WCW Thunder 29/01/1998

Diamond Dallas Page vs Sick Boy

Really nice match worked within a hierarchy, with both guys blending well. Sick Boy looks pretty good here, nailing a nice springboard dropkick. His belly to belly looks a bit poorer mind. DDP hits a neat tilt-a-whirl slam and Sick Boy bumps big for his own missed kick. DDP hits a flapjack into a Diamond Cutter and that’s enough for the win.

Meng vs Jim Duggan

Fun slugfest, as much as Duggan was past his peak he wasn’t afraid to go to war with someone like Meng here. Lovely moment early as Jimmy Hart tries to distract Duggan from the floor, but Duggan rips his jacket off and hurls it at Meng to allow him to nail some more punches. This is just two big boys going at it, until Hart tries to throw the 2x4 to Meng, which Duggan intercepts. Duggan breaks the 2x4 over Meng’s back, but it’s no-sold and the Tongan Death Grip puts a fighting Duggan down for three.

Raven vs Marty Jannetty

This is fought under Raven’s rules. A glancing dropkick sends Raven to the floor, but Marty takes a big bump when Raven throws him into the ringpost. Marty hits a bulldog, which is slightly disappointing as there’s a chair propped up in the corner, and Tony Schiavone instantly calls that Jannetty is going to send Raven headfirst into the chair, which can only lead to a let-down when it’s just a regular bulldog. Marty takes ages going up top, seemingly telegraphing a missed move, but he hits a fistdrop. That genuinely came as a shock. Jannetty goes to use the chair, but Raven dropkicks it into his face, one of the best examples of this move I’ve seen, and the Evenflow gets the win. Fun stuff.

Goldberg vs Yuji Nagata

Nagata gets a few kicks in and a nice attempt at an armbar, but Goldberg eats him up with a rolling leglock, a swinging neckbreaker, the spear and the jackhammer. Goldberg looked great.

Scott Hall vs Disco Inferno

This comes across as a quick squash from the get-go, as Hall attacks Disco at the bell and nails a chokeslam. Hall goes for the Outsider Edge, which feels like the end, but Disco wriggles out and hits the Chartbuster to a huge pop. Only Dusty Rhodes interference prevents the three count. This is basically the end of Disco’s offensive run, as Hall nails a lovely discus punch, the fallaway slam and the Edge for three.

Booker T vs Saturn

These two always paired up well together, and this was a fun little TV match. Loved Booker missing a high kick, which Saturn grabs into a t-bone suplex. Saturn takes a bump on the floor, getting backdropped into the Flock at ringside. Booker’s second attempt at a high-kick pays off, looking great. The Flock try to interfere, but get run off by Rick Martel. In the fuss, Booker pushes Saturn into Martel and rolls him up for victory.

Chris Jericho & Eddie Guerrero vs Chris Benoit & Dean Malenko

It probably wont come as a surprise to learn that this is really good. Got to love Guerrero grabbing Malenko by the neck as soon as Malenko gets anywhere near their corner, pulling him in for some cheapshots. All four of these guys have lovely snap to their moves, with a Malenko powerslam as a Jericho German suplex all landing crisply. The end of this is terrific – Malenko hits a superplex on Jericho, leaving both men down in the ring. Benoit goes to hit the diving headbutt on Jericho and hits it. Guerrero goes for the frog splash on Malenko, but he gets his feet up, sending Eddie to the floor whilst Benoit locks in the crossface for the tap from Jericho. Great stuff.

The Steiner Brothers vs Kevin Nash & Konnan

As is fast becoming the case with Thunder mains, this is mainly angle, with Scott not even getting into the ring. After an initial flurry, the NWO team slowly beat away on Rick in an uninteresting manner. Eventually, Buff Bagwell interferes and Nash uses a title belt on Rick for the DQ. Yawn.

WCW Thunder 22/01/1998

Scott Steiner vs Konnan

Only a brief taster of a match, with Steiner basically running over Konnan for two minutes before the NWO run in. Still, it’s fun to watch Steiner hurl Konnan about with a t-bone suplex and a big press slam before the hubbub.

