TNA – Hard Justice ’05 DVD Review

TNA – Hard Justice – Impact Zone – Orlando, Florida – May 15, 2005

Review by Jacob Ziegler

Introduction

First off, just so everyone knows, I am selling some of my masters I no longer need, so if anyone is interested in some stuff, shoot me an e-mail. I may even make some personalized stuff if you’re really nice to me.

I’m reviewing some shows out of order, but I’m trying to do them in the order that TNA released them, so bear with me here.

Pre Show

We start off with a video package for tonight’s event, the very first Hard Justice!

Jeremy Borash and Don West welcome us to the Pre Show. Shane Douglas also welcomes us. AJ Styles challenges NWA World Champion Jeff Jarrett tonight in the main event. Borash says AJ “finally” gets his shot, even though he’s already BEATEN Jarrett for the title twice. Tito Ortiz will be the special guest referee. Mike Tenay is here too. This one ringside girl is smokin’ hot. So Cal Val isn’t bad either.

We get a video package for Tito Ortiz, who says that Jimmy Snuka and Tito Santana were his favorites, along with Hulk Hogan. He really seems to love AJ Styles. He can talk pretty well, as opposed to some celebrities that come in and seem lost.

We get another hype video for the show. Borash and West are back then to hype the card for tonight’s show. In addition to the main event, there’s a 20-man gauntlet for the gold, as well as Christopher Daniels versus Shocker for the X-Division Title. That segues to a video package showing how Shocker earned tonight’s title shot. He throws it over to Mike and Don, who put over the three title matches tonight (including The Naturals against America’s Most Wanted).

PRE SHOW MATCH: David Young vs. Shark Boy

The winner of this match gets to enter the Gauntlet for the Gold tonight. Bobby Roode will be #1 in said Gauntlet, and Abyss will be #20. These guys are doing stuff but I don’t really care about either of them. Young just got back from a tour of Puerto Rico. Mike and Don are really putting Young over here. Young goes for a springboard moonsault and almost spikes himself. He goes back up for a moonsault off the top rope but Sharky moves out of the way. Shark Boy hits the Deep Sea Drop to get the win at 6:28. The commentators spent all this time putting over how Young was reborn and the losing streak was over, then he jobs clean to Shark Boy?
Rating: ½*

We go back to Borash, who is with So Cal Val. He puts over next month’s pay-per-view, Slammiversary, as well as tonight’s card. He introduces a special video package for tonight’s main event. Mike Tenay is really annoying in this, as he yells at Jarrett. TENAY IS SUPPOSED TO BE IMPARTIAL but he so obviously sucks babyface cock.

Terry Taylor is backstage with Jeff Jarrett, the NWA World Champion. Jarrett cuts his usual promo, calling himself a survivor.

JB and DW are in the ring now to hype the show, which starts in two minutes! Tonight Diamond Dallas Page & BG James will take on Monty Brown & The Outlaw (Kip James); The Naturals defend the tag team titles against America’s Most Wanted; Michael Shane & Trinity take on Chris Sabin & Traci; Raven meets Sean Waltman (replacing Jeff Hardy) in a House of Fun match; Christopher Daniels against Shocker for the X Title; the Gauntlet for the Gold; and the NWA World Title match! What, no hype for Petey Williams & Eric Young against Apolo & Sonny Siaki?

HARD JUSTICE

The main show begins with a 10-bell salute to Chris Candido, who died just weeks before this show. Rest in Peace Chris.

The opening hype video is pretty good, as most of the TNA hype videos are lately. It features most of the main players for tonight’s show. Mike and Don welcome us and we start right away with a tag team match.

