TNA Impact 3/15/2012

Tonight, the contract signing between TNA World Champion and Sting for Victory Road takes place. James Storm squares off against Gunner in singles action. Also, Garrett Bischoff tries to last five minutes in the ring with Kurt Angle. This plus much more as this is the last stop before Victory Road on pay per view!

Total Non-Stop Action presents Impact
Date: 3/15/2012
From: Orlando, FL

James Storm makes his way down to the ring to kick off the show. Storm says that he has been waiting since November 3rd to get his hands on Bobby Roode and get some revenge as well. Storm considers Roode to be everything that is wrong with the world. Storm goes on to say that he is going to beat Roode’s ass, wants the World Championship and he is going to take take it at Lockdown! Storm thinks that Roode is going to need all the luck he can get come Lockdown. This brings out Bully Ray. Ray reminds Storm that he was the guy who kicked a chair into his face, but Storm mentions that he beat Ray to become the number one contender. Ray tells Storm that he isn’t going to make it to Lockdown because they are fighting at Victory Road and he is going to take Storm out. Ray ends up telling Storm that he will be wrestling Gunner tonight after Storm left the ring to get at Ray. Gunner comes out and has a brawl with Storm. Ray sneaks a shot in on Storm as officials break them up.

Backstage, Madison Rayne and Gail Kim are blaming each other for losing the Knockout Tag Team Championships. They run into Sting who books Kim in a match against Mickie James and Rayne in a match against Velvet Sky tonight!

Opening Contest: Madison Rayne vs. Velvet Sky
Sky seemed to have Rayne rolled up but wasn’t able to keep her down long enough. Rayne was able to roll through and roll Sky up while using her tights for leverage to win the match.

Backstage, Matt Morgan and Crimson are talking about getting their championships back. Morgan makes sure they are on the same page and tells Crimson that he needs to focus on Samoa Joe tonight.

Second Contest: TNA World Tag Team Champion Samoa Joe vs. Crimson
Late in the match, Morgan gets involved and after sending Magnus into the ring steps he drops Joe throat first across the top rope. Joe turns around and Crimson hits the spear to earn another victory.

TNA X-Division Champion Austin Aries makes his way down to the ring. Aries tells us that he is the the greatest, longest reigning X-Division Champion in TNA history! Aries thanks the X-Division wrestlers because without them the reign wouldn’t have been so great since they are only good and not great like himself. Zema Ion makes his way out to cut off Aries. Aries understands that Ion wants to be standing in his spotlight out here. Ion says he embarrassed Aries last week and proved that Aries isn’t as smart as he thought he was. Ion says that what happened to Jesse Sorensen can happen to Aries this Sunday. Ion warns Aries that he is dangerous and tosses some wine into Aries face. That causes Aries to spray wine into Ion’s face and that sends Ion to the floor.

Backstage, Joseph Park walks over to Gunner asking for some help regarding his brother Abyss. However, Gunner has a match and can’t help him out.

Backstage, Eric Young and ODB are talking about their wedding plans. They agree to get married on Impact.

Backstage, Kurt Angle blames Garrett Bischoff for him losing last week. He is wrestling Garrett tonight and doesn’t believe Garrett will last five minutes with him. Angle also says that Victory Road will be the last match Jeff Hardy ever has.

Third Contest: Non-Title
Mickie James vs. Gail Kim
Late in the match, James is able to baseball slide Kim off the apron and to the floor. While on the floor, Kim grabs her championship belt and as the referee is pulling James away, Kim hits James with the belt. Kim returns to the ring and earns a pin-fall victory.

Backstage, Mr. Anderson knows that AJ Styles associating himself with an asshole is weird. Christopher Daniels and Kaz come over and ask why Anderson isn’t with them because they are assholes too! Kaz knows how this movie ends… poorly just like Anderson’s movies. Good one, Kaz.

Fourth Contest: Christopher Daniels vs. Mr. Anderson
Mr. Anderson makes a successful return to the ring this week on Impact. Late in the match, Kazarian came out to get involved but AJ Styles yanked Kaz off the apron. Daniels ended up walking right into the Mic Check to give Anderson a victory in his return to the ring.

Backstage, Jeff Hardy says that Kurt Angle is the reason he isn’t the TNA World Champion and he made it personal.

Fifth Contest: 5-Minute Challenge
Garrett Bischoff vs. Kurt Angle
You would think that Angle would be able to easily dismantle Bischoff in five minutes. Well, that’s not the case. Bischoff was able to hang on in the ring for five minutes, though at the end of the five minutes Angle had hit the Olympic Slam to pretty much seal up a victory, but time ran out before a pin could be made. After the match, Angle slaps the referee and puts the Ankle Lock on Garrett. Jeff Hardy runs down to the ring and Angle bails to the floor.

Backstage, TNA Television Champion Robbie E believes that there is no one else for him to beat. So, at Victory Road he will be having another open challenge.

Main Event: James Storm vs. Gunner
Storm picks up the clean victory over Gunner after hitting the Last Call. After the match, Ray teases running down to the ring but stops and says in three days he will end James Storm.

To close the show, we have a contract signing between TNA World Champion Bobby Roode and Sting. Roode says he has been wondering why Sting has been a pain in his ass since he won the belt back in November. Roode mentions that 22-years ago Sting won his first World Championship by beating Ric Flair. Now, Roode thinks that Sting sees himself in Roode. Roode says he has the same traits, but he is just better than Sting ever was. Roode suggests that Sting get out of the spotlight and wonders if Sting is afraid to be forgotten. Roode gets in Sting’s face and tells that he isn’t afraid of the stupid face paint. Roode asks Sting if the truth hurts because Sting has nothing to say. Sting goes nuts by flipping over a table and chair and puts paint on his face. Sting also puts paint on Roode’s face as he beats up Roode in the corner. Sting clotheslines Roode over the top to the floor and pounds his chest as the show comes to an end.

Final Thoughts:
Impact continues the trend of their last show before the pay per view being the weakest of their shows for the month. It’s not a bad show, but it just felt really average and nothing all that great happened. The main event was weak, but some of the last minute angle progressions were done nicely. I will say that I’m interested in Victory Road and hope that Sting/Roode is a good fight. I feel like it will be and hopefully TNA doesn’t disappoint. As for Impact this week, I’ll give it a thumbs in the middle.

Thanks for reading.