My World with Jeff Jarrett - TNA Sacrifice 2009 [Show Notes] (Patreon)

Today we’re going to be talking about Sacrifice 2009…this show took place on this date back in 09. At this point in the company’s history we are BEFORE Hulk Hogan & Eric Bischoff became involved.

Your positioning in the company is what at this point Jeff?

We’re coming off Lockdown in Philadelphia where Mick Foley won his first TNA Title in the Six Sides of Steel over Sting, your team of AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels & Samoa Joe defeated Team Angle of Booker T, Kevin Nash, Kurt Angle & Scott Steiner in a Lethal Lockdown match, Team 3D won the TNA Tag Team Titles in a Philly street fight over Beer Money. Also the relationship with New Japan is in full bloom with Team 3D as IWGP Tag Champions and the Motor City Machine Guns as IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Champions. The show also featured the debut of Bobby Lashley.

How important was that relationship with New Japan at the time?

Foley’s win is immediately questioned and you talk in an interview with The Sun in the UK about it, “Jarrett says they will eventually push younger stars to the top, but it will take time. Jarrett says they will continue pushing the younger stars like Samoa Joe and A.J. Styles until they become household names like Sting. “You can go back 20 years when Sting was that generation’s version of AJ Styles. He was a young phenomenal athlete with name recognition and was very good in the ring,” Jarrett said. “It just takes time. Nothing replaces time in this business.””

You’re putting over the guys in the company…AJ especially…who have been there for 7 years while you have the “bigger” stars with a short time spent in the company. It’s a tough balance is it not?

Taz’s debut with the company was also teased at Lockdown with Samoa Joe having his head covered with a towel. When Taz becomes available after his WWE contract expires why was the push on for him to come into TNA?

Between Lashley & Taz coming in this is a lot of top talent coming in that I can’t imagine is inexpensive. Do you remember where the company is at money wise at this point?

You’ve also turned Don West heel. DON WEST?!?! Who’s idea was this and what did you think of Don in the role?

Coming out of Lockdown the main story is the battle for control of the company and the top spots with the Main Event Mafia - being led by Kurt Angle - Mick Foley - the new champion - you - the owner and Sting the champion who just lost the title. The focus though is on you & Mick…were you excited to work with Mick at this point in his career?

It’s reported in the Torch that while X division wrestlers Sonjay Dutt & Petey Williams were unable to reach deals Jay Lethal was resigned to a contract extension. What was it about Lethal that kept him around while Sonjay & Petey moved on?

From the Observer: “Jeff Jarrett did an interview with The Sun this past week. Nothing of major note, just saying that when it comes to Bobby Lashley, they think MMA will help them and they’ll help MMA with him. Lashley’s idea is that being on TV weekly will give him a fan base that will expand his MMA marketability, something I agree with, although indie-level MMA has the same limits as indie- level pro wrestling (although right now indie-level MMA can draw more money–but also lose more money because it’s a higher-risk game). Everything will be great for both sides as far as business goes as long as he keeps winning his fights.”

A lot of the talk with Lashley coming into the company is that he’s also very focused on his MMA career…how big a deal was that to TNA at the time with him also doing MMA?

Your first Impact after Lockdown gets a 1.23 rating and 1.8 million viewers although the rating is down. The show would feature you opening the show and introducing Mick Foley as the new Champion and that it’s your job as the founder of TNA to hand him the World Title. But that TNA management has decided that Mick’s first title defense will be at Sacrifice in a 4-way and each man will have to sacrifice something to be part of it. Now the storyline is that you & Foley are the only two executives in the company…is this all kind of messy?

Now that Team 3D are holding the IWGP & TNA tag team titles they’re going to set up a Team 3D invitational tournament with a $100,000 to the winners. Team 3D at this point are one of the best tag teams in the business and have been at this point for over 10 years. What was it about these guys that just kept them in that spot?

The show long storyline about you & Foley shows Foley going back to his hometown of Long Island after the win and acting like he’s a man of the people while you’ve called him a lunatic. Then a referee walks up to you and tells you that Joselyn called and there’s a problem at home with having to do with school. Where did the idea of using your kids in storylines come from?

Kevin Nash with Jenna Morasca in his corner takes on AJ Styles in his first singles match in months which ends with Booker T interfering for the DQ. Jenna Morasca is from Survivor and this is my first chance to ask you about her since we started this podcast. The Torch says she was hired because Dixie Carter was a fan of hers on Survivor but Jeff…WHY DID ANYONE THINK IT WAS A GOOD IDEA TO PUT HER IN THE RING?

You’re in the main event against Scott Steiner and this is from the Observer:

“Jarrett had a hamstring injury as noted last week suffered in the Lethal Lockdown match, but he did not have a torn hamstring as it was played up on television. Mick Foley was hilarious because he was playing heel and claiming Jarrett didn’t really have the injury. Jarrett worked the match as if he wasn’t injured and didn’t limp or sell the hamstring and Foley was joking about how he wasn’t even smart enough to sell his fake injury. Jarrett was getting massage treatments backstage for a long time before going out for his match with Scott Steiner.”

Where does this psychology go Jeff?

You get the win after hitting Scott with a guitar but then it’s a schmoz afterwards with Angle coming out and chair shots and all this and then Bobby Lashley walks out again…and it’s teaesd that he’s going to make a decision between the Main Event Mafia or not…but that’s the end of the show…

From the Observer:

“The switch of Christopher Daniels to just “Daniels” was a marketing decision. He owns the Christopher Daniels name and I could see them not wanting to market a name the person owns(even though they do it all the time with every top star in the promotion), but I’m at a loss for how “Daniels” could be owned when he owns Christopher Daniels, or why .”

Why was Daniels important here to have his name changed?

The story at the time on TV is that the Machine Guns know Suicide is Daniels but Daniels keeps playing it off like he isn’t. Was this something these guys could sink their teeth into for their characters?

It’s reported in the Torch that finally TNA and Konnan were on the verge of setting the racial discrimination lawsuit. How bad is this for the company from what you remember?

It comes out ahead of time in the Torch from the one set of TV tapings that…well I’ll let Wade describe it. “Roxxi was released by the company recently following a backstage incident with Rhaka Khan, who has major heat in the locker room for some of her behavior. Khan was upset over her role in a recent battle royal that aired on TNA Impact. She eventually hit Roxxi with a stiff shot during their match, and Roxxi returned fire with a forearm that caught Khan on the nose. Khan dropped to her knees and screamed in pain and frustration in a clip that was edited off the Impact show.

When Khan returned backstage, she threw a hissy fit and said she was willing to fight other Knockouts legitimately. She also told her then-boyfriend Kurt Angle that the other Knockouts had been stealing her clothing and had either stolen or destroyed her computer. Multiple sources laugh at Khan's claims, and the feeling of more than one person is that she made up those allegations because she wanted Kurt to purchase her new clothes and a new computer.

When Roxxi returned backstage, she tried to made amends, but Khan wasn't interested in making peace. They ended up exchanging words and eventually cooler heads prevailed. However, both women were not booked after the incident and were apparently suspended for 60 days, although Roxxi has told friends she was not aware that she had been suspended. Roxxi was eventually released by the company. Her contract was coming up soon and the belief is that she had already worked enough dates that the company won't owe her money.”

What do you remember of all this? How messy is all this?

Dixie does an interview with Hermie Sadler on his TNA video show and says this, “Competition is very important. For the consumer and for the wrestling fan, there is nothing better than having competition. It makes each of us work harder. I know our company will never be satisfied until we are the biggest person in wrestling and bigger."

It’s important to note that Dixie should be saying that…but did you ever think you could topple the WWE?

From the Observer on the next Impact:

“Weird show. They must have gone way short in taping because there were so many Angle and Mafia promotional video packages throughout the show it was crazy. It was as if they were the only stars on the program. Show opened with Foley telling Borash that even though he hit Jarrett in the head with a chair, the two were closer than ever. Kurt Angle came out and explained that to get into the main event title match at Sacrifice, he was putting up his role as the leader of the Mafia, and if he was pinned, then whoever pinned him and won the title, would become leader of the Mafia. Angle also said that he wanted Jarrett in the match.”

Does…any of this make sense?

Main was Nash & Booker over Styles & Joe. This wasn’t every good. Between his elbow injury and his knees, Nash can’t do much of anything. They showed Lashley arriving in the arena wearing his ATT T-shirt. Joe came out 4:00 in, and then they went to a commercial break. It ended with Jenna distracting Earl Hebner and Sharmell gave Booker the legends belt, which he hit Styles with for the pin. Styles and Joe argued but they cut away before they came to blows or where you would see it as anything more than a tease for stuff to come.”

The Legends belt…we haven’t discussed yet on the podcast. Why the Legends title?

“The last segment was weird. Angle confronted Foley. Keep in mind Angle said he was going to take over the office at the beginning of the show. Now they were at the end of the show. What would it matter by this point? Before this happened, Foley was shown agreeing to a big contract with a new superstar, with the idea was it was Lashley, and said when he screamed “Now,” that the guy was supposed to run in and help him. So Angle came out and Foley kept saying “Now” and nobody came. Angle attacked Foley who then said that since Angle was so mad over the chair shot, he could get one free chair shot. He said he once took 11 (in reference in his “Beyond the Mat” match with Rock) but Angle would only get one. But Angle didn’t like the office chair, so Foley got on the phone to call for a folding chair, but then attacked Angle with the phone and used the socko claw on him. Then a masked man attacked and laid out Foley with a chair, and he took off his disguise and it was Sting.”

It’s tough to follow the creative at this time Jeff. Angle’s the heel, you’re the babyface, but Foley & Sting are…I don’t even know? Tweeners? Help me out here Jeff.

It’s around this time that Vince McMahon says in a Hollywood trade journal that TNA’s product is “reprehensible.” What did you think of that comment at the time?

TNA Impact on 4/30 did a 1.15 rating and 1.6 million viewers. The show did a 0.99 in Males 18-34 and 1.05 in Males 35-49, and was second with adult males on cable behind only the NBA playoffs on TNT.

It’s reported in the Observer that the original plan for the Team 3D tournament would finish before the pay-per-view and have them face the winners but it’s decided to hold the finals at Sacrifice. When something like that shifts creatively - who’s leading the charge for it do you remember?

Beer Money will be taking on the new British Invasion - Doug Williams & Brutus Magnus - Nick Aldis now - at Sacrifice in the finals. British Invasion is one of the more underrated stables in TNA history…why do you think that is?

Hernandez is written off TV after it’s discovered he’s got a bad neck. How didn’t this guy get over to a bigger audience Jeff? Was it him?

Elijah Burke is backstage waiting out his 90 days from his WWE release. Is there ever a thought process going through your head that signing too many people coming off WWE TV is a bad thing?

From the May 7th Impact and the Observer: “Main was Angle & Booker T & Scott Steiner & Kevin Nash & Sting over Daniels & Joe & Jarrett & Foley & A.J. Styles. They noted this was the first time the entire Mafia was together as a team in any match. Something was missing here. Crowd wasn’t that into it and match didn’t really click. Jarrett never tagged in once, likely due to his injury. Even though Sting is supposed to be the face (yeah, I know) and Foley the heel in their feud, they did a hot tag sequence where Sting was the heel feeding Foley’s hot tag. At this point the whole thing has to be considered humorous. Some dives at the end by Joe (doing the Misawa elbow suicida on Nash), Styles and Daniels. Throughout the show they teased Jarrett not liking Foley, since he booked Jarrett in the match even with a torn hamstring and then took away his guitar. Jarrett finally got the barbed wire bat Foley brought to the ring, but Foley took the bat away from Jarrett. You know, because he might use it to win. Foley tried to hit Jarrett with the bat, but Jarrett used a low blow and gave Foley the stroke on the bat. Jarrett gave Angle the stroke as well and Sting jumped into the ring and pinned Foley. Then Daniels, Styles and Joe all gave Jarrett dirty looks, like he cost them the match. After, Sting said that since he beat Foley he wanted a title match and would put up his career if he lost. If he’s pinned, his career is over. Nobody believed him in the crowd.”

TNA Impact on 5/7 did a 1.19 rating and 1.6 million viewers. The show did a 0.86 in Males 18-34 and 0.94 in Males 35-49.

From the Observer: “They also brought back Kip to lose in a stretcher match to Kong. I hope they disguised this well, because Kong is 5-9 billed at 6-1, but they sort of can get away with it because women like Taylor Wilde are so short. Kip is 6-4 so he’s going to look so much taller than her and expose the size gimmick.”

Is this a punishment for the now Billy Gunn Jeff?

“Besides a women’s Monsters Ball match with Abyss in Daffney’s corner, it also looks like a return three-way with the Machine Guns defending the IWGP jr. tag titles against Suicide & Daniels and Lethal Consequences, and both A.J. Styles vs. Booker T for the legends title, Samoa Joe vs. Kevin Nash, and Angelina Love vs. Awesome Kong in a stretcher match were all officially made at the last tapings.”

This is quite the card being rounded out…if the creative is iffy at least the in-ring product should be good right?

“They are doing a show called TNA Epics, along the line of WWE Vintage Collection, which will be airing in the U.K., with Foley as host. The show will air old stuff, including the original PPV events from Nashville. It will air on Bravo in the U.K. at 10 p.m. on Friday nights starting 5/15, which means it goes head-to-head with the first airing of Smackdown on Sky. Bravo airs both the Impact show as well as the monthly specials that are PPVs in the U.S. They are pushing that Hulk Hogan(who never actually appeared on a TNA show but did cut some interviews when he had verbally agreed to do a program with Jeff Jarrett that wound up not happening), Randy Savage, Roddy Piper, Tito Ortiz and Ken Shamrock will be among the stars appearing on the show.”

How big a deal are international TV shows and programs like this to the company’s bottom line?

This is in the Observer and it’s some interesting stuff Jeff:

“Bobby Lashley didn’t sign a contract last week and wasn’t brought to TV so the unless he signs and they bring him to Nashville to cut promos to insert, he won’t be on TV until the PPV at the earliest, which is two days after his next fight. The company decided they weren’t going to use him on television until he signed, because that’s not good business. Think about that for a second. So now they started a couple of week storyline, which is dropped cold over the next three weeks of TV and may go nowhere. He said they were busy trying to work out schedule issues. He said he’d be doing no more than four days a month with TNA and wouldn’t do any pro wrestling matches within a few weeks of fights because of the injury risk.”

Why the pull back so fast on Bobby? How does this even happen without a deal in place?

TNA Impact on 5/14 did a 1.23 rating and 1.6 million viewers. The show did a 0.91 in Males 18-34 and 0.99 in Males 35-49

From the Observer: “Funny weekend house show story. Backstage before the show they have a lineup sheet posted with all of the matches. They put a * next to whoever is going over that night and at the bottom of the sheet, even though they use the same symbols every night, there is a note that reads * = Winner. Anyway, over the weekend, someone put a + next to the name of all the losers. On one sheet, at the bottom, it read + = jobber. On another sheet, at the bottom, it read + = Good look, good attitude, not tonight. On the final sheet, at the bottom it read + = See Kip James.”

