Coverage and thoughts on the May 31, 2012 live episode of Impact
The show starts with Sting vs. TNA World Champion Bobby Roode in a Lumberjack match. Sting wins by submission. This was a really good match. Afterwards Hulk Hogan comes out and says that Sting is Impact’s number one man. Hulk then says that he will make headline news right now. The main event at Slammiversary will be Sting vs. Bobby Roode for the World Title. The match was great. Hulk announcing Sting-Roode for the PPV was kinda odd. Why is Sting getting the Title match?
Madison Rayne is backstage talking about how she and Brooke will get along great. Then she says “he” might be watching.
Bully Ray is in the ring and he says he’s looking for Joseph Park. Park is in the crowd. Ray says that he’s surprised Joseph’s there. Then Ray asks if he forgot that Ray laid him out last week. Then he tells the guy in the production truck to roll the clip. Ray says that he wants to fight Joseph right now. Joseph comes to the front row and says that he doesn’t wanna fight. Ray says that’s because he’s a coward. Then Ray says that his parents are cowards, but most of all Abyss is a coward. Then Joseph comes over the guard rail and security holds him back. Ray says to let him go. Joseph reluctantly gets in the ring. Then Ray says he wants to fight him right now. The fans chant fight. Joseph says he’s not a fighter. Ray says that’s fine he doesn’t wanna fight him. Then Ray changes his plea to guilty. Guilty of leaving Abyss for dead. Ray asks Joseph what he’s gonna do now. Joseph grabs him by the throat and Ray dropped to his knees. Ray says that if Joseph hits him then Ray will sue him. Then Ray says that Joseph is a coward just like his brother. Ray walks out. Then Joseph says if Ray wants to fight, “Let’s do this right now.” Ray taunts him on the mic and says they’ll fight at Slammiversary. Good segment. Ray was great on the mic as always and Joseph had great facial expressions.
They showed a video package recapping Crimson’s undefeated streak. Then he says he can’t be beat.
X Division Champion Austin Aries vs. Chris Sabin for the Title. Aries gets the pin. This was a really good back and forth match.
They show Hulk Hogan backstage with Taz from earlier in the day. Taz is the new gut check judge. Taz says we will see the real Taz. Hulk says the gut check is the future of TNA. Hulk thanks Taz for stepping up. This was a decent segment.
They show Bruce Pritchard, Al Snow & Taz in an office. Taz says they’ll but heads at some point. Then they talk about Joey Ryan’s look. Al goes for it, saying he stands out. Taz agrees. Pritchard says he’s trying to be something he’s not. Al disagrees. Bruce says that some guys thought Joey was better than Alex Silva. Taz says that Joey didn’t look like he was in for the fight of his life. They debate about giving him a contract. This was crazy. I have no idea why they had Taz say that Joey Ryan stayed in character. I know this is a work but you don’t have to remind us. I thought they were doing away with the whole, “This is real, this is fake” idiocy.
The show Jeremy Borash backstage with Ken Anderson, Jeff Hardy, RVD & Robbie E. They mention that by the fan’s votes one of them will challenge Devon for the TV Title.
Dixie Carter comes to the ring. She says that in 10 days TNA will be 10 years old. She’s proud of everyone who’s stepped in the ring. Then she thanks the fans. Then she says that June 10 (Dixie said September 10) will be a special night. She says that they will announce the first TNA hall of fame inductee. Then she says they’ll be live all summer. She then says that they have the best female wrestlers in the world. Then she mentions that who she’s going to bring out next knows a lot about the business. She introduced the new head of the Knockouts division, Brooke Hogan. Brooke comes to the ring. Dixie welcomes Brooke to Impact. Dixie says she’s looking forward to what Brooke will do. Brooke says this is amazing and she thanks Dixie and the fans. Brooke says she know that Dixie wants the Knockouts to be seen as talented and powerful. Then she says that she has some big yellow boot to fill. Then she says that she will work her butt off and she thanks Dixie again. I wasn’t into this.
Kazarian & Daniels are backstage and they mention that she never mention the AJ bit. Daniels says they can’t be stopped on live TV. Daniels says he will take out AJ later. Good backstage segment.
They show November 13, 2005 when Christian made his TNA debut.
Time to find out who will challenge Devon for the TV Title. Devon comes to the ring.
They go backstage to JB with the contenders. JB says the winner is Jeff Hardy.
TV Champion Devon vs. Jeff Hardy for the Title. The match goes to a no finish when Robbie E & Rob Terry come in. Devon & Jeff clean house on the Robbies. The match was good but I’m getting really tired of the 2 Robbies. This is the second week in a row they’ve been taken out by Devon and a second guy.
They show a James Storm video package. He’s on his ranch and he says that’s how he was brought up. Then he talks about Roode being the it factor in wrestling, but Storm’s home is his it. Then he talks about losing to Roode at Lockdown. Storm says he doesn’t like letting down his family, friends or the fans. Storm says he’s made his decision. Then his daughter asks if that means he’s going back to wrestling. Storm tells the camera man to turn the camera off. This was a good promo.
They show a video package recapping the AJ-Angle-Daniels-Kazarian storyline.
Jeremy Borash and the gut check judges are in the ring. JB then introduces Joey Ryan. He comes to the ring. Joey says that he is a big deal and that he is trending on twitter. Then he says that most of the fans voted yes for him. Then JB asks Bruce. Bruce says Joey’s a good talent but his answer is no. Al Snow’s turn. Al says that he doesn’t like Joey. He says that he doesn’t like his attitude but it isn’t about if he likes him or not. Then Al votes yes. Joey says that he’s too good not to have a contract. Time for Taz to break the tie. Taz says that he’s gonna keep it reel. Taz says if that was the promo to save his life, he’s out of his mind. Joey says that Taz doesn’t scare him. Taz says that he has forgotten about more about wrestling than Joey has learned and he votes no. Taz then says that Joey messed up his promo. Then Taz tells Joey to improve and return down the line to prove him wrong but his answer is still no. This was terrible. I knew they were gonna vote now this time.
They show a Bobby Roode promo from London
AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels. AJ gets the pin. This was a good match. Afterwards Kazarian comes in and he & Daniels beat down AJ. Then Kurt Angle comes out to even the odds. Daniels kicks Angle low. Then Kazarian gets piece of plastic from under the ring and cuff Angle to the ropes. Then Kazarian hits AJ with a belt. Then Daniels gets the mic and says that they’ve shown pics and videos but the fans still don’t believe them. Daniels then says that he says proof positive of the AJ-Dixie affair right from their own mouths. Then the play a recording of an AJ-Dixie phone call. Then Dixie comes out and gets on the phone. She tells the production guy to turn the call off. Then she drops an f bomb and tells the guy he’s finished. This ends the show. Good match but the whole bit with Dixie at the end was stupid.
I thought this was a good show on the whole. The Sting-Roode match was good. I wasn’t really into Hogan setting up Sting-Roode for the PPV however. I liked the AJ-Daniels match but the AJ-Dixie phone call was stupid. Aries-Sabin was a good match. Those guys are great wrestlers. I liked the Joseph Park-Ray promo too. They both did the usual great job there. The Devon-Jeff Hardy match was decent but I wasn’t into the no finish. I thought the James Storm segment was good. I wasn’t into the gut check segment and the Brooke-Dixie segment was terrible. Overall though I thought that for the first live show this was solid.
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