The Final Impact
August 30, 2013
By: Josh Boutwell of Wrestleview.com
Trying to gather my thoughts after the insane finish to Ole Miss-Vanderbilt the only thing I can really think about right off the top of my head is the finish to Impact, and that is extremely unfortunate because the rest of the show was extremely entertaining. The finish was, well, dumb. That’s the best word I can use to describe it. Everything about it was just dumb. First, you announce that next week is the last chance…after this week was billed as the last chance for the BFG Series for guys to jump into the final four. Then, Hogan announces that Bully will have to defend the World Title in two weeks against a member of A&8. That in itself is perfectly fine and plays into the beef brewing inside of A&8, but then turn right around and announce he has to face Sting for the belt next week. Well, actually he said “this week” but that’s because Hogan sucks so I’m going to ignore that. The biggest problem with that?! Sting lost any chance at having a World Title shot months ago. It’s been mentioned over and over and now you announce he gets another shot with literally NO mention of it? What the hell? Yeah, I know we’re likely getting an explanation next week but that doesn’t make it any less dumb this week.
Now, that my rant is over I’m going to get to everything else. The opening promo wasn’t anything special but it did continue to plant the seeds of dissension inside A&8.
Hardy and Kazarian had a solid back and forth match where Kaz looked like a legit threat with some fun nearfalls.
ODB and Gail was really, really fun. How good has Gail been lately with the methodical way she picks apart a body part? I understand its old school but it plays so well into her character as well. ODB looked like a really strong babyface coming off the win, but I really hope they do this title match before BFG. I would much prefer them to do the Mickie-Terrell match if Terrell is able to make it back by then, or do a multipurpose match with Mickie, Gail, ODB, and Velvet.
The Aries-Daniels confrontation backstage was entertaining as hell and 100% felt like it was mainly improvised. The Miley Cyrus line was laugh out loud funny. Aries tried to bounce back with the bald joke but after that it was hard to come back.
I said last week I needed a good reason from AJ and honestly I was impressed with his work on the mic last night. It’s obvious that this was an audible that TNA has called. Whether it stems from the Angle debacle or from the rumors surrounding AJ Styles lately or a combination of both I have no clue. Yes, I’ve under the “oh, AJ is trying to be CM Punk” crap everywhere, but anytime we hear something that sounds like a work-shoot at this point that’s exactly what people are going to say. My question now is were the AJ Styles rumors something TNA planted? Is there still question of whether he will or has or won’t resign with TNA? Maybe the rumors were true and TNA just decided to play off those rumors into the storyline. Either way it resulted into a great promo from AJ. He explained that he DOES want to be the poster boy for TNA and he has to be the “Phenomenal One” to do that, but at the same time he trusts no one and he needs no one. I truly hope this was something that TNA planted and that AJ has resigned with the company, and if so bravo to TNA for that.
AJ-Roode was excellent and given more time we all know just how awesome it could have been. I liked the explanation the announcers tried to get over of AJ reversing Roode into the rollup as instinct and making sure to point out how disappointed he looked after not getting a submission which he went for multiple times during the match.
I think the obvious winner of the gauntlet would be AJ next week to get him in the Final Four which would knock Hardy out so it makes me think maybe not, but then if anyone outside of the top four right now wins it’s going to knock Hardy out so I’m torn here. Magnus, Roode, Aries, and AJ would obviously lead to an amazing Tournament if those matches are given time, and I’m still pretty sure that Hardy is banged up so maybe that is where they will go.
Aries and Daniels put on one hell of a match going back and forth with some hard hitting stiff shots along with great counters and reversals. That’s really the first time they’ve had a chance to work with each other one-on-one in a long time in an extended period and they tore it up.
That finish to the show really hurts this show so bad because I enjoyed damn near everything else but just such a poor close is so painful on a night like that.
– Promo/Segment of the Night: AJ Styles
– Match of the Night: AJ-Roode and Aries-Daniels (***1/2)
– Overall Grade: B+
Until next week… PEACE!
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