IMPACT 7/1/10

Impact opens with Abyss throwing chairs into the ring. Abyss turns his focus to So Cal Val and Hogan comes out to stop him. Bischoff comes out to try to talk some sense into Hogan. Abyss threatens Hogan and Bischoff slaps him. Abyss takes out security and goes after Bischoff. Hogan hits Abyss with one of the chairs, but Abyss turns around and tries to chokeslam Hogan. Jeff Hardy comes out to the ring. He hits Abyss with the Twist of Fate. He hits Abyss with multiple chairs and then hits the Swanton on Abyss. Hardy, Bischoff and Hogan leave the ring. Abyss comes up to the announce table and has a stare down with Tazz.

Hardy wants Abyss tonight and Hogan and Bischoff give him the match.

The first match is Ink Inc. taking on The Motor City Machine Guns. Shelley and Moore start out. Moore gets control first and he and Shelley trade wrist locks. Moore and Shelley trade moves and Moore hits an arm drag. Moore tags in Neal and they hit a double hip toss. Moore hip tosses Neal onto Shelley and Neal covers for 1. Neal tags Moore back in and Moore hits a sunset flip for 2. Moore goes for his wheelbarrow bulldog, but catches Shelley by the arm instead and sends him out of the ring. Sabin comes in after Moore, but Moore hits a head scissor takedown to send Sabin out as well. Moore sets up and flies out onto the Guns. Brother Devon has joined the broadcast team. He says he wants to make sure Ray doesn’t interfere. The guns hit one of their combos with the inverted atomic drop followed by a low dropkick and Shelley locking in an inverted STF so Sabin can hit the dropkick to the face. Sabin springs of Shelley’s back to knock Neal off the apron. Sabin sends Moore into Shelley’s boots and tags in Shelley. Moore starts to fight back, but Shelley continues to work the arm. Sabin is tagged in and he hits an elbow drop for a 2 count. Moore fights back and hits a springboard moonsault move. Neal and Shelley are tagged in. Neal takes down Shelley with a series of shots and hits a springboard crossbody on Sabin. He nails Shelley with the spear, but Sabin breaks up the count. Moore comes in and goes after Sabin. He tries to float over in the corner, but Sabin catches him and sends him out to the floor. Neal hits a swinging side slam on Sabin. Neal looks for a superplex on Shelley. Brother Ray comes out and Devon goes to stop him from interfering. Sabin takes advantage of the distraction and hits Neal from behind. The Guns nail Neal with Made in Detroit to pick up the win.

Move of the Match: There were a lot of great moves, but this has to go to Made in Detroit.

Eric Bischoff comes out and announces that in tonight’s match between Abyss and Jeff Hardy, Rob Van Dam will be the special guest referee.

Dixie Carter is in the back and doesn’t answer when asked why she’s not at ringside.

AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe is next. Joe comes out and throws his towel at Ric Flair. Joe overpowers AJ to start, but AJ sends Joe into the corner and hits a big chop. Joe no sells the chops and knocks AJ to the mat. Joe puts AJ in the corner and hits a series of shots. Joe hits a back elbow and the jumping kick in the corner. Joe hits a big knife edged chop in the corner. He hits a chop to AJ’s back, a kick to AJ’s chest and then hits a big knee drop. Joe gets a running start and AJ goes for a leapfrog, but Joe stops and nails AJ with a big slap. AJ fights back with a thumb to the eye and nails Joe with a vicious dropkick. AJ chokes Joe on the ropes until the referee pulls him off. AJ hits a front slam on Joe. Joe blocks the Suplex from AJ and hits a front suplex in response. AJ hits a dropkick to Joe’s knee. He drops Joe with a snapmare and locks in a chin lock. Joe fights back and nails AJ with a series of clotheslines. AJ goes for a springboard move, but Joe hits an inverted atomic drop and follows up with a big boot and a jumping senton for a 2 count. Joe tries to set AJ up for the Muscle Buster, but AJ fights out. Joe hits a pair of kicks, but AJ counters the third and hits a Dragon Screw. AJ looks for the Figure Four, but Joe counters and locks in the Rear Naked Choke. AJ taps out and Joe wins the match.

Move of the Match: There were a number of good moves, but I really like the Rear Naked Choke.

After the match, Flair starts to leave and AJ argues with Kazarian. He calls out Kaz and says he could beat him. He challenges Kaz to a match next week. Flair likes the idea and Kaz seems to accept the challenge.

We see Hulk, Bischoff and Dixie Carter talking in the back. Bischoff says Sting has become self-obsessed and dangerous. Kevin Nash comes in and Hogan asks him for a couple of minute and Nash leaves. They tell Dixie that Sting is a cancer who needs to be cut out. They says that she needs to deal with Sting because she is the President of TNA and she needs to show authority.

Desmond Wolfe is out and Chelsea doesn’t really want to be out with him. Wolfe’s opponent is Brian Kendrick. Wolfe attacks Kendrick to start the match. Kendrick fights back and hits a series of strikes to Wolfe. Wolfe tries to fight back, but Kendrick hits a spinning wheel kick. Wolfe fights back and sends Kendrick out of the ring. Wolfe hits Kendrick with a European uppercut. Back in the ring, Kendrick fights back with an arm drag, but Wolfe kicks him out of the ring again. Wolfe hits another pair of European uppercuts and locks in a modified chin lock. Kendrick hits a double leg takedown, but Wolfe fights back by raking the eye. Wolfe focuses the attack on Kendrick’s arm. Chelsea starts to leave and Wolfe is distracted. Kendrick takes advantage of the distraction and locks in his Cobra Clutch. He locks in the leg scissors and makes Wolfe tap out.

Move of the Match: There were a handful of great moves, but this has to go to Kendrick’s Cobra Clutch with leg scissors.

An interviewer asks Tommy Dreamer about his role in TNA. Tommy says it’s his personal time and he’s not asking questions right now.

The Pope D’Angelo Dinero comes out to the ring. Pope says he is at 80 percent. He says that things aren’t over between him and Anderson. He says that he wants to come back and work his way to the top so he can become TNA World Heavyweight Champion. Kurt Angle comes out. Angle says he’s a big fan of Pope, but their paths have crossed in the rankings. Angle says at Victory Road it will be Kurt Angle vs. The Pope. Angle says Pope has nothing to lose and everything to gain. He says he has everything to lose. Angle says, “May the best man win.” He then tells Pope that he must be victorious.

They play highlights of the Jay Lethal/Ric Flair feud.

Jay Lethal comes out and calls out AJ and Flair. Matt Morgan comes out and gets a microphone. Morgan says that Flair asked him to join Fortune. Morgan takes a cheap shot on Lethal and the match starts. Morgan hits the back elbows in the corner on Lethal and follows up with a big splash. He hits a sidewalk slam and chokes Lethal on the ropes. Morgan continues the attack with a surfboard hold in the ropes. Lethal tries to fight back, but Morgan catches him and hits a fall away slam. Morgan hits a headbutt and walks across Lethal’s chest. Morgan chokes Lethal in the corner and then chokes him on the ropes. Morgan hits his running leg strike to Lethal on the ropes. He covers, but only gets a 2 count. Lethal avoids the Carbon Footprint and Morgan hangs himself up on the ropes. Lethal starts to fight back with a series of chops and kicks. He hits a big enzuigiri and a running shoulder block. Lethal nails Morgan with a running dropkick for a 2 count. Lethal goes out to the apron, but Morgan avoids the springboard attack and sends Lethal out of the ring. The referee goes out to check on Lethal and Hernandez comes in a low blows Morgan. Lethal hits a springboard dropkick to Morgan and gets the 3 count.

Move of the Match: I think this goes to the springboard dropkick, even though it probably wouldn’t have given him the win without Hernandez’s low blow.

Abyss is in the back driving nails into a wooden board. He says it looks like it’s really going to hurt somebody.

Up next is Madison Rayne taking on Taylor Wilde. Taylor gets a takedown, but Madison fights back by pulling her hair. Madison hits a spear and slams Taylor’s head to the mat. She chokes Taylor on the ropes. Madison continues the attack, but Taylor fights back with a head scissors takedown. Taylor hits a big slap to Madison, but Madison slams her to the mat. Madison sends Taylor to the corner, but Taylor springs out to the apron. Madison and Taylor clothesline each other. Both go down with Taylor landing hard on the apron. Tommy Dreamer, Stevie Richards and Raven come in, this time joined by Rhino. Taylor goes up top, but Madison dodges the crossbody. Madison continues the attack and hits her inverted overdrive to pick up the win.

Move of the Match: There were a handful of good moves in this match, but this has to go to the inverted overdrive.

After the match, Angelina Love hits the ring with a chair. She nails Madison and looks to hit the DDT on the chair, but Madison fights out and escapes.

Back from break, we see Sarita attacking Taylor Wilde in the back. Taylor fights back, but Sarita slams her into a metal fence and security finally comes in to separate them.

They run down the current Victory Road card.

Dixie meets Sting up in the rafters. Dixie says she realizes that Sting has become a cancer to TNA. Dixie tells Sting he is suspended for 30 days. Bischoff comes in and has security lead Sting away. Sting says Dixie should make the suspension indefinite and leaves.

Up next is the Main Event with Jeff Hardy taking on Abyss. Rob Van Dam will act as referee for this match. RVD tries to take away Abyss’s weapon. Hardy comes in and attacks Abyss. He dropkicks him and RVD tosses the weapon out of the ring. Hardy hits a series of shots on Abyss. Abyss tries to fight back, but Hardy knocks him out of the ring. Hardy hits a dropkick to Abyss and slingshots out onto him. Hardy looks for the Twist of Fate on the floor, but Abyss shoves him into the ring post. Abyss slams Hardy’s head into the steel steps and rolls him back into the ring. Abyss sends Hardy into the corner. Hardy starts to fight back, but gets caught with a side slam. Abyss brings a chair into the ring. RVD takes the chair away and Hardy rolls up Abyss for 2. Hardy hits an attack to Abyss and his low dropkick. Hardy brings the chair into the ring. RVD initially tries to stop him, but when Hardy sets the chair up; RVD lets him use it to hit Poetry in Motion and then tosses it out of the ring. Abyss tries to fight back, but Hardy hits Whisper in the Wind for another 2 count. Hardy continues the attack, but runs into a big boot. Abyss hits a big splash, but Hardy kicks out just before 3. Abyss goes for the Shock Treatment, but Hardy slides out and hits the Twist of Fate. Hardy goes up top, but Abyss catches him. Abyss looks for a super chokeslam, but Hardy fights him off. Hardy hits the Swanton and covers for 3.

Move of the Match: There were a number of great moves. I’m going to give this to the Swanton.

After the match, Abyss attacks Hardy again. He nails RVD with the Black Hole Slam and goes out to get his weapon. Mr. Anderson comes out with a chair. He knocks the weapon out of Abyss’ hand and hits Abyss with the chair. Abyss dodges a chair shot and Anderson hits Hardy. Abyss picks up Anderson and hits the Shock Treatment. Impact ends with Abyss standing tall over the other 3 in the ring.