That fun soon came crashing down with the news of Chris Candido’s passing later that week. If you haven’t read Rick’s excellent piece concerning Chris, check it out here. I wasn’t sure if I would be able to watch the April 29th Impact because of Candido’s presence on the show. He helped “his boys” The Naturals regain the NWA World Tag Team Titles in a great match against AMW. Even though he couldn’t do much due to his ankle injury suffered at Lockdown, Candido was the star of the show. It really looked like he was having the time of his life out there. The shots of him after the match were something I won’t forget. Even though I’m sure it was quite the tough decision, TNA did the right thing by airing the show as it was taped. I didn’t know the guy, but judging from Chris’ dedication, I think it’s what he would’ve wanted. My condolences go out to his family, friends, and fans.

Here’s the Impact results since Lockdown…

Results: Shocker over Petey Williams, Sonjay Dutt over Buck Quartermain, Outlaw over Mikey Batts, The Naturals over America’s Most Wanted to win the NWA World Tag Team Titles

Thoughts: Since I already touched on it above, I’ll try to focus just on the show here. Shocker and Petey was good, but too short. I hope this is a short losing streak for Williams; he should be near the top of the X-Division at all times. Sonjay and Quartermain was quite the mix of styles, and they didn’t mix all that smoothly. Outlaw just completely squashed Batts. TNA really needs some new jobbers; it’s a little too obvious when Quartermain or Batts come out what’s going to happen. 3 Live Kru came out to confront Outlaw; they’re still going with the very slow burn on BG/Outlaw. They set up Outlaw and Konnan for next week, which set off celebrations all over the country. Okay, it didn’t, but try to play along. Director of Authority Dusty announced that UFC star Tito Ortiz would be the special referee for Styles/Jarrett at Hard Justice. Anybody else have Ken Shamrock flashbacks? Jarrett cut the same promo he’s been cutting since last summer. Naturals/AMW was excellent, one of the best Impact matches ever. The Naturals were already good (as seen by their feud with AMW last summer), but Candido made them so much better. The last shot of Candido clutching the NWA World Tag Titles was so great, and so hard to watch, all at the same time.

Results: Abyss over Cassidy Reilly, Shocker over Sonjay Dutt, Konnan over Outlaw by DQ, Chris Sabin over Michael Shane

Thoughts: Abyss is becoming the master of the squash. Cassidy Reilly is becoming the master squashee. If Dustin Rhodes is still supposed to be his mentor, he’s really doing a crappy job. This guy takes a beating every time he gets in the ring. Shocker/Sonjay was good stuff that went nearly to the ten minute time limit. I respect Shocker, but I’m still not completely sold on him. He’s TNA’s version of the Smashing Pumpkins for me. I like some of his work, but I’m still not seeing what the big deal is. Raven returned for everyone’s favorite segment: “Wacky Promo Time.” The line of the segment was Raven saying he’s caused so much pain “that God, Allah, and Buddha can’t keep track.” He also compared Jeff Hardy to Keith Richards. The gist of it was that Raven wanted to like Hardy, but he can’t because Raven’s just a prick. Hey, we all have our reasons. Konnan’s shoe throwing is more over than he is. Outlaw tired of K-Dawg’s antics and blasted him with a chair for the DQ. We got more spooky staring between BG and Outlaw post-match. Tenay had a sit down interview with Jarrett and AJ. Jarrett pulled out promo #37 where he says he’s better than everybody, he’s beaten everybody, he’s earned everything, and AJ hasn’t earned anything. Every time AJ tried to speak, Jarrett just shouted over him. Now, that’s just flat-out rude. I guess we’re supposed to forget that AJ has beaten Jarrett in the past. Shane/Sabin was quite good, that’s two good main events in a row on Impact. Traci and Trinity added a lot to the story, another reason why TNA needs to use their own history more in their storylines. After the match, Shane super kicks Sabin three times with Trinity’s help. Traci gets in the ring to check on Sabin, and the show fades to black teasing that Shane is going to super kick Traci. What a prick…

Results: Elix Skipper and Christopher Daniels wrestled to a time limit draw in an elimination match with Eric Young and Jeff Hardy, Abyss won a 10 man Gauntlet match to win the right to come out last in Hard Justice’s Gauntlet for the Gold

Thoughts: Raven attacked Jeff Hardy during the elimination match to eliminate him. Don West had the worst product plug in recorded history when he threw in a plug for the new Van Zant album during Raven’s beat down of Hardy. There’s times when someone really needs to slap him in the head to knock out those Home Shopping Network flashbacks. They went to commercial with you thinking Skipper had gotten the win, but later clarified that time had run out and Daniels did not lose. The AJ Styles hype video was excellent, they really have to put the title on him after that. The good hype videos continued with a recap of The Naturals/AMW feud, going back to last summer. Very nice touch to include that The Naturals are the only tag team with a winning record over AMW. I think this was done to replace a taped Naturals match with Chris Candido at ringside, TNA did a good job improvising. A Tito Ortiz video was up next. He put over AJ, threatened to kick Ken Shamrock’s ass, vowed Jarrett wouldn’t use the guitar, and said he’d get physically involved if he had to. Since Bobby Roode went out of the Gauntlet match first, he has to enter Sunday’s Gauntlet match first. Ugh, Trytan came back. If the Orlando crowd had their way, Lance Hoyt would be a champion. The final two was Abyss and Hoyt. Their match-up was surprisingly good. I still don’t get the Hoyt love though.

Cue the guillotines, head vices, Spanish Donkeys, and Jack Bauer; it’s time for Hard Justice…

Since one of the best parts of wrestling is ripping off something that works for others, I’m going to continue in that tradition. I have assembled a team of TNA experts to preview and predict this weekend’s PPV. We’ll compare notes back here on Monday with the recap...

JEFF JARRETT vs. AJ STYLES
NWA World Title Match / Tito Ortiz is Special Referee

AJ became the #1 contender at Lockdown when he defeated Abyss in a great match. On the April 29 Impact, Dusty Rhodes announced that he had signed Tito Ortiz to be the special guest referee for the match. Jeff Jarrett was not pleased. He let us know about this on May 6th during a sit down interview Mike Tenay had with both Jarrett and Styles. That led to the predictable pull apart brawl.

That’s it for the build up for this one. It really doesn’t need much honestly. They are ignoring the past history between these two, this isn’t their first World Title match you know. They’re ignoring it in favor of painting AJ as the underdog babyface against the heel Jarrett.
  

THE NATURALS vs. AMERICA'S MOST WANTED
NWA Tag Team Title Match

The Naturals won the belts in a rare Impact title change on April 29. They’ve been champions before, even defeated AMW for the belts before, but they had fallen on hard times recently. Chris Candido took a liking to them though, and started mentoring the team. He helped “his boys” get the win on Impact and the titles.

For obvious reasons, there hasn’t been much else in the way of building this up on Impact. TNA did air an excellent preview video this week, using the teams’ past history. They’ve had one of the better feuds in TNA history over the years, and Sunday’s match should add to that.
  

CHRISTOPHER DANIELS vs. SHOCKER
X Division Championship Match

Shocker earned the right to challenge Daniels by winning the X-Division Xscape Match at Lockdown. Since then, he’s claimed wins over Petey Williams and Sonjay Dutt. He said that he wanted to prove himself in America after his years in Mexico.

Daniels entertained himself by doing guest commentary on Shocker’s match with Dutt on the May 6 Impact. After Shocker’s win, Daniels started trash talking him at ringside. Shocker was ready for a fight, but Daniels backed off. He then gained a time limit draw in the May 13 elimination match with Elix Skipper, Eric Young, and Jeff Hardy.

Daniels won the belt at Destination X with his win over AJ Styles in the Ultimate X Challenge and defended it last month with a win over Elix Skipper. This will be Shocker’s first attempt at the X Division Title. It will also be the first match between Shocker and Christopher Daniels anywhere.
 

GAUNTLET FOR THE GOLD
20-Man Gauntlet Match to Determine Next #1 Contender

We don’t know all the participants here, TNA loves their surprises. Thus far, they have announced that Ron Killings, Apollo, and Lance Hoyt will be involved. We also learned on Impact this week that Bobby Roode will entering the match first. He was the first eliminated on Impact’s Gauntlet match. Abyss won the right to come out last with his win in that match.

TNA has used the Gauntlet match many times throughout their history. Two men start for two minutes. Every ninety seconds, someone new enters the match. Eliminations occur when someone is thrown over the top rope. However, it becomes a normal match when it gets down to the final two in TNA.
  

