By Jason Powell

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

[Q1] The show opened with a shot inside the Impact Zone. Mike Tenay introduced the show and hyped the format. He also said Hulk Hogan will have a special surprise. Taz is on color commentary...

1. Kurt Angle defeated A.J. Styles in 8:35. The announcers noted that Angle will retire if he loses during his run through the top 10 contenders. Styles has a large tattoo on his right side that has "AJ" and the dates his children were born. No word on whether he has three kids of if the list goes down to his ankle.

The wrestlers worked at a fast pace from the beginning. The both got their share of offense in. Angle stopped Styles's flurries with suplexes, while Styles cut off Angle's flurry with a Pele Kick at 5:45. Styles went to the top rope and Angle surprised him by running at him.

Styles leapt off the top rope to avoid Angle, who went to the ropes and moonsaulted on to a standing Styles for a good near fall. The back and forth offense continued, but Angle got the submission with with the ankle lock. Tenay hyped the TNA Knockouts Title match for after the break... [C]

Powell's POV: It's hard to top Angle vs. Styles in an opening match slot. A good way to open the show. My only concern is that Styles doesn't look like a strong champion when he's losing non-title matches this early in his run as the TNA TV Champion. I wonder if Hogan's big surprise is that he and Eric Bischoff are leaving TNA? Nah, he'd save that for Twitter.

[Q2] 2. Angelina Love defeated Madison Rayne to retain the TNA Knockouts Championship in 3:50. Love was in control of the match when mystery biker chick drove her bike to ringside and then walked around the ring. "Get out of here," the referee yelled. Velvet Sky came out and hit the mystery woman from behind with a chair.

Velvet removed the helmet, but mystery chick had a mask on and ran to the back without revealing her identity. All this distraction took away from Love getting the pin on Sky a few seconds later to become the new champion...

Powell's POV: Am I the only one who wants to see a masked fighter show up in UFC and interfere? Yes, I probably am. The mystery hasn't been a real mystery since it started. It's Tara. Reveal her or deliver a swerve and move on already. I hope Mickie James is coming in because the Knockouts division needs something more than Beautiful People feuds.

Mr. Anderson walked onto the stage and his mic dropped. "Good evening, assholes," Anderson said. He delivered a brief intro promo from the stage and then headed to the ring where his opponents were already waiting...

3. Matt Morgan defeated Mr. Anderson and D'Angelo Dinero in 3:55. The babyfaces went to work on Morgan to start the match. However, they encountered issues when they took turns going for and breaking up pin attempts on Morgan.

The babyfaces squared off while Morgan was at ringside. Anderson hit the Mic Check and had the pin, but Morgan ran back in and kicked Anderson and then pinned The Pope...

Powell's POV: These guys deserved more time. I was intrigued by this matchup because of the interesting dynamic between Pope and Anderson and their mutual dislike of Morgan's character, but the short match left a lot to be desired.

Jeff Hardy came to the ring for his open challenge to anyone in the pro wrestling industry. Shelton Benjamin? Nah, Shannon Moore! The Inc. half of Ink Inc. (or is he Ink?) said win, lose, or draw they'd leave the ring brothers. Wow, someone has been watching Chael Sonnen promos! Or not.

4. Jeff Hardy defeated Shannon Moore in 6:50. The announcers pointed out that Moore was wearing a movie t-shirt. They plugged the flick, so it must have been product placement. I was on the fence about the movie, but I'm there now that I know Shannon Moore thinks it's cool!!! Or not (yes, I'm working the "or not" thing to death).

[Q4] Moore was in control of the match. Taz even noted that Shannon had controlled 75 to 80 percent of the match. Tenay talked about scoring the match on points and said he knows that's how Taz does it. Hardy came back and hit the Swanton for the win. Borash's voice went into Peter Brady mode during the post-match announcement... [C]

Powell's POV: TNA never went overboard with the hype for Hardy's open challenge, so I'm fine with it being someone in the company. I just hope the challenge stays open and they have someone in mind for an eventual payoff.

5. The Motor City Machine Guns defeated Beer Money in a best of three falls match for the TNA Tag Titles in 21:05. The announcers recapped their best of five series. The crowd was hot from the start and the infamous Tye Dye Guy is in the crowd a couple rows off the main floor.

[Q5] The Guns flew all over and the live crowd loved every second of it. James Storm one-upped Randy Orton's DDT off the second rope by performing a similar move on Chris Sabin while jumping off the ring apron and onto the floor. Beer Money took the first fall at 7:00 when they pinned Shelley. There was no rest period, as they went right into the second fall.

Beer Money remained in control until they did their Beer Money Dance. They turned around and were greeted with a missile dropkick from Chris Sabin. The Guns hit a suplex/cross body combo and got the pin on Roode to take the second fall. They went right into the third and final fall. They took their first commercial break during the match early in the fall. [C]

Powell's POV: Great action so far. I like the fact that TNA has eliminated most of the commercial breaks during matches. You can't come down on them for this one since it is a best of three falls match. Plus, I need the extra time to get the Victoria's Secret catalog pages unstuck.

After the break, Beer Money scored a good near fall. Unfortunately, it didn't register on TV like it seemed to with the live crowd simply because it came right after they returned from break. However, there were some excellent near falls in the minutes that followed. Sabin hit the springboard DDT on Roode for one of those near falls.

[Q6] The Guns followed up with a double team move for another really good near fall. Beer Money came back and went for their finisher. It looked like they were wobbly, but it was by design as Sabin fought out of it. The Guns hit the move that won them the first fall, but Storm kicked out of it.

