411’s NWA:TNA Report 02.11.04

This is Dave Gagnon, back for a 2nd week as your TNA recapper. To set the record straight, I am writing these reports on a trial basis. Basically, I don’t know how long I’ll be here but I hope that it will be for a significant amount of time. If you enjoy my work, don’t be shy and make your voice heard. Like in the 411 forum, for instance.

This is TNA, february 11th 2004 and we are PRE-TAPED from Nasvhille, TN. This is the prestigious Americas Cup where the forces of TNA and AAA COLLIDE. The tournament is divided in three rounds…

1st round: 4 single matches. 1 point per win for the winning team.
2nd round: 2 tag team matches. 2 points per win for the winning team.
Final round: 4 vs 4 elimination tag team match. 2 points per elimination for the winning team.

BUT FIRST, Scott Hudson warns me to not watch this PPV illegally. “If you steal cable, you’ll get bald just like me!”.

Long recap of last week’s events: TNA under new management! AJ wins gold against all odds! Don Callis imitates Vince McMahon! And a new director of authority comes soon! My pick? Somebody WWE fired recently OR a ECW reject. It can be both actually.

The show starts…without sound! Because of that, we can’t hear Captain Jerry Lynn’s promo. A blessing in disguise, I guess. Team Mexico offers a rebuttal but the sound is still off. I think Aguila said something like “I wonder what Lita sees in Matt Hardy. That jobber”.

1st round, 1st match: Chris Sabin (X Division Champion) -vs- Ecstasy Juvy Guerrera
The match started with the handshake of respect. Tenay made a big deal of Sara The Ticket Lady being fired last week. It will hurt the product but these things happen. Let’s just hope that WWE will pick her up. Nice looking back and fourth sequence to establish parity (something that happened A LOT tonight). Don West was very loud during the entire evening, like in this match when he said things like “I CAN’T BELIEVE HOW GOOD GUERRERA IS! WHAT A MOVE! HOW HIGH DID HE JUMP?”. Nice looking seated octopus submission old by Sabin but Juvy eventually countered with a 619. Sabin did an Alabama Slam, followed by a brain buster for a near fall. From there, tons of reversals and pinning combinations, leading to the win for Juventud. 1-0 for Mexico. Good opener.

Backstage, Shane Douglas and his entourage sucks up to Da Boss Jeff Jarrett. JJ wants to know who is the new DOA. My pick? Zach Gowen.

1st round, second match: Sonjay Dutt -vs- Hector Garza
Hector bought his tights at a HHH yard sale last weekend. He sure changed since his stint in WCW, looking now like a cross between Buff Bagwell and Anthony Calvillo. Calvillo is a quarterback in the CFL, sorry for my american readers. Way slower and ground based than the previous match. The match is basically a squash. Big time powerbomb, twisting corkscrew moonsault and Dutt is deader than Howard Dean’s campaign. 1-2-3 and Team Mexico is now 2-0. Don West: “WHAT A MOVE BY HECTOR GARZA! CAN WE SEE IT AGAIN? ONLY TNA CAN DELIVER THIS ACTION! THIS IS GREAT! TREMENDOUS MATCH! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW! DID YOU SEE THAT? TOO COOL!!!!”

Meanwhile, Scott Hudson interviews Captain Jerry Lynn. This time with sound. Jerry Lynn: “I just hope that Juventud Guerrera doesn’t drop me on my freaking neck tonight!” .

1st round, third match: Mr. JL -vs- Mr. Aguila
Of course, everybody remembers that Mr. Aguila is AKA Aguila, Papi Chulo and Essa Rios. This match is perfect for those who missed their matches on Shotgun Saturday Night. Nice hurranacanah (I don’t know how to spell it, so you better get used to that spelling) from the apron to the outside by Lynn. Later in the match, a terrific plancha to the outside by Aguila is met by total silence from the crowd (but Don West reacts loudly because SOMEBODY HAS TO!). Late in the match, Aguila spinned like 12 times in the air, leading to a bodyslam. Now that’s just overkill. The finish saw a ton of reversals, leading to a piledriver by Lynn and, finally, a win for TNA. But Mexico still leads 2-1!

Backstage, The Gathering sucks up to JJ. Ah, that Jeff Jarrett, such a swell guy. JJ still wants to know who is the new DOA. My pick? Ernest “The Cat” Miller.

