Preview: TNA Slammiversary 2013

TNA Television Championship

Joseph Park vs Devon (c)

I don't know what kind of dirt Devon has on Dixie Carter, but his stranglehold on the Television Title continues! Having defended his Championship only a couple of times since winning it back in December, this is a rare reappearance for the formerly weekly title. His latest contender is none other than Abyss' "brother", Joseph Park. He has been circling Aces & Eights for several months. Initially wanting revenge for his captivity leading into last year's Bound for Glory, before stepping in to defend Brooke Hogan's honor by attempting to annul her marriage to Bully Ray. That naturally got the group's attention and who better to enforce Bully's will, than his brother Devon. I don't expect much out of this confrontation, as Devon has never had the most entertaining move set and Park is still playing the role of freshly-trained rookie. As with most of Park's matches, I'm predicting a prolonged beatdown by the heel Champion, followed by an accidental spillage of blood and the friendly giant sees red, putting Devon down with an impromptu Black Hole Slam.

Prediction - Joseph Park defeats Devon via pinfall to win the TNA Television Championship.

Six Man Tag Match

Wes Brisco, Garret Bischoff & Mr Anderson vs Magnus, Samoa Joe & Jeff Hardy

What do you do when you have six notable talents without a match on pay-per-view? Throw them all together in a tag match of course! Since their debut, Aces & Eights have randomly attacked members of the TNA roster. The victims have spent months at a time on the injury list, reduced to watching their attackers ruling the proverbial roost. At last comes their revenge, as each of them have worked their way back to health and their first opponents couldn't be clearer. The biggest of these names is none other than the Charismatic Enigma, Jeff Hardy. Having been forced to the sidelines after a nasty blow to the head during his World Title rematch with Bully Ray, Hardy's return has been highly anticipated. However, with him not actually appearing on Impact to set up this match, it feels largely like TNA had a big name who needed to be on the show and this was a convenient place to put him with minimal build. His return will no doubt overshadow all others in the match, so I'm expecting a few minutes back and forth before the Twist of Fate/Swanton Bomb combo for the win.

Prediction - Magnus, Samoa Joe & Jeff Hardy defeat Wes Brisco, Garret Bischoff & Mr Anderson via pinfall.

TNA X Division Championship

Ultimate X Match

Suicide vs Kenny King (c) vs Chris Sabin

Continuing the current trend of triple threat X Division matches, Kenny King once again defends his Title against two high-flying challengers. This time out he faces the renewed efforts of Chris Sabin and the returning Suicide. I was hugely impressed by the verbal confrontation King and Sabin had several weeks ago on Impact in a rare X Division promo and would love for the pair to continue playing off one another in the coming months. The real question is whether TNA are looking for a shock title change to Sabin or sticking with the still-finding-his-feet King. As undeniably talented as King is, he hasn't set the division on fire as expected. Instead, he's having a reign more akin to Zema Ion's. Sure he's there and he's defending his Title, but he's not owning it yet. Austin Aries set an impossible standard with his epic reign last year and all subsequent Champions have paled in comparison. With Sabin's momentum at an all-time high, it's literally now or never for the guy. Either he takes the ball and runs with it or he slinks back into obscurity. As for the second challenger, Suicide, I don't think anyone ever truly got behind the gimmick, knowing for a fact that the man behind the mask changes on a nightly basis. However, his resurgence has provided a nice series of paychecks for much vaunted ROH alum, TJ Perkins. His time will come eventually, but for now it's all about the inspirational story of Chris Sabin coming back from multiple ACL tears. If they're smart, they'll have Sabin get the pin on Suicide, giving Kenny King the perfect excuse to drop the belt and yet stay in contention.

Prediction - Chris Sabin defeats Kenny King and Suicide to win the TNA X Division Championship.

TNA Tag Team Championships

Four Team Elimination Match

Daniels & Kazarian vs Storm & Gunner vs Hernandez & Guerrero (c) vs Aries & Roode

When eight of Impact Wrestling's best come together, will too many cooks spoil the broth? I like Bad Influence, I like the Dirty Heels, I tolerate TexMex and I'm even a little curious about Storm & Gunner's new team, but all together in one ring? I can't help but think it's too much of a good thing. Three teams competing for the Tag Team Titles was already insanely busy, adding a fourth is just asking for trouble. With eight different talents vying for the spotlight, it's not a spotlight at all. If this week's Impact was anything to go by, Austin Aries' heel tactics and double-teams with partner Bobby Roode will prove to be the most entertaining. Ultimately, the random pairing of Storm and Gunner will be the main focus and probably even get them the win. I mean, when was the last time you saw a man team with a mystery partner and lose? Frankly, there are so many talented singles stars in this match, I'm left to wonder why the main event scene has been left to a brawler and a broken down old man. 

Prediction - Storm & Gunner defeat Daniels & Kazarian, Hernandez & Guerrero and Aries & Roode via pinfall to win the TNA Tag Team Championships.

Gail Kim vs Taryn Terrell

The curious case of the women's pay-per-view match that ISN'T for the Knockouts Title. Despite all the attention of the division falling on Velvet Sky's ailing knee and Mickie James' teased heel turn, we're asked to revisit this feud from last month which I assumed was already over. Ironically, it was the focus on Taryn Terrell's in-ring debut that tanked Velvet Sky's latest run as Knockouts Champion. This feud was reignited several weeks ago when Gail Kim attempted to cripple her opponent through wrapping her leg around the ring post. She's done this routine several times since and Taryn gets the honor of being the one to seek revenge. I suspect the pattern of Gail's recent matches to hold true and she attempts to injure Taryn, bringing about an instant disqualification. A technical victory for the 'Hot Mess' Terrell, but one that may leave her back on the shelf for a few more weeks.

Prediction - Taryn Terrell defeats Gail Kim via disqualification.

AJ Styles vs Kurt Angle

It may be booked as the semi-main event, but any true wrestling fan will know this will be our bread and butter for the evening. While storylines point towards the World Title and Aces & Eights, the real meat of the show will be in the masterclass of Styles vs Angle, especially with Styles aggressive new move set. The feud itself has been a bit hit and miss, with Angle coming off as annoyingly pretentious, while supposedly playing the hero. His entire reason for wanting a match with Styles is because AJ didn't want to play with him. Playground logic almost. But I'll be damned if Styles' new persona hasn't grabbed all our attentions. The Impact-closing segment whereby he seemingly sided with Aces & Eights, taking out his opponent Angle, whilst still remaining a man unto himself, was utter genius. As for the match itself, we've seen hundreds of variations of this bout, yet they've still managed to find a new spin on it. When Angle faced a heel AJ Styles before, he was much more of a cowardly villain, cheating with a snide grin. But this new tweener Styles, who is no one thing, is tough to judge. He's beating on the villains just as much as the heroes. Styles is well and truly out for himself and his character has never seen such innovation. Meanwhile, the Olympic Gold Medalist appears to be in the twilight of his career and if recent months spent jobbing to the likes of Wes Brisco and Garret Bischoff prove anything, it's that Kurt is trying desperately to get the younger talents over. I believe this attitude will hold true for his bout with Styles, giving AJ's new persona the much needed seal of approval.

Prediction - AJ Styles defeats Kurt Angle via submission.

TNA World Heavyweight Championship

No Holds Barred Match

Sting vs Bully Ray (c)

Aces & Eights have run roughshod over TNA in recent months, ever since the reveal of Bully Ray as their President back at Lockdown in March. The person who's taken most flack for this is the Icon, Sting. The Hall of Famer had taken Bully under his wing and given him his stamp of approval to General Manager Hulk Hogan. While Bully continues to feud with Hogan and his "wife" Brooke for the most part, the true soldier of the piece has been Sting, facing down the threat of Aces & Eights at every turn. Despite several fantastic promos from the pair and a wonderful backstory leading into the match, I don't expect anything approaching technical wrestling from either man. Bully is a renowned brawler and rarely plies his craft, meanwhile Sting, formerly a master technician, has found his age catching up with him and adjusted his in-ring style accordingly. As such, you can call most of Sting's big spots in a match from a mile away. Brawl around the outside for a few minutes, take the majority of the beating in the ring, followed by a Stinger Splash and the Scorpion Deathlock/drop. The man has a routine and it wore out it's welcome about two title reigns ago. Regardless, Sting has a phenomenal record for winning Championships on TNA's biggest shows. No matter his opponent, he usually walks out with a new belt over his shoulder. Which is why I'm intentionally bucking the trend and advocating another few months of Bully Ray as our World Heavyweight Champion. His run with the Title has only just gotten started and he's truly becoming a legit main event player. If Ray can hold it until Bound for Glory in October, his spot in history is guaranteed as a singles star. With every passing day, his time as a Tag Team wrestler fades from memory and is replaced with something far more grandiose. Let's see what the Bully has in store for us over the summer.

Prediction - Bully Ray defeats Sting via pinfall to retain the TNA World Heavyweight Championship.

Review: Impact Wrestling 16/05/2013

Following last week's surprise return of the long lost Abyss, the Aces & Eights suffered their first real defeat and were out for the Monster's blood. But when their target couldn't be found, they had to settle for the next best thing - Abyss' brother - Joseph Park!

Opening this week's show with a standard Hulk Hogan promo, Impact Wrestling got off to a slow start and struggled to pick up the pace. At first, the Hulkster's focus was squarely on the indecision of AJ Styles. He ran down the Phenomenal One's recent actions in a snarky tone and quicky denounced them with a particularly brutal "who cares". Frankly, with the way the supposed faces are treating AJ, it's no wonder he doesn't want to work with any of them. Both Hogan and Angle have taken such a confrontational attitude, they'd struggle to win their number one fans over.

Attention soon turned to the return of Abyss and just how happy Hogan was to see the Monster once again. Trying to coax him out from the back, his music played, but the General Manager was greeted by none other than Abyss' brother, Joseph Park. The fact these guys are legitimately treating Abyss and Park as separate entities is laughable and just as we think we're back to the gimmick that's worth a damn, TNA sticks us with the tame lawyer with impulse control issues. I could've happily seen the back of Park at this point and welcomed Abyss with open arms. But that'll have to wait for another day, as the promo is quickly interrupted by Devon and D'Lo Brown from Aces & Eights looking for a measure of revenge. Both Park and Devon want to lay into one another, but due to a timely comment from D'Lo, we find ourselves with a main event of Park vs D'Lo instead, with the promise of another match at a later date. I don't understand why Park has to jump through hoops to get what he wants when he has the face General Manager on his side. Surely Hogan could've just made the match both men wanted.

Our first match (of many) came in the form of 'The It Factor' Bobby Roode facing off against Tag Team Champion Chavo Guerrero. It began with a substantial amount of offense on Roode's part, but everything he threw at the Mexican superstar found itself reversed in kind. The leader of the Selfish Generation finally made  some traction once the action spilled outside of the ring, taking advantage of the harsh surroundings. Unfortunately, the match never really clicked or came alive, as the pair seemed oddly mismatched. Roode worked a much slower methodical pace, while Guerrero would spring to life and bounce around the ring with as many high-flying moves as he could muster. The finish came after 'The Cowboy' James Storm entered the ring and spat beer in the face of his former tag team partner, giving Roode the win, but only via disqualification. An unsatisfying ending to an unsatisfying match.

The Olympic Gold Medalist, Kurt Angle, continued the Styles-bashing for the evening with a brief in-ring promo. Speaking about how his former friend's indifference and penchant for walking away from confrontations has seriously pissed him off, Angle has arranged a one on one contest between the pair at Slammiversary. This is another one of those unfortunate situations whereby the top face of the company wants to start a fight with someone, but they don't really have a good reason. Styles hasn't actually done anything wrong up until now and even then, most of his actions can be construed as self-defense. I can't exactly blame AJ for wanting to kick Angle in the head. The man was badmouthing him on national television and picking a fight, who wouldn't want to put him in his place. With the late addition of Ken Anderson to the segment, the prospect of Styles being "patched-in" to Aces & Eights was teased for next week, making for a wonderful cliffhanger. I don't for a second believe AJ will end up in the Job Squad that is A&E, but I have to admit it's a brilliant way to build tension between he and his true opponent, Kurt Angle.

Several former Gut Check winners reared their heads this week, returning after numerous months training down in Ohio Valley Wrestling.The lucky winner of Christian York vs Jay Bradley would advance in a four man tournament to determine who gets a spot in this year's Bound for Glory Series. Both men were pushed hard in the first hour of Impact with several video packages hyping their appearance and reminding us just who the hell they are. York has clearly had the better start with the company, boasting matches with Jeff Hardy and Rob Van Dam, whereas Bradley was forced to rely upon the usual platitudes and cliches of an aspiring wrestler, looking pig ugly whilst doing it. Given their respective momentum of late, I truly expected York to take the spotlight, but Bradley's superior size and devastating array of power moves left the golden boy wanting. The match was nothing to write home about, ending abruptly, with Bradley landing a Boomstick clothesline out of nowhere.

The Knockouts Division suffered some strange editing this week, with ring introductions taking place before five minutes worth of adverts and several more featuring a backstage segment. Thank god the show was taped last week, because there's no way in hell even pretty girls like these can entertain a crowd by doing absolutely nothing for ten minutes at a time. Once Gail Kim and Velvet Sky were allowed to continue, the focus of the match became the Champion's recently injured knee. Sky hit all her signature moves early on, allowing Gail the rest of the match to work on the Beautiful Person's ailing leg. Huge credit goes to Gail for the inventive submission maneuvers she implemented against Sky. Of particular note was a Texas Cloverleaf, which is rare at the best of times, let alone in the Knockouts Division. Equal applause must go to Sky, who sold the worsening injury like a pro. When she tried to run the ropes and collapsed in pain, she crumpled to the floor like she'd just lost the knee entirely. The Champion held on by the skin of her teeth with a last minute surprise roll-up giving her the pinfall. I'll be extremely interested to see where Velvet's injury angle is meant to lead, sure to have been hastened by Gail's usual post-match beating.

The X Division Championship was once again on the line as Kenny King defended his Title against the combined might of Petey Williams and Chris Sabin. In doing so, he often took a backseat to his challengers, allowing them to duke it out in the ring, while he skulked around outside, waiting for an opportunity to strike. Williams once again justified his return to TNA with a stunning performance. His moves having lost none of their pace and are as crisp as the day he began. He's clearly been relegated to being the third wheel of the X Division matches, but with displays such as these, he'll quickly deserve a spotlight of his own. Similarly, Chris Sabin kept up his side of things, offering an insanely quick offense, giving no hint as to his formerly torn ACLs. The only downside was the finish, which saw Kenny King sneak another victory from the jaws of defeat. These triple threat matches, while always entertaining, are falling into a set pattern and becoming a little too predictable for my taste. The format has it's own in-built limitations and the competitors will have to work harder to innovate in the future.

Continuing James Storm's one man mission to be the buzzkill of the entire card, 'The Cowboy' made another appearance at the close of Daniels vs Hernandez. Having an obvious bee in his bonnet about heels being allowed to interfere and cheat, whilst he finds himself reprimanded, Storm distracted 'The Fallen Angel' just as he was about to hit his finishing maneuver, allowing Hernandez to sneak the pinfall. No offense to Storm, as I'm sure he has a point, but this whiny behaviour was extremely unbecoming and left me craving honest to god clean finishes. The match was immediately followed by a promo setting up a four way Tag Team Championship match at Slammiversary. The real intrigue being who Storm will team with to take on Chavo/Hernandez, Daniels/Kazarian and Aries/Roode. Which faces are floundering on the card and are in need of something to do on pay-per-view? I'm stumped. This is probably really obvious and it's going to bug me all the way up until June 2nd.

In our wrestling main event of the evening, we had Dumb vs Dumber, as Aces & Eights' whipping boy D'Lo Brown took on the forever sweating buckets Joseph Park. To D'Lo's credit, he dominated a fair portion of the match, demonstrating a rare agility in the otherwise stocky backstage agent. However, he made a key mistake when he busted Park open in the corner of the ring. Thus the usual process of Park losing his mind kicked in, as the Lawyer jabbed and clotheslined his opponent into oblivion before finally hitting "his brother's" Black Hole Slam for the win. Surprisingly, there was absolutely no interference from the Aces & Eights tonight. They all stayed backstage and refused to come to the aid of their prospective member. D'Lo's losing streak would be funny, if it wasn't so sad.

Last but not least, we had the contract signing for the World Heavyweight Championship match at Slammiversary between Bully Ray and Sting. The supposed press conference was initially hosted by Jeremy Borash, but his presence was deemed unnecessary by the World Champ, who ran him out of the ring like a rat out a door. Little mannerisms such as this, really go a long way towards Bully earning his name. He goes on to boast about having beaten Jeff Hardy in his own specialty match and promises to do much the same to Sting come Slammiversary. One after the other, both Sting and Hogan come out from the back to confront their nemesis. Hogan was there mostly to worry about his make-up laden best friend, however, Sting cut a truly inventive promo offering up suggestions to his opponent as to where they should injure him. The tactic was more than a little terrifying and freaked the hell out of the Bully. This naturally led to the suggestion of the Slammiversary match being changed to a No Holds Barred contest, a Sting staple due to his ever-decreasing move set. But in return, the Bully wanted a stipulation of his own. Should Sting lose, he'd never be able to compete for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship ever again. In a fantastic twist of the proverbial knife, Bully reiterated this was nothing to do with retiring the Icon, this is simply a way to make him suffer. To have him wrestling to the end of his days, knowing he'll never hold the top prize in professional wrestling once more. Pretty ingenious if you ask me. And a fantastic way to exclude Sting from any future main event matches. Because, let's face it, he's ridiculously old at this point and should've been shuffled off long ago. The episode ends with Sting and Bully exchanging blows, each landing their fair share, with no true victor coming out on top. A fitting, if indecisive, close to the show.

This week's Impact Wrestling was packed to the rafters with content and yet never showcased a damn thing. There were six matches in total, each suffering from a short runtime and competitors going through the motions, showing us the same old shtick we had last week and the week before that. Wrestling will always feature a degree of repetition, but I felt as though it was particularly acute in this instance, with most stars running on autopilot. Also, the show failed to adequately follow up on the promise of Abyss from last week's cliffhanger, making proceedings feel hollow at best, time wasted at worst. The high points were the X Division match for pure athleticism and the closing exchange between Sting and Bully Ray for a clear display of passion and intensity. Not a bad episode necessarily, but not a good one either.

6 out of 10

Review: Impact Wrestling 09/05/2013

Since General Manager Hulk Hogan granted Sting a six man tag match against three of Aces & Eights' best, the race has been on to find the Icon his ideal partners. The Olympic Gold Medalist, Kurt Angle, made the first decision easy by volunteering. The second spot seemed destined for the recently returned AJ Styles, but the Phenomenal One is out for one person only - himself.

