Impact – June 16, 2011 – A Lot Happens Here. Not Sure If That’s A Good Thing Though.
Impact Wrestling
Date: June 16, 2011
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Tazz
We’re past Slammiversary now and on the way to Victory Road. Tonight we apparently also begin the Bound For Glory Series which is a competition between 12 people that I guess we’ll hear the details of tonight. Also we have a new world champion in the form of Mr. Anderson who has a #1 contender in the form of Kurt Angle. Finally we also get to begin the build for the Victory Road PPV which is an X-Division themed show involving some people being brought in from the past and outside as well. Let’s get to it.
We open with a highlight package of Slammiversary with post match soundbytes from a lot of the guys. Jarrett says it’s over with Angle when he says it’s over.
Anderson is here with the title and what looks like a black eye. There’s a bunch of stuff in the ring such as a basketball goal, a pinball machine, a stripper pole, some food and beer kegs. This is his championship reception. Anderson says he doesn’t need anyone in the back or the fans. There are five people that are important to him: his niece, his wife, me, myself and I.
Here’s Gunner to crash the party. He talks about how Anderson asked him for help last week and wants a title match as his reward. Anderson thanks him but says Gunner’s services are no longer required and he wishes him the best in all of his future endeavors. Gunner has a hick accent. Anderson says no because there are more deserving people than Gunner. He’s thirsty apparently and pours a beer for himself which of course goes into Gunner’s face. Gunner puts him through the table of food to end the segment.
The Bound For Glory series is for the title shot at BFG. That’s a nice prize.
Sting is here.
D-Von vs. Hernandez
This stems off a match on Xplosion where D-Von beat Anarquia and was beaten down post match, only for Pope to make the save. Hernandez jumps him to start thanks to Sarita distracting the referee. D-Von gets a clothesline for two and spears Hernandez coming out of the corner to keep his advantage.
D-Von has slimmed down a bit apparently. Pope saunters out and sits next to D-Von’s family, allowing Hernandez to roll up D-Von for two. Thesz Press by D-Von and here’s Mexican America to run in for the DQ at 1:52. Well this was pointless. Pope makes the save after D-Von’s sons insist he do so. They have a weird staredown post match.
Anderson storms into Bischoff’s office and says Eric needs to control Gunner. Eric says no because Anderson turned down Immortal awhile ago. It’s Anderson vs. Gunner, presumably tonight. Ah yes it’s tonight.
Kurt is here with his kids.
After the break here’s Kurt, minus his kids. Did he leave them with Abyss in daycare or something? Angle talks about how you don’t just put a gold medal on the line on a whim. He says that in 1996 he trained very hard and managed to make the Olympic team and even won a gold medal to represent his country. Angle says he wants to do it again and is trying out for the 2012 Olympic wrestling team at the age of 43. That’s legit from what I understand.
Here’s Jarrett who says it’s not over yet. He says this started with a handshake in Pittsburgh so let’s end this tonight. Jeff says that the company can’t hold both of them. He wants one more match and doesn’t care if it means leaving the country or moving to Mexico. Well he is going to be at AAA’s biggest show of the year this weekend so there’s some truth to that.
Angle says Jeff should have more honor than this and needs to just leave. Jeff apparently says that there was nothing going on with him and Karen and he lied so Jeff’s word means nothing. If Jeff can get a document together by the end of the show saying he’ll go to Mexico if he loses, Kurt will see him in the parking lot tonight. The FINAL BATTLE was four days ago right?
We’ll explain the BFG Series next.
Ok so here’s the deal. There are 12 people in it and the winner is in the BFG Title Match. Points can be won in any kind of match on any TNA show, including house shows. Here’s how the scoring works:
Submission: 10 points
Pin: 7 points
Count Out: 5 points
DQ Win: 3 points
Draw: 2 points
DQ Loss: -10 points
The top four compete at an unspecified date and the winner gets the title shot at the biggest show of the year. RVD vs. Samoa Joe is the first match tonight.
Eric Young is talking to Matt Morgan about how he needs to get ready for his TV Title match tonight. Morgan says he needs to get ready for the BFG Series. If any match counts for that, why not beat Young at the same time? Anyway, Young says it has to be a TV star he faces for the TV Title. Morgan says an executive producer here used to be on a sitcom so go find him.
Apparently there’s going to be a 12 man tournament with the winner getting a contract at the PPV.
Austin Aries vs. Kid Kash vs. Jimmy Rave
This is part of the aforementioned tournament apparently. Rave has the way old Christian style see through shirt. Aries wants a test of strength with either guy. Next week there are going to be three new X guys apparently. Aries is sent to the floor and Rave takes over on Kash. Aries comes back in and that goes nowhere as Kash pulls him to the floor. Kash tries a springboard but jumps into a spear by Rave for two. Aries cleans house and sends them both to the floor to set up a suicide dive to take them both out.
BIG Austin Aries chant starts up as it’s pretty clear that he’s the biggest deal here. Kash takes both guys out with a huge spinning dive. Back in the ring Kash and Aries slug it out with Kash getting two. Aries breaks up a Rave cover and plants him with a brainbuster to end this at 4:25.
Rating: B-. Very fast paced match here and it’s pretty clear that Aries is the best guy out there, but at the same time I’m not getting overly excited for this series. Once a year they build up the X-Division and after that show the whole thing goes back into the regular flow of things. The matches will certainly be fun though so there’s that to look forward to at least.
Knockout Tag Titles: Velvet Sky/Miss Tessmacher vs. Sarita/Rosita
Sarita and Velvet start us off. Mexican America has been sent to the back apparently. Velvet sends her flying and it’s off to Rosita and Tessmacher. The challengers dominate for awhile so it’s off to Sarita again. This is your standard Knockouts match, in that they’re nice to look at but at the same time it’s a lot of yelling and not much on the wrestling. Tessmacher looks incredible in those little shorts but she can’t wrestle that well at all. Everything breaks down but as the challengers want a double suplex, here’s ODB to distract Velvet. The champs double team Tessmacher and a flip splash by Rosita gets the pin at 3:52.
Rating: D. Nothing of note at all here as the whole thing was just to set up more ODB vs. Velvet which is nothing interesting in the slightest. The girls aren’t incredibly good in the ring but they’re trying at least. They needed someone in there to anchor this match and it hurt things a lot.
Post match ODB and Velvet yell at each other a lot and here’s Jackie freaking Moore for the double beatdown on Velvet. Oh joy. The girls beat up security and Velvet for a long while until they get split up.
Jarrett signs the contract with Hogan for later and Hogan calls him the King of Kings. Jeff leaves and Sting pops up. On the 14th of July it’s the rematch, the show after Destination X. Sting believes him and Hogan says there’s a history between them that no one knows about. Sting asks if there’s a shred of the old Hogan left. Sting rants about Hogan’s legacy in WCW and the catchphrases and Hogan’s legacy that he’s leaving for Brooke and Nick (Hulk’s kids) which sets Hogan off.
Hogan throws him out and Sting freaks out, saying he’s not ready to leave. He goes insane, yelling at “Terry”, asking if Terry wants to wear a mask. Sting gets the paint from last week and paints on Hulk’s face while pushing him into the corner. Sting shouts about making the choice and we finally see Hogan with paint all over his face. WEIRD segment to say the least.
Jackie and ODB rant about cleaning up the division and Velvet jumps ODB. This results in the heels yelling a lot and sounding very annoying.
Austin Aries says he’s going to make the X-Division matter again. Eric Young pops up and tries to start a TV Title match with the interviewer. He superkicks him and gets a pin with Aries counting. Oh it was Jason Hervey from the Wonder Years.
Bound For Glory Series: Rob Van Dam vs. Samoa Joe
This is billed as a dream match. Ok then. The bell is after a break. Joe takes over to start but RVD reverses into a body press for two and hits the floor. Joe catches a slingshot dives into a belly to belly for two in a solid looking spot. RVD avoids a shot in the corner and hits a spinwheel kick to the face of Joe in the corner. Monkey flip out of the corner doesn’t work though as Rob lands on the apron, only to get clotheslined across the top to the floor. Suicide elbow takes RVD out again and Joe is in full control.
They change some reversals in the ring and Joe crushes Rob into the corner. Joe’s skin is blood red for some reason. Kick to the back of the head gets two for the Samoan. Joe fires some LOUD chops but runs into a boot in the corner. Rob tries a spinning cross body but Joe goes old school and just moves out of the way of it, letting Rob crash. I love it when he does that.
Knee drop gets two and we hit a modified chinlock. RVD fights out of it and gets a Stunner to set up a superkick. Rolling Thunder gets two. Joe counters a leapfrog of all things but walks into the spin kick of Van Dam’s. Release Rock Bottom out of the corner takes Rob down again and Joe loads up the Musclebuster. Rob blocks it so Joe tries a superplex instead. Van Dam breaks it up and the Five Star ends this at 9:10 to give Rob seven points.
Rating: C+. I liked this actually as both guys did a decent job out there. Once they got past the first few minutes things got going a bit better and it became a big match showdown which is what these two should be having. Also nice to see a match get some time tonight as that’s normally a perk and it was here.
Gunner is getting medical attention from earlier and says he doesn’t like anyone.
Gunner vs. Mr. Anderson
Gunner has Bischoff with him but Bischoff heads to the back rather quickly. Non-title here. Interesting note about Anderson here as his first title match is on July 14, meaning there won’t be a world title match at Destination X. After a brief run around outside Anderson gets that neckbreaker of his for two. Off to the chinlock about 90 seconds in with the champion in control. Anderson has a bit of a gut on him.
More shots to the back of the head and then Anderson just hammers away. He slams Gunner but misses a Swanton Bomb. Gunner fights back and gets a belly to back suplex for two. There’s a big bandage on Gunner’s nose so I guess he got cut from the cup earlier. Rolling fireman’s carry slam gets two for Anderson so he hammers away a bit more. And now Anderson calls down the mic. He announces that he’s still world champion and walks into the F5 for the pin at 8:45.
Rating: C-. Didn’t really get into this and the ending really hurt it I think. I get that Anderson is cocky but why would he be that arrogant? Also really not a fan of having the world champion lose in his first match. I will give them credit for pushing some new young guys though in the form of Crimson and Gunner, so there’s certainly that.
Steiner vs. Ray next week in a BFG match. Steiner rants about not knowing how to do anything other than beat people up. He has no sugar for Ray and can’t play the guitar either. This is one of those so insane it’s funny promos from Steiner.
Ray says not to crack jokes. This match has the potential to be either the biggest trainwreck of all time or a pretty awesome brawl.
Time for the parking lot brawl with the circle of cars and wrestlers out there. Do you win by pin I guess? Angle takes him down with relative ease and hammers him. This is shot like a fight instead of a match and Angle grabs an armbreaker. Jeff fights out of it and it’s almost all Kurt so far. Jeff sends him into a car and Ray yells him on.
Jeff says he’ll never leave TNA (again) and tells Kurt to go to train for the Olympics before hitting the Stroke on the concrete. Angle gets up as Jeff leaves and they go at it some more. Angle Slam onto a car and Angle chokes him with his shirt. “Say adios Jarrett!” Jeff is done and Angle leaves. Ray says Jeff enver gave up. Jarrett wakes up and says adios to end the show.
Overall Rating: C-. Well you certainly can’t say that they didn’t throw a lot at us here. I really didn’t like the middle section with the girls yelling and the Sting/Hogan thing. Not that segment didn’t grab my attention and get incredibly intense because it did, but it probably leads to Hogan vs. Sting and there’s no way that’s going to be worth seeing. Not a huge fan of this show, but they were certainly trying which I can definitely give them point for. The two tournaments going on at once are a stretch, but it could be more of the same I guess, which means this is a better alternative.
Results
D-Von b. Hernandez via DQ when Mexican America interfered
Austin Aries b. Jimmy Rave and Kid Kash – Brainbuster to Rave
Rosita/Sarita b. Velvet Sky/Miss Tessmacher – Flip Splash to Tessmacher
Rob Van Dam b. Samoa Joe – Five Star Frog Splash
Gunner b. Mr. Anderson – F5