NWA-TNA PPV #1 (19/06/2002)

Impact kindly put this up on their YouTube channel for free, and it's a really interesting watch with the benefit of 16 years of hindsight. The majority of the in-ring stuff is decent, but there's a lot of time given to some right old shit - needless concert by a terrible country singer, long preview for the Miss TNA match the following week, in ring interview with two racing drivers - just unappealing stuff. There's enough good in ring stuff that I'd probably have bought the second show if I'd had access at the time, but only just.

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.

Rey Mysterio Jr: Before They Were Stars

Going into this DVD, I had pretty high expectations. Rey Jr is someone I've always been a big fan of, someone I'd rank amongst the 5 best wrestlers of all time. Thus a compilation of Rey's Mexico work sounded pretty appealing. I'm no expert on Lucha, but there's plenty I do like, so I thought this might be pretty fun. One thing I wasn't expecting was the terrible quality of the footage. It's mainly handheld footage, which I don't have an issue with on the whole, but it's pretty grainy in places and the camera has a habit of jumping all over the place. Worse, the sound is all overdubbed, so there's a constant disconnected cheering sound, with no noise for any bumps or moves. There's also terrible commentary from Manny Peoples and ex-XPW doofus Kriss Kloss, which is inane and often unbearable. But are the matches any good....?

Rey Mysterio Jr & El Torrero vs Jerry Estrada & Negro Azteca

We’re joined early in progress, with the rudos working over Rey in the ring. The ref is pretty lenient, it has to be said, as there is a liberal use of weaponry in the ring as they work over Rey’s leg with a chair. Rey sells the heck out of it too, limping and not even being able to run across the ring. We clip to Rey still getting worked over, with Torrero being useless as a partner. He doesn’t get involved, and when he does, he generally gets beaten up. The rudos lock in stereo submissions for what is clearly the first fall (both technicos are clearly gesturing to give up, the holds both get released suddenly and the rudos casually walk around the ring rather than keep attacking their opponents), but Kloss and Peoples don’t seem to notice this. Indeed, when Torrero hits a shitty rana on Estrada for the three count minutes later, both sell it as being the first fall in the match. We get MORE leg work on Mysterio, who shouldn’t even be able to walk at this stage, before he’s casually allowed to tag out to Torrero. Being useless, he gets worked over some more and thrown into the crowd, allowing the heels to keep working over Rey with weapons, until eventually the ref decides to disqualify the rudos. Seems pretty odd, given that they’d been doing the same thing all match, but I was just glad this was over.

Rey Mysterio Jr vs Juventud Guerrera

This promises to be a lot better. We get some basic matwork and roll up attempts in the early going, with Rey being just slightly ahead on points. Mysterio hits a lovely springboard into a headscissors, but makes the mistake of only trying for more high-flying moves and gets caught as Juvi reverses a rana into a powerbomb for the first fall. Rey doesn’t seem discouraged though, as he goes back to his slight speed advanatage early in the second fall, sending Juvi outside and hitting a huge flip dive. Rey leaps from the top rope to hit a Dragonrana for the equalising fall. Guerrera seems a little more focused now, as he nails Rey with a nasty looking brainbuster for a two count. We clip, sadly, and when we return Rey is back in control, nailing an Asai moonsault to the floor. Juvi misses a top rope splash, but is able to retain control. However, he makes the same mistake Rey did earlier, by trying the same move too often. Here, Juvi hits two tilt-a-whirl backbreakers, only for Mysterio to reverse the third into a pin for the winning fall. Pretty spotty stuff, but I liked the logic of the match-winning fall.

Rey Mysterio Jr & Octagon vs KGB & Pentagon

A little bit of internet research tells me that KGB is Tom Howard playing Russian. He’s much bigger than anyone else in the bout, and fair bosses the opening stages of the match. The rudos have another Russian wrestler outside the ring, and it’s fair to say he’s not shy about getting involved, possibly because he knows the ref will do nothing about it. KGB basically hurls Rey Jr about like a ragdoll, leaving Octagon and Pentagon in the ring. Pentagon seems to be trying to unmask Octagon, and this is seemingly enough to get Octagon to concede the first fall. Even Kloss and Peoples seem baffled. Second fall sees more of KGB’s impressive strength, as he continues to dominate Rey, and he survives aerial attacks from both technicos by catching them in midair. His strength doesn’t extend to his own teammate though, as some miscommunication sees Pentagon barrel him over, and Rey hits a quebrada on Pentagon for the fall. Has to be said that there are lots of outside the ring goings on, as a lady at ringside tries to help the technicos by stalking the rudo entourage with a chair, though she never actually uses it. The final fall sees a rather tepid sequence between Octagon and Pentagon, with one of the entourage just running into the ring in full sight of the ref to break up pinfalls. We clip to what look like the best parts of the match, as Rey and KGB work a really fluid looking big man/little man section, before Pentagon abruptly rolls up Octagon for the win.

