TNA Impact! Wrestling: The Road to Slammiversary

The June 7, 2012 edition of TNA Impact! Wrestling live kicked off with a video package recapping last week's show. The cameras go back to the Impact! Zone, where fireworks explode to jump start the show.

Announcers Mike Tenay and Tazz provide exclusive footage of TNA President Dixie Carter after Impact! went off the air. Carter is seen walking to the production truck in frustration from what had just happened.

Carter takes the cameras inside the production truck and begins to shout angrily at one of the TNA employees on why they aired the phone conversation.

(Peragine's quick take: TNA is continuing to take the average viewer more behind the scenes than anyone would expect on a wrestling show. I am beginning to really enjoy these new camera angles and where they are filming).

Suddenly, Carter is in the ring to address about her relationship with AJ Styles. As Carter was going to announce what happened, Christopher Daniels and Kazarian interrupt. They corner Carter until Styles comes out for the save. Carter's husband arrives and knocks out Styles with one punch. He leaves as Styles and Carter walk together backstage.

Crimson vs. Austin Aries

Your winner, Crimson. After the match, Crimson throws out an open challenge to anyone at Slammiversary to see if anybody could beat him. He also made reference to Goldberg, stating he is now undefeated longer than he was. 

(Peragine's quick take: Goldberg, anyone?)

Match Rating: 3/5

Brooke Hogan, the new executive of the TNA Knockouts, is backstage with Velvet Sky, Mickie James, Ms. Tessmacher and Tara to wish them good luck on tonight's match. Hogan throws in a surprise to Sky, who was awarded a chance to be in a music video after Impact!

Hulk Hogan comes forward to the ring with a very large pop from the live crowd. As Hogan was going to announce the plans for next week's show, Bobby Roode comes out.

Roode steps into Hogan's face, saying that he has been disrespected week after week. Roode grabs Hogan's shirt and tells him to get out of the ring. Sting interrupts Roode's tirade and beats him down.

Velvet Sky vs. Ms. Tessmacher vs. Tara vs. Mickie James

Your winner, Ms. Tessmacher. With the win, Tessmacher squares off against Gail Kim for the TNA Knockouts title at Slammiversary. Some pretty good Knockouts action this week, as they just continue to dominate what WWE has with the Divas division.

Match Rating: 3.5/5

Jeremy Borash is in the ring for the Bully Ray and Joseph Park contract signing. Ray comes out first, followed by Park. Ray shreds the contract Borash gave him and opened a new one to sign, giving him no liability against Park.

Park at first declines to sign it but after motivation of beating Ray for his brother Abyss, Park agrees. Suddenly, Abyss makes his TNA return on screen and announces he will be at Slammiversary. Ray attacks Park after the video concludes and leaves the ring.

A Joey Ryan video is presented of what happened last week and his reaction.

Robbie E vs. Devon for the TNA TV Title

Your winner and still champion, Devon. Garett Bischoff and Devon take out Robbie E and Robbie T after the match.

Match Rating: 2.5/5

Hogan is in the center of the ring after commercial break. Once again, he is interrupted by Mr. Anderson, who demands a title shot. Hogan brings out Rob Van Dam and Jeff Hardy. Hogan makes a three-way match at Slammiversary and the winner will face the TNA Champion on next week's live Impact!

Christopher Daniels, Kazarian and Roode vs. Kurt Angle, Sting and AJ Styles

Your winners, Angle, Sting and Styles. Styles made his appearance in the match towards the tail end of it by taking out all members of the match, thus allowing Sting to make Roode tap out for the victory. Sting watches over Roode with the belt to end the show.

Overall Impact! Rating: 3/5

Peragine's Final Thoughts:

TNA needed this episode to pitch out to viewers why they should watch its Slammiversary pay per view this Sunday. They did so by adding some impressive matches to the lineup card, which was nowhere near full until this live show closed out.

Although I felt last week's show was a slightly better outing, Impact! Wrestling, despite the sudden drop in ratings in 2012, has gotten better.

Why has it gotten better? First, the new camera angles are a nice feature. If TNA wants to prove it can put on a different product, it must think that way as well.

I enjoyed seeing inside the production truck, or talents getting ready right before they go out to the ring. I felt the aspect of showing different angles when doing a backstage segment was a positive for this show.

However, this episode had some lackluster wrestling. Four matches to throw on a card is fine with me, but most of them were short and did not perform like it did a week earlier. In ways, TNA did a very good job with its new camera angles but not to much when it came to wrestling. This could be due to having to set up several matches at Slammiversary.

Overall, a decent Impact! edition to watch. In a quick recap, I enjoyed the content of the show but the wrestling needed more attention. Be sure to read my live play-by-play of TNA Slammiversary this coming Sunday at 8 p.m. EST.