Where Are They Now: TNA Slammiversary 2005

WELCOME: TNA’s Slammiversary is this weekend, and with that being the case, I decided to put together a couple TNA Slammiversary themed columns. I have watched TNA since day one, and have been through all of the weekly, monthly and what ever else PPVs as well as the TV. Through a lot of drama, since almost the very beginning, TNA has survived and get to celebrate their latest “Slammiversary” this weekend. 2005 was the year of the first Slammiversary PPV, but instead of doing just another review of the show, I thought we would look back at the performers that appeared on the show to see what they were doing now and look at how many, if any, were still with the company. I do not pretend that this is a new idea, but was hoping that it would be a fun feature.

Shark Boy defeated Amazing Red, Delirious, Elix Skipper, Jerrelle Clark and Zach Gowen [**½]: Shark Boy was a big fan favorite in TNA, both in his original version as a goofy cult hero, and also as his “Stone Cold Sharky” persona. He made TNA appearances as late as 2015, and in November of 2015, he helped police catch a registered sex offender who was peeping in the windows of one of his neighbor’s houses in Kettering, Ohio. Amazing Red was an X-Division favorite early in TNA’s history. He was slowed by severe knee injuries, and is likely most remembered for causing Don West to nearly have an aneurysm on air. Red is still an active wrestler, and also runs the house of Glory wrestling school. Delirious (aka Lizard Man) never did much with TNA, and is an ROH mainstay and now booker for the promotion. He is a part time wrestler, working approximately 15 matches in the last year and a half. Elix Skipper was a performer that was a ton of fun, and is best known for his run with xXx, and his awesome cage walk RANA that TNA has replayed to death and rightfully so. Skipper has a six-year run with TNA, and retired in 2009. His last match was against Tyler Black for NWA No Limits, Black went onto become an ROH World Champion and signed with WWE and now goes by Seth Rollins. Jerrelle Clark was a mainstay of the Florida independents, working a lot of WXW, FIP and Pro Wrestling RIOT. He was a likable X-Division enhancement talent, and often tagged with Mikey Batts. He retired in 2011. Finally we come to Zach Gowen. Gowen had a short run with TNA, and was then signed to WWE, after they signed the wrong one-legged wrestler. Gowen is still an active wrestler, and is expected to appear on the new season of American Ninja Warrior. None of the participants from the match are currently with TNA.

Shocker defeated Alex Shelley [***]: Shocker was a CMLL star, who gained some popularity in the US when he did a McDonald’s commercial. The story goes that he caught the eye of Dusty Rhodes, and was brought in when Hector Garza got blocked from entering the US when he got caught with steroids. Shocker never got over huge with the TNA audience, and a lot of that was due to the poor booking involved with the man. For someone that they wanted to be a big star, he was never treated that way. After his short TNA stint, he did some time in AAA, and has been working CMLL and Mexican independents ever since and from what I pick up, is a guy that can’t be depended on. Alex Shelley left TNA in 2012. He found success in NJPW, winning the IWGP Junior Tag Titles three times, but had consistency issues due to some unfortunate injuries. He is now back in Ring of Honor, and is once again teaming with Motor City Machine Guns partner Chris Sabin. None of the participants from the match are currently with TNA.

Ron Killings defeated The Outlaw [*]: Ron Killings is of course everyone’s favorite wacky character, R-Truth in WWE. Killings was with TNA when it opened and worked there through 2007. He had a run as the champion, a two year run with the 3 Live Krew, and then fell into a bit player role and even tagged with some kid from Georgia named Consequences Creed. I wonder what ever happened to that guy. Killings would return to WWE in 2008, and has been pushed to varying degrees by the company, once challenging John Cena on PPV for the WWE Title. At the age of 44, Killings has found a groove as a fan favorite comedy character, keeping a position on the card and in his free time still working on his music. The Outlaw was none other than Billy Gunn. When he arrived in TNA, he was unnamed and then started to go with “The new Age Outlaw,’ WWE attorney Jerry McDevitt attacked and TNA had him go by the Outlaw before moving onto Kip James. James was a part of TNA for four years, working with Jeff Jarrett, then a run with Road Dogg as the James Gang/Voodoo Kin Mafia (mocking WWE) and then as Cute Kip with the Beautiful People. Gunn returned to the WWE fold in 2012, did some main roster work, but was primarily a trainer with NXT. That was all ended in November of 2015, when news that he failing a test for performance enhancing drugs (at a power lifting event in the summer) was revealed. He is now back on the independent scene. None of the participants from the match are currently with TNA.

The Naturals (Andy Douglas and Chase Stevens) defeated Team Canada (Eric Young and Petey Williams) [***]: The Naturals (Andy Douglas and Chase Stevens) worked the Memphis territory and got picked up by TNA in 2003. They were a team that the company focused on, feuding them with America’s Most Wanted, joining Planet Jarrett and were even given Chris Candido, Jimmy Hart and Shane Douglas as managers. The Naturals were a fine team to have around for the company, but you could tell that TNA wanted them to be much more than they were, and they just never felt like stars, which is how TNA tried to push them as. Douglas retired back in 2010, losing his last match to partner Chase Stevens. Stevens is still working, and even did TNA One Night Only appearances with former Hot Shots tag team partner Cassidy Riley. Petey Williams had a run with TNA from 2004 through 2009, left for a while and then returned in 2013-2014. Williams was a very fun and consistent X-Division performer and tag team wrestler, who went from the generic Canadian guy to Maple Leaf Muscle, and had an odd but entertaining relationship with Scott Steiner. Williams was always a favorite of mine, and like a lot of guys, was constantly hurt by TNA’s inconsistent booking. Williams retired back in 2014, losing to Chris Sabin in his final match. His biggest contribution to TNA was bringing the Canadian Destroyer out of the shadows of the independents and making it a regular part of TNA and PPV for the company. After an early appearance as enhancement, Eric Young debuted properly as Showtime Eric Young at the 2004 TNA World X Cup, which is coincidentally the first show I ever reviewed for 411. Young spent 12-years in TNA, and is the definition of a guy that did it all. He was an asshole heel, he was a loved babyface (don’t fire Eric!), he was a super hero and was even afraid of his own pyro. The man held the knockouts tag team titles, the tag team titles, the X-Division title, was the Legends/Global/Television/King of the Mountain Champion, won a beer drinking championship and wore the turkey suit two times, winning that special tournament, and was also the world champion. Young left TNA in March of 2016; the guy really did it all in the company, both in the best of ways and the worst. None of the participants from the match are currently with TNA.

Samoa Joe defeated Sonjay Dutt [**¾]: Samoa Joe had an amazing run in ROH as a dominant champion, and when he made his way to the TNA roster, Joe was welcomed with open arms. There was a great buzz for him, and the anticipation of his arrival was really big at the time. Joe’s run in TNA certainly had its ups and downs; there were times where they really squandered him with poor booking, but his successes are some of the biggest in the company history. The feuds with Styles and Daniels as well as Kurt Angle are that of TNA legend, and the man is part of one of the biggest gates and THE biggest PPV buyrate in TNA History (Lockdown against Kurt Angle). Joe and TNA parted way sin 2015, and after a short trip back to ROH, he signed with WWE and as of this writing, is the NXT champion. For the longest time, Sonjay Dutt was my wife’s favorite X-Division wrestler. She thought he was fun, and when he was a smart ass she smiled at his antics. Dutt was with TNA from 2003 through 2009, and is unfortunately best known by many TNA fans as the “best X-Division talent to never win the X-Division Title.” After his departure, he would make occasional appearances on Impact and the One Night Only shows, and is now on staff with Jeff Jarrett’s Global Force Wrestling. On top of being a part of the staff, he is also the GFW NEX*GEN champion. None of the participants from the match are currently with TNA.

Bobby Roode (with Coach D’Amore) defeated Lance Hoyt [**]: Much like Eric Young, Bobby Roode is another man who was with TNA for 12-years, also making his debut on that World X-Cup show. Roode was a great asset to TNA, and then wanted to push him as a singles several times, but it never clicked until the turn on James Storm. Ever since he had that heel run, he was a star for the company on a different level. He and Young were two-time NWA tag champion, he held the TNA tag titles six times, the KOTM title once and the TNA title two times. Roode’s TNA run had a lot of high points, but will likely be remembered for the Beer Money run; that seems to be the one thing that people always discuss. Roode, like Young, left the company is March of 2016. Coach Scott D’Amore was the owner of Border City Wrestling, and had a presence in TNA from 2003 through 2010 both on screen and off. He worked as a manager, road agent and also worked on the company’s creative team. The 2005 time when TNA had no TV in the US, but still produced shows, was a refreshing time with D’Amore as a main booker. I enjoyed D’Amore a lot as an on screen character, and his dedication to get the knockouts going was something that doesn’t get mentioned enough. He currently serves as the Vice President of International Relations for Jarrett’s Global Force Wrestling. Lance Hoyt worked with TNA from 2004 through 2009 to varying degrees of success. He was introduced as Kid Kash’s tag team partner, had a solid singles run where he gained popularity within the Impact Zone, and then had a run with the Rock ‘N Rave Infection. Following his run in TNA, he had a stint in WWE (2009-2010) and made his way to NJPW. Hoyt has finally found real success as a tag team guy, teaming with Davey Boy Smith Jr as Killer Elite Squad. They have been two-time IWGP Tag Team Champions, two-time NWA World Tag Team Champions and have also won NOAH’s GHC Tag Team Champions. None of the participants from the match are currently with TNA.

America’s Most Wanted (Chris Harris and James Storm) defeated 3Live Kru (BG James and Konnan) [**]: Following his big run in AAA and time in WCW, Konnan was not wanted by WWE (still some heat over the whole Max Moon gimmick) and ended up with TNA in 2003. He stayed until with the company through 2007, and is mostly remembered for the awesome run as the spokesman of LAX. He needed hip replacement surgery and a kidney transplant surgery, and then got into a messy legal battle with the company. He sued TNA for racism and discrimination, alleging that the company said that they would help pay for his hip replacement surgery but didn’t. He went back to AAA, and also worked with Lucha Underground; his character was killed off in Lucha Underground and he’s reportedly on the outs with AAA. BG James worked TNA on and off from 2002 through 2009. He had a lot of roles in the company (the masked Bullet facing Jarrett, the 3LK, The James Gang, the Voodoo Kin Mafia) while there. Once he left, he worked independents and then returned in 2011. The New Age Outlaws had a short run back on WWE TV, but James has now settled into an outside the ring role, working behind the scenes as an agent and writer for WWE. Chris Harris was the chosen one from early on in his TNA career. American’s Most Wanted is one of the top tag teams created by TNA, and along with Beer Money were cornerstones of the tag ranks through out the company’s tenure. But Jarrett always saw something in Russo, and the design was always to have him be “The Shawn Michaels” of the team. He was with TNA from the beginning until 2008; they tried a few singles pushes, but the lack of a sustained push and or poor booking constantly held him back. TNA released him in 2008, and shortly after that he signed with WWE. He only lasted eight months as “Braden Walker,” and was released. Harris fell off as he had gained weight and was never the same during the end of his TNA run in 2008. He made a short return in 2001, teaming with Matt hardy and losing to Beer Money. According to Cage Match, Harris hasn’t wrestled since 2013. Finally we come to James Storm, another man who has been there) for the most part) since day one. Like Roode and Young, he was a mainstay who won both the NWA and TNA world titles seven times (that’s each) and also won the world title. Storm was seemingly done with TNA in 2015, and made a few appearances for NXT; TNA reportedly made him a better money deal and he returned to the company in January of 2016. James Storm is the first man from this card that is still with TNA.

Christopher Daniels defeated Chris Sabin (with Trinity) and Michael Shane (with Traci) [****]: Christopher Daniels has been around for so long that he got heat the first day of wrestling school for leaving his sandals at home. While there were a couple of short breaks in the run; Daniels was a TNA mainstay from 2002 through 2014. Without question Daniels was an important building block for both ROH and TNA. The one thing that really bothers me about Daniels’ TNA run is that he never got a chance to win the world title. There were a few times during his run where it would have worked very well for him and the company, but they never pulled the trigger. Daniels is now working in ROH with tag team partner Frankie Kazarian. Trinity was a stuntwoman who got into wrestling in 2002, and then had a run in TNA from 2003 to 2005. She was the first woman to challenge for one of the men’s titles in TNA (the X-Division title) and later feuded with Traci Brooks over who would be the assistant to the Director of Authority, Dusty Rhodes. She would leave TNA, and after a successful tryout got a WWE developmental deal. He got TV time on the ECW brand, but was then releases in 2007. Trinity never felt as if she wanted to be a full time wrestler, and honestly came off better as an addition to an act; she had a great look and could do impressive things that were an asset. Unfortunately when she had work matches of any real length, she was quickly exposed. She basically retired after that, making a few in ring appearances (2008 and 2012 for independent appearances and then 2013 for a TNA One Night only appearance) but mainly focused on her stunt work. She also competed in roller derby. Chris Sabin had a great stint in TNA (2003 through 2014), working from the early days as an X-Division guy, his tag run with the Motor City Machine Guns, and even won the TNA world title in an angle that could have been and should have been so much more. Sabin was an incredibly reliable performer for the company, an all star of the Ultimate X match, and was still a quality performer after his ACL injuries. His departure wasn’t unexpected; he did a lot, they seemingly had no clue what to do with him and he didn’t seem motivated at the end. Sabin is now in Ring of Honor, reunited with Motor City Machine Guns Alex Shelley. Traci Brooks started making appearances for TNA back in 2003, serving as a manager (Shane and Roode) being the assistant to Dusty Rhodes, serving as Knockout Law and also worked a wrestler. Her booking was largely inconsistent throughout her run, but Brooks did her job well. In 2011 she had some title matches for the Knockouts singles and tag team titles, before being released on April of 2012. Brooks married Frankie Kazarian back in 2010, they had a son in 2013 and she officially retired from wrestling in 2015. Michael Shane is a guy I always felt bad for. He debuted in 1999, and came in at a time where some fans just did not understand that every second-generation wrestler (or wrestler related to a wrestler) was going to be a superstar. Shane was not only trained by Shawn Michaels, he was his cousin, so of course people expected him to be Shawn and he never was; because no one will ever be Shawn Michaels. Shane carved out a good role as an X-Division and tag guy, before being wasted in the Serotonin stable. He made a return to TNA for a One Night Only appearance, and worked his last match in 2015 for Global Force Wrestling. None of the participants from the match are currently with TNA.

