Background: The winner of this bout would gain a #1 Contender match to take on Chris Harris. Sting was made the special enforcer for this contest.
NWA-TNA Pay-Per-View #87
Nashville, TN
March 31, 2004
AJ Styles vs. Raven vs. Ron Killings vs. Abyss
Dey’s a clubberin’ in Nashville, Tony! Double team flapjack by Raven and Abyss dropped Killings before Raven looked for the Evenflow DDT. Abyss blocked the maneuver, allowing Killings to take Raven to the floor. AJ unwillingly joined Raven and Killings thanks to Raven yanking him out and whipping Styles against the barricades. Styles recovered after Killings used a hurricarana on Abyss and Styles cocked Raven down. Double team clothesline-dropkick combination by Styles and “The Truth” dropped Abyss, but the double team suplex didn’t work. Thanks to his strength, Abyss was able to belly to back suplex Styles and Killings at the same time.
Raven reentered the ring, bulldogging Abyss to stop Shock Treatment. Sadly for Raven, he was kicked to the floor by Styles. Raven reentered the ring, stopping the Styles Clash on “The Truth”, only to put himself in the same predicament as Killings until Abyss kicked Styles in the face.
Raven exited the ring, trying to cheap shot Sting. This didn’t go well for Raven, as he got beat down until Abyss came to help him. Sting got tossed into the ring during the scuffle, with Raven and Abyss wearing out the legend. Somehow, Sting fought through the two-on-one situation, clotheslining Abyss and Raven to the floor. Rather than fight each other, Styles and Killings somersaulted over the top rope to take down their opponents!
“The Truth” pulled out a chair to whack Abyss on his head. Killings and Styles reentered the ring, with Ron hitting the Lie Detector. When Killings went for the scissor kick, Raven cracked his back with the chair. Raven brought the chair into the ring, setting up that drop toe hold into the open chair. AJ reversed the attack, sending Raven face first against the chair’s seat. Before Styles could capitalize, Killings used the scissor kick to slam Styles face first into the chair … for a near fall thanks to Abyss!
Abyss reentered the ring, using the Black Hole Slam on Killings for a near fall of his own when Raven stopped the count. Evenflow DDT by Raven on Abyss ended with Styles stopping Raven’s sure pin with a Swanton bomb. AJ hooked Raven, executing the Styles Clash when Jeff Jarrett came out to stop the referee from counting Raven down. Thankfully for Styles, Sting was there to beat Jarrett before authority figure Vince Russo ordered “Double J” to the back. Jarrett took the towel off of Vince Russo’s shoulder, tossing the towel in to distract AJ from using another Styles Clash on Raven.
When AJ saw the towel, he immediately blamed Russo. Raven used a low blow to catch the stunned AJ, pulling him into the Evenflow DDT a second later for the victory.
Winner: Raven (10:59)
Is It A Classic: All four men definitely used the number of bodies to their advantage during this bout. There was little slowing down and some impressive sights, but the overall feel was it being too much. Too much interference, too much Sting, and too much of a disappointing ending. And like any good movie that gets dragged down by a terrible ending, so is this match.
