We start off looking at last week when Austin Aries made the decision to trade in the X Division Title for a shot at the World Title, but only if Hulk Hogan agreed to allow the X Division Champion the option of turning in the title for a World Title shot every year. We also see the cliffhanger from last week’s episode when AJ Styles and Dixie Carter revealed that their secret involved them helping out a pregnant junkie and they weren’t having an affair after all. From there, we go backstage to Dixie Carter telling AJ Styles that she’s glad this is over and they’re moving on, and AJ says he’s going to move on to taking out Daniels and Kazarian tonight, and it’s not just for Dixie and himself, but for Claire as well. We then go backstage as Dixie Carter is walking around with Claire, and we’ll hear her story throughout the evening. But for now, let’s go to the ring!
Bound For Glory Series: Ken Anderson vs Rob Van Dam
Remember, BFG Series matches have a 15 minute time limit starting this year. They tie up and go to a top wristlock, RVD goes behind with a waistlock, Anderson slips out and thy trade pinfall attempts back and forth before winding up at a stalemate. RVD goes for a handshake, but Anderson suckerpunches him and lays him out with a clothesline. Anderson with a snap suplex for 2, RVD gets a bodyscissors cradle for 2, then he takes Anderson down and puts him in the Muta Lock. RVD gets an abdominal stretch and rolls Anderson backward into a guillotine cradle for 2, Anderson tries to break free but RVD holds the cradle and Anderson is forced to elbowstrike his way out. Anderson catches RVD with a running back elbow for 2, RVD gets under Anderson and gets a northern lights suplex for 2, but RVD hits a series of jabs that take Anderson down, then he comes off the ropes with a cartwheel into a moonsault for 2. RVD goes for the split legged moonsault, but Anderson gets the knees up and quickly covers for 2. Anderson goes for the Mic check, RVD fights his way out, but Anderson gets a rolling neckbreaker for 2. Anderson gets a sleeper, RVD hiptosses his way out, Anderson picks RVD up for a Finlay roll, but RVD reverses to a crucifix for the win.
Winner: Rob Van Dam
RVD gets onto the board for the first time with 7 points, and he’s in 4th place behind James Storm in first, Samoa Joe in second, and Anderson in third.
Austin Aries is on his way to the ring, and we’ll hear what he has to say…NEXT!
We’re back, and Aries says that last week, he had a difficult decision to make, and it wasn’t easy to give up the X Division Title, but he’s beaten heavyweights like Bully Ray and Samoa Joe, and he thought he wanted something bigger. That’s why he came up with his Option C, and when Hogan agreed, it made his decision easy, but now the question is what happens to the X Division Title. There’s going to be a tournament for the title at Destination X, and when he was given a contract and told to run with it, he worked himself into a position where he’s challenging for the World Title, and now every X Division Champion will have the same opportunity because of him. Bobby Roode’s music hits, and he comes out to say that he couldn’t help but hear how overconfident Aries sounds tonight, but he wants Aries to take a good look at him and the belt he holds. It’s the real World Championship, and that’s because Roode made it that way. He’s the most dominant World Champion in the history of Impact Wrestling, and if Aries wants to talk about opportunities, there’s 12 men in the Bound For Glory series fighting for a chance to challenge him for the title. The only reason Aries has a title shot is because of Hulk Hogan, and Option C is nothing but a failure because Aries is setting himself and the X Division up for failure, and he’s going to make sure Aries fails at Destination X because he’s not in Roode’s league. Roode tells Aries to get out of his ring, but Aries asks what happens if Aries thinks it’s his ring. He slaps the microphone out of Roode’s hand and says that if Roode wants to get Aries out of his ring, to make him. Both men are ready to go, but Roode has second thoughts and heads to the back with his belt.
We take another look at last week when Claire Lynch revealed her situation, then Claire says that her mom was close with Dixie her whole life and that’s how she knows AJ, then the Mystery Cameraman asked when things went bad. She says it was when Daniels and Kazarian found out about her, and she never met them before and can’t believe that they would take something so nice and turn it into what it is. We then go backstage where Kazarian is yelling at Daniels because he turned on his best friend to follow Daniels’ BS. Daniels tries to reason with Kazarian, but he still seems pretty upset.
X Division Tournament Qualifying Match: Rubix vs Sonjay Dutt
This is to determine who will go on to the X Division Title Tournament at Destination X. Fast paced sequence to start and Sonjay hit a flying headscissors that sent Rubix out to the floor. Sonjay got ready to hit a dive, but Rubix came back inside and dumped Dutt out to the floor, and he hit a dive before rolling Dutt back inside and heading up top. Dutt caught him with a dropkick on the way down and then hit the pendulum kick to the face, followed by a springboard splash for 2. Rubix hits a leaping enziguiri and a bridging German suplex for 2. Dutt hit a fancy spinning tornado DDT and then came off the top rope with a moonsault into a double stomp for the win.
