My World with Jeff Jarrett - TNA Against All Odds 2007 [Show Notes] (Patreon)

Jeff we’re coming off Final Resolution which featured Kurt Angle winning the iron man match over Samoa Joe to become the #1 contender to the now NWA champion Christian Cage. This will be Kurt’s first shot at the NWA Title. Why is it Christian and not Abyss or Sting?

When we last saw Kurt Angle vs. Christian - it’s a midcard fued a few years back in the WWF. Is this something that weighs in to making this the top program or is it a clean slate in your opinion?

Coming off the show TNA is in an unique opportunity to take advantage of a Monday without professional wrestling. On Monday February 12th WWE is preempted because of the dog show and Sci-Fi already have a marathon scheduled. So this would be the day after Against All Odds. Does Spike go to you or do you go to Spike and go…we need to be on that Monday?

It’s decided that it’ll be a taped special instead of a live show. Who makes that call?

How’s this for a tease? Next month we’ll be covering Destination X and we’ll also discuss when the WWE had to move to Thursday because of this and go head-to-head with TNA!

From the Observer: “.. The booking team is trying to come up with a shoot concept to differentiate itself from WWE. The vague idea is having the X Division guys do matches with time limits (similar to the PPV) but have real judges deciding the outcome as a shoot based on who was the best performer in the match.”

Who’s idea is this and do you think it would be successful?

Also from the Observer: “There were more financial cutbacks this week. Many members of the office staff, who have their hotels paid for in Orlando, were told they could double up and stay at the Doubletree, or get a single room at a less expensive place. They also eliminated the company shuttle getting people to and from the airport.”

Was the tightening of the budget something the Carters directed you to do?

The Observer reports that Borash was back in his role because of Kevin Nash from what Nash was telling people. Is that how you remember or as Meltzer would speculate Nash was one of 900 people campaigning to put Borash back in the spot?

On January 15th you tape TV to begin the build for Against All Odds.

To air on January 18th you have Sting kidnapping Jim Mitchell, LAX retain their tag titles over Team 3D, Jacqueline and Gail Kim brawl in a bathroom…Kip James approaches Christy Hemme and tells her to “go down” to climb the ladder in TNA…and Christian tells Kurt Angle he hired an anger management coach to help him train for the match.

That’s the whole first half Jeff. The Christy Hemme stuff 15 years later…oof.

The Torch reports there’s some heat between LAX and Team 3D after their match at Final Resolution and that it was because Homicide felt taken advantage of by Brother Ray. Any issues with putting them back together the next day or was it all taken care of?

James Storm beats Lance Hoyt but needs Jacqueline, AJ Pierzynski and Dale Torberg gets involved too.

There’s a note in the Observer I want to bring up. It’s said that Simon Diamond was assigned to help make Hoyt’s punches better. Do you remember who came up with that?

Kurt Angle and AJ Styles is the main event. This seems like this could’ve been a built up match to draw a TV rating at some point but here it is given away with really no push. What say you Jeff?

Angle gets the win with an olympic slam on a chair in about 4 minutes. Tomko comes out and Rhino tries to run him off and then Samoa Joe comes out as well. Are you thinking about putting Christian, Tomko & AJ together? Why only give Angle and AJ 4 minutes?

The show ends with Sting trying to discover and expose Abyss’ past…who’s putting all this together? This seems like a Dutch Mantel gimmick all the way.

Marquis Cor Von … the former Monty Brown … debuts on ECW. Were you surprised there were changes to the Monty Brown character?

On January 23rd Bam Bam Bigelow sadly passes away. What are your favorite memories of Bam Bam?

There’s talk in the Torch that Shane Douglas was dozing off during a production meeting after Bigelow’s death and that he wasn’t handling it well. Do you remember this?

The WWE release Tatanka, Rodney Mack, Jazz, CW Anderson, Sylvester Terkay, The Shane Brothers, Tony Mamaluke, The Bashams, Gangrel, Bill DeMott and Tom Prichard. Do you think anyone on that list could’ve been added to the roster?

You’re forced to move Impact to Wednesday to make room for the UFC airing on Thursday. Was this an issue at the time?

