Ratings:
Tara vs. Miss Tessmacher: 3/4*
Robbie E vs. Rob Van Dam vs. AJ Styles: **1/2
Jeff Hardy vs. Rob Terry: 1/2*
Gunner vs. Kris Lewie: 1/2*
Mr. Anderson vs. Bully Ray: **3/4
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Reviews/Thoughts:
Aces and Eights shown rolling into the parking lot on the motorcycles. They finally revealed at the end of last week that Storm likely wasn't behind the Aces and Eights attacks.
Tonight, it's Open Fight Night and Gut Check. Speaking of Gut Check, when will those people that actually WON the TNA contracts actually start wrestling for the damn company?
Sting leads the TNA posse out (faces and heels) to call out Aces and Eights. Fans want Hulk Hogan. Note that Storm still came out separately. Two Aces and Eights members came down and got beat up. One of them unmasked. Initial theory: just a way to get the TNA roster comfortable before the real beatdown begins.
Tessmacher is the champ again and calls out her mentor and best friend, Tara, for Open Fight Night. Taryn Terrell is the ref again and gets her own entrance. Why? And she still gets basically no reaction. Note to the talent: if you don't have a good vertical leap, do NOT do a leapfrog. Tara with a superplex for the win. Nothing of note here, really. Just the whole "master beating the student" deal.
Pope out with a legit broken collarbone (storyline was Aces and Eights taking him out). AJ, RVD, and Robbie E were all supposed to face Pope, so put the three in a three-way BFG Series match. People probably thought Robbie's really there to play third fiddle in all this and make the other two look good. Lots of action here that you'd expect. Good swerve of sorts to let Robbie get the win so his point total doesn't look as crappy. He still plays a big role in who gets into the top 5, so it's a significant win in that regard. And technically, Robbie isn't last (Pope has fewer points and is out of the BFG Series).
Jeff Hardy calls out Rob Terry to get some revenge. Some fans chant "Steroids!" at Rob. Swanton wins it for Hardy in a short match.
So we have the whole paternity test deal to finally kill off this atrocious Claire Lynch storyline for good. The lady portraying Claire quit the company a couple weeks ago. Yes AJ, I hope TNA is sorry for even crafting this storyline. AJ with a face promo before the results. Daniels and Kaz come out for their heel promos. Daniels' reason for Claire not being there for the segment: in a Florida hospital after suffering a placental disruption. Insert a picture of me doing a huge facepalm. Ugh. Big ugh.
Anyway, randomly, a middle-aged woman comes down as attorney for Claire Lynch. Now she was real good in her role. Oh, no surprise here! Claire never was pregnant! Now this whole thing can be forgotten! Things would have been much different had they gotten Julia Reilly (Claire Lynch) for the attorney role instead.
Hogan's back and KOs three Aces and Eights members with Sting's baseball bat. Something about cutting out hearts and feeding it to his dog. And he's grunting like a dog. Wait, he's not a cannibal here right? No bath salts? OK, just wanted to make sure.
Gut Check time. We saw a vignette last week of this possible feel-good story in the making. Guy's name is Kris Lewie. He faces Gunner. Horrible start with what possibly was a botched attempt at a rollup. Match didn't impress me at all. Gunner ends things with his version of the F-5.
Oh, and I'm glad they updated us on Alex Silva, the first "winner" who really was supposed to lose but Flair broke from the script and changed his vote. he's in OVW (the TNA minor leagues) and honing his craft. I'm sure he'll be a solid star, but we'll see when (or if) he gets the opportunity.
Basically, ODB and Eric Young haven't defended their titles because EY is filming his show. ODB keeps asking for fried chicken and probably just wants to get it on with someone. Well, gotta do what you gotta do, I guess?
Anderson comes out and calls out Bully Ray for a BFG Series match. Good and competitive here, some very close near falls. Bubba Bomb (Bully) and senton (Anderson) didn't get it done. Mic check gives Anderson 7 points. Meanwhile, more TNA guys take out Aces and Eights members.
Again, Sting and the TNA posse out for the end of the show. War breaks out. Gradually, we see more Aces and Eights members. It's not completely made obvious, but they just seem to never go away. They manage to take Aries out and injure his right arm. In what was the most obvious previously recorded segment ever, they are shown getting away on their bikes.
At the start of the show, I feared that this would be a show where the A&E faction would get shot down, which if even for one night can have huge consequences on momentum (see Nexus at SummerSlam a couple years back). But A&E got the upper hand, and I really liked how the end segment went. It was not like A&E just showed up with 1,000 members and totally destroyed the roster. It started like TNA would get the upper hand and have the crowd go home happy, but instead rightfully turned into getting to the most powerful person on the active wrestling roster, the world champ Austin Aries. The next few weeks to months should be pretty good.
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