Impact opens with footage of the budding feud between Mick Foley and Abyss. We then head into the Impact Zone where Abyss is wrapping barbed wire around the ring ropes and emptying bags of glass shards and thumbtacks in the ring. Abyss says he is making himself feel at home and promises to make Foley bleed like he has never bled before at Bound for Glory. Abyss then issues a challenge for a Monster’s Ball match against the Hardcore Legend.
Foley’s music hits as he comes down to the ring with his barbed wire baseball bat. Abyss talks about his past accomplishments in TNA and wonders if Foley still thought he was a cheap knockoff back then. He brings up that while he was spilling blood in the ring, Foley was off playing with sock puppets and writing children’s books. Abyss then calls Foley a cheap knockoff since he is now just half the man he used to be.
Foley says that he does think Abyss will be a major player for years to come in TNA and has banned the $50,000 bounty on his head. As for Bound for Glory, he accepts the challenge and Abyss will find out first hand if Foley is just half the man he used to be. Foley then decides to tweak the Monsters Ball match and says that he cannot use thumbtacks and books Dr. Stevie to be the special guest referee.
Dr. Stevie comes down to the ring and says Abyss has once again alienated everyone around him. Lauren comes to the ring to console Abyss as Stevie continues to berate him. Abyss then grabs Stevie by the neck as Daffney gives him a low blow from behind. Foley then begins to grind the barbed wire bat into Abyss’ forehead as Matt Morgan comes out to make the save.
Jeremy Borash is backstage with the World Elite and Eric Young says the war between them and the Main Event Mafia is over and he declares victory. Young said he is a patient man but last week was the final straw and they left Kurt Angle victimized to prove their dominance. As far as Hernandez goes, he is dead to them and he is not in his league.
After a break, JB is with the Main Event Mafia and Kurt Angle says no one will claim victory over them. Angle then puts out a $30,000 hit on Eric Young and says that this is how they do business, mafia style.
Match 1: Hernandez vs. Kevin Nash (TNA Legends Championship)
The bell sounds as the two lock up and Nash gets the early advantage be methodically wearing Hernandez down in the corner. Nash clotheslines Hernandez over the ring ropes but Hernandez turns the tide by sending Nash into the ring post and the guard railing.
The match heads back into the ring and Hernandez is looking to put Nash away but Eric Young runs into the ring and attacks Hernandez to cause a disqualification. Young takes Hernandez down with a piledriver before handing the Legends Championship to Nash. Young then tells Nash that he owes him for giving him the assist.
Abyss is trailing Matt Morgan in the back and thanks him for helping him out earlier. Abyss says he didn’t ask for their tag team match and wonders if he can trust him tonight. Morgan says for tonight only, they will be a tag team but it will be nothing more than that.
Kevin Nash catches up with Eric Young in the back and wonders what is stopping him from taking up Angle’s bounty right now. Young counters Angle’s offer with one of his own in return for a 3-way match between him, Nash and Hernandez for the Legends Championship. Young says together they will take Hernandez out and Nash will be able to keep his title.
Lauren catches up with Hernandez who says Eric Young has screwed him out a title match for the last time and vows and he will take him out at Bound for Glory.
Match 2: Samoa Joe vs. Amazing Red (X Division Title)
Amazing Red uses his quickness advantage in the early moments but Joe catches up and powers him around the ring to gain the momentum. Bobby Lashley is seen walking down towards the ring and causes a distraction as Red hits a missile dropkick. Red’s offensive flurry doesn’t last long as Joe slams Red down to the mat and turns his attention on Lashley.
Joe tells Earl Hebner that he wants Lashley in the ring and Hebner opens the match up for Lashley as well. Lashley and Joe exchange blows before Lashley slams Joe down to the mat. Amazing Red then hits a corkscrew moonsault and picks up the pin fall to win the X Division Championship.
Lauren is waiting to get a word with Amazing Red but Joe grabs the microphone from her and tells Lashley that he has him in his sights and his days are numbered. Joe says the war is on.
Match 3: Daniels & Suicide vs. D’Angelo Dinero & Homicide
The bell rings and the four fight in the ring briefly before order is restored and the tag team match begins. Mike Tenay then offers fans an apology for the language that Homicide has been using in recent weeks and mentions that he has been fined for his Spanish trash talk. Back to the match, Dinero and Homicide work over Suicide by isolating him on their side of the ring and using quick tags.
Suicide finally fights his way back into the match and tags in his partner. Daniels gets a near fall on Dinero but Homicide breaks up the pin attempt. Suicide tosses Homicide out to the floor as Homicide sets his sights on the Spanish announce table and attacks Willie Urbina. Suicide goes after Homicide on the floor as Dinero hits the DD Express to win the match.
Kurt Angle is seen backstage questioning Kevin Nash’s motives for not taking out Eric Young earlier. Nash said he was offered double and he couldn’t turn that down. Angle says he will talk to him later and tells Nash to take no more side deals.
Mike Tenay is standing in the ring with the British Invasion, Team 3D, Beer Money and Booker T & Scott Steiner as the teams are signing the contracts for their match at Bound for Glory. The four teams will battle in a ladder match for the TNA Tag Team Championships and the IWGP Tag Team Championships, both of which can be won by different teams.
Tenay asks for comments as Booker says he is going to whoop some ass before all of the teams get into a fight both in and out of the ring. Team 3D brings a table into the ring and Beer Money sets it up. Robert Roode puts Booker on the table and climbs a ladder but Rob Terry pushes the ladder down. Booker and Steiner then slam Devon through the table as they pose with both sets of tag team titles. The Brits take offense to that and beat down Steiner and Booker before posing with both sets of titles.
Match 4: The Beautiful People/Alissa Flash/Traci Brooks vs. Taylor Wilde/Sarita/Christy Hemme/Hamada (Elimination Tag Team Match)
Traci tries for a quick rollup on Hamada but she is able to kick out. Hamada fires back with a kick to the head before tagging in Christy. Traci hits a bad jawbreaker on Christy and picks up a pin fall to eliminate her from the match.
Taylor comes in to the ring and is taken down with a clothesline before tagging in Alissa Flash, who continues on the attack. Flash goes for a pin fall but Taylor kicks out and tags Hamada back into the match. The two exchange blows in the ring before the fight goes out to the ring and the referee calls them both out.
The Knockout Tag Team Champions use some double team to work over Velvet but she manages to take Taylor out after landing a DDT. It is 3-on-1 with Sarita taking on the rest of them and quickly eliminates Traci after slamming her down to the mat. The Beautiful People tries to use their number advantage but Sarita pins Velvet with a small package.
Sarita and Madison are the final two in the ring as Alissa Flash comes back down to the ring and distracts the referee as Lacey Von Erich comes in and drives Sarita down to the mat with a choke slam. The referee slides back into the ring as Madison covers Sarita for the pin fall.
Kurt Angle is in Foley’s office who wants Foley to promise him that there will be no games played during their match tonight. Foley says he is not in the mood for games and tells Angle to have a nice day.
Sting comes down to the ring with a microphone as he has a few things to say. Sting says he had some time to think about their interview and wants to make it clear that he has always brought his best to the ring over the past 23 years. Sting goes on to say the offer to fight for the title his initial reaction was to say yes since he still has the will and drive to win. Sting says he will lace his boots up one more time but if he falls short of his expectations, it will be showtime for the last time.
Kurt Angle comes out and stops Sting and says that he should have maybe retired before No Surrender when he helped AJ Styles win his championship. Angle says he wants his shot at the title but instead Sting gets it at the biggest show of the year. Angle then asks Sting to retire before Bound for Glory so a real champion can step up to the main event instead of a washed up has-been.
Sting gets in Angle’s face as security comes out and separate the two but Angle is able to knock Sting down and apply the ankle lock. AJ Styles comes out and chases Angle out of the ring and helps Sting out. Angle says Styles can have Sting at Bound for Glory but says he is open for a match next week on Impact. Styles agrees to the match and says they will settle things next week.
After a break, Lauren catches up with Styles and asks if it was wise for him to accept a match next week against Angle. Styles says he isn’t thrilled on how he won the title in the first place and has something to prove by showing that he is worthy of being champion.
The Motorcity Machine Guns come out and say that they have just played their theme music for the last time. Shelley also adds that their music is what caused Consequences Creed to throw up last week. They then show off their new music and entrance video before being attacked by Samoa Joe from behind.
Joe goes into the ring and calls Bobby Lashley out to the ring so he can kick his ass all over the building. Lashley comes out as they fight on the entrance ramp and onto the Spanish announce table. Joe then puts Lashley on the table and climbs the scaffolding behind it before dropping an elbow that drives Lashley through the table.
After a break we see trainers checking on Bobby Lashley in the backstage area.
Match 5: Tara vs. ODB (TNA Knockout Championship)
The bell rings as the two exchange some chops, forearms and pin attempts in the early going. Awesome Kong is seen coming down to the ring with a sledgehammer she takes So Cal Val by the hair and tells her to grab Tara’s pet spider and place it on the floor. Kong is about to take a smash the spider with a sledgehammer, but Tara grabs it from Kong and kicks her away. The distraction is enough for ODB to grab Tara and slam her down to the mat and picks up the pin fall.
Mick Foley is seen walking by Kurt Angle in the back and saying we’re ready. Angle follows him and asks what he means by saying we’re ready.
Match 6: Mick Foley & Kurt Angle vs. Abyss & Matt Morgan
Dr. Stevie and Daffney both followed Mick Foley out to the ring for this match. Stevie is wearing referee stripes but Slick Johnson bars them both from the ringside area. Angle starts out against Abyss and is quickly taken down by a series of clotheslines by Abyss but counters a choke slam with an ankle lock. Abyss is able to kick out of it but Foley quickly hits Abyss with the barbed wire baseball bat without the referee noticing.
Foley is tagged into the match and continues on the attack before tagging Angle back into the match. Angle tries to go for the Angle Slam but Abyss counters and hits Angle with the Shock Treatment. Abyss then crawls over to make the tag to Morgan, who unloads on both of his opponents and nearly scores a pin fall on Foley.
Foley gets back up to his feet and puts on Mr. Socko as Abyss brings the barbed wire bat into the ring. Foley sees it and turns around only to be nailed with the Carbon Footprint from Morgan, who then picks up the pin fall victory.
Quick Results
- Kevin Nash and Hernandez went to a no contest.
- Amazing Red defeated Samoa Joe by pin fall to win the X Division Title.
- D’Angelo Dinero & Homicide defeated Suicide & Daniels by pin fall.
- The Beautiful People/Alissa Flash/Traci Brooks defeated Taylor Wilde/Sarita/Christy Hemme/Hamada in an elimination tag team match.
- ODB defeated Tara by pin fall to retain the TNA Knockouts Championship.
- Abyss & Matt Morgan defeated Kurt Angle & Mick Foley by pin fall.
Starman’s Thoughts
Abyss and Mick Foley opened tonight’s show off very well and I am actually looking forward to their upcoming Monster’s Ball match at Bound for Glory. I said before that I would have wished that the two had time to build up their relationship before starting the feud, but I believe that it is working well, even with what little they were given to work with.
I was also surprised to see and hear TNA acknowledge the history between Matt Morgan and Abyss as they teamed up together for tonight’s main event. It happens too often when TNA decides to either forget about its own history or are just too lazy to remember and lets little things such as this fall through the cracks, so it was nice to see that the two were not just old buddies once again, but were just doing it for this night only.
Speaking of little things, however, is Abyss’ last name Parks or Park? It seems that they can never quite decide on that one as they are both used time and time again.
Samoa Joe and Bobby Lashley had some good intensity tonight and I was surprised to see Joe get such a huge one up on Lashley, especially since Lashley is a new face on the roster. Maybe that was TNA’s way of repaying Joe for dropping the X Division Title earlier on in the show.
I really didn’t like the fact that Earl Hebner allowed Lashley to enter the ring during his match, especially as there was a title on the line. I would have rather at least seen a fluke win by Amazing Red over a distracted Joe. Red’s victory would have meant more plus it could have been used to add more fuel to the fire between Joe and Lashley if done right.
At any rate, I didn’t think that Joe and Lashley really need a title to be included in their feud, so I will give TNA credit for giving a fresh face a run with the title.
Next week we will get a special 3-hour Impact that will be headlined by a match between AJ Styles and Kurt Angle. Seeing as it is the go home show for their biggest pay-per-view of the year, I felt it was a little odd for this match to take place, especially since the two are taking on different opponents at Bound for Glory. They made up for it by having Styles say that he wanted to do this to prove to himself that he is worthy of the championship.
With that said, I feel that it is still odd to see this prior to the pay-per-view, but here’s to hoping that it gets enough time to develop, especially with Impact going three hours next week. That is, of course, unless they only are scheduled to have a match with a 10-minute time limit.
Yes, it seems that TNA has brought the television time limit back into its matches, with all of tonight’s matches, sans the main event, getting 10 minutes. Of course, since this is TNA, none of the matches even came close to hitting that mark but I have a feeling that if they are taking the time to mention it, the time limit will come into play in some shape or form sooner or later.
Check back shortly for my Global Impact 2 recap. On top of that, I will be heading to the TNA house show in St. Cloud, MN, this weekend and will provide my thoughts, along with some photos, of that show later this weekend.
