It was as great as the photo suggests. Photo credit: impactwrestling.com
Before the following tag team title match could begin, Aces & 8s raced out and attacked Chavo Guerrero and Hernandez. Devon then told all the fans to shut up and introduced the new TNA World Heavyweight Champion, Bully Ray. Bully spoke about how proud he was of his fellow Aces members and how he fooled Hogan, Brooke and the fans for nine months. He also added that in one night he'd accomplished what the NWO never had. It was a decent start to the show, with the always solid Chicago crowd getting into it.
Velvet Sky and Mickie James bested Tara and Gail Kim in a largely enjoyable tag bout. Every performer gave a worthy display here. Referee Taryn Terrell was once again pushed to breaking point by Kim and slapped her in the face, shortly after Sky managed to apply an In Yo' Face on Tara for the one-two-three.
Rob Terry pinned Robbie E in a pretty worthless outing. The only positive was how brief the match was kept, the wrestling was just very mediocre, Terry even seemed to struggle applying a spinebuster at the end. Afterwards Terry then began dancing...badly. It was just awkward. And why is Rob announced as haling from New Jersey? He's from Wales?
Hulk Hogan blamed Sting backstage for trusting Bully and therefore helping Aces gain the upper hand, claiming that he never trusted him. Didn't Hogan walk his daughter down the aisle to marry the guy and admit that the only reason he wasn't sure of him was because he didn't like the idea of Brooke being with a pro wrestler, not who he actually was? TNA defies logic. Sting then begged Hogan not to fire Aces & 8s, and stated that he had a plan for them. But Hulkster wasn't having any of it and told him to get out, adding that "You make me sick." Harsh words, eh?
Backstage Austin Aries and Bobby Roode rubbed in how Sting was wrong about Bully Ray and how it was all his fault right to his face. So 'The Stinger' retorted by challenging Aries to a match later on.
As AJ Style's music hit for his return, there was no sign of the man himself, so Bad Influence (Christopher Daniels and Kazarian) came out dressed as Chicago's own Legion of Doom and claimed that it wasn't the first time Styles had let down his fans. They also announced their tribute as "throwback Thursday" and stated that LOD were just fake tough guys, unlike them. Daniels also added his own funny twist on the legendary tag teams famous line with "Ooooooh what a tush!" As usual Bad Influence were on great form.
James Storm then joined the duo and reminded them that LOD were a fair bit taller and bigger than them, and were also a lot more over. He then went on to challenge one of them to a match right there, deciding on Daniels after flipping 'The Fallen Angel' into the ring.
James Storm defeated Christopher Daniels in a solid encounter. Not either man's finest contest but a fun one nonetheless, with nicely executed action. Afterwards as Kaz and Daniels began beating down 'The Cowboy', a worse for wear looking AJ Styles appeared and chased them off, only to then turn on Storm by clotheslining him.
Backstage we witnessed various Aces & 8s members taking out Kurt Angle, a target they'd anonymously picked out at random earlier.
Joseph Parks came out and told the fans that standing in the ring in his home town of Chicago was the proudest moment of his life. Matt Morgan then joined him and accused Parks of being the biggest mistake that Hogan ever made, and that he planned to eliminate all the errors of the Hulkster. But Parks refused to leave and claimed that in Chicago no one backs down from a fight and challenged Morgan to one. An amused 'Blueprint' told Parks that they'll fight when he wants to, then applied a Carbon Footprint, announcing that they'll have a match next week.
Sting versus Austin Aries ended in a No Contest after Aces & 8s ran in and took out 'The Stinger'. The match itself had been a very entertaining one, and far better than I was expecting. I was predicting a fair contest here, nothing much, but both men gave great efforts and provided a fun watch from the opening bell. This is one of Sting's finest single bouts in a long while. After Aces beat down Sting (Aries had made a quick getaway) Bully demanded Hogan come out and dared him to fire them.
Sure enough Hogan came out, but instead announced that he had convinced all the wrestlers in the back to band together to take out the gang. As members of the roster ran out, including former champ Jeff Hardy, they were not enough as Aces also eventually took them out. What's Hogan going to do now?
Overall it was a decent enough Impact, with almost all the matches providing stellar action and some nice progression in the Aces & 8s and TNA feud, with Bully injecting some much needed interest back into the gang as the top heel in the company. Actually, bar the Robbie E versus Terry match I liked all of the show really. My personal highlights were the Bad Influence promo ("Oooooh what a tush!" I will forever remember) Daniels vs Storm, Styles' return and the enjoyable main event.
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