“10.10.10”
Well I see that TNA has stayed consistent as far as coming up with stupid show titles. Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff make their way to the ring. Hogan introduces the four men left in the TNA World Title Tournament: Mr. Anderson, D’Angelo Dinero, Jeff Hardy, and Kurt Angle. Everyone has a conference in the ring until Abyss interrupts. Abyss says that the “they” he talks about is not Fortune. “They” have given Abyss the date of their revelation…10.10.10. “They” will invade on October 10th and turn TNA upside down, starting with the removal of Dixie Carter. Hardy starts brawling with Abyss as we head to commercial.
Opening Match: Madison Rayne and Mystery Woman vs. Angelina Love and Velvet Sky If you’re wondering what happened between Abyss and Hardy…no one knows. All four women brawl to start. Love and Sky irish whip the Mystery Woman into the guardrail. In the ring, they chop Rayne until the Mystery Woman makes the save. The match settles down as Sky connects with a series of clotheslines on Rayne. Love spears the Mystery Woman and they brawl on the floor. The Mystery Woman hits Sky with her motorcycle helmet and Rayne covers for the win at 4:14. Standard action for the Knockouts on Impact. The noteworthy happening was to come after the match and I’m greatly curious to see who the Mystery Woman is so let’s end this sentence and find out! *
Now that I got my sarcasm out of the way, the Mystery Woman reveals herself to be Tara to the surprise of absolutely no one.
Match #2: Stevie Richards vs. Abyss
Abyss enters through the crowd and Richards starts brawling with him immediately. In the ring, Abyss blocks a superkick and connects with a clothesline. He hits a front slam and grabs a chair. Richards blocks a chair shot with a superkick for the victory at 3:02. I really don’t see the logic of Abyss losing. This is one of those situations where I would have preferred a disqualification. *½
Abyss hits Shock Treatment on Richards after the match. Backstage, cameras show EV 2.0 and Fortune brawling. Abyss finishes off Richards with the Black Hole Slam. Brian Kendrick comes out of nowhere and rushes Richards backstage.
Mr. Anderson is in the locker room with D’Angelo Dinero. They aren’t exactly getting along. Tag team partners that don’t get along…say what?!?
Tommy Dreamer, Rhino, Sabu, and Mick Foley are in the ring. Dreamer calls out Fortune and the faction appears on the entrance ramp. AJ Styles says that EV 2.0 have no chance in their matches at No Surrender. Dreamer doesn’t want to wait until the pay per view. An eight-man tag team match is made for later tonight.
Match #3: Jeff Jarrett vs. Sting
Kevin Nash accompanies Sting to the ring. Nash interjects himself quickly by tripping Jarrett. Jarrett finally has enough of the interference and goes after Nash. Sting throws Jarrett into the guardrail and clotheslines him on the entrance ramp. Jarrett tries to suplex Sting into the ring but Nash trips him up. Sting falls on top of Jarrett for the win at 3:09. That was probably the most interference I’ve ever seen in a three-minute match. I’m expecting something decent from these three and Samoa Joe at No Surrender and hopefully they come through. ½*
Sting starts choking Jarrett with his baseball bat after the match. Hulk Hogan enters to provide a distraction. Samoa Joe comes through the crowd and attacks Nash from behind. Sting and Nash retreat as Joe looks incredibly angry.
Desmond Wolfe and Magnus are in the ring with Chelsea. Wolfe says that London Brawling is the best team in TNA. Magnus claims that they will save the TNA fans by winning the TNA World Tag Team Titles at No Surrender. The Motor City Machine Guns interrupt. Shelley says that they didn’t survive a best of five series with Beer Money to lose their titles at No Surrender. Sabin suggests that London Brawling may be a couple but Wolfe is quick to point out that they have Chelsea. More comedy follows and I’m having a hard time taking this feud seriously. Oh wait, London Brawling attack the MCMG. They hit Shelley with a yakuza kick-side slam combination and stand tall.
