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... The show is called "Hot At Teacher" in reference to A.J. Styles and Ric Flair...

Mr. Anderson's music played and he headed to the ring with a chair in hand while Mike Tenay and Taz checked in on commentary. Once in the ring, Anderson sat down on the chair and said he was going to sit in the ring until he got his rematch for the TNA Title. Anderson wondered if Immortal didn't like him and question if it's because he's an asshole.

Anderson said Rob Van Dam "isn't exactly a law abiding citizen." Van Dam's music played and he headed to the ring. Van Dam joined Anderson in the ring and took issue with Anderson's comment. "I just want to make sure my hearing's not distorted, man," Van Dam said in a stoner voice.

Van Dam took issue with Anderson missing the low blow that cost him the match last week. Van Dam insinuated that he's a better wrestler than Anderson. He said Anderson is a force to be reckoned with when he has the mic in his hand. Van Dam said that if he has a chance to screw Anderson over, he won't hesitate.

Anderson got pissed and said the only thing he cares about is getting his rematch against Jeff Hardy. Anderson started to say that before they do something they regret, but Van Dam punched him before he could finish the sentence. The wrestlers traded punches until security ran out and pulled them apart.

Immortal was led onto the stage by Eric Bischoff. Bischoff questioned what was going on and said it looked to him like they have a possible main event. He said he was going to give Anderson his rematch against Hardy, but he changed his mind. He said the main event will be Anderson vs. RVD. The fans cheered.

Jeff Jarrett whispered in Bischoff's ear. "That's awesome," Bischoff said. He said Jarrett's idea was amazing and said he has a mind for the business. Bischoff said the main event will instead be Anderson vs. Van Dam vs. Kurt Angle in a three-way dance. Taz put over the match as a strong main event...

Powell's POV: The live crowd was flat for the physicality, but the verbal exchange was strong. Van Dam looked more engaged than he has in a long time.

Backstage, Scott Steiner was talking about James Storm's beer while Eric Young stood behind him and posed. Steiner spotted Young and asked him what he was doing. Young posed for Steiner, who told him to leave the locker room and "go find your boyfriend"... [C]

[Q2] A video showed Jeff and Karen Jarrett planning their wedding. They weren't happy with the dress... Backstage, a camera man asked Kurt Angle what he thought about the wedding. Kurt said he couldn't give Karen away quickly enough. He said he was going to give them a wedding they'll never forget...

1. Gunner and Murphy defeated Eric Young and Orlando Jordan in 4:00. Beer Money came out and joined the announcers on commentary for the match. Tenay said they Beer Money will defend the TNA Tag Titles against Gunner and Murphy next week. In the end, Gunner hit a move off the top rope while Murphy held Young. Gunner pinned Young...

Powell's POV: I could have done without Orlando pulling the face of one of his opponents into his groin. That said, the point of the match was to establish Gunner and Murphy. Beating Young and Jordan didn't help matters much, but Beer Money did a decent job of putting them over on the mic.

Backstage, Angelina Love tried to talk with Velvet Sky out of putting her career on the line against Sarita. Sky told her that she needed to be alone... The announcers hyped Ric Flair vs. A.J. Styles, and the three-way main event... [C]

Powell's POV: A simple, yet effective way to make it seem like the retirement stipulation is a big deal given that Love and Sky are nervous about it.

Brother Devon came to the ring for a promo. An emotional Devon said he was there to apologize to his sons. He said a father's worst dream is that he can't protect his sons. He recalled what Bully Ray did to his sons at the pay-per-view. He addressed "Bubba" and said those boys loved him.

[Q3] The crowd was as quiet as it's ever been as Devon continued to talk. "I should have been there for you," Devon said to his sons. Devon promised his sons that it would not go unanswered. The fans cheered.

Bully Ray appeared on the big screen. He had already beaten down an unidentified man and continued to beat him down as he ripped into Devon. Ray said he was going to take "one of your own, one of your brothers" and put him through a table. Ray set up to powerbomb the African American man through the table.

Tommy Dreamer showed up and attacked Ray from behind. Dreamer fought Ray into the studio. Devon came over and swung and missed with an attempted shot at Ray. Devon was shoving security members off him when Dreamer approached him from behind. Devon accidentally struck Dreamer. A frustrated Devon yelled, "Dammit"...

Powell's POV: A decent segment. The crowd's reaction to Devon was fun. They were into him when he came out and then they got as quiet as they've ever been during his promo, only to fire up again at the end. You don't see that very often.

