TNA Impact on Spike TV
Taped in Orlando, Fla.

[Q1] The show opened with a recap video on the Abyss vs. Mick Foley feud... The show is called "Old Wounds Reopened"... Mike Tenay and Taz introduced the show on commentary while Abyss placed barbwire and glass in the ring. Abyss said he was just making himself at home as he poured thumb tacks in the ring.

Abyss said Foley has bled on ever continent, "but you've never bled like I'm going to make you bleed at Bound For Glory." He challenged Foley to face him in a Monster's Ball match, which he called the sickest in pro wrestling. It received a ho-hum reception from the live crowd, but the camera panned the crowd anyway.

Mick Foley's music played and he headed to the ring with his barbwire baseball bat in hand. Abyss stood up to accusations that he's a cheap knockoff. He ran through his list of injuries and accomplishments. He said that while was spilling his blood, Foley was off writing books and playing with sock puppets.

Abyss said the big difference between him and Foley is that "I'm hardcore and you just used to be." Nice line. Foley said that as executive shareholder, he was banning the $50,000 bounty that Dr. Stevie placed on Abyss's head. Foley said they'd find out at BFG is he was half the man he used to be. He said Abyss should bring his A-game because he'll be bringing his.

Foley left the ring and his music played. However, he stopped when he got to ringside and said he was going to tweak the Monster's Ball concept. He said he was talking to someone who convinced him that Abyss was psychologically addicted to thumbtacks, so he was banning them from the match. Foley said the match is special and requires a special referee.

Foley introduced Dr. Stevie as the special referee for their match. Weak. Stevie and Daffney came to the ring. Stevie badmouthed Abyss and brought up his family life. Lauren ran to the ring to console Abyss. Stevie called Lauren a $20 per night street walker. I'm sure a few guys are at home counting their change.

Abyss picked up Stevie, but Daffney low-blowed him. Foley went after Abyss. Matt Morgan quickly ran out for the save and ran off the heels...

Powell's POV: There were some good lines, but the Foley and Abyss stuff wasn't over with the live crowd. This would have worked better if Abyss were playing the heel role, and I think people are growing tired of the cuddly monster Abyss character. Lauren running out isn't helping Abyss at this point.

[Q2] Backstage, Eric Young stood in front of his faction and told Jeremy Borash that the World Elite won the war of the Main Event Mafia. Borash said there's a rumor that Young will face Hernandez at BFG. Young said Hernandez is dead to him. He said Hernandez isn't on his level, so he won't face him one-on-one... [C]

Powell's POV: The World Elite still isn't working for the same reasons I give week after week. Eric Young is trying hard, but he's not heel faction leader material at this point in his career.

Backstage, Borash interviewed Kurt Angle while the Main Event Mafia stood by. Angle got pissed about Young claiming victory. He offered $30,000 to the Mafia member who took out Young...

Powell's POV: So they get rid of the bounty on Abyss and then put a new and cheaper bounty on Young 15 minutes later?

1. Kevin Nash fought Hernandez to a no-contest in a TNA Legend's Championship in 2:45. After a couple forgettable minutes of wrestling, Eric Young hit the ring and took out Hernandez's knee. The referee called for the bell and Tenay said it had been ruled a no-contest. Nash didn't go after Young despite Angle's bounty...

Backstage, Abyss and Matt Morgan agreed to be partners in the main event, but said it wasn't going to lead to them being buddies. Morgan demanded focus from Abyss, who intensely said he had it... [C]

Powell's POV: A couple of small, but important notes when it comes to small details. Tenay actually told us the outcome of the match. I hate when WWE matches end without an official announcement regarding the outcome, so this was great. Second, they rewarded longtime viewers by acknowledging the bad history between Morgan and Aybss. Another nice touch.

[Q3] Backstage, Nash approached Eric Young and asked if he really wanted to be around him after what happened last week. Young said he knows Nash is all about money. He mentioned Angle's bounty and he said he'd double it for Nash if he returned the favor when he faced Hernandez at BFG. Young said they could make it a three-way for the Legend's Title. Nash agreed...

Powell's POV: Nash didn't even ask if Young was paying him in American or Canadian dollars. What kind of businessman is he?

Backstage, Lauren tried to provide an update on Hernandez, who was having his surgically repaired neck examined. Hernandez stood up, took the mic, and cut a brief promo on Young in Spanish...

