Photo credit: impactwrestling.com
Mr. Anderson defeated Gunner in a rather pedestrian match up. Both men put on passable performances, but nothing special. Afterwards Kid Kash (who'd come out with Gunner) attempted to take out Anderson, but instead received a Mic Check. Sting backstage was shown keeping a close eye on the bout as he was looking for recruits for his team facing Aces & Eights at Bound for Glory.
Tara and Gail Kim bested Brooke Tessmacher and ODB in a fair tag bout. The action in the first half was superior to the second, with solid enough interaction between ODB and her two opponents. Unfortunately Tessmacher looked pretty average, not awful by any means, but average. For the finish Tara shoved her partner Kim into the Knockouts Champion and applied the Widows Peak for the one-two-three.
Al Snow called out former Gut Check contestant Joey Ryan and apologised to him for putting his hands on him and action unprofessionally. The obnoxious Ryan called Snow "pathetic" and claimed that that night was all about him. Snow then presented a contract that had been agreed on for Ryan to join TNA, which he signed. Snow then happily revealed that the contract was actually only for one night at BFG, and it was for a match against him. Ryan was not pleased.
Samoa Joe (c) beat Rob Van Dam to retain the TNA Television title in an enjoyable outing. Both men put in good displays as they battled back and fourth, and RVD gave an effort above his usual standard in TNA. It was revealed later on that Joe will take on Magnus at BFG for his championship.
Backstage Bully Ray challenged Jeff Hardy to a match to prove his worth to Sting to gain a spot on his team. An insulted Austin Aries (who was also standing there) asked why Bully didn't challenge him instead. So to settle things Hardy set up a Triple Threat between them, which Bully agreed to. The slight hints to an Aries heel turn are making things interesting in his feud with Hardy.
Chavo Guerrero defeated Kurt Angle in a decent match up. Although it maybe wasn't as high a standard as I was hoping, it was still enjoyable for the most part and a worthy performance from both men. Chavo grabbed the winning quick roll up pin after Hernandez at ringside distracted Angle. Afterwards AJ Styles also jumped into the ring as all four men argued over the dubious match ending, Christopher Daniels and Kazarian then appeared and seemed to relish the bickering between their four future tag team opponents.
Zema Ion (c) bested Douglas Williams to retain the X Division Championship. The match itself was entertaining while it lasted, it's just a shame it wasn't allocated a little more time to benefit from. Williams as usual was on solid technical form and helped elevate Ion beyond his usual standard performance, not to take away from Ion who I still think could be a very promising talent. For the finish Ion managed to thrust Williams into the ringpost, causing him to damage his arm which the champ jumped on as he forced his opponent to tap to a nicely applied armbar.
James Storm came out and stated that he intends to prove at BFG against Roode that "I am the better man" and reminded us (even though it'd already been mentioned a ton of times and had a video package) that MMA fighter King Mo will be the special enforcer in their match up as no ordinary official can handle them. Bobby Roode shortly joined 'The Cowboy' and warned that he shouldn't worry about King Mo, but worry about their encounter. He went on to also claim that they won't be having a match at BFG, but a fight that has been building since their days as Beer Money Inc.
He then added that King Mo doesn't concern him, which naturally cued the Bellator fighter's entrance. As the two men faced off Mo eventually had enough and pushed down 'The It Factor' and then joined Storm in the ring for a beer.
Bully Ray defeated Jeff Hardy and Austin Aries to win a fair Triple Threat match. The bout itself was quite disappointing for me, I was expecting a worthy main event with great action but it just ranged from run of the mill to decent. Maybe my expectations were too high, if it'd been the main event of BFG it would've been far superior I'm sure.
In a messy ending Bully was clearly waiting for Hardy to run in and accidentally strike Aries, but AA turned too soon or Hardy was late (not too sure) and he had to run around and throw Jeff into the World Champion himself, then Bubba Bomb Hardy for the victory.
Hulk Hogan announced that he and Sting had decided to pick Mr. Anderson to team with 'The Stinger' at BFG to face Aces & Eights. But unfortunately for them we were then shown live footage of Aces & Eights taking out Anderson. So Bully Ray once again urged both men to pick him, and after some convincing from Sting Hogan shook Bully's hand on it. I'm betting on Bully turning on Sting at BFG and being revealed as a member of Aces & Eights all along.
Overall it was a okay show, certainly not the best of recent broadcasts but not bad. Most matches were decent enough and the Bound for Glory bouts are being set up nicely. It's also fair enough that they had a title match here but I just wish they'd been setting Ion up for a bigger X Division title match for their biggest event of the year, the title really needs more attention right now.
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