TNA Victory Road PPV
Sunday, November 7, 2004
Orlando, Florida
Match 1 – Hector Garza won the 20-man X Division gauntlet match.
The 20-man gauntlet match was a perfect way to start off the PPV. The crowd was hot before the show, and this just added to their excitement. The gauntlet match saw several high spots that the crowd absolutely popped for, most notably Jerrelle Clark’s 630 and Matt Sydal’s moonsault off of Alex Shelley’s back. They also popped big time for Spanky and La Parka. I was really surprised that Chris Sabin didn’t win this because I thought for sure that he was going over. However, it does make sense to have Hector Garza eliminate him because they have been teasing a Sabin heel turn, so what better way than to have him upset with Garza, one of the most over wrestlers with the fans of TNA? Garza vs. Frankie Kazarian was pretty good. Garza picked up the win when he reversed a cradle pin from Kazarian. The crowd really loves Garza, but they popped really hard for Kazarian after the match.
Match 2 – Pat Kenney, Johnny B. Badd, Erick Watts & Ron Killings defeated Kid Kash, Dallas & the Naturals
I’m not really sure why this match even happened. There was no build-up to it at all. I’m not a fan of Badd or Watts, and I haven’t been a fan of any gimmick that Kenney works that isn’t Simon Diamond, so it was tough for me to watch this. I’m going to beg and plead one last time for Kenney to return back to Simon Diamond, ASAP. And me saying that I’m not a fan of Badd or Watts is a nice way of saying that I can’t stand them in the ring. Anyway, the only thing notable from the match was that Dallas attempted a decent looking moonsault. The reason I say that is because you can tell everybody is pulling out all the stops because they know this PPV is crucial for TNA’s future. Killings picks up the win for his team by pinning Chase Stevens. After the match, they teased a split between Dallas and Kid Kash and the Naturals.
Match 3 – Mascarita Sagrada defeated Piratita Morgan in a minis match.
The minis came out, and the crowd was hot for them. It’s crazy how midgets can go forever without being used, but when they are used they turn out to be one of the most over things on the show. Every midget match is the same, so just think of one that you remember in your head and replace them with a smaller baby face midget dressed in white with a mask and a larger heel midget dressed as a pirate. Mascarita Sagrada picked up the win with a crucifix pin.
-- We now get a Scott Hall promo. He’s got on a sweet, white tracksuit that will only be ruined later in the night by Jeff Hardy and his obsessive body painting ways. Hall just says that Nash isn’t here, and that the best Jeff will win, or something like that.
-- The In the Pit with Piper segment is done. Piper says he’s got a legend, so he brings out Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka. I think everybody knew that this was going to be his special guest because it was leaked on the Internet before the PPV. I’m not sure what was going on, but Kid Kash came out to interrupt the promo. Kash said something to Snuka, so he attacked Kash. He was jumped from behind by Frankie Kazarian and Michael Shane. Now, out comes Sonjay Dutt for the save because I guess he’s the closest thing TNA has to someone being from the Fiji Islands. Perhaps they forgot about Sonny Siaki. I’m not really sure why Sonjay was used here. Anyway, Kash hits Sonjay in the head with a coconut. Piper and Snuka chase the heels away, and they embrace after the fact.
Match 4 – 3 Live Kru defeated NWA World tag team champions Team Canada (Bobby Roode & Eric Young) w/Scott D’Amore to become the new tag champions.
3LK came out and did their usual stuff. The crowd was into it. Honestly, the crowd has been hot for everything tonight. The match saw D’Amore attempt to interfere on several occasions. Finally, when BG James was going for his pump-handle slam, D’Amore was in the ring to hit James with the Canadian flag. Ron Killings made his way down, and he stopped D’Amore from interfering. He chased him out of the arena. Back in the ring Konnan hit his sitout face plant to pick up the win and the titles. Konnan uses that move every single match as just one of his regular moves, but this time he actually got a pinfall from it. I can’t wait until Impact this week when he does the sitout face plant to somebody, and they kick out at a one count. After the match, tons of pyro went off, which scared the shit out of everyone in the studio.
Match 5 – Trinity w/Glen Gilberti & Johnny Swinger defeated Jacqueline.
This was scheduled as a guest appearance, but everybody knew that it was Jacqueline because she had been spotted at the hotel that the wrestlers were staying at. I guess you really shouldn’t have a fan fest at the same hotel the wrestlers staying at, especially if you have scheduled surprises for the PPV. Jacqueline comes out as Swinger and Gilberti have Trinity on their shoulders. She takes care of all three. Now I’m not sure what happened in this match because I was paying attention to the heel section almost the entire night. I do know that Trinity picked up the victory with a moonsault after interference from the NYC. The crowd did pop a bit when Jacqueline came out.
Match 6 – Alpha Male Monty Brown defeated Raven and Abyss in a Monster’s Ball match.
Now for the most anticipated match on the card. I say the most anticipated because no one knows what the hell a Monster’s Ball match is. Little did we know that this was just Raven once again renaming what is essentially a hardcore match. Before the match security placed random trashcans throughout the crowd. They did the typical brawling outside in the crowd. Back in the ring we got a ref bump when Brown accidentally pounced the ref. Now we have Abyss dumping his bag of thumbtacks on the mat, and he has Brown on the top turnbuckle getting ready to superplex him into the tacks. Raven makes his way in and instead gets underneath Abyss and power bombs him into the tacks. The crowd loved it. Raven set up a table propped in the ring, and I also believe one outside of the ring. Abyss ends up going through the table outside of the ring, and Raven ends up getting Pounced through the table in the ring to give Brown the win. All that anticipation for a Monster’s Ball match, and it was a hardcore match.
Match 7 – TNA X Division champion Petey Williams defeated AJ Styles to retain his title.
This was the match that I came to see, and I don’t think it disappointed. In the biggest surprise of the night, the crowd seemed to be evenly split between the support for both guys. I thought for sure that AJ was over enough with the crowd that even those that like Petey would still cheer for AJ. Boy, was I wrong. There were dueling “Lets go AJ/Lets go Petey” chants during the match. My spot of the night happened shortly after Petey did his “Oh Canada! singing/foot on AJ’s crotch while he’s in the tree of woe” spot. Petey had AJ in the tree of woe again, and he went to do the spot one more time. This time AJ sat up and did a German Suplex to Petey while still in the tree of woe. It was sick because Petey landed right on his head. We got a huge false finish that saw Petey hit AJ with the title. When AJ kicked out at 2 the entire crowd let out one huge sigh. Petey ended up picking up the win when he jumped from the top rope straight into the Canadian Destroyer. In reality the jump down from the top rope did absolutely nothing, but it made the move look more effective because they made a nice transition into the Destroyer. The crowd was a bit shocked that Petey went over in this match.
Match 8 – America’s Most Wanted defeated Triple X in a Last Team Standing match.
For some odd reason I cannot get myself into this angle. I’m not sure what it is. Maybe it blows my mind that it was obvious the fans wanted AMW to be the heels here, but TNA decided they wanted things differently. I don’t know, but I didn’t like this match at all. Prime Time was totally off tonight, and everyone (well at least those in our section) noticed it. Little did we know that something happened during the match, and Prime Time had suffered a concussion. This was an elimination match where the only way you could be eliminated is to not be able to answer a 10 count after you have been pinned. James Storm was eliminated when Daniels took out his leg with a chair, so he got pinned and couldn’t answer the 10 count. Daniels got pinned by Harris when he hit a springboard leg drop on Daniels who then couldn’t answer the 10 count. Now we have Prime Time vs. Chris Harris. It doesn’t appear to me that they even know that Prime Time is messed up. Prime Time goes for his Play of the Day, but he literally falls over while doing it. Harris eventually hits his Catatonic on Prime Time who has a chair in hand. Prime Time actually kicked out of it, but the referee counted the 3 anyway. Luckily this was the finish because I don’t think Prime Time could have gotten up before a 10 count anyway. Daniels and Storm make their way out to the ring, and AMW end up getting handcuffed together and beaten with chairs by Triple X. Ok, let me get this straight. The blow-off to this angle is to start the angle over??? I’m not sure about this one.
-- Dusty Rhodes won the vote for Director of Authority. He announced that as the new DOA he was going to be on television a lot less because he had important things to do with his new position. Ok, so he didn’t say that, but a guy can dream, can’t he? He announces a six sides of steel cage match at the next PPV between AMW and Triple X. Also, I didn’t hear this because I generally don’t listen to what Dusty has to say, but I was told he hinted at some kind of battle with a company up North. Why are they so worried about 3PW anyway?
Match 9 – NWA World Heavyweight champion Jeff Jarrett defeated Jeff Hardy to retain the title.
