TNA iMPACT!
October 22nd 2005

-I dare say TNA has a more effective signature and intro to their program than Raw does. I kind of like the Smackdown intro, but I’m biased. Anyways, this was the last iMPACT before Bound for Glory, so I am going to pretend I do not know what actually happened at the pay-per-view.

-Our commentators for the evening are Mike Tenay and Don West.

Samoa Joe vs Elix Skipper (with Simon Diamond)

Ah, now this is what I have been waiting for: Samoa Joe’s Spike TV debut! He is facing the sometimes pushed, mostly jobber Elix Skipper. This may be a short one. Joe goes for some stiff kicks, and Elix fires back. Finally, Joe hits a kick to the back of Skipper’s head! Joe swings Skipper around, chops Skipper’s neck and hits a big knee drop on the chest area. Joe flings Skipper into the corner and splashes him. Skipper goes down and Joe immediately goes for his running knee. Skipper somehow mounts a brief comeback, hitting a super kick and a snapmare on Joe. Skipper goes off the top middle rope with a moonsault on Joe. Skipper runs right into a powerslam and Joe takes control again. Joe goes for the Muscle Buster, but Skipper counters. Joe goes for the move again and hits it this time. Joe locks Skipper into the rear naked choke and Skipper taps out at 2:30. This was a glorified squash match, but it succeeded in making Samoa Joe look like a monster. *.

Winner: Samoa Joe

-We are now treated to a video package for “God’s Gift to Wrestling” Christopher Daniels.

NWA Tag Team Championship: The Naturals © vs America’s Most Wanted

It’s about time TNA put Andy Douglas and Chase Stevens on Spike TV. AMW are playing their new heel characters well. This should be a good one. AMW start off aggressively, jumping the Naturals from behind. AMW fall to the outside, and Andy Douglas launches off Stevens and lands on AMW. Chase Stevens follows up with a shooting star press off the turnbuckle onto AMW. Harris and Storm back up the ramp, desiring a time out. Gail Kim meets them on the ramp and tries to get their heads back into the game. We go to a commercial at 1:13, which is disappointing.

After the break…Chase Stevens suplexes Chris Harris back into the ring. Tag is made to Andy Douglas. Douglas arm-drags Harris, but Gail Kim grabs Douglas by the foot. Douglas goes after Gail, but Chris Harris is hiding on the other side of the ring and he takes him down. Douglas has been busted open! Chris Harris focuses his shots to the bloody forehead of Andy Douglas. Douglas fights back with a drop-kick and desperately needs a tag! Douglas makes the tag and Chase Stevens fires away at both members of AMW. Stevens gets a DVD on James Storm and goes for a cover. AMW goes for a double team, but Andy Douglas breaks it up. Gail Kim distracts the referee, and AMW nearly steal the win with a double team and cover attempt. The referee takes a bump soon. The Naturals hit the Natural Disaster and have the win in their hands, but the damn referee is out cold. Gail Kim meanwhile flies off the top rope and misses Chase Stevens, but hits an accidental hurancanrana on one of the AMW members. The Naturals set up Gail Kim for the Natural Disaster, but Jeff Jarrett runs in and saves her. AMW smash a bottle over the head of Chase Stevens, and the referee comes to just in time to count to three, as America’s Most Wanted are the new tag team champions at 5:30 (not including the break)! AMW and Jarrett pose with their championships. This match was very chaotic and hard to follow at times. This would have been more effective had it been given more time. **

Winners and NEW NWA Tag Team Champions: America's Most Wanted

On a side note, I sent a plea to TNA. Please do SOMETHING to make James Storm and Chris Harris stand out individually. Even after more than three years of watching them, I still get them confused, especially when the match is fast-paced and I am trying to type while watching.

Bobby Roode (with Scott D’Amore) vs Ron “The Truth” Killings (with BG James)

BG James gets into the ring before the match and does his usual routine on the microphone. Konnan is conspicuous by his absence. Roode starts off with some kicks and punches on The Truth. Roode puts Killings in a headlock, sends him into the ropes, and puts him down with a side tackle. Killings gets back to his feet and hits a side tackle of his own on Roode. Killings takes control of Roode, hits a nice armdrag, and sends Roode to the floor. Ron Killings hits a beautiful flip over the top ropes and lands right on Bobby Roode! Roode crawls back into the ring and manages to knock Killings off the turnbuckle, as Killings was going for another top rope move. Roode heads to the turnbuckle himself and sends his knee right into the upper chest of Killings. Cover attempt goes no where, and Killings is back to his feet. Roode hits a weak back suplex and follows it up by just standing there for a few minutes. Meanwhile, Kip James has made his way to ringside. Backstage, Konnan is watching on a monitor and he is not pleased. The match takes a back seat to Kip and BG arguing at ringside. Back in the ring, Killings misses an off the ropes leg drop, and Roode tries to capitalize. Killings takes a break to get involved in the situation at ringside, but Kip James shoves him off and starts brawling with Konnan. Back in the ring, Killings goes for his scissors kick, but Team Canada runs in and distracts him. Eric Young passes a hockey stick to Roode, who cracks it across Killing’s back. Roode covers Killings and gets the win at 5:09. The match was merely an excuse to continue the situation between Kip James and 3 Live Kru, but it was solid enough. *3/4.

Winner: Bobby Roode

-Backstage, Shane Douglas is standing by with the heel team of Jeff Jarrett, Monty Brown, and Abyss. Brown claims he does not want to team with Jarrett, but he would rather hunt down Jarrett and take his World title. Too bad this angle has no grounds after Bound For Glory… oops, I said I was going to pretend to not have heard Bound for Glory results. I mean, gee, I cannot wait for Brown’s long title chase after Jeff Jarrett, that will sure draw money! Coming up next, Jarrett, Brown, and Abyss are facing AJ Styles, Jeff Hardy, and Lance Hoyt and we already know that the heel team members do not like each other.

Jeff Jarrett, Monty Brown, and Abyss (with James Mitchell) vs AJ Styles, Lance Hoyt, and Jeff Hardy

The heels make their ways to the ring first. Brown gets a hero’s welcome from the crowd, of course. The faces come out next and some fan has a sign that says “We have the better Hardy.” I would normally disagree, though my opinion of Matt Hardy has soured lately. I guess I cannot blame Hardy for coming across as unmotivated in WWE considering how they treated him since hiring him back. Styles gets a monster pop from the crowd, which warms my heart and gives hope to the future of professional wrestling. Abyss and Hoyt start things off. Hoyt ducks some punches from Abyss, and launches his entire body into Abyss. Hoyt hits some punches and tags in Jeff Hardy. Abyss reverses an Irish Whip and sends Hardy running into Jarrett’s elbow. Abyss makes the tag to Monty Brown, who chokes Hardy on the mat. Hardy reverses a whip and hits a clothesline on Brown. Brown tags in Jarrett, who hits a good drop-kick on Hardy. Jarrett isolates Hard in the heel corner and tags Abyss back into the match. Abyss overpowers the smaller man, but misses a big splash. Hardy makes the tag to AJ Styles, who more than holds his own against the monster. Styles takes down Abyss and fights off Jeff Jarrett, winning the approval of the fans in attendance. The action spills outside of the ring, with Styles crashing down on Jeff Jarrett. We head to a commercial, as everyone is sprawled out over the ringside area.

After the break, Styles and Jarrett are the legal men, but the rest of the group are fighting at ringside. Styles is in charge of Jarrett, and manages to fight off an attempted sneak attack by Abyss. Styles goes for the Clash on Abyss, but Jarrett breaks it up. Styles reverses the Stroke, and the numbers game finally catches up on Styles as Jarrett and Abyss pummel him. Jarrett drapes Styles on the bottom ropes and hits a running kick to the back of Styles’ head. Jarrett tags in Monty Brown, who stomps away at Styles and throws him into a turnbuckle. Brown slams Styles around the ring, and makes a tag to Abyss. Abyss hits a weak slap across Styles’ chest, and rams Styles into pancake form. Abyss tags Jarrett back into the match. Styles finally mounts a comeback, hitting punches on Jarrett. Styles hits a Crossbody plancha on Jarrett, and they are both down. Jarrett tags Abyss back into the match, but Monty Brown takes offense to this. Styles jumps onto both men and uses the momentum to tag Lance Hoyt back in. Hoyt and Abyss are the legal men, but Hardy is now fighting Brown in the corner, and Styles and Jarrett are brawling at ringside! There is seriously too much action to keep up with. Hardy goes to the top for a senton bomb on Abyss. Brown catches Hardy with the pounce. The action spills back down to Hoyt and Jarrett, with Styles soon taking Hoyt’s place. Styles hits a great suplex into a neck breaker on Jarrett and goes to the top rope. Christopher Daniels runs in and pushes Styles off. Jarrett sets up Styles for the Stroke, but Brown hits the Pounce on Styles, stealing Jarrett’s thunder! Brown pins Styles at 9:59! This was one of the better spot-fest main events I have seen in a long time! ***

Winners: Jeff Jarrett, Monty Brown, and Abyss

After the match, the heels are beating down the good guys. Sabu runs out and takes down Abyss, while Rhino rushes in to fight Jeff Hardy. Sabu hits a suicide dive on Abyss, while Rhino exits through the crowd. Finally, Kevin Nash comes out to confront Jarrett. The show ends right as Nash is getting into the ring, which I suppose is appropriate enough considering what ended up happening at Bound For Glory…

For any of you who didn’t hear about Bound For Glory, Kevin Nash checked into the hospital the day before, citing heart problems. The main event was changed by holding a gauntlet match at the pay-per-view, which Rhino won. Rhino went on to beat Jarrett to win the NWA Championship, making me wish I had ordered the show even more. My only gripe with that change is now the good Jarrett/Brown interaction on this week’s iMPACT is now null and void.

Final Thoughts: Another good hour of wrestling programming from TNA in week #4 on Spike TV! Samoa Joe made his Spike TV debut, new tag team champions were crowned, and we were treated to a hot main event! If they had thrown in a good X division match in place of Killings/Roode, I would say this is the best iMPACT since arriving on Spike!

I just also want to mention that this show is 60 minutes long. Take out the time for commercials and it is about 45-50 minutes long. The total wrestling time this week hovered around 23 minutes. I just want to compare this to Raw this past Monday. Raw is a two hour program. The first hour of Raw this week featured ONE match, which lasted about 11 minutes (with a commercial thrown in the middle). Raw also featured a horrendously unfunny segment where Vince McMahon made it appear that he was pulling random objects out of the rear end of a fake Jim Ross. Which organization do you think actually cares about the in-ring product and being good to their fans?

BIG thumbs up this week.

I disagree 100% about Thumbs Way Up for this Impact.


---Skipper/Joe: There was no need to squash Elix Skipper in 2 minutes. What happend, was Mikey Batts, Shark Boy, and every other JTTS busy or something? Skipper is a former 4-5 time Tag Team Champion, and probably held the X-Title once, but I can't remember. He's a bit too high on the food chain for such a job.

---AMW/Naturals: I've said my case in the official topic... Overbookedmania running wild! Match sucked ass, had several run ins, pointless weapon shots, and was a complete mess. How this gets more than DUD is beyond me.

---Roode/Killings: Didn't really pay attention, but judging from the many matches I've seen of Roode, *-** sounds about right, although you may be a little too excited here. :P

---Main Event: ***1/2? Come on... the match was good, but not THAT good. Also it loses points for the worst kind of finish possible. Whats the point of doing a hot tag when you completely ignore who the legal men in the ring are when counting the fall? It's not that fucking hard to remember.

Skipper has never done anything to impress me other than the occasional "HOLY SHIT" spot. Joe squashing him was just fine in my book.

I actually enjoyed the chaos, though it was difficult to recap. I'm also a sucker for the high spots, such as the shooting star press. I'll admit, I think "**" is really generous, but I enjoyed the match.

My original rating was going to be *1/2, but I thought it over and the match really was pretty solid.

My original rating was going to be "***" but I couldn't resist it, I really dug this match. Aside from the "everyone trying to pin everyone else" spot at the end of it, this was fast paced and unpredictable. After months of boring muck being thrown at us by Raw, this seemed even better in comparison. At least one fed is trying, and this really felt like a big time TNA match (even with Hoyt being involved and all). I stand by my rating, I really enjoyed this match.

And I stand by my "BIG THUMBS UP." Seriously, what more could I ask for from a one hour wrestling show? From top to bottom, I was entertained. This show made me happy to be a North American wrestling fan and made me happy that WWE is not the only wrestling fed on major cable anymore.

I guess have have stiffer standards on what a Big Thumbs Up is, especially when half of the double main event blew, and the other wasn't anything outstanding to make up for it. Joe/Skipper I'll admit was fun, but still no need to squash him. They gave Sonjay Dutt more offense than him.

That's cool, I know where you are coming from. I couldn't help the "big" thumbs up though, I seriously enjoyed myself and was able to enjoy the show from a mark's perspective for once.

I see where your coming from as a mark. I'm not one to talk on how a mark should be, since I enjoy almost all the WWE wrestlers smarks consider unworthy of their praise.

See, that's one thing I really like about TNA right now: I can be a mark for them in a way I can't for WWE. I mean, WWE has been so exposed online, I can pretty much credit everything that happens on WWE tv to a backstage politician or creative writer, or etc.

With TNA, I'm not sure if it is so much that they keep their affairs more to theirselves, but I don't know half as much about going ons in TNA as I do about WWE.

That and it helps that TNA has been putting on a consistently good product while WWE has been pushing my patience for several years now.

Smackdown is still pretty good at times, but this week was just a bit confusing. That's what happens when you don't watch for 2 months... and Heidenreich/Animal are STILL Tag Champs.

I haven't had any big problems with Smackdown in about a year. Sometimes the show is just plain boring, but for the most part they deliver with the quality in-ring work and they feature a lot of performers whom I enjoy.

My only problem with Smackdown right now is that I keep forgetting to set a tape for it on Fridays, since I'm almost always working at Best Buy.

Or in my case, I've been used to thinking thursday is Smackdown for the last 6 years, that by the time I remember it's on, it's 9:54 pm friday night. :P

Hehe, I have to keep reminding myself not to tune into UPN on Thursday nights anymore. Good thing that Thursday night TNA special is coming.

Ditto. I can't wait to see Triple J become a 20 time NWA Champion.

Amen to the THUMBS WAY UP! I dug this show. Definitely the best Impact yet, and the best thing on TV in a month, wrestling wise.

I'm glad I'm not alone in that line of thinking :)

Pfft... to steal your thunder, I might review Impact this week and give a real, impartial, and unbias opinion on TNA...

(hides book labeled "Jokes about TNA to work into reviews")

Scrooge, you really are a Scrooge.

Stinky butt.

I demand one musical number before being labeled a real Scrooge. :)

Very amusing :D

And while I was a bit generous with some star ratings, I do feel I was impartial about the review in general. I mean, I'm not going to make it seem like I didn't like the show just so I don't get accused of being impartial, right? B)

There were a bit too many flaws to me, and that's my argument. People rag on WWE for their shit finishes, but their two main events featured some WCW/ECW levels of garbage finishes (mainly the tag titles), and the 6-man was Bonzo Gonzo crazy, which isn't too bad. I'm just a little ticked the referee is supposed to be that retarded.

This Mark Neeley guy at Insidepulse seems to think like I do.

http://www.insidepulse.com/articles/43890

My star ratings:

Joe vs Skipper: *
AMW vs Naturals: **
Roode vs Killings: *3/4
Six man tag: ***1/2

Neeley's ratings:
Joe vs Skipper: *1/4
AMW vs Naturals: **
Roode vs Killings: *1/4
Six man tag: ***3/4

I feel better now knowing someone gave that main event a better rating than I did :P

I apologize... anyone who gave that main event borderline 4-stars is the biggest sheep-ass-idiot ever. Your original thought of *** sounded fine, but calling it great is a laugh-and-a-half.