I know what your thinking, the Ultimate Jeff Jarrett boxset? Those pale imitation Jeff Jarrett boxsets are doing the rounds on the black market were doing such hot business it was about damn time that TNA cashed in on this market and unleashed the Ultimate Jeff Jarrett disk set. God four disks? And they don't even have his WWE and WCW year footage. God and this is my 100th Blog post, big party eh?
The DVD opens with a absolutely horrible James Earl Jones voice over man saying basically that Jeff Jarrett is the greatest man in the Universe, its very funny stuff, and they go to such extreme lenghts to state that Jeff is not bland.
Anyway on to early memories and its nicely done with Jeff talking through his childhood memories. We find out that Jeff Jarrett could have been the white Kobe Bryant had he not got the wrestling bug as a child.
Anyway on to action and the first TNA Weekly PPV; Toby Keith is singing a god awful country song about how the USA is gonna put its foot up the arse of any nation that stands in its way, no I'm not taking the piss. Jeff Breaks it up and starts the first ever TNA main event.
NWA World Heavyweight Title
20 Man Guantlet Match
Jeff Jarrett and Buff Bagwell are your first competitors. Buff plays to the crowd before hitting a swinging neckbreaker, Jeff blocks a hip toss but can't avoid a closeline. Buff plays to the crowd before attempting to toss Jarrett but good ol'Jeffery hangs on. Buff hits the Block Buster and plays to the crowd but he waits to long, charges and is back body dropped over the top rope. Buff Bagwell is Eliminated.
Jeff Jarrett and Buff Bagwell are your first competitors. Buff plays to the crowd before hitting a swinging neckbreaker, Jeff blocks a hip toss but can't avoid a closeline. Buff plays to the crowd before attempting to toss Jarrett but good ol'Jeffery hangs on. Buff hits the Block Buster and plays to the crowd but he waits to long, charges and is back body dropped over the top rope. Buff Bagwell is Eliminated.
Entrant Number Three is Lash Laroux. Jeff stomps the crap out of Lash as soon as he comes into the ring and tosses him hard to the outside. Jeff introduces Lash to guard rail before returning to the ring and giving Lash the Stroke and tossing him like a bitch. Lash Laroux is Eliminated.
Entrant Number Four is Norman Smiley. The master of the Big Wiggle charges the ring and goes straight for the wiggle but is met with a closeline. That mean old Jeff. Norman hits his wind up and body slam before playing to the crowd. He goes for the Big Spank but Jeff counters with a low blow and he hits the Stroke before tossing Smiley. Norman Smiley has been Eliminated.
We Skip ahead? And Malice, Jarrett, Apollo and Rick Stiener are in the ring. Rick Stiener is tossed. Apollo skins the cat to avoid elimination as Scott Hall enters the match. Apollo kills Malice with a superkick Scott goes for the Outsider's Edge and conects with it and Jarrett looks dead.
The Next Entrant is Toby Keith. Toby Keith hits a stalling vertical suplex as Scott Hall plays to the crowd. The commentators are going absolutely nuts and Toby Keith and Scott Hall toss Jeff Jarrett. Jeff Jarrett is Eliminated.
Well they choped and edited most of the match out but they showed some fun stuff and the newsworthy happening with Toby Keith. (*)
Jeff Jarrett comes to the ring and complains that the World Title is being decided by a battle royal and he floors Dory Funk. Jeff Jarrett says its a total joke. Jackie Fargo comes from the back and he's going nuts. Jackie Fargo calls for Scott Hall. Hall and Jarrett then brawl and fight up the isle to set up next weeks main event.
Chapter Two: Wrestling Heritage
Jeff talks about how both his grand mother and Father were involved in the wrestling industry. Jeff explains how basically his whole family is linked to the business. Jimmy Cornette is up next and he tells a little story about how he showed Jeff Jarrett his first Japanese wrestling match up. Jeff talks about how he used to go hang wrestling cards in windows to advertise for his Grand mothers promotion. Dutch Mantell is next to chime in with a quaint anecdote about how Jeff used to make more money selling Pop Corn than Wrestling. Now I'm sure there's a joke I could make here, hmnnn....nope.
TNA Clip Two: We go to clips of Ken Shamrock wrestling a Japanese wrestler in 2002. Ken has him in the ankle lock but before the wrestler can tap Jarrett runs out and kills everyone with a steel chair including Harley Race and several members of security. Its scary these days watching the unprotected chair shots to the skull. Jarrett comes back to the ring later in the show and gets in Mike Tenay's face and demands a title shot, he promises that he'll win the world title. Jeff then gets in the Tennesse Titans face at ringside and they leap over the guard rail and kick the shit out of Jarrett but Jeff gets a chair and kills everyone in a wild brawl. Wow that was a hot angle but boy oh boy the show was purely designed to get Jeff Jarrett over, don't know why I'm suprised.
Chapter Three: Growing Up With Legends
Jeff Jarrett talks about learning the trade with legends like Jerry Lawler and Sting. Sting then cuts a quick promo before Jeff tells a nice anecdote about how Jerry Jarrett released Sting and Ultimate Warrior and within a year or so they were both World Champions for WCW and WWF respectively.
Jeff tells a story about how crazy Savage used to be and how by working with Jerry Lawler he got signed up by WWE. The Harris brothers talk about how everyone who was anyone came through the South, well apparently.
The talked about how they saw Rock and Steve Austin's potential before anyone else. Jeff is just name checking like mad now, the Road Warriors, Koko B. Ware, Ric Flair the lot.
TNA Clip #3:
Scott Hall vs. Jeff Jarrett
Hall attacks Jarrett during his entrance and introduces Jeff to the steal steps. Hall throws Jarrett onto the announcers table and pounds the crap out of Jarrett. Hall slams Jeff face first hard into the announce table.
Back in the ring Scott scores with two huge roundhouse rights, Jeff dodges two closelines and attempts a cross body but he's caught and hit with the Fallaway slam. Hall and Jeff brawl up the ramp and into the backstage area. Hall throws Jarrett through a door and there fighting in the parking lot. Hall takes Jeff back inside and Irish whips Jeff into a door before they fight their way back to the arena. Hall slugs Jeff and Jeff bumps off the stage. They now brawl into the crowd, which is very respectable in size considering how new TNA was at this stage.
Back in the ring Scott scores with two huge roundhouse rights, Jeff dodges two closelines and attempts a cross body but he's caught and hit with the Fallaway slam. Hall and Jeff brawl up the ramp and into the backstage area. Hall throws Jarrett through a door and there fighting in the parking lot. Hall takes Jeff back inside and Irish whips Jeff into a door before they fight their way back to the arena. Hall slugs Jeff and Jeff bumps off the stage. They now brawl into the crowd, which is very respectable in size considering how new TNA was at this stage.
They fight there way back to ringside and Hall continues to unload with his round house rights. Hall attempts to bring a stretcher into the ring but Jeff baseball slides it into his gut. Jarrett lays the Stretcher like a table on the outside and hits a flying axe handle onto hall. Jeff than nails Hall with the Stretcher.
Back in the ring and Jeff sets the Stretcher in the corner of the ring and whips Hall back first into it. Jeff now sets up the stretcher in a different corner and Irish whips Hall into it. The crowd chant "Go Scott Go", lamest chant ever. Scott whips Jeff twice into the stretcher and Jeff takes silly cartoonish bumps. Scott hits a big right hand, Scott then gives Jeff an inverted atomic drop on the stretcher before slamming it accross Jeff's back. Scott Hall gives Jarrett snake eyes on the stretcher and then goes for the Outsider's Edge and hits it 1-2-.....R Truth pulls the referee out of the ring and gives Scott Hall the axe kick but it only gets a near fall. Monty Brown brawls around ringside with R-Truth. Jerry Lynn gives Jeff Jarrett a slingshot splash but it only gets a two count. AJ runs out but so do Heavy D and Malice and theres a wild brawl to the back.
In the ring Jarrett and Hall make it to their feet but only to run head first into a collision and both men are down. Both men answer the count at nine, Hall kills Jarrett in a slug fest and a discus punch floors Jarrett. Hall goes for a closeline with a stretcher but Jeff dodges and Scott kills the referee. Jeff dropkicks the stretcher into Hall's face and goes to get a chair. Ricky Steamboat distracts Jeff and Jeff swings the chair but it rebounds into Jeff's own face. Scott picks up the chair but Ricky stops him, Jeff then gives Scott the Stroke on the Chair for the win.
Overbooked crap. (**)
.
Chapter Four: The Red Light Is On
Dutch Mantell talks about how he learned the business by sitting in a car and listening to old wrestlers while they told him to shut the hell up. Apparently its the best education he and Jeff ever got.
Jeff then talks about his strut, he says he's offended when he stole it from Flair because he didn't its Fabulous Jackie Fargo. Jeff says his three biggest wrestling influences are Jackie Fargo, Jerry Jarrett and Jerry Lawler.
Jeff now tells us a tale about Jimmy Valiant and how Jimmy new how to switch between the character and his real life persona, he says Jimmy Valiant was the best at this. Well that was a rather superflous segment.
TNA Clip 4#:
NWA World Heavyweight Title
Jeff Jarrett vs. Ron Killings
In case your not familar with Ron Killings he sucked at Rapping and Dancing back then too, actually to be fair his rap on red necks before this match was actually pretty good.
Don West is just horrible on commentary trying to explain how R-Truth was held back by racial prejudice. Truth hits a shoulder block and then unloads with some of his terrible terrible dancing, that hurts just to watch. Jarrett responds with a shoulder tackle of his own but runs straight into a dropkick via the splits. Killings floats over Jarrett before scoring with his corkscrew flying forearm. Jarrett bails to gather his thoughts.
R-Truth gets in Jarrett's face shoving him around but Jeff unloads with a right and a big dropkick before scoring with a rope rider and doing the Jackie Fargo strut. Truth dodges a closeline and mule kicks Jarrett right in the balls! The crowd chant "Truth" in response, Truth lays in some stiff shots. Truth stays on top scoring with a flatliner before laying the boots into Jarrett. The crowd chant "Go Jeff Go". Killings catches Jarrett trying to float over and scores with a power slam. R-Truth bitch slaps the crap out Jarrett.
Jeff fires back with right hands but Truth uses the splits to dodge a closeline and scores with the Axe kick for a near fall. Wow there was absolutely no crowd heat for that near fall. R-Truth dodges an enzenguri and slaps on the Figure Four Leglock right in the centre of the ring. Jarrett struggles and manages to reverse the hold, Truth now struggles in pain and manages to make the ropes. The crowd are having fun exchanging chants.
Jeff runs straight into a boot, Jeff dodges a closeline and scores with a back suplex and both men are down. Both men answer the count around eight and Jeff begins to unload with uppercuts. Truth goes for a ranna but Jeff counters with a powerbomb pin for a near fall. Jeff goes to a ten punch in the corner but some how the referee gets hit in the eye? What? That was pathetic. Truth brings in the chair but Jeff steals it and waffles Truth with it for a very near fall. Jeff goes for the Stroke but Killings blocks with a punch to the gut, Killings floats over a suplex and counters to the K-Krusher for a near fall with Jarrett draping his foot over the rope. Killings goes to the top rope but Jarrett staggers back and killings takes an impressive bump off top. Jarrett says its over as the crowd chant "Stroke, Stroke, Stroke" Jeff delivers but gets a 2.99998!
Jarrett takes the fight to the outside where killing reverse a whip sending Jarrett head first into the ringpost. R-Truth gets into the face of two fans a ringside. Jarrett is bleeding and Truth opens up the cut with some big right hands. Truth knocks Jarrett into the crowd and they go all 1998 on us by brawling through the crowd. Jarrett begins to fight back as they make their way to a table. Killing climbs up a balcony and Killings leaps off the balcony scoring with a big splash through the table. Both men are down and out.
Jarrett manages to recover and charges closelining Truth back to ringside. Truth unloads with rights and lefts in the ring. R-Truth rips at the cut of Jarrett. Jeff begins to fight back and both men exchange big slugs. R-Truth goes for the flying forearm but Jeff dodges and the ref gets Bumped AGAIN!!! Both men go to an in ring collision spot and both men and the referee are down. Unless there's a run in this is the most pointless ref bump in history. Mr. Wrestling Three runs into the ring with a guitar, he teases hitting both men before killing Killings. Jeff Jarrett falls on top for the 1-2-3. Mr. Wrestling Three takes of his mask to reveal VINCE RUSSO!
This felt like an overly long Intercontinental Title Match, not nessecarily a bad thing as their were things to like about the match, but neither guy carried themselves like a star. Killing actually had better expressions and delivery in this match, he looks to have regressed over the last seven years. The two just couldn't create a big time feel but they did their best, they used far too much of the bag of tricks, two ref bumps, a table spot, a brawl through the crowd and the big interference finale. Still a decent main event that held the crowd interest. (***)
Chapter Five: Memphis No Matter What
Jim Cornette talks about the strenghts and weakness of a young Jeff Jarrett, the pros and cons of being the promoters son and the positives and negatives of being on National TV right from the off.
