Previously on Impact Wrestling
The NEW TNA World champ won the belt for himself, but he will be a champion for the fans. A fighting champ that makes every episode of Impact a party...unfortunately, Dixie Carter is still the President of TNA. Her company is not ripping off WWE, and Eric Young and the beard that Carter invented will do what she wants them to do from here on out.
EY's his own man and he doesn't Dixie or her threats of a makeover telling him what to do. But when he does get help from Bully Ray, who is still spending the cash he earned double crossing the boss at Lockdown at Orlando area strip clubs. Costing her control of wrestling operations was satisfying, but Ray's not above putting her through a table, too. That threat chased Carter from the ring, and allowed Young to finish celebrating his historic victory.
Abyss wasted no time issuing a challenge for the TNA title, and our fighting champ accepted and made it a Monster's Ball match. His new buddy Ray was barred from his nemesis Bobby Roode's open challenge, but Bully prepped Gunner to put The It Factor through some wood in his stead.
Knockouts champ Madison Rayne warmed up for her upcoming defense against Beautiful Person Angelina Love by street fighting with her former ally Velvet Sky. Interference by Love couldn't save VelVel from a spear and a loss. Tag champs The Bro-Mans continue to stay one step ahead of The Wolves, sacrificing wins in the record book for disqualification losses that allow them to keep their belts. You'd think someone in wrestling operations would get wise to that scheme...
Austin Aries left the doghouse and put himself in the business of the man in charge of those operations, Montel Vontavious Porter. While Porter is worried about Samoa Joe's state of mind, A-Double's frustrated with not being in MVP's plans. That frustration will lead Aries into a match with him this week. Another former Ring of Honor star frustrated with Porter's vision, Kenny King, worked a little commentary on Tigre Uno evening up his best of three with X-Division champ Sanada, promising to be the first person the winner of that series faces.
Despite Ethan Carter III providing motivation that would make MVP proud, he and Rockstar Spud were defeated by the wascally Willow in their handicap match. To make matters worse for EC3, his old adversary Kurt Angle returned from injury and promised to send him out of Sacrifice in a body bag.
Although the table didn't cooperate, his old Beer Money partner James Storm did, helping Roode to put Gunner through a table and send a message to Bully Ray. The former President of Aces and Eights saved the former Marine from a two-on-one beatdown, and that odd couple promise to return the message to Roode and Storm real soon.
Last but not least, trash cans, thumbtacks and even Abyss old lady Janice couldn't spoil Super Eric's first night as champ. A big elbow drop sent the monster out of the ball 1 - 2 - 3.
TONIGHT
What's next for EY? Magnus speaks to the Impact Zone for the first time since losing the belt! Any chance either thing is as good as this video?
It's unclear if Spud is still Chief of Staff for his "queen", Dixie Carter, but he's still her nephew's first line of defense. Or the speed bump before that line, anyway. Tonight, he gets thrown at Kurt Angle.
The Beautiful People plan to makeover the Knockouts champ. Aries doesn't think MVP validated him, so tonight they'll participate in a match where Porter will attempt to motivate The Greatest Man that Ever lived to be more humble.
All that, and for one night only...BEER! MONEY! Roode and Storm will tag against their Sacrifice opponents, Bully Ray and Gunner.
Expect to pop for:
Fresh match-ups. When MVP joined the company, the potential for him to square off with a bunch of dudes he hadn't faced before was a lot more exciting that seeing him in a suit and playing authority figure. He's a really good talker and they've done pretty well writing around a babyface boss, but I'm a lot more excited to see him face off against a guy like Aries.
Especially if he hasn't signed a contract, this is precisely what they should be using him for - entertaining matches that put over guys they are keeping around. First it was Kenny King, now it's A-Double. Hopefully whatever angle they're building for Joe. A good guy authority figure is probably a role that has a short shelf life (Theodore Long not withstanding), and if Porter isn't committed for the long haul anyway, let him keep some established names that don't fit into the current main event scene busy in a way that makes them look good before he and his role ride off into the sunset.
Now, if it can just be for a little more than a five minute "exhibition" like his mini-program with King...that would be good.
The heat is on:
Protecting match concepts. Remember when Monster's Ball meant that the opponents were locked in a dark room for 24 hours before the bell in order to drive them into a crazed state where who knows what kind of horrors they'd inflict on their opponent within the no disqualification stipulation of the match? Sure, it was unrealistic and goofy, but it was different. Now Monster's Ball just means no DQ, and EY and Abyss seem to have one every few weeks.
It feels like Madison Rayne has had more Street Fights than she has title defenses. And every other match Roode or Ray is around features tables.
I guess TNA feels that trotting out one or two match gimmicks a week will drive ratings. Maybe they're right. But it takes away any significance they might of had. And when a feud calls for something now, no one's all that impressed when the big grudge match blow-off leads to a concept that we all just saw on free television a couple of weeks ago.
Are there any tricks that TNA can show you tonight that will get you to buy Sacrifice if you weren't already planning to?
Watch the show with your fellow Cagesiders in the live blog/open thread, and hash it out amongst yourselves!