Monday Night Raw
Date: October 29, 2001
Location: Freedom Hall, Louisville, Kentucky
Commentators: Jim Ross, Paul Heyman

With Survivor Series only a few weeks away, we really have no idea what to expect from the show. None of the matches have been announced, the kind of match that the Winner Take All match is totally unclear, and we have no idea who is going to be in it. We practically have to fill in some blanks by the end of the night. Then again there’s a good chance the WWF didn’t know anything about the PPV at this point either. Let’s get to it.

We open with Vince bringing out the WWF roster. Vince talks about how the Alliance will die at Survivor Series, but there’s something else to get to first. On Smackdown, Shane held Linda’s arms back while Stephanie slapped her. Tonight in the street fight, Vince will teach Shane some respect. Vince introduces Team WWF for the ten man elimination tag team match. Well we have some details now. Vince brings Undertaker, Kane, Kurt Angle, Chris Jericho and The Rock.

Cue Stephanie who shows us a video from Smackdown where Linda got slapped by Stephanie, apparently into unconsciousness. Stephanie says that if they’ll do that to their mom, what are they going to do to Vince and the WWF at Survivor Series? She dedicates the street fight tonight to Linda. Cue Shane, with Stephanie dancing to his music. There’s something creepy about that. Shane says someone from Team WWF is defecting to the Alliance tonight.

Post break Shane and Stephanie are excited about someone turning tonight. Even Regal and Debra don’t know who it is.

Intercontinental Title: Edge vs. Rob Van Dam

Van Dam is Hardcore Champion but here’s challenging here. Feeling out process to start and Edge this his flapjack to take over. The monkey flip is countered by the Canadian but he walks into the stepover kick. JR calls Edge Test for some reason and we go to the outside. Van Dam hits the Five Star off the apron but he can’t get Edge back in to cover. Back in and Edge gets in a clothesline followed by a backdrop.

Spinwheel kick takes Van Dam down but one from RVD takes Edge down in turn. Split legged moonsault hits knees and they trade near falls on some rollups. Van Dam channels his inner HBK with a superkick and Rolling Thunder gets two. Edge-O-Matic gets the same and we’re almost at a standstill. Van Dam rolls into the corner but gets speared down for two. The Five Star hits knees and the Edgecution gets the pin to retain.

Rating: C+. This was fine. Edge was a rising star at this point and a clean win over a guy that was a bigger deal than he was at this point was only going to help him. That’s what you call a rub from Van Dam and it’s something that we could use more of in today’s product. This worked pretty well all things considered and if I remember right they would have better matches in the future.

Austin laughs at Van Dam losing when Taz comes in and wants to know who the jumper is. He gets why Debra doesn’t know but why not Taz? Austin implies Taz speaks Spanish and throws him out. Taz came off like a clueless schmuck here. He leaves and Austin still won’t tell Debra.

The APA says they’re going to beat up the jumper tonight. Saturn is playing Go Fish too. Teddy comes in and says Jericho has called a meeting of the WWF guys which the APA isn’t happy with.

Molly Holly/Hurricane vs. Torrie Wilson/Tajiri

Torrie is looking extra curvy tonight. The guys start us off and Tajiri takes over. Molly gets spun around too but Hurricane gets in a shot to Tajiri’s head to take over. Tajiri escapes a suplex but the high kick misses. Eye of the Hurricane is countered and there’s a hard kick to Hurricane’s face. The girls come in and Torrie shows off her “skills”. She stumbles through a handspring elbow and slaps Hurricane, only to get clotheslined down. Tarantula to Hurricane but Molly rolls up Torrie for the pin. Next.

We go to the meeting and Jericho is complaining about working in WCW in ECW. He isn’t about to stand around while the company gets screwed and wants to know who is going to screw the company. Rock pops up and Jericho makes fun of him for being late. Rock wants to know who Jericho thinks he is to call a meeting.

Jericho says he became the leader of the WWF when he beat Rock for the WCW Title. Does that sound as stupid to anyone else as it does to me? Rock says he was winning big ones when Jericho was losing to Juventud Guerrera on Nitro. Rock is the WWF and no one here is stupid enough to jump ship, other than maybe Jericho. The meeting is adjourned. Rock came off like a total jerk here which is the whole point of the feud. Good stuff here.

There was a Smack Down Your Vote rally today.

Austin criticizes the meeting when Regal comes in. Regal gets sent away but Austin tells him to send Angle here.

Jericho yells at the Brothers of Destruction so Taker yells at him. Jericho implies Kane is the one jumping.

Here’s DDP for a chat. JR makes fun of his teeth which isn’t really funny. Page says he has a surprise for us: he knows who is jumping. Apparently it can be anyone in the WWF, not just on Team WWF. Page says it’s Big Show and insults him a lot for some reason. Here’s Big Show with a chokeslam for Page. Can we PLEASE get Page an opponent not seven feet tall?

Angle comes in to see Vince about the meeting with Austin tonight. Kurt has no idea what Austin wants and then goes into a rant against Vince when Vince looks at him strangely. Vince gives him a 2×4 to take with him.

WWF Tag Titles: Booker T/Test vs. The Rock/Chris Jericho

Rock comes out last which is interesting. He starts with Booker and a Samoan Drop gets two. Off to Jericho who chops away and hits a middle rope dropkick for two. Booker comes back with a kind of Alabama Slam and it’s off to Test. The power guy takes over and pounds away in the corner before hitting a suplex for two. Off to a quick chinlock followed by a full nelson slam for two.

Book comes back in again and hits a slam for two. Jericho hits a kind of enziguri to break up the devastating slam based offense. The unhot tag brings in Rock who cleans house. He suplexes Booker and punches Test, but accidentally hits the tiny Canadian. Spinebuster looks to set up the Elbow but Jericho jumps Rock from behind.

Jericho hits him with the Breakdown (Skull Crushing Finale) but breaks up the count from Test. Test takes a Breakdown and now Chris wants the tag. Rock tags him and hits the Rock Bottom on the WCW Champion. He breaks up the pin by Test (Heyman: “WILL SOMEONE PLEASE MAKE UP THEIR MIND???”) and everything breaks down. Booker accidentally kicks Test’s head off and the Walls make Test tap.

Rating: C+. This was far more about drama and story building than the wrestling and that’s ok. Jericho vs. Rock was a huge feud and was completely awesome with both guys hitting on all cylinders. Rock continues to come off as a total jerk and Jericho continues to have the title, signifying that he beat Rock for the big one. Good stuff here.

Angle goes into Austin’s locker room with the 2×4 pulled back. Austin isn’t looking for a fight and offers Angle a spot in the Alliance right now. Angle: “What?” Angle asks who is joining the Alliance tonight and thinks it’s Rock. Austin won’t tell him who is jumping and only tells him good luck. Angle turns him down.

Rock is mad and Cole makes him madder by pointing out what Angle just implied. Rock goes a Kurt-Hunting.

Lita vs. Stacy Keibler

I could look at Dudley Stacy all day. Lita hits a quick side slam for two but Stacy comes back with her bad kicks. Snap suplex gets two for Lita and she throws Stacy to the floor, possibly resulting in an ankle injury. Lita dives at Stacy but hits the barricade. Matt comes out to put her back in and Stacy slaps him. Matt pulls back a right hand but elbows Lita in the process. That gets two for Stacy and a quick Twist of Fate gets the pin.

Lita yells at Matt post match and walks away from him.

Rock comes in and yells at Angle. He implies Kurt might be turning but Angle denies it, citing permission from Vince. Angle says it’s not him but Rock doesn’t seem convinced.

Mick Foley is at WWF New York and plugs his new children’s book. He agreed to make Jericho/Rock defend the titles in exchange for the Brothers getting a title match against the Dudleys.

My Sacrifice video. For those of you that don’t remember, My Sacrifice is a Creed song that was used for the WWF’s Desire campaign. What’s the Desire campaign you ask? No idea, but we saw it every five minutes at this point.

US Title: Kurt Angle vs. William Regal

This should be good. Angle is defending and Regal jumps him as he’s posing in the corner. Angle comes back with a series of clotheslines to take it to the floor. Back in and Angle backdrops him for two. Regal comes back with the knee trembler and a chinlock. Kurt tries a crossbody but Regal crotches him to counter. The champion comes back with some suplexes before picking the ankle for the submission.

Rating: D+. Nothing to see here as you would expect more from Regal vs. Angle. The match was basically filler but it wasn’t a bad match or anything. Regal would keep doing nothing for a few months before doing nothing for years. Angle would stay in the main event for like ever and unfortunately these two never had a big match.

Vince comes in to see Taker but Taker yells at him for thinking Taker or Kane are jumping. Kane comes in and Vince gets caught between them. Vince says good luck but Taker says he doesn’t need it, which is the same thing Angle said earlier.

WCW Tag Titles: Dudley Boys vs. Undertaker/Kane

The Dudleys are defending. Kane and D-Von get us going and the big man slugs him down very quickly. A side slam brings in Taker who beats up both Dudleys with ease. Ray low bridges the Dead Man and sends him into the steps to give the Dudleys control. Ray clotheslines him down back inside and brings in D-Von again.

Kane gets drilled so there’s no Fried Freak for Undertaker to tag. Taker kicks Ray down and it’s a double tag to D-Von and Kane. Everything breaks down and Kane chokeslams D-Von. Stacy slips Bubba a belt which takes Kane’s head off for two. Taker loads up Old School but Bubba sends Kane into the ropes to crotch Undertaker. 3D pins Kane to keep the titles in Dudleyville.

Rating: D+. These matches continue to kind of suck, which is a running theme for both this and the 1998 series. I think the ending here is supposed to go along with the idea of someone jumping as I guess Kane and Taker didn’t get along here but it wasn’t really that bad. Can we just look at Stacy more please?

Shane McMahon vs. Vince McMahon

Street fight. Shane meets him on the floor and Vince pounds him down onto the apron to start. Vince hits him with some sort of sign and sends Shane knees first into the steps. He chokes Shane with a cord and sends him inside. Vince throws in some garbage cans as Paul talks about Linda being an abusive mother. Shane comes back with a bad low blow and a series of garbage can lid shots.

Shane puts the garbage can on Vince’s chest and tries a Shooting Star but only hits can. You can’t say the guy didn’t try different stuff in the ring. Vince fires off some kendo stick shots and clotheslines Shane out to the floor. Vince loads up the announce table but Shane comes back with a monitor shot to the face. Unlike at Wrestlemania, this time the elbow puts Vince through the table in a great looking crash.

Everyone is down now as JR does his traditional panicking over a big move. Shane gets up first and tries to drag Vince back into the ring as his dad is dead weight. That only gets two and the fans aren’t all that thrilled by the kickout. Shane loads up the Coast to Coast but Vince throws the can into Shane on the way across the ring. Booker and Test run in to beat Vince down but the Brothers come in to even things out.

