On Friday, July 21, 2006 at 12:07 AM EST Full TNA iMPACT! Results – 7/20/06
Taped From: Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Mike Tenay & Don West
Report by: Ryan Droste (Droste@wrestleview.com) of WrestleView.com
-The show starts with highlights from Victory Road.
-Jeremy Borash is outside Sting's locker room awaiting word on his condition. Jay Lethal walks out of the locker room. Lethal says Sting is alright but he doesn't want to be bothered. Lethal says he has a title shot tonight. He says he was talking to Sting, and Sting told him the best thing to do is go for it all. Borash questioned him, assuming the title shot he earned last night was for the X Title. But tonight Lethal is challenging Jarrett for the World Title.
-The Impact opening airs.
-Shane Douglas is in the middle of the ring with a mic. He introduces "a couple of guys I have been whippin' into shape." He calls them, "The newly franchised Naturals." The Naturals make their way down the ramp to the ring.
The Naturals (Chase Stevens & Andy Douglas) defeated Maverick Matt (Bentley) & Kazarian
This was Frankie Kazarian's first television match since returning (he wrestled Sunday at the PPV). There was a commercial in the middle of the match. The Naturals started out on the offensive, but then we're getting beaten down for much of the rest of the match. The finish saw Kazarian tossed to the outside, and then Stevens came off the top with a dropkick as Douglas held Bentley up.
-Shane Douglas comes out after the match and slaps Chase Stevens. He yells at the team, saying they were on their back most of the time. West notes it's not about wins and losses. Tenay wonders if the Naturals will ever make Douglas happy. The Naturals walk off looking somewhat dejected.
-Tenay and West talk at ringside. West builds up Douglas as being a good coach who is building his team up for something bigger down the road, and he doesn't want to see his team dominated at the start of a match like the Naturals were. They then show footage of Sting getting gasoline sprayed in his eyes by Jeff Jarrett at Victory Road. They note Sting came back to win the match and become the #1 contender.
-Borash is backstage still outside Sting's locker room. Borash notes it will be Sting vs. Jarrett at Hard Justice. Eric Young sneaks up behind Borash. He says he's been looking all day for Borash. He asks Borash if he's avoiding him and if there's something he should know? Young wants some more idea's from Borash to secure his spot. Borash is about to give him an idea when he gets word that there is something goin on out in the Impact Zone.
-Jarrett is out at the announce position with Steiner. Jarrett tells Tenay that Sting is conning Jay Lethal, having him wrestle him instead of in the X Division. Jarrett says that Sting's plan is to screw him out of the title, interfering in tonight's match, so Sting doesn't have to wrestle him at Hard Justice for the title. Jarrett says that Steiner will be at his side tonight to prevent anything from happening. Tenay tells him he better get ready because he has to defend his title tonight.
--COMMERCIAL BREAK--
-A new Alex Shelley video airs. Nash is talking about wanting to get into the head of an X Division star, learning what they think during a match. Shelley brought him some tapes of matches in such places as Mexico and Madagascar. Shelley points out some highspots and directs Nash to take notes. They make jokes, giving moves insane names and noting there is a 2 sided ring in Madagascar. Shelley says he is going to fly in the two Madagascar wrestlers they were watching just so Kevin can train with them. Nash, Shelley and Devine embrace.
Rhino defeated Robert Adams
Short squash match. The finish saw Rhino hit the Gore in under a minute to get the pin.
-Rhino gets on the mic after the match. He says when he threw out an extreme challenge last week, this wasn't the competition he was looking for. Samoa Joe's theme comes on. Joe comes out on the ramp with a mic. Rhino asks him if he wants to come down and fight now, next week or even at Hard Justice? Joe says Rhino has made his point by throwing out his challenge. Joe says he's been feeling a little depressed lately due to certain events, but nothing makes him feel better than a good brawl. He says he heard Rhino is one of the best brawlers. Joe says Cornette has signed a match between the two of them for next week. Rhino doesn't want to wait. Joe charges down the ramp to get it on now, but security cuts off both men in the middle before they can reach each other.
-Borash is backstage with Brother Runt and Team 3D. Ray tells Borash to either get out or sit down and shut-up. Borash sits, as does Brother Runt. Ray says they don't like losing, and they did last week to the James Gang and Abyss. Ray says Runt got put through a table. He says they aren't blaming him, but they still lost. Ray says he and Devon are leaving for a while. They need to regroup. Ray says they had a goal when they came to TNA, and they always achieve their goals. He talks about their success in ECW and WWE. He says things haven't exactly gone perfectly in TNA so far. He says the titles slipped through their fingers with AMW and then they got side tracked with the James Gang. Now Styles and Daniels are the tag champs, and things just aren't going right. Ray says they have been going hard for 12 years, so they need to take some time off and regroup. They asks Runt to do them a favor. Ray and Devon tell him to be good and hold it down for the family until they come back. Ray tells him he should go for the X Title. Ray hugs him, and Devon just gives him a stern look as they walk off.
--COMMERCIAL BREAK--
-Borash is backstage with AMW and Gail Kim. Harris doesn't want to be introduced as former champs, only as the six time tag team champions. Harris and Storm argue, with Harris saying they'd be seven time champs if he didn't get hit in the head with a chair. Kim says this is happening because of one person, Sirelda. She says she can't stand cheaters, and she's sick of her interfering and jumping her with her back turned. Kim wants to know how tough she is, and she says she will find out when she faces her at Hard Justice in a match.
-NWA Tag Champions AJ Styles & Christopher Daniels come down to the ring with mics in hand. Daniels says it's good to stand here still the tag team champions of the world. He says unfortunately they are not undisputed champs, because the teams in the back have a problem with them holding the titles. Daniels says he sees resentment in their eyes. Daniels says people thought he and AJ were the future of the company before, but they never thought they would do it as a team. Daniels asks AJ how can they silence the critics and prove to the world they are in it for the long term? AJ tells him to calm down. AJ has a lot of envelopes. He says each one contains a signed contract for a title shot for every tag team in TNA. AJ says he heard Team 3D is taking time off, so the contract will be here waiting for them. He runs off the names of some of the tag teams, including Christian and Sting. LAX interupts them with a mic from their announce position. Konnan asks them if they are ducking them. Konnan says they have no heart and are overrated. Styles tells him to shut-up, because if they would have waited a second there is an envelope for LAX. Konnan says everyone knows there isn't really, because they are ducking them. Konnan says LAX will be all over them like a "monkee on a cupcake" if they ever get in the ring. Daniels holds up their contract for a title shot. Konnan doesn't want to come look at it, so Daniels says he will come hand deliver it to them. They walk over to the LAX position and toss the contract on the table. Konnan says it is a contract, and he asks them for a pen. Daniels hands it to him, but Konnan drops it. LAX then jumps Daniels and Styles. They fight through the crowd back to the ring. Hernandez drops AJ against the side of the ring. They take out Daniels with a belt shot. Daniels is busted open, and Styles receives Homicide's finisher in the ring. Konnan signs the contract in Daniels' actual blood.
-Borash is backstage outside Sting's locker room. The door is open and Sting is now not in stage, having left when Borash interviewed Team 3D. Larry Zbyszko comes in, wearing a wig. He says that he's still the man on the championship committee of TNA. He says Jim Cornette is dropping the ball. He cites Cornette putting Rhino and Joe on free TV in a match (next week) and having one of the youngest guys in the company wrestling for one of the oldest titles in the business (Jay Lethal, tonight). Slick Johnson comes in and points at Larry's wig laughing.
--COMMERCIAL BREAK--
-A Bobby Roode video segment airs, building him up on his own now that Team Canada is done. He says Team Canada maybe held him back. He says he was a team player then, but now he is in it for himself. He tells Jarrett, Joe, Sting and Christian should all serve notice. He calls himself the new face of TNA.
NWA World Title Match
Jeff Jarrett defeated Jay Lethal to retain the title
The match started off with Lethal powerbombing Jarrett off the middle rope as he was posing during his pre-match introduction. Lethal controlled the early portion of the match with high energy offense inside the ring and out. Scott Steiner came out with a steel pipe a few minutes into the match. Jarrett pushed Lethal off the top rope to the outside as we went to commercial. After the commercial, Jarrett was on the offensive. Lethal came back towards the end and even put the figure four on Jarrett. Steiner then helped pull Jarrett to the ropes to break the hold. Lethal nailed a flip dive over the top rope to the outside to take out Steiner. The finish saw Steiner nail Lethal with a steel pipe in the back as Lethal was on the top rope. Jarrett then hit the Stroke off the top rope to get the pin.
-After the match, Steiner put Lethal in the Recliner. The lights then went out. When they came on, Sting was in the middle of the ring and he cleaned house on Steiner and Jarrett. Security quickly came out and tried to seperate Sting from the two men. He was still on Jarrett, with security attempting to pull him back, as the show ended.
-The "Adrenaline Rush" video aired, showing highlights from tonight's show. They then pushed Rhino vs. Joe for next week.
-Borash catches Christian going into Cornette's office. Christian says we all just saw what happened to Jay Lethal, how Jarrett always has Steiner helping him pull out the win. Christian says he is going to ask Cornette if he can be in Sting's corner at Hard Justice.
Closing Thoughts: This show was so much better than the snoozefest that was RAW and "ECW" this week it's not even funny. TNA really have mastered making an hour of entertaining television as compared to what WWE does with their one hour ECW show. You should probably catch the replay if you get a chance. I thought this was the best iMPACT! since the June 1st episode, which I also raved about.
The opening match with the Naturals and Bentley/Kazarian was a hot start to the show. This was a very good tag match, and I really like the stuff they are doing with the Naturals and Douglas. It's nice to see a company that puts emphasis on their tag team division. Bentley and Kazarian looked good as a team again. Kazarian especially was really on the mark in the match, which was his return match to TNA TV.
The Rhino squash was what you would expect, and the stuff he did with Joe after the match was tremendous. It really got the excitement going for their match next week. This is something I think TNA needs to start doing more of, building a big match for the next week's show. It really worked here.
The segment with Styles/Daniels and LAX was also very solid. I feel like I'm starting to sound like a broken record here, but there wasn't much to complain about on this show. Tons of heat generated, especially with Konnan signing the contract in blood. This segment was a textbook definition of how you should properly start a feud and get heat.
And the main event? Well, people can say what they want about Jeff Jarrett, but he made Jay Lethal look like a million bucks tonight. He gave him a ton of offense in a way that was completely Lethal's style, way more offense than anyone would expect. It was a really good main event, one that you should go out of your way to see. Obviously you had your typical main event interference, but in this case it wasn't like Lethal was going to win the match. However, the interference worked here because it really leaves the fan with the impression of, "Oh damn, Lethal really could have beaten Jarrett if Steiner didn't take that cheap shot." This helps get Lethal over, something that wouldn't have happened if it was a clean finish pin for Jarrett.
Solid show this week TNA.