Bryan Staebell
Impact Recap for 8/1
This week saw some good matches presented in front of a listless, sparse crowd in Wichita Falls, Texas. Some variation of that sentence will be the opening line of my book on the history of TNA one day.
The main event saw Austin Aries and AJ Styles meet for the first time in TNA (at least on TV…but maybe legit) in what was aptly billed as a dream match. The match (and the other 2 BFG series matches this week, and 3 next week) came about as a result of fan balloting. TNA correctly realized that Aries/Styles was the draw for this match set and positioned it at a level of importance above the others. They opened the show with Aries cutting a promo in the ring about it and then they were given the main event slot over a Champion vs. Champion match between Chris Sabin and Manik. The match itself was interesting. Aries has always brought a hard hitting style to the ring and Styles new character is notably stiffer than he used to be. Add it together and they killed each other. The crowd, which was sad and lifeless most of the night, got into their back and forth by the end. The finish came off very wonky as Aries and Styles were supposed to be laid out, arms draped over each other for a double pin spot that Aries would kick out of for the win. As it happened, Aries fell without AJ’s arm on him so he had to move it into place and then kick out at 2. It looked terrible and came off flat…which is a shame since the work leading up to it was awesome. Interestingly I think the match went over the 15 minutes that I thought meant a draw in the series…but then they called Styles/Joe a draw at something like 14 and change…so that’s how much that matters.
Chris Sabin pinned Manik clean in another good match. I like Sabin as Champion because it is something different. He isn’t doing the usual “I won the title and now here is a different version of myself” that a lot of guys do. He just uses the opportunity to go out and wrestle. They worked a new school kind of X Division style (if that’s a thing). Less death defying moves but still a super quick pace. This was another fine example of why they should drop the all 3 way X division matches and just let guys go out and work.
In another Bound For Glory Series match, Bobby Roode finally got on the board with a win over Hernandez. Pretty good match because Roode is really really good. Before the match Roode stated that he was going to go back to what brought him to the dance in the first place…which in the end meant hitting Hernandez with a beer bottle for a cheap win. Classic Bobby Roode.
The other BFG series match saw Joseph Park get his first win by pinning Jay Bradley. That should let you know how many points Bradley looks to be ending up with. Usual Park match. The win moves him all the way to -3 points.
Gail Kim and ODB had a spirited short match ending in a double count out. Taryn Terrell is off filming a movie somewhere which explains why she hasn’t been on…but honestly everything just feels like it’s treading water in the knockouts division in her absence since she has become the heir apparent for the title.
Finally we had the reveal of the man behind the August 1 warning videos…Tito Ortiz. I guess we should have seen it coming when he showed up in Bellator the night before. The deal with guys like Ortiz, Rampage and King Mo is that Spike TV is giving them these cover all contracts with the network. Which means Spike is paying them to appear on their shows like fighting in Bellator, appearing on any reality program they come up with…and being on Impact. Bellator is pushing their first PPV headlined by Rampage Jackson vs. Tito Ortiz…so that’s why they’re on Impact every week. Impact does better numbers than Bellator and they want to maximize their assets. It’s obvious that TNA is hardly in a place to not do what Spike tells them to…if they lose Spike…they cease to exist. The problem from TNA’s end is that it’s hard to see where any of this benefits their show. King Mo is fighting and can’t train to wrestle at the same time. Ortiz is being held together by duct tape and glue. Rampage does have some star power and I believe could be beneficial to the company when he’s done fighting…but he’s not there yet and once he starts training for the Bellator fight…you lose him for a long time. The question is quickly becoming how many of these guys are they going to be saddled with that can’t work matches?
Actually…funny thing about that…unless something wacky happens they did announce Rampage’s first match at the end of the show. The Main Event Mafia challenged the Aces and 8’s to a 10 man tag on the August 15 Hardcore Justice themed Impact. The deal is that whoever takes the fall in the match is gone from TNA. Unless my math is off…that means Rampage has to be in the match since the Mafia only has 5 guys (Angle, Sting, Joe, Magnus, Rampage). Similarly the Aces and 8’s only have 5 guys that can be in the match since DOC and D-Lo are gone and Bully Ray is getting his title rematch that night (Anderson, Devon, Knux, Brisco, Bischoff). As for who will be leaving TNA? Well…Anderson, Joe and Magnus are safe. They wouldn’t have booked them in the BFG series if they had contracts coming up (although maybe this is Bruce Prichard’s last laugh). Rampage isn’t going anywhere. I’m pretty sure Angle’s contract isn’t close to being up. So you’re looking at Sting or most of the Aces and 8’s guys that no one cares about. Standard wrestling booking would say that the Aces and 8’s will lose a guy and just when the babyfaces think they’ve won the day…Bully Ray will win the title back in the Main Event. Sting is the interesting one since there have been those rumors about him being open to a WWE run. While that may be true…he is signed through the end of the year and I don’t think they’d write him out like this when they usually are good about wrapping things up in October.
TNA One Night Only: TNA 10 Recap
Another month…another one of these things.
This is supposedly a 10 year anniversary. It’s taking place in year 12. I suppose TNA 11.25 doesn’t have quite the same ring to it. Despite being a TNA nostalgia show they didn’t bring Jeff Jarrett in. AJ Styles was off TV at the time and they didn’t want to bring him back yet. This is like going to your high school reunion and finding out all of your friends are dead. They didn’t use Sting. Jerry Lynn was retired. Low Ki wasn’t brought in. Raven wasn’t brought in. Chris Harris wasn’t brought in. Elix Skipper wasn’t brought in. Truth is in WWE. They probably never even thought to call Shamrock (apparently the one MMA guy that can’t get on the show). Most of the Knockouts they called for these shows told them to stick it thus robbing us of another chapter in Gail Kim vs. Awesome Kong.
The opener was an X Division 3 way (grumble) that brought back Petey Williams and Sonjay Dutt to face Kenny King. Tenay starts off by telling us that all 3 guys are the same age. What a dumb thing to say. Petey and Sonjay are guys from years ago and Kenny King is new. No one has to know he’s as old. He can pass for much young…oh who cares no one is watching this. King won a decent match (which for these shows makes it a classic). Nothing you haven’t seen a hundred times before.
They’re doing lengthy video packages building up the history of the matches. For the first match it was just a generic X division piece. This was followed by the most comprehensive Gail Kim vs. Velvet Sky history you’ll ever see. I watch this show every week and I didn’t even realize they had a feud spanning all time and space. If only Kong could have forgave and forgot for one night only. … oh I get the title now. Velvet won. It was alright for a Velvet Sky match.
Matt Morgan won a gauntlet that also “featured” Shark Boy, Johnny Devine, Chase Stevens, Cassidy Reilly, Johnny Swinger, Joseph Park, Robbie E, Jesse Godderz and Ken Anderson. This is the only match where I’ve ever seen a crowd not bother to count down the numbers on the clock. That’s how bad this match was. Tazz burying the guys he didn’t know was a little amusing.
Team 3D won a pretty good 3 way tag over Bad Influence and LAX. Homicide took the fall since he is the only one who doesn’t work for the company. Too much talent for this to not be decent.
Speaking of talent…the top 3 matches are loaded.
Jeff Hardy pinned Austin Aries in a very good match. I know these shows don’t count but I hope this “Aries can’t beat Hardy” story becomes something down the line. Aries mentioned in his pre-match promo that he’d never beaten Hardy and that continued here. Aries brings out the best in Hardy.
Bobby Roode pinned James Storm with his feet on the ropes in a good match. During the pre-match video package I was reminded of how great Storm was just a couple short years ago, and how far he’s fallen since. This match lacked any of the hate of that feud…but was still good.
Kurt Angle pinned Samoa Joe in the main event. Good match. They’ve had far better. They can sleepwalk this match by now.
I’m always hard on these shows but this was easily the best one they’ve done. If you watch it…it’s not bad. If you skip it…you won’t care. In fact…since this was largely a 3 match show anyway…just search youtube for Hardy/Aries at BFG 2012, Storm/Roode from the same show, and Angle/Joe from Lockdown 2008 and you’ll have an even better time for free.
Next month is the all knockout show.
Bound For Glory Series Leaderboard
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 – 26 points (6 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)
3. AJ Styles – 22 points (6 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)
4. Christopher Daniels – 21 points (4 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)
5. Austin Aries – 21 points (5 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)
6. Mr. Anderson – 21 points (6 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)
7. Jeff Hardy – 17 points (5 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)
8. Bobby Roode – 7 points (5 matches)
Qualified by winning 2011 BFG series
Pinned Hernandez for 7 points (8/1 Impact)
9. Hernandez – 7 points (6 matches)
Qualified by beating Chavo Guerrero (6/6 Impact)
Pinned Jay Bradley for 7 points (7/4 Impact)
10. Kazarian – 0 points (4 matches)
Qualified by winning a tag match against James Storm and Gunner (6/13 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 8/8
This show was already taped in the barren wasteland that is the arena in Wichita Falls, TX so this is just a non spoiler look at what’s coming up.
Chris Sabin and Kurt Angle vs. Team 3D
James Storm, Gunner and ODB vs. Robbie E, Jesse Godderz and Mickie James
There will also be 3 BFG series matches:
Jeff Hardy vs. Samoa Joe
Kazarian vs. Daniels
Magnus vs. Mr. Anderson
They’ll also do the contract signing for Bully Ray vs. Chris Sabin and Tito Ortiz has a promo segment.
Random Ending
Kurt Angle was arrested (again) for DWI (again) and says he’s going to rehab. Seeking counseling is what lawyers tell you to do when you get caught so the judge will think you’re taking things seriously. This is the FOURTH time Angle has been arrested for something along these lines. He’s managed to get out of all the other stuff. This time he must realize he’s not going to.
The Great Muta was in Nashville meeting with TNA about bringing some TNA talent in for his new Wrestle-1 promotion in Japan. He met with Jeff Jarrett who, despite being in the TNA doghouse, is still in charge of their international relationships. This company. TNA is no stranger to bringing in Japanese wrestlers for runs…but they’re absolutely terrible at it. They had Hiroshi Tanahashi TWICE and had him just sit in the back and occasionally not take the fall in multi person X division openers. The second time they had him he was established as a huge star in Japan…and they did less than they did the first time. And if Jeff Jarrett says he wants to bring in someone…who is going to listen to him anyway?
Direct TV didn’t bother offering the TNA 10 show because no one orders them. Somewhere 3 people are angry tonight.
The list of upcoming TV/PPV tapings is as follows:
8/15- Norfolk, VA (the live 8/15 Hardcore Justice 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)
9/26 – Little Rock, AR (the live 9/26 show and the taped 10/3 show)
10/20- San Diego, CA – Bound For Glory
