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Impact Report for Feb. 14 - London Calling

Blaine van der Griend / February 15, 2013 - 10:46am

Impact gets underway with a highlight package, focusing on the ongoing feud between Aces and 8s and TNA. The video also reminds us that Bully Ray was reinstated last week.

Hulk Hogan comes out to the ring for the opening segment. He announces that there will be a World Title match at Lockdown, and then goes on to say that eight men will compete in four matches tonight, and the man who impresses him the most will fight for the World Title at Lockdown. Hogan announces that it will be James Storm against Rob Van Dam, Christopher Daniels against Magnus, Kurt Angle against Samoa Joe, and Bobby Roode against Austin Aries. Hogan then addresses Aces and 8s, saying that if the group wants a war at Lockdown, they’re going to get one. Hogan says it’ll be team Aces and 8s against a team, captained by Sting, whom Hogan calls the greatest wrestler of all time (mighty strong words). Sting then comes out to join Hogan in the ring. Sting says he’s going to look up and down the TNA roster and look for three killers to stand by his side at Lockdown.

Match #1: Christopher Daniels vs. Magnus

The UK crowd is solidly behind Magnus, as you’d expect. Magnus loads Daniels up for a slam, but then shifts Daniels’ weight and delivers a vertical suplex instead. Kazarian gets involved with a hot shot from the ring apron, which allows Daniels to deliver an STO for two. Magnus fights back, but Kaz once again sticks his nose in there, by tripping Magnus, as he runs the ropes. Daniels goes for the BME, but Magnus avoids it. Daniels lands on his feet, only to get caught with a running big boot on the rebound. Kazarian then eats a right hand as well, as he tries getting involved again. The referee then ejects Kazarian from ringside. Daniels protests, but ends up getting back body dropped from the entrance ramp back into the ring by Magnus. Magnus scores with a clothesline and then the Michinoku Driver, followed by a flying elbow drop off the top rope for the win.

Winner: Magnus by pinfall

Bully Ray is lying on a couch backstage, with Brooke sitting next to him and petting his head as he talks. Ray says he’s depressed about some injury. He says he’s wanted two things, which were to marry Brooke and to win the World Title. Brooke tries to comfort him, but Ray suddenly turns his frown upside down, as it’s Valentine’s Day. He says he’s going to take Brooke out shopping for the pair of shoes that she likes, and then they’re going to dinner at an Italian restaurant, and going dancing afterwards (whoa, big spender!).

Magnus cuts a promo in an undisclosed location. Magnus says what Aces and 8s did to him a few months ago only lit a fire under him, and that he’s determined to be better than he ever was before, and prove that he has what it takes to be World Heavyweight Champion.

Match #2: Samoa Joe vs. Kurt Angle

Before the match starts, the announcers play a taped recording of Angle venting his frustration about the IOC’s decision to eliminate wrestling from the Olympics in 2020. Samoa Joe utilizes his power in the early going, as he takes Angle down with a snapmare and almost caves his chest in with a knee drop. Angle fights back with an overhead belly-to-belly suplex. He follows that up with a snap suplex for two. Joe responds by sending Angle to the floor and meeting him out there with a tope with a forearm shiver. Back in the ring, Joe delivers a senton backsplash. Angle fights back with a trifecta of German suplexes. Joe retaliates with a urinage/STJOE out of the corner. Angle delivers a missile dropkick from the middle rope, followed by the Angle slam. Joe almost immediately pops up and sinks in the Coquina clutch from a standing position. Angle backs Joe into the corner and then takes him down to apply the ankle lock. Joe does an amazing job of building suspense, but eventually rolls through the move, sending Angle face-first into the turnbuckle. The two combatants collide in the middle of the ring after a double clothesline spot. Suddenly, Wes Brisco and Garrett Bischoff charge the ring to attack both guys, and the match is thrown out.

Winner: No Contest

After the match, Brisco and Bischoff continue to do their damage, until Angle and Joe start fighting back, which causes the Aces and 8s youngsters to find a quick exit through the crowd.

Dixie Carter is backstage with the three runners up in the British Boot Camp competition. She gives them somewhat of a motivational speech and tells them that just because they didn’t win doesn’t mean that they can’t go out there tonight and show everyone what they’ve got.

Match #3: Party Marty and The Blossom Twins vs. Jessie Godderz, Tara and Gail Kim in a six-person mixed tag team match

Godderz gets the early advantage on Marty with a knee to the midsection. Marty fires back with a kick to the back of the head and then a running…slap. Marty delivers a springboard moonsault out of the corner for two. One of the Blossom Twins comes in with Tara and lands a dropkick. She then tags her sister in for a double-team sidewalk slam. The other twin hits a springboard flying back elbow on Gail for two. Tara violently whips Blossom around by her hair, and then tags Gail, who delivers a backbreaker. Tara goes for a standing moonsault, but catches nothing but knees. The other twin tags in and unloads with clotheslines on Gail, and then a flying front kick to Tara’s face. The twins then deliver a double flapjack to Gail on top of Tara. Then one of the twins comes off her sister’s shoulders with a splash on Gail, but Tara breaks the pin at two. Godderz tries to get in on the action, but gets caught with a missile dropkick by Marty. Marty tries following up with a tope, but ends up taking a nasty spill, and it looked like he landed on his head (I couldn’t tell if he overshot it, or if Godderz just didn’t catch him in time). Back in the ring, Gail introduces one of the Blossoms to Eat DeFeet to pick up the win.

Winners: Gail Kim, Tara and Jessie Godderz by pinfall

Gail gets on the microphone after the match and says that she’s once again proven that she’s the most dominant female wrestler in the company. She thanks Taryn Terrell for being such an incompetent referee. Gail then tells Tara that she wants her belt back. She then demands that Brooke Hogan come out and give her what she deserves. Brooke comes out and says that Gail has a shot at the title against Tara, but she’s also going to be facing Miss Tessmacher and Velvet Sky, as it will be a four-way elimination match next week. Brooke goes on to say that she will be sitting at ringside to make sure that there are no shenanigans going on in that match.

The announcers then replay the footage of Dixie Carter on Bellator, announcing the specific venues that will be hosting Impact Wrestling in the coming weeks. She also announces that Jeff Hardy will be returning on the February 28 edition of Impact, and that she has just signed him to a new long-term deal.

From there, the footage of Aces and 8s taking out Jeff Hardy is replayed.

Austin Aries and Bobby Roode are talking backstage about all the titles that they’re going to win, and that Hogan will not be driving a wedge between them tonight, because they are focused on their ultimate goal of winning all titles in this company.

Match #4: Rob Van Dam vs. James Storm

Neither guy is able to really gain a significant advantage in the early going, as they just exchange high impact moves. Van Dam draws first blood, so to speak, with a rolling monkey flip out of the corner, followed by rolling thunder for two. RVD then delivers the split-legged moonsault for two. Storm answers back with a DDT for two. Storm then drives Van Dam into the mat with an overhead spinebuster for two. Van Dam misses a springboard leg drop, which allows Storm to deliver the Closing Time facebuster. Van Dam avoids the Last Call and heads up for the five-star frog splash, but Storm cuts him off. Van Dam regains the advantage and goes for a chair-less Van Terminator, but he wastes time doing the thumbs taunt, allowing Storm to dodge that bullet and connect with the Last Call super kick for the win.

Winner: James Storm by pinfall

Joseph Park walks up to Hogan’s office. He says he knows that Hogan is looking for an opponent for Jeff Hardy at Lockdown, and he says he wants the match. Hogan basically brushes Park off and just tells him what he wants to hear, before closing the door to continue a private conversation with his daughter Brooke (since when is anything private in this company?).

After the break, Brooke is desperately trying to convince The Hulkster to make Bully Ray the number one contender. Hogan says that he has to consider the eight other guys who are fighting for that spot, but he will definitely take it under advisement.

Up next is a video package, with highlights of Bobby Roode and Austin Aries winning the Tag Team Titles last week.

Match #5: Bobby Roode vs. Austin Aries

Before the match starts, Roode gets on the microphone and takes exception to Hulk Hogan trying to screw with his and Aries’ plans. Aries says with him and Roode on the same page, they know what needs to be done and what’s right for business. Each guy pokes the other with his finger to try to get his opponent to lay down for him, but neither guy will do it. The two of them argue about which one of them is going to lay down. Aries says that he’s going to be the bigger man and he’s going to lay down for Roode. Roode goes for an arrogant cover, thinking he’ll get the easy victory, but Aries switches it into a crucifix, only for Roode to kick out at two, and they argue some more, as we head to commercial. After the break, the champions finally decide to wrestle each other. Aries goes for a sunset flip, but Roode blocks it and tries using the ropes for a pin, but gets caught by the referee. Aries then goes for a schoolboy and tries using the ropes, but the referee catches him as well. Aries attacks with a discus forearm, but Roode responds with the double R spinebuster for two. Aries blocks a superplex attempt by boxing Roode’s ears. Aries then goes for the 450 splash, which Roode avoids. Aries is able to roll through it. Roode then goes for a spear, but Aries utilizes a sprawl and tries last chancery. Roode escapes and applies the crossface. Aries rolls through into a pinning combination for two. Aries then shoves Roode into the referee. Roode then grabs a chair from ringside and smacks it on the mat, before lying down, pretending that Aries hit him. Before the referee comes to, Aries does the exact same thing with the chair. The champions then argue again about which one of them actually got hit with the chair. Chavo Guerrero and Hernandez then come out to ringside, wearing Bobby Roode and Austin Aries t-shirts, just to distract the champions. The distraction seems to work, as Roode and Aries both head up the ramp to confront the former champs. The champions eventually realize that the referee is counting them out. Each guy tries to prevent the other one from getting back to the ring, which leads to both guys being counted out.

Winner: Double Count-out

Hulk Hogan tells Sting that he’s going out to make a decision, regarding the number one contender right now. Sting says he knows Hogan will make the right decision.

Hulk Hogan comes out to the ring. He says this is a hard decision for him to make. Before any decision is made, Aces and 8s members come through the crowd and surround the ring. Bully Ray then limps out to the ring to stand by Hogan’s side with his steel chain. Sting then comes out to join the two of them and he brings two extra baseball bats with him. Apparently, this was enough to scare Aces and 8s, who quickly make their exit through the crowd to end the show.

Final thoughts:

I didn’t find this episode to be as annoying as the previous weeks have been. There was some really good wrestling tonight, but some really bad booking as well. The Kurt Angle and Samoa Joe match stole the show in my opinion. I also really liked Magnus’ promo, yet I doubt that TNA has anything major planned for this guy. RVD and Storm had a pretty good match as well. I found Aries versus Roode to be really annoying. I did like the wrestling portion of the match, but it really wasn’t that funny, if that was their intention. The match involving the British Boot Camp participants was okay. I just don’t understand why the three losers of the competition were wrestling tonight, when the guy who won hasn’t competed yet. Other than that, there isn’t really much to say. I’d say 7 out of 10 this week.