TNA Impact Wrestling Review for the 17th May 2012 episode

The show opens with a Bobby Roode promo. He says the odds were stacked against him once more at Sacrifice, and he overcame them. Roode also says it’s only 1 week before he becomes the longest reigning TNA World Champ. He calls out Hulk Hogan, who appears. Roode has demands for a celebration party, and Hogan denies them. Hogan informs Roode next week will be Open Fight Night, and the World Title will be defended. Hogan then mentions a few people want the title shot, and calls them out, which sees 17 stars come out…including ODB! Hogan sets up qualifying matches to decide the 4 stars to pick from next week in Open Fight Night: RVD vs Bully Ray, Mr Anderson vs Jeff Hardy, Kurt Angle vs Samoa Joe and a battle royal featuring the remaining 11 stars.

Bully Ray vs Rob Van Dam: Bully works over RVD’s injured arm, before RVD hits him with a kick, and rolling thunder. Bully then hits RVD to his injured knee and works over that. RVD strikes again with a kick, but as he tries a diving side kick off the top rope, Bully moves, RVD lands awkwardly on his injured leg and Bully hits the Bubba Cutter to pick up a surprising win.

After a short break, Bully Ray backstage says he’s pissed at the Kardashians…no joke! He’s annoyed they’ve jumped on the Anti Bullying campaign. Anyways, Joseph Park arrives and apologises for interfering in Bully’s match with Austin Aries at the PPV. Says how Abyss mentioned he’s getting too close to the fire, and thinks Bully is that fire. Bully warns him to stay away, and walks off.

We see a video of Dixie Carter on an MMA show, alongside Bellator’s Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal, who will fight for Bellator and TNA. Bellator’s CEO Bjorn Rebney is also on the show. Really not interested in this video, or King Mo in TNA.

Gail Kim and Madison Rayne are walking through backstage. Gail moans how it’s now fair facing two Knockouts tonight, while Madison is in la-la land thinking about a guy. Madison walks off, while Velvet Sky and Brooke Tessmacher walk in. They say it wasn’t fair how Gail cheated to beat them, but it will be fair when one of them wins the title tonight.

Open Fight Night Qualifying Battle Royal: This match featured AJ Styles, Austin Aries, Crimson, Devon, Eric Young, Garrett Bischoff, Gunner, Magnus, ODB Robbie E and Robbie T.

EY and ODB eliminated Crimson early on, while Aries got rid of Magnus, who was trying to skin the cat. Madison Rayne appeared watching on, as Robbie E got rid of Robbie T, and while he tried to pass the buck, Devon eliminated him. After a break, Garrett dropped the top rope down eliminating Devon, AJ hit a Pele Kick to Garrett before throwing Garrett out. Down to the final 3, Aries and AJ battled away, as AJ went to hit the flying forearm, Aries tried to push him off the ropes, AJ leapt over him and Gunner eliminated A-Double. Gunner rushed at AJ, and the Phenomenal One lifted Gunner over and out to win the Battle Royal.

We see a recap video of the issue between Kazarian, Daniels and AJ Styles. From that, it’s back to the ring and AJ Styles has a mic. He says next week, he’ll end Bobby Roode’s title reign, before saying it’s just business between himself and Dixie Carter and things are always as they seem. Kazarian and Daniels appear and tell AJ this isn’t about destroying lives, but exposing the truth that has helped his career. Daniels says if things aren’t what they seem on photos, he has a video. The video shows AJ and Dixie going into a hotel room together. AJ pushes Daniels and leaves.

TNA shows a clip of Kurt Angle ending Samoa Joe’s undefeated streak, before both are shown backstage. Joe says it’s a shame he has to go through Angle to get his belt back. Angle says they have a long history, and it’s all about who makes the first move, before slapping Joe. They brawl, until it’s broke up by members of the TNA roster.

Mr Anderson is looking at clips from his win over Jeff Hardy at TNA Sacrifice. He says it may be controversial, and the photos of the pinfall are inconclusive, but being the professional he is, he’ll give Hardy another shot tonight, and beat him.

Mr Anderson vs Jeff Hardy: Hardy takes down Anderson and hits the legdrop to the gut and a dropkick to the face for 2. Anderson is knocked outside, but as Hardy goes for a dropkick through the ropes, Anderson blocks it and drops Hardy back into the ring. Both guys try for their finishers, before Hardy builds momentum. He goes for the Twist of Fate, Anderson drops out of it, goes for Green Bay Plunge, and as he hits it, Hardy reverses into a crucifix pin, which gets him the win…but Anderson kicked out similar to how it ended at Sacrifice.

Another lookback at Samoa Joe and Kurt Angle’s past, this time from Lockdown 2008, when Joe wins the TNA World Title from Angle.

TNA Knockout Title Match – Gail Kim (c) vs Madison Rayne vs Velvet Sky: Velvet and Brooke double team Gail, before she gets out the ring. As Brooke and Velvet face off, Gail pulls Velvet out the ring and knocks down Brooke. Gail locks the Boston Crab on Brooke, and Velvet puts Gail in a dragon sleeper at the same time. Gail also locked an octopus-style submission on Brooke, with Velvet trying to schoolgirl pin them both. Velvet connects with the In Yo Face to Brooke, and Gail throws Velvet out, before stealing the win….getting a bit bored of this now.

Slammiversary clip video now, highlighting a few random moments from the past 10 years.

Kurt Angle vs Samoa Joe: Joe uses his strength early on to dominate this match, and we see Bobby Roode come out to watch the match. After a short break, control of the match switches between both. Angle tries for the Angle Slam, it’s turned into a Coquina Clutch by Joe, then Angle turns it again into an Ankle Lock. Joe kicks out, before Angle hits an Angle Slam for 2. Joe goes for a kick, and Angle locks in the Ankle Lock. After 2 failed attempts, Joe finally kicks out. He catches Angle with a standing sideslam, but as Joe tries for the Muscle Buster, Angle rolls behind for a sunset flip pin, and wins.

As Bobby Roode looks on at Angle, Jeff Hardy appears in the crowd, while Bully Ray and AJ Styles appear on the stage, all staring down Roode as the show ends.

This was a good show throughout. The lack of big egos appearing was a bonus again, as well as us getting some entertaining matches is what made this an enjoyable show for me. I didn’t expect Bully Ray to beat RVD, but I’m glad he did, due to giving us a surprise inclusion in the right for Open Fight Night next week. I mean, it would have been boring just seeing the same 4 people who Roode’s recently beat, getting picked. Also good to see Angle and Styles put forward, 2 talented guys who have put on great matches lately, but not had much back from it where TNA titles are concerned. The only problem I had with this show, was once again seeing Gail Kim retain. I just can’t see where they’re going with this storyline, or how they’ll have her lose the title. It’s getting repetitive and stale seeing her constantly cheat her way to the win, and you may as well not bother watching her matches because you already know what the result will be.

Thanks for taking the time to read this review, look forward to your comments.

@GoofyVillain of @TheTopRope