6/12 Twilling's TNA Impact Live Coverage: Samoa Joe vs. Kaz for the World Heavyweight Championship, Gail Kim vs. Velvet Sky, Doi and Yoshino vs. The Motor City Machine Guns

TNA Impact on Spike TV
Taped in Orlando, FL

[Q1] An onscreen graphic dedicated the show to the man who tragically lost his life taking down the Slammiversary set…

A video aired counting down the major happenings at Slammiversary. The show tonight is called, “I put a hit out on my wife.” Mike Tenay and Don West welcomed us to this loaded show, where the world and tag team championships would be on the line, as well as A.J. Styles vs. Kurt Angle in a lumberjack match…

1. Samoa Joe defeated Kaz to retain the TNA World Heavyweight Championship in 6:52. Both men were wearing black armbands. Kevin Nash watched the match backstage. Joe worked very quickly early with knees, kicks, and jabs. Kaz hit a swinging neckbreaker at three minutes to buy some time.

Kaz hit two springboard moves; an elbow and legdrop, scoring a two count. Joe hit a snap powerslam and a powerbomb for two nearfalls. Joe locked in a STF. After a struggle, Kaz reached the bottom rope. Kaz went to the top, but Joe hit a sweet reverse kick.

Joe went for the muscle buster but Kaz countered. Joe sent Kaz to the apron, pulled him up to the top rope and hit the muscle buster for the win. After the match, Booker T. walked out to the stage area… [C]

Twill’s Two Cents: Solid, but short match. The same action would have sufficed over seven or eight more minutes. Joe scored a clean victory but Kaz looked strong in defeat.

[Q2] I guess Booker and Joe stared at each other throughout the break. Booker said Joe and Nash robbed him at the PPV. Booker asked Joe if he could look in the mirror and tell himself he beat Booker T. straight up. Joe said nothing. Booker said he would be backstage and his locker room door would be open, because he has no door. He asked Joe what kind of champion he was…

Twill’s Two Cents: I think that is the best promo I have ever heard from Booker T. Good stuff.

Backstage, Lauren told Kurt Angle he got what he had coming. Kurt told Lauren the only reason she was there was because Spike TV thinks hot women equals ratings. Kurt received a letter from the president of Spike TV telling him that hitting women was unacceptable. Kurt agreed, so he put a hit out on Karen. He said by the end of the night, Karen and A.J. would be comatose. He said this would be Karen’s last night in TNA… [C]

Twill’s Two Cents: That was creepy.

Tenay sent back to Jeremy Borash, who said the World X Cup was coming soon. He interviewed Daivari, the captain of Team International. Daivari spoke in his native tongue with English translation scrolling at the bottom. He named the members of his team. After he left, Raisha Saeed said something to JB, presumably something about the open challenge…

2. The Motor City Machine Guns defeated Doi and Yoshino in 6:22. I have one more day to go at this house and the cable is cutting in and out.

[Q3] The action I saw was fast and very crisp. It looked like a very good, very athletic six minute match. Sabin and Shelley hit a double superkick for the win…

Backstage, JB interviewed Karen Angle. Karen said she knew Kurt and he would call off the hit. The Beautiful People came in and complained that Karen makes double the money they do. They tried to give her the paper bag treatment. A.J. made the save. Angelina and Velvet told A.J. if he wanted to be with real women, he knew where he could find them… [C]

Twill’s Two Cents: A.J. and Karen are just friends, so he should go for it.

Back from commercial, Lauren interviewed Kevin Nash. She said he always finds controversy. Nash said Booker touched him first. He said he had nothing to say, but Samoa Joe went to the ring and called him out. Nash came out and met Joe in the ring…

Joe told Nash to shake the sugar off of his lips and say what he had to say. Nash said Joe is still the champion because the big man took care of business. He wanted Joe to thank him. Joe said Nash should thank him for letting him ride his coattails every week.

[Q4] Nash told Joe he could not beat Booker T. and it was not physical, it was mental. Joe told Nash to take his opinions and predictions and stick them up his ass… [C]

Twill’s Two Cents: Good segment. Everyone expected the predictable Nash heel turn, so this was a fresh way to turn them against each other.

