Re-Making an iMPACT - #5 - Team Canada v 3LK (James & David Marston)

TNA Xplosion #84 Results (26th June 2004) - NWA Total Nonstop Action #104 Results (30th June 2004)

iMPACT was now into it's second month, we'd seen the show start off warm with a promising first episode, before struggling to find the right formula to improve over the following three weeks. There was plenty of talent on the diverse roster like America's Most Wanted in the tag division, Chris Sabin and Frankie Kazarian in the X Division and a brief glimpse of Sabu. The undoubted star of the piece however had been AJ Styles, who had competed on each show pulling out a series of strong matches. Would the fact that Styles wasn't present on the show we look at today mean the show struggled? Or would someone else step up the plate? 

2nd July 2004's main event was a grim six man tag that Bobby Roode, Eric Young & Petey Williams of Team Canada would win over 3 Live Kru's BJ James, Konnan & Ron "The Truth" Killings, after NWA World Heavyweight Champion Jeff Jarrett had nailed Killings with a guitar. The bout was pretty much all 3LK, as they dominated from dull face shine to a horribly awkward section of brawling that would lead to Jarrett's inference. Outside of the match there was so much going, like Dennis Rodman being at ringside for 3LK and doing fuck all and Director of Authority Vince Russo telling a returning Ken Shamrock to jump Jarrett if he left his desk at the commentary table. Great job there Shamrock, great job. The former NWA World Heavyweight Champion did eventually come out, leading to a stare down with Shamrock and 3LK on one side and Jarrett and Elite Guard members Collyer, Hernandez and Onyx. The eight men were scheduled to take part in a Gauntlet for the Gold match for Jarrett's title on five days later. 

The episode would feature more six man tag action earlier in the hour as America's Most Wanted teamed with D'Lo Brown to defeat Team Japan members, NOSAWA, Miyamoto and a debuting masked bloke called Makeinu (who according to cagematch.net was MAZADA of AJPW fame), who ended up taking the fall to James Storm after taking a Superkick and AMW's Death Sentence tag finish. Considering the match was only ever going to go one way, we thought this ended up coming out as a solid bout. AMW and Brown seemed to gel as a trio, pulling out a triple team neckbreaker whatsit, whilst Team Japan made the most of their limited offence, highlight by Makeinu's overhead belly to belly suplex on Chris Harris. The closing stages picked things up very nicely indeed as Brown excelled with the hot tag, nailing a double jump mid-rope moonsault for a near fall, before flying through the ropes with his massive suicide dive. After an initial reluctance to Brown's appearance on these shows, the former WWF Intercontinental Champion has begun to impress us with his performances. 

Michael Shane and Kazarian were on the winning end of a tag bout with Chris Sabin and The Amazing Red, in a match that didn't quite manage to live up to expectations. The contest managed to finish strong, following a superb hot tag sequence from Sabin, who looked the capable of the four competitors at this time, despite only three years of experience. The finish was also well done as Kazarian blocked Sabin from hitting a Cradle Shock on Shane with a bicycle kick, before Shane sealed the deal with a superkick. The problem this match had though was a lack of drive at the start. The bout plodded along, waiting for a face shine from Sabin & Red that took ages to arrive, before FSN went to a break and on the other side Shane and Kazarian had taken control. The production of this was, of course, part of the problem, but for an X Division match I was expecting all four competitors to kick things off in style. 

The opening match was also from the X Division as Primetime overcame a debuting Alex Shelley (most regularly seen in IWA Mid-South before this), with a Play of the Day (Overdrive). Knowing of what both men were capable of at different points in their career, it's perhaps a little underwhelming. In a short clash, both men do get a chance to show something of what they can do, with a lovely high-angle moonsault from Primetime and straight-jacket lung blower from Shelley, particularly standing out. The Impact Zone continue to go absolutely nuts for Primetime's tightrope rana as well. The match isn't always as smooth as it could have, which is a shame considering the pair only had four minutes, but the finish is done well, giving Shelley a quality false finish as he turned Primetime's Play of the Day finish into a pinning situation.   

