Impact Wrestling
Date: June 9, 2011
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Tazz

It’s the go home show for Slammiversary and we have most of the card set up already. With Foley now fired and apparently legit gone from the company, it appears that Immortal is back in control again. Also we’re likely to get the final push to Sting vs. Anderson which will see Sting/Young vs. Anderson/Gunner. Anyway, let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of last week of Foley being fired and Immortal having full power again. Hogan is looking extra orange here.

Hogan and Bischoff open the show. Hulk says that the Network finally woke up and got rid of the selfish Foley. Eric says that Foley did have a few good ideas such as the name of the show and that wrestling matters. Eric assures us that the X Division is going to be presented in a fair and balanced manner. First up though he wants the contenders in the world title match to come down here right now.

Here are Anderson and Sting. Hogan talks about how awesome this company is now. They’re not going to go through this with the Network again. Hogan gave his word apparently and he meant it. At Slammiversary there will be a winner and a loser with no gimmicks or agendas. Also there will be no run-ins. If either guy has a problem with that speak now.

Anderson raises his hand and says that he’s been making fun of Sting for weeks because everything Sting stands for is a joke. Anderson is in this for Anderson and on Sunday, he’s getting the title back. Sting says he’s got a lot he’s going to do about that. There are a lot of things he wants to do around here and he’s going to do them because he’s champion. One of two things has to happen: Hogan and Bischoff have to leave or the real Hogan has to come back. He gets in Eric’s face and calls him an infection, blaming him for Hogan being the way he is. Hogan needs to cut away the cancer, and he’s certainly capable of it.

Knockouts are up next.

Mickie James/Tara vs. Winter/Angelina Love

Can we just get to the lesbian stuff already? Tara has the motorcycle back. Tara and Winter start us off. Angelina doesn’t seem interested in tagging in so Mickie and Tara work on the arm. I guess Mickie is all cool about the whole Tara running her over a few months back thing. Off to Angelina who wants Mickie. Tara instead hits a spinning side slam and it’s off to Mickie. They hit a wheelbarrow splash for one as Angelina does her zombie thing again.

With Tara accidentally distracting the referee, Winter is able to get a powerbomb in the corner on Mickie for two. The zombie chicks take over on Mickie now as she plays Ricky Morton for a bit. Mickie hammers back and that gets her nowhere. Blind tag brings in Angelina but Mickie hits a dropkick to take her down. Everything breaks down and Madison comes down to distract Tara, allowing Angelina to hit her backbreaker on Mickie for the pin at 4:45.

Rating: C. Not bad here but really just a standard tag match. It sets up the Mickie vs. Angelina match on Sunday which is fine. Nothing too bad but Madison might have been a bit too much out there. Angelina’s chest looked great though so that balances out the questionable ending.

Beer Money and Shelley are ready for their match tonight and on Sunday.

Mexican America says they’re tired of getting less every time.

We get a video of Samoa Joe and Crimson fighting in a bar which is filmed via phone apparently. Joe beats the tar out of him.

Jeff Jarrett gets here and doesn’t want to talk about Karen so he walks off.

The Brits are on commentary here. Well at least Magnus is as Williams stands behind the desk.

Mexican America vs. Alex Shelley/James Storm

Anarquia and Shelley start us off. The champions I guess do some of the Guns’ offense which Storm modifies for his own style. I like that as it plays up the best of both world dynamics. Shelley gets caught coming off the top and Hernandez hits his slingshot shoulder to take Shelley down. We keep cutting to Magnus talking so it’s hard to see everything that’s going on.

Shelley tries to fight back but gets caught by the power of Hernandez. Slam sets up a missed splash off the top by Supermex and there’s the tag to Storm and one to Anarquia also. Everything breaks down and Hernandez is knocked to the floor. Storm has Anarquia covered but the girls distract the referee. Sarita gets beer to the face and Shelley kicks Storm in the face, allowing Anarquia to get the pin on Storm at 4:30.

Rating: C. Pretty decent tag match here as we can see the problems that the guys unfamiliar with being partners. I liked how Shelley and Storm worked together out there but I’m not sure I get the point in having them lose. Have miscommunication and let them win still to make it look like they’re having issues but can still win on Sunday. Either way not bad here.

Gunner comes in to see Anderson and Anderson asks for help against Sting, implying he’ll repay the favor later. They’re cool apparently.

Mexican America comes in to see Hogan and wants a title shot. Hogan gets all ticked off and says quit telling me what to do or he’ll turn into the Terminator and play a game of Hulkster Says with the ladies. Mexican America is going to do something when Hogan least expects it. Ok then.

Preview of Angle/Jarrett with the main focus being on Angle. He says he’s not worried about this Sunday and says that he can beat Jarrett this time because there will be no Karen to distract him.

We open the second hour with more talking of course, this time in the form of Jarrett and Angle. Jeff says Kurt is going to listen tonight rather than it being them going back and forth. Karen is gone apparently and won’t be at the PPV. Jeff has had to think about that for seven days now and the first thing he did was panic. He panicked over what Kurt will do to him when it’s one on one. Jeff reminds everyone that he brought Kurt in and Kurt is the best in history.

However, Kurt never thanked Jeff for bringing him in. Kurt wasn’t happy about being the best in the company and the real star. It was always about making people forget about Jeff. Then Jarrett wanted to take everything dear to Kurt, so he took his wife and kids. Now he wants to take away Kurt’s place on top and he won’t sleep until he owns it.

Kurt finally gets to talk and thanks Jeff for taking Karen out of his life for good. All he’s ever wanted was Jeff one on one but Jeff had to keep bringing Karen into it. Kurt isn’t wasting any more words on him because on Sunday, his wrestling will do the talking. Then Jeff will see how real this really is.

ODB doesn’t like how Velvet presents herself and ODB will how Velvet what wrestling is tonight.

Kaz and Kendrick have Janice and are looking for Abyss. Kendrick says Abyss is his type of guy. They say they’re going to go find him.

Bully Ray is here for an open challenge. On Sunday he’ll be the last man standing because he’s a man. I wonder if he’s 40. The challenge is for everyone other than D-Von. Here’s a surprising person to take it.

Rob Van Dam vs. Bully Ray

RVD does his poses and gets powerbombed out of the corner for two. All Ray so far as he uses his basic brawling stuff. RVD finally gets in a kick to send Ray into the corner. Monkey flip doesn’t work and Ray hammers away again. AJ is chilling in the stands watching this. Ray hasn’t seen him yet but he does now. The distraction lets RVD recover long enough to counter the Piledriver. Springboard kick sets up the Five Star and we’re done at 3:30.

Rating: C. This is barely gradeable as the majority was Ray hammering on RVD and then the AJ distraction. RVD had a total of about four moves in this. Remember a few weeks ago when he and Angle had one of the “biggest matches in Impact history”? And now he has a three and a half minute match with Bully Ray that he needs AJ to help him get through. Things change so fast in wrestling it’s unreal.

We get a clip from English TV of Angle trying to get back on the Olympic team.

Kendrick and Kaz are still looking for Abyss and they actually find him reading The Art of War again. Abyss talks about how he doesn’t need Janice anymore and calls the X Title the Extreme Title. There can be a three way at the PPV. Kendrick gets into a big philosophical rant and Kaz just leaves.

We run down the card for Slammiversary.

ODB vs. Velvet Sky

ODB isn’t under contract apparently so she comes out next to the broadcast table. Sky jumps her before the bell and the brawl begins. Velvet is sent into the steps and hurts her knee as we finally head into the ring and start the actual match. ODB covers immediately but only gets two. This is a sloppy brawl and barely even a match at all.

Velvet can’t get going due to the knee injury but has a chance to breathe due to ODB yelling at the referee. She argues even more and Velvet can’t do anything. The announcers make stupid jokes and we get more arguing with the referee. Velvet finally wakes up and stomps away in the corner. Out to the floor again and Velvet gets her back rammed into the post. Fall away slam sets up more yelling and Velvet grabs a DDT for the surprise pin at 5:12.

Rating: D. Didn’t like this at all as it was about five minutes of stomping, choking and yelling. I guess that’s the end of this feud and if so that’s not saying very much. Pretty weak match here and the only real perk was Velvet looking good. Any match where I have to watch ODB slap her vagina is a bad one.

Eric Young is all stupid again and talks about unifying the titles and Who’s The Boss before Sting yells at him again. He wants him to drop the comedy for one night and let the competitor come out.

We get a clip from Xplosion where D-Von and Pope have been having issues. Pope came out to save D-Von from Mexican America. D-Von doesn’t like Pope being around his kids and wife.

And now let’s have our main event.

Gunner/Mr. Anderson vs. Sting/Eric Young

Big match intros kill some time. The slow bell for this makes me chuckle for some reason. Sting vs. Anderson to start but we get the traditional fast tag from Anderson to bring in Gunner. Sting gets the splash in the corner very quickly and adds a second one, both of them to the back. Apparently the second was because a spot was messed up as after the first Sting intentionally turned his back to Anderson. He did it again the second time in the same spot and Anderson drilled him.

Anderson works over Sting in the corner now and it’s off to Gunner again. He works on the ribs with an abdominal stretch and here’s Anderson again. Sting gets a clothesline and it’s off to Eric who cleans a few rooms, adding a big top rope elbow to Gunner. He fakes blowing mist at Anderson but celebrates too much and is rammed into Sting. That counts as a tag somehow and Gunner hits the F5 on Sting for the pin at 6:00. Oh and Young celebrates on the floor.

Rating: D+. What in the world was that? Who in the world thought it was a good idea for Gunner of all people to get a pin on Sting to end the show? I don’t get this at all and the main event is the longest match of the show at 6:00. Not a fan of that at all and I don’t get what they’re going for here in the slightest.

Back and Young doesn’t get that they lost. Sting is mad.

AJ says the plan is coming together. Ray pops up and says he didn’t back away. Agents break it up.

Sting gets something out of his bag and Anderson talks about how he didn’t break a sweat. Sting comes up and Anderson runs. They go into a trailer and Sting beats him down then puts paint all over Anderson’s face. This is Sting snapping I guess. He chokes Anderson out to end the show.

Overall Rating: C-. Not a bad show tonight but it was rather paint by numbers. Nothing really happened here but it was a go home show for the PPV and they covered the big matches for it pretty well. That being said it was another match where everything kind of dragged which is never a good thing. Definitely not a bad show but really just kind of there at the end of the day. That main event brought it down though.

Results

Angelina Love/Winter b. Mickie James/Tara – Backbreaker to James

Mexican America b. Alex Shelley/James Storm – Anarquia pinned Storm after a superkick from Shelley

Rob Van Dam b. Bully Ray – Five Star Frog Splash

Velvet Sky b. ODB – DDT

Gunner/Mr. Anderson b. Sting/Eric Young – F5 to Sting

Here’s Slammiversary if you’re interested:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2011/06/12/slammiversary-2011-some-very-questionable-stuff-but-tnas-best-ppv-of-the-year/

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book on the History of Starrcade from Amazon for just $4 at:

I saw someone mention this and it makes a lot of sense.It’s clear that TNA is doing the Sting from 1997 storyline with AJ.  That would be fine but the motivation doesn’t work.  Sting had been WCW’s flagship for years and then they decided they didn’t trust him when the NWO lied about him.  AJ is like this because he lost a match to Christopher Daniels.  Yeah there was all the stuff before that with Claire, but once AJ was exonerated of that he was fine.

In other words, AJ is just whining and we’re supposed to be all upset because he can’t get over a loss to a guy he’s fought (and lost to before) like a thousand times?  That’s kind of hard to buy into.

Impact
Date: February 17, 2011
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Tazz
Episode Title: The Boy Is Back In Town

It’s the first show after Against All Odds and we have a new TNA World Heavyweight Champion in the form of Jeff Hardy who still isn’t clear of jail time after his drug charges. Other than him though it was a very bad night for Immortal as only Jeff Hardy and Jeff Jarrett won on Sunday. It should be interesting to see where we go from here. Let’s get to it.

We open with clips from after Against All Odds with Jarrett saying Kurt will deliver his princess to him on March 3^rd. Jeff Hardy says he made ladder matches famous and still is at 33 years old. RVD vs. Jeff Hardy for the world title tonight. I’m not saying a word.

Here’s Immortal to open the show. Eric brings out Jeff Hardy for the celebration. He talks about how Immortal is still dominant despite Fourtune leaving. As he’s talking we see Flair arriving. Matt Hardy vs. Styles tonight. Eric talks about how Jeff Hardy was supposed to get some time off but he got a call from the network who wants ratings. Therefore tonight Jeff Hardy has to defend the title against RVD tonight. Bischoff is going to try to avoid it but right now that’s the plan.

Eric now shifts over to Flair who he’s not sure about. It gives Eric a weird feeling that he doesn’t like so Flair has until next week. Cue Flair’s music and here he is. He says that only one person gave him an ultimatum. That person was his 3^rd ex wife. Everyone in this ring grew up on Ric Flair and he even got together with Hogan after 25 years.

Did you forget he’s a wrestling god? When he was in Europe people didn’t call him Ric. They just called him God. Cue a God chant of course. Flair says that he’ll see them later and we really get no resolution here. Flair definitely came off like a face here.

The Jarretts are getting massages and talk about the wedding vows on March 3^rd. They talk about tuxedos and imply sex later. That’s the only way to put it really.

We’re back and Matt Hardy and AJ Styles are in a fight in the back. Immortal runs in as does Fourtune and it’s a big brawl.

We get some clips of Kurt from Sunday looking very sad after losing. Now we talk about the ladder match. Hey, did you know both Jeffs won on Sunday? I didn’t know if the three clip packages and talking about it in 20 minutes made that clear enough.

Sarita/Rosita run into Hernandez in the back and he walks to the ring with them after some Spanish chatting.

Douglas Williams vs. Hernandez

Hernandez jumps him in the aisle and beats the living heck out of him while the girls cheer him on. Hernandez throws him in the ring and chokes him with what looks like a shirt. Velvet runs down and beats up Sarita a bit but Rosita takes care of her. Angelina comes out to even things up and they brawl. Wasn’t there a match going on? Back in the ring an absolutely SICK Border Toss ends this. Williams landed right on the back of his head and if he didn’t seriously hurt his neck I’ll be surprised. Match ran 2:00 even and a large amount of that was the fight between the girls.

Eric is on the phone with someone from the network and is trying to get Jeff Hardy out of the title defense tonight. This goes over about as well as Eugene in a feature match at Summerslam did and we take a break.

Back with Pope in the ring with a stuffed pig on a table. It looks like a party of some kind. He says that he’s a hot Pope and the pig is a sloppy Joe. Pope wants to talk about Jesus and just like he fed thousands with fish and bread, he’s going to feed everyone here with that pig. Ronald Regan and Michael Jackson believe in him apparently, as does Jesus who texted him and believes in Pope too. That last bit was funny.

Pope wants to know who is first but it’ll cost $10 a pop. Cue Joe’s music and he’s mad. Okato is behind Pope and when pope tries to run Okato kicks him in the chest. Joe drills Pope in the corner and it’s a Muscle Buster through the pig. Pope gets the apple shoved in his mouth.

Back and Robbie E and Cookie say they’re going to win the title again. In the back Kazarian is kissing Traci Brooks (real life wife) and it’s time for a match.

X-Division Title: Kazarian vs. Robbie E

Not sure if this is a title match or not. Before the match Kaz runs down Cookie and says she’s ugly with the makeup. She gets ticked off and leaves. Yes this is a title match apparently. Robbie is all aggressive to start and Kaz is in trouble. Beautiful People vs. Sarita/Rosita tonight. Kaz gets a springboard elbow and a leg lariat to take over. And then Cookie comes out with a big purse to hit Kaz in the head with for the DQ at 1:57. No rating of course but Robbie showed some nice aggression here. Traci bounces down and it’s a mini cat fight.

Flair goes in to talk to Fourtune and seems to be accepted by them. He has presents for them and of course they get Iced. AJ can wait until after his big match though. They chant chug and down the drinks. Storm drinks AJ’s just because he can.

AJ vs. Matt Hardy next.

Matt Hardy vs. AJ Styles

See? I told you it was next. AJ sprints to the ring in the athletic pants of doom and goes off on Matt. He busts out a huge tope con hilo to half kill Matt. Ah good he got rid of the warm-up pants and has regular tights under them. Back in the ring and Matt gets a Side Effect for two. Matt grabs a Cravate and here’s Flair to play cheerleader.

AJ gets up and seems to rub Matt’s face to take him to the mat. Styles Clash is blocked and they speed it up a bit with Matt tripping over AJ. Nice dropkick puts Matt down and AJ goes up. And then Flair shoves him off the top, naturally joining Immortal again as it was about as obvious as you could get. Twist of Hate ends it at 3:25.

Rating: C. Match was just long enough to grade but was nothing special at all. As soon as Flair was there the swerve was completely obvious. Somehow this is by far the best match of the night and it barely ran 200 seconds. That might be good though as Matt isn’t someone that can go long distance for the most part.

Flair and Matt beat down AJ until Fourtune runs them off.

Anderson is ticked and wants Bischoff.

The Jarretts are in a hot tub. Can’t complain much with Karen in there.

Anderson wants Bischoff and here comes the silver fox. He’s ticked that RVD is getting the title shot tonight. Despite losing clean on Sunday, Anderson thinks he’s been robbed. The network decided that RVD got the shot tonight. Anderson wants to know since when did the network have anything to do with anything around here. Put him in the ring and that’s ratings. Bischoff says that Anderson needs to PG himself down a bit.

Anderson says he’ll take the word out of his vocabulary and Bischoff talks more. Eric will put him in the main event as the guest referee. Jeff won clean on Sunday and Eric says that Anderson can get a shot if he plays it fair tonight. Mic Check leaves Bischoff laying. Anderson is supposed to be TNA’s Austin and it’s just not there. Points for trying though I guess.

Velvet is talking to Winter and Velvet wants Winter to stay out of ringside tonight. Velvet turns her back and Winter picks up some scissors until Angelina comes in. Winter says Velvet could never feel for Angelina like Winter does. Velvet leaves and Winter says all will be revealed.

AJ is ticked about Flair and says this is about AJ vs. Flair.

Angelina Love/Velvet Sky vs. Rosita/Sarita

The brawl starts in the aisle as you would expect. Velvet vs. Sarita starts us off officially. Off to Rosita as the fans are rather quiet. Tandem elbow drop from the Beautiful People gets no cover as Sarita breaks it up. World’s Strongest Slam from Angelina to Rosita and it’s off to Sarita again. Backbreaker gets two for Angelina and Velvet comes in again.

The cousins are tagging in a lot. Rosita doesn’t seem to want to stay in and keeps bringing Sarita in, which ticks her off. Everything breaks down with Angelina and Rosita on the floor. Velvet tries a DDT but Rosita trips her up and holds the feet down for the pin at 3:52. Can we please break 4 minutes? Please?

Rating: D. Weak match here with a predictable ending. There was no way the Beautiful People were going to be able to win here and everyone knew it. This went nowhere for the most part and was just to continue the losing streak by Velvet. Somehow this is the longest match of the night. That’s a little absurd.

Velvet says she wants to end this with Sarita. Sarita says Velvet is a loser then remembers she’s supposed to have an accent. Sarita wants Velvet’s career on the line and Velvet says bring it on.

The Jarretts are going to dinner. More sex is implied.

Kurt is mad and is going to their dinner party.

Madison is talking to Tara and says she’s knocked out the entire locker room so she’s bored. There’s an open challenge next week.

Next week there’s a pose down between Terry and Steiner.

We recap RVD’s world title win and him having to vacate the title due to the attack by Abyss. Also we see about Hardy betraying him and being responsible for the attack on RVD. Hardy says he’s going to hurt Van Dam.

The Jarretts are complaining about the food and toast Kurt having to be humiliated on March 3^rd. Karen complains about the wine and Jarrett goes off on the chef. And here’s Kurt who just somehow got in the restaurant. He wants to know where the tip is. This was uh….odd.

RVD says tonight he gets his shot and preparation meets opportunity. The title is just a bonus.

Since we need to make sure no match gets anything resembling a decent amount of time tonight we talk about the Dudley street fight at the PPV but Spike won’t let them show the footage. D-Von won’t give comments but Ray comes out to the table. Ray goes all bully on them and Tazz has something to say about it. Ray says that if he wants to smack Tenay (this old man) then he will. Tazz says no you won’t because you crossed the line Sunday. Isn’t that the point of the company. Ray slaps Tenay’s headset off and leaves.

TNA World Title: Rob Van Dam vs. Jeff Hardy

Anderson is the guest referee. He does his usual intro but calls Green Bay Title Tow USA to mess the fans up a bit. Taz says that Jeff’s entrance is inspired by Lady Gaga. Oh dear he’s coming out of an egg. I give up. RVD, the guy that is so angry, starts with a collar and elbow tie up. He gets the one footed dropkick to Hardy who is crotched on the top. Flair vs. AJ is announced for next week.

All RVD to start. To the floor and RVD drapes him over the barricade so he can hit the spinning leg kick to the back as we take a break. Back with Van Dam hitting something on Hardy that we couldn’t see since when we came back the camera was on the monitor above the ring and then cut away. Either way it gets two for the challenger. Split Legged Moonsault out of the corner eats knees though.

Hardy gets a low dropkick to send RVD’s ribs into the post. Sitout Gordbuster gets two for Jeff. Whisper in the Wind misses and Van Dam gets a standing moonsault for no cover. Van Dam gets shoved to the floor and Jeff takes over again. Swanton gets two. Five Star gets two as Jeff gets his foot on the ropes. Van Dam tries to get a rollup but accidentally runs Jeff into the corner where Anderson is standing. A low blow by Hardy when Anderson can’t see it sets up the Twist of Hate to end it at 12:20.

Rating: C+. The match was fine and thankfully it got some time unlike the rest of the matches tonight, but this should have been at Victory Road instead of on Impact. Anderson added very little here but I guess it’s supposed to set up the continuance of their feud and make him look more like Austin. Either way, not bad here but nothing I’ll remember in a few days.

Anderson hits the Mic Check on Hardy post match and Van Dam complains about the low blow. Here’s a Mic Check for Van Dam as well to end the show.

Overall Rating: D. Yeah this was pretty bad. The main problem here is simple: until the main event which started at 10:47, we had (rounded up to) 11:30 of wrestling. I’m sorry but that’s unacceptable for me in nearly two hours of wrestling. They gave us a decent main event which should have been a PPV main event but instead we got it with about two hours of buildup. If nothing else make THIS the main event March 3^rd but that’s Hogan and the Jarretts’ night I guess.

Overall the show was too light on wrestling and all of the talking they did amounted to nothing. Flair returned and was with Fourtune for about an hour before joining Immortal again. That and the Jarretts were the main focus of the show tonight. All in all it’s a big preview for March 3^rd which seems to be the new norm for TNA: have supershows instead of the PPVs as the main thing. That’s fine, but it makes the TV shows pretty boring on the way there. Bad show this week after TNA had been on a hot streak lately.

Results

Hernandez b. Douglas Williams – Border Toss

Kazarian b. Robbie E via DQ when Cookie hit Kazarian with a purse

Matt Hardy b. AJ Styles – Twist of Hate

Rosita/Sarita b. Angelina Love/Velvet Sky – Rosita pinned Velvet when Sarita held Rosita’s legs

Jeff Hardy b. Rob Van Dam – Twist of Hate

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews\

Impact Wrestling
Date: February 14, 2013
Location: Wembly Arena, London, England
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Tazz, Todd Keneley

We’re in London for the next two weeks and we’re getting really close to Lockdown, which apparently won’t be all cage matches. We do however need a main event so odds are things are going to be announced tonight. The crowds have been hot lately so hopefully they’ll be able to keep that streak going tonight. Let’s get to it.

After the LONG recap, here’s Hogan to open the show. He announces a tournament of four matches tonight for the title shot against Hardy. The matches are Storm vs. RVD, Joe vs. Angle, Magnus vs. Daniels and Aries vs. Roode. Instead of brackets though, it’s whoever the fans like best getting the shot. This brings him to Aces and 8’s, who apparently want a war. Gee they’ve been terrorizing the place for 7 months so now you’ve finally figured that out Hulk? Anyway Sting is apparently the captain and he says that he’ll be looking for teammates tonight.

Christopher Daniels vs. Magnus

The obvious crowd favorite takes over with a fast shoulder block but Daniels rams him into the corner to slow him down. A suplex keeps the pressure on Daniels but Kaz interferes, allowing Daniels to hit an STO to take Magnus down. Off to a neck crank by Daniels and the release Rock Bottom puts Magnus down. The BME attempt misses though and a big boot puts Daniels down. Kaz interferes and gets ejected, firing up the crowd. Back in and a clothesline puts Chris down and a falcon’s arrow does the same. A top rope elbow is enough to end Daniels at 5:06.

Rating: C. Magnus continues to impress while he’s actually out there, but unfortunately since we’re out of England after next week, the odds are that he leaves the main show too. Daniels and Kaz didn’t get to do anything funny tonight which is their main strength at the moment. Decent match here but not bad.

Brooke tries to make Bully feel better about being hurt and not being in the title shot. They plan a date.

Magnus makes a plea to Hogan to get the title match.

Samoa Joe vs. Kurt Angle

Feeling out process to start but Joe pounds him into the corner. A snapmare sets up the chop to the back and a running knee drop for two. Angle comes back with a fast belly to belly overhead as we hear about the history between these two. Angle hits a back elbow to put both guys down again as we take a break. Back with Joe hitting the running elbow through the ropes to take over again. Back in and the backsplash gets two for the fat man, but Kurt rolls the Germans to take over.

Angle charges into the release Rock Bottom out of the corner but as Joe puts Kurt on the top rope, Angle hits a missile dropkick for two. Joe pops right back up though and puts on the Clutch, only to have Angle reverse into the ankle lock. That gets reversed too and a double clothesline puts both guys down. Not that it matters though as Aces and 8’s come in for the no contest at 11:33.

Rating: C+. These two have good matches with each other in their sleep (or drug induced haze in Angle’s case) so the match was going to be good here no matter what. The ending sucks but I’m guessing these four (Bischoff and Brisco interfered) are having a tag match at Lockdown. Other than that, nothing to see here.

Angle and Joe clear the ring post match.

Dixie talks to the British Boot Camp losers.

Blossom Twins/Party Marty vs. Gail Kim/Tara/Jesse Godderz

The guys start things off and Jesse takes over early. Marty kind of misses a moonsault out of the corner and we take a break. Back from the break and it’s off to one of the Blossoms vs. Tara. A dropkick gets two for the rookie (apparently Hannah rather than Holly) but it’s a double sideslam for two on the champ. Gail comes in to pull on let’s say Holly’s hair and the heels take over. Tara throws around I think Holly as get into a really long and dull beatdown segment on the Blossom.

Tara beats on her, Gail beats on her, Tara comes back in and the moonsault hits knees, allowing for the hot tag to Hannah. The Blossoms beat up the other girls and hit a nice double team splash onto Tara. Jesse comes in to be a bully but gets dropkicked out to the floor. Marty BADLY misses a dive to the floor, but I think it was more on Jesse than Marty. Hannah walks into Eat Defeat from Gail for the pin at approximately 11:00.

Rating: D. I’m not a fan of women’s wrestling and this was pretty lame even by Knockout standards. It went on WAY too long and we here in America have almost no idea who these rookies are. Why in the world would I care about a guy named Party Marty? The match was watchable due to the Blossoms’ looks, but other than that there wasn’t much going on.

Gail wants the title so here’s Brooke to make Velvet vs. Tara vs. Gail vs. Tessmacher next week for the title.

We recap Dixie saying the show is going on the word permanently.

We recap Jeff’s knee injury. He’ll be back in two weeks.

James Storm vs. Rob Van Dam

James starts with a fast kick to the head but RVD kicks him right back down and hits the Rolling Thunder for two. The split legged moonsault gets the same but Storm hits a fast DDT to take RVD down. A punch to Rob’s face does little damage but an Alabama Slam out of the corner gets two for James. Closing Time hits but Van Dam blocks the Last Call with that stepover kick to the jaw. The Five Star is broken up but Van Dam kicks Storm into the other corner. There’s the freaking Van Terminator but it only hits ropes, allowing Storm to knock him out cold with the Last Call for the pin at 5:38.

Rating: C+. Good back and forth match here that was needing more time. Thankfully Storm seems to be at least getting a chance in the title scene again. If nothing else it’s better than fighting Godderz over and over again. Van Dam losing here is fine as it’s not like the division exists anymore.

Joseph Park learns a lesson in politicking. Hogan says it’s a rib, which Park has to find out the definition of.

Brooke badgers Hulk to give Bully the title shot.

We recap Austin Aries and Robert Roode’s history together.

Robert Roode vs. Austin Aries

Before the match Roode says Hogan’s attempts at wedging the tag champions apart won’t work. They say ring the bell and an argument breaks out over who should lay down for the other. Aries tries to steal a pin and we take a break. Back with the champions slugging it out before Roode misses a charge into the corner. Aries comes back with a sunset flip for two and argues with the referee about the count.

We get another slugout with Aries hitting the discus forearm, only to walk into the spinebuster for two. Aries is placed on the top rope but fights out of a superplex attempt. They slug it out on top with Austin knocking him down to the mat, only to miss the 450. Roode’s spear is countered into the Last Chancery but Roode rakes the eyes to escape. There’s the Crossface from Bobby but Aries fight out as well.

The referee is bumped (duh) and Bobby grabs a chair. We get the Eddie Guerrero spot with Roode pretending to have been hit with the chair, but Aries tries the same thing. That’s brilliant! Chavo and Hernandez come out for a distraction and as the champions go after them, we get a double countout at approximately 10:00.

Rating: B-. I was really digging this and the mirroring Guerrero spots were brilliant. These two work incredibly well together but for the love of goodness I do not want to see them fight Chavo and Hernandez again. The ending was annoying but they had to do that in order to avoid a “who’s the best” angle.

Sting tells Hogan to choose wisely.

Here’s Hogan to choose the winner, but Aces and 8’s surround the ring. Cue a limping Bully Ray with a chain, and of course Aces and 8’s won’t fight an old man and a limping fat guy. Sting comes out with three ball bats for the real save. No announcement is made.

Overall Rating: C-. This wasn’t their best show. I can’t imagine any of these guys getting the shot as no one really stood out, so odds are it’s going to be Ray so he can screw over TNA. The matches were decent here tonight which is all you can ask for out of a free TV show. Too much Hogan tonight though, which is a major problem this show has anymore.

Results

Magnus b. Christopher Daniels – Top Rope Elbow

Samoa Joe vs. Kurt Angle went to a no contest when Aces and 8’s interfered

Gail Kim/Tara/Jesse Godderz b. Blossom Twins/Party Marty

James Storm b. Rob Van Dam – Last Call

Austin Aries vs. Bobby Roode went to a double countout

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

This is an interesting story that I only see one side to for the most part.As you’ve likely heard (at least you have if you follow this site, which you should), TNA is taking their TV tapings national, meaning they’ll be going around the country.  WWE has started going to mid-sized areas around the same areas for house shows to try to sabotage TNA.  Some TNA fans are crying foul over this, but I have absolutely no problem with TNA doing this.

TNA is the company that tried to start the second Monday Night Wars (remember that pitiful attempt?).  Now they’re trying to go national to compete with WWE.  Look at what WWE has done both times: they’ve fought back.  How can TNA fans claim that this is unfair?  It’s like picking on someone and then getting annoyed when they punch you in the jaw.

TNA is the company trying to move up the ladder.  If the people at the top of the ladder don’t want them there, they can fight back.  You can’t try to move up and then complain that a larger company is playing unfair.  In the words of Scott Hall, TNA wanted a war and now they’ve got one.  The problem is WWE has a lot more bullets and much bigger tanks.

I really don’t see how WWE has done anything wrong here or why TNA and/or its fans have any reason to complain.  If WWE is viewing them as an annoyance (saying WWE views them as a threat at this point is laughable at best) and wants to crush them, I’d think of that more of a good sign for TNA than anything else.

Impact Wrestling
Date: February 7, 2013
Location: Manchester Arena, Manchester, England
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Tazz, Todd Keneley

We’re still in England for the second of four shows. The main story at the moment is that Garret Bischoff and Wes Brisco FINALLY joined Aces and 8’s, shocking a total of no one. Other than that we’re on the Road to Lockdown which is four weeks from Sunday. That being said, we need a #1 contender. Oh and we’ve got Ray/Sting vs. Aces and 8’s in a tables match tonight. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of the Hogans/Ray and Aces and 8’s.

Here are the bikers to open the show. Most of them are sans masks now and I can’t say I’m any more impressed. Could it be because they NEVER WIN ANYTHING??? We get a video on Aces and 8’s beating up Angle over the last few weeks. Apparently Wes and Garrett have been on the team for awhile now. Yeah I’m stunned too. Garrett says this is his new family and Brisco complains about being introduced in a Gut Check match. D-Von isn’t worried about the tables match because Aces and 8’s have an ace up their sleeve.

Tara and Jesse annoy Brooke so it’s Tara vs. Tessmacher tonight.

X-Division Title: Kenny King vs. Zema Ion vs. Rob Van Dam

Hey look: a triple threat! RVD is defending and gets double teamed to start. Since Zema Ion sucks though, King turns on him and sends both he and Van Dam to the floor. A corkscrew dive by King takes both guys down and one from Ion….mostly misses both guys. Back in and a missile dropkick takes King down but Van Dam comes back in almost immediately. King sends Ion to the floor again but RVD takes him down.

Ion breaks up Rolling Thunder and hits a middle rope tornado DDT for two. King and Ion go at it a bit with Ion hitting a flipping facebuster for two. Ion takes King down again for two more as the champion is on the floor. This is basically a one on one match with Van Dam popping in every now and then. King hits a pair of running knees to the ribs of Ion followed by a northern lights suplex, but RVD comes in with the Five Star to take out King and follows with the pin on Ion at 5:54.

Rating: C. The match was ok but what difference does this make at all? There’s almost no story to it and the division is lucky to get a segment every two weeks. You pretty much saw the entire division out there in one match here, and that’s a really bad sign. Bring some fresh blood into this thing or drop it already, because this is nothing worth seeing at all.

We get a package on TNA British Boot Camp, which is their version of Gut Check. A 5’3 guy named Rockstar Spud wins.

We look at the opening promo from Wes and Garrett earlier. It’s still not impressive.

Bruce Prichard talks to D’Lo about Brisco sneaking on via Gut Check. I’m still thinking this isn’t going to live up to whatever it’s supposed to be.

Jesse comes out to run his mouth bout James Storm interrupts. Blah blah blah, I’m going to kick you in the face then drink, ring the bell.

James Storm vs. Jesse Godderz

Jesse takes over to start but Storm comes back with punches and a knee to the ribs followed by the Eye of the Storm. An enziguri from the corner sets up a running neckbreaker for no cover. Last Call ends this at 3:04.

Rating: D. Seriously, is there NO ONE ELSE that Storm can feud with? The guy is over like free beer in a frat house and he’s stuck beating up Jesse Godderz. I know the match with Roode at BFG wasn’t that big but it’s a bigger deal than what Storm is getting now. Nothing match here as Godderz continues to be decent, but Storm is WAY out of his league.

Tag Titles: Chavo Guerrero/Hernandez vs. Austin Aries/Bobby Roode

The Texans are defending and dear goodness please let the titles change tonight. Chavo and Roode start things off with the champion taking over with some headscissors to start. Aries comes in but runs into Hernandez who scares him away. SuperMex puts Aries on the top rope so Austin cartwheels away. Roode tells a posing Aries to turn around and there’s the delayed vertical, but Roode makes the save.

A double suplex with Chavo helping out puts the challengers down and there’s a slingshot hilo onto Aries. Roode pulls Chavo to the floor but the suicide dive misses, sending Bobby into the barricade. We take a break and come back with Roode breaking up a cover by Hernandez. Chavo chops away on Aries in the corner and it’s back to Hernandez. A running splash gets two for Hernandez and here’s Guerrero ago.

Roode finally cheats a bit and hits Chavo in the back so Aries can hit a discus forearm to take down Chavo and give the heels control. Tazz, now part of a team, goes on a rant about how much being in a tag team sucks before talking about how much he loves Aces and 8’s. Off to Roode again for a chinlock as Tazz talks about sitting on a boil. Ok then. A top rope double ax hits Chavo on the floor and gets two for Austin back inside.

We hit a LONG chinlock by Roode before Aries comes in with some cheating. Chavo fights up and it’s a double clothesline to put both guys down. There’s the hot tag to Hernandez who cleans house, only to have Roode pull his own partner into the slingshout shoulder from Hernandez. SuperMex destroys Roode but Aries escapes Three Amigos. The heels are rammed together and Roode walks out, only to return as Aries hits Hernandez low. The spinebuster to Chavo sets up the 450 from Aries for the pin and the titles at 17:29.

Rating: B. I don’t like the challengers but this was a very solid tag match. If nothing else these two will actually be interesting instead of just sitting around doing nothing at all. This had a long heel in peril segment which you hardly ever see anymore. Good match here and nice to see a LONG TV match that means something.

Hulk and Ray have a chat about Ray being a good guy. He says he isn’t and he’ll prove it against Aces and 8’s.

Video on AJ’s career falling apart.

Tara vs. Miss Tessmacher

Jesse is barred from ringside and this is non-title. Tara keeps looking back for Jesse and screaming his name. A few headlocks put Tessmacher down but she comes back with the stupid Stink Face. Tara tries to bail but comes back in for the spinning side slam for two. The Widow’s Peak doesn’t work so it’s off to a full nelson instead. Tara hooks a chinlock for a bit before Tessmacher comes back and hits a Tess Shock out of nowhere for the pin at 5:26.

Rating: D+. I don’t like them, this match has been done to death, the girls still look good, and the division is still dying before our very eyes. What is the point of these random matches? To set up Tessmacher vs. Tara for the title again? You know, such a FRESH match as that, which we NEVER see anymore?

Here’s Rockstar Spud to debut before the crowd. He gives a standard “I made it and this is my dream” promo before the Rob’s come out to interrupt. Robbie E sends Big Rob to take him out but Big Rob steps aside to let Spud hit Robbie in the face, furthering the face turn. Big Rob does the fist pump.

Sting and Brooke do nothing of note.

We recap the bikers taking out Hardy’s knee.

Sting/Bully Ray vs. D-Von/Doc

Tables match here and the TNA guys have face paint on ala Sting. The bikers are in trouble to start as Tazz goes on a rant about how the other bikers need to come out here for the save. This is still a big brawl for the most part with nothing from Aces and 8’s about two minutes in. Ray hits a Stinger Splash on D-Von in the corner and shakes the rails on the floor. Sting hits one as well and we take a break.

Back with Doc getting kicked down by Ray but the Bully misses an elbow. A big boot puts Ray on the floor and the guys pair off. Since it’s an Aces and 8’s match though, they get beaten down again and here are the tables. The bikers come back and try a double suplex through the table but Ray makes the save again.

Ray fights both of them off but gets sent to the floor for his efforts. Sting is loaded onto the table again but Ray pulls his brother to the floor. Sting crotches Doc on the top and it’s a superplex…not through the table as Knox moves the wood. Sting fights them both off (duh) and Ray hulks up before sending D-Von through a table for the win at 14:07.

Rating: C-. It’s a tag team tables match so what am I supposed to say here? These matches are almost always the same and it was clear that the bikers weren’t going to win because that’s just not what they do. This is clearly setting up Lockdown where hopefully this team is done for good.

The Hogans come out to celebrate of course, despite having nothing to do with this whatsoever.

Overall Rating: C+. This was decent but at the end of the day, Aces and 8’s bring nothing to the table (pun intended) whatsoever. They’re just not interesting and there’s nothing at all to them to make us believe they’re intimidating. They lose over and over again and they lose in the main event here. Other than that though the show was pretty solid stuff, even though it didn’t set up anything for Lockdown.

Results

Rob Van Dam b. Zema Ion and Kenny King – Van Dam pinned Ion after a northern lights suplex from King

James Storm b. Jesse Godderz – Last Call

Austin Aries/Bobby Roode b. Chavo Guerrero/Hernandez – 450 Splash to Guerrero

Miss Tessmacher b. Tara – Tess Shocker

Sting/Bully Ray b. D-Von/Doc – Ray chokeslammed D-Von through a table

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and check out my ebook on Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00B9K3POI

They start March 14th in Chicago.  This is several years in the making but at least it’s finally happening.

Impact Wrestling
Date: January 3, 2013
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Todd Kenely, Tazz

We open the new year with the return (yes another one) of Sting. Rather than let us be surprised by who wins, TNA has decided to throw the name out there ahead of time. The other issue is that Anderson may or may not be joining Aces and 8’s. That would help their star power but somehow make them more boring at the same time. Let’s get to it.

The opening recap kills some time.

We open with the Superstar of the Year presentation. The nominees are Ray, Storm, Aries, Roode and of course Hardy. To the shock of no one other than Aries or Roode, Hardy wins. Roode and Aries were arguing to the ring when the announcement was made and the two of them being shocked was funny stuff. Hardy says that this award means just as much as being champion, which draws Roode into the ring to yell.

When Roode was champion, NOTHING was more important to him than the title. He made history and set records when he was champion but here’s Aries to argue that HE should be the winner because he averaged over four stars per PPV match. Hardy calms things down and says he’ll defend against both of them at Genesis, which I think is the first match announced. Aries jumps him but gets in an argument with Roode over who gets to beat Hardy up. Aries tries to hit Jeff with the trophy but blasts Roode instead, bending the gold part on top. Hardy takes out Aries and leaves.

Storm is disappointed but Bad Influence comes in and makes fun of a country song to show how sad Storm is in a hilarious bit. Storm says he’ll be back and he’ll kick Daniels in his Twitter and knock Kaz’s Facebook off. Kaz: “You forgot MySpace!”

Kazarian vs. James Storm

Daniels faked Storm out to start and Kaz got in a cheap shot to really start. That’s some nice chicanery there. Storm pounds away in the ring before we head to the floor where Daniels can cheat yet again. Back in and Storm comes back with Closing Time (Codebreaker) for no cover, instead opting for a Russian Leg Sweep and a top rope elbow for two. For the third time a Daniels distraction lets Kaz take over, this time with a TKO for two. Storm hits another Codebreaker out of nowhere and after taking out Daniels, hits the Last Call to a jumping Kaz for the pin at 4:05.

Rating: C. Storm continues to be kept away from the main event but it’s nice to see him overcoming the odds for a week and getting a clean pin. Also, it’s VERY nice to see Bad Influence fighting anyone other than AJ for all of eternity. Other than that though, the match was relatively dull with Storm just doing his thing and hitting his signature moves.

Anderson is told to make a decision by Aces and 8’s and after some prodding from Doc, he finally agrees. However, D-Von’s bat is missing.

Kenny King talks to Kid Kash about some mini tournament for the shot at RVD.

Quick highlight package on Sting and Aces and 8’s.

Here’s Doc to say that Sting needs to get out here so he can cripple Sting once and for all. A ball bat falls from the ceiling and Doc FREAKS, shouting that he isn’t afraid and demanding that Sting get out here as we take a break.

Brooke has no comment on her dad.

X-Division #1 Contenders Tournament: Kid Kash vs. Christian York

Kash jumps him to start and takes it to thef loor very quickly, only to get caught by a dropkick and a kick to the head from the apron. Kash pounds away a bit but York comes back with a botched handspring into a kick for two. A running low downward spiral gets two for Christian and he counters a backslide into the Mood Swing (Eve’s swinging neckbreaker) for the pin at 3:43.

Rating: D+. Nothing to see at all here as Kash continues to just be a warm body in the division. York isn’t much better and I’m not wild on these mini tournaments, especially when the finals and the title match are at the same show (Genesis obviously), it gets a little dull. Nothing to see here though.

Hernandez and Chavo aren’t scared of Morgan and Ryan.

Hernandez vs. Matt Morgan

Morgan has a bad arm so Joey is subbing for him. Ok then.

Joey Ryan vs. Hernandez

Hernandez pounds away to start and Morgan’s arm appears to be fine. He comes in and hits a discus lariat on Hernandez for the DQ at 1:00.

Chavo gets taken down as well post match. Was there a point to this segment?

Angle thanks Brisco and Bischoff for having his back. Tonight it’s a cage match so they can hang back here. Joe yells at them for no apparent reason but Angle smooths things over.

We see the Knockouts stretching.

We recap Aries/Ray/the Hogans for the millionth time.

Here’s Hulk to apologize for being gone last week. He saw his daughter and Ray making out in the parking lot and he needed a breather. Hulk asks Brooke and Ray to come out here right now so here they are side by side and nearly arm in arm. Hulk wants an explanation right now and Ray says it was all on him. Papa Hogan GOES OFF on Ray, saying that he knew all along that Ray was a bad man. Apparently Ray broke some kind of code and he gets thrown out of the ring, just like Brooke. Ray is suspended as well. Is there a point to this coming ANYTIME soon?

Post break we recap what we just saw.

Back to OVW for more Joseph Park matches. He’s been watching a lot of tape and Danny Davis is starting to get the appeal of him. I think Park graduates.

Gail Kim/Tara vs. Mickie James/Miss Tessmacher

Tess is in all blue tonight which is a nice change of pace. She and Gail start but it’s quickly off to Tara. I do enjoy the camera closeups we get of the Knockouts unlike the Divas. Mickie comes in off a blind tag to clear the ring as Jesse consoles Tara. Back in for Tara vs. Mickie as we take a break. Back with Tessmacher getting the hot tag and cleaning house. Tara gets knocked to the floor where Jesse wipes her face, allowing Kim to deck Tessmacher from behind. Back to Kim legally for an over the shoulder back/rib breaker for two.

Gail misses a charge in the corner and falls to the floor but she still manages to block the hot tag. Tara comes in with the slingshot somersault legdrop for two and it’s off to a quick bow and arrow hold. Tessmacher slams Tara face first into the mat and we FINALLY get the hot tag to Mickie. House is cleaned and a neckbreaker on Kim gets two. Everything breaks down and Tessmacher dives on Jesse and Tara on the floor. Gail misses the same charge in the corner again and Mickie hits the MickieDT for the pin at 13:04.

Rating: D+. WAY too long here for the same four chicks we’ve seen fight for months. Is Velvet gone again, because we haven’t seen her in the ring for two weeks now. It still seems to be setting up Mickie to take the title off Tara, which makes Sky’s return worthless. Not a bad match here but there was no need for this to be over seven minutes, let alone thirteen.

Aces and 8’s say they have to stay masked.

ODB is glad Sting is back and says Young will be back soon.

We recap the announcement of the triple threat match at Genesis.

Hulk makes it a three way elimination in a segment that doesn’t need to exist. Next week it’s the two of them against Hardy and whoever Hardy can get.

Samoa Joe/Kurt Angle vs. D-Von/Masked Man

In a cage for absolutely no apparent reason. Doc slams the door on Angle as he gets in the ring, making it a handicap match to start. Joe beats on both guys in the ring as Doc keeps beating up Angle on the outside. D-Von charges into his partner in the corner so Joe can divide and conquer a bit. The numbers finally catch up to Joe and his comeback attempt is quickly stopped. Thankfully there’s no tagging in this. I can’t stand the idea of law and order in a cage match.

D-Von kicks the door into Angle’s head again as the beating continues. We take a break and come back with Joe still fighting both guys off on his own. To be fair it’s not like (presumably) Mike Knox and D-Von would be a huge challenge for a guy like Joe. Angle fights off Doc and gets the key to unlock the cage. Kurt cleans house but can’t get the mask off due to Doc making ANOTHER save. Angle is busted open now but he avoids D-Von’s headbutt. It’s time to roll some Germans on both bikers and the Angle Slam pins the masked man at 11:43.

Rating: C-. Again, why am I supposed to be surprised here? Joe and Angle are two of the biggest stars in TNA history and they’re beating up two guys with barely any singles success ever? This is supposed to be interesting? Nothing to see here for the most part and the cage is just there to try to add some drama I suppose.

Post match more bikers run in to beat down Angle and Joe as Anderson watches from the floor. Sting comes in with the bat to clean house with little fanfare. Aces and 8’s bail, but the masked man from the match is left alone. He gets triple teamed and the mask is pulled off to reveal Mike Knox, shocking ABSOLUTELY NO ONE. Gee, just what Aces and 8’s needs: ANOTHER FREAKING CAREER NOTHING. Tenay says Sting just took the power away from Aces and 8’s. Mike, go watch some CMLL or something. It’ll do you a lot of good.

Overall Rating: C. This wasn’t the worst show in the world but it certainly wasn’t all that great either. At the end of the day, this show has become almost all about drama as we wait to get to next checkpoint in the Aces and 8’s story and any kind of a point at all in Hogan vs. Ray. Hulk is looking like a jerk in this whole thing which doesn’t really do much for Ray at all. Aces and 8’s are still Aces and 8’s as well, but now with two big guys with no career accomplishments. Nothing to see here but at least we FINALLY have some stuff set for Genesis.

Results

James Storm b. Kazarian – Last Call

Christian York b. Kid Kash – Mood Swing

Hernandez b. Joey Ryan via DQ when Matt Morgan interfered

Mickie James/Miss Tessmacher b. Tara/Gail Kim – MickieDT to Kim

Kurt Angle/Samoa Joe b. D-Von/Masked Man – Angle Slam to Masked Man

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

This seems to be the news at the moment, as there doesn’t appear to be an Against All Odds next year, and they’ll be going from Genesis in January to Lockdown in March.  No word yet on the rest of the schedule.  As for what I think about this…..It’s the right move.  A lot of TNA PPVs are there for the sake of being there, and you can see how weak a lot of the cards on the B shows are.  Cutting down to 4-7 PPVs a year would be fine instead of one a month is the right move here.  WWE has the roster to pull this off at the moment, but with just two hours a week of TV, having a three hour PPV a month is probably too much for them to pull off.

Thoughts?

Impact Wrestling
Date: November 29, 2012
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Todd Keneley, Tazz

It’s Championship Thursday because we can’t go more than a week without having some kind of gimmick show. The main story going on is apparently a hidden love between Bully Ray and Brooke Hogan, because the world wants BROOKE. Other than that we’ve got Aces and 8’s who likely won’t do anything but beat up a lower card guy as they do every week. Let’s get to it.

It’s the usual recap intro. We get the results of Wes Brisco’s Gut Check tonight as well.

Here’s Hogan (Hulk in case you’re a bit slow) to open the show. He talks about how he’s a father and a general manager, and those roles collided last week. Hogan wants Ray to come out here right now and tell him to his face what’s going on. Here’s Ray in street clothes, seemingly ticked off at Hulk for this. Ray wants to know what’s going on because Hogan doesn’t trust him and never has.

Hogan says cut the nonsense and tell him what’s going on between Ray and Brooke. Ray asks if Hogan is sure he wants that, because it might not be what Hogan wants to hear. Cue Brooke to really crank up the acting in this segment. Brooke says she’s 18 now and Hulk immediately cuts her off. He doesn’t want Brooke EVER with another wrestler, especially Ray.

Aries pops up on the screen, standing on a table in the back. Apparently Hulk needs to be here to pick a #1 contender to the X Title. The options are Ion, Kash and King. He lays on the desk but says it’s uncomfortable. “Brooke, how do you do this?” I guess Aries is a candidate for the shot as well.

Gail Kim vs. Mickie James

Gail is all fierce tonight and pounds away on Mickie from the start. Off to a headscissors which goes nowhere for Kim but Mickie misses the Thesz Press off the top. Running dropkick gets two for Gail but Eat Defeat is countered. Mick Kick puts Gail down but Kim’s foot is under the rope. Mickie hits the rana out of the corner and a neckbreker gets two. The jumping DDT is blocked by Gail but a tornado DDT pins Gail at 4:57.

Rating: D+. This is what you call going through the motions. Gail is just there anymore in TNA, which could be said about the entire Knockouts Division at this point. There’s nothing new about this division as Mickie vs. Tara has been done so many times before that there’s no reason to get interested in it again.

Storm and AJ argue over who has the right to complain.

Hogan storms into his office and it’s time for the first cut. King gets yelled at for snickering at Aries’ joke. Ion says he’s pretty. Kash says he started the X Division and is a two time champion. Aries says he never lost the title. King is gone, thereby making this far less interesting.

Here’s Roode for a chat. He says last week he made a statement by attacking Hardy and York after Hardy almost lost to the Gut Check Rookie last week. Roode is the real champion and Hardy is just a paper version. If you want to make an impact, call out Roode, not Hardy. This brings out Christian York to deck Roode, which he says is calling Bobby out.

Bobby Roode vs. Christian York

This starts after a break with York taking Roode down very quickly. York comes back with a hop toss and a shoulder block. Make that a few shoulders for two. Roode gets sent into the steps but as York comes back in, Roode crotches him to take over. York gets up a boot in the corner but Roode clotheslines him down. A suplex gets no cover but Roode jumps into a boot. York comes back with more clotheslines and a dropkick, followed by a double stomp to the back from the middle rope. A small package gets two for Roode but York turns his head, allowing Bobby to hit a clothesline to the back of the head. Crossface beats York at 5:17.

Rating: D+. Not a great match but it’s nice to see a Gut Check guy get actual ring time. Until last week, I don’t think we had seen anybody from the conpetition back on the show at all. Anyway, not a terrible match here but it was pretty dull. York has a much better look than the other guys, but his offense is a bit limited. Decent way to spend ten minutes here.

Roode gets a chair post match but Jeff Hardy makes the save.

We recap the Aces and 8’s hammer attacks over the last few weeks.

The boss talks to Aces and 8’s about the holidays. Next week it’s Doc vs. Angle. D-Von wants his TV Title back and he wants it next week. If he gets the shot, no one gets hut tonight. If not, everything goes nuts.

Gut Check judges talk.

Prichard says someone isn’t here but Angle comes up and pleads Wes Brisco’s case. Apparently Al Snow is the person not here.

Kazarian/Christopher Daniels vs. AJ Styles/James Storm

Before the match, Daniels says he’ll win the FINAL MATCH and it’ll haunt AJ forever. AJ and Kaz get things going with Kaz ducking under the dropkick. Off to Storm who speeds things up and hits a running neckbreaker. He glares at AJ before turning around to punch Daniels. AJ comes in and messes up a double elbow with Storm. A knee drop misses Daniels and the heels take over. Storm comes back in and is immediately beaten down in the corner. Daniels and Kaz want to be called Bad Influence because they like the vices of life.

Daniels hits a slingshot elbow followed by a slingshot legdrop for two. The evil ones do that Gangam Style or whatever it’s called dance as Taz audibly rolls his eyes. Hot tag brings in AJ to clean half of the house or so. The springboard forearm puts Daniels down but AJ goes for a slingshot dive onto Kaz, which misses completely (these misses are intentional if that’s not clear). Daniels goes to the floor for some double teaming, followed by a combination Blue Thunder Bomb/neckbreaker for two on AJ. Storm pulls Kaz to the floorr but AJ misses the Pele. Blind tag brings in Storm for the Last Call to Daniels for the pin at 7:08.

Rating: C+. Decent tag match here and we’ve got a story going on with AJ here. I’m not wild on Storm being used as a placeholder in a feud like this but that’s TNA for you. I’m also not looking forward to AJ vs. Daniels again, because it’s been done SO many times already. It’ll be good, but I don’t care to see it again. I just don’t.

Lockdown is in San Antonio.

Back to the X-Division reality stuff. Ion references Hulk Hogan’s Pastamania which is just cool. That will never be said about Ion again. Kash says he should get a shot because he’s been there before. Aries gets the shot. Sure why not.

Joe says ok to D-Von’s challenge, because D-Von abandoned the title.

Douglas Williams vs. Matt Morgan

Ryan does Morgan’s intro here. Morgan has Hogan’s old robe from 1980 here. Total squash, ended by a chokeslam and the Carbon Footprint at 2:11.

D’Lo Brown is replacing Snow. Taz says no, the others say yes. That took ten minutes somehow. Angle and Garrett come out to celebrate.

Ray yells at Hogan and says he’s confusing business with personal. Hogan accuses Ray of the same thing.

Aries tells Hogan that winning the X Title back is his path to the world title and says this was his plan. We don’t hear Hogan’s response because of an audio glitch, which means we hear a Roode/Hardy package instead.

X-Division Title: Rob Van Dam vs. Austin Aries

Van Dam takes him down into the corner to start but Aries comes back quickly. Aries’ splash hits knees though and we head to the floor. Van Dam hits a plancha and we take a break. Back with RVD countering the suicide dive but hitting the barricade with the spinning legdrop. Aries hits a neckbreaker over the barricade which gets a bunch of two’s back in the ring.

A DDT gets two for Aries as does a modified Rolling Thunder. Aries tries the Five Star but hits only mat. Van Dam hits the real Rolling Thunder and the Split Legged Moonsault for two. Van Dam dropkicks him down and loads up the Five Star, only to get knocked into the barricade by Aries. Aries gets the mic and insults Brooke a big, drawing out Bully Ray for the DQ 12:31. Oh freaking screw this.

Rating: C. This was getting good until the end. Aries vs. Ray at the PPV I guess, but man alive I do not care at all about this story. Could it be because there’s WAY too much Brooke Hogan in it? Well she’s in the story at all, so that would imply there being too much of her. The match was going fine until the end, but a bit too much stealing moves for me.

Aries gets caught between Ray and Hogan to end the show. Aries of course is an afterthought as Hogan and Ray stare at each other, with Ray saying Hogan still doesn’t trush me.

Overall Rating: D. Oh I did not like this show. I mean I didn’t like it AT ALL. The main problem here is that the stakes were so freaking low. We’ve got Ray, who has to be injured or something given how long it’s been since he had a match, apparently dating (that hasn’t been confirmed yet) Brooke because TWO secret relationships aren’t enough in a single year. We’ve got Hogan FURIOUS at Aries so he gives him a title match. Not a world title match mind you, but a title match for a title that is often tacked on to PPVs at the last minute.

Other than that we’ve got Hardy and Roode feuding through Christian York to set up a match that Roode has as much chance of winning as I have of winning Miss America 1984. Wes Brisco, a guy famous for coming from a famous family and who is clearly in Aces and 8’s because NO ONE ELSE IN WRESTLING HAS HAIR LIKE THAT gets to beat Garrett Bischoff to make it to Gut Check. Why am I supposed to care?

That’s Impact in a nutshell right now: they seem to have no idea where they’re going and no reason to give me to care. We’re getting Mickie vs. Tara in the dead Knockouts Division. We’ve got Storm going nowhere. We’ve got AJ vs. Daniels for literally probably their 12^th PPV match. We’ve got D-Von and Luke freaking Gallows as the only names in Aces and 8’s. What is interesting about TNA right now? If you can come up with something, you’re either smarter than I am or a total mark for their company.

Results

Mickie James b. Gail Kim – Tornado DDT

Bobby Roode b. Christian York – Crossface

James Storm/AJ Styles b. Kazarian/Christopher Daniels – Last Call to Daniels

Matt Morgan b. Douglas Williams – Carbon Footprint

Austin Aries b. Rob Van Dam via DQ when Bully Ray interfered

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