RAVEN vs. JEFF HARDY
Clockwork Orange House of Fun Match

These two fought it out in a tables match last month that was won by Jeff Hardy. The match surpassed most people’s expectations. It was full of crazy moves, good brawling, and some usual Hardy insanity. No, I’m not even talking about his pink body paint.

Raven didn’t take the loss well, as evidenced by his promo on the May 6th edition of Impact. He called himself a human cancer and said that Jeff Hardy stood in the way of his destiny. Raven said that Hardy would be “terminated with extreme prejudice” at Hard Justice. The following week, Raven jumped Hardy during the X-Division elimination match, taking him out of the match in the process.

For those who haven’t followed TNA long, the Clockwork Orange House of Fun match is one of Raven’s concoctions. It’s been done different ways, but it’s primarily a hardcore match. I’m assuming with last month’s overload on cages, this one won’t involve the steel cage, but you never know.
  

DIAMOND DALLAS PAGE/BG JAMES vs. MONTY BROWN/THE OUTLAW

This was also announced late in the week, but we do have some predictions and a story here. The match is a spill over from the Lethal Lockdown match last month. They subtracted Jarrett and Waltman, and decided to have these four go at it again. This time though, it’s without the weapons. Isn’t that backwards from tradition?

There are some interesting under currents between these four though. DDP and Monty Brown have unresolved issues stemming from Monty’s heel turn at Destination X in March that cost DDP the NWA World Title. Brown has allied himself with Jeff Jarrett and his buddy Outlaw. There’s been tension between James and Outlaw since Outlaw showed up to help Jarrett against Kevin Nash at Against All Odds in February. Outlaw has been talking with James backstage at times, which has caused dissention between James and the 3 Live Kru. Every time James has had a chance to attack Outlaw, most notably in the Lethal Lockdown match, he’s backed off. Could it all be a set up to reunite the New Age Outlaws?
  

EXTRAS: THE PRE-SHOW STUFF AND MATCHES NOT IMPORTANT ENOUGH TO ANNOUNCE TILL FRIDAY AFTERNOON

TNA sure knows how to make it damn hard to do a proper preview when they wait until two days before the event to announce the final card. The show will kick off with a Shark Boy v. David Young match on the pre-show, which should be a fun opener. Young is too talented for this role though, I hope they can get him involved in something more substantial soon. And, you can’t ever be upset with Shark Boy getting involved.

Team Canada v. Sonny Siaki/Apollo is un-important match numero uno. Their paths haven’t crossed since Siaki and Apollo became a team, this match has just been thrown together. I guess it can flesh out the tag team ranks a little bit. If that’s the case, I’m really hoping this will be a vehicle to begin rebuilding Team Canada. They’ve been doing a lot of jobs lately, both in singles and tag action, and need to start getting some wins. Coach D’Amore, we want some clean wins while we’re at it. At least, some not involving you running in with a hockey stick would be a nice start.

The other match is one that most TNA fans could see coming. It’s going to be Michael Shane/Trinity v. Chris Sabin/Traci. This should have been announced and publicized in advance, it could be one of the top matches on the show. We all know what Shane and Sabin can do, throw in a little storyline, and you just might have something interesting.

Trinity, in her goal to piss off Traci as much as possible, started coming to ringside with Michael Shane. Traci used to be Shane’s valet back in the New Franchise and Shane/Frankie Kazarian days. Trinity got involved in the X-Division Xscape match at Lockdown, even doing a moonsault off the top of the cage to try to help Shane get the win. It didn’t work, and she ended up eating a clothesline from a furious Traci for her troubles. Shane and Sabin had a singles match this month on Impact, with Trinity and Traci in their respective man’s corner. Sabin got the win, got super kicked repeatedly afterwards, and the show ended with a tease of Traci eating a super kick as well.

Sabin and Shane will bring the goods, and Trinity and Traci could be a pleasant surprise in the ring. We’ve seen Trinity get physically involved before, she even had a solid match with Kid Kash back in the day. Traci hasn’t been involved in a match in TNA before, but she hasn’t been afraid to take a crazy bump. I haven’t seen her indy work, but I’ve heard many good things. I’m looking forward to it. As for a prediction, Traci will get the better of Trinity here, but Shane will get the win. Hopefully, this feud will continue on.

We all hope you enjoyed the new format. I’ll be back on Monday with a recap. Enjoy the show…