TNA Impact Wrestling Review - June 27, 2013

Kurt Angle joins Sting in the Main Event Mafia.

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Kurt Angle and Sting Opening Segment

The promos from Angle and Sting were solid and basically established their goals will be going forward. However, it irked me that Angle never bothered to explain why he didn't come to Sting's aid at Slammiversary when he was being attacked by Aces and Eights. Aside from that, I like the direction this is taking. Bringing back the Main Event Mafia is nice nostalgia and all, but I hope it ends up benefiting some younger guys in the end.


Suicide def. Kenny King and Chris Sabin in a Triple Threat to Win the X-Division Championship

This match paled in comparison to their Ultimate X from Slammiversary earlier this month. The action was good, but there wasn't nearly as many exciting spots as I thought there would be. I was both surprised and disappointed by the title change. Firstly, Sabin's reign didn't even last a mere month, so that's irritating. Secondly, they revealed who's been behind the Suicide character the last five years (in storyline, of course) without any real hype. It made for a good hook for the rest of the show, but I'm not high on the angle at this point in time.

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Adam Ohriner def. Ryan Howe in a Gut Check Match

I'm familiar with Ohriner a.k.a. The Big O from Zack Ryder's YouTube series, so I'm glad to see him competing on a bigger stage. Howe is a cool character as well. Unfortunately, neither guy was able to deliver in the ring, which led to a lackluster contest. I'm pulling for The Big O to win the contract next week and although he's improved immensely in the ring since making his pro wrestling debut two years ago, he still has a lot of work to do.


Knockouts Champion Mickie James def. Velvet Sky

I've been loving the on-going feud between James and Sky, but their matches continue to be exceptional at best in the ring. James carries Sky to a decent match, but the bouts should be as good as the story they're trying to tell. With James forcing Sky to tap out and the former Beautiful People member crying after the match, it felt like they were trying to repeat AJ Lee vs. Kaitlyn from WWE Payack a few weeks back. Nonetheless, I'm not sure if this is the end of the feud or not, but I expect Taryn Terrell to become the new number one contender to the title next week.


Magnus def. Bobby Roode in a Bound For Glory Series Match to Earn 7 Points

This was far by the match of the night and one of the few highlights on this show. Both guys are great workers and they developed some nice chemistry throughout the bout. Magnus is undoubtedly a future breakout star, so it was good to see the commentators treat Magnus' victory over Roode as a big deal like it should. I don't see Magnus winning the BFG Series, but it'd be very beneficial to him to be in the final four towards the end. As for Roode, I have no doubt in my mind that he'll bounce back and stack up some victories down the line in the Series.


Robbie E and Jesse Interrupted World Tag Team Champions James Storm and Gunner

What in the blazing hell was this? It's such a shame to see Storm go from a high profile feud with Bobby Roode over the TNA World Heavyweight Championship to this garbage. The mic work from Robbie and Jesse was horrendous and in no way got me excited for a pending program involving the two teams. I can see why a Robbie and Jesse pairing would make sense, but it just goes to show just how dead the tag team division is right now. I'm still not yet sold on Storm teaming with Gunner and this segment did them no favors.


Samoa Joe def. Mr. Anderson in a Bound For Glory Series Match to Earn 10 Points

Joe and Anderson worked a good match, but I expected a bit more from these two. Maybe it was the fact that it wasn't given enough time and the interference cut it short. Joe was a beast in last year's Series, so I'm glad that he picked up a solid 10 points here. I hope he continues to flourish in the Series. I also expected him to join Angle and Sting in the Main Event Mafia given the fact he was in the original incarnation, so no surprises there.


Suicide Revealed Himself as Austin Aries

I was quite shocked to see Aries under the Suicide mask. As I explained before, I'm not a fan of this angle because they took two steps back while taking only one step forward. Sure, the crowd popped for Aries challenging Bully Ray for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship in three weeks, but how much sense does this make? Aries is already in the BFG Series, so why would he need to win the X-Division title to go for the gold? Sabin should have been in this spot and the Suicide character is apparently no more. It was a swerve and a half, but I have no idea what direction they're supposed to be taking with this.


Overall Show

After a series of hot shows in the last month, this edition definitely stopped that streak dead in its tracks. There was quite a bit of illogical booking on this show that hurt the excitement I had a few short weeks ago. The BFG Series matches were good, but they didn't feel like a big deal this week. There were also some new developments on this show, but none of them had me overly intrigued going into next week.