TNA Impact Wrestling Review - August 8, 2013

TNA World Champion Chris Sabin and Kurt Angle win.

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

TNA World Heavyweight Champion Chris Sabin and Bully Ray Signed a Contract

Aside from one lousy joke, Chris Sabin had a good promo in the opening segment. He had an enjoyable exchange with Bully Ray, which unsurpisingly led to Brooke Hogan coming out. She wasn't as bad on the mic as expected, but the fact Ray won't receive another title shot if he loses next week's Steel Cage match essentially gave away the finish of the bout. Nonetheless, this was a decent segment as a whole, but uninspiring to say the least.


Jeff Hardy def. Samoa Joe to Earn 7 Points in the Bound For Glory Series

These two have had classic matches in the past, so I was a bit disappointed by this bout. It picked up steam towards the end, but ended rather abruptly. Even still, both competitors put forth a strong effort and did their best to make this contest as memorable as possible. Mr. Anderson costing Joe the victory was logical in the sense that The Main Event Mafia currently has the most points in the Series.

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Bad Influence celebrates their earning of two points.

Mr. Anderson def. Magnus by Disqualification to Earn 3 Points in the Bound For Glory Series

It was a good match while it lasted and felt important since it was a battle of the factions. Magnus losing via disqualification was smart booking, as he has an excessive amount of points in the BFGS and this will bring him back a bit. It was also nicely done, as it put heat on Bobby Roode and protected Magnus from not getting pinned.


Kurt Angle and Bully Ray Interrupted Tito Ortiz

Ortiz's promo was extremely brief, so it's unknown as to how good his mic skills really are. Not only that, but his intentions for coming to TNA are also unknown as of now, which I guess could be a good thing and a bad thing. Angle and Ray's involvement in this segment was basically to tease the fact that Ortiz might be aligned with one of the two factions, but that remains to be seen. All in all, this segment accomplished very little.


World Tag Team Champions James Storm and Gunner and ODB def. Bro-Mans and Knockouts Champion Mickie James

The pre-match backstage promo with James and Bro-Mans was strange, but at least they explained Tara's absence by saying they "kicked her to the curb". As for the match, it involved fun action and was surprisingly better than originally expected. James' involvement in this bout didn't make much sense, but at least ODB's feud with Gail Kim was furthered in the post-match. The tag team champs going over means a feud between them and Bro-Mans isn't all that likely going forward. On a side note, it was cool to see Storm teaming with ODB, as they have similar gimmicks and I've always wanted to see them pair up.


Kazarian and Daniels Fought to a Double Count-out, Earning Both Men 2 Points in the Bound For Glory Series

The promos from both Bad Influence members going in were very well done and helped make the match feel important. I expected much more from the bout, however, as it's not often we see them go at it in singles competition. It was cut short four minutes in and ended in a way I should have seen coming: a double count-out. It earns both Kaz and Daniels points, which is a win-win situation for them. I found Bad Influence and Bobby Roode forming an alliance to be intriguing simply due to the fact that they're not doing anything at the moment, they have history together and it could be beneficial to everyone involved.


TNA World Heavyweight Champion Chris Sabin and Kurt Angle def. Bully Ray and Devon

The match was solid for what it was, but nothing about it was considerably memorable. It received a substantial amount of time and featured no interference, which was a pleasant surprise. It provided hype for next week's main event matches and saw the right people go over.  I fully expect Sabin to drop the title next week, so having him win here was probably the best move.


Overall Show

The only highlight of this show for this viewer was the aligning of Bobby Roode and Bad Influence. Aside from that, I didn't care much for anything else that was featured. The in-ring action was solid for the most part, but none of the matches were worth watching again. If nothing else, they did a swell job hyping next week's Hardcore Justice event. It has the potential to be as good as Destination X and I, for one, am highly anticipating the Fatal 4-Way Ladder match that was advertised.

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