Kurt & Karen: The Beginning… or the End? (5/22 Impact Recap)

Jeremy Borash is backstage and sneaks behind Team 3D, who is talking to an unknown person in the dressing room.  Brother Ray says they are going to the ring right now and says that they have his back.  The two then chase away Borash.

A love themed video recap of last week’s events is aired that focuses on Kurt Angle’s apology and Jay Lethal proposing to So Cal Val, along with the beat down of Hector Guererro at the hands of Team 3D.  The Impact intro then airs and we are welcomed to this week’s show that will have Karen Angle’s response and Samoa Joe’s picks along with two King of the Mountain qualifiers.

Match 1: Brother Ray vs. Homicide
Homicide comes into the ring with a flurry of fists on Brother Ray until a well placed elbows stops Homicide in his tracks.  Ray then works Homicide over with some slow, methodical offense until he misses with a back splash.  Homicide then connects with a missile dropkick and follows with a Gringo Stunner and goes for the cover but Devon runs in a nails Homicide with a kendo stick and the referee disqualifies Ray.

Devon sets up a table in the ring and continues on the attack until Hernandez runs out to the ring to help out his partner.  Hernandez looks to powerbomb Devon through the table but he is kicked in the face by Booker T.  Team 3D and Booker then assault the LAX in the ring with a kendo stick that busts open Homicide with a shot to the head with a championship belt.  Ray then shouts out some words about killing all of the Puerto Ricans before sending Homicide through the table.

Jeremy Borash is backstage with Karen Angle who had just arrived in the Impact Zone.  Karen tells him to expect the unexpected and walks away as Borash is then cornered by Awesome Kong and Raisha Saeed, who hands him a note to read and walks away.  Borash says the note says $25,000 to wrestle fans.

A video package of the Beautiful People and the chaos they have caused with their interference as of late is aired.  We then see Lauren standing by with ODB, who says the duo is out of control.  ODB says that unlike them, she is all natural and says that she will stick her flask between her two cheeks tonight.

Match 2: Angelina Love vs. ODB
Prior to the match, Mike Tenay announces that Gail Kim suffered a strain to her MCL last week and will hear from her next week.  The match starts and ODB spits a mouthful of her flask on Angelina, who comes back with a big boot to the face.  Love then locks on a headlock as the fans rally behind ODB, who manages to get out and takes Love down with a couple of clotheslines and a fallaway slam.  ODB then tries to go for a rollup but Velvet Sky nails her in the head with her own flask and Love picks up the pin fall.

After the match, Angelina Love grabs a pair of sheers and is about to shave ODB’s hair until Roxxi Laveaux comes out to make the save.  Roxxi then grabs the clippers and looks to shave Love’s head until Rudy Charles stops her and takes them away from her.  Roxxi thanks him by laying him out with the Voodoo Drop.

Video clips of past King of the Mountain matches are aired.  The TNA voiceover guy then explains the rules of the match for those who may not be in the know.  Of course, he also mentions the fact that the champion has never walked out of this match with the title.

Samoa Joe’s music hits and he walks out to the ring with Kevin Nash behind him.  Samoa Joe announces that he will announce his four picks for the King of the Ring tournament.  The four will be AJ Styles, Rhino, Christian Cage and Booker T.  Nash looks amazed that he wasn’t one of the ones picked.  Nash asks why he isn’t in the match to watch his back and Joe says people pay to see him beat people up, not have someone watch his back.  Nash doesn’t like that response and leaves the ring by himself.

Jeremy Borash is backstage with Kurt Angle and Frank Trigg and follows them in the bathroom.  Angle asks Trigg to go out for drinks tonight and Trigg says that he should probably spend some time with Karen instead.

Lauren is backstage with the Rock n’ Rave Infection who is auditioning to be the band in Jay Lethal and So Cal Val’s wedding.  Lethal and Val don’t like Christy Hemme’s provocative dance and Sonjay Dutt says that he has gotten American Idol contestant, Ace Young, to do their wedding dance and he will be here next week on Impact.  The RnR Infection then attack Lethal and Dutt as the camera soon cuts away.

More footage of Abyss in his padded room is aired.  He says that in here his name is Chris Park and that he is addicted to pain.  He says it is now time for him to go home.

Robert Roode is backstage with Lauren and says he has been spinning his wheels in TNA for four years and is finally getting his chance.  He says that Morgan isn’t even qualified to be in the same ring as him and he will be in the King of the Mountain match.

Match 3: Robert Roode vs. Matt Morgan (KotM Qualifier)
Morgan and Roode go back and forth in the opening moments until Roode gets an opening to land a chop block on Morgan.  Roode then focuses all of his attention on Morgan’s knee and keeps him grounded.  Morgan then evens the score with a headbutt and no sells the knee injury as he tosses Roode around the ring.  Morgan begins choking Roode and Earl Hebner tries to get Morgan off of him but Morgan tosses Hebner down to the ground.  The distraction is enough for Roode to take down Morgan and pin him while using the ropes for leverage.

More footage of Eric Young looking for Elvis is aired and this time he is looking for him on Beale Street in Memphis.  Young finds a cardboard cutout and a statue, but doesn’t find the King.

More of “As the Angles Turn” is aired, which brings us to Karen Angle’s response to her husband’s apology.  Kurt Angle comes to the ring and introduces his wife to the ring, who comes out with her own theme music and video package.  Karen says that she wants to work things out but doesn’t like being fourth in his life.  Kurt begs her to reconsider but Karen just leaves him standing on his knees in the ring and walks away.