Addressing the issue right off the bat, we arrived in Tupelo to find Sting and Angle making their way to the ring. Cutting impassioned promos about the evil of Aces & Eights, the pair effectively push both the main event tonight and the centerpiece of Slammiversary. Sting was his usual dependable self, while Angle came across as borderline irrational. In calling out AJ Styles once again and forcing the issue, Angle's rash behaviour made the situation ten times worse, leading to the pair exchanging vicious blows on the walkway. Frankly, I don't blame Styles for not wanting to team with Angle if this is the treatment he'd receive. While this is going on, the three members of Aces & Eights scheduled for the main event (Bully Ray, Devon and Mr Anderson) pull off a perfectly timed sneak attack on Sting, planting a rare 3D on the Icon.

Acting almost as a breather after the frantic opener, the Knockouts tag team match of Velvet Sky & Mickie James vs Gail Kim & Tara was a complete change of pace. Literally. No sooner had the four ladies made their way to the ring and the bell had rung, the match was over. It's impossibly short bouts such as this which lead to outbursts in the media *cough*MickieJames*cough*. The country singer found herself dominated by the heel team for the majority of the match, only to make a hot tag to Champion Velvet, who rushed the ring and had the match wrapped up in a matter of seconds. The only redeeming feature of the segment was Gail's post-match beatdown of partner Tara. Seeing the first lady of the Knockouts division snap and try to end the careers of her competitors is hugely intriguing and almost worth sacrificing the match time for. But not entirely.

Finally getting around to the matter of Aces & Eights' D-Lo Brown submitting to Kurt Angle "last week", the band of outlaws are led to the ring by World Heavyweight Champion, Bully Ray. Continuing his impressive body of work on the mic, Bully strips the Vice President of his colours, leaving little chance of redemption for his former right hand man. Neatly leading into D.O.C. vs Magnus, D-Lo must ensure his brother's victory over the British titan. The match itself was treated as entirely throwaway, the first half not even making it to air in favour of commercials. Both men were a few paces off their game and it made for several sloppy maneuvers. The finish came as a visually-impaired Brown cost his own man the match in a refreshing change to the usual Aces & Eights M.O. Sufficed to say, this didn't go down well with the rest of the club, who promptly held D-Lo down for a beating. Bully swore he simply wanted to cave the man's skull in, but the whole thing took on a creepy prison rape vibe. I really don't want to know what happened after they cut away.

Now, in what I would refer to as the TRUE main event of the evening, we have Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian taking on Austin Aries & Bobby Roode for the number one contendership to the Tag Team Championships. I make this very clear, as announcer Christy Hemme didn't have the slightest clue what she was talking about, announcing one team as the other and forgetting another man entirely. Thank god for Austin Aries' covering by bullying her into doing it correctly or I'd say fire her on the spot. As it transpires, the key feature to the match was James Storm acting as referee. Having been bribed with alcohol by both teams and each cheating to their heart's content during the bout, the Cowboy was forever at a loss as to what to do, wanting neither of them to win. The body of the match was fast paced and fun, with equal focus on wowing us and making us laugh. The opening salvo of flips and reversals by Austin Aries and Frankie Kazarian were of particular note. Only to be topped by their double eye-rake, leading to both men retreating to the opposition's corners and tagging the wrong men in. The conflict quickly devolved into a sequence of power moves, until Aries was left the victor. However, not wanting to count the pinfall due to so many despicable tactics, it's superkicks all around, courtesy of James Storm. While I can understand the hero not wanting to make the count for the villain, simply having him leave to his music, with no clear end to the match was confusing and frustrating. Taking into account the resulting backstage assault later in the night, I would hope Storm is itching to find a tag team partner and inject himself into this reinvigorated division.

In somewhat of an unusual move for them, TNA decided to give the X-Division a little bit more attention than usual this week. Not only were there video packages promoting the returns of both Suicide and Chris Sabin, but Kenny King was allowed to walk to the ring and cut an honest to god promo. I can't for the life of me remember the last time this division's competitors were allowed to speak in front of an audience. To the Champion's credit, his promo was downright entertaining. It turns out that not only can these men perform crazy videogame-like moves, but they can talk as well! The bait and switch with King flipping from respectful to snide was predictable, but hard-hitting. The sheer sincerity with which he greeted his challenger Chris Sabin had to have been genuine, otherwise King is a far better actor than I gave him credit for. After the killer insult that was "Frail Sabin", I can't wait to see these two lock-up next week. Poor Petey Williams is nothing but an afterthought.

During the build-up towards the main event, the commentators hyped that in the coming weeks, four lucky former Gut Check winners will be competing in a tournament to win a spot in this year's Bound for Glory Series. While I like the idea on paper of giving these four developmental talents some much needed TV time, everything I have seen of the winners in question has been worryingly weak. Devoting three entire matches of an Impact Wrestling episode to these no-name wannabes is a surefire way to make viewers change the channel. Even worse, it's a dead-cert that the botch-happy Christian York will be the one to take the spot and torture us with many more matches in the near future. Here's an idea, try cutting the dreadlocks off, maybe losing that extra weight will speed you up and let you hit moves when you're supposed to.

As we reached the main event of the evening, the mysterious third man for Team TNA had yet to be named. This left Sting and Angle walking to the ring, with only the vague hope Hulk Hogan would come through backstage, pulling the proverbial rabbit out of a hat. The majority of the bout was fought as a Handicap match. Not that it mattered, as Sting and Angle effectively held their own for the longest time, without any need of a third man. Unfortunately, the numbers game soon worked against them, allowing Aces & Eights to isolate Angle until the final few minutes. Finally making the hot tag to Sting, the Icon looked worryingly old, tired and haggard. His thinning hairline looking outright comical by the time he was going nose to nose with his Slammiversary opponent. When all looked lost and Team 3D were setting up their trademark table in the corner, the third man was finally revealed. It was none other than the Monster, Abyss! Truly shocking me that they'd bring back the gimmick so soon (Joseph Park RIP), Abyss decimated the heels, sending Anderson crashing through the table and hitting a devastating Black Hole Slam on Devon, making the cover soon after. If TNA can maintain the momentum from this return, they may finally light the fire under the character of Abyss that they've always hoped for.

7 out of 10 

Preview: Thursday on IMPACT: Sting, Kurt Angle and ? vs. The Aces and Eights in a Main Event War

Preview Thursday's all-new IMPACT WRESTLING broadcast on SpikeTV at 8/7c as the road to the June "Slammiversary" event continues! IMPACT will be LIVE from Tupelo, Mississippi! If you can't watch all the action on Thursday, make sure to set your DVR!

Not only is Sting back in TNA to fight the Aces and Eights, but "The Icon" will now challenge Bully Ray for the World Heavyweight Championship at Slammiversary!

The huge main event of Thursday's broadcast will feature Bully Ray, Devon and Mr. Anderson of The Aces and Eights battling Sting, Kurt Angle and a partner to be determined! The question is, while AJ Styles step up and join Sting and Angle in the match? Will Styles end weeks of speculation and choose a side - is he with TNA or The Aces? Don't miss Thursday's main event!

IMPACT will also feature a #1 Contender's Match for the World Tag Team Championship as Bobby Roode and Austin Aries take on Christopher Daniels and Kaz (Bad Influence) - with the winning team earning another shot the gold! An added wrinkle is the special guest referee Cowboy James Storm. There is no love lost between Storm and either team in this match. Will Storm call it down the middle?


All this and much more on Thursday, plus Hulk Hogan, the high-flying X Division stars, the lovely but lethal TNA Knockouts and so much more - LIVE from Tupelo, Mississippi on SpikeTV at 8/7c!

Review: Impact Wrestling 18/04/2013

In our second week emanating from Corpus Christi's American Bank Center, Impact Wrestling begins with a wonderfully-realised recap of the last installment, emphasising just how badly Jeff Hardy had been injured during his Full Metal Mayhem match with Bully Ray. Feels a little soon to be running another Hardy injury angle considering he spent the best part of February "injured" and unable to appear on the UK tapings. However, if they're going down this route again, a nice way to sell the severity.

I was sad to see the show begin with Garret Bischoff and Wes Brisco, even with the Olympic Gold Medalist Kurt Angle to offset the balance. Bischoff and Brisco have proven to be drawing duds and the logic of throwing them out there first is a little mystifying. Even the Corpus Christi crowd agreed with me, when they chanted "you can't wrestle" throughout the match. Angle always feels hugely wasted when attempting to put these two over. I understand the urge to think of the next generation, but these aren't going to be the big money stars of the future. As such, it's fairly appropriate that Angle ran roughshod over the pair of them singlehanded. I particularly enjoyed the double German suplex spot towards the end of the match, showing just how out-matched both of them are. Bischoff did eventually get the pinfall however, after some timely Aces & Eights interference. It's slightly worrying that the faction still needs to cheat to win when they have two legal men in a handicap match. They're never going to be taken seriously as a threat with tainted victories such as this.

Mr Anderson cut a post-match promo on the fallen ranks of TNA. Fake-crying about all the injured is exactly up the Asshole's street and as such cuts the most convincing promo from Aces & Eights in weeks. His obvious talents on the mic dwarf all others in the group, making him the logical mouthpiece, at least behind the leader, Bully Ray. As a former World Champion, Anderson's presence in the group continues to baffle. He seems eminently ready to move on to bigger and better things, but tends to get lost in the shuffle. The subtle digs at AJ Styles over his past month of indecision promise an entertaining feud down the line. Assuming the Phenomenal One doesn't outright join the group himself.

TNA continue to do a nice job of rebuilding the X Division, pushing the upcoming Title match with a poignant backstage video. I laughed out loud at Petey Williams saying the Canadian Destroyer was the key to his offense, only to take it back immediately for fear of his opponent's scouting him ahead of time. Speaking of which, the match itself proved to be a star-making turn for Williams, carrying long stretches all by himself. After hitting said finisher exceptionally early in the match, I was slightly worried that the returning superstar would find himself as somewhat of a one-trick-pony, hitting the Destroyer as his showpiece and then bowing out. Thankfully, Petey had a varied arsenal, which he didn't hesitate to show off. Of particular note was his Sharpshooter on Zema Ion in the closing sequence of the match. I commend any talent who whips out that maneuver. Ion himself stepped up to Williams' challenge, with his own wide array of high-flying moves. The only seeming weak link of the match was the X Division Champion himself, Kenny King. Coming out to horrible new entrance music, the Champ found himself eliminated from the action for the majority of the match. It could simply have been strategy on his part, to let Ion and Williams fight it out before taking advantage, but it felt rather undeserved when he skulked in and stole the win.

On the subject of the X Division, a tweet earlier in the night from TNA President Dixie Carter touted the return of former Champion, Chris Sabin, to the ring, after a year long absence. Largely known for being one half of the Motor City Machine Guns, he suffered the unfortunate fate of returning from an injured knee last year, only to injure the other knee. It'll be fascinating to see how the high-flying star adapts his style in the wake of injuring both knees. He clearly won't be taking the same death-defying bumps that the Division is renowned for, so look for a slightly more thoughtful ground-based move set. Either which way, I'm glad to see him back in the coming weeks.

A distinct non-match next as Aces & Eights proceeded to beat down Magnus on the ramp before his Television Title shot. While I applaud the improved tactics of the group in attacking their opponent before the match, I downright loathe that Devon has escaped yet another TV Title defense. He's had the belt for four months now and I can't remember him defending it once. A problem that looks to be solved later in the night, as Samoa Joe rushed out to make the save for Magnus. A nice touch, as the Submission Machine has long been a mentor to the Brit, the pair even holding the TNA Tag Team Championships for a brief spell. Also, Samoa Joe was the person who Devon defeated all those many months ago to capture the Television Title and he's been aching for revenge ever since.

The Knockouts Number One Contender match between Mickie James and Miss Tessmacher was preceded by a brief video highlighting Velvet Sky's injured knee. Putting such an emphasis on an injury is never a good sign and points towards the Knockouts Champion eventually dropping or relinquishing the belt at the next opportunity. Potentially scuppering yet another of Velvet Sky's Knockouts Title reigns. I'm beginning to think the poor girl is cursed. Whenever she finally wins the Title, she ends up dropping off the radar and ceasing to exist.

As for the match itself, it started off rather fun and flirty, only to descend into a bitchy cat fight. It was always going to be a tough-sell having two faces competing against one another, with another face refereeing and the winner going on the challenge against...you guessed it...another face. What the hell happened to all the heels in the Knockouts Division? Gail, Tara, Madison, they're dropping like flies! There was a nasty looking spot when James was backed against the turnbuckle and neither woman could quite decided whether they were going for a powerbomb on Tessmacher or a faceplant on Mickie. It got even more awkward as Tessmacher hit a prolonged Stinkface on Mickie, but as neither woman was playing it decidedly villainous, frankly I just felt sorry for them both. An absolutely wretched affair, full of botches and I couldn't wait for it to end. Mickie and Tessmacher were either having an off night or have zero chemistry with each other. I'd seriously question the next time anyone wants to book that match again.

In what had to be the verbal highlight of Impact, Daniels & Kazarian faced off with fellow Tag Team and former Champions, Roode & Aries. Bad Influence kicked things off with their infectious enthusiasm, strutting to the ring to advertise their new T-shirts and the upcoming Bad Influence movie starring Morgan Freeman as Dixie Carter, coming soon to theaters near you! Daniels has always been the natural speaker of the pair, but I have to admit, Frankie Kazarian has been coming along in leaps and bounds this past year. And if one duo of sweet talkers wasn't enough, Roode & Aries matched them beat for beat, pun for pun. Infact, so many gems were being thrown back and forth between the two, I'm sure I'll need to re-watch the segment simply to take it all in. While insinuating your opponents are gay isn't a new trick in professional wrestling by any means (if anything, it's kinda low brow), but I'll be damned if Austin Aries didn't make it creative. Eventually, Chavo Guerrero and Hernandez made their presence known, but appearing so late in the segment and not being able to match the wit of the other teams, it just went to show how outclassed they truly are, relying on the innovation of others to get themselves over. Ironic that the Champions should be an afterthought in their own division.

Taking one more crack at getting a TV Title defense out of Devon, Samoa Joe finally achieves the impossible and gets the Aces & Eights Sergeant at Arms in the ring! The match starts with an underhanded attack from behind by the Champion, but the sheer power of Joe quick turns the tables, hitting a series of impressively stiff power moves. On the flip side, Devon's offense amounts to little more than rest holds. Unsurprisingly, like every other Aces & Eights match on the card, the rest of the faction swarm the ring, landing a big hit with brass knuckles behind the referee's back, allowing their man to make the cheap cover. I love the idea of factions, but damn do these tactics get old fast. Especially when used so many times within the same show.

Making his long-awaited return to the ring, AJ Styles took on "The Cowboy" James Storm. While I haven't enjoyed the segments leading up to this, with the faces Storm and Hogan, essentially bullying Styles to be on their side, I'll admit I'm hugely intrigued by AJ's new look and demeanor. It's the same basic package as before, but darker and sexier. The beard, the hair, the colourless ring attire. It's like when Luke Skywalker started wearing black in Return of the Jedi. He means business. As reflected in his offense, which feels alot more vicious, calculated and the new submission finisher looks appropriately sadistic. The post-match beatdown of Bad Influence definitely crosses them off the list of potential stable-mates. However, the quickness with which Aces & Eights descended upon the ring to destroy James Storm leaves legitimate questions in the match's wake. I wouldn't worry too much about Styles siding with them though. I believe he's simply out for himself at the moment. He's not interested with siding with ANY faction.

The show closed with Aces & Eights standing tall over the fallen "heroes" and Bully cutting one of his patented tough guy promos, calling out his "Father-in-law" Hulk Hogan. This confrontation seems to be the major selling point for next week's Impact (what, you thought all those hyped Title matches were the important part?). I can't say I'm looking forward to that segment very much. While it makes perfect story sense, my inner wrestling fan keeps wondering how this feud is meant to pay off. Hogan is a legitimate cripple, unable to compete any longer. Hell, Bully is probably afraid to simply touch him, incase he breaks something. The real question is who runs out and makes the save for the General Manager. James Storm doesn't seem to have prospered in the role, so who'll be next to get the Hulkamania stamp of approval?

Match of the Week - Kenny King vs Petey Williams vs Zema Ion

Promo of the Week - Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian, Bobby Roode and Austin Aries

Impact of the Week - Kurt Angle double German suplexing Wes Brisco and Garret Bischoff.

Review: TNA Xplosion 17/04/2013

Another week and another International-only episode of Xplosion. Sometimes it pays to be in the UK! Beginning proceedings, we have ourselves a singles match between Big Brother's Jessie Godderz (accompanied by the always lovely Tara) and one half of the Tag Team Champions, Hernandez.

May I just say the Impact Zone looks far better from last week. I don't know when exactly they taped that Tara/Tessmacher bout, but it may as well have been an empty arena match. This week the Impact Zone is respectably filled once again and they've even turned the big video screen back on, so they're obviously not embarrassed about a potential lack of audience.

Both talents, who typically lack any real airtime to themselves, start off with somewhat of a pose-down. Jessie, "renowned" for his muscles, showed off his proverbial guns, only to be trounced by Super-Mex's. Jessie tried to take control of the match early, but the momentum was always going to be Hernandez'. There was lots of interaction with Tara on the outside, trying to give support to her boyfriend, to little success. The match mostly came down to Jessie's pathetic offense being swotted away and a retaliatory show of strength from the Tag Team Champion. I'm always a little worried whilst seeing Hernandez dominate so utterly. His feats, while looking impressive to the casual audience, can go wrong exceptionally easily and I've lost count of the times I've seen him drop guys on their head. The finish of the match came after a devastating shoulder block to Jessie, sending him flying across the ring, allowing Hernandez to make the three count for the win.

An interesting quirk of the segment was the addition of Gut Check judge, Al Snow, to the commentary team. I was always a fan of he and Head, so to hear him get a little more airtime is a welcome treat. While commenting on the match, he also gave us an update on recent British Boot Camp winner, Rockstar Spud. Apparently, the little guy has taken OVW by storm, won the Television Title straight out of the gate and is proceeding to dominate the division. Glad to hear Spud is doing well. After spending a month watching his journey from the British Independents to an honest to god episode of Impact Wrestling, it's good to know the success wasn't fleeting.

With this week's exclusive match over with, we move onto another go-around on JB's Spin Cycle! Thankfully, we've moved away from the episodes taped during the Lockdown fan-fest in March. Not that they were bad, it was simply annoying to spend a whole month watching Jeff Hardy paint one single thing. Filmed in Jonesboro, our host is joined by So Cal Val, Jessie Godderz and the returning duo of Sonjay Dutt and "Canadian Destroyer" Petey Williams. Setting his panelists a challenge - for $100, which one of them has the best picture with a celebrity on their phone. Val starts out strong with Micky Dolenz from the Monkees, Petey offers up soap actress Lisa Rinna, Sonjay proudly submits Beetlejuice (from Howard Stern, not the evil spirit), the genuine reality star Jessie fires back with...himself and last but not least, JB himself has a double header of Hulk Hogan and Shaquille O'Neal. A fun little segment, really short, probably could've run longer to no harm.

The real meat on the bone this episode comes in the form of ImpactWrestling.com's match of the week. Replaying Slammiversary 2007's King of the Mountain, it featured Kurt Angle, AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, Christian Cage and Chris Harris competing for the newly-created TNA World Heavyweight Championship.

The match begins with Angle and Joe throwing each other from the ring in short order, while Christian and Styles team up to take down Chris Harris. This alliance continues as Styles willingly lays down in the centre of the ring, offering the first pinfall to Christian. However, before the referee can count to three, Angle leaps in to make the save, scuppering Christian's chances of early eligibility. Rather than focus on the heels in the ring, Angle is once again pulled to the outside, continuing his heated feud with bitter rival Samoa Joe. The alliance between Styles and Christian quickly breaks down inside the ring, as Styles attempts a roll-up pin on his supposed ally.

A hilarious spot sees Joe casually waiting to grab Styles' foot in mid-air, pulling the Phenomenal One down hard onto the canvas. The Samoan Submission Machine follows this up with a nasty swinging power-bomb onto the steel railing. Joe goes on a tear around the ring, taking out Christian and even being used as a human cannonball onto Kurt Angle by Chris Harris.

The Wildcat becomes the first to be eligible to climb the ladder and place the belt on the hook after a series of impressive power moves on Styles, leading to a quick pinfall. Both Angle and Joe almost became eligible at the same time after applying simultaneous submissions to a pained Cage, but were denied once Styles and Harris came to break up the maneuver.

There's a particularly painful looking spot where Harris has Christian backed onto a ladder bridging the ring and the railings, only for Christian to fall between the steps. A move that is compounded when Styles is thrown over the ropes and lands on the whimpering Cage.

After a flurry of pinfalls, the finish comes as Kurt Angle and Christian Cage battle back and forth atop the ladder, when suddenly Chris Harris flies into frame and takes Christian off the ladder with a perfectly aimed spear. This leaves the Olympic Gold Medalist alone and undisturbed at the top of the ladder, TNA Title in hand, placing it on the hook for the win. Making for an excellent pay-per-view main event from some years ago, well worth tracking down the episode of Xplosion just to watch again.

Review: Impact Wrestling 11/04/2013

With several marque matches headlining this installment of Impact Wrestling, we find ourselves with the essence of a pay-per-view by another name. After reducing the total number of monthly pay-per-views down from twelve to four, TNA were bound to produce a few special editions of their flagship show to fill the void and it makes for all the better a product.

Beginning the night perfectly was the two out of three falls match between Tag Team Champions, Bobby Roode & Austin Aries and their challengers, Chavo Guerrero & Hernandez. The first fall of the match flew by at breakneck pace, with Roode and Aries having attacked the Mexican duo long before the bell had even rung, allowing a dominant start for the former World Champions. They were not as fortunate with the equally speedy second fall however, as Chavo took advantage of Aries' failed frog-splash to even the tally and continue the bout for one final fall. This is where the meat of the competition took place, with both teams putting on a superb tag team contest that I would be proud to watch any given week. Momentum swung back and forth in a matter of seconds, making the outcome all the more mysterious. Not an easy feat in modern day professional wrestling. The finish came through a combination of Hernandez' brute strength simultaneously suplexing both Roode and Aries into position for one last Guerrero frog-splash, giving us our new TNA Tag Team Champions. A wonderful bout to be sure, but I'm not keen to witness another generic Chavo/Hernandez reign as Tag Champs and this resolution also leaves Aries and Roode's place on the card up in the air. After their good works in 2012, the IT Factor and A-Double were already slumming it in the Tag Team division in the first place. What will be their next stop on the road to greatness?

In the first promo of the night, Joseph Park made his way to the ring to address his grievances with Aces & Eights. Never mind the fact they held him hostage for over a month at the tail end of last year, his latest ire is the ongoing abusive marriage between Bully Ray and Brooke Hogan. What a gentleman. To put this situation to an end, the former Attorney at Law has drawn up Annulment papers, which upon filing, will release Brooke from her loveless marriage. Being the bright spark that he is, Park waves said papers in the air for all to see...namely Aces & Eights. Upon seeing this, the Sergeant at Arms, Devon, was down to the ring like a dose of salt. Like every bully ever presented with legal paperwork, he tore it up. Because Joseph Park has never once heard of a photocopier...or you know...saved his work. But tearing up a piece of paper will never be enough for the likes of Aces & Eights, as Devon proceeds to nail Park with a steel chain and leave the goofy sum'b*tch lying. I can't say I'm looking forward to the eventual match between the pair, but all I ask is that it's for the Television Title. I see that thing on Devon week in, week out and I swear to god, he hasn't defended that thing once since he won it back from Samoa Joe in December.

The disappointment of the night, at least for me, came in the form of Taryn Terrell's ultimate defeat of Gail Kim. I'd been loving the gradual build between the two Knockouts for the past month, boiling over at the Lockdown pay-per-view and simmering nicely on the shows since. I even liked Taryn's initial offense in the match itself, as she came out of the gates swinging. However, what I couldn't appreciate was the ridiculously short runtime. For the only women's feud on Impact right now, one that even supersedes the Knockouts Champion herself, wrapping things up in two minutes flat is borderline insulting. I was genuinely curious to see what Taryn could do in the ring, especially working with a skilled veteran like Gail. But this match served as a mere glimpse. TNA shouldn't be afraid to let their Knockouts go wild for five to ten minutes a piece.

The Gut Check segments, while always entertaining for exposing the thought process behind hiring decisions, can also be slightly infuriating when you disagree with said decisions. I, personally, would've chosen Adam Pearce, ten times out of ten. Even if he wasn't going to be hired at the end of the process, he deserved to be taken out infront of the crowd and judged as the true victor of the match. I agreed 100% with Danny Davis when he made the point that Pearce was technically sound. He may never have hit it big in WWE or TNA so far, but the talent is there and he's carved out an impressive career on the independent circuit without any assistance. I also agreed when the judges pointed out that as impressive as Magno's offense can be, he's also far too large and one error can end with him landing flat on his face. As for Magno's pleas in the ring, I wasn't overly impressed by his promo. Ducking in and out of his native tongue seemed to get the crowd riled up and on the wrong side of him. Not to mention, when he finally did speak English, it was rather whiny and with a noticeable lisp. The idea of TNA taking advantage of the Lucha Libre community is a good one, but they have to be absolutely sure they have the right man behind the mask before pulling the trigger. In Magno's case, he wasn't that right man.

The "will-he/won't-he" AJ Styles drama continued on for another week and call me strange, but this time out, it actually hit home. For the threat of Styles joining Aces & Eights, there hasn't really been a true heel presence in these segments before. But with the addition of Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian, I have to admit, it's peaked my interest. Everyone knows they're playing TNA's resident ass-hats. AJ knows better than anyone, having spent the best part of a year fighting them. But they're the only people arguing FOR AJ. Screw Hogan and his politics, screw Storm for his unnecessary guilt-trip, screw Aces & Eights trying to manipulate him, Kaz and Daniels are arguing what's best for their friend. I don't think there's a chance in hell that Styles will side with his former Fortune cohorts, but they make a good point and I think it's one that will resonate with the Phenomenal One. He won't fight against TNA, but he won't fight for TNA. He's out for himself at the moment and that's the best place to be. All his options are still open and he could literally do anything.

Finally, we come to the Main Event of the evening, as World Heavyweight Champion, Bully Ray, defended his title in a Full Metal Mayhem match against the Charismatic Enigma and Hulk Hogan's top pick, Jeff Hardy. As pointed out by the announcers, they've only ever held seven such matches in TNA's entire eleven year history. For such a popular stipulation, they obviously know when to hold it in reserve. This incarnation certainly had the insane bumps to justify it's use, but maybe I'm mellowing when I say they appeared gratuitous at the same time. A large portion of the match was dictated by the challenger, Jeff Hardy, who while contending with Ray's own offense, equally had to deal with the unintended side effects of his own. For every crazy move of Hardy's that landed, something just as devastating would backfire. At times, it was almost as if Hardy were fighting himself. Bully Ray could've stepped out at any time and let Hardy shadow-box his way into oblivion. The match felt more choreographed than classic TLC bouts of the past, not helped by minor screw-ups such as ladders falling over or tables collapsing, necessitating the pair reset and try again. The end came as Hardy stood atop the ladder grasping at the dangling World Title, only to be met by a swift hammer shot to the head from the defending Champion. This sent the daredevil careening off the top of the ladder, crashing down to the mat through a nearby table. It's bumps like those that give Hardy every right to be a pill-popping lunatic. All damage to his body combined, it's a wonder the guy can still walk.

Review: Impact Wrestling 07/03/2013

So ends the era of the Impact Zone! Not counting the six 'One Night Only' specials to be filmed in Orlando across March 17th to 19th, this is the last episode of Impact Wrestling to emanate from Universal Studios. Considering the long storied history of the venue, I'm of the opinion TNA could've made a much bigger deal about leaving their safety net behind. For the past decade, the Impact Zone has been their fallback position and no matter what went wrong, rain or shine they'd be back in that studio filmed more material than you could shake a stick at. But that all changes next week on March 14th, as they take Impact Wrestling on the road permanently, starting in "The Windy City" Chicago. As such, that was exactly where TNA's focus was on with this episode - the future. But even so, have a closing ceremony or something. Don't just pack up and leave the Zone behind without a proper send off. And a Youtube thank you video doesn't count.

