TNA IMPACT 07 25 2013

TNA IMPACT Wrestling
Location: Louisville, KY
Date: July 25, 2013
Commentators: Todd Keneley, Mike Tenay, and Taz

We look back at last week when Chris Sabin cashed in the X Division Title to claim the ultimate prize, the TNA World Title, as well as the other antics going on throughout the evening. Tonight: a new X Division Champion will be crowned in Ultimate X!

The Main Event Mafia comes out to the ring to start the show, and Sting says their work paid off because Bully Ray is no longer the TNA World Champion, then Angle says they’re here tonight to celebrate. They reunited for two reasons: to destroy Aces & Eights and make sure Bully Ray loses the TNA World Title, the second goal was realized last week when one amazing wrestler had the greatest match of his career, and now Angle would like to introduce the new TNA World Champion: Chris Sabin! Sabin comes out and thanks the MEM for helping him out last week, and he still can’t believe he’s the World Champion, but he is and the reality of the situation is that he’s walking around with a giant target on his back. He knows that Joe and Magnus both want his title just like everyone else in the “Bound For Glory” Series, and he’s going to lay out a challenge right now to whoever wins Ultimate X tonight.

Bully Ray comes out to the ring and asks if we know who the old guy with him is, and says this is his attorney. The attorney says that Sabin needs to take that title and hand it back to Bully Ray, or he will destroy them in court. They don’t want to go to court with him because he wins for his clients, and Sabin has until the end of the show to bring the title to the true champion.

We look at last week’s qualifying matches for tonight’s Ultimate X match, then we see a video package looking at Greg Marisciulo, the former Trent Baretta who will be in Ultimate X…NEXT!

Jason Hervey catches up backstage with Hulk Hogan and asks if they have a response for Bully Ray’s threats of legal action. Hulk is on the phone, presumably with somebody who can help with the situation, and says he doesn’t comment on pending legal affairs before storming out.

We see a cool video package of TJ Perkins talking about his tough road since getting into the business, including causing his family to go homeless and being robbed at gunpoint in Tijuana because he was chasing the dream, so to him, Manik is the character he gets to vent all his frustrations through and finally claim his dream.

Ultimate X Match: Sonjay Dutt vs. Manik vs. Greg Marasciulo

Marasciulo quickly attacks both men, but gets dumped out to the ramp where Manik takes him out with a crossbody before going at it with Sonjay. They take turns doing what guys do in these matches, and Manik takes out both opponents with a double springboard dropkick to the outside as we go to commercial.

We’re back, and Marasciulo practically kills Manik with the Jig & Tonic on the ramp way, then starts to climb. Dutt interrupts him and they trade boots to the face as Manik is still down on the ramp. Dutt and Marasciulo both climb the Ultimate X structure, then climb along the top of the structure and trade punches on top. They give me a heart attack by trying to suplex each other off, then Marasciulo gives me another heart attack by nearly sliding through the structure before catching himself, but Manik is up and crawling along the rope as Marasciulo tries to hang on. Marasciulo drops down onto the rope and tries to knock Manik off, but Marasciulo loses his grip and hits the mat, allowing Manik to claim the belt for the win.

Winner and NEW X Division Champion: Manik

Congratulations to TJ Perkins who claims his first major title anywhere I’m aware of after 15 years in the business. He’s an amazing athlete and I’ve wanted to see this for a long time, and I’m really happy for him.

Bully Ray is backstage with Ken Anderson and says that they’ve got Hogan where they want him, and he didn’t vote, but if he did it would have been for Anderson because he’s proud of him. Bully wants Anderson to what he does best: get the job done in the Bound For Glory Series.

Bound For Glory Series: Ken Anderson vs. Hernandez

Anderson wins an early brawl, but can’t match power with Hernandez and gets knocked on his duff. Hernandez comes off the ropes with a flying shoulder block, then suplexes Anderson back into the ring as he tries to escape. Anderson goes to the eyes and slams into Hernandez with a charging splash in the corner, Hernandez skins the cat to the top rope but gets slammed off by Anderson. Anderson goes to a top wristlock, then whips Hernandez to the ropes and connects with a back elbow for 2. Anderson backdrops a charging Hernandez to the apron, but tries to rush him and catches another slingshot shoulder block. Hernandez starts to rally with running clotheslines and elbows, splashes Anderson in the corner, and hits the over the shoulder backbreaker for 2. Hernandez drills Anderson with the Pounce, then goes up the ramp for the charging shoulder block, but Anderson sees it coming and ducks out of the way. Hernandez lands on his head, and Anderson quickly hits a dazed Hernandez with the Mic Check to pick up another seven points.

