Bryan Staebell
Impact 7/4 Recap
There weren’t any literal fireworks on the 4th of July edition of Impact…but the case could be made for some metaphorical ones. Chris Sabin defeated Austin Aries to regain the X Division title just two weeks out from Destination X. The match, specifically everything after TJ Perkins (still in the costume, now called Manik) was taken out of the three way by the Aces and 8’s, was excellent. It has now become clear that the plan was to give Chris Sabin, who will challenge Bully Ray for the TNA title at Destination X on 7/18, a big momentum boost. I argued in a previous column that they could have done this without having him drop the X title in the first place (and without wasting a pretty good Aries as Suicide angle on what amounted to nothing), but they wanted to push HAVING the X title as the big deal here.
Speaking of big deals…I genuinely applaud how nearly everything in the company (knockouts excluded) is focused squarely on the TNA title right now. Aces and 8’s purpose was to get, and now keep, the title on Bully Ray. The Main Event Mafia (more on them in a moment) have stated one of their reasons for existence is to see Bully drop that title. The X Division just had a wild few weeks leading up to the annual “option C” at Destination X where the X Champ can vacate their title for a shot at the TNA title. As for the rest of the company…well they’re involved in an over 3 month Bound For Glory series to determine who will be the #1 contender on the company’s biggest show of the year.
The Main Event Mafia’s return lends a certain intriguing twist on the upcoming Sabin/Bully TNA title match. Taken on his own Sabin isn’t a very strong threat to win the TNA title. With the Mafia’s mission statement of seeing Bully Ray lose the title however, one wonders if an upset is actually possible. I wrote previously about an idea for Aries (a stronger threat to Bully) winning the title and being revealed as a part of the Main Event Mafia. I wonder if that same twist would work for Sabin. I think that it might have had the Mafia not broken tradition and added someone who has never held a World Title into their club (Magnus). The concept of the Mafia being an elite club with the prerequisite of having won a version of the business’s greatest prize for admission…Sabin pulling the upset and being TNA Champion while flanked by Sting, Angle and Joe would have been interesting. That push, at least the Mafia part of it, instead went to Magnus this week on Impact. They appear to have gotten very serious about elevating Magnus.
So what kind of challenger is Chris Sabin? Well his legitimate recent injury history and near 2 full years of rehab give him a great babyface challenger backstory. So does the fact that Sabin, despite being with the company since April 2003, has never received a shot at the TNA (or NWA before it) Championship. There is also the fact that since starting the Destination X as an all X division show concept began in 2011…the show has always featured an X division wrestler proving the worth of the division by upsetting a more established opponent. In 2011 it was Brian Kendrick overcoming Abyss to return the X division title to actual X division wrestlers. Last year it was Austin Aries surprisingly beating Bobby Roode to become TNA Champion. Sabin’s road would be tougher than those 2 because Bully Ray isn’t just the TNA Champion…but the top heel in the dominant company wide storyline. It’s true that last year Roode was in the midst of his long TNA title reign and was thought to be heading to the main event of Bound For Glory for a rematch with his former partner James Storm…but it would be fair to say that Roode was just treading water until they got to October when they decided to make the change. Bully Ray, on the other hand, is peaking. He has an unresolved story with Brooke Hogan (they referenced her real life engagement on Impact), a budding feud with the Main Event Mafia, and the long feud that needs to be paid off with Hulk Hogan.
What works against Sabin mostly is that I just don’t see him being the defending TNA Champion come Bound For Glory. To the point where, even if Bully had to drop the title to work a match with Hogan come October, I don’t really see Sabin as a good enough option. But that’s the rub. With all the top guys battling in the BFG series…Sabin is realistically the ONLY option. It’s possible that Sabin could get the upset title win at Destination X and lose it back to Bully before October (like most assumed would happen when Aries beat Roode last year). That would give Destination X its payoff and still get you to the top heel as Champion come the big show. It would also be a nice thing to do for a TNA original after working through those 2 injuries that took his last 2 years away from him. If Sabin were to pull the upset and shockingly make it to BFG he’d certainly provide a good match with presumed series winner AJ Styles…even if that result would be pretty predictable. It’s possible that TNA would sell the show as having 2 great wrestlers on top and the big Hogan/Bully blow off (in whatever form that takes) as the co-main event. They’ve certainly done that in the past (Hardy/Aries seemingly random main event last year over the Sting/Aces and 8’s and Storm/Roode stories, and Angle/Roode over Sting/Hogan the year before). It’s possible…I just don’t think Sabin is that guy.
Elsewhere on the show we had both terrible Gut Check winners being eliminated.
Robbie E and Jesse Godderz forming a lower midcard tag team and getting squashed by James Storm and Gunner.
Mickie James cut a great promo about next week’s anticipated Gail Kim vs. Taryn Terrell ladder match. Mickie’s just perfect in her new role.
We also had 3 BFG series matches:
AJ Styles made Kazarian tap out for 10 points. Good short match. If they had gotten the time it could have been special…but they did as good as you are going to do in 4 minutes.
Jeff Hardy defeated Joseph Park by DQ. Hardy picks up 3 points while Park is deducted 10. Park Abyss’d out and attacked the ref. This was better than most Park matches because it was basically Jeff Hardy doing his Jeff Hardy spots.
Hernandez pinned Jay Bradley for 7 points. Chavo interfered on his partner’s behalf. I’m not sure if both are going heel, or just Chavo…but I know that I don’t care.
Bound For Glory Series Leaderboard
1. Magnus – 24 points (3 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)
2. Samoa Joe – 19 points (3 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. AJ Styles – 12 points (2 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)
4. Jeff Hardy – 10 points (2 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)
5. Austin Aries – 7 points (1 match)
Qualified by beating Eric Young (6/13 Impact)
Pinned Jay Bradley for 7 points (6/20 Impact)
6. Christopher Daniels – 7 points (1 match)
Qualified by winning a tag match against James Storm and Gunner (6/13 Impact)
Pinned Hernandez for 7 points (6/20 Impact)
7. Mr. Anderson – 7 points (2 matches)
Qualified by winning a battle royal (6/13 Impact)
Pinned Joseph Park for 7 points (6/20 Impact)
8. Hernandez – 7 points (3 matches)
Qualified by beating Chavo Guerrero (6/6 Impact)
Pinned Jay Bradley for 7 points (7/4 Impact)
9. Jay Bradley – 0 points (2 matches)
Qualified by winning Gut Check tournament (6/2 Slammiversary)
10. Bobby Roode – 0 points (2 matches)
Qualified by winning 2011 BFG series
11. Kazarian – 0 points (3 matches)
Qualified by winning a tag match against James Storm and Gunner (6/13 Impact)
12. Joseph Park – -10 points (2 matches)
Qualified by defeating Crimson (6/13 Impact)
Was Disqualified vs. Jeff Hardy for -0 points (7/4 Impact)
Impact 7/11 Preview
This show was already taped in Las Vegas so this will be a non-spoiler look at what’s on tap.
The eagerly anticipated Gail Kim vs. Taryn Terrell rematch will take place. Reports are they had another great match, this time a ladder match to crown the #1 contender to Mickie James’ Knockouts Title.
The Main Event Mafia will reveal their newest member.
Chris Sabin will officially decide if he is going to cash in the X title for a shot at Bully Ray (as if there was any chance he wouldn’t).
Finally there will be a show long Joker’s Wild tournament for 25 points in the BFG series. Basically all 12 men in three random pairing tag matches with the winners advancing to a Gauntlet match. The winner of that gets the 25 points.
Reports of the show read very good for the Bully/Sabin stuff, the Gail/Taryn match, the Gauntlet and at least one of the tag matches.
Random Shots
It was a bad week to be a Gut Check winner. … Well they’re all bad weeks but this one was decidedly worse. TNA released Christian York, Taelor Hendrix and Gut Check loser Joey Ryan. Madison Rayne’s contract ran out and as she is currently pregnant with no clear return date in site…they didn’t renew it. That may seem (or may in fact be) harsh…but she is well liked and they only know so many women wrestlers so I’d bet on her getting re-signed when she’s ready to return. TNA also released Crimson after having him appear for the first time in a year recently. The weird thing here is that Crimson spent that year working hard and improving in OVW. It sends a bad message to fire a guy after that. He’s still on the right side of 30 (unlike most of their roster), has an interesting look and has improved leaps and bounds on the mic. Just a weird time to cut a guy. They could have quietly done in at any point in the last year and no one would have noticed.
After some talk that Taz might be leaving the company, he ended up re-signing for a couple years.
The Knockouts tag titles that ODB and Eric Young recently vacated have been scrapped altogether.
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)
10/20- San Diego, CA – Bound For Glory
