TNA Impact Wrestling Report
March 15, 2012
Taped in Orlando, Fla.
Report by Scott Turner, PWTorch contributor

[Q1] Tonight’s show opened with a video recap of everything that has happened between Sting and Bobby Roode in the past couple of months. The video was accompanied by testimonials from Sting and Roode concerning their match at Victory Road.

James Storm made his way to the ring in his street clothes to talk about his match against Bobby Roode at Lockdown as the crowd chanted, “It’s your time.” He said at Lockdown he was going to be a giver, a wanter, and a taker. Storm said he had one thing to say and told Roode that at Lockdown he was going to need all the luck he could get.

Bully Ray came out to mock Storm and reminded Storm that he had kicked a chair into his head. Storm said he was the one who kicked Ray’s teeth down his throat to become number one contender for the Heavyweight Title. Ray said he was going to make it so Storm wouldn’t be able to make it to Lockdown when they meet in their match at Victory Road. He said if Storm wanted a fight that he wouldn’t be fighting “calvezilla,” but rather that he’d be fighting Gunner. Gunner came out and got in Storm’s face, which prompted him to start beating on Gunner until the agents from the back broke up the scuffle. On his way, Gunner took a cheap shot on Storm, which upset him to the point that he threw the ringside steps.

Turner Reax: The difference between opening a show with James Storm and Bully Ray as opposed to opening with it with Garett Bischoff and all the players in the Bischoff saga really shows. That wasn’t even an amazing segment or anything, but it just felt more right than having Garett shoved down my throat.

Gail Kim and Madison Rayne were shown arguing backstage in front of Sting. Sting said he was in a bad mood and that both girls would be wrestling tonight. Kim was booked to wrestle Mickie James, and Rayne was put in a match against Velvet Sky. Sting announced Rayne’s match against Sky would be next.

[Commercial Break]

The show came back with Bobby Roode complaining about Sting booking himself into a main event match against him when there are people more deserving than him.

[Q2]

1 -- MADISON RAYNE vs. VELVET SKY

Before she could “let the pigeons loose,” Sky dove through the ropes and tackled Rayne. Taz said that sometimes he didn’t like even saying his catchphrase, funny. Sky slammed Rayne’s head into turnbuckle for a two count. Rayne mounted a come back and did a number on Sky’s head while it rested on the middle rope for her first two count. Rayne threw Sky out of the ring and proceeded to hang Sky on the middle rope to hit a neckbreaker for another two count. Sky went for a roll-up that Rayne reversed into a roll-up of her own, with a handful of tights, for the win.

WINNER: Madison Rayne via pinfall at 3:58.

Crimson and Matt Morgan were shown backstage talking about winning their match at Victory Road against Magnus and Joe. There was obvious tension between the two of them.

[Commercial Break]

2 -- CRIMSON (w/Matt Morgan) vs. TNA Tag Team champion SAMOA JOE (w/TNA Tag Team champion Magnus)

As the match started, the crowd started chanting, “Let's go Crimson.” Joe dominated early with some awesome offense in the corners of the ring followed by a knee drop onto the head of Crimson for a two count. Crimson got the offensive edge after Morgan interfered on Crimson’s behalf. Crimson threw some knees into the face of Joe followed by a neckbreaker for a two count.

[Q3] Joe came back with a boot to the face of Crimson followed by a senton splash for another two count. Joe tried to set up Crimson for a muscle buster, but an altercation between Morgan and Magnus at ringside distracted him long enough from Crimson to regain his bearings and hit Joe with a spear for the pin.

WINNER: Crimson via pinfall at 4:29

Turner Reax: I expected Crimson to win this given his “undefeated streak,” but I was okay with that. TNA has gotten this far billing him as undefeated, and it wouldn’t really make sense to have him lose with no hype. A fun, albeit short, match that could have benefitted from a few more minutes. That being said, it was weird seeing Morgan use some heelish tactics during the match.

Austin Aries was shown walking through the backstage. Tenay said that he was going to share a milestone in his career.

[Commercial Break]

As the show came back from commercial break, Aries was already in the ring with a bottle and glass of champagne in hand. Aries said not only was he the greatest man that has ever lived, but that he was the longest reining X Division champion of all time, good for him! He introduced a video highlighting some of the moments he has had as X Division champion. After the video, he said he couldn’t have done it without all the wrestlers he has beaten and thanked all of them for being good, but not quite great.