Chavo Guerrero Jr & Super Calo vs Silver King & La Parka

This was a blast, as much fun as you’d expect from these guys given 5 minutes. La Parka sets the tone early when he bumps onto his head when he gets legswept into the ropes. Calo gets briefly worked over, with Silver King draping him off the apron to allow Parka to hit a pescado stomp in a nutty spot. Silver King drops him with a big Eye of the Storm. Calo makes the tag after an awkward double enzuigiri spot where Calo has boots from both Parka and King, they both try an enzuigiri and you can’t tell who is supposed to have been hit. I assume that Calo is supposed to have ducked as he brings Chavo in, who looks great. He moves so well, culminating with him taking out Parka with a suicide dive and Calo pins King after a top rope flying headscissors.

Marty Jannetty vs Dean Malenko

So this was an unexpected little gem. I mean, both guys are capable of great things, but it’s as if the stars aligned to catch them both at their best. You’d probably not think of Marty Jannetty as a great matworker, but here he is keeping up with Malenko in a competitive opening section. Neither gets a sustained run of control, as there’s always a stiff punch or a well-timed kick to break things up. Loved Malenko hitting a series of shoulder barges in the corner, only for Marty to lift a big knee to smack Malenko in the face. Malenko hits a neat low angle crossbody and Marty gets a nearfall with a victory roll, before Malenko is able to escape a Rocker Dropper, hit a double underhook powerbomb and lock in the Texas Cloverleaf for the win. Great stuff.

Goldberg vs Kendall Windham

Fun squash, with Goldberg surprising Windham from the bell by snatching a leg and locking in a rolling leglock. Windham hits a lovely big punch and a clothesline, but Goldberg hits the spear and the Jackhammer to win.

Rey Mysterio Jr vs Eddie Guerrero

Only brief, but you give these guys a few minutes and they’ll still give you gold. They cut a quick pace from the start, Rey sending Eddie to the floor with a tilt-a-whirl armdrag. Rey is wearing a kneebrace, so Eddie trips him from the floor and hits a slingshot senton onto the knee. Eddie keeps focus on the knee to wear Rey down, before hitting a big brainbuster. Rey sends him to the floor and hits a big tope con hilo, but Chris Jericho comes out to attack for the DQ…

Chris Jericho vs Chris Benoit

In a nice little block of TV, Jericho and Eddie beat down Rey, drawing out Benoit who was due to face Jericho later on in the show. Eddie sees him and swiftly leaves, leaving Jericho to turn around face to face with an angry Benoit who attacks to start the match. Jericho plays a cat and mouse game, constantly fleeing the ring to try and lure out Benoit. Eventually, he fakes a knee injury, allowing him to pull Benoit into the corner, hitting his head on a turnbuckle. Jericho hits the Lionsault (no cover), a surprisingly nice forearm and a top rope superplex, but Benoit lands on his feet on a back suplex and gets a surprise German. Dig Benoit, while still recovering, using Jericho’s momentum against him, avoiding a charge and letting Jericho essentially stungun himself. Benoit ducks a clothesline, and locks in the crossface, with Jericho tapping before the hold is even applied. A glorious piece of cowardice, with his cruiserweight title match in two days.

Rick Martel vs Saturn

This was set up by Saturn throwing Martel through a plate glass window earlier in the night, so Martel is fired up from the start, rushing the ring, sending Saturn to the floor and hurling him into the steps. Martel is such a good fired up face, it makes you wonder why his most well-known WWF run saw him primarily as a heel. Saturn needs a Flock distraction to get back into it and, when Martel jars his shoulder on a corner charge, Saturn goes right into a Fujiwara armbar. Really liked Saturn’s focus on the injured shoulder, locking in a cross-armbreaker. Also liked Martel reversing it into a Regal Stretch, but not being able to properly hold a crossface due to his arm hurting. Saturn goes for some quick pins, including a nice Rings of Saturn into a pinning combination, but Martel rolls through a sunset flip and locks in the Quebec Crab to win.

