Impact
Date: December 23, 2010
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Taz, Mike Tenay
Episode Title: All the Gold is Worth a Fourtune

It’s Christmas time around the Impact Zone so expect a theme to tonight’s show. Tonight we have AJ vs. Williams in an Iron Man Match which most of you likely haven’t heard about prior to this as it was announced on ReAction instead of when the vast audience was, you know, watching. Other than that there hasn’t been anything major announced. Oh and the tag title tournament ends tonight. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of the tag match main event from last week where Anderson’s head was all messed up and Rob Terry cost Morgan/Anderson the match.

In the arena here’s Fourtune/Immortal. They really need a name for that whole team. Ok apparently their full name is Immortal and Fourtune is just a part of that. Terry is with them too. This is for the weigh-in for the #1 contenders match. Flair talks about their greatness as is his custom but shifts his attention to Terry.

He’s being offered a job as a bodyguard according to Flair but we hand the mic to Bischoff. Eric talks about how there are doctors here to check both guys and make sure they’re ok for Genesis. Morgan comes out and blows the crowd so far away that they can’t even move. Morgan says this is all a sham and that Bischoff is hitting new lows by having Anderson fight hurt because that’s beyond wrestling.

Eric disagrees and the doctors he has here are going to check Anderson and Morgan tonight. Flair tries to tell Morgan that it’s ok and here comes Mick Foley of all people. He says his career is probably over due to the amount of concussions he’s had. Foley says that if he has anything to say about it, the match doesn’t happen.

Flair says that Foley is a whiny, pathetic human being. He blames Foley for the rise in kids hurting themselves for the sake of violence. They get into their usual wrestler vs. non-wrestler thing. Foley wants to be part of the solution, which Flair says is to kiss up to him. Foley knocks the mic out of Flair’s hand and talks about coming into a morgue to check their brains when they’re dead. Flair says he’ll die in a ring or on top of a wild woman. Ok then.

Bischoff says Foley is here to try to be the hero now that his books and comedy career are failures. Apparently Foley is riding the coattails of people that have to follow Foley now because he set the bar too high with violence.

Cue theme song.

Mike and Taz run down the card which is the stuff I told you about already, plus the tag titles on the line in an 8 man tag with Beer Money/Abyss/Jeff Hardy vs. The Guns/RVD/Morgan. Whichever team wins, their tag team gets the belts.

Back from a break with Jeff Hardy coming to talk to Morgan. This isn’t about either of them but rather about professional wrestling. Basically Jeff asks who are Anderson and Flair to tell Morgan what to do. Jeff tries to get Morgan back to the Dark Side.

It’s time for another Jarrett MMA thing. We do get a Gracie Train here which is sort of funny. Jarrett says he’s tired of all the people in the Impact Zone losing so he’s going to open it up to the professionals. Amazing Red impressed him last week so he’s going to get another shot tonight.

Red comes out and is checked but gets Vaseline or something similar to it in his eyes which screws him up. Jarrett gets an ankle lock on for a long time but Red taps in less than a minute. Red has a brother so next week it’s Jarrett vs. the brother apparently. The fans chant for Angle and Jeff gets scared.

Tara and Rayne talk about the match later on and Tara’s arm is still messed up. Tara wants to make this go by fast to get to a party with Generation Me.

RVD is really excited about getting his hands on Hardy later.

Jeremy Buck vs. Max Buck vs. Kazarian vs. Robbie E

Winner gets Lethal at some point which is probably at Genesis. I’m kind of surprised we’re getting a match this early. We’re only 35 minutes into the show. They had that two week stretch where they got stuff in earlier. Yeah the match is at Genesis. You have to tag in and out here and we start with Gen Me facing off.

Robbie fist pumps on the apron so Gen Me double teams him for awhile. Kaz breaks up a pin attempt on Max which gets two for Robbie. He’s playing spoiler tonight apparently as he keeps breaking up covers. Basically this is Gen Me in a semi tag match where the partners don’t work together.

They dominate for the most part as Kaz hasn’t been in yet, pretty clearly forecasting his victory. They set for More Bang For Your Buck but here comes Kaz. He destroys everyone and hits his reverse Piledriver on Max for the win at 3:30. He and Kaz have a staredown for awhile.

Rating: C. Nothing special here aside from the usual Gen Me spots which are always pretty cool. Kaz was always going to win this and it was about as obvious as you could ask for. It wasn’t bad or anything but for three and a half minutes it’s not like they could really get anything going.

Sarita goes into Velvet’s locker room with a belt and closes the door. SWEET! KNOCKOUT BONDAGE ACTION!

During the break we missed Sarita destroying Velvet with the belt and choking her. Nice job of the cameraman to sit back and watch an assault and attempted strangulation. Sarita keeps yelling about how Angelina won’t always be there to save her, prompting Angelina to bounce in after Sarita left.

Eric and Flair talk about how Immortal is in checkmate because of Dixie and her attorneys and the judge so they need all the belts they can get. They need to live up to Hardy and Flair’s standards.

Kendrick talks to some chick about being lied to and gets a cookie. It looks like a cafeteria or something. Does TNA have any idea where they’re going with all these things or do they just throw random things out there and hope we make sense out of them?

Knockouts Tag Titles: Madison Rayne/Tara vs. Angelina Love

I forgot Madison was champion. That’s just not good at all. Angelina is introduced as being on her own due to Velvet being beaten down. It’s more or less Angelina vs. Madison as Tara can’t go because of her arm. Tara comes in for a few seconds but can’t do much at all due to the injury. She comes in, gets three stomps and a left handed choke and leaves. Not her fault of course but it makes the whole tag title thing a bit of a stretch.

Madison does her head scissors stomp thing and even her shapely form can’t even get the crowd into this. Winter comes down and cleans house as Angelina tags her in. Apparently she’s taking over. A really bad Catatonic (spinning Rock Bottom from a slam position) ends Madison at 4:50.

