Full NWA TNA PPV Results - 7/23/03 (AJ Styles retains in controversial end)
» On Thursday, July 24, 2003 at 1:30 AM EST
Full NWA TNA PPV Results - 7/23/03
Location: Nashville, TN
Commentators: Mike Tenay & Don West
Report by: Adam Martin of WrestleView.com
- The show began with the 1st of 3 matches between NWA World Heavyweight Champion AJ Styles and challenge D'Lo Brown. AJ Styles defeated D'Lo Brown via interference from Sonny Siaki to claim the first win of the night. Siaki hit the ring when Trinity distracted the referee, allowing him to connect with the Siakalypse.
- "Prime Time" Elix Skipper defeated Mad Mikey (formerly Crash Holly of WWE). For those wondering, Crash Holly's real name is Mike Lockwood, hence the new name. Mikey got a good pop upon his appearance but the fans quickly lost interest. Very fast paced, back and forth match with Mikey getting lots of near falls. Match ended with Skipper hitting Mikey with a spinning bodyslam.
- (Joe E.) Legend defeated Altar Boy Luke & Matt Sydal in a Handicap Match. Before Legend came to the ring, he instructed TNA security (the guys in the black shirts) to escort him to the ring and prevent Jeff Jarrett from interfering in his match. Legend then got on the mic, putting over that he is a Canadian athlete that doesn't approve of all of "us" Americans. Decent match with Luke and Sydal hitting some quick cruiserweight type moves on Legend. Jeff Jarrett appeared at the top of the stage and sat down to watch the match with his guitar. The match ended when Legend hit his Stone Cutter move on both Luke & Sydal to get the "double" pin. After the match was done, Jarrett informed security that the bell had rung. Jarrett hit the ring but was stopped by the TNA security in red shirts. Jarrett and one of the red shirted TNA security guys (Kevin Northcutt) got into a shoving contest until he left Jarrett in the ring.
- D'Lo Brown defeated AJ Styles in the Submission Match via Styles tapping out to the Sharpshooter to claim the second win of the night. When D'Lo first made his way to the ring, Sonny Siaki attacked him from behind and AJ Styles joined in shortly after. Match was very decent as Styles first locked the Sharpshooter on D'Lo only to see D'Lo reach behind and grab Styles leg to take him down and lock him in the Sharpshooter, leading to Styles tapping out (this was the way the Main Event to the 1997 Survivor Series was suppose to happen everyone).
- Mike Tenay interviewed Don Callis, who is now the new Management Consultant for NWA TNA. Callis mentioned that no one wants to see Hardcore wrestling anymore or "scantily clad women" here in TNA. Callis kept referring to the TNA fans as the "customers" to which Tenay disagreed.
- The Big Slap Girls (how original) vs. TNA Dancers Lollipop & April ended in a No Contest. Trinity came out and helped Nurse Veronica beat up on the TNA Dancers.
- The 3 Live Crew (BG James, Ron "The Truth" Killings & Konnan) were on the scene this week in "the hood." BG James was afraid to interview anyone, asking some people in "the hood" if they were packing heat or if they had just purchased a .40 after leaving a grocery store. Killings and Konnan told BG James to impress them or he would get kicked out. BG James went to some beauty store and came out dressed like a pimp with all the pimped out clothes and a fake afro. BG James tried to come off as funny and at times he was. Overall, just not a very good segment.
- America's Most Wanted (Chris Harris & James Storm) defeated Simon Diamond & Johnny Swinger via DQ to retain NWA World Tag Team Titles. Before the match even got started, Glenn Gilberti hit the ring and tried to get Jeremy Borash to dress up like a cow girl so he could be just like America's Most Wanted. AMW hit the ring and started taking out Gilberti when Diamond & Swinger followed in to start the match. The match looked to end with AMW hitting the Death Sentence on Swinger but Gilberti came back out and took out AMW with a bullrope that had a cow bell on it. Gilberti, Diamond and Swinger ended up beating both members of AMW with belts.
- Shane Douglas & The New Church (Slash & Brian Lee) defeated Raven, CM Punk & Julio Dinero via Shane Douglas giving Raven a spear into a table setup in the corner for the win. Pretty good match which saw Raven and Shane Douglas brawl to the outside. While Raven was giving Shane some hard rights, a person dressed in all white pulled Raven by the hair through a curtain and took him away. Douglas did a classic laugh following that. Raven eventually crawled back to the ring with a face full of blood. Raven eventually gave Slash and Brian Lee both Evenflow DDT's and tried to give Jim Mitchell one but it was broken up by Douglas to lead into the finish.
- Part 4 of Sting's interview aired. Sting talked about how he became a full on Christian in August of 1998. Fairly quick interview and the last one.
- Mike Tenay then introduced Corsica Joe, Sara Lee, Ricky Morton, Larry Zbyszko and Harley Race to the TNA ring. Kid Kash then came out and dissed everyone except for Zbyszko for some reason. Kash even called Race a disgrace to the business. Ricky Morton then cut a promo on Kash, saying he wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for them (Morton trained Kash by the way). Kash slapped Morton and then put a choke hold on Sara Lee. Erik Watts hit the ring and gave Kash a big chokeslam. Watts introduced himself as the new Head of Authority in NWA TNA and told Kash to stop by his office anytime he wanted. Harley Race then gave a right hand to Kash to end the segment.
- AJ Styles defeated D'Lo Brown in the Ladder Match to retain NWA World Heavyweight Title to claim the third and final win of the night. Very entertaining and solid match which saw some exciting spots. At one point during the match, both men went to the outside and D'Lo irish whipped Styles into the barricade but Styles slid underneath. Very cool spot. D'Lo setup a table on the outside and put Styles on it followed by climbing up the ladder and jumping off, connecting with a modified frog splash. D'Lo had the match won reaching for the belt when Siaki hit the ring and pushed over the ladder, allowing D'Lo to spill to the outside and hit the table but it didn't break. Finish saw both men on the ladder and pulling the belt off at the same time. From what I saw, the match looked to be ruled a Draw but Jeremy Borash announced over the mic that since Styles was not defeated for the title, he will remain the NWA World Heavyweight Title.
- The show ended with Vince Russo hugging AJ Styles' NWA World Title and Trinity helping out Styles.
MATCHES ANNOUNCED FOR NEXT WEEK:
NWA TNA EVENT REVIEW: PLEASE keep in mind that this is my review of tonight's NWA TNA show. These opinions do not directly reflect my opinion as a whole of the TNA product. This is simply my response to the July 23rd, 2003 Pay Per View event...
LIKES:
- First off, the new set looks great and really makes the show much more presentable (this was the first time I have seen it since I haven't ordered a TNA PPV since late last year).
- The video packages, although not WWE quality, were fairly decent and understandable if you weren't caught up.
- Commentary was good (I still can't get into Don West).
- The three matches between AJ Styles and D'Lo Brown were great, especially the final Ladder Match. Both of these guys work well together. AJ is really proving to be a great and worthy NWA World Heavyweight Champion.
- You gotta love the emotion Shane Douglas puts into his promos after all these years.
- Raven continues to impress me everytime I see him wrestle or cut a promo. He did screw up the name of the match he created himself however. It was funny when he corrected himself on the air, saying he was so excited he mispronounced it.
DISLIKES:
- Okay, I understand TNA is proud of having individual videos for each wrestler but do we really have to watch it repeat itself for 15 seconds while the wrestler is already half-way to the ring? That Crash Holly, excuse me Mad Mikey, video was very cheesy might I add.
- The fans seem to be dead unless known superstars are in the ring (Jarrett, Raven, D'Lo, Styles, others).
- The 3 Live Crew segments is the worst idea TNA has come up with yet. If anything killed my opinion of TNA tonight, that segment did it for me.
- I know I will get knocked for this one but after hearing the hype by Jeremy Borash for so many weeks and Trey/JSK from WrestlingNewsLive.com, I can't say I agree 100% that America's Most Wanted is the best tag team today. Don't get me wrong, I don't think they suck. But after watching tonight's effort, they could have done better. Keep in mind that I didn't see the first ever TNA Cage Match that involved AMW and Triple X. I do feel they deserve the NWA Tag Team Title straps but hopefully they can pick up the pace next week.
- I still feel like I am watching a glorified ECW when I view a TNA PPV event. The graphics and overall look of the production has improved but when you see the 300 people or less, it still hurts the quality of the show by not performing in an arena with "lots of space" instead of a small arena as they do now. Hell, even ECW performed in bigger places.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
- Here comes the dreaded task of comparing TNA to WWE. Do I feel WWE is very good right now? No. Is TNA better storyline wise? Maybe.
If it came down to it, which would you rather watch? WWE or TNA. My answer still to this day would be WWE hands down. Now to explain myself. It is not like I hate TNA. The product is still entertaining. However, if TNA was to get a TV deal, I would still focus my attention on WWE. I am glad TNA is alive and kicking. We need competition like this. I will still continue to support and cover the product. I just simply enjoy WWE more, despite the state of it right now.
I can't make you agree with me however. Give TNA a try. You might like it. Don't get me wrong. I enjoyed tonight's show very much. I am just pointing out my opinion thats all.
However, don't look for a detailed TNA recap like this next week. I won't be getting the show.