Bryan Staebell
Impact 7/11 Recap
Very enjoyable show this week. Right now TNA has all of their storylines heading in what feels like competent directions. That’s the benefit of having most of the roster in the Bound For Glory series.
The highlight of the show was the Gail Kim vs. Taryn Terrell ladder match. We all know that Gail is a fantastic worker but Taryn really does deserve a ton of credit. There is something to be said for the fact that Gail hasn’t had this level of match quality with any opponent since the Awesome Kong series. It can certainly be argued that these matches (the Last Knockout Standing at Slammiversary and ladder rematch on Impact) are more stunt show than wrestling match…but to me that just makes it more impressive. These two kill each other out there and it comes off as genuinely special. Gail won the match after tying Taryn’s hair to the ropes while locked in a dragon sleeper, and then retrieving the #1 contenders contract. It was an awesome finish. Gail may be next in line for a title shot but I have to believe the end game here is for Taryn to take the title. She has all the momentum but the timing just isn’t right with Mickie just getting the belt and debuting her awesome new character. Bet on October being Taryn’s month. If they can seamlessly get Mickie into the story they could have something really good to build on with Mickie’s great heel character meeting Taryn’s star in the making babyface.
The bulk of the show centered around the Bound For Glory series. They did a Joker’s Wild tournament (random tag partners with the winners advancing to a gauntlet match) with the winner getting a whopping 25 points in the series. Magnus pinned Bobby Roode to win the whole thing. This was kind of a surprising result since Magnus was already in the lead and now he’s so far out in front he either has to run away with it…or they have to chop his balls off. Usually they end up doing the latter (Crimson in 11, Storm in 12). The whole series does come down to a final 4 tournament…so realistically he could run away with the scoreboard and it won’t affect anything if they have him in the final 4 anyway, but to be that far ahead and blow it in the tournament…that makes you a loser. I get the impression that they are giving Magnus a legitimate elevation here…but they’ll end up doing an injury angle or something to excuse him out of winning. I say go all in or don’t put him in the position to look like James Storm did last year. Where’s he now? Teaming with Gunner. That’s why you don’t book like this.
The matches to set up the gauntlet were decent to good. Most notably Magnus beat Hernandez and Jay Bradley 2-1 when Mr. Anderson refused to tag in to the match. So at least for now they aren’t wavering at all on Magnus. Kazarian and Bobby Roode beat Austin Aries and Daniels in a good match. They teased Daniels and Kaz having problems…I hope they don’t go through with that. The other match was AJ Styles and Samoa Joe beating Joseph Park and Jeff Hardy.
The big angle was Chris Sabin turning in is X title for a shot at Bully Ray this week at Destination X. Sabin cut a hell of a promo, the first good one of his career, that got the crowd totally behind him. It’s too bad the match isn’t in front of that crowd since I’m not convinced most others will buy Sabin as a threat. He played on his history with Bully Ray saying that Sabin had pinned him in Team 3D’s retirement match and that he was the only man to ever kick out of the 3D finish. I still don’t believe that’s true…but everyone seems very accepting of it and I can’t think of someone off the top of my head. It might just be one of those things that sounds true enough that you just let it be true.
The Main Event Mafia announced their 5th (and final?) member in Rampage Jackson. That’s a fine pick since he isn’t going to be wrestling but does have star power and maybe they’ll get something out of his cameos. The Mafia promised that Bully Ray vs. Chris Sabin would be one on one at Destination X. The last time they promised Aces and 8’s wouldn’t get involved poor Manik ended up stretchered out…so I’m not sure how confident Sabin should be.
TNA One Night Only: Hardcore Justice 2 recap
Let’s get this out of the way right from the start…none of these shows are ever going to be good. I am fully convinced at this point.
The opener saw a reunited LAX defeat the New Church (Slash and Sinn) in a street fight. This was a total case of “you think you want something…but you really don’t” as it pertains to an LAX return. Hernandez is just straight junk at this point. They had none of the chemistry or charisma they had back in the day. I can’t even tell you if the match was any good because they were wrestling in the black hole of suck that was the Impact Zone. I know it felt like they wrestled for a half an hour…and it turned out to be 10 minutes. Probably not a good sign.
