TNA Impact Wrestling Review for the 19th April 2012

We see photos from the main event at Lockdown, as well as James Storm backstage saying how disappointed he felt by losing the match to Bobby Roode.

Speaking of Bobby Roode, he makes his way out to the ring, with limp in his walk, and shorter hair. Damn, did that Last Call Superkick knock your hair off your head?! Roode says how the appearance has changed, but the Champ is still the same, before saying how he kept his promise of beating Storm in his backyard. Roode runs through the list of “idols” he’s beat, before Mr Anderson interrupts. Anderson tells Roode he’ll beat his ass and take the title, without needing a beer bottle to do so. Roode reminds him, while Anderson has been away, Roode’s been the most dominant Champion in TNA, and to get to the back of the queue. Jeff Hardy comes out and says the only reason he isn’t Champion, is Kurt Angle. Having dealt with Kurt, he’ll now end Roode. Anderson and Hardy argue over who’s next, while Roode encourages them on. Hulk Hogan appears on the big screen, saying he wants to see all the Champs later on, before setting up Jeff Hardy vs Mr Anderson, and the winner goes on to face Bobby Roode at Sacrifice.

Crimson and Bully Ray vs Matt Morgan and Austin Aries: So this was the opening match of the night. We see Morgan and Crimson pair off, while Aries chases after Bully Ray. Morgan seems in control till he misses a Carbon Footprint and gets his foot caught on the top rope, allowing Bully Ray to tweak the knee on that rope. Crimson and Bully use frequent tags and work over Morgan’s leg, until he manages to strike with a discus clothesline. Aries finally got tagged in, and laid into Bully Ray. Crimson accidentally speared his own partner, before Morgan knocked him out the ring, and Aries hit his Heatseeking suicide dive on Crimson. As Aries went for the Brainbuster, Bully Ray rolled behind, and rolled him up in a schoolboy pin while holding the trunks for the win. Now, I thought Morgan and Crimson was supposed to be over at Lockdown, so it’s weird how they faced off again. Was a dull match at times, only seemed to liven up once Aries got in.

Garrett Bischoff is shown on his way towards the ring, before it cuts to Jeff Hardy. Hardy says he had one of the best matches of his career against Kurt Angle, and now it’s his turn for the World Title. He also says Mr Anderson deserves his chance too, and tonight we’ll see who deserves to go on to main event Sacrifice.

Garrett Bischoff makes his way to the ring with AJ Styles, Mr Anderson and Rob Van Dam. Garrett says it was the biggest night of his life at Lockdown, and as a team, they got rid of his Dad once and for all (yeah right!). He thanks them and Austin Aries, before AJ tells Garrett he has balls for what he did at Lockdown. This causes Ric Flair to come out. He makes fun of Garrett stumbling over his words, before saying everyone is in the company because of Eric *beep*. Flair calls Garrett disrespectful, and his team-mates punks, before saying he is throwing a tribute next week to Eric *beep* and bans the 4 guys in the ring. They genuinely beeped out Bischoff whenever Ric said it after the name Eric. It kinda amused me.

Kazarian and Daniels are in their dressing room. Daniels mentions he isn’t holding a secret about Kazarian, but it’s one about AJ Styles. He now has photo proof, and may reveal it tonight. Next we see Devon talking to Samoa Joe and Magnus. He asks them if they know what Hulk Hogan could want. Magnus says no, but as Champs, they are always ready to go.

AJ Styles vs Kurt Angle: Now, due to a technical difficulty, this match didn’t last long. At least on TV. It took an unexpected break, then not long after they returned to action, it ended. For the short match we saw, it was back and forth till Kazarian and Daniels appeared. As AJ went for the Styles Clash, Daniels got on the apron. Angle tried for the Angle Slam, Styles arm drags his way out. Daniels hands an envelope to Styles, who looks inside, and as he does, Angle rolls him up for the pin. Afterwards, Styles seems shocked, while Angle seemed to be apologetic. Shame this was cut short, as I like seeing these two face off.

Back to another Joseph Park segment, as this time he runs into Gunner again. Gunner repeats he knows nothing, before Joseph speaks some lawyer jargon I didn’t understand. Gunner says he still doesn’t know, but last time he saw Abyss was when he faced Bully Ray. THANK YOU! I tweeted him this when it first started, if only he took notice of my tweet, this storyline would have developed, and hopefully ended!!!

All the TNA Champions make their way to the ring, with Bobby Roode coming out last. Hulk Hogan is making his way through backstage when he runs into “mah boy mah boy!”, Rob Van Dam. He thanks RVD for Lockdown and getting rid of Eric *beep*. Hogan then mentions how he has the number 1 contender’s match tonight, but wants to add someone special. RVD suggests a guy who lost the World Title but never got pinned…and Hogan agrees, adding RVD to the main event tonight.

Onto the in-ring segment, as Hogan has finally made his way to the ring. He announces, that starting next week, there will be a special episode once a month called “Open Fight Night”. On this episode, a non-contracted wrestler will appear, and get the chance to have a match, and impress a panel of judges. If they impress, they win a contract. I guess this is wrestling meets the X-Factor? Anyone can get called out, Champions included, and they must step up and accept the challenge. Bobby Roode tells Hogan no one tells him what to do, while Gail Kim whines about who decides all this. Hogan asks for fans to let him know via social networks, what we wanna see. Time to tweet “Garrett fired, less of you on TV, more Aries, more Winter, and this Joseph Park shit ended” to Hogan then! Back to this segment, Devon tells Hogan he agrees with this plan, promised to be a fighting TV Champion and will “Testify all over their ass”…oooo-er! Hogan is glad to hear this, as he now says the TV Title will be defended every week, before ending the segment with the words “Change is here, we got an Open Fight Night, and everybody fights brother!”. Hmmm, skeptical on this right now.

Gail Kim, Madison Rayne, Rosita and Sarita vs Tara, Brooke Tessmacher, Mickie James and Velvet Sky: I didn’t realise Miss Tessmacher had been missing, till Taz said it was good to see her back. Velvet seemed to hold her own against Sarita and Rosita, until she turned to get at Gail Kim, which allowed for an attack. Madison Rayne and Mickie James get in for a short while, before a few changes again sees Tessmacher and Kim in. As Tessmacher goes for the pin, it gets broke up and all hell breaks loose outside the ring. Gail tries to cheat with her feet on the rope, Velvet stops it, before Tessmacher rolls her up for the win. Was good to see Rosita, Sarita and Tessmacher used well. A bit of a cluster mid match, but still a good match for me.

Cameras catch up with Mr Anderson backstage. He says with cameras everywhere, you’re gonna see up close why he’s an asshole. He also says he loves the idea of Open Fight Night, and he’ll do whatever it takes to remind Bobby Roode that he hasn’t forgot the bottle shot recently.

Eric Young and ODB are on their honeymoon, sunning themselves. ODB tells her hubby, she isn’t jealous, and he’s showed he is commited to her. EY has a go at a hotel worker for “eyeing up ODB” and drops his shorts, challenging the worker, who walks off.

James Storm has finally turned up and is seen walking through the backstage area.

Gunner vs Devon for the TNA TV Title: Gunner attacks Devon, who seems to “hulk up” and fight back. Gunner keeps trying for the pin, but doesn’t get the fall. Devon hits a spear, builds momentum, and hits his spinebuster to retain the TV Title. Bit of a boring match.

Time to hear what James Storm has to say. He says sorry to his family, friends and the fans, and he feels like he let everyone down. He thought it was satisfying enough seeing Bobby Roode being carried out, but then says he had doubts on if he is good enough. Talks about how he felt he let his daughter down, something he doesn’t want to do. Says that he beat himself at Lockdown, rather than Roode beating him. Mentions how he’s wrestled 15 years, through broken bones, stitches and concussions, and got through it thanks to the love of the fans. Says sorry he let his Dad down, and thinks Roode might be right on his luck running out, before getting choked up and leaving.

Rob Van Dam vs Jeff Hardy vs Mr Anderson: The opening to this match sees every guy get the upperhand over the other two at some point. RVD gets out of a headlock of Anderson’s but the asshole drops him with a DDT. We see Hardy hit the Whisper in the Wind on Anderson, before RVD attacks him, and hits a Rolling Thunder. Anderson back up with the Green Bay Plunge to RVD, and then Hardy hits the Twist of Fate to Anderson. Hardy wastes time going for the Swanton, finally hits it on Anderson. As Hardy gets up to turn and pin Anderson, RVD hits him with a spinning wheel kick, and then goes to the top rope and hits the 5 Star Frog Splash to Anderson. Hardy goes to hit the Twist of Fate on RVD, who reverses into a backslide pin, and gets the win. RVD and Hardy shakes hands, and the Charismatic Enigma leaves as RVD celebrates.

It just felt a bit of a strange episode this week if I’m honest. I can’t think of anything that majorly stands out, you know, as being a good or memorable moment. Most feuds didn’t seem to show any signs of moving on, the Knockout Title situation seems as cloudy as usual, and there was even a moment where a heel seemed to be acting like a face would. So, in a way, seemed like a typical Impact from the past year. I’m also a bit unsure on the Open Fight Night announcement, mainly due to there being 2 or 3 different meanings behind what can actually happen. Hogan said non-contractual stars can select who to face, others reckon the TNA star can put themselves forward for the match. Until the first time this happens, I’ll reserve judgment.

Thanks for reading this article, I look forward to your thoughts and comments on this.

@GoofyVillain of @TheTopRope