TNA Impact Wrestling Thoughts 15.12.2011
Posted by David Damage on Thursday, December 22, 2011
Under: PPV & TV Thoughts
TNA Impact Wrestling 15th December 2011
5 Min Overtime World Title: Bobby Roode Vs AJ Styles
I thought this was a great way to start the show. After a good 5 minutes in the ring, in which Bobby Roode continued to target AJ Style’s injured leg, neither guy could put the other away and the fans started to chant “5 more minutes”….
Sting comes to the ramp, gives them another 5 minutes and the match continues…
Roode captures Styles in a Half Leg Boston Crab on his injured leg and AJ taps out.
Bobby Roode has retained the World Heavyweight Championship.
When we come back from the break, we get after-match comments from Styles and Roode. I liked this a lot.
Wild Card Tag Team Tournament Match
Scott Steiner & Abyss Vs Hernandez & Rob Terry
Backstage, before the match, Scott Steiner tries to explain to Abyss that he wants him back on his side….
Scott Steiner looks impressive early on, but Abyss doesn’t accept his tag and allows him to get double teamed. Abyss finally comes into the ring and takes out Hernandez and Terry. Abyss signals to Scott Steiner…. Abyss tags in Steiner, allowing him to take the pinfall…. As Steiner is about to leave the ring, Abyss pulls him back… and raises his hand….
Abyss walks down the ramp, pointing towards his head, like he has a plan….
Angle isn’t happy and he is heading to the ring…
Jeff Hardy is backstage after his match with Jeff Jarrett at Final Resolution. He is selling the effects of the cage match and saying that he wished both Jarretts would be leaving the company. He is looking forward to his match with Bobby Roode for the World Title at Genesis….
Kurt Angle comes to the ring and calls out Sting…
Angle is angry that Sting gave him less than 90 minutes notice to defend his Title against James Storm, which is why he lost the Title. He accuses Sting of holding grudges against himself and Bobby Roode and says that Storm’s boot was loaded at Final Resolution (as Storm won the match with his Super Kick) and he wants a rematch….
Best Of 3 Series
Zema Ion Vs Anthony Neese
Good action in this short match, which Zema won with a 450 Splash
The Jarretts are backstage, talking about one of them having to leave the company. Karen wants to be the one to leave. Jeff reminds everyone that he is the founder of the company and shouldn’t be in a position where he could be fired…
Zema Ion cuts a promo about the future being about “Me, Myself and Ion!”
Backstage, Ric Flair tells Gunner to take out Jesse Neal and make an example out of him…
Gunner Vs Jesse Neal
Gunner dominates Jesse Neal before throwing him out of the ring and nails him with a DDT on the floor.
A stretcher gets ready to take Neal out of the building…
Back from the break, Karen is flirting with Sting backstage, trying to keep her job… She tells Sting that he can’t fire her, although there are a lot of people who could replace Jeff, but no one who can replace her. She says she wants Jeff looking after the kids at home while she is on Impact. Sting tells Karen that he has known Jeff for a long time and wants to hear what he has to say too…
Jeff Hardy comes to the ring and talks about being the No.1 contender to the World Title at TNA Genesis on January the 8th….
Bully Ray interrupts him and comes to the ring and tells him that although he isn’t that mad at Hardy, he is going to make him pay in their match tonight. He isn’t that mad at Hardy because it was after Hardy couldn’t perform on PPV earlier in the year that Bully Ray was able to step into Immortal and take his spot because he was better than Jeff. He walks through Jeff on his way out of the ring and heads to the back…
Samoa Joe is backstage telling Brutus Magnus that he is just along for the ride in their match tonight, Magnus doesn‘t accept that at all….
Wild Card Tag Team Tournament Match
Samoa Joe & Brutus Magnus Vs Doug Williams & Robbie E
Joe & Magnus get the win to advance in the tournament.
