Impact Wrestling Live: Hogan's Proposal to Aries, Sting Attacked, BFGS and More

Austin Aries vs. Chris Sabin vs. Zema Ion: Ultimate X for the X-Division Title

After making his way across the cable, Austin Aries retained his X-Division Championship. This was an overall entertaining match, thanks mainly to Aries and Sabin. Ion seemed out of place at times and didn’t really fit into the match until the end.

Aries and Sabin performed great here, but something unfortunate happened in the middle of the match. As Aries launched Sabin to the outside onto Ion, Sabin grabbed his knee after he landed. Sabin just came back from a knee injury; another one certainly isn’t a good thing.

I hope he just tweaked it and that he’ll be all right.

Sabin’s injury forced Ion to step up his game with Aries, which he did, and the two of them finished the match off strong.

Post-match, Aries got on the mic and declared that he was the main event even if he wasn’t in the actual main event. He wanted the spot, though, and that brought Hulk Hogan.

The Hulkster made him proposal, he could have a shot at the World heavyweight Championship at Destination X but only if he vacated the X-Division Championship. He gave him until next week to decide.

Austin Aries getting a world title shot? I’m 100 percent on board for that! Putting that man in the main event is not only a good idea, but it’s perfect.

The main event scene in TNA is almost as thin as WWE’s. Bringing Aries to the top would add a new face to the picture and add a little more depth.

Backstage, Joseph Park was bragging about his victory over Bully Ray at catering. The other people soon left and Bully Ray appeared. He wanted to know where Abyss was but Park didn’t know. The Bully flipped the table over, threatened Park and walked away.

This was a nice change of pace from their usual in-ring segments. It was straight and to the point, and it advanced the storyline nicely.

Devon vs. Hernandez: Television Championship

Devon retained his title after hitting a spinebuster. This was actually a good match that featured a nice amount of back-and-forth action. Hernandez started things out big when he leaped over to the outside, completely clearing the top rope, and crashing into Devon.

There were a few moments were I thought a new champion was going to be crowned, but obviously that didn’t happen.

Devon has never been better since the breakup of Team 3D. Bully Ray wasn’t the only one to benefit from the team disbanding as Devon has shown that he can be good in the ring when given the chance.

Hernandez reminded everyone at Slammiversary that he still existed and he did that again here. I hope that Hernandez finally gets a singles push. For a man his size, he’s very good in the ring.

Backstage, A.J. Styles told Dixie Carter that he couldn’t do it anymore. He wanted to put it past them and get everything out in the open. He then agreed to talk about it later.

I was hoping that they would get everything out in the open right then and there, but I suppose they’re building suspense.

Bound for Glory Series Gauntlet Match for 20 Points

Eleven of the 12 wrestlers in the Bound for Glory Series were revealed here. The participants in this year’s series are: A.J. Styles, Jeff Hardy, Rob Van Dam, Magnus, Bully Ray, Kurt Angle, D’Angelo Dinero, Robbie E, Christopher Daniels, Samoa Joe and James Storm.

The 12th man would be the loser of the Bobby Roode vs. Mr. Anderson match later on.

A few of these names came as no surprise while others were a bit of a shock. I didn’t expect to see Magnus and Robbie E in it this year, and I certainly didn’t expect the return of the Pope.

I like the way the series looks this year. I think it’s obvious that Storm will be winning it, but you never know, TNA could have something big planned.

The match itself was overall good. There was some nice action and everyone performed well in the battle royal-like Gauntlet Match. This also saw Abyss appear and eliminated Bully Ray, which advances their storyline.

I was expecting to see Samoa Joe and Storm go one-on-one since they were the final two, as that’s what TNA usually does, but they didn’t do that here.

That was a bit disappointing as I would have loved to see them go at it, but I have a whole summer to look forward to them to facing off.

Backstage, Bobby Roode wasn’t scared by the return of James Storm. He called Storm jealous and then said he had Anderson to deal with first.

This was a nice little promo by Roode here. Short and to the point, which is how I like promos.

Staying backstage, Kurt angle was talking with Styles telling him to get his head in the game. Styles promised to get everything sorted out so that they could concentrate on being tag team champions.

I have a feeling that the Styles/Dixie situation will ultimately cost them the titles, turning one of them on their heel in the process. That would mean another Styles/Angle feud, but I don’t have a problem with that as they always put on a show in the ring!

Madison Rayne vs. Miss Tessmacher

Tessmacher picked up the victory with what seemed like a new finisher. This was a decent match with nice back-and-forth action. They didn’t really mesh well in the ring together and the match suffered because of that.

Madison is a great talent but she wasn’t great enough to carry Tessmacher. Tessmacher is certainly improving in the ring, but she’s still not the greatest of wrestlers.

Compared to how she was when she first came to TNA, though, she’s gotten pretty good. She still seems to have a lot to learn, though.

I’m glad that she’s champion as it was about time for a face to hold the title. For too long women like Angelina Love and Winter have sat on the sidelines. It’s time to get them back on television!

Backstage, Brooke Hogan told Gail Kim that the Knockouts Championship would be on the line at next week’s Open Fight Night in a fatal four-way match. Gail complained that she was entitled to a one-on-one rematch, but Brooke told her that she decides when she gets her rematch.

As a result, Gail was taken out of the match next week, though the other three were not revealed.

Brooke actually wasn’t too bad here. She didn’t screw up her lines and she delivered a decent segment with Gail. I just hope that the other participants in the match will be announced ahead of time unlike last week’s fatal four-way.

Bobby Roode vs. Mr. Anderson: World Championship

Roode retained his title after he made Anderson submit to the Crossface. This was good match as the champion and his challenger performed well together.

This was much better than the match they had a few months ago.

Roode continues to be the best champion TNA has ever had while Anderson showed that he deserved to be in this match.

When it came down to him, Hardy and Van Dam, I was happy that Anderson won the match. Hardy’s had too many title shots this year and Van Dam can sometimes be boring in the ring. Anderson at least brings something different to the table.

With Anderson’s loss, that means he will be the final member of the Bound for Glory Series. The 12 wrestlers involved should be producing some great matches over the summer!

The showed ended with Jeremy Borash introducing Sting. They first showed a video in tribute to him that saw the TNA wrestlers speaking highly of him.

It was a great video! It was very well made and showed why Sting is important to TNA.

The icon then made his way out and called Slammiversary one of the greatest experiences of his career.

He can’t describe the honor of being the first inductee into the Hall of Fame but declared that there were many others should also be in there, indicating that there will be more inductees come Bound for Glory. Sting was then attacked by three men wearing masks to end the show.

Talk about ending things on a cliff hanger.

Sting was Sting on the mic so he delivered a good promo, but the big thing here is the attack. With Sting closing the show with a promo I figured that something was going to happen, but I would have never guessed an attack by three masked men.

TNA has been putting out great storylines as of late and I think this will be another one. Are the three men current TNA talent? Are they three new wrestlers? It’s something that will create a lot of intrigue over the next couple of weeks.

Who do I think they are? Well, I’d like to think its Jeff Jarrett, Cliff Compton and Chris Masters.

Compton, better known as Domino to WWE fans, and Masters recently received dark matches with TNA so it could happen. As for Jarrett, well, Sting got inducted into the TNA Hall of Fame before the founder of the company. This could be a good old fashioned revenge storyline.

Overall, I thought this was a very good and solid episode of Impact Wrestling. This is definitely a step up from last week’s lackluster episode.

The matches were good and there was only one in-ring segment, which is rare for any wrestling organization. There were a number of backstage segments, but they were kept short and to the point.

TNA Wrestling certainly fed off of the momentum created by Slammiversary and they delivered! I can’t wait until next week!