This was another hit and miss episode of Impact Wrestling,
there were some good storyline developments and decent in ring action but at
times some horrible jumps of logic that made the show difficult to watch. TNA
seems to still be finding it’s feet with it’s new format, and whilst it is
going to take time, I’m not sure it’s time TNA really have.
X Division Championship Match: Chris Sabin vs. Manik vs. Austin Aries ©
There were a number of backstage segments involving Aces and
Eights leading up to the match, with them discussing who they wanted to win.
Some really poor acting on display from Wes Brisco and DOC here and it all
seemed extremely forced. Bully Ray eventually asked “What would happen if
nobody wins?” Well, in another piece of TNA logic, surely if nobody wins, then
Austin Aries retains the championship and faces Bully Ray at Destination X? Did
anyone think this through at all? The Main Event Mafia also revealed that they
would be there to counteract the presence of Aces and Eights at ringside. With
Aces and Eights about to head to the ring, DOC was seen attempting to get into
the good books of Bully Ray, before Mr. Anderson overheard and it was revealed
there would be a club vote next week for the Vice President spot in the group.
With Aces and Eights standing in the crowd, the match rarely
embraced it’s three way concept instead opting for varying combinations of one
on ones with each man getting taken out. The action between the three was good
and exciting to watch but would have been a lot better if it had played with
the three man psychology of the match type. After Sabin has given Aries a
painful looking front suplex onto TNA’s hard ramp, Aces and Eights made their
descent to ring side, with Knux getting involved with Manik by grabbing his
ankle. Manik tried to take on Aces and Eight but received a powerbomb from DOC
onto the outside, in possibly the strongest Aces and Eights have looked over
the past couple of months. With Aces and Eights surrounding the ring, the Main
Event Mafia headed out to combat the threat.
With Manik carried out of the match, it was basically down
to a one on one between Chris Sabin and Austin Aries, this is where the match
really got going. Aries and Sabin put on a match that really advertised the
style of the X Division well with some great action from both men. Aries
dominated Sabin for a lot of the match, and looked to have retained the title
on a number of occasions, including kicking out of Aries’ Brainbuster and
spending a long time in the Last Chancery. For me this really helped to build
Sabin as a legit competitor, fighting hard against a former World Heavyweight
Champion. The ending saw Aries go for a Brainbuster from the top rope, only for
Sabin to reverse and hit a Super Hail Sabin for the victory and to become a six
time X Division Champion. Many may criticize Aries having a one week title run,
but the fact of the matter is it elevated Sabin and made him look a lot more
credible than he had previously, personally I enjoyed this story over the last
two weeks. Will Sabin defeat Bully Ray for the title? Probably not. Will he
come out looking better than he did when he first won the X Division belt?
Almost certainly.
New Main Event Mafia Member
Our first glimpse of the Main Event Mafia on this week’s
Impact Wrestling saw them arriving in the parking lot, with Kurt Angle
announcing that a new member of the group would be revealed tonight. I think
the reveal of the Mafia member being more of a slow drip than a sudden reveal
has really worked with it keeping the attention for longer and not burning out
quickly, which is something TNA needs to do now that there are only four PPV’s
to build to. It has also started to build up to the confrontation between the
Main Event Mafia and Aces and Eights fairly well, with both sides beginning to
look stronger than they did a few months back.
Later on in the night, Sting and Kurt Angle came out into
the arena, to talk about why they choose Samoa Joe to join them. Their
reasoning didn’t make a lot of sense, with them saying that the last group didn’t
have good unity because they had former World Champions and there was I
thinking that not only was Joe a former World Champion, but he was also in the
Main Event Mafia before! It wouldn’t have been difficult for Sting and Angle to
put over Joe as someone who had been held down in the past and that the Mafia
will always help out a brother.
Joe did a much better job on the mic when he came out,
giving an impassioned promo, detailing how he was going to win the Bound For
Glory Series and how he would tap out Bully Ray to win the World Heavyweight
Championship once again. It’s easy to get behind someone like Joe as it’s clear
he loves what he does and seeing him held down over the last couple of years,
would make him winning the World Title a really poignant moment for any long
running TNA fans. Angle then did a good job of getting Joe even further over
with the audience talking about their battles against each other in the past
and how that respect had turned into loyalty. This made a lot more sense than
what was said previously, and felt like it came from a much more legitimate place.
Angle then announced who the next member of the Main Event
Mafia was….Magnus. Angle did another good job of getting Magnus over, saying he
was the here and now of Impact Wrestling, rather than just the future. Magnus
came out and cut a pretty good promo, talking about his fellow Main Event Mafia
stablemates, especially Samoa Joe. Personally, I think Magnus is a pretty good
choice for the Mafia, Magnus will get a lot from being involved with the other
men in the group if booked properly. Magnus has to seem like a strong member of
the group, if he becomes an afterthought like we’ve seen with DOC and Knux in
Aces and Eights, it could do more damage than good.
Best of the Rest (in the World)
Elsewhere, the Bound For Glory Series continued with Jeff
Hardy facing Joseph Park. On paper this match doesn’t sound particularly
exciting, neither does it sound like it would have drawn in the ratings.
However, it actually managed to tell a decent story and was pretty fun to
watch. It looked as if Hardy would win early after a Twist of Fate, but with Park
moving out of the way of the Swanton Bomb, the match quickly changed, with Park
using his power to push Hardy around. Hardy did a good job of making Park look
credible, whilst Park has also improved in the character looking less of a bumbling
idiot making his matches easier to watch.
The ending saw Park’s lip cut open after a Whisper in the
Wind from Hardy, with Park suffering a similar metamorphosis that we’ve seen
from him a lot over the past year, hitting the referee with a Black Hole Slam
for the Disqualification loss. That give Hardy an extra three points in the
Series, whilst Park losses ten for the DQ. It would appear that TNA is finally
going to have Park revealed as Abyss and not without time either. Hopefully we’ll
see Abyss flying high in the Bound For Glory Series before long. It would also
seem they are holding Hardy back in the Series as it would have been easy to
have him pick up seven points here, but the DQ victory keeps him looking strong
but unable to climb to high in the Series.
In another Bound For Glory Series match, Kazarian faced AJ
Styles. With Christopher Daniels joining Kaz at ringside, Bad Influence came
out dressed as Sigfried and Roy seemingly to wind up the Las Vegas audience, if
anyone can pull off these bizarre comedy costumes, it’s going to be Kaz and
Daniels! The match between Styles and Kaz was of course another good contest
out of these two, but suffered heavily from the curse of the Bound For Glory
Series, time constraints. This is the kind of match that should be getting at
least fifteen minutes, not four. AJ eventually locked in the Calf Killer in the
middle of the ring, to pick up the submission victory and ten points in the
Bound For Glory Series. AJ Styles is still my favourite to pick up the victory
of the entire series, but he needs to be showcased in longer matches, to build
up that victory better.
The other Bound For Glory Series match, saw Hernandez face
Jay Bradley. I’ve been pretty impressed with Bradley over the last few weeks
and this matches was another decent contest. Bradley had some good periods of
offense and seems to be developing his character well during the Series.
Hernandez also seems to be coming into his own, and it seems a much deserved
singles push could be on the way. The ending was intriguing with Chavo
Guerrero, who was at ringside getting involved by hitting Bradley behind the
referee’s back, allowing Hernandez to get the victory and seven points in the
Series with a Shoulder Tackle. Okay, the Shoulder Tackle was a terrible way to
win, but with Chavo seemingly turning heel, the forthcoming rivalry could be a star
making one for Hernandez.
Knockout’s Champion Mickie James also made an appearance to
talk about next week’s Number One Contender’s Ladder Match between Gail Kim and
Taryn Terrell. James gave a very strong promo whilst sitting a top of a Ladder.
She’s really grown into her new heel role, which is definitely good to see, it
feels fresh for the character and gives her a different set of Knockout’s to
feud with. James talked about how whoever won the Ladder Match, would get there
face broken on every single rung of the ladder afterwards. The logical winner
and eventually rivalry for Mickie James would be Taryn Terrell, and I think the
two would develop a really interesting story, with James hopefully being able
to teach Terrell even more than she has learnt from Gail Kim.
World Tag Team Champions James Storm and Gunner were also in
action against The Bro-Mans, who were accompanied by Tara. The match was over
pretty quickly, after Robbie E and Jessie Godderz worked over Gunner until he
made a hot tag to Storm in a pretty basic tag team contest. Storm cleaned
house, alongside some good double team manoevers for the World Tag Team
Champions, including a nice neckbreaker-slam move on Godderz that gave them the
victory. This match allowed Gunner and Storm to look pretty good, but with
little in terms of a tag team division I really can’t see who is going to
challenge them for the titles.
The Gutcheck judges also decided the fate of last week’s
contestants Ryan Howe and Adam Ohriner. After last week’s round of releases by
TNA, including a number of former Gutcheck winners, the whole concept feels
kind of obsolete with no evidence that winning Gutcheck get’s you very far in
the company. Ohriner was the first eliminated by Al Snow, Bruce Prichard and
Danny Davis, giving Ryan Howe the opportunity out in the arena. After receiving
a no vote from Snow, Howe attempted to “Kick Out” delivering a pretty decent
promo, but after a Yes from Danny Davis, Bruce Prichard sealed Howe’s fate with
No Vote. Pretty much, how I saw it going, neither Ohriner or Howe offered much
to TNA and it was the right decision all round.
Finally...
1. TNA are capable of clever booking, with the past two weeks of X Division booking really helping Chris Sabin look like a star.
2. The Main Event Mafia no longer needs to contain former World Champions.
3. It can't be long before the reveal of Joseph Park being Abyss.
Bound For Glory Series Standings
2. Samoa Joe 19 Points (Non-Mover)
3. AJ Styles 12 Points (Up Four)
4. Jeff Hardy 10 Points (Down One)
5. Austin Aries 7 Points (Down Two)
- Christopher Daniels 7 Points (Down Two)
- Hernandez 7 Points (Up Three)
- Mr. Anderson 7 Points (Down Two)
9. Bobby Roode 0 Points (Down One)
- Jay Bradley 0 Points (Down One)
- Kazarian 0 Points (Down One)
12. Joseph Park -10 Points (Down Four)
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