Rey Mysterio Jr, Super Calo & Leon Negro vs Juventud Guerrera, Psychosis & Halloween

This match was a whole heap of fun, pretty much non-stop action. We get a fun opening sequence which ends with Rey hitting a big flip-dive on Juvi. Calo looks really good throughout here, looking really fluid on attack and never missing a beat before fighting the next person to enter the ring. The rudos take over as Psychosis hits a missile dropkick to the back of Rey’s neck. Loved a 450 legdrop Guerrera hits. The technicos take out Halloween and Juvi, leaving Negro alone with Psychosis, and Psy quickly finishes him off with a corkscrew moonsault.

Rey Mystero Jr vs Juventud Guerrera

This one seems to have a bit more hate behind it, as both guys spit at each other at the start. This kicks into a high gear pretty quickly as Rey sends Juvi to the floor with a huge bump, and follows him out with a springboard plancha. Juvi gets sent outside again, taking the Fuerza bump to the floor, and Rey again follows him with an Asai moonsault. Juvi is able to springboard in with a sloppy looking leg lariat and nails a Dragon suplex for the first fall. Juvi misses a corner charge to give Rey control of the second fall and Rey ranas Juvi out of the ring onto an accompanying Halloween. Rey hits a top rope rana and a gutwrench powerbomb to even the sides. Rey is in the ascendancy to start the third fall, but misses a corner charge of his own. Juvi misses a legdrop and we head outside the ring where Rey levels him with a chairshot. This is the opening for all chaos to reign. Halloween tries to hold Rey in place for a plancha, but unsurprisingly Rey moves to allow Juvi to barrel through his friend. This seems to be the cue for a whole plethora of run ins. The mass group of technicos hit dives to take out the rudos, but the rudos recover quicker and pile on Rey in the ring. Konnan comes out with a bat to take out the rudos and Rey levels Juvi with the bat and a superfluous quebrada for the win. Pretty good fun, even if the run in’s were over the top.

Rey Mysterio Jr, Super Calo & Leon Negro vs Los Hombres De Ex

Yep, that’s a team of X-Men themed wrestlers. This is face vs face, so this all seems a bit too much of an exhibition. Lots of co-operative looking sequences (though the Gambit/Calo bit looked pretty sloppy, all of which was on Gambit). There’s a bit where everyone goes in the ring and misses sentons before a huge dive series on the outside, which was pretty fun. This leaves both Gambit and Calo in the ring and both men get their shoulders counted down as Calo leans right back with a Mexican surfboard. While the two referees argue over who the winner is, a load of rudos including KGB come to the ring and beat everybody up. I didn’t love this, and it’s a pretty poor way to end the DVD.

XPW FreeFall

Sometimes, I hate wrestling

Scott Snot vs Vinny Massaro
Ever wanted to hear a joke beaten into the ground? At the start of this match, commentator Kriss Kloss doesn't know who Massaro is, so only refers to him as "Spagettios" for the whole match, despite his name being announced by the ring announcer. This isn't very good, as Snot is pretty poor. A poor bump off a Massaro kick sees him getting booed, and his offence is weak, including a soft looking bulldog. Massaro is better, with non-flashy, but effective moves, and he nicely folds up Snot on a belly-to-back suplex. Snot gets 2 on a Tomikaze, but Massaro picks up the win with a swank pump handle pile driver.

Evan Karagias vs Psychosis
Karagias is brought out as the new client of heel manager Kevin Kleinrock as his other client, the prissy Preston Ascott III is injured. Despite this, Karagias wrestles like a face, hitting a plancha after Psychosis bails to the floor, whilst Psychosis wrestles like a heel, hitting a low blow to take over, then picking up Karagias at 2 on a pin. Baffling. They then switch rolls, with Karagias doing a sexy dance to rile the crowd. Decent German suplex by Karagias. This is pretty sloppy on the part of both however, they just don't seem to be in tune. Nutty bump from Psychosis, as he slingshots from the ring to the floor with an elbow drop. The end sees Kleinrock distract Karagias by offering him a chair as he goes to the top. This allows Psychosis to recover and throw him from the top, before hitting a top rope legdrop to win. A bit of a letdown, as I hoped Psychosis could get something out of Karagias.

D vs Pogo the Clown
D comes to the ring slapping hands with the fans...then cuts a promo slagging them off, as no-one in XPW fucking understands heels and faces in wrestling. Kriss Kloss seems shocked by the wrestling "skills" of Pogo, as he throws some shitty armdrags. Despite Pogo's ineptness, this turns into a presentable big-vs-little match, as all Pogo has to do is stand there whilst the more able D throws himself at the clumsy clown. Pogo is in control following a missed D splash, before the ring gets surrounded by a group of unknown guys. Pogo and D both wield chairs to protect themselves, before D "shockingly" turns on the man he's just been fighting. This is all set up for an invasion storyline with D's old SCCW promotion. Of course, Kloss being the worst commentator ever puts over the threat of this new union by referring to them as jobbers and backyarders. Match was watchable, almost solely due to D.

Kaos vs Angel
Kaos is defending his TV title here in a gauntlet, and is accompanied by his stablemates GQ Money and Veronica Caine of the Enterprise. Despite a little hesitancy between both guys, this is worked at a good pace and is a decent little match. A crossbody to the floor by Angel is particularly good before Kaos wins with a piledriver from a powerbomb position. What is less good is that Angel's "hardcore homo" gimmick allows Kloss to crack "hilarious" gay jokes on commentary.

Kaos vs Chris Hamrick
In a terrible display of booking, the heel is at a disadvantage due to having just wrestled. Hamrick uses his veteran skills and freshness to dominate before a trademark bump through the ropes. He then takes another, more nuts bump by flipping backfirst onto the floor when dropkicked off the apron. Kaos wisely works over the back by whipping Hamrick into the railings, but Hamrick recovers and in a big spot hits a Van Terminator across the ring to dropkick a chair into the face of Kaos, who is still on the floor outside. Hamrick is doing everything he can to make this match memorable. The top rope legdrop only gets two. GQ Money takes advantage of a ref distraction to knock Hamrick off the top rope, and Kaos nails a top rope gourdbuster for the win. Easily the most entertaining match of the card thus far.

Kaos vs NOSAWA
NOSAWA schools the exhausted Kaos for a bit, before Kaos decides to totally non-sell his previous matches, and bounds around the ring, springboarding hither and thither. This match is an utter mess, with outside interference and belt shots in front of the ref, who seemingly couldn't care less. Kaos gets a blockbuster to win this gauntlet.

Juventud Guerrera vs Mosco De La Merced
This match is set up by Juvi turning on his La Familia stablemates (Psychosis, Halloween, Damien 666 and Merced) to join Rob Black's Black Army faction. This is all Juvi early on, even getting the highspot with a big plancha. The face Merced does get his own spot to shine, with a nutty diving swanton to the floor. Juvi nails two powerbombs and a weak chairshot, but these two don't seem to be clicking. A swift Juvi Driver ends a total squash.

Veronica Caine vs Lizzy Borden
Fuck me, Kloss makes the WORST fucking noises every time he sees a woman, making groaning noises like a confused virgin. This is a buck naked lumberjack paddle match, with the aim being to strip your opponent totally naked. Both are heels, accompanied by heel stables at ringside (the Black Army for Borden, the Enterprise for Caine). Rob Black bans the Enterprise from ringside, before we get to this appalling match. Weak wrestling starts off before it devolves to it's natural state as a catfight. The bout clearly only exists for titilation, with the crowd knowing that Black being a pornographer means there is a very good chance of actually seeing someone naked. But no, as Borden is about to remove Caine's top, the lights go out to a big groan from the crowd and they come back on to find Caine gone. Terrible booking. Afterwards, GQ Money cuts a promo lambasting the crowd and taking credit for turning off the lights. So the feud between the two heel stables continues. WHO THE FUCK IS THE AUDIENCE SUPPOSED TO BE CHEERING FOR?!?!

