TNA Impact Wrestling Coverage: Bully Ray is Next

“You know what this is? This is my fire-breathing Twitter machine. And I don’t go anywhere without it,” Bully Ray, in Impact Wrestling’s opening-segment last night.

Damn has this guys carved a nice little niche for himself the past year as an upper-mid carder. He’s fun on the microphone and is able to develop storylines. That’s a rarity in TNA.

His promo to start the show got the fans going and continues the speculation that James Storm is the leader of The Aces and Eights.

The way the group looks now, like a mock Sons of Anarchy, is pretty damn cool. With Bully Ray their next target, how will this angle continue? Is it bad to get a little excited about a TNA angle?

One thing it’s okay not be excited about is this terrible angle with AJ Styles. When will it be over?

Speaking of things no one cares about- Rob Terry put Jeff Hardy through a table last night. When did this angle With Hardy and Robbie E. start? Seems like TNA is still having problems putting a logical angle together and is resorting to their old ways of rushing through things.

Regardless, this show had enough action and enough logic to satisfy. Well, at least by TNA standards.

Because of that, this weekend’s Hardcore Justice isn’t Summerslam, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Matches:

Bound for Glory Series: Rob Van Dam vs. Magnus: This was a solid opener. Magnus’ modified Brainbuster made for an intriguing match. RVD went through his routine offense and won with the Five-Star Frog Splash.

Devon and Garret Bischoff vs. TNA Tag Team Champions Christopher Daniels and Frank Kazarian: This match was obviously a nice way to showcase Devon in tag work. Bischoff is still green, but getting better. The fact that they made quick tags and worked together was fun to watch, but Daniels and Kaz are in another league, even on their worst day. Add in the Curry man strut from Daniels and this match had a little of everything. The champions got the win after Kaz hit Devon with one of the titles behind the refs back. This could be the beginning of an angle.

Bound for Glory Series: AJ Styles vs. Kurt Angle: Styles is still phenomenal. The guy is such a great performer. From his dropkicks to his routine maneuvers, he is still the best TNA has. Angle is no slouch either and that’s why this match, even though it was routine early on, was still enjoyable. Things picked up towards the end after Styles kicked out of an Angle Slam. A minute or so later, Angle kicked out of the Styles Clash. That and the series of near-falls was awesome and even though the finish was sudden, with Angle hitting another Angle Slam, the contest was one of the best on Impact so far this year.

TNA Knockouts Champion Brooke Tessmacher vs. Gail Kim: Tessmacher continues to gain polish in the ring, while Kim had no problem leading the action. This match was a league better than the Divas encounter on RAW this week. Between the submission moves and crowd involvement, it’s obvious the Knockouts can work a crowd. Tessmacher got the win with her Belly to Back Facebuster.

Bound for Glory Series: Bully Ray vs. James Storm: These two guys have made a living as tag wrestlers, but they proved again tonight they can get it done in singles too. Just when Storm started cooking, Ray hit a massive Urinage. That’s when the match started to get spicy. Ray kicked out of a top rope splash and nailed the Bubba Bomb a few seconds later. After Ray missed the Senton Backsplash, Storm missed the Last Call Superkick, opening the door for the Bubba Cutter and a Bully Ray win.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14230 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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