Impact
Wrestling
Date:
October 24, 2013
Location:
Maverik Center, Salt Lake City, Utah
Commentators:
Mike Tenay, Tazz
Reviewed by Tommy Hall
Bound
For Glory has come and gone, boring the hundreds and hundreds of
people who bought it and the dozens who actually attended. The main
development is AJ Styles defeated Bully Ray to win the world title.
Actually every title changed hands at the show, with the Bro Mans,
Gail Kim and Chris Sabin all taking home gold. This is kind of the
beginning of a new year for TNA so hopefully they can come up with
something better than what we've been seeing lately. Let's get to
it.
The
opening video recaps the events of Bound For Glory, including all the
title changes and Kurt Angle declining the induction into the Hall of
Fame.
AJ
vs. Ray II for the title tonight.
Here's
a very happy Dixie Carter to open things up. There's a big set in
the ring with AJ shirts and merchandise and a big WELCOME BACK AJ
STYLES banner. Dixie gets Vickie Guerrero style heat as she says
that she made a mistake recently and this is her apology. She always
looks to the future and sucks up to Styles for a few minutes, talking
about how he's a legend and her world champion. Dixie introduces AJ
and here's the new champion.
Dixie
keeps sucking up to AJ and talks about the slump he's been in for
several months now. She's ready to pay though so it's all good.
Tonight AJ gets a fancy private dressing room which is almost as nice
as Dixie's. It comes complete with fillet mignon, caviar and
champagne. Dixie shows off a watch for AJ which is apparently off of
Craigslist. There's one thing left though: a black sports car which
AJ can drive with his new long hair flowing in the wind.
AJ
talks about all the stuff Dixie has but still won't join Team Dixie.
First of all he's a truck guy so the car doesn't do much for him. He
won't separate himself from the boys that built this company. This
mess could have been settled months ago when Dixie bet against him
and lost. Dixie offers to cancel the rematch tonight with she and AJ
going on a trip on her private jet instead. This brings out Bully
and Brooke to protest after a break.
Bully
doesn't like the idea of the title match being canceled but AJ cuts
him off. He definitely isn't taking that trip to Dixieland and
doesn't think the whole rematch idea applies to wrestlers with no
contract. However, he's here in Salt Lake City to defend the title
so it's on. Bully calls AJ's title win lucky because there was no
way AJ can beat him clean.
Ray
says that he kicked out of the Spiral Tap but Earl Hebner didn't call
it for some reason. Apparently God is a bully too and if he's a
bully, he's Bully Ray. AJ says Aces and 8's, all three of them,
won't be able to beat him tonight and he'll be celebrating in the
crowd with his fans tonight. He says they'll know what his name is,
so Ray drops him with one punch and beats on AJ with part of the set.
Ray loads up a powerbomb through the table but here's the returning
Anderson for the save. Anderson beats on Bully in the corner and
sends him running away.
After
another break Anderson is still in the ring and says he really missed
all the fans. They didn't seem to miss him but he wants to know if
Ray missed him as well. The fans don't quite think so but Anderson
spins his head around to show how good his neck feels. Anderson
talks about being gone for so long and how tired he's getting of
everything, much like the agents in the back and the fans here
tonight. It's really gotten that bad in the five weeks he's been
gone?
The
fans chant YES and here's Dixie with a bunch of security to arrest
Anderson. Anderson: “You're into handcuffs?” He talks about
getting arrested several times but thinks we should have some fun
with it this time. Anderson punches two security guards (who are
nice enough to sell for him) until voluntarily being taken away in
the cuffs.
Video
on the Knockouts Title match from BFG which saw Lei'D Tapa reveal an
alliance with Gail Kim to win her the title.
Brooke/Gail
Kim vs. Velvet Sky/ODB
ODB
pulls Brooke in to start and hits a quick Bronco Buster, sending
Brooke out to the floor. She pulls ODB to the floor and stomps away
a bit before sending ODB back in for more of the same from Gail. The
champ quickly leaves and it's back to Brooke for more forearms and
stomping. ODB shoves Brooke off the middle rope and it's hot tag to
Velvet. She cleans a few rooms of the house with a flying
headscissors and a running neckbreaker as everything breaks down.
Everyone heads to the floor and it's Tapa sneaking in to kick Velvet
in the face to give Gail the pin at 3:35.
Rating:
D-. And most of that is because
of how good Brooke looks in her new outfit. Tapa can't even do a big
boot properly as she hit more of the shoulder instead of Velvet's
head. Gail as Knockouts Champion is nothing new, which is the
continued problem with the entire division: it needs some fresh
faces. Tapa simply isn't going to work in that regard based on what
we've seen so far.
The
Bro Mans celebrate their tag title win by spraying their hair.
Ethan
Carter III vs. Dewey Barnes
Dewey
is another jobber, this time from Muscle Shoals, Alabama, home of
Cody Deaner if I remember correctly. Carter takes him to the mat
with ease and pounds away in the corner. Dewey comes back with a few
shots to the face and a missile dropkick, only to be caught in the
bulldog driver for the pin at 2:38. Same match he had at Bound For
Glory.
Post
match Ethan says he's a Carter so the world needs him.
We
recap Magnus beating Sting on Sunday.
