by Scott Keith   
TheSmarks.com/411Wrestling.com/OnlineOnslaught.com

- Your hosts are Mike Tenay & Don West.  With Ferrera gone, I actually found West to be a bit more bearable, believe it or not.

- For those wondering, yes, I am officially approaching wrestling burnout this week due to all the material being pumped out, but at least most of it has been good.  As long as I'm enjoying what's presented it's no problem to keep pumping out the content at this kind of pace.

- Opening match:  AJ Styles v. Jerry Lynn.  In true modern wrestling fashion, their first meeting to "settle the score" is already a series of gimmick matches.  But given the short lifespan that this promotion probably has left, you might as well milk it for what it's worth.  This is the falls-count-anywhere portion of the match.  They brawl out right away and Lynn sends AJ into the crowd, but gets superkicked.  AJ splashes him for two.  He chops away, but charges and hits boot.  Lynn crotches him on the rail and they fight into the crowd again, where Lynn gets two.  Up into the bleachers (admittedly a short trip), and Lynn gets tossed to the floor, and Styles follows him down with a bodypress for two.  Lighting and space limitations kinda ruin the effect.  Back to ringside, and they slug it out, and Lynn gets a suplex on the floor for two.  Back in,  AJ springboards with whatever and gets reversed to a jawbreaker for two.  Styles reverses a piledriver into a facebuster and gets two.  Lynn blocks a slingshot suplex, but falls victim to a neckbreaker instead.  That looked awkward.  They tumble out and AJ gets two.  We head up the ramp, where Lynn spears him and runs AJ off the stage for two.  Back up, Lynn blocks a piledriver attempt and gets his own version for the pin at 9:55.  An okay brawl, although neither guy is particularly good at it.  This was just a lot of the usual WWE-style main event lazy brawling, but it worked well enough for what it was.  **3/4

- Meanwhile, Chris Harris runs down James Storm's cowboy gimmick.  Brian Lee and Ron Harris, both sounding like they're stoned out of their minds, interrupt and try to get Chris Harris on their side.  Total Russo stuff here.  And while I'm on the subject, Chris Harris has a TERRIBLE wrestling name.  Too many soft feminine sounds to it  good wrestling names should be short and filled with sharp edges  The RoCK.  SteVe AusTIN.  Lots of "Ks" and "Vs" and "Ns".  "Chris Harris" sounds like a sensitive country singer, not a badass.  He should just dump the name and call himself "Wildcat", or "Wyldekatt" if you want to give it Attitude for the kidz.  Same with "James Storm".  Too many "S" sounds in there.  Even "Jim Storm" would be better.  Now "Ron Killings"  THERE'S a name that sounds like someone who's up to no good.  By the way, I just love how Russo books angles where guys make fun of supposedly dumb gimmicks (like a perfectly good cowboy gimmick) while coming up with stuff like "Jeff Jarrett:  Midget Killer" as a way to get his main event guys over.  There is no shame in being a cowboy if you believe in your gimmick and the fans will pop for it.

- Ron Harris & Brian Lee & Chris Harris & James Storm.  Apparently the NWA's budget only has enough to budget one Harris brother per show.  Of course, it's not like anyone could tell the difference or even care if Don Harris played both parts.  And what's with all the people named Harris not related to each other?  Brian (Lee) Harris, Ron Harris, Chris Harris.geez, it's an epidemic.  In the interest of fashion sense, it should be noted that Lee has changed his look from Undertaker's American Badass to Bryan Adams' Kronik Reject.  On the upside, his hair is now so impressive that I bet the WWE will have him back in the fold by the end of the year.  Remember:  Tall, muscular, good hair and you're in.  Lee overpowers Storm, but gets slugged down.  The faces clean house and Chris frustrates Ron with armdrags.  I'm reduced to using first names to prevent this match review from becoming something out of "A Comedy of Errors", except with more latent Nazi symbolism.  I mean, talk about your social faux pas  a friggin' "SS" shirt?  How do you accidentally wear something like that on national TV?  Anyway, Ron comes back with corner clotheslines, but the faces clean house again and Storm follows with a plancha.  Back in, Chris hits Ron with a headscissors, but Lee tombstones him for two.  The crowd is chanting "DOA" like that's a good thing or something.  Perhaps they're referring to the match?  The Harrisssessesees pound away in the corner, and Ron gets a sideslam (SideSlam.SS..COINCIDENCE?) for two.  Lee hits the chinlock.  Chris Harris comes back with a Thesz Press, but Lee goes low to break, and tosses Chris.  Chicanery of the highest order follows.  Back in, Ron gets the big boot and Lee gets two.  Hot tag to Storm and I guess it's Bonzo Gonzo, but I'm not thrilled about it.  Lee gets dumped, and for some reason the camera stays on him and ignores the match.  Finally, it makes sense, as he beats up a helpless audience plant, who happens to be the only roided guy sitting in the front row and might as well be wearing a t-shirt that says "Indy Worker", and this distraction on Lee's part allows Chris Harris to roll up Ron Harris for the pin at 8:58.  Truly in the annals of idiotic finishes this one deserves at least an honourable mention.  *1/4

- Sonny Siaki v. Jimmy Yang.  This is a 2/3 falls match for god knows what reason.  I mean, hey, bully for them for filling up the time with wrestling instead of skits and all, but giving green guys 15 minutes on PPV when they barely have the ability to fill 7 or 8 sometimes just reeks of the same kind of desperation that resulted in WCW's TV being filled with Power Plant rejects near the end.  Siaki goes after Yang on the ramp, but gets jumped by Estrada and dragged back to ringside.  Into the ring, a dropkick gets two.  Siaki charges and hits elbow, and Yang springboards in with a dropkick for two.  We hit the chinlock.  Siaki fights up and gets two.  Yang hits a neckbreaker and Yang Time for the pin at 2:59.  Yang tries a rope-assisted headscissors, but gets dumped and tossed into the crowd.  Back in, suplex gets two for Sonny.  Neckbreaker gets two.  We go back to the chinlock again.  They exchange chops, and Sonny pumphandles him for two.  Sonny pounds away in the corner and goes back to the chinlock.  Seems to be a lot of that going around.   Yang backslide gets two, but Siaki clotheslines him down.  Yang comes back with a leg lariat, but gets hit with a neckbreaker for the pin at 7:56 to even things up.  Siaki gets a backbreaker for two.  Yang rolls into a half-crab, but Siaki makes the ropes.  Yang grabs a kneebar, but Sonny escapes.  This submission stuff is pretty silly, considering no one's done so much as an armbar through the whole match.  They head up and Siaki gets a superplex, but Yang hits a Shining Wizard.  What is that, the trendy move for cruiserweights these days or something?  People make fun of it for a REASON, you know.  They slug it out and Yang spins out of a wristlock and gets a clothesline for two.  At least, I assume it was a clothesline  for some reason I was using "CL" to abbreviate "clothesline" for this show, which I don't normally do, thus throwing myself off.  Have I mentioned how much I like doing rants live off the TV tuner rather than depending on my own notes?  Funny story  I'm left-handed by choice.  When I was really young, my writing was so bad that my teacher basically told me to write however felt most comfortable, because it couldn't possibly be any worse.  When I got to grade 9, I learned to type and never looked back.  But I digress.  Both guys are down, and Yang pounds him in the corner, but Sonny gets a hotshot and heads up.  Yang crotches him down and gets a neckbreaker off the top for two.  Rollup is reversed by Siaki for the pin at 13:39.  Well, they tried, and I'll leave it at that because that's all you can ask from people as young and completely mismatched as these two were.  **

- Jeff Jarrett of course immediately cuts off any celebration or reprequences & consecussions by letting us know that he's MAD AS HELL.  Brian Lawler then attacks him to cut off any further illumination on the subject.  Goldylocks asks Lawler for his motivation, but Slash attacks and cuts HIM off.  He should have just said "I don't owe these fans an explanation!" like all the trendy heels do these days.

- Brian Lawler v. Slash.  Slash drops him on top and dropkicks him out, and they brawl on the floor.  Lawler reverses a piledriver, and they head back in.  Lawler sends him out again, and they fight on the ramp, which leads to a bulldog out there.  Back in, Slash superplexes him for two.  It should be noted that this crowd, which seems to be composed of the basest wannabe smart-marks, is committing the most IRRITATING infraction known to smarkdom  chanting the real name of the heel in an attempt to show how clever they are.  I HATE that, and advocate slapping your neighbour should be you be at a wrestling show sitting beside someone who participates in it.  I think it's actually legal to do so in some states.  Helicopter slam, which seems to be one of the 14 or so moves called "Slash and Burn", gets two.  Lawler gets a floatover DDT, but he stops to dance, a point which Tenay stops to hammer home by screaming into the mike.  Yes, he gets distracted easily, we get it.  Enzuigiri, more dancing.  He goes low, as does Slash.  They head up and Lawler finishes with the Tennessee Jam at 5:50.  Tenay makes a big deal about how it used to be called the Hip Hop Drop, but now it's the Tennessee Jam again.  Do I CARE either way?  ½*

- Meanwhile, Bob Armstrong threatens JJ with a surprise.

- X Title:  Loki v. Joel Maximo v. Jose Maximo v. The Amazing Red.  The SATs all beat on Loki, but he takes them all down and the kicks the crap out of them.  It turns into a four-corners match, as Loki hammers Red for two.  Elbow gets two.  Red kicks him into the corner for two.  Jose tags in, but can't get a DDT.  Another try works and gets two.  The Maximos double-team for two.  Joel gets a good lariat for two.  Loki gets a rana and a rolling kick in the corner, and one for Jose as well.  Red tags himself in and moonsaults Joel for two.  Loki back in, but he gets put in a fireman's carry position, and the others take turns jumping off the top rope onto his back.  Loki escapes and hits Red with a double-team leg lariat.  Maximos get a weird, inverted 3D on Loki, but Red escapes them and dropkicks Jose out.  Red ranas Jose off the apron, onto Joel.  In the ring, Loki tosses Red onto the Maximos.  He follows with a corkscrew onto the Maximos.  Back in, it gets two on Joel.  Joel dumps Loki, and Jose goes with Red.  Facecrusher gets two for Joel, and then he uses Mikey Whipwreck's double-underhook bomb to finish Jose at 9:10.  Loki kicks Joel to a pulp, and Red DDTs him and moonsaults him for the pin at 10:05.  So that leaves Red and Loki.  Red gets rammed into the corner backfirst, and that gets two.  Ki Krusher from the top is stopped, but Red tries to reverse and gets caught in the same position again, and this time Loki finishes the move for the pin at 12:04.  Lots of eye-popping stuff, but only about half of it hit clean and there was no sign of psychology.  Still, for what it was, it was a spectacular spotfest.  ***1/4

- NWA World title:  Ron Killings v. Monte Brown.  I'm still waiting for someone to call one of Brown's moves "Three Card Monte".  Brown overpowers the Truth and dances.  The slug it out, and Brown gets a corner splash and slugs Truth down.  That gets two.  Brown bails and Truth follows with a tope.  Brown meets the stairs, and the table.  They fight on it, but nothing gets demolished.  More brawling, and Brown suplexes him on the floor.  Back in, Brown gets two.  He chops away, but Truth gets a Flatliner and goes up for a legdrop.  That gets two.  We hit the chinlock, and Brown gets a sunset flip for two.  Truth comes back with a leg lariat for two as it starts to become evident that neither guy is particularly ready for the position they're in.  They slug it out, and Brown suplexes him for the double KO.  Brown pounds away and powerslams him.  Splash gets two.  Killings dodges him and gets the axe kick for two.  Alphabomb is blocked, and they screw up the spot and try it again, and this time the Alphabomb is reversed to a rollup for the pin at 10:11.  Good intensity and the hype almost made you think they could pull it off, but once it got past the brawling the match just had no legs and Killings in particular couldn't hold it together.  Say what you will about the WWE and their oppressive training system that forces people to work "WWE Style", but if they give up on you, there's usually a reason.  *1/2

- Jeff Jarrett immediately lays out both guys, but Lawler attacks again.  It ends with Lawler accidentally laying out Killings with a chairshot.

- AJ Styles v. Jerry Lynn.  This is match #2, no-DQ.  Styles attacks, and we're on.  They slug it out and Lynn finds a table under the ring and sets it up on the floor.  He tries a sunset flip through the table, but Styles blocks.  Back in, Styles legsweeps him into the chair and wedges it into the corner.  They slug it out, and AJ gets a rollup for two, but Lynn sends him into the chair for two.  Lynn stomps him down and chops away in the corner.  Lynn guillotines him between the ropes, but can't DDT him through the table, and gets clotheslined for two.  AJ chops away, and they clothesline each other and land on a chair.  Lynn tries a sunset flip, but it's blocked by a chairshot, and that gets two.  Lynn Van-Daminates him for two.  He puts Styles on top and DDTs him onto the chair in an awkward spot that gets two.  Back up, but Lynn gets knocked off, then recovers and crotches AJ.  He gets a rana through the table, although it misses badly.  Back in, Lynn gets two.  They head back up, and AJ gets the Styles Clash for the pin at 11:34.  Strongest match of the night.  ***1/2

- Iron Man:  AJ Styles v. Jerry Lynn.  10 minutes kinda demeans the whole "Iron Man" name.  AJ pins Lynn twice to start (he was still out from the previous match) and goes up 2-0.  Lynn kicks out of a third try.  Lynn gets a neckbreaker for two.  They slug it out and Lynn gets a sleeper, reversed.  Lynn escapes, but gets yanked down.  We hit the chinlock.  Styles tries a rana, reversed to a facebuster for the pin.  So it's 2-1.  Lynn's piledriver is reversed and Styles chops away.  Styles charges and misses by a mile.  Lynn legdrop gets two.  He goes up but gets powerbombed off for the pin to make it 3-1.  That looked like a screwup.  Styles gets a spinkick for two.  Lynn tombstones him for the pin to make it 3-2.  Loki and his ladder come down to watch.  Lynn gets his own Styles Clash to tie it up at 3-3.  Styles backslide gets two.  Pinfall reversal sequence and AJ goes low and cradles for two.  10:00 is up, no winner.  Wow, a draw in a 2/3 series that was supposed to have a guaranteed winner.  What a shock.  So it's a three-way next week.  This match alternated between wasting time and rushing through sequences.  **  And now I'm officially burned out on Styles-Lynn.  40 minutes of them in one show is quite enough for a while.

- Bob Armstrong's big surprise for Jarrett:  The return of the masked Bullet.  Good grief.

The Bottom Line:

Well, this show definitely had the Good and the Bad.

The Good:  A minimum of bullshit, emphasis on in-ring action, generally good action at that, and nothing really bad in the ring.  It was a much more easily-enjoyable show than the one I saw a couple of weeks ago.

The Bad:  Budget cutbacks are EXTREMELY obvious, from people disappearing from major storylines without a trace or logical reason (Apolo, Malice, Mitchell, Shamrock, and even Ricky Steamboat, all absent from this show and the next one due to cost constraints).  The people that are left, outside of the very polished Lynn and Styles, are obviously indy-level workers at best.  An indy product is fine if you're running indy shows, but this is supposed to be an alternative to the WWE that costs $10 a week.  I'm sorry, but I don't want to spend money watching green rookies learn basic transitions while surrounded by midgets and twin Nazis.  I can get that on Smackdown.  Well, not the Nazis, but you know what I mean.

I liked this show, quite a lot, but if you can't compete as advertised, then stop wasting my time.  The September 18th show, their return to live PPVs, is also the 13th, which means that the deal with InDemand can be ended if need be.  I think they should give it serious thought.

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