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Sting's here, but he's not talking to Not-Lauren. Do you blame him?

FILTHEE and co. started things off trying to get the crowd pumped. They're actually not horrible, but they're not great either.

(1) PETEY WILLIAMS defeated CONSEQUENCES CREED

Creed showed a lot more than we've seen thus far, mixing in a lot more high-flying to his generally strike-based repertoire. Interestingly, the crowd started about 70 to 30 behind Petey, and somehow ended about 110 to -10 behind him. I'm not sure what happened there. Creed fought through the interference of Rhaka Khan, but a surprise attack from Sheik Abdul Bashir proved too much for him. I don't much care for that ending. Creed wouldn't have lost much losing clean, and this felt a bit forced. After the match Bashir pointed out that he had taken down the man wearing red white and blue. I don't mind the prospect of a Bashir-Creed feud, but where does that leave the X Division Championship?

Joe cut an angry rant, and Nash said to let him take care of Sting.

(2) TAYLOR WILDE, GAIL KIM, & ODB defeated THE BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE & AWESOME KONG

ODB has new music. The faces were able to triple-team Kong, and thus keep her out of the ring for most of the match. Taylor Wilde pinned Angelina Love when she reversed an attempted Lights Out into a Victory Roll. I'm not sure it makes sense to have Love lose clean in back-to-back PPVs, as she's the only heel they have in the women's division who both talks and wrestles. Still, this was a fun match, and mostly harmless.

Team 3D looked for Sting in the rafters. This bit added nothing to the program.

(3) BEER MONEY INC. defeated LAX

If anything, Hernandez was even more incredible than usual. Sadly, whatever forward progress Roode made during his feud with Booker T has quickly evaporated, as the man just sucked the life out of the room. Storm didn't exactly do this match any real favors either, but he didn't hold it back. Beer Money won when Storm nailed Homicide in the face with a beer bottle. I actually don't mind the finish as much as I'd expected to, as it might be nice to have LAX chase a bit. As long as LAX win back the straps by the end of BFG I'll be happy.

Nash and Sting had a heart to heart backstage, but it wasn't entirely clear either knew what they were talking about.

(4) JAY LETHAL defeated SONJAY DUTT

The crowd didn't much care for this match, but I rather liked it. Val left ringside when Lethal refused to stop choking out Dutt with the steel chain, so the finish was relatively clean. Lethal won with a Savage Elbow. This wasn't the high-flying affair one might have expected from these two, but I thought they did a very good job selling their mutual hatred, and they worked in some moderately decent chain spots.

Booker T said he knew exactly what was up with Sting.

(5) CHRISTIAN CAGE & RHINO defeated TEAM 3D.

The match started with a slow brawl through the crowd. You kept getting the feeling something interesting kept happening just off camera, as they never seemed to get the action into focus. Eventually they made their way back to the ring, and proceeded to hit each other with heavy objects. I'm usually a fan of garbage brawls, but this one never clicked somehow. There wasn't really any flow, and I don't remember their being any innovative spots either (with the possible exception of Cage stopping Devon in his tracks by showing him a stop sign). I think this might have made a perfectly serviceable Impact Main Event, but was something of a waste of talent. The good guys won after sort-of GOREing Brother Ray through a table (it didn't shatter as much as bend). After the match Devine came down with a kendo stick, so Abyss appeared to prevent any unfair beatings.

AJ cut a killer promo, saying that he and Kurt just want to hurt each other, and that while Kurt might be the better wrestler, he will never be the better man. AJ guaranteed victory.

(6) AJ STYLES defeated KURT ANGLE

This turned out to be a one-match PPV, and this was that match. Angle, seemingly wanting to prove that he still could be in the Olympics if he bloody well wanted to, hit a phenomenal somersault dive off the cage and took a brutal DDT off the top rope for the finish. After the former, he actually looked at the camera and shouted "who's too old now?" At one point AJ was rocking, taking back to back falls (TNA rules make you get a pin cover before the ten count starts), but failing to stay down for ten. This was just a really great outing all around. After the match, medics came down and strapped Kurt to a stretcher, but AJ decided he hadn't had enough. He attacked Angle on the stretcher but then, while he was leaving the ring, he was ambushed by Sting. I guess the Stinger just doesn't like tempers?

(7) SAMOA JOE defeated BOOKER T

This was about what you would expect from a cross between a cage match and a hardcore brawl. Joe hit some cool leaping kicks on the ropes and a Diamond Cutter off the top rope, but that was about it by way of cool spots. Booker actually seemed to have the match won when the lights went out. When they came on, Joe was holding a guitar, which he used to put away the Bookerman.

Star of the Night: Kurt Angle--one of the rare occasions when I don't really have to think about this one.

Overall: I didn't like the finish. It wasn't as amazingly dumb as last month, but it still got the psychology all wrong. If you're going to punt on the clean and clear finish to your main event feud for the sake of bringing back an absent star, than actually BRING HIM BACK. This sort of hinting wasn't that exciting tonight, and will detract significantly from Jarrent's eventual return. If you want an exciting finish, they should have just brought him back tonight; I for one would have marked out. As it is, this ending was so-so at best. AJ vs. Styles saved this PPV, perhaps not from being awful, but certainly from being mediocre. B+












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