Hello, thank you and welcome back to the Wrestling is STILL Fun blog. This is the first live (via DVR) thoughts blog on here so bare with me. Blame trying to watch Glee (don't judge) being on while I was watching it for the lateness. Tonight is the September edition of TNA Impact Wrestling’s Open Fight Night from the Impact Zone in a soundstage at Universal Orlando made over to be a wrestling venue that holds roughly a 1,000 fans. The basis of tonight’s show is a series of matches that are based off of one wrestler (or tag team) challenging another to a match that must be accepted. There is also a gut check match where a wrestler is given a chance to prove him or herself against an existing member of the roster. So far we have seen three wrestlers (Alex Silva, Taeler Hendrix and Sam Shaw) pas their gut checks and two (Joey Ryan and Chris Louie) have failed their gut checks.
The show opens up with a re-hash of recent events: the main
event for Bound For Glory at Phoenix, AZ in October between Jeff Hardy and TNA
Heavyweight champion Austin Aries and Bully Ray’s involvement; the interactions
between Al Snow (one of the judges for Gut Check) and Joey Ryan (the first
failed Gut Checker); the feud between James Storm and Robert Roode; and Hulk
Hogan trying to lockdown the Impact Zone so that Aces & 8’s (a group of
bikers who have randomly attacked different people in TNA including Sting,
Hogan, Bully Ray, AJ Styles, Kurt Angle, Bobby Roode, D’Angelo Dinero, Aries
and Hardy) cannot enter the though they say they are in the Impact Zone. We
then see “Shaq Diesel” himself Shaquille O’Neil is in the Impact Zone backstage
with long-time friend Hulk Hogan talking about Aces & 8’s and how they gave
their calling card the dead man’s hand (the hand that Wild Bill Hickok had when
he died, the Ace & 8 of spades and clubs) to Hulk’s daughter Brooke. I am
sad he didn’t up a can of Shaq-Fu so Aaron Carter couldn’t come out of
obscurity.. I mean the blue. Shaq’s appearance at the Impact Zone is brought to
you by #Disapointed
The first two wrestlers to come out are the team of TNA’s
grand slam champion “The Phenomenal” AJ Styles and former WWF, WWE and World
champion and 1996 Olympic gold medalist Kurt Angle who have a shot at the TNA
tag team titles held by “The Fallen Angel” Christopher Daniels and Kazarian.
However so are the team of former WCW and WWE Crusierweight champion Chavo
Guerrero and fromer NWA and TNA Tag Team champion “Super Mex” Hernandez. Both
teams earned the right through having one of the members of their teams beating
Daniels and Kazarian in singles matches last week. Angle calls out the team of
Guerrero and Hernandez for the first match of Open Fight Night. I also like the
fact that there are two teams challenging for the titles though due to the recent
past between Daniels and Styles, I wish that it was just the teams of Daniels
and Kazarian facing off with Angle and Styles. Long story short, Daniels tried
to blackmail Styles with a woman who claimed AJ was the father of an unborn
baby after drugging him which turned out to be false. Hopefully I don't need to explain this angle further...
The match was very enjoyable, a throwback to the old school
WWF Royal Rumbles that were build on the back of a solid tag team based
undercard though Daniels and Kazarian made it a no contest after interfering
and attacking both teams. Daniels says they are the World tag champions of the
World. Hogan comes out with a bat and declares he has 99 problems and Aces
& 8’s is his biggest one. He makes a Triple Threat Match with the team of
Daniels and Kazarian defend them against Angle and Styles AND Guerrero and
Hernandez for Bound For Glory. This match is brought to you by #Nocontest
Al Snow is shown walking and giving his thoughts on the Gut
Check tonight who is 18 so he couldn’t rent a car in Florida. He was then asked
about recent run ins with Joey Ryan. For those of you who don’t know, Ryan is
almost a 10 year pro who wrestled mainly in California and had a chance in a
Gut Check in May but failed. Ever since, hehad been a thorn in the side of TNA’s
Gut Check continually disrupting matches and evaluations. In recent weeks Snow
had enough and asked Ryan to step in the ring and Ryan slapped him before
running off. Snow was heading to a meeting as we came back. I am glad they are
giving this Joey Ryan angle. I am a fan of Joey and awaiting his debut. This segment is brought to you by #waste
The show returns with Hogan on the phone and apparently Joseph
Parks Esq. is on the other line. Joseph Parks Esq. is a lawyer who is the
brother of a TNA/Impact Wrestling long-standing star named Abyss. Abyss went
missing and his brother Joseph was looking for him and got involved with Bully
Ray, the last man who saw Abyss. Any who, Joseph was using his resources to
look into Aces & 8’s for Hogan and apparently he had a package for them and
was locked out of the Impact Zone due to the lockdown. Hogan said he was coming
to the door to let Parks in. This segment is brought to you by #HoganneedsaniPhone5
We return and it is time for the Gut Check and it is Evan
Markopolus taking on Doug Williams, a former TNA X, Television and World Tag
Team Champion. Markopolus is a 18 year old wrestler from New England with a
little bit of experience while Williams has over 10 years of experience in his
native England, Japan and America. This
match was a typical new wrestler beatdown but Markopolus was showing some
promise which is more I can say then I could with anyone else other than Joey
Ryan. Williams beat Markopolus with a modified headlock submission out of a hip
toss, despite the fact Markopolus hung in there until that point. I think Markopolus
should join the others because he has shown as much if not more than the others
who have gotten a chance on the TNA roster through a Gut Check. No Joey Ryan
sighting so I am guessing that Ryan will makes his presence felt next week when
we find out if Markopolus passed his Gut Check evaluation. This match is brought
to you by #JoeyRyan
We return recapping the recent events of former TNA World
champions “The Cowboy” James Storm and “The IT Factor” Bobby Roode, former tag
team partners and champions as Beer Money Inc. Roode ruined Storm’s chance at
winning a shot at the TNA World Heavyweight title by smashing a beer bottle
over Storm’s head during a match with Bully Ray. Storm comes out to the ring to
be the next person to make a challenge during Open Fight Night. He made a
promise to call out Bobby Rooooooooooooooo! last week (watch a recent Botchamania to get this reference.) He makes good on his promise to
challenge Roode in “A Man Kicking A Coward’s Ass” match. (His words not mine
before you start wondering about that.) Roode comes out dressed in a suit and
says he is not prepared for a fight and that Storm will never be as good as him.
Roode considers them done and that Storm should fight someone else. Roode is
the first man walk out of an Open Fight Night. Roode walks off but is told by
Hogan to figure out if he will fight Storm tonight or be gone from Impact
Wrestling. Roode is given three minutes to decide. This segment is brought to you by #Cliffhanger
Roode walks back out and still dressed in his suit but he
removes his sportcoat, tie, watch and dress shirt. Roode accepts the challenge
but is assaulted by Storm on the way to the ring. The match never started and
they just fought around the Impact Zone exchanging whips, punches and face
slams into parts of the stage and guardrails. After about five minutes they
finally get in the ring and the match officially starts. If you love brawls
that do not require many wrestling moves, this is right up your alley. They
fight out of the right for a long time so I am guessing it is a no countout
match. The match ended in a no contest (the second of the night for those
keeping score) after both Storm and Roode abuse the referee for the assigned match.
The continue fighting after the match was ruled over and right out of the
Impact Zone. This is the type of match you do not see in WWE and I enjoyed that
You have two guys who flat don’t like eachother. This is a fire that rarely
exists in WWE today. This match is brought to you by #Nocontest and
#Cantwaitformore
It cuts to Hogan who is still awaiting Joseph Parks who has
not been seen by the security Hogan has hired to lockdown the Impact Zone yet. Hogan gets a phone call and it from Aces & 8’s
saying that they found Parks. I find this as a waste of time and could have been cut. This segment is brought to you by #facepalm
We return to Austin Aries and Jeff Hardy talking backstage.
Aries says that Bound for Glory is not about the way fans see it where it is Hardy
having his return from his drug issues and an arrest stemming from it. Aries
says it is about him proving to Jeff that he is just as good as him. Aries was
not given the chances Hardy had at this point. I like that they are taking this angle with it. Aries is a recent star while Hardy has been made for nearly 13 years now. This interaction is brought to
you by #goodbuild.
Tara (the former Victoria) came out to talk about why she
turned on her long time friend and tag team partner Miss Tessmacher the TNA
Knockouts Champion. She said that she was used by Tessmacher and her new
Hollywood boyfriend opened her eyes. She calls out ring announcer and 2004 Raw
Diva Search Winner Christy Hemme as not her opponent but her victim. Instead of
having a match, Tara abuses her and asks who is her favorite Knockout (what TNA
calls their women) is. Hemme responds Tessmacher. Tara gravs Hemme’s hair hard
and asks where Tessmacher is now, which she actually comes out (as if she was
waiting for that) for the save. This was terrible and I wish I would have seen
Tara actually call out one of the few Knockouts in TNA currently whether it was
ODB, Gail Kim or Madison Rayne and beat their brains in on this show with only a few matches. This segment is brought to you by #Waste.
Brooke Hogan who besides a target of Aces & 8’s is the Knockout’s Director of
Authority who is disappointed by what Tara did and threatens consequences for
Tara next week. I am sure Tara is
shaking in her boots.There is not much to say about this interaction This segment is brought to you by #Melodramatic.
Oh and next week is championship Thursday and the TNA
Television title will be decided as Devon, Bully Ray’s former tag team partner
and current champion has not been seen on Impact Wrestling for sometime now.
Hogan walks out with the bat in hand and a purpose on his
face. Aces & 8’s have kidnapped Parks. Hogan will enter Aces & 8’s “clubhouse”
next week in return for Park’s release. The leader of Aces & 8’s responds
and states that Aces & 8’s found that Park’s computer had a lot about them
so one of the other members busted it and another smashed Parks in the head. This
segment is brought to you by #BadActing
TNA airs a video package talking about Jef Hardy and what
the match at Bound For Glory means to him. He says it will make everything that
he went through have meaning. So winning the TNA World title again after he
lost it to Sting, only to have a rematch in which he was beaten in seconds and
was in no shape to be in the ring prior to serving jail time is supposed to
give meaning? This video package is brought to you by #HUH?
“The Greatest Man That Ever Lived” and TNA World champion
Austin Aries comes to the ring and says that video package proves that the
focus is on Hardy and not on him. Aries calls out Bully Ray for a match as
Hardy has beaten “a big bad bully” (referring to Bully Ray) twice in the past
10 days (once at TNA No Surrender and then last week on Impact Wrestling.)
Bully Ray says that nobody calls out him, he calls everyone out. The match is a
brawl for the most part with both men dishing out chops, punches, forearms and
kicks with some aerial action from Aries and shouting by Bully Ray. Bully Ray
wins after the ref is downed during an attempt at Aries bridging chinlock OF
DOOM. Aries lets go but is taken out by the trusty steel chain Bully wears
around his neck. Bully Ray has defeated the champion and should be a future title
contender and rightfully so. This is easily the best match though sadly only
one of two for the night that actually went to a full conclusion. After the
match Bully Ray grabs the belt and measures Aries for a shot with the World
title belt though he is saved by Jeff Hardy who talks smack with the champion
he just saved. This match is brought to you by #HesABully.
Overall, I feel this was an OK show. I would say that there should have either been more matches added to the show replacing slower segments that went to a full conclusion or only one no contest though both were great while they lasted. Hopefully Aces & 8's are revealed soon. I have my guess on who is behind them and I will talk about that later on.
Thank you for reading and please checkout the friends of this blog. Twister Rat Podcast and Dan's Video Den. I am glad to spread the word out about them because they are good.
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