The Big News: A.J. Styles and Daniels continued their solid program with an excellent tag team match in the main event. It may have been the best show since the departure of Jim Cornette as far as match quality and pacing.

Mick Foley came out with his left eye taped selling Raven’s fireball last week. Abyss joined him. Foley somehow lumped the fireball to not feeling wanted anymore by Dixie Carter because he wasn’t consulted about Hulk Hogan coming into the company. Foley said he had to show a photo badge in order to get into the building tonight. Then he shifted back to Raven and challenged him to a match, which Abyss wasn’t happy about because of his eye. Raven, Dr. Stevie and Daffney come out. Raven told Foley throwing a fireball at him should’ve brought back the old Foley, but instead Foley had turned corporate and was more concerned with Hogan. Raven didn’t know if Foley even had the authority anymore to book a match. People confused about authority figures in this company are limited to anyone who keeps up with the show. Foley said he had the power and arranged for a match later tonight.

Mike Tenay and Taz put over the Turning Point PPV. Reminded me of the Fox Sports Net days when they had PPV shows of that caliber monthly.

Kurt Angle and A.J. Styles were side-by-side doing an interview backstage. Jeremy Borash mentioned that Daniels proclaimed Styles didn’t pin him at Turning Point, he pinned Samoa Joe. So Styles challenged Daniels for next month’s Final Resolution PPV. This made Angle unhappy because it was Matt Morgan who caused Angle to get pinned by Styles at No Surrender. So Angle and Styles cut promos on each other, but it’s the typical Raw gimmick where they have to team up tonight.

1.      Amazing Red defeated Scott Steiner by DQ in 3:34. Don West was shouting instructions to Amazing Red during the ring entrance, which included such pearls as “Stay out of his clutch.” Apparently Scott Steiner was training with Jose Aldo before the match. West was doing commentary away from the table upset that the match was booked to begin with. I hate matches like this because nothing good comes from it. It was booked to make Red look like a weak jobber, and Steiner can’t get over anymore as a draw. So what’s the point? Steiner had a visionary pin after a belly-to-belly suplex, then killed him dead with the Steiner Screwdriver. Steiner brought in his lead pipe and hit Red over the head with it for the DQ, then punched him while holding the X Division belt over his head. Bobby Lashley ran in for the save. It’s stuff like this that TNA has to stop presenting in order to be taken seriously. Fortunately, this was the end of the stupid stuff for tonight. DUD

Kevin Nash and Eric Young were backstage with Borash. Nash said he joined up with Young because he was one of the few people in the world who could outsmart him. Nash then compared Young to Shawn Michaels (not mentioned by name, but referenced a past tag team partner who was roughly Young’s size). Now THAT’S a stretch. Young and Nash shook hands, so Nash has joined World Elite, even though Nash is American. Young uttered the catchphrase “Welcome to Our World,” which is a takeoff of the old Jeff Jarrett catchphrase. Not that Jarrett’s name was mentioned. Nash then told Foley that he was going to talk with Hogan later tonight, teasing the return of the NWO.

2.      The Motor City Machine Guns and Beer Money defeated the British Invasion, Kiyoshi and Sheik Abdul Bashir in 5:23.The World Elite’s ABA warmups appear to be history, and not a moment too soon. Young did commentary, and referee Earl Hebner told him if he left the chair, the World Elite would be disqualified. Kiyoshi got the heat on Alex Shelley with a high kick. Sheik Abdul Bashir caught a back suplex for a two count. Shelley brought out of a nerve hold and hit a downward spiral into the second rope on Kiyoshi to make the tag to Chris Sabin, who hit a reverse leg sweep on Brutus Magnus.

Sabin caught a springboard clothesline, leading to an eight-way brawl. James Storm and Robert Roode crotched Kiyoshi against the post, then gave him the Beer Money suplex on the ramp. Rob Terry ran in right in front of Hebner. No DQ there. Then Doug Williams held Shelley for Terry to clothesline, but Terry hit Williams. Sabin and Shelley caught Magnus with a Motor City Machine Guns Sandwhich, then pinned him with a combination reverse DDT into a Shelley frog splash for the pin. **3/4

Postmatch, Magnus, Williams and Young started arguing with Terry, so it looks like he’s turning face.

Weird segment with Nash and Foley backstage. Foley wanted to know what Hogan was up to. Nash said it was purely business. Then Nash brought up his two week suspension. That makes a lot of sense being that he wrestled on Sunday, and was just involved in the previous match. They never even bothered to explain why he was suspended. Even if they did, it would have ruined the fabric of the previous match since Nash was suspended for speaking out in support of Sabin, who Nash was sided against in the previous segment. I can only imagine the folks at home who have no idea what Nash was talking about, but it’s not like the TNA audience has five million people. So at least a higher percentage of this fan base would have had some inkling of this angle compared to if it had been on Raw. Nash asked Foley to do what he could to end his suspension, and if he did, he would give him all the information he could on Hogan. Nash then told Foley that Hogan wasn’t coming alone.

There was footage of Hogan at a book signing promoting TNA to fans. It got over the idea that Thursday nights were the place to be for wrestling. At least this segment didn’t make TNA fans look like dorks. Well, I’m not sure if you could call them TNA fans as much as they were wrestling fans who were there to get Hogan’s book, and just happened to learn about this company that does Thursday night shows on the UFC channel. Another montage aired later where Hogan linked his signing with TNA to his jump to WCW in 1994. Well, that started off OK, but it took a heel turn to salvage it.

Abyss begged Foley to reconsider his match with Raven tonight because of his eye. Foley joked if he became blind, it would make his application for TNA referee easier to be answered. Abyss kept begging, but Foley was hearing none of it and kept going back to Carter not telling him about Hogan. Finally, Abyss relented but urged Foley to be careful. At least this made the fireball angle come off as something relevant instead of the usual TNA fare where it’s just the latest in an endless array of meaningless segments. 

3.      Hamada defeated Taylor Wilde in 2:49. Nothing really wrong with it, but it just seemed like they rushed through a series of choreographed spots. Wilde hit a flying head scissors and a huracanrana for a near fall. Hamada hit several variations of the enzuigiri, then got the pin with a Hamada driver, which is basically a Michonoku driver. *1/2

Backstage, Abyss cleared off a receptionist’s desk and pressed it against Foley’s office door. So Foley was barricaded into keep him from going out for the main event.

4. Abyss defeated Raven and Dr. Stevie by DQ in what turned out to be a handicap match in 2:29. Abyss jumped Raven and Stevie before the bell, but Raven eventually gave Abyss a Russian leg sweep into the barricade. It was a handicap match from that point forward with the heels going to work. Abyss made the comeback by ramming the two together. Abyss gave Stevie shock treatment, but Raven jumped him, then teased hitting Abyss with a fireball. But Abyss gave Raven a big boot, knocking the lighter out of Raven’s hands. Referee Slick Johnson saw the lighter and disqualified Raven and Stevie. *

Postmatch, Raven and Abyss brawled to the floor where Richards interfered, leading to Raven giving Abyss an Even Flow DDT on the floor. The heels choked Abyss out on the floor with an electrical cord.

They’ve brought back the idea of ODB doing a talk segment, which was not high on my list of things I wanted to reemerge. This new show is called “ODB’s Trash Talk” with Homicide as the guest. Homicide mentioned that Suicide wears a match because he has crabs, which made ODB crack up legit. Weird ending with Homicide drinking Tequila and they wound up dancing with each other. One’s a face and the other is a heel. You figure it out.

Out of nowhere, Tomko appeared on the screen with Lauren for his return interview. By the way, whatever happened to the unknown guy who jumped Styles? Probably the same masked man who attacked people during the dying days of WCW that faded into oblivion. Tomko did a total face interview and walked off. Then the Beautiful People walked in and started bullying around Lauren, including Velvet Sky doing an impression of Lauren. Madison Rayne showed the most personality she’s had on camera yet. They all laughed at her and walked off.

5.      Sarita defeated Alissa Flash in 3:46. Alissa Flash competed again in a black turtleneck. This from a company that allowed Jim Neidhart on television last week. Flash teased unzipping the turtleneck (it’s like a jacket, I guess), but kept zipping it back up to tease the fans. Sarita tried a crossbody, but Flash simply kicked her in the chest. Sarita gave her a belly to belly suplex, which was odd since Flash was playing moster heel. Sarita hit a dropkick off the second rope for a two count. Flash caught a vicious back suplex for a near fall. Sarita got a two count with a victory roll, then pinned her with a spin kick. *1/2

Postmatch, Traci Brooks jumped Flash as she was walking back up the ramp. This got little reaction as they were playing off the fact that Flash “broke the code” by going after Brooks’ bad arm last week.

Foley, I guess, found a way out of the receptionist desk barricade. He was looking for Raven backstage and found Daffney in a hallway. As he approached her, Stevie threw a door in his face, and it ended with Raven choking him with an electrical cord from a stairway.

6. Team 3-D and Rhino defeated Pope D’Angelo Dinero, Hernandez and Matt Morgan in a street fight in 7:25. Standard street fight where they brawled everywhere. Pope D’Angelo Dinero wore his sunglasses early, which didn’t exactly educate the public that the punches from Brother Dvon were stiff. Then Hernandez did the 300-pound tope onto Rhino and Dvon. Dinero threw it a trash can with weapons and threw a series of trash can lid shots onto Brother Ray. Matt Morgan put a trash can over Dvon’s head and threw elbows. Shouldn’t that have hurt Morgan more?

Hernandez gave Rhino a splash with a cookie sheet on Rhino’s stomach. 3-D teased the wazzup on Hernandez, but Dinero blocked it and gave Dvon a kendo stick shot. Dvon took a body slam off the top rope from Morgan. Dinero dropped an elbow onto Dvon’s crotch which had a kendo stick over it. Morgan tried to give Ray a legdrop on the table outside the ring, but Morgan missed. 3-D gave Dinero a 3-D, but Hernandez gave Ray and Dvon a double shoulder block. It appeared Hernandez had Rhino pinned after Rhino missed a gore and Hernandez followed with one of his own. But Ray pulled Hebner out of the ring. Then Jesse Neal, looking like he’s lost a good 30 pounds with his hair in a punk rock spike like he was Shannon Moore, ran in and gave Hernandez a chair shot, leading to Rhino getting the pin. **1/2

Angle and Styles were arguing backstage over who should get a title shot.

Rhino and Team 3-D did an interview elated that Neal had joined their side. Neal has better charisma as a heel psycho covered with tattoos.

In the bait-and-switch moment of the night, the promised interview with Sting regarding Hogan’s arrival never took place because Sting “didn’t show up for it.” Why didn’t they just mention that at the top of the show when they originally teased it? This led to speculation regarding Sting retiring.

Daniels and Desmond Wolfe did an interview together, so Daniels is now a full-fledged heel. It’s certainly time since he was lost in the shuffle as a face.

7. Daniels and Desmond Wolfe defeated Kurt Angle and A.J. Styles in 6:40. Angle was making these derogatory facials watching Styles parade around with the belt. It was really good in terms of playing up a future program. It was mostly mat wrestling, so the match would have been better if they had been allotted 20 minutes, but this is Impact. Still, it was good as far as match quality and very good in terms of building for the future. Styles got the hot tag from Angle and hit a Pele kick on Wolfe, then went to set up for a 450 splash, but Daniels crotched him. Wolfe then hit the Tower of London for a two count. Wolfe tagged Daniels, but Angle chased Wolfe to the back. Daniels then raced in, hit the best moonsault ever and pinned Styles. Daniels celebrated like he had just achieved the biggest win of his career, and Tenay and Taz did a great job in getting over how Daniels is now the number one contender after pinning the champion. ***

SUMMARY: A pretty good show, considering the uncertain nature of things. The Styles-Daniels program may not draw, but it was very well built on this show. They’re handling Wolfe very well. If only they could resuscitate the X Division, which is just a lost cause by now. My fear is they build a main event like Styles-Daniels, only to have Sid show up in four months to kill everything.

Jeff Hamlin
hamlin36@hotmail.com