Impact Spoilers

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

From PWInsider:

 

Xplosion:

 

*Alex Shelley defeated Jay Lethal in a good match.

 

Impact 1/18:

 

*Sting, sans makeup, attacked Jim Mitchell and threw him into the trunk of a car.

 

*Backstage, Team 3D tells Brother Runt not to get involved in their match tonight.

 

*NWA Tag Team champions LAX defeated Team 3D after Moody Jack handed Hernandez a slapjack to use on Ray.

 

*Backstage, Abyss was in a rage over Jim Mitchell missing. They cut away to Jacqueline and Gail Kim brawling backstage.

 

*They did a sitdown interview with Christy Hemme. Kip James tried to get involved but BG James played peacemaker.

 

*NWA champion Christian Cage comes to the ring to cut a promo. Kurt Angle comes out. Cage says he has an "anger management coach". Angle asked who, dropping Bill Goldberg and Brock Lesnar's names, but Cage wouldn't say, leaving it as someone who would help him get into Angle's head.

 

*In a taped vignette, Sting had taken Jim Mitchell to the prison of Abyss' past. He demands to know Abyss' secret and Mitchell refuses to tell him. Sting handcuffs him to the fence.

 

*James Storm defeated Lance Hoyt. Dale Torborg and AJ Pierzynski interfere. After the match, Gail Kim and Jacqueline (wearing a Ms. Texas sash) brawl. Storm lays out Kim. Petey Williams hits the ring for the save but is hit with a superkick and laid out.

 

*Backstage, AJ Styles is interviewed about Kurt Angle and calls him a baby.

 

*Kurt Angle pinned AJ Styles after an Olympic Slam on a steel chair. Tomko came out to ringside to try and distract Angle. After the match. Christian Cage hit the ring for a 3 on 1 attack of Angle. Rhino hit the ring and chased Styles off. Samoa Joe came to the ring and stared off with Angle as Cage and Tomko backed off. Cage asked Angle if he had a clue yet, insinuating he had hired Samoa Joe.

 

*Sting arrives at the Impact Zone and calls out Abyss trying to find out the secret. Abyss refuses and Sting says he will find out for himself.

 

Impact 1/25:

 

*Samoa Joe comes out and says he's going to be an unofficial enforcer. Kurt Angle comes out and warns Joe not to get in his way. Christian Cage comes out and says it's not Joe he hired and Angle will get another clue later.

 

*Rhino fought Raven to a no contest when AJ Styles, dressed in Raven's suit, attacked Rhino with a steel chair.

 

*In a non-title match, Jerry Lynn defeated TNA X-Division champion Chris Sabin, Senshi, and Austin Starr in a Four-Way match when Lynn pinned Sabin with a sunset flip.

 

*Sting promo: He reveals the secret. Abyss once shot a man in the back three times. The man, who was Abyss' father, survives and is in a coma. Abyss attacks Sting and they brawl.

 

*NWA champion Christian Cage pinned Christopher Daniels. Samoa Joe came out to watch the match. After the bout, Kurt Angle comes out and he goes face to face with Joe.

 

Xplosion: *Sonjay Dutt fought Chase Stevens to a no contest after Shane Douglas came out and threw Stevens into the ring steps.

[Art Sandusky 0]

(rubs temples)

[Steviekick 0]

Well Sting wins the dick of the year award for tetlling Abyss' secret.

[The Buzz 0]

I feel bad that Sting actually had to cut the promo about that bullshit.

[The Amazing Rando 0]

Did he shoot him in Reno?

[Hawkius Maximus 0]

My god.

 

Just...My god.

[razazteca 0]

Did he shoot him in Reno?

Did it involve a prison work program of cleaning up abandoned hotels?

 

Jacqueline (wearing a Ms. Texas sash)

Will she get suspended for being a drunk or partying too hard then get re-instated by Jim Cornette?

[NoCalMike 0]

I never understood the point of these stupid "secrets from the past" storylines......I mean do they think fans care?

[Corkscrew_Senton 0]

Fuck Vince Russo. He's ruining a company I've enjoyed the last three years. This shit is more like Days of Our Lives than it is the TNA I enjoyed.

 

As for secrets from the past storylines, I didn't mind the ones booked by Paul Heyman in the old ECW like the Beulah/Raven/Dream connection, but Russo's are all ridiculous and serve no purpose.

