AJ’s Revenge! (5/29 Impact Recap)

Footage of the Angle saga and the 5-on-1 attack on AJ Styles opens the show.  The Impact intro then hits and we are welcomed to this week’s show that will feature some big news from AJ Styles and a pair of King of the Mountain qualifiers.

Team 3D comes out to the ring with a microphone as footage of their beat downs on Hector Guerrero and the LAX is aired.  Booker T then makes his way out with a microphone as he joins Team 3D in the ring.  Brother Ray says that they are referred to as the bad guys in this business and they like it.  He said that the three of them will be representing the bad guys tonight as Tomko is getting ready for his KotM match and Kurt Angle is in Hollywood filming his next project.

Brother Ray then has a gigantic trading card of AJ Styles lowered into the ring and questions whether or not he is actually the bad guy.  Ray calls Styles a scum bag wife stealer and says that he slept with Angle’s wife while their children were sleeping.  Booker T then chimes in and reminds everyone that he is royalty and hasn’t received anything or treated well since coming in to TNA.  Booker then finishes by saying he will make everyone pay by kissing his royal feet at Slammiversary.

Brother Devon then brings up Hector Guerrero and the LAX and their music hits.  They come out of their special entrance and Guerrero says that Cornette is giving the LAX a shot at Team 3D at Slammiversary, but he doesn’t want to wait until then and challenges them tonight.  Christian Cage’s music hits and he comes out of the entrance ramp with Rhino.  He apologizes to Guerrero for interrupting and questions why Booker expects everyone to praise him for what he has done in the past.  He then says that both he and Rhino will qualify for the KotM match tonight.

Samoa Joe’s music then hits as he stands out in the crowd with a microphone.  Joe says that everyone is getting ahead of themselves and says that he will be walking out of Memphis, TN, with the championship.  Joe then tells the LAX and Cage & Rhino to set aside their difference for tonight and chase the bad guys out of the ring.  As they are heading up the ramp, they are cut off by AJ Styles who is wielding a chair and nails Team 3D with it as we cut to the back where Jeremy Borash is with Karen Angle.

Karen Angle says that she is relieved that AJ Styles is okay as she wouldn’t be able to live with herself if he wasn’t.  Borash asks what Styles’ big news is but she says she doesn’t know and will find out along with everyone else.

Lauren is backstage with Lethal, So Cal Val and Dutt, along with Ace Young, who says he will be the entertainment for their wedding at Slammiversary.  Lauren asks about revenge on the Rock n’ Rave Infection and Dutt says they will see a new Sonjay Dutt tonight.  Lethal is pacing around in the background and says he is nervous and Dutt hints that it isn’t too late to back out.  Young says that he has a huge surprise for them after their match.

As Lauren is leaving, she is pulled back into the picture by her hair at the hands of Awesome Kong.  Raisha Saeed warns her to tell everyone that Kong will take on another American from the crowd.

Match 1: The Rock n’ Rave Infection vs. Sonjay Dutt & Jay Lethal
Hermie Sadler joins the announce team for this match as they ignore it and hype the Slammiversary pay-per-view as the match starts with some quick back and forth action.  Some miscommunication between Dutt and Lethal allows Hoyt to toss Dutt around the ring and pick up a near fall.  Again, the announcers ignore calling the match and talk about TNA’s relationship with DirectTV and NASCAR Hotpass.

Hoyt tries for a chokeslam but Dutt counters into a hurricanrana and then tags in his partner.  Lethal takes down Rave but is tripped up by Hemme on the outside and Ace Young does the same to Hoyt as Lethal rolls Rave up to get the pin fall.

After the match Jay Lethal grabs a microphone and saws that Dutt hasn’t accepted the offer for being his best man.  Dutt reluctantly shakes his hand as Ace Young shows them a provocative video and a new song for Lethal and Val called Addicted.  The full length of the video can be watched at tnawrestling.com.

Lauren is backstage with the Beautiful People who says they have been disrespected by her and put a paper bag over her head and push her away.  Love says they will do the same to all of the “wenches” if they disrespect them as well.  They then say that beauty will slay the ugly beast tonight when Love takes on Roxxi Laveaux.

