By Rich Twilling

TNA Impact on Spike TV
Taped in Orlando, Fla.

[Q1] Footage was shown from "a half hour ago" of a fight between Abyss and Jeff Hardy. They fought into the Impact Zone, where the crew was getting ready for the show. Mike Tenay and Taz questioned the production guys as to what they were supposed to do.

Hardy's jeans were pulled down a bit and his ass crack was censored. They fought again to the back as Tenay and Taz continued to prepare to go on the air. They fought outside and security finally pulled the two apart...

Twill's Two Cents: The idea to open the show with chaos was a good one, but the execution was not very good. The brawl actually seemed pretty tame, especially with only a few fans in the arena and after what happened last week.

Eric Bischoff came to the ring without his entrance music. In a somber and emotional voice, he said he had never seen anything like what happened last week in his entire career. He was holding Ric Flair responsible for what happened last week.

He said Abyss did not know what was coming his way, thanks to Hogan and Bischoff. He said RVD was being held together by stitches and staples. He also said he had head trauma. He said Rob always had a home in TNA and would be welcomed back when he was healthy.

Bischoff said the show must go on and he vacated the TNA Heavyweight Championship. He said an eight man tournament would begin tonight and would end at Bound For Glory. He wished RVD the best and said the show must go on... [C]

Twill's Two Cents: Not a great way to open the show after last week's hot ending, but I did like Bischoff's delivery. He was understandably shaken, respectful of Rob Van Dam, and still thinking about moving forward. Solid promo by Bischoff.

[Q2] 1. Jeff Hardy defeated Rob Terry in a first round tournament match in 3:23. Hardy limped to the ring and attacked Terry right away. Terry fought back but Hardy countered with a Twist of Fate, followed by the Swanton for the win...

Twill's Two Cents: Slow and plodding. Terry is just so limited in the ring and brings next to nothing to his matches. Hardy winning and doing so in a short amount of time was the best way to book this one.

Fortune was shown arriving backstage... [C]

Footage aired of the bloody brawl that concluded last week's Impact broadcast. Dixie Carter implored Tommy Dreamer to get the EV2.0 guys to Impact so she could make it right...

Hulk Hogan was on the phone with someone and said he was thinking about quitting. He said taking out RVD was like trying to take out the President. He did not like the tournament idea and said nobody could replace RVD as the World Champion. He told the person, "I love you." ...

Twill's Two Cents: Interesting segment with Hogan and oddly coincidental with all of the Twitter stuff that went down. Hogan did say RVD looked dead and he definitely did. They are picking it up a bit by reacting to what happened last week as a huge, never before seen happening.

[Q3] 2. Mr. Anderson defeated Jay Lethal in a first round tournament match in 4:11. Lethal wore yellow and red. Taz asked if he was trying to kiss Hogan's ass. Funny. Solid counter wrestling early with both men trading off the offensive advantage.

Lethal missed a springboard dropkick. Anderson stepped up and hit the Mic Drop for the win...

Twill's Two Cents: Fun match between the two. Unfortunately, and I hate to say this, but this tournament already feels unimportant. In the first 35 minutes, RVD was stripped of the belt, a tournament was announced, and two tournament matches took place totaling eight minutes. I want to see proper time given to the top belt.

Angelina Love was interviewed by Christy Hemme backstage. She told Madison Rayne to bring her bodyguard for their match tonight because she has backup of her own... [C]

[Q4] Footage aired from TNA Reaction last week of the Machine Guns saying they are the best tag team in the world as highlights of them defeating Beer Money was shown. It was announced the Guns would be in action next week...

Twill's Two Cents: Effective, short segment that put over the Guns, the tag titles, and Reaction.

3. Angelina Love (with Velvet Sky) defeated Madison Rayne (with the motorcycle chick) to retain the TNA Knockouts Championship in 1:38. Angelina made her entrance and was joined by Velvet Sky. A fight broke out between the four on the floor before the match officially began...

Twill's Two Cents: "...between the four on the floor before..." That is a lot of rhyming.

The biker chick tried to interfere, but Velvet thwarted said interference. Angelina hit a bicycle kick on Madison for the win...

Afterward, Love and Sky raised their arms in the air in a sign of unity. Madison and the biker (can I "reveal" her identity to those three people who are unaware?) attacked them from behind and left them laid out... [C]

Footage aired of the Hardcore Justice pay-per-view with comments from Dreamer and Hogan in the background. Violent images of last week's brawl were shown once again...

Ric Flair and Fortune were in the ring. Douglas Williams and Matt Morgan were there as well. Williams was the only one not in a suit, although he had one on earlier. Flair said he hired Morgan to feel, "calm, cool, collected, pampered, and loved." Loved? How exactly did Flair word that want ad?

Flair did what only he can do. He praised pro wrestling and not a bunch of foreign objects. "Until you guys in EV2.0 crash in an airplane, don't talk to me. Kiss my ass." Funny. A.J. Styles took over the promo. He said he was TNA. They were in the house A.J. Styles built.

[Q5] Dixie Carter came out to the stage. "You may have helped build this house, but make no mistake, I own it." She brought out the EV2.0 faction and said she gave everyone of them contracts. Flair asked, "Where does it say on my resume that I take crap from women?" Again, that would be a weird thing to see on a resume.

Dreamer and Flair went back and forth. Dreamer said they would kick Fortune's ass right now if Dixie wouldn't have told them not to. Foley told the story of a conversation he had with Flair about Flair coming to TNA in the first place.

Foley said if he had one thing he could do over, it would be that phone call with Flair. Flair wanted to "roll around in the thumbtacks" again. Foley said he works for Dixie and not Flair. Dreamer took over and said Abyss was on their list for what he did to Rob Van Dam.

Dreamer agreed that the Impact Zone was A.J. Styles' house. He said it was going to go one-on-one with Styles tonight. Flair continued to blow a gasket... [C]

Twill's Two Cents: I look at Fortune and a potentially great faction. I look at the EV2.0 guys and wonder who will carry the load inside of the ring. Dreamer vs. Styles? What is the money match? Foley vs. Flair? Raven? FBI? That was great mic work from Flair and I love the look of Fortune, but they need credible opponents and with all due respect to the EV2.0 guys, I wonder if they are going to be able to hang and/or if the fans will care enough about them.

Kurt Angle cut a Reaction-like promo on Doug Williams. He said he has gone through hell so far going through the top ten, but he is close to once again becoming the TNA World Heavyweight Champion...

4. Kurt Angle defeated Doug Williams in a non-title first round tournament match in 4:57. Williams enjoyed the early advantage and scored the first nearfall. He then a very impressive gut wrench suplex for another two count.

[Q6] Angle scored his first nearfall after an overhead belly to belly suplex. Williams came back though and hit a top rope European uppercut for a close nearfall. Angle immediately hit three German suplexes, releasing on the final one.

Angle countered a rolling chaos (roll up into a German) by locking in the ankle lock. Williams was forced to tap out...

Twill's Two Cents: Damn good five minute match and no surprise given who was involved. Angle winning his matches is not going to surprise anyone and I would be shocked to not see him in the finals of this tournament at Bound For Glory.

Sting and Kevin Nash were shown walking backstage together... [C]

Mr. Anderson said he was happy to be in the final four, but his heart went out to Rob Van Dam...

The Main Event Mafia came out to the ring. Wait, just Sting and Kevin Nash. Nash said he has known Sting for twenty years. Despite their past disagreements, there is nobody in the business he respects more than Sting.

"I've been called a cancer before... I'm not out here just for the damn money. I'm out here because I love to do what I do." Nash said he is not stepping aside for anybody. He said TNA is "this close" to turning the corner. The cancer is not in the ring; the cancer is in the back.

Jeff Jarrett interrupted Nash and headed down the ramp. Jarrett said Nash was full of BS. "A leopard never changes its spots... You are never going to change." He said they could open the closet door, and after Orlando Jordan came out, they could get to all of Sting's skeletons.

Jarrett put over Hogan and Bischoff as guys that have made TNA better since they arrived. Jarrett said he was going to beat Nash and Sting with a chair in honor of Hogan and Bischoff. Hogan said he wasn't going alone. Almost two hundred years old between the four.

[Q7] Hogan told Sting to get rid of the bat and do it like a real man. Sting threw the bat at Hogan. With all four men in the ring, the lights went out again. The Undertaker beat the crap out of everyone. No, not really. Fortune did though.

They laid the boots to Hogan, Sting, Jarrett, and Nash. They then posed for the camera with Styles standing front and center. They went easy on these four... [C]

Twill's Two Cents: The crowd had no idea who to cheer. They were more behind Nash and Sting, but then when Hogan came out, it threw them for a loop. I know everyone sees the irony in Hogan talking about young guys shining. Hogan will always be a TV draw, but does this company need Jarrett, Nash, and Sting on television anymore? They all had great careers, but what is left in the tank? Edit: Dot Net reader Sam Leppo emailed me and said Hogan was not touched.

Backstage, Dreamer and Raven discussed the bigger picture. Raven agreed to be on board. Stevie Richards said they will keep going after them and Raven said they would make mistakes...

5. D'Angelo Dinero defeated Matt Morgan in a first round tournament match in 4:34. Pope scored the first nearfall with his delayed, rope aided elbow drop in the corner. Morgan overpowered Pope to take control of the match.

On the floor Morgan missed the carbon footprint into the steel post. Pope hit the DDE to Morgan's back against the post. He rolled Morgan back into the ring for the three count...

Twill's Two Cents: Too short to really get going, and their styles don't mesh very well. Pope moving on in the tournament is surprising as well as Morgan just joined the Fortune faction.

The No Surrender pay-per-view will feature the semi-finals of the tournament. The Pope will face Mr. Anderson and Kurt Angle will face Jeff Hardy...

A.J. Styles and Tommy Dreamer were shown split screen... [C]

[Q8] Mick Foley said one shot put him out and he had to watch what happened to his cohorts. He made it clear he was a part of EV2.0. He said the doctors told him he was two weeks away. He questioned whether or not he would be stupid by fighting now, but either way, he was with EV2.0...

6. A.J. Styles defeated Tommy Dreamer in a non-title match in 6:34. "Let's go A.J. Let's go Dreamer!" chants rang throughout the crowd. Tommy backdropped A.J. to the floor. He hit his running, rolling somersault from the apron onto Styles.

Tommy threw A.J. around the ring but Styles came back with a jarring kick to the head. Tommy was opened up. Styles yelled, "I'm gonna kill him!" into the camera. Good facial expressions from Styles.

Taz agreed this was A.J.'s house. "Just because it is your house, doesn't mean you get to poop on everybody that comes in it." Well, I guess you could if you wanted, but you would have to be into freaky stuff to poop on people in your own house.

Fortune headed out and were met on the ramp by EV2.0. Abyss came out from under the ring. He hit the Black Hole slam on Dreamer. Styles made the cover and the referee counted to three. Abyss left through the crowd as the brawl continued at ringside...

Twill's Two Cents: After last week, I wouldn't want Abyss going through the crowd around my kids. Typical, overly busy TNA main event. Styles gets the first win in the feud. Again though, what and whom is next? Are there enough compelling match possibilities?

An up and down followup show to last week. I will have more to say in tomorrow's Hitlist as well as a recap of the Reaction broadcast. Thank you for following along with me this week.

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