TNA Turning Point 2004
December 5, 2004
Orlando, FL
Universal Studios

The current NWA & TNA Champs were as follows:
NWA World Champion: Jeff Jarrett (6/2/2004)
NWA World Tag Team Champions: 3Live Kru (11/7/2004)
NWA-TNA X-Division Champion: Petey Williams (8/11/2004)

Your hosts are Mike Tenay & Don West.

Vince McMahon and Triple H imitators are in the building to retrieve a video that the real Vince McMahon and Triple H don’t want us TNA fans to see. Oh yeah, and Abyss has welcoming balloons!

• NWA World Tag Team Champions 3Live Kru vs. Team Canada (w/Coach Scott D’Amore)
  

The one and only rematch from Victory Road. BG James and Ron Killings are Konnan-less tonight which may or may not be to their advantage, turning them into the 2Live Kru. Hopefully they will refrain from being as nasty as they wanna be tonight. Heard some really scary stories about that BG James fellow. Alright, onto the match. Good to see Eric Young serious for once. Geez, that guy is a bag of hammers nowadays. BG and EY start the match. BG stops EY from mocking his Shake Rattle and Roll and tags DA TROOF for a flying legdrop to the balls. In comes Bobby Roode, who gets met with a pair of armdrags. Killings flips out of the corner and handsprings back only to jump up and connect with a heel kick on Roode. Tag to BG for some Too Cool shenanigans that just lead to Roode getting punched in the face. Shaky Knee Drop follows for two. Killings tags back in and gets knocked off the top to become the face-in-peril. The Canadians deliver some backbreakers for a few nearfalls. EY stomps a muddier than usual mudhole on Killings, but then walks away and turns around into a missile dropkick. Roode gets a tag and cuts off a tag to James. Killings avoids a flying legdrop to *his* balls and hot tags BG. Shake Rattle and Roll to EY! Clothesline to Roode gets 1-2-NO! Killings tags and catches EY up top. He brings him down with an springboard Ax Kick. Meanwhile, Roode hits the AA Spinebuster on BG for 1-2-NO! NORTHERN LARIAT? Nope. Killings cuts him off for a Hart Attack. D’Amore comes in to distract the champs from covering. BG wants the PUMPHANDLE SLAM on Roode, but fellow Canadian Johnny Devine makes his return and WHACKS BG James with a hockey stick. Roode covers for 1-2-3. Team Canada regains the belts! (8:30) So why give 3Live Kru the belts only for them to retain it a month later? Silly TNA. **

• Kid Kash, Frankie Kazarian & Matt Bentley (w/Traci) vs. Sonny Siaki, Hector Garza & Sonjay Dutt
  

Siaki, Garza and Dutt are here to defend Snuka’s honor for being disrespected last month at Victory Road. Sonjay and Kash get into a series of counters to start. Sonjay cuts him off with dropkicks. Garza tags for a double suplex on Kash. Tag to Bentley, he pounds away on Garza. Garza slips on the ropes, leading to a tag to Kazarian. Siaki tags and delivers a spinning neckbreaker. Blind tag to Sonjay, Siaki launches him into Kazarian while he’s in the corner for a hurracanrana. Traci distracts Sonjay for an armbreaker DDT by Kazarian. Now the heels feast on Sonjay’s hurt arm. They make a couple illegal switches on a cross armbreaker. Kazarian and Bentley deliver a NICE guillotine leg drop/backbreaker combo. Bentley and Kash pull back on Sonjay’s arms while he’s down in the corner as Kazarian hits him with a dropkick. Kash tags in and gives Sonjay a hammerlock slam into the corner. Garza runs in so the heels can switch again as Bentley comes in and grabs another armbar. Sonjay fights back with his good arm, but Bentley takes his bad arm and slings it down on the mat. Kazarian tags and continues to work the arm. Sonjay manages to break free and run around as he springboards for a hurracanrana. Garza gets the hot tag and cleans house. Moonsault to Kazarian for 1-2-NO! Siaki clotheslines Kash and Bentley so he can elevate Sonjay to the floor for a 450 splash. Traci hits Kazarian with the PIE IN THE SKY by accident. Siaki scares Traci away as Garza delivers the TORNILLO on Kazarian for 1-2-3. (11:01) Good psychology, but rather dull outside of the usual high spots. **¾

