Matt Speaks Out – Victory Road 2004

TNA Victory Road 2004
November 7, 2004
Orlando, FL
Universal Studios

The current NWA & TNA Champs were as follows:
NWA World Champion: Jeff Jarrett (6/2/2004)
NWA World Tag Team Champions: Bobby Roode & Eric Young (10/12/2004)
NWA-TNA X-Division Champion: Petey Williams (8/11/2004)

Your hosts are Mike Tenay & Don West. Don makes our first flub of the night during the introductions ~ “It’s going to be interesting to see how this transfolds.”

– 20-Man X-Gauntlet

This is Royal Rumble-style rules where the only way to lose is to be tossed over the top and both feet touch the floor, except a new guy comes out every minute instead of every two minutes. When it comes down to the final two, it becomes pinfall or submission. Frankie Kazarian and Sonjay Dutt are the first two guys in the ring. Kazarian nearly eliminates Dutt in the first ten seconds, but he flips back in with a hurracanrana. Dutt delivers a tilt-a-whirl DDT and says he’s going to toss Kazarian out, but Frankie fights him out and slides underneath the bottom rope. Puma enters in at #3 and takes a rana from Dutt. Puma stops Sonjay with a fisherman buster and tries to send him over the top rope with Kazarian’s help. #4 is L.A. Park or La Parka, whichever you remember him by. He’s got a chair with him too! Because if you were a WCW fan back in the late ‘90s, you’ll know he was the “chairman” of WCW. And well, TNA is basically WCW V2. He does his whole spiel which takes up about another minute. Kazarian attacks L.A. Park from behind as Jerrelle Clark enters in at #5. Clark delivers a rana to Sonjay and follows up with a handspring corkscrew moonsault. Kazushi Miyamoto comes in at #6. He’s basically a Muta clone from All Japan. Clark hits the 630 senton on Puma, but stands up and turns around into a dropkick from Kazarian. Matt Bentley, Kazarian’s tag team partner, draws #7. Together, he and Kazarian throw out Puma, Clark and Miyamoto in succession. That leaves Kazarian, Bentley, L.A. Park and Sonjay Dutt for now. Hector Garza enters in at #8. He and his partner at the time L.A. Park rule the ring for a while as NOSAWA from All Japan is our #9 guy. He dropkicks Garza down for a Shining Wizard, but L.A. Park kicks him down. Billy Kidman’s cousin Mikey Batts enters in at #10. He hits a wheelbarrow Ace Crusher and follows up with an enziguri on Kazarian. Alex Shelley is our #11 guy. Shelley attempts to throw Sonjay out who tries to skin-the-cat back in, but Shelley dropkicks him out. Right after that, Kazarian backdrops L.A. Park out to the floor. #12 is Matt Sydal, who jumps off Shelley’s back for a standing moonsault. Shelley has to roll out to the floor writhing in pain. Sonny Siaki enters in at #13. He explodes into the ring with a release Northern Lights suplex into the corner on Kazarian, a guerilla press powerslam on Matt Sydal, and a guerilla press Samoan drop on Bentley. NOSAWA charges at Siaki and gets dumped out to the floor. Batts kicks Garza down and comes charging off the ropes, so Garza launches him using his feet to send Batts flying over the top rope to the floor. #14 is Jason Cross. Satellite headscissors from Cross to Siaki, followed by a hurracanrana. Sydal tries to nail Siaki with the Double Helix, but Siaki moves out of the way and drills Sydal with a clothesline. Shelley’s still laying down on the floor and he has not been eliminated. #15 is “cult favorite” Shark Boy. Cross is busy trying to eliminate Matt Sydal while Shark Boy gives Kazarian and Bentley wedgies. Sydal fights back and leaps into the ring with a springboard clothesline. Sydal gets tossed out to the apron over where Shelley is, as he gets back up to his feet and pulls Sydal down to the floor to get him eliminated. Psicosis enters in at #16. He squares off with Garza, peaking with an ocean cyclone suplex on Psicosis. D-Ray 3000 draws #17. Battering Rams abound with his partner Shark Boy. If you don’t know who D-Ray 3000 is, he looks like Crabman from My Name Is Earl. Shark and D-Ray have a close call of getting eliminated by Kazarian and Bentley. Just when they think everything is okay, Siaki runs over and clotheslines both guys out to the floor. Amazing Red limps down to the ring as our #18 guy. He unloads on Siaki as Jason Cross shoves Shelley off the top to the floor. SPANKY’S HERE! He’s enters the ring at #19. He goes right after Bentley, knocking him down with a springboard back elbow. Kazarian takes him to the apron, but Spanky flips back in only to be met with a superkick from Bentley. Chris Sabin is #20. He kicks off everyone as he delivers the tornado DDT on Bentley. Sabin and Spanky double-team Siaki with a clothesline for the elimination. Afterwards, Spanky hops on Bentley’s shoulders and flips him over the top rope to send him crashing to the floor. TOWER OF DOOM follows, as Kazarian takes the brunt of it all. Awesome. Psicosis spin kicks Garza and drops Cross with a tilt-a-whirl inverted DDT. Psicosis follows up and clotheslines Cross out. Red backdrops Psicosis onto the apron and enziguris him to the floor. Red tries to send Kazarian to the floor with a headscissors, but both guys wind up on the apron. Instead of getting back in the ring, Kazarian kicks Amazing Red off the apron to the floor. As Kazarian gets back in the ring, Sabin avoids SLICED BREAD #2 and throws Spanky out to the floor below. Kazarian heads up top, but Sabin comes running up behind him for a German Suplex OFF THE TOP ROPE into Garza! Incredible. Sabin sends Kazarian out to the apron with a springboard dropkick, but he manages to hang on and crawl back into the ring. Meanwhile, Garza places Sabin on the top rope and dropkicks him down to the floor. It’s come down to Garza vs. Kazarian. Pinfall or submission! Kazarian sweeps the legs and delivers a springboard legdrop for two. He tries for the WAVE OF THE FUTURE, but Garza blocks with a clothesline. Perfect moonsault from Garza gets 1-2-NO! Kazarian takes a backdrop out to the apron, but shoots back in with a slingshot DDT. Cover, 1-2-NO! Garza avoids a rollup and answers back with a basement dropkick. Now Kazarian avoids EL TORNILLO (corkscrew moonsault) and rolls Garza up for 1-2-NO! Then Garza rolls Kazarian over and gets 1-2-3! (29:59) This is for the spotfest lovers out there. Hector Garza wins a cup and they make a big deal out of it. ***½

