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TNA Impact on Spike TV
September 13, 2007
Taped September 10 in Orlando, Florida
Report by James Caldwell, Torch columnist

They opened with a recap of the PPV.

Backstage in the parking lot area, Christian Cage, A.J. Styles, and Tomko arrived at the venue. Borash, always looking for a scoop, got an interview with Christian. He said his feud with Samoa Joe is far from over, but he's got issues with the big goof who walks around with Jim Cornette. Christian and Styles tried to find a piece of paper where they wrote down the big goof's name, then Christian read Matt Morgan. Christian then said he has word he will face Samoa Joe in a match at the PPV where there must be a winner. He said he also told Cornette to find the biggest, baddest Samoan he can find for a match.

Mike Tenay and Don West introduced the show from ringside. Oh, by the way, there's a cage match tonight. Karen Angle came to the ring to open the show. She sarcastically said there's so much love in the air. She introduced her sugar daddy, Kurt Angle. Instead, Sting came to the stage. He accused Karen of costing him and Kurt the tag titles. He told Kurt to come clean about the phantom slap. Karen said she hit her head when she hit the ground that she can't remember what happened. "Awwwww," West and Tenay said in unison. Sting said Karen doesn't remember anything about the slap because it never happened. Karen smirked as she talked about not remembering anything that happened that night. Suddenly, an American flag showed up on the stage. Behind it was Kurt Angle, who clocked Sting with a chair. Kurt took Sting into the ring and cuffed him to the bottom rope before landing kicks to the face and body. Kurt screamed at Sting that he slapped his wife and next month at the PPV, he's going to embarrass the s--- out of him. Kurt said he would break Sting's neck and ankle. He held Sting up for Karen to slap repeatedly. He reacted by spitting in Karen's face before spitting in Kurt's face. Kurt took exception and landed a ton of right hand blows to the face.

[Commercial Break]

Ringside, Mike Tenay talked about Abyss demanding a re-match with Kurt Angle tonight because he gave up to Kurt at the PPV. He said Cornette wanted to know what Abyss would put on the line. Abyss has said if he submits to Angle inside a steel cage, his TNA career is over tonight.

Backstage, Borash recapped what's on the line for Abyss tonight. He brought out Abyss to talk about the match. Abyss said: "Angle. Tonight, it's not my last match. But your last breath. Click. Doomsday."

Dustin Rhodes came to the ring with Misty the Rat to face Shark Boy. Tenay pointed out that it's Dustin's Spike TV debut. Oh boy.

[Q2]

1 -- BLACK REIGN DUSTIN RHODES vs. SHARK BOY

Dustin went right after the cult favorite of the Impact zone before he could enter the ring. Tenay and West talked about the two-hour debut next month. West said it's what everyone has been working for. Let's see, we heard that after the move to Spike, then Thursday nights, and then prime time Thursday night. Dustin quickly finished Sharkie off with a turnout suplex. Tenay said it's the Schizophrenic.

After the match, Dustin drove the spike thing to Shark Boy's head. He then took of Sharkie's mask (with Shark face-down so we couldn't see his face) and stuffed Misty inside the mask. He tried to shove the mask back on Shark's head, but Eric Young made the save and covered Shark's head with a towel. Dustin smirked and held Misty's cute face to the camera.

WINNER: Dustin in 1:00. Just a match to get Dustin on TV for whatever purpose this gimmick is serving. (n/a)

Backstage, Crystal interviewed the new tag champions Team Pacman. Ron Killings sang about being on the road again to Bound for Glory. He said he really wants to dance a jig right now, but they have some business to take care of with A.J. Styles and Tomko. Pacman gave a shout-out to the Titans and he's looking forward to coming back to playing football. He cut a brief promo on Styles and Tomko. Something about chewing them up and Killings spitting them out. Sounds like an SNL skit gone wrong.

[Commercial Break]

2 -- CHRISTOPHER DANIELS (w/Senshi and Elix Skipper) vs. X Division champion JAY LETHAL (w/Sonjay Dutt) -- non-title match

Lethal came to the ring and they showed footage of Lethal pinning Kurt Angle for the X Division Title at the PPV. The bell sounded and Lethal knocked Daniel to the outside before hitting a suicide dive. Tenay and West planted seeds for excusing Lethal losing by saying a wrestler or team will usually have a letdown match or game right after a big upset win. West, never short on hyperbole, called Lethal vs. Angle one of the best matches in TNA PPV history. After making a comeback, Lethal nailed Daniels with a superkick at 3:00 for a nearfall. Daniels then blocked the Lethal Combination and hit the Best Moonsault Ever for a nearfall. Daniels blocked the Lethal Combination again, then hit a reverse DDT into a face plant for the pin and the win.

WINNER: Daniels in 5:00 to earn an X Division Title shot. Unless they're going to spend the next month before the PPV building up a real, significant, credible feud between Daniels and Lethal, it's just another step back for the X Division with Lethal being tossed out like a jobber at the PPV and losing his first match as new champion. Decent TV action, but not memorable. (*)

[Q3]

No time to let the match sink in. They cut backstage where Borash interviewed Jim Cornette about some Bound for Glory gimmick matches. They're booking another 15-man reverse battle royale. Unbelievable. He said there will be a ten-person women's gauntlet with five knockouts we know and five we've never seen before. He told Matt Morgan to be careful out there with Christian's group. Morgan took off his sunglasses and said he would. They showed Styles, Christian, and Tomko walking to the ring.

[Commercial Break]

In the ring, Christian made threats to Matt Morgan to hurry up and get to the ring. Christian held Tomko and Styles back as Morgan walked to the ring. Christian said he just wants to chit-chat. He claimed Samoa Joe realized during their match that he had no shot of beating Christian, so he got himself intentionally DQ'ed. Christian talked about Joe hanging him over the top rope, which brings him to Morgan. He said he runs the show, so when the marquee attraction is being hung and his life is on the line, you don't wait five minutes to show up. You make sure it never happens. Christian wanted to fight, so they cornered Morgan before Samoa Joe ran into the ring sporting a t-shirt and cargo shorts. He helped Morgan clear the heels from the ring, then Morgan took the mic and booked himself as special enforcer for Christian vs. Joe at the PPV. Christian screamed that Morgan can't just make that decision. Jim Cornette then came out and reinforced Morgan's statement. He then brought out Junior Fatu (Rikishi) as Christian's opponent next week. He came out to a basic remix of his old WWE dance music. Fatu flashed his gut and Christian backed up the entrance ramp with his cronies.

They aired a quick video package on TNA's six sides of steel cage match. Suddenly, there was a cage surrounding the ring. My goodness, that was the fastest cage ever built. Abyss then came out first for the cage match and went looking for weapons. Kurt Angle then came out for the main event.

[Commercial Break]

[Q4]

3 -- KURT ANGLE vs. ABYSS -- Steel Cage match -- Submissions match -- Abyss doen in TNA if he taps out

Angle quickly went after the injured leg from the PPV. At least they're following up on physical damage done at a PPV. Abyss quickly went on the offensive and threw Angle head-first into the cage wall. Angle came up bleeding and Abyss went to work with a spinebuster and clubbing forearm blows. They cut to break with Abyss in control and Angle flat on his back.

[Commercial Break]

They came back with Angle suddenly hitting a moonsault from the middle rope. Angle tried to use a chair, but the ref reprimanded him. Abyss took advantage of the distraction to punch the chair into Angle's face. Abyss started an offensive attack with right hand blows before catching Angle with a lift-up slam. Abyss went for the Shock Treatment, but Angle slipped out and slapped on the anklelock, which Abyss countered into an anklelock of his own. Suddenly, a blade emerged from behind Abyss to cut a hole in the ring. Judas Mesias emerged from underneath the ring spitting a red substance. Dude is pretty jacked. He pulled out a barbed wire cable of some sort and wrapped it around Abyss's throat. Angle didn't need any more reason to slip out of the cage. Judas laid into Abyss with chair shots before dumping glass on the mat. He picked up some glass and rubbed it across Abyss's arm before tasting Abyss's blood. Crowd was pretty much silent here. Suddenly, the lights went down and blue smoke filled the building. Undertaker is coming! Nevermind, Judas is done this week.

WINNER: Oh yeah, there was a match going on. No Decision was announced. Crowd reaction should tell the story of the level of interest in the new character. They already have Dustin Rhodes, so is it really necessary for another creepy character on the show? And now the cage match is taken down a notch after not being protected as a gimmick match to prevent wrestlers from entering and leaving the ring. (*1/4)

They closed with a recap video of the show.

We welcome your 1-10 score and comments on this show for an "Impact Reax" feature in the Torch Feedback section of PWTorch.com. To contribute your thoughts on Impact, click here.

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