[razazteca 0]

I don't think anybody really wants Abyss to turn face or Sting turn heel both IMO would be a mistake. If anybody needed a background story it would be somebody like Lance Hoyt or Robert Roode or random midcard guy who never really had an angle before not Abyss who already had the established monster gimmick.

 

Hey yo Paulie what are you doing?

[BUTT 0]

I suspect that Christian has hired Scott Steiner. I don't know why, I just have a feeling.

[theintensifier 0]

(rubs temples)

Ditto.

 

I wonder what Sting is thinking?

[qdes 0]

Hahahahaha. This so stupid.

[Man Who Sold The World 0]

I can defend TNA for their TV show booking format.

 

They only have one hour of TV a week to hype a monthly PPV, so you can't blame them for trying to stack the deck and get their performers a paycheck (most, if not 95% are pay per appearance).

 

I can't however, defend the fact that they tossed their only other foreseeable "Dream" money match in Kurt Angle/AJ Styles on said TV show.

 

Unless it's given relevant time (doubt it), then this cannot possibly make sense. After Joe's feud is over, I can't see anybody else, sans Sting that would make an iMPACTful feud with Kurt Angle watchable.

 

This can't be good.

[dubq 0]

Who the hell is Moody Jack?

[cmpunk04 0]

Another thing is its fair enough that they want to build Angle up as their top star but it looks like they are having half the roster job to him. There was no need to have Angle pin Styles on free tv, AJ is the homegrown talent and even if he was to loose it should have at least been on ppv. Joe has been moved down a notch for Angle to head to the top and it looks like Christians title run is ANOTHER 1 month transition for Angle to take the title next month. and dont forget Jeff Jarrett cant be too far away now. Holy Vince Russo my head hurts.

[Zack Malibu 0]

Who the hell is Moody Jack?

The longtime Spanish announcer whom sided with LAX upon the introduction of the gimmick. Konnan often sat at the Spanish announce table with him and called the action, and IIRC Moody Jack did the introductions for LAX on a few eps of Impact.

[CubbyBr 0]

I can't however, defend the fact that they tossed their only other foreseeable "Dream" money match in Kurt Angle/AJ Styles on said TV show.

You honestly think that F'N AJ Styles is capable of drawing big money on PPV against Angle?

 

I suspect that Christian has hired Scott Steiner. I don't know why, I just have a feeling.

 

A Christian/Tomko/Steiner stable would be all sorts of awesome.

[The Decemberists 0]

I can't however, defend the fact that they tossed their only other foreseeable "Dream" money match in Kurt Angle/AJ Styles on said TV show.

 

That's what stood out for me as well, beyond all the storyline nonsense.

 

Face AJ vs heel Angle with a good build and 25m could have been awesome and done at least the 60,000-odd buys that Joe vs Angle I did. But my God this match might get a 1.3 rating so lets get it on TV!

 

Idiots.

[Zack Malibu 0]

From the WO spoilers, regarding the "anger management coach" promo:

 

Tomko said there would be some changes coming, maybe even in Mike Tenay and Don West’s chairs.

 

I take this as a potential Heyman arrival/involvement.

[2GOLD 0]

From the WO spoilers, regarding the "anger management coach" promo:

 

Tomko said there would be some changes coming, maybe even in Mike Tenay and Don West’s chairs.

 

I take this as a potential Heyman arrival/involvement.

 

Or Tony Schiavone's coming back stronger than ever.

[CubbyBr 0]

Even Tony Schiavone would be an improvement over the current announce team.

[daileyxplanet 0]

SHARKBOY WINS! THIS IS THE GREATEST NIGHT IN OUR GREAT SPORT!

[Downhome 0]

From the WO spoilers, regarding the "anger management coach" promo:

 

Tomko said there would be some changes coming, maybe even in Mike Tenay and Don West’s chairs.

 

I take this as a potential Heyman arrival/involvement.

 

Or Tony Schiavone's coming back stronger fatter than ever.

 

Any word on how long Angle/Styles went at least?

 

EDIT:

 

From PWInsider:

 

LIVE THOUGHTS FROM TNA'S IMPACT TAPINGS

by Richard Trionfo @ 2:00:00 PM on 1/16/2007

 

I was at the Impact Zone on Monday night for the Impact and Xplosion tapings and here are my thoughts and observations as Total Nonstop Action Wrestling starts its build to the Against All Odds pay per view on February 11th.

 

I have liked the idea of having an Xplosion match at the start of the night before they start with the two Impact shows. It is definitely much better to see a crowd in the Impact Zone for these matches since a lot of the tourists leave throughout the tapings and do not stay until the end.

 

The Alex Shelley/Jay Lethal match was the best match of the night despite being the first match of the night.

 

Along the lines of the Kurt Angle/Samoa Joe storyline with Angle being the more aggressive person despite being the ‘face’, I was wondering why Sting would have kidnapped James Mitchell since he is the ‘face’ in the Sting/Abyss feud. Then he handcuffs a bloodied Mitchell to the fence of the jail when Mitchell would not answer Sting’s questions? Then he reveals Abyss’s secret despite Abyss begging Sting not to do it. Did Sting learn interrogation techniques from Jack Bauer?

 

When they had Brother Ray tell Runt not to interfere in the tag title match, I know that I was waiting for Runt to come out during the match. I was a bit surprised that while Runt was being carried to the back by Brother Ray that they did not have Brother Devon get pinned. Based on the finish of the match, I guess Moody Jack will be taking over Konnan’s role in LAX.

 

I thought it would have been funny if they had female security trying to separate Gail Kim and Jacqueline when they were fighting in the women’s restroom.

 

I wonder where this Christy Hemme/VKM angle is going. The mix of Christy trying to be serious and Kip trying to be funny is not working for me. I don’t know where this is going, but I hope it is resolved sooner than later.

 

The Kurt Angle/Christian Cage segment on the first show was a good way to get the hype started for their match at Against All Odds.

 

If Kurt Angle is the one with the ‘anger’ issues, why would Christian need an ‘anger management coach’? It was nice of Angle to mention Goldberg and Lesnar by name to get the people in the Impact Zone to think it would be one of them.

 

In the span of a three minute match involving Lance Hoyt and James Storm, they threw in three different storylines. First was the Hoyt/Torborg angle; followed by the Gail Kim/Jacqueline angle; and finish it off with the cherry of Petey Williams/James Storm.

 

Even though A.J. wrestled more of a face style on Sunday night at the pay per view, I really liked the interview he did with Jeremy Borash. Despite being a heel, A.J. should have been angry that Angle has been pampered while Styles has been in TNA since the beginning with no major perks. I thought it was funny having A.J. point out that he does not brag about his athletic achievements like Angle does about winning a gold medal.

 

I did not expect to see a twenty minute match between A.J. and Angle, but I was hoping for more than five minutes without any interference.

 

It was interesting to see what happened when Rhino came out after Styles, Christian, and Tomko worked over Angle after the match. Rhino came to the ring and he went right past Christian Cage, who he had a major feud with before the current feud with A.J. Styles to go after A.J. Why not get a shot in on Christian for old times sake and to provide some continuity to past angles.

 

After three matches, including one where you lost out at a shot at the NWA World Title, it would have been interesting to hear why Samoa Joe would come out to save Kurt Angle during the first show. However, it was a cliffhanger for the second show.

 

I am glad that they did not resort to having Abyss talk when Sting wanted him to tell the secret at the end of the first show. With Sting pointing out that the information was available since it was a public record, why didn’t he do that in the first place?

 

I liked Joe’s promo at the start of the second show. It explained why he helped Kurt Angle and it makes it appear that Joe is going to be Angle’s guardian angel to make sure that he wins the title so Joe can win it from Angle.

 

I guess it will be four months since the last ‘ring enforcer’ situation for an NWA World Title match, it is time to bring it back. And it is fitting that it would be back when Angle contends for the title since it was Kurt Angle who was the last ringside enforcer.

 

Why couldn’t Joe have addressed the situation without anyone else coming out? Instead we got Kurt Angle coming out followed by Christian Cage.

 

I liked the diversion during the Rhino/Raven match with A.J. coming out dressed like Raven. I wonder if this sort of deception will continue over the next few weeks as they lead to a likely third match between Styles and Raven.

 

I liked the four way X Division match on show two, especially with Jerry Lynn getting the victory over Chris Sabin. I would assume that this is going to lead to an X Division title match at the pay per view.

 

If you know that Abyss is not going to be angry at you for revealing his secret after seeing some of the things he did in the past, wouldn’t you think it would be smarter to keep the secret? Of course, that would mean that the most gullible man in wrestling would reveal the secret.

 

The idea of a Christian Cage/Christopher Daniels match on Impact is a good thing. However, if people watch the match on television and see that it only goes six or seven minutes, there are some who might not care enough if they are going to be meeting at a pay per view.

 

The announced card for Against All Odds is as follows:

Kurt Angle versus Christian Cage for the NWA World Title

 

These are some potential matches based on what happened at the tapings:

A.J. Styles versus Rhino

Chris Sabin versus Jerry Lynn for the X Division Title

Team 3D versus LAX for the NWA World Tag Team Titles

Petey Williams versus James Storm

Gail Kim versus Jacqueline (or a mixed tag match involving Williams/Gail/Storm/Jacqueline)

Sting versus Abyss

Senshi versus Austin Starr

[luke-o 0]

Cage says he has an "anger management coach".

 

 

Thats not a bad thing, its a good thing! - Im calling it.

[razazteca 0]

HAIL SABIN for using the Garvin Stomp!

[Mad Scientist 0]

After watching the show last night (1-24-07), I've gotta say that some of the directions TNA is going are positive ones. As I believe Samoa Joe stated, they're tripping over bad booking in a lot of respects.

 

Styles kicking the crap out of Rhyno while dressed up as Raven was great. I really like his new heel direction. He's smart and smarmy, very much in the Christian Cage mold, which is my favorite kind of heel. I still think jobbing him brutally to Angle was drunken monkey style booking, especially when you see how he performs in other matches.

 

The Eric Young promos continue to amuse me. The only downside was James Storm, the supposedly despicable heel, offering to pay for Young's condoms. Isn't he supposed to be a despicable scumbucket that possibly maimed his former best friend/tag partner and then beat up his former manager Gail Kim? (I know consistency is supposedly the hobgoblin of small minds, but mine is small, so there.) However, I'd like to see Young wrestle a bit more. He's a great performer and he could spice up whatever division he's in. He does need a spicier finisher than a neckbreaker though.

 

The Sting/Abyss stuff is just annoying and stupid. Look, the last thing TNA needs is their chief face to act like a complete jerk and their monster heel to have his privacy invaded and thus become sympathetic. If you want Abyss to turn face, just have Mitchell point him at Christian Cage. And Sting just taking the beating was horribly, incredibly, unspeakably stupid. This angle needs to die a quick ignominious death.

 

The adviser coach angle with CC is great. Angle gets to do his psycho bit (his one other bit besides clueless schmuck), while Joe and Christian both get to pull off their devious mindgame bits, which both are really good at. Christian as chief heel for TNA is darn near perfect. Shuffling Jarrett offstage for a while has done TNA a world of good, storyline wise.

 

CC and Christopher Daniels was an excellent match, even though I think they should have given this a lot more buildup. Daniels has some serious main event potential in the World Heavyweight division if they would actually let him work some matches against their top guys. The TNA management seems content to job the heck out of some of their most impressive original stars in brutal fashion. At least Daniels looked competent against CC and not a third rate jobber (see above comments about AJ Styles-Angle).

 

And again, the X Division, what I consider TNA's biggest asset, is given one quickie match on the broadcast. All the guys in that weird tag team match format deserved a lot more ring time. And again with no Shelley match. At least they put Starr/Aries on for some match time this week. He really needs to drop the Starr gimmick. Wrestling today does not need another Adrian Adonis. It's debatable whether wrestling needed the original Adrian Adonis. Aries is too talented a performer to be saddled with such a crappy gimmick. Of course, that has never stopped Russo before.

 

My two cents.

[Epic Reine 0]

The Eric Young condom segment was the best part of the show. That and the PCS vignettes have been the best thing on TNA recently.

[Mad Scientist 0]

The Eric Young condom segment was the best part of the show. That and the PCS vignettes have been the best thing on TNA recently.

 

The vignettes are good, but they're including a lot of their best wrestlers in the vignettes, which usually means they're not wrestling, darn it. That's my main complaint about the PCS and Eric Young vignettes - they take a lot of their best in-ring talent out of the ring for the show. I keep hoping that a 2 hour time slot would change this, but that's probably just my wishful thinking/

 

Also, I forgot about the Hemme-VKM crapola. I like that they've taken VKM out of the ring, but the angle still stinks to high Heaven.

[Mad Scientist 0]

And did anyone else notice that little part where we got to watch Don West and Mike Tenay read their scripts on camera? God, do they have an editor? It's not like they're broadcasting this stuff live...