Rating: D. The crowd was dead for this. For a tag match having a total of three tags is a bit of a stretch. These belts don’t need to exist at all and you can see that more and more often every week. This wasn’t interesting at all and with the roster getting slimmer and slimmer, they need to do something with it soon. Winter will help, but they need more girls and fast.

Back from a break Pope is on the phone and says things need to go down the way he wants it to or things will be bad. Jordan and Young, in a freaking reindeer costume, presents Pope with a donation to the Congregation which is apparently raising money for kids. Pope talks to the person on the phone and says make the deal because he has some more funds.

TV Title: AJ Styles vs. Doug Williams

15 minute Iron Man match here. It’s a technical match to start us off here. They go to the mat with some very nice stuff. In a slick counter, AJ tries to nip up off the mat and Williams just dives on him and grabs a headlock. Williams gets a knee in the corner and we take a break to make sure we don’t see 15 minutes of good wrestling in one sitting.

Back with AJ holding a chinlock on Williams. During the break AJ got the first fall with a Styles Clash. Well of course he did. Not like anyone would want to see a champion get pinned as it happens right? AJ goes into a clock freeze which is smart and puts Williams down on the floor. Would it be too hard to give us a clock?

Ok apparently we have 4 minutes left. With maybe two and a half left they crank it way up and things get good. The springboard forearm is caught in a suplex. AJ’s eyes are awesome as he lays on the mat. Under two minutes now. One minute left as Williams is still down one. Rolling Chaos Theory kills AJ with under thirty seconds left. Both guys are down as the clock runs out.

Rating: B-. Solid stuff here with some psychology thrown in on the side. That’s not something you often get on TV matches today so that’s a definite perk. Seeing about 66% of the match isn’t a good thing really though but it could have been a lot worse. Good match as both guys can work a lot of styles (no pun intended) and it makes for good TV.

We’re going to get a five minute overtime, so of course we take a break.

Back with the overtime having already started. Tornado DDT gets two for Williams almost immediately. Springboard forearm gets two as well. There isn’t much other than laying around in between if you were wondering. Styles Clash is reversed into an Alabama Alsm for two. After some blocked suplexes from both guys the Pele gets two. Over three minutes are done already.

And now we have one minute left, meaning we missed about a minute during a commercial. Still no clock as I guess all the technology resources went to Dixie’s Twitter even though she has no affiliation to the company in storyline terms but still announces all the official business. We get a clock with 30 seconds left and Douglas gets a belly to back off the top but can’t get a cover before the bell rings. I won’t give a rating to the overtime but it was about on the same level as the earlier part if not a bit better.

AJ grabs a mic and says the people want a winner. He wants one more time at Genesis but Doug says no. Who’s the face here again? AJ runs down Williams a bit and Doug gives in and agrees to a match. If Williams wins, AJ has to leave Fourtune. AJ says no but Bischoff comes out and says do it or leave Fourtune, Immortal and TNA.

Team Beer Money has a powwow and Hardy says RVD can come get him.

Anderson will be on the phone next.

Apparently on the phone means a satellite interview. Anderson is cleared to return to the ring at Genesis. This would apparently be his return after the long time since his match last week. Taz and Anderson have a bit of an incident about Anderson not being totally back to full health. Anderson walks off after Tenay asks about proper paperwork.

Team MCMG is ready but Morgan isn’t happy about what Anderson said.

Tag Titles: Beer Money/Jeff Hardy/Abyss vs. Motor City Machine Guns/Matt Morgan/Rob Van Dam

Surprised there wasn’t a commercial before the entrances here. The champions’ team clears the ring and we take a break before the bell. Naturally they lied to us and the bell rang during the break. RVD vs. Storm is the first thing we see when we get back. Morgan comes in to beat on people for awhile. Is there a reason this isn’t a straight up tag title match?

The Guns do their awesome stuff to Roode as their team has controlled throughout so far. Sliced Bread is blocked though and Storm crotched Shelley to take over. Abyss comes in and Shelly, his former tag partner of all things, takes a beating. A few people boo when Hardy comes in. I’d like to see them take the show on the road to see if that would be the case elsewhere.

Hardy spits at RVD and Rob’s attempts to get at him only cause more pain for Shelley. Where’s Hardy to write bad songs about it when you need him? BEER! MONEY! Is that in case they get lost or something? Eye of the Storm is reversed but Hardy stops the tag. We go to ReAction (meaning I should cut off the review right now but whatever) as RVD gets the hot tag and Hardy runs.

Rolling Thunder gets two on Roode. Morgan comes in and hits the footprint on Abyss but goes down to a Twist of Hate. Hardy gets away from RVD again and they go to the floor. Sabin gets a tornado DDT out of nowhere to Roode for the pin to retain at approximately 8:50. JB sounds about as bored and uninterested as you could ask for him to be.

Rating: C+. Pretty fun match but it kind of begs the question of does Beer Money get another title shot at Genesis and if so, why? They just got a shot and they lost it. Why would they receive another one? This was pretty fast paced and formula based but good speed and pacing pulled it through to be pretty solid.

Overall Rating: C-. Not a horrible show at all although nothing really great. The Iron Man match is rather good, annoying times for commercials aside. This was really just a show to build up Genesis and there’s nothing wrong with that. Aside from the Iron Man match though, there were some problems here. The opening match was about as worthless as you could ask for and the women’s match was rather bad. The main event was ok but the booking is kind of a head scratcher. Not a bad show at all, but nothing great either.

Impact
Date: December 16, 2010
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Tazz
Episode Title: Head Games?

Tonight it’s another episode of Impact with three announced matches. First off we have the X Division Title on the line as Robbie E defends against Jay Lethal. We also have Mickie James and a partner to be named facing Madison Rayne and Tara in the tag title tournament. Finally, Rob Terry is back and facing Rob Van Dam. Kind of random but ok. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of the events last week that set up Anderson vs. Morgan at Genesis. Anderson talks about having a lot of concussions including the one from Hardy on Impact a few months ago. Is Hardy wrestling at the PPV? It doesn’t look like it.

