A recap of the recent events between Mick Foley and Eric Bischoff kicks off the show, as well as the Band beating down Kevin Nash that ended last week’s Impact. The intro then hits as we are welcomed to tonight’s show that will feature the rest of the qualifying matches for the 8 Card Stud Tournament as we head in to Against All Odds this Sunday.
Hulk Hogan’s music hits as he makes his way down to the ring and tells the fans that he made the right decision by coming over to TNA. Hogan says that the fans have made TNA the place to be, but a couple of guys are not on the in, meaning Scott Hall and Syxx-Pac, and the Impact Zone is on full lockdown. Hogan says what they did last week with Kevin Nash was unacceptable and he will put on the red and yellow and take them out himself if he has to.
Eric Young’s music interrupts Hogan and he comes to the ring with a microphone. Young says he isn’t going to waste a lot of Hogan’s time and asks Hogan to allow Hall and Pac into the building to get what is coming to them. Hogan says he knows about EY’s past and says that he is one of the reasons why he came to TNA, but says that the Band will not be allowed in the building. Young says he will go to them instead and Hogan tells him to do it right and bust them up real bad off the property.
Mick Foley is walking in the back and is looking for Eric Bischoff as we head into a commercial break. When we return, we see Hall and Pac sneaking around the Impact Zone as Taz compares them to a cancer that won’t go away.
Match 1: Orlando Jordan vs. D’Angelo Dinero (8 Card Stud Tournament Qualifier)
The Pope goes on the early offensive but Jordan pokes Dinero in the eyes before turning his focus on Dinero’s knee. Jordan continues on the attack while the fans tell him that he still sucks until Dinero fights his way back into the match. Dinero then delivers a knockout punch to OJ and finishes him off with the DDE and picks up the pin fall to advance to the 8 Card Stud Tournament.
Jeff Jarrett walks in to the office to chat with Eric Bischoff and says that he hopes that he delivered for him with his match against Mr. Anderson. Bischoff says he was really impressed and says he may have underestimated how valuable he is to TNA. Jarrett says he would love to have one of the slots for the 8 Card Stud Tournament but Bischoff says he doesn’t think he is ready and needs to keep on working for his spot.
Match 2: Suicide vs. Matt Morgan (8 Card Stud Tournament Qualifier)
Morgan gets this match started by catching Suicide and driving him down with a fall away slam. Morgan then crushes Suicide in the corner and follows up by slamming him down to the mat. Suicide is able to fight his way back in to the match by hanging Morgan up on the ropes but Morgan quickly comes back with the Carbon Footprint to pick up the pin fall and advances to the 8 Card Stud Tournament.
Mick Foley walks into Eric Bischoff’s office and tells him that he is willing to go along with their plans as long as Jeremy Borash and Abyss are safe in TNA. Bischoff says is surprised at his decision and says that he is a man of his word before giving Abyss one of the open slots in the 8 Card Stud Tournament. His tournament opponent will be Mick Foley, but says that if there is any shenanigans during their match, Abyss will unmask next week during Impact.
Christy is backstage with Mr. Anderson and Kurt Angle, who are partners tonight but will be opponents at Against All Odds on Sunday. Anderson says it doesn’t matter who his opponent is as he will battle his way through the tournament and become the next TNA World Champion. Angle stares at him and warns Anderson that if he screws him he will snap his ankle before walking away.
After a commercial break, Angle walks up to Eric Young and warns him not to go after the Band as Angle says Hogan could be in on the whole deal. Angle says he will go out alone and instructs EY to stay inside.
Match 3: Amazing Red vs. Doug Williams (X Division Championship)
Amazing Red uses his quickness to fire off a flurry of offense in the early going and picks up a few near falls. Williams is able to finally counter and slams Red repeatedly on the mat before slowing the pace of the match down. Red, though, is able to connect with a kick to the head and follows with a corkscrew dive out to the floor and takes the champion down. Back in the ring, Red connects with a series of kicks but he misses with a high risk move and Williams drives Red down with a rolling German suplex to pick up the pin fall.
A video package highlighting the history between Tara and Angelina Love is aired. It says their rivalry was cut short due to unforeseen circumstances and with Angelina back in TNA, will they be able to work together against Love’s former stable? They will join forces tonight to take on the Beautiful People in a handicap match.
Christy is backstage with Tara and Angelina and she admits that she hated Tara when she came to TNA. However, last week they had each others back and tonight will be no different. They then say it is going to get ugly tonight.
Match 4: The Beautiful People vs. Tara & Angelina Love (Handicap Match)
The bell rings and Angelina chases Velvet around the ring and goes before she finds herself on the wrong side of the ring and is attacked by Lacey and Madison. Back in the ring, Velvet works Angelina over before Madison and Tara are tagged in to the match. Tara works Madison over before she rolls out of the ring to regroup with her partners as we head into a commercial break.
We return to the match to see the Beautiful People use their numbers to gain advantage of the match. Lacey is tagged in to the match and she performs a moonsault into an elbow drop before tagging Madison back in to the match. A double clothesline takes out both Madison and Tara who tag in their partners as Angelina comes in and cleans house. The match breaks down and Angelina takes Velvet down with a big boot but the referee has his hands full with Madison and Tara. Lacey then cracks Angelina with the ugly stick and Velvet covers for the pin fall.
After the match, the beat down continues as Lacey takes Tara out with the ugly stick and the trio stands tall over their opponents.
Christy is with Desmond Wolfe who talks about his upcoming match with Hernandez against Kurt Angle and Mr. Anderson. Wolfe says on paper, they look like a four of a kind, but only one will stand on top and that will be him. Wolfe then warns that if any of them take any cheap shots and he will end them.
Scott Hall and Syxx-Pac are seen again lurking around the Impact Zone as we return from a commercial break.
