TNA Impact Wrestling From Wembley Arena, London, England
2 / Feb / 2012

This is the first Impact Wrestling from overseas and the largest audience TNA Impact has had so far.

Bully Ray & Bobby Roode / Sting Segment

Buckingham Brawl (Non-title): Crimson & Matt Morgan Vs Samoa Joe & Brutus Magnus
Beautiful Exploder Suplex by Crimson on Magnus at one point.
Great work by Samoa Joe, as always.
Joe and Brutus get the win here, after the snap mere / Top Rope Elbow drop combo on Matt Morgan.
This was a short match, but they will meet again at the Against All Odds PPV (this Sunday!) with the Tag Titles on the line, so it makes sense to leave fans wanting more and to give the win to Joe and Magnus.
I still think Joe and Magnus make a very odd pairing and not in a good way. That said, they seem to be working well together despite that.

Eric Bischoff makes his way to the ring...
When it comes to this father / son angle, I really just think it's a waste of TV time.
Eric cuts a promo on his son and calls him out.... The fans start chanting "Boring" while these guys are in the ring.
Garret pretends to call his mystery trainer and he says that his trainer is in the building and he wants to see Eric later tonight...

Mark Haskins talks about joining the X Division in a slick video package

Austin Aries Vs Mark Haskins
The fans here in the UK are a lot louder than the usual Impact Zone crowd. Big chant for Austin Aries throughout the match, which makes me happy as I'm a big fan of Aries.
This was a great TV match, filled with exciting spots and action. Haskins almost killed himself doing a Shooting Star Press before Aries drilled him with a picture-perfect brainbuster and applying his "Horns Of Aries" submission hold to take the win.

Non-Title: Bobby Roode Vs James Storm
"This is wrestling" chant during this great match.

Note to WWE fans: No long, boring rest holds, the match wasn't built around the same "punch-punch-kick-kick-punch-punch-stomp-stomp-chinlock" WWE Trademark action and there were no comedy moments. The commentators talked about the match that was happening in the ring. This is called a wrestling match.

Bully Ray, who is Storm's opponent later tonight, came to the ring leading to the finish and hooked Storm’s leg, which enabled Bobby Roode to strike with a big spear for the win.
Roode and Bully Ray start to double team Storm, but Sting comes down the ramp and clears the ring after Bully Ray slams Storm onto the World Title.

They have interviewed UK fans from the Manchester shows instead of here in London for some reason. I hope that they added subtitles for the US airing because I'm from the UK and I could barely understand what they hell they were saying.
At one point Jeremy Borash asked a young fan, who was dressed as Jeff Hardy where he was from and he had no idea. He looked at his dad for a clue, but I don’t think his dad knew either. Awkward moment there.
Borash and Christy Hemme tried their best…. but us UK fans don’t look too bright. Thanks kid.

Non-Title Match: Gail Kim Vs Tara
Great, but short TV KO match, which Tara wins with The Widow's Peak.
The action was good, but the match was short. Gail Kim Vs Tara is coming up at the Against All Odds PPV (this Sunday!), so this match left fans wanting more, which is a good thing.

Garret Bischoff comes to the ring to call out his trainer. Eric Bischoff comes out with Gunner. Hogan reveals himself as Garret's trainer by coming to the ring and taking out Gunner.... Thankfully this didn't last very long.
Backstage, Hogan and Garret cut a promo on Eric...

Bully Ray Vs James Storm
This was another very good match and excellent main event for the show.
Leading to the finish, Bobby Roode came to the ring.... but didn't interfere in the match.... Storm beat Bully Ray after nailing him with the Superkick.

Bobby Roode Vs James Storm Vs Bully Ray Vs Jeff Hardy is set for the Against All Odds PPV (this Sunday!). Roode and Ray have been working together in recent weeks, but Roode not helping Bully Ray here in his match, as Ray helped him earlier in the evening, is going to create some dissention between them leading into that match.

Overall, I thought this was a very good edition of Impact - Austin Aries, Bully Ray, James Storm and Bobby Roode were the highlights of the show for me.

I really don’t see Hogan’s worth to the company.
I mean, if the Hogan Vs Sting PPV match last year did a huge number, then maybe I would see a little worth in him sticking around, but I don’t believe it did at all…. So what does Hogan bring to the table?
I don’t think he brings as much as he takes from TNA behind the scenes and on TV, Hogan’s appearances and promos are the worst things on any given show.

I do see Eric Bischoff as having an important role behind the scenes in TNA, having the experience needed to deal directly and professionally with Spike TV and also having some influence on the direction of the company…. I also think Eric cuts great promos, but I don’t like the Eric / Garret angle in the slightest.
It’s not in any way believable or entertaining….

Thankfully there was enough good on this show to cancel out Hogan / Eric / Garret - or at least help me forget about it. At least they didn’t hold the “mystery trainer” angle in the main event spot, which makes a big difference to me.

3 great matches, 2 good, although short, matches, good promos by Bully Ray, Bobby Roode and Sting as well as a very lively and enthusiastic London audience made this another very good edition TNA Impact Wrestling.





- David Damage