Welcome Back, Jeffrey!!! (6/18 Impact Recap)

Impact opens with highlights from last week’s Impact where Jeff Jarrett was suspended and Kurt Angle defeated Sting to advance to the King of the Mountain match with a little help from Matt Morgan.  What will Mick Foley have in store for tonight as we head into Slammiversary?

The Impact intro hits and we are welcomed to tonight’s show and see that the ring is filled with balloons and streamers as Mick Foley’s music hits.  Foley comes down to the ring with Earl Hebner, his personal security and a clown with more balloons.  Foley says that he has found his smile once again and informs the fans that Earl Heber will be fine after suffering the attack from Jeff Jarrett.

Mick Foley then calls AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, Kurt Angle and the guest of honor, Jeff Jarrett, to the ring.  Some confetti starts to fly as Foley announces that Samoa Joe and AJ Styles will team up to face Kurt Angle and Sting in a three way tag team dance.  The other team will consist of Jeff Jarrett and Mick Foley.  Samoa Joe doesn’t want to wait, though, for the match tonight and clocks Angle and has to be pulled of by security.

We head to the back where Jeremy Borash is with Daffney, Dr. Stevie and Raven.  Daffney says she is going to be in a match made in hell against Angelina Love, Taylor Wilde and Awesome Kong.  JB says that Angelina is scheduled to be Daffney’s partner to which she says her only partner is Raven.  As far as Raven goes, he says he can sense Abyss in the building and says that Abyss should prepare a tombstone for both of them since they will need them after their Monsters Ball match.

A video package highlighting the feud building between Shane Douglas and Daniels with Douglas demanding a second chance is aired.  Daniels is competing in the first match up of the night against the Amazing Red.

Match 1: Daniels vs. Amazing Red
The match starts and Amazing Red dropkicks Daniels out of the ring and jumps over the ropes with a spinning dive and takes out Daniels.  The match returns to the ring where Daniels turns Red inside out with a hard clothesline.  Red begins to fight back with a series of kicks and takes Daniels down with an hurricanrana from the top rope.  Red then hits Daniels with a DDT from the top rope but Daniels is able to kick out.  Daniels is able to get back into the match as he counters a move into a Death Valley Driver.  Daniels then hits the B.M.E. for the pin fall and the victory.

Shane Douglas appears on the big screen and says that he is a level headed, fair individual but thinks that Jeff Jarrett screwed up for letting Daniels back into TNA.  He then says that he accepts Daniels’ challenge and says that he is a legend that deserves a second chance.  He will make sure that Daniels will get franchised at Slammiversary.

Lauren is with Lauren, Awesome Kong and Raisha Saeed and Taylor takes some responsibility for bringing Daffney into TNA and says that she wasn’t there when the Beautiful People attacked her.  Saeed silences Taylor and gives the microphone to Kong who says monster will kill princess first, then monster will kill monster last.

We head to the broadcast table who runs down tonight’s show that will feature a Clockwork Orange House of Fun match between Raven and Jethro Holliday, Daffney & Angelina Love against Taylor Wilde & Awesome Kong and the main event of AJ Styles & Samoa Joe against Sting & Kurt Angle against Mick Foley & Jeff Jarrett.

Matt Morgan interrupts and calls Sting out to the ring.  Morgan says the reason he isn’t in the Main Event Mafia is because he hasn’t been a World Champion, but brings up that no one has given him a chance at the World Championship.  Morgan asks Sting to give him a chance to beat a champion and challenges Sting to a match at Slammiversary.

Sting says that Morgan may be on to something and says he will make the deal better by putting up his spot in the MEM and will give it to Morgan if he is beaten.  Morgan agrees and tries to get in a cheap shot but Sting is able to sidestep him and send Morgan out to the floor.

Jeremy Borash is with Jeff Jarrett who says he never knows which Mick Foley is going to show up when he arrives at the Impact Zone.  Jarrett says the only reason he doesn’t get rid of him is because he has compassion for someone in his state.  Jarrett then says that the TNA Championship will be coming home this weekend where it belongs.

Match 2: Jethro Holliday vs. Raven (Clockwork Orange House of Fun Match)
Holliday meets Raven on the match and begins to beat him with a trash can.  The fight goes into the ring and Holliday begins grabbing weapons until Dr. Stevie hits Holliday with a kendo stick.  Raven then takes control and sends him into the guard railing with a Russian leg sweep before laying into Holliday with a kendo stick.

Holliday begins to fight back with a series of fists and then connects with a knee to the face.  Holliday sends Raven into the cage wall and pins him between the ropes and the cage.  Holliday then charges at Raven and he ducks out of the way as the cage wall falls to the floor.  Raven then goes out to the floor and picks up the three count for the victory.

After the match, Raven delivers an Evenflow DDT onto a chair as Daffney brings out a straight jacket and they begin putting Holliday into it.  Abyss’ music hits and he clears out the ring as he scowls at Raven and points in his direction.

A sit down interview between Don West and Samoa Joe is aired.  Joe says he is being advised by someone but he won’t say who it is.  As for AJ Styles, they don’t always get along but they figure things out.  He then says that the Main Event Mafia has done nothing to get what they deserve and have taken it away from those who have earned it.  He says he is on a seek and destroy mission and will take out Kurt Angle at Slammiversary.

Abyss is with Lauren who says Raven, Stevie and Daffney can do whatever they want to him as he has been through it all.  However, when they put their hands on Lauren, that makes him want to cry for them.  Abyss says his mom raised him not to hit girls, however, Daffney is she not a girl, but is a wacked out, crazy, bitch.  He then says he is coming after Dr. Stevie after he is through with Raven and Daffney.

Match 3: Daffney & Angelina Love vs. Taylor Wilde & Awesome Kong
The match starts and Taylor and Angelina begin trading blows and Taylor tags in Kong.  Angelina wants no part of her and quickly tags in Daffney who is immediately brought down with a shoulder block. Kong begins to toss Daffney around the ring and tags in Taylor.

Taylor comes in and Angelina takes her down by the hair when the referee’s back is turned.  Angelina is tagged in and begins to work Taylor over and picks up a two count in the process.  Daffney is tagged back in and Taylor is able to kick her away and tag in Kong who sets her sights on Angelina and begins to choke her out while Velvet Sky is on the outside and sprays hairspray in Raisha Saeed’s eyes.  Kong then delivers the Implant Buster to Daffney and picks up the pin fall.

After the match, Kong is attacked from behind by the Beautiful People and Angelina drives Kong facefirst into a chair with a drop toe hold as Daffney ties up Taylor in the corner.  Tara comes out to the ring to help out and clears the ring as she turns around and stands face to face with Kong as the two stare each other down.

Jeremy Borash is with Team 3D who wonders where Beer Money was last week when they were attacked from behind from the British Invasion.  Brother Ray wonders as well as they thought there was a mutual respect between the two teams.  Devon says it would be in Beer Money’s best interest to let them know where they were before Slammiversary comes around.

More footage of Cody Deaner’s training is aired and this time he is chasing ducks , benching paint is running along side ODB on an ATV.  Deaner finally catches a duck and ODB says that he is finally ready.

So Cal Val is with Lethal Consequences and the Motorcity Machine Guns.  Lethal begins calling Val a devil in a red dress as won’t let Val do her job without talking over her.  Shelley steps in and says that one of Detroit’s finest will come out a champion and maybe even unmask Suicide at Slammiversary.  Lethal says either he or Consequences Creed will be champion as the two begin jawing back and forth.

After a commercial break, So Cal Val meets up with Beer Money and they say they don’t owe Team 3D anything.  Team 3D step in they say they were busy spending all of the money they just won.  The two then come to blows as they begin fighting into a dark closet.

Match 4: Lethal Consequences & the Motorcity Machine Guns vs. Team 3D & Beer Money
As Team 3D’s music hits we see the two teams fighting it out on the entrance ramp.  They send each other into ring posts and guard railings until Lethal Consequences dive over the ropes and takes out Beer Money.  Suicide then runs into the ring and takes out the Motorcity Machine Guns from behind.  Devon rolls Jay Lethal into the ring as the bell finally rings as Team 3D begins to work over Lethal Consequences and then hits the 3D on Alex Shelley for the pin fall.

So Cal Val is with AJ Styles and Samoa Joe and Styles says he wants to be in the ring with the best in the world and is glad that he, Joe and Daniels are back together.  Joe steps in and says that he knows Styles has a hairline fracture and he isn’t cleared to wrestle.  Joe says he will handle everything in the ring tonight.

Jeremy Borash is in Mick Foley’s office where he is with Mr. Davis who is the new head of security.  Borash says that people love Foley’s tweaks and Borash’s tweets that he is now calling them the Tweak n’ Tweet Connection.  Borash pulls out a caricature of the two and Foley calls in they maintenance guy, who is Kip James.  Foley makes Kip change out the photo of AJ Styles with the drawing of him and Borash.