Test and Kane kick each other down and Booker takes the Last Ride. Regal takes out Taker but Rock beats him down. Austin comes out and Stuns Rock until Angle comes down with a chair….and hits the incoming Jericho. He hits every WWF guy and it’s Angle that is jumping. A horribly botched Stunner from Austin lets Shane get the pin.

Rating: C-. Obviously the match wasn’t the point here and it’s hard to grade the match after the parade of run-ins began. The ending worked pretty well with Angle being a nice surprise for the turn (kind of) and a good way to end the show. The match was a far cry from Wrestlemania’s version, but Freedom Hall is a far cry from the Astrodome.

The Alliance celebrates to end the show.

Overall Rating: C. This is a very hard one to grade. The wrestling was just ok but there was some good drama with the mystery of who was jumping going on. That being said, Angle turning doesn’t really mean much. At the end of the day he’s another WWF mercenary being brought in to try to legitimize the Alliance which doesn’t work in the slightest. It’s a good shock moment but when that’s all you have, the show is going to suffer, which is what wound up happening.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Slammiversary 2012
Date: June 10, 2012
Location: College Park Center, Arlington, Texas
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Taz

It’s the ten year anniversary show and the main event is Sting challenging Roode for the title. Other than that we have a guest appearance by Christian, likely as the first member of the TNA Hall of Fame for basically publicity reasons. The rest of the show is pretty much a regular PPV, but they’ve surprised me before with these bigger shows. Let’s get to it.

The opening video is about what you would expect: they started with a dream, they’ve come a long way, they’re here now. It’s interspersed with big moments in their history.

The crowd is HUGE, looking like a real PPV style crowd.

Here’s Hogan to open the show. The ring looks smaller than usual here. Hogan welcomes us to the show and says that this is a celebration of ten years. He says the next ten years are going to be even more awesome because this company is shooting to the moon. Tonight we’re going old school and opening with Joe vs. Aries. How exactly is that old school? Oh it’s for the title. So the weight limit is gone? SWEET.

X-Division Title: Austin Aries vs. Samoa Joe

That ring is 15 feet wide AT BEST. Aries is defending of course. They fight over a wristlock to start and it’s a standoff. The fans are split here but the Aries chants sound a bit louder. Aries gets in some kicks at the leg and we hit another standoff. Joe comes back with kicks of his own and down goes the champion. Aries will have none of that and dropkicks him to the floor, but Joe blocks the suicide dive with a kick to the head.

Back into the ring and Joe crushes him in the corner and hits an enziguri. Facewash connects and Aries is in trouble. Snap powerslam gets two. Joe charges into a boot but hits his own big version of it to take Aries down again. The backsplash hits knees and Aries fires off more forearms. Joe tries the suicide elbow but Aries dodges, slides in and hits the suicide dive to take over.

The dueling chants are getting louder here. Back in and Joe gets taken into the corner by a missile dropkick. The running dropkick in the corner is caught in a powerslam for two. They slug it out but Aries can’t hit the brainbuster. A rana is caught in a powerbomb followed by the Boston crab/STF/Rings of Saturn (used to be a Crossface) sequence that he hasn’t busted out in years.

Joe loads up the MuscleBuster but Aries forearms his way out of it. They go up but Joe gets knocked off, letting Aries hit the 450 for two. They fight from their knees and Aries gets caught in the Clutch but he kicks backwards into a cover for two. Aries charges into the release Rock Bottom out of the corner and Joe is all fired up. The MuscleBuster is countered again, this time into kind of a crucifix slam for no cover. Aries goes off with the forearms in the corner and hits the brainbuster for the pin at 11:44.

Rating: B+. Now THAT is how you do an opener. They beat the tar out of each other here and it was almost old school Joe out there, other than him being unbeatable and all that jazz. Still though, this was a good win for Aries and if they’ve taken away the weight limit on the division again, things are going to go up for it. That’s what they’ve needed to do for a long time.

Kid Kash vs. Hernandez

For the life of me I don’t get why this is on the card. When was the last time either of these guys was on TV at all? Kash tries to speed things up but he gets run over with ease and knocked to the floor. Hernandez throws Kash around with ease so Kash bites him on the nose. He hooks an armbreaker on SuperMex which is broken pretty quickly. We get a bad looking sequence with Kash not really selling a clothesline and then BADLY botching a rana. Tornado DDT puts Hernandez down but he pops up and hits the slingshot shoulder to put both guys down. Kash heads to the floor so Hernandez dives over the top to crush him. I miss that spot from him. Border Toss is escaped so Hernandez goes up, shoves Kash off and hits a top rope splash for the pin at 5:52.

Rating: D+. This wasn’t horrible but what in the world was the point of this? There were no other people that they could have put out there for this? Hernandez hasn’t been on TV as a singles guy in months and Kash shouldn’t be on TV ever for my money, so I don’t know why this match was taking place at all. Odd choice and it wasn’t anything good either.

Moment #3 is AJ Styles winning the first X Title.

Garrett Bischoff/D-Von vs. Robbie E/Robbie T

The TV Title feud continues. E and Garrett get us going and Bischoff slams him down with relative ease. Off to the current OVW Champion as we get dueling WE WANT D-VON/YOU CAN’T WRESTLE chants. Right hands have no effect on T so Garrett tries some clotheslines, only to get pulled down to the floor by E. Madison is out watching again, looking GREAT in a red dress.

The fans still want D-Von but it’s Garrett getting worked over in the corner. The Rob’s hit a double team side slam/elbow drop combo and it’s chinlock time. Garrett comes back with a flapjack and D-Von finally gets in. House is cleaned and a Rock Bottom puts E down. A shoulder block gets a cover but T makes the save. Garrett low bridges T and hits a dive, as D-Von spinebusters E for the pin at 5:58.

Rating: D+. Nothing but a basic formula tag match here that needed to be on Impact rather than the PPV. The fans flat out do not care about Garrett but I guess this is better than him being in the main events of PPVs. Now, can we PLEASE find D-Von someone to feud with not named Garrett or Rob? It can’t be that hard.

Garrett and D-Von dance for no apparent reason.

Daniels runs down his accomplishments in TNA and drinks a toast to himself and Kaz while saying how great they are. “You have permission to worship us now.”

Mr. Anderson vs. Jeff Hardy vs. Rob Van Dam

This is happening earlier than I expected. The winner gets a title match on Thursday. Either there’s some lighting issue or Van Dam’s face is green. Jeff flips a coin or something and goes after Van Dam as a result. He takes down everyone but Anderson gets in a knee to slow him down. Jeff sends both guys into the corner and hits a double splash, followed by a dropkick out of Poetry In Motion at Van Dam.

Hardy headscissors Anderson out of the corner but walks into a neckbreaker from the same person for two. Van Dam hits some shoulders into the ribs of Anderson in the corner and a running kick to the head of Hardy. After some control by Van Dam, Hardy goes up but gets caught in the Tower of Doom, but he crotches himself on the top. After disposing of Van Dam, the superplex hits Hardy. A Five Star attempt misses and everyone is down.

We get a three way slugout from their knees, followed by a spin kick from RVD to Anderson, followed by a rollup to Hardy for two. Another spin kick puts Hardy down and Anderson gets monkey flipped onto Hardy’s body for two. Anderson backslides Van Dam and Hardy covers Van Dam at the same time but it only gets two. That was a smart move though. Van Dam is knocked to the floor and he pulls Anderson out with him, allowing Hardy to hit a HUGE dive on both to put everyone down on the floor.

Hardy and Van Dam head into the ring and Whisper in the Wind gets two. Jeff’s suplex is countered so he hits a Twist of Fate instead. The Swanton hits but Anderson pulls the referee out to the floor. Hardy gets sent to the floor and Rolling Thunder is countered into the Mic Check by Anderson for the pin at 11:28. That came out of nowhere.

Rating: B. The match was incredibly energetic and fast paced, although I’m very surprised that Hardy didn’t win here. Anderson winning was a surprise though which is a nice touch, although the ending didn’t have any real build to it. That can work though as it’s nice to break up the formula once in awhile. Good match here again.

Crimson talks about how great and perfect he’s been for over 470 days. He doesn’t care who he’s facing tonight.

Crimson vs. ???

Crimson runs down Texas a bit and says he’ll fight a Maverick, a Ranger or a Cowboy if he has to. The opponent is…..JAMES STORM? Oh yeah the streak is done. The match starts fast and Crimson is quickly clotheslined to the floor. Storm has the old trenchcoat too. We get some hard chops in the corner but Crimson comes back with a shot to the head. There goes the coat and Storm is in some trouble. Storm shrugs all that off, hits the Codebreaker which has another name that I can’t remember, seems to go into a seizure, and hits the Last Call to end the streak at 2:09.

Aries says he wants to be in the main event. That gets a good reaction from the crowd.

Hogan joining TNA is the second moment.

Here’s Dixie for the HOF stuff. There are four matches left (tag titles, Ray/Park, Knockouts and world title) and it’s 9:15 so there’s a lot of time for the remaining matches. She thanks everyone that helped get us here from her parents to the Jarretts to the fans. Dixie brings out the locker room and AJ looks like he’s about to cry. The first inductee into the Hall of Fame is….Sting? It should be Jarret but I’m FAR more ok with this than it being Christian. We get a video and testimonials from the other wrestlers and Sting goes to the ring.

The fans chant YES, which I’m not sure how to take. The formal induction won’t be until Bound For Glory. Sting says he’s honored and starts a chant for the crowd. He says that tonight it’s Showtime.

Knockouts Title: Gail Kim vs. Miss Tessmacher

Ok…..there is ZERO reason for Tessmacher to lose here. I mean, it’s her home state, she’s been built up perfectly, the champion has gotten stale and says the same things over and over……she’s screwed isn’t she? Tessmacher speeds things up to start and they head to the floor. Back in and she tries a victory roll but gets hot shotted instead. Shoulder breaker gets two.

Gail works on the arm before shifting to a headscissors for a bit. Tessmacher makes her comeback but gets bulldogged back down. A horrible looking neckbreaker puts Tessmacher on the apron and then into the barricade. Back in and Eat Defeat is countered so Gail tries Tessmacher’s finisher. Brooke (screw Hogan’s daughter) countered into a rollup for the pin at 7:05.

Rating: D. I REALLY do not like that ending. Tessmacher got dominated for almost the entire match and then caught Gail in a mistake to win the title. That doesn’t make her look better or anything, but rather just that it makes the win look like a fluke. Still though, anyone being champion instead of Gail is a good thing.

Brooke celebrates post match.

Bully runs down Texas and talks about how great New York is. He has Park right where he wants him and it’ll be an assault tonight. Ray can’t be held responsible for his actions due to the contract.

We recap the Park vs. Ray story which I’m sure you’ve heard of already. In short, Joseph is Abyss’ brother and is looking for him. Abyss popped up and said that Joseph needed to stay away from the fire. Ray got annoyed by Joseph and challenged him to a fight tonight. The fight is happening. Ok then.

Joseph Park vs. Bully Ray

Park comes out in a workout suit. He takes off the glasses and Ray offers him the first shot. A right hand misses as does a second. Ray offers to put his hands behind his back but spits in Park’s face too. Park gets in a single slap and down he goes. The fans think New York sucks. Ray goes and gets a chair but Park trips the rope as he comes back in to send Ray down. Park picks up the chair but isn’t sure what to do with it. Instead he looks at the fans and gets hit in the back for his mistake.

A chair to the back puts Park down and the sweat is dripping. Another chair shot to the back puts Joseph on the floor and there’s a water bottle to the head. Back in and the middle rope backsplash misses to give Park a chance. He seems pretty ok two minutes after two chair shots to the back. Park pounds away in the corner and Ray is in trouble. And never mind as Ray kicks his head off to take him down.

Ray brings in a table and kendo stick, drawing the second ECW chant of the night. The thing is dead people. Let it go. Joseph punches Ray in the balls to block a kendo stick shot before clocking Ray in the head for two. Park goes under the ring and Abyss comes out (with his hood up to hide short hair). Ray sees him and panics before getting chokeslammed through the table. Abyss goes back under the ring, Park pops out and gets the pin at 10:28.

Rating: C-. Ok, what were you expecting here? They’re not really even trying to hide that it’s Abyss anymore. Either that or these fans are REALLY gullible. Park winning was probably the only option they had here and while the ending was bad, they couldn’t do much else. Decent comedy match here.

Roode says he’ll keep the title.

Cue Hogan again for some reason. He tells the fans to give it up for Park and that he has a surprise for us. Hogan brings out Christian Cage to no real buildup or fanfare. Tenay of course makes it sound like it’s someone here every week because that’s how he rolls. The fans ask Christian to come back. Christian says he’s been asked if he was really appearing here tonight all week, and yeah, he is. The fans chant YES of course.

He remembers there being more corners in this ring. Things might change, but the fans never change. They should stand up and give themselves a round of applause. He presents the #1 moment in TNA history and it’s…..Sting returning. No. Just NO. That’s it for Christian. He isn’t seen again and he doesn’t say anything else as we move on to the package about the tag titles.

We recap the Styles/Angle vs. Kaz/Daniels feud. The idea is that Daniels thinks AJ is sleeping with Dixie and has shown some circumstantial evidence to destroy AJ, so tonight AJ and Angle are teaming up to go for the tag titles.

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

The match starts fast and AJ gets double teamed. It’s Styles vs. Kaz to get us going with Kaz rolling him up quickly before walking into a spin kick. Out to the floor and AJ does his slide under the barricade into the forearm spot. Daniels tries to interfere but Angle takes his head off with a clothesline. A knee to the face puts Kaz down and it’s off to Angle. Double suplex gets two. Off to Daniels who takes Angle down but he walks into a belly to belly.

Off to AJ who Daniels over his knee and goes for the Styles Clash but Chris runs to the apron. Kaz comes in and puts AJ on the ropes. Daniels interferes and Kaz hits a sweet bicycle kick to the face, catching AJ by his knee in the ropes. Daniels chokes a bit as AJ’s knee is done at the moment. Kaz comes in and gets hiptossed into a legdrop onto AJ for two. A suplex is blocked into a neckbreaker and both guys are down.

Double tag brings in the bald guys and Angle is all fired up. He snaps off an overhead belly to belly on Daniels and a German on Kaz. Angle Slam gets two on Daniels due to Kaz making the save. Kurt is like cool man and Germans them both at once. Ankle lock to Daniels is broken up by Kaz again and Daniels is back up. Angel’s Wings is countered and it’s off to AJ with the flying forearm. Moonsault into the reverse DDT takes down Kaz but it’s combined with a regular DDT to Daniels. Kaz distracts AGAIN before hitting a kick to the face of Styles.

Daniels busts out Last Rites but Angle makes the save. Things slow down a bit and AJ loads up a superplex on Kaz but gets shoved off. Angle runs the corner for the belly to belly and it’s down to Daniels vs. Styles. They slug it out and the release Rock Bottom sets up the BME, but Daniels lands on his feet. Unfortunately he lands in perfect position for a release German. Angle hits a top rope splash of all things for two but Daniels pulls the referee out. AJ hits a HUGE shooting star over the top to take out Daniels on the floor. Back in the ring Kaz tries Fade to Black but Angle reverses into the ankle lock for the tap at 14:26.

Rating: B+. Another good match here but it really doesn’t give us a bunch of resolution. Dixie wasn’t involved here, which to be fair is probably the best possible outcome, but it doesn’t really matter much. The match itself was great and it seems like they’re building to yet another final blowoff between Daniels and AJ, which is annoying but it’s what’s coming. AJ getting another title is fine by me.

We recap the main event which is being built up as way bigger than it probably really is.

TNA World Title: Sting vs. Bobby Roode

Roode stalls before the bell and stalls again after the bell. After a chase Sting sends Roode into the barricade and then does it again for good measure. Roode goes into various other hard objects and it’s all Sting so far. The champ (Roode in case this is like 2020 by now or something) guillotines Sting across the top rope and stomps away. Sting blocks a punch and makes a comeback but charges into a boot for two.

Off to a sleeper by the champ which is countered into one by Sting, but Roode escapes with a jawbreaker. Roode goes up but Sting punches him down and busts out a superplex. Scorpion goes on but Roode finally gets to a rope. Roode goes to the floor and they head up the ramp. Back to ringside and Sting ACTUALLY HITS THE SPLASH ON THE BARRICADE. Roode gets put in the Scorpion on the announce table but the tap out there doesn’t count. For no apparent reason there’s a six pack of beer by the table and Roode gets one out. It goes upside Sting’s head and it gets the pin at 9:52.

Rating: C+. I’m not a big fan of Sting’s main event matches. Or is it Roode that I’m not a fan of? Either way, this was a pretty dull main event but after the love fest that this show was for Sting, he had to lose at some point here. Roode needs to lose the title soon as there’s nothing left for him to do with it and he’s reaching boring levels by this point. Maybe Anderson takes it Thursday, but at the end of the day that’s better than another Sting win.

Post match Sting snaps and takes Roode up the ramp before hitting the Death Drop off the stage through some tables.

Overall Rating: A. If TNA was looking to hit a home run with this show, they certainly did it. The Sting stuff was a bit of overkill but all in all, this worked incredibly well. You get three very good to great matches and it felt like a celebration of TNA rather than just another PPV. The crowd looked great, the wrestlers looked fired up, and we still have places to go off this. Great show here and one of their best ever if not their best ever.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Impact Wrestling
Date: July 19, 2012
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Tazz

It’s Open Fight Night again and Roode is calling out Aries tonight. Why he would do this when he has a world title match at the next PPV is a bit of a mystery but that’s wrestling for you. We also might get an update on the Aces and 8’s faction which is a pretty cool idea. We haven’t had masked me in awhile so that’s kind of a cool thing. Let’s get to it.

After the standard opening recap, we have another recap of the Aces and 8’s beatdown last week.

Hogan is shown in the hospital, which is due to a legit back surgery.

Theme song hits. Get your reinforcements.

Bound For Glory Series standings:

James Storm 43

Samoa Joe 37

Kurt Angle 27

Jeff Hardy 21

Mr. Anderson 16

Rob Van Dam 14

Magnus 14

Christopher Daniels 12

AJ Styles 7

D’Angelo Dinero 7

Bully Ray 0

Robbie E 0

Tonight the high scorers get to do the callouts.

Here’s Storm to talk about Aries being the new champion and wanting the title shot no matter who it’s against. He hasn’t forgotten about Roode either, because the title is just business while Roode is personal. As for Aces and 8’s, if this was the wild west, he’d be the sheriff because he’s the Cowboy. While he doesn’t have a star on his chest, he has a set of balls. Hogan gets a shoutout but Storm wants Angle tonight.

Bound For Glory Series: James Storm vs. Kurt Angle

And there’s no Kurt. The music plays again and it’s Aces and 8’s in the back destroying Angle. We go to a break with Angle out cold and Tenay wondering if the guy in an American flag t-shirt with no hair that looks exactly like Angle is in fact Angle.

Bound For Glory Series: Samoa Joe vs. D’Angelo Dinero

I’m not going to bother listing the quick callouts that happen unless anything significant is said in them. Dinero tries to knock Joe into the corner but Joe pounds him with elbows and an enziguri to take over. Joe pops him in the face but gets sent into the corner and out to the floor. Back in and Pope hits a powerslam for two and it’s off to the Rings of Saturn. Pope starts pounding away and gets caught in a cross armbreaker for the tap at 3:20.

Rating: C. See how easy it is to push Joe as a submissions master? It goes this fast and Joe continues to dominate the Series. Pope is still floundering and it’s still pretty dull to see him out there as he’s nothing more than a jobber at this point. Still though, they need people like that in the Series to keep things interesting. This wasn’t bad though and Pope looked good.

Roode denies having any connection to Aces and 8’s despite being the last guy seen with Hogan before the attack. He’ll prove Destination X was a fluke later too.

Bound For Glory Series; Jeff Hardy vs. Robbie E

Jeff says he has someone in mind to call out but Robbie E interrupts. T jumps Hardy to take over but Hardy realizes he’s Jeff Hardy and takes over with his usual stuff. T interferes again to send Jeff out to the floor. That gets two for E but Jeff comes back again and hits the Whisper in the Wind for two. A plancha to the floor misses as T shoved E out of the way. Jeff fights T up the aisle and E wins by countout at 2:49.

ODB and Eric Young are in the back and Eric is back. It turns into a plug for his fish show.

We recap Clair/Daniels/Kaz with Clair saying that AJ is her baby’s papa.

Daniels rants a lot as does Kaz, saying that AJ is a coward.

Smoe guy named Sam Shaw comes out for Gut Check and while he’s talking, here are Aces and 8’s. There are six of them this time. The beating continues as they go to a break.

Post break Shaw is helped up.

Bound For Glory Series: Mr. Anderson vs. AJ Styles

Anderson works over the arm and hits a hiptoss to take over. He hooks an armbar but AJ counters into a headscissors. They stay on the mat for a bit until a stalemate takes us to a break. Back with Anderson holding a headlock but AJ comes back with the drop down/kick sequence. AJ grabs the arm but gets elbowed in the face and a neckbreaker puts Styles down for two. Anderson hooks a cravate for a submission attempt but Styles rams him into the buckle to escape. Springboard forearm gets two for AJ.

Mic Check and Clash are countered as we’re getting close to fifteen minutes here. Regal Roll gets two for Anderson but the Mic Check is countered again. AJ goes up but Mr. snaps off a superplex with AJ landing on his arm. That only gets two for both guys as we have less than two minutes left. Pele out of nowhere (missed by the announcers) sets up the Clash but Anderson counters and they hit the mat with Anderson getting a pin out of nowhere at 13:38.

Rating: C+. This wasn’t really hitting on all cylinders but it worked well enough all things considered. Anderson needs some points and having him get a clean pin over Styles isn’t going to hurt anything at all. Besides AJ has bigger things to worry about right now, and here she comes to continue the soap opera portion of your show.

Clair comes over the rail and yells about the night that AJ came to the hotel but AJ doesn’t remember it. She says Styles was drinking that night too but Styles says this was all in her head. Clair has pictures of them in bed together with AJ looking very drugged/drunk.

Back and we look at the pictures again with AJ looking stunned in the back.

Bound For Glory Series: Rob Van Dam vs. Christopher Daniels

Some MMA guy is on commentary here because when you watch wrestling, you think MMA. Van Dam fires off some kicks but Daniels comes back with an elbow to the face. Daniels gets caught in an abdominal stretch, only for Daniels to fall backwards into the ropes. Back in after a quick run to the floor and Daniels hits the slingshot elbow for two. The MMA guy at least is interested here and sounds like a wrestling fan.

Daniels drops a knee to the back and puts on a chinlock with a knee in the back. Van Dam escapes and superkicks Daniels down, followed by a monkey flip. Five Star misses so RVD hits the walk over kick to take Daniels down. Rolling Thunder misses and Daniels rolls Van Dam up with feet on the ropes for the pin at 4:13.

Rating: C. Not bad again here and the announcer wasn’t that annoying for the most part. Daniels is doing a great job at being completely evil and that’s the right thing for him to do. RVD is fine for a warm body in the Series, which means that he’ll wind up in the middle of the standings and will get some wins here and there. This was fine.

Austin Aries says he can trump anything Roode can do. He finds playing cards on the floor and says he can trump Aces and 8’s too.

It’s Brooke Hogan time! She does a phone interview to talk about her dad’s injuries and how her dad doesn’t know what he’s in for. Nothing of note is said here.

Joseph Park offers his legal services to Garrett Bischoff as a way to talk about what happened last week when Park snapped. Park says that was all him.

Bound For Glory Series: Magnus vs. Bully Ray

Ray jumps Magnus in the aisle but Magnus fights back. Magnus sends him into the barricade and heads into the ring for the bell. Ray kicks him in the chest to take over but I think he was aiming for the face. Ray chops him in the corner and slams him down, but the splash misses. Magnus makes his comeback and throws on a Texas Cloverleaf but Ray makes the rope. Falcon’s Arrow gets two for Magnus. He misses a middle rope elbow though and it’s the Bully Cutter for the pin at 4:45.

Rating: D+. Nothing to see here but Ray finally gets some points. Magnus has everything you need to be something good but for some reason he’s never risen above the level of a jobber. Unfortunately we didn’t get any Joseph Park stuff here but this got the job done well enough I guess.

Chavo Guerrero Jr. debuts next week.

Here’s Roode to call out Aries. That’ll be after a break though.

Austin Aries vs. Bobby Roode

Non-title of course, because why would you think of asking for a title match in a match where you have to accept said challenge? Aries snaps off an armdrag followed by Roode getting sent into the corner. The fans sound like they say they want t-shirts. Roode sends him to the apron but Aries counters and hits a slingshot hilo for two. Roode goes face first into the apron so Aries dives on him on the outside as we take a break.

Back with Aries in trouble as Roode hits a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker for two. A spinebuster gets the same and it’s time for a chinlock. Aries fights up but walks into an elbow to the face to put him right back down. Aries gets up again and they slug it out but the spinning forearm gets caught in an armbar. Last Chancery goes on but Roode breaks out and hits the spear for two.

Roode loads up a superplex but Aries knees him in the head to escape. A missile dropkick puts Roode down but the brainbuster is countered into the Crossface. Aries hits the discus forearm and clotheslines Roode to the floor, followed by the suicide dive. And here are Aces and 8’s for the DQ at 13:42.

Rating: C+. This was pretty good and I guess this is supposed to prove that Roode is behind this, but that would make no sense as they appeared before he lost the title. Aries getting beaten down is a nice touch as it shows that it’s a company wide problem, but it doesn’t answer any questions. This was the only ending they could go with though, as if Roode won then Aries is a fluke but if Aries won, why watch the PPV match?

Roode gets beaten up too and it’s a big beatdown to end the show.

Overall Rating: C. This show has really slowed down a lot in the last few weeks, but there was still some good stuff tonight. Aces and 8’s is still an interesting idea but with these random attacks, they’re not really going anywhere yet. That’ll change when Hogan and Sting get back or when someone mounts an attack against them. As usual though, the problem with Open Fight Night is that nothing of note happens from it. These matches could happen on any show and the calling out means nothing at all. Not a horrible show but it was nothing great at all.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Impact Wrestling
Date: July 12, 2012
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Tazz

It’s the beginning of the Age of Aries which is more astrology than I ever expected to use in this show. Aries beat Roode for the title on Sunday in a big upset but it worked very well. Also the people that attacked Sting are here tonight which should be interesting. TNA continued its roll on Sunday and hopefully they can get a new Impact streak going tonight. Let’s get to it.

Bully Ray vs. Joseph Park

This is the rematch after their match at whatever show that was. Slammiversary I believe? This is anything goes and Abyss is barred from the building. We start with some comedy stuff as Park puts his hands up like he did at the PPV, but Ray has had enough of the attorney and beats him down. He even tweets something during the match. Ray heads to the floor and gets some weapons in a trashcan. Park takes Ray down but takes too long getting a chair ready and Ray takes over.

Park makes a comeback with some rights and lefts but he gets caught by a big boot to the head. Ray heads to the floor and pulls out a bag of something. Ah it’s the classic bag of tacks and Ray asks for the mic. He says this is what he should have done to Abyss a long time ago. Park comes back with a cheese grater to the balls and a kendo stick shot to the head for two. He hits something like a chokeslam onto the tacks for two and Ray gets the chain. A shot to Park’s face with that gets the pin at about 6:00 (I missed the opening bell).

Rating: C. This was the only possible outcome they could have here. Park winning once on a fluke with Abyss helping was one thing, but when it was one on one there wasn’t much else they could do. This was exactly what you would expect it to be and there’s nothing wrong with that. Fun match and the right continuation for the feud.

The shot busted Park open and he freaks out about it. Ray charges at Park and runs into the Black Hole Slam. Park wakes up and doesn’t believe what just happened. Tenay: “Ray just brought out the monster in Park.” Subtle Mike.

Sting is in the back with the Dead Man’s Hand from last week. That should be interesting.

After a break Ray wants to know who that was. He beat Joseph Park, but who was that.

Here are the updated BFG Series Standings:

Samoa Joe 37

James Storm 36

Jeff Hardy 21

Kurt Angle 20

Magnus 14

Mr. Anderson 9

D’Angelo Dinero 7

Rob Van Dam 7

AJ Styles 7

Christopher Daniels 5

Bully Ray 0

Robbie E 0

Bound For Glory Series: Samoa Joe vs. Rob Van Dam

Van Dam has fewer points so he goes for a fast submission. Joe will have none of that and stands Van Dam up, taking his head off with a clothesline. Van Dam heads to the floor but gets caught in a dragon screw leg whip back inside. Joe fires off kicks and rolls into a heel hook. Snap powerslam sets up a cross armbreaker but RVD makes a fast rope. Van Dam makes a comeback and hits Rolling Thunder. Joe takes him down and puts on a modified figure four, but RVD counters into a small package for the pin at 4:54.

Rating: C+. This was another fun little match. Van Dam needs some points to get back in the tournament and a small package win over Joe is a fine way to do that. The idea of the match was that Joe was so focused on the submission that he left himself open to be pinned. That’s a basic idea but it worked very well. Good stuff here and it did a few good jobs at once, which is hard to do.

Clair says she has nothing to say.

Hogan is looking for someone.

Here are Daniels and Kaz for a chat. Kaz says that AJ thinks this is ending but it’s just the beginning. They’ve been feuding HOW MANY YEARS now and it’s just beginning? Daniels agrees that what AJ did at the PPV was wrong, but that’s what you have to expect from Styles. He has Clair come out and talks about how she’s gone through a lot, which made her make mistakes. Clair reached out for someone, and that someone wound up being AJ.

Cue Styles who tells Daniels to let it die. Daniels says that there’s something that Styles doesn’t know. He says that he (Daniels) and Clair have talked about this and that there’s something Clair wants to admit. Clair keeps trying to talk but AJ keeps cutting him off. Clair finally gets in and says that Daniels is right about AJ being the father of the baby. AJ says no he’s not and we go to a break.

AJ has no idea what’s going on.

Anderson talks about his match with Angle.

We recap the X Title tournament on Sunday with Ion getting the title. When Sorensen comes back and beats him, the roof is coming off the Impact Zone.

Dakota Darsow says he doesn’t like Ion and what he did on Sunday. Of all the people in the tournament, you pick THIS GUY to put on first?

Zema Ion vs. Dakota Darsow

Non-title. Ion points to his neck so Darsow goes after him. Darsow takes over for a second but gets sent to the apron. In a cool counter, Darsow hits a slingshot spear through the ropes to take Ion down again. Ion hits a Stunner on the top rope and a jumping DDT to take Darsow down and the snap Gory Bomb gets the pin at 2:22. Just a step above a squash.

Ion snaps Darsow’s arm post match. SWEET. Ion says that if Sorensen doesn’t want to see his friends get hurt anymore, he needs to realize that Ion is dangerous. When have Darsow and Sorensen been friends on camera?

Here’s Aries to celebrate his title win. He says this was a great moment for the wrestling industry and actually asks the fans to chill with the cheering so he can talk. It wasn’t in a rude way though. He talks about how wrestling has down cycles and then it booms. TNA is about to lead wrestling into the next boom. He’s gotten congratulations from a lot of people, including celebrities, NFL players, and world champions from other organizations. This is the most important title in wrestling now because he holds it.

Cue Roode who is so angry that he can barely speak. He tries to yell at Aries about having all of this now but he can’t get the words out. There goes his jacket and he shouts the word YOU a lot. He finally calls Aries a fluke and Aries says he may be a fluke, but he’s the champ. Roode freaks out and leaves. Good stuff here.

Sting and Hulk are in the back talking about the attack when D-Von and Garrett come in and says they’re offering protection in case the guys jump Sting again. All Sting has to do is say the word. Hogan says thanks but we’ve got it covered.

Angle talks about his match later tonight.

Madison talks about how she likes Hebner.

Knockout Title: Gail Kim vs. Miss Tessmacher

Brooke Hogan is on commentary because I haven’t suffered enough today. Gail takes over to start and works on the arm of the champ. She hooks a belly to back suplex with a hammerlock slam at the same time. Gail hooks some kind of a hold on the arm, followed by Cattle Mutilation of all things. Tessmacher makes her comeback with a facejam out of the corner and that Russian legsweep into a clothesline gets two. A rollup gets two for Gail and she stomps away. Tessmacher knocks her down and hits a top rope elbow off the top to retain at 5:12.

Rating: D+. These girls are getting worse again. Tessmacher is someone who has charisma and looks good in those shorts of hers, but there’s no skill in the ring that I can see. She’s about as good as you can get at this point in her career as she was a model and dancer up to this point, but her matches are nothing to see. Gail was her usual self here.

Clair says she has proof that AJ is the father.

Magnus talks about calling out James Storm next week.

Bound For Glory Series: Kurt Angle vs. Mr. Anderson

Anderson takes him to the mat to start which is surprising. Angle gets put in an armbar but Kurt quickly breaks it. He takes over with a belly to belly as we take a break. Back with Anderson hitting a suplex to put both guys down. He hits a neckbreaker but Angle rolls the Germans. Angle Slam is countered and there’s the Regal Roll to Angle. That gets two and the Mic Check misses. Angle Slam gets two and there’s the ankle lock, which stays on for a LONG time. Anderson finally rolls out of it and there’s there Mic Check for two. With the bad ankle hindering him, Anderson walks into the Angle Slam for the pin at a time I didn’t get.

Roode rants to Hogan and Sting and it’s going to be Roode vs. Aries next week and if Roode wins, he gets the rematch for the title at Hardcore Justice.

Here’s Sting to close the show. He says it’s great to be back in the Impact Zone and calls out Hogan for his assistance. And there’s no Hogan. The music plays three times and there’s no Hulk. We cut to the back where Brooke is running off what appeared to be four masked guys who have jumped Hulk. Hogan says it’s his leg and the guys jump Sting in the arena. There are five of them here.

Overall Rating: C+. I wasn’t feeling this one. There was way too much focus on Sting and Hogan here and Aries, the guy leading the company into the new era, was on for what, six minutes? That’s not a good sign as while the Sting story is interesting, it’s not what the focus should be on in this company. Decent show overall and WAY better than last week, but it looks like the focus is shifting to the old guys again and that’s the last thing they want to do at this point.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

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

Impact Wrestling
Date: June 7, 2012
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Tazz

It’s another live show and we’re leading up to Slammiversary X this Sunday. The main event is Sting vs. Roode which doesn’t really blow the roof off the place but it’ll do I guess. Tonight we’re supposed to hear from Dixie about the AJ issue, which has been one of the big issues over the past few weeks. Other than that I can’t think of anything else for this week. Let’s get to it.

We open with a clip from after the show last week of Dixie freaking out and screaming a lot. She goes into the production truck and wants to know where the footage came from but can’t get an answer.

Dixie is in the ring and is on the verge of tears. She feels sorry for Kaz and Daniels and gets booed out of the building. The two of them are filled with doubts and anger and various other bad things. Dixie says she’s going to tell the truth tonight, but here are Kaz and Daniels. Daniels says he knows what’s going on and Dixie had to have what she wanted. He wants to know who called who first and where the first meeting was. She tries to hit Daniels so he shoves her down, until AJ comes out and chases both guys off.

Serg, Dixie’s husband, gets in the ring and helps her up then lays out AJ with a punch. Serg leaves and AJ whispers something to Dixie and they both leave.

Crimson vs. Austin Aries

Joe continues his complaining to Aries in the back before the match. Aries attacks the legs to start, hitting the low dropkick in the corner. A slingshot corkscrew plancha hits Crimson but a Lionsault misses. Red Sky is countered into a rana to send Crimson into the corner. Brainbuster is escaped and we head to the floor where Aries hits the suicide dive. Joe makes the not shocking interference and drives Aries’ head into the apron, giving Crimson the pin at 3:28.

Rating: D+. The match was ok but the ending might as well have been written in the middle of the ring. They hit a wall with Crimson months ago as there’s no point to him winning much anymore but they’re starting to play up the streak even more. Not much here but it set up Aries vs. Joe at Slammiversary.

Crimson brags about being undefeated longer than Goldberg was and says he’ll keep that going at Slammiversary with an open challenge.

Hogan says nothing of note about Brooke.

Brooke introduces herself to the Knockouts and there’s a fourway for the title match on Sunday. Also Velvet is going to be in a music video with Montgomery Gentry.

Here’s Hulk in the arena for a chat. He talks about how this Sunday is the anniversary and it’s a big party. We’re going to keep the party going through next week’s show in the form of a world title match. Roode comes out and complains. Hogan keeps trying to talk but Roode keeps saying he’s not done yet. Roode calls Hogan jealous and grabs him by the shirt, saying get out of his ring. Cue Sting who gets beaten down, but as Roode looks at Hogan he turns around to face Sting.

Joseph Park isn’t sure how things got where they are now.

Mickie James vs. Tara vs. Velvet Sky vs. Brooke Tessmacher

Mickie and Velvet clear the ring to start and Mickie gets a rollup for two. Gail comes out to watch and we take a break about a minute in. Gail sits in on commentary as we’re back. Brooke grabs a rollup for two on Mickie and takes her down for two. Velvet makes the save as Gail brags about her accomplishments. Tara comes in to roll up Sky for two.

Boston Crab goes on Brooke by Tara, but Mickie grabs a dragon sleeper on Tara but Brooke grabs a headlock on Mickie for a quadruple submission. Think about that and you’ll get why it’s stupid. The ring gets cleared again but Tara misses a moonsault on Mickie. Tessmacher wants Tara to hit her but the older one is reluctant. Tara takes over but as she shakes her hits Velvet takes her down. Mickie hits the top rope Thesz Press and kicks Velvet’s head off. She takes too long yelling though and Tessmacher hits her flip mat slam for the pin at 10:36.

Rating: C. These girls are WAY better than the Divas. The match ran long and I’m not liking Tessmacher’s finisher at all, but it’s better than the ton of kicks we used to have. She could be something special given her looks, but getting the title off of Gail is what matters. She’s had the thing FOREVER now and the division is starting to suffer as a result.

Bully Ray is ready for the contract signing later.

We see the opening segment again.

Hulk yells at AJ on the phone.

Time for the contract signing. Ray says his usual stuff and here’s Park. Ray rips up the contract and says that was for a standard wrestling match. He pulls out a new one that has a whole harmless clause in it, meaning no matter what he does to Park, there’s no legal recourse. Ray signs but Park starts sweating. Park won’t sign because he’s not crazy, so Ray spits on him.

That makes him snap and he talks about how Abyss has given his life for the last ten years to make this happen, so he’ll sign. Abyss pops up on screen and yells at Chris to step away from the fire before he gets burned. Chris says he was doing it to help but Abyss says he doesn’t need help. As for Ray, he left Abyss for dead, but Abyss isn’t dead. They’re both going to find out how alive he is at Slammiversary. Ray jumps Chris as he’s looking at the monitor.

Garrett wants to have D-Von’s back in the TV Title match tonight.

Joey Ryan rants about Gut Check from last week. Al Snow comes up and tells him to drop it.

TV Title: Robbie E vs. D-Von

This is the FIFTH TV Title between these two. Garrett is seconding D-Von here. Madison comes out to watch this, so her guy is one of the four. Robbie jumps him to start and takes over with basic offense. D-Von spears him down and hits a clothesline and elbow to the face. A flying shoulder takes Robbie down. Rock Bottom is followed by a headbutt, but Robbie T interferes. The seconds get into it but the distraction allows Robbie T to switch a small package. He gets caught and Garrett switches it so D-Von retains at 2:50.

Post match the Rob’s get beaten to the floor.

Here’s Hulk to talk about Bobby Roode but Anderson interrupts him. After taking forever, he asks if he’s getting the title match next week. Hogan says to chill and Anderson says he wants the title match. Hogan says he wants to finish the announcement, but he calls out RVD. I think Hogan is losing his voice. Now he asks Jeff Hardy to come to the ring. Anderson says he deserves the title match and Hogan goes on a rant about how these three have been trying to get title shots. The required three way match is made for Sunday.

We run down the Slammiversary card, which only has five announced matches plus an open challenge.

Kazarian/Christopher Daniels/Bobby Roode vs. Kurt Angle/AJ Styles/Sting

And there’s no AJ. He and Dixie left earlier and he’s not back yet. The tag champs jump Sting and Angle to start but are immediately put in submission holds, drawing in Roode who doesn’t seem that interested in helping. Kaz and Daniels make the ropes and it’s time for a huddle on the floor. We take a break and come back with Daniels taking Sting down and posing.

Off to a chinlock and Sting is in trouble. Slingshot elbow from Daniels and a slingshot legdrop from Kaz combine for two. A spinwheel kick from Kaz gets the same and Sting can barely stand. Off to Roode who drops a knee and chokes with the boot. Roode misses a charge but Sting misses a splash and both guys are down.

Daniels comes in illegally to break up what would have been a hot tag and it’s a triple beatdown. There’s the Crossface and here’s AJ for the save. He cleans house and Angle is back in as well. Kurt suplexes Kaz to the floor and AJ beats on Daniels. Pele takes Daniels to the floor and AJ hits a BIG dive to take everyone out. Roode tries a belt shot but gets caught in the Scorpion for the tap at 10:13.

Rating: C. I’m not sure what AJ being gone added here but the match was ok. It was your standard main event tag match where a few feuds were combined, which is something that is always a good idea. Two feuds get advanced at the same time, which is all you need at times. Good stuff here but nothing great.

Sting holds up the title to end the show.

Overall Rating: C+. This show started off REALLY slow and it picked up a bit halfway through. Having just four matches is annoying but it’s something you’ve come to expect from TNA anymore. The PPV only has five at the moment but I’m sure a few more, like Aries vs. Joe, will be added and that’s ok for the most part. This wasn’t a bad show, but it wasn’t great either. The good outweighed the bad though, so I’ll give it a break.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Monday Night Raw
Date: October 8, 2001
Location: Conseco Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, Indiana
Attendance: 9,204
Commentators: Jim Ross, Paul Heyman

We’re 13 days away from No Mercy but more importantly tonight, Angle defends against Austin in a match with NO, I repeat NO, interference at all. You know, so they can guarantee interference. Other than that there isn’t much to do here but we’re getting set for the PPV too. Since there isn’t much else to say, let’s get to it.

We open with a recap from Smackdown where Angle fought RVD with Van Dam winning to earn Austin a shot tonight on Raw.

Dudley Boyz/Tazz vs. Big Show/Tajiri/Spike Dudley

DUCHESS OF DUDLEYVILLE! YES! Stacy Keibler is now managing the Dudleys and has the gray camo skirt and the tied off Dudleys t-shirt with the glasses. For me, this is the hottest she EVER looked, which is covering a lot of ground. It’s a brawl to start until Tazz and Spike get us going. Spike gets suplexed over and D-Von comes in, only to get taken down by his half brother. Tag to Big Show who cleans house. Taz breaks up a double chokeslam with a low blow and a kick to the head from Tajiri gets the pin in maybe 90 seconds. What in the world was the point of this match?

