TNA followed up on their HardCORE Justice event with an episode of Impact! that rivalled many of the their previous Pay-Per-Views.
Offering loyal fans a host of top class matches and of course highlighting the future of EV2.0 and the company in general.
Opening the show were AJ Styles and Kurt Angle in a non-title match.
The well matched pair unleashed risky, exciting and awe-inspiring moves for near-falls galore, before Kurt hit a ankle lock for the tap out win.
Next up Angelina Love relieved TNA Knockouts Champion Madison Rayne of her cherished gold in a well-paced bout.
Love capitalising on interference from Velvet Sky and the mystery biker chick to regain the title.
Mr Anderson faced The pope and Matt Morgan in a very decent three way brawl.
Each showcasing their trademark moves and exchanging two counts before Morgan saw a chance to steal the win, pinning a prone Pope.
Jeff Hardy’s open challenge was met surprisingly by his pal Shannon Moore, the match itself proved to be a belter, Hardy hitting a beautiful swanton for a popular win.
The Motor City Machineguns and Beer Money Inc. then decided to give fans a match on free tv that will surely be voted match of the year.
Their fifth match in the highly enjoyable best of 5 series was a non-stop rollercoaster ride of set-pieces, high octane exchanges and wonderfully set-up tag team moves.
The win for the Guns serving as another reminder of how talented a tandem they are.
RVD successfully (just) retained his TNA World Heavyweight Title in a brutal and gratuitious main event against TNAs garbage match king Abyss.
Eric Bischoff as referee and a concerned looking Dixie Carter all helped make the ladder and weapons based brawl come across as a match we couldn’t miss.
Van Dam pulled some classic ECW moves out of his move book throughout, nailing a chair assisted Van Terminator/frog splash combo for the well deserved three count.
Things then got serious as Hulk Hogan fronted an in-ring series of congratulations for a gathered Tommy Dreamer led EV2.0, RVD and Dixie Carter. However as the guys and girl all stood pleased with themselves for (as Hulk) said ‘raising the bar’ in TNA once more, all hell broke loose.
The lights went out, we then saw Flair’s Fortune group destroy all and sundry. The faction (helped by Abyss) leaving everyone including, Mick Foley, Sandman, Dreamer and RVD especially in a very bloody mess.
A raving Flair closing the show by chasing after Carter and shouting that ‘you brought this on yourself’.
TNA managed to pull off a few surprises, making everyone sit up and take notice, they gave their most talented roster members some great matches, switched the Knockouts strap, acknowledged the EV2.0 contingent’s hardwork and then kickstarted a whole new feud with Flair and his cohorts laying waste to everybody.
Where it all leads and how it pan out are yet to be seen, but should make for some interesting viewing.
by Phil Allely
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