Bryan Staebell
Impact Recap for 9/12
AJ Styles won the 2013 Bound For Glory Series after defeating Magnus and Austin Aries in the same night.
The Aries/Styles match wasn’t as good as you would have thought going in. Instead of having two guys with the most exciting offenses in the world just tear into each other…they played all defense. Instead of high impact offense we got blocks and counters. It would be like watching the Kurt Warner Rams play the Patriots from a few years ago and getting a 9-6 game. Not that it was bad or anything…just that it’s not at all what people want. The finish of the match was insane though. Styles hooked Aries into the Styles Clash on the second rope while he was facing out away from the ring…and then kicked himself back to hit the move. A lot of trust went into that one.
Magnus defeated Bobby Roode in a fairly short match (about 7 minutes) that was all action. Roode looked absolutely fantastic here. He’s so smooth and his timing is so good that Magnus, who did his best to keep up with him, looked clearly a league below. Not that that’s such a terrible place to be. There are a whole lot of people that aren’t as good as Bobby Roode has become.
The finals saw Styles pin Magnus with his Spiral Tap move that he hadn’t busted out in years. Match was awesome. Crowd totally bought into this being an important match right from the wrestlers’ entrances. After the booking this year did everything it could to ruin the BFG series…this crowd, in one night, completely saved the concept. The last two BFG series finals (Roode over Bully Ray, Jeff Hardy over Bully Ray) didn’t get over with the admittedly shitty Impact Zone crowd. This one, in St. Louis, sure did. The crowd saw both as big stars who had accomplished something by making it to this match. More importantly, they saw winning the match as something so big that they were into everything from bell to bell. Magnus, to his credit, stayed with Styles step for step and walked away with probably the best match of his career. Following the loss he looked absolutely crushed. The announcers (who were actually quite good on this show) mentioned that he had run away with the points lead but fallen short in the end. There is definitely a character change to come for Magnus…though not nearly as drastic as the one Chris Sabin is going to have. Hopefully they have learned from James Storm that guys can’t come up short in every big match. It’s fine that Magnus lost here, but he absolutely can not lose the next one. If I were them I would have him pointed directly at the UK tapings at the end of January where I’d put the TNA title on him. It will only hurt him to have him flounder around without direction or, worse, stick around near the top but not win.
After the match Styles addressed Dixie Carter about his grievances and said he’s saved his biggest one for next week. Odd promo. You just won the BFG series…you should stick with being happy not immediately go back to bitching.
The biggest surprise of the night was the Bully Ray title defense against Mr. Anderson (which Hulk Hogan made a Last Man Standing match). Plainly put this was a million times better in every way than anyone could have predicted. Anderson was on fire here in a way that he very rarely is. The crowd saw him as a total star for the first time in years. Bully Ray was his usual excellent self. They beat the shit out of each other in a very good, long match. They didn’t overuse the Last Man Standing gimmick, only putting in a couple of counts near the end for Anderson to barely beat. The Aces and 8’s B team came down to pick their side, choosing Bully and delivering a triple power bomb to Anderson. Anderson was busted open by a chain and eventually kept down when Bully speared him through a table. They did a stretcher job. Bully threw Anderson off of the stretcher and delivered a piledriver on the stage. This was a great angle. Bully came off as the best heel in the business and Anderson, whose contract is up very soon, was either written off very memorably or set up for a big return program if he stays. Terrific stuff.
The only other thing of note on the show was a confrontation between James Storm/Gunner and Chavo/Hernandez. No one wants to see that match. Oh…and they also quietly wrote Rampage Jackson and Tito Ortiz off the show by…basically telling the truth. They claimed “Bellator pulled them from the show because things were getting out of hand and they have to protect their PPV”. The reality is they have to go train for their fight. Hogan said they’d be back after the fight where it was clear their fake feud would continue after their real fight. Yep.
Thumbs way up show this week.
Impact Preview for 9/19
This show was already taped so this will just be a non spoiler look at the lineup.
Bobby Roode, Christopher Daniels and Kaz vs. Sting, Samoa Joe and Magnus
Mickie James vs. ODB for the Knockouts title
Manik vs. Jeff Hardy in a non title match
Gunner vs. Hernandez
Eric Young vs. Robbie E
Also AJ Styles will confront Dixie Carter about being a shitty boss. Yep.
Bound For Glory IX
Bully Ray vs. AJ Styles for the TNA title
Trying to guess anything beyond the announced main event is an exercise in futility…but what the hell, right?
As always you can set three matches aside for the secondary titles. All three divisions (X, Tag, Knockout) have almost no one in them.
The Knockouts may be down to just ODB, Velvet Sky and Gail Kim by BFG (Mickie James contract is up, Taryn Terrell is pregnant, Tessmacher is involved in Bully Ray’s story). The problem here is that the company just did a lot of ODB/Gail Kim and Velvet is terrible. They desperately need some new talent here. They may need to start a story for Tessmacher to go after the belt. At least she has some juice right now.
The X division is in even worst shape. Manik is the champion, Kenny King has vanished, and most of the other guys they use aren’t under contract. Chris Sabin could end up back here. He attacks Manik on the next Impact but I don’t know if that’s to set up a BFG match or something in the month beforehand. I think a storyline where Sabin desperately tries to hold the X title from now until next year’s Destination X (where he can cash in again) would actually be good for both him and the title.
They’ve started teasing a GunStorm vs. Chavo/Hernandez program for the tag titles. The tag division may be in the worst shape of all.
Magnus looks to definitely be involved with Bobby Roode and his faction going forward. One assumes it will be a full blown Main Event Mafia vs. EGO program. I would have guessed a 6 man for the show…but they’ve already taped that for next week. If Angle is back by then he could be inserted here with Sting getting a different match, or Angle could get a singles while Sting works a 6 man.
The biggest names without any direction right now are Jeff Hardy and Austin Aries. I don’t see them putting them against each other (though they had a fantastic match at last year’s show) unless they start a storyline where Aries wants to prove he can beat Hardy (he’s something like 0-4 against him).
Mr. Anderson’s contract is up before the show (and they obviously just wrote him out for at least a little while). It’s hilarious that a guy who has been completely useless for like two years is now starting to look like he’s worth something…just as he’s come to the end.
The Aces and 8’s B squad have no value aside from flanking Bully Ray.
No matter how I try to construct a card I come up a man short. If Angle is back I’d book his return in a dream match that’s never been done (outside of a house show) against Aries, leave Sting to be in a 6 man with Magnus and Joe against Roode and company, do Sabin vs. Manik, a knockouts title match, a tag title match, the TNA title match…and then I am left with Jeff Hardy doing nothing. This roster is extremely sparse at this point. To the point where I’d lay money on the preshow match being Eric Young and Joseph Park vs. Robbie E and Jesse Godderz.
Seeing as this could very possibly be the end of Sting’s run in TNA I’m surprised he’s so lost in the shuffle. I wonder if there is a way to have him put over Magnus without having to turn Magnus full heel. That may be his best use here. If you could get to that you can break up that 6 man and have Kaz and Daniels, Roode, Angle, Joe, Aries and Hardy all available to fill out a hell of a card.
My dream card that won’t happen would be: Styles vs. Bully Ray, Sabin vs. Aries for the X title, GunStorm vs. Bad Influence for the tag titles, Sting vs. Magnus, Roode vs. Angle, Knockouts title match and Joe vs. Hardy since they were left over.
Random Fragments
Spike TV will be airing a live one hour pre show for Bound For Glory. There will be a live match so it’s worth checking out. Fun fact: The first Bound For Glory had a pre show 4 way match with Austin Aries, Alex Shelley, Sonjay Dutt and Roderick Strong that was better than almost every match in Bound For Glory history.
Still no idea when Kurt Angle will return to TV. They are still advertising his Hall Of Fame induction (some of which will air on the pre show) so sometime between now and Bound For Glory.
The list of upcoming TV/PPV tapings is as follows:
9/26 – Little Rock, AR (the live 9/26 show and the taped 10/3 show)
10/10 – Tulsa, OK (the live 10/10 show and the taped 10/17 show. Go home shows for BFG)
10/20- San Diego, CA – Bound For Glory
10/24 – Salt Lake City, UT (the live 10/24 show and the taped 10/31 show)
11/7 – Cincinnati, OH (the live 11/7 show and the taped 11/14 show)
11/21- Baltimore, MD (the live 11/21 show and the taped 11/28 show)
12/27 – Philadelphia, PA (taped for 1/2 and 1/9 I guess. No idea why. December 27 is more in the holidays than January 2…)
