By Ryan Kester

TNA "Impact Wrestling" on Spike TV
Taped in Orlando, FL. in the Impact Wrestling Zone

[Q1] Sting came to the ring and called out Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff but Kurt Angle made his way out instead.

Once in the ring, Kurt Angle told Sting that he was the one who could claim the credit for Sting's current reign as champion. He said at Hardcore Justice their paths would cross again for the TNA title. Sting told him he respects Kurt as much as Kurt respects him but he was going to do what he had to do.

Kurt said they were both legends but only one man could walk out with the title and that man was him. Sting said they have themselves a dilemma when Immortal's music hit and Bully ray and Mr. Anderson joined the conversation.

Bully Ray called the babyfaces "jagoffs" and told them that they would have to face them in the main event of the evening in a tag match. Bully Ray said he didn't like being hit in the gut with a bat and he would hit Kurt with a kitchen sink tonight.

Anderson took his turn on the stick and told Sting if it wasn't for his "butt buddy" Kurt then he wouldn't have the title. Mr. Anderson told Sting that Sting shouldn't worry about anything other than Mr. Anderson, and he called Sting a "biotch."… [C]

Ryan's Rant: That was somewhat underwhelming. I question the wisdom in having another babyface vs. babyface PPV main event when we had one not that long ago. Oh well. I am not a fan of the rampant "respect" everyone has for each other in TNA, nor do I enjoy the slightly altered swears to try and sound controversial. It just doesn't help me take the show seriously when I hear grown men and "legends" talking like kids I knew in seventh grade. Still, this opening was devoid of non-wrestlers, so I can at least appreciate that.

TNA showed the BFGS leaderboards without telling us what changed or why. It was up for less than five seconds.

[Q2] 1. Rob Van Dam beat Scott Steiner in 5:34 a Bound for Glory Series match. Steiner took control early and absolutely hanhandled RVD.

RVD eventually came back with a thrust kick to Steiner's throat. Steiner tried to regain control but was met with a kick on every attempt. RVD hit Rolling Thunder on Steiner and got a great near fall. Steiner began to make a comeback and hit a massive DDT on RVD, who's feet were hung up on the top turnbuckle.

Steiner hit and elbow and did his push up routine. He went back to work on RVD but RVD rolled him up for the win. Steiner started to attack RVD but they cut away in the middle of the attack and went back to the BFGS leaderboard and never came back.

Backstage, Mickie James was walking through a dark hallway while wearing sunglasses. I hope she doesn't run into a wall… [C]

Ryan's Rant: Well, TNA looks like they're already tired of their points system as they are giving it the least amount of screen time possible. The match was a decent television match that wasn't mind-blowing, but adequate for a five minute spar.

Mickie James came out to the ring holding her belt; looks like she made it through the dark backstage alright. She called velvet out to the ring, and Velvet quickly obliged. Mickie said she's been watching Velvet these past few months. She said she's watched people blame her for their downfalls. She said they tried to break every facet of her down, and she's been there, and it's not good. She said she had the honor and the privilege to give Velvet her first Knockouts title shot tonight.

Mickie said tonight they would tear the roof off of the Impact zone and prove why they have the best damned Women's Division in wrestling today.

Ryan's Rant: Great, the Knockouts are now acting like the X-Division.

She said she walked down the ramp Kncokouts champ and she planned to walk out tonight the same way.

[Q3] Angelina Love and Winter came onto the stage and Love took the stick. She mocked the girls in the ring for their love fest and she complained that none of the Knockouts respect her in the back. She said she's proven herself before but no one's given her dues. She called the Knockouts jealous and that she was on a level all of her own. She told them to keep putting themselves over all they want but no matter who won, she would be going after to take their title.

Winter took the stick and said that she didn't care who she had to face, the blow-up doll, or the little mouse. She said she would win the title at Hardcore Justice for the both of them.

Sorita and Rosita attacked Miss Tessmacher and Tara backstage… [C]

Ryan's Rant: I'm so sick of TNA stars using wrestling jargon. Takes me right out of the show. Just like Angle and Sting in the opening and the entire X Division before destination X, Velvet and Mickie are now just focused on having a good match, not on who's walking out with the Knockouts title. I'm sorry, but that's not a way to hype a match and make a title seem important.

Backstage, the ladies of Mexican America were still beating down Tara and Miss Tessmacher. Tenay said that there's bad blood that runs deep between these two teams. Sarita was wearing a faceguard and Tenay hyped talking about that later. Oh boy, I can't wait.

They showed a video for tonight's ladder match and hyped the ten points the winner will get. Christopher daniels approached A.J. Styles and they kicked the camera man out of the room… [C]

Ryan's Rant: So winning a ladder match is equal to making a guy submit? This scoring is just weird.

[Q4] We came back to Tenay hyping a cell phone video with Tara, Tessmacher, Sarita, and Rosita form last week brawling after the show went off the air. The result was Sarita with a broken orbital bone and jaw. The video was so blurry it was hard to see what was going on and who was who.

2. Miss Tessmacher and Tara beat Rosita and Sarita in 3:51 to win the Knockouts Tag Team Titles. The two teams brawled on the entrance ramp and the early going consisted of one gigantic brawl. Tessmacher ended up getting double-teamed in the corner shortly before Hebner regained control.

Rosita worked over Tessmahcer as the two legal women while Sarita took out Tara. Tara interfered in the match and Hebner screamed at her. Seriously, he seemed like his head was going to pop.

Tara interfered again anyway and dragged Tessmacher to the corner and tagged in. Hebner did nothing. We reached that magical point in a Knockouts tag match where no one needs to tag anymore as all four women remained in the ring for the remainder of the match without any consequence. Tara had Sarita in the Widow's Peak but Madison Rayne ran out and interfered. Sarita had the pin but Henber was still distracted.

Tara hit a sitout powerbomb on Sarita to get the win.

Ryan's Rant: I love how they just invented this rivalry. We saw about a month's worth of build in two segments. I was looking forward to this match on paper, but it was an absolute cluster. Way, way, way too much going on throughout this entire thing. Also, don't pretend this feud was a blood feud and thn continue the crap with Madison Rayne during the middle of it. They need to scrap these belts. They are only defended every other month as it is, and they add absolutely nothing to the product.

A clip board with a single paper with the words, "Bound for Glory Series 10 Points" written on it was hanging above the ring. I kid you not.

[Q5] 3. Matt Morgan beat A.J. Styles, Samoa Joe and Gunner in 4:53 a Bound for Glory Series match. Syles and Gunner squared off on the outside as Morgan and Joe battled inside.

Joe and Morgan battled over a ladder and Morgan won the exchange. Morgan than took out Gunner with the ladder. Styles and Morgan battled in the ring. When Styles took out Morgan Gunner sprang to life and pounced on Styles. Morgan than stood up long enough to take a ladder shot.

Gunner tried to set up the ladder but was cut off by Styles. Joe finally woke up and took out Morgan but was cut off by Gunner. Gunner was the first man to climb the ladder but Styles joined him via a springboard. Joe took the ladder out and both men went down. Styles came back and tried to attack Joe but ate an urinagi for his efforts.

Morgan cleared the ring and played to the crowd before walking up the ladder and simply snatched the clipboard… [C]

Ryan's Rant: I have seen throwaway Divas matches last longer than that ladder match. What the hell? There was absolutely no reason for this to happen, and I can only shake my head at whoever thought this would eb a good idea. Samoa Joe still has no points while Devon remains towards the top of the ratings. I think that fact coupled with how short these matches have been only serves to hurt the series as a whole. This should be showing off the company's new motto and should build one of these guys up like crazy but it just feels like normal Impact matches with a scoring bracket after the match. The series doesn't feel special or important, and it really should by this point.

Eric Young was shown talking about his journey to Hollywood and how he planned to take out celebrities for his TV title. Eric Young found "Cee Lo Green" but it was actually D-Lo Brown. D-Lo said he gets the gimmick but Eric knows who he is. Eric rolled him up and hit his own three count and declared himself the victor

[Q6] 4. Brian Kendrick beat Alex Shelley in 5:25 to retain the X Division Title. The two worked some basic chain wrestling to start.

Alex Shelly held control for most of the match. He hit Kendrick with a high crossbody for the first near fall of the match. He tried it again and Kendrick cut him off with a dropkick. Kendrick hit a suicide dive to the outside. Kendrick threw Shelley back into the ring and went for a splash from the top rope but Shelley got his knees up.

Shelly hit a nasty reverse DDT on the apron. Austin Aries came out of nowhere and nailed Shelley with the title to knock him out and give Kendrick the pin… [C]

Ryan's Rant: Lord, I hate Eric Young. I loathe that character and the fact that he runs around with the old TNA belt. Why do none of the guys that held that title care that he is now using that belt as a prop? Brian Kendrick looked very weird as he practically ran to the ring and holding the belt in the way he did. He looked like a kid that was late to school and was clutching his books as he ran. The match was alright, but was nothing to write home about. I almost wish Shelley won here so we could get a feud between Shelley and Aries with the X-Division title at stake. Now that would rebuild the X Division.

Mexican America came to the ring. Anarquia railed against the title change earlier in the evening. Anarquia complained that their flag didn't drop. He called out Beer Money and they quickly obliged. Anarquia yelled in Storm's face and said some gibberish and Storm told him to shut up. He told him to leave the ring and the company and told them to go do something they're good at, like cutting grass.

[Q7] Storm put over his partner, Bobby Roode, and talked about put himself over as the ultimate country man. Storm said he was going to kick Mexican America's ass for all of the luchadores, great Spanish wrestlers like the Guererros, and all the other Spanish people out there they disgrace. Beer Money's music played and the two teams jawed with each other.

Backstage, velvet and Mickie were shown walking towards the ring for their match… [C]

Ryan's Rant: There's times I really feel stuck with TNA. I don't like just crapping all over what they do and I try not to be too negative with the multitude of criticism I have for the various aspects of its product. This is not one of those times, I as feel fully justified in crapping all over any form of racism in wrestling, and that line about Mexican America being gardeners was unnecessary and ridiculous in this day and age. If this were a legitimate sport, there would be someone getting fired for making that sort of crack and it's asinine crap like that that makes TNA look just abhorrent. Had I not been covering this show, that would have been the exact moment I changed the channel, and I can't understand how anyone in TNA would think that would be something appropriate to put on the show.

Mickie was on her way to the ring when Winter and Angelina Love attacked. Velvet ran out to help Mickie and ODB and Jackie jumped the rail to attack Velvet. Tracie Brooks made her unceremonious return by running out to the ring and helping to clear ODB and Jackie from the ring. A massive wave of referees came out to separate the women.

Security came out as well and didn't seem to learn their lesson as they lined up for crotch kicks from ODB. Fake cops came out and handcuffed Jackie and ODB and removed them from the ring… [C]

Ryan's Rant: Oh joy, ODB and Jackie are back. TNA just can't seem to make a returning wrestler seem important. Brooks is back without any form of announcement and she didn't do anything in the ring to showcase who she is. I actually thought she was Chyna until someone said different. Apparently Russo can't get enough of his Knockouts brawls tonight. Still, the women are getting a ton of time and just because I can't say that the way they portray the women appeals to me, you can't argue that they aren't giving their target demographic plenty to drool over this evening.

[Q8] Backstage, Traci Brooks was on the Hervey cam and said she'll be here to defend velvet as long as ODB and Jackie are there harassing her.

Before the match, Bully Ray tried to prevent Anderson from doing his mic drop routine but Anderson ignored him and did it anyway.

5. Sting and Kurt Angle beat Bully Ray and Mr. Anderson in 3:30. Bully Ray pounced on Sting and knocked Kurt to the floor to start the match. Anderson entered the match and coked Sting in the corner.

Bully ray tagged back into the match and worked Sting over by hitting multiple elbow drops and going for a pin between each one. Anderson tagged in and started to work over Sting's legs. He taunted Angle by holding Sting's limp hand out and asking if Angle wanted to tag in. Sting got the hot tag to Kurt who quickly demolished the heels with German suplexes.

Sting got involved and hit the Stinger Splash on Anderson. Kurt Angle followed that up with the Angle Slam for the win.

Sting and Angle shook hands after the match to end the show.

Ryan's Rant: Why even bother with a main event at that point? That did nothing but bury Anderson who got hit with a splash and s slam and that was about it.

Tonight's show, despite many of my complaints above, was actually fairly decent. The individual segments tended towards bad, but the show as a whole was passable. TNA has a lot of work to do with their BFGS and they need to give those guys more time. A four minute ladder match is just embarrassing. I'll have a lot more to say tomorrow with my Rundown of the show. Thanks for following along with me; I'll see you all next week.

Questions, concerns, comments, or criticism? Please feel free to send me an email at ryan.kester@gmail.com or hit me up on Twitter at @TheRyanKester.

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