Impact Wrestling – July 24, 2013: Lawyers Aren’t Interesting

Impact Wrestling
Date: July 25, 2013
Location: Broadbent Arena, Louisville, Kentucky
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Jeremy Borash

We’re still in Louisville and the main question tonight is where do we go from here. We’ve got Chris Sabin as the new world champion and we’ve got Bully Ray along with Aces and 8’s who are in a state of panic now. Other than that we have the Ultimate X match for the vacant X Division Title. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of last week with less of a focus on the world title than you would expect.

Here’s the Main Event Mafia to open things up. Sting calls last week the best night he’s ever had in wrestling because he got to see Ray lose the title. Angle says they’re here for a celebration instead of a fight, because they’ve accomplished one of their two goals. Angle introduces the new world champion who says he now has what everyone wants. Tonight there’s going to be an Ultimate X match for the vacant X Division Title and Sabin wants to face the winner next week.

This brings out Bully Ray with a man in a suit. Ray says this is his attorney and if Sabin doesn’t return the title to Bully Ray, the attorney is going to take TNA down. The attorney is played by OVW TV commentator Dean Hill. Sabin has until the end of the show to return the title to Bully or else.

Video on Greg Marisculo.

Hulk won’t comment on the threat of a lawsuit.

Video on Manik with his mask off.

X-Division Title: Manik vs. Greg Marasciulo vs. Sonjay Dutt

This is Ultimate X where you have to pull down the title to win. Manik backdrops Greg to the ramp and hits a quick dive to take him out but Sonjay takes Manik down a second later. Everyone heads to the floor and Manik is slammed onto the ramp but Greg has to go back in to stop Sonjay from climbing. Sonjay hits a combination Downward Spiral/DDT on both guys but can’t climb up because Manik is waiting on him. Greg takes both guys down but also has to take Manik down, allowing Manik to springboard into a wrist drag/headscissors combo to take everyone down.

Back from a break with Greg hitting the over the back piledriver on Manik on the ramp to knock him out, but possibly injuring his own knee in the process. Greg goes for the belt but Sonjay comes back in to make the save. They slug it out and kick each other in the face to put both guys down.

The referees are checking on Manik who is just starting to stir. Greg and Sonjay climb the structure and crawl on top to slug it out even more. They trade suplex attempts up there and Greg slips through so that his feet are on the wire. Manik uses the opportunity to go for the belt. Greg can’t make the save and Manik wins the title at 14:03.

Rating: C. Well that happened. Seriously that’s about all I’ve got to say here. Manik is a guy we’ve been introduced to in the last few weeks and now we’re supposed to get behind him as champion. The match was nothing special without any major high spots other than the tease on top of the structure. Not much to see here.

Ray (with a BIG bandage on his head) tells Anderson to go win the BFG Series.

Bound For Glory Series: Hernandez vs. Mr. Anderson

Anderson can’t run Hernandez over so he punches SuperMex in the head. A big shoulder puts Anderson down and a suplex gets two for Hernandez. Anderson comes back by slamming Hernandez off the top and works the arm a bit. Hernandez is sent to the apron but catches Anderson with a slingshot shoulder to take over again. A corner splash sets up the over the shoulder backbreaker for two but the ramp running dive misses, allowing Anderson to hit the Mic Check for the pin at 5:00.

Rating: D+. Not much to see here but Anderson getting the clean win was the right call. Hernandez isn’t winning the Series and is just there to give heels victories over an intimidating face. Thankfully they kept this short as Hernandez has no business being near a long match at all.

Dixie has nothing to say about the lawsuit.

Eric Young shows Joseph Park a video of him going into Abyss mode during the Hardy match. Park has no memory of this but Young says he’ll investigate.

Here’s Velvet Sky to say her mistake was trusting Mickie James. She’s going to start playing things a lot closer to the vest and that starts with watching the match from ringside.

Knockouts Title: Gail Kim vs. Mickie James

Feeling out process to start with Mickie kicking away in the corner but getting dropkicked down for two. The running cross body to the ribs in the corner has Mickie in trouble but she kicks Gail off the apron to get a breather. Gail tries to pull Mickie into the Figure Four around the post but Mickie kicks her away and hits the Thesz Press off the apron.

Back in and a flapjack puts Gail down but she still tries the spinning octopus hold. Neither girl can hook a leg lock and Gail http://onhealthy.net/product-category/blood-pressure/ gets caught trying to cheat on a rollup. Mickie is sent to the floor as Gail and ODB get in an argument in the ring. Gail slaps ODB and the distraction lets Mickie roll Kim up for the pin at 7:05.

Rating: C-. Not much to see here but I don’t think anyone expected Kim to be a real threat to the title. The ending sets up a non-title feud and I guess we’re getting Mickie vs. Velvet already again, because we only have six girls in the entire division, one of which is Tessmacher who hasn’t wrestled since like April.

Brooke Hogan comes out to make ODB vs. Gail, presumably for next week.

Dixie and Hogan debate the lawsuit.

Bound For Glory Series: Samoa Joe vs. Christopher Daniels

Tenay says Daniels has never beaten Joe one on one, which is true as far as I remember. Joe pounds him down to start and hits the Facewash in the corner but gets sent throat first into the ropes. A clothesline puts Joe down and Daniels hooks a headscissors to choke on the ropes. We hit the chinlock for a few seconds but Joe fights up and hits his big boot to the chest and the backsplash for two.

A powerslam gets two more but Daniels comes back with the palm thrusts. Daniels charges into the Rock Bottom out of the corner but Mr. Anderson of all people comes out for a distraction. Two straight BME’s (the first one was like a moonsault clothesline) are enough for the pin at 6:25.

Rating: C-. Not bad here and the ending was fine. Anderson wasn’t helping Daniels as much as he was screwing over Joe which the announcers emphasized a lot. Daniels doesn’t fit Aces and 8’s so thankfully we don’t have to deal with someone defecting over to the bikers. Also I’m glad the first moonsault didn’t get the win as it looked horrible.

Sting and Angle talk about the lawsuit and agree Ray needs to be kept isolated.

You can pick from three sets of BFG matches to see over the next two weeks. That’s a cool idea.

Bound For Glory Series: AJ Styles vs. Jeff Hardy

AJ hits a few shoulder blocks to start but Jeff takes it into the corner for the slingshot dropkick. Back with AJ kicking Hardy into the announce table before going back inside for a chinlock. Styles throws him back to the floor and slams him on the mat before putting the chinlock back on. Jeff fights up and hits a falling powerbomb to put both guys down. Back up and AJ hits his drop down/dropkick sequence for the first time in months.

Jeff comes back with a World’s Strongest Slam and a middle rope splash for two but walks into a release German suplex into the corner. The Whisper in the Wind gets two for Hardy but he walks into the Pele to fire up the crowd. AJ hooks the Calf Killer out of nowhere and Hardy taps (!) for the win at 13:15.

Rating: B-. This had the big match feel to it and a very surprising finish with Hardy tapping. I don’t remember that happening in years so the Calf Killer looks even more awesome now. AJ is still doing the middle of the road character which is interesting to a degree, but at the end of the day he’s AJ Styles and born to be the hero.

Post match AJ won’t shake hands.

Hulk has made a decision and Dixie agrees with him.

Here’s Bully Ray to plead his case. He says he’s been wronged because Sabin hit him in the head with a hammer last week (“Who would do such a thing?) and demands the title be returned to him right now. Sabin comes out and Ray says Chris must be here due to intimidation. Sabin says he wanted to see how big of a crybaby Ray is in person. He talks about having his knees destroyed and never crying once.

Instead he worked even harder and now he’s world heavyweight champion. Ray says he’ll get the title back by suing Sabin and demands Hogan get out here right now and hand over the title. Hogan comes out and says he has a counteroffer for Ray: Sabin remains the champion but Ray gets his rematch August 15 in a cage at Hardcore Justice.

Overall Rating: B-. The lawyer stuff drags this down but there was enough good on here to make the show good. Bringing the focus back to the BFG Series is a good idea and I have no problem with Ray likely getting the title back soon. The biggest problem with this show continues to be the Hogans. Their segments just suck the life out of the show and I find myself caring about them less and less every time they’re on screen. The rest of the show is solid but those two need to go.

Results

Manik b. Greg Marisculo and Sonjay Dutt – Manik pulled down the title

Mr. Anderson b. Hernandez – Mic Check

Mickie James b. Gail Kim – Rollup

Christopher Daniels b. Samoa Joe – BME

AJ Styles b. Jeff Hardy – Calf Killer

 

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