Anyway Anderson gets here and kicks what looks like a time card display but it’s the match listing for tonight. Anderson is in a tag match against Hardy but it all ticked off about it. Morgan comes up to ask him what’s wrong but Anderson won’t say. It might be something about him not being cleared tonight. Morgan is his partner to little surprise.

Morgan comes into the arena and talks about how he made a choice to turn his back on Immortal and stand up for the injured Anderson. It was the right choice according to him. Tonight it’s Morgan/Anderson vs. Hardy/Kazarian and once the bell rings he can’t help Anderson anymore. If Anderson gets hurt tonight it’s not on him.

Here’s Anderson who talks about cheese and rice. Oh I get it. He says that he appreciates what Morgan has done for him but he is a man and a wrestler, so that’s what he’s going to do. Anderson offers a note from mommy or his doctor but Morgan says that’s not what matters. He says do what’s right by his fans. Morgan talks about Christopher Nowitski’s Sports Legacy Institute and about how they’ve been told to stand up to promoters if they’re injured.

Anderson can’t respond as Jeff comes out and says they should just get married. There’s so much smoke you can only see the outline of Jeff and barely anything behind him at all. Jeff asks how Anderson knows Morgan isn’t still working for Immortal. He goes on to say that Morgan needs to worry about himself, not Anderson. Hardy rambles about marks and how it’s all about the belt and the match tonight.

Tonight it’s another Jarrett MMA invitational thing.

Mickie/??? Vs. Rayne/Tara and the aforementioned main event tag match.

X-Division Title: Jay Lethal vs. Robbie E

At least Cookie looks good. Lethal jumps him for a fast start. Cookie trips Lethal seconds into it and his nose slams into the mat. Here comes Christy bouncing down the ramp with a pair of handcuffs to hook herself to Cookie. It’s a new zany comedy coming this Fall! We take a break with Robbie hammering on Lethal in the corner.

Back with Lethal getting a small package for two. Robbie gets a nice Russian leg sweep for two. The girls start fighting at ringside which means Christy beats on her. ReAction starts at 11:30 tonight only. Hopefully that’s a permanent thing. Lethal gets a suplex to take over again. We cut to Christy jumping in excitement. I regain consciousness as Lethal gets a nice top rope elbow for two.

Robbie gets a rollup with the ropes for two but gets caught as he goes up top. Superplex by Lethal has Robbie and the title in big trouble. Cookie tries to slip the spray in to Robbie get it winds up in her own eyes. Lethal Injection gives Jay his 6th title reign at 7:00 shown out of 10:30 total. Jay kisses Christy post match.

Rating: C+. Pretty good match here but all the interference and focus on the girls hurt a bit. This wasn’t terrible and Lethal should have the title again. At least we don’t have to see Robbie on TV as much anymore. Pretty good match and the longest Impact match I can remember in awhile.

AJ makes fun of Robbie until Eric calls him out for losing the TV Title. Anyone can imitate Flair apparently and he needs to be a leader. Possible seeds of a face turn?

Douglas Williams says that he thinks beating AJ with his own finisher was entertaining. He calls over Magnus who for some reason still has a job. Chelsea is gone and Wolfe is coming back soon. We follow Williams into his dressing room as he answers some questions about AJ but is jumped by AJ himself who beats the tar out of him.

Actually this looks like an apartment or a really nice trailer. The girls are getting dressed in there and freak about the guys being there. Williams takes a big beating as I still have no idea where we are. The girls are getting annoying, throwing shoes at AJ to get him out. This goes on for a good while as Williams gets destroyed.

And from that to this. Jordan is trying to find Eric Young who has his own Hooters girls and a title belt that he found in a garbage can and claimed for himself. Jordan isn’t sure about the girls and walks off. His outfit makes him look like a peacock exploded on him. We follow Eric who goes to find his sensei. It’s Brian Kendrick who says a lot of philosophical stuff including “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” Uh…..yeah.

Hardy talks about the tag match tonight and about how he’s glad to be in the tag match tonight.

Generation Me vs. Eric Young/Orlando Jordan

We hear about a Hooters special of Hooters girls in bikinis while skiing. And I was right about what I was expecting: Orlando Jordan comes out in a Hooters outfit. I knew I recognized that title belt: it’s the old TNA World Title belt, as in the one that Hardy threw in a trashcan. Young says this is a battle royal for the title. He dumps out the referee but Brian Hebner slides back in.

Ok so it’s a tag match. Eric throws out everyone anyway including his partner and declares himself the winner. Gen Me jumps Young and hit on the Hooters girls before Jordan comes in to clean house. Young gets a nice dive to take out Gen Me. Jordan gets a modified cobra clutch to end this comedy match at roughly 3:00.

Rating: C-. From a quality standpoint it was pretty bad but from a comedy standpoint which was the point of the match it was ok. Nothing all that great but it filled in some time I guess. I hope they can stick to Eric’s comedy thing of the month for awhile for a change though.

Mickie comes up to Eric and wants to know who her partner is. It’s Miss Tessmacher and I don’t think Mickie is thrilled.

Knockouts Tag Title Semi-Finals: Mickie James/Miss Tessmacher vs. Tara/Madison Rayne

Sweet GOODNESS Tessmacher is gorgeous. Mickie and Rayne start us off but Tessmacher comes in instead. Rayne vs. Mickie for the title at Genesis. Madison beats Tessmacher down for awhile and chokes away. She misses a shoulder off the middle rope though and here’s Mickie. Neckbreaker takes down Madison as Tara hasn’t been in yet. Tara gets in a shot with her brace on her arm and a punch from Madison is enough to pin Mickie at 4:30.

Rating: D. This was pretty bad indeed but the girls looked great so I’ll give them that. With the recent cuts to the division having Tessmacher out there could help a bit. Tara must be hurt from the cage match as she was never in the match. Mickie getting the title shot is also a good thing as she’s the best they have in the division at the moment.

Beautiful People vs. Madison/Tara for the titles next week.