Winner: Sonjay Dutt
Wow, that was a hell of a finishing move! Christy Hemme interviews Sonjay after the match and asks how it feels to be back in the Impact Zone, and Sonjay says that the one thing he never accomplished when he was in Impact Wrestling was winning the X Division title, and he’s going to do that now because nobody has swagger like he does.
We look back at last week when Taeler Hendrix appeared in the Gut Check, then we go to Al Snow, Taz, and Bruce Prichard as they debate whether Taeler deserves the contract. They debate whether they’re looking for someone with potential or someone who’s game ready, and Taz says that she didn’t have a sense of entitlement coming in, which is good because he can’t stand people who have that kind of attitude during a tryout. Taz seems pretty high on her, Prichard and Snow aren’t quite so sure because they have doubts, and we’ll find out her fate later on tonight.
Bound For Glory Series: Bully Ray vs Samoa Joe
Bubba gets right in Joe’s face and tries to get in his head by mouthing off to him, but Joe isn’t intimidated and they tie up as the crowd chants that Joe is gonna kill Bubba. They do some quick chain wrestling before colliding with a pair of shoulderblocks that neither man sells. Bubba takes Joe down with a back elbow and then goes to work on Joe’s arm and rakes his eyes. Bubba with a vertical suplex and a diving headbutt as we go to commercial.
We’re back as Joe is running Bubba over with a series of shoulderblocks and hits a leaping enziguiri, but Bubba hits a clothesline and turns the tide just like that. They trade blows in the middle of the ring and wipe each other out with a double clothesline. Bubba drapes his arm over Joe for 2, but Joe is quickly up and jabbing Bubba in the face. A vertical suplex attempt fails because Bubba was working on Joe’s arm, and Bubba capitalizes by going after Joe’s arm with a high angle armbar while holding the ropes. Joe slips out to the floor to try and get some feeling back in his arm, but Bubba wanders too close to him and gets dragged out to the floor. Bubba slams Joe’s arm onto the ring steps and rolls him back inside, but Joe moves out of the way of a big splash. Joe with an inverted atomic drop and running big boot followed by a back senton for 2. Bubba hits a uranage out of nowhere for 2, but misses a senton off the second rope and they go to the outside where Bubba lays Joe out with a big boot. Bubba rolls inside to let the referee count, but now Joseph Park comes out and goes face to face with Bubba, slapping him and allowing Joe to sneak in from behind and tap Bubba out to the Kokina Clutch.
Winner: Samoa Joe
That’s a big 10 points for Joe, who now solidifies his second place standing. Joseph Park gets a microphone and says he knows who Bubba is, but asks if Bubba knows who he is. He’s Joseph Park, and he’s been bullied his entire life, and it ends right here tonight because it’s not about Abyss anymore, it’s about himself and Bubba. He’s watched Bubba bully everyone around here for long enough and he’s sick of it, so Park says they should settle this once and for all. He wants two weeks to get ready, and he’ll get in the ring and fight Bubba again, and this time he’ll bring the fight to Bubba.
Time for more from Claire and Dixie, and Dixie says that the photo Daniels had was from AJ telling her how bad she really was. That, and the hotel room photo were taken out of context, as was the phone call where it turns out they were indeed planning Serge’s surprise party and Dixie was trying to get AJ and his kids to come down.
Kazarian is in Hulk Hogan’s office saying that he made a big mistake and he wants to be a tag team champion in this company, but not at the expense of his integrity. Hogan doesn’t quite believe him, but says that if that’s the way Kazarian wants to do it, then he’s going to make Kazarian accountable in tonight’s main event.
Garett Bischoff is backstage and Madison Rayne comes over to hit on him, but Garett basically blows her off and Madison looks totally shot down. We then go to the Knockouts locker room where Brooke Hogan got Brooke Tessmacher a Direct Auto Insurance ad. Gail Kim comes in to lay down the law to Brooke and tell her where her bread is buttered, and Gail Kim wants another shot at Tessmacher. Hogan tells Gail not to come in here and get in her face, but she’s getting her title shot next week so she’d better be ready.
X Division Tournament Qualifier: Rashad Cameron vs Mason Andrews
Okay, Andrews is Scorpio Sky from the California independents, one of the most supremely talented guys on the independents. Andrews gets a series of rollups for 2, then backdrops Cameron to the floor and hits a twisting dive. Cameron gets a bit of an advantage and picks Andrews up for a suplex before dumping him onto the top rope, but he misses a moonsault and Andrews connects with a series of clotheslines and a springboard crossbody for 2. Andrews misses another one and gets dropkicked out to the floor, and Cameron wipes Andrews out with a dive over the top rope. Cameron goes to the top rope, but Andrews leaps from the mat to hit a Frankensteiner. Cameron shoves Andrews at the referee and hits a leaping Flatliner for the win.
