TNA iMPACT (May 18, 2006)

The Christian promo was going well, and then freaking Monty Brown returned and just immediately throws his name into the title picture followed by Sting in the rafters, and Rhino and the rest of the lot. That was probably the best Zbysko bit he's ever been involved in. It wasn't too much, and he actually came across as a professional instead of a whiny little bitch.

World X Cup Finals
Chris Sabin v. Petey Williams
These two always have awesome encounters when they lock up because they know each other so well. Match was fast paced, an awesome and just for the record, I love when Williams stands on his opponents nuts in the corner. However, the crowd which is supposed to be Anti-Canada not only chants for Petey, but sings the Canadian anthem. Backwards ass Orlando crowd. I was just getting into the match when they cut to Nash backstage, and then the commercial, leaving me pissed. Sabin turning the tables on Petey and standing on his balls was awesome, and then the sitout bomb left me thinking he almost had it, but I was wrong. Petey busting out the Sharpshooter (which Tenay refused to call a Sharpshooter) was cool, and then a reversal of the Cradle Shock. Pretty good match thus far at the 8 minute mark (counting commercials). Sabin hit the Cradle Shock and won the match and the World X Cup at 9:03! Good little match for iMPACT.
Winner: Chris Sabin & Team USA
Rating: **1/4

Out of nowhere, Nash blindsides Sabin and breaks the plastic little trophy. He grinds the broken piece on Sabin who blades -- albeit shitty. Nash drops him with the Jacknife Powerbomb, and takes the stick. Nash as a heel is neat, and I can get in to this Nash v. X-Division angle. Shelley siding with Nash was a nice touch as Shelley is one of the best parts of TNA. It'll give him some good heel heat. But this is a nice way to set up Sabin v. Nash at Slammiversary.

The little bit with Borash, Brown, Abyss, Jarrett and Steiner was weird. It's like, why the hell are all of them going to be training together? Lame. On a side note, I really liked the little moving graphic for Slammiversary. I am not a Steiner fan, but seeing him halfway dismantle Don West made me moist. The staredown between Joe and Steiner sets up what will probably be Joe v. Steiner at Slammiversary, and if kept at around 10 minutes, COULD be decent.

Samoa Joe v. Chase Stevens
Before the match started, I was immediately distracted by the damn ref in little biker shorts with his skinny bird legs showing. Ridiculous. Your basic Joe squash match, with all the chants of "JOE'S GONNA KILL YOU" booming throughout the crowd. He makes Stevens tap out to the Kokina Clutch in less than two minutes and then beats him down after the match which brings out Andy Douglas who has been missing since Steiner beat his ass. Joe backs down and then Shane Douglas returns as well and his looking on at the Naturals. Douglas looks considerably aged since his stint in rehab, and now the Naturals are going to be hooked up with another legend/manager? Could work, I suppose.
Winner: Samoa Joe
Rating: N/A

The Team 3D promo, was crap. I cannot express how incredibly sick of Team 3D I am. Seeing them shoot on WWE and the new ECW was just retarded. TNA and everyone who is a former WWE guy needs to stop shooting on WWE. You don't see WWE acknowledging TNA every week? I dread the fact that they're continuing the feud with The James Gang. It's unneeded. Last Team Standing match at Slammiversary? If it's a brutal encounter, then it'll be good because their match at Sacrifice was a piece of asshole.

King of the Mountain Qualifier
Abyss v. Rhino
These two have had some good clashes, and it seems as though it'll get about 12 minutes, so it can be decent. ARG! Commercial ONE minute into the match. GORE gets reversed when Abyss kicked him square in the face. I love when that happens. Commercial lasted entirely too long, but Abyss has been controlling during the break Tenay says. Abyss dominating Rhino makes him look entirely too weak, but nothing worse than what WWE did to him, I suppose. Running splash in the corner almost gets a two. Also, the fact that they're going to be holding these over the course of the next three weeks is poop. They could put two on one show. Especially if they wanna attempt to get people to watch. 4 minutes left in the show, and Abyss is STILL dominating. I suspect a Rhino comeback in the last 10 seconds of the match, a GORE and the win. FINALLY Rhino gets a move in. Random Bobby Roode run in, and he takes down Roode and D'Amore, and Abyss gets the Blackhole Slam and the win at 10:47. All of that Abyss dominance, and he STILL wins the match. An extended squash.
Winner: Abyss
Rating: *

D'Amore talks some trash to a fallen Rhino. I am glad Roode is getting a decent push, but that match was a crock. Build up all that, and don't deliver on the Rhino comeback/win. Little promo for the King of the Mountain match, and a little hype for next week to end the show.

The Bottom Line: The show started out good, but died after the Samoa Joe match. Sabin/Williams was a good match, and that's good. TNA needs to try and deliver at least one decent match per week and some better segments. Team 3D promo was a boring load, and went on entirely too long. The Nash stuff was decent, the Joe/Steiner stuff was decent, and the opening promo was pretty hot. The show wasn't at all awful, but as a "fallout show", I expected a little more. Maybe I just have high expectations. I hate the King of the Mountain match and concept, and I believe that if they're going to build Slammiversary as their WrestleMania-esque PPV, they need to build up to an awesome 1 v. 1 encounter, not a 5 person clusterfuck, but that's just me. These next few weeks should have some decent build since it's their "big" PPV, so I won't be too harsh. I'll give the show a 3/5

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