TNA TV Reports 3/6 TNA Impact Live Coverage: Christian Cage vs. Kurt Angle cage match, Samoa Joe vs. Tomko, Kevin Nash vs. A.J. Styles By Jason Powell Mar 6, 2008 - 08:00 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] A video recapped last week’s show... This week’s episode is titled “Fighting for the Edge”... Backstage, Jeremy Borash sat by while Kurt Angle gave a pep talk to Kurt Angle and Tomko about their singles matches. He noted that the winning team would have a man advantage at the pay-per-view. Styles interrupted him and asked for an update on Karen. Kurt knocked the crown off Styles’ head and told him was time to get serious. Angle asked for everyone to put their hands in. Tomko blew him off in typical Tomko style, but Borash put his hand in and enthusiastically yelled, “Angle Alliance” along with Angle and Styles... The opening montage aired... Powell’s POV: A really good backstage segment. A good mix of humor with Borash and Styles, and Angle’s serious tone made tonight’s matches seem more meaningful. Plus, Tomko played it cool. Jim Cornette stood in the ring and addressed the crowd with Matt Morgan behind him. He put over the three singles matches and said there would be no interference or disqualifications in any of those matches. He noted that the alliance that won two of those three matches would have an advantage in the Angle Alliance vs. Kevin Nash and Samoa Joe and Christian cage team (the Unlikely Alliance) at the pay-per-view, but he never specified what the advantage would be. Cornette introduced Booker T, who walked to the ring while highlights aired of last week’s angle. Corny said Booker T and Robert Roode will have a strap match at the pay-per-view. If Booker wins, Traci Brooks will give Payton Banks ten lashes with a leather strap. If Roode wins, Banks will give Brooks the lashes. Booker started talking, but he was quickly interrupted by Roode’s music. Roode and Banks walked onto the entrance ramp and said it goes against his morale fiber to see a woman get strapped. He said the situation is between he and Booker and it will end at the pay-per-view. Booker said they didn’t have to wait for the pay-per-view, which led to a pull-apart brawl at ringside. Mike Tenay and Don West checked in earlier and West said twice that it looked like Booker and Roode were trying to kill each other... Backstage, Crystal interviewed the Unlikely Alliance. Joe cut a short promo about his first blood match with Tomko. Christian cut a long promo. Nash asked how he was supposed to follow Christian’s promo. He impersonated Hulk Hogan and asked what Styles was going to do when his surgically repaired knees “come down on you?” Joe and Christian posed in Hogan style... [C] Powell’s POV: Wow, that’s a lot to digest for one 15-minute segment. Let’s start with Cornette. He did the best he could, but it’s hard to get excited about the best of three element of the singles matches when they haven’t even bothered to explain how the losing team will be shorthanded. Roode had heat when he came out, but it faded quickly when he delivered a ho-hum promo. Nash was funny, but it contradicted the serious tone that Angle set at the beginning of the show. [Q2] [C] 1. Kevin Nash beat A.J. Styles in a street fight in 5:00. Nash dominated Styles early and they brawled at ringside before the break. [C] Late in the match, Nash powerbombed Styles awkwardly and then sold a knee injury. Styles kicked him in the knee. He springboarded off the top rope, but Nash was waiting for him and caught him by the throat. Nash hit a chokeslam for the win. Powell’s POV: Sloppy match. Nash and Angle were much better last week. Nash mentioning his knees and then selling a knee injury in this match is most likely foreshadowing something at the pay-per-view. Backstage, Crystal interviewed Black Reign. He concluded his promo on Kaz by saying, “If you make it to Destination X, I will eat your face...off.” Embarrassingly awful... [C] [Q3] Backstage, Crystal interviewed Jay Lethal while SoCal Val stood by. Lethal was in full Black Machismo mode. He wrapped up his interview and Val told Crystal that Lethal said something about next week and added that she couldn’t weight... At ringside, Tenay and West hyped the upcoming matches, including Awesome Kong in action, and “a very special Destination X battle royal.” Tenay said something was going on backstage. They cut to the back for a Brooks and Banks brawl... In another part of the backstage area, Borash interviewed Young, who expressed his fear of monsters... A few introductions for the battle royal took place... [C] Before the battle royal could take place, Team 3D had to weigh in. They both failed. The announcers explained that the winner of the battle royal would get to add a stipulation to their pay-per-view match... 2. Shark Boy won a 13-man battle royal.. The entrants were LAX, Curry Man, Shark Boy, the Rock-n-Rave Connection, Petey Williams, Eric Young, the Motor City Machine Guns Jay Lethal, Black Reign, and Rellik. The Guru walked to ringside and collected donations. Scott Steiner and Rhaka Khan walked out and tried to help Petey Williams, but the referee ordered them to head backstage. [Q4] The match came down to Curry Man, Rellik, and Rave. Curry eliminated Rave. Rellik dumped Curry over the top rope, but he skinned the cat and landed with his feet on Rave, who was still lying on the floor. Curry threw Rellik out for the win. Afterward, Curry took the mic and cut a promo in bad Japanese. Shark Boy took the mic from him and announced that their match with Team 3D will be a Fish Market Street Fight. Powell’s POV: Shark Boy is funny in small doses. I’d enjoy his act more if there weren’t so many other comedy acts on the show. The battle royal was a mess and there didn’t appear to be any point to the order of the eliminations. Backstage, Borash interviewed Angelina Love and Velvet Sky. They sucked up to Roxxi Laveaux because of her premonition last week. They decided to give her a makeover next week and then acted like it wouldn’t be easy behind her back... Samoa Joe and Tomko made their ring entrances... [C] 3. Tomko vs. Samoa Joe at 6:03 in a first blood match. They brawled to ringside immediately and stayed there for the first two minutes. Once back in the ring, Tomko covered his head as if he was covering a cut, but then he clotheslined Joe out of nowhere and smiled. [Q5] Later, Joe slammed Tomko’s head into a chair that was set up between the ropes. Tomko came back with a chairshot, but the announcers noted that he blocked it with his arm. Joe locked Tomko in the rear naked choke and the referee called for the bell because Joe was bleeding from the arm... [C] Powell’s POV: Weak finish. It was initially confusing because it seemed like the ref was calling for the bell because of a submission, which didn’t make any sense because this was a first blood match. Clearly, the goal was to protect both wrestlers. It wouldn’t seem so bad if TNA wasn’t famous for cheap finishes. The debut of “Rough Cut” aired. It was labeled as a behind the scenes look at B.G. James and Kip James. They spoke individually about the early days of their tag team. Kip stood in front of a monster truck and said he was the workhorse, while James cut good promos. James was seated outdoors and said they’re were early omens that their partnership might not work out because they’re two totally different people... Powell’s POV: Way too short to be effective. It felt like a commercial for a New Age Outlaws DVD. They tried to make it seem like a shoot with some of the lingo, but Kip stayed in character by saying that he never got the chance to talk because James talks so much. Backstage, James Mitchell cut a promo while Judas Mesias stood in the background in front of a curtain. He said something about making someone drink his own blood and concluded with, “Bottoms up”... In the ring, Rhino cut a promo in the ring. He called James Storm and the drinking championship belt pieces of crap. “And do you know what I do to a piece of crap?” Rhino asked. With that, he smashed the belt against the ring post. Um, that made no sense... Powell’s POV: You eat pieces of crap for breakfast? [Q6] [C] 4. Rhino pinned Judas Mesias (w/James Mitchell) at 3:21. Before the match, the announcers said it had been three weeks since Abyss took off his mask and disappeared. Rhino finished off Mesias with a gore. Afterward, Storm suck in and superkicked Rhino. Jackie retrieved the precious drinking title belt... Backstage, Raisha Saed delivered a promo while Awesome Kong watched on. She apologized to Salinas because Kong must destroy her. Saed said ODB and Gail Kim had committed an act of war against Kong. LAX walked into the picture and Homicide said he wanted to sneak a peak at Saed while grabbing her dress. Kong grabbed him by the throat and then had a brief nose-to-nose stare down with Homicide... [C] 5. Awesome Kong (w/Raisha Saed) beat Salinas in a non-title match at 1:39. All Kong. Awesome Bomb for the win... [Q7] Backstage, Crystal interviewed Gail Kim and ODB. Gail said Kong could be defeated and noted that Kong was facing two opponents. Crystal asked which one of them would make the cover if Kong was down. Gail said, “The best wrestler,” and walked away. ODB, who was pulling a Jerry Jarrett by spitting tobacco into a plastic cup, said that was the answer she wanted to hear... Ring introductions for the main event took place... 6. Christian Cage beat Kurt Angle in a cage match in 18:00. Back and forth action to start followed by another commercial break. [C] [Q8] The announcers explained that the winner of this match would give his six-man team a five-minute three-on-two advantage at the pay-per-view. Christian tried to climb the cage, but Angle caught him from behind. Angle tried to suplex him, but Christian held onto the cage in a nice cage spot. Later, Angle caught Christian trying to climb the cage in the corner, but Angle caught him from behind and hit the Olympic Slam. West, in his best Bobby Hill (“King of the Hill”) voice, said Angle hit the Olympic Slam off the top of the cage. And by off the top of the cage, he meant off the second rope. A few minutes later, Christian got his leg caught in the ropes. Angle climbed the cage on the other side, but Christian got loose and caught up to him. They both ended up on the other side of the cage and did the simultaneous finish. Earl Hebner, who was standing right there, hesitated and then raised Christian’s hand. As such, the babyface team will have the advantage for five minutes at the pay-per-view, which seems ass backwards. After the match, Tomko and Styles ran out and attacked Christian. They brought him back inside the cage and padlocked the door. All three heels hit their finishers on Coachman, er, Christian while Joe and Nash ran out and tried to get inside the cage. Angle locked Christian in the ankle lock to end the segment... A video previewed the Destination X match to close the show... Powell’s POV: There was way too much going on this week. The show moved so fast nothing really stuck. The Rough Cut video is a perfect example. I went back and timed this segment and they gave a whopping one minute and 22 seconds to a segment they hyped as something special and I’ll guarantee most people forgot about it by the time the show ended. The main event had its moments and both guys worked hard. As usual, the match was ridiculously overbooked. The big plus of the show is that it featured three matches that looked good coming in, and it was definitely more geared toward Sunday’s Destination X pay-per-view than last month’s go-home show was before the Against All Odds show. I’ll have a lot more to say about this show tomorrow in the TNA Impact Hitlist. 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 9/4 Twilling's TNA Impact Live Coverage: A.J. Styles vs. Christian Cage in a Four Ways to Glory qualifier, Abyss wrestles first TV match in months 8/28 Powell's TNA Impact Live Coverage: Sting explains why he attacked Samoa Joe and A.J. 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