A video package highlighting Mr. Anderson kicks off Impact. Also, footage of Sting’s recent actions is aired and the voiceover guy wonders what kind of mind games Sting has in store for RVD.
We head into the Impact Zone and the announce team runs down this week’s card that will feature a three way match between AJ Styles, Kazarian and Jay Lethal. Mike Tenay promises that it will be an intriguing show as Sting’s music hits and he comes out to the ring.
Sting says not everything is as it seems and says there is a lot of smoke and mirrors around in TNA. Sting goes on to say that there is meaning behind his actions and he doesn’t need to explain himself, nor does he owe an explanation. Sting then promises change and says he will take the title from RVD and the veil will be pulled over everyone’s eyes.
A video package is then aired that shows Sting’s recent reign of terror in TNA as Eric Bischoff and Miss Tessmacher comes out of the entrance tunnel. Bischoff is using a crutch and says that Sting is not the man he thought he once knew. Bischoff calls Sting a fraud and says that he is his own problem. Bischoff says he and Hogan put TNA and the fans first, but Sting puts himself ahead of everything.
Bischoff goes on to say that he is going to continue to put the fans first and he knows they want to see Sting in a match. In fact, that match is going to start right now and his opponent is standing right behind him. Sting turns around and Samoa Joe is standing there.
Match 1: Sting vs. Samoa Joe
Joe goes right on the attack as a referee runs down to the ring to get the match started. Matt Morgan then runs down to the ring and attacks Joe as Sting joins in. RVD’s music then hits as he comes to the ring and takes Morgan out as Sting heads out to the floor.
Bischoff comes out again and says the match will continue later on tonight and books a tag team match. Bischoff says it will be RVD and Samoa Joe against Sting and Matt Morgan. RVD steps in and suggests that he makes it a four way match instead. Bischoff says he doesn’t have the authority to make that kind of match and will check with Hogan first. Just then, Hogan’s music hits.
Hogan comes out and says that RVD has raised the bar ever since winning the TNA World Championship. Hogan says due to RVD being the champion he has some stroke and agrees to the four way match for later tonight.
Christy is backstage with AJ Styles who says he is pissed off about being in a three way match tonight and that he just found out. Ric Flair and Kazarian walk in and he says he is going to make him proud tonight. Flair says both Kazarian and Styles are going to make him proud tonight. As Flair and Kazarian walk out, Kazarian stops and thanks Flair for buying him a watch.
Match 2: Rosey Lotta Love vs. Roxxi
Footage of Rosey putting Daffney on the shelf during a dark match is aired to give him a bit of a introduction. For those who are not familiar with her, Rosey is a larger woman and is wearing lingerie and fishnet stockings. Rosey starts out strong against Roxxi and slams her down to the mat. Rosey then tries to squash Roxxi in the corner but Roxxi gets out of the way.
Roxxi then tries to knock her down with some dropkicks but Madison Rayne sneaks to the ringside area and hits her from behind with the Knockouts Championship. Madison orders Rosey to pin her and she ends up being rolled up by Roxxi to pick up the pin fall. Madison then enters the ring and gets in her face but Rosey just drops her to the canvas and leaves the ring.
Jeremy Borash meets up with Rosey on the ramp and she’s big, bad and beautiful. She also promises to take every one of the Beautiful People out before planting a kiss on JB’s lips.
Match 3: AJ Styles vs. Kazarian vs. Jay Lethal
The recent tension between Styles and Flair is aired as Styles and Flair makes their way to the ring. The bell rings and Styles heads out to the floor to allow Kazarian the chance to fight Lethal on his own. Lethal takes the early advantage before Styles slides in and takes Lethal down with a clothesline. Lethal, though, fights his way back and tries for the Lethal Combination until Kazarian comes in and saves him.
Kazarian and Styles begin to bicker a bit and Lethal takes them both down and picks up a pin fall on Kazarian. Lethal then tries for a springboard move on Styles but Kazarian pushes him aside and counters Lethal with a neckbreaker. Styles and Kazarian take turns trying to one-up each other but they are having some communication problems trying to work together.
Styles then goes for a springboard but Kazarian knocks Styles off the ropes. Lethal then pushes Styles into Kazarian and then rolls up Styles for the pin fall. Lethal then heads out to the floor and celebrates by the fans as Flair has a look of disbelief on his face. Flair comes in and yells at Styles for losing to Lethal and says that Styles is confused and unfocused. Flair says he is not in his good graces and Styles needs to go home and regroup.
Styles leaves and says he doesn’t need this. As he is walking up the ramp, Kurt Angle’s music hits as he is elevated right behind Styles. Angle stares Styles down but Styles just walks past him. Angle then begins to come down towards the ring as we head into a commercial break.
We return to the match to see Angle in the ring with Flair and Kazarian. Angle says he came out to show Kazarian the proper respect before making him his next victim. Angle says he gave up his #2 ranking spot to start from the ground up and with Kazarian ranked #10, it all starts with him at Slammiversary.
Flair steps in and says the two of them have a lot of history and that he wanted his youngest son to be just like him. Flair says Angle made a fast and great transition between amateur wrestling to pro wrestling, but Flair is 10 times better than Angle as a pro. Flair says he demands respect and until he gets it, Angle can hit the bricks.
As Angle begins to leave, Flair stops him and tells Angle to hold the ropes open for him. Angle holds the ropes before heading after him and tossing Flair of the entrance ramp. Kazarian then attacks Angle from behind and the two get into a brawl before Kazarian bails.
The docu-cam catches up with Matt Morgan who meets up with Sting. Morgan tries to convince Sting that he can be trusted and wants to work together as a team. Sting, though, doesn’t give him a response and walks away.
After a commercial break, the docu-cam sneaks up on AJ Styles who is irate in the parking lot about what Ric Flair just did to him. Styles says he needs to kill Jay Lethal and needs to tell Bischoff he wants a match with him at Slammiversary.
A video package highlighting Mr. Anderson’s last few weeks is aired. Christy Hemme is then standing in the ring and introduces Anderson, who has a big announcement to make about Slammiversary. Anderson comes out and says he noticed Beer Money didn’t have anyone to challenge at Slammiversary, so he put down his and Jeff Hardy’s name down for the match.
Jeff Hardy comes down to the ring and compliments Anderson for being the second craziest person in TNA aside from himself. Beer Money’s music then hits as they come out to the ring. Robert Roode and asks what either of them knows about tag team wrestling. Roode acknowledges Hardy’s past but says his brother carried him.
Roode explains to the two what tag team wrestling is all about and calls the team of Hardy and Anderson is a mismatch and shouldn’t even be stepping in the same ring as them. The two sides then comes to blows as security runs in and tries to separate the two teams.
We return after a commercial break and see that James Storm and Jeff Hardy are still battling it out around the ring. These two are set to face each other in singles action and that match is supposed to come up next. Hardy, though exposes the floor and tosses Storm onto the ground. Hardy finally rolls Storm into the ring and this match officially starts.
Match 4: Jeff Hardy vs. James Storm
Storm connects with a DDT and picks up a near fall before connecting with a hard kick to the head. Storm continues to wear down Hardy before bringing a chair into the ring. The referee takes the chair away but gives Hardy enough time to recover and nails Storm with a jawbreaker. Hardy then hits a face first suplex and heads to the top rope but Storm gets up and pushes him down.
Storm the crawls up the ropes and tries to go for a hurricanrana but Hardy blocks it and follows with a corkscrew dive off the ropes. Storm the drapes the ropes and takes a drink of his beer before spitting it in Hardy’s face. Storm the hits the Eye of the Storm but Hardy kicks out of the pin attempt. Storm then tries to use the chair once again but misses and Hardy connects with the Twist of Fate. Hardy then hits the Swanton Bomb to pick up the pin fall.
After a commercial break, we head into the second singles match between these two tag teams.
Match 5: Robert Roode vs. Mr. Anderson
The match starts as Roode and Anderson go back and forth in the opening moments until Roode heads out to the floor. Roode baits Anderson out to the floor and heads into the ring to gain the advantage as Anderson tries to get back into the ring. Roode begins to work over Anderson and picks up a few pin attempts in the process.
Roode puts Anderson is a headlock but he fights his way out of it and takes Roode down with a back drop. Anderson then hops on the middle rope and flips over Roode and tries for the sunset flip, however, Roode drops down and holds the ropes for leverage as the referee counts to three.
After the match, Anderson calls down for his microphone and says the people seem to be able to beat him is by using underhanded tactics. The reason they have to do that is because he is no mere mortal, but he is Mr. Anderson… Anderson.
The douc-cam is with Douglas Williams who talks about his style of wrestling compared to the rest of the X Division. He says he is holding on to the belt and is trying to teach them how to wrestle properly. Williams says they use a selfish attention grabbing style and if they learn to wrestle they may have a chance at the belt.
A video package focusing on the feud between Desmond Wolfe and Abyss aired. It then turns to the feud between Rob Terry and Orlando Jordan. Tonight, Abyss and Terry will take on Wolfe and Jordan in a tag team match, and that match is up next. Prior to the match, Mike Tenay mentions that Wolfe and Chelsea were given probation and community service for filing that false police report.
Match 6: Desmond Wolfe & Orlando Jordan vs. Abyss & Rob Terry
The match starts and Wolfe goes right after Abyss’ bandaged arm before tagging in his partner. Jordan also comes in and goes after Abyss’ arm but his offense is quickly stopped as Abyss tosses him out to the floor. Jordan gets up and starts checking out Chelsea and she slaps him across the face. Wolfe comes over and screams at both of them until Abyss starts attacking him out on the floor. Back in the ring, Rob Terry hits the Freakbuster on Jordan to pick up the pin fall.
A video package highlighting the tension between Team 3D and Jesse Neal is aired. Brother Devon is interviewed during the video and says Neal is only doing what they taught him to do and says that Ray and Neal will eventually go to war and it is a war he doesn’t want to be in the middle of.
After a commercial break we see Jesse Neal is laid out in the back with an ace of spades card lying on his chest. The same happened to his partner last week and the announce team wonders who could be doing this.
Match 7: Matt Morgan vs. Sting vs. Samoa Joe vs. Rob Van Dam
The match starts as Sting and RVD battle on the floor while Joe and Morgan fight in the ring. After a bit the two sides swap locations as RVD lays out Sting with a superkick that sends him out to the floor. Joe then goes in the ring and both he and RVD are about to lock up but Sting and Morgan go in the ring and break it up.
Morgan and Joe brawl back out to the floor as RVD hits a kick off the top rope on Sting and follows with the Rolling Thunder. RVD goes for the pin but it is broken up by Morgan. Morgan then turns his attention to Sting and nails him with a discuss clothesline and goes for the pin but Joe breaks it up. Joe then connects with a kick on Sting and covers but Morgan breaks the pin attempt.
Morgan then hits Joe with a side slam and then slams RVD down to the mat. Morgan begins hitting RVD with a series of elbows but a man in the crowd distracts him that appears to be Hernandez. This gives Joe an opening to hit Morgan with a muscle buster but RVD catches Joe with a kick that sends him out to the floor. RVD then hits a Five Star Frog Splash from across the ring onto Morgan to pick up the pin fall.
RVD and Samoa Joe then stand face-to-face in the ring as Impact comes to a close.
Quick Results
- Sting and Samoa Joe fought to a no contest.
- Roxxi defeated Rosie Lotta Love by pin fall.
- Jay Lethal defeated AJ Styles and Kazarian by pin fall in a three way match.
- Jeff Hardy defeated James Storm by pin fall.
- Robert Roode defeated Mr. Anderson by pin fall.
- Abyss & Rob Terry defeated Desmond Wolfe & Orlando Jordan by pin fall.
- Rob Van Dam defeated Matt Morgan, Sting and Samoa Joe by pin fall in a four way match.
Starman’s Thoughts
Slammiversary is still 10 days away but TNA put on a very good show to heavily promote the event with very little filler. In almost every aspect of the show, feuds were furthered, matches were made or matches were foreshadowed. TNA usually doesn’t seem to do this much hype for pay-per-views, so it was a nice change of pace
For starters, the main event was decent and helped progress the RVD/Sting match at Slammiversary, plus it possibly foreshadowed a return of Hernandez and a potential RVD/Joe match up. A match between Van Dam and Joe could be money in my opinion, but with Joe ranked so far down in the title picture, I am starting to wonder if maybe RVD will drop the title at Slammiversary.
Mr. Anderson and Jeff Hardy have formed a tag team and are challenging Beer Money to a match at Slammiversary. It’s too bad that there isn’t anything on the line in this match such as the tag team titles. Oh yeah, those titles are being wasted around the waists of the Band. Anyway, this match was booked tonight and it already has me looking forward to it. This match was built up nicely and it could be decent if TNA stays away from going with a swerve.
TNA has been making Jay Lethal look like a million bucks the past few weeks. The fans are really into Lethal, and I am even more now as he has finally dropped the Black Machismo gimmick. Lethal, though, continued his winning ways and pinned the former TNA World Champion in a three way match that was pretty much a 2-on-1 handicap match.
From there, it seems that Styles will be facing Lethal at Slammiversary, which could be one of the better matches on the card. At any rate, it is quite the step up from being the resident X Division jobber that Lethal had be regulated to before getting his well deserved push.
With the loss of Awesome Kong and Tara, it is great to see TNA bring in new and familiar faces into the Knockouts Division. Roxxi is a talented performer and it is good to see her back, while it is nice to see a big woman try and fill the role that was left open when Kong left with the addition of Rosey Lotta Love.
I’m not too sure how much I like the name and/or the gimmick that Rosey has been given. Rosey has the size to be the next Knockouts monster, but I don’t know how seriously I can take her with that name, her makeup and the lingerie she wears to the ring. It does appear that she is comfortable on the microphone, so that is a huge plus. Hopefully her in-ring skills are as sharp.
Overall, Impact wasn’t a huge new worthy show this week, but it did a great job setting up Slammiversary.