Kaz insults Rob Terry a bit and might have been recruiting him for Fourtune/Immortal. We also hear that Rhyno is officially gone.

Pope is in the back and gets a donation from some guy. That’s worthy of an amen. It’s nice to actually see them going somewhere religious with this street preacher thing.

Brother Ray comes out with a name patch that says hardcore. He wants the toughest guy in the locker room.

Brother Ray vs. Amazing Red

This is another bully themed angle it seems. It’s a total squash for a few minutes until Ray runs his mouth off to Red. The announcers push the whole bullying aspect to no end. Red gets in a few shots but Ray kicks his head off and the Bubba Bomb ends it at 3:00. No rating for it being just a squash. D-Von runs out to stop a Conchairto and it’s the Dudley Explosion at Genesis.

Jarrett talks about his MMA thing some more.

Someone that might be Pope gets into a car and drives off.

Rob Van Dam vs. Rob Terry

RVD says that he doesn’t care who Bischoff puts in front of him because he’ll get by them. Van Dam hammers away to start but falls victim to the power game soon. Terry gets some shoulder blocks in the corner to RVD then changes gears by going to the front. Terry takes him down as we take a break.

Back with Rob Terry sending RVD into the railing ribs first. More power moves have Van Dam in trouble until Van Dam unleashes the kicks. Rolling Thunder hits for no cover but the Five Star ends it at 6:00 shown of 9:30.

Rating: C. Pretty one sided match for the vast majority of it but wasn’t that bad. I do kind of wonder why they brought back in Terry to have Van Dam no sell most of his offense and then win with a few kicks and the splash, but there may be something coming in the future so it’s too early to tell. Decent match but nothing great or anything.

We get a quick recap of Jarrett’s MMA career and the MMA challenge is up next.

Pope gets out of his car with the donation in hand and goes into a strip club. Cue evil, ominous music!

Jarrett comes out to Kurt’s riser entrance. His students help him get fired up along with Gunner and Murphy. Some guy in a green hat is picked after various people are insulted. A rear naked choke ends it in about a minute or so of course.

Mr. Anderson/Matt Morgan vs. Jeff Hardy/Kazarian

Anderson starts with Hardy but Jeff flips him off and it’s off to Kaz. Anderson is actually wrestling so I guess he really is back. Enziguri to the back of the head by Kaz gets two. Kazarian is whipped into the corner and falls down and his head rams into Anderson’s for a scary shot. Here comes Morgan who drills Kaz with a big right hand.

Hardy’s cheating allows Immourtune to take over with more shots to the back of Anderson’s head. He looks a bit deceased but gets back in to break up a double suplex. Down goes the referee and Anderson goes up. Rob Terry comes out and shoves him off to allow Jeff to hit the Twist of Hate on Morgan for the pin at 6:40. Anderson and Morgan had a mini-staredown to end the show.

Rating: C+. Well they did something with Terry so points for that. This was your run of the mill main event tag match and while it was pretty decent it wasn’t anything great. Furthering the wedge between the two good guys is a smart idea as it builds up their PPV match and we also add in something with Terry, which is a bit of overkill but nothing too bad. Decent main event to a pretty bad show.

Overall Rating: D+. Where did this show go? What actually happened here? The matches were ok but this was one of the most lackluster shows I’ve seen in a very long time. It felt like it was barely half an hour in when we were on the verge of being done.

Ok so Pope uses his donation money at strip clubs, Anderson can wrestle again and some matches were announced for the show. Some minor things happened but this show flew by and it felt like nothing of note happened (the X Title change wouldn’t be classified as something of note if you’re wondering). Not a terrible show by any stretch but rather lackluster.

Lockdown 2010
Date: April 18, 2010
Location: Family Arena, St. Louis, Missouri
Commentators: Taz, Mike Tenay

So this is the annual let’s make the cage match like any other match show which is an idiotic concept if there ever has been one. Depending on how the two major matches go, this could be a great show or terrible. I’m not sure which yet but we’ll find out. The main events are Lethal Lockdown with Team Flair vs. Team Hogan despite neither being in the match and Pope vs. AJ which has been pushed down almost. Let’s get to it.

The opening video is based around fearing the cage. Simple but effective.

Doug Williams isn’t here due to the Iceland volcano so he’s been stripped. Sean Waltman might not be here either. Oh great.

Rob Van Dam vs. James Storm

Both guys are in Lethal Lockdown later so I guess this is a warm up match? Remember that everything is in a cage tonight. The arena looks full and great. Can’t beat that. Isn’t the point of a cage match to be, you know, in the cage? RVD beats Storm up on the floor because he can I guess. He’s busted open when we get into the cage. Cage looks great. Everything looks great actually. Definitely the best crowd and best looking show they’ve put on that I can remember.

It’s ALL Van Dam here so I’d put money on him losing somehow. I love the holes in the cage that can be used to see in. It helps with the camera work tremendously. Split legged moonsault connects but no cover. Ok then. Storm spits beer in Van Dam’s face and hits a DDT for two. Superkick is countered into the Frog Splash (it makes sense in context) for the pin. Nice opener.

Rating: B. Pretty solid stuff here and a good choice to open the show. Van Dam is very solid to say the least and this worked fine. I’m liking this show thus far. Remember who is saying that. Although, hopefully it doesn’t get really bad in the second half like Destination X did.

Hogan talks about how Team Hogan has been getting beaten down pretty badly lately. He says you don’t run people over with a car. That’s true. You use a Semi Truck Brother! Hogan says that if his team gets destroyed he might leave TNA. Hmm I wonder if that’s foreshadowing.

We get a bonus Xscape match where the winner is in the triple threat later.

Xscape match: Homicide vs. Chris Sabin vs. Alex Shelley vs. Brian Kendrick

So the idea here is just to get out of the cage first. Ok then I guess that works. It’s a Lockdown staple so that’s fine. I guess the tag match these four were supposed to have isn’t happening which is the best I think. It turns into a total spot fest of course but did you really expect much else? That’s what the X Division is supposed to be though.

Also this is FAR more logical than the tag match would have been. Also this is more logical than a 6 man match which would have been a total mess. With a match thrown together and being meant to do nothing more than fill in a spot due to a last minute change, the crazy bunch of spots is fine. This is rather short with Homicide winning. Homicide wins after the Gringo Killer. Yeah that’s a great name to use.

Rating: B-. Not bad here and it did exactly what it was supposed to. Williams not being here saved us from a REALLY illogical tag match so I can’t really complain. Also, the MCMG continue to job. Who would have predicted that? Oh wait.

Kevin Nash vs. Eric Young

Young has to win here but he won’t because of the Band. Young is wearing some kind of green tights. Ok then. Apparently Hogan has told Hall that he has to get a partner tonight or he goes it 2-1. Ok then. I say that a lot. Nash is dominating for the most part here but Young is getting some stuff in.

That’s fine with me as they’re going with the traditional formula to get to the Young comeback. No problem there. And Nash just hits the powerbomb to completely kill Young’s credibility. This show is a success even if nothing else happens.

Rating: C. Too short to be good but not long enough to be bad. That sounds like in the middle to me. I’m not sure on how quick this was but I’d go with Hall and Nash reuniting here. And a quick Nash promo says that I’m right. I smell Pac being there anyway.

We recap the Women’s Title insanity to get us here.

Knockout’s Title/Tag Titles: Beautiful People vs. Tara/Angelina Love

Ok so it’s your standard two singles wrestlers vs. tag champions. You know the rules I’m sure. Yep Tara is gorgeous. Velvet and Angelina start us off. Taz is rather annoying on commentary to say the least. Some nice double teaming from the BP there. Make jokes amongst yourselves. Tara pulls an Angle and totally misses a moonsault. Good to see that the accuracy is there still.

Angel is better in the ring than she’s given credit for. Madison takes the Widow’s Peak but Velvet makes the save. Lacey gets in somehow and drills Tara in the head with a belt to give Madison Rayne the Knockout’s Title. So that’s two straight title changes with the champion not getting pinned. Ok then. I do love the BP being the focus of the division. That’s intelligent and not sarcastic actually.

Rating: C-. Not terrible actually. Love is underrated in the ring and Tara is always solid. The booking is right here and we don’t get the wacky tag partners which is never any good. I’m rather happy for the first near hour of this show. I must be coming down with something.

Tara destroys Angelina post match, I think turning heel.

Team Flair and mainly Flair talks about how this is Flair country. Flair gets in his first funny line since being in TNA by saying that JB annoys him. That’s hilarious. He’s out of his wheelchair now. I have no problem with him doing the talking for all of them actually. Also he just cuts a promo rather than screaming like a crazy man. AJ says exactly what he would be expected to say.

X Division Title: Homicide vs. Kazarian vs. Shannon Moore

If Moore wins, this show sucks. They should have just gone with a one on one number one contenders match but I can go with this I guess. No belt here since it’s in Europe I guess. I’d bet on that being used in an angle which would make sense at least. They double team Homicide to start. Apparently they don’t take kindly to qualifiers in these here parts.

Taz points out that he’s a former wrestler. That’s a good thing actually as a lot of people might not know that actually. If you started watching post 2002-03, you’ve likely never seen a Taz match. Homicide hits Eddie’s triple suplex. Scratch that as he doesn’t get through the trio.

Homicide hits a SICK double Diamond Cutter off the top but can’t get the pin. Nice spot there. Taz says he opened up a can. He and Tenay laugh like idiots. Ok then. We hit the near fall portion as everyone is making saves. It’s clichéd but it still works incredibly well.

Pretty solid stuff so far in here. After a near Gringo Killer, Kaz hooks more or less a reverse piledriver for the pin. He had Homicide on his back and dropped down. That was sweet.

Rating: B+. Solid stuff here and it worked very well. There was nothing epic about it but nothing bad here at all. The absence of Williams hurt but you can’t fault them for that. I liked it pretty well and so did the crowd. Yeah I’m bumping this up.

Pope says that AJ isn’t styling at all. Then he talks about a restaurant. Was that good or not? I’m not sure.

Team 3D vs. The Band

It’s Hall and Nash in case you missed it. And it’s not a cage match anymore but a St. Louis Street Fight where falls count anywhere in the building. Uh, sure why not. This actually is a major match given the teams in it so points for that. They start on the ramp and the Outsider’s Edge is blocked.

We’re in the crowd already. 3D said no one came to see a match but rather a fight. That makes sense at least. If the Waltman no-showing thing is legit, good riddance. The crowd is definitely making this show much better.

We’re back in the ring now with D-Von all by himself. What’s Up hits on Hall. 3D through the table ends this. This was almost a squash match. Well I didn’t expect that one at all.

Rating: C+. Pretty decent brawl here. I was really surprised at the ending though as Hall just took 3D and got pinned. It looks like they’re pushing 3D towards the tag titles again which is the epitome of a head scratcher but whatever. Decent enough match since I like 3D so there you are.

We recap Anderson vs. Angle which needs to be blown off for good tonight.

Kurt Angle vs. Ken Anderson

This is standard rules but Anderson has the key. Not sure I get the point to that aspect as it’s bound be thrown around sometime. Also, I’d prefer a regular cage match but this is fine I suppose. Anderson has the key around his neck. Ok he has a chain around his neck with the key around it but you get the idea. Anderson goes for the door like 30 seconds in and like an idiot, he forgets about Angle.

Anderson accidentally leaves the key in the lock so there goes the point of the ladder match entirely. Angle is bleeding BAD already. Tenay says it was bound to happen at some point. At some point? I think every match has had that so far. This is one of the feuds that I’ve really liked for the majority of it. Angle is WORKING in there man. He’s still one of the best in the world when he works at it.

There is blood everywhere. Ok not really but it sounds good. Angle hits his run up the ropes and hit a belly to belly. Love that. Anderson uses his wrist tape to choke Angle out which is rather brilliant. Solid match so far. Angle gets his Germans. He hits about 6 or 7 of them and Anderson is just about out of it.

