The Big News: Jeff Jarrett and Mick Foley are full-fledged enemies now after Foley hit Jarrett with a chair after tonight’s main event. Team 3-D has started a tag team tournament and Bobby Lashley made another cameo.

Jeff Jarrett started the show by introducing Mick Foley as the new TNA Heavyweight Champion. Foley was formally dressed and was cleaned up, almost like he was auditioning to become Mr. McMahon’s corporate champion again. He got a big response. It looked like Foley was doing something similar to his 1995 ECW heel turn where he spoofed 1970s interviews by kissing the fans’ asses and trying to be sincere while he’s anything but. Foley had some interchange with the cameraman Dirk, even putting the camera on him. He right eye was a mess, with Foley claiming 25 stitches. Foley said we wouldn’t see Sting for quite some time, which got some boos. Jarrett gave him the belt, but didn’t look thrilled to be doing it. Jarrett told Foley that his first title defense would be at the Sacrifice PPV in a four-way match. The gimmick is one of the other three opponents gets pinned, they would be sacrificing something. Basically, it’s similar to the old ECW Ultimate Jeopardy matches where the man who gets pinned has to live up to a stipulation. Jarrett said the opponents would be announced at a later time. Foley wanted to know who the real authority was in TNA. He asked if it was George Steinbrenner on “Seinfeld” who sat with his back to the camera. This is where wrestling has ruined outside life for me because I can’t watch those Seinfeld reruns without thinking of the Powers that Be gimmick that was another nail in WCW’s coffin in 1999. I’m still waiting for that one to play out, and it’s been a decade now. Guess I should also be waiting for Jennifer Aniston to climb into bed with me, too. Foley was upset that Jarrett booked that match and wanted a one-on-one match. Actually, Mick should consider himself fortunate. He was involved in one of only two true singles matches that aired on the last PPV. Foley accused Jarrett of being jealous because he had the TNA title. Then Foley said since Jarrett booked him on a match on the PPV, he was booking Jarrett in a match tonight in a “Cactus Jack Smack Attack” (basically a weapons match) against Scott Steiner. Jarrett was upset because he had already injured his hamstring in the Lethal Lockdown match. Foley said he was going to be at ringside doing color.

Backstage, the Beautiful People were celebrating Angelina Love’s victory over Awesome Kong to win the Knockouts championship. Velvet Sky said they were going to throw a party tonight with booze and boys. I was waiting for the payoff of the angle to be the Domino’s Pizza guy who put crap in people’s food to show up. I’m shocked that entire deal hasn’t been used in an angle somewhere already.

In a local commercial that’s airing in North Carolina for NASCAR’s Sprint All-Star race, they have Ric Flair voicing a spot that bills the racers on these dated wrestling posters from 1970. It’s complete with references to Bobby “The Brian” LaBonte and Dale “Wahoo” Earnhardt Jr.

Team 3-D appeared in a taped interview with Don West. They put over Beer Money something fierce. Ray admitted tag team wrestling across the world wasn’t as strong as it could be, so they’re starting a Team 3-D Invitational Tag Team Tournament. The winner gets a trophy, $100,000 in monopoly money and a shot at the TNA Tag Team belts.

Beer Money defeated Lethal Consequences in a Team 3-D Invitational quarterfinal match in 5:21. Beer Money did a combination Anderson spinebuster/Edge-o-matic. Creed and James Storm collided when going for duel cross bodyblocks. Black Machismo got the hot tag and threw a series of clotheslines and a missile dropkick. Lethal Consequences did the rockerplex, and Machismo hit the lethal combination on Roode, but kicked out of the finisher. Machismo missed a handspring elbow on Roode, and Storm gave him the last call superkick to the back. Beer Money got the clean pin with a DWI, which is a power bomb/neckbreaker combo. **1/4

Kurt Angle did a promo backstage saying the Main Event Mafia didn’t lose on Sunday, they beat themselves. Angle admitted he made a mistake by attempting to trust Jeff Jarrett. Steiner intervened and said he apologized to Angle, then ran down Jarrett for ruining 20 years of friendship and their kids playing together. Jarrett allowing his daughters to play with Steiner’s kids is not exactly a glowing endorsement as a father.

