It’s been about six months since this show and I thought it would be interesting to look back and see how things have gone since then.

Impact
Date: October 14, 2010
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Taz
Episode Title: THEY Have Arrived!!!

Well this is it. After four days of waiting we can finally get to the explanation from Jeff as to WHY he did what he did. This is something that is very important because you have the entire THEY angle riding on it. The importance of this show can’t be overblown as we begin the next chapter in TNA’s history.

The opening is likely to be about Jeff and THEY as well as set up the fairly obvious RVD vs. Jeff match, although I could see them postponing that one if need be. I’d also be interested in knowing how much actual wrestling we’ll have tonight but we’ll see. Let’s get to it.

We of course open with the recap of the ending of Bound For Glory.

Dixie’s attorney is here and as everyone thought we’re told that Dixie signed the contracts but they weren’t the ones she thought they were.

Hogan (still on crutches) and Bischoff are here to a MASSIVE pyro display. Of course Hogan is acting just like he did as a face. Tenay explains that Hogan and Bischoff now have the majority share of TNA….despite the fact that the attorney never said that.

Naturally Hogan gets a big face reaction with like two signs against him in the whole audience. Oh wait three fat chicks are booing. Well there’s a Hogan sucks chant so there’s something I suppose. Hogan wants Dixie here now. Apparently she promised him everything, much like Ted Turner did in 96. Hogan gets a text or something as he has his phone out and is messing with it.

Here we go: the explanation. It started with Abyss apparently and the Hall of Fame ring. Bischoff and Hogan knew why he randomly turned on Hogan. We bring him out and Hogan declares Abyss his son. THEY’RE HERE! Ok now that my pizzas are here we can get back. What did you think I meant by they?

None of the fans believed Abyss but they are now in control. The fans want RVD. Abyss follows them as Hogan and Bischoff’s soldier now. Hogan declares that Abyss with live forever and is now immortal. I think The Immortals might be the name. Eric brings out Jarrett. Wait was there an actual explanation in there for abyss? If there was I missed it.

Yeah this was no real surprise: he wanted control of his company back. I think that was the easiest of all to understand. And here’s FOURTUNE! Ok this just got good.

Flair talks to Hogan and says that Fourtune runs this company, not Hogan. LOUD Fourtune chant. One of them have to leave apparently. Hogan suggest him vs. Flair and it’s…..not on as they hug. Flair bows down to Hogan and it’s a massive Hogan orgy more or less. The explanation here makes sense though as Fourtune was mad at Dixie for bringing in EV. That actually makes sense. We get a reference to Flair’s five former ex wives and here comes Jeff!

No face paint here either. The fans think Jeff sold out. You can barely see the ropes with so many guys in there with him. He didn’t sell out but sold in. He blames the fans and doesn’t care about popularity. The fans drove him to this because he did everything with all those injuries for what?

And now it’s on to RVD. He’s the whole F’N reason Abyss took RVD out because RVD had to be gone for this to work. They are Immortal. Sting and Nash are watching in the back. Eric and Hogan offer them spots on the team. We go to a break 22 minutes into the show with them coming to the ring.

Security escorts Dixie….somewhere.

Nash and Sting come out and Sting is in street clothes which isn’t something you see that often. Tenay is already annoying. Eric says this is about money and all that jazz. Nash whispers to Sting and says this is perfect for him because it’s always been about money and him in his career. He’s gotten wiser though and quotes the Bible of all things, saying gray hair is a sign of wisdom. He’s passing on the money and if THEY want to run the company into the ground, they can do it without him. I’m surprised.

Sting says this isn’t what he came here for and says he’s here because he loves TNA. He’s shouting the whole time mind you. Sting points to Hogan, Bischoff and Flair (I think) and says this is a no win situation, turning them down. Allegedly both of these guys are leaving TNA with Nash being permanent and Sting possibly being permanent. Bischoff says they can come back anytime. Hogan’s music plays the segment to an end at 9:32.

We cut to the back where Sting and Nash leave but Pope isn’t happy with it. They offer him a place in the car out with them but he’s staying to fight the fight which they’re cool with. Dixie comes up to them and says they can’t leave her. Sting says what everyone thought: if she had listened this wouldn’t be happening. She says he was cryptic. Dixie, he sent crows down at the NWO to demand a title match one night. He’s a weird guy.

Hogan and Bischoff come up to Dixie and she slaps the heck out of Bischoff. She tells Hogan to look her in the eye and tell her he didn’t screw her. He says we’ll talk about this in HIS office as we go to another break.

In the office we have MORE talking. Bischoff smokes a cigar and Hogan flat out tells her that he screwed her out of the company. This is a big Hogan ego trip of course. Hogan and Bischoff both say this is their company. Hogan has had enough and so has Dixie. She tells her security guards to get rid of them but they work for Hogan too. Dixie’s husband SURGE gets knocked out and we take ANOTHER break.

Some hot chick in a BMW shows up. And we’re just not going to talk about this at all. Ok then. Ah ok it’s the Jersey Short chick.

Madison comes out with a referee as I’m guessing this is going to be about Tara. She yells about how Tara has HER title. She wants a match RIGHT NOW. Here’s Tara, looking GOOD. Madison says they had a deal and apparently we’re getting a match….at 9:50pm.

Knockouts Title: Tara vs. Madison Rayne

And Tara lays down so Madison can pin her. I kid you not.

Madison celebrates and here’s Mickie to talk some more. She wants a title shot RIGHT NOW but Madison sends Tara after her. Mickie sends her running and stares her down.

J-Woww from Jersey Shore comes in and talks to the Beautiful People. Apparently she’s an honorary BP tonight.

Back from break and they’re still looking for Cookie. This results in Eric Young freaking out about J-Woww. Jordan comes up and nothing of note happens.

And here’s Angle for MORE talking. No music, no intro, nothing like that. He talks about how he’s all banged up but wants to know why Hogan and Bischoff screwed him before he officially retires. Angle says what we all expected him to say: he didn’t win but he didn’t get pinned either. Cue Jarrett’s music and here he is.

Jarrett more or less calls bull on what Angle is saying. He takes a jab at Angle being an ex-husband (the real meaning being that Jarrett literally married Angle’s wife and not in kayfabe). Angle says he put TNA on the map. Uh, not quite Kurt. He says Jarrett held down everyone but couldn’t hold Angle down.

Kurt Angle, the man that held the tag titles, X-Division and World titles at the same time is talking about holding others down. Jarrett says taking Angle’s career meant more than destroying his life. Angle goes for him and the security guards take him down and handcuff him. The beatdown is on. Uh, Joe anyone?

TAZ of all people comes out of the broadcast booth and calls off Jarrett and says that he has a censored up (censored of course) neck. Old school Taz chant takes us to another break.

70 minutes in, 6 seconds of “wrestling.”

Joe talks (shocking isn’t it) about Jarrett on a tape from Monday, still in Daytona. He’s coming for Jarrett of course.

GOOD NIGHT  IT’S A MATCH! And it’s Abyss. Oh joy.

Abyss vs. Samoa Joe

Yeah they’re officially called Immortal. Well ok then. Joe beats the heck out of him first and beats him into the corner. Chokeslam takes him down and Joe is in trouble. He goes to get a chair but Joe hits a suicide dive into the chair which more or less didn’t hit Abyss’s head at all but he stays down anyway. Sure why not? Bell to the head and we’re done in two minutes. No rating. RVD comes down for the save.

Wait, why didn’t Joe come down and massacre Jeff like 5 minutes ago?

Hey look RVD wants to talk. It’s about Hardy which makes sense. Jeff pops up on the screen and says it was an illusion as he brought RVD as close to him as he could and then destroyed him. Well ok so he told Abyss to destroy him. Hardy says he’s the Anti-Christ of wrestling. WOW.

Bischoff comes out and says if RVD wants Hardy at Turning Point he has to beat Anderson tonight, winner gets the shot.

Back from a break Tessmacher is propositioned by Bischoff for “a meeting later at his place”. He snaps on her and calls her easy. Bischoff knows about Nash and Pope apparently. She’s fired from the Knockouts authority job and can either wrestle or leave. Anderson comes up and declares Bischoff a douchebag and squeezes his hand really hard saying that Bischoff won’t win this war.

D’Angeol Dinero vs. Fourtune

Yep it’s 1 vs. 5 here. Morgan and Flair aren’t in this. Total dominance here of course but it’s better than more talking I suppose. AJ misses the Pele and kicks Kaz which Pope gets two off of. DWI hits him and Kaz gets the pin. Another short match so no grade.

Ad for Turning Point where Angle is named specifically as being there. Nice one guys.

Here’s The Shore to get on my nerves and be booed out of the building. They point out that this is on at the same time as Jersey Shore because that’s how TNA works. Cue up the Beautiful People and J-Woww. Cookie and J-Woww argue as usual and Cookie says go back to the hole you came from. You know, the same one she’s from. Catfight, Shore bails. 15k for a minute long segment and an EY joke.

We recap things to kill time so we can run over into ReAction as always.

Mr. Anderson vs. Rob Van Dam

No mic time for Anderson here as he’s mad. The bell rings at about 11pm as we just HAD to have a commercial as RVD made his entrance. Make that 11:01. Naturally to see the main event of Impact you have to watch ReAction. So would that mean the winner got the win on Impact or ReAction? Winner gets Hardy at the PPV mind you.

Basic stuff to start as Van Dam hits a moonsault off the apron to kick Anderson in the head, which might have been how he injured his head and Impact is OVER! And now REACTION has started and we didn’t miss a thing and it serves no purpose but screw that who cares? If you want to see the Impact main event, don’t watch Impact!

After I have a psychotic episode over the stupidity of some of the things this company does, it’s still a boring match. Rolling Thunder is countered into a fireman’s carry and the split legged moonsault gets two. Five Star eats knees and both guys are down. And here’s Bischoff to screw us over. He tells the referee to come with him and here’s Hardy, holding his ribs with a chair.

Chair to RVD. Chair to Anderson. Pillmanizer on the arm of Anderson. Anderson curses a lot and rolls to the floor. That’s your ending by the way.

Rating: D+. Match was pretty weak due to the crowd knowing the ridiculous ending was coming. This match never really got off the ground or anything but it could have been worse. The guys knew the ending was coming and clearly didn’t get going until the very end as they were just going through the motions. Nothing bad really, but nothing particularly good.

Overall Rating: D+. This is a VERY subjective grade to put it mildly. This show can be looked at their get out of jail free card. It was the first show after their biggest show ever and a huge angle. The show as a stand alone show was atrocious. However, this was a show where a lot of talking was actually required.

The explanations that they gave needed to be done. I can understand that and I’m mostly ok with it. However there comes a point where you need some wrestling to get you through a show. Having the show revolve around one angle is fine and makes sense, but you really need some wrestling to go with it. As was said in the LD, even a 4 minute throw away match would have helped tremendously. One or two of those thrown in somewhere and this show goes WAY up.

As for doing what needed to be done tonight, they got a lot out of the way. Jarrett, Dixie, Hogan and Bischoff are all explained. Nash and Sting are written off TV, Pope has a new thing to do, Anderson’s loyalty is pretty clear and RVD and Joe will fight on their own. Hardy was explained but to say it felt rushed is an understatement. Abyss wasn’t explained at all but did we really need to hear about him? All you really get from that is the beginning of the story and we can live without that.

This show did explain some things and kind of got things going for the angle, but at the same time this is showing signs of turning into one massive soap opera much like the NWO angle. The problem with that is back then you had some amazing matches on the side to compliment the drama. You’re not getting that in the first week.

That being said, it’s the first week and I can understand a ton of talking here. However if this is now the status quo, there are REAL problems for this company. This was kind of a disappointment but to say it was horrible isn’t fair. They got through a lot tonight, but what scares me are the weeks to come. There has to be some wrestling out there, and I’m not seeing it here so far. I’m neither thrilled nor optimistic, but I’m also not convinced this is bad. Definitely interested in next week’s offering, but I’ll be less lenient on it to say the least.

Sorry for the delay.  I actually wasn’t sure what to think of the end of the show.

Victory Road 2011
Date: March 13, 2011
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Tazz

Well this is TNA’s offering for the month.  It’s another show with the majority of it added on at the very end with no real build to it.  Yes there are stories for the matches, but that doesn’t mean there’s justification for asking something like 40 dollars for a show.  The main event is the rematch of Sting vs. Jeff Hardy and the third #1 contender situation for Anderson.  Let’s get to this as it’s one of the least interesting shows I can remember in forever.

The opening video is the Sting mask being crawled on by a scorpion.  Wow they’re banking a lot on this push.

Bully Ray vs. Tommy Dreamer

 

Pre match Ray runs his mouth about how awesome Hogan and Bischoff are for letting him have a run.  Dreamer comes out and Ray talks about how he’s run Dreamer into the ground over the years and mentions breaking his wife’s neck.  This is now hardcore.  They brawl to start us off and Dreamer sends him to the floor as we imply Ray going to Immortal.  Well if they want to drive it off a cliff why not?

A fan holds a up a chair and Dreamer rams Bubba into it.  There’s some water spit into Bubba’s head.  This is opening a PPV in 2011.  Dreamer grabs some big yellow stuffed animal (apparently from Despicable Me) to drill Ray with.  Into the crowd now as my head is already hurting from this.  Granted that might be due to Florida getting a 2 seed in the NCAA tournament but who knows.

They go into the balcony with the traditional carry the guy around style. Dreamer hits him in the head with something that looked like it was made of metal to continue his dominance so far.  Back to ringside with Bubba getting in a big shot with some other unidentifiable weapon.  Crowd is hating on Ray pretty well.  He’s played the character well, but why in the world is it Bubba Ray Dudley getting this push?

Ray goes after Dreamer’s hand which only works to an extent.  Dreamer throws some garbage cans with weapons into the ring.  Good thing he had those just in case this was made hardcore I guess.  They have a road block thing that has a name that I can’t think of in there.  It’s the orange/white fence thing that is moved up when you drive through it.  And there’s an inflatable doll in there which Bubba lands in a 69 position with.

Splash on the doll onto Bubba gets two.  Ray gets a trashcan lid shot to the head of Dreamer as Dreamer goes up top.  Superplex gets no cover.  Bubba Bomb is blocked into a DDT for two.  Dreamer brings in a table (moving it off the love doll) which is set up in the ring like a small ramp.  The fans want D-Von as Ray gets a spinning Rock Bottom for two.  He sets the table for Dreamer and calls out at D-Von.  The kids of D-Von come out as does D-Von and Ray takes a 3D through the table to end it.

Rating: D+. There was a blowup doll in this as well as a Despicable Me doll.  I get that it’s a comedy match, but dude it’s Tommy Dreamer vs. Bubba Ray Dudley opening a PPV in a semi-comedy match in the year 2011.  Just get to the table match that is coming for Bubba vs. D-Von so they can move into midcard purgatory.

Winter and the Beautiful People insist they’re cool.  Winter says the issues have been Velvet’s fault.  This gets a WTF look from Velvet.

Knockout Tag Titles: Rosita/Sarita vs. Winter/Angelina Love

 

The Mexican chicks say basic Spanish stuff.  Winter is blindfolded or something and there’s no Velvet, making me think the titles are changing here.  Rosita and Angelina start us off but it’s off to Winter quickly as the champions are dominating.  Bridging Northern Lights gets two.  Angelina back in now as the fans chant USA for two Mexican chicks, Angelina (Canadian) and the British chick Winter.

Sarita is in now and has about as much luck as Rosita had.  There’s some heel cheating and Rosita misses a front flip legdrop that was aimed at Angelina’s ankles.  More fast tags by the champions as they regain control quickly.  Everything breaks down slightly and Sarita grabs a belt.  She drops it and Rosita gets ahold of it but Velvet runs in to steal it.  Winter rolls her up but no referee.  Rosita reverses it and wins the titles with a pin.

Rating: D. Well this was predictable.  I don’t think this lasted very long but I don’t time PPV matches so it’s not like it matters.  Granted these titles have been worthless since they debuted.  Velvet has to explain herself.  Wouldn’t Winter know that she was never hit by a belt and that would be enough validation?  Whatever.

We’re going to have the Jarretts on vacation tonight.  They’re at Universal Studios and Karen is bored out of her mind with the rollercoasters.  The kids are with them and Karen hates the kid stuff.

Morgan talks about (Shawn) Hernandez and how the Mexican company dropped him.  Morgan says that after this he’s going after the world title.  The recap for the match is just that Hernandez came back and played the race card, setting this up.  He’s in Immortal also.

Hernandez vs. Matt Morgan

 

This is first blood.  Hernandez came out to the LAX theme which is a rarity.  They head to the floor almost immediately as Morgan rushes the ring.  Hernandez gets a sharp wooden stick and tries to jab it into Morgan’s face ala Magnum TA vs. Tully Blanchard.  I apologize for comparing this to a classic like that.  Hernandez ribs as the face as the fans want blood.  Morgan fights back by a side slam.

Hernandez hits a Pounce as we hear about how awesome he was in AAA.  He was so awesome he wasn’t at their biggest show of the year last year.  Hernandez hammers away until Morgan gets a discus lariat.  This is rather boring if you didn’t get that.  Fall away slam continues Morgan’s lack of head shots.  He grabs the stick from earlier but gets kicked in the gut to drop it.

A fan runs in and Hernandez pulls out a chain.  Morgan kicks it out of his hand and drills Hernandez with it.  The referee is down and Hernandez is busted open.  Hernandez comes out of the corner and sprays Morgan with something that looks like fake blood or something like that.  The other referee comes out of the back (I guess not watching on a monitor or something) and gives it to Hernandez.

Rating: F+. Well the ending was original as I don’t think I’ve ever seen that done.  However, this is more or less every other first blood match with the heel bleeding and getting the win anyway in a screwy finish.  This was nothing at all of note, but granted you can say that about the first 45 minutes entirely here of Impact on Sunday.

It’s Max Buck’s birthday and he works as a team with his brother.  Shenanigans are implied.

Kazarian interviews JB in a weird moment.  He busts out a Charlie Sheen reference, making me want to end Kazarian.

Robbie E yells at someone that we can’t see.  Cookie is panicking about Ultimate X and Robbie says he’s fine.  This was idiotic if you didn’t get that.

Video on Ultimate X.  It’s so awesome that it got thrown on at the last minute.

X-Division Title: Kazarian vs. Max Buck vs. Jeremy Buck vs. Robbie E

 

The idea here is the title is hung over the ring on cables that cross to form an X.  You have to climb across to grab the title and can’t use a ladder.  It’s supposed to be all about Maz remember.  This is the 24^th Ultimate X match in history apparently and Kaz’s fifth.  This is kind of a weird triple that with Gen Me vs. Robbie vs. Kaz.  The team beats up both guys to start us off.

Kaz fights them off for a bit and manages a springboard up to the X in a cool spot.  That gets him nowhere as Robbie comes in and stomps away.  Max goes up but it’s Robbie stopping him.  Cookie is hot but the voice is annoying.  Gen Me gets everyone down and goes for the belt until Robbie stops them again.  Kaz is back in now and faces off with Jersey Boy.

Robbie escapes the Fade to Black (that reverse Piledriver) and gets backdropped to the floor, hitting his ankle on the steps.  Gen Me wakes up again and takes down both guys one more time.  Jeremy gets a sweet assisted moonsault to take Robbie and Kaz down.  Max is all alone but wants Jeremy to help him up instead.  Jeremy holds off Kaz and Max makes a run at it.  Kaz of course saves as Robbie has a bad ankle still.

Double dropkick puts down Kaz and a baseball slide does the same to Robbie.  Jeremy does this weird reverse jump to get up and holds off Kaz.  This again fails and Maz, who also was trying to get the belt, is swung backwards and gets knocked off and caught in a cutter to put him down.  Robbie gets up and goes for the title, only to get pulled down by Max.  And never mind as Max is sent into the structure by Kaz and gets stuck.  That’s different if nothing else.

Everyone is down now and Max is unhooked for a change.  Kaz hits Fade to Black on Robbie but gets kicked by Jeremy.  Jeremy tries to go up only to take an enziguri from the champion to put him down.  Flux Capacitor (suplex/rock bottom) off the top by Kaz puts Jeremy down again.  Robbie and Kaz both go across at the same time.  Gen Me kicks Robbie down and swing the champion down too in a nice bump.

Jeremy goes up and Max isn’t happy.  Max pulls him down which is the point of the match.  They both go from opposite corners and both are hung by their legs upside down in the middle.  They slug it out up there until Robbie grabs a ladder to take them down.  Kaz goes above the X and grabs the title at the same time as Robbie.  Kaz pulls it up but there’s no bell.  Oh there it is.

Rating: C+. It’s ok but this is a match that has been done so many times that there wasn’t much here.  It’s definitely one of the weaker matches they’ve had with this gimmick but it’s still good.  Fun match but they kept trying to play up the Bucks only for them to break up and not play a factor in the end.  Fun, but definitely not great.

More honeymoon stuff and Karen wants champagne.  Instead it’s a pizza.  Next up: a water park.

Beer Money hits on Christy and try to get her to do the BEER MONEY thing.  Basically it’s to hit on her and stare at her figure.  Can’t say I blame them.  They get serious and say they’re awesome but Ink Inc is overstepping their bounds.  Something about respect is mentioned.

We recap the feud, which was Ink Inc saying they want a title shot and Beer Money saying ok.

Tag Titles: Ink Inc vs. Beer Money

 

I could see this being good.  Neal vs. Storm starts us off With no one taking over we get a double tag and some technical stuff follows.  The fans are split which makes sense for once as they’re both face teams.  Moore gets a leg lariat for two.  Neal comes in now and takes a powerslam for two.  This is taking a bit to get off the ground here.

Moore back in now and we hit the chinlock.  They do some basic stuff and it’s one of those moments where stuff happens but nothing is going on.  It’s ok but there is no interest in this at all.  It could be because there’s no history here and it’s there for the sake of having a title match.  Roode gets a spinebuster on Neal for two.  Ink Inc takes over again as Taz isn’t even sure who is legal.

Roode gets the formerly Northern Lariat (clothesline to the back of the head) to Neal and goes up top with Moore.  Down goes Roode and a Whisper in the Wind to Storm gets no cover.  Roode with a Rock Bottom for two.  BEER MONEY thing kind of gets the crowd hot but Neal hits the spear on Storm.  Neckbreaker gets two on Roode.  Moore wants to use the chain but Neal disagrees.  Beer Money comes back and the DWI ends Moore.  I guess they’re splitting one of the two active teams worth anything.

Rating: C+. This was just there for the most part.  It wasn’t great at all but it wasn’t bad.  Like I said: just kind of there.  The total lack of story hurt it a lot which is due to the booking and not the guys.  This wasn’t bad but it was really not interesting at all.  Granted that might be Shannon Moore.

