TNA Impact Wrestling Report
April 5, 2012
Taped in Orlando, Fla.
Report by Scott Turner, PWTorch contributor

[Q1] Impact opened up with a video recapping Hogan accepting the general manager position on last week’s show.

Dixie Carter and Sting were in the ring, where they were surrounded by the roster. Carter introduced Hogan as the new general manger of TNA. Hogan thanked Carter, and said he would have never came back without Sting watching his back. He said Impact was on the fast track and that he was working on new ideas. Hogan announced that Crimson and Morgan would be “officially” ending their feud at Lockdown, and booked them in a match for the PPV. He then announced a Knockouts challenge to decide a number one contender for Gail Kim, tonight.

Hogan said he had one more thing to deal with and demanded that Eric Bischoff come out, but Ric Flair informed him that he wasn’t there, and that he couldn’t tell people what to do. Bobby Roode came out instead. Hogan told him that he was none too pleased about Roode being late for his address. Roode said his only obligation was to show up at Lockdown and beat James Storm to retain his title. He then tried to leave, but Hogan stopped him and called Mr. Anderson into the ring. He said it was great to be back in the ring with Anderson and and then booked him in a match against Roode. Hogan then shifted his attention to Angle, and then told him that he wasn’t wrestling Jeff Hardy at Lockdown, but rather he would be wrestling him tonight, next.

[Commercial Break]

[Q2]

1 -- JEFF HARDY vs. KURT ANGLE

The match started with Hardy taking the offensive edge with multiple armdrags, and getting the better of Angle on the mat. Angle put an end to Hardy’s offense by raking his eyes. It was short-lived as Hardy quickly hit Angle with a head scissor takedown to the outside where he slammed Angle face first into the ring steps. Angle, who was now bleeding, caught Hardy with a kick on his way back into the ring. Once in the ring, Angle hit Hardy with a suplex for a two count. Angle looked down on a fallen Hardy as the show went to commercial break.

[Commercial Break]

As the show came back from the break, Hardy was able to hit Angle with the Whisper in the Wind. He followed up with a series of clotheslines, and went for the Twist of Fate which Angle countered into multiple german suplexes for a two count. He went for the Angle Slam, but Hardy was able successfully counter with the Twist of Fate. Hardy went to the top rope for the swanton bomb, but was caught off by Angle with a belly-to-belly suplex off the top rope.

Angle put Hardy into the anklelock, but Hardy eventually broke out of it and took Angle down. Hardy tried to go for the Swanton again, but Angle grabbed on to the referee for cover. When Hardy made his way to the situation, Angle tried to hit him with a low blow, but Hardy had him scouted. Hardy once again went for the Twist of Fate, but Angle bowed out, and left the ring. The referee counted to ten for the count out victory for Hardy.

WINNER: Jeff Hardy via countout at 12:47.

Turner Reax: Well, that was strange. TNA continues to give away their pay-per-view product on free television. Oh well, for what it was both wrestlers put forth a good effort and gave audiences a compelling match.

Hogan was waiting for Angle backstage and told him that now that he was in charge, things were changing. He said at Lockdown, Angle would not be able to escape as he was booking him in a match against Hardy.

Ric Flair was shown talking to Eric Bischoff on speaker phone, and told him that it was an emergency and that he and Bischoff needed address some of the things Hogan was trying to do. Bischoff said he was on his way.

Bully Ray was asked what his prediction was for the winner at Lockdown. He said he predicted him being the next World champ. He called out Austin Aries, and demanded that the cameraman shoot his calves.

[Q3] In the ring, Ray asked the audience if they knew who he was. He asked Aries why a small boy like him would want to piss him off a big man like him. Aries came down and popped Ray in the head with his microphone, much to the delight of the Impact Zone. Before Aries could get any substantial offense in, Ray hit Aries with an awesome-looking powerbomb. Ray stood over Aries and asked him, once more, if he knew who he was.

Joseph Parks was shown looking for Abyss backstage in the catering area. He found no leads...

An ad aired for Roode vs Anderson and the Knockouts challenge for later tonight.

[Commercial Break]

A.J. Styles was shown backstage talking about his predictions for the Roode vs. Storm match at Lockdown. Storm confronted Styles and told him that since Roode had a match tonight, Hogan said he had to be in one as well. He asked Styles to get him ready for Lockdown. Styles obliged.

All the participating Knockouts made their entrance for the match.

[Commercial Break]

2-- MICKIE JAMES vs. WINTER vs. TARA vs ANGELINA LOVE vs. MADISON RAYNE vs. VELVET SKY -- Knockouts challenge

Winter and Tara started the match with the action quickly escalating to Tara’s standing moonsault. Tara went for the pin, but every Knockout took exception to it and went into the ring to break it up. Love and James were tagged in as the crowd chanted for James. The two exchanged basic holds and shoulder tackles until James connected with a dropkick on Love. Love was able to hit a sidewalk slam for a two count, but James quickly recovered and took Love down. Sky used James to tag herself in and tried and battled Love a for a quick minute until Love tagged Rayne in. Tara used a blind tag on Sky to get herself into the match and hit a big sideslam for a two count on Rayne. Tara quickly tagged Sky back in, but Rayne was able to maintain an offensive edge against her.

[Q4] All the Knockouts took turns hitting their finishers on each other, ending with Sky hitting James with In Yo Face for the win.

WINNER: Velvet Sky via pinfall at 7:00.

Turner Reax: That match was all over the place, but it was a good time. I have faith in Gail Kim’s ability in being able to carry Sky to a good match at Lockdown, but if Sky wins the title it’s her following reign I’m concerned about.

Backstage, Anderson for his predictions for Lockdown. He said the same thing is going to happen to Roode at Lockdown that is going to happen to him tonight. Roode came in and jawed off to Anderson. He told Anderson he was going to give him the chance to walk away or otherwise he was going to hurt him.

An ad aired for a confrontation between Hogan and Bischoff later in the night, and Storm vs Styles, next.

[Commercial Break]

A video package aired recapping Storm and Hardy’s appearance at the ACM Awards red carpet event.

Eric Young was shown talking about the rules for his bachelor party. He had three nameless guys with him, and said that he had nonalcoholic wine and that there were to be no strippers. ODB came into the picture and brought a keg of beer and chicken wings. She said once they get married that every night would be a bachelor party for Young.

3 -- JAMES STORM vs. A.J. STYLES

The match started with some basic holds until Storm went for a superkick that Styles had scouted. Styles told Storm that he wouldn’t get him and took his turn at trying get on the offensive against Storm. Styles hit a textbook dropkick on Storm which sent him rolling to the outside. Storm blocked a kick from Styles and took him down with a headlock. Styles was able to regain the offensive edge, and eventually grounded Storm with a chinlock.

[Q5] Storm broke out and missed another superkick, but was able to send Styles into corner and followed up with a kick from the outside. He was able to perform the Eye of the Storm on Styles, but his offense was quickly put to a halt as he was put into a figure four leglock. Storm tried to hit Styles with a clothesline, but missed and was hit with a Pele kick. Styles went for the back flip inverted DDT from the second rope, but missed, and Storm caught him with a superkick for the victory.

WINNER: James Storm via pinfall at 6:31.

Turner Reax: It looks like Storm is ready to go now after a few quick wins to cover up his injury. They had an enjoyable match, in fact, I enjoyed that match from Styles more than most of his matches with Kaz and Daniels over the past few months. That being said, if Styles wanted to help Storm get ready for his match at Lockdown couldn’t they have trained together outside of a match?

Storm said next week he wanted Roode to look him in the eye one last time before he kicked his teeth down his throat. He told Roode he was sorry about his damn luck.

Backstage, Hogan told Sting to go home and rest because he needed him to be healthy if he was going to have his back.

[Commercial Break]

Montgomery and Gentry were backstage talking with Storm who said they were going to party after he took a shower. Roode came in and spit water in their faces which led to officials having to hold the country duo back.

[Q7]

4 -- MOTOR CITY MACHINEGUNS (ALEX SHELLEY & CHRIS SABIN) vs. MEXICAN AMERICA (ANARQUIA & HERNANDEZ w/Rosita and Sarita)

Anarquia and Shelley started the match as the crowd chanted, “Welcome back.” Shelley stomped on Anarquia in the corner and then tagged Sabin in. After some offense, Anarquia tagged Hernandez in who tried to slow Sabin down, but to no avail. The Guns nailed rapid fire double team maneuvers on Hernandez until he eventually put the breaks on Shelley. His offense didn’t last long as the Guns made quick work of him and Anarquia.

[Q6] Hernandez tried to hit Sabin with the Border Toss, but was thrown out of the ring and was caught with a suicide dive, but not before the Guns hit Anarquia with a pair of kicks in the corner. The Guns hit a double team maneuver. After the match, Sabin got on the microphone and said the Guns were coming for the TNA Tag Team Titles.

WINNERS: Motor City Machineguns via pinfall at 4:18.

Turner Reax: A fitting way to reintroduce the Guns. They didn’t give away a big match off the bat, but they let the Guns show off what they are made of in an exciting fashion. I love the idea of a Guns vs. Magnus & Joe match at Lockdown, but I wish they had more time to make a bigger deal out of it.

Eric Bischoff was shown arriving to the Impact Zone as Flair greeted him. Bischoff said before the night was over he was going to put Hogan into a box he would not be able to get out of. He shook Flair’s hand and called him a two-time Hall of Famer.

[Commercial Break]

In the ring, Hogan hyped the TNA crew, but singled out Bischoff and called him out. Bischoff came out and said he couldn’t imagine him and Hogan being on opposite sides in 2012. He said it made sense because they had many differences, particularly that Hogan was not a leader. He called Hogan an opportunist, and said he was a true leader. Hogan proposed a match between teams led by Garett Bischoff and Gunner at Lockdown. He said if Garett’s team won that Eric would be out of Impact Wrestling, but if Gunner’s team won that Garett would be one to leave. Eric agreed to the match.

[Commercial Break]

[Q8] The show came back with a video package highlighting the personal feud between Roode and Storm. The video included testimonials from Storm’s family, who emphasized how hurt Storm was when Roode turned on him. Storm said Roode should be afraid him, and that he was ready for his match at Lockdown.

Anderson made his way to the ring first. Roode followed with his entourage of body guards, but the referee banned them from ringside. Before Roode could get into the ring, Anderson attacked him on the ramp. They eventually made their way into the ring for the referee to ring the bell.

5 -- MR. ANDERSON vs. BOBBY ROODE

In the ring, Roode was able to put a halt to Anderson’s offense with a suplex and a pin attempt for a one count. Roode beat on Anderson in the corner with an Irish Whip and a back-rake for a two count. They traded punches in the ring until Anderson was able to hit a pair of clotheslines and elbows into a back body drop for a two count. Roode shoved Anderson into the referee taking him out in the process. Anderson hit the Pittsburgh Plunge, but the knocked out referee was not able to make the count. Roode went to the outside and grabbed a beer bottle from a fan in the audience. He smashed the bottle over Anderson’s head before the referee could see it, and scored the pin. Hogan and Storm made their way to the ring as Roode took a powder. Hogan got on the mic and said he that the decision was reversed, thus making Anderson the winner.

WINNER: Mr. Anderson via reverse decision at 4:55.

Turner Reax: That was what it was. Nothing spectacular, and seeing Hogan for the hundredth time is starting to reaffirm my fears behind Hogan playing an authoritative figure on television. He’s too chummy with the faces, he’s rambling on about TNA going to the next level, and most importantly he’s hogging way too much television time. All in all, I still enjoyed this edition of Impact more so than the ones TNA was producing a few weeks back. TNA would be wise to scale back on so much Hogan non-sense. Thanks again, and see you next week.

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