Jeremy Borash is backstage pleading with Raisha Saeed not to allow Kong to wrestle the fans.  Saeed gives him a release form for people to sign but Borash says that Cornette will flip if he hears about it.  Saeed and Kong don’t care and threaten Borash if he doesn’t allow it.

Lauren is backstage with AJ Styles who says that he and Karen Angle are just friends.  He then says that he had to choose a partner on the spot for the tag team tournament as Tomko shows up and says that he has been strewing over the fact that they lost the tag team titles.  Styles sticks up for himself and says that he is done with him and Angle and is going to look out for himself from now on.

The second part of the sit-down interview with Sting is aired.  Tenay asks if Sting has had any contact with Jeff Jarrett in the past year.  Sting says he hasn’t had much contact with him and says that he is sorely missed in TNA.  Sting then talks about some of his early thoughts of Jarrett when he was a little kid when he was working with Jarrett’s father.

Jeremy Borash is in the ring hyping the King of the Mountain match with all of the match props in and around the ring.  Borash again runs down the rules of the match until Kong interrupts him and walks down to the ring with Raisha Saeed, who has a briefcase full of money.  Saeed tells Borash to make the challenge or Kong will destroy him.  Borash asks for a female volunteer to come to the ring and finds a person named Melissa to wrestler her.

Match 4: Awesome Kong vs. TNA Fan ($25,000 Challenge)
Kong slaps and tosses her around a bit before taking her out with the Awesome Bomb.

Lauren is in the locker room with Team 3D and Booker T.  Team 3D says that they got screwed out of the TNA Tag Team titles, which is why they did what they did tonight.  Booker T talks about the lack of respect and the treatment he has gotten since coming to TNA and says that AJ Styles will be a stepping stone on his way to the King of the Mountain.

Match 5: Booker T vs. AJ Styles (KotM Qualifier)
Prior to the match, Styles tosses his Prince crown off to the side and come to the ring without it.  The match starts and both Booker and Styles have their moments being in control in the slow paced start.  Styles is able to knock Booker off of his feet with a flying forearm off of the top rope as Tomko comes down to the ringside area.  Styles goes for another high risk move, but Tomko knocks him down to the canvas as Booker lands the Book End and picks up the pin fall.

Tomko then comes in the ring and Styles shoves him away.  The referees get in the middle of them but they can’t keep them apart.  Team 3D come out to the ring but Styles is able to knock them down as well.  Booker finally comes in and makes it a 4-on-1 and Tomko nails Styles with a chain wrapped around his fist, which busts him open.  The four then take shots at Styles as the blood begins to pour out his forehead.

Karen Angle comes to the ring and stops the attack and even slaps Ray across the face.  Ray then chases her out of the ring as she runs to the back and comes back with her husband, who is wielding a chair.  Angle clears the ring and notices his wife trying to comfort Styles and pulls her off.  Angle then clocks Styles across the head with the chair and blames Karen for the predicament that Styles is in as Impact comes to a close.

Quick Results
- Homicide defeated Brother Ray by disqualification.
- Angelina Love defeated ODB by pin fall.
- Robert Roode defeated Matt Morgan by pin fall to qualify for the King of the Mountain match.
- Awesome Kong defeated a TNA Fan by pin fall in a $25,000 Challenge.
- Booker T defeated AJ Styles by pin fall to qualify for the King of the Mountain match.

Don West Quote of the Night
“Mike, I’m just daydreaming of boobies filled with vodka.”
- Don West on ODB’s comment about having her breasts filled with vodka, not saline.

Starman’s Thoughts
Another segment heavy show with some sorts of wrestling crammed in the cracks – and we all know what that will translate to tomorrow when the ratings come out.  I honestly think that there may have been about 15 minutes of actual wrestling on this show.  None of which was at all memorable.  As a matter of fact, the only thing that I feel was memorable was the AJ Styles beat down that closed out the show.

First, Styles confronted his ex-tag team partner and told him that he wanted to be his own man.  Tomko then responds by interfering in his match and costs him the chance to be in the King of the Mountain match.  Tomko, Team 3D and Booker T then beat the living hell out of Styles, and hopefully beat the goofy country hick persona out of him.  Kurt Angle then laid the icing on the cake with a devastating chair shot as his wife looked on in tears over her “special friend.”

This turn for Styles has been simmering for a while and I hope this breathes new life into his character.  It truly pained me to see him be a lackey for Kurt Angle with his dimwitted country boy personality.  There really was nothing “phenomenal” about his character at all and I hope he can cut out the comedy act and focus on being AJ Styles for once.  The AJ Styles that was crowned “Mr. TNA,” not the one that was crowned a “prince.”

Before I am done with my recap, I will offer a few questions that crossed my mind during tonight’s show.  Does Jeremy Borash step up for TNA Management when Jim Cornette is not around?  Is it just me or is Lauren getting better?  She isn’t quite on par with Crystal, but I do not dread seeing her on television anymore.  Why have the Rock n’ Rave Infection attack Jay Lethal & Sonjay Dutt if they are going to cut away from it right away and not mention it at all?  Why wasn’t Matt Morgan disqualified for tossing Earl Hebner down during his match?

We will find out the answers to these questions and more next week.  Ah, who am I kidding – no we won’t.