“Head Games?”
Matt Morgan confronts Mr. Anderson backstage. Morgan wants to know if Anderson is cleared to wrestle but he doesn’t give a clear-cut answer. Morgan makes his way to the ring. He says that he made the right choice to turn on Immortal and defend Anderson. He wants to know if Anderson is going to have his back tonight. Speaking of the guy, Anderson comes to the ring. Anderson says that they’re here to wrestle and that’s what he’s going to do. Morgan tells him to think about his fans and even brings up Christopher Nowinski’s institute. He asks Anderson again about his loyalty but Jeff Hardy interrupts. Hardy asks them why they don’t just have a wedding at Genesis instead? Anderson informs Hardy that his makeup is running. Hardy tries to turn them against each other and calls the Impact Zone crowd “marks” at one point. The segment ends with Morgan and Anderson suspiciously looking at each other. This provided some good build for the main event tonight and Impact has started off on a positive note. See, no bias here.
Opening Match: TNA X Division Title: Robbie E. © vs. Jay Lethal
Cookie trips Lethal from ringside. Christy Hemme storms down to ringside and handcuffs herself to Cookie. After a commercial, Robbie is in control. Lethal connects with a few chops but gets taken down by a russian leg sweep. They trade punches and Lethal hits a suplex followed by the Lethal Combination. He connects with a flying elbow drop for a nearfall. Robbie blocks a charge and tries to use the ropes for leverage during a pin attempt to no avail. Lethal hits a superplex. Hemme prevents Cookie from giving Robbie hairspray. Lethal hits the Lethal Injection to become the new X Division Champion at 7:54. This was probably their best match together and it’s the only one that didn’t happen on pay per view. Funny how that works. However, the important thing to note is that Robbie doesn’t have the X Division Title anymore. The sooner I never have to see him wrestle again, the better. **
Lethal celebrates after the match and kisses Christy Hemme. Backstage, AJ Styles and Eric Bischoff are watching the action. Styles criticizes Robbie for not being able to retain his title and Bischoff starts yelling at him for losing the Television Title. Styles vows to regain the title in his rematch.
Douglas Williams reunites with Magnus in the parking lot. Apparently, Magnus and Chelsea are done as a couple. I didn’t even know they were ever a couple. Williams goes into a trailer where AJ Styles attacks him. They brawl throughout the trailer and run into Tara and Madison Rayne. The Knockouts start yelling and throwing objects at Styles. Rayne is worried about the brawl ruining her designer purse. Styles responds “shut up hooker”. Tremendous. Styles lays out Williams and walks away with a determined look on his face.
Orlando Jordan runs into Eric Young backstage with two girls. Young found the old TNA World Title in the trash and is now wearing it. Jordan disproves of the women. Young goes into another room and finds Brian Kendrick sitting inside a circle of candles. Kendrick gives Young advice going into his “title defense”.
Match #2: Max and Jeremy Buck vs. Eric Young and Orlando Jordan
Jordan wears a woman’s Hooters outfit to the ring. This episode was actually moving along nicely until now. Young gets on the microphone and says that his belt is on the line tonight in a battle royal. He enters the ring and dumps the referee over the top rope. The match starts and Young throws Generation Me over the top rope. He also clotheslines Jordan to the floor. Actually painful to watch. Jordan hits a spinebuster on Max but Jeremy catches him with a leg drop. Generation Me get distracted by Young’s girls, allowing Jordan to make the tag. Young lands a dive to the outside. In the ring, Jordan hits another spinebuster on Max and applies a cobra clutch for the win at 2:49. Mind numbing. Generation Me were top contenders for the TNA World Tag Team Titles a month ago and now they’re losing in three minutes to a joke tag team. I guess you have to promote that Hooters special. ¼*
Match #3: Madison Rayne and Tara vs. Mickie James and Miss Tessmacher
The winners will move onto the finals of the TNA Knockouts Tag Team Titles tournament. Eric Bischoff fired Miss Tessmacher for leaking information to the opposition. Alright then. Tessmacher snaps off a few armdrags on Rayne and connects with a dropkick. The heels isolate Tessmacher until she avoids a crossbody from Rayne and makes the tag. Mickie hits a neckbreaker on Rayne and adds a thesz press. Tara hits Mickie with her elbow brace and Rayne covers for the victory at 4:31. Tessmacher was fine and this was the usual outing from the Knockouts. I don’t really buy Rayne winning the tag titles next week when she’s already the Knockouts Champion. ½*
Kazarian runs into Rob Terry backstage. Kazarian tells Terry that a lot of important people will be watching him tonight. Terry doesn’t seem very accepting and walks away.
In the locker room, D’Angelo Dinero receives more donations.
Match #4: Brother Ray vs. Amazing Red
Ray hits a high back body drop and lands a corner charge. The crowd chants “we want Devon”. Red gets sent across the ring with a biel. He shows some life with a missile dropkick but runs into a boot. Ray hits the Bubba Bomb for the win at 3:11. I refuse to call him Bully Ray. This was probably two minutes longer than it needed to be. ¼*
After the match, Ray brings a chair into the ring. Brother Devon runs out to make the save and chases Ray backstage.
Match #5: Rob Terry vs. Rob Van Dam
I want to think that TNA put more thought into this match other than “hey, they have the same first name” but I’m not sure. Terry asserts his power advantage early on but RVD is able to sneak in a few strikes. Terry hits a front slam and takes control until RVD comes back with a springboard thrust kick. RVD walks into a spear as we head to commercial. Back from break, Terry knocks RVD off the apron and into the guardrail. In the ring, Terry hits a backbreaker and applies a bearhug. RVD fights out and connects with another thrust kick. RVD follows with Rolling Thunder and lands the Five Star Frog Splash for the victory at 7:00. Not terrible. Terry actually showed some focused offense and I think he’d be tolerable in a tag team with someone like Magnus. *½
Jeff Jarrett comes out for his MMA Open Invitational. He has an entourage with him. They go through the same shtick as last week and a random fan is picked – Jose Rios from Puerto Rico. If he flew to Orlando merely to attend Impact tapings, something is wrong with this man. See, I’m buying into the fact that this is a “random” fan. Jarrett finishes him off pretty quickly with a rear naked choke.
Match #6: Jeff Hardy and Kazarian vs. Matt Morgan and Mr. Anderson
Anderson unleashes a flurry of offense on Kazarian but gets caught with an enzuigiri. Kazarian falls down after an irish whip and bumps heads with Anderson. Mike Tenay is worried about a possible concussion. Morgan hits snake eyes on Kazarian and connects with repeated elbows in the corner. He follows with a side slam. Hardy interferes from the apron and sends Morgan into the ring steps. Immortal work over Morgan until Anderson intervenes. The referee gets bumped. Anderson hits a finlay roll on Kazarian and Morgan adds a leg drop. Morgan clotheslines Hardy and Anderson goes up top. Rob Terry runs to ringside and pushes Anderson off the top rope. Terry distracts Morgan and Hardy hits the Twist of Fate for the win at 6:33. I hated how they were teasing Anderson feeling the effects of his concussion. It drastically took away from the action instead of making the action more intriguing. However, Terry joining Immortal makes perfect sense. If you’re trying to take over a wrestling company, there’s no reason why you wouldn’t want someone like Terry on your side. Look at him. The match ended up being a pretty lackluster main event. *¼
Overall: This episode of Impact actually started off well. The opening segment was effective, Lethal regained the X Division Title, and the upcoming Styles/Williams match received good build. Then Orlando Jordan appeared and a series of underwhelming matches followed. TNA is making it clear that Anderson’s concussion has affected his wrestling ability. Now, why am I going to order a pay per view where Anderson is in the featured match? Not much to see this week despite a solid beginning to the show.
