TNA Impact Review
September 10, 2004
Taped September 9, 2004 in Orlando, FL at Universal Studios
Aired on Fox Sports Net
Report by James Caldwell, Torch Team Contributor

Today's Big Question: Will TNA be able to rebound following Wednesday's poor PPV showing?

To open the show, TNA Impact announcers Don West and Mike Tenay stood in the center of the ring. I prefer Joel Gertner's in-ring intros over Tenay and West any day of the week. Tenay and West recapped the Wednesday PPV events, highlighting the fact that Jeff Jarrett retained the TNA Title over Jeff Hardy. Tenay described the TNA Title Match last Wednesday as "controversial." TNA's whole company is controversial.

We went to footage from Wednesday when A.J. Styled defeated Kid Kash in a Tables Match. How many times can Kash be forced to job to Styles? It's become a weekly thing.

(1) A.J. Styles & Jeff Hardy defeated The Naturals (Andy Douglas & Chase Stevens. The Naturals came out upset about losing the Tag Titles last Wednesday. They instantly attacked Styles and Hardy. The Naturals worked over Styles for the better part of the match as the crowd rallied behind the babyface tandem. The Naturals had Styles set up for their Natural Disaster finisher, but Styles countered allowing Hardy to finally get in the match. Hardy cleaned house and connected with the Swanton Bomb on Andy Douglas. Styles made the cover for another win for Styles and Hardy.

Match View: Well, the Naturals continue to slide down the tag team rankings. Last week, they had to sell for D Ray 3000 and Shark Boy's horrid offense for more than half of the match, and this week they job to Styles and Hardy. I just don't understand. TNA built up Hardy in this exact same fashion for four weeks on Impact. Styles takes the beat down... Hardy enters with a hot tag...Hardy hits the Swanton Bomb. If that was supposed to build up credibility for Hardy, why didn't he win the TNA Title on Wednesday? TNA has protected him from looking bad in this exact formula of tag team and six man tag matches for so long, it's obvious there is no faith in Hardy. If so, then why stick him in these "make Hardy look like a star" matches? It just doesn't make sense.

In the back, Shane Douglas was with Dusty Rhodes. Rhodes supported an idea for Hardy to receive a re-match for the TNA Title against Jeff Jarrett.

(2) Monty Brown squashed...er...defeated Vordell Walker. Another local product to be taken out by Monty Brown. Brown connected with the Pounce off the ropes and made the pin for the win in his regular two minute and under time frame.

Match View: Another Friday, another squash for Monty. I still have not seen this guy actually break a sweat on Impact. If they want to have him grow as a top level star in TNA, he needs to be shown in matches against actual competition. Throwing jobbers at him in squash matches is so old and played out. It's like eating bag after bag of delicious M&M's. The first few bags may taste great, but sooner or later, you're going to start feeling sick.

Up and coming stars, Jerelle Clark and Mikey Batts were interviewed about their X Division Scramble win this past Wednesday. Footage of their victory was shown to legitimize their victory.

(3) Kazarian & Michael Shane (w/Traci) beat Mikey Batts & Jerelle Clark. Kazarian and Shane were very upset at losing this past Wednesday to Batts and Clark. They decided to take out their frustration on the up and coming stars right off the bat. After Clark and Batts finally caught their breath from the initial beat down, Batts entered the ring off a hot tag as Michael Shane was momentarily distracted by a kiss from Traci. Batts couldn't take advantage of Shane being diverted from the match and Shane scored a super kick, then the cover for the win.

Match View: TNA highlights Clark and Batts amazing upset victory on Wednesday, then promptly have Shane and Kazarian dominate them? Why? If Clark and Batts were going to lose, it should have been in a highly competitive match where Shane and Kazarian just "lucked out" and scored the win. Instead, Shane was distracted throughout and still managed to lead his team to victory. Put an end to that momentum for Clark and Batts.

Shane Douglas was in the back with Vince Russo. Russo blamed Dusty Rhodes for Jeff Hardy's loss on Wednesday, then said he was going to search for the best #1 Contender to Jarrett's TNA Title, even if that means going outside of TNA to find a suitable opponent. Wow. TNA goes "outside of TNA" to get Hardy, and he fails. Now, Russo is talking about going "outside of TNA" again. Why don't they just get rid of the entire TNA roster other than Jarrett because obviously no one is good enough to contend for the TNA Title. Sorry Monty Brown, Ron Killings, and A.J. Styles, you guys aren't good enough to take the TNA Title from a washed up wrestler who never amounted to anything in WWE/F or WCW.

A video package recapped Abyss finally turning on Goldylocks and giving her a well deserved slam. You would think that Abyss's turn would lead TNA to treat him like a babyface, right?

(4) Abyss pinned Brian Owen. Well, Abyss came out as the heel for this match and did nothing to show any babyface tendencies. Abyss ended the match in under a minute with the Black Hole Slam on Owen.

Match View: So Abyss turns babyface and two days later, TNA treats him like a heel? Maybe the fans were so tired of seeing Abyss drag out turning on Goldylocks, that they just didn't care anymore. Make the turn, get it over with, and move on. No, TNA decided to drag it out for so long that any effective storyline involving Abyss as a babyface had no momentum to even begin with.

Six Points of Impact with Jeff Hammonds. TNA's lead analyst, which I and Wade Keller agree, is a horrible title for a non-wrestling announcer, graced our TV screens with a view on Jeff Jarrett retaining the TNA Title on Wednesday. Hammonds "analyzed" how Jarrett won the match. He won the match because he owns the company and doesn't care about what's best for the company.

Speaking of the devil, Jeff Jarrett entered the ring sporting bandages and a black eye. Let's just stop right here. Ok, I can see where JBL would come out on WWE Smackdown sporting medical devices and such the show after being destroyed by The Undertaker at Summerslam to put over the beat down. This act from Jarrett "coming out injured and wounded" to sell an pseudo devastating match is downright poor. If Jeff Hardy, who lost, didn't even come out at the top of the show tonight sporting any signs of damage from a "brutal" match two nights ago, what does that say about Jarrett, who won the match? Come on. Back to the Jeff Jarrett in ring speech. Jarrett said he is willing to take on all challengers, whether the person is from TNA or outside of TNA. Jarrett claimed that he would take out any and all challenges. The crowd feverishly chanted "Jeff Hardy" throughout the promo.

(5) Team Canada (Scott Devine & Bobby Roode) (w/Coach Scott D'Amore) defeated TNA Tag Champs Chris Harris & Prime Time in a Non Title Match. Harris and Prime Time played the "reluctant partner" characters, still not really sure how or why they won the Tag Titles last Wednesday. Team Canada worked over Prime Time in their corner, as the crowd tried to rally behind Prime Time. Chris Harris eventually received the hot tag and cleaned house on Team Canada. Scott Devine was being set up for a double team move from the Tag Champs when Scott D'Amore interfered. Harris was momentarily distracted when D'Amore hit Harris in the back of the head. This gave Roode a chance to land a clothesline to the back of Harris' head. Scotty Devine, the legal man, made the cover for the win.

After the match, Petey Williams and Eric Young joined their Team Canada partners in a beat down on Prime Time and Chris Harris. One half of AMW and one half of Double...er...Triple X, James Storm and Christopher Daniels, respectively, ran in to make the save. A four on four brawl ensued until The former Tag Champs, The Naturals, ran in and attacked the babyfaces. 3 Live Kru made their first and only Impact appearance on the show to even the odds. A six on six heel vs. babyface battle went on for several minutes as the show came to an end.

Match View: The one positive thing in TNA right now is the tag team title situation. I'm looking forward to seeing how the former tag partners of the current tag champs interact with each other. Nothing happened this week to create any storyline advancements, but then again, this is TNA. Thinks take forever and a day to develop.

2 Closing Thoughts
As I pointed out in the weeks leading up to Jarrett vs. Hardy in the "Biggest Match in TNA History," it just never came across to me that Hardy cared about this match. It didn't appear to me that he even cared he lost the match two days ago. Hardy didn't open the show by challenging Jarrett to a re-match. He didn't interrupt Jarrett's in ring promo. He didn't get on the house mic after Styles and he defeated The Naturals to demand a re-match with Jarrett. He appears to just be content with wrestling tag team matches where he doesn't have to do anything except for the Swanton and appeal to the crowd. Just let him drift into the mid-card and turn the focus onto someone who actually appears to give a flip about the TNA Title. Put Ron Killings or Monty Brown or A.J. Styles in Hardy's position. All this talk of going outside of TNA to find a suitable challenger to Jarrett is so detrimental to the entire TNA roster; I can't even begin to fathom the repercussions that would result.

Where is the X Division? Petey Williams should be highlighted in exciting X Division matches against guys like Chris Sabin and Sonjay Dutt. The X Division is so marketable, I would be drooling if I was Jeff Jarrett. Instead, Jarrett continues to push himself to the top of the promotion and shove marketable wrestling like the X Division to the bottom, and today, off the entire program. Just boggles the mind.

How did you feel about the show? Did I miss anything? Let me know! I welcome any and all feedback at revenge_nwo@yahoo.com. Also, be sure to check out http://www.thewrestlepress.com for more coverage of TNA. Have a great weekend and I'll see everyone next Friday!

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