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| TNA Impact TV report |
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7.30 TNA Impact By Jeff Hamlin ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ) The Big News: Mick Foley won the TNA Legends Championship in a much better show than previous weeks when he pinned Kevin Nash in a tag team match. Much more wrestling, much less burying of the talent and even an attempt to create a superstar under the age of 40. Granted, a 30-year-old who should be a star by now had to put him over, but at least they tried. Kurt Angle was shown backstage in the mafia locker room giving his stablemates a pep talk after Bobby Lashley laid them out last week. The mafia opened the show with an interview vowing to get back at Lashley, claiming he had an agreement with the mafia to join them. Lashley came out for a textbook case of undergoing a charisma transplant on interviews. A month ago during Ultimate Chaos without a script, he was much more believable because he wasn’t being told what to say. On this show, he was forced to put over the mafia and didn’t sound like he meant a word of it. As much play as he got in the WWE, Lashley never could carry a segment with his mic skills. Lashley said he can’t be brought. Angle lit into him by saying that the mafia controls 75% of the TNA payroll. Remind me not to hire the Front Line’s agents. Angle started bragging about how the mafia members may not be able to move as well as they used to, but they still get around because they’re smarter. They’re subtly burying themselves now. Lashley said Angle told him the mafia equals ratings. I didn’t figure he would say buy rates or sold out houses. Mick Foley came out and thanked Lashley for saving him last week. Then there was the standard amount of overwritten material about the countless number of authority figures who remain nameless wanting to see ratings come in, and they were watching tonight. I hope they don’t receive the ScyFy numbers too, because they would discover guys like Yoshi Tatsu, Zack Ryder and Sheamus are outdrawing Angle, Foley and Sting. It ended with Foley arranging a tag team match with him and Lashley against Angle and Kevin Nash for the main event. If Angle or Nash got pinned, they would drop their strap to the man who pinned them. Foley said if the mafia won, they would get monster ratings. Wouldn’t they get that if they lost? TNA Video Vault will soon have every pay per view in company history. Can’t wait to see the business Victory Road will pull in. 1. Hernandez defeated Samoa Joe in 4:37. Hernandez now wears trunks with the colors of Mexico. He also ripped off Monty Brown’s pound period and immediately got the fans into the match. Samoa Joe came back with the STO out of the corner and an exploder suplex. Hernandez caught himself from going over the top rope on a backdrop attempt and slingshot shoulder block and a clothesline. Hernandez teased the border toss, but Joe backdropped out. Joe hit a running clothesline and a kick to the head. He went for a superplex, but Hernandez blocked it by pushing him off the top. Hernandez then hit the splash off the top for the surprise pin. Huge pop for the upset and they played it up big with Jeremy Borash conducting an immediate postmatch interview where he vowed to become the first Latino TNA World Champion. **1/4 The pinfall got an instant replay after the commercial, and Joe was shown destroying stuff backstage. Taz laid into him before chasing the cameras away. Nice to see an attempt being made a new blood, and hopefully TNA follows through instead of cutting off Hernandez’s legs right here. Matt Morgan did an prematch interview about his best-of-three series against A.J. Styles with the winner moving on to the main event of Destination X in a three-way with Angle and Sting. Styles did an interview geared toward a program with Eric Young. Foley and Lashley were backstage in Foley’s office. I guess Foley got his office keys back from last week. Shockingly, that part of the storyline was never picked up on. Yep, that’s sarcasm. Lashley admitted negotiating with Angle before his fight with Bob Sapp, where Foley mentioned Lashley beating him. Lashley said he changed his mind after watching Foley fight for the company last week. Lashley tried, but boy did that make no sense. If I was being courted by the mafia and watched last week’s show, the last thing I would want to do is join the babyfaces. 2. A.J. Styles defeated Matt Morgan to win the first match in the best-of-three series in 5:49. They did the big man-little man psychology with Styles staying a step ahead early until Morgan blocked a huracanrana attempt and catapulted Styles over the top rope. Styles took the big bumps to make Morgan come across as a monster. Morgan hit a running splash and a sidewalk slam where he simply dropped Styles on the mat. Morgan gave Styles a choke slam forward into the turnbuckles for a near fall. Morgan crotched himself on the ropes, and Styles hit a running dropkick, following by the patented flying dropkick. Styles hit the springboard forearm to take Morgan off his feet for the first time in the match for a two count. After taking a Morgan clothesline, Styles escaped a sidewalk slam and hit the Pele kick, followed by a springboard 450 splash for the pin. Styles was just tremendous here for a five minute match. *** Traci Brooks did an interview explaining why she joined the mafia. She talked about sitting at home for months only to get ignored by management, including offering to set up the ring. If you’re waiting for an explanation for why she wasn’t mentioned as being Knockout law at one point, I’m afraid you’ll be disappointed because it was never brought up. Taylor Wilde came in to read Brooks the riot act, but Traci said this business wasn’t for ladies, it was for bitches. Tara did a sit-down interview with Don West where she mentioned her time with WWE was a dream, but she wanted to tell her children that she was one of the greatest women’s wrestlers of all time. She felt she was no longer getting her chance to do that. She started talking about facing Awesome Kong, but West abruptly changed the subject to the Beautiful People. When Tara mentioned the sexual favors that Madison Rayne was doing for referee Mark Johnson, West acted like he didn’t want that type of talk on national TV and quickly changed the subject back to Kong. West tried to add humor when Tara mentioned coming to TNA in the best shape of her life and not sitting home and eating bon bons after leaving WWE. West said there was nothing wrong with an occasional bon bon. Tara teased putting Poison the tarantula on West in the future. Tara, ODB and Awesome Kong defeated Angelina Love, Velvet Sky and Madison Rayne in 6:19. As great as that wedding entrance with the Chris Brown music video is, it can’t touch the Asscam for the Beautiful People in terms of an introduction. I guess Kong is a face again, though the match was designed to tease a program between her and Tara. Tara and Angelina Love traded forearms, but it didn’t the same ferocity as their first few matches. It broke down into a six-way brawl within the first minute. ODB tagged in and gave Rayne the fallaway slam. After a commercial, Tara tagged Kong, who didn’t appreciate being tagged so hard, and the two ended up brawling with each other around ringside and to the back. This left ODB to face all three Beautiful People. Velvet Sky dropped some elbows, and Angelina Love followed with a seated drop kick. In the midst of all this, in one of the few trademarks of Vince Russo booking to be seen on the show, the Motor City Machine Guns were shown in the crowd holding up signs claiming a conspiracy against them. Maybe Russo thought their birth certificates had them born in Japan. Love started taunting Cody Deaner at ringside. Finally, Deaner kissed Love, who was repulsed. Love fell back into a schoolgirl cradle by ODB for the pin. Sky and Rayne immediately showered Love with perfume to cleanse her from the Deaner kiss. *1/4 Young did prematch mic work and he just doesn’t come across as the mouthpiece for a heel stable. He still looks like someone who is more geared for comedy and needs one of those Scott Steiner total heel makeovers with dyed hair. He cut an anti-America promo about growing up in Canada and always hearing how America was where he needed to be. So he sold everything and moved to the U.S., where he made it on his own. He said every other country in the world hates U.S. I love this country, but exactly what is false about that? Crowd starting chanting “Go home, Eric.” Young pulled out some hair clippers. Now ordinarily, when a newly turned heel brings out clippers, we see all of his hair mown off. Instead, Young gently touched the side of his hair, and that was it. It wasn’t even enough to match Sharmell’s hair extensions. So much for a heel makeover. The group really would be better off with Sheik Abdul Bashir as the mouthpiece, but the faction isn’t meant for him. Team 3-D came out and did the standard pro-America speech before rushing to the ring for the tables match. The British Invasion defeated Team 3-D in a tables match to win the IWGP tag team titles in 5:44. Rules were only one man had to go through the table for the match to end. Brutus Magnus and Brother D-Von brawled into the crowd, and Brother Ray and Doug Williams followed. Dvon only had to go a few flights of stairs to reach the top of the building, which sure relegates the Impact Zone into a sanitized modern day ECW Arena. Except buses will serve that portion of Orlando. Ray did the flip, flop and fly on Williams. Kiyoshi and Bashir started interfering at this point, but 3-D gave Magnus the wazzup anyway. Dvon went for the tables. Rob Terry’s involvement in the match consisted of throwing a clothesline that Dvon ducked under. Dvon didn’t lay a hand on him, which may have been wise since watching Terry sell isn’t pretty. Dvon smashed Earl Hebner with a clothesline, leading to Terry knocking down Ray and Dvon with clotheslines. He’s the British Jim Hellwig. Finish was really lame. Magnus was punching Dvon on the top rope, but Dvon power bombed him through a table. But Hebner was still down, and Young ran in and decked Dvon with a tag title belt. Young moved Magnus from the table and revived Hebner, who saw Dvon laying on a broken table. Even though Hebner didn’t actually see Dvon go through the table, he called for the bell anyway. Steve Mazzagatti strikes again. It was a good brawl, but the finish took it down a notch. Then the show became Russofied. TNA wrestlers Daniels, The Motor City Machine Guns, Kurt Angle, Christy Hemme, Traci Brooks and Suicide were all shown at Comic-Con International. It was on the right track to making them into stars, and they could have shown more of the match which apparently tore the house down. Instead, they showed interview with Robert Englund, better known as Freddy Krueger from “A Nightmare on Elm Street.” He appeared to have no idea what TNA was and just spoke generically about pro wrestling. Kevin Munroe, who directed Angle in the film “Dead of Night,” was also interviewed putting over working with Kurt. Brandon Routh (from Superman Returns) and Anita Briem were also interviewed. Dr. Stevie marched into an interview with Lauren and said his feud with Abyss isn’t over. Whether you like it or not. He put a $50,000 bounty on Abyss. There was a training video between Jesse Neal and Rhino which was abruptly ended to show Booker T and Scott Steiner barging into Foley’s office to jump Foley and Lashley. Mike Davis, who looks like he ran in from the last battle of the Civil War, and security marched in for the save. As they were separating, Angle ran through and clocked Lashley with a lead pipe, which the cameras only partially caught. Why don’t they do retakes in this company? Lashley was knocked cold and that finished his participation in the main event. After a commercial, Beer Money was shown brawling with Steiner and Booker. Just as Steiner and Booker were making their comeback (yes, they’re the heels), the lights went out and they abruptly cut to the ring. Obviously, it was a tease for a major return. Mick Foley and Bobby Lashley defeated Kevin Nash and Kurt Angle when Foley pinned Nash to win the Legends Championship at 6:31. At first, neither Lashley or Foley came out for their ring entrance, but Foley limped out wearing Cactus Jack garb. Angle ran up the ramp and they brawled. Foley was heavily favoring his knee. So it was Foley vs. Angle and Nash in a handicap match. Story was Foley would deliver plenty of offense on Angle, but Nash cut it off by hitting Foley from behind. Crowd did dueling chants, which sounds funny when Angle is the top heel in the company. After spending several minutes selling, Foley gave Angle a double-arm DDT and reached for Dude Sock. He put the mandible claw on Angle, but Nash ran in with a boot to the face. Angle clamped on the ankle lock on Foley’s bad leg. Some rare psychology from TNA. Angle dropped down on the ankle lock and Foley was about to tap when the lights went out again and Sting’s music played. Sting was in the crowd pointing at Angle and Nash. The lights went out again, and Lashley was in the ring with his head taped. Lashley clotheslined Angle out of the ring and speared Nash, allowing Foley to get the pin. Crowd loved the finish. *** SUMMARY: Much better show than previous weeks. Smart move not to give fans too much of Lashley away on free TV, though the powers that be may not have had a choice. Styles’ performance against Morgan really can’t be lauded enough. He really made him look great, and turned the crowd on by going over. To think he languished for over a year not that long ago playing a comedy heel. It’s a shame the company can’t find a way to make him a star, because he has it all. |
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