Scott Hall vs The Giant

It’ll come as no surprise to learn this ends with outside interference. What we do get is pretty good, and it’s an unselfish performance by Hall to let Giant look so good. He gets hurled from the start after cockily getting in Giant’s face, he gets picked up and placed on the top rope after trying a front facelock, and his attempt at a top rope move sees him caught in a big bearhug. We’ve seen Big Show for years, and by now have a good idea how big he is, but it’s still impressive to see him ragdoll a guy the size of Hall. We get the inevitable melee of faces, with Hogan, Nash, Luger and Savage all getting involved, but the ref doesn’t throw the match out until Giant chokeslams Hall and Nash breaks the count, drawing a DQ. Hall basically let Giant destroy him here.

WCW Thunder 08/01/1998

Randy Savage vs Chris Adams

Savage is aggressive from the off, blind-siding Adams, and choking him with his bandana. Savage is all over Adams, stomping and picking him up on pins. Adams gets some respite on the outside by Irish whipping Savage into the ring post, and Lex Luger comes to the ring and levels Savage with a chairshot, rolling him back into the ring for the Adams victory.

Rick Martel vs Louie Spicolli

This is the second match into Martel’s 1998 renaissance. Spicolli starts the match by holding onto the ropes on an Irish whip, turns to the crowd to point at his head to show off his intelligence, then turns around into a clothesline, so this is already a five star match. Spicolli tries to punch his way back into it, but Martel is fired up and hits a nice spinebuster into a Quebec crab for the win.

Tenzan vs Ohara

Pretty straightforward bout. Both guys go heavy with the chops, but Ohara hits a powerbomb before Tenzan hits a tombstone and a diving headbutt to win. Very brief stuff.

Chris Jericho vs Ric Flair

Five minutes long, but they make the most of it. Nicely worked opening sequence, with Jericho smoothly reversing a hiptoss into a monkey flip. Flair cheats a few times in this match in endearing ways – first by faking an ankle injury only to poke Jericho in the eye, followed by convincing Charles Robinson to check the turnbuckle pads then hitting a low blow. Loved the spot where Flair took his usual flip over the turnbuckle, only to be met on the apron by a Jericho springboard dropkick. Jericho misses a missile dropkick and Flair swiftly locks in the figure four to win. Good stuff

The Giant vs Meng

This was only a few minutes, but was very effective. Loved the Giant hitting a huge powerslam on Meng. Meng is able to chop and kick away at the Giant, wearing him down to the mat, but this advantage is temporary. Giant gets back up, grabs a chokeslam (with Meng frantically trying to reach him for a Tongan Death Grip) and gets the win.

Goldberg vs Steve McMichael

Another effective short match. Fun little big boys scrap, with McMichael hitting Goldberg with a shoulderblock from the apron before the match even starts. Goldberg looks like a beast, muscling about a huge guy like Mongo with a press-slam into a powerslam. McMichael tries for Goldberg’s legs with a series of chop blocks, but Goldberg blitzes him with a spear and the jackhammer. Played to both guys strengths.

The Steiner Brothers vs Konnan & Buff Bagwell

Never felt like the Steiners were in jeopardy here. The NWO team get a bit of control, including a Bagwell neckbreaker that Rick botches by dropping down too early, but it doesn’t last long before the Steiners both hit huge overhead belly-to-belly suplexes. Scott finishes Konnan with a top rope Frankensteiner, much to Rick’s chagrin as he’d climbed ready to hit the top rope bulldog. This was fine.

Scott Hall vs Ray Traylor

Hall shows Traylor no respect in this one, feigning fear and slapping the back of Traylor’s head, so it’s fun to see Traylor lay into Hall with some nifty punches. The ref gets bumped, allowing Hall to hit a belt shot for two. Nice second rope bulldog also gets two, before Larry Zbyszko comes out, distracting Hall, who turns into a Bossman Slam for the win.

Juventud Guerrera vs Ultimo Dragon

This was a fine little sprint, but what I really liked is how logically and organically the spots flowed. For example, in one 30 second period, Dragon misses a handspring elbow in the corner, allowing Juvi to put him on top for a hurricanrana. However, Ultimo fights him off, sending him to the floor and hitting a (barely hit) top rope moonsault. Nothing felt contrived, everything felt in keeping with their moveset. Ultimo hit a nice kick combo and a German suplex for two, but Juvi reverses a powerbomb attempt to a big DDT. One Juvi Driver and a 450 splash later, and Juvi is the new Cruiserweight champion. Dug all this.