On January 24th Impact opens with Samoa Joe talking about how he didn’t lose to Kurt he just ran out of time. He wants to make sure Kurt gets a fair shot at the title so he’ll be the enforcer so when he wins the NWA Title he wins it from Kurt. Kurt comes out and then Tomko and Christian follow talking about the anger management coach. Is…this the best way to debut someone? An anger management coach?

Tomko makes this vague reference about changing the announce team. Do you remember what the plan was?

AJ Styles is dressed up like Raven but attacks Rhino and busts him open. This goes right into Jerry Lynn winning a non-title 4-way X-Division match when Lynn pins X Division champion Chris Sabin. Lynn vs. Sabin should be a great match but could someone like Senshi for example be a better fit or was this the hope of getting Jerry one more run?

There’s a scene where the Paparazzi crew follows Eric Young, Slick Johnson & Jeremy Borash around a convenience store and it’s based around looking for small condoms. James Storm walks in and makes fun of them. Yup.

I bring this up because in the Observer it’s said, “I'm not sure why a referee who isn't playing heel ref at all would be hanging out with a heel at 4 am and laughing at a babyface. It's probably an inside rib because in real life, it wouldn't be unusual for Johnson to be out at a convenience store after a taping in Orlando at 4 a.m. picking stuff up for Jarrett.”

That just tickled me.

Sting announces that Abyss shot his father in the back of his head three times…and then Abyss attacked Sting and gave him a brutal beating around the Impact zone including a fire ball. This is…I don’t know Jeff. Where’s the line here?

Christian defeats Christopher Daniels when Joe and Tomko get into it at ringside and Christian takes advantage. Angle comes out…but gets into it with Joe…who’s this top angle with? Kurt and Joe or with Christian?

Kip James ruffles some feathers and upset TNA management according to the Torch from an interview he has. “Kip said if WWE called and offered enough money, he’d “leave TNA in a heartbeat.” He claimed he left WWE on good terms and WWE let him go because they wanted to refresh the locker room. Terry Taylor confronted Kip about his comments. Kip told people backstage that Taylor told him not to say negative things about the company in interviews. Kip asked what they were going to do about it, because if they fired him, he’d jump to WWE in five minutes instead of ten, or something along those lines. Kip also said, “When you’ve seen one X Division match, you have seen them all.” He added that the “ugly ass” girls of TNA are a big waste of TNA’s already limited TV time and women have no place in a wrestling ring (He may have been playing into his character’s on–air chauvenistic character with that comment).

How does this even happen Jeff? Did Kip not care at this point?

Kurt Angle goes on Bubba the Love Sponge and talks about how he would like Hulk Hogan, Chris Jericho and his “best friend” Big Show in TNA. Is Kurt a liability at this time doing press?

Wrestle Society X debuted on MTV on January 26th. Did you take a look at the show and did you think it was competition?

In the Observer it’s reported you had more high level discussions with Spike focused mainly on a two-hour timeslot. Why are you leading this charge instead of Dixie? Were you hopeful you’d get two hours sooner than later?

It’s announced that Samoa Joe was going to be finishing up his run in Ring of Honor. Is that a TNA decision, ROH decision or Joe’s decision?

It’s speculated in the Torch that Joe still had heat from a comment he made at a ROH show about “tripping over bad booking” and this led to TNA’s decision. How much heat did Joe have regarding that?

On the 29th you tape the next two episodes of Impact. During the taping but not for air Hector Guerrero is introduced to the crowd. What were you looking to do with Hector?

On February 1st Impact opens with Chris Sabin mocking Jerry Lynn with a walker while VKM and Bob Backlund were waiting outside Jim Cornette’s office…yes that’s a real statement. Austin Starr wins a X division 5-way by pinning Lynn with Sabin’s interference. The anger management consultant is teased with Christian & Tomko without revealing who it is but there’s already signs of dissension with Tomko not wanting to cater to “him”.

Jeremy Borash speculates on who the anger management consultant is and the names he brings up are Brock Lesnar, Goldberg, Samoa Joe and none of the above. Is that the right tease or is that setting people up for a let down when Brock & Goldberg are brought up?

