TNA Webmatches: Episodes 1-3

One of the things TNA has got right over the years is their weekly webmatches. Free of the chaos and poppycock that frequently dominates proceedings on Impact, the webmatches are a great way to see the lower card wrestlers of TNA, who are generally all above average, without having to endure most of the usual nonsense. I'm going to do them in order, so here are the first few TNA webmatches.

Jay Lethal vs Kip James (Season 1, Episode 1)
James is going by his "Cute Kip" moniker by this point and is accompanied to the ring by the original, and best, Beautiful People. Lethal stops during his entrance to put his shades on Don West, who instantly does a Macho Man impression. God, I miss Don. The typically shitty Impact Zone crowd are cheering for both guys, they seem to love themselves some Kip James. They work a decent speed vs power match. Kip showboats and misses a Stinger Splash in the corner, hitting his head on the ringpost and Lethal takes over with high-paced offence. Beautiful People interference leads to Consequences Creed coming out to even the odds and Lethal finishes with an average looking elbow drop. Short and fun like a midget stripper.

Robert Roode vs Consequences Creed (Season 1, Episode 2)
Roode is a tag-champion at this point, and Tenay's commentary tells us that Beer Money were facing Lethal Consequences at the next PPV. I'd forgotten how good some of Creed's offence was, he throws a nice punch and hits a decent springboard dropkick. Beer Money was the best thing that could happen to Roode, he was going nowhere fast as a singles guy before the team formed, but he's still a terrific singles wrestler and he eats Creed's offence like a champ during the comeback, especially those ace punches. He also has a nice bridging fishermans suplex which wins him the match.

Eric Young vs Cute Kip (Season 1, Episode 3)
Kip was pretty much the king of the webmatches at this time, which is the best way to use a wrestle like Kip James: short matches where he can work with the younger guys, using his experience to carry the match and put guys over. Angelina and Velvet both look great here, though Kip's flowery trunks leave a lot to be desired. EY still has long trunks and blond hair at this time, and he actually looks taller than he does now. More Kip chants. Kip gives a fair bit to Eric in the opening stages, but decks him with a thunderous clothesline. This match is slightly better than the Lethal match, James and Young seemed to mesh better as Young can use a bit more of a power game than Lethal. James misses the Stinger Splash again and they go into a brief finisher reversals series that sees EY pick up the win with a roll-up

Everyday Is Like Tom Zenk: Tom Zenk vs Rob Rechsteiner (AWA 21/08/1985)

One of the things I want to do with this blog is to find out if my taste in wrestling as a kid was worthless or not. There are a selection of wrestlers who I was a big fan of between the ages of 10-18, and I want to see if I still like them now. One of these wrestlers is Tom Zenk, and Youtube threw up this interesting curio, where the Z-Man is fighting a pre-fame Rick Steiner, going under his birth name, in the AWA. Zenk is the veteran here, with Steiner looking a little green in the early stages of the match. There is a nice spot early in the match where Steiner powers Zenk onto the top rope, then foolishly jawing with the crowd, allowing Zenk to hit a crossbody for two. Zenk has some fine fiery babyface offence and Steiner makes a decent attempt at covering for over-early sell of a dropkick by rolling to the outside as if he'd deliberately avoided contact. There is a botched attempt at an airplane spin, seemingly from Steiner leaping too early, but a second attempt sees Zenk pick up the three. Hard to really make a judgement on Zenk from this match, which was essentially a squash and saw Zenk lumbered with a very green Steiner, but there were positive signs in his offence.

Link: Z-Man vs Rechsteiner

(Everything I Do) I Do It For Youtube: William Regal & Paul Burchill vs Scotty 2 Hotty & Funaki (WWE Smackdown 01/09/05)

I thought this would be a nice way to start: one of my all-time favourite wrestlers (Regal) and a wrestler who I once met in Coventry (Burchill) taking part in some squash action. This was Burchill's in-ring debut, having attacked Scotty the previous week on Smackdown. Burchill is noticably leaner here than he was in his ECW days. The match starts with the faces clearing the ring, an ominous start for Burchill's in-ring career. After all, your debuting heel probably shouldn't be clotheslined out of the ring by Funaki. After Regal takes control against Funaki, Burchill tags in and signs get even worse as he immediately bumps huge for a pair of Funaki armdrags and a monkey flip. When the Brits finally get a sustained run of offence, they make it count, Regal with a nice exploder suplex and Burchill throws a nice stiff double sledge to the chest. The short length of the match is pretty restrictive here, as the hot-tag to Scotty would have been more effective with another couple of minutes offence from Regal/Burchill. The end comes with Burchill hitting a shoulderbreaker on Scotty and follows it with a Fujiwara armbar (The Royal Mutilation) that actually looks like he's wrenching Scotty's arm out. Too short to effectively debut Burchill, but his periods of offence looked good.

Link: Regal & Burchill vs Scotty & Funaki

A brief introduction

Not Jay Tabb is a blog named after the 2007/08 Coventry City player of the year. It is also my attempt to rediscover what I love about pro-wrestling. For while I still watch the WWE and TNA regularly, I don't invest in tapes or seeking out new wrestling anywhere near as much as I used to. Using the collection of tapes I've amassed over the years, Youtube and new purchases, I aim to give an opinion on, and enjoy, as much pro-wrestling as possible. Wish me luck