Who do you think is telling Meltzer this stuff?

Notes from the 5/14 Impact. All I can say is this was one weird show. Almost the whole show was designed to be cute, with the major impact being built up a Mick Foley attack on Jeff Jarrett taped at the Nashville Fairgrounds, which leads to Jarrett putting up his stock or voting power or something in TNA to get into the Ultimate Sacrifice match. The show was built around Foley and Jarrett with the tapes of two days in the life of Jarrett in Nashville. Foley said Jarrett wasn’t at the tapings for the first time ever, not backstage helping or in front of the cameras. They worked hard trying to make Jarrett into a family man babyface, showing him hanging out with his daughters all day, picking them up from school, taking them to different after school activities. His youngest daughter came off real cute on television, but the problem is the context of Impact is so goofy that doing something real seems out of place now. To make it work, you’d almost have to revamp things for a few weeks. I mean, they proved last year you can draw with it if you do it right, but they don’t have the confidence or discipline for it. In the end, no matter what they do, long-term, people are just not that into Jarrett as a babyface.”

What say you Jeff? Do you think this build was good for the pay-per-view?

The main event is now set for Sacrifice. Mick Foley will put up his TNA title, Sting will put up his career, Angle will put up leading the Main Event Mafia and Jeff you’ll be putting up your ownership points. This feels like a silly question Jeff…but why the hell would anyone be trying to beat Kurt considering all the other things on the line? Did anyone say…that really doesn’t compare to the rest?

From the Observer:

“The new Don West role is patterned almost completely after Bobby Heenan. What is impressive about West is that I don’t think he ever even saw much of Heenan or studied him. Mike Tenay was Heenan’s best friend in WCW so he knows how to work with Heenan to make him shine. The West situation is interesting because nobody knows that his future is. The expectation is Taz is coming in for a short-term role as Joe’s mentor, but will eventually become a manager, and people don’t know if that means a three-

man booth, or how it affects West. Most likely, Taz would not replace Tenay since Tenay plays a different role.”

Is that where you saw Don West going? Being like Bobby Heenan?

Slammiversary tickets go on sale for the Auburn of Palace Hills which is a big stadium that can hold 23,000 people. Why this building?

Ric Flair is talking about coming out of retirement to possibly wrestle - but specifically states he wouldn’t do it for TNA because of what they’re doing to Vince McMahon. Do you think that’s Vicne in Ric’s ear?

From the Observer:

Notes from the 5/21 Impact show. The show didn’t have much of the usual stuff that makes you shake your head. But as far as being the go-home show, the only match promoted well was the main event. They tried to do something for the women’s title match, which, after doing the series of stretcher matches on TV, was no longer a stretcher match. The best promoted thing on the show over the past month was the stuff with Suicide and the Machine Guns, and they blew it off, not even in a focused tag match, but in a watered down three-way that nobody cared about. Show opened with Jarrett out. He said he was putting himself into the main event at Sacrifice. He said Foley wasn’t fit to be TNA champion. Foley came out to say that Jarrett screamed like a woman when he was hitting his leg with a chair last week. Foley said he went to Nashville to talk things out with Jarrett, but seeing the building caused him to go crazy and remind him how much he hated Jeff and Jeff’s father. The father thing worked, because luckily nobody in the crowd knows Jeff and his father haven’t talked for years, ever since Jerry completely embarrassed Jeff by going to the WWE headquarters with Vladimir Kozlov, having it put on the WWE web site which caused people in TNA to think Jerry was negotiating for Jeff to leave and it cost Jeff a lot of trust in the company over the short- term. Foley wanted Jeff to put up his voting shares in the company. What was amazing is they showed the crowd, and everyone was screaming “No,” that they didn’t want Jeff to do it. But after some more insults, when he did, the same crowd popped for it. Well, better that than ignoring it. Speaking of ignoring, in December, Jeff had given up his backstage power to Foley when he said he was returning as a wrestler.”

Jeff - having your father being brought up in a storyline during this time when you weren’t really talking with him…ballsy is it not?

“Young was mad at Jarrett for having to wrestle his idol Sting. Jarrett yelled at him like he was sick of guys bugging him, telling Young that if it wasn’t for him, he’d still be doing indies in Southern Ontario. If you wonder where that verbiage comes from, it’s basically frustration by the writers because the young guys complain about being there for six years and still never getting a chance and management’s reaction is, hey, if it wasn’t for us, you’d be working for $50 a night.”

Is that accurate do you think Jeff?