There was an ad for the Wrestler DVD. It was certainly a great film. But when the commercial claims the film is “one that brought audiences to its feet,” well, that’s totally missing the point of the movie.

Jeremy Borash talked with Jarrett backstage, who was pissed at Foley and Steiner. Eric Young walked in and wanted to know when he was going to get a chance. Jarrett said “Holiday” and his partner were supposed to be here tonight, but his partner had travel issues. So Jarrett ordered Young to tag with Holiday. Young didn’t even know who he was, and the angle came and went so fast neither did we. Turns out, it’s Jethro Holliday, the former Trevor Murdoch.

There was a vignette of Foley in behind-the-scenes footage going back home after winning the TNA title on Sunday. Pretty funny, as it was a spoof on those skits from Ric Flair in the NWA about the glamorous life of the world champion. He walked back to his minivan, where he still has Christmas decorations in his back seat. He was shown getting home at 3:45 in the morning. His wife, Collette (a former model), made her first on camera appearance in years. They’ve been married almost 18 years now, and it doesn’t look like she’s lost a thing. Foley was shown doing the Tim Sylvia gimmick of taking his belt everywhere, including when he drops his kids off to the school bus. Foley showed up later at a sandwich shop where he asked if they had ever had a world champion visit. Later, he picked up and woman’s cell phone while she was talking to her husband, and asked him if he ever talked with a champion before. Foley later visited a masseuse who was apparently blind. He tried to slip her a $1 tip, but she wasn’t fooled. So he gave her $100 instead.

Kevin Nash was backstage with Jenna Morasca while Booker T and Sharmell watched on backstage. Sharmell and Morasca were arguing with each other, and soon so were Booker and Kevin. Kevin and Booker tried to work things out, but Sharmell ordered Booker to handle this or else she would.

Borash tried to interview Jarrett again, but A.J. Styles and Christopher Daniels walked in thanking him for what he did a Lethal Lockdown. Styles apologized for ever doubting him. Didn’t he see Jarrett thinking about hitting him with the guitar Sunday?

Sojourner Bolt defeated Angelina Love in a ladder match to earn a TNA Knockouts title shot in 2:57. It’s scary enough when TNA women are put in a multiple match against each other. So why they had two women working dangerous ladder spots is beyond me. Thankfully, no one was killed. They didn’t even bother with transitions. They simply set up one big spot, then moved directly to another. Finish saw Bolt pull out brass knuckles form her top. Unlike most brass knuckles, these were shiny and weren’t wrapped in a napkin. Love and Bolt slugged in out atop the ladder (which they started the match doing) and Bolt hit her with the knuckles to get the contract. Actually, she didn’t have enough reach to get the full clipboard, so she simply pulled down the sheet of paper. ¾*

Borash again tried to interview Jarrett, but referee Mark Johnson walked in saying his daughter Jocelyn had called and there was an emergency.

Velvet Sky officially welcomed Madison Rayne into Mi Pi Sexy, and also got in a plug for the TNA trading cards. Angelina Love came out with a crown and the new Knockouts champion. Love did a funny acceptance speech, thanking her fans for supporting her. She said times are hard, and through the recession it must have been hard for them to lose their jobs at the burger joints and their trailers. She did the Sally Field line of “You like me. You really, really like me.” Sky brought out the male dancers, who were in the middle of their routine before Awesome Kong and Raisha Saeed came out. Kong’s hair is already starting to grow out. The Beautiful People bolted, but the dancers didn’t. Kong gave one of the dancers an Awesome Bomb and pointed at Wilde. Pretty good angle.

A.J. Styles defeated Kevin Nash by DQ to retain the Legends title in 5:21. Morasca was at ringside, and apparently she’s in direct competition with Lex Lugar, Goldilocks, the 2006 Great American Bash, Silva vs. Leites and the Iraq war for the biggest wastes of money this decade. She added absolutely zilch and has no presence at all. Speaking of which, the match was totally pointless. Styles tried everything, but you can only go so far with Nash. Styles used a flying forearm and Pele kick. Nash is doing the Iron Mike Sharpe gimmick of using a loaded elbow pad from his staph infection. In fact, that was his most effective offense of the match. Finish saw Sharmell distract the referee while Booker ran in to give Styles an ax kick. But referee Andrew Thomas (sorry, Vince, I’m using the ref’s names) saw the interference and disqualified Nash. Booker, Sharmell, Nash and Morasca all argued afterward while Angle tried to calm everyone down. Amazing to watch Styles be the set up man for Jenna Morasca. ¾*

4. Jethro Holliday and Eric Young defeated No Limit in 4:14. Holliday has lost some weight since he was known as Trevor Murdoch. There’s no comedy to his TNA character and appears more to be patterned after a babyface Dick Murdoch. Watching Tetsuya Naito work with Holliday was destined to be a style clash, but it wasn’t too bad. Finish saw Yujiro give Holliday the mountain bomb while Sheik Abdul Bashir held Young, but Yujiro hit Bashir and Young pinned Yujiro with a crucifix. I’ll bet tag team wrestling will be taken seriously again when the best teams don’t job in the first round during a tournament meant to put over tag team wrestling. **

Styles was walking backstage where Lauren brought up how Nash nearly beat him. And Styles didn’t even deny it. Simply stunning. Nash should have been in the Bush Administration getting us out of Iraq or something. Samoa Joe pulled up and Styles asked him why he hadn’t returned his phone calls. Joe said he had no friends in the nation of violence and walked off.

Lauren was in Dr. Stevie’s office with Abyss. She was mad at Dr. Stevie for hurting Abyss at Lockdown. Lauren can’t drop her interview voice when she acts. Stevie got up, and his face was shown on camera for the first time on Impact. He said he apologized for hurting Abyss, and said he and Abyss are both recovering in their own way. He talked Lauren into trying to help him heal Abyss.

Christopher Daniels did a sit-down interview with Mike Tenay. Daniels acknowledged he and Styles named their children after each other. Daniels said he went into feast or fired willing to sacrifice everything, but when he got fired he blamed everyone in the company. He wanted to get back into TNA after seeing the Main Event Mafia on TV take credit for TNA even existing. I guess that sounds better than doing the Curry Man gimmick for a year.

Jeff Jarrett defeated Scott Steiner in a Cactus Jack Smack Attack match in 8:17. Shouldn’t the no holds barred match between Steiner and Jarrett wait for the PPV? This was their first singles match in company history and they skipped ahead to point D in the program. There were garbage cans filled with Foley-type weapons, and barbed wire draped over the top rope in one corner, though that never came into play. Highlights included Steiner hitting Jarrett with a pogo stick, which gave Foley the chance to call Steiner “Mr. Pogo.” It was hilarious when Steiner began jumping around on the pogo stick. Steiner hit Jarrett with a Santa Claus mannequin, which Foley called “Here Comes Santa Claus.” Stiener gave Jarrett a suplex on a garbage can. Twice Steiner had the Steiner Recliner on Jarrett, but both times he made the ropes. Jarrett let Steiner kick out of the stroke. Finish saw Jarrett use the guitar on Steiner, then followed with the stroke for the pin. Plenty of postmatch action. Angle ran in and gave Jarrett the Olympic slam. Then Angle clamped on the ankle lock, and Steiner followed by putting him in the recliner. Foley ran in and hit Angle in the back with a chair. Steiner ran off. Foley then hit Jarrett with the chair and left him laying. **1/4

Going to the break, Tenay said Foley would explain his actions after the commercial, but he never appeared again. Instead, Jarrett cut a promo with Styles and Daniels beside him saying Foley had severed their relationship. He vowed the next time he saw him, he would send a pink slip up his ass. Then the lights went out, music played, and Bobby Lashley showed up on the ramp. Angle and Steiner smiled like they knew he was joining the mafia, while Jarrett just shook his head in the ring. The announcers almost glossed over Lashley’s cameo and paid more attention to Foley’s actions, which may paint a picture of where Lashley in TNA is headed.

SUMMARY: Not a bad show, but not a good one either. Foley is pretty funny as the glory hound, but I think his portrayal might have gone over some people’s heads. The tag tournament is a good idea, but the company is caught in a rut (as is all of wrestling right now) where there simply aren’t enough new stars being pushed. As Dave mentioned last month, there’s one person in America right now in their 20s who is a star: Randy Orton. The problem is, TNA has a chance to do something about that, but won’t.

Jeff Hamlin
jhamlin@wchl1360.com