Aries and Roode desert their tag partners. Gits. Photo credit: impactwrestling.com
Hulk Hogan announced that after a week of deliberation, he decided that Bully Ray will face Jeff Hardy for the World Title at Lockdown. A confused Bully then joined his Father in law, bemused because of the fact that he didn't even compete in a number one contenders match last week. He admitted that there were other men that deserved it more than him at the moment, but nonetheless thanked 'The Hulkster' for the title opportunity. Bully also suggested a six-man tag bout that night pitting him, Sting and Hogan against three members of Aces & 8s, Hulk approved.
Chavo Guerrero, Hernandez, James Storm and Joseph Parks beat Christopher Daniels, Kazarian, Austin Aries and Bobby Roode in a fair eight-man tag contest. To be honest I was a little disappointed with this one considering the talent involved, but it had it's entertaining moments so I can't complain too much.
Chavo and Storm were the stand out performers for me, providing the best action in the ring. The arguing between the loosing team was also fairly amusing, with Aries and Roode eventually having enough and storming off when all four egos clashed.
Rockstar Spud pinned Robbie E in a passable encounter. It was pretty forgettable and unremarkable for the most part really, although Spud did show off a few nice moves. The finish came when Robbie T refused to hand over his clipboard to E, which caused Rob to be caught out by Rockstar with a quick roll up pin for the one-two-three.
Taz (who's even worse as a heel commentator, which is saying something) called it a big upset, when was the last time Robbie actually did anything worthwhile? Or ever, for that matter? Afterwards an upset Robbie E slapped T in the face, then wisely legged it away down the ramp. I lost interest in these two splitting up a long, long time ago.
Velvet Sky bested Gail Kim, Brook Tessmacher and Tara (c) to obtain the Knockouts Title in an Elimination Fatal Four Way. The match itself was a mixed bag, and just not consistent enough for me, with no logic in sight. There were some nice moments of action and excitement but the majority of the bout felt a little messy, with average displays from Velvet and Brooke for the most part.
Ridiculously the women involved would also run in to stop pinfall attempts even though it was an elimination match, huh? Where's the advantage or sense in that? For the finish referee Taryn Terrell forced Kim off of the ropes during a pinfall attempt as she refused to let go, which also confused me, why wouldn't she just let go? This allowed Velvet to then apply an In Yo' Face (worst finisher name ever) for the winning pin and strap.
Samoa Joe won via disqualification versus Garett Bischoff after Wes Brisco ran and began attacking him, but the double team attack was short live as Kurt Angle then chased them both off. The actual match itself had been okay, pretty drab for the most part to be honest, with mostly strikes exchanged between the two. Garett still clearly has a fair way to go in the ring.
Rob Van Dam (c) pinned Kenny King to retain the X Division Championship in a decent outing. Both men gave worthy enough displays, and provided some fun action here. It's definitely not either man's finest efforts but it's a fine enough watch. My only big gripe is RVD retaining yet again, I don't really get the point of their feud if King is never going to eventually win the strap. Their issues have been going on for a long, long time now and it's well overdue that either KK wins the title or RVD moves onto a new challenger.
Aces & 8s (Doc, Devon & Mr. Anderson) defeated Sting and Bully Ray in an average main event. I just failed to find much interest at all in this contest, with passable, if uninspiring wrestling and multiple distractions. Hogan mysteriously failed to turn up for the bout, but was dragged out later on along with his daughter Brooke by more Aces & 8s members, clearly beaten down by the group.
This allowed Doc to finish off Sting for the winning pinfall, and then attack him further with more affiliates. If there was one plus from all this then it was at least making Aces look like a stronger unit again, but I'm still growing very tired of them now, I think they desperately need some more interesting members to rejuvenate them a bit.
Overall it was a largely average Impact for me, with most match ups being pretty pedestrian and the majority of storylines starting to feel like they're dragging now. To be fair the eight-man bout was watchable, but not outstanding. Hopefully it picks up next week.
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