TNA Impact Wrestling, Jan. 5: A Solid Show Three Days Before Genesis

Thursday's TNA Impact Wrestling opened with Sting heading to the ring. He got straight to the point and called out Jeff Hardy.

He’s impressed with him for regaining everyone’s trust and brought up his own past demons.

He made the most of his second chance and so should Hardy. Sting endorsed the Charismatic Enigma as Bobby Roode, Kurt Angle and Bully Ray made their way to the ring.

Roode wanted to know why Sting doesn’t endorse him, Angle or Ray due to their accomplishments.

That brought out James Storm and Abyss who both got on the mic and talked trash to their heel opponents.

Sting booked a six-man tag-team main event and the segment ended.

I thought this was a good way to open the show. All three of the feuds were advanced nicely and Bobby Roode, James Storm and even Abyss were great on the mic.

I was actually quite impressed by Abyss. This feud with Bully Ray is really improving his mic work.

The fans were then shown some footage of Madison Rayne posing in a bikini for Gail Kim.

They soon noticed Traci Brooks chilling in a pool and that resulted in Madison and Gail jumping into the pool to attack her.

Mickie James then showed up out of nowhere in a bikini of her own and made the save.

I felt like I was watching a WWE Diva’s segment circa the early 2000s.

I hope this isn’t an indication of the direction of the Knockout’s division in 2012.

Gail Kim and Madison Rayne vs. Mickie James and Traci Brooks: Knockout’s Tag Titles

Gail and Madison picked up the victory when Gail hit the Eat Defeat on Traci.

This was a good match and I hope WWE was taking notes.

WWE has been having a lot of women’s tag-team matches lately and they usually end in two minutes and are very one-sided.

This match was right down the middle and there were times where I felt like Mickie and Traci were going to win the match.

Despite ridiculous angles like swimming pool fights, the matches these women put on are great.

It’s their ability that shows me that there is hope for the Knockout’s and that 2012 will be their year to shine.

Backstage Ric Flair was pumping up Gunner for his match against Rob Van Dam.

Much like the other three wrestlers he took out, Gunner planned on sending RVD to the hospital.

That brought in Sting and he said that Flair can’t go to the ring with Gunner.

Looks like Gunner is going it alone and the fans will get to see if he can make it without the Nature Boy for a night.

Elsewhere, Eric Young is looking for ODB. He still thought that the two were in the wild card tournament and that they’re in love.

Well, at least TNA is keeping them together. They make a very entertaining pair.

Staying backstage, Magnus is pumping Samoa Joe up for their match. They’re ready and they shake hands.

We cut to A.J. Styles and Kazarian who say they have actual chemistry and that will lead to victory.

Since day one my prediction to win this tournament has been Joe and Magnus and that still stands.

Garret Bischoff appeared backstage and is putting a referee shirt on.

Sting approached him and is glad that he’s healed up. The Icon told him to take the shirt off because he wasn’t a referee.

He handed Garret some boots and told him that he was a wrestler.

So does that mean the father/son Bischoff feud is going to continue? I hope not.

Eric Bischoff has been off of television for a while now and that should continue.

Back with Eric Young, he walked in on Madison and Gail in the women’s locker room.

They screamed at him and that resulted in him trying to lock up with Gail and shoving Madison into a locker before running off.

I feel like we’ve been backstage for a while now.

This was an entertaining segment, though.

Gunner vs. Rob Van Dam

Rob Van Dam won the match by disqualification when Gunner took the mat off the concrete floor.

Gunner tried to piledrive RVD onto the concrete but Van Dam reversed it into a back body drop.

After RVD missed his 360 leg drop onto the guard rail Gunner tried again but this time the agents prevented the move.

This was a good match but TNA needs to let Gunner have a match that doesn’t end in DQ.

Sure, he’s proving dominance by taking people out but he won’t look like a legitimate wrestler until he can actually pin someone.

He looked good in the ring with a veteran like Van Dam and he can put on a match, but I would like to see him actually win one.

Backstage Hardy, Storm and Abyss are not intimidated by their heel opponents and the heels talk of them and said that they will take them out before the pay-per-view.

These six should have a great match and their three respective matches at the PPV should be great as well.

Austin Aries and Kid Kash vs. Jesse Sorenson and Zema Ion

Jesse Sorenson and Zema Ion picked up the win after Sorenson pinned Austin Aries.

This was a great match between four great wrestlers. It was very fast-paced and featured some nice high flying moves.

Zema Ion is truly the future of the X-Division with his in-ring ability and charisma.

2012 will be Austin Aries’ year. I hope he loses the X-Division Championship by the summer so that he can enter the race for the World Heavyweight Championship.

The fatal four-way match these four are in this Sunday at Genesis will steal the show.

Backstage, it seemed like Kazarian was talking with Christopher Daniels. This can’t be good news for Styles.

Elsewhere, Eric Young finally found ODB.

She convinced him that they’re out of the tournament by kissing him, though that may have done more damage as EY is now convinced more than ever before that they’re in love.

This pairing just got more interesting and I can’t wait to see where it leads.

A.J. Styles and Kazarian vs. Samoa Joe and Magnus: Wild Card Finals

Samoa Joe and Magnus won the match after Kazarian walked out on A.J. Styles.

This was quite the good tag-team match. It featured good back-and-forth action and had a nice pace to it.

Joe and Magnus really make a great team and I hope that, win or lose, TNA keeps them together long after Genesis.

I’m quite happy with this Kazarian heel turn.

It’s been too long since he’s gone off on his own, and while he may be teaming with Daniels for a bit, this should be leading to a great one-on-one feud between Styles and Kaz.

I really hope this leads to some gold for Kazarian.

Backstage, the tag-team champions Crimson and Matt Morgan get confronted by Samoa Joe and Magnus.

The challengers do some trash talking before they start to brawl.

It didn’t last long, though, as the agents broke it up quickly.

This match at Genesis should be quite good and very physical.

Jeff Hardy, James Storm and Abyss vs. Bobby Roode, Kurt Angle and Bully Ray

The match ended in a no contest as all six wrestlers brawled in the ring.

TNA delivered another good main event here. It featured good wrestling and great storytelling to set up their respective matches at the PPV.

Right now the heels have all the momentum going into Genesis as Roode locked in the cross-face on Hardy, Angle locked in the ankle lock on Storm and Bully Ray hung Abyss with a chain to end the show.

These three matches at the PPV have great stories behind them and that will make for three great matches.

Overall I felt that the first episode of Impact Wrestling in 2012 was a solid show.

While there were a bit too many backstage segments, the quality of the matches more than made up for that.

TNA Wrestling has started the year strong and with Genesis having a great looking card, their first PPV of the year will no doubt be a strong one!