Impact Wrestling – June 28, 2012: Well Hello There X Division. I Thought You Had Died.

Impact Wrestling
Date: June 28, 2012
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Tazz

Back to the Impact Zone for another live show. The main thing tonight is a tag title rematch from the PPV which was great in the first place so hopefully it’ll be the same here tonight. Other than that we have the fallout from Gut Check which isn’t anything of note so far. Also we’ll build up more towards Destination X. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of last week’s events.

Dixie and AJ say they’re ready to move on.

Bound For Glory Series: Mr. Anderson vs. Rob Van Dam

Anderson has 9 points coming in while Van Dam has zero. They’re already tweeking the rules as all matches are now fifteen minutes. That’s probably a very good idea as the matches last week were really short. They go to the mat for some near falls off small packages to start. Anderson hits a snap suplex for two but Van Dam comes back with a bridging Indian Deathlock with a chinlock as well.

They go to the mat and Van Dam hooks some freaky hold with Anderson getting all tied up. It’s hard to describe actually but it’s kind of like an abdominal stretch on steroids. Russian legsweep gets two for Anderson as does a northern lights suplex for Van Dam. A cartwheel into a moonsault gets two for RVD as well. The split legged moonsault hits knees so Anderson hits his neckbreaker for two again. Van Dam grabs a crucifix rollup out of a fireman’s carry for the pin and seven points at 5:57.

Rating: C+. Anderson’s matches have a style that I don’t usually care for but it worked pretty well here I guess. Van Dam was fine out there and it looked about as good as it was going to. Adding the extra five minutes seems to be a good idea, but it’s not like the other matches couldn’t have done this as well. Still though, not bad here and a good opener.

Here are the updated standings:

Storm 36

Joe 17

Angl 10

Dnderson 9

RVD 7

Pope 7

Magnus

Jeff Hardy 7

Christopher Daniels 5

Bully Ray 0

Robbie E 0

AJ Styles 0

Here’s Aries to talk about his path to get here. He’s graduated from the X Division and has beaten up heavyweights, but he still respects the title. That’s why he came up with Option C and it’s why he’s facing Bobby Roode for the world title at Destination X. But what happens to the title? There’s going to be a tournament at the PPV and it’ll have old and new faces of the Division.

Cue the world champ who says that what he’s holding is the real title. It’s the real world title because he’s made it that way. There are 12 people waiting for a shot at this at Bound For Glory because the title matters so much. Aries gets his shot because of Hulk Hogan and because of Hulk Hogan alone. Option C is a failure, now get out of his ring. Aries says this is his ring, and if Roode wants him out of it, make him get out. Roode bails.

We get a clip from the end of the show last week with Clair admitting she’s an addict.

Clair and Dixie are in the back and Clair says that she met Dixie at a party. She says she has no idea who Kaz and Daniels are but she can’t believe they would use her to get at Dixie and AJ.

Kaz yells at Daniels who he really has no reason to be with anymore. Kaz says this ends tonight and walks out on Daniels. See? It’s not hard to be logical.

X-Division Tournament Qualifying Match: Sonjay Dutt vs. Rubix

No idea who Rubix is but he’s in a mask so it might be someone I’ve seen before. He’s got long limbs. This is one of four qualifying matches so it’s a four man tournament at the PPV. Rubix flies around a bit and sends Sonjay to the floor for a suicide dive. Back in and Sonjay hits a springboard splash for two. Rubix hits a German for two but gets caught in a tornado DDT. A moonsault into a double stomp (FREAKING OW MAN) gets the pin for Sonjay at 3:15.

Rating: C+. Take two guys, give them a few minutes, have them fly around and fire up the crowd a lot. Dutt was around back in the day to do lots of flips and there’s nothing wrong with that. He never won the X Title so it’s cool to see him here like this. Good little match here but the amount of time they had hut it a lot. SICK finish though.

We hear from the Gut Check people who talk about Taeler. They aren’t sure about her but they think she’s been through a lot. Apparently her cancer diagnosis was a false one.

We get a clip from last week with Joseph Park and Ray having another confrontation.

Bound For Glory Series: Samoa Joe vs. Bully Ray

Ray gets in his face so Joe gets right back in his face and it’s a standoff. Ray stalls some more as you would expect him to. They ram into each other a few times but Ray drops him with an elbow smash. There’s a suplex and a falling headbutt for no cover for Ray and we take a break. Back with Joe making a comeback by running at Ray a few times. He slugs Ray in the head but a double clothesline puts both guys down.

Joe tries a suplex but hurts his shoulder in the process. Ray goes after it as the fans chant for the fat boy. Allow me to adjust that statement: they chant for the fat Samoan. Ray works on the arm for awhile but Joe takes it to the floor. That goes badly for him as well as the arm gets rammed into the steps. They’ve been going almost ten minutes here so the time is starting to become a factor.

Ray misses a splash and Joe pounds away with right hands. An atomic drop puts Ray down and the senton backsplash gets two. By my math they’re over 11 minutes in now as Ray hits a Rock Bottom for two. Ray’s middle rope splash misses and he rolls to the floor. Joe hops out and gets his head kicked off….but here’s Joseph Park. He pops Ray with a right hand and Joe grabs the choke for the tap at 13:00.

