TNA Impact Results on Spike TV
April 14, 2011
Taped 3/29 in Orlando, Fla.
Report by James Caldwell, PWTorch assistant editor

[Q1] Impact opened with a video package recapping last week's Impact focusing on Mr. Anderson, Rob Van Dam, and TNA champ Sting ahead Lockdown this Sunday. And, Hogan evaluating RVD's character in the context of a wrestling show. The video closed with a replay of Anderson dropping Sting and RVD as special referee, then Anderson turning on the Immortal scrubs. It's "Hogan's Law" tonight.

The familiar opening-segment sounds of the Immortal theme song opened Impact to bring out Hogan, followed by Bischoff, the Jarretts, Abyss, Hardy, Terry, Gunner & Murphy, Broteher Ray, and Flair bringing up the rear. Hogan opened by saying this is nothing but top talent in the ring as they cut to a shot of the scrubs in the back. Hogan called out Mr. Anderson to address what happened last week.

Anderson marched out to the ring as the announcers played up Anderson's attempted Stone Cold persona not doing well in groups or playing well with authority figures. In the ring, Hogan welcomed Anderson to "the big show." Hogan told Anderson he's given him every opportunity to do the right thing - the hard way or the easy way. More Stone Cold here. Anderson cut off Hogan that he used to respect him, but now he's just disappointed. He called Hogan's stablemates sheep hanging from his nuts. Anderson pointed to Bischoff and said he made a sizable living off his coattails. TNA production was heavy with the piped-in crowd noises here as the crowd was completely still in the background.

Anderson kept running his mouth too long, prompting Immortal to jump Anderson. Hardy landed a right hand, then Hogan got in Anderson's face and told him he disrespected him for the last time. He said he doesn't even think Anderson will make it to Lockdown. Hogan said Anderson is responsible for this, so whatever happens to him tonight, he brought it on himself. Hogan told Anderson they're going to cross paths again tonight. He vowed to take him out on his time. Anderson shot a loogie toward Ray, who responded with a right hand. Immortal confidently left Anderson out cold in the ring to conclude the segment.

Somewhere: Velvet Sky was shown pounding on a door demanding to speak with Angelina Love. Apartment? Office? Winter opened the door and told Velvet to scram. Velvet said she's going to give Angelina a "receipt" tonight in the ring. Winter told her good luck.

[Commercial Break]

Backstage: The roving camera "eavesdropped" on Immortal having a talk-a-thon conversation. Bischoff calmed everyone down and said he just got a call from The Network. They want a best-of-three series with Fortune vs. Immortal. The winning team gets a one-man advantage at Lockdown. Hogan said Bischoff was supposed to take care of them, so he needs to take care of it. "I'm on it, bro," Bischoff said.

Impact Zone: A siren was randomly wailing as a group of men were already assembled in the ring. Mike Tenay had a voice-over explaining this is a four-way match previewing the four-way tag match at Lockdown.

[Q2]

1 -- CRIMSON (w/Scott Steiner) vs. JESSE NEAL (w/Shannon Moore) vs. DOUG WILLIAMS (w/Magnus) vs. ORLANDO JORDAN (w/Eric Young)

Taz said it's like a captain's match previewing the four-team match at Lockdown. He tried to promote an actual tag team rankings, with the winning team supposedly having a chance to move up said rankings with a win at Lockdown. There was more action on the outside early on with Steiner stalking Shannon Moore, who has antagonized Steiner recently. Shannon kept flexing in Steiner's face, then Neal tried to wave off Shannon's antics. Steiner eventually rammed Shannon into the guardrail and Neal gave chase. Crimson then went looking for Steiner and Abyss randomly showed up to clothesline Crimson. On the other side of the ring, Young and Magnus were doing a dance move or something. The camera caught it mid-action, so it looked completely out of place. Abyss then removed a portion of the guardrail and chokeslammed Crimson onto the guardrail.

In the ring, Jordan and Williams battled, then EY randomly entered the ring and tried to suplex the referee. Jordan then dropped Williams with the Gender Bender - a spinning facebuster - for the win. Taz noted there were a lot of moving parts, which is code for it was horribly over-booked. Medics quickly checked on Crimson and they quickly cut away.

WINNER: Jordan at 4:28. What a mess to start the in-ring portion of the Lockdown lead-in show. How is that first match action out of the chute going to inspire anyone to order a PPV in three days?

Backstage: Ray walked into RVD's locker room. Ray said Hogan is going to give RVD an offer tonight. He said the grass is greener on the other side this time. Ray told RVD to take his advice this time.

Tonight: A six-man tag and Kazarian vs. Hardy in the first of the Immortal vs. Fortune matches tonight.

[Commercial Break]

Impact Zone: Matt Hardy made his way to the ring alone for the match-up with Kazarian. A random man emerged on-stage behind Hardy. It was Ray, who led Flair and Abyss to the ringside area as his back up. Kazarian was out next, flanked by Beer Money and Christopher Daniels. Before the match started, ref Earl Hebner gave Fortune the boot, prompting claims of Hebner being unfair allowing Immortal to stay put. Ray wanted a high-five, so Hebner gave his group the boot as well. Flair started ranting and raving on Hebner, who stuck to his guns.

[Q3]

2 -- X Division champion KAZARIAN (w/Fortune) vs. MATT HARDY (w/Immortal) -- non-title match

Kazarian scored an early nearfall with a surprise crucifix pin right after the bell sounded, then Hardy regrouped and went to work on Kazarian. Hardy focused on Kazarian's neck as Tenay noted it will be Storm vs. Abyss later tonight and Ric Flair will be wrestling if a third match is needed. Yes, they barely slipped in an ad for Flair possibly wrestling on this show. By TNA's attempted booking logic, if The Network wants ratings, wouldn't they promote the heck out of Flair possibly wrestling and book Flair in match #1 or #2 to ensure he wrestles tonight?

In any event, Kazarian made a comeback and went for his inverted piledriver, but Hardy rolled through. Kazarian came back with a springboard missile dropkick and made a cover, but Hardy got his foot on the bottom rope. Hardy then crawled to his feet and ate a boot to the face. Hardy sold the heck out of it, suckering Hebner in to help bump Kazarian from the top rope. Hardy then applied the...Ice Pick...a neck-vice submission hold that forced Kaz to tap out, giving Hardy the win.

WINNER: Hardy via submission at 5:10. Fine match with Hardy working the neck throughout the match setting up his submission finisher. (*1/2)

Backstage: Tara and Madison Rayne were shown walking backstage. Madison vowed to apologize to Mickie. Yeah, about that, shouldn't there have been an urgent medical update on Mickie this week after she was run over by a motorcycle last week?

[Commercial Break]

Impact Zone: KO champion Madison Rayne and Tara were in the ring back from break. Madison said she hasn't been able to sleep for the past seven days. All she's been thinking about have been the events from last week. If she had the opportunity to go back and do things differently...wait for the swerve...she would backed that bike up and run over Mickie one more time. Then, she would have slapped Tara across the face for questioning her. Madison reminded Tara what her role is: "You are my b----." Why does TNA script women to talk like this? So degrading when considering the totality of this over a multi-year period. The crowd rallied behind Tara to say or do something about it. Tara started to talk, but Mickie James's music suddenly hit. Mickie came out on-stage with her arm in a sling. Mickie said she isn't going to let a separated shoulder stand in the way of her taking out Madison. She said Madison should have run her over one more time because she's going to turn the tables on her at Lockdown. Mickie said there is No Way Out at Lockdown.

[Q4] Up next: Six-man tag match.

[Commercial Break]

Impact Zone: Jeff Jarrett's music hit to bring out Jeff and Karen. Tenay complained about dealing with Jeff for nine years, then Matt Morgan's music hit to bring out the babyface trio. Morgan has the chance to get revenge on Hernandez at Lockdown and get some respect for the good ol' USA. Samoa Joe was out next, followed by Kurt Angle.

3 -- SAMOA JOE & MATT MORGAN & KURT ANGLE vs. JEFF JARRETT (w/Karen Jarrett) & HERNANDEZ (w/Mexican America) & "THE POPE" D'ANGELO DINERO

Jarrett feigned starting the match off with Angle and danced around the ring a bit before quickly tagging out to Hernandez. Jarrett quickly slipped to the outside and Jarrett pointed to his head to show how smart he is, then they cut to an early break.

[Commercial Break. Two very long commercial breaks in Q4 here.]

Back from break, Pope landed right hand jabs to Morgan's mid-section, but Morgan came back with his trademark rapid-fire elbows in the corner. Morgan missed with a big boot in the corner when Pope moved, so the heels went right to work on Morgan's left knee. Hernandez cockily tagged in and went to work on his injured opponent at Lockdown, but Morgan came back with a big discus clothesline. Angle then took a tag and ran right into Hernandez's boot, but Angle responded with a cat-like leap up top for an overhead toss. Angle sold the effects more than Hernandez did, then Angle tagged in Joe as Jarrett tagged in for Hernandez.

[Q5 -- second hour] Joe tried to submit Jarrett, but the action broke down. Bodies started flying, then Jarrett took off running to the back. Angle, hunched over, chased Jarrett to the back. In the ring, Joe tried the rear naked choke on Hernandez, but Pope came off the top with an elbow smash. A gimmick was introduced, which took the ref's eyes off the ball. Pope then smashed Joe with the knucks and made the cover for the win.

Post-match: MexAm put the boots to Morgan before rolling Morgan back into the ring. Hernandez then landed a pulled punch to the forehead that put Morgan out cold next to Joe in the ring. MexAm and The Pope stood over their Lockdown opponents confident with their work this week.

WINNERS: Team Pope at 9:28. Fine for setting up three matches at Lockdown in one match, but not well-paced moving right along to the Hogan Show rather than letting the events sink in. (*1/4)

Moments Ago: Jeff and Karen tried to scram in the parking garage, but Karen forgot her purse. Karen tried to return to the back, but Kurt stopped her in her tracks. Karen shrieked and tried to chase down Jeff in his car, but Jeff sped off. Kurt told Karen she made a real good pick for a husband.

Impact Zone: Immortal's music hit to bring out Hulk Hogan, with his backbrace on, flanked by Eric Bischoff. Hogan talked to hear himself talk before calling out RVD for a pow-wow. Hogan talked up RVD, saying he wanted him to be a big part of the team here in TNA. Hogan said he likes the new RVD not taking a backseat to anyone. Before RVD could talk, Sting's music hit to bring out the TNA champion.

Sting said Hogan is lying because RVD never saw Mr. Anderson take him out to give RVD a win last week. Sting said the RVD he knows would never take a win like that. He said the real issue here is getting rid of both Hogan and Bischoff. He told Rob he's going to have to make his own decision and choice. At Lockdown, if RVD is the better man and defeats him, then he gets the title. But, if RVD hops in the sack with these two jabronies, then the only way RVD is winning the World Title is over his dead body.

RVD thought about talking, but slipped out of the ring. Sting watched him leave, then Bischoff spoke. Bischoff said Sting might be very well accomplished, but Hogan has been out-manipulating Sting for the better part of his career. Bischoff said he feels a checkmate coming in Sting's very near future. Sting said he thinks checkmate is his. Sting punched Bischoff in the gut, then dropped Bischoff with a Scorpion Deathdrop. Taz wondered aloud if that was a bit unbecoming. Sting then stalked Hogan, who begged off in the corner. He said it won't be on Hogan's time, but on his. Sting's music hit and he slipped out of the ring. Hogan bent down to check on Bischoff as Sting shouted "checkmate" on the way out. Is TNA doing Sting vs. Hogan at Lockdown? Nope. Okay.

[Commercial Break. Q6 half-way through]

Impact Zone: Some new heavy metal-esque music hit to bring out Abyss. If Abyss wins, Immortal wins the match series to get the man advantage at Lockdown. James Storm then came out alone. They completely missed an opportunity to focus on the fact that Fortune could get Ric Flair in the ring and potentially get their revenge on Flair on this show if Storm wins this match.

4 -- ABYSS vs. TNA tag champion JAMES STORM

Tenay plugged the Angle vs. Jarrett match at Lockdown with the new stipulation of a best-of-three falls match via pin, submission, and escape. Early on, Abyss wanted a charging corner splash, but Storm waited for the hourglass to expire before moving out of the way. Tenay advertised match three of the series was still to come tonight. He was cut off mid-sentence before he could add the qualifier that only if Storm won this one. Storm landed a backstabber on Abyss for a nearfall, then wanted a superkick, but Abyss countered with a Black Hole Slam for the win.

Post-match: Bully Ray led Immortal to the ring to celebrate Abyss's victory, giving them the man advantage at Lockdown. Taz noted Flair wasn't even dressed to wrestle. Immortal teased a post-match attack on Storm before Fortune stormed the ring to save Storm.

WINNER: Abyss at 3:45. TNA picks the oddest times to have rare clean finishes on TV, as their X Division champ and one-half of the tag champions were both pinned clean on the same show. For the Lockdown, the heels are supposed to cheat to get the man advantage. Now, the babyfaces just look like chumps. Skipping ahead, at least there was follow-up from Beer Money at the very end of the show vowing revenge on Immortal, which was a nice recovery touch. (*)

Still to come: Anderson has to run the Immortal gauntlet.

[Commercial Break. Mick Foley DVD plug.]

Backstage: A fully-recovered Eric Bischoff was on the phone. Shouldn't he be wearing a neckbrace? Bischoff was on the phone saying he's losing his patience and he smells a rat. Bischoff told the person on the other line not to push Hogan to the point of no return. He wanted to know who The Network is working with. "In time?" Bischoff shouted. He was hung up on.

[Q7] Impact Zone: Velvet Sky stomped out to the ring and called out Angelina Love to defend herself. Angelina walked out in a trance and attacked Velvet. She then dropped Velvet face-first onto a chair with a DDT. Winter walked out on-stage and beckoned Angelina toward her. Tenay noted this gets stranger by the week.

Announcers: They jump cut to Taz and Tenay at the announce table breaking down the PPV line-up for Lockdown on Sunday.

[Commercial Break]

Impact Zone: Mr. Anderson came out to the ring to run the gauntlet. Anderson was still selling the effects of Immortal's attack earlier in the show. Immortal Scrubs then assembled on-stage to decide who should face Anderson here.

5a -- MR. ANDERSON vs. MURPHY

Anderson finished off Murphy rather easily with the Mic Check.

WINNER: Anderson at 1:27.

5b -- MR. ANDERSON vs. ROB TERRY

No rest period for Anderson here as Terry hit the ring and nearly walked into a small package for a pin, but Terry kicked out in time. Anderson then ducked a clothesline and hit the Mic Check.

WINNER: Anderson at 3:23.

[Q8]

5c -- MR. ANDERSON vs. TV champion GUNNER -- non-title match

Bully Ray sent Gunner to the ring and Gunner focused on Anderson's injured knee and leg. Gunner is just too over-the-top with his intensity to be taken seriously. Anderson fought out of the corner with a series of clotheslines before executing a neckbreaker for a nearfall. Ray paced nervously on-stage as Anderson avoided a corner splash. Anderson then hit the Mic Check again for a pin.

WINNER: Anderson at 5:14. That makes three champions taking clean losses on this week's show.

5d -- MR. ANDERSON vs. BULLY RAY

Ray slowly made his way to the ring as Anderson sold on the mat. Ray shouted down at Anderson to get up and fight him. Ray landed repeated elbow smashes "with all the weight behind it," as Tenay put it. Ray then hung Anderson upside-down in the corner and pounded on Anderson's knee. Taz wondered what condition Anderson will be in at Lockdown. Taz heeled on Anderson for disrespecting Immortal and questioning their authority. Shouldn't there be a pro-babyface talking point advocating Anderson standing up to authority figures who abuse their power and try to put people in compromising positions for their own gain? Anderson scored a desperation nearfall after a rolling gutbuster, then both men slowly made it back to their feet.

Rey knocked Anderson to the floor, then cracked the ref over the head. Ray dragged Anderson up the stage looking for the powerbomb ala A.J. Styles, but Hogan's music interrupted. Hogan wanted the honors here. Hogan took off the backbrace, then set up Anderson for a powerbomb off the stage, but Sting snuck up behind Hogan. Abyss came out, but Sting smashed him with a baseball bat. Sting and Ray then came face-to-face and Sting jabbed him in the gut. Sting then stood over Anderson and his music played. Anderson begged off as Taz tried to save the Lockdown main event sales pitch by introducing RVD into the equation, wondering what he must thinking right now.

WINNER: No Finish at 13:08 when they cut to break.

[Commercial Break]

Reaction: Beer Money was shown in their locker room. Roode talked about being the "heart and soul" of this company. He said this ends with Immortal on Sunday. James Storm snapped, saying he let everyone down... A roving cameraman caught up to RVD, wanting to know where his head's at. RVD continued to pace and remained silent, still gathering his thoughts. Meanwhile, Anderson was asked to talk about whether he looks at Sting differently after he saved him.

Overall Thoughts: This was a mess leading to one of their bigger PPVs of the year. The message was clear to viewers to save their money for when Sting vs. Hogan takes place - if it does - and whenever The Network is revealed a la the 10-10-10 reveal at Bound for Glory. I'm sure this show looked good on paper building up each of the individual Lockdown matches, but the individual parts were so scattered on this show and there were so many logic holes that it was difficult for viewers to emotionally invest in key storylines on the show, which captures the last six years of Impact in a nutshell.

We welcome your 0-10 score and comments on this show for an "Impact Reax" feature in the Torch Feedback section of PWTorch.com. To contribute your thoughts on Impact, click here.

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