Message-ID: 

Here's my review of the latest outing from NWA TNA, based on "how
much money was this match worth?"  At the end, I add it all up and
see if the PPV as a whole was worth the sum of its matches.

First of all, when I searched on my (Charter) on-screen guide, they
made it almost impossible to find the PPV.  I started looking at
7:00 shows this morning and no NWA TNA features were there.  I used
three different searches on their menu before I was able to find any
TNA PPVs.  And when I did, it showed everything priced at $9.95
except for a Thursday morning one cent PPV.

Luckily, I later went to Zap2It.com, where it listed the channel
that should be showing the one cent PPV.  At that point I was able
to find it on the cable menus and ordered it.

I also didn't realize that if I order it on one of my televisions,
it will still be scrambled on all the rest of the televisions in the
house.  That's annoying.

Other general comments I'll make before getting into the match
specifics:

Mike Tenay is a breath of fresh air after all the horrible
announcers employed by WWE.  

Don West is kind of an annoying hick, but is probably still better
than most of the WWE color commentators.  Still, I'd wish they'd
find someone better before they grow the company any more.

Vince Russo should never be on air (and probably shouldn't be
involved in booking either).  He does look tons better without the
beard, though.  I didn't recognize him until the announcers
mentioned it was him.

I really don't need to see Jeff Jarrett in half of the matches on
the show.  Hell, if I watched this every week I'd be happy if he had
less than one match a month.  I realize the logic is that since he
owns the company and is going to pay himself what he makes no matter
how often he wrestles, he might as well wrestle every week, but I
really don't enjoy him (either cheering for him or wanting to see
him get beat up).  He just has that "go away" heat that doesn't put
asses in the seats.  I also realize the logic in pushing himself in
the main events, since he's really the only wrestler that can be
counted on being in the league without jumping ship, but signing the
better guys to exclusive contracts (or at least "can't wrestle for
WWE" contracts) would take care of that.

I also wouldn't be saddened if I never saw Shane Douglas again in my
lifetime.  He's another guy that has "go away" heat.

It's nice to see talents like Jim Mitchell and Raven earning a
living from the business they're so good at.

The building looks tons better than the last NWA TNA PPV I ordered.
The pain job helped more than I would have expected.  The lighting
rigs look better than ECW ever had, too.

Before the first match, they showed rapid clips of all the highspots
from the past year.  That was probably better than anything else
shown in the two hours.

NOTE:  I may not have the order of the matches correct as I got them
from the NWATNA.com web site.

1.  Ultimate X (Michael Shane vs Chris Sabin vs Frankie Kazarian)

Easily match of the night.  I'm not sure if it would have been
better to see it in its entirety or not (they kept cutting away, and
I inferred that the belt accidentally fell twice and had to be put
back up above the ring).  While it would have been nice to see the
entire match, it probably would have meant that they would have had
to take out half of the matches on this "best of" PPV to sho it.

I got a good laugh at Don Callis explaining the concept of the match
with a hand-drawn picture of the ring, with a pole extending from
each ring post and a cable connecting each opposite corner (to form
an "X" in the middle of the ring where the belt would be).  There
was even some laundry drawn hung on the cables!

Ladders were not allowed, so the wrestlers had to climb the poles in
the corner and then go hand over hand on the cables to the center of
the ring to get the belt.  Good concept, but with the small ring
size it only takes a couple of seconds to get from the corner to the
belt.  By the end, they were taking much smaller steps on the cables
so that the other wrestlers could foil their plans without having to
wait next to the belt for too long.

I don't think I've seen any of these three wrestle before.  They had
a few decent high-spots, but I would have expected something better
given that people were calling this a match of the year candidate.

There was blood, which helped the match, and I really liked the
concept, but I still think it could have been better with wrestlers
like Kid Kash, Slim J, Air Paris, etc.

MATCH RATING: $4.80


2.  Triple X vs America's Most Wanted (Steel Cage Match)

This was TNA's first cage match.  It wasn't a "climb over the top to
win" rules; the cage was simply there to stop outside interference.
That didn't stop Elix Skipper (and sometimes others) from climbing
to the top a bunch of times.  Speaking of Elix, he seems to have
bulked up a lot, but also seems to have lost a bunch of his cool
moves.  He had one or two new moves that I hadn't seen before (and I
liked) but I think it is a net decrease in workrate since his WCW
days.  The three white guys bled, which helped the intensity of the
match.