ODB beat Jackie Moore in a god awful match. This was the anti Gail Kim/Taryn Terrell. It too seemingly went forever. Avoid at all costs…especially if it actually costs the 15 dollars or whatever these things go for.
Bad Influence then won a great ladder match against Generation ME. It was legit great too. Some fantastic work from all 4 guys. Even the Impact Zone crowd woke up long enough to notice. Of course it’s just these guys luck that between Money in the Bank and the much hyped Gail/Taryn match on Impact…they ended having the 4th most noted ladder match that week. Still it was nice to see someone, anyone, go out on one of these “One Night Only” shows and do well.
Next was a hardcore battle royal. Shark Boy won. Gunner, Crimson, Little Guido, Sam Shaw, Devon Storm, Johnny Swinger, Funaki and 2 Cold Scorpio were in there. Crowd loved Scorpio. Match desperately needed some Screamin’ Norman Smiley. They gave this 20 minutes. Look at the competitors again. They gave this 20 minutes.
Then we had a six man elimination with James Storm, Magnus and Bob Holly beating Wes Brisco, DOC and Knux. Storm was the sole survivor. Holly looked pretty good for being 50 and out of the spotlight. Kind of sad that Garrett Bischoff wasn’t in this because watching Holly stiff him would have been vastly entertaining. This was alright.
Joseph Park beat Mesias in a Monster’s Ball match. I think this was kind of OK too…but I spent most of it trying to figure out how everyone is related in storyline. Father Mitchell was there…and he’s Abyss’s father. And of course Park is Abyss…so Mitchell has to play it off like he:
A: Doesn’t know that Park is Abyss.
B: Is only vaguely aware at best of Joseph Park’s existence since…honestly he’s Abyss…so Joe Park wasn’t growing up around this family at any point.
To make matters worse I think Mesias is like…Abyss’s half brother or something. To recap: Mitchell has two sons: Abyss and Mesias. Park is Abyss’s “brother” even though he’s really Abyss and Mitchell should, at the very least, know that this guy isn’t really Abyss’s brother because where the fuck was he all those years?
…
I bet Mitchell had a lot of questions when he took this booking.
In the main event Jeff Hardy and Spike Dudley beat Team 3D in a tables match. Completely unmemorable.
Bound For Glory Series Leaderboard
The 7/11 Impact Joker’s Wild Tournament is counted as 1 match for everyone, since all 12 had the opportunity for points.
1. Magnus – 49 points (4 matches)
Qualified by winning a 4 way over Kenny King, Matt Morgan and Rob Terry (6/13 Impact)
Made Kazarian submit for 10 points (6/20 Impact)
Pinned Bobby Roode for 7 points (6/27 Impact)
Pinned Hernandez for 7 points (6/27, Ottumwa, IA)
Won the Joker’s Wild tournament for 25 points (7/11 Impact)
2. Samoa Joe – 19 points (4 matches)
Qualified by defeating Robbie E (6/6 Impact)
Went to a draw with AJ Styles for 2 points (6/20 Impact)
Made Mr. Anderson submit for 10 points (6/27 Impact)
Pinned Kaz for 7 points (6/28, St. Joseph MO)
3. Jeff Hardy – 17 points (4 matches)
Qualified by winning the 2012 BFG series
Pinned Bobby Roode for 7 points (6/20 Impact)
Won via DQ vs. Joseph Park for 3 points (7/4 Impact)
Pinned Austin Aries for 7 points (7/5, Brooklyn NY)
4. Christopher Daniels – 14 points (3 matches)
Qualified by winning a tag match against James Storm and Gunner (6/13 Impact)
Pinned Hernandez for 7 points (6/20 Impact)
Pinned Joseph Park for 7 points (7/6. White Plains NY)
5. AJ Styles – 12 points (3 matches)
Qualified by beating Kurt Angle (6/13 Impact)
Went to a Draw with Samoa Joe for 2 points (6/20 Impact)
Made Kaz submit for 10 points (7/4 Impact)
6. Austin Aries – 7 points (3 matches)
Qualified by beating Eric Young (6/13 Impact)
Pinned Jay Bradley for 7 points (6/20 Impact)
7. Mr. Anderson – 7 points (3 matches)
Qualified by winning a battle royal (6/13 Impact)
Pinned Joseph Park for 7 points (6/20 Impact)
8. Hernandez – 7 points (4 matches)
Qualified by beating Chavo Guerrero (6/6 Impact)
Pinned Jay Bradley for 7 points (7/4 Impact)
9. Jay Bradley – 0 points (3 matches)
Qualified by winning Gut Check tournament (6/2 Slammiversary)
10. Bobby Roode – 0 points (3 matches)
Qualified by winning 2011 BFG series
11. Kazarian – 0 points (4 matches)
Qualified by winning a tag match against James Storm and Gunner (6/13 Impact)
12. Joseph Park – -10 points (4 matches)
Qualified by defeating Crimson (6/13 Impact)
Was Disqualified vs. Jeff Hardy for -0 points (7/4 Impact)
Impact 7/18 Preview
This week is the Destination X show from Louisville, KY.
The main event is Chris Sabin challenging Bully Ray for the TNA title. I’ve written a lot on this in the past. I advocate doing a brief title switch back and forth. TNA doesn’t do that very often (almost never) with the TNA title so that wouldn’t be a big deal. Bully Ray doesn’t need to have a long uninterrupted reign for him being champion to matter, and I think Sabin’s storyline is one that deserves pulling the upset. Bully Ray can kill him shortly after and take the belt back. There are so many things combined here…The Main Event Mafia promising Sabin will get a fair shot, Sabin going through 2 years of rehab and sticking with the company after his partner Alex Shelley left, the fact that Sabin has legit never gotten a World Title shot before despite spending over 10 years in the company, Bully Ray doing the usual burying of the X Division as small and non threatening… It all adds up to a Sabin upset. All of that said…I don’t think they have the balls to do it. Sabin isn’t a long term answer as a top guy…and that’s all I expect them to see here. I hope to be wrong though.
They’re also advertising Bobby Roode vs. Austin Aries in a BFG series match. That’s a nice little nod to history there as Roode vs. Aries was the main event at last years’ Destination X. Last I saw Roode had the flu so we’ll see how he’s feeling come Thursday…but this will be a hell of a match.
They need to crown a new X Division champion and it appears that process will begin on Thursday. They’re advertising that qualifying matches will take place on the show featuring stars of the “past, present and future”. I’ll go ahead and assume that means they’ll be doing three 3-ways to get into the X title three way whenever they do that. The advertised names of “past” guys is Homicide, Sonjay Dutt and Petey Williams. Dixie Carter also tweeted that the “present” guys are Kenny King, Manik and Chavo Guerrero. She never got around to tweeting who the “future” guys were…likely because they didn’t have that locked down. Other than Rockstar Spud and maybe Sam Shaw…I don’t know what constitutes a future star. Probably whichever of Mason Andrews, Rubix, Tony Nese and Rashad Cameron returns their calls. They’ll probably be doing a three way of the guys in each class so that the finals has one of each. At least that’s what I’d suspect they’d do.
They are also teasing the Main Event Mafia and the Aces and 8’s having a showdown of some sort. One would think that was bound to happen at some point in the main event anyway.
This, on paper, looks like a must see show.
Random Facts
Matt Morgan asked for his release and they granted it. They never did anything with him after bringing him back despite many teases.
The next in the God Awful “One Night Only” PPV series is “TNA 10 Reunion” a celebration of TNA’s first 10 years. It is year 12 now. All of the matches were in the 6 sided ring. The card looks good…but I guarantee the show isn’t:
Kurt Angle vs. Samoa Joe
James Storm vs. Bobby Roode
Austin Aries vs. Jeff Hardy
Team 3D vs. LAX vs. Bad Influence
Gail Kim vs. Velvet Sky
Kenny King vs. Sonjay Dutt vs. Petey Williams
A Gauntlet featuring Mr. Anderson, Matt Morgan, Joseph Park and a bunch of jobbers.
The list of upcoming TV/PPV tapings is as follows:
7/18- Louisville, KY (the live 7/18 Destination X show and the taped 7/25 show)
8/1- Wichita Falls, TX (the live 8/1 show and the taped 8/8 show)
8/15- Norfolk, VA (the live 8/15 show and the taped 8/22 show)
8/29- Cleveland, OH (the live 8/29 show and the taped 9/5 show)
9/12 – St. Louis, MO (the live 9/12 show and the taped 9/19 show)
10/20- San Diego, CA – Bound For Glory