Starting the show, we were treated to yet another go-around of current World Heavyweight Champion, Jeff Hardy, and recent title contender, Austin Aries. A-Double is eerily talented when it comes to carrying Hardy through high quality matches, with there being every reason why he was called upon to do so across multiple pay-per-view main events at the tail end of 2012. Clearly, the novelty has worn off though, if TNA are willing to give this combination away as the curtain jerking opening match on free TV. Unfortunately for Aries, Hardy always gets the upper hand at the last minute, as if from nowhere *cough*SuperCena*cough*. The moment the Champion starts with his MANY Twists of Fates, the conclusion is all but decided. This encounter proved to be slightly different, as the ending was interrupted by the disgruntled big boot of Matt Morgan. The timing of this new quest for the TNA World Title is definitely curious, as the focus should be on Bully Ray's contendership, not Morgan's. Actions such as these, give the impression that Morgan will soon be chasing Hardy's Championship well beyond Lockdown, deflating Bully's own efforts for no apparent reason. Why should we potential pay-per-view customers buy a show, when the challenger doesn't stand a chance?

The mystery of the Aces and Eights VP finally came to an end with this episode of Impact Wrestling, as the small stocky masked individual was revealed to be none other than D'Lo Brown himself. You're looking at the real deal now...or at least that's what they'd like us to believe. Having been unmasked off-screen at the close of last week's show, D'Lo decided to take the wind out of Kurt Angle's own reveal by beating him to the proverbial punch. I've always been a fan of D'Lo and would hilariously mark out whenever he'd appear on screen, usually breaking up a brawl between two wrestlers, working as defacto security with Al Snow. But the fact of the matter is that once again, TNA have revealed a member of Aces and Eights with no viable future or payoff. I thought it was bad enough several weeks ago when they revealed Tazz as the new mouthpiece of the group. Admittedly, they do need that added kick behind the microphone, but Tazz is a severely injured FORMER wrestler and current commentator. Just where exactly that revelation was meant to lead, I have no idea. The same goes for now, as they've revealed a mastermind behind the group to be a broken down former wrestler turned backstage agent. There's a good chance they may lure D'Lo back into the ring for one or two matches down the road, but nothing of meaning or substance. Ergo, pointless. My only hope is that there is yet an unnamed force behind Aces and Eights, pulling their strings and truly making the decisions. D'Lo is only meant to be the VICE President after all. I don't think we've ever actually seen the true President, so it could conceivably be anyone.

The Gut Check segments turned out to be somewhat farcical this month, as they introduced a new judge (OVW's Danny Davis) and were faced with a no-win situation, as frankly both women deserved a contract. The Knockouts division has been severely depleted in recent months, with only a core four or so seeing regular work. If you're not Velvet, Tara, Gail or Tessmacher, you're not on the show, period. As such, the division could really have done with hiring both Ivelisse Velez and Lai'd Tapa. The former having an impressive MMA background and a minor buzz around her previous appearances on WWE Tough Enough, the latter having a scary size advantage over most men, let alone women. Their David and Goliath match last week was a refreshing change of pace to the usual Knockouts style and highlighted both ladies' strengths going forward in this competition. Personally, I preferred Ivelisse as a potential Knockout. She has a wonderful look, a hard-hitting history and reminded me of a young Lita. For whatever reason, despite winning the match, she was the first to be eliminated and never even made it infront of the judges. TNA could really be missing a trick by letting her walk away like this. Even without a contract, I'd whisk her away to OVW and hire her on the sly. As for the eventual winner of the contract, Lai'd Tapa, I feel as if her look will be the sole positive in her hiring. Ever since losing Awesome Kong to the WWE several years ago, TNA have lacked a monster heel in the women's division. Tapa looks to fill that void nicely, but also with notable drawbacks. For starters, she should remain silent at every opportunity. Her promo work was uninspired and cliche, not to mention when given a final chance to impress the judges, she pretty much repeated everything she said the first time. But my reservations are moot, as she is now a member of the Impact Wrestling roster. Hopefully, we will see her a bit more often than the last female Gut Check winner, Taeler Hendrix, who has spent the best part of a year hidden away in the developmental territories.

The six person tag between Chavo, Hernandez, Velvet Sky, Daniels, Kazarian and Gail Kim was a fantastic idea in theory, but struggled to capture my interest. I'm a big fan of the heel side of things, with Christopher Daniels lighting up my screen every chance he gets. However, the Chavo/Hernandez tag team continues to bore. When they first got together, I thought of them as a low-rent Mexican America/LAX knock-off and six months later, I still think of them as a low-rent Mexican America/LAX knock-off. Their promos have been trite and manipulative (mostly of fan's love of Chavo's Uncle Eddie) and their ring work predictable. Neither man is doing the best work of their career and whatever this gimmick is meant to be, it could use a shake up. At the moment, they're simply a known quantity that can be thrown out in front of a crowd with minimal set up and illicit a basic reaction from the audience. I respect Chavo, but part of me wonders whether the crowd ever really noticed Hernandez's former partner Anarquia being switched out and simply believes Mexican America is still going. As with most inter-gender tag team bouts, the finish found the men brawling on the outside of the ring, while the women battle for the pinfall on the inside. It proved an impressive victory for Gail Kim over current Knockouts Champion, Velvet Sky, and I'll never get tired of her finisher "Eat Defeat", which looks downright nasty to take. I don't for a second think Gail stands a chance at derailing Velvet's latest title reign, as it's still early days. But this heel win goes a long way to instilling doubt in the viewers as to the former Beautiful Person's viability as Champion. Just what's needed on the eve of a pay-per-view bout. The only thing that truly puzzled me, was the lack of representation for the actual Tag Team Champions, Bobby Roode and Austin Aries. The pair are about to defend their titles against both teams present in this match, however, their focus was entirely elsewhere, still hounding current World Heavyweight Champion, Jeff Hardy, or outright absent, mysteriously so. It basically leaves the Tag Team division ticking over exactly as it was before Roode and Aries made their mark, only without any titles to feud over.

The series of Team TNA/Aces of Eights matches never truly took off in the way that one would hope. Beginning with the poor showing of Sting and Devon, which oddly relied upon the use of a fan throwing a drink in the Icon's face, they started the night out on the wrong foot and rarely showed signs of recovering. Unfortunately, this is par for the course in regard to Sting's current in-ring career. The Icon has long since lost the ability to keep up with younger men and hides his inadequacies with base brawls and few actual wrestling moves. Hell, the man is afraid to take his t-shirt off, how is he meant to be taken seriously as the leading crusader against Aces and Eights. However, despite the poor showing in the ring, the intensity of his promo work is second to none. I greatly enjoyed the backstage scenes of the bloodied legend stomping around, eager to destroy something with his baseball bat and further inspire his troops. Later in the night, Samoa Joe & Magnus vs Garett Bischoff & D.O.C. proved to be a much better product, reuniting a set of former Tag Team Champions and their ensuing double-team move set. Joe and Magnus, while not an obvious pairing, make for a fantastic team and it's a wonder they were ever broken up in the first place, as they were much stronger together than apart. I got a particular kick out of this match, not for the wrestling itself, but the merciless crowd chanting at Garett Bischoff "You can't wrestle". I couldn't agree more and I'm happy to see the audience realising it! Finally, the series was decided with the (technical) main event of "The Cowboy" James Storm taking on a decidedly muted Mr Anderson. The match barely got going before being rudely interrupted by both teams coming down to ringside and Storm walking into a spontaneous Mic Check from Anderson. While giving Aces and Eights the benefit of entering Lethal Lockdown first this Sunday, the cheap victories do little to give this band of bikers a sense of credibility. Their membership is second rate, their accomplishments few and their end goals confusingly murky at best. The fact they've taken a former TNA World Champion like Mr Anderson and made him one of the faceless masses in an oversized faction, taking orders from a jobber like D'Lo Brown no less, just goes to show how little upside there is from this angle.

This evening, we also got another brief glimpse into the rugged new lifestyle of one AJ Styles. Known for being a noble and respected family man, this latest angle has him behaving as anything but. Last week, TNA aired a series of interviews with his "estranged" wife and best friend, wherein they documented the drastic change in personality after the Clare Lynch debacle last year. Upon finding a camera crew in his home, Styles refused to comment and took off for parts unknown on his motorcycle. Catching up with the man this week, the crew finds him about town lingering in a store/barfront talking to someone. Noticing their continued presence, the shaggy-haired, bearded Styles confronted the TNA camera man and forced him back into his vehicle before the feed cut out. Where exactly this is leading is a mystery, but one I'm eager to get to the bottom of. As it transpires, we won't have to wait long, as Styles has since tweeted that as TNA are so happy to show up at his residence uninvited, so too will he show up in Chicago next week uninvited. This angle bears an uncanny resemblance to Bobby Roode's heel turn in the wake of Bound for Glory 2011. Only instead of turning into a well-oiled, suit-wearing World Champion, Styles is taking the opposite approach and literally coming apart at the seams. Just who will take the brunt of his anger remains to be seen. At this rate, he'd fit right in with Aces and Eights. He's got the leather, the bike and the facial hair, all he's missing is the patch on his back.

