TNA Impact on Spike TV
Taped in Orlando, Fla.

Talon’s Take: For anyone who is familiar with them, I hate smart quotes. Can’t figure them out!

The Main Event Mafia (sans Sting) came to the ring to open Impact. Jenna Morasca was with Kevin Nash as well. Kurt Angle grabbed a mic and said he was the Godfather of the Main Event Mafia and he will do things for you as long as you show him the proper respect. Angle said that Mick Foley didn’t know that when he hit him with a chair last week, that there would be consequences. Angle laid down an “offer that he couldn’t refuse” for Jeff Jarrett to put him in the World Title Match at Sacrifice where his sacrifice being that if Angle is pinned he is out of the Main Event Mafia and the person who pins him would become the new leader. Angle vowed that tonight he would take over Mick Foley’s office and the show tonight. Angle said if you mess with him you get the thorn of the rose…

Talon’s Take: Again we open with the Main Event Mafia? Something I like about Impact is the pretapes that lead up to a final conclusion on the show. The MEM is REALLY playing up this mafia thing.

JB was backstage with Mick Foley who didn’t hear anything Kurt said. Jeff Jarrett walked in and said he had every right to kick Foley’s ass. Foley asked Jarrett if he had his back against Angle to which Jarrett replied that Foley was on his own…[C]

Talon’s Take: Foley is really good in these segments.

[Q2] Lauren was backstage with the Main Event Mafia. Scott Steiner was pissed off at Jeff Jarrett and wanted to kill him but Angle said they needed him…

1. Amazing Red and Suicide defeated The Motor City Machine Guns in 6:00. Red has a brand new look with new tights and a new hairdo. He looks more professional than he once did. Shelley and Red exchanged hold with Red getting the upperhand. Tenay and West mentioned “The British Invasion” which is being lead by Brutus Magnus. Illegal interference gave the Machine Guns the upperhand. They followed with a huge hiptoss on Red. A low drop kick followed by a Hesitation Dropkick on Red who was hanging in the corner. Red hit a cool modified reverse DDT on Sabin then got a hot tag to Suicide. A Suicide roll on Shelley took the Machine Guns out for a second but Sabin and Shelley fought back. Minutes later Red hit the Code Red followed by a plancha outside. Suicide hit the Suicide Solution to pick up the win for his team…

Talon’s Take: Red is a step slower but he was impressive here. TNA needs to sign this guy as fast as they can. He could reinvigorate the X Division.

Lauren was with The Beautiful People. Lauren said on paper Madison Rayne doesn’t stand a chance against Awesome Kong. Angelina Love wondered who would stretcher Kong out of the arena. Love and Sky said they had to go attend a funeral. After they left Rayne said “A funeral, I hope its not mine…”[C]

[Q3] Lauren interviewed Abyss. Apparently tonight Abyss is in a match where weapons are legal only for his opponent. Cody Deaner interrupted and tried to pick a fight with Abyss. Deaner said Abyss doesn’t have balls. Abyss got pissed and picked Deaner up by his jacket. Deaner said “that’s what I’m talking about…”

Talon’s Take: You either love or hate Deaner, there is little middle ground. I like Abyss’ character and this thing with Stevie is a nice little development.

A highlight video of Kurt Angle aired…

Mick Foley walked backstage in the Motor City Machine Guns. He asked the Machine Guns with their help. Sabin said they had their own issues, namely Suicide. Foley said Suicide was Al Snow. Shelley asked him to keep doing his research…[C]

Talon’s Take: If you haven’t noticed, TNA likes to slowly elevate their talent by giving them interaction with main event stars. This was a funny segment! I just wish TNA would pull the proverbial trigger with some of these guys.

LAX’s music played but they didn’t enter. It was shown that Hernandez was knocked out with Homicide checking on him. The British Invasion (Rob Terry, Brutus Magnus and Doug Williams) made their entrance with Magnus holding the case of Hernandez. Backstage Terry Taylor told Homicide to go to the ring because he has a match...

[Q4]2. Brutus Magnus and Doug Williams defeated Homicide in 4:15. This was the second Team 3D Invitational Match tonight. Homicide was on his own on this one. Williams and Magnus worked over Homicide for the majority of the match. They hit a nice necktie neckbreaker on Homicide. Magnus went for a top rope move but Homicide rolled out of the way. Homicide was a house of fire on Williams and Magnus. Homicide went for a top rope move on Williams but Rob Terry interfered. This allowed Williams and Magnus to hit an Elevated European Uppercut type move on Homicide to win the match…[C]

Talon’s Take: TNA has a new talent initiative going on right now. I was impressed by The British Invasion as the TNA Tag Team Division gets deeper. I hope Homicide goes after the X Title while Hernandez recovers. It was cool to see Williams return to TNA.

Back from break we got another Kurt Angle highlight video. This one highlighted Angle in 2007…

3. Awesome Kong defeated Madison Rayne in a Stretcher Match in 3:15. Apparently you have to incapacitate your opponent on the stretcher for a 10-count. Rayne was accompanied by Sky and Love. Awesome Kong brought a picture of Love with her to give her motivation in beating up her opponent. Rudy Charles sent Raisha Saeed, Velvet Sky and Angelina Love to the back. Kong destroyed Rayne. Every time Kong was about to win, she picked Rayne and continued the onslaught. Kong hit an Awesome Bomb. The fans chanted “one more time.” Kong appeased them and gave Rayne another Awesome Bomb. She put Rayne on the Stretcher and easily got the win…[C]

Talon’s Take: The rules to the stretcher match were weird. Usually you wheel your opponent across a line on the ramp to get a win in a stretcher match.

