Impact Wrestling 5-23-13: AJ Styles Stands Alone?

The show began with General Manager Hulk Hogan coming out to discuss the No Holds Barred TNA World Heavyweight Championship Match between Champion and the President of Aces & Eights Bully Ray and Challenger and TNA Hall of Famer Sting at the upcoming Slammiversary Pay-Per-View event. Hogan then has Sting come out; he then reminds Sting about the fact that he agreed that if he didn’t beat Bully Ray then he would never get another opportunity at the championship again for the rest of his career. While Hogan tried to persuade Sting into not going through with it, Sting made it clear that his mind was made up. Then, Hulk’s daughter and Knockouts Executive Brooke Hogan comes out and tells Hulk and Sting that she feels that neither one of them is at fault for all the power that Aces & Eights have gained, but that she is at fault because she was the one that fell for her estranged husband Bully Ray. Brooke was then about to resign as Knockouts Executive because she felt that it was best for TNA, but before she could, her father cuts her off before she does something she may regret. Bully Ray then comes out and claims that the reason he will never remove his wedding ring is because he still loves Brooke. Later on in the show, backstage, Brooke confronts her estranged husband about what he said earlier in the night and that she wanted to know what he meant when he said it. Bully responded by telling Brooke that it means that he still loves her before walking off. Look, Bully already pulled the wool over Brooke’s eyes once, as he did everybody else’s’, Brooke cannot let him do it to her again. Also, in a Three-Way X Division Match to determine who would be the third competitor in the Three-Way X Division Championship Match featuring Champion Kenny King and one of the challengers Chris Sabin at Slammiversary, the returning Suicide faced both Petey Williams and Joey Ryan, who was replacing an injured Zema Ion. In the end, it was Suicide who emerged victorious; therefore, it will be Kenny King defending against Chris Sabin and Suicide at Slammiversary. I can’t decide whether to root for Suicide or Sabin. Also, Sam Shaw was supposed to face his tag team partner Alex Silva in the Gut Check Tournament to determine who would move on to earn an opportunity to earn a spot in the Bound For Glory Series; however, as Shaw was waiting for Silva to come out, Aces & Eights came out to inform him that they had taken Silva out in the parking lot earlier; therefore, there was no match. Aces & Eights then went on to attack Shaw as well, before a returning Brutus Magnus came to his aid. Also, at Slammiversary, TNA World Tag Team Champions Chavo Guerrero, Jr. & Shawn Hernandez will defend against the team of Bobby Roode & Austin Aries, Bad Influence (Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian), and James Storm and a partner of his choosing in a Fatal 4-Way Tag Team Match. James Storm came out to announce who his partner would be, but before he could, he got interrupted by both Roode & Aries and Bad Influence. Then, Shark Boy, who was making his return to TNA, came out to state his case on why Storm should choose him as his partner. Afterwards, Robbie E came out to state his case. Following that, the returning Gunner emerged and took out both Shark Boy and Robbie E. He then approached Storm and Storm then shook his hand and told him that he would see him at Slammiversary. After seeing all of this transpire, we now know three things; Gunner is back, he is Storm’s partner for Slammiversary, and he has turned face. I will be rooting for Storm and Gunner in this one. Also, prior to the main event TNA Knockout Women’s Championship Match between Champion Velvet Sky and Challenger Mickie James, Mickie approached Velvet backstage and asked her if she was sure if she wanted to do their match due to the fact that Velvet was not 100% going into their match because of a knee injury. Velvet said that she was sure; therefore, the match was on. While I am a fan of both of these women, I was rooting for Velvet. In the end, Mickie targeted Velvet’s bad leg and then hit her with a DDT to get the pin and the win to become a 3-time TNA Knockout Women’s Champion. Speaking of the knockouts, while Gail Kim was being interviewed backstage about her upcoming Last Woman Standing Match against Taryn Terrell at Slammiversary, Gail claimed that there wasn’t going to even be a match because of what she did to Taryn two weeks ago. However, she was proven wrong when out of nowhere, Taryn came in and started attacking Gail until TNA referees and officials broke up the situation. Finally, The Aces & Eights came out for the official “Patching In” of AJ Styles. AJ came out and before he could put on his official Aces & Eights vest, Kurt Angle, AJ’s opponent for Slammiversary, came out and told AJ that it was his choice of whether or not to join Aces & Eights, but that if he did join, then he would be throwing away the legacy that he had built in TNA. Afterwards, AJ put on the vest. Then, Angle hit the ring, but was immediately ambushed by Aces & Eights. Bully Ray then handed AJ their hammer and persuaded him to hit Angle with it while the other members held him in place. AJ then hit Angle in the leg with the hammer. Afterwards, when Aces & Eights began to celebrate, all of a sudden, AJ used the hammer on them as well before hightailing it out of the ring. Not only is it apparent that AJ has not joined Aces & Eights, but it would also appear that the only person that he is loyal to is himself. I would also like to point out that I think that ringside attendant SoCal Val has turned face beacuse of the fact that she lead the crowd in attendance in an applauding of encourgement to one of the faces during his match. Next week, Impact Wrestling moves to it’s new time of Thursdays at 9/8 CT on Spike. One match to take place on Impact Wrestling next week is a tag team match between the team of Sting and Joseph Park against Aces & Eights members Team 3D (Bully Ray & TNA Television Champion Devon).