Friday, November 9, 2012

11/8/12 Impact

Ratings:
Bobby Roode vs. AJ Styles: ***

ODB vs. Tara & Jesse: *1/4

Kurt Angle & Sting vs. Devon & Doc: **1/2

Kazarian, Christopher Daniels, & Magnus vs. Chavo Guerrero, Hernandez, & Samoa Joe: ***1/4
________________

Reviews/Thoughts:
Turning Point is on Sunday, so this is the final show before the PPV. Now I see the ring canvas has transparent labels on them. Proceeds to benefit military groups.

Storm now on commentary as Styles takes on Roode. Physical, competitive match here. AJ with the comeback, leads to several near falls. Countering finishers and other signature moves. Frustrated Roode goes for the chair. Storm distracts Roode and AJ springboards onto Roode. AJ then distracted. Roode catches AJ coming with another springboard move and covers for three.

Last week, the former Luke Gallows got unmasked as one of the Aces & Eights members. He's now known as "Doc" in TNA. Doc means "director of chaos."Tagging with Devon later to face Sting and Angle.

Joseph Park in the ring. He begs Hulk to get another match with Aces & Eights. Hulk isn't willing to give Park another match, saying he was lucky. Bully Ray comes out. A complete 180 from Bully, who now endorses Park. Playing the respect card and the heart card. Hulk relents and Park gets his match at Turning Point.

Again, no Eric Young. Probably filming his show and stuff. ODB still wants to take on Tara and Jesse. Why are the Knockouts Tag belts still there?! Fun stuff when ODB's on offense. Good laugh when ODB hit the drop toehold on Tara, sending her head into Jesse's nuts. Double bronco buster. ODB spear and rollup for three. Fun. 2-on-1 assault afterward, and Widow's Peak hit on ODB. Emptying the liquid courage on ODB.

ODB calls EY and gets the voicemail. She wants Eric to be there on Sunday to challenge Tara and Jesse again. Again, Knockouts tag titles remain irrelevant.

Judges contemplating Christian York's Gut Check fate. Taz seems committed to voting "yes." Al's hesitant. Prichard plays the moderator position. Big question is whether York can break out of the tag team wrestler mold and be a singles star. Nice jacket, Al.

Huge tag match next. Angle and Sting face Devon and Doc. Brawling to start. Doc's moving pretty well in the ring. Helps to have Devon as a tag partner. Sting takes a bunch of punishment but eventually makes the hot tag to Angle. Angle Slam to Devon, but Doc breaks it up. Sting comes back in to take Doc out. Scorpion Death Lock to Doc. Devon grabs the black baseball bat and nukes Sting and Angle for the DQ.

Bully Ray runs to the ring and clotheslines Devon. Bully grabs a table. Crowd's going nuts. Devon bolts and Bully chases after him. Two more A&E guys help Doc. Ball-peen hammer to Sting! They put Sting through the table. Doc with several HARD shots to Sting with that hammer. OW. TNA guys storm the ring a bit late. Damn.

Christian York Gut Check voting. Taz with a quick yes. Prichard weighing the pros and cons, and feels like he should get a shot as a singles star. It's a yes as well! Well deserved.

Aries continues to find a loophole to prevent returning Hardy's title belt (the nice one, not the custom belt) tonight. Hulk earlier in the show demanded that Aries return it or give up the title shot.


Matt Morgan tells Hulk that the Hall of Famer doesn't know who he's messing with. I hope this leads to a good Morgan push. Excellent size and good agility, just gotta take advantage of it all.

Six-man tag up next. Joe always makes me cringe when he hits someone. Chavo still with that black tape on the right shoulder. Hernandez rockin' the Superman logo on the shorts. Hernandez with the hot tag from Chavo. Tag to Joe. He and Magnus go at it. Quick pace at the end with signature moves. Outstanding finish getting Chavo out of the picture. Then a high-low from Daniels/Kaz and a top-rope Magnus elbow to pin Joe.

Aries promo end the show. Fans want Hardy. Will Aries accept the ladder match stipulation? Of course he does. Nice "best in the world" reference. Aries still says he's the best pro wrestler in the universe. Hardy comes out and they brawl for a bit. Hardy tries the Twist of Fate, but I guess Aries slipped out at the last second (or so Tenay says). Hardy puts both belts on a double-sided hook and has it raised to the rafters. Nice visual for the main event at Turning Point.

Hardy climbs to the top of the ladder and poses, but Aries pulls the ladder to send Hardy flying off. Aries positions ladder over Hardy, climbs to the top, and poses. Good build for Sunday.


Nice in-ring action, good promos. Storylines furthered. I thought it was a very solid go-home show for Turning Point.
____________________

Doing some quick predictions:
Hardy should win the rematch between him and Aries to retain the World Title. It should be an awesome match. Have to envision a decent run for Jeff.

Predicting Doc to win against Joseph Park due to Aces and Eights interference.

Chavo and Hernandez should retain the tag belts against Daniels and Kaz.

I think Magnus has a decent chance to win the TV title against Samoa Joe. No DQ stipulation could play a factor in the outcome. Ensured to be a hard-hitting affair.

I think Joey Ryan should win the X-Division Title over RVD. Only thing that could prevent this is if TNA management thinks RVD could stick around longer and remain happy without the title. RVD is one of those characters that could easily disappear from TV for months at a time.

Tara and Jesse likely to win against ODB and Eric Young. EY's off camera way too much these days and it seems right to give the new "power couple" (Tara and Mr. Pec-tacular) a win to solidify that status.

Devon should win against Angle if A&E gets involved. Angle could still pull it out, but if TNA eventually wants Devon and Bully to feud, Devon should go over.

I'm finding the #1 contender's triple threat match hard to call. Styles, Storm, or Roode? No matter what the outcome of this match and the World Title match is, we should get something good at Final Resolution next month. I frankly think AJ Styles should get the win for all that Claire Lynch crap he went through. There will seemingly always be that bad blood with Storm and Roode. I'll cancel Roode out only because there's that hanging stipulation on not getting a shot if Aries is champ (don't want to have that come into play at any point). Storm has seemingly been climbing for eons chasing that title, so he has an excellent shot to win on Sunday. Remember, the two guys that lose don't get another title shot until next year's Bound for Glory -- October 2013. High stakes for sure.

No comments: