9/27/12 Impact

Ratings:
Christopher Daniels vs. Kurt Angle vs. Chavo Guerrero: **1/4

Tara vs. ODB: 1/2*

Samoa Joe vs. Mr. Anderson (TV Title): *1/2

Austin Aries & Jeff Hardy vs. Bully Ray & Bobby Roode: **3/4
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Reviews/Thoughts:
Hulk Hogan starts the show, black baseball bat in hand. He addresses some other stuff first. First, the TV Title, since Devon's now gone from the company. Samoa Joe, Magnus, Garett Bischoff, and Anderson. Garett?! Seriously? Nice pull, Eric, but your son's likely jobbing. Roode and Storm in a street fight at BFG. Special enforcer for street fight is King Mo, the MMA guy who wants to try his hand at pro wrestling.

Sting's back! Sting going with Hulk to the Aces & Eights clubhouse as backup.

Singles action between some of the guys in the tag title triple threat at BFG. I frankly am looking forward to this one because it reminds me so much of the 2002 Smackdown Six gang. Speaking of which, Angle and Chavo were part of that Smackdown Six ten years ago. Daniels joins the party for this triple threat, and I can't complain.

Kaz trips Chavo up, and Chavo thinks it was AJ who did it. Nice to stir up animosity, but the four faces quickly figure out what really happened. All three non-wrestling tag partners then get ejected. Brian Stifler is the ref? YEAH STIFLER! Quick, fast-paced wrestling match. Daniels steals one with the STO.

Hogan with the four guys to choose from for the TV Title. He takes Magnus out first. Really? Garett shoulda been the first one gone. Then again, I'd have it be a fatal four way just to change it up.

Brooke Hogan and Tara. Stacy Keibler and George Clooney are still together, yeah. Whatever. Tara's match is next so she can earn her title shot. Hey, Tara stood in line for that phone!

Hey, ODB's back as Tara's opponent! The Knockouts Tag belts still exist? Tara plays possum with an "injured" right knee (the one with the knee brace). Slow inside cradle for three. Duh. Lame. I dunno if they had to switch the finish or anything, but it wasn't the greatest finish ever.

Gut Check judges deliberate on Evan Markopoulos. Bruce Prichard and Al also address the whole deal with Joey Ryan, and Al wants to move past it all.

Hogan finally cuts Garett. The look on GB's face makes me want him to go heel and be next up to face the eventual TV champ, whether that's Joe or Anderson.

TV Title time. Fairly basic match. Joe slaps on that choke for a couple minutes and Anderson passes out, so Joe wins the title. Too convincing a win. Wanted it to be way more competitive than that. Ugh.

Wow, Aces & Eights got a woman to blind Hogan and Sting for the ambush. Very cool. Hogan and Sting are hooded and tossed into a white van.

Gut Check time for Evan. Huge YES chants from the crowd. Taz loves the upside and he says yes. Prichard of course says no (citing needs more time). Kickout time for Evan, who's done his homework on Al Snow's career. Al says Evan's basically too young and not ready yet, so it's a no. Can't agree here. I'd rather see Evan on Impact than a bunch of the guys on the current roster. He could really be an addition to the X-Division, at the very least.

Hogan and Sting are tied in chairs as the "leader" talks. Joseph Park shown tied up in another room. A&E wants two of Hogan's toughest guys at BFG. Hogan immediately agrees. Two on two and Hogan must watch. A&E wins, they get full access to the building. A&E loses, they go away. So um, of course A&E is winning. In the meantime, Park is A&E insurance until the match occurs but supposedly nothing will happen to him.

Bound for Glory is October 14 in Phoenix. Really a fan of Southwestern flavors, so I'd love to check out the food there one day.

Main event tag ends the show. Yup, only four matches that I saw. Fun start to the match, then heels take over as usual. Crowd really alive for this match. Interesting Aries didn't make the tag to Hardy when he could have. Brainbuster to Roode. Hardy tags himself in and hits the swanton for three. Aries didn't like that one bit. Tension!
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It's still a couple weeks before BFG, but doing some quick predictions for right now:

Aces & Eights: Seems a virtual lock Sting will be one of the guys to represent Hogan's side. Not sure yet who the second guy will be, but this could be the time to reveal the identity of A&E's "leader," whether it's the big masked guy who's been talking all this time, or someone else. I'm still convinced Joseph Park would end up siding with A&E as well. Either way, A&E must clearly win this or all this screentime for the faction will be for nothing.

Aries/Hardy: Hardy's been given a title shot because his contract's expiring and he has interest in returning to WWE. At this time, I still gotta go with Aries retaining. I'd still expect a damn good match. Roode likely will try to interfere and cost Aries just so RR can get a title shot again. It'll be interesting to see, though, if Bully Ray plays a role here, too.

Tag Title Triple Threat: I honestly think this will be the match of the night if given ample time. It could be a great way for Chavo and Hernandez to get the titles, and I'm truly hoping that occurs. The other four guys don't really need it as much. Chavo's the newbie to the TNA roster, give him a good push.

Storm/Roode: It'll be a street fight and King Mo is the special enforcer. It won't reach the 1997 Hart/Austin level with Shamrock as the enforcer, but I'm hoping for a good 20+ minutes here. Storm should get the win in my book.

Tessmacher/Tara: Knockouts roster is severely decimated after several women have put their notice in to leave. I honestly hope there are others waiting to get a shot. Note Gail Kim has been off TV for a bit, as has Madison Rayne and Mickie James (Mickie right now nursing an injury). Tara's trying to become the dominant heel Knockout right now and should garner the win. Cheating virtually guaranteed. Tessmacher's doing fine, but having a veteran heel champ can lead to overall better matches.