My World w/ Jeff Jarrett - Samoa Joe & Kevin Nash Incident [Show Notes] (Patreon)

Jeff we’re going to be discussing one of the more infamous TNA pay-per-views in Turning Point 2007!

The last TNA 2007 PPV we covered was Genesis on November 11, 2007.

There’s only a 3-week build to the next show Turning Point on December 2nd…how does the pay-per-view dates get worked out? Does WWE get first dibs? What is that process?

The 3 Impact shows in between PPVs were taped over two days on 11/12 and 11/13…is this one of those things where a 3 week build is better? Do you prefer 4 or more weeks to build?

From the Observer:

“l don’t know how accurate this is, but there are reports in Mexico that Samoa Joe vs. Dr. Wagner Jr. will take place on the 12/14 show in Monterrey and that AJ Styles will face a Mexican star, most likely Mr. Aguila or Konnan Big on the 12/15 show at El Toreo. Advances for both shows are weak. Using Konnan Big who is awful and means nothing at El Toreo, means they were either sold a bill of goods. or they are thinking it somehow gets back at Konnan. The 12/14 show poster is billed as USA vs. Mexico, which would seem to indicate they need several Mexican stars to pull it off, with the three names on the poster being Sting, Wagner

Jr. and Angle.”

The Mexico tour is canceled - but was there any focus because of the heat between the company and Konnan on doing this?

Also from the Observer: “They are doing a Quebec tour with a 12/27 show in Montreal and a 12/28 show in another city. With Carl Pierre Oullett working in the UK full-time and attempting to get back with WWE, the new French language voiceover guy is Sylvan Grenier”

PCO is a guy who has been around forever - how did he get to be the French commentator and then when he tries to go back to the WWE - how does Sylvan Grenier come to be?

Are you the person making these calls? Kevin Sullivan? Who is in charge of the international programming processes?

Impact 11/15/07:

“The show opened with Angle welcoming Styles and Tomko into his new family. This brought out Nash who noted he used to be part of Angle's family. Nash ended up fighting all three, but he was being beaten down until a crew of faces ran in for the save.”

The Angle Alliance - it seems like there’s always a heel stable in TNA. Is that a creative crutch?

Was Kevin the one pushing to bring Scott Hall back - and was anyone against it?

Another story is Team 3D holding the X division title and a X division wrestler hostage.

“Sabin & Shelley & Lethal were out and they went back-and-forth on the mic. I guess they gave into 3D’s demands because they released the hostage, who turned out to be Havok. All the X guys attack 3-D, you know, because the X guys are the babyfaces in this program and it takes 6 of them to beat 2 of 3-D. Ray had mentioned previously there was a traitor in the X division. It was Havok, who used a cane to lay out the X Division guys.”

Is the goal here to elevate the X division because if it is…it does seem backwards?

“Abyss won a three-way over Relic (Johnny Stamboli) and Black Reign. Abyss pinned Relic with a black hole slam. Relic and Reign beat up Abyss until Rhino made the save.”

Relic - Johnny Stamboli - comes into the company - why and the name being Killer spelled backwards…screams Vince Russo bro.

Is this a lot of the same character too much - between Abyss, Relic, Black Reign - just feels like a lot of redundancy…

“Kong won in her typical squash fashion with a power bomb. Kim came out and they had a pull-apart, but Kong laid her out.”

Did you know at this time how big Kong & Kim could be?

“They did a contract signing ceremony with Booker and Sharmell. Christian came out and called Shannell a nappy headed ho. You know, that’s edgy because Don Imus got fired for it. Edgy is ahead of the curve. That is what's known as passe, which unfortunately is what so much of the company is built around being.”

Shots fired by Meltzer Jeff…but I mean…looking back 15 years…even then felt passe let alone now does it not?

“Main event for the show is Angle pinning Kaz in a strong title match. Kaz got lots of near falls in, but Angle got the pin after a messed up DDT.”

Kaz got the big win over Christian at the pay-per-view for the title shot and here he goes almost 20 with Kurt and does not get the win…but is almost an immediate after thought. Do you think this hurt’s the morale of the undercard guys that he’s one of them and they get a big win and literally they’re forgotten about right after…from the Observer: “Kazarian really improved his standing with the two strong matches with Christian and one with Angle. His personality on TV isn't there, but they like his look and his work rate and he‘s going to be given a shot to be in with the top guys.”