Lex Luger vs Scott Norton

Too short to be worth anything, but it was all action for the two minutes it lasted. Norton jumps Luger at the start, including basically deadlifting Lex up for a backbreaker when it seems to be going wrong. Luger survives the shoulderbreaker, and nails the Bionic Forearm and the torture rack for the win.

Diamond Dallas Page vs Kevin Nash

Longest match of the night at nearly seven minutes. Less pleasingly, most of those minutes are Nash’s plodding offence of clubbing blows and wandering around. It’s a shame, as this started well, DDP using his smarts to take the big man down after a blocked hiptoss, instead hitting a knee to the gut and a swinging neckbreaker. Page is good at fighting from beneath, but he’s given little to work with. Snake Eyes gets two for Nash, before DDP tries the Diamond Cutter, luring in Hulk Hogan for the DQ win. Very skippable.

Jeff Jarrett: King of the Mountain (Disks 1 & 2)

Lovefilm have sent me more random wrestling, this time in the form of the TNA Jeff Jarrett collection, the 4 disk "King of the Mountain" set. As the disks come through one-by-one, I thought it best to split the review over two posts, for fear of having one huge dull post of Jeff Jarrett matches. Hopefully it'll be far more palatable in two parts.

Gauntlet For The Gold
For some reason, we have to endure some country singer called Toby Keith singing some terrible flag-waving anthem before Jarrett interrupts him, making him a face in my eyes. Buff Bagwell is first out to challenge Jarrett, and he really obviously makes sure Jarrett lands on the apron on an elimination attempt. JJ soon throws him out before Lash LeRoux comes out. Jarrett beats the Hell out of him inside and out the ring, and hurls him out too. Norman Smiley fares little better. We clip to Scott Hall's entrance, and he nails Jarrett with the Razor's Edge. The country singer comes back and suplexes Jarrett and eliminates him from the gauntlet. Not really JJ's finest moment.

Jeff Jarrett vs Scott Hall
This is a stretcher match. They brawl on the outside to start. Back in the ring, Hall hits the SOS slam, before JJ escapes to the outside. This leads to more backstage brawling, including JJ knocking Jerry Lynn over in the changing rooms. It's been all Hall so far. They brawl all around the arena, but not in that "dragging your opponent round" way that I hate, but it feels like JJ just trying to escape. Hall seems preoccupied with the stretcher, which costs him as Jarrett baseball slides it into his gut. JJ uses it as a weapon to take over. The section with the two brawling with the stretcher is pretty fun, with Jarrett bumping big for Hall. Hall gets the Edge, but Ron Killings pulls the ref out and hits a scissors kick on Hall, which only gets two. Jerry Lynn now runs in and splashes JJ, paying off the backstage shove earlier. All Hell breaks loose, as AJ Styles, the Harris Brothers, the Disciples of the New Church and Monty Brown all end up fighting outside the ring until we're just left with Hall and JJ. The overbooking continues as Hall accidentally downs referee Scott Armstrong with the stretcher, JJ goes for a chair, which Ricky Steamboat prevents him using. Hall goes for the same chair, and again Steamboat tries to stop him using it, but this distraction allows JJ to hit the Stroke, which lands Hall headfirst onto the chair. Really fun at first, but my word the overbooking made this a mess at the end.

