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March 22nd
On this day in history in ....
1981 - Paul Jones & Masked Superstar defeat Ray Stevens & Ivan Koloff for their second NWA World Tag Team Championship as a duo, exactly one month after losing the titles to them in the same town, Greensboro, North Carolina.
1981 - Andre The Giant defeats Hulk Hogan at a WWF event at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York.
1993 - Brian Christopher & Scotty Flamingo defeated the Moondogs (Spot & Splat) for the USWA Tag Team Title in Memphis, Tennessee, ending the Moondogs third run with the belts.
1997 - Jerry Lawler defeated Tank for the USWA Unified Heavyweight Title in Memphis, Tennessee. This was Lawler's 27th time winning the belt. On the same show, The Truth Commission defeated Flash Flanagan & Billy Joe Travis for the USWA Tag Team Title.
1998 - WWF ran at Madison Square Garden in New York City with the following results:
- Light Heavyweight Champion Taka Michinoku defeated Brian Christopher.
- Henry & Phinneas Godwinn defeated Skull & 8-Ball in a Country Whipping match.
- Marc Mero defeated Goldust.
- Cactus Jack defeated Billy Gunn in a Falls Count Anywhere match.
- Ken Shamrock defeated Intercontinental Champion The Rock via DQ.
- NWA World Tag Team Champions The Headbangers defeated The Quebecers.
- Bradshaw defeated Barry Windham.
- Steve Austin defeated European Champion Triple H in a non-title match.
2004 - WWF held their "draft lottery" between Raw and Smackdown during an edition of Raw from the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan. Here is Tim Whitehead's original report from the show, followed by several additional draft lottery notes.
The 3/22 episode of RAW EDGES OUT THE GAME aired live from Detroit. It was an eventful show, to say the least, with the lottery to reshuffle the RAW & Smackdown rosters and three title matches. I found the show to be entertaining, and the three title bouts provided solid action. As for the roster changes, most of them involved lower card guys, with the biggest news being that Triple H was shifted over to the Smackdown roster. The second biggest news was that Edge, returning from an injury that kept him out for over a year, was switched over to RAW. How this all turns out, of course, remains to be seen. It wasn't a revolutionary shake-up, so in that sense it wasn't a disastrous re-start like the notorious WCW angle which helped kill that company. The titles were all protected. The lottery was better than a draft, since the latter invariably buries the guys who don't get chosen early. The way it was set up, Eric Bischoff drew six names from a lottery basket that contained Smackdown roster names, while Paul Heyman drew six names from a RAW lottery basket. It was also announced that Bischoff and Heyman would have until Midnight (a little less than an hour after the show left the air in the Eastern time zone) to negotiate any trades they wished to make in addition to the lottery, though that part of the storyline ended up amended by the end of the show. All in all, the lottery left most wrestlers untouched, didn't affect the titles directly, and only made a few changes, some of which might be good. I said last week that I didn't like the idea of re-starting things in one big move like this, and I stand by that opinion, but the changes were happily more modest than I feared. Of course, they could have done the same thing by just having normal trades, but I guess that wouldn't have popped TV ratings, as they're hoping this does.
The show opened with both announcing teams present, with Jim Ross & Jerry Lawler manning the RAW desk while Tazz & Michael Cole held down the Smackdown desk. Backstage, the entire RAW roster was gathered in one meeting room, while the Smackdown crew was in another. Everyone had on a T-shirt representing their league, with the RAW guys in red RAW shirts and the Smackdown guys in blue Smackdown shirts. Vince McMahon explained the lottery rules to Bischoff & Heyman before sending them out to begin the drawings (the lottery baskets were on the stage at the ramp top). Bischoff wanted reigning champs to be excluded from the drawing but Vince sternly informed him that they would be included like everyone else. In the end, not a single reigning champ was drawn. Heyman was wearing a neck brace to sell being tombstoned last week by Undertaker. Both Heyman & Bischoff offered to shake Vince's hand, but he refused them both.
Bischoff & Heyman took their places behind their respective lottery baskets. Bischoff got something of a babyface reaction since the crowd got into the RAW partisanship gimmick. They booed Heyman out of the arena and chanted "you suck" and "a**hole" at him. Heyman sarcastically told Bischoff that RAW really attracts a classy audience. Heyman also noted his injury at the hands of Undertaker, and said he would get even with UT on Smackdown this week, claiming that if Bischoff were to get assaulted he'd go whining to the Board of Directors rather than fighting back like a man. Heyman had the first draw, and he announced that he drew the name of a member of one of RAW's top groups. Backstage in the RAW meeting room, the three Evolution members looked worried (Randy Orton wasn't there, reportedly due to having his tonsils removed, which I believe is true), but it turned out that Heyman drew Rene Dupree of La Resistance. HHH, Ric Flair, and Batista breathed a sigh of relief. Dupree hugged Sylvan Grenier & Rob Conway as graphics showing basic stats on Dupree appeared on the screen. They showed the stats like this for every name drawn, which was a nice touch. Dupree came out with the French flag and shook Heyman's hand. He then went to the ring and brought up how Steve Austin beat him up and stunned him last week. He didn't want that to be his final memory from RAW, so he challenged any RAW "jabronie" to come out and fight him. Out came Chris Jericho.
Jericho defeated Dupree in 3:06. Jericho charged in and threw some fists and chops. He went for the walls hold but Dupree blocked it. Jericho springboard dropkicked Dupree off the apron. Dupree scored some twos after a dropkick and a lariat. Jericho hit an enzugiri and scored the pin. Good action, though short. Afterward, Dupree threw a fit and claimed he was cheated. He demanded respect. Austin came out and gave him a stunner. Okay, that was stupid. Switching Dupree to Smackdown was okay since he needs a fresh start. He has a ton of potential and needs to be broken away from Conway (who is okay but doesn't have Dupree's potential) and Grenier (who isn't good). But it was absurd to have him lose in three minutes on his way out, as if he was leaving from one territory to another circa 1974 and needed to put the other talent over on the way out. Note to Vince: You own both RAW and Smackdown, and the same fans watch both. It was beyond absurd and even pathetic to let Austin stun him one last time.
Bischoff drew his first name, and selected Shelton Benjamin. Damn it. This was the worst change of the night, since it breaks up the best new tag team to come along in a long while in WWE. Tag teams, when booked right, can be great attractions, as anyone who remembers the Midnight Express, the Rock & Roll Express, the Fantastics, the Freebirds, and many other teams from the eighties can attest. But it seems that any tag team today that has that level of potential gets broken up. So Benjamin had to say goodbye to Charlie Haas and join RAW. Too bad both of them couldn't come to RAW as a team.
Kane squashed Rico on 0:28. Miss Jackie was at ringside for Rico, who took a boot to the face and a chokeslam to get buried. On his way out, Kane grabbed both Bischoff & Heyman and warned them that he didn't want to be on the same show as Undertaker. What a wuss!
Heyman did his second draw. He picked Mark Jindrak, which drew no crowd reaction whatsoever. If that surprises you, you haven't been paying attention these past few months. Heyman apparently is gunning for an Oscar or an Emmy, as he pretended to be excited about that pick.
Bischoff's second pick was Nidia. She acted happy to be coming to RAW, and she jiggled out to the stage where she changed shirts, flashing her bra to put on a RAW shirt. Bischoff touted her as an addition to the women's title picture, as if she was Ayako Hamada or something. Nidia sort of didn't have much going for her on Smackdown, after breaking up with Jamie Noble, so I assume they'll either try to push her as a wrestler, or will hook her up in the corner of someone new. Maybe she''ll have catfights with Trish Stratus as Jericho's Fozzy groupie.
Heyman was about to make his third draw, but he was interrupted by John Cena. Cena got a great reaction coming out. He ripped on Heyman big time. Cena ended up making Heyman's pick for him, drawing a name from the basket. Heyman said only he was authorized to draw the names, but Cena insisted on making the pick. Bischoff, noticing how much Cena was pissing Heyman off, demanded that Heyman accept Cena's selection. Man, did that ever backfire on Bischoff, as the pick turned out to be HHH! Bischoff nearly fainted. Backstage, HHH had just taken a big drink of water and when he heard his name announced he did the spit spot, spitting water all over half the people in the room. Flair & Batista were in shock as well. The rest of the RAW roster sang "Na Na Hey Hey Goodbye" to HHH, which was funny as hell. It'll be even funnier if it turns out that was spontaneous, though don't bet on that being the case.
Christian defeated Spike Dudley in 3:19. This was Spike's chance to avenge being attacked last week by Christian. Quit laughing. Spike attacked suddenly and surprised Christian with a quick two count. He chased Trish Stratus, apparently planning to strip her, but Christian made the save. Trish choked Spike. Spike hit a DDT for another near fall. Spike also scored two with a cool roll-up. Christian bumped out, and Spike hit him on the floor with a crossbody off the top. Continuing on offense, Spike scored with a double foot stomp. Christian ended up posting Spike and pinning him after the unprettier. Another match that was short but had good action. No sign of Jericho seeking revenge, but we can safely assume they're saving that for later.
Bischoff ran to Vince, wanting him to void the HHH selection on the grounds that Cena made the pick, not Heyman. But Vince said all picks are final. Heyman then rubbed salt in Bischoff's wounds, suggesting that WWE (Smackdown division) World Champion Eddie Guerrero should defend his belt against HHH as the RAW main event. Vince acted shocked at the suggestion, but then said he liked it and gave it his sanction. Heyman looked totally victorious, having taken a major RAW superstar and, as icing on the cake, having him challenge for the top Smackdown belt as the main event on Bischoff's own show. As for the HHH move to Smackdown, they needed a new major star with Brock Lesnar departing, Kurt Angle injured, and Chris Benoit having moved over to RAW after the Royal Rumble. HHH has also buried most of the guys on RAW, so he needs new opponents. I do kind of hate to see Evolution broken up, but I'll get over it.
A deflated Bischoff returned to the stage to make his third pick. He vowed that whoever he picked would get a shot at the RAW World Title. That was presumably to counter Heyman's coup, but it was stupid to say that not knowing who he would pick (yeah, I know the lottery was worked, but I mean in storyline it was dumb of Bischoff to say that). Bischoff drew Rhyno, a guy who was buried for several months before being unburied and then jobbed. Moving him from Smackdown to RAW probably won't make much difference one way or another, though he is a talented guy.