Kip James and Christy Hemme get into it again and Jim Cornette interrupts to book a match for her at the pay-per-view. Cornette has the line of the show with, “You wanna get even with him (Kip)? Marry him. That’ll teach him.”

Jim Mitchell tells Sting he opened Pandora’s Box now with Abyss and challenged him to a Prison Yard match. Do you remember who came up with the concept?

Johnny Damon is shown in the crowd as Lance Hoyt cuts a promo about his match at Against All Odds featuring David Eckstein & AJ Pierzynski. Who brought Damon to the show do you know?

Samoa Joe and AJ Styles went to a no contest in the main event when Rhino, Christian & Angle interrupt and the show ends with Christian swinging a chair at Joe and missing and hitting Angle - Joe puts a choke on Christian to show he’s not the anger management coach and then AJ attacks and saves Christian.

What do you think of the creative at this time?

It’s announced that Chris Jericho’s band “Fozzy” will provide a music video for TNA’s show on Monday when WWE isn’t running. How do you remember putting this deal together?

BG James goes on the radio and echoes Kip James comments that he would go back to WWE at the first chance. He talks about how he’s behind on his house and has a piece of shit car so if it was money involved he’d go even though you’re his friend and it’d be tough to leave you. This has to be disheartening doesn’t it?

Lance Storm goes on his website and writes about the current booking of TNA: “I know I do this a lot but I am about to go on another TNA rant. I didn’t want to but I got so worked up and angry after watching this week’s show I had to get this off my chest. I can however promise that this will be my last TNA rant for a while because I am now officially boycotting TNA until Vince Russo is removed from the creative process. How a company with such an amazingly talented locker room can produce such an unwatchable show is beyond me. Actually it isn’t beyond me I watched Vince Russo do it in WCW. There is an old expression: ’Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.’ Someone needs to explain the history of WCW to Dixie Carter. I have come to the conclusion that TNA is to Wrestling, what Scary Movie is to Horror Films. It has become a comedic spoof of a wrestling show. No sane rational person would act the way people do in TNA. Chris Sabin in an effort to make fun of Jerry Lynn’s age shows up in a bathrobe, using a walker, and wearing depends. Is he six? Who would do this? It felt like a bugs bunny cartoon. Why would Jerry be mad that Sabin is making himself look like an idiot?… There were three matches on the show. All of them had outside interference and brawling after the match. We got a total of maybe 10 minutes of match time on the entire show, and they didn’t even bother to announce the result of the main event. Do finishes not matter? Doesn’t anyone care who won? I used to. To plug a PPV caliber main event then deliver a 3 minutes match with no finish is asinine” … I am officially at wits end and will not watch another TNA show until they replace Vince Russo.’

This is a well respected person in the business Jeff. Do you hear about this and do you think Lance has the right to make these criticisms?

There’s talk in the Torch that the Christy Hemme angle with VKM will lead to the Heart Throbs debuting against them. Do you remember that being the plan?

From the Torch…Mike Tenay has been pushing to get a spot back on the booking team, and was said to be the person who took the removal from the booking team the hardest after Russo was brought. It’s then reported in the Observer that Tenay was going to be working closer with the creative time but not on it.

Was Mike unhappy to not be directly involved anymore and fighting to get back in?

It’s reported in the Observer that Cornette is asked to be part of the booking committee but hadn’t quite made a decision on it. Did you really think you could get Cornette and Russo to work together in the same room at this point?

From the Torch: “Because of TNA’s new policy of not paying for hotel rooms, some of the younger wrestlers are staying six to a hotel room to save money and most have shifted out of the expensive Double Tree that’s near the Impact Zone… Sting, Kevin Nash, and Kurt Angle regularly dress in Jeff Jarrett’s locker room. Nash, though, hangs out with the younger wrestlers more than the older ones behind the scenes”

I bring both of these things up to ask if you think there was a disconnect between the top and mid card guys? There always is in the business but the way this is framed seems like it’s a big one and affecting morale. Do you remember that being an issue?

From the Torch: “TNA sent a memo to wrestlers this week telling them that they can no longer do interviews with any media entity without prior approval from management and that they are not to say disparaging things about the company. Any violation of that policy will result in the wrestler losing the equivalent of their next PPV payoff.”

Is this decided upon directly after VKM go on the radio and talk about wanting to go back to the WWE?

Goldberg makes it known publicly that he and Brock are both not happy their names are being used on TV. Goldberg tells the Miami Herald, ““I told him (Lesnar) it pisses you off to a point because you see people capitalizing on your name, and it benefits you in absolutely no way, except for the fact that it keeps the name out there,” he says. “`If it were not for wrestling, I wouldn’t be doing this Showtime gig and the Spike TV gig, because as many bad things that were associated with it, that profession kind of put me on the map. I owe a lot to it, and I owe the fans even more, but it pisses me off as a promotion that somebody would do that. That is no big deal. It just gives me more of a reason to beat the hell out of them even more”

These are two guys that you really don’t want heat with right?

A Bob Backlund promo is taped for February 8th but it goes 12 minutes and doesn’t air. What do you remember of watching this promo and him rambling for all this time? What was even the plan with Backlund at this point?

The go-home Impact starts with Abyss defeating Chase Stevens and then Sting comes out and accepts the challenge for the Prison Yard Match. Konnan - coming off knee surgery - leads LAX out to answer to Team 3D’s challenge for a Little Italy Street Fight and they accept and attack.

Was Konnan ready to be on TV here?

AJ and Rhino are scheduled to wrestle in a chain match and AJ promotes it by discussing that he’s already a Triple Crown champion in TNA at the age of 26 and all Angle was at 26 was an olympic gold medalist. It’s kind of hard to cut this promo two weeks after losing to Kurt isn’t it?

Sting lowers a cage that has Jim Mitchell in it and Abyss comes out for the save and Sting gets a belt wrapped around his neck and Abyss takes over and frees Mitchell. Who’s the heel here?

Johnny Damon hits Dale Torberg with a chair during a Torberg/Pierzynski promo. Hoyt comes in and tells Pierzynski he can’t wait to have him step into his world and slaps him.

How were these guys to work with?

The go-home main event is Kurt Angle & Samoa Joe teaming up to defeat AJ Styles & Christian Cage. Angle pins AJ again with an olympic slam off the top rope. After the match Scott Steiner returns to TNA as the anger management consultant and it’s a brawl between Steiner and Angle and the rest. Steiner gets a pretty big face pop here. Was this the original idea to bring Steiner back? The Observer reports that Ken Shamrock was under consideration here as well. Is that true?

There are vignettes that air during the month of Ron Killings renaming movies such as A Few Good Men…A Few Good Black Men…and Rocky Blackboa…where did this come from?

Let’s talk about the ratings now Jeff. On January 18th you draw a 1.1 with 1.4 million viewers, the 24th is down to a .8 really because you had to move to Wednesday because of UFC, February 1st is 1.0 and 1.2 million viewers and February 8th gets a 1.12 with 1.6 million viewers. This is the most watched Impact show ever. That has to feel good going into the pay-per-view does it not?

Well the show itself is not well received by the Wrestling Observer readers. 55% gave it a thumbs down while only 19% gave it a thumbs up.

From the Observer: “When it comes to promotions going downhill, and eventually out, due lo creative reasons as opposed to being unable to compete, with WCW as the prime example, there are stages. The first stage is fans being mad about the product. The thing about this stage is that they still care.

The scary stage is when they accept what has happened and no longer

care. The last stage is the point of no return, where you've damaged your brand to the point that even if you give people a good product, they aren't going to give you a chance. TNA is in a funny situation right now. They certainly are not at the final stage. But they are past the first stage and on the road if not at the second stage.”

The atmosphere at the Impact Zone at this point is burnt out is it not?

Meltzer also adds this: “TV ratings are a funny thing because they don't measure how interested people are, only that the set is on. And ratings only mean something if you are hyping good matches to the people who are watching.”

Do you agree with that?

Meltzer would go on to say that the beginning of the show was actually good but what followed is what killed it. Let’s get to the recap.