JB was looking around backstage for Kurt Angle. He walked into a dark room where Kurt was talking to Rhaka Khan, as Petey Williams and Scott Steiner looked on. Steiner slammed the door in JB’s face…

3. James Storm (with Jacqueline) and Robert Roode defeated LAX to win the TNA Tag Team Championships in 6:32. Roode and Homicide put on a nice chain wrestling clinic for the first thirty seconds or so. Storm tagged in but LAX hit multiple double team moves on him.

Homicide punched Storm in the corner but Roode interfered and closelined him across the top rope. Is this referee new? He plays the role of “bleach blonde douchebag fool” pretty well. As usual, Homicide took the prolonged beating.

Hernandez received the hot tag and put on a nice display of power moves on both men. He hit a powerslam for a nearfall. Storm was backdropped to the floor but he recovered and kicked Hernandez in the back of the head.

Roode went for the Payoff but Hernandez powered him off. Storm wrapped Jacqueline’s belt around his boot. The referee went to color his hair or something. Storm hit the superkick on Hernandez as he was about to hit the Border Toss. Roode covered him for the upset win. Tenay called it BS as Hector argued with the referee… [C]

Twill’s Two Cents: Are you f*cking kidding me? They take the titles off of LAX in an unadvertised match in the middle of Impact? What was the deal with that referee?

[Q5] They restarted the match because Hector convinced the referee to. Wow, could this guy get any worse?…

3. LAX defeated James Storm (with Jacqueline) and Robert Roode to retain the TNA Tag Team Championships in 1:25. Okay, disregard everything that happened before. LAX scored the win quickly when Hernandez hit a sit down powerbomb.

After the match, Roode, Storm, and Jacqueline hit all three members of LAX with chairs. They tied or taped each of them to different corners and beat them repeatedly with belts…

Twill’s Two Cents: That was an unnecessary mess. The beatdown afterward puts solid heat on Roode and Storm, but with so many vicious and brutal beatings lately, this seemed like just another one.

They quickly went backstage where a fight broke out in the makeup room. Angelina Love and Velvet Sky were visible and West mentioned Gail Kim’s name. A bunch of security people tried to break it up… [C]

4. Gail Kim defeated Velvet Sky in 4:38.. Kim attacked Sky as she made her entrance. They finally entered the ring. Sky was flying solo tonight. At one minute, Sky dropkicked Kim on the knee, causing her to fall from the apron to the floor. Sky hit the leg against the post.

[Q6] Kim tried to use the ropes but her knee gave out. Sky locked in a figure four. Kim turned it over, reversing the pressure. Sky reached the ropes quickly. Kim hit a series of closelines. Kim hit a blockbuster for a two count.

Gail went to the top rope. She missed a missile dropkick. Sky scored a nearfall. She grabbed the paper bag but Kim kicked Sky. Kim hit a reverse neckbreaker for the victory. She put the paper bag over Sky’s face…

Backstage, Lauren interviewed Roode and Storm. Roode said what they did was a “drive by.” He begged LAX to come and get retribution. Storm took the mic and gave a drunken redneck promo… [C]

Twill’s Two Cents: Pretty solid women’s match. Very good backstage follow up promo from Roode.

5. Alex Koslov defeated Curry Man in a World X Cup Preview Match in 2:31. Tenay gave us the rundown on Kozlov’s past. Tenay said Curry Man was from the Orient. Ugh. Kozlov stopped an irish whip to do a Russian Dance. Curry knocked him down and did a dance of his own.

Kozlov countered a Spice Rack into a Russian Leg Sweep. He then hit a springboard top rope splash for the win…

Backstage, Sonjay Dutt had no comment for JB regarding the wedding. Dutt walked off and Joe walked up to Booker T. Joe offered Booker a title match at Victory Road, as well as a handshake. Booker said he did not like Joe but he respected him. Joe said Booker was right and the locker room did smell like piss, so he gave him the key to his locker room. Joe said he would not need it anymore… [C]

Twill’s Two Cents: If that was an X Cup preview, than the X Cup is going to suck this year. I do not love backstage interviews between two guys who should want to beat each other up, but it fits Joe’s character well, so it worked here.

[Q7] 6. Sonjay Dutt defeated Consequences Creed in 3:06. Dutt dedicated the match to Val. He told her to seal the deal with a kiss after his hand is raised in victory. Tenay and West looked like idiots by continuing to act surprised at Dutt’s turn.

Dutt followed up each move with a kiss into the camera. Dutt hit a springboard missile dropkick and they literally showed the replay a second later. They can at least pretend to be live. After some decent back and forth action, Dutt hit the Hindu Drop (450 splash) for the win…

Jay Lethal came out with Val and attacked Dutt. He ran him off. He gave a promo in a combination of his Black Machismo voice and his real voice. He said they would have a match next week and he would split the pink taco. Val tried to look sad with a pouting lip. She then smiled and clapped for Jay…

Tomko and Team 3D made their way through the backstage area. Christian Cage, Rhino, and Matt Morgan did the same as these men will be the lumberjacks tonight… [C]

Twill’s Two Cents: I already forgot that segment; that cannot be good.

The lumberjacks stood at ringside. Tenay introduced Kurt Angle’s best buddy, Frank Trigg, to the broadcast booth…

7. Kurt Angle defeated A.J. Styles in a lumberjack match in 9:57. I hope they do not go to more than one commercial break. Trigg accused Karen of cheating with Styles.

[Q8] A quick pace started the match. Angle was thrown to the outside and took some shots from the faces. It is humorous how lumberjack matches are never used for the reason they should be used for anymore.

Styles hit a springboard forearm for the first nearfall at two minutes. Styles was thrown to the heels but he avoided their attack and delivered one of his own. Angle threw Styles back outside. The heels attacked Styles but the face lumberjacks came over. Team 3D laid out Rhino with the modified reverse 3D… [C]

Angle hit a snap suplex for a nearfall coming back from commercial. They showed the replay of Team 3D knocking Rhino out. Tenay and West called it a 3-D. That is not the 3-D.

Angle tried the Olympic Slam but Styles countered into an armdrag. He hit a hurricarana and pulled the legs forward for the pin, but the referee was distracted by the heels on the outside. Styles had Angle pinned again, but the referee was still nowhere to be found.

Brother Ray used the distraction to attack Styles. Angle hit the Olympic Slam for the win. After the match, Team 3D and Tomko took about an hour to set up tables in the ring. Cage and Morgan took prolonged beatings. All of a sudden, Abyss’ music hit and he came out to the ring.

Abyss, in that hideous outfit, took out everyone. Tomko tried to attack him, but took a chokeslam through a table. The lumberjacks fought to the back. Back in the ring, Styles hit the Pele kick on Angle. Styles set up a table and laid Kurt on it. Styles attempted a frogsplash but Angle moved and he went through the table.

Angle applied the ankle lock on Styles. Karen ran out to protect Styles. Angle teased hitting Karen as she dared him by sticking out her chin. He gave Karen a sly smile as Awesome Kong’s music hit and she came down to the ring. Apparently, Karen did not think to run.

Kong grabbed Karen by the hair and held her for Kurt to see. Kurt gave Kong the Batista “thumbs up, thumbs down” routine. Kong knocked out Karen with one punch. Kurt hit A.J. with repeated boots as the show went off the air…

Twill’s Two Cents: Wow, a lot went on there. First of all, why do referees care what is going on outside of the ring and completely becomes oblivious to the actual match? I always hated this. Anyway, the match was solid but the loss doesn’t really hurt A.J. or help Kurt.

Abyss came out and laid out Tomko. Big deal. After the background players fought to the back, all of a sudden, the stars are back on stage. The segment really did nothing for me until Kong came out. Having her knock Karen out was a great way to end the show.

As usual, TNA crammed four weeks of programming into one show. Did you enjoy it? Let me know. Shoot me an email at dotnetrich@gmail.com.