Impact kicks off with the now standard excellent video package.  It was a nice touch to specifically mention the three champions (AJ Styles as X Division champ, The Naturals as NWA World Tag Team champs, and Jeff Jarrett as NWA World champ).  Following that, we head straight to match numero uno. 

AJ STYLES V. RODERICK STRONG (NON-TITLE)

Poor Mr. Strong, no introduction for you.  He shows he’s up for it by attacking Styles early, but AJ isn’t having it.  After arm drags and forearms a plenty, AJ counters a belly to back suplex by landing on his feet.  Strong is able to change the momentum after avoiding a spin kick.  Strong fires off shots, but AJ scores with his classic dropkick.  The kick takes Strong to the outside, and AJ follows with a plancha.  Christopher Daniels wanders out to ringside to talk some trash to Styles and Strong takes advantage.  Strong locks in the Camel Clutch, but AJ is able to get to the ropes.  Styles nails an enziguiri kick, followed up by the Pele kick.  Strong knock AJ to the apron, but AJ comes back with his Asai DDT.  Strong has nothing left and is finished off by the Styles Clash. 

Bar thoughts:  Our female correspondent did not care for AJ’s entrance attire, she laughed at his hood.  Everybody liked the fast paced action, they were especially impressed with AJ’s Pele kick and the plancha.  They didn’t like the Styles Clash at all though.  Everybody bought into AJ as a star.  . 

After the commercial break, we come back with a video package highlighting Monty Brown’s NFL career.  Shane Douglas interviews the Alpha Male and he gives one of his standard promos.  Spike TV is now Serengeti Television, according to Monty.  Douglas has to cut away because he’s alerted that Raven is going crazy backstage, taking people out with a trash can.

Bar thoughts:  Good call on the NFL footage, everyone was impressed.  Raven’s fit just got laughs.

MONTY BROWN V. LEX LOVETT

No intro for Lovett either, and we all know what that means.  Monty scores the first big move of the match with an overhead suplex.  Lovett avoids Brown and actually hits back with a couple of punches.  Monty has enough of Lex’s offense and hits a backbreaker and fall away slam.  One Pounce later, and we have a winner. 

Bar thoughts:  Monty was probably the big winner of the night, everybody immediately bought into him as a big star.  They weren’t fans of the jobbers in the first two matches. 

Following commercials, we have video packages for Bound for Glory and the X Division.

PETEY WILLIAMS V. ALEX SHELLEY V. CHRIS SABIN

Petey tries to play nice with Shelley, but Alex doesn’t play along.  Sabin takes Petey out, but then Alex takes advantage and tries to roll Sabin up.  Petey breaks it up with a dropkick and sings his national anthem while standing on Sabin’s back.  The action was fast and furious at this point.  There were some very cool sequences involving all three men.  Shelley popped the crowd with a suicide dive on Petey, which Sabin followed up with a moonsault to the outside.  Nice time to pay the bills as we head to commercial…

Shelley tries to take control with some mat wrestling.  He locks a figure four head scissors on Sabin.  He and Williams team up on a double suplex to Sabin.  They bumped heads on the follow up though, which dissolved their little partnership.  Sabin took a breather while they fought it out.  Shelley nailed Petey with a brainbuster.  Petey comes back with his Canadian leg sweep on Shelley.  He signaled for the Canadian Destroyer, but Sabin interrupted and hit his running powerbomb instead.  Shelley tried to surprise Sabin, but was met with a enziguiri.  Sabin hit the Cradle Shock and scored the pin on Shelley.  Petey is not impressed though and hits the Canadian Destroyer on Sabin after the match. 

Bar thoughts:  Petey and Shelley came across as heels immediately.  They didn’t go for the submission holds so much though.  They also didn’t like the Canadian Destroyer, immediately saying that it looked too staged.  Quote:  “I want less flipitty-doo, more BAM!”  The triple threat wasn’t well received.

Before the next commercial break, we see Tito Ortiz heading in to speak with D.O.A. Larry Zybysko.  We return with a hype video for the 3 Live Kru.  They’ll be in action next week against Team Canada.

RHINO V. JEFF HARDY

Rhino takes control early, flat out beating Hardy up.  Hardy ducked a clothesline and nailed Rhino with forearm.  He takes Rhino down in the corner and nails him with his standing baseball slide.  Rhino switches the momentum with a spinebuster, but only gets a two count.  He misses a second rope splash and both guys trade punches, but neither can gain the advantage.  Rhino finally does with a belly to belly suplex, but he misses with a Gore.  Hardy hits the Twist of Fate and goes up top for the Swanton.  Unfortunately for him, Abyss and James Mitchell are out to attack.  Rhino and Abyss team up to beat down Hardy.  The lights go out, and Sabu is to the rescue!  Sabu nailed everyone with a chair and followed up with a springboard dive onto Rhino at ringside. 

Bar thoughts:  Everyone got into this.  They liked Rhino immediately.  Jeff Hardy unfortunately got the wrong reaction.  Quote:  “What’s this little hippy going to do?”  They also liked Sabu throwing the chair at everybody. 

After commercials, they show the footage from the Canadian show where AMW helped Jeff Jarrett regain the NWA World Title.  It’s also revealed that Coach Scott D’Amore was involved in the whole plan.  Jarrett and AMW come to the ring at the Impact Zone to a less than friendly reaction.  New look for AMW, sports coats are in and James Storm must be the Urban Cowboy now.  Jarrett tells us that he built TNA from the ground up and that he had to be World Champion when they debuted on Spike TV.  He also thanked AMW, who revolutionized tag team wrestling, and Coach D’Amore, who is the smartest Canadian on Earth.  Scott said that Jeff now owes him one.  3 Live Kru interrupt, with Konnan yelling at Jarrett for putting fans to sleep.  They attack the ring, but Team Canada does as well.  Team 3-D, or the Artists Formerly Known as the Dudley Boyz, come out to help even the odds.  They nailed 3D’s on AMW and went for one on Jarrett, but he escaped to the outside.  However, he had another surprise in store as Kevin Nash returned.  Jarrett retreated to the ring, where he was met with a Whazzzup headbutt and a Jackknife powerbomb from Nash.  Nash said he was challenging Jarrett for the World Title at Bound for Glory.  Devon said he wants a match with AMW, with Don West tells us will be next week on Impact. 

Bar thoughts:  Everybody hated Jarrett, but in the right way.  Quote:  “He’s good at being a bad guy, he always seems in control of the situation.”  AMW’s sports coats immediately got them over as heels too, the makeover definitely worked.  The Dudleys big moves were a hit.  They recognized Nash, but not at first.  Overall, they loved the crazy ending and the unpredictability of the run-ins. 

THOUGHTS

It wasn’t an amazing show by any stretch, but I thought TNA did okay on their Spike TV debut.  The two squashes to start the show was a little disappointing.  Monty came off like a star, but AJ didn’t look as impressive as he should.  A squash just doesn’t get AJ over in the best way.  The triple threat was solid, but almost a little too fast paced.  Rhino and Hardy surprised me, it was much better than I expected.  The final segment came off very well and did a good job of setting up things for the future. 

AMW really needed some promo time to explain their turn, but that’s the problem with a one hour show.  Maybe we’ll get some of that next week.  The production looked good, I thought it came off as major league.  I’m curious to see how well they go from just doing shows to telling stories over a series of shows.  It’s been a problem in the past and I hope they can solve it.  That will be the key to getting return viewers.  AMW v. Team 3-D is a good start for next week, let’s see if they can build on it.