“Angle started cutting a promo on Hall & Nash. Styles & Tomko and Angle were beating down Hall & Nash when Joe made the save.”

“The feeling on Hall is that he'll work some dates, and from there, they'll make a decision as to using him long-term. He wants one last run.

Were there any issues in the locker room with Scott coming back - to the point that he’s instantly inserted into a main event spot?

Did you have a talk with him about what’s expected?

Those two nights you tape TV - any issues that arose with him?

Meltzer would write this about the former Rikishi…

“Nobody is talking at all about Junior Fatu so he's probably not coming back, although Jeff hasn’t made that call 100%. He rubbed some people the wrong way with the idea he came in with the big star from WWE mentality. There was heat on him for a promo he did where he acted like Robert Roode was a jabroni and pretended not to know his name. To me, while the criticism was valid, they should have told him to redo the interview. Guys do multiple takes on interviews constantly here, and on a taped show, there is no reason for stuff like that to air.”

Was there any consideration about him redoing it? Did Rikishi just act holier than thou?

“Booker & Sharmell. on the other hand, give everyone the vibe that they love being there, and are thrilled to be out of WWE.”

How much of a boost to the locker room is Booker’s arrival to the company? How much did he want to help the company grow?

“Sabu was supposed to appear on the TV tapings last week. The way the next few weeks were supposed to play out was Chris Harris was going to start a feud with Rhino and make a heel turn, while Sabu was going to be Abyss' tag team partner. But Sabu called and said he missed his flight for the 11/12 tapings. So they had Rhino go in his spot in saving Abyss and being in the program with Black Reign & Rellik. Sabu was also booked for 11/13 and wasn't there, but by that point the new angles were shot and he wasn‘t needed. They had long-term plans for Sabu and it probably won‘t be until after the PPV if they decide to start him up or just forget about him.”

Is this one of those - fool me once, shame on me, fool me twice, shame on you - fool me the 800th time and maybe we stop bringing the guy in?

“Sting isn't being booked going forward. His being pinned by Angle in the Genesis main event was done as his farewell to the company, if need be. Dixie Carter still wants to sign him and he hasn't agreed to return for another year. He'll turn 49 early next year but he does move very well for his age. There is the feeling Sting's name may help them in merchandise and video games and such, because his novelty as a draw is over.

I'd want to have him in a position here maybe he works 2—3 PPV shows next year so his appearances can mean something, but there’s no point in him being a weekly character. Of course with that deal. he should be on a per show basis and he may not be up for that. If he does sign, they will start booking him again. Turning Point is the last PPV under the time frame of his current contract and he's not on it.”

Did Dixie negotiate with Sting directly? Were you involved at all? Was it time to let Sting take some time off - and how important was he to the company?

“There are no plans for Jeff Jarrett to return as a TV performer for at least a few months. He is going to return when the feeling is it‘s the right time to maximize his character, and right now with Hall, Nash and Booker all starting out in the main event mix, it's not the time.”

Were you enjoying not being in the ring? Were you happy to be doing more backstage work?

With one of the three weeks to build to a pay-per-view being Thanksgiving…internally do you expect the buyrate to be less or do you think that doesn’t factor into your thinking?

Well on that Thanksgiving show…

“The show was built more around a series of skits of Thanksgiving at the Angle house. This is so ridiculous because everyone knows the Angles live in Pittsburgh and they tape in Orlando, but with guys coming from "the house" to the ring all night long, for logic's sake, they should have said they were celebrating backstage or at a location near the arena in Orlando where all the wrestlers are celebrating Thanksgiving together on the road.  I know most of the booking team, and Jeff Jarrett in particular, are into having those things make sense rather than just having the attitude, 'It's wrestling and we can get away with anything.' When Karen was freaking out about how they were destroying her house, it was just ridiculous. I know poetic license and all that, but it takes all of 20 seconds of thought to be able to make these segments make logical sense. Not to mention the food fights on Thanksgiving specials are so overdone and these weren't even good food fights. It was the usual TNA overdone show long skits that get one or two funny segments, but by the end are beyond overdone and make you almost forget they were entertaining early in the show.”

Is this something you’re focused on that maybe other members of the creative time…I’m not saying Vince Russo…aren’t? Did you think the suspension of disbelief was there?

