KB Reviews TNA — page 29

Impact Wrestling – September 2, 2015

By Thomas Hall on 2nd September 2015

Impact Wrestling
Date: September 2, 2015
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Josh Matthews, D’Angelo Dinero

It’s full on war now as the Global Force roster attacked several TNA wrestlers last week with Karen Jarrett revealing that she was behind the attacks on Drew Galloway and Bully Ray in recent weeks. In addition to the invasion, it’s almost time for Bound For Glory, which really hasn’t been set up yet. Let’s get to it.

Rants

Impact Wrestling – August 26, 2015

By Thomas Hall on 26th August 2015

Impact Wrestling
Date: August 26, 2015
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: D’Angelo Dinero, Josh Matthews

It’s week three of the GFW era in TNA and there’s a chance that Jeff Jarrett is going to take over as the full time boss. There is no way this could go badly for TNA of course. Other than that we have Eric Young vs. Chris Melendez for Chris’ leg because they need something to keep the feud going. Let’s get to it.

Rants

Impact Wrestling – August 19, 2015

By Thomas Hall on 19th August 2015

Impact Wrestling
Date: August 19, 2015
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Josh Matthews, D’Angelo Dinero

We’re at war! Well, sort of. Last week the Global Force roster (well some of it at least) arrived to help out, with GFW boss Jeff Jarrett insisting that it was certainly not an invasion. It’s not clear where things go from here but they’re here for another night and Jarrett is in charge again. Let’s get to it.

Rants

Impact Wrestling – August 12, 2015

By Thomas Hall on 12th August 2015

Impact Wrestling
Date: August 12, 2015
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: D’Angelo Dinero, Josh Matthews

They’re here! Tonight is the first time we’ll be seeing Global Force Wrestling talent (other than the Jarretts that is) on TNA TV. With Bully Ray out of action, Jeff Jarrett has offered to be in charge tonight and have the GFW talent come in and help out for a night. I’m sure this won’t go badly for TNA whatsoever. Let’s get to it.

Rants

Impact Wrestling – August 5, 2015

By Thomas Hall on 5th August 2015

Impact Wrestling
Date: August 5, 2015
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: D’Angelo Dinero, Josh Matthews

Tonight is No Surrender as TNA presents another major show as a regular TV episode. The main event will see Matt Hardy challenging for the World Title against Ethan Carter III in a Full Metal Mayhem match, along with Austin Aries vs. Rockstar Spud for the Rockstar moniker. Let’s get to it.

Rants

Impact Wrestling – July 29, 2015

By Thomas Hall on 29th July 2015

Impact Wrestling
Date: July 29, 2015
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: D’Angelo Dinero, Josh Matthews

The big story coming out of last week is Matt Hardy earning the #1 contendership in a tables match over Bobby Roode. This was the result of the night’s main story being thrown out due to the Hernandez issue, which is likely going to cause even more problems tonight. Other than changing things up though, we do get Jeff Jarrett’s Hall of Fame induction. Let’s get to it.

Rants

Impact Wrestling – July 22, 2015

By Thomas Hall on 22nd July 2015

Impact Wrestling
Date: July 22, 2015
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: D’Angelo Dinero, Josh Matthews

We have a boss to counter the Reign of Carter now as Bully Ray was appointed the new man in charge last week. That leaves us in need of a new challenger as Kurt Angle is on the shelf, meaning we might be getting someone new in the main event scene. Other than that though, we have the fallout of Eli Drake turning on his former Rising teammate, Drew Galloway, after costing him the World Title last week. Let’s get to it.

Rants

Impact Wrestling – July 15, 2015

By Thomas Hall on 19th July 2015

Impact Wrestling
Date: July 15, 2015
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: D’Angelo Dinero, Josh Matthews

There isn’t much to go off from last week, but the big story is the reveal of the new authority figure, hand picked by Dixie Carter to keep her nephew and World Champion Ethan Carter III in line from letting all the power going to his head. Something tells me this won’t be the most thrilling announcement (because there isn’t a thrilling announcement out there) but maybe it’s better than I’m expecting. Let’s get to it.

Rants

Impact Wrestling – July 8, 2015

By Thomas Hall on 10th July 2015

Impact Wrestling
Date: July 8, 2015
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: D’Angelo Dinero, Josh Matthews

We’re officially in the Ethan Carter III era, which means tonight is going to be a big celebration. It’s going to be interesting to see where the company goes with Ethan on top, because he was clearly the next logical choice to take the title. Oh and Dixie is back. Yes, about a year after she left, Dixie Carter makes her big return tonight to either congratulate or help deal with her nephew, because the world just wouldn’t be complete without the Duchess of Darlin out there to guide us through life. Let’s get to it.

Rants

Impact Wrestling – June 24, 2015

By Scott Keith on 24th June 2015

Impact
Wrestling

Date:
June 24, 2015

Location:
Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida

Commentators:
Josh Matthews, D’Angelo Dinero

Tonight
is the go home show for Slammiversary, but it’s also a special
live(ish) episode which has been built up as a big deal. However,
there’s also the major show next week with the World Title showdown
between champion Kurt Angle and the undefeated Ethan Carter III.
It’s not really clear which of these are the biggest or which is
going to take a backseat to the others. Let’s get to it.

Ethan
Carter III and Tyrus arrive and have a great idea in mind for Kurt
Angle’s surprise opponent.

We
recap last week with Full Metal Mayhem being announced for tonight.

Here’s
World Champion Kurt Angle with something to say. Carter’s road to
the title stops next week, so why doesn’t he just bring out the
mystery opponent right now. This brings out Carter and Tyrus with
the former saying Angle looks like it’s going to take an army of
10,000 men to drag him off his mountain. However, it’s going to take
one and guess who that one is going to be. Angle cuts him off and
says two things are going to happen: Carter is going to tap next week
and the mystery opponent is going to tap tonight.

Carter:
“Tap-a-roo Kurt!” Ethan lists off all the people he’s defeated
and knows he can beat anyone. “Bring forth your heroes and I will
sacrifice them on my altar of perfection.” Angle says no one can
help Carter next week because he’s tapping out next week. Carter
teases coming to the ring but instead introduces the mystery
opponent: MATT HARDY! Yeah that Matt Hardy. It really doesn’t make
it any bigger of a deal when you think about it extra.

X-Division
Title: Tigre Uno vs. Low Ki vs. Grado

Tournament
final so the title is vacant coming in. Low Ki slaps Grado in the
face to start but Grado comes back with some snap jabs, only to get
chopped back down. Tigre gets back in and is knocked down just as
fast but Grado takes too much time going up top, allowing Low Ki to
shove him down and hit Warrior’s Way for….an elimination at 2:24.
That’s the first mention of this not being one fall to a finish.
Tigre gets a quick two off a rollup but Ki kicks him down. Ki gets
crotched on top though and a Phoenix Splash gives Tigre the title at
5:11 total.

Rating:
C-. I feel sorry for the
X-Division guys because they’re stuck with these five minute matches
and no time to ever develop anything but it’s supposed to be this big
deal. Tigre Uno is just another guy holding the title for a
meaningless reign before the main eventers take over around
Destination X time next year.

Bram
takes over an interview and again
calls out any former members
of the roster. He leaves
and someone with a big glove grabs JB’s shoulder. JB: “It’s time!”

Taryn
Terrell yells at Marti and Jade for not taking care of Kong and
Brooke last week. This Sunday, it’s a 3-2 handicap match, because
why have a title match when you can have a match that belongs on any
given episode of TV?

We
run down the Slammiversary card: James Storm vs. Magnus, Jesse
Godderz vs. Robbie E., Lashley/Mr. Anderson vs. Tyrus/Ethan Carter
III. That’s all we have so far, plus the aforementioned handicap
match.

Velvet
Sky vs. Angelina Love

If
Velvet wins, she’s back on the roster full time. Sky takes her down
to start and throws Love to the floor for a whip into the post. Back
in and Angelina pulls her off the middle rope and hits Lights Out for
two, setting off a lot of screaming at the referee. A Stunner plants
Love for the pin out of nowhere at 5:24.

Rating:
D. Yay. I mean that with full
sincerity. I’m so glad that a Knockout who was nothing above average
on her best day in the ring is back to take a spot and some of the
spotlight away from the awesome Dollhouse act. Sky and Love stopped
being interesting a few years ago when it was clear that nearly every
story they were ever involved with was about the Beautiful People.
Boring match here and the ending does nothing to me.

The
Dirty Heels don’t remember learning about tables, ladders and chairs
in wrestling camp, but think the dirtier things get, the better their
chances.

Another
playtime is over vignette.

MVP
is back and rips on internet journalists. The war with the Rising is
still on. It should be noted that these backstage segments are being
shot with a really bad camera, which makes everything look like it’s
about half a second slower than it should be.

Dirty
Heels vs. Wolves

Full
Metal Mayhem, meaning TLC but with pins. If the Wolves win they’re
champions, but if the Heels win then there’s one more match. The
Heels (Austin Aries/Bobby Roode) throw the weapons out before the
Wolves (Eddie Edwards/Davey Richards) come to the ring. It’s a brawl
to start and all four get chairs, with the Wolves knocking the Heels’
chairs out of their hands to send them back to the floor. Aries and
Roode take a breather on the floor but are smart enough to raise a
ladder to stop a double suicide dive.

We
take a break and come back with the Heels in control and taking in
seat in some chairs for stereo chinlocks. The Wolves fight up and
bring in some weapons to clean house. They knock the Heels to the
floor for three straight suicide dives before a trashcan lid
shot/falcon’s arrow gets two on Roode. Davey wraps a chain around
his boot but gets caught in the Last Chancery, only to have Edwards
make a save.