Hour two began with Ric Flair & Batista defeating Rob Van Dam & Booker T to capture the RAW World Tag Titles in 13:31. In storyline, it made no sense to schedule a tag title match on this show, since the winning team could have easily been broken up by the lottery. In real life, it did make sense, because they were planning to move RVD to Smackdown and needed to get the belts off him so they could do it without screwing the titles up. It was a pretty good match. Booker dropkicked Flair. Flair retaliated with chops. RVD came in and hit Batista with kicks and a flying crossbody. Flair and Booker traded chops, with Flair taking his face-first bump. Flair went to the top and got tossed off, which has now become a comedy spot. RVD hit Flair with the frog splash, but Batista made the save as the network went to a commercial break. When the action returned, RVD nailed Batista with a thrust kick off the top. Flair broke the pin up. Flair hit a chop block on RVD and began working on his leg. He hooked the figure four, but RVD made the ropes. RVD hit an enzuigiri on Flair and hot tagged Booker, who cleaned house. He hit a bookend and a scissor kick on Batista. Flair stopped the pin. RVD laid Flair out and hit the rolling thunder on him. However, when RVD went for a big kick on Batista, he accidentally nailed Booker. Batista took the opening to plaster Booker with the sit-down powerbomb for the pin and title change.
Heyman made his fourth pick, and lo & behold he drew RVD. Heyman was happy with this one, calling RVD Mr. Thursday Night (a play off RVD's old ECW heel gimmick where he pissed off the ECW fans by saying he wanted to go to RAW or Nitro and wrestle on Monday nights as Mr. Monday Night). Heyman said he, RVD, and Tazz could have an extreme reunion on Smackdown. RVD has gotten stale on RAW so moving him is probably a good thing.
Backstage, RVD & Booker were talking about getting a re-match to get their tag belts back, but Jonathan Coachman arrived and informed them that Heyman had just taken RVD for Smackdown. Both looked disappointed that their team was now history.
Chris Benoit beat Rhyno in 4:34 to retain the RAW World Title. Rhyno opened with fists. Benoit hit two suplexes. Rhyno dropped Benoit on the turnbuckles (like the snake eyes move) and hooked a sharpshooter. Benoit made the ropes. Benoit went for the sharpshooter but Rhyno made the ropes before he could hook it. Benoit hit three German suplexes and a diving headbutt, but Rhyno kicked out at two, which is something usually reserved for major stars. Rhyno hit a spinebuster, but soon fell victim to the crossface and tapped out. As I said, Rhyno's a talented guy, but his RAW role will likely be the same as on Smackdown, which is putting over the upper tier and doing jobs in tag bouts.
Shawn Michaels approached Bischoff. He said that as much as he desires the RAW World Title, he wants even more to get his hands on HHH and finish their feud once and for all. So he asked Bischoff to try to trade him to Smackdown during the roughly one hour trading period after the show. Bischoff didn't want to trade away a name as big as Michaels, so to get him to agree to stay, he promised him a shot at Benoit for the title at Backlash. Michaels immediately changed his mind (boy, that was easy) and said the best way to punish HHH was to win the title that he thinks is his, so he agreed to drop his trade demand in return for the title shot. He vowed to put away Benoit with the sweet chin music.
Bischoff's fourth pick was Tajiri. Backstage, Tajiri seemed sad to be leaving his allies, Akio & Sakoda. A Tajiri move to RAW will be basically a level move by a mid-carder.
Heyman's fifth pick was Theodore Long. Long seemed happy to be leaving RAW, which angered Jazz, whom he manages. Pretty much another level move.
Bischoff scored his big draw on his fifth pick, selecting Edge. Heyman was upset by this one and tried (to no avail) to claim Edge was on some kind of injured reserve list and should be ineligible for the lottery. Edge has been out so long that he had no Smackdown programs, so it isn't like the departure of HHH, but Edge probably fits the RAW model a little better so this was a good selection.
Heyman made his sixth and final pick. He looked at the name on the paper and threw it away in disgust. It was Spike Dudley. Why do they bury guys like that? It's one thing to take some guy with no talent and make him something of a cult wrestler by having him lose all the time. But Spike actually has talent. He can't be a major star, for many reasons, but to bury him like this is obscene, and makes zero business sense. It's another level move, as Spike will now get buried on Smackdown instead of on RAW, though if they're smart they'll try to rehab him as a cruiserweight contender. Of course, that'll take some doing without ending up burying the entire division after how Spike has been promoted. By the way, in another amazing coincidence, note how none of the cruiserweights (other than Tajiri, whom they presumably are grooming for something different) got moved to RAW, and neither did any of the ladies on RAW (home to the women's belt) get moved to Smackdown.
Bischoff's final draw ended up selecting.....Paul Heyman! As if it made any sense to include general managers in this lottery, especially when they were the ones doing the drawing. The entire Smackdown roster erupted into cheers back in their meeting room when Heyman was picked for RAW. The RAW crew looked sick over Heyman coming to their division. Bischoff bragged that he planned to make Heyman wash his car and do his laundry. Heyman said he could do a lot to improve RAW, but there's no way he would work for scum like Bischoff or appear weekly in front of the RAW fans, whom he described as animals. He expressed disgust with the entire deal and said he was quitting. Bischoff gave a victory smirk as Heyman stormed out and rode away into the night in his limo. The bad news is that this means you-know-who will likely be his replacement as Smackdown general manager. It was later announced on the WWE website that, in light of Heyman's departure, Vince had extended the deadline for making trades until the end of the Smackdown taping Tuesday night. It said a new Smackdown general manager will be in place by then and that individual will be able to make trades at that time with Bischoff.
Bischoff went to the ring and bragged that he outlasted two co-general managers (Austin and Mick Foley) and had just defeated his rival Heyman. Edge charged the ring to a huge pop and speared the hell out of Bischoff. Cool!
Eddie Guerrero defeated HHH by DQ to retain the WWE (Smackdown) World Title in 13:53. Tazz & Cole did the announcing for this match. HHH came out wearing a RAW shirt, but removed it to reveal a Smackdown shirt, to symbolize that he accepted the drawing which moved him to Smackdown. Eddie came out in a nice low rider. They traded shoves. Eddie kept going for holds on HHH's left arm, which was reported as still not 100% after Benoit's crossface at WrestleMania. HHH kept using the ropes to break the holds. HHH hit a high kneelift. After an early commercial break, HHH was in command on the floor. He rammed Eddie into the stairs and the broadcast desk. Back in the ring, HHH whipped Eddie hard into the turnbuckles. HHH hit a high backdrop and a backbreaker. HHH scored some twos. Eddie scored twos after a spinning headscissors, a suplex, and a DDT. HHH hit a facebuster for a near fall. Eddie blocked the pedigree and hit three German suplexes. Flair & Batista came out, still allied with HHH even though he's leaving RAW. Flair distracted the ref, while Batista slipped the title belt to HHH. John Cena & Rey Mysterio Jr. ran in and went after Flair & Batista. While the ref was distracted by all this, Michaels went in and gave HHH the chin music before he could wallop Eddie with the belt. HBK then did a plancha on Flair & Batitsta. Eddie went to the top to deliver a frog splash on HHH, but Christian ran out and shoved him off in full view of the ref, who signaled for the DQ. It soon became apparent that most of this interference was because of the RAW vs. Smackdown rivalry (presumably Christian wanted the recent RAW guy HHH to beat the established Smackdown champ), and soon both rooms emptied as the RAW and Smackdown guys brawled all over around the ring and up the ramp. When the Smackdown guys started getting the upper hand, Austin sent in some more RAW guys. The show left the air with the blue shirts battling the red shirts all over the place. We could have probably done without that. The match itself didn't draw as much heat as one would expect, but it was good until the DQ ending.
Draft Note #1: The next day, WWE announced that Triple H was being traded back to Raw in exchange for The Dudley Boyz and Booker T being sent to Smackdown. So, Triple H was back to being a Raw wrestler without ever even appearing on an edition of Smackdown.
Draft Note #2: A-Train and Chuck Palumbo were sent to Raw in exchange for Rico and Miss Jackie being sent to Smackdown.
Draft Note #3: Due to Paul Heyman's departure, Kurt Angle (who was recovering from neck surgery) would become the new General Manager of Smackdown
2006 - WWE signed Andrew "Test" Martin to return to the company as part of the ECW brand.
2007 - WWE released Rebecca DiPietro, who worked as an interviewer for their ECW brand.
2007 - While continuing their investigation into the alleged steroid distribution network in Florida that has implicated numerous pro athletes, Sports Illustrated's website posted a story where they reported that they have documents that show a number of WWE wrestlers' names have been linked to the investigation.
In addition to Kurt Angle, who the magazine already named previously in articled, they also reported:
"According to the official documents we reviewed, (Arizona Dr. David) Wilbirt was billed for HCG and the steroid stanozolol that were sent to WWE star Eddie Guerrero in early 2005. (Guerrero died on Nov. 13, 2005, in a Minneapolis hotel room due to what a coroner later ruled as heart disease, complicated by an enlarged heart resulting from a history of anabolic steroid use.) Wilbirt also allegedly issued prescriptions for the steroids nandrolone and stanozolol to Oscar Gutierrez, whose stage name is Rey Mysterio. (Through the WWE, Gutierrez declined comment.)"
They also reported the following:
"In total, there were 11 professional wrestlers listed in the documents that we saw. Some of these wrestlers are working as independents; some are out of the business entirely; others are first-tier stars. Consider Randy Orton, who allegedly received eight prescriptions for six different drugs -- stanozolol, nandrolone, anastrozole, Clomiphene citrate, oxandrolone and testosterone -- between March 2004 and August 2004. (Through the WWE, Orton declined comment.) Interestingly, according to the documents, Orton's prescriptions came from the same two doctors whose names appeared on the prescriptions in major league outfielder Gary Matthews Jr.'s file."
They later wrote:
"According to the documents two prominent wrestlers, Adam Copeland, a.k.a. Edge, and Shane Helms, a.k.a. The Hurricane, received HGH. (Through the WWE, Copeland and Helms didn't respond to a request for comment.) But virtually all the others allegedly received a wide variety of anabolic steroids. In each case these were supplied by Applied, the Mobile, Ala., compounding pharmacy that was raided last fall."