EV 2.0 is backstage. Dreamer is talking about losing troops and Brian Kendrick walks in. Kendrick wants to join them and Foley says that Kendrick can replace him tonight.
Kurt Angle and Jeff Hardy are talking backstage and getting along remarkably better than Mr. Anderson and D’Angelo Dinero.
Match #4: Elimination: AJ Styles, James Storm, Robert Roode, and Kazarian vs. Tommy Dreamer, Rhino, Sabu, and Brian Kendrick
Rhino connects with a nice dropkick on Kazarian and Sabu adds a springboard tornado DDT. Douglass Williams stops another springboard move and Kazarian rolls up Sabu to eliminate him. Sabu doesn’t go quietly, landing a dive to the floor onto Williams. They brawl to the back. Kazarian catches Kendrick with a gutbuster and they trade rollups. Kendrick responds with a high kick to eliminate Kazarian. Styles tries to attack Kendrick to no avail. Kendrick decides to randomly kick the referee out of the ring. The match starts to break down with everyone brawling. Mick Foley comes down the ramp as we head to commercial. Back from break, we learn that Kendrick has been eliminated by disqualification. Beer Money irish whip Dreamer into the corner and work him over. Rhino eventually tags in and cleans house. He hits the Gore on Storm for a nearfall. Rhino tries for another Gore but Abyss pulls him out of the ring and brawls with him. Despite the fact that Abyss interfered, the referee decides to eliminate Rhino by countout. Cool. It’s now 3 on 1. Dreamer finds an opening to DDT Roode and eliminate him. Dreamer sends Styles to the floor and rolls up Storm to eliminate him as well. We’re down to Styles vs. Dreamer. Styles connects with his beautiful dropkick but misses a knee drop. He synchs in a nice cross armbreaker but Dreamer makes the ropes. They battle up top and Dreamer hits a superplex. Matt Morgan tries to interfere to no avail as Foley and Flair brawl on the outside. Styles catches Dreamer with a pele kick for the victory at 13:39. The match was never dull but it was a mess at times as well. Kendrick randomly kicking the referee plays into his psychotic nature but if his goal was to help EV 2.0, he certainly didn’t accomplish that. I also dislike rushed eliminations but a fourteen-minute match is rare on Impact. A mix of good and bad, much like TNA as a whole. **¼
Match #5: Mr. Anderson and D’Angelo Dinero vs. Kurt Angle and Jeff Hardy
While Dinero and Anderson are arguing over who should start, Angle back suplexes Dinero. Hardy adds his pendulum dropkick in the corner. Anderson tags in and doesn’t fare much better until he lays out Hardy with a clothesline. Hardy is isolated until he hits the Twist of Fate on Anderson and makes the tag. Angle belly to belly suplexes Dinero and german suplexes Anderson. He hits the Angle Slam on Dinero for a two count. Hardy accidentally takes out Angle with Whisper in the Wind. Anderson hits the Mic Check on Angle. Dinero quickly covers Angle to steal the win at 4:42. Considering everyone’s current attitude, the finish was booked perfectly. However, I wish the match had a little more time to develop. This contest increased my interest in No Surrender slightly and that’s really all you could ask for out of this five-minute main event. **
Anderson and Dinero start brawling after the match. Hardy and Angle stare each other down and start brawling as well. Chaos ensues as Impact comes to an end.
Overall: For a go-home show, this edition of Impact didn’t convince me to order No Surrender. Pay per view offerings from TNA this year have been lacking in wrestling quality and Impact this week could have produced a few good matches to earn the audience’s trust. Instead, the eight-man tag had some booking issues and the main event was way too short. It seems as though the focus is on Bound For Glory and that’s fine. The consequence is that No Surrender may get lost in the shuffle. Overall, Impact contained nothing that you need to see. Read the recap and you’ll be fine.