Winner: Ken Anderson

Anderson comes one step closer to winning the BFG Series, and we have a Knockouts Title match up after this commercial break!

Dixie Carter is backstage with Jason Hervey and says she doesn’t have time to talk about Bully Ray, and she and her assistant go trotting off to fire a few more people to pay for their executive getaway.

Eric Young catches up backstage with Joseph Park to show him what he did a few weeks ago when he started bleeding and cost himself ten points in the BFG Series. Park doesn’t have any recollection of this, because he blacked out. Okay then.

Velvet Sky comes out to the ring and said the mistake she made was letting Mickie James know she had an injury. Mickie took advantage of that to get what she wanted, but she’ll never make that mistake again because she’s going to play things closer to the vest than ever before from now on. She’s going to sit ringside to watch Mickie and Gail tear each other to pieces, and tells them to have at it. The Knockouts Title match is next…we swear!

Knockouts Title Match: Mickie James vs. Gail Kim

They fight over a collar and elbow tie up and start pulling each other’s hair until ODB is forced to break them up. Mickie takes Gail to the corner and cheapshots her, but that just pisses Gail off and causes her to go to the eyes and hammer he with kicks to the ribs. Mickie goes to the eyes in return, but Gail goes back to kicking the crap out of Mickie and yanks her down to the mat by the hair to try a couple of pinning combinations. Mickie returns the favor by yanking Gail down by the hair and hits a basement dropkick for 2. Gail swats a dropkick away and drills Mickie with one of her own, then catches Mickie with another couple of pinfall attempts. ODB catches Gail using the ropes and gets in her face, but Gail quickly regains control and slams into Mickie with the crossbody in the corner. Gail goes to the apron, but gets caught with a spinkick to the face that sends her out to the floor where Mickie happily lets her stay while ODB counts. Gail gets up and snaps Mickie’s neck down on the top rope, she tries the ring post figure four but gets kicked off by Mickie, who follows off by coming off the apron with a Thesz Press. Mickie goes for another couple of pinfall attempts while coming perilously close to pulling a Bella with that shirt she’s wearing, but Gail gets the Royal Octopus. Mickie escapes and goes for a submission of her own, but Gail is too close to the ropes and forces a break, then kicks Mickie square in the skull. Mickie tries her headscissors out of the corner and Gail counters to a powerbomb, but puts her feet on the ropes and ODB catches her and stops counting. Gail dumps Mickie to the floor right in front of Velvet Sky, then gets in ODB’s face and slaps her for no apparent reason. Mickie capitalizes by rolling back inside and rolling Gail up for 3.

Winner: Mickie James

Other than the finish that made no sense whatsoever, this was a really good match. ODB and Gail get in each other’s faces after the match, so Brooke comes out and says YO to Gail because she has a problem with her. She thought Gail learned her lesson last time she slapped a referee around, but she’ll learn it this time because ODB is an active wrestler and Gail just messed with the wrong referee. ODB dares Gail to fight her, but Gail powders out as ODB jiggles her boobs at the crowd and takes a nip from the old bird.

We look back at last week when Chris Sabin won the TNA World Title, then we go to Hogan’s office where he’s telling Dixie Carter that he can’t believe Bully Ray put them in this position. Hogan says it’s not fair to Sabin and Dixie knows that because she was there with him after he blew out his knee the second time, and Hogan says they should take Aces & Eights out old school. Dixie says they can’t because she doesn’t operate that way, then says she’ll fire them all to pay for their annual vacation to the Alps. Okay, she didn’t actually say that, but neither of them wants to be the one to tell Sabin that he’s forced to give that title back. Geez, we’re at commercial.

