The End for Joe? (3/13 Impact Recap)

Impact opens with clips of Destination X and heads right into the Impact intro. Mike Tenay and Don West claim that we will witness all of the fallout from Destination X and hear the bombshell announcement that Karen Angle promised to deliver.

Jim Cornette is in the ring and announces the double main event for Lockdown, which will be Kurt Angle vs. Samoa Joe for the World title and Christian Cage and Tomko will captain four man teams in the Lethal Lockdown match. Cage and Tomko meet in the ring and Cornette tells them that they have two weeks to hand in the rosters for their teams. Cage gets on the microphone and gives him a piece of his mind by calling him a Kurt Angle lap dog before the two come to blows. AJ Styles runs out to give his partner the 2-on-1 advantage until Kevin Nash hobbles down to the ring and chases them away.

Jeremy Borash runs down Karen Angle who is sneaking into the Impact Zone from the back. She tells him that after Kurt’s match against Kaz tonight, she is going to go out to the ring and address their issues in front of everyone.

Crystal is backstage with Scott Steiner, Petey Williams and Rhaka Khan. Scott Steiner says that he controls the landscape in TNA by having both a World title shot and an X Division title shot. Steiner says that Williams has to bring something to the table by qualifying for the X Division Xscape match. Williams instead thinks that Steiner should share his X Division case with him since he is more suited for the division. Steiner doesn’t go for the idea and tells him that his initiation is still coming up.

Match 1: Petey Williams vs. Curry Man (Xscape Match Qualifier)
Petey Williams takes the early advantage in the match by sending Curry Man out to the floor and landing a hurricanrana off of the ring apron. Williams picks up a few near falls but Curry Man is finally able to turn things into his favor by landing a dropkick. Curry Man follows with a flying body block of the top rope, but Rhaka Khan distracts the referee, which turns Curry Man’s attention to her. Williams recovers and sets Curry Man up for the Canadian Destroyer, but Curry Man shoves Williams into Khan and comes back with a back suplex with a bridge to pick up the three count and qualify for the X Division Xscape match.

Scott Steiner makes his way down to the ring with a set of handcuffs and cuffs Williams as Khan puts a hood over his head.

Borash is with Jim Cornette and books a match between AJ Styles & Tomko against Christian Cage and a partner of his choice. Team 3D then enter the office tell Cornette that they are going to tell him what they plan on doing before they do it. Brother Ray says that the inmates are running the asylum in TNA and says that he will kill any machine gun, fish, guys with curry on their heads or any reality TV stars he sees.

A video package highlighting Samoa Joe’s time in TNA is aired. It focuses on his 18-month winning streak and his shot at the World title against Kurt Angle. Samoa Joe, wearing a suit, makes his way to the ring as the fans chant “next World champ.” Joe thanks Kevin Nash and the TNA fans for helping him get to where he is today and guarantees a victory at Lockdown, however, if he does happen to walk out with the title, he will never be seen in a TNA ring again.

Crystal is in the locker room with Christian Cage and asks about his tag team partner tonight. He goes up and talks to Rhino and says that they need to talk but Rhino says he doesn’t care what he has to say and walks away.

Match 2: Rellik & Black Reign vs. the Motorcity Machine Guns
Rellik & Reign go on the attack before the bell rings to start the match off. Alex Shelley receives the brunt of the punishment in the opening minutes of the match as we head into a commercial break. We return to see more of the same until Shelley is able to land a double DDT on the monsters and makes the tag to Chris Sabin, who comes into the match like a ball of fire. Sabin, along with Shelley, use their quickness to their advantage, but it doesn’t last long as Rellik & Reign double team Sabin and Rellik turns him inside out with a clothesline and picks up the pin fall.

After the match, Black Reign calls out Eric Young, who takes up on the offer as Super Eric Young, and clears the ring.

Borash gets AJ Styles to meet with Karen Angle, who tells him to trust her and that everything will be okay. Tomko isn’t pleased with their meeting and tells him to get his head in the game and take out Cage.

Match 3: Kaz vs. Kurt Angle (Non-title Match)
Kaz holds his own against the champ in the opening moments of the match until Angle dumps him over the top ropes with a belly-to-belly suplex and Kaz takes a wicked fall out to the floor. Angle begins to pick apart Kaz with suplexes and headlocks but Kaz fights back with a series of rights and clotheslines. Kaz then scores a near fall on Angle after a slingshot DDT. Kaz continues to pick up near falls but Angle is still able to kick out, even after the Wave of the Future. Kaz goes for another attempt at the Wave of the Future, but Angle reverses it into an ankle lock. Kaz tries to fight through the pain and reach for the ropes but it is too much for him to take and taps out.

After the match, Kurt Angle got on the microphone and says that he is the best ever today and will beat him at Lockdown to become to best of all time. He then tells Joe to go home and train as he is interrupted by Karen Angle, who tells him that she wants to separate. Kurt Angle thinks it’s a great idea so he can focus on Samoa Joe instead of dealing with her high maintenance. Karen leaves the ring visually upset over his response.

TNA Rough Cut is up next, and this time it is about the reunion between BG James and Kip James. BG says he was fired from the WWE because of his drug use, while Kip James was released and came to TNA because BG was there. With both back together in the same company, it was only time before they would be teaming together, however, to BG, it almost seems that they were forced to be together. This will be continued.

Crystal is backstage with the Rock n’ Rave Infection, who says they will be taking out the LAX and Salinas in a mixed 6-person tag team match tonight.

Match 4: The Rock n’ Rave Infection & Christy Hemme vs. the LAX & Salinas
Homicide takes it to Jimmy Rave to start the match out until Rave lands a jawbreaker and tags in Hoyt as we head into a commercial break. Upon returning, Homicide is back in control over Rave and tags in Hernandez, who comes in and cleans house. Hernandez flies over the ropes and takes out Hoyt on the floor as Homicide sets up Rave for the Gringo Killer, but Rave squirms out of it and tags in Hemme. Salinas comes in and lands an inverted DDT on Hemme as the referee is distracted by Hoyt on the outside. Hemme then cracks Salinas in the back with a Guitar Hero guitar picks up the pin fall.

Footage of Jay Lethal & So Cal Val’s date is aired. They are spending time together at Universal Studios and run into Sonjay Dutt. Dutt takes Val away to show her some secret spots at the park and this will be continued.

Angelina Love and Velvet Sky are backstage giving Roxxi Laveaux a makeover. Roxxi doesn’t like what they are doing as they spray hairspray into her eyes and send her headfirst into the wall and beat her down. They then begin to smear makeup all over her face and call her a freak.

Borash is backstage with Gail Kim who says the feud between her and Awesome Kong is far from over and tells her that she should come looking for her or else she won’t know what hit her.

Match 5: Velvet Sky vs. Gail Kim
Velvet Sky holds her own in this match against Gail Kim and picks up a few near falls on the former champion, however, one slip up from a missed attempt at a bronco buster is all Kim needs to take control of the match. Kim puts Sky away shortly afterwards and picks up the pin fall.

Angelina Love enters the ring after the match and begins to shove Kim around, but she answers back with a spear. Velvet Sky helps out her partner as it turns into a 2-on-1 until Gail Kim escapes, however, Awesome Kong is there and attacks her from behind. Kong begins to over power Kim in the ring, but she begins to fight back and takes Kong down with a spear. Kim stays on the attack until Saeed nails her with the championship belt. Kong goes back on the attack until ODB comes down to the ring with a chair and chases the champ out of the ring.

Crystal is backstage with Christian who wonders who he will turn to next and Kevin Nash comes out and wonders the same thing. Nash says he has plenty of diesel left in the tank and wants to be his partner. Cage agrees to it and it is set.

Match 6: Christian Cage & Kevin Nash vs. AJ Styles & Tomko (Non-title Match)
The match starts on the entrance ramp and Cage picks up the first pin fall attempt after delivering a powerbomb to Styles. His control of the match doesn’t last long, however, as Styles & Tomko begin to pick away at Cage with quick tags in and out of the ring. Cage finally regains the advantage by driving Tomko down to the mat with an inverted DDT as Kurt Angle makes an appearance ringside and we head to a commercial.

