On Friday, June 9, 2006 at 4:02 AM EST Full TNA iMPACT! Results – 6/8/06
Taped From: Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Mike Tenay & Don West
Report by: Ryan Droste of WrestleView.com
-The show starts with highlights from last week's show.
-Sting talks backstage. He addresses Steiner, whom said Sting has been lucky. Sting says this isn't his first match tonight and it won't be his last either. He says it's showtime.
-Steiner is with Jarrett and Borash. Jarrett tells it is do or die time. He says he brought Steiner here for this oppurtunity, and he wants him to take Sting out tonight. Steiner says it can be anyone on the roster, he walks the world pissed off, but tonight's it's going to be Sting.
-The Impact opening airs.
-Steiner is shown backstage walking towards the entranceway. He makes his entrance, and then Sting is shown walking towards the entrance backstage.
King of the Mountain Qualifier
Sting vs. Scott Steiner w/ Gail Kim
They start off locking up, with Steiner pushing Sting in the corner and then nailing a knee to the gut and some chops. Sting fights back with chops and kicks. Sting nails a back elbow to Steiner coming off the ropes. Sting throws Steiner to the outside. They fight on the outside, with Sting throwing him into the guardrail. Sting grabs a chair and nails Steiner with it. Earl Hebner is reffing the match by the way. Steiner is thrown into the chair on top of the broadcast table. Sting drops Steiner across the guard rail. LAX is shown at the Spanish broadcast table, doing their protest. Back in the ring, Steiner nails a low blow with a kick as we go to commercial.
--COMMERCIAL BREAK--
Steiner is now on the offensive. He throws Sting into the ropes and hits a clothesline. Steiner then drops an elbow. Steiner with a belly to belly suplex followed by a 2 count. Steiner then puts on the Crippler Crossface. Sting eventually rises to his feet and breaks the hold. Steiner quickly sends him back down with a kick and forearm shots. Steiner with an overhead release suplex. Steiner sets Sting up on the top rope. He climbs up with him and goes for a superplex, but Sting fights him off. Sting nails some right hands and bites his head. Steiner falls to the mat, and Sting comes off the top with a clothesline. Both men slowly get to their feet. Sting with some right hand shots. Sting with a series of clotheslines and a dropkick. Sting with a body slam. Sting then hits a Vader Bomb splash off the middle rope. 2 count. Sting with an inverted atomic drop. Sting nails the Stinger Splash, but Earl Hebner also got taken out with it. Gail Kim gets in the ring and jumps on Sting's back. Sting throws her off. Jarrett runs out. He nails Sting with a kick to the gut and hits the Stroke. Steiner crawls over and makes the cover. Hebner is still down. Ref Slick Johnson runs out and makes the 2 count, as Sting kicks out. Steiner with a suplex, he rolls and goes for another, but Sting floats over and nails the Scorpion Death Drop. He makes the cover, but Jarrett pulls Slick Johnson out of the ring. Jarrett then holds Sting at the ropes from behind. Steiner goes to punch him, but Sting moves and he nails Jarrett. Sting rolls up Steiner, but Jarrett makes the save. Hebner calls for the bell. Sting takes out Jarrett and Steiner with a double clothesline as the bell rings. The announcement is made that Sting has won by DQ.
Winner: Sting via DQ
-As Sting celebrates, Jarrett ambushes him from behind. He and Steiner work over Sting with stomps. Jarrett screams at Sting, as Steiner continues to pummel him. Ron Killings runs out to make the save. He nails Steiner and hits Jarrett with a twisting flying forearm. Abyss runs out. Killings fights him off with rapid fire right hands. He takes him out with the axe kick. Jarrett then ambushes Killings from behind. Abyss then works over Killings on the mat. Sting and Killings are now getting worked over good before Christian runs out. He fights off the three heels and cleans house. Sting, Killings and Christian stand in the ring staring at Jarrett, Steiner and Abyss as they retreat away. Steiner gets on the mic and says he is not leaving until someone comes and tries to stop him. He's mad that he got DQed.
--COMMERCIAL BREAK--
-Steiner is now in the ring by himself with a mic. Someone tries to come down the ramp for a match. Steiner tells him he has no match unless he wants to get killed. Steiner screams for Larry Zbyszko to come out. Instead, Samoa Joe's theme comes on and he he comes down the ramp to the ring. He gets right up in Steiner's face. Steiner tells him not to eyeball him. Steiner pushes him in the face. Joe turns back to Steiner, and Steiner does it again. This time they go at each other as Joe turns around. They exchange punches as tons of security runs out to break them up. They fight through at least 10 security guards and still go at it. Security eventually breaks them apart, but they quickly break away and go at it again. It goes back and forth as security tries to seperate them over and over.
-A new Paparazi Productions video airs with Kevin Nash and Alex Shelley. Nash has some kind of chart on a big piece of paper. He says last week, Chris Sabin fell right into the trap. He mocks Sabin. The big poster Nash has made says "3 Keys of Life." There is then a pie chart under that title, with half of the circle being "Game Plan Sabin." The other half is divide in two sections that read "Warm-Up Match with Sabin Type Star" and "Scouting Sabin." He says later on tonight, they will go to step 2 and scout Sabin's match. He says the last thing, next week he will have a warm-up match with a Sabin type star. He asks Shelley to go out and find him an opponent that is similar to Sabin. One that dresses, wrestles, and looks like him. He wants a clone. Nash then turns the page and this paper says "Next Week on Impact only on SpikeTV. The X-Division debut of Kevin Nash vs. X Division Star. Size Matters on a Pole Match" Shelley chants, "Let's Go Nash!" Nash says the match, a Size Matters on a Pole match, is his specialty.
--COMMERCIAL BREAK--
-Borash is following Larry Z backstage. Borash says he heard the fans, they want to see it, so we have to have Steiner vs. Joe at Slammiversary. Larry says we can't do that so fast, there are alot of decisions into making a match. Slick Johnson runs up and says he has "big news." He says we will have a decision on the Joe vs. Steiner match within the hour. Larry says he can't do that within an hour. Johnson says he doesn't have to, the "new guy" is here and he's going to do it for him.
Sonjay Dutt vs. Jerrelle Clark
Konnan comes over to West and Tenay to join in on commentary. He remarks about them having it much better at their announce position than they do at the Spanish table. Dutt puts on a standing headlock. He comes off the roeps and nails a shoulder block. Konnan is going on about being underappreciated. Dutt with a body slam. Konnan says no Mexicans are in positions of power around here. Clark comes back on the offensive, but it is shortlived. Dutt puts on a strangelooking submission hold. Clark throws him off into the corner. Dutt comes back with some punches, but CLark rakes the eyes and snaps off a head scissors takeover. Clark puts on a submission around the middle rope. Konnan says that TNA is stealing from Mexico. He says the X Division is a ripoff of Lucha Libre. He says Tenay should tell the viewers that this "octagon ring" originated in AAA in Mexico. West corrects him and says this ring is a hexagon. Dutt nails a springboard missile dropkick. Dutt with a back elbow. Dutt with an atomic drop followed by a dropkick. Dutt nails a springboard leg drop off the middle ropes. Dutt floats out of the corner, but Clark catches him and throws him down. Clark comes off the top with a 630 splash attempt, but Dutt moves. Dutt takes him out with a dropkick to the legs, followed by a kick to the back of the head. Dutt then hits a back flip splash and makes the cover for the pinfall.
Winner: Sonjay Dutt
-Konnan continues to talk about the inequities.
-Nash and Shelley are shown walking towards the entranceway backstage as we go to commercial.
--COMMERCIAL BREAK--
-A video is shown of Team 3D at the former ECW Arena in Philly. Brother Ray quotes "Welcome to the Jungle." He says this is the bingo hall where Team 3D was born. He says this place reminds him of the impact zone. Passionate fans who know what they want and are not affraid to voice their opinions. He says they are going to mix some old school with their new attitude in their match with the James Gang at Slammiversary. Devon says "Thou shall not mess with Team 3D." They then each light a match and throw it on the floor, where lighter fluid has been spilled to form "3D." it ignites in flames.
Team Canada (Bobby Roode, Eric Young & A-1 Ralphz) w/ Scott D'Amore vs. Chris Sabin & The James Gang (Kip & BG James)
D'Amore is in a workout suit, trying to get into shape for Slammiversary. BG addresses Team 3D before the match. He says they are not jealous they never wrestled in a bingo hall. He says the good news is they are coming to the bingo hall. BG and A1 start off the match. BG hits some punches and a boot to the face. He then hits a knee drop to the chest. A1 gets in a cheap shot. Roode and Kip are tagged in. Roode with some right hands. Roode hits a shoulder block. Kip comes back with one of his own. Kip with a dropkick. Kip with a hip toss on A1 and a press slam on Young. Sabin is tagged in. Young rakes him in the eyes. Young had been tagged in with a blind tag. Nash and Shelley come up on a lift behind the stands. They elevate high enough to where they are higher than the stands and can see. Sabin with a couple arm drags. Sabin with a wrist drag. Sabin with a head scissors takeover. Sabin looks at Nash and Shelley and yells. He gets taken out from behind by Young.
--COMMERCIAL BREAK--
A1 is tagged in and hits Sabin in the gut. A1 with some shoulder smashes to the gut of Sabin in the corner. Young comes in now. He hits a back elbow to Sabin coming off the ropes. Young puts on a front headlock on the mat. Sabin fights to his feet and makes the tag to BG. The ref didn't see it. Roode is tagged in. He chokes Sabin across the bottom rope. D'Amore spits on Sabin. Roode with a body slam. Roode comes off the middle rope with a knee drop. 2 count. Roode puts on a chinlock. Sabin breaks the hold with some elbows, but Roode quickly throws him back down to the mat hard. A1 is tagged in. He whips Sabin to the corner and comes in with a clothesline. 2 count. Young makes the bling tag as A1 gives a backbreaker to Sabin. Young comes off the top with an elbow. Kip makes the save during the pinfall attempt. Roode now comes in the match and chokes at Sabin on the mat. Sabin fights back exchanging shots with Roode. Roode hits him in the eye and tags in Young. Young charges into the corner, but Sabin nails a kick. Sabin with an enziguiri. Kip is tagged in. He cleans house on Team Canada. He throws Young to the outside. He clotheslines Roode in the corner then splashes A1 in the other corner. Kip with a tiltawhirl slam on Roode. A1 hits Kip from behind. BG comes in to work on A1. Sabin nails a suicide dive to the outside on Young. Kip misses a splash in the corner on Roode. Roode nails a running Stone Cold Stunner on Kip. D'Amore tosses a flag to Roode. He gets ready to use it, but Rhino runs out and fights with him. Roode and Rhino fight to the outside. Kip nails the Famouser on A1. Sabin is then tagged and nails a legdrop off the top and gets the pinfall.
Winners: Chris Sabin & The James Gang
-Sabin looks to Nash and Shelley after the match, yelling at them to bring it on. Nash and Shelley lower on the lift and vanish behind the stands. Christy Hemme then makes her way down the ramp. She goes to the announce position and pulls an envelope out of her boot. West opens it and announces that the new face of TNA management, who will be seen at Slammiversary, has made the match of Samoe Joe vs. Scott Steiner at Slammiversary.
-A video package to the "Adrenaline Rush" song is shown with highlights of tonight's show.
Closing Thoughts: Another very good show. The main event wasn't as good as last week's, but the real main event that opened the show (Sting vs. Steiner) was a pretty good match. I liked the way that they showed each wrestler walking towards the entrance backstage to give it a big match feel. I have to say I have been pleasantly surprised, for the most part, with Steiner's work in the ring thus far in TNA.
This show again flowed very well. It didn't have the old rushed feeling that Impact used to be plagued with. Three matches is definitely the perfect number for them per show, as the matches are given enough time to develop for a TV match and they still have time for the other segments.
The video package of Team 3D returning to the old ECW Arena was good, although I have to say that I don't think they promoted the live event coming up Friday at the arena well enough. They should have said some more about it, but the only mention was BG James saying the James Gang is headed there. Only the most informed TNA fans would have known what he was talking about was an upcoming TNA house show at the "bingo hall." I'm sure they will show highlights of the Philly show on an upcoming Impact, though.
Joe and Steiner's face-off was tremendous, and they have really done a good job building up the match between the two. The fans are legitimately hot to see this match.
I also have to say that even though I'm one of the people that thinks it's a little risky putting Nash in an angle with the heart and soul of TNA, the X-Division, he and Shelley are really good together on camera. Their segments have been entertaning, now let's hope the angle plays out well in the end whenever that may be.
Slammiversary is shaping up to be one of the better PPVs this year.