“They did the contract signing between Awesome Kong and Angelina Love. Love came out with bodyguards but Jim Cornette told them to stay out of the way. Love cut a funny promo apologizing for cutting Kong’s hair and offering to give her a makeover, change her hair, change her makeup, send her to a fat farm, send her to a doctor for lipo. Kong acted like she wanted to kill her, and they did a handshake, but Kong did the squeeze and had her up in a neck hanging tree before it was broken up. Kong then power bombed Rudy Charles through the table. This was a good segment. It didn’t do anything to make me want to see the match itself, but Kong’s facials were great and Russo’s scripting and Love’s delivery were pretty top notch here.”

Damn Jeff who did Rudy piss off to take the powerbomb?

We haven’t discussed this storyline yet and now it’s time. Dr. Stevie…(Richards)...is fueding with Abyss and brings in Daffney as well…but Lauren is with Abyss. Lauren Thompson…now Lauren Frucci…what did you think of her in a storyline as a character?

“Jarrett beat Joe via DQ in a short match. Joe just kept kicking Jarrett’s bad leg and ref Slick Johnson, who was established as Jeff’s buddy last week on TV, kept trying to protect Jarrett until Joe attacked Johnson for the DQ. Styles made the save for Jarrett and they had a pull-apart. Makes sense on the go-home show when Styles is wrestling Booker on Sunday and they never are anywhere near each other, and Joe is wrestling Nash. Main event was Foley against a legendary former world champion who had never been in TNA before. A couple of guys carried out a cardboard cutout of Sylvester Stallone from an early Rocky movie as Rocky Balboa. He even had an old man as trainer Mickey. The guys holding the cutout actually picked up the cutout and jabbed the fist at Foley, who sold it like he was being punched by a Terry Funk jab. But then Foley Hulked up and used a suplex. The Mickey guy was cheering for Foley. At least Don West picked up on it and noted he was cheering for the wrong guy, which made it funny. Foley used a piledriver and the people’s elbow. Foley nearly tripped over the cutout when running the ropes. Jarrett came out and he’d had enough. He’s spent seven years of his life building this company and Foley is turning it into a joke. You could probably do 40,000 words of comedy just off that sentence. Jarrett attacked Foley, which brought out Angle. Angle used the Olympic slam and ankle lock. Sting tried to break it up but Foley hit Sting with a chair. Jarrett gave Angle the stroke but Foley hit Jarrett with a chair so Foley ended as the last man standing.”

Holy shit Jeff. What is all this? Who cleared this creative? What did you think of it?

Meltzer has this to say regarding the state of TNA at the time: “There are all kinds of theories as to why the matches at the TV tapings are no longer getting much of a reaction. My own theory is they’ve become routine and people have been taught they really don’t matter, that the show is based around the interviews by the stars. Of course, historically, wrestling on television in many parts of the country was based on interviews with the stars and the matches were just squash fillers to get stars and their big moves over. And people still reacted. There is also the theory that without clearly defined faces and heels, people just don’t know how to react on television. There may be something to that, because on this show, while the crowd reactions were largely good, it was more people knowing PPV is about the matches, and it was a night of dueling chants and “this is awesome” as opposed to people caring emotionally about who wins. The truth is, while there are shades of grey in many of the characters, there is no question Jeff Jarrett is a face and Kurt Angle is a heel, but put them in the ring together in any TNA arena, and Angle will be cheered as much if not more. They run so many angles that people don’t care or remember any of them, and mostly cheer for the stars.

There is also the thought process that because the stars are better known, they drive the ratings. Jeff Jarrett, who is largely the guy in charge of creative, has espoused the reliance on guys who were stars in the 90s to the idea it takes people ten years to get over, and that when A.J. Styles and Samoa Joe have that tenure, they’ll be top stars. And there is truth to the idea that an average television viewer would rather see a wrestler they are familiar with and think of as a star, and it is very difficult today to make a star. The funny thing is, for a long time there, the three most successful acts when it came to moving ratings were Awesome Kong, Gail Kim and ODB, none of whom had any of that tenure as stars they feel is so important. Of the three, only Kong still fits that bill, as ODB was played to her weaknesses (talking) and given an exaggerated character that removed the charisma she started with. Of late, she’s been off television because they haven’t been able to figure out where to go with her after starting a romance with Cody Deaner that ended up going nowhere.”

What say you Jeff?

Well we’re at the show now Jeff! And man do we have two different reviews to discuss.

First from the Observer: “TNA Sacrifice on 5/24 in Orlando was a typical TNA PPV, bolstered by a hot crowd. It’s good if you like effort from the wrestlers, but it’s also frustrating if you’d like it to make much sense or build to something bigger. The show drew the same full house of 1,100 that they get for every PPV at the Impact Zone.”

Then the Torch: “If you ordered the TNA Sacrifice PPV, you’re likely a die–hard fan. There was a competitive marquee NBA playoff game on TNT. It’s Memorial Day weekend with many gatherings with friends and family going on. And, well, it’s TNA. If you watched this show, you can’t get too upset with the usual TNA booking tics (to put it nicely) any more than you can be upset with plastic spoons and forks at a fast food joint. You would order a TNA PPV to see storylines forwarded, as convoluted and unconvincing as they mostly are (or at least tolerate them) as you watch honest efforts by the hardworking, talented TNA athletes that fill the roster. Good efforts from wrestlers made Sacrifice a more than watchable show in terms of spots, sequences, and athleticism. Terrible booking dampened the entire show and it’s become the primary story of TNA’s current existence.”

