Hardcore Justice
Hardcore Justice, originally known as Hard Justice, was an annual professional wrestling pay-per-view event held by Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. The first event was held in May 2005 and since 2006, they have all been held in August. Until 2010, the event was known as Hard Justice. TNA dropped Hardcore Justice as a pay-per-view event in 2013 after announcing only four pay-per-view events would take place through the year and it was retained as a special episode of TNA's weekly broadcast of Impact Wrestling.
Event history
Pay-per-view
2005
The first Hard Justice event took place on May 15, 2005 at the Impact Zone in Orlando, Florida. Nine professional wrestling matches were contested at the event including one on the pre-show. The main event was for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship between then-champion Jeff Jarrett and the challenger A.J. Styles with Tito Ortiz as Special Guest Referee. Styles ended up winning the bout, thus winning the championship for the third time. On the undercard, TNA held a twenty-man Gauntlet for the Gold to determine the number one contender to the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. The match came down to Abyss and Ron Killings, with Abyss coming out as the victor. The TNA X Division Championship defense by Christopher Daniels against Shocker was another highly promoted match for the event. Daniels won the bout, successfully retaining the title. The Naturals defended the NWA World Tag Team Championship against America's Most Wanted on the card. The Naturals ended up retaining the tag team championship over AMW.2006
The second Hard Justice event took place on August 13, 2006 at the Impact Zone in Orlando, Florida. Ten professional wrestling matches were contested at the event including two on the pre-show. The main event was for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship between then-champion Jeff Jarrett and the challenger Sting. Jarrett retained the title after Christian Cage turned on Sting. In prominent matches on the undercard, A.J. Styles and Christopher Daniels retained the NWA World Tag Team Championship against The Latin American Exchange and Senshi retained the TNA X Division Championship against Petey Williams and Jay Lethal in a three-way dance.2007
The third Hard Justice event took place on August 12, 2007 at the Impact Zone in Orlando, Florida. Ten professional wrestling matches were contested at the event. The main event was a Winner Takes All match, in which Kurt Angle's TNA World Heavyweight Championship and IWGP Heavyweight Championship and Samoa Joe's TNA X Division Championship and TNA World Tag Team Championship were on the line. Angle won the match with the help of his wife Karen Angle to retain his TNA and IWGP titles and won Joe's X Division and World Tag Team Championships. The most prominent match on the undercard was a Doomsday Chamber of Blood match, in which Abyss, Andrew Martin and Sting defeated Christian's Coalition. Dustin Rhodes made his return to TNA as Black Reign and wrestled Chris Harris in the debut match of the character.2008
The fourth Hard Justice event took place on August 10, 2008 at the Sovereign Bank Arena in Trenton, New Jersey. Seven professional wrestling matches were contested at the event. The main event was a Six Sides of Steel Weapons match for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship, in which the champion Samoa Joe defeated the challenger Booker T to retain the title. Another heavily promoted bout was a Last Man Standing match between Kurt Angle and A.J. Styles, which the latter won. The card also featured a match for the TNA World Tag Team Championship, which saw Beer Money, Inc. defeat The Latin American Xchange to become the new champions. A New Jersey Street Fight was also held pitting the team of Christian Cage and Rhino against Team 3D. Cage and Rhino were the victors in the contest.2009
The fifth Hard Justice event took place on August 16, 2009 at the Impact Zone in Orlando, Florida. Nine professional wrestling matches were contested at the event. The main event saw Kurt Angle defending his TNA World Heavyweight Championship against Sting and Matt Morgan in a 3 – way match. Kevin Nash defeated Mick Foley to win the TNA Legends Championship. Other matches featured on the card included a Falls Count Anywhere match and a singles match. In the first, The Main Event Mafia defeated Team 3D to retain the Tag Team championships. The second was for the TNA X Division Championship, in which Samoa Joe defeated Homicide to win the championship. The event featured the debut of D'Angelo Dinero in TNA, who had previously worked for the WWE.2010
The sixth edition of Hard Justice was renamed to Hardcore Justice in honor of the Extreme Championship Wrestling reunion show theme that it adopted. It took place on August 8, 2010 at the Impact Zone in Orlando, Florida. The card consisted of entirely ECW alumni at the event. Seven professional wrestling matches were contested at the event. The main event saw Rob Van Dam defeat his former ECW tag team partner Sabu in the main event. Another heavily featured match on the roster saw Raven defeat his longtime rival Tommy Dreamer and Team 3D defeated Axl Rotten and Kahoneys in a South Philadelphia Street Fight.2011
The seventh Hardcore Justice event took place on August 7, 2011 at the Impact Zone in Orlando, Florida. Nine professional wrestling matches were contested at the event. The main event was for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship between the champion Kurt Angle and challenger Sting. Angle retained the title. Prominent matches on the undercard featured Beer Money, Inc. retained the TNA World Tag Team Championship against Mexican America ), Winter defeated Mickie James to win the TNA Women's Knockout Championship, Ms. Tessmacher and Tara defeated Mexican America to retain the TNA Knockouts Tag Team Championship and Brian Kendrick retained the TNA X Division Championship against Alex Shelley and Austin Aries in a three-way dance.2012
The eighth Hardcore Justice event took place on August 12, 2012 at the Impact Zone in Orlando, Florida. Eight professional wrestling matches were contested at the event. The main event was a Last Chance match, in which the champion Austin Aries defended the TNA World Heavyweight Championship against Bobby Roode. Aries retained the title, meaning Roode could not get another chance at the title as long as Aries was the champion. On the undercard, Zema Ion retained the TNA X Division Championship against Kenny King, Madison Rayne defeated Miss Tessmacher to win the TNA Women's Knockout Championship and Devon retained the TNA Television Championship against Kazarian.Television specials
2013
Hardcore Justice was the ninth Hardcore Justice event, which took place on August 15, 2013 at the Constant Center in Norfolk, Virginia. In 2013, TNA dropped most of the pay-per-view events and Hardcore Justice was retained as a special edition of TNA's weekly broadcast of Impact Wrestling. It aired as a television special on the August 15 and August 22 broadcasts of TNA's weekly flagship program Impact Wrestling.The August 15 episode featured four matches including two 2013 Bound for Glory Series matches and a steel cage match between Chris Sabin and Bully Ray for the World Heavyweight Championship, which Ray won.
The August 22 episode was headlined by a five-on-five loser leaves TNA match between The Main Event Mafia and A.J. Styles and Aces & Eights, which Mafia won when Styles pinned Devon, forcing Devon to quit TNA.
;Storylines
was the defending TNA World Heavyweight Champion heading into Hardcore Justice.
At Destination X, Chris Sabin defeated Bully Ray to win the World Heavyweight Championship by invoking Option C clause which stated that Sabin had to vacate his X Division Championship in trade for a World Heavyweight Championship match. The following week, on Impact Wrestling, Ray threatened to sue Sabin and TNA for using the hammer on him to win the title and demanded that Sabin returned the title which Sabin refused and then the TNA General Manager Hulk Hogan tore down Ray's lawsuit and announced that Sabin would defend the title against Ray in a steel cage match at the Hardcore Justice special episode of Impact Wrestling on August 15, in which neither Aces & Eights nor The Main Event Mafia would be allowed to interfere.
At Slammiversary XI, Bully Ray successfully defended the World Heavyweight Championship against Sting in a No Holds Barred match, with the assistance of his faction Aces & Eights. The match stipulated that Sting would not receive a title shot at the title again. On the June 13 episode of Impact Wrestling, Sting announced that he was bringing back Main Event Mafia to battle Aces & Eights, with Kurt Angle, Samoa Joe, Magnus and Rampage Jackson being announced as the members in the upcoming weeks. At Destination X, Main Event Mafia countered Aces & Eights' interference in the World Heavyweight Championship match between Bully Ray and Chris Sabin, which led to Sabin winning the title. On the August 1 episode of Impact Wrestling, Angle proposed a match to Aces & Eights, which would be a five-on-five loser leaves TNA match between the Mafia and Aces & Eights at Hardcore Justice, where the losing member would be forced to leave TNA, which Aces & Eights accepted. Angle was later removed from the match due to legitimately being admitted to rehab for drug and alcohol use.
On the August 8 episode of Impact Wrestling, it was announced that A.J. Styles, Austin Aries, Jeff Hardy and Kazarian would compete in a ladder match to gain 20 points in the Bound for Glory Series. A similar tables match was announced later on for the August 15 edition of Hardcore Justice in which Bobby Roode, Magnus, Mr. Anderson and Samoa Joe would compete with the winner earning 20 points in the BFG Series. A similar street fight was announced for the August 22 edition of Hardcore Justice in which Christopher Daniels, Hernandez, Jay Bradley and Joseph Park would compete to gain 20 points in the BFG series.
On the June 27 episode of Impact Wrestling, Mickie James successfully defended the Knockouts Championship against Velvet Sky. On the July 25 episode of Impact Wrestling, James defeated Gail Kim to retain the title after Kim got in the face of the special guest referee ODB, which led to her defeat. Sky returned to TNA and sat ringside for the match. This led to a match between Kim and ODB the following week on Impact Wrestling, which ended in a double count-out after both women began brawling outside the ring. On the August 8 episode of Impact Wrestling, the team of James Storm, Gunner and ODB defeated James, Robbie E and Jessie Godderz in a six-person tag team match, after which Kim distracted ODB, allowing James to attack her from behind. It was later announced that James and Kim would face ODB and Sky in a tag team match at Hardcore Justice. A singles match was later made between ODB and Kim on the August 22 edition of Hardcore Justice.
;Event
;Night One
The August 15 Hardcore Justice special opened with a ladder match between A.J. Styles, Austin Aries, Jeff Hardy and Kazarian, with the winner getting 20 points in the Bound for Glory Series. Near the end of the match, as Hardy was about to climb a ladder for the win, Kazarian's allies Bobby Roode and Christopher Daniels interfered in the match on his behalf as Kazarian took an appletini from Daniels and threw it into Hardy's eyes to knock him out and climbed the ladder and retrieve the clipboard to win the match and earn 20 points in the BFG Series.
Next, a tag team match was scheduled to take place pitting ODB and Velvet Sky against Gail Kim and Mickie James, but the match was abruptly changed into a three-way hardcore match due to Sky's injury. ODB nailed a Bam! on Kim for the win.
The penultimate match was a tables match between Bobby Roode, Magnus, Mr. Anderson and Samoa Joe with the winner gaining twenty points in the BFG Series. Christopher Daniels and Kazarian interfered in the match on Roode's behalf, with Daniels throwing an appletini in Magnus' eyes and Roode powerbombed him through the table to win the match.
The main event was a steel cage match, in which Chris Sabin defended the World Heavyweight Championship against Bully Ray. Near the end of the match, the referee was accidentally knocked out by Sabin and Ray. Sabin nailed a missile dropkick on Ray and then tried to escape the cage but Mr. Anderson interfered and slammed the cage door on Sabin. Rampage Jackson and Tito Ortiz interfered to counter Anderson's interference and Jackson attacked Anderson, during which Ortiz turned on Jackson by hitting him with a hammer, which distracted Sabin enough for Ray to deliver him a Bully Bomb and win the title.
;Night Two
was the surprise fifth partner of The Main Event Mafia on the night two of Hardcore Justice.
The August 22 edition of Hardcore Justice opened with Christopher Daniels, Bobby Roode and Kazarian announcing the formation of their new alliance called EGO and they invited Austin Aries to join the group but were interrupted by Gunner and James Storm, who confronted them, leading to a tag team match pitting Storm and Gunner against Roode and Kazarian. Storm was about to win the match by executing a Last Call on Roode but the referee got in the way, which allowed Roode to hit a low blow to Storm and roll him up for the win.
Next, Manik took on Sonjay Dutt. After a back and forth match, Manik executed a Death From Above on Dutt for the match.
Next, Christopher Daniels, Hernandez, Jay Bradley and Joseph Park competed in a street fight with the winner gaining 20 points in the Bound for Glory Series. Bobby Roode and Kazarian interfered in the match on Daniels' behalf until Austin Aries showed up apparently to be their ally but turned on them by hitting a brainbuster on Daniels and then brawled with Roode and Kazarian. Park then nailed a Black Hole Slam on Bradley for the win.
In the penultimate match, ODB took on Gail Kim. Kim took advantage of ODB's injured arm and pinned her with a crucifix for the win.
The main event was a five-on-five loser leaves TNA match between The Main Event Mafia and a fifth partner against Aces & Eights. A.J. Styles revealed himself as the fifth partner of MEM, thus turning into a fan favorite and abandoning his "Lone Wolf" gimmick to revert to his "Phenomenal One" gimmick and entering to his old entrance theme. Styles nailed a Styles Clash on Devon for the win, resulting in Devon legitimately being eliminated from TNA.
;Aftermath
On the August 29 episode of Impact Wrestling, Mr. Anderson voiced his displeasure of Bully Ray not discussing with him before adding Tito Ortiz into Aces & Eights, to which Ray said that Anderson must not be sensitive and Ray could take care of the business on his own which caused dissension within Aces & Eights. Later that night, he revealed Brooke as his on-screen lover and revealed that he had used Hulk Hogan's daughter Brooke Hogan to win the TNA World Heavyweight Championship and Hogan responded by saying that Ray would be defending the title against an Aces & Eights member at No Surrender. The following week on Impact Wrestling, Anderson cost Ray, a no disqualification match against Sting by tossing the hammer away from Ray and revealed himself to be Ray's challenger for the World Heavyweight Championship in a last man standing match at No Surrender, thus leaving Aces & Eights.
ODB and Gail Kim continued their feud as the two competed in a two out of three falls match on the August 29 episode of Impact Wrestling, which ODB won to become the #1 contender for the Knockouts Championship, which she won by defeating Mickie James on the September 19 Impact Wrestling. This led to a three-way match between ODB, Kim and Brooke for the title at Bound for Glory.
The Bound for Glory Series continued after Hardcore Justice as it was announced that the semifinals and final round matches would take place at No Surrender, where A.J. Styles defeated Austin Aries in the first semi-final and Magnus defeated Bobby Roode in the second semi-final. Styles would defeat Magnus in the final to win the 2013 Bound for Glory Series and become the #1 contender for the World Heavyweight Championship at Bound for Glory.
;Results
2014
Hardcore Justice was the tenth Hardcore Justice event, which took place on August 5, 2014 at the Grand Ballroom in New York, New York and aired as a special edition of TNA's weekly broadcast of Impact Wrestling on August 20, 2014.Five professional wrestling matches were contested at the event. The main event was a Six Sides of Steel match to determine the #1 contender for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship contested between Bobby Roode, Eric Young, Gunner, Austin Aries, Magnus and James Storm. Roode and Young simultaneously won the match to earn the title shot. On the undercard, Gail Kim successfully defended the Knockouts Championship against Angelina Love in a Last Knockout Standing match, Mr. Anderson defeated Samuel Shaw in an "I Quit" match, Samoa Joe successfully defended the X Division Championship against Low Ki and Bram defeated Abyss in a Stairway to Janice match.
;Storylines
Mr. Anderson had been feuding with Samuel Shaw earlier in the year as the two traded wins in a steel cage match at Lockdown, a Straitjacket match on the April 3 episode of Impact Wrestling and a Committed match at Sacrifice. Shaw would then be sent into a psychiatric facility for intervention and was released from the facility on the June 26 episode of Impact Wrestling under the supervision of Gunner, who helped Shaw throughout the duration. The following week, on Impact Wrestling, Shaw apologized to Anderson and Christy Hemme for his recent behavior. On the August 7 episode of Impact Wrestling, Gunner, Shaw and Anderson competed in a six-man tag team match against The BroMans, which the former trio lost and Anderson blamed Shaw for the loss. On the August 14 episode of Impact Wrestling, Shaw attacked Anderson during Anderson's match with Gunner, which led to an "I Quit" match between Anderson and Shaw at Hardcore Justice.
Magnus defeated Willow in a match at Slammiversary XII. On the June 19 episode of Impact Wrestling, Willow and Abyss attacked Bram and Magnus backstage after Bram and Magnus lost their World Tag Team Championship match against The Wolves. The following week, on Impact Wrestling, Bram and Magnus defeated Abyss and Willow in a Monster's Ball match. Abyss then disappeared from TNA for over a month until he returned to TNA on the July 24 episode of Impact Wrestling by attacking Bram and Magnus after Bram and Magnus attacked Mr. Anderson and Gunner. On the August 7 episode of Impact Wrestling, Bram defeated Abyss in a Monster's Ball match by using Janice. On the August 14 episode of Impact Wrestling, Abyss demanded that Bram return Janice to him and then Abyss challenged Bram to a Stairway to Janice match at Hardcore Justice, which was later made official.
At Slammiversary XII, Angelina Love defeated Gail Kim to retain the Knockouts Championship. On the July 3 episode of Impact Wrestling, Kim defeated Love in a rematch to win the title. Kim successfully defended the title against Love, Madison Rayne and Brittany in a four-way match on the following week's episode of Impact Wrestling. On the July 24 episode of Impact Wrestling, Love attacked Kim and Taryn Terrell during Kim's Knockouts Championship title defense against Terrell. On the August 14 episode of Impact Wrestling, Kim successfully defended the title against Terrell, Love and Sky in a four-way match. It was later announced that Kim would defend the title against Love in a Last Knockout Standing match at Hardcore Justice.
At Destination X, Lashley successfully defended the World Heavyweight Championship against Austin Aries. On the August 7 episode of Impact Wrestling, Lashley, MVP and Kenny King cut a promo about Lashley being the dominant champion who had beaten everyone until Bobby Roode challenged him to a match to put the title on the line claiming that Lashley had never beaten Roode. Lashley, MVP and King attacked Roode until Aries and Eric Young made the save. On the August 14 episode of Impact Wrestling, Lashley, MVP and King defeated Roode, Young and Aries in a six-man tag team match. It was later announced that Young, Roode, Aries, Magnus, Gunner and James Storm would compete in a Six Sides of Steel match at Hardcore Justice to determine the #1 contender for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship.
At Destination X, Low Ki, Samoa Joe and Sanada won their respective three-way matches to qualify for a three-way match for the vacant X Division Championship on the August 7 episode of Impact Wrestling, which Joe won. On the August 14 episode of Impact Wrestling, Ki defeated Crazzy Steve, Tigre Uno, Manik, Homicide and DJZ in a six-way elimination match to become the #1 contender for the X Division Championship at Hardcore Justice.
;Event
The event kicked off with a Stairway to Janice match between Abyss and Bram. Bram initially retrieved Janice by climbing the ladder but Abyss delivered a Black Hole Slam to Bram onto the thumbtacks. Abyss got Janice but then Bram hit a low blow to Abyss and hit him with Janice for the win.
Ethan Carter III, Rhino and Rockstar Spud cut a promo where EC3 addressed his aunt Dixie Carter being put through a table by Bully Ray a few weeks ago and held Rhino responsible for that which led to a confrontation between the two and then EC3 turned on Rhino by attacking him.
Next, Samoa Joe defended the X Division Championship against Low Ki. Joe tried to hit a muscle buster on Ki twice but Ki countered but then Joe managed to nail a muscle buster to Ki on his third attempt to retain the title.
Later, Mr. Anderson took on Samuel Shaw in an "I Quit" match. They began brawling backstage while Anderson was being interviewed by Jeremy Borash regarding his match against Shaw. After a back and forth match throughout the ringside area, Anderson forced Shaw to quit by crashing Shaw shoulder first into a ring post and applying an armbar on Shaw. Anderson refused to release the hold until Gunner forced Anderson to break the hold.
The penultimate match of the event was a Last Knockout Standing match, in which Gail Kim defended the Knockouts Championship against Angelina Love. Sky interfered in the match on Love's behalf throughout the match until Kim grabbed Sky and tossed her into Love and then Kim knocked out Love by hitting a Samoan drop from the top rope and Love was unable to get up before the referee's ten count, resulting in Kim retaining the Knockouts Championship.
The main event match was a Six Sides of Steel match between Bobby Roode, Eric Young, Gunner, Austin Aries, Magnus and James Storm to determine the #1 contender for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. Roode and Young simultaneously escaped the cage and were declared the winners of the match.
;Reception
This edition of Hardcore Justice marked the first episode of Impact Wrestling to air on Wednesday night. Due to moving from Thursday to Wednesday on one week notice, many fans were unaware of the change, the episode scored a 0.65 rating and was viewed by 852,000 viewers, making it the lowest rated and viewed Impact Wrestling episode since April 2010.
;Aftermath
The controversial win of Bobby Roode and Eric Young led to the Director of Wrestling Operations Kurt Angle making a match between Roode and Young to determine the #1 contender for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship on the September 3 episode of Impact Wrestling, which Roode won, thus setting up a title match between Roode and Lashley at No Surrender.
On the August 27 episode of Impact Wrestling, Rhino competed against Ethan Carter III in a match, which EC3 lost via disqualification after Rockstar Spud attacked EC3. On the September 10 episode of Impact Wrestling, EC3 defeated Rhino in a New York City Street Fight to end the feud.
;Results
2015
Hardcore Justice was the eleventh and final Hardcore Justice event, which took place on March 16, 2015 at the Impact Zone in Orlando, Florida and aired on a tape delay on May 1, 2015. It was featured as a special edition of TNA's weekly broadcast of Impact Wrestling.Five professional wrestling matches were contested at the event. The main event was a stretcher match between Kurt Angle and Eric Young, which Young won. On the undercard, Drew Galloway defeated Low Ki in a Pipe on a Pole match, Taryn Terrell retained the Knockouts Championship against Brooke, while Kenny King won the X Division Championship by defeating defending champion Rockstar Spud, Tigre Uno and Mandrews in a four-way ladder match and The Hardys and Davey Richards defeated The Revolution in a street fight.
;Event
The event kicked off with a street fight pitting The Hardys and Davey Richards against The Revolution. Abyss crotched himself on a chair, allowing Jeff to nail him with a Twist of Fate and a Swanton Bomb for the win.
After the match, Mr. Anderson confronted Ethan Carter III and Tyrus and challenged EC3 to a match on the May 8 episode of Impact Wrestling with the match stipulation be voted by the fans.
Next, Rockstar Spud defended the X Division Championship against Kenny King, Tigre Uno and Mandrews in a four-way ladder match. Homicide interfered in the match as King was trying to retrieve the belt by climbing the ladder but Spud bit King's hand and Homicide broke it and threw Spud down, allowing King to retrieve the belt and win the X Division Championship.
Later, Taryn Terrell defended the Knockouts Championship against Brooke. The Dollhouse pulled Terrell out of the ring as Brooke attempted to hit a Butterface Maker and then Brooke delivered a plancha to Jade and Marti Bell. Brooke then returned to the ring where Bell distracted her, allowing Jade to push her off the top rope and Terrell nailed a Taryn Cutter to Brooke for the win to retain the title.
The penultimate match was a Pipe on a Pole match between Drew Galloway and Low Ki. Galloway avoided a Warrior's Way by Ki and hit him with a pipe and then hit a Future Shock to Ki for the win. A brawl occurred between The Beat Down Clan and The Rising.
The main event was a stretcher match between Kurt Angle and Eric Young. Young attempted to nail a piledriver on Angle but Angle countered that into an ankle lock and Young tossed him into the turnbuckle and hit two piledrivers and then strapped him to the stretcher for the win.
;Results