Show opens with the MEM coming out to the ring to yack. Storyline garbage that no-one really cares about. Backstage interview with Team 3D. Rough Cut featuring Kiyoshi. Backstage interview with Consequences Creed & Jay Lethal.
Tag Match - The Motor City Machine Guns vs Jay Lethal & Consequences Creed aka Lethal Consequences. Well TNA I guess you owe me some money seeing as I came up with that name several weeks ago (Impact 8th Jan 09 to be exact). Email me! This match never got started as Beer Money jumped Lethal Consequences at the bottom of the ramp, the split screen was an awful idea as they were 2 tiny screens you could see virtually nothing on.
Webography featuring Jay Lethal. I guess I missed the intro title graphic for these last week when I mistook them for Rough Cut segments. Coming back from the webography this tag match finally did eventually get started as a handicap match with Lethal fighting both the Guns on his own, after about 4 minutes Eric Young came out to sub for Creed. Young got the eventual win off a double Death Valley Driver. Pretty decent match, shame it was only 5:17 long. It was pretty ridiculous that the show had been going for over 20 minutes before we even got the 1st match though.
Shelley challenges Young for the X Division title at the up coming PPV. Backstage garbage from Cornette's office. Webography featuring Eric Young. Video package about Sheik Abdul Bashir. Yet more backstage garbage from The Beautiful People.
Sheik Abdul Bashir vs Referee Shane Sewell. If he's in the ring wrestling they really shouldn't be introducing him that way. He's wrestler Shane Sewell, if he were a ref he'd be officiating the match instead of taking part. I'm not exactly sure why the Impact Zone crowd were chanting USA as Sewell is from Ontario, Canada, however Bashir was born in Minnesota. This wasn't very pretty or entertaining as neither guy is a particularly great wrestler anyway, Sewell was the better worker of the 2 and has a much bigger arsenal of moves. After a crap and rather predictable ref bump and double clothesline Booker T came out in his ref's shirt and started putting the count on Bashir & Sewell. Sewell had the pin and Booker interfered leaving the real referee Slick Johnson to call for the bell. It was predictable this was never going to have a clean finish and the Booker run-in and beatdown was equally predictable. What little match there was lasted 6:54.
More backstage garbage with Sting. Video package about Sting. I think its about time TNA stopped doing these before a match, I know they only just started doing them but we don't need to be told who is about to wrestle, they have a ring announcer to do that job who is way cheaper and quicker than a video package. Video catch up about the Beautiful People & Taylor Wilde/Roxxi feud thats apparently been on going for 8 months now.
Knockout Tag Team Grudge Match - The Beautiful People (with Cute Kip) vs Taylor Wilde & Roxxi. This one started with Love & Sky running up the ramp to jump Roxxi & Wilde and they fought outside the ring for over a minute before actually getting into the ring and finally starting the match properly. Roxxi had taken a bump into the ring steps during the prematch beatdown and was selling that she was knocked out with West & Tenay saying this had become a handicap match (what, 2 in 1 night?) so Love & Sky just basically beat the tar out of Wilde until Roxxi eventually climbed back up onto the apron. Roxxi was tagged in and appeared to be suffering no ill effects and Sky looked very scrappy working against Roxxi, Love came in for the doubleteam and Sky took the pin off Roxxi in a very low quality match for both teams. Love & Sky aren't particularly talented at the best of times and they were showing how bad they can be here. Match duration 2:54. It was rather sad that the highlight of the match was "The Governor" (better known as WCW Queen Of Scream Daffney and it really is about time they revealed who she is) made an outstanding save.
Video package about The Beautiful People. If they are going to persist in having these can they at least try to show them before the match the talent are involved in? Rough Cut featuring Kiyoshi.
Shark Boy vs Brutus Magnus. Magnus is making his Impact Zone TNA TV debut here having made his in-ring debut during the TNA European Tour. Fortunately this wasn't all Shark Boy jobbing, selling and putting Magnus over with Shark Boy hitting a nice Thesz Press. Magnus slid out of the Chummer attempt and took the win off the Tormentum in 2:15, I would have liked to have seen a longer match with more offence from Shark Boy. Magnus makes an open challenge for the PPV and apparently you can get away with saying Bollocks on American Telly!
More backstage garbage with Kurt Angle. Video recap of the issues between Abyss & Matt Morgan.
Matt Morgan vs Rhino. Neither of these guys has much in the way of actual talent and both have pretty much always got by on their strength and in Morgans case his height too. Morgan looked very unsure and didn't want to sell the belly to belly suplex off Rhino and made the move look truly awful. Morgan was setting up to hit The Hellavator into a chair when Abyss came down and the ref rang the bell calling for what I assume was a DQ (on outside interference?) so I assume Rhino took the win in 3:41. This was a really pointless run-in as these 2 guys will be meeting at this weekends PPV and its not like they have major heat between each other either so most people would have been content to wait another 3 days, Morgan bailed before Abyss got the chance to use the thumbtacks.
Abyss waffles on the mic before punching some thumbtacks. Video package about the MEM. Backstage garbage with Mick Foley.
Tag Match - Sting & Kurt Angle vs Team 3D. Angle & Brother Ray kicked this one off, Sting no doubt wanted Angle to get a taste of what he'd been given in the previous week. Angle repeatedly refused to tag Sting in and this ended in a face off between them where Scott Steiner was forced to intervene. Steiner interfered in the match allowing Angle to get the upper hand with Devon, 3D did set up for the Doomsday Device but Sting distracted the ref allowing Booker T to make the run in before Earl Hebner called for the bell with Team 3D winning off a DQ by outside interference in 7:52. Only Booker & Steiner took part in the beatdown, Sting just stood on the apron & watched before jumping down to the floor. Team 3D did eventually fight off Booker & Steiner but Steiner had to hold Angle back from Sting as it looked like Angle wanted to kick the living hell out of Sting.
Card run-down for Against All Odds PPV and the show ends on a teaser promo for Samoa Joe.
Summing up. This week TNA were exactly like WWE. We got 6 matches with only 3 clean finishes or actual finishes so its pretty sad that 50% of this weeks matches ended in DQ's, of the 2 hours of Impact 30 minutes was spent in commercial breaks and 28:53 was spent on actual in ring wrestling. These days the only differences between WWE and TNA are their staff and the shape of their ring. Other than that they are completely identical and thats very sad, TNA can't possibly hope to ever steal any of WWE's fans merely by exactly aping their every move. They have to be different and offer fans an alternative. I fear if TNA continue to pursue this path as a WWE clone they will lose their fan base to ROH once their weekly TV shows commence.
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