Match 2: Angelina Love vs. Roxxi Laveaux
Roxxi runs out to the ring and goes on the attack at the start of the match.  Roxxi unloads with fists and kicks until a distraction by Velvet Sky allows Love to level Roxxi with a clothesline.  Love follows with a big boot to the face and picks up a two count but that isn’t enough to keep Roxxi down as she comes back with a fallaway slam.  Roxxi tries for a Voodoo Drop but Love squirms out and Sky sprays Roxxi’s eyes with hair spray.  Love then drops Roxxi to the mat and covers for the pin fall.

The Beautiful People then give Roxxi the brown bag treatment and continue to beat on her after the match is over.  Gail Kim comes out with crutches with ODB.  ODB grabs one of Kim’s crutches and chases the Beautiful People out of the ring.

Borash is with Jim Cornette who is irate over the fact that Awesome Kong took on a fan.  Cornette says that Borash will be the fall guy for this and Borash shows the ratings for the episode and says that it was the highest rated segment last week.  Cornette decides to keep it going as long as they sign a release form before stepping into the ring with Kong.

Booker T busts in with Team 3D who is still upset with the locker room conditions.  Booker says that from now on he will dress in Cornette’s office.  Cornette says that he is going out to the ring to make some announcements and tells them that it would be best of they are gone by the time he gets back.

The wackiness ensues with Eric Young’s quest to find the King.  Young arrives at Sun Studios when Elvis recorded many albums and tries his hand at some instruments and says he is now going to Graceland.

Jim Cornette is in the ring and runs down the current Slammiversary card.  He announces that AJ Styles will be taking on Kurt Angle and the LAX will be taking on Team 3D for the TNA Tag Team Championships.  Cornette then announces to Booker T and Team 3D that he will be returning to his office and they better be gone by then.

Kevin Nash’s music hits and he comes out to the ring with a microphone.  Nash says that the three thugs in Cornette’s office won’t leave easily and the TNA crackpot security won’t be able to handle them.  Nash offers his help in exchange for making him the special enforcer for the King of the Mountain match.  Cornette agrees and says he has a deal if he takes care of the problem in his office and they shake on it.

More video of Abyss in his padded room is aired.  He says the doctors are letting him go home in 10 days as he is now cured.  The doctors also say he is no longer a danger to himself and asks what about the rest of society.

Awesome Kong’s music hits and she comes out to the ring with Raisha Saeed and Jeremy Borash who has a clipboard with a release form.  During a commercial break a fan from Madisonville, KY, has been selected and signed the release form.

Match 3: Awesome Kong vs. Lela Bates ($25K Challenge)
Bates tries to run around for a bit but Kong begins to toss her around by her hair.  Bates tries running up the ramp but Kong grabs her and slaps her around before tossing her back into the ring.  Kong then toys with her a bit before delivering the Awesome Bomb for the win.

Borash is in the office with the Bad Guys as Kevin Nash comes in and tells them to hit the bricks.  Devon tells him that there are three of them and only one of him and Nash pulls out a bat and swings it around to chase them out.

A video package highlighting the past feud between Rhino and James Storm but it is cut short as Rhino and Storm have started to brawl backstage.  Rhino has the upper hand until Jacqueline nails him in the back with a shovel.  The brawl then makes its way towards the ring as they go through the crowd and begin fighting on the ramp.  Storm finally rolls Rhino into the ring and Rudy Charles signals for the bell to start the match.

Match 4: Rhino vs. James Storm (King of the Mountain Qualifier)
The brawl between these two continue and Storm picks up the first near fall after delivering a neckbreaker.  Rhino comes back and takes down Storm with a belly-to-belly suplex but Storm is able to duck an attempt at a Gore and nails Rhino with a superkick.  Storm and Jacquelyn roll Rhino back into the ring and Storm goes for the cover but Rhino is able to kick out.  Storm tries for another superkick but Rhino ducks and levels Storm with a Gore to pick up the win.

A video package of the history between Christian Cage and Tomko is aired.  It says that Cage’s ego got in the way of their friendship and Kurt Angle accepted both Tomko and AJ Styles into his fold.

Borash is backstage with Tomko and says he has no remorse for what happened to AJ Styles last week.  He says it is now Tomko’s time and says he will wear Cage’s blood like he wore AJ’s last week.

