by Thomas Keister

TNA broadcast their last Impact! before Victory Road tonight, setting in motion the final plays from all sides involved as the pay-per-view approaches this Sunday.

Tonight's episode started with a surprisingly trim ten minute exchange between Mick Foley, TNA World Champion Kurt Angle, and eventually Sting, leading to the Icon asking Foley to give him a match with Angle. Before the executive shareholder/Number One contender could answer, Angle cut him off to not only accept, but to "tweak" it into a Six Sides of Steel match! Not bad for a main event leading into a pay-per-view! As Impact! cut to commercial, however, it was Samoa Joe in the spotlight, as he was assaulting Amazing Red in advance of their match.

Back from the break, Joe had beaten Red to the ring to finally get the match underway. No sooner than the bell rang, however, Rudy Charles was disqualifying the "Nation of Violence" for making contact with an official. The action ended with TNA Security holding Samoa Joe at bay with nightsticks. Finally, ringside security that acts like they got a pair!

Chris Sabin had Motor City Machinegun partner Alex Shelley in his corner for non-title action with X Division Champion Suicide, furthering their crusade to unmask the mysterious star. This match started at typical X Division pace, with both men displaying solid chain wrestling aerial playbooks. A brief distraction by Shelley allowed Sabin to take the lead, but Suicide eventually solved the numbers game, pinning Sabin after hitting the Suicide Solution. The Guns attacked the champ following the match, leading to a run-in by Homicide, deciding to cash in his "Feast or Fired" briefcase and pinning Suicide after a blink of a match to win the X Division Championship! This was a nice surprise leading into Victory Road.

Two new Knockouts made debuts tonight, as Alissa Flash faced Sarita, who has been hyped the past few weeks with video montages. Flash brashly had the announcer add "The Future Legend" to her introduction, and she came to win against Sarita, who only had brief chances to display her high flying style as Flash kept up an aggressive and relentless pace. Sarita would pull out the win after reversing a victory roll, but this was no doubt an occasion where Flash was more impressive in losing than Sarita may have been in winning.

Scott Steiner, Booker T, and Kevin Nash represented the Main Event Mafia as they battled TNA Legends Champion AJ Styles and TNA World Tag Team Champions Beer Money, Inc. in 6-man elimination tag action. This preview of two matches at Victory Road quickly tilted the MEM's way as Styles and James Storm were quickly eliminated, leaving Robert Roode to unsuccessfully battle all three men. This fairly dominant win serves as an ominous sign that the Mafia is going to back up their words Sunday night and take all the gold!

The cage main event provided brief action, as Sting and Kurt Angle would trade the edge back and forth for a solid three minutes. Coming out of a commercial break, Sting would dodge an Angle Slam to lock in the Scorpion Death Lock, but Samoa Joe stormed the cage, locking the door behind him! While Sting was waiting for him, putting The Samoan Submission Machine in the SDL himself! However, then the lights cut out, and the "FTW" logo flashed on the video screen, leaving little doubt that legendary former ECW World Champion Taz will make his debut as Joe's advisor at Victory Road. The show ended with Joe choking Sting out as the lights came back up.