In other action, "The Alpha Male" Monty Brown would squash Abismo Negro in under three minutes. 

Results 

1. Singles Match: Primetime defeated Alex Shelley in 4 minutes, 32 seconds

2. Six Man Tag Team Match: America's Most Wanted - Chris Harris & James Storm & D'Lo Brown defeated Team Japan - Makeinu, Miyamoto & NOSAWA in 6 minutes, 20 seconds 

3. Singles Match: Monty Brown defeated Abismo Negro in 2 minutes, 55 seconds 

4. Tag Team Match: Kazarian & Michael Shane (with Traci) defeated Chris Sabin & The Amazing Red in 7 minutes, 20 seconds

5: Team Canada - Bobby Roode, Eric Young & Petey Williams defeated 3 Live Kru - BJ James, Konnan & Ron Killings in 4 minutes, 5 seconds 

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 3.56/10

Despite being just two days before Independence Day, this show didn't illuminate the wrestling world like a firework, which is ironic considering all of the random pyro on the show. The main event was a complete shambles and I've still to find anything to like about the 3 Live Kru, whilst the rest of the action may have been mostly solid it wasn't much to excited about either. When looking at the card heading into the show, it's difficult not to disappointed heading out America's Most Wanted and D'Lo Brown provided the best action of the evening with their six man against Team Japan, which would have been improved had Makeinu, Miyamoto and NOSAWA not felt so faceless. 

Without beating around the bush, this was the worst episode of iMPACT so far. 

Re-Making an iMPACT #4 - Styles & Brown v Abyss & Dallas (James & David Marston)

TNA Xplosion #83 Results (19th June 2004) - NWA Total Nonstop Action #103 Results (23rd June 2004)

As iMPACT rounded off it's first month on the air, you'd be expecting TNA to be finding the correct formula for it's hour of television each week running alongside a weekly PPV. Coming out of last week's PPV that celebrated two years of the company by having both the NWA World Heavyweight and X Division Championship matches end in No Contests, how would TNA look to explain the results? With D'Lo Brown teaming with AJ Styles to face "The Monster" Abyss and Dallas in a big tag team main event, would this be the episode where TNA would finally crack the code?

Larry Zybszko replaced Dusty Rhodes as the shows judge, "in case" a match went to a time-limit draw.

After X Division Champion AJ Styles had niftily turned Dallas' chokebomb attempt in a hurricarana and scored the pinfall, the June 25th 2004 show concluded with  Monty Brown attacking D'Lo Brown, being aided by "The Monster" Abyss' chain, whilst Kid Kash nailed Styles with a Money Maker and continued the beatdown with Dallas. A fairly straightforward way to build to the Brown v Brown PPV match, although weirdly Kash and Styles wouldn't face off again for sometime. Before this, the tag main event had been a strong television clash, following a simple storyline where Goldylocks would give the heels the advantage on the outside, which built into a wonderful hot tag sequence from Styles. Whilst Dallas & Abyss aren't the smoothest wrestlers and Brown's timing was off on a couple of the points, the closing stages of the match feature some fast-paced and exciting action, with a few twist and turns and a devastating looking suicide dive from Brown, before Styles secured the victory.

In more tag team action, Team Canada's Bobby Roode and Petey Williams picked up a big victory over America's Most Wanted, after The Natural's had interfered and nailed Chris Harris with a nasty chair shot. The match follows your regular tag structure, with James Storm in the face in peril role, before Harris cleaned house on a hot tag, but did seem to be going in a different direction in the last few minutes. All four men were involved in a back and fourth melee, which included a superb Tower of Doom that got a big reaction out of the iMPACT zone. It seemed like the ten minute time limit was about to hamper the action, as I'm sure the two teams could have launched into a blistering final stretch with more time, so in a way I was happy to see the screwy finish over having the match go to a judges decision. 

Another tag team match saw The Amazing Red, Chris Sabin & Primetime overcome Kazarian, [Kazushi] Miyamoto and NOSAWA [Rongai] in a decent X-Division affair. The standout competitor of the bout was Sabin, whose offence always looked polished and seemed to be the most creative competitor of the match, pulling out a lovely enziguri and DDT combo on Kazarian and NOSAWA at one point, as well as a stunning dive over the top rope. If everyone in the match had been as composed as Sabin, I think this would have been a much better contest as a lot of the action felt rushed and therefore became botchy. The biggest culprit of this is The Amazing Red, who has two major slips whilst trying perform slingshot moves, which stop the match from having the usual free-flowing feel that we've come to expect from the X-Division

If you've read the previous editions of Re-Making an iMPACT, you'll know we aren't the biggest fans of the non-wrestling segments and despite it's absurdity this week was no different. Basically, on the recent PPV, Jeff Jarrett's NWA World Heavyweight title bout with Ron Killings had ended in a no-contest after Killings had used Jarrett's guitar, a move that Director of Authority, Vince Russo had decried would lead to an automatic disqualification and therefore title change. For unexplained reasons a quartet of trumpets played Jarrett to the ring, before Larry Zybszko came out to tell Jarrett he'd have to wait until the next PPV to find out who Russo had decided to give the belt to, despite the decision being surely what this show was made for! We did pop pretty hard when Jarrett nailed Zbyszko with his guitar, for rambling with phrasing like "I just left the big room, Jeffrey". The segment ended in a disappointing scrap between 3 Live Kru and Jarrett's Elite Guard (Collyer & Hernandez)

"The Alpha Male" Monty Brown would continue his undefeated streak with a victory over "Irish" Pat Kenney (Simon Diamond) in a dull as dishwater contest. To say that we're big fans of "The Alpha Male" would be like saying we're big fans gouging our own eyes out. The match was full of wear down holds as the duo struggled to fill their three minute bout with anything remotely interesting. To be fair to Kenney, he did pull out a sweet float over in a superkick, but his character came across a just a generic bloke. I've no idea why he has "Irish" in front of his name either. Is their another Pat Kenney running around, so we need to distinguish between the two? The finish is an awkward set-up into the piss-poor Pounce. 

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 4.05/10

The most-action packed episode to date, there's some top quality wrestling on display here with the main event and semi main event tag bouts both delivering. However, there's also a segment with Jeff Jarrett and Larry Zbyszko which answer none of the questions that the previous PPV asked and kind of paints the companies top heel as a babyface (He takes out an annoying authority figure and then gets attacked by three men) whilst Monty Brown appeared for much longer than I'd have liked. There's a core group of guys that are beginning to become the highlight of the show each week, like AJ Styles and Team Canada, whilst others are proving a drag on our enjoyment of the show, *cough* Monty Brown *cough*. 

Next Time - Team Canada v 3 Live Kru

Opinion: Top 10 Jobber Themes (Lily Lestrange)

I've only gone and written a bloody list.  What have I become?! 

I thought I'd switch it up a bit for this month's guest blog since I'm always writing stuff that's fairly serious and informative.  So why not be fun aunt Lily this month and write a list of my top ten favourite jobber themes?

Please note that I do say jobber but these guys all worked hard in the WWE, no matter how long they were there for... and none of them reeeeeally constitute as "jobbers" because they've all achieved something at some point (yes, even number 9) but fuck it.  My ball, my rules. Besides, I use the term as lovingly as possible! They're all in this list because their themes are catchy as fuck and if you've ever had the misfortune to be in my presence then I've probably sang at least one of these themes in your face. Enjoy.

10.  The Mountie

If you didn't watch wrestling in the 80s/early 90s then you probably won't know who this is... UNTIL NOW.  The Mountie's claim to fame in WWE was winning the Intercontinental Championship that one time and winning the tag titles four times (once with his brother and three times as part of The Quebecers). His grotesquely chirpy theme will have your leg jigging and will have you craving maple syrup over EVERYTHING in no time.  It doesn't help that it sounds like something that Trey Parker and Matt Stone have written for an especially Canadian episode of South Park.

