Cross The Line - TNA Impact 08.21.08 Analysis

Posted by Wendell Mitchell on 08.22.2008

Gail Kim's final TNA match...for now. A main event ladder match. These things, and Super Mex 2: Wrath of Hernandez await you when you Cross the Line...



Previously on Impact: The Monster Abyss and The Beast Matt Morgan became bestest buddies. Bashir spiked Jay Lethal with a spike. Joe snapped, Hernandez gained a measure of revenge, and AJ won Olympic Gold.

Earlier today: JB catches up with Kurt in the parking lot. They gossip a bit and the gist is Planet Angle says I just sodomized your ass...with a flag. Be afraid Mr. Jarrett, be afraid.

Mike and Don welcome us to this week's broadcast and run down tonight's scheduled matches.

Creed gets another shot at Petey's X-Division Title
Gail Kim and Kong up the violence with a street fight
Booker will more than likely humble Rhino in a Four Ways to Glory Qualifier
Hernandez continues his path of vengeance as he takes on Roode, which starts now.

Opening Contest: Standard Singles Bout Robert Roode (w/ "The Tennessee Cowboy" James Storm, "The Pride of Tennessee".Jackie and Hard Justice footage) vs. Hernandez(w/Hector Guerrero, Salinas, and the Pride of the Latino Nation)

Roode takes it to Hernandez to kick things off, but Hernandez shrugs off the assault and brings a little Mexican violence. He rolls Roode back in, but Roode catches him coming in and regains the advantage with a series of chops. Hernandez fires back with a couple of chest compressing chops of his own then follows up with an Irish whip and big corner splash. Hernandez holds Roode up for a good fifteen seconds with a stalling suplex. Hernandez goes for his Super Mex dive, but Beer Money scatter. Hernandez rolls to the outside and chases Roode, but Storm is a tag partner's dream and nails Hernandez with a clothesline. They whip Hernandez into the steel steps. Back in the ring and Hernandez kicks out with authority. Roode rakes the eyes then gives Hernandez a bit of rough turnbuckle treatment. Roode stomps and chops away before snapmaring him out of the corner. Shades of Mr. Perfect with the flipping neck snap. Salinas's top is magnificent by the way. Hernandez reverses a whip but telegraph a back drop and Roode hits a neck breaker. A chin lock lets Hernandez catch his breath. Hernandez then simply stands up with Roode on his back and squishes him in the corner. Hernandez gets elevated to the outside, lands on the apron, then sling shots back in a shoulder block. Huge back body drop serves as a prelude to the Border Toss, but instead Hernandez hits AJ's old Cliffhanger face buster instead for 2. Hernandez with shoulders to the gut. Roode stops a charge with an elbow and kick. Shades of Marcus Alexander Bagwell as Roode comes off top with the Block Buster neck breaker. The Pay Off is countered into a front suplex. Roode set up for the Border Toss and Jackie makes herself useful by getting into the ring. Salinas tackles her and they roll around a bit. Roode wiggles free and Storm tries to hold Hernandez in place. Hernandez breaks free and the heels nearly collide. Hernandez shoves Roode into Storm then lifts Roode into a stomach first Samoan Drop. That's all she wrote.

Winner: Hernandez That was a decent opener. Hernandez is shaping up to be a serviceable singles competitor. He defied the odds with a little help from Salinas and her boobs.

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And we're back with JB and Olympic Gold Medalist AJ Styles. AJ's a sporting man and challenges Angle to a ladder match. Security is holding back Angle and AJ taunts him with the gold.

Don and Mike pimp the ladder match, another Karen's Angle, Booker vs. Rhino, and the Knock Outs Street Fight..

Match 2: Tag Team Bout "Showtime" Eric Young and B.G. James(w/alleged hilarious reactions to pyro) vs. The Motor City Machine Guns(w/lucha gras masks)

The pyro supervisor's name is Keith by the way. Eric and Sabin start things off and Sabin keeps Eric off balance after asserting his speed advantage. Sabin with a nice spin kick to the gut. Eric responds with a dropkick. Another Sabin spin kick to the gut and he tags Shelly. Shelly runs into a drop toe hold and Eric quickly tags in B.G. B.G. with a boot to the gut and a well dressed Italian Business Man Kick to the head. Dancing jabs, but the haymaker is blocked and Shelly hits a reverse STO as Sabin dropkicks him in the back. Vintage Machine Guns with the bridging chin lock, drop kick to the face combo. BG recovers and drops them with a double DDT. Eric's back in and gets whipped into the corner Flair style. Shelly goes after him but tumbles to the outside. Eric slips between Sabin's legs and rolls him up for a near fall. The Machine Guns retaliate with some more double team goodness. Shelly tries a plancha but BJ face plants him to the floor. Sabin gets hit with Eric's wheel barrow into the neck breaker and the Guns job again.