Zema Ion came out and said he embarrassed Aries last week. He said Aries might as well hand over the title tonight, or what happened to Jesse Sorensen might happen to him. Ion he said he wasn’t just f’n pretty, but that he was also f’n dangerous and threw and threw Aries’s glass of champagne back into his face. Aries didn’t take kindly to having his beverage thrown in his face, and proceeded to pour the rest of the bottle of champagne on Ion.

Turner Reax: I’m still confused about the whole heel vs. heel thing. Don’t get me wrong, I expect this to be a good match, but the logic is out there. I don’t really want to see Aries turn face, and I don’t care enough about Ion to, well, care. Aries was as good as ever on the mic, and Ion fared well.

An ad aired for James vs. Kim and Daniels vs. Mr. Anderson

[Commercial Break]

[Q4] Backstage, Joseph Parks was shown asking Gunner about the whereabouts of Abyss. Gunner blew him off and said he had a match tonight.

A video recapped last week’s proposal between Eric Young and ODB. Afterward, they were shown backstage trying to plan the wedding. They decided they were getting married in the ring on Impact.

Kurt Angle was shown backstage, and said he hated when young punks thought they belonged in the ring like Garett “Bitch-off.” He said tonight he had “Bitch-off” in the ring for five minutes. Angle then said that his match at Victory Road against Jeff Hardy would be Hardy’s last.

Turner Reax: Garett “Bitch-off,” really? I could have came up with a better name to make fun of someone when I was in fourth grade.

An ad aired for Kim vs. James.

[Commercial Break]

Backstage, Sting said his match with Roode at Victory Road was going to be a good night...

3 -- MICKIE JAMES vs. TNA Knockouts champion GAIL KIM -- non-title match

Both Knockouts exchanged holds until James caught Kim with a running boot for a two count. Kim instantly went for her belt, but was stopped before she could use it by James. She started systematically attacking James’s right knee.

[Q5] James tried fighting out, but Kim consistently kept taking advantage her bad knee. Eventually, James was able to get a pin attempt in followed by a neckbreaker. James hit a Thesz Press for a two count on Kim, and then proceeded to hit a baseball slide to send Kim to the outside. As James tried to pull Kim back into the ring, Kim was able to hit James with the Knockout Title behind the referee's back and scored the pin.

WINNER: TNA Knockouts champion Gail Kim via pinfall at 5:16

Turner Reax: That was much better than the match between Rayne and Sky earlier in the night. Not to take anything from the homegrown Knockouts, but these put together a much more believable match.

Mr. Anderson was shown talking about aligning with A.J. Styles until he was interrupted by Daniels and Kazarian. Daniels asked Anderson why he would pick A.J.’s side when he could have joined them. Kazarian made fun of Anderson’s movie career, and then Daniels knocked over his cup of coffee. Anderson facetiously exclaimed, “Not that!”

[Commercial Break]

4 -- MR. ANDERSON vs. DANIELS

As soon as Anderson stepped foot into the ring, Daniels was on the attack. It didn’t last long, as Anderson quickly regained the offensive edge, causing Daniels to bow out to ringside. Daniels, with an apparent cut on his face, was met outside by Anderson and thrown back into the ring. Back in the ring Daniels was able to regain his offensive bearings and put the boots to Anderson in one of the corners of the ring, followed by a knee to Anderson's gut for a two count.

[Q6] Anderson and Daniels exchanged blows, with Anderson getting the best of the exchange with a neckbreaker followed by another two count. Anderson hit a spin kick and a Pittsburgh Plunge on Daniels as Kazarian made his way to the ring. A.J. came out and Kazarian came off, allowing Anderson to hit the Mic Check on Daniels for the win.

WINNER: Mr. Anderson via pin at 5:47.

Turner Reax: That was an all right match. Anderson looked like he was motivated, and Daniels always makes his opponents look like a million bucks. I thought Daniels was holding something over Kazarian’s head to make him follow orders? The idea of Kazarian suffering from Stockholm Syndrome is silly.

An ad aired for the five minute challenge between Angle and Garett Bischoff.

[Commercial Break]

Jeff Hardy said the reason he wasn’t champion was because of Kurt Angle. He said that now it was personal...

