TNA Impact Wrestling Coverage: Tito Ortiz?

Taz’s inability to get into the arena was similar to the rest of this week’s storyline on Impact.

No one cared.

In the show’s final segment, The Main Event Mafia gave the Aces and Eight an offer they could’t refuse: a five-on-five match at Hardcore Justice where the person who gets pinned will have to leave the company for good. While that proposal sets the scene for an intriguing match in two weeks, it didn’t do anything to spice up the show.

The big surprise that was supposed to rock TNA, the arrival of MMA legend Tito Ortiz was cool, but if Ortiz’s role is going to be anything like Rampage Jackson’s in the Main Event Mafia, well, who really cares?

Like recent episodes of Impact, the in-ring performances this week were more than solid. If TNA could just get its act together creatively, they could still be a force.

But like an episode of “Battlestar Galactica,” history tends to repeat itself, over and over.

Matches:

Bound for Glory Series: Bobby Roode vs. Hernandez: A decent opener with a ton of back and forth action. After Hernandez missed a Splash from the top rope, Roode latched on the Crossface, but Hernandez wouldn’t tap out. After more strikes, Hernandez hit the Shoulder Block and then his Air Mexico maneuver. Hernandez couldn’t finish off Roode though. The former TNA Champion countered the Border Toss with a Low Blow and then went psychotic, breaking a glass bottle over Hernandez’s head for the win.

Bound for Glory Series: Joseph Park w/Eric Young vs. Jay Bradley: With the suggestion of Young, Park wore “regulation” head gear during the match so he wouldn’t bleed and “lose it.” Bradley beat on Park for a good 10 minutes, working on Park’s head. Making the typical face comeback, Park latched on the Boston Crab and even with his headgear taken off, he won with the Samoan Drop.

TNA World Heavyweight Champion Chris Sabin vs. TNA X-Division Champion Manik: This was a solid match. Both of these two traded counters for 15 minutes before Sabin won, thanks to a massive kick to the face and the Hail Sabin Driver. After the match, Bully Ray got involved, but Sabin was ready.

ODB vs. Gail Kim: Another solid, lengthy, pay per view quality match. Kim and ODB were stiff with one another and worked on the inside and outside of the ring. Eventually, the matched ended in a double DQ, as both competitors beat the tar out of one another and couldn’t get it back in the ring.

Bound for Glory Series: Austin Aries vs. AJ Styles: Both of these guys worked their tails off for 20 minutes. Styles gets uber mega bonus points for a beautiful Dragon Suplex during the match. Aries was no slouch either, as he hit wonderful strikes and showed the heart of a lion. After Styles kicked out of the Brainbuster, Styles countered the 450 with his knees. The action then went to the outside as both Aries and Styles took major risks and washed out. After the two traded strikes again, they both fell on the ring exhausted, but Aries was smart enough to put his arm on Styles to earn the win.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14262 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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