By Matt Baxendell, PWTorch contributor

TNA IMPACT WRESTLING RESULTS
JUNE 23, 2011
TAPED IN ORLANDO, FLA.
AIRED ON SPIKE TV

Where We've Been: the Bound For Glory Series started last week and RVD won a very good first match over Samoa Joe. There was also the noteworthy showing of Gunner, who defeated Mr. Anderson a week after pinning Sting. Austin Aries also made his return by winning a spot in an X Division Match at Destination X for a TNA contract.

I was also on the A1 Wrestling Podcast this past week discussing everything Impact Wrestling. There’s a really great hour-and-a-half of discussion that ranges from the effect of the Impact Zone, the pushes of Gunner & Crimson, what could be done to make the TV Title mean something and much, much more. A1-Wrestling.com.

[Q1] Jeff Jarrett was shown backstage with Eric Bischoff. Jarrett tried to convince Bischoff that his loss last week to Angle meant nothing since they had the power. Bischoff told him that the Network didn’t feel that way and since they had promoted and broadcast the match with a signed stipulation, it would stand.

Bischoff then told Jarrett that if Immortal really wanted the power, then they needed to control Mexico as well. Jarrett was eventually convinced and Bischoff said, “Adios, Jeff.” He then walked up the ramp backstage to the Impact Zone stage.

-Bischoff made his way to the ring and directly called Sting out. Sting answered so quickly that Bischoff had barely finished talking. Sting had some Joker face paint built into his usual makeup. Bischoff told Sting that he was an ungrateful son of a bitch since E.B. has always treated him with respect. He asked him what he wanted.

Sting said that his feelings were hurt since Bischoff cussed at him and verbally abused him. Wow, he is really channeling Heath Ledger’s Joker. Stinger said that before he snaps Bischoff’s scrawny little neck, he was going to tell him why they never got along: Bischoff was a con artist, a thief, a liar, a lowlife, the scum of the earth and a dirtbag. Stinger started giggling as the crowd got behind him.

Sting looks so creepy right now. He called Bischoff a disease-spreading cockroach and he’s spread it to Hulk. Stinger said that it was only a matter of time before the real Hulk Hogan appeared again. Bischoff said that nothing Sting did could change the fact that Hulk & Bischoff were a team.

Bischoff said he was going to change something for Sting. He said Sting had his rematch on July 14 with Mr. Anderson for the World Heavyweight Championship, but tonight he had to wrestle Abyss. Bischoff told him good luck getting to July 14.

Sting said that Bischoff was acting like he had a price to pay. Sting took off his overcoat and laughed Bischoff back into a corner before punching him hard twice. Sting is completely channeling the Joker here with his facial expressions and body language.

Sting dragged Bischoff into the middle of the ring and then slowly lined him up for the Scorpion Death Drop and leveled him with the move. Stinger then pulled out his face paint and drew the Joker mouth on Bischoff’s face before turning his face completely red.

Sting acted like he was going to leave the ring but then went back and put Bischoff in the Scorpion Death Lock. Bischoff tapped immediately but Sting didn’t let him go. No one came too Bischoff’s aid as Impact went to commercial. [c]

BAX REAX: Sting looks like he spent every waking moment watching The Dark Knight because he has Ledger’s Joker act down very convincingly. It seems strange to see Sting channeling an evil and deranged clown to redeem Hogan but this completely established this new and out of control Sting. Looks like the next three shows leading up to Sting’s rematch are going to involve Bischoff putting roadblocks in Sting’s way.

[Q2]

-Back from break, Sting’s craziness was recapped from the opening segment by Taz & Tenay.

-Clips from live event matches were shown from the last weekend that involved the Bound For Glory Series. Some cool footage was shown from one of the Basebrawl events. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a Impact taping there instead of the same ol’ same ol’ of the Impact Zone?

Winners were Rob Van Dam, A.J. Styles, Gunner, and Scott Steiner. Along with RVD, they’re all tied for the lead with seven points. Quick soundbytes were played from all four weekend winners about the importance of their matches.

-In the Impact Zone, Christy Hemme introduced the first of two Bound For Glory Series matches tonight. The other is going to be Beer Money vs. Crimson & Matt Morgan. As Steiner was posing on the turnbuckle, Taz said that he had to be one of the favorites to reach the final four.

Bully Ray made his way to the ring as highlights of Styles-Ray from Slammiversary were shown. This is Ray’s first match since he and Styles had a great match at Slammiversary.