The final Impact Zone show ultimately came to a close with promos from current TNA World Heavyweight Champion, Jeff Hardy, his opponent for Lockdown this Sunday, Bully Ray, and Impact Wrestling General Manager, Hulk Hogan. Any other day and the prospect of a Jeff Hardy promo would send me running for the hills, but with a seasoned vet like Bully Ray standing next to him, guiding the direction of the segment, I felt we were in safe hands. With neither man playing the villain of the piece, the tone was generally that of mutual appreciation. I particularly liked how Bully Ray made a point of saying how he wasn't going to defeat Hardy by climbing over the cage walls or by walking out of the cage door, but instead by hitting the Champion with his best move and winning the Title fair and square in the centre of the ring. It was at this point, that they were interrupted by General Manager, Hulk Hogan, who as per his usual sabotaging tricks, tried to steal the spotlight from the Champion and his challenger. The focus should've been entirely upon Hardy and Bully as the show came to a close, but instead, Hogan tried to make it all about him (despite being a broken old man on crutches and never being able to wrestle ever again). Whatever "The Immortal One" was trying to say, it paled in comparison to the words of the younger men in the ring before him. Hogan tripped over his lines at multiple points, making for a garbled and incoherent promo. It even proved to be borderline insulting to TNA, as he referred to them as a "small company". Surely, the point of paying this supposed legend so much money is to have him elevate and not denigrate. TNA could've saved themselves status and a week's paycheck by telling the crazy old man with the handlebar mustache to stay home. Thankfully, his ramblings were soon interrupted as well, as Aces and Eights randomly brawled with Team TNA to end the show.

Not really the ending the Impact Zone deserved to be honest. I'm hoping the upcoming 'One Night Only' tapings prove to be a more fitting send off to a location that has been TNA's bread and butter for the best part of a decade. This particular episode of Impact Wrestling was always going to struggle, as last week's cliffhanger promised an immediate resolution to the Aces and Eights mystery, despite the fact it needed to carry over to the pay-per-view and beyond. There's no way possible to spin the reveal of D'Lo Brown as anything but a dud and that's what this week will always be remembered for. But fear not, as all can change in a single week, as TNA take both their pay-per-view and their weekly show on the road, beginning this Sunday at Lockdown. The San Antonio Alamodome promises to be a spectacular venue and the electricity of the largest crowd in TNA history is sure to up everyone's game going forward into the live Impact Wrestling tapings next week in Chicago. It's an exciting time for the company and could very well be a turning point that sees them actively competing with the WWE on a regular basis. The trick is giving us a product both we and they can be proud of.

The 2012 Impact Wrestling Awards

BEST FEUD

Bobby Roode vs James Storm

In a rare display of long-term booking, the saga of Bobby Roode and James Storm ran an entire year and could even be picked back up today with a minimum of difficultly. Hostilities broke out in the wake of James Storm's impromptu World Heavyweight Title win in late 2011, as Bobby Roode's jealousy got the better of him. The feud peaked with matches at TNA's biggest shows of the year - Lockdown and Bound for Glory. In the initial bout, they headlined the all-steel-cage pay-per-view, battling it out for the World Title and bringing life to an otherwise dead crowd. Their latter encounter, while not for the Championship or even in the main event, showed a rare intensity, left both men bloody wrecks and stole the show.

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR

Joey Ryan

Starting out the year working for TNA's Indian side project, Ring Ka King, Joey Ryan was already well on his way to a debut at Orlando's Impact Zone. The big day finally came in the form of a Gut Check match against breakout star, Austin Aries. Rather than greener than grass rookies the Gut Check competition had been founded upon to that point, Ryan was a tried and true indy veteran, with a decade in the ring already under his belt. But what was meant to be a formality quickly became a nightmare, as the contest's judges didn't like Joey's attitude and promptly kicked him out of the competition, minus one contract. But rather than disappearing (like the Gut Check "winners"), Joey Ryan rightfully aired his grievances on any and all social media platform that would listen. 87% of the Impact Wrestling audience were for giving him a contract and through hard fought feuds with Taz and Al Snow climaxing at Bound for Glory, Joey finally earned his spot on the roster.

BEST PROMO

Austin Aries goes "off script" on Jeff Hardy

Heading into their eagerly anticipated Bound for Glory main event, both the World Champion Austin Aries and his challenger Jeff Hardy were fan favourites. While not unheard of, every good story needs it's villain. Put in the unenviable position of going up against Jeff Hardy's legion of "creatures", Austin Aries took to that role with zeal and relish. On the final Impact before the pay-per-view, the Greatest Man That Ever Lived hit the ring and decided to air his grievances with the Charismatic Enigma live to a global audience. Visibly throwing the show's "script" to one side, Aries pointed out all the insincere glad-handing that came with being the World Heavyweight Champion. Management told him how to act, how to present himself, how to suck up to fans and from that moment, it was done with. Taking issue with Hardy as a focal point, the Champion went on an impressive tirade, bringing to light his challenger's rap sheet, his poor health and how everyone caters to his every whim without a second thought. But not only did he verbally run rings around Hardy, he also cheapshotted the challenger and hit his signature Brainbuster, acting as the ultimate fullstop and ending any confusion as to who was the villain of the piece.

WORST WRESTLER(S) & WORST MATCH

Garett Bischoff & Wes Brisco

Words cannot describe just how bad these rookies are, both in the ring and on the mic. You simply have to see it for yourself. Go, check Youtube, right this second, I'll wait.... Did you see? Oh my god, it's terrifying isn't it. Why either of these men think Professional Wrestling is the career for them, I don't know. I can only imagine the immense pressure that comes with their family names. Being a Bischoff and a Brisco in this industry must come with as much stigma as it does benefit. Up until recently, they'd mercifully been kept to the background of scenes, usually behind the Olympic Gold Medalist, Kurt Angle. Bischoff only rarely ventured into the ring, typically for terrible Xplosion matches not seen in America (yet the horror is entirely visited upon we Brits). Brisco, on the other hand, wasn't even on the roster, instead being this disturbing sycophant following Angle around like a lost puppy. Unfortunately, that all changed with a recent Gut Check match between the pair. For several ungodly minutes, we were subjected to the worst display of nepotism in the history of the business. Now not only does Wes Brisco have an Impact Wrestling contract, but he has the distinction of being the only Gut Check contestant to win his respective match. Not that beating Garett Bischoff looks particularly difficult...

WORST ANGLE

Clare Lynch

Where do I begin. Let's start with a positive shall we. Clearly TNA management recognised the skill and talent of AJ Styles and Christoper Daniels and wanted to give them a bigger spotlight. As entertaining as their pure athleticism is, this sport often needs a small injection of soap opera sensibilities to keep the casual viewers interested. But this was no small injection. This was an overdose. Thinking back, I struggle to remember all the twists and turns of this debacle, as my mind has most likely blocked them out. Something to do with Daniels insinuating AJ was having an affair with TNA President Dixie Carter, only they were really helping a family friend kick drugs. Then Daniels paid off that family friend and made it look as though AJ had impregnated her. I mean truly, WTF? Daniels plan was basically bragging about how many women Styles has had sex with and how verile he is. Thanks buddy, can you do me next, sounds like great PR! The true sign of how bad this angle had become was in it's dying days, when the actress TNA had employed to play the role of Clare Lynch actually refused to return and finish out the story. She'd received so much hate-mail and scorn from TNA fans over the course of the summer, it was literally destroying her career.

SURPRISE OF THE YEAR

Austin Aries wins the World Heavyweight Championship at Destination X

Going into the Destination X pay-per-view, Austin Aries was riding an unprecedented wave of popularity. At the time, he'd been the reigning X Division Champion for damn near a year, he'd defeated a string of larger opponents in impressive fashion (Bully Ray, Samoa Joe, etc) and it all built to a frenzy which Hulk Hogan couldn't ignore. Offering Aries a once in a lifetime opportunity, Hogan gave A-Double the chance to relinquish his X Division Championship in exchange for a shot at the World Heavyweight Championship, then held by the IT Factor, Bobby Roode. While the fans were firmly behind Aries in spirit, all logical thought pointed towards Roode retaining the belt and going on to defend against James Storm at Bound for Glory a couple of months later. The Roode/Storm feud had been the centerpiece of Impact Wrestling for almost the entire of 2012. It was their money match they'd spent a year building to. There was no way in hell someone could derail that sort of momentum. Only they could and they did. That man was Austin Aries. Taking on Bobby Roode in the main event of Destination X, he surprised everyone by succeeding where so many others had failed and became the new World Heavyweight Champion. Giving us the feel good moment of the year in the process.

BEST TAG TEAM/FACTION

Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian aka Bad Influence

Long have professional wrestlers feared the moment Creative turn around and tell them "sorry, we don't have anything for you". To look at Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian, you'd imagine they've had that message alot over the years. After the dissolution of their former group Fortune, they watched as AJ Styles, Bobby Roode and James Storm went on to bigger and better things, while they were left to languish in the undercard. Rather than despair, Daniels and Kazarian saw this as an opportunity...to have fun. Forgetting the Clare Lynch nonsense, these two took the Tag Team division by storm and soon became the World Tag Team Champions of the World (not redundant). Instead of indulging in the angst of a traditional feud, they seek simply to amuse themselves. Just last week, they called out Santa Claus for a promo. If that doesn't say it all, I don't know what will. Whether they have the championship belts or not, Daniels and Kazarian continue to be the most impressive tag team in all of Impact Wrestling and deserve no end of credit for turning nothing into something.

