TNA Impact Wrestling Review - April 11, 2013

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Entertaining match with Chavo Guerrero and Hernandez defeating Austin Aries and Bobby Roode to win the TNA World Tag Team Championships. The first two falls were over with rather quickly and were a bit of a disappointment, but the third fall was much more fun to get to. Aries and Roode went to all lengths to retain their titles while Chavo and Hernandez battled back nicely.  I'm not in favor of the title change, but I guess it was necessary since there aren't any other face tag teams in the division right now. I'm intrigued as to where Aries and Roode go from here.

Brief match with Taryn Terrell defeating Gail Kim. The match was only mere minutes long, but that was probably the smartest move since Terrell is somewhat limited in the ring. That being said, she competed just fine in the time she was allotted and Kim only enhanced that. I was glad Terrell scored the upset victory, but I hope this doesn't mark the end of this feud, as it's been very well-booked thus far.

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Standard segment featuring AJ Styles, James Storm, Hulk Hogan and Bad Influence. This was much of the same from what we saw last week, but Daniels and Kazarian played their roles extraordinarily well. They were a great addition and added an intriguing twist on this suspenseful story. Styles should pick a side soon, as it might start to grow tiresome after awhile.

Basic quash match with Rob Terry defeating Joey Ryan. It was an impressive outing from Terry and he wasn't as clunky as usual, but the crowd didn't seem to be behind him that much. Maybe that will change over time, but I'm just not sure what role he can play aside from competing in squash matches.

Typical Gut Check segment with Magno getting cut by the judges. I was shocked to see Adam Pearce get the axe early on, as he was clearly the better of the two Gut Check contestants. However, I have a feeling there is reasoning behind that and there are long-term plans in place for him. I'm glad Magno didn't end up earning the TNA contract, as he's been one of the worst competitors the Gut Check concept has had up to this point.

Awesome Full Metal Mayhem match with Bully Ray successfully defending his TNA World Heavyweight Championship against Jeff Hardy. These two developed great chemistry with one another and utilized the extreme environment to its fullest. There were a number of crazy spots and the bout kept an exciting, consistent pace throughout. I was fully expecting Brooke Hogan to turn heel and join Ray on this show, but it didn't end up coming to fruition. Nonetheless, this is a huge win for Hardy, as there wasn't any interference from Aces and Eights with the exception of Taz on commentary.

Overall, a good show that featured a number of monumental moments, but not all of there were as great as I initally hoped. There was some good booking and bad booking on this show, so it's safe to say the episode as a whole was a mixed bad. Even still, TNA felt big league this week with it being a live atmosphere with a hot crowd in attendance. They built this up as a big show, so it's a shame to see it received the worst rating of the year thus far. Regardless, I'm enjoying most of the stories TNA is telling right now and I look forward to what they have in store for Slammiversary in two months.