Bound For Glory 2010
Date: October 10, 2010
Location: Ocean Center, Daytona Beach, Florida
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Taz

So here it is. This is the show that they have spent MONTHS building to. This is their Wrestlemania and by far their biggest show of the year. We get a new champion tonight and find out who THEY are. Even I’m excited and I’ve made no secret that I’m a big critic of this company. Tonight is the final match for Abyss apparently which I don’t buy at all. Let’s get to it.

Main event is no time limit, no count out and no DQ. That makes me nervous.

There’s and entrance ramp as well as three video screens. The production values are rather solid here, especially by TNA standards.

Tag Titles: Motor City Machine Guns vs. Generation Me

Good choice for an opener. Shelley and Max (does it matter?) start us off. Naturally it’s insanely fast paced to start us off. The Guns get all tricky and destroy Max in the corner. A big elbow Poetry in Motion move gets two on Max. The heels are getting dominated here for the most part as we hear a lot about Shelley’s neck.

Double DDT out of the corner to Shelly and he’s in big trouble. Shelley keeps fighting and manages to get out with a big double stomp off the top. Hot tag to Sabin as this isn’t bad at all so far. The Guns and everything else go completely insane and Sabin hits Punk’s springboard clothesline to Jeremy for a close two. Tenay is right that no one has tag wrestling like this.

The Guns are just straight up fun to watch. I’m not sold on making this the opener though as this is something that probably should have been used to fire up the crowd in case they get bored later on. Max gets two and is legit shocked that Sabin kicked out. They go for the DDT again but Shelley makes the save.

Elevated Sliced Bread is blocked and Jeremy takes out Sabin with a big dive. A Piledriver like move is broken up by Sabin at two. Very fast paced match naturally. This is too fast to call. We actually get a tag. Are you kidding me? They set for More Bang For Your Buck but a nice counter sets up a running German off the top by Sabin. Skull and Bones on Max ends this.

Rating: B. Very fast paced and fun match. Do I need to explain this one again? It’s an insanely fast paced tag match to open up a show. That’s PPV 101 but I worry that this might be the high point of the show. We get the awesome Motor City music twice though and the Guns keeping the belts is a good thing so I’m happy.

Tara and Madison go nuts on Christy about hair dye or something. Tara is grateful to Madison for life apparently.

We recap the Knockouts Title situation which I think you all know by now. It’s all about the Beautiful People and that’s about it. This again becomes all about them and nothing else. Keep in mind Mickie James is the referee here.

Knockouts Title: Angelina Love vs. Madison Rayne vs. Velvet Skye vs. Tara

Mickie looks good. I could go without the hardcore country thing though. One fall to a finish here and tags are required. Angelina vs. Madison to start us off. Off to the regular Beautiful People now which is the only match left in that division I suppose. Madison comes in and gets in Mickie’s face but that goes nowhere.

This is another match that is going too fast to really keep track of. Tara vs. Velvet at the moment. How in the world did Hefner think Tara didn’t look good enough for Playboy? Octopus Hold from Velvet to Tara which blows my mind a million ways to Monday. The tagging thing is of course abandoned soon.

Widow’s Peak doesn’t go on as Angelina makes a save. And then she rolls up Velvet with some tights being pulled to give her the title. We get the BROKEN song so I’m very happy. Madison goes off on her and Mickie kicks her all around the ring. So it’s Tara vs. Mickie now? Ok then.

Rating: D+. Pretty much just a mess here and only a way to get the title on the show. This wasn’t much at all but you had five hot women and you get to add Mickie to the division now which is definitely not a bad thing at all as it was dying for some fresh blood. Nothing very good here but I’ve seen worse.

Eric Young babbles about some code. Yeah I don’t care either.

We recap the “feud”. Yeah I don’t care either. Let’s get this over with.

Eric Young/Orlando Jordan vs. Ink Inc

Eric has the TNA rule book while Orlando is in a white suit with a beekeeper mask. And now Eric has fake tattoos or something. I give up. Jordan and Neal start us off because someone has to. Let the gay jokes begin.

Taz recommends that Shannon avoid the crotch of Orlando. I give up. Total meh match here as it was boring on Impact and it’s boring here. This is really just an outlet for Taz to make gay jokes about Orlando which aren’t incredibly funny. Eric gets crotched on the top rope.

Orlando vs. Shannon at the moment. Eric is fooling with the rule book because it’s been a few seconds without “comedy.” We talk about the German broadcast team for no apparent reason. Eric starts cheating by pretending to tag in and Taz is just like “screw it’. Eric tags himself in to fight Orlando. We get a Midnight Rocker reference which makes Taz laugh. Eric causes Orlando to get caught by Shannon for the pin.

Rating: D. Just move on please. I hate comedy matches, especially when they lack comedy.

Jeff says he’s going to win with the Twist of Fate and Swanton Bomb.

X–Division Title: Douglas Williams vs. Jay Lethal

This is the return match apparently from Impact a few weeks ago when Lethal won it in the first place. Non-British tights for Williams here. What would the Bulldog think? Fast paced start until Williams gets a hold on Lethal to take over. And so much for that. Tenay talks about the new tights because that’s interesting I guess?

Apparently his family crest is on it. No mention of Fourtune here which is kind of odd. Williams takes it to the mat and we stay there for awhile. Williams is getting back into the style of hating the X Division style that worked so well for him in the spring and early summer.

Lethal cranks up the speed to make things work a bit better. Taz likes suplexes and you can hear it in his voice. It changes when Williams uses a few of them. He even throws in some analysis of them for fun. Hey he sounds like an analyst. I thought this was 10/10 not 10/31.

Chaos Theory out of nowhere gets two. Dang I love that move. Williams gets all ticked off and takes him up top and sets for a rana. Lethal gets a SWEET counter where he rolls through it perfectly into a sunset flip for the pin to retain. He celebrates in the crowd which is always a nice touch.

Rating: C+. Nothing special here but the ending was rather good. This felt like a decent Impact match but it was totally tacked on here with no particular rhyme or reason. Dang I need to stop listening to Shinedown. This wasn’t bad but it was just kind of thrown on there to get the match on the card.

And while he’s in the crowd SHORE attacks him. Like the idiot that he is, he says he’s winning the title and taking it back to Jersey. You know, where Lethal is from.

We recap RVD vs. Abyss which is a bit early on the card I’d think for it. I can’t imagine this is where THEY are revealed. That’s just way too early for it I’d think but who knows? The idea here is RVD isn’t at 100% but he wants revenge no matter what.

Rob Van Dam vs. Abyss

Monster’s Ball here which means anything goes. And remember this is his last match EVER! He brings Janice and Bob, which are the names of Dixie Carter’s parents in what I’d assume is a rib, and puts them on the announce table. Abyss says RVD is done and THEY are coming. And remember this is once a century. You know, like EVERY OTHER DATE.

RVD of course kicks the heck out of him to start to a HUGE RVD chant. Van Dam is in a t-shirt here for some reason. There’s a barbed wire table at ringside. Total dominance so far by Van Dam who is on fire. He gets taken down by an elbow of all things. Given the shirt I’d bet on RVD going into barbed wire.

Chokeslam is countered and of course Abyss eats barbed wire. This would be more effective if we hadn’t seen it just three days ago with bigger stars. And of course he’s up again just a few seconds later, dodging a splash that send RVD into the wire. Abyss busts out a regular table as we talk about THEY.

Trash can to the head of Van Dam as Abyss tries to make a barbed wire platform between the railing and the ring. Oh never mind it’s just a regular table. Abyss winds up on it and RVD hits Rolling Thunder onto it. Cool spot. Too many dead spots here though as we hit a spot and then stop to look for more stuff to use in the next one.

RVD sets up Coast to Coast but gets shoved off and RVD winds up in barbed wire. Sick looking bump. The match more or less stops as the referee is thinking about stopping it. Instead we throw him back into the ring and Abyss gets…nothing. Ok then. Instead we get the Hogan ear taunt.

Van Dam comes back and sends him into the barbed wire board in the corner. Now it’s Abyss in trouble. RVD goes for the Five Star but Abyss moves and RVD has a tummy ache. And now It’s time for Janice. Well of course it is. RVD counters though and gets a pair of shots with Janice to the gut of Abyss and the Five Star. Abyss is bleeding from the mouth.

Rating: B-. Fun hardcore match with everyone beating the tar out of each other. Ok so maybe saying everyone for two people is a stretch but you get the concept. This worked fine for what it was with lots of weapons being used and all that jazz. They’re dragging this angle out for all it’s worth and more though so points for that….I think. Fun match.

Abyss says here WE come. Oh great.

We recap the handicap match with the whole Deception thing. This is the other major angle and Hogan is VERY hurt keep in mind. Yeah I don’t buy it either.

Jeff Jarrett/Samoa Joe vs. D’Angelo Dinero/Kevin Nash/Sting

Joe vs. Pope start us off. Oh and Joe is fighting for Hulk’s honor despite having zero connection to him. Nothing special so far and we hit the floor. It more or less has broken down with Jarrett fighting Pope and the old guys vs. Joe. And so much for that as we get back to Nash vs. Joe.

The entrance ramp really does look good. Pretty basic match so far. Joe gets beaten on for a good while but FINALLY gets a shot in on Nash to get away. He goes for the tag and there goes Jarrett for your swerve. Nash says I told you and Joe is in trouble. Now it really is 3-1. Jackknife to Joe ends it.

Rating: D+. Just the match that no one cared about to build to the swerve. Pay no attention to the fact that we’ve been building up Sting vs. Jeff for months and now it’s all cool. I’ll allow him an explanation but dude, this was supposed to be the explanation, not more questions. Whatever man.

Anderson says he’ll win.

Here’s 3D for their major announcement. Yep they’re retiring, but they want one more match, and of course they want the Guns. They’re retiring either way. Nice. This is solid I think and it’s good that they’ll retire this way.

We recap Fourtune vs. EV 2.0. If there is ANY justice in the world, EV loses here. Naturally it’s more about Flair vs. Foley than anyone else.

Fourtune says exactly what you would expect them to say. Regular vest for AJ thank goodness.

Fourtune vs. EV 2.0

This is a one ring WarGames match. A man from each team starts and after a set amount of time (5 minutes I think) there’s a coin toss and another guy comes in from the winning team. That goes on for two minutes then a guy from the losing team comes in. Two more minutes of that and then the winning team gets the advantage again. Alternate until all 8 are in and then we lower the roof, complete with weapons. No pins or submissions until everyone is in.

EV has Dreamer, Sabu, Rhyno, Richards and Raven. Yeah ten people in there great. Foley is with them. Flair brings out AJ, Storm, Roode, Kaz and Morgan. Fourtune has the advantage so screw the coin flip idea. Flair is in an undershirt. Oh dear.

The old guys go at it before the match starts and we try to figure out who starts the match. Kaz and Richards to start. Again Taz wants to say ECW and can’t do it. Kaz beats the tar out of him to start. And he continues doing so. Well that’s what you get for sending in Richards as your leadoff man.

Stevie gets a Downward Spiral into a modified Koji Clutch but AJ comes in seconds later to make it 2-1. Richards is of course in WAY over his head and gets destroyed. Figure four on Richards and he’s almost dead. Dreamer is in next. How in the world is this guy feuding with AJ Styles?

Dreamer spits mist or something at AJ as Richards gets back into it. All of Fourtune is in blue which is a cool idea I guess. Roode goes in third as this is going to take awhile to just get everyone in. Flair punches Dreamer through the camera hole. I love that thing as it gives you far better shots.

Sabu comes in and hooks a seated crossface chickenwing on AJ which we’ll call a camel clutch for fun I guess. This is REALLY slow now with EV controlling. Dreamer is bleeding fairly badly. Storm is in so it’ll be Morgan and Raven or Rhyno in last. Storm turns the tide and we get BEER MONEY!

With nothing left in the other minute here’s Raven who looks stupid with blonde hair. He cleans some house and shoves a snot rag in someone’s face. Ah ok it was Roode. Dreamer gets his crotch stepped on for fun. Dude seriously, Raven is your hot tag in essence? Roode is busted open.

Sabu is busted too. Morgan comes in as the final member of Fourtune. He drills Richards and drills Sabu back first into the cage. Dreamer takes the elbows in the corner as the advantage does the same thing it’s done the whole time so far. Raven is bleeding too so every member of EV who is in the match is busted.

Big time Gore to Storm and here comes the roof. This is where the advantage is supposed to come for EV I guess. Flair and Foley get into it of course as is their custom. EV takes over and there are bigger weapons on top of the cage such as a table, a ladder and something else that I can’t make out.

Raven and Morgan beat the heck out of each other as EV is mostly in control. Morgan goes for the Carbon Footprint and misses, hitting the door which doesn’t move at all. Kaz gets drilled into the door and there it goes. Richards and Kaz go up and we set up the ladder up there. This always scared the living heck out of me.

Sabu dives through the door to take out Morgan and maybe Storm. Richards sets up the table on top of the cage and Kaz goes up the ladder and here’s Kendrick on top of the cage too. Kaz goes through the table and Kendrick appears to be meditating or something. In the ring Dreamer drills AJ in the leg and drops him on a chair, winning the match. Yes, EV won the match and everything seems to be fine with it. WELL OF COURSE THEY ARE.

