IMPACT 2/2: TNA Goes to LONDON!, Hogan Returns, Storm Pulls Double Duty (Humor)

Finally, IMPACT Wrestling went somewhere notable.

Not Macon, Georgia, Orlando, Florida. They went to London, fricken' England and did it look great? The entire set-up was awesome, the crowd was packed, the venue was 100 times bigger and better than the IMPACT Zone, and the crowd was into the show.

Last week, I said that if I did not reach over 1,000 reads on my last review I wouldn't be writing this week. I didn't get 1,000 reads so all of you can now call me a liar, but truth be told, you'd be bored out of your mind without my reviews on B/R. You'd be stuck reading about seven articles from one person or 100 of the same news articles.

Just because I always do, here's the link to EnigmaticWrestling.com. Should I be surprised that none of you were in the EGW Live IMPACT Chat? Only a select few can join. Why's there a limit? Too much people will get annoying, so if you want to annoy me, bring tons of people to it and let's chat some IMPACT live every Thursday.

If you're waiting for the review to start, wait! January 31, marked my first full year as a writer here on Bleacher Report! One year already, damn. I need to consider retirement. 

London Welcomes IMPACT

The cameras fly around London to show the crowd and the entire set-up. I already said it is awesome.

The World Heavyweight Champion, Bobby Roode and Bully Ray come to the ring.

Bully asks if they want Jeff Hardy and the crowd says, "Yes, in fact we do." Not sure about you, but I'm happy to hear that Bully Ray says Hardy is NOT in London!

Bully took him out last week after power bombing him through a table.

Bobby Roode takes the mic and asks everyone in Ireland how they're feeling tonight! Wait...Ireland?! IRELAND? The crowd gets mad when Roode says there's no difference between England and Ireland.

The crowd starts chanting for Eric Young. Yeah, "We want Eric" and "We want EY" chants. Only God knows why they chanted for EY, as the World Champ was in front of them.

"Cowboy" James Storm comes out followed by The Stinger.

Sting says Jeff Hardy is fine and that he's decided on the Against All Odds main event. It'll be a four-way between Roode, Storm, Bully and Hardy! YES!

Storm wants to fight Bully and Roode, so Sting books Storm in two matches tonight. One versus each man.

Ta-ta for now.

Valentine's Day Ad and Bischoff Sighting

Those Christmas ads were definitely better than the Valentine Day ones. Main reason, Eric Young is in underwear dressed as Cupid.

They promote Valentine's Day and their sales on ShopTNA.

After that, we see Garett Bischoff backstage. 

Buckingham Brawl

Magnus & Samoa Joe vs. Tag Champions, Matt Morgan & Crimson

A "Buckingham Brawl" is a pretty cool concept where the match is decided by a coin toss. Winners of the coin toss get a man advantage, so it basically turns into a two-on-one in the ring.

Magnus and Joe won the coin toss and they get Crimson two-on-one. Magnus and Joe get massive cheers from the crowd and even a "Joe's gonna kill you" chant. The champs, however, get tons of heat.

Magnus and Joe double team Crimson for a while until he makes the hot tag to Morgan. Morgan comes in on fire but gets loads of heat.

Joe and Magnus regain control and finish off with their snapnare and elbow drop combo.

Winners: Magnus & Joe

Crowd was all over Magnus and Joe, who pulled out the win in a good match, with a concept that should be used more often.

Buckingham Brawl was a nice change of pace and could really catch on.

Garett's Trainer is...

Eric Bischoff comes out and a kid in the front row flips him off. Nice.

Eric rambles on about Garett and his trainer. Garett comes out and Eric says there's no way his trainer flew to London to help him.

In the center of the ring and in the middle of thousands of fans, Garett gets a phone call. He talks for a little bit than says his trainer is here and he'll be revealed later, brother.

Mark Haskins vs. Austin Aries

Haskins is in his hometown and is finally on TV for the first time since the summer.

"A Double" Austin Aries comes out with his X Division Championship and his cape. One of the very few people to wear a cape...

In Haskins' home of London, England the entire crowd gets into an "Austin Aries" chant. That's gotta hurt Haskins.

These two provide your X Division action for the night and it is good. They pull no punches and put on a great match for the crowd.

Haskins sets up for a Shooting Star Press but Aries moves and Haskins lands on his head/face/neck. Nasty botched landing and, via Twitter, Haskins confirmed he had a concussion after that backflip.

Aries kicks him in the head, hits a Brain Buster, than makes him tap out with a crazy, cool submission.

Winner: Austin Aries

After the match, we get tons of replays about one of many ways to get a concussion as a wrestler. One is getting hit with a chair by a drunken Jeff Hardy and another is getting a beer bottle to the head from a former best friend.

Haskins' head meeting the mat wins the Enigmatic Wrestling IMPACT of the Night. That looked horribly painful. Once again through the magic of Twitter, Haskins said he's getting better.

Direct Auto Commercial of the night!

"The Blueprint" Matt Morgan must really love Direct. This is the third Direct-related video he's been in.

He's the link to see Matt Morgan hauling ass for high rates.

If it can save Kurt Angle 600 bucks a year, imagine what it can do for you.

Direct!

James Storm vs. Bobby Roode

These two work a nice match that should eventually main event Lockdown for the Heavyweight title. Am I right?

As the match is going on, Mike Tenay makes quite possibly the most awesome announcement. Not only will next week also be in London again, but it's a special STAR WARS THEMED IMPACT! If we don't see any Wookies, Stormtroopers or Darth Vader, I'm going to be pissed.

I don't care for R2-D2 because he sold out for Verizon.

The crowd is entirely behind Storm with every move he does. Storm broke out of the crossface and Roode got mad, so he grabbed his World title.

He tried to hit Storm with it, but reversed it into a codebreaker-type move he calls, "Closing Time"

He sets up a Last Call but Bully Ray grabs him and distracts him. Storm turns his attention to Roode who explodes with a big spear that turns Storm inside out and is good for a three.

Winner: Bobby Roode

Good match between these guys. After the match, Bully Ray slams Storm on top of Roode's World title.

Tara vs. Gail Kim w/ Madison Rayne

This is another Against All Odds match. Damn, IMPACT is really giving some top notch things while in London.

Tara and Gail work a nice, back and forth preview for Against All Odds on February 12.

Madison Rayne jumps onto the ring apron but Tara is quick to punch her down. As Tara goes after Gail again, Madison gets into the ring and tries to hit Tara back. Tara moves, and Madison punches Gail in the face.

Tara tosses Madison to the outside, and hits Widow's Peak to win.

Winner: Tara

If only this could happen at Against All Odds... Nice Knockouts action.

Garett Trainer is...Part II

They seriously couldn't do this the first time out?

Garett comes out to reveal his trainer, Eric Bischoff comes with Gunner. No way, did Gunner just step into his own burial ground...

Out comes "The Trainer" Hulk Hogan. Are you surprised?

Hogan and Garett punch Gunner around the ring as Eric just watches in the corner. They ask the crowd if they should beat down Eric, but Gunner pulls him out of the ring last second.

Expect a tag team match between all four guys sometime soon....and on pay-per-view.

Hulkamania Runs Wild

Backstage, Hogan runs wild with his aspirations for TNA. He says they're on the edge of greatness and it's their destiny.

Hogan even volunteers to be the hood ornament of that ride to greatness if he has to. Geez, please don't rewind back to 2010 where Hulkamania was the "star" of TNA...

Main Event

James Storm vs. Bully Ray

Storm has his ribs all taped up from the attack earlier.

Bully is dominating much of the match and attacking the injured ribs. Bobby Roode comes ringside to cheer on Bully Ray.

To counter Roode, Sting comes out with a cricket bat wrapped in black tape. Sting has all sorts of bats and jackets. Baseball bats, cricket bats, leather jackets, denim jackets what's the difference! 

After some more action, there's a ref bump and Roode slowly gets into the ring in hopes of attacking Storm. Sting enters from the other side and backs Roode out of the ring and up the ramp.

Bully Ray was watching them the whole time and when he turned to face Storm and got his face kicked off. Bingo, Last Call.

Winner: James Storm

Overall, this episode of IMPACT was really good. Here's the little breakdown/pros and cons:

Pro:

• IMPACT in London! What a great change of pace from the IMPACT Zone, geez. Part of me wishes they'd do all their TV tapings from Wembley Arena. That's it. I nominate Wembley Arena in London, England to host Bound For Glory 2012!!!
• Opening segment. Roode and Bully got some good heat from the London crowd and the news of no Jeff Hardy was great in my opinion! What? He's not ready to main event, again. Back off. The announcement of the four-way at Against All Odds was the ultimate way to top this segment all off.
• Buckingham Brawl. Cool concept and I want to see it used more often. I loved how Joe and Magnus got big-time cheers (Nice home-coming, Magnus) and the champs got booed. Hopefully, after Against All Odds we have new tag team champions and a new feud between Morgan/Crimson.
• Haskins vs. Aries. Haskins simply did not have such a great home-coming like Magnus. There was an Austin Aries chant in his hometown, he lost his match and he botched a move which ended in a concussion. At least he can walk away (with some help from Brian Hebner) knowing he put on a good match in front of his fellow Brits. Nice X Division action.
• Storm vs. Roode. The two worked a good match and Bully's interference further hypes the AAO title match and saves a nice, long (And clean!) title match between Storm and Roode for a future pay-per-view.
• Tara vs. Gail had some good Knockouts action, and I'm actually glad that Madison was involved. Her hitting Gail may cause some tension and they may actually split up, or better yet, Madison can cost Gail the title at AAO. 

Con:

• Garett got way too much TV time. Seriously, we had to see him backstage, then in the ring to tease his trainer, then again to actually bring out his trainer. Damn it, Garett! If you were a wrestler, you'd work a damn match instead of messing around with your dad and Hogan!
• Hogan is back...He said that he wouldn't mind being the hood ornament for IMPACT Wrestling. That says it all, right there.