5-3-12 Impact results and thoughts

        Coverage and thoughts on the May 3, 2012 episode of Impact

The show starts with Ric Flair in the ring and he says that Hogan plays with him but he doesn’t have to buy because he is Ric Flair. He talks about how Hulk & Garrett ran Eric out of TNA. Flair says that Hogan doesn’t wanna piss off the wrestling god and he calls out Hogan. Flair says Hogan won’t show up. Then Hulk’s music hits and he comes out. Flair talks about good vs. evil. Flair says Hogan is good but Flair is the baddest man on the planet. He says he is tired of Hogan giving him the business. Hogan says he’s not here to fight Flair. Flair says he’s there to boss him around. Hulk says he’s making a priority to step things up in TNA. Then he talks about all the evil Eric Bischoff spread around TNA. Hulk says there’s a chance for TNA to have a long run. Hogan then asks Flair to be a judge for the Gut Check challenge. Hogan says that with Flair judging talent that would be great. Flair says he’s setting him up and Hulk says he is asking Flair to do this for the fans. He wants Flair to find the up and comers and he doesn’t have to respect Hulk. Flair says that Hulk is telling him and that if Flair said no Hulk would say tough you know what. Hulk says he knows Flair likes being around the young guys. Flair says he will do it. This was the usual Hogan-Flair kind of opening segment. I’m tired of both these guys and if they want to give new guys a chance how’s about they both get off my TV?

Velvet & Brooke are backstage and they say that Gail Kim is a cheater. Brooke says that she beat Gail twice and will beat her a third time. Then Velvet says that one of them will beat Gail for the title.

Brooke Tessmacher & Velvet Sky vs. Madison Rayne & Knockouts Champion Gail Kim. Brooke & Velvet win when Brooke pins Gail. This was a solid match.

They show RVD backstage and Mike Tenay mentions that RVD & Bobby Roode will pick each other’s opponents for tonight. RVD & Roode face off in the ring next.

They show clips from Jeff Jarrett vs. Raven from April 30, 2003.

RVD is in the ring and says that the fans have been entertained by him for years. Then he talks about how great he is. He says he’s one of a kind and is the man who will beat Bobby Roode and be the next World Champion. RVD mentions that he never lost the title in the first place. Then Bobby Roode comes out on the stage and says that RVD sounds overconfident. Then Bobby says that he is the World Champion. He says he is the most dominant champion in Impact Wrestling history. He did that by beating guys like AJ Style, Jeff Hardy, Sting & James Storm. Then he says at Sacrifice he will beat RVD. Then he mentions that Hulk Hogan will be letting each other pick their opponents. Roode asks RVD who his opponent will be. RVD tells Roode he will be facing Ken Anderson. Rood says that’s great. Then he picks RVD’s opponent and it’s Jeff Hardy. He wishes RVD good luck. This was a solid segment. Roode’s promo was good but RVD didn’t really say much.

TV Champion Devon vs. Rob Terry for the Title. Devon wins by DQ when Robbie E hits Devon with a record. This match was ok. Robbie E screamed at Devon. Then he stood over him holding the TV Title.

They show Ric Flair & Al Snow backstage and Al tells Flair that Bruce Pritchard will be the third Gut Check judge. They talk for a bit. There wasn’t much to this.

Back to the judges and they debate if they should Alex Silva a contract. Flair says the guy isn’t big enough. Al says he has potential. Pritchard says he can be in the X Division. They discuss it for awhile. Then Al asks both guys to keep an open mind. This was a little long. I’ve mentioned my feelings on Flair before. I thought Al & Bruce were ok in this.

They show Hulk Hogan backstage with Ken Anderson talking about the match RVD made for Anderson to face Bobby Roode. Hulk says that the match will be No DQ. Anderson likes it. This was lame. I’m tired of both these guys.

Rob Van Dam vs. Jeff Hardy. RVD gets the pin. Bobby Roode came to ringside and hit Jeff in the back with the belt. Then RVD got the pin. This was a good match. I wish Jeff would get rid of that freaky face paint though!

They show Bully Ray backstage and he runs into Joseph Park. Joseph says that Ray never gave him any answers last week. The Ray says he isn’t giving him answers this week either. Then Joseph says that he knows that Ray had something to do with his “brother’s” disappearance. Ray says that if he keeps sneaking around him he will be missing too. This was decent. Ray cut a good promo as usual.

Jeremy Borash is backstage. He talks about having to deal with Eric Bischoff. Then Bully Ray comes in and says he wants to hear everything JB has to say about Eric. Ray pulls him by the collar and drags him to ringside. Ray gets the mic and says that JB bullied Eric. Then they go in the ring and Ray says that he’s tired of hearing about anti-bullying. He says they should start a “Stop being a little B**ch and stand up for yourself” campaign. He says that the fans would love to see JB punch Ray. Ray says he walks all over him because he can. Then Austin Aries comes to the ring. Ray tells him not to step in the ring. Aries gets in the ring and says that when Ray called him out he called him out on his size. Then Aries says that Ray spent most of his career as a poster boy for all you can eat buffets. Then Ray says that playtime is over. He tells Aries that he represents small guys and isn’t going to stand up for himself. Ray spits in Aries face and then Aries pounds Ray. Security come in to pull Aries off Ray. Then Ray kicks Aries. This was a good segment. Ray was really good at being the over the top bully. He did it so well I was actually starting to hate him. I got a slight chuckle out of him taking a jab at the anti-bullying campaign.

They show Daniels & Kazarian backstage and Kazarian says that since Hulk didn’t give them the tag title match they took it for Sacrifice. Daniels says they will show the AJ pics. Then Kurt Angle screams at them to shut up. He says he doesn’t care about what they’re doing. Then Angle says that he make AJ tap at Sacrifice. Then Daniels & Kazarian asked each other why Angle is upset since he always wins. This was decent.

Roode is backstage saying that he has no problem beating Anderson. Then he asks why Hulk made it a No DQ. Then he says that if RVD thinks he will win the Title he’s got another thing coming. This was a good promo.

AJ Styles and Tag Team Champions Magnus & Samoa Joe vs. Kurt Angle, Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian. AJ, Magnus & Joe win when AJ pins Kazarian. This was a good match and the best part of the show. Angle gets upset with Daniels & Kazarian during & after the match. After Kurt leaves Daniels says that if AJ doesn’t reveal what his secret is next week then they will. Who cares about this?

Al Snow, Bruce Pritchard & Ric Flair are in the ring. Al says that tonight they will decide if Alex Silva gets a TNA contract. Then Al asks Silva to come out. Silva comes to the ring. Flair says he likes his attitude but says no. Pritchard says that he’s seen what Silva can do in OVW and he votes yes. AL says that he knows Silva has the desire to be on Impact. Then he says that 2 of the 3 judges need to vote yes for Silva to get a contract. Flair says no. Al says yes. Then Al tells him that he has 30 seconds to “sell” himself. Silva says that he was 13 and poor. Flair tells him not to talk to the marks (that was a stupid comment). He tells Silva to start again and has another 30 seconds. Silva says that he moved from Canada to the U.S. to get into the business. Flair changes his vote to yes. Then Pritchard says that if they hadn’t have given him the chance to speak now he would have said no. Then he votes yes. Al welcomes him to the Impact roster. I wasn’t really a big fan of this. It went a little too long for me.

Ken Anderson vs. TNA World Champion Bobby Roode in a No DQ match. Roode gets the pin. This was also a good match. Jeff Hardy came out during the match and went after Roode. Then as Jeff went over to Anderson, Anderson gave him a mic check. Then Roode hits Anderson with a chair and then gets the Fisherman Suplex for the pin. Afterwards Roode continues his attack and then RVD comes out. Roode bails. RVD turns his back and then Roode hits RVD with the chair. They lay on the mat selling Roode’s beating to end the show.

I thought this was a mixed bag show overall. I couldn’t stand the opening Hogan-Flair promo. Get those 2 off my TV NOW! The Anderson-Roode match was good stuff. The post match stuff was good too. Roode is really good as the heel champion. I thought the 6 man tag was the highlight of the show. All 6 guys worked hard. I wasn’t into the Gut Check segment. I thought the whole thing was too long. I’ve said what I think of Flair. I’m not a big fan of Al Snow or Bruce Pritchard either. This didn’t work for me. The Austin Aries-Bully Ray-JB segment was good. Ray did a great job at playing the obnoxious bully here. Aries’ promo was good too. JB cut a good promo in the backstage at the start of this also. I thought they played off of each other really well. RVD & Jeff Hardy had a good match too. The RVD-Bobby Roode segment was decent too. RVD didn’t really say much. He seemed to sound kind of zoned out. Roode’s promo was really good and that saved this segment. The Knockouts tag match was solid too. Brooke has now pinned Gail Kim 3 times so it looks like she will be challenging for the Knockouts Title next. That or a 3 Way with Velvet. Devon vs. Rob Terry was ok for what it was. Rob Terry is very limited in the ring. I’m not sure what a Devon vs. the 2 Robbies feud will do for Devon. I could also care less about this secret that Daniels & Kazarian have on AJ. I read the spoilers so I know what it is. SO overall I thought this was a middle of the road show.