TNA Impact Wrestling Review - January 31, 2013

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Great segment to kick off the show featuring Bad Influence and the returning Magnus. Daniels and Kazarian continue to be one of the most entertaining acts in all of wrestling with their hilarious antics each and every week. Dressing up as Scots was brilliant and Magnus' interruption was well-timed. He received an awesome pop from his hometown crowd and was excellent on the mic. Having him call out Devon made sense given the fact that Aces and 8s took out Magnus a few months ago and it played into the concept of Open Fight Night nicely.  

Good match with Magnus defeating Devon by disqualification. It didn't blow me away or anything, but it served its purpose and was well-wrestled. As much as I want Aces & 8s to start winning matches, it would've been a mistake to have Magnus lose on his home turf, so the disqualification was a smart way of working around that.

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Harmless match with Joseph Park defeating Robbie E. As always, Park continues to be extremely entertaining in the role he's currently portraying and Robbie E was the perfect counter to his character. The match consisted mostly of silliness, but it was still well done.

Nice match with Austin Aries defeating World Tag Team Champion Chavo Guerrero. The match featured some fun action and received a substantial amount of time. Aries going was a logical move and having Booby Roode and Hernandez clash at ringside helps further the feud as well. I look forward to Aries and Roode as World Tag Team Champions down the line.

Fine segment featuring Bully Ray, Hulk Hogan and Sting. Similar to last week, this segment didn't do anything for this viewer since this story-line doesn't intrigue me in the slightest, but at least Ray is cutting strong promos as a babyface. Aside from that, this angle feels like it's treading water at this point.

Brief mixed tag team match with James Storm and Velvet Sky defeating Jesse and Knockouts Champion Tara. It lasted only mere minutes and could've easily gone on longer than it did, but it served its purpose. While Storm's presence in this match was rather strange, it made sense to give Sky a pin-fall victory over Tara to set up a future title match between the two.

Entertaining Steel Cage match with Kurt Angle defeating Mr. Anderson. We've seen this countless times in recent years, but it featured some great action and cool spots. It felt a bit rushed at the end, but they made the most of it. Garrett Bischoff and Wes Brisco joining Aces & 8s didn't come as a surprise to many since it's been teased for months, but it was still nicely executed and it was about time they pulled the trigger on it.

Overall, a pretty good show that was definitely enhanced by the live England crowd, as they were extremely electric throughout the entire evening. The action was mostly solid and helped further a number of story-lines, so that's all you can ever really ask for from TNA. The next month of shows in the United Kingdom should be fun to watch.