I’d like to see Samoa Joe and Doug Williams have a long singles match against each other, that would be great. The action in this was good. Doug Williams and Brutus Magnus worked against each other when they needed to. Samoa Joe won the match for his team with the Muscle Buster on Doug Williams.
I really like the idea of holding the Wild Card Tournament for a shot at the Tag Team Titles, but these pairings were very random. I don’t see Joe and Brutus as a team at all. Not even a good odd-pairing.
Jeff Jarrett and Sting are talking backstage. Jeff tells Sting that it’s going to be difficult for Karen to be fired live on TV…. So he wants Sting to her down gently as they both know that women don’t belong in pro wrestling and she wants to be home with the kids….
Eric Young is backstage, talking about meeting his Wild Card partner under a Chinese hat…. It’s a pretty hilarious rant until ODB comes by and announces that she is his Wild Card partner…
Devon comes to the ring and calls out The Pope, who comes to the ring with Terrence and Tyrell.
Devon explains how he has always been there for his sons and asks them to leave the ring with him. The Pope says that Devon’s kids are bored of living the boring lifestyle that he lives. “Don‘t you walk away from me like your old lady did to you”…. “Those boys, they should have been my seed, but don’t worry, me and your ex wife are working on that” These words make Devon snap and attack the Pope with right hands. While Devon has his back turned on The Pope, he gets hit with a low blow. Devon’s kids hold their father, as The Pope beats him down and leaves him laying in the ring. “They are mine now, you bastard!”
I thought this was a great segment.
Traci Vs Madison Rayne
After a short match, Madison gets the win
Although each of them tried to double-cross the other to Sting earlier in the night, when Sting sees Jeff and Karen together backstage, they are pretending that they don’t want the other to be fired…. They each call Sting a liar, but he starts playing their segments from earlier in the night on their locker room monitor….
The Jarretts argue with each other before Sting tells them that they are BOTH fired from TNA….
Robert Roode comes out and joins Taz and Tenay at the announce desk for the next match. His commentary is pretty good.
Jeff Hardy Vs Bully Ray
They have a good, but short match. Towards the end of the match, Bully Ray kicks out of a Twist of fate, Hardy kicks out of a side suplex, Bully Ray misses a Splash and Hardy gets the win after another Twist of Fate. After the match, Roode and Bully Ray beat Hardy down inside the ring. Bully Ray gets a table and powerbombs Hardy into it. Sting comes into the ring to help Hardy, but Bully Ray and Roode attack him and beat him down too.
Robert Roode gets in Hardy’s face and tell him that he is the World Champion and that Jeff can’t beat him, as Impact Wrestling goes off the air.
Overall, I enjoyed this week’s Impact Wrestling, but my main complaint is that none of the matches were given enough time to develop into anything more than just a short TV match. That’s a real shame because TNA have so much great talent who can really do amazing things in the ring.
I like the idea of holding the Wildcard Tag Tournament, but I thought a couple of the teams were a little too random and didn’t fit at all. They have enough talent on the roster to have done this better.
It was an original idea to have the 5 extra minutes to Robbert Roode Vs Storm following on from the PPV draw at Final Resolution. I liked the way that Robert Roode held onto the World Title cleanly, but yet AJ Styles was protected by working the match with the injured leg, which Roode took advantage of here.
And later in the same show, I thought they did a good job at starting the Robert Roode / Jeff Hardy feud. These guys will meet in the main event of TNA Genesis in January for the World Title.
Zema Ion looked impressive in his match.
The Jeff Hardy / Bully Ray promo segment was great. Bully Ray is probably my favourite promo guy in the business right now.
It’s a shame to see Jesse Neal leave TNA after this Impact, as I feel he has improved greatly since he joined TNA and his team with Shannon Moore (Ink Inc) was pretty cool.
I thought that the Sting / Karen Jarrett, Sting / Jeff Jarrett, Sting / Jeff & Karen Jarrett segments throughout the show were done so well and they were pretty funny to watch.
Great promo work by Kurt Angle.
Great commentary by Tenay and Taz as always.
5 Min Overtime World Title: Bobby Roode Vs AJ Styles
I thought this was a great way to start the show. After a good 5 minutes in the ring, in which Bobby Roode continued to target AJ Style’s injured leg, neither guy could put the other away and the fans started to chant “5 more minutes”….
Sting comes to the ramp, gives them another 5 minutes and the match continues…
Roode captures Styles in a Half Leg Boston Crab on his injured leg and AJ taps out.
Bobby Roode has retained the World Heavyweight Championship.
When we come back from the break, we get after-match comments from Styles and Roode. I liked this a lot.
Wild Card Tag Team Tournament Match
Scott Steiner & Abyss Vs Hernandez & Rob Terry
Backstage, before the match, Scott Steiner tries to explain to Abyss that he wants him back on his side….
Scott Steiner looks impressive early on, but Abyss doesn’t accept his tag and allows him to get double teamed. Abyss finally comes into the ring and takes out Hernandez and Terry. Abyss signals to Scott Steiner…. Abyss tags in Steiner, allowing him to take the pinfall…. As Steiner is about to leave the ring, Abyss pulls him back… and raises his hand….
Abyss walks down the ramp, pointing towards his head, like he has a plan….
Angle isn’t happy and he is heading to the ring…
Jeff Hardy is backstage after his match with Jeff Jarrett at Final Resolution. He is selling the effects of the cage match and saying that he wished both Jarretts would be leaving the company. He is looking forward to his match with Bobby Roode for the World Title at Genesis….
Kurt Angle comes to the ring and calls out Sting…
Angle is angry that Sting gave him less than 90 minutes notice to defend his Title against James Storm, which is why he lost the Title. He accuses Sting of holding grudges against himself and Bobby Roode and says that Storm’s boot was loaded at Final Resolution (as Storm won the match with his Super Kick) and he wants a rematch….
Best Of 3 Series
Zema Ion Vs Anthony Neese
Good action in this short match, which Zema won with a 450 Splash
The Jarretts are backstage, talking about one of them having to leave the company. Karen wants to be the one to leave. Jeff reminds everyone that he is the founder of the company and shouldn’t be in a position where he could be fired…
Zema Ion cuts a promo about the future being about “Me, Myself and Ion!”
Backstage, Ric Flair tells Gunner to take out Jesse Neal and make an example out of him…
Gunner Vs Jesse Neal
Gunner dominates Jesse Neal before throwing him out of the ring and nails him with a DDT on the floor.
A stretcher gets ready to take Neal out of the building…
Back from the break, Karen is flirting with Sting backstage, trying to keep her job… She tells Sting that he can’t fire her, although there are a lot of people who could replace Jeff, but no one who can replace her. She says she wants Jeff looking after the kids at home while she is on Impact. Sting tells Karen that he has known Jeff for a long time and wants to hear what he has to say too…
Jeff Hardy comes to the ring and talks about being the No.1 contender to the World Title at TNA Genesis on January the 8th….
Bully Ray interrupts him and comes to the ring and tells him that although he isn’t that mad at Hardy, he is going to make him pay in their match tonight. He isn’t that mad at Hardy because it was after Hardy couldn’t perform on PPV earlier in the year that Bully Ray was able to step into Immortal and take his spot because he was better than Jeff. He walks through Jeff on his way out of the ring and heads to the back…
Samoa Joe is backstage telling Brutus Magnus that he is just along for the ride in their match tonight, Magnus doesn‘t accept that at all….
Wild Card Tag Team Tournament Match
Samoa Joe & Brutus Magnus Vs Doug Williams & Robbie E
Joe & Magnus get the win to advance in the tournament.
I’d like to see Samoa Joe and Doug Williams have a long singles match against each other, that would be great. The action in this was good. Doug Williams and Brutus Magnus worked against each other when they needed to. Samoa Joe won the match for his team with the Muscle Buster on Doug Williams.
I really like the idea of holding the Wild Card Tournament for a shot at the Tag Team Titles, but these pairings were very random. I don’t see Joe and Brutus as a team at all. Not even a good odd-pairing.
Jeff Jarrett and Sting are talking backstage. Jeff tells Sting that it’s going to be difficult for Karen to be fired live on TV…. So he wants Sting to her down gently as they both know that women don’t belong in pro wrestling and she wants to be home with the kids….
Eric Young is backstage, talking about meeting his Wild Card partner under a Chinese hat…. It’s a pretty hilarious rant until ODB comes by and announces that she is his Wild Card partner…
Devon comes to the ring and calls out The Pope, who comes to the ring with Terrence and Tyrell.
Devon explains how he has always been there for his sons and asks them to leave the ring with him. The Pope says that Devon’s kids are bored of living the boring lifestyle that he lives. “Don‘t you walk away from me like your old lady did to you”…. “Those boys, they should have been my seed, but don’t worry, me and your ex wife are working on that” These words make Devon snap and attack the Pope with right hands. While Devon has his back turned on The Pope, he gets hit with a low blow. Devon’s kids hold their father, as The Pope beats him down and leaves him laying in the ring. “They are mine now, you bastard!”
I thought this was a great segment.
Traci Vs Madison Rayne
After a short match, Madison gets the win
Although each of them tried to double-cross the other to Sting earlier in the night, when Sting sees Jeff and Karen together backstage, they are pretending that they don’t want the other to be fired…. They each call Sting a liar, but he starts playing their segments from earlier in the night on their locker room monitor….
The Jarretts argue with each other before Sting tells them that they are BOTH fired from TNA….
Robert Roode comes out and joins Taz and Tenay at the announce desk for the next match. His commentary is pretty good.
Jeff Hardy Vs Bully Ray
They have a good, but short match. Towards the end of the match, Bully Ray kicks out of a Twist of fate, Hardy kicks out of a side suplex, Bully Ray misses a Splash and Hardy gets the win after another Twist of Fate. After the match, Roode and Bully Ray beat Hardy down inside the ring. Bully Ray gets a table and powerbombs Hardy into it. Sting comes into the ring to help Hardy, but Bully Ray and Roode attack him and beat him down too.
Robert Roode gets in Hardy’s face and tell him that he is the World Champion and that Jeff can’t beat him, as Impact Wrestling goes off the air.
Overall, I enjoyed this week’s Impact Wrestling, but my main complaint is that none of the matches were given enough time to develop into anything more than just a short TV match. That’s a real shame because TNA have so much great talent who can really do amazing things in the ring.
I like the idea of holding the Wildcard Tag Tournament, but I thought a couple of the teams were a little too random and didn’t fit at all. They have enough talent on the roster to have done this better.
It was an original idea to have the 5 extra minutes to Robbert Roode Vs Storm following on from the PPV draw at Final Resolution. I liked the way that Robert Roode held onto the World Title cleanly, but yet AJ Styles was protected by working the match with the injured leg, which Roode took advantage of here.
And later in the same show, I thought they did a good job at starting the Robert Roode / Jeff Hardy feud. These guys will meet in the main event of TNA Genesis in January for the World Title.
Zema Ion looked impressive in his match.
The Jeff Hardy / Bully Ray promo segment was great. Bully Ray is probably my favourite promo guy in the business right now.
It’s a shame to see Jesse Neal leave TNA after this Impact, as I feel he has improved greatly since he joined TNA and his team with Shannon Moore (Ink Inc) was pretty cool.
I thought that the Sting / Karen Jarrett, Sting / Jeff Jarrett, Sting / Jeff & Karen Jarrett segments throughout the show were done so well and they were pretty funny to watch.
Great promo work by Kurt Angle.
Great commentary by Tenay and Taz as always.
In : PPV & TV Thoughts