On Friday, June 16, 2006 at 3:56 PM EST Full TNA iMPACT! Results – 6/15/06
Taped From: Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Mike Tenay & Don West
Report by: Ryan Droste (Droste@wrestleview.com) of WrestleView.com
-The show starts with highlights from last week's show.
-The iMPACT! opening airs.
-Tenay welcomes us to the show, and he goes over the line-up for the show as the pyro display begins to go off.
-NWA World Champion Christian Cage's theme song comes on. Christian walks down to the ring in his street clothes with his title belt over his shoulder. Christian talks about the King of the Mountain match Sunday at Slammiversary. Christian says he's feeling confident, even though the match puts the champ at a disadvantage. Christian has a message for all his opponents. He first addresses Abyss. He says "You can not beat me" in a mocking, slow fashion. He next addresses Ron Killings. He says that Killings says he's the hungriest guy in this match. Christian says he's proven it. He says he can hear it in his voice when he comes out and says "what's up?" He says he has him glued to his seat with those words. He says if he wants to be champ, he hopes he can wrestle better than he can dance. Next Christian addresses Jarrett. He says what can be said about him that hasn't been said? Christian says Jarrett does a good enough job embarassing himself, so he doesn't have to do it. Lastly, he addresses Sting. He says he has something he wants to say to Sting. He says Sting might not want to hear it, but he is going to hear it anyways. The lights go out and Sting's theme comes on. Sting makes his way to the ring. Christian asks him if he came out to hear what he has to say in person, or if he came out to steal some more of his thunder? Sting says he didn't come out to steal any thunder. He says he came to TNA to remove Jeff Jarrett and that's the whole purpose of him being here. Christian asks him if he thinks he was born yesterday? Christian says he can see it in Sting's eyes and he can see it right through "that noxema all of your face." Christian says "Noxema girls get noticed." Christian says he's kidding and he respect Sting more than anything. Christian asks him if during the King of the Mountain match, if he's got a chance to win the belt, he's not going to take it? He's just after Jarrett? Sting says he has nothing more to prove as a champion, but he is on a quest to remove Jarrett from TNA. Christian then says Sting has said the worst thing that could happen to TNA is for Jarrett to be world champion. Christian says he'll tell him what the worst thing that could happen to TNA is, and that is for Christian Cage to lose the NWA World Championship. Christian says no disrespect to his opponnents. He says this has nothing to do with any of them, he just says "This is my time!"
-Christy Hemme gives her usual "Still to Come" before commercial segment.
--COMMERCIAL BREAK--
-A video package focusing on Jarrett's effort to win the King of the Mountain match airs.
-Borash is backstage with Alex Shelley and Kevin Nash. Nash says his X Division match tonight is "part of the trilogy." He asks Shelley about finding him a Sabin type opponent. Shelley says he's almost a clone except for his face, so he made him wear a match. Nash sings "Happy Slammiversary Sabin, I've got you on my mind." He then says his catchphrase, size matters.
Diamonds in the Rough (Elix Skipper & David Young) w/ Simon Diamond vs. The Naturals (Andy Douglas & Chase Stevens)
West mentions the Naturals have been in a downward spiral and desperately need a win tonight. The Diamonds jump them from behind to start. The Naturals come back with a double back body drop to their opponents. Stevens smashes Young's face into Douglas kene. Stevens and Young in the ring now. Skipper comes off the top with a leg lariat to Stevens. Young gets a near fall. Stevens comes back with a jumping clothesline. Douglas is tagged in. He hits a high knee to Young, and he gives Skipper an atomic drop. Both Naturals throw Young to the mat. Skipper breaks up the pin attempt. The Naturals gives Young their finisher, but the ref is distracted. Diamond comes in and hits Douglas with a chain. He puts Young on top, and they get the pinfall.
Winners: Diamonds in the Rough
-Simon Diamond celebrates. He turns around, and a busted open Chase Stevens is facing him pissed. Diamond goes off into the crowd, and the Naturals follow him. They are by the LAX announce position. LAX attacks them. Konnan gets on the mic and says he told nobody to cross on to their side of the boarder. Shane Douglas comes out and looks at the fallen Naturals.
--COMMERCIAL BREAK--
-Shane Douglas is in the ring with the Naturals. Douglas asks them what the hell are they doing? Douglas says they have squandered the tallent htey were born with. He said his best friend, a little over a year ago, took them to the pinnacle of this business. Douglas says his name is Chris Candido. At this point, my television feed went out. Spike was having some problems, because there had been pixelation for a while. The feed goes off for almost 2 minutes, with the screen black. The feed comes back now. Douglas asks the Naturals if they are ready to travel down the road. He says Candido is watching them from above. Douglas says he swears he will take the Naturals right back to the top of this business.
-Tenay and West talk. They build up Slammiversary. Slick Johnson runs out. He says he has incredible news. He says the new face of TNA management is here, and he wants to see Larry Zbyszko right now.
-A video package building up Joe vs. Steiner airs. A very good package with comments between the two going back and forth. Great intensity from both guys.
-Christy Hemme tells us what's up next on the show.
--COMMERCIAL BREAK--
Kevin Nash w/ Alex Shelley vs. Mr. X
A midget with a mask comes out. The announcer says "according to Kevin Nash, he hails from Hell, Michigan (like Sabin)." Nash gets on the mic. He says "I know that's you Sabin." He says he can come down and put lifts in his shoes, but he knows it's him. Nash says, "Hell, Michigan huh? Must have got this guy on short notice." Nash sizes up his small opponent. Tenay does a good job saying it's not going to be a midget facing Nash this Sunday, it's going to be a former 2 time X Champ in Chris Sabin. Nash holds off the midget as he tries to punch him but he can't reach. Nash gets down on his knees and wrestles him. Nash gives him a choke slam from his knees. Nash comes off the bottom rope with a splash. The crowd mockingly chants "That was awesome." Shelley slides a chair in the ring. Nash sits in the chair. Shelley whips Mr. X into the ropes, and he comes off into a big boot from the seated Kevin Nash. Nash keeps making an X with his arms, representing the X Division. Nash gives Mr. X a powerbomb and covers him for the pinfall.
Winner: Kevin Nash
-A Global Impact segment airs. Highlights are shown from last Friday's house show at the former ECW Arena in Philly.
-Christy Hemme lets us know the main event is coming up.
--COMMERCIAL BREAK--
-A video package building up Abyss for the King of the Mountain match airs.
Bobby Roode w/ Scott D'Amore, Monty Brown & NWA Tag Champs America's Most Wanted (Chris Harris & James Storm) w/ Gail Kim vs. AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels, Raven & Rhino
All 8 men brawl at the beginning. Rhino and company clean house as we go to commercial.
--COMMERCIAL BREAK--
Roode and Raven are the legal men. Roode works over Raven in the corner. Raven comes back with some rapid right hands. He tags in Daniels. Daniels with a kick to teh gut and some chops. Daniels nails a high leg lariat. He makes the cover for a 2 count. Roode gets in a knee and tags in Storm. Daniels takes him down with a clothesline. Daniels with another leg lariat. He tags in Styles. Daniels lifts Storm, and Styles takes him down with a jumping clothesline. Storm dodges a punch and fights back. He gives Styles a back body drop and tags in Harris. AMW gives Styles a double suplex over the ropes back into the ring. Harris tags in Brown. Brown with a right hand. Styles gets in some elbows, but Brown eventually takes him down with a back breaker and an overhead release. Brown gets a 2 count. Brown throws Styles into his team's corner and tags Roode back in. Roode hits a slingshot suplex. Styles breaks a submissions hold and hits some forearms. Styles with a kick. Both men crawl to their corners. Rhino is tagged in. He cleans house. Rhino gives Roode a shoulder block in the corner, then a clothesline to AMW. The action breaks down. Brown gives Rhino a fallaway slam. Daniels takes out Brown on the outside with a moonsault off the ropes. Storm gives Raven a superkick. Styles gives Roode his paylay kick. Styles goes for a crucifix, but Harris nails the Catatonic instead. Daniels nails Harris with a right hand palm thrust. Storm gives Daniels some punches in the corner, then turns around into a Gore from Rhino. Rhino chases off Scott D'Amore. Daniels nails the Angel's Wings on Harris, but Roode makes the save during the pin attempt. Gail Kim gives Daniels a tornado DDT. Brown then nails the Pounce on Daniels and gets the pinfall. Tenay says, "They steal it because of Gail Kim."
Winners: Bobby Roode, Monty Brown & AMW
-Larry Zbyszko is shown walking around backstage in the parking lot. He opens the door to a car and looks in. Larry gets a shocked look on his face, presumably seeing the new face of TNA management.
-The weekly show closing "Adrenaline Rush" music video airs, building up Slammiversary.
Closing Thoughts: A decent show, but nowhere near as good as the past two weeks had been. The Christian/Sting segment at the beginning was good. Christian had been kind of stale on the mic lately, but he got a little bit of his edginess that he had in WWE back during this segment.
The show was very light this week on good wrestling matches. The Diamonds vs. Naturals match was pretty average, and the heavy video problems TNA was having during this time also didn't help. The Kevin Nash match was obviously a joke. I've got to say Nash has been hilarious, but if Sabin doesn't go over this Sunday (or if he loses, lose by fluke or interference and still look very strong) the joke might be on TNA in the end. The 8 man main event was good, but it was one of those matches that had way too much going on to follow at times.
Lastly, the build-up for Steiner vs. Joe continued to be a success. Lots of people thought Steiner had nothing left to contribute to the business, but he has proven in this feud that if he is used correctly, he can still contribute. He's done a great job with Joe, and hopefully after it's over the feud takes Joe to another level.
Slammiversary should be a strong PPV Sunday. It has a good mix of a few matches that should be crowd pleasers and possible four star matches, as well as some matches that will be more intriguing storyline wise than they will be for match quality. Joe vs. Steiner won't be a four star classic, but it will be interesting to see the feud play out. The same goes for Nash and Sabin. As far as strictly match quality goes, the KOTM match, the Tag Title match, and the X Division Elimination match all have a chance at stealing the show Sunday.