When SI.com asked their reporters if WWE has a drug policy, the reporters, Luis Fernando Llosa and L. Jon Wertheim said, "Llosa/Wertheim: Gary Davis, a WWE spokesman, pointed us to a Talent Wellness Program instituted in February 2006. As to whether anabolic steroids and HGH are banned, Davis sent us an email quoting the policy: 'The WWE policy prohibits the use of performance-enhancing drugs, as well as other prescription drugs which can be abused, if taken for other than a legitimate medical purpose pursuant to a valid prescription from a licensed and treating physician. For purposes of WWE's policy, prescriptions obtained over the Internet and/or from suppliers of prescription drugs from the Internet are not considered to have been given for a legitimate medical purpose.' Citing privacy issues, Davis declined to say whether WWE wrestlers have tested positive for banned substances since the policy was implemented."
Shane "Hurricane" Helms responded to the report via his MySpace.com blog, writing, "Now, before I clear the air, I wanna ask a question? If you get hurt and a doctor prescribes you a medicine/drug and therapy to help you and you take it, did that become wrong somewhere? Did I miss a meeting? No need to answer because apparently the answer is yes. Apparently pro wrestlers never get hurt and if they do they aren't allowed to get treatment. So anyway, here's the story, several years ago I had hurt my knee and was advised by 2 different doctors to undergo this particular therapy. I didn't ask for it, hell, I didn't even know about it, all I knew is that I didn't want to have to have surgery. Not to mention that I would like for my life after wrestling to be as painless as possible. I won't be able to wrestle forever and I would hope that I'm entitled to the best quality of life availalbe to me when that time comes. I would like to think that it's well in my human rights to take whatever a doctor tells me to if it helps my condition and relieves my pain. Isn't that what everyone goes to a doctor for? Shane Helms committed no crime and did absolutely nothing illegal. And that is a FACT!!! Trust me, there are a million ways to get any kind of legal or illegal medicine/drug you want. However, I was under the assumption that going thru a doctor, getting treatment and therapy for a totally LEGAL medicine was the right way to go about dealing with this particular injury. And this injury that might have led to surgery had I not taken the therapy that I did. It's strange how that part of the story was conviently left out! Besides, look at me! I'm not 300 lbs of muscle, the biggest I've ever been is 215, I'm not abusing ANYTHING other that the abuse my body takes doing the job I love. Hell, I didn't even drink alcohol until I was 27. Now I get that this "reporter" was just doing his job and was only using certain names from his list to sensationalize the article. And I guess it makes it sound more colorful to use the name Hurricane although I haven't been The Hurricane in almost 2 years now. Hell I guess this guy can pretty much get away with saying whatever he feels, I honestly don't know. I don't know him and I don't even deal with that particular Doctor anymore either. And if that Doctor did anything wrong himself, as long as it didn't involve me it shouldn't concern me or be directed towards me. Am I making an excuse? Not at all. Making up an excuse would be admitting that I did something wrong or illegal. I did neither. I'm just a guy that has torn his body to shreds for the job he loves. And there are times that I've had to do to the hospital and get different kinds of medicines/drugs/whatever to help me heal. I'm not Wolverine, I can't heal from every injury instantaneaously (sic). I get hurt! And I'll get hurt again. I've said a million times, I never got into wrestling for the fame or the fortune, I got into because I genuinely love it. I put 100% of my heart into it and unfortunately my body pays the price. That's not a complaint, that's simply . . . reality."
Helms' blog also discusses his recent bout with the flu and how he toughed out his illness while wrestling Chris Benoit on Smackdown. Helms noted that his illness hadn't been reported and questioned why websites only focused on the negative aspects of the business, writing, "Now strangely enough but not surprisingly at all, this story didn't make any of the wrestling news websites. I guess making wrestling or wrestlers (especially me) look good is something they don't like to do much anymore, there's no "HITS" off of good news ya know? :) It boggles my mind when I think about how much exposure these "enemies of pro-wrestling" get off of pro-wrestling websites. How many years have I been on the net giving countless hours of myself to my fans? How many hosiptals (sic) and schools have I visited to help under priviledged kids and wounded soldiers? How much money have I donated to various charities for no other reason than to help. All of these things are neglected by these websites yet they all jumped on this story just to drum up attention. Makes me wonder if this BLOG will receive as many posts?"
2009 - Chris Hero (now known as Kassius Ohno) was featured on Australian reality series Border Patrol as he was nabbed coming into the country to wrestle and defend his PWG championship on only a tourists' visa. In the end, Hero is allowed to buy a work visa and enter the country.
2009 - Lucha star Abismo Negro (Andres Palomeque), who has made appearances for both WWF and TNA over the years, was found dead in a river in El Rosario, a town in Mexico at the age of 37 after supposedly having a nervous breakdown on a bus where he forced the driver to put him out at the river. Gonzalez was very despondent at the scene and no one knows what really happened other than he fell into the river and was trapped in the mud thus couldn’t get out.
Gonzalez sent a text message to his wife telling her that he was lost in the hills by the river and she got in touch with Vicente Martinez who is the local promoter in Mazatlan who began the search. The search party showed up after going around the local towns showing photos of him trying to get any information and they eventually found his body floating down the river by a bridge.
The body was then exhumed from the river and was positively identified as Gonzalez by Jesus Lopez who is the local coroner and he determined that Gonzalez had an anxiety attack which led to the events that caused him to get stuck in the river. Lopez then said that anabolic steroids that Abismo had been supposedly taking at the time could’ve triggered the attack. I’m not sure if they will continue an investigation on this or not or whether there will be an official autopsy.
Televisa broke the news nationally last night and AAA soon followed on their website but neither had any more details. There are tons of rumors going around on whether the death was natural or foul play being involved which considering Gonzalez’s past is definitely an option.
Last seen in the United States as part of the TNA World X Cup Tournament in 2004, Negro also appeared on the 1997 Royal Rumble PPV on an undercard Lucha tag that aired during the "Free For All" pre-game show. The PPV was held in San Antonio, TX at the same time WWF was trying to build a working relationship with Lucha promotion AAA that eventually went nowhere, although Negro and others did appear on WWF TV as well.
Prior to the Negro ring name, he worked under a mask as Winners and was one of the wrestlers who defected from CMLL to AAA when Antonio Pena had formed the company.
Negro had also worked in Japan for Pro Wrestling NOAH and Michinoku Pro.
2009 - Steve Doll, who worked for the WWF as Steven Dunn of the undercard tag team, Well Dunn, passed away. Doll had been on life support and his family made the decision to let him pass. He had been ill since for some time dating back to 2006. He was 44 years old at the time of his passing.
A native of Hendersonville, TN Doll originally broke into the business in the mid-1980s and worked for a number of territories, including Don Owen's Pacific Northwest, Puerto Rico's WWC, and the USWA in Memphis. Small when compared to the larger physiques of the era, he was mostly a tag team performer, originally as one half of the Southern Rockers with Scott Peterson (the pair held the PNW Tag Team belts on numerous occasions) and then later with Rex King and Reno Riggins.
Alongside King, who was re-christened Timothy Well, the two worked full-time for WWF as an undercard team managed at times by Harvey Wippleman. They were never given a sizeable push and were used in competitive bouts to get over the bigger stars or used in comedy roles, including a short TV feud with the Bushwhackers.
After leaving the WWF, Doll returned to the USWA and worked for that promotion during its dying days. He did some shots for WCW in the mid-1990s, including becoming part of a trivia answer in that he and Mike Enos were wrestling when Scott Hall showed up to kick off the NWO storyline.
Doll returned to his native TN as well, working Nashville independent Music City Wrestling as part of a team with Riggins and at one point, also operated a wrestling school with him.
2010 - MTV began promoting that they would be debuting a Lucha Libre series. The original plan was to re-voice AAA tapes from Mexico but the project soon morphed into the Lucha Libre USA Masked Warriors series.
2010 - WWE broadcast Raw, garnering a 3.24 rating. Richard Trionfo filed the following TV report:We are live from San Jose, California and your announcers are Michael ‘Why did they ask me to wear a Ray Fosse jersey tonight’ Cole and Jerry ‘I got my Wrestlemania tickets through Priceline’ Lawler.
We begin with Shawn Michaels coming to the ring. We see footage from last week when the Undertaker beat Drew McIntyre for his third first loss in WWE only to be confronted by Shawn Michaels after the match when Shawn gave him Sweet Chin Music.
Shawn says that he has a feeling and it is the same feeling that he had in January 1992 before he threw Marty Jannetty through the Barbershop window. It is the same feeling he had in March 1996 when he beat Bret Hart for the World Title. It is the same feeling he had last week before kicking the Undertaker’s teeth down his throat. It is the feeling that he can do absolutely anything. Anything means beating the Undertaker at Wrestlemania. Shawn says that he has to hand it to the company because there is a new Shawn Michaels DVD out called ‘My Journey’ just when he puts his career on the line. It makes it seem like everything is coming to an end. Shawn tells people to clear off some space on the DVD shelf because he is about to give us Volume two. He says that this is not the end, it is only the beginning. Shawn says that he will no longer be known as the showstopper, the Heartbreak Kid, or the co-founder of Degeneration X. He might even stop being known as Shawn Michaels. He will be remembered as the one and only man who ended the Undertaker’s undefeated streak. Shawn tells the Dead Man that in six days he will . . .
The lights go out and we see a clip from the Shawn Michaels’ career.
There is a graphic that says Shawn Michaels Career 1985-2010 at the end of the video package.
Shawn says that a video package is not going to intimidate him so he tells Undertaker to come out and meet him face to face.
Pete Rose comes out and he tells Shawn that he wants to be the first to wish Shawn luck because he says that Shawn is the right man to end the streak. Pete says that as guest host, he wants Shawn to compete tonight against Undertaker’s brother . . . Kane with the same Wrestlemania stipulation. He wants revenge for what Kane has done to him. Shawn says that he will get revenge for Pete and for himself.
Pete wishes Shawn luck tonight.
Cole and Lawler talk about the match between Shawn and Kane.
Cole then talks about the first time that Cena and Batista met in the ring and we go back to Summerslam 2008.
They have their final face off tonight in the ring.
We go to commercial.
We are back with the WWE Rewind: Morrison and R Truth’s non-match against Big Show and Miz two weeks ago on Raw.
Match Number One: The Miz with Big Show versus John Morrison with R Truth
Truth and Show join Cole and Lawler at the announce table.
They lock up and Morrison with a front face lock and a near fall. Morrison with another near fall and then he returns to the front face lock. Miz yells at Morrison and slaps him but Morrison with a punch of his own and a kick. Morrison with a knee that sends Miz to the floor. Miz runs away from the ring but he runs into a boot and then Morrison with an Asai moonsault and we go to commercial.