They performed the move a second time and got the win. The announcers gave it match of the year hype. Pyro went off above the ring for the Guns getting the victory. Replays were shown from during the match. "That was the best damn series in the history of wrestling," Tenay said...

The announcers hyped Hogan's surprise, and the main event...

Powell's POV: Wow! Really good match. Aside from the tired "This is awesome" and other modern pro wrestling chants, the live crowd sounded like an old school Rock-n-Roll Express vs. Midnight Express crowd. The females were squealing for The Guns, and the entire crowd was into the match from bell to bell. As dumb as some people seem to think the "IWC" is, how many years has the IWC been begging for a program between those two teams? I'm just saying.

Ring introductions for the main event took place. Eric Bischoff was out first as the special referee. Abyss came out next. They aired a shot of the weapon they named to suck up to Dixie Carter's mother hanging above the ring. Rob Van Dam made his entrance...

6. Rob Van Dam defeated Abyss in a Stairway to Janice match to retain the TNA Title in 18:35. Abyss went after the weapon as RVD was making his entrance. RVD ran in and dropkicked the ladder to break it up. Cool way to start the match.

Van Dam was in control, but he went for Rolling Thunder with Abyss on a ladder. Abyss moved and RVD crashed onto the ladder. RVD came back with a slide kick into the ladder that struck Abyss, who was at ringside. [C]

[Q7] A shot aired of Dixie Carter standing behind TNA head of talent relations Terry Taylor and watching the match play out. They used multiple ladders and Van Dam took some big bumps for the challenger. Abyss went to ringside and pulled out a bag. He poured thumbtacks and glass inside the ring in one of the corners.

As is usually the case, Abyss ended up taking the big bump on the tacks and glass. Abyss brought a barbwire table inside the ring and set it up in the corner. He ended up running into it and then Van Dam kicked it into his face in a cool spot. RVD followed up with Rolling Thunder onto the table. Dixie was shown clapping at ringside.

At 14:45, Van Dam made a play for the weapon, but Abyss pushed the ladder over and RVD took a big bump to the floor. Abyss climbed the ladder and grabbed the weapon he can't use because it will kill someone. They cut to a shot of Dixie and Taylor. His first move with the weapon was to put it down in the corner next to the barbwire table.

Abyss went to ringside minus the weapon. They ended up back in the ring and Abyss swung the weapon he can't use because it will kill someone. Shockingly, RVD moved out of the way. Van Dam made his comeback and performed some of his signature spots.

Van Dam positioned Abyss in one corner with the barbwire table in front of him. Van Dam went to the other corner and performed the move that Shane McMahon made famous! Er, um, the Van Terminator move that Shane borrowed. Van Dam followed up withe Five Star Frogsplash and got the win...

Powell's POV: Despite my joking about the silliness of the weapon, this was a really good main event. Good work from both men. RVD was really on his game for this match. This show has definitely lived up to all the hype.

The announcers hyped Hulk Hogan's big surprise, and then hyped the debut of TNA Reaction for after the show. They set it picks up where Impact left off and sets the stage for next week.

[Q8] Hulk Hogan came out to his music and was on the stage when they went to commercial break... [C] Hogan was in the ring with Van Dam after the break. He put over RVD, the Hardcore Justice pay-per-view, and Dixie Carter, who blew him a kiss. "When I saw that whole motley crew teach me what hardcore is all about, my respect level went through the roof as far as Hardcore Justice went," Hogan said.

Hogan said Dixie invited a few of his friends tonight. Hogan said he wanted to give the ring to EV2 and get all of his friends out there with him. Tommy Dreamer, Stevie Richards, Team 3D, Mick Foley, Tony Mamaluke, Rhino, Little Guido, Sabu, and Bill Alfonso came out and joined RVD in the ring.

Sabu was the last to enter the ring. Hogan shook hands with the various ECW veterans. Hogan said he came to TNA because he was looking for the higher ground. He said he told Dixie that they could go somewhere where even he had never been before. "I bow down to EV2 and give you guys my ring with nothing but respect for each and every one of you," Hogan said.

Dreamer, who was wearing a suit, took the mic and put over the show and thanked Dixie. The fans joined in chanting, "Thank you, Dixie." Dreamer said it was his honor to sweat and bleed with his brothers. "I love you, guys," Dreamer said. "Thank you so much for the show that you put on." Dreamer thanked the fans.

The lights went out and the announcers said they've seen this before. When the lights came back on, Foley was lying on the mat. "That's not the Sandman," Taz said. "That's Fortune."

The Fortune faction of A.J. Styles, Kazarian, and Beer Money, plus Matt Morgan and Douglas Williams attacked the ECW wrestlers with weapons. Raven came out and got his ass kicked. Sandman made his entrance to a pop through the crowd, but also got beat up. Abyss came out and pulled RVD from the ring. Abyss and RVD fought to the back with Abyss dominating the fight.

The attack continued in the ring with the fans chanting, "This is awesome." Not a great reaction for what should be a shocking beatdown angle. Ric Flair walked out with a big smile on his face. He got in Dixie Carter's face and said she brought this on herself. They showed a shot of Abyss standing over a ridiculously (fake) bloody Rob Van Dam backstage...

Powell's POV: The show ended at that point and cut right into TNA Reaction, which continued to show the attack footage. We'll pick it up there on the main page momentarily. Overall, a great show, and it was a great move to go right into TNA Reaction with that footage.

RECOMMEND THIS ARTICLE: