TNA Impact 6/21/2007

Total Non-Stop Action presents Impact
Date: 6/21/2007
From: Orlando, FL

Matches:
1.) James Storm & Robert Roode defeated Eric Young & Rhino
2.) Chris Harris defeated Raven
3.) Samoa Joe defeated TNA X-Division Champion Jay Lethal & Chris Sabin to win the title

Angle Developments/Notes:
1.) Backstage, Abyss is walking and Don West wonders why is he here and what he is going to do. Don, Abyss works here!

2.) At Slammiversary, Jay Lethal won the TNA X-Division Championship from Chris Sabin. Lance Hoyt turned on VKM and aligned with Christy Hemme. Eric Young won his freedom from Robert Roode. Road Warrior Animal replaced Scott Steiner, who couldn’t make the show. Kurt Angle won the KOTM and won the TNA World Championship. Samoa Joe wanted to shake hands, but Angle hit the Olympic Slam instead.

3.) Jim Cornette is in the ring and says that the PPV was an exciting and emotional evening. They are now moving forward to Victory Road in July. Cornette brings out all of the TNA champions. TNA X-Division Champion Jay Lethal, TNA Tag Team Champions Team 3D and TNA World Champion Kurt Angle make their way down to the ring all getting entrances. Cornette says there will be a match called “Match of Champions.” Cornette says that Angle and Lethal will team up against Team 3D at Victory Road. All the titles will be on the line. So, whomever gets pinned will lose the title to the man making the cover. Cornette notes that Devon could win the TNA World Championship. If one of Team 3D is pinned then the person who gets the pin can choose their own partner to be champions with. Cornette says over the course of the next three weeks all the titles will be defended. If you win, you can compete in the match. If you lose, whomever wins the title will be in the main event at Victory Road. Angle tells Cornette to get his head out of his ass. Angle wonders where the red carpet and fireworks are for his title win. Angle thinks that if he were Sting there’d be a huge celebration. Angle has a piece of paper of people who to thank and he just ends up thanking himself for winning the title and putting TNA on the map. Angle doesn’t need the fan support and says they continue to flip flop on him. Angle doesn’t need their support and recalls always hearing that Joe was gonna kill him. Angle thinks that Joe is a moron and thanks God for giving them a role model in him. Cornette tells Angle that he’s a professional athlete and is paid to show his talent. Cornette tells Angle this is not charity and he’s getting paid well. Cornette says that they are breaking the glass ceiling. Cornette tells Angle he’s going to compete and he shouldn’t have a problem wrestling. Cornette says that Angle will find out the hard part is retaining the title. Cornette tells Lethal he’s wrestling Chris Sabin and Samoa Joe in a triple threat. Sabin and Joe appear on opposite sides of the entrances. One of the three will qualify for Victory Road.

4.) Backstage, Jeremy Borash teases a big name is likely jumping to TNA. Jay Lethal enters the scene as Sonjay Dutt is meditating on the ground. Lethal says he’s walking in and out of the arena as champion.

5.) Roode attacks Young from behind and delivers stomps in the corner. Roode hammers away on Young against the ropes. Young battles back by mounting Roode with right hands. Storm knee lifts Young from the apron and Roode clotheslines Young to maintain control. Roode plants Young with a back suplex for a near fall. Roode punches Rhino to cause the referee to be distracted. Storm knee drops Young followed by a leg drop for a near fall. Storm rams Young into the corner and Young boots Storm. Storm prevents Young from tagging out to Rhino. Storm accidentally decks Roode off the apron. Rhino gets the tag and cleans house with clotheslines. Rhino powerslams Storm for a near fall. Young works over Roode in the corner as Rhino hit a belly to belly suplex. Jackie Moore gets in the ring and that allows Storm to hit a superkick to pin Rhino. (*1/2. I was surprised to see Storm pin Rhino with the superkick. That’s a big pin for Storm. I like it.) After the match, Storm dumps beer on Rhino and that pisses off Rhino. Rhino tossed the glass beer bottle at Storm on the aisle. Rhino is tossing anything around ringside and flips the announcers table over. Rhino kicks the announcers table, breaking the table on the side! I can get behind Rhino losing his mind.

6.) A video package focusing on Jeff Jarrett is aired, which aired at the PPV. Jarrett talked about celebrating five years of running shows. Jarrett gets emotional talking about his wife, Jill. Jill recently passed away on May 23rd after battling breast cancer for nearly three years.

7.) Backstage, Leticia Cline interviews Samoa Joe. Joe grabs the microphone and tells Leticia to leave when she says she’s being hurt. Joe talks about being pissed all the time. Joe is going to take back his TNA X-Division Championship. Joe says that he wants to be on the same side of Angle and taste his blood. Joe will not do anymore interviews until he does what he wants to accomplish.

8.) Raven attacks Harris from behind delivering a few strikes in the corner. Raven delivers a side Russian leg sweep into the guard railing a couple of times. Harris fights back with left hands, but Raven delivers a clothesline for a two count. Raven bulldogs Harris out of the corner for another near fall. Harris mounts Raven delivering left hands. Harris nails Raven with a leaping clothesline. Havok hits Harris with a kendo stick while the referee is distracted. Kazarian comes out and hits Raven with a springboard clothesline. Harris plants Raven with the Catatonic to win the match. After the match, Kazarian runs backstage. (1/2*. It wasn’t a horrible segment, but it really didn’t do much for Harris. Raven should be taking clean losses at this point. I’m glad Kazarian is breaking away from Raven’s group.)

9.) Backstage, Christian Cage is sitting in a directors chair. Cage tells Harris to look at him. Cage says he’s the man who makes superstars. Cage says fans wait in line to get his autograph. Cage says that Harris proved at the PPV that he wants to be a star. Cage blames Harris for costing him the TNA World Championship. Cage says they will put on a show at some point. Cage promises that Harris will not like how the story ends. Cage gets scared because someone enters the room and runs away. (I’m thinking it was Abyss.)

10.) Well, it turns out it was Abyss because Abyss tosses Cage onto the aisle and is beating Cage up. Abyss goes under the ring to grab his barbed wire bat as Cage is in the ring. Abyss scares Cage to the mat. Tomko and Styles attack Abyss from behind. Abyss fights them off with right hands. Tomko runs into a big boot and bails to the floor. Abyss stands tall.

11.) A video package of Father James Mitchell searching for his prize. Mitchell was about to end his search, but found him. Mitchell says the man has no compassion and is a force nobody has ever seen. He is coming.

12.) Joe works over Lethal with strikes and and drops Lethal face first to the mat. Joe nails Sabin with a kick to the head. Lethal dropkicks Joe. Joe is double dropkicked to the floor. Lethal elbows Sabin and goes to the apron, but Sabin delivers a right hand. Sabin yanks Lethal down to the apron face first. Joe hits a suicide dive to take out both Lethal and Sabin as we go to commercial.

Lethal boots Joe in the corner, but runs into a snap powerslam. Sabin goes to the top rope hitting a missile dropkick. Sabin boots Lethal in the corner. Sabin puts Lethal in the tree of woe. Sabin delivers a dropkick to Lethal for a near fall. Joe chops Sabin and tries for a powerbomb, but Sabin counters with a rollup for a near fall. Joe atomic drops Sabin followed by a running boot and a senton splash. Joe works over Lethal with a chop in the corner. Joe tries for a Muscle Buster, but Lethal fights free. Lethal fights Joe off the middle rope and is shoved off by Sabin to the floor. Joe nails Sabin with a kick to the face. Joe plants Sabin with the Muscle Buster for the win and wins the title. (**. I don’t know how I feel about this. The match was enjoyable for being a short match, but did we need to do this? Sure it adds to the Joe/Angle dynamic, but I was actually interested in seeing Lethal in a main event spot. I do appreciate that they avoided Lethal taking the loss and put that on Sabin. I’m just not sure if I’m really caring about the idea of an all champions main event at Victory Road.)

13.) Jim Cornette comes out and says that Samoa Joe has earned his spot. Cornette says next week we will find out Joe’s partner. TNA World Champion Kurt Angle defends against Christian Cage and Rhino. I’m surprised that Rhino would be in that spot considering he just lost on this show, but that’s probably nitpicking. I think logically I’d have it be Cage and Harris to play into that feud, too.

Final Thoughts:
They spent a lot of time focusing on the next PPV main event, which is fine with me. I’m not interested in a Team 3D PPV main event, which is likely going to happen. I’d consider this an average episode, but I’m looking forward to next weeks title defense.

Thanks for reading.