TNA Impact Wrestling TV report
July 21, 2011
Taped in Orlando, Fla.
Report by Matt Baxendell, PWTorch contributor

[Q1]

-New champion Sting was out to start the show. After holding up the belt and acting nuts for a few moments,Sting tried to call out Hogan and Bischoff to negotiate with him since he now was the champion.

But instead, out came Kurt Angle, who shed his clown outfit and came to the ring. He said he respected Sting but he heard a lot of "I"s for someone who had help beating Anderson. Angle said that he's the #1 contender and their paths are going to cross at Hardcore Justice.

Angle said that second wasn't an option for him. He said they're both legends but only one can walk out as the better man. Angle said it has to be him since he gave himself no choice.

Immortal's music hit and out came Bully Ray and Mr. Anderson to the stage. Bully Ray they had a dilemma because they had to face he and Mr. Anderson tonight in the Main Event. Ray said he was going to hit Angle with the kitchen sink as payback for attacking him with the bat last week.

Anderson said that he would still be champion if it hadn't been for Sting's clowns. He said that he didn't fight and claw for the last year to have his belt stolen. He said before Sting talks with Hogan or Bischoff, they have to deal with him. [c]

Simple and effective opening that sets the stage for the Main Event tonight and at Hardcore Justice. Since we're used to opening segments where Immortal talks nonstop, this felt refreshingly brief.

[Q2]

-The BFG Series leaderboard was shown, with Crimson still alone in the lead with 31 points.

-In the Impact Zone, Steiner's music was playing and the first BFG Series Match of the night was up.The announcers talked about Steiner trying to win via Steiner Recliner to earn his way towards the top quicker.

RVD came out but was attacked at the bell by Steiner.

1- ROB VAN DAM vs. SCOTT STEINER --- BOUND FOR GLORY SERIES MATCH

With the annoyingly common prematch attack, Steiner took control early, hitting a big suplex that caused RVD's eyebrow to bleed. Steiner put RVD into the Tree of Woe and started choking him with his boot.

Steiner continued to dominate, putting RVD into a submission and then slamming him into the corner. But RVD floated over off of an Irish whip and hit a desperation superkick to get a rest.

RVD made a big comeback, culminating with a springboard thrust kick and a baseball slide that knocked Steiner to ringside. RVD hung Steiner up on the barrier and hit a spinning heel kick off of the apron.

Van Dam rolled Steiner back into the ring and Steiner hilariously called a timeout. RVD kept fighting but Steiner raked his eyes and hit a belly to belly suplex for a two count.

He threw RVD into the corner but Van Dam fought back with a spinning kick and Rolling Thunder for a two count. But Steiner fought back with power moves and hit a DDT on RVD with Van Dam's feet on the top rope.

That would have been the end, but the cover was too close to the ropes. Steiner nailed Van Dam with the Steinerliner and then dropped an elbow. But he inexplicably got mad at the ref, which allowed RVD to roll him up for the three count.

WINNER: ROB VAN DAM in 6:00

BAX REAX: Pretty decent match between two veterans. Both hit their spots and the DDT on RVD was pretty brutal looking.

-Mickie James was shown backstage on her way to the ring.[c]

-Back from break, Mickie politely called out Velvet Sky. Apparently, they're wrestling tonight. Mickie told Velvet that she had seen Sky fight through people trying to break her down over the last few months. But Velvet had endured and she was impressed.

That's why Velvet had her first ever Knockouts title shot tonight. They hugged and Mickie said she had earned it. Mickie said they were going to prove tonight why this was the best women's division in the world. But Mickie said that she was going to enter as champion and leave that way.

[Q3]

Winter's music hit and out came Angelina and Winter. Love said it has taken her a while to understand what Winter was trying to tell her and she gets it. She said everyone disrespected her after she had proven herself to be the best and was never given her due. She said Winter helped her see that it was due to jealously since she was on a level of her own. Love said it didn't matter who won tonight because she was going to take the title back eventually.

Winter said that when she won the Knockouts Title at Hardcore Justice, then belt would belong to her and Angelina forever.

-Backstage, Tara & Miss Tessmacher were shown backstage but Rosita & Sarita jumped them as the show went to break.[c]

-They were still fighting one the commercial ended and the refs broke it up.

-The BFG Series Ladder Match and the 10 points on the line were hyped up. All four men cut promos. Joe was furious that he hadn't won yet and said he was better than he had shown. Morgan said he came out of the womb as a future world champion. Gunner said that he was on the fast track to glory and would win the match.

A.J. said he was bound for glory and was going to take 10 points. But before he could get any further, Daniels came in and they threw the cameras out so they could talk. [c]

[Q4]

-Back from break, they showed more old footage of the Knockouts fighting after last week's show. Apparently, Sarita broke her orbital bone in the fight and is wearing a mask. The Knockout Titles are on the line now.

When Sarita & Rosita came out for their match, they were jumped from behind by Tara & Tessmacher.

2- MISS TESSMACHER & TARA vs. Knockouts Tag Champions SARITA & ROSITA --- Knockouts Tag Championship

All four women fought in the ring early before dumping Tara to the floor. Eventually, ref Hebner took control. Sarita had a spiky leather mask on that was reminiscent of Abyss' gear.

Tara got knocked down to the floor multiple times in this match and she eventually ran in regardless of tag to jump Sarita. Hebner has thrown a lot of people out of the ring in this one.

Tara finally got back in and went for the Widow's Peak but a distracted Hebner didn't see Madison Rayne interfere. Eventually, Mexican America got in trouble when Tara hit a sit down power bomb to win the titles.

WINNERS & NEW KNOCKOUTS TAG CHAMPIONS: TARA & MISS TESSMACHER in 4:45

-Bound For Glory Series Ladder Match is up next.[c]

-Back from break, A.J. Styles was out first for the BFG Series Ladder Match. Tenay then talked about Joe running the risk of being mathematically eliminated if he doesn't start picking up points.

[Q5]

Morgan was out next, before Gunner completed the lineup.

3- A.J. STYLES vs. MATT MORGAN vs. GUNNER vs. SAMOA JOE - BFG SERIES LADDER MATCH

Remember, the winner gets ten points. Right off the bat, Styles and Gunner went out to ringside while Joe and Morgan lined up in the ring. Morgan is wearing all white. Gunner threw a ladder into A.J. before Joe hit a running baseball slide to knock Gunner down.

Morgan and Joe fought over the ladder and knocked Gunner down in the process. Morgan clotheslined Joe down and took the ladder inside the ring.

A.J. got up to fight off Morgan, who caught him in the goozle. But A.J. literally flipped through the chokeslam and hit Morgan with the Pele Kick. But A.J. had no time to gloat as Gunner hit him with a slingshot suplex. Gunner then leveled Joe with the ladder.

Lots of fast action here. Samoa Joe caught Morgan with a suicide dive and left Gunner alone to climb the ladder. But Styles springboarded onto the other side and knocked him to the ground. A.J. then hit the Pele Kick on Joe.

More mayhem ensued that eventually ended up with Morgan hitting a big carbon footprint on Gunner and climbing to the top to grab the ten points.

WINNER: MATT MORGAN in 5:00 to earn 10 BFG Series Points

BAX REAX: Great five minutes of action, but this match didn't get nearly enough time to shine. These four could have put on quite a show with more time to show off. That said, I still enjoyed it while it lasted.

Morgan is now in 2nd Place in the BFG Series Standings.[c]

-Eric Young was running around trying to fight more TV stars. He mistook D'Lo Brown for C'Lo Green. E.Y. rolled up D'Lo and D'Lo chased him around the store.

-The X Division Championship Match that hasn't had any hype tonight is up next. Shelley was out first with a recap of Ultimate X showing how he won the belt. Kendick came out and they shook hands before the match began.

[Q6]

4- X Division Champion BRIAN KENDRICK vs. ALEX SHELLEY - X Division Title Match

High paced action early where Shelley used a variety of wrestling moves while Kendrick tried strikes. The crowd was split 50/50 with a dueling "Let's Go!" chants.

Kendrick ended Shelley's edge briefly with a high kick but Shelley blocked a Slice Bread attempt and kicked Kendrick down to regain control with a variety of submissions that led into a surfboard stretch.

Shelley followed that up with a pair of two counts off of a crossbody from the top turnbuckle. Shelley looks confident and crisp.

He went for another cross body and hit him in the chest with a drop kick. Both men recovered but Kendrick hit two high kicks on Shelley that knocked him to ringside and then followed it up with a suicide dive.

Kendrick tried hitting a splash from the top rope but Shelley got hit feet up and then climbed to the ring apron and hit what looked like a Sliced Bread move that knocked Kendrick silly.

Shelley tried to roll Kendrick into the ring and as the ref was checking on him, Austin Aries appeared and decked Shelley in the face with the title belt. A dazed Kendrick rolled over and got the three count victory.

WINNER: BRIAN KENDRICK in 5:30

After the match, Shelley sold being dazed while an exhausted-looking Kendrick tried to help him up. Meanwhile, Aries lounged happily on the ground at ringside, out of the referee's eyesight.[c]

BAX REAX: Aries interfering after Shelley dominated most of the match is another step in building Aries into the X Division's top heel. It also makes Shelley look very good to have his way with the titleholder. I'll be very surprised if Kendrick holds onto the belt much longer.

-Back from break, Kendrick was upset that he had won 'that way' and he said that Aries stood against everything he had been building for a long time, against everything that A.J. Styles and Daniels had stood for a decade.

-Mexican America came to the ring and started ranting like usual about the Knockouts losing their titles. Anarquia complained about the flag not falling from the ceiling. He then called out Beer Money.

[Q7]

Out came the tag champions as Tenay put over the division's depth. Storm told them to shut up, leave the company and find something they're good at, like cutting grass.

Storm said that they felt like people had forgotten about them since they had been wrestling in the BFG Series, so they were going to reintroduce themselves.

Storm did a cool catch phrase introduction for Robert Roode before calling himself a long string of titles that included "Dukes of Hazard-loving" James freakin' Storm.

He said that they were going to beat them for everyone on TV, all of the Hispanic people they were embarrassing. Storm said they were going to beat them badly on August 7th before Roode told them "Soory about your damn luck!"

BAX REAX: Mexican America doesn't belong in the same ring as Beer Money. Storm was right: They need to get the heck out of TNA. I could have done without the cliche Mexicans/lawnmowers correlation though. Storm's a lot better than that. But on the flip side, this was just another example of Storm's huge potential as a singles star. He can talk as well as anyone in the business not making "Fast and Furious" sequels.

-Velvet Sky and Mickie James are up next. [c]

-Mickie came to the ring but was jumped by Winter and Angelina from behind. Then Velvet came down to make the save and the faces turned the tide and beat down Winter and Angelina in the ring.

But then ODB & Jackie ran in to jump Velvet. They had a beatdown for a while before Tracy Brooks came out of nowhere and Mrs. Kazarian was enough to end the lopsided fight. The announcers talked about the two who weren't supposed to ever return to the Impact Zone while the brawl continued. Looks like the title match isn't happening tonight.

[Q8]

Eventually, the police showed up and arrested ODB & Jackie and escorted them out of the Impact Zone. [c]

BAX REAX: Where were those cops when Abyss was branding people with 10-10-10 last year? Did TNA get a budget increase or were the Orlando cops just on strike until now? The whole promo earlier about Velvet getting her first title shot seems like a letdown after the brawl in the ring, though they'd put enough time into building up her quest that I would hate too that given away for free.

-Back from break, Tracy said that she's the original Knockout and she was going to stay until ODB & Jackie were gone. She said that she had Velvet's back.

-Out came Anderson and Bully Ray for the Main Event. Anderson got booed by the crowd and mocked them. He went to introduce himself but Ray cut him off and told him to not give the people what they wanted and to go to the ring and take care of business.

Anderson glared at him and then did the introduction anyways. After they went to the ring, out came #1 contender Kurt Angle, followed last by the champion.

Borash started the ring introductions six minutes before the top of the hour. Not a lot of time left on the show for much of a Main Event.

5- World Champion STING & KURT ANGLE vs. MR. ANDERSON & BULLY RAY

Another match involving Immortal begins with someone getting jumped before the bell. Sting got isolated in the heel corner early as both men just started choking him at every chance. Immortal traded multiple tags while beating up on Sting.

Anderson focused on Sting's legs while keeping him away from Angle's corner. Ray tagged back in and continued the beatdown. Ray tried a leg drop off the 2nd rope like he was channeling Matt Hardy but he missed.

That allowed Sting to finally get a break and tag in Angle. Kurt hit four suplexes before going for the Olympic Slam. Ray hit the chop block to stop him but Sting got a 2nd wind and managed to take both men down with Stinger splashes.

With that, Angle hit the Olympic Slam on Anderson for the victory.

WINNERS: STING & KURT ANGLE in 3:50

After the match, Angle and Sting shook hands before pulling close and staring each other down. Tenay pumped Hardcore Justice as the show went off the air.

BAX SHOW REAX: This show fell far short of my expectations. With the fallout from a title change, two Bound For Glory Series matches (including a ladder match) and the X Division Championship on the line, this was an exciting show on paper.

Unfortunately, not one of those matches stood out and TNA only presented 25 minutes of wrestling on the show. Even worse, the longest match was only six minutes long. With that impressive of a lineup, you need to give them time to put on a show.

Instead, there was a LOT of talking on this show, including another cringeworthy performance from Mexican America. I can't believe they're going to be in the ring with Beer Money.

Overall, this show felt like Impact was sliding back into the same discussion of 'power struggles' and 'putting on a show' instead of building a show around people winning matches. Even the solid performances in the Bound For Glory Series matches felt muted since they ran short and weren't treated with a ton of emphasis. Frankly, a five minute ladder match with four contestants is just poor planning. The action was great while it lasted but it could have been so much better.

I'm also not buying into another month of Sting as champion and the short matches and silly stories that come along with it. Anderson-Angle would have made for a significantly better feud.

Overall, this wasn't a memorable Impact by any means. With a minimal amount of wrestling and performances that weren't given the time to shine, the highlight of the entire show was Austin Aries sprawled out on the floor after costing Alex Shelley the X Division Title. That was the only part of the show didn't seem off.

SHOW GRADE: C-


Matt Baxendell is one the Torch’s contributing writer covering Impact Wrestling. Bax is also a football columnist for NationalFootballAuthority.com and Bucknuts.com. On top of that, he's an on-air talent for 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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