MATCH #1: Petey Williams & Eric Young vs. Apolo & Sonny Siaki

Wow, this match gets no love, getting no hype on the Pre Show, and it’s not even listed on the back of the box. Williams is a former X-Division Champion, and Young is a two-time tag team champion (with Bobby Roode). Apolo and Siaki dominate with power in the beginning. Nothing Team Canada tries works, as Apolo just throws them around. Some of the crowd is pretty vocally behind Petey Williams. I’ve probably mentioned this before, but I refereed the match where he used the Canadian Destroyer for just the second time. The babyfaces dominate for a while, until Petey comes back with a sloppy hurricanrana off the top on Apolo. He sets up for the Destroyer on Siaki, who reverses it to the Test Drive. D’Amore distracts, so A1 jumps in the ring and gives Siaki a jackhammer and sets Petey on top. That’s enough to get the win at 8:09. That was a solid opener and the right team went over. The “D’Amore distracts and someone interferes” finish is getting kind of old though.
Rating: **¼

Main Event Hype

They show footage of special referee Tito Ortiz, AJ Styles, and NWA World Champion Jeff Jarrett arriving at the building earlier today. They talk about the strategies and such for both men.

MATCH #2: Chris Sabin & Traci vs. Matt Bentley & Trinity

Bentley was actually still Michael Shane at this point, but TNA has the DVD edited to not include that name at all. I think stuff like that is stupid. I mean, if he was Michael Shane then why can’t they just keep him as Michael Shane in the past? It’s the same principle as WWE having to edit out all mentions of “WWF” on their DVDs. It’s just silly. Sometimes I hate wrestling. Traci is wearing furry boots, so the crowd Husses at her. Sabin and Bentley wrestled each other about a thousand times in Impact leading up to this match if I remember correctly. Sabin appears to be one of the only guys man enough to wear white trunks. The women come in and do an awkward rolling small package sequence. Traci’s hot and all, but she’s not much of a wrestler. She tries hard though. Bentley comes in and tries to intimidate Traci, so Sabin teleports in with a missile dropkick. Bentley comes back with a belly-to-belly suplex off the top rope. Bentley takes over with his boring offense and rest holds. Trinity and Traci get back in the ring and Trinity dominates, slamming Traci on the aisle way. Sabin hits a nice springboard dive to the outside on Bentley. The crowd chants “TNA,” but this match isn’t doing much for me. Trinity hits a top rope rana on Sabin. They double-team him but Sabin takes out Bentley and he goes after Trinity. Then, in a not-so-shocking swerve, Traci hits Sabin in the nuts and Bentley nails Trinity with a superkick and hits Sabin with one as well to get the win at 10:17. Bentley and Traci are back together where they belong I guess. The match was fine, but I’ve seen Sabin and Bentley wrestle so many times, and Traci and Trinity really dragged the match down.
Rating: **

West and Tenay talk about how they’ve been at the Impact Zone in Orlando for almost a year. This leads to hype for the next pay-per-view, Slammiversary on June 19. They show the commercial for the PPV.

Terry Taylor is backstage with Team Canada, who tells them that it took four guys to win the opening tag team match. Petey says that people shouldn’t write Team Canada off. D’Amore says that his team will dominate the Gauntlet for the Gold later tonight. Bobby Roode chimes in with a pretty decent promo. I think he could be one of their breakout stars if they ever decide to push him as a real singles threat. He’s number one in the gauntlet, and Taylor shows them who #2 is, and D’Amore says it’s like a one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest. Gee, who could that be?

Dusty Rhodes and Tito Ortiz are backstage where Big Dust gives Tito his referee’s shirt. Dusty takes a shot at Mike Tyson, who worked for the WWE seven years ago. Tito says he will serve hard justice to Jeff Jarrett. I hate how everyone in TNA just dumps on the heels and loves the babyfaces. I’m talking about the people who should be impartial.

Taylor is with Raven now, whose scheduled opponent tonight, Jeff Hardy, is not here. He will instead face Sean Waltman, whose name is bleeped for some reason. Raven says he’s happy if he gets to eat someone’s eyeball. Raven cuts his usual Raven promo, which is pretty good in this case.

MATCH #3: House of Fun Match – Raven vs. Sean Waltman

Waltman surprises Raven to start the match and we’re off and running. Weapons get involved right away. With both guys in the shape they’re in a match like this is a good way to hide their limitations. Raven bleeds very early on. Waltman is busted open not much later. They do the usual garbage stuff and Waltman hits the Bronco Buster. He hits the X Factor and they go to the outside. Waltman puts Raven up on a table and leaps off the top rope with a somersault and gets a two count. Raven recovers and tosses Waltman off the entrance ramp through a table. That was a good looking bump. That only gets two though. Raven handcuffs Waltman to the ringpost and attacks him with a kendo stick and gets on the microphone and taunts him. I hate it when people get on the mic during matches. DOA Rhodes comes out and unlocks the cuffs. Raven somehow misses this development and Waltman kicks a steel chair into his face. Waltman goes up and gets the staple gun. Waltman charges but Raven back body drops him through the section of steel cage they had set up and that’s enough to win the match at 13:03. That was a decent enough hardcore spot-fest, but they had a lot of goofy stuff and Waltman looked pretty lost at times. This somehow managed to get him another run in the company for a few months after this until he (big surprise) flaked out again.
Rating: **½

Backstage, Tito Ortiz is going over the rules with AJ Styles.

Next is a video package for the upcoming tag team match with Diamond Dallas Page & BG James taking on Monty Brown & Kip James (though he was actually still called The Outlaw at this time). This was during the seemingly never-ending tension between the 3Live Kru. Konnan says he’ll be on Kip James like a monkey on a cupcake. What an idiot. At least Outlaw gave him a nasty looking chair shot to the head. Taylor is with DDP, but his partner BG James is nowhere to be found. He left a text message for DDP saying that he was having travel troubles. DDP is pissed, but he’s assuaged by Ron Killings, who says he hasn’t even gotten the courtesy of a message. Truth says he will team with DDP.

MATCH #4: Diamond Dallas Page & Ron Killings vs. Monty Brown & Kip James

I’m going to eat a couple corn dogs during this match if nobody minds. DDP is such a joke. This would be his last match with TNA, and I don’t think he’s worked anywhere else since then. Monty is wearing evil black trunks for this one. I can’t believe he’s this far down the card and he’s a heel. These corn dogs are pretty good though. Truth takes heat for a few minutes before making the hot tag to DDP. Phi Delta Slam come out and lays DDP out right in front of referee Slick Johnson. They go for their finish but DDP hits a pair of Diamond Cutters instead. This allows Kip James to come back and go for the One and Only, but that’s reversed to a Diamond Cutter, but Alpha Male runs in and levels DDP with the POOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUNNNNNNNNNCCCCCCEEEEEE and that does it at 8:56. That match just sucked, and the interference from Phi Delta Slam not leading to a DQ is inexcusable.
Rating: ¾*

NWA World Tag Team Champions

Mike Tenay is with NWA World Tag Team Champions The Naturals, who were being managed by Chris Candido at the time of his untimely death. They talk about how unfortunate Candido’s death was and the good influence he had on them. I like these guys in the ring but their promo skills are pretty bad.

MATCH #5: NWA World Tag Team Title Match – America’s Most Wanted vs. The Naturals

The Naturals won the belts on April 29, and this is their first defense. AMW has only beaten the Naturals twice at this point, which is a pretty big feat. The Naturals set up Candido’s towel on a chair at ringside. Stevens and Harris trade armdrags in the beginning. The Naturals soon take over but Harris fights back on Douglas. The battle spills to the floor as Harris pairs off with Douglas and Stevens with Storm. They do a bunch of tag team stuff. Storm hits the Eye of the Storm on Stevens. Natural Disaster gets broken up by the spear, and AMW goes for the Death Sentence, which Tenay annoyingly calls “the sentence.” Douglas breaks that up and Stevens rolls Storm up with his own feet on the ropes for the win at 14:09. That was the usual solid match between these two teams, but it had a little too much brawling outside the ring for my taste.
Rating: **¾

Main Event Hype

Tito Ortiz is trying to get into Jeff Jarrett’s locker room to discuss tonight’s match. Jarrett’s bodyguard of sorts tries to stop him, which doesn’t go so well. Jarrett introduces Tito to Monty Brown and they go behind closed doors.

MATCH #6: TNA X Division Championship Match – “The Fallen Angel” Christopher Daniels vs. Shocker

We get a video package detailing the short feud between these two men. Daniels has been champion since Destination X on March 13, and this is his second title defense. I reviewed a clipped version of this match on the Christopher Daniels DVD, but it was only about two minutes so I’ll give you all fresh material here. They do some chain wrestling to start and Shocker hits a headscissors to the outside of the ring. They both go for dives and miss but land on their feet until Shocker hits one that connects. Shocker goes on offense for a bit and hits a beautiful frog splash. Daniels recovers and hits a flatliner. Daniels misses on BME but hits a second attempt for two. Small package by Shocker gets two. Shocker sets Daniels up on the top ropes, but Daniels reverses it and hits the Angel’s Wings from the top to get the win and retain the title at 12:00. That was a fine match, but Shocker never did much for me, and he was never really a credible threat to the title. Daniels gets on the mic and puts himself over. He even calls himself “Mr. TNA.”
Rating: ***

MATCH #7: 20 Man Gauntlet For the Gold Match

The winner of this match will get a World Title shot at Slammiversary. On Impact a few weeks before this, Abyss won a 10-man gauntlet to earn the #20 spot in this match. In the same match, Bobby Roode was the first man eliminated and thus will be the first man in tonight’s match. Zach Gowen is #2, as he is the “one-legged man” D’Amore referred to earlier. We have one-minute intervals here. Gowen is pretty amazing really. He hits a few dropkicks and a moonsault until Eric Young comes out at #3. Roode and Young double team Gowen until Cassidy Riley comes out at #4. Tenay says that he’s opened some eyes in TNA, but I think the opposite is true. Primetime Elix Skipper is #5. He hits a springboard moonsault. Shark Boy is #6. He gives Gowen the Shark Bite to eliminate him. A1 is next at #7, so Team Canada is rolling three-deep. Chris Sabin is #8, and he takes out everyone in the ring. Petey Williams is #9, so all four members of Team Canada are in the ring now. Shark Boy is eliminated by A1. Eric Young eliminates Cassidy Riley. Sonny Siaki is in at #10. Elix Skipper goes for the rope walk rana but Roode breaks it up and the blow a spot but Roode eliminates him anyway. Lance Hoyt is #11. He eliminates Eric Young in short order. Matt Bentley is #12. He and Sabin eliminate each other. Roode and Williams eliminate Siaki. Sabin and Bentley are fighting on the floor. Jerrelle Clark is lucky #13. The Canadians eliminate Clark in short order. Mikey Batts is #14. The Outlaw Kip James comes out at #15. He kills Batts, and Trytan comes out at #16. Batts is eliminated by Kip James. Trytan dominates everybody, including Hoyt. Ron Killings is #17. Team Canada attacks Trytan from behind to eliminate him. They’ve used the numbers game really well. #18 is Apolo. He beats up everyone, leading to his quick elimination by Kip James. Former troubled traveler BG James comes in at #19. He has a brief stare down with Kip until Team Canada breaks it up. Hoyt eliminates Roode. A1 eliminates Hoyt with some help from Roode on the floor. We all now that Abyss is #20. The former New Age Outlaws are seemingly working together. They eliminate Williams and A1 rather haphazardly. However, Abyss sneaks in and eliminates both of them. We’re down to a regular one-on-one match between Abyss and Killings. Abyss mostly dominates but Killings makes his comeback before getting cut off by a big boot. Abyss brings a steel chain into the ring. Rudy Charles is actually able to remove the chain from Abyss’s hand. So Abyss grabs a chair instead. Truth takes it away from him and LEVELS Abyss with a chair shot but it only gets two. Abyss accidentally creams Referee Charles in the corner. Truth hits an axe kick off the top rope onto a steel chair but there’s no referee. Abyss hits a choke slam onto a steel chair but Truth kicks out at two. Abyss eventually hits the Black Hole Slam to get the win at 26:28. That was overly long and never that interesting.
Rating: *½

MATCH #8: NWA World Heavyweight Title Match – Special Referee: Tito Ortiz – “King of the Mountain” Jeff Jarrett vs. “The Phenomenal” AJ Styles

The video package for this match reveals that there’s barely an issue here beyond the fact that AJ Styles beat Abyss last month at Lockdown to earn this title shot. Jarrett has been champion since June 2, 2004, and this is his ninth (two against Ron Killings, two against Jeff Hardy, two against Monty Brown, and one against Kevin Nash and Diamond Dallas Page). Tito Ortiz is introduced first, not wearing a referee’s shirt. I love how Tenay and West put this match over as something they’ve looked forward to for so long, when Jarrett and Styles have wrestled each other about a thousand times in TNA. Styles has even won the title from Jarrett TWICE. Oh, Tito had his ref shirt on UNDER his other shirt. That’s clever. They do some chain wrestling to start as the crowd is very behind the challenger. Jarrett avoids Styles and points to his head, indicating his intelligence. Tenay recalls the rule in TNA that says champions lose their titles via DQ, but I distinctly remember Jarrett losing to Sting by disqualification on one of the weekly pay-per-views in a title match but not losing the belt. Jarrett starts going to work on the legs, to set up for the figure-four. He locks it on and the crowd doesn’t buy it as a finisher for a second. Despite Jarrett working on AJ’s leg for a while, AJ can still springboard around and do all kinds of stuff he shouldn’t be able to do. Ortiz gets physically involved on Jarrett, just to irritate me. Jarrett goes out and grabs the guitar, but Ortiz stops him. AJ then tries to use the guitar but Ortiz stops him too, so AJ breaks it on the ring post just to take it out of play. That’s pretty smart actually. AJ does the springboard reverse DDT on his bad leg. He sets up for the Styles Clash and the crowd doesn’t pop. Jarrett gets out of it and eventually powerbombs AJ for two. He goes for the Stroke but AJ counters it. Jarrett comes back with a powerslam but it gets two. AJ gets a backslide for two. Small package gets two as well. Jarrett goes for the Styles Clash and actually hits it for two. AJ comes back and hits the Stroke but it also gets two. Monty Brown comes in and accidentally gives Jarrett the pounce. I’m not sure how that isn’t a disqualification of some kind. While Ortiz is sending Monty to the back, Rudy Charles comes out and tries to make the count, but Ortiz pulls him out because he alone is the referee. AJ gets in Ortiz’s face, allowing Jarrett to hit a low blow and set AJ up on the top rope. He pushes Ortiz away, so he grabs Jarrett and lays him out. That’s patently unfair. AJ, bad leg and all, goes up to the top and hits the Spiral Tap to get the win and the title for the third time at 19:32. The match was pretty solid, and Ortiz did a fairly good job as referee (until actually knocking Jarrett out, I hate that). The crowd was dead though and AJ sold his leg as he saw convenient, not in any kind of realistic fashion. Monty comes back to check on Jarrett and give AJ the eye, which would be a good idea for the next title program.
Rating: ***¼

The 411: This is a very mediocre show, with only two matches clocking in at *** or higher. None of the matches had a big time feel and knowing the state of flux the company would be in soon after this when the FSN deal ran out and they had to air Impact on the Internet, very little about this show had the feeling that it would matter in the long run. If you’re an AJ Styles mark you’ll want this for the title win, but there isn’t much else here to recommend.

Final Score:  4.0   [ Poor ]