Eric Bischoff arrives to the Impact Zone and is telling the person over the phone to get an unknown person signed. He mentions that TNA is a lot better than the cesspool he is used to working in.
A recap of Against All Odds is then aired where the Pope came out as the winner of the 8 Card Stud Tournament and AJ Styles retained the TNA World Championship against Samoa Joe. Finally, footage of the press conference about the move to Monday night’s is aired.
The Impact intro then hits before we are greeted by D’Angelo Dinero’s music as he comes down to the ring. The Pope says he defied all of the odds at Against All Odds and the only thing standing between him and gold is Arthur “I Have No Class” Jackson and Dick Flair. Dinero says come Lockdown, he will step into the cage as the challenger but will leave as the TNA World Champion.
Flair’s music hits as Styles and Flair walk out to the ring with a couple of armfuls of women. Flair gets in the Pope’s face and reminds him of who Flair is and reminds him that Styles is the TNA World Champion. The Pope compares Flair to a piece of crap before Styles busts in and calls Dinero a nobody who is going nowhere. The Pope answers back with a right fist and the two go at it but Flair joins in and Dinero is brutally beaten down.
Flair brings a chair into the ring and wraps it around Dinero’s ankle and begins to stomp on it. Styles follows up by putting Dinero in the figure four leg lock as we head into a commercial break. The announce team recaps the attack when we return and say that the two have sent a violent and impactful message to Dinero. The announce team then talks about the move to Monday nights and how excited they are about it.
Match 1: Daffney vs. Tara (Non-title Match)
The match starts and Tara takes Daffney down with a series of punches before getting a two count after hitting a tilt-a-whirl slam. Daffney is able to fight her way into the match after countering with a kick and begins to toss Tara around by her hair. The match spills out to the floor and Daffney nails Tara with a toolbox and the referee disqualifies Daffney. It doesn’t stop her, though, as she continues brutally attacking the Knockouts Champion and nails Tara several times with a chair before Dr. Stevie comes out to restrain her.
Mick Foley walks into the office and apologizes for Against All Odds and not using the bat. Bischoff says he is a rational guy and says Foley poured his heart into the match. To show his appreciation he is going to give Foley a makeover and is going to take him out shopping and sends him off with some style experts. Once Foley leaves, Bischoff makes a phone call and requests that Abyss comes to see him right away.
Kevin Nash is shown arriving to the Impact Zone and does not look happy.
Match 2: Orlando Jordan vs. Samoa Joe
A male and female escort accompanies Jordan to the ring. Before coming out to the ring, Bischoff stops Joe and asks where his Samoan pride is at and wants him to go out and impress him in his match against Jordan.
The bell rings and Joe goes right on the attack but he keeps on looking over at the entrance ramp. OJ is able to get back into the match after hitting a spinebuster and a neckbreaker but he can barely keep Joe down for a one count. Joe regains the advantage but Jordan counters and pins Joe after hitting a back cracker from the turnbuckle. Jordan then quickly leaves the ring as Joe cannot believe he was pinned.
Abyss is walking down the hallway and is concerned about Eric Bischoff wanting to see him as we head into a commercial break. We return to see Abyss in the office with Bischoff and he tells Abyss that he will be unmasked for not using the bat during his match on Sunday. Abyss argues by saying he used tacks but Bischoff doesn’t care and says he is going to reveal his face to the world tonight. Abyss then runs out of the office.
Christy is with Eric Young who says that Kevin Nash wants to talk to Scott Hall and Sean Waltman in the ring tonight. He says he hopes the Band can sneak their way into the ring so Nash can meet them face to face.
Highlights of the press conference from this past Monday is aired as we head into a commercial break.
Jeff Jarrett is in the run down dressing room when Eric Bischoff walks in with a barbed wire bat. He says he was disappointed when it wasn’t used at Against All Odds and orders Jarrett to use it in his match tonight against Abyss. He says if he does, he might get Jarrett a nice velvet Elvis painting for his dressing room.
Match 3: Doug Williams/Brian Kendrick/Motorcity Machine Guns vs. Amazing Red/Generation Me/Kazarian (8-Man X Division Tag Match)
Kazarian makes his “return” to TNA after a year and a half absence. Williams welcomes him back by attacking him from behind but Kazarian holds his own before tagging Generation Me into the match. The Guns use their quick teamwork to work over Max until he is able to tag in Red, who takes Sabin down with a spinning DDT.
A distraction allows Sabin to regain control and tags Williams back into the match but Red takes him down with a kick to the head and tags Kaz back into the match. The match then breaks down with bodies flying everywhere Kaz is able to hit a slingshot DDT on Williams to win the match for his team.
Abyss is seen running in the back but the doors are locked. Slick Johnson stops him and says that he has a match up next and tells him to get into the ring.
More footage of the press conference is aired to once again hype the move to Monday nights.
Match 4: Abyss vs. Jeff Jarrett
Jarrett once again comes out with no music but he is carrying the barbed wire baseball bat. Jarrett tries to get some offense going but Abyss is able to easily take him down with a clothesline. Abyss goes for the Shock Treatment but Jarrett is able to get out of it and takes Abyss down with an enziguri. Jarrett continues on the attack with a dropkick before hitting a clothesline that sends Abyss out to the floor.
Jarrett follows Abyss out to the floor but is sent headfirst into a chair. Abyss then places the chair in between the ring ropes in the corner before rolling Jarrett back into the ring. Jarrett starts to fight his way into the match and they both take each other out with a clothesline. Eric Bischoff is seen making his way out to the entrance ramp to get a closer look at the action as we head into a commercial break.
We return to the match to see Jarrett try a double axe handle but is caught by Abyss and is driven down to the mat. Abyss misses with a follow up elbow drop and hits the Stroke on Abyss. Jarrett follows by sending Abyss through the chair in the corner as Bischoff looks on in approval. Jarrett then grabs the bat but has second thoughts about using it. Jarrett tosses the bat out to the floor and Bischoff calls out for the troops.
Tomko, Desmond Wolfe, Raven, Rhino and Homicide come out and begin beating Abyss and Jarrett down. Eric Bischoff makes his way to the ring and teases that he is going to take off Abyss’ mask but he is interrupted by the music of Hulk Hogan. He makes his way to the ring and grabs the microphone from Bischoff and he tells Abyss to go back to his office. Hogan then leaves the ring without saying anything else.
After a commercial break we see Abyss being escorted to Hogan’s office by a group of security guards.
Match 5: The British Invasion vs. Beer Money
James Storm starts out strong against Brutus Magnus but Rob Terry nails Storm from the apron to turn the tide of the match. The Brits then use quick tags to work over Storm with Terry supplying most of the power while Magnus is trying for the pin falls. Magnus is finally countered with a jawbreaker and Roode is tagged in as Beer Money work over both Brits and they put the match away by hitting the DWI on Magnus.
After the match, Rob Terry hands a microphone to Brutus Magnus who calls Terry out. Magnus calls Terry a disgrace to the British Invasion as he cannot do anything right. Magnus then says he is Terry’s superior before slapping him across the face. Terry responds by taking Magnus down with a clothesline before leaving him in the ring.
Kevin Nash is seen pacing in his dressing room as we head into a commercial break.
Abyss is in the office and Hogan says he is sick of watching him shake and be afraid of his own shadow. Hogan shows Abyss his WWE Hall of Fame ring and says that it is his life, what he did for 30 years, what he loved and what made him nearly crippled to this day. Hogan gives Abyss the ring and says it will give him the power of the universe and will guide and protect him. Hogan says it will make Abyss stronger than he ever was and he will become the god of man. Abyss says he won’t let Hogan down and puts the ring on and lets out a trademark Abyss yell.
Match 6: Daniels vs. Kurt Angle
The bell rings and Daniels goes right on the attack and begins to pound on Angle but Angle is able to counter Daniels’ offense with an ankle lock and makes Daniels quickly tap out.
Angle gets on the microphone and says that Mr. Anderson did beat him on Sunday. That didn’t piss him off, though, but what he did to his dog tag necklace after the match did. Angle says he went through a lot the last year and a half and he met soldiers at an appearance in Texas. One soldier in particular gave him the necklace to remind him of who he is.
Angle read the inscription on the necklace and says what Anderson did on Sunday with the necklace went against all of the soldiers in America. He says when he spit on it, he spit in the faces of all of the soldiers and Angle will make him pay for it. Angle says he will make him bleed every drop of blood in his body and says he’ll see him in hell.
Mr. Anderson comes out and makes a few sarcastic remarks before saying he see nothing more in his necklace than a utensil to carve him up with. Anderson then invites Angle to come up the ramp to come get some and Angle complies. Anderson focuses on Angle’s bandaged head before welcoming Angle to Total Nonstop Anderson.
Jeremy Borash is with Samoa Joe in the parking lot and wants to get some comments from him about his rough past few weeks before a van pulls out in front of him and where a bunch of masked men toss him in the back before taking off.
Kevin Nash and Eric Young make their way to the ring and Nash grab a microphone. He says he chose Scott Hall and Sean Waltman to be his friend about 17 or 18 years ago and says he has tried his hardest over the years to keep them employed but he is done carrying them. Nash tells the two to find their way into the building and meet him in the ring where he’ll be waiting.
Hall and Syxx-Pac are seen coming through the crowd and EY slides out of the ring and goes after Pac, while Hall and Nash meet up in the ring. Hall tosses a toothpick at Nash’s face and Nash drops him with a punch but security run in the hold Nash back. Hogan comes out of the entrance tunnel and looks over the situation as Impact comes to a close.
Quick Results
- Tara defeated Daffney by disqualification.
- Orlando Jordan defeated Samoa Joe by pin fall.
- Amazing Red/Generation Me/Kazarian defeated Doug Williams/Brian Kendrick/Motorcity Machine Guns by pin fall.
- Abyss fought Jeff Jarrett to a no contest.
- Beer Money defeated the British Invasion by pin fall.
- Kurt Angle defeated Daniels by submission.
Starman’s Thoughts
Tonight’s show was a good way to come off of Against All Odds and, with a few exceptions, really hit it on pretty much all sides. For starters, D’Angelo Dinero came out and got things going after his huge tournament victory at the pay-per-view. The Pope really came off looking big time in his promo and as a credible challenger to the TNA World Championship. As a plus, it is nice to see a fresh face in the title scene.
I’m starting to think that WWE’s loss with Dinero is one of TNA’s greatest gains. Dinero is the complete package in terms of charisma and talent, however, his character in ECW wasn’t playing up to his full potential. I really hate comparing Dinero to the likes of a Stone Cold Steve Austin, but as Elijah Burke, he was ECW’s version of Stunning Steve Austin. In TNA, Dinero has come out of his shell and is delivering great matches and incredible promos. Granted, he isn’t on the same level as Austin, but he is on the right path to become a huge success in the company.
Kaz also made his return to the ring as his usual self and looked good in his X Division tag team match. I’m guessing we will see a lot of the X Division as we head into Destination X and I am hoping that the guys make the most of their time in the spotlight. As I have said many times before, the X Division is one of the few things that makes TNA different from WWE and could help in their head-to-head war with Raw when Impact moves to Monday nights.
If anything else, I hope that the return of Kaz means the end of Suicide is upon us.
Abyss and Jeff Jarrett had a decent match against each other tonight and Eric Bischoff’s involvement made it even more compelling. At the end, Hulk Hogan ordered Abyss to his office and the whole angle went south from there. I didn’t mind the little pep talk that Hogan gave Abyss as his paranoid character has started to wear thin on me, but the whole empowering Hall of Fame ring was really lame. There really isn’t much more to say about it than that. Lame.
Aside from that, a couple of the matches rubbed me the wrong way. For starters, I see that Angle needed an easy victory to regain some momentum after losing to Mr. Anderson at Against All Odds, but did he really need to bury Daniels in about a minute? Daniels deserves more than that, I mean, wasn’t he in the main event of a pay-per-view recently? Send some other sacrificial lamb out there, not Daniels. Was Sean Morley busy or something?
Samoa Joe losing cleanly against Orlando Jordan was another match that I had to question. It was obvious that Joe’s mind was somewhere else, but I just don’t see what the appeal of OJ is and why he is getting a push. It looks like Joe’s stretch of misfortune is heading somewhere as he was abducted at the end of the show, by a group of people who appear to shop at the same stores as Tomko. My first guess is that this will lead to yet another turn by Joe, but I will give that time to play out a bit.
Well, at least there wasn’t any appearance of men kissing on the show.
Finally, the show really ended on a whimper with the continuing saga of Kevin Nash against his former friends in Scott Hall and Sean Waltman. The crowd was nearly dead silent during Nash’s promo which should give the creative team an idea of how well this angle is being received. I don’t understand why this has to end each and every show, but I hope it gets going somewhere soon.
To end this on a positive note, I will say TNA did a stellar job by constantly showing clips of Monday’s press conference and making a big deal out of it. The move to Monday is a big deal and they are going out of there way to make sure the fans don’t forget to make the move along with them on March 8th.
