This week Bully Ray was first out in the ring, to make a huge announcement – or possibly two.  The first was that he is now live on Twitter (@RealBully5150) – where at time of writing he had already amassed over 9,000 followers.

His second announcement involved the challenge laid down by Joseph Park (@JosephPark_esq) last week – to another match on Impact (@IMPACTWRESTLING).  Park appeared; Bully accepted – but there was a twist:  he’s taken out a restraining order against Abyss (@TherealAbyss), who will not be able to intervene for his brother this time.  With a parting cheap shot on Park, Bully exited the ring.

In Hogan’s office, the General Manager (@HulkHogan) and Austin Aries (@AustinAries) discussed the handover of the X-Division belt, and the upcoming match between Aries and Bobby Roode (@REALBobbyRoode) at Destination X.

Earlier that day, we got to see Dixie Carter (@TNADixie) answering some questions about the X-Division contenders who’ve been competing for a shot at Aries’ soon-to-be-vacant belt … and refusing to answer any questions about AJ Styles (@AJStylesOrg) and their pregnant mutual friend Claire.

The first match of the night was for the Television Championship, pitting the reigning champ Devon (@TestifyDevon) against Crimson (@OfficialCrimson).

Crimson was on the attack before the bell rang, getting in a series of quick pin attempts, but it wasn’t to last.  Devon took him down with a spear / clothesline / back elbow combo, and when Crimson came off the ropes in an attempt to fight back he ran straight into a powerslam and an almost effortless three-count.

As Devon celebrated, Madison Rayne (@MRayneTNA) entered the arena with a dreamy look in her eyes.  Were we about to discover who her secret crush is?  Obviously not Crimson, who seemed the obvious choice, nor even Devon, which would have been weird but … not completely beyond the pale.

But no, in an act that can only be described as “who did Madison Rayne seriously annoy?” we found out, via a pretty full-on make-out session, that Madison is hot for … referee Earl Hebner (@TheEarlHebner).  No, not the young cute one (@babyhebner).

Chris Sabin was next up, on crutches and sporting a knee brace, to talk about his current situation to the TNA crowd.  A lot of people have been telling him it might be time to retire.

Always one to ruin a solemn moment, Bobby Roode interrupted him to explain why he hates the X-Division:  because they’re a bunch of whingers, basically.  Just to make his point clear, he then kicked out Sabin’s crutch from underneath him and gave that injured knee and good clean stomping.

Austin Aries came to the rescue, and Bobby – as one might expect, given how he’s acted every other time this has happened in the past few weeks – fled.

The second match of the evening was for a spot in the Ultimate X match for the X-Division Championship at Destination X (that key is getting a little worn on your reviewer’s keyboard!)  Dakota Darsow (@dakotadarsow) faced Flip Cassanova.

True to his name, Flip was fast, jumpy, and spinny, while Dakota went for more of a power style.  The match felt a little stilted, and both competitors seemed just slightly lacking in the experience needed to make the most of their otherwise good move sets – like Flip’s twisting corkscrew moonsault off the ropes and onto Dakota outside the ring.

Dakota got a two-count after a series of drops – elbows, legs, etc – but then, nose busted open, missed a moonsault off the top rope.  Flip took the win with what we suspect was a 640 flip off the turnbuckle.

Backstage, Miss [Brooke] Tessmacher (@BrookeIMPACT) and Tara were ready for their Knockouts tag team match.  Tessmacher was unimpressed with Gail Kim’s (@gailkimITSME) legal action which had postponed their Knockouts Championship match.

In the ring, Tessmacher and Tara faced Gail and Madison.  Things were obviously a little tense pre-match, with the competitors looking ready to go for each other’s throats.  Tessmacher and Madison were first in, with Madison fully on the attack, tagging out eventually to Gail to deliver more of the same.  Two-count to Gail.

But after Gail missed a flying cross-body Madison re-entered to take on Tara – and got punished for it.  Gail interfered, but got knocked out of the ring by her own partner – with a little push from Tara.  After a Widow’s Peak it was all over, but Tara had the respect for the Knockouts Champ to tag her back in for the killing blow.

After the dust cleared, AJ entered to explain himself, and made it clear that he thinks the latest allegations from Christopher Daniels (@facdaniels) are just as much baloney as the first lot.  Daniels and Kazarian (@FrankieKazarian) interrupted, declaring they had proof – and the award for quotes of the night have to go to Kazarian for:

“You don’t get it?  You know what you get?  You get junkie whores pregnant.”

With the runner-up being AJ’s rejoinder to Daniels:  “You’re a jealous prick.”

AJ is looking forward to his match against Daniels at Destination X, and he’s more than pleased it’s a last man standing match. 

Backstage, Hogan is being interviewed in his office, when a mysterious stranger enters and delivers a mysterious message, bearing a picture of playing cards – all black aces and 8s.  The messenger says he’s no coward – and Hogan realises the message is from the masked strangers (@TheAcesand8s) who ambushed Sting (@Sting).

Another X-Division contender’s match followed, Kenny King (@KennyKingpinAnX) against Lars Only, who rocked some kind of hippie/surfer vibe.

The match had a lacklustre start, punctuated by Lars losing his fluoro headband very early on.  Kenny showed some good moves, and Lars found his groove, retaliating with a series of nippy athletic attacks.

Once they settled, the competitors took turns showing off their stuff.  Lars possibly had the best moment of the match, jumping out onto the apron, seeing Kenny had moved around the ring to avoid him, and swinging around the ringpost for a hurricanrana out on the floor.

Unfortunately, he followed this up by completely botching a Russian leg sweep.

Kenny got his mojo going, turning a fall back off the turnbuckle into a flip, kicking Lars in the head as he sat on said turnbuckle, and delivering a nasty backbreaker for the three-count.

Backstage, following a training montage, Austin Aries congratulated Kenny.

The main event arrived, in the form of Cowboy James Storm (@Cowboy_J_Storm) vs. Charismatic Enigma Jeff Hardy (@JEFFHARDYBRAND). 

Hardy was clearly the crowd favourite from the start, but the match itself opened very evenly.  It was clear the two knew each other’s moves and styles very well, with a lot of counters and dodges and attempted finishers not hitting their mark.

The action spilled out of the ring multiple times, and once they got back in it was clear they’d both been giving it everything – if it had been a last man standing match they couldn’t have looked more exhausted.

Hardy used his quickness – when he’d caught his breath – to his advantage.  He did miss a Swanton Bomb and took a flying elbow from the top rope, however, and James Storm started winding up that deadly superkick.  But he was impatient, and went to physically help Hardy to his feet to get him in position – and received a Twist of Fate out of nowhere.  Seven points to Hardy.

There were no hard feelings, and they shook on it.

Finally for the evening, Hulk Hogan entered to receive Austin Aries’ belt.  But when he asked for Austin to come out, he got the World Heavyweight Champion Bobby Roode instead.

Bobby told Hogan to shut up, said Hogan had drunk Austin Aries’ KoolAid, and declared he’d end Aries’ career at Destination X.

Aries responded, laying out his options once more.  Option A:  slink away and give Hogan the belt some other time.  Option B:  step into the ring and be a gentleman, and wait till Sunday.  But we all know Aries is an Option C kind of guy, and in this case, Option C was “let’s do this right now.”

But Bobby, true to form, declared Aries “wasn’t worth it” and made to leave – but then tried the classic sneak-attack with his belt.  Unfortunately, Aries’ great advantage over Bobby is his speed, and he ducked, turned, and smacked the Canadian over the head with the very belt he’d spent all day trash-talking.

See you all at Destination X!

Results

• Devon (c) def. Crimson – Television Championship
• Flip Cassanova def. Dakota Darsow – X-Division Championship contenders’ match
• Miss Tessmacher & Tara def. Gail Kim & Madison Rayne
• Kenny King def. Lars Only – X-Division Championship contenders’ match
• Jeff Hardy def. James Storm – Bound for Glory match, +7 points

Bound for Glory leaderboard

1. James Storm 36
2. Samoa Joe (@SamoaJoe) 27
3. Magnus (@MagnusOfficial) 14
Jeff Hardy
4. Kurt Angle (@RealKurtAngle) 10
5. Mr Anderson (@mrkenanderson) 9
6. The Pope (@DaBlackPope) 7
Rob van Dam (@TherealRVD)
9. Christopher Daniels 5
10. Bully Ray 0
Robbie E (@RobbieEImpact)
AJ Styles