Rating: D+. Not much here as there were a lot of very slow spots. Also the Kendrick thing just did nothing for it. The weapons were ok but the ending felt kind of tacked on. This never got to the level that they wanted it to get to and that hurt it a lot. This was one of the weaker matches they’ve done with this gimmick and I think a lot of that is due to the participants.

Oh yeah. DID I MENTION EV 2.0 JUST FREAKING BEAT FOURTUNE and that TOMMY DREAMER PINNED AJ FREAKING STYLES??? And people wonder why this company can’t be taken seriously.

Music video about the main event.

TNA World Title: Mr. Anderson vs. Kurt Angle vs. Jeff Hardy

Hardy has new music. Nothing all that special as again you can barely understand it. He’s called challenger #1. Who exactly is he challenging if no one has the title? Anderson is in gray tights which is odd. It’s 10:33 and we’re just starting. Think they’re cutting this close? No big match intros either which is weird also.

Angle is knocked to the floor and Anderson gets a neckbreaker on Hardy for two. Angle pops in and goes for Anderson’s knee. Big old belly to belly as it’s all Angle here. Then Hardy saves and it’s all Hardy. Little theme going on there. Angle Germans Hardy who Germans Anderson to take both of them over in a cool spot.

It gets two on Hardy as we keep going. 10:37 and no sign of THEY which scares the heck out of me. Hardy sends Angle up and over and might be hurt. I don’t buy it but whatever. Hardy goes over the top in a dive to take out everyone. Back in and Angle is ok, hooking a chinlock on Hardy after a cover gets two.

Running German to Hardy and he’s up seconds later. Ok then. Hey we went a full two hours and 40 minutes before we got a shot of Dixie. Angle is busted open a bit. Angle busts out some Germans on Anderson as Hardy is down. Hardy gets some of the same. Ankle Lock on the face painted one.

Anderson tries to save and winds up in the ankle lock. Angle locks the ankle lock on BOTH of them at once. That looks awesome. Naturally it doesn’t work but it looked cool while it was on. Anderson gets that rolling fireman’s carry slam from the middle rope on Angle so that Hardy can cover both for two.

10:45 now as this has somehow been going 12 minutes. Angle Slam gets two on Hardy. Top rope Angle Slam on Anderson but Hardy gets the cover for two. The fans think this is awesome and it’s not bad. Twist of Fate to Anderson and the Swanton hits. Angle saves into the ankle lock and Hardy is in trouble.

Jeff kicks off and sends Angle into a Mic Check for a VERY close two. Pinfall reversal sequence gets a lot of two counts. Angle is the only one left and hits the moonsault on Hardy for two again as Anderson is still down. Angle and Anderson go at it and block each others’ finishers.

And there goes the referee. Oh blast it. Everyone is down and here comes Eric with a chair. And here it comes. This is what TNA has spent the last 4 months building to. And what a shock: HULK IS HERE! Or at least his music is here. Yep there he is but on crutches. He needs help getting into the ring which I don’t buy.

Hulk looks ticked at Eric who throws the chair out and wipes his hands. Hardy stumbles to his feet on the floor and gets in. Both Bischoff and Hogan have crutches and Hogan gives Jeff his. Angle is up. Hardy pops Angle with the crutch and Hogan points at Jeff. Yes, it appears that Jeff Hardy, the most popular star in the world, is part of They. Twist of Fate to Anderson, and Hardy is world champion.

Rating: B. Ending aside obviously, this was a solid main event. It felt like a big match, but then again I would prefer a singles match for the title. That’s the traditionalist in me talking but if there is a match to end the biggest show of the year, only on very special occasions (this isn’t one of them) should it not be one on one for the world title.

Here comes Jeff Jarrett and Abyss. The fans throw trash in for no apparent reason. Hogan and Abyss hug, and THEY are revealed. Yes, it was Hogan and Bischoff with Hardy all along. RVD comes down and yells at Jeff and is of course laid out. Massive posing ends the show.

Overall Rating: B-. This one took me a very long time to reach as it’s now almost 330 Monday afternoon as I write this. This show, without a doubt, was not boring. The ending was a legit shock and I think lived up to most of the hype, but we’ll get to that later.

As for the rest of the card, there are two important things here. Number one, Lethal vs. Williams was the only standard one on one match. Number two, expect to see a lot less wrestling in the near future. Nothing was incredibly bad, but not a lot really stood out.

What I saw in this card was a great example of an old school WCW card: the opening stuff was great, then the stars come on and things go downhill a bit. For instance, Fourtune loses? Why? I understand the whole heels win at the end so faces have to win something, but dude, Tommy Dreamer beat AJ Styles at the biggest show of the year in 2010. The theory may work fine but when you put it into action that doesn’t mean it works.

And now for the big reason this show has perplexed me so: the main event. The match itself was rather good and considering my disdain for triple threats that’s saying a lot. As for the angle, the best thing I can say about it is that it was shocking. I didn’t see Hardy turning. Hogan and Bischoff I did and I have the LD posts to prove it.

The common issue with the turn is that it makes no sense. It does make sense to a degree but it’s one of those things that you have to suspend a lot of disbelief, think about a lot of things, ignore a lot of things and just accept parts of. That’s rarely good and I don’t think it’s good here.

The big comparison has been to Vince and Austin at Mania 17. Not really as in that it was simple as JR put it: “Steve Austin has sold his soul to the devil himself to win the WWF Title!” There. That’s it. That’s your explanation. There is no conspiracy, there is no hidden meaning, there is nothing but Austin saying he’s not good enough to beat Rock on his own and is taking the shortcut to get what he wants.

This is a huge conspiracy that is going to require a lot of explanation and in which something is going to get fouled up. I’ve said this many times: I don’t want to have to have a pencil and paper and a flow chart to understand an angle. TNA should not be more complicated than Lost.

Now after all that is said, the show was still good I thought. The ending was good. The shock was good. Impact is going to be through the roof for a few weeks. That being said, the real ratings are going to show through in a few weeks. They’ll be most interesting. I was VERY intrigued last night and while I think it came off as a letdown, the PPV has to be viewed as a success, despite Hogan managing to be the focus of the end of ANOTHER major show and angle.

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Impact
Date: June 4, 2004
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Don West

I found this online and had always wanted to do it so here you go. This is the debut episode of Impact, still coming from Orlando and on Fox Sports Net at I believe 3pm EST on Friday afternoons. TNA still hadn’t even had a three hour PPV yet and I doubt Victory Road had even been announced yet, meaning we’re still in the days of the weekly two hour PPVs. Jeff Jarrett is currently champion, having won the title just two days earlier. Let’s get to it.

They still have the six sided ring here.

Team Canada vs. Amazing Red/Sonjay Dutt/Hector Garza

Team Canada is Petey Williams, Eric Young and Bobby Roode. Another very different idea from this point is the time limit on screen. Non-title matches only have ten minute time limits and title matches get thirty minutes. If the match goes to a time limit draw, a judge will decide the winner. The Canadians all bail to the floor to start and there’s the triple dive. We start in the ring with Eric Young (with BIG bushy hair) getting beaten up by Amazing Red until the Canadians take Eric out.

Roode pounds away on Red as the power member of the Canadians, getting two off an elbow. There’s also an ESPN style bottom line, running down results of recent TNA PPVs. Petey gets two off a middle rope bulldog and Coach Scott D’Amore gets in a cheap shot of his own. Back to Roode for a nice suplex before knocking Dutt and Garza out to the floor.

Red comes back with a simultaneous headscissors to Roode and DDT to Young, allowing for the hot tag to Garza. Roode takes him down with a tilt-a-whirl powerbomb as everything breaks down. Red gets two on Roode off a springboard hurricanrana but Petey snaps off the Canadian Destroyer to take Red out. Roode’s Razor’s Edge is countered into a hurricanrana by Dutt, setting up a corkscrew moonsault from Dutt for the pin.

Rating: C. This was fine for an opener with most of the guys busting out all of their dives. It’s the standard formula of throwing some fast paced guys out there to open up a show and it still works as well as anything else. It’s always fun to see how big starts like Roode got their starts as he looked good here.

We recap Jarrett winning the title in the first King of the Mountain match.

Tenay and West talk about how awesome TNA is and introduce a highlight package from their first two years. This includes Toby Keith in TNA…and that’s it. Apparently more highlights are coming next week.

We run down the card for Wednesday’s show.

Shark Boy vs. Abyss

Sharky goes after Abyss and bites his way out of a chokeslam. A high cross body is caught in an easy slam before the Black Hole Slam ends this quick. Total squash for Abyss.

Popeye hugs Shark Boy. Yes the same Popeye you’re thinking of.

Tag Titles: America’s Most Wanted vs. Kid Kash/Dallas

AMW is challenging. The idea is Kash and Dallas have been ducking the only team they know can take the titles but tonight they’re out of places to run. The winners here have to defend against the winners of a fan poll next Wednesday night. Kash and Storm get us going with the Cowboy taking him down by the arm. Off to Harris for a clothesline and bulldog for two but Dallas makes the save.

Back to Storm who gets caught in a hot shot, allowing for the tag off to the big man Dallas. We take a break and come back with Storm superkicking Kash down, only to have Dallas make the save at two. Kash goes to the corner and climbs onto Kash’s shoulders but misses the moonsault, allowing for the hot tag off to Harris. A cross body and clothesline get two each on Dallas as everything breaks down. Dallas loads up Storm in a reverse Razor’s Edge before flipping him down onto his back for a frog splash from Kid but Harris spears Kash down. Dallas kicks Harris in the face but Storm rolls him up for the pin and the titles.

Rating: C+. Basic tag formula here with a title change to give the show some historical significance. AMW continues to be the best team ever in TNA as they have that chemistry that you only see in great teams. Kash and Dallas were just placeholder champions until AMW stopped their singles stuff over the last month or so.

Video on the World X Cup.

Here’s Dusty Rhodes who is acting as the judge in case matches go to the time limit. Dusty talks about tradition and drops names like Thesz, the Funks, the Briscos, AJ Styles and Ron Killings. Not quite the same level but nice idea. Now on to Jeff Jarrett, who slapped tradition in the face when he won the title back earlier this week. Cue Jarrett (West: “The thirty time NWA Champion!”) who says he used to look up to Dusty but that was twenty years ago when Dusty was in the twilight of his career.

If Dusty needs the $200, there are better ways to get it than standing here in Jarrett’s ring. Jeff speaks in cowboy terms, talking about how Dusty is John Wayne and Jeff will give him five paces to get out of Dodge. Dusty slaps him with the cowboy hat and beats on the champion, only to have Jeff come back and load up the guitar until Ron Killings makes the save. Jeff cracks the guitar over Killings’ head but BG James and Konnan make the real save with James swearing vengeance.

Video on the X-Division.

There’s a fourway match for a shot at Kazarian’s X Title. Vince Russo, director of authority, won’t say who the fourth man is.

Chris Sabin vs. Michael Shane vs. Elix Skipper vs. AJ Styles

Styles is a mystery man, revealed about twenty seconds after Russo wouldn’t reveal him. This is his first of about 85 returns to the X-Division. It’s a wild brawl to start as thankfully we don’t have tags in this. Shane and Styles are the only ones left in the ring and AJ does that sweet drop down into a dropkick spot, only to be taken down by a springboard missile dropkick from Sabin.

Skipper kicks Sabin down for two but Shane is back up with forearms. A wheelbarrow suplex puts Skipper down again as the fans are all over Shane. AJ pulls Michael out to the floor but gets suplexed down for his troubles. Skipper slams Sabin for two but gets caught in an Edgecution for two for Sabin. Chris escapes a rollup from AJ and gets two of his own off a springboard tornado DDT.

Shane is back in with a belly to belly on Sabin but gets crotched by AJ, allowing Elix to walk the ropes into a hurricanrana to send Michael to the floor. AJ sends Sabin to the floor and hits a big flip dive to take Skipper down as well. Shane loads up a superkick to Sabin, only to have AJ springboard in with a sunset flip, only to roll through into the Styles Clash for the pin and the title shot.

Rating: C+. Nice insane X-Division match to show off what the X-Division was all about. Styles winning was pretty obvious but that doesn’t make it a bad thing. He’s one of those guys you have to showcase on the first TV show and they did a great job at it here. It’s also still weird to see Sabin as just another guy.

Kazarian comes out for the staredown to end the show.

Overall Rating: B-. This was a solid show actually. They covered a wide variety of stories and parts of the company as well as building up for future shows. That’s a really good job for a debut show, but the fact that they had two years of material already helped them out a lot. Good stuff here though and much better than I was expecting.

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Impact Wrestling
Date: August 29, 2013
Location: Wolstein Center, Cleveland, Ohio
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Tazz

The news of the week is the BFG Series is wrapping up tonight before the September 12 No Surrender special. Apparently six weeks isn’t long enough to have 66 matches and amazingly enough, TNA didn’t catch on to that idea. Other than that we have Hogan for the first time in about a month tonight, though I don’t think a lot of people noticed he was gone. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of last week’s events as is customary.

