The show proper started with Hulk Hogan the General Manager coming to the ring and he wastes time like he always has with all his extra posing. He welcomes us to the show, puts over the face that TNA is 10 years old. Announces that the first match will be Samoa Joe vs Austin Aries for the X-Division Champion.Samoa Joe and Austin Aries collide in this X-Division Championship match. Both men are former Ring of Honor World Champions. As a matter of fact it was Austin Aries that ended Samoa Joe's over a yearlong reign as ROH World Champ. This going in was most likely going to be Match of the Night. Aries tries to hit and run while Joe comes out with stiff shots of his own. Man was this match stiff they really hit each other hard. Aries hits the 450 Splash and Samoa Joe kicks out! Joe gets staggered; Aries hits some running strikes, hits the Brainbuster and gets the 3 Count, title retention for Austin Aries.
Kid Kash vs Hernandez is our next contest. Both are making a return after an absence. Hernandez has lost some bulk, which will help his speed game that was pretty darn good even when he was huge. Kash goes after Hernandez' arm, mixes in some kicks and Hernandez occasionally swings back. Hernandez takes over with some power moves Kash heads out so Hernandez does dive over the top rope onto him. Hernandez wins with a Top Rope Sp
lash. Good match that got two guys back into the fold.
Robbie T and Robbie E team up to take on the Television Champion, Devon and Garrett Bischoff. Garrett is the son of Eric Bischoff and really has no reason to be there on the main roster. He has kind of a good look but is far too green to be on the roster now. He could use 1 year plus in development in OVW. Also Robbie T is an albatross, big and awkward, he's not good at all. Madison Rayne shows up on the entrance ramp, her thing lately has been that she has a crush on a member of the roster so we are being led to believe its on one of the guys in this match. The Robbie's beat up on Garrett most of the match but he gets the tag to a hot and ready to go Devon who takes over big time but the Robbie's double team, Garrett low bridges T and Devon hits and spinebuster and wins the match.
Jeremy Borash interviews the Tag Champs, Kazarian and Daniels.
Time for the 3-Way #1 Contender's Match with Mr Anderson, Jeff Hardy, and Rob Van Dam, the winner will face the World Champion this Thursday on Impact. The major positives of a mult-man match are it is easier to accentuate strengths and hides weaknesses, as well as there is little to no lulls in action. Each guy gets their time to shine; pin break ups abide as always in these matches. Eventually Anderson hits the Mic Check and pins RVD for the win. Another great match.
Crimson cuts a promo, this guy is trash and is undefeated for over a year. He has an open challenge, let us see who answers the call. He comes out the ring and says the same stuff, again. Talks a bit of trash about the local Dallas teams, finally drops the mic and awaits his answer. After some time James Storm former World Champion answers the challenge and Crimson looks very unhappy. Crimson tries to jump him but Storm comes hot out of the gates, he wrestled with his jacket on for over a minute. Hits Crimson with a Super Kick and wins the match, Crimson has finally lost, and now he can leave.
Backstage with Austin Aries where Borash asks him what's next. Austin Aries talks about just a year ago he was barely on the roster. And now he's one of the best. He says he'd like to be the Main Event.TNA President, Dixie Carter goes to the ring and has a microphone. She announces that tonight's crowd is the largest American crowd in TNA history. She then asks for all the wrestlers to come out onto the stage. She is about the make an announcement about their new TNA Hall of Fame. Sting will be the first inductee. This is the right decision, it differentiates their Hall of Fame from WWE's. The WWE Hall of Fame should be another article (more so how illegitimate it is). Miss Tessmacher gets the Knockouts Championship match against Gail Kim. Tessmacher has started to really get some skills, plus she's in there with one of the best Women's Wrestlers. There were some miscommunications in this match, which is a shame. Reverses a move with a body scissors roll up and Tessmacher wins the match and Championship.Bully Ray cuts a promo backstage on Joseph Parks. A video promo on the storyline is shown. Bully Ray is the best Bad Guy in the business right now. Joseph Parks is the "brother" of Abyss whom is missing, he's been around trying to find him, it has all came to a head with Bully Ray and this is an anything goes fight. Bully Ray keeps on goading him being a well a bully. The fans respond with a New York Sucks chant. Park keeps surprising with occasional strikes. He got the chair that Bully brought in but is unable to use it. And Bully takes the chair and uses it. They head to outside and Joseph Park takes a bunch of damage. Moves out of the way of a middle rope senton, he starts to get fired up. He peppers Bully Ray with punches. A table is introduced into this fight, also a Kendo Stick. Park gets the Kendo Stick and swings for the fences on Bully. Joeseph Park disappears under the ring, and Abyss shows up. Bully looks like he's seen a ghost, Chokeslam through the table. Abyss then disappears under the ring, Joseph comes back to take the pin and the win.
World Champion, Bobby Roode backstage and cuts a promo for his match.
Hogan comes out again to talk. He introduces Christian, current WWE Intercontinental Champion. This is apparently in exchange for letting Ric Flair show up for the Hall of Fame ceremony. He talks up the fans and introduces what the fans voted as the #1 moment in TNA history, Sting's return in 2006.
A video shows hyping the Tag Title Match. Kazarian and Daniels defend against AJ Styles and Kurt Angle. These are 4 of the best in the business and are a strong matchup. A well-developed Tag Team story is told in this match. In the end Kazarian taps out to Angle's Ankle Lock. Great match, new Tag Champions.
A video package about Sting's recent comeback is shown before the World Championship Match. Sting is the Challenger, Bobby Roode World Champion since early November defending. A deliberate match wrestled by two deliberate wrestlers. Move, counter-move, jockeying for position. The roles and story is classic and as old as the industry. And by the industry I mean the business. And by the business I mean the industry. Roode wins the match after hitting Sting with a beer bottle. Sting goes nuts after the match, attacks the ref and goes after Roode, suplexing him on the entrance ramp, running him into the set and hitting the Scorpion Death Drop off the stage.
One, singular bad match, all segments made sense and weren't a waste of time. Three awesome matches, two title changes, this show gets a B+/A-.
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