Rating: C+. Pretty good stuff here with Joe making a big jump up in the standings. Actually scratch that as he’s still in second but he’s a lot closer now. Park continuing his story and having more confidence now is a nice touch as he continues to be one of the most interesting characters on the show. I was thinking this would be a draw so a surprise is always nice.

Park says he’s Joseph Park but Ray is a bully. He talks about being bullied his whole life and it stops tonight. He’s tired of Ray imposing his will on everyone and the people are sick of it too. Park says that in two weeks, he’ll fight Ray again and he’s bringing the fight to Ray.

Tazz and Tenay say to go to the website to listen to the full unedited version of Dixie and AJ’s phone call from a few weeks ago.

Back to Dixie and Clair with Dixie explaining the photo. It was the time that AJ explained how bad it was to Dixie and she kind of snapped. They were going to the hotel to see Clair after she got out of rehab too. The call about Serg was about his birthday. I CALLED THAT ONE WEEKS AGO!

Kaz pleads his case to Daniels and says he can’t tag with him tonight. He wants the tag match but not with Daniels. Hogan says prove that you’re a new man when you’re out there tonight with Daniels. Please, not tag champions that hate each other.

Madison goes up to Garrett and looks very nervous. She says she has a crush on someone and asks what he’s like. It’s not Garrett apparently but she whispers the name in his ear. Garrett says good luck with that and leaves.

Brooke gives Tessmacher a campaign with Direct Auto Insurance. Gail comes up to complain and talks trash. Hogan continues her bad acting and tells Gail that she gets her rematch next week.

X-Division Tournament Qualifying Match: Rashad Cameron vs. Mason Andrews

Cameron has a BIG afro while Mason looks almost identical to Percy Watson. They speed things up to start and Andrews sends him to the floor. He hits a HUGE dive but trips on the rope and hits Rashad in the head. If he wasn’t out cold I’m amazed. Back in they speed things up again and Cameron dropkicks him out of the air for two. Apparently Mason is Scorpio Sky from PWG.

They go back and forth a bit with Andrews hitting a jumping knee to the head and a springboard cross body for two. Cameron knocks him to the floor and hits a BIG flip dive. Back in he goes up but gets ranaed down for two. Andrews is almost sent into the corner but as he turns around Cameron hits a jumping Downward Spiral (think R-Truth’s Little Jimmy) for the pin at 4:04.

Rating: C. Not bad here but the sloppiness hurt it. Again the idea of throwing people out there and having them fly around is the best idea you can go with at times. I just hope this lasts beyond the PPV unlike last year where Destination X happened and then it stopped happening. Bringing in some new faces for it doesn’t hut at all though.

Cameron says this is the beginning of the Rashad Cameron movement.

Hogan is on the phone and talking about Sting. Storm and Hardy are with him and want to know what’s going on with Sting. Hogan doesn’t quite know what’s going on. Storm says he’s ready and Hardy says he’s feeling the Series. They fight next week.

Gut Check time. Taeler says last week she gave it her best and she’s ready to shine. The fans chant YES and Tazz agrees with them. Snow says he’s been around Taeler a lot and here’s Joey Ryan to yell at Tazz. He’s in the front row and yells a lot but we can’t really hear what he’s saying. Security gets him out as the segment grinds to a halt. Ok back in the ring now and Snow says no. Taeler gets 30 seconds to convince Pritchard. She says someone gave every one of them a shot and that’s all she wants. Bruce says he isn’t sure if she’s ready yet but he’ll give her a yes anyway.

Angle says the old AJ is back and that’s a great thing. AJ says he’s ready. He gets Daniels at Destination X in a last man standing match.

Tag Titles: Kurt Angle/AJ Styles vs. Kazarian/Christopher Daniels

Daniels and Kaz are challenging but Kaz doesn’t like Daniels all that much right now. He and AJ start and AJ takes him down followed by a kick to the back. Off to Angle and Kaz tags out, almost by slapping the taste out of Daniels’ mouth. Kurt charges into a boot and Daniels hits his slingshot elbow. Off to Kaz who covers off that elbow for some reason. Daniels yells at Kaz and tags himself back in but runs from AJ. The challengers argue on the floor as we take a break.

Back with Daniels in control of AJ and hitting his running STO for two. Angle comes in and cleans house. He fires off Rolling Germans on Kaz and does the same to Daniels. Kaz grabs a TKO for two on Kurt but gets caught in the ankle lock. That gets broken up quickly and everything breaks down. AJ clotheslines Kaz down but gets caught in a Blue Thunder Bomb. Angle gets sent into the referee by Daniels so Chris grabs a chair. Kaz pulls it away and lets AJ hit the Pele. Kaz tells AJ to finish this, but then hits AJ in the back with a chair, giving Daniels the pin and the titles at 11:34.

Rating: B-. So Kaz is evil for the sake of being evil. I guess that works, but would this count as two turns in the same show? Eh it’s fine as it’s better with AJ and Kurt not being champions again as the titles weren’t really fitting on them. This was nowhere near as good as the Slammiversary match but it was fine for a TV main event.

Daniels says Clair didn’t tell all of the truth because her baby’s daddy is AJ. Let the soap opera continue.

Overall Rating: B-. Another good show this week although there are some holes in it. It’s personal taste but I can’t stand the Gut Check stuff. I don’t like reality TV at all so I’m definitely not the right audience for it. Bringing in new people for the X Division is a good thing as that division is dying for a lack of depth right now. This was another good show though as the positives far outweigh the negatives.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews