Ric Flair Sides With... IMMORTAL?

The show was titled "The Boy is Back." In reference to Ric Flair returning to Impact after several weeks absence. The question that had to be answered was which side would the Nature Boy be on after Fortune turned on Immortal last week.

Intro:
As usual, Impact opened up with IMMORTAL marching to the ring. This time they were celebrating Jeff Hardy's World Heavyweight title win at the "Against All Odds" pay per view. Right off the bat, Bischoff announced that the guys from the "network" are forcing Hardy to defend his title tonight against Rob Van Dam for a ratings boost. A puny "RVD, RVD, RVD" chant slowly spread throughout the Impact Zone, never picking up the momentum that the creator had hoped for I'm sure.

Moments later, Flair arrived and had his loyalties questioned by Bischoff. After a few minutes of a somewhat heated back and forth between the two, Flair got through his normal routine of calling himself "god" and letting out numerous WHOOOs, Flair lets it be known that he answers to nobody. At this point it seemed as though Flair will be making the good guy jump with the rest of Fortune.

Match, Hernandez vs. Doug Williams:
"Super Mex" Hernandez ambushes Williams from behind before the match starts, and pretty much ends it just as quick. In just a few short moments Hernandez hits Williams with a his finisher the "Border Toss", which I believe that he botched a little bit, because it looked like Doug Williams may have completely landed on his head. I wouldn't be surprised if Williams is out of action for awhile.

It seems as though TNA is really trying to make Hernandez seem like a force as of late, winning a few matches, and having a few run ins of this domination-like style.

Winner: Hernandez (Pinfall, Utter Domination)

Pope vs. Joe promo:
We go back to the ring where the Pope has a table set up for what looks like to be a giant feast. Pope cut a long boring heel promo, where he referenced the likes of Michael Jackson, Ronald Reagan, and Jesus, as believers in Pope to get a negative reaction from the fans. Pope offered to share some of his "sloppy joe" of a feast with fans for $10 a pop, and then Samoa Joe and Kato came out and beat Pope down. Joe landed his patented "Muscle Buster" finisher on the Pope through a table, and Pope had a Vince McMahon-like convulsion in the ring.

Match, Robbie E vs Kazarian (X-Division Title on the line):
Prior to the match's start Robbie gave a funny little promo where he stated that he wasn't properly prepared for his match at Against All Odds, because he had trained to face "two dudes" but due to travel problems with Generation Me he only faced "one dude."

Kazarian came out and gave a little promo time himself, where he gives the X-division a huge push, saying that it is the backbone of TNA. He also vows to get the division back to its former glory. He then reasons with Robbie to send Cookie to the back, and have a fair fight with no outside interference.

The two put on a somewhat entertaining match that had several near falls, but eventually Cookie returned to ringside and interfered by hitting Kaz with her pocketbook.

Winner: Kazarian (Disqualification)

Fortune backstage segment:
Ric Flair is in the locker room with Fortune, and he surprises them by "icing" them. This is a term that the group has used frequently over the months in reference to drinking Smirnoff Ice. The group seems to be in perfect unity as A.J. Styles prepares for his match with Immortal member, Matt Hardy.

Match, Matt Hardy vs A.J. Styles:
Hardy entered the ring first, and A.J. wasted very little time following him there. The action was fast paced right from the beginning with Styles controlling the first part of the match. The highlight of the match was in the first few seconds. A.J. threw Hardy to the mat and then met him there with a running front flip over the top rope.

As the tide seemed to begin turning, Flair came out to support Styles, or so we thought. After regaining control of the match A.J. climbed to the top rope to finish Hardy off, but Flair let his true allegiance be known by pushing him off. Matt Hardy then hit the "Twist of Hate" to finish off Styles.

Flair and Hardy proceeded to beat down Styles, and Beer Money ran in to make the save.

Winner: Matt Hardy (Pinfall, Assist from Ric Flair)

Main Event, Jeff Hardy vs. Rob Van Dam
(World Heavyweight Championship on the line, Mr. Anderson as guest referee):
I cant stand RVD matches so it pains me to even talk about it, but Van Dam pretty much dominated the majority of the match, and he even kicked out after a "Swanton Bomb" from Hardy. Eventually, after a bunch of stupid moves where Van Dam rolls around the ring and jumps into things, Hardy and Mr. Anderson found themselves face to face in the corner of the ring. With RVD behind Hardy, Jeff decides to take advantage of the situation, and delivers a kick to the downstairs region of RVD. Mr. Anderson couldn't see what happened, obviously, and Hardy ended the match with a "Twist of Hate" and a pinfall.

Mr. Anderson decides to deliver "Mic Checks" to both Hardy and RVD after the match to wrap up the show.

Winner: Jeff Hardy (Pinfall)

Things that sucked too bad to write about in any detail:
There were three or four segments where Jeff and Karen Jarrett were in random locations building up their wedding vow renewals, and saying stuff to get under Kurt Angle's skin. This culminated with Angle barging in on the Jarrett's while dining at a supposedly "fancy" restaurant. I believe that they placed a dining table and some hotel lobby chairs somewhere in the Impact Zone.

There were a few "Knockouts" backstage segments involving The Beautiful People and Winter in one, where they were adding more fuel to the fire between Velvet and Winter. The other was Madison Rayne blabbing about something. Then there was even a "Knockouts" match. The best part was the intros of course, where the girls do their modeling and whatnot. Rosita and Sarita defeated the Beautiful People by the way.

Scott Steiner cut a promo where he accepted a challenge to a "pose-down" from "The Freak" Rob Terry.

Bully Ray came out and dissed Devon and threatened to beat up Mike Tenay, lol. Taz intervened and sent Ray packing before too much damage was done.

Wrap up:
This was a pretty weak Impact overall, in my opinion. The Jarrett vs. Angle storyline bores me to death, and I really hope that it ends for good very soon. The X-division is pretty much absent, the tag team division seems to be losing all momentum that it had just a few of months ago, and RVD is back in the ring.

The only thing that I really like about TNA right now is Fortune & Friends vs. Immortal. Even that feud has some problems though, because Jeff Hardy is the only good member left in Immortal after Fortune departing, with Matt Hardy being the only other thing that resembles a wrestler in the group.

Overall score: 4/10