TNA Impact Wrestling: 6/30/11, Review and Thoughts

The June 30th edition of TNA Impact wrestling opened with a video package recapping last week's show, followed by the opening signature. Immediately, we see Hulk Hogan and Scott Steiner talking backstage. It appears that Steiner has officially joined Immortal.

Hogan sees a big TV screen showing Sting in his joker-painted face. Hogan then goes from backstage to the ring to open the show.

Hogan calls out to Mr. Anderson and gives him two choices: He can either join Immortal or be an individual. Hogan guarantees that Mr. Anderson will lose to Sting if he doesn't join Immortal and mentions that if it wasn't for Eric Bischoff, Mr. Anderson would not have the title.  

Backstage, while Mr. Anderson and Hogan are talking, Sting beats up both Abyss and Steiner. Lights fade on the Impact Zone and we see Sting behind Hogan. Sting hits Hogan in the leg with the baseball bat, then again in the mid section.  

Sting talks about how he's trying to get the real Hulk Hogan to stand up, not the "Hollywood" Hogan. Sting puts vitamins and water into Hogan's mouth; he then puts Hogan into a Scorpion Death Lock.  

Immortal comes out, led by Bully Ray. Bully Ray tells Sting he's nothing but a wannabe Hulk Hogan. He calls Sting a bully. Bully Ray makes Steiner vs Sting. Hogan takes the microphone and says he will wipe the smile off his face.

PERAGINE QUICK THOUGHT: This is quite a different and weird way to kick-off Impact. Sting's joker character has reached a new level. It's an interesting opening by TNA.

We next get a quick "Bound For Glory" series update.   

Devon vs Samoa Joe—"BOUND FOR GLORY" SERIES MATCH

Your winner: Devon. It was a pretty solid opening match. The crowd was fully behind Devon. With two larger athletes, the match had good action in it.  

Match Rating: 3/5

Backstage, Steiner and Bully Ray argued. Bully Ray told Steiner to take care of Sting. Kazarian and Joe talked and argued with security involved.

Matt Bentley vs Jimmy Yang vs Low Ki—X DIVISION QUALIFIER MATCH

Your winner: Low Ki. This was another week of an excellent X Division qualifier match. All of the wrestlers were very good and I was happy with anyone who would win, but Low Ki was a good pick. It was a good and entertaining match.

Match Rating: 4.5/5

Back from commercial, Joe attacked Kazarian in a bar. Hulk Hogan was shown wrapping tape around his hand and talking about Sting.  

Winter, Angelina Love, Madison Rayne vs Miss Tessmacher, Tara, Mickie James

Your winner: Mickie James. Here, we saw good knockout action and I enjoyed the three-on-three feature.

Match Rating: 3.5/5

Impact wrestling came back from the commercial break with an exclusive contract signing for the A.J. Styles and Christopher Daniels X Division match. Styles and Daniels both signed to make it official.  

However, we then got an appearance from Jerry Lynn. Rob Van Dam followed. After back-and-forth discussion about the X Division, Daniels proposed a match for next week on Impact wrestling. His proposal: a four-way match between Daniels, Styles, Lynn and Rob Van Dam.  

PERAGINE'S QUICK THOUGHT: Wow, TNA is giving us a treat next week! This should be a fun one to watch.

Suddenly, while everyone was leaving, Gunner attacked Styles. A.J. demanded that referee Earl Hebner ring the bell and the match began.

A.J. Styles vs Gunner—"BOUND FOR GLORY" SERIES MATCH

Your winner: Gunner. It was a good match. I liked how they opened the match with Gunner randomly attacking Styles. Gunner is getting a big push by TNA right now.

Match Rating: 3.5/5

Back from commercial, Mexican America were out to the ring. While they were talking, Magnus and Douglas Williams of British Invasion came to the ring. Magnus talked about how proud they are of their status and careers.

He continued by saying that he doesn't like people who come to America and expect great things to happen. Magnus proposed British Invasion versus Mexican America for the No. 1 contenders match for the TNA Tag Team titles. Mexican America attacked the British Invasion first, before Rob Terry returned after months of being off TV. 

Jeff and Karen Jarrett made a video package of their experience in Mexico City, Mexico.  

Sting vs Scott Steiner

 Your winner: Sting. This was a decent main event to conclude Impact wrestling.

Match Rating: 3/5

Quickly after the match, Bully Ray came out to help Steiner, but Sting attacked him. Mr. Anderson came out and gave him a Mic-check. Bully Ray and Steiner continued the attack. Hulk Hogan came out to the ring and threw a series of punches. Before he could swing a bat at Sting, Kurt Angle came out for the save.  

Overall Show Rating: 3.5/5

Overall Show Grade: B

PERAGINE'S THOUGHTS:

It was another good, solid week of Impact wrestling. We got pretty good matches and a few teasers. The division qualifier match continues to impress each week.

TNA has done a great job promoting the upcoming Destination X pay-per-view. Sting's character continues to go to a whole new level. It's a style we, as the audience, never saw in his career previously. We also got to see plenty of Hogan and Sting teasers. I have a feeling that if Hulk is healthy enough by "Bound For Glory," TNA will schedule Hogan vs Sting.

Overall, it was another good show and I'm looking forward to next week. Every match has a purpose and Impact wrestling is headed in a very good direction.