TNA Impact Wrestling - Lockdown 2015 Review

      For the first time ever, TNA decided to giveaway Lockdown on free television, rather than hold the event as a pay-per-view. An interesting choice, a clear attempt to build up the fledgling Destination America viewership, but would the event offer classic matches, of the ilk of AJ Styles vs. Abyss from 2005, Samoa Joe vs. Kurt Angle from 2008 or Angle vs. Mr. Anderson of 2010? Would the show actually end up as pay-per-view quality making fans feel like they've been given an extra special treat, or would it leave fans thanking their lucky stars that they didn't have to pay? Let's find out!

Lethal Lockdown Match

Beatdown Clan 

vs. 

Team Angle

  Taking up around a quarter of the television time was the continuing storyline between the Beatdown Clan and Team Angle, culminating in the Lethal Lockdown main event for the show. For some reason, it was decided that angle was needed earlier in the show, in which MVP (who was joined by Kenny King and Eric Young) offered Kurt Angle's team the opportunity to back out of the match, due to Team Angle being one member down at the time. For someone who is given so much mic time by TNA, MVP can't hold my attention for more than a minute. Of course, Angle didn't accept MVP's offer and it all ended up in a big brawl, with Low Ki and Samoa Joe ambushing Gunner. The pair trapped Gunner's arm in the cage door and delivered a chair shot, to give the match a bit of story later on. This segment should have taken place a week before the match, to help build up the feud, having it on the Special edition itself just made everything feel very rushed. 

The build up continued backstage with Gunner told by a Doctor not to compete, however Gunner decided he would any and would start the match, because he's a fucking moron apparently. Instead of telling their partner that this was a bloody stupid idea, Angle and Austin Aries simply sat by. Instead of reasoning with Gunner that it might be a good idea to go in last, Angle went to track down World Heavyweight Champion Bobby Lashley, throwing him into a wall in an attempt to get him to join the team, that's exactly what I do when I want someone to write for Across The Pond, ask Billy and Sean.

So the two stories running throughout the bout were clearly set out earlier in the show. Gunner going in first with an injured arm, that was played up nicely earlier on in the match with Kenny King and Low Ki delivering a number of kicks to the arm and Gunner selling completently throughout the first five minutes or so. It was a shame not to see this picked up on later, although the crowded nature of Lethal Lockdown doesn't really lend itself to such subtleties. The other story, of course, was whether or not Bobby Lashley would turn up to help Team Angle. The moment Lashley came out was played nicely, although it was clear to everyone that he wasn't about to rejoin MVP's stable. Personally, I would've liked to have Lashley on the offence for a bit longer, as he cut of fairly quickly by the BDC, I think it would have really cemented the moment to see Lashley explode out of the blocks on his former friends. 

Angle's team managed to pick up the victory, with Angle, Aries and Gunner all managing to lock in their signature submission holds on members of the opposite team in a cool moment, allowing Lashley to hit a spear on MVP to pick up the victory. The interaction between MVP and Lashley lasted a little bit too long, with MVP standing around for a bit instead of saving any of his team. I'm not entirely sure if Angle's team going over was the correct decision, The Beatdown Clan needed a victory to make them feel like a viable threat at the top of the card, having only been in existence for a month. Where does everyone go next? Who will become Lashley's number one contender? Will Gunner continue to randomly drift in and out of storylines? 

Steel Cage Match for the World Tag Team Championship

The Hardys 

vs. 

James Storm & Abyss (C)

with Khoya, Manik & The Great Sanada

       It was refreshing to see a wrestling match open the show and seeing as this was supposed to be a "Pay-Per-View" style show it's exactly what should be happening on these special editions of Impact Wrestling. This match had recieved a lot of attention in the promos for this show, simply because of THAT bump by Jeff Hardy after the match, with the feud between the two teams being flimsly at best, with The Hardys winning a number one contender bout against The Wolves three weeks ago, before the teams faced off in singles matches over the last two weeks.

This match did little for me and for a match this long, very little of note actually happened during the match. The Hardy's ran through their signature moves (Four Twist of Fates?), Storm and Abyss didn't do much at all beyond kicks and punches, and most of all there was no sense of drama or urgency to attempt to get the win. This was two teams going through the motions for most of the match, which all seemed like it was there simply to allow for the big spot to happen after the match. I think seeing Jeff and Abyss using all sorts of weapons on last week's Impact also didn't help this one.

Elements of the finish however were strong. I say elements because Matt getting pulled out of the camera hole in the cage by Khoya was just plain stupid and completely negated the reason the purposes of the cage match concept! But, The Great Sanada's interference using his Green Mist to prevent Jeff from hitting a Swantom Bomb was a clever use of Sanada's offence and allowed Storm to pick up the pinfall victory for his team following a Last Call Superkick. 

The aftermatch of the match was what everyone tuned in for though, wasn't it? Everyone wanted to see Jeff Hardy's stupid bump from the door of the cage onto the steel steps. And you needn't have worried if you missed it the first time round, because it was replayed numerous times throughout the remaining two hours. The Revolution looked dominant, and Storm in particularly is doing good character work in the role, it is important that the younger guys on the faction get some time to get themselves over, as TNA desperately needs to get some upward movement from it's roster.          

Steel Cage Match

Eric Young 

with MVP

vs. 

Bobby Roode

This is the match I was most looking forward to heading into the show, mainly because Bobby Roode has proven to be TNA's most consistent in-ring performer over the last few years. That being said, I was left a little disapointted by this match overall. The action throughout was technically sound, both men looked comfortable in the ring together, but this wasn't anywhere near as competitive a match as I was hoping it would be. Roode dominated for most of the match and never really looked like he was losing this one, even when MVP came out to hand Young a steel chair through the fucking camera hole! 

This match needed, at least, five minutes more than it was given to tell a satisfying story and to give both men the opportunity to show what they could do. The story heading into the match was that Roode wanted to draw blood from Young, but when that happened it felt almost like a footnote, rather than the cresendo to the match that it should have been. Roode picked up the win with a Roode Bomb onto a steel chair, so it would seem like Roode would slot straight back into the title picture. This was a decent match, but it killed any momentum that the feud, or Eric Young, may have had going forward, after only a month. Roode's backstage promo later in the show would seem to confirm that also.

Handicap Steel Cage Match

Mandrews & Rockstar Spud 

vs. 

Tyrus 

with Ethan Carter III

This was my favourite match of the night, not the best match on the show, but my favourite to watch. Simply put, the match set out to do exactly what it had to do and told a story that was easy to follow and well told. Everyone in the bout played their roles excellently, with Spud especially standing out throughout the match, with his believable selling and his heel-o off the top of the cage onto Tyrus. It was Tyrus however who picked up the victory after EC3 managed to get Mandrews to leave the cage, ending up in a nasty bump onto the steel steps for Mandrews, before Tyrus picked up the win following his Tongan Death Grip chokeslam. Spud however managed to keep hold of his hair again, as following the match Jeremy Borash managed to snip the power chord to EC3's clippers. This storyline has brightened TNA's television product up for a long time and it doesn't look like losing steam any time soon, both Spud and EC3 are benefitting, with Mandrews and Tyrus also getting involved on the action, TNA needs to look at what it's doing right here and implement it throughout the rest of the show.

Steel Cage Match

Havok 

vs. 

Awesome Kong

Billed as a "Dream" match, this match turned out to be all hype. Awesome Kong looked like she'd rather be anywhere else as she plodded through the bout, whilst Havok did weird things like remove the mats from around ringside to apply a bear hug on them. There were two notable spots, Kong throwing Havok into the cage door and steps on the outside and Havok missing a spear on Kong that sent Havok into the cage, I don't know about you but I expect a little more from my dreams. Kong picked up the win, following an awkward top powerbomb and a standing splash, so I'd imagine we're going to get more between these two. Hopefully, they'll get a bit longer and be able to up their game next time out.

Beautiful People segment

For reasons known only to TNA, a segment involving Velvet Sky explaining to Angelina Love that she had been fired aired with the caption "Two weeks ago". AND REVEALED NOTHING! We'd already seen Angelina the week before coming out with The Bro-Mans and not giving a shit about Sky being fired. You could have saved us from Angelina and Velvet's acting TNA, but you chose not to! 

Robbie E and Brooke's "Amazing" Race

Thank the lord that this segment was kept to only highlights. Brooke and Robbie E had a race to get into the cage and then leave the cage. For the minute it was on screen it was mildly entertaining, although I can't help but for feel for the live crowd who had to watch it in full.

Finally...

This was not a pay-per-view quality show, neither was it a particularly strong episode of Impact Wrestling. Whilst there were elements of the show that were enjoyable, notably the Handicap bout, this felt like a show of missed opportunities. An extra five minutes for Roode vs. Young, a few tweaks to the Lethal Lockdown match and more urgency and drama to the tag team title bout and this conclussion could have been very different. 

Impact Wrestling 8th January 2015 Review

Impact Wrestling is back! Yes, TNA's flagship TV show returned to our screens on 8th January (Yes, I'm playing catch up already with reviews!), and promised a big show, with Bobby Roode defending the TNA World Heavyweight Championship against ex-champ Bobby Lashley, Kurt Angle returing to action after eight months on the sidelines in Street Fight against MVP and more. But was the debut show on Destination America actually any good?

TNA World Heavyweight Championship Match

Bobby Lashley vs. Bobby Roode (C)

      Correctly so, this match was hyped throughout the show, beginning with the brawling opening segment. Followed up with the highlights video of the original Bobby Lashley vs. Bobby Roode match from No Surrender in September and a backstage segment that teased some tension between Lashley and stablemates MVP and Kenny King, with those two having another segment later on, that was almost completely drowned out by background noise. Through in a recap of the second Lashley vs. Roode match from October and you had a pretty solid amount of build toward the main event, with the recaps especially making it feel like the main event was going to be something worth watching.

     And for the most part that's exactly what this match was. Something worth watching. Did it reach the heights of the previous two matches? Not quite, but that's got more to do with the ending than anything else for me, but we'll get to that in a minute. Lashley continued to repay TNA's faith in him throughout, he looked every bit the star they've attempted to build him into, his facial expressions whilst no selling clotheslines from Roode were spot on and meant that when Roode eventually knocked him it felt more important than it probably should have. On the other hand of the coin, Roode has grown into TNA's biggest home grown star over the last two years, and looked very crisp in the ring throughout, a lovely flying neckbreaker was particular high point.

     The match built nicely towards it's closing stages, with Roode and Lashley throwing there best shots at each other to attempt to get the victory, even stealing each others finishers. The two flowed nicely during this stage, as they did throughout the entire match. However, with MVP, Kenny King and two mystery guys coming out, I began to lose interest. With the referee being pulled out of the ring with Lashley about to tap in the crossface, everything went a bit nuts. Angle ran in, but got battered by the four guys, with the two mystery men being revealed as Low Ki and Samoa Joe (this turning them heel), with Eric Young scaring off the heels, he himself then turn heel nailing Roode with a chair and allowing Lashley to hit a spear to win the TNA World Heavyweight Championship for the second time in his career. Now, I usually go with the idea that if it's mouthfull to say and confusing to read, it's probably not a great finish to a match. Personally, I think allowing Roode and Lashley alone would have sent out much better messages about the new direction of the product.

     Whilst, Low Ki, Samoa Joe and Eric Young all turning heel in the space of two minutes did have a degree of shock value, it felt like TNA were giving away at least three weeks of booking in one segment. Surely, having one guy turn each week would have extended the "Impact" of the turns? With Eric Young booked against Bobby Roode in a Falls Count Anywhere match on this weeks, it's difficult to not think TNA is simply going to repeat the same mistakes it has done in the past, rushing angles and not giving them enough time for anyone to get invested in what is actually going on in the ring! 

Street Fight

Kurt Angle vs. MVP

       Yes, Kurt Angle returned to in-ring action at the tender age of 46 years of age! This, of course, was holy unadvertised, because that would be silly, wouldn't it? Yes, instead of having weeks or even months of build to Angle's return to the ring, it was rushed into the opening segment of the show! Angle's return match would surely sell tickets and boost ratings (maybe even sell PPV's) if advertised and hyped correctly.

     Now the segment itself started nicely, with a well directed video package that saw a number of TNA wrestlers recieving an invite to the show (complete with new music that was featured throughout the show), eventually leading to them brawling outside the Manhattan Center and then into the building. A decent attempt to try and get as many guys and gals on the start of the show and create a different feel to what WWE is doing at the moment. Personally, this brawl went on for a bit too long, but it seemed to get the crowd really pumped for the show, as they remained very loud throughout the broadcast.

      After Angle had put all Championships on the line for the night (again, would it not have been wise to advertise this?), MVP attempted to interupt Angle and after some back and forth Angle made the announcement that he was no longer Director of Wrestling Operations and would resume his in-ring career, booking his final match as a Street Fight against MVP. Again, it all comes down to promoting big matches, even having Angle announce that the match would open the second hour of the hour would have been an improvement on it happening straight away!

     However, for two men wresting in street clothes, MVP and Angle made the best they could out of the strange booking. The wrestling was sound, only Kurt Angle could make German Suplexes look so beautiful whilst wearing a suit at 46 years old and there was some solid psychology with MVP focusing his antention on Angle's knee, referecning the ACL tear that had kept Angle out of action, with a chair shot on the steel steps. The two strung together some nice sequences and when Angle picked up the win with an Angle Slam, I was more than satisfyed with the opening match of the show. I still hold out that this match shouldn't have opened Impact (without prior advertisment anyway), but this was a solid out for Angle and MVP, with the result sparking a chain of events that would impact on the rest of the show.

TNA World Tag Team Championship Match

James Storm & Abyss (C) vs.  The Wolves

       Before this match took place, TNA cleverly hyped their new Impact Unlocked series, by broadcasting a teaser of the footage that one could expect when tuning into the show. This footage was a pre-recorded one on one sit down interview between Mike Tenay and one half of the TNA World Tag Team Champions James Storm. The style of interview presented here felt fresh and most importantly it used Mike Tenay to bring a touch of reality to Storm's larger than life character. Many viewers will have created a connection with Tenay over the year, so seeing him in this situations, not only made for uncomfortable viewing (in a good way) but also allowed Storm's character work to come to the forefront.

    It was straight into the match following the interview, with The Wolves being revealed as Storm and Abyss' challengers. This was an adequate tag team bout, if not a little short. The Wolves impressed throughout, with both Eddie Edwards and Davey Richards taking turns bumping for Storm and Abyss, before both men showed some sound athletism, including both flipping out of a chokeslam attempt from Abyss and delivering a handful of double team moves, such as the Backstabber/Double Stomp combo that earned them a two count. A personal highlight of the match was seeing Abyss catch Edwards during a handspring elbow attempt before delivering Shock Treatment for a great near fall. The finsh wasn't to my taste however, with The Hardys getting involved to attempt to even the field by taking out The Revolution's Manik and Great Sanada who were at ringside, before Jeff Hardy ended up bumping into Edwards, allowing Storm to hit a Last Call Superkick to pick up the win and retain the titles. Whilst the original Hardys vs. Wolves match and the subsequent tag series with Team 3D were all good matches, I'm personally not interest in a rematch between the two.

TNA X Division Championship Match

Low Ki (C) vs. Austin Aries 

      With Low-Ki's challenger for the evening being revealed as former TNA World Heavyweight Champion Austin Aries, it was difficult not to get hyped for this match. Given more time and I'm sure these two would have put on an absolute clinic in X Division style wrestling. There wasn't quite enough time for these two to put things into top gear, but it was still an entertaining seven minutes of action, with the two going back and forth with mainly strike based offence. The closing stages especially showed that this match up had a lot more to give, with a beautiful modified dragon sleeper reversal from Low Ki to escape a brainbuster attempt, before Aries was able to catch Low Ki with a dropkick with Low Ki perched on the top rope, before delivering a brain buster to pick up the victory and become a SIX time X Division Champion! These two deserved at least an extra five minutes.

TNA Knockout's Championship Battle Royal

Velvet Sky vs. Angelina Love vs. Gail Kim vs. Tarynn Terrell (C) vs. Madison Rayne vs. Havok vs. Rebel

KNOCKOUT'S BATTLE ROYAL! Fuck that, AWESOME KONG IS BACK! Yes, after a rather uninspiring battle royal that saw Tarynn Terrel hold onto the TNA Knockout's Championship by last eliminating Gail Kim and Havok, Awesome Kong (last seen on TV as WWE's Kharma) returned to TNA after a five year absence. Kong made her presence known by chokeslamming the referee and staring down with Havok. TNA's knockout's division hasn't been the same since Kong left in 2010, so hopefully with near 300lb'er back on board the Impact Wrestling train, we'll see an upturn in the division fortunes in 2015.

EC3 shaves Jeremy Borash's head!!!

       With cameras supposedly installed "everywhere" in the building, Ethan Carter III and Tyrus attempted to hijack the show, appearing in a number of backstage segments calling out Spud for a little trim. When EC3 made it out the ring, his crowd work was impeccable, he knew exactly what he needed to do to get the reaction he wanted from the fans in attendance. The rest of the segment however, I'm not quite sure about. Spud was carried to the ring by Tyrus, before ring announcer Jeremy Borash attempted to stand up for Spud, with the camera unforgivably missing the big moment of Borash slapping EC3 hard in the face! This eventually led to Borash getting his head shaved by EC3. Erm... Erm... I don't know! Was this great television? Was it another bizarre piece of booking? Did Jeremy Borash just want to shave his head? All this and more will probably never be answered.

Finally...

       This was an entertaining episode of Impact Wrestling, with the majority of the matches being extremely watchable.  Josh Matthews was a fresh addition to the commentary team alongside Taz and seemed to push his partner on, the two made a compelling duo on commentary, perhaps the best change to the broadcast style. I still have a few reservations about TNA rushing storylines, with both the turns of Low Ki, Samoa Joe and Eric Young and the in-ring return of Kurt Angle all not feeling quite as big as they could have, if given the correct time and attention.

TNA Impact Wrestling 27th June 2013 Review

In the past I’ve talked about how TNA’s in ring action is usually a lot better than the booking of the product and the storylines. However, on this week’s edition of Impact I was impressed with the booking and format of the show with two strong storylines woven throughout leading to big reveals.

X-Division Championship Three Way: Chris Sabin © vs. Suicide vs. Kenny King

Now it’s unusual for an X-Division match to make top billing on the reviews here, however with Destination X approaching and the possibility of the winner of this match getting a World Heavyweight Championship Match, the focus ,for now at least, is firmly on the X Division. Before the match Bully Ray cornered X Division Champion Chris Sabin in what looked like the back of a truck, alongside Aces and Eights partners, Mr. Anderson and DOC. Bully did a good job of getting his point across that if Sabin should win, he shouldn’t drop the X Division title for a shot at Bully, whilst also putting Sabin over fairly well. This was the first time in a long time that Aces and Eights have looked strong in a segment, maybe because the numbers were kept to a minimum, giving each member more significance to the segment.

Personally, I preferred this three way match to the Ultimate X match the three had at Slammiversary, mainly because it allowed them to focus on the wrestling rather than worry about the Ultimate X gimmick, which didn’t really pay off in that match. It was well balanced and fast paced match, with enough technical wrestling to allow the high flying moves to stand out, as well as enough spots to keep the match having that X Division feel, including a nice drop kick from Sabin whilst King was in a tree of woe and Suicide was sitting in the same corner. The end saw King go for the Royal Flush on Suicide, with Sabin on the outside, only for Suicide to reverse into a sunset flip to get the victory whilst holding onto the ropes. My only gripe with the ending was how long Sabin spent on the outside after basically only being thrown out the ring by Suicide. Suicide holding onto the ropes teased a heel turn, but the best was still to come.

After the match, General Manager Hulk Hogan turned up with former Ring of Honor Wrestling TJ Perkins. Hogan revealed as many already knew, that Perkins was the guy under Suicide’s mask, saying that the Suicide in the ring was an imposter. It didn’t quite fit the character of Suicide for Hogan to know who was under the mask “the whole time” but it made just enough sense to keep my attention and I was interested to find out who was under the mask. As were a lot of the TNA roster, firstly we saw Bully Ray talk to TJ Perkins backstage in a nice touch with Ray being paranoid it was something to do with the Main Event Mafia. Hulk Hogan questioned the match’s referee about who might be under the mask, with the referee knowing nothing. Bully Ray flanked by Mr. Anderson and DOC accussed Chavo Guerrero, Robbie E and Jessie Godderz of being Suicide in the locker room. The Main Event Mafia said they were interested to see who would reveal themselves as Suicide, teasing they might be the new member of the group. These segments really helped to build the importance of the reveal later on in the show and showing the concern from both Bully Ray and Hulk Hogan was another clever move, as it played with the lines between face and heel, showing they can have common goals.

Suicide Revealed?

In the final segment of the show, Hulk Hogan came to the ring to call out whoever was under the Suicide costume, and if he didn’t reveal himself he would be stripped off the championship. Suicide came to the ring but refused to remove his mask. It was then that Bully Ray entered on his own, siding with Hogan and asking Suicide to reveal himself. It was definitely a nice twist having Hogan and Ray after the same thing and their concern really built up who was under the mask as a threat to the World Heavyweight Championship. Suicide began to talk but with a vocoder distorting his voice, he cut a strange promo that wouldn’t have worked under any other circumstances but here it allowed the tension to build up to the reveal. The voice distortion slowly faded away, with Suicide revealing he had beaten Bully once before, he removed his mask to reveal…Austin Aries! Aries said he’s be cashing in the belt for another shot at Bully Ray at Destination X. I enjoyed the reveal and having Aries the X-Division Championship again is certainly an intriguing prospect. One thing I’d wonder here though, is that with Aries in the Bound For Glory Series, what happens if he wins the World Heavyweight Championship?

Bound For Glory Series Match: Samoa Joe vs. Mr. Anderson

Impact Wrestling kicked off this week with Main Event Mafia leader Sting, bringing out newest Main Event Mafia member Kurt Angle. Kurt cut a good promo talking about how the old Main Event Mafia worked, as well as putting Aces and Eights over well as a destructive group and a threat to the new Main Event Mafia.  It was also revealed that a new member of the group would be revealed tonight. I enjoyed this as an opening to the show, it set up the storyline well and gave the viewer a reason to keep watching the rest of the show.

Sting and Angle were shown entering a room labelled “Club Room” later on in the show, with Sting saying they would be better off this time round. They were later seen watching Bobby Roode as he made his way to the entrance ramp, teasing that Roode had joined the group. These segments were fairly short and felt a bit like TNA filling time, rather than a build up towards the reveal later on. Personally, I feel it would have been more satisfying not to see The Main Event Mafia after the opening of the show, building up the suspense on who they were going to reveal.

The reveal would take place during Samoa Joe’s Bound For Glory Series match with Mr. Anderson. It was very different contest to the one we saw between Joe and AJ Styles on the previous weeks broadcast, being much more of a brawl than a technical master class. For me, that’s what makes Joe still one of the best in the business at the moment, the ability to wrestle a number of different styles of matches. Anderson seemed restricted by his current attire of jeans and leather jacket, instead of his previous trunks. With Samoa Joe taking control Aces and Eight’s DOC and Knux came out to attempt a distraction, only for The Main Event Mafia to come storming down the entrance ramp to level the playing field. The match went a bit longing with Joe blocking a Mic Check from Anderson, before locking in the Rear Naked Choke for the submission victory and 10 points in the Series. It was decent match that told a decent story and having it last a little long after the interference certainly helped both guys looking strong.

After the match, Angle and Sting came into the ring and hugged Joe before raising his hand. It was confirmed later on in the show that Samoa Joe was the newest member of the Main Event Mafia, in a backstage segment saw Joe handed his new suit. It was another logical move to add Joe to the Main Event Mafia as the only other member of the original group to still under contract with TNA and it felt more effective than the Angle reveal as it didn’t finish the show, therefore no big surprise twist was particularly expected. With the three guys now in place, it will be interesting to see who will be added to the group as we continue towards Bound For Glory.

Best of the Rest (in the World)

The other Bound For Glory Series match of the night, pitted Magnus against Bobby Roode. It was decent wrestling contest with some nice amateur style work to kick of the contest. Roode went on to take control of the match, including a nice slingshot whilst Magnus was caught up in the ropes. From here the match stuck to fairly basic pattern, with Magnus making a comeback after catching Roode. There were then near falls following signature moves from each man, before Magnus hit the Mag Daddy Driver for the victory. The end was a slight anti-climax, with Magnus looking awkward in getting out of a Fisherman’s Suplex attempt from Roode to hit the MDD.

The win for Magnus keeps him top of the Bound For Glory Series with two wins and seventeen points. I can’t see Magnus staying at the top of the series, as he has no real logical storyline to go into with current World Heavyweight Champion Bully Ray. A sustained run near the top of the series however could be very beneficial for Magnus in terms of transitioning him into a main event spot that he could be capable of. Roode hasn’t won in the Series yet, I expect this could be a running theme, possibly with a face turn in the cards for Roode as he looks to pick up a win.

Mickie James finally defended her Knockout’s Championship against Velvet Sky. James dominated most of the contest, working over Velvet’s previously injured knee, with Velvet selling well throughout. Velvet had a few comeback attempts and got a few near falls with roll ups. Mickie James eventually picked up the victory to retain the championship with a cross legged version of an STF. It was a decent match between the two, but with the storyline going on for so long and the bitterness between the two, it felt a little anti-climactic, it would have been nicer for the match to go a little longer and feature a few more spots to build on how this former friendship had soured. They did a weird angle at the end with Velvet breaking down and crying, which personally didn’t work for me, it didn’t really make me sympathise with Velvet and made her look a little whiny if anything.

World Tag Team Champions James Storm and Gunner came out to put over themselves as a duo, in what was a solid promo from Storm, although it would have been nice to hear what Gunner had to say. They were interrupted by Robbie E and Jessie Godderz accompanied by Tara. It looks like Robbie & Jessie are going to be a team going forward. The rest of the segments, focused around the teams name, The Bro Mans, with Storm winding the duo up by saying it sounded like Bromance as well as insulting Tara. It was wasn’t exactly some of Storm’s best work but is was passable at least. Gunner eventually took out Godderz with Robbie E backing away and pulling out his partner. Storm finished with his catchphrase. Whilst the TNA tag team division is looking thin at the moment, burying a new team like this seemed like a poor move by TNA, although The Bro Mans aren’t realistically going to challenge Storm and Gunner, a victory over them now is going to mean very little to any other new team.

The Gutcheck returned this week with Adam Ohriner, known to many as The Big O from Zack Ryder’s Z True Long Island Story, facing off against Ryan Lowe, who has a rockstar gimmick. Lowe came to the ring playing an electric guitar, which was an impressive entrance for a Gutcheck competitor and he clearly has a talent on the guitar. The match wasn’t anything special, with both men struggling to find any connection with the other. The ending was strange with Ohriner winning with a powerslam, and didn’t felt like it had been though through very well. Personally, I wouldn’t sign either man to the company, Ohriner has little to offer bar being Zack Ryder’s friend, whilst Lowe’s gimmick is far too close to Rockstar Spud, so unless they place him in a tag team with Spud I can’t see much for him.

Finally…

What have we learnt from this week's Impact Wrestling?

1. TNA is capable of pulling off a great show long storyline.

2. The three guys we expected to be in the Main Event Mafia are in the Main Event Mafia.

3. The Gutcheck Competition is one of those things that sounds good on paper, but has yet to be excuted correctly.

Bound For Glory Series Standings

1. Magnus                    17 Points (Non-Mover)

2. Samoa Joe               12 Points  (Up Four)

3. Austin Aries               7 Points (Down One)

-  Christopher Daniels    7 points (Down One)

-  Jeff Hardy                  7 points (Down One)

- Mr. Anderson              7 points (Down One)

7. AJ Styles                    2 points (Down One)

8. Bobby Roode             0 points (Non-Mover)

-  Hernandez                   0 points (Non-Mover)

-  Jay Bradley                  0 points (Non-Mover)

-  Joseph Park                 0 points (Non-Mover)

-  Kazarian                      0 points (Non-Mover)

TNA Slammiversary 2013 Predictions

Well, we're less than an hour away from TNA's Slammiversary, so I better get going with these predictions!

It's been a decent build up towards this one, with Sting being a logical person to go into battle for Hulk Hogan against the Immortal One's Son-in-Law. However, I don't hold out much hope for this as a physical contest, whilst Bully has been having some of the best singles matches of his career lately, Sting looked barely capable of a Tag Team contest on Impact recently, so this could be a slow short match up, not befitting the story line or a Pay-Per-View Main event. I'd expect run-ins from numerous Aces and Eight members, both Hulk and Brooke Hogan, and probably a number of TNA Roster members, possibly even the big name signing Dixie Carter has touted on Twitter recently.

Winner: Bully Ray

Now, we've seen this match a number of times throughout the years, in various different combination, but no point has it ever become a chore to watch Kurt Angle and AJ Styles create magic within the squared circle. Once again, I'd expect AJ and Kurt to pull out an absolute classic, with a brand new psychology to play with and AJ settling into a new edgier character, this will be a more than entertaining contest. Hopefully this match is given a good half an hour and there is no interference from Aces and Eights or anyone else involved in this story.

Winner: AJ Styles

Featuring seven proven talented in ring competitors and one fairly unknown entity, this should be an explosive contest. The psychology has been built well over the last few months of Impact with each team having a number of different ties to another, TNA has to make sure this psychology pays off in this contest to make it feel like a satisfying contest, a mere collection of moves will not be enough. There's a number of ways for TNA to head with this but with a number of these guys surely heading for the Bound For Glory Series after Slammiversary there seems only one logical choice.

Winners: Chavo Guerrero & Hernandez

It's been a long time since we've seen Devon defend the Television Championship, despite Hogan's decree less than a year ago that the TV title should be defended every week. So it won't feel like a massive moment if Park wins the title, which it might have if the title had been handled properly as of late. The Parks character has been handled well and is always entertaining, but it really is time for Abyss to return as it feels like the Joseph Park character can go no further in the world of wrestling. I'd expect an appearance from Abyss in this match, probably appearing from under the ring, after Parks has gone underneath.

Winner: Joseph Park

Although I believe a Kenny King vs. Chris Sabin singles contest would have been a more satisfying one in terms of storyline, this will no doubt be an entertaining spot laden match. Hopefully Sabin doesn't put himself in too much danger, as another injury would surely end his promising career. I'd prefer to see Kenny King's reign go a bit longer as he's an entertaining character and a long running rivalry with Sabin leading into Bound For Glory could light up Impact throughout the summer.

Winner: Kenny King

Would much rather have seen a rematch of Mickie James and Velvet Sky take this spot on the card, as Taryn Terrel has shown little to show she deserves tp have been promoted from Knockouts Referee, especially with ODB taking her place. It will be interesting to see how extreme this match goes, as I'm expecting little more than a cat fight. Although I'm not a huge fan of Terrel, I expect TNA to build her into a singles feud with the newly heel Mickie James in the near future.

Winner: Taryn Terrel

Wouldn't say I know too much about either of these guys, but that's mainly due to TNA not using them that much since their Gut Check challenges. Bradley would seem the more charismatic of the two, with Shaw being more of a body guy, but that's about all we know about these two rookies.

Winner: Sam Shaw

There's four extremely talent competitors in this match and then there's Wes Brisco and Garett Bischoff. Now I'm not completely down on these two Aces and Eights member, we just haven't seen enough of them in the ring to prove they have much talent. Yes, Brisco has had some decent matches with Kurt Angle, but Angle rarely has had bad match, no matter who he is facing! I was also pretty TNA announced this match to feature DOC instead of Anderson, obviously plans changed by the end of the show. With all three members of on team heading for the Bound For Glory Series, it seems their can be only one choice.

Winners: Magnus, Samoa Joe & Jeff Hardy

It's looks like it's going to be a mixed bag tonight for Slammiversary, some extremely entertaining contests on the line up, but some that might be difficult to stay awake through! Enjoy the show people!