TNA Impact on Spike TV
Taped in Orlando, Fla.

[Q1] A recap of the Kurt Angle/Tomko story line... Backstage, A.J. Styles pleaded with Kurt Angle not to fight Tomko. Angle reminded Styles that he’s the boss. Styles stood up for himself and reminded Kurt that he was a TNA Champion three times. Kurt mocked him and said TNA didn’t even have a full roster then. Karen tried to calm A.J. down, but he pushed her aside. Kurt grabbed A.J. by the throat and warned him not to touch his wife. He kicked A.J. out of his locker room... The opening montage aired... Mike Tenay and Don West introduced the show...

Powell’s POV: Great to see A.J. stand up for himself and play a serious role. The TNA heavyweight picture would be a lot more interesting with A.J. and Tomko apart of it.

Team 3D and Johnny Devine walked to the ring. Brother Ray grabbed the mic and cut a promo about their six-man tag match against the Motor City Machine Guns and Black Machismo at Against All Odds. Their opponents showed up on the big screen. Alex Shelley and Machismo were wearing tie-dye outfits and spoofing the original Dudleys gimmick. Meanwhile, Chris Sabin was wearing a blonde wig and smiling. He said he didn’t know why he was there since no one ever lets him talk. Funny. Team 3D showed up backstage and attacked the X Division trio. The teams brawled to ringside. Team 3D used tables, chairs, and a kendo stick to leave the babyface threesome lying. Brother Ray took the mic and told them they are little boys in a man’s world. “If God were a heel, he’d be in Team 3D”... [C]

Powell’s POV: The spoof was ruined! Actually, it was nice to see them put some heat on the heels. Of course, the babyface team made a great point about Devine. I’m not sure what he’s supposed to add to Team 3D. He just follows them around and looks out of place. Unfortunately, the Team 3D beatdown took the focus away from the Angle and Styles confrontation.

[Q2] The announcers recapped the previous angle... Backstage, Crystal interviewed Scott Steiner and Petey Williams. Steiner said he likes the X Division now that he knows it’s not for 100-pound losers. She reminded him that his X Division title shot will be worthless if Team 3D wins on Sunday and forces the X Division to disband. Petey said he thought he heard something about that in between workouts. Steiner was more concerned...

1. The Rock and Roll Infection (w/Christy Hemme) beat Scott Steiner and Petey Williams at 4:30. Lance Hoyt and Jimmy Rave brought the Guitar Hero guitars to the ring again. Steiner struck Petey with one of those silly cases that contain the contracts to their respective title matches. After Steiner bailed, Rave hit his finisher on Petey and scored the pin.

Powell’s POV: Hemme is useless in this role. She was really good in her previous role as the energetic girl who hyped upcoming segments and made a few ringside appearances. I know she pushed to have a bigger role, but she’s not as valuable to the company as she was before. Too bad. Williams is getting more camera time, but I’m not a fan of his one-dimensional gimmick.

[C] Video footage of Bob Armstrong leading B.G. James through a workout. Some lame comedy worked in...

[Q3] 2. Hernandez (w/Homicide, Salinas) beat Kip James (w/Roxxi) at 2:22. Late in the match, Roxxi tried to throw powder at Hernandez, but hit Kip instead. After the match, Kip took the mic and fired Roxxi. She stared him down and backed out of the ring. Get ready for a stupid voodoo hex or something along those lines. Ugh...

Powell’s POV: Far too one-sided. Homicide should plow through Kip, who adds nothing to the show at this point. They even let Roxxi pull Salinas down when she tried to interfere. The new gangsta chick shouldn’t have any problem with the, um, whatever hell Roxxi is supposed to be.

Backstage, Jeremy Borash held the mic while Styles pleaded with Tomko to forgive him for tending to Karen Angle last week. Tomko said he should punched A.J. last week. Tomko warned him to stay out of his way... [C]

Powell’s POV: A.J. was wearing the silly crown and acting like a hayseed again. Damn.

A video package hyped the Brock Lesnar vs. Frank Mir match for the UFC pay-per-view... A video hyped the Abyss vs. Judas Mesias barbed wire match...

3. Judas Mesias (w/James Mitchell) beat Cory Chavis at 1:23. Did Chavis pick off a dozen balls for the Vikings one year? Total squash.

[Q4] After the match, Mitchell cut a promo in which he reiterated that he is Abyss’ father. He questioned why Abyss would be ashamed to have him as a father. “It’s not shame that you’re dealing with, Chris. It’s guilt over what you allowed your mother to do to me.” He said Abyss tortures himself with thumbtacks and glass as a way to cope with that guilt... [C]

Shark Boy came out and performed his Stone Cold routine. Better impersonation this time around. When no one came out, he pretended like he heard the referee say something and turned his attention to him. He cut a promo on the ref and gave him the Stunner. Security ran out to make the save and he gave them all a Stunner... Backstage, Crystal held the mic while Matt Morgan threatened to go over Jim Cornette’s head about the Samoa Joe situation. Corny said Joe will be under their thumbs once he signs the five-year deal. Kevin Nash walked into the room and was confronted by Morgan. Nash said he’d fight him if Cornette wanted to write a check for $100,000. Nash said he wouldn’t save Corny or Morgan if they screwed up the Joe signing. Nash said the word on the street is that Corny would be out of a job if he didn’t sign Joe. After Nash left, Styles, Karen, and Borash entered the office. Styles asked Cornette to do something about the Angle-Tomko situation...