Raven defeated AJ Styles, Abyss, Monty Brown and Sean Waltman [****]: Raven was a big acquisition at the time. He received his WWE release and opted out of his no-compete clause, and two days later debuted on TNA PPV, attacking Jeff Jarrett and stealing the NWA Title. Raven spent seven years in TNA, and while they got the NWA Title on him too late, his early run produced some really fun TV. Health problems and poor booking hurt his later TNA run, but his initial debut and run at Jarrett was some very enjoyable TV and gave fans hope that others could jump to the promotion. Raven guests on a lot of shoot style interviews, and has only appeared minimally over the last few years as an in ring performer. Monty Brown was a guy that early on in TNA was a complete non-factor, but when the alpha male returned and started to talk about the Serengeti, his charisma shined and he became a player. Monty Brown is a guy that should have been the TNA champion, and in 2005 they had a big chance to do that at Final Resolution. Unfortunately it was another shit finish with Jeff Jarrett retaining, and everyone saying how we needed to let it play out and that it was all part of the plan. The plan was for him to align with Jeff Jarrett, and it sucked. The night Monty Brown lost was a night a lot of fans got turned away from TNA, because they felt shafted. Brown signed with WWE in 2006, and appeared on the ECW brand. He left in June of 2007 to deal with family issues, and was released in September of 2007. He has been retired ever since. Sean Waltman appeared sporadically for TNA between 2002 and 2006, and depending on the appearance, you’d get a different performance. Waltman has been candid about his issues with drugs, and struggled through that during this time period. One time he was all in, and actually replaced Jeff hardy (a no show) and worked a really fun Clockwork Orange House of Fun match with Raven at Hard Justice 2005. Luster that same year, he won the Candido cup with Alex Shelley, and then no showed the tag title shot that he and Shelley had earned at Unbreakable 2005. He had a return in 2010, but his diagnosis for hepatitis C caused issues with the Missouri Athletic Commission, and he was written off TV. At the age of 43, Waltman is still wrestling, though less than he has in previous years. He has also made occasional WWE appearances, both live, and on the WWE Network and on DVDs. Outside of a brief tease of going to WWE, Abyss has stayed with TNA. He is loyal to the brand, and has repeatedly said that he wants to stay with the company that built him. Abyss is a guy that has been there to do all kinds of shit for the company, some good, some bad, but the guys seems genuinely happy with the company. Early on he showed a ton of potential, and realized that in some tremendous efforts with AJ Styles and later Christian. There was one point in TNA history where the dude was bleeding every week on TV, and I felt that they really abused the fact that he got so into that hardcore deal. A lot of people hate the Abyss character, and I get why, but I still appreciate his earlier work where he was actually trying to become a great big man wrestler. After a period of being stale (in my opinion), he’s now doing his best work in a long time with the Decay stable.

Jeff Jarrett may have started it, Sting may have helped expand it and Kurt Angle may have been their biggest acquisition ever, but AJ Styles is, was and likely always will be Mr. TNA. Signed after an impressive outing against Christopher Daniels at the NWA Anniversary show, Styles not only became Mr. TNA, but we got to see him grow up in their ring. He was there from the beginning, he lasted until 2013, and did everything for the company. He was a heel, he was a face, he was a poor Ric Flair clone, he was an X-Division star, a tag team star and the world champion. Styles went from being an athletic spot wrestler to a great highflier, he then went from great highflier to a better character performer and eventually he became a great professional wrestler. Styles, like many, had his good and bad runs in the company (as far as the booking goes) but he was their constant. AJ was always there when they needed an X-Division star to prop the division back up, he was there when they needed a tag team top carry things for a while, he was there when they needed a main event star/world champion and he was there each and every time they signed a “big name star” that always washed out and never helped the company actually grow. I always felt that while TNA gave AJ Styles a lot (as far as a platform on national TV goes) that they ultimately failed him. AJ Styles should have been their big star; he could have been the best thing that they created. AJ had shots, but they always came after down times for him, and by the time they decide to get with him again, people have a hard time taking him seriously. It always felt as if AJ was the fall back guy when the big star didn’t pan out; he was always there, but just when you thought they would go with him, the star of the month that was cool in the 90s arrived, and AJ took the back seat again. Styles left TNA in 2013, as the promotion wanted to cut his guaranteed money and he finally decided that enough was enough. Styles embarked on a great run with NJPW, had a return run with ROH and is now in WWE; something I thought I’d never see. Abyss is the second, and final person, from this card that is still with TNA.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”