Neal shakes their hands post match but Moore spits beer in their faces, I guess turning heel.  He talks about having to be tough to win.  Whatever.

Matt Hardy talks about how he’s cold blood/cold blooded and will hurt AJ.

AJ Styles vs. Matt Hardy

 

This is just Immortal vs. Fourtune.  AJ uses speed to take over and grabs a front facelock.  Sweet dropkick takes Matt down.  Flair interferes and here comes Matt.  Here come the dueling chants also.  Matt has the braided hair back too.  He’s in jeans and no armbands either, making him look like a bum.

Out to the floor again where AJ is sent into the post.  He counters by hitting his always awesome slide under the railing and springboard forearm.  Back in the ring now with AJ taking over for awhile.  Matt sends him to the floor and Flair hammers away.  That’s Lockdown for these two next month people.  Back in Matt grabs a submission hold which is like a body vice.  Picture him setting for a double arm DDT and jumping up to wrap his legs around AJ.  It looked good if nothing else.

The rope is reached so it’s not like it means anything.  Taz says there’s no escape to it, which is stupid as AJ just escaped.  Flair grabs AJ’s balls for a bit and Matt grabs a cravate.  This is boring if that wasn’t clear.  AJ comes back and hammers away as the crowd seems a bit restless.  Enziguri puts Matt down and AJ does the same.  More punching follows and a big kick to the head sets up a backbreaker for two.

AJ misses a discus lariat and the Side Effect gets two.  This needs to end rather soon here.  Matt gets an elbow to the back of AJ’s head and it’s Twist of whatever time.  It’s blocked into a backslide for two and down goes AJ again.  AJ gets back up and tries the Clash but Matt escapes that and gets two.  Styles kind of botches his backflip into the reverse DDT but Flair distracts the referee.

Flair pokes AJ in the eye and takes a Pele for his efforts.  Matt gets a DDT and a moonsault for two.  END THIS ALREADY.  Hey they listen to me as AJ takes Matt down and Spiral Tap of all things which AJ hasn’t used in years (it’s a top rope twisting moonsault/splash) gets him the pin.

 

Rating: D+. AJ was good, Matt was sluggish.  What else were you expecting here?  For the life of me I don’t get why people see money in Matt Hardy as he’s just big and slow at this point with the fans cheering him for some reason.  AJ needs to just beat Flair and get it over with already.  At least Matt didn’t win so there is that at least.

Back to the honeymoon with Karen snapping on Jeff.  She wants sex apparently.  Jeff thinks she means Kurt.  This storyline has died so many times it’s insane.  Thursday on Impact Jeff is going to call for a truce.  They’re not sure where their kids are but they all get soaked.  Jeff has been a total face the entire night now.

Anderson talks about getting screwed over and more or less says he’s a tweener.

We recap RVD vs. Anderson.  In short, they both want the title and both say they got screwed.  Somehow we’re talking about football.  They’re grasping at whatever straws grasp at to come up with a backstory for this match.  They talk about Lockdown in the voiceover but I stopped caring a long time ago.

Rob Van Dam vs. Mr. Anderson

 

This is ANOTHER #1 contenders match for Anderson after he won one already.  They stare it down to start and it’s dueling chant time with Anderson’s being louder.  Technical stuff goes on and it’s a standoff.  More technical stuff follows as I think this is supposed to be an epic match.  They botch a leapfrog spot with Van Dam taking a head to the balls.  This show is almost a comedy of errors at this point.

Rolling Thunder to Anderson as I just want this match to end at this point.  Spinning legdrop to the railing misses Anderson and the leg hits the railing to give Anderson control.  Anderson works the leg and it’s all basic stuff here.  Mic Check is blocked and Rolling Thunder doesn’t work either.  Van Dam gets a suplex to put both guys down.

Both guys go down again and this is just dragging like every other match so far.  Van Dam goes shoulder first into the post and they ram heads to go down AGAIN.  Now they head to the floor off a cross body and they lay around AGAIN.  Anderson gets the Mic Check on the stage and Van Dam is more of less dead.

And it’s a double count out.  The fans boo the HECK out of that and I’d be with them.  This somehow was 15 minutes long.  Where in the world was the 15 minutes?  Oh and look: MORE multi-man title matches.  The fans chant to restart it and half chant no.  Now it’s a 5 more minutes chant.  Get on with it already.

Rating: F. This was just boring as all goodness and the ending hurt it even more.  They have zero chemistry together and this show has sucked so hard so far that this made it even worse.  It’s obvious they’re doing a multi-man match at Lockdown but that isn’t helping anything as far as tonight goes.  This is one of the worst PPVs I’ve seen in a very long time which is saying a lot when it comes to TNA.

We recap Sting winning the title on 3/3.  He was a surprise, read the other reviews for the details.

Hardy says that he was treated unfairly and he’ll win tonight to bring everyone back to reality.

Sting talks about getting into the business and it’s music video time.  I’ve heard this interview before.  Probably was on Impact or something.  Yeah I think it was.  He was at home and felt a burn.  Call a doctor dude.

TNA World Title: Jeff Hardy vs. Sting

 

It’s 10:30 and Jeff is wasting time getting to the ring.  Before the match Bischoff comes out to waste MORE time.  He makes it No DQ which somehow takes like two minutes.  Sting drops him and the Scorpion Death Drop ends this in less than a minute.  That was their first contact of the “match.”  I kid you not.  Are they serious?

We get a highlight video to fill in 6 minutes to end the show.

Overall Rating: F-. The show has been over for 15 minutes now (final bell rang at 10:38) and I don’t know what to say.  Early word is that Hardy was in no condition to perform.  If that’s the case, TNA’s creative and management team all should refund the fan’s money and resign.  You had 150 minutes to come up with ANYTHING else to put out there and this is what they gave us.  Put Bully Freaking Ray out there and it’s a better than this.

I’m still not sure what to think about what just happened but this is awful even by TNA standards.  It’s a big slap in the face to the people that bought this show and they’ve cost themselves dearly.  I was going to go to Lockdown and now I have no interest in going at all.  Absolutely awful ending and a disgrace all around.  Jeff being high or not, you do not let this happen.  Period.

As for the rest of the show, it was bad.  There was nothing at all of note worth seeing and that makes the ending even worse.  This show didn’t need to happen at the end of the day.  It’s a speed bump on the road to Lockdown and nothing was advanced here.  Now, because of this, TNA has another fire to put out.  I have no idea where they go from here but it’s nowhere good.

Results

Tommy Dreamer b. Bully Ray – 3D with help from D-Von

Rosita/Sarita b. Winter/Angelina Love – Rollup to Winter

Hernandez b. Matt Morgan – Hernandez squirted blood on Morgan

Kazarian b. Max Buck, Jeremy Buck and Robbie E – Kazarian pulled down the Title

Beer Money b. Ink Inc – DWI to Moore

AJ Styles b. Matt Hardy – Spiral Tap

Mr. Anderson vs. Rob Van Dam went to a double countout

Sting b. Jeff Hardy – Scorpion Death Drop

Impact
Date: March 10, 2011
Location: Crown Coliseum, Fayetteville, North Carolina
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Tazz
Episode Title: The Return of the Icon

Hey did you know that Victory Road was this Sunday?  You probably shouldn’t as it’s not like TNA has spent any TV time building anything for it outside of the quick mention of the tag title match last week.  Other than that we know very little for this PPV and the show is in 3 days.  We’re still in North Carolina this week and Sting is the new world champion.  Let’s get to it.

We open with a quick recap of the previous week’s shows and then it’s time for Sting to address the crowd.  He has a weird color scheme in his face paint that looks like there’s a bloody cross over his eye.  Sting talks about how he’s had a long career and the people have supported him every step of the way.  He talks about Jeff Hardy and how great he is and that he needs to get back to being his old self.

Cue Hogan and Bischoff with Hogan doing the talking.  He talks about how Sting saw it coming from miles away and no one believed them that Hogan was going to screw over TNA.  When no one believed it, he went home but now he’s back.  The fans don’t need another hero.  They have one named Hulk Hogan.

Sting says he went home but then he got a fire inside him, just like when he fought Flair or Hogan.  Sting says he has to start a new war and it starts right here.  Cue Anderson who says he wants his rematch.  The key word is “My” and he doesn’t care what Hogan or Bischoff or the Network says, he wants it.  Anderson introduces himself to Sting and Sting smiles at him.

Cue Hardy because this isn’t crowded enough already.  Anderson isn’t getting his shot yet is he?  He says he was robbed last week and that he’s awesome.  Hardy tells Anderson that the line for the world title starts behind Hardy.  Here’s RVD to complain some more.  Van Dam yells at everyone until Hogan starts talking again.  He calls the shots here and Bischoff makes RVD/Sting vs. Hardy/Anderson.  Hardy vs. Sting for the title at the PPV and Anderson vs. RVD grudge match.  Why do they have a grudge?

The girls talk in the back with the Jersey Shore chick talking and swearing a lot.  There’s a six girl tag later.  Winter gets rid of them and Velvet is still mad.

Samoa Joe vs. Pope next.

Samoa Joe vs. D’Angelo Dinero

 

Pope comes through the crowd and drills Okato with his chain to take over.  Joe hammers away on him with various strikes that leave Pope staggering.  Pope fights back a bit but gets destroyed by all kinds of things from Joe, namely a powerslam.  Joe tries a sleeper but runs into an STO for two.  Pope gets a turnbuckle pad off but walks into a suplex.  He grabs the chain from earlier and pops Joe in the head with it for the pin at 3:20.

Rating: C-. I’m not entirely sure what the point of this was.  If that was the blowoff to it I’m not sure what they’re thinking.  I don’t think it was but it’s a head scratching moment for sure.  Joe destroyed him for the most part and got caught by a single shot at the end to lose it.  Not sure where they’re going with it but hopefully that’s not the end of it.

Bully Ray yells at people and says he’ll be in the parking lot waiting on Dreamer.

Knockouts Title: Madison Rayne vs. ???

 

This is another open challenge.  My goodness Tara is stunning.  This week Roxxi answers it and is taken down quickly.  She misses a charge as this is all Madison early.  Spinebuster gets two for Roxxi as does a rollup.  That same neckbreaker/knee to the back combination by Madison ends this at 1:30.  This was nothing.  Mickie James comes out for the save.  So it’s back to this feud again?

Dreamer goes to the parking lot and says he’ll fight Ray right now.

After a break Ray is screaming for Dreamer.  How big is this parking lot that they can’t hear each other?  D-Von jumps Ray and beats the heck out of him by ramming him into various things, namely D-Von’s fists.  Ray begs for mercy as D-Von finds a chair to whip Bubba with.  D-Von gets a sledgehammer from a golf cart and Dreamer comes in to stop him from killing Ray.  After the leave Ray beats up the security guard just because.

Sarita/Cookie/Angelina vs. Angelina Love/Velvet Sky/Winter

 

Velvet and Angelina-Not Love start us off.  Winter and Angelina Love defend the tag titles against Sarita/Rosita on Sunday.  Everything breaks down quickly and here’s Robbie E to hold Velvet.  Winter teases hurting Velvet but saves her instead.  Winter bites Robbie’s hand so that Velvet can roll up Angelina-Not Love to win it at 1:50.  Was there a point to this other than girls in little clothing?  Not that I’m complaining.

We get a clip from a house show with Angle talking.  Anderson talks about the New York Jet interrupting Angle.  Angle says he’ll fight Bart Scott.

Anderson is in Immortal’s locker room and isn’t happy with having to team with Hardy.  Bischoff calms him down.

We recap Flair turning on Fourtune which was supposed to be shocking I think.  This also requires another Hogan appearance.

Ric Flair vs. Matt Hardy vs. AJ Styles

 

Flair is of course in a suit.  Nothing could go wrong with two North Carolina guys in North Carolina as heels right?  AJ is in jeans and a t-shirt   Flair says he hopes Flair country is grabbing AJ by the balls.  AJ says TNA is the house that AJ Styles built.  Flair says he made the town and has slept with most of the people’s mothers and fertilized Fayetteville.  Matt cuts AJ off and says AJ couldn’t understand what Matt has gone through in this business.  This isn’t personal though.

AJ blasts Matt as this is a 3 way street fight that continues after the bell.  Back with AJ hammering away on Matt with Flair on the floor.  The bell I believe rang pre-bell but it’s not quite clear.  Flair comes in for the first time during the match and hammers away.  That gets him nowhere as AJ takes him down and sets for the Figure Four.  He’s no Jay Lethal though so he can’t get a submission.  Matt drops the leg to break it up for two.

Out on the floor and Matt drills AJ with a chair and brings out a ladder.  Flair is all busted open again as is his custom.  Twist of Fate is blocked and Hardy goes into the ladder.  AJ beats up Flair for awhile as Matt grabs a Side Effect for two.  AJ avoids a chair shot from Ric and chops away.  Styles Clash is blocked and the Twist of Fate onto the chair allows Flair to win this at 9:58, assuming the bell rang just before the break.

Rating: C-. This ran long and I have no idea what the point of the three way aspect of it was.  Not much of a match but AJ vs. Matt does nothing for me at all.  This was ok I guess but at the same time, do we need to see Flair getting beaten up this badly in his early 60s?  I certainly don’t.

RVD isn’t happy that Sting thought he was part of THEY.

Generation Me vs. Ink Inc

 

Beer Money is on commentary here.  Jeremy vs. Shannon to start.  Storm talks about Shannon being his friend and the guy he came up and down the road with.  Gen Me has letters on their tights now so that helps.  Gen Me gets Kazarian and Robbie E in Ultimate X on Sunday.  Great to see them let that build.  Jeremy hits that springboard X Factor so that Max can come in to hammer away.

Shannon is the face in peril for awhile until it’s off to the fire red head hair.  He cleans house and hits a springboard cross body for two but can’t hit his spear in the corner.  Jeremy is brought back in and gets speared out of the air in a cool spot for…no cover.  Mooregasm ends Jeremy in 4:15.

Rating: C+. Just a tag match here to give Ink Inc some credibility.  This was nothing special for the most part but it did its job and the spear spot was cool.  Ink Inc has more or less no chance on Sunday but at least we get some build for the match here which is always good to see.

Both teams say basic things.

Jeff Hardy more or less threatens Anderson not to turn on him.  Anderson says he’s unorthodox and illogical because he’s a jerk.

Pope says he’s going to end this with Joe soon.

We recap the wedding from last week which was kind of awesome and VERY long.  The Jarretts are going on their honeymoon and going to Orlando.  Lots of sex is implied.

Package on Ultimate X.

We run down the Victory Road card.  In addition to the announced matches we also get Matt Hardy vs. AJ Styles and Morgan vs. Hernandez in a first blood match.  Ray vs. Dreamer also.

Sting talks about not wanting to become a wrestler but having his opinion changed.  TNA is his brand apparently and he doesn’t like Hogan/Bischoff/Hardy taking it over.  He says it’s been a great seven days and he’ll defend the title against anyone.  Anderson jumps him and beats him down, shouting about wanting his rematch.

Mr. Anderson/Jeff Hardy vs. Rob Van Dam/Sting

 

Some kid is doing the announcing here and sounds awful.  No Sting to stat us off here and after about three minutes there go the lights and on comes the music.  I know there isn’t much said there but it’s exactly what you would expect of it.  Sting is here, Death Drop, Five Star ends Anderson at 4:58.

Rating: C-. Weak main event here but they were so rushed with having to get to….uh all that other stuff.  Like the honeymoon announcement.  Yeah this was weak.

Overall Rating: C. This was ok and better than last week’s but not by much.  There was more going on here and it helped things a lot.  They had to rush thing through here to get us to the PPV this weekend and they did ok at it.  I’m not sure what they’re planning to get us to here and it’s getting a bit old.  Decent show but nothing great at all.

Results

D’Angelo Dinero b. Samoa Joe – Dinero pinned Joe after a shot with a chain

Madison Rayne b. Roxxi – Neckbreaker/knee to the back of the head combination

Angelina Love/Velvet Sky/Winter b. Angelina/Cookie/Sarita – Velvet rolled up Angelina

Ric Flair b. Matt Hardy and AJ Styles – Flair pinned Styles after a Twist of Fate from Hardy

Ink Inc b. Generation Me – Mooregasm to Jeremy

Rob Van Dam/Sting b. Mr. Anderson/Jeff Hardy – Five Star Frog Splash to Anderson

Impact
Date: March 3, 2011
Location: Crown Coliseum, Fayetteville, North Carolina
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Tazz

We’re finally to the big night for TNA where we’re out of the Impact Zone for the first time in years.  Tonight we have the revelation of the 3-3-11 video (I wonder if the fans there will be confused by it as the show was taped while Impact was aired last week), the final verdict in the Dixie vs. Hogan court case and the renewal of the wedding vows of the Jarretts.  Let’s get to it.

We open with Dixie looking very sad.  After thanking the fans for their support, she says things didn’t go the way she planned in the court case and here’s Immortal.  Bischoff more or less says hit the bricks but that he respects her.  He says she has a massive set of guts for being a woman in a man’s sport.  Flair says that if she had slept with him back in Orlando none of this would have happened.  He says it’s about money and power and whoever has the most wins.  Here’s Hulk for the first time in I think 14 weeks?

Hogan says he was in court earlier today and he now controls all of TNA.  Ok so now can we do something other than a power struggle?  Dixie gets fired to no one’s shock.  The place looks far better than the Impact Zone.  Dixie starts crying as Hulk says he and Eric used her to get back on top of the wrestling business.  She supplies the money and that’s it apparently.  So what was the point in firing her then?  Hogan does a freaky country accent when he says he’s about to take her dignity.

Dixie tries to say that the fans can do something about this which isn’t really clear.  After Hogan earlier said she was fired, Hogan says it’s him and her running TNA now.  Cue Fourtune with AJ saying they like doing it the hard way.  He says there’s a woman in the ring and she brought them there.  The arena looks kind of like the final days of Nitro but with the tron videos instead of the WCW logo on the big screen.

Roode says Hogan was his idol but now he’s let Roode down.  Flair says he and Hogan are friends but Roode cuts him off.  Flair keeps talking anyway.  Fourtune storms the ring but security stops them as we go to a break.

Back with Immortal celebrating in the back and Hogan introduces them to Bart Scott, a member of the New York Jets.  Scott and Matt go somewhere.  Neither of the Jeffs have been seen so far.  Matt and Bart run into Dixie who is with Fourtune and they shout stuff at her while Dixie runs.  Kaz and AJ get in a fight with them as I guess Immortal went somewhere else.  Security breaks it up.  While this is going on the Jarretts show up and walk between the brawling guys.

Here’s a video recapping the Jarretts vs. Angle which is finally done tonight.  Tonight Kurt walks Karen down the aisle for the renewal of the Jarretts’ wedding vows.

Back with Bischoff telling Hogan that Jeff Hardy has to defend the title tonight but the network won’t tell him the opponent.  Hogan says they’ll be ready.

Tag Titles: Beer Money vs. Gunner/Murphy

 

Amazing how much better Gunner and Murphy look in actual tights.  I actually buy them as challengers….kind of.  Storm has the stupid Boozer Cruiser back again.  The ring looks smaller than usual.  Gunner/Murphy jump the champions to start but Storm fights out of it and hits a Codebreaker to I think Gunner.  Off to Roode who gets a nice pop.  He cleans house as this arena looks and feels a lot better than the Impact Zone already.  Spinebuster gets two on Gunner but Murphy kicks Roode’s head off.  After some heel miscommunication, Beer Money hits DWI on Gunner to end this at 3:07.

Rating: C-. Well Gunner and Murphy didn’t look quite like jobbers here.  They looked even lower than that somehow.  This was just a workout for Beer Money as no one bought Gunner/Murphy as legit challengers.  This was no challenge at all with no drama.  Pretty weak match but at least the champions looked strong.

Ink Inc comes out post match and say they want a title match.  Moore says DILLIGAF means do I look like I give a, and here he throws it to the crowd, and it’s censored.  That was a bit odd but whatever.  Beer Money accepts the challenge and apparently it’s at the PPV.

The Jarretts are ready and Young pops up in a tuxedo t-shirt and wants to be the best man.  He’s turned down and wants to be the maid of honor, flower girl or ring bearer.  Apparently the last one is accepted.

Some Jersey Shore chick is here.

Kurt is here with his son.

Sarita vs. Velvet Sky

 

I’m pretty sure Sarita swore she would be here alone but Rosita is there too.  If Velvet loses she’s gone.  No sexy entrance for the Beautiful People to lower this match already.  Velvet pulls Sarita by the hair and takes her down with a clothesline.  Belly to back is reversed by Sky for two.  Dropkick by Saita misses and Velvet gets an armdrag.  Rosita tries to come in and Angelina makes the save.  They both get thrown out and it’s one on one.

Sarita takes over with some knees to the back and then dances a bit.  After Tenay plugs a new Spike TV show, Sarita tries a Pedigree or something like one but Velvet reversed into a DDT for the pin at 2:00.  No rating due to the shortness but at least that ends it clean once and for all.

Post match Cookie and Robbie E come out with the other Jersey Shore chick: Angelina.  This is about J-Woww, the other Jersey Short chick that was here.  Jersey Angelina says she wants J-Woww there and wants the Beautiful People to tell her.  Velvet says do it yourself and turns to leave.  Catfight of course breaks out and Sarita helps in the beatdown.  Angelina Love says there will be a six way next week, so the Jersey Shore chick is fighting.  No clue if the Beautiful People will have J-Woww or likely Winter with them.

Back with Anderson saying he’ll get his title back and that he is ratings.  He sounds very, very drunk.

Eric says that he’s the ring bearer and Orlando is flower girl.  Eric says that Jordan stole Karen’s ring which is in his nose.  The ring is actually in Eric’s shoe.  Uh…yeah.

Jeff Jarrett is in the bathroom getting ready and they have a ten foot tall wedding cake.  Flair comes in to talk about the honeymoon.  Jeff has a big honeymoon plan and they’re going to Orlando to take the family to the Harry Potter park.  I want to go!  Flair says he’s an idiot.

Kurt is taping his fists and his son leaves with a production guy.  The wedding is next.

Back with Hogan talking on the phone to someone in Paris.  I think it’s the network people.  Yeah it is as Hogan is complaining about not knowing the opponent as he wants Anderson.  Hogan says he doesn’t like the idea of surprises = ratings.  He agrees to whatever the network guy says and hangs up, clearly annoyed.

Time for the wedding.  Eric Young is the ring bearer and Orlando Jordan is the flower girl.  Jeff comes out thankfully not to his theme music.  Tazz keeps calling Karen by the name Karen Angle.  And of course here’s Kurt and the brawl is on.  Jeff almost goes into the definitely not ten foot cake.  Kurt hits a clothesline and here’s Karen.  She slaps Kurt and goes into the cake.  Angle’s music plays it out.  This whole thing might have lasted two and a half minutes.

Hogan is in the back with Jeff Hardy and Hogan says no more ladder matches.  That’s something they can control.  What they can’t control is that Jeff is labeled as a fighting champion and he has to fight tonight.  Jeff doesn’t like not knowing his opponent.  Hogan blames the ratings for the problem.  He says Jeff is like a son to him and gives him a pep talk.  Jeff says he’ll do it and we go to a break.

The Jarretts are all ticked off and yell at Flair and Bischoff.  Even Flair is scared of her.  Eric says the wedding will still take place while Karen screams.  Hogan pops up and asks if Eric knows who’s coming from the Network but they might have an idea.  They don’t say a name though.  Flair is sent to take care of the wedding thing.

Rob Terry vs. Scott Steiner

 

Oh this could be bad.  During Terry’s entrance we get a clip of him jumping Steiner last week during the posedown.  Scott dominates to start and sends Terry to the floor.  Steiner goes into the post with both his face and his back.  Powerslam by Terry gets two.  Steiner gets a boot up and a belly to belly to set up a Downward Spiral.  Steiner Line puts him down again.  There’s the elbow and the pushups.  Angle Slam from the middle rope sets up the Recliner and it’s over at 3:15.

Rating: C. Considering who was in here this was a near miracle.  Steiner more or less did a greatest hits collection here minus the Frankensteiner.  That’s probably the best thing they could do as Steiner is the far more talented guy out there.  Not nearly as terrible as it could have been but that’s because they kept it short.

Flair and Bart Scott go up to Angle in the locker room and apparently Bart is going to be the enforcer for the wedding.

Some MMA guy (I don’t follow MMA so I only vaguely know what Bellator is) is here for commentary on this match.

Hernandez vs. Matt Morgan

 

Hernandez jumps him quickly but Morgan takes him down.  The MMA guy has energy if nothing else.  I don’t have a problem with guest commentators that aren’t wrestling guys as long as they sound like they want to be there, which he does.  Hernandez tries to leave so Morgan grabs him and brings him back in.

Hernandez blocks a side slam and tries the shirt throw.  Morgan blocks and Hernandez goes flying.  That looked great.  Hernandez takes a clothesline to take him to the floor.  Out to the floor and Hernandez suckers him into the stairs to take over.  Morgan gets rammed in again and again and Hebner throws it out at 4:30 for the longest match of the night so far.

Rating: D. Weak match here that really didn’t solve anything.  They’ll keep feuding and likely have the match at Victory Road.  Not interesting in the slightest and it was sloppy on top of that.  Also that commentator was trying but he was out of his element, which is understandable.

Hogan more or less cuts a promo on some guy on the phone, demanding to know the opponent.  Anderson comes in and is told he doesn’t get his shot again.  Hogan is upset about not knowing what happens to Immortal after this.  Anderson doesn’t seem to care.  Hogan has to stop to put on a back brace.  That’s like the ending to a bad joke.   Anderson says Hogan disgusts him now.  Hogan says let him know when he slams a 700lb giant.  Good line.

Now we get a preview for the new Spike show.

Time for wedding #2.  Young it still wedding bearer and Jordan is still flower girl.  Jeff doesn’t have a coat on this time.  Kurt walks Karen down the aisle.  He’s smiling and Karen seems to still have cake on her face.  Kurt is all happy here and it’s rather amusing.  No Bart Scott in sight.  The fans boo at the or forever hold your piece line.  They both say I will and all that jazz.  The minister asks the fans if they’ll support the Jarretts.  Take a guess how that goes over.

Now we get to hear CUSTOM vows.  We’ve had a combined 12 minutes of wrestling and we’re getting custom vows.  Wow indeed.  Jeff says he’s long winded and would be nervous so he wrote his out.  He runs down Kurt the whole time and Kurt just keeps smiling away.  He’s looking over Jeff’s shoulder and it’s rather creepy.  Karen is the wind beneath his wings.

Karen says Jeff is a real man and the princess is taken care of.  Oh and Kurt didn’t screw her enough apparently.  Jeff completes her.  The minister announces them as husband and wife through the power vested in him by the department of motor vehicles.  The unintentional comedy is helping here.  They actually get through the kissing of the bride, so Kurt busts out an axe and starts hacking the set to pieces, all with that creepy grin on his face.  That was kind of awesome.

Bischoff sends out Bart Scott.  Yes send your celebrity out to the CRAZY MAN WITH AN AXE!  Surprisingly enough they go at it and Kurt grabs the ankle lock and cranks on it.  Didn’t expect that.  Segment went WAY too long but the ending helped it a lot.

Hardy says he’s ready.

Some feet get out of a limo.  Yeah that hasn’t been done recently either.

TNA World Title: Jeff Hardy vs. ???

 

Ok so this is the announcement that’s going to CHANGE WRESTLING FOREVER!  It’s 11pm and the opponent is…..Sting.  HAHA WWE couldn’t do it so TNA can.  Yes Eric you’re very cute.  Sting is winning the title tonight isn’t he?  And Sting is in sequins.  There’s red in his paint though so I guess this is a bit different now?  He has red sequins on his legs and crotch but points for the actual ring jacket/robe instead of a big trenchcoat.

Taz flat out says this was about where Sting would wind up so yes this is yet again shifting the entire main event around for a shot at WWE.  Sting goes right for him and Hardy bails.  Back in and Hardy beats Sting down with three shots.  COME ON HERO (ten points to whoever knows what I’m referencing).  Hardy can’t get a suplex and there’s the Scorpion already but Jeff is on his hands.  Sting looks like he’s ordering dinner.

A rope is grabbed and we head to the aisle.  Suplex by Sting on the ramp as it’s more or less all Sting here.  Sting (of course) misses the splash on the railing and we hit the chinlock back in the ring.  That gets him nowhere as Sting thumps his chest and hits the Scorpion Death Drop for two.  Whisper in the Wind is crotched and Sting gets another Death Drop from the ropes.  Another gets the pin and the title at 6:15 for the longest match of the night by far.

Rating: C-. So let me get this straight.  Anderson had a rematch clause, won a #1 contender’s match last week, and Sting wins the title here, likely owing Jeff a rematch now?  In other words, we now have no reason to ever buy a #1 contender match again right?  The surprise is good and the match was just a main event WWE style brawl from the late 90s.  It wasn’t terrible but the booking is a BIG question mark for me.  Not terrible though.

Big celebration ends the show.

Overall Rating: C-. Well this one was hard.  There were good and bad things here for sure.  First of all, the arena looked great and there’s definitely an energy about being out of the Impact Zone.  A lot of stuff was taken care of tonight and we moved forward on some stuff.  The bad stuff however though was there too and I think was more prevalent.

First of all, the wedding was way too long and ate up too much time.  Coupling that with about 20 minutes of wrestling, this was another talking heavy show which is getting old.  I’m getting fed up with a bunch of 3 minute matches and a ten minute main event.  Also the Sting title win makes the whole main event scene all turned around again, but it does set up Victory Road…kind of.  Either way, this wasn’t bad and was definitely better than Raw this week.

Results

Beer Money b. Gunner/Murphy – DWI to Gunner

Velvet Sky b. Sarita – DDT

Scott Steiner b. Rob Terry – Steiner Recliner

Matt Morgan b. Hernandez via DQ when Hernandez rammed Morgan into the stairs multiple times

Sting b. Jeff Hardy – Scorpion Death Drop

Against All Odds 2011
Date: February 13, 2011
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Tazz

Well we’ve arrived at this show.  It doesn’t look terrible but at the same time it looks completely lackluster.  It’s more or less a rehash of Genesis that had a single night to prep for it due to the huge hype surrounding 2/3.  Either way this isn’t a show I’m particularly looking forward to.  That being said it’s still a PPV with a world title match.  Let’s get to it.

The opening video is about how awesome Immortal is and how much trouble Anderson is in tonight.  Basic but pretty well done.

The announcers remind us of the card that we’ve ordered already.

Robbie E comes out and says that tonight he’s not wrestling due to Gen Me not being here due to reasons of being scared of him.  He makes the referee count and he’s officially the #1 contender.  There’s a title match later tonight apparently.  Kaz stops them as they leave (they being Robbie and Cookie) and hits them with basic insults.  The match is RIGHT NOW!

X-Division Title: Robbie E vs. Kazarian

 

Kaz starts off hot and stomps on the hand of Cookie while she complains.  Robbie is knocked to the floor and Kaz gets set on the top rope.  In our first hokey smoke bump of the night, Robbie trips him up and he slams his face into the steps.  FREAKING OW MAN!!!  Robbie gets a boot up into the face of a charging Kaz to take over.  Falling fist gets two.

We actually get a let’s go Kaz chant.  Ah there’s a Robbie Sucks chant.  That helps a bit.  Not quite Rocky Sucks but it’s not bad.  Robbie wastes time though and gets caught by a springboard dropkick to put him down.  More dropkicks by Kaz as he takes over almost completely.  Spinning springboard legdrop gets two.

Kaz tries the reverse Piledriver but gets it reversed.  Robbie’s neckbreaker is reversed as well.  O’Connor Roll is blocked and Cookie gets a purse (I think) to the head of Kaz for a VERY close two.  Robbie tries to vault over Kaz in the corner but gets caught in the reverse tombstone (FINALLY gets a name with Fade to Black) for the pin to retain.

Rating: C+. This was fine but it’s the same X match we’ve seen a dozen times and it’ll be forgotten in about 40 minutes.  The division is completely nondescript at the moment with nothing standing out at all.  Still though, this wasn’t terrible and was even kind of fun at times.  Decent opener but it’s kind of sad that X Title has fallen so far.

Steiner and Beer Money talk about their match.  Steiner is his usual insane self and is completely hilarious with his stuttering.  Now he’s walking around like a Frankenstein Monster.  Storm starts a You Suck chant.

AJ comes out for commentary.

Gunner/Murphy/Rob Terry vs. Beer Money/Scott Steiner

 

This should be good.  We have Rob Terry vs. Scott Steiner.  That alone should sell the PPV.  Steiner’s muscles are scary.  Flair is going to be on Impact Thursday.  The fans chant Scotty.  He and Gunner start us off.  I can’t remember which is Gunner and which is Murphy so having Tazz tell us helps.  Murphy tries a leapfrog but gets caught in a belly to belly.

And now it’s Freak vs. Freak.  This should be awesome in various ways.  Steiner says pose, Beer Money distracts, Steiner hits a low blow which shouldn’t hurt due to the size of Terry’s testicles.  There are the pushups.  Off to Gunner vs. Storm now with the weather related guy doing better in this encounter.  He skins the cat and hits some clotheslines followed by a backdrop.

All Fourtune/Steroid dealer job insurance at the moment.  Terry interferes and here comes Goon #1.  We get an inset shot of AJ because I guess the wrestling isn’t important enough to look at?  Terry throws Storm around for a bit and a slam gets two.  Backstabber out of nowhere and it’s off to no one as Terry blocks the tag.  And so much for that as it’s off to Roode.

Roode misses a jumping forearm or there was miscommunication or something.  Gunner and Roode are the only ones off the floor.  Neckbreaker gets two for Roode.  Spinning Rock Bottom gets two as Murphy saves.  Beer Money both in now and they clean house.  We get the signature taunt and Terry thankfully takes out Storm who didn’t look at his opponents for about 40 seconds.  Roode hits spinebusters all around and it’s off to Steiner.  With Gunner on the top, Steiner busts out the Frankensteiner to end this.

Rating: C. This was your typical six man match.  Steiner was the star of it which is fine I guess as none of the heels mean anything and Beer Money is already well established.  Either way this was ok but really nothing special as we’ve seen it all a bunch of times before.  That’s the problem so far: nothing is unique or even special.  Granted we’re 35 minutes into the show so there’s more than enough time.

D-Von says that his sons aren’t in the match tonight.  That’s probably the best thing that they could do.  Yes, somehow Bubba vs. D-Von is the better option.

We recap Pope vs. Joe which is a storyline I’ve been rather interested in.  They’re trying something new here, but I would have liked Pope to be face more than a month.  Pope was collecting money but apparently was spending it on himself.  Then he said Joe was fat.

Samoa Joe vs. D’Angelo Dinero

 

Joe’s cameraman’s name is now Okato.  I give up.  That Joe’s Gonna Kill You chant never gets old.  Pope’s tights say Pope’s Gonna Kill You.  We enter a stall here as I guess we’re channeling our inner Memphis.  We get a few shots and then hey it’s more stalling!  Maybe we’re in Pittsburgh.  Pope tries to walk and Okato stops him.  Pope: “This is ridiculous!”

Joe is like screw it and hits a suicide elbow to crush Pope and we’re finally going at it.  Pope tries a suplex but the power of fat stops him.  Here comes Joe with right jabs and a modified Pele.  Tazz is talking like Fonzie for some reason.  And I mean the one from Happy Days.  Face Wash time including a running one has Pope in big trouble.

The referee stops Joe and Pope gets a thumb to the eye.  A running knee to Joe’s back sends Joe to the floor.  Pope in control now as things slow way down.  There are a lot of punches and forearms here.  Tazz talks about Okato and can’t be serious with it.  Nice to see your commentators earning their pay there.  Swinging neckbreaker by Pope gets two.

Pope tries a middle rope fist but jumps into an atomic drop.  Running boot and backsplash get two as does a powerslam.  Out of nowhere Pope gets a modified GTS without Joe leaving his feet.  Cool move there.  Pope rips a turnbuckle pad off and the referee is fine with it somehow.  Joe blocks the ramming and Pope tries an O’Connor Roll.  It’s reversed into the Clutch though and I think Pope was tapping before the hold was on.

Rating: C. I think they’re going somewhere with the tapping thing but this wasn’t much of a match anyway.  It’s ok but this could have been on any TV show.  I was expecting something good here but Pope as a heel is just dull in the ring.  It’s ok but at the same time a big disappointment.  I’m starting to get a bad feeling about this show.

Post match Pope offers a handshake and kicks Joe low.  Okada (forget that other name) is put down also and Joe’s face goes into the exposed buckle.  The double knees to the back into the buckle can’t feel good.  Naturally Joe is busted.

Mickie says she’s better than Madison and that she’ll win.  I love how easy these promos are to summarize.

We recap the Knockouts’ Title feud which more or less is Mickie saying I want to win and Madison saying you want to win.  Oh and Madison has a loaded glove and it’s a Last Man Standing match.

Knockouts Title: Madison Rayne vs. Mickie James

 

Madison’s song is irritating as hell.  Mickie is dressed like Pocahontas for some reason.  She’s sent into the steps and the count is on.  Remember that you have to answer a ten count or you lose.  They fight up the ramp a bit with Madison in control.  Mickie gets in a shot to send Madison into the post for about five.  Taz tries to take a shot at the Divas and it doesn’t work that well.

Mickie gets a kick in and clotheslines Madison using the rope to send her to the floor for seven.  Cross body off the apron by Mickie puts both girls down.  She tries to get the loaded glove off but can’t quite get there.  And now we have a shot of the empty ring as the girls are under the ring.  Madison comes out as you can hear the crowd talking.  Ah there’s Mickie.

She morphs into karate action Mickie to put Madison down with a series of kicks.  And then with Madison down Mickie picks her up like a moron.  Back in the ring Mickie goes up and gets shoved off to the floor.  That gets a long nine which probably should have been ten.  Madison loads up the glove but Mickie gets a shot to the arm.

Thesz Press off the top puts Madison down for two.  Spinning kick puts the champion down again and Mickie steals the glove.  At about 8 Tara (called Victoria by Tazz) comes out to break it up.  Madison pulls brass knucks out of her boot and drills Mickie to keep the freaking title.  Oh dang it just give Mickie her title already!

Rating: C+. Decent match here but the ending was just so stupid.  There is ZERO justification to keep the title on Madison here and yet they’re just going to keep on doing it.  Well sure why not.  It’s not like no one cares about her or she’s nothing special in the ring or her gimmick is boring.  Good match, bad decision at the end.

Jeff Hardy says he’ll win.

Here’s Matt Morgan who calls out Hernandez.  Morgan says explain why you cost me my title shot.  Hernandez plays the freaking race card, wondering where his title shot was.  He went to Mexico to be with his people where he was treated great.  Naturally we get a Hernandez chant.  He’s tired of white America and today the minority is the majority.  This is Mexican country apparently and Morgan needs to get out.  Low blow by Hernandez sets up an FU which I guess is his new finisher.

Matt Hardy says he’s awesome but being nice never got him anywhere.  He’s Cold Blooded now.  He talks about being punished for Jeff leaving (talking about WWE because it’s been five minutes since we referenced them).  RVD is a stepping stoned apparently.  I thought he was stepping stoned but you get the idea.

Matt Hardy vs. Rob Van Dam

 

At least Matt got rid of the braids.  RVD starts with kicks but tries to roll around too much and is dropped on the top buckle.  Matt hammers away in the corner and doesn’t do much beside punches.  Van Dam tries to speed things up but can’t hit his apron moonsault as Matt trips him and his face hits the apron.  Is that our theme for this?  RVD’s face is dropped onto stuff?

On the floor now and Matt can’t suplex him onto the railing.  He gets draped over it though and there’s the spinning legdrop to the back of Hardy.  Van Dam fires some kicks but gets caught in an Orton DDT as he comes back in.  Back to the floor and RVD’s face goes into the railing.  Matt grabs a double underhook and rolls through into a body scissors and facelock.  That’s a new one.

Full nelson goes on as Matt is in control here.  There are the dueling chants because what would a match be without them?  Hardy with a Cravate to take RVD down one more time.  Back up and Matt dodges a kick to get a guillotine drop over the ropes.  Matt tries to come off the ropes but RVD gets a kick in to get us back to even.

Van Dam gets some clotheslines and a kick to set up Rolling Thunder.  Matt moves so Van Dam backflips into a moonsault for two.  Starship Pain minus the twisting gets two.  Matt gets a Side Effect out of nowhere for two.  Spin kick puts Matt down but RVD can’t get the Five Star.  Matt goes up but gets knocked down while attempting a superplex.  Instead we get a backdrop off the top.  Never seen that I don’t think.

Matt tries a moonsault which misses of course, starting a small earthquake in Florida.  Ok to be fair he’s looking a lot slimmer.  Van Dam takes the advantage and the Five Star ends it.  This was just ok but somehow might have been the match of the night so far.  What does that say about this show?

Rating: C. Another so-so match with WAY too many rest holds.  It’s just another stop on the road to RVD vs. Jeff Hardy which is just an ok sounding match.  Either way this wasn’t much with Matt not being interesting at all and not being a threat to RVD on a level playing field.  We’re 92 minutes into this show now and we haven’t gotten a good match yet.  We’ve had some ok ones, but nothing I’ll remember in 3 days.  That’s really bad.

Christy tries to get a reaction from Bully Ray.  Instead he yells at her and makes her cry then….licks her ear?  Anyway he says that he wants to make men out of D-Von’s boys.  There has to be a Disney song in there somewhere.  Ray makes more weird lines about D-Von and the kids.  He wants to beat the kids.

We recap the Dudleys exploding.  Basically Ray is a bully and attacked D-Von’s kids to set this up.

Bully Ray vs. D-Von

 

This is a street fight and D-Von’s kids will NOT be involved.  I’ll believe that when I don’t see it I guess.  Bubba hides before D-Von comes out so he can jump him.  Ray has the chain but D-Von turns around and the fight is on.  All D-Von to start but Bubba gets some punches in.  D-Von hits him in the head with a beverage to break the momentum though and we continue the brawl.

We get the kendo stick as it’s all D-Von now.  Ray tries to beg and slaps D-Von.  This isn’t interesting in the slightest mind you but it’s not horrible.  With D-Von completely in control his kids come out.  He tells them to go and gets drilled by a chair.  Bubba spits on them and sets up for the Pillmanizing of the neck again.  The kids get in the ring to stop it as Bubba threatens them with the chain.

D-Von makes the save and beats up Ray.  He goes to backdrop the fat white guy and Bubba shouts OH CRAP!  The kids beat up Bubba a bit and help D-Von out with What’s Up.  DAD!  GET THE TABLES!  I kid you not, that just actually happened.  Here’s the table but Bubba gets a low blow in.  And now we enter the bondage segment of the show with D-Von being handcuffed to the corner.

Bubba enters his bullying mode while the kids come in to try to help.  One of them gets taken down while the other fights back.  Bubba kicks him in the face and pins him to win the match.  Oh sweet goodness are you kidding me?  I had to close my eyes for a second there due to how stupid that was.  Why is it stupid?  They weren’t in the match but it counts anyway.  Well sure why not.

Rating: D. This was your standard brawl with a bad ending.  This feud isn’t interesting, it doesn’t elevate anyone and the ending was stupid as hell.  Naturally this is leading to a tables match and it’s all about the anti-bullying movement that is THE MOST IMPORTANT THING EVER!  I’m so over this bullying kick the country is on and I can’t stand it in wrestling.  All heels are bullies but only Bubba is an official one.

Bubba keeps yelling post match and threatens to hit the kids with a chair.  Is there no like, SECURITY or something?  Ah good at least D-Von yelled for them.  Yep there’s a powerbomb through the table and bad acting from D-Von.  Naturally the fans chant for another one.  Hey, IT’S A GUY TO GET D-VON OUT!  Good thing he wasn’t here EARLIER!  They do a stretcher ride to fill in more time.  Somehow the post match stuff was the best part of the show by far.  In a funny bit the kid that got kicked in the head is completely forgotten about until D-Von throws him over his shoulder like a bag of manure.

The Jarretts say this match is personal and about their kids.

Serious Kurt says he’s tired of Jeff messing with his kids and using them as pawns.  This is coming from the man using them as a stipulation to make a paycheck.

We recap Kurt vs. the Jarretts part 93, this time about Kurt’s kids.  They’ve been feuding for like 19 years so I don’t need to recap this.

Kurt Angle vs. Jeff Jarrett

 

Ok.  There are two matches left and it’s 10pm.  This has been one of the least interesting shows I have ever seen but up to this point it hasn’t been atrocious.  These two matches can bring this to a passable grade.  Don’t let me down TNA.  Crowd is totally behind Angle.  Shame he has no chance at all.  The fans chant sloppy seconds because this is a serious match.

They trade headlocks to start and Kurt gives Jarrett head.  His head I mean.  Dang I need to remember those possessive pronouns.  He lets Jeff grab his head.  In a headlock I mean.  Kurt lets Jeff grab a headlock.  Ok there I think that works.  Angle grabs the arm and bends Jeff over in front of him with it.  Would these two like some alone time?

Slow build so far with Jarrett only being able to get little shots in here and there while Kurt keeps control with relative ease.  Jeff is sent to the floor where Kurt hammers away.  Karen slaps him.  I’d love if the referee called it a DQ immediately.  Kurt fires shoulders in the corner but misses a charging one to send his shoulder into the post.  Top rope cross body by Jeff is rolled through for two.

Taz: “Kurt was that close to gaining custody of his children.”  I hate wrestling sometimes.  Kurt’s arm seems to be ok as he runs into a boot in the corner.  Back and forth a bit and Kurt can’t get the ankle lock.  Rolling Germans instead gets two.  There’s the ankle lock but Jarrett rolls through.  Angle Slam hits but Karen has the referee.  It’s not like it would have mattered as that hasn’t won a big match in years.

Jeff gets a low blow during that though and there’s the Stroke for two.  Down goes the ref (surprised?) and we hit the floor where Karen rakes Kurt’s back.  Kurt is sent into the steps a few times and we go back into the ring.  Jeff brings in a chair but Kurt gets it.  The referee stops Kurt from swinging it and Jeff gets a rollup for two.  Thank goodness on that as I would have cried it that had been the ending.  Ok not really.

Kurt goes up and Karen distracts him so that Jeff can hit something resembling the Stroke from the middle rope for two.  Well of course.  It’s an amplified finisher so why would you I expect it to get a win?  Angle grabs a quick German and there go the straps.  Ankle lock goes on, Karen distracts the referee, Jeff taps, ref is with Karen, Jeff gets a chair shot for two as these kickouts are getting absurd.  Angle gets a sunset flip but Jeff drops down onto him for the pin.  Yes, that’s the ending.

Rating: B. This was a good match but Karen held it back way too much.  Also constantly hearing about the kids was just freaking stupid.  The match was good and a clean ending was a breath of fresh air, but dang man this means we have to go through early March with this stupid feud.  By far the best match of the night and they’ve had far better ones in the past so this isn’t much.

Kurt leaves his boots in the ring which is a sign of retirement.  Oh not this again.

Anderson says that the odds are against him and goes a great imitation of Jesse Ventura.  Stop making me think of stuff I’d rather be watching.  There’s a Justin Bieber reference and I quit paying attention.

Long recap video on Hardy vs. Anderson which is supposed to be the epic feud in TNA but it’s just not there.  They talk about the pre-THEY stuff, 10/10/10, the concussion, the title change and Anderson thinking the belt looks stupid.

TNA World Title: Jeff Hardy vs. Mr. Anderson

 

They make a point to say there are two referees at ringside.  I don’t like where this is going.  Hardy spits at him and they slug it out after the big match intros.  There are multi-colored ladders at ringside including one with Christmas colors.  Anderson is still in his shirt which likely means nothing.  The first ladder is brought in and Anderson is rammed into it by Hardy to put both guys down.

Basic ladder spots to start which are good.  Hardy dropkicks it into Anderson’s balls and Ken is in trouble.  Anderson gets a Russian Leg Sweep to Hardy onto the ladder in the corner.  Ladder #2 is brought in and Anderson goes up.  He gets brought down with a sunset bomb to half kill Anderson.  Hardy sets Anderson up in front of the ladder in front of the corner.  He misses the leapfrog legdrop though and Anderson gets back up.

Anderson charges at Hardy but gets backdropped and bounces on the ladder.  FREAKING OW MAN!  Hardy opens a ladder and stands it upside down. Anderson fights back and goes after the legs which makes sense.  Shame it doesn’t get him anywhere as he’s sent to the floor.  Jeff wants the Christmas ladder and throws it at Anderson who catches it and throws it back.

Hardy sends him into the railing and Ken may have a bad wrist.  Poetry in Motion against the railing puts them both in the crowd.  Back in now and Jeff tries the release Gordbuster onto the upside down ladder.  Instead he gets suplexed onto it with the main landing being on his leg.  Anderson does the required slow climb and gets pulled down.  Diamond Cutter is called a Twist of Hate.

Jackson James, the possibly Immortal referee, hands Jeff a ladder as per his request.  It’s the colored one as Jeff didn’t want the black one.  Anderson counters and hits the rolling fireman’s carry slam (might be called the Green Bay Plunge) onto the ladder.  Anderson goes up and tries the Kenton Bomb but misses and hits the top of his head on the ladder.  Oh dear.

Jeff climbs again but can’t get there this time either as Anderson makes the save.  They’re both on a ladder up there and the slugout is on.  Anderson is almost down but manages to make the save.  He shoves the title away and it’s swinging back and forth.  And there go the ladders so everyone is more or less dead.  It was a Mic Check and I think Hardy was supposed to pull the belt down with him but to the shock of no one, they botched it.  Hardy throws him to the floor and goes up to get the title and wins it just like that.

Rating: B. Well the majority of the match was good but the ending was so abrupt that it was ridiculous.  Also I HATE the choice here as Hardy is such a boring champion but hey we have to push this Immortal thing right?  This was good but it wasn’t enough to save the show for sure.  I’m really bummed by this ending, but at the same time at least it was a good match.  Also, is there a reason Anderson had such a short reign?

Long celebration takes us out.

Overall Rating: D. This was bad but the Angle/Jarrett and ladder matches keep it from being a failure.  Now before you jump down my throat about the match grades being ok but the overall rating being bad, think about it.  There were about two worthless hours of ok at best matches that aren’t going to mean a thing.  Nothing was any good at all until the last hour which doesn’t make a show good.  When you have two hours of dull as hell the good matches are weighed down.  Bad show that we knew would be bad and it doesn’t look like anything is going to improve soon.  Weak PPV and one of the worst I’ve seen in a long time.

Results

Kazarian b. Robbie E – Fade to Black

Scott Steiner/Beer Money b. Gunner/Murphy/Rob Terry – Frankensteiner to Gunner

Samoa Joe b. D’Angelo Dinero – Coquina Clutch

Madison Rayne b. Mickie James – James couldn’t answer the ten count after a shot from brass knuckles

Rob Van Dam b. Matt Hardy – Five Star Frog Splash

Bully Ray b. D-Von – Ray pinned one of D-Von’s sons after a big boot

Jeff Jarrett b. Kurt Angle – Jarrett reversed a sunset flip into a cradle

Jeff Hardy b. Mr. Anderson – Hardy Grabbed the Belt

Impact
Date: February 3, 2011
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Tazz
Episode Title: Expect the Unexpected

THEY arrive tonight.  After so much speculation, we finally find out who THEY are.  Also we see Mr. Anderson vs. Jeff Hardy vs. Kurt Angle for the world title.  It’s good to finally have a champion since RVD was attacked.  This should be….oh wait hang on I put in the wrong review.  Be right back.

Ah here we are.

THEY arrive tonight.  After so much speculation, we finally find out who THEY are.  Also we see Mr. Anderson vs. Jeff Hardy for the world title.  Yes, TNA is more or less running the same story three months later which isn’t as bad as it sounds, but it doesn’t bode well.  Allegedly THEY were the returning Main Event Mafia but that doesn’t seem to be the case now, due to the departures of Booker T and Kevin Nash.  Anyway, let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of Steiner coming back last week and what probably was the Mafia angle, despite what Bischoff wants you to believe apparently.  We get a ton of quick interviews ala ReAction saying nothing of note.

In the arena we open up properly with Bischoff and Immortal in the ring.  The fans chant we want Flair.  I hear he’s too busy to be here but he’ll show up for an advance in pay.  Bischoff calls out Steiner who he isn’t happy with.  First things first: Hogan isn’t here tonight.  Yes, the guy they’ve hyped for weeks on this show, the biggest draw in the company (allegedly), STILL isn’t here.  He was last seen on a TNA show on Thanksgiving.

According to Eric, there is no THEY.  Bischoff tells Steiner that he told Nash to leave and take the money.  Sting isn’t coming back and no one cares about Booker.  Yeah nonsenseon it never being the Mafia until right now.  Eric offers Steiner a spot on the team and says his options are join or get beaten up.  Steiner takes option 3: he beats up Bischoff instead.

Scott says Bischoff is making the same mistake everyone does and assumes he knows Steiner when he doesn’t.  He says call him sir or he’ll snap Bischoff’s neck.  This brings out Crimson and Angle.  All three are in suits mind you.  Angle says THEY are indeed here and it’s real.  Bischoff looks a bit nervous as we take a break.

Back with Jeff Hardy being worried about tonight but Bischoff says it’s ok.  He wants Flair though and Angle/Crimson/Steiner pop up to say THEY’RE HERE!

Ink Inc vs. Gunner/Murphy

 

Big brawl to start us off with the security guys in control.  We get down to business with Neal vs. Murphy.  Off to Gunner quickly though as the security guys are moving quickly.  Ink Inc has had nothing yet.  Off to a chinlock by Gunner.  Moore finally gets the tag and fights them both off for a bit.  Heel miscommunication sets up the Mooregasm to Murphy to end it.

Rating: C-. This was really short at just barely over three minutes.  That being said they still managed to keep things fast paced.  I think they were trying to play up the idea of Immortal being shaken up, but I’m not sure this was an actual upset like the announcers would like you to believe.

Angle, Steiner and Crimson are in the back.  Crimson says THEY haven’t touched base yet.  He also calls Angle boss which means he’s the leader I guess.  Kurt gets a phone call and is told we’re still on.  They leave to go over the plan.

Christy Hemme is in Dallas apparently where she says that the judge issued a continuance until March 3, which is when we’ll hear the ruling.  Great way to earn that paycheck and trip to Dallas Christy!  Also nice job of hyping Hogan for a month and then not delivering him.

In the same shot Eric Young pops up and says Angle is a cyborg and he knows who THEY are.  This is another one of those insane bits that makes no difference at all for the most part.  Apparently he thinks they’re off air.

We get a video of the Jarretts’ house including the kids.  This is about what you would expect.

Anderson wants to talk to Hardy before the match, out in the ring.

Back with Bubba Ray (I will not refer to him as Bully Ray unless I have to) in the ring with Pope who is apparently his partner.  Ray talks about how he beat up D-Von last week and was the real star of the team.  The fans want D-Von.  Pope says that it’s Joe vs. Pope at the PPV.

This is one of the three storylines going on in TNA at the moment and it’s probably the best one.  The reason for that: it’s basic.  This isn’t something that is supposed to be huge.  It’s been built up over a few weeks and months and they haven’t gotten in the ring yet.  That’s how you build a feud.  I’d like to see them fight actually.

D’Angelo Dinero/Bully Ray vs. Samoa Joe/Brother D-Von

 

I didn’t hear a bell so I’m assuming this was an official match.  The respective feuds break off with the Dudleys in the ring and the other two in the aisle.  Pope tries to run but Okada stops him in the aisle.  Who is Okada you ask?  Well he’s the guy that Joe had filming Pope.  Well ok, that’s fine and good.  However, this is a great example of TNA asking the fans to do too much.

Okada has never appeared on Impact until he popped up in this.  He’s been on Xplosion, but since that show is referenced maybe once every six months on Impact, unless you pay really close attention to TNA or know him from his Japan days, this guy is a totally random addition that you’ve never seen before but apparently you’re supposed to be familiar with.

It confuses the viewer because the viewer is guided by the announcers.  The announcers treat Okada like someone they’re completely familiar with rather than someone that has never been seen on Impact before.  This makes fans think they’ve forgotten someone or even confuses them because they try to figure out why they don’t know who he is.

What that does is distract them from what’s going on in the story.  This is another shining example of a very easily solved problem that TNA just lets happen.  Here’s how you fix it.  Tenay: “Ladies and gentlemen that man’s name is Okada.  He’s been a member of TNA’s roster for a few months now and has been appearing on our syndicated program Xplosion.”

Bam ten seconds and you accomplish two things.  You establish this guy isn’t a stranger to TNA and does have a connection to the company.  You also let people know there is more TNA wrestling out there if they’re interested.  See?  Instead, we got this.  Tenay: “It’s Okada.”

Ok, who’s Okada?  Why should I care that he’s here?  Should I be surprised?  Is this a twist?  Is this expected?  Does he have a history with Pope?  With Joe?  Is he a wrestler?  A businessman?  A mercenary?  All we know about him is that his name is Okada and he’s done some work for Joe and he dresses like Kato from Green Hornet.  It’s confusing and it doesn’t have to be.  That’s not good and it happens way too much in TNA.

Back in the ring, Ray has a chain but gets dropped with a clothesline.  If there was a bell I missed it completely.  There’s a referee in there so I’m assuming this is a match.  D-Von hammers away and we hit the floor.  They’re having a street fight at the PPV.  D-Von drills him with a chair and Ray is in trouble.  Tenay says it was a scheduled match but security is pulling D-Von off Bubba so I guess it was thrown out.  Bubba spits on D-Von’s kids as D-Von is being held back.

Mickie vs. Sarita in a taped fist match later.

Jay Lethal vs. Jeremy Buck vs. Douglas Williams

 

This is another of those X-Division qualifying things.  Max Buck, the one that has already qualified, is at the announce table.  Great to see guys like Williams and Lethal staying in the upper midcard like they got pushes to isn’t it?  Buck gets on both other guys and manages to get out of the way before they massacre him, resulting in Lethal nailing Williams.

Jeremy sends Williams to the floor and lands a sweet Asai Moonsault.  He gets taken out by a suicide dive by Lethal though as they’re moving out there.  Jeremy gets a DDT on Lethal but at the same time Williams gets a Russian Leg Sweep on Jeremy.  With everyone in trouble, Max determines that Jeremy’s shoe is untied so he heads to the ring.  Tower of Doom has Buck in trouble.

Williams gets a small package for two.  Next week it’s Robbie E vs. Suicide vs. Kendrick for the last spot in the #1 contenders match.  Buck is on the floor for a long while Lethal and Williams do the work.  Williams hits Rolling Chaos but gets kicked low by Jeremy who steals the pin on Lethal to advance.

Rating: D+. I wasn’t impressed here at all.  The spots were nice so points for that but this went by really quickly.  Somehow this was four and a half minutes long which blows my mind.  Either way this wasn’t much as this flew by.  These matches are getting more spottish every week, which isn’t a good thing at all.

Bischoff is talking to Flair’s attorney and doesn’t know where Flair is.  Beer Money says it’s ok.  Fourtune leaves but AJ says not to worry about anything.  AJ says WE are in the driver’s seat.

Sarita says she doesn’t have a strategy for her match with Mickie because she doesn’t need one.  Her cousin Rosita is here next week.

We get some quick promos from Anderson and Hardy about their match tonight.  This is some of Jeff’s best talking in a long time as you can understand him perfectly well.

Anderson calls out Hardy and here he comes.  Hardy looks exactly like he did “last week in Germany” as the promos were from.  There is literally water/sweat dripping from Jeff’s hair.  You can see it and it looks like a leaky faucet.  Anderson asks how many jerks  there are here and gets a nice reaction.  He asks the same about the Creatures of the Night.  Not so good of a reaction, which translates to me that there aren’t many Taker fans tonight.

Anderson makes fun of the title belt but says that he’s worked for 11 years to win what it represents.  Both guys don’t respect authority and he talks about the gum chewing thing again.  Anderson can’t seem to decide if this is a serious promo or a comedy one.  Ken wants a fair match tonight.  Hardy talks about how he doesn’t need Immortal to win here so the fans of course keep talking and ranting about things that don’t need to be chanted about.

Mickie is taping up her fist.

Back to the Jarretts and in this case it’s about their kids and family life.  Apparently they’re going to have a talent show.

Mickie James vs. Sarita

 

This is the taped fist match which means you can tape your fists.  Shouldn’t this be Velvet instead of Mickie though?  Apparently Mickie’s title shot is in a Last Knockout Standing match.  Seated dropkick puts down Sarita and Mickie adds in some splits.  You have to win by knockout apparently.  We head to the floor and Mickie might have punches the post.  Sarita works on the hand, because that’s clearly the easiest way to knock someone out right?

Hand goes into the steps and it’s all Sarita.  This is rather boring indeed.  Sarita keeps dancing and locks in an armbar, in a match where you have to win by knockout.  Are they even trying here?  In the cheapest of cheap endings, Mickie dodges some shots and gets a single left hand in to end it.  So let me get this straight.  A single shot with one of those fists can end it?  THEN WHY DID WE NEED TO SPEND SIX MINUTES GETTING HERE???  Whatever just end this.

Rating: F. Can someone, anyone, tell me what the freaking point to the tape was?  It’s a classic example of a gimmick match not being needed and being there for the sake of a gimmick.  This was boring as heck and I absolutely hate the lazy booking of one person is beaten down the whole time and then a single shot ends it.  Bad booking and I hate it.

Madison blasts Mickie with the cast and stands over her all evil and such.

Bischoff tells Hardy that he’s a bit worried while Jeff says he’s ready.  Hardy says no one from Immortal can be out there.

The Jarretts are going to renew their wedding vows.  This of course is absolutely sickening.  Oh and it’ll be on Impact of course.

TNA World Title: Mr. Anderson vs. Jeff Hardy

 

Hey look it’s the match that they should have built up for weeks but instead hot shotted it on a PPV for shock value!  Hardy jumps Anderson during his intro and the fight is on as we’re still on the ramp.  Since this is a title match that is scheduled, a bunch of referees pull them apart and we get swearing.  Anderson had some kind of arm hold on Hardy that apparently worked a bit.

The match hasn’t started yet either.  We take a break before we start which is a bit stupid but not bad.  Here’s the bell.  Let me clarify that: I have no problem with a break before the bell which is probably the best idea.  I don’t get the point in having a big brawl instead of just starting the match.  Anderson controls to start and gets some elbow drops for two.

Hardy fights back and takes over.  This is the complete opposite of epic as we knew that Anderson would win the first time but it still felt big.  We talk about THEY because the world title match isn’t interesting enough I guess.  Off to a choke/chinlock by Jeff.  Hardy gets a leg drop as this is needing to pick up a lot.  Now Hardy wants to work on the leg for no apparent reason.

Anderson’s balls go into the post and Hardy works on the head.  Wow that sounded very bad indeed.  Back to the chinlock now.  Whisper in the Wind takes Anderson down but of course here comes Anderson.  They slug it out from their knees and are now back up with some nice sequences still of punches.  Anderson gets a spinning neckbreaker for two.

Mic Check can’t hit but Anderson gets a double spin kick (not joking) much like the one Red hits on Lethal in the package from the New York house show that they air every week.  That was kind of awesome.  Front suplex by Hardy gets two.  Dueling chants here.  Great job of getting Hardy over as a heel there Hogan/Bischoff.  Twist of Hate is reversed and down goes the referee of course.

Here’s the Twist of Hate and here comes Immortal.  Terry kills Anderson with a clothesline and the beatdown is imminent.  AJ hands Anderson to Hardy and throws up the Fourtune sign.  And then Fourtune beats up Immortal and it’s a Styles Clash for Hardy.  The fans are liking this a lot as Anderson gets the pin on Hardy to retain.

Rating: D+. This just did not ever get off the ground.  We knew that something was coming and while the ending is good, there’s no big pop here.  THIS should have been Hardy dropping the title to Anderson rather than at the PPV, but since that would be logical booking and TNA doesn’t want that at all, this was what we got and it was just ok.  It’s pretty clear this was supposed to be epic and that the company thinks this is their big feud, it’s never clicked for me.  Match wasn’t terrible to be sure, but it was nothing great at all.

After a break, AJ says look what we have here.  Fourtune isn’t taking a back seat to anyone and this is on Eric’s head.  Fourtune is THEY of course.  Eric comes out to call AJ an ungrateful son of a gun.  Fourtne was nothing without Hogan and Bischoff and all that jazz.  Angle, Crimson and Steiner are in there now too but this is AJ vs. Bischoff.

AJ yells about how Eric and Hogan changed everything and how they messed up a ton of stuff.  The fans of course decide that they need to speak up and let us know they want six sides.  Hogan is back on March 3^rd.  Really.  We mean it this time.  Hogan WILL be here this time unlike tonight when we promised he would be here.  He hasn’t been seen since Thanksgiving and is somehow the #2 or #3 heel in the company.  The big staredown ends the show.

Overall Rating: D-. There’s a lot to get to here so let’s get started.  First the good: Fourtune.  This is exactly what TNA needs at this point: TNA originals (kind of) vs. the outsiders.  That’s the perfect story given how they’ve set all this up.  I’m very happy with that.  Now for the bad.

Number one: This should have happened FOUR MONTHS AGO!  Fourtune has been the popular faction in TNA for MONTHS.  There was never any need at all for them to join up with Immortal and again, IT MADE NO SENSE!  Flair wanted to tick off Dixie and did that and then his boys were far more powerful than Immortal but kept the alliance anyway to be lackies.  THAT MAKES NO SENSE!

So now it’s Fourtune/Angle/Steiner/Crimson/Anderson/probably Morgan vs. Gunner/Murphy/Hardys/Jarrett.  That doesn’t exactly sound riveting as you have the titles and the power with Fourtune who are supposed to be the underdogs as the, you know, good guys.  Here’s where you see the criticisms of Bischoff and Russo shining through.

This is, once again, the NWO vs. WCW and the Millionaires Club vs. New Blood.  It’s a faction war with the heels being led by the corrupt leader and the good guys being all about keeping things like they were before.  Like I said, this is the right choice but it’s not like this is something we’re going to be riveted by as we’ve seen it before.  That’s not good but it’s what Russo and Bischoff do: they have one idea and that’s all you see out of them.

One last good thing I forgot to mention: AJ.  This is what TNA needed to have months ago (notice that I’m kind of harping on that).  AJ Styles is the golden boy in TNA and represents everything that the company is about.  FINALLY he’s standing up to fight off these guys that have wanted to change everything about the company and while it’s not exactly interesting, AJ belongs as a face in this company and that’s all there is to it.

Other than this, the show is worthless.  There isn’t a good match to be seen, the whole thing is thrown together around the basic premise of THEY coming back.  The BFG show did such an incredible job of building up the tension and atmosphere before the reveal that even I, one of TNA’s harshest critics on here, was dying to know who THEY were.  This time though, there was nothing.  It happened and that was it.

The show was just bad overall with only AJ and the reveal being the good parts.  I’m curious as to where this will go but only to an extent.  Hogan coming back on March 3^rd does nothing for me.  He can’t wrestle, he can barely walk, but he’s supposed to be a big deal?  Just get to the destruction of Immortal and let it go.  Bad show this week but there was a somewhat redeeming quality to it.oganglaksj

Results

Ink Inc b. Gunner/Murphy – Mooregasm to Murphy

Samoa Joe/D-Von vs. Bully Ray/D’Angelo Dinero went to a no contest

Jeremy Buck b. Jay Lethal and Douglas Williams – Buck pinned Lethal after Rolling Chaos Theory

Mickie James b. Sarita by knockout

Mr. Anderson b. Jeff Hardy – Pin after a Styles Clash from AJ Styles