AJ Styles, Low Ki & Jerry Lynn vs The Flying Elvises
(Jimmy Yang, Jorge Estrada & Sonny Siaki)
Fun little spot fest to kick off the promotion, which also
sets up the following week, where Styles, Ki and Lynn are all in the mix to win
the first ever X Division title. The Elvises attack to start, but get sent out
to the floor, where Lynn and Ki follow them with a pair of nice dives. Thought
Estrada looked great here, made the most of his ring time with a nice
springboard moonsault and a really nice running shooting star. He also lets Ki
basically kick his head off. Everyone gets a few nice spots as it all breaks
down, and in the melee Low Ki accidentally kicks AJ in the head with a
cartwheel kick, allowing Yang to nail Yang Time for the shock win. Decent
enough opener.
Teo vs Hollywood
I went into this with low expectations, as US midget matches
are rarely good, and they instantly blow a tilt-a-whirl headscissors in the
first move of the match. Hollywood hits a decent top rope splash for a two
count, but this is sloppy stuff. Teo hits an ugly twisting swanton to win.
The Johnsons vs Psychosis & James Storm
This is pretty infamous, because of the Johnson’s terrible
gimmick. Make no bones about it, the idea of wrestling penises is dreadful and
nothing about the execution makes it any better, but the match itself is fine
for the sub 5 minutes it runs. Of course, putting the identical Shane Twins
into masks is a total waste of their main appeal, but they looks good here.
Lovely butterfly suplexes by both and a big flapjack on Psychosis. Storm is
totally out to impress here, hitting a nice missile dropkick and even popping a
rana from nowhere near the end. Psychosis, who is the most natural talent in
the match, has the least impact here, but does get a nice facebuster reversal
from being powerbombed. The Johnson’s win with a shitty TKO after manager
Mortimer Plumtree interferes.
Christian York & Joey Matthews vs The Dupps (Bo Dupp
& Stan Dupp)
The Dupps are joined by valet Fluff Dupp. This is again
extremely short, but what there was came over fine. Bo Dupp in particular
seemed really good. He hits some stiff slaps on Matthews, hits a big boot and
gets huge height on a splash. York nails a nice full weight senton for two, but
after a clumsy tornado DDT, he gets crotched by Fluff and rolled up by Bo for
the loss. This was too short, but like the previous match you got the vibe that
a terrible gimmick is holding back a decent heel team.
Gauntlet for the Gold
This is a twenty man royal rumble, with the last two
entrants ending up in a singles match for the NWA title. Credit to TNA, they
tried to build up the younger, cheaper talent here, letting them shine. Malice
makes the final two, eliminating half the field in the process. Apollo gets the
iron man run in the match, whilst Justice (the baby Abyss) and Chris Harris
both get good runs. Jeff Jarrett start the match, seeing off Buff Bagwell, Lash
LeRoux and Norman Smiley right away. However, his elimination eventually comes
at the hands of dreadful country singer Toby Keith, who makes an unwelcome
cameo. Other notable entrants include Del Rios (the former Phantasio) who comes
in dressed as an egregious Scott Steiner rip off, and both Konnan and Rick
Steiner who both get huge pops. We eventually get down to a final pairing of
Ken Shamrock and Malice, leaving us with…
Ken Shamrock vs Malice
Ricky Steamboat is the guest ref for this. Malice dominates
early, looking pretty good in the process, before Shamrock reverses a chokeslam
into an armbar in a nice counter. Malice makes the ropes, before Shamrock locks
in the anklelock. Shamrock is pretty heelish here, dragging Malice back to the
middle of the ring when he’s made the ropes, then not letting go after he makes
the ropes again, forcing Steamboat to get to a count of 7 before breaking. Malice
tries another chokeslam, but Shamrock reverses to a belly-to-belly suplex for
the win. The whole deal was pretty fun, and the final two match-up was fine.
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