By Jon
COMMENTATORS: Mike Tenay & Don West
This week’s Impact is all about that 2 Year Anniversary hype as World Title challenger Ron Killings takes on Eric Young in the main event, X-Division Champ AJ Styles is in singles action, and D-Ray 3000 makes one of his (criminally) few appearances on the show to get trucked by Abyss.
CHAMPIONS
- NWA WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION: Jeff Jarrett
- NWA X-DIVISION CHAMPION: “The Phenomenal” AJ Styles
- NWA WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS: America’s Most Wanted (“Wildcat” Chris Harris & “Cowboy” James Storm)
LINEUP
- Chris Sabin vs. Michael Shane vs. Miyamoto vs. Elix Skipper vs. Frankie Kazarian vs. Hector Garza
- Sabu & Sonjay Dutt vs. The Naturals
- D-Ray 3000 vs. Abyss
- AJ Styles vs. Mr. Aguila
- Ron Killings vs. Eric Young
*****
-Pyro and ballyhoo as Tenay welcomes the home audience. Hype for this Wednesday’s big 2 Year anniversary PPV.
Chris Sabin vs. Michael Shane [w/ Traci] vs. Miyamoto vs. “Prime Time” Elix Skipper vs. Frankie Kazarian vs. Hector Garza
Miyamoto is making his TNA debut here, on excursion from All-Japan Pro Wrestling. Luckily all six aren’t wrestling at once.
Sabin snaps off a hurricanrana on Kazarian, Kazarian superkicks him. Shane blind tags in and connects with a pair of chops. Sabin with a corner whip, Shane floats over nothing but runs into a pair of chops from Sabin. Sabin to the apron, springboard missile dropkick to the back of the head. Skipper blind tags in and covers but Shane kicks out at two. Skipper crotches Shane on the top rope and goes for a ropewalk rana but Shane shakes the top rope and connects with a hurricanrana to counter. Shane backdrops Skipper to the apron, Skipper comes flying back with a slingshot headscissors. Shane dead weights Skipper and tags out to Miyamoto who connects with a series of dropkicks to the knee. Impact judge Dusty Rhodes is shown watching the action; he’ll be on commentary later. Miyamoto connects with a delayed vertical suplex, Skipper gets his shoulder up to prevent a pin. Miyamoto with a lateral press, Skipper bridges out and kicks him in the head. Garza tags himself in, lots of fight and Garza hits a clothesline for the 1…2…EVERYBODY break it up. Garza with a corkscrew plancha on Miyamoto to the floor. Sabin sent to apron, he moonsaults onto Garza on the floor. Skipper hits the P.O.D. on Kazarian, Miyamoto blinds him with the EVIL ASIAN MIST, superkick from Shane for the 1…2…Sabin breaks it up and sends himself and Shane to the floor with a rana. Back in the ring Garza sets Miyamoto up and hits a torneo for the 1…2…3!
Hector Garza defeated Chris Sabin, Michael Shane, Elix Skipper, & Frankie Kazarian via pinfall (5:16)
- X Division dudes hitting high spots and taking no time to breathe. F*ck yeah. Hard to follow as expected but still entertaining to watch. Garza is coming off like a future star here and keeps getting the shine. I wonder if it was TNA’s idea to make Miyamoto do a Great Muta thing or if he decided to do it himself because that’s the only way Japanese wrestlers were allowed to get over in WWE and WCW.
–The Naturals (Chase Stevens & Andy Douglas) make their entrance, wearing AMW’s gear after stealing on Wednesday’s PPV. Speak of the devil out come Chris Harris and James Storm with a sneak attack which is broken up quickly by Don Harris and his security team. Naturals still have a match to wrestle.
Sabu & Sonjay Dutt vs. The Naturals (Chase Stevens & Andy Douglas)
I wonder why Sabu & Dutt were put together as a team. Hmm. HMMM. This is Sabu’s Impact debut, and he was given hype earlier in the show but I thought it would’ve been for a singles match. Alex Wright didn’t wanna fly over and get put through a table?
Stevens with a wristlock on Dutt, Dutt flips out and takes him to the mat. Lockup, Stevens brings Dutt to the mat with a hammerlock. Dutt escapes with a snapmare and follows up with a multi-revolution tilt-a-whirl headscissors. Hurricanrana for both Naturals. Douglas cheap shots Dutt from behind, Stevens follows up with a lariat and The Naturals are in control. Douglas tags in, Dutt ducks a clothesline but eats a high knee. Stevens tags back in and ducks an enzuigiri, but Dutt flips out of his grasp and connects with a running neckbreaker. Sabu gets the hot tag and the crowd goes NUTS. Springboard leg lariat, Sabu connects with a springboard moonsault on Douglas for the 1…2…kickout. Stevens attacks from behind, Sabu ducks a double clothesline and hits a springboard double clothesline. Sabu connects with a springboard senton legdrop and dropkicks the legs out from Stevens into a camel clutch. Dutt slides a chair to Sabu, Triple Jump Moonsault, Dutt gets the tag and hits the Hindu Press but everyone pretends they didn’t, and The Naturals finish him off with the Natural Disaster for the 1…2…3.
The Naturals defeated Sabu & Sonjay Dutt via pinfall (4:54)
- The Naturals are being positioned as Tag Title challengers so they needed the win, but Sabu losing in his big national TNA debut is disappointing, even if he didn’t eat the pin. Good match though, I forgot how FAST Sonjay Dutt’s offense was. Real blink and you’ll miss five moves stuff. Respect.
The Naturals double-team Sabu, Sabu fights them off with his trusty chair. Springboard clothesline out of the chair clears Douglas from the ring. Get that heat back!
-FEUD RECAP: Raven vs. Sabu. Raven will have a tribute to The Sheik on this Wednesday’s PPV.
-VIDEO: Shark Boy hangs out with Popeye at Universal’s Islands of Adventure. Hard sell for Universal Orlando. I would love to go but there’s a pandemic right now and all. Also I’m broke. Mostly the first thing.
D-Ray 3000 vs. “The Monster” Abyss [w/ Goldilocks]
Goldilocks brings a briefcase full of money, taken from her ex-boyfriend Erik Watts (yes THAT Erik Watts). I guess a “Contract vs. Money” match is going to happen at some point between Watts and Abyss. As for the match D-Ray tries his best by sticking and moving, even escaping a chokeslam attempt, but he falls victim to the Black Hole Slam in short order.
Abyss defeated D-Ray 3000 via pinfall (1:23)
- D-Ray 3000 f*cking rules, I hope he’s still wrestling. Did a great job being Abyss’ tackling dummy here.
“The Phenomenal” AJ Styles vs. Mr. Aguila
Non-title match, as Styles needs to defend the title against Kid Kash at the 2 Year Anniversary show. The Essa Rios DISRESPECT. Aguila counters a leapfrog with an inverted atomic drop, Styles responds with a dropkick. Styles with a slam and kneedrop, lateral press for the 1…2…kickout. Styles goes full British Bulldog with a delayed vertical suplex for the 1…2…not yet. Kid Kash and Dallas are shown at the heel tunnel watching the match. Styles goes for an inverted DDT but sees Kash and Dallas and gets distracted, allowing Aguila to go on the offensive. Aguila hits a headscissors on the floor as we go to commercial.
Back live and both men are down. Styles and Aguila slug it out, replay of the double crossbody that knocked them both out before the return from break. Styles drops Aguila with a spin kick, covers for the 1…2…Aguila gets the shoulder up. Styles picks Aguila up out of nowhere and hits what he calls the Cliffhanger for the 1…2…not yet. Styles climbs the buckles, Aguila pushes the ref into the ropes to crotch him. Aguila gets shoved off the ropes, Styles with a flying sunset flip for the 1…2…Styles goes for the Styles Clash and Aguila counters with a backdrop. Aguila goes for a hurricanrana, Styles counters with the Styles Clash for the 1…2…3!
AJ Styles defeated Mr. Aguila via pinfall (7:39)
- Might not have been for the title but Styles/Aguila still had themselves a damn good match and it’s always fun to watch AJ pull out the Styles Clash, ahem, FROMOUTTANOWHERE.
Kash and Dallas immediately attack Styles, D’Lo Brown clears the ring and makes the save for his former tag team partner. Brown grabs a mic and says that he will challenge the winner of Jarrett/Killings because he wants to be World Champion.
-MONTAGE: Various appearances by wrestling legends (Sting, Jimmy Hart, Lex Luger, “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan, etc). Next week we will see Jeff Jarrett hit Hulk Hogan with a guitar during an international press conference. Well we pretty much just saw it but alright.
-Pyro goes off once more by one of the tunnels as we go to Tenay and West at ringside. Hype for the 2 Year Anniversary PPV. Trinity and Desire are going to be battling in the first-ever Ladies’ Stretcher Match. That could be cool.
-VIDEO PACKAGE: The history of the feud between Trinity and Desire. Desire suffered a broken back and was out for a year, Trinity has taken her spotlight during this time and refuses to relinquish it. Cue hard rock song with FEMALE vocals because this is a LADY feud. I think it’s Goldilocks, actually.
–”The American Dream” Dusty Rhodes, judge and legend, joins the commentary team for the main event.
Ron “The Truth” Killings [w/ BG James & Konnan] vs. “Showtime” Eric Young [w/ Scott D’Amore]
Young attacks at the bell, Killings quickly regains control and almost puts him through the mat with a powerslam. D’Amore trips Killings with a hockey stick, Young goes on the attack, Jerry Lynn chases D’Amore to the back. Killings connects with a running powerslam, Young grabs the pants and sends him crashing shoulder-first into the steel post. Young headbutts Killings, covers for a two-count. “USA” chants distract Young, Young gets flipped over the buckles and heads to the top but gets slammed off by Killings with an Exploder. NICE. Killings floats over in the corner, splits under a clothesline, and hits a leg lariat. Killings gets Young in position for the Ax Kick (Lie Detector) and the 1…2…3.
Ron Killings defeated Eric Young via pinfall (4:14)
- Good win to give Killings momentum heading into Wednesday.
Pyro explodes over Killings. Lights go off and on and Jeff Jarrett comes out looking like he just left the Opera to jaw jack with his challenger for Wednesday. Jarrett walks over to the announce table and SMASHES THE GUITAR OVER RHODES’ HEAD. Killings runs over, Jarrett attacks him with the pieces of the guitar until Konnan and James chase him up the ramp. Director of Authority Vince Russo shows up and says he has every right to suspend Jarrett without pay but he’s not going to do that because that would be punishing Killings. Russo tells Jarrett to bring the guitar, because if it’s used in the match there will be a DQ on the spot and under NWA rules that means a title change. Killings charges at Jarrett again but gets knocked off the ramp and into the crowd, World Champ standing tall as 3LK is held back by officials.
*****
FINAL THOUGHTS: Enjoyable episode, good build for the 2 Year Anniversary with that final segment. If this was 2004 I would have totally begged my parents to buy the Wednesday show so I could see what happened. Luckily I’m an ADULT now and can just watch it on Impact Plus.
- MATCH OF THE NIGHT: AJ Styles vs. Mr. Aguila
- MOMENT OF THE NIGHT: Jeff Jarrett kabongs Dusty Rhodes with a guitar
