Friday, October 12, 2012

10/11/12 Impact

Ratings:
Austin Aries vs. James Storm: **1/4

Hernandez vs. AJ Styles: *1/4

Bully Ray & Sting vs. Christopher Daniels & Kazarian: **

Miss Tessmacher vs. Gail Kim: **

Jeff Hardy vs. Bobby Roode: ***1/4
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Reviews/Thoughts:
Great way to start the show with Aries and Storm right off the bat. Roode comes down and tosses Storm into the post. Aries takes advantage and wins. Hard-hitting match before all that; crowd very much into it.

Tension between Styles and Angle because Styles thinks Angle's too involved with wanting to tag with Sting instead. Hogan and Sting for a promo to a major pop. Hogan basically says he and Sting had to make a deal with the devil (enemy Bully Ray) to fight Aces & Eights. Daniels and Kaz come down and try to sell the Kurt Angle tag partner idea, probably because they want to worry about one fewer team. Bully Ray agrees -- if it were a wrestling match. But it's a fight, so Bully's the man for the job. Bully wants to earn trust, so Kaz and Daniels face Bully and Sting. Interesting.

No problem watching AJ and Hernandez go at it. More tag teams in singles action to keep hyping Bound for Glory this Sunday. No Angle at ringside, but Chavo accompanies Hernandez. Chavo did distract AJ a couple times in this one. Hernandez with a huge shoulderblock for three. Fairly simple match, really. At least when compared to other matches they've had in their respective careers.

Aces & Eights putting the whole "did you lock us out, or did you lock us in?" question to the test later tonight. Meanwhile, Joseph Park eats like he hasn't been fed in weeks.

Zema Ion in street clothes complaining he has no match at BFG since he took out everyone in the X-Division. Well, not RVD. Version of a Van Daminator with the title. I think a title change may not be so bad here to freshen the product up. It may also be a way to keep RVD happy and in the company longer because the fans still go nuts for him.

Tara probably will win the title via cheating at BFG. Thing is, does this mean people like Gail Kim are out of luck? Velvet Sky is slated to return to TNA, and Tara/Velvet may not be too bad, given the depleted roster.

Bully really was a good cheerleader for Sting in the tag match. Bully got the hot tag here and the crowd bought into it for a bit. Fun segment with Sting telling Bully to get the tables. Daniels powerbombed through the table. Ref calls for the DQ. Like it matters. Crowd loved it.

Hogan's not trusting Bully Ray, but gives him a shot to prove himself anyway. Theorizing that Bully could be the one getting pinned on Sunday to get Aces & Eights the full access. Bully at first could be real apologetic and trying to make amends with Sting/Hogan over the coming weeks. Then a couple months or so later, around the turn of the new year, Bully could finally do the turn again and say he was part of the A&E gang all along. Drawing out the angle in this manner could really be a good boost for TNA in 2013. A&E wouldn't need Bully for the short term anyway. I think it's their best storyline right now, so why not milk it for all its worth?

Video package hyping Al Snow and Joey Ryan. Pretty clear to me that Joey Ryan is winning at BFG. Cheating all but guaranteed.

Very good match between Tessmacher and Gail Kim. Very physical match with good flow, nice counters. Not the best-looking finisher from Tessmacher here, but got three. Tara with the post-match ambush, but Tessmacher hits her finisher on Tara as well.

Roode and Storm start brawling backstage, but King Mo quickly breaks it up. Another decent storyline that's basically spanned off and on for a year. Hoping the street fight lives up to the build and earns four stars.

Fast start to Hardy and Roode; RR blindsides Hardy as Jeff slaps fives with ringside fans. Gotta love the amped-up crowd in a Jeff Hardy match. Guy moves merchandise like very few people can in the company. Bunch of action on the outside. Hardy still takes his risks, but still works a smarter style than before. Swanton missed, Roode spear only got two. Twist of Fate/stunner. Second one blocked and blatant low blow gives Hardy the DQ win. Ref takes chair from Roode and Twist of Fate (cutter style) from Hardy.

Aries with the heel promo and trying to do a mini-pipebomb of his own, perhaps. I think Aries works best as a heel. He's got the respect in the ring as a performer, but it won't match the likes of the pops people like Hardy will get. Hardy may get the title only because TNA wants to keep him happy, but I'd still like Aries to keep running with it if TNA wants to beef up a heelish title reign.

I thought this was a pretty good show. Solid matches and loud crowd.

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