Jeff Jarrett vs Ron "The Truth" Killings
Jarrett is now face, and taking on Killings for the NWA title. Love the big-match build up they give the match with Jeremy Borash's introductions. Truth tries to provoke JJ early on, but the second he takes his eye off Jarrett, he gets planted and the veteran takes over on him. A low blow gives Truth control. Killings is loads of fun as a heel, throwing in little things like arrogantly thrusting his crotch with Jarrett on his shoulder before powerslamming him. His shit-eating grin is also fantastic. It's interesting to see the structure here, as the heel is in total control, even ducking an enzuigiri to lock on a figure-four, which is Jarrett's own move. Love West and Tenay putting over the reversal, highlighting that JJ would know best how to reverse his move. The ref takes a stray blow to the eye, and while Jarrett tends to him, Truth throws a chair into the ring. JJ is wiser than him though, so grabs the chair first and levels Truth with it for a close two. Great sequence. They trade nearfalls, with JJ getting his foot on the rope for a facefirst suplex and Truth kicking out of a Stroke. In frustration, they start brawling outside, and Jarrett gets a pretty good face of blood. Nice highspot as Truth splashes JJ through a table from the balcony. Truth just lets himself fall like a sack of spuds, which looks like it hurts more. In the ring, a ref bump is followed by both guys clashing heads and all three are down. Mr Wrestling III comes in and levels Truth with a guitar to give JJ the NWA title. Mr Wrestling unmasks, leading to possibly the greatest line of Tenay's career: "Oh shit, it's Vince Russo!"

Christopher Daniels, Low Ki, Elix Skipper & Vince Russo vs The Road Warriors, Dusty Rhodes & Jeff Jarrett
Second great Tenay line of the disk as he expresses fury at Borash announcing Russo as a former WCW champion. Fun mix of teams here. Predictably, the heels end up pinballing for the face team, and predictably, it's plenty of fun. After Jarrett, Animal is probably in the best shape for the face team, so he spends a bit of time in the ring. He hits a great sitout powerbomb on Low Ki. Hawk looks less good, falling over hitting a big boot and getting minimal air on a dropkick. Jarrett ends up as face-in-peril, largely because he's the only one who can bump much. Triple X work a fun heat section on Jarrett, with false tags and distractions to ensure that the Warriors and Dusty don't get in the ring. Eventually, JJ gets the hot tag to Dusty, who cleans house with bionic elbows. He tries to lure Russo into the ring, but as he does, Mr Wrestling IV enters and nails Rhodes with a chain. This allows Skipper to pin Dusty, before Mr Wrestling unmasks as Nikita Koloff. Wisely worked, with the healthy guys carrying the action. Not great, but fun

Jeff Jarrett vs AJ Styles
Love the start of this match, with both being pretty equal on the mat, so JJ levels Styles with a clothesline, showing the experience advantage. Styles manages to use his speed advantage to level JJ with a quick dropkick, but isn't able to retain the advantage, and Jarrett sends Styles from the ring after his own mid-ring dropkick. This is followed by a Jarrett pescado. Styles finally has control after whipping Jarrett into the ring barriers. As before, Styles gets too cocky, playing to the crowd and this allows Jarrett back into the match with a huge sitout powerbomb. Larry Z appears at ringside and begins to help Styles, grabbing JJ's leg on a top rope suplex attempt which allows Styles to hit a huge sunset flip powerbomb for two. Z nails Jarrett with brass knucks, which also gets two, but I love how Jarrett barely manages to lift his shoulder rather than a normal kickout. Z gets kicked out of ringside, but we then get a ref bump, meaning the Stroke only gets two for Jarrett. Another bump allows the Harris Brothers to hit an H-Bomb on Jarrett, but they get driven off by the unlikely pairing of Dusty Rhodes and Vader. By the time the ref returns, Styles only gets two. Styles Clash only gets two. Now fucking Sonny Siaki enters, hitting two Siakilypses's on Jarrett, but Styles attacks HIM and sends him from the ring. This distraction allows Jarrett to recover and hit a second-rope Stroke to win. Another potentially fun match that went to Hell at the end through overbooking.

Jeff Jarrett vs Raven
I'm going to cheat here, and just reuse the blurb I wrote for this match back in January

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.

Jeff Jarrett & Sting vs AJ Styles & Sean Waltman
This was Sting's first TNA match. Things break down early, and Sting nearly gets Styles in the Deathlock in the first few minutes. Waltman wrestles the whole match in a shellsuit and gets put in a figure-four early on by Jarrett. Love the fact he sells the Hell out of this as he works the apron. Jarrett is briefly face-in-peril before the hot tag to Sting, and the crowd goes nuts for him. A pair of Stinger Splashes down the heels, before Waltman is able to nail Sting with a bat during the Deathlock on Styles. I love the fact that Styles cockily tries his own Deathlock, which Sting is able to break after a while. As is becoming a running theme, more mental overbooking takes place, with a ref bump followed by Vince Russo nailing Jarrett with a bat, Raven and Shane Douglas interfering and eventually Jarrett hitting a second rope Stroke on Styles to win. This was decent enough.

Jeff Jarrett vs AJ Styles
Stupid as it sounds, Styles has restyled his hair which makes him look far more impressive than in the first Jarrett match. Things are heated to start, as AJ clotheslines JJ into the crowd, then dives out with an immense tope into the crowd. In the ring, however, Jarrett starts to take over, cutting off a few Styles attacks, which gets played as his experience edge on commentary. I also love TNA having various wrestlers in the crowd or on the ramp to put over how important the match is, as they scout the world title match. There is a growing feeling of one-upmanship, as neither guy is able to get a sustained advantage. Instead, their familiarity with each other means they're more aware of what to expect from their opponent. JJ has to use a ringside distraction to nail AJ with a chairshot, which only gets two. AJ also kicks out of a Stroke onto the chair (in full view of the ref now), but a belt shot gets the job done. Another good match between these two, but still short of the blockbuster you feel they could have.

Jeff Jarrett vs Jim Duggan
Duggan is defending Hulk Hogan's honour following the Jarrett/Hogan New Japan angle. I feel this may be a real test of how good JJ is. Jarrett goes on the assault from the blindside to start, but soon Duggan takes over with clotheslines and pounds him outside. Good to see him fired up. He even nails JJ with a chokeslam in the ring. The 3-point stance downs JJ again, but Don Callis (rightly) stops Duggan using his 2x4. The distraction lets Jarrett use his guitar to pick up the win. Jarrett gave Duggan loads here, and this was the best Hacksaw had looked in years. Rick Steiner attacks JJ from behind, which somehow leads to another match...

Jeff Jarrett vs Rick Steiner
They brawl pretty ferociously in the crowd, with JJ nailing some killer chair shots, before they get into the ring. Steiner nails a few big suplexes, but JJ drags the ref into the path of a top rope bulldog before nailing a guitar shot for the DQ. Not much of a match, but pretty fun.

Jeff Jarrett vs Chris Harris
They really go for an epic build to this match, even highlighting Harris' family at ringside. Crowd is hot for a Harris title win. Jarrett plays up his experience edge, and I love him slipping out of a third armdrag and yelling "he ain't ready" at the crowd. JJ goes outside and yells "he ain't ready" at everyone at ringside, and back in Harris seems to be proving him right. His offense looks a little hesitant, like he's trying to remember what to do midmove. He has a hot run on the offensive, but it feels like it's more due to JJ bumping for him. JJ takes control after Harris crashes and burns on an attempted rail dive. Jarrett locks on the figure-four, which helps rally the crowd behind Harris. Harris comes back with more low-impact offence, though a dive from the top rope to the outside over the guardrail looks great. Decent top-rope elbow by Harris gets two. Harris bizarrely spears the ref (played by the commentators as being disorientated, but it just looked odd). Some hijinks occur involving chairs, before a Catatonic only gets two. James Storm interjects to superkick JJ, but Raven pulls the ref out, giving Jarrett time to hit a guitarshot for the win. Harris was green, but willing, and Jarrett put together a match where both guys looked good.

