1/26/12 Impact

Ratings:
Tara vs. Mickie James vs. Velvet Sky: *

Alex Shelley vs. Zema Ion: *1/2

Eric Young & ODB vs. Winter & Angelina Love: N/A (huh?!)

Matt Morgan vs. Samoa Joe: *3/4

Jeff Hardy & James Storm vs. Bobby Roode & Bully Ray (Tables): **
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Reviews/Thoughts:
Knockouts three-way starts the show...interesting. I like Tara coming out on the bike...unique entrance to separate herself from the others. Cool, they all shake hands, like ROH's code of honor. And let the fighting begin! Tara does the matrix move now, cool. Crowd was into it at times, but there were a few too many dead spots. A heck of a move by Tara, one of those fireman's carry moves into a spinning sidewalk slam...with all the weight going on Mickie. Tara pins MJ for three. Solid finish. Tara gets the Knockouts title shot at Against All Odds. And Gail's ready. Looking forward to this match.

Bully Ray and Jeff Hardy fought backstage earlier in the night. Roode helped Bully, then Storm came to even things up. The four brawl in the ring, and Sting has a hard time controlling them. Let them fight! Thus, we got a tag match as the main event. Oh, make that a tag team TABLES match. Yes!

Winter and Angelina trying to get EY's guard down. Angelina tries to knee EY in the nuts, but Eric's wearing a protective cup. Best part? ODB comes in and takes the cup away. I don't think she cares if she knew where it had been. Made me laugh real good there.

X-Division time. Oh, not Zema's face! Cut the cameras! What a lame-o. Nice pace here, crowd into it a bunch. Good back-and-forth action for a short match. Zema woulda missed that 450 even if Shelley didn't move. Sliced Bread #2 wins it for Alex. He'll get the X-Division title shot against Aries at AAO.

Eric Bischoff confronts his son in the gym. Eric wants to know where the trainer is. Garrett points off-camera. Eric shoos the camera away, petrified. Good cliffhanger.

Well, let the chaos begin with EY and ODB. Heh, Taz ribbing Earl that he should know how to lock up with a wrestler after being in the business so long...74 years, eh? Anyway, EY again finds a way to not strike anyone. Oh, EY's strippin' down to the tights! Liquid Courage for ODB! Double airplane spins! Seriously, I have no clue how to rate this. It's just a bunch of controlled madness.

Morgan and Joe in singles action tonight. Crimson and Magnus are out to support their tag partners. Pretty good stuff here. Lots of counters and hard hits (punches and kicks). Discus clotheline wins it for Morgan? Really? Magnus takes Crimson out on the outside. Joe and Magnus then go take Morgan out.

AJ promo again to vent frustrations about Kaz and Daniels. AJ wants an answer on Kaz's behavior again. Daniels comes out with Kaz. AJ takes Daniels out. Kaz and AJ about to shake hands, but Daniels back on the mic. "You know exactly why you're not shaking AJ's hand." And that is pretty much that. No handshake. Kaz back to Daniels' side. Daniels wants a match at AAO between AJ...and Kaz. More manipulation. Good, slow storyline. Here, the mic work is great and, with the cast of characters involved, it makes the eventual blow-off even more appealing.

Main event intros for the main event...thanks JB. Yeah, good luck to Brian Hebner on this tables match. Good use of split screens here. It's really just a lot of fighting and weapon use on the outside. Crowd liked it all because there's tables and Hardy is over with the crowd. Bully misses Hardy in the corner and his own foot goes through the table. Announcers quickly note you must put your opponent through...can't put yourself through a table. More fighting, Hardy hits Twist of Fate on Roode, then puts RR on the table. Storm off the top on RR through table. Faces win. Not bad. Bully and RR take both faces out post-match. Bully powerbombs Hardy from the second rope through a table. Bully getting a great singles run. RR caressing the belt like it's his newborn son.