Total Non-Stop Action presents Impact
Date: 3/26/2009
From: Orlando, FL
A video package promoting the 20-man gauntlet steel cage match taking place tonight is shown. It’s a match that has never happened before in TNA.
The locker room is on the ramp as Jim Cornette is in the ring promoting Lockdown that takes place on April 19th. Cornette promotes the main event at Lockdown as TNA World Champion Sting defending against Mick Foley. The other main event is Lethal Lockdown, which is a four vs. four match. Cornette explains the rules of Lethal Lockdown as if nobody knows the rules. Cornette says they will determine the captains for Lethal Lockdown and it will be determined in the 20-man steel cage gauntlet match. Cornette says the final two men in the gauntlet will be the captains. Cornette says it is a new day in TNA and everyone will be given the same opportunity.
The Main Event Mafia’s music hits as the Main Event Mafia make their way out to join the segment, minus TNA World Champion Sting. Cornette is not thrilled about Angle’s late arrival. Angle asks how Cornette is going to give the jabroni’s the same opportunity when Cornette knows they are in the match. Angle declares the TNA roster will not get the opportunity. Angle promises he will be in the final two and will gain the advantage going into Lockdown. Angle tells Cornette that when he is a captain that his team will be the other Mafia members. They have dominated since October and they will continue to dominate throughout the year and through 2010.
Jeff Jarrett’s music hits and Jarrett joins the segment. Jarrett tells Angle that he’s the only jabroni that he sees. Jarrett reveals that he’s going to be one of the twenty men in the gauntley match. Jarrett is only in the match to make sure Angle is not a team captain for Lockdown. Jarrett cheap shots Angle and that leads to all the wrestlers keeping Jarrett and Angle apart to end the segment.
Backstage, Jeremy Borash is with the Main Event Mafia for an interview. Kurt Angle tells Kevin Nash to leave the room with Jenna from Survivor. Scott Steiner wants Nash to save some for him after he “hits that.” Angle suggests that Jarrett will not make it to match as he’s going to smash Jarrett’s head with a lead pipe given to him by Scott Steiner.
MATCH #1: TNA X-DIVISION CHAMPION SUICIDE VS. KIYOSHI
FINISH: Suicide pins Kiyoshi following the Suicide Solution to retain the title.
Bob’s Take: Kiyoshi has the control early on, and his offense is solid enough to keep interest that included a sliding clothesline, spinning heel kick and an overhead suplex. Suicide is typically dominating his interactions, so it was a little odd to see him struggle at first with Kiyoshi. This turned into a competitive battle with Kiyoshi stopping Suicide’s offense quickly. Kiyoshi stood out here as a fun opponent and I thought he did a good job of carrying the offense throughout the match.
Match Rating: **
Backstage, Kurt Angle heads towards Jeff Jarrett’s office with a lead pipe and knocks Jarrett’s picture off the wall. During the break, we see that Angle was held back by several wrestlers and security as Jarrett told Angle he’s going to take him out tonight.
Backstage, Lauren is with the Beautiful People. Lauren notes they will be in the ring with Awesome Kong and Raisha Saeed. Love knows that they’re wrestling tonight and yells at Lauren to not touch her chair. Love doesn’t care who heard her backhanded comment. Love says they don’t sweat Kong because they don’t sweat, ever. Love says they get what they want when they want it. They want the TNA Knockouts Championship. Sky tells Madison Rayne the hazing continues. Sky wants Rayne to rip the braids out of Kong’s head if she has to. Sky declares that Kong will be their next victim.
TNA Roughcut focuses on Brother Ray and his history in the pro wrestling business.
A video package highlighting the feud between the TNA Tag Team Champions Beer Money Inc. and IWGP Tag Team Champions Team 3D is shown.
Earlier today, Mike Tenay sat down with TNA Tag Team Champions Beer Money Inc. and IWGP Tag Team Champions Team 3D for an interview. James Storm says they are going into Philadelphia to become the greatest tag team ever. Storm says it is history and it doesn’t matter where it were to happen. Brother Ray disagrees because Philadelphia fans are the most violent ones. Brother Devon credits Philadelphia as what made them. Brother Devon is confident they will win the TNA tag titles. Storm says TNA is their backyard and believes they become bigger than the Steiner’s and LOD when they beat Team 3D. Brother Ray respects Storm’s answer and knows what it like to be part of a company since day one. Ray quotes Taz and his survive if he lets you. Ray tells them to beat them if they can, but survive if the fans let him. Roode says there’s no Jackie, money being counted, or beer bottle. Roode asks Team 3D if they know what they’ve gotten themselves into at Lockdown as the segment ends.
Backstage, Lauren is with TNA World Champion Sting regarding Mick Foley. Sting doesn’t know what he’s going to say to Foley tonight and says there’s no logical explanation for what Foley did. Sting notes that Foley hasn’t done anything logical in this business. Sting says there are no excuses and he’ll see Foley in the ring. Sting warns Foley that he’s coming armed in case Foley wants to snap again.
Backstage, Lauren is with Mick Foley in the hallway. Foley says they are going to talk about the controversial finish of the Bachelor, which is a joke. Foley is going to out there and apologize. Foley knows the audience likes to see two men hug. Foley says there will be no need for violence tonight.
MATCH #2: TNA KNOCKOUTS CHAMPION AWESOME KONG & RAISHA SAEED VS. THE BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE (LOVE & SKY)
FINISH: Love pins Saeed following the Lights Out. After the match, Kong avoids getting her haircut by knocking the Beautiful People to the floor.
Bob’s Take: So, there’s nobody in this match that the fans should be liking, right? I guess by default we’d probably want Kong to beat up the bullies that the Beautiful People are. The crowd seems to be supporting the Beautiful People here, which kind of blows my mind. Anyway, I’m guessing Love will be a challenger for Kong. I didn’t care much for the match.
Match Rating: *
TNA World Champion Sting makes his way down to the ring for a confrontation with Mick Foley. Sting has been trying to work this out, but needs Foley to come out and explain if he can. Foley makes his way out to join the segment. Foley promises to give Sting an explanation and thinks they will be laughing in a few minutes. Foley believes it was a miscommunication and recalls being slammed on the floor by Kurt Angle. Foley thinks he could have been in an altered state of mind. Foley shows footage from last week where Foley thought Sting was threatening Jeff Jarrett with a guitar. Sting asks if Foley thinks this is a joke and says it wasn’t funny being hit with a chair and he’s not laughing now. Sting was trying to protect Foley last week. Sting understands the physical pain Foley is in. Sting knows that Foley left a piece of his body in the ring for the fans. Sting knows Foley did it for all the boys in the back and even for him, too. Sting tried to protect Foley because he respects Foley. However, Sting is pissed and he’s starting to lose the respect. Foley knows times are tough and the stock market is crashing and the job market has never been worse. A lot of people could use help, but Foley doesn’t need Sting’s pity. Foley says when he hit Sting with a chair that the tables turned. Foley says nobody is talking about the other wrestling show in April (WrestleMania) and says they are talking about their match at Lockdown. Foley says they aren’t reliving history, but rather making history at Lockdown. Foley thinks he has a couple of big dives left in him to end the segment.
MAIN EVENT: 20-MAN STEEL CAGE GAUNTLET MATCH
NOTE: Order of entry was Abyss, AJ Styles, Alex Shelley, Jay Lethal, Chris Sabin, Matt Morgan, Homicide, Scott Steiner, Consequences Creed, Rhino, Jeff Jarrett, Naito, Kurt Angle, Shane Sewell, Sheik Abdul Bashir, Booker T, Yujiro, Eric Young, Hernandez, and Samoa Joe.
NOTE #2: Order of elimination: Matt Morgan, Homicide, Consequences Creed, Chris Sabin, Jay Lethal, Naito, Shane Sewell, AJ Styles, Booker T, Sheik Abdul Bashir, Abyss, Eric Young, Yujiro, Rhino, Hernandez, Scott Steiner, Jeff Jarrett, and Kurt Angle.
FINISH: Samoa Joe pins Kurt Angle following the Muscle Buster. After the match, Samoa Joe gets a pyro celebration. Joe and Angle will be captains for Lethal Lockdown.
Bob’s Take: They started off the match strong with Abyss and AJ Styles, and considering their history in the cage it makes sense to have them start the match. Every two minutes a new wrestler entered the bout. Abyss got some level of revenge on Morgan by pinning him during the match following the Black Hole Slam. Abyss needed some kind of momentum over Morgan. At one point the ring is overly crowded with a bunch of wrestlers as only two guys were eliminated by the time half the guys had been entered into the match. Jeff Jarrett comes out at the halfway mark, but is attacked by Angle. Angle whacked Jarrett over the railing with a steel chair. Jarrett is still selling his arm when Angle enters the match legally and returns to attacking Jarrett briefly. Angle notably dominates as soon as he enters and gets several eliminations on Creed, Sabin and Lethal. I was surprised to see Sheik Abdul Bashir since he was attacked by Joe last week. Booker is able to eliminate AJ Styles with the Book End. Rhino gets a huge pin on Booker after the GORE moments later. Booker and Styles brawl backstage after they are both eliminated. It took both Steiner and Angle to pin Abyss. Angle has gotten at least half a dozen eliminations. At one point, it’s only Angle and Steiner in the match and they make a mockery of it. Hernandez gets some shine on both Angle and Steiner. Jeff Jarrett comes back into the match before the final entrant comes out. Jarrett manages to eliminate Steiner with the Stroke. Steiner prevents the referee from counting out Angle after the Stroke by Jarrett. Steiner instead slams Jarrett and allows Angle to pin Jarrett. Samoa Joe is the final entrant and has a showdown with Kurt Angle. Joe no sells the Olympic Slam at one point. Joe pinning Angle is fine with me as they are good choices for the team captains at Lockdown considering their history. This went around 40-minutes in total, and it filled up most of the second hour. I’d rather have this happen than a bunch of segments, honestly.
Match Rating: **1/2
Don West wants to know from Jim Cornette why Jeff Jarrett was allowed back into the cage. Cornette tells West that Jarrett was never given a chance the first time.
Backstage, Jeremy Borash interviews Kurt Angle, but Angle says he has nothing to say. Angle says he eliminated Jarrett three times. Angle is tired of Jarrett changing the rules. Angle blames Jarrett for making him lose. Angle promises to end Samoa Joe’s career at Lockdown. Angle hopes that Joe brings Jarrett to Lethal Lockdown. Angle declares that the Mafia will never die.
Mike Tenay asks Jim Cornette if TNA is ready for Mafia trying to takeover. Cornette says he did what was right by having Jarrett in the match and he has faith in the Frontline.
Backstage, Lauren meets with Samoa Joe. Lauren wants to know who Joe will pick for his team. Joe is not interested in being a captain and fighting the good fight. Joe is there to torture each and every member of the Mafia. Joe isn’t concerned with who the captain will be, but he will be there at Lethal Lockdown and his machete will be coming with him to end the show.
Final Thoughts:
Man, this era of TNA is not my vibe I’m starting to feel. The weekly drama between Jarrett, Foley, Sting and Angle is good and it has logical reasoning. But, I prefer TNA when it was more focused on in-ring wrestling and not this drama focused direction. It feels like they’re trying really hard to be similar to WWE and it’s not something I tend to prefer to watch. Joe not being a captain makes sense for the character. I feel like the main point here is for Angle to captain against Jarret. That works for me. I just wish they’d stop overexposing these guys by having backstage segments right after in-ring segments focusing on the same guys every week. Give me more in-ring wrestling and less of the same guys talking.
Thanks for reading.