Bound For Glory Series: Christopher Daniels vs. Samoa Joe

Mike Tenay points out how, out of all their classic matches over the years, Daniels has never once defeated Samoa Joe. That doesn’t appear to be about to change as Joe pummels Daniels with kicks, punches, a powerslam, a leaping enziguiri, and the facewash in the corner. Daniels drops a charging Joe into the middle rope and then lays him out with a clothesline before choking him on the ropes. Joe comes back with an overhead release suplex and a snap powerslam for 2, then knocks Daniels flat on his back with an open handed slap to the face. Daniels dodges a corner charge and hits a palm thrust of his own, then charges right into the STJoe. Joe gets ready to put Daniels away, but Ken Anderson runs down the ramp and distracts Joe so Daniels can clip his knee and hit the BME. Joe kicks out at 2, so Daniels immediately hits another BME to finally score his first win over Joe in TNA.

Winner: Christopher Daniels

Joe looks PISSED, but there’s nothing he can do because Daniels has the seven points.

AJ Styles and Jeff Hardy are both backstage, and they’re…WALKING! They meet up in the Bound For Glory Series…NEXT!

Sting sits down backstage with Kurt Angle, just the two of them, because he wants to make sure they’re on the same page. They argue over how much they actually accomplished last week, but seem in agreement that destroying Aces & Eights is the next step.

It’s main event time!

Bound For Glory Series: AJ Styles vs. Jeff Hardy

They get physical pretty much right away, putting a noticeable extra bit of oomph behind everything they do as they whip each other into the corner and hit kicks. Hardy gets a springboard dropkick in the corner and AJ rolls out to the floor as we go to commercial.

We come back just as AJ absolutely DRILLS Hardy with a baseball slide to the floor that sends Hardy crashing into the broadcast table. They go back inside where Hardy tries to fire some shots back, but AJ violently grabs Hardy by the head and skeeballs him under the bottom rope and to the floor. AJ continues brutalizing Hardy until Hardy picks him up for a powerbomb, but instead of dropping AJ on his back, he just continues yanking him backward over his head and face plants him on the mat. Hardy mounts a comeback with the usual, takes his shirt off, and gets his head taken off by a dropkick from AJ. AJ misses a diving forearm in the corner, Hardy slams him and comes off the second rope with a splash for 2. Hardy goes for the Twist of Fate, but AJ blocks and snap suplexes Hardy into the corner. Hardy hits the Whisper In The Wind and AJ kicks out at 2, AJ escapes another Twist of Fate attempt and hits the Pelé kick, and the crowd is solidly behind AJ as he pulls himself to his feet. AJ rolls Hardy into the Calf Killer and Hardy, trapped in the middle of the ring, is forced to tap out.

Winner: AJ Styles

That is the first time I ever remember Hardy tapping out in TNA and the fans start a “you tapped out” chant, but Hardy holds his hand out to AJ nonetheless. AJ stops to look at Hardy, then walks right past him and makes his way to the back.

Jason Hervey sees Hulk Hogan backstage and asks if they made a decision. Hogan says he doesn’t want to have to do this, but he has to do what he has to do. We’ll find out what his plan is…NEXT!

Bully Ray comes out to the ring and says he has suffered greatly, and asks what kind of a man would sink to hitting people with a deadly object like a hammer to win a match. He says Sabin knows what he did and has no choice but to come out and hand the title back to him. Sabin comes out and Bubba says he’s not going to say anything bad about him, but he’s out here because Bubba told him to come out and he’s intimidated of Bubba, and he’s going to hand him his title back. Sabin says he’s here because he wanted to see with his own eyes what a crybaby he is. Sabin sat home for two years and didn’t whine and complain like Bubba, he just got motivated to come back better than ever, and now he’s the World Champion. Sabin says the only way Bubba is getting that title back is to pry it from Sabin’s dead hands, but Bubba says he’s getting it back by suing him. Bubba asks Sabin how he can call himself a man after hitting him with a hammer, and if he won’t do the right thing, he demands that Hogan come out and give him his title back or he’s suing. Hogan comes out, tears up the papers TNA was served with, and says that Sabin is the champion. Hogan says that fair is fair and Bubba will get a chance to regain the title, when TNA returns to Norfolk, Virginia in three weeks. Aces & Eights won’t be involved and neither will the Main Event Mafia, because he’ll face Sabin at Hardcore Justice in a steel cage! Bubba doesn’t look happy, but Sabin looks determined as he now knows he’ll have to face Bubba again.

Source: www.ringsidenews.com