Post match Spike tries a Dudley Dog on Bubba but gets thrown to the floor. Torrie gets powerbombed through the table while Tajiri is forced to watch. Big Show got shoved to the floor in case you were wondering. Yes, six men were used to further Stacy vs. Torrie at the PPV. Let that sink in for a minute.

Torrie gets checked out in the back.

Here’s Stephanie looking great in a leather top and a short leather skirt and thigh high boots. She wants to know why it’s such a big deal that Torrie got put through a table when Jericho beat Stephanie up two weeks ago on Smackdown. We see her being put in the Walls and getting hit two more times after that. She’s better now and she thinks she can do anything, so she’s going to watch the main event tonight.

Cue Jericho to cut her off. We get the required Stephanie jokes but here’s Shane to interrupt him. Stephanie dancing like a stripper for her brother’s song is both nice to see and also strange at the same time. Shane says Jericho’s usual long list of insults for some reason and says he’s funny. Stephanie is freaking out and Shane says that if Jericho actually focused, he could be the top guy.

Instead, Jericho is a choke artist who does comedy relief. Jericho thinks it would be comedy to see the McMahons team up against him tonight. Stephanie says she knows Jericho wants to get his hands on her body but she’s not that stupid. Instead it’ll be Shane/RVD vs. Rock/Jericho. How much money was there to be made by Jericho turning heel and admitting he treated Steph like this because he was in love with her but refused to admit it?

RVD is watching in the back when Test/Booker come in to congratulate him for his success. Booker was happy RVD won but he could have beaten Angle a lot faster. Booker is a five time champion, which RVD says means Booker lost the title five times. Ok then.

Some chick tries to be DDP’s student but is clearly reading off lines, which is the idea. This went nowhere.

WCW Tag Titles: Hardy Boyz vs. Booker T/Test

The champs (Booker/Test) jump the Hardys during their posing time but the brothers clear the ring. Test and Matt get us going but Booker kicks Matt in the back of the head to give the Canadian the advantage. Off to Booker who hits the forearm to the head for two. Test comes back in quickly and walks into a tornado DDT. Off to Jeff who speeds things up and everything breaks down. Bookend to Jeff and here’s Lita with the rana. Twist of Fate takes down Booker but Test breaks up the cover. Test throws Lita into the crowd and here comes the Spinarooni. Undertaker comes in and hits the Last Ride so the Swanton can get the pin.

Rating: D+. This was a coherent match for a minute and then everything fell apart. The titles being switched again doesn’t really mean anything but it would set up Dudleys vs. Hardys again because we haven’t seen that in a few months I guess right? Pretty boring match but again with about 3:45 to work with and two people interfering, how much could they do?

Booker and Test fire each other up and say they’ll get the belts back.

Lita says they’ll celebrate later and leaves to run into Hurricane and Molly who chastise her. Molly vs. Lita later.

Christian comes out for commentary.

US Title: Rhyno vs. Edge

Rhyno is defending and charges Edge into the corner almost immediately. Edge comes back with an atomic drop and some right hands. Rhyno knocks him right back down and drops a leg as Christian gets off commentary. Edge goes after him and avoids a charging Rhyno, hitting the Edge-O-Matic for two. The champ hits a spinebuster to put Edge down and finally takes his t-shirt off. Edgecution hits as there isn’t much selling in this match. And never mind as Christian pulls Edge out for the DQ.

Post match the Gore misses and Edge spears Christian.

Rob Van Dam/Shane McMahon vs. The Rock/Chris Jericho

Rock and RVD start things off with Rob firing off kicks in the corner. A moonsault out of the corner misses and Rock takes his head off with a clothesline. Off to Shane who gets punched in the face, allowing Rock to bring in Jericho. Jericho destroys Shane and sets for the Lionsault but Van Dam kicks him down off the ropes. RVD comes in legally and hits Rolling Thunder for two.

Back to Shane because that worked so well for the Alliance team the first time. A jumping back elbow gets two for the Boy Wonder and it’s time to dance. An enziguri to Shane allows the tag to Rock and things speed up. Shane tags in RVD who is quickly put in the Sharpshooter. Jericho knocks Shane to the floor and pulls Rob out too, putting him in the Walls on the floor.

Shane comes out of nowhere to bulldog Jericho into the steps and I think bust him open. Back in the ring the Five Star misses the Rock and it’s punching time. He pulls Shane in for the Elbow but RVD makes the save. Rock reverses a whip into the Rock Bottom but Shane saves. Jericho comes in with a chair but blasts Rock with it by mistake, allowing Van Dam to pin Rock.

Rating: C. Not bad here and we get the start of both a big feud as well as Jericho’s heel turn that led him to his first world title. Van Dam beating Rock I believe would lead to him getting a title match (against Austin) on PPV in a triple threat. Shane would go on to do nothing new, but that’s probably a good thing.

The Alliance celebrates with Van Dam, but it’s in front of Austin’s dressing room, meaning he’s not happy.

Chris Benoit was at WWF New York last night and predicted Angle getting the win.

Lance Storm and Ivory are at WWF New York tonight and says Benoit doesn’t speak for all of Canada.

Jericho gets his cut looked at when Rock comes in. He wants to know what Jericho was thinking, to which Jericho says that it was to get at Shane. Rock isn’t happy and Jericho says even Rock makes mistakes every now and then. Jericho says he was trying to win the match which Rock isn’t happy about. Rock wants Jericho to live up to his mistakes, so Jericho says maybe he should have knocked the People’s Eyebrow off his face. Rock says try it now and the fight is on.

Light Heavyweight Title: Scotty 2 Hotty vs. X-Pac

Pac is defending. He starts with his bouncing headlock but Scotty comes back with very basic offense. Pac gets sent to the floor but he kicks Scotty’s head off in retaliation. Back in and Scotty takes over again as this is going nowhere. Bulldog sets up the Worm for the pin but Pac’s foot was on the ropes. And there’s the X-Factor for the pin.

Rating: D. The match was ok enough I guess but it’s nothing of note at all. It’s pretty clear they had nothing else to do here so they threw the title out there for the sake of filling in some time. Then again, did ANYONE care about this title at all? Pac had the WCW Cruiserweight Title too so there was no division to speak of.

We’re supposed to talk to Austin but it’s Debra instead, looking as white trashy as you can get while still being both white and trash. She says Austin doesn’t want to talk and asks where Regal’s office is.

Lita vs. Mighty Molly

Molly quickly takes her down and drops some elbows for two. She puts Lita down again and poses too much, allowing Lita to take over again. Molly wants a handshake so Lita punches her in the face. Handspring elbow misses for Molly but she blocks the Twist of Fate. Molly gets a bridging rollup for the quick pin. Was there a point to this either?

Hurricane and Molly leave on the Hurricycle, but tonight it’s the Molly Mobile.

Regal is in his office when Debra comes in to beg Regal to let her be at ringside for the title match tonight. Regal say no way because there is NO interference tonight.

Angle says he isn’t worried about anything. Austin gave up at Unforgiven and he’ll do it again tonight.

WWF Title: Steve Austin vs. Kurt Angle

Debra comes out before Angle so Regal comes out to throw her out. He’s even going to stay at ringside to ensure that no one interferes. If you don’t know what’s coming by this point, you have no business reading this. They start brawling on the floor and with the arena mostly full of smoke. They head into the ring and Kurt avoids a right hand to take over with chops. They’re moving very fast right now.

Austin hits the Thesz Press and the middle finger elbow for one. Now Angle hits a Thesz Press and more punches. That’s been the majority of his offense so far. Austin tries a kick to the ribs but Angle catches it into an ankle lock, but Austin immediately gets the rope. They go to the corner again and Austin wraps Angle’s leg around the post. Out to the floor with Austin going into the table and Angle going into the post in response.

Angle comes back and throws Austin over the table and peels back the mats on the floor. Austin fights back again to avoid being dropped on concrete and fires away with chops. Back into the ring and Kurt comes back as well but Austin rams the knee into the apron to slow your Olympic Hero down. Austin suplexes him down and stomps on Angle’s hands. Why don’t more people do that? Off to the chinlock which is quickly broken by a backslide from Angle for two.

Angle throws on a sleeper but Austin easily breaks that as well with a jawbreaker. Kurt doesn’t stay down long, so Austin’s shoulder is stronger than his head I guess? Now Austin hooks a sleeper but Kurt breaks it just as fast. A cross body and small package get two apiece for the champion. Austin tries a sunset flip of all things but Angle drops down onto him and fires away with punches.

Austin low bridges a charging Kurt to send him out to the floor. He goes for a chair but picks the one right next to Regal for no apparent reason. That gets taken away so Austin has to settle for a clothesline. Austin loads up a piledriver on the exposed concrete but Angle backdrops out of it. Back in the ring Angle gets put in a Boston Crab but makes the ropes relatively quickly.

Austin doesn’t like the decision to break the hold so he shoves Hebner. Angle comes back with clotheslines and chops and punches in the corner. Austin tries a double ax off the middle rope but Angle catches him in a belly to belly. Here are rolling Germans and Austin is in trouble. With the referee trying to get Austin to let go of the ropes he low blows Angle to escape. Angle Slam is countered and there goes the referee. Austin gets the belt but Regal takes it away, only to drill Angle with it. JR is SHOCKED, SHOCKED I TELL YOU! That only gets two for Austin but a Stunner gives him the title back.

Rating: A-. Another great match between these two but Austin came to play here. What’s often forgotten about him is how awesome he was in the ring because of how great he was at talking, but this was more proof that he was excellent in the ring. Regal turning isn’t needed at all as the Alliance already had two people with match making abilities, so this is just more crowding in that area.

Overall Rating: B. Good show because of the awesome main event (with NO COMMERCIALS) and the start of Jericho vs. Rock, but there were some holes in this. Regal becoming Alliance Commissioner was a bad idea because it just wasn’t needed and it made things even more complicated, but it’s not a huge deal. This was a good show, but they needed to make some major changes to save the Alliance, although it was probably too late at this point.

I’ve already done the Raw from October 15 so here it is if you’re interested:

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Impact Wrestling
Date: May 24, 2012
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Tazz

It’s Open Fight Night II and the world title is going to be on the line tonight. There are four candidates and presumably we’ll have a fourway match to determine Roode’s opponent. Other than that, we have (I think) another Gut Check Challenge deal, which hopefully has a better outcome than last time. Let’s get to it.

We open with Hogan in his office with the four possible opponents for Roode. He shows them a copy of the script for tonight and says that according to what it says, he’s supposed to explain the concept of Open Fight Night. This devolves into a debate about what would happen if Roode becomes the longest reigning world champion. Hogan talks about the evolution of the company and how they need to change the way things are done.

