TNA TV Reports 4/24 TNA Impact Coverage: Samoa Joe defends the TNA Title against Kurt Angle By Jason Powell Apr 24, 2008 - 08:00 PM Email This Article | Printer Friendly Page Send Us News & Results | Back to Main Listing TNA Impact on Spike TV Taped in Orlando, Fla. [Q1] Backstage, Matt Morgan told Lauren the backstage interviewer that he'd show her how to make a name in TNA. He crossed paths with Kip James, beat him up, and left him lying... A highlight package recapped last week's show and hyped Samoa Joe vs. Kurt Angle... This week's show is called "What are you willing to sacrifice?"... The opening video aired... Mike Tenay introduced the show and then Don West yelled at viewers until he ran out of breath and slipped into his Bobby Hill voice... Booker T walked to the ring and said he wanted to speak with Sting about last week. Sting's music played immediately and he walked to the ring. Booker said they've been through a lot together, including watching a company crumble. Booker said he was wrong to disrespect Sting last week. They shook hands. James Storm, Robert Roode, and Jacqueline walked onto the stage. Storm said Sting and Booker should get married. Roode said everyone, including the fans, want to see Sting and Booker fight. Jim Cornette walked out and took a shot at how the heels were dressed. Cornette announced the "Deuces Wild Tag Team Tournament." He said there would be a tag team tournament on Impact. The winner of the matches advance to the pay-per-view and will face four teams that consist of randomly drawn singles wrestlers. Cornette announced Sting and Booker vs. Roode and Storm for later in the show... Powell's POV: It's never easy in TNA. They always have some silly gimmick that poor Cornette does his best to make sense of. It's not a regular tournament. It's not a randomly drawn tag team tournament. It's a combination tournament with some matches on Impact and some matches on the pay-per-view. Backstage, Jeremy Broash interviewed A.J. Styles about the tag title tournament. A distraught Karen Angle showed up and said she doesn't belong in TNA because of what Kurt did to her at the pay-per-view. A.J. took her hand and led her away to console her. She begged Borash not to tell Kurt she was in the building... [Q2] 1. Team 3D defeated Black Reign and Rellik in a tournament match in 8:30. Devon came close to accidentally striking Ray, but he stopped just short. Ray complained to Devon as the show cut to commercial. [C] After the break, the announcers hyped the Motor City Machine Guns vs. Rhino and Christian Cage as the other tournament match for tonight's show. Ray appeared to pin Rellik, but the referee called it off for some reason. Odd. A minute later, Ray and Devon hit 3D on Rellik for the pin. Powell's POV: Just to clarify, I think the tournament idea could be fun if they do it right. It just gets tiring to listen to Cornette try to explain these gimmick matches or, in this case, a tournament. By the way, it was good to hear them announce the Guns vs. Cage and Rhino somewhat early in the show. Backstage, all the there was chaos in the women's locker room. They all argued about what the invitations they received from Cornette were all about... [C] [Q3] Backstage, Borash entered Kurt's locker room and tried to tell him about Karen, but Kurt was too focussed on his match with Joe to listen. He said he never loses to the same man twice. He said he'll go on to defend the TNA Title against "Rick Steiner" at the PPV. When Borash corrected Kurt, he said, "Whatever." Borash told Kurt about Karen and A.J. He got upset and went to look for them... A highlight video recapped the history between Joe and Angle... Footage aired from earlier of Tenay interviewing Joe and Kevin Nash in the ring. Tenay said Joe had been working out for two hours. Nash said Joe won't anyone down. Joe said Angle will always fall short... The James Earl Jones wannabe hyped Joe vs. Angle, and the Guns vs. Christian and Rhino... [C] Highlights aired of the Eric Young/Super Eric saga that led to the tag titles being held up... Backstage. Lauren interviewed Young and Kaz. Kaz said he couldn't stay mad at Young even thought it cost him the tag titles. He told Young to call Super Eric and tell him to stay away from the Impact Zone next week... [Q4] 2. Christian and Rhino defeated The Motor City Machine Guns in 11:15 in a tournament match. This was positioned as a babyface vs. babyface match, but the Guns fled to ringside like cowardly heels when Rhino made his entrance. There was a really nice early exchange between Christian and Alex Shelley. The Guns had control of the match heading into the break. [C] Good back and forth action after the break. Both teams scored nearfalls. Late in the match, Sabin and Shelley went for their series of kicks on Chrisitan. They hit the first two kicks, but Rhino gored Shelley. Christian ducked Sabin's next kick and used the Unprettier for the win... A shot aired of the women walking backstage, presumably for their meeting with Cornette... Powell's POV: A very entertaining match. I hope the Guns get out of the doghouse soon because they are hands down the best team in TNA. They certainly weren't buried in this match. They got in a bunch of offense and held their own with Christian and Rhino... [Q5] [C] Cornette called the women to the ring. Awesome Kong and Raisha Saeed watched from the top of the stage. Cornette said the women will compete in a makeover match. They're going to hold a battle royal. The last two entrants will compete in a ladder match. The winner gets a shot at the TNA Knockouts Title, and the loser gets her head shaved... Powell's POV: Wouldn't most of the women eliminate themselves to avoid having their heads shaved? From a character standpoint, Angelina Love and Velvet Sky should definitely eliminate themselves. Backstage, Lauren interviewed Booker and Sting. Booker said it's all about winning. Sting took offense due to the fact they could be on opposite teams at the pay-per-view. Dude, stop being so sensitive... 3. Sting and Booker T beat Robert Roode and James Storm in 11:00. Back and forth action until the break. [C] [Q6] Late in the match, Roode tried to use Storm's beer bottle as a weapon, but his intended target ducked and he almost struck his partner. Storm rook offense. Sting put on Storm's hat and hit the Death Drop on him for the win. After the match, the announcers reminded viewers that Sting and Booker may not be partners in the tournament. Afterward, Roode and Storm bickered while Jackie stood between them... Backstage, Kurt walked in on Karen and Styles talking on a coach. Kurt said Karen can't come home until he wins the TNA Title. Styles stepped in. Kurt told Styles to leave and take Karen with him... [C] Powell's POV: Good intensity between Kurt and Styles. Karen played her part well. I just don't like the way the focus is on the love triangle rather than the title match. This show should be all about the rematch between Joe and Angle. Even if Kurt's saying that's where his focus is, these skits are still taking attention away from the match. Backstage, Cornette bitched to Lauren about how pampered wrestlers are. He held some blueprints in his hand and said he had an idea to get even with the wrestlers for making him crazy. He said something about mangled metal. When asked if that was evil, Cornette giggled and said he's an honest Christian businessman who makes sure the employees toe the line... Powell's POV: A rare lousy performance by Cornette. The evil and frustrated businessman role isn't his strong suit. By the way, haven't we been getting enough of the evil businessman on WWE Raw? Kurt Angle and Samoa Joe made their ring entrances for the main event... [Q7] [C] 4. Samoa Joe defeated Kurt Angle to retain the TNA Title in 23:00. Joe frustrated Angle by gaining the early advantage. [C] Joe continued carry the offense after the break, but [Q8] Angle came back with an overhead belly-to-belly suplex. Angle controlled the offense for a while. Later, Joe charged Angle, who lowered the ropes, causing Joe to tumble to ringside. Joe sold a left knee injury. Angle headed to ringside and worked over the knee with a series of kicks. [C] After the break, Angle had Joe locked in the figure-four. Highlights aired from during the break of Kevin Nash standing over Joe at ringside and encouraging him to get back in the ring. Later, Angle missed a moonsault. Joe rolled over to Angle and went for the rear naked choke, but Angle slipped out and locked Joe in the ankle lock. Joe eventually fought his way out and applied the rear naked choke. Joe rolled his eyes in Undertaker style while he applied the hold. Later, Joe went for a kick, but Angle ducked and the kick caught referee Earl Hebner. With the referee down, Joe kicked out of the ankle lock. Angle stumbled back into the corner, where Scott Steiner was standing. Steiner blasted Angle with a pipe. Joe powerslammed Angle and made the cover. Hebner came to just in time to count the pin. After the match, Steiner stood over Joe and said, "Don't ever disrespect me." He was pissed because Kurt forgot his name earlier in the show. Steiner got in Joe's face. Joe slapped Steiner. Cornette came out (because we haven't had enough of him tonight) and booked Joe vs. Angle vs. Steiner in a three-way for the TNA Title at the Sacrifice pay-per-view... Powell's POV: A very good match. Plenty of submissions, but this was more of a standard pro wrestling match than they had at the PPV. Angle wasn't as intense as he was during the PPV. The live crowd didn't seem to buy into the nearfalls. They were very appreciative of the match, but I didn't get the sense that they thought Joe's title reign was in jeopardy. There were definitely some boos when Steiner's interference led to the pinfall. I'll have more to say about this match and the overall show in tomorrow's TNA Impact Hitlist. BOOKMARK DOT NET AND ADD US TO YOUR RSS • HELP DOT NET: TAKE OUR ADVERTISER DEMO SURVEY CLICK TO RETURN TO MAIN LISTING OR SELECT A LINK BELOW FROM THIS CATEGORY TNA TV Reports Latest Twelve Articles 8/28 Powell's TNA Impact Live Coverage: Sting explains why he attacked Samoa Joe and A.J. 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