Back
up and a missile dropkick/powerbomb combination puts Edwards through
a table for two. The Wolves toss into a kick (with the chain over
the boot) gets a very close two but Aries gets caught inside a
trashcan for chair shots and a double dropkick from the top. The
Wolves load up Aries, still in the trashcan, for a powerbomb but
Roode low blows Eddie to put Aries on top for the pin at 18:13.

Rating:
B. I don’t care. That’s the
problem with this series: it feels like they’re trying to copy the
awesome three way tag team series last year but the matches really
aren’t all that great. They’re just going through the motions and
having decent matches, but there’s nothing that makes me want to
watch them fight five times.

Matt
Hardy doesn’t think much of Ethan Carter III and doesn’t explain why
he agreed to fight for him tonight. Carter comes up and says if
Hardy wants a title shot, he needs to kiss the ring. Hardy asks what
happens if Carter loses next week.

And
now, here are Jeff Jarrett and Karen Jarrett of Global Force
Wrestling. Jeff says he’s shocked that he’s here too. A week ago,
he got a message from TNA management, who asked him to come back for
a match. He almost hung up there because he doesn’t even wrestle for
his own promotion. However, they said it was his own match: the King
of the Mountain match at
Slammiversary.

It
brought back a lot of memories for him, such as Kurt Angle jumping to
TNA and Samoa Joe headbutting Angle and busting him open and a punk
kid from north Georgia named AJ Styles becoming the greatest wrestler
this company ever had. Or a team called Beer Money becoming the best
team this company ever produced and Eric Young having more TV shows
than Ryan Seacrest.

Over
the last fourteen months, Jarrett has spent all his time building up
Global Force Wrestling, but he started thinking about what his wife
would think about all this. Karen talks about all the time and
effort they’ve put into Global Force Wrestling, which is now their
life. But then Jeff started talking about all his memories and she
understood what this meant to him.

She’s
still not sure why they’re here, but she knows this is what they need
to be doing. This morning
she was on the phone with Sonjay Dutt, and it became clear to her
that her husband didn’t leave on his terms. This Sunday, Jarrett is
finishing this on his terms one last time. So
yeah, after all the hype for the hours before this show, it seems
that it’s Jarrett coming in for one match on
a nothing show and that’s it
for now. Some game changer.

Bram
vs. Vader

Yes,
that Vader, who wrestled one match for TNA back in 2003. Vader
is in workout gear and runs
Bram over to start before hitting his big clothesline. More
power offense sets up the Vader Bomb for two and Bram hits him in the
ribs with a pipe for the DQ at 3:40.

Rating:
F. Considering Vader is about
58 years old, this wasn’t bad. What is bad is the fact that they
actually had Bram hit him with a metal pipe instead of pinning him
like he should have done to a veteran like Vader. This dumb, dumb
booking is so old at this point, but at least Vader looked fine.

Post
match Matt Morgan comes out for the save and knocks Bram to the
floor.

Sgt.
Chris Melendez vs. Eric Young

This
was set up a few weeks back when Young choked Melendez with his
prosthetic leg. Young takes
over to start as the announcers act like this is the biggest show in
the history of ever. Young plants him with a DDT for two and gets
the same off a neckbreaker. We
hit a chinlock for a bit before Young tries to rip the leg off again.
Melendez fights back, ducks
his head and gets piledriven for the pin at 3:47. This was a squash.

Rating:
D. The match sucked for the
most part and I don’t like Young, but this was the only way this
booking should have gone. Young is a former World Champion and spent
the last month fighting Kurt Angle. Melendez is a rookie with a
handicap and no important wins to his name. There was no reason for
this to be a competitive match and it wasn’t in the slightest.

Back
from a break with the Rising fighting the Beat Down Clan because
THESE TWO TEAMS HAVE TO FIGHT FOREVER BECAUSE THERE IS NOTHING ELSE
THEY CAN POSSIBLY EVER DO. Hernandez
returns and helps the BDC clean house.

Match
#5 in the Tag Team Title series is next week. Also next week: Taryn
defends the Knockouts Title against Brooke and Awesome Kong.

Matt
Hardy vs. Kurt Angle

Non-title.
Hardy takes over to start
as Josh (incorrectly) calls this a first time ever match. Angle
slams Matt down and grabs a chinlock. A
quick slugout sets up rolling Germans from Angle followed by an Angle
Slam for two. With both guys down, Josh announces Aries vs. Richards
for Slammiversary with the winner getting to pick the stipulations
for the fifth match next week. Matt misses the moonsault and gets
Germaned some more, only to come back with a Side Effect. The
Twist of Fate gets two but Angle countered a second attempt into the
ankle lock for the tap at 6:58.

Rating:
C. This was fine. Matt was a
weird choice for an opponent when Carter has his own personal
bodyguard walking around but almost never having a match of his own.
Still though, good enough here, even though it was just trading
finishers for a few minutes until they got to the ending.

Ethan
Carter III and Tyrus come out but Angle fights them off and makes
Carter tap to end the show.

Overall
Rating: D. This was like TNA’s
Greatest Hits in one night. Let’s see: gimmick match that didn’t
need to be a gimmick match, a bunch of returns that don’t mean much,
a table war that no one wants to see, a legend beating a young up and
comer for no logical reason and a meaningless title change.

When
the big news broke about the Jarretts being back, I had hope. I
wanted to believe that something was actually going to change around
here because I want it to change. I want TNA to be fun again, but
instead it’s the same stuff we’ve seen forever: short term thinking
with stuff like Slammiversary being treated like the least important
show since…..well since their last pay per view actually.

It’s
so frustrating watching a company that has so many good pieces
consistently screw things up. There
was so much potential over the years in TNA but they’ve spent so much
time messing up everything over the years that I can’t bring myself
to buy into them again. Now it seems like their time is measured in
months and then….they’re probably going to hang around because
Dixie can talk people into letting her get on TV and then screw up
another deal, all the while wasting all the talent and potential they
have. The show tried, but as usual they were going in the wrong
direction most of the night.

Results

Tigre
Uno b. Grado and Low Ki – Phoenix splash to Low Ki

Velvet
Sky b. Angelina Love – Stunner

Dirty
Heels b. Wolves – Low blow to Edwards

Vader
b. Bram via DQ when Bram used a pipe

Eric
Young b. Chris Melendez – Piledriver

Kurt
Angle b. Matt Hardy – Ankle lock

Remember to check out my website at kbwrestlingreviews.com and head over to my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

Rants

Impact Wrestling – June 17, 2015

By Scott Keith on 17th June 2015

Impact
Wrestling

Date:
June 17, 2015

Location:
Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida

Commentators:
Josh Matthews, D’Angelo Dinero

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

We’ve
got two weeks to go before Slammiversary and it’s time to start
building towards the main event of the TV show two weeks from
tonight. Yeah the Carter vs. Angle World Title match is going to be
held on Impact instead of at the pay per view due to some scheduling
issues. That is of course TOTALLY different than TNA being a poorly
run company who couldn’t figure out that having a pay per view the
day after a TV taping was really, really stupid. Let’s get to it.

We
open with a tribute to Dusty Rhodes, who used to be the authority
figure here back in the early days.

It’s
time for Angle and Carter to sign the contract. In an interesting
case, this is coming just after a contract signing closed Ring of
Honor. Carter gets to talk first by talking about Angle beating
Heartbreak Kids, Texas Rattlesnakes, Dead Men, Immortals,
Electrifying Men, Rated R Superstars and some people you can’t even
see. He’s also beaten submission machines, phenomenal ones, icons
and charismatic enigmas (the first person mentioned actually still
with this company. And shouldn’t those all be singular since Angle
only beat one each?) but the World Title reigns ends with Carter.

Angle
praises Carter, but thinks he’s a disrespectful punk. This time
around, Kurt is healthy and ready because he’s been here before.
Once Carter loses, it’s going to haunt him for the rest of his life.
Both guys sign, but they also get to pick an opponent for each other.
Angle gets to go first, and he picks Lashley to face Carter. Not a
bad choice. Carter gets to pick next week on a live show.

The
X-Division Title will be decided next week. Man just scrap
Slammiversary and put on a Barney Miller marathon.

We
recap the Tag Team Title series to this point, with the Wolves
currently up 2-1.

Here
are the Wolves with Davey talking about how they’ve fought around the
world to be the best tag team in the world, and that’s what those
belts mean. They’ve beaten the BroMans, the Hardys and Team 3D
already and now it’s time for the Dirty Heels. Last time the Heels
cheated to win, but the Wolves won’t get fooled again. Good line but
points off for a WOLVES NATION shirt. Stop just putting a word in
front of nation and thinking it sounds good.

Edwards
wants to do match four right now, so here’s Roode sans Aries. Austin
isn’t here tonight because he’s healing up after last week, so
there’s no match. Eddie thinks a singles match is in order and Roode
doesn’t think so, but he’ll do it if the winner gets to pick the
stipulation for next week. The Wolves are fine and it’s time to go.

Bobby
Roode vs. Eddie Edwards

Roode
hammers away to start but Eddie kicks him outside for a big suicide
dive. Back in and a clothesline gets two for Eddie but he runs into
an elbow to the jaw. A Hennig necksnap puts Eddie down again as
Roode is a heel this week. It’s good to know as it varies so often.
Roode’s chinlock doesn’t go anywhere as Edwards comes back with a leg
lariat.

The
announcers call last week’s Aries vs. Angle match five stars. At
least this time they’re waiting until after the match happened to
praise it. There’s a backpack Stunner for two on Roode but he comes
back with a spinebuster for the same. Roode tries to bring in a
chair but Richards gets on the apron for some reason, earning him a
swing from Bobby. The distraction lets Eddie get a rollup pin at
8:22.

Rating:
C. This brings up the problem
with the entire series: the matches are just ok. They’re not bad or
anything, but I barely remember them a few minutes after they
happened because they’re just coming and going as we wait for the big
match to come for the titles to exist again. The ending made no
sense either as the Wolves wound up cheating instead of the Dirty
Heel. This story hasn’t been great since it started and it’s losing
steam every week.

Davey
makes match #4 Full Metal Mayhem. So what’s #5 going to be? Another
regular match?

Joseph
Park is back, minus his law firm, money or teeth. He’ll face Bram
tonight and get to be the guy on top for the first time. So we’re
just forgetting that he knows he’s Abyss I guess? Does that mean
we’re done with the Revolution too?

We
get a ten second video of Drew Galloway talking about how much he
loves wrestling.

Bram
vs. Joseph Park

Park
tries to lecture Bram before the match and gets punched in the face.
Bram slugs away but misses a chair shot, allowing Park to get in some
shots of his own. Now it’s table and kendo stick time as I guess
this is a hardcore match. It was never announced as one but sure why
not. Park comes back with some kendo stick shots and a chokeslam for
two. Back up and Park misses a spear through the table, allowing
Bram to get the pin at 3:53.

Rating:
F. A guy as talented as Bram is
stuck in the hardcore story because there’s nothing else for him to
do right now because they’ve killed off the singles titles other than
the World Title and now we’re sitting here watching him against
Joseph Park. Bad match here and Bram doesn’t even get to hit his
finisher to win? Horrible stuff.

Taryn
has a deal for Brooke
and Awesome Kong: if they beat the Dolls tonight, they both get a
title shot. If they lose, neither can ever have a shot again.

The
world is ready to burn and playtime is over. No idea what that is
for.

Marti
Bell/Jade vs. Brooke/Awesome Kong

Brooke
gets jumped in the aisle but here’s Kong for the save. The bell
rings and Kong runs Jade over before it’s off to Brooke, who doesn’t
have the same luck. Brooke
fights off some double teaming but gets thrown right back into the
corner as the announcers debate their taste in women. Brooke
avoids a charge and spears Jade down, allowing for the tag to Kong.
A chokeslam plants Marti and Brooke climbs onto her shoulders for a
big elbow and the pin at 6:24.

Rating:
D. This wasn’t the worst in the
world but good grief Josh is getting on my nerves. Between talking
about the number of days the champions have held their titles and
calling Dinero the heel commentator, he becomes more of a combination
of Cole and Striker every week. Nothing match here as the finish was
obvious, though the story wasn’t bad.

We
recap the hardcore war which ended with Eric Young choking out Chris
Melendez with Chris’ prosthetic leg.

Chris
Melendez wants to fight Eric Young right now. This brings Young out
to praise Melendez for being an American hero, but Young just doesn’t
care. He cares about no one but himself because there’s no reason
for Melendez to be in the same ring as Eric Young. Does Chris really
want to be here all alone next week? Chris says he’s ready. Young
was just a jerk here and not crazy, making him FAR more effective as
a heel. Melendez is nothing though.

DJZ
vs. Jesse Godderz

Godderz
laid DJZ out last week so DJZ charges right at him to start and nails
a jawbreaker and middle rope back elbow (love that move). Back up
and Jesse slams him down by the arm, setting up a Boston crab for the
submission at 1:43.

Post
match Godderz cuts a really, REALLY good promo about how he was the
BroMans because he was the only one training while Robbie was on a
reality TV show and DJZ was in some bar making funny noises. He
rants about how Robbie was nothing until he joined the team and now
DJZ is nothing either. Jesse gorilla presses him up but Robbie makes
his big return and shows more fire than ever before. I’m actually
digging this.

We
look back at James Storm possibly murdering Mickie James a few weeks
back.

Here’s
a livid Magnus, two weeks after Mickie was attacked. He isn’t
letting this show continue until he gets James Storm out here one on
one. Here’s Storm to call Magnus the crazy jealous one for having
Mickie followed by cameras. “What do you think was happening when
those cameras weren’t there?” Magnus is held back by security but
Storm brings out a baby stroller, presumably carrying Mickie and
Magnus’ son.

James
calls it his insurance policy but walks down the aisle without it.
He says Mickie is a sorry excuse for a woman and Magnus is a sorry
excuse for a man, which is finally enough to get Magnus past
security. Storm kicks the baby stroller off the stage and of course
it’s just a doll.

Video
on Ethan Carter III.

Ethan
Carter III vs. Bobby Lashley

Lashley
throws him down to start and nails a hard clothesline before just
running Carter over. Tyrus finally grabs Lashley’s boot to stop his
boss’ pain but Lashley easily suplexes Carter over. Another Tyrus
distraction lets Carter get in a dropkick off the apron to take over.
The match isn’t bad so far but I can’t take much more of Josh
talking about the number of days Carter has been undefeated. Carter
slows him down with a chinlock for a bit before having to escape a
torture rack.

Lashley
scores with a powerslam for two but Tyrus puts a chair in the corner.
The spear hits the chair (Earl Hebner has zero issue with this) and
Carter gets two off a DDT. The 1%er is countered and the referee
goes down (like it matters), right before the spear connects. Cue
another referee but Tyrus takes him out and gives Lashley a Big
Ending, setting up the third referee to count two, earning him a shot
from Tyrus. Lashley spears Tyrus but gets speared down, only to get
nailed in the back with a chair, setting up the 1%er to give Carter
the pin at 9:26.

Rating:
D+. This was straight out of
the Russo playbook with two chairs, three ref bumps and interference
in less than ten minutes. Angle was nowhere in sight to help even
the odds because the script didn’t say he was supposed to and the
whole thing was just way too much. It didn’t help that Josh was
driving me up the wall with his counting the days of Carter being
undefeated. We get it: you’re Michael Cole and Carter is Miz. Pick
a better role model.

Overall
Rating: D+. This show is on the
verge of flying off the rails and you can see a lot of it coming from
here. The problem right now is they’re building to three different
shows instead of any one in particular. You have next week’s live
show with Full Metal Mayhem and the X-Division Title match,
Slammiversary (which I don’t think has anything official yet) and
then the bell to bell show in two weeks with the World Title match.
It doesn’t help that a lot of the midcard just feels like a big waste
of time when they could be doing anything else. The show wasn’t
horrible but they need to focus on something quick.

Results

Eddie
Edwards b. Bobby Roode – Rollup

Bram
b. Joseph Park – Pin after a missed spear through a table

Brooke/Awesome
Kong b. Jade/Marti Bell – Elbow drop to Bell

Jesse
Godderz b. DJZ – Boston crab

Ethan
Carter III b. Bobby Lashley – 1%er

Remember to check out my website at kbwrestlingreviews.com and head over to my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

Rants

Impact Wrestling – June 10, 2015

By Scott Keith on 10th June 2015

Impact
Wrestling

Date:
June 10, 2015

Location:
Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida

Commentators:
D’Angelo Dinero, Josh Matthews

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

We’re
closing in on Slammiversary and the big story is the announcement of
the World Title match between champion Kurt Angle and new #1
contender Ethan Carter III. However, tonight is Destination X,
meaning Rockstar Spud is getting the World Title shot against Angle.
Other than that, we have the continuation of the best of five series
for the Tag Team Titles between the Dirty Heels (who are finally
acting like heels) and the Wolves. Let’s get to it.

We
open with a video on the X-Division as a whole before focusing on
Spud cashing in. However, Austin Aries is cashing in his Feast or
Fired briefcase on the winner. There will also be three triple
threats with the winners fighting in another triple threat for the
title at a future date.

It’s
time for the World Title match but Ethan Carter III and Tyrus cut
Christy off. Ethan is livid that he isn’t getting the shot tonight
so he’s staging an old fashioned sit-in. He dares anyone to come get
him out of here so Kurt Angle comes to the ring. Angle gets all
serious and threatens ankle pain to get Carter out of the ring.

TNA
World Title: Rockstar Spud vs. Kurt Angle

Kurt
is defending and takes Spud down to the mat with ease for a headlock.
Back up and Spud is able to send Angle outside, only to eat a belly
to belly on the floor for a huge crash. Angle takes it back inside
and nails another suplex to set up a chinlock. An Angle Slam attempt
is countered and Spud scores with an enziguri.

Spud
slugs away and tosses Kurt to the floor, setting up a huge flip dive
off the top. A superplex plants Spud back inside but he’s still able
to escape the Angle Slam. There’s a running forearm to Kurt but he
grabs an ankle lock, only to have Spud roll away into an Underdog
attempt. Kurt charges into the post and eats the Underdog for a VERY
close two, which shocks Spud. There’s the ankle lock with the
grapevine and Spud taps at 8:35.

Rating:
C+. Fun match but not enough to
be anything really great. They did about as much as they could do in
under nine minutes, but at the end of the day this was just a few
steps above a workout for Angle. The Underdog was a nice near fall
but this really was too short to work as well as they were hoping.

Here’s
the Dollhouse to call out Awesome Kong. Taryn is willing to bare all
to see who the toughest Knockout is, meaning Kong has to compete for
the title in a lingerie pillow fight. They have the lingerie ready
for her and it’s the only way she gets a shot.

Manik
vs. Low Ki vs. Crazzy Steve

Winner
advances to the X-Division Title match at a later date. Manik goes
after Steve to start but Ki breaks up Manik’s suicide dive. Back in
and Manik uppercuts both guys until Steve jumps into his arms, only
to have Ki hit a springboard spinning kick to the face. Something
like a Codebreaker gets two on Ki with Steve making the save. Steve
misses a high cross body and gets kicked into Manik in the corner,
setting up the Warrior’s Way to Manik to give Ki the pin at 3:28.

Rating:
C-. It’s going to be a long
night. Much like the other multi-man X-Division matches of late,
this was just a few guys doing moves to each other and one of them
getting a pin. What is there to say here? Ki makes sense as the
winner but Manik would have been fine as well. The time hurt this,
and I have a feeling that’s going to be the case with all three of
them.

