TNA Impact! Results: 3-31-11Results courtesy of
PWTorch.com (direct link to Bax's complete report). Condensed here to mostly in-ring results.
1 - SCOTT STEINER (w/Crimson) vs. SHANNON MOORE (w/Jesse Neal)
Starting off, Moore used the ref as a shield before rolling outside. Neal told him to get in the ring before Crimson tossed him in. That led to some dominant offense from Steiner that was deliberate and powerful, culminating in a belly-to-belly suplex for a two count. Apparently, Orlando Jordan is wearing a peacock hat, and E.Y. and he have shirts that say “We love Tag Teaming.”
Back to actual wrestling, Moore turned the momentum by squirming out of a carry and kicking Steiner in the back of the knee. Moore kept him down with some swift kicks before mocking him with Steiner’s own signature pushups. After a dropkick, Moore them put Steiner’s chain mail on before missing a top rope moonsault, despite Neal’s wishes to the contrary. At 3:30, Steiner hit an overhead belly to belly suplex before downing Moore with the Steiner Liner. After doing his push-up routine to cheers, Steiner dragged Moore over to the top turnbuckle and set him on top. The crowd got on their feet as he signaled for the Frankensteiner and hit it for the victory.
WINNER: Steiner in 4:30. I don’t care how old Steiner is, that top rope Frankensteiner is still an awesome move. I enjoyed the pace of this match as both men got some offense in before the bigger Steiner used his power moves to claim the win. I just would have preferred their solid promos right before the match started instead of with a commercial interlude and a Bully Ray promo.
2 – MAX BUCK vs. JEREMY BUCK
Right off the bat, Max told Jeremy to lay down so he could get the win, but Jeremy said no. What followed was nice, fast, back-and-forth X Division-style wrestling that got a big ovation from the crowd. Jeremy followed this up with two quick arm drags followed by a top rope running corkscrew arm drag that was pretty impressive. Max rolled out of the ring in frustration before younger brother Jeremy sat on the second rope to let him into the ring. Jeremy extended his hand, but Max turned the handshake into a headlock.
There was more fast-paced action back-and-forth that had the crowd making lots of noise. This culminated with yet another innovative arm drag from Jeremy, this time using a springboard off of the second rope. The sequence culminated at 3:00 with Max sitting down in the corner, looking at his little brother in shock.
Max tried to charge him but Jeremy hit a quick huracanrana for a very close nearfall before Jeremy was expelled to ringside after Max hip-tossed him through the ropes. Mimicking Jeremy’s behavior from earlier, Max sat on the rope and offered his brother the chance to climb back into the ring but instead kicked his brother in the head before powerbombing him into the turnbuckle. Max finished off his little brother by flipping off the top rope into a Diamond Cutter for the victory.
WINNER: Max in 4:00. A pleasing X Division-style match, the kind that TNA used to feature with great regularity not so long ago. While I’m not a fan of the dissension between one of the promotion’s promising young tag teams, if they have a brotherly spat that results in the X Division getting some time every week then it might be worth the trade-off. This was a fun and action-packed four minutes.
3 – VELVET SKY vs. WINTER
The bell rang immediately back from break. Velvet charged Winter and rammed her into the corner. She was pulled off by Earl Hebner, but she went right back after Winter and cornered her again. This was quickly followed by a snap slam and a dropkick to Winter’s face. In full control, Velvet charged Winter in a corner for the third time, only to see Winter move and slam her hard to the mat.
Winter was now in full control and tossed Velvet across the ring by her hair before hitting a backbreaker for a two count. Winter’s rapidly making people forget about Daffney when it comes to being ‘Zombie Hot.’ Anyways, Velvet managed to reverse things and a bulldog on Winter at 3:00. As Velvet was standing Winter up, Angelina began slowly walking down the ramp with a completely blank look on her face. This allowed Winter to assault Velvet from behind and hit a spinning backbreaker that allowed Winter to lock in some sort of naked choke that forced Velvet Sky to tap out.
WINNER: Winter via submission in 4:00.
After the match, Winter locked on her submission move again and made her stare down Angelina before walking up the ramp and motioning for Angelina to follow, which she did wordlessly.
4 – KURT ANGLE vs. ROB TERRY
Well, we’re about to see if Angle is truly good enough to be able to get a decent match out of anyone. No way this lasts too long as Kurt wasn't wearing ring gear. Terry hit some overhand smashes on Angle to start off the match before Terry hit his trademark slow motion shoulder block that looks like it wouldn’t hurt a kitten. Somehow, Angle fought back and tried to hit a crossbody off of the top rope. Unfortunately, Terry caught him and scored a huge powerslam.
Taz immediately pounced on everyone’s surprise that Terry actually hit a big move, saying that Angle could be in danger. Ah, the curse of Taz: when he says you’re in position to win a match, it means you’re about to go down. Naturally, when Terry picked up Angle for another power move, Kurt fought his way out of it and locked on the Ankle Lock and it was academic from there as Jarrett hilariously leaned over the bottom rope in a vain attempt to distract the referee.
WINNER: Angle in 1:30.
5 - TNA World champion STING & MR. ANDERSON & RVD vs. MATT HARDY & BULLY RAY & ABYSS (w/Ric Flair) -- steel cage match
Sting came in and started cleaning house, leading to him hitting Stinger Splashes on Ray & Hardy before hitting a Stinger Splash on Abyss, who was standing on the Apron between the ropes and the cage. Cool spot. Sting climbed up on the second turnbuckle to hit the 10-count of punches on Hardy, but found himself being hit with an atomic drop. Sting no-sold the move (I guess he was wearing a cup) before clotheslining Hardy down hard. Right afterward, Anderson was shown standing with his hands on his knees outside of the cage, clearly taking his sweet time to get into the match.
Back inside, Bully Ray stomped a mudhole into Sting before Abyss came over to stomp him further. While RVD was left dumped on the ring apron, Mr. Anderson pulled up a chair and sat down outside to watch.
Back from break, RVD & Sting were down and Taz promptly informed the audience that Anderson hasn’t moved from his chair at ringside. In the cage, RVD was hit with a knee to the groin and a leg drop from Hardy while Abyss choked Sting. Suddenly, Hogan’s music hit and Hulk came out with his back brace on.
After Anderson mocked him, Hogan told him to get his butt in the cage. Anderson told him no. Hulk told him again and Anderson acted like he was going to punch Hulk, who begged off. However, it became pretty clear that the back brace was a ruse since he raked Anderson’s eyes and tossed him hard into the side of the cage. With Anderson reeling, Hulk threw him through the open cage door and seven minutes into the match all six men were finally inside.
Sting and Anderson didn’t even pretend that they were on the same team as Immortal stood back and let the pair of them fight. After Sting threw Anderson hard into the side of the cage, Immortal went right back to work destroying the three men in the Main Event at Lockdown. It was dominance to the point where Immortal was going around the ring and attacking each man three on one. Finally, Hardy went for a pinfall and Abyss & Bully Ray retreated into their corner for a proper tag match.
With only RVD in his corner (Anderson was still down on the ring apron), Sting desperately tried to make a tag but Hardy stopped him and tagged in Abyss. After Sting was beaten with big fists from Abyss, Ray was tagged in and the two big men went for a double team clothesline. But at 10:00, Sting ducked and they ran into each other instead. Stinger took them both down and finally made a hot tag to Rob Van Dam. RVD came in on fire, taking down each Immortal member twice, including a brutal spin kick on Bully Ray. However, Abyss stopped his momentum briefly before RVD hit a big single leg thrust off of the top rope to put him down hard. Van Dam vaulted up on the far turnbuckle to go for the Five Star Frog Splash, but, suddenly, Mr. Anderson jumped up from the ring apron below (where he had been laying most of the match since he came into the cage) and hit RVD with Bully Ray’s chain.
This allowed Ray (the legal man for Immortal) to hit the Bubba Bomb on Van Dam and earn the pinfall victory for his team as Anderson kicked the door open to leave the cage.
WINNERS: Ray & Abyss & Hardy in 12:00 (8:00 televised).
