TNA Impact on Spike TV
Taped in Orlando, Fl

[Q1] The opening video aired. It should be noted it was updated to show the woman’s tag team champions, and Jeff Jarrett was still in the video. Fireworks lit up the Impact Zone and the crowd went nuts. Mike Tenay and Taz welcomed us to the show. Abyss came down to the ring and footage was shown of Mick Foley’s brutal attack on him last week...

Abyss said he could not compete this week, but he wanted answers from Mick Foley. The crowd chanted “We want answers.” Funny. Foley came out with his barbwire bat. He questioned whether or not he owed Abyss anything, since Foley paved the way for guys like Abyss. Abyss said he saved Foley from Kevin Nash and the picture thing was an accident.

Foley said he never needed Abyss’ help. He said Abyss blew it for him when he challenged for the Legends Title. He ran down some moments in his career when Abyss would have been too young to do anything but sneak into a R-rated movie. Foley even mentioned being thrown off of the Hell in a Cell...

Twill’s Two Cents: Nice plug for the WWE pay-per-view Mick.

Abyss turned very emotional and said Foley used to be his hero. He said he got into the business because of Foley and got through a tough upbringing because of Foley. He showed the camera the nasty scar and loads of stitches in his head. Foley had a peace offering and it was a copy of the Tweet and Tweak Connection picture. He said it was a cheap rip off, just like Abyss was.

Foley called Abyss a wannabe and he broke the picture over Abyss’ head. Foley took off with his security goons and Abyss recovered quickly and chased after them. Abyss beat the crap out of one of the security guys and chokeslammed him onto the ramp... [C]

Twill’s Two Cents: I didn’t like Abyss going back and forth between being pissed and being understanding, but overall, I did like the segment. Abyss was very good on the mic and the crowd was firmly behind him. Foley’s heel character is a good one; he is a heel but very smart and calculating. He hasn’t played a heel like this in a very long time.

[Q2] Backstage, Lauren tried to reason with an out of control Abyss. She chased after him and said someone else had to cover the interviews...

Twill’s Two Cents: So, she’ll work through sexual harassment, but her boyfriend is a nutbag, so she goes running after him? Maybe she can redirect him to Kevin Nash’s locker room and they can share a bottle of wine.

1. Amazing Red defeated Kiyoshi, Bashir, Black Machismo, and Consequences Creed in a ladder match for a future X Division Title shot in 3:57. Red worked alone against two tag teams and he was the first to climb the ladder. Backstage, Abyss beat the crap out of some extras looking for Foley.

Bashir and Machismo looked impressive. Machismo moved up the ladder but Red tipped it over. Red hit four amazing moves, one per opponent. He then finished off Creed by hitting a hurricarana on him, causing him to vomit. Seriously. Thankfully, they showed a replay of it. Red grabbed the contract for the win...

After the match, Red proved he wasn’t a good promo when JB interviewed him in the aisle. Machismo interrupted and said he was robbed. Chunks Creed got in between them and walked Lethal to the back... [C]

Twill’s Two Cents: That was the Amazing Red show. He dominated the match and hit every impressive spot. Nice job by him and nice to see him looking impressive in the ring again. Hopefully he is not simply fed to Joe next week.

Backstage, Abyss was still looking for Foley. My money is on him being in his office or at the buffet table... [C]

JB said he had all of the backstage scoops and he would text them to you by joining the TNA texting service. Or, you could wait for him to put the information up on his Twitter page...

JB interviewed Dr. Stevie and Daffney. Richards was pissed that Nash stole his money. He said he would end Nash’s career tonight as he screamed into the camera. Daffney said Richards was angry, but she was mad...

[Q3] 2. Kevin Nash defeated Dr. Stevie (with Daffney) in a non-title match in 2:52. Remember the Blue World Order? Stevie was Nash. It’s like they are looking in a mirror. Richards had the advantage early because of a Daffney distraction. Once Nash gained the advantage, he hit the Jackknife for the win. He covered Stevie with his foot...

Twill’s Two Cents: Nothing special about it really, but it was solid filler.

Backstage, Eric Young lead the World Elite through the locker room. Young said Kurt Angle owed him an apology. Taz things “were about to come to a head.” Then they showed Traci and Christy in a split screen and Tenay said, “There is a natural segue there.” Nice... [C]

In Angle’s locker room, the A team and the B team argued. Young said he wanted an apology. Angle said Young’s guys needed to stay out of his face. Young said he could apologize and things would be cool, or they could have a big problem.

Booker was hilarious in talking ghetto to Young. Young told Booker to “take his place” behind Angle so the leaders could talk. Young said he had a match with Morgan and would show Angle how he should have handled Angle from the start. Angle did not apologize to Young and the groups had to be separated...

Twill’s Two Cents: That was best the World Elite has looked.

3. Christy Hemme defeated Traci Brooks in 1:54. So, they had to say “Models” and not “Playmates” because Traci was not a cover girl? Christy won the match with a rollup. Traci attacked her afterward...

[Q4] After the break, there will be a pretaped Mike Tenay interview with A.J. Styles and Sting. Styles asked Sting, “Are you ready?” Damn, the WWE references are all over the place... [C]

Back from commercial, Tenay sent it to the back because Abyss found Foley. He probably wishes he didn’t because Foley hit him with the barbwire bat. They brawled and security had to break it up...

Tenay interviewed Styles and Sting. Styles said Sting could have pinned Angle but allowed Styles the chance. Tenay said Sting passed the torch. Sting said he didn’t even know how many times he was World Champion. Styles asked Sting if Sting passed the torch, or did he just not want it anymore? He asked Sting if he was ready. Sting sat there emotionless. Styles said he loved Sting and walked away... [C]

Twill’s Two Cents: Worked for me. Tenay is very good in these interview segments and sometimes the intimate setting over a few minutes gets over more than a fifteen minute in ring promo during the show would do. Styles asked a legitimate question and I like that Sting’s readiness is being questioned. By the time the PPV rolls around, nobody will doubt whether or not Sting is ready.

Tara and Poison made their way out to the announce table...

[Q5] 4. ODB defeated Awesome Kong (with Raisha Saeed) to retain the TNA Knockout Championship in 2:50. Personally, it is ridiculous to me that this match was not advertised ahead of time. This is a big match between two huge female names in TNA history. Tara was very solid on the stick.

Kong rubbed ODB’s face in her armpit. She hit a bodyslam and legdrop for a two count. Raisha Saeed approached Tara and shoved her. Tara left the table and Kong grabbed her from the ring. Tara closelined Kong across the top rope. She fell backward and ODB school-girled her for the win...

After the match, Tara and ODB shoved each other. They started to fight a little bit but Kong came back into the ring. She hit Implant Busters on both Tara and Jason’s drinking buddy...

Twill’s Two Cents: I like the idea of a triple threat at BFG, since Tara vs. Kong doesn’t have the appeal it did a few months ago.

Angle was shown warming up for Hernandez... [C]

5. Kurt Angle vs. Hernandez ended in a double countout in 4:24. Hernandez hit a vertical suplex in which he held Angle up for literally about thirty seconds. Angle immediately fought back with a released German suplex. He followed up with a series of offensive maneuvers to the legs of Hernandez. Angle tried a high cross body, but Hernandez caught him, and hit a sit down powerbomb for a two count.

[Q6] Hernandez scored a very convincing nearfall when it looked like he was trying a border toss, but he hit a dominator instead for a long two count. They fought to the floor and the referee counted to ten. The World Elite came out and beat up both guys. They took them backstage and the Mafia came to Angle’s aid. The security had to break up the brawl... [C]

Twill’s Two Cents: Give credit to TNA for making the World Elite look strong as a unit (minus that ladder match). They should use this match to prove Hernandez can hang with Angle.

Backstage, SoCal Val interviewed the Machine Guns. They admitted they had the worst entrance music in the history of pro wrestling. Sabin said his old music sucked too. Shelley said it was like someone having a seizure on a Casio. They said they would debut new music and a new music video next week...

The Beautiful People came out to the ring. Both women were very subdued and apologetic looking. Tenay was upset that there was no “butt shot” or “rope humping.” Velvet said they wanted to show their true colors. Madison said they did the horrible things they did because of Angelina and the fact they did not want to go against her. They invited Taylor Wilde and Sarita to the ring...

Velvet wanted to apologize for their actions and hope they could have a competitive match at Bound For Glory. They shook hands but TBP attacked them. The babyfaces got the best of them. All of a sudden, Lacey Von Erich (yep!) attacked both babyfaces. She applied the claw hold made famous by her father, Kerry Von Erich. The newly formed Beautiful People struck their new pose and LVE seems to be the new leader/Angelina Love of the group...

Twill’s Two Cents: I like Lacey and am glad to see her on television. I think she will be great in this role and am glad they decide to keep TBP going.

[Q7] Backstage, Matt Morgan said he did not care about the love-hate relationship between the MEM and WE. He said he was there to hurt people and he was going to hurt Eric Young. He said you should never wake a sleeping giant and not only was he awake, but he was pissed... [C]

Don West ran down future TNA Live Events and the Bound for Glory pay-per-view...

Backstage, TBP told “Carrot Top” (Val) to take a hike. Velvet referred to Lacey as wrestling royalty. Lacey said she was there to take the ugly out of TNA. They all laughed and walked away...

6. Matt Morgan defeated Eric Young by disqualification in 2:50. I love how Eric Young is billed as being “from Canada.” That would be like saying Rich Twilling is “from the United States.” Young was dominated until he raked Morgan’s eyes. On the floor, a “fan” dressed as Abyss hit Morgan with a chair. It was revealed to be Angle and the referee called for the bell...

Both factions ran out and brawled with each other... [C]

Twill’s Two Cents: I hope the security staff is being paid overtime tonight. Shoot, they have been involved in more segments than Eric Young, and that is saying something. By the way, Angle foreshadowed this earlier in the show by staring down this fan on his way to the ring for his own match. By the way, that match didn’t do Young any favors.

No kidding; they “interrupted” the commercial break to tell us the brawl could not be stopped. Then they immediately went back to commercial... [C]

Back from commercial, Tenay said things “were still out of control.” ...

Twill’s Two Cents: Well, since things were out of control thirty seconds earlier, I wasn’t expecting them to be having beers together at this point.

[Q8] Backstage, the three remaining guys on the roster, Team 3D and Bobby Lashley, cut a promo. They were facing the British Invasion, who were already in the ring, and Rhino. Brother Ray called Big Rob a “fairy.” Uh oh. This show is taped. Come on guys. Devon went to give his line, but Lashley “earned” his paycheck by saying, “Testify.” ... [C]

Beer Money came out to join the announce team. They brought beers with them and Tenay said “una cerveza por favor” which means “one beer please” in Spanish. Not sure why he thought James Storm couldn’t speak English. The Invasion made their entrance from the back instead of just remaining in the ring after the brawl...

Twill’s Two Cents: Did anyone else notice the “Lex Luger-like” trouble Lashley had taking his shirt off? Youtube it. It’s hilarious.

7. Bobby Lashley and Team 3D defeated Rhino and The British Invasion (with Big Rob) in 6:06. Lashley dominated early, but then the heels focused their attack on Brother Devon. Taz was drinking beers with Storm, but he acted like he had already had an entire twelve pack.

Lashley received the hot tag and beat up all three opponents. His partners joined him with the “Wazzup” head butt. Team 3D cleared the ring as Lashley was left with one of the members of the British Invasion. He locked in a dragon sleeper type submission for the win. After the match, Lashley slapped hands with the ringside fans as everyone else drank.

As Lashley was walking back up the ramp, Samoa Joe attacked him from behind and locked in the rear naked choke. He did his best “Undertaker” eyes as the show went off the air...

Twill’s Two Cents: Not a big fan of the main event, but I love that Joe looked dominant going off the air. Very interested to see Joe next week and how they follow up with this.

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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