TNA Impact! Wrestling: The First Summer Live Show

It may have not been a "revolution" in professional wrestling, but it sure gave viewers a sneak peek on the format changes coming to TNA Impact! Wrestling throughout the summer.

The May 31, 2012 edition of Impact! Wrestling aired live from the Impact Zone in Orlando, Fla., this time with a brand new time slot of 8 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on Spike TV.  

The show opened with a video package recapping last week's episode. For the first time in a while, fireworks kick off the show and immediately, wrestlers surrounded the ring for the lumberjack match.

(Peragine's quick note: Finally, a show with some flare to it and it already hit me with the live crowd on hand rather than a taped episode. Something was just different about it in those few moments. My guess is that it is live and not edited.)

Bobby Roode vs. Sting in a Lumberjack Match

Your winner, Sting. An enjoyable opening match that lasted nearly 14 minutes. It appeared TNA slotted a main event to open the show but it worked, as the crowd was very much alive for it and provided a different feel rather than an opening promo. Sting also looked very solid in his return match.

Rating: 4.5/5

Hulk Hogan comes out and makes Sting vs. Roode for the TNA Heavyweight Title at Slammiversary. 

Madison Rayne backstage. After a quick break, Bully Ray is in the ring and shows footage of what he did to Joseph Park on last week's show. Park, who is in the audience, is called out by Ray to fight him.

Park heads to the ring and Ray admits he is guilty of the disappearance of Abyss. Park calls Ray back to the ring to fight him and after a tease, Ray announces a match for Slammiversary.

Chris Sabin vs. Austin Aries for the TNA X-Division Title

Your winner and still champion, Aries. Nice to see Sabin get into the title picture. He could adjust well into a singles wrestler after his partner, Alex Shelley, left TNA. Pretty decent match and nice exposure for the X-Division.

Rating: 3.5/5

Hogan and Tazz are backstage. Tazz agrees to join Gut Check as a judge. 

(Peragine's quick note: This knocks Ric Flair off TV for good.)

TNA President Dixie Carter comes out to the ring. She announces that at Slammiversary, TNA will have its very first Hall of Fame inductee.

She then introduces Brooke Hogan to the ring as the Knockouts Executive. Brooke comes out to a very mixed crowd. She thanks everyone for the opportunity and is looking forward to what lies ahead.

Devon vs. fan selection Jeff Hardy for the TNA TV Title

Your winner via disqualification and still champion, Devon. Robbie E and Robbie T interfered the match. Devon and Hardy took them out to close the segment. Not a poor match by any standards and would have liked to see a clean finish, but that hasn't come of late with the TV Title. Overall, a decent match and happy to see Devon keep the title run.

Rating: 3/5

TNA cameras go to the James Storm residence to get an answer on whether he is returning to the ring. Storm's daughter asks if he is returning and he tells TNA cameras to stop shooting him.

Jeremy Borash, Bruce Prichard, Al Snow and Tazz are in the ring for the Gut Check vote. Joey Ryan comes to the ring. After receiving a "no" from Prichard and "yes" from Snow, Ryan cuts a promo on why he should be in TNA. Tazz heavily disagrees and says "no." Ryan is out of the TNA running for a contract.

Christopher Daniels vs. AJ Styles

Your winner, Styles. These two can always put on a good match at the top of the card to the main event. TNA appears to be putting Styles back in that picture with the past two weeks of him being in the main event.

After the match, Kazarian and Daniels beat down Styles and Kurt Angle. Daniels then exposes more on the Styles and Dixie Carter secret with a recorded telephone call between the two.

Carter suddenly comes out to the announces table and demands to cut off the audio. Her voice can continues to be heard even as the closing credits are shown.

Overall Impact! Wrestling Rating: 3/5

Peragine's Thoughts:

There were some ups and downs of this program but looking at it as a whole, the live atmosphere really brings the show more life.

I felt most of the matches were exciting to watch. I liked how TNA went with opening the show with a main event quality match rather than seeing an opening promo, like how many wrestling shows start.

The match also was longer and the "Wrestling Matters" slogan TNA has fit that. Other matches I liked were Sabin vs. Aries and the main event between Daniels and Styles.

The ending of the show was also different, as it gave nobody to predict what happened afterwards. The show just suddenly went off when Carter yelled it to. It provides for the storyline to move forward and have interested viewers tune in next week to find out.

As for the camera spots, we did see some new backstage footage people normally do not see in a wrestling program. WCW used this tactic to their advantage back in 1996 when it began competing against the WWE. I could only imagine this was just a slight taste to what will become in the future episodes this summer.

Brooke Hogan making her debut did not excite me, but was surprised she got a mixed reaction rather than a live audience chanting boos at her. Also, I would have liked to see TNA display some Knockouts action but it is important to get Brooke introduced first to get some taste in what she may do with that division. 

The Gut Check segments need tweaking but it is a great concept to keep. As TNA continues with it, it will develop on its own. Also, Tazz fit in their nicely.

Lastly, people who believe Hulk Hogan takes up too much TV time cannot argue on this episode. Hogan was only featured in the opening after the Roode and Sting match and backstage with Tazz to get him in Gut Check.

I am glad TNA really put its focus on the homegrown talent this week, including booking both Daniels and Styles to main event the show. 

Overall, I give this show a passing grade. The live crowd and feel of the show helped in that equation as well. I did not think this was a ground breaking episode for TNA but over time, I think the company is heading in a good direction with its new concepts.

Tonight was just a taste of the changes that are upon Impact! Wrestling.