Impact Wrestling – December 6, 2012: How Many PPV Matches Did They Add Tonight?
Impact
Date: December 6, 2012
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Todd Kennely, Taz
It’s the final show before Final Resolution, which means we’re likely going to get a lot of build for the PPV. Also we’ve got D-Von challenging Joe for the TV Title which D-Von never lost. Other than that, there’s not much else for tonight’s show, other than maybe more Aces and 8’s stuff after they had a week off last week. We’ll likely get more of Hogan and Ray doing their thing. Let’s get to it.
The standard recap opens us up.
Here are Roode, Daniels and Kaz to open things up. Later tonight they face Hardy, Storm and AJ. Kaz mentions Fourtune and their history together before saying on Sunday, the three of them will experience victory. Roode guarantees victory on Sunday while Daniels guarantees one last match with Styles. Give me a break. Daniels calls out AJ and here’s the Phenomenal One.
AJ says that Daniels has always been jealous of him, even though AJ has earned everything he’s gotten here. Daniels couldn’t beat AJ if it was Daniels’ best day and Styles’ worst. Daniels says that AJ knows Daniels is right when AJ is called a loser. He talks about how AJ has lost so many big matches over the last few months and how that’s reality. AJ says this is reality and the fight is on. Hardy and Storm make the save.
We see the ending of Impact last week for the second time in eleven minutes.
Aries says he was pushing Hulk’s buttons last week to get the X Title back, which will get him the world title back. Then Bully Ray interfered, which is why Aries wants Ray on Sunday.
TV Title: Samoa Joe vs. D-Von
Joe is defending and takes over to start by running over D-Von. A knee drop keeps D-Von down for a bit but D-Von low bridges Joe to take him to the floor. A pair of splashes get two for D-Von but the middle rope headbutt misses. Joe comes back with a kick to the chest and a backsplash for two. A Rock Bottom out of the corner puts D-Von down again and there’s the Koquina Clutch. Some blonde chick gets on the apron, allowing Doc to hit Joe win the back with the hammer to give D-Von the title back at 3:55.
Rating: D. Nothing to see here at all but it was pretty clear that D-Von was getting the belt back here. At the end of the day, Aces and 8’s has to have SOMETHING right? They now have a title, albeit the lower midcard belt. This still does nothing to make me care about them at all, but there was no other option here.
Aces and 8’s celebrate with a bunch of scantily clad women.
Brooke is on the phone with someone and says a contract has been signed. Whoever she has signed is coming tonight.
Snow is back but doesn’t remember anything that happened to him. Apparently he went to dinner Wednesday night, then woke up in a hospital with his wallet and phone gone.
Here’s Mickie James in a nice dress. She says she feels good to be back and this Sunday she’s getting her title back. Cue Tara and Jesse so Tara can run her mouth for awhile. She talks about how great a year this has been for her……and here’s Velvet Sky. She still looks good but not as great as she used to. She has a shoulder tattoo now too. Velvet says she’s winning the title in 2013. Ok then.
The Robs do a Direct Auto car insurance commercial.
Someone is coming on January 3, 2013. Geez with the dates again.
Hernandez/Chavo Guerrero vs. Robbie E/Robbie T
Oh yeah Hernandez and Chavo exist. That’s about all I’ve got on them. E and Chavo start things off but it’s quickly off to Hernandez for a bearhug into a belly to belly suplex. T comes in and pounds away on Chavo in the corner before posing a lot. E comes back in for a chinlock but gets caught in a northern lights suplex. Hot tag brings in Hernandez again to throw around the small guy until T comes in for the save. Everything breaks down and Hernandez kills E with a shoulder. The Frog Splash gets the pin for Chavo at 3:58. Another short match.
Rating: D+. Well what were you expecting here? Chavo and Hernandez are defending the titles on Sunday so were they going to lose here? The Robs are nothing at all, but to be fair the champs aren’t much better. They’re all just there, as the tag division has fallen right back through the floor where it usually is.
Post match Joey Ryan starts talking until Morgan attacks the champs. Ryan talks about male organs.
The girls chill with Aces and 8’s. Apparently they have a financial backer now.
We recap Gut Check from last week.
Angle celebrates with Brisco in the back and Garrett Bischoff is there too of course.
The tag champs cut a promo on Ryan and Morgan.
Kurt Angle vs. Doc
Angle charges at him to stat and takes out Doc’s knee. Doc pounds back and clotheslines Kurt to the floor as this is still not an exciting match. Again, it’s Luke Gallows vs. Kurt Angle and that’s not a match that I’m going to be able to get into for the most part. Angle gets sent into the steps but as they get back in, Kurt hits a middle rope missile dropkick to take Doc down. There are three Germans but Doc escapes the Angle Slam.
A big boot gets two but Kurt grabs the ankle lock. That goes nowhere so Kurt tries more Germans. A low blow stops the series and Doc gets two off a clothesline. The chokeslam is countered into the ankle lock but Doc counters again. There’s the chokeslam for two and there goes any chance Doc had. The ankle lock goes on but here’s Aces and 8’s for the DQ at 5:30.
Rating: C. I’ve seen worse but as I said throughout the match: it’s Luke Gallows. Why in the world would I believe that he’s going to be able to beat Kurt Angle in a one on one match? The counters sequence wasn’t bad at all and the match was a higher quality than I was expecting, but it was still hard to get into because of who was in it.
Angle fights off Aces and 8’s until Garrett, Brisco and Joe come in. An 8 man tag match is made for Sunday.
Hogan is on the phone with Park and tells him to go to OVW. Ray comes in and demands a match with Aries on Sunday. Hogan isn’t sure, so Ray says it’ll be official by the end of the night.
Storm tells Hardy not to fall into Roode’s traps. Hardy has another inner monologue.
Kid Kash vs. Kenny King vs. Zema Ion
The winner gets the title shot at RVD on Sunday. Ion and King double team Kash to start, knocking him to the floor. King kicks Ion’s head off for two before knocking Ion off the apron. King loads up presumably a dive but Ion takes his head off with a clothesline for two. Everyone is back in now with King hitting a slingshot legdrop for two on Kash. Ion is on the floor so there’s a big slingshot rana by Kash.
King dives on them as well, so Ion dives on both of them. Back in and Kash hooks a Boston Crab on King, only to have Ion break it up. Kash ranas King to the floor and gets two off a clothesline to Ion. Ion shoves Kash off the top and out to the floor. King uses the chance to hit a springboard Blockbuster and the F5 into the Rock Bottom (the Royal Flush) for the pin at 5:47.
Rating: C+. This was your usual triple threat X Title match, but at the same time, why am I supposed to care about the X Division at this point? How many PPVs in a row are they going to have the X Title match thrown on at the last second? If it’s going to be treated like nothing, there’s no way I’m going to care about it either.
Ray is on the phone and saying he’s going to take over the show until he gets what he wants because Hogan is stubborn.
We recap the Ray/Aries/Hogan/Hogan stuff.
Here’s Ray who says he’s taking over the show until he gets what he and the fans want. Ray sits down in a chair and here’s Aries with a chair of his own. Aries says that Ray is fighting for the woman he loves. Aries says that he’ll sit in the ring with Ray. Hogan’s music hits (Aries: “OR I’LL SIT OVER HERE!”) and he says there’s no match on Sunday. If Ray doesn’t leave the ring, it’ll be a firing or a beating. This brings out Brooke who says Hogan is making it too personal. She calls him Mark, which is enough to get Hogan to make the match. The only good thing about this was how low cut Brooke’s top was.
We run down the card for the PPV.
Video on Roode vs. Hardy.
Bad Influence/Bobby Roode vs. Jeff Hardy/AJ Styles/James Storm
Kaz and Daniels made a throwaway line earlier tonight about it being Throwback Thursday, so they come out in Zubaz Pants and fanny packs. WOW. Storm and Kaz start things off after some big match intros. James hits a Thesz Press to pound away on Frankie (throwback right?) before it’s off to Jeff for some kicks. AJ comes in so Daniels runs away. The good guys clean house and Poetry In Motion puts Kaz down as we take a break.
Back with Hardy getting beaten down by Kaz. AJ tries to come in to beat up Daniels but it only allows for more heel double and triple teaming. Bad Influence hits a Hart Attack on Jeff and Roode chinlocks him to block a tag. Kaz and Daniels take turns with the chinlocks until it’s back to Roode. Bobby goes up top but jumps into a Twist of Fate.
Hot tag brings in AJ and everything breaks down. Storm hits a Backstabber and Codebreaker on Daniels, followed by AJ hitting the reverse DDT/a regular DDT on Kaz and Roode respectively. AJ is loading up something on Daniels, but Kaz runs in to break it up. Hardy tags himself in and hits the Twist for the win at 15:05.
Rating: C+. Fun tag match here, mainly because Hardy is such a master at selling. I mean really, can ANYONE make you believe he’s dying in a ring better than Jeff Hardy? Fun match here with a nice long heat segment with Hardy getting beaten down. I still have no idea what Storm is supposed to be doing right now though.
Aces and 8’s come out to beat down Hardy post match, and Roode is smiling a lot. Storm makes the save to end the show.
Overall Rating: C+. Not a great show here but WAY better than last week. They cut down on the Hogan nonsense and let us have a wrestling show instead of wasting our time with the stupid drama. The main problem with tonight’s show though was that they seemingly added about half of the card for the PPV tonight, which says a lot about how much they care about Sunday’s show.
Results
D-Von b. Samoa Joe – D-Von pinned Joe after Doc hit Joe with a hammer
Chavo Guerrero/Hernandez b. Robbie E/Robbie T – Frog Splash to Robbie E
Kurt Angle b. Doc via DQ when Aces and 8’s interefered
Kenny King b. Zema Ion and Kid Kash – Royal Flush
James Storm/AJ Styles/Jeff Hardy b. Bad Influence/Bobby Roode – Twist of Fate to Kazarian
Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews
“I mean really, can ANYONE make you believe he’s dying in a ring better than Jeff Hardy?”
Ziggler.
So now who is coming on 1-3-13? TNA loves these Mystery Dates and THEY are coming deals don’t they?
Jesus Christ. Brooke looked more scantily clad than those chicks A’s & 8’s had. And goddammit, I would’ve preferred Doc as TV champ. Who is Devon stroking backstage?