Steve Rizzono vs a Monkey
So right after being part of a major heel angle as part of the Enterprise, Rizzono is facing...a man dressed as a monkey. I say this, but Kloss spends the entire bloody match yelling "Rizzono is facing a real monkey! An actual monkey from a zoo!" like an unbearable berk. This is another largely pointless match, with the monkey controlling with some weak offence before winning with a facebuster. Afterwards, Rizzono gets beaten to shit by a mysterious masked man.

Webb vs GQ Money
Webb is dressed like karate Elvis and, by virute of GQ Money being an appalling irritant, is the more sympathetic character. Money is not much of a physical threat to Webb, so sneak attacks to gain an advantage. Neither guy exactly carries themself like world championship material, but I thought Webb looked pretty decent in places. I really liked him chaining from a side-Russian legsweep into an armbar/headscissors. They don't quite click in the match, with awkward moments like Webb watching GQ position himself on the top rope and hitting a move on him, and not trying to counter it due to mistiming when he would turn around. Money misses a terrible looking spinny top rop legdrop and Webb goes to work. I liked the snap he put into a spinning uranage, before tapping GQ Money out with a rear choke. Afterwards, the Black Army cut off Money's thinning hair.

The Sandman vs Supreme
This was set up by an earlier heel promo by Sandman, proclaiming himself a big star, before Supreme challenged him to fight for the Deathmatch title. Sandman is avoiding the hardcore style, so goes to the mat with a headlock on Supreme. I've commented in the past how I liked the way Supreme built towards barbed wire spots, but here he just hurls Sandman in the first few minutes. Sandman is happy to go outside to stall, so Supreme baseball dropkicks him into some more barbed wire outside the ring in a decent spot. Sandman starts using weapons himself, setting up a bed of thumbtacks that he ends up getting slammed into himself. Supreme goes up top, but the Enterprise, all fully recovered from their very recent beatings, interfere. A sloppy looking three-man cutter onto the tacks gifts Sandman the win. Not very good.

New Jack vs Vic Grimes
Right, this match is probably the most famous in XPW history, and not for the right reasons. This is the FreeFall match, a scaffold 40ft in the air with 12 tables stacked in the ring (four tables high, three tables across) with the aim being to through your opponent from the scaffold to the ring. So the story goes, New Jack hadn't forgiven Grimes for the incident at ECW Living Dangerously 2000, which left him temporarily blinded, and plotted him revenge for this match. Of which more later...

The match itself is largely awful, just two guys hitting each other with the odd weapon shot or walking around the ring punching each other. It features a lot of my least favourite hardcore match feature, the "weapon that will make you bleed and scar you, but isn't going to win you the match". Stuff like staple guns, forks or, in this case, pizza cutters, which I'm sure would really hurt, but would mutilate the opponent rather than incapacitate him. Hate that stuff. Eventually, they stop fighting and decide to slowly climb opposite sides of the scaffold. They brawl for a bit more up there, before Jack brings out a tazer. After a few tazer shots, he throws Grimes off the balcony, sending him off course so he only just grazes one of the top tables and bounces off the top rope in a truly horrifying scene. Honestly, Grimes was very lucky not to be seriously hurt or even dead, and it's really uncomfortable to watch. In a way, the perfect metaphor for this horrific show.

The Best of Deathmatch Wrestling - Mexican Hardcore

This is another treat from Lovefilm, a DVD I added to my list with no idea of wrestlers or matchlisting. A cursory glance at the menu when it arrived showed quite a few wrestlers I really dig, like Psychosis, LuFisto and Super Crazy, so I was looking forward to this. The initial presentation led me to have some doubts though, as all the matches seem to have a metal backing track for no reason. Worse, the commentary is done by the XPW team of the vaguely-amusing Larry Riviera and the frequently-inane Kriss Kloss....

