TNA TV Reports 5/15 Powell's TNA Impact Live Coverage: Awesome Kong vs. Gail Kim for the Knockouts Title, LAX vs. Motor City Machine Guns By Jason Powell May 15, 2008 - 10:00 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] Highlights aired from the Sacrifice pay-per-view. The narrator said it was a night like no other. No kidding, dude. The video recapped the top matches... This week's show is called, "What's Up With Booker?"... A shot aired of Samoa Joe and Kevin Nash walking backstage and then shaking hands. Don West announced that Joe retained his title and noted that he would be appearing in the Impact Zone for a special announcement... The opening video aired... Mike Tenay introduced the show and noted that most of TNA wrestlers were gathered at ringside for a special announcement. He also hyped a video sent in by Abyss... Powell's POV: Joe and Nash are buddies again? Whatever. Samoa Joe walked through to the ring and offered the wrestlers "a chance of a lifetime." He said he and Jim Cornette had each picked four wrestlers for the King of the Mountain match at Slammiversary. Joe read Cornette's names: Robert Roode, Tomko, Matt Morgan, and James Storm. Joe said he would announce the names of his four wrestlers next week. Joe said he would pick the names of his four wrestlers next week. He said he was looking for "bad ass, sons of bitches" to step up... Booker T walked to the ring and confronted Joe. He said he wasn't invited to the party. He pointed out that Cornette picked four wrestlers who had never received title shots and wondered why he wasn't among them. Booker accused Joe of ducking him. Booker said he better be among Joe's four picks or there would be "consequences and repercussions." Joe said he didn't gave a damn about Booker's threat. Booker punched Joe. Christian and Rhino ran in to help Joe. Booker told the three babyfaces to wait in the ring and he'd find two wrestlers in the back to face them in a match... Backstage, Jeremy Borash interviewed Kurt Angle, who said he had a speech for Karen Angle because he was ready to let her and the kids move home now that he's injured... Powell's POV: It gets no better than the first edition of Impact held after a pay-per-view. Usually Cornette gets stuck trying to make sense of whatever ADD-inspired concept the creative team comes up with. This time, they gave the job to Joe. [Q2] [C] After the break, Tenay announced that Kaz was victorious in the TerrorDome match. backstage, Lauren interviewed Kaz, Black Machismo, Sonjay Dutt, and SoCal Val. Kaz cut a bland promo. Sonjay said he was worried about Machismo. Machismo said he had things on his mind that are bigger than King Kong Bundy and The Giant... Apparently, Joe, Christian, and Rhino didn't feel like waiting around in the ring for Booker to find partners because they went to a different match instead... 1. Kaz and Sonjay Dutt and Black Machismo (w/SoCal Val) defeated Rock-n-Rave Infection (w/Christy Hemme) and Johnny Devine at 2:35. During the match, Lance Hoyt played air guitar with Machismo's ass. In the end, Kaz tagged in and hit a one-legged dropkick (well, that's what it looked like) on Hoyt and picked up the win. Afterward, Machismo grabbed the mic and called Val into the ring. He pulled a ring out of the fanny pack he brought to the ring with him and asked her to marry him at Slammiversary. "Oh yeah," she responded. In the background, Sonjay looked upset. The camera showed closeups of Sonjay's horrified look, but the announcers acted oblivious to it... A preview for Abyss's video aired... [C] Powell's POV: Why wouldn't a hot redhead marry a guy who gets repeatedly cock-blocked on dates, impersonates a retired wrestler even when he gets down on one knee, and carries the wedding ring inside a fanny pack? Good lord. [Q3] At ringside, the announcers hyped the six-man tag match, and Awesome Kong vs. Gail Kim match for later in the show... An Abyss highlight video aired... The new Abyss video aired. His hair was covering his face and he wearing a straight jacket while sitting inside a padded cell. He said he was allowed to make the video because he was on good behavior. He said he's been poked and prodded and treated like a lab rat. He said he committed himself because he's an addict for pain. He said no matter how much blood and torture there was, it was never enough. "The doctors say I'm almost cured," he said. "They say I can go home soon"... [C] Powell's POV: Campy, yet intriguing. I'm looking forward to seeing what the new Abyss looks like. Backstage, Lauren interviewed Joe and Nash and pointed out that Nash showed up at the pay-per-view with Scott Steiner. Nash said he thinks the business is 90 percent mental and 10 percent physical. He said Joe thinks it's just the opposite, but they've come to an understanding. Lauren asked Joe about Booker, which led to a brief promo to set up the six-man tag match... A highlight video recapped the Awesome Kong vs. Gail Kim feud... 2. Awesome Kong (w/Raisha Saeed) defeated Gail Kim to retain the TNA Knockouts Title in 10:00. Good, fast-paced action to start. Saeed reached in and tripped Gail, which brought ODB to ringside. Suddenly, every Knockout in the company walked to ringside and there was bickering between the heels and babyfaces. [C] Powell's POV: Why distract viewers from the match by having all the Knockouts come out? Maybe we'll get a good answer after the break. Remember that shirt Brooke Hogan wore at Nick's court hearing? The one with the shoulders cut out? Traci Brooks is wearing that shirt's cousin. It's the same shirt, only it had shoulders and the cleavage area is cut out. [Q4] The focus shifted back to the ring following the break. The Knockouts settled down at ringside and cheered for Kong or Kim. Very good nearfalls. Kong showed frustration when Kim kicked out after some of her bigger moves. ODB pulled Saeed off the ring apron. Kim took control of the match and went to the top rope, but Angelina love jumped onto the apron and shoved Kim down. Kim landed on her knee. Kong recovered