We are back and Miz with a chin lock on Morrison and then he rakes the face. We see footage from the commercial when Miz hit a neckbreaker in the ropes and Morrison hit the apron. We see another neckbreaker. We are back to live action and Miz sends Morrision head first into the mat but Miz misses a running kick and Morrison gets a near fall. Miz gets another near fall after a kick to the head and then he rubs Morrison’s face in the mat and works on the neck some more with a chin lock. Morrison with forearms and punches to Miz in the corner and the referee pulls him out of the corner. Morrison runs into an elbow but Morrison with a Shining Wizard for a near fall followed by punches to Miz. Morrison with a slide and he trips Miz. Morrison goes up top and Miz crotches Morrison and then punches Morrison. Miz tries for a superplex but Morrison blocks it and then hits a sunset flip power bomb and then Morrison has to go for the split legged corkscrew moonsault for the three count.
Winner: John Morrison
After the match, Big Show pushes Truth down but Morrison with a drop kick to Show as he tries to get into the ring. Morrison and Truth escape Show’s rage and head up the ramp.
Triple H is getting ready in the locker room and his tag team partner enters. Hunter wants to know why he would want to talk to him. Is it because they have common enemies that their past goes away. Hunter threatens to knocks Orton down if he gets in his way. Orton reminds Hunter that he still has to make it to Wrestlemania.
We go to commercial.
We are back and the San Francisco 49ers are in the building.
We take a look back at the Elimination Chamber pay per view when John Cena lost the WWE title for the second time after he won it in the Elimination Chamber. This time it was Batista.
Jack Swagger is at ringside with Cole and Lawler to talk about the final qualifier is for the Money in the Bank Match.
Match Number Two: Kofi Kingston versus Vladimir Kozlov in a Money in the Bank Qualifying Match
Kofi with kicks to the leg but Kozlov with a leg sweep and Kofi goes to the floor. Kofi drops Kozlov on the top rope and then he connects with forearms but Kozlov with a running head butt. Kozlov with head butts to the chest followed by an overhead overhook suplex for a near fall. Kozlov with a back breaker on Kofi but Kofi escapes the hold but Kozlov catches Kofi and hits a fallaway slam. Kozlov drops Kofi on the top turnbuckles an head butts him and then kicks Kofi in the chest. Kozlov tries for a running power slam but Kofi holds the ropes and then hits a DDT to counter. Kofi hits Trouble in Paradise and gets the three count.
Winner: Kofi Kingston
After the match, Kofi points at the briefcase because he is contractually obligated.
We go to commercial.
We are back and Michael Cole talks about Stu Hart’s induction into the Hall of Fame and says that Bret will be inducting him. Jerry talks about how Bret was not injured. Cole says that Bret will be on Raw tonight to address Vince McMahon.
We see footage from last week’s match between Randy Orton and Triple H that led to tonight’s match.
Cody talks about the Triple Threat Match on Sunday and he mentions that it is every man for himself. Cody talks about eighteen months of verbal tirades and tantrums, but after eighteen months, they are finally free. Cody says that people want to think that it was Randy who took them under his wing, but look at what they have done. Cody says that Randy Orton needed them.
Ted says that it doesn’t matter whether it is him or Cody who wins, it only matters that Randy loses. At that point Randy’s ignorance will be revealed.
Cody says that people say that Randy is the future but he is six years younger than Randy and three years younger than Ted.
Ted says that they aren’t the most liked and are probably not on people’s Christmas card lists. Ted says that isn’t their fault that everyone wasn’t brought up in the level of luxury he has. The fans and Randy Orton do not respect him. At this time next week, everyone will respect them.
Cody says that he will win the match on Sunday.
Match Number Three: Cody Rhodes, Ted DiBiase, and Sheamus versus Randy Orton and Triple H in a Super Duper Epsenhart Special
Hunter and Sheamus start things off but before they lock up Cody is tagged in. Hunter with a kick and punch as he backs Cody into the corner. Hunter with an Irish whip and running clothesline. Hunter runs into a boot from Cody and DiBiase is tagged in but he runs into a clothesline. Hunter works on the arm and he hesitates before thinking about a tag but DiBiase with a forearm and punches. DiBiase with a punch but Hunter with a face buster to DiBiase and then he knocks Sheamus off the apron. DiBiase with a drop kick and Hunter goes to the floor. Sheamus sends Hunter into the ringside barrier. Sheamus tags in and he kicks and punches Hunter in the corner. Hunter punches back but Sheamus with a double sledge to the head and then he punches Hunter and poses. Sheamus with a front face lock and DiBiase tags in. Ted with kicks in the corner and then Cody tags in and kicks Hunter. Ted distracts the referee and Sheamus attacks Hunter while the referee is not looking. DiBiase with a snap mare and Cody makes a blind tag. Cody with a kick to Hunter followed by a punch. Hunter and Cody exchange punches. Rhodes with a drop down uppercut but Hunter with a spinebuster and both men are down. Sheamus and Orton tag in and Orton with a power slam. Orton brings DiBiase in and then he hits an elbow on Rhodes followed by a clothesline to DiBiase. Orton with a neckbreaker to Sheamus and then he goes for the RKO push ups. Cody gets on the apron and distracts Orton. Orton sets for the IEDDT on Rhodes and Sheamus with the pump kick for the three count.
Winners: Sheamus, Ted DiBiase, and Cody Rhodes
After the match, Rhodes and DiBiase roll Hunter into the ring. Hunter avoids the pump kick and Hunter punches and clotheslines Sheamus over the top rope to the floor.
Cole and Lawler talk about how we got the Wrestlemania match between Cena and Batista when Batista kicks Cena in the lower groin to get himself disqualified.
Bret Hart is walking in the back as we go to commercial.
We are back with a rundown of the Wrestlemania festivities in the Phoenix area, including Wrestlemania in Glendale (not Phoenix), Arizona.
We take a look back at the contract signing and the ‘miraculous recovery’ of Bret Hart.
Bret Hart comes to the ring to address the crowd and maybe Vince McMahon. Bret says that when he came back a couple of months ago, he didn’t believe in his wildest dreams that he would get another shot to go to Wrestlemania. Bret says that Wrestlemania is the greatest show on Earth. He says that he left the WWE 12 years ago and it left a dirty taste in his mouth. He says that he can still taste it at times, but now he is able to leave the way he wants because he has a No Holds Barred Match with Vince McMahon. Bret says that he has heard Vince say ‘Bret Screwed Bret’ and he will promise that his fans will hear ‘Bret beat Vince’. Bret says that Vince called his family a bunch of dysfunctional derelicts, but there will be more dysfunctional Harts in Phoenix because they will be in town for the Hall of Fame to induct Stu. Bret says that Vince better lay low because he doesn’t know what his sisters would do to Vince. Bret says that Vince has driven half of his family out of the business, but the Harts will be there to see Bret beat up Vince.
Bret says that a few months ago, Shawn Michaels said that if Bret came back, good things will happen. He says that good things will happen when he gets his hands around Vince’s scrawny neck. Bret says that his fans have wanted him to do it for years and on Sunday he will do it.
Bret talks about his match with Steve Austin at Wrestlemania 13, his Iron Man Match against Shawn Michaels, he also talks about beating Roddy Piper as well as facing his brother Owen and Yokozuna. Bret says that on Sunday it will be the Best There Ever Is, the Best There Ever Was, and the Best There Ever Will Be.
Vince McMahon comes out and he tells Bret on Sunday, one way or another, Youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu’re Screwed.
Shawn Michaels is walking in the back and Pete Rose wishes him luck as we go to commercial.
Match Number Four: Shawn Michaels versus Kane in a Pinfall or Submission Match
Michaels with chops to Kane but Kane with a big boot and then he sends Michaels into the corner and punches Shawn. Kane with a snap mare and drop kick for a near fall. Kane with a delayed vertical suplex to Michaels for a near fall. Kane with a reverse chin lock and he punches Shawn in the head. Kane with an Irish whip and running clothesline followed by an uppercut and punch. Kane with a punch in the corner. Michaels with chops to Kane in the corner followed by an Irish whip and side slam for a near fall. Kane goes up top and Michaels stops him and tries for the Crippler Crossface and he locks it in. Kane gets to the ropes and Shawn releases the hold. Kane grabs Shawn for the choke slam but Michaels rolls through and applies an ankle lock but Kane gets to the ropes. Shawn with a reverse atomic drop followed by a few chops. Michaels with a flying forearm and he kips up and goes up top for the elbow drop and he hits it. Shawn sets for Sweet Chin Music but Taker’s music plays and the lights go out.
The lights come back on and Taker grabs Shawn by the throat and hits the choke slam on Michaels. Taker stands over Shawn and then the lights go out again.
The lights go back on and Kane stands over Michaels and makes the cover but Michaels kicks out. Kane tries for the Tombstone but Michaels with Sweet Chin Music for the three count.
Winner: Shawn Michaels
It is time to take a look back at the John Cena versus Vince McMahon and the rest of the WWE Roster Gauntlet.
We go to commercial.
We are back and Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler talk about the celebrities who have been at Wrestlemania and it is time for the newest inductee into the Hall of Fame and it is a celebrity wing inductee, Bob Uecker. Bob will be inducted by Dick Ebersol.
Cole reminds everyone that Wrestlemania is a four hour show. Speaking of Wrestlemania, we run through the card for Wrestlemania.
Pete Rose is in the hallway with Christian and he says that he is happy with what Shawn did to Kane. Pete talks about winning the World Series in 1975 as part of the Big Red Machine. Rose enters his office, but there is a red light and Kane is in there. We hear sound effects as we go to commercial.
We are back with the Slam of the Week: Maryse with the DDT to Kelly last week followed by the post match festivities.
Match Number Five: Eve, Gail Kim, and Beth Phoenix with Kelly Kelly and Mickie James versus Maryse, Michelle McCool, and Layla with Alicia Fox and Vickie Guerrero
Gail and Michelle start things off and Michelle with a kick but Gail with a back elbow and rana. Gail with a cross body into the corner and Gail hits a running clothesline for a near fall. Gail tries for a jackknife cover but Michelle counters with a near fall. Michelle with the McCool Clash for the three count.
Winners: Layla, Michelle McCool, and Maryse
After the match, Eve, Beth, Mickie, and Kelly check on Gail Kim.
We go to footage from last week when John Cena faced Big Show.
Batista is walking in the back and Doug Dillinger is nowhere to be found as we go to commercial.