Jeff and Scott Steiner talk about the early years and they tell stories about the young Jeff Jarrett and all the guys who came through Memphis. They have some fun old footage and photos from the eighties of the Young Jarrett working in Memphis. Jeff tells a pretty good story to be fair. Jeff said what set him apart was that he was interested in not just the in ring but also the production and backstage stuff.
The highlight of this section was without doubt Jim Cornette the man is a good talker and tells a great yarn.
TNA Clip 5#:
Vince Russo, Christopher Daniels, Elix Skipper & Low Ki vs. The Road Warriors, Dusty Rhodes & Jeff Jarrett
Daniels and Jeff start the match up, Daniels immediately nails a running leg lariat. Jeff responds with a shoulder tackle and goes for a hip toss, Daniels flips over to counter but is met with a hard closeline from Jarrett. Jarrett scores with a big back body drop and the legends play ping pong with Christopher Daniels.
Low Ki tags in as does Animal. Animal of course powers Low Ki accross the ring with ease. Low Ki hits a stiff kick but a front face lock isn't a smart idea as Animal throws him accros the ring. Animal misses a blind charge but counters a ranna into a nice sit out powerbomb which Low Ki sells superbly. Animal follow right up with a shoulder tackle but Elix skipper manages to tag in and Skipper holds Animal back so Low Ki can hits a stiff basement dropkick. Animal however isn't taking this lying down and counters a double suplex attempt suplexing both of his opponent.
Hawk tags in and he dodges a knee strike from Skipper. Hawk hits a horrible big boot and then a slightly less awful dropkick. Skipper bridges up and hits a spinning heel kick. Hawk no sells and responds with a closeline and a gut wrench suplex.
Jarrett tags in and unloads on Elix Skipper but Prime Time recovers with a drop toe hold. Russo messes with Jeff but this just pisses off Jarrett who scores with a rope ride before giving the crowd the strut. Daniels and Skipper work over Jeff on the outside while Russo hits some of the worst offence in human history.
Back in the ring Daniels and Skipper hit a double front suplex on Jarrett. Daniels distracts the referee allowing Russo to choke Jarrett with the towel. Low Ki tags in and gives Jarrett a face wash before slapping on a front face lock. Jarrett manages to make the tag but Russo has the referee distracted, so he doesn't allow the tag. Jeff fights back and but misses a dropkick, the referee is distracted as Jarrett gets a inside craddle for a near fall. Daniels and Low Ki hit a spinebuster and enzenguri combo, before turning it into a boston crab and spring board knee drop combination. Daniels avoids a double axe handle and then blocks the stroke, leading to a double closeline spot and both men are down.
HOT TAG! Dusty Rhodes comes in and cleans house with bionic elbows. The Road Warriors clear the ring as Dusty scores with Flip Flop and Fly on Elix Skipper. Russo looks like he's getting into the ring when Mr. Wrestling Four runs into the ring and nails Dusty with a metal chain, Skipper rolls on top to get the 1-2-3. Mr. Wrestling Four unmasks to reveal Nikita Kollof
God another bullshit finish, to a match that went on too long that said it was a pretty fun match up until the finish. Not sure why this is on the DVD. (*3/4)
Chapter Six: I Didn't Beat Him He Didn't Beat Me
Jeff talks about refereeing and how Dutch Mantell used to save him from beatdowns when he was refereeing matches. His first match was a ten minute time limit draw with Tony Falk who said the only wrestler he could beat was "Jerry Jarrett's punk kid".
NWA World Heavyweight Title
AJ Styles vs. Jeff Jarrett
Okay we are over one and half hours into the DVD and I'm hoping this is our first truely DVD worthy match up, I mean some of the stuff on here before has been historic and noteworthy but its all been pretty shitty in ring lets face it. AJ looks like such a snotty little shit. Here's the problem with Jeff Jarrett as champion especially back in 2003, during the announcements AJ the heel gets booed, Jeff Jarrett the supposed face gets booed. Jeff just wasn't that over even in his home town.
Jeff and AJ trade standing switches before Jeff grabs a key lock but AJ quickly counters to a hammerlock before Jarrett gets the drop toe hold and they wrestle each over nicely around trading arm bars and fireman's carries until Jarrett floors AJ with a big closeline. Aj and Jeff exchange leap frogs before Jeff runs straightt into a nice dropkick with AJ promptly follows up with a spinning heel kick and a basement dropkick for a two count. Jeff blocks the discus punch with a huge right hand. Jeff scores with a lovely dropkick of his own before closelining AJ Styles over the top rope. Jeff immediately follows up with a plancha. Good opening.
Jeff then whips AJ into the guard rail and AJ takes the front flip bump, this is really good stuff. Aj reverses a Irish whip and Jeff goes chest first into the guard rail. Back in the ring Aj hits a front slam and a front flip senton for a two count. Aj goes for a suplex but Jarrett blocks it once but on a second attempt Aj nails the vertical suplex for a two count. The action has slowed down a bit now as Aj hits a nice closeline before playing the crowd. Jeff begins to unload but Aj keeps firing back, Jeff dodges and closeline and uses power to counter a ranna into a sit out powerbomb and both men are down. The pace has slowed but this is good stuff.
Jeff wins a slugfest and scores with a fantastic pop up Gut buster, that was great selling from Aj. Jeff blocks a Tornado DDT and goes for a superplex but Larry Zbysko has come to ringside and grabs Jarrett's foot. Aj uses the oppurtunity to score with a sunset bomb for two. Aj floats over to the apron, Jarrett tries another suplex but Larry grabs the foot and Aj falls on top for a two count. Aj floats over Jarrett in the corner and absolutely kills Jarrett with a leaping enzenguri. Aj distracts the referee and Larry kills Jarrett with a loaded punch. Aj gets a 2.7778 count. J J Dillon comes from the back and ejects Zbysko.
Aj mocks Jarrett and tries a figure four but Jeff counters into a small package for a near fall. Aj then goes for a springboard move but the timing is totally blown and Aj ad libs into a sleeper hold, well bad botch good recovery. Jeff Jarrett fades but of course makes the super hero come back.
Aj dodges a closeline and goes for the flying forearm but Jarrett dodges and the referee is down, the crowd let out a huge groan. Aj misses a springboard back flip and Jeff scores with the Stroke but there's no referee, Andrew Thomas runs out and Jeff gets a near fall. AJ counters a kick with a brilliant legsweep and locks in the death lock but Jeff powers out. AJ is monkey flipped by Jarrett into the referee. ANOTHER FUCKING REF BUMP.
The Harris brothers run in and hit the H-Bomb on Jarrett. Vader and Dusty run in and they brawl with the Harris brothers through the crowd. Aj crawls back into the ring and makes the cover for a very near fall. Aj tries the Styles Clash but Jeff escapes, Aj rolls through the escape again and hits the Styles Clash, very nice but it only gets a 2.9999! Aj comes off top with a diving forearm but Jarrett counters with big closeline.
ANOTHER FUCKING RUN IN. Sony Siaki runs in and hits two finishers on Jarrett but Aj turns face and unloads on Sony giving him the styles clash and throwing him out of the ring. Jeff then catches Aj while he's distracted and scores with the Stroke off the second rope for the win.
This is such overbooked crap, utter, utter crap. The match was going really well for the first half, I was thinking three and half stars at a minimum, but then Larry got involved, then ref bumps, then two sets of interference and a face turn, it was just overkill when a straight up match would have been brilliant. Jeff sucks at dramatic kick outs. Good match undermined by terrible booking. (***1/4)
Chapter Seven: A Wise Man Builds His House Upon A Rock
Jeff and Mick Foley talk us through the importance of having good fundementals if you want to become a pro. Jeff won rookie of the year his first year.
NWA World Heavyweight Title
Raven vs. Jeff Jarrett
Mickie James looks very hot at ringside even without the WWE makeover. God its just bizarre to see Raven in good shape after the last few years of Raven. On another side note Jeff Jarrett just has the worst taste in fashion of any man ever.
Jeff and Raven lock up and they power each other around the ring until Jeff gives Raven a clean break. Raven scores with a shoulder tackle and we have our first stand off. Raven and Jeff exchange hammerlocks until Raven scores with a hip toss. Raven gets a drop toe hold and then wrestles circles around Jarrett before playing to the crowd. Raven bails and plays to the crowd but Jarrett follows him with a dropkick through the ropes and they brawl around ringside. Jeff introduces Raven to the guard rail. Alexis has the ref distracted, and Julio comes in with a chair shot but he hits Raven by mistake. Jeff then hits a plancha onto both Mickie and Julio but Raven follows up immediately with a plancha onto Jeff. Raven the gives Jeff a drop toe hold into the ring steps. Fun start.
Raven is bleeding and Julio and Mickie have set a table up at ringside. Raven places Jeff on the table but Jeff rolls into the ring. Raven comes off top with a flying axe handle for a two count. Raven hits a hard Irish whip and a weak arse closeline before scoring with a massive knee lift. Jeff is now wearing the crimson mask too. Raven sets up a chair in the centre of the ring and Raven gives Jeff the drop toe hold onto the chair as Mickie distracts the referee. Raven then gives Jeff the second rope curb stomp for a two count before slapping on the camel clutch.
Jeff fights out but runs straight into a kitchen sink. I did I mention Mickie James looks really good at ringside. Raven applies a sleeper and Jeff attempts to break it in the corner. Raven holds on and Jeff begins to fade, fade, fade....no! Jeff fights back again and breaks the hold with a Jaw breaker and then a horrible Ace Crusher and both men are down.
Raven is up first but its Jeff who unloads with some really good punches and a nice dropkick. Jeff knocks Julio off the apron with a dropkick and he counters Mickie's Ranna into an Implant buster. Jeff counters the Even Flow into an Enzenguri for a near fall. Jeff then catapults Raven into the corner that looked horrible, speaking of which Raven hits one of his legendarily dire superkicks for a near fall. Jeff dodges a closeline and hits the Stroke for a 1-2-kick out! Raven counters an Irish Whip into the Raven Effect for a near fall and the crowd chant "TNA". Jeff counters a back body drop and Jarrett closelines Raven and himself to the outside.
Jeff lays Raven on the table at ringside and heads to the second rope but Julio makes the save. Jeff fights off Julio and sends him flying before hitting a nice second rope elbow drop off the second rope through the table. Jeff hits the Evenflow DDT on Raven but Mickie James pulls him out of the ring. The referee ejects Mickie and Julio. Raven bumps the referee! FUCK OFF WITH THE REF BUMPS! Raven low blows Jeff and both men are down as the new church and S.E.X brawl through the crowd. The extreme revolution New Jack, Saturn, Sandman and Justin Credible come from the back and kill Jarrett with weapons and Saturn hits a death valley driver. They then give Jarrett a super kick conchairto to a hand cuffed Jarrett. Raven sets up to kill Jarrett with a chair but the LIGHTS GO OUT. Sabu isn't quite in the ring but when he gets in the ring he kills everyone with chairs and gives Raven an Air Sabu and front flips onto the entire extreme revolution. SABU JUMPS INTO THE CROWD AND ABSOLUTELY KILLS A WOMAN IN THE CROWD!!!
Raven is back up and Jarrett is still tied up, Raven misses a chair shot and it rebounds and hits Raven in a face for a near fall. Rudy Charles unlocks the hand cuffs but Raven still hits the Raven Effect for a 2.9999! Raven is pissed and tries it again but Jeff counters into the Stroke for the 1-2-3. Fans pelt the ring with Garbage after the match.
It's like I'm stuck on repeat, for the most part this was a very fun match up but it just became totally over booked rubbish. The finish was just ludicrious, Sabu botched his entrance and then absolutely killed a woman in the front row. Suprisingly polished start but a total clusterfuck of finale. (**3/4)
Chapter Eight: Shakespeare To The Masses.
Jeff now talks about how insanely popular wrestling was in Memphis in the eighties, he talks about how rapid the fans were for wrestling and how Wrestling sold out the mid south colliseum every week and claims that Elvis and Garth Crooks couldn't do that. Jeff says "it's incredible the connection wrestling can have with people, music can't touch it, sure Garth Crooks had central park but that's one night". Interesting stuff. I'm really glad they've opted to tell the story of Memphis as well as Jeff, its a good story and it helps the DVD feel less self centred.
TNA Clip: Vince Russo comes out with AJ Styles and says he's gonna introduce AJ's partner, he says AJ's partner is a scumbag and degenerate just like Russo and his mystery partner is Sean Waltman.
AJ Styles & Sean Waltman vs. Jeff Jarrett & Sting
Jeff and Sting storm the ring and unload. Apparently this is Sting's first competive match in over two years. Sting and Jarrett whip AJ and Sean into the meetings of the minds spot. AJ unloads with kicks but Sting no sells before hitting a back elbow and countering a dropkick into the Scorpion Death Lock but AJ scrambles quickly to the ropes. Sting then hits a plancha onto AJ Styles. Good Start.
