Impact! Results - 4/22/05 (AJ Styles & Hardy take on Abyss & Raven)

Reported by Ryan Droste of WrestleView.com
On Saturday, April 23, 2005 at 4:03 AM EST

Full TNA Impact! Results – 4/22/05
Taped From: Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Mike Tenay & Don West
Report by: Ryan Droste of WrestleView.com

-Footage is shown of last week's show where Raven attacked Jeff Hardy backstage.

-The Impact opening airs and we're taken inside Stage 21 at Universal Studios, Florida.

Lex Lovett, Buck Quartermain & Eric Young vs. 3 Live Kru (Ron Killings, BG James & Konnan)
Lex and Konnan start things off. Lock up, Konnan with an arm wringer into an irish whip to the corner. Konann then takes off his shoe and throws it at Lex. He picks it up and throws it at Buck after hitting Lex with it some more. Killings is tagged in, as is Young. Killings with a running powerslam. Killings comes off the top rope with a leg drop to the lower abdomen on Young, as James and Konnan held Young's legs out in a wishbone position. James is now tagged in. Standing headlock by James, Young pushes him off into the ropes, where James gets into it with the opposite team before turning around into a spinebuster from Young. Buck is tagged in. Kneedrop by Buck. Buck rams James' head into the turnbuckle. Lex is tagged in. He works over James in the corner with some right hands, and follows that up with a snap mare down to mat. Lex puts on a reverse chin lock. James tries to fight out, gets up to his knees, but Lex just slams him down to the mat. Lex with a kick and then tags in Young. Young with a kick to the stomch of James. Irish whip into the ropes, and Young nails a big drop kick and gets a near fall. Tag to Buck. James with a standing headlock, Buck pushes him off into the ropes and both men run at each other and collide in mid ring. The ref begins the 10 count. Both men stumble up, and James rolls up Buck for a near fall. Buck comes back with a big clothesline. Buck tags in Lex. Double irish whip, James ducks the double clothesline attempt, and nails a dual clothesline on Buck and Lex. Killings is tagged in. He fights off all 3 members of the opposite team. Killings with his spining modified cross body block on the run connects with Young. He then tosses Lex out of the ring. James takes care of Buck. Killings nails an axe kick in mid ring on Young and makes the cover to get the pinfall in 5:00. Match started off pretty bland and dull seemingly going to be a squash, but the match was decent for the last couple minutes. Killings is a good wrestler, and I'd rather see him showcased in singles matches. Match Rating: *3/4

Winners: 3 Live Kru

-Footage is shown of Jarrett defending the NWA World Title in Puerto Rico for the IWA promotion. Abyss and AMW are also mentioned as having competed at the event.

-A video package highlighting the feud between X Division Champion Christopher Daniels and Elix Skipper is shown.

-Dustin Rhodes joins Tenay and West at ringside. He quickly gets attacked by Bobby Roode, blindsided by a chair. Roode hits Rhodes again with the chair before security and AMW break it up.

The Naturals (Chase Stevens & Andy Douglas) w/ Chris Candido vs. America's Most Wanted (Chris Harris & James Storm)
AMW starts off pulling the Naturals out of the ring and working them over on the outside. Harris works over Douglas, while Storm works on Stevens. AMW is solidly in control. Harris body slams DOuglas on the ramp. Storm and Stevens fight near the rinside barrier. Stevens head is slammed across the announce table by Storm. Harris whips Douglas into the guard rail. Harris drops Douglas across the rail. Harris with a big bunch, laying out Douglas on the ramp. Harris delivers a facebuster to Douglas on the ramp. Storm continues to work over Stevens, but Stevens tries to come back with punches of his own but is unsuccessful. Harris rakes at the face of Douglas. Harris with a big kick to the lower abdomen of Douglas. Harris and Douglas go inside to the ring. Storm enters the ring also, with Stevens layed out on the outside. Commercial break. Back from the commercial, Stevens is in control in the ring on Storm. He delivers a slingshot, sending Storms neck across the bottom rope before tagging in Douglas. Douglas with an armbar on Storm. Storm fights out and irish whips Douglas. Storm goes for a hip toss, but Douglas just catches him and snaps on an abdominal stretch. Storm executes a hiptoss on Douglas to break the move, and he follows that up with a powerslam. Both men are down and the ref begins the 10 count. Harris is tagged in. He nails a couple big punches to Douglas. Harris comes off the ropes, and Douglas puts his head down to deliver a back body drop, but Harris nails a swinging neckbreaker instead. Harris with the irish whip and tries to hit a back body drop himself but Douglas kicks him. Douglas quickly delivers a tag on Stevens, who quickly climbs up top and Harris just throws him off to the mat. Harris with a flying clothesline on Stevens, and then a big punch to the stomach on Douglas who came jumping off the top turnbuckle. Harris with a running powerslam on Stevens. He goes for a pin, but Douglas breaks it up. Storm and Douglas fight, and Storm sends him to the outside. Storm turns around to Stevens who had just delivered a big kick to Harris. Stevens turns around into Storm, who positions Stevens up on his shoulder to go for "The Ride", but Stevens slips out. Stevens whips Storm into the turnbuckle and then charges at him, but Storm uses the ropes to rise out of the corner over the top of Stevens. Stevens then turns around into a big superkick from Storm. AMW signals for the Death Sentence. Douglas pulls Storm out of the ring and throws him into the railing. Candido then gets in the ring and nails a forearm, which is in a cast, to the head of Harris thus confirming he was indeed faking his injury. Candido then positions Stevens on top of Harris, as the ref turns around after being distracted by Douglas to make the 3 count in a match that went 7:32. I enjoyed this match for what it was, and it had some good action for another short TV match. The all out brawl at the beginning set a good tone for the rest of the match. Both of these tags teams have a lot of potential and perform well week in and week out. I think the Naturals are among the more underrated wrestlers in the company. Match Rating: **1/2. If it was a longer match at this pace, it could have broken through to the *** category.

Winners: The Naturals

-A highlight package airs for the six man main event at Lockdown.

Raven & Abyss vs. Jeff Hardy & AJ Styles
Hardy and Raven start off. Or at least they were going to, but Raven backed away and tagged in Abyss to start. They lock up, Abyss with a knee. Abyss follows taht up with a couple clubbing left forearms. Hardy off the ropes with a couple clotheslines that don't knock down Abyss. Hardy comes off the ropes a third time, and Abyss gives him a big boot. Abyss comes off the ropes, adn goes for a leg drop but Hardy moves. Hardy flips over the top of a seated Abyss, and snaps Abyss' neck down (a move Mr. Perfect used to have perfected). Styles is tagged in. Hardy nails his double leg drop to the lower abdoment of Abyss before leaving the ring. Styles then adds in a knee drop of his own to the face of Abyss. Styles with some punches on Abyss, and he then clotheslines Abyss over the top rope to the outside. Raven comes in. Styles with a huge dropkick on Raven, followed by a spinning backkick. Styles with some big rights hands, eventually sending a groggy Raven into the corner. Styles with more punches, and he then slams Raven into the other turnbuckle. Styles with an irish whip sending Raven to the opposite turnbuckle. Styles then drapes Raven across the middle rope, and Styles slingshots over the top rope, and connects with a leg drop to the back of Raven's neck on the other side of the ropes. Styles gets up, and he goes to springboard off the top rope, but Abyss shakes the ropes. Styles falls, and Abyss gives him some punches before Styles falls to the arena floor. Abyss throws Styles into the steel steps, which Styles flips over the top of more than he hits in. Abyss throws Styles back into the ring and Raven gets a near fall. Abyss is tagged in. Abyss throws Styles into the corner, and then comes in with a big splash on Styles. Abyss with a clubbing right hand, and he then tags in Raven. Raven with a kick to the stomach. Raven with an irish whip sending Styles sternum first into the turnbuckles, and Raven follows that up giving Styles a clothesline as he backed out of the corner. Near fall by Raven. Raven goes for a suplex, but Styles quickly counters with an inside cradle small package for a near fall. Raven with a quick clothesline on Styles, and he then tags in Abyss. Abyss with a right hand to Styles. Abyss with a big right forearm across the back. Abyss with a big right hand followed by a near fall on Styles. Commercial break. Back from the commercial, Abyss is wrenching Style's neck in midring. Styles fights out with some elbows. Styles bounces off the ropes, but Abyss just throws him up into the air and Styles comes down face first to the mat. Abyss gets a near fall. Raven is tagged in. Raven rakes his boot across the face of Styles, and then knocks Hardy off the ring apron. Abyss is tagged in. Abyss chokes Styles with his boot in the corner on the ground as Raven sets up a table on the outside. Abyss goes to execute the Razor's Edge on Styles to send him over the top to the outside on the table, but Styles slips out and nails a kick to the head of Abyss. Raven is tagged in. Raven grabs Styles' leg, but Styles kicks him in the back with his other leg. Styles dives and makes the tag on hardy. Hardy cleans house with axe handles to the faces of both opponents, one sending Abyss to the outside, before giving Raven a jawbreaker. Hardy gets down on all fours, and Styles springboards off of him to jump over the top rope on to Abyss. Abyss catches Styles, and rams him into the ring post. Hardy works over Raven in the turnbuckle with some punches. Hardy moves out of the way at the last second, as Abyss comes charging in from behind and nails a splash inadvertently on Raven. Hardy clotheslines Abyss over the top to the outside. Hardy with the Twist of Fate on Raven in mid ring and goes for the cover, but Abyss makes the save. Hardy fights off Abyss. Hardy bounces off the ropes right into a Black Hole Slam from Abyss. Abyss makes the cover, but Styles springboards off the rope rope from the outside onto Abyss to break the pin. Styles looks to deliver the Styles Clash on Abyss, but as he puts him in position under his legs, Raven comes in and nails a dropkick to the head of Styles. Raven gives Hardy some forearms across the back. Abyss wraps his hands in a steel chain, as Raven holds Hardy. As Abyss comes in to nail Hardy with the chain, Styles pushes Hardy and Raven out of the way and takes the blow from the chain himself as the ref calls for the bell at 11:29. Good match. A typical good Styles Impact match. Raven did well in this match after being in somewhat of a slump in recent months, although he's always one of their better promo guys. Abyss plays the big man role well, and he executes the "big man moves" very good. Hardy didn't wrestle a lot in the match, but he was more on in this match than sloppy as he's often been while in TNA. He also took a helluva bump being tossed through the middle ropes and crashing through the table on the outside. Match Rating: ***

Winners: AJ Styles & Jeff Hardy Via DQ

-Raven gives the DDT to Hardy after the match. Abyss brings in a chair and positionts it between the middle and top rope in the corner. Abyss still his the chain. Abyss whips the chain across the the chest of Styles. Raven then tosses Hardy through the middle ropes to the outside and through the table. Abyss then wraps the chain around Styles' neck. Abyss pulls the chain, sending Styles head first into the chair he had positioned between the ropes. As Raven and Abyss walk off, medical comes out to attend to Styles and Hardy. Styles is being put on a stretcher when Abyss fights through the security to get at Styles. Styles nails some quick punches to Abyss, and they choke at each other as the show goes off the air.