Impact opens with footage of Hernandez defeating Samoa Joe, Bobby Lashley talking down Kurt Angle and Mick Foley winning the Legends Championship in a tag team match.
We then see footage from earlier in the day when a stretch limo arrived that had Kurt Angle and Eric Young coming out together. The Impact intro hits as we are welcomed to tonight’s show that will feature match two between Matt Morgan and AJ Styles and Sting will take on Brutus Magnus.
The Main Event Mafia’s music hits as they make their way to the ring. Kurt Angle says that Sting causing a distraction and Bobby Lashley should have been in his own corner and not in the ring, so last week’s match is null and void. Angle said he talked to TNA management and they agreed but decided to let the outcome stand but will give Kevin Nash a rematch against Mick Foley at Hard Justice.
Furthermore, Angle says that he is dealing with desperate men in Lashley, Foley and Sting, and he has been forced to strike a deal with the World Elite. The World Elite come out and are led to the ring by Eric Young. The two groups shake hands in the ring as EY says it is an honor to be taking TNA over side by side with Kurt Angle and says that they are dedicated to the cause and will do whatever it takes to start the cleansing.
Jeremy Borash is with Mick Foley who says nobody is bigger than the business or TNA. Foley says he is going to war as Sting and Bobby Lashley walks in. Sting says it’s showtime as the group heads out.
Lauren is backstage with Daniels who says screw Eric Young. Daniels tells EY to stand up and be a man as the Motorcity Machine Guns walk in the way and talks about the TV camera since they haven’t been on television for a long time. Daniels budges in and tells them that they haven’t been on TV since they don’t do anything to get noticed, like the World Elite are doing. He offers them to come out to the ring with him and get noticed.
Match 1: Eric Young vs. Daniels
The bell rings and EY goes right on the attack as the MMG’s are slowly making their way towards the ring. The match makes its way to the floor and Daniels finds himself triple teamed as the Guns stand around and look at video game manuals. The match goes back into the ring and EY works Daniels over and locks him in a crossface before missing with a moonsault from the top rope.
Daniels fights his way back into the match and nearly picks up a couple of near falls. Daniels then misses with the BME but lands on his feet and immediately goes for the Angels Wings but a distraction from Sheik Abdul Bashir allows Kiyoshi to enter the ring and spit mist into Daniels’ eyes. EY then hits a piledriver for the win as the Machine Guns stand by and look at magazines.
Lauren is with Team 3D and Beer Money who will be teaming up against the British Invasion and Scott Steiner & Booker T. Robert Roode says he wants to talk about Eric Young and says that he is running rampant in TNA. Roode says he isn’t going to stand for it and walks away. Brother Ray says no one has more reason to be mad at Young than they do. He said he cost them the IWGP Titles and wants EY’s head on a silver platter.
Match 2: The British Invasion/Scott Steiner & Booker T vs. Beer Money/Team 3D
The match starts as each participant gets a chance to battle in the ring with each side going for the early pin. The match then breaks down as all eight go at it and Team 3D hits the flying head butt on Williams before Team 3D calls for the tables. The rest of the World Elite come to the ringside area as the Machine Guns and Daniels come down and join the fight.
Kevin Nash comes down to help his Mafia partners as Mick Foley and Kurt Angle soon follow. Sting, Samoa Joe and Bobby Lashley are the next ones as there are punches flying everywhere. Finally, Rob Terry slams Robert Roode in the middle of the ring as he picks up the pin fall amidst all of the commotion. The battle isn’t over, though, as the fighting continues and security has their hands full as we head into a commercial break.
We return to the pandemonium as there is a near riot in the Impact Zone. Sting, Foley, Angle and Nash head to the parking lot as more follow suit and fight in the catering area and the parking lot. Meanwhile, back in the ring, Daniels and the Motorcity Machine Guns are beating down Kiyoshi as we see Joe and Lashley fighting in the locker room.
Don West says he is thinking about taking off his headset and getting into the fight. Shortly after, police sirens can be heard as they are heading towards the Impact Zone to break up the brawl. As we head into another commercial break.
We come back to the show as the broadcast team review what just happened. Mike Tenay mentions that in all his years in calling professional wrestling, he has never seen anything like it – not even during the height of the nWo.
Match 3: Alissa Flash & Traci Brooks vs. Taylor Wilde & Sarita
The match starts and Taylor and Sarita take the early advantage. Traci and Alissa go out to the floor to regroup as Sarita dives over the ropes and takes them both out. Alissa is rolled back into the ring and is able to take control of the match with a little interference from Traci.
A tag is made and Traci comes in and continues to work over Taylor and picks up a couple of pin attempts. Traci and Alissa begin to make quick tags to keep a fresh person in the match, however, Taylor is able to make the tag into Sarita who comes in and cleans house on both Traci and Alissa. The match then breaks down as Sarita rolls Alissa up and picks up the pin fall.
After the match, Alissa and Traci attack Sarita and Taylor from behind and leave them lying in the ring.
Lauren is with the Beautiful People who says Angelina Love will be in a four corners match next week against Tara, Awesome Kong and ODB. Velvet Sky says it’s time for the Beautiful People to start taking care of things in TNA. Love says there will be a match between herself and Velvet against ODB and Cody Deaner at Hard Justice to rid TNA of its ugliness.
We see footage of Kip James cleaning up the mess in the parking lot from the riot. Hernandez comes around and asks what he is doing as Kip tells him what went down and says he is stuck cleaning up after it.
Lauren is with AJ Styles who says it is like an asylum in TNA but he still has he focus on Matt Morgan. Styles says he needs to only beat Morgan once and he is in the main event at Hard Justice.
A video package highlighting Hernandez is aired. We then see a sit down interview between Mike Tenay and Hernandez where he talks about his neck injury and talks about his past in arena football before coming to wrestling. Hernandez then talks about Konnan attempting to burn an American flag and says his military father had problems with that. He then goes on to talk about Homicide and wishes him the best in the X Division and says they will be back together in the future.
Lauren is with Homicide who doesn’t want to talk about Hernandez, he wants to talk about the X Division Title and Samoa Joe. He says Hernandez beat Joe last week but he is going to hurt him at Hard Justice.
We are treated to footage of the first match between AJ Styles and Matt Morgan last week, where Styles defeated Morgan with a 450 splash to take the first fall in the best of three series.
Match 4: Matt Morgan vs. AJ Styles (Match 2 – Best of Three)
Styles is able to take Morgan off his feet in the early moments of the match and begins to work over Morgan’s leg. Morgan, however, is able to power his way back into the match and slams Styles down to the mat. Morgan begins to methodically pick apart Styles and tries for a chokeslam but Styles fights his way out and kicks Morgan in the head.
Styles takes Morgan down with a Pele kick and gets a near fall before he heads for another 450 splash but Morgan is able to roll out of the way. Morgan then hangs Styles across the ropes before driving him down to the mat with the Helevator for the pin fall to even the series at one each.
We see a teaser for “the Pope” D’Angelo Dinero that says he is coming on August 16th.
Jeremy Borash catches up with Kurt Angle who has his bags and is leaving the Impact Zone. Borash asks where he is going and Angle says the Mafia has families and wants to leave to sleep it off before the police become more involved.
Abyss is then seen lurking in the shadows with a sweatshirt on and tells Borash that he doesn’t know who he can trust with the bounty out on his head. Consequences Creed and Jay Lethal come out and attack Abyss but Abyss fights them off and takes them out.
Match 5: Brutus Magnus vs. Sting
Prior to the match, Slick Johnson sends the other two members of the British Invasion to the back. The bell rings and Sting unloads on Magnus and takes him down with a dropkick and a clothesline. Magnus rolls out to the floor to regroup and is able to switch the momentum of the match once he returns and we head into a commercial break.
We return to see Magnus still in control but is quickly taken down with an kick to the back of the head from Sting. Sting then powers Magnus around for a moment before getting Magnus locked in the Scorpion Death Lock. Magnus soon taps out as Sting wins the match.
After the match, Magnus tries a sneak attack but Sting is able to put a stop to it. The rest of the World Elite come down to the ring and take Sting down until Bobby Lashley and Mick Foley comes out to help.
The Main Event Mafia comes out, even though they were assumed to have left, as we have another full on brawl happening in the Impact Zone. The Mafia and the World Elite pick the pieces of Sting, Foley and Lashley, until Hernandez comes out with a huge chain and clears the ring by swinging it around. Hernandez, Sting, Lashley and Foley are then seen holding their arms high in the air as Impact comes to a close.
Quick Results
- Eric Young defeated Daniels by pin fall.
- The British Invasion/Scott Steiner & Booker T defeated Beer Money/Team 3D by pin fall.
- Taylor Wilde & Sarita defeated Alissa Flash & Traci Brooks by pin fall.
- Matt Morgan defeated AJ Styles in the second match of the best of three.
- Sting defeated Brutus Magnus by submission.
Starman’s Thoughts
Man, there was a lot going on tonight to the point to where I just sat back for a few minutes and tried to let myself take in what had all just happened.
The major happening on tonight’s show was the locker room clearing brawl between the heels and the faces, which I thought was a lot of fun to watch. Yes, there were bodies everywhere and it was really hard to keep track of what was happening, but there hasn’t been a brawl of this magnitude in a long time.
Not only that, but there is a lot of possibilities that can come out of it with a new crop of fresh feuds and angles. For starters, tonight was all about establishing the World Elite faction as a legit force and I think that with the exception of Kiyoshi and Bashir, they did just that.
I will say that I am not quite feeling the newly formed alliance between the Main Event Mafia and the World Elite, but I will give it a couple of weeks to see where it goes before I decide if it was a good idea or not. With the main event stars and the midcarders united, I don’t want to see a rehash of the nWo all stars and the nWo B-team come into play.
The elevation of Hernandez continues and I enjoyed what they are currently doing with his character, however, I really wish he would have made his presence known in the huge brawl. I think it would have been more effective for him to come in towards the end of the brawl, lend a hand to the fallen faces and clear house. Coming in at the end of the show and chases away a handful of wrestlers by swinging a chain around didn’t quite do too much to prove his worth and show his dominance.
Finally, we got to see a small teaser for “the Pope” D’Angelo Dinero, who I can only assume will be Elijah Burke. I dig the new name and am anxiously awaiting his arrival at Hard Justice.
Thanks a lot, once again, for bring to us the review. I usually watch the shows. I mean, ALWAYS.
I’ve some questions for you, if you don’t mind:
- What do you think about Team 3D challenging not British Invasion but Steiner/Booker, as well as Beer Money challenging Booker & Steiner insted of the britains?
- What do you think of the roster right now? Too extensive, worthless, awesome, etc.?
- Do you think MCMG will turn babyfaces and Lethal Consequences heels?
- Do you think TNA needs more time – or a small second show – to develop and stablish all the members on the roster?
Cheers from Portugal!
Mistake!
- What do you think about Team 3D challenging not British Invasion but Steiner/Booker, as well as Beer Money challenging the britains instead of Booker & Steiner?
Sorry!
I thought it was odd that Team 3D would be going up against Booker T & Scott Steiner instead of the British Invasion as they were the ones who took the IWGP Tag Titles from Team 3D and Steiner and Booker defeated Beer Money for the TNA Tag Team Titles. I’m not sure why it is the other way around, but my guess is that they maybe wanted the bigger names against the bigger names and the younger team against the younger team. I think it should be the other way.
I’m not sure if the TNA creative team even knows what it wants to do with the Motorcity Machine Guns and Lethal Consequences. It’s a shame, too, as they are both a lot of fun to watch and seem like the crowds are really into them. I don’t foresee Lethal Consequences going heel any time soon and I think TNA will keep the MMG’s in between for a while. If they do go to being a heel team or a face team, chances are the following week they will be the opposite anyway.
As for TNA’s current roster, I think they have a good mix of talent and have trimmed most of the fat for the most part. With that said, the pecking order could use a little work done to it. TNA seems to be stuck in their ways of thinking by giving ex-WWE/WCW talent spots at the top of the card, which tends to push down a lot of the young stars, such as AJ Styles, Daniels and Samoa Joe. All three of those could be huge stars and the faces of TNA, but Kurt Angle, Sting, Kevin Nash and the others are taking up the spots. With them at top, TNA will find it hard to build the stars of tomorrow once these stars move on as there will be little options for them to pass the torch to.
I remember back when I thought that TNA really needed to add another hour to Impact. Well, that hour came and now I am thinking to myself that they need another 1 or 2 hour weekly show to complement Impact. Either that, or they need to consider running bi-monthly pay-per-view events. Just think, TNA gets 8 hours to try to get their fans to put down $30 for a major PPV event. WWE, on the other hand, gets 6 hours a week to do the same thing. Who knows, maybe SpikeTV or another network will give them time to run another show, and I’d be all for it. They need something, though, as it seems they usually skimp over the lower feuds or throw matches together at the last minute.
Thanks for reading from Portugal. Glad to hear I have some readers overseas.
In my opinion, there was not the need to put the bigger names against the bigger names, because the feuds were not like they are now. And by the way, this is a “Hardcore Rules” PPV, which means they could advance for two matches with stipulations for Booker/Steiner-Beer Money and 3D-Brits.
The Guns are awesome. I think they could develop and evolve the angle of the “conspiration” against them. It’d give something for them to work with.
True. It’d be so much credible and awesome to give the talent more. Guys like Petey Williams, Jimmy Rave, Sonjay Dutt, Lance Rock were awesome. They’ve still got EY, Kaz/Suicide, Daniels, Red, MCMG, Joe, AJ, a different Morgan, a different Bashir, Kiyoshi, Beer Money, British Invasion, Lethal, Creed, etc., but the main event is about Kurt, Lashley, Foley, Nash, Sting, Booker and Steiner. Really?
I totally agree with you in the last comment. They NEED a second show. Not a “B-show” ou something like that, but just a program to develop gimmicks and personas and give to some talent more time in the air. But whatever.