By Wade Keller, PWTorch editor

KELLER'S TNA IMPACT WRESTLING REPORT
NOVEMBER 17, 2011
TAPED IN ORLANDO, FLA.
AIRED ON SPIKE TV

[Q1]

-They opened with a video package with clips from the Robert Roode-A.J. Styles match at the Turning Point PPV on Sunday including Roode saying he learned the hard way that doing things the right way doesn't get him where he needs to get.

-Mike Tenay and Taz introduced the show as Roode strutted to the ring with the World Title belt over his shoulder. Tenay said Roode has proclaimed himself the new leader of the selfish generation. Taz said he did what he had to do to regain the title by any means necessary and he tips his hat for what he did. Roode entered the ring and said he wasn't a part of Fortune, he was the star of Fortune. He said he was always the leader and always the future of this wrestling company. He said he let those guys ride his coat tails and support their families off of his talent, but they had to know a time would come when he would break out on his own and wipe them off of the bottom of his shoe like the pieces of crap that they are. He said he won't them stand in his shadow anymore.

James Storm walked out onto the stage and asked Roode if he looks like the type of redneck who would stand in a jackass's shadow, especially when that jackass is a dumbass. Storm, wearing a Spike TV baseball gap and a brown leather jacket, said he's gonna kick Roode's ass all over the arena momentarily. He counted to three and began walking to the ring. Roode panicked and ordered security to stop him. He said when he beat him for the World Title, it was a clean-cut victory. He said he didn't need to stoop so low as to jump him from behind to beat his ass again. He said in fact he was in his locker room the entire day with other guys who can vouch for him that he never left and attacked him. Storm said he will find the son of a bitch who jumped him from behind, but he'll kick his ass for the hell of it either way. Security had to hold him back. Unlike Alberto Del Rio on Monday, it took more than one referee to do it. A.J. Styles entered the ring and met Roode from behind. He tackled Roode and pounded on him until security jumped in for the 82nd pullapart brawl on Impact in the last three months. [c]

-Styles and Roode were still in the ring after the break. Styles called him a piece of trash for turning on them and screwing them. Styles said he thought putting his foot on his throat and beating the piss out of him would leave him feeling satisifed, but he learned he can take a hit. He said what he can't take is him taking the World Hvt. Title away from him. Roode said he beat him fair and square at Turning Point, so it's time for him to go back to the trailer park and get in the back of the line. He said he could have beat him all night long. They brawled away, but were quickly pulled apart. "G.M." Sting walked onto the stage and said he's feeling extra crazy tonight. He told Roode he has double-trouble now with both Storm and Styles coming after him. He said he's going to let Storm recover from his attack, but if he says he can beat Styles all night long, how about they test that with a 30 minute Iron Man match at the TNA Final Resolution PPV with the World Title on the line. He reminded Roode that Styles is a former Grand Slam Champion.

[Q2]

-They cut to Tenay and Taz to react to what happened and preview the show, but they cut back to ringside where Roode went past the security railing and rough grabbed Dixie Carter by her arm. Styles ran up to Roode, who used Dixie as a shield and then shoved her into Styles. Then he hit Styles from behind with the belt, and Styles fell right in top of Dixie. Roode then attacked Dixie and security. He punched Styles as Styles was lying on top of Dixie. Agents Al Snow and D-Lo ran out for the save.

-Backstage Samoa Joe approached Storm, who told him to listen to his boys. Joe said Roode didn't attack him. Joe said he saw him the entire night and he never left the room. Storm asked if he was hanging out with him in the shower. He said he wants credit where credit is due. Storm asked if he had something to do with it. Joe poked Storm and said if he had, Storm wouldn't have gotten up again. A brawl broke out between them. Kaz tried to break them up. Devon and Eric Young joined in. [c]

-Sting shoved Roode into a wall backstage. Roode asked if that's any way to treat an employee. Sting said putting his hands on Dixie Carter is the same as putting his hands on him. He said they're going to do things his way, not Roode's way. Roode said if he touches him again, his lawyers will sue him for every cent he's got.

(WK Reax: Good performances by all and a good opening 20 minutes of the show with Roode being a clear-cut heel in several ways, and the babyfaces reacting admirably and bravely in face of Roode being a jerk. And no Twitter references, no power-struggle references, no 1990s Monday Night War references, and no insider one-liners. It's a good start, in other words, other than Taz tipping his hat to Roode for the way he won the title.)

1 -- ROBBIE E. (w/Robbie T.) vs. DEVON -- TNA TV Title Match

This is an odd match-up. Devon went on early offense. Terry jumped onto the ring apron and distracted Devon. The Pope was at ringside mouthing off to Robbie E. They shoved each other. Devon jumped to the floor and threw Robbie back into the ring. Terry then nailed Pope from behind with a big double axe handle shot. Back in the ring Devon continued to beat on Robbie E. Then Eric Young came out to ringside and hit Terry in the back with a chair as he began to make a move toward Devon's sons at ringside. His sons leaped the railing to check on The Pope's condition. Devon one-arm slammed Robbie, but then turned to tell his kids to get back across the railing where it was safer. Robbie then schoolboyed Devon for the win. Terry chased Young and his chair to the back. Devon's sons kept checking on Pope, ignoring Devon pleas to get back to their seats.

WINNER: Robbie E. in 2:00 to retain the TV Title.

-Backstage Sting approached Garett Bischoff. He told Garett that he surprised him last week. Garett said he wasn't as green as everyone assumed. He asked Sting to let him finish what he started. Sting said he's not going to rush into it this week like he did last week. He said he'd think about it.

-Matt Morgan walked up to Crimson who shared a laugh together about how hard they fought each other on Sunday. Sting brought up the lack of dominating tag teams in TNA right now since Team 3D and the Machine Guns have broken up. He suggested they team together and take on Mexican America. Sting suggested they put aside their competition with one another and work together. Sting said Mexican America told him they wanted out of TNA because there's no competition anymore. Crimson looked to Morgan, who said he's in. Sting applauded and told them they need to get on the same page.

[Q3] [c]

-Sting walked up to Ric Flair and Eric Bischoff backstage. Sting reminded Bischoff that he said if he didn't beat Garett last week, he could rewrite his contract. Sting said he has rewritten his contract. Bischoff said if nothing else, he's a man of his word. Bischoff sounded conciliatory, but then laughed and said he never said a damn thing about signing this rewritten contract. Sting said he could drop him onto the back of his head on cement if he wanted to and get rid of him for a month. Sting said he has decided to give Garett a rematch against Gunner so he can finish what he started. He said he's going to go through Immortal one at a time because he can actually wrestle, unlike Bischoff. Sting said he'd hate it if his son became a bigger star than he ever was. Bischoff said that will never happen. Bischoff said he'll be in Gunner's corner and he'll go home in a bag. Sting said he's going to be in Garett's corner. Flair said with them in Gunner's corner, there's no worries. He asked what Sting could possibly do. Bischoff looked concerned.

2 -- KID KASH & AUSTIN ARIES vs. JESSE SORENSEN & BRIAN KENDRICK

Tenay said it'll be interesting to see if Kash and Aries can work together after what happened at Turning Point. Sorensen's chest was badly beat up from the match on Sunday, with burst blood vessels clearly visible. Sorensen took it to Kash in the opening minute leading to an early near fall after a bodyblock off the second rope. The bottom of the screen said the Twitter Question of the Day is which match was your favorite at Turning Point. There was a vote for Hardy vs. Jarrett and the X Division Show "cuz all three men put on an amazing show." It didn't take long for Kash and Aries to argue. At 5:00 Kash and Sorensen were back against each other. Kash reached for a tag to Aries, but instead slapped him. Aries smiled and entered the ring, then tagged Kash back in, dropped to the floor, and said, "You wanna be a dick, go be a dick in there." Kash went for a top rope moonsault on Sorensen, but Sorensen moved. He then gave Kash a reverse neckbreaker for a three count.

WINNERS: Kendrick & Sorensen in 5:00.

(WK Reax: Good TV match. The Kash-Aries dynamic is interesting, and Sorensen is a good fresh lead babyface for the X Division.)

[Q4]

-Backstage Karen Jarrett congratulated Gail Kim for her accomplishment at the PPV, then told Madison Rayne she knows who to take out first. Karen made Traci Brooks serve her and Kim drinks to celebrate. [c]

-Backstage they showed Storm walk up to Mr. Anderson playing a videogame of the Green Bay Packers vs. Tennessee Titans. Storm said he doesn't want to play videogames, he wants to find out who attacked him. He then said something about Anderson being an asshole who stinks. Anderson asked him to calm down and asked if he is saying he stinks. Anderson said if he attacked him, it wouldn't be from behind, he'd see it coming. That was good enough for Storm. Anderson invited him to play the videogame. Storm said sure, sounds good, then he bent over and unplugged the entire videogame system and walked away.

(WK Reax: That was funny. Storm is entertaining in just about anything he does these days.)

3 -- 10 KNOCKOUTS GAUNTLET MATCH

FALL ONE: ROSITA VS. SKY: Taz said this is Sky's chance to get the no. 1 contender position back in the Knockouts Division. After Rayne trash-talked Sky, Sky instantly gave her a double-underhook DDT for a sudden pin. WINNER: Sky in ten seconds.

FALL TWO: MISS TESSMACHER: Sky with a running bulldog in 30 seconds.

FALL THREE: ANGELINA LOVE: Sky stomped on Love at the start, but Love made a quick comeback with a kick and a clothesline. Then she powerslammed Sky for a two count. Love then scored a pin with a yank on Sky's tights. WINNER: Love in 1:00.

FALL FOUR: MICKIE JAMES: Love attacked Mickie in the aisle with a kick. They cut to a break. [c] The Mickie-Love battle continued after the break. Mickie finished Love with a reverse sidekick. WINNER: Mickie in 5:00.

FALL FIVE: SARITA: Sarita took early control, then backflipped and danced a little. As she showboated, Mickie countered with a roll-up for a near fall. Mickie eventually finished Sarita with a jumping DDT. WINNER: Mickie in 2:00.

[Q5]

FALL SIX: TARA: Tara went to work with some matwork on Mickie at the start, but Mickie reversed it. Tara hit a standing moonsault for a near fall a minute later. Mickie came back with another leaping DDT for the win in 3:00.

FALL SEVEN: WINTER: As Mickie was slow to get up and catch her breath, a fresh Winter entered. Tenay said the luck of the draw is factoring in huge. Winter went for two quick covers, then mounted and punched Mickie. Taz said Winter always tries to talk to him, but he always feels weird about it. He said he's a shy type. Mickie, out of nowhere, finished Winter with a reverse sidekick. WINNER: Mickie in 2:00.

FALL EIGHT: ODB: Taz said, "She's back!" Tenay said Karen did reinstate her recently. Taz said she's thicker and more massive than before. She's still able to kip up. There's a couple things that give her the momentum she needs when she's trying to gain momentum to land on her feet. She scored an early two count on Mickie. Mickie came right back with a Thesz Press for a clean win. WINNER: Mickie in 1:00.

FALL NINE: MADISON RAYNE: ODB gave Mickie her finisher after the match, which Taz said set the table for Rayne. Rayne strolled confidently to the ring as if she had all day. The ref checked on Mickie, who was face down on the mat. Rayne did the pageant wave to the crowd, but when Rayne finally entered the ring, Mickie surprised her with a roll up for the win. Tenay said Mickie now gets the title shot against Gail Kim.

WINNER: Mickie James in 16:00 to earn a TNA Knockouts Title match.

-Brother Ray told a pale red-headed woman backstage that he won't go out with her. He said no one as good looking at him would ever go out with her. Storm barged in and said he's the type of person to attack him from behind in the showers. Ray said he's got his hands full with Abyss. He said Abyss got right up after going through a table at the PPV unlike anyone ever has before. Ray said he knows who attacked him, but he didn't tell him. Ray told him to join Immortal and forget about all of this other crap. He said together they could take the place back over. "Who the hell needs Hogan?" he said. Storm said the odds of that are about as good as him getting laid. "Just look at ya'?" Storm said.

(WK Reax: This is like "Survivor." Blindsides, alliances, proposals to jump to a new alliance…) [c]

[Q6]

-The roving camera caught up to Garett backstage. He said he's going to show Gunner what he has and finish him the right way. Garett said they underestimated him last time.

-Jeff Hardy walked out to the ring. He said, "Hello Creatures." The fans chanted his name. Taz and Tenay talked about how Hardy has begun to earn the respect and forgiveness of the locker room. He thanked the fans for always being there for him. He said going forward he would always be there for them. (But will he be in any condition to perform when he is there?) He said it's time for him to focus on the World Title. Karen interrupted. She walked out in her high heels and asked Hardy if he seriously thought he could talk World Title already. She said after hearing him, she realized "somebody with some balls around here" has to put him in his place. She said she has the biggest set here. She demanded that Hardy look her in the eyes. She said Jeff Jarrett doesn't need her to fight his battles because he wears the pants in their family.

She got in his face and said now he thinks he can be a role model for kids. She said he needs to step up and be a man first, like her husband is, "the one man in this business who had a big enough set to start a company to give people like you another place to go." She called him ungrateful and disrespectful. She stumbled a bit on her wording, then brought up that Hardy's wife and her were friends at one time. She claimed she played the political game and pretended to be her friend. She said she sat alone all the time and couldn't wait to open up to someone. Karen said she was that person. She said she knows one detail about how Jeff couldn't "complete the deal." She asked if she was embarrassing Jeff. "We all know you're not a real man," she said. "So why don't you hit me!" Hardy asked if she's trying to claim he didn't beat her man fairly. Hardy said he's more than a man, and more than human, whereas she and her husband are just two angry bitches. She tried to slap him. He blocked it. "We are the Creatures of the Night!" he concluded. Jeff Jarrett then showed up from behind with his Mexican Title belt. Hardy turned toward him. Karen tried to give Hardy a low blow from behind, but Hardy blocked it. Jeff Jarrett then attacked Hardy. Hardy fought back and Jarrett bailed out.

-Backstage Mexican America cut a promo. [c]

-Backstage Flair and Bischoff talked to Gunner. Flair said this is a big opportunity for him tonight to destroy Garett. He told him not to worry about his age or his family, just hurt him.

[Q7]

4 -- MEXICAN AMERICA (Hernandez & Anarquia w/Rosita, Sarita) vs. CRIMSON & MATT MORGAN -- TNA World Tag Team Title Match

At 4:00 Morgan overhead tossed Hernandez and then threw Anarquia into the corner and clotheslined him. Morgan followed up with a one arm slam for a two count, broken up by Hernandez. Hernandez attacked Morgan in the corner illegally, but Morgan fought back by clotheslining both heels at once. He set up a suplex, but Hernandez hit him from behind. Crimson entered the ring and knocked Hernandez over the top rope to the floor. Morgan then gave Anarquia a Carbon Footprint to capture the TNA Tag Team Titles.

WINNERS: Matt Morgan & Crimson in 6:00 to capture the TNA Tag Team Titles.

(WK Reax: This seems like good use of Morgan and Crimson since neither is current in the World Title picture, plus it makes what happened at Turning Point make more sense. The tag division needed a sense of some bigger names caring about those titles, and this looks like a dominant pairing to elevate the division. Mexican America just didn't deliver good enough matches and never really seemed to catch on. This also explains why Ink Inc. didn't win on Sunday, I suppose. What does this mean regarding Crimson's winning streak? Is that being set aside for now, since he'll be in tag matches.)

-Storm told the roving camera backstage that he knows who jumped him and right after the break he's going to show the world whom he thinks jumped him. [c]

[Q8]

5 -- GARETT BISCHOFF (w/Sting) vs. GUNNER (w/Eric Bischoff, Ric Flair)

(WK Reax: Does the star power of Sting, Flair, and Bischoff make up for the fact that Gunner is in a main event segment on Impact Wrestling already?)

Garett wrestled in basketball shoes and pants, but without a shirt. What is it with promoters' sons and wrestling in tennis shoes? Gunner charged at Garett in the corner, but Garett moved and Gunner went shoulder-first into the ringpost. Taz said, "Can you imagine having Eric Bischoff as a father?" Taz said he has a son and he can't imagine rooting against him in anything he ever does. Gunner sold a shoulder injury, which distracted the ref long enough for Bischoff to hook Garett's leg as Gunner charged at him. Gunner side-slammed Garrett and then fish-hooked his mouth. Bischoff celebrated Garett getting beaten down. Garett surprised a cocky Gunner with a DDT out of nowhere for a three count. Sting laughed as Bischoff at ringside reacted with rage.

WINNER: Garett Bischoff in 4:00. [c]

-Storm walked to the ring to name his attacker. He said whether he goes to Japan, the U.K., Mexico, or back in the U.S.A., because he talks with a little twang, wears cowboy boots, and wears tight jeans, people look down on him and think he should be passed over in favor of someone "more correct." He said: "This is professional wrestling and I've been doing this for 15 years. I am 'The Cowboy' James Storm and I'm as tough as they come." He said when he was born, the doctor didn't slap him because he knew better. "Hell, me and him had a shot of Jack together; that's what we did!" he said. He said he doesn't pretend to be tough. He said he's whopped people's asses in bars and every night of his life for real, so he's sick and tired of playing guessing games. He said he's going to blame everyone in the back for what happened to him. He asked Styles to bring his ass to the ring to begin with. The crowd oohed. Taz and Tenay wondered what this was all about.

Styles walked out, looking quizzically at Storm. Styles said after everything he's been through with Roode, he's accusing him of hitting him from behind. "Really?" he asked. He said he checked on him in the hospital and called him when he was at home. He said maybe he forgot because of his concussion. He accused him of being paranoid and unable to think straight. Storm said now that he is on the shelf, it just so happens that Styles has "weaseled his way" into two title shots at Roode. Styles said he didn't make the decision, Sting did. "So you're pissing up the wrong tree," Styles said. He said he's wrong on both accounts and he's done talking to him about it. They exchanged a couple heated words. Kaz ran out and shoved Styles and Storm in the chest. He told Styles to leave because this has to end.

Angle then attacked Storm from behind as he walked up the rampway. He rammed Storm's head into the ringside steps. He beat up Storm inside the ring, then bent over and said, "Guilty. Guilty as charged. When you wake up, I want you to go home and I want you to tell your little daughter that I'm the one who gave daddy a concussion."

(WK Reax: Storm now looks like an ass for accusing Styles of attacking him, but I suppose he has the concussion excuse. I think Storm is good on the mic - and his promo before Styles came out was fantastic - TNA doesn't need to overbook him into situations where he's not a clear-cut babyface. Nobody has the swagger he has right now in this industry. This obviously does set up, though, Angle vs. Storm as a co-main event with Roode vs. Styles at Final Resolution.)

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