8/30/12 Impact

Ratings:
James Storm vs. Rob Van Dam: **

ODB vs. Madison Rayne: N/A (squash)

Samoa Joe vs. AJ Styles: **3/4

Jeff Hardy vs. Kurt Angle: ***1/2
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Reviews/Thoughts:
Aries sporting a cast from the A&E attack. Oh, and it's common practice to attack the non-dominant side for a reason (in this case, Aries' right hand because he's left-handed). Sting and Hulk come out. Aries wants one A&E member in a fight. A&E says nope, on their terms and when they want to. But they'll be out later in the show.

Still no Eric Young, so I guess another ODB video mentioning fried chicken to pass the time.

Again, top 4 advance to the BFG Series semifinals at No Surrender PPV (that's where the cutoff point is). Leader of BFG Series gets to pick his opponent (any of the three guys still eligible) in the semifinals at No Surrender. Storm leads with 66 points, then Joe at 61. RVD and Bully Ray tied for third with 55. Styles in fifth with 50, while Angle has 48.

Storm and RVD battle here. RVD needs one win to clinch a spot in the semis. Not many sell a DDT like RVD, just looks so lethal. Last Call superkick in the corner was really just a straight kick to RVD's lower gut. Storm gets 7 points and officially has a spot in the semis. Even the replay edited the kick out. Probably not good enough to be seen again.

Note that James Storm has no more BFG Series matches. A guy like Joe can still pass him in the standings.

Knockouts match time. Taryn Terrell already in the ring as ref, so I guess TNA finally gave up trying to make her a real big deal (but she'll still be mentioned more than refs not named Earl Hebner). Rayne wants Tessmacher, but gets ODB instead. Thank Brooke Hogan for that. Liquid Courage to Rayne's face leads to an ODB squash win.

Eric Young in a suit, and he has beer and chicken. Guess celebration is in order! EY strips down to his underwear again. USA underwear? Isn't he Canadian? Sure, OK.

Sting and Hogan scare the crap out of Kaz and Daniels. Apple-tini on the ground. Not the apple-tini!

Styles and Joe next. If Styles wins, BFG Series gets a bit interesting on who joins Storm in the final four. But nope, Joe wins because AJ already has a date with Daniels, Kaz, or both (not officially made yet, but it's pretty obvious). If you're a fan of counters, you'll love this one. Two guys that just know each other so well.

Gut Check time. Judges talked about Kris Lewie earlier. Great back story, but just horrible performance last week. Not surprisingly, Taz and Pritchard say no. Don't even need to get to Al Snow. Joey Ryan appears again and throws water in Snow's face. Here we go again....

Joseph Park is back for more legal stuff. Fun.

Time for Hardy and Angle in the main event. Must-win matches for both Angle and Hardy. Main event intros from Borash. Crowd really into this one, as expected. Signature moves kicked out of. Kicked out of finishers. Angle is a master at kicking out at the last minute. Bravo. These two easily stole the show tonight. Angle's mathematically out of the BFG Series, and Hardy still has a shot.

Borash announces the top five: Storm, Joe, RVD, Bully Ray, and Hardy. Storm is already in, as stated earlier. Hardy vs. Joe and Bully vs. RVD next week. Nice booking to have this come to the final week of round-robin matches.

TNA vs. A&E close the show. Aries to fight one A&E member in the ring. Hogan on the mic with a few of the big TNA guys. Large A&E guy to fight Aries. Aries takes him down, and all hell breaks loose. All of a sudden, some random guy puts on a mask, wields a flapjack (leather with steel inside), KOs Aries, and runs. A&E gets away. Good twist here. Anything that allows A&E to keep getting the upper hand is fine by me.