TNA Impact Wrestling
January 3, 2013
Borash kicks off the night in the middle of the ring with a giant trophy set up behind him. He welcomes us to the show, and we're about to reveal TNA's wrestler of the year, as voted upon by the fans. The finalists in contention make their way down: Bully Ray, James Storm, AJ Styles, Bobby Roode and Jeff Hardy. The World Champion makes his way out last, and is over huge with the Impact Zone. A drum roll sounds off, and Roode and Aries make their way to the ring arguing over who is going to win, but J.B. announces the winner, TNA World Heavyweight Champion, Jeff Hardy!
Hardy accepts the award and wishes everyone a happy new year. He says the trophy means just as much as the World Title, and Bobby Roode freaks out. He says that when he was the champion, he didn't give a damn about the fans, and nothing was more important on god's green Earth than the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. He puts himself over as the longest reigning champion in company history, to which Austin Aries interrupts. Aries says that not only was HE the longest reigning X-Division champion, but he beat Roode to win his World title. Roode calls him a fluke, and they start yelling at each other. Jeff Hardy says he's going to take both of them on, and makes the triple threat World Title match for Genesis.
Hardy tells them to remember 2012 as the "year of the enigma" and they beat him down. Aries grabs the trophy and tries to hit Hardy with it, but accidentally takes out Bobby Roode. Hardy gets the Twist of Fate on Aries and leaves the ring with his (broken) trophy and the World Heavyweight Championship.
Backstage
James Storm is headed to the locker room, and an interviewer tries to get a word with him. Chris Daniels and Kazarian interrupt him and do the interview themselves. Daniels does a great James Storm impression, talking about grits and a bunch of other stereotypical southern things. Storm stops them and laughs hysterically. He says he's going to kick Daniels in his Twitter, and smash up Kaz's Facebook, and a couple more social media references. Storm says he's going back to the ring, and the two of them can figure out who wants to get their ass kicked up next!
Commercial Break
(1) James Storm vs. Kazarian
Chris Daniels says he's going to "take this one", but as he's getting in the ring Kazarian attacks The Cowboy from behind. The bell rings and this match is underway.
Kaz throws Storm out of the ring, but he "skins the cat" and drops Kazarian with a clothesline. Kaz gets thrown to the outside and Storm launches over the top rope to take him out. Daniels distracts the referee while Kazarian blindsides Storm on the floor and tosses him off the barricade. The two roll back in the ring, and Storm connects with Closing Time out of nowhere! The Russian leg-sweep finds its mark, and Storm goes up top and comes down with a huge diving elbow, but only gets a two-count.
Christopher Daniels gets involved, but eats an enziguri from Storm. Kazarian comes off the top rope but gets hit with the Last Call Superkick on the way down! 1…2…3!
Winner: James Storm
