The second taping of Impact Wrestling from Manchester, England, aired last night and was once again a pleasant viewing experience, mainly due to the large UK crowd’s participation. Due to overseas constraints, we were also treated to a lot more in-ring wrestling than usual, including Bobby Roode & Austin Aries winning the Tag Championships from Hernandez & Chavo Guerrero, and Bully Ray & Sting defeating Devon & Doc in a tables match. There wasn’t really any major storyline progression this week, but something tells me the happy ending with Bully, Brooke, Hogan and Sting won’t last long.

Garrett Bischoff and Wes Brisco address the fans:
Hot off their heel turn last week on Kurt Angle, the rookies Wes Brisco and Garrett Bischoff hit the ring with the rest of Aces & Eights to explain themselves. Bruce Prichard, D’Lo Brown, nobody saw this coming (accept fans who could see Brisco under the mask), but Brisco in-particular had some buried grievances. He blamed Hulk Hogan for not answering his calls for years and then forcing him to start at the bottom, when he’s a Brisco! He reminded the Hulkster that it was his father, Hall of Famer Gerald Brisco (way to piss on your own Hall of Fame) that gave him his first pair of wrestling boots and that he should respect his family.

Respect was also on the mind of young Garrett, who felt the booing audience weren’t showing him enough. He said to hell with them and turned to his new family the Aces & Eights. “We always have an Ace up our sleeve”, concluded Devon.

X Division Champion RVD def. Kenny King & Zema Ion (Triple Threat):
The X-Division ranks are pretty weak as of late and RVD appears to be going through the motions; that or the rookies aren’t pulling their weight. Either way something is just off and the excitement has gone.

The match immediately kicked off with high-flying action from both King and Ion to the outside, but it wasn’t long before the veteran secured his victory. As King went for the Northern Lights Suplex on Zema, RVD hit the 5 Star Frog Splash for the pin fall.

James Storm def. Jesse:
According to Jesse no stars have come out of the UK and they should be honored to have a true Hollywood hero like himself in their presence. The Cowboy James Storm was not about to let this douche ruin the party, so he bullied him in to an impromptu match. With blood coming out of his mouth hardway, Storm got the victory with a Last Call Superkick.

Say what you want about Jesse but he’s picked up some skill in an incredibly short amount of time and plays his character perfectly.

Bobby Roode & Austin Aries def. Chavo & Hernandez for the Tag Team Championships:
Last week Roode and Aries vowed to take all the gold in the company and cheated their way in to a tag title match for this week. The big question though is could they stay on the same page? The Bickering started right from their entrance, but they were able to work as a solid team and cut Chavo off from making the tag. It didn’t last however and Hernandez cleaned house.

When Aries and Roode collided in the ring, the It Factor appeared to walk out on his partner, but just before it was too late he reemerged to give Chavo a Spinebuster, allowing Aries to get the 450 Splash for the big title win!

Miss Tessmacher def. Tara:
Brooke Hogan had bigger things to deal with this week than whether Tara and Jesse should be flying in first class. To punish them for the interruption Jesse was barred from ringside during Tara’s match with Miss Tessmacher, and what a difference it made. Depressingly caressing the shirt of her Boo, Tara spent most of the bout calling out his name. Lacking the distraction from Jesse, Tessmacher was able to pick up the victory with the TessShot front Suplex. (As hot as Tessmacher is, somebody needs to tell her that violently vibrating her ass is not sexy. She’s like a special needs kid being inappropriate in social situations; either that or she’s trying to be ODB. WWE’s Aksana is sexy, Tessmacher is like a drunk college student).

Rockstar Spud gets hero welcome:
British Boot Camp winner Rockstar Spud was introduced to the audience for a home-country hero welcome, but before he could make a statement Robbie E, flanked by Rob Terry made his way to the ring. E said it was a travesty that Spud was given a contract “unless they’re hiring midgets”. He then jumped on the back of Terry and tried to make out the big guy was preventing him from attacking Spud.

Over the last few weeks Big Rob has become increasingly annoyed by his friend from New Jersey, and it all came to a head tonight. After incessantly screaming that “Robbie T does everything I tell him, he’d knock you our if I told him to”, the big guy turned on his partner and laid down for Spud to execute the classic schoolboy trip up. Has Rob Terry found a new friend to guard? Will he be Spud’s Diesel?

Bully Ray & Sting def. Devon & Doc:
Hulk Hogan said it was all on Bully Ray to end it tonight. Quite how a tables match ends it is not clear, but he’s no doubt out to impress his father in-law. Wearing the war paint the super over Bully worked the crowd in to a frenzy. He’s one of TNA’s few success stories and a role model for veterans looking to revitalize their career. Although it was not the best tag match the fans got what they wanted when Ray Chokeslammed Devon through the table.

It was all happy endings at the conclusion of the show, but how long will it last? Bully himself admitted to Hogan that he may be good to his daughter, but he’s still a bad guy!

Impact Post Show: