TNA Impact on Spike TV
Taped in Orlando, Fla.

[Q1] Highlights aired from last week's show... The title of this week's show is "It all ends in the cage!"... The opening montage aired... Mike Tenay hyped the Kurt Angle vs. Samoa Joe match, and Don West hyped the Sting and Kevin Nash vs. Team 3D main event match...

Tomko led his team (A.J. Styles, Team 3D, and James Storm) to the ring for a promo. Brother Ray took the mic and warned Matt Morgan not to show up at the pay-per-view. He said Sting and Nash are the reasons that WCW went out of business. Ray grabbed Tomko's tag belt and held it in the air while boasting about his team. Tomko took offense.

Christian Cage and his team (Sting, Kevin Nash, Rhino, and Matt Morgan) walked onto the stage. Christian handled the promo duties and said Ray looks like Hilary Clinton in a fat suit. "I'm sorry that was a bad analogy," Christian said. "Hilary Clinton has bigger balls than you." Brother Ray did the over the top pissed off heel act.

A.J. Styles mixed up a catchphrase. Tenay snuck in the equal time joke by saying that Styles butchers the English language worse than President Bush. The babyfaces charged the ring. All the heels bailed except Styles, who split once he realized he didn't have backup...

Backstage, Samoa Joe told Crystal he'd sign Kurt's contract in his own blood. "If I don't beat you at Lockdown, if I'm not TNA Heavyweight Champion, I'll walk away from wrestling forever," Joe said. "And not just TNA, wrestling"... [C]

Powell's POV: Team Cage left their t-shirts at home this week. I wonder if Tomko's team members feel slighted that he didn't buy them cool "Team Tomko" t-shirts? Ray's reaction to Christian's joke was similar to how people pretend to get ticked off during comedy roasts. I don't know if humor is what they should be shooting for heading into a weapons cage match.

[Q2] Backstage, Jeremy Borash asked Kurt Angle for a response to Joe's comments. He said he's defeated Joe in three of their four matches. He expressed doubt that Joe would sign the contract. Borash expressed concern because Joe looked like a man possessed in the training videos... A Consequences Creed video aired...

1. Consequences Creed defeated Jimmy Rave (w/Christy Hemme, Lance Hoyt) in an Xscape match qualifier in 3:00. Choppy at times, but some cool offensive moves by Creed. In the end, Creed the 3DT for the win. Creed is now wearing black and silver shorts rather than the old Apollo Creed shorts...

Powell's POV: What's up with the "Consequences" name? I don't get it. Good debut, though.

Backstage, Crystal interviewed Black Machismo and SoCal Val. Sonjay Dutt showed up raved over how good Val looked. He invited her to go shopping. Machismo wasn't happy... [C]

Powell's POV: Is Sonjay gay or is he the Owen Wilson character from Meet the Parents?

Jim Cornette joined Tenay and West on commentary. The announcers ran through the pay-per-view lineup and Cornette didn't say a word. Once they were finished, Cornette announced that he was relieving Morgan from his duties as his administrative assistant. Corny put over Morgan's ability...

[Q3] Backstage, Morgan said he was happy to be going his while Corny goes his own way. He's said he's the "most genetically jacked, athletically stacked giant going today"... [C]

Powell's POV: Good promo by Morgan and it's nice that they put his management story line to rest. My only critique of Morgan's mic work is that he needs to slow down at times. He seems to know one mic speed and there are times when a guy his size doesn't need to say so much to be effective. Again, though, I can't believe WWE saddled him with a stuttering gimmick.

The James Earl Jones guy narrated a highlight video that attempted to explain Scott Steiner's homoerotic hazing of Petey Williams. The narrator said Petey only had one more challenge to go through...

2. Scott Steiner and Petey Williams defeated The Motor City Machine Guns at 7:30. The announcers actually endorsed Steiner's hazing by saying Petey can't be intimidated by anything. After some back and forth action, Rhaka Khan walked to the ring carrying a black bag. West questioned the bag's contents as they cut to commercial. [C]

The Guns were given plenty of offense, but Steiner reached in from outside of the ring and tripped Shelley late in the match. Williams followed up with the Canadian Destroyer on Shelley for the win.

[Q4] After the match, Steiner pulled out a pair of scissors from the bag and indicated that he wanted to cut Petey's hair. I swear on a stack of bibles that Don West actually said: "Boy, he's dedicated. He's getting down on his knees, Mike."

