Paul Madavi, PW Torch TNA Specialist

TNA Impact Review
Aired October 15th, 2005
Taped 10/11/05 at Universal Studios Orlando, FL
Aired on Spike TV at 11:00 PM (ET/PT)
Report by Paul Madavi, PW Torch TNA Specialist

The Lowdown: TNA Shows Off Strong Wrestling, Sense of Humor

Tonight’s show begins with a recap of Team 3D being decimated by Jeff Jarrett, and America’s Most Wanted (James Storm and Chris Harris). Mike Tenay welcomes us to TNA Impact as the camera pans around the Impact Zone, and fireworks go off. Tenay then runs down the card, right before Monty Brown’s music hits.

(1) Monty Brown defeats Mikey Batts & Jerrelle Clark. Brown enters the Impact Zone, with Batts and Clark waiting for him in the ring. Batts uses Clark as a step and launches himself out of the ring. However, he is caught by Brown, who slams him into the ring post and then hits a backbreaker. He then swings Batts around hitting Clark in the face.

Brown gets in the ring (the bell rings) and immediately sends Clark flying with a massive overhead belly-to-belly suplex. Brown hits Clark with The Pounce. Batts then tries a cross body. He is caught again by Brown, who throws Batts on his shoulder, and hits The Alpha Bomb. He lays Clark and Batts next to each other, and pin them both simultaneously for the win.

After the match, Brown says nothing can stop him on his quest to gain the TNA Heavyweight Championship. Lance Hoyt has something to say about it, so he makes his way down the chute. Hoyt asks if Brown has forgotten about him. He says Brown should not forget about a “6’9, 270lbs ticked off Texan.” Hoyt says that after Bound for Glory, Brown will remember his name forever

The Breakdown

Psychology: As you can tell, this was a very quick Squash match in favor of Brown. The story was Brown simply being too much of a powerhouse. Each of his moves was devastating and there was little “fluff” between. TNA continues to push Brown as a force of nature in the ring.

Action: Given the length of the match, the action was surprisingly good. Batts dive out of the ring, and Brown’s deft catch was impressive to watch. Brown’s Pounce looked much better this week, but if I were him, I’d continue to use the Alpha Bomb as a finisher. The belly-to-belly suplex was also pretty cool, as Clark really exploded out of the grapple.

Entertainment: This match was probably about as good as a two minute squash match can get. It continued to get Brown over, and this week he did a much better job than two weeks ago of holding up his end of the deal.

Impact Scale Rating: 4.5/10 – This was a very fun squash match, and a decent way to kick off the show.

Backstage, Larry Zybysko is surrounded by “SECURITY.” Said security must be from different companies, because their black shirts with “SECURITY” written in white letters have different fonts. Our man on the beat, Shane Douglas is interviewing Zybysko. Larry announces that next week on Impact, The Naturals will defend their Heavyweight Tag Team Championships against America’s Most Wanted. Just then, Raven runs into the picture screaming. Security guards restrain Raven. Raven wants a title shot to make up for the screw job he got in Canada. He’s livid, calling Zybysko a “mentally deficient, criminally negligent, piece of crap.” Raven then asks, “What about me? What about Raven?” Zybysko answers, “I’ll tell you what about Raven. Throw him out.” It seems our good friends Larry and Raven do not get along at all.

[Commercial Break]

We return to a video package promoting Jushin “Thunder” Liger and Samoa Joe’s PPV match at Bound for Glory.

(2) Matt Bentley (w/Traci Brooks) defeats David Young (w/Simon Diamond). David Young and Simon Diamond make their way to the ring first. Diamond gives Young a pep talk before they get in the ring. Matt Bentley then makes his way out with Tracy. Bentley skips down to the ring. Some folks at ringside do the Bentley Bounce while chanting his name.

The match starts off with some punches, as Young charges Bentley and the bell rings. Young gets in the last punch, before whipping Bentley. Matt reverses the whip and hits Young with a spinning heel kick. Matt goes to the ropes again, but has his foot held by Simon Diamond. When he’s done being distracted, Matt turn around only to be caught by Young, who spins to Matt’s back and hits a neckbuster (by grabbing Matt by the head, jumping with his knees at Matt’s shoulders and falling down on his back. Young then follows up with a wicked back suplex that Matt takes almost entirely on his neck and shoulders. Young then delivers a kick to the back, continuing to focus on the back. He whips Matt hard into the corner, and gets a one-count on the pin attempt. Matt gets up and punches his way into contention. He hits a swinging neck breaker. Holding on to Young’s head, he gets a vertical suplex off. Matt then climbs to the top rope and hits an elbow drop. Matt then takes a minute elbow Diamond off the apron. Matt avoids a spinebuster attempt by Young, and shoves him into Diamond. Matt then hits a flapjack off the rebound. Matt finishes the match off with a super kick for the pin.

As soon as the bell rings, Petey Williams runs in and hits a Canadian Destroyer on Matt Bentley. Petey Williams then sexually harasses Tracy until Chris Sabin comes in to make the save. Williams actually make a hilariously cocky face as he walks away after Sabin chases him off. People who say X Division wrestlers have no personality need to take a good look at Bentley and Williams who know how to carry themselves quite well.

The Breakdown

Psychology: This match had a solid storyline. David Young gained the upper hand through a minor distraction by his mentor Diamond. Matt Bentley managed to recover, and controlled the rest of the match. The post match shmoz helped continue to sell the Ultimate X match at the PPV. It was all very basic, but the execution was strong.

Action: The action is this match was quite good. Both Bentley and Young showed off some of the X Division style moves in their arsenal. They kept the action moving at a good pace, but it could’ve been a little faster. The match was chock full o’ action, though, so it’s hard to complain much.

Entertainment: This was a very basic match, but the execution was quite good. David Young and Matt Bentley gave us some quick, crisp action, with some cool moves to help counter the very basic in ring story. The shmoz at the end was relatively short, and I appreciate that they didn’t DQ the match in favor of it. With his finisher and his ability to sell heel, Petey Williams is a star in the making.

Impact Scale Rating: 6.0/10

Another one of the now familiar TNA video promos airs. This one is for AJ Styles, and features clips of Styles executing his most exciting moves. There’s also plenty of commentary from Tenay, et al selling Styles as an amazing athlete.

[Commercial Break]

When we return, we get another video promo. This one is for The Naturals. It shows them hitting their finisher, and contains more commentary regarding their skills, and whether said skills will pay the bills . . . which they will.

Mike Tenay and Don West then let us know that they were given some special footage to roll, and do so. The video begins by showing us a close up of the logo for Dobbs funeral home in Orlando, Florida. A close up of the condolences shows several names including Kevin Dunn, Paul H., Vince & Linda, Paul and Stephanie, and Pat and Sylvan! They pan over it for a second or so. James Mitchell leads the funeral for Team 3D, as organ music plays in the background. In attendance are Team Canada, drunken America’s Most Wanted, Jeff Jarrett, and Gail Kim. All members of team Canada have their hockey sticks. The video is full of jokes including Abyss smashing a tissue box when it’s handed to him, some horseplay between the members of Team Canada, and a lawsuit joke at the end. To close off the segment, Mitchell says they’re scheduled to be back after Bound for Glory to take care of the funeral for Kevin Nash. It’s a very funny, over the top segment and worth a look on the Monday replay.

(3) Rhyno defeats Sabu. This is a hardcore match. Sabu makes his entrance, with the lights out, and his signature pose.

[Commercial Break]

Rhyno makes his entrance by sprinting down to the ring. I still think the only real way to get Rhyno over is to have him ride an actual Rhino down to the ring. That would be badass. It would also lead to all kinds of matches. You could have Rhino on a pole matches, Ultimate Rhyno matches, Tables Ladders and Rhino matches. It’d be great.

Anyway, Rhyno slides into the ring, and the action kicks off as the bell goes ding, ding, ding! Sabu and Rhyno play a little cat and mouse, before Rhyno takes Sabu down with a shoulder block. Sabu gets right up and hits Rhyno with a spinning heel kick. They work the ropes for a little bit, leading to a springboard back kick by Sabu. Sabu misses a seated springboard moonsault. Rhyno gains the upper hands and applies a headlock briefly. He then hits Sabu with some running kicks. On his third try, Sabu sidesteps and throws Rhyno out of the ring. Sabu then hits a moonsault out of the ring. When they get back in the ring, both Sabu and Rhyno both have chairs. They sword fight for a little, until Rhyno clobbers Sabu with a chair shot to the head. He then sets up Sabu for a second rope Piledriver, after laying the two chairs on top of each other. Sabu, however, gets out of the grapple, and immediately leaps to the top ropes, and hits a springboard hurricanrana. Rhyno lands perfectly on the chairs. Sabu gets a two-count. Sabu climbs to the top with a chair. Just then Abyss runs to ringside. Sabu throws the chair at him, and then jumps off the tope into the ring. He turns around to a devastating Gore, for the pin.

After the match, Abyss runs into the ring. Rhyno hits him with an amazing belly-to-belly suplex. He sets up for The Gore, but takes a big boot to the face. James Mitchell then hands Rhyno a bag of tacks. However, Jeff Hardy runs in and he clotheslines Abyss out of the ring. Rhyno then nails Hardy with a shoulder block. Sabu gets back in the game by throwing a chair at Rhyno’s head. Abyss gets back in the ring, and all four men stand for a second, with Sabu posing. They then converge upon each other at once. TNA Security descends to break up the fight.

The Breakdown

Psychology: This match had again, some very basic psychology that was dressed up nicely with good action. Rhyno’s use of throws and ground based attack contrasted well with Sabu’s high flying suicide arsenal. The hardcore element added some extra impact to the moves, and generally made it feel a little more dangerous. All that aside, it was a basic back and forth match. Hardcore is often most fun when it’s in a short match format. It seems more dangerous, but less brutal. Also, for the second time, they allow the match to finish, before interference is made.

Action: Rhyno looked very good in this outing. He still didn’t look immersed in the match at times, but for most of it he was very crisp, and had some explosiveness to his moves. It most certainly helped to work with Sabu, who also looked fresher and crisper than he has of late. The two men hit some very impressive spots in the match. It was definitely fun.

Entertainment: This was a surprisingly entertaining match. Sabu and Rhyno displayed deft using the hardcore rules to their advantage, and it helped the match quite a bit. More impressive was the excellent pacing they had together. They seem to be getting comfortable with each other in the ring, which is good heading into a PPV match, and a lot of fun to watch.

Impact Scale Rating: 6.5/10 – Good performance by each wrestler and hardcore rules spruced up a standard match into a much better than average affair.

[Commercial Break]

TNA runs a promo for the Jeff Jarrett versus Kevin Nash feud, focusing on the role Tito Ortiz plays as referee for the match. Both men claim they will hurt Ortiz, if he puts his hands on either of them.

(4) A.J. Styles, Shark Boy, & Sonjay Dutt defeat Christopher Daniels. The stipulation for this match was for Daniels to defeat three X division wrestlers within a 15 minutes time limit. Christopher Daniels makes his way to the ring first. Shark Boy is introduced as the first competitor, who is lead out by A.J. Styles.

Shark Boy gets in the ring, and the bell rings. Shortly after a clock counting down from 15 minutes is put up. Daniels chases Shark Boy around the ring for a while, while West tries to sell tickets for Bound for Glory. Shark Boy stars the real action off with a drop kick from the top rope. He manages to follow up some chain wrestling with a sitting neckbreaker. However, Daniels recovers, and after some rope work, hits The Angel’s Wings for the pin. Shark Boy is eliminated at 13:35.

A.J. Styles brings out his next opponent, Sonjay Dutt. Dutt slides into the ring, and is immediately met by Daniels. Dutt has returned from a tour of India. Dutt hits a drop toe hold, and follows this up with a running dropkick. He then slingshots off the top rope and hits a swinging elbow drop. Daniels hits some indy forearms, before whipping Dutt. Dutt hits a running hurricanrana, and then hits another one sending Daniels out of the ring. Dutt keeps Daniels outside with a second rope asai moonsault.

[Commercial Break]

When we return, Dutt his Daniels in an impossible looking submission maneuver. It some kind of armbar/crossface, expect that he’s got Daniels mounted via head and knee. Crazy! Daniels is able to get to the ropes and break the hold. Daniels then hits a faceplant on Dutt. He follows up with a big running knee. Daniels stomps away on Dutt. He then hits three body slams in a row. Daniels slows down the match some, and works over Dutt’s back. He tosses him into the turnbuckle a few times, and then hits a beautiful sit down gut wrench suplex. Daniels then applies a rear chin lock (boo). Dutt eventually manages to hit another hurricanrana. He surges and hits a lariat, and walks the ropes for an elbow drop. He continues to surge with a running elbow drop. Dutt then hits an amazing spinning DDT for a two-count. Dutt then sets up for his top rope finisher. Daniels hits a running enziguiri, which sets up the The Angel’s Wings for the pin. Dutt is eliminated at 3:05.

The third man, A.J. Styles makes his way down to the ring. It’s a big surprise that it’s A.J., by the way. Daniels tries to beg off, and runs away from Styles. He throws a chair at A.J. Styles. Daniels then whips Styles into the safety rail. Back in the ring, he whips Styles hard into a turnbuckle. He then hits a corner knee for a one-count. Daniels then hits a body slam for a two-count. He sets up the Angel’s Wings, but Styles counters out to get an upper hand. A.J. Styles works Daniels over with clotheslines and elbow. As time runs out, A.J. tries to get off a top rope springboard, but misses the move badly. The match ends as time runs out.

Styles sells Bound for Glory one last time before the show ends.

The Breakdown

Psychology: This match had some interesting psychology. It was interesting to see Dutt get so much time, especially in comparison with Shark Boy. It makes some sense beyond giving Dutt some rub in his first TV performance on Spike. Daniels was forced to adapt to Dutt’s style, and had some trouble doing so before controlling the end portion of their fall. I’m not too sure about putting the heel in the disadvantageous situation. It made Daniels out to be too good not to like.

Action: The action was excellent all around. Two portions of the match were boring. First was Shark Boy being chased around the ring; that was boring. The second was the slowed down portion of Dutt and Daniels’ fall of the match. Otherwise, the entire match was highly entertaining. It was crisp, fast action, and included tons of new and cool wrestling moves.

Entertainment: This is hands down a highly entertaining match. It’s interesting to see Daniels work with three different wrestlers one after the other, and the matches they put on are fun, exciting, and cool.

Impact Scale Rating: 7.0/10 – This was great stuff. It was a fun and interesting match. The ending is a little disappointing, but it’s nice to see creativity back in wrestling.

Overall Breakdown

Psychology: This edition of Impact sold the PPV hard, and put on a good show at the same time. There was definitely a nice build up in the four matches. Their progression was excellently planned. TNA showed they had a sense of humor as well with their off beat mortuary skit.

Action: TNA once again filled their matches with good solid enjoyable action. Sabu, Rhyno, and Christopher Daniels particularly stood out at the end of the show. Even Monty Brown seemed to bring a little extra tonight.

Entertainment: TNA provided entertaining matches and entertaining segments. The show really benefits from the 1 hour format, because everything has to be short and sweet. I get the feeling more than a couple of minutes of Zybysko and Raven would feel like a chore to watch. In short bursts, they’re pretty good. This show is definitely worthy of a replay attendance for those who haven’t seen it. Between the skit and the two solid matches at the end, it’s well worth the hour.

Impact Scale Rating: 7.0 – I really enjoyed this edition of Impact. There where good matches and good promos. TNA is building very well to their PPV.

Paul Madavi writes his Impact reviews from Madison, WI where the beer is fresh, and the cheese is aged. If you’d like to respond to any of the content above, please email him and make eventful his otherwise boring existence.

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