TNA Weekly PPV #6
Tennessee State Fairground Sports Arena
Nashville, Tennessee
July 24, 2002

Jeff Jarrett opened the show by attacking security with chairs and demanding Ken Shamrock come to the ring and gives him an NWA title shot. Shamrock destroyed like eight security guys and locked them in the back. Bill Behrens demanded Jarrett leave the ring but Jarrett hit him square on the head with a chair. Shamrock came out and beat up Jarrett for a while until Monty Brown and Sonny Siaki pulled him off. Jarrett took this opportunity to hit Shamrock with a chair. Jarrett was suspended for 60 days. This was a perfectly fine build, bar some abhorrent chair shots, toward a Jarrett vs. Shamrock match that never happened.

Amazing Red vs. Low Ki

This was Red’s TNA debut. Red took it to Low Ki in the early stages until Ki smashed him with a rolling Liger kick. Low Ki grounded Red and took control with submissions and strikes. Red swept Low Ki’s legs and made his way to his feet in one movement and followed with a Red Star Press for a near fall. Red hit the Code Red but Low Ki kicked out. They had an exchange where each dodged a series of strike attempts, which bordered on contrived but you couldn’t fault their timing, which ended in Red connecting with a spin kick. That looked pretty cool at least. Red missed the Infrared, Low Ki followed with the Tidal Crush and the Ki Crusher to pick up the win. This was a tremendous debut for Red. He looked great, Low Ki generously gave him a lot and he got over. All the sequences and exchanges were crisp. This was really good stuff. ***1/4

The Hot Shots (Chase Stevens and Cassidy Riley) vs. Chris Harris and James Storm

Harris and Storm argued backstage before the match over Storm’s cowboy getup. The Hot Shots attacked Harris and Storm a few weeks ago, costing Harris and Storm a tag title match. The Hot Shots worked over Storm for a while including a lovely splitleg moonsault by Riley. Stevens (sort of) missed a moonsault allowing Storm to tag in Harris.  Storm hit Riley with an 8 Second Ride and Harris followed with a Northern Lights suplex on Stevens for the win. The Hot Shots laid out Harris and Storm after the match. Simple formula tag team match. **

Apolo vs. Brian Lawler

Lawler choked Apolo with a chain soon followed by a missile dropkick. Apolo made a comeback and Lawler got his mouth busted open. Lawler danced for a little while and got rolled up. This was a nothing match. Apolo was fine but he was never the star TNA clearly wanted him to be. Lawler choked Don West in frustration after the match. *  

Ron Killings made his way to the ring and announced that he was the Truth. Killings said he’s been held down by “them”. He ranted about the mistreatment of Alan Iverson and Daryl Strawberry and O.J. Simpson. He was interrupted by Monty Brown. Monty gave out to Killings for moaning about “them”. Monty said Truth can talk the talk but can’t walk the walk. Killings called Monty a sell out so they brawled for a while before Monty laid Truth out with an Alpha Bomb. Basically the implication was that Truth felt he was being held down because of racism and Monty told him to shut up.

NWA World Tag Team Championships
The Flying Elvises (Jorge Estrada and Jimmy Yang w/ Sonny Siaki) vs. AJ Styles and Jerry Lynn©  

Sonny Siaki was on commentary but was barely audible because his mic was turned down too low. In an interview with Mike Tenay before the match, AJ and Lynn said they were getting along now. Lynn and Styles harmoniously controlled the early stages until Styles went for a crossbody but ate Yang’s knees. The Elvises worked over Styles for a while before Styles eventually made the hot tag to Lynn. Lynn hit a slingshot crossbody on Estrada, Yang followed with a springboard moonsault and Styles went for a dive of his own but Siaki pushed Yang and Estrada out of the way leading to Styles catching Lynn instead. Lynn was busted open by this. As Styles looked to hit the Spiral Tap but Lynn scored a quick pin on Estrada to retain the titles. This angered Styles. That finish was a bit of a mess. It’s clear what they were going for but the match grinded to a halt for a minute or two before it happened. Considering the time they had and the talent in the ring I was hoping for more from this. **1/4

Glenn Gilbertti sat on a couch on the stage and gloated for a few minutes about how great he was and all he achieved. He wanted to teach other wrestlers to be more entertaining. On the next talk show Gilbertti will debut his new talk show “Jive Talking”. It took him five straight minutes of talking to get to the point.

Simon Diamond and Johnny Swinger vs. Elix Skipper and Monty Brown

I don’t have a huge problem with tag matches all following a similar formula but three in the same show is a bit tiresome. Diamond and Swinger got the heat on Skipper, Monty got the hot tag and won with an Alpha Bomb on Diamond. More or less a squash match. Ron Killings attacked Monty after the match and Skipper didn’t care. Between Harris and Storm, The Flying Elvises, Styles and Lynn and now Brown and Skipper not a single team ever gets along on this show. There must have been something in the water in Nashville that caused everybody to hate each other. *

Bo Dupp w/ Stan Dupp vs. Ian Harrison

Ian Harrison, officially announced by JB as some big muscle guy from the back, once wrestled The Wall on an episode of WCW Worldwide. He lost. Bo Dupp still wrestles on North Carolina indies to this day. Stan Dupp, who would go on to be Trevor Murdoch in WWE, was on commentary. The match was horrible and ended when Stan interfered. Harrison was never seen in TNA again.

NWA World Heavyweight Championship – Ladder vs. Submission Match
Sabu vs. Ken Shamrock©

The stipulation was wacky – you could win by climbing the ladder and getting the title or by submission. I suppose the idea was that each man could win by their preferred method. Sabu went for an armbar but had no luck. Sabu hit some springboard stuff and went for a pinfall before realising the rules of the match. After a few minutes Sabu went to grab ladder but Shamrock hit him with a baseball slide. Shamrock threw Sabu off the stage in the dancers cage. Sabu placed Shamrock on a table and went to put him through it but Shamrock moved and Sabu ate only table. Shamrock looked to climb the ladder but Malice ran out and chokeslammed Shamrock off the ladder and left with the belt. So there wasn’t a winner I suppose. On paper this looked like a weirdly compelling match, even without the stipulation Sabu vs. Shamrock sounded quirky and fun but it was really quite dull. *1/2

Final Thoughts: Watch Low Ki vs. Red, skip the rest. Nothing else was any good though at last none of it was offensive.