Impact spoilers 17th and 24th February

Last night I went to the taping of TNA Impact at Wembley Arena. These shows will air on the 17th and 24th of February. The arena was probably 80-90% full and looked great, with the usual rowdy (and easy!) UK audience. Many thanks to Adam for sorting out the free ticket!

In the much-hyped steel cage match, a major selling point of the event, Kenny King (playing a babyface) beat Zema Ion in about 5 minutes. I believe this will be shown on Xplosion.

Hulk Hogan started the Impact taping to a huge reaction and said tonight we would see four matches to determine the number one contender to the world title. He was very unclear about how the four matches would help him determine the top contender; rather than the winners progressing to a semi final and then a final, it seemed the matches would be an audition of sorts, with Hogan and the fans determining the winner. He didn't even specify whether the wrestlers involved would have to actually win their matches to earn consideration. The fans ate it all up though. Sting joined him to another huge pop, and announced that he'd be captaining a team against Aces and Eights at Lockdown.

Magnus defeated Daniels (with Kaz) in the first of the four matches. It was a good, if short, match with the crowd behind Magnus. The finish came when Kaz - who had interfered throughout - was ejected from ringside. Daniels tried to blindside Magnus but he hit his finisher for the win.

In the second match, Austin Aries and Robert Roode went to a double count out. It was a comedy match, but they did a good job with their Team Hell No knockoff material, including a pre-match argument on the mic. The finish came when Chavo and Hernandez walked out and goaded the tag champs into approaching them on the ramp. When the ref counted to eight, Aries and Roode realised they were on the verge of being counted out and battled to get back to the ring, but prevented each other making it. Aries was very popular with Roode getting decent heel heat. Of note, the fans booed Chavo and Hernandez.

In the third match, Kurt Angle and Samoa Joe went to a no contest when The Miracle Nepotism Connection of Garratt Bischoff and Wes Brisco jumped the rail and beat them down, but then ran off again when Angle and Joe fought back. The usual good match from Angle and Joe. It's difficult watching Angle, he's so noticeably beat up and I don't know how TNA can justify putting him on TV so regularly.

We then had a break from the number one contender 'tournament' as the next match was a six-person intergender contest featuring the acts who didn't win British Bootcamp, Party Marty and The Blossom Twins, against Gail Kim, Tara and Jesse. I'm not sure why Marty and the Blossoms were wrestling considering they lost the competition. The match was actually ok, featuring a long beat down of one of the Blossoms, who sold well. The finish saw Marty badly botch a dive onto Jesse outside the ring and land awkwardly. They rushed to the finish of Gail pinning a Blossom. Afterwards, with Marty being tended to at ringside, Gail cut a promo about wanting Tara's title, and invited Brooke Hogan out to make it official. Brooke was booed by a lot of the adult males. She announced a four-way match pitting Tara against Gail, Miss Tessmacher and Velvet Sky.

In the final contendership match, James Storm beat RVD clean. A good match which, you'd have thought, would set up Storm vs Magnus for the number one contendership.

One thing I noticed at this point was that the matches had all been somewhat rushed. Each one had the crowd hooked throughout and all could have easily gone another five minutes or so. I realise this was a TV show and TNA doesn't want to drive its audience away with too much wrestling, but these were hot matches with high stakes in front of a large, fully engaged crowd. Extending the length of the matches would have been a great way to show the TV audience that 'wrestling matters', in my opinion.

Hogan came out again. He talked in his usual platitudes about the tough decision he'd had deciding which of the eight men should face Hardy at Lockdown (surely by this point the original eight had been whittled down to two?!). Aces and Eights then surrounded the ring. Bully Ray and Sting made the save. Of note, Sting had a black cricket bat instead of his usual baseball bat. The sight of a barely mobile man approaching 60, his 53 year old friend with a cricket bat and their hobbling buddy was enough to scare off the seven gang members, and who can blame them? I'm guessing this is where the first show ended.

After a few minutes of Jeremy Borasch's stellar compering, the audience was then told to go wild (with the incentive that the TNA cameras would film it and they might get on TV). With the crowd in a frenzy, what should we hear but Hulk Hogan's music again. A clever way to open the second show.

Hogan talked about London feeling like home to him (an unbelievably cheap pop). Suddenly we were transported forward a week in time, as Hogan talked about 'last week's' matches to determine the number one contender. Who would it be? Storm? Magnus? Nope, Bully Ray.

Yes, that's right. TNA filmed an entire episode of Impact that revolved around determining the number one contender, only to completely disregard everything that happened and award the title match to someone who wasn't even on the list of candidates.

Bully Ray came out and cut a sycophantic promo saying all he ever wants to do is make Hulk happy, and talking about how he loves Brooke. Because the most important thing in TNA is not the world title, it's being tight with the Hogans. He said he couldn't take the match due to his injury. Then he randomly shifted to talking about Aces and Eights. He challenged them to a six man tag later in the show. So Bully Ray is too injured to fight Jeff Hardy in a few weeks' time, but he's ok to wrestle tonight?! He named Sting as his first partner, then led the crowd in asking Hogan to round out the team. After milking the moment, Hogan agreed.

To be fair, the crowd loved this. Bully did a fantastic job with some awful material, which probably sums up much of his TNA run.

In an eight man tag, James Storm, Joseph Park, Chavo and Hernandez beat Daniels, Kaz, Aries and Roode. Good match. Park was extremely over with the crowd. The heel quartet were a joy to watch; all are so talented at playing their roles. The heels worked on Park for most of the match, only for the tag champs' bickering to spread to their whole team, leading to Aries and Roode walking out on the match. Daniels was then thrown out of the ring and everyone beat up Kaz, including a second rope splash from Park that the crowd ate up. Chavo pinned Kaz for the win.

Rockstar Spud, the winner of Bootcamp (and possibly the worst-named wrestler in the world) then beat Robbie E after Robbie T prevented him using The List as a weapon. This led to an argument between the Robbies. E slapped T, who then took off his pink pullover, leading to E fleeing from the ring.

RVD beat Kenny King in an X Division title match. Good athletic match with a surprising number of the crowd supporting Kenny (although this may be down to TNA's odd choice to have him wrestle as a babyface in the first match of the night).

Samoa Joe then wrestled Garratt Bischoff. Lots of 'you can't wrestle' chants. I envisioned Hogan and Eric Bischoff telling Dixie backstage that the chants were aimed at Joe. Wes interfered for the DQ. Angle made the save, then cut a promo on Wes. He said he's glad he got Wes his job in TNA, because now they've been booked in a steel cage match at Lockdown.

The Knockouts Title match was next, so I took a toilet break. Walking back, I walked up the wrong staircase and ended up the other side of the curtain, in a blacked out section overlooking the backstage area (though still some distance from the wrestlers). It was a very basic backstage area, badly lit with a small TV set up in one corner. I watched the wrestlers mingle for about ten minutes, with nobody aware that I was there. Aces and Eights, Hulk, Brooke, Joe, Sting, Park, Chavo and Roode were there, and I watched Velvet Sky return to the back with her newly won Knockouts title. It was fascinating to watch, as a long-time fan and observer of the industry.

I stayed so long that, as I sat back in my real seat, Sting was being pinned in the main event. Hogan meanwhile was lying in the aisle while Brooke and Bully tended to him. Apparently Hulk had never made it to the ring so they had a handicap match. The insinuation was presumably that someone had got to him backstage (although I didn't see anything myself!). Aces and Eights beat down Sting in the ring as fans threw debris, which will look like a really hot ending to the show on TV. Babyfaces then stormed the ring and cleared the heel faction away, which I'm guessing won't air on Impact.

I was surprised by the lack of in-ring promos on the show. Outside of the Hogan segments, only Gail, Aries and Roode did any talking, and all of those were immediately before or after a match. Presumably they'll splice in backstage interviews when the shows air.

Overall, I thought the taping had all the good and the bad you get from TNA. Excellent performers at the top of their game (Daniels, Bully, Joe, Kaz, King, Aries, Storm, Roode) ultimately overshadowed by Hulk Hogan. I don't think there is much wrong with TNA right now. Even Aces and Eights are more bearable these days. The problem is that the 'wrong' stuff all revolves around Hogan, and he sucks the life out of the show.

The thing that complicates matters is that the TNA fans appear to absolutely love Hogan, which, I guess, in the eyes of Hogan, Dixie and Spike TV, justifies making him the focal point of the promotion. I'm pretty convinced that there are wrestlers in TNA who could potentially appeal to a far greater audience if put in the starring role, but they'll probably never get the chance, and for many the opportunity to be the next breakout star in wrestling has come and gone.

The Knockouts Title match was next, so I took a toilet break. Walking back, I walked up the wrong staircase and ended up the other side of the curtain, in a blacked out section overlooking the backstage area (though still some distance from the wrestlers). It was a very basic backstage area, badly lit with a small TV set up in one corner. I watched the wrestlers mingle for about ten minutes, with nobody aware that I was there. Aces and Eights, Hulk, Brooke, Joe, Sting, Park, Chavo and Roode were there, and I watched Velvet Sky return to the back with her newly won Knockouts title. It was fascinating to watch, as a long-time fan and observer of the industry.

Almost sounds like you planned it that way

It couldn't have worked out better if I had! I couldn't believe it, it was like I'd walked in on my own dream.

Did the set up seem very amateurish, did you het the impression that Hogan was calling the shot back there

glad there was a strong and hot crowd, TNA deserve more granduer from the impact! zone. Shame Hogan has to feed his ego even at his age but as long as the fans are 'happy' I guess TNA don't see any reason to change things - after all he is a wrestling legend. All in all though some entertaining matches by the sounds of it, looking forward to seeing it on tv.

bretmeharty wrote:Did the set up seem very amateurish, did you het the impression that Hogan was calling the shot back there

I think it was probably typical of a backstage setup, with people milling around waiting for their cue to go out. The wrestlers who had finished their night's work were either off getting changed or hanging around in the back chatting or watching the monitor. I didn't see Dixie at all but she came out at the end. I think she may have been in gorilla during the show, as I couldn't see who was there but I could see Brooke was talking to someone in that position.

I wouldn't say it was amateurish but then again it's the first time I've ever seen what goes on in the back so I had nothing to compare it to. I was a bit surprised that it was so dark back there, it did make me wonder how they film the backstage stuff in some of these venues (and probably explained the absence of backstage interviews, which I expect they will edit into the show back in the States)

I took a photo which I emailed to Adam and Chris but I'm not sure it would be legal to post it up here! Adam/hero, do you know if it would be allowed? It's hardly a great picture though, you can't really make much out.

I still think Jessie botched the move rather than Marty from my angle, he just didnt bother to catch him at all.

Will look great on tv, the atmosphere will come across as really stellar. The US audience always think we're the best crowds.

I can understand now why Sting and Hogan are still billed so strongly, the fans just cant get enough of them. Even I got excited by the prospect of seeing Hogan in a match, some sort of childhood ambition to be achieved, but then they took him out and my logical brain kicked back in.

There was nothing groundbreaking, it was certainly odd having them pretend a week had gone by, the fact Bully won a competition he didnt enter and also the Champ not being mentioned once.

Good move having Magnus and Spud both face for the UK tour, wonder whether either/both will go back to being heels when they go back to the Impact zone.