Here are the Aces to get things going. Ray talks about how D-Von is no longer here with them after losing the fall last week. He wants some answers from the club about what happened last week. Bischoff doesn’t know but he’s just as mad as Ray is. Knux was on the floor fighting Magnus and Rampage which satisfies Ray. Brisco doesn’t know what happened. Anderson doesn’t know either but D-Von knew what the consequences were and it was a disappointment.

Ray goes on a rant against D-Von, saying he was always the sidekick and that Ray never needed him, either before or ever in the future. All Ray needs is Tito Ortiz and he’s going to give Tito his own cut tonight. Anderson FREAKS, saying that Ray doesn’t have the right to do this without putting it to a vote. Ray says get in line before Ray puts him in line and demands Brooke get out here now. Anderson keeps freaking out as Ray puts the cut on Ortiz. Ray pulls off the D-Von patch to really rub it in Anderson’s face. Bully yells at Hulk a bit and says this Brooke is the only one that ever mattered to him.

Jeff Hardy is ready to face Kazarian to get into the BFG Series finals.

Hulk Hogan arrives.

Here are the BFG Series standings coming into tonight.

1. Magnus – 39

2. Bobby Roode – 34

3. Christopher Daniels – 30

4. Austin Aries – 28

5. Samoa Joe – 26

6. Mr. Anderson – 24

6. Jeff Hardy – 24

8. AJ Styles – 22

8. Kazarian – 22

10. Joseph Park – 17

11. Hernandez – 7

11. Jay Bradley – 7

Remember only the top 4 advance.

Bound For Glory Series: Kazarian vs. Jeff Hardy

They trade quick near falls to start before Jeff sends him to the floor for a clothesline off the apron. Back in and Jeff can’t hit the Twist of Fate, getting crotched on the ropes out of the corner instead. Kaz does Hardy’s dance and stomps away before getting two off a leg lariat. Off to a chinlock on Hardy which makes sense here given the need for points.

A knee drop gets two on Hardy but he comes back with the sitout front suplex. Jeff hits the legdrop between the legs and there’s a bad looking figure four of all things. A rope is grabbed and Kaz gets a quick two each off a backslide and a bicycle kick to the face. Jeff comes right back with the Twist of Fate and the Swanton is good for the pin and seven points at 6:12.

Rating: C. Nice little match here as Kaz continues to be solid in the ring. Hardy is one of those guys you almost have to have in the main event scene due to his history and continued popularity. As usual, the solution to some not very interesting stories is having good wrestling like this.

That puts Hardy at 31 points and into third place.

Aces and 8’s are mad at Bully and are talking about impeachment.

Gail Kim vs. ODB

This is 2/3 falls and for a future shot at Mickie James. Gail jumps her to start but gets tossed into the corner for her efforts. A delayed vertical suplex gets two on Gail but ODB tries to jump over her in the corner, only to get dropped down onto the knee. Kim stays on the knee by ramming it into the steps. She hooks a cross between a Sharpshooter and a Texas Cloverleaf, good for the submission from ODB at 3:06.

The second fall starts after a break with Gail still on the leg. Gail is pulled away by the referee, allowing ODB to hook a small package for the second fall at 8:45 total. Kim stays on the leg but ODB clotheslines her down for two more. The knee gives out on a Bam attempt though and Gail wraps ODB’s leg around her own neck. Gail can’t hit Eat Defeat and gets caught in the same hold she won the first fall with for the submission and the win for ODB at 12:43 total.

Rating: D+. Total lack of psychology on the third fall aside, this did nothing for me. ODB is a one joke character who stopped being funny a LONG time ago. This division is dying for some new talent but they’re content to have four girls fight for months at a time with no one new coming in.

Velvet has a surprise for us. She was supposed to be at Hardcore Justice but had some personal issues to deal with. Velvet mentions that she and Sabin are together but won’t go further than that.

Daniels is freaking out that EGO is in trouble in the BFG Series. Roode says calm down because all they have to do is beat Aries and Styles tonight.

Aries says he’ll count on himself to get to the BFG Series finals. He doesn’t know why Styles did what he did last week but Daniels comes in to yell at him for not accepting EGO’s offer. Aries threatens to smack Daniels so hard he’ll start growing hair again.

Hulk doesn’t want to answer questions but he has a huge announcement.

We recap the ten man tag from last week.

Here’s the Mafia (minus the Visa issue having Magnus, which I believe has since been resolved) with something to say. Jackson wants to talk about Tito jumping him with a hammer two weeks ago. He isn’t waiting for their MMA fight (in Bellator on PPV November 2) because every chance he gets he’s going after Ortiz. Joe says they want to recognize AJ Styles for what he did last week and invite him to the ring.

Styles comes out to the slow theme before changing to Get Ready To Fly. AJ thanks them for their recognition but says he needs to do this himself. He says everyone has questions but he has answers. Last Thursday was a one time thing: he is NOT a member of the Mafia but he has no problem with them at all. AJ has developed some trust issues over the last year from being stabbed in the back and having people air his dirty laundry without his permission. Maybe that’s just how the business works though and maybe he can only trust Allen Jones (his real name).

He’s with no one and he’s changed because his perception of the business has changed. AJ says he’s better than the best in the world but this is just a job. People know what it’s like to have a job that sucks but why be the nicest guy in the world when you don’t love what you’re doing. He shouts at Mike Tenay and Dixie Carter that he deserves better. Why should he break his back when Dixie is always looking for the next big thing to come in and save the company? Over the last year he’s wanted to be fired so he could quit, but he’s stayed here and done his job because he has to take care of his family.

Instead he came to this ring and started making people tap out but something started to click in his head. He liked being Dixie’s go to guy who everyone depended on to steal the show. He can still be the best in the world and he can still be that go to guy. AJ says he’s going to Bound For Glory to become the new world heavyweight champion. Outstanding promo here with AJ summing up his entire story in just a few minutes.

Bound For Glory Series: AJ Styles vs. Bobby Roode

AJ needs a submission to make the top four. They trade arm locks to start and AJ goes for a quick Calf Killer, only to send Roode to the floor. Back in and we get the drop down from AJ but Roode holds the ropes to avoid the dropkick. AJ sends him into the ropes again and now the dropkick sends Roode to the outside. Styles dives to the floor to take Roode out before hooking a reverse chinlock back inside. Roode comes back with a spinebuster and cranks on AJ’s arms for a lame submission attempt.

Styles drills him in the face and clotheslines Roode down before hitting a top rope Lionsault. AJ pulls up at one because he needs the submission and drops Roode with the Pele. The springboard forearm is countered into the Crossface but AJ gets his feet into the ropes. Roode puts it back on in the middle of the ring but AJ rolls out and puts on the Calf Killer, only to have Bobby make the rope. Roode kicks off a figure four but his fisherman’s suplex is countered into a small package for the pin at 7:12.

Rating: B. I was really liking this match with the psychology working very well. Styles won on instinct and looked dejected after pinning Roode. Roode can work well when he has a good opponent like Styles in there and this was no exception. Very good match here due to the solid psychology but the work made it even better.

Hogan is going to talk after the main event.

Bound For Glory Series: Austin Aries vs. Christopher Daniels

Daniels takes him down to start but Aries jumps over him in the corner and rakes Daniels’ back. They hit the mat off an Aries armdrag followed by a hard dropkick to the face for two. Back up and Daniels sends him to the floor, only to miss a slingshot moonsault. Daniels blocks the suicide dive with a knee to the head and we take a break. Back with Daniels getting two off what appeared to be a moonsault and hooking a chinlock.

Aries escapes an abdominal stretch and they clothesline each other. Austin fires off left hands in the corner and brings back the pendulum elbow for two. Daniels is sent to the floor and now the suicide dive connects for Aries. Back in and Aries misses a dive off the top, allowing Daniels to hit a Blue Thunder Bomb for two. Aries comes back with a missile dropkick and a running dropkick in the corner. Daniels counters the brainbuster in the Last Rites (Cross Rhodes) for two. Back up and they slug it out with Aries hitting a quick running dropkick and the brainbuster gets him seven points at 11:15.

Rating: B. Another very fun match here with Daniels hanging in there with Aries move for move. The win puts Aries into the final four which is probably the right idea, though I’m not sure where they’re going with AJ giving a big impassioned speech and then having him finish in the middle of the pack. Good match here though which is a nice theme tonight.

Here are the final standings:

1. Magnus – 39

2. Austin Aries – 35

3. Bobby Roode – 34

4. Jeff Hardy – 31

5. Christopher Daniels – 30

6. AJ Styles – 29

7. Samoa Joe – 26

8. Mr. Anderson – 24

9. Kazarian – 22

10. Joseph Park – 17

11. Hernandez – 7

11. Jay Bradley – 7

Ray says he needs Ortiz’s help with Hogan tonight.

Here’s Hogan for his latest HUGE announcement. He praises Cleveland before talking about the BFG Series. See, in his meetings with network executives, he decided there’s going to be a gauntlet match next week for 20 more points. Hogan has another piece of business to tend to but here are Ray and Brooke to interrupt. Hogan cuts them off and pulls out some divorce papers for Ray to sign.

Ray kicks them away and brags about using Brooke (Hogan) to get where he is today. Hogan asks Ray if he knows who he is. In two weeks at No Surrender, it’s going to be Ray defending against a member of Aces and 8’s. Ray says no but Hogan says yes he is. Hogan says Ray is defending this week (I guess he meant next week) as well against…..Sting. You know, the guy who lost at Slammiversary so he would NEVER get another title shot. Sting beats Ray down to end the show.

Overall Rating: B-. This is what TNA is capable of when they cut out a lot of the stupid angles and focus on the in ring action instead of trying to out drama the WWE. You get a fun show that flew by and sets up future events. The impending implosion of the Aces and 8’s is a breath of fresh air around here as it’s been going on WAY too long already. Good, fun show this week, assuming you don’t mind rules being made up on the fly.

Results

Jeff Hardy b. Kazarian – Swanton Bomb

ODB b. Gail Kim – Texas Cloverleaf

AJ Styles b. Bobby Roode – Small Package

Austin Aries b. Christopher Daniels – Brainbuster

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Impact Wrestling
Date: August 8, 2013
Location: Kay Yeager Center, Wichita, Texas
Commentators: Taz, Jeremy Borash

It’s the go home show for Hardcore Justice, which means tonight isn’t likely to be all that interesting. The main story is going to be the fallout from Tito Ortiz debuting last week, meaning expect to hear the word Bellator a lot tonight. I’m not interested in two MMA guys fighting, especially when they’re part of the Mafia vs. Aces feud which isn’t doing much for anyone. Let’s get to it.

Here are the Aces to open things up but it’s only Taz, Ray and Anderson. Taz and Anderson sit down on commentary and yell at JB. There’s no Tenay in sight so I guess JB is taking his place for awhile. Ray talks about how we all saw the August 1 warning last week and it was Tito Ortiz. No one does surprises like Ray, so don’t mess with him or Tito will get smacked. Tonight it’s Team 3D vs. Sabin/a member of the Mafia. It doesn’t matter who the partner is because next week, Sabin is locked inside of a cage with Bully Ray and the title is coming home.

Ray calls Sabin out for a contract signing for next week and says the belt looks horrible on Chris. Sabin says looks can be deceiving because earlier this year, Ray was walking around pretending to be the hero of TNA. A month ago no one would have said Sabin could have beaten Ray except one person: Sabin himself. He didn’t bring the hammer into the ring and next week there won’t be a hammer to swing. Ray tells Hogan to bring the contract out here but gets Brooke instead of Hulk.

Brooke says Hulk is in Dallas tonight researching contracts. She has an email from him which says if Ray loses next week, he never gets another title shot. Ray says he isn’t going to be bullied by a Hogan. Brooke comes to the ring and implies Ray is rather small. There’s an image I could have done without. Ray and Sabin both sign and this very stupid segment comes to an end.

Bound For Glory Series: Samoa Joe vs. Jeff Hardy

Jeff quickly gets to the ropes to escape a wristlock and sends Joe to the floor via a headscissors. A clothesline off the apron puts Joe down but he comes back in with a running charge in the corner followed by an enziguri. Jeff rolls to the floor and the elbow suicide puts him down as we take a break. Back with Joe hitting a spinebuster and dropping an elbow for two. We hit the chinlock on Hardy before Joe just punches him down in the corner.

Joe powerbombs Hardy down and goes to an STF into the Rings of Saturn into a crucifix for two. Nice sequence. Hardy fights up and hits some clotheslines followed by a basement dropkick for two. The Whisper in the Wind gets the same but Hardy charges into a release Rock Bottom for two. The Muscle Buster is countered into the Twist of Fate which is countered into the Koquina Clutch. Hardy gets out with a jawbreaker and rolls Joe up for the pin at 12:03. Apparently Anderson distracted Joe to let Jeff get out.

Rating: C+. This wasn’t bad but the ending didn’t work for the most part. Anderson could have at least gotten on the apron for a distraction but instead we just saw a closeup of his face. You would have expected these two to have better chemistry but instead it was just going through some good motions until the end.

Daniels doesn’t know why Kaz is being selfish about the Series. He’s the captain of Bad Influence and ahead in the Series, meaning it’s his time and not Kaz’s.

Bound For Glory Series: Magnus vs. Mr. Anderson

Anderson runs him over with a shoulder to start but runs into a big boot to the face. Magnus backdrops him out to the floor but Magnus is sent hard into the steps to put him down. Back in and Anderson drives his shoulder into Magnus’ shoulder before running him over with a shoulder block. Off to a top wristlock for a few moments before Magnus counters a suplex, only to be caught in a DDT on the arm for two.

Back up and Magnus scores with a clothesline followed by something resembling a Snow Plow for no cover. Magnus goes up top but has to fight off a superplex attempt. Instead he knocks Anderson down but TOTALLY misses the top rope elbow. Cue Bobby Roode with a chair to lay out Anderson, giving him the win via DQ at 7:30, meaning Magnus loses ten points.

Rating: D+. This was slow paced until the end and the arm work never went anywhere at all. Roode is likely trying to set up something later on which is fine but the Aces and 8’s are dragging the show down. We’re 50 minutes in and literally every segment has had the Aces involved. That’s WAY too much and it’s not good for the rest of the show.

Roode says he just changed the landscape and it’s just the beginning.

Magnus says he’ll get the ten points back.

Bromance says they kicked Tara to the curb because it’s Bro Mans before romance. Mickie comes in and says she’ll take care of ODB if they take care of Storm/Gunner.

Video on Tito Ortiz.

Sting and Angle come up to see Sabin in the back for no apparent reason other than for him to tell him about some plan. Ok then.

Here’s Tito Ortiz for his big talk but Kurt Angle interrupts him before anything can be said. Kurt says he respects what Tito has accomplished but he’s in Angle’s world now. Didn’t he say the same stuff to Jackson? Angle has earned the right to be called the greatest of all time. He’ll respect Ortiz’s space as long as Ortiz respects his. Tito says that’s loud and clear and here’s Ray AGAIN. Ray says he doesn’t respect either guy because he could take either guy out with ease. He introduces himself to Ortiz and threatens to slap Ortiz in the face if Tito gets in his way.

Bro Mans/Mickie James vs. Gunner/James Storm/ODB

Storm throws Robbie around to start and hits a running neckbreaker to take him down. Jesse gets in a cheap shot from the corner to take over before coming in legally to fire off shoulders in the corner. Robbie comes back in but gets caught in a Backstabber, allowing for the hot tag off to Gunner. An Irish Curse puts Robbie down and the girls come in for some brawling. Gunner’s torture rack is broken up by Jesse but Storm hits a GREAT superkick to Godderz, setting up the powerslam/neckbreaker combination to Robbie for the pin at 4:17.

Rating: D+. In other words, the team that was supposed to dominate did dominate and the ending was exactly what you would expect it to be. The tag division is somehow more dead than usual here as I can’t think of a fourth tag team at the moment other than these two and Bad Influence. The match was nothing and the girls never even got in.

Gail Kim comes out to brawl with ODB post match.

Kazarian says he’ll win tonight.

Team 3D is ready for the tag match tonight.

Bound For Glory Series: Kazarian vs. Christopher Daniels

Feeling out process with both guys grabbing arm holds to start. Kaz hooks a quick headlock and a rollup for two before it’s back to the headlock. They trade near falls until it breaks into a brief slugout…..and they walk to the ramp for a double countout at 4:03.

Rating: D. Please……let this show just end now. Next.

Post match Roode comes out with the chair but drops it on the ramp. He says everyone is talking about the Mafia and the Aces and the MMA guys. Everyone has been forgetting the three of them who comprise ¼ of the BFG Series. Roode calls the three of them a new force who will own the Series going forward. Yes, they’re actually having ANOTHER stable.

Tito Ortiz will have answers for us next week.

Next week it’s Hardy vs. Styles vs. Kaz vs. Aries in a ladder match for 20 points.

Video on next week’s ten man tag.

Team 3D vs. Chris Sabin/???

The partner is Sting, shocking no one at all. Actually scratch that as Angle sneaks in and becomes the partner instead, still not surprising anyone. It’s a brawl to start with Team 3D being rammed into each other. The fans chant USA, prompting Taz to say the only intelligent thing of the night: “New York City is in the USA.” Angle and D-Von get things going but it’s quickly off to Ray who is armdragged down.

Off to Sabin to stay on the arm for a bit before Angle comes back in. Ray takes him down by the leg and it’s off to D-Von who is taken down easily as well. Sabin comes back in but gets clipped in the knee, setting up What’s Up as we take our last break. Back with D-Von slamming Sabin down so Ray can shout that this is nothing compared to next week.

Ray goes after the knee but Sabin finally escapes and makes the hot tag to D-Von. Kurt cleans house and hits the Slam on Ray for two but D-Von breaks up whatever Angle had in mind. Angle charges into a Rock Bottom for two but reverses the Bully Bomb into an ankle lock. Ray kicks Kurt’s head off to put him down but Sabin tags himself in and hits a missile dropkick on Bully.

Sabin ducks a D-Von clothesline to send it into Ray as everything breaks down. Angle takes the 3D and Ray wants the tables. The table is set up in the corner but Ray’s charge misses, sending him through it himself. A high cross body from Sabin is good for the pin on Ray at 16:43.

Rating: C. I’m not going to lie to you: I was so bored by this show that I was barely paying attention to the main event. That NEVER happens and is a really bad sign when they have a big show coming up next week. Sabin is clearly a lame duck champion which is even worse when you consider the biggest show of the year is coming up, making the title change seem pointless. Standard main event tag match here.

Overall Rating: D-. Oh my goodness this was terrible. The first hour literally didn’t have an arena segment without the Aces and 8’s and then the last twenty minutes is an Aces tag match. On top of that there’s ANOTHER alliance formed which is the last thing people have been asking for. Next week should be better but they couldn’t telegraph a new champion harder than they are right now. This show was just boring with nothing of note going on for two hours and a gimmick show next month. There’s just WAY too much time between PPVs and it’s clear we’re just killing time until October. One of the worst shows in a LONG time.

Results

Jeff Hardy b. Samoa Joe – Jawbreaker

Mr. Anderson b. Magnus via DQ when Bobby Roode interfered

Gunner/James Storm/ODB b. Mickie James/Bro Mans – Powerslam/neckbreake combination to Robbie

Christopher Daniels vs. Kazarian went to a double countout

Chris Sabin/Kurt Angle b. Team 3D – High Cross Body to Ray

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WWA: The Reckoning
Date: June 8, 2003 (Taped May 25, 2003)
Location: North Shore Events Centre, Auckland, New Zealand
Attendance: 3,000
Commentators: Jeremy Borash, Glenn Gilbertti

This is the final show for the company and they knew that going in. Therefore, tonight is all about unifying titles into either NWA or TNA belts, meaning you can see a lot of the results already. It’s also a much smaller card with just six matches in the entire show. That really doesn’t make me all that upset. Let’s get to it.

Some native Australians do a war dance.

We get a clip of Sting winning the world title at a house show. Jarrett is here tonight with the NWA World Title for a unification match.

Opening sequence.

Rick Steiner vs. Mark Mercedes

Mercedes is an Australian wrestler, rightly making him the heel in the match. He runs his mouth about how much better Australia is than New Zealand to really endear himself to the people. They start with a brawl on the floor with Steiner being whipped into the barricade. Naturally he doesn’t sell it and backdrops Mark in the ring before putting on a Crossface of all things. Mercedes comes back with a release German suplex for two and a forearm takes Steiner down again.

Off to a front facelock followed by a chinlock with Rick in trouble. The fans are all over Mark here and Rick comes back with a boot in the corner and some Steiner Lines. An overhead suplex puts Mercedes down but Mercedes comes back with some shots in the corner. He puts Rick on the middle rope but gets punched down, allowing the Steiner Bulldog to connect for the pin.

Rating: D+. This wasn’t terrible and the fans were way into it due to some cheap my country is better than yours head. Yeah it’s cheap heat, but at the end of the day it got the fans to boo the heel and cheer the face so it’s doing its job. Steiner was his usual stiff and no selling self but the match wasn’t horrible.

The lights go out and Sting is in the rafters. He talks about being in Kiwi Country and being back in black, which is apparently a battle cry for a rugby team. Jarrett’s guitar is nothing but an Australian wallaby and tonight it’s showtime.

Puppet vs. Teo vs. Meatball

Here’s something I won’t miss at all about this promotion. Puppet goes into a rant about wanting to kill all the midgets in the world so he’ll be the only one left, making him the real star. See, midgets are always the real star of a show. Meatball and Puppet team up to take out Total E Outstanding (just go with it) but Puppet turns on Meatball a few seconds in. Teo goes after both of them to start but gets punched down by Puppet.

Teo comes back with a low headbutt to Meatball in the corner but a double team takes Teo down. The 250lb Meatball turns on Puppet and hits a cartwheel into an elbow for two. Meatball accidentally sends Puppet to the floor and a Swanton Bomb from Teo is good for the pin. At least it was, ahem, short.

Johnny Swinger says he’s going to win the Cruiserweight Title and the X Title tonight.

Kazarian says he’s the future and it looks good.

Konnan vs. Devon Storm

Hardcore. Konnan jumps over him in the corner to start but gets caught by a kendo stick to the ribs for two. Gilbertti: “SHOOT HIM BETWEEN THE EYES! That’s hardcore!” They trade some shots with Konnan getting the better of it but the fans want tables. A trashcan lid to Storm’s head gets two and a rolling lariat sends him to the floor. Konnan rips up the barricade and sends Storm into it before heading to the entrance and sending Storm into the island set.

Storm comes back and kicks Konnan to the floor as the camera starts messing up. Back at ringside Devon bridges the barricade between the steps and ring before getting two off a splash in the ring. Konnan whips him onto the barricade for two and a suplex back in gets the same. A chair is wedged into the corner but Konnan is sent face first into it for two. Konnan is sandwiched between a chair and Crowbar for a northern lights suplex. Storm puts him on the bridged barricade again and hits a flip dive over the top for the pin. It’s as out of nowhere as it sounds.

Rating: D. It’s another dull match with a bunch of weapon shots that meant nothing at all. Storm didn’t do anything but hardcore in this company which is annoying as he can do some decent regular stuff too. Konnan was his usual self here but the match wasn’t anything interesting at all.

Chris Sabin says he’s retaining his title and winning the WWA Title.

Jerry Lynn says he’s retaining his title and winning the X Division Title.

WWA Cruiserweight Title/TNA X-Division Title: Kazarian vs. Jerry Lynn vs. Johnny Swinger vs. Chris Sabin

One fall to a finish here and the winner gets both titles. Thankfully there are no tags here and it’s a big brawl from the start. Everyone misses a flip dive before trying a quick rollup for two each leading to a fourway stalemate. We get three straight armdrags to send everyone across the ring until Sabin is left alone with Kaz. A big kick to the head gets two for Sabin but Kaz takes over while the other two brawl on the floor. Back to the Future (Sabin is on Kaz’s shoulder with Kaz dropping back into a cover) gets two and a hard clothesline gets the same.

Swinger finally comes back in to stomp Kaz into the corner before hooking up with Sabin for a double flapjack. Lynn comes in off the top to take both Kaz and Sabin down with a cross body and a bad looking rana puts Kaz down. Swinger puts Lynn in the figure four as the other two are out on the floor. Sabin and Kaz come off the top to break it up and both get two counts.

It’s Sabin and Lynn alone in the ring with Jerry hitting a hurricanrana and a dropkick for two. Lynn hooks a German suplex on Kaz but Sabin hits a sunset flip on Lynn at the same time for a double two count. Swinger makes the save and puts Sabin in an Indian Deathlock but Lynn puts Swinger in a dragon sleeper at the same time, only to have Kaz hook a reverse cravate on Lynn, all at the same time. Kaz finally turns it around into a double reverse DDT for two on Jerry.

Lynn loads up a dive on Swinger but walks into a superkick from Kaz, allowing Kaz to hit the big dive on Swinger instead. Lynn dives on both guys after getting a running start off an Irish whip from Sabin. Sabin hits a big dive onto all three guys to put everyone down. Sabin monkey flips Kaz into a double clothesline to take the other two down before Sabin belly to back superplexes Kaz off the top in another big crash.

We get the parade of finishers with Lynn hitting a TKO on Swinger for two. Kaz gets two on Sabin after a slingshot DDT and the Tower of Doom gets two for Jerry. Swinger hits a Boss Man Slam for two on Lynn and a spinning backbreaker gets the same for Sabin on Kaz. Sabin’s tornado DDT puts Swinger on the floor and Lynn counters a piledriver on Kaz into Sheamus’ White Noise for two. Sabin and Kaz are left alone in the ring with Chris hitting a MuscleBuster on a crotched Kaz for the pin and the titles.

