Bryan Staebell
Hardcore Justice Recap
If you love heels cheating to win big matches…Hardcore Justice was your WrestleMania.
Bully Ray regained the TNA title from Chris Sabin in a cage match to close out a good, but predictable and interference overloaded, Hardcore Justice Impact. The finish saw a ref bump, interference and a heel turn…to beat Chris Sabin. After the ref went down, Sabin attempted to walk out the door for a victory but was met by Mr. Anderson blocking his path. This brought out Rampage Jackson and Tito Ortiz to take out Anderson. Once Rampage did the honors he was blasted by Ortiz with a hammer.
Bully grabbed the distracted Sabin, threw him into the cage and hit a huge powerbomb for the pin. The match was good. I like the way Sabin and Bully play off of each other. For what Sabin’s short reign was worth…I thought he did a fine job. He’s not the guy…but he played “guy who overcame the odds and won the big one” very well. I’d imagine he will get a rematch down the line…but if Sabin was going to be the TNA Champion at the end of all of this…I doubt they’d have taken it off of him here.
The show opened with an awesome ladder match. Kazarian picked up 20 points in the Bound For Glory Series by defeating Jeff Hardy, Austin Aries and AJ Styles. Hard for that group to have anything but a really good ladder match. They did crazy spots for almost 20 minutes and had the crowd whipped into a frenzy. Finish saw Bobby Roode and Daniels interfere leading to a Kaz win. Utterly predictable finish (that they’d do again later) since Roode came out last week and told everyone this is what they’d be doing. I’m all for a Roode/Daniels/Kaz group…but there are 2 major problems with doing it right now:
1. They already have 2 factions in the company.
2. I hate storyline bullshit taking over the BFG series.
Bobby Roode won a table match and 20 points in the BFG series by beating Samoa Joe, Magnus and Mr. Anderson with the exact same finish as the ladder match. If you’re keeping score that’s 3 somewhat to very important matches that all ended with cheap heel wins. That’s how you know they’re building to Bound For Glory. Match was pretty good.
ODB pinned Gail Kim in a hardcore 3 way that also included Mickie James. Match was alright.
The big news was the planned Main Event Mafia vs. Aces and 8’s tag match being postponed a week (though it was taped that night). The reason was to start the storyline of the Mafia trying to find a substitute for Kurt Angle, who is in rehab. Speaking of which…they actually told the truth about why Angle is off the show. I found that shockingly refreshing.
Sting tried to recruit Austin Aries…who, to Sting’s credit, actually is the guy they should have gone after. They showed a segment where Sting told the rest of the group that he knows they all hate Aries…but he’s going to go talk to him anyway. Then they showed Sting talking to Aries. Then they came back from commercial with Sting returning to the Mafia locker room and saying “now I hate him too…he said no”. I found that hilarious.
Next Rampage tried to recruit Tito Ortiz and you already know how that turned out. The best thing about that was a camera catching up with Sting and asking him if he thought Ortiz would join them…and Sting said he thought he would. And then Tito immediately turned on them. Sting is the most consistent character in wrestling history.
Another good Impact.
