NWA-TNA Weekly PPV #2

Date: June 26, 2002

Location: Von Braun Civic Center – Huntsville, Alabama

Announcers: Mike Tenay, Don West, Ed Ferrara

The Setup

After highlighting the X division in the best match on the show for their first endeavor, their second show featured the new concept in a four-way, double elimination main event with three of the guys from last show’s opening six-man tag and Psicosis. 

Also, there was a match between the company’s two biggest stars on paper, Jeff Jarrett and Scott Hall, after last week’s build involving Toby Keith and a whole lot of Jeff Jarrett. 

The Business

This was taped the same day as the first show, so we’re talking about the same 3,000 or so people, with 500 paid. There were never weekly reports of PPV numbers, but it was reported that the company was in the 10-12k range most weeks. 

The Results

Scott Hall def. Jeff Jarrett in 7:15 **1/4

Cheex def. Frank Parker in 2:11 DUD

Brian Christopher def. K-Krush in 4:46 **

Miss TNA Title/Lingerie Battle Royal: Taylor Vaughn def. Alexis Laree, Elektra, Erin Bray, Francine, Joanie, Miss Sasha, Shannon, and Tyler in 4:41 DUD

Apolo def. David Young in 5:28 *1/2

Chris Harris & James Storm def. Lenny Lane & Bruce in 4:48 *1/4

NWA X Division Title/Four-Way Double Elimination Match: AJ Styles def. Jerry Lynn, Low Ki, and Psicosis in 25:54 ****1/4 

Notable Happenings  

AJ pinned every other wrestler in the main event, but was also pinned by Lynn since it was a double elimination. This led to more in the future. 

The Jeff Jarrett focus happened early and was mostly kept out of the way of the rest of the show. He attacked legends in the opening segment, then had the match with Hall, where he was lowblowed by Toby Keith. Not too bad on the overkill scale. 

As if Cheex vs. Frank Parker wasn’t bad enough, Alicia Webb (formerly Ryan Shamrock) came to the ringside to speak with ring announcer Jeremy Borash about money she was owed. Yes, apparently, she was a prostitute. 

NASCAR drivers Hermie Sadler and Sterling Marlin helped Christopher beat Ron Killings to continue the celeb angle that started the first week. This had a good crowd reaction, and Killings did a great job of establishing himself early. 

Ed Ferrara accidentally grabbed Francine’s breast after the battle royal, and she gave him a beating. This is Temu Attitude Era shit. 

Joel Gertner managed the Rainbow Express (Lenny Lane and Bruce). Their scheduled opponents, The Dupp Brothers, refused to compete against them because of their alternative-lifestyle gimmick, prompting James Storm and Chris Harris to form an impromptu tag team to face them. The Dupps were heels, but Don West was also heeling the Rainbows for “forcing their lifestyle on everyone” throughout the match. This was so fucking stupid. 

Apolo lasted the longest in the gauntlet battle royal in week one and got the win over David Young here. He was being pushed as their Latin star.

David Young’s manager, Bobcat, was purposely stealing all the attention during his match by constantly playing to the crowd and camera. 

Best, Worst, and Most Underrated of the Night

Best: The main event. At a time when WWE could never consistently get a cruiserweight or light heavyweight division going properly, the company did stand out here in a positive way, offering one of the things people enjoyed about WCW.

Worst: The lingerie battle royal at least served the purpose of entertaining horny men. Cheex vs. Frank Parker was a bad match that broke the ring and served no real purpose other than to highlight the cellulite on a man’s ass purposefully.

Most Underrated: Chris Harris & James Storm as a tag team. This started the run that put both men on the map. They were solid here in a match that didn’t really spotlight them much, as the big story was the heel gay wrestlers. 

Backstage Notes

The company was pleased with the presentation and execution of the X Division title match, as they should be. 

Rating: 5.5

The show had strong bookends, but there was so much absolute bullshit in the middle. They were overkilling the stuff with the women, which was a sign of the era, but even WWE was moving away from the kind of gratuitous stuff they had throughout this show. But the Jarrett-Hall match was solid, as was Christopher vs. Killings, and the X Division match was superb. This show was much better than the first week.