TNA Impact Coverage: Aries Rising, Return of a Storm

June 15, 2012 Patrick Hickey Jr. Professional Wrestling, TV 0

“You’re the greatest thing I’ve ever seen in this ring” Hulk Hogan– in regards to Austin Aries

The X-Division champion has a choice to make. Take on the World Heavyweight Champion at Destination X or stay the big fish in the under 220-pound pond.

There’s a catch though- if he loses, he loses everything.

To quote Keanu Reeves, “What Would You Do”?

With developments to the Bully Ray/Chris Park and A.J. Styles/Christopher Daniels/Frank Kazarian angles and the final segment with Sting, this show was one of the best TNA has put on in quite some time.

And great timing, considering many said Slammiversary the company’s best PPV offering in over a year.

Matches:

Ultimate X: X-Division Champion Austin Aries vs. Chris Sabin vs. Zima Ion: Good opening match. Sabin and Aries took care of Ion early before working on each other. Aries was his consistently smooth self, delivering a chain of moves to Sabin. Always the pro, Sabin sold well and had his moments, but appeared hurt later in the match. Ion isn’t in these guys’ league. His moves weren’t as crisp. He wasn’t nearly as convincing. After Ion’s modified jawbreaker, a fan in the front row was seen shaking his head no in disgust. But that’s all any fan had to be upset about. After a massive top-rope Hurricanrana and his signature Brainbuster, Aries climbed up and took down the X for the win.

TV Champion Devon vs. Hernandez: Surprisingly solid match. Hernandez was his powerful self, but made sure to use his spicy repertoire. It made for an interesting match. Devon hit a spear that changed the momentum, but Hernandez hit a Pounce-like spear of his own. Devon capitalized and countered a potential Thesz press into his front Spinebuster for the win.

Bound for Glory Series: Over the Top Gauntlet for 20 points: A.J. Styles vs. Jeff Hardy vs. Rob Van Dam, vs. Magnus vs. Bully Ray vs. Kurt Angle vs. The Pope vs. Robbie E. vs. Christopher Daniels vs. Samoa Joe vs. James Storm : This match was filled with signature moves. Just a fun contest with a ton of action. Ray was eliminated after Abyss came out from under the ring. Storm and Joe were the last two left. The encounter didn’t last long, as Storm hit his Last Call Superkick on Joe while he was on the apron for the win.

Madison Rayne vs. TNA Knockouts Champion Brooke Tessmacher: The new champion was solid and Rayne sold her see-through skirt off. Good encounter. Tessmacher earned the win.

World Heavyweight Champion Bobby Roode vs. Mr. Anderson: This was a long-old school encounter. Anderson had a few nice routine spots, but Roode is too damn consistent. If only he had a better persona. All in all, it was a competitive match, but Roode got the win with the Crossface.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 13861 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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