“Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner?”
Impact starts with the Immortal-Fortune Thanksgiving Dinner Spectacular. IFTDS for short. Eric Bischoff leads a toast and announces that Dixie Carter will eventually be joining them. That doesn’t elicit a positive response.
Matt Morgan makes his way to the ring. He talks about winning the right to choose a special referee for his TNA World Title match against Jeff Hardy at Final Resolution. He discusses the characteristics that he’s looking for in the referee. Douglas Williams interrupts and makes fun of Fortune. Williams wants to be the referee and Morgan says that he’ll consider the proposition. Fortune come out to respond to the verbal attacks. Ric Flair becomes a little too angry and Kazarian takes the microphone from him. Kazarian says that there’s going to be an eight-man elimination tag team match tonight. He tells Morgan and Williams to get two partners.
Opening Match: Street Fight: Rhino vs. Tommy Dreamer
Dreamer sends Rhino to the floor and connects with a baseball slide. He slides a table into the ring. They brawl towards the entrance ramp where Rhino hits a suplex. Dreamer gets hit with a garbage can and is already bleeding. In the ring, Rhino utilizes a kendo stick. Dreamer avoids a charge and Rhino collides with a garbage can. Dreamer hits Rhino with a cookie sheet repeatedly. Rhino responds with an overhead suplex and props the table in the corner. He goes for a Gore but Dreamer rolls him up for the win at 4:35. Rhino definitely needed the win more as he is coming off a heel turn and could use some momentum. Additionally, nothing says “street fight” like a rollup. *½
Dreamer tries to talk to Rhino as a friend. They appear to make amends until Rhino decides to put Dreamer through the table. Rob Van Dam chases Rhino away and challenges him to a First Blood match at Final Resolution. Joy.
Matt Morgan and Douglas Williams successfully recruit Samoa Joe.
Elsewhere, Ric Flair approaches the Knockouts backstage. Mickie James and Tara start brawling. Angelina Love and Velvet Sky attack Madison Rayne. Mickie accidentally hits Love in the chaos. Sarita interjects herself and targets Love and Sky. Fortunately, Winter saves Love and chases Sarita away.
Jeff Hardy joins the IFTDS. He might be immortal, he might be the greatest, he might be larger than life…but he will eat.
A video is shown of the empty arena brawl between Generation Me and the Motor City Machine Guns. They will compete in Full Metal Mayhem at Final Resolution.
Matt Morgan and Douglas Williams approach D’Angelo Dinero about the eight-man tag team match later. Dinero has some trust issues but eventually accepts.
Match #2: Madison Rayne vs. Sarita
Apparently, this resulted from the brawl in catering earlier in the episode. Sarita tries a few quick pin attempts to no avail. Rayne connects with a clothesline and takes control. Sarita comes back with an armdrag and a dropkick. Rayne goes to the floor but Sarita misses a plancha. Back in, Sarita sneaks in a quick rollup for the victory at 4:31. Below average wrestling with a sloppy finish. *
At the IFTDS, Jeff Jarrett announces that he wants to give back. He’s going to show a DVD detailing his MMA trials and tribulations. After a commercial break, everyone says what they are thankful for. Jarrett has the best line, stating that he’s thankful Samoa Joe wasn’t invited because all of the food would be gone. He shows his DVD, which involves him visiting a children’s karate class. A little boy applies an ankle lock on Jarrett, who in turn shows him how it’s done. He also puts an armbar on a little girl. That was funny, I’ll give them that.
Match #3: Submission Match: Jeff Jarrett vs. Jesse Neal
They trade holds. Jarrett tries a cross armbreaker but Neal makes the ropes. He tries an ankle lock but Neal makes the ropes once again. Ground and pound by Jarrett. Neal accidentally spears the referee. Jarrett grabs a guitar from under the ring and hits Neal with it. Jarrett casually applies a rear naked choke for the win at 4:26. This match combined with the previous segment effectively made Jarrett look like the least believable MMA fighter. That’s exactly what TNA is going for so they definitely accomplished their goal here. ½*
Brother Ray is in the ring. He is confident that the reason Team 3D lost to the Motor City Machine Guns lies in Brother Devon’s performance. Ray shows a video package of Devon falling victim to various moves and strikes. He then shows another video package that showcases himself. Word on the street is that Devon is looking for a confrontation. Ray invites him to the Impact Zone next week.
Match #4: Elimination: Matt Morgan, Douglas Williams, Samoa Joe, and D’Angelo Dinero vs. AJ Styles, Kazarian, James Storm, and Robert Roode
Dinero fires off some offense against Styles. Storm tags in and catches Dinero with a corner clothesline. Dinero rolls up Storm to quickly eliminate him. After a commercial, Fortune is working over Dinero. Joe tags in and shrugs off a springboard attempt from Kazarian. He hits a uranagi on Styles and connects with a gamenguiri on Kazarian. Joe and Dinero are shown arguing in the corner. Williams hits Chaos Theory on Kazarian to eliminate him. Roode trips up Williams from ringside and the two remaining members of Fortune isolate him. Williams finds an opening to make the tag but Joe and Dinero enter the ring at the same time. Joe and Dinero start brawling towards the commentary table and apparently have eliminated themselves. Roode hits a spinebuster on Williams to send him packing. Morgan is on his own. Styles catches him with a springboard forearm. Morgan gets caught with a pele kick but avoids a 450 splash. He fights against the numbers game and connects with a double clothesline. Jeff Hardy interferes and low blows Morgan. Hardy takes out the referee with the Twist of Fate. Morgan wins the match via disqualification at 16:31. I appreciate this match receiving seventeen minutes but it was extremely storyline driven. Most of the eliminations weren’t worthwhile. However, the Joe/Dinero distrust was showcased effectively and Williams didn’t look like an afterthought. The finish was to be expected, as Hardy needed to have some substantial role in the episode. **½
Hardy, Styles, and Roode attack Morgan and stand tall.
Dixie Carter arrives at the IFTDS. Bischoff and Hogan are uncharacteristically nice toward her. Hogan wants to start fresh. Dixie tells Hogan that he’s been negotiating some talent contracts that he wasn’t allowed to sign. Dixie knows a judge, who has given Hogan an injunction. The board of directors agree with Dixie and Hogan’s duties in TNA are over. Dixie leaves as Bischoff and Hogan look on in disbelief.
Overall: Impact was extremely storyline driven this week, setting up most of the matches for Final Resolution. My problem is that the whole episode built to the arrival of Dixie Carter, which finally occurred on Reaction. Reaction is slowly becoming a third hour of Impact and TNA needs to make a decision on how they want to advertise it. Aside from some comedy and a decent main event, Impact was merely average this week. However, I’ve said that Dixie needed to reclaim power in TNA and that has finally happened. The storylines should now make more sense and hopefully become more interesting. Look at me having hope for TNA’s future. Probably a mistake on my end. Either way, I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!
