TNA Impact TV taping report
June 6, 2013
Atlanta, Ga.
Report by Keith Laing, PWTorch reader

One note from the end of the first episode, which aired Thursday night: TNA did not show the backstage scene with Brooke Hogan, Hulk Hogan, and Bully Ray on the big screen in the arena, so people just booed the Bully vs. Jeff Hardy non-finish (and chanted, 'This is awful.').

During the second taping, Hogan mentioned that he told Brooke Hogan to stay at home, so that seems to explain why TNA did not show the live crowd the ending of the first episode since they would have seen that Brooke was actually in Atlanta.

Impact SPOILERS 6/13

(1) Joseph Park beat Crimson with a roll-up in a BFG Series qualifying match.

(2) Magnus beat Matt Morgan, Rob Terry, and Kenny King in a four-way BFG Series qualifying match. Magnus was surprisingly over here. He even got a "We Want Magnus" chant before he tagged into the match for the first time.

- For Xplosion: Chris Sabin beat Robbie E. with a Cradle Shock.

- Velvet Sky came out for a promo carrying an envelope. She called out Mickie James, and said the letter is clearance from her doctor. (I thought it might have been a contract.) Mickie said the letter says Velvet was cleared yesterday, but her knee is still hurt today and attacked it. She then turned back into her over-the-top insincere babyface. This was pretty well done.

(3) Bad Influence beat James Storm & Gunner in a BFG Series qualifying match. Daniels hit Storm with a tag belt for the win.

- Hulk Hogan came out for what will presumably be the opening segment next week. Hogan announced this is the BFG Series Selection show. Hogan introduced Jeff Hardy, who came out a big pop. Hardy said he's going to win the Series again, but Bobby Roode interrupted and pointed out that he won the first BFGS in 2011 (no mention of him losing to Kurt Angle at the PPV that year).

Hogan announced that next week will be Open Fight Night, then said they'll hold an online vote to see whether Hardy or Roode gets the first call-out to start the Series. Roode complains this is unfair because Hardy's so popular, and says he's going to call out Hardy if he wins and beat his ass. Hardy said, "Kick my ass right now," and they go face-to-face.

Bully Ray interrupted and asked why there are no Aces & Eights members in the BFG Series. Hogan said he's saving one spot in the series for the Aces, and sets up a battle royal between their members to determine who gets it.

(4) Austin Aries beat Eric Young in a BFG Series qualifying match. Aries beat EY with a brainbuster after Young was distracted by ODB.

- Sting came out for a promo. He said he's bringing back the Main Event Mafia to have his back because no one came out to help him at Slammiversary.

(5) Mr. Anderson won the Aces & Eights battle royal. Everyone eliminated themselves to put Anderson over, except for D.O.C., who fought back. Anderson dumped him over the top to win. D.O.C. then argued with the other Aces at ringside.

(6) A.J. Styles beat Kurt Angle to get his win back from the PPV. Good match, as usual with these two. A.J. was way more over than he has been on TV lately because he's a hometown Georgia boy. Prior to the finish, the Aces ran in, then Styles and Angle fought them off. Styles finished one off, then he rolled up Angle while he was fighting the other two. The Aces started to beat Kurt down, but A.J. left, which the crowd booed. Chants started up for Sting (despite his promo about no one helping him), but Rampage Jacksons came out with a chain to chase off the Aces. The show ends with Angle and Rampage standing tall in the ring.

Overall, they probably taped this out of order, as usual. I don't know how it'll come across on TV, but the crowd was pretty much into everything on the second show. Jeremy Borash did a great job teasing the backstage passes to keep the cheers coming.

It looked like there were about 3,000 people at the start of the show, but like other tapings since they've gone on the road, a lot people left after the first show. The crowd was noticeably smaller than Bound for Glory '07 in the same arena, but they made up for it by being vocal throughout, despite a long-ish intermission between the shows. I'm a pretty big TNA fan, but I thought these were two pretty good shows.

Biggest Pops:

- Hogan
- Hardy
- A.J., for being from Georgia
- Samoa Joe
- Aries (despite being a heel on TV)
- Tie: Storm and Magnus

Most Heat:

- Aces, especially Bully & Devon

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