Princessa Sugey vs LuFisto
The ropes are covered with barbed wire on two sides, which is a running thing throughout the DVD. Sugey gets the early advantage, hanging LuFisto in a tree of woe, then dropkicking a metal tray into her face. A lightbulb shot to the head is essentially no-sold by LuFisto, who fires back with a Michinoku Driver onto some bulbs. Disappointingly, there is no build-up to the first barbed wire spot, instead Sugey just dumps LuFisto into it, which gets less reaction than it should. Sugey hits a Michinoku Driver of her own onto lightbulbs for two. They start to brawl in the crowd with an odd lack of gusto, with only a LuFisto suplex onto the floor looking good. It's all pretty unimpressive, as they just go from weapon spot to weapon spot with no build up. Sugey sets up a few lighttubes to bridge two chairs, but gets caught up top and superplexed through for two. LuFisto finally hits Emerald Frosion onto yet more tubes for the win. Pretty forgettable.

Xtreme Tiger vs Crazy Boy
Frustratingly, this match has been really awkwardly clipped, taking out seconds of resting to skip to the action. This gives an odd sensation that no-one is selling, even though they may be. The result is, this feels like a total spotfest. Xtreme Tiger bumps around early for Crazy Boy, progressing to getting put into a dustbin and dropkicked several times. Tiger comes back, sending Boy outside the ring and hitting an insane moonsault to the floor. Crazy Boy then sets up Tiger under some lightbulbs, then moonsaults through them, probably hurting himself as much as Tiger. Tiger comes back by hitting a rana through a table from the top rope. Not content to let Tiger hit all the cool offence, Crazy Boy lands a one-man Spanish Fly through a table from the top. Crazy produces a star made of lightbulbs from somewhere, but his attempt to moonsault it onto Tiger misses, hitting only mat and shattering the bulbs. Some unnamed wrestlers come out to interfere and give Tiger the DQ win. After a bit of all round brawling, Crazy Boy gets put on a table at ringside, and Tiger gives him a 450 splash. Bit of a mess to be honest.

Joe Lider & Crazy Boy vs Psychosis & Xtreme Tiger vs Damien 666 & Halloween
666 and Halloween are dressed in jeans and t-shirts, so at least they're dressed for the occasion. Crazy Boy hits a swank Asai to the outside on 666 early doors, which sets the tone for the parade of spots to come. The phrase "shades of Steve Rizzono" is used for the second match in a row on this DVD, which is absurd. We do get a lovely Psychosis/Halloween in-ring segment, which is the nicest display of wrestling we see in the match. It ends with Halloween running into a chair headfirst. Predictably, it all breaks down with all 6 in ring. I like the way that it starts off with guys trying to take control individually, before the team aspect comes into it with a series of slick double teams. 666 and Halloween introduce the weapons into the match, and they really go on a tear. Lider hits a terrible looking Van Daminator on Halloween, as it dawns on me that I've not seen a pinfall attempt yet. After what feels like forever, Lider and Crazy Boy hit a Spanish Fly on Tiger through some lightbulbs to win. Just a bunch of spots that felt like it would never end.

Dralion vs Nightmare
This is billed as a table match, but the ref counts a pinfall attempt 30 seconds in, so I guess it's just another hardcore match but they've brought some tables out too. Insane suicide dive by Dralion 30 seconds in endears him to me greatly. The DVD clips to Dralion hitting a Phoenix Splash through Nightmare on a ringside table. In the ring, Dralion hits a Sky Twister Press right onto Nightmare, who has got nothing in so far. Dralion bizarrely appears to hurl himself out of ring for no reason. This gives Nightmare a chance to dominate, so maybe he just felt sorry for him. Nightmare sets up table, and gestures that the match is about to be over...then hits a Tiger suplex for a two count. Really odd. Nightmare hits a moonsault through the table, but this only gets a two, so either way it's not over. I wish it was though, even if some of Dralion's spots have been impressive. This is just sloppy brawling with some spots awkwardly bolted on. Dralion hits a dragon suplex, but for some reason the ref doesn't bother counting. I assume he's as bored of this match as I am and has drifted off. In a ludicrous blown spot, Dralion dives out of ring to hit a 450 splash through a table, but hilariously totally misses as the table is too far away. Nightmare hits springboard legdrop through the table (which he moves closer to the ring), but is unable to continue due to being too injured. So the match just ends suddenly. A total whack of shit.