“Kurt & Karen were dressed as pilgrims. The best line may have been when Kurt led a prayer and said "Thank you God, that Pacman Jones is no longer in our company." At one point, Black Reign and Rellik showed up and before long, a drunk Eric Young (having a rematch of his drinking contest with James Storm) had Reign's wig on while Reign had his rat on his head like the rat was a wig.  At one point the rat was running around the table causing Karen to freak out. Awesome Kong was eating the plastic fruit early on and complaining it didn't taste good. Later, during the food fight, she was both eating and catching food in mid-air and eating that. About the only humor I got out of it was Lethal, pretending to be Randy Savage, when seeing Kong, asked, "Who invited Kamala," and Chris Harris showing up and complaining about everything, in particular Storm being there, and saying that once again, the only way he can be featured on TV is to do something that involved Angle.”

There’s a lot of tongue in cheek stuff here that’s entertaining to me…but do you think it would hit the overall audience?

There are continuity issues throughout the show…at one point the Outsiders arrive to the Impact Zone and ask where Kurt’s thing is and the cameraman tells him it’s down the hallway…DOWN THE HALLWAY JEFF!

20 MINUTES IN TV TIME LATER…THEY STILL AREN’T THERE. AJ has to head to the ring and somehow in the 3 minutes it takes to get from Kurt’s house to the entrance…he’s in his gear. Did anyone think or care about any of this?

“Unfortunately, there seemed to be about 20 skits before it was over, including Kurt's daughter Kyra saying to Team 3-D that they suck. It ended when Hall & Nash both put a pie in Karen's face as Kurt had left for a several hour flight to Orlando that in TNA time took one commercial break.”

Is this your first interaction with this level of the Angle family?

The show’s wrestling covers a Thanksgiving turkey tournament - with each first round match match featuring a heavyweight, a X division guy and a tag wrestler. For example the first match is Abyss vs. Chris Sabin vs. Devon (not Dudley). The winner gets $25,000…the loser must wear a Turkey suit. Is this just a gimmick for the sake of a gimmick given not many people would be watching?

“They did a women's match with ODB over Angelina Love and Velvet Sky. ODB was super over, doing the gimmick where she's drinking from a flask coming into the ring, and even taking breaks during her match to drink. The crowd was loudly chanting her name throughout the match. This was worse than most WWE women's matches, which goes directly against how they are trying to sell the division. ODB rammed Love's face in her crotch 12 times (the dirty dozen) and then came off the middle rope with a Thesz press. ODB had enough charisma for three women. But if they are doing a women's division, and the idea is that they are trying to prove they can do it better than WWE, they need to take more care in who they hire for the division. The idea is that Velvet Sky with her bending over and shaking her ass in her ring entrance makes her unique in the company, but it was recognized her limitations in the ring, and that ODB, Kim and Kong are the women that are going to carry the division. Not sure why they don't have Jackie Moore wrestle, since she's the most experienced on the roster.”

I quite frankly can’t believe ODB didn’t end up being a bigger star…can you? But for the rest of it…

“Main event saw the finals with Joe over Styles and Sabin. It was 28:07 of TV time, but they had four lengthy breaks. I know there is no choice and it's nobody's Fault, but these long matches on Spike feel like they get less time between breaks and lose momentum as compared to on USA or CW. It hurt the match because it felt like they'd only go about 3-4 minutes and then break. Very good match, but based on TV, it probably didn't come across nearly as well as live because you never got into the momentum of the match.  The finish saw Styles come off the ropes for a quebrada, but Joe caught him in the air and dropped him with an Island driver for the pin. The rules were that Styles then had to be put in a Turkey costume. He refused, so Jim Cornette threatened to have him fired. He complained, but finally put it on. Angle, still in his house, was mad that a member of his team had to wear a turkey suit and said he was leaving. Then, he showed up, wearing the same pilgrim outfit, in the entrance way, with Tomko.”

Was it hard to book a wrestling match like this? Did you feel it was tough in the edit room to do it?

“Hall & Nash & Joe ran out and cleaned house. Angle was the last one in the ring and Eric Young came out with a turkey bone and the others held Angle, and the segment ended with Angle with this turkey bone in his mouth. Angle is a fantastic mid-card comedy heel and a hell of a worker in the ring, but he completely doesn't get being a money drawing main eventer. TNA doesn't get it either. That's probably why the promotion feels like mid-carders having great matches and no true impact main events.”