We are back and we find out that the stars from Hot Tub Time Machine will be the guest hosts next week.
It is time for Batista to come to the ring. Batista tells everyone to boo him and then he says ‘say hello to the bad guy’. Batista says that there is something that everyone will have to get used to. He is the WWE Champion and John Cena is going to lose at Wrestlemania. Batista says that John Cena can’t beat him, he never beat him, and he will never beat him. Batista says that he will say it again and again until everyone gets it through his thick head. When Cena and him are in the ring together, bad things happen to John Cena. It will be the same on Sunday. Batista understands that everyone loves John Cena because he comes out here and runs his mouth. Batista mocks Cena and everyone hates him because he is honest and tells the truth. He says that the fans mean nothing to him. He is here to win titles and make money. He does not see fans. He does not even see people. He sees money and dollar signs, even bigger ones for the fans who need two seats. Batista says that everyone hates him for his honesty, but they pay to see him. He says that he appreciates their money. They pay because he is special and something that the fans will never be.
The fans chant for Cena as Batista waits to continue. Batista says that John Cena will disappoint them on Sunday at Wrestlemania again. Batista says that he is done talking because he knows that everyone wants John Cena to come out and run his mouth to give them a bunch of false hope.
He tells John Cena to come on down.
John Cena comes out to the ring and Batista hides behind the Dillinger Crew. Cena says that he has already disappointed these people and let them down the second Batista became the WWE Champion. Cena says that he has lost confidence in himself and the fans have lost confidence in him. He let Batista take his title and since then Batista has told the fans how terrible they are and how fabulous he is. Cena says that he has tried to stop him but he failed. Cena says that he did not expect this from Batista. Now that it has happened, he does not know if he can stop it. He says that he has been in a lot of bad spots over his career, but he has always given the people a chance to believe. Cena says that no matter how bad the situation was, he believed in himself. After all that has happened, he does not know if all of the fight in the world is going to give him a chance.
Batista says that Cena has admitted that he has already failed and that he is a common loser.
Cena says that of all of the crap to come out of Batista’s mouth in the last four weeks to make any sense. Cena says that he is like everyone else and they are sick of his garbage. He talks about how foolish Batista sounds putting himself over everyone else. Cena says that Batista thinks he is the Animal putting everyone out. Cena says that Batista should be fired because he isn’t doing his job.
Cena says that if Batista was good at his job, he wouldn’t be surrounded by security. Cena says that if Batista was any good, he wouldn’t be standing here right now. Cena says that Batista had him pretty shook, but now that Batista took off his glasses, he doesn’t see an Animal, he sees Dave Batista and Dave Batista can be beat. He says that Dave Batista will be beat. Dave Batista needs to know that he will be taking back the WWE Title at Wrestlemania. If they aren’t going to make a move, he is done talking.
Batista tells Cena that he can’t beat him and then he calls Cena a corporate puppet and a paper champion. Cena punches Batista and then security holds Cena for Batista. They do their best to separate Cena and Batista.
2010 - TNA broadcast Impact, garnering a 0.86 rating. Stu Carapola filed the following TV report:
The show opens with Eric Bischoff playing guitar in the middle of the ring. Did I turn on TNA Unplugged by mistake? Some fan behind Eric pops my by holding up a lighter. Eric thanks the crowd and says that there's a lot of things the crowd doesn't know about him, one of which is that he's a classically trained musician. He says that like a lot of musicians, he gets annoyed that Jeff Jarrett uses his guitar as a weapon and a gimmick, and doesn't think Jeff can even play the guitar. He calls Jarrett out to the ring to see whether he can play the guitar or not. Jeff comes out to the top of the ramp as I contemplate the possibility of a Van Hammer run in, then makes his way into the ring. Eric says he wasn't sure Jeff would have the guts to come in the ring with him, then begs Jeff to take the guitar and play us a tune. Jarrett doesn't, so Eric says he knew he didn't have the guts, and he sees the anger in Jarrett's eyes. Eric says Jarrett can't play the guitar and can't dance, then asks him to sing us a tune. Jarrett says that if Bischoff thinks he's going to humiliate him, he's got another thing coming. Eric says that Jarrett may want to knock him out, but doesn't have the guts. Jarrett turns away and Eric tells him not to turn his back on him, then dares him to take a shot. Jarrett grabs the guitar and holds it up like he's going to nail Bischoff and the crowd is cheering Jarrett and Jarrett's going to hit him...but he hesitates...and he lowers the guitar and shakes his head. Crowd wasn't happy about that one. Jarrett drops the guitar and leaves the ring as Eric says he knew Jeff Jarrett didn't have the guts, and the best thing he can do is go home and tell his little girls that he didn't have the stones to come out and be a man and that's why Jarrett isn't running the company anymore and Eric is. That's the straw that broke the camel's back for Jarrett, who powerwalks back into the ring, grabs the guitar, and lays Bischoff out with it, knocking Bischoff's hat off and exposing his new hairdo in the process. Jarrett stops to admire his handiwork for a moment then heads for the back.
We go backstage to Mick Foley, who applauds Jarrett and gives him a big hug. Jarrett asks Foley if he has any idea how good that felt and Foley said he does indeed.
We're back from commercial with replays of Jeff Jarrett cracking Eric Bischoff over the head with the guitar, and then we go to Eric who is just now coming to. He grabs his hat and puts it back on, then grabs the mic and says that Jeff Jarrett has crossed the line and so has Mick Foley, and he could fire both of them for the cost of a FedEx. Haha. Eric says he's going to make it fun for him though, and tonight Jeff Jarrett will face Mick Foley, and he doesn't give a damn who wins or loses, because the loser is fired from TNA and the winner will be his bitch.
We go backstage to Mick and Jeff, who are quite unhappy with Bischoff's decree. Jeff says it's all his fault and Mick says that's not true, but this is a fight that neither of them can win.
We go to Mike and Taz, who discuss the match Eric Bischoff just made, and then we're off to the ring for our first match of the evening!
TNA Knockout Tag Team Champions The Beautiful People & Daffney vs TNA Knockout Champion Tara, Angelina Love, Taylor Wilde & Sarita
Recapping shows live becomes a breeze when people like the Beautiful People have 20 minute ring entrances we've all seen a million times. The Beautiful People are wearing their "love me for my mind" outfits. Tara doesn't even wait for her entrance before running down to the ring. I'm sure that breaks some unwritten rule of wrestling. She begs Daffney not to hurt her spider, leading to a 4-on-1 beatdown on Tara. Here comes Sarita, Taylor Wilde, and Angelina Love...and we're at commercial!
We come back to Angelina hitting a Thesz Press on Madison and tagging in Taylor, who comes off the top with a double axhandle and an atomic drop. Madison runs and tags in Velvet Sky, and Taylor with a neckbreaker for 2. Taylor goes to work on the arm and tags in Sarita, but Velvet with a snapmare and an indy kick to the back and then TAGS IN LACEY!! NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Lacey manages a leapfrog, screws up selling a dropkick, and tags out to Madison. Madison gets nailed and Tara tags in with a somersault legdrop from the outside for 2. Daffney nails Tara from the outside and the heels all grab Tara and give her a parachute slam for 2. Daffney tags in and stands over Tara with the spider, but Tara grabs her by the throat and squeezes, but Daffney tags out to Velvet who comes in and stomps on Tara. Tara fights back but Madison comes in and nails Tara and Daffney tags back in again and they go for a triple team and a pier six breaks out. We're left with Angelina and Daffney in the ring and Angelina lays her out with a Flatliner. Velvet comes in and nails her from behind and hits a DDT...then poses. Taylor comes in and catches Velvet with a Northern Lights Suplex, but she's not the legal girl! Madison nails Taylor, but Sarita catches Madison and hits a Tiger Driver and Lacey comes in with a chokeslam on Sarita, but Tara with a boot to the gut and a Widow's Peak on Lacey, but instead of going for the cover she goes to grab the spider, and Daffney nails her from behind and gets a spinning Fishergirl's Suplex for the win.
Winners: The Beautiful People & Daffney
Daffney stands over Tara with the spider and taunts her then walks off.
Meanwhile, AJ Styles hobbles out of an ambulance with a crutch and his arm in a sling while Ric Flair gets lowered out the back in a wheelchair, raving the whole time.
Later tonight: Jeff Jarrett faces Mick Foley in a career ending match, and up next, Hulk Hogan has a major announcement about Lockdown. We're at commercial!
We come back with a video package recapping Destination X, complete with the screwjob non-finish in last night's main event.
Hulk Hogan comes to the ring with Abyss in tow, and you know something brothers, the Abyssamaniacs have this TNA on fire, brother! Hogan cuts to the chase and says that it got personal out here with himself and Ric Flair, but Eric Bischoff was right...he pauses for a Hogan chant and puts the crowd over...he says that Eric was right that Flair knew how to push every button on Hogan's back, and while they were laying out there in each other's blood, it was personal, and it seems that Eric has learned earlier tonight that the personal thing doesn't work. He promises that he's going to get this company back on track and announces that at Lockdown, it'll be Team Hogan, led by Abyss, taking on Team Flair, and with Abyss leading the pack, it'll be Flair's last hurrah. Abyss gets the mic and says he hopes that Flair and Styles stayed at the hotel because it'll be a lot healthier than showing up here. Abyss says the ring gave him a feeling of power rushing through his body last night when he picked up AJ Styles and chokeslammed him through the ring. IT was then that he realized he's not just Abyss, he's the 6'8", 350 pound pissed off monster Abyss. He may not have won the title last night, but he won respect, and it's a new day here in TNA and at Lockdown, he's going to take care of business in the Lethal Lockdown. He's coming for Flair and AJ, and when he does they won't need wheelchairs and crutches, they'll need a mortician, and whatcha gonna do when Abyssamania runs wild on you!
Uh oh, here comes The Man and The Old Man. Flair is convulsing in his chair for some reason. Maybe he just saw his latest tax return. Flair says that he is a cage match specialist and Abyss may have tried to kill he and AJ, but he failed because they're not immortals, they're wrestling gods. AJ says he had Abyss beaten last night until Hogan came and screwed it all up, and Abyss tried to cripple him. Flair says one last thing: to assure victory for Team Flair, the team captain is Sting! Of course it wouldn't be the damn WORLD CHAMPION. Why would you make him the team captain? The lights go down and when they come back up, Hogan is handcuffed to the ropes and Sting is sitting on the top turnbuckle as Styles breaks the crutch on Abyss. Styles puts the boots to Abyss as Hogan looks on helplessly, but here's D'Angelo Dinero to the rescue! He goes after AJ and the three of them team up to put a hurting on the champ. Pope with the Shotgun Knees to the back of AJ, and then he unlocks Hogan from the handcuffs. The babyfaces celebrate in the ring and then Hogan goes after Flair as Flair frantically...and slowly...tries to wheel away. Hogan catches up to him, grabs the wheelchair, rolls him up to the top of the ramp, then turns him around and pushes him into Abyss, who takes Flair's head off with a clothesline. Pope pulls out a greenback and stuffs it in Flair's mouth and the babyfaces stand tall as we go to commercial.
