NWA-TNA Weekly PPV #3
July 3, 2002
Nashville Municipal Auditorium – Nashville, Tennessee
Announcers: Mike Tenay, Don West, and Ed Ferrara
The Setup
The Jarrett vs. Hall feud continues, as we have Jarrett & K-Krush vs. Scott Hall & Brian Christopher. For context in this Jarrett vs. Hall feud, the WWF did the program in 1995, and WCW did it shortly before Hall was released in 2000. The tag match was fine on paper and probably works as a TV main event for a B wrestling company, but charging people for it? We know how that worked out.
We also have the semifinals and finals of the tag titles tournament, featuring well-established teams like Buff Bagwell & Apolo.
The Business
The attendance is listed at 2,000 (mostly freebies) for the first show at the Asylum in Nashville (Nashville Fairgrounds).
The Results
NWA World Tag Team Title Tournament Semi-Final Match: America’s Most Wanted (Chris Harris & James Storm) def. The Johnsons (Richard Johnson & Rod Johnson) in 4:42 *1/4
Monty Brown def. Anthony Ingram in 1:31 NR
NWA World Tag Team Title Tournament Semi-Final Match: The Rainbow Express (Bruce & Lenny) def. Buff Bagwell & Gran Apolo in 5:49 *1/2
Hardcore Midget Match: Puppet def. Todd Stone in 1:56 NR
Francine NC Taylor Vaughn in 0:43 NR
NWA World Heavyweight Championship: Ken Shamrock (C) def. Malice in 5:55 *1/2
TNA X-Division Championship: AJ Styles (C) def. David Young in 8:46 **3/4
NWA World Tag Team Championship Tournament Final Match: AJ Styles & Jerry Lynn def. The Rainbow Express (Bruce & Lenny) in 12:23 **3/4
Jeff Jarrett & K-Krush def. Brian Christopher & Scott Hall in 11:41 **1/2
Notable Happenings
In the main event, Brian Christopher turned heel by turning on Scott Hall, attacking him to hand Jeff Jarrett and K-Krush the victory, and seemingly aligning himself with Jarrett. Hall was eventually stretchered out, only to be attacked by Jarrett again as he was carted off.
NWA President Jim Miller joined the show as yet another authority figure, joining the likes of Jackie Fargo and Bill Behrens, who had unspecified control in previous shows. Miller, who had the charisma of an ironing board, welcomed TNA to the NWA with a shiny trophy and announced that Shamrock would defend the NWA title against Omori. He was later shown in the back, tied up with “FU” written on his gut, the work of Jeff Jarrett (even though it’s never specified) because he had verbally gotten into it with Jarrett earlier. How many times have I typed Jeff Jarrett’s name already?
After AMW won the first tag title semi, they showed a bloody Storm and Harris, bloody and laid out backstage later in the show. Jerry Lynn somehow decided he was worthy of a tag title match and forced AJ Styles into being his partner, despite being the person AJ pinned for the X Division title last week. Lynn looked upset that AJ won the match for his team. Feuding partners. Same old shit. Three weeks in, AJ was the company’s first dual champion.
In the other tag title semi, Buff Bagwell took the pinfall loss in their match and was dejected afterward, saying, “I just got beat by a gay guy.” He said it was time for “Buff to go home.” This was the stupidest shit.
Shamrock was dominated most of the match with Malice and barely escaped with a quick belly-to-belly. You should probably be building your champion more than protecting his opponent in the early stages of your promotion.
Following his victory, Puppet the Psycho Dwarf went on a rampage, attacking referee Slick Johnson, Jeremy Borash, and Don West with a kendo stick. They dropped this midget division pretty quickly.
After losing their tournament match, the Johnsons turned on their manager, Mortimer Plumtree, leaving him in the ring.
The women’s match ended when the women quickly started using a leather strap, and the ref had had enough. Ed Ferrara attempted to congratulate Francine post-match, only to be physically attacked by her when she forced his hand on her breast, similar to last week. They did all of that to do this stupid angle/joke again.
Best, Worst, and Most Underrated of the Night
Best: AJ Styles. He was in the two best matches of the show, and for a guy that didn’t have a huge national name, you could see the fans getting behind him in the first three shows.
Worst: All of the “partner” conflict. The Johnsons turned on Mortimer Plumtree; AJ and Lynn were already sowing dissension after they won the titles; Brian Christopher turned on Scott Hall; it looked like they were setting up Bagwell and Apolo to split already; and Bobcat was “stealing the spotlight” from David Young. If it sounds like overkill, it’s because it was.
Most Underrated: David Young. He had a good match with AJ, and he’s nothing more than fodder to the larger storyline that his manager, Bobcat, believes she’s the star of the act.
Backstage Notes
The shift to the Asylum in Nashville would be permanent for the weekly PPV era, and so would all the freebies they handed out to fill the building for TV.
Rating: 2.5/10
Some of the wrestling was between good and solid, but nothing stood out as much as you would hope for a program the company was charging for. The storylines of dissension and/or quick turns were repeated ad nauseam on this show to the point they meant nothing. They were trying to quickly turn the show into Attitude Era-esque TV without the actual stars who led that boom. Without them, we get a bunch of bullshit every week.
The Video
Back Then Wrestling 