Match 5: Tomko vs. Christian Cage (King of the Ring Qualifier)
Tomko starts in on the attack before Cage is even able to take off his entrance attire.  Tomko uses Cage’s jacket and chokes him with it before tossing him around the ring a bit.  Tomko then kicks Cage off of the top turnbuckle and sends him out to the arena floor as we head into a commercial break.

We return to see Tomko still in control of the match as he slams Cage down to the mat before going for a pin attempt.  Tomko picks up another near fall after a fallaway slam and continues to wear down Cage with power moves.  Cage tries to make a comeback but all of his attempts a thwarted until he finally lands a tornado DDT on Tomko, but is unable to capitalize on it.  Cage then lands an inverted DDT but misses with a splash off the top rope.

After a series of reversals, Tomko takes Cage down with a chokeslam but it isn’t enough to keep Cage down.  Cage comes back and lands a frog splash but he can only keep Tomko down for two as well.  Tomko and Cage then go back and forth with a series of reversals until Cage lands the Unprettier and picks up the three count.

Borash is backstage with AJ Styles and Karen Angle.  Borash wants to know what AJ has to say but he tells him that he will find out just like everyone else and heads out to the ring.  Kurt Angle is shown walking in the back and Mike Tenay is amazed that he is in the Impact Zone.

Karen Angle makes her way into the ring and AJ Styles’ music hits but he doesn’t come out.  We head to the backstage area and see Angle attacking him and has even laid out some of the productions guys.  Angle comes out to the ring and takes the microphone away from his wife.  Angle says he won’t hurt her and tells her to tell everyone how she ruined their marriage and their family by cheating on him with Styles.

Karen slaps him across the face as AJ runs to the ring and he takes Angle down as the Bad Guys make their way out to help Angle.  After stomping him down, Angle locks in the anklelock on Styles as Cage comes out to help but runs right into a shark tank.  Angle beats Styles on the outside as Booker delivers a superkick to Cage in the ring.  The Bad Guys celebrate over their fallen opposition as they are on top once again as Impact draws to a close.

Quick Results
- Jay Lethal & Sonjay Dutt defeated the Rock n’ Rave Infection by pin fall.
- Angelina Love defeated Roxxi Laveaux by pin fall.
- Awesome Kong defeated Lela Bates by pin fall in the $25K Challenge.
- Rhino defeated James Storm by pin fall to qualify for the King of the Mountain match.
- Christian Cage defeated Tomko by pin fall to qualify for the King of the Mountain match.

Starman’s Thoughts
I have started to get used to the fact that TNA loves to put as many stars in a pay-per-view lineup as possible.  Obviously, that is now carrying over into their opening segments as well.  If I am counting right, the opening segment of tonight’s Impact involved no less than 11 people.

Several matches/storylines/feuds crossed over during this segment that it all seemed to jumble together.  What really irked me the most, though, was the fact that the big payoff for the segment happened when AJ Styles came out to extract some revenge and they then quickly cut to a small backstage segment with Karen Angle.  The brief interview could have gone somewhere else in the show and let AJ’s revenge get somewhat of a chance in the spotlight.

Even though that got on my nerves, the King of the Mountain matches for tonight were a huge improvement over the ones last week.  As I was suspecting, both Christian Cage and Rhino qualified for the match and the Cage/Tomko match was much better than I expected.  What was even more surprising, though, was that there was a clean and exciting finish to it.  That’s not something we usually see on Impact, especially since it was the main event of the evening.

Since I am on the topic of Cage, is it just me or was it odd that he was the only one that ran out during the 5-on-1 assault to AJ Styles from the Bad Guys?  Earlier in the show, Samoa Joe – in his only face time this week – asked Cage, Rhino and the LAX to band together against them.  Now, with the numbers against them, they are nowhere to be seen.

I did love that the Bad Guys are establishing their dominance, but you’d think someone else besides Cage would run to Styles’ rescue, especially considering it was the second week in a row this had happened to him.  Not to mention that they will all be facing each other in some way, shape or form at Slammiversary.

One final note before I go, did I really hear Borash say that Awesome Kong’s match against the fan last week was the highest rated segment?  I guess I was given a different version of the quarterly breakdown.