TNA Impact Wrestling Review - April 18, 2013

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Standard Handicap match with Garrett Bischoff and Wes Brisco defeating Kurt Angle. Bischoff and Brisco aren't the best in-ring workers, but Angle carried them to a decent match. The interference from Aces and Eights was pretty predictable, but it was still nice to see Bischoff and Brisco score the victory. Furthermore, it was nice to see a match kick off the show for once, which was a refreshing change of pace.

Nice Triple Threat match with Kenny King defeating Zema Ion and Petey Williams to successfully retain his X-Division Championship. The pace was significantly slower than past X-Division matches, which was a disappointment. The finishers were executed early on and left no real suspense for the remainder of the bout. I have no problem with retaining the title, but the Triple Threat gimmick could grow tiresome quickly if this contest was any indication.

---

Fine match with Mickie James defeating Miss Tessmacher to become the new number one contender to the Knockouts Championship. I like ODB in the role as Knockouts referee, but was the purpose of her involvement here? This bout wasn't bad by any means, but it certainly didn't light the world on fire, either. James becoming the number one contender to the title yet again does nothing for me, as we've seen it too many times before for it to feel special by this point. However, turning her heel could breathe new life into her character.

Entertaining segment involving Bobby Roode and Austin Aries, Bad Influence and World Tag Team Champions Chavo Guerrero and Hernandez. The exchange between the two heel teams was enjoyable, and the involvement of Guerrero and Hernandez made sense. It seems to be setting up a title rematch for next week, which isn't exciting whatsoever given that we've seen it a number of times before. It's sad to see that TNA's once promising tag team division has been reduced to only three tandems.

Brief match with Devon defeating Samoa Joe to successfully retain his Television Championship. The match was solid while it lasted, but wasn't long enough for it to mean anything. The interference from Aces and Eights gave Joe an excuse to loss and a reason to go back for the title at some point. I still think Joe would make a better TV Champion at this point, as Devon has hardly defended the strap since winning it a number of months back.

Good match with AJ Styles defeating James Storm. While two have such great chemistry with one another, I couldn't help but thinking they were holding back a bit. That being said, it appears we'll be getting a rematch between the former Fortune stablemates later down the line, presumably at Slammiversary. Styles winning clean via submission was pleasantly surprising and helped further his feud with Storm. The ambush from Aces and Eights was hardly relevant to the Styles story, but it was still intriguing to see Styles walk away once the attack on Storm began. Additionally, there's no need to complain about Aces and Eights being booked strongly for the first time since their debut.

Overall, a boring show that featured very few highlights, but none of the matches or segments were truly terrible, either. I enjoyed the action, but this felt more like a filler edition than anything else. The live crowd was mostly dead, which is understandable since they had to sit through another show prior to this one. Having months in between pay-per-views has its ups and downs, and this is one of those weeks where you wish the next event would just arrive already.