Magnus
is with Sting in the back and says he didn't show Sting the right
amount of respect. Sting is wondering if he passed the torch or lit
a new fire under Magnus. They shake hands and everything seems cool.
We
get a video from the Hall of Fame induction dinner, Angle declining
the Hall of Fame induction and Angle vs. Roode.
Here's
Angle with something to say. He talks about how great it was to hear
people praise him at the dinner, but he couldn't accept the induction
at BFG. One day though, he'll have proven himself worthy of the spot
which he'll then accept. As for the match, it took a toll on his
body and yes he knocked himself out on the last move, but here's
Roode to interrupt before Kurt can go any further.
Roode
talks about evening the score from two years ago when Angle beat him
in the main event of Bound For Glory 2011. He's lived with that
feeling of failure for two years but now it's Kurt's turn to feel the
exact same thing. On Sunday, the It Factor beat the Olympic gold
medalist. Angle says Roode is a bad man but he's not better than
Kurt. Angle wants a rematch RIGHT NOW but Roode hands him a paper
instead. Apparently Kurt has torn knee cartilage and isn't cleared
to wrestle, but Kurt says he's cleared to fight. The brawl only
lasts for a few seconds before security breaks it up.
Bully
tells Bischoff and Knux to make sure Anderson doesn't make bail.
Dixie
is on the phone in her office and says she needed something done
yesterday.
It's
time for the Bro Mans' celebration of being the new tag champions.
They have punch, shrimp, confetti and a DJ. Robbie thinks this is a
great party and declares Sunday the biggest night in Bro Man history.
The fans think the new champions can't wrestle but here are Storm
and Gunner before the party goes on too long. Storm says this is a
party and starts drinking the champagne while gunner eats the protein
bars.
The
fight is about to start but here's Bad Influence to object. Kaz says
they need to become three time tag team champions but Daniels wants
to talk about the kind of beverages at this party. Beer is the drink
of the lower class, champagne is for posers and the drink of a man is
an appletini. Storm steals the drink and Gunner throws it in
Daniels' face, triggering the brawl. Cue Part and Young to join the
brawl, but Daniels makes the mistake of shattering a bottle over
Park's head, drawing blood. Park chases off the bad guys and the
good guys get to stand tall.
Angle
vs. Roode next week. How TNA can be sure Angle can be cleared that
fast isn't really clear but at least they've got the right idea.
TNA
World Title: Bully Ray vs. AJ Styles
They
have a ton of time here with nearly half an hour left in the show.
AJ has heavily taped up ribs. Bully interrupts the big match intros
so AJ punches him in the face to get things going. The champion
scores with his drop down into the dropkick sequence and gets two off
a kick to the head. Bully starts thinking and lifts Styles into the
air to drop him ribs first down onto the mat as we take a break.
Back
with Ray mocking Hogan and easily stopping an AJ comeback by going to
the ribs. A big backdrop puts AJ down again but he comes back with
some shots to the head. Ray sends him to the apron but Styles scores
with the springboard forearm for two. AJ foolishly tries a fireman's
carry and gets caught in a Samoan drop for two. Ray misses the
middle rope backsplash but AJ misses the springboard 450 to hurt the
ribs even worse.
AJ
is loaded up onto the ropes but he shoves Ray back, right into the
referee. Styles grabs the Calf Killer for the tap out but there's no
referee. Ray hits a chain shot to the throat and the Bully Cutter is
good for two. Ray gets the chain again but the referee is starting
to get back into it. Cue Anderson to snap Ray's throat across the
ropes, allowing AJ to get a crucifix for the pin at 13:28.
Rating:
C+. I liked this better than
Bound For Glory because it wasn't so insane and told a better story,
but did anyone not know Anderson was coming back? It's good to give
Ray a new feud and as long as it gets him away from the Aces and 8's
schtick he'll be in much better shape. Not a great match here but it
worked well enough.
Post
match Anderson and Ray get pulled apart. Dixie pops up on screen
with a contract for Styles, telling him not to go anywhere. After
the break here's Carter with the contract and a speech ready of
course. She offers AJ the contract and reminds AJ how sweet she is.
The car is a signing bonus for Styles for date nights with his wife.
AJ
says it's a great contract from a horrible human being who uses
wrestlers like him to pad their bank account and buy themselves fancy
cars. Styles rips up the contract and says it wasn't about the money
but rather about the respect. Dixie is going to pay by having AJ
take the title and leaving with it. He's taking the title with him
to the people who deserve a champion. Oh and he's taking the car
too. Styles walks to the back and heads to the car which is already
running despite him having the key. He drives off to end the show.
Overall
Rating: D+. TNA needed to hit a
home run tonight to make up for Bound For Glory but instead we got a
decent single. This more or less did nothing new as everything seems
focused on Bound For Glory rematches in the coming weeks. That's a
major problem when almost everything you had for BFG wasn't well
received. This show was a lot of nothing with WAY too many recaps
and nowhere near enough action. Where was the X-Division? You know,
that thing that sucked up most of the midcard talent for the PPV?
TNA needs something fresh and they need it in a hurry. This wasn't a
horrible show, but it didn't help things.
Results
Brooke/Gail
Kim b. Velvet Sky/ODB – Kim pinned Sky after a big boot from Lei'D
Tapa
Ethan
Carter III b. Dewey Barnes – Bulldog driver
AJ
Styles b. Bully Ray – Crucifix
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