Welcome to the weekly Wrestling Rambles blog post known as Insight into Impact, where I will give you the lowdown and results from the 7th March 2013 episode of TNA Impact Wrestling, as well as putting my views across on the show.

Before the opening video recap, an image is shown In Memoriam for Bill “Paul Bearer” Moody, after the sad passing of the legendary wrestling manager.

Impact opens with Kurt Angle walking backstage, and he is pissed. As in “I’m pissed off”, not the “I’m pissed and shouldn’t have tweeted that, so let’s pretend I was hacked” type. He’s gonna reveal who the Aces V.P. is, and it will have rippling effects throughout TNA.

We open in the Impact Zone in the best way possible, with an Austin Aries promo. He’s solo again this week, and talks up his win over Hernandez, before saying how he spoke with Bully Ray and Jeff Hardy last week. He past on advice, which he didn’t have to do, and they didn’t appreciate it. Bully thinks Aries won’t be Champ again, so Aries will call out Hardy to prove Bully wrong.

Match 1: Austin Aries vs Jeff Hardy

Aries attacks while Hardy is tapping hands with the fans, and controls the early part of the match, including dropping Hardy over the top, hard onto the floor. Aries with a splash for 2, he argues with the ref which allows Hardy a chance to fight back and run through his signature moves. As Hardy sets up for the Swanton, Aries blocks, tries a Brainbuster, which is blocked and hits 2 Twist of Fates. Before Hardy can end it though, Matt Morgan appears and hits the Carbon Footprint.

Jeff Hardy wins this match by disqualification in a time of 8:15

Morgan pulls Hardy to the outside and sets him up for a Carbon Footprint against the ringpost, only for Bully Ray to scare Morgan off.

Sting is backstage with Team TNA, and he’s getting them fired up for Lockdown. Says he wants them to win the advantage for the PPV, and he’ll start it off tonight with anyone who wants to face him.

Matt Morgan is backstage, he knows what he wants and what he deserves. He made a promise to go through the entire roster for what he wants, and he’s just getting started….

Video recapping the issue between Kurt Angle and Wes Brisco, which leads to Wes coming to the ring, and he has something to say. Mentions how his Dad and Uncle were “one of the best wrestlers”…nah, it’s not a typo, he did say that. They hyped up Angle, but once Wes met him, Angle was nothing special, and he’ll beat Angle at Lockdown. Kurt Angle appears and runs down Wes, and says he was wrong to trust him, before they brawl. Al Snow, Pat Kenney and D’Lo Brown stop them, with Angle yelling “It’s him” while pointing at D’Lo, before D’Lo boots Angle to the balls, and attacks Snow and Kenney. D’Lo takes back his Aces mask from Angle, announcing he’s the VP of the Aces. Oh, you better recognize!

Backstage segment with the Aces, D’Lo tells Devon to go out and get the man advantage at Lockdown. D’Lo says from day 1, he was told he’d never be alone, and can trust these guys…but can Sting trust his team-mates? Hmmmm….

Match 2: Devon vs Sting

Devon beats down Sting, wearing him down, trying for a pinfall and or choking him out. Devon misses a diving headbutt, Sting builds up momentum and knocks Devon outside. They brawl around the ring, until a fan in the front row (in an Aces hat) blinds Sting with his drink. Devon throws Sting into the ringpost, rolls him in, and hits a big boot for the 3 count.

Devon wins this match by pinfall in a time of 3:21

Velvet Sky is discussing how it felt to win the Knockouts Title again…only for Gail Kim to come in and complain how her and Taryn cheated Gail out of it, and Velvet is on warning for Lockdown. Velvet slaps Gail, and walks out.

GutCheck segment, Bruce Prichard informs Al Snow that Taz is no longer a part of GutCheck due to Hulk Hogan not wanting an Aces member deciding on their roster. He’s been replaced by OVW head trainer, Danny Davis. They discuss Ivelisse Velez and Lei’D Tapa, giving positive and negatives on both ladies. We cut backstage to GutCheck judges with Tapa and Velez, and Prichard announces only 1 goes through to the voting later, and that person is Lei’D Tapa. Velez doesn’t look happy, and you can understand why. She won the match, yet gets cut.

Match 3: Chavo Guerrero, Hernandez and Velvet Sky vs Bad Influence and Gail Kim

Los StereoTypicals are rolling and using good teamwork to stop anything Bad Influence try, while double teaming them. Gail trips Chavo when Taryn isn’t looking…so Velvet does the same to Daniels! Kaz cheap shots Chavo and momentum changes sides. Bad Influence wear down Chavo, until he hits a dropkick, and the ladies are tagged in. Velvet with a headscissors followed by a spear, before Daniels is in. As he tries to manhandle Velvet, Hernandez clears him out, followed by Chavo removing Kaz. Daniels tries a moonsault and hits his own partner, before a huge “Air Mexico” from Hernandez. Back inside, Gail makes Velvet ‘Eat Defeat’ for the win.

Bad Influence and Gail Kim win this match by pinfall in a time of 7:22

Sting is bloody, and annoyed. He flips out about trusting people. Samoa Joe says he can be trusted. Magnus takes this as a shot at him, and says he can be trusted, and he’ll show the world he can.

We’re back in Gainesville, Georgia for another update with AJ Styles. The cameraman tracks AJ down, and once AJ spots this, he throws the interview against his own car, tells him “leave”, then throws both interviewer and cameraman back into their car. During the following match, this tweet was mentioned from AJ’s account.

Match 4: D.O.C and Garett Bischoff vs Samoa Joe and Magnus

Despite tension between Joe and Magnus, they’re able to get the upperhand over Bischoff, until Magnus is suckered into following Garett, and allows D.O.C. a sucker punch. Magnus is beat down in the Aces half of the ring, until he drops out of D.O.C.’s grasp, and a double clothesline is followed by a double tag. Joe is in, and he and Magnus finally get on the same page, double teaming D.O.C., which ends with their snapmare/elbow combo finisher to D.O.C.

Samoa Joe and Magnus win this match by pinfall in a time of 4:54

Kenny King promo backstage where he says he’s shown what he always said he is, the star of the X-Division. Says it doesn’t matter who he faces at Lockdown, he’ll shut them down.

ODB, Eric Young and James Storm are backstage, when Sting shows up. EY says how he’s the funny guy, but he can be stand up when needed. He wants Sting to put him in the deciding Lethal Lockdown match, but Sting goes with Storm.

GutCheck decision time, and Jeremy Borash introduces the judges, including new judge, Danny Davis, before bringing Lei’D Tapa out. She feels she gave her best, and in two years she did that, imagine what she can do with more. Davis up first, he says the crowd say no, but they’re missing what he sees, so votes yes. Bruce Prichard next, he firsts pays his respects to Paul Bearer, before saying she has talent and pedigree, but he agrees with the fans, and votes no. She has 30 seconds to convince Al Snow, and says she knows she can bring something to the Knockouts division, and can be great. Snow gets the mic, also pays his respect to Uncle Paul, before saying he can see her talent and how she can invoke a reaction from the fans, which is why he votes yes. 2-1 in favour, Lei’D Tapa gets the contract!

Robbie E is showing off the damaged VIP Entrance sign, and says you never show up another Bro, and it’s just a taste of what is to come this Sunday.

Match 5: Mr Anderson vs James Storm

Anderson with a poke to the eyes, before working over Storm’s left arm. Storm breaks an armlock, strikes with a clothesline, inverted atomic drop, and bulldog. As Storm builds up a head of steam, the remaining Aces and Eights appear, so out comes Sting and Team TNA. The distraction allows Anderson to hit Mic Check and win the man advantage for Aces and Eights at Lockdown.

Mr Anderson wins this match by pinfall in a time of 3:51

Bully Ray and Brooke Hogan make their way to the ring, followed by Jeff Hardy. Bully says 3 days time, they’ll make wrestling history. Holding the belt is a big deal, but Hardy battling his demons is a bigger deal, and Bully speaks for everyone when he says he’s proud of Jeff. Hardy says he’s been beat down, but remains Champion. Hardy is also proud of Hardy, which Bully disagrees with, until he is Champion. Hulk Hogan appears on crutches, putting Bully and Hardy over as the best of the best, and the company will go on till greatness. He says the company need a new leader, and we’ll see it this Sunday. He puts over both guys and they shake hands, until suddenly the Aces appear. The Aces get in, and attack, Team TNA rush down, and a brawl ensues, as the show credits come up….

Considering this was the “go home” show before Lockdown, I have mixed feelings towards this show. It was nice to see they ended with a segment for the World Title, and I was fine seeing the mutual respect between Jeff Hardy and Bully Ray, but Hulk Hogan’s appearance was pointless, and not needed (“like most appearances” I hear some of you screaming at me). Also saying “the company needs a new leader, and we’ll see it Sunday”….felt that was quite a strange thing to say. We’ve seen a development in the Aces storyline, and as expected, it was D’Lo Brown. Now, when it was revealed, I groaned, as if to say “big deal”. But seeing as he’s been about since the Aces first appeared, and in his promo mentioned “someone told him that he’d never be alone”, and the fact he’s only V.P., then to me, he’s not the leader. So, with that, I’m not as cheesed off as I originally was. Maybe the real leader was the guy who negotiated with Sting and Hogan before Bound for Glory? Who knows. The Lethal Lockdown matches were fine, and did a good job, but I wish they’d shake it up, and not just always go with the “Heel” team having man advantage for the event. GutCheck, I’m still surprised they went with Lei’D Tapa over Ivelisse Velez. Velez won, and showed she could fit into the division right now. While Tapa did a good job, I still feel she’d need a decent amount of time and training before being ready for the roster. Also, Velez’s reaction makes me think it won’t be the last we see of her. Austin Aries as usual played a good role in the opening, and his match with Hardy was enjoyable for the time given. Strange how Matt Morgan got involved though, have they dropped his run with Joey Ryan already?! Finally, with Lockdown just a few days away, I found it weird how they’ve put 3 matches on the card with little to no build up. Sure, it’s not main event matches, but at least give these matches a meaning, or something for us to get interested in.

As usual, thanks for taking the time to read this article, it’s appreciate.

@GoofyVillain of @TheTopRope
—————————-

Thanks for reading here on WrestlingRambles.com. We want YOUR opinion on our columns and here’s an easy guide on how-to comment. Be sure to stay connected with us by following us on Twitter and by ”Liking” us on Facebook. Happy Rambling!