TNA Impact Wrestling Review for the 31st May 2012
The show opens with wrestlers around ringside ready for the Lumberjack match. Funny seeing Eric Young wearing a Lumberjack shirt for this.Anyways, time for the opening match…
Lumberjack Match: Bobby Roode vs Sting
Sting rocks Roode early on, when Roode tries to fight back, it just Sting “power up”. Roode gets knocked outside, thrown back in, and knocked out again. Sting misses a Stinger Splash, allowing Roode to put him over the top rope to the outside, giving Crimson and the two Robbies a chance to attack. Sting gets his own back, knocking Roode out, where Devon and RVD kick at him. Roode tries sending Sting out to the heel side of the ring, and Sting fights off the heels trying to get at him. Roode then tries to get out into the safety of his “friends”, but Sting flies over the top onto Roode. Back in the ring, Sting tries for the Scorpion Deathlock, and Roode turns it into a Crossface. Sting gets out of it, Roode goes for the PayOff, Sting drops behind, hits the Scorpion Deathdrop, and locks in the Scorpion Deathlock for the win.
Winner: Sting
Hulk Hogan appears on the ramp applauding. He says Sting is Impact’s number one player, and wants to see this match again at Slammiversary, with the World Title on the line.
Backstage, Madison Rayne is straightening her sash. She discusses Brooke Hogan, saying they’ll get along fine, before talking about “he might be watching”…
Bully Ray makes his way to the ring, and says he came looking for Joseph Park, who he is surprised to see here after last week. Bully shows his attack on Joseph, before calling Joseph down for a fight. Joseph reluctantly makes his way to the barrier, but then says he doesn’t want to fight. Bully taunts him by saying the whole Park family are cowards. Park tries to get over the barrier, and security stop him, but Bully tells them to let him go. Bully wants to fight now, but Joseph doesn’t want to. As he goes to leave, Bully says he is guilty of leaving Abyss for dead. Joseph grabs him and goes to hit him, causing Bully to threaten to sue if he does. Joseph lets go, and Bully calls him a coward again before leaving. Joseph stops him and wants to fight, with Bully saying “We’ll fight at Slammiversary”.
A video is shown, showing Crimson has been undefeated for 462 days. We see Crimson watching the video, before he says “Clearly I can’t be beat”.
TNA X-Division Title Match: Austin Aries (c) vs Chris Sabin
Quick paced open to this match saw Aries and Sabin try to outsmart each other, before Sabin tried for 2 quick pins. Aries lifted Sabin over the ropes, knocked him off the apron and hit the suicide dive. Sabin tried for a hesitation dropkick and missed, Aries hit a missile dropkick but then missed his corner dropkick, allowing Sabin to first baseball slide him outside, and then dive over the top onto Aries. Sabin tried for the Cradle Shock, Aries got out and tried for Brainbuster, Sabin blocked, hit the ropes for a tornado DDT, but then stopped, went for Cradle Shock, only to have Aries roll through and pin him.
Winner and still X-Division Champion: Austin Aries
Hulk Hogan is backstage with Taz, and he thanks Taz for stepping up to take over a spot in GutCheck, saying he chose Taz as he doesn’t sugarcoat things. Taz thanks him for this, and says you’ll see the real Taz out there.
Into the GutCheck viewing room, where Bruce Prichard welcomes Taz. As they look back on Joey Ryan, Al Snow admires his moustache and thinks Ryan has a unique look (even saying “he’s what would happen if me and Austin Aries had a love child”). Prichard says Ryan is a 1970s reject, and comments how people on twitter think Ryan did better than Alex Silva. Taz thinks that once Austin Aries came out last week, Ryan didn’t have the look of a guy in a fight for his life. Prichard thinks he did a good job, and was memorable, mentioning he has one last chance to sell himself to them tonight.
Jeremy Borash is backstage with Jeff Hardy, Rob Van Dam, Mr Anderson and Robbie E (with Robbie T). JB mentions how these 4 are the choices to face Devon for his TV Title, and the voting has been up for most the day online, with the results coming up after the next segment.
Dixie Carter comes to the ring. She says tonight is a great evening, and in 10 days, TNA will be 10 years old. She’s proud of everyone who has stepped into a TNA ring, and says they wouldn’t be here without the fans. Dixie mentions Slammiversary will see them announce the first inductee into the TNA Hall of Fame. She mentions how the night is special, with going live, but she has other exciting things lined up. Dixie mentions they have some of the best female wrestlers in the world, and needs help taking them to the next level. The person to help has been born into the business, and surrounded by “great minds”….she then welcomes Brooke Hogan. A guy on the front row had a “Brooke Hogan = Ratings” sign…no, just NO!. Dixie says Brooke excites her (not in that way, pervs!), and is looking forward to seeing what Brooke can do. Brooke thanks Dixie for the opportunity, and thanks for the fans for the welcome (which causes boos from some). She has some big yellow boots to fill, and promises to take this seriously.
