Impact Wrestling Review: The Main Event Mafia Further Develops, Are You In Favor Of The Reformation?

This week's episode of Impact Wrestling was brought to us from Peoria, IL. It was Open Fight Night, consisting of some participants involved in the Bound for Glory series calling out an opponent in hopes to gain points and have a high place on the leaderboard.

Hulk Hogan talking the participants was a decent way to draw emphasis on the BFG series. It is one of the most innovative concepts that TNA has established, and the fact that it will continue to be an annual event is a good thing. The melee to transition to the next segment was not particularly necessary, but was not completely useless.

Mr. Anderson vs. Joseph Park was bland for most of the match, with the end getting a bit better due to Park seeming like he had a chance to win. Anderson won, which was predicted, gaining seven points. His interaction with D.O.C in the subsequent backstage segment makes me wonder if we are going to see a nWo Hollywood vs. nWo Wolfpac reincarnation, which would be a horrible idea.

Austin Aries vs. Jay Bradley was also a very predictable match. I understand TNA stressing the importance of the Gut Check challenge, but Bradley should not have been the representative from those batch of competitors. I will compare his future BFG series success with the success of Robbie E last year, most likely scoring the lowest number of points.

Christopher Daniels vs. Hernandez was a good match, with Daniels picking up the win in typical heel fashion. Although this may be wishful thinking, I hope that he manages to make the finals. Daniels is arguably the best wrestler in TNA never to be a World Champion. Most likely, this series will not break that streak, but at least it can catapult him to a main-event push in the near future.

Magnus vs. Kazarian was also a good match, showing that both of these wrestlers deserve to be in the series. Magnus is the future of TNA, and gaining 10 points by making Kazarian submit is a step in the right direction. It would be only fitting to have Magnus win this series. He is the person that could carry the TNA banner for years to come, so he needs to be pushed as a main-eventer.

Brooke Hogan addressing the Knockouts in the ring seemed very unrehearsed. Hogan was tripping on her words, and many times was not able to maintain the flow of the conversation. Eric Young relinquishing the Knockouts Tag Team title was a good thing, and hopefully they become defunct. There are just not enough Knockouts to have three titles, especially when there were less than a half-dozen remaining after ODB left the ring. Velvet Sky being awarded her rematch and Gail Kim vs. Taryn Terrell in a Ladder Match should be good, but hopefully we get something fresh after these matches are over.

Samoa Joe vs. AJ Styles was a good match, and I suppose it being a time limit draw was appropriate for the momentum of them both. These are two of the favorites to be in the finals, so either one of them starting off with not getting pinned or forced to submit makes sense.

Jeff Hardy vs. Bobby Roode had some high and low moments, with Hardy getting the victory. Going back to what I mentioned about Magnus, hopefully there will be a surprising final four/five that consists of at least two rising stars or never-before champions. Hardy will continue to main event in TNA even if he does not make it far, so he does not have to be in the finals.

The Bully Ray promo which led to Sting unveiling the newest member of the Main Event Mafia was well-played. It is virtually a no-brainer that Kurt Angle was going to be the chosen one to align with Sting, but it was still good to see what transpired to make it official.

I just wonder what the total number of members of the Main Event Mafia will be. Sting said his goal is to end Aces and Eights. Since they have seven members (not including D-Lo), it would make sense for MEM to have seven. However, Bully Ray and Ken Anderson are involved in the world title picture right now, so that would make the number go down to five (even though Sting is feuding with Bully Ray right now). Moreover, it is pretty much a lock that we will see a MEM vs. Aces and Eights multi-person tag match at Bound for Glory, so they have to even out the teams. It will definitely be interesting to see who the next members of the MEM will be.

Sound off with you Impact Wrestling thoughts below.