TNA Impact! – 6/17/10
Now that all the Slammiversary festivities are complete, we’re going to have a brand new Top 10 Contenders list revealed by TNA. Who would top the list and get the next opportunity at the TNA World Champion Rob Van Dam? Read on and find out:
Video Package: Highlight reel from Slammiversary this past Sunday.
Backstage: Eric Bischoff sitting at his desk talking directly to the camera. He announces to the world that because of his action in and outside of TNA, management has decided to penalize The Band for Scott Hall‘s actions by stripping them of the Tag Team Titles. They are going to start a tournament tonight, to determine who will face off against the already determined #1 contenders, the Motor City Machine Guns.
Tag Team Tournament Match
The Band (Eric Young & Kevin Nash) vs. Ink Inc (Jesse Neal & Shannon Moore)
WINNER: Ink Inc via pin fall after they hit a combo flying neck breaker/Samoan drop on Young
Ric Flair and his entire stable of guys come to the ramp. Flair says that he’s got a history making announcement to make. (COMMERCIAL)
Video Package: Abyss & Chelsea in the back talking. Here mandated time with Abyss is over, but she doesn’t want to go back to Desmond Wolfe. Abyss tells her that she’s not going to want to be around him after tonight.
Ric Flair is in the ring with Desmond Wolfe, Kazarian, Beer Money Inc & AJ Styles. Flair’s announcement is that he wants to revive the Four Horsemen, but for the new era. They’re going to call the group Fortune. Flair reminisces about the Horsemen saying that they were the best in everything they did, not just wrestling. Flair then goes down the line and compares each guy in the ring to a former Horseman, and basically says they’re not really even worthy to shine their boots. Flair especially chews out Styles for losing to Jay Lethal at Slammiversary again.
- Lethal comes to the ramp and starts cutting a promo on them all the while using his Ric Flair impression. He said, “It looks like the Horsemen were here, and they took a dump in the ring…”
- Flair is getting annoyed, and he says, “You’re not me and you can’t be me!” They eventually have a “WOOOOO!” battle back and forth trying to out do the other, and are constantly talking over each other.
- Desmond Wolfe finally cuts them both off. “I’m not out here to be a cheap immitation of the greatest wrestler that ever lived, I’m here to make a name for myself.” He challenges Lethal to a match.
- Lethal then makes a comment to dog Wolfe about losing his girl, Chelsea, and that he’ll go 60 mins with her any day.
- Flair and Lethal start arguing again about the crazy catchphrases. Lethal walks away. Flair turns to Desmond and tells him, “You take care of business tonight, and you’re the 1st member of Fortune. If you lose, you’re history forever!”
Backstage: We see Lacey Von Erich half naked getting a massage in preparation for he match later tonight.
Backstage: Mr. Anderson arrives at the Impact Zone. The cameraman asks if he’s ready for his match tonight against Jeff Hardy & Abyss, and will we see the real Mr. Anderson. The “asshole” says that he’s ready, and it depends on who you think the real Mr. Anderson is.
Hernandez vs. Samoa Joe
WINNER: Joe via pin fall after hitting a T-Bone Suplex
- Mid match, Matt Morgan jumped in the ring when the ref’s back was turned and he hit Hernandez with a low blow.
- Post match, as Joe leaves the ring, he sees the replay on the screen. He turns back to the ring and Morgan is standing there. Joe rushes back to the ring and Morgan bails to avoid a beat down.
Backstage: AJ Styles wants to talk to Desmond Wolfe. Wolfe gets the first word in though saying that he’s going to do what AJ couldn’t, beat Jay Lethal.
- AJ laughs it off, and brings up Desmond’s issues with Chelsea, telling him that he heard in through the grapevine that she doesn’t want to be with him anymore… AJ tells Desmond to get his woman in line and to remember to beat Lethal or he’s out.
Backstage: Jeff Hardy is talking about his 3-way match tonight. Enter Mr. Anderson who comes in to say, “May the best man win tonight!”
Doug Williams is in the ring talking about the celebration of Slammiversary, and the mourning of the passing of the X-Division. With one high flying maneuver, Williams feels that he made all X-Division moves redundant, and that from now on, the X-Division will be known for ground & pound, mat based wrestling that I’m known for.
Non-Title Match
Doug Williams vs. Max Buck
WINNER: Williams via pin fall after hitting a Tornado DDT
- Post match, Williams locks on a Cravat on Max and refuses to let go. Out of nowhere comes Brian Kendrick who jumps Williams from behind and locks on his own submission, a version of the Cobra Clutch. He refuses to let go until Williams has passed out.
Video Package: The feud over the past few months between Sting & Jeff Jarrett.
Video Package: Dixie Carter holds a TNA press conference to unveil the NEW TNA Action Figure line.
Angelina Love is in the ring. She’s just coming back from injury and realizes that careers could be cut short, so she’s going to take out The Beautiful People one by one. This week she’s going to take out Lacey Von Erich. Next week she’ll take out Velvet Sky. At Victory Road, she’s going to take out Madison Rayne and win back her TNA Knockout Title.
Angelina Love vs. Lacey Von Erich
WINNER: Lacey via DQ after Love hit Lacey with a DDT right on a steel chair
Backstage: Jay Lethal talking to Hulk Hogan. Hulkster says that the impressions are funny and all, but he believes that Lethal has real talent and can be a main event guy. He’s got a target on his back already!
Backstage: Christy Hemme is with Jeff Hardy who’s ready for his match tonight. Hemme asks if Hardy’s worried about being able to trust Mr. Anderson…
- Interview is interrupted by Anderson. He looks Jeff square in the eye and tells him that he doesn’t like the fact that people are stirring the pot, and that the end of the night they’ll be alright.
Tag Team Tournament
Team 3D (Brother Ray & Brother Devon) vs. Beer Money Inc (Robert Roode & James Storm)
WINNERS: Beer Money via pin fall roll up on Devon after spitting beer in his face
- Mid match, Ink Inc came to the booth to be on commentary. Brother Ray saw them over there and made his way over and they start brawling on the ramp. It distracted Devon enough to allow Beer Money to steal the match.
Backstage: Desmond Wolfe finds Chelsea and is “putting her in her place.” He says that she needs to redeem herself.
Desmond Wolfe with Chelsea vs. Jay Lethal
WINNER: Lethal via pin fall after hitting a suplex toss to a neck breaker
- Mid match, Tommy Dreamer comes out through the crowd to grab a seat and watch the action.
- Throughout the match, Desmond is fixated on keeping Chelsea in line. She tries to run away and it distracts Desmond for a moment. Lethal takes advantage of the situation.
- Post match, Wolfe attacks Lethal. Ric Flair joins in on the beat down.
- Out walks Hulk Hogan to the ring to check on Lethal. Flair and Wolfe split. Hulk takes the mic, “This is the reason why TNA is on fire right now because of guys like Jay Lethal…” Hogan calls Flair back out to make an announcement. At Victory Road, it’ll be one on one Flair vs. Lethal!
Taz & Mike Tenay run down the new Top 10 Contenders list:
- TBD
- TBD
- TBD
- AJ Styles
- Sting
- Samoa Joe
- Jay Lethal
- “Pope” D’Angelo Dinero
- Desmond Wolfe
- Kurt Angle
Jeff Jarrett to the ring to call out Sting. The men both meet face to face, dead center. Jeff doesn’t want to hear anymore excuses from Sting. Jarrett reminds him that it was he who called Sting at the beginning. He didn’t want Sting to work for him, but to work with him. He then criticizes Sting for trying to end his career at Sacrifice. Jarrett says Sting made one mistake, he’s still standing and it won’ be funny next week when they have their rematch. Jarrett then applauds what Bischoff and Hogan have done for TNA, and that he’s fighting for them and the TNA fans.
- Jarrett leaves Sting speechless in the ring.
#1 Contender Match for World Title
Mr. Anderson vs. Abyss vs. Jeff Hardy
WINNER: No Contest – Triple Count-Out
- Post match, Abyss attacks both men and flies off the handle. We begin to see a transformation from the new Abyss to the old hardcore Abyss. He beats down both men with a kendo stick, and then Black Hole Slams Anderson onto broken glass! He then follows Hardy up the ramp and choke slams him off the upper stage through the lower stage.
- Hulk Hogan comes out to the ramp and asks Abyss what wrong with him…
- Abyss answers by pointing at him (YOU!!!!!).
QUICK THOUGHTS:
THANK YOU TNA! I’m glad they took the tag titles off The Band, and I’m also glad that this past week they officially got rid of Scott Hall! I’m really excited about the fact that a “modern” tag team is actually going to be tag team champions!
I don’t know if it’s just me, but I always end up laughing my ass off when Flair and Lethal as Flair go back and forth with each other. It’s just really amusing to me. Tonight was the icing on the cake when they and the back and forth “WOOOO!” battle and kudos to production crew for switching cameras back and forth numerous times to put emphasis on it. Hella funny!
Anyways, so they’re trying to reform The Four Horsemen… yeah… good luck with that! Considering how long title reigns are nowadays, and the fact that the group Flair has assembled remind me more of Paul Roma than they do Ric Flair I don’t know how believable a dominant new faction might be.
Angelina Love is back with a vengeance. I’m really hoping that this won’t be the only women’s angle going on, but if recent actions are any indication, it probably will be. I miss Daffney 🙁
I’m not thrilled with the Top 10 Contenders list. Considering Pope hasn’t been around for a few months now, I don’t think that he should be on the list. I know they want to keep him fresh in people’s minds, but part of me thinks that they should let him fade from memory for a little bit so that when he comes back it’ll be a shock, and it’ll mean more when he dominates someone like Desmond Wolfe who’s on the list already.
Since when could a Triple Threat match end in a count out?!? I don’t remember that EVER happening… Only in TNA I guess. I’m excited to see the old Abyss come back to life. We’ll see how things turn out over the course of the next few week when it comes to his and The Hulkster’s relationship.
Three good matches were on display this week on WWE Superstars. The younger stars get their chances, and a couple veterans look to school some rookies. Here’s what happened last night: