My Weekly TNA Catch-up, Impact 24th Jul 08

Show opens with Samoa Joe & Kevin Nash walking through the crowd & getting into the ring (they have the cage known as "the 6 sides of steel" up!). I assume the cage segment was prefilmed as it was gone for the rest of the show.

4 way Match, Jimmy Rave vs Consequences Creed vs Johnny Devine vs Eric Young. This was everybody in the ring at once with 1st pin or submission getting the win. Devine was on top from the get go with Creed (who'd gone from main event to curtain jerker in 1 week, what a comedown!) getting all his attention. Creed was getting beaten on by pretty much everybody (I'm not sure if this is his new strategy to getting over?). Creed made a nice ddt on Lance Rock while Devine & Rave were distracting the ref then made a nice suicide dive onto them right afterwards. Rave hit Creed with his "Rock The World" which looked amazing & was sold really well. Creed took the eventual win off Devine in a very decent match where everyone got a good chance to be over. The post match beatdown on Creed by Devine and The Rock & Rave Infection was obviously part of his new push and Abyss came out to save Creed from a chairshot.

Karen's Angle with Kaz as her 1st guest. BORING!

Matt Morgan vs Kory Chavis (ROH alum with Jimmy Rave, IWA alum with Chris Sabin & Samoa Joe, NWA Tag Champ with Homicide, PWE Alum with Raven, Elix Skipper & Low Ki so this chap has been around, he was even So Cal val's bodyguard in Full Impact Pro). Chavis was obviously told to job in no uncertain terms here which is sad as his resume leads me to believe he might have made a decent match against Morgan. He sold everything Morgan did & only got to hit Morgan twice with 2 punches during the whole match. Morgan finished using a move they called "The Hellavator" to get the predictable win.

Tag Team Strap Match, Beer Money vs The Motor City Machine Guns. The Guns are now favouring their new Japanese style ringwear which they debuted at the last ppv. Basically this is Shelley tethered to Storm & Sabin tethered to Roode with each guy connected at 1 wrist and about 7 feet of slack separating them. The Guns were giving a lesson in how a good tagteam works together with Beer Money selling well and Jaqueline running her usual interference for Beer Money. Roode took the eventual win after a c***py ref bump, interference where Jacqueline gave Storm handcuffs and he hit Sabin when the ref was outside the ring. Poor Russo finish after such a good quality match by the Guns.

Knockout Championship, Velvet Sky (with Angelina Love) vs Taylor Wilde. Sky earned her shot by winning the 10 woman Gauntlet match last week. Wilde took the win in possibly the fastest match in TNA history after running up behind Sky and grabbing her in a rollover. Sky was annoyed and Wilde decided to show her she could do it again. Wilde won with a nice bridge and took another win after already defending the title in 5 seconds then defending the title a 2nd time in 25 seconds. Love is annoyed this time and bets Wilde $5000 of her own money she can't beat Sky a 3rd time. Wilde had the match won after putting Sky into a bridge suplex until Love came in to make the save and the ref threw it out as a DQ for outside interference. Love was punching Wilde for all she was worth, clearly the fans chanting "ODB" have never watched TNA as its recently been Roxxi who saves Wilde from whatever danger. Clearly someone backstage heard that chant as they sent Gail Kim & ODB out to duke it out with Love & Sky.

Video insert from Daivari who has now changed his name to Sheik Abdul Bashir (I assume WWE were bitching about copyright).

Video insert from "the hospital" (obviously a room in the Impact Zone somewhere) with Sonjay Dutt & So Cal Val.

6 Man 5 Table Elimination Match - Team 3D & Kurt Angle vs Rhino, Christian Cage & AJ Styles. The rules are simple, if you get put through a table you are out of the match & the last man left wins for his team. Cage started things off with Angle in the ring but Team Cage jumped Team Angle at the bell to gain an advantage. This was action everywhere, bth in and out of the ring. Devon was 1st eliminated by Cage & Rhino. During a badly timed break (aren't they always?) Rhino eliminated himself after trying a gore on Angle who sidestepped & Rhino put himself through a table. Cage was 3rd to go as Devon helped 3D Cage through a table as Angle distracted Ref Hebner away from the illegal doubleteam. After interference from Johnny Devine (with Devine "accidently blinding" Brother Ray with chalk powder) who got put through a table by Ray thinking he was Styles. Angle knocked Brother Ray off the apron into a table and eliminated him. We had Angle giving Hebner a badly oversold Ref Bump. Chants of "Lets go AJ" & "Lets go Angle" were exactly even so both guys were getting great reactions from the Impact Zone fans. Frank Trigg hitting Styles with the kendo stick as he climbed the turnbuckle to dive onto Angle who was layed out flat on a table (a Russo finish no doubt) was a really bad idea again, Angle put Styles through the same table with an Olympic slam and Hebner had "revived" enough to declare Angle the winner for his team. This is the 2nd match Trigg has interfered with and it's about time he got into the ring and had an actual match against Styles as he's now screwed him & his team out of 2 victories.

Booker T & Sharmell come out to invite Samoa Joe to sign a contract to include tables, ladders & chairs in their cage match at the upcoming Hard Justice PPV. Joe comes out with Kevin Nash. Booker asks Joe to send Nash backstage, Joe responds by insisting Sharmell should leave too. After Nash & Sharmell have left Booker signs the contract & passes it to Joe then the lights go & Stings music plays. When the lights come up Joe has been "knocked out" & Booker is holding one of Sting's trademark bats. Sting was never seen, I assume Booker had been carrying the bat in his robe or someone in the ring crew gave it to him when the lights went off. Unlike West & Tenay, I don't assume Sting has done something just because his music played, the lights went out or someone is holding a black baseball bat.