Crazy Boy & Joe Lider vs Super Crazy & Xtreme Tiger
Really hoping Super Crazy can improve our match quality here. Crazy and Tiger attack from behind and already this is a bit more heated than we've been getting previously. Crazy hits a tarantula over the barbed wire ropes on Lider, which has to hurt him as much as Lider. Then again, he is the insane luchador. As per the previous matches, there is no tagging as it seems to be contested under tornado rules. Crazy seems to vanish from the match, so Crazy Boy and Lider dominate Tiger. Nice Van Daminator by Lider onto Tiger, wisely setting up the spot for the midpoint of the ring to avoid the possibility of missing the move. Lider and Boy attack Tiger's knee, which seems like good strategy, but they don't focus on this again. Emerald Frosion on Tiger gets two. Suddenly, some flaming lightbulbs are in the ring from nowhere, and CB and Tiger whack each other with them. You'd think this would be quite important, but it's just another spot. Lider hits the worst legdrop I've ever seen from the top of a ladder, and somehow his Canadian Destroyer is even worse. Eventually, Tiger hits a 450 to the floor onto Crazy Boy, whilst Super Crazy rolls the dice on Lider to win. This was alright when Super Crazy was involved, but it was still just another mess of a spotfest.

Damien 666 & Halloween vs Supreme & Angel
Oh fuck right fucking off! The last thing this DVD needed was more XPW influence. There are lightbulbs set up on the ropes for this match. Mexico's Most Wanted dominate the early parts, which is good as it saves us from the XPW team's offence, but soon Supreme takes over as he powerbombs one MMW member onto the other. Angel outrages the fans with some "gay comedy", rubbing his crotch and arse into his opponents faces. We get some basic crowd brawling, but to be honest this is better than a lot of the previous matches. There is the bare minimum of random, no-sold insane spots and the brawling actually builds to the weapon shots. They could do with teasing some of the spots more - the pile of thumbtacks spot should have been built up better - but this is generally ok. Supreme staples money to Damian's head, which is always my least favourite hardcore spot, but again the crowd reacts to it. Angel gets splashed through a table, but because they've minimised the nonsense, it actually gets a reaction as being a big deal. Supreme tries to chance his hand with MMW's valet, but gets lowblowed and suplexed through a pile of lights and table bits for the 3 count. Honestly, best match so far.

LuFisto vs Joe Lider
This is helpfully billed as man vs woman match, in case it wasn't obvious from LuFisto's lady face and lady body. LuFisto dominates early, but Lider comes back, using his superior size to overpower her. The tough balance to get right in intergender matches is keeping the match credible, especially since male wrestlers are much bigger than female wrestlers. Here, the use of weapons helps with the credibility, as anyone getting blasted with a chair by LuFisto is going to be in trouble. We get an obvious clip as Lider's singlet suddenly has the straps down. Lider hits a Michinoku Driver onto barbed wire. We get a pretty nice LuFisto top rope rana onto barbed wire, where Lider lands directly onto it. LuFisto then hits a cannonball through bulbs. Lider comes back, but LuFisto German suplexes him through more bulbs. Have to give Lider credit here, he's letting LuFisto kick the shit out of him. Psycho Driver by Lider, only gets a 2, which I don't mind too much as Lider hasn't really given LuFisto much offence so far. Lider takes an insane bump, missing a twisting senton onto arena floor. Lider recovers to block some attempted LuFisto offence, and plants her with Spanish Fly from apron through bulbs. Insane bump. That gets the 3 count. Another decent match, and the best Lider showing on the DVD. He went all out to make LuFisto look good, and the result was pretty fine.

Damian 666 & Dragon Shyru vs Crazy Boy & Joe Lider
This seems to be set up as Mexico's Most Wanted vs Crazy and Lider, but Halloween is unexplainedly taken away pre-match. Crazy Boy asnd Lider dominate both Shyru and Damian early doors, but advantage swings as Damian takes Lider outside and hurls him through a large wooden board. I feel like I've sat through this match 3 or 4 times on this DVD. Just a collection of spots with very little build. Here, the spots are actually quite smoothly executed with the bare minimum of botches, but it's hard to care about the weapon shots when they essentially mean nothing. The reason the XPW guys match was the best on the DVD is because they actually built up to huge spots. Here, Lider DVD's Shyru through a table to the floor from the top rope, and he's soon back in the match as if it was nothing. A bunch of stuff happens, but it's all meaningless. The match ends when Nightmare interferes, allowing Crazy Boy to pin Damian. Terrible stuff.

The History of TNA: Year One

So, TNA released a DVD a few years back detailing the history of the first year of the company existance. The documentary part is ok, but not especially interesting. What is fun, however, is a collection of the best matches from that first year, which make up the bulk of the extras. These are what I will be concentrating on in this entry,,,

AJ Styles vs Jerry Lynn vs Low Ki vs Psychosis
This is a double elimination match to crown the first X Division champion. Essentially, two guys start, one gets pinned and is replaced by the next guy. When a wrestler is pinned twice, he's out. This goes long, so expect a few paragraphs.

We kick off with AJ and Psychosis. These two seem to match up nicely, but this is only a short match designed to position AJ as the underdog in the tournament. AJ survives a guillotine legdrop and nails the Styles Clash to pin Psychosis for three, but now must face Low Ki having taken some punishment.

A fresh Ki wears down AJ with some kicks and blocks Styles' attempts to outwrestle him with a kick to the head. Ki elevates AJ over the turnbuckle, with Styles hitting his head on the ringpost, then slickly rolls through to lock in a Dragon sleeper, with AJ only just making the ropes. AJ avoids a top rope move and nails a German suplex and a wheelbarrow facebuster to pin Low Ki

Jerry Lynn comes in and is able to dominate Styles quite easily. Within 20 seconds he hits the Cradle piledriver and AJ is done.

Psychosis wisely comes back and nails Lynn from behind with a dropkick. Psy sends Lynn to the floor and hits a swank tope con hilo on Lynn. However, Lynn hits a dropkick on Psychosis as he dives from the top rope and a Cradle piledriver ends Psychosis' night with two eliminations.

Lynn is now weaker for a recovered Low Ki, and Ki works over him ferociously. Lynn is forced to rely on hope spots like a pin reversal from a top rope rana. Lynn gets fired up and matches Ki's striking to send him down with an enzuigiri. Lynn tries for the Cradle, but Ki reverses into a swank standing armbar. Lynn has to lift Ki and power out to break it. I dig Ed Ferrera on commentary highlighting that Lynn's experience allows him to reverse holds easier, just before Lynn reverses a Ki Krusher into a DDT. A Cradle piledriver pins Ki to eliminate him.

We now are left with AJ on one elimination and Lynn with no defeats, but worn out by the last two matches. AJ goes for quick pins and the Styles Clash on Lynn, but Lynn is able to survive the onslaught. Lynn then nails a tornado DDT for a close two. I like that they don't just give AJ the quick pin to even them up, but that AJ has to really battle before even getting to a break even point. AJ does get the clash to pin Lynn, sending it to the final fall.

Ricky Steamboat comes in to officiate, with both men exhausted on the mat. They trade pinfalls in an attempt to win the title, before a double clothesline puts them both down again. Love Don West and Ferrera putting over how great both guys are, that and the crowd reaction makes this feel like a really big time match. Lynn gets a really close nearfall with a facebuster. Both guys are selling the exhaustion so well that every move feels like a realistic match ender. Brainbuster gets two for Lynn. Lynn gets another two from a top rope superplex, but a second attempt sees him get knocked from the top rope and AJ nails the Spiral Tap to win. Fantastic match, the tournament layout made both AJ and Lynn look great, Styles coming back with the win from being in the losing position, whilst Lynn wrestled the vast majority of the match without a break, beating two top guys on the way. The first truly great match in TNA history.

Jerry Lynn vs AJ Styles vs Low Ki
This is a triple threat ladder match for Ki's X Division title. Styles has the right idea early on, grabbing a ladder while the other two fight, but Lynn and Ki cut him off. Ki's kicking gives him an early advantage as he cuts the other two down to size. You'd think this match would be all insane stunts, but they build to the ladder spots, with the opening minutes be all based in the ring with no ladders after Styles' initial attempt. Instead they appear to be trying to incapacitate their opponents before attempting to climb. Love Low Ki hoisting AJ onto his shoulders to charge at Lynn in the corner, with AJ as a battering ram, thus taking out both opponents. This allows Ki to go for a ladder but AJ stops him, and suddenly all three are battling outside. Lynn knocks the other two out on a ladder, and becomes the first to manage to get a ladder into the ring. There is a great bit where Styles just unloads on Ki with a barrage of punches and knees, as if to tell him that AJ is more dangerous to him than the ladder will be. Minutes later, Lynn and AJ knock Ki out on a ladder, so that may not be true. Insane spot, as Ki reverses a Lynn running powerbomb into a hurricanrana onto a ladder. AJ gets stuck upside down, hanging feetfirst from the ladder after Ki blocks his attempts to climb, and Ki choses to kick away at AJ, rather than going for the title, which makes him look foolish. By the time he does climb up, Lynn has recovered and slams him from the ladder. I like the way that, as Lynn is the largest competitor, he uses a few more strength moves, catching Ki in midair and planting him with a powerbomb. Three ladders get set up and Ki makes ANOTHER mistake, locking a Dragon Sleeper on a downed AJ on top of the ladders rather than grabbing the belt. We end up with all three guys climbing separate ladders. Lynn tries to topple the other two, and manages to send AJ's flying, sending AJ to the floor, but Ki manages to bounce his ladder off the top rope and reset his ladder. Lynn instead responds by hitting a piledriver from the ladder to the mat in an insane spot. This leaves Lynn free to grab the title, with the match being tremendous, a really well-built ladder match.