2. Amazing Red defeated Samoa Joe to win the X Division Title in 2:40. Joe dominated early. Bobby Lashley came to ringside. Joe told referee Earl Hebner he wanted Lashley there. Hebner let Lashley enter the ring to fight Joe. Lashley got the better of the exchange and hit a full nelson slam on Joe. Red followed up with a couple of flashy moves for the pin... [C]

Powell's POV: The announcers tried to put the match over as one of the biggest upsets in TNA history. The equivalent would be the Lions beating the Steelers this week because the Ravens players show up and play all but the last two minutes of the game for the Lions, yet the broadcast team still praising the Lions for getting the upset win. It's obvious they were just trying to get the X Division Title off Joe before BFG, but that was a lame way for Red to become a champion.

Backstage, Lauren said she was waiting to hear from Red. Samoa Joe stormed the scene, took the mic, and flipped out while talking about how he was going to take out Lashley by the end of the night, yet leave a little piece for BFG...

Powell's POV: Good intensity from Joe. Here's hoping we still get some followup with Red.

3. Homicide and D'Angelo Dinero defeated Suicide and Daniels in 4:00. Tenay apologized for some of the cursing Homicide has done in Spanish during his matches lately. Homicide left the ring and attacked one of the Spanish broadcasters. Daniels was distracted by Homicide and Suicide fighting outside the ring. Dinero took advantage by hitting the DDE for the win...

[Q4] Backstage, Borash stood by while Angle asked Nash why Young was still standing. Nash said it was simply because he offered double the money. Angle wasn't pleased. He said he had to go talk to Mick Foley about their match and told him not to make any side deals while he was gone... [C]

Tenay stood in the ring with Beer Money, Team 3D, Booker T and Scott Steiner, and The British Invasion. He announced that there will be a ladder match for the TNA Tag Titles and the IWGP Tag Titles at BFG. A TNA Tag Title and an IWGP Tag Title will hang above the ring. The team that grabs the TNA Title belt will be TNA Tag Champs, the team that grabs the IWGP Tag Title belt will be the IWGP Champs. Ugh.

They all signed a contract. Booker mouthed off. James Storm told him, "Sorry about your damn luck." The four teams brawled. The British Invasion got the best of the brawl and were left standing at the end... [C]

Powell's POV: Sometimes less is more. A four-way tag team ladder match is already pushing it, but do the masses really give a damn about the IWGP Tag Titles? I'm tired of these four teams fighting all the time. I seriously lost interest as soon as they started fighting because I've seen it all before. The TNA Tag division was great until they decided to go with all these multi-team matches.

A shot aired of Velvet Sky and Madison Rayne walking backstage... [C] Ring introductions for the Knockouts match aired...

[Q5] 4. Velvet Sky, Madison Rayne, Alissa Flash, and Traci Brooks vs. Taylor Wilde, Christy Hemme, Hamata, and Sarita in an elimination tag. Traci hit a jawbreaker on Christy and pinned her for the first elimination. Flash and Hamada fought at ringside and were counted out. Velvet DDT'd Taylor and eliminated her.

It became a three-on-one advantage for the heels. Alissa Flash came to ringside and bickered with the referee. Lacey Von ERich snuck in, hit a lousy kick on Sarita, and then chokeslammed her so that Rayne could get the pin...

Powell's POV: The announcers asked the obvious question as to where Lacey was at the beginning of the match. Unfortunately, that also made it even more obvious that she was going to interfere.

Backstage, Angle spoke to Foley in his office to make sure he wasn't playing games in the main event. Foley cut a short, intense promo and convinced Kurt he was serious... [C]

Backstage, Morgan did pushups while asking Abyss, "What do they get?" Abyss yelled, "Pain." Abyss geeked out while saying "Mick" repeatedly and then left the locker room. Morgan added, "This just might work"...

[Q6] Sting came to the ring in street clothes. He spoke about how he's brought his best to the ring every time he's stepped foot in the ring over the last 20 years. He said he was surprised when A.J. Styles offered him a shot at the TNA Title. He said his instant reaction was to say yes. "I still have the will to win," Sting said enthusiastically.

Sting said he was going to lace his boots up one more time and bring his best. He said he can still get the job done. He said that if he doesn't live up to his own expectations at BFG, "then it will be show time for the last time." Sting's music played and he started to leave the ring.

