My Impact Wrestling, 17th January 2013 Recap

The always-entertaining Bad Influence mock Hardy's fan base of 'Creatures'. Photo credit: impactwrestling.com

World Champion Jeff Hardy kicked off the show, oddly receiving chants of "You still got it" after mentioning the great Triple Threat he participated in at Genesis, when did Jeff 'loose it' exactly? After then thanking the fans for their support and claiming that he was after a fight to keep his momentum going, Bad Influence (Christopher Daniels and Kazarian) joined him,  with Kaz reminding Hardy that he'll be defending his strap against his tag partner next week, and Daniels calling all of the champ's fans losers.

In retaliation Hardy then began to attack the duo, but soon fell victim to the numbers game, that is until James Storm predictably ran out to his aid and after scaring Bad Influence off challenged them to a tag match right there and then. Daniels and Kaz refused, but where then dragged into the ring and the bout begun.

Jeff Hardy and James Storm defeated Bad Influence in a solid tag team contest. I mean, with these four talents it's hard to go far wrong, right? All four men gave solid displays and kept a nice fast pace going, especially in the exciting final few minutes. Hardy applied the Twist of Fate to Kaz to gain the one-two-three for a popular win.

His future opponent Daniels then snuck in from behind and gave the champ a nicely executed Angles Wings onto his own title belt and laid cockily on top of him. It was a nice image and set up into their title clash, where I see a possible DQ happening which will hopefully lead into a World Championship match at Lockdown, which would be superb I reckon. 

Bryan Cage was first eliminated during the Gut Check segment, leaving the man he lost to last week, Jay Bradley to be judged on whether he deserves a TNA contract. The three judges voted two to one in favour of Jay. With the exception of Christian York, the lack of Gut Check winners of TV each week has diminished the effect and meaning of the whole thing for me.

Kenny King beat Christian York in a largely pedestrian outing. The action was fair, not bad, but also nothing that special. Their match up last Sunday was definitely more enjoyable and engaging. King grabbed the win after a cheeky roll up where he grabbed York's trunks.

Sting called out his good friend Hulk Hogan and asked him what it will take for him to accept Bully and his daughter Brooke's relationship. Hogan explained that there was something about Ray that he didn't trust, that seemed off, so he'll never accept him.

Velvet Sky bested Gail Kim in a number one contenders match to the Knockouts Title. It was a largely decent outing, with stellar work from Kim as she dominated for the most part and an above average effort from Sky (compare to her usual standard). Once again referee Taryn Terrell played a part in Kim's loss as she halted a pin when Sky managed to get her leg under the ropes. As Kim argued with the ref, Sky managed to recover and get in a few offensive moves, including an In Yo' Face for the win. Seems like their setting up a match between Terrell and Kim. I don't remember Terrell being that great in the ring to be honest, I think they should just leave her as a good-looking official.

A suited up Bobby Roode and Austin Aries came out and stated that the only celebration that should be happening rather than the wedding was for them. They went on to also criticise the current crop of champions in the company, claiming that since they'd lost their respective straps it's gone downhill. Tag Champions Chavo Guerrero and Hernandez soon joined them and objected to the claims being made against the title holders of the TNA. After AA and Roode then mocked their race, calling them the caterers, Chavo and 'Super Mex' retorted by chasing them out of the ring. I'm certainly all for a tag team title match between these four, could be great.

After Sting had another word with Hogan backstage, 'The Hulkster' admitted that he had no issue with Bully Ray, but that he objected to the wedding because he didn't want his daughter being involved with a business that had brought some hard times to him. Sting simply told him to do the right thing.

As the wedding ceremony began, Hogan then appeared and walked Brooke down the aisle. The ceremony progressed nicely, but after Bully and Brooke said their "I do"'s, Taz suddenly interrupted and asked if Ray really knew what he was doing. He then took off his blazer to reveal an Aces & 8s waistcoat underneath. This cued other Aces members to enter the ring and take out everyone bar Brooke. So out of all the potentially interesting and exciting members we could have joining the gang, we have Taz? No doubt we'll get some weak reasoning from the commentator next week as to his switch. Disappointing finish to the show, I was personally expecting Brooke or Bully to turn, either would've been more entertaining.
Overall it was a fair Impact, not one of the best as of late. The tag team match was definitely the highlight, providing a solid encounter. The Kim versus Sky bout was also decent enough, the rest of the show was just quite run of the mill and forgettable to be honest. Taz turning, as I mentioned, was a big disappointment, considering the potential candidates (Styles? Bully? Even Brooke, as bad an actress as she is).