by Alan Wojcik  of http://alanwojcik.com

Today we take the initial steps towards the Hard Justice PPV with two episodes of Impact. Lance Hoyt was in attendance; hopefully he will be back in a TNA ring again soon.

Jeremy Borash stood outside Sting’s locker room talking about the Hard Justice PPV when Jay Lethal walked out. Lethal said his title shot he earned wasn’t against Senshi; it was with NWA World Heavyweight champion Jeff Jarrett.

Speaking of NWA World Heavyweight champion Jeff Jarrett, he came to the ringside area with Scott Steiner about his match of Jay Lethal. Jarrett claimed Sting conned Lethal out of his X Division title shot by making Lethal challenge for the World title. Jarrett said Steiner would be his shadow all night long.

Hour one recap:

(1) The Naturals (Chase Stevens and Andy Douglas w/ “the Franchise” Shane Douglas) defeated “Maverick” Matt Bentley and Frankie “the Future” Kazarian.

That’s right kids, Shazr…I mean Benzarian has reunited in TNA Wrestling. Before they hit the ring, Douglas came out and introduced the Naturals to the audience. Both teams wore matching outfits to be stylish. The Naturals controlled the match until Douglas got tripped up by Kazarian and then was hit with a slingshot legdrop from Kazarian. Benzarian took over on Douglas using double team moves that should have led them to the titles long ago. Douglas survived the onslaught and Stevens tagged back in. Things broke down as all four men were in together. However Bentley was pinned after he missed Stevens with a superkick. He was picked up by Stevens who held him so Douglas could hit a legdrop as Stevens hit a power bomb.

Mike Tenay and Don West talked to the home audience. Jeremy Borash spoke again about trying to find out Sting’s condition when Eric Young snuck up and asked why Borash was ignoring him. He asked Borash for an idea like the “Don’t Fire Eric” campaign. But when it looked like the idea would be revealed, Borash tossed it back to Tenay and West.

(2) “War Machine” Rhino defeated someone Penzer didn’t announce in record time with a GORE!!! I think his name was Robert Adams.

Needing a real workout Rhino took the mic and said he wanted real competition in his Extreme Challenge. Samoa Joe’s music played and it looked like he would answer the challenge even as Rhino became a potty mouth. Joe said they didn’t need to wait for Hard Justice, they would get it on next week on Impact. Of course Rhino refused to wait and using the potty mouth again daring Joe to come to the ring. The TNA security broke it up.

Jeremy Borash was going to talk to Brother Runt when Team 3D entered and talked about their loss on Sunday night. Ray said he and Devon were going to split for a bit to recalculate their goals since they don’t have the belts they should have won off America’s Most Wanted and got sidetracked from them by the James Gang. They told Runt the X Division title could be his for the taking.

Jeremy Borash spoke America’s Most Wanted argued about who cost them the titles Sunday night. Gail Kim said the blame squarely falls on Sirelda and I think she challenged her to match but Penzer began his countdown to cue…. NWA World Tag Team champions “Fallen Angel” Christopher Daniels and “Phenomenal” AJ Styles coming to the ring. Styles had several manila envelopes in his hand as Daniels talked about retaining the belts Sunday night and the other tag teams not being fans of them holding the belts. First he focused on Team 3D then Styles said the envelopes held contracts for all the tag teams to face the champions. Konnan spoke from his Spanish announce table about the LAX being left out of the mix. Styles and Daniels showed him an envelope with LAX’s name on it. Daniels said he would hand deliver it to Konnan. Konnan asked for a pen but when he dropped the pen on the floor the LAX jumped the champions. Styles got the worse end of it all by Homicide’s Cop Killer. The LAX ripped up the other contracts and signed theirs in Daniels’ own blood that poured from his head.

Jeremy Borash said he left to talk to AMW and when he came back to Sting’s locker room, it was empty. Larry Zbyszko wearing a nice rug said Jim Cornette was dropping the ball with Joe/Rhino and Lethal/Jarrett taking place on free TV. “Slick” Mark Johnson came into the picture but the in building feed was lost.

(3) NWA World Heavyweight champion Jeff Jarrett defeated Jay Lethal

As outlined earlier Lethal won this title shot by winning the eight man match on last week’s Impact. Lethal jumped Jarrett at the bell as the champ was posing with the title. The action spilled out the floor briefly but back in and only to come back out and in. But on the return to the ring Jarrett kicked Lethal. He hit a move on the ropes but Lethal avoided the second move and hit Jarrett with a tope. This brought out Scott Steiner and a metal baton of some kind. Jarrett called over Rudy Charles and Steiner hit Lethal. The match spilled to the floor where Jarrett and Steiner worked over Lethal. The match finally went back in the ring where Jarrett went for a figure four but Lethal countered into one that Steiner broke when he grabbed Jarrett’s arms and pulled him to the ropes. As Charles and Steiner argued Lethal flew out onto Steiner. Lethal came back in the ring and after several moves went up top but Steiner hit him with the baton and Jarrett hit the Stroke to retain.