Kurt Angle came out and stopped him. Angle wanted to know if Sting was going to say he would retire. He said they should consider changing the name of the show from Impact to The View so that Sting and Styles could kiss each other's asses for two full hours. Funny. Angle complained about Styles giving his buddy a title shot.

Angle said that Sting has to beat him to prove he's the best. Sting got in Kurt's face and said that if he wants to retire him he should do it now. He shoved Kurt and dared him to take "the old man out of his misery." Three scrawny security guys stepped between Angle and Sting.

Kurt took a cheap shot and knocked Sting to the ground and applied the Ankle Lock. Styles ran out and ran off Kurt. Angle took the mic at ringside and said that Styles and Sting could fight at BFG, but he wanted Styles in a match next week. "You want me, you got me," Styles responded. "We'll settle this one way or another, Kurt"... [C]

Powell's POV: I don't like them taking attention away from a BFG main event that is already struggling to generate interest, but I guess they had to hype something for next week's three-hour show.

Backstage, Lauren asked Styles if it was wise to challenge Kurt to a match just three days before BFG. He said it wasn't wise, but it is necessary. Styles said he doesn't feel good about the way he won the title and wants to answer all questions next week...

Powell's POV: I like that. It's good to see them acknowledge that Styles didn't win on the best of terms and have him express the desire to prove himself next week.

Tenay and Taz ran through the pay-per-view lineup... A shot aired of Samoa Joe walking backstage and kicking something over...

[Q7] [C] The Motor City Machine Guns stood on the ramp. Chris Sabin said they've listen to the fans and Mick Foley. Alex Shelley said their old entrance music was actually responsible for making Consequences Creed throw up on Impact last week. Funny. They introduced their new video. It was an improvement, but it was cut off by Samoa Joe attacking them from behind.

Joe knocked down the Guns and then headed to the ring, where he called out Lashley. Bobby came out. Joe met him at ringside for a brawl. Joe got the better of Lashley and placed him on the Spanish announce table. Joe climbed onto a platform, leapt off, and dropped an elbow on Lashley that knocked over the table.

Powell's POV: Good intensity, but I wish they would have kept these two apart until the pay-per-view. There's something to be said for saving the first physicality between two new opponents until the big PPV match.

Don West quickly ran through the house show schedule...

The announcers recapped Joe's attack on Lashley... Backstage, trainers checked on Lashley's neck... Ring entrances for the next match took place. Highlights aired of ODB and Tara fighting last week...

[Q8] 5. ODB defeated Tara to retain the TNA Knockouts Title in 3:00. Tara had control early, but ODB hit a fallaway slam. At 1:40, Awesome Kong walked to ringside with a sledgehammer. Kong grabbed So Cal Val, hit her on the back of the head with the sledgehammer, and it pushed her face out so that it's no longer so flat. Okay, I made up that part.

Kong forced Val to place Tara's tarantula on the ground. Kong set up to destroy the spider, but Tara reached over the ropes and stopped her. ODB capitalized on the distraction by hitting Tara with a neck breaker for the win...

Backstage, Foley told Angle that "we're ready." Angle ran off in pursuit to ask Foley who "we" is... [C]

Powell's POV: The women's match was disappointing because of the silly finish. Just a set up for a likely three-way match at BFG. I'm not a fan of all the multi-person matches. Are they feeling pressure to put everyone on the show?

6. Matt Morgan and Aybss defeated Mick Foley and Kurt Angle in 4:20. Stevie came out wearing a referee shirt with Daffney by his side. Referee Slick Johnson sent them away. The BFG opponents were kept apart for the most part. Late in the match, Morgan hit a few moves on Angle, who was the illegal man at the time.

Foley cut him off and took control of the match. He pulled out the sock, only to be distracted by Abyss, who brought the barbwire baseball bat inside the ring. Foley turned to avoid the bat, but walked into Morgan's Carbon Footprint. Morgan got the 1-2-3 to close the show...

Powell's POV: There were actually two versions of the main event that were taped at the Impact tapings this week. The feeling of multiple sources is that Foley was trying to get out of doing the job. Dot Net Members are reading all the details right now. Thanks for watching along with me tonight. Don't forget that Rich Twilling is covering the Global Impact 2 show on the main page.

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