What say you to that criticism Jeff?

“Booker had a press conference on 11/27 which focused mainly on his leaving WWE. He said WWE not taking PWA as a developmental territory had nothing to do with his leaving, and said the straw that broke the camel's back was the 60 day suspension. He claimed he was a scapegoat, theorizing that the company needed a big name to suspend, and that he has never ordered anything with a credit card on the Internet. He had no explanation as to why his name would have come up in the investigation. He said when he was suspended, he knew it was time to leave because he felt the company should have protected him.”

Was there any hesitation on bringing him considering why he left the WWE?

“One of the reasons there appeared to be so many commercial breaks on Impact the past two weeks is because-there were. TNA made the call to go from a nine-segment show to an 11-segment show, which would slightly shorten the commercial breaks by about 22% as well as shorten the segments by 22%. They felt the 4:00 breaks were too long, so the breaks will be more along the lines of three to three-and-a-half minutes. To me, I'm against the change because the four breaks instead of three during the main event on Impact this week and shorter time between breaks really hurt getting into what was a great match live.”

Were you happier with this? Where does this call get made from?

A show being hyped up for Turning Point is Feast or Fired…the first time this match ever takes place. Where does the idea come from?

The go-home Impact from the Observer:

“Decent-to-good show. The build for Angle vs. Christian as a long-term thing was good. There weren't any of the cringe worthy segments you usually gel on Impact, but on the negative side, when the show was over, I had no interest in the PPV. Then again, it's very hard to sell a PPV when you have a trios match on top.”

Is it hard to sell a pay-per-view with a 6-man at the top?

“Show opened with Christian recruiting Roode and manipulating him into a feud with Booker, Christian kept telling him how Booker was another guy from the outside coming in and leapfrogging over him, keeping him from a top spot. Roode bought it. Booker & Sharmell did a promo. Booker again seemed so happy. They had pushed that Booker would do a promo saying why he left WWE. Instead, while he mentioned leaving WWE, and said he'd tell everything in his book. When he brought up WWE, there was a loud chant of "They suck." Roode came out to confront him. Booker did the deal where he didn't know who he was. “

Was this a rib on Rikishi? Do you think this makes the talent and the brand look bad? Shouldn’t they be excited to wrestle these new talents instead of treating them like jobbers?

“Eric Young & Gail Kim beat Jimmy Rave & Christy Hemme. Young came to the ring wearing his TNA drinking championship belt. Kim pinned Hemme with a front rolling cradle. James Storm came out and challenged Young to a drinking contest. It was the most beers you could drink in one minute. They cut the camera shots so you didn't actually see Young drink with most of it going down his chest. They did tell people at home it's not a good idea to copy this. These men are trained professional drinkers. Kids, don't try this at home. Young won 6-5. Storm then hit Young with a beer bottle. Young juiced heavy. There was blood pouring out of a sick gash which they showed a nice close up of. Storm also hit Young with a chair shot, although Storm held back enough to where it wasn't your normal brutal chair shot to the head. Storm left him laying with his whirly bird (eye of the storm).”

This…the blood is super heavy. Eric Young was willing to do anything he could to get over couldn’t he?

“Team 3-D beat Sonjay Dutt & Jay Lethal in a street fight. Team 3-D wore T-shirts that read "X sucks." Good match. Dutt did two dives, including a springboard plancha on Ray. He also came off the top rope with a full flip into a Coast-to-coast dropkick of a garbage can into Devon's face. Lethal was about to come off the top rope with an elbow, when Johnny Devine interfered, hitting Lethal with a cane and Lethal crashed through a table on the floor. They gave Dutt the 3-D for the win.”

Putting an x division guy with Team 3D makes sense…why Devine?

“Booker pinned Roode with an ax kick. Before the finish, Roode asked Brooks to give him a chair. She did, but made the face like she didn’t want to. Booker ducked the chair shot and hit the ax kick. Christian attacked Booker. They beat him down and teased attacking Sharmell, but Kaz made the save. He needs to drop that Kaz name at this point. This set up the tag match on the PPV.”

This is quite the rub for Kaz to save Booker but Roode doesn’t really gain much here does he?

