A freshly-recovered Sting opened Impact this week; he’s stepping in as GM while the Hulkster recovers from his attack at the hands of the Aces and 8s.  Sting had some hard words for that mysterious gang of masked men; and he’s calling them out.

Austin Aries and Kurt Angle quickly joined Sting to back him up; they want vengeance on the Aces and 8s too.

Bobby Roode arrived, but with a rather different message:  he didn’t have Sting’s back, but he thought he knew who was behind all this chaos:  none other than the Cowboy, James Storm.

Storm took offence and let it be known by rushing Roode into the ring and proceeding to beat the hell out of him.  Kurt eventually interceded, pulling Storm away, and Roode left, declaring this just proved his point.

Backstage, Annoying Interview Guy questioned Roode about his claims; Roode stood by them, and declared he was leaving, trundling his suitcase after him.

The first match of the night was a Knockouts tag team match: the team of Gail Kim and Madison Rayne vs Tara and Mickie James.

Gail and Tara started off the action, and after Gail initially locked up Tara’s arm, Tara literally cartwheeled out of it and it was all going her way.  Mickie tagged in, and although Gail pulled off a great top-rope armdrag Mickie continued Tara’s dominant start – until Madison started lending a hand from the sidelines.

Madison tagged in and earned herself a two-count following a series of big powerful moves against Mickie, who promptly tagged Tara in at her first chance.  Tara let Madison have it, and her own pin attempt was only broken with Gail’s help.

Mickie and Tara really showed their skills with some double-team action on Madison, rolling her over and then applying a Boston Crab while holding one leg each.  Gail tried to help her partner with a cross-body onto Mickie and Tara, but this just landed her right in Madison’s position – Mickie and Tara controlling a leg each and clearly doing something pretty painful to it.

Madison enlisted the referee and love of her life Earl Hebner to intercede, and he hustled Tara out of the ring – only for Mickie to easily roll Madison up and pin her with a nice bridge thrown in – remembering to get her own shoulder up before the end of the three count.

It all looked like a good clean victory for Mickie – but it was Madison’s hand that got raised by her beau. 

Next week the four competitors face each other in a four-way match to determine who gets the Knockouts title short at Hardcore Justice.  We’re thinking Mickie is going to be after some hardcore vengeance.

Sting and Austin Aries were consulting backstage.  Sting has a lot on his plate, so he asked Aries to take care of the X-Division tonight, whittling down the competitors to choose who would face Zema Ion in a title match.

The second match of the night was a Gut Check replay – a second chance for young Sam Shaw to prove his worth after the Aces and 8s ruined his opportunity last week.  He faced Doug Williams, and got off to a great start, showing off his tremendous athleticism and pretty dropkick.

Unfortunately some losers just don’t know when to quit, so failed Gut Check competitor Joey Ryan was once again ringside, rarking up security and sucker-punching Al Snow.  Sam was understandably distracted, but Doug took advantage and proceeded to monster him all the way to a three-count.

Backstage, Austin Aries was consulting with the X-Division contenders, who each made his case for going up against Zema Ion.  Aries’ first decision was to kick out Zema himself, who wasn’t helping things.  His second decision was to eliminate Rashad Cameron – clearly unimpressed with Rashad’s constant references to the “Rashad Cameron Movement.”

Following the ads, we had the debut of Chavo Guerrero, a recent acquisition of TNA’s.  Chavo got some good pop, praised his fellow TNA wrestlers (including the girls!) and stated he was here to win a championship.

Then Gunnar and Kid Kash decided to spoil the fun.  Interrupting Chavo, they cast aspersions on the Guerrero family name and called Chavo’s dad a drunk – at which point Chavo lashed out, and predictably a brawl started.  Hernandez raced into the ring to Chavo’s defence, and the whiny white boys were thrown out.

Backstage once more, Kurt Angle talked to James Storm about Bobby Roode’s ridiculous accusations.  Angle assumed of course that Roode was full of crap, but wanted to hear that Storm would back them up if the Aces and 8s showed up again.

The Gut Check judges met backstage to discuss Sam Shaw’s audition match.  Unfortunately Al Snow hadn’t seen any of it due to Joey Ryan’s insufferable interference, but Taz had liked what he’d seen.

We then came to the first Bound for Glory match of the night:  AJ Styles vs. James Storm.  And with AJ’s alleged baby-mama Claire scowling at ringside, one felt instinctively that this match was not going to go according to plan.

These guys are two of the best at TNA, and it really showed in the match, with some fantastic moves, fantastic counters to fantastic moves, and a flurry of two-counts on both sides.  AJ’s kicks were ridiculously pretty, Storm’s slams were awe-inspiring.

Coming to the close, a dazed AJ managed to pull off a beautiful kick to the back of Storm’s head, which led into an attempted Styles Clash, countered by the Cowboy, who lined up a superkick, missed, turned around right into a very pretty Pele kick from AJ …

And then the Aces and 8s ruined everything again.

For the conspiracy theorists at home, though, they only targeted Mr Styles.

Following the ads, the Annoying Backstage Interview Guy cornered James Storm – why wasn’t he attacked?  Storm slammed Interview Guy into a wall and made it clear: he doesn’t need anyone’s help to whup a man’s ass.

Back in the ring, it was time for the Gut Check decision, and the judges gathered in the ring with Sam Shaw.

Al Snow, who hadn’t seen much of Sam’s performance, was a no.

Bruce Pritchard was a yes.

With Taz’s vote the decider, Sam had one more chance to make his case, and pleaded with Taz: he remembered how Taz had persevered to get his chance back in 99 (when Sam was, we assume, still in grade school), and he was just as determined.

Taz voted yes, and Sam Shaw had a bit of a celebratory freak-out in the ring.

Backstage, Austin Aries was still deliberating with the X-Division contenders.  His second cut was Dakota Darsow – he wasn’t in the right headspace to face Zema at the moment.

The time of the X-Division Championship match was now here, and Zema arrived in the ring still not knowing who he would face.  Behind the curtain, Austin Aries took the two last contenders – Kenny King and Sonjay Dutt – and made his final decision:  because Sonjay’s shoulder still wasn’t completely healed, Kenny got the match.

Zema was predictably cocky as the fight started, but Kenny kept up the attack with some very nice flashy moves.  There was a lot of jumping, a lot of over-the-top-rope moves, and from both competitors a good show of aggression, including a brutal-looking facebreaker to the knee by Zema Ion.

Kenny took it to Zema outside the ring, and looked ready to grab his chance at a pin – and out of nowhere, no, not the Aces and 8s, but Bobby Roode ran Kenny King’s face into the ringpost and rolled him back in for Zema to pin.

Roode’s motivation became clear as he told the camera that he “takes away opportunities” – especially ones given by Austin Aries.  Aries retaliated immediately, running up behind Roode and smacking him down.

Backstage, Bully Ray prepared for his match against Kurt Angle, and declared he didn’t care about the Aces and 8s.  But he respects Kurt – even if he can walk right through him.

Following the ads, Bully and Kurt’s match was up.  There was no clear advantage strength-wise between the two, but Kurt obviously had the technical edge.  It was back-and-forth all over the ring with big, sexy power-moves including a scary piledriver from Bully Ray. 

After a round of German suplexes, some time in the ankle lock and two Angle Slams, it really looked like the former Olympian was going to take this one home – and he did –

And then the Aces and 8s ruined everything again.

As the masked men began stomping all over Bully and Kurt, the bellringer went crazy and like genies from a bell-triggered bottle Austin Aries, AJ Styles, and Sting ran into the ring to take the hoodlums on.

After a moment’s pause, the Cowboy James Storm joined them, and successfully – perhaps too successfully? – the Aces and 8s were chased off.

Austin and Kurt certainly seemed to have their suspicions as they confronted Storm in the aftermath.

When are we going to find out who’s behind all this?  Will Bobby Roode be right about something for once?  Who faces the Knockouts champ at Hardcore Justice and who will Chavo face in his first Impact match? 

Stay tuned!

Results

Madison Rayne & Gail Kim def. Mickie James & Tara
Doug Williams def. Sam Shaw – Gut Check
Unresolved – AJ Styles vs. James Storm – Bound for Glory
Zema Ion def. Kenny King – X-Division Championship
Kurt Angle def. Bully Ray – Bound for Glory

Gut Check decision – Sam Shaw receives a TNA contract

AJ Styles Ridiculous Prettiness Score:  5

Bound for Glory leaderboard (as at 29/7/12)

1. Samoa Joe 47 (8 matches)
2. James Storm 45 (7)
3. Kurt Angle 34 (8)
4. Mr. Anderson 30 (9)
5. Jeff Hardy 28 (8)
6. Rob Van Dam 28 (7)
7. Christopher Daniels 26 (7)
8. Magnus 21 (7)
9. AJ Styles 16 (6)
10. The Pope 7 (6)
11. Bully Ray 7 (5)
12. Robbie E 5 (9)