By Matt Baxendell, PWTorch contributor

BAX’S TNA IMPACT REPORT
MARCH 10, 2011
TAPED 2/24 IN FAYETTEVILLE, N.C.
AIRED ON SPIKE TV

Where We’ve Been: Last week’s Impact was the first episode outside of the Impact Zone since 2008 and the atmosphere was completely different in front of a hyped up crowd of thousands instead of a sound stage full of tourists and a group of plants. As for the show itself, the biggest news was Sting’s return to defeat Jeff Hardy for the TNA Championship. Expect the fallout from tonight (part two of the Fayetteville taping) to include the Stinger speaking.

[Q1]

After a long montage of last week’s show, Sting’s music hit and the new champ came out to the ring. The audio is screwed up, Sting’s mouth didn’t move with the sound of his voice. Anyways, Stinger came out and thanked the fans for their support. He also thanked Jeff Hardy for the match the week before, putting him over as one of the greatest wrestlers he’s ever faced. Sting hoped that Hardy would get his head straight and give back to the fans.

With that, Hulk Hogan’s music hit and Hulk was shown at the top of the ramp with Bischoff. Hulk told Sting that he knew that the two of them would end up in the ring. He credited Sting with seeing things coming last year, but no one believed him. But when momentum turned against Sting, he took his ball and went home.

Sting said Hulk was right: he quit on the thought of dealing with Hogan, Bischoff, and Flair, another three-headed monster that would make his life hell. But the longer he sat at home, the more the fire started burning inside of him. The same kind of fire that he had when he first wrestled Flair, dropped Bischoff on his head, and stepped into the ring with Hogan. He said that the fire hasn’t gone out: he has a job to do and that’s taking back what was never Hulk’s to begin with...and it starts with the TNA Championship.

At the mention of the belt, Mr. Anderson’s music hit and he came down to the ring with a sour look on his face. All three men in the ring looked nervous as he grabbed the mic. Anderson said he was pleased to come out and cut them off. He said that he clearly hadn’t spoken loud enough so here it was - he wanted his re-match. He said that since Hardy lost, Sting was the guy he was targeting now. He didn’t care what anyone else wanted...he cared about ‘me, me, me, me, me.'

Anderson told Sting that they’d never been formally introduced so here comes the big trademark self-introduction. He’d barely finished calling himself an asshole when Jeff Hardy’s music hit and he came out to the ring. He told Fayetteville that he was the antichrist of wrestling and he was robbed last week. He said that he didn’t have the chance to prepare. Hardy told Anderson that the line for the World Championship started behind him.

This brought out RVD, who promptly informed them that he had never been beaten for his championship. He said that he would have already regained his championship if a certain guest referee (Anderson) hadn’t screwed things up with his agenda a few weeks back. RVD then asked Sting if he had the balls to come back after four months and think he could run things. Hogan quickly jumped in and reminded them that he was in charge of TNA now.

[Q2] Bischoff said that he had a great idea. First off all, Sting was facing Jeff Hardy for the TNA Championship at Victory Road and Mr. Anderson was facing RVD at the PPV as well for the #1 contender’s spot. But, tonight, it would be Hardy & Anderson vs. Sting & RVD. Tenay put over the star power of the Main Event and the two big announcements for Victory Road.

-Backstage, the six Knockouts in action later tonight were shown talking trash to each other before Taz & Tenay informed the crowd that Samoa Joe and The Pope were going to settle things right after the break. [c]

BAX REAX: While there were a lot of introductions in that segment, it was effective. Everyone established their motivations for fighting, two big PPV matches were announced, and it looked like TNA was delivering a really solid Main Event in terms of star power and action. Thumbs up.

-Back from break, Samoa Joe came out with Okada in his masked getup. I didn’t notice this last week but the faces and heels are coming out from behind different sides of the raised Hulkatron screens. But Pope didn’t come out of his side, instead taking Okada out with a big chain wrapped around his hand. Joe came after him and chased him into the ring and the match was on.

1 – SAMOA JOE vs. "THE POPE" D’ANGELO DINERO

Joe had control early but Pope managed to fight back within a minute of the start of the match. Pope his hair in shoulder-length dreadlocks now. At 2:00, Joe hit a big powerslam, leading to a two count and some Pope begging. But, he was playing possum as he ducked a Joe clothesline and took him down in the middle of the ring. While the ref was checking on Joe, Pope pulled the pad off of the turnbuckle. However, when he went to whip Joe into the corner, Joe reversed the move into a nice exploder suplex. At this point, the ref realized that the turnbuckle pad was off and went to put it back on. While he was doing so, Pope grabbed his chain and wrapped it surreptitiously around his fist. As Joe set him up for the muscle-buster, Pope hit a knockout blow on Joe and earned a dirty win as the ref didn’t see the cheap shot.