They need to explain why they should get the title shot tonight. You know, instead of competing for it in the ring. Ray talks about how he’s the most legit because people fear him because of a possible shoot. Hulk asks Angle if that’s true and Angle says Ray doesn’t intimidate him. AJ says that he’s been around longer than anyone else including Roode.

Angle says that he beat AJ in their last match so he should get the shot (that makes sense). Kurt asks Jeff why he should get the shot. Is it because everyone loves him? Jeff: “Your son does.” Hogan says that Roode has to be stopped because he’s taking over the company. He thinks that AJ, Jeff and Angle can beat him but he knows Ray can beat him, so Ray is out of the running. Ray says Eric was right about Hogan and leaves, taking us to the opening sequence.

Here are Gail and Madison to open the show. Gail talks about how great she is. We look in the back to see mostly men and Angelina watching. ODB is there too but I wasn’t sure what category to put her in. Madison is checking her hair in this. Gail says she’s the most important woman in the company but there’s a blemish on her resume. She doesn’t like the Knockout Tag Titles being on a man and a thing though. So tonight, she and Madison are calling out ODB and Eric for the titles.

Eric Young/ODB vs. Gail Kim/Madison Rayne

This is non-title. Gail and Eric start and trade wristlocks. Eric picks her up and literally drops her before tagging in ODB who chest bumps Gail down. She knocks Madison to the floor and we take a break. Back with Gail working on ODB as Madison looks bored. Madison comes in for some covers and a lot of screaming. ODB spears her down and makes the tag. Time to strip and Eric slams both girls. ODB tells him to put his pants on and it’s back to her. Running powerslam gets two on Gail but the Bam is escaped. ODB loads up a fallaway slam but Madison trips her up and holds her feet for the pin at 9:46.

Rating: D+. You know, it’s AMAZING how much more bearable Young is when he’s not being all zany. Then he took his pants off and it was the same stuff we’ve seen a million times from him. The match wasn’t bad, but is there a reason it wasn’t for the titles? If you’re going to challenge a champion, challenge them for their belts.

Hogan is on the phone and someone says they’re coming.

Here’s RVD who has a small cut under his right eye. He has unfinished business so Gunner, get out here.

Gunner vs. Rob Van Dam

We get an explanation of why this match is happening: Gunner hurt Van Dam in JANUARY. On one hand, points for giving it some closure. On the other hand, did anyone really remember that? Gunner throws in a chair to start things but the referee kicks it into the corner. He takes Van Dam down but when he whips him into the corner, van Dam comes back with a spin kick. Van Dam hits one of the longest Five Stars I’ve EVER seen for the pin at 2:50. This was a step above a squash.

Here’s D-Von who says he’s a fighting champion. Joseph Park is watching in the crowd. D-Von credits Garrett Bischoff for eliminating him last week and offers him a TV Title match tonight.

TV Title: Garrett Bischoff vs. D-Von

D-Von takes him down with a headlock but misses a headbutt to give us a stalemate. And here are the Robs for the DQ at 1:50.

Garrett and D-Von clear the ring. Seriously, with the roster they have is there NO ONE but E and T that can fight D-Von?

Time for another elimination. Hulk talks about Angle having a game face and being Olympic crazy. Jeff has a lot of fans that love him. Angle says that if you want the athlete, pick AJ. If you want the popular one pick Hardy. If you want the best, pick him. That’s a good line. Somehow this results in Jeff’s elimination because his victories have been too close.

We get the same video from Sacrifice which is the news reel kind of deal about Abyss and Joseph Park.

Here’s Ray, who apparently sent a text to Tazz saying that he was livid. He’s tired of hearing about Joseph Park but he hears he’s here tonight. Park is in the crowd eating a box of popcorn. Ray calls him in for a fight but Joseph says that he’s not a fighter. Park says he’s never been in a fight and that he’s intimidated. The fans chant YES. Park talks about how he’s defended people that are guilty and not-guilty. The fans chant guilty and Chris talks about how in Article X of the US Constitution (which doesn’t exist) Ray is entitled to a trial by a jury of his peers. The fans can be the jury and they decide guilty, so Ray takes him out.

Joey Ryan, the Gut Check contestant tonight, talks about growing up a wrestling fan.

Austin Aries vs. Joey Ryan

Ryan looks like Ben Stiller trying to look like a 70s action star. His tights say Hollywood and he slaps Aries before heading to the floor. Aries dives on him and they head back in. I think Ryan is supposed to be a 70s actor or something. Aries takes him down with a spinning forearm but Ryan comes back with a pumphandle suplex for two. Aries hits the running dropkick in the corner followed by the brainbuster for the pin at 4:06.

Rating: C. Not bad but WAY better than Silva. Ryan has charisma but his ring work is only ok. Since apparently wrestling doesn’t matter as much as talking to Hogan anymore though he should be fine. Apparently he’s a bigger deal on the indy circuit so that’s probably why I’ve only heard his name in passing. Not bad but I’d like to see these Gut Check guys WIN. It might actually make me believe they belong.

Moment #6 is Sting beating Hogan at BFG and Hogan Hulking Up to save it.

It’s 10:20 and Roode is coming out for the main event. AJ and Angle come out first to determine who the #1 contender is. Hogan comes out and says it doesn’t matter who he picks because either is a great choice. Hogan picks AJ because he knows Roode better.

TNA World Title: AJ Styles vs. Bobby Roode

It’s 10:25 so this has the potential to be the longest Impact match in…..dang years probably. AJ sets for his drop down/dropkick spot but Roode avoids the kick. AJ sends him in again and this time it knocks Roode to the floor as we take a break. Back with AJ getting knocked to the floor and sent shoulder first into the post. Roode has apparently demanded a celebration if he wins tonight, because he’ll secure the longest reign in title history. I knew they weren’t giving this 35 minutes.

Roode works on the arm for a good while until AJ breaks the hold and sends him to the floor. There’s a HUGE chest extending dive to the floor as AJ is looking at……someone the camera doesn’t bother to show us. Roode uses the distraction to hiptoss Styles onto the steps which gets two in the ring. Hogan is watching in the back and we take another break. Back with Roode hitting a suplex and knee drop for two. Roode stays on the shoulders but AJ fights out of the hold with a right hand.

Styles tries a springboard move but Roode drops him onto the top rope throat first. Roode walks into a shoulder block and the springboard forearm gets two. Missile dropkick gets the same. The Clash is countered but AJ counters the catapult into a moonsault, but gets speared down for two. Crossface goes on but AJ rolls through for two. Bridging Indian Deathlock has Roode in trouble but he makes the rope. AJ tries to speed things up but gets caught in a spinebuster and fisherman’s suplex for two. Pele puts Roode down but AJ looks to the entrance again, making the 450 hit knees. Fisherman’s suplex pins Styles at 21:30.

Rating: B. Good stuff here and for awhile I was thinking there was a chance AJ could win. On a side note, it says a lot that I didn’t remember what Roode’s finisher was until about halfway through the match. I really would have liked to see a match determine who fought Roode but this is a talking company so it doesn’t really matter. This was very good though.

Daniels and Kaz were on the stage, but we didn’t see them until after the match.

Roode says it’s time to celebrate and wants his champagne. He wants another glass though and calls out Hogan. After a break we get confetti and Roode rolls around in it. Hogan comes out and drinks some champagne. He says he was proven wrong and Roode has done some impressive things. Hogan’s surprise guest is Sting, who is back after being gone again. Sting pops up behind Roode and beats him up. Starting next week the show is live and at 8pm. Next week, Roode can’t run away because at 8pm at the start of the show, it’s a lumberjack match with Roode vs. Sting.

Overall Rating: B-. It was certainly better than last month’s Open Fight Night, but the problem again here is nothing has actually happened in the first two shows. Yeah Sting is back, but that could have happened on any episode. Also is that where we’re going again? Sting vs. Roode? The main event was good and the Gut Check guy was ok, but they need to either have the Gut Check guy win once or have someone win a title on these specials, because otherwise they’re going to lose their appeal fast. Good show overall though.

Results
Gail Kim/Madison Rayne b. ODB/Eric Young – Kim pinned ODB while Rayne held her feet
Rob Van Dam b. Gunner – Five Star Frog Splash
D-Von vs. Garrett Bischoff went to a no contest when Robbie E and Robbie T interfered
Austin Aries b. Joey Ryan – Brainbuster
Bobby Roode b. AJ Styles – Fisherman’s Suplex

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Impact Wrestling
Date: May 17, 2012
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Tazz

It’s the first show after Sacrifice and Roode is still champion, which isn’t something that should surprise you. Other than that, not a lot changed at the PPV. The only real change is that we have new tag team champions in the form of Daniels and Kazarian. We should begin building up for Slammiversary too. Let’s get to it.

Here’s Roode to open the show. Gee I wonder what he’s going to be saying. It’s the same promo you’ve always heard from him with him talking about how he’s the best and no one can stop him. Next week he’s going to have The It Factor’s Celebration Of Domination, which is a party of some kind. First of all though, he needs Hogan out here. Cue the guy who is somehow still the NEW GM, about six weeks after getting the job.

Roode has demands for Hogan for next week. He wants a redecorated dressing room and five bottles of chilled champagne plus only green M and M’s. Also he wants gold confetti flown in from Canada. Hogan takes the list and talks about some great champions. He talks about how Roode brought stability to the show, but he hasn’t broken the record yet. Next week is Open Fight Night, and the world title will be on the line.

Hogan talks about taking a poll in the back of people that might want a shot next week. The locker room empties out and apparently they all want a shot next week. Hogan says we need to get this down to four men, so tonight there will be four singles matches. The winners will advance to some kind of competition next week and the winner will get a title match later next week. The matches are Ray vs. RVD, Hardy vs. Anderson (nice job on screwing the PPV fans again guys), Angle vs. Joe, and a battle royal.

We get a clip of Abyss saying Joseph is getting too close to the fire.

Rob Van Dam vs. Bully Ray

Rob is very banged up from the ladder match and Ray goes after the bad arm. Van Dam kicks his way out of it as usual and Rolling Thunder gets two. Ray goes after the knee but Rob kicks away again. He goes up top and tries the top rope kick, but hurts his knee in the process. Bubba Cutter (called a 3D by Tenay) gets the pin at 3:22.

Rating: C-. This was a short match and it felt even shorter. That being said it wasn’t really that bad as the leg injury from the PPV played in here, which is a good thing. Ray moving on is a good thing as I find him more interesting than Rob, who is more or less just there because of his past work. Ray using the Cutter is a good thing.

Post break Bully Ray rants about……the Kardashians? Apparently they’re about anti-bullying now and he wants to fight them. Joseph Park comes in and apologizes for interfering on Sunday. He thinks Ray is the fire that Abyss was talking about. Ray says stay away.

We see a segment from MMA Uncensored of King Mo, an MMA fighter, announcing that he’s signing with TNA and fighting for Bellator at the same time. There’s some MMA analyst and Dixie Carter there too. Not much is said.