BEST ANGLE

Joey Ryan and the 87%

As I mentioned earlier, Joey Ryan had a tumultuous time breaking into TNA Wrestling via Gut Check, but never fear, social media is here! Ironically, my favourite angle of the year, didn't actually take place on Impact for the most part. In being rejected by the Gut Check judges, Joey Ryan pioneered a subversive smear campaign against his haters. Taking to Youtube for a series of scathing promo videos, Ryan tore the judges a new one. First focusing on Taz and slowly transitioning toward Al Snow. I never entirely knew when or where the next installment of this feud would be. Hell, for the longest time, I didn't know whether it was a work or a shoot. The Gut Check judges DID have an agenda in saying no to Joey and it's only right that he be pissed off about that. So it's not unthinkable that he would make these videos against the powers that be. It's not even unthinkable that he'd turn up in the crowd of the Impact Zone. It's a free country! Due to Joey Ryan's involvement, every further Gut Check segment was must-see-tv. You never knew when he'd appear at the guard rail, how many 87%'ers he'd have in the building that week or if he may finally get his hands on his targets. It's tough to pull off the "outsider" gimmick without giving yourself away as a work, but "Hollywood's Own" did it with aplomb.

MOST IMPROVED

Magnus

Just a quick nod to my fellow Englishman. For whatever reason, Magnus' stock is most definitely on the rise. Whenever a TNA legend takes to an interview and points out the next generation they are hoping to encourage and work with in future, Magnus' name always comes up. Not just for political reasons though, as Magnus has improved exponentially in the ring also. In 2012, the Samoan Submission Machine, Samoa Joe, clearly took the Brit under his wing. Starting out the year as a curiously mismatched tag team, they gelled surprisingly well and were even rewarded with a reign as Tag Team Champions. Building off that momentum, the pair springboarded into fantastic singles feud with each other over the Television Title. While Magnus never managed to go over and get the big win, he progressively upped his game until in the final pay-per-view bout he physically passed out rather than submit. He's currently "on the shelf" selling a random beating from Aces & Eights, but you can bet that upon his return, he'll quickly attain that brass ring that's eluded him for so long. After that, it's only so long before he sets his sights on the World Title itself.

BEST PAY-PER-VIEW

Destination X

While I'm not typically a fan of gimmick pay-per-views, this show acts as a much needed spotlight on an often flagging division. TNA was built on the X Division, attracting so much buzz and attention in the early years. Yet for no real reason, it's frequently ignored for long stretches of time. At least having Destination X in place, it guarantees once a year, the company pauses and remembers where it came from. My favourite part of the show for the past few years being the influx of new talent. These men are by no means guaranteed a permanent spot on the roster, but for the month prior and the show itself, they shine like never before. This year's offering included Mason Andrews (shut up Harold!), Rubix, Dakota Darsow, Lars Only, Flip Cassanova and the lone survivor, Kenny King. Also on the card, we had rematches of classic bouts in Kurt Angle vs Samoa Joe and AJ Styles vs Christopher Daniels. Last but not least, the epic main event of Austin Aries challenging Bobby Roode for the World Heavyweight Championship. All in all, the perfect mix of old and new. Everything I look for in a pay-per-view.

WORST TITLE REIGN

Jeff Hardy as World Heavyweight Champion

I simply do not get the appeal of this man to the masses. He's called "The Charismatic Enigma", but as far as I can tell, he has the least charisma of all the active wrestlers. Hell, if we included backstage agents, even D'Lo Brown and Al Snow could run rings around him. But, for whatever reason, the crowd loves him. They go nuts when his MANY musics hit, they go nuts when he nails the Twist of Fate on a badguy. As a result of such unquestionable adulation, TNA don't hesitate for a second to have their cash-cow win the Bound for Glory Series or go on to lay claim to the World Heavyweight Championship.

However, his run with the belt so far has been boring and uneventful. Just like when John Cena wins his umpteenth WWE Championship, there's a distinct feeling of "now what?". There's simply nowhere to go with Jeff's character or even the TNA Title itself. He's a literal narrative dead-end. He's only functioning as a target for the heels to bicker over, who in the process are having far more fun than the champion himself.

But at the end of the day, do you know what Jeff Hardy's title reign will be remembered for? The inner monologues. Due to the Enigma's complete and utter lack of ability on the microphone, he's incapable of cutting even the simplest of promos to back up his claims or to denounce his opponent. Instead of subjecting the Impact Zone (and we at home) to a bumbled attempt at verbalising his feelings on the spur of the moment, TNA have been covering this inherent weakness with pre-taped voiceovers that play at particular moments during a Hardy segment. All motion slows to a crawl, the camera moves in and...OH MY GOD WE'RE INSIDE HIS HEAD! Kinda dirty in here and I don't mean the fun way. Jesus, Jeff, do you never wash off the day-glo paint?

BEST TITLE REIGN

Bobby Roode as World Heavyweight Champion

256 days. Nuff said.

But that'd be a short segment, so let's verbalise a little.

In the modern era of professional wrestling, short uneventful title reigns are the status quo. A wrestler gains a certain amount of momentum and he'll be rewarded with a brief run with whichever title suits best. But a couple of months down the line, their act will grow stale and some shiny new talent will have the pull to swoop in and steal that title away. It's not even a bad thing in the strictest sense. Sometimes divisions do need revitalising. It's all about who's right for that spot at that moment. So to say Bobby Roode was the right man to lead TNA Wrestling forward for 256 days is the biggest compliment anyone can give.

During this record breaking run, Bobby Roode dubbed himself "The leader of the Selfish Generation" and went on to back up his claims with classic heel victories over the heaviest hitters in Impact Wrestling history. James Storm, Jeff Hardy, Bully Ray, Mr Anderson, Rob Van Dam, Sting, they all fell to "the It Factor of Professional Wrestling" like a line of dominoes. Even when it finally came time to drop the title at Destination X, he put over his challenger, Austin Aries, like a champ. In doing so, Bobby Roode has become the touchstone of TNA. It really does pay to be Roode.

BEST NON-WRESTLER

Jeremy Borash

Jeremy Borash is perhaps the unsung hero of TNA Wrestling. He's been there since the very beginning, doing so many undefined tasks under the umbrella of his job, it'd be easy to forget him, as he's such a staple. But you have to give credit to the man, he's a fixer through and through. Fronting episodes of TNA Today, Spin Cycle, Xplosion, numerous backstage interviews and even a short stint commentating on the first hour of Impact Wrestling, JB bleeds TNA. Your good works do not go unnoticed, sir.

WTF OF THE YEAR

Eric Young disappears for months getting KFC for ODB

While more a string of moments than one singular moment, I was forever taken aback by the segments of Impact featuring ODB phoning her missing-in-action hubby, Eric Young. In reality, EY was away fronting a successful nature show on Animal Planet. To explain such long absences, promotions usually just write the character out of storylines and pretend they never existed until they're available again, but TNA weren't going to let this one slide. For month after month, ODB would be seen in the backstage area phoning her "husband", leaving voicemail after voicemail. She'd instructed him to go pick up a bucket of chicken and he simply never came back! No calls, no texts and most importantly...no chicken!

BEST KNOCKOUT

Tara

In a year where the Knockouts division has been sadly neglected, Tara continues to be the firm foundation for any greatness to come. She's got the looks, the talent, the title, the valet and the begrudging respect of all those in the locker room. Having entered her forties, you'd think she'd be winding down her in-ring career, but with momentum like this, I see her going for years to come.

Her year started out with an unsuccessful run at Gail Kim's Knockouts Championship, but at the time she was clearly just fodder to establish Gail's dominance of the division. Biding her time, her moment finally came in the beginnings of a feud with her "Boo" Miss Tessmacher. The former Knockouts Tag Team Champions came to blows as Tess challenged her mentor on an Open Fight Night themed episode of Impact. Tara came out on top with ease, a fact which stuck in the craw of her opponent. The pair went back and forth until their matches became for the Knockouts Championship and any semblance of friendship was lost. Finally, at Bound for Glory, the biggest show of the year, Tara defeated Miss Tessmacher to capture the title for a record-tying fifth time.

MATCH OF THE YEAR

Bobby Roode vs James Storm at Bound for Glory

In their second show-stealing PPV match of 2012, James Storm came for his final revenge on former friend and tag partner, Bobby Roode. But no simple wrestling match was going to do his anger justice. This had to be balls to the wall, anything goes, no coming back, finality. This had to be a street fight. And oh my god was it ever. For the best part of half an hour, these two men took strips out of one another...and it wasn't even the main event! Storm and Roode's epic feud spanning almost a year at this point, had built up to such intensity, it surpassed the need for the World Heavyweight Championship. This was about pride, not titles. In doing so, these men took this match to an extreme rarely seen since the days of ECW.  James Storm spent 99% of the time with a waterfall of blood raining down his own face. I genuinely worried whether he'd need a transfusion after they were done. But don't let the base brutality fool you into thinking this was a simple hardcore bout. The former Beer Money duo were telling a story, like only they knew how. By the time the thumb tacks came out, I was getting flashes of Cactus Jack and Triple H tearing it up over a decade ago. When you can be mentioned in the same breath as a classic like that, you know you're on the right track. To think this was only the third match of the night, it's a wonder anyone attempted to follow it. They brought their big game to the big show and even though James Storm finally got his victory and this feud is meant to be over, you can tell TNA won't hesitate to revisit it in the future in hope of recapturing the magic. Bravo, gentlemen.

Written by Mark Clements

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