By Chris Shore

TNA Impact Wrestling on SpikeTV
Taped on 4/25 in Indiana, Penn.

[Q1] The recap video aired and focused on Hulk Hogan's storylines. Shocker. Todd Keneley, Mike Tenay, and Taz checked in on commentary. Hogan made his ring entrance. He said apparently people liked the drama because things almost came to blows between he and Sting. He said Sting needed to come out so they could get it all worked out.

Hogan fell on his sword and said he got so wrapped up in family business that he made mistakes like pushing Sting away. He apologized and offered his hand, and Sting shook it. Hogan apologized again, just with different words. Sting said they were all together now and it was water under the bridge. He asked Hogan to book a six man tag match for him vs. Aces and Eights for next week.

Hogan said that was fine, but he needed to figure out who was going to face Bully Ray at Slammiversary. Matt Morgan's music hit and he came to the ring. He ran down Hogan for giving Sting a title match, but Hogan cut him off. He said he wasn't giving it to anyone, and the man who faced Bully Ray would be the winner of Matt Morgan vs. Sting…

A video hyped Chris Sabin's return for next…[C]

Shore's Slant: Why is Sting even considered for a title shot? Best I can tell is because he's Hogan friend and Hogan wronged him. I'm with Matt Morgan. Hogan seems to be booking from his emotions and we see how well that turned out for him last time.

[Q2] Backstage, Kurt Angle cut a promo about issuing an open challenge last week. He seemed to be talking to someone, but there wasn't anyone there. He said he couldn’t be stopped and stormed off…Ring introductions occurred for the X Division match and Sabin got a pretty good pop from the crowd…

1.Sonjay Dutt vs. Xema Ion vs. Chris Sabin in an X Division Contender's match. Sabin dumped Ion immediately and then he and Dutt worked together first. Suicide was announced as winning a poll for who will get the next shot in the next contender's match. The ref had his cam hat on and managed to even dive to make a count while the camera was still hot. Be still my churning stomach.

Sabin tied Dutt in the Tree of Woe and then hit a back drop on Ion onto Dutt. He followed up with a cross legged fisherman buster…or something, for the win…

Chris Sabin advanced to the X Division title match at 3:59.

Backstage, Robbie E and Jesse talked about their handicap match against Rob Terry. E said he wasn't three guys, and Jesse said they would add Joey Ryan. E called him sleazy and Jesse said that made it easy…[C]

Shore's Slant: Happy to see Sabin back, but this latest experiment with the X Division is a complete bust. The matches are meaningless and four minutes isn't long enough to wow people with a spot fest.

Backstage, Bully Ray was upset because the gang didn't appear engaged. He asked if they saw Hogan and Sting mocking them. He said nobody mocked them, and now he had to worry about Matt Morgan and Sting, except he isn't worried about either of them.

He said their problem tonight was Kurt Angle. He said no matter how hard they knock him down, he gets back up. He said he wanted someone to take out Kurt Angle like he took out Jeff Hardy. Wes Brisco volunteered and then Garett Bischoff wanted to do it. D-Lo said he was going to do it. Ray and Anderson traded a knowing look, and then Ray asked D-Lo if he swore his colors on it and D-Lo said he swore he would take out Angle. They agreed and toasted him…

[Q3] Ring introductions for the Rob Terry is god match occurred…

2. Rob Terry vs. Joey Ryan, Jesse, and Robbie E in a handicap match. Ryan started and the other two attacked Terry from behind. He no sold those attacks, but that allowed Ryan to hit a chop block to let the heels take control. They all attacked him at the same time and then did the silly ass everyone flies off when he stands up gimmick. Spare me. Ryan took the finisher for a Terry win…

Rob Terry defeated Joey Ryan, Jesse, and Robbie E at 3:31.

Backstage, Bobby Roode and Austin Aries were shown heading toward the ring…[C]

Shore's Slant: I was fine with this until the stupid Incredible Hulk gimmick. The crowd groaned a little too. This has been a dreadfully boring show so far.

Roode and Aries made their ring entrance. Roode put over Kazarian and Christopher Daniels for getting in his head. He said they didn't want to get Fortune back together, they were just jealous of he and Aries and the tag titles that they screwed he and Aries out of. Aries took over and said they were a team of World Champions and Kazarian and Daniels weren't.

Bad Influence stormed out and Daniels made a boner joke. He said Roode and Aries were a poor man's version of them. Kazarian called them Bad Influence light and they argued.

[Q4] Mexican America came out then and said Hogan had announced a special guest referee for their number one contender's match next week. Daniels asked which one of them it was, and Chavo said it wasn't them, it was James Storm. What? Storm made his entrance and he and the champs shared a beer…

Backstage, Sting went to talk to Angle and sent the camera crew away…[C]

Shore's Slant: Well of course it's James Storm! I mean, why wouldn't it be James Storm? I realize he's been involved in the AJ Styles storyline that Bad Influence is also a part of, but so what? We can just plug him in anywhere we want. They'll never see it coming, brother.

Backstage, Tara and Gail Kim had a Divas contest and Kim acted the bigger Diva they agreed they would beat Taryn Terrell tonight. Tara walked off and Kim said she would make sure she got the victory…Chirs Sabin cut a promo about how happy he was to be back in the ring after his knee injuries…D-Lo and Kurt Angle made their entrances…[C]

D-Lo took a mic and said not only was he going to put Angle out, he was going to do what no one had done before. He challenged Angle to an I Quit match. Angle accepted and D-Lo attacked…

[Q5] 3. D-Lo Brown vs. Kurt Angle in an I Quit match. Angle quickly twisted D-Lo into an STF type move and the ref asked D-Lo. He said no as Aces and Eights ran out. Anderson stepped through the barricade, but prevented the gang from stepping through. He turned back to Angle and waved for him to continue.

