TNA Impact! – 2/18/10

What would be the backlash coming out of Against All Odds for the TNA roster?  If you missed Impact last night, here’s what happened:

Backstage: Eric Bischoff gets out of his limo.  He’s on the phone with someone.  After he hangs up the phone he says, “Let the games begin!”

Video Package: A highlight reel of what went down at Against All Odds and the all important Monday press conference.

“Pope” D’Angelo Dinero comes to the ring, “Pope is pimpin!  At Against All Odds, Pope defied the odds, and here I stand the #1 contender for the TNA World Championship… Come Lockdown, he’s gonna enter the challenger, but Pope will be declared by his congregation as the NEW World Champion!”

• Interrupted by AJ Styles, Ric Flair, and four women.  Flair takes the mic, “Can you read?  (shows his Armani suit label)… My name is Ric Flair and when you were six years old, you were praying to God to become me!  I was bling before there was bling… This (AJ) is the greatest wrestling machine I’ve ever seen!”
• Pope responds, “I know what the marquee says.  You’re name might be Ric, but to me you’re Dick and no matter how you dress up a piece of crap, it’s still a piece of crap (to AJ).”
• Ric starts taking pot shots at Pope’s upbringing and his family’s finances compared to the cost of AJ’s custom jacket.
• AJ takes the mic, “I’m the champ and you’re going nowhere!”
• Pope fires back, “Pope is everywhere right now.  In fact, Pope is on you like white on rice!”  He punches AJ in the face, but quickly turns into a two on one beat down on the Pope.  Flair grabs a chair and wraps it around Pope’s leg and they stomp it.  Then Flair has AJ slap on the Figure Four Leg Lock.

Non-Title Match
Daffney vs. Tara
WINNER: Tara via DQ after Daffney hit Tara with a toolbox found under the ring

• After the match, Daffney went on a rampage.  She threw Tara all around the ringside area, eventually throwing a barricade on top of her and assaulted her with a chair until Dr. Stevie stopped her.

Backstage: Mick Foley enters Eric Bischoff’s office and apologizes for not using the barb-wire baseball bat on Sunday like he asked.

• Eric says, “You did the best you could, that’s all I could ask for.” (condescendingly, unnoticed by Foley)
• Bischoff then gives Mick two designers to go with him on a shopping spree for a “Mick Makeover” all on Eric’s dime.
• Foley leaves and Bischoff makes a call to get Abyss in his office right now!

Orlando Jordan vs. Samoa Joe
WINNER: Orlando Jordan via pin fall after hitting a back stabber to steal the match

• Before the match, Orlando Jordan came out to the ring with a guy and a girl, but they were never seen again
• Before the match, Eric Bischoff gave Samoa Joe a “pep-talk” backstage to fire him up about getting back to where he was to fight AJ again.

Backstage: Abyss is paranoid as he walks to Bischoff’s office.  He sees Jeremy Borash and asks if he knows what Eric wants to see him about.  JB has no clue.

Backstage: Abyss is in Bischoff’s office.  Eric says, “I warned you!!! I told you if that bat wasn’t used, if there were any shenanigans, I told yo what I would do!”

• Abyss pleads with Bischoff claiming that he used thumbtacks instead of the bat to finish the match.
• Eric tells him, “My first order of business is to get that mask off your face!”
• Abyss pleads some more, “This mask is who I am… What I am!”
• Bischoff warns him, “Don’t even think about leaving this building!”
• Abyss runs off in a panic.

Backstage: Christy Hemme is with Eric Young.  She asks if he’s talked to Kevin Nash at all.  EY replies, “Nash wants to talk with Scott Hall & Sean Waltman in the ring tonight!”

Video Package: Clip from Monday’s big announcement press conference.

Backstage: Bischoff enters Jeff Jarrett‘s personal locker room with the barbed wire baseball bat, “I want you to use this tonight in your match vs. Abyss… Get the job done!”

• Jarrett begrudgingly agrees.

8-man Tag Team Match
Motor City Machine Guns (Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley), Brian Kendrick & Doug Williams vs. Amazing Red, Generation Me (Jeremy & Max) & Kazarian
WINNER: Red, Gen Me & Kazarian via pin fall on Doug Williams after Kaz hit a slingshot DDT off apron into ring

Backstage: Abyss is trying to flee the building when he’s stopped by referee Slick Johnson who informs him that he’s got a match right now!

Video Package: More clips from the press conference

Abyss vs. Jeff Jarrett
WINNER: No contest

• Mid match, Eric Bischoff came out to the ramp for a better look.
• Jeff Jarrett had the match well in hand late, but refused to use the barb wire baseball bat.
• Since Jarrett refused, Bischoff had a bunch of “goons” ready to attack them (Tomko, Rhino, Homicide, Raven & Desmond Wolfe).
• Just as Bischoff and the goons try to remove Abyss’ mask, Hogan’s music hits and he walks to the ring.  He tells Abyss, “Get your ass back to my office.” Abyss and Hogan both leave.
• Bischoff looks absolutely perplexed.

Backstage: Abyss is being escorted back to the office by security.

British Invasion (Big Rob & Brutus Magnus) vs. Beer Money Inc. (Robert Roode & James Storm)
WINNERS: Beer Money via pin fall after hitting the DWI (Drinking While Investing) on Magnus

• After the match, Magnus took the mic and said directly to Big Rob, “You can’t do anything right!  You’re a disgrace to the British Invasion!”  Magnus then slaps Rob who takes exception and decks Magnus knocking him down.

Backstage: Abyss is in the office waiting for Hulk Hogan when he comes busting through the door, “That’s it!  I’m done with this crap from you!  I’m so sick and tired of you being afraid of your own shadow!  Right now it stops… are you really a monster?  (Yes…) You will NEVER shake or cower!”

• Hogan than gives Abyss his Hall of Fame ring and Abyss is in disbelief… “This will give you the power of the universe.  This will make you the god of wrestling.  From this point forward you’ll become greater than anything there is in wrestling!”
• Abyss is now fired up!  Hogan leaves the room.  Abyss says to himself, “This ring stands for every Hulkamaniac and now it stands for the Monster Abyss!!!”  He cackles!

Daniels vs. Kurt Angle
WINNER: Kurt Angle via submission due to the Ankle Lock in a total squash match

• After the match Angle takes the mic.  He mans up to say that Mr. Anderson beat him at Against All Odds, but he’s pissed at the way he was beaten.  He shows the crowd the medal he wears.  He explains to the crowd the significance because it’s in the shape of military dog tags.  “I’ve had a real difficult year and a half… a hard divorce, shamed my kids by getting arrested and falsely accused of something I didn’t do… (Kurt’s very emotional.  Crowd chants “ANGLE!”)  After all this, I had an appearance at an Army base in Ft. Hood, Texas and I met some amazing people who changed my life… One soldier came up to me and said, ‘I saw you on the news… I believe in you!  I want to give you this (medal) to remind you of who you are…'”  He reads the poem inscribed on it called “Warrior.”  The key line in the poem was “One is a warrior, and he will bring the others back!”
• He then turns again to the camera, “Anderson when you cut me, you made soldiers bleed… you dropped this on my chest and spit on it, you did it on the soldiers and the United States of America!  For that Ken, I’m going to make you suffer.  I’m going to make you bleed every drop of blood from your body… I’ll see you in hell!”
• Interrupted by Mr. Anderson who fakes being sad for Kurt, “I’m amazed at your abilities to suck up to these people… I see that little hunk of garbage around your nexk as nothing more than a utensil to carve you up man!  Sometimes I like to make people bleed… why don’t you come up this way and come get you some…”
• Angle meets him on the ramp and they fight a little bit.  Anderson gets the best of Angle and hits him with the dangling microphone, knocking him out.  “Welcome to Total Nonstop Anderson… ANDERSON!”

Backstage: Jeremy Borash trying to get a word with Samoa Joe, but he’s not talking as he enters the parking lot area.  Out of nowhere a white van almost hits him and a few masked guys jump out and abduct him…

Eric Young and Kevin Nash walk to the ring.  Nash takes the mic, “Sixteen or Seventeen years ago, for some reason, I picked Scott Hall and Sean Waltman to be my friend.  I also bought a black suit ten years ago because I knew I’d be putting one of them in the dirt real soon… I don’t know what’s worse in this business, broken bones or broken hearts… I’ve done everything I can to keep you employed.  I’ve carried your asses for the last time!  Why don’t you find your way down here to me!”

• Hall and Waltman come through the crowd and jump the rail.  EY jumps out of the ring to attack Waltman, and Hall gets into the ring to square off with Nash.
• Security intervenes and during the altercation, Hulk Hogan comes to the ramp and it a little upset.
• Kevin Nash says to his former Band-mates, “Next week, it’s on!”

QUICK THOUGHTS:

After seeing the opening segment with The Pope, Styles, and Flair, I’m really looking forward to this story line.  I was a fan of The Pope when he was in WWE as Elijah Burke, and I think he’s got great potential.  Is he World Championship material?  WWE didn’t think so, but he’s not in WWE now.  He’s in TNA, and he’s more over now than he was when he was in the New Breed on ECW.  I can’t wait to see how far this story line goes, and maybe, just maybe Pope will be pimpin’ with some extra bling in the next couple of months?

It was nice to see “zombie hot” herself, Daffney again!  It looks as if we’re going to see a program between her and Tara which I can’t complain about.  They’re both two great wrestlers.

I don’t know if you noticed above, but I mentioned that Orlando Jordan came to the ring with a random guy and girl… Well the word going around the news wires was that there was a sequence on Impact, that was eventually not shown on Spike TV, where Jordan kissed both of them.  Jordan is openly bi-sexual.  This act apparently didn’t go over well with TNA and Spike officials and I don’t blame them.  In all honesty, the last thing people want to see on the “TV network for guys,” Spike, is two dudes making out.

Excited to see Kazarian back in TNA.  It looks as if they wanted to reintroduce some X-Division characters just before the all X-Division PPV, Destination X.  Smart move TNA.  Frankie is a great competitor with or without a mask…

All I can say when it comes down to the Angle/Anderson feud… strap on your seat belts.  This is going to be one chaotic ride, and I’m looking forward to watching every second of it!