by Rick Scaia
OnlineOnslaught.com

Big time thanks to Z for covering the opening 10 weeks or so of the upstart promotion.  Sitting here today, I know I wouldn't have the testicular fortitude to fork over $10 every week for this product (or for any product, probably... TNA's just way different from sitting down for a free RAW, and it's different from only having to get hyped up to spend money once a month for Sunday night PPs).

With that said, the first big function of this little recap today is to say this:

If you do tune in to TNA every week, and would like to recap the shows for OO, then drop me a line immediately.  You can start next week.  There's no expectations in terms of having someone emulate CRZ's detailed, transcript-heavy recap style.  Just make sure you convey the key moments of every match and segment, and be able to do so while also providing a relatively fair and impartial opinion about the show (star ratings, etc., are optional, though).  One thing I would ask:  if you want the job, please know that I'd like to get your recaps no later than Thursday afternoon every week.  

For some reason, I don't think they'll be quite the deluge of applicants for this job, which strangely, should make it really easy to pick someone.  Hell, the main reason I still don't have a regular SmackDown! recapper is because of the sheer number of people who I'd have to say "no" to, like the asshole that I am.  Oh well...

The other big function of this little recap today?  Well, it's to recap last night's NWA-TNA PPV.  Here are the results:

• Outside the arena, Brian Lawler was about to reveal what heinous act Jeff Jarrett perpetrated against him when Jarrett attacked from behind to KO Lawler.
   
  
• Inside the ring, the action started with Kid Kash defeating the Amazing Red via pinfall, in a middlin' 10 minute match.  If you thought I was unfairly critical of a few SummerSlam matches due to a dead crowd, well, maybe you're right.  There was literal SILENCE for about the first half of this match, and trust me, it hurt the intensity level.  The second half picked it up a bit, though, and the end result was a decent opener.  After the match, Red was joined by the Maximos (Spanish Announce Team) in beating up Kash.
   
  
• Sonny Siaki beat Monte Brown, thanks to a distraction from Jeff Jarrett (Jarrett and Brown have heat from last week, when Jarrett interfered in Brown's NWA Title match).  Siaki, doing his "Lonewolf Elvis" gimmick, is a potential success story for TNA; combine that with Jarrett's involvement, and there was more heat on this match, even if the action wasn't as good.  Jarrett's distraction caused Brown to give up in the middle of applying his finisher, allowing Siaki to attack from behind and get the pinfall.  After the match, Brian Lawler ran out and attacked Jarrett.
   
  
• The Jim-Mitchell-less "Disciples of the New Church" did a backstage interview, mainly so Slash could get over the new "Kobain" character's gimmick with some suicide-image-laden poetry.  This was a lot more palatable and interesting when Raven did it, oh, seven years ago.  [And yes, I think I say that as a wrestling pundit, and not as a Nirvana fan who's sensibilities are injured by the gimmick.]
   
  
• Chris Harris and James Storm won a tag team elimination match, last eliminating Slash and Kobain, to earn their way into an upcoming "Gauntlet for the Gold" for the vacant tag titles.  The Backseat Boys were eliminated first, at about the five minute mark, by the Hotshots.  A few minutes later, Storm and Harris eliminated the Hotshots.  Then, Brian Lee and Ron Harris (the former Disciples of Apocalypse) hit ringside to do commentary (they're pissed they aren't under consideration for the Gauntlet match).  When Harris and Storm won at about the 15 minute mark, Lee and Ron Harris attacked them.  The other teams from the elimination match came back out and were similarly punked out by Lee and Harris.  I didn't get a whole lot out of the match itself, but the post-match angle was actually an effective way to build up heat for Lee/Harris in a multi-way tag title match scenario...
   
  
• Bruce defeated April Hunter to retain his precious Miss TNA crown.  I know Hunter had been rigorously training so that she could be something more than just another hot model trying to break into wrestling, but this was my first chance to see the results.  I was pleasantly surprised.  Though really short, the action here was solid, even though the gimmicky-ness of this whole storyline screams "VRap" to me.  Bruce won with a powerbomb, and when he tried to disrobe April after the match, he was attacked by Slyk Wagner Brown (who was put over as April's boyfriend).
   
  
• The Flying Elvisses (Jimmy Yang and Jorge Estrada) beat the Spanish Announce Team (Jose and Joel Maximo) when Yang pinned Joel at roughly the 15 minute mark.  Fast-paced, indie-style (i.e. no real flow from spot-to-spot) match, so I was enjoying it.  The SATs were in control when the Elvisses prodigal brother, Siaki, came out with an assist.  Shortly after, Yang was able to get the pinfall for his team.  I'm not enough of a TNA regular to know how the Elvisses/Siaki storyline really should be going, but match-wise, this was pretty good stuff.
   
  
• Brian Lawler was interviewed again, this time in the ring.  Again, he was about to reveal Jeff Jarrett's heinous act, but this time, Ron "the Truth" Killings interrupted.  Killings had issues with Lawler from last week (apparently, the two were working together, but had a miscommunication).  He begged off of Killings, and eventually mentioned that Jarrett's actions involved his girlfriend.  He pointed her out at ringside, but when a guy started taking pictures of her, he got pissed, and carried her to the backstage area.
   
  
• Jeff Jarrett's "surprise" opponent was "the Bullet" (a former identity of Bob Armstrong, but not played by Bob Armstrong this time).  They brawled for a few minutes, and then Jarrett handcuffed the Bullet to the ring ropes and was about to unmask him.  Security intervened, however, and then they did this really bad edit, cutting back to the announcers as if the action in the ring just ceased.  Not a good segment.
   
  
• Main event time:  Jerry Lynn won the X Division Title, winning a three way Ladder Match over former champ Lo Ki and AJ Styles.  I don't know about the "best match I've ever seen" label given his match by Vince Russo, but this was damned good.  It'd be silly to even try play-by-play when there were three guys pulling out all the stops for about 25 minutes, so I won't.  Lynn was able to ascend the ladder and grab the belt after Lo Ki had incapacitated Styles with a Dragon Sleeper and Lynn had given Lo Ki a cradle piledriver (ouch!) onto a ladder.  Outstanding main event, and the X Division continues to be THE reason to care about TNA.
   
  

The undercard was a mix of VRap (mostly involving Brian Lawler's dubious acting... though "Kobain," the Jarrett/Bullett stuff, and Bruce-as-Miss-TNA are no doubt other examples) and top-end indie style wrestling.  In and of itself, nothing too notable, unless you wanted to note that the once-ubiquitous VRap (Dupps, Jive Talkin', midgets with guns, etc.) has now been commendably toned down.

But obviously, the main event ladder match put this show over the top.  If you watched the show and didn't like that match, I gotta wonder about you.  The action was non-stop, the crowd was about as hot as a Center-Stage-sized crowd can be, and you had an important title on the line.  That's a nice convergence of many factors...

I thought this episode of TNA was demonstrably better than this week's RAW... unfortunately, when the week-ending honors are handed out, TNA won't be able to keep up with SummerSlam and the potential HBK/HHH match of the year.  

TNA is apparently on a bit of a hiatus for the next two weeks, as they promised next week is basically an X Division highlight show (with new interviews mixed in?), with live TNA action not returning until September 18.  Based on tonight's show, if you wanted to drop $10 on a TNA broadcast, you could do lots worse than to start with an X Division highlight show, though...

Remember, if you want the TNA recapping gig, drop me a line...

E-MAIL RICK SCAIA
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