Winner: Rashad Cameron
Christy catches up with Cameron to ask his thoughts, and Cameron says he’s going to be the next X Division Champion and we just saw the beginning of the Cameron Movement.
Hogan is backstage blowing someone off on the phone, and he asks how Jeff Hardy and James Storm are doing. Storm says he’s feeling better after taking time off, and Hogan tells both of them that they’re on fire and looking like they’re ready to take on the world. Next week’s main event is going to be Storm vs Hardy in the BFG Series, and they say that this is what they do this for.
Jeremy Borash is in the ring to introduce the judges for this month’s Gut Check, and then introduces Taeler Hendrix to hear the decision on whether she will get a TNA contract. The judges all feel like they’ve seen enough to make their decision, Taeler says she showed her best, and we go to the judges for their decision. Taz says yes, Al Snow says that he’s known her a long time and has seen her grow, and…wait a minute, Joey Ryan is in thecrowd making a ruckus and Taz goes out to the floor to go face to face with him. Joey Ryan is telling Taz to go ahead and hit him, but Al Snow comes out to get Taz back in the ring and summons security to eject Ryan. We get back to Taeler, and Snow says that he knows she has talent and potential, but he doesn’t think she’s ready just yet. It all comes down to Bruce Prichard now, and Taeler gets one last chance to try and impress the last judge, and she says that at some time and place, someone gave all the judges a chance, and she wants a chance to prove to them that she can shine because she wants this. We go to Prichard, and he says that she’s green and rough around the edges, and he’s not sure she’s ready for prime time, but she has heart, desire, and class. His answer is yes, and with that, Borash welcomes her to Impact Wrestling. Taeler looks into the camera and thanks the fans at home for helping her to get here.
Kurt Angle is backstage telling Styles that he respects what he was doing with Dixie, and they’re going to retain their title here tonight. Styles says the weight is off his shoulders, Daniels and Kazarian are divided, and they’re going to give their best tonight and win.
Here’s the latest standings in the Bound For Glory Series: James Storm is in first place with 36 points, Samoa Joe is in second with 27, Kurt Angle in third with 10, and Ken Anderson in fourth with 9 points. Next week, James Storm and Jeff Hardy go at it in another match between two favorites in the series.
World Tag team Title Match: Kurt Angle & AJ Styles vs Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian
Styles and Kazarian start, and AJ grabs Kazarian by the throat and backs him to the corner before taking him down and hitting an indy kick to the back. Angle is in and Kazarian quickly tags out, and Daniels slams Angle and hits a springboard elbowdrop and tags in Kazarian to cover for 2. Daniels tags himself back in and he quickly gets backdropped and suplexed out to the floor where AJ comes off the apron with a flying headscissors before dumping Daniels chest first onto the ring apron. Styles rams Daniels into the barricade and then goes back inside to await Daniels as he argues with Kazarian on the floor and we go to commercial.
We’re back as Daniels hits an STO for 2 on AJ, he tries the Arabian moonsault, but AJ gets the knees up and Daniels hits hard. AJ makes the hot tag to Angle and Daniels immediately tags out to Kazarian, who gets his clock cleaned by Angle. Angle with the rolling German suplexes on Kazarian and then the straps come down as Angle starts with rolling German suplexes on Daniels. Daniels tries to hold onto Kazarian and Kazarian elbows him in the face to allow Angle to hit one last German. Kazarian goes for Fade To Black on Angle, Angle reverses to the anklelock, Kazarian kicks him off, but AJ comes in with a springboard forearm. Daniels comes in and he and AJ wipe each other out with simultaneous crossbody blocks. The referee gets bumped to the floor and then Daniels dumps Angle to the outside. Daniels gets a steel chair and goes to hit AJ with it, but Kazarian grabs the chair out of his hand, allowing AJ to hit the Pelle kick. Kazarian tosses the chair away, tells Styles to finish Daniels, then slides out of the ring. AJ goes for the Styles Clash, but Kazarian quickly slides back into the ring and knocks AJ out with the chair, allowing Daniels to cover AJ and get the three count.
Winners and NEW World Tag Team Champions: Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian
Daniels says this is a great day because they’re the new champions, and Claire told the truth tonight, but not the whole truth. She’s obviously pregnant, and the truth is that the baby’s father is AJ STYLES!
Source: PWInsider.com