Rating: C+. This was fun but it was every stereotype of a multiman cruiserweight match you could think of rolled into one. The problem with this comes down to feeling like I’ve seen it all before which doesn’t make it all that exciting. The ending was obvious of course but there’s only so much you can do about that.

Here’s Shane Douglas with something to say. We get the required ECW chant before Shane goes on a rant about Vince McMahon and how he made ECW into an awesome place. Shane rips on the national rugby team and New Zealand in general, saying New Zealand is the stepchild of Australia. The question is who made ECW great: Shane or Sabu. The fans chant for Sabu as Shane talks about suffering a career ending arm injury a few weeks ago. Shane doesn’t care about the injury and wants to fight Sabu right now.

This brings out Joe E. Legend who says we can’t do that because he knows more about Shane than any other wrestler in the world. Legend is hurt because he wanted to see Douglas beat up Sabu. He insults New Zealand as well as Borash rifles through disclaimers about how WWA doesn’t think this badly about the country. Legend lists off Douglas’ accomplishments and we get the WHAT treatment. This just keeps going as we’re waiting on Sabu to come out. Legend offers to fight Sabu for Shane and that’s all cool.

Sabu vs. Joe E. Legend

Shane jumps in on commentary to further annoy me. Legend quickly takes it to the mat into a headscissors before we get to the insane stuff. Joe wins a quick slugout and chokes in the corner but gets caught in a springboard tornado DDT for two. We head to the floor for a flip dive by Sabu before Legend stomps away back inside. They head back outside for a big springboard dive from Sabu as Shane blames Sabu for killing ECW.

We get our first table brought in but Legend runs him over with a clothesline before it could be set up. Sabu is busted open as Legend spears him into the barricade. Some right hands have no effect on Joe so he gets two off a big boot to the face back inside. We hit the chinlock until Legend kicks a chair into Sabu’s back for no cover. Sabu pelts the chair into Joe’s face and an Arabian facebuster with the chair gets two.

There’s the camel clutch on Legend but Joe gets to the ropes pretty quickly. Legend comes back with a northern lights suplex as the fans want the table. Joe is sent to the apron and knocked over the table so we can brawl on the floor a bit. That goes nowhere so Joe takes him back inside and gets two off a powerbomb. Sabu crotches him on the top and hooks a top rope rana for two. Joe avoids a top rope splash and kicks Sabu in the head for two. A chokeslam powerbomb gets two on Sabu but the fans still want the table.

Legend’s Vader Bomb only hits chair and an Arabian Press gets two. Air Sabu is caught in a fireman’s carry drop sending Sabu face first onto the chair. Sabu finally puts him on the table and the triple jump legdrop sends Legend through it to pop the crowd. Back in and the chair is pelted into Legend’s face again before going up top. After breaking up a superplex attempt, the top rope Arabian Facebuster is good for the pin.

Rating: D. This wasn’t terrible but it was LONG, running nearly 18 minutes, or a lot longer than any Sabu match should last. Legend was decent enough but he isn’t the most exciting guy in the world. All the fans wanted to see was Sabu put someone through a table so the match could have ended after that point. Not bad, but WAY too long.

Shane and Legend lay out Sabu with Shane’s cast.

Here’s WWA boss Andrew McManus to introduce Bret Hart. This is just after his stroke so Bret isn’t in the best condition. Bret talks about hearing from someone in the WWE who said his stock was at an all time low when he appeared on a WWA show. He doesn’t have stock in wrestling because he’s long since retired. Yesterday was the four year anniversary of Owen’s death and Owen would be proud of Bret for being here.

Hart talks about British Bulldog, Miss Elizabeth and Curt Hennig all passing away in the past year. After his stroke he got emails from all over the world and he thought it was because he was the world champion and not just the WWE Champion. Bret says the Hitman is a real character and what you see is what you get with him. He thanks the fans and leaves so the main event can happen. This was designed to be a feel good moment and there’s nothing wrong with that.

Jarrett says he’s going to leave with two world titles.

WWA World Title/NWA World Title: Sting vs. Jeff Jarrett

They fight over a lockup to start with Sting shoving Jarrett away. A pair of shoulder put Jarrett down and we have a standoff. Jeff comes back with right hands and struts a bit but Sting comes back with some atomic drops and a bulldog to send Jeff to the outside. They head to the floor for some brawling with Jeff being sent into the announce table over and over.

Back in and Gilbertti is freaking out over Sting destroying his work area. Sting fires down right hands at Jeff’s head but Jarrett hits him low to escape. Jarrett sends him face first into some buckles but keeps stopping to pose. Gilbertti: “Right now Sting is on queer street.” A clothesline gets a few near falls for Jarrett as Gilbertti points out that Jeff clearly isn’t going to pin him so why let Sting get a breather instead of pounding on him?

Jeff elbows Sting in the jaw but still won’t go in for the kill. Instead he puts on a sleeper but Sting elbows out, only to have his splash hit Jeff’s knees. Back up and they ram heads to set up Sting’s collapsing headbutt to the groin. Sting misses the Stinger Splash but saves himself from crashing, only to play possum on Jarrett.

Jeff gets the guitar but Sting hits it with the bat to save himself. Some bat shots to the knee sets up the Stinger Splash but the second hits the referee. There’s the Scorpion Death Drop but there’s no referee. Instead Joey Legend comes out with the guitar but Rick Steiner makes the save. Sting splashes both villains but Rick breaks up the Scorpion with a guitar shot to the head to give Jarrett the pin.

Rating: C-. It’s Jarrett vs. Sting with both guys somewhat trying. This is one of those pairings where you know they’re going to put on a passable match no matter what they do so this isn’t a surprise at all. It’s interesting to see Sting when he was still somewhat young and trying so the match wasn’t a disappointment at all.

Overall Rating: D+. It’s not worth watching but this wasn’t the worst show in the world. It’s about two hours long and two of the good matches run over twelve minutes each so there’s some redeeming value here. The promotion closed after this which was the right move. TNA was taking the place that WWA was designed to fill so there was no point to this company existing anymore. This could have been a lot worse though so at least they didn’t go out on the bottom.

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

Impact Wrestling
Date: April 25, 2013
Location: Kovalchick Complex, Indiana, Pennsylvania
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Taz, Todd Keneley

We’re live again in a city I’ve never heard of. After last week the main story is that AJ walked away while the Bikers beat down James Storm. That doesn’t mean Styles has joined up with them but it does mean that the story must continue. Other than that it’s hard to say what’s coming because nothing of note seems to be continuing over to this week. At least we’re live though. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap from last week with Ray saying he wanted to see Hulk face to face tonight.

The Bikers arrive and are met by security but Ray shouts his way past them.

Here’s James Storm to open things up. He says he’s still feeling the effects of the fight last week and here’s Styles standing in the crowd. Storm says he isn’t going to cry over spilled milk because he’s a beer drinker. However, he does have something to say about the Aces and 8’s who jumped him last week. If they want a fight, all they have to do is ask him. If any of them want a fight one on one, come see him.

Instead he gets Bad Influence who were also attacked by the bikers last week. Hogan may not have an answer to Aces and 8’s, but the two of them do. The magic number to stop Aces and 8’s is four, as in Fourtune. Kaz says AJ needs to stop looking like a Twilight vampire because they forgive him. He offers to reform Fourtune to fight the bikers but AJ doesn’t move.

Storm doesn’t seem interested so Kaz calls him irrelevant. The brawl is on and Storm gets beaten down and left laying after a low blow. Here come Aces and 8’s and Anderson loads up a powerbomb through a table, but Joseph Park comes in for a save. He gets beaten down as well. AJ is still standing stoically as Knucks and Doc load up a double chokeslam on Park….but Bully calls them off. Instead it’s a 3D through the table (kind of as Ray never got the Cutter correctly) and the bikers stand tall.

Post break Park is taken out on a stretcher and Aces and 8’s are still in the ring. Ray talks about how no one can stop them and Hogan has until the end of the show to answer the challenge.

Tenay tells us that Hogan has left the building for no apparent reason.

We get a video on Mickie James beating Tessmacher to earn the title shot.

Taryn Terrell vs. Tara

Before the bell, Hogan is here so apparently he was off doing something. No Jesse with Tara here but she jumps Taryn to start. Terrell comes back with a jumping neckbreaker and some hair drags, only to be draped over the top rope to stop her cold. Tara sends her chest first into the buckle and slams Taryn face first into the mat a few times. Off to a bridging Indian Deathlock by Tara followed by some rollups for two.

Tara yells at referee ODB before choking Taryn in the air. A slingshot sends Taryn’s throat into the bottom rope for two more but Tara misses the slingshot legdrop. Taryn goes up top but misses a cross body, allowing Tara to hit the spinning side slam for no cover. Tara loads up the shaky moonsault but gets rolled up for the pin at 6:36.

Rating: C-. The match sucked for the most part but I’ve seen worse. The most impressive thing about this was probably Taryn. Yeah she sucks in the ring, but considering she’s only there for her looks and how good she fills out a tiny pair of shorts, I’ve seen FAR worse. Not terrible here but too long.

Robbie tries to fire up Jesse for his match later with Rob Terry. Once Jesse wins, he goes down in history with the great Bro’s of all time: George Washington, Al Bundy and Oprah. Jesse says he doesn’t need Robbie’s help.

Rob Terry vs. Jesse Godderz

Terry runs over Jesse to start as I guess the battle of the Rob’s is just continuing. Robbie E tries to distract Terry but Rob throws Jesse around by the throat. A second try at the distraction works a bit better and Jesse gets in some shots to the back and a dropkick. Jesse goes up but jumps into a powerslam for two as Robbie grabs the referee’s feet. Jesse tries to jump Terry again but gets launched into Robbie instead. Back in and the big spinebuster gets the pin on Jesse at 2:55.

Bad Influence offers Roode a spot in Fourtune. He thinks about it and Aries is lurking behind a wall.

We look at the Full Metal Mayhem match from a few weeks ago. Apparently Hardy is considering walking away from wrestling due to his injuries in that match.

Chris Sabin is coming back from injury.

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

Before the match Aries talks to Roode in the back and asks if Fourtune is what Roode wants to do. If they were so awesome, why did they just break up so fast? If they’re so great, why was Aries the one that beat him for the world title? Daniels has replaced Tenay on commentary for this match. Aries rides Chavo down to start and spins around on him, only to walk into a dropkick. Off to Hernandez for a splash for two on Roode before the delayed suplex puts Bobby down again.

SuperMex misses his running dive from the ramp and Roode pounds away. Off to Aries with the slingshot hilo followed by an Eddie dance for two. Roode comes back in for a Russian legsweep for two and here’s Aries with a front facelock. Hernandez makes a comeback with Daniels blaming Aries for the mistakes and calling Roode a ring sergeant.

Chavo tries the Three Amigos but has to settle for a spinning DDT on Roode. Everything breaks down but a Kazarian distraction lets Roode hit the spinebuster, only to have Hernandez kick Bobby into the ropes, crotching Aries in the process. Kaz interferes again and Daniels sneaks in….and accidentally take out Roode. Chavo Frog Splashes Roode to retain at 8:55.

Rating: C+. Bad Influence and Aries/Roode are some of the most entertaining guys in the sport right now, so we can’t get the tag belts off Chavo/Hernandez because…..someone complete that sentence for me. Why in the world do we have to sit through those two with the belts for so long? Their matches are pretty good but other than that there’s NOTHING of interest about them.

Matt Morgan says he’ll explain his solution to TNA’s problems in the ring and Hogan is invited.

We look at Hogan’s mistakes over the last few weeks.

Here’s Morgan in the ring to talk about Hogan’s mistakes. It started with Ray being allowed into the Hogan family and then naming him #1 contender to the world title. Morgan talks about Sting and Hogan being best friends for twenty plus years (I laughed out loud) and causing Hardy to be stretchered out. Cue Hulk for the showdown.

The fans chant for Hogan as Morgan says Hulk is out of backup. Tonight the bikers are going to beat Hogan down so Morgan offers himself as the solution to Aces and 8’s. He says that if Hulk gives him the chance, he’ll Carbon Footprint Ray’s head into the fifth row. However, there’s a catch: Morgan has to get the title shot at Slammiversary. Hulk says he Matt had him believing but at the end of the day, Morgan has done too much to Hogan for give him his shot. Hogan: “I never heard Andre the Giant whining.” Uh Hulk…..where were you when Wrestlemania III was being set up?

Bully makes the Bikers swear to not interfere.

You can vote for who gets an X Title shot.

Knockouts Title: Mickie James vs. Velvet Sky

The fans are extra excited for some reason here. Feeling out process to start until Velvet (defending here) hits a kick to the back and a low dropkick for two. She seems to be favoring her recently injured knee though. The knee gives out in the middle of an Irish whip and Mickie gets a fast two count. A kneeling leg lock has Velvet in trouble and we take a break.

Back with Mickie still cranking on the knee but Sky uses the good leg to kick out of the corner. The champion’s knee is suddenly FINE and she fights back with clotheslines and chops. A hard whip takes out the knee but Velvet hits a quick Russian legsweep for two. Mickie gets the same off the Thesz Press from the top and backdrops out of In Yo Face. The MickieDT is countered but the knee gives out again. Mickie dropkicks the knee….and is small packaged for the pin to keep the title on Velvet at 11:10. It’s as quick as it sounds.

Rating: D+. The story was fine but Velvet continues to be embarrassing in the ring. The knee suddenly being fine was really annoying and the ending was botched beyond belief. I couldn’t tell who got the pin until the music was playing and that’s not a good sign at all. Nothing to see here and I have no idea why they’re keeping the title on Velvet other than to give it to Terrell eventually.

Bully Ray says he’s finishing Hogan tonight.

Hulk is talking to Brooke and we get some bad acting from the daughter. Hulk promises he’ll be right back and has to do this alone.

Here’s Ray in the ring to list off everyone Aces and 8’s have taken out. There’s only Hogan left so get out here right now. Ray gets in Hogan’s face and says Hogan fears him because Ray reminds Hulk of himself. Ray says they’re both the last of a dying breed but Hulk says Hulkamania will never die.

The champ spits in Hogan’s face so Hogan tears the shirt open and points the finger in Hulk’s face. Ray points a finger in Hulk’s face and the fight is on. Ray of course runs and says surround the ring. Hogan is in trouble but the lights go out and Sting appears for the save. The Bikers run away and the old guys stare each other down to end the show.

Overall Rating: C-. This wasn’t their best work. The Hogan stuff was by far the focus of the show and Hulk continued to prove why he’s kind of an idiot as GM. The wrestling was nothing special at all and this did nothing to make me want to see where this is going. It all feels like we’ve seen this before, which we have although it was in WCW. Now that story was sixteen years ago so it’s more than fair grounds to copy it, but at least give us something different. Not much to see here.

Results

Taryn Terrell b. Tara – Rollup

Rob Terry b. Jesse Godderz – Spinebuster

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

Velvet Sky b. Mickie James – Small Package

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book on the History of the WWE Championship from Amazon for just $5 at:

X-Travaganza
Date: April 5, 2013
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Taz

This is the first in a series of shows TNA is putting on called One Night Only. Since they’ve drastically cut back on the number of PPVs they air a year, these shows are supposed to fill in the gaps. They’re completely non-storyline based and will all have a theme, such as this one which is all about the X-Division. This was taped back in January I believe. Let’s get to it.

We open with a look back at the history of the X-Division, which is a good flashback for modern fans because the current stuff is so far removed from the old days. A lot of the focus here is on Joe and Aries, which I believe is the main event tonight.

Ultimate X is back tonight. Cool.

Yeah Aries vs. Joe tonight.

Tonight we’re going to be looking at the Top Ten X-Division Moments. If Unbreakable isn’t #1, this list is a joke. AJ winning the first X Title is #10. Good match that.

Matt Bentley vs. Alex Silva vs. Lince Dorado vs. Sam Shaw vs. Puma vs. Jimmy Rave vs. Christian York

This is an X-Scape match, which means it’s pin/submission under elimination rules until we’re down to two, then the first person to get out of the cage wins. Bentley (then Michael Shane) winning the first Ultimate X match is moment #9. Shawn, York and Silva are Gut Check guys (actually Silva and Shaw were OVW Tag Team Champions as the Gutcheckers until about a week ago). The rest used to be in the X-Division but most of them aren’t much to talk about. Thankfully you have to tag here so things aren’t completely insane.

Dorado (who I don’t think has ever wrestled in TNA actually) and Silva start things off. Lince flips over Silva in the corner and armdrags Silva down before climbing another corner for a nice rana. Off to York to face Dorado but Lince is quickly replaced by Puma. York escapes a rana attempt but Puma does an Ultimo Dragon headstand in the corner before coming out with a headscissors for no cover.

Rave and Silva take over on York with some double stomping before only Jimmy stays in. Everything breaks down with everyone inside and Dorado and York pounding away on Rave in the corner. Dorado hits a tornado DDT on Christian for two as things settle down. York comes back with knee lifts and a neckbreaker to take Lince down. Off to Shawn vs. Silva with Sam hitting some dropkicks to take over. Bentley comes in again and suplexes Shaw down before hitting his cousin’s (Shawn Michaels. Seriously) top rope elbow for two.

York comes back in, only to be rolled up by Dorado for two. A springboard dropkick has York in trouble but he doesn’t feel like selling apparently. Instead of like, falling down, York pops back up and hits his swinging neckbreaker to eliminate Dorado. Puma comes in to face York and apparently Taz really likes saying his name. A middle rope dropkick puts York down and it’s off to Shaw. An Orton backbreaker and neckbreaker quickly take out Puma and we’re down to five.

Silva comes in to pound on Shaw and hits what I think was a running kick to the chest for two. Off to Bentley as Tenay picks everyone to win. Who does he think he is? Bobby Heenan? Shaw comes back in and hits the same two move combination for two but Bentley comes in and breaks up the cover to steal the pin on Silva. Uh….ok? Rave comes in to stomp Shaw (I keep writing Shawn for his name) in the corner. Shaw rams himself into the cage and gets caught in a kind of snap reverse Angle Slam for a pin by Rave.

We’re down to York, Bentley and Rave now in case you’ve had issues keeping track. Rave and Bentley start double teaming York and for once it actually works. They both get in a steady stream of shots on York until he gets a boot up onto Matt’s jaw. The rolling neckbreaker takes out Bentley and we’re down to Rave vs. York. Rave immediately takes York down and goes to escape but Christian is right there to break it up.

They fight on the top rope with both guys being rammed head first into the cage. Rave sends York back down to the mat but he climbs too slow again. Taz continues an unfunny running joke that Rave is Todd Keneley as York sits on top of the cage and pounds away. Rave pulls him down again and they fight on the top one more time before York hits a swinging neckbreaker off the top. That and a kick to send Rave back down is enough for the win for York.

Rating: C+. This was fine. The X-Division was built around a bunch of crazy matches like this one and while it never hit a high level like some of them did, it was still fun enough for what it was supposed to be. The talent level was lacking a bit here but for the guys and match style we had, this worked out pretty well. York winning is the right idea, given that he’s the only active guy in the match.

Moment #8 is Ultimate X from Victory Road 2008. I believe this was the World X Cup, which is an international competition which was cool in nature but it never quite worked. Kaz diving off the tower to legdrop Daivari was pretty awesome though.

Rashad Cameron and Anthony Nese are ready for Kid Kash and Douglas Williams. It’s old school vs. new school apparently, despite Cameron being around for like two matches. Rashad is very proud to be from Philly. He’s a bit famous as Sabian in indy companies like CZW.

Rashad Cameron/Anthony Nese vs. Kid Kash/Douglas Williams

Williams and Cameron start things off with Doug looking older than usual. Doug takes him down by the leg and puts on a kind of reverse Boston Crab where Kash can kick Cameron in the face. Cameron and Williams run the ropes a bit until Rashad dropkicks Doug down. Off to Kash as this could be a trainwreck in a hurry. Thankfully Nese comes in quickly and things speed WAY up as they trade controlling holds on the mat. We get some sweet chain wrestling until Kash takes over with knees and chops.

Nese comes out of the corner with a spinning cross body for two and a clothesline to send Kash to the floor. Anthony loads up a dive, only to be taken down by Williams. Doug heads to the floor with Kash and there’s a big dive by Cameron, followed by an even better one by Nese. Back in and Nese jumps into a forearm from Kash as Taz is talking about investment banking and area codes.

Williams knocks Cameron off the apron as the old guys take over on Nese. Kash comes in for some solid stomping before it’s back to Williams. The old guys do some old school double teaming on Cameron who has no idea how to deal with it. Kash and Earl Hebner get into it a bit in the corner before Kash hits a hard chop on Cameron. Back to Williams for a kick to the back and a nice snap suplex for no cover.

Kash comes in to work on the knee in a vain attempt to add some psychology here. Some hard kicks by Kash to the chest keep Cameron down as Taz starts talking about Aces and 8’s. Well we made it through forty minutes so it was bound to happen soon. Kash breaks up a quick comeback with a forearm but his moonsault hits knees. Hot (I think?) tag brings in Nese as things speed up again.

Back to Williams who misses a clothesline and gets kicked down by Nese. A nice pumphandle powerbomb gets two for Anthony as everything breaks down. Nese hits a running knee to Williams’ head for two as Rashad dives on Kash on the floor. A quick rollup gets two for Anthony but he gets caught in the Rolling Chaos Theory for the pin by Williams.

Rating: C-. This didn’t work for me. I’m not a fan of most of the guys in this match and the ending was just kind of there. That’s one of the major problems with this show: there aren’t going to be any in depth stories and barely any stories at all. That’s fine if the matches are really good, but this was only decent at best.

Moment #7 is Joe winning his first X Title by beating AJ at Turning Point 2005.

Samoa Joe says he’ll do anything to win tonight. He says he’ll choke Aries out.

Here’s Robbie E to say he invented the X-Division. He’s the best X wrestler and champion of all time and claims to have wrestled in Antarctica. Therefore, he’ll let us applaud him because we’re so lucky. Cue Chavo Guerrero to mention his family name in an attempt to get people to care about him. The match is made, and Joseph Park is referee because his brother Abyss was X Champion at one point.

Robbie E. vs. Chavo Guerrero

Robbie says he hates Park but insists on Park checking Chavo for weapons. E has to be checked as well so Park pats Robbie’s hair in a funny bit. They go into the corner to start with Chavo getting on Robbie’s nerves for being too aggressive. Robbie hits a quick backdrop to the floor but misses a dive to give Chavo control. Back in and the slingshot hilo gets two, despite Park barely being able to move.

They trade some kicks to the ribs with Robbie taking over via a middle rope elbow for two. Off to a chinlock but Chavo quickly fights up and dropkicks Robbie down. A spinwheel kick puts E down again but Robbie misses a crossbody and lands on Park. Joseph slams him down and it’s Three Amigos and Frog Splash to end Robbie.

Rating: D. This wasn’t much at all and Park added next to nothing to it. Robbie isn’t much to see other than a comedy character and Chavo isn’t much better. Yeah, Chavo is Eddie’s nephew and that’s about all he’s got as far as a character goes. I’m just not a fan of these guys and the match was pretty dull stuff.

We get a highlight reel of the craziest moves in X-Division history. If you consider a top rope cross body to be crazy I guess.

Kenny King (not even holding the X Title here) is ready for Ultimate X.

Moment #6 (I’m assuming these are being counted down. They aren’t being given individual numbers) is Ultimate X. Not a specific one or anything. Just Ultimate X in general.

Zema Ion vs. Mason Andres vs. Rubix vs. Kenny King

In case you couldn’t tell, this is Ultimate X. Tenay says this is “just the 29^th time we’ve unleashed Ultimate X.” Yep, just 29 in ten years. By comparison, there have been 14 TLC matches in 13 years. The idea here is there are two ropes crossing way above the ring, forming an X. At their intersection there’s a big red X and whoever pulls that down wins. You have to use the ropes above the ring to pull yourself to the X to pull it down as the ropes are about seven feet above the top ropes of the ring.

Everything breaks down to start with Ion being sent to the floor. Rubix and Andrews go at it with Rubix taking him to the mat with an armdrag. King takes Rubix down with a sidekick but Ion is back in to take Kenny down as well. Andrews and Ion head down to the floor with King hitting a spinning springboard legdrop on Rubix back inside. Everyone is on the floor now as Taz keeps up his stupid jokes by calling Rubix Rubic like the cube.

Andrews and Ion are back inside with Mason going up, only to be pulled back down by Zema. Rubix comes back in with a sweet dropkick to Ion, sending him out to the floor. Rubix drops a slingshot legdrop on Andrews but Mason comes right back and pounds away on Ion in the corner. Ion slams Rubix down off the top as the match slows down a lot. King goes after Rubix’s mask in the corner but Andrews suplexes him off the top to save Rubix’s identity (which would be Jigsaw from Chikara).

Andrews stops Rubix from going for the X as Taz keeps the stupid running joke going. King dives out onto Rubix so Andrews dives down onto King to take both guys down. Ion hits a BIG corkscrew dive off the top onto Andrews and King to a rather weak reaction from the crowd. Rubix climbs up the structure in the corner to dive onto all three guys before heading back inside to go after the X.

It’s Kenny making the save though by pulling Rubix down into the Royal Flush to send Rubix to the floor. Ion crotches King in the corner but Kenny sends Zema to the floor to break up a superplex. Andrews manages to pull King down but Ion stops him from climbing across. Rubix comes back in and hits a dropkick on Ion and a tornado DDT on Andrews at the same time. Everyone is in a corner now and it’s Andrews going up, only to be pulled down into a German suplex by Rubix.

Rubix goes to the corner, only to be shoved down by Ion. Rubix and King team up to stop Ion with Rubix sending Ion into the structure in the corner. A dropkick takes King down but Andrews drives a knee into Rubix’s head. Ion and Andrews go across the ropes and meet in the middle above the ring with Andrews pulling Ion down in a Downward Spiral. In an anti-climactic ending, Rubix goes up and pulls down the X….but apparently he has to touch the mat. King catches him on the way down and steals the X to win.

Rating: B-. This was fun but the highspots were kind of lacking. It’s definitely entertaining, but again this doesn’t really mean anything and it was pretty clear that King or Ion was going to get the win. King stealing it was a nice touch but this was lacking the huge death defying nature of most of the Ultimate X matches.

Moment #5 is Brian Kendrick beating Abyss for the X Title at Destination X 2011, which was indeed an awesome moment.

Bad Influence says they’re national treasures and inspirations to children nationwide.

Sonjay Dutt and Petey Williams say that Petey was exercising when he was in his mother’s womb.

Moment #4 is the entire AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels rivalry.

Bad Influence vs. Petey Williams/Sonjay Dutt

Williams and Daniels get things going with Petey being sent in the corner but coming out with a headscissors and a smack to the face of Kazarian. Off to Dutt for a double elbow for a two count and some shoulders into Daniels’ ribs in the corner. Kaz comes in and ducks a kick, only to be caught by a standing moonsault for two. A dropkick gets the same for Dutt and it’s back to Petey.

Williams hooks a Sharpshooter on Kaz while Dutt hooks an Octopus Hold on Daniels. Petey hits some slick combo moves on both guys by hitting both guys at once before shrugging off a double leg drag. Kaz finally comes back and drapes Williams over the top rope to send him to the floor and take over. Off to Daniels for his slingshot elbow drop followed by the slingshot legdrop from Kaz for two. Daniels hooks a test of strength on Petey and climbs the rope to drive a knee into his chest for two.

We hit the nerve hold by Daniels for a bit before Petey is driven into the corner to break up a comeback. Kaz comes in for a front facelock as things slow down a bit as you would expect them to at some point. Petey finally fights up and gets to the corner for the hot tag to Sonjay. Dutt hits a cool bulldog into the middle buckle and a springboard legdrop onto the back of Daniels’ head for two.

Sonjay misses a springboard clothesline to Daniels and gets caught by a tornado DDT for Kazarian as Taz rips into Earl Hebner for being old. Dutt escapes Fade to Black but gets caught in a powerbomb/neckbreaker combo for two. Williams comes back in for his headscissors into a Russian legsweep for two on Daniels but Kaz breaks up the Canadian Destroyer.

Dutt hits a standing Sliced Bread on Kaz for two more but Daniels makes the save. Petey sends Daniels to the floor and hits a sweet slingshot rana to take him down. Dutt kicks Kaz in the head and loads up the moonsault double stomp, only to have Daniels break things up. Fade to Black puts Dutt down and the BME is good for the pin for Daniels.

Rating: B. Good fast paced formula based tag match here and that’s really hard to screw up when you have talented guys like these people. Dutt continues to look awesome since his comeback to the company but unfortunately TNA feels the need to focus on bland guys like Zema Ion for reasons I can’t fathom.

Williams hits the Destroyer on Kaz post match for old times sake. Petey wound up getting a job out of this performance.

We recap Jerry Lynn vs. RVD, or at least as much of it as we can without the ECW footage. I know this is blasphemy, but I’ve never really cared for their matches.

Rob Van Dam vs. Jerry Lynn

This is part of Lynn’s retirement tour and is No DQ because that’s what these matches always are. Feeling out process to start with Van Dam getting a quick rollup for two until we get a standoff. Lynn is in a sleeveless shirt here, likely due to reasons of fat or injury. A clothesline puts Van Dam down but RVD comes back with his stepover kick to send Jerry to the floor. Van Dam follows him out, only to be sent into the barricade. Jerry slides back in but charges into a spin kick from Van Dam.

Rob brings in a chair but gets caught by a clothesline as he rolls towards Jerry in the corner. They head to the floor again with Van Dam draping him over the barricade for the legdrop to the back. Now Van Dam sets up a table in the corner but Jerry hits a springboard legdrop to the back of RVD’s head to take over. Van Dam escapes a DDT but gets caught by a neckbreaker for two. A clothesline from Lynn puts both guys on the floor where Rob sets up another table.

Lynn is sent back inside but Van Dam can’t suplex him through the table on the floor. A sunset bomb is blocked and Rob hits a legdrop onto Lynn on the apron. Back in again and Jerry hits a jawbreaker to stagger both guys but Rob gets the chair from earlier. His monkey flip out of the corner is countered into a release powerbomb onto the chair for two. The cradle piledriver is countered into a rollup for two for Van Dam and but he takes too long picking up a chair and gets speared through the table in the corner for two.

Van Dam’s northern lights suplex onto a chair gets two on Lynn and there’s a springboard kick to the face to put Lynn down again. The Five Star hits chair only and Jerry rolls him up for two. Van Dam tries to leg sweep Jerry but gets legdropped into the chair in a nice counter. Lynn gets two more off a bad TKO onto a chair and both guys are down again. Lynn takes the chair up top but a Van Daminator sends him very softly through the table on the floor. That gets two back inside and a good looking Five Star is enough for the pin for RVD, again with very little reaction from the crowd.

Rating: C+. This was a lightning fast match with some amazing counters and speed moves…..fourteen years ago. Now it’s two guys who are nowhere near as fast as they used to be and doing a lot of the same spots which were awesome back in the day but now are the same ones we’ve seen time and time again. The match isn’t horrible but it was clearly about five steps slower than their older matches.

Lynn and Van Dam hug and the locker room comes out to wish Jerry goodbye.

Moment #3 is Aries winning the X Title.

Aries says that Joe may be the best X-Division guy ever, but Aries is the greatest man that ever lived.

Jerry Lynn says he didn’t expect to have another match in TNA after Bound For Glory so this was a nice surprise. Van Dam and Jerry talk about their history together for a bit in a nice moment.

Moment #2 is Aries cashing in his X Title for a world title match which he won in a big surprise.

Moment #1 is of course the Unbreakable triple threat. It’s the best match the company has ever produced. Was there ever any doubt about this being #1? I have no idea why there would have been. We get comments from all three people who speak of it nearly in awe.

Austin Aries vs. Samoa Joe

Main event time so we get big match intros. Feeling out process to start as neither guy seems enthusiastic to get going. Joe escapes a headlock and shoulders Aries to the floor. Back in and Joe cranks on the arm, only to have Aries nip up into a headlock. We actually hear about Joe’s 21 month ROH undefeated streak in ROH until Aries dethroned him. Now there’s something I wouldn’t have bet on getting a mention between all of Taz’s bad jokes.

Joe sends Aries into the corner for a hard running kick to the face for the first real advantage of the match. Some chops take Aries down for the knee drop for two and it’s time for some right hands in the corner. There’s the Facewash but Aries bails to the floor before the running boot to the face can connect. Aries is kicked into the barricade and chopped so hard that he falls into the crowd.

Austin is whipped into the steps as Joe keeps control before throwing Aries back inside. The fat guy takes too long getting back inside though and Aries takes out the knee to take over. After cranking on the knee in the corner, a DDT on the knee is good for two. We hit the leg lock as this match continues to not be at the pace you would expect from these two. Aries fires off kicks to the body and the leg but Joe just gets mad. A leg dive keeps Joe down though and it’s back to the same leg lock.

The leg is wrapped around the leg for a dropkick to the knee and there’s a dragon screw leg whip to keep Joe down. Aries puts on a Figure Four for awhile until Joe turns it….halfway over so Aries has to grab a rope to escape. Aries is sent to the floor and Joe hobbles through the ropes in an attempt at a dive, only to have Austin slide back in for his suicide dive to regain control.

After a victory lap around the ring, Aries goes up top for a good looking missile dropkick, but Joe pops up and runs over Aries with a clothesline to put both guys down. The Samoan pounds away and hits the backsplash followed by a powerslam for two. A powerbomb sets up the STF for Joe but Aries bites the hand to escape. There’s the rear naked choke by Joe but he doesn’t have it on great. The referee checks Aries’ arm but it drops into the ropes for the break. Nice touch.

Back up and Aries hits a running forearm and dropkick in the corner but Joe easily blocks the brainbuster. Aries comes back with a kind of crucifix slam for two but Joe is too fat for a brainbuster. Instead he busts out the 450 but has to land on his feet when Joe moves. A Rock Bottom out of the corner sets up the Muscle Buster for Joe but Aries rolls through for the pin out of nowhere.

Rating: B. Solid stuff for the most part here but it certainly wasn’t anything great. Joe was his usual self here, but unfortunately it’s the version from the past five years or so and not the one who dominated the X-Division for so many years. Aries was his usual awesome self, but he’s the same Aries he’s been since he got here, which may or may not be a good thing depending on your taste.

Overall Rating: B-. This is a simple one: if you like the X-Division, you’ll like this and if you don’t like the X-Division, you won’t care for this. The lack of stories is both a blessing and a curse here. It’s nice to not have the same Aces and 8’s stuff dominating the program, but having none of these matches mean anything brings the show down a lot.

Then there’s the big white elephant absent from the room: AJ Styles not being here. The guy is the greatest X-Division star ever and was the back that the division was built on. I know that he’s not active in storyline, but you could have said that he’s doing this for the love of the division or something like that. You can’t have an X-Division tribute show like this without having the best ever out there and it caused the show to be lacking a big something.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book on the History of the WWE Championship from Amazon for only $5 at:

Xplosion
Date: March 20, 2012
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Jeremy Borash, Eric Bischoff

This is another show I’ve never looked at before but I need something for this date. Xplosion is TNA’s secondary show which you hardly ever hear about for no apparent reason. For a company that has so many issues related to the lack of TV time they have, not talking about an extra hour a week they have to use isn’t the smartest idea in the world. I have no idea what to expect here but we’re just after Victory Road where pretty much nothing happened. Let’s get to it.

Bischoff is introduced as a surprise commentator but he has to tweet something on the way to the ring. This was TNA’s REALLY big thing at the time and it made WWE’s obsession with it pale in comparison.

Eric Young vs. Kazarian

Young and ODB recently won the Knockouts Tag Titles which they still hold as of this writing. There are blue lights in the arena for some reason, making it look like a more laid back Sin Cara match. Eric locks up with the referee to start before things speed up. It’s a crisscross but Kaz rolls out of the ring. Young keeps running until Kaz gets on the mic and calls him a buffoon. Kaz wants none of this tomfoolery so he heads back inside, only to be caught in an armbar.

Young gets thrown to the floor as the fans loudly cheer for the bizarre one. We take a break and come back with Kaz holding a chinlock. Young fights up with some shots to the ribs, only to get caught by a spin kick to the face. Off to a front facelock for a bit until Eric comes back with a jawbreaker. For no apparent reason Young takes his pants off and comes back with a belly to belly suplex. A slam puts Kaz down again and there’s a top rope elbow for two. Kaz comes back by putting Eric’s pants on his face (just go with it) but Eric hits a missile dropkick for two. A low blow and rollup with feet on the ropes gives Kaz the pin.

Rating: D-. I do not like Eric Young. His “comedy” isn’t funny and it only has been once or twice in his entire run in TNA. Seeing a man put his pants on his head and seeing him enjoy it doesn’t make me care about this guy and I have no desire to see his schtick anymore. Hopefully he stops it now that he’s come back to TNA.

Something is strange here because we’re getting a preview of Victory Road which would have already happened when this show aired. Maybe the date on the video I have is wrong but it’s the best I can go with.

We get a preview of the main event of the PPV, which is a non title fight between Sting and world champion Bobby Roode. It’s not about the title but rather respect you see.

Robbie T isn’t sure that the cameraman is on the List. Oh wait apparently they are and it’s ok for Robbie to be asked about his Open Challenge at the PPV. D-Von would accept the challenge and win the title in a moment I still don’t understand.

Sting talks about suggesting he’s quitting, which of course he’s incapable of doing. Roode bragged about being the guy that managed to get rid of Sting after all the wars Sting has been through. This is a long video that is basically the two of them saying they’ll win on Sunday in their no holds barred match.

It’s time for Spin Cycle which is a panel discussion show. The guests are So Cal Val, Knockouts Champion Gail Kim (this is previously recorded so she’s half of the tag champions too) and the Robbies. We talk about Robbie E’s sweater before the first topic is given as best and worst dressed on the TNA roster. Robbie E says he’s best dressed, T says Flair, So Cal Val says Flair also with Bully Ray as worst dressed, Gail picks Christy Hemme and ODB respectfully. Is there a point to this coming anytime soon? Jeremy picks the girls here for best because he’s a suck up.

Now we talk about what phones you have. Both Rob’s have iPhone 4s, Gail has Android but wants a Blackberry again. Val wants a Blackberry as well. Now it’s time for The List, which is the top three people blowing up Robbie E’s phone this week. At #3 it’s Mike Tenay asking for wrestling knowledge, #2 is Hogan who apparently calls Big Rob’s phone for arm workout advice, and #1 is Dixie Carter.

We look at a clip from an earlier Spin Cycle with Joey Fatone (who now appears to be a fat one indeed) who talks about rumors of an affair with ODB. Eric Young freaked out and ran away before locking up with Fatone. They roll around on the floor a bit and that’s it.