WINNER: Pope in 3:30. This feud is clearly not over. I’d really like to see these two wrestle a 10-15 minute match on PPV because both guys are top-notch performers. However, dragging it out another month smacks of the writing team not having an idea of what to do with these two in the near term.

-Backstage, Bully Ray was tracked down by the roving camera guy. Ray asked why Tommy Dreamer, the martyr of the wrestling world had to interfere in his business. He told the camera that he’d be in the parking lot waiting for Dreamer. Taz & Tenay plugged the Knockouts six-way match up next going into break. [c]

[Q3]

-Returning from commercial, the audience was informed that Madison Rayne would defend the Knockouts Champion right now instead of the six-way women’s match. Madison (w/Tara) told the crowd that she was bored with her competition in TNA and was challenging another mystery opponent. And it is...Roxxi. Haven’t seen the Hardcore Knockout since a blood-spattered match about a year ago.

2 – TNA KNOCKOUTS CHAMPION MADISON RAYNE vs. ROXXI -- Knockouts Title match

Roxxi started off hot, hitting a few splashes before Madison managed to sidestep a running kick. However, she played to the crowd instead of focusing on Roxxi, leading to a spinebuster for a Roxxi two count and a roll up for another two count. However, Madison hit her random finishing move that is difficult to see what she actually does (is it like a codebreaker with one leg or something?) for the win.

WINNER: Madison Rayne in 2:00.

After the match, Mickie James came out to the ring to pull Madison off Roxxi while she was choking her. This would have been more surprising if Taz hadn’t asked if she had been seen since her last match with Madison Rayne less than a minute before. Honestly, it was a dead giveaway that came across like TNA's classic foreshadowing for no reason.

-Backstage, Dreamer walked outside and asked Ray where he was. Audio was still off kilter. Tommy said he’s been fighting his whole life, so he’s ready.[c]

-Back from break, Ray was screaming for Dreamer to show up for the fight in the parking lot. He had a chain in his hand. Instead of Dreamer, Devon jumped him with a clothesline and started pounding away at him on the ground before throwing him into the side of a truck trailer. That was a lot more effective than the giant parking cone he hit him with right afterward. Devon yelled, ‘Those are my kids,’ a lot during this segment.

Ray tried to beg off, but Devon whipped him with the chain Ray brought out to the parking lot. Devon pulled a giant sledgehammer out to smash Ray with but Dreamer came out and talked him down from killing Ray. “You’re a bitch!” was Devon’s close. After Dreamer walked Devon off, a security guy tried to help up Ray, leading to the guard getting beat down by Ray with a chain and a metal barricade before Ray collapsed in exhaustion. [c]

[Q4]

-Back from break, Robbie E’s music was playing and Cookie, Angelina (Jersey Shore), Sarita, and Rosita came out to the ring. Six way is up now. After them, the Beautiful People came out to a good pop from the crowd. Winter walked in between the BPs during their stage pose and then shook her tailfeather on the second rope in Velvet’s face.

3 – ANGELINA LOVE & VELVET SKY & WINTER vs. SARITA & COOKIE & ANGELINA (from Jersey Shore)

Velvet started off in the ring with Angelina. They stared each other down before the heels interfered to allow Angelina to tackle Velvet. Things quickly turned into a schmoz in the ring before Love & Sarita were dumped outside. Suddenly, Robbie E appeared and held Velvet’s arms behind her back. As Cookie & Jersey Shore Girl argued over who was going to hit Velvet, Winter stepped in and teased hitting Velvet before clearing the Jersey Shore Reject & the Jersey Shore Knockoff instead. Winter then went all vampire on Robbie, snacking on his wrist to send him running. Winter then stared down Angelina, who backed into a rollup from Velvet Sky for the pinfall win.

WINNERS: Angelina & Velvet & Winter in 2:00.

After the match, Taz & Tenay sold that Winter had regained Velvet Sky’s trust. We’ll see about that. Up next: Matt Hardy vs. Ric Flair vs. A.J. Styles in a three-way battle. [c]

[Q5]

-Back from break, Kurt Angle’s Anklelock on Bart Scott was replayed from last week. Angle said that he’d wrestle Bart Scott if there's an NFL lockout this year.

-Anderson was shown in Hogan’s office with Hardy, Hogan, and Bischoff. He asked them why he should be on the same team as Hardy, asking ‘are you high?’ Awkward silence. Bischoff told Anderson that if he decided to take out Hardy then he would have to wrestle two men on his own. Anderson stalked out as Hogan told Hardy that this was nothing but business.

- A video montage recapped Flair turning his back on A.J. Styles a few weeks back and the Fortune storyline in general. New quote from A.J. Styles: ‘This all started when they threw the title belt in the trash, a title belt that I wore.’ Will SOMEONE finally take that belt away from Eric Young?

-In the ring area, Flair & Matt Hardy came out together. Flair was in a suit while Hardy was dressed for a street fight. Guess Flair’s involvement is ceremonial here. A.J. Styles came out with jeans on instead of ring pants. Flair told A.J. that he is in Flair Country. A.J.’s reply: “You’re in TNA, the house that AJ Styles built.” Flair told A.J. that he needed to listen up, saying he fertilized Fayetteville in his heyday before telling A.J. to get down on his knees to kiss his ass.

Styles asked Flair why he kept talking so much, wasn’t it Flair who said, “Gonna Walk the Walk or Talk the Talk?” Matt Hardy interrupted him and told A.J. that he didn’t know him but he couldn’t comprehend how much he had gone through in the wrestling business. Lots of rambling and “I’m a victim“ complaining here from Hardy before telling A.J. it wasn’t personal at all.

A.J.’s reply: Personally, I don’t like you or your brother. He then proceeded to jump Matt. Just as it looked like a wrestling match would break out, TNA threw to commercial. [c]

BAX REAX: Instead of delivering Styles in the ring, TNA decided to televise two rambling promos from Flair & Hardy that made next to zero sense for most of the duration. Not a great in-ring exchange and Flair seems to become more of a caricature every week. Fertilizing Fayetteville? Really, Ric?

-Back from break, the match was joined in progress.

4 – A.J. STYLES vs. RIC FLAIR vs. MATT HARDY -- Street Fight

A.J. was slamming Hardy’s face into the top turnbuckle coming out of break. However, Flair distracted him at ringside, allowing Hardy to hit A.J. with a clothesline. Flair came in and tried for two elbow drops before catching Styles’s foot mid-kick. While Flair was laughing, A.J. kicked him in the head.

[Q6] This allowed Styles to put Flair into the Figure Four leglock. However, Hardy hit a flying legdrop off the second rope with the hold still on Flair to break up the submission. After a two count, Hardy tossed A.J. to ringside. A.J. brawled with both men, causing Flair to bleed. However, he lost his advantage when Hardy hit him from behind with a trash can. Flair hit some chops before rolling Styles into the ring.

Hardy climbed in after him with a big ladder and took Styles out with a running ladder clothesline. Hardy continued to beat on Styles and went for the Twist of Hate, but Styles reversed it and tossed Hardy into the ladder. A.J. then jumped all over a really bloody Flair and hit ten big punches on the top turnbuckle, getting a great reaction from the crowd (who counted along with glee) before a Flair Flop.

However, Hardy fought back with a Side Effect and a body slam. Moments later, A.J. managed to take Hardy down and then kicked Flair in the face as Naitch went to hit him with a Steel Chair. Styles then hit a Pele Kick on Hardy and set up for the Styles Clash on a steel chair. But Flair crawled over to hit A.J. with a low blow, which allowed Hardy to hit the Twist of Hate on the chair. Flair ‘picked the bones’ to get the cover for the victory.

WINNER: Flair in 6:00 (televised). Another good showing, though it would have been better to see the action that went on during the commercial break instead of an unnecessary promo exchange. Good storyline advancement to build towards Styles vs. Hardy at Victory Road with Flair looming over the proceedings.

-Backstage, Sting & RVD were shown talking. Sting told RVD that he thought he was part of Hogan & Bischoff’s game since they brought him in. RVD asked him if he really believed that when they stripped him of his title. Sting said yeah, but he’s sorry. RVD said he’s sorry too before walking out. [c]

-Back from break, Generation Me was out on the stage. Looks like some tag team action is next. Gen Me actually got some heat while posing in the ring. Ink, Inc. was up next to face them. It looks like the number one contenders to the Tag Titles needed to get some in-ring action before Victory Road.

Speaking of the champions, Beer Money hit the stage holding the Tag belts. Storm acted hammered with his beer bottle on the way over to join in on commentary. “Six Beers In, Let the Wrestling Begin!” he said.

5 – INK, INC. (SHANNON MOORE & JESSE NEAL) vs. GENERATION ME (MAX BUCK & JEREMY BUCK)

Good fast-paced action early as Storm did his best to put over Ink, Inc. as a credible threat. Considering they did a good job trying to put over friggin’ Gunner & Murphy two weeks ago, it must have been a lot easier to put over an established team like Ink, Inc. Crowd had a lot of “BEER! MONEY!” chants during the match. In the ring, Gen Me had a lot of quick tags to isolate Shannon Moore.

[Q7] However, Shannon tried to make the comeback out of a sleeper hold and got support from the crowd before Max Buck stopped him cold. Moore got a two count on a surprise roll-up, but Gen Me caught him again. Finally, Moore fought his way out to allow Neal to enter the ring on a hot tag. Neal eventually got a two count on a big cross-body off the ropes. But, a Jeremy Buck superkick stopped him cold. Gen Me put him on the top turnbuckle and went to go for a high-risk springboard move.

But, Jesse Neal came off of the top turnbuckle with a huge spear on a jumping Max Buck. Moore ran into the ring and threw him out to ringside and Ink, Inc. hit their double team Mooregasm finishing move to score the pinfall win and good momentum going into Victory Road.

WINNERS: Ink, Inc. in 4:00.

After the match, Shannon Moore got on the mic and told Beer Money that the Book of Dilligaf says that at Victory Road, Ink, Inc. would become Tag Team champions. Storm replied that at Victory Road, Beer Money would whip their asses. Sorry about your damn luck.

BAX REAX: This is a very good story by TNA's standards they've told over the last two weeks because it is so basic and easy to identify with. Ink, Inc. thinks they’re ready to be champions and Beer Money is welcoming the challenge, wanting to prove they’re the best team in the world. I already take Ink, Inc. much more seriously based off only two weeks of interacting with Beer Money. I’m looking forward to this match at Victory Road.

-Backstage, Anderson was sitting in his locker room before Jeff Hardy came in and stared him down nose to nose. Long silent spell. Good intensity. Hardy asked him if he was going to stab him in the back and screw him over and break his nose. He said that would leave him one-on-two with RVD and Sting, odds that Anderson couldn’t like.

Anderson told him that Hardy was right, those aren’t great odds. But he’s a little unorthodox...because he’s an asshole. With that he stormed out as the announcers plugged the tension on each side in the Main Event Tag Match up next. [c]

-Back from break, Pope was shown backstage saying that he was sick of Joe & his sidekick. Pope said that he was going to rid TNA of Samoa Joe at Victory Road.

-Another recap of the Angle-Jarrett wedding shenanigans from last week. Backstage, Double J said something about the Jarretts going on their honeymoon next to Orlando, Florida. Karen didn’t like that. This dragged on too long, but it was the only time they were on the entire episode.

-TNA then ran a really cool promo for an Ultimate X match between Kazarian, Generation Me, and Robbie E that hadn’t been mentioned previous to this segment. Really solid vignette with a rap song playing over the video but, no build-up from the actual competitors for an Ultimate X match? The X Division would benefit if the individual wrestlers were given more time (which I always say), but I can’t wait for this match purely because it is TNA’s signature specialty match.

[Q8]

-Victory Road appears to be a really strong PPV card after seeing the rundown by Taz and Tenay. It's night and day compared to last month’s PPV showing.

-Sting vs. Jeff Hardy for the TNA Title
-RVD vs. Mr. Anderson for the #1 Contendership to the TNA Title
-Beer Money vs. Ink, Inc. for the TNA Tag Team Titles
-Ultimate X Match: Kazarian vs. Max Buck vs. Jeremy Buck vs. Robbie E.
-A.J. Styles vs. Matt Hardy
-Matt Morgan vs. Hernandez in a First Blood Match
-Sarita & Rosita vs. Angelina Love & Winter for the TNA Knockouts Tag Titles

-TNA ran a cool vignette on Sting’s return before throwing to Borash to interview Sting backstage old-school style. Borash asked him about competing next to a man in RVD who he has trust issues with. Sting said that he has apologized and he’ll see what happens next. He said he’s tired of talking because it is showtime.

Suddenly, Anderson ran in and jumped Sting, throwing him into a door multiple times. Anderson leaned over a downed Stinger and yelled that Sting was holding his belt and that Anderson wanted his re-match. Great intensity from Ken and I liked the obsession he showed wanting his re-match, which is pushing him back into heel territory. Sting was down coughing as they went to break. [c]

-Mr. Anderson made his ring entrance at 10:53, followed by Jeff Hardy. As Hardy was posing, Anderson kept trying to get around the ref to go after his tag partner. I guess he figured he could take out Jeff now that he’d taken care of Stinger.

RVD made his entrance next, followed by...no one. Sting must have still been down in the back and TNA focused on Anderson smirking about the situation. As RVD was looking for his tag partner, Anderson jumped him from behind to start the Main Event.

6 – TNA World Hvt. champion STING & ROB VAN DAM vs. JEFF HARDY & MR. ANDERSON

Anderson held his momentum early as the crowd started a ‘We want Sting!’ chant. RVD looked to have broken Anderson’s momentum going for a big monkey flip but posed for the “R! V! D!” chant on the top turnbuckle and Anderson blocked it into a self-inflicted powerbomb. Anderson then tagged Hardy in by smacking him in the back of his head.

Hardy came into the ring and was immediately jumped by RVD, who hit a big thrust kick and Rolling Thunder. Jeff fought out but Anderson dropped down to ringside to prevent Hardy from tagging out. Moments later, Hardy managed to tag Anderson in with another punch in retaliation. RVD tried to fight back against both men, knocking Anderson to ringside before walking into a Twist of Hate.

As Hardy went for the pin, Anderson jumped in the ring to stop the count at two, reminding the ref that Hardy wasn’t the legal man. This angered Jeff, who came after Anderson only to find himself laid out by a Mic Check from his own tag partner. But, right after that happened, the arena went dark and Sting’s music played.

[Q9] When the lights came up, Sting was staring Anderson down nose to nose in the corner. Anderson tried to fight, but Sting hit him with the Scorpion Death Drop in the center of the ring. Suddenly, he pointed at RVD with both hands. RVD had a great facial expression with his eyes wide as he realized that Stinger was calling for the Five Star Frog Splash. Van Dam hit his finisher and won the match.

WINNERS: RVD & Sting in 5:00.

After the match, RVD got up and stared at Sting before nodding his head in acceptance. Sting moved back and pointed both of his hands at RVD again and Van Dam smiled, presumably showing that he now trusted Stinger because he vaulted up onto the turnbuckle to pose to the crowd with his back to the TNA Champion. The show went off the air with Sting and Van Dam standing tall in the middle of the ring.

BAX SHOW REAX: The first hour of this show didn’t really capture my attention after the opening segment thanks to a lot of talking and a couple of really short matches. However, once the ramblin’ Ric promo was over at the top of the second hour, the show started barreling downhill and I really enjoyed the last 60 minutes.

There was a lot of good storytelling tonight. First of all, the four guys in the Main Event all came across very well. Anderson was awesome all night as the self-centered loose cannon, Hardy is a major threat with the power of Immortal behind him, Sting is the champion who rebounded from a sneak attack to help his teammate, and RVD was the guy who actually got the pinfall. Solid job with all four.

I also really enjoyed the Ink, Inc. & Beer Money segment, as well as the story told in the Styles-Flair-Hardy three-way match. Heck, even Joe vs. Pope had a good story to it with Pope’s cheating. It really helped that they kept the Jarrett-Angle wedding stupidity out of this show aside from one small bit.

I also can’t pound this point enough: the live crowd and the big stage made this feel like a ‘big league’ show for the second straight week. The biggest takeaway from the live crowd in the last two weeks? Beer Money is the most over team in all of TNA, getting huge cheers on each show. I would say that the only bigger pop over the two-day period belonged to Stinger on his return and title victory.

In the end, the first hour was too heavy on talking but they made up for it with a really good second hour to complete the hype for a surprisingly strong Pay-Per-View lineup this Sunday, a show that I’m legitimately anticipating due to its depth and the quality of the two matches that feature tonight’s four combatants in the Main Event. This was a much, much better show than last week’s effort. I’ll grade it a B+ since the first hour was so slow, but I thought this was the best Impact in a long time.

SHOW GRADE: B+

Matt Baxendell is one of the Torch’s new contributing writers covering TNA Wrestling. He’s also live on air as one the Young Guns on Sports Radio 790 The Zone in Atlanta. If you want to talk wrestling, hockey or football with Bax, please email him at matt.baxendell@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter @MattBaxendell

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