Did you think the creative at this time for TNA was - terrible?

The actual pay-per-view show opens with a “bonus match.”

2. Jay Lethal & Consequences Creed & Eric Young beat Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley & Sheik Abdul Bashir in 13:54. Unlike when these same guys wrestle on TV and do all the moves to no response, this time they got a big response. Fun match, particularly the last several minutes which built well with all kinds of cool spots. Young even did the Death Valley driver with both Sabin & Shelley on his shoulder but Bashir made the save on the pin. Ending came when Lethal came from the apron into the ring with a sunset flip on Bashir. Bashir was holding onto the ropes but ref Andrew Thomas kicked his hands off the rope and then he fell down into the pin. The only angle note is that Young seemed upset that he didn’t score the pin, which teased his heel turn the next night.

Observer: ***1⁄2

Torch: **¼

After all this with MCMG and Suicide and Christopher Daniels…this is their spot on the show. Consequeneces Creed now is Xavier Woods. Sheik is Shawn Daivari.

Was this just a sign of here’s 6 really good wrestlers and this is what they do…

“3. Taylor Wilde pinned Daffney in 3:33 in a Monsters Ball match. It was a weapons match that they kept short as the key was the angle after the match and the match was just to build the angle. They traded weapons shots with Wilde pinning after a Death Valley driver onto a garbage can lid. After the match, Dr. Stevie came out poured thumb tacks all over the mat. He then ordered Abyss to put Wilde into the thumb tacks. Because Abyss has full faith in Dr. Stevie, he was about to do it, but Lauren came out and told him not to, given Lauren and Wilde are best friends (which means Wilde has to turn on Lauren soon and maybe she can join the Flock, since they are so intent on being 1995). Dr. Stevie then attacked Abyss again. Abyss felt bad and went to put Wilde into the thumb tacks a second time, but before he did it, Stevie threw down Lauren and then threatened to hit her with his belt. Abyss saw that and went crazy, turning on Dr. Stevie, finishing by throwing him into the thumb tacks. Stevie was wearing a white shirt and you could see spots of blood through the shirt from his back from all the thumb tacks jabbing. I don’t know that this is the direction to go, but they do have to do something to differentiate themselves from WWE and doing the blood and the thumb tacks is clearly a direction the new WWE isn’t going to be going.”

Observer: *

Torch: no rating

Golee Jeff. This is rough. The first ever Knockouts Monsters Ball match. Did only Vince Russo enjoy watching this?

“4. Suicide drew Daniels in 17:06 to retain the X Division title. This was seven stages of weird. This had several storylines. The most entertaining one was Don West as announcer, but this direction was pretty much the same goofy shit WCW would do in 1999 and 2000. Granted, this is a different fan base, but I’m not sure what ran off fans a decade ago will draw fans today. West continues to insist that Daniels and Suicide are the same person, but now there is a new Suicide. Mike Tenay, the babyface announcer, disagrees. Yes, unlike in the Bobby Heenan/Gorilla Monsoon dynamic where Heenan would say things like that and be wrong, here, he’s right. Not only that, but West also brought up Curry Man, insinuating he was also the same person. He explained that this match that we were seeing was a choreographed work, using the term choreographed but not work. He said that Daniels put a stooge in the Suicide costume to drop the title to him in this match. The wrestling here was largely good, but the whole face vs. face dynamic caused people to not know how to react. Daniels did a split legged moonsault to the floor but Suicide got his knees up. Daniels gave Suicide a back suplex on the ramp. Daniels at one point came from out of the ring in with a fling Oklahoma side roll for a near fall. It’s funny, because when Daniels was Suicide, everyone chants “Fallen Angel,” but now that Kazarian is Suicide, nobody chants his name. During the first part of the match as they would trade moves, West would talk about how well the two of them were working together. The original finish saw Sabin & Shelley come out. Sabin distracted Daniels and ref Rudy Charles. Shelley gave Suicide the codebreaker. Daniels didn’t see it and pinned Suicide to evidently win the title. West was crowing since he had spent the entire match saying Daniels was going to win the title, essentially, in a worked match. Then, in a first, as they showed the replay on the screens, Daniels saw the finish. When he saw the finish, he grabbed the house mic and said that he didn’t know how he got the pin, and while he wanted to be X Division champion, he didn’t want to win it that way and would not accept the title. He then asked Charles if he could have five more minutes. Charles asked Suicide if he’d give

him five more minutes, and Suicide agreed. Why didn’t he ask for a restart? Why would it only be five more minutes? So they went the 5:00 (legit time to the second) and they traded big moves and near falls until time ran out. Then they announced Suicide had retained the title since time ran out. Nobody in the arena seemed to understand it since they don’t get commentary. Tenay asked West if that proved that Daniels wasn’t Suicide since, at the end, he didn’t have the title given to him. West then came back, saying that Suicide had just double-crossed Daniels in their plan. However, to make West look like Heenan, Daniels and Suicide then shook hands after the match. **3/4 (match probably deserved more, but the way it all went down may sound clever in a booking meeting when you just try to come up with something new, but I don’t think it’s what people want out of pro wrestling. It’s clearly not what they wanted before, and even being funny, it’s probably something best for free television as opposed to something you are paying for).

Observer: **¾

Torch: *¾

Does your head hurt Jeff because mine does.

“5. Angelina Love retained the Knockouts title pinning Awesome Kong in 5:56. Kong did some power stuff early including swinging Love’s head into the guard rail. Love got some advantage time when Kong did a spinning backfist into the post and was thrown into the post three times. Kong made her comeback and Love wanted to run away and get counted out to save the title. Raisha Saeed came out to block the aisle. As she went back to the ring, she got her hair spray can. Saeed tried to get it from her and did. Kong then went for a running body block on Love, who moved, and hit Saeed, knocking her off the apron and she dropped the spray can. As ref Slick Johnson was distracted by Saeed on the floor, Love sprayed Kong in the eyes. I didn’t see anything come out of the spray can, which I guess only made it campier, if that’s what you want out of this. Love then used a schoolgirl for the pin. After the match, Kong laid out Love with two implant busters. Don West was going on about how they need to protect Love’s implants.”

Observer: ½*

Torch: *¼

Yes…Don West was worried about her implants. It feels like every match has a finish like this. Why is that?

“6. Samoa Joe beat Kevin Nash in 8:01. I’ll give Nash this. He put Joe over as big as you possibly could here. No last minute injury. No wink losing while getting yourself over and not your opponent. Nash got some offense, but Joe took the majority of the match. Nash bled after a chair shot. Crowd had dueling chants here. One would have expected they would cheer Nash and not care about Joe given the booking of late. Joe kicked Nash off the top for a near fall. Joe got the choke on but Nash made it to the ropes. Nash used a low blow and side slam for a near fall. Joe used a senton for a near fall, and then put the choke on again, and this time Nash tapped out. After the match, Joe continued to elbow Nash to death on the ground. Security came in to stop him but Joe laid them out as well. Nash bled, tapped, was beat up after, and laid out at the end. You can’t do more than that. Scott Steiner made his only appearance on the show in helping Nash to the back. As far as the match itself went, it wasn’t too good.”

Observer: *¼

Torch: **½

Say what you want about Kevin but man does he put Samoa Joe over so strong here. It’s been long rumored after Samoa Joe cut that promo on Scott Hall a couple years before with Nash in the ring and Nash slapped him after that these two didn’t get along but it doesn’t look like it here Jeff.

“7. Beer Money (Robert Roode & James Storm) beat The British Invasion (Doug Williams & Brutus Magnus, managed by Rob Terry) in the finals of the 3-D Invitational tag team tournament in 10:44. Team 3-D was at ringside putting over how important tag team wrestling is in TNA and they were doing their part to preserve the legacy of tag teams. They talked about putting up $100,000 of their own money to the winners, saying it was an investment in the future of tag team wrestling, and Bubba noted with the economy being what it was, that’s a lot of money. Don West noted that if you take it off your taxes it’s really only costing $50,000. Match was the most over match on the show because of how over everything Beer Money did was. Magnus has improved a ton, because he’s never looked close to this good, even though Williams worked most of the way and carried things. Williams is a really good worker, but this was his first chance in TNA to really showcase that. Beer Money did a great double-team spot which saw Storm use a Frankensteiner off the top onto Magnus, and then Roode followed with a splash off the top. It got a huge reaction. Terry then pulled ref Earl Hebner out of the ring. Hebner then threw Terry out of the match. Williams then brought in one of the briefcases they stole from LAX, but Roode pulled it from him before Williams could hit Storm. Storm superkicked Williams and as he was stunned, Roode hit Williams with the briefcase and pinned him. After it was over, Team 3-

D went into the ring with Beer Money and all four raised each others’ hands.”

Observer: ***1⁄2

Torch: **½

It cannot be understated how over Beer Money is here and how good the British Invasion were being heels. Was there more with Beer Money that TNA didn’t get?

“8. A.J. Styles beat Booker T in 14:56 in an I Quit match. Booker had his working shoes on here, as this was as good a singles performance as he’s done. No Sharmell with the story being she’s not there because he doesn’t want to see her and when hurt thinking he has to quit to save himself. Styles used some cool submissions including a deathlock chinlock. Crowd cheered both men equally. They told a story that neither man would say they quit. Styles used a Pele kick and punches from the mount but Booker wouldn’t quit. Thank God for that. Styles used a plancha, which was the signal for Sharmell to come out. Booker collided with Sharmell and knocked her off the apron. Styles then used a flying armbar, and Booker blocked it for a while. Styles got the full armbar. Booker kept refusing to submit, but Jenna Morasca than ran in and threw in the towel for Booker. Booker and Sharmell were both furious at her for doing so. A lot of people were mad about the gimmicked finish to an I Quit match. I guess it didn’t bother me because while it’s was established in the past that the corner throwing in the towel is a viable I Quit match finish, but it’s been a while since it was done on the big stage. Of course, I guess you can try and make sense by saying that only the

legitimate second could throw in the towel, but asking too many questions will get in the

way of enjoying TNA.” ***1⁄2

Does…this finish make sense?

Observer: ***½

Torch: **½

9. Sting won a four-way in 14:56 to become the leader of the Main Event Mafia, since he pinned Kurt Angle. Also in the match was Mick Foley putting up the TNA title and Jeff Jarrett putting up his voting shares in the company’s decision making process, while Sting would retire if he lost. The match was mostly good, although there were some rough spots and the heat was in and out. This didn’t get the kind of reaction the prior two matches got. The match wasn’t bad, but this one I had problems with regarding the logic. Earlier in the show, Sting came to the arena and a whole bunch of the younger wrestlers were in line shaking his hand, and we were told it showed how much respect these guys have for Sting. Wait a minute. Wasn’t the entire reason Sting joined the heel group was because the babyfaces showed him no respect? And now Sting is the top babyface. I guess there are storyline possibilities of the top face leading the group of heels, but it would work better if the heels weren’t over as the faces. And wasn’t the whole idea of Jarrett, Angle and Sting being in this match was they all wanted to win the title. I could see beating Jarrett in the sense that you would have voting shares in the company, but nobody except Foley did any promos in that direction. Why would Jarrett, for example, want to pin Sting and make him retire. Or Angle for that matter. And why didn’t they all target Foley, since his prize was what they were primarily fighting over. Foley laid Sting out early with a piledriver on the ramp. When they were getting near falls or submissions, there was no talk about how, say, if Angle made Jarrett submit, that he’d get his voting shares. At no point until after Sting won was it ever mentioned that the winner of the match doesn’t get the title, so it’s like the finish was a double cross on what was being advertised. Not technically, but it is what everyone figured. At one point a few minutes into the match, Foley went to the announcers table and started doing commentary. His explanation? He was all blown up and needed a breather. And even though beating him was the avowed goal, for several minutes, everyone continued to fight and trade near falls and saves. Finally, the only heel, was the one who ran to the desk and did a flip diver over the desk and knocked Foley out of his chair and got him back in the match. At one point Foley pulled out two socks, one for each hand, and did the sock claw on both Jarrett and Sting. Angle made the save. Ref Slick Johnson was knocked down. This was such overkill on ref bumps and distractions for finishes. Sting used the scorpion death drop on Angle but no ref. Jarrett hit Sting with a guitar, but no ref. Why would Jarrett cheat behind the refs back to get Sting to retire when he’s clearly been kissing up to him as one of the company’s most valuable people? Foley hit Jarrett with a chair, but the ref recovered and Jarrett kicked out. Angle used the Angle slam on Foley for a near fall. Crowd was chanting “This is Awesome” at that point. They continued doing big moves. Sting suplexed Foley on the floor as a receipt for the earlier piledriver. Angle went to the top to jump on Jarrett, but Jarrett climbed the ropes and used a stroke onto the chair that had been left

in the ring. But Sting jumped back in the ring and jumped on Angle for the pin, beating Jarrett and stealing his pin. People popped thinking Sting won the title, only for it to be announced Sting had become the leader of the Mafia. The match had problems in spots but for the most part was very good. But the problems with the match made it feel when it was over like it was a lackluster main event.”

Observer: ***

Torch: **¾

There’s SO MUCH going on here Jeff. What do you remember of the match? How do you think it went?

What say you Jeff? Do you remember this show being a thumbs up, thumbs in the middle, thumbs down?

Let’s get to the fan questions!

Michael McLanahan asks, “The Ultimate Sacrifice match seemed like a mixed bag of various stakes and scenarios? Was the main goal of this match to create an element of unpredictability? Looking back would Jeff have changed anything about the booking or set up of this match?”

Wade Lamb asks, “Do you feel like the Main Event Mafia was a successful project? It had so much momentum in the end of 2009, but felt like it turned out just “Ok.””

Bryant Haremza asks, “The legends championship what was the purpose of this championship and was their really a reason for it?”

Middle Kingdom Wrestling asks, “Hello Mr. Jarrett. The "Ultimate Sacrifice" match stipulation added high stakes to the main event match and those interesting match stipulations/gimmicks are one of the main things that really made TNA stand out as an alternative to WWE.  We couldn't see those matches anywhere else. Did you ever suggest match types like "Ultimate Sacrifice", King of the Mountain, Lethal Lockdown etc. to WWE creative when you were a producer recently? Thank you, from China~”

Speaking of King of the Mountain Jeff - next week we’ll discuss the first ever King of the Mountain match and the pay-per-view the show was on. We’ll talk about the show and what was going on in the business at the time and then we’ll watch the match in it’s almost 30 minute entirety where you take on Ron Killings, AJ Styles, Chris Harris & Raven. We’ll discuss who came up with the concept, was it easy to put the match together, and all that right here on My World!