9-20-12 Impact results and thoughts

     Coverage and thoughts on the September 20, 2012 episode of Impact

The show starts with Hulk Hogan & Shaquelle O’Neil backstage. They talk about Aces & 8s going after Brooke. Shac says he has Hulks back.

AJ Styles & Kurt Angle come to the ring. Angle says a few months ago he & AJ were tag champions but got screwed by Daniels & Kazarian. He then says that at No Surrender they got screwed by Daniels & Kazarian again. But last week AJ beat Kazarian so they can get a rematch. He mentions that Chavo beat Daniels for him and Hernandez to also get a tag title match. Angle says this is open fight night and everyone deserves to know who the real number one contenders are. Angle calls out Hernandez & Chavo.

AJ Styles & Kurt Angle vs. Hernandez & Chavo Guerrero, Jr. The match goes to a no finish when Daniels & Kazarian run in and attack AJ & Chavo (I called that). Then Hernandez comes in and Daniels & Kazarian bail out of the ring and pose on the ramp. Then Hulk Hogan comes out with a baseball bat. He says that every single picture tells a story. He says that he’s dealing with Aces & 8s and now he’s gotta deal with this. Then Hulk says that at Bound for Glory it will be a triple threat for the tag titles (I knew that was coming too). The match was good but I knew Daniels & Kazarian were going to run in and cause a no finish. Hulk booking the 3 way at BFG was also predictable.

AL Snow is backstage and the cameraman asks Al how long it had been since he got a haircut. Al says it had been about 12 years and his wife wasn’t thrilled with that. Then the camera guy asks Al about Gut Check. Al talks about the next contestant being only 18. The camera guy asks about Joey Ryan. Al mentions everything that’s happened with Joey. Al says he doesn’t think he crossed a line because he gave Ryan a chance and he backed down. Al then mentions that he’s headed to the office right now. This segment was a bit odd. I’m not sure what the point of the haircut comment was. I was ok with Al mentioning the next Gut Check guy and talking about Joey Ryan though.

Hulk Hogan is on his phone with Joseph Park. He finds out that Park has the key piece of evidence. Hulk says that he is sending security to escort Joseph into the arena when he gets there. Hulk then tells Joseph to come right to him.

The show a video package on Evan Markopoulos.

Dixie Carter & Bruce Pritchard are in the GM office talking about Aces & 8s. Then Al Snow comes in. She says Hulk wanted Bruce & Al to meet. This was a waste. Dixie & Bruce just talked about how Aces & 8s are winning the “battle.” Not much to this.

Time for Evan Markopoulos to have his gut check match. Out comes Doug Williams (Nice to see Doug Williams on TV).

Evan Markopoulos vs. Doug Williams. Doug wins by submission. This was decent. Williams dominated most of this. They had the gut check contestant lose again. Will they ever have a contestant win a match?

James Storm comes to the ring. He says that he gets to come out and talk on the mic. He says he’s good at talking trash but he backs it up. He says that last week he said he was going to call out 1 coward. Storm says that he wants Roode’s blood on his hands. Then Storm says that this isn’t going to be a wrestling match. This will be a guy kicking a coward’s ass match. The guy’s in the ring. He just needs the coward to come on out. Bobby Roode comes in his suit. Roode asks Storm if he want him to get in the ring and fight him. Roode says he’s not prepared to fight. Then he says that Storm will never ever be as good as he is no matter how hard Storm tries. He will never duplicate Roode’s success. As long as the “It factor” is around Storm will never be World Champion. Roode then says that he’s not fighting Storm and walks to the back.

Then Roode is backstage and Hulk tells Roode that he was called out and has to fight. Hulk then says that Roode has 3 minutes to decide if he wants to take the match or have not just the night off, but the week, month and year with no more money coming in.

Back to the show and Storm says he doesn’t have all night. He tells Roode to get his ass out there so he can kick it. Roode comes back out, still in his suit. He takes his jacket and tie off and his shirt as he slowly walks to the ring. Storm then comes out and attacks Roode. They go at it on the stage. The brawl continues below the stage and to ringside. Roode then throws Storm in the ring and the referee calls for the bell.

James Storm vs. Bobby Roode. (Why is this match happening before Bound for Glory?) Storm pushes the ref and he calls for the bell. The brawl continues. They go into the crowed. Storm gets the upper hand. The brawl continues and for some reason Brian Hebner is till trying to break it up but Roode & Storm shove him again. Then they brawl to the back. Storm rams Roode face first into the door. This was a good brawl. They fought mostly outside the ring. I thought this was entertaining.

Hulk Hogan is talking with some guy. Hulk says he needs someone to find Joseph Park. Then his phone rings and it’s the Aces & 8s guys. It turns out they kidnapped Park. Hulk says he will give this some quick thought and get back to him. Then he says they’ll play and play hard. Then Hulk shouts to the other guy saying he knows where Joseph is. This was week. How’d Aces & 8s get Hulks cell number? They better have some kind of pay off to this at Bound for Glory because now it’s starting to get stale.  

Austin Aries asks Jeff if they can talk. Aries says that he’s feeling slighted because everyone is talking about Jeff. Aries says that Jeff has accomplished more than he has. Aries says that this is more about what he wants that Jeff has. He says that he will show Jeff that anything Jeff can do he can do also. This was a decent segment.

Tara comes to the ring. She says that everyone has been asking why she turned on Tessmacher. She says that the fans disgust him and that they use her to get on TV. She says it took someone really special, her boy friend from Hollywood. He opened her eyes and reminded her that she is the best female wrestler there is. She then says that Brooke used her to get the Knockouts title. Then she says that tonight she is calling out her victim. Christie Hemme. She tells Christie to get in the ring now. The fans chant Christie and Tara says the fans are waiting for her. Christie gets in the ring. Tara wants her to say who her favorite knockout is. Christie says Tessmacher. Then Tara roughs her up for a bit. Then Tessmacher comes to the ring and Tara bails. This was good too. I thought Tara cut a really good heel promo.

Brooke Hogan & Tara are backstage. Tara says she doesn’t need friends. She’s here to be champion. Brooke says there will be consequences for her actions. Thankfully this was short. I thought Hulk didn’t want Brooke to be in the Impact Zone!!

Hulk Hogan comes to the ring. He has a quick update on Aces & 8s. He mentions that they grabbed Joseph Park. Hulk mentions that Aces & 8s want to play hard ball. Hulk’s the right guy. Then Hulk says that he will be in their club house next week. Then he says that Joseph was a guy doing a job for him. Then he says that the deal is the return Joseph and they get Hulk in their club house. Aces & 8s are on the Tron. He says that when Hulk comes in to their house it’s club house rules. Then he says that Joseph’s job is getting close to Aces & 8s business. Then another Aces & 8s guy sledgehammers a lap top. They show Joseph and he says they might have destroyed his computer but he still has all the weeks of work in his head. Then another Aces & 8s guy hits him. This was the usual Aces & 8s segment. This is really starting to become same old every week.

They show a Jeff Hardy video package. He talks about winning the BFG Series and hopes that all the matches he went through will be worth it. He says that when he shows up at BFG the fans can expect to see their guy. And he will be the new World Champion. This was a solid video.

Austin Aries comes to the ring. He says that was a nice little Jeff Hardy video package. He mentions that they showed that right before he came out. He then says that he isn’t the hunted but the hunter and Jeff is the target. Then he mentions that Jeff has beaten Bully Ray twice in the last month. He mentions that when he beat Ray, Ray said it was luck. He says that when Jeff beat Ray he said that was a fluke too. He says it isn’t luck. It’s skill. Then he calls Ray out. They show Ray backstage saying in disbelief. Then he comes to the ring saying he can’t believe what he just heard. Then he gets the mic and says it sounded like Aries called him out. Aries says that’s true. Ray says he’s beaten the crap out of him once and he will again. Aries says that he might do that but he will have to. Ray says that people don’t call him out. He calls people out. Then he tells a fan not to touch him or he will punch him in his face. Aries says that the fan isn’t his kind of guy. Then Aries says that if the fan attacks Ray again he will punch him in the face too. Ray says it’s obvious…Then Aries does a spinning dive on Ray to the outside. Aries punches Ray in front of the guard rail. Then rams Ray face first into the steel steps. Then they get in the ring. Ray asks for a time out but the bell rings.

TNA World Champion Austin Aries vs. Bully Ray. Ray gets the pin. This was a good match. Earl Hebner got bumped into. Then Aires locked Ray in the Last Chancery and Ray tapped but the ref was out. Then Ray got his chain and hit Aries with it. Then he kicked it out of the ring and covered Aries. Hebner of course came to and counted 3. Afterwards Ray has someone hand him the world title. He gets in the ring and was going hit Aries. Then Jeff Hardy comes out and runs Ray off. Then Jeff picks up the belt and Aries snatches it. Jeff & Aries have words and that ends the show.

I thought this was a solid show overall. I liked the opening tag match but I knew Daniels & Kazarian were going to run in. I also called the 3 way for Bound for Glory. The main event match was good too. Aries was also good on the mic. I liked how he mentioned that even though he is the champion he is still the hunter. Ray was great as usual on the mic too. His reaction to Aries calling him out was awesome. The Storm-Roode brawl was entertaining too. I’m not sure why Brian Hebner let them fight most of the match outside the ring but called for the bell when they shoved him, or why he was trying to break it up after the bell, but I thought the brawl was good. I’m not sure why they did this before Bound for Glory however. The Tara-Christie-Tessmacher segment was good too. Tara was really good with her heel promo. She did a great job. The Jeff Hardy BFG video package was well done also. The Hulk Hogan-Aces & 8s bit is starting to get old and I’m hoping they further this storyline going into Bound for Glory. The Aces & 8s guy having Hulk’s cell number doesn’t make sense and having them show up on the Tron all the time is getting old too. It’s really hard to hear what that guy says. The Dixie-Pritchard segment was meaningless. Brooke Hogan telling Tara that she was disappointed in her heel turn was week too. Aries was good in the backstage bit with Jeff too. I’m not sure why they’re having him say that he’s looking for the cheers from the fans when the fans have been cheering for him for months, but I thought he was good with his promo. Evan Markopoulos-Doug Williams was ok too. Having Shac at the start of the show saying that he’s got Hulk’s back and then not being on the rest of the show was kind of odd. Tenay also mentioned that the TV Title will be on the line next week, but he never said anything about the title being vacant. On the whole though I thought they had a solid show this week.