5/31/12 Impact

Ratings:
Sting vs. Bobby Roode (Lumberjack): **3/4

Austin Aries vs. Chris Sabin (X-Division Title): **1/4

Devon vs. Jeff Hardy (TV Title): *1/4

Christopher Daniels vs. AJ Styles: **1/4
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Reviews/Thoughts:
Hot crowd tonight! New time slot, at 8 p.m. ET. We start it off with Roode and Sting in a Lumberjack match! mix of faces and heels. Doesn't take long for the match to get physical. Heel lumberjacks do their thing beating down Sting when they can. Vintage Sting no-selling and doing his comeback at random moments. Sting is not a young guy, but he still flies like a youthful dude. Sting with the clean win here. Scorpion Death Drop, followed by the Scorpion Death Lock. Love the hot crowd.

Note Chris Sabin was one of the lumberjacks. Alex Shelley is reportedly done with TNA, so the Guns are officially done as a TNA tag team (at least for the foreseeable future). He may get offers from WWE, but it's probably more likely that he heads to Japan.

Hulk Hogan comes out after the Sting win. Sting now faces Roode at Slammiversary for the World Title. Well, that was predictable, wasn't it?

Madison with the hair straightener on her queen sash? Um, OK....

Bully Ray promo to call Joseph Park out. Hey, he's back in the crowd with popcorn! Can't he get something else to eat? Show him with a hot dog or something. Or a drink. Same damn thing all over again at the start. How does calling Abyss a coward trigger anger more than having your mother be called a coward? Bully wants Park in the ring, so here we go again. Good grief, Park sweats so freakin' much. At least Bully finally admits his guilt, playing the cowardly heel role perfectly. He and Joseph Park fight at Slammiversary.

X-Division Title match between Aries and Sabin. As stated before, Alex Shelley is no longer with TNA. Sabin is back in tights, with a new singles wrestler entrance video. This is wrestling. Yes, I want two hours of this. Lots of flying, fast-paced action. Wish they had at least 5-10 more minutes.

Now Taz is part of Gut Check with Bruce Pritchard and Al Snow. Guess Ric Flair really is expendable at this point. Does it matter anymore if he has two WWE HOF rings? Anyway, the panel weighs the pros and cons of Joey Ryan, also watching his match from last week.

Oh yeah, so what now happens with Alex Silva? You know, that first guy from Gut Check that actually got a contract. I'd like to actually see this Silva guy perform to show that TNA still remembers these guys. If TNA wants to push Gut Check as a life-changing event, they have to push the guys who actually earn the contract.


Brooke Hogan is now officially working with TNA to help the Knockouts division. Not sure what I think about that just yet. Yeah, her dad is extremely famous. Hopefully this turns out to be a good move. They got a good promotional photo of her, at least.

Dixie Carter comes out for a promo. The first TNA Wrestling Hall of Fame inductee announced at Slammiversary. She erroneously said September 10...it's June 10. TNA will be live all summer. She announces Brooke Hogan as the new executive of the Knockouts division.

Honestly, from the moment Brooke's music hit, I didn't like it. Too happy-go-lucky. She needs just a bit more swagger in her step, more confidence. Look more professional. I'm not saying look like Eve Torres, but still, just have just a bit more authoritative presence. Those high-heel boots don't work for me, either.

Slammiversary countdown shows Christian's jump to TNA as "Christian Cage" back in November 2005. Credit this as the final piece to launch him into that main event slot that Vince McMahon previously had doubts on giving him.


Fans get to pick (via online vote) who faces Devon for the TV Title. Choices are Jeff Hardy, RVD, Mr. Anderson, or Robbie E. Fans voted for Hardy (40% of the vote), and Robbie's pissed. Nice crowd reaction, split chants. Both Robbies come in for the DQ. Match thrown out. Devon and Hardy team up to clean house. Sounds about right.

Not sure when James Storm returns to in-ring action. With this heartfelt video, Storm has to be the one to topple Roode. Roode will figure out a way to get past Sting. Sting doesn't need the title.

Gut Check time for Joey Ryan. When in character, Joey has no shortage of swagger and confidence. Pritchard votes no, Snow says yes. Of course, Taz has to be the deciding vote. Joey gets to make one last case. Still a lot of arrogance. Taz says no. No contract for Joey. Can't say I'm disappointed. Didn't really care for the guy that much.

Daniels and Styles end the show. They know each other so well, it's really a seamless match with a solid AJ win. Kaz and Daniels jump AJ post-match. Angle out for the save. Ankle lock to Kaz, but Daniels saves Kaz. High-low to Angle. They tie Angle to the ropes. AJ gets knocked out.

They now play some recorded phone conversation between Styles and Dixie. Dixie gets to the announce booth, gets on headset, and pleads to have the tape turned off. End show. Any conversation we heard was still vague and innocuous, enough to keep interested viewers talking.