America's Most Wanted vs The New Church
The New Church are represented by Slash and Brian Lee here. The match breaks down into a brawl early, with the New Church getting the advantage outside the ring. Slash decimates James Storm, suplexing him onto concrete and choking him with cables. The Church bring Storm back into the ring, and I like how they try to stop Harris even getting back on the apron. I like Brian Lee wearing Storm out with repeated running elbows, as AMW haven't gotten into the match in the first 5-10 minutes. Storm finally gets the hot tag after an enzuigiri on Slash, but Slash falls into the referee, preventing him from seeing the tag. The crowd is terrible here, as they made no noise for the false tag at all. As Harris remonstrates with the ref, Lee nails Storm with a title belt. Storm manages to nail both New Church members with a double DDT, which means they can't stop him making the tag to Harris. Harris' onslaught is the first period of real offence for AMW. Slash has a handful of powder, but, in classic pro-wrestling fashion, it ends up in Lee's face before Harris spears him for a close two count. Storm locks up Slash in a sharpshooter, but Belladonna distracts the ref. This means that Slash tapping out is missed, and that James Mitchell can run in and level Storm with a spike, which only gets a two count. Lee reverses a Storm flying headscissors into a tombstone in a lovely fluid motion, before trying the same with Harris, who just about reverses the tombstone to one of his own for two. The crowd is finally coming to life. AWM finally pick up the win with the Death Sentance on Slash onto a chair. The overbooking really helped it at the end, with all the nearfalls being convincing, and AMW looked great in battling from behind.

Jeff Jarrett vs Raven
This was the bigest match in TNA history at the time. Raven goes for a pin from a shoulderblock right away, which is the kind of thing I love: just trying an unexpected lucky pin to win the title. Raven initially outwrestles Jarrett, so JJ sends him from the ring with a flurry of punches, a nice reversal of their wrestling styles. Jarrett wins the brawl outside the ring, so Alexis Laree distracts the ref to allow Julio Deniro the chance to interfere. This backfires, as he nails Raven with a chair by accident. Jarrett hits a pescado to eliminate Alexis and Julio, but this gives Raven time to recover and hit one on Jarrett. They fight in the ring as both men are busted open, and Raven manages to retain control, using a sleeper to try and take advantage of JJ's bloodloss. Jarrett manages to break and hit a desperation cutter and both get up in time for a flurry of moves in the ring. Raven nails JJ with a flash superkick for two. Raven manages to kick out of the Stroke at 2. Jarrett does the same following the Evenflow. They roll to the floor, where Jarrett is able to nail an elbow through a table. Back in the ring, we get a ref bump as both men low-blow each other. Suddenly all Hell breaks loose, as the New Church start fighting the Harris Brother outside the ring, and a squadron of ECW guys (Sandman, New Jack, Credible, Saturn) enter the ring to destroy JJ, handcuffing him and superkicking two chairs into his head with a conchairto. The lights go out, leading to Sabu being in the ring, nailing Raven with a chair and taking out all the ECW guys with a plancha. Raven manages to knock himself out by hitting the chair on the top rope when Jarrett moves, leading to a hopeful two count for JJ. Raven undoes the handcuffs and hits the Evenflow for two, but Jarrett reverses another to hit the Stroke for the win. Overbooked, but incredibly fun. It built up nicely to a chaotic conclusion, and Jarrett looked great as the face overcoming the odds.