Bound For Glory Series Leaderboard
1. Magnus – 39 points (6 matches)
Qualified by winning a four 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)
Was Disqualified vs. Mr. Anderson for -10 points (8/8 Impact)
2. Bobby Roode – 27 points (6 matches)
Qualified by winning 2011 BFG series
Pinned Hernandez for 7 points (8/1 Impact)
Won a 4 way tables match against Samoa Joe, Magnus and Mr. Anderson for 20 points (Hardcore Justice)
3. Samoa Joe – 26 points (8 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)
Pinned Jay Bradley for 7 points (6/19, Danville, IL)
4. Jeff Hardy – 24 points (7 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)
Pinned Samoa Joe for 7 points (8/8 Impact)
5. Mr. Anderson – 24 points (8 matches)
Qualified by winning a battle royal (6/13 Impact)
Pinned Joseph Park for 7 points (6/20 Impact)
Pinned Hernandez for 7 points (7/25 Impact)
Pinned AJ Styles for 7 points (7/26, Columbus, GA)
Won via DQ vs. Magnus for 3 points (8/8 Impact)
6. Christopher Daniels – 23 points (5 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)
Pinned Samoa Joe for 7 points (7/25 Impact)
Went to a Draw with Kazarian for 2 points (8/8 Impact)
7. Kazarian – 22 points (6 matches)
Qualified by winning a tag match against James Storm and Gunner (6/13 Impact)
Went to a Draw with Daniels for 2 points (8/8 Impact)
Won a four way ladders match against Jeff Hardy, AJ Styles and Austin Aries (Hardcore Justice)
8. AJ Styles – 22 points (7 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)
Made Jeff Hardy submit for 10 points (7/25 Impact)
9. Austin Aries – 21 points (6 matches)
Qualified by beating Eric Young (6/13 Impact)
Pinned Jay Bradley for 7 points (6/20 Impact)
Pinned Bobby Roode for 7 points (7/18 Destination X)
Pinned AJ Styles for 7 points (8/1 Impact)
10. Hernandez – 7 points (6 matches)
Qualified by beating Chavo Guerrero (6/6 Impact)
Pinned Jay Bradley for 7 points (7/4 Impact)
11. Jay Bradley – 0 points (5 matches)
Qualified by winning Gut Check tournament (6/2 Slammiversary)
12. Joseph Park – -3 points (5 matches)
Qualified by defeating Crimson (6/13 Impact)
Was Disqualified vs. Jeff Hardy for -10 points (7/4 Impact)
Pinned Jay Bradley for 7 points (8/1 Impact)
Impact Preview for 8/22
This show was already taped (and is pretty much part two of Hardcore Justice really) so this will be a non-spoiler look at what is coming up.
We will get the Aces and 8’s vs. Main Event Mafia showdown this week. Sting, Samoa Joe, Magnus, Rampage and their mystery partner vs. Anderson, Devon, Brisco, Bischoff and Knux. The loser of the fall is gone from TNA.
There will be a 4 way falls count anywhere match for 20 points in the BFG series with the four guys that weren’t in the other two (Bradley, Hernandez, Daniels and Park).
Gail Kim vs. ODB
James Storm and Gunner vs. Bobby Roode and Kazarian
Manik vs. Sonjay Dutt (AN X DIVISION MATCH THAT ISN’T A THREE WAY!!!!!!!!)
One of the show’s storylines is the new Roode/Daniels/Kaz faction trying to recruit Austin Aries so they can have even more control in the BFG series. You’ll also hear from new TNA Champion Bully Ray and Tito Ortiz.
Random Droppings
When the BFG series determines its top 4…the playoffs and finals will be held on another “special” Impact edition of No Surrender on September 12. The show is in St. Louis, MO. Missouri…where they just had half their roster not able to work a house show because they weren’t licensed in the state. So…yeah.
Taryn Terrell hasn’t been around because she is pregnant. This blows a hole right through all of their Knockout division plans. She was obviously going to be the focus of the division come BFG.
They have to add a TV taping somewhere for October 10. Every week I look and every week they put it off. It’s the only taping between now and BFG that is empty. Well…obviously they have to add a lot more tapings after that too…but it’s weird they don’t have that slot filled yet.
The list of upcoming TV/PPV tapings is as follows:
8/29- Cleveland, OH (the live 8/29 show and the taped 9/5 show)
9/12 – St. Louis, MO (the live No Surrender show and the taped 9/19 show)
9/26 – Little Rock, AR (the live 9/26 show and the taped 10/3 show)
10/20- San Diego, CA – Bound For Glory
Editor’s Note: With the firing of Brooke Hogan happening too close to the time of publishing, Bryan will offer his thoughts once the details have more clarity.
