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The Big News: Bobby Lashley made his return, teasing joining the Mafia, but instead joining the babyfaces. Or whatever the TNA stars call themselves. Taz did his first bona fide promo since around 2001, and it was worth the wait. Aside from that, it was another night where the babyfaces left you shaking your head.

Taz made his Impact debut and immediately mentioned wrestling for “a little promotion” called ECW. He talked about suffering spinal injuries that caused his wrestling career to be cut short. He skipped over the two years he actually wrestled in WWE and jumped straight to his announcing career on Smackdown and ECW on ScyFy. When Tazz made his debut in the WWE at the 2000 Royal Rumble, he had all of Madison Square Garden roaring for him when he went over Kurt Angle clean. And it was all downhill from there. He talked about watching TNA Wrestling one night and seeing this wrestler with untapped potential, and his name was Samoa Joe. I remember watching TNA in 2005 and thinking Joe was the most charismatic star in the company by his third appearance. And it’s all been downhill from there. Except for Lockdown 2008. Taz said he saw the second coming of himself when he saw Joe. What kind of a message is that? Taz said he told Joe he could bring him to the next level. Taz said he was forever indebted to Angle for security Joe’s services to the Mafia. Taz said tonight Joe would become the next X Division champion when he faces Homicide, then did the old “Beat Joe if you can” catchphrase. Crowd was totally behind Taz, and it was a good promo for someone who hasn’t cut one in forever in this context.

1. Homicide defeated Samoa Joe by DQ in 5:11 to retain the TNA X Division title. Joe has started doing all of the old Taz mannerisms, including folding his arms while staring menacingly at his opponent. They opened with all of the old Ring of Honor championship spots from 2004 with continuous counters. Homicide hit a tope con hilo that only partially caught Joe on the back, but he sold it anyway. Joe got most of the offense from there, including a STO out of the corner and a head and arm suplex that was straight from 1996 ECW. In fact, Mike Tenay went out of his way to mention Taz trademarked that move. Joe started doing a facewash in the corner when new referee Jamie Tucker ordered him to break it up, but Joe decked Tucker. Homicide recovered and went for the Gringo Killer, but Joe turned it into a Kokina Clutch. Tucker recovered and teased giving Joe the decision by submission, but disqualified Joe instead. Joe put the boots to Homicide some more afterwards until Hernandez made his return with new music to save him. Not only that, but he had a new physique because he’s lost plenty of weight. Joe and Hernandez had a stare down, and the crowd was ready to see two guys under 40 finally square off in an American pro wrestling setting for a change. Taz pulled Joe out of the ring. **

Backstage, a distraught looking Mick Foley mentioned to Jeremy Borash that Kurt Angle might be the new golden boy to TNA management.

The Main Event Mafia came out. Sharmell and Jenna were in there not teasing any trouble at all just days after having the worst match on PPV since the Warrior and Hulk Hogan. I was back in my old college town last weekend (Boone, N.C.) and boy did it bring back memories of 1998, where I watched that Halloween Havoc show. Back then, Mick Foley was in most WWE main events and Kevin Nash went over in WCW for reasons known only to him. Fast forward to 2009, where Mick Foley is in most TNA main events and Kevin Nash goes over in TNA for reasons known only to him. And they wonder why UFC rules the world now. Angle basically acted like he was the man in charge of the company now that he was champion. For what it’s worth, parts of this interview were edited, but Jeff Jarrett’s name was mentioned once in passing. Angle said the TNA front office had no choice but to cater to the demands of the mafia or else the mafia would leave the company and TNA would be left in the hands of a bunch of losers. They stop at nothing to bury their own talent. Of course, Angle was getting cheered throughout all this since the Mafia is essentially booked like top faces. Angle started running down Mick Foley and openly wondered what he did except take up space in the back office. He said he wasn’t the wrestler he used to be. Foley came out for a great promo saying for ten minutes last Sunday, he was the wrestler he used to be when he kicked Angle’s ass around the Impact Zone. Angle accused Foley of working the front office saying TNA would be nothing without Foley. But Foley never wanted to wrestle to begin with. Anyway, Angle pulled out the keys to Foley’s office, which he claimed he got from TNA management. Shouldn’t Foley have his own set of keys since he was in his office earlier? I guess TNA office keys are like WCW’s handcuffs in 1998, when everybody was running around with a set of keys when the N.W.O did handcuff angles. Then again, God only knows what’s going on with handcuffs in Hendersonville, Tennessee right now. Angle challenged him to a Foley’s keys on a pole match. C’mon, Jarrett’s home. You didn’t think a veto-proof Vince Russo would have a show without a pole match, did you?

Brutus Magnus announced that the British Invasion would get a shot at the IWGP tag team titles next week in a tables match against Team 3-D next week. He also said they would take out the final member of the TNA Originals tonight. I guess they went back to that name since Front Line didn’t get over.

2. Kevin Nash defeated Amazing Red in 2:13 to retain the TNA Legends title. Of course, the match looked ridiculous and Don West’s commentary pretty much killed Red nine times over. Nash almost sweat hardway delivering several knees and basically treated Red like a joke before finishing him with the jackknife. DUD

Hernandez did a welcome back promo where he thanked Jarrett for giving him a chance when no one else would. Homicide walked in and appeared to be upset that Hernandez made the save for him earlier, and they argued.

This week’s Foley and Borash comedy hour featured Foley mentioning he was competing in a pole match tonight on a “moderately sprained ankle” suffered in Sunday’s match against Angle. Borash was worried if Foley lost tonight, he would lose everything in his office, including the laptop he’s currently writing his book on. That’s some news right there since Foley wrote his first two wrestling books on a series of notepads. Foley grabbed the portrait of he and Borash and said no matter what, the picture was staying with him because it was too valuable to put on the line in a match. He then started basically lampooning the concept of a pole match, saying all disputes should be settled that way, including Obama-McCain. Well, I think the result would have turned out the same. Rocco and Sally Boy walked in vowing to have Foley’s back. Foley just wanted them to remove the Main Event Mafia logo from their security shirts since he ordered them to take it off a month ago. Funny segment.

Booker T and Scott Steiner was watching TV and claimed to have found the perfect opponents for their first title defense.

Traci Brooks did an interview where she said she had been in Hollywood and had a huge project coming up in the future. She said she asked Mick Foley if she could reassume her position as TNA Knockouts Law again tonight for the Knockouts battle royal. But hasn’t Angle established himself as the authority figure for the show?

Booker T and Scott Steiner defeated Rocco and Sally Boy in 4:44 to retain the TNA Tag Team titles. Rocco and Sally Boy still had the MEM logo on their shirts. Again, a squash for the first three minutes with Booker and Steiner treated the match as a joke. Then Sally blocked a Steiner charge with a boot, and the place went crazy for the hot tag. This match brought back what a hidden gem the squash match format could be, because when Rocco was on offense, the crowd reacted like they were about to see an upset. Rocco hit a big splash off the top on Steiner, but Sharmell pulled the referee out. Then Booker hit a sloppy bookend, and Steiner got the pin with a downward spiral. *1/4

Eric Young went into Foley’s office. Another thing you can count on when Russo doesn’t have a filter is taking someone who just turned heel who apologizes for his actions, only to turn heel again by show’s end. Step one of that came here, with Young apologizing to Foley about his battles with Jarrett over the past few months. Foley told Young to join A.J. Styles in being a fifth member of the TNA Originals team for a tag match tonight. It was done in the most transparent way possible and you knew where it was headed.

Traci Brooks won a Knockouts Battle Royal to become a member of the Main Event Mafia and win “$50,000″ in 5:44. Bad match, and the fact it was a Titanic Battle Royal didn’t help matters. Daffney was eliminated in :35 by Wilde. It’s like they try to take anyone with potential to get over and immediately humiliate them. Madison Rayne followed at :48 after Awesome Kong gorilla pressed her onto Daffney. Mark Johnson looked concerned about Rayne. ODB was thrown over by Angelina Love and Velvet Sky, but Cody Deaner showed up, caught her and threw her back in. Johnson sent Deaner away from ringside to the back. Sojourner Bolt was eliminated by Wilde at 1:45. Tara kicked out Velvet Sky at 2:04. Nash came to ringside at this point. It should be mentioned that Brooks was just in the ring acting like a referee for the early minutes of this match. During a commercial, Wilde and Melissa Flash were eliminated, and Love soon followed. This left Tara, ODB, Sarita, Kong and Brooks, with everybody ganging up on Kong. Kong sent ODB over at 4:07. Tara teased the widow’s peak on Sarita, but she flipped out of it. Kong hip tossed Sarita out at 4:40. She came off as nothing special at all here. It was supposedly down to Tara and Kong at this point with Brooks in as a referee. They didn’t work well together at all. It was supposed to end with Tara and Kong fighting on the edge of the ropes, but Tara got all tangled up and it looked awful. Finally, they did the Royal Rumble 1992 finish with Tara and Kong playing Sid and Hogan, fighting along the ropes, until Brooks suddenly became a participant as opposed to a referee and threw them both over. Nash was cracking breast jokes on commentary, then introduced Brooks as the newest member of the Mafia. Tara went back in the ring and gave Johnson a low blow afterwards. ½*

The Beautiful People were upset about Brooks being the latest member of the mafia. Sky started running down ODB, which brought in Deaner, who was upset. Deaner was great, especially when Love started coming on to him. She started complimenting him on his cologne, where he revealed it was “Mi La Toilet,” something his mother got for him at the flea market. He thought the girls “wanted a piece of the Deaner.” Of course, it ended with Sky giving him a low blow. ODB made the save, and Deaner said “they shattered the Deaner Diamonds.” Deaner is essentially TNA’s Steve Regal, where he’s so entertaining whether he’s working or doing comedy.

Styles did a promo saying all the members of the TNA Originals dropped the ball at Victory Road. Well, then and the seven previous months when they were booked to look like morons. Then he said tonight they were all on the same page. I thought Styles was supposed to stop looking like an idiot when he turned face last year. Instead, his credibility took yet another blow after the following segment.

Brutus Magnus, Kiyoshi, Sheik Abdul Bashir, Rob Terry and Doug Williams defeated A.J. Styles, James Storm, Robert Roode, Daniels and Eric Young in 5:22. Beer Money did the double suplex on Sheik Abdul Bashir, leading to everybody chanting their name. Styles did a kneedrop on Bashir. Daniels hit a split legged moonsault on Bashir for a two count. Bashir whipped Daniels into Rob Terry, who threw one green looking forearm. West mentioned he had dinner with Kiyoshi earlier this week. I demand a tape of that conversation pronto. Daniels did a great job with Terry on power spots making someone green as hell look good. Daniels whipped Doug Williams into Terry, then followed with an enzuigiri to make the hot tag to Styles. Styles hit the springboard flying forearm on Magnus. It ended with Styles going for the Styles Clash on Magnus, but Young predictably turned on Styles, giving him a pile driver, leading to Magnus getting the pin. Young posed with the heels afterwards, and it appears he’s going to be the leader of their group. It would have been so much better if Young hadn’t done the predictable interview earlier which all but guaranteed a turn. Instead, they had to hammer it into our heads in the most corny way imaginable. Mike Tenay started screaming about how Young violated a code of the locker room by using a pile driver, saying too many wrestlers had their careers come to an end because of that move. What is this, 1985 Mid-South? Where Carl Fergie when you need him? **1/4

Young did a heel interview saying the name of the group is called the World Elite, and he was invited to join them long ago. A furious Foley ran in after Young and they had to be separated.

Kurt Angle and Mick Foley went to a no contest in an Office Keys on the Pole/OfficeMax death match in 5:02. Why in the world is Angle doing a pole match less than a week after suffering a torn groin? Both men were clearly banged up. But Angle is Angle, right back taking crazy bumps left and right once the bell rings. Foley clotheslined him over the top rope and gave him a superplex within the first three minutes. Foley hit a double-arm DDT and pulled out Dude Sock for the mandible claw. He held it on for a full minute and put Angle on his back. It appeared Angle was out, but as Foley climbed the pole Steiner and Joe ran in. So the pole match ended in a double DQ. The entire mafia came out, including Taz. They beat Foley to a pulp, and held Foley for Angle, who said that “Foley next card would be his last card.” At this point, music played and Bobby Lashley came out, teasing he was about to join the mafia. Lashley and Angle embraced, and it appeared Lashley was about to tag Foley. But Lashley turned around and decked Angle, and clotheslined all the other mafia members to a big pop. *1/2

SUMMARY: It’s tough to watch Brock Lesnar tear down the house doing the best money generating heel interview since Steve Austin in Milwaukee at 1996 King of the Ring, then turn around 11 days later to watch a show where almost all of the babyfaces look like fools. The booking is predictable under Russo. As bad as Jarrett’s self-serving booking can be, it’s clear a filter is needed in this company, or else it’s WCW 2000. It wasn’t a horrible show, but staleness isn’t a WWE problem right now. It’s a pro wrestling problem, and this show didn’t help. But at least the Lashley return was good, and he has a direction.

Jeff Hamlin
jhamlin@wchl1360.com