“Main event was Kaz & Scott Steiner & Joe & Abyss over Angle & Tomko & Styles & Christian in

15:37. Good match. Again, probably would have been better live, but everyone hit their finishers and it led to saves. Joe was left in the ring with Styles and Christian. Styles gave the Pele kick to Joe, but he moved and Christian got it. Joe dispatched Styles out of the ring and pinned Christian after a muscle buster. Hall & Nash came out and they made hand signals to Joe to end the show. At the same time, Christian and Angle teased problems once again.”

It’s busy - and odd to me that you are going into a pay-per-view with a 6-man on top and the go-home features an 8-man. Is this just a product of having too much talent?

So you tape TV in 2 days for a 3-week build…what is going on between the tapings and the pay-per-view? You’re at the office…planning everything out, making edits, etc?

Are you worried about anything with Scott Hall in the run up to the show?

Well the day of the show supposedly…it all goes to shit…

From the Observer:

“It was a crazy week for TNA, complete with two major no-shows on PPV, a worked shoot angle, a match on PPV where the results won't come out until TV nearly two weeks later, a supposed breaking of the script, two wrestlers quitting and a bunch looking elsewhere, a pep talk, an emotional rant followed by an apology and a whole lot more.”

Was this one of the crazier weeks for the company?

Is it the old adage - idle hands is the devil’s playground? Do you think it’s different without the time passing?

“The show storyline was something of an ongoing reality as Scott Hall contacted the promotion and claimed to be suffering from food poisoning. As the show went on, nobody in the promotion knew if he was going to show up or not. They did a show long storyline where Samoa Joe was mad at Kevin Nash and the former stars for coming in, making more money, and then not producing while the rest of the locker room busted their ass and would have given anything to be in a PPV main event. They even had Kurt Angle give Joe a speech about how Hall & Nash were washed up and using him because he was an athlete who could go.”

When are you first notified about this? Do you see the show falling apart in front of your eyes? Did you have hope he would show up?

“Regarding Hall, after leaving the food poisoning message, he never contacted anyone in the company the rest of the day, or as of press time. Kevin Nash had said he was in contact with Hall until either Saturday night or Sunday morning, but never heard from him again, and was very disappointed, since Hall had been telling Nash for a year that they should get together for one last run. At first, Nash would joke back saying that he (Nash) has no more runs and he's in a whole lot better shape than Hall. But Nash, who management said they would never use again after he no-showed a PPV show where he was supposed to job for Chris Sabin in a program he himself laid out and then never did the payoff match, got back in good graces.  First it was they'd never do business with him again. Then, they went back to the mentality that none of the guys on their roster have star power and Nash is a real star, so it was that they'd use him on TV as a character, but couldn't trust him to give a run as a wrestler. Russo eventually convinced Jeff, against the wishes of Dutch Mantel (who thought Nash was hilarious but felt he'd burned the company too many times to give a wrestler push to) to use Nash as a wrestler.”

What is Kevin’s reaction to this - since supposedly he’s the one who vouched for Hall to come back? Was it Russo wanting Nash - did you not trust him - did Dutch not trust him?

“There were tentative plans going forward for the Hall & Nash tag team, but they were never etched in stone because it all depended on how well Hall could perform and what condition he'd show up in. So today, the word is Hall will never be used again. But this is a company that has been burned by every former star con man, from Hogan, Nash, Savage, Hall (on more than one occasion) all the way to Jake Roberts. According to a close friend of Hall's, he had been very depressed over his family situation over the past week, particularly that he doesn't get to see his children enough or at all.”

Was Hall different from Hogan, Nash or Savage or even Jake Roberts? Did you feel a certain loyalty to Scott different from the rest?

“While those in TNA weren't aware of any of this, it appeared few if any bought the food poisoning story, and there were those hot at it because he used the same story Chris Benoit did and as far as a lying excuse because he wasn't coming to work, that one is also in poor taste.

Rhino also no-showed, although he contacted the company and said there was a family emergency. They used a clip from television to create a neck injury as a cover story. Rhino is expected to be gone for a while. Raven was brought in to team with Abyss, even though the last time he was around, he was feuding with Abyss.”

I mean - I don’t know about the food poisoning and Benoit connection that Meltzer makes here…but when do you find out about Rhino as well? What were his issues? Who makes the call to Raven? How much advance notice did you have?

All that being said Jeff…Turning Point was not one of the company's better shows was it?

