TNA Impact 8/30/2007

Total Non-Stop Action presents Impact
Date: 8/30/2007
From: Orlando, FL

Matches:
1.) Team 3D fought Scott Steiner to a no-contest in a handicap match
2.) Kip & BG James defeated Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin
3.) Sting defeated AJ Styles, Christian Cage & Samoa Joe to become one-half of the TNA Tag Team Champions

Angle Developments/Notes:
1.) Backstage, Ron Killings and Adam Jones are interviewed and they are saying that Jones is a nice guy for giving Eric Young a free autograph when he could have gotten 500k.

2.) Backstage, Kurt Angle says none of the guys in the main event are worthy to be his tag partner. Kevin Nash reminds Angle he’s a gold medalist and says that Angle gives a lot of money to charity on a weekly basis, but they laugh at that one. Since Kurt took care of business last week, Karen promises to take care of everything this week. Kurt hopes that Karen isn’t going to talk to Samoa Joe.

3.) Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin were originally supposed to wrestle Team 3D, but Scott Steiner came out and scrapped that because he wants Team 3D tonight.

4.) Team 3D double team Scott at the start of the match. Scott connects with a double clothesline and tosses Ray with a suplex. Devon is met with a belly to belly suplex, as well. The crowd seems to be quite amped for this. Scott goes under the ring to grab a table and slides the table into the ring. Scott hits an overhead suplex on Ray. Devon nails Scott from behind and chokes Scott. Team 3D hit the 3D on Scott. Ray gets a microphone and mocks Scott for almost destroying Rick last week. Ray holds a chair on Scott’s throat and Devon whacks the chair on Scott’s throat. Scott is attended to at ringside with EMTs. Exploiting a real life near death experience for Scott. I can’t say I’m surprised by this. Brother Ray has a hammer and Scott is rolled back into the ring. Ray powerbombs Scott off the middle rope through the table.

5.) Scott Steiner was put on a stretcher and put into an ambulance.

6.) Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin are in the ring with Shelley saying they need to be heroes and issue an open challenge. VKM answer the challenge.

7.) BG hammers away on Shelley in the corner while Kip sent Sabin to the floor. Shelley ducks a clothesline and they hit a flatliner/dropkick off the top to BG. Sabin elbow drops BG after a drop toe hold and dropkicks BG while Shelley had a neck vice on. Kip sends Shelley into the railing. Kip plants Sabin with a cobra clutch slam to allow BG to get the pin. (1/2*. This is kind of sad to see.) After the match, Kip grabs a microphone and issues another challenge to any worthy teams. That brings out LAX to confront VKM. Triple X appears on the other side. Shark Boy & Eric Young are there too. All the teams begin to brawl in the ring.

8.) Backstage, Borash is with Karen Angle and he says this isn’t a smart idea to talk to Smaoa Joe. Karen says that she didn’t use a chair to hit Joe. Karen knocks on his door and enter the room. Samoa Joe is on the phone and isn’t happy to see Karen there. Joe asks if Karen knows that he should be beating her up. Karen asks how long this war is going to go on for. Karen says they could buy the company 10x over. Karen says that they could make this work. Joe agrees and has her close the door. Joe agrees that he and Kurt could dominate. Joe wants Karen to be there when Joe dismantles him piece by piece. Joe backs Karen against the wall and wants Karen to see what she has caused. Joe wants Karen to tell Kurt that he’ll see him soon.

9.) Backstage, Jeremy Borash is with Christian Coalition. Karen Angle enters the scene to talk to them. Cage tells her that the strip club is down the street. AJ defends Karen and smiles when she rubs his chest. Karen has an offer for Cage. Karen says that if Cage wins then Kurt and him win the tag titles and run the company. Cage isn’t buying into getting a TNA World Championship match. Christian says he’s a bigger liar than her. Cage tells AJ the best man will win between them. AJ asks if that offer applies to him as well. AJ claims he’s not stupid and walks off, but comes back. AJ says he tags with Kurt and then gets a title shot. Karen tells AJ to just win and kisses him on the cheek. AJ thinks that Karen wants him so bad, but tells Borash to not tell Kurt.

10.) A video of James Storm going to more bars, but he feels like last week those bars were of high class and that’s not Rhino’s scene. Storm enters a strip club and yells out looking for Rhino and threatens to kick all their asses. Storm is ran out of the club by several guys. Storm knew that Rhino had been there when one of the guys confirms it. “Have You Seen Rhino? Call 1-888-Have-A-Beer” is shown to close the segment.

11.) Backstage, Karen Angle is trying to convince Sting to align with Kurt and change the world for the children. Sting tells her if she’s so concerned about the children that she should change her dress.

12.) TNA World Champion Kurt Angle and Karen Angle come down to the ring before the match starts to watch the main event.

13.) Joe and Cage go at it while Sting works over Styles. Styles throat thrusts Sting followed by right hands in the corner and goes after Joe in the corner. Cage and Styles double team Joe against the ropes. Joe fights back with chops on Cage, but his momentum is stopped. Joe is thrown through the ropes to the floor. Sting is double teamed by Cage and Styles for a few moments. Sting delivers a double clothesline and sends Styles through the ropes to the floor. Cage kicks Sting, but walks into a dropkick. Sting tries for the Scorpion Death Lock, but Cage reaches the ropes. Cage kicks Sting followed by a chop in the corner. Sting bulldogs Cage, but is pulled out by Styles. Styles sends Sting into the steps and Joe gets a choke on Cage, but Styles makes the save. Styles hammers away on Joe in the corner with right hands. Joe fights back with jabs and a clothesline to Cage in the corner. Joe elbows and kicks Styles in the corner. Joe chokes Cage in the corner before kicking Styles and sends Styles head first into Cage’s groin in the corner. Joe hits a back suplex for a two count. Styles hits a nice springboard reverse DDT on Joe! Sting hits a top rope crossbody onto Cage and Styles. Sting sends both Cage and Styles to the floor as the show goes to commercial.

Joe and Sting are trading strikes upon returning from commercial. Joe nails Sting with a kick to the head. During the break, Sting press slammed Cage over the top to the floor. Joe crotched Styles chest first over the ropes. Joe nearly pins Sting following a snap powerslam after Sting collided with Styles on the apron. Joe jabs Sting a few times and runs into the corner missing an elbow. Sting misses a splash and Joe heads to the top rope. Sting hooks Joe hitting a superplex! Styles tries to cover Sting and Cage tries to cover Joe for a near fall. Styles pulls Cage off and they argue a little bit in the middle of the ring. Styles and Cage bridge out of a cover. Cage almost wins with a backslide and chops Styles in the corner followed by shoulder rams. Styles kicks Cage in the corner and goes to the top. Styles ducks a Sting clothesline to hit a Pele kick. Joe and Styles collide on clotheslines. Cage heads to the top rope missing a frog splash on both Cage and Joe. Sting backdrops Cage over the top to the floor, but Styles knocks Sting to the floor. Joe sends Styles to the apron and all three men are on the floor. Joe takes all three men out with a twisting dive over the top as the show goes to another commercial.

Cage is stomping on Sting. During the break, Cage hit Joe with the Un-Prettier on the floor. Sting is taken over by a double suplex from Cage and Styles for a near fall. Styles chokes Sting on the mat while Cage argues with the referee. Sting fights back with right hands to both Styles and Cage. Sting hits a splash on Styles in the corner. Cage tries for the Un-Prettier, but Sting counters with the Scorpion Death Drop! Styles breaks the cover at two! Cage grabs a chair, but Joe stops Cage and misses a swing hitting the post. Joe tosses Cage onto the announcers table. Joe and Cage brawl backstage. Styles tries to rip off the turnbuckle pad allowing Tomko to enter the ring and big boots Sting. Styles covers, but Sting kicks out at two. Styles goes to the apron looking for a forearm, but Sting counters with an atomic drop and locks in the Scorpion Death Lock causing Styles to submit. Sting wins the match and is now half of the TNA Tag Team Champions with Kurt Angle. (***1/4. I loved that the match was a tornado match and it allowed the match to be absolute chaos. Joe/Cage is a match I really want to see and think they’ve done a good job promoting that in recent weeks. Their interactions in this match were most interesting and entertaining to me. Glad that got a heavy focus. Sting winning isn’t a surprise all things considered. Angle and Sting as tag champions is just a boring story. I’ve never liked the angle of partners not getting along. I wouldn’t be surprised if Angle/Sting is the direction for BFG in October. Styles was always going to be the guy losing the match here.)

14.) Kurt and Karen Angle enter the ring to confront Sting. Kurt has both TNA Tag Team Championships. Karen hands over one of the tag belts to Sting, who accepts it. Kurt offers his hand to Sting and Sting shakes it. Karen raises both their arms to show unity to end the show. Tenay is promoting them as a Dream Team. Kurt and Karen leave the ring without incident. Ron Killings and Adam Jones come down and attack Sting. Killings hits the scissors kick and Pacman spray paints Sting’s back. Kurt Angle returns to the ring to runoff Killings and Jones. Sting has been laid out to end the show.

Final Thoughts:
I’m going to give this a thumbs-up show. The only thing I didn’t like was VKM seemingly squashing the MCMG. The Storm/Rhino feud is growing on me and I think this could lead to Rhino becoming more like the vicious Rhino from the ECW days because Storm is going to make him snap. That’s the Rhino I want to see. The main event was a good match that flew by. The idea of Killings/Pacman vs. Sting/Angle being a draw for PPV is a bit of a stretch for me, though. I’m probably most interested in Joe/Cage at this point.

Thanks for reading.