NWA-TNA PPV #3 Review - July 3rd, 2002

NWA-TNA PPV #3

July 3rd, 2002

Nashville, TN

Commentary - Don West, Mike Tenay & Ed Ferrara

The show begins with Mike Tenay interviewing NWA President Jim Miller. He gives Tenay a trophy welcoming him to the NWA family and announces that he has been in Japan scouting talent. Next week, Takao Omori will be coming to the NWA TNA to face off with the NWA World Heavyweight Champion, the World's Most Dangerous Man.. KEN SHAMROCK. If he can retain against Malice tonight, that is. 

1) Chris Harris & James Storm vs. The Johnsons (w/ Mortimer Plumtree) - NWA/TNA Tag Team Title Tournament Match

Harris & Storm are officially ovER. And rightfully so. Storm is a god, popping off with his fake guns and shit. The Johnsons are still stupid despite being fine in the ring. But with that in mind, this match is more than suffice. Storm & Harris fight from under then have a nice comeback for a great pop when they get the pin and advance in the tournament.

Match rating - **1/4

Post match, The Johnsons turn on Mortimer Plumtree. 

SCOTT HALL is here. All he can say is "hey yo" before DOUBLE J shows up. HEY YO MY ASS. OH HELL. Jarrett says Hall doesn't belong in TNA. Hall says Jarrett is all talk. Jarrett charges toward the ring, but NWA President Jim Wilson stops him and says he won't let him run roughshod over the NWA and he will only face Hall when they say he does. Jarrett retreats only for K-Krush to attack Scott Hall from behind, further hyping the tag match later in the night where Jarrett & Killings will face Scott Hall & Brian Christopher.

Backstage, Chris Harris & James Storm are found bloodied in the locker room. 

Monty Brown is here and he comes out to an altered version of what would become known as Abyss' theme music. Brown wants Ken Shamrock, but tonight, he gets a jobber.

2) Monty Brown vs. Anthony Ingram

Squash for the Alpha Male. I love that dude. Great dominant debut for him here that showcased his charisma and physicality.

Goldilocks is looking for Jim Miller backstage, but gets Puppet the Psycho Dwarf who proclaims.....

"I'm not leaving tonight until I beat some midget ass..."

Sigh.

3) The Rainbow Express (w/ Joel Gertner) vs. Buff Bagwell & Apollo

Rainbow Express looked to be put away early, but Bagwell repeatedly pandered to the audience and subsequently it ends up costing him & Apollo the match. Bagwell was bragging that he was going to be adding to his multiple world tag team title reigns tonight before the match so naturally after this, Bagwell is frustrated on the ring apron. Ed Ferrara approaches him and Bagwell tells him not to call him Buff. Bagwell says his name is Marcus and he's going home because the name Buff has never got him anywhere, nobody gives a shit about him etc. Welp..

THE CHAMP Ken Shamrock is here. He says he doesn't know what the hell is going on with so many people wanting/getting a shot at him. Before you know it, the lights go out and James Mitchell is in the crowd. When the lights come back on and cameras cut to the stage, Malice is standing over a fallen Ken Shamrock. 

Backstage, Jerry Lynn is trying to find a partner to replace the fallen Storm & Harris in the tag team tournament since they were beaten to a pulp earlier. 

4) Puppet vs. Todd Stone

Puppet gets what he asked for and has a 2 minute long garbage brawl with Todd Stone where they beat each other with a trashcan. Puppet wins. The best part of this is Don West trying to give Puppet a high five, congratulating him and calling him "little guy" only to get popped in the head with a kendo stick. LMAO. 

Backstage, the trainers are unsure of Ken Shamrock will be able to defend his title tonight after the attack by Malice. 

5) Francine vs. Taylor Vaughn

This never really gets going. Francine whips Vaughn with a belt then Vaugh gets her hands on it and they trade shots so I guess it's a double DQ or something. I don't know, I wasn't paying muuuch attention. Ed Ferrara tries to help Francine up and gets whipped with the belt for the second week in a row. 

Jeremy Borash is on the stage. He has NASCAR Driver Hermie Sadler with him. Sadler brought his pit crew with him this time. K-Krush shows up and challenges Sadler to a fight. Sadler spears him down and they set up a match for next week. 

6) Ken Shamrock (c) vs. Malice (w/ James Mitchell) - NWA/TNA World Title Match

Well, they never updated us, but I guess Shamrock got cleared to compete. Malice attacks him from the jump and spends minutes just working him over and targeting the neck. Shamrock ends up powering up out of nowhere and getting the quick victory with a belly to belly suplex that caught Malice off guard. Shamrock retains. 

Match rating - *3/4

7) AJ Styles (c) vs. David Young - TNA X Division Championship Match

AJ with the best match of the night to no surprise. It’s his first defense of the X Title and his opponent David Young does just as much to make this work as AJ does. Neither man misses a step with Young grounding AJ giving this the perfect little formula as Styles is still working very fast paced at this point in his career. Styles battles back and hits a Styles CLASH FROM THE SECOND ROPE for the win. Breathtaking finish to a good match.

Match rating - **3/4

8) The Rainbow Express vs. Jerry Lynn & AJ Styles - NWA/TNA Tag Team Title Match 

Before the match, the Rainbow Express seemed to think they’d just be awarded the tag titles since Harris & Storm compete. Come to find out, Jerry Lynn stepped up and found a partner in the form of AJ Styles who had just competed in an X Title match. It adds a nice little bit of backstory to this, though, honestly. AJ is exhausted, but he & Lynn are on the same page. Rainbow Express is pissed, but fired up to shut down Lynn & Styles, but they don’t. After 12 minutes of back & forth, Styles hits the spiral tap for the pinfall victory to become a DOUBLE CHAMP as he & Lynn secure the tag team championships. 

Match rating - ***

Backstage, Jim Miller is found tied to a chair with the letters FU written on him. 

9) Scott Hall & Brian Christopher vs. Jeff Jarrett & K-Krush 

This was going damn good. They brawled through the crowd to start then got back into the ring. They worked over Scott Hall, making quick tags and isolating him on their side of the ring. Just solid work from Jarrett & Krush. THEN when the time comes for the hot tag from Hall to Christopher. Christopher turns on him, refuses to tag and gives him a right hand. Hall fights all three men on his own at first, after a ref bump, but the numbers catch up to him after two razor’s edges as Jarrett catches him from behind with The Stroke for the win.

Match rating - **1/2 

After the match, Jarrett goes fucking ballistic saying he showed everyone that Scott Hall isn’t worth a shit. Jarrett says he beat him in 95 & 97 and he ran him out of WCW now he’s running him out of the NWA. He breaks the trophy the NWA President gave Mike Tenay earlier in the show over Hall. They bring a stretcher down for Hall, but Jarrett dives off the apron onto him with an elbow drop, knocking him off the stretcher. He continues to jump Hall as they wheel him up the ramp. Chaotic way to close the show as the announcers couldn't even focus when trying to run down the card for next week.