The show gets a 63.5% thumbs down…and I don’t even know if Scott Hall appearing saves it do you?

The show is up in pay-per-view buys from Genesis - going from 25,000 to 30,000 so the build wasn’t killed by Thanksgiving…but is down from the year before which had Samoa Joe defeating Kurt Angle and Abyss defending the NWA title against Christian & Sting. You’ve added a lot to the talent roster in a year’s time…is that a disappointment to you?

Do you think the TNA buying audience peaked when Kurt and Joe took each other on the first month?

Let’s get into the show…

Observer:

“1. Team 3-D & Johnny Devine beat Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin & Jay Lethal in a tables match in 14:59.  All action good opener with the usual teasing table break spots but a partner would pull the table out of the way. Crowd was real hot for this match. Brother Ray ran into a table when Lethal moved and it cracked, but that doesn't count. The finish saw Slick Johnson get bumped, and then Lethal used an elbow drop off the top rope on Devine through a table. But no ref. Ray then grabbed the X division title belt that 3-D is in possession of and hit Sabin, Shelley and Lethal.  He then put Lethal underneath Devine, with both draped on the broken table. When Johnson saw it, he ruled Team 3-D as the winner. The night of not paying attention to your own stories started here.

Observer: star rating missing

Torch: **¾”

Did this really need a ref bump Jeff? Do you think anyone on the X division side was elevated?

“Joe and Nash were together and they established that Hall wasn't there yet. Nash was acting concerned, wondering if he's in a ditch somewhere, while Joe was mad because he no-showed. Nash told Joe that the only reason he hung around with Angle all those months was because he thought he would have a shot at sleeping with Karen.  Of course , just a few weeks ago they did a storyline where Kurt told Karen to offer herself to Nash as a peace offering, and Nash turned her down and basically told her maybe ten years ago when she was younger, but not now, which made perfect sense at the time given they are trying to market Karen as a sex symbol. Joe then got pissed off, saying that they had a main event, and all Nash was interested in was goofing off and acting cool.”

Was this a shoot? Is this just trying to figure something out and try to make sense of a story…considering Meltzer points out the contradiction between Kevin & Karen from just weeks before?

If you want to see the original script of the promo where Scott was to be included…you’ll find it only at AdFreeShows.com…

“2. Angelina Love & Velvet Sky beat ODB & Roxxi Lavaugh in 6:02.

This was funny because Love & Sky were the faces, but the crowd loved ODB and could have cared less about the other three. They kept chanting her name. This was like a Moolah era women's match played all for comedy. Sky's work leaves much to be desired. Finish saw Sky give Lavaugh a Russian leg sweep at the same time Love hit Lavaugh with a running kick and Love got the pin.

Observer 1/2*

Torch 1/2*”

Kong & Kim later on sets the standard but the Moolah point - was this really that bad do you think?

“Christian and Kurt Angle were arguing because both wanted to be the boss. Christian then started bossing Robert Roode around. After Christian left, Roode called him an asshole. Ms. Brooks said, "Takes one to know one." Nothing like having partners who are teasing breaking up as the storyline of every tag match the rest of the show.”

I mean…not wrong right? Isn’t there too much of this going on?

“3. Eric Young pinned James Storm in 12:21.  Hot crowd for this match as well. Storm worked the left arm for a while. He was getting great heat and delivered the eye of the storm (whirley bird).  Storm used his finisher and then didn't go for the pin. They did a pre-match storyline where Storm is going through alcohol withdrawal. He was begging Jackie Moore for a beer but she wouldn't give it to him unless he won the match. Finally Storm got a beer late in the match from Moore and drank it. He went to hit Young with it, but ref Rudy Charles took the bottle away from Storm. As Storm went to argue, Young used a sunset flip and got the pin.

Observer **

Torch 1/2*”

Did you know at this point that Eric was going to be in the main event? Did anything change in their match knowing so?

