We started off this week with a surprisingly upfront peek at a meeting in Hogan's office. AJ Styles, Kurt Angle, Jeff Hardy and Bully Ray had been gathered by the general manager to discuss why each of them should have the chance to face Bobby Roode and ruin his chance of becoming the longest-reigning World Heavyweight Champion in the history of TNA.

At least, that's what the script said, and Hogan passed it around the room to ask the guys what they thought of that.

As the 4^th wall crumbled down around our ears, Hogan explained that Bobby Roode has brought one thing to Impact – stability. By locking things down he's allowed them to try new things, make changes to the traditional format – like Open Fight Night itself.

But then they got down to presenting their case. Kurt felt his own title history made him an obvious choice – except that he's only the dominant one in that arena if you count singles matches, Bully Ray quickly pointed out. And it's a different story when you only count TNA belts – which were, AJ interjected, the only belts he recognises.

Bully Ray felt he deserved the spot as the most intimidating of all the contenders. AJ thought it should go to the person with the best shot of ending Roode's streak. Jeff Hardy – perhaps a little self-servingly – argued that the people should be allowed to decide.

Hogan made his first cut of the evening: Bully Ray. He's only been competing as a singles contender for a year, so he doesn't have the best pedigree for defeating Bobby. Bully Ray was definitely unimpressed.

Gail Kim and Madison Rayne entered the ring, where Gail let us all know that “being Gail is great”. She's the most dominant Knockouts champion in history. She thinks she deserves the credit for the entire existence of the Knockouts division. But given that, she had a problem – and it was with the continuing Knockouts tag-team reign of Eric Young and ODB.

Gail called them out. They happily responded.

E-Y and Gail started off in the ring, with the usual confusion as E-Y figured out who was his opponent and who was the official. He seemed impervious to Gail's attacks, reversing them on her again and again. ODB entered and hit Gail with a fallaway slam, taking out Madison from the side of the ring into the bargain.

Following the ad break, Gail got a quick two-count on ODB. Madison – who'd briefly stepped into the ring during the ads – came back in to get another two-count. Gail returned but to her team's disadvantage, when a mix-up between her and Madison saw ODB get a pounding spear in.

E-Y and Madison faced off, but E-Y didn't seem too interested in engaging with Madison – until she slapped him. Then it was pants-off time, and Madison let Gail tag in to face a barrage of powerslams – only interrupted by an outraged ODB telling her husband to get his pants back on and let her in the ring.

ODB proceeded to dominate the Knockouts champ, but just as she got Gail up on her shoulders, Madison interfered from the sidelines, holding ODB's legs down out of the sight of the ref while Gail officially took the pin.

Ads. We come back to overhear Hogan on the phone to someone – someone who's on his way to Impact.

RVD entered the ring. Since his return, he said, he's been focused on the world championship, but there was some unfinished business left over from before his injury. He calls out Gunner.

Gunner answered the call but was on the receiving end of a dropkick before he even got into the ring. Blows were exchanged around the ring, and at one point Gunner even threw a chair into the mix, though it was kicked aside by the official. After some back-and-forth and a two-count on RVD, Gunner picked the chair up again, only to have it kicked into his face. As he lay in the ring, RVD took a very long-distance five point frog splash for the win.

Devon was next in the ring, emphasising once again how happy he is to be a fighting champ. The week before, he was eliminated from a battle royal by young Garrett Bischoff – so he invited him out for a real match.

Garrett took him up on his offer, but Devon quickly dominated the match, the only break coming when Devon missed a splash. Bischoff capitalised with a neckbreaker, but Devon took control again – and the cardigan-clad guido twosome of Robbie E and Robbie T stormed the ring to ruin everyone's fun.

Garrett and Devon joined forces to push back the Robbies and throw them out of the ring, and parted friends.

After the next ad break, Hogan announced he was ready to make his second elimination from the list of people to face Bobby Roode. The unlucky man was Jeff Hardy, whose recent victories were just a little too shaky to give the general manager confidence. The final elimination would take place in the ring.

Following a quick montage summing up hapless attorney Joseph Park's continuing quest to find his brother Abyss, Bully Ray entered the ring to let us know how very, very annoyed he was with Hogan's decision and the entire Impact Zone. He specifically called out Joseph Park, who was sitting in the audience, and demanded Joseph join him.

Joseph tried to explain that he was just looking for answers about his brother, and all the clues seemed to point to Bully Ray. In fact, he agreed Bully Ray was entitled to a fair trial in front of a jury of his peers – a role which the live audience could easily fill. As a loud “guilty” chant started, the odds seemed a little stacked against Bully – but he ignored all usual courtroom protocol and took Joseph Park down, first with his fists and then with his chain.

As we headed into another ad break, we learned more about this week's Gut Check contender: a suave escapee from the set of Hawaii 5-0 by the name of Joey Ryan.

Backstage, Kurt Angle answered questions about the upcoming change in timeslot, doing live shows – and the hiring of Brooke Hogan. Kurt was pretty positive, seeing everything as being to the benefit of wrestling.

Joey Ryan, now in the ring, faced off against Austin Aries. The difference in skill and experience became quickly evident as every move Joey did, Austin did better – especially when it came to posing on the top rope. Ryan did his best, foiling an attempt at a top-rope move by Austin Aries and pulling off a rather odd-looking pumphandle suplex, but in the end he messed up and got taken out with the brainbuster.

Bobby Roode entered to find out who he was going to face to defend his championship – and his record-setting dreams. AJ Styles and Kurt Angle followed him into the ring. Hogan appeared to say he'd realised that either way, he couldn't really make a bad decision – but he had made one, and it was in AJ Styles' favour. Kurt took it with good grace and cleared the ring for the main event of the night to begin.

Giving a blow-by-blow account of the match would be nigh-impossible and almost certainly strain any reader's patience – it was fast, furious, it spilled out of the ring, it was incredibly even-sided and certainly a match worthy of the occasion. Bobby Roode was brutal and focused, and AJ performed his signature tremendously-pretty dropkicks.

Roode worked AJ's arms and shoulders, particularly the left, stomping, stretching, pulling against the ropes, screaming “That's why I'm the champ” as he did it. Finishing moves were exchanged, and at one point it almost looked like it was over for the champ as AJ applied a deathlock and chinlock simultaneously – but Roode got to the ropes in time.

In the go-home sequence, Roode was down and AJ attempted a (tremendously pretty) 450 splash, springboarding off the top rope. But Roode got his knees up, positioned AJ for a bridging fisherman suplex, and took the three-count and AJ's championship reign record.

Roode took the mic and called for champagne and confetti, demanding Hogan join him. When there was no sign of the general manager, Roode took the opportunity to roll around his own (presumably Canadian) confetti and generally live up his victory.

But then! Hogan's music played, and he did appear to congratulate Bobby – and warn him that the hard work has only just begun. Someone else, you see, had come along for the celebration.

The lights went down, and when they came back on, a poor, unwitting Bobby Roode didn't notice a manic-looking Sting standing right behind him. When he did … he ran.

Hogan closed the show by reminding everyone of the new timeslot for Impact, and the great first match he had set up to mark the occasion – Bobby Roode vs Sting. In a lumberjack match.

Results

• Gail Kim & Madison Rayne def. ODB & Eric Young (Knockouts Tag Team Championship)
• Rob van Dam def. Gunner
• Devon vs. Garrett Bischoff – no contest/disqualification due to interference (TV Championship)
• Austin Aries def. Joey Ryan
• Bobby Roode def. AJ Styles (World Heavyweight Championship)