MATCH RATING: $2.70 


3.  AJ Styles vs D-LO Brown (Steel Cage Match)

I was never a fan of D-Lo Brown (though I have to admit he does a
better frog splash than either RVD or Eddie Guerrero (both of whom I
mark for)) but he seemed okay in this match.  AJ Styles looks to
have lost several steps from his days in NWA Wildside.  Maybe he's
taking fewer chances in order to lengthen his career, but if his
matches suffer from it, people may not care as much how long his
career is.

MATCH RATING: $2.50


4.  Sting & Jeff Jarrett vs AJ Styles & Sean Waltman 

I'm sure Sting being on the cards bumped up their PPV buys, but
personally, I'd rather see another X Division match than see Sting
plod around the ring looking menacing.  To be honest, he hasn't been
all that great since he stopped roiding out and changed from the
spikey blond hair to the long dark hair.  It was nice to see Waltman
again, though they didn't show much of the match while he was in the
ring, so I couldn't see if he was a great as everyone said he was
when he first showed up in TNA.

MATCH RATING: $1.50


5.  Raven vs Jeff Jarrett 

Ugh.

MATCH RATING: $0.30


6.  Raven vs AJ Styles vs Jeff Jarrett 

Would have been pretty good without Jeff Jarrett.  Would have been
even better if it had been two matches: AJ Styles in an X Division
match and Raven in a hardcore match.

MATCH RATING: $0.70

- = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = -

TOTAL MATCH RATINGS: $12.50

ADD IN $1.50 for Mike Tenay and the short Don Callis bit

TOTAL PPV RATING: $14.00

NWA TNA price of the PPV: $0.01 (plus some fees and taxes that I
won't know about until my cable bill comes).  By that measure, I
easily got my money's worth.

I wish they had shown more of the X Division, as that was by far the
best match of the night.  The Raven storyline looks like it would
have been a lot more interesting if he were allowed to win a match
every now and then.  I realize the thrill is in the chase and that
he'll probably come out on top in the end, but if you don't throw
the fans a bone every once in a while--they'll give up on the chase.

If this were on Mondays opposite Raw, there is no question that this
would get my vote every week.  But I don't see me paying $520 a year
for it either.  Hopefully, they'll be able to get a cable deal soon.

Roddy Piper will be back next week, so there's no chance I'll be
ordering that (as it means less time for X Division matches).

- = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = -

For comparison, here's what I thought of the PPVs I saw in the last
couple of years:

WWF Wrestlemania 1998         1998/03/   unrated
WCW Spring Stampede 1998      1998/04/19 $24.10
WWF IYH: Unforgiven 1998      1998/04/26 $ 9.95
WCW Slamboree 1998            1998/05/17 $27.95
WCW Great American Bash 1998  1998/06/14 $28.05
WWF King of the Ring 1998     1998/06/28 $22.50
WCW Bash at the Beach 1998    1998/07/12 $17.35
ECW Heatwave 1998             1998/08/02 $24.90
WCW Road Wild 1998            1998/08/08 $29.80
WWF IYH: Fully Loaded 1998    1998/07/26 $ 6.95
WWF SummerSlam 1998           1998/08/30 $10.20
WCW Fall Brawl 1998           1998/09/13 $23.60
WWF Judgement Day 1998        1998/10/18 $25.10
WCW Halloween Havoc 1998      1998/10/25 $49.50
ECW November to Remember 1998 1998/11/01 $25.75
WWF Survivor Series 1998      1998/11/15 $21.40
WWF IYH: Rock Bottom 1999     1998/12/13 $ 8.40
ECW Guilty as Charged 1999    1999/01/10 $26.10
WCW Souled Out 1999           1999/01/17 $29.10
WWF Royal Rumble 1999         1999/01/24 $23.00
WWF St Val Day Massacre 1999  1999/02/14 $20.90
WCW SuperBrawl 1999           1999/02/21 $21.35
WCW Uncensored 1999           1999/03/14 $32.00
ECW Living Dangerously 1999   1999/03/21 $25.90
WCW Spring Stampede 1999      1999/04/11 $38.00
WCW Slamboree 1999            1999/05/09 $21.10
ECW Hardcore Heaven 1999      1999/05/09 $15.30
WWF King of the Ring 1999     1999/06/27 $13.40
WCW Bash at the Beach 1999    1999/07/11 $20.70
WWF Fully Loaded 1999         1999/07/25 $10.80
WCW Road Wild 1999            1999/08/14 $13.90
WWF SummerSlam 1999           1999/08/22 $19.05
WCW Fall Brawl 1999           1999/09/12 $12.85
ECW Ararchy Rulz 1999         1999/09/19 $32.25
WWF No Mercy 1999             1999/10/17 $13.00
WCW Halloween Havoc 1999      1999/10/24 $ 3.35
ECW November to Remember 1999 1999/11/07 $28.45
WWF Survivor Series 1999      1999/11/14 $10.95
WCW Meyhem 1999               1999/11/21 $17.75
WWF Armageddon 1999           1999/12/12 $22.05
WCW Starrcade 1999            1999/12/19 $23.65
ECW Guilty as Charged         2000/01/09 $25.70
WCW Souled Out                2000/01/16 $13.20
WWF Royal Rumble              2000/01/23 $20.00
WWF No Way Out                2000/02/27 $16.95
ECW Living Dangerously        2000/03/12 $21.80
WCW Uncensored                2000/03/19 $21.65
WWF WrestleMania              2000/04/02 $22.05
WCW Spring Stampede           2000/04/16 $23.70
WWF Backlash                  2000/04/30 $25.65
WCW Slamboree                 2000/05/07 $23.55
ECW Hardcore Heaven           2000/05/14 $23.05
WWF Judgment Day              2000/05/21 $11.25
WCW Great American Bash       2000/06/11 $16.55
WWF King of the Ring          2000/06/25 $ 1.40
WCW Bash at the Beach         2000/07/09 missed
ECW Heat Wave                 2000/07/16 $15.50
WWF Fully Loaded              2000/07/23 $24.40
WCW New Blood Rising          2000/08/13 $31.00
WWF SummerSlam                2000/08/27 $24.90
WCW                           2000/09/17 missed
WWF Unforgiven                2000/09/24 $16.65
ECW Anarchy Rulz              2000/10/01 $21.30
ECW                           2000/11/   missed
WWF Survivor Series           2000/11/   missed
ECW Massacre on 34th Street   2000/12/03 $ 9.65
WWF                           2000/12/   missed
ECW Guilty As Charged         2001/01/07 $15.70
WWF                           2001/01/   missed
WCW Superbrawl Revenge        2001/02/18 $37.60
WCW Greed                     2001/03/   missed
WWF WrestleMania              2001/04/01 $29.50
WWF                           2001/05/   missed
WWF King of the Ring          2001/06/24 $16.55
WWF Invasion                  2001/07/22 $15.25
WWF SummerSlam                2001/08/   missed
WWF                           2001/09/   missed
WWF                           2001/10/   missed
WWF Survivor Series           2001/11/18 $11.25
WWF Royal Rumble              2002/01/20 $14.15
WWF No Way Out                2002/02/17 $ 3.40
WWF WrestleMania              2002/03/17 $25.30/$36.40
WWF King of the Ring          2002/06/23 $ 6.55/$10.15
NWA TNA                       2002/08/14 $11.60/$12.20
WWF SummerSlam                2002/08/25 $21.10/$21.10
WWF Unforgiven                2002/09/22 $17.50/$21.15
WWF No Mercy                  2002/10/20 $16.85/$20.00
WWF Survivor Series           2002/11/17 $ 7.50/$ 9.20
WWF Royal Rumble              2003/01/19 $19.55/$19.55
WWF WrestleMania XIX          2003/03/30 $22.55/$23.45
WWE SummerSlam                2003/08/24 $16.25/$16.55
NWA TNA                       2003/09/10 $12.50/$14.00

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