Jeremy Samples sent this report in:
TNA Impact Tapings held on Monday, May 25:
Tapings started out with a performance by Grits of the new AJ Styles theme music, “Get Ready To Fly”. They also debuted a new entrance for AJ, which is similar to what Christian used to have with the “waterfall” pyro and him standing in the middle. This led into a King of the Mountain qualifying match.
King of the Mountain Qualifyer
AJ Styles vs. Christoper Daniels
–Great match, as these two performers ALWAYS put on. Finish came with AJ reversing an Angel’s Wings into the Styles Clash. Went over very well with the crowd, should turn out great on Thursday.
Winner: AJ Styles — After the match, Shane Douglas returned quickly as he came in from the crowd and decked Daniels with a chain. He then left quickly back through the crowd.
X-Division Championship
Suicide(c) vs. Amazing Red
–Red is very over with the TNA crowd in Orlando. Should be another match to come off very well on television. Chants were the regular of “He’s Amazing”, “This is Awesome”…etc. Disappointing when Suicide retained.
Winner: Suicide
Sting, with his new leadership in the MainEventMafia, addressed the Mafia and the TNA audience next. Sting talked about what the group’s original mission was, how some things have strayed from that, and what he was going to do to get them back together. During this Kurt is dejectedly leaning on the ropes in the corner. This discussion also points out that Kurt is the main weak point and the guy who dropped the ball. First, the women are banned from the Mafia. This of course led to dissentment from Kevin Nash and Booker T, also after the televised segment ended Booker was still talking with Sting and said that they would talk about this further. The other development was that Angle’s Security Team is banned from the Mafia. They were immediately sent away, unlike the women, and were met with chants of “You Got Fired” from the TNA Audience. Samoa Joe interrupted near the end of the segment, and said that he has been sent to take out the Mafia 1 by 1 through Steiner, Nash, Booker, and Sting until Angle was the only one left. He then said that he has been ordered to kill Angle.
Open Challenge — Ladder Match for the “stolen” case that British Invasion took from Hernandez. #1
Doug Williams vs. Cody Deaner
–Kind of boring match, Deaner just absolutely has no talent within his current gimmick. Finish came as Doug was able to retain the case with interference from the British Invasion.
Winner: Doug Williams — After the match, the British Invasion were congratulated on their win by “Sheik” Abdul Bashir and Kiyoshi.
Backstage segment took place with Jeff Jarrett lementing on still being in the same position with Mick Foley being a raving lunatic controlling the Impact Zone. He reiterated the same point over as he was standing up and sittng down, as he was in such a rage. They then transfer to tonight’s main event which is a King of the Mountain qualifying match between Jeff Jarrett and Eric Young. He talks about giving Eric Young a chance after everything he has done for the company.
Team 3D presenting Beer Money, Inc. with two trophies and a check for $100,000 is next. SoCalVal is in the ring at the beginning holding the check. Team 3D talks about the tag team division at TNA, and introduces the winners Beer Money, Inc. Team 3D continues to put over the tag team division in TNA and how great of a team Beer Money is. Beer Money createst some tension by saying that they are the greatest tag team in the world today, and both teams agree they will find out at Slammiversary. Fans chant “Where’s The Beer” as the beer is revealed and they all chug from the trophies.
TNA Knockouts Championship
Angelina Love(c) w/ Velvet Skye, Madison Rayne & Kip James vs. SoJo Bolt
–Angel dominated the match, as she should against an inferior competitor. Crowd has much heat with the “Beautiful People”. Angel finished Bolt off with her finisher.
Winner: Angelina Love — After the match, Angel asks Kip why he is still hanging around with them after he was fired a month ago. Kip plays it off as a joke, until Angel fires him again. He is also met with chants of “You Got Fired”. After this, Angel keeps boasting about how dominating the “Beautiful People” are. She issues an open challenge to anyone that wants to take her on for the title. Victoria then answers the challenge by running to the ring w/ a complete entrance and taking Angel into the former Widow’s Peak, not sure what the new name is. Victoria then said, “Consider your challenge accepted”.
Segment is shown with Eric Young in the back with JB. JB builds Eric up great talking about everything that he has done for TNA, and how tonight is his chance to finally gain something for everything he has went through. JB also took a shot at having to wrestle Danny Bonaduce for a PPV Pre-Show. Eric talks about how much he wants this, and that he will stop at nothing to get his rightful place within TNA.
Mick Foley comes out to address TNA. He seems distraught at “developments that have taken place within TNA”. Not sure if that is pointing to the injury viewpoint, or something else that I am missing. He makes a match for next week’s Impact with Kevin Nash vs. Samoe Joe in a Lethal Lockdown match. He also talks about the hectic schedule he has been putting his body through every PPV for TNA. However, how do they repay him? By booking him in a King of the Mountain Championship match at Slammiversary. He said he was going to “tweak” that. He mentions of making the King of the Mountain match a qualifying match for a singles match at the PPV. A fan yells that it is just because he can’t climb a ladder. Mick actually answers the comment with, “Thanks for pointing that out. Yes, I can’t climb the ladder”. This is perfect as a Foley heel promo. It seems like this promo has now made him a full-blown heel. He also mentions that he will be defending the TNA Championship once a year due to the shape that his body is currently in.
Main Event — King of the Mountain Qualifyier
Jeff Jarrett vs. Eric Young
–For all the build this match has, it just seemed to emphasize some of the “stroke” that Jarrett has. This seemed to be a very quick match, w/ a clean burial of Eric Young. VERY disappointing, as I felt this may be a moment to let Eric at least be qualified and have something.
Winner: Jeff Jarrett
**That match was advertised as the main event, however, with Raven being advertised to appear on the show this may take place before or after…it was after at the television tapings.
–Segment takes place between Stevie Richards and Abyss. Stevie first brings a straighjacket to the ring along with a singapore cane. He then asks his patient Abyss to come out. Abyss enters and Stevie announces that he must go under his therapy again. He puts him in the straight-jacket, and gets ready to cane him. Lauren enters to save Abyss by getting in-between Abyss and Richards. Raven then enters through the crowd, and acts as if to save Abyss. However, he turns, takes the cane from Richards and begins to viciously beat Abyss.
**Also, not sure about where these next two matches fit into the taping schedule. Most likely for the next week’s episode of Impact.
Daniels vs. Amazing Red
Another great match between two unbelievable performers. As mentioned Amazing Red is so over with the Impact Zone.
Winner: Christopher Daniels–After the match, “Franchise”Shane Douglas appears on a video promo. He states how Daniels keeps getting second chances after being fired, but The Franchise never got any second chances in life. However, now he is giving himself a second chance. At Slammiversary, “Daniels will be Franchised”.
Triple Threat Tag-Team Match
Beer Money, Inc. vs. Lethal Consequences vs. MachineGuns
–Interesting, but confusing match-up. Half of the time Alex Shelly and Jay Lethal were beside the ring watching the action. Two participants were in the ring at a time with Beer Money getting the win via their finisher.
Winner: Beer Money, Inc. — After the match, Beer money celebrates by drinking beer from their newly-won Team 3D tournament trophies.