My TNA Impact Wrestling, 11th July 2013 Recap

The new Main Event Mafia are forming nicely. Photo credit: impactwrestling.com

World Champion Bully Ray, accompanied by his fellow Aces & 8s members, addressed the new X Division Champion Chris Sabin, who he warned would be wise not to cash in his strap for a World Title opportunity at the special Destination X edition of Impact Wrestling next week, adding that he was a "bad, bad man." He also went on to reject the Main Event Mafia's match proposal, saying that they only did things on their own terms. 

The Mafia themselves then appeared, with Kurt Angle informing Bully that next week they will systematically take out every Aces members so the champ would be all on his own when he defends his strap.

AJ Styles and Samoa Joe defeated Joseph Parks and Jeff Hardy to qualify for the Bound for Glory Series Joker's Wild Gauntlet (bit of a long name, right?) later that night. The bout itself was an enjoyable one, although maybe a little disappointing considering most of the talent involved, I'd personally liked to have seen it given some more time. Samoa Joe caught Parks in a rear naked choke for the submission victory. 

Magnus and Mr. Anderson bested Hernandez and Jay Bradley to qualify for the BFG Joker's Wild Gauntlet in a passable tag contest. To be fair it was pretty unremarkable for the most part, and for some reason Anderson kept refusing to tag in, even though he had nothing to gain from screwing Magnus over here and everything to gain from winning. No logic. But despite that Magnus managed to catch Hernandez in a roll up for the one-two-three after Bradley accidentally grabbed his partner's leg without looking. 

Kazarian and Bobby Roode beat Austin Aries and Christopher Daniels to qualify for the BFG Joker's Wild Gauntlet in a terrific tag outing. All four men gave stellar displays in the match of the night here, especially Aries who was on great form. The added intrigue of tag partner vs tag partner also added another interesting element to the bout. Kaz grabbed the victory with a small package on Daniels without realising he was pinning his Bad Influence compadre.  

Backstage Mr. Anderson was voted in favour against Doc by fellow Aces members to become the new Vice President for the gang.

Gail Kim defeated Taryn Terrell in an entertaining Ladder match to become number one contender for the Knockouts Title. Much like their previous Last Knockout Standing encounter both women provided worthy efforts and although it wasn't always technically sound (and maybe slightly sloppy on occasions) it was a fun watch and certainly stands out from most female wrestlers matches in the US. 

Magnus outdid Bobby Roode, Samoa Joe, Mr.Anderson, AJ Styles and Kazarian to win the BFG Joker's Wild Gauntlet. As a result of the victory the leader of the BFG Series earned himself twenty-five more points. The contest itself had been a decent one, with fine outings for most of the wrestlers, but the most engaging period was the final sequence between Magnus and Roode where the Englishman managed to gain that all important pinfall. 

Hulk Hogan introduced the X Division Champion Chris Sabin, who was about to hand over his belt in return for a World Title match but was interrupted by said champion, Bully Ray. Bully warned Sabin once again that he would regret cashing in the strap, but Sabin stood up for himself and admitted that while he's always considered the underdog he's come back from a potential career-ending injury and this was his dream and he wasn't going to be intimidated by him.

After handing over the belt and making their Wold Title clash next week official, Bully had Aces & 8s come out to put the fear into Sabin and teach him a lesson, but the Main Event Mafia decided to back them up, with Sting announcing Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson as their latest addition. I think that's an interesting acquisition for the MEM, and hopefully this will mean more regular appearances from Rampage too, I could see him flourishing on the mic given more of a chance. 

Overall it was a satisfying show for the most part, with only the Hernandez and Bradley versus Magnus and Anderson letting it down a bit, but even that wasn't terrible by any means. The announcement of Rampage joining the Mafia was intriguing too, and most of the match ups were solid encounters so I'm very pleased with Impact this week. Now onto Destination X, which should be a fun show.  

My TNA Impact Wrestling, 6th June 2013 Recap

TNA World Heavyweight Champion Bully Ray kicked things off by bragging about defeating Sting at Slammiversary and reminding us of Aces & 8s one year anniversary since debuting at the aforementioned event last year. The champ went on to then claim that after taking out all of the companies heroes, he should be inducted into the TNA Hall of Fame. GM Hulk Hogan then came out and admitted that Bully did the job in beating 'The Stinger', but then informed him that he would be facing Jeff Hardy in the main event in a Ladder match with a hammer hanging above the ring.

Hernandez pinned Chavo Guerrero in a decent back and fourth Bound for Glory Series qualifying match. It was never anything outstanding but it was a fun watch, with a worthy display from both men.

Devon demanded that Abyss come out to the ring and hand him back his TNA Television Title, complaining that their bout last Sunday was unsanctioned and shouldn't count. But instead Joseph Parks stormed out and after having enough of being bullied by Devon and being robbed of his title match at Slammiversary after being attacked by him, began to beat on his foe. This didn't last long however as Devon cracked a microphone on Parks head and was about to use a steel chair on him when Abyss's music hit, but he failed to show so Devon announced that he was going to go looking for him.   

Samoa Joe beat Robbie in a brief squash match to qualify for the BFG Series. Much like the last time these two fought Joe was dominant and barely sold Robbie's attacks at all, but he looked stellar in the ring as usual.

Jeremy Borash introduced TNA's latest acquisition Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson, and after asking him a few questions was interrupted by the future TNA Hall of Famer Kurt Angle. Angle warned 'Rampage' that if he wanted to take on the best than he was the top man and they stared off. The segment was okay, the fans seemed enthusiastic for Jackson. After watching him for years in UFC I always felt he probably had the charisma and wrestling background to give pro wrestling a decent go, let's hope I'm right.  

Chris Sabin, James Storm and Gunner bested Kenny King, Austin Aries and Bobby Roode in a largely solid six-man tag bout. Not as exciting as The Shield's efforts in WWE at the moment but it was an enjoyable affair, and I can't really fault any wrestler's contributions.

Mickie James defeated Taeler Hendrix in a passable, if unremarkable contest. There were many times here that the clearly fake Mickie was congratulating her opponent and shaking her hand, and it just got tedious for me very quickly. Plus the wrestling was all right but nothing special or exciting. For the finish Jame's feigned a knee injury (which was extremely poorly acted) and then suddenly smacked Taeler with an uppercut and applied a dodgy spinning kick that actually connected with the shoulder for the winning pinfall. It was not the champ's finest outing by a long shot.

Backstage Abyss managed to take out the lurking Devon and his Aces accomplice Knox.

Bully Ray versus Jeff Hardy in a Ladder match ended in a no contest after Bully lost hold of the hammer he'd grabbed from above the ring and Hardy threatened him with it, causing the World Champion to leg it from the ring. The match itself had been entertaining at parts, but definitely not on par with their previous clashes. The use of the ladder was decent but pretty uninspiring, which was disappointing for these two talents.

As Bully ran backstage Hulk Hogan was about to sneak up on him with a hammer in hand, but Brooke Hogan screamed for her Dad to stop, causing the 'Hulkster' to halt in his tracks and allowing Bully to sneak away.  

Overall it was a decent, if uninspiring Impact. There were no bad matches on the show but the six-man tag contest was the only one that stood out to me and that'd I'd recommend to fans. It's also hard for me to get excited over Abyss' return, but then I've never been a big fan and found him fairly drab so maybe that's just me. But at least we're getting the set up for the Bound for Glory Series now which I always enjoy.