Written by Jules Ocean

Show begins with a post-show of last week, showing Bully holding Hulk’s hand as he lays on the mat.  It’s kind of lame, Bully respects him, but he’s not supposed to care about him.  Taz is not at the announce booth.  Here he comes through the sidedoors, with all of Aces & Eights.  He doesn’t really give a sensible explanation, other than he just wants to be a sheep following someone above him.  They could have came up with a little more reason here, how about because his old ECW friends are turning soft with love?  He joins the announce team afterwards.

VELVET SKY vs. TARA [Knockout Title]:  Velvet is back in her old attire, the catsuit wasn’t doing anything for anyone.  An underwhelming match, Tara can’t make gold out of Velvet.  She had a 3 count on Tara, but Jesse distracted the ref.  Tara then got the pin with Jesse holding down Velvet’s feet.  Ref Taryn didn’t see a thing.  Tenay and Todd are trying to grill Taz during this match, but he isn’t giving anything.

Joseph Park is out, and says he realizes now that he should be a wrestler, not a lawyer.  He is ready for next week in the UK, as he holds his passport.  He is going to compete in Open Fight Night.

KENNY KING & ZEMA ION vs. RVD & CHRISTIAN YORK:  Old men vs. Young guns matchup here.  A really good match, the kind of fast paced action the X-Division is praised for.  This is the kind of tag match I will sit and enjoy.  The finish came with RVD getting knocked out of the ring, and Kenny King nailing York with his finisher.  Zema sneaks the pin in, to an annoyed King.  After the match, Taz says he got a text, and has to go.

A segment involving Bischoff and Brisco looking for Angle is shown.  They ask Samoa Joe, who asks suspicious.  Angle finally shows up, and Joe leaves the 3 to talk, giving the young duo a snarly look.

Bully Ray and Brooke Hogan arrive, and head straight out to the ring.  He explains he doesn’t care that they hurt him, but he cares that they are hurting the people around him.  He will not sleep, until he kicks every single one of their bums.  He just needs Hulk to lift his suspension.  Sting’s music hits, and he is out to plead with Hulk.  He predicts that Hulk will re-instate Bully next week in the UK.

A segment between Aries and Roode deciding who should go against Hernandez later tonight.  Only mentioning because it is an absolutely hilarious exchange.

BOBBY ROODE vs. HERNANDEZ:  Kind of a boring match.  Roode was getting owned, when Aries came for the save.  Nandez gets distracted, and Roode is able to hit a big bulldog on Nandez for the pin.

Kurt Angle is back from injury, and he vents about A&E.  He says next week, he will call out Mr. Anderson for a match.  He wants to talk to him face to face right now, though.  Anderson arrives through the crowd, in full A&E gear.  No gray area anymore.  They really should have done more in terms of his heel turn, could have had such a bigger impact.  Anderson says he doesn’t wanna fight next week, he wants to do it now.  He attacks Angle, and bounces out of the ring.  Angle is mad, and says next week’s match will be in a steel cage.

CHRIS DANIELS vs. JEFF HARDY [World Title]:  This as a 10 minute bout, but it was very, very good.  Lots of high-impact, high-flying moves.  Very much an X-Division match.  Daniels hit angel wings for a near-fall, with Hardy grabbing a rope break.  Hardy is able to overcome the beatdown Daniels was giving, giving 2 Twist of Fates, and a Swanton.  Hardy retains his belt is a very excellent main event.  Afterwards, Taz goes to give an interview with Jeff.  Taz asks what he is going to when A&E leave him laying?  A member runs in, and clips Hardy’s knee with the ball-peen hammer.  For those that don’t know, Hardy has visa issues leaving the country, because of his past legal engagements.  He won’t make the trip to the UK, and they have to write him out programming.  I would have went with a full-on beatdown by all of A&E here, but whatever.

FINAL THOUGHTS:  Wrestling wise, some of the matches were on the lower end of the scale tonight, but the storyline progression was definitely making up for it.  A&E ran wild all over the show tonight, and I like it.  It really gives them an out of any storyline or character direction they want, being one injury or recruitment away.  Still disappointed in the way they turned Anderson, it needed to be done physically, not vocally.  The Taz turn went okay in it’s first show, save for Taz’s opening promo.  They really have the potential to do some real adult themed work here.  How about Mr. Anderson slowly succumbing to the lifestyle of A&E, developing an alcohol problem?  It looks like Aries & Roode are indeed primed to take the tag belts away from the Mexicans, finally.  No Joey Ryan or Morgan, tonight.  I am interested to see which matches they will thrust into the main event, with Hardy not able to star in the coming weeks.  Who will he face at Lockdown?

RATING 3.5/5