1. LAX vs. Team 3D in a Little Italy Street Fight

“The difference between this and a normal street fight is that the ring was

filled with tables like a cafe, there were garbage cans on the ramp and the restaurant is next to the strip club. Kannan was on the ramp, still in a wheelchair. That must totally suck with him flying in every week while bound to the chair because he doesn't get paid otherwise, although he is still the life blood of the team. Ray pulled out some dollar bills and called out the strippers for a lap dance in the middle of a grudge match. Homicide cracked him with a chair. Homicide used a pizza cutter on Devon and he bled. Four members of the Latino nation ran in. Team 3-D fought all of them off, and did a wazzup on Homicide. Devon teased doing a second one, but instead, dove to the floor with a plancha on the Latino nation contingent. Ray was taken out when Homicide gave him a spinebuster through a table. Homicide used an elbow off the top but Ray kicked out. After a series of near falls, Hernandez pinned Devon with a border toss. All the early brawling and weapon usage probably contributed to crowd burnout later in the show.”

Observer rating: **1/4

Torch Rating: **

There’s so much going on here to open and lots of blood and weapons. It’s tough to follow this is it not?

Had LAX and Team 3D run its course at this point?

1. The Austin Starr vs. Senshi

“Senshi pinned Austin Starr in 8:21. Before the match, Starr was doing a promo when Backlund came out. Starr called him a grown up Opie. Good match. Throughout the match, Starr was teasing using the chicken wing crossface. The match ended with one of those rolling reverse cradle backbridge pins where both guys have their shoulders down. Starr celebrated like he'd won, which of Course meant Senshi got his hand raised. Starr started throwing chairs into the ring until Backlund came out. He slapped Backlund, and Backlund put him in the chicken wing crossface and took him to the back. Match was good, but the guy it

was designed to get over is the nearly 58-year-old Backlund (who admittedly can pass for being much younger, even though he dressed like grandpa in the 50s.”

Observer rating: **¾

Torch Rating: **¼

It does seem like Backlund is used here to get more over than the two guys in the wrestling match. What is the fascination with Backlund?

1. Big Fat Oily Guy vs. Christy Hemme

Here’s what it goes downhill Jeff. “The crowd was chanting "Fuck You Russo" during this match, which was a real killer. Hemme had her pants taken off, but she stripped the Oily Guy down to his thong. Fans were booing this and booed her, although in the long run she's supposed to be

the heel in all this because the idea is the male audience can't get a girl, certainly not one that looks like her, so therefore they want to see hot women being degraded and Kip James represents them. Kip came out and teased he was going to take off his pants, but instead ripped off her shirt and laughed. The idea was to get Kip over as a face and Hemme over as a heel. Russo's original scripting was to have B.G. run in and put a towel over Hemme, but B.G. refused, saying if the idea is for VKM

to be faces, his putting the towel on Hemme would tum him heel. When he made that point, they switched the script.”

Observer rating: -***

Torch Rating: No rating

I mean from the crowd chanting Fuck You Russo, to the Big Fat Oil Guy from Stamford, CT introduced…who thought this was a good use of pay-per-view time?

Did BG make the right call here and saying it made no sense?

1. Dale Torberg vs. Lance Hoyt

“Lance Hoyt pinned Dale Torborg in 5:04. David Eckstein was in Hoyt's comer along with a front row of "Team Eckstein" fans that I'm guessing were Eckstein family members. A.J. Pierzynski was with Torborg. Fans were chanting "baseball sucks." Match wasn't good and was the first of a slew of matches with no heat. Hoyt slipped off the top rope at one point. Pierzynski hit Hoyt with a good chair shot and he was pinned. Eckstein told ref Andrew Thomas what happened and showed him the chair in the ring. Eckstein than hit Torborg with a chair given to him by his brother and Hoyt got the pin with the F-5. It's really clear that angles like this should be done on television. It's a lot easier to get a casual fan to sample the

product on television as opposed to spending $30. If this match could draw buys, that's one thing, but everyone knew ahead of time it couldn't. I'm a proponent of the company using guys who can get them publicity, but the tradition of building it for PPY is only the right idea if it'll add buys. Plus, we've already been through the fact they downgrade their celeb angles by using prelim guys in them, which signals they aren't even important to the TNA fans.”

Observer rating: ¼*

Torch rating: ¼*

What say you Jeff?

1. AJ Styles vs. Rhino in a Chain Match

“AJ Styles beat Rhino in a Motor City chain match in 15:07. So not only did we have just the guys chained together, but we had two poles. One pole had a key to unlock the chain and the other pole had a night stick, which I guess is the street fight weapon of choice in Detroit. They did a few running away spots by Styles but he couldn't go far. The match was nothing compared to a usual match between these two because the chain proved to be more of a constraint, and the story based on trying to get the weapons took away from the athleticism. The positive is Styles is developing into a better heel every time out, even if the fans don't want to boo him. Rhino got the night stick first, but Styles gave him a low blow with the chain, got the stick and used it. Styles then got the key, so he was able to take off the shackle from his wrist. This allowed him to do a frog splash while Rhino was still chained up, and eventually chained to the ropes. Styles stepped just out of the range of the chain and teased him holding the key in his face, and then hit the Pele kick. But this was getting no heat. Styles got too close and Rhino gored him. The key that Styles dropped was still out of reach. Red Dave Hebner then nonchalantly kicked the key to Rhino, which was supposed to be a babyface move. This led to chants of " You Screwed Bret" and "You Screwed Rhino." Rhino got out of his shackle and set up a table to gore Styles through the table. But Rhino missed and crashed into the table, and Styles pinned him.”

Observer rating: *½

Torch rating: **¼

Ah the old Vince Russo staple. Let’s take a gimmick and gimmick it up! This is just overbooked to shit is it not?

1. Chris Sabin vs. Jerry Lynn for the X Division Title

“Chris Sabin pinned Jerry Lynn to keep the X Division title in 13:33. Match also had almost no heat. It was a good storytelling match, where Sabin worked on Lynn's back for most of the match, and it even played into the finish. From an old- school technical standpoint, they did everything right, and it didn't work, although I think it was more due to a lot of what preceded it. Lynn made a big comeback. They traded good near falls, including Sabin using a spiral power bomb. The crowd did get into the near falls more than most things on the show, but it's not like they were going wild. Lynn used a TKO for a near fall. Lynn went for the cradle piledriver, but his back gave out from all the punishment in the match. Sabin then got the pin grabbing the ropes.”

Observer rating: ***

Torch rating: **½

Really everyone was struggling to get the people back in the show after the Hemme segment. How does talent treat this after the fact? Do they come up to you and complain or is it just wrestlers being wrestlers?

Throughout the show there’s vignettes of Traci Brooks seducing Eric Young to become part of Robert Roode Inc and finally she gets the job done and Roode introduces Young as the newest member. Do you think this storyline helped everyone involved get more over?

1. James Storm & Jackie Moore vs. Petey Williams & Gail Kim

“James Storm & Jackie Moore beat Petey Williams & Gail Kim in 8:49. Again, the crowd was dead. The women stuff was okay. Far better than the women's stuff in WWE. It was professional, but nothing outstanding other than Kim doing some flashy moves. The women and men did a few spots with each other. Williams set up the Canadian Destroyer on Storm, but Moore raked his eyes. Kim did a missile dropkick on Moore for a near fall. Kim did a rolling reverse cradle on Moore, but she kicked her off and into Storm. Kim collided with Storm and Moore pinned her. Storm attacked Williams after the match but Williams came back with a neckbreaker. Moore jumped on Williams' back and Storm nailed Williams with a · superkick. Moore DDT'd ref Rudy Charles and they set up doing the double-team death sentence on Kim when Chris Harris, wearing an eye-patch, made the save.”

Observer rating: *¾

Torch rating: **

Did you already realize you might have something with Gail Kim that the WWE couldn’t reproduce with their talent at the time?

1. Abyss vs. Sting in a Prison Yard Match

“The match started in the back of the building where fans turned away watching on screens got to see it live, while the fans in the arena had to watch it on screens. Abyss threw Sting into a heavily gimmicked dumpster. Unfortunately, the camera shot was too good and you could see it. In the ring, Sting used a barbed wire baseball bat and Abyss's juiced his arm. Sting took Jim Mitchell's belt off his pants and hit him with the buckle and whipped him. Mitchell juiced. Abyss smashed a police light that was used as a gimmick (yes, we had that in this match after the props in the opener). Abyss tried to put Sting into the cell in the middle of the ring, which was the object of the match (think casket match except a cell in the ring), but Sting stopped him from shutting the door. This was not as good as when Undertaker does the same spots. Abyss pulled a barbed wire board from under the ring. Abyss used a black hole slam, and took Sting's mask off. Sting didn't put any make-up on so he just looked like Sting, even though the storyline of wearing the Abyss mask I thought was because his face was burned by a Mitchell fireball. They probably forgot about the fireball. God knows I tried to. Sting came back with a Scorpion death drop and tried to put Abyss in the cell, but he got away. It ended with a barbed wire board elevated and Abyss climbed the cell. Sting got underneath him and power bombed him onto the barbed wire board and put him in the cell and locked the door. The story here is that this is Mitchell's temporary blow-off. The idea is to bring him back in a few months with a new protege who would feud with Sting. Good match,

much better match than they've been having.”

Observer rating: ***¼

Torch rating: ***

It really is a good match but there’s already objects and blood in the first match. Is this too much and difficult for them to follow? Also considering what’s coming up in the main event…is it too much for them to follow?

1. Christian vs. Kurt Angle for the NWA Title w/Samoa Joe as the Special Guest Enforcer

“Christian Cage pinned Kurt Angle in 19:02 to retain the NWA Title. Angle

guaranteed before the match that he would win the title. You know Cornette has zero power, because the Cornette booking rule of thumb is if the face either guarantees, promises or swears to God on something on television, he has to deliver. Tomko came out with Christian but Steiner didn't. They spent the whole show teasing that Tomko and Steiner don't get along. Joe came out a couple of minutes into the match to be the ringside enforcer. Christian did a low blow and hit the unprettier but Angle kicked out. Angle did the running up the ropes belly-to-belly superplex. He followed with seven German suplexes but Cage kicked out. A.J. Styles was the first guy in, but Joe chased him to the back. With everyone

distracted, Christian hit Angle with a chair shot and tried both a frog splash and an unprettier, but Angle kicked out of both. Joe came back out. Angle tried the ankle lock. Christian kicked Angle off into ref Andrew Thomas. Joe tried to revive Thomas as Angle hit the Olympic slam, but no ref. Joe threw Thomas in the ring but Christian kicked out. Christian then clotheslined Thomas. Yes, the title can change via DQ but he'll clothesline the ref. Tomko and Steiner came out to attack Joe and Angle. Angle & Joe cleaned house on Steiner and Tomko. Steiner brought

in a pipe. Angle put Christian in the ankle lock and he was tapping, but no ref again. The finish saw Christian get the pipe and hit Angle, then used the unprettier for the fall. After the match, Steiner put Angle in the Steiner recliner and used the pipe to choke him. Good match, but every TNA NWA title match has the same ref bump spots (and they are in most WWE title matches as well) because they are easy pops, but in this bout they felt old. They had the crowd at the end, which was no small feat given that nobody else could get them. But this didn't have what I'd call

usual main event heat.”

Observer rating: ***½

Torch rating: ***¼

Is the special guest enforcer gimmick overused? I mean you just did this with Kurt less than 6 months ago…

Do you think Kurt needed to win this match?

What did you think of the DQ criticism from Meltzer?

Was the Prison Yard match the biggest draw for the show?

Meltzer even points out that he didn’t think the show was as bad as the negative feedback he got on it but that the Hemme angle really hurt the show. Do you regret doing it?

What say you on the show Jeff? Do you think this was TNA’s best effort? There isn’t a lot of “clean” finishes. Is this more of a … we’re still going to be building to another PPV and you don’t want to blow off everything now?

Next week Jeff we’ll be getting into more of the USWA launch! The feedback on the first USWA episode was fantastic and we’re going to get more granular!