After the match Jarrett and Steiner mocked Lethal but the lights went out. When they came on Sting was in the ring fighting with both men. TNA security and referees hit the ring.

Jeremy Borash cut off Christian Cage before he entered Jim Cornette’s office. Cage said he was going to ask if he could be in Sting’s corner to counter Steiner being in Jarrett’s.

Hour two recap:

Jeremy Borash spoke to Eric Young and the James Gang about the next idea to make Young a star. This needs to be seen instead of typed about.

Brother Runt and Abyss brawled from the heel entry way into the Impact Zone and the ring. With Raven watching from the crowd, Abyss hit Runt with a Black Hole Slam onto a folding chair.

Jeremy Borash asked Monty Brown about the Rhino/Samoa Joe match but he wanted to talk about the unfinished business from the PPV.

(1) Petey Williams defeated “Hotshot” Johnny Devine, Shark Boy and Sonjay Dutt.

Some of Team Canada was reunited for this encounter. Kevin Nash and Alex Shelley watched from a painter’s scaffold I guess scouting the X Division or cheering on Devine. Each man held their own during the match, even when the Canadians hooked up. Everyone hit their finishers but it was Williams who won when he hit Shark Boy with the Canadian Destroyer.

Jeremy Borash spoke to Brother Runt about why he attacked Abyss. Runt said he usually picked someone in the locker room he thought was the bad ass, so he challenged Abyss to a match of any kind at any time.

After a brief technical hiatus “Captain Charisma” Christian Cage hit the ring. Cage said he was out in the ring to apologize to Sting. He said he doubted Sting’s initial motives for coming back to TNA, he felt Sting came back to make TNA the best wrestling promotion in the world and to remove the cancer of Jeff Jarrett. Cage said he was too busy with his own agenda and was blinded by the greed to see it. He said when he asked Cornette if he could be in Sting’s corner, the answer had to come from Sting. Sting appeared in the rafters and said at Hard Justice it would be his time and the removal of the cancer known as Jeff Jarrett. Shockingly we didn’t get an answer about Cage being in the corner at the PPV.

(2) The James Gang (Kip and BG James) and Eric Young (wearing his old “Showtime” ring gear) defeated America’s Most Wanted (“Tennessee Cowboy” James Storm and “Wildcat” Chris Harris w/Gail Kim) and their mystery partner A1.

It looked like A1 and Young were going to begin the match although A1 refused and demanded Kip James start for his team. Young tagged in but he refused to cheat to win. Finally A1 and Young went lock up but Harris decked Young from behind. A1 tagged back in but he refused to hit Young. So Storm came in but instead of Young he decked Harris. This confusion allowed Young to roll up A1 to win. If you’re confused by what happened, join the club we have jackets with our names embroidered on the pocket.

(3) Samoa Joe and “War Machine” Rhino fought to a no contest.

Zbyszko was right about Jim Cornette giving away a PPV match on free TV. This one began with punches, forearms, kicks, clotheslines and enziguris that made the match begin on even ground. Monty Brown came out and took a ringside seat as Rhino took over on Joe. Rhino acknowledged Brown’s presence with a loogie spat in his direction. Joe fought back with a chain of moves that led to an in-ring senton bomb for two. Rhino hit a clothesline, too bad he hit Rudy Charles. Rhino hit Joe with a spinebuster and went for a pin but Brown pulled Rhino to the floor. Joe came out and hit Brown with a tope. Rhino and Joe fought up the ramp where Rhino hit a belly to belly suplex. Rhino took time to find a table in the ramp area and set it up for a GORE into the table. But when Rhino went to charge, Brown knocked him down, which allowed Joe to lock Brown in the Kokina Clutch. Both men lost sight of Rhino until both of them were hit with a GORE into the table!!! After the match was thrown out, Rhino came back to celebrate with the fans.

Matches to air on Xplosion and Global Impact:

(1) Sonjay Dutt and “the Future” Chris Sabin defeated NWA World X Division champion Senshi and Petey Williams when Dutt hit Senshi with a standing shooting star press.

(2) Ron “the Truth” Killings defeated A1 with the scissor kick.

Before this match ever began Killings rapped his entire entrance song, taking a shot at WWE Superstar John Cena.

Announced matches for August 13th Hard Justice PPV:

***NWA World Heavyweight champion Jeff Jarrett vs. Sting

***NWA World Tag Team champions “Fallen Angel” Christopher Daniels and “Phenomenal” AJ Styles vs. Latin American Exchange members Hotstuff Hernandez and “Notorious 187” Homicide (w/Konnan)