Steiner cut off Petey's ponytail and then pulled out an electric razor and shaved his head. Then he placed his headgear on Petey's head. West referred to Williams as "Little Petey Pump." Petey posed on the ropes to end the segment... [C]

Powell's POV: Why make money with a hair vs. hair match when you can surprise everyone with an unadvertised head shaving on free television? Good lord.

Highlights aired from past Angle vs. Joe match. Plus, several TNA and the MMA names people they've been using commented on the match...

Angle came to the ring wearing a suit and invited Joe to come out and sign the contract that will force him to retire from pro wrestling if he loses at the pay-per-view. Joe, also dressed in a suit, walked to the ring.

[Q5] Angle stressed the terms of the contract and asked whether Joe is ready to put it all on the line against "the greatest wrestler of all-time." Joe said he keeps promises and vowed that would never work for TNA or any other company again if he didn't win the belt. Wait, didn't Joe vow not to appear in the Impact Zone until he won the belt. He also promised to stand over Angle as the TNA Champion. He signed the contract. Joe and Angle shook hands and then had a stare down... [C]

Backstage, Crystal interviewed Gail Kim and ODB and asked whether they could get along as tag partners. ODB vowed to rip the burka off Raisha Saeed's head "so you and me can have an ugly contest"...

3. Roxxi Laveaux defeated Angelina Love (w/Velvet Sky) in 2:45. Good back and forth match. Roxxi hit the Voodoo Drop for the win...

Backstage, Borash interviewed Super Eric, who claimed he wasn't Eric Young. He said he's in TNA to rid the company of its villains...

[Q6] [C] Another edition of Rough Cuts aired. B.G. James said he hopes he and Kip James can sit down and talk after their match. Kip said he wants to end Kip's career. B.G. said he's an emotional wreck heading into the match. He said he's praying his and Kip's safety. Kip said when the match is finished he will become a singles world champion...

Powell's POV: I just about choked on my pretzels when Kip said he's going to become a singles world champion. Good luck with that, Kip.

4. Super Eric pinned Black Reign in 2:00. Super Eric pinned Dustin clean, but Rellik ran out and attacked him after the match. The heels handcuffed Eric to the ropes. Kaz ran out for the save, but the Rock-n-Rave Infection ran out and helped the heels. Young broke the handcuffs with his own strength much to the delight of all the six year-olds who are watching the show at 10:30 (ET) on a school night...

A video package recapped the Booker T and Robert Roode feud... [C]

[Q7] A video aired for the Queen of the Cage match... The announcers hyped Lockdown's double main event.... A video previewed the double main event...

Backstage, Crystal interviewed Sting and Kevin Nash. Sting said he came back because TNA is his home and the wrestlers are his breed. He said Brother Ray is marking out for himself. Nash said Sting's intentions are honorable, but "I'm here for the money." Nash said he'd rather be overpaid than underpaid. He said you get paid by being in the main events. "I can promise you one thing, I'll go where the money is at"... [C]

Powell's POV: Strange promo. It could be setting up a heel turn. it could be setting up a swerve. Or they might actually think fans cheer for guys who tell the fans they're more concerned with money than anything else.

Ring introductions for the main event took place. West said Nash may say he does it for the money, but he also does it for the adrenaline rush. Good save by West...

[Q8] 5. Sting and Kevin Nash beat Team 3D by DQ at 8:45. The babyfaces fought with Devon early on. Sting called for Brother Ray, who entered the ring and called Sting an old man. Sting responded by spitting at him and then hit him with a flurry of chops and punches. Sting went for the Stinger Splash on Ray, but he moved out of the way and punched Sting on the back of the head. [C]

Late in the match, Sting caught Devon in the Scorpion leg lock. Nash chokeslammed Brother Ray and went for the cover. Apparently, someone missed their cue because Styles and Tomko were late getting to the ring for the lame ass run-in finish, so the ref just called for the bell once the heels made it to ringside. This was clearly edited.

Christian and Rhino ran out for the save. Storm ran out for the heels. Morgan came out last and cleared the heels from the ring. Jacqueline ran in and jumped on his back (like she does whenever she interferes) and Morgan flipped her off his back onto the mat. He picked her up and tossed her onto the other heels at ringside. The two teams had a wild brawl... A video for Operator's "Nothing to Lose" closed the show...

Powell's POV: Good final hype for the Lethal Lockdown match. Angle vs. Joe? Not so much. I'll have a lot more to say about this show on Friday in the TNA Impact Hitlist.

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