Paul Madavi, PW Torch TNA Specialist

TNA Impact Review
Aired October 29th, 2005
Taped 10/18/05 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 Rebounds from Tough Weekend with Strong Edition of Impact.

TNA Impact kicks off with highlights of Bound for Glory, including Rhino’s victory over Jeff Jarrett, making him the heavyweight champ. Tenay welcomes us to the New Wrestling Alternative. We begin things with a match.

(1) Abyss (w/ James Mitchell) defeats Lance Hoyt at 3:46. Hoyt bushwhacks his way down to the ring, after Abyss makes his usual entrance. The Impact Zone is bumpin’.

The match kicks off with the two big guys squaring up and punching away at each other. Hoyt lands a number of punches before a clothesline takes him down. Abyss tries to follow up with a leg drop, but misses. He’s clotheslined out unto the apron by Hoyt. Abyss grabs Hoyt and tries to suplex him out of the ring, but it is reversed and Hoyt hits a hangman. Hoyt then dives out on Abyss at ringside. Abyss gets up and whips Hoyt into the steel steps, giving him the advantage. He throws Hoyt back in the ring, and hits a corner splash. Abyss punches Hoyt for a while before hitting a Chokeslam. James Mitchell slides a steel chair into the ring. Abyss lifts it to his face, and Hoyt hits a big boot on him. He goes for the pin, but Mitchell pulls Hoyt off by his leg. Lance chases Mitchell around the ring, and back into the ring. He runs right into Abyss. Hoyt manages to avoid another Chokeslam, but when he comes off the ropes, he doesn’t manage to avoid The Black Hole Slam. Abyss pick up the pin on Lance Hoyt.

After the match, James Mitchell hands Abyss the black bag of thumb tacks. Just as Abyss is about to open the bag, the lights go down. Sabu appears in the ring and unwraps a cloth around his arm to reveal it is wrapped in barb wire. Sabu appears to be bleeding from the wire already. Abyss runs scared, his one eye wide open. Good emoting from Abyss through the mask.

The Breakdown

Psychology: Hoyt and Abyss put on a decent match here. The back and forth action was sustained until a whip into the steel steps allowed Abyss to take control. They could’ve accentuated the effects of the steps a little more, as Hoyt was still throwing punches afterwards, and really should’ve allowed Abyss to man handle him a little more. The same goes for Abyss, recovering quickly after a steel chair big boot combination. It’s probably better not to introduce those elements in a four minute match anyway. The interference from Mitchell didn’t come off as being too bad because there was not much riding on the match.

Action: Solid work by both men. Hoyt does need to work on throwing some more vicious punches. He punches like Lita, and need to throw them more like Kurt Angle does. They just don’t look very good, and against Abyss then look ridiculous. Otherwise, both men put in a decent effort, and definitely used the entire ring to work the match

Entertainment: While Hoyt and Abyss could’ve worked the match just fine without the use of foreign objects, everything still went pretty well for a four minute opening match. The Black Hole Slam is one of the more beautiful wrestling moves you’ll see from a guy Abyss’s size. This match was decent, but nothing special. Sabu still entertains me after all these years. Call it garbage wrestling or whatever you like, but there are very few wrestlers who have the aura he does. He’ll be a good foil for Abyss.

Impact Scale Rating: 4.5/10 – Abyss and Hoyt kick off the show with an acceptable effort.

[Commercial Break: Includes our first ad for TNA’s 2 hour special on November 3rd]

When we return to the show, Mike Tenay and Don West announce the primetime special on November 3rd. Tenay then apologized on behalf of TNA management for the Ultimate X equipment malfunction and announces a rematch for November 3rd. Tenay throws in a little jab saying, “Many of you have never heard of a wrestling promotion making an apology, so this is a wrestling first.”

Jeff Jarrett’s music then plays. Jarrett comes down the chute, microphone in hand and Larry Zybysko in tow. Jarrett then announces that he also will have a rematch on November 3rd. Zybysko looks stymied as usual. Once Jarrett makes his announcement, another video package airs selling the primetime special. Good work by TNA getting the message out for their big night!

(2) “The Fallen Angle” Christopher Daniel defeats Jerrelle Clark at 2:30. Clark is already in the ring when he is announced. Daniels looks very intense as he gets in the ring.

The two men lock up, and Daniels locks in a headlock. He adds a leg sweep, taking Clark down and punching him quickly on the mat. Daniels then whips Clark, and hits a shoulder block. Clark gets up and surges with a pair of dropkicks. He tries a monkey flip, but Daniels lands on his feet. Clark charges him, but it made to suffer an STO. Daniels then works Clark over with elbows in the corner. Daniels follows up with a high knee. He whips Clark, which leads to a hurricanrana by the underdog. Clark surges with a clothesline, and a fisherman suplex variation. Clark then goes for a middle rope springboard moonsault, but Daniels rolls out of the way. When Clark gets up, Daniels locks him up and hits The Angel’s Wings for the pin.

After the match, Daniels poses with intensity.

The Breakdown

Psychology: This match had some pretty neat psychology. Daniels when with a grapple and strike based assault to try to ground the high flying Clark. It was a smart move, because it really highlighted the differences between their styles and made each more distinct in the process. Over five or ten minutes, it could’ve been a built a very good match. Still, very solid for the mere two and a half minutes they got.

Action: The match was full of action. TNA does need to be careful with the ADD X Division matches though. Too many will blunt the audience to what makes the X Division action so special. Daniels played it smart by not doing any big spots, and instead using his grounded arsenal to defeat Clark, who hopped around like a jumping bean.

Entertainment: Every time I watch Daniels I become more and more enamored with his wrestling ability. As great as Samoa Joe and A.J. Styles are, Daniels might actually be the best worker on the roster. It’s a pleasure to watch him wrestle, even if for less than three minutes.

Impact Scale Rating: 4.5/10 – Christopher Daniels is an amazing wrestler.

[Commercial Break: This commercial break includes an add for the Genesis PPV]

Backstage, The Franchise Shane Douglas is dying to know what Raven thinks about being robbed of the title, and then watching Rhino win it. Cassidy steps in and say Raven’s being played. He then says, “Maybe Rhino’s right. Maybe she has gotten to your head. Maybe you’ve gone soft.” Raven then bitch slaps Cassidy. Douglas is shocked! Shocked I tell you. Raven saunters off.

(3) Sonjay Dutt & A.J. Styles defeat Alex Shelley & Rodderick Strong at 9:35. Strong and Shelley get some good pop heading down to the ring. Dutt and Styles come in separately, in that order. The crowd gets loud for A.J. Camera pans, and shows us Jeff Hardy Chick is in attendance once again. Wassup JHC!

A.J. Styles and Alex Shelley start the match off with a collar and elbow lock up. They break in the corner, which leads to some rope work. Styles hits a big dropkick and tags in Sonjay. They double team Shelley, with A.J. hitting a knee drop and Sonjay hitting an elbow drop. Shelley manages to recover with a spinning heel kick. He leaps to his corner and tags in Rodderick Strong. Strong and Dutt chain wrestle until Dutt hits a 720 hurricanrana.

[Commercial Break]

When we return, Shelley is in control of Dutt. He hits a mid rope springboard moonsault, while Scott D’Amore yells at Tenay and West about how Petey Williams is being screwed by the Ultimate X rematch. Thankfully, D’Amore shuts up and leaves, just in time for Rodderick Strong to hit a beautiful dropkick on Sonjay Dutt. A.J. Styles spits in Strong’s face from his corner. Strong is aghast as he picks up a two-count on Dutt. Dutt gets up and springboards off the top rope, only to be caught up on Strong’s shoulder. Strong then hits a flipping shoulder backbreaker, which looks simply amazing. It’s worth a two-count, as Styles breaks up the pin attempt. Strong then hits a corner splash on Dutt. Shelley runs in, as Strong goes for another splash. Dutt ducks Strong’s attempt and his a hurricanrana on Shelley. He leaps and tags in Styles who surges on both Strong and Shelley. He hits a spinning back kick on Strong, and then the Pele kick on Shelley. Styles hits a big back body drop, and follows it up with a pump handle side gut-buster! Alex Shelley breaks up the pin attempt. Shelley grabs Styles, and throws him into Strong who hits a Chokeslam into a knee backbreaker on Shelley. Sonjay Dutt then runs in and works on Shelley. Dutt hits The Sprinkler, but is then taken out of the ring by Shelley. This leaves Styles alone in the ring to hit The Styles Clash on Strong for the pin. Dutt does his part by grabbing Shelley by the legs to keep him from running in..

After the match, The Styles Clash gets the Morphoplex ™ Move of The Night. A.J. Styles celebrates in the ring with arms raised.

The Breakdown

Psychology: This was some well booked ten minutes of tag team wrestling. First of all, Shelley and Strong looked great tagging together, doubtlessly from their work as GeNext team members in ROH. Dutt and Styles were less cohesive, but impressive individually. Dutt worked well as the bump man during the isolation segment of the tag match, but the key to that was Strong using an impressive backbreaker to spice up isolation. The finish was smart, as Shelley wanted to cheat but was kept from doing so by a resilient Dutt, who had just taken a rough bump seconds before.

Action: You can’t cram more action into ten minutes of wrestling than these guys did, and have it look as good, fluid, and meaningful. Strong and Styles lit up the match, and Shelley and Dutt worked well to keep the match flowing and sell for the other team. Good use of the ring and a mix of grounded and high flying offense made this match intense.

Entertainment: This was easily the most entertaining match of the night thus far. It’s definitely worth watching the Monday replay to catch this match if you haven’t already seen it. Solid psychology paired with some amazing action makes this an overall very good TV match. Styles and Strong shine.

Impact Scale Rating: 7.0/10 – That’s about as good as ten minutes of tag team wrestling is going to get.

Backstage, Three Live Kru are harassing Larry Zybysko. BG James asks for one opportunity to even things up with Team Canada. Kip James busts in the door and says he should bet he special guest referee. Killings says this is a good idea, as he dumps Zybysko’s stationary jar into his hand and stuff the goodies in his pocket. Konnan says it’s a terrible idea, because Kip is like “instant chaos, just add water.” Every time Kip is around, he says, he gets his with a guitar of hockey stick. Konnan and Kip are separate by Killings and BG. BG looks absolutely distraught. Nice work by everyone in this sketch to get their personalities and roles in the storyline across in a very brief period of time.

[Commercial Break]

A very nice video package airs promoting the NWA Heavyweight belt as the ultimate accolade in Professional Wrestling. While that is a hard claim to believe given the status of the WWE belts, the promo goes over the storied lineage of the belt to give the claim some shot at being reasonable.

(4) America’s Most Wanted (Chris Harris & James Storm w/ Gail Kim) defeat Three Live Kru (BG James & Ron Killings w/ Konnan) at 5:04. When AMW get in the ring, they stand with their arms raised. Gail Kim removes the belts, and displays them to the crowd. 3LK dance their way down to the ring. Ron Killings has an extended breakdown, before Konnan works the crowd with his now familiar pre match routine. BG James does the same. Yes, BG, we remember this one. You did it last week, the week before, and just about every week since 1995.

Killings starts off the match by stealing a cowboy hat and mocking AMW. He takes it to AMW hitting a double drop kick to star the match off, and then a suicide dive out onto AMW as they try to regroup outside of the ring. Killings and Harris are back in the ring. Harris hits a flying clothesline for a two-count. He tags in Storm who hits a back elbow off the ropes. Harris is tagged back in. He attempts a delayed suplex, but it is reversed by Killings. Killings tags in BG James, who surges on the heels. BG takes on both members of AMW single handedly, until he misses the knee drop. Gail Kim distracts BG, leading to Konnan chasing her up the chute. D’Amore comes down the opposite ramp with hockey stick in hand. However, Kip James is right behind him. Kip takes the stick from D’Amore, flips it to BG, and chases D’Amore off. BG stalks Storm in the ring for a while. Harris rips the stick from BG, which leads to a super kick and pin by Storm.

After the match, AMW celebrate on the ramp with Gail Kim. Konnan and Kip argue in the ring, as BG tries to keep them from fighting.

The Breakdown

Psychology: Now that is a much smarter way to book interference. Instead of blatant run in after run in, you put the foreign object in the face’s hand and let that distract him to the point where it causes him to the lose the match. The work they’re doing with Kip James is excellent. This is the type of situation where it’s Kip’s fault for giving BG the hockey stick, which led to the loss. However, it’s nothing something he could have predicted. They’re doing a great job of having Kip coming across as earnest, but having it led to mayhem every time. Everyone’s a little bit right when it comes to what’s going on, and it leaves the situation open for either Konnan or Kip to turn heel when the time is right. The match itself was little more than a catalyst for this storyline advancement, although it featured some decent tag team work by both teams.

Action: Ron Killings worked hard to get in a lot of exciting moves, and BG James did what he could. AMW continue to prove they are good solid in ring wrestlers who can sell, bump, and get off offense convincingly.

Entertainment: This was a much better match than last week’s debacle with The Naturals. TNA’s decision to smarten up, tone down, and generally be more careful with how they run interference made a huge difference in the entertainment value of this week’s AMW match versus last week’s match. And while the Kip James “in-betweener” storyline is a wrestling trope, TNA is doing an excellent job of keeping is fresh and advancing the storyline well.

Impact Scale Rating: 7.0/10 – This was another very good segment, as entertaining as the previous match, in a completely different way. If TNA can maintain this variety of wrestling and keep both components entertaining, they’re onto something big.

We cut to the parking lot, where Team 3D drive up to the studio in a white SUV. They’re heading into the Impact Zone to talk about the funeral skit.

[Commercial Break: TNA bookends the show with ads for their primetime special]

Brother Devon and Brother Ray make their way down the chute and into the ring to loud cheers and accolades from Tenay and West. The crowd chants “We want tables.” Brother Ray starts the microphone work, saying that AMW made a “deadly mistake” by not getting the job done, leaving them for dead, but not actually killing them. Brother Ray says he’s wise to the funeral skit, and he knows everyone who was present. He sells their match with 3LK versus Jarrett and AMW at Genesis. Brother Devon then grabs the microphone, and says that on the primetime special, Team 3D will “lay a path of rage” on Team Canada.

Team Canada makes an appearance. Bobby Roode, Scott D’Amore, and Eric Young come down the chute, and then Team 3D is blind sided from the back by the rest of Team Canada. 3LK come down and beat up and clear out Team Canada. A1 eats a 3D. D’Amore is about to get his as well, when Jarrett and AMW rush in and attack Team 3D. Rhino runs down to the ring and slugs away at Jarrett as we go off air.

Overall Breakdown

Psychology: The show built wisely and well to what was a hot second half of the show. The two tag team matches were both very good television in completely different ways. Interference was still used this week, but it was used in much smarter, less blatant ways. That made a huge difference. TNA gave appropriate time to Team 3D, and their main event feud. The only thing TNA did wrong tonight was not give Rhino any kind of decent celebration or ceremony. Even those of us who read the spoilers would at least like the appearance that he is being taken seriously as the new champ, as any new champ should. TNA did an excellent job of promoting the November 3rd primetime special.

Action: As usual, the cup over floweth. TNA Impact was crammed full of action, most of it was very good to boot!

Entertainment: I can highly recommend this edition of Impact for those of you who watch on Monday nights. The show featured action packed matches, and good storyline advancement. There was no slack and plenty of stuff going on in one almost overwhelming hour of television. Three Live Kru, in particular, where very good in their segment and match.

Impact Scale Rating: 7.0/10 – TNA Impact seems to be back on the right track after their bumpy ride last week.

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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