[Q5] [C] Cornette called Styles to the ring. He said he wouldn’t call off the Angle vs. Tomko match. However, he named Styles the special referee and said he would terminate his contract if he didn’t make a three count... Backstage, Crystal tried to interview Awesome Kong. Rather, Kong’s veiled handler read a threatening statement from Kong to ODB...

4. Angelina Love beat Roxxi Laveaux and ODB in a three-way match in roughly six minutes. ODB and Roxxi took turns mocking each other’s mannerisms. [C]

[Q6] ODB powerslammed Roxxi and had the pin, but the referee was distracted by a flirting Love. ODB protested and Love made a quick cover and scored the pin. Afterward, ODB powerslammed Love...

Backstage, Borash interviewed Styles, who fretted over playing the referee role. Kurt interrupted. Tomko entered the picture and brawled with Angle... Highlights aired from the pay-per-view of Bobby Roode punching Sharmell... In the ring, Tenay introduced a video message from Booker T. The footage was labeled as “earlier today” from his hometown of Houston. Booker thanked the fans and said Sharmell is at home and doing better. He said he looks forward to seeing all of the fans again soon... Bobby Roode and cut a brief promo while Payton Banks stood by his side... [C]

[Q7] 5. Bobby Roode and James Storm and Payton Banks (w/Jackie Moore) beat Sonjay Dutt and Eric Young and Ms. Brooks at 3:49. Lots of action with everyone in the ring at one point. Brooks chased Banks out of the ring during the final 30 seconds. Storm superkicked Young, who took the Payoff from Roode for the finish. Afterward, Booker T ran out and attacked Roode. Tenay said he must have had second thoughts and caught a flight out of Houston just to get his hands on Roode... [C]

Powell’s POV: I didn’t even recognize Banks as Rain when she had the blonde hair. I’ve actually watched her work in person many times in the Twin Cities. She had a long in-ring feud with Lacey of ROH fame, and was a good valet for several wrestlers. I always got a kick out of the way she’d take dollar bills from the crowd as she walked to the ring. Good hire by TNA. She worked plenty of indy shows with the likes of C.M. Punk, Mr. Kennedy, Shaun Daivari, and ODB.

Backstage, Kaz was wearing makeup and a blonde wig. He introduced himself as White Sunshine. He got serious and said he’s sick of Dustin Rhodes playing games with him. He laid out his plans for a rat cage match that could result in Black Reign getting his rat back... Cornette stood in the ring with Morgan. He introduced Joe for the contract signing. Joe came out with Nash. Cornette put him over and said there were no hard feelings despite the tough negotiations. Corny handed Joe the contract and ran down the specifics. Joe had Nash look it over briefly. Joe asked for a pen, but Corny didn’t hav one. Morgan pulled one out of his pocket and threw it at Joe. Morgan pie faced Joe, who responded by suplexing him through the table that had been set up for the signing. Joe tore up the contract and threw the pieces on Morgan. Corny yelled at Morgan while Joe walked backstage...

Powell’s POV: Joe’s biggest concern is getting paid and he needs someone else to handle his business for him. Yeah, this is a great way to set him up as a babyface. Best of all, the crowd cheered when he tore up the TNA contract and threw it at Morgan. Shouldn’t the writing lead the fans to cheer him for re-signing with the company?

[Q8] [C] 6. Tomko pinned Kurt Angle (w/Karen) at 6:20 with A.J. Styles as special referee. Before the match, West noted that Styles is genuine in the sense that he loves Tomko. Early in the match, Tomko powerslammed Angle and went for a cover, but A.J. didn’t make the count. Angle came back moments later with an overhead release suplex. [C] Highlights aired from during the break of Styles hesitating while counting a pin attempt by Angle. The hesitation continued a few moments later when Styles made slow counts when Tomko had the advantage multiple times. Angle fired back with an Olympic Slam. He locked in the ankle lock, but Tomko fought it off by kicking Angle into Styles. Christian ran to ringside, grabbed Angle’s title, and struck him with it. Tomko performed the TKO and covered Angle. A.J. recovered and pleaded with Tomko for a few seconds in between each count, but he eventually made it to three. After the match, Karen told Tomko what Christian did. The announcers questioned what Tomko’s reaction would be when he crosses paths with Christian next week...

Backstage, Christian told Cyrstal, “Tomko wants to do what’s best for Tomko and so do I”... A highlight video closed the show...

Powell’s POV: Tomko’s win over Angle didn’t mean anything because of the outside interference. Hopefully, Tomko will make that point next week and ask for a rematch. Under the circumstances, I wish they had saved Tomko’s first in-ring encounter with Angle for a pay-per-view. Here’s hoping they don’t make the mistake of giving away the inevitable Styles vs. Angle match on a free television.

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