My World w/ Jeff Jarrett - Slammiversary 2009 [Show Notes] (Patreon)

Slammiversary 2009 took place on June 21st 2009 in the Palace of Auburn Hills, in Auburn Hills, MI. It drew about 4,000. This was the 5th Slammiversary event. Slammiversary 2008 was held in Southaven MS and drew 2000.  Slammiversary 2010 was held in the Impact Zone and drew 1,100

June 3rd Observer - 

TNA Impact on 5/21 did a 1.05 rating and 1.52 million viewers. The show did a 0.91 in Males 18-34 and 0.87 in Males 35-49.

In the segment-by-segment, the Suicide & Daniels vs. Machine Guns vs. Lethal Consequences match stayed even. Kevin Nash and Booker T training, a Team 3-D promo with the British Invasion attack gained 14,000 viewers. Eric Young vs. Sting lost 29,000 viewers. The contract signing with Awesome Kong and Angelina Love gained 130,000 viewers, making it the strongest growth segment on the show. Kurt Angle vs. Matt Morgan lost 101,000 viewers. Samoa Joe vs. Jeff Jarrett gained 43,000 viewers. 

Mick Foley’s deal with Rocky Balboa and the Jarrett, Sting and Angle run-in at the end gained 100,000 viewers, and finished with the highest quarter of the show at 1.12. It’s the lowest TNA rating in a while, going head-to-head with the Lakers-Nuggets and as we’ve seen, TNA ratings variations up and down the past few months usually vary in relation to the rating of NBA games against it. But it is good news when the key segment, the final one, of the show, is the highest rated because more often that not in TNA, that isn’t the case.

June 8th Observer - 

TNA Impact on 5/28 did a 1.18 rating and 1.6 million viewers. The show did a 0.82 in Males 18-34 and 0.94 in Males 35-49.

In the segment-by-segment, the Mafia interview where Sting fired the women and security gained 149,000 viewers. Doug Williams vs. Cody Deaner in a ladder match gained 41,000 viewers. The Dr. Stevie and Abyss deal where Raven debuted gained 0 viewers. Angelina Love vs. Sojo Bolt and the debut of Victoria gained 81,000 viewers and did the high quarter of the show at 1.28. Foley promo and Jeff Jarrett vs. Eric Young lost 108,000 viewers. Young turning on Jarrett and the 3-D trophy presentation to Beer Money stayed even. Styles vs. Daniels in the main event lost 244,000 viewers.

Midway has a $33 million bid for its assets from Warner Brothers as noted last week, which, if accepted, could doom the TNA game because they are not going to pick it up. Midway will be accepting other bids for its assets through 6/24, and a court hearing will determine high bidder on 7/1. Another bidder could pick up the TNA game. Or, after most of its assets are purchased from Warner Brothers, they may keep one development studio open and attempt to market the TNA game, although most likely that won’t happen.

Murphy’s Law, or someone’s law anyway, struck immediately after the first set of four-week tapings last week. While training on 6/2, in Boise, while the crew stayed on the road between house shows in the Northwest, Samoa Joe suffered a torn triceps and broken fingers. He should get surgery, which would put him out of action for about six months. But he may opt for rehabbing it. No word on how long he’ll be out, but Slammiversary looks doubtful, and on TV that airs over the next two weeks, Joe eliminates Kevin Nash, Booker T and Scott Steiner all from the King of the Mountain match.

Raven and Douglas at this point are only in for the last set of tapings and the PPV. Each may be used going forward but they weren’t given long-term deals. There is some talk of using Douglas in a heel manager role. They were both brought back as part of a theme of since it’s Slammiversary, to bring back two of the big stars of the early years of the company.

People were raving about the Melissa Anderson vs. Awesome Kong match at the last tapings. The match wasn’t taped for television and was just something thrown out, and it blew everyone away. Anderson will not be used as Cheerleader Melissa, and the working idea for her is to go as Melissa Anderson, “Future Legend,” because she was given that award many years back at the Cauliflower Alley Club. It had to be many years back since I was at that banquet and it feels like years since the last time I went. There are no plans right now to use her on television without the Raisha Saeed gimmick.

The match was so good that when it was over, Raven remarked it was the best women’s match he had seen in ten years, and he’s not known for being that kind of generous when it comes to complimenting people’s work. What we heard is that if it was compared to the Kong vs. Gail Kim matches of 2008, that this match was more believable but that Kong vs. Kim was more spectacular . . Since they always want to do cute things, they should do a deal where Saeed wrestles Anderson and then she unmasks Saeed, and it’s Curry Man. 

