TNA Impact Wrestling Coverage: Cheap Pops and No Hammer Shots

Hulk Hogan gets cheap pops and Bully Ray gets cheap heat.

Add a hammer, a ladder and Jeff Hardy and you have an average episode of Impact.

Like Christy Hemme’s mic work, TNA looks good at times, but consistently misses the mark.

Away from the World Title picture, the Devon/Abyss/Joseph Park angle continues to get weirder. Will TNA keep up the silliness longer or will it be revealed that Park and Abyss are the same person? Capable of entertaining in the ring, this angle doesn’t any more nonsense.

What wasn’t silly was the debut of MMA legend Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. Although he’s a greenhorn in the sport, he’s charismatic and capable of helping the product. The thought of a possible showdown with Kurt Angle actually makes sense. Sure, if it ever happens it’ll be months or even years away, but it’s easily one of the more exciting things to happen in the company in years.

Matches:

Bound for Glory Series Qualifying Match: Hernandez vs. Chavo Guerrero: A decent opener. After their loss at Slammiversary, the former champions faced off in singles action in an effort to garner and Bound for Glory Series birth. Guerrero used his speed and experience to counter Hernandez’s multi-faceted offense. However, Hernandez’s power was too much for Guerrero. After a Splash and a Backbreaker, Hernandez looked in control, but the resilient veteran Guerrero bounced back with the Three Amigos and a corner Spinning Heel Kick. After a failed Frog Splash and a series of counters from Chavo, Hernandez stacked him up with a rollup for the win.

Bound for Glory Series Qualifying Match: Robbie E. vs. Samoa Joe: This was all Joe. Muscle Buster and Rear Naked Choke. Game Over.

X-Division Champion Chris Sabin and TNA Tag Team Champions James Storm and Gunner vs. Kenny King, Austin Aries and Bobby Roode: Best match of the night as all six competitors went through their signature finishers. After a wild exchange of high impact offense, Sabin beat King with the Hail Sabin Driver.

Knockouts Champion Mickie James vs. Taeler Hendrix: James toyed with the buxom redhead and beat her with an ugly Hook Kick.

Ladder/Hammer Match: TNA World Heavyweight Champion Bully Ray vs. Jeff Hardy: A physical encounter that was a nice combination of spots from Hardy and gritty and smart ring work from Bully. With the ladder in play and Bully’s forehead cut open, Hardy looked ready to claim the hammer, but Bully ended up with it. With Hardy in the corner licking his wounds, Ray went for the hammer shot, but Hardy was playing possum. After a seated Twist of Hate, Hardy got the hammer, but couldn’t connect. Ray then ran out of the building and was later saved from a hammer shot from Hulk Hogan by his estranged wife, Brooke.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14263 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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