Match 5: Desmond Wolfe & Hernandez vs. Mr. Anderson & Kurt Angle
Hernandez starts this match out strong against Anderson until he is able to squirm away and tag Angle into the match. Wolfe is tagged into the match as he and Angle go back and forth as they have many times in the past. Hernandez and Wolfe then take turns wearing down Angle until he is able to counter with an ankle lock on Wolfe. Anderson then tries to come in to the ring as Wolfe is tapping out but the referee doesn’t see it.
Hernandez is tagged in to the match and Angle is able to counter a high risk move to sends Hernandez crashing to the mat. Angle tries to tag Anderson but he drops down to the floor as Wolfe is tagged into the match. Angle connects with a fist to his partner which allows Wolfe to get the upper hand on his opponent. Angle, however, is able to counter an attempt at the Tower of London with an Angle Slam and Anderson tags himself into the match and tosses Angle out to the floor. Anderson then pins Wolfe for the pin fall.
Samoa Joe comes out to the ring as the fans chant “next World Champ!” Joe grabs a microphone and calls AJ Styles out to the ring. Styles and Ric Flair come out and stand on the entrance ramp as Joe says that Styles disgusts him. Joe talks about their history, giving it their all for the fans and earning their spots in TNA. Joe says he threw that all away last month against Kurt Angle by taking a short cut. Joe says Styles was the last pure thing in TNA and he cheated the fans out of a champion.
Styles talks about Joe and his turning ways with the Frontline, the Main Event Mafia and the Nation of Violence and asks who he is to judge what he has done. The two get in a heated war of words before Styles finally enters the ring and the two start going at it. Joe looks to have Styles ready for a muscle buster but the Nature Boy delivers a low blow to Joe and the two of them brutally beat Joe down. Referees and security have to come out to break it up.
After a break, Eric Bischoff walks up to AJ Styles, who is pumped after his beat down of Samoa Joe. Bischoff says that after the questionable ending at last month’s pay-per-view, Bischoff himself will be the special guest referee in his match against Joe at Against All Odds and he will call it right down the middle.
The announce team runs down the Against All Odds card and we then see Kurt Angle heading towards the exit as he is stopped by Hulk Hogan. Angle calls Hogan out as being a part of the Band and Hogan says that if Angle is hellbent on getting his ass kicked, he will not stand in his way and opens the door. Hogan then tells Angle to get in the ring and hope that someone comes in to save his ass.
Angle goes out to the ring and says he isn’t going anywhere until Scott Hall and Syxx-Pac come out. The two come out from through the crowd and he takes them both out before putting Hall in an ankle lock. Pac takes out a pair of brass knuckles and clocks Angle in the head as the two begin beating him down until Hogan’s music finally hits.
Hogan slowly makes his way down the ramp and enters the ring while Hall and Pac look on. Hall and Pac greet their old buddy and hand over the brass knuckles to Hogan, who uses them to lay out both Hall and Pac. Angle then slowly gets up to his knees and looks over at Hogan in disbelief as Impact comes to a close.
Quick Results
- D’Angelo Dinero defeated Orlando Jordan by pin fall to advance to the 8 Card Stud Tournament.
- Matt Morgan defeated Suicide by pin fall to advance to the 8 Card Stud Tournament.
- Doug Williams defeated Amazing Red by pin fall to retain the X Division Championship.
- The Beautiful People defeated Angelina Love & Tara by pin fall in a handicap match.
- Mr. Anderson & Kurt Angle defeated Desmond Wolfe & Hernandez by pin fall.
Starman’s Thoughts
Tonight was the final stop on the road to Against All Odds and while we got to see how the 8 Card Stud Tournament brackets will be laid out, too much focus was put on other aspects, such as the Band, and not enough on others, such as the only two other matches booked for the pay-per-view.
The main event for Against All Odds is AJ Styles against Samoa Joe for the TNA World Championship, however, nothing was said about it until 90 minutes in to the show. Don’t get me wrong, Styles and Joe got the most out of their verbal exchange and brawl, but with such a small amount of matches to hype for the event, this should have gotten a lot more focus tonight than it did. As a matter of fact, this should have closed out the show, not the drama between the Band, Hogan and Angle.
The only other non-tournament match scheduled for Against All Odds is a grudge match between Team 3D and the Nasty Boys, neither of which were seen at all tonight.
At any rate, the focus of the upcoming pay-per-view was the tournament and the rest of the qualifiers were announced with D’Angelo Dinero and Matt Morgan earning their way in to the tournament and Mick Foley and Abyss given free passes. I’m not sold on basically dedicating an entire pay-per-view to a tournament – just as I wasn’t sold on the Deuces Wild Tag Team Tournament that took place at Sacrifice in 2008 – but at least the tournament brackets look interesting.
Before I end this, I did take note of a few observations from tonight’s show. First off, did Desmond Wolfe turn now as well? He seemed to be hamming it up a bit with Christy Hemme in his promo. I guess we’ll soon find out what side he is on but I’m sure his name will be added to the list of recently turned.
Second, did anyone else catch the fact that Hulk Hogan called Eric Young the current Global Champion? That’s one of the downfalls of taped television as it is hard to edit stuff out like that. It probably doesn’t matter, though, as that title hasn’t been defended on television in ages. As a matter of fact, I pretty much had forgotten all about that championship until I heard Rob Terry won it at a house show.
Finally, why is it that neither Mike Tenay nor Taz can get referee Jamie Tucker’s name right? Every episode one of them calls him Jamie McGhee. I’m starting to think it is a running joke and we will hear that at least once per week, if not more. I think it was done at least twice this week.
As always, I will be back later this weekend with my thoughts and predictions on the Against All Odds pay-per-view, so be on the lookout for that.