1st round: PrimeTime Elix Skipper -vs- Abismo Negro In The Match That Meltzer Trashed This Week
Negro’s costume is colorful to say the least. My favorite masked wrestler is still Cybernitico, though. And THE MACHINE. Hum…moving on…In an attempt to beat a record for CFL references in one recap, Elix Skipper is a former Grey Cup winner. That’s all that I have to say about the match, these two just don’t click together. Lots of clotheslines by Skipper. Finally, Negro wins with la magistral. Yeah, in a night of brainbusters, 450 splashes, shooting star presses, a la magistral gives you a win. I rarely agree with Da Meltz but there’s a first time at everything. Mexico is 3-1 after the first round.

2nd round, 1st match: Jerry Lynn and Sonjay Dutt -vs- Mr. Aguila and Abismo Negro
Two matches in a row! Negro must be tired!. Yeah, yeah, I know, this is pre-taped. The match saw a lot of jumping around in the beginning. It was more like gymnastics than wrestling. Then Team Mexico dominated Sonjay Dutt. Well, that’s not a good night for Sonjay Dutt. He finally tagged Jerry Lynn for the hot tag, and I use this term loosely. The action is pretty good tonight but the crowd is tepid. Negro excecuted a nice looking frog splash on Lynn. Too bad it wasn’t RVD doing it. Highlight of the match was an inverted hurranacanah by Juvy, a move that I thought was only possible in PS2, but then again, I’m an idiot. Abismo countered a Dutt hurranacanah with a top rope sunset flip for the pin. Negro is 2-0 and Mexico is 5-1.

Backstage, Hudson interviews Sabin and Skipper. Here’s the transcript of Sabin’s promo: “Pressure? Pressure? We don’t mind the pressure! We were born to handle the pressure! I wrestled two ultimate x matches, don’t you think I know a thing or two about pressure? Sabin likes the pressure because the pressure leads you to overcome the pressure! Pressure! Pressure! Hail Sabin! Pressure! Pressure!” . Honestly, he beat the world record for the use of the word “pressure” in 60 seconds. PrimeTime stayed out of that and said “This is my house!”.

2nd round, 2nd match: Chris Sabin and PrimeTime Elix Skipper -vs- Ecstasy Juvy Guerrera and Hector Garza
The highlight for me was the sandwich clothesline double team move by Guerrera and Gerza. I could swear that it was a finishing move for a tag team in the past but for the life of me, I can’t remember who. Garza’s moveset sure is limited outside of a powerbomb and his corkscrew spinning moonsault. Another good match, where Sabin won with a victory roll. Rollups sure do work tonight. 5-3 Mexico.

Backstage…JJ….loyal oath…referees….zzzzzz

Terry Funk is now in the ring. I just watched his feud with Flair on the Flair DVD and it’s sad to see him now. Raven and Funk together next week. That’s if Raven bothers to show up.

NEXT WEEK! … Chyna comes back! This news is more negative than a PWTorch guest editorial. Anyway, here’s the rundown…
– Terry Funk and Raven -vs- The Gathering
– ICP in a Juggalo Street Fight
– “Playing Fair With Johnny”….Johnny Fairplay receives China Doll. I hope we get the dirt on X-Pac!
– New director of authority. My pick? Spanky.
– And probably Chris Kanyon. He just got fired.

Final round: TNA -vs- AAA for the prestigious Americas Cup
MONEY! FAME! WOMEN! PRESTIGE! GLORY! AND LIFE ITSELF! ALL ON THE LINE TONIGHT! Look, it was a great match, and I can’t even begin to do play by play. I will give you the order of elimination and I will tell you this…it was a great show tonight, worth of ordering the replay if you didn’t see it.

Garza eliminated Dutt (poor sob) with a standing moonsault, 7-3 Mexico
PrimeTime eliminated Negro with the primetime submission, a very cool move by the way, 7-5 Mexico
My personal fav in TNA, Sabin, eliminated Garza with his, uh, finisher, I forgot the name…7-7!!!
Aguila eliminated PrimeTime with a sweet shooting star press 9-7 Mexico
Guerrera eliminated Sabin with the juvy driver 11-7 Mexico
Jerry Lynn eliminated Aguila to make the score 11-9 Mexico

Then, Guerrera nearly killed Lynn by dropping him on his head during a Juvy Driver for the final elimination and the win for his team. Just like Teddy Hart, Juvy just pissed off another promotion. At least, he wasn’t naked this time. The celebration for Mexico is short-lived however, when JJ makes his way in the ring. He fires Tenay. Meh. Tenay will be back eventually. It’s sad because TNA delivered a terrific show wrestling-wise tonight but this angle is like a poor WWE angle. Anyway, it was still a very enjoyable night.

I’m realling digging this gig. Hope to see you next week. Hope you enjoyed this recap, until then, take care of yourself!

Gags