Kellie
07-06-2009, 03:02 AM
TNA Epics TV Report - Airing July 4th, 2009
Report by ProWrestling.net, Adam Milne
The show started with the infamous Raven “scalping” head shaving. James Mitchell gleefully shaved Raven’s hair off using the clippers blades the wrong way around, while Shane Douglas taunted on the mic and Vampiro stood around not doing much. Then into Epics intro video.
Mick Foley welcomed us to the “Best of Hardcore Wars, Part 1” and named some of the stars we’d see including Jeff Hardy, Team 3D, Sabu, “Rhino, tigers, lions, and bears oh my!”
1. Abyss defeated Jeff Hardy in a Full Metal Mayhem match to “earn” a future NWA World Championship match. This match took place at the 2005 Against All Odds Pay Per View. Started as Hardy performed his entrance poses on the ropes. The announcers discussed the differences in size and the battle of speed against power. Abyss bailed out to avoid a Poetry in Motion off a chair, so Hardy did it over the top rope onto him instead.
Abyss dared Hardy to attack, and countered the charge with an attempted Press Slam but Hardy escaped to whack him over the head with a chair. Another Poetry in Motion attempt was met with a chair shot in mid air by Abyss, and the announcers said that he wasn’t a simpleton even with tunnel vision. Abyss set up some tables on top of tables already outside so two were stacked on two, only pausing mid way when he threw Hardy into the ring steps.
In ring, Abyss motioned that he was going to powerbomb Hardy through the stack but Hardy escaped, then nearly botched the Whisper in the Wind but managed to hit it. Tenay tried to cover it by saying the ropes were all sweaty because of earlier matches. Let’s not think about that. In a nice spot, Abyss was trapped in the corner by a ladder propped against his gut, and this allowed Hardy to run up it with a chair and dropkick it into Abyss’ face (like Rob Van Dam’s jumping with a chair kick into an opponent down in the corner spot). Hardy set up two ladders into a teeter-totter, and jumped off to top rope to land on the far end to slingshot it into Abyss. The end didn’t look like it went high enough up, but it got sold anyway. [c]
Back and Abyss countered a Hardy charge to toss him overhead with a Belly to Belly throw, and Hardy’s legs went through a table while the rest of him hit the padded mats on the outside. That was one hell of a way to come back from a commercial. Hardy wasn’t hurt too bad despite the repeated statements about the landing, as he swung a chair into Abyss’ head about a minute later.
Abyss set up another table on the entrance stage, but got taken down by an Extreme Twist of Fate (aka the Jeff Hardy stunner version of the Twist of Fate) or as Tenay called it “The Twist.” Hardy hit another one on the other side of the table and Abyss was laid out onto the table. Hardy climbed the set, threw off his shirt, and grabbed the railing of the set to flip over and land what I assume was supposed to be a Swanton Bomb but his behind and back of his legs just hit the table (not actually Abyss) and broke it.
Fans still went wild for it, and it got plenty of replays. Hardy took out a huge ladder and slid it in as The Monster crawled down to the ring. Hardy positioned the ladder over and over until he was happy with it, and climbed up to grab an envelope and tried to open it before he tossed it down, and the announcers stated that it must have been the wrong one.
Hardy went for the other one but was pulled down. Abyss whipped Hardy across the ring and he went over the top and just barely managed to crash through the tables. Abyss then climbed and grabbed the envelope, winning the match and making happy motions of it’s contents while Hardy started breaking the tables he went through out of frustration (of screwing up the ending). No breaks or edits, it’s straight into...
2. Rhino and Team 3D (Brother Ray and Brother Devon) defeated Jeff Jarrett and America’s Most Wanted - “Wildcat” Chris Harris and “Cowboy” James Storm - (w/Gail Kim) in a Street Fight. This match happened at the 2005 Genesis PPV. Started with Jarrett in the crowd while the faces were in the ring, so they decided to get out and go after the heels. Brawling around the building and through the crowd with Rhino battling Jarrett, Ray taking on Storm, and Devon getting Harris.
Ray threw Storm over the announce table, which broke West’s headset and he ran off. Yes!! Rhino press slammed Jarrett into a chair while out in the crowd. Later Jarrett reversed a Whip and sent Rhino into seating chairs. Ray used one of the commentator’s chairs as a weapon, making Tenay leave for sadly just a moment before he was back on commentary. Ray gave out the most pathetic high fives I’ve even seen to front row “fans” (one of the recipients was Dixie Carter).
Jarrett slammed Rhino back first into the wooden back of the bleachers. After more brawling Jarrett and Rhino fought up to the Spanish announce team posiyion (where West had to go for another headset if you believed him) when Rhino took a low blow before he fell all the way down the seating to the floor. Ray hit the ring post with a chair after missing Storm, and moments later Storm took over by choking Ray with the chair.
On the ramp Rhino suplexed Jarrett onto a couple of chairs. Storm threw the beer bottle at Ray who dodged so the bottle hit the wall of the staging set. Devon hit Storm with the ring bell, and in the ring Ray used a cheese grater on Harris. Both of AMW were busted open at that point, and we got a close-up of Ray’s use of the grater on Wildcat. [c]
Back with Team 3D who set up a table but Harris moved it to save his partner from being put through it from a double team Suplex. Harris took Team 3D down with double Clotheslines, and shortly after used the grater to low blow Ray. Rhino cracked Jarrett over the head with a steel trash can, then asked “You want me to piledrive this mother ******?” (That was censored). Tenay answered, “Yeah we want you to piledriver him!”
Ray saved Devon from being put through a table on the outside by Harris, and Harris then got saved from being put through when Storm moved the furniture so Wildcat only got powerbombed onto the floor instead. Far less damaging. Cameras missed Storm hitting Team 3D with chair shots but they could be heard. Rhino brought a table up to the staging, got cut off by Jarrett but The Stroke was countered into a Rhino Driver onto the staging.
Rhino tried to Gore Jarrett through a table set up over the entrance tunnel opening but Storm Superkicked him. Fans chanted “This is Awesome!”. In the ring, Harris’ attempt to hit the Catatonic was countered by Devon into the Lifted Reverse DDT but only got a two count. Storm hit the Swinging Noose (Reverse Tornado DDT) to get two, and the Full Nelson Powerbomb by Ray also got two. Jarrett hit The Stroke and got two, and gave Rudy Charles a shove for it, only to get shoved back and into a Gore that got two before Harris pulled Charles out.
AMW did double team work, first when they sent Rhino crotch-first into the ringpost, then they gave Ray a double team Spinebuster. A Hart Attack clothesline on Devon got a two count, and they set up a table to put Devon through with the Death Sentence but Ray (helped by fans who pulled him up to his feet) shoved Harris of the top to the floor. Table shoved out of the way, Storm took the 3D and was pinned. [c]
Back to Foley in the studio who stated that “Jack the Ripper didn’t have anything on these guys.” Does that mean that everyone we’ve seen so far in this show was a serial killer? Someone call Vince! We’ve got evidence to shut TNA down!
3. Sabu defeated Abyss (w/Father James Mitchell) in the first ever Barbed Wire Massacre match. This match happened at Turning Point 2005. This was a deathmatch with the ring ropes replaced with barbed wire, and barbed wire covered chairs and boards placed around ringside. It started with Sabu making his entrance. Sabu swung a bat wrapped in wire but it hit the “rope” wire and got caught up in it.
After a couple of teases near the wire, Abyss got some instructions from Mitchell which allowed Sabu to grab a regular steel chair which he threw into Abyss’ head. An attempt at Air Sabu was caught in a powerbomb position but Sabu punched his way to take The Monster down to the mat for a cover. At two Abyss pushed him off into the wire ropes, and Mitchell laughed with glee while a “Holy S***!” chant rang out.
That wasn’t censored. Abyss countered a Sabu charge to left him up to his shoulder height with a Press Slam before he dropped him into the wire. Sabu took a white, pointed object out of his boot, and repeatedly stabbed it into Abyss’ arm which got out plenty of blood. Abyss dodged an Air Sabu attempt and Sabu went leg first into the wire “ropes”. The Epics theme music played out, meaning an edit was coming up.
No Epics graphic, back to moments later and with Sabu countering a charge with a Drop Toe Hold that sent Abyss into the wire. Mitchell told Abyss to “fight through the pain!” A Chokeslam onto a steel chair got Abyss a two count. The Monster placed a chair wrapped in barbed wire onto Sabu’s chest before doing the run off the ropes spot he did during this phase of his career, except without the use of proper ropes he could only put on the brakes before he turned around and ran on. Sabu turned the chair sideways and Abyss crotched himself on it when he tried to drop his body down.
Sabu smacked Abyss with the wire chair twice before he bailed, and Sabu used a regular chair to jump over the wire and landed a Somersault Senton onto Abyss on the outside. Abyss used a Front Suplex to put Sabu chest first across the wire "ropes," and he slid a board covered in barbed wire into the ring. After he countered a Powerbomb and a Chokeslam attempt, Sabu got thrown down chest first into the wire board thanks to a Press Slam counter to his charge. Mitchell helped get a second board in as a “This is Awesome!” chant went up.
A Whip reversal nearly sent Sabu into Rudy Charles, then Sabu pushed him out of the way and dodged himself so Abyss splashed into the board in the corner which stuck to him as he walked backward out. Sabu kicked him backward and onto the other board, and sandwiched between the boards Sabu jumped onto him with a legdrop of sorts for the win. The show ended with Sabu pointing to high above.
Overall thoughts: For the second week in a row, the matches were what they were. The Abyss/Hardy match was a series of big weapon and table spots with botched moves by Hardy. The six-man tag was a brawl with plenty of spots, followed by tables teases before disappointing us with a clean double team finish and win. And yes, Gail Kim was at ringside but did nothing during the match.
If you are a fan of deathmatches or have seen Sabu or Cactus Jack barbed wire matches before, you’d have enjoyed the Massacre match. Having seen the match before, it didn’t have the same impact on me as it did the first time. This show was for the fans of the Hardcore style and gimmick matches. But the show was entertaining, and it finally delivered the barbed wire massacre match, a clip of which has been in the Epics intro since the start.
This was part one of Hardcore Wars, so presumably there will be more episodes full of hardcore fights and brawls and from 2005 alone as this show was made up of there were plenty of those, so it will be a surprise to see what TNA decides to include next.
Report by ProWrestling.net, Adam Milne
The show started with the infamous Raven “scalping” head shaving. James Mitchell gleefully shaved Raven’s hair off using the clippers blades the wrong way around, while Shane Douglas taunted on the mic and Vampiro stood around not doing much. Then into Epics intro video.
Mick Foley welcomed us to the “Best of Hardcore Wars, Part 1” and named some of the stars we’d see including Jeff Hardy, Team 3D, Sabu, “Rhino, tigers, lions, and bears oh my!”
1. Abyss defeated Jeff Hardy in a Full Metal Mayhem match to “earn” a future NWA World Championship match. This match took place at the 2005 Against All Odds Pay Per View. Started as Hardy performed his entrance poses on the ropes. The announcers discussed the differences in size and the battle of speed against power. Abyss bailed out to avoid a Poetry in Motion off a chair, so Hardy did it over the top rope onto him instead.
Abyss dared Hardy to attack, and countered the charge with an attempted Press Slam but Hardy escaped to whack him over the head with a chair. Another Poetry in Motion attempt was met with a chair shot in mid air by Abyss, and the announcers said that he wasn’t a simpleton even with tunnel vision. Abyss set up some tables on top of tables already outside so two were stacked on two, only pausing mid way when he threw Hardy into the ring steps.
In ring, Abyss motioned that he was going to powerbomb Hardy through the stack but Hardy escaped, then nearly botched the Whisper in the Wind but managed to hit it. Tenay tried to cover it by saying the ropes were all sweaty because of earlier matches. Let’s not think about that. In a nice spot, Abyss was trapped in the corner by a ladder propped against his gut, and this allowed Hardy to run up it with a chair and dropkick it into Abyss’ face (like Rob Van Dam’s jumping with a chair kick into an opponent down in the corner spot). Hardy set up two ladders into a teeter-totter, and jumped off to top rope to land on the far end to slingshot it into Abyss. The end didn’t look like it went high enough up, but it got sold anyway. [c]
Back and Abyss countered a Hardy charge to toss him overhead with a Belly to Belly throw, and Hardy’s legs went through a table while the rest of him hit the padded mats on the outside. That was one hell of a way to come back from a commercial. Hardy wasn’t hurt too bad despite the repeated statements about the landing, as he swung a chair into Abyss’ head about a minute later.
Abyss set up another table on the entrance stage, but got taken down by an Extreme Twist of Fate (aka the Jeff Hardy stunner version of the Twist of Fate) or as Tenay called it “The Twist.” Hardy hit another one on the other side of the table and Abyss was laid out onto the table. Hardy climbed the set, threw off his shirt, and grabbed the railing of the set to flip over and land what I assume was supposed to be a Swanton Bomb but his behind and back of his legs just hit the table (not actually Abyss) and broke it.
Fans still went wild for it, and it got plenty of replays. Hardy took out a huge ladder and slid it in as The Monster crawled down to the ring. Hardy positioned the ladder over and over until he was happy with it, and climbed up to grab an envelope and tried to open it before he tossed it down, and the announcers stated that it must have been the wrong one.
Hardy went for the other one but was pulled down. Abyss whipped Hardy across the ring and he went over the top and just barely managed to crash through the tables. Abyss then climbed and grabbed the envelope, winning the match and making happy motions of it’s contents while Hardy started breaking the tables he went through out of frustration (of screwing up the ending). No breaks or edits, it’s straight into...
2. Rhino and Team 3D (Brother Ray and Brother Devon) defeated Jeff Jarrett and America’s Most Wanted - “Wildcat” Chris Harris and “Cowboy” James Storm - (w/Gail Kim) in a Street Fight. This match happened at the 2005 Genesis PPV. Started with Jarrett in the crowd while the faces were in the ring, so they decided to get out and go after the heels. Brawling around the building and through the crowd with Rhino battling Jarrett, Ray taking on Storm, and Devon getting Harris.
Ray threw Storm over the announce table, which broke West’s headset and he ran off. Yes!! Rhino press slammed Jarrett into a chair while out in the crowd. Later Jarrett reversed a Whip and sent Rhino into seating chairs. Ray used one of the commentator’s chairs as a weapon, making Tenay leave for sadly just a moment before he was back on commentary. Ray gave out the most pathetic high fives I’ve even seen to front row “fans” (one of the recipients was Dixie Carter).
Jarrett slammed Rhino back first into the wooden back of the bleachers. After more brawling Jarrett and Rhino fought up to the Spanish announce team posiyion (where West had to go for another headset if you believed him) when Rhino took a low blow before he fell all the way down the seating to the floor. Ray hit the ring post with a chair after missing Storm, and moments later Storm took over by choking Ray with the chair.
On the ramp Rhino suplexed Jarrett onto a couple of chairs. Storm threw the beer bottle at Ray who dodged so the bottle hit the wall of the staging set. Devon hit Storm with the ring bell, and in the ring Ray used a cheese grater on Harris. Both of AMW were busted open at that point, and we got a close-up of Ray’s use of the grater on Wildcat. [c]
Back with Team 3D who set up a table but Harris moved it to save his partner from being put through it from a double team Suplex. Harris took Team 3D down with double Clotheslines, and shortly after used the grater to low blow Ray. Rhino cracked Jarrett over the head with a steel trash can, then asked “You want me to piledrive this mother ******?” (That was censored). Tenay answered, “Yeah we want you to piledriver him!”
Ray saved Devon from being put through a table on the outside by Harris, and Harris then got saved from being put through when Storm moved the furniture so Wildcat only got powerbombed onto the floor instead. Far less damaging. Cameras missed Storm hitting Team 3D with chair shots but they could be heard. Rhino brought a table up to the staging, got cut off by Jarrett but The Stroke was countered into a Rhino Driver onto the staging.
Rhino tried to Gore Jarrett through a table set up over the entrance tunnel opening but Storm Superkicked him. Fans chanted “This is Awesome!”. In the ring, Harris’ attempt to hit the Catatonic was countered by Devon into the Lifted Reverse DDT but only got a two count. Storm hit the Swinging Noose (Reverse Tornado DDT) to get two, and the Full Nelson Powerbomb by Ray also got two. Jarrett hit The Stroke and got two, and gave Rudy Charles a shove for it, only to get shoved back and into a Gore that got two before Harris pulled Charles out.
AMW did double team work, first when they sent Rhino crotch-first into the ringpost, then they gave Ray a double team Spinebuster. A Hart Attack clothesline on Devon got a two count, and they set up a table to put Devon through with the Death Sentence but Ray (helped by fans who pulled him up to his feet) shoved Harris of the top to the floor. Table shoved out of the way, Storm took the 3D and was pinned. [c]
Back to Foley in the studio who stated that “Jack the Ripper didn’t have anything on these guys.” Does that mean that everyone we’ve seen so far in this show was a serial killer? Someone call Vince! We’ve got evidence to shut TNA down!
3. Sabu defeated Abyss (w/Father James Mitchell) in the first ever Barbed Wire Massacre match. This match happened at Turning Point 2005. This was a deathmatch with the ring ropes replaced with barbed wire, and barbed wire covered chairs and boards placed around ringside. It started with Sabu making his entrance. Sabu swung a bat wrapped in wire but it hit the “rope” wire and got caught up in it.
After a couple of teases near the wire, Abyss got some instructions from Mitchell which allowed Sabu to grab a regular steel chair which he threw into Abyss’ head. An attempt at Air Sabu was caught in a powerbomb position but Sabu punched his way to take The Monster down to the mat for a cover. At two Abyss pushed him off into the wire ropes, and Mitchell laughed with glee while a “Holy S***!” chant rang out.
That wasn’t censored. Abyss countered a Sabu charge to left him up to his shoulder height with a Press Slam before he dropped him into the wire. Sabu took a white, pointed object out of his boot, and repeatedly stabbed it into Abyss’ arm which got out plenty of blood. Abyss dodged an Air Sabu attempt and Sabu went leg first into the wire “ropes”. The Epics theme music played out, meaning an edit was coming up.
No Epics graphic, back to moments later and with Sabu countering a charge with a Drop Toe Hold that sent Abyss into the wire. Mitchell told Abyss to “fight through the pain!” A Chokeslam onto a steel chair got Abyss a two count. The Monster placed a chair wrapped in barbed wire onto Sabu’s chest before doing the run off the ropes spot he did during this phase of his career, except without the use of proper ropes he could only put on the brakes before he turned around and ran on. Sabu turned the chair sideways and Abyss crotched himself on it when he tried to drop his body down.
Sabu smacked Abyss with the wire chair twice before he bailed, and Sabu used a regular chair to jump over the wire and landed a Somersault Senton onto Abyss on the outside. Abyss used a Front Suplex to put Sabu chest first across the wire "ropes," and he slid a board covered in barbed wire into the ring. After he countered a Powerbomb and a Chokeslam attempt, Sabu got thrown down chest first into the wire board thanks to a Press Slam counter to his charge. Mitchell helped get a second board in as a “This is Awesome!” chant went up.
A Whip reversal nearly sent Sabu into Rudy Charles, then Sabu pushed him out of the way and dodged himself so Abyss splashed into the board in the corner which stuck to him as he walked backward out. Sabu kicked him backward and onto the other board, and sandwiched between the boards Sabu jumped onto him with a legdrop of sorts for the win. The show ended with Sabu pointing to high above.
Overall thoughts: For the second week in a row, the matches were what they were. The Abyss/Hardy match was a series of big weapon and table spots with botched moves by Hardy. The six-man tag was a brawl with plenty of spots, followed by tables teases before disappointing us with a clean double team finish and win. And yes, Gail Kim was at ringside but did nothing during the match.
If you are a fan of deathmatches or have seen Sabu or Cactus Jack barbed wire matches before, you’d have enjoyed the Massacre match. Having seen the match before, it didn’t have the same impact on me as it did the first time. This show was for the fans of the Hardcore style and gimmick matches. But the show was entertaining, and it finally delivered the barbed wire massacre match, a clip of which has been in the Epics intro since the start.
This was part one of Hardcore Wars, so presumably there will be more episodes full of hardcore fights and brawls and from 2005 alone as this show was made up of there were plenty of those, so it will be a surprise to see what TNA decides to include next.