Impact Wrestling Coverage: Hammer Time Again and New Tag Team Champions

AJ Styles’ decision whether or not to join the Aces and Eights was the main reason to tune in this week.

And TNA naturally played coy and continued to delay the inevitable again. Rather than have Styles join TNA or Aces and Eights, Frank Kazarian and Christopher Daniels hit the ring and asked The Phenomenal One to join Bad Influence.

Talk about a mess.

Of course, Styles didn’t make a decision. Although it’s annoying at this point, Styles will face James Storm next week. Although the decision as to which camp Styles will join must wait, at least he’ll be back in the ring.

Away from the drama outside the ring, the title matches were some of the best in quite some time.  The opening two out of three-falls match for the Tag Team titles was quick, but enjoyable, while the World Title Metal Mayhem match was hardcore wrestling personified.

With a nice balance between promo and in-ring action, this week’s TNA impact was stomach-able, even if it wasn’t overtly exciting.

Matches:

Two out of Three Falls: TNA World Tag Team Champions Austin Aries and Robert Roode vs. Hernandez and Chavo Guerrero: The champions won the first fall extremely quick after a Roode Spinebuster. But after Aries missed a top rope splash, Guerrero rolled him up to win the second fall and even things up. Exhausted, Guerrero tagged in Hernandez, who delivered essentially all of his offense. Then it all got frenetic. As the champions got the advantage again thanks to quick tags and submission work, Hernandez hit a double clothesline to change the tempo once again. With the hot tag, a refreshed Guerrero looked ready to get the win after five snap suplexes. After some miscommunication, Guerrero and Hernandez nearly lost the match, but Guerrero was resilient. A Hernandez double suplex on both Roode and Aries set up a Guerrero Frog Splash, on both Tag Team Champions, to earn the win and the titles.

Taryn Terrell vs. Gail Kim w/Special Referee ODB: Kim is no-nonsense and Terrell found this out the hard way after several strikes and counters. Kim also wasn’t afraid to resort to heel tactics every chance she got. But ODB was one step ahead of the conniving Kim, who tried to win the match with a handful of trunks. Once caught, Kim let her guard down long enough for Terrell to win with a rollup of her own. After the match, ODB and Kim took the fight backstage.

Rob Terry vs. Joey Ryan: A quick match that saw Terry destroy Ryan with a Powerslam and a front Spinebuster.

Full Metal Mayhem: TNA World Champion Bully Ray vs. Jeff Hardy: These guys were in their element in this hardcore battle. Although Hardy hit several moves early on, Ray hit the high-impact maneuvers when they counted, including a Superplex and a reverse suplex through an upside-down ladder. Hardy changed the tide after a Twist of Fate on the outside and then a Swanton Bomb through a table, but after Taz gave Bully a hammer, the champ climbed the ladder and smashed it across Hardy’s face. Unable to stay on the ladder, Hardy fell through a table and Ray retained his title.