– Erik Watts, Pat Kenney, Johnny B. Badd & Ron Killings vs. Kid Kash, Dallas & The Naturals

As you can already tell, they are trying to pack in as many people on this show as they possibly can. Erik Watts is looking more like Brian Adams. The wrestler, not the singer. “The Empire Saint” Pat Kenney is Simon Diamond. Johnny is back with his BADD BLASTER~! Dallas is Lance HOYT! HOYT! HOYT! Kash and Kenney start off exchanging armdrags. Badd and Douglas do the same. Erik Watts tags in and gets clipped from behind by Stevens. Now we get a Dallas/Watts standoff. They’re both big guys! Watts delivers a chokeslam, but Dallas picks him up for a Kevin Nash-esque side slam. Kenney tags in and runs into a big boot from Dallas to set up a MOONSAULT attempt, but Kenney moves and hot tags DA TRUTH. Huge brawl erupts as Killings hits Stevens with an AXE KICK for 1-2-NO! Everybody clears out of the ring except for Badd, Stevens and Killings. Badd delivers the BADD MOOD (hurracanrana out of the corner) to Stevens, which sounds like a steroids joke, as Killings finishes Stevens with the Pedigree. (4:39) At the time, this was pretty much what you would expect from an Impact main event. *½

In the back, Shane Douglas walks up to what he thinks is Kevin Nash’s limo, but the scary limo driver who looks like Me’Shell from the movie Dodgeball says Kevin Nash is not in the limo.

– Mascarita Sagrada vs. Piratita Morgan

It’s midget time. Sagrada is Rey Mysterio if he were any shorter, and Morgan is a mini pirate. Sagrada delivers the lucha armdrags while the fat Piratita Morgan uses his size to work on Sagrada. Ref gets nailed by the pirate as Sagrada rolls Morgan up out of an armdrag and gets the three-count. (2:58) Just a comedy match. [N/R]

Scott Hall is here! Hey yo. He says Kevin Nash won’t be here tonight. Also, since he invented the ladder match *cough*, he’s interested to see what will go down tonight. May the best Jeff win.

– NWA World Tag Team Champions Team Canada (w/Coach Scott D’Amore) vs. 3 Live Kru

Gah I miss Team Canada. Especially Scott D’Amore. I would choose them over Super Eric any day of the week. Anyways, Konnan and BG James defeated the Naturals to earn a shot at the tag belts, so here we are. BG James makes fools out of Roode and Young to start by tossing them into each other. That is until BG whiffs on a crossbody and goes flying out to the floor. Roode backs him into the apron and throws BG back in the ring. Young gets a backbreaker for two. Young tags out and drops an elbow, followed by a knee drop by Roode. That gets two. Konnan gets drawn in so Team Canada can do some double-stomping. Hey, that’s fine with me. I don’t like BG James anyway. False-tag spot to Konnan ensues. Team Canada capitalizes with a suplex/flying elbow drop combo for 1-2-NO! D’Amore gets up on the apron with the ref and the hockey stick gets involved. They try to clothesline BG with it, but he dives onto the stick which causes Young and Roode to collide. HOT TAG TO KONNAN! Rolling lariat to Roode, spinebuster out of the corner on Young! He applies the TEQUILA SUNRISE on Young, but Roode breaks it up with a stomp. Roode hits a AA spinebuster on BG James and sets up for the NORTHERN LARIAT, but Konnan grabs the ankle. Roode gets loose and charges at James into a big boot. James wants his PUMPHANDLE SLAM, but D’Amore is in the ring with the hockey stick. Ron Killings sprints down to the ring and scares D’Amore away before any damage can be done. BG James turns his back on Roode and takes the NORTHERN LARIAT after all. Young tosses Konnan in for the NORTHERN LARIAT, but Konnan avoids and face plants Roode for 1-2-3. New champs. (7:29) Nothing too amazing – just some standard formula tag stuff. **

Roddy Piper comes out for a special TNA edition of the Piper’s Pit. They call it “In the Pit” so as not to piss off those people up north, I s’pose. Jimmy Snuka is his special guest and twenty years after he smashed Snuka’s head with a coconut, he randomly wants to patch things up and allow Snuka to smash him in the head with a coconut so that Piper will feel vindicated for this horrible act. Piper uses some of his old insults to try and fire Snuka up, but Snuka won’t do it. Kid Kash interrupts and calls Snuka a one trick pony – all he did was jump off cages at MSG. He says that Snuka might have been good in his day, but now he couldn’t even carry his jock strap. Gross? On behalf of the X-Division, Kash takes a swing at Snuka. EPIC FAIL~! Snuka stops the punch and grabs Kash by the throat. Piper just stands back and lets him chop Kash down. Kash’s backup Bentley and Kazarian hit the ring and start pounding away on Snuka. Piper tries to pull them off Snuka, but the numbers are against him. Sonjay Dutt runs down and gets rid of Kazarian and Bentley, but forgets about Kash. He’s got the coconut too and whacks Sonjay in the face with it. Uh oh, Piper’s PISSED! He whips off his leather jacket and chases Kash out of the ring. Kash brags to Kazarian and Bentley over what he did, but they want no part of this.

– Jacqueline vs. Trinity (w/Glen Gilberti & Johnny Swinger)

Jackie’s a mystery opponent and comes in through the crowd to get at Trinity. She takes out everybody to start. Trinity takes over and hits a chick kick for two. Jacqueline comes back with a release German suplex for two. Gilberti pulls her off Trinity. Jacqueline heads to the corner for a ten-count corner punch, but Swinger yanks her down while Gilberti distracts the ref. That sets up a Trinity moonsault for the 1-2-3. (2:09) Right. CRAP