Backstage, Jeff Hardy, Rob Van Dam, and Shannon Moore are arriving at the Impact Zone, and then we go back to the ring for...
TNA Global Title Match: Rob Terry vs Tomko
Tomko goes right after Terry and tries to overpower him, but Terry kills Tomko with a clothesline then lifts him up and tosses him into the corner then follows that up with a lariat in the corner. Tomko gets the boot up on a corner charge, but Terry powers him up and gets a front powerslam then nails Tomko with a spinkick to the jaw. Terry with a big spinebuster and covers him for the win. Impressive, but I have a feeling that the talent level has something to do with these short squashes.
Winner: Rob Terry
We go to Mike and Taz as they discuss the Bischoff-Jarrett-Foley situation.
Mick Foley is backstage, and he's...WALKING! Jeff Jarrett is also backstage, and he's...WALKING TOO!! Foley takes on Jarrett with both their careers on the line and Beer Money Inc as special referees, and that's next!
We're back, and it's a video package recapping the Foley-Jarrett-Bischoff situation, then we go to JB, who's got both men for comments mere moments before their match against one another with both careers on the line. Foley says he's talked about walking away from TNA, but if he does, he's going to do it of his own accord and not because of Eric Bischoff. He says he's spent weeks doing Bischoff's bidding and all the while was thinking of ways to get Bischoff out of TNA. Jarrett says they're both men and they both have pride, but part of that is TNA pride, and they both want and deserve to stay there. Foley doesn't want to be the guy to force the founder out of TNA, but they owe it to themselves and the fans to go out there and give it their all, and he'll see him out there. Jarrett says he was on the outs here for months, but Foley put the passion back in him, so he feels like he doesn't just owe it to his fans and his family, but to Mick Foley as well.
We're off to the ring for our feature contest of the evening!
Career Match: Jeff Jarrett vs Mick Foley
Beer Money Inc makes their way to the ring, and I must say that I've seen announcers and wrestlers wearing cowboy hats, but this is the first referee I've ever seen wear one. Mick and Jeff shake hands and then we're off. Tie up and both men bacck off. Another tie up and Foley takes Jarrett to the corner, and we get a clean break. Foley takes a side headlock and Jarrett whips Foley into the ropes, but Foley comes off with a shoulderblock for a 1 count. I love the sign in the crowd that says "Really Awful Wrestling". Now Jarrett with a side headlock but Foley shoots him into the ropes and catches him with an elbow for 2. Jarrett with a boot to the gut and an Irish Whip, but Foley reverses and Jarrett with a sunset flip for 2. Foley with a backslide for 2, and then rocks him with a big right to the jaw and another one, and then a third. Well, Foley is winning on points so far. Foley goes for the Cactus DDT, JArrett reverses and tries to go for the Stroke, but Roode grabs Jarrett's ankle from the floor. Jarrett stops to jaw with Roode and Foley nails him from behind and sends Jarrett to the floor. Foley follows him out and starts working him over on the floor as Eric Bischoff makes his way out to the broadcast table with a bag of ice on his head as we go to commercial.
We're back and Foley and Jarrett are going at it up by the entranceway as the broadcast team is joined by Eric Bischoff. Jarrett gets the advantage and suplexes Foley on the ramp. I really think Foley's past the age where he should be taking bumps like that. They head back in the ring where Jarrett works Foley over in the corner and covers for 2. Jarrett beats him up some more and gets another 2. Jarrett puts the feet on the ropes and gets another 2! Ooooh, Jarrett's really pulling out all the stops! Jarrett goes back to work in the corner and gets a DDT for 2. Jarrett goes and grabs a chair, but Foley kicks him in the gut, Jarrett drops the chair, and Foley hits the Cactus DDT and goes for the cover, but Jarrett gets his foot on the ropes. Foley takes Mr Socko out and gets the Mandible Claw and Jarrett goes for the ropes, but Roode kicks his hand away and Foley falls back into a bodyscissors variation of the Mandible Claw, but Jarrett somehow fights his way out of the hold. Foley grabs the chair and takes a run at Jarrett in the corner, but Jarrett gets the boot up and kicks the chair into Foley's face, hits the Stroke into the chair, and covers Foley for the win.
Winner: Jeff Jarrett
Roode tries to raise Jarrett's hand, but Jarrett pushes him away before finally allowing Roode to raise his hand. Jarrett looks really unhappy over what just happened as Foley gets to his feet and comes over and gives Jarrett a hug and raises his hand, and then Jarrett raises Foley's hand and they shake as Bischoff pretends to be overcome with emotion at this scene. The crowd chants "Foley" and "Thank You Mick" as Foley heads to the back. Bischoff is gold as he's sitting at the broadcast table going "See ya, Mick! Good luck in your future endeavors!" Then Bischoff decides he's not done yet, and tells Beer Money to give "Double J" a taste of their medicine. Beer Money interprets this to mean "kick Jeff Jarrett's ass", so that's exactly what they do, but Jeff Hardy and Rob Van Dam run in for the save and Beer Money clears out. RVD grabs the mic and introduces Jeff and himself and then says that he thinks they can have a lot of fun bouncing Beer Money around the ring tonight, and challenges Beer Money to a tag match later tonight. Beer Money accepts the challenge, and it looks like we have a new main event tonight!
We're backstage watching Foley walking through the back and being given and it's...Bubba the Love Sponge, who wants to talk about Foley having just wrestled his last match in TNA. Foley says Bubba's about the last guy he wants to talk to and Bubba says that's fine, and not to let the door hit him in the ass on the way out...old timer. Foley comes back and becomes the hero of the internet wrestling fanbase by punching Bubba in the face, then gives a Bang Bang before leaving.
Bischoff walks into Hogan's office raving about what a great night it's been, and Hogan asks why Foley leaving is a good thing. He thinks that Foley was trying to prove himself by fighting back against Eric's shenanigans, but now he's got a bullet in his head. Hogan says we're trying to get this company back on track and to please lay off of Jeff Jarrett. Eric says he gets it and is fine with that...but by the way, was Hogan responsible for the RVD/Hardy vs Beer Money match for later tonight? Then he says nevermind, it's not important, and leaves.
Beer Money is backstage with Christy, and Roode says they've been sitting around waiting for an opportunity and have had time to reflect on what's most important to them, and that's putting Beer Money first. Storm says they don't care about the fans because they're the greatest tag team in the world, and RVD and Hardy are about to find out real soon.
Tonight, Beer Money Inc takes on Jeff Hardy and Rob Van Dam, and up next, the TNA World Tag Team Champions EXPLODE as Matt Morgan takes on Hernandez!
We're back, and JB is backstage with RVD and Jeff Hardy. Jeff says he knows a thing or two about tag team wrestling, and after saving Jarrett, he knew something like this was going to happen. RVD says they know what they're doing, and they're going to show everyone in the TNA Universe what makes them special, and tonight it's Beer Money's turn, courtesy of Jeff Hardy and "Mr Monday Night" Rob Van Dam!
We see a video package recapping the dissolution of Matt Morgan and Hernandez, leading us to...
Matt Morgan vs Hernandez
Hernandez jumps Morgan on the way to the ring and beats him all the way down the ramp and into the ring. Hernandez just bowls Morgan over and sends him to the floor then follows him out and beats him up some more on the floor. Hernandez just pounds on Morgan mercilessly before tossing him back in the ring. Morgan begs off and extends his hand...and Hernandez kicks him in the chest. Then he takes his t-shirt, wraps it around Morgan's neck, and Beels him across the ring, and then does it again. Hernandez with a splash in the corner and then a HUGE spinebuster. Hernandez finally makes a mistake by taking a charge at Morgan in the corner and gets backdropped to the floor. Hernandez grabs Morgan's ankle and drags him out to the floor, but misses another charge and hits the ringpost, and Morgan Carbon Footprints Hernandez' head into the ringpost. Hernandez is out as the referee throws up the X and the backstage officials come out with a stretcher. Homicide finally makes his TV return checking on Hernandez, which lets us know that this isn't part of the show! Whatever. We go to commercial as they put the neck brace on Hernandez.
Wow, short commercial. Okay, we're back as they're loading Hernandez onto the stretcher. Oh wait, we're back at commercial.
Okay, we're back from commercial and they're loading Hernandez in the back of an ambulance, which hits the lights and sirens and leaves. I guess at this point we can safely call this...
No Contest
We go to Mike and Taz at the broadcast table and they've got their serious voices on. They express deep concern for Hernandez who, as we know, has already had neck surgery, but we've got a show to get back to, so we go to a video package recapping last night's Wolfpac reunion. I didn't see the PPV yet, but Scott Hall looks like he's taken the last couple of months and gotten himself back into decent shape. He looked a lot better in actual ring gear than I expected him to.
Okay, we're back to the ring for our main event!
Beer Money vs Rob Van Dam & Jeff Hardy
SpikeTV has given the okay, we're going to stick with this match until it ends! That is so Nitro, but in a good way. Hardy and Storm start, and Storm with a boot to the gut and a series of rights, but Hardy slides out to the floor, pulls Roode off the apron, then gets up on the apron and backdrops Storm onto Roode on the floor. Hardy pulls a ladder out from under the ring and puts it on the guardrail and the ring apron as we go to commercial!
