WrestlingNerd Presents: TNA Impact Wrestling Review 9/27/12 (Capture the Hogan)

What up wrestling fans, I'm the WrestlingNerd bringing you another written review. Today, we take a look at TNA Impact Wrestling 9/27/12. How does the "first edition" of Championship Thursday fair? Let's find out and start the review. 

We open up the show with Hulk Hogan. He plays some bat-guitar….

After that, Hogan talks about the TV Championship being vacated since Devon didn't resign with the company. I know people are gonna hate me for this, but I'm just gonna say it. Devon leaves TNA, and not one f*** was given. Competing for the TV title will either be Samoa Joe, Magnus, Mr. Anderson, and Garett Bischoff. This should come down to Joe and Magnus since that storyline has been established….kinda. Then again, they are probably thinking of all the ratings they will grab by slapping the title on Garrett Boredoff. He puts James Storm and Robert Roode in a match at BFG. Just as I predicted a week ago, the two are competing in a gimmick match. They will compete in a street fight and King Mo is the special enforcer. I'm not really big on King Mo getting in the middle of this rivalry. Roode and Storm need to end their rivalry at the PPV, so I don't like the idea of adding in King Mo to the mix. He could be impartial, but this is pro wrestling we are talking about here. Anyway, IT'S STING!!! He….He was only gone 3-4 weeks, BUT IT'S STING!!! Seriously, why do they oversell Sting's return EVERY TIME he's shows up after being gone for a short time? It's completely unnecessary. Anyway, Hogan and Sting and gonna share bats and fight Aces and Eights. Yeah, cuz this strategy has worked so well in the past. Hogan's agenda is to keep doing the same idea over and over again, no matter how much it backfires. That's right, boy. You grasp that bat nice and firm.

Match #1: Christopher Daniels vs Kurt Angle vs Chavo Guerrero

There was a moment where all the tag teams were about to fight, but one referee was able to control six guys. Hey, that's more than the NFL refs can handle. I'm allowed to get one more joke on that subject before I can't make fun of it anymore…..maybe. Daniels ends up stealing this match when Kurt and Chavo end up arguing with each other. 

Winner via pinfall: Christopher Daniels

Hogan talks to the TV title competitors. He ends up eliminating Magnus since Joe and Magnus have tension. So, you take out the Brit to keep Eric Bischoff happy? Honestly, I'm not even surprised at this point. Brooke Hogan has consequences for Tara. Oh no, what could these consequences be? Well, get this? Tara has to EARN her title match…..THE HORROR!!! Yeah, you know things are getting out of hand when you have to earn your title matches. Before you know it, Brooke is gonna lay down the law by having you win your own championships. Oh, and Tara keeps going on about her boyfriend. Since it was introduced again, I guess we have to think of it as an important plot point. Yep….important indeed. So important that I should talk about it……we're moving on. 

Match #2: Tara vs ODB; #1 Contender match

Eric Young and ODB are still a couple, so time to see more unfunny comedy. Seriously, take some lessons from Daniel Bryan and Kane on being a funny couple. Tara fakes a knee injury in order to get a rollup victory. I'm convinced that the rollup is the most devastating move in women's wrestling. Tara still sells the "injury" after the match. Tara is getting a title match….yeah…..*cough*. Well, I guess we will just wait and see where this whole Tara/boyfriend deal is going. 

Winner via pinfall and NEW #1 Contender to KO Championship: Tara

We get a ton of backstage scenes. We get a Gut Check deal in the back. Bruce Prichard is angry with Al Snow for attacking Joey Ryan a few weeks ago. Snow claims he will handle this. This is probably the most interesting thing about Gut Check. Bully Ray talked for a bit, but you better to remember to show his calves on television. Pss…..show his calves. Good thing that cameraman was there to catch that action…ugh. Hogan ends up eliminating Garett from the title match, but we get a close-up shot of Garrett being angry and walking away. This will probably be something to remember the next time we see Garrett…..If I cared about Garett to begin with. 

Match #3: Mr. Anderson vs Samoa Joe; TV Championship

This match looked sloppy. Then again, I'm not surprised since Anderson was in it. Remember when Anderson gave a s*** about his matches/character? The finish comes when Joe locks in the Coquina Clutch for the victory. So, Joe is now the new TV Champion. I'm kinda indifferent to it, but it mostly has to do with the fact the TV title has been so underplayed on this show. That belt almost has no meaning, so why should I care that Joe has it now? Plans can always change, but they got a lot of work to do with the TV title in order to make it important. Actually, that same argument can be made for the mid-card championships in the WWE. Oh, did I just say that out-loud?