Angle goes for the door but stops. Dang it Kurt don’t be stupid. Ankle Lock is on but you can’t win by tap out. And there’s the Mic Check. Yeah I’m stunned too. Anderson gets the lock open but Angle gets the Slam. And Angle locks the cage again. Ok then. And he throws the key away. Anderson freaks, even though there’s no roof on the cage.

Anderson tries to get out but Angle gets a German OFF THE TOP ROPE! SICK spot. Angle sets him for the moonsault but goes TO THE TOP OF THE CAGE! And he hits it. Yeah Angle still has it. Angle gets a key from….somewhere, but Anderson flips the double bird and is able to get a Mic Check.

We’re getting close to overkill here. Angle catches him with the ankle lock though and Anderson taps again. I smell a broken ankle. Anderson reverses but STILL can’t get out. Angel finds a chain or the Warrior Medal and chokes Anderson out with it in a reference to Anderson choking him out in the ladder match on Impact before walking out. GREAT match.

Rating: A+. Yeah I said it. Great match all around and the ending made sense given the way Anderson won the ladder match. This has been a great show and it needed a great match to get it over the hump. It just got that. Angle is still one of the best in the world and he can bring it.

Angle says he’s taking some time off but when he comes back he’s winning the TNA Title.

We recap Pope/AJ, meaning they’re putting Hogan/Flair over the title match. I shake my head at that but the cage match buys them a lot of points.

TNA World Title: D’Angelo Dinero vs. AJ Styles

Hebner throws Flair out to start. If he stays gone, then sweet. We get the big match intros which it should get. Tenay thinks that Flair being gone helps Pope. You can’t buy commentary like that people! We start off rather well. One good thing about Styles is he can work just about any style you ask him to.

Pope can move out there so this is a solid looking match. Also, this is a good thing as you have two smaller guys with limited muscles in the title picture. That’s a legit alternative to WWE. AJ hits the forearm and the 450 but goes to the top of the cage and misses. Solid match so far.

The double knee hits and gets two. AJ reaches through the cage and grabs a pen from the camera guy. Uh, ok. And he jabs Pope in the eye to set up the Styles Clash for the pin.

Rating: B. Just a total letdown there at the end. I do not get the point in jobbing Pope out. For the life of me I do not get that. He match was solid though but after the previous match, the crowd was a bit dead. Still very solid stuff though and I can work with it.

We cut to the back and Bischoff is JUST GETTING HERE. Was he fly fishing in Iceland or something?

It’s time for Lethal Lockdown! The rules are just like WarGames but you can win by pin also. No mention of the cage top this time.

Lethal Lockdown

Team Hogan: Abyss, Jeff Hardy, RVD, Jeff Jarrett
Team Flair: Sting, James Storm, Robert Roode, Desmond Wolfe

Apparently Abyss is tougher than Austin. Robert Roode starts for the heels. Remember, if Team Hogan loses then Hogan leaves. In the words of Jeff Hardy’s old music, don’t you see the writing on the wall? Apparently Abyss has a hairline fracture of his hip. Sure why not? These matches are always hard to comment on as they’re mainly huge messes for the most part.

The faces win the toss based on RVD winning earlier which is STUPID but whatever. Van Dam is in second. So the faces beat up Roode for awhile because that makes perfect sense right? Van Dam is busted open from the previous match he had tonight. Wolfe is in next. Great to see jobbers getting PPV time. Jarrett comes in to make it 3-2 as I continue to shake my head at the booking of the main event.

Storm ties it up. Again, there just isn’t much to talk about in between the periods really. Van Dam is nice and bloody. We’re down to Sting and Hardy for those keeping score. And there’s no Hardy. Check the stairwells. Yep Sting got to him. And here’s Sting. Ah ok they are doing the roof with weapons thing. That’s a nice touch.

Ok so now pins and submissions are legal. It’s a weapons mess at this point now as you would expect as we kill time before the finish. Jarrett gets knocked to the floor and Beer Money follows them. And it’s thumbtack time. Abyss takes a beer bottle to the head to stop that though. I’d love to see someone sue for assault of something. What a great heel move that would be. And now it’s time for Hardy.

Jarrett gets a guitar shot from the top followed by a 5 Star to Wolfe. Sting gets chokeslammed onto the tacks and Jeff goes up top. He’s able to beat up both of Beer Money after being hit by a baseball bat. Sure why not. And of course there’s a table on top of the cage. Why not?

Jeff climbs a ladder and splashes Storm on top of the cage to….a mild pop. And there’s Flair’s music. Ok then. Dang it here comes Hogan too. Flair is BITING ABYSS’ HAND TO GET THE RING OFF! That is hilarious! Bischoff comes out now and he throws knucks to Hogan who beats up Flair. And he takes his shirt off to fall onto the tacks. Sure why not. And Abyss gets the pin on Wolfe of course. Why have anyone but the jobber job I guess?

Rating: D. This didn’t do it for me. The ending was just bad. Hogan and Flair were the focus of the angle. I get that. The point is they never should have been. This was to get Hogan over even more and to have him go over Flair. Seriously, has Flair EVER gotten a win over Hogan? Not that I remember at least.

Also, Hardy and Abyss are just fine after attacks like that? Really? We’re just supposed to go along with that? Sure why not. Either way, this didn’t do it for me. Pope should have won the title to end the show but hey, Hogan gets to shine in the end and that’s the important thing right?

Overall Rating: B+. The ending just took a lot of the life out of it, but this was a VERY good show. Nothing on here is truly bad and there is a classic match on it which is a major thing for it. It gives you a thing you can point to and say see the show because of THIS.

The booking I question a lot for the last two matches though. Pope looks like just another guy at this point and AJ has…who left now? RVD I guess, but at a show like Sacrifice? Not sure on that one. Then again that match shouldn’t be happening here but whatever. Either way, good show and certainly worth checking out, especially the Anderson/Angle match.

Impact
Date: December 9, 2010
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Taz
Episode Title: Immortal Ups the Ante

Tonight is the fallout show from Final Resolution where for the most part Immortal reigned on high. Jeff Hardy retained his world title, Jeff Jarrett made Samoa Joe tap and Abyss put the Pope in a casket, which to any non wrestling fan would certainly raise an eyebrow or two. Tonight we see where things go from here as we head towards Genesis. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of Morgan vs. Hardy at the PPV and the rather odd moment at the PPV of Bischoff throwing in a referee when Hardy was covered. I didn’t really understand that at the time but it could have been out of fear of Morgan I suppose.

The first shot on the actual show is Bischoff lecturing Immortal and Fourtune in his office. Apparently they may be in a lot of trouble due to Dixie’s lawsuit against Hogan. Bischoff says that they need all the titles and gold they can get in case things go bad in court. He calls out AJ for losing to Williams at the PPV but tells him to sit down.

Rhyno comes in and asks for the contract that Eric promised him. Eric writes NO in green marker on a piece of paper and gets on him for losing to RVD. Eric more or less says go away and Rhyno lunges at him, only to have the troops make the save.

Out to the arena with Immortal, complete with a new name graphic. If my math is right they have 10 guys here, not including Hogan and Hardy who aren’t here. Eric brings out Hardy because ten guys in the ring at once isn’t enough I suppose. After some destruction, Bischoff asks Morgan to come down. The Blueprint comes down with a pipe. At least he’s smart about it.

Bischoff says everything is about fair play now. As long as it’s not Johnny I can live with that. Bischoff says he watched the Morgan/Hardy match 25 times today. It was 12 minutes long so he really spent 5 hours watching the same match? Is he turning into Howard Hughes? Bischoff says Morgan could have beaten Hardy but the referee messed things up.

Morgan vs. Anderson for the next shot at Hardy is made for tonight. Anderson isn’t cleared to wrestle though so Morgan says no match. Bischoff doesn’t seem to care and says that if Anderson doesn’t wrestle tonight he’s gone. Immortal has new music here which is a really scratchy sounding version of Hogan’s TNA theme.

Theme song hits fifteen minutes into the broadcast.

Tara is going to perform tonight, as in singing.

Another MMA contest tonight. I’m still not sure what I think of this gimmick for Jarrett.

Abyss vs. Williams for the TV Title tonight.

Brother Ray says that tonight he proves that he was the star and that anyone could have been D-Von. He says come on D-Von and we see a fake D-Von. Can they just have their bad and uninteresting matches and get them over with?

Back and we’re told that Hamada has passport issues and the Knockout Tag Titles are vacant. We’re going to have a tag team title tournament with four teams to determine the new Knockout Tag Champions. This is what, the second time the belts have been vacated due to lack of defenses? Why are they keeping these things around?

Team 3D vs. Ink Inc

Remember it’s a fake D-Von. It’s a student from the wrestling school according to Taz. Bubba has to keep giving D-Von tips and instructions as they do some Dudley signature moves. Moore goes for a sunset flip and Bubba misses as he tries to drop down onto his chest. D-Von is rather green and misses a middle rope headbutt.

Neal, who is also a student of Team 3D, comes in to clean a few rooms. He isn’t doing enough to qualify for cleaning house. Jesse gets a nice move on D-Von where he sets for a belly to back suplex but slams forward instead to drive D-Von’s face into the mat. Bubba fights the heroes off and we get What’s Up and GET THE TABLES to a limited reaction. Ink Inc gets back up as the table is set up and the Mooregasm takes out D-Von to end this at 4:45.

Rating: C. Not bad here as it was there to further the Dudley Boy Explosion which could manage to set new lows in lack of people wanting to see a feud. The idea was fairly creative here or at least it hasn’t been used in a very long time which is fine. Nothing special but it wasn’t here for the wrestling anyway so I can’t complain much.

Bubba beats up D-Von post match but D-Von makes the save to save….himself I guess. The real D-Von ran in if that didn’t make sense. The match is announced for Genesis.

Tara is warming up and hits on Gen Me who are going to be her backup dancers. She makes them take off their shirts before they go out as her cougar character continues. Can’t complain about a sexed up Tara.

Back and Morgan is looking for Anderson who Christy hasn’t seen. He was shown earlier in the opening segment.

Tara sings her theme song which is pretty clearly lip-synched. A little bit of trivia for you very old school TNA fans: Goldilocks sings Tara’s theme song. This is basically just an excuse for Tara to be in loose clothing and to gyrate a lot. And of course here’s Mickie to drill her after about a minute to the surprise of no one.

Eric Young of all people comes out to save Mickie when Gen Me holds her arms. I’m not sure why they’re connected all of a sudden but apparently they are. The song playing throughout the majority of this brawl is good for a nice chuckle. Mickie says she’s sick of this so they need to have a cage match. This is happening tonight apparently. Great to see them giving a blowoff to a long running angle the proper build it deserves of a full hour.

Beer Money wants Gunner and Murphy to rough up the Guns before the title match at Genesis. Roode gives Storm more money for beer, which is I think his first money related action in many months.

Jarrett says that his fans have poured out a ton of support after his victory Sunday. He’s starting an MMA Challenge series for his money tonight.

Gunner/Murphy vs. Motor City Machineguns

I have a feeling the Guns drop the belts at Genesis. Beer Money comes out to do commentary and their entrance allows the security guys to take over early. Only Storm has a headset. Shelly starts for the champions and I have no idea which security guy is which so barring the announcers telling us I’m not sure who is who.

Storm says the Guns remind him of a six pack of Zima. That’s certainly a unique analogy to make. The Guns finally take over and set for Skull and Bones but Murphy brings in a nightstick to drill Shelly with to draw the DQ at about 3:45. The Guns beat down the security guys post match.

Rating: D+. Nothing special here at all with this being here to set up the Guns vs. Beer Money at the PPV. It’s kind of telling that the tag titles have had three teams fighting for them since the Guns won them: the champions, the team the champions used to be feuding with and the former champions. This depth to the division is kind of a stretch to put it mildly.

