4-11-13 Impact results and thoughts

Coverage and thoughts on the April 11, 2013 episode of Impact  

The show starts with Jeff Hardy backstage. Hulk asks him if he’s ready for tonight. Jeff says he was born ready. Jeff asks Hulk if he thinks Ray’s ready. Hulk says this is Jeff’s night to regain the belt.

Chavo & Hernandez come out with some boxing guy, who has a Mexican flag. Then Aries & Roode come out and attack Chavo & Hernandez from behind.

Chavo Guerrero & Hernandez vs. TNA World Tag Team Champions Austin Aries & Bobby Roode in a 2/3 Falls match for the Titles. Chavo & Hernandez win to regain the Titles. * Roode pins Chavo * Chavo pins Aries * Chavo pins Roode. The first 2 falls were less than 5 minutes combined but the third fall was decent.  

Backstage we see Brooke Hogan. Joey Ryan shows up and if she needs him to referee a knockouts match he’s ready. Brooke says that she has a referee. Then she says that Joey embarrassed her last week and he has a match tonight. We’ll see who the bigger man really is. Brooke walks off and Joey asks who is bigger than he is. This was weak.

We see Aces & 8s outside the building.

Joseph Park comes to the ring. He says his issue is with Aces & 8s. More specifically Bully Ray. What Ray & the others have done to this company is down right wrong and it stops right now. The word that comes to his mind isn’t revenge or retribution. It’ justice and tonight justice will be served when Jeff wins back the world title. But justice won’t there for Ray. Then Park holds up some papers. He’s taken it upon himself to set up documents to offiaclly end the Ray-Brooke marriage. Out comes Devon. Park tells him TNA officials gave him this time. Devon rips up the papers. Then he says if Park has a problem with Ray then he has a problem with him too. He tells Park to go back to whatever rock he crawled put from under and tells him to stay out of the family business. Park picks the torn paper and when he turns around Devon hits him with a chain. This was a short decent segment.    

Time for a video package recapping the Taryn Terrell-Gail Kim rivalry.

Taryn Terrell vs. Gail Kim. ODB is the referee. Taryn gets the pin. This was decent. Then Gail gets in ODB’s face & ODB chases her to the back.

Then Christie asks Taryn how she feels. Taryn has waited a long time to get physical with Gail, but the question is who wants to get physical with her?

They show Magno & Adam Pierce backstage. We’ll see who will face the gut check judges next.

They show Danny Davis, Al Snow & Bruce Pritchard discussing the Magno-Pierce match from last week.

Then they show the judges backstage with Magno & Pierce. Bruce says that only 1 of them can go to the ring and face the gut check tonight. Magno has his entire career ahead of him. Pierce has been wrestling for 17 years. That could be negative or positive. Magno gets the nod. Pierce shakes Pritchard’s hand & walks out.

Time for an AJ Styles video package.

Backstage camera guy tells Hulk there’s a lot of pressure on TNA. Hulk says there’s a lot of pressure with the TNA Title on the line. Hulk’s also looking for an answer from AJ Styles. Then the camera guy asks what about Sting? Hulk doesn’t say anything. This was a typical promo we get from Hulk.

Then outside the building camera guy asks AJ what he’s going to do about Aces & 8s. Then Ken Anderson comes by with another Aces & 8s vest. He knows that AJ will do the right thing. This was alright.

Time for a video package on the Jeff-Ray title match.

Hulk Hogan comes to the ring. The fans chant Hogan. Hulk says the TNA Impact zone is on fire in Corpus Christi. He’s out here to get down to business. There’s a lot going down tonight. We got full metal mayhem, but first Hulk tells AJ to come to the ring and let everyone know where he stands. Out comes AJ holding the Aces & 8s vest. Hulk says there’re in the middle of a crazy war and he needs to know whose side AJ is on “Brother.” AJ doesn’t respond well to ultimatums. Then James Storm comes out. He says he’s not out there to hear what side AJ is on or to even drink beer. He’s out there because they’re gonna fight. Then out come Daniels & Kazarian. Kaz tells “Toby Keith” to step aside. They’re out there to mend fences and they see right through what’s happening. He & Daniels know the game is being played. Thunder lips is gonna try to convince AJ to join his team because Aces & 8s have destroyed TNA. Aces & 8s are looking to recruit TNA’s number 1 guy for 11 years. Daniels says no matter which side AJ picks he loses. Daniels & Francois want him on their side. Daniels knows that the Claire Lynch crap was bad, but wasn’t it worse Dixie stopped believing in him, when Hulk stopped trusting him and when the fans turned on him. Daniels mentions the title he & AJ have won and says it would be great if was Daniels, Kaz & AJ against the world. Storm gets in AJ’s face and the fans chant Hogan. AJ leaves the ring, looks at Daniels & Kazarian and then heads for the back. But Hulk says since AJ won’t make a decision then he will. AJ will face Storm next week on Impact brother. This was a solid segment. I‘m not into having AJ do the old Sting, “whose side is he on” bit from WCW. Hulk was his usual over the top self. Daniels & Kazarian were great as usual.

 Backstage Kurt Angle says the balance of power changes in the TNA-Aces & 8s war tonight when Jeff Hardy wins back the world title. He asked Hulk for a handicapped match with Wes & Garrett for next week. He will show those ungrateful punks a wrestling lesson.

Rob Terry vs. Joey Ryan. Terry gets the pin. This was a pointless squash.

Backstage we see Magno. He will face the gut check judges next.

Backstage we see Hulk & Brooke. Hulk wants Brooke to watch the title match from his suite. Brooke needs to be at ringside to see “Mark” lose the title. She’ll have Ronnie from Atlas with her (This time Hulk doesn’t tell her to take 2 security guys). Brooke walks off and then Matt Morgan comes in. He says Hulk should have made him the number 1 contender at Lockdown. If he had Ray wouldn’t be champion and this crap with his daughter wouldn’t be happening. He then says that Hulk is making a Hogan mistake and he tells him to keep the mistakes coming because eventually it will come crashing down on him. This was awful. I’m really tired of the Hogans and Brooke calling Ray “Mark” was stupid. Why do they feel the need to call talent by their real names?

JB is in the ring with Danny Davis, Bruce Pritchard & Al Snow. Then JB brings out Magno. JB says Magnos’ future lies in the balance. Davis goes first. It seems to Davis that the fans have made a decision but he hasn’t yet. If Magno was in OVW he would make him a star. But they’re on Impact nationwide, so he has to agree with the fans and vote no. Then JB says that since Davis voted no Magno has to cut a promo. Magno says there’re a lot of goals in life. He wants the world to know him as Magno, Impact wrestler. Pritchard’s turn. He tells Magno that he has his whole career ahead of him. He has a marketable look but his inexperience in the ring can cost him. Pritchard doesn’t know who he is and says Magno needs more seasoning. Pritchard will vote in both English & Spanish and he votes no (That’s the same in both languages). JB wishes Magno luck. I wasn’t a fan of this gut check. The fans chanted no as soon as Magno got in the ring. Also what is with the inconsistencies of the promo cutting? I thought that the gut check contestant would have to cut a 30 second promo if there was a tie vote. This is the second time they’ve had a gut check guy cut a promo after 1 no vote.

Outside the building we see Aces & 8s cranking their bikes. Anderson tells Ray that when he rides with Aces & 8s you never ever walk alone. Ray says tonight he needs to walk alone and beat Jeff on his own. Ray needs to shove it up both Jeff’s & Hulk’s asses. Ray wants their word they’ll remain backstage. They crank up the bikes & Anderson gets psyched.

Bully Ray comes out for the title match. Brooke is sitting in the front row & he gets in her face.

Jeff Hardy vs. TNA World Champion Bully Ray in a full medal mayhem match for the title. Ray wins. This was a good plunder match. At 1 point Ray taunted Brooke & she slapped him. Later on Jeff hit a Swanton on Ray through a table outside the ring. Then Jeff got in the ring and set up the ladder and then Taz gave Ray a hammer. Ray climbed the ladder and hit Jeff with the hammer, knocking him off the ladder & sending him through another table. Then Ray unhooked the belt for the win. Then Aces & 8s come in the ring and they celebrate. Then Ray tells the music guy to shut their music off. Then Ray asks if the fans know who he is and if they know who they are. They are the Aces & 8s. He is the world champion and when you ride with the Aces & 8s you never walk alone. Aces & 8s raise their arms and the celebration continues. Then Ray gets in a downed Jeff’s face and says this is all Hulk fault. The celebration goes on & that ends the show.

I thought this was an average episode overall. Having the tag title match be 2/3 falls was meaningless since the first 2 falls were less than 3 minutes combined. The third fall was decent but I was hoping they would’ve kept the titles on Aries & Roode. The Jeff-Ray title match was a good plunder brawl and there were some crazy spots in there. I wasn’t a fan of the gut check segment. It just didn’t seem to click. Taryn-Gail was decent and I was ok with ODB being the referee. Rob Terry-Joey Ryan was a total squash. The Joseph Park-Devon segment was decent. The Hulk-AJ-Storm-Daniels-Kazarian segment was decent. Hulk was Hulk here and I’m not crazy about them doing the “whose side is AJ on” bit. Daniels & Kazarian were great here though and really made this segment better. The Hulk-Brooke/Hulk-Morgan backstage bit was awful and I wasn’t really a fan of Kurt Angle’s backstage promo either. I’m not really looking forward to his handicapped match next week. So on the whole I thought this week’s show was a mixed bag.