[Q5] During the break Madison Rayne was being stretchered backstage while the Beautiful People were freaking out…

The Motor City Machine Guns made their way to the ring. Shelley told the people to shut up. They called out “Daniels or Suicide or whatever he was calling himself.” Mike Tenay played stupid and said Daniels just returned to TNA. They said since Daniels were fired he was working Indy Shows being paid in pizza and T-Shorts. Shelley ran down the reasons why Daniels and Suicide was the same person. Sabin said Daniels was a liar and he knows Daniels is Suicide. Sabin said Suicide stole Shelley’s X Title. Sabin told Daniels to admit he was Suicide. Sabin smacked the mic into the chest of Daniels and told Shelley he just wanted to hit him with his mic. Daniels said he didn’t owe them any explanations. Daniels told the Machine Guns to ask Suicide who Suicide is. Daniels said now he was pissed off and took out the Machine Guns…

Talon’s Take: Very entertaining segment. All three of these guys are gold with Shelley and Daniels being great promo guys. I am looking forward to giving these guys and hopefully guy in the X Division some attention.

Backstage Mick Foley talked with Samoa Joe who had a knife and a black towel on his head. Foley wanted to know if Joe had his back. Joe just walked off. Foley said he had to go to plan C…[C]

Talon’s Take: The teases continue for Samoa Joe's advisor. Why would Foley need backup? Isn't he crazy enough to take care of the MEM on his own?

[Q6]4. Abyss defeated Cody Deaner in 3:00. In this match Abyss couldn’t use weapons while Deaner could. Deaner came out to some very annoying music that had that redneck feel to it. Deaner kept hitting Abyss with weapons but Abyss no-sold them. Deaner went to hit Abyss with a Kendo Stick but Abyss caught it. After spitting whiskey in the face of Abyss, Deaner hit Abyss with a series of weapon shots. Finally after a chair shot, Abyss went down. Deaner got serious and turned his hat backwards. Deaner pulled a wrench from his fanny pack. Abyss connected with a big Black Hole Slam on Deaner…

Talon’s Take: This was strictly a comedy match. It was okay for what it was. Again, you either love or hate Deaner.

Lauren was with Daffney who said Dr. Stevie was the best therapist she ever had. Daffney implied Abyss liked her but Lauren said he wasn’t interested in her. Daffney walked off laughing…[C]

Talon’s Take: We have a love triangle with Abyss, Lauren and Daffney. I will have to see where they go with this before offering my opinion.

[Q7] JB was with Booker T and Kevin Nash. When asked about the dissension between them last week Booker said everything was cool but Sharmell pissing on about Jenna Morasca. Kurt Angle came in and told Booker to take his wife out of the room. Angle told Nash to get Jenna a drink and Nash said something about getting her a dozen…

Matt Morgan came out and said he was about to drop a bombshell. Morgan addressed the Main Event Mafia saying his services were available to them. Morgan said he would wait for their reply but only for a limited amount of time…

Talon’s Take: So Morgan gets rejected from the Mafia. Interesting short-term character development.

Lauren was with AJ Styles and asked him about Samoa Joe. AJ said Joe has been different since coming back. AJ said he and Daniels have tried to talk to him but Joe would just stare. AJ said he needed Joe with his game face on…[C]

We saw some training footage with Rhino and Jesse Neal. Rhino was like a drill seargant. Rhino said Neal would succeed. Neal said he would do it for his best friend upstairs…

5. Kevin Nash and Booker defeated AJ Styles and Samoa Joe in 10:00. Nash and Booker were accompanied by Morasca and Sharmell. Samoa Joe never came out so AJ fought the match by himself. AJ Styles hit a big dropkick early on. Nash tagged in and Big Sexy botched a few moves. The MEM tried to double team Styles but AJ fought out. In the back Bobby Lashley was shown walking. Samoa Joe headed to the ring as we went to break.[C]

[Q8]We are back from the break as the MEM is in control. During the break Samoa Joe argued with AJ Styles allowing Nash to gain the upperhand. After a distraction from Jenna Morasca, Sharmell slid the Legend’s Championship into Booker who used it on AJ Styles to pick up the win. After the match Samoa Joe and AJ Styles began to argue…

In the back Mick Foley was talking with someone. The person appeared off screen but Foley mentioned they were involved in big matches and were controversial. Foley told the person to wait in the closet for the MEM to arrive…[C]

Talon’s Take: Is this Lashley?

We got another Kurt Angle highlight video…

JB was following Kurt Angle. Kurt Angle went after Foley and when Foley screamed “now” nobody came out. Foley negotiated with Kurt to hit him with a chair but there wasn’t a steel chair around. Foley told Kurt to hit him with a guitar but changed his to prevent further issues with Jeff Jarrett. Foley then said he would call for a chair and when he did he cheapshotted Kurt with a phone. Foley crawled to a cabinet and pulled out the sock talking to it about a big contract. Foley went after Angle but the lights went out. When they came back on a person in a hood appeared and laid out Foley. The person revealed himself as Sting as Impact came to a close…

Talon’s Take: I enjoyed the closing segment even though it came off more comically than it should have. It was a good teaser for a new superstar that we didn’t get, we continued the story that Foley was losing his mind and we got the return of Sting.

Overall this show was better than last week. It was truly a night of returns as Doug Williams, Sting and Amazing Red returned. I thought we got more wrestling than we have been. It was a solid and focused episode of Impact.


Tell me what you thought by emailing me at Talon_DR@yahoo.com

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