We're back for the conclusion of our main event as Roode whips RVD hard into the corner, but eats elbow on a charge and RVD with a moonsault out of the corner for 2. Roode regains control and tags out to Storm, who pokes RVD in the eyes and then comes off the ropes right into a spinkick from RVD. RVD with the hot tag to Hardy who comes in and cleans house on Storm with a double leg takedown and the double legdrop to the crotch, followed by a gourdbuster for 2. All four men are in...and then Roode bails to the floor, but as the ref sends RVD to the apron, Roode pushes Hardy off the top rope and they're back in control as we are informed that Tara will face Daffney in a First Blood Match next week. That sounds like fun. Roode with a neckbreaker for 2 and tags in Storm and both men choke Hardy with their boots. Hardy tries to make the tag but Storm cuts him off and we HIT THE CHINLOCK! Hardy fights his way out but Storm yanks Hardy down by the hair and tags out to Roode. Roode mocks RVD by doing the pointing himmick, then chokes Hardy behind the referee's back and it's BACK TO THE CHINLOCK! Hardy fights his way out with a chinbreaker, but walks right into a spinebuster from Roode for 2. Storm's back in and casually boots Hardy in the head and starts jawing at the crowd. Back to the chinlock again, Hardy fights out again, and Hardy ducks a clothesline and both men go for a cross body block and both men are down. Hardy makes the tag, but the referee didn't see it, so Beer Money drag Hardy back to their side of the ring. Storm goes for the Eye Of The Storm, but Hardy escapes and hits the Whisper In The Wind (I hate the name of that move)...and slowly makes his way over to RVD...and finally makes the hot tag! RVD is in and cleans house on Beer Money, hitting a spinkick on Roode in the corner, then follows that up with a monkey flip and goes up top and comes off with the jump kick to Roode and goes for a cover, but Storm breaks up the count. RVD with a boot to the face of Storm and hits the split-legged moonsault, but Storm's not the legal man. Roode with a lariat lays RVD out, but Hardy nails Roode, Storm hits Hardy with a kick from the outside, and Beer Money with a double suplex on Hardy. RVD comes in, but gets nailed and Beer Money with a NICE catapult DDT on RVD for 2. Roode goes for the Fisherman's Suplex, but Hardy reverses to a Twist Of Fate...and Storm drags him to the floor and goes to ram him into the ladder, but Hardy baseball slides under it and rams the ladder into Storm. RVD with Rolling Thunder on Roode, Hardy with the Swanton, and RVD finishes with the Five Star Notebook Splash for the win. Nice finishing sequence there.
Winner: Rob Van Dam & Jeff Hardy
After the match, Eric Young comes out of the crowd and grabs a mic and says he's going to keep it short and sweet, and he just talked to Hulk and TNA management, and next week we've got a six man tag pitting the Wolfpac against Eric Young, RVD, and Jeff Hardy! All three men stand in the ring with arms raised as we go off the air.
So-so episode this week. Not much in the way of great wrestling except for the last few minutes of the main event, but nothing was bad either and there were some good storyline points involving Eric Bischoff, Mick Foley, and Jeff Jarrett, and I'm interested to see where the Hogan-Bischoff angle is going. Other than that though, this week's episode was pretty nondescript overall.
2011 - The music video for Sarah Darling's "Something To Do With Your Hands", which starred AJ Styles, was number one video on CMT.com
2012 - During a WWE developmental FCW event in Tampa, FL Layla returned to the ring from her ACL injury, and teamed with Audrey Marie against Paige and Sofia Cortez.
2012 - WWE broadcast Superstars. Richard Trionfo filed the following TV report:
We start off this week’s show with the Raw brand and your announcers are Josh Mathews and Scott Stanford.
Match Number One: Epico and Primo with Rosa Mendes versus Alex Riley and Mason Ryan
Epico and Riley start things off and Riley tries to avoid getting suckered into the opponent’s corner. Epico with a side head lock but Riley with a shoulder tackle. Riley blocks a hip toss and hits a hip toss of his own followed by a belly-to-back suplex for a near fall. Riley works on the wrist and Epico with a kick and Primo tags in.
Riley with a kick to the knee and to the head for a near fall. Primo with punches to Riley in the corner and the referee warns Primo. Riley with a punch but Primo with an Irish whip. Riley avoids a splash into the corner and Riley with a running clothesline. Riley with a splash into the corner and then he hits a DDT from the turnbuckles but can only get a near fall.
Epico argues with the referee and Riley gets distracted and Primo clips Riley. Primo chokes Riley in the ropes and Epico with a kick from the apron. Primo with a chop and front face lock before tagging Epico back in. Epico with kicks to Riley in the corner. Epico with a punch to the head and he gets a near fall. Epico with double sledges to Riley’s back followed by a snap mare and reverse chin lock.
Ryan wants to get into the match but the champions keep Riley in the ring. Epico with a kick and DDT followed by a baseball slide that sends Riley to the floor and we go to commercial.
We are back and Primo with a leg sweep to Riley followed by a leg drop and Primo gets a near fall. Primo with a camel clutch and we go to a superfluous shot of Rosa at ringside. Primo with a kick but Riley with a spinebuster and both men are probably down but we go to a shot of Rosa.
Primo holds on to Riley’s foot but Epico and Mason tag in. Ryan with a back body drop and clotheslines followed by a boot to the head. Ryan with a delayed vertical suplex and he gets a near fall because Primo breaks up the cover. Primo ducks down and Riley goes to the floor. Ryan clotheslines Primo over the top rope to the floor. Epico with boots to Ryan but Ryan presses Epico over his head and drops him behind him like Ultimate Warrior. Ryan gets Epico up for a power slam, but Rosa distracts the referee and Epico and Primo hit a double lungblower for the three count.
Winners: Epico and Primo
We go to commercial.
Match Number Two: Eve Torres and Beth Phoenix versus Tamina Snuka and Natalya
Beth and Natalya start things off while the crowd chants ‘Hoeski’ for Eve. Beth tells Natalya to get out of her ring and Natalya does it but then she comes from behind and gets a rollup. Beth yells at Natalya and Natalya with a side head lock and a sunset flip. Natalya with a kip up and she has a lot of fun int eh ring.
Natalya with a waist lock but Beth with a standing switch and then she throws Natalya to the floor. Eve tags in and kicks Natalya. Eve rolls Natalya back in and gets a near fall. Eve with a forearm followed by an Irish whip. Eve goes to the turnbuckles and she chokes Natalya.
Eve with a cover but Natalya kicks out. Eve with a Japanese stranglehold followed by knees and a forearm. Natalya with a roaring forearm and both ladies are down.
Tamina tags in and she hits a clothesline followed by a chop. Beth tries to interfere but Tamina with a side slam. Tamina with a flying forearm followed by a slam and she goes up top. Beth tries to interfere but Tamina kicks Beth to the floor. Eve with a press slam to the mat and then Eve goes up top for a moonsault and kind of hits it and gets the three count.
Winners: Beth Phoenix and Eve Torres
We go to commercial.
We are back and it is time for the Smackdown brand and your announcers are Matt Striker and Josh Mathews.
Match Number Three: Yoshi Tatsu versus Titus O’Neil
They lock up and Titus backs Yoshi into the corner and Titus with a clean break. Yoshi with a waist lock but Titus with an elbow. Titus misses a boot and Yoshi with chops. Titus with an Irish whip but Yoshi kicks Titus. Yoshi with a Steamboat-esque chop to the top of the head followed by a drop kick but Titus gets to the ropes.
Titus with a back breaker and then he holds on and slams Yoshi. Titus with a fallaway slam and then he barks. Titus with forearms to the kidney area. Titus with a forearm to the upper back followed by a biel across the ring.
Titus with a suplex and he gets a near fall. Titus with an elbow drop to the back and he continues with another one. Titus chokes Yoshi with his boot and then Titus mockingly applauds Yoshi. Titus with a bear hug but Yoshi with elbows to get out of the hold. Titus sends Yoshi into the turnbuckles but Yoshi avoids a splash into the corner.
Yoshi with chops to Titus followed by kicks. Yoshi with a running boot to the head followed by a spinning heel kick and he gets a near fall. Yoshi misses a round kick and Titus hits Clash of the Titus for the three count.
Winner: Titus O’Neil
We go to commercial.
We are back with a look back at this week’s Raw when Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, and Triple H were in the ring.
Match Number Four: Drew McIntyre versus Ezekiel Jackson
They lock up and Jackson pushes Drew back into the corner and Zeke poses. Drew with a quarter nelson into a front face lock. Jackson gets back to his feet and he sends Drew to the mat with an arm wringer. Drew backs into the corner to avoid any further offense from Jackson.
Drew teases a Greco Roman knuckle lock but he kicks Zeke and then hits a shoulder tackle. Jackson with a slam followed by an elbow drop for a near fall. Jackson with a punch and forearms in the corner followed by an Irish whip but he misses a splash into the corner. Jackson sends Drew to the apron and Drew goes up top but Jackson with a press slam.
Drew gets to the ropes and Jackson lets his guard down and Drew with a boot to the head. Drew chokes Jackson in the ropes and then he kicks the ropes. Drew with a forearm to the back and hits a neck breaker for a near fall. Drew with an arm bar but Jackson gets back to his feet. Drew sends Jackson into the turnbuckles followed by a forearm to the back of the neck for a near fall.
Drew punches Jackson in the head and then he hits a few short arm clotheslines. He misses a third and Jackson with a belly-to-back suplex and both men are down. Jackson gets up first and responds with clotheslines in the corner. Jackson with a splash to the back and a slam. Jackson gets Drew up for the Torture Rack, but Drew is able to get out of it before Jackson could lock it in. Drew with a drop kick to the knee followed by the Future Shock DDT for the three count.
Winner: Drew McIntyre
We go to credits.
2012 - TNA broadcast Impact Wrestling. Stu Carapola filed the following TV report:
Welcome to the Impact Wrestling Report here on PWInsider.com! You'll notice it's going up a little later than usual this week, but better late than never!
We kick the show off with a look back at the events of Victory Road as Sting inadvertently gives himself a concussion and costs himself the match, then crosses the line by dragging Dixie Carter into the ring. Sting tries to stop him, but he passes out from the concussion and Roode tapes him to the ropes while Dixie throws herself over Sting to protect him from a chairshot from Roode. He gets right in her face and yells "WHAT'S THE MATTER, DIXIE? YOU DON'T LIKE ME? YOU DON'T LIKE ME?" and then "WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO, DIXIE? THERE'S NOTHING YOU CAN DO!" All he needed to do was slug her and this would have been the Jake Roberts-Miss Elizabeth angle from Tuesday In Texas.
We hit the opening video, and then it's off to the Impact Zone as Dixie Carter strolls down the rampway and into the ring to address the fans. At least she doesn't have entrance music anymore. She wipes tearsfrom her eyes as the fans chant her name, and she says that for the past six months, Bobby Roode has disrespected the company more and more. He's done it to the fans, everybody who loves wrestling (she pauses to compose herself), but what he did at Victory Road disgraced the company,and all he's done the entire week is talk to outside attorneys, his management cousel, weighing what she wants to do about this, and she's left with only one option. Before we can find out what that option is, Sting (back in normal Sting mode, albeit without gloves on) comes out to the ring to have a chat with his boss. He says he's never given her a reason not to trust him, but as much as he wants to agree and say firing Roode is the answer, but he thinks that's letting him off easy because then nobody gets their revenge on the guy. The fans chant "we want revenge" and Sting says that's right, and we need the right kind of revenge, and Sting says he doesn't feel like he's working out as the GM. I don't like where this is going, but we go to commercial before Sting can continue.
Okay, we're back from commercial and the fans are still chanting "please don't go" at Sting, who says that Dixie put all her faith in him and gave him the ball,and he did everything he possibly could do, but something happened at Victory Road. The company came alive, Sting came alive, and he realized that he can't be part time GM and part time wrestler (fans chant "you still got it"), and he thanks the fans for that, but he still can't do both if he's going to compete at a Bobby Roode level. He hates to do it, but he has to go home, rest, and get better, and he's going to come back better than he's ever been. He's going to put his boots on, he'll be 100% nothing but a wrestler, and he's going to continue fighting for the company and fighting for Dixie, but he's going to do it in a different capacity, so as sorry as he is to do it, he has to step down as GM of the company. Dixie goes "What am I supposed to do?" and Sting says he'd never leave her hanging, and he's got the right guy for the job, a guy who knows how to take the company all the way to the top, who can devote 100% of his time to the company (the fans start chanting "Hogan" as I REALLY start to not like where this is going) and says that he wants to hand the keys to the REAL Hulk Hogan. HOW DOES THIS MAKE ANY SENSE?
Oh wait, it gets better: Mexican America returns tonight to challenge for the World Tag Team Title AND the Knockouts Tag Team Title! We all knew this was coming, didn't we?
Bully Ray is backstage saying he's not pissed, he's SUPER pissed. He's not taking the show hostage, he's not messing around, he's going to take matters into his own hands and it's not a good night to be standing in his way.
X Division Title Match: Austin Aries vsZema Ion vs Tony Nese vs Kid Kash
First fall wins it. Crowd is solidly behind Aries right from the start, and the champion goes out to the floor almost immediately with Ion as Kash abuses Nese in the ring. Nese totally undershoots what would otherwise have been an impressive top rope bodypress, but Nese manages to dump Kash out to the floor and winds up taking punishment from Aries instead. Nese gets the boot up onan IED attempt, takes Ariesdown in thecorner, and hits a Facewash for 2. Ion comes in and dumps Nese now, but Aries escapes a back suplex attempt and sets for the brainbuster, Nese comes off the top to try and nail Aries, but Aries catches him and hits a DDT/Flatliner combo on Nese and Ion. He dumps them out to the floor and follows out with the heat seeking missile, but turns around right into a dive from Kash. Ion gets onto the apron, frames up his shot, and moonsaults onto Kash and Aries. Aries goes down and holds his head as Nese wipes everyone out with a dive of his own. All the challengers goback into the ringand fight it out, but Ariessneaks in and dumps all three of them in the Tower of Doom. Oh, wait a minute: Bully Ray runs in and attacks all the challengers, causing...
NO CONTEST
Aries acts all indignant at Bubba for interfering in what would surely have been another great win, but Bubba just boots him in the face and grabs a mic. He asks the fans if they know who he is, then says that he's Bully Ray. His music hits and he stares down at the destruction he caused before putting hisbaseball cap back on and heading to the back.
Mexican America is outside and (I swear I can't believe I'm writing this) their car is being repossessed by Josh from Repo Games. You know the drill, so Anarquia is our contestant for tonight and he correctly guesses the year Mexico won its independence from Spain, but incorrectly guesses that the chimichanga was created in Mexico when in fact it originated in the United States. He doesn't have a hope with the next one where he has to correctly spell Guadalajara, but he gets Josh to agree to hold the car and if they go out and win their title matches tonight, they'll get their car back. As I said, I knew the last four months wouldn't last.
Knockouts Tag Team Title Match: ODB & Eric Young vs Sarita & Rosita
Young and Rosita starts, and Rosita is so down to business that she takes her big hoop earrings out. ODB tags in before anyone makes contact and totally overpowers Rosita. Rosita dodges a bronco buster and tags out to Sarita, who rams her face into the turnbuckle and dances. Rosita tags in and puts the boots to ODB, but ODB wipes her out with a clothesline and makes the hot tag to EY, who comes in and...cartwheels around the ring before taking his pants off. Sarita and Rosita try to turnEY on, but ODB gets all "not my man, bitches" and destroys them both. ODB dumps Sarita to the floor, hits the TKO on Rosita, and then starts yelling at EY for being a horndog. She kisses him and then tosses him on top of Rosita for the win.
Winners: ODB &Eric Young
We look back at Victory Road as Crimson left Matt Morgan high and dry, then came back in and speared him to cost them the match after Morgan tried to keep fighting. We go backstage to Crimson watching Matt Morgan's Direct Auto Insurance commercials, and says that this is exactly what the problem with their team was: Morgan was never about the team, he was trying to launch a Hollywood career and was doing it at his expense. Crimson isn't going to let Morgan hold him down or get in the way of Crimson's destiny, so Crimson did what he does with his trash: he took him out. He says if Morgan wants, they can go at it next week on Impact, but Morgan runs in and goes after Crimson. He says that they don't need to wait until next week when they can do it now, and destroys Crimson before plowing him through a bunch of chairs.
We go backstage to Dixie Carter, who says she doesn't even know what to think because she trusts Sting, but she just doesn't know how she feels right now. She goes off to cry again, so we go to James Storm, who's also backstage, and he's...WALKING!
Jeff Hardy is backstage demanding Kurt Angle in a cage at Lockdown, then Abyss' "brother" comes in and gives Hardy his business card, telling Hardy to call him if he hears anything about Abyss.
We go to a video package with Bobby Roode and James Storm as they talk about coming into TNA as virtual unknowns and worked their asses off to get to the top. This was a terrific package that really took you back as it included clips from the early Nashville days. We then go out to the ring as Storm comes out to cut a promo saying that he believes in an eye for an eye, and what Roode has done to everyone over the last few months is wrong and he went too far when he put his hands on Dixie Carter. He's going to take the title when he gets Roode in the cage at Lockdown, and he'll right all of Roode's wrongs, but right now he just wants to fight him and he orders Roode out to the ring. Roode's music hits, but we instead get Roode's lawyer William Kelly, who is here to inform everyone that Roode will remain at his home in Toronto until further notice due to the unsafe working environment he's been faced with. Roode also suggests Storm face either Daniels or Kazarian as they both asked for matches with Storm, and he'll see Storm at Lockdown. Storm says he'll make it easy and fight them both to make things easier for next week, and he looks for a pen to write a note for Kelly to take back to Roode, but says he was never good at writing anyway, and knocks Kelly out with a superkick.
Kurt Angle is shocked that Jeff Hardy wants a rematch, then he goes and gets in Garett Bischoff's face after he survived the five minute challenge. He ups the ante this week and challenges Garett to face him in a THREE minute challenge.
Three Minute Challenge: Garett Bischoff vs Kurt Angle
Garett still doesn't have any real ring gear, but Angle has gotten himself into amazing shape. Garett tries to run away from Angle and run the clock down, but Gunner runs out of the back and dumps Garett back into the ring where he and Angle beat Hardy down 2-on-1.
Winner: Garett Bischoff by DQ
Jeff Hardy runs out and chases Gunner and Angle off, then his music hits as he stares Angle down.
World Tag Team Title Match: Samoa Joe & Brutus Magnus vs Mexican America
Joe beats Hernandez down in the corner and hits an inverted atomic drop and a running senton for 2. Magnus tags in but quickly finds himself in the wrong part of town, as Mexican America hits the Beverly Drop for 2 and then Hernandez locks him in a bearhug. Magnus fights his way free, but Hernandez nearly knocks him into next week with a running shoulderblock. Mexican America goes for what would have been a cool double team as Hernandez tried to pop Anarquia over his head onto Magnus in the corner, but Magnus moves and wipes out Hernandez with a clothesline, then tags in Joe so he can clean house. STJoe on Hernandez, Kokina Clutch on Anarquia, and the girls get up on the ring apron to distract the referee as Anarquia taps out. Suddenly, Josh from Repo Games comes out and carries Sarita and Rosita off as Joe and Magnus hit their finish on Anarquia for the win.
Winners: Samoa Joe & Brutus Magnus
Hulk Hogan is backstage, and he tells the Mystery Cameraman that he doesn't know what's going on and is just here because Sting asked him to.
We go out to the parking lot where Josh finally drops Sarita and Rosita off so he can repo their car. Hernandez and Anarquia run out and Anarquia tries to talk Josh out of taking it, but Josh refuses so Anarquia takes a swing at him. Josh ducks out of the way and shoves Anarquia back at Hernandez, then walks off with Sarita and Rosita, who I guess suddenly are really turned on by him.
After a short video hyping the premiere of the music video for James Storm's entrance music, Longnecks and Rednecks, it's main event time!
James Storm vs Frankie Kazarian & Christopher Daniels
Daniels tries to fake Storm out by making like he tells Kazarian to fight Storm alone and then Daniels heads to the back, but he comes running back out and jumps Storm during his entrance. Daniels and Kazarian beat down their former Fortune partner and take turns covering him for 2. Daniels and Kazarian are just taking free shots at Storm and Kazarian gets so vicious at one point that Daniels has to pull him off Storm. Storm dodges a corner charge by Daniels, superkicks Kazarian, then superkicks Daniels and covers for the win.
Winner: James Storm
Sting is backstage, and he's...WALKING! And so is Dixie Carter! AND Hulk Hogan!
Sting comes out to the ring and calls Dixie Carter down to the ring (and she does have her entrance music this time), and Sting tells her that he's looked into Hogan's eyes and he knows he's the real deal this time and asks her to trust him. Dixie obviously has learned a lot from Sting, because like a complete moron, she says "Well, I trust you and you've never steered me wrong, so sure!" Now Hogan comes out and hugs Sting and Dixie (who has a big smile on her face) and Sting tells Hogan that the fans believe in him, but we go off the air before Hogan has a chance to say anything.
Well, that was fun! Nice to see how quickly they were able to completely disregard all of 2011 and act like nothing ever happened. See you later today on Stu & Pid!
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