Dot Net reader Todd Oblak attended Thursday's TNA Impact television event in Duluth, Ga. and sent the following report on the taping for the June 13 television show.

This is a first person review of the tapings from sitting on the front row behind the announce desk. The show is seen completely different from this viewpoint, as I got to see the angles taped backstage and not shown on the big "Impactron", as well as caught a glimpse of the booking sheet the announcers were working from (a picture is included below). The crowd was better than I expected as I checked earlier in the day and tickets on the floor were still available. I'm not good at estimating crowds but there were probably a good 2,000 plus. Like normal for Impact the hard camera side was empty except for ringside seats.

TNA Xplosion

1. DOC (w/Knux) defeated Rob Terry. DOC won with a chokeslam after a distraction from Knux. This match was taped prior to Impact.

2. Chris Sabin beat Robbie E in an X Division Title match. Sabin just looked good here. This match was taped during the Impact taping.

TNA Impact Taping

1. Joseph Park beat Crimson in a Bound For Glory Series qualifying match. Crimson is back and said it's been a year but he was going to win the BFG series, but he lost via a Rollup. Joseph Park is in the BFG series now.

2. Magnus beat Matt Morgan, Kenny King, and Rob Terry in a four-way BFG qualifier. A fantastic four-way match. This was booked great. First, Morgan is still coming out wearing Hogan's old Terry Golden/Boulder robe...not sure why. The premise of this match was the two big guys started off (Morgan & Terry) and Kenny King kept tagging himself in when Morgan had Rob T beat down, then would tag Morgan back in when Rob T began to come back on him. King was excellent here. The crowd was really behind Magnus getting into the match. Magnus got the hot tag in and cleaned house. The finish saw Magnus get the pin on King.

Velvet Sky came out and called out Mickie James. Basically, Velvet presented Mickie with a letter from her doctor saying she was cleared to wrestle and wants her rematch. Mickie told her she could've gotten this off the internet. Velvet demanded an answer and Mickie said "why is this letter dated yesterday when your knee is still hurt today?" then turned full heel and took Velvet out by kicking her in the knee and put her in a reverse STF until the referees separated them and then had to help Velvet to the back.

3. Christopher Daniels and Kazarian beat James Storm and Gunner. Daniels blasted Storm with the tag belt and Kaz picked up the cheap win. The match was non-title but it might have also been a BFG qualifier match.

Hulk Hogan came out. I'm assuming this will be used as the opening for Impact. He announced that three men had already qualified for the BFG series (Bradley at Slammiversary, Joe and Hernandez from "last week"). He also announced that the previous two winners get a bye and don't have to qualify (Hardy and Roode, who both came out separately). He said by the end of tonight we will know all 12 BFG Series participants. Roode and Hardy begin to jaw back and forth. Hogan announced that next week is Open Fight Night and Hardy and Roode can settle any differences they have then. Roode said he will call Hardy out.

Bully Ray, Wes Brisco, and Garett Bischoff came out. Hogan announced that all members of Aces & 8's will be in a battle royal later against each other for a BFG spot. Bully said it doesn't matter about the BFG series because they're all targets of Aces & 8's. He sent Brisco and Bischoff to get Hardy and Roode, who threw them out of the ring quickly. As Aces & 8's retreat, Roode blasted Hardy and bailed.

4. Austin Aries beat Eric Young in a Bound For Glory Series qualifier. This was one of the funniest matches I've seen in a long time. A couple of the better spots: Aries did his spin around on his opponent's back and slap the back of their head move, then laid across the top rope in the corner and put his feet up. This made EY get ODB get in the ring and he put her on the ground and spun around on her back then played drums on her butt, then did his own lay on the top rope in the corner with his feet propped up. Another really funny spot was Aries doing Flair chops on EY and the crowd "whooing" along, then whipping EY into the corner and EY did the Flair flip on the corner and when he landed it was so happy that he started to do the Flair strut on the apron, which popped the crowd huge. He ducked a shot by Aries, then they got back in the ring and EY whipped Aries to the corner. Aries tried to follow suit and did the Flair flip into the corner and when he landed acted like he was about to strut on the apron, but EY blasted him and he went flying to the guardrail outside. Both of these guys are so good. Aries wins and gets a spot in the BFG series.

Sting came out. Basically, he said no one had his back at Slammiversary and let him get beat down but that's fine. He said he feels like Aces & 8's are a family. Maybe he needs a family too. Not just like a family, more like...a mafia. He then said the new Main Event Mafia would come together soon and have his back and they would take Aces & 8's out for good. I'm assuming he means Angle & Joe, but I don't see Nash or Booker returning soon so my guess is they will have to add new members? Storm & Gunner? Magnus? Rampage?

5. Mr. Anderson won the Aces & 8's battle royal. The Aces & 8's battle royal started off like it was going to be serious but turned into a "fingerpoke of doom" match. Anderson first made a gun with his hand and yelled "Bang" and Brisco acted like he was shot and fell over the top rope. Anderson then grabbed Bischoff and did a cartoonish walk around the ring before finally tossing him. Anderson acted like he was going to clothesline Knox over the top rope but then just kinda pushed him and he did the Kane/Undertaker backwards rope flip to his feet on the outside. Anderson then told Devon to get the tables and Devon jumped over the top rope to the floor then went to go under the ring but stopped and said "Man you got me! Ha ha". This just left Doc & Anderson. At this point, Devon walked over to Christy Hemme (who was looking amazing in a purple dress) and stopped and said something along the lines of "Damn girl, do you know what I'd do to you....and you got that big booty too!" which had all of us laughing. They teased Doc not going "along with the plan" and he actually turned on Anderson and beat him down for a few seconds, until Anderson finally dumped him out of the ring. The rest of Aces & 8's yelled at Doc asking what he was doing and he left back through the Aces & 8's entrance with the rest of the group following him asking what's wrong with him. This would have been fine if they followed it up properly but the next time we saw them they were all on the same page again...weird.

6. A.J. Styles beat Kurt Angle in a Bound For Glory Series qualifier. Styles beat Angle in another great match from these two when Aces & 8's (Anderson, Doc & Knox) interfered. Doc and Knox tried to double-clothesline Styles, but he ducked and they blasted Angle. Styles fought them both off and when Angle came to help, Styles rolled up Angle for the pin. The three Aces & 8's members jumped back in and Styles bailed with his win to leave Angle to be beaten down again. We all thought Sting and Joe would make the save, but it was Rampage Jackson with his chain chasing off the Aces & 8's members. Rampage and Angle stood tall to end the show.
  
Overall a very fun show. I hope it comes across that way on TV both weeks. Good stuff here from the TNA crew.

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