Jeff Jarrett vs Chris Harris vs AJ Styles vs Raven vs Ron Killings
This is the first King of the Mountain match. Quick run through of rules - to win, you must climb a ladder and hang the title belt on a hook. However, you must qualify to do this by pinning someone. The pinned wrestler spends 2 minutes locked in a cage. There is carnage to start with guys brawling all over the shot, before AJ dives over the penalty box onto three of the wrestlers. Love Jarrett coming over to try and pin them all in order to be eligible to hang the belt. Also, I like the fact we aren't getting "Survivor Series" pinfalls, where guys are pinned on clotheslines and the like. Indeed, AJ gets the first pin on JJ after a Styles Clash and a few choice exchanges. Harris gets the next pin with a spear on Raven. Truth pins Harris following a scissors kick (complete with Harris telegraphing it for ages by dropping the belt and being hilariously unable to pick it up again). I do like the way that Raven and Jarrett spend their time in the cage together plotting, so when both are released, they dominate AJ and Truth. I also love Raven waiting outside the cage so he can assault Harris as soon as he's released. Harris gets pinned by Raven after again telegraphing hanging up the belt for ages before getting a facefull of powder and an Evenflow. JJ hits the Stroke on Truth off the apron onto the steel railing for the final pinfall, so now all are eligible.

AJ pins Jarrett with a roll-up, so he has to go into the cage again, which I'd not even considered, and adds a nice element to the match.Styles then takes the nuttiest bump of the match, getting pushed off the ladder onto the cage. Raven and Harris soon fall through tables, so you know the end is night. Indeed, Truth climbs the ladder, only for a released Jarrett to hit him with a guitar and hang the title to win. In a hilarious twist, the hook has fallen down, so Jarrett has to fix the hook before winning the match. Really enjoyable match, with the ridiculous stipulations actually helping the quality.

Gauntlet For The Gold Match
Hernandez (representling Jarrett's short-lived Elite Guard faction) and Ron Killings are the first two entrants. Little happens until fellow Elite Guard member Onyx enters to help overwhelm Truth. There is only a minute between entrants, so there is barely enough time for anything of consequence to happen before Jarrett comes in. For some reason, the three men don't eliminate Killings before Konnan comes in, despite them having Killings in real trouble. There is a nice legdrop by Truth to both Onyx and Hernandez before Chad Collyer is entrant #6. BG James enters and there have been no eliminations yet. Ken Shamrock enters just as Konnan is thrown out and looks great attacking the Elite Guard. He's added a lot of needed energy here. He also destroys James and Truth. Everyone realises how deadly Shamrock is and team up to eliminate him. Shamrock's mental fit at this is magnificent. In the melee, Onyx and Collyer get hurled out, before James and Hernandez get rid of each other. The resulting Truth/Jarrett match is pretty short and with the members of the Elite Guard and 3LK outside the ring, you're just waiting for the interference. The predictable melee ensues and Shamrock returns to swerve us all by leveling Truth with a guitar to gift Jarrett the win. Rather dull, bar the Shamrock section, not sure why this is included.

Jeff Jarrett vs Jeff Hardy
This was the ladder match main event of Victory Road 2004, the first 3hr TNA PPV. Man, no subtle build here, as Jarrett is getting hurled into ladders less than a minute in. I dig Hardy using the ladder as a vice to crush the ribs of Jarrett. Hardy, despite having taken no offence, does the slow, "I'm in pain" climb of the ladder three minutes in. Jarrett goes on the offensive, and I appreciate the fact that both guys so far have only used offence that hurts their opponents and not done any moves that will cause themselves pain as well. Wrestling smart. Indeed, the first move of this ilk is Hardy dropkicking Jarrett, who is climbing for the belt, to stop him grabbing the title. Of course, Hardy follows this with a Swanton onto JJ on a ladder, but he IS an idiot daredevil, so it's ok. Scott Hall comes in to give him the Edge off the ladder, but JJ is too injured to capitalize. Hardy see-saws the ladder into Jarrett's face in a killer looking spot. Hardy brings out an enormous ladder and decides to climb it from the floor, which ends with both men falling from the ladder to the ramp. No reason given for either men to be climbing up out there mind. Back in, they botch a sunset flip powerbomb off the ladder and hit a slightly better one from the apron to the floor. More Scott Hall interference leads to a rubbish Hall bump off a Twist of Fate. Jarrett is climbing for the title, when Kevin Nash comes out, apparently on Hardy's side. However, it was all another twist, as he hand's guitars to Hall and JJ, and all three nail Hardy (who is now on the ladder) with guitar shots to gift Jarrett the win. The twist would probably have worked better if Jarrett wasn't about to win before Nash arrived. There were a few decent moments buried deep in some terrible spots.