“ 4. They had a Feast or Fire Battle Royal with four briefcases. One briefcase was to have an X Division title shot, one a tag title shot, one a TNA title shot and one a pink slip designating the guy who got it was fired. Guys in were Christopher Daniels, Sonjay Dutt, Lance Hoyt, Jimmy Rave, Petey Williams, Shark Boy, Kip & B.G. James, Chris Harris, Homicide, Hernandez and Scott Steiner. They worked it like a Battle Royal with guys throwing people over the top rope, but if you were thrown out, you weren't eliminated. In fact, nobody could be eliminated. Williams escaped with the first briefcase.  B.G. took a bump and pretended to blow out his knee. While the trainers were with him and he was selling, and he did a good job, Kip got a briefcase. Kip wears the most ridiculous looking ring outfits. When you look up, "unable to get over" in the dictionary there is Kip wearing that Candice Michelle ring outfit. Kip threw his briefcase out of the ring to B.G., who got up and showed his selling was a work, caught it so they got something.  Harris was a full-fledged heel. The one nice thing is they don't bother with such archaic ideas of turning someone heel with an angle and an opponent. Instead, Harris just complains all the time about things that are valid, thus that makes him a heel. His gimmick here is he didn't want a briefcase because he didn't care, and didn't want to risk being fired. Senshi then got a briefcase. Steiner got the final briefcase. Instead of opening them, it was announced you have to tune in to Impact the next week to find out what was in the briefcase.  Is that ass backwards, having people pay $30 for a PPV, and then telling them to watch TV to find out who won one of the matches.

Observer *1/4

Torch *¼”

Well Jeff - do you consider that ass backwards? And the psychology behind this…it being a battle royal but not a battle royal…things on poles…did Jim Cornette lose his mind watching this?

“5. Gail Kim beat Awesome Kong via DQ in a knockouts title match in 8:23.  This was by far the hottest crowd reaction of the show. In fact, it was the hottest crowd reaction I can ever recall for a U.S. women's match. It was the Cena atmosphere with the super loud dueling chants. Kong played a monster and the crowd just got into their favorite Kim getting slaughtered and making comebacks.  They built it so Kong never went off her feet until right at the finish, Kim used a missile dropkick and Kong bumped. The finish saw Kong throw down ref Andrew Thomas twice for a DQ. After the match, Kong gave Thomas a power bomb. Sky and Love ran in. Kong power bombed Sky. Love came in with a chair, but Kong punched the chair into Love's face, knocking her down. Kong then power bombed Kim on the chair. The crowd was yelling for "ODB," who is supposed to be a heel.

Observer ***1/4

Torch **¼”

When this is over…did you think…holy cow we got something here?

What was it about these two?

“6. Abyss & Raven beat Black Reign & Rellik in the Match of 10,000 thumb tacks in 14:41.  They teased Abyss was going to reveal his mystery partner, but somebody got their wires crossed. Reign in an interview said that Raven was the partner. Raven looked very heavy. He still did a running dive over the top and used his Russian leg sweep into the wall. Abyss used that tool with the spike on it on Reign's face, so he was bleeding like crazy. Abyss bled next. Raven took a bump in thumb tacks and they acted like he got them in his mouth, then he was punched in the mouth, and bleeding from the mouth. Raven threw Reign off the ropes through a table covered with thumb tacks. Rellik then got more thumb tacks and spread them on the mat. However, Abyss blocked Rellik's move and pinned Rellik with a black hole slam for the pin.

Observer **1/4

Torch *”

The promo is scripted to talk about Raven…do you know why that was?

What did you think of Raven’s work here?

Dustin bleeds heavily - and I just recently saw that Dustin announced that next year he would be retiring. Did you think you’d still see him working today after doing this 15 years ago?

“7. Booker T & Kaz beat Christian Cage & Robert Roode in 15:50.

Kaz did a running flip dive on Roode. Kaz also did a one-on-two spot where he gave Christian a stunner while in the same move gave a DDT to Roode. Roode got a chair from Brooks and went to use it on Booker. Booker moved and the chair hit Christian. Booker then used an ax kick to pin Christian. Christian and Roode started shoving each other”

Observer ***1/4

Torch **1/2 “

Christian goes from never losing to losing all the time…you’re looking to establish Booker as a top guy so I get it…but Christian is in line for the next title match against Kurt at the next pay-per-view…couldn’t Christian get his win over Kaz back for it to make sense?

“The main event saw Angle & Tomko & A.J. Styles come out to face Nash & Joe. Joe was told by management to go out and do a promo to bury Hall for no-showing. Somewhere in the promo, which wasn't planned much ahead of time because nobody knew if Hall was going to come, the story is that Joe went off track and into business for himself. The strange part, aside from the whole show building to the promo, was the signs of the Vince Russo worked shoot playbook, including telling everyone it's a shoot, and looking at Dixie Carter and saying they could fire him if they didn't like it. Nash, in the ring, looked furious that he was getting buried in the promo. Joe's purpose by management was, because they thought the fans loved Joe as the babyface, to make it seem like it was Hall's fault, and then build up and make people accept Eric Young as their third man.

Joe's shoot promo, which would have torn the house down in ROH, didn't get over to the TNA fan base. It was a telling sign, because Joe was critical of TNA bringing in "superstars" and it was clear from the reaction that the live crowd, while they enjoy the action provided by the wrestlers who became names in TNA, they do see the old names and former WWE names like Nash as the real stars, even if they joke their way through the system and don't produce in the ring.

Joe made a reference to himself as the best wrestler in the business, which is the deal that Paul Heyman would have his champions in ECW do, and Gabe Sapolsky has his champions in ROH do, to show fan support to their home-grown stars. These fans didn't buy when Joe said that in the least. Fans also didn't accept Young as the third man, as there is a big difference between an undercard comedy act who is out there for laughs and being accepted in a PPV main event.

The speech went several minutes long, cutting the main event short. The match wasn't bad, but it was flat to the crowd. When Joe pinned Tomko with a muscle buster to win, it came off as a disappointing ending to a lackluster show. Shortly after the show was over, Joe and Nash had a near altercation.”

Observer *3/4

Torch *½

Jeff - you’re in the back when Joe is cutting his promo. What is your reaction? What did you think he was going to say? Are you happy about it? Do you see Kevin’s reaction in the ring? Are you worried something might happen?

Well…something did…

“Multiple sources watching have slightly different stories but the basic gist was Joe was talking to Nash, still mad about how everything went down. Nash told him he didn't want to talk right now because he was mad and for Joe to leave him alone. Somewhere in there, Nash either pie-faced Joe, shoved him hard, or threw a forearm to the head. Agents D-Lo Brown and Scott D'Amore broke it up. Nobody was yelling or screaming. There were those watching who felt that Joe backed down, and there were those watching who felt that with so many people there, after already being in hot water for his promo, that Joe would be risking his job and that nobody did or didn't back down and both wrestlers knew with everyone there that it was going to be broken up anyway.

Once again, this also sounds very reminiscent of how WCW tried to work the boys in angles, and TNA is in a position where they would want to shake things up, and Russo has gone in this direction before, with Jeff Jarrett. Still, while several suspected it was possible, those we talked with believe Joe really did go into business for himself and get untracked in the promo, that it killed the atmosphere for the main event, and what happened with Joe and Nash was frustration stemming from that as opposed to an Internet-based angle.”

It’s been talked a lot by Kevin Nash - not so much by Joe - about what really happened. Are you there? Do you see it?

How does this all get settled? Do you talk to Joe or Kevin?

“Regarding the choice of Young, a call made by Jeff Jarrett, it was very much second-guessed, particularly since the match didn't get over.

It was literally a last second decision although they knew all day it was a possibility. Booker T and Kaz were the most obvious choices, but since both went a hard 15:50 in the previous match, Jarrett felt it wasn't fair to ask them. There was talk of Jarrett himself doing it, but he decided against it on the guise that he wanted to make a big deal out of his return, and if he did the show, it would mean he'd have to come back full-time now, which isn't when he wants to make that move.  The idea was Jarrett would be seen as a big enough sub that it would save the show, but in doing so, you'd sacrifice a big angle scheduled for 2008 for a PPV match that everyone will forget in a week anyway. There was a story that Joe suggested Homicide, and was told that Homicide wasn't over enough or good enough for the spot, and they chose Young. While we can't vouch for the truth of that story, Homicide himself believed it and was really hot at management over it.”

Was that true about Joe and Homicide? What was the thought process behind it? Did it ever cross your mind to replace Scott?

Our first episode of next year…we will discuss the day after…the management meeting…the locker room…and all the interesting news that came out of this…but when you leave the building and head back to the hotel the next night…was this one of the most exhausting days you’ve had since TNA lost it’s original funding?

Next week Jeff…we’ll talk about the end of TNA’s 2002. The birth of SEX vs. TNA, your first run with the NWA title, the Panda deal finally being finalized…and Jeff’s traveling all over the world as well!