Angle slammed D-Lo and D-Lo went to the floor. Angle followed and D-Lo pulled Angle into the ring post. He worked that shoulder over on the post and rolled Angle back in the ring to continue to work on the shoulder. D-Lo hooked a cross arm breaker that Angle powered back into an ankle lock tease. D-Lo kicked him away to maintain control.

Angle slipped out of a Cobra Clutch and hit the rolling German suplexes. D-Lo wouldn't quit, so Angle hooked the ankle lock. D-Lo kicked away and hit a Samoan drop. He went for a powerbomb, but Angle flipped over and hooked the ankle lock with the leg grapevine. D-Lo tapped, but that wasn't enough. He held on for a few more second before saying, "I quit." Aces and Eights never intervened…

Kurt Angle made D-Lo say I quit at 7:56.

Post-match, the gang left D-Lo in the ring. Christy Hemme interviewed Kurt Angle, who quickly transitioned to calling out AJ Styles. Wait, what…[C]

Shore's Slant: Boy TNA doesn't wait for any bodies to get cold. Storm loses to Styles and gets dumped into the tag division and now Angle has turned to AJ. This is very convoluted for absolutely no reason.

Angle called out AJ again and AJ obliged. Angle said AJ looked like he wanted to knock Kurt's head off but that wasn't going to happen because AJ would get far since this was his hometown. Kind of anyway. Angle said AJ was one of the reasons he came to Impact. He said he knew he would have a great match with AJ and they have had many.

[Q6] Angle said he knew AJ was going through this dark period, but he and Sting needed his help. He said if AJ was with them, that was cool, but if he was against them, there would be problems. Angle got real close to AJ when he said the latter. Angle said AJ had until next week to decide. He dropped the mic and left…

A video recapped how the main event was booked. Backstage, the invisible question guy asked Morgan about waiting for his shot. Morgan went crazy and said he wasn't waiting, he was frustrated that he had to fight to get the title shot. He said he was going to beat Sting and then Bully Ray and he would be the next World Champion…

Gail Kim made her ring entrance as a video recapped Taryn Terrell defeating her three weeks ago. Tara was out next as a video showed her loss to Taryn. What the hell happened to her and Jesse? Taryn made her ring entrance…[C]

Mickie James made her entrance…

4. Gail Kim and Tara vs. Taryn Terrell and Mickie James. James and Taryn hit the heels heads together, which spilled them to the floor. Taryn hit a double baseball slide on them and rolled Kim in the ring. Mickie tagged in and got clotheslined for the heels to take control.

[Q7] Tara slapped Taryn to get her to cause a distraction. Taryn finally got the hot tag and hit a crossbody on Tara, but Gail Kim broke the count. The match broke down and Taryn hooked her new rollup finisher for the win…

Taryn Terrell and Mickie James defeated Gail Kim and Tara at 6:24.

Post-match, the heels attacked. ODB chased Tara and Mickie up the ramp while Kim hit Eat Defeat on Taryn. She dragged Taryn to the corner and hooked on a ring post figure four. ODB and other refs ran down to get her to break the hold…[C]

Shore's Slant: Eh. The story here isn't bad, I'm just not buying Taryn here. I don't know why I should be cheering for her. She's just blonde, that's about it.

A video recapped D-Lo's loss to Angle. Backstage, Bully Ray raged about D-Lo losing. He said they had a six man next week and he was picking who was in it. He picked Anderson. Devon, and himself…Roode cut a promo about winning the contender's match next week and going on to defeat Chavo and Hernandez… Morgan made his entrance wearing the golden robe. Sting was out next…

[Q8] 5. Matt Morgan vs. Sting to become the number one contender to the TNA Championship. Morgan took quick control working nothing but punches…[C] Back from commercial, Morgan continued to pound on Sting, but with Sting having to take any big bumps. Morgan hit a leg drop on the apron, but Sting rolled away on the second one and threw Morgan into everything at ringside.

He rolled Morgan back in the ring and Morgan recovered to hit a side slam for two. Sting suddenly muscled out and hit a Stinger back splash. He whipped Morgan to the corner and tried for another splash, but Morgan popped out for the Carbon Footprint. Sting rolled his shoulder out in the worst nearfall in history.

Morgan setup for another CF, but Sting moved and Morgan kicked the buckle. He grabbed his knee and Sting kicked the back of the leg. Sting dropped Morgan and locked in the Scorpion Death Lock. Morgan sold it for a while and then made the ropes. Sting put it right back on with no other move in-between and Morgan passed out after Sting fell down in the hold…

Sting became the number one contender for the TNA Championship at 13:08./

Post-match, Bully Ray and company came down to jaw at Sting to end the show…

Shore's Slant: I have no words. I had none last week when I read this and I still have none now that I have seen it. Sting? Really? This pretty much guarantees Hogan for the title at BFG, doesn't it? I just don't get it. Overall not a compelling Impact, and nothing about next week excites me. Jason Powell and Will Pruett will have more tomorrow. Thanks for watching along tonight.

Questions? Comments? Anyone, anyone? Let me hear from you. Email me at css3238@gmail.com or tweet me @TheShoreSlant with whatever is on your mind.

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