Impact Wrestling – June 20, 2013: The Summer Looks Bright

Impact Wrestling
Date: June 20, 2013
Location: Peoria Civic Center, Peoria, Illinois
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Taz

Tonight is the start of the BFG Series which will run for the next three months heading into the biggest show of the year in October. Perhaps more interesting though is Sting reforming the Main Event Mafia tonight to aid him in his war against Aces and 8’s. It’s also the return of Open Fight Night as the summer begins for TNA. Let’s get to it.

Sting arrives to open the show, dressed to the nines in a suit and sunglasses sans paint.

We open in the arena with every BFG Series member other than Hardy and Roode. Hogan comes out to hype up Open Fight Night before calling out the two missing competitors. Everyone in the Series will get to have a match tonight and it’s Hardy who gets the first pick due to winning a fan vote. Before he can make his pick though, Austin Aries cuts him off.

Austin says he’d love to be the man that gets to face Hardy first but Jeff is too scared to do that. Christopher Daniels warns Hardy not to pick either he or Kazarian unless Jeffery wants to suffer the most demoralizing defeat of his career to start the Series. Hardy finally gets to talk and picks Bobby Roode in a not very surprising announcement. Jeff tells the Creatures to mount up and everyone brawls as we go to a break.

For clarity’s sake, every match in the Series tonight comes with a callout beforehand. I won’t bother recapping them as it’s just guys saying who they want to fight. The person listed first is the person who got to call the second person out.

Here’s how the scoring works for the Series:

10 – Submission
7 – Pinfall
5 – Countout
2 – DQ Victory
2 – Draw
-10 – DQ Loss

Also each match has a 15 minute time limit.

Bound For Glory Series: Mr. Anderson vs. Joseph Park

Anderson takes him to the mat with a headlock to start before slapping Park in the back of the head. He lets Park grab his own headlock, only to counter just as easily. A legsweep takes Park down and Anderson is making this look easy. Park grabs his own headlock out of nowhere and wrestles Anderson down before slapping him in the back of the head in a cute bit. Anderson is ticked off and kicks Park’s knee out before pounding him down in the corner. Park avoids a splash in the corner and gets two off a quick rollup as things pick up a bit.

A neckbreaker puts Park down and we hit the chinlock for a bit. Park’s comeback is cut short by a pull of the hair but Anderson misses a Swanton. Joseph makes a quick comeback but misses a splash in the corner, allowing Anderson to hit the rolling fireman’s carry slam. Park pulls Anderson’s legs out for a Boston crab but here’s Doc for a distraction to break it up. Park slams Anderson down but Doc shoves him off the middle rope while Anderson has the referee, allowing Anderson to hit the Mic Check for the pin and seven points at 5:06.

Rating: C-. This was fine and Park being the fall guy at first isn’t a bad idea. You can push him as getting more experience as the competition goes on and making a hard charge at the end, perhaps with some assistance from his brother. The match wasn’t anything great but Anderson winning could make for some interesting situations down the line.

Post break Anderson and Doc argue over who is going to be the next VP of the club. Ray says we’ll put it to a vote because tonight he has to deal with his wife Brooke.

Bound For Glory Series: Jay Bradley vs. Austin Aries

Aries takes it to the floor almost immediately and hits a big plancha off the top rope. Back in and Aries hits the slingshot elbow drop but can’t hook the Last Chancery. Austin goes up again and gets kicked down to the floor before a knee drop to the chest gets a near fall for Bradley. Some fast elbow drops get two for Jay but he misses a running boot into the corner, getting himself caught on the top rope.

Aries fires off kicks to the leg and gets two off a missile dropkick. Bradley kicks Aries out of the air as he tries the corner dropkick but Austin blocks the Boomstick with a discus forearm. Another Boomstick is ducked and Aries grabs a quick powerbomb followed by the corner dropkick. The brainbuster to Bradley is good for the pin and seven points at 3:39.

Rating: C. The more I see of Bradley the more I like him. He has a ring presence to him which is something you can’t teach anyone to have. He’s here to be the fall guy in the Series but I see some decent potential in him in years to come. Decent little match here with the exactly right result.

We look at Sting announcing the Main Event Mafia’s reformation last week.

Sting says the Mafia grows tonight.

Post break Sting asks someone if they’re in the Mafia. The unseen guy shakes his hand and apparently Sting has a deal.

Chavo gives Hernandez a pep talk for his match.

Bound For Glory Series: Hernandez vs. Christopher Daniels

Daniels goes right at him to start but gets caught in the overhead belly to belly from Hernandez. Chris takes the eyes to take over but Hernandez powers out and slugs Daniels down. The running dive from the apron takes Daniels down as Hernandez is bleeding from the mouth. Daniels dives into what appeared to be an Alpha Bomb (slam into a powerbomb) but slips away and hits a low blow to put SuperMex down. The BME pins Hernandez at 2:19 to give Daniels seven points.

Bound For Glory Series: Kazarian vs. Magnus

Magnus knocks him to the floor to start but Kaz comes back in with a forearm to the face and a cravate. Kaz’s spinning crossbody is countered into a very modified powerslam/suplex for two as the crowd is into Magnus. The Brit no sells a missile dropkick (Kaz was supposed to miss but connected anyway), allowing Magnus to hook a Texas Cloverleaf for the submission at 2:54 for ten points. That’s a good move that someone needs to bring back.

Hulk is on the phone and saying things feel perfect when Bully Ray comes up to him holding a hammer. Hogan grabs him by the throat and wants to fight right now. Hulk says Ray and Brooke are done tonight but Ray asks him why Brooke stopped the shot to the head with the hammer a few weeks back.

Here’s Brooke Hogan for the state of the Knockouts division address. Eric Young and ODB have the KO Tag Title belts again. Dang it all. Mickie gets her own special entrance and thinks she’s the one giving the speech tonight. She brags about being so awesome and says it’s easier for her to carry the title on her shoulder than it is on Velvet’s bad knee.

Brooke cuts her off and wants to start with Eric Young. She reminds him of a chat they had a year and a half ago and Eric says that technically he isn’t a woman. He hands Brooke the KO tag belts and says that it’s National Kissing Day. Eric kisses ODB and they run off to the back. As for Velvet, she gets her rematch next week because her knee is fine. Gail Kim wants her own rematch which she’ll get in Las Vegas….against Taryn, in a ladder match.

After a quick talk from the announcers, Hulk sends Brooke home for the night due to fear of Ray.

Bound For Glory Series: AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe

No callout here as these are the last two guys left (Tenay: “You can tell by process of elimination.” Or the graphic we saw before the break) but AJ has something to say. With all the lights dark, AJ says that this isn’t about Aces and 8’s, TNA, the fame, the glory or the money. It’s about not needing a hero because he’s tired of doing things for everyone else. Joe pounds him into the corner to start but AJ grabs a headlock to slow him down.

After a good while in the hold, Joe fights up but misses a running boot into the ropes. AJ pounds away in the corner and drops Joe with a clothesline. Joe misses a charge in the corner but catches AJ with the enziguri to put him on the floor. The Samoan tries a charge but has to land on his feet as AJ slides back in. AJ’s dive lands on the apron but Joe kicks his leg out to ram AJ face first into the apron as we take a break.

Back with Joe elbowing AJ in the face and pounding in some headbutts. AJ hits a quick dropkick to send Joe to the floor where a baseball slide puts Joe into the announce table. We’re told there are five minutes left which tells me TNA has a fast clock. Back in and AJ hits the springboard forearm but can’t suplex the plump Samoan. Instead AJ charges into a snap powerslam but he rolls out of a cross armbreaker attempt.

Joe looks for a superplex but AJ falls on top of him in a kind of crossbody for no cover instead. Back up and AJ pounds away but Joe punches him into the corner and fires off knee lifts. AJ rolls him into the Calf Killer but Joe sits up into the Koquina Clutch. AJ rolls out of that into a cradle for two as we have a minute left. They slug it out with thirty seconds left and head to the mat but the clock runs out at 13:40 for a time limit draw, good for two points each.

Rating: C+. These two are always worth seeing and this was no exception. You can’t have AJ tap out here as it would make him look pretty lame, but you also don’t want to have Joe lose this early in the Series. This was a solid TV match but as soon as you hear the time limit being announced you could smell the draw.

Ray is on the phone with Brooke and talks her into coming back tonight. He sends D-Von, Doc and Knux out to get her here safely.

Hulk talks to Sabin, Suicide and Kenny King about their match next week and how the winner can trade in the title for a shot at Ray in July.

Bound For Glory Series: Jeff Hardy vs. Bobby Roode

The brawl starts on the ramp with Hardy taking over as they get to the ring. Roode takes him straight down into the Crossface but Jeff makes a rope before too much damage is done. Bobby catapults him throat first into the bottom rope before stomping away on the downed enigma. A vertical suplex sets up a knee drop for two and Roode keeps pounding on Jeff.

Hardy gets up a boot in the corner and hits a middle rope splash for two as momentum swings. An atomic drop sets up the low dropkick for two on Bobby but he grabs a quick spinebuster for two of his own. Jeff counters the fisherman’s suplex into the Twisting Stunner, but Roode rolls away from the Swanton. Bobby throws the Crossface back on but Hardy rolls through into a cradle for two. Another Twist hits for the pin on Roode and seven points at 6:15.

Rating: C+. This was the short version of the good match these two are capable of. You know Hardy is going to make a deep run in the Series so seeing him win early on isn’t a big surprise. Roode will do fine in this as well as you need a strong heel later on in the competition. Good start here for both guys.

Sting says we have some Family business to tend to tonight.

Here’s Ray to close the show. He talks to the three X Division guys who think they’re going to take the title from him in July. He’ll do whatever it takes to keep the title, but he has more important things to talk about tonight. Ray calls out Brooke but gets Sting with the Main Event Mafia music instead. Sting says he went back to his family because he can’t wrestle for the title again. That doesn’t mean he can’t get retribution on Ray tonight though.

Sting takes off his jacket and gets ready to fight before taking off his shirt. Ray calls out for the bikers but we see all of them down in the back. Sting goes after Ray and chases him up the ramp, only to have Kurt Angle, rocking a suit, take Ray down and put him in the ankle lock as the show ends.

Overall Rating: C+. The matches weren’t great tonight, but there was a clear direction here that we haven’t seen since Lockdown. The entire spring was spent building up to a filler show at Slammiversary, so having something to build up to with BFG is a very nice breath of fresh air. Sting and Angle as the Main Event Mafia is interesting but it’s something we’ve seen before: TNA’s old guys against the Aces and 8’s. It still should be entertaining though. Good show tonight.

Results

Mr. Anderson b. Joseph Park – Mic Check

Austin Aries b. Jay Bradley – Brainbuster

Christopher Daniels b. Hernandez – BME

Magnus b. Kazarian – Texas Cloverleaf

AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe went to a time limit draw

Jeff Hardy b. Bobby Roode – Twist of Fate

 

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