TNA programming in the U.K. could be affected as BskyB have made a 160 million pounds offer for seven TV stations, which include Virgin, which airs Ultimate Fighter, and Bravo, which airs TNA Impact, TNA Epics and TNA PPV shows. BskyB has been airing WWE programming. It is doubtful the WWE deal would negatively affect UFC, but it could negatively affect TNA. UFC has its own problems with Setanta Sports, its main outlet, have their own financial issues.

Sarah Stock was backstage at the last tapings but never used. She was filming vignettes to build for a debut, although her debut is being delayed because right now they are using Tara and that was the top babyface spot Stock was originally thought of for.

 The Tara deal is that the company wants to own all the names and merchandising rights, so unless you are someone with a huge name that is your own name, like Kurt Angle (don’t ask me about Matt Morgan), you are going to be given a new name most of the time.

Jim Ross was apparently not happy about Jeff Jarrett’s remarks on his leaving WWE. “Someone sent me a youtube link to comments made by Jeff Jarrett that were not flattering to yours truly and were fabrications to boot, but as the wrestling business has proven time and again, why let the facts get in the way of a good story. I have never wished any ill on TNA. I have many friends working there, but I really have no interest in what Jeff Jarrett may have to say about any subject that I can think of at the moment. What Jeff has to say about my friendship with Steve Austin or how he remembers his last days in WWE is comparable to how entertaining it is watching the Great Khali or me dance. It’s not for everybody. Jeff has the right to his opinion and I the right to mine, but we both know the truth.” . .

There is nothing more telling than the open of the new U.K. TNA Epics show. Here is the list of the guys, in order in they appear, in the open: Hulk Hogan, Sting, Roddy Piper, Ken Shamrock, Road Warrior Animal, Randy Savage, Jeff Jarrett, Scott Hall, Bobby Lashley, Raven, Tito Ortiz, Angle and Foley, plus two action shots, which were the Elix Skipper huracanrana off the cage and the Christopher Daniels leap from the corner to the center of the cables to win an Ultimate X. After seven years in business, talk about an admission that you don’t believe you’ve ever created one star. The Lashley and Ortiz things are the most telling, because Ortiz never did anything but referee and Lashley really wasn’t even in WWE that long.

June 15th Observer - 

 TNA signed a sponsorship deal with Stacker 2 Extreme Energy. They will be on the ring, have a presence in the TV show and on the web site. Separate commercials are being done with Kurt Angle and Booker T. Stacker 2 formerly had an involvement with WWE, and used Trish Stratus, Chyna and others in their commercials in the past.

The next U.K. tour dates are 1/23 in Glasgow, 1/26 in Bournemouth at the International Center, 1/28 at the Coventry Skydome, 1/29 in Manchester at the Evening News Arena and 1/30 at Wembley Arena in London.

Super Luchas reported TNA is interested in Mistico or Cibernetico and met with Mistico. I don’t see TNA offering Mistico anywhere close to what he’s making in Mexico even though he is frustrated there right now. To me, if he’s going to go to the U.S., he’ll go to WWE, although there is a positive in that he could work TNA doing TVs and still stay in CMLL if the companies can work something out. Cibernetico from his standpoint I can see because he’s getting fewer bookings since his price is so high and he hasn’t drawn well on the independent market to justify his price. But I can’t see Cibernetico getting over in the U.S.

 Most of the crew went to the famed Big Texan Steak House in Amarillo (It’s a famous place where they used to, and maybe still do, have a gimmick where if you can eat a 72 ounce steak in one hour you can get it free) where Lethal did his spot on imitation of Ric Flair for Terry Funk, including doing an old promo Flair did word-for-word on Funk from when Lethal was growing up. Funk was in hysterics at how good Lethal was in doing Flair’s voice and inflections.

Taz would be available to start on television the first week of July. He joked about it on his facebook page, writing, “The prison sentence is almost done…can’t wait.” . . Garrett Borden, Sting’s son, is now playing fullback on the Azusa Pacific football team, a Christian university in Southern California.

  6/3 in Kennewick, WA, drew 500. They reversed some of the results. This time Suicide pinned Daniels in the opener to get the shot at the Legends title, and Styles later beat Suicide. Love pinned Wilde in a Knockouts title match. This time Young pinned Morgan while same main event with Jarrett & 3-D over Beer Money & Bashir. Nick Nolte attended the show.

6/4 in Kent, WA, before 800 fans, they opened with Suicide and Daniels with the same stip, this time going to a time limit draw. Styles then agreed to defend against both in a three-way later in the show. Love said that Wilde could only get a title shot if she first beat Sky, which she did. Love then pinned Wilde. Young worked face and pinned Morgan again with a Death Valley bomb. The three-way for the Legends title was very good with the crowd hot. Styles pinned Daniels with the Styles clash to take it. Styles after the match did a promo where he said that he wasn’t a legend, but wrestling guys like Daniels and Suicide will help build him. All three wrestlers got a standing ovation after the match. Jarrett & 3-D beat Beer Money & Bashir on top. Crowd was into it. Bubba did a post-match promo saying that they waned to come back for a PPV (well, they say that a lot of places) and he wants a sellout. Pretty much a consensus was that this was a great house show.

6/5 in Abbotsford, BC drew 1,000 with the same results as Kent except they didn’t to a Sky vs. Wilde match, and just had Wilde challenge and lose to Love. Angle was heavily promoted for the show, but didn’t appear. The only major difference is the crowd got heavily on Earl Hebner with the “You Screwed Bret” chants when he came out for the Love vs. Wilde match. Love was pretty funny, grabbing the house mic and saying, “I never screwed Bret.” She won with her feet on the ropes but Hebner played heel ref and counted. Wilde chased Hebner to the back after the match. The show ended with Jarrett punching Hebner and then saying his best friend in wrestling was Canadian, Owen Hart, and the fans started chanting for Owen Hart.

We didn’t get a report from Penticton, BC but it drew about 800 fans.

Crowds aren’t big, but those who come were hot every night on the tour and clearly watch the TV and are into the characters, particularly Beer Money. Based on merchandise sales, the brand is bigger than any of the stars, because TNA logo merchandise and programs were usually the best selling stuff at the shows.

June 22 Observer -

There are a lot of talks regarding Sting and his retirement, which there have been every year since he came back. Bound for Glory is being targeted as an idea of where they may do his retirement. Sting is 50, and every year he says it’s his last year, and every year Dixie Carter gives him a good deal and talks him into signing for another year. There is an internal belief that in the end, the same thing will happen this year, and it’s noted that the new TV schedule which means he’s doing four days, all in a row, once a month, since he doesn’t do any house shows or foreign tours, that at North of $500,000 per year, guaranteed that he’ll always be on top, and probably have time off at least once a year to do an angle, that you can you turn it down. 

As noted last week, his week Garrett will be playing college football in the fall as Azusa Pacific, which is an NAIA school in Southern California (one of my best friends growing up played on their national championship volleyball team in the 80s and was NAIA MVP I’m thinking around 1985) but the games are Saturday and his limited wrestling schedule wouldn’t mean he would miss any games. 

Frank Trigg, in an article in Slam Wrestling said he had been in talks with TNA about returning, but that his new UFC contract (a four-fight deal) eliminates that possibility. UFC will not allow its contracted fighters to do pro wrestling. He talked about wanting to be a full-time pro wrestler after he retires from MMA. Based on what I’ve heard, even though he got rave reviews for his mic work in TNA, they pretty much soured on him after he turned down appearing at a taping because he said he had other commitments and TNA pretty much lost interest at that point.

Bobby Lashley signed an endorsement deal with Changing Times vitamins to be a spokesperson for their RecoveryX sports drink, become a distributor for the drink. The company would also develop a Bobby Lashley line of supplements for health food stores and gyms. Lashley is expected to start talks with TNA ab out returning after his 6/27 fight.

When Foley did the menstrual cycle line about why a world title shouldn’t be defended every 30 days because it’s not a menstrual cycle, it was actually a line he came up with on the spur of the moment because it was the only thing he could think of on a minutes notice that comes every 30 days. I guess it probably works as a better line than a full moon or a good match on Raw. Point being it was not a scripted line for him. . . Because Slammiversary is in Detroit on 6/21, they are doing 6/22 as a travel and pre-tape day, so they will be taping a month worth of Impact shows on 6/23, 6/24 and 6/25. The last word on the advance at the Palace is that they had topped 2,000 tickets sold about two weeks ago. They are hoping the $7 tickets will help with a good walk-up.

The 6/4 house show in Kent, WA, which did about what an average TNA house show does, did 1,072 people total and $29,705.

