Hey there, TNA fans. I’m Tom Robinson. And it’s time to talk… TNA.
On Thursday, a taping of Impact Wrestling was aired. And to be honest, I’m not that much of a fan of tapings. But, this one was a very unique show, with about a 1/4 of it or so given to Bully Ray to give us a story about his plan to become the TNA World Champion with Aces And Eights. Bully Ray is a very good story-teller, and TNA did a really good job tying up some loose ends, like how Aces And Eights D’Lo Brown stepped into the voting of Gut-Check to vote in fellow Aces And Eights member, Wes Brisco. Also, the way Bully Ray justified getting his ass kicked by fellow members of Aces And Eights by simply stating, “He was taking one for the team” was really well done. it makes it clear that this group does not run as dictatorship, like the Nexus did. Also, this story made it clear that TNA actually had a long-term plan for this storyline which is always good to see. Unlike WWE, which hardly ever has long-term plans nowadays, TNA sat down and said, “Right this is what’s going to happen in the next year with this story”, and they did it without worrying about whether online fans worked out what was going to happen. It was really well done. It makes the stable unique. Although it was a shame the group were not actually part of the taping itself (other than Bully Ray confronting his wife Brooke), they are still probably the best thing going in wrestling right now. With a live Open Fight Night next week, the next developments in the storyline should be interesting.
On the show, AJ Styles was set to be interviewed by Mike Tenay, who wanted to know why AJ attacked James Storm last week. But, as Mike was asking a question, Tazz interrupted and offered a spot in Aces And Eights for AJ (which was a really ballsy move from Tazz, who dissed AJ’s motorbike and told him he had to work his way up). I thought the interruption was kinda funny. Then James Storm confronted AJ and wanted to know why. However, AJ was still speechless and left the ring. I really do like this new attitude AJ’s got about him, and his storyline will no doubt be a phenomenal one… hehehe.
Also, Taryn Terrell was added to the Knockouts Division. Bobby Roode and Austin Aires retained the tag team titles in a fair match against Chavo and Hernandez but were beaten down by Daniels and Kazarian. Kenny King defeated Sonjay Dutt and Zema Ion in a triple threat to retain the X-Division Championship in a short match, which wasn’t really helped by Sonjay’s botches. But it’s always nice to see the X-Division in action. Matt Morgan defeated Joseph Park. And Hulk Hogan and Sting had another heated argument. Hogan told Sting to “hang out in the rafters and go disappear for a couple of years” which I thought was kind of funny.
Also, Jeff Hardy became the number one contender for the TNA World Champion, by defeating Samoa Joe, Magnus and Kurt Angle in a fatal four way. This match was made at the start of the show by Hulk Hogan in order to thank the leaders of the fight against Aces And Eights. But if Hulk Hogan wanted to win the war against Aces And Eights so badly, why put the 4 leaders of TNA against each other? Why have them beat the hell out of each other so Aces And Eights can pick up the scraps? Doesn’t really make sense in my eyes. But anyway, the match was not bad actually. Especially at the beginning of the match. It was really fast-paced, really entertaining and a really good display of talent by the 4 individuals. However, there were some sloppy parts of the match, especially the ending. It just looked really rushed, and the match ended so abruptly. Jeff hit the Swanton Bomb on Samoa Joe after knocking Magnus into Kurt Angle. He went for the cover on Joe, and got the win – EVEN THOUGH Angle broke it up before the ref made the 3 count. What the hell? It just looked so sloppy. At least, Bully Ray will defeat Jeff to retain the title, and Jeff can hopefully got RIGHT down the card.
To be honest, it wasn’t that great of a show in my opinion. I really enjoyed Bully Ray’s story of how he rose to the top of TNA. I loved his story-telling. But other than that, this episode was kind of a disappointment. BUT, we’ve got open fight night next week, which should be very a good show!
The Armbar Express 