By Jason Powell

TNA Impact on Spike TV
Taped at Universal Studios in Orlando, Fla.

[Q1] The show opened with a recap from last week's show of Abyss turning heel on Mr. Anderson and Jeff Hardy... The show is called "Monster on the Loose"...

Hulk Hogan headed to the ring as Mike Tenay and Taz checked in on commentary. Hogan talked about TNA building momentum and said he had a lot of business to address. He announced that Rob Van Dam will defend the TNA Title against Abyss, Jeff Hardy, and Mr. Anderson in a four-way at the Victory Road pay-per-view.

Hogan noted that he and Abyss have some things to work out. Once he finished running through the four-way match lineup, Abyss's music played. Abyss walked to the ring and shoved the camera aside. Hogan referred to Abyss as "big brother" and questioned why he "took a sharp left turn last week."

Abyss said he doesn't think Hogan or anyone else realizes the seriousness of what's happening. He said he's doing what he's doing because "they told me to." He said "they" told him to destroy Hardy, Anderson, and anything that gets in his path. "They are coming and they are going to be here sooner than you think," Abyss said.

Abyss said there's nothing that Hogan, Bischoff, or Dixie Carter can do to stop it when "they" arrive. Abyss said "they" told him that he doesn't need Hogan or his colors anymore. Hogan said there is no "they." Abyss told Hogan to tell Carter and Bischoff that "they are taking TNA over."

"They" told Abyss that he doesn't need the ring anymore, according to Abyss. He grabbed Hogan by the throat and tried to shove the Hall of Fame ring in his mouth. Abyss choked out Hogan in the corner of the ring with his hands. He left the ring and returned with the bag filled with glass.

Rob Van Dam headed to the ring and attacked Abyss. However, Abyss took control with a powerbomb. He headed back toward Hogan, but Mr. Anderson ran out with a chair and struck Abyss over the back with it three times. Taz questioned how Abyss was still standing despite taking the chairshots. Anderson helped Hogan and RVD out of the ring. Abyss looked into the camera and said, "They are coming"...

Powell's POV: I've been saying for quite some time that TNA officials have been talking about doing an ECW faction. One of the names mentioned was "EV2." I'm not sure whether that will be the name, but I believe that's who Abyss's "they" are. The angle was solid, as most viewers probably went from thinking "they" was just Abyss being delusional, but he did a nice job of foreshadowing the apparent invasion angle.

[Q2] [C] The announcers recapped the opening segment... Backstage, the Hervey Cam showed Hogan discussing the Abyss situation with Hogan. They questioned who could have gotten to Abyss. Hogan threw out Ric Flair's name, but Bischoff said he didn't think it was him...

In a bathroom, Madison Rayne told an angry Velvet Sky that she needed to get her head in the game for her match with Angelina Love...

1. Velvet Sky defeated Angelina Love by DQ in 3:35. During the match, Tenay said he'd received word from Eric Bischoff that the main event of the show would be Mr. Anderson vs. Abyss in a no DQ, falls count anywhere match. In the end, Love DDT'd her former partner on a chair for the DQ.

Afterward, Madison Rayne came out with the TNA Knockouts Title belt. She stood on the ramp and jawed with Love from a distance. The announcers noted that Rayne seemed to be more concerned with Love than she is with the condition of Sky this week and Lacey Von Erich last week...

Powell's POV: More of the same from last week. Love is out for revenge against The Beautiful People and doesn't care if she gets disqualified. I like the way they are making Madison seem like the self absorbed leader of the group rather than just another member of The Beautiful People.

Backstage, Jay Lethal was greeted by his brother. The brother said he came to the show because he was so excited about Lethal facing Ric Flair at the pay-per-view. Lethal spoke about how proud "mommy and daddy" are and how his mother cried when they spoke on the phone... [C]

[Q3] Backstage, the Hervey Cam showed Kevin Nash and Eric Young talking. Nash said he has to distance himself from Scott (Hall). Nash said that if anything rolls down from Hogan and Bischoff, Young doesn't want any part of it. They bumped fists and hugged as Nash wished Young well...

Powell's POV: I believe that was a cordial Young and Nash split. As I reported recently, the buzz is that Nash is going to be a singles wrestler.

Matt Morgan came to the ring in street clothes as a video recapped him interfering in the Samoa Joe vs. Hernandez match last week. Once in the ring, Morgan said he's never feared Hernandez. To prove it, he said he was going to call him out. Taz said Hernandez is in Mexico doing public relations work.

Morgan said Hernandez not coming out proves his point. He said he jumped at the chance to get a steel cage match with Hernandez at the pay-per-view. Morgan said that once he beats Morgan at the pay-per-view, he's going to come out the very next evening and say that he told him so.

Once Morgan wrapped up his promo, Homicide hit the ring and attacked him from behind. Morgan rolled to ringside and Homicide followed. Morgan took control of the fight and performed the same boot to the head against the post move on Homicide that previously served as the injury angle to explain Hernandez's absence... [C]

Powell's POV: The live crowd was really quiet during that segment. Morgan has had good heat lately, but the crowd was really flat. Homicide's attempt to help his former tag partner appears to be another sign that the LAX team will reunite at some point. I'm looking forward to that because Hernandez hasn't caught on as a singles act, and Homcide has been wasted ever since the split.

Backstage, A.J. Styles caught up to Ric Flair and asked him if a package arrived in the locker room. Flair got pissed and said he didn't want to hear about the package. He said they have a game plan and need to stick to it. They set off in search of someone they were looking for...

Powell's POV: What? Obviously, that was the first part of some type of story they're telling tonight, but it wasn't exactly compelling. The package? Looking for someone? I'm sure it will make sense later.

Kazarian and Jay Lethal made their ring entrances...

[Q4] 2. Jay Lethal pinned Kazarian in 5:05. Tenay said the Sting vs. Jarrett match is coming up next. Then a shot aired of Flair and Styles beating up Jay Lethal's brother. Taz said the brother's name is Muhammad. Tenay pointed out that Lethal had no idea that his brother was being attacked.

In the end, Lethal hit his Lethal Injection finisher and scored the clean pin. Lethal entered the crowd and celebrated with the fans. DDP is crying gimmick infringement somewhere. Kazarian flashed Lethal a smile and pointed to the big screen, which showed Flair and Styles beating up Lethal's brother. Lethal headed backstage as the show cut to break... [C]

Powell's POV: As odd as the initial clip was (I was waiting for Flair to say he was hunting wabbit), they delivered the payoff quickly. I don't like the idea of Lethal and Kazarian working against one another simply because they both need wins right now.

Tenay said the moment of truth had arrived and then the announcers hyped the Jarrett vs. Sting match. Jarrett made his entrance. Sting's music played, but he didn't come out. He was in the rafters and made his way across the catwalk. Jarrett spotted him, so Jarrett headed backstage and up the stairs to meet him.

[Q5] Jarrett got the better of the brawl with what turned out to be a fake Sting, as the real Sting was shown standing in the ring. Jarrett continued to brawl with the fake Sting while Sting stood in the corner of the ring with a smirk on his face. Jarrett and fake Sting ended up in the ring.

Jarrett looked at the fake Sting and realized it wasn't the real Sting. Meanwhile, the real Sting approached him from behind and choked him with the baseball bat. Sting took repeated bat shots at Jarrett and stood over him. Sting knelt over the fallen Jarrett and said, "If you're going to walk with them, you're gonna go down with them"...

A video hyped that Bound For Glory will take place on Oct. 10 in Daytona Beach, Fla... [C]

Powell's POV: Well, so much for the San Antonio rumors. I like the way they're hyping BFG this far in advance. It's important to establish that show as their premier annual event, and little things like hyping it this far out can only help.

A video recapped the past feud between Kurt Angle and Desmond Wolfe...

Powell's POV: As good as their matches were, I remember that feud more for the way TNA completely dropped the ball by having Wolfe lose to Angle. He was really over going into those matches, but losing to Kurt killed his momentum.

3. Kurt Angle defeated Desmond Wolfe (w/Chelsea) in 7:00. The announcers explained that Angle is ranked No. 10, while Wolfe is ranked No. 9 in the heavyweight rankings. Wolfe bickered with Chelsea, and the announcers noted that it looked like she wanted him to lose.

[Q6] At 5:00, Angle hit a trio of German suplexes for a near fall. Wolfe came back and scored a nice near fall of his own. The fans chanted "USA" at 6:00. In the end, Angle applied the ankle lock on Wolfe and got the submission win. Chelsea smiled at ringside. Angle held up eight fingers to signify that he's going after the eighth ranked contender...

Powell's POV: A quality television match. I was hopeful that TNA would show a lot of patience by having Angle face the contenders only on pay-per-view. It's fine that they didn't take that route, but I hope they don't rush through this too fast. At the very least, it would have been nice if they had given these two a television main event slot and additional time. It would be cool if Angle finally earned the top spot just in time to challenge the champion at Bound For Glory.

The Hervey Cam showed Anderson in his locker room. He was sporting a black eye and a welt on his arm. He said that if Abyss wants to resort to his usual hardcore tactics, he'll throw it right back in his face... [C]

In the ring, Williams delivered a promo. He said he needs to reeducate the X Division wrestlers on the art of pro wrestling and the art of professionalism and sportsmanship. He challenged Kendrick to come out and face him so that he could teach him a lesson he'd never forget.