1 – SCOTT STEINER vs. BULLY RAY – Bound For Glory Series Match

After some trash talk, there was a long lockup before Ray took over and hit a double sledge on Steiner and slapped him in the chest. As Ray charged him again, Steiner moved and kicked him in the gut repeatedly. Steiner threw Ray across the ring and Ray complained that he had tried to grab his chain.

Steiner went over after a pause and hit the Steinerliner on Ray before hitting his Pump Elbow, followed by some pushups. Ray was whipped into the corner at 2:30, but got a boot into Steiner’s gut. Ray went for three straight pin attempts but Steiner kicked them all out.

Ray then hit a bodyslam on Steiner before going for another three pin attempts for the second time. When Steiner got to his feet, Ray put him into a full nelson and it looked like he was going for the Bubba Bomb. However, he couldn’t get him off of the ground and Steiner hit a back suplex to counter out of the hold.

Both men were back on their feet at 4:00 and started trading big punches in the middle of the ring. Steiner won the exchange and hit two Steinerliners before hitting a T-Bone Suplex on Ray for a two count.

Steiner went to whip Ray out of the corner but threw him back into the turnbuckle. Unfortunately, the ref got in the way and down he went. Steiner hit another T-Bone Suplex and put Ray into the Steiner Recliner, where he tapped out.

However, the ref was still down and Steiner eventually let go of Ray to help him. When Steiner turned around, Ray bashed him in the face with his chain and covered him. The ref recovered just in time to count the pinfall for Bully Ray.

WINNER: BULLY RAY in 6:00 to earn 7 points in the Bound For Glory Series. Obviously, not the world’s most technical match, but it was decent action that told a very good story. Bully Ray’s cheating heel character continues to be a winner.

-In his office, Bischoff was shown covered in red paint and told Abyss to take care of Sting tonight. After he walked out, Anderson came in and smirked at Bischoff over Sting beating him up. Bischoff yelled at him and told Ken that he had just taken a beating for his sake.

Anderson said that he was really confused what he did for him since he was in the back eating a burger and minding his own business. Bischoff yelled at him that he had spent plenty of time making sure that he beat Sting in the World Title match at Slammiversary. Bischoff ran down everything that had happened with him interfering and told Anderson that he could do one of two things: Be out for himself or come on over to their side and have a long happy career in Immortal.

Anderson looked like he was seriously considering it but smirked at Bischoff as he walked out. [c]

-Backstage, Steiner was raging around looking for Bully Ray with the chain. Tenay then announced the next round of the X Division tournament. But this time we’re getting three brand new faces.

The three wrestlers were shown quickly but cut to a vignette was of Zima Ion, who is Filipino and showed some nice charisma during his montage. Looks like each of the three will get an introductory video tonight before the match.

-In the Impact Zone, Velvet Sky’s music was playing and out came Velvet & Tessmacher. Velvet shook her tail on the rope while Tessmacher did her stripper entrance. Sky said that they demanded a no holds barred match with Jackie and ODB. But since Jackie & ODB don’t have Impact Wrestling contracts, they had to do things by the books.

ODB & Jackie came out without music and they all started brawling on the ramp. The faces got the early edge and Velvet threw ODB into the ring steps. There was an extended four Knockout brawl at ringside and no bell had rung yet. Velvet tried to drag ODB into the ring as the show went to commercial. [c]

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

2 – MISS TESSMACHER & VELVET SKY vs. ODB & JACKIE

Tessmacher was being beaten up in the middle of the ring by Jackie. Jackie dragged her to the corner as ODB could be heard calling her plenty of trashy names. ODB tagged in and isolated Tessmacher further. Velvet ran over and fought with Jackie at ringside but it was counterproductive as Tessmacher hit a jawbreaker to get the chance to crawl to her corner. But by the time Velvet got back to make the tag, Tessmacher got dragged back to the middle.

[Q4] Tessmacher continued to be dominated by rapid tags from Jackie and ODB. Tessmacher was down and stunned when ODB tagged in. But suddenly, Tessmacher hit a charging spear to level ODB. Not long thereafter, Velvet got the hot tag.

Sky came out like a house of fire and clotheslined both women. But Jackie pulled her down by the ankle and another four Knockout brawl ensued. ODB dragged Tessmacher out as the mic caught her yelling, “God, you suck!” at Tessmacher. Pretty funny. ODB threw Tessmacher into the ringside barrier before climbing back into the ring and tackling Sky.

Outnumbered two on one, ODB ‘bumped’ Earl Hebner, which allowed Jackie to hit a big kick between Velvet Sky’s legs, which made Taz ask if that hurt for women. It was apparently painful enough as Jackie earned a pinfall victory

WINNERS: JACKIE & ODB in 3:30.

-Tenay said that Velvet might be fighting a battle she can’t win as the show went to break. [c]

-Back from break, Enrico Palacios was shown as the second new wrestler in the X Division tonight. He is from Argentina and has some work to do on his promos as he stumbled over his words while some highlights were shown of him wrestling.

-Tara was shown backstage. She said that she couldn’t wait until July 14, when she could get her hands on the Queen Bee. Madison Rayne walked into the picture and gave her a chance to get out of the match if she begged for forgiveness. Tara told her no, so Madison slapped her. Tara responded by picking Rayne up and throwing her into a wall before walking away. That’s two big matches already announced for July 14.

-Beer Money was shown backstage. James Storm said that if Robert Roode wasn’t 100 percent, then he shouldn’t wrestle. Roode said that he might not be 100 percent, but the reason that both of them became wrestlers was to become the champion. Roode said to trust their excellence as a tag team tonight and Storm nodded in agreement. They’re up next. [c]

-Back from break, Scott Steiner was in the Immortal locker room throwing chairs and swinging a chain at Abyss, Bully Ray and Gunner. Ray calmed him down long enough to tell him that he would have done the same thing and offered him a spot in Immortal instead of jumping them. Gunner and Abyss told Steiner to consider it.

Steiner crushed a locker with the chain before screaming, “I’ll think about it!” before storming out. Steiner’s promos are always hilarious and he was great in this segment.

-In the Impact Zone, it was Bound For Glory Series time. Interesting twist: Only the pinfall winner gets the points in this match.

[Q4]

3 – BEER MONEY vs. CRIMSON & MATT MORGAN – Bound For Glory Series Match

Crimson and Roode went back and forth for the first couple of minutes. Good action in the early going before Rood sold a shoulder injury and Storm tagged himself in. Morgan and Storm continued the nice in-ring pace as Storm executed a nice float-over top rope guillotine on Morgan.

But, Morgan fought back and hit a big discus clothesline for a two count. This led to Storm being stuck in the ring for multiple tags by both Morgan and Crimson. Finally, Storm managed to hit another float-over, this time on Crimson, for a backstabber and made the hot tag to Roode.

Roode and Morgan battled back and forth before Roode put Morgan into the same Fujiwara armbar that injured Ric Flair. However, Crimson made the save to break up the submission. Storm re-entered and they hit a double team suplex on Crimson, which sent him to ringside. As they tried to do their “Beer! Money!” cheer, Roode sold more concern about his shoulder and Morgan clotheslined them both from behind.

But, the numbers were on Beer Money’s side and they quickly beat Morgan into the corner. Storm checked with Roode to see if he was able to do a move with him. Roode nodded yes, so Storm got a running start and elevated him over the top rope onto Crimson at ringside. Unfortunately for Roode, it looked like it hurt his shoulder again and by the time he turned around, Morgan was back up and hit the Carbon Footprint for the pin.

WINNER: MATT MORGAN in 6:30 to earn 7 Bound For Glory Series Points. Morgan is now alone in the lead of the BFG Series with 14 points.

BAX REAX: This was a very nice TV match that set up some very good storylines. (1) Crimson still has not been pinned or submitted. (2) Morgan is now the leader in the BFG Series. (3) The seeds of Storm and Roode splitting was shown with Storm’s concerns about Roode’s shoulder. A head-to-head feud might not be the best option for these two since they both have such great singles potential, putting them out of tag matches in the BFG Series and into singles competitions could be a very nice change of pace.

-Abyss was shown backstage talking about Sun Tzu and what he had been taught by Tzu and Bischoff. Abyss told the camera that no one had ever benefited from a drawn out war, so he was going to take Sting out tonight quickly. But not too quick. Tenay teased a big Destination X announcement after the break. [c]

-Coming out of commercial, Eric Young was shown storming around Universal Studios wearing his two worthless belts. Apparently he now wants to fight Popeye.

-In the Impact Zone, A.J. Styles’s music was playing and the Phenomenal One was on his way to the ring. Apparently, he is making the big Destination X announcement. Styles said that it is three weeks from one of the most exciting Pay-Per-Views of the Year. He said people in the back are jockeying to be on the show because for the first time, it is all X Division.

[Q6] Styles said that if there was going to be an all X Division PPV, then he was coming home to the X Division for the show. Styles looked at the ring and said that he understood the ring being four sides but for one-night-only, how about they bring back the six-sided ring?

Styles said that he was the first X Division Champion and he
takes great pride in the division. He said there were a ton of other great wrestlers who put their bodies on the line like Elix Skipper, Low Ki, Kid Kash, and Jerry Lynn.

But, A.J. was interrupted by Samoa Joe. Joe said that he didn’t come out to disagree with A.J. since everyone has a reason to be excited about Destination X. Joe put over A.J. as the X Division pioneer but then told him that the X Division didn’t get hot until Samoa Joe got to TNA. Joe said when he got there, he ran through everyone in the X Division and it went from a feature to a Main Event.

Joe told A.J. that he might be the heart of the X Division, but Joe gave the X Division its balls. Joe said that he couldn’t think of a better match to headline the all X-Division Pay Per View...

Fortune’s music hit and out came Christopher Daniels. Daniels said that if there was going to be a discussion of the match headlining Destination X, it was only fair that he joined in. After all, the same names keep coming up in the X Division discussion. Daniels said that they should give the fans the match that they want. Christopher Daniels versus A.J. Styles...one-on-one?

Joe started laughing as A.J. looked surprised. Daniels said what better way to prove that wrestling matters than to put the two of the brightest stars in pro wrestling in the ring and asked A.J. if he was in. Styles asked Daniels if he was sure, then agreed. Joe was incredulous in the ring at being left out as Daniels walked away with a smile on his face.

BAX REAX: There’s going to be a lot more to this match before it is all said and done. Daniels casually ignoring Samoa Joe was a fun way to create conflict between these three men. It makes a ton of sense that the three men who put on TNA’s greatest match in its history at Unbreakable in 2005 would go at it one more time. Right now, it says Daniels versus Styles, but it will be shocking to see Joe left out. Nice focus on selling Destination X by all three men as well.

-The X Division showcase is up next. [c]

[Q7]

-Backstage, Kaz was asking Daniels why he challenged A.J. Daniels said in the pure spirit of competition, what better match is there to have than A.J.-Daniels? Kaz looked confused as Daniels walked away. Joe came in and started laughing about the Real Housewives of Fortune. Kaz told Joe to stay out of it, so Joe threw Kaz headfirst into the wall and stalked off.

-Dakota Darsow was shown in his X Division feature. Darsow said that he was the greatest thing in the world since he acted like a rock star and looked like a movie star. His vignette didn’t show any wrestling footage, just him cutting a promo.

-In the Impact Zone, Zima Ion and Palacios were in the ring, but Dakota Darsow got his entrance shown on television. The winner will join the match that already features Austin Aries at Destination X. Apparently Darsow is Smash from Demolition’s son.

4 – DAKOTA DARSOW vs. ZIMA ION vs. FREDERICO PALACIOS – Winner will wrestle for an Impact Wrestling Contract at Destination X

Lots of high-paced action in this one. Darsow dominated early while heeling on the crowd, but Palacios slowed him down with a dropkick in the corner. All three men took turns on offense before Darsow was kicked out to the arena floor. Palacios was whipped into the rope but ducked under Ion’s clothesline to directly transition into a Suicide Dive into Darsow. Nice spot.

With both men down on the floor, Ion climbed up on the turnbuckle and set up for a reverse move. He went for a corkscrew moonsault but ended up going dangerously short. Palacios noticeably jumped into the way to slow his fall.

In the ring, Darsow and Ion traded moves back and forth before Palacios managed to climb back in and knock Darsow down. Palacios dragged Ion to the top turnbuckle and looked to be going for a superplex, but Ion pushed him off the top turnbuckle from a standing position down onto the floor. Really cool camera angle from directly above showing the big bump.

Darsow immediately went after Zima but he pushed Darsow off the top and Darsow was inadvertently guillotined on the top rope. Ion climbed up on the turnbuckle and hit a beautiful 450 splash for the pinfall win.

WINNER: ZIMA ION in 4:45 to earn a spot at Destination X

-Backstage, Rob Van Dam was shown talking about how important the Bound For Glory Series was for him. RVD said he was pumped for Destination X since he was X Division before there was an X Division. Suddenly, Jerry Lynn appeared behind him and said, “You mean WE were X Division” before leaving. RVD looked surprised and then looked at the camera and said, “Jerry Lynn!” [c]

BAX REAX: While the three guys in the ring were noticeably greener than the Aries-Kash-Rave trio from last week, the action was still very high paced and enjoyable to watch. Both Darsow and Ion looked like they had a lot of potential with both their promos and their in-ring abilities. Also, it looks like the Jerry Lynn-RVD match that was supposed to happen last year at Hardcore Justice is going to happen at Destination X.

-Back from break, there was a Knockout Street Fight in Progress backstage between Winter & Mickie James

5 – WINTER vs. Knockouts Champion MICKIE JAMES – Non-Title Street Fight

Winter threw James into a locker multiple times before dragging her to the interview area. Mickie was knocked down and Winter pulled her belt off and started whipping James with it. Those looked painful. Winter told Mickie that she would whip her all the way to the ring if she had to. Winter then wrapped the belt around Mickie’s neck and dragged her through an opening onto the Impact Zone stage.

Winter threw James across the stage with the belt around her neck, but James managed to slow her down before climbing up onto a lifted around and hitting a big Lou Thesz Press onto Winter on the stage. After some mounted punches, the two women rolled all the way down the stage to ringside.

[Q8] Brawling at ringside, Mickie climbed up onto the ringside barrier and hit a hurrancanrana on the floor. Really great-looking move. Mickie rolled Winter into the ring but ref Hebner was soon distracted and Angelina Love came into the ring and hit a Backstabber before rolling out. Winter then scrounged the pinfall win.

WINNER: WINTER in 4:00,

After the match, Taz & Tenay said that this had to push Winter to the top of the heap among challengers to Mickie’s Knockouts Championship. The Sting-Abyss match is up next. [c]

-Ten minutes before the top of the hour, the show came back from commercial. Out came Abyss with the Art of War in one hand and the X Division belt in the other hand. The announcers said that the objective for Abyss tonight wouldn’t be winning; it would be beating Sting so badly that he didn’t make it to his title match in three weeks.

Sting then sauntered his way out to the ring as the announcers put over his new unpredictable character. Jeremy Borash started the official Main Event introductions at seven minutes before the top of the hour. Abyss was barely introduced before Sting attacked him and the bell rang.

6 – STING vs. X Division Champion ABYSS -- non-title match

Sting was in control early on the significantly larger Abyss. Sting exploded out of the corner to level him before clotheslining Abyss over the top. Sting’s facial expressions are just great making his Joker character work. Sting charged Abyss at ringside but Abyss moved and Sting hit his shoulder on the ring post.

Abyss was now in control and he threw Sting into the ring. Abyss choked him and then threw Sting into the corner before charging into him from a dead sprint. Abyss put Sting in a chokehold but Sting forced his way out.

However, as Sting fought back, Abyss caught him in the goozle and hit the chokeslam for a two count. Sting tried getting back up but Abyss leveled him with a chop block. He then pulled out the Art of War, which apparently led him to pull a barbed wire wrapped glove onto his hand from a bag at ringside. Sting got up just as Abyss was putting it on and managed to avoid some punches.

Sting made a big comeback with numerous clotheslines before hitting a Stinger Splash in the corner. He then hit the Scorpion Death Drop for a two count. Sting then pulled the glove off of Abyss’ hand and leveled him in the face with it, causing the DQ.

WINNER: ABYSS via DQ in 5:00.

After the match, Sting punched a bloody Abyss in the face with the glove again. Mr. Anderson came down the ramp and Sting stared him down before hitting Abyss in the face with the barbed wire twice more before allowing him to fall limp on the mat. Anderson sold concern as the show went off the air.

BAX SHOW REAX: There were a lot of things that I liked about this show. First of all, there was a lot of wrestling (31 minutes by my count) and almost every match had a purpose to it and time to play out. The two Bound For Glory Series matches did a good job telling multiple stories, the X Division had another nice showcase, and the Main Event continued to put over Joker Sting.

Speaking of which, Joker Sting vs. Mr. Anderson on July 14 the first match announced towards the build to yet another PPV-caliber episode of Impact. Sting’s character is getting out of control but he’s imitating Ledger’s character so well that it is working.

Finally, Destination X is shaping up to be a very interesting show with lots of new X Division wrestlers, the inevitable Joe-Daniels-A.J. match, and the return of Six Sides. It will be interesting to see if this newfound spotlight on the X Division doesn’t fade to black after the PPV.

Tonight’s show was a good show for TNA. There was a lot of wrestling, some good storytelling, and one very unique Joker that has made me so much more interested in Sting than I was at any point during his Championship reign.

SHOW GRADE: B

Matt Baxendell is the Torch’s contributing writer covering TNA Wrestling. He’s also a college football writer for NationalFootballAuthority.com and Bucknuts.com. Don’t miss him live on air 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

We suggest these recent related articles...

MCMAHON'S TNA IMPACT REPORT 9/30: Final hype for Bound for Glory, Ciampa also wrestles on Impact, Dollhouse vs. BP, more; Overall Reax

MCMAHON'S TNA IMPACT REPORT 9/23: ECIII defends TNA Title, #1 contender match, Hardy "quits" servanthood, two more title matches, more; Overall Reax

MCMAHON'S TNA IMPACT REPORT 9/16: Team TNA vs. Team GFW for control of TNA, new Knockouts champion, more; Overall Reax