The broadcast team hypes the Slammiversary pay-per-view as we then head to Jeremy Borash who is with Kurt Angle.  Angle says that since Sting has taken over the Mafia his life has become less stressful and Sting taught him how to be more calm, cool and collected.  However, at Slammiversary, he will kick Joe’s ass and will win the TNA Championship.

Match 5: Samoa Joe & AJ Styles vs. Kurt Angle & Sting vs. Jeff Jarrett & Mick Foley
The match starts and Sting and Foley lock up and Sting takes him down by sending Foley face first into the canvas.  Angle is tagged back in and Foley begins to work over Angle’s arm before tagging in Jarrett, who continues to work on the arm and tags Foley back in.

Foley and Angle go back and forth before Jarrett is tagged back in and goes for the Stroke but Angle counters into an ankle lock.  Jarrett escapes and Angle goes for the Angle Slam but Jarrett counters into a DDT.  With Jarrett in the ring, Foley joins the broadcast team and begins providing a few words for commentary as we head into a commercial break.

We return to the match to see Foley is still at the announce table and Angle has just applied to ankle lock on Jarrett.  Jarrett is looking for a tag but Foley is nowhere to be found.  Jarrett is able to kick out and tags in Samoa Joe who comes in and takes out Angle and Sting.  Jarrett then confronts Foley on the floor and nails him with a steel chair.  In the ring, Joe delivers the muscle buster to Angle and picks up the victory for his team.

After the match, Joe and Styles shake hands as Joe then gets in the Angle’s face as Impact comes to a close.

Quick Results
- Daniels defeated Amazing Red by pin fall.
- Raven defeated Jethro Holliday by pin fall in a Clockwork Orange House of Fun match.
- Taylor Wilde & Awesome Kong defeated Daffney & Angelina Love by pin fall.
- Team 3D & Beer Money defeated Lethal Consequences & the Motorcity Machine Guns by pin fall.
- Samoa Joe & AJ Styles defeated Kurt Angle& Sting and Mick Foley & Jeff Jarrett by pin fall.

Starman’s Thoughts
Tonight was not quite the greatest lead in to one of the bigger pay-per-view events of the year, but it certainly wasn’t the worst.  I was a little bothered over the fact of the lack of wrestling once again which was a huge step back from last week, but what little happened in the ring this week did at least help promote Slammiversary.

Since there is little in ring action to discuss, I will spend some time writing about a few of the promos that I enjoyed.  For starters, I really enjoyed the meeting between Matt Morgan and Sting.  This was a last minute addition to Slammiversary but was done well with the young person wanting his shot and the veteran who still has confidence in his abilities.  This won’t be a 5-star match or even close to it, but I am looking forward to seeing where this all goes.

Although I loved Beer Money and Team 3D’s newfound respect for one another, it could only go on for so long.  Beer Money winning $100,000 gave them the opportunity to bring out the arrogance and breathe some new life into their feud.  I guess this means Beer Money will be heading back to being heels.  I think I’d rather see it the other way but these two teams should have another great match at any rate.

One final aspect I liked was the promo that Abyss delivered.  At first I wasn’t feeling it at all with Abyss using his crazy voice and I was longing for that one day when Abyss knocked it out of the park with his promo on Matt Morgan back in February.  Then Abyss suddenly went into that mode.  It wasn’t quite as intense, but it was a decent promo from a guy who seems to go back and forth between being interesting and being comical.

Speaking of being interesting and being comical, I can officially say that I am tired of Mick Foley in TNA in his present form.  I don’t like the fact that he holds so much power, is the TNA Champion and goes back and forth with his personas.  One moment he is intense and the next he is rambling on about nothing in particular.  Someone who is in that much power and is the top guy in the company shouldn’t be doing that much comedy.  I really hope that the title is taken off of him this weekend.

Another person who has run his course in its present form is Jay Lethal.  His Black Machismo gimmick has run its course a while ago and tonight was proof of that during his backstage interview segment.  I will give TNA credit for not selectively forgetting the history between the Lethal and SoCal Val, but the entire interview segment was ruined by Lethal’s constant yelling at Val and talking over everything that was being said.  I like Lethal as a wrestler, he just needs to be repackaged into something far, far, away from the Macho Man.

Finally, this Sunday is Slammiversary which means I will be back this weekend with my preview and predictions.