It is shown that during the break, Cage went after Angle and Jim Cornette had security remove him from the ringside area. During the melee, though, Styles & Tomko were able to regain control of the match, where they begin to work over Cage again, until he fights back and lands a tornado DDT on Tomko and makes the much needed tag to his partner.

Nash enters the ring and cleans house and delivers a jackknife powerbomb to Styles and tags in Cage, who comes flying in with a frog splash. It looks like they have the win until Tomko pulls the referee out of the ring. Team 3D then come into the ring and attack Cage and Nash from behind and the referee disqualifies the tag team champs.

The attack continues as the numbers game proves to be too much for Cage and Nash as the four begin to take out Nash’s knee with a steel chair. They look to do the same across Cage’s throat, but security and Jim Cornette step in to break it up as Styles, Tomko and Team 3D celebrate together over their fallen opponents.

Finally, to deliver on their promise, Team 3D attacks Joel Anderson, from the TV series Survivor, who is seated ringside as Impact comes to a close.

Quick Results
- Curry Man defeated Petey Williams by pin fall to qualify for the X Division Xscape Match
- Rellik & Black Reign defeated the Motorcity Machine Guns by pin fall.
- Kurt Angle defeated Kaz by submission.
- The Rock n’ Rave Infection & Christy Hemme defeated the LAX & Salinas by pin fall.
- Gail Kim defeated Velvet Sky by pin fall.
- Christian Cage & Kevin Nash defeat AJ Styles & Tomko by disqualification.

Match of the Night
- Kaz vs. Kurt Angle

Starman’s Thoughts
You can tell with tonight’s show that TNA isn’t treating their next pay-per-view as a throw away event. Lockdown is always one of their bigger events of the year and they wasted little time getting the ball rolling on the two big draws on the card.

As usual, TNA is delivering another Lethal Lockdown match and I was surprised, as I’m sure others were, to hear that Tomko would be one of the captains to head a team. I was figuring that Styles would be the one put into that role. With Tomko at the helm, it is a given that Styles will be a part of his team and it appears from the ending of the show that Team 3D will be as well. Let’s all hope this brings an end to the corny Team 3D feuds and skits and reignites the push that Tomko seemed to have lost as soon as he became a part of the Angle Alliance.

For the second year in a row, Christian Cage heads up the second team, which one can assume that Kevin Nash will be a part of. Rhino is another option, which I was glad to see they acknowledged the fact that the two have a history and aren’t on the best of terms. I’m guessing this will be worked out within the next two weeks when the teams have to be finalized. The last spot is open and I sincerely hope it isn’t that guy from Survivor. I’ve already had enough of Floyd Mayweather to stomach another celebrity type personality in the ring.

As for the main event, even though we have already seen this match four times now, you really can’t go wrong with Joe vs. Angle. Angle has come out on top three of the four times and Joe even added in that if he doesn’t win he won’t step foot in a TNA ring again. Last time they met it was for all of the TNA titles. This time, though, seems to mean a lot more with that stipulation put into to the mix.

With these two matches being built up the way they were, you’d think that Karen Angle’s “bombshell announcement” would be huge. Was it something with her relationship with AJ Styles? Was she pregnant? Nope, none of that, she just wants to be separated. Not a divorce, as that card has already been played, but a separation. I should be thankful, though, that they kept the Angle family drama down to a minimum. That was more of a bombshell than the announcement itself.

Since I’m on the subject of disappointments, I can’t help but think how much of a shame it is to see the Motorcity Machine Guns lose to the team of Rellik & Black Reign. Seriously, is refusing to do a blade job that bad of an offense to someone that they would have to lose against these two? They helped save an entire division from dissolving and earned TNA some exposure and helped promote the company by partaking in a reality television show. Their crowd reaction alone should be enough to earn some sort of push in the tag team division.

Finally, do we really need another masked wrestler in the company? I swear, TNA is about three mascaras away from become a lucha libre promotion.