Winners: "Showtime" Eric Young and B.G. James The match was kinda there and mostly served to advance the storyline that the Guns are, unfocused? Disrespected? I'm not sure what.

Post match, Shelly shakes hands, but Sabin slaps the crap out of B.G., who goes all middle aged and crazy on Sabin's ass. Security and EY hold B.G. back.

To the back with JB who warns Angle of rules of entering the immaculate Pimped Out Locker Room. Angle wonders why he doesn't have similar accommodations. Upon entering, Booker admonishes Angle about his shoes. Booker's accent is different, but the use of Jeremiah is still gold. Angle wants Booker in his corner in case a certain person with a Guitar shows up. Quick Draw McGraw is pretty dangerous. Booker is going hunting for Rhinoceros and offers Kurt some champagne. Kurt doesn't drink. That's not what I heard. More for Booker then.


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And we're back with Don running down some future live events. We get a video of the feud that won't die. My favorite parts? "Sordid triangle of deceit" and calling Jay THE Black Machismo.

Karen's Angle: Sonjay interrupts their inane girl talk. Jay jumps him. Val gets hurt in the process. Would it kill somebody to write a decent one of these? Take away the couch and Lauren could have accomplished the same thing in a backstage interview.

Rough Cut: Creed wanted to be a wrestler because wrestling is awesome. It has its moments. Kurt Angle is a huge inspiration for him and he and his team watched all of Kurt's matches back at the ‘96 Olympics. A quick story about him overcoming the odds and beating a bigger, stronger highly recruited prospect and we conclude another decent rough cut segment.

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And we're back with the Blue Print. They discuss his winning streak and resume. Yeah, I'm sure when someone sees Johnny Devine and Jobbers 1 - 6 on job experience they're gonna hand him a World Title.

Match 3: Standard Singles Bout "The Blue Print" Matt Morgan vs. Frank Kapone

Remember when Goldberg would squash guys like Glacier and Jerry Flynn? Yeah this is nothing like that. Like a woman, Kapone jumps on Morgan's back. Morgan flings him off then no sells some jobber punches. He tosses the little jobber into the corner with ease. Then to show how serious he's taking this challenge, Morgan does a jig and crushes him in the corner. Morgan chokes him on the top rope then jumps on the guys back to a chorus of "Let's go Beast" chants. Shades of Undertaker with the leg drop. Bicycle Kick and the crowd is eating this up for some reason. Hellevator. Oddly enough, Don sounds unimpressed with the victory. That or tired.

Winner: "The Blue Print" Matt Morgan Seriously, another squash match? Hopefully the post match shenanigans leads to something.

Brother Ray is out and talking trash. Like me, he wonders if Morgan is proud to be beating on guys half his size. Ray asks if Morgan wants to fight him and Devon attacks from behind. Abyss doesn't even bother being suspenseful and is out for the save. The Beast and the Monster stand tall.

Gail is wrapping her hands in preparation for her match and this interests me more than another Morgan squash.


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And we're back: Earlier today, Tenay had a sit down with Big Sexy. Kevin takes credit for hooking Joe up with TNA. He says they're friends. They talk about Joe's temper. Nash seems to be the only one Sting will talk to. Nash and Tenay reminisce about the days when youngsters knew their place in the pecking order. Nash hints that Sting might be upset that young guys won't give up their chairs. Yep, I'd reverse DDT somebody for that sort of rampant disrespect.

Earlier today at yet another moment in time, Lauren is with the Beautiful People. Angelina should not do that to her hair ever again. Angelina promises she will beat Taylor and I want to see that. Hey, it's Gay Billy. For the love of God, why? Are they trying to make me change the channel? Why are the fucking with the goodness that is the Beautiful People?

To the back in the here and now, Rhino conveys his for non-wrestling related drama. Rhino don't choose sides, he splits them. With a Gore, Gore, Gore!!! Rhino also doesn't yell, he's merely intense.

Match 4: Four Ways To Glory Qualifier Booker T (w/Sharmell) vs. Rhino(w/baby face intensity)

Nice stiff lock up that forces booker to the corner. Another lock up and Booker hammer locks the arm. Rhino counters into one of his own and Booker immediately back elbows him in the face. Booker with some chops but has his Irish whip and hip toss reversed and eats a clothesline. Rhino chops away on Booker in the corner. Snapmares him out and drops a tree trunk like leg drop. Rhino beats Booker down in the corner then steps on his throat. Booker with the cheap shot, but Rhino ducks the arm wringer/kick and Rhino nails him with a spine buster. Sharmell puts Booker's foot on the rope to break the count. That drifter looks a lot like Christian Cage. Christian carries Sharmell off and we head to break.

Match 4 continued: The power of commercials allows Booker to regain control. As Booker locks in a chin lock, we see that during the break Rhino, as he oft does, Gored the corner. Booker kicked him in the face and now you know the rest of the story. Rhino to his feet, but Booker kicks him in the face again because that's good t.v. He misses the ax kick though and some sort of spear/clothesline thing tuns Booker inside out. Clothesline shoulder tackle botch puts Booker down again. Rhino with a big belly to belly suplex then heads up top so he can miss a diving head butt. Booker recovers and just like that, an Axe Kick ends it.

Winner: Booker T Well, who didn't see that one coming? It wasn't horrible, but the commercial break and those two sloppy take downs didn't help the match any.


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And we're back with Lauren and Gail. Lauren talks about the many battles in the past year between Gail and Kong. They discuss her various losses and injuries. Gail questions Lauren's abilities as a interviewer. Gail is not a good girl. She will do anything for the title and will show us a side we've never seen before. Read into that what you may.


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And we're back with a video package of Creed, Petey, and Bashir.

Match 5: X-Division Championship Consequences Creed(w/TNA management endorsement) vs.( c ) "Maple Leaf Muscle" Petey Williams(w/Rhaka Khan)

They lock up and do some basic go behinds and what not. Creed quickens the pace with a Ricky Steamboat arm drag then a Japanese arm drag into a arm bar. Creed smoothly transitions into a a cross arm breaker. Petey gets out and puts Creed down with a shoulder block. From the mat, Creed takes him down with a double leg. Slightly botched Rolling Thunder Clothesline puts Creed back in charge. Creed gets tossed to the outside. Rhaka misses a kick and Creed sling shots back in with a sunset flip. Petey fights back and beals Creed damn near across the ring by his hair. He drapes Creed across the middle rope and drop kicks him between the shoulder blades. Bashir observes from the top of ramp. Creed fires back with some punches, misses a scorner splash, but recovers and jumps off Petey's back and drops an elbow on Petey's upper back. Nifty. Petey retaliates with a jaw breaker and a spinning heel kick. Shades of Big Poppa Pump with the bicep kiss, but he misses the elbow twice. Creed with a cross body block and a pair of back elbows. A scoop slam sets up a nice guillotine leg drop for a near fall. Petey stops a corner charge with a forearm the puts Creed down with a Side Canadian Leg Sweep. The Destroyer countered with an inverted atomic drop. Petey fires right back with the roll of the dice. Creed takes it to him with a stiff rising knee lift in the corner. In succession, Creed executes a spring board bull dog and a roaring forearm that he uses the momentum of to kick Petey in the face. Creed goes all By God Noble with a press slam into a gut buster across both knees. Bashir jumps onto the apron and Creed knocks him down before sending Petey to the outside. He puts them both down with a flip dive. Creed jumps into a boot to the gut. He reverses the Destroyer again and kills Petey with a super kick. Bashir in for the blatant interference and there went a perfectly good match.

Winner: Consequences Creed by Disqualification and therefore still X-Division Champion: "Maple Leaf Muscle" Petey Williams There was a lot of good with the match, but there was a little miscommunication. Too bad they had to go with the DQ finish.

Petey does not take kindly to Bashir's interference.

To the back and the Prince Justice Brotherhood serves Rock and Rave a summons. Curry Man name drops "Myry Cyrusses." Tremendous. Curry then hits on Christy because he is awesome. Predictably, the masked guys get their asses kicked. These things would be more tolerable if Curry was the only one allowed to speak.


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And we're back

Match 6:Knock Outs Street Fight Awesome Kong(w/Saed) vs. Gail Kim(w/wrapped fists)

Kong charges Gail, but Gail causes her to tumble to the outside. Didn't Gail beat Kong before? Didn't she win the title in a no DQ match? You'd think I must have imagined that with the way they're overselling how much of an underdog Kim is. Gail lands a few kicks and forearms, but Kong swats her away and drops her across the guard rail. Gail hits some more forearms but gets whipped face first into the ring post and that looked nasty. Kong tosses her into the crowd as Saed praises Allah. Kong stalks Gail, who throws even more forearm because they've been working so well thus far. Kong pulls a Rhino puts herself though a wall. Gail ascends the wall and nails Kong with the Macho Man double axe handle. She slams Kong head into the railing, but Kong slams Gail's face onto the floor. She chokes Gail with her boot. Kong with the umbrella shot and I'm sure I've never seen that before. Gail bores me with her insistence on her forearm based offense. Kong boots her lazy ass down the stairs the tosses her back ring side. Sister Katy looks concerned. Kong chokes Gail with the kend-apore stick. Gail manages to wrest the weapon free and goes to town on Kong until Saed intervenes. Gail shoots Saed into the railing then avoids Kong who clothesline the railing. Saed gets whacked twice and then put down with a Necktie breaker. Van-Kim-inator to Kong! Gail wedges a chair in the corner. Gail attempts a sunset flip. Kong tires to sit on her but bounces her booty off the canvas. Series of clotheslines and a Code Breaker fail to take Kong off the feet. Kong charges in and goes head first into the char and makes me think Rhino booked this match. Gail goes for the ill advised cross body, which Kong predictably catches. She knows Kong can't stop a missile drop kick. Kim fights free, but falls prey to the Implant Buster. Did not expect her to lose to that. caught. Kim gets out but jobs to the implant buster.

Winner: Awesome Kong When Gail wasn't throwing forearms, this was a fun match. Too bad this is the last time we'll see this for a while. Not a bad note to end things on.

Saed stomps away on Gail and maybe we get to see a power bomb on the steel chair? Rudy Charles gets tossed to the outside. Another ref tossed aside. Katy checks on her sister. Kong is not pleased. The crowd assumes that Kong is going to kill her. OBD and Roxxi out to deprive us of that scenario.

Tenay wants us to go to break, but let's watch Angle and his hoodie walk with a ladder.


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And we're back and get a nice view of shot of the gold medal hanging high above the ring.

Featured Contest - Ladder Match Kurt Angle(w/ Booker T) vs. "The Phenominal AJ Styles (w/o Gold Medal)

Kurt tries to climb the ladder before the bell rings as AJ brawls with Booker. Booker holds AJ's legs until Joe shows up and attacks Booker. AJ pulls Angle off the ladder and that sounds a lot like an official match starting bell. AJ beats the crap out of Angle until Angle, and I quote Tenay "gets up in his grill" and rakes the ryes. Angle misses with a ladder shot. AJ flips out of the German suplex attempt but gets tossed with the best overhead belly to belly in the business. Tug of war with the ladder on the outside and AJ is smashed into the steel railing. AJ yanks the ladder out of the ring and once back inside, hits his phenenominal drop kick. A sling shot plancha gives us an excuse to go to commercial, but first let us feast our eyes on the lovely Sharmell as she makes her way down the ramp.


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Match continued: AJ is getting choked. Angle used the commercial break to upper cut AJ in the testicles and take advantage of the match. Booker reminds Angle that it's his gold medal hanging up there. AJ fights back, but gets drop toe hold (held?) face first into the ladder. Angle with another overhead throw because he is a wrestling god! AJ throws a series of forearms, but gets dumped with an awkward looking German suplex. Kurt slows things down with a rear chin lock. Joe giving AJ tips on how to escape the hold. AJ does get out and counters the Angle slam into a DDT. I love that spot. Three clotheslines and a fireman's carry into a neck breaker across the knee, that they call a back breaker for some reason allows AJ to make the dramatic climb. Angle knocks the ladder over, but AJ lands on his feet and slams Angle's face into the ladder. I for one am shocked that Angle isn't bleeding. Angle pulls AJ from the ladder and hits an Angle Slam. How the hell is that the ultimate desperation move, Mike? It's his damned finisher. Angle wastes time fondling his medal, probably recalling the days when Benoit kept it against his sweaty, sweaty nut sack and the memories will never die. AJ knocks the ladder over in the meantime. A little more back and forth and even with Sharmell's interference, AJ still hits the Superman Forearm. Booker gets the bat from Sharmell and hits Joe from behind. AJ with the unecessarily slow climb. Angle up with him with punches. Lights out. Planet Jarrett theme fires up and AJ El Kabongs Angle.

Winner and still our Olympic Gold Medalist: AJ Styles Something seemed off with these two. It was a decent match. Not great, but a good t.v. main event with some nice back and forth, but I just wasn't really feeling this match.

Another middle of the road show. Karen's Angle is still a waste of time, the matches more or less were adequate, but nothing you'll want to re-watch. This week episode puts Don one step closer to crossing the line. That does it for me. Enjoy