Gail rants to Madison about having to be in a triple threat match tonight. Madison says there’s no guy she likes, even though she admitted to there being one recently. Brooke and Velvet come up after Madison leaves to fix her hair. They make fun of Gail for cheating and say one of them will win the title.

Battle Royal

This is a qualifying match as well. Aries gets an entrance pre-break. After a break AJ, ODB and Eric Young get entrances as well. Also in there are guys like Magnus, D-Von, Crimson, Garrett Bischoff and others. ODB and Eric hit a double clothesline on Crimson and all three go out. The Rob’s and Gunner are in there too. I think that’s everyone. There are eight more I think. Magnus goes to the apron and Aries dropkicks him out. Madison is watching from the apron and is all smiley but we’re not sure at whom.

After a few minutes of nothing going on, Robbie E puts out Robbie T. T is annoyed but D-Von puts out E anyway. So it’s Gunner, Garrett, D-Von, AJ and Aries as we take a break. Back with all five still in. AJ and Aries work together on Gunner and D-Von kills Garrett with a shoulder. Garrett low bridges D-Von to eliminate him, probably getting a title match later.

AJ Peles the tar out of Garrett and eliminates him. Gunner gets dropkicked down (not eliminated) and it’s AJ vs. Aries in a showdown. Aries hits a spinning forearm and it’s time for counters. A Superman forearm staggers Aries and AJ goes to the apron, but Aries charges. That lets Gunner knock Aries to the floor but AJ dumps Gunner to advance at 10:56.

Rating: C+. Fun stuff here and AJ is the perfect placeholder or even a potential winner for next week’s fourway. The Garrett push is likely to continue with a TV Title shot next week. The stuff at the end was good too as they treated AJ vs. Aries as a big deal, which to be fair it kind of is. Aries still needs to drop the title soon though.

We recap the AJ/Dixie photos stuff from the last few weeks.

Back with AJ in the ring. He says he’ll win the title next week but now it’s time to discuss the pictures. Nothing happened and they’re just business partners. They’re both married but it’s not like that. Things aren’t as they seem, but here are Daniels and Kaz. They imply that AJ has slept his way to the top and have video to prove it. They pull out an iPad and show AJ and Dixie going into a hotel room together.

We get a video from Genesis 2006 and Joe’s first loss, which was to Angle.

Joe comes up to Angle and they talk about the past. Angle slaps Joe and it’s on in the back with Angle getting a beating. Other wrestlers break it up.

Anderson looks at a video and thinks Jeff kicked out.

Moment #7 in TNA history is the Unbreakable triple threat.

Mr. Anderson vs. Jeff Hardy

Slow feeling out process to start until Jeff sends him to the floor. Jeff tries a dive of some kind but Anderson grabs the feet and slams him into the mat. Jeff comes back with a slingshot clothesline for two. Anderson hits his neckbreaker for the same. Anderson tries a kick to the head but Jeff chop blocks him to slow things down. A rollup by Jeff is countered into one by Anderson for two. Whisper in the Wind gets two. Anderson hits the Regal Roll but Jeff rolls back on him for the pin at 6:04.

Rating: C-. Not a terrible match here but these two just aren’t interesting at all together. Anderson is possibly moving towards a heel turn but it’s still nothing that’s going to make me care about him. This was better than their PPV match, but the chemistry was still severely lacking.

Video on Joe winning the world title from Angle at Lockdown 08.

Knockouts Title: Gail Kim vs. Brooke Tessmacher vs. Velvet Sky

Gail keeps trying to escape but gets double teamed and sent to the floor. The good girls trade small packages and that’s about it. Gail comes back in for a Boston Crab on Brooke but Velvet hooks a dragon sleeper at the same time on Gail. Gail tries an Octopus hold on Brooke but Velvet rolls her up for two. Kim doesn’t let go and rolls Brooke up for two. A top rope missile dropkick by the champ puts all three girls down. In Yo Face to Brooke but Gail throws Velvet to the floor and pins Brooke with a rollup at 4:42.

Rating: C. They tried some new stuff here and for the most part it worked, but at the end of the day it’s still the same girls that are only ok in the ring and Gail is still boring as champion. This was entertaining enough though and that’s the whole point. And they’re still better than the Divas.

Slammiversary video.

Kurt Angle vs. Samoa Joe

Joe knocks him to the floor but Angle double legs him down easily. Joe speeds things up and hits his usual strikes and drops his knee for two. The Facewash keeps Angle down in the corner as Roode comes out to do commentary. We take a break and come back with Angle in control. He knocks Joe down for two and hooks a chinlock.

Joe comes back with the powerslam but walks into the Germans to give Kurt control again. The Slam is countered into the Clutch which is countered into the ankle lock which is countered by Joe sending Angle into the corner. Angle hits the Slam for two, which really shouldn’t surprise anyone at this point. There’s the ankle lock again but Joe sends him into the corner. They go to the corner and Angle headbutts him away. A sunset flip into a rollup off the top gets the pin for Angle at 12:26.

Rating: B-. Good match but not quite as good as most of their matches. By not quite, I mean not even close. Joe is a guy you can throw into a place like this and it’s good to see him getting wins and being in big spots again, but he’s still nothing compared to what he used to be. Still though, this was built up as a big match and it mostly delivered.

The four challengers surround Roode to end the show.

Overall Rating: B-. Pretty good show here tonight but they’re using the single angle idea again here, which isn’t something I’m usually a fan of. In other words, this was almost all about next week and if that’s not your thing, too bad because this wasn’t a show for you. Still though the wrestling here worked and that’s all that matters for the most part. We have a big match set for next week’s Open Fight Night, which hopefully is better than the first. Good show.

Results
Bully Ray b. Rob Van Dam – Bully Cutter
AJ Styles won a battle royal last eliminating Gunner
Jeff Hardy b. Mr. Anderson – Crucifix
Gail Kim b. Brooke Tessmacher and Velvet Sky – Rollup to Tessmacher
Kurt Angle b. Samoa Joe – Rollup

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ECW on Sci-Fi
Date: August 8, 2006
Location: Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, Tennessee
Commentators: Joey Styles, Tazz

This is I think the ninth episode and thankfully for the sake of WWE, the show is out of ECW country this week. The main event is Angle vs. Sabu in a match that has some historical significance which we’ll get to at the end of this. Other than that there isn’t much to talk about but Summerslam is coming up so you know there’s going to be talk about the non-ECW matches from that show right? Let’s get to it.

After a clip from last week with the opening tag, we’re ready to go.

Mike Knox vs. Tommy Dreamer

Knox jumps Dreamer as he’s getting in and we’re going fast. He tries a backdrop but Dreamer hits a bad neckbreaker to take over. Dreamer hits a Cactus Clothesline to put both guys outside. Knox goes into the steps and let’s head back inside. Middle rope elbow gets two for Dreamer and here’s Heyman. Dreamer hits the DDT but the security guards come in and take out Tommy. Knox hits a DDT for the quick pin.

Heyman and the guards set for a double beatdown but Sandman comes in for the save and we take a break.

Back with Heyman telling Sandman that Heyman gets what’s wrong. It’s about Dreamer getting attacked right? Dreamer was going to get another match with someone (presumably the tag match from last week) but instead Sandman gets to go it alone. Oh and it’s regular rules so no cane.

Test/Mike Knox vs. Sandman

I mean, what would we do without a Test appearance right? As Dreamer is on his way to the back, Test kicks his head off in a nice heelish move. Sandman tries to use the cane anyway but misses Knox. Test beats him down and the double teaming begins. The heels beat on him for awhile until Test missses a charge in the corner. Sandman dropkicks Knox and then grabs the cane for the quick DQ. This was less than nothing.

Sandman canes them both and leaves.

Video on Sabu.

We see Sabu attacking Big Show the last two weeks, which is why Sabu is in a #1 contenders match with Angle tonight.

Sabu says he’ll win. Insert rage about Sabu talking here.

Balls Mahoney loves ECW and has cuts in his head.

There’s a full moon, which of course leads to….

Kevin Thorn vs. Al Snow

DANG those things on Ariel are big. She hangs upside down on the ropes during the entrance. Thankfully Joey is there to pound it into our heads that they follow Vampirism. Snow jumps him to start and gets a very quick one. Thorn catches him and hits a very bad gutbuster as he works on the ribs. Snow fights back a bit but gets caught by the elevated Stunner. Razor’s Edge ends this squash.

Video on Angle.

Angle says that Sabu will lose tonight, because it’s suicide to come into the ring with him.

Rene Dupree is coming. Oh geez.

Here’s Big Show for a chat. Show knows that he’s the best ECW Champion ever. He doesn’t represent the blood and guts that usually are associated with the title. Instead he’s bringing some class to the belt. Angle will be crushed like crackers in soup and Sabu would be suicidal if he comes after the title. No one can beat him apparently.

We get a clip from last week with Punk debuting.

Punk says he was welcomed into the ECW family and he thanks the fans for that reception. All the years of training have paid off but now it’s about the future. He’ll be in the ring again next week.

Kurt Angle vs. Sabu

Main event and #1 contender match. Sabu charges straight at him which gets him nowhere at all. Angle takes Sabu down and slaps him around a little bit. He goes after the leg but Sabu gets a rope. The idea here is that Sabu has to be careful while Angle is looking for an opening. Sabu avoids a charge and Angle’s shoulder goes into the post. Sabu sends him to the floor and we take a break. Back with Sabu in a rear chinlock. The winner gets the title match at Summerslam.

Sabu fights up and hits a springboard tornado DDT for two. Angle is in a little trouble but he snaps off an overhead belly to belly to take over. Off to the grapevined chinlock which doesn’t last long. Sabu hits a springboard leg lariat and a slingshot legdrop for two. Let lariat gets the same. The American hits rolling Germans on the Arabian and loudly calls the flip over spot on the last one.

There go the straps but Sabu counteres the Slam. Sabu hits some springboard attacks for two. Camel clutch goes on but Angle reverses into the ankle lock. Sabu rolls through and the counter sends Angle out to the floor. A flip dive almost totally misses and both guys are down on the floor. Angle AGAIN can be heard talking to Sabu. This is getting ridiculous. Back in a spinning splash off the top gets two for Sabu. Angle counters an arm hold into the ankle lock but here’s RVD for the DQ.

Rating: B-. I was getting into this as Sabu having to go crazy to hold off Angle was a nice idea. The key to Sabu is to have someone in there with him that can keep him sane and the match works WAY better. This was way better than I was expecting and it’s always nice to have a match exceed yoru expectations, especially when you’re expecting a mess with Sabu.

Rob attacks both guys and stands tall to end the show.

Overall Rating: C-. I liked last week’s show better but this certainly wasn’t bad. Rob returning is a good thing because the historical significance I was talking about earlier is that Angle would never have another WWE match on TV. After this he would be gone within a week and would be in TNA in less than two months. Rob needed to come back and they would soon start changing the way ECW looked. Decent show but nothing great.

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