– Monty Brown vs. Raven vs. Abyss – Monsters Ball Match

This is the first-ever Monsters Ball match. After Victory Road, this gimmick match became a regular at the Bound for Glory PPVs. To make these three guys completely insane and monsteriffic, they lock them in their own private rooms with no light, food or water for 24 hours. It’s no-DQ and weapons are encouraged. They all sell having to readjust to the light on their way to the ring. As you would expect, it’s a huge brawl to start. They fight into the crowd and up the steps as Abyss controls with trashcan shots. Ouch! Abyss choke-lifts Raven and then drops him down on the steps. Monty and Abyss head to the ring as some shadowy figure watches on from the rafters. Could it be the BLACK SCORPION? In the ring, Abyss hits the Shock Treatment on Brown for 1-2-NO! Raven makes the save, but Abyss comes back and clotheslines them both down. Monty gets splashed in the corner by Abyss, but Raven moves and puts Abyss down with a discus clothesline. Raven brings a chair in the ring. Abyss gets it away from him, but takes a superkick. Abyss receives a drop toehold to the chair. Monty counters when its his turn and throws the chair back in Raven’s face. Same goes for Abyss. Monty delivers a t-bone suplex and a fallaway slam on Raven. He goes for the POUNCE, but Raven pulls the ref in the way. That wipes him out. Abyss comes back in the ring and misses a clothesline so Monty picks him for a running powerslam. Brown wants to give Abyss the POUNCE, but he runs into Raven on the apron and stumbles into a BLACK HOLE SLAM! He covers, but there’s no ref. So Abyss grabs his sack o’tacks from underneath the ring. He sets Monty up in the corner and spreads the tacks everywhere. They fight over a superplex until Raven comes in and powerbombs Abyss down onto the tacks! Raven covers as Brown is still dazed up on the corner. Another ref runs in and counts 1-2-NO! Abyss and Raven head to the floor. Raven puts a table in the ring while Abyss casually rearranges another table. Raven props the table up in the corner. Abyss gets back up on the apron and punched down to fall through that table on the floor that he JUST set up. All that effort and energy just turned against him in one single moment. Raven staggers backwards to make him easy pickings for a POUNCE through the table. Brown covers, 1-2-3. (9:33) Non-stop action from beginning to end. ***

– NWA-TNA X-Division Champion Petey Williams (w/Coach Scott D’Amore) vs. AJ Styles

It’s the Styles Clash vs. the Canadian Destroyer. Petey is the obvious underdog champion here looking to prove he deserves the X-title by defeating the three-time X-division champion AJ Styles. There was actually a quite amount of buildup to this match and many had pegged it as a MOTYC before it even happened just because of the hype. If AJ wins, the evil Coach Scott D’Amore would never be seen in TNA again. Both men try to get the win early with a rollup sequence, which gets a standing “TNA!” chant. AJ fires back with forearms and the hurracanrana off the mat leads to the dropkick. Williams goes to the floor and gets out of the way of AJ, who lands on the apron. Petey tries to pull AJ off the apron, but AJ kicks him back. Petey avoids a quebrada off the apron, but gets trapped perfectly for an enziguri to the back of the head. AJ shoves Petey into the guardrail and heads back in for a FLIP DIVE out onto Williams! Back in, Petey fights back with a jawbreaker and then he drop toeholds AJ onto the ropes to allow some Scott D’Amore cheapshots. It’s now time for the “O CANADA!” crotch stomp in the corner. Dueling “Let’s Go Petey/AJ” chants. Right then, they screw up a Quebrada DDT. Petey goes for the crotch stomp again, but AJ pulls himself up and yanks Petey down with a German suplex while still stuck in the tree of woe! Petey charges at AJ in the corner and takes a backdrop out to the apron. He tries a forearm, but AJ blocks and hits the PELE! AJ wins a forearm battle and follows up with a back suplex. Petey goes low and throws AJ out. He doesn’t realize though that AJ landed on his feet! As he turns around, AJ is on him again with a springboard forearm! Cover, 1-2-NO! Petey fires back with a knee and delivers a tilt-a-whirl Russian legsweep. Is it time for the Canadian Destroyer? No! AJ gets away and tries the STYLES CLASH. Will he get it? No! Petey slips out for another Canadian Destroyer attempt, but AJ lifts him up and Alabama Slams Petey into the corner. What? D’Amore has the X-title. Petey fights off the STYLES CLASH, which leads to another rollup sequence. D’Amore interrupts that and distracts AJ. Now Petey Williams has the hockey stick. You see, because he’s Canadian. Rudy Charles sees what is happening before any harm is done. Then while Rudy Charles gets rid of the stick, D’Amore slips Petey the belt. WHAM! Right to AJ’s face! Cover, 1-2-NO! AJ stops another Canadian Destroyer attempt and places Petey in the corner. AJ wants a superplex and D’Amore grabs at AJ to allow Petey some time. AJ goes for the superplex again, but Petey blocks and sends AJ to the mat. Petey comes off the second rope onto AJ and finally delivers the CANADIAN DESTROYER out of nowhere!! Cover, 1-2-3. (9:48) Great for the short time it was allowed. It’s just sad that it didn’t lead to any more great matches between these two outside of the Ultimate X match with Sabin in January or any bigger of a push for Petey Williams. ***½

