Coverage and thoughts on the February 28, 2013 episode of Impact
They start the show with Ray & Brooke walking into the Impact Zone. Camera guy asks for an update on Hulk. They say there’s not a lot to say. Hulk is badly messed up.
The actual show starts with Bully Ray coming out. He’s looking for Taz who isn’t on commentary. Then Ray gets in the ring. He says it’s cool to be back in the Impact Zone but he’s never been more pissed off in his life. For the past year Aces & 8s has been running rough shot over TNA. He mentions everyone they’ve attacked. He says they ruined his wedding to Brooke. Last week should’ve been a huge week for TNA. We were going to see Hulk’s return to the ring but that didn’t happen because of Aces & 8s. Ray says he will get his hand son Devon so bad, he will never ever want to get in a ring again. There’s 1 guy he also wants to speak to. The guy everyone’s been waiting to see for the past month. The guy he will face at Lockdown for the TNA World Title. Jeff Hardy. Out comes Jeff. Ray tells Jeff that he & Jeff would be getting ready to face each other for the title. Everyone knows about their history, but he doesn’t feel right about this. Ray doesn’t want a title match just because he’s Hulk’s son in law. Hulk set up those matches and would make his decision based on who impressed him the most. Ray says he’s not sure if he’s the right guy to face Jeff at Lockdown. Jeff says it’s great to be back on Impact and he loves the fact the Hulk chose him. Jeff & Ray have sung chairs, climbed ladders & broke tables. Now they take it to the cage. They’ve reinvented themselves & at Lockdown they’ll reinvent their history. Then Daniels & Kazarian come out. Kazarian says Ray shouldn’t feel good about this because he never earned the title match. Thunder Lips gave it to him just like he gave him Brooke. But somebody has to rub oil on her and post pics of her on Twitter. Daniels says last month he outwrestled Jeff and the only reason Jeff won was because Daniels had an allergic reaction to Jeff’s paint. Daniels says Jeff & Ray don’t want to face him & Kazarian. Then Ray drinks Daniels appletini and drinks it. Then spits it back into the glass Ray tells “baldy” real men don’t drink appletinis. They brawl for a bit and then Daniels & Kazarian bail. Then Ray says that tonight he & Jeff will face Daniels & Kazarian. This was a good segment to start the show. Daniels & Kazarian were really good as usual.
Sting is in the GM office with Magnus. Sting says there’re a lot of names on a list he’s looking at. Magnus says it should be him. He says that TNA took a chance with him and that Sting mentored him. That meant the world to him. He wants to be not just on Team TNA, but on Team Sting. Then he asks why and says why not.
Gail Kim is on commentary for the Knockouts Title match.
Knockouts Champion Velvet Sky vs. Tara for the Title. Velvet gets the pin. This was decent but short.
Austin Aries is on the phone with Roode. He mentions they have a photo shoot tonight. Then he talks about a 3 way tag title match they have at Lockdown against Chavo & Hernandez and Daniels & Kazarian. Then Chavo & Hernandez come in. Chavo says Aries should be worried about his match. Aries says he doesn’t have a match. Chavo mentioned that Aries said he will face anybody. Chavo tells Aries that he will face Hernandez. This was alright but I’m tired of the Chavo & Hernandez team.
Backstage camera guy asks Kenny King what he will be doing next since he lost to Rob Van Dam again. Kenny says he will talk to RVD. Kenny goes into Van Dam’s locker room and demands Van Dam give him another title match. RVD doesn’t want to because he has beaten Kenny so many times. Then he says that if Kenny beats him, Kenny can be the champion. If RVD beats him, Kenny is out of the X Division. This was ok but what will they do with Kenny if they have him lose and why are we getting this match again?
Taz is now on commentary.
Hernandez vs. TNA World Tag Team Champion Austin Aries. Aries gets the pin after hitting Hernandez with a chain. This was solid.
Sting & Joseph Park are backstage. Park his eating ribs. Now he knows what a rib is. Park then asks Sting to pick him to be on Team TNA. Sting will consider him. Then Sting goes out to the hallway and there’s Matt Morgan. Sting knows Matt’s looking for opportunities & Sting asks him to be on Team TNA. Morgan says Hulk put Sting up to this. Then he says that anyone who has anything to do with Hulk is guilty by association so Morgan says no. This was weak. I’m tired of them using the “inside” lingo in promos. Morgan was ok here though.
X Division Champion Rob Van Dam vs. Kenny King for the Title. Kenny gets the pin to win the Title. This was a good match. I’m glad they finally put the X Title on Kenny.
Sting is backstage and Kurt Angle asks if Sting has his list of guys of Lockdown. Sting shows it to Angle. Angle says you’re gonna pick him (I’m guessing Joseph Park). Sting says that desperate times call for desperate measures. Angle tells Sting to take care of business and he will too. Thankfully this was really short.
Aces & 8s come to the ring. Devon says Sting believes that he has a team that can take on Aces & 8s. Sting really thinks he has a team that can dominate this club. He doesn’t know what Sting’s thinking, but he thinks Sting has been drinking the Kool aid Hulk’s been giving everyone all these years. Devon says this is the club that will dominate TNA in 2013. Doc, Knox, Anderson & Garrett along with himself. All Sting’s doing is giving shattered dreams. Devon says Lockdown will be no different than BFG. Aces & 8s will reign supreme once again. Sting will lead his team to the slaughter. Testify to that. Out comes Sting. He says his first team mate is Samoa Joe. Joe comes out. Sting says he’s sorry about this. Devon asks sorry about what. Cue James Storm’s music and he comes out. Sting’s next team mate is making his victorious return to the Impact Zone, Magnus. He comes out too. The fifth guy is somebody who was put out by Aces & 8s. Anderson Anderson
Time for a video package on 1 of tonight’s Gut Check contestants Ivelese Velez. She sacrificed here relationship with her mom to get into wrestling because her mom was against it. It took time to mend that fence because she was pretty much living on the streets at that point. Tonight she will take her spot light in the Gut Check. This was good too.
Outside the Arena Aces & 8s are all pissed and they Storm off. Kurt Angle shows up and follows them.
Time for a video package on tonight’s other Gut Check contestant. Lei’d Tapa. She is the Barbarian’s niece. She’s looking to win the competition and make her uncle proud. This was a good video also.
JB is in the ring. It is time to meet the Gut Check combatants. Ivelise comes out first. Then out comes Lei’d Tapa.
Ivelieze Velez vs. Lei’d Tapa. Velez wins by submission. This was a good match.
Jeff Hardy is backstage and Austin Aries comes in. Aries says he’s pulling for Jeff because because Ray is the golden child. Now Jeff knows how Aries felt when he fought Jeff. Aries hopes Jeff overcomes the odds like he couldn’t. Then he wishes him luck tonight in his tag match. This was a solid backstage bit. I liked Aries promo.
Time for a video package on AJ Styles. We hear from his wife, a guy named Jay Oliver. He says AJ is a different guy. The wife says the same and she talks about the Claire Lynch crap. When you don’t see someone you’ve been married to for 12 years can he be trusted. The friend says he’s known him for years. The wife says she can’t talk about this anymore. Back to Jay Oliver and AJ Styles comes in. He has a beard now. He tells Jay that he doesn’t get and rides off on his motorbike. This was awful. I’m really hoping they don’t go overboard with AJ being this “different guy” when he returns.
Time for a recap at the splitting up of the Robbies.
Robbie E is in the ring. He says sometimes in life a bro has to admit when there’s a bigger and better bro. He’s come to that realization. He asks Rob Terry to come to the ring. Rob Terry comes out. E says this thing has gotten way out of hand. E slapping T in the face was him crossing the line. He risked their friendship “bro.” E says them being friends the past 2 years has meant the world to him. E says that T is the better bro and he will let him prove it with 1 more “bro off.” E says let’s have some fun like old times. Then the play E’s music and he dances or whatever. He says bigger Rob is the bro off champion and he deserves the spot light. E will leave the ring so bigger Rob can give the fans what they want (I don’t wanna see this). Then they play some other music and Terry does his “bro off”. Then E hits breaks a poster over Terry’s head. E poses and Terry gets up, flexes and E bails. This was stupid.
Backstage Aries goes over to Ray. Aries says he’s pulling for him. Ray doesn’t by it. He says that Aries is 1 of the best wrestlers in the world and a great tag wrestler. Ray knows something about the tag belts and he tells Aries to get used to being a tag champion because Ray is going to be world champion. He tells Aries to get out of his face. This was solid too. Aries is really good as a heel and I liked that Ray didn’t fall for Aries’ bit.
Back to Kurt Angle. He says that if Aces & 8s want a fight they’ve got 1. He’s followed them to their clubhouse and goes inside.
TNA World Champion Jeff Hardy & Bully Ray vs. Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian. Jeff & Ray win when Jeff pins Kazarian. This was good too.
Back to Kurt Angle and he beats the crap out of Aces & 8s in the clubhouse. Then he brawls with the VP. Angle rips off his mask and Angle asks him “How could you?” Then Aces & 8s beat down Angle to end the show. They never showed the leader. This was kind of a weak ending to the show. I’m really hoping that they don’t take forever to reveal who the Aces & 8s leader is now that Angles has unmasked him.
I thought this was a solid show overall. The promo that started the show was good and the main event tag match was good too. The end was a bit weak and I hope they say who they Aces & 8s leader is next week. RVD-Kenny King was also good and I’m glad they put the X Division Title on Kenny. Velez-Tapa was also good. Velvet-Tara was decent but short. The Team Sting-Aces & 8s segment was really good also and I liked the surprise return of Eric Young. Aries was good too in his backstage bits with Jeff & Ray. Ray was good too in that bit. Hernandez-Aries was a solid match also. I wasn’t into most of the backstage segments. The Rob Terry-Robbie E segment was stupid, but they’ve officially split up that team & Rob Terry is a face. The video with AJ Styles’ wife and friend was stupid and AJ looked weird with a beard. I’m really hoping that they don’t go overboard with AJ being a different guy or whatever this is gonna be. The camera guy asking guys bit was something I really didn’t miss when they did the UK shows. The Sting-Magnus bit was decent and the Sting-Angle bit backstage was thankfully short, so that made it better. On the whole I thought this week’s show was solid.
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