• Abyss vs. Monty Brown – Serengeti Survival Match
  

A “Serengeti Survival” match is another BS TNA name for “anything goes”. Monty calls Abyss “Obese”. Come on Monty, he’s just “really overweight”. Monty Brown has his ribs taped, so you know exactly where the storyline of the match is going. They fight on the aisleway until Abyss whips Brown into the ringpost so he can pull off the bandages from his ribs. Abyss leans a table up in the corner and pulls out his sack o tacks. Brown punches him until his sack drops on the floor. Abyss slows Brown down with a big boot for two. Ooo! We now have a chair in the ring. Brown takes a chairshot to the ribs and lower back. Abyss lays the chair across Brown and Earthquake splashes Brown. Cover, 1-2-NO! Crowd ~ “Use the table! *clap-clap-clapclapclap”. Abyss gets VIOLENT~! by gouging and choking Brown in the ropes. He places the chair on top of Brown again and goes for the Earthquake splash, but Monty turns the chair vertical to crotch Abyss. Chairshot by Monty! Running Powerslam on the chair! Yeah, those ribs are hurting! Not. POUNCE? No sir. BLACK HOLE SLAM! Abyss covers for 1-2-NO! Abyss wedges the chair in the corner, but Monty reverses a whip and throws Abyss into the chair! The POUNCE puts Abyss on the floor. Monty spouts off his Russell Crowe line and brings Abyss back in the ring for 1-2-NO! Shouldn’t have tried to be Gladiator and went for the cover, Monty. Abyss avoids a POUNCE into the table and Monty goes crashing through for 1-2-NO! Both guys whip out their sack o tacks. Brown pours his tacks out first, so Abyss tosses his sack aside. No reason to waste a perfectly good sack o tacks on Monty Brown. Brown blocks a CHOKE SLAM and pulls off Abyss’ shirt. They get into a chop battle and fight over a powerbomb until Monty lifts Abyss up on his shoulders so he can give Abyss an Alabama Slam on the tacks. Apparently you can win that way too. (12:17) This didn’t have nearly the heat that the Monsters Ball match at Victory Road had. I know you’re a tough guy, Monty, but SELL if you’re going to have your ribs taped. **½

Our Vince and Triple H impersonators continue their quest for some video tape that they don’t want us seeing. They pretend to fire some TNA guy because he’s violating the dress code. Ehh, now it’s kind of like hearing a Michael Jackson joke in 2008. But then again, these shenanigans were never that funny to begin with.

• Johnny B. Badd & Pat Kenney vs. The New York Connection – Special Ref: Jackie Moore
  

New York Connection is Glenn Gilberti (Disco Inferno) & Johnny Swinger. Pat Kenney is Simon Diamond playing an all-around neat guy who hails from New York state. The NYC cost Jackie Moore her match against Trinity at Victory Road, which is why she’s special refereeing this match. Kenney beats the crap out of Johnny Swinger to start. Badd tags in for a tilt-a-whirl headscissors. Tag to Gilberti, Badd works the arm for a bit. Kenney delivers a Northern Lights suplex for two. Swinger distracts Kenney to allow Gilberti to knee him out to the floor so Swinger can ram his back into the ringpost. Kenney plays face-in-peril as the New Yawkers work the back while the crowd appears moderately bored. Heel miscommunication almost ruins the match for the NYC, but then Kenney tries for a suplex and his back REALLY hurts. Swinger runs into a sit-out spinebuster as Kenney hot tags Badd. Knee lifts for everybody! Double Noggin Knocker! Swinger keeps Gilberti from taking the TKO and gives Badd the Swing Thing, but turns around into a superkick from Kenney. Gilberti pushes Jackie out of the way and delivers the CHARTBUSTER on Kenney! Jackie shoves Gilberti back and gets pie-faced. Badd shoves off the CHARTBUSTER and sends Gilberti right into a slam by Jackie. It’s like Halloween Havoc ’97 all over again for Disco. TKO to Gilberti! Cover, 1-2-3. (7:59) As good as it could have been for a formula tag match. *½

So in the back, Randy Savage is being driven off in some car as the Kings of Wrestling watch on. Kidnapped with apparently no struggle? Whooooa.

• Diamond Dallas Page vs. Raven
  

Oh goody. Erik Watts joins us for commentary on this match. I had forgotten how close DDP’s TNA theme sounded like “Smells Like Teen Spirit”. Even more so than his WCW theme music. Kind of a Vanilla Ice/Queen thing going on there. So apparently, DDP has heard enough of Raven’s whining about not ever being the world champion and comes in weekly to BANG him. Somehow Erik Watts has been dragged into this feud. Page is hardly the motivated “People’s Champion” that he was seven years earlier, but he’s trying. He takes out the ref early on and fights into the crowd. All of a sudden, this match is Raven’s Rules, which means no rules. Back in, we get another ref and Raven gets his balls posted. DIAMOND CUTTER? No! Raven grabs the top rope to block and covers with his feet on the ropes for two. Raven pulls out the weird Middle Ages-era helmet that he sometimes wore back then and nails DDP with it to take over. That gets two. Raven hits a running knee in the corner and sets up a chair for the drop toehold. That connects for two. Raven mocks the crowd, allowing Page to POP UP out of the corner and throw Raven into the corner for a beatdown. DIAMOND CUTTER attempt #2 is countered with a low blow for two. Raven hits the corner clothesline followed by the bulldog for two. Page counters a corner whip and delivers a belly-to-belly suplex for two. Raven ducks a clothesline and connects with a superkick for another two. Page blocks a clothesline and hits a DIAMOND CUTTER out of nowhere for 1-2-NO! Raven’s two black hooded henchmen are now at ringside! OH NOES! Raven low blows Page and delivers the EVENFLOW DDT for 1-2-NO! Erik Watts leaves the announce table and CHOKESLAMS the henchmen. He hugs Page…and then pulls him in for a clothesline. SWERVE~! Page low blows out of the CHOKESLAM and gets rid of Watts with a DIAMOND CUTTER. Raven stomps away on Page and goes for another EVENFLOW DDT, but Page counters into a DIAMOND CUTTER for the win. (12:02) So TNA completely abandons the reason for a heel turn/swerve in the middle of a match. By Watts turning on Page and then Page still getting the win, it makes Watts heel turn seem completely ineffectual, unnecessary and insignificant. A so-called friend turning on him had no psychological impact on Page whatsoever. The feud has lost any chance of picking up steam before it even gets underway. Anyways, this would have made a decent TV main event, but that’s about as far as it goes from being a good match. Page would go on to bigger things in TNA, including a PPV world title main event against Jeff Jarrett at the first Destination-X. **½

Traci Brooks goes into “Vince” and “Triple H’s” room to offer them cookies and “milk”. Vince throws her cookies on the floor because she was involved with the video tape that “Vince” doesn’t want us to see, so he sends her away to find “Director of Authority” Dusty Rhodes. Triple H apparently doesn’t get fed very much over at the ‘E and gobbles the cookies up off the floor.

• NWA-TNA X-Division Champion Petey Williams (w/Coach Scott D’Amore) vs. Chris Sabin
  

