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.

In Your Face: The Lost Episodes of the XWF

The XWF was a wrestling company founded by Jimmy Hart, Brian Knobbs and Greg Valentine in between WCW folding and TNA forming. They never made it to TV, but filmed some shows in Orlando (in what is now the Impact Zone) to try and get there. Sadly, the company wasn't long for the world, which is kind of a shame. For, as you are about to read, they had the right idea in pushing new names over known talent (whether or not the talent was good enough is another matter entirely) and they tried to produce a solid, family friendly product. With decent production values and an announce team of Tony Schiavone and Jerry Lawler(!), welcome to what is essentially a pretty good WCW Thunder...

Big Vito vs Buff Bagwell
Well I can't think of a more thrilling way to kick off a new company. Vito cheapshots early to take advantage, but Buff nails him with some clotheslines. A Mafia Kick regains the advantage for Vito, and he keeps Buff down with a choke on the rope. Partway through though, the fans are clearly favouring Vito and, to their credit, both guys start to switch roles. Vito nails a superplex for a nearfall but runs into feet in the corner, allowing Bagwell to nail the Blockbuster for 3.

Marty Jannetty vs Hail
Hail is an enormous mass of muscle managed by Jimmy Hart, famous for not being very good on WCW Saturday Night. Total squash as Hail nails a few dull powermoves (back-breaker, shoulder-breaker) and hits a legdrop for 3. Not impressive.

Horace Hogan vs Ian Harrison
Harrison is dubbed "British Storm" here. He's also a walking Wellness violation. Another squash as Harrison dominates, albeit in a more impressive manner than Hail. Harrison nails an overhead suplex and locks a leg-grapevine round Horace's head for the tapout.

Kid Kash vs AJ Styles vs Psychosis vs Juventud Guerrera vs Christopher Daniels vs Quick Kick vs Billy Fives vs Tongan Prince
This is a battle royale for the XWF Cruiserweight title, where pinfalls and submissions also count. Quick Kick is Low Ki, and the Tongan Prince is Prince Iaukea. Lots of fast paced action early on, though the camera work makes it hard to keep on top of. Fives is first out as AJ reverses a flying headscissors, before the cameras cut to Josh Matthews in the crowd. Juvi eliminates himself and Psychosis, before Styles gets hurled from the ring onto both of them in an insane bump. Ki really stands out here above all others, decimating Kash with a series of kicks. Fun spot as Daniels and Prince both duck top-rope clotheslines, leaving Kash and Ki to collide mid-air. Ki and Prince are eliminated in short order, and Kash knocks Daniels from the top rope to the floor to win the title. Spotty, but pretty fun.

The Nasty Boys vs the Shane Twins
As you'd guess, this isn't very good, though the Shane Twins pull out some decent stuff including a sweet Northern Lights suplex on Sags. Knobbs goes for a splash in the corner, but gets caught with a big clothesline and pinned. The Nastys attack from behind post-match, but the Road Warriors make the save.

Curt Hennig vs Vampiro
Hennig is managed here by Bobby Heenan, which is awesome. Hennig takes control early with the usual offense (knee-lift, neck-snap), but Vamp fires back with a top rope leg lariat for two. Heenan pulls some brass knucks from his pocket, but Roddy Piper runs out to grab them and punches Hennig into the Nail In The Coffin for the Vampiro win. Barely a match.

Psychosis & Juventud Guerrera vs Konnan & Rey Gonzales
Konnan outwrestles Psychosis early on, but the smaller team soon take control after kicking Gonzales in the back as he runs the ropes. Juventud and Psy use their speed and a few nice double teams to retain control. Gonzales shows absolutely nothing here, even less than Konnan, who at least shows a bit of zip on his moves. Even Gonzales' selling is poor, as he looks like he can't be bothered to react. Juvi hits the Juvi Driver, but Konnan knocks him off the top on a 450 attempt, leading to a shitty Gonzales Twist of Fate for 3.

Simon Diamond vs Jerry "the King" Lawler
Lawler insulted Dawn Marie earlier on the DVD, so Simon comes out to defend her honour. Swinger seemingly is allowed to get involved freely as they beat Lawler down 2-on-1, but Simon accidentally superkicks Swinger out of the ring and walks into a piledriver for the Lawler win. Way to make one of your better tag-teams look stupid.

Hail vs Knuckles
Knuckles is a fat balding guy in an ill-fitting singlet. This is another boring Hail squash, as Knuckles can barely sit on the top rope properly. Legdrop finishes, as Hail shows why he never graduated onto Thunder or Nitro.

Johnny B Badd vs Norman Smiley
Badd is in great shape here. Quite a bit of fun here, as both face-off with alternate dances. Smiley actually dominates this match for the most part, downing Badd with a double-arm suplex and wearing him down on the mat. Badd hits a TKO out of nowhere to win. No Big Wiggle either.

The Road Warriors vs the Shane Twins
The Shanes were supposed to face the Nasty Boys here, but they didn't show, leading to the Warriors coming out in their stead. This is kinda, sorta not bad, in a "big guys hitting power moves on each other" way. Certainly, the Shanes more than hold their own here. Hawk plays face in peril after a shoulder first bump into the post, but gets the hot-tag after a collision with one Shane. Animal doesn't exactly land on his feet following a back suplex attempt, but manages to recover enough to clothesline both Shanes. The Road Warriors hit a Doomsday Device, but the Nastys show to pull the ref from the ring, leading to a no contest. Not bad.

Curt Hennig vs Buff Bagwell
Even at this point of his career, Hennig bumps like a maniac, leaping over the top rope after a Bagwell dropkick. Pretty basic match between these two, but it's good to see Bobby Heenan clearly having fun managering Hennig again. He patrols the ring like a shark, waiting for a chance for a shortcut. The ending sees Heenan prevent a Buff Blockbuster by grabbing Buff's leg then pushing hin off the ropes straight into a Hennig-plex for the win.

Marty Janetty vs Drezden
Poor Marty gets to put over another muscle-bound stiff, this time in the form of a huge, leatherclad German. Marty takes some big bumps to make Drezden look a bit more impressive, including a rough looking overhead belly to belly. Powerbomb gets the win.

Horace Hogan vs Josh Mathews
One of those matches that helps no-one. Horace squashes Josh for the whole match in an uninspiring fashion, but gets caught in a flash pin for the Josh win.

The Shane Twins vs South Philly Posse
Odd that this is a family-orientated promotion, and the Posse have Jasmin St Clair in their corner. You may know the Posse better as the Public Enemy. The Shanes dominate Rock with power early, but Grunge attacks Michael Shane as he runs the ropes and the Posse start working on his leg. Not a bad strategy. Rock hits a diving headbutt to Shane's leg. Basic tag formula match, but it's effective. It would help if Shane sold the leg more of course. Hot tag after Rock misses a quebrada. Somehow, all hell breaks loose, the Nasty Boys and the Road Warriors start fighting outside and in the chaos, a Shane rolls up Rock for the win. Passable.

AJ Styles vs Kid Kash
Kash is playing smiley face, which really isn't his strength. Neat matwork early on by both guys, who are pretty evenly matched. They also match up evenly on a series of armdrags and counters, which seems to annoy Kash a little. AJ hits a beautiful dropkick right to the face of Kash. Beautiful springboard cross body gets two for Kash, who then finishes it with a double underhook piledriver. Too short, felt like the highlights package of a potentially good match.

Vapor vs Jimmy Snuka Jr
Vapor is oriental and managed by Sonny Onoo, so is therefore evil. I've no idea who he is though. Snuka has the build and attire of Rob Van Dam here, and looks impressive early on, planting Vapor with a pancake facebuster. Vapor comes back with Kendo Nagasaki's Kamikaze Crash, so he's ok with me. Vapor looks pretty decent himself here, with a nice powerslam in his arsenal. Somehow, Snuka Sr and Onoo end up in the ring, and the Snukas down their respective opponents, and hit stereo Superfly Splashes to get the win. Should highlight here that Jr hit an RVD-esque splash, where he changed direction midmove. Perfectly fine match.

Curt Hennig & Ian Harrison vs Buff Bagwell & Vampiro
Hennig tags out straight away to the monstrous Harrison, who dominates Vampiro. However, Vamp isn't as hurt as initially thought, so when Hennig tags in, Vamp rallies back and double-teams him with Bagwell. When Harrison tags in, he is reasonably impressive, and certainly better than the other musclebound unknowns (Hail. Drezden) in the company. He puts decent snap into his powermoves and can take some big bumps too. A melee ensues and Vamp stares down Harrison outside the ring, and thus fails to notice Hennig roll up Buff for the win.

Hulk Hogan vs Curt Hennig
This is a bonus feature on the DVD. Hennig stalls for time after Hogan overpowers him out of the ring. Typically insane Hennig sell off a Hogan shoulderblock. Hennig gets a nice escape from a Hogan knucklelock and takes over, but Hogan rams his head into a full set of turnbuckles to a huge pop. Hennig gets the Hennig plex for two, but Hogan hulks up and hits the big boot/legdrop combo for the win. You suspect they could have this match in their sleep, but plenty of fun.