– Triple X vs. America’s Most Wanted – Last Team Standing Match

This is a continuation of the near 18-month long feud between Triple X and AMW. This is fought under Texas Death Match rules which means a ten count will not begin until first you pin your opponent. Plus, it’s elimination rules. Big brawl to start. Storm and Skipper square off in the ring once the action settles down. Storm delivers a reverse suplex to set up a Hart Attack from AMW. Daniels breaks up a pin and flips out of the reverse suplex, but turns around into a superkick. They go for the DEATH SENTENCE on Daniels, but Skipper shoves Daniels and Storm out of the way and takes a flying legdrop by Harris instead. Storm delivers a spinning neckbreaker to Daniels for 1-2-3. Daniels is up at eight. Powerbomb by Storm connects. Harris tags in and runs into a boot to set up a side slam by Daniels. Skipper slams Daniels onto Harris’ back. Rockerplex gets two. Harris avoids the STO from Daniels and makes the hot tag to Storm. He snaps off a headscissors on Daniels and powerslams Skipper for two. Daniels dropkicks the taped-up injured knee of Storm. Powerplex gets 1-2-3. Storm is up at nine. Ref gets distracted by something as Daniels nails Storm in the knee with a chair. Cover, 1-2-3. Storm can’t make it up to his feet in time at 6:12. Daniels hits the Uranage to set up the BME. Harris moves out of the way and covers for two. Skipper missed his cue to come off the top. He heads back up again and gets dumped out to the floor. Harris comes off the middle rope for a leg drop and gets 1-2-3. Daniels is down for the ten-count at 7:41. Now it’s down to Harris vs. Skipper. They mess up a couple PLAY OF THE DAY attempts before Harris delivers the CATATONIC on a chair! Cover, 1-2-3. There is no way Skipper is getting up after that. (10:36) The eliminations were way too short considering this was a major feud. It’s a neat idea, but this needs at least thirty minutes. Afterwards, Daniels comes back out to double-team Harris. That brings Storm out to the rescue. The only problem is that Triple X has handcuffs. AMW are cuffed together and beaten with steel chairs until TNA security puts a stop to any further damage. Those guys are ALWAYS late! **

As we all know, 2004 was an all important election year – in the month of November specifically. So TNA decided to have you vote for who you want as the “Director of Authority”. Do you want the current Director of Authority Vince Russo or Dusty Rhodes? Wow, 2004 was filled with bad candidates – even in wrestling! Dusty wins the popular vote by ten percent. During his inauguration speech, I guess that’s what you would call it, he goes on and on about TNA being competition for WWE, which is silly talk.

– NWA World Heavyweight Champion Jeff Jarrett vs. Jeff Hardy – Ladder Match

This is Jeff Hardy back when he played around a little too much with green neon paint and was just freakin’ weird. Kevin Nash was supposed to make his debut and be in Hardy’s corner, but he never showed up. As of yet, that is. There’s already a pair of ladders in the ring to start. Hardy whips Jarrett into both ladders in the corner. Jarrett gets stuck between the ladder and the corner as Hardy uses the ladder as a ramp to run up and dropkick Jarrett. Next up, Hardy sandwiches Jarrett between the ladder every which way. With Jarrett incapacitated, Hardy makes his first climb up the ladder. Jarrett pulls him down, but gets his face smashed into the ladder to set up a flying legdrop over the ladder. If you’ve seen any of Hardy’s ladder matches from 2001, you’ve seen the spot. Anyways, Jarrett avoids the legdrop and slams the ladder down on Hardy. Jarrett takes a ladder outside and makes a scaffold out of it between the ring and the guardrail. He grabs Hardy and gives him a front suplex across the ladder. Back in the ring, Jarrett jabs Hardy in the ribs with the ladder and knocks him out to the floor. Jarrett tries to retrieve his belt, but Hardy manages to climb up the turnbuckle thanks to a ladder that Jarrett set up and dropkick Jarrett off the ladder in the ring. Hardy slams Jarrett down on a ladder and gives him a SWANTON BOMB. Hardy makes another climb as Scott Hall runs down and brings him off the ladder with THE EDGE. TNA Security is late once again and escorts Scott Hall away from the ring. Instead of making him leave, they let him sit in a folding chair at ringside. Hardy makes a see-saw out of the ladders. Jarrett sets up to superplex him on it, but Hardy eyerakes him down and launches himself onto the other side of the see-saw as Jarrett gets nailed in the face with the other end. Lucky for Jarrett, this didn’t have the same effect as it did on Joey Mercury two years later. They fight on the ladder and Hardy brings Jarrett down with a faceslam. Hall yanks Hardy out to the floor to lay the smackdown on him, but Hardy sees Jarrett climbing the ladder and gets back in the ring. They take turns teetering the ladder over on each other. Hardy gets sent off onto Hall down below. Jarrett meets them on the floor and gets beat up along with Hall. Hardy gets back in the ring and hits Poetry in Motion off a chair to the floor. Hardy whips out a twenty foot ladder. Jarrett and Hardy punch each other up on the top of this thing for some reason. Then it turns over towards the entrance ramp onto Scott Hall. Twenty seconds later, they’re both back in the ring and stacking ladders up side by side. Hardy tries a sunset flip powerbomb, but Jarrett holds on too long to the top of the ladder, thus screwing up the whole spot. They try it again on the apron, but it looks even worse. Hardy climbs the ladder as Scott Hall gets back in the ring with a chair. Hardy kicks the chair back in his face. Instead of grabbing the belt, he gets down and gives Hall a Twist of Fate. SWANTON BOMB to Hall. Jarrett tries a guitar shot, but sees a chair and hits Hardy with that instead. With Hardy down the mat, Jarrett grabs his guitar and climbs the ladder. He’s at the top and poses with his guitar, but some strange “Still DRE” rip-off plays. And it’s KEVIN NASH WITH TWO GUITARS! Jarrett looks scared, but Nash hands Hall a guitar. Hardy tries to climb the ladder while all this is going on, but then Hall, Nash and Jarrett all KABONG him and Jarrett grabs the title for the win. (23:53) This wound up being Jarrett taking Jeff Hardy’s ladder spots for twenty minutes and nothing more. *½

After the match, they try to give this a Bash at the Beach ’96 feel like it was the shocker of the century, but it’s not the same at all. If you didn’t think Hall and Nash would stick together, then where have you been for the last ten years? Nash says wherever he goes, he dominates and takes all the money. If anybody in the back has a sack – don’t sing it, bring it. AJ Styles comes out and does okay against the threesome until Nash boots him away when he tries a Styles Clash on Hall. 3LK comes down for the save, but even they get OWNED. Way to make your tag champs look strong there, TNA. Then all of a sudden, freakin’ Macho Man Randy Savage walks down the aisle with his mega beard and black leather to scare people.

And we fade to black.

The 411: If you’re a huge TNA fan, I would go ahead and get this show if you haven’t already. Especially if you like getting all their DVDs. It was a big deal and a risk at the time for the company. But otherwise, I wouldn’t recommend it honestly. The strengths being the X-Division, the weaknesses being everything else. The Monsters Ball was fun, but those matches are really interchangeable. Overall, I’m going with a thumbs down for Victory Road 2004.

Final Score:  4.0   [ Poor ]