Backstage, Madison Rayne told Tara to stay backstage regardless of who her open challenge opponent is... The announcers hyped the three-way main event, and the Flair vs. Styles match... [C]

Backstage A.J. Styles said he's sending a message to Ric Flair that he's not standing in anyone's shadow any longer...

2. Crimson defeated Magnus in 1:00. Before the match, Magnus cut a promo. He put over Crimson with one sentence and then tore him down with the next. He said the difference between the two of them is that he's not carrying Kurt Angle's bags around. Crimson attacked him to start the match. Crimson ended up getting the quick win...

Backstage, Rob Van Dam spoke about the three-way main event... A shot aired of Rob Terry walking backstage. Taz said the posedown with Terry and Scott Steiner was coming up next... [C]

[Q4] Rob Terry came out and cut a promo. He referred to Scott Steiner as "old man" and and said he's the real genetic freak. Steiner came out wearing a suit. Tenay said that Steiner had the body that all others were measured by for years. Taz agreed, but questioned why Steiner was wearing a suit.

Steiner stumbled over his words while trying to say that Terry referring to himself as the genetic freak pissed him off. Steiner said Terry reminds him of Chernobyl and said he looks at Terry and thinks he's "a couple vitamins away from a chemical disaster." Terry asked him if he's afraid.

Steiner said he was going to head backstage and put his gear on. He said if Terry was still in the ring, he was going to kick his ass. Terry said it was just like an American to run away when he sees someone stronger. The crowd ate it up and responded with "USA" chants.

Terry picked up a weight that he brought to the ring with him and gingerly slammed it into Steiner's head. He grabbed another piece of training equipment and wrapped it around Steiner's neck. Security ran out to pull Terry off...

Powell's POV: TNA security should approach the company about getting paid by the appearance. I can't believe they actually went with the vitamin line. Way to draw more attention to the giant red flag known as Rob Terry.

Backstage, Winter told Velvet Sky that people are doubting her abilities. She kept needling Velvet until she spun around the chair Winter was sitting on and said that once she's done with Sarita, she's coming for her...

A shot aired of Ric Flair walking backstage. Taz said he's supposed to be wrestling later tonight and questioned why he was on his way to the ring... [C]

[Q5] The Jarretts were shown meeting with a priest in a church. Karen said Jeff wants the world and especially Kurt to see their love. The priest asked who Kurt is. Karen said her ex-husband has agreed to walk him down the aisle. "Oh, dear lord," the priest said. The priest also took issue with them putting the kids on the line at the pay-per-view. "It's blasphemy," the priest said. Jeff fired back by saying, "No, it's not, it's nondenominational"...

Powell's POV: It was so absurd that I got a laugh out of it.

Ric Flair walked to the ring for a promo. "Oh, lord, how it's hard to be humble when you are the Nature Boy Ric Flair," he said. Flair referred to himself as god and said he would give a woman in the audience a ride on Space Mountain. A "Nature Boy" chant broke out. Flair told the fans to save it because he knows who he is.

Flair said A.J. Styles avoided him all day long and wouldn't make eye contact with him. Flair said there are two gods. He pointed up and then pointed at himself. He said Styles should come out and get down on his knees and bow in front of him. He said he would give the rest of Fortune the same opportunity in the future.

A.J. Styles came to the ring to address Flair. They went back and forth about Fortune. Flair said he tried to teach Flair how to walk the path of greatness. He said he was going to teach him about respect and then slapped him. Styles fired away at Flair, but Hernandez ran out and attacked him.

Hernandez performed the dumb t-shirt spot on Styles and set up for something bigger, but Styles cleared Hernadnez from the ring and went back to work on Flair. Hernandez recovered and threw Styles to the ground. Flair tried to hit Styles with his shoe, but Styles went into Flair mode by low-blowing him. Styles hit the Pele Kick on Hernandez.

Flair and Styles fought at ringside. Flair's pants were torn up the side and he bladed. Styles tore at the pants and Flair crawled back inside the ring and begged for mercy. Hernandez returned and kicked Styles again. Styles fought him off again and took another shot at Flair before diving onto Hernandez on the floor.

Flair looked hilarious as he was down to a tank top shirt, his ripped pants, and his underwear. Styles set him up for the Styles Clash, but Hernandez recovered and attacked him again. Yes, again. The rest of Fortune finally hit the ring and ran off the heels.

Hernandez was looking cocky at ringside when Matt Morgan ran out and attacked him from behind. Morgan roughed up Hernandez in the crowd. He ran him into the wall behind the crowd. Inside the ring, Fortune made their hand symbol... [C]

Powell's POV: The great thing about being in a faction is that you never have to worry about losing the numbers game. Well, unless you're A.J. Styles apparently. Seriously, what took Fortune so long? Aside from that, Flair was hilarious, and Styles played his part well. The crowd is definitely into Fortune and Morgan.

[Q6] The live events video was shown... A video recapped the Hulk Hogan and Dixie Carter relationship and teased that their court verdict would be revealed next week...

Powell's POV: The court thing is absurd. They took control by having Dixie sign a document that she thought was something else. It might be hard to prove normally, but the signing was shown on television.

Madison Rayne came to the ring and delivered a short promo before calling for her first open challenge participant to come out...

3. Madison Rayne beat ODB in 3:45. A dark haired ODB came storming out to a big pop from the live crowd. ODB dominated the early action, but she missed a bronco buster attempt in the corner. The announcers pointed out that Madison wasn't wearing the loaded glove as she hit the Codebreaker on ODB, who came back a short time later with a kick.

ODB performed her signature comeback and then hit the bronco buster in the corner. Madison came back and won the match by driving her leg into ODB's face. ODB scored the clean pin...

Powell's POV: It's cool to see ODB back. The time away did her good, as the live crowd was pumped to see her again. Here's hoping it wasn't a one and done moment for the former Knockouts Champion.

Backstage, Velvet Sky told Sarita that she would put her career on the line when they meet next week. Sarita said she was so impressed that she gave her her word that she wouldn't pull any tricks. She said it would be a one-on-one match. Sarita shook Velvet's hand, but then laughed about it with Rosita after Velvet left the ring...

The announcers hyped the three-way match for after the break...

[Q7] [C] An Eliminate The Hate commercial aired. No Bully Ray message yet... Backstage, Matt Morgan told the camera man that he delivered a royal ass whipping to Hernandez. He complained about Hernandez costing him the TNA Title shot. He said he took it from him, his wife, and his father. He said payback is a motherf---er (censored) "and so am I"...

Powell's POV: A good, intense promo. Hernandez could easily fire back and point out how Morgan put him on the shelf for months by kicking his head into the ring post, but I'm not sure whether TNA creative wants to go down that road now that they've switched sides on the babyface and heel line.

Jeff and Karen were at the tux shop. Jeff walked out and Karen talked about how handsome he looked... A video recapped the JWoww appearance. A new video showed Robbie E and Cookie boasting that Angelina from "Jersey Shore" will appear on the show next week to call out JWoww...

Powell's POV: I don't watch Jersey Shore, but either that's a horrible graphic that they're using for Angelina or she's not the most photogenic woman on television. They should have let Taz talk about that one. He's good at setting a light and humorous tone for the Jersey Shore silliness.

Ring introductions for the three-way main event took place... [C]

Powell's POV: The wide shot of Anderson doing his bit on the stage is great. It makes the Impact Zone look so much bigger than it is. By the way, if you really have high hopes for the Jersey Shore angle, then why place the hype piece in the generally low rated seventh quarter-hour segment? Perhaps it's all about the pub they get and they don't expect a ratings bump to go along with it.

[Q8] 4. Mr. Anderson defeated Kurt Angle and Rob Van Dam in a three-way in 13:45. Anderson and Angle were fighting outside the ring when Van Dam flipped onto them. They cut to break with all three men lying on the mat at ringside. [C]

After the break, Van Dam and Angle were fighting inside the ring. Van Dam caught Angle with a kick off the ropes. Anderson returned and went after Van Dam. At 12:00, Angle hit both guys with suplexes. He went for the Ankle Lock on Anderson, but Anderson blocked it.

Wedding music played. The Jarretts walked out and Angle turned his attention to them. Anderson took advantage of the situation and hit the Mic Check on Angle for the pin. The Jarretts kissed on the stage as Anderson left the ring...

The announcers hyped next week's television show and all of the advertised matches. Taz hyped that Jets linebacker Bart Scott will be there, and Tenay hyped the final court verdict in the Dixie and Hogan case.

Taz said he was just getting word that they had some new footage from the production truck. Lightning flashed and rain was coming down. Blue lighting was used as the rain poured down and then a 3-3-11 logo was shown to end the show...

Powell's POV: A good main event with a finish that sets up the wedding for next week. The video at the end of the show is definitely a talker, and I think the logical assumption is that Sting will be returning. You can find out whether that's the case right now by checking out the spoilers for the March 3 show on the main page. I'll have more to say about this show in tomorrow's TNA Impact Hitlist.

RECOMMEND THIS ARTICLE: