Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff open the show, with Hulk still on crutches. Hogan and Bischoff claim Dixie Carter lied to them and bring out Abyss, who Hogan calls his “son†and Jeff Jarrett who joined because Dixie took his company away from him. The groups is apparently Team Hogan.
Ric Flair and Fortune come out and confront the new heel group before Hogan and Ric Flair hug and unite. Jeff Hardy comes out to all the heels applause and says he was behind Abyss’ assaults on RVD.
Bischoff calls out Sting and Kevin Nash to join them, but both men turn the heel faction down.
Did any of that make any sense? Dixie lied to Hogan and Bischoff how? By giving them power? They took over, but they were already in charge! Jarrett makes a bit of sense, but allying with other people to take the company from him is utterly nonsensical. And why would Flair, who’s building up the future of the company, work with a group of has-beens like this? TNA utterly destroyed the great Fortune idea as they are now foot soldiers for the real heel leaders. And, of course… Jeff Hardy… that Brad covered yesterday. At least Sting and Nash said no so that Sting can be the crow again just like he was fifteen years ago and Nash can be injured and retire to go to the WWE Hall of Fame.
Maidson Rayne says she’s the reason Tara is back in TNA and that Tara should do the right thing, so Tara lays down and Madison pins her for the Knockouts Title. Mickie James comes out and confronts Rayne, pushing her down.
And to show we’ve truly come full circle, along with the New World Order, we get the Fingerpoke of Doom. Can TNA prove any more fully that they’ve learned from none of the mistake of the past? At this point, even Heyman couldn’t get me to tune in without a full-scale housecleaning.
Kurt Angle comes out to “Please don’t go†chants and says that although he’s injured, he wants answers. This draws out Jeff Jarrett who reminds us Angle swore he’d retire if he didn’t win the title, which he didn’t. Angle says Jarrett can have his ex-wife, but Angle is getting a piece of Jeff and then Kurt attacks. Security handcuffs Jarrett, who attacks Angle until Taz forces him to stop.
So, we get Angle in the Steve Austin role (sounds like the Angle’s role in the Invasion, but that failed, why would we do that again? Taz being the one to make Jarrett back off is absolutely inane. A regular roster member could have gotten good heat for this, but instead, that heat is put on an announcer.
Samoa Joe defeats Abyss via disqualification when Abyss nails Joe with a ring-bell and keeps assaulting him until RVD chases Abyss off. RVD then cuts a promo on Jeff Hardy and Bischoff makes RVD vs. Mr. Anderson for a title shot.
Why? Why make this match between enemies to see who gets a title shot? The story was already set that since RVD was stripped, he would get the first post-BFG title shot, so TNA already had a way to get the match booked. Changing it benefits no one and makes the new heels, quite simply, stupid. The exact same match could have been booked as a way of weakening two of Team Hogan’s enemies before the title shot they couldn’t get out of.
Fortune defeated The Pope in a 3-on-1 handicap match.
And EV2.0 is nowhere to be found despite winning at BFG. The N.W.O. B-Team strikes and no one care.
The Shore cut a promo on Jersey Shore which draws out The Beautiful People and JWoww. JWoww beats up Cookie who is carried to the back by Robbie.
On X-Pac heat- I’m sure it exists, but it’s awfully hard to tell when it’s actually occurring. Wrestling fans, for the most part, are the type to hate a pop phenomenon like Jersey Shore so heels parodying that show should and are getting good heat. Marks will want to see them beat up, which is kind of the point. Meanwhile, getting JWoww to show up is really good for TNA as well, since that show has such a huge following, it’s the kind of crossover that has the potential to draw TNA new eyeballs. So, all together, this is the one thing TNA is currently doing right.
Ken Anderson and RVD go to a No Contest when Bischoff pulls the referee out of the ring. Jeff Hardy then hits both men with chairs.
Why did he make the match in the first place then? And where the hell was Dixie Carter? Why aren’t we addressing Abyss’ firing? Just in-case you thought they cared what you wanted to see, anyone notice the utter lack of Motor City Machine Guns after they set up that angle with them and 3-D at the PPV?Are they even trying anymore?