We cut backstage to Kazarian and Daniels watching on a TV. They mock Dixie, and say how she ignored the AJ Styles rumours. Daniels says once he beats AJ again tonight, he’ll show more evidence, and TNA can’t do anything to stop him, as it’s live!
TNA’s look back video for Slammiversary is the TNA debut of Captain Charisma, Christian Cage. I gotta say, this is one of my favourite debut moments in TNA.
Backstage to Jeremy Borash again with the 4 challengers for Devon’s TV Title, and JB announces the winner, with over 40% of the votes is….Jeff Hardy (what a surprise).
TNA TV Title Match: Devon (c) vs Jeff Hardy
Both try to end this early, before Hardy hits a headscissor takedown, and Devon rocks him with a clothesline. Hardy uses his speed to outmaneuver Devon, but he misses a dropkick in the corner, and Devon hits a neckbreaker off the second rope. Devon tries to keep Hardy grounded, but fails, allowing Hardy to hit the Twist of Fate. As Hardy goes to the top rope, Robbie E and Robbie T interfere once more.
No contest.
Devon fights off both Robbies, before helping Hardy with the Poetry in Motion on Robbie T.
We’re shown an update on James Storm. He says he doesn’t know what hurt more: losing to Roode, or seeing the faces of those who believed in him. He doesn’t like letting people down. We see him with his daughter, and Storm says he’s made his decision. His daughter asks if he’s going back to wrestling, and Storm requests for filming to be stopped.
A video lookback over the past few weeks, and what has been going on with AJ Styles, Daniels, Kazarian and Dixie Carter.
TNA GutCheck, and Jeremy Borash is in ring with Al Snow, Bruce Prichard and Taz. JB says it’s decision time, introduces the judges and then brings down Joey Ryan. Ryan says he is trending worldwide right now, and 87% of the Impact fans want him signed. It’s time for the votes. Prichard says Ryan is a hell of a talent, but after being around 12 years, he votes no. Snow says he doesn’t like Ryan, or how he carries himself, as if he already has a job in TNA…BUT he feels Ryan has potential, so votes yes. Ryan is given one last chance, and says for a company that prides itself on social media relevance, for Prichard to ignore what fans want is irresponsible. He trusts Taz to do the right thing, as Taz will know Ryan is good money…and you don’t leave money on a table for someone else to pick up. Taz says he’ll keep it real, if that promo was to get a job, Ryan is out of his mind. Ryan steps up to Taz and mouths off, saying Taz is just a commentator. Taz replies he’s forgot more than Ryan knows, and votes NO. They argue, before Taz says Ryan screwed up, show go away, do what he’s been doing, come back and prove him wrong.
Bobby Roode is shown on his media tour of the UK, and he’s outside Big Ben in London, discussing being the longest World Champion in TNA History.
AJ Styles vs Daniels
AJ takes control of the match early on, striking with a dropkick, but Daniels then strikes back, first with a punch, then blocking a suplex attempt to the outside by a guillotine to AJ on the top rope, and knocking AJ onto the barrier. Daniels tries to wear down AJ with submission moves, before they both trade blows. AJ catches Daniels with a spinning heel kick, before a smart looking torture rack into powerbomb for 2. AJ goes to the top, and Daniels try to bring him down, but AJ blocks it, then hits the springboard forearm smash. Daniels dodges a moonsault inverted DDT, and rushes at AJ, only to be lifted over the ropes onto the apron. AJ hits the Pele, brings in Daniels, and tries for the Styles Clash. Kazarian comes down to stop it, allowing Daniels a roll up for 2. AJ then manages to catch Daniels with the moonsault inverted DDT to pick up the win.
Winner: AJ Styles.
Daniels and Kazarian beat down AJ, till Kurt Angle rushes down to make the save. He locks Kazarian in the Ankle Lock, before Daniels low blows him, and they hit him with the High-Low. They use plastic ties to tie Angle to the bottom rope. AJ tries to stop it, but Kazarian lays him out with a Tag Title, then Angle gets hit with the title too. Daniels gets on the mic and says he showed pictures and a video, but people didn’t believe him. Now he has more proof, and asks for audio to be played. It’s a phone call of Dixie and AJ organising a meet up, and how it needs to be kept from Dixie’s husband. Dixie rushes to the announce table, takes Taz’s headset and screeches to “turn it off”. The Spike TV logo appears as she drops an F bomb, and also yells “You are finished”.
For me, the majority of this show was positive, and enjoyable. I felt the Sting/Roode, Styles/Daniels and Aries/Sabin matches were good, with the X-Division one being the stand out match (would like a repeat, longer match for those 2 at the next PPV). It’s starting to get a bit tiresome with the Robbies interrupting Devon’s matches, I just wish they’d move those 2 away from the TV Title. I’ve really enjoyed the interaction between Bully Ray and “Joseph Park”, and I’m looking forward to seeing how they do the match at Slammiversary. The only downside I felt, was Brooke Hogan’s debut. It came off flat, and didn’t see like the majority of the fans seem bothered. Shame they supposedly cut a segment with various Knockouts for this. I also felt it was a bad move saying no to Joey Ryan, especially Bruce Prichard. Earlier in the show he said Ryan did a good job and was memorable, but turns him down due to the amount of time Ryan’s been on the indies? Like those who Bruce mentioned, I felt Ryan did a better job than Silva, and stood out more. He certainly got a yes from me. On the whole, for their first Summer Live show, I thought it was good!
Thanks for taking the time to read this, look forward to your thoughts on the review and the show!
@GoofyVillain of @TheTopRope
I imagine Jeff Jarrett will the first person in the TNA Hall of Fame because its the only one he’s getting into.
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I don’t know. If WWE buys the TNA library, he has had a career worthy of being in the HOF. Now, politics may keep him out though.
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I was referring to the politics and they will keep him out of the WWE Hall of Fame. Vince hates Jarrett.
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Slapnuts!
Don’t know why, but I like that catchphrase.
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“Listen up all you slapnuts, I am the chosen one”.
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I’m crossing my fingers that you like the phrase because it sounds cool, not because you’re an expert on the subject.
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I’m not. lol
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I really enjoyed thus show. Overall it was better than Raw this week.
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While I did enjoy the show, I didn’t find it as good as the last three weeks. For my taste, they contained far more “hits” than “misses”. This one was about 50-50. I tend to notice little things like the opening with the lumberjacks already in position? Wouldn’t it have been more effective to open with them marching down the ramp, thereby pointing out the.handicap that both men were facing? I enjoyed the match, not the post match. I was convinced that Sting was going to prevail, but that he’d be attacked and severely beaten down severely. It would go on and on until James Storm made the save. He and Roode would have a staredown that would set up the main event for the PPV.
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I think I
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I really hope we see Aries/Sabin at Slammiversary
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I’ll have to pass on Aries vs. Sabin. Since Chris is leaving, he’ll HAVE to do the job. I’ll go with Ion.
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Motor City Machine Guns to WWE.
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Why, so that they can be buried for a second time? They’d probably be asked to go to developmental A.J. was). I don’t think that’ll fly with them. And remember, their lives consist of wrestling, smoking pot and playing video games. I don’t think that’ll fly with McMahon. They just don’t fit each other. MCMG is more suited to ROH, the Indies and NJPW.
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All this doesn’t matter anymore. I just readthat Sabin ”s not leaving after all. Per Velvet Sky, and she would know. MCMG RIP.
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@Triple F – I like the phrase. Its pretty funny.
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RIP Richard Dawson.
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I gave Impact a chance this week, as I prefer live TV. Smackdown, I don’t mind but I always read spoilers first.
Audio was a bit off, but they’ll learn a balance. lol. Kinda funny to see the kinks. All the talent did well for live TV.
Brooke Hogan was being booed pretty good. I didn’t think Dixie could talk any louder to try and drown them out. LOL. Like I said on twitter, Brooke looks like a mix of Jillian Hall and an autistic Beth Phoenix. Very ugly woman. This was kind of Karen Jarretts job before she left (on camera).
Which brings me to the news sites new story about Karen Jarrett writing a cryptic tweet saying… She wrote, “Trust no one…” She added minutes later, “Things are about to get VERY INTERESTING/ENTERTAINING to some of you!!!! #dropthegloves.”
Probably because this is Karens way of coming back on to TV saying that it was her job to run the Knockouts. Then it will be Karen vs. Brooke for control, BLAH BLAH BLAH seen it a million times.
Anyone else notice Dave Lagana only retweets horrible TNA shit now? I used to respect him.
TNA’s hall of fame…..well, besides being kind of corny, sounds a little rushed. First must be Jeff Jarrett. This could also be a way to bring him back. You know damn well he’s the Triple H of TNA and thinks he’ll help ratings. Slapnuts…ugh.
I’ll watch next week. It wasn’t horrible. I like the live aspect.
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Heard this was a really good show, so now I might have to check out this week’s Impact. We shall see.
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It’s worth a watch. The best thing about Impact this week was the energy of the fans.
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I missed the first half of impact because of the Apprentice finale, planning on watching tonight but I’m disappointed Sting went over Roode. For going live it would’ve been a better statement to have a kind of passing of the torch: “He was the man, but now this guy is” from Sting to Roode (a nice addition to him being the longest serving World Champion).
I would readily accept the Jarrett’s coming back if it meant Neoptism+ (Hogan, Garrett, Eric & Brooke) do running jumps from TNA and get the hell out of there.
By the way, what’s your take on the Joey Ryan situation? A question for pod? Personally, I thought the guy was far better than the bloke they had last month (I can’t even remember his name, kinda says it all) and he didn’t get signed. See he’s not given up though: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgVm7NXZ9fs
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Yeah agreed, silly booking.
Jarrett’s coming back, he has to, who else will be inducted into the TNA hall of fame?
I love Joey Ryan, he should definitely get a contract. IDK how he’d come back though, he’ll probably just show up or something, lol.
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If they choose to reintroduce Karen Jarrett back into the lineup by battling BH for control of the knockouts, I can live with that. If I HAVE to look at BH. I’d prefer having Karen standing next to her. If TNA ‘s shooting for “reality” put them in a pissing match. Karen will drown her.
RE: Joey Ryan. Their own poll netted him an eighty seven % thumbs up. If their going to ignore that, scrap the poll. I’m still convinced that this is just the start of an angle. Don’t be surprised if there’s a run in (probably from the audience) by Ryan. He lays somebody out. They challenge him. He’s got a match.
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Tbh, the first inductee to the TNA HoF should be Hot Rod. Just don’t expect Russo to be in attendance!
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Starting a HOF with a single inductee isn’t a particularly bright idea. Go for 5! There’s no credibility in a yearlong “One Man HOF” promotion.
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Totally agreed. But it’s TNA, what are you expecting!
What about Jerry Jarrett as the inductee? Wasn’t it him that founded the company.
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Well, it was Jeff’s idea. Jerry was a MAJOR partner. I support his induction, but politics will come into play. Dad and son walk a pretty rocky road together.
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I am really enjoying TNA just now as long as Hogan can stay as far out of the picture as possible it will continue to improve. Also To think that most weeks they have been rarely using Roode it proves how well rounded they are. And I thought WWE only started with 1 inductee to the Hall of Fame
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Yes, They sure did start with 1 inductee. That doesn’t mean that there isn’t a better way to do it.
Andre was the first inductee.Their HOF was actually a last minute decision. They used it to capitalize on his death 5 days earlier. I always thought that was pretty Lowlife.
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I really don’t know who TNA could realistically induct into a hall of fame. Maybe in another ten years when AJ/Joe/Roode/Storm/Kaz are all getting near retirement. Start off with the guys who launched the company and helped get them off the group. That would be the obvious answer to me anyway.
A HoF for a ten year old company is ridiculous: unless they induct members of the active roster: which defeats the point somewhat.
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Yeah, it’s not a smart move, but it is a done deal. It’d be kind of silly to name someone from the active roster. But, that just leaves Hogan. In that case, I’ll go with silly. There’s one thing I know for sure. Dixie Carter is NOT running around backstage yelling “Make it Flair, Make it Flair”.
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She certainly will not be saying that. Guy could be on WWE TV in a few weeks.
The TNA HOF will not be taking seriously, WWE’s isn’t and they’re miles ahead of TNA.
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I know what you mean. Fantasy HOFs can’t be taken seriously. The PWHOF is the only one with credibility.
RE : Flair. As long as I don’t have to look at him, I don’t care where he goes. I used to mark out for him as much as anyone. I also used to have more respect for him than anyone else in the business. If there’s such a thing as negative respect, that’s what I have for him now. My opinion is his leaving TNA improves that company.
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It does too IMO.
I want Flair to go to WWE and only because he will be an advantage there. Like he would be awesome as Ziggler’s manager. He knows how to make younger guys look good, whether being manager or when he wrestled.
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Flair as a manager in WWE or head of a stable could be interesting. That’s what TNA SHOULD be doing with him.
I wonder if TNA are going to induct AJ and use it to continue this Dixie/AJ/Daniels/Kaz storyline…
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Yeah, that would be an interesting twist to the plot. But, wouldn’t that give even less credibility to a HOF that already has little? Tonight will tell a lot when Dixie opens the show.
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I agree, I wasn’t saying that they should do it, just that I wonder if they would ever consider doing something like that. Least if they went down that route it would just be part of the angle as opposed to an honest attempt at one. I think the angle route would be a better alternative than actually making a TNA HoF at this moment in time.
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Here’s my argument to that point:
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