8-29-13 Impact results and thoughts

Coverage and thoughts on the August 29, 2013 episode of Impact Before the show starts Brooke Tessmacher tells Ray he has her. How bad can it be? Ray & Brooke head to the ring. I’m not a fan of these backstage bits before the show starts. The actual show starts with Aces & 8s coming to the ring. Ray says he is in a really bad mood. Somebody is missing from this ring. Devon is no longer here. Ray’s concerned & he wants some answers right now. He’d like to hear from his fellow Aces & 8s members. First he asks Garrett what happened. Garrett doesn’t know, he’s just as mad about this as Ray. Then Ray asks Knox what happened. Knox says he was on the floor & did his job. Then Ray asks Wes. He doesn’t know either. Then he asks Anderson what happened to Devon. He doesn’t know either but Devon knew the consequences & any of them could’ve been gone. It is what it is. Ray agrees. It’s a disappointment. The reality is that Devon has always been a disappointment & a loser. Devon’s always been Ray’s co star & side kick. Ray never needed Devon & he never will again. Tito Ortiz is the only guy Ray needs. Out with Devon in with Tito. Ray wants to gives Tito his own “cut.” Anderson asks if Ray’s out of his mind. Ray’s just patching Tito in without a vote. Ray says he’s the president. He will do what he wants when he wants. He tells Anderson to get in line before he puts him in line. Right now Ray wants his hot Brooke out there right now. Out comes Brooke Tessmacher. Ray has an Aces & 8s vest for Tito. Anderson gets in Ray’s face & Ray forces him into the corner. Ray puts the vest on Tito. Then Ray tears off Devon’s old patch. Then Ray says if any of these guys have a problem with his decision they can get out. Ray’s the champion & will decide what happens. He’s gonna sit back & watch the BFG Series because he doesn’t have wrestle till the BFG PPV.. Then he says he heard that his “father in law” is back. He says that he can’t wait to see Hulk. Ray wants to introduce “dad” to the only Brooke that has ever mattered in his life. This was a decent opening promo. Ray was good on the mic like usual but this Aces & 8s angle is old & needs to go. Backstage Jeff Hardy says last year he had to beat Samoa Joe to get into the final 4 of the BFG Series. Now he is in the same spot this year too but this time he faces Kazarian. Kazarian beat him in a ladder match. Jeff’s out for revenge, the points & glory. Creatures mount up. This was a decent & short promo. They show Hulk Hogan coming into the arena from earlier in the day. Jeff Hardy vs. Frankie Kazarian in a Bound for Glory series match. Jeff gets the pin for 7 more points. This was a good match. Jeff is now in third place in the BFG Series. Backstage we see Aces & 8s minus Ray & Tito. Garrett asks what Ray’s problem is. Ray & Devon were together for 15 years & that’s how Ray treats him? They complain about Ray bringing Tito in with no vote. Anderson says there will be a vote tonight & Ray won’t be too thrilled with that. No 1 guy is bigger than this club. I’m tired of Aces & 8s & wasn’t into this backstage bit. ODB vs. Gail Kim in a 2 out of 3 falls match to determine the number 1 contender to the Knockouts Title. ODB wins. * Gail makes ODB tap * ODB pins Gail * ODB makes Gail tap. WINNER – ODB. This was a good match too. Backstage camera guy asks Velvet about ODB being the number 1 contender for the Knockouts Title. Velvet says ODB could take the title from Mickie & is pulling for her. Then camera guy asks about the Knockouts PPV. She says that the fans will love that show & there will be some surprises on there. Then camera guy mentions that she was supposed to be at Hardcore Justice but wasn’t. He asks why. She wasn’t because she had issues to take care of. Camera guy asks if she means Chris Sabin. She & Sabin have been together for awhile. They keep their relationship & business separate. Backstage Daniels tells Roode that Hulk is already screwing them over in his first night back. Roode says he will take care of everybody’s hero AJ Styles & Daniels will take care of Aries. Daniels says who does Aries think he is turning down their offer. He will take care of Aries next. Backstage Aries tells JB the fortune offer was a no go for him. If you want something done right do it yourself. He turned down the MEM offer too. He plans on winning the BFG Series on his own. JB mentions that AJ took the MEM offer. Aries hopes AJ makes it to the final 4. Then Daniels comes in & says how dare Aries turn down their offer. Aries says how dare Daniels comes in during his interview time. Then he says will slap Daniels so hard that his bald head will start growing hair again. This was a good interview segment. Backstage camera guy asks Hulk’s thoughts on regaining the title & Ray’s relationship with Brooke Tessmacher. Hulk says he’s got a big announcement to make. MEM minus Magnus comes to the ring. Rampage wants to get something off his chest. Tito hit him 2 weeks ago with a hammer. He’s not waiting for 11-2. Tito isn’t getting off that easily. Over here the rules are different & Tito better watch out. Joe says as he looks around he can tell that the mafia runs this town. Last week things weren’t going there way. They were outnumbered, out manned & out maneuvered. But then 1 guy stepped up & did the right thing. AJ Styles. Sting says AJ put his career on the line to go into battle for MEM. Anyone willing to do that is worthy of being part of the family. Sting thanks AJ & gets the fans to chant his name. Cue AJ’s “Evil Ways” song & he comes out. Then “Get ready to fly” plays. Is this gonna be a recurring bit with AJ? AJ appreciates MEM being out there. Then the fans loudly chant AJ. AJ then says he needs to do this himself. MEM leaves. Then AJ says that he knows that the fans wanna know if he part of MEM. He respects what they’re doing & he hopes they kick Aces & 8s butts. Then he says that he’s worn the suit & tie before & it’s not him. He’s developed trust issues over the past year. He mentions Daniels & Kazarian stabbing him in the back & then airing his dirty laundry & never even asked if any of it was true or not. Then AJ says the only person that AJ Styles can trust is Alan Jones. He says that he is with no one. Maybe the fans’ perception of him has changed but his perception of the business has changed too. He’s better than the best in the world, he’s the phenomenal AJ Styles. He loves what he does in the ring but it’s just a job. AJ says the fans can relate to what he’s talking about. They’ve had that crappy job before. AJ says that he deserves better. He’s been Dixie’s go to guy for 11 years & for what? So he can see 1 wrestler after another come in & watch him flop? To put the company back on his shoulders after every direction they take doesn’t work? There’ve been so many times in this past year he Prayed to God Dixie would can him. But he’s still here because he has a family he needs to take care of. He came to this ring & started tapping people out. Then over the next couple months something clicked in his head. He likes being the go to guy, the guy that can steel the show & send the fans home happy after giving them their money’s worth. He can still be that go to guy & carry the weight of TNA on his shoulders. The main question that needs to be answered is if he can win the BFG Series & become world champion. Then out comes Bobby Roode. Break time. This was a really good promo. AJ Styles vs. Bobby Roode in a Bound for Glory series match. AJ gets the pin for 7 more points. This was also a good match. AJ is now in 5th place in the BFG Series. Backstage Daniels says that will beat Aries next. Backstage JB is standing outside Hulk’s dressing room. He basically says that Hulk will cut his in ring promo after the next match. Austin Aries vs. Christopher Daniels in a Bound for Glory series match. Aries gets the pin for 7 more points. This match was also good. Aries is now in 2nd place. The final 4 are Magnus, Aries, Roode & Jeff Hardy. Backstage Ray tells Tito that he feels bad for Hulk after all he has done to the Hogan family, but then he snapped out of it. Then he says he has Hulk right where he wants him. He tells Tito to make sure Hulk doesn’t step out of line. Ray & Brooke then make their way to the ring. Hulk Hogan comes to the ring. The fans chant Hogan. Hulk says it sounds like they missed him “brothers.” He’s been busy the last couple weeks. While he’s been taking care of business everyone tore it up with Hardcore Justice. Then he says it’s great to be back on Impact right here in Cleveland “brother.” The fans chant Hogan again. Hulk asks for someone in the truck to get the BFG Series board on the Tron. On 9-12 everyone’s going to St. Louis for No Surrender. Hulk changed the landscape. He met with the Spike executives & they all agreed that the series deserves 1 more match next week. Next week there will be a gauntlet match for 20 points with all 12 BFG Series guys. Before Hulk can get to his next topic Bully Ray & Brooke Tessmacher come out. Ray missed “dad” a lot. It hasn’t been the same without him. A lot has happened since Hulk’s been away. Ray has the world title again. Ray has been waiting to introduce Hulk to Tessmacher. Hulk says Ray can stop. Hulk’s been taking care of both wrestling & personal business. Hulk got a set of divorce papers. Hulk’s beautiful Brooke is moving on whether Ray likes it or not “dude.” Ray asks if Hulk thinks that he cares about that. Ray never cared about Brooke Hogan. He’s done something no other guy has done. He used Brooke. He also used Hulk, Sting & the Hulkaminiacs. He’s got Tito & Aces & 8s. He doesn’t have to do crap till BFG. Hulk asks Ray if he knows who he is. Hulk runs the show, not Ray. He will give Ray something that he will care about. Hulk will start tearing Ray apart just like Ray did to him. In 2 weeks Ray will defend the world title against a fellow Aces & 8s guy. Ray says Hulk can’t do that. Hulk says in 2 weeks Ray will defend that belt against an Aces & 8s guy. Hulk then says that Ray will also be defending the title against Sting WHAT!? Sting gets in the ring & he & Ray go at it. Ray rolls out of the ring. He & Brooke bail & Sting stands in the ring to end the show. This was a typical Hogan segment. Ray was good with his promo but I’m not sure why they’re having another BFG Series gauntlet match. Is Ray defending the title twice in 2 weeks? First Hulk says Ray will defend the title against an Aces & 8s guy & then tells him that he will defend the title against Sting. Why’d they even bother having the stipulation back in June that if Sting lost to Ray he would never get another world title match if they were gonna wave that like they do EVERY stip!? I thought this week’s show had its ups & downs for sure. There were only 4 matches (Jeff-Kazarian, AJ-Roode, Aries-Daniels & ODB-Gail) but they were all great. I also loved AJ Styles’ promo! That was 1 of his greatest promos ever! The opening segment with Aces & 8s was decent. Ray was good with his promo like usual. I wasn’t really into the closing segment. Why is Hulk Hogan having Ray defend the title twice? Will 1 title defense be on next week’s taped show & the other on the live 1 in 2 weeks? I’m also not sure what the point of another BFG Series gauntlet is. They had 1 already! I liked the Aries-Daniels interview segment backstage too. Velvet’s promo made no sense to me? Why have her talk about her relationship with Chris Sabin? Having her say that she was pulling for ODB was decent & I get the Knockouts PPV plug but the Sabin part made no sense. The MEM segment that lead to AJ coming out was decent & Jeff Hardy cut a good & short backstage promo. I wasn’t a fan of the Aces & 8s backstage bit. This group is stale. I liked the Daniels-Roode bit backstage too. Both guys were good in that. So overall I thought this was a decent to solid show. There were 4 good matches, a great AJ Styles promo but there was also Aces & 8s & Hulk Hogan.