What happened @TNA Xplosion - August 24th 2011

The following article was originally published at 1Wrestling.com, you can view the original piece by clicking here.

Ray Mullan reporting for 1Wrestling.com. This week on TNA Xplosion, the Xplosion Championship Challenge heats up as we reach the final. The British Invasion’s Magnus, goes head to head with Alex Shelley for a guaranteed shot at a championship of their choice. Find out what went down and much more…

Before we kick off the action, let’s take a look at where we are in the tournament bracket:

Xplosion Championship Challenge – Round 1:
“The Pope” D’Angelo Dinero def. Suicide
Crimson def. Robbie E
Devon def. Anarquia
Douglas Williams def. Amazing Red
Magnus def. Orlando Jordan
Alex Shelley def. Okada
Shannon Moore def. Jeremy Buck
Hernandez def. Max Buck

Xplosion Championship Challenge – Quarter Finals:
Alex Shelley def. “The Pope” D’Angelo Dinero
Magnus def. Shannon Moore
Crimson vs. Devon (Double Countout – Both men eliminated)
Douglas Williams def. Hernandez

Xplosion Championship Challenge – Semi Finals:
Magnus recieves a bye to the final
Alex Shelley Def Douglas Williams or Hernandez

Xplosion Championship Challenge – Final:
Magnus vs. Alex Shelley

We open with the Xplosion promo video and “Welcome to the gun show” by In this Moment . We cut to crowd shots and we join JB and the "Human Suplex Machine" Taz at the announce booth to take us through what’s in store this evening. The big news of course is that the Xplosion Championship Challenge final is tonight, better yet its now! The announcers hand over to SoCal Val for the ring introductions.

Match 1: Magnus w/Douglas Williams vs. Alex Shelley
Really liking the new British Invasion theme tune, very "London Punk Scene" sound to it. As much as I like Alex Shelley, your 1Wrestling.com Xplosion correspondent will be decidely biased tonight in favour of my home boy Magnus. Good response from the crowd tonight, their looking forward to this one.

Jackson James is the official for tonight’s bout. Lock up to start and Magnus uses that height and weight advantage to just toss Shelley across the ring. Armbar from Magnus. Spinning reversal into a drop toe hold from Shelley, very smooth. Some good mat wrestling from these two tonight. USA Chants breaking out right now, I guess we know where the IMPACT Zone's loyalties are this evening. JB informs us Magnus believes he is the greatest wrestler to come out of Great Britain - Magnus my friend, your great but you've a long way to go before you touch the one and only Dynamite Kid Tom Billington. Still, got to love the outright cockiness of Magnus. Speaking of whom, he just drops Shelley like nobody's business with a powerful shoulder block. Misses and elbow drop, rollup from Shelley for a two count. Spin kick from Alex, but his sliced bread attempt is reversed. Stuns Magnus over the ropes as Doug Williams looks on menacingly. "You can never trust a man in a vest"...wise words Taz, wise words. Shelley attempts a monkey flip, but Magnus showing his great agility and lands on his feet and knocks Shelley for six with a big boot.

Back from the break as Magnus continues to work over Alex Shelley. Shelley begins a fight back with some vicious rights and lefts and lays in that boot to Magnus' skull. Covers but only gets a two count. Crowd getting behind Shelley as he takes it high risk and heads to the top.  Goes for a splash but Magnus manages to get his knees up, ouch that looked sore. DDT from Magnus, but only two from Jackson James. Magnus over the top rope to outside as he misses a clothesline, and Shelley follows up with a plancha to the outside which connects! That was impressive folks!

Back in the ring goes Magnus, but Douglas Williams attempts a sneak attack on Shelley, but is repelled with a sliced bread on the FLOOR! WOW! Shelley heads back into the ring and climbs the turnbuckle. Misses the stop and Magnus hits the Mag Daddy Driver for the 1...2...3! YES! Magnus is the Xplosion Championship Challenge Winner!
Winner: Magnus

Great match and a great way to close out the tournament. JB informs us that Magnus is planning a victory parade in his home town of Kings Lynn, England - where's my invite? We'll find out soon which title shot Magnus will select, but judging by his post match smack talking towards Mexican America, I suspect the British Invasion are about to get a shot at Tag-Team gold.

Back from the break and we are treated to a very cool TNA No Surrender promo video.

Back to the studio and it’s time for a very special "social media" edition of the TNA Spin Cycle with Jeremy Borash. This week’s guests are Austin Aries, ODB, Magnus and Robbie E. The panel discuss how facebook, twitter et al have changed their lives, their "porn names" and Austin Aries' akward T-Shirt. You can see a full video of the segment here.

We cut to footage of Eric Young as he goes to Hollywood to become a star and track down Scott Baio for a TV Title defense. We see what happens as Eric takes acting lessons. If you haven't seen it yet, here's the full segment courtesy of IMPACT Wrestling's official Youtube channel.



Next up, it's "TNA Underground" as we take a look back at classic matches from TNA's formative years in the Asylum. This week features some legendary names as Christopher Daniels, Elix Skipper, Low Ki and Vince Russo take on Jeff Jarrett, Dusty Rhodes and the RoadWarriors! Interesting that the RoadWarriors used Abyss' old theme, easy to forget that some of these names graced TNA rings not so long ago - I used to love the weekly Pay-Per Views, they always had surprise appearances like this. Overall the match was surprisingly good given the ages and physical conditions of some of the combatants. In the end it was Russo's Sports Entertainment Xtreme team that got the victory following interference from Mr. Wrestling IV who revealed himself to be none other than the "Russian Nightmare" Nikita Koloff, cool moment.

And finally we close out the show with a special look at TNA's upcoming Pay-Per View "No Surrender" in a Before the Bell special.



Well folks that’s all for this week. As ever, if you have any questions, comments or feedback concerning this report, feel free to drop me a line at my blog The Daily Dropkick, E-Mail me at raymullan@gmail.com or tweet me at @raymullan.