actual competition would do the trick. It's not 1987, after all. The days of the effective squash match are pretty much over.
-Commercials. Apparently, the first 30 minutes of Bound for Glory will be free. That's only as good an idea as the match they plan on sticking out there, though.
-X-Division highlight video. They specifically mention Styles, Samoa Joe, Petey Williams, Chris Sabin and Christopher Daniels. Samoa Joe > You. Just in case you were wondering.
Petey Williams v. Alex Shelley v. Chris Sabin -
Shame that it's taken me so long to actually recap an Alex Shelley match. The man is absolutely amazing and deserves every bit of the success he's starting to attain. Anyway, he and Petey agree to team up. But when Petey charges, Shelley hangs back and does nothing. Sabin catches Petey coming in and nails him with some forearms in the corner. Sabin turns and charges at Shelley, who plants him with a spinebuster. He goes all lucha on Sabin, locking him in the Niebla Lock (I actually prefer calling it the Paradise Lock like Milano Collection AT, but whatever).
Petey dropkicks Shelley, puts a boot on Sabin and sings "O, Canada!" He follows with a baseball slide dropkick that frees Sabin from the hold. Shelley gets back into the action, reversing a whip and sending Petey into a kick from Sabin. Shelley hooks him, kicks off of Sabin and goes for a tornado DDT. Petey blocks it. Sabin then dives over the pile, taking Shelley over with a sunset flip. They run through a quick 3-way Malenko/Guerrero rollup series that's too fast to recap, though we end up with Sabin pounding on Shelley.
Sabin sends Petey into the ropes, taking him down with a sliding trip that sends Petey facefirst into the mat. Sabin follows with a springboard stomp and Petey bails out. Back in the ring, people do stuff. Cameraman could care less, though. Whatever they did, it ends with Sabin rolling to the floor. Shelley goes for a pescado, but lands on the apron when he sees Sabin slide back in. He bounces off the ropes, landing a tope on Petey as Shelley flips back into the ring over him.
Looks like Sabin is setting up for an Asai moonsault. Shelley chops him and he's left hanging. Shelley bounces off the ropes, diving between Sabin's legs into a tope on poor Petey. That was nifty. Sabin recovers and hits his Asai moonsault, slamming his own shins into the railing. That'll leave a mark. We get a replay as we cut to break (2:00)
-Commercials. Buy The Warriors DVD. Haven't seen the movie in ages, but I thought it was fun back in the day. Then buy the game, so Rockstar has a billion dollars for the next gen GTA games. We also get a NBA Live '06 commercial that I can only compare to some sort of odd NBA Gundam scenario. Neat commercial. (4:00)
-Back from commercial, Petey spikes Sabin with a DDT and picks up a nearfall. Shelley plants Sabin with a backdrop suplex and puts him in headscissors. He rolls over and uses his legs to repeatedly ram Sabin's head into the mat. Looks like Petey and Shelley are back on the same page. They take Sabin over with a double suplex. Then things get goofy, as they do this really contrived spot where both guys are getting to their feet and just happen to butt heads in the process. The partnership is OFF!
Both guys go for the fall on Sabin with the other breaking it up. They start trading punches from their knees. Sabin rolls free and catches both of them with a seated dropkick. Petey reverses a whip, sending him into the corner. Sabin floats over him. Shelley charges, but Sabin leapfrogs him and Shelley collides with Petey in the corner. Sabin rolls him up. Shelley kicks out, sending Sabin flying into Petey as well. He collapses in the corner.
Shelley charges, but Sabin takes him down with a drop toehold, sending him into Petey's groin. Sabin lifts Shelley for the Cradle Shock (cross legged fireman's carry into Michinoku Driver), but he slips away and catches Sabin with a kick to the back of the head. Brainbuster is good for two. He sets up for an inverted DDT, but Sabin breaks free.
Petey recovers, dropping Shelley with a Russian legsweep. He signals for the Canadian Destroyer. Shelley blocks it, countering into a backdrop. Sabin catches Petey, planting him with a running Lygerbomb. Shelley breaks up the cover. He gives Petey the Eye of the Hurricane. He grabs Sabin's foot and spins him...Dragon Whip by Sabin! He lifts Shelley and spikes him with the Cradle Shock to pick up the win! (5:25 of 9:25 aired)
Postmatch, Petey jumps Sabin and hits the Canadian Destroyer to a huge pop. That move is over big. He stands triumphant over everyone.
-Backstage, Douglas is looking for a scoop on Larry Zbyszko's big surprise. Tito Ortiz walks up and Zbyszko escorts him into his office. He looks at Douglas and says, "Surprise!" as he shuts the door.
-Commercials. There's a new Jean-Claude Van Damme movie on Spike this week, called Wake of Death. Wednesday @ 9:00. I know what I'll be doing after I watch Lost. If you're not a fan of JCVD, I'm just not sure what to say. I almost pity you. IMDB gives it a 5.5/10, for whatever that's worth. Also, TNA has some new DVDs coming out. Best ofs for AJ, Raven, Jeff Hardy and the X-Division. Available 10/4.
-3 Live Kru intro video. They're wacky, kooky and fun. Sometimes they wrestle, too. In fact, next week, they'll be facing some combination of Team Canada!
Rhino v. Jeff Hardy -
This is half of the participants for the Monster's Ball match at Bound for Glory (the other two guys being Sabu and Abyss). It's basically just a weapons match, though they add some sort of malarkey about all four guys being locked up for 24 hours beforehand with no food, water or light. Because everyone in the match should have to be as nonlucid as Hardy. Oh ho ho, I bring the funny!
Rhino attacks before the bell and pounds on Jeff. He goes for a clothesline, but Hardy ducks it and hits one of his own. Rhino catches his foot and he comes back with his spinning mulekick dealie, sending Rhino into the corner. He follows by using the ropes to elevate himself, then dropkicking Rhino in the corner. Cover gets two. Rhino comes back, reversing a whip and shortarming Jeff into a spinebuster for two.
He chokes Hardy in the ropes for a bit, then slams him. Diving headbutt misses. They briefly trade punches and Jeff goes for a whip. Rhino reverses, but gets caught with a forearm. Hardy whips him *hard* into the corner, then double legs him on the rebound. He hits his low double legdrop for a nearfall. Whip attempt, but Rhino shortarms into a belly to belly suplex. Gore time? Jeff avoids it and Rhino goes into the corner. Twist of Fate by Jeff! But here comes Abyss. He nails Jeff and the ref stops the match, presumably giving Jeff the DQ victory (4:15)
The brawl continues after the match. Abyss whips Hardy into the corner. He runs up the ropes and comes back with the Whisper in the Wind. Rhino jumps Hardy and he and Abyss stomp him down. James Mitchell slides a chair into the ring and they argue over who gets to kill Hardy with it. The lights go out...SABU has arrived! Faces clear the ring.
-Commercials
-Clips from the Border City Wrestling show where Jarrett regained the NWA title. America's Most Wanted *finally* turned heel, hitting the Death Sentence on Raven to help Jarrett get the win. We also see backstage footage, where it's revealed that Scott D'Amore set the entire thing in motion.
-Jarrett and AMW come out. Jarrett talks and talks. I'd recap it, but just superimpose every promo he's done for the last two years and you've pretty much nailed it. He brings out D'Amore, who says that Jarrett owes him one and that he can collect at any time. The 3 Live Kru come out and run Jarrett down. They hit the ring, but Team Canada runs out and beats them down. But here come Team 3D! Holy shit, I just popped for the Dudleyz!
They're wearing shirts that have a middle finger on the back with the caption, "Trademark this." Anyway, they hit 3D on both members of AMW. Jarrett scrambles out of the ring and starts backing up the ramp. But out comes Kevin Nash! Jarrett rolls back into the ring. Team 3D give him the Wazzup headbutt and Nash slowly ambles into the ring and gives him a Jacknife powerbomb for good measure. Team 3D challenges AMW to a match next week. And we're out... (Just for shit & giggles, I timed this segment from Jarrett's music to the end. 8:45, three plus minutes longer than any of the matches on this show.)
So, I'm not sure how I'd rate this as a debut. Decent action with some stuff we don't see on WWE TV. Then again, the matches were all painfully short and they're *still* trying to cram way too much into a one hour show. Too much Jarrett, blah, blah, same old, same old. Definitely two steps forward. Time will tell if they also took the accompanying five steps back.
In other news, I bought Radiata Stories this weekend. Fun action RPG so far. Graphics are gorgeous. I'm not sure if it'll stack up to Tri-Ace's last game (Star Ocean 3), though. The ability to recruit 175 or so characters seems fun, but mind numbing at the same time. Typically takes me 10 hours or so to really get into any RPG, so I've got a good bit of time to decide if I like this or not.
In Heart Punch news, if there's anything worth recapping in that Raw's best moments show tonight (starts at 10 tonight, replays after Raw tomorrow night), I'll do so. Otherwise, I'll see you next week...
Tremendous! The debut of TNA Impact on Spike is *finally* here. Seems like it's been years since they made the announcement. At any rate, I think my love and hate relationship with this company is fairly well known, at least by most of the people who regularly read my stuff. They've mastered the "two steps forward, five steps back" form of promotion, but at the same time they're cockroach-like in their ability to survive through whatever giant fuck up they find themselves in.
I've never really questioned the in ring product too much, as it's typically fairly solid. As is the case with most things, though, it's nowhere near as good as the TNA apologists claim and not half as bad as the haters want it to be. Good workers breed good matches and they've had enough of both to keep me content. Whether or not they're going to be an "alternative" to WWE remains to be seen...
-Nice intro/opening montage to open the show. I've pretty well had enough of the James Earl Jones sound alike, though. He pushes their video packages into the realm of melodrama, which shouldn't be what they're aiming for. They highlight the current champions:
-AJ Styles, who they incorrectly refer to as a 3-time X champion (it's actually 5). They even manage to dig up a clip of him hitting the Spiral Tap clean. That had to be a chore. I loves me some AJ Styles, but he should drop that move like...yesterday.
-The Naturals. They suck. And if they really are leading the renaissance of tag wrestling, I'm a sad panda.
-Jeff Jarrett. Ah, the much maligned Double J. He doesn't suck, but does remain the most overexposed and/or stale wrestler possibly in the entire world. The less I see of him tonight, the better this show will be. I have no hope of happiness with that wish, though.
-Mike Tenay's disembodied voice opens the show as the camera pans through the crowd. TNA has action figures? How'd I miss that? Later tonight, Rhino squares off with Jeff Hardy and we'll recap the "Controversy in Canada" that has Jarrett once again wearing the NWA belt.
Roderick Strong (already in the ring) v. AJ Styles -
I wonder if this is a title match? No one bothered to tell us. And Strong not only doesn't get a proper intro, but they can't even give him a chyron. Even the lowest of the low WWE jobbers usually get that much.
Strong jumps Styles as he's removing his jacket. He goes for a whip, but AJ reverses it and armdrags him. AJ rams him into the corner. Strong ducks a spin kick and grabs a rear waistlock. He takes him over for a German suplex, but AJ lands on his feet and spears him into the corner. Looks like he has a bloody nose, though I'm not sure what would have caused it. Strong reverses a whip and lifts AJ for a tilt-a-whirl slam. AJ lands on his feet and goes for a rollup. Strong elbows free.
He ducks a second spin kick and again goes for a German suplex. AJ blocks. Strong pounds on him with a few forearms to the back, but still can't get him over. AJ elbows out of the rear waistlock and goes for a whip. Strong reverses. They do a crisscross sequence that ends with Strong eating a dropkick that sends him rolling to the floor. Bad idea, as AJ follows him out...with a somersault plancha! AJ lands hard on the floor.
He rolls Strong into the ring and covers him for two. Sickle Hold (AKA the Muta Lock or a deathlock bridged back into rear chinlock) from AJ. He releases pretty quickly, though. Camera cuts to Christopher Daniels at ringside, as Tenay goes into hype mode for Ironman II at Bound For Glory. AJ, naturally, is distracted. That allows Strong to dropkick him in the back. AJ goes facefirst into the buckle *HARD*.
Strong lifts him for a backdrop suplex, but since it is Roderick Strong, he drops him into a backbreaker instead. Cover gets two. He locks AJ in a nice looking Camel Clutch, but AJ reaches the ropes. Strong pulls him up, but ends up taking a jumping enzuigiri. AJ follows up with his Pelé kick. He charges Strong and gets elevated onto the apron. AJ nails Strong with a forearm. He slingshots into his quebrada DDT, then follows with the Styles Clash to get the win. (3:55)
Perhaps it's just me, but if I were advertising myself as the "wrestling alternative," I'd want to open my debut show with something a bit more...epic. This was a fun match, but a sub-4 minute squash isn't what TNA needs to hook the fans. This was a good Velocity match, nothing more. Styles was under the weather, which I'm sure played some role, but I was expecting more from these two.
-We actually get to see Tenay and West, who proceed to hype the rest of the show. Monty Brown, more X-Division action and of course JARRET, JARRETT, JARRETT still to come! Huzzah!
-Commercials. Lots of UFC hype for Monday.
-Introductory video for Monty Brown. Tenay refers to him as, "legit." Guess that means all the guys in the locker room who don't have NFL experience are just faking it. Many clips of the Pounce.
-Shane Douglas interviews Brown. Same old Serengeti shtick as always. Period. He walks off as Douglas gets word of a commotion backstage. Cut to Raven, randomly wailing on people with a trashcan. Security grabs him and Larry Zbyszko tells them to throw Raven out.
Lex Lovett v. Monty Brown -
This'll be short. Brown opens with a knee to the gut. He tosses Lovett with a capture suplex, then whips him into the corner. Lovett floats over and lays in some punches. He goes for a whip of his own, but Brown shortarms him into a backbreaker. He holds on to Lovett and follows with a fallaway slam. Pounce. Pin. (1:02)
Uh...okay. This was entirely pointless. Doesn't do much to get Brown over. Perhaps giving him some actual competition would do the trick. It's not 1987, after all. The days of the effective squash match are pretty much over.
-Commercials. Apparently, the first 30 minutes of Bound for Glory will be free. That's only as good an idea as the match they plan on sticking out there, though.
-X-Division highlight video. They specifically mention Styles, Samoa Joe, Petey Williams, Chris Sabin and Christopher Daniels. Samoa Joe > You. Just in case you were wondering.
Petey Williams v. Alex Shelley v. Chris Sabin -
Shame that it's taken me so long to actually recap an Alex Shelley match. The man is absolutely amazing and deserves every bit of the success he's starting to attain. Anyway, he and Petey agree to team up. But when Petey charges, Shelley hangs back and does nothing. Sabin catches Petey coming in and nails him with some forearms in the corner. Sabin turns and charges at Shelley, who plants him with a spinebuster. He goes all lucha on Sabin, locking him in the Niebla Lock (I actually prefer calling it the Paradise Lock like Milano Collection AT, but whatever).
Petey dropkicks Shelley, puts a boot on Sabin and sings "O, Canada!" He follows with a baseball slide dropkick that frees Sabin from the hold. Shelley gets back into the action, reversing a whip and sending Petey into a kick from Sabin. Shelley hooks him, kicks off of Sabin and goes for a tornado DDT. Petey blocks it. Sabin then dives over the pile, taking Shelley over with a sunset flip. They run through a quick 3-way Malenko/Guerrero rollup series that's too fast to recap, though we end up with Sabin pounding on Shelley.
Sabin sends Petey into the ropes, taking him down with a sliding trip that sends Petey facefirst into the mat. Sabin follows with a springboard stomp and Petey bails out. Back in the ring, people do stuff. Cameraman could care less, though. Whatever they did, it ends with Sabin rolling to the floor. Shelley goes for a pescado, but lands on the apron when he sees Sabin slide back in. He bounces off the ropes, landing a tope on Petey as Shelley flips back into the ring over him.
Looks like Sabin is setting up for an Asai moonsault. Shelley chops him and he's left hanging. Shelley bounces off the ropes, diving between Sabin's legs into a tope on poor Petey. That was nifty. Sabin recovers and hits his Asai moonsault, slamming his own shins into the railing. That'll leave a mark. We get a replay as we cut to break (2:00)
-Commercials. Buy The Warriors DVD. Haven't seen the movie in ages, but I thought it was fun back in the day. Then buy the game, so Rockstar has a billion dollars for the next gen GTA games. We also get a NBA Live '06 commercial that I can only compare to some sort of odd NBA Gundam scenario. Neat commercial. (4:00)
-Back from commercial, Petey spikes Sabin with a DDT and picks up a nearfall. Shelley plants Sabin with a backdrop suplex and puts him in headscissors. He rolls over and uses his legs to repeatedly ram Sabin's head into the mat. Looks like Petey and Shelley are back on the same page. They take Sabin over with a double suplex. Then things get goofy, as they do this really contrived spot where both guys are getting to their feet and just happen to butt heads in the process. The partnership is OFF!
Both guys go for the fall on Sabin with the other breaking it up. They start trading punches from their knees. Sabin rolls free and catches both of them with a seated dropkick. Petey reverses a whip, sending him into the corner. Sabin floats over him. Shelley charges, but Sabin leapfrogs him and Shelley collides with Petey in the corner. Sabin rolls him up. Shelley kicks out, sending Sabin flying into Petey as well. He collapses in the corner.
Shelley charges, but Sabin takes him down with a drop toehold, sending him into Petey's groin. Sabin lifts Shelley for the Cradle Shock (cross legged fireman's carry into Michinoku Driver), but he slips away and catches Sabin with a kick to the back of the head. Brainbuster is good for two. He sets up for an inverted DDT, but Sabin breaks free.
Petey recovers, dropping Shelley with a Russian legsweep. He signals for the Canadian Destroyer. Shelley blocks it, countering into a backdrop. Sabin catches Petey, planting him with a running Lygerbomb. Shelley breaks up the cover. He gives Petey the Eye of the Hurricane. He grabs Sabin's foot and spins him...Dragon Whip by Sabin! He lifts Shelley and spikes him with the Cradle Shock to pick up the win! (5:25 of 9:25 aired)
Postmatch, Petey jumps Sabin and hits the Canadian Destroyer to a huge pop. That move is over big. He stands triumphant over everyone.
-Backstage, Douglas is looking for a scoop on Larry Zbyszko's big surprise. Tito Ortiz walks up and Zbyszko escorts him into his office. He looks at Douglas and says, "Surprise!" as he shuts the door.
-Commercials. There's a new Jean-Claude Van Damme movie on Spike this week, called Wake of Death. Wednesday @ 9:00. I know what I'll be doing after I watch Lost. If you're not a fan of JCVD, I'm just not sure what to say. I almost pity you. IMDB gives it a 5.5/10, for whatever that's worth. Also, TNA has some new DVDs coming out. Best ofs for AJ, Raven, Jeff Hardy and the X-Division. Available 10/4.
-3 Live Kru intro video. They're wacky, kooky and fun. Sometimes they wrestle, too. In fact, next week, they'll be facing some combination of Team Canada!
Rhino v. Jeff Hardy -
This is half of the participants for the Monster's Ball match at Bound for Glory (the other two guys being Sabu and Abyss). It's basically just a weapons match, though they add some sort of malarkey about all four guys being locked up for 24 hours beforehand with no food, water or light. Because everyone in the match should have to be as nonlucid as Hardy. Oh ho ho, I bring the funny!
Rhino attacks before the bell and pounds on Jeff. He goes for a clothesline, but Hardy ducks it and hits one of his own. Rhino catches his foot and he comes back with his spinning mulekick dealie, sending Rhino into the corner. He follows by using the ropes to elevate himself, then dropkicking Rhino in the corner. Cover gets two. Rhino comes back, reversing a whip and shortarming Jeff into a spinebuster for two.
He chokes Hardy in the ropes for a bit, then slams him. Diving headbutt misses. They briefly trade punches and Jeff goes for a whip. Rhino reverses, but gets caught with a forearm. Hardy whips him *hard* into the corner, then double legs him on the rebound. He hits his low double legdrop for a nearfall. Whip attempt, but Rhino shortarms into a belly to belly suplex. Gore time? Jeff avoids it and Rhino goes into the corner. Twist of Fate by Jeff! But here comes Abyss. He nails Jeff and the ref stops the match, presumably giving Jeff the DQ victory (4:15)
The brawl continues after the match. Abyss whips Hardy into the corner. He runs up the ropes and comes back with the Whisper in the Wind. Rhino jumps Hardy and he and Abyss stomp him down. James Mitchell slides a chair into the ring and they argue over who gets to kill Hardy with it. The lights go out...SABU has arrived! Faces clear the ring.
-Commercials
-Clips from the Border City Wrestling show where Jarrett regained the NWA title. America's Most Wanted *finally* turned heel, hitting the Death Sentence on Raven to help Jarrett get the win. We also see backstage footage, where it's revealed that Scott D'Amore set the entire thing in motion.
-Jarrett and AMW come out. Jarrett talks and talks. I'd recap it, but just superimpose every promo he's done for the last two years and you've pretty much nailed it. He brings out D'Amore, who says that Jarrett owes him one and that he can collect at any time. The 3 Live Kru come out and run Jarrett down. They hit the ring, but Team Canada runs out and beats them down. But here come Team 3D! Holy shit, I just popped for the Dudleyz!
They're wearing shirts that have a middle finger on the back with the caption, "Trademark this." Anyway, they hit 3D on both members of AMW. Jarrett scrambles out of the ring and starts backing up the ramp. But out comes Kevin Nash! Jarrett rolls back into the ring. Team 3D give him the Wazzup headbutt and Nash slowly ambles into the ring and gives him a Jacknife powerbomb for good measure. Team 3D challenges AMW to a match next week. And we're out... (Just for shit & giggles, I timed this segment from Jarrett's music to the end. 8:45, three plus minutes longer than any of the matches on this show.)
So, I'm not sure how I'd rate this as a debut. Decent action with some stuff we don't see on WWE TV. Then again, the matches were all painfully short and they're *still* trying to cram way too much into a one hour show. Too much Jarrett, blah, blah, same old, same old. Definitely two steps forward. Time will tell if they also took the accompanying five steps back.
In other news, I bought Radiata Stories this weekend. Fun action RPG so far. Graphics are gorgeous. I'm not sure if it'll stack up to Tri-Ace's last game (Star Ocean 3), though. The ability to recruit 175 or so characters seems fun, but mind numbing at the same time. Typically takes me 10 hours or so to really get into any RPG, so I've got a good bit of time to decide if I like this or not.
In Heart Punch news, if there's anything worth recapping in that Raw's best moments show tonight (starts at 10 tonight, replays after Raw tomorrow night), I'll do so. Otherwise, I'll see you next week...
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