Back to this week’s Spin Cycle which is now talking about celebrities they have dated. E says he dated Kelly from Saved By the Bell, T won’t answer, Gail says her real life husband Robert Irvine and Val says her first date ever was with Chris Masters. That’s it for the Spin Cycle, thank goodness.

We close things out with the Ultimate X match for the X Title at Victory Road 2011.

X-Division Title: Kazarian vs. Max Buck vs. Jeremy Buck vs. Robbie E

Kaz is defending coming in. The idea here is the title is hung over the ring on cables that cross to form an X. You have to climb across to grab the title and can’t use a ladder. It’s supposed to be all about Kaz remember. This is the 24^th Ultimate X match in history apparently and Kaz’s, who is defending fifth. This is kind of a weird triple that with Gen Me vs. Robbie vs. Kaz. The team beats up both guys to start us off.

Kaz fights them off for a bit and manages a springboard up to the X in a cool spot. That gets him nowhere as Robbie comes in and stomps away. Max goes up but it’s Robbie stopping him. Cookie is hot but the voice is annoying. Gen Me gets everyone down and goes for the belt until Robbie stops them again. Kaz is back in now and faces off with Jersey Boy.

Robbie escapes the Fade to Black (that reverse Piledriver) and gets backdropped to the floor, hitting his ankle on the steps. Gen Me wakes up again and takes down both guys one more time. Jeremy gets a sweet assisted moonsault to take Robbie and Kaz down. Max is all alone but wants Jeremy to help him up instead. Jeremy holds off Kaz and Max makes a run at it. Kaz of course saves as Robbie has a bad ankle still.

Double dropkick puts down Kaz and a baseball slide does the same to Robbie. Jeremy does this weird reverse jump to get up and holds off Kaz. This again fails and Maz, who also was trying to get the belt, is swung backwards and gets knocked off and caught in a cutter to put him down. Robbie gets up and goes for the title, only to get pulled down by Max. And never mind as Max is sent into the structure by Kaz and gets stuck. That’s different if nothing else.

Everyone is down now and Max is unhooked for a change. Kaz hits Fade to Black on Robbie but gets kicked by Jeremy. Jeremy tries to go up only to take an enziguri from the champion to put him down. Flux Capacitor (suplex/rock bottom) off the top by Kaz puts Jeremy down again. Robbie and Kaz both go across at the same time. Gen Me kicks Robbie down and swing the champion down too in a nice bump.

Jeremy goes up and Max is ticked. Max pulls him down which is the point of the match. They both go from opposite corners and both are hung by their legs upside down in the middle. They slug it out up there until Robbie grabs a ladder to take them down. Kaz goes above the X and grabs the title at the same time as Robbie. Kaz pulls it up but there’s no bell. Oh there it is.

Rating: C+. It’s ok but this is a match that has been done so many times that there wasn’t much here. It’s definitely one of the weaker matches they’ve had with this gimmick but it’s still good. Fun match but they kept trying to play up the Bucks only for them to break up and not play a factor in the end. Fun, but definitely not great.

Overall Rating: D+. Um…yeah. I can see why this show isn’t mentioned by Impact. What in the world was the point of this thing? We had a worthless feature match, a twelve minute talk show segment which wasn’t even up to date, and a LONG match which was better than almost anything on the upcoming PPV. This is one of those shows that you should only watch if you REALLY love TNA, which is stupid when it could be so much more.

Here’s Victory Road if you’re interested:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2012/03/18/victory-road-2012-i-want-to-punch-twitter-in-the-face/

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Impact Wrestling
Date: December 6, 2012
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Todd Kennely, Taz

It’s the final show before Final Resolution, which means we’re likely going to get a lot of build for the PPV. Also we’ve got D-Von challenging Joe for the TV Title which D-Von never lost. Other than that, there’s not much else for tonight’s show, other than maybe more Aces and 8’s stuff after they had a week off last week. We’ll likely get more of Hogan and Ray doing their thing. Let’s get to it.

The standard recap opens us up.

Here are Roode, Daniels and Kaz to open things up. Later tonight they face Hardy, Storm and AJ. Kaz mentions Fourtune and their history together before saying on Sunday, the three of them will experience victory. Roode guarantees victory on Sunday while Daniels guarantees one last match with Styles. Give me a break. Daniels calls out AJ and here’s the Phenomenal One.

AJ says that Daniels has always been jealous of him, even though AJ has earned everything he’s gotten here. Daniels couldn’t beat AJ if it was Daniels’ best day and Styles’ worst. Daniels says that AJ knows Daniels is right when AJ is called a loser. He talks about how AJ has lost so many big matches over the last few months and how that’s reality. AJ says this is reality and the fight is on. Hardy and Storm make the save.

We see the ending of Impact last week for the second time in eleven minutes.

Aries says he was pushing Hulk’s buttons last week to get the X Title back, which will get him the world title back. Then Bully Ray interfered, which is why Aries wants Ray on Sunday.

TV Title: Samoa Joe vs. D-Von

Joe is defending and takes over to start by running over D-Von. A knee drop keeps D-Von down for a bit but D-Von low bridges Joe to take him to the floor. A pair of splashes get two for D-Von but the middle rope headbutt misses. Joe comes back with a kick to the chest and a backsplash for two. A Rock Bottom out of the corner puts D-Von down again and there’s the Koquina Clutch. Some blonde chick gets on the apron, allowing Doc to hit Joe win the back with the hammer to give D-Von the title back at 3:55.

Rating: D. Nothing to see here at all but it was pretty clear that D-Von was getting the belt back here. At the end of the day, Aces and 8’s has to have SOMETHING right? They now have a title, albeit the lower midcard belt. This still does nothing to make me care about them at all, but there was no other option here.

Aces and 8’s celebrate with a bunch of scantily clad women.

Brooke is on the phone with someone and says a contract has been signed. Whoever she has signed is coming tonight.

Snow is back but doesn’t remember anything that happened to him. Apparently he went to dinner Wednesday night, then woke up in a hospital with his wallet and phone gone.

Here’s Mickie James in a nice dress. She says she feels good to be back and this Sunday she’s getting her title back. Cue Tara and Jesse so Tara can run her mouth for awhile. She talks about how great a year this has been for her……and here’s Velvet Sky. She still looks good but not as great as she used to. She has a shoulder tattoo now too. Velvet says she’s winning the title in 2013. Ok then.

The Robs do a Direct Auto car insurance commercial.

Someone is coming on January 3, 2013. Geez with the dates again.

Hernandez/Chavo Guerrero vs. Robbie E/Robbie T

Oh yeah Hernandez and Chavo exist. That’s about all I’ve got on them. E and Chavo start things off but it’s quickly off to Hernandez for a bearhug into a belly to belly suplex. T comes in and pounds away on Chavo in the corner before posing a lot. E comes back in for a chinlock but gets caught in a northern lights suplex. Hot tag brings in Hernandez again to throw around the small guy until T comes in for the save. Everything breaks down and Hernandez kills E with a shoulder. The Frog Splash gets the pin for Chavo at 3:58. Another short match.

Rating: D+. Well what were you expecting here? Chavo and Hernandez are defending the titles on Sunday so were they going to lose here? The Robs are nothing at all, but to be fair the champs aren’t much better. They’re all just there, as the tag division has fallen right back through the floor where it usually is.

Post match Joey Ryan starts talking until Morgan attacks the champs. Ryan talks about male organs.

The girls chill with Aces and 8’s. Apparently they have a financial backer now.

We recap Gut Check from last week.

Angle celebrates with Brisco in the back and Garrett Bischoff is there too of course.

The tag champs cut a promo on Ryan and Morgan.

Kurt Angle vs. Doc

Angle charges at him to stat and takes out Doc’s knee. Doc pounds back and clotheslines Kurt to the floor as this is still not an exciting match. Again, it’s Luke Gallows vs. Kurt Angle and that’s not a match that I’m going to be able to get into for the most part. Angle gets sent into the steps but as they get back in, Kurt hits a middle rope missile dropkick to take Doc down. There are three Germans but Doc escapes the Angle Slam.

A big boot gets two but Kurt grabs the ankle lock. That goes nowhere so Kurt tries more Germans. A low blow stops the series and Doc gets two off a clothesline. The chokeslam is countered into the ankle lock but Doc counters again. There’s the chokeslam for two and there goes any chance Doc had. The ankle lock goes on but here’s Aces and 8’s for the DQ at 5:30.

Rating: C. I’ve seen worse but as I said throughout the match: it’s Luke Gallows. Why in the world would I believe that he’s going to be able to beat Kurt Angle in a one on one match? The counters sequence wasn’t bad at all and the match was a higher quality than I was expecting, but it was still hard to get into because of who was in it.

Angle fights off Aces and 8’s until Garrett, Brisco and Joe come in. An 8 man tag match is made for Sunday.

Hogan is on the phone with Park and tells him to go to OVW. Ray comes in and demands a match with Aries on Sunday. Hogan isn’t sure, so Ray says it’ll be official by the end of the night.

Storm tells Hardy not to fall into Roode’s traps. Hardy has another inner monologue.

Kid Kash vs. Kenny King vs. Zema Ion

The winner gets the title shot at RVD on Sunday. Ion and King double team Kash to start, knocking him to the floor. King kicks Ion’s head off for two before knocking Ion off the apron. King loads up presumably a dive but Ion takes his head off with a clothesline for two. Everyone is back in now with King hitting a slingshot legdrop for two on Kash. Ion is on the floor so there’s a big slingshot rana by Kash.

King dives on them as well, so Ion dives on both of them. Back in and Kash hooks a Boston Crab on King, only to have Ion break it up. Kash ranas King to the floor and gets two off a clothesline to Ion. Ion shoves Kash off the top and out to the floor. King uses the chance to hit a springboard Blockbuster and the F5 into the Rock Bottom (the Royal Flush) for the pin at 5:47.

Rating: C+. This was your usual triple threat X Title match, but at the same time, why am I supposed to care about the X Division at this point? How many PPVs in a row are they going to have the X Title match thrown on at the last second? If it’s going to be treated like nothing, there’s no way I’m going to care about it either.

Ray is on the phone and saying he’s going to take over the show until he gets what he wants because Hogan is stubborn.

We recap the Ray/Aries/Hogan/Hogan stuff.

Here’s Ray who says he’s taking over the show until he gets what he and the fans want. Ray sits down in a chair and here’s Aries with a chair of his own. Aries says that Ray is fighting for the woman he loves. Aries says that he’ll sit in the ring with Ray. Hogan’s music hits (Aries: “OR I’LL SIT OVER HERE!”) and he says there’s no match on Sunday. If Ray doesn’t leave the ring, it’ll be a firing or a beating. This brings out Brooke who says Hogan is making it too personal. She calls him Mark, which is enough to get Hogan to make the match. The only good thing about this was how low cut Brooke’s top was.

We run down the card for the PPV.

Video on Roode vs. Hardy.

Bad Influence/Bobby Roode vs. Jeff Hardy/AJ Styles/James Storm

Kaz and Daniels made a throwaway line earlier tonight about it being Throwback Thursday, so they come out in Zubaz Pants and fanny packs. WOW. Storm and Kaz start things off after some big match intros. James hits a Thesz Press to pound away on Frankie (throwback right?) before it’s off to Jeff for some kicks. AJ comes in so Daniels runs away. The good guys clean house and Poetry In Motion puts Kaz down as we take a break.

Back with Hardy getting beaten down by Kaz. AJ tries to come in to beat up Daniels but it only allows for more heel double and triple teaming. Bad Influence hits a Hart Attack on Jeff and Roode chinlocks him to block a tag. Kaz and Daniels take turns with the chinlocks until it’s back to Roode. Bobby goes up top but jumps into a Twist of Fate.

Hot tag brings in AJ and everything breaks down. Storm hits a Backstabber and Codebreaker on Daniels, followed by AJ hitting the reverse DDT/a regular DDT on Kaz and Roode respectively. AJ is loading up something on Daniels, but Kaz runs in to break it up. Hardy tags himself in and hits the Twist for the win at 15:05.

Rating: C+. Fun tag match here, mainly because Hardy is such a master at selling. I mean really, can ANYONE make you believe he’s dying in a ring better than Jeff Hardy? Fun match here with a nice long heat segment with Hardy getting beaten down. I still have no idea what Storm is supposed to be doing right now though.

Aces and 8’s come out to beat down Hardy post match, and Roode is smiling a lot. Storm makes the save to end the show.

Overall Rating: C+. Not a great show here but WAY better than last week. They cut down on the Hogan nonsense and let us have a wrestling show instead of wasting our time with the stupid drama. The main problem with tonight’s show though was that they seemingly added about half of the card for the PPV tonight, which says a lot about how much they care about Sunday’s show.

Results

D-Von b. Samoa Joe – D-Von pinned Joe after Doc hit Joe with a hammer

Chavo Guerrero/Hernandez b. Robbie E/Robbie T – Frog Splash to Robbie E

Kurt Angle b. Doc via DQ when Aces and 8’s interefered

Kenny King b. Zema Ion and Kid Kash – Royal Flush

James Storm/AJ Styles/Jeff Hardy b. Bad Influence/Bobby Roode – Twist of Fate to Kazarian

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

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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