Winner via submission and NEW TV Champion: Samoa Joe

Hogan and Sting were planning on what to do against Card Games, but they struck first. Aces and Eights end up capturing Hogan and Sting…..

Yeah, it's getting that campy. 

Evan Markosomething has his Gut Check…….GUT CHAAAAAAAK!!! Seriously, go watch Bruce Prichard say this. Somebody is excited for a concept nobody cares about. Evan gets a split vote, cuts a generic promo, and still gets no contract. I'm sorry, but that was a pretty bad promo. It didn't even make any sense. In 1994, I was born while you were trying to get into the business? What does that have to do with anything? In 1994, I was playing Sonic 3 and watching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Where's my contract? 

Interrogation time. Damn, the clubhouse must not be very far away from the Impact Zone. I imagine it's right next door and features a giant neon sign advertising the group. That's at least what I would like to think. The boss arrives, but has his back turned and is using the altered voice to hide himself. Something very Eric Bischoff-ie was going on in this scene, but I can't say why exactly. It wouldn't surprise me to see it being Bischoff, but part of me feels that it would be a disappointment if it turned out to be Eric. Then again, I doubt the body shape of this boss person isn't going to factor into the real reveal. So, the leader of Card Games makes a match for BFG. It will be two members of Aces and Eights vs two members of TNA. Hogan and Sting want to take the spots, but the leader wouldn't have that. I love how he told Hulk to send TNA's two best guys and immediately puts him and Sting into the equation. Yeah, those other guys don't exist. If As & 8s win, they get access to the show….which seems like a lame reward. This show is on "lockdown" and we just saw these guys get inside the building without any issues. I guess they need more poker buddies. Oh, there's that wrestling logic again. If TNA wins, Card Games is no more. Also, they won't release Joseph Parks until after the match…..Or, you could just…..call the cops….again. Yeah, you know what phrase I'm gonna say. Yeah, so this is another one of those weeks where Aces and Eights looks campy and cartoonish. I don't think I need to evaluate the scene since I think it speaks for itself. The fact is we have a match added to the PPV. Based on how things are going, Aces and Eights need to win. It would be silly to not even bother revealing the guys if they lose the match. 

Match #4: Austin Aries and Jeff Hardy vs Bully Ray and Robert Roode

This was probably the best match of the night, but there wasn't a whole lot to choose from. Tonight was definitely an evening for promos/segments. Throughout the match, Aries wanted to do things on this own, so he would ignore Hardy. Looks like Bobby's words earlier in the evening worked on Aries. The finish comes when Aries hits the Brain Buster on Roode, but Hardy ended up tagging himself into the match. Hardy hits the Swanton on Roode and ends up getting the pinfall victory. Well, I do like the fact that Bully didn't take the fall in this match. It still shows the potential of Bully being added to the world title match. As the champion and challenger are arguing, we see Card Games releasing Hogan and Sting. I think every episode of Impact should end with Hogan screaming "Untie me!!!". Apparently, Sting is gonna compete and bring somebody in that can break bones…..Bonesaw?

May you rest in peace, Randy Savage. 

Winner via pinfall: Jeff Hardy and Austin Aries

Overall Impression:

If you didn't think the Aces and Eights can get more over-the-top, than you didn't watch tonight's show. Now, I can deal with over-the-top elements of wrestling, but this isn't the good version of it. Some of these Aces and Eights scenes are getting ridiculous to watch. I realize the wrestling world is always gonna have plot holes or things you should question, but boy do these questions pop up after tonight. Whatever happened to the TNA locker room being united against Aces and Eights? Did Hogan not give them a big enough bonus? How did they kidnap them and already have them in their headquarters in less than five minutes? It's wrestling logic, but things like this can be laughably bad sometimes. One of the scenes I did like out of the evening was the Roode/Aries scene in the back. I didn't mention it, but I thought it was very well done. It made me a little more intrigued to the TNA World title situation. Plus, it factored into Aries' character later in the evening, so I thought it was a lot of good. Out of that scene, there wasn't a whole lot memorable out of the evening. This can be considered an average episode of Impact, but I've seen better. The TMNT clip was better than the majority of the show, but this is also coming from a turtles fan. Well, that's gonna do it for the review and I hope you enjoyed it. As always, tell me what you thought of my review or tonight's show. I will see you guys and girls on the next WrestlingNerd show. See you next time.