6/13 house show in Council Bluffs, IA drew only 300 fans. They at least were up to speed on television as Eric Young worked as a heel, being pinned by Homicide in the opener. The problem was, the fans still thought he was a face. You’d hope when you turn someone that you’d use that to give them a renewed push, but at a house show, it really doesn’t matter. Kong pinned ODB with the implant buster. Abyss pinned Bashir. Daniels pinned Morgan. Morgan got over to the crowd live. Only title match was Suicide winning a three-way to keep the X title over Consequences Creed and Jay Lethal. Lethal and Creed worked the match as heels. Beer Money worked in the main event on top, as faces, beating Kurt Angle & Scott Steiner. Angle seemed like he was hurting. He looks so small now. He says he’s just over 200 pounds but looks even smaller. He only took one bump in this match and his right side looked smaller than his left, and since it was the pec and arm, that would indicate more never damage than a muscle injury.

6/14 in Kearney, NE, drew 1,000. Young pinned Creed. Crowd first thought Young was the babyface, which showed the effectiveness of the TV, but they figured it out pretty quickly once the match started. Young crotched him on the to rope for the win. ODB pinned Kong. ODB was the face here. Kong tried to power bomb ref Rudy Charles, and ODB schoolgirled her. Suicide kept the X title over Lethal and Homicide when he pinned Lethal with the Suicide solution. Daniels beat Bashir. Morgan pinned Abyss as Abyss went for a splash but Morgan used a chair to Abyss’ groin as he fell, and got the pin. Main event was Beer Money, again as faces, over Angle & Steiner. Angle after playing heel, then turned face for the $20 photo op segment of the show. Angle said he spent six years in WWE (fans booed that, and booed again when Angle said they were “pretty good years”) but likes TNA more because it has better fans, even though they aren’t selling out 15,000 seat arenas. Yes, tell your loyal audience you are second rate. But they do run very good house shows.

June 29th Observer -

They have added a on-demand subscription service on he web. They are going to put every PPV event from 2004 to the present available for subscribers at $7.99 per month or $49.99 per year, as well as being able to view any full PPV on a single buy basis for $3.99.

Mikal Judas and Phil Shatter, two big Southeast indie guys, were given a short-term role as new security for Mick Foley. Not sure what that means for Rocco & Sally Boy.

Judas, real name Michael Cole, was arrested over the weekend for attacking promoter Donovan Loftis in the locker room of his National Championship Wrestling promotion in Greenville, SC. As the story goes, Loftis made derogatory comments about Cole on a message board, although apparently they were made in jest. Cole had worked for Loftis in the past. According to the story, Loftis and his son were going into the locker room and he had his hands full, and Cole punched him, knocking him down, and kicked him in the head when he was down, knocking him out. He was arrested that night by Greenville sheriff’s deputies and was released after posting bail. He has a 7/8 court date.

TNA SLAMMIVERSARY

• Thumbs up87 (90.6%)

• Thumbs down 9 (09.4%)

• In the middle 0 (00.0%)

BEST MATCH POLL

• X Division King of the Mountain 82

• Heavyweight King of the Mountain 11

WORST MATCH POLL

• Angelina Love vs. Tara 32

• Daniels vs. Shane Douglas 14

• Sting vs. Matt Morgan 12

Samoa Joe turned heel, handing Kurt Angle the TNA title belt at the end of the King of the Mountain match in the standard Russo swerve finish at the finish of the Slammiversary PPV. Angle hung the belt from the ceiling to take the title. The storyline apparently is that Sting, the leader of the Mafia, had no idea this was to happen, which will lead to Sting having problems with both Angle and Joe.

The plan for Victory Road, on 7/19 in Orlando, is for Angle to defend against Mick Foley, as well as Beer Money defending the tag titles against Scott Steiner & Booker T and Team 3-D vs. The British Invasion, building to a four-team feud down the line. The first TV show saw Sting get turned on by the Mafia, so he’s now going to head the babyface side with Jeff Jarrett and A.J. Styles.

The 6/21 show at the Palace in Auburn Hills, MI, was your standard TNA fare. The turn at the end, which has been planned since late last year (the Main Event Mafia angle is being booked like Dutch Mantel booked in Puerto Rico, basically set up a faction and build storylines around top stars coming in and leaving), is why Joe didn’t miss the PPV even though he worked on a torn triceps and broken fingers. He was hurting pretty bad, as he didn’t baby himself in a match filled with high risk moves, including Foley coming off the top of the penalty box, which was a few feet above the top rope, with an elbow drop onto Angle.

Still, the main event felt disjointed. The show featured a tremendous opener, an X Division King of the Mountain match won by Suicide, keeping the title. Shane Douglas couldn’t do much with Daniels, and as far as wrestling goes, it is likely the last we’ll see of him for a while. Angelina Love vs. Tara was a disappointment. Raven (who is not booked on TV) & Daffney vs. Abyss & Taylor Wilde was a garbage match, largely laid out by Abyss (although I’d presume Raven had a lot of input into it), and was one of the better matches on the show.

Beer Money won the tag titles from Team 3-D, due to outside interference from the British Invasion. Both teams were cheered in the match.

There was good and bad news regarding the crowd. The good news is they were enthusiastic and TNA looked major league if you watched the show. They did a great job of shooting it, as I thought there were 6,000 to 7,000 in he building from watching on television. They were into both the old guard stars like Sting and Foley, as well as Styles and Beer Money, and big into the Machine Guns and Rhino, who are from Detroit. The bad news is it was more an illusion. They closed down the arena greatly, and there were only 4,000 in the building and just 2,200 paid, and that’s with discounting G.A. tickets to $7. 

It’s almost mind-boggling how few people buy TNA tickets for big shows given the star power and television exposure. In this case, the total walk-up was 150 tickets, and for WWE, because of the economy, walk-up business has actually been stronger than it has been in years, because people go to live events more on impulse at the end than a planned first-day purchase as in most of the past decade. The show was to celebrate the company’s 7th anniversary, and while they endlessly point to ratings as showing they are making strides, every time they run in a major market, one has to question if any strides are really being made. TNA drew about double the paid attendance for a house show the first time they ran in Detroit in 2006, with far less star power and visibility. 

They did that number before Kurt Angle, Booker T or Mick Foley were with the company, and without Sting on the card, drawn with main events of Jeff Jarrett vs. Christian Cage and The Naturals vs. America’s Most Wanted and no stipulation matches up and down the show. Our response level was average, maybe a little below average, which isn’t a good sign, but the people who did see it really liked it. It’s become a thing where the people who are annoyed with the negatives of TNA are watching the TV still, but not buying the show. Those who do, overlook the negatives and just learn to enjoy that most guys work hard and you’re going to get some good matches for your money and maybe a few surprises. From a live report, more fans were wearing WWE merchandise than TNA merchandise, although there were a lot of Sting and Beer Money shirts in the crowd

This week also made evident TNA has a star out of nowhere on its hands in Daffney. It wasn’t so much her work in a Monsters Ball match, which included having Abyss throw her over the top rope to be caught by Raven and Dr. Stevie, being put through a table by Taylor Wilde, and taking a bump into thumb tacks by Abyss, but her look. One of big mistakes WWE has made with its women’s division is that all of the women have the glamour star look about them. People will watch them because they are pretty but you don’t get the connection to them because the audience doesn’t relate with them. 

WWE last had that type of character in Lita, who at her peak as one of the most over women characters in company history. Gina Carano has that as well, which is why Carano is so much bigger of a star, and gets more attention for her looks than women who are far prettier and with better bodies, and with less television visibility, is a multiple time bigger star than any woman on the WWE roster.

Daffney’s deal as this woman with the good body but more raunchy, not the slightest bit glamorous, is, as one person saw it, the one that every “loser” type has the hots for because in their fantasies, they can’t imagine ever even feeling they are in the league with a WWE diva or The Beautiful People (who in are also used better than the WWE women because they are pushed as personalities and not just women in bikinis who wrestle, more often than not, badly). But they all see Daffney as this sexy woman who isn’t out of their league, at least in their own mind. The huge spike in her quarter hour this past week was something I figured considering how every web site after the show was filled with posts about people lusting after her, even though there are dozens of women on these shows just as pretty or prettier who are out there every week and nobody has that reaction.

BACKSTAGE INTERVIEW (Lauren Brooke): Beer Money Inc. talked about their advantage over Team 3-D, who showed up late to the building because they flew in from Japan, where they defended the IWGP Tag Team titles..

A. Doug Williams & Brutus Magnus beat Rhino & Jesse Neal. It started as Rhino & Eric Young as a team, but Young turned on Rhino and left. Neal, as Rhino’s protege, took over, but ended up getting pinned.

BACKSTAGE INTERVIEW (Lauren Brooke): Sting talked about his match with Matt Morgan..

BACKSTAGE INTERVIEW (Jeremy Borash): Dixie Carter wished everyone a Happy Father’s Day..

Suicide retained the X title in a King of the Mountain match over Jay Lethal, Consequences Creed, Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley in 23:46. Curtis Granderson of the Detroit Tigers was to be the celebrity holding the belt. Granderson helped announce for a few minutes and Don West was doing the Bobby Heenan, kissing up to him and saying how he’s the starting center fielder on his Fantasy League baseball team (actually true, by the way). Then West called him his favorite player of all-time. A lot of Tigers players were there. Granderson noted that during spring training, with the Tigers playing in Lakeland, they would go to the TNA tapings. Everyone attacked Suicide to start the match. The crowd wanted to see Sabin or Shelley win, and took to Suicide as the only real heel in the match, even though he played supreme babyface. Crowd was hotter for this match than anything else on the show. Rules are that if you win a fall, you are eligible to hang the belt and if you lose, you spend two minutes in the penalty box. Suicide was eligible as he pinned Lethal with the Suicide Solution on a ladder in 2:53. At 4:15, Suicide pinned Shelley. At 6:39, everyone piled on top of Suicide.

They credited the guy directly on Suicide, Lethal, as the winner. Creed pinned Shelley at 9:29. Sabin took a monkey flip on the ladder. Creed did a flip dive on Suicide. Sabin dove off the top of the penalty box onto Creed, Suicide and Lethal. At 12:25, Sabin just laid down and let Shelley pin him, so Shelley could climb when almost everyone was hurt. Shelley climbed but Suicide did a springboard dropkick into the ladder to knock him off. Creed whipped Suicide head first into a ladder in the corner. Sick spot where Lethal was standing on a ladder perched on the top rope. Suicide dropped Creed on the ladder, which flew up and sent Lethal into orbit and he nearly landed in mid-ring on the top of his head. He barely ducked at the last second. Guys really shouldn’t be taking those kind of risks. Sabin did an incredible looking DDT off the top rope onto Lethal at 14:59. Suicide was sitting in a chair on the floor and Shelley used a plancha on him. We had all sorts of regular ladder match spots. 

The worst was Lethal coming off the top rope with an elbow drop on Sabin who was laying on a ladder bridging the apron and the barricades. Unlike when this has been done in WWE and the ladder bends greatly, while more spectacular, it has give so it is less dangerous. The ladder didn’t give at all here. Finish was Shelley climbing and Suicide walked on a ladder on the top rope (Creed, I believe, was laying on the ladder so Suicide could walk it without it tipping) and jumped off, pulling Shelley off the ladder and giving him a diamond cutter. Suicide climbed up to win. Crowd booed this pretty hard because they didn’t want him winning. ***3/4

2. Daniels pinned Shane Douglas in 8:12. Douglas injured his ankle early. He also looked out of shape and was blown up pretty bad a few minutes in. Basically Daniels carried the match. He did a split legged moonsault to the floor. Douglas worked the shoulder, including doing a Fujiwara armbar, but Daniels made the ropes. Daniels came back with a Northern lights suplex followed by an STO, and then the BME (best moonsault ever) for the pin. **

Leading up to the match - 

During Daniels' match with Styles on the May 29 edition of Impact!, Shane Douglas, who was making his return with the company, interfered during the match, assaulting him with a chain, causing him to lose the match. The animosity would progress the following week with Douglas explaining his resentment towards Daniels due to the fact Daniels was given an opportunity to return rather than him. Daniels gave rebuttal of challenging Douglas for a match at Slammiversary with Daniels' contract with the company being held up and given to the winner. On the June 18th Impact, Douglas accepted.

3. Angelina Love pinned Tara to keep the Knockouts title in 6:51. Love wore a top with the words on her boobs being “Weapons of Mass Seduction.” The crowd wasn’t much into this match. Tara’s offense when she attacked Velvet Sky and Madison Rayne was good, but match was very disappointing. Nothing much to it. Sky sprayed Tara with hair spray and Love won with the downward spiral. ½*

4. Abyss & Taylor Wilde beat Raven & Daffney in a Monsters Ball match in 14:07. This was your standard weapons match involving Abyss or Raven where you get a bunch of garbage can spots, but it got over better than most and was well put together. A lot of credit here went to the women. Wilde did a plancha early onto Raven, Dr. Stevie and Daffney.

She also boxed Daffney’s ears with garbage can lids. Away from the ring, she put Daffney on a table and did a splash off huge speakers putting Daffney through the table. Abyss went under the ring to pull out the thumb tacks bag. Dr. Stevie hit Abyss with a chair and he juiced. Raven gave Abyss garbage can shots over-and-over. Abyss came back kicking the garbage can into Raven’s face. Abyss used a choke slam on Raven, but Stevie distracted ref Andrew Thomas from making the pin. Abyss went after Stevie and that allowed Raven to hit him with a garbage can. Abyss poured out the thumb tacks and Wilde threw Daffney onto them. Stevie interfered to break up the pin. Abyss set up Stevie for a choke slam onto the thumb tacks but Raven hit Abyss with a chair shot and a DDT for a near fall. The finish saw Abyss use the black hole slam on Raven into the thumb tacks. Raven wasn’t booked for television and he and Douglas were only booked for the concept slogan of Slammiversary where the original stars of TNA face the current stars, but he did well here. ***1/4

5. Sting pinned Matt Morgan in 8:59. Most of the match was Morgan beating on Sting. He started by doing a mini giant swing of Sting into the guard rail. Morgan missed a charge into the corner and Sting came back with a missile dropkick, and a Stinger splash. But as he tried to follow up, Morgan hit the carbon footprint for a near fall. The next spot was supposed to be Morgan having Sting up for the Hellevator, and Sting would reverse it into a scorpion death drop for a near fall. Unfortunately, in the process of the reverse, both guys fell down and went boom. The crowd thought they botched the finish (it wasn’t the planned finish, the eventual finish was the planned finish). But it hurt the match being the wrong missed spot at the wrong time. Sting used a low blow and scorpion death drop but Morgan kicked out. Sting used an enzuigiri and put Morgan in the scorpion death lock. Morgan powered out like it was nothing, which should have been a huge spot because Sting never lets guys do that, but in reality, it didn’t seem to mean much. Morgan missed another charge in the corner and Sting used a scorpion death drop off the middle rope for the pin. *3/4

6. Robert Roode & James Storm won the TNA tag titles over Team 3-D in 16:55. They pushed like crazy that Team 3-D was flying in from Osaka, had a four hour layover in Tokyo before flying straight to Detroit. They said it so many times during the show that it sure seemed they were giving 3-D an excuse for dropping the title. It was funny because Mike Tenay started talking about that’s how they used to do it old school, in the days of Freddie Blassie and The Destroyer. The Los Angeles office had a good relationship with the Japanese, likely due to Charlie Moto and later Mike LeBelle’s relationship with New Japan, so guys often would finish a Japan tour and work Los Angeles the next night. I wish just once they would have mentioned who Team 3-D wrestled, even though the names Giant Bernard and Karl Anderson aren’t exactly well known in the U.S., when you keep hearing over-and-over about how they just defended their New Japan tag team titles the day before, after a while you start thinking, “Who did they face?” and there was no harm in answering that question. 

Fans chanted “We Want Tables” right away. Roode crotched Devon on the post and went to work on him. Later there was a super loud chant for tables. The British Invasion came out. Beer Money were over as faces but they didn’t boo 3-D. Beer Money did the big spot where Storm did the Frankensteiner off the top on Devon and then Roode followed with the frog splash onto him but Devon kicked out. 3-D came back with the Doomsday Device in their usual ode to the Road Warriors for a near fall on Roode. I wonder if the Road Warriors would be happy seeing a team copy their trademark killer move and have people kick out of it every time? Storm spit beer in Roode’s eyes when Devon moved, and it was the 3-D on Roode, but Rob Terry distracted ref Earl Hebner. Bubba decked Rob Terry. Bubba then did a plancha off the top onto Terry and Brutus Magnus. Devon then knocked Doug Williams off the apron where he fell through a table. That was the first table spot of the match. When Devon turned around, he got superkicked by Storm, and then Beer Money hit their double-team DWI for the pin. Good match. Nothing compared to their match in Philadelphia, though. ***1/4

The KOTM involves five competitors fighting to gain a pin or submissionto be allowed to climb a ladder and hang a championship belt above the ring to win. Mick Foley was the first competitor in the match as he was the TNA World Champion heading into the show. On the May 28 edition of Impact!, TNA's primary television program, Foley announced that there would be a series of qualifying matches to determine the other four competitors starting that night. The first match saw Jeff defeat Eric Young then, later on the same edition of Impact, AJ Styles defeated Christopher Daniels. The following week on Impact, Samoa Joequalified for the match by defeating Kevin Nash. The final competitor was Kurt Angle by beating Sting. 

7. Kurt Angle won the TNA title in a King of the Mountain match over champion Mick Foley, as well as Jeff Jarrett, Samoa Joe and A.J. Styles in 22:04.Angle had a new look, apparently for a movie role. He let his hair grow, and he’s bald now except for the back of his head, and has a full beard. He actually looks now like an aging amateur wrestler, reminding me of his old mentor, David Schultz, the 80s gold medalist (some noted he looked like Randy Couture has at times). He was announced at 240, and barely looked 200. Angle got a great heel reaction by coming out in a Sidney Crosby Pittsburgh Penguins jersey since the Penguins just beat the Detroit Red Wings to win the Stanley Cup. People were throwing drinks on him as he came to the ring. When Foley was introduced, there was this huge crowd pop. I thought how funny it was since Foley has been short of heelish in storyline and his pop blew away everyone. 

The announcers immediately noted the pop wasn’t for Foley, but, with the shot being missed, Joe putting on a Red Wings jersey. Joe then started beating down Angle and was actually disqualified before the match started, so Angle was ruled the winner of a fall and Joe was sent to the penalty box. This played a part and was explained at the end because Joe made sure Angle had won a fall when they did the finish. Of course, Joe and Angle fought numerous times during the match afterwards, so it didn’t make complete sense. In a weird spot, Foley essentially pulled guard on Jarrett. It appeared the ref wasn’t clued in on the spot because he held up in counting Jarrett to pin Foley twice, but finally counted three at 2:30.

Very weird. The idea was that Foley was unpredictable, and was now making Jarrett eligible, plus, Foley would get two minutes in the penalty box to rest, since that’s his gimmick. Of course being in the box could have made him out of commission if someone was to win the title. Joe choked out Foley in 5:29, giving Foley another two minute break. Joe suplexed Angle on a ladder. Joe was climbing to win while Angle was incapacitated, which in hindsight makes no sense. Foley got out of the box to knock over the ladder, and Joe had a bad landing as his back landed on the ladder. Jarrett climbed and Angle did a low blow on him. Angle suplexed Styles on the ladder. Jarrett brought in his guitar but Angle kicked him and got the ankle lock on. Jarrett escaped and broke the guitar over Angle’s head right in front of the ref. Yes, Joe was DQ’d for using his fists but Jarrett used a guitar in front of the ref. 

Jarrett and Foley were both climbing but Styles used a flying kick knocking both off. It would up with Foley and Styles on top of the penalty box. They teased a Foley suplex of Styles to the floor, which would have killed both of them. What was scary is that Styles actually lost his footing for a second up there. Styles took a bump off the top of the penalty box. Angle used the Olympic slam on Jarrett and went to pin him. Foley then came off the top of the penalty box with an elbow onto Angle in 14:56 and got the pin. Angle sold it great, like he was legit injured, dragged into the box, and you almost thought he was done for. At 16:55, Joe backdropped Styles over the top rope onto Foley, on the floor, and Styles pinned Foley. Jarrett came off the ladder to DDT Angle. Styles was bleeding. 

Joe did a Misawa elbow suicida onto Foley and Jarrett on the floor, taking them all out. Styles gave Angle a Styles clash and went to climb. Joe ran in and power bombed Styles off the ladder. Joe went to climb holding the belt. Angle came up after him and Joe just handed Angle the belt to win. The show went off the air with Scott Steiner, Kevin Nash (without Jenna Morasca) and Booker T, with Sharmell whose storyline firing must have been forgotten (Steiner, Nash and Booker were all advertised on TV and locally to be there and this was their only appearance) but not Sting celebrating with Joe. There was a lot of crazy stuff here but it’s hard to explain, but the match never really had that much momentum. 

The spots were better than the whole of the match and it reads better than it actually was watching it. If you’re into swerves that make no sense when you look back, then this was a great finish. Otherwise, you finished the show with the idea that nothing makes sense or matters. Between as much as Joe did while injured, Foley doing that elbow, and all the stuff Angle did at his age and with his injuries, all coming days a week after the Misawa death, and you realize the drive to perform in these guys is going to lead to the tragedies always being a major part of this business. ***