Waltman is dressed in a terrible tracksuit and he misses the bronco buster on Jarrett. In the ring Jeff counters a ranna into a powerbomb before slapping on the Figure Four Leglock. AJ breaks the hold with a brilliant springboard guillotine leg drop. AJ tags in and hits Jarrett with a body slam and knee drop combination, Russo is just dire on commentary. Style hits a spinal tap and unloads on Jeff before scoring with a brilliant dropkick and playing to the crowd. Waltman tags in and slaps on a sleeper hold, Jeff fades as Sting works the crowd. Jeff escapes but runs into a spinning heel kick from Waltman for a two count. Waltman hits the body slam and the running leg drop for a two count. AJ tags back in and slaps on a chinlock. The crowd start a "we want Sting". Jarrett fights out and they go to a mid ring collision spot. Both men are down.
HOT TAG! Sting cleans house with chops and right hands. Sting gives AJ and Waltman Stinger splashes on both sides of the ring before locking AJ in the Scorpion Deathlock. While the referee is distracted Waltman sneaks in and nails Sting with the baseball bat. AJ reverse the hold as the crowd chant "You Still Suck". Sting manages to power out and break the hold. Styles knocks Jeff off the apron before tagging in Waltman but Sting explodes with a double closeline. Sting floats over AJ and hits a combination Scorpion Death Drop and DDT combo on both oponnents, the crowd pop huge and chant "TNA".
Jeff tags in and scores with the huge dropkicks on both Styles and Waltman before giving them a meeting of the minds. Russo distracts Jarrett but Sting makes the save and gets a ten punch on Waltman. Jeff dodges a superkick and the Ref gets bumped. AJ flips over a suplex and goes for a Stroke but Jeff reverses into one of his own. But Russo hits Jarrett with a baseball to break the pinfall. Raven runs to the ring and beats up Jarrett and Styles before Shane Douglas runs in and attacks Raven, they brawl around ringside. Jeff then hits a second rope Stroke after alot of silliness for the 1-2-3.
That was like every match on the DVD so far, fun to start before the overbooked crap just killed the finish and the crowd heat dead. Its a shame because this was the hottest crowd TNA had had to date. (**1/4)
Chapter Nine: End of the Territories
Jeff says that the wrestling business isn't cyclical, he says it just evolves and gets better, it only goes down when promoters get lazy. He then goes on to explain how Vince took it to the next level and put everyone else out of business. Jeff says that the internet is the new revolution, Jeff believes that Pro Wrestling will be shown live on the internet every night. He then tells the story of Vince buying out Goergia championship Wrestling and taking Hulk Hogan and running the show. Jeff says Vince wasn't the smartest guy but he has balls, Jeff says fast forward twenty years and TNA is gonna do that. In your dreams.
Overall Thoughts: Well Disk One is complete, yes I made it through unscathed. The suprise is that listening to Jeff talk for three hours is fine, he tells a nice story and the DVD presentation is excellent as is the use of archive footage. They use camoes well and I prefer the style with the matches interjected, its a shame they don't have the footage WWE does has the matches at this stage have no connection to what Jeff is talking about.
On the wrestling side of things it's not so great, Jeff in this 2002-2003 era was and still is a glorified upper midcard talent, solid but unspecactular. He throws nice punches and dropkicks and is quite good at being a prick heel but he's simply not a centre peice, his charisma has improved now but you can clearly see no one buys him as a main eventer and his hurts the matches as they don't feel special. However these quibbles pale in comparision to the horribly over booked crap that encompass the match finishes. This DVD just illustrates what was and still is wrong with TNA and Vince Russo, good wrestlers undermined by back booking, all of the featured matches involve multiple ref, bumps and run ins and you can hear in each match especially the last the life being sucked out of the crowd.
All in all a solid first disk, with a lot to like but a hell of a lot of frustration. (6/10)
1 comments:
Dave, complete and utter props to you for sitting through that and reviewing it. I couldn't have done it. Hell I couldn't even bring myself to fucking download it, let alone watch it, get through it, and be expected to be mentally alert enough to review it.
I'm down in Canterbury tonight. Bring it with you man, I'm sure after a few beers I'll be able to stomach half an hour of it.
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