The Beautiful People are getting ready and Winter comes in, freaking out Velvet. She asks Angelina what’s going on and they leave.

Anderson tells Morgan he’s wrestling tonight which Morgan isn’t happy with at all. He yells about turning his back on Immortal to stand up for the wrestlers after Anderson got hurt. This goes on for a very long time but it’s interesting.

Knockouts Tag Titles Semi-Finals: Daffney/Sarita vs. Beautiful People

Daffney stays on the roster and Hamada is fired? Really? Sarita says that whenever Velvet gets in trouble she goes running back to Angelina and asks when she’s going to grow a set so Velvet spears her. Velvet destroys her for the most part including a nice Fujiwara Armbar.

After a save by Daffney she comes in to a nice cheer. Angelina finally comes in and cleans house. She completely dominates both girls and hits Lights Out (Downward Spiral) to end it at 3:30. Sarita says that Velvet still can’t beat her because she’s a loser. This is the bullying angle that was rumored to be coming.

Rating: D+. Another fairly weak match here but as there’s a theme tonight this was more building for the future. That’s certainly a good thing as it sets up the PPV which TNA has been having some issues doing lately. I’m curious as to who the other girls are. I’d think Madison and Tara are one and the other would be Mickie and….who else?

A casket is being brought to the ring.

We recap Mickie and Tara which is summed up as they used to have issues so they’re fighting. We see part of the finale at the PPV which sets up the post finale match tonight. The cage match is billed as the main event. That’s considered the main event over Anderson vs. Morgan?

Recap of the casket match from the PPV.

Here’s the casket and as it opens….a gospel choir in red robes come out singing This Little Light of Mine. Pope’s voice comes over the loudspeaker and says this is a new beginning. He compares himself to Moses and tonight he’s going to help those in need. The choir is dancing the whole time. He talks about a little girl that needs help or something and asks for a donation from the audience.

AJ yells at Abyss to get it done. I’m not going where that line should lead so don’t wait on me to.

We get some clips of TNA in Abu Dhabi which is rather cool.

Mickie talks about doing things for the first time, as in having a cage match.

TV Title: Abyss vs. Douglas Williams

Abyss uses power so Williams tries whatever he can to get out of trouble. Taz tries to convince us this has been all Abyss once he gets a chinlock/neck crank for about 4 seconds. Williams makes a comeback despite not really being on defense that long including a jumping back elbow from the top which is one of my favorite moves. Abyss blocks Rolling Chaos and rips off the turnbuckle. Naturally he goes into it seconds later and a rollup ends it at 3:40.

Rating: C-. This was just a step above a squash for Williams as Abyss had maybe 30 seconds of offense in the whole thing and Williams was never in any real danger. It was more like he was trying to find a way to beat Abyss rather than survive. I’m not sure I get the concept of having the soldier of Immortal get treated like this but then again, I’m no professional.

AJ comes out and hits a Styles Clash on Williams on the stage.

Tara accepts Mickie’s challenge. Is there a reason that Tara vs. Mickie James is getting as much if not more camera time than Morgan vs. Anderson? Gen Me is there and it’s them vs. Young/Jordan next week.

It’s time for Jarrett’s MMA open challenge. Simple deal: if any fan can make Jarrett submit they get $100k. The fan is naturally a plant and his name is Mike. Naturally Jarrett destroys him and a rear naked choke ends this non-match. I’m still not sure if I like this character or not but it’s certainly different.

There are 15 minutes left in the show and the cage match and Morgan vs. Anderson are left.

We come back to see the cage ready and then see a package on RVD.

Tara vs. Mickie James

It never ceases to amaze me that Vince let Mickie go because she didn’t look right and that Hugh Hefner turned down Tara for Playboy back in the day. Men have odd choices at times. They brawl outside the cage to start for a bit before actually going into it. Mike says we’ve got to take a break. The bell rings between “take” and “a”. Talk about cutting things close.

Back and apparently Morgan vs. Anderson is at Genesis. That makes a lot more sense from a time perspective but it’s kind of confusing as I could have sworn they said it was happening tonight. Tara is thinking about leaving but goes back for some more violence. Mickie gets a reversal and an Edge-O-Matic to take over. Seated dropkick gets two. Tara takes over again and gets a snap suplex before rolling through into a guillotine choke.

The dueling chants are REALLY loud here. They go up to the corner and Mickie grabs the cage and lifts her legs up. She goes for a rana off the top but is caught in a semi-powerbomb that looked really bad. Until then for two girls that hate each other this much they’re being pretty tame in there. Mickie is thrown into the cage door.

ReAction starts (as my blood pressure rises in anger over it) and Mickie can’t get a comeback going. Mickie more or less Hulks Up and throws Tara all over the place. One of the time sends her into the cage which gave her a serious injury that is going to keep her out for a few weeks apparently.

They go up to the same corner as before and Mickie kicks Tara down before heading up the cage. We get the huge spot as she hits a Thesz Press off the top of the cage for the win at 13:15. Mickie apparently messed up her knee legitimately so both girls are hurt now. Solid match.

Rating: B. I liked this quite a bit. Solid stuff and they took a chance on it. You certainly can’t say they didn’t try something new here so big points for them on that front. The match worked, but please, NO MORE BETWEEN THESE TWO. For one thing, this is the definitive blowoff to the two of them. Good stuff and I liked it rather well.

Overall Rating: B-. WOW. I actually liked the show this week. It’s not a perfect show or anything like that as there were problems with it, but for the vast majority this worked. The most important thing is that they set up a lot for Genesis which is what a show like this is supposed to be.

The main event was good and it was set up mostly well. The main criticism I’d have for this show is that the main event was a big deal and good but it got a single hour of buildup. If you weren’t watching tonight, you simply miss the match. That’s not smart business at all. All that being said though, this was a rather solid show and the best since Bound For Glory. Not perfect, but certainly acceptable if not rather good at times.