Impact begins with Hulk Hogan talking to Shaq.  Shaq wants to help Hogan out with his Aces and Eights problem.    The first two people to the ring are Kurt Angle and AJ Styles.  Kurt and AJ recently earned a title shot against Tag champs Kaz and Daniels, but so did the team of Hernandez and Chavo Guerrero.  Angle and AJ call out Chavo and Hernandez as part of “Open Fight Night” to determine which team is the real number one contender for the tag titles.

Match #1:  Chavo and Hernandez versus AJ Styles and Kurt Angle.  Chavo and AJ start the match off.  Each man gets the others back once, Chavo takes AJ down to the mat, and then AJ gets Chavo down with a headscissors.  Chavo tags in Hernandez and AJ tags in Angle.  Angle lands a series of punches and European uppercuts.  Angle whips Hernandez to the ropes and Hernandez runs over Angle.  Hernandez tags in Chavo and Chavo lands a pair of European uppercuts.

Angle responds with several punches before Chavo takes him down with a drop toe hold.  Chavo puts Angle in a headlock and Angle escapes by suplexing Chavo.  Chavo and Angle trade strikes, and then Angle takes Chavo down with an overhead belly to belly suplex.  Kaz and Daniels make their way to the ring to watch.

Commercial

When we return, AJ has Chavo in a headlock.  Chavo backdrops AJ and then tags in Hernandez. Hernandez knocks AJ down with a slingshot shoulder tackle. Hernandez gets AJ up on his shoulders and Angle comes in to save his partner. Angle and AJ try to double team Hernandez but he clotheslines both of them at the same time.  Chavo climbs to the top and hits Angle and AJ with a missile dropkick. Chavo hits AJ with a hurricanrana and then tries to follow up with a suplex. AJ blocks the suplex and knocks Chavo down with a kick. AJ tags Angle in and Angle hits Chavo with a German suplex. Angle applies the ankle lock to Chavo, but Hernandez makes the save.

AJ dropkicks Hernandez and Chavo takes Kurt down with a sunset flip.  Angle rolls through the flip and puts Chavo in the ankle lock.  Chavo escapes and tags in Hernandez, Angle tags in AJ.  AJ hits Hernandez with a flying forearm, Hernandez responds with a gut wrench suplex. Angle suplexes Hernandez and Chavo runs in.  Chavo tries the three amigos on Angle and hits him with 2 suplexes, but then hits AJ with the third one as AJ tries to help Angle.

Chavo climbs to the top rope but Angle runs up the ropes after him. Hernandez saves Chavo from Angle and both Angle and Hernandez take their fight to the floor. Chavo tries to hit AJ with the frog splash but AJ rolls out of the way.  AJ hits Chavo with the Pele kick, but before he can follow up, Kaz and Daniels run in and attack Chavo and AJ, ending the match.

After the match, as Kaz and Daniels are congratulating themselves, Hogan comes out and announces that at Bound for Glory, Kaz and Daniels will have to defend against BOTH teams; Angle/AJ and Chavo/Hernandez.

In the back, Al Snow is being asked about his confrontation with Joey Ryan last week.  Snow doesn’t feel like he was out of line slapping Ryan in the face, but he adds that he will soon find out whether he is going to get in trouble or not.  Commercial

When we return, Hulk Hogan is on the phone with Joseph Parks.  Parks is supposedly Abyss’ lawyer brother, but he’s obviously really Abyss.  Parks has been investigating Aces and Eights and claims to have new evidence.  Hogan says he is going to instruct security to let Parks in and wants to see him right away.

This week’s Gut Check contestant is 18 year old Evan Markopoulos, and he will be facing Douglas Williams.

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Match #2:  Evan Markopoulos versus Doug Williams.

The two men lock up and Williams gets behind Evan and takes him down. Williams backs off and they lock up again. Williams pushes Evan to the corner and then breaks. They lock up again and this time Evan pushes Williams to the corner. Williams slaps Evan across the face and then hits him with a couple of kicks.  Williams follows up with a European uppercut, a headlock, and then a headbutt to the gut.

Evan takes Williams down with a sunset flip, but Williams rolls through and hits Evan with a knee strike to the head.  Williams taunts Evan in the corner and Evan responds with a standing dropkick and a crossbody press. Williams knocks Evan down with a clothesline and then stomps him. Evan lands a couple punches and Williams answers with a knee strike and a suplex.  The two men exchange strikes, Williams gets the edge and hip tosses Evan.  Williams wraps up Evan’s head and arms in a submission hold and Evan taps out.

Commercial

When we return, James Storm makes his way to the ring to call out Bobby Roode.  Storm wants to fight his former partner as part of Open Fight Night, and Roode comes to the ring wearing a suit.  Roode was told last week that Storm was going to call him out, but Roode claims he isn’t ready to wrestle.  Storm calls Roode a coward, but Roode says he’s done with Storm and Storm can fight someone else.

When Roode makes his way to the back, he is confronted by Hogan.  Hogan tells Roode that if he wants to take tonight off, he might as well take the whole year off without pay if he doesn’t fight Storm.  Hogan gives Roode 3 minutes to decide.

Commercial

Match #3:  James Storm versus Bobby Roode.

Roode comes to the ring wearing his suit, but he starts to take it off as he heads to the ring.  Before Roode can get to the ring, Storm attacks him on the entrance ramp.  The two men brawl outside the ring for a while, slamming each other into the security barrier and beating each other with Roode’s shoe.

The two men finally make their way into the ring and Roode hits Storm with an inverted atomic drop.  Storm responds by clotheslining Roode to the floor.  Storm rolls Roode back in and Roode backdrops Storm out to the floor.  The two men braw some more on the floor, exchanging strikes and Irish Whips into the steel steps and security barrier.

Roode grabs Storms beer bottle and takes a sip before going after Storm with it. Storm lands a punch, takes the bottle away from Roode and has a sip. Roode swings a steel chair at Storm’s head but misses. Storm slams Roode’s face into a fan’s shoes.  The two men briefly re enter the ring before Roode knocks Storm back out to the floor. The two men brawl some more until Storm pushes the ref out of the way. The ref disqualifies Storm but they keep brawling.

In the back, Hogan gets a telephone call from Aces and Eights.  They claim to have kidnapped Joseph Parks.

Commercial

When we return, Austin Aries approaches Jeff Hardy in the back.  Austin offers to take off his sunglasses if Hardy agrees to open his eyes.  Aries says that while he knows he has something Hardy wants, (the world title) Hardy has something Aries wants: a Hall of Fame career. Austin wants the success and adulation Hardy has been getting throughout his career. Aries says he’s not the hunted, he’s the hunter, and he’s hunting Jeff Hardy.

Back in the Impact Zone, Tara is walking to the ring. She claims people want to know why she betrayed her friend Tessmacher. Tara claims the fans disgust her, and that her new boyfriend opened her eyes.  She claims to be the best female wrestler in the world, and to prove it, she calls out…Christy Hemme?  Christy comes to the ring and explains she is no wrestler, but Tara doesn’t care and starts choking Christy until Tessmacher comes to the rescue.

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When we return, Brooke Hogan is talking to Tara and she’s not happy.  Brooke tells Tara there will be consequences next week.

Hulk Hogan makes his way to the ring next to call out Aces and Eights. Hogan wants Joseph Parks back and is willing to trade himself. Hogan will go the Aces and Eights “Clubhouse” in exchange for the return of Parks. Aces and Eights seems to agree, and they show Joseph Parks, bound and caged in their “clubhouse”  They smash the computer Parks had been using for his investigation with a sledge hammer. Abyss, I mean, Joseph Parks, claims it doesn’t matter because he has all the info in his head.  So they hit him in the head with a sledgehammer.

Commercial

When we return, Austin Aries is calling out Bully Ray. Jeff Hardy beat Bully Ray recently to win the BFG series, and Austin wants to prove he can do anything Hardy can do. Bully Ray seems shocked, he claims people don’t call him out; he calls people out. AS Bully Ray makes his way to the ring, Aries does a spinning suicide dive to Ray on the floor. Aries beats Bully down outside the ring and slams Bully’s head into the steps. Aries rolls Bully Ray into the ring and the match is underway

Match #4: Austin Aries versus Bully Ray. Aries lands a kick, slams Bully into the corner, and then lands a punch and a kick.  Aries snaps Bully’s head down on the top rope and then climbs to the top turnbuckle. Bully pushes Aries off the top and sends him crashing to the floor.

Commercial

When we return, Bully lands a punch and an eye gouge.  Bully Ray pulls Aries back into the ring and puts him in a bow and arrow.  Aries escapes with a back kick, but Bully knocks him back down and lands a splash for a two count. Bully drops Austin with a body slam and gets a two count. Bully hits Aries with an elbow drop and gets another two count. Bully starts talking trash and Aries throws a punch. Bully ray lands a back elbow, a couple chops, and an elbow drop. Aries gets to his feet as Ray argues with the ref.  Aries lands a pair of chops. Ray tries a suplex but Aries gets out of it. Ray lands a couple chops. Aries lands a forearm, a punch, and a couple chops.

Bully Ray halts Austin’s momentum with an eye rake. Bully Ray throws a punch, Aries ducks it and hits Ray with a discus forearm. Ray hits Austin with a backdrop. Austin snaps Rays down across the top rope and then hits him with a missile dropkick for a two count. Ares tries a brainbuster, but gets back dropped by Ray instead. Ray charges Austin, but Aries dodges and hits Ray with a kick. As Ray and Aries fight, referee Earl Hebner gets knocked down and out. Aries hits Ray in the knee with a dropkick and then puts him in the Last Chancery. Ray taps out but the ref is still down. Aries checks on the ref and Bully Ray gets his chain.

Ray knocks Aries out with the chain and drags the ref over.  Ray covers Aries for 3 and gets the win.  After the decision an exhausted Bully Ray falls on top of/hugs Earl Hebner on the mat.  It almost looks like he is going to start dry humping referee Earl Hebner.  In some states, they would have to get married now.  I think from now on, whenever Earl Hebner is refereeing a Bully Ray match, the fans should chant “You screwed Earl” to Bully Ray.  Madison Rayne is going to be pissed.

After the match, Bully Ray grabs Austin’s title and is about to hit him with it when Jeff Hardy comes to the rescue.  Hardy picks up the title after Ray leaves and Aries sees him holding it.  Aries angrily takes his title back and they start arguing as Impact goes off the air.