The match I’ve been waiting for! Sabin won an Ultimate X match and earns himself an X-title shot. To make this interesting, Sabin can counter the Canadian Destroyer into his own Cradle Shock, but now it’s time to see if he can counter the move when the X-title is on the line. We get a series of X-Division-like counters to start as Sabin goes for the CRADLE SHOCK early, but Petey slips away and escapes out to the floor. Back in, Sabin kicks Williams in the face after a snapmare. They get into a STIFF forearm battle. Sabin avoids a corner charge and flips out to the apron for a springboard dropkick! Williams goes back on the floor to regroup with D’Amore. Back in again, Williams floats back in right into another CRADLE SHOCK attempt, but he grabs the top rope and pulls Sabin out with him to the floor. Williams hits the slingshot hurracanrana from the inside out. Sabin chops back and blocks another rana by tossing Petey back first on the guardrail! Holy crap. Sabin jumps into the crowd and leaps over the pit area back onto Petey with a flying clothesline. Awesome stuff. They head back in as Williams counters a reverse suplex from the apron with a neck snap. Double-knee facebuster from Williams puts Sabin back out on the floor for a D’Amore stomping. Back in, Petey covers for two. Tree of woe sets up O CANADA! That gets two. Nice neckbreaker/tornado DDT combo from Petey gets another nearfall. Petey works a bowtie lock, but Sabin counters into a torso rollup for 1-2-NO! A dropkick by Petey keeps him in control. Petey delivers the Suplex/Back Suplex combo and gets another nearfall. We’ve got dueling “Let’s go Petey!” “Let’s go Sabin!” chants going on. Scott D’Amore gets in another cheapshot after Williams chokes Sabin in the ropes. As Petey reacts to the crowd, Sabin starts to mount his comeback with chops. Williams heads up top, but Sabin runs up and brings Petey down with a release Northern Lights! They both get up slugging it out, ending with an enziguri by Sabin. Running Ligerbomb gets 1-2-NO! Sabin heads up top and gets crotched, but sits up to avoid a running dropkick and then leaps out onto Petey with a somersault plancha! Back in, that gets two. Petey flips out of the corner and hits the Canadian Legsweep. CANADIAN DESTROYER? No! CRADLE SHOCK? NO! Williams slips out and applies the Sharpshooter. Well, kind of. He doesn’t sit down on it very well. Sabin makes the ropes and backdrops a charging Petey out onto the apron. He chops at Williams and tries for a superplex, but Petey forearms out. Sabin blocks a sunset flip powerbomb, comes down on top of Petey, and flips him over face-first onto the mat! From there, Sabin KEEPS IT GOING for a piledriver! Cover, 1-2-NO! We have another Canadian Destroyer attempt countered into a Cradle Shock attempt, but D’Amore gets up on the apron and pulls Petey down. The ref gets in between Sabin and D’Amore while Petey pulls out a foreign object from his tights. Why does it looks like cardboard knux? WHAM! Sabin gets nailed and Petey covers for three. (18:10) I never really thought you needed those kind of finishes in the highly competitive X-Division, but I guess it does make some sense if Petey can’t finish Sabin off with his signature move. Its matches like this one which explain why I love Chris Sabin so much. So far this is match of the night by far, but there’s still the SIX SIDES OF STEEL! ***¾

So Dusty is busy and sends a TNA executive in his place who happens to be a midget to “Vince’s” room, who then proceeds to kick “Vince” in the balls. I gotta say, that right there is Vince McMahon-style humor. I’m sure he’ll have a nice hearty laugh about it later.

• The Kings of Wrestling vs. Jeff Hardy, AJ Styles & Randy Savage
  

This match was basically set up at the end of Victory Road with AJ Styles stepping up to take on Scott Hall, Kevin Nash and Jeff Jarrett. Randy Savage is in TNA’s mind an added bonus based on name recognition. But let’s not forget that Randy Savage is 52 years old at this point and can barely do anything in the ring at all, which explains why he was “kidnapped” and sent out of the arena. Hall and Nash are dressed in cheap looking Elvis costumes while Jarrett is just wearing his normal ring attire. It starts out as a 3-on-2 obviously since there’s no Savage. Styles and Jarrett start the match. After killing a little time with the crowd, they trade headlocks. AJ snaps off a headscissors and hits a leapfrog/dropkick spot. Hall tags in and tries to humiliate Styles by paintbrushing him after some shoulderblocks. AJ kicks back at Hall and dropkicks him over. Now AJ wants Nash. He obliges and does a little tai-chi warm up. Careful there, Big Kev. You wouldn’t want to tear one of your quads in mid-match again. Nash goes low on AJ and beats him down. Styles slips out of the Snake Eyes and has dropkicks for everybody. Hardy tags in and double dropkicks both Jarrett and Hall. Nash takes the double legdrop to the groin and then a basement dropkick in the corner. Hall nails Hardy from the apron and causes Hardy to turn around into a boot from Nash. Now we’ve got our face in peril. Jarrett tags in for the Bossman Straddle. Hall tags in for a Chokeslam. Nash tags in for the Side Slam for two. Hall cheats during an ab stretch with a little leverage help from Nash. Hardy comes back with a spinning mule kick and hot tags Styles. He cleans house on Hall and Nash and puts Jarrett down with the Asai DDT. Cover, 1-2-NO! Jarrett blocks the STYLES CLASH and puts AJ out on the apron. AJ forearms Jarrett back and goes for the Springboard Forearm, but Nash knocks his feet out from under him. AJ crashes on the top rope and gets flung into the corner. Hall hits the Fallaway Slam and covers with his feet on the ropes for 1-2-NO! Nash corners AJ and delivers the knee strikes followed by some back elbows. Jarrett tags and catches Styles with a gutbuster to set up a FIGURE-FOUR (?), but AJ counters into a small package for two. Hardy gets drawn in by Hall to cause a double-team beatdown. Styles fights out of a bearhug by Nash. He tries to LEAP past Nash and tag Hardy, but gets caught. He manages to tag, but the ref doesn’t see it thanks to Hall. Jarrett and Styles slug it out, leading to a double-KO. HOT TAG TO HARDY! He hits Jarrett with Whisper in the Wind. Reverse STO to Hall. Hardy counters the STROKE and delivers the TWIST OF FATE to Jarrett! Hardy covers as Styles nails Hall with a flying bodypress. Nash pulls the ref out and decks him, so AJ goes out and posts Nash. Meanwhile, Hardy heads up for the SWANTON BOMB. Hall comes over and KABONGS Hardy down on top of Jarrett. AJ takes out Hall with a pescado. HERE COMES RANDY SAVAGE! He tags Hardy and punches the Kings of Wrestling into an oblivion. He trades sleepers with Jarrett. Hardy and Styles jumps on Hall and Nash’s backs for a TRIFECTA OF SLEEPERS! Jarrett elbows out and tries a sunset flip, but Savage blocks and kneels down on Jarrett for 1-2-3. (17:56) Well, I at least tried to make it sound a lot more fun than it really was. When you’re as big a mark of Randy Savage as I am, it’s no fun seeing him like this. Rumor has it that Savage was supposed to go on and beat Jarrett for the NWA world title at Final Resolution, but he decided to bow out because his issues with his health. Thank God. I actually enjoyed seeing the new generation of stars like Hardy and Styles beating up on guys like Hall and Nash. As for Jeff Jarrett, he was just kind of there. **

After his run-in with the midget TNA executive, “Vince McMahon” is sent off to a hospital in an ambulance while Triple H watches on.

Dusty says play Cookie Gate right now! In case you had not heard, that’s the video WWE doesn’t want to see! It’s Shane Douglas, Traci, 3LK, and Abyss (w/welcoming balloons) showing up at Universal Studios where WWE is at. Various WWE stars are shown, but they are all blurred out. Ahh, Benoit’s name gets mentioned. TNA raids WWE’s catering table and then they challenge Vince to come out and talk to them. Big whoop. Wanna fight about it?

• America’s Most Wanted vs. Triple X – Six Sides of Steel
  

The losing team must disband. These two teams had an unbelievable MOTYC in a standard cage in June of 2003 and now they look to finally finish off this feud once and for all. It starts out like a regular tag match with Storm and Daniels kicking things off. Both guys avoid being tossed into the cage. Skipper and Harris tag in. Skipper goes low and snapmares him over for a punt to the back. Skipper messes with Storm and turns around into a full nelson slam. AMW delivers a double backdrop to Skipper, but one to Daniels fails. Instead they lift him up like a double atomic drop and throw him into the cage! Storm grinds Daniels face into the cage to become our first bloody casualty. Seems a little early for blood, but maybe that’s just me. Harris gets backed into the Triple X corner. After a double slam, Skipper slams Daniels on top of Harris. Wow, the blood is just pouring out of Daniels head. Skipper starts to kick Harris down, but he catches Skipper’s leg and catapults him into the turnbuckle. Storm gets the hot tag and he’s ROCKIN’ AND ROLLIN’. AMW tries for the DEATH SENTENCE on Skipper, but Daniels breaks up. Harris comes off the top anyway and nails Daniels with a flying bodypress. Skipper catches Harris charging at him in the corner and launches him into the cage. As part of their modus operandi, Triple X has handcuffs! They are attached to the turnbuckle and covered up by a bloody towel! Harris gets handcuffed to allow an easy 2-on-1 advantage on Storm. But don’t worry, Chris. Daniels has the key. He dangles the key in front of Harris just to piss him off and then GRINDS the key in Storm’s forehead! Finally, Daniels puts the key around his neck for safe keeping. Now everyone is bloody but Elix Skipper. Skipper lifts Storm up on his shoulders as Daniels comes off the top with an elbow drop. Cover, 1-2-NO! Heel miscommunication ensues and Storm spears the keychain off Daniels. Storm grabs the key and staggers around until he finds Harris. CHRIS HARRIS IS FREE! Lariat to Skipper! AA Spinebuster to Daniels! Harris goes over and tries to get Storm motivated right before he bashes Daniels face into the cage six or seven times. Storm then proceeds to reverse suplex Skipper into the cage. Whoa. That could have went terribly wrong. Harris BOUNCES Daniels twice off the cage during a walk-around suplex! AWESOME. Cover, 1-2-NO! Skipper slows down Harris with a belly-to-belly suplex. Rocker-Plex by Triple X on Harris gets 1-2-NO! Storm takes over on Triple X and throws them both in the cage. Hart Attack by AMW on Skipper gets 1-2-NO! ’80s tag team finishers FTW! Skipper keeps Daniels from taking a slam and together they toss Harris into the cage. They proceed to give Harris the DEATH SENTENCE! Skipper covers for 1-2-NO! They try to do the same to Storm, but he punches Daniels away and POWERBOMBS Skipper from the top rope! “TNA!” chants fire up. Storm covers for 1-2-NO! ANGELS WINGS to Storm! Cover, 1-2-NO! WHAT! Daniels and Harris fight up to the rim of the cage! You see Skipper climbing up to the rim as well. He then decides to WALK ACROSS THE TOP OF THE CAGE and rana Harris down to the mat below! Seeing this spot out of context is cool and all, but watching this during the match makes it seem all the more incredible. After all that, then Daniels comes down on Harris with an elbow drop! Daniels climbs up AGAIN, but Storm is there to stop him. Skipper comes over to stop Storm. Harris comes over to stop Skipper! WHAT! SUPER TOWER OF DOOM! OUCH! Storm fell on Daniels feet! “This is awesome” chants from the TNA crowd. Some great visuals in this match with everybody struggling to get to their feet and the blood just pouring from their heads. Except Skipper, but that’s forgivable. I mean, the guy WALKED across the rim of the cage for crying out loud. Skipper and Harris counter each others finishers until they just end up sending each other into the cage. Daniels headbutts Storm until he can barely stand himself. Harris saves Storm and handcuffs Daniels in the corner! IRONY! Superkick from Storm pretty much puts Skipper away, but AMW decides to finish him off for good with Triple X’s POWER-PLEX! That gets the win for AMW. (21:05) In the short history of TNA, this was one of their best matches ever that managed to overshadow their first awesome cage match with even crazier moments than before. This was also paced very well from beginning to end and built up to a completely satisfying finish. The only gripe I would have is they went for blood WAY too early in the match. Two minutes in? Come on. Other than that, this match is basically the perfect TNA match. Triple X would be separated for 2½ years until Low-Ki returned as Senshi to reform Triple X. That’s actually longer than most agreements in wrestling. ****¾

Final Thoughts: This actually wasn’t so bad. In fact, a lot better than Victory Road, as they didn’t try too hard. They just went out there and did their thing. Aside of the silly Kings of Wrestling main event, everything ranged from decent to amazing. I mean, you’ve got a great Petey Williams/Chris Sabin match AND easily the best TNA match of 2004. Mild thumbs up for Turning Point 2004. You have to see that cage match if nothing else.