Impact Wrestling – January 5, 2012 – Dig Those Combined Feud Matches!

Impact Wrestling
Date: January 5, 2012
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Tazz

We’re in a new year for TNA and we have Genesis this coming Sunday. I won’t say it comes off as a throwaway show, but it feels almost like a given that Hardy is going to win the title. It almost feels like it’s too much of a given actually. Anyway, tonight we have the finals of the Wild Card Tournament to determine who faces Morgan/Crimson on Sunday. Other than that there isn’t much that I know of. Let’s get to it.

Here’s Sting to open the show. He requests Jeff come down here so here he comes too. Sting talks about Jeff rebuilding trust back one step at a time. He was dealing with some demons of his own recently but he got a second chance, just like Jeff has. Here come Angle, Ray and Roode to interrupt. Roode wants to know why Sting is endorsing Hardy instead of Roode or Angle or Ray. Roode says that Sting picks his favorites and it looks like we’re going to have a fight.

Cue Storm and Abyss and I think you know where this is going. Storm gets in the faces of Roode and Angle, talking about how the Last Call put Kurt down. Abyss is his friend and he likes to drink beer too. Kurt starts to say something but Abyss shouts him down. Abyss promises to make Ray pay for the sins of Immortal. Ray starts to respond but Sting makes the required six man for later tonight.

Madison Rayne is in a bikini. No particular reason but we cut over to Traci in the other end of the pool. Gail, the camerawoman, jumps in and it’s a big brawl. Mickie does the same. I’m not complaining about the four of them in swimsuits.

Knockout Tag Titles: Mickie James/Traci Brooks vs. Gail Kim/Madison Rayne

Big brawl to start and the challengers dominate to start. They beat Gail up with ease and send the champs to the floor as we take a break. Back with Mickie firing away on Madison in the corner. Traci and Gail get into it on the floor as Madison holds a Cravate on Mickie. Mickie hits a dropkick and everything breaks down again. Bridging rollup gets two for Mickie. Another gets the same result but Madison gets in a shot to take over again. Off to Gail and Traci as things speed up a bit. Everything breaks down as Mickie hits Madison with the top rope Thesz Press but Eat Defeat pins Traci soon thereafter at 10:30.

Rating: D. This was kind of all over the place. The whole pool thing before the match didn’t really add anything but I’m hardly complaining about looking at Mickie and Madison in swimsuits. Gail really needs a new finisher though. The whole holding Traci there until she could call back to drive the foot into her jaw didn’t work at all.

Flair hypes up Gunner in the back. They’re going to put someone else in the hospital again but Sting pops up and says that since RVD has no partner later, Gunner won’t have a manager either. Sting and Flair will be sitting in the back watching the match.

Eric is still in love with ODB and thinks they’re still in the tournament.

Recap of the Wild Card Tag Tournament.

Magnus is fired up but Joe says nothing.

Not-Fourtune says they have chemistry and they trust each other.

Garrett Bischoff is back as a referee. Sting says he’s a wrestler, not a referee and gives him some boots.

Eric goes into the Knockouts’ locker room looking for ODB and gets yelled at. He tries to lock up with them and gets choked by Madison. Madison gets shoved into a locker and this isn’t funny.

Gunner vs. Rob Van Dam

The fans get on Gunner to start but van Dam grabs a quick rollup for two. Van Dam slides to the floor and we take another break. Back and Gunner is in control with nothing of note. F5 is countered into a spinwheel kick to put both guys down. Rolling Thunder gets no cover. They go to the floor and RVD gets his leg caught in the ring skirt. Gunner pulls back the mats….which draws the DQ at 9:50. So you can get disqualified for threatening people?

Rating: D+. This was better than the Knockouts but not by much. RVD has a style which really doesn’t mesh that well with others and it didn’t here. Gunner has been a lot better recently but this wasn’t anything of note. To be fair though, he can only beat up jobbers for so long. Not bad here.

Van Dam escapes the piledriver but his spin kick to the railing hits the railing. The agents run down to break up the piledriver.

Abyss, Storm and Hardy are ready for the main event.

So are their opponents.

Kid Kash/Austin Aries vs. Jesse Sorensen/Zema Ion

This is your fourway X-Division Title match on Sunday. Sorensen and Kash start us off with Kash taking a nice dropkick. Ion tags himself in, gets struck down for a few seconds and then it’s off to Aries. MY GOODNESS that was a hard chop. He hits the suicide dive to Ion and then a spinebuster kind of move sets up the pendulum elbow for two. That one was much faster so it was much better and more believable. Sorensen comes back in and hits those jumping shots of his.

Kash and Aries have some heel (?) miscommunication and everyone is down. Ion comes in and hits a spinning cross body for two on Aries. Aries and Kash try a double suplex but Ion escapes and brings Sorensen in to speed things up. McGillicutter takes Aries down and a plancha puts Kash down as well. Brainbuster is countered and Sorensen goes up, but he and Ion argue over who gets to finish Aries. The distraction allows Aries to recover but Sorensen makes a blind tag and hits a Test Drive for the pin on Aries at 7:10.

Rating: C-. This is the same issue I had last week with this sort of match. These guys are fine at what they do, but there’s really no reason to care about them. Guys like Ion and Sorensen have next to no character and that’s really hurting them. Now they could get better later on but they need to do something with them before they can move on.

AJ and Kaz are ready. Kaz was sitting in a locker and Daniels walks out of it after AJ and Kaz leave. Interesting.

ODB is taking pictures of a photographer when Eric comes up and says they have a match. They roll around on the floor and ODB kisses him. Oh geez.

Wildcard Tag Team Tournament Finals: Samoa Joe/Magnus vs. AJ Styles/Kazarian

Winners get Morgan/Crimson on Sunday. AJ vs. Joe to start and that works for me. Joe takes him down to start and hooks an abdominal stretch to control. Off to Magnus vs. Kaz as the British guy gets his head kicked off. Back to AJ who drops a knee and brings Kaz back in. Joe comes back in with a senton backsplash for two. Taz is talking about bathtubs for some reason.

Kaz is playing Ricky Morton and gets beaten down by Magnus, but by the time I’ve typed that Kaz has rolled to the corner and brought in AJ. Springboard forearm looks to set up the Clash but Magnus escapes. Pele puts Magnus down and Daniels is in the aisle. AJ goes for a tag but Kaz drops to the floor. Joe runs over AJ and beats him down so a top rope elbow from Magnus sends he and Joe to the finals at 6:18.

Rating: C-. Not bad here and I can live with Joe and Magnus going to the title match I guess. It could have been FAR worse if nothing else. I’m really not looking forward to AJ vs. Daniels again so hopefully this is AJ vs. Kaz instead of Daniels again. Not a horrible match but it was more about the angle at the end than the match, which is ok I guess.

Morgan and Crimson are cool with facing Magnus and Joe. The challengers pop up and brag and a brawl almost breaks out but D’Lo pops up and I think they better recognize his authority.

We run down the Genesis card.

Jeff Hardy/Abyss/James Storm vs. Robert Roode/Bully Ray/Kurt Angle

Storm vs. Ray gets us going and the referee has to throw the chain….into Ray’s corner. Why not like, a neutral corner to to someone not in the ring? Ray tries to get a cheap shot in the corner but gets chopped instead. Off to Abyss and Ray tries to hide. Off to the champ instead and to his credit he goes after Abyss. The heels manage some double teaming on Abyss and we take a break.

Back with Angle hammering on Abyss but it’s off to Storm vs. Roode quickly. Ray clotheslines Storm down quickly and we have Beer Money and Angle in there at the same time. Ok now it’s just Beer Money but Ray tags in quickly. After a quick bow and arrow hold it’s back to Angle. Storm hits a Russian legsweep to put Angle down and it’s hot tag to Hardy to meet Roode. Twisting Stunner gets two and everything breaks down. Everybody pairs off….and it’s thrown out 12:07. LAME.

Rating: C-. Pretty decent six man main event until the weak ending. Just have someone take a quick finisher into a rollup for the pin. It’s not like it’s going to cripple them before Sunday. Not a fan of endings like these but it could have been worse again. Still would have liked to see Hardy get a pin on Roode though.

Twist to Roode post match but Ray breaks up the Swanton. Codebreaker to Roode but Angle breaks up the kick, hitting one of his own to Storm. Abyss cleans house now and tries Chock Treatment to Angle but Ray gets his chain and hits Abyss with it a few times. The bad guys rule the ring and Abyss is hung a bit. I mean a chain is put around his neck and pulled on you sick freaks. Hardy is tapping to a Crossface and we go off the air.

Overall Rating: C. This wasn’t that bad and for a go home show it was really pretty good. I think all of the feuds other than Pope vs. D-Von were addressed and that’s a pretty good ratio overall. The wrestling wasn’t all that good but it set up stuff for Sunday as well as for the future. Also, it was way better than Raw which really isn’t saying much but it’s true. Not bad and Genesis is pretty well set up, which is the whole point.

Results
Gail Kim/Madison Rayne b. Mickie James/Traci Brooks – Eat Defeat to Brooker
Rob Van Dam b. Gunner via DQ when Gunner pulled the ring mats back
Jesse Sorensen/Zema Ion b. Austin Aries/Kid Kash – Rolling DDT to Aries
Samoa Joe/Magnus b. AJ Styles/Kazarian – Top rope elbow to Styles
Abyss/Jeff Hardy/James Storm vs. Robert Roode/Kurt Angle/Bully Ray went to a double disqualification

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