5/10 Kester's TNA Impact Wrestling Live Coverage Review: The go-home show for Sacrifice featuring a final conformation between Bobby Roode and RVD, an update on James Storm, Brooke Tessmacher vs. Velvet Sky, and more

By Ryan Kester

Impact Wrestling on SpikeTV
Taped earlier in Orlando, Florida.

[Q1] A video recap of Bobby Roode attacking RVD last week aired…

Bobby Roode's music hit and he made his way to the ring. Once there, Roode put himself over as a dominant champion and he bragged about his conquests from last week. Roode continued to put himself over for a bit before announcing that in a few weeks, he will become the longest-reigning champion in TNA history.

Roode guaranteed victory over RVD at Sacrifice. RVD ran down the ramp and the two brawled briefly before Roode ran for higher ground. Mr. Anderson snuck up on Roode, attacked, and threw Roode back into RVD's clutches. Anderson and RVD worked over Roode until Jeff Hardy joined the party and got his licks in on Roode.

Hardy and Anderson began fighting while RVD fought Roode until the TNA agents and officials flooded the ring to pull everyone apart.

Hulk Hogan's music hit and he stepped on stage. Hogan surveyed the scene before saying he was going to shake things up and turn the company around by making a fatal four way for the main event where if hardy or Anderson win, they take RVD's place at Sacrifice. He said if Roode wins, he can pick his opponent at Sacrifice. If RVD wins, he gets the title shot plus he gets to pick the stipulation at Sacrifice.

Hogan let RVD make the decision, and RVD agreed…

Backstage, Bully Ray talked about how small Aries is yet he put over how much he was getting under his skin. Bully ray said he was not going to let himself be bullied anymore by Aries and he was going to take care of his problem tonight…

Ryan's Reaction: RVD's character is now a colossal idiot. There is no reason to put a title shot on the line for a chance to pick a stipulation. The opening was busy, but it managed to address two of the selling points for Sacrifice while setting up the main event. RVD's character is still dumb as all getup, but besides that this segment served its purpose.

[Q2] [C] Backstage, Gail Kim complained about Brooke Tessmacher with Madison Rayne. Rayne was distracted but revealed that she has the googly eyes for a guy and she was trying to find an outfit to catch his gaze…

1. Velvet Sky vs. Brooke Tessmacher. The two women traded control in the early going.

Tessmacher managed to get Sky in the corner before using her version of the stinkface. Sky battled back with a series of kicks, knee lifts, and a dropkick. Tessmacher responded with a roll-up attempt for a two count.

Sky set up for her finisher but Tessmacher shoved her into a corner. Tessmacher connected with her belly-to-back facebuster finisher for the pinfall victory…

Brooke Tessmacher defeated Velvet Sky in 3:40

Gail Kim attacked Tessmacher after the match and hit her with Eat Defeat…

A brief video covering James Storm hanging out with farm animals and reflecting on his loss at Lockdown aired…

Ryan's Reaction: Frantic pace in the first half hour of Impact. Tessmacher and Sky did their best, but they are not the greatest workers in the division. They're better when they have a worker that can really go with them, and they didn't have that tonight. Normally I'd complain about storyline inconsistency with the switch to Tessmacher vs. Kim as the women's division feud, but I feel like that's going to produce a more PPV-quality Knockouts match than the previously built Sky vs. Kim match.

[C] AJ Styles was asked about his secret backstage. He got pissy and said that he was focused on Kurt Angle before saying no comment…

[Q3] Jeff Hardy quickly said he is ready for the fatal four-way later on tonight…

Bully Ray ran down and attacked Matt Morgan as he made his way out for his match with Crimson. Ray beat Morgan with a chair before addressing the camera and telling Austin Aries that that will be him. The agents are working overtime tonight, as they made their way out to prevent Ray from doing any more damage. Ray made his way to the back as Morgan did a stretcher spot…

Ryan's Reaction: This is going to be one of that crazy nights where TNA flitters between stories without giving a lot of time to focus on anything in particular. Everything from the last commercial break happened in less than four minutes.

[C] "During the Break," Bully ray watched Morgan get stretchered out…

Crimson stayed in the ring and cut a promo talking about how it is unfortunate that Morgan would claim to be the man to end his streak. Crimson said he is still undefeated and Morgan couldn’t even make it to the ring. Morgan asked the referee to give Morgan to the count of ten to try and come out and end his streak.

The referee eventually obliged and made the count. Crimson was declared the winner via countout. Crimson returned to his promo and said it was a predictable footnote to the disappointing career of Matt Morgan. Crimson smirked as he had his arm raised…

A video package covering RVD's high school antics aired. RVD cited the Greek Mythology that inspired him to live life like a hero. RVD said he wanted out of that life, he wanted adventure…

Ryan's Reaction: Good work from Crimson. He seems much more comfortable with his heel character than he ever did trying to cut it as a babyface. He drew some good heat from the live crowd. RVD's video was just sort of there. Greek Mythology references don't exactly have money written all over them, but I am glad TNA at least tried to give fans a chant to like RVD beyond just him being RVD. I'm not sure it really did the job, but I appreciate the effort nevertheless.

[Q4] [C] 2. Austin Aries vs. Zema Ion for the X-Division Championship. Aries messed up Ion's hair and out-wrestled him, leading Ion to roll to the floor. Aries attempted to follow with a dive, but Ion dodge, and Aries crashed into the barricade.

Ion did a dive of his own and connected, and the crowd immediately chanted "This is Awesome." Ion went on the offense and went for a moonsault only to land on Aries' knees. Aries punched Ion into the corner and sent him back to the floor. Aries dove after him again and this time he connected.

Aries went for the brainbuster but Ion backed him into the corner. Ion went for a huracarana but Aries held on and Ion landed awkwardly on his head. Aries hit a Missile Dropkick, connected with the brainbuster, and covered Ion for the 1-2-3…

Austin Aries defeated Zema Ion to retain the X-Division Championship in 4:16.

Backstage, Christopher Daniels and Kazarian debated on whether or not to reveal Styles secret. They started heading for the ring...

Ryan's Reaction: Good work from Aries and Ion. They have some solid chemistry together. I do feel like these random tile matches make the Open Fight Night concept a bit redundant, but I can't complain about a few minutes of entertaining wrestling.

[C] A recap of the opening segment's brawl and Hogan's subsequent announcement aired…

[Q5] RVD spoke backstage about why he decided to risk his shot for the title in order to choose the stipulation at sacrifice…

A video package chronicling the AJ Styles v. Christopher Daniels and Kazarian feud aired…

Daniels and Kazarian were in the ring. Daniels reminded everyone that he gave Styles and ultimatum last week and Styles failed to reveal his secret to the world. He said Styles had one last chance right now, and he and Kazarian hung on the ropes waiting for Styles.

Styles didn't show, so Daniels began his revelation. Styles rudely interrupted at that point, and he joined the two men in the ring. Styles said he doesn’t know they think they have on him, but it needs to end now. Kazarian said he tried to protect Styles at one point, but the secret changed his mind.

Kazarian pulled a picture of Styles and Dixie Carter out of the envelope. Styles dismissed it as a conversation. The next picture included Styles touching Carter's face. Styles stuttered a bit, so Kazarian revealed a picture of either Styles and Carter hugging or Styles kissing carter's neck. The quality was a bit crap, so I apologize if I got that wrong.

Daniels said a picture is worth a thousand words, so he dropped the evidence and he and Kazarian walked up the ramp. Styles looked distraught…

Ryan's Reaction: The reveal didn't live up to the hype, but I kind of expected that. Not that carter inclusion, but the disappointment. They dragged this storyline out so long that any reveal would likely come off as lackluster, but the hazy flip-book style photos really felt like a letdown. As for the story itself, well, I want to see where they go with tis, but more focus on Carter and calling for her to act is one of the last things TNA needs to be doing.

[C] A recap of the Styles shaming segment aired…

[Q6] 3. Devon vs. Robbie E (w/ Robbie T) for the TNA TV Title.Devon ran down early and attacked Robbie T until he clotheslined him out of the ring. Devon turned to Robbie E and battled him to the mat. Devon went to the floor and attacked Robbie T some more. Robbie E snuck up on Devon but Devon turned around and clubbed him.

Devon hit the spinebuster and pinned Robbie E…

Devon defeated Robbie E in 1:10.

After the match, Robbie T hit Devon with a powerslam…

A clip of James Storm's "I ran out of luck" promo aired…

Another video of James Storm on the farm with some haunting music aired. Storm talked about how he disappointed his family and he needed to clear his head. More footage aired of Storm working on the farm while he talked about what wrestling has done for him and he questioned whether or not continuing to wrestle was worth it…

Joseph Park was backstage trying to find directions on how to get to the ring…

Ryan's Reaction: There some good stuff from Storm and TNA's production team. I wish all of that content was done in a sit-down interview segment rather than the way it was done, but the content was good. TNA is still trying to cram way too many things into a small block of time, which makes each individual story suffer as a result.

[C] Devon talked backstage about how it's never been a fair fight since he got the title. he challenged both guys to a match at Sacrifice.

A fake news reporter voice spoke about Abyss missing with clips of Joseph park backstage talking to various members of the TNA roster. A graphic asked "Where is Abyss" with an extra helping of TNA's usual shaky cam graphic…

Joseph Park made his way to the ring. He talked to the fans a bit before someone finally brought him a microphone. Park talked about watching a bunch of Abyss' matches and he talked about how Abyss tore the place to the ground. Park thanked Hogan for allowing him some time to address the fans. Park said he was a bit nervous, but he was looking for his brother.

[Q7] Park said after all of his investigations, the common thread was Bully Ray. Park said he wasn't going away until he gets answers. Park said he was going to buy a ticket to Sacrifice. Bully ray made his entrance and he said that something wasn't right with park and his brother.

Ray yelled at Park and said he has no business being in a ring. Ray asked how Park would feel if he did to him what he did to matt Morgan earlier. Park put Ray over a bit before reminding ray that Abyss beat Ray the night he disappeared. He then reminded Bully Ray that Devon beat him just a few weeks prior.

Park them reminded Ray that last week Aries, a man half Ray's size, beat Ray down. Park asked Ray how that bullying thing his working out for him. Ray responded by shoving Park to the mat. Ray left the ring while park looked on in horror before developing a smirk…

Backstage, Mr. Anderson used a Yogi Bear voice to recite his opponents' names before yelling that he was going to take his title back after winning tonight. He continued the trend of getting way too chummy with the camera…

Ryan's Reaction: Park did some decent work there, and Ray played his part well, but they are really overexposing Ray on this episode.

[C] Kurt Angle spoke favorably about AJ Styles and said that Styles needs to focus on facing him at sacrifice first before worrying about the allegations…

Taz and Tenay ran through the Sacrifice card…

Another RVD video package aired, this time with recaps of RVD's various hardcore matches. RVD spoke about the sacrifices he makes by being a professional wrestler…

[Q8] 4. Bobby Roode vs. RVD vs. Jeff Hardy vs. Mr. Anderson. All three men went right into attacking Roode. Roode battled back and cleared Anderson and RVD from the ring while before fighting Hardy in the ring. Hardy missed Whisper in the Wind and the show went to break at 1:33 into the match…

[C] Back from the break at 5:36, Roode continued his assault on hardy but hardy quickly turned the tables. The wrestlers started working a rotation where one man would get a flurry of moves, a guy would roll to the floor to sell, and then one of the men that were selling rolled into the ring and the rotation continued.

The finish came when Hardy hit the Twist of fate on Roode, Anderson followed with the Mic Check on Roode and tackled Hardy to the floor. RVD hit the Five-Star Frog Splash on the fallen Roode for the pinfall victory.

RVD defeated Mr. Anderson, Bobby Roode, and Jeff Hardy in 9:28

After the match, RVD got a ladder out from under the ring and sat climbed to the top. Roode looked on in distress when Abyss' music hit and Abyss made his return. Abyss cut a very brief promo stating that his little brother was getting too close to the fire and was at risk of getting burned.

Ryan's Reaction: fast-paced match that featured several spots from everyone involved. I don't think the finish was ever in doubt considering the months' worth of build that has gone into the main event. Overall, this show fell somewhere between disappointing and decent. It was disappointing because it was crammed full of so many stories and quick bursts of information that it failed to really entertain me or sell me on the Sacrifice PPV. The effort was there, but with so very little wrestling and so many interchangeable videos and talking segments, I found myself looking at my watch several times throughout the show, which is never a good sign of entertainment value. Normally, even TNA's frantic shows make the time fly by, but this evening's show simply didn't cut it for me.

If you have any questions or comments or just wish to chat with a fellow wrestling fan about whatever, then feel free to email me at ryan.kester@gmail.com or follow me on Twitter at @TheRyanKester.