and hit the Awesome Bomb for the win. After the match, the babyfaces comforted Kim, who remained on her back selling a knee injury... [C] Powell's POV: The match was really entertaining, but the finish was a big letdown. That being said, the creative team has done a good job of putting heat on Love at the pay-per-view and during this match. After the break, the announcers recapped the previous match and promised to pass along updates on Gail's condition... A video called "As the Angles Turn" recapped the history between the Angle family and A.J. Styles... [Q5] Kurt walked to the ring carrying a batch of red balloons. He read a letter he wrote to Karen in which he assumed her life was miserable without him. Kurt said everything will be cool as long as she recognizes that her place is behind his career, his gold medals, and his children. He asked her to show up next week and the show abruptly cut to commercial. When it ended, Tenay was just wrapping up the segment... [C] Powell's POV: I'm not sure if the commercial thing was a national issue or just a problem with my local cable company. Didn't Kurt just miss a pay-per-view main event because of a neck injury? Shouldn't he be discussing that situation rather than moving on to campy comedy? His promo was really the same joke over and over. It was funny the first time he did this routine, but he really hasn't changed it up since then. Backstage, Jeremy Borash interviewed LAX, Salinas, and Hector Guerrero. Homicide said Hector believed in them. Hector took the mic and pretty much begged for Latinos to support them. He wrapped it up with Eddie Guerrero's catch-phrase... 3. LAX (w/Hector Guerrero, Salinas) defeated Motor City Machine Guns in a non-title match in 4:30. Good in-ring action. There was a lousy spot with one of the Guns springboarding off the other and dropkicking Hernandez off the ring apron. It made him look like a goof for just standing there and letting it happen. Otherwise, good energy and the crowd was behind LAX. Homicide hit the 5150 on Sabin for the win... [Q6] Backstage, Borash tried to interview Booker, but Team 3D ran him off. Booker bragged about being the five-time, five-time, five-time, oh hell, you know the routine. Booker said he felt disrespected ever since he showed up in TNA. Devon took the mic and said he and Brother Ray jumped at the chance to help Booker and referred to him as "royalty"... [C] Powell's POV: Good chemistry between Booker and Team 3D, but I hate the idea of alluding to the King Booker gimmick and more so the five-time WCW Champion stuff. Move forward, TNA. Highlights aired from Eric Young's quest to find Elvis. He walked down a dirt road, took a leak, and hitched a ride to Nashville... Powell's POV: I'm going to go out on a limb and predict that they're not going to get Elvis to appear in Young's corner, so here's hoping Honky Tonk Man makes an appearance... Mike Tenay conducted a sitdown interview with Sting, who discussed breaking into the business and his early days of teaming with Ultimate Warrior. "We parted ways and it wasn't really a friendly part," Sting said. The segment will be continued next week... A shot aired of the back of Roxxi's head. West said she had her head shaved on Sunday. No shit... [C] Powell's POV: Sting's talking about Warrior. Warrior is training for a comeback match in Spain. You don't suppose there's going to... No. [Q7] Backstage, Lauren interviewed Sky and Love. There was some really bad acting in this segment... 4. Angelina Love and Velvet Sky defeated ODB and Roxxi at 4:15. West compared Roxxi to Sinead O'Connor. You know, because there's hasn't been another popular female singer who has shaved her head since 1992. In the end, Sky pinned ODB. Not much crowd reaction... Powell's POV: They gave all that time to the women, but never bothered to give Roxxi a promo to sell the loss of her hair. Backstage, Lauren interviewed Christian and Rhino about the six-man main event. Christian said he'll never respect Booker and referred to him as a "complete piece of shit." Rhino pulled the mic toward him and told Lauren to let go of it. He talked about dragging the bloody bodies of Team 3D down memory lane one more time... [C] Ring introductions for the main event took place... [Q8] 5. Samoa Joe and Christian Cage and Rhino defeated Booker T and Team 3D in 10:00. A wild brawl that spilled to ringside. Brother Ray and Christian fought back toward the Spanish broadcast area. Ray rammed Christian into the guardrail and then shoved Hector Guerrero, who was calling the action in Spanish. [C] The action was back in the ring after the break. Booker and Team 3D worked over Rhino and Christian. Joe tagged and cleaned house briefly. In the end, Joe powerslammed Devon for the win. After the match, Ray headed over to Hector and attacked him. Devon joined Ray and they punched Hector repeatedly and rammed him into the wall backstage while Booker stood guard with a chair. Joe, Christian, and Rhino eventually ran off the heels and tended to Hector, who was bleeding from the head... Powell's POV: This probably would have been a good angle if viewers actually cared about Hector. Maybe I'm wrong, but I just don't think the average TNA viewer really cares about a guy who became a character a few weeks ago and dresses like a waiter. Maybe the Latino audience feels more of a connection to Hector because they've been exposed to him longer via Spanish commentary. By the way, shouldn't LAX have been the babyfaces to race to the scene and and comfort Hector? I'll have more to say about the show in Friday's TNA Impact Hitlist. You can check out Rich Twilling's TNA Impact review by clicking here. 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 7/17 Powell's TNA Impact Live Coverage: Jim Cornette rules on the TNA Title situation involving Samoa Joe and Booker T, Petey Williams vs. Kaz for the X Division Title 7/10 Twilling's TNA Impact Live Coverage: Will Sting involve himself in the Samoa Joe and Kevin Nash situation? 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