First TNA iMPACT on Spike TV!
October 1, 2005

I am so excited about TNA being on Spike TV, I am even reviewing it!
How sweet is that?

Another good video package opens the show, putting any recent WWE
package to shame. Having a roll call of the current reigning
champions was a nice touch and even Jarrett looked like a big deal.
The new iMPACT intro is also a refreshing change of pace, though I
never got sick of the old one. I hope the WWE production crew is
watching and taking notes.

Our hosts tonight are Mike Tenay and Don West. A sign can be seen
stating "Finally, wrestling has come to Spike TV."

AJ Styles vs Roderick Strong

Styles comes out to a huge pop, once again proudly wearing the X
title around his waist. A girl in the front row has both AJ Styles
action figures, which is great promotion for the toys. Strong does
not get an entrance, which makes me sad. They start off with Strong
missing some clotheslines, and Styles taking charge. Styles tosses
Strong around for a few and reverses a back suplex. Styles rams
Strong into a turnbuckle and follows up with some punches. Styles
reveres a scoop slam attempt and fights out of another suplex
attempt. Strong and Styles bounce off the ropes before Styles
finally catches Strong in a drop-kick. Strong goes to the outside
and Styles flies over the top rope, landing on Strong and having his
legs bounce off the guard rail. They return to the ring, and Styles
makes a cover attempt. Strong kicks out, but Styles goes right into
a submission. Christopher Daniels is now at ringside. Styles is
briefly distracted, and Strong takes advantage (about time Strong
got SOME offense in). Camel clutch on Styles by Strong, but Styles
gets his feet into the ropes. Styles connects with a kick to the
back of Strong's head. Styles flies off the ropes and gets a reverse
DDT on Strong and follows up with the Styles Clash for the victory!
This was a great way to introduce Styles to new fans, though I
really wish Roderick Strong could have been made to be a bigger
threat. ¾* for being a glorified squash.

Winner: AJ Styles

West and Tenay shill the rest of the show and promise to show us
exclusive video footage of Jarrett and AMW robbing Raven of the NWA
title.

Next up is a Monty Brown video package, establishing who he is. It's
fun seeing Brown in a New England Patriots uniform. Shane Douglas
interviews Brown, who puts himself over.

Meanwhile, Raven is randomly walking around the backstage area,
throwing weapons at people.

Monty Brown vs Lex Lovett

Brown gets a nice reaction from the crowd as well. No entrance for
Lovett, but no surprise there. Brown fires away at Lovett, and
suplexes the poor jobber. Brown slams Lovett into the turnbuckles,
but Lovett flips out of a charge and hits Brown with some punches.
Brown takes control of Lovett again as the crowd chants "pounce!"
Brown hits the Pounce and gets the win at 1:02! Very effective
squash and a great way to introduce Brown to new fans. ¼*

Winner: Monty Brown

Bound for Glory ad is up next. Did I mention that TNA has a top
notch production crew? Following this is a video package for the X
division. AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, Petey Williams, Chris Sabin, and
Christopher Daniels get mad props in this.

Petey Williams vs Alex Shelly vs Chris Sabin

Ah, here we go. Petey Williams of Team Canada makes his way to the
ring. I actually think Team Canada has one or two too many members,
I get sick of hearing that entrance music all night. Shelly makes
his entrance next, and the crowd isn't sure how to react to him.
Sabin gets a good pop, and I must say, I really enjoy his music as
well as the "Hail Sabin" catchphrase. I'm not sure if I can keep up
with this match. Williams wants Shelly to team with him against
Sabin, but that doesn't quite work out. Shelly goes to work on
Sabin's legs, but Williams drop-kicks him. Williams kicks Sabin and
goes after Shelly. A thrilling series of near-falls follows up.
Sabin takes Shelly down and goes after Williams. Shelly ends up
doing a suicide dive through Sabin's legs onto Petey Williams. Sabin
then hits an Asai moonsault onto both men for the "holy shit" moment
of the match. We then go to a commercial break.

After the break, Petey Williams is in charge. Sabin becomes the
victim of both Williams and Shelly. Shelly locks a figure four
headscissors on Sabin. Williams cheers this on. Shelly and Williams
go for a double-team suplex and hit it. Now they cannot decide who
should cover Sabin, which leads to Shelly punching Williams in the
face. This continues until Sabin recovers and hits both of them with
a drop-kick. Sabin goes after Williams, jumps over Shelly, who then
spears Williams. Sabin drop toe holds Shelly into the groin of Petey
Williams. Shelly recovers and hits a brainbuster on Sabin. Sabin
fights off Shelly. Williams goes for the Canadian Destroyer on
Shelly, but Sabin interrupts and they bounce off each other for a
few minutes. I cannot even begin to keep up with this. Sabin ends up
hitting the cradle drop on Shelly for the win. Afterwards, Williams
hits the Canadian Destroyer on Sabin! This was the perfect match to
introduce the X division to new fans, as it was fast-paced, was
short enough to leave fans wanting more, and it did not have any
abdominal stretch spots ***

Winner: Chris Sabin

Next up, we see Tito Ortiz backstage talking to Larry Z. Shane
Douglas cannot believe Ortiz is here!

We see a video package hyping the 3 Live Kru. They advertise them
for next week.

Rhino vs Jeff Hardy

The "man-beast" makes his entrance to a great pop from the crowd. I
personally have a mark-out moment. Druggie McCrackhead comes out
next, crawling on the stage as if he just scored a load of blow and
couldn't wait until after the match to help himself. In all
seriousness, I've heard Jeff Hardy has cleaned himself up a bit, but
who knows. Somehow, I predict this match will be easier to keep up
with than the last one. Rhino starts off punching Jeff. Hardy takes
some abuse, as Rhino floors him with some kicks. Hardy elbows his
way out of a further attack. Rhino hits some chops on Hardy, as a
section of fans chant "Hardy sucks." Jeff fights back with some more
punching and kicking and I wonder if I accidentally taped over
iMPACT with Heat. Jeff puts Rhino into a turnbuckle and uses the top
rope to ram his legs into Rhino. Rhino fights back and hits a
spinebuster on Hardy. Rhino goes for a cover, but no luck this time.
Rhino chokes Hardy on the bottom rope, and decides to kick him a few
more times. Jeff fights back with some of his own punches, but gets
caught in a scoop slam by Rhino. Rhino climbs to the second rope,
but misses a splash. Jeff Hardy struggles to get back to his feet,
I'm not sure why he's selling so much. Both men get back to their
feet and Hardy hits a clothesline on Rhino. Hardy drops his legs
into Rhino's "stomach" and goes for an unsuccessful cover. Rhino
fights back and slams Hardy again, and positions for the Gore. Hardy
dodges the Gore and hits the Twist of Fate. Jeff is about to go to
the top rope when Abyss comes down the aisle and attacks him. Hardy
wins by DQ. After the match, Rhino and Abyss continue to beat down
Jeff Hardy…until the lights go out. The lights come back on and it's
SABU! Sabu takes a chair and hits his trademark offense on both
Abyss and Rhino. Hardy takes out Abyss and Sabu floors Rhino. Not a
bad way to hype up that Monster's Ball match at Bound for Glory. The
match was nothing to write home about though *1/2.

Winner by DQ: Jeff Hardy

The exclusive footage from Canada airs, as Jarrett beats Raven to
win the NWA title. Jarrett is seen celebrating with Chris Harris and
James Storm. Scott D'Amore comes in and states "I love it when a
plan comes together." This is the makings of a good heel stable, in
my own humble opinion.

Main event interview

Jeff Jarrett and America's Most Wanted come to the ring. Jarrett has
his guitar in tow. The crowd gives Jarrett shit, and rightfully so.
Jarrett claims this is the "best day of his life." He wanted to be
World Champion when TNA debuted on Spike, and he is. He claims
he "build TNA from the ground up." That is actually kind of true.
Jarrett gives props to Harris and Storm, putting them over as the
top tag team in TNA. Jarrett then brings out the "fourth and final
piece in the puzzle" and Team Canada leader Scott D'Amore joins them
in the ring. What does this mean for Team Canada? D'Amore pulls a
mafia act and informs Jarrett that since he helped Jarrett win the
title, he owes him a favor at any time and any where. This could
prove interesting down the road. Jarrett goes on to put himself over
until 3 Live Kru interrupt . Konnan does his usual routine on the
microphone that we've heard a billion times. Konnan tells Jarrett
that he's boring the fans to death, which I cannot fully argue with,
but sounds ridiculous coming from Konnan. 3 Live Kru hit the ring
and a three on three brawl erupts. Bobby Roode, Eric Young, and A-1
join the fray. The heels are taking over until a familiar bomb-shell
noise can be heard…


… and it's TEAM 3-D! Brother Ray and Brother Devon have arrived in
TNA! I mark out like a little kid. The Deadly Boyz hit the ring and
clean house, isolating AMW. They hit the 3-D on James Storm, and
then hit another on Chris Harris. Jeff Jarrett rolls out of the ring
before he is next. Jarrett looks to be making a clean escape, until
Kevin Nash cuts him off! I cannot believe I'm marking out for Kevin
Nash, someone rip up my smark card. Nash sends Jarrett back into the
ring, who becomes victim of "WAZZZUP" from the Deadly Boyz. Nash
then hits a sloppy powerbomb on Jarrett. Team 3-D and Kevin Nash
have taken over the ring, and the crowd is thrilled. Nash takes the
microphone and announces that he is the number one contender for the
NWA title and will face Jarrett at Bound for Glory. Not sure how he
became number one contender by not being around for several months,
but sure, why not. Brother Devon takes the microphone and announces
he and Brother Ray will face AMW next week on iMPACT. Personally, I
would have saved that match for Bound for Glory, but I'll be glad to
watch it next week.

All in all, this was a fun and exciting hour of television for me. I
cannot believe TNA now has a deal on a major cable network. It seems
like just yesterday when they were this little part of the NWA
airing pay-per-views every week out of a grungy little building out
of Tennessee. Most people never thought they would last for even one
year, but now it's October 2005 and TNA finally looks as if it is
here to stay. I highly recommend tuning into iMPACT next week.

Thumbs up from me.