Jeff Hardy comes down to the ring first, and he brings a ladder in with him. Jarrett comes out with a guitar that shoots pyro out. And they wonder why they can’t afford to pay the enhancement talent. Why pay Lex Lovett when they have pyro shooting guitars to pay for? Interesting to note that both guys came out, and no sign of Kevin Nash or Scott Hall. Rumor has it that Nash was seen laughing hysterically while trying to calculate how many hot dogs and sodas TNA would have to sell to break even with his pay, and Hall was seen warming up his vocals, so that he could deliver a heartfelt “Hey Yo!” to the crowd. The match saw a bunch of cool looking spots with a ladder. As Hardy was climbing the ladder, out came Scott Hall. He took out Hardy with the Razor’s Edge. He somehow negotiated his way into being able to stay at the ringside area. I’m sure the conversation went something like this:
Referee: Hall, you have to go to the back now for interfering!
Hall: Hey Yo, I ain’t goin’ nowhere because now I can kill TNA if I really wanted to.
Referee: Good point, you can stay.
Hall: Hey Yo, survey says….
Hall remained at ringside, but Hardy ended up hitting a plancha onto Jarrett and Hall outside of the ring. Hardy goes under the ring and pulls out the larger ladder. He and Jarrett end up falling off of that ladder. Now we have Hardy giving Hall the Twist of Fate, but Hall sold it like a stunner so he didn’t even bump on it. It looked ridiculous. Hall gets a Swanton, but Jarrett hits Hardy with a chair afterward. He’s climbing the ladder when Kevin Nash, who is seemingly done calculating his mathematical equation, makes his way to the ring with two guitars. Without hesitation he hands one to Hall, and they both hit Hardy, who is now climbing the ladder, with guitar shots to the ass. I can’t believe he turned on Hardy. I mean, no one saw that one coming. Jarrett grabs the belt and retains the title. Nash now has the mic and challenges the TNA locker room. Out comes AJ Styles. He takes out Jarrett and Hall. Now Nash takes off his shirt, but only so he can do a duck two/dropkick spot from AJ. They triple team AJ, so 3 Live Kru come out. They get the better part of those guys when Macho Man Randy Savage makes his way to the top of the ramp. No shit, if this isn’t WCW all over again, then I don’t know what is. The faces chase the heels out, and that’s the end of the show.
Final Thoughts
-- First of all, the crowd was extremely hot tonight. It’s a shame TNA didn’t sell ticket figures like they were expecting, but those that were comped really brought some energy to the show. The 20-man X-Division gauntlet match was an excellent way to start the show. It kept the crowd into it the entire night even when the stuff wasn’t that good. Petey Williams vs. AJ Styles was an excellent match. Both guys really went all out for that match. It should also be noted that most guys went all out tonight because they understood the significance of this PPV. It was very disappointing what happened to Prime Time because that should’ve been another good match to add to the PPV. Instead it was sloppy, but rightfully so. The man did just sustain a concussion.
-- Now for the stuff on the PPV that I didn’t like. The 8-man match at the beginning was pointless. It served no purpose. As entertaining as the crowd found them, I also so no purpose for the minis/midgets. It did entertain the crowd, so this one is more understandable than the 8-man tag. The In the Pit with Piper was silly, but we kind of expected that anyway. I’m glad the Dusty/Russo angle is officially done, but I can’t help but think how much we’re going to get Dusty down our throats now that he officially has a “job” with TNA. The Monster’s Ball match was disappointing. I wish one day that Raven would be in a gimmick match that was more than just a hardcore match. This happens in every promotion he’s in.
-- Now, it’s time to address the Hall/Nash/Savage situation. First, I do want to say that I really do wish that TNA does become successful and that I don’t wish them to fail. I like being able to attend TNA tapings weekly. I do enjoy a lot of their product. Now having said that, I am totally baffled as to why they would bring in Scott Hall, Kevin Nash and Macho Man Randy Savage. It’s almost like they didn’t see any of that fail when WCW was alive. Hall looked in terrible shape. Hell, he couldn’t even bump. It’s almost like TNA panicked because they know they need to do something big to make this PPV thing work. I’m just afraid that this is the wrong route. In all honesty, I hope that I’m wrong. I just don’t see how this is going to work when this formula didn’t work for WCW when they had more money, better television deals, a bigger name and a more established company. We already know that ticket sales were horrible and that a majority of the crowd were comped in. Also, I don’t know what person following this situation actually thinks they’re going to get a good buyrate from this PPV. It just isn’t feasible. While I did have a lot of fun at this PPV (Seriously, the crowd was THAT hot that it added a whole new level of excitement), I just don’t see this happening for too long. I hate to say it, but TNA will never survive by throwing money around like this.
Will Rivera
Wriv25@yahoo.com
AIM – willriv22
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