TNA TV Reports 7/23 Twilling's TNA Impact Live Coverage: Samoa Joe and Taz open the show, the Main Event Mafia defends their titles, Kurt Angle addresses his title win at Victory Road By Rich Twilling Jul 23, 2009 - 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, FL [Q1] Footage aired from Victory Road focusing on Samoa Joe, Taz, and the Main Event Mafia. The opening video aired, fireworks lit up the stage, and Mike Tenay introduced the show... Taz, in workout gear, came out to the ring. He grabbed the mic and said he used to wrestle for the original ECW, but spinal cord injuries shortened his career. He then said he called hundreds of matches for WWE, which prompted boos from the crowd. He said he turned on TNA and saw the second coming of him. He said he saw Samoa Joe in himself and the only difference between the two of them was that Joe showed remorse for his opponents and Taz did not. He said he called Joe and had a conversation with him about this very topic. He said he appreciated Kurt Angle for being the only person to show interest in Joe. Taz said Joe would bring more gold to the prestigious Main Event Mafia tonight as he would become the next TNA X-Division Champion. He instructed Homicide to “beat Joe if you can, survive if he let’s you.” Joe made his way to the ring and Homicide followed... 1. Homicide defeated Samoa Joe (with Taz) by disqualification to retain the TNA X-Division Championship in 5:19. After some back and forth action early, Joe locked in an abdominal stretch. Homicide hit a corkscrew elbow and a second rope tornado DDT for a long two count. Joe hit a t-bone suplex and crossed his arms as Taz applauded. [Q2] Joe punched the referee and as he recovered, Joe countered the gringo cutter with the rear naked choke. Homicide tapped out but the referee didn’t see it, but once he came to, he rang the bell and disqualified Joe. Joe attacked Homicide and Hernandez came out to his own music. Taz instructed Taz not to attack Hernandez and they retreated... Twill’s Two Cents: This could have been an Impact main event if built up correctly, but nonetheless, I love Joe with Taz. I wish they were not with the Mafia because Taz could start a faction of his own and in fact, LAX would be a nice fit with them. I hope to see more of these three going forward. JB interviewed Mick Foley backstage and Foley said despite talking to TNA management, Kurt Angle was the golden boy and he didn’t know what was going on. Footage was shown of the Mafia making their way to the ring... [C] The Main Event Mafia made their way out to the ring and they were all smiles. Angle grabbed the mic and told everyone in the back than nobody was getting fired (except maybe for Jeff Jarrett). He said Kevin Nash, Booker T and Scott Steiner would defend their titles tonight. He turned his attention to Mick Foley. He said the front office wondered exactly what Foley did. His music hit and Foley came out to the ring. Foley admitted that he tapped out to Kurt Angle when he said he would not. He called the Mafia the best group of wrestlers ever. He said A.J. Styles, Robert Roode, James Storm, and especially him dropped the ball. Angle said Foley worked the front office and Joe and Angle prevented him from continuing to do so. Angle said he could kick Foley’s ass to the curb if he wanted to, but he wanted one more thing from Foley. He held up a set of keys with a horrible TNA lanyard, and said the two of them would go one on one in a “keys on a pole” match tonight. Angle said if Foley wanted his office back, all he had to do was climb his “sprained ankle ass” up the turnbuckle and retrieve the keys... [C] Twill’s Two Cents: Okay, why exactly does Kurt Angle have power over Mick Foley, who bought into the company? That makes no sense at all. What does make sense is a “something on a pole match” since Vince Russo is most likely the last word in booking this show. [Q3] Footage aired from “earlier in the day” of the British Invasion saying they would participate in a ten man tag team match tonight. Tenay and West ran down the card for tonight. There will be a ten woman battle royal with the winner getting $50,000 and will be the Main Event Mafia’s “chosen one.” ... Twill’s Two Cents: Earlier in the show, West mentioned that the Mafia did care about the titles they did not win at Victory Road, so I am impressed at that being addressed. 1. Kevin Nash (with Jenna Morasca) defeated Amazing Red to retain the Legends Championship in 2:13. Nash squashed Red and won with the jackknife powerbomb... Twill’s Two Cents: Not much to say about that. Lauren interviewed Hernandez backstage. He cut a solid pro-TNA promo and said he would be the TNA World Heavyweight Champion. Homicide approached him and they argued about why Hernandez came out to save him earlier... [C] [Q4] JB interviewed Foley backstage in his office. Foley stupidly joked that Angle could take everything he had, but not his picture of him and JB. He made fun of the pole match. Foley’s security guys came in and said they would be there for him. He wanted them to cover up the “MEM” on their shirts... Booker and Steiner were watching the monitor and said they found their opponents for their first title defense. I’m sure Foley’s guys will screw him over later in the show... [C] Lauren interviewed Traci Brooks backstage. She said she had a big surprise in the near future and resume her role as TNA Knockout Law for the battle royal tonight... 2. Scott Steiner and Booker T (with Sharmell) defeated Big Rocco and Sal E. Boy to retain the TNA World Tag Team Championships in 4:34. Steiner forced announcer David Penzer to announce Foley’s security as their opponents. Steiner and Booker toyed with their opponents until Steiner almost got beat, but Booker hit the bookend. Steiner followed with his finisher for the win... Twill’s Two Cents: This reminds me of when the nWo ran WCW Monday Nitro so many years ago and the Outsiders toyed with High Voltage. Ten years later, we are in the exact same place. The Mafia is a kick ass group, but is this what TNA really needs? [Q5] Eric Young and JB approached Mick Foley backstage. Young cut a babyface promo on Foley saying he needed TNA was sorry for the past couple of months. Foley made Young the fifth member of the babyface team tonight... Various TNA knockouts made their way through the backstage area, including The Beautiful People... [C] Footage was shown of Angelina Love defeating Tara at Victory Road. Tara told Lauren she did not want to be in the Main Event Mafia and she threatened Slick Johnson to come get some of her, free of charge... 3. Traci won a battle royal for $50,000 and entry into the Main Event Mafia in 9:42. Daffney was the first to go out and Madison Rayne was soon to follow. Slick Johnson checked on Madison. ODB went over the top but Cody Deaner caught her and put her back in. Taylor Wilde eliminated Sojo Bolt and Tara eliminate Velvet Sky. Kevin Nash came out the announce table... [C] [Q6] Back from commercial, Taylor Wilde, Alissa Flash, and Angelina Love were eliminated. Sarita, ODB, Kong, and Tara remained. Traci was there too. I almost think she is going to involve herself in the match. Nash commented on who might join his crew. Kong eliminated Sarita and she was one of the final two with Tara. Kong and Tara were teetering on the ropes and Traci threw them both out. I called that... Kevin Nash came into the ring and announced Traci as the newest member of the Main Event Mafia. They hugged. Back in the ring, Tara knocked out Slick Johnson again... [C] Twill’s Two Cents: That works for me if Traci is healthy enough to work. She would make a good member of the MEM because she won’t take away from them at all. I guess they didn’t have enough confidence in Jenna Morasca to win the belt. I’ll admit, I would have loved to see Kong to lead to the eventual Kong vs. Angle match. Backstage, The Beautiful People were very upset about not winning the battle royal. What pisses me off is that Velvet is forced to share a throne with Madison Rayne. They made fun of ODB and Cody Deaner came in. TBP seduced him a bit. Velvet and Madison almost puked as Angelina stayed strong for the good of the team. Velvet kicked him in the nuts. ODB came in and said, “I hate those whores.” ... Tenay and West ran down the rest of the card. Tenay announced the main event of Hard Justice would be a three way for Kurt Angle’s World Championship. Angle would defend against Sting, who was receiving his last title shot. The third spot would go to A.J. Styles or Matt Morgan, who would begin a two out of three series next week... Twill’s Two Cents: I would rather Sting’s last title shot be a one-on-one match, but I’m sure that will happen too. Lauren interviewed Styles, with his partners in tow, backstage. Styles said all of them dropped the ball at Victory Road, but tonight, they would take TNA back... [C] [Q7] 4. The British Invasion (Brutus Magnus, Doug Williams, and Rob Terry), Sheik Abdul Bashir, and Kiyoshi defeated A.J. Styles, Eric Young, Daniels and Beer Money (James Storm and Robert Roode) in 5:17. Beer Money worked together early and successfully. The babyface team was referred to over and over again as the “TNA Originals.” Daniels scored the first nearfall with a split legged moonsault. Terry tagged in and all I can notice is that someone should cut off his horrible looking hair. Damn, that didn’t look good twenty years ago and it doesn’t now either. The Invasion worked over Daniels. Williams scored a nearfall after a second rope knee, but Styles broke up the fall. Styles received the hot tag and closelined everybody. He hit the springboard forearm for a two count. Styles went for the Styles Clash, but Young turned on him and hit a piledriver on him. Williams covered him for the win. Tenay put over how nobody uses the piledriver because how dangerous it is... Foley was shown backstage watching the monitor and he was pissed at what happened... [C] Twill’s Two Cents: Too short to be anything special and frankly, that was pretty predictable. I’m curious to see what they do with Young though. Styles did not exactly “take back” TNA. Disappointing match. [Q8] JB caught up with Eric Young and the mid-card foreign guys. Young said he was wanted in the group and he accepted. He said they were the best in the world, the “World Elite,” and things in TNA would change forever. Foley attacked him and was beaten down... Twill’s Two Cents: Will somebody explain to Foley that six to one odds are not going to fall in his favor? Also, will someone explain to Eric Young who the Main Event Mafia are? 5. Kurt Angle vs. Mick Foley in a “Office Keys on a Pole” match ended in a no contest in 9:12. Foley wore a Superstar Billy Graham looking t-shirt and “paint class high school girl” purple shirt over it. Foley limped around the ring and Angle worked his ass off early on. Foley was the first to go for the keys, but Angle caught him. Foley closelined Angle to the floor and went for the keys again. Angle went for the keys for the first time and Foley superplexed him... [C] The 200th episode of Impact for last week was promoted, including two “world title” matches and an appearance by the “God of Thunder” (Thor?) Bobby Lashley... Foley hit the double underhook DDT and followed with the mandible claw. As he went for the keys, the Mafia hit the scene and the referee called for the bell. Angle grabbed the mic and said to Foley, “your next card will be your last card.” Bobby Lashley, apparently the God of Thunder, came out to the ring. He hugged Angle as the rest of the Mafia applauded. Lashley attacked Angle and knocked the rest of the Mafia out of the ring. Tenay called him the “MMA star and former World Wrestling Champion” (huh?). Lashley stared down the Mafia as Angle looked back at him with a pissed off look on his face... Twill’s Two Cents: Let’s skip straight to the ending because both men were obviously hurting during the match; give them credit for working hard. Lashley beating up the Mafia was predictable, but well done. Unfortunately, Samoa Joe is out of place (especially with Taz) in the Mafia and he should be the stand alone guy kicking their ass. Let’s see what happens with Lashley. What did you think of the show? Feel free to let me know by shooting an email to dotnetrich@gmail.com. HELP SUPPORT DOT NET! 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