TNA Impact on Spike TV
Taped in Orlando, FL

[Q1] Footage was shown of last week’s brawl. The show is entitled “The Future is Now.” The opening video aired and fireworks lit up the Impact Zone. Mike Tenay introduced the show and hyped tonight’s A.J. Styles vs. Matt Morgan match...

1. Christy Hemme defeated Sojo Bolt in 3:31. Hemme made her return from a neck injury. The crowd was solidly behind Christy. In a botched spot, Christy tried a backdrop and Sojo landed awkwardly on her head. Christy won with the top rope FFG...

Twill’s Two Cents: Sloppy match but crowd was very happy to see Hemme back and they were behind her for the entire match.

Tenay and Don West ran down the card for tonight’s show. Styles and Morgan were shown arriving at the building... [C]

Lauren interviewed Taz backstage and asked him about Joe losing to Hernandez. Taz said Hernandez did not beat Joe, Joe beat Joe. He said he was going to turn a negative into a positive and at Hard Justice, he was going to take Homicide out...

Twill’s Two Cents: Nice promo by Taz. That is what I want to see from him.

[Q2] 2. Hernandez defeated Doug Williams (with Brutus Magnus and Rob Terry) in 4:05. The crowd chanted “USA,” which made no sense because Hernandez is Mexican and Williams is British. They corrected themselves and chanted “Mexico.” Hernandez dominated early but Williams gained the advantage but missed a top rope senton. Hernandez won the match with a sit down powerbomb...

After the match, Magnus attacked Hernandez. Big Rob Terry hit Hernandez with the briefcase after the match. The two men will face each other this Sunday at Hard Justice. Hernandez recovered and ran after the Brits... [C]

Twill’s Two Cents: Hernandez was a bit off tonight, but he is still impressive to watch in the ring and could be a legitimate main event level guy. He should go over at the pay-per-view.

Hernandez cut a pissed off promo in Spanish backstage...

Mike Tenay sat down with Bobby Lashley and told him he followed his entire WWE career, saying he was a World Heavyweight Champion. Was he? I don’t think so. He had the ECW Title but none of the big two. Lashley said he would succeed at both wrestling and MMA. When asked who would win between the greatest wrestler in the world and the greatest fighter in the world, Lashley said, “That shall remain to be seen.” ...

Twill’s Two Cents: Greatest fighter in the world? Hmmm. Lashley just cannot cut a promo and that sounded like he felt he needed to be more than “just a wrestler.” That segment just did not come across well.

JB interviewed Dr. Stevie backstage. Abyss attacked him and threatened Stevie to take him out himself, but he wouldn’t do it because Stevie was a worthless bitch. Jethro Holliday hit Abyss with a chair and continued to attack him... [C]

[Q3] Lauren interviewed Tara backstage as her tarantula crawled over her. Tara called Awesome Kong perhaps the best female wrestler ever. She said she would beat all four of her opponents tonight and asked if Kong was afraid of tarantulas...

3. Eric Young and Sheik Abdul Bashir (with Kiyoshi) defeated Jesse Neal and Rhino in 4:21. Rhino had success early but once Neal tagged in, the heel team worked him over. With both Neal and Young trying to make tags, Neal inexplicably turned the other way to attack Bashir on the apron. Young rolled him up Neal for the win...

After the match, Neal apologized to Rhino, but Rhino slapped him and followed up with a huge gore...

A graphic for Styles, with Sting in his corner, vs. Morgan, with Angle in his corner, was shown... [C]

Twill’s Two Cents: Well, the World Elite isn’t exactly looking all that strong tonight. They lost their first match and beat a rookie with a rollup in the second one.

[Q4] Lauren interviewed Rhino backstage and berated him for attacking Neal. Rhino said this was not the Lifetime channel. He said Jesse made mistake after mistake and yelled at Lauren about how she has never been in the ring. He wondered if Neal would step up and fight...

4. Tara defeated Awesome Kong (with Raisha Saeed), ODB (with Cody Deaner), and Angelina Love (with Velvet Sky and Madison Rayne) in 10:06. Tara and Kong paired off, as did ODB and Angelina. Tara and ODB shared a drink. ODB from the top rope to the floor onto Kong and Saeed. Tara did the same to The Beautiful People, but Velvet did not step far enough into it and Tara hit her head... [C]

Back from commercial, Kong was working over Tara. They showed Tara’s dive before the break. Kong and Tara went to the floor and in the ring, Angelina hit a bicycle kick (called the botox injection) for a two count. ODB hit a powerslam on Angelina and Kong was quick as hell breaking it up.

ODB tried to slam Kong but failed. Kong slammed ODB and hit a legdrop for a two count. Kong hit a chokeslam and Deaner rose to the apron. Kong approached him and Deaner kissed her. Kong pulled him into the ring and hit an Awesome Bomb. Tara rolled up Kong for the win...

Twill’s Two Cents: Very good women’s match with four good workers. The crowd is still behind ODB, Kong is amazing, Tara is over and rejuvenated, and Angelina is getting so much better. I enjoyed this.

[Q5] Lauren interviewed Styles and Sting backstage. Sting said Styles was in the pressure cooker. Styles said he is defined by how he performs under pressure. After tonight, he would either be a winner or a loser... [C]

JB interviewed Team 3D backstage about their match with Scott Steiner and Booker T at Hard Justice. Brother Devon said Harlem Heat and the Steiner Brothers were two of the best teams ever, but Team 3D was the best team ever. Brother Ray said Team 3D has been getting screwed and if he knew getting screwed would be like that, he would have stayed a virgin. He said they were getting their belts back...

Scott Steiner and Booker T engaged in a point-counterpoint before their match. Steiner said they were the champions because they were better than Team 3D. He said they would walk of Hard Justice the champions. Ray said they respected them because they backed up what they said, but that is what made Team 3D better. He said they were household names, but so was garbage, and like garbage, Steiner and Booker stunk and were getting old...

5. Scott Steiner (with Booker T and Sharmell) defeated Brother Ray (with Brother Devon) in a no disqualification match in 3:27. Sharmell distracted the referee, but it backfired as Team 3D hit the wazzup top rope headbutt to the nuts. They set up a table, but the British Invasion came out to distract Team 3D. Booker and Steiner put Ray through the table to give Steiner the win...

Twill’s Two Cents: Not a whole lot to it and yet another progression in the British Invasion vs. Team 3D feud. I wonder if a title change is in the works.

[Q6] A graphic aired for the contract signing for the Kevin Nash vs. Mick Foley match... [C]

Back from commercial, Foley, Nash, a table, and Tenay were all in the ring already. Nash looked like he borrowed a suit from Austin Powers. Both men signed their contracts. Foley said he has never had a conversation with Nash that did not involve money. Foley said his kids were in attendance and asked him when he would become a champion again. He held up the belt and said he was a champion again.

Nash grabbed the mic and said not having the title at his last autograph session cost him $20,000 in cash. The crowd called Nash a sellout. Nash said the crowd did not know what a sellout was and they did not even make $6.50 an hour. Even Foley laughed at that. Nash took off his jacket and shirt to reveal he has been working out.

Nash called himself an athlete and a businessman while Foley was a pathetic wrestler. Foley asked if Nash just called him the “W” word. He said he was a wrestler and proud of it. They shook hands and Foley wished him luck. Nash said Foley needed the luck. Tenay was checking Nash out from the corner.

Foley asked Nash if he was going to leave before one of them went through the contract signing table. Nash said he did not get paid more to go through or put Foley through the table. Foley said he would go through the table for free and proceeded to put himself through the table. Nash looked on and both guys started to laugh a little... [C]

Twill’s Two Cents: These guys had fun with the segment and it was pretty entertaining. Too bad the Legends Title doesn’t really mean anything, but this was well done for a normally predictable contract signing segment. Nash looks to be in great shape.

[Q7] Tenay and West ran down the Hard Justice card, which looks pretty damn good on paper. A video aired putting over the Steel Asylum match...

Lauren interviewed Matt Morgan backstage. Morgan said he felt no pressure about tonight’s match and called Styles a “sideshow midget.” He said he was so confident, he was guaranteeing victory tonight... [C]

Twill’s Two Cents: Doesn’t Morgan know what happens when an athlete guarantees victory?

Footage aired of the first two matches of the Styles vs. Morgan series. Styles has the best entrance in TNA, followed closely by The Beautiful People. Sting seconded Styles. Morgan came out and was followed by Kurt Angle...

6. Matt Morgan defeated A.J. Styles in the finals of a three match series to determine who will wrestle for the TNA World Championship at Hard Justice in 8:38. Styles attacked Morgan before he could enter the ring. He hit a somersault plancha and followed with a springboard flying forearm from the guardrail. Styles locked in a figure four leg lock in the ring. Morgan gained the advantage.

[Q8] Styles scored a one count after a dropkick. Morgan hit his corner elbow strikes and followed with the side suplex drop for a nearfall. With Styles on the floor, West said he talked to Angle and was told a Morgan victory would get him into the Mafia. Morgan scored another nearfall. He dominated for a few minutes and missed a couple of corner moves.

Styles hit a few right hands and followed with a huge kick to the back of the head. He hit a springboard missile dropkick for a very nearfall. Styles charged at Morgan but Morgan countered with a side suplex for a two count. Morgan went to the top but Styles caught him. Morgan pushed him off but Styles hit an amazing Pele kick and scored a two count. Morgan followed with a huge bicycle kick for the clean win after a missed springboard move...

After the match, the Mafia came out to the ring to celebrate with and congratulate Morgan as Sting helped Styles to the back. Angle grabbed a microphone... [C]

Twill’s Two Cents: Very entertaining match and a little disappointing not to have Styles on the PPV. These two, despite their size difference, work well together and I was pleased to see them given a little more time for this final match.

Angle congratulated Morgan and they were confused about who recruited who. Angle asked for one more favor and if Morgan complied, he was in the Mafia. Morgan made sure Angle was not suggesting he helped him retain the title on Sunday. Angle said he wasn’t suggesting it; he was demanding it. Morgan said nobody demands anything from him and he was walking out of Hard Justice the new TNA World Heavyweight Champion...

Twill’s Two Cents: Interesting. I smell swerve a hundred miles away, but if that ends up not being the case, a babyface Morgan against the Mafia could be pretty interesting. Check back tomorrow for my TNA Impact Hitlist.

What did you think of the show? Feel free to let me know by shooting an email to dotnetrich@gmail.com.

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