By Rich Twilling

TNA Impact on Spike TV
Taped in Orlando, Fla.

[Q1] Footage aired of Mr. Anderson's heel run and his babyface turn, resulting in his friendship with Jeff Hardy. Tonight's show is entitled, "Friends Till The End?" ...

Anderson walked out to the ring with a chair under his arm. He called out Jeffrey Nero Hardy and Hardy obliged. This is where my television cut out but when it came back, they seemed to be on pretty good terms as Anderson took off to the back...

Hervey-cam caught up with A.J. Styles, who commented on tonight's match with Kazarian... [C]

Hardy was talking backstage and said he always questioned things when he was hit in the back with a chair...

[Q2] 1. A.J. Styles vs. Kazarian ended in a double countout in 5:59. Impressive armdrag sequence by both guys early on. Ric Flair came out to watch the match. Styles hit a backbreaker out of a fireman's carry for a two count. Kazarian came back with a springboard leg drop for a nearfall of his own.

The fought to the floor and both men were counted out. Flair came to the ring and told both guys to "stop dicking around." Flair asked if they wanted to be a part of Fortune. He said they would tag together on Sunday at Victory Road and they would be sorry if they lost...

Twill's Two Cents: Good match while it lasted with some impressive sequences. Flair was funny tonight and the next step toward the Fortune tag team was a good one. I wonder if Samoa Joe will be on the mystery team facing Styles and Kazarian on Sunday.

The naked back of Angelina Love was shown backstage. Tenay said she had one more roadblock before Victory Road on Sunday... [C]

2. Angelina Love defeated Daffney in 2:01. Angelina dominated before hitting two front slams followed by her finisher for the win...

Afterward, she called for a mic and said Madison Rayne was watching from home because she "didn't have the balls" to be here. I sure hope not. She said she would become the first four time Knockouts Champion.

[Q3] Madison came out to the stage and asked what Angelina was putting on the line against Madison's belt. She suggested her boobs, her hair, or her career. Angelina agreed to put her career on the line.

Love said she had a meeting with the Championship Committee and it was agreed upon if Lacey Von Erich or Velvet Sky interfered in the match, Madison would be disqualified and Angelina would become the new champion...

Twill's Two Cents: Again, Angelina already had the title match, so why would she agree after the fact to put her career on the line when she doesn't need to? Angelina isn't going anywhere, so that gave away that outcome.

Brother Devon was shown walking backstage and said we would see what he has to say to Brother Ray... [C]

Footage aired of Jesse Neal asking for Team 3D's blessing to face them awhile back. The feud between the two was chronicled...

In the ring, Devon asked for Ray to come out to the ring. Neal and Shannon Moore were in the ring too. Ray came halfway down the ramp and stopped. Devon said Neal showed nothing but respect for everyone involved with Team 3D's wrestling school.

Devon put over Neal's time in the Navy and pointed out Neal's best friend dying. "What the hell is your problem with Jesse?" Ray said he did not answer to Devon. "I'm Brother Ray. I am the leader of Team 3D and you answer to me."

He called Neal a disrespectful punk and Devon was a disrespectful partner. He questioned Devon's loyalty. Devon said he was loyal to both men. Ray said it would be him vs. Jesse vs. Devon at Victory Road. He said 23 years could move forward or come to an end that night... [C]

Twill's Two Cents: Devon explained why Jesse was respectful and Ray called him disrespectful without saying why. Solid segment as Devon's mic work has been very good lately.

[Q4] 3. Rob Van Dam defeated Samoa Joe in a non-title match in 10:43. They traded forearms and punches off the bat. RVD hit the step through spin kick and Joe took it square in the face. RVD went to the top but Joe caught up to him to set up for the Muscle Buster. He then pushed him to the floor and Van Dam awkwardly landed on the ramp.

Joe went to the floor and attacked Van Dam. He was back in the ring and hit a suicide dive. At the point, the ECW Four (Tommy Dreamer, Raven, Stevie Richards, and Rhino) walked through the crowd and stopped to get a better look.

Van Dam hit a dropkick and with Joe in the corner, hit another kick. Joe fought back and hit a sweet snap powerslam for a two count. Joe applied what amounted to a rear crossface. Closeline by Joe led to another nearfall. Good match so far.

[Q5] Rolling Thunder by RVD led to another two count. He followed with a thrust kick from the top rope but could not put Joe away. Joe then hit a damn impressive closeline. Joe hit a powerbomb and kept the hand positioning for a Boston Crab. He then changed it to a single legged Boston Crab bout RVD got to the ropes.

Joe locked in the rear naked choke but could not utilized the legs. RVD ran around while still in the hold and pushed off of the turnbuckle to flip backward (Bret Hart vs. Roddy Piper from Mania VIII) and score the three count...

After the match, Joe slapped the referee and hit him with the Muscle Buster...

Twill's Two Cents: Damn good match that started and stayed at a fast pace throughout. Nice win for RVD and a real good showing for both guys. Nice to see Joe attack the referee as it means he might be getting his edge back.

Kurt Angle said he thrives on pressure. He's also been in the ring with Ken Anderson and Jeff Hardy should watch his back. I'm guessing that is what I missed earlier as it seems Hardy will face Anderson tonight... [C]

4. Jeremy Buck defeated Douglas Williams in a non-title ladder match in 4:29. Taz said Williams told him he was afraid of heights. Buck was the first to set up the ladder to go after the X hanging from the ceiling. Williams was next but took a missile dropkick to knock him from the ladder.

Buck, from the apron, hit a springboard face buster onto the ladder. It was so good that he looked like he slipped on the top rope but he didn't. Wow. Williams caught Buck from the ladder with an electric chair.

[Q6] Buck jumped onto the ladder and hit a sunset flip powerbomb in almost one motion. He knocked Williams to the mat and finished his climb to secure the X and the victory...

Afterward, Williams went Nexus on the ladder and threw it angrily to the floor...

Twill's Two Cents: Not a fan of throwing away ladder matches like that, but that was an entertaining four and a half minutes. Buck is a spot guy but the spots are impressive. Williams being afraid of heights gave away the finish a bit, but it was still a nice win for Buck.

A funny "Dodgeball Instructional Video" style video aired from Alex Shelley saying his partner got hooked by beer and money. He went from fun loving and good looking to not so fun and not so good looking. Funny...

5. Beer Money and Matt Morgan defeated The Motor City Machine Guns and Hernandez in 5:53. Morgan and James Storm are on their way to Mike Knox beard status. Sabin took a lot of offense from all three of his opponents. Multiple nearfalls on Sabin.

Hernandez tagged in and took out Beer Money while Morgan took off to the stage. Hernandez chased him to the back. Shelley hit a high cross body on Roode but Roode rolled through, grabbed the tights, and scored the win...

Twill's Two Cents: Not long enough to really develop into anything. Sabin took the beatdown for a long time in a match that only went six minutes. Wrestling Booking 101 suggests this means the Guns will win the belts on Sunday.

[Q7] Backstage, Pope said Anderson was the reason he was out and basically sent Hardy the same message Angle sent him. He then said he was facing Angle at Victory Road and needed to bring his A game... [C]

Kevin Nash was pissed because he was waiting on Eric Bischoff backstage. He was wearing a Hogan shirt. He said Bischoff went with the Dungeon of Doom before he and Scott Hall went to WCW.

Hogan came in and said Nash took advantage of their friendship. He said they worked him to get Hall and "X Pac" contracts. Nash said it was the same thing for the Nasty Boys. Hogan said his guys just didn't work out but Nash's guys used up all of their chances years ago. He said he could do nothing for Nash...

Jay Lethal was in the ring. He said his mom was sick and told her he loved her very much. He would make her proud by defeating Ric Flair at Victory Road. He began to tear up when Ric Flair's music hit. Flair came out to the ring.

"I could give a rat's ass about your mother." He said she was living through Lethal because she wants Flair. Damn, Flair has been rated R all night. Flair said he was crazy and bragged about the hundreds of women he slept with. They were nose to nose. Flair was on his game here.

He said Lethal had three days to live. He said he could have any woman he wants and asked a woman in the crowd to agree. He said he was in an airplane crash and asked what Lethal could do to him. "You are going to look your god in the eye and get your ass handed to you. Three days." ... [C]

Twill's Two Cents: That was well done. Flair did a very nice job on the mic as usual. Lethal played the "Oh shit, it's Ric Flair" while also being the, "I'm pissed off and am going to kick your ass" listener to Flair's promo. Solid segment to sell their match on Sunday. Good stuff.

[Q8] Tenay and Taz ran down the Victory Road pay-per-view card...

6. Jeff Hardy defeated Mr. Anderson in 3:35. They shook hands before the match began. The crowd was torn between both men. Both wrestlers tried to end it early with frequent covers. Anderson nearly won the match after countering a Twist of Fate with the fireman's carry flip slam.

Anderson went to the top and tried a Swanton Bomb of his own. Hardy immediately hit the Twist of Fate and earned the victory...

Afterward, Hardy helped Anderson up and they smiled at each other. Abyss and his nail board made their first appearances of the night. Anderson and Hardy tried to attack Abyss but Abyss took them both out.

He tried to hit Anderson with the nail board but missed. He did pull the turnbuckle pad off. Anderson grabbed the chair and wanted Hardy to move. He did and then Anderson hit Abyss with the chair. RVD grabbed the chair and hit the Van Daminator on Abyss. RVD and Anderson went face to face as Abyss recovered...

Twill's Two Cents: Good go-home show for Sunday's Victory Road pay-per-view. I am looking forward to the show. I was surprised to see Hardy get the win here, but I think Anderson will win the belt on Sunday, so it does make sense.

Thank you for following along with me this week. Don't forget to catch Sunday's Victory Road pay-per-view.

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