On Friday, August 18, 2006 at 3:39 AM EST Full TNA iMPACT! Results – 8/17/06
Taped From: Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Mike Tenay & Don West
Report by: Ryan Droste (Droste@wrestleview.com) of WrestleView.com
-The show starts off right away with a brawl in the Impact Zone. AJ Styles & Christopher Daniels are going at it with LAX. Daniels juices heavy and is covered in blood. The ring is covered in balloons and decorations. West notes that the show was supposed to kick-off with Jeff Jarrett's victory celebration, but this brawl started. Daniels and Styles get worked over. Daniels attempts a fired up comeback, but he quickly gets cut off. Styles attempts to comeback, but Konnan breaks a champagne bottle over his head. Styles then bleeds heavily. Rhino runs out to make the save. Monty Brown then comes out and fights with Rhino. Brother Runt then runs out and jumps on Brown's back. It's a huge melee. Abyss comes down the ramp next. Abyss works over Runt. Samoe Joe runs out and gets into it with Rhino. Jeff Jarrett then slowly walks down the ramp and motions that everyone needs to get out of the ring. He's pissed that his celebration party has been ruined. Joe fights up the ramp with Rhino near the entrance. The lights go off and Sting's theme comes on. They come back on and Sting is int he ring with a baseball bat as he cleans house. He takes out everyone (the heels), including Abyss. Sting is left in the ring all alone as Jarrett stares at him from the ramp. Sting gets on the mic. He says Jarrett didn't beat him, Christian Cage beat him. Sting says he wants a rematch at Bound For Glory. He says he will do anything for a rematch, and he wants an answer tonight. Jarrett yells, "What's in it for me?"
--COMMERCIAL BREAK--
-Borash is backstage outside Jarrett's locker room. He says he's awaiting Jarrett's answer. Eric Young walks out. He says Jarrett will have his answer by the end of the show. Borash asks him if he said anything /*, and Eric says Jarrett told him to get out. He then wonders if he meant for him to get out of the room, the hallway, or maybe out of TNA? Eric is worried.
Chris Sabin, Jay Lethal & Sonjay Dutt defeated The Paparazi (Alex Shelley & Johnny Devine) & Petey Williams
Earl Hebner ran out to attack Slick Johnson just before a commercial break during the middle of the match. The finish came when Sabin slingshotted over the top rope into the ring to nail a leg drop on Johnny Devine. He then covered Devine for the pinfall.
-Exclusive footage airs from after Hard Justice went off the air on PPV. They show Christian backstage looking to leave in a hurry. Rhino confronts him and asks him what he just did. Christian says he doesn't have time to talk, but he says, "Trust me, I did it for everybody."
-West and Tenay talk, saying they don't believe Christian did it for anybody but himself. Tenay says Christian cost Sting the NWA World Title.
-A sit-down interview airs with Christian. He says he didn't have this planned out, it was a gametime decision. He talks about some of the stuff he did during the match that helped Sting. He says Sting couldn't close the deal, so he started to wonder why he was out there putting himself in danger. Christian says, "What did you want me to do, really, put on the face paint and wrestle the match for him?" He says Sting wanted him to be in his shadow, but he is nobody's lacky. He says he's the biggest thing in the company. He says people are beginning to forget that Christian Cage was the biggest acquistion for the company, not Sting. He says he put the company on the map and helped them get the national tv deal. He says Sting wants to think he was the savior. Christian says he had plenty of chances, but he couldn't get the job done. Christian says Sting once told him that he loved him like a brother. Christian says, "What a crock of shit." Christian says Rhino is his brother. He says Rhino will understand why he did this. He did it for everyone. Christian says people are saying he screwed Sting over, but maybe Sting screwed him over. He asks how many world champions don't get an immediate rematch? Because he didn't. He asks how many former world champs don't get pinned and sit there remaining undefeated? He says it's time for a new era in TNA, the Christian Cage era. Christian will be in the Impact Zone next week.
--COMMERCIAL BREAK--
-Borash is backstage with a bloody Christopher Daniels and AJ Styles. Daniels says LAX had there shot and they beat them. He says if they wanted a rematch, the just had to ask. Daniels says they can get in the ring with them anytime, and they will even put the belts on the line. He says they won't stop next time until everyone of "you bastards" is dead. Konnan gets on the mic in the Impact Zone from the LAX broadcast table. Konnan calls them "little hoes." He says they made a statement earlier tonight. Konnan says they sweetened the deal by saying the match could be any type of match they want. Konnan wants a "border brawl" match for the tag titles.
-A Bobby Roode "wrestling's hottest free agent" video package airs.
NWA Tag Team Title #1 Contender's Match
Chase Stevens defeated Chris Harris, Frankie Kazarian and BG James
They changed the match from what was scheduled at Hard Justice. It's a four man match with one member from each team, and whoever wins the match wins a title shot for his tag team. Tenay announced during this match that the "Border Brawl" match for the tag titles between Styles/Daniels and LAX will be next week's Impact main event. Storm came in the ring to try and use a beer bottle to help Harris, but Harris sent him away because he didn't want to get DQed. Chase Stevens then picked up some handcuffs that were left in the ring by Storm, hit Harris from behind, and rolled him up for the pinfall.
-Douglas comes out after the match, first looks pissed, but then cracks a smile and congratulates the Naturals on gaining the #1 contendership. Storm and Harris argue in the ring while Gail Kim tries to settle them down. They begin to push each other hard. Storm flips off Harris and walks off.
--COMMERCIAL BREAK--
-A video package airs building up the main event, with comments from Killings and Joe.
Samoa Joe defeated Ron Killings
Killings nailed a flip-dive over the top to the outside on Joe before a commercial break. The finish came when Killings went to the top, and Joe kicked him to crotch him. Joe then nailed the muscle buster and made the cover for the pinfall.
-Borash is backstage with Jarrett. Jarrett says when he first heard Sting's challenge, he thought there was no way in the world he'd accept because there was nothing in it for him. He says he is answering Sting's challenge with a challenge for himself. He wants the match at Bound for Glory to be his title vs. Sting's career. He wants the contract in writing next week.
-An "Adrenaline Rush" music video airs with highlights of the show to end Impact.
Closing Thoughts: A very solid show. With this being the first week back with the strong UFC lead-in, TNA needed a very strong show tonight. I thought they delivered almost perfectly. Three good matches and high intensity segments tonight hopefully will end up giving TNA the good rating they need after last week's ratings disaster. I'm sure that the hot brawl at the start of the program had to hold some of UFC's viewers. It was a tremendous opening segment.
Christian was great on his segment, one of his best promos since coming to TNA. The differences between his heel promos and his face promos are night and day. Sure, it was a pre-taped segment, but when we see him doing an interview in front of the live crowd I don't suspect it will be any different. A heel Christian is definitely the way to go.
My only beef with the program comes from not really the program itself, but the booking of Sting vs. Jarrett at Bound For Glory. I strongly believe that Bound For Glory needs to be Samoa Joe's night, and a Sting/Jarrett rematch on what is going to be the biggest TNA PPV to date is not what the fans want to see. It's not what is going to create the type of excitement they need going into their first "on the road" TNA PPV. If they were going to do a rematch, it should be done at No Surrender (the next PPV, which I don't think was even mentioned tonight). TNA must hate it when some fans call them the new WCW. What type of message are they going to send if Sting/Jarrett is the main event of their biggest PPV of the year? That match wouldn't draw or get people talking in 1999, let alone 2006. They need to establish themselves by putting their emerging star, Samoa Joe, in the spotlight on their biggest show. They still have time to change things up and get Joe involved in the main event at Bound For Glory, but if things stay with Jarrett/Sting headlining I don't think I'm going to be the only viewer that is turned off by the decision.