By Ryan Kester

Impact Wrestling on SpikeTV
Taped earlier in Macon, Georgia.

[Q1] James Storm started things off by making his way to the ring. Once there, he riled up the crowd and talked about how the South made him a real man. He talked about respect, patriotism, and chivalry. The crowd chanted "USA! USA! USA!" Storm said that he was now the TNA champion, and he would be a fighting champion, but he drinks too much for that. He continued to ramble a bit before calling out Bobby Roode.

Roode joined Storm in the ring and Storm said that Roode got screwed at Bound For Glory, but Storm was giving him a second chance tonight. Roode said it had been a crazy few weeks, but he owed all of the success in his career to Storm. Roode talked about Beer Money and he said they were one of the greatest teams in the history of the business.

Roode said Storm was the brains of their operation, and he thanked Storm for all he had done for his career. He talked about the post-match celebration when Storm won the title, but he said opportunities don't come around every day. He said tonight he was going to bring it, and he expected Storm to do the same. Roode said they were going to steal the show. He said tonight, they will find out who is the better man.

The two men hugged, and the Beer Money music played.

Backstage, Eric Young was shown walking with Ronnie form the Jersey Shore.

[Q2]… [C]

Ryan's Rant: Storm seems to ramble when he's the only person in the ring, but he does so much better when he has someone to play off of. This was a great opener that hyped their match well. I still wish the "steal the show" talk was kept to a minimum because that pulls the curtain back a bit too much for this viewer, but this segment was still solid.

1. Madison Rayne and Gail Kim defeated Brooke Tessmacher and Tara to win the TNA Knockout Tag Team Championships in 4:59. Rayne and Tessmacher started, with Tessmacher quickly gaining control. The tag champions worked quick tags to wear down Rayne.

Rayne got the tag to Kim, who quickly got dominated by Tara. Both women made tags, and Tessmacher knocked around Rayne before giving her the stink face. Kim tagged back in and started locked Tessmacher in a dragon sleeper.

Tara eventually tagged in the match and started tearing into the heels, but Kim caught her with a bulldog. Moments later, Tara hit Rayne with the widow's Peak, but Karen distracted the referee. Kim hit Tara with Eat Da Feet (TNA, please come up with a new name for that move so I can stop calling it that) for the victory.

Backstage, Garrett Bischoff was talking about his father and saying his father was always expecting apologies form him. Alrighty then. Garrett said he was going to apologize t his father tonight, but he had a wry smile on his face… [C]

Ryan's Rant: The match was good, but there was way too much going on at the end. Kim looked much better this week than she did last week. I just wish the Knockout tags actually meant anything, but they are only defended every couple of months and are forgotten about the rest of the time.

[Q3] Garrett Bischoff stood in the ring with a microphone in his hand. He said his father wanted an apology, and he intended to give him one. He called out his father, and TNA turned the piped heat up to eleven while the camera panned over the crowd.

Bischoff made his way to the ring, and Garrett apologized for not living up to Eric's expectations. He apologized for letting him down at Bound For Glory. Garrett apologized for not growing into the man Eric wanted him to be. He said what he was most sorry about, though, was not doing this years ago. At that point, he floored his father with a punch.

Ric Flair and Gunner ran out and Garrett retreated up the ramp while his father called him a "son of a bitch." Well, that's lovely… [C]

Ryan's Rant: I still can't get into this storyline. I don't know if it's because Eric Bischoff is overexposed, if I'm worried that Flair may end up in the ring again, or if it's because Garrett seems emotionally blank and monotone. There's simply too much working against this storyline, and if you take all of that and add it to a storyline centered around family drama, and you have a perfect storm of a storyline that simply does not entertain me.

Backstage, Samoa Joe ran into Sting, and Joe told Sting that if he's not treated with respect, people have a way of getting hurt. Sting said he got it. Bischoff showed up and rubbed Sting's nose in the fact that he has an ironclad contract and can't get fired. Bischoff asked for Garrett to be in a match, and if he got the match, Sting could rewrite his contract.

Christopher Daniels talked about his delusional winning streak and the cameraman mentioned that he said "I Quit" and Daniels said it was faked. Daniels said he wanted title shots. RVD showed up behind him and he looked pissed. Well, I think he looked pissed, you can't really tell with Van dam. He's a chill guy.

RVD proceeded to attack Daniels, who managed to find RVD's kryptonite, a stack of overturned chairs. RVD was frozen in place as Daniels scampered away from the fight.

[Q4]… [C]

Ryan's Rant: Seriously, seeing RVD thwarted by a small stack of chairs laid in front of him had me cracking up.

2. Jesse Sorensen beat Austin Aries in a non-title match in 4:44. Sorensen went for an early roll-up, but Aries quickly kicked out. Aries shook Sorensen's hand, and proceeded to get the upper hand on Sorensen.

Aries nailed Sorensen with a huge suicide dive. Back in the ring, Aries hit his kneebreaker/side slam combo on Sorensen. Sorensen came back with a high knee and a dropkick for a two-count. Aries hit a punt kick on Sorensen and followed with a series of running dropkicks. Aries set up for the brainbuster, but Sorensen rolled him up with a small package for the win.

Backstage, Ronnie was shown walking through the locker room… [C]

Ryan's Rant: That was a good match, but they had Kid Kash on commentary, and they kept cutting to him throughout the match. Kash was practically yelling into his head set, and he really distracted form the contest. It's a shame, as I think the match would have benefitted greatly from having those frills removed.

[Q5] Backstage, Storm talked about his match tonight and said he had no plan on losing his belt.

Bobby Roode was talking about his opportunity and said this doesn’t happen every day.

Rob Terry and Robbie E Made their way to the ring. Little Robbie called Ronnie and Eric Young to the ring. They obliged. Ronnie was wearing the old TNA title. Little Robbie told Ronnie that the Jersey Shore sucks, and so does he. Robbie called Ronnie a hamster and told him to leave. Ronnie took Robbie down with a spear.

Robbie T took out Young and Ronnie, and Robbie whipped Ronnie with his belt. Young grabbed a microphone and said whipping people is weird. Young talked about Jersey Shore for a moment before saying that all four men would be in a tag match next week on Impact Wrestling.

Ryan's Rant: At one point, Taz said he didn't know which belt was the one EY found in the trash. That's terrible. If you're a Jersey Shore fan, I am guessing you loved this. It doesn’t do much for me, and I'm really not enthused about the tag match. Still, if TNA can manage to get some added exposure because of this, more power to them.

[Q6] 3. Jeff Hardy and Mr. Anderson defeated Bully Ray and Jeff Jarrett via DQ in 4:53. Hardy and Ray started things off, with Ray quickly getting the better of Hardy and punching his gut in the corner. Hardy quickly battled back and hit a flurry of offense on Bully Ray.

Jarrett tagged into the match got the better of Hardy. The heels began to work quick tags as they picked apart Hardy.

Eventually, the match broke down and all four men ended up in the ring. Scott Steiner showed up and assaulted Hardy with a chair. Bully Ray assaulted Anderson and Hardy with a chain. Jarrett hit Hardy with the Stroke, and Bully Ray hit Anderson with the Bully Bomb.

Ryan's Rant: The match was good. There was so much action that it made it impossible to keep up even close to move-for-move. Scott Steiner can go away, but this was an effective way to get a bit of heat on Jarrett and Ray.

Backstage, Sting asked Garrett Bischoff if he wanted to wrestle an opponent of Eric Bischoff's choosing so that Sting could rewrite Eric's contract. Garrett accepted, String tried to renege on the deal, but Garrett insisted.

[Q7] Matt Morgan made his way to the ring wearing street clothes. He called out Crimson, who quickly obliged. Morgan said he's been getting hell for being beaten by Crimson at Bound For Glory. Morgan put over his work in TNA and he said he was the greatest seven-footer in the wrestling industry.

Morgan demanded that they make a "dream match," The" unstoppable force" Crimson versus "the immovable object" Matt Morgan. Crimson said fans were blowing up his Twitter about that match, and he said Morgan better bring his A-game at Turning Point because his streak would not be broken.

Ryan's Rant: I'd don't care how tough someone is trying to be, the moment they say the word "Twitter" they are no longer tough. That segment tried way too hard to have intensity to it, and it came off as cartoonish to this viewer.

A video package covering James Storm's sudden ascent to the top of TNA aired.

[Q8] 4. Bobby Roode defeated James Storm to become the new TNA Champion in 17:27.The two men worked some great chain wrestling to start without either man gaining an upper hand… [C]

Back from the break, Storm and Roode continued to trade chops with one anther. Storm got the upper hand when he hit Roode with multiple clotheslines in the corner. It didn't last long, though, as Roode answered with a clothesline of his own.

Roode went to the top and got caught, and Storm hit a superplex. Storm tossed Rood with a back body drop but got caught with a kick and a flying neckbreaker from Roode. Storm went to the top and hit a high cross body, but Roode rolled through for a near fall.

The two men continued to trade moves with one another without either man gaining control for an extended period of time.

Roode hit his spinebuster for a near fall. Storm clotheslined Roode to the floor and the momentum took Storm with him.

[Overrun] Back in the ring, Roode locked Storm in the crossface and Storm crawled to the ropes. Roode transitioned into a scissors crossface to prevent Storm from grabbing the rope, but Storm used his foot to break the hold.

Storm set up for the Last Call, but Roode caught him and went for the fishermen's suplex. The referee fell to the floor holding his leg. Roode hit Storm with the beer bottle. The referee rolled in the ring and counted the fall to make Bobby Roode the new TNA Champion.

Ryan's Rant: Excellent back and forth match. I don't have a problem with the heel turn as much as I do with the ref bump. It simply looked bad and took away from the moment. TNA will geta lot of clack for rushing to this point so quickly, but they at least put on an entertaining show tonight, and the main event lived up to the hype. There were some parts in the middle of the show that made me groan, namely the Bischoff family drama and Eric Young shenanigans, but those are things I just don't find personally entertaining. Overall, this was a solid show, and I look forward to next week's follow-up.

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.

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