9. The Great Khali 

Ah, Khali.  The Punjabi Playboy, our sweet prince of the desert.  Let's be honest, the greatest thing that he ever done in the WWE was sing happy birthday to John Cena and get swung around by Cesaro (he did feud with Triple H for the WWE title and he won the Heavyweight Championship that one time but let's not talk about that) but we love him for the big lug that he is anyway.  Or at least I did.  Now departed from the WWE, I hear Dixie's wanting to recruit him under the guise of "The Average Taj".  Anyway, his theme was bangin' and if it doesn't make you want to dance on a table and get your bhangra on then nothing will.

8. Zack Ryder 

This may come as a shock as you'd probably expect this of all jobber themes to be higher up in the list but nope.  As irritatingly catchy as it is there's better ones out there! I think this theme takes the award for most ridiculous lyrics of any theme song ever... and that's in a world where "Ass Man" exists. Another lyrical masterpiece of big Jim J.  

I think everyone still holds on to the hope that they'll make something magical of Ryder one day. We thought it was when he most recently won the IC championship but, well... we all know how that went. Just keep on drinkin them beers and chatting up them hot babes bro, your time will come one day.

7. Heidenrich  

What an absolute monster of a man, it's a shame that he was only with the WWE for 3 years. His career peaked with his feud with the Undertaker then it all went downhill from there when he became part of the new Legion of Doom (y'know, the one after the original one but before The Ascension who got papped with it and told to run with it). If you're into mash-ups then there's a brilliant one of this and Ryback's theme floating about the interwebs. Go have a look and let your life be changed for the best part of three minutes.

6. D'Lo Brown 

MA BOY D'LO.  He couldn't not be included in this list.  He did well for himself after leaving the Nation of Domination and had some tasty feuds with the likes of X-Pac, Mark Henry and Jeff Jarrett but when you look at how far his rivals went compared to what he's done then you realise he didn't quite go the distance. If he stuck around after 2003 (and he was released so this is through no fault of his own) he could have probably done a lot better but he's flitted between so many companies so many times that he's never stayed anywhere long enough to build a great feud with anyone. His fourth(?) theme was the best one and I'm willing to bet at least a few of you managed to bugger up your neck from trying to get on the d'lo with D'Lo and his theme. 

5. Santino Marella 

I've no idea what the fuck this guy is singing but it gets you pumped. I kid on to myself that it's the man himself singing it because no-one apart from WWE and Jim Johnston are credited for it (and I can't imagine Jimmy J having lungs like that on him). Santino was great though, I'm not really one for liking wrestlers with comedy gimmicks but Santino got me man, he got right in deep to my lil cold black heart. Much like Khali, I don't really remember him for his wrestling ability but more so the daft shit he got involved in, like when he was heel and was trying to tell all the kids that Santa wasn't real and the wee romance he had going with Emma. No matter what you remember him for, no-one will forget him power walking to the ring to this belter of a theme.

4. Rob Conway 

This was so close to being number one but I decided against it because there's other ones that I prefer over it but, I mean... how random is this theme?!  I love it. LOVE IT. Redneck country jobber realness.

His most memorable matches were probably when he was part of La Resistance and feuding with Edge and Benoit for the tag titles, which they won three times. After that La Resistance split and he became a singles competitor, where he became a redneck heel with a cowboy hat and a nifty handlebar moustache. He fought and feuded with a few other mid-card/jobber wrestlers then decided to pick on Flair for the IC championship one night on RAW, which was pretty much the beginning of the end of his WWE career. He lost every match after that then ended up being released in 2007. All is not lost though, because he moved on to NWA where he currently wrestles and is a two time NWA Heavyweight Champion, so all's well that ends well eh?

3. Shelton Benjamin 

Oh, he gonna bring it to ya because there ain't no stoppin' him, NAAAAAAW.  I think I'm pulling at straws a bit here by calling Shelton Benjamin a jobber since he won many a title with WWE. At best he was upper mid-card (given that he pinned Triple H clean twice back in the day, that was pretty special) but he's getting put in this list because I love this theme. He's probably jobbed to someone, somewhere, at some point in his life... maybe. Fuck it. Just listen to the damn song.

2. Chavo Guerrero 

Let's face it, Chavo's shining time in WWE was when he was tagging with Eddie. You're thinking it, I'm thinking it, we're all thinking it. He was a six-time Cruiserweight Champion too, then he went with that whole Kerwin White gimmick and I completely lost interest. I was never a huge Chavo fan when he was with WWE but he done well for himself in Lucha Underground and currently wrestles for AAA so he's doing not too shabby. His theme is ridiculously similar to Eddie's "Lie, Cheat and Steal" theme (the newer version, think it was the 9th theme) but it's one of my favourites regardless. I was desperate to hear the "OOOOOH CHAAAAAVOOOOO" hit at ICW when Chavo and Hardcore Holly were booked at other shows in Scotland at the same time but it sadly wasn't meant to be.

And now, we're finally here... number one!  I need a lie down now.  I need a nap and I need to be away from wrestling and wrestling themes now because I have listened to a fucking lot of them today. My ears hurt and I'm pretty sure one of my toenails is falling off because of the stress of it all. Maybe you expected this theme, maybe you didn't. I'd like to think that I've thrown a huge curveball and gave you something completely out of the blue but who knows.  Just enjoy.

1. Christian 

Now now now, before you kick off, hear me out. Christian's career is dazzling.  Blinding.  Sparkling.  MAGNIFIQUE.  At the peak of his career, that is. The last few years for Christian in the WWE haven't been so great; back in 2014 when he was wrestling he was always inserted into six-man tag matches or title matches like Elimination Chamber and Money In The Bank, purely because - I think - they didn't have anyone else that could fill the space at the time. His last match was in March 2014 against Del Rio, Sheamus and Ziggler then after that he wasn't seen in a ring again...then it was announced that he'd been released from his talent contract back in May, meaning he was still doing other stuff with WWE but just wasn't wrestling with them anymore. It's a shame given his history but a string of injuries lead him to this point.

NOW, the theme I want you to hear isn't his last theme that he used. No no no, I'm taking you back to 2001 with his "At Last" theme. Just... watch the video if you've never seen the titantron for it before. Everything about it is amazing. The theme is one of the catchiest themes you'll hear, ever. I don't think I could love another theme like I love this one and if you don't love it too then I don't know what to tell you. Just enjoy the acid trip that this is gonna induce once you click that play button.

TNA Impact Wrestling 30th May 2013 Review

This week’s edition of TNA’s Impact Wrestling was the go-home edition for this Sunday’s Slammiversary pay-per-view and as a whole the show did its job well, pushing the major storylines going into the show and providing some good in ring action.

AJ Styles vs. Mr. Anderson

In my opinion, the AJ Styles storyline (okay, let’s forget about the whole Clare Lynch saga and never mention it again) has been one of the best things about TNA and wrestling as a whole over the last year or so. It’s clear that TNA’s long term booking strategy is beginning to pay off, as I’ve genuinely been interested where the storyline has been going from week to week.

This match was set up at the start of the show, with Aces and Eights President and World Heavyweight Champion Bully Ray telling Anderson that he would have to face Styles tonight, because of Anderson being the one who failed to get Styles to join the group the previous week. A comment from outcast member D’Lo Brown, leading to vicious beat down from Anderson, seemingly removing Brown from the group for good. For me, this was fantastic decision as Brown neither fitted with the group nor brought anything to it. However I wouldn’t be surprised to see Brown appear in some fashion at Slammiversary.

As expected of these two top draw talents the match was an impressive television main event of arguably pay-per-view quality. It seems The Phenomenal One has changed up his in-ring style as of late becoming more of a hard hitting brawler than the highflyer we’ve come to expect over recent years, however this style suits the storyline with AJ not looking to please anyone and simply win matches. There was a nice spot on the apron with Anderson delivering a DDT, which Styles sold to perfection. With Anderson returning Styles’ blows and the match going back and forth throughout this was steadily building into an exciting contest, until Kurt Angle came to ruin the party. It was frustrating to see the match end this way, although with Slammiversary just around the corner I can see why TNA opted for the Angle run.

With Styles and Angle battling it out, it didn’t take long for Aces and Eights to make an appearance beating on both men. Their threat was countered by run ins from Samoa Joe, Magnus, Joseph Park and Sting. This allowed Angle and Styles to continue their battle up the entrance ramp, building well for Sunday’s contest. Personally, I would have preferred TNA to hold off on AJ Styles’s in ring return until Slammiversary, with his previous bout with James Storm and now this contest with Anderson somewhat taking the shine and draw of his match with Kurt Angle.

Aces & Eights (World Heavyweight Champion Bully Ray & Television Champion Devon) Vs. Sting & Joseph Park

The other big match on the show was used to hype two title matches for this Sunday and saw the return of one of the most successful tag teams of all time, Team 3D. Before the contest, Bully Ray was handed a microphone. Now anyone who’s been watching TNA over the last few years will know anytime Bully Ray has a microphone in his hand you better be listening and this promo was no different. He put over his number one contender, Sting, talking about people Sting had beaten to win World titles in the past, mentioning Ric Flair, Hulk Hogan, Kurt Angle and Jeff Hardy. Ray said he couldn’t wait to make sure Sting could never wrestle for the World Title ever again, before calling out Sting and Park to start the contest.

I have to be honest, I didn’t hold out much hope for this tag team contest, as I’m not particularly looking forward to either singles contests on the Pay-Per-View. However, this was a surprisingly fun tag team bout, with the opening of the match being a brawl on the outside, leading to a nice double clothesline spot from Sting and Bully once back on the inside. With Team 3D working over Park for the majority of the match, Sting was heavily protected with only a small amount of ring time after Park made the hot tag, which is worrying considering he’s in a big singles main event on Sunday.

Sting looked strong once the hot tag was in, hitting a double Stinger splash and putting Devon in the Scorpion Death Lock, only for Joseph Park’s “inexperience” to cost the team as he failed in his attempt to put Bully Ray in a similar move, leading to a silly spot with Park falling into Sting. Although Park plays the character well and it has been entertaining to watch since its debut, I’m definitely chomping at the bit to see him return to playing Abyss full time once more. It looks like my wish might be granted, as just as 3D looked to be heading for victory, Abyss’ music played distracting Bully and Devon and allowing The Stinger to hit a Scorpion Death Drop on Devon for the win. Although this match will probably not be remember for long, it did a good job of building these two matches heading into the pay-per-view.

The Bully Ray storyline continued later in the show, with a backstage segment between Hulk and Brooke Hogan as they discussed Ray’s words from last week about “still loving” Brooke. I could really do without so much Hogan on the product, I’m tuning in to watch pro wrestling, not a continuation of Hogan Knows Best. There’s definitely way too much going on in the Bully Ray-Sting match at Slammiversary, and I’d expect Hulk, Brooke, Aces and Eights and maybe even Abyss to get involved in some way, especially seeing as I can’t see Sting wrestling a full main event match. Sting and Bully Ray returned to end the show with the usual mass brawl, with both men trading blows, until Devon re-entered and Sting got flattened with a 3D. This is the strongest Aces and Eights have looked for a while, maybe TNA has taken notice of WWE’s booking of similar group The Shield.

Best of the Rest

Another big match heading into Slammiversary is the Four Way Elimination match for the World Tag Team Championships. James Storm explained why he’d chosen Gunner as his Tag Team partner in a backstage segment. Storm is usually spot on with his promos, however this one about Gunner “killing people” and how he was going to “kill people for me (Storm) too” was awkward and sat uneasy in the current climate.

There was a nice preview to Sunday’s tag title contest with an Eight Man Tag Team match, featuring Champions Chavo Guerrero and Hernandez teaming with Gunner and James Storm to take on Bad Influence and the poorly name Dirty Heels. With all eight men working hard throughout the previous weeks and months to build the psychology going into the big elimination match, this contest turned it up to eleven. With Austin Aries working the crowd to perfection, tagging in Bobby Roode as soon as his name got chanted. There was some nice teamwork from both heel teams with a slingshot/elbow combination from Roode & Aries amongst the highlight. Cleverly, we didn’t get to see much of Storm and Gunner as a team until the very end of the contest, when Gunner entered and destroyed the competition, eventually making Aries tap out to a torture rack. With all the elements going into the Four Way at Slammiversary it will be very interesting to see who comes out with the Tag Team Titles.

New Knockout Champion Mickie James edged closer to a heel turn, with an interesting promo both praising and criticising her fans base. Mickie went on to call out former champion Velvet Sky and praise her as well, albeit in a patronising manner. Even going as far as to back out of a rematch with Sky at Slammiversary. Mickie hasn’t quite nailed this new character change yet, however it has been a while since she played a heel character, all the way back to her debut in WWE, and it will take time for her to settle into the role. Gail Kim interrupted the pair to put herself forward for a title shot, attacking Velvet Sky and attempting to place her in the Figure Four Leg Lock around the ring post we’ve seen take out numerous opponents in recent weeks, only for Taryn Terrell to run in for the save, leading into the Mixed Tag Team contest.

Chris Sabin teamed with Terrell, whilst Kim was joined by X-Division Champion Kenny King. I would have much rather Terrell have stayed as a referee as she’s not quite as talented or entertaining as ODB who has been relegated into this role, and has done little more than catfight with Gail Kim, which doesn’t give much hope for their Last Woman Standing Match on Sunday. Sabin and King carried most of the contest with some solid high flying action, finishing with Sabin’s new finishing move, the impressive Hail Sabin. With Sabin cutting a pre-match promo about his return and the Slammiversary match, the Pretty Boy Pit-bull made the attack from behind, only for Suicide to make the save. For me, this match doesn’t really need Suicide as the story between Sabin and King should be strong enough to build a singles match around, which is one of the downfalls of the new X Division format. However, I’m sure the Three Way Ultimate X contest will be a great spectacle with this three talented individuals. Hopefully, Sabin remains fit and strong for a long time to come, as he still has a lot to offer TNA.

We also got a rare appearance from TNA President Dixie Carter, who came to ring to make announce they would reveal a new TNA Hall of Fame Inductee at Slammiversary, although she felt a bit like a Mom giving a speech at a child’s birthday party. She was interrupted by Aces and Eights members Garrett Bischoff, Wes Brisco and DOC. Bischoff cut a decent promo, helped by the fact that it’s very easy to dislike him! With Aces and Eights circling Dixie, Magnus and a returning Samoa Joe. Joe’s intensity on the mic is impressive as always as he challenged Garett to a match. With Joe dominating it didn’t take long for Aces and Eights to get involved tripping Joe, before Magnus attempted to even the odds. With three-on-one on Magnus, Aces and Eight were looking strong, until Joe hit a huge suicide dive, taking out all three members.

Joe launched into another charismatic promo, calling the group cowards and revealing a new match for Slammiversary that will pit Brisco, Bischoff & DOC against Joe, Magnus and a returning Jeff Hardy. This could be an interesting contest and will clearly get compared to similar six man tag team matches that WWE is putting on at the moment with the Shield. However despite the talent on the TNA side of the team, I don’t think Brisco and Bischoff quite have the in ring experience to pull off a match anywhere near the quality of the competition.

Finally…

What have we learnt from this weeks Impact Wrestling?

1. Don't expect Sting to wrestle for very long in Sunday's Main Event 

2. Expect at least on appearance from The Monster, Abyss 

3. Hulk Hogan appears almost as much on Impact as the WWE App does on Raw!

Announced for Slammiversary this Sunday: Aces & Eights Vs. Magnus, Samoa Joe & Jeff Hardy