5 -- KURT ANGLE vs. GARETT BISCHOFF -- five minute-challenge

Angle quickly started laying into Bischoff as a timer counted down in the corner of the screen. The announcers played up the idea that Bischoff was in survival mode. Angle feigned a pin attempt by pulling Bischoff up by his hair as soon as the referee started to make the count. Angle dominated Bischoff and eventually threw him outside of the ring. At ringside, Angle hit Bischoff with a suplex and threw back into the ring for a two count. Angle gave Bischoff an overhead belly-to-belly suplex and feigned another pin attempt, pulling Bischoff up by his hair.

The Olympic Gold medalist went for an Angle Slam, but it was reversed by Bischoff, who threw him outside the ring. Angle quickly made his way back into the ring and hit another Angle Slam, but by the time he went for a pin attempt the allotted five minutes had passed. An enraged Angle knocked the referee out and put Bischoff into an anklelock until Hardy made the save.

WINNER: Time Expired at 5:00.

Turner Reax: I wonder if Eric caught word of the criticism floating around about his son not taking a single bump last week before hitting three offensive moves to set up Hardy for the win...Bischoff was Angle’s ragdoll this week, and even though it gave me sick pleasure watching him take bumps, I still want Garett Bischoff off my television.

[Q7] An ad aired for Storm vs. Gunner and tonight’s contract signing for the match between Roode and Sting.

[Commercial Break]

Robbie E. and Robbie T. were shown backstage complaining about their lack of merchandise. Robbie E. was asked who we was going to face at Victory Road as part of his open challenge for the TNA Television Title.

The announcers ran through the card for this Sunday's PPV.

6 -- GUNNER vs. JAMES STORM

Storm was quick to attack Gunner, but was met with a thumb to the eye. This only angered Storm, who continued to beat on Gunner who made his way outside to avoid further punishment. Storm threw Gunner back into the ring and as he made his way back in Gunner was there to meet him with some offense. Gunner went for a few crossface attempts, but only got a two count. Ray was shown at ringside cheering Gunner on, but Storm came back with a clothesline to buy himself some recovery time. Strom got some offense in with a back body drop, followed by a codebreaker. Storm won the match with a superkick.

WINNER: James Storm via pinfall at 3:52

Turner Reax: I guess Gunner is only a menacing wrestler when he’s in the ring with Garett Bischoff...

Bully Ray tried running into the ring, but stopped himself at the apron once he realized Storm was waiting for him.

Another video aired of Bobby Roode complaining about Sting booking a match against him for this Sunday’s PPV.

[Commercial Break]

[Q8] Back from the break, another video aired highlighting the feud between Roode and Sting.

The show cut to the ring, where Jeremy Borash was proctoring the contract signing between Sting and Roode. Sting signed first, followed by Roode. As Borash announced that the match was official, he was cut off by Roode, who recounted the day he won the TNA World Heavyweight Title. Roode said Sting’s vendetta against stemmed from the fact that he was jealous of Roode’s success. He recounted Sting’s first title win against Ric Flair 22 years ago. Roode said that 22 years later, Sting saw himself in Roode, but that Roode was better. He said Sting was one of the guys who hung around and stole the spotlight from the young guys in fear that people would forget about his legacy. Roode said the only reason Sting wore face paint was to mask the fact that he didn’t have what it takes to make it in the wrestling business anymore.

As Roode tried to exit the ring the, until now, quiet Sting flipped the table and started rubbing paint all over his face. Roode got in Sting’s face and told him the paint didn’t scare him, which prompted Sting to smear paint across Roode’s face, and then lay the boots into Roode, who mega-sold for Sting. Sting clotheslined Roode over the top rope as his music hit. Sting celebrated in the ring as the show came to a close.

Turner Reax: Roode was awesome in that segment. I have never been as down on Roode’s mic work since he has become heel as I have found some people to be, but his performance tonight has got to put the foot in the mouth of any naysayers that claim he doesn’t have “it.”

Am I sold on Victory Road? Nope, but I am more intrigued for Roode’s bout against Sting than I was before tonight’s edition of Impact. Here’s to hoping that Roode beats Sting CLEAN this Sunday on PPV. I can’t remember the last time he has had a clean win to legitimize his title run, and Sting is the perfect opponent to set the example on his road to face Storm at Lockdown. Tonight’s show was a mixed bag, upended by a strong closing segment, and if there is any solace in any of this, it’s that they pulled back a bit on Garett Bischoff. Thanks again for reading, and see you next week!

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