Grado
is warming up for his triple threat later but he needs to lose weight
to become X-Division. He teases some Parkour but doesn’t quite make
it work. This is the guy that was supposed to be the most awesome
thing ever? Not bad but really?

Recap
of James Storm possibly murdering Mickie James last week. Apparently
she wasn’t physically hurt.

Tigre
Uno vs. DJZ vs. Mandrews

We
start with the triple headlock with Tigre speeding things up to take
over. DJZ dropkicks him down though, only to have Mandrews slingshot
in for a hurricanrana. A standing moonsault gets two on DJZ but
Tigre comes in with a missile dropkick. Tigre slams DJZ down for two
but Mandrews comes back in with a tornado DDT to put everyone down.
DJZ is up first for a running flip dive to the floor to take out both
guys again. Back in and Tigre shoves DJZ off the top and hits a
Phoenix Splash (read as a spinning knee to the face) to pin Mandrews
at 5:27.

Rating:
C. Total spot fest here with no
story or flow to the thing. That’s probably the best idea for these
guys but there’s nothing that makes any of these triple threats stand
out because there’s no reason to care about any of these guys.
They’re just thrown out there to do these matches and that’s the last
we see of them until it’s time for another big X-Division mess.

Post
match Jesse Godderz comes down to destroy DJZ.

Grado
continues to try to lose weight. He
asks Tigre for some tips but there’s a language barrier. Grado
leaves and Tigre calls him a jackass.

Knockouts
Title: Taryn Terrell vs. Awesome Kong

Taryn
is defending and this is a lingerie pillow fight. There’s
a bed in the ring for the Dollhouse and Taryn laughs at the idea of
Kong having to wear the lingerie. Kong
comes out in her regular gear, much to Taryn’s annoyance. Marti
and Jade are pulled to the floor for a beating so Taryn says the fans
don’t get to see her in lingerie. “What a tease I am!”

Cue
Brooke to say Taryn promised a title defense tonight and she’s ready
anytime. Brooke shoves her
down and the catfight is on as Kong is off making Jade and Marti into
toothpicks. Taryn is disrobed and runs off. No match of course.

The
Dirty Heels are ready for their tag match later, but Roode wants the
first World Title shot.

Grado
weighs in but strips off his singlet first. JB tells him there’s no
weight limit so he’s good to go. I’ve seen worse.

Grado
vs. Kenny King vs. Cruz

It’s
a big brawl to start with Cruz being thrown to the floor and Grado
getting kicked in the face. Cruz eats two running boots in the
corner but Grado pounds on King’s back. We hit a chinlock on Grado
for a bit before Cruz fails at lifting him up for a suplex. King
kicks Grado in the face, leaving Cruz to cross body Kenny for two.
There’s a Royal Flush to Cruz but Grado slugs away on Kenny, only to
eat a chop to the chest. The Royal Flush doesn’t work on Grado, who
sends Kenny outside and nails a Cannonball on Cruz for the pin at
5:18. Josh: “What a win and what a company!”

Rating:
C. Another fun enough match
with Grado having a ton of charisma, which I can finally see instead
of constantly being told about how awesome he is. King not being in
the title match is a nice change of pace, even though it’s pretty
clear Low Ki is the major favorite to get the belt. Again.

Bram
takes over a camera and says he’s going to the ring to make history.

After
a break, here’s Bram to run down the X-Division and issue an open
challenge to anyone who wants to fight in a six sided ring.

Bram
vs. Crimson

Uh….sure.
Crimson not being around for the better part of a few years is
treated like getting a free coffee from a Shell station. Bram slugs
him to the floor but Crimson takes over back inside. That sends Bram
outside for a stroll, where he sends Crimson into the barricade.
Back in and Bram scores with a kind of t-bone suplex, followed by a
Rings of Saturn with a neck crank. Bram makes the ropes and hits the
Brighter Side of Suffering for the pin at 4:38.

Rating:
D. Well that happened. I’m
glad Bram won but there isn’t much else to say here. Crimson coming
back got zero reaction so it was nice to see him lose this quickly.
I have no idea what this has to do with the X-Division, but then
again TNA stopped caring about that thing like six years ago so I
shouldn’t be surprised.

Kurt
Angle says he’ll win.

Ethan
Carter III says when he throws the first punch, Angle isn’t getting
up.

TNA
World Title: Austin Aries vs. Kurt Angle

Aries
is cashing in his Feast or Fired briefcase to get the title shot.
Feeling out process to start
until Aries clotheslines him down for two and nails a right hand in
the corner. Aries flips out
of a German and nails a low dropkick as we take a break. Back
with Angle rolling Germans but
the Angle Slam is countered into a DDT for two. There’s the Last
Chancery but Angle escapes
and grabs an ankle lock, only to have Aries make the ropes.

The
discus elbow is countered into an Angle Slam for two. Angle
misses the moonsault and gets caught in another Last Chancery, which
really doesn’t look as good as they’re hoping for. The 450 is broken
up by Angle running the ropes but Aries shoves him off for the 450
and a very near fall. Another
Angle Slam is countered with two discus forearms but the brainbuster
only gets two with Kurt putting a foot on the ropes.

There’s
an ankle lock on the champion but he counters into one of his own.
Aries rolls Kurt to the floor for a suicide dive, which goes right
into the barricade. Austin is out cold and it’s another Angle Slam,
only to have Aries counter into a rollup for two. Now the ankle lock
with the grapevine makes Austin tap at 18:00.

Rating:
B. Good main event match here
but Angle is long past the point where you can call his spots in the
big matches. How many times has someone put Kurt in the ankle lock,
only to get countered into the same hold? Aries is his usual awesome
self, but he needs something more than just being in a tag team that
he’s already been in.

Ethan
Carter III comes in and lays Angle out to end the show.

Overall
Rating: C-. It gets really
tiring seeing TNA pay lip service to the X-Division and then abandon
it for the next ten and a half months every single year. Notice that
the Feast or Fired cash-in, which could happen at any show of the
year, got WAY more attention than the X-Division cash-in, which was
treated as an afterthought. This show is a waste of time on a
division that stopped meaning anything years ago.

The
show itself was really nothing to see other than a few spot fests and
the usual good main event. Other than that though, this could have
been any regular episode of Impact and no one would have noticed the
X-Division as really standing out. I’d be fine if they just dropped
the thing already because it’s clear that it doesn’t mean anything.
Decent enough show but it never once felt special.

Results

Kurt
Angle b. Rockstar Spud – Ankle lock

Low
Ki b. Manik and Crazzy Steve – Warrior’s Way to Manik

Tigre
Uno b. DJZ and Mandrews – Phoenix Splash to Mandrews

Grado
b. Kenny King and Cruz – Cannonball to Cruz

Bram
b. Crimson – Brighter Side of Suffering

Kurt
Angle b. Austin Aries – Ankle lock

Remember to check out my website at kbwrestlingreviews.com and head over to my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

Rants

Impact Wrestling – June 3, 2015

By Scott Keith on 3rd June 2015

Impact
Wrestling

Date:
June 3, 2015

Location:
Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida

Commentators:
Josh Matthews, D’Angelo Dinero

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

We’re
finally getting to the build to Slammiversary, which is less than a
month away. Impact is now on Wednesdays as the company’s issues with
Destination America continues. There is no reason that this show
shouldn’t start getting us towards Ethan Carter III vs. Kurt Angle
for the World Title. Let’s get to it.

The
opening video is about Carter’s rise to the top of TNA.

A
barbershop quintet sings Carter’s theme song because he is FINALLY #1
in the Impact rankings. Quintet: “For he’s the #1 contender, for
he’s the #1 contender, for he’s the #1 contender, which nobody can
deny!” We even get balloons falling to make this feel special.
After denying us a Tyrus dance, Carter says there is only one thing
left for him and that is to become World Champion.

This
brings out Angle, who says Lou Thesz and Verne Gagne would be rolling
over in their graves if they saw this. However, there’s someone else
in line before Carter can get his shot and that’s X-Division Champion
Rockstar Spud, who can cash in his title for a shot at the World
Title next week. Carter isn’t cool with that and says he’s got an
offer for Spud. Tyrus and Carter leave and Angle Slams one of the
singers. Carter was awesome here and I can’t wait to see him finally
get the title, assuming TNA doesn’t screw that up too.

Lashley
vs. Eric Young

Lashley
runs him over to start and hits a nice delayed vertical suplex to
knock some of the sanity back into Young. Eric is able to send him
to the apron though for a middle rope kick to the back of the head to
get a breather. Back in and Eric starts working on the neck and we
hit the chinlock. Pope’s great insight on commentary here: if Young
wins he’ll move up in the rankings but if Lashley wins, he’ll move up
in the rankings. Eric goes up top but dives into a backdrop followed
by some elbows to the jaw. A spinebuster gets two for Lashley and
after easily fighting off the piledriver, the spear pins Young at
5:29.

Rating:
C. It’s amazing how much more
tolerable that CRAZY man is when he isn’t in the World Title picture
anymore. I’m fine with Young if he’s in the right spot on the card
and this is a much better fit for him. I still don’t like the
character because it’s not what they say he is, but at least they’re
getting the booking a bit better.

Chris
Melendez comes after Young post match but Eric escapes. This
is even more like it for Young, though Melendez isn’t anything
interesting.

The
Dollhouse giggles about keeping Taryn’s title last week and Taryn
offers Kong a shot next week.

Melendez
wants to fight Young. I was thinking he wanted him over for
afternoon tea so thanks for the clarification.

Austin
Aries suggests that Spud doesn’t cash in the title for Option C.

Jade
vs. Brooke

Jade
goes right after her before the bell but gets rolled up for two. A
Marti Bell distraction lets Jade take over and Brooke gets kicked in
the face for two. Jade powerslams her down but misses a moonsault,
allowing Brooke to hit a facebuster for two. Marti tries to come in
and eats Jade’s boot by mistake, setting up the Tesshocker for the
pin at 3:38.

Rating:
C-. Not bad here as it’s nice
to see the Knockouts having a bench to go with the title scene. I’m
not sure why you have Brooke win here but it’s hardly a horrible
idea. You don’t want the Dollhouse looking inept though as they
looked more like weak heels instead of the sinister group they’ve
been so far.

Carter
is about to talk about Spud but gets a phone call.

Rebel
and Brooke celebrate the win. Brooke
leaves and the Dollhouse beats Rebel down.

Rising
vs. BDC

Drake
and MVP get things going with a slugout as Josh recaps the feud. It
helps a bit but I still don’t get why this feud needs to exist. MVP
wins a slugout and takes Drake down so King can come in with a quick
chinlock. Off to Low Ki for a dropkick to the back of the head and
the fast tags continue with all three members getting their shots in.
Drew finally comes in off
the hot tag and nails a running boot to Ki’s face as everything
breaks down. Galloway gets
caught in the Tree of Woe but is able to sit up and counter the
Warrior’s Way with a belly to belly superplex. A Doomsday Device of
all things is enough to pin Ki at 5:42.

Rating:
C. The match was fine but this
feud just keeps going. I get the idea they’re shooting for here but
it’s so uninteresting that it’s hard to care. The Rising doesn’t
need to exist because the BDC is a midcard stable who isn’t taking
anything over. Hopefully both teams split soon enough.

Mickie
James is in Nashville for her meetings but only James Storm is there.
This story continues to be one of the best things going on in TNA.

Rockstar
Spud can’t make his decision yet but there’s no more time. With no
decision coming, here’s Kurt Angle to coax him a bit. This is his
thirteenth World Title and he trained harder for this one than the
other twelve combined so there is no way he’s losing it. Cue Carter
and Tyrus to say Spud should stay right where he is.

Ethan
just got off the pone with Dixie Carter, who is willing to offer Spud
a lifetime contract as Chief of Staff if he doesn’t cash in Option C.
Spud talks about the Carters taking him in when he had nowhere to
go. They were like brothers, but then Ethan slapped him in the face
and shaved his head. This is always about Ethan, because he’s had
everything handed to him. Spud has given everything to get here and
he wants no part of the offer. He cashes in for next week
(SHOCKING!) and gets decked in the face. Angle wants a tag match
tonight.

Aries
gives Bobby Roode a shirt for their match.

Back
to Nashville where Mickie wants to know what’s going on. Storm says
the big stars are just fashionably late and says he can give her so
much more. The music will always be there, but he wants to talk
about something even bigger: joining him on his journey. He wants
Mickie and her son Donovan to join the Revolution. Mickie
appreciates the offer but turns him down. Storm laughs it off and
Mickie hugs him before they leave. Storm: “There’s a lot of
crazies out there.”

Dirty
Heels vs. Wolves

Match
#3 in a best of five series for the Tag Team Titles with the Wolves
up 2-0. Aries takes Davey down with a Last Chancery early on but
it’s quickly off to Roode to crank on the arm. The Wolves get in
some double teaming to take over on Roode and then backdrop the legal
Aries into their corner. Roode breaks up a double dive and Aries
takes out the Wolves’ knees as we go to a break.

Back
with Davey breaking up a catapult into Aries and diving over for the
tag, only to have Aries pull Eddie to the floor. The hot tag works a
few seconds later and it’s Edwards coming in to clean house. Some
rapid fire chops have Roode in trouble and the heels (who aren’t
heels) are backdropped to the floor for a double suicide dive into
the barricade. An enziguri into the German suplex into the jackknife
cover gets two on Roode.

Aries
pulls Davey to the floor, leaving Edwards to take the catapult into
the forearm, followed by the slingshot elbow from Roode for a very
close two. Something like Chasing the Dragon (Michinoku Driver
instead of a brainbuster) gets two on Roode but Aries comes back in
with a 450 to Edwards for two more. Aries dives onto Edwards and
it’s time for a chair. Roode doesn’t want to use it but he’ll hit
Eddie low behind the referee’s back. A chair shot on top of that is
enough to pin Edwards at 13:13.

Rating:
B-. Well at least they’re heels
now. I’m not a fan of the matches where it’s all a huge mess after
about five minutes in and the tagging is completely forgotten. It’s
fine for a bit but having the majority of the match be a wild brawl
gets annoying after a bit. At least the match was fun though and the
ending gave us some heels in the feud.

Storm
and Mickie walk along the side of a train until James knocks her down
what looked to be a flight of stairs.

Here’s
Madison Rayne to complain about not getting any attention around here
because she isn’t putting candy in someone’s mouth or isn’t Gail Kim.
She calls Velvet Sky to the ring because people who don’t work here
can come through the crowd and get in the ring. Madison slaps her in
the face and eats a Stunner, so here’s Angelina with security to take
Velvet out. Angelina slaps Velvet before the security takes her
away…..and here are more security guards to arrest Love for
slapping a fan. Well played actually.

Taryn
lays on her bed and promises to take care of Kong next week.

Ethan
Carter III/Tyrus vs. Kurt Angle/Rockstar Spud

Spud
stomps Carter down at the bell and chops away in the corner. A kick
to the head drops Ethan but Spud would rather hit some running
forearms instead of tagging, which allows Tyrus to grab Spud by the
face. Some backbreakers have Spud in trouble and Carter makes it
worse with a belly to belly. He opts to pose instead of cover though
and the hot tag brings in Angle. Tyrus breaks up the ankle lock and
eats the Angle Slam, allowing Spud to dive in for the pin at 6:48.

Rating:
C-. Just a quick match to set
up the showdown next week. Angle vs. Carter is clearly the big prize
here but we need to get Option C out of the way because where would
we be without that? There wasn’t much here but they didn’t have the
time to get anything done. The fact that it’s for a short term title
shot didn’t help things either.

Aries
comes out and says he’s cashing in next week to
face the winner of Angle vs. Spud.

Overall
Rating: C+. This was one of
their better shows in a decent while but there are still some issues.
For one thing, there are way too many cash ins going on at the same
time when it’s clear they’re just killing time until we get to
Carter. Well either that or they’re going to do the dumbest thing
they could and go with anything other than Carter getting the belt at
Destination America. Good show, but too much being packed into too
little time.

Remember to check out my website at kbwrestlingreviews.com and head over to my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

Rants

Impact Wrestling – May 29, 2015

By Scott Keith on 29th May 2015

Impact
Wrestling

Date: May 29, 2015

Location:
Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida

Commentators: Josh
Matthews, Al Snow

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

After all the insanity
that’s been going on behind the scenes in this company, they’re
really in need for a good show to calk things down a bit. This show
is being billed as May Mayhem, which is their version of a pay per
view this month. The main event is Eric Young challenging Kurt Angle
in an I Quit match. Let’s get to it.

Eric Young pulls up to
the arena where Kurt Angle is waiting on him. They slug it out in
the parking lot until security breaks it up.

Knockouts Title:
Gail Kim vs. Taryn Terrell

Inside
a cage with Taryn defending. Gail goes right after her in the aisle
and takes over before the bell. They finally get inside with Kim
still dominating until Marti Belle reaches through the cage to pull
Gail down, allowing Taryn to ram the ring finger into the cage to
take over. Gail fights back again with ease until she tries to climb
out, allowing the Dollhouse to interfere again, allowing Taryn to hit
a quick Cutter for the pin at 5:20.

Rating:
D.
Well aside from how great Taryn looked, this was borderline
worthless. At the end of the day, you need more than five minutes
for a cage match. This is supposed to be some big blowoff to the
feud and instead the whole thing can’t even make it to six minutes?
The Dollhouse is awesome, but they played it pretty straight here,
which defeats the purpose.

Post match the
Dollhouse goes after Gail until Awesome Kong comes out. They manage
to lock the door though, setting up the big beatdown. Taryn takes
Gail’s ring off and stomps on Gail’s ring finger, apparently breaking
it so the ring can’t go back on. Josh: “I know Taryn has issues
we’re not supposed to talk about on air but this is going too far.”

So, unless they’re
actually going to say what happened in Taryn’s marriage, this is
going to be another big tease that never goes anywhere. Also, this
would be more effective if they didn’t keep name dropping Gail’s
celebrity chef husband, who is so famous that I’ve already forgotten
his name.

Quick recap of James
Storm being creepy and getting Mickie James to come back for one more
match. Her husband Magnus isn’t pleased with this but that’s exactly
what Storm wanted. Josh: “This isn’t PG.”

Here’s Mickie (in a
very, very revealing dress) to talk about things. She can’t wait for
the one more match but tonight she needs to talk about family and the
heart. Magnus is her fiance, but James Storm has been a friend for
years now. This brings out Storm, prompting Mickie to apologize for
Magnus bashing him in the head with a guitar. James doesn’t need to
hear that but Mickie insists on apologizing, even though Magnus is
just trying to protect his family.

Storm
insists he’s not a bad guy (has any good guy ever had to say that?)
because if holding a door open for a woman or keeping her from
getting attacked by Bram makes you a bad man, then yeah he’s a bad
man. We hear about all the gifts James bought the family but Mickie
didn’t think some of them were that funny.

James redeems himself
by surprising Mickie by saying he’s set up some meetings with big
names (like Billy Corgan) who want to meet Mickie and advance her
career. Whatever Mickie picks, he’ll have her back. Storm leaves
and Mickie tells the Cowboy (her word) she’ll see them in Nashville.
There was a very subtle addition here as Storm kept inching closer to
Mickie, making her back up a half step every little bit.

Kenny King isn’t worred
about defending the X-Division Title in a gauntlet match.

Eric Young shows us a
Tweet that we can’t see and headbutts through a window.

X-Division Title:
Gauntlet Match

Why
do we always need a gauntlet match or an elimination match or
something other than a scheduled one on one match? There are seven
people in this and another enters every 90 seconds. The first five
will be eliminated over the top but when there are only two left,
it’s a regular match for the win. Manik is in first and Rockstar
Spud is in second and Champion Kenny King will be in seventh. Both
guys go for eliminations until Manik sends him into the corner and
DJZ, now with a blue/purple mohawk, is in third.

Manik gets double
teamed until Mandrews is in fourth after a low less than ninety
seconds. Spud and Mandrews team up on Manik but Spud can’t quite get
him out, even as he bites Manik’s fingers. No one is eliminated yet
and Argos is in fifth to speed things up for all of five seconds.
Mandrews misses a shooting star and gets sent to the apron, setting
up a kick to the face and a ram into the post for the first
elimination. Crazzy Steve is in sixth as we take a break.

Back
with Tigre Uno, who entered sixth during the break, being eliminated.
Kenny King comes in seventh and the final group is everyone other
than Tigre Uno. A big kick to the head drops Manik and another kick
does the same to Young. Steve gets in a few shots and chokes over
the ropes, only to get superkicked out to put us at five. Argos gets
kicked to the floor for an elimination, followed by Spud jumping on
King’s back. He manages to avoid elimination but eats the Royal
Flush.

DJZ gets back up with a
belly to back suplex into a facebuster on King, only to get
backdropped out by Manik a few seconds later. Down to Manik, Spud
and King with Manik offering an alliance with the champ. Spud is
tossed to the apron but Manik jumps King from behind, only to be
thrown out with an assist from Spud to get us down to the singles
match. King chops Spud down and rips at his face but the Royal Flush
is countered into a small package to give Spud the title at 16:48.

Rating:
D+.
So here’s one of TNA’s major troubles explained in one match. This
was a major title match and had no build, no hype, and nothing
interesting. There was no drama to anything here as the people came
in and were eliminated before we got down to the final two for a very
quick match with Spud winning. There was no reason to care about
this and it a lot of that is due to how the match was booked instead
of the action. The wrestlers didn’t have time to do anything and it
caught up with them quickly.

Dirty Heels vs.
Wolves

This
is match #2 in a best of five series with the Wolves up 1-0. Roode
throws Aries through the ropes for a suicide dive to start but Davey
runs inside for a dive of his own on Aries. The Wolves double team
Roode inside until Austin gets back in and things settle down a bit.
Edwards chops away at Aries but Austin punches him in the face,
setting up a tag to Roode for chops of his own.

The
Heels (who aren’t heels) load up what looked like a Sharpshooter but
Aries gets kicked into his partner, allowing the Wolves to double
team even more. Davey puts Rode into a reverse figure four (with
Roode facing the mat and Davey facing up) for a unique looking
submission. The German suplex into the jackknife rollup gets two as
the announcers are overhyping the heck out of this. Eddie puts Roode
in a chinlock for a bit until Bobby fights up and makes the hot tag
to Aries.

Austin
speeds things up and snaps both Wolves’ throats across the top,
setting up a missile dropkick to Edwards. There’s the Last Chancery
on Davey and a Crossface to Eddie but both Wolves make the ropes.
Something like Chasing the Dragon but with a Michinoku Driver instead
of a brainbuster gets two on Aries but he pops right back up for the
running dropkick in the corner, followed by the 450 to Eddie with
Davey making the save. Another Last Chancery has Edwards in trouble
but Richards comes in off the top with a double stomp for the save,
setting up the powerbomb into a Backstabber to pin Austin at 11:09.

Rating:
B.
This was straight out of the indy playbook with the entire match
being action from bell to bell. That sounds cool on paper, but
between everything going all over the place and Josh telling us about
two minutes in that this was a classic and something we were going to
remember forever, the match kind of dulled on me very quickly. It’s
definitely fun, but I prefer building up to the insane finish instead
of just having it run the entire match.

Kenny King can’t get
hold of MVP and wants him to call back.

Here’s
Angelina Love to deal with Velvet Sky, who is sitting in the
audience. Love brings out her own personal security to deal with
Velvet if she tries anything. She screams at Velvet (with a voice
that Vickie Guerrero would find annoying) and tells her to try
something, of course drawing Velvet over the barricade for a quick
beating until security pulls her off. Sky beats up security and goes
after Love again until she’s handcuffed and taken away.

Mr. Anderson is very
happy to not have Tyrus around for his match with Ethan Carter III
tonight.

Ethan Carter III vs.
Mr. Anderson

Anderson
has a one man cage to lock Tyrus inside, guaranteeing that it’s one
on one. Amazingly enough, Tyrus doesn’t want to go in so Anderson
goes after him, allowing Carter to ram him face first into the cage.
Back in and a quick suplex gets two for Carter as Snow challenges
Dixie Carter to a street fight. A running clothesline gets two more
on Anderson but he throws Carter through the ropes and into Tyrus,
who still isn’t in the cage. Anderson nails Tyrus with a chair a few
times to FINALLY get him in the stupid cage.

They slug it out back
inside with Anderson taking over with the usual. A powerslam and
backdrop get two each but Mr. gets crotched on top, setting up a TKO
for two. Carter hits a Stinger Splash (complete with shout) but the
1%er is countered into a Regal Roll and Swanton for the same. The
Mic Check connects for two and Anderson is stunned. He loads up
another but Carter counters into a 1%er for the clean pin at 8:00.

Rating:
C-.
That’s a pretty clear ending to the feud, but my goodness TNA needs
to slow down. This match started with a flurry with the Tyrus stuff
then was just trading big moves for a few minutes until Carter won.
They have to speed through everything on every show because they need
to get so much stuff in. Calm down a bit and spread some stuff out
so that stuff like this can have time to breathe.

Anderson offers a
handshake but Carter shoves the hand away. Tyrus is left in the
cage.

Rockstar
Spud is very, very happy to be a two time champion. He hasn’t even
had time to think about Destination X and Option C yet but maybe he
needs a new goal.

TNA World Title:
Eric Young vs. Kurt Angle

Angle
is defending and this is an I Quit match. Both guys come out with
security after being separated all night in another idea that didn’t
go anywhere. Angle goes right at him to start and they’re slugging
it out a minute in. Eric tries to jump over him in the corner but
gets caught in rolling Germans to knock him even sillier. He won’t
quit though so Kurt rolls even more Germans, only to be sent to the
floor as we take a break. Back with Young slapping on a Figure Four
for a bit until Angle turns it over, sending Young to the ropes.

Eric can’t get an Angle
Slam so he puts Kurt in an ankle lock with a grapevine, only to have
Kurt reverse into something resembling a Figure Four. More ropes are
grabbed so Young goes up, only to dive into the real ankle lock.
Young taps so Angle lets go, but Young never said I Quit. The
distraction lets Young hit a low blow and piledriver. Still no
quitting so Young loads up another piledriver, only to be countered
into the ankle lock with the grapevine to retain Angle’s title at
13:10.

Rating:
C-.
Raise your hand if you expected ANYTHING but that as the ending.
That’s where this match and feud died with me: no one in their right
mind thought Young was winning the title at any point in this feud
and that makes for some very dull matches. The match was watchable,
but my goodness don’t let this feud keep going any longer and get
Young down the card where he belongs.

Overall
Rating: D+.
This one didn’t do it for me. They were flying through every
possible thing they could get through tonight and it made the show a
lot weaker than it should have been. The matches were good while
they lasted, but none of them had time to set up any kind of story or
psychology, which really kills the show.

We’ve got a few weeks
before Slammiversary and then just a few weeks before Destination X
and then a few months before the show is probably getting kicked off
the air because not enough people watch it. Could it be because they
rush through hastily announced gimmick matches like these and don’t
let anything have a proper build because they have to get through
everything they can when they have two pay per views a year and
seemingly could do things at whatever pace they want? This was an
action heavy show but the lack of a foundation takes away anything
good they had set up.

Remember to check out my website at kbwrestlingreviews.com and head over to my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

Rants

Impact Wrestling – May 15, 2015

By Scott Keith on 15th May 2015

Impact
Wrestling

Date: May 15, 2015

Location: Impact Zone,
Orlando, Florida

Commentators: Josh
Matthews, Mike Tenay

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

We’re coming off the
big live show last week and rolling towards Slammiversary at the end
of June. The big story at the end of last week’s show was Angle
making Eric Young tap to retain the title, presumably to end their
feud. Other than that we have the continuing story of the Rising vs.
the BDC as Drew Galloway was beaten down by a pipe last week. Let’s
get to it.

We open with a recap of
Angle vs. Young, who tonight will lead two teams in a hardcore war.
Good grief just get to Carter vs. Angle already.

Here are Angle and
Chris Melendez to start things off. Angle talks about going to war
with Young last week, but Eric sided with the BDC. Well now Kurt has
backup of his own, including Chris Melendez. He needs a bit more
though, so Angle would like the Rising to come out here right now.
Kurt calls them a breath of fresh air in this company as they try to
eliminate a cancer calling itself the BDC.

Galloway praises Angle
a bit but likes the look of that World Title. Angle likes the idea
but here’s Eric Young to say he got ripped off last week. Kind of
like we’re getting ripped off from having a good World Title
challenger. Young was ripped off by the guest referee so he’s owed
another title shot. He goes on and on until Angle tells him to shut
up because the stupidity caught him last week.

Angle tells him to shut
up again and offers Young a title shot in an I Quit match. That’s
for the future though because tonight is about hardcore. Cue the BDC
to go after everyone in the ring. Young comes in to help with the
beat down but Lashley comes out to complete Angle’s team and make the
save. So it’s going to be a twelve man hardcore war later tonight?
That’s a bit excessive no?

Brooke/Rebel
vs. Dollhouse

Marti/Jade here. Rebel
is described as a former member of the Menagerie. The Dollhouse
cleans house to start with Marti hammering on Rebel in the ring.
It’s quickly off to Jade for some knees to the head. The double
teaming continues as Matthews confirms that the Menagerie is no more.
Dang it I always like that act. Brooke comes in off the hot tag and
fires off some forearms as everything breaks down. Rebel misses
Christy’s old Flying Firecrotch Guillotine (yep) and a double slam
(think a chokeslam but lifting under the arms instead of by the
throat) is enough to give the Dollhouse the pin at 3:57.

Rating:
C-. The wrestling wasn’t much
but I’m digging the Dollhouse more and more every single week. Taryn
is perfect as the borderline psycho leader, but the supporting cast
is cool too as they can both go in the ring. Rebel and Brooke are
fine as the good looking jobbers for them and the match was fine for
what it was.

Post
match Taryn says she has play time scheduled with Gail Kim’s family.

The BDC and Eric Young
are texting Homicide but he won’t be here tonight. MVP has a
replacement but Young has someone better. King doesn’t trust him but
MVP wants the crazy man on his side instead of against him.

Here are Ethan Carter
III and Tyrus with the former wondering how he isn’t #1 contender
after the former #1 contender lost to the champion last week. He
wants answers but gets Mr. Anderson with a chair instead. Anderson
is disappointed when they leave because he wants to fight someone
tonight. They start to walk but Anderson suggests a match with
Tyrus. If he wins, he gets Carter in the future. After some
swearing insults at Tyrus, the big man says get a referee out there.

Mr.
Anderson vs. Tyrus

Anderson hammers away
to start but gets run over for two. A Big Ending gets two and Tyrus
slams him down again for the same. Carter tries to bring in the
chair but gets ejected, allowing Anderson to play possum and counter
the spike into the Mic Check for the pin at 4:36.

Rating:
D. Really, really dull match
here and yet another instance of stretching out a feud before we get
to the beyond obvious Angle vs. Carter feud for the title. This one
is far more interesting than the Young version but it’s clearly just
filling time because having more than a month build to what is likely
the Slammiversary main event doesn’t work.

We take a quick look
back at Magnus blasting Storm with the guitar last week.

Magnus wants Storm out
here right now but gets Abyss instead. The monster says there are
consequences for what you do and this week, Magnus’ consequences are
Abyss. It’s a brawl at ringside instead of a match with Abyss taking
over only to stop to throw in some barbecue equipment (cross
promotion with a Destination America show about barbecuing). Abyss
loads up the chokeslam but takes some tongs to the crotch, only to
have Manik try to come in. That earns him something like a
brainbuster but Khoya comes in with a walking stick to lay Magnus
out. Magnus eats a chokeslam for good measure.

Quick recap of the Tag
Team Title situation with the Wolves and Hardys having to vacate the
belts, setting up a best of five series between the Wolves and Dirty
Heels (I’m really not sure how to feel about that name) for the
belts.

Wolves
vs. Dirty Heels

That’s their official
name now and this is match #1 in the best of five series. It’s also
Edwards’ first match back from injury. Roode and Richards get things
going and for some reason the camera is zoomed in on Roode as they
get started. That goes nowhere so it’s off to Richards vs. Aries
with the Wolves taking over on Austin’s arm. Aries is driven into
Davey’s knee but sends him into the corner, allowing for the tag off
to Bobby.

A catapult sends Eddie
into a forearm from Aries, followed by the slingshot elbow for two.
The running dropkick in the corner is countered and Edwards hits a
dropkick of his own to put Roode down. There’s the hot tag to
Richards for the “make your opponent DDT his partner” spot (one
of the dumbest spots I’ve ever seen) before the powerbomb/Backstabber
is countered with a hurricanrana. Aries takes out the Wolves with a
suicide dive, followed by the corner dropkick to Richards. Davey is
still in it though and counters Roode’s spinebuster into a sunset
flip for the pin and the first match at 8:26.

Rating:
B. Good match here but they’re
still waiting to crank it up in the later matches. These are two of
the better teams in wrestling a the moment and seeing them fight five
times (perhaps with some gimmicks later on) is going to be really
entertaining and likely blown off at Slammiversary.

Galloway picks Micah
over Eli for the hardcore war tonight.

Taryn talks about going
to see Gail Kim’s stepdaughters earlier today. She’s also going to
show us what she’s wearing for Kim’s husband Robert.

Storm yells at the
Revolution for going after Magnus without permission. This is
between him and Mickie James and no one else.

Here’s the Dollhouse
again with Taryn in a robe. Taryn makes fun of Gail for being so
serious of a wrestler because the Dollhouse is making something
special. She has pictures of her with Gail’s stepdaughters who look
borderline terrified. But now, here’s what she’s wearing for Gail’s
husband. It’s some very revealing lingerie so here’s Gail, but Marti
asks why she’s so serious. Gail wants a match with Taryn but Taryn
brings up the husband again, meaning the fight is on with the
Dollhouse running.

Jesse
Godderz vs. Robbie E.

Robbie has straightened
his hair a bit. This is fallout from their brawl a few weeks ago and
they bump fists to start. That’s the highest impact of the match
though as Robbie grabs a rollup for the pin at 24 seconds.

Godderz wants to
restart the match so here we go again.

Jesse
Godderz vs. Robbie E.

Jesse throws him down
with authority but a majistral cradle is good enough to make Robbie
2-0 at 31 seconds.

Godderz wasn’t ready so
let’s do it one more time.

Jesse
Godderz vs. Robbie E.

The fans count the
seconds this time and Jesse celebrates a headlock. A dropkick gets
two with Jesse driving his forearm into Robbie’s face. Robbie comes
right back with a crucifix for the pin at 1:10.

Godderz is livid so he
hits Robbie in the head with the mic. He throws Robbie to the floor
and puts a chair around Robbie’s neck before driving it into the
post.

Angle fires up his team
for tonight. Eli Drake still doesn’t look happy.

Eric Young has a fifth
guy.

Mr. Anderson is having
something built to help deal with Tyrus.

Team
Angle vs. Team Young

Hardcore war, which
apparently means a gauntlet match, which seems to be Lethal Lockdown
minus the cage but with weapons. Low Ki with his pipe and Drew
Galloway with a pipe of his own start things up. First fall wins
with 90 second intervals and Team Young won the coin toss (duh) to
have the advantage. Low Ki loses his pipe early and Drew takes him
to the floor for some hard chops instead of laying pipe into him.

Kenny King is in next
with a weapon that is knocked out of his hands too quickly to notice.
Galloway eats some chops against the barricade as King pulls out a
cane to nail him in the back. Micah and a nightstick even things up
and the Rising takes over with the usual brawling. Eric Young is in
next with a trashcan lid (that is one CRAZY trashcan lid. Like, you
know your crazy Uncle Stu who thinks he’s Catherine Zeta-Jones? It’s
crazier than him) and he quickly sets up a Tower of Doom, but
Galloway sits up out of the Tree of Woe into a German suplex to take
everyone down.

Kurt Angle comes in
with what looks like another pipe but throws it down for a bunch of
Germans. We take a break and come back with MVP (kendo stick) and
Chris Melendez (another pipe) involved. Eric’s mystery partner, with
another kendo stick, is Bram. Team Young cleans house for a bit
until Lashley completes the field, meaning it’s now first fall wins.
Lashley avoids all of King’s kicks and plants him with a powerslam.

MVP’s Playmaker is
countered but Bram cracks Lashley in the head with a kendo stick,
setting up the Brighter Side of Suffering. Micah hits a Big Ending
(just like Tyrus earlier) but King springboards in to take him down.
That’s fine with Galloway who takes most of Team Young down with a
big flip dive over the ropes. Angle dives on everyone not named
Young or Melendez, leaving Eric to hit a quick piledriver for the pin
on Chris at 17:21.

Rating:
D+.
Basically this existed so it could exist. There was no real need for
this to be a gauntlet match or a hardcore match as a ten man tag
would have accomplished exactly the same thing. That’s the bad sign
for a gimmick: you can do the exact same thing without the gimmick
being in place. The match was nothing special though and really
could have done with being cut down to eight people.

Post
match Young rips off Melendez’s leg and chokes Angle out with it to
end the show.

Overall
Rating: C. This show felt
really rushed and packed full of stuff. It felt like they were
cramming in as much stuff as they could and it brought down the good
stuff they were doing. You can see most of Slammiversary from here,
but some of it really isn’t that interesting. I mean, the Rising vs.
the BDC just keeps going with no real reason to exist. The
tag team series is good, but it’s not something that’s going to blow
the doors off the place until it gets closer to the end. The show
should be good, but the build isn’t great so far.

As
for tonight…..meh. The hardcore war didn’t do anything for me as
you have ten guys with weapons in a gauntlet format. Clearly that
just needs 100 minutes of build. The
battle of the BroMans could be good and they got through the whole
thing in like eight minutes so points for that. The
Anderson vs. Carter and Angle vs. Young feuds feel like they’re just
going for the sake of going, but Angle vs. Young seems to be moving
towards wrapping up. It’s a
decent enough show, but they’ve cooled way off in recent weeks.

Results

Dollhouse b.
Brooke/Rebel – Double lifting slam to Rebel

Mr. Anderson b. Tyrus –
Mic Check

Wolves b. Dirty Heels –
Sunset flip to Roode

Robbie E. b. Jesse
Godderz – Rollup

Robbie E. b. Jesse
Godderz – Majistral cradle

Robbie E. b. Jesse
Godderz – Crucifix

Team Young b. Team
Angle – Piledriver to Melendez

Remember to check out my website at kbwrestlingreviews.com and head over to my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

Rants

Impact Wrestling – May 8, 2015

By Scott Keith on 8th May 2015

Impact
Wrestling

Date: May 8, 2015

Location: Impact Zone,
Orlando, Florida

Commentator: Josh
Matthews

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

For the first time in
weeks, we actually have a special episode. This is airing live from
Orlando with the promise of a former World Champion returning in the
first five minutes. Other than that we have Kurt Angle defending the
World Title against Eric Young to probably blow off their feud.
Let’s get to it.

Eric Young is in the
ring to start and promises to win the title back tonight. This
brings out the returning World Champion and it’s Bully Ray, who will
referee Angle vs. Young. Eh cool but it’s nothing earth shattering.
It doesn’t help that it’s for Angle vs. Young which is just a
placeholder until Cater challenges Kurt.

We get the opening
recap video. They’re treating this like a huge show.

Here’s Ethan Carter to
talk about the democratic process which has lead us to a gentlemen’s
contest: arm wrestling. This brings out Mr. Anderson to show us the
results: falls count anywhere wins with 85% of the vote. Shocking
indeed.

Mr. Anderson vs.
Ethan Carter III

This is billed as falls
count anywhere but the rules make it sound hardcore. Anderson
quickly sends Carter and Tyrus to the floor but the big man gets in
some cheap shots. That’s fine with Anderson who sends Tyrus into the
post and chases after Carter as he tries to get away. We get the
first weapons brought in as Anderson pulls out a bunch of chairs to
pile up on the floor.

A Mic Check onto the
chairs doesn’t work so Carter backdrops Anderson onto the ramp for
two. Carter makes the mistake of spitting in Anderson’s face,
earning him a Regal Roll onto the chairs for two. Back in and
Anderson hammers away before planting Carter with a swinging
neckbreaker. Tyrus comes back in to earn his check with a t-bone
suplex and a corner splash. The spike to the throat puts Anderson
down for the pin at 5:39.

Rating: C-.
Well that was quick but they were smart to keep this quick given how
obvious the booking seems to be. Young is a guy who could bounce
right back after all these losses so why not feed him to Carter to
get us on the fast track to Angle vs. Carter? Everyone knows that’s
where it’s going so why not just keep this quick?

Bully
Ray likes the look of Angle’s World Title.

Gail
Kim goes up to Awesome Kong and asks if they’re on the same side
tonight. Kong walks away.

Quick
recap of BDC vs. the Rising.

Here’s
the BDC, wearing masks during their entrance, with something to say.
MVP holds up his mask and
says it belongs to Homicide, but he can’t be here tonight because
someone blindsided him on his way back here, sending him to the
hospital for surgery shoulder. Now he’s not saying the Rising did
it, but they must know something about it. MVP
goes on a rant about the American government taking foreign oil
fields and being cheered, but when the BDC tries to take something,
they’re called thugs. That’s a new word for something censored,
which was
probably a racial term given how MVP was going.

Cue
the Rising, who says they
fight in a ring instead of the streets. Think
about it though: a man called Homicide isn’t the most endearing
person in the world. The
Rising had nothing to do with the injury, but maybe it was someone
closer to home. Where was Kenny King last night for example? MVP
says he doesn’t care about wrestling. It’s all about the money and
power that comes with the job. Drew cares about workrate but MVP
cares about interest rate. Wasn’t
MVP the one who came to TNA to make things better for wrestling? MVP
wants a match right now so let’s do it live. The brawl is on and we
take a break.

MVP vs. Drew
Galloway

Joined in progress
after a break with MVP choking on the ropes and bending the arm
around the ropes. A slam off the middle rope gets two and they trade
big boots with Drew’s knocking MVP outside. Drew follows him and
gets slammed head first into the barricade for a loud thud. Back in
and the Playmaker is countered into the Futureshock to give Drew the
pin at 4:45.

Rating: D+.
The match was watchable but this is one of the least interesting
feuds I can remember in a long time. They’re doing the right things,
but there’s just nothing to make me care. The (maybe) racist part
could be interesting and feels like Corgan’s first story addition.
It’s not likely to make me care about the feud, but the wrestling and
promos have been fine. I just don’t care.

Post match Eric Young
(in CRAZY pink) comes in and helps the BDC beat down the Rising with
a chair. Despite Young being an associate of the team when it
formed, this is treated as a surprising turn of events.

James Storm is here
with a present for a special friend. They should just call him
Christmas because he’s always giving.

The preview for next
week is all about Kurt Angle and asks who’s next. I know that’s a
Destination America ad but it’s almost guaranteeing that Angle
retains tonight.

Here’s James Storm with
his present. He can talk about being tough and drinking beer, but
it’s time to give someone else the spotlight. This brings out Mickie
James to a very nice ovation, but Storm wants to talk about her being
a mother. Everyone should love their mother, but Storm quickly
switches over to Mickie’s music career. She’s an amazing mother,
wrestler and singer, but she’s also a great friend. He holds up the
box and it’s a new guitar. Storm tries to sing a bit but Mickie
politely shakes her head no.

They take a picture
together (not a selfie Storm) and here’s Magnus with a forced smile.
Storm has a gift for him too: the spiked helmet from the Brutus
Magnus days. Magnus and Mickie leave but Storm pulls out a blanket
for their son Donovan. That’s too much for Magnus, who comes back in
and breaks the guitar over Storm’s head. Like a truly creepy man,
Storm starts smiling. They are NAILING this story and Storm is
making it awesome. How can he be the same guy that led the worthless
Revolution?

Eric Young wants the
BDC to have his back to deal with Bully Ray tonight.

We go backstage at
Robert Irvine Live (Gail Kim’s real life husband and a celebrity
chef) where Taryn Terrell shows up. Gail gets in her face and that’s
about it.

Gail Kim/Awesome
Kong vs. Dollhouse

Jade jumps Gail to
start but gets thrown down by a hurricanrana, so it’s off to Marti
vs. Kong. Everyone but Taryn comes in and the Doll House is thrown
into the same corner and splashed by the monster. We settle down to
Marti hitting a running faceplant on Gail, setting up a cannonball
from Jade for two.

Marti slams her down
for two but it’s off to Jade, who is very slowly slammed down onto
Gail’s knees. Kim’s Black Widow is broken up by Taryn but Gail dives
over for the hot tag. The Dollhouse has to save their boss from an
Implant Buster and everything breaks down. Jade takes an Implant
Buster but Taryn counters the Eat Defeat on Marti with a rollup for
the pin at 5:32.

Rating: C.
This was fine and the right ending as I’m still loving Taryn and the
Dollhouse as a whole. They’re setting up the big blowoff with Gail
vs. Taryn, but I’m hoping we don’t get another Gail title reign.
We’ve been there time after time and I don’t see what else she can do
with the title.

We
look at Jeff Hardy breaking his leg and see Matt holding both Tag
Team Titles.

Magnus asks Mickie to
have nothing to do with James Storm anymore. Mickie isn’t thrilled
and leaves.

Here’s Matt Hardy to
address the Tag Team Title situation. Jeff is going to be healing
for a long time, so as of right now, the titles are vacant. That
means it’s time for Matt to go home and figure out what’s next for
him.

As he leaves, here are
Bobby Roode and Austin Aries with something to say. Aries hasn’t
forgotten Young putting him on a stretcher to send him out of the
Impact Zone on a stretcher. That brings Aries to another piece of
gold: the World Tag Team Titles, which seem to have a curse on them.
Yeah they’re constantly being vacated, but that sounds like an
opportunity. He and Roode have held the Tag Team Titles and didn’t
get hurt, so Roode thinks the titles should be defended by two of the
best wrestlers in the world today.

This brings out Davey
Richards, who says no one has fought more battles for those belts
than the Wolves. Aries likes the idea, but there’s no team in front
of him. Not quite says Davey, because Eddie Edwards is back. Eddie
has been cleared to wrestle and who better to start against than
Roode and Aries? That’s fine with them, but Eddie wants to one up
it: a best of five series. Hands are shaken and the series is on.

After a break, Matt
Hardy goes to leave but Drew Galloway stops him to offer him some
food for thought: things are changing a lot and he could use a good
man.

Angelina Love is in the
ring to talk about being asked everything going on lately. However,
she just wants to talk about herself because she’s the only Beautiful
Person around and the best Knockout ever. Cue Velvet Sky because
these two are cursed to be around each other for all eternity.
Velvet looks…..sleepy. Anyway, Angelina sucks up to her but
Velvet, now with pink/purple highlights and a left arm tattoo sleeve
doesn’t say anything. Instead it’s a spear to start a catfight as
the fans are going mild. Security breaks it up.

Recap of Young beating
Angle in a stretcher match last week.

Young asks Ray if he’s
going to be the next one to stab him in the back. Ray says he’s just
here to referee.

TNA World Title:
Kurt Angle vs. Eric Young

Bully Ray is refereeing
and Angle is defending. Josh on Angle: “If anything ever happened
to Captain America, Kurt Angle could easily be an Avenger.” A
quick belly to belly puts Young down but he fires off some elbows in
the corner to take over. Eric is sent to the apron so he runs to the
top, only to have Kurt run the ropes and superplex him down. The BDC
is watching from the stage as we take a break.

Back with Young getting
two off a neckbreaker and choking in the corner. The chinlock slows
Angle down for a bit before Angle fights up and wins a slugout. Now
we hit the rolling Germans before the ankle lock sends Eric to the
ropes. Kurt won’t let go so Eric rolls Angle out to the floor. A
CRAZY low blow puts Ray down and the BDC starts triple teaming Angle.

This brings out Chris
Melendez and the Rising to help Angle before fighting to the back.
Young loads up a piledriver on Ray but gets backdropped down, setting
up the Angle Slam for two on Eric. Why there hasn’t been a