Kendrick headed to the ring dressed in street clothes. Kendrick thanked SoCal Val for handing him the mic. He said he spoke to the people in charge and their pay-per-view match will be an Ultimate X match. He said the match can also end in submission. Williams suggested they both walk away and conclude their business at the pay-per-view.

Of course, Williams tried to attack Kendrick from behind. Kendrick saw it coming, dodged an attempt shot, and applied a Cobra Clutch style submission hold. Kendrick released the hold and Williams sold it as if he was out temporarily...

Powell's POV: Weak segment. Williams was fine on the mic, but Kendrick is trying way too hard to come across like a deep thinker. As much as I love his act as a heel, this did nothing for me. The live crowd seemed happy to see him, but his mic work seemed to lose the people.

[Q7] Backstage, Abyss said "they" told him to put his hands around the throat of Hulk Hogan and to destroy anything that gets in his path. He said he is paving the way for them and that once they get here, there will be no stopping them... The announcers hyped Abyss vs. Anderson... [C]

Backstage, Shannon Moore was punching Brother Ray next to the fallen Jesse Neal. Security stepped in pulled Moore off. Devon showed up and pulled security off of Brother Ray. Devon shoved Ray against the wall and said he made a fool out of him at the pay-per-view. Devon told him to leave Neal alone. He said not to test him. Devon released Ray and walked away...

Powell's POV: Good intensity with Devon and Ray. Devon doesn't do a lot of mic work, but he shines when he does more than the "Testify" routine.

4. Beer Money beat Shannon Moore and Jesse Neal in a tag title series match in 5:45. Moore had to work the match alone because Neal was laid out backstage. The Motor City Machine Guns sat in on commentary. Tommy Dramer, Raven, and Stevie Richards walked through the crowd and sat down in the same area that Dreamer was in last week.

At 2:20, a wobbly Neal made his way to ringside and took his spot in the corner. He eventually entered the match and held his own. However, Storm spat beer in his eyes and he was eventually pinned. The live crowd was completely dead for the finish. The fact that they see Storm spit beer in someone's eyes every other week didn't help matters...

Powell's POV: They felt the need to protect Ink Inc. by setting them up with an excuse for losing to Beer Money? Really? How about letting Beer Money beat someone clean? They took a backseat to the Brother Ray vs. Jesse Neal story last week, and this week the Beer Money team had to compete with more of that saga, The Guns delivering snarky commentary, and the ECW guys showing up in the crowd. I guess the only positive for Beer Money is that they're in the finals against The Guns at the pay-per-view.

[Q8] Backstage, Kazarian and Styles were bickering. Styles found his package, which contained his action figures. Kazarian told him to go play with himself. Styles implied that he's jealous because he doesn't have his own action figure...

The announcers hyped the Mr. Anderson vs. Abyss main event... [C] Abyss made his entrance as highlights were shown of his attacks on Hardy, Anderson, and Hogan. Tenay questioned who "they" are...

5. Abyss pinned Mr. Anderson in a no DQ, falls count anywhere match in 7:50. Anderson ran to the ring and attacked Abyss to start the match. Tenay noted that Anderson didn't wait for the mic to drop this time around. Tenay also stated that Jeff Hardy was not at the show because he suffered four cracked ribs at the hands of Abyss last week.

At 6:30, Abyss ended up taking control of the match and hit Anderson with repeated chair jabs to the gut. He placed the chair on Anderson and went for a move, but Anderson recovered and turned the chair sideways so that Abyss would crotch himself on it.

Andeson went up top and flashed the Jeff Hardy hand signs before going for a swanton. Abyss put his knees up. Moments later, Abyss hit the Black Hole Slam and scored the clean pin. After the match, Abyss continued to attack Anderson, who crawled up the ramp and onto the stage.

Abyss picked up Anderson tried to slam him off the stage like he did Hardy last week, but Anderson fought out of it. Anderson went for the Mic Check off the stage, but Abyss blocked that and then chokeslammed Anderson off the stage and through a wooden platform below.

[Overrun] Abyss stood on the ramp and admired his own handiwork. Hulk Hogan came out with a chair and slammed it over Abyss's back. Security ran out, but Abyss quickly threw them aside. He pointed at Hogan just like he did last week, but additional security arrived and stood between them as the show went off the air...

Powell's POV: Wow, Abyss is even less over as a heel than he was as a babyface. It was a tough crowd all night, but the live crowd was not into the main event match or Abyss's heel antics. Overall, the show felt flat. It was a disappointment compared to the three previous weeks. I'll have more to say about it on Friday in the TNA Impact Hitlist. Thanks for watching along with me.

RECOMMEND THIS ARTICLE: