Is Mick the Turkey? (11/26 Impact Recap)

Impact opens with a video package of TNA future and of the partnership it has made with Hulk Hogan.  In the voiceover, Hogan states that it is going to be a wild ride in TNA.  The Impact intro then hits as we are welcomed to this Thanksgiving edition of Impact that will feature a TNA Championship Series tournament for a future title shot.

Match 1: Bobby Lashley vs. Abyss (Round 1 TCS Tournament)
The two big men go at it as Mike Tenay states that these two will be fighting for a shot at the TNA World Championship as are three of the other participants that were randomly drawn to be in the tournament.  Homicide and Suicide could win a shot at the X Division Championship, while Robert Roode could earn a tag team title shot.  Back to the match, Abyss takes control by leveling Lashley with a clothesline and continues to wear him down with a bear hug until Lashley head butts his way out of it.

Lashley comes back with a clothesline of his own and follows with a spinebuster.  The fight goes out to the floor and Abyss inadvertently knocks Kristal Lashley to the floor with a back elbow.  The match returns to the ring and Abyss turns his attention to what has happened outside which allows Lashley to hit Abyss with a spear and makes him tap out with a dragon sleeper.  Once the bell ring, Kristal miraculously recovers and celebrates with her husband in the ring.

Jeremy Borash is in the office with Mick Foley, who is still fuming over not knowing about the signing of Hulk Hogan in advanced.  JB wants Foley to get past it but Foley says he knows about the politics and backstabbing that goes around behind the scenes and he is going to talk to the man who knows most about those things, Kurt Angle.

Match 2: Suicide vs. Desmond Wolfe (Round 1 TCS Tournament)
Wolfe gets the early advantage in the ring and begins to focus on Suicide’s arm.  Wolfe gets an early two count before continuing on the attack.  Suicide turns the tables by connecting with a back elbow and hits a springboard leg drop for a two count.  Suicide goes for a high risk move but Wolfe knocks him down and hits the Tower of London for the pin fall.

Match 3: D’Angelo Dinero vs. Kurt Angle (Round 1 TCS Tournament)
The bell rings and the two go back and forth and work over each other’s arms in the early going.  The Pope then takes Angle down with an explosive shoulder block and picks up a two count.  Angle fires back with a belly-to-belly overhead suplex and picks up a two count after hitting a vertical suplex.  The Pope fights his way back into the match but Angle quickly turns it around and hits a series of German suplexes but the Pope counters with a couple of German suplexes of his own.

With control of the match, Dinero hits his patented elbow drop off the top rope and sets up for the DDE but Angle counters and puts on the ankle lock.  Dinero is able to kick Angle off but Angle comes back with an Olympic Slam for the pin fall to advance to the second round of the tournament.  After the match, Angle shakes Dinero’s hand before leaving the ring.

During the commercial break, Homicide is seen asking a guy in the back to shoot off some pyro before his match.  Homicide’s match against Robert Roode is coming up next.

Mick Foley meets up with Kurt Angle in the back and is wondering what happened to the rest of the Main Event Mafia.  Angle says the Mafia is no more and needs to get his head straight.  Angle then says that Hogan is coming in to make the company better and he says he is on board with it.  Foley wonders if the person Hogan brings with will be on board as well.  Angle tells Foley to stop listening to Nash and excuses himself as he has to get ready for another match.

Match 4: Homicide vs. Robert Roode (Round 1 TCS Tournament)
Homicide attacks Roode prior to the bell to gain a quick advantage in the match.  The fight goes out to the floor where Homicide pulls out every dirty trick in the book including raking the back.  Back in the ring, Homicide continues to wear down Roode and wears him down with a nerve pinch.  Roode counters an attempt at a neck breaker and comes back with a clothesline and a backbreaker for a two count.  The two then go through a series of counters before Roode finally hits a spinebuster for the pin fall.

The first round of the TCS is complete and Bobby Lashley will take on Desmond Wolfe and Kurt Angle will take on Robert Roode in the second round.  Homicide on the other hand is yelling and one of the producers and is swinging a chair around after losing his match.

Jeremy Borash is with Kurt Angle who says he has a lot of respect for Robert Roode but he has his eyes on the prize and winning the tournament.  He is looking forward to possibly beating Desmond Wolfe in the finals.

Match 5: Knockout Battle Royal
Hamada, Traci Brooks, Daffney, Alissa Flash, Velvet Sky, Madison Rayne, Lacey Von Erich, Sarita, Taylor Wilde and Tara are entered in the battle royal with ODB serving as the special guest referee.  This battle royal will be for a shot at the Knockout Championship at Final Resolution.

The bell rings and all 10 go at it with Daffney getting quickly eliminated by Hamada.  Sarita and Taylor then send a brawling Traci and Alissa out to the floor to bring the number down to seven as we head into a commercial break.  A break in the commercial shows us that Lacey has been eliminated by Tara.  We return to the broadcast as Sarita is eliminated by the remaining Beautiful People and Hamada and Taylor eliminated each other.

Tara, Madison and Velvet are the final three remaining and the numbers game catches up with Tara.  Velvet accidently eliminates Madison from the battle royal and Tara kicks Velvet off the ring apron and onto the floor to win the battle royal.  ODB enters the ring and raises Tara’s hand in victory and slaps her hand away before leaving the ring.

Jeremy Borash is backstage with Eric Young and Kevin Nash and wonders why there are no potential shots for the Global Championship on tonight’s show.  EY says that his title will never be defended on American soil against an American wrestler.  He says when and where he will defend it.

Mick Foley is walking in the hallways and walks into a costume room where Scott Steiner is trying to make an employee to make more MEM gear.  Foley tells Steiner that Angle alluded to the fact that the Mafia is done.  Steiner says that since he didn’t say it, then the Mafia lives.  Foley wants to know more about Hogan and asks Steiner what he is like.  Steiner says that Hogan is a master manipulator and there is a storm on the horizon.

After a break, Foley meets up with Kevin Nash and Eric Young and asks who Hogan is bringing in with him.  Nash says he is bringing Virgil but quickly says that he is kidding.  Nash then says the Disciple and Brian Knobbs but Foley wants a serious answer.  Nash says when he finds out anything he will tell him.

Match 6: Desmond Wolfe vs. Bobby Lashley (Semi-Final TCS Tournament)
The match starts and Lashley puts Wolfe in a full nelson but Wolfe is able to get to the ropes to break the hold.  Lashley then puts Wolfe in a wrist lock but Wolfe backs Lashley into the ropes to again break the hold.  Wolfe then connects with a couple of back elbows but Lashley comes back with a spear in the corner and nearly puts Wolfe away with a full nelson slam.

Wolfe comes back and takes Lashley down with the snap arm takedown and goes for the Tower of London but Lashley counters into the dragon sleeper.  Wolfe again grabs the ropes and locks Lashley in an arm lock while Lashley was in the ropes.  Earl Hebner makes the five count and disqualifies Wolfe from the match to allow Lashley to advance to the finals with an injured arm.

After a commercial break, Lauren is in the locker room with Bobby Lashley and Kristal says that nobody can stop in TNA or MMA and he will dictate his own future.

Match 7: Robert Roode vs. Kurt Angle (Semi-Final TCS Tournament)
The match starts and the two trade blows before Roode takes Angle down with a neckbreaker.  Roode gets a couple of near falls but Angle is able to dump Roode to the floor and send him into the steel steps.  Angle sends Roode back into the ring and tries to wear him down with a waist lock and picks up a near fall after an overhead release suplex.

Roode fights his way back into the match and picks up a near fall after hitting a spinebuster but Angle soon counters with a German suplex.  Angle follows with an Angle Slam but Roode kicks out.  Desmond Wolfe begins making his way towards the ringside area.  Wolfe spits on Angle and gets him to come after him which gets Angle counted out of the match.

AJ Styles comes out to the ring and says he is concerned about Sting and wants him to call him.  Daniels then interrupts and walks out to the ring who wonders if Sting knows that a friendship with Styles costs more than it’s worth.  Daniels says that he has realized that Styles wanted to be best friends because he didn’t Daniels to be his enemy.  Daniels says that they are enemies and is going to put Styles in his place.  Styles gets in Daniels’ face and tells him that he is going to find out what he is all about at Final Resolution.

Lauren meets up with Robert Roode and James Storm in the back.  Roode says he has respect for Bobby Lashley and is going out there for not only himself, but for Storm as well.  Roode says the British Invasion has been avoiding them and he is going to win a shot to take back at what is rightfully theirs.

A video package is aired that hypes the Hulk Hogan signing and says that Dixie Carter will answer questions about the state of TNA in an exclusive interview next week.

Match 8: Robert Roode vs. Bobby Lashley (Finals of TCS Tournament)
Lashley starts the match out by slamming Roode down to the mat and goes right for the dragon sleeper but Roode is able to get to the ropes.  Lashley then picks up a two count after a slam and an elbow drop.  Roode is finally able to counter Lashley’s offense and begins to target Lashley’s injured arm as we head into a commercial break.

We return to the match to see Roode still working over Lashley’s arm but he is able to finally get to the ropes to break the arm bar.  Lashley is finally able to get back into the match with a full nelson slam followed by a series of clotheslines and a choke slam.  Lashley then hits a back body drop but misses with a spear.  Roode then comes back with the Payoff but Lashley kicks out of the pin attempt.  Lashley then hits a spear and picks up the pin fall to win the TCS Tournament.

Kristal Lashley comes into the ring to celebrate with her husband as Impact comes to a close.

Quick Results
- Bobby Lashley defeated Abyss by submission to advance in the TCS Tournament.
- Desmond Wolfe defeated Suicide by pin fall to advance in the TCS Tournament.
- Kurt Angle defeated D’Angelo Dinero by pin fall to advance in the TCS Tournament.
- Robert Roode defeated Homicide by pin fall to advance in the TCS Tournament.
- Tara won a 10-Knockout Battle Royal to win a shot at the Knockout Championship.
- Bobby Lashley defeated Desmond Wolfe by disqualification to advance to the finals of the TCS Tournament.
- Robert Roode defeated Kurt Angle by count out to advance to the finals of the TCS Tournament.
- Bobby Lashley defeated Robert Roode by pin fall in the finals of the TCS Tournament.

Starman’s Thoughts
It is Thanksgiving and I would like to give my thanks to family and friends, to good times and togetherness, and to TNA for putting on a decent holiday show for once.  For the past two years fans have had to suffer what was known as the Turkey Bowl, a bogus tournament where the winner gets a $25,000 payoff and the loser has to parade around in a turkey suit.

That all changed this year.  Instead of a lame throwaway tournament with hokey comedy bits and a traditional Thanksgiving food fight, TNA gave us a legitimate tournament with the prize being a future title shot with a knockout battle royal for dessert.

The TNA Championship Series Tournament played out in full during tonight’s episode.  The tournament featured some fresh matches between wrestlers who normally wouldn’t wrestle against each other, such as Angle against Dinero and Lashley against Abyss, so there were plenty of fresh matchups on the show.

The one downfall of the tournament was that it was specified what title each individual would get if they won the tournament.  Stating that it was for a future title shot would have been enough and letting the wrestler decide what he would like would have been better in my mind.  If this is a reoccurring event, I hope that TNA changes this down the line.

As the tournament progressed, I was surprised to see how it all played out.  My initial thought was that we would be seeing Desmond Wolfe face off against Kurt Angle in a rematch of Turning Point.  Instead, neither of them made it to the finals, which is probably a good business decision on TNA’s part.  Let the feud between the two build up some more and put them in the ring on another pay-per-view instead of a holiday show that many fans may not watch.

Instead, the fans got to see Bobby Lashley go up against Robert Roode in the finals.  Not quite the match I would have thought would be in the finals, but it was a decent match, as most of the matches throughout the night were.  In the end, Lashley won the opportunity to face off against the TNA World Champion by defeating Robert Roode.

Speaking of Lashley, his wife, Kristal, played a little villain role in the opening match by playing hurt to distract Abyss and even became a mouthpiece of sorts for her husband.  It is not hard to see that Bobby lacks any sort of skills on the microphone and I hope that Kristal is able to help in that department.

All in all, the tournament was a nice change of pace for Impact and I was glad that a focus was put on wrestling for a change.  I was even more surprised that most of the matches were given at least a decent amount of time to work with and develop.  Now if they could only keep with that and cut out the typical two minute matches they would be getting somewhere.

Aside from the tournament, a few other things came to mind while watching tonight’s show.  For starters, I have to say that Scott Steiner was in rare form tonight.  His interaction between the costume lady and Mick Foley was great.  It was even more surprising to see that he didn’t even stumble and stammer across his words like he usually does.  I hope they continue developing this angle with Steiner wanting to keep the Main Event Mafia going, it could be a lot of fun.

Secondly, I cannot wait to hear what Dixie Carter has to say about the state of TNA on next week’s show.  I haven’t been too thrilled with the Hulk Hogan signing as others may be and I really want to know how he is going to be used and what his role will be within the company.  I am hoping that those questions and more will be answered next week… granted that Dixie Carter doesn’t no-show her interview like Sting did last week.

Finally, it was good to hear Taz mention that the TCS Tournament meant TNA Championship Series and not the Team Challenge Series, which was the infamous tournament in the AWA back in the late 80s.  Being a Minnesotan, I remember watching AWA as a kid and the Team Challenge Series that aired near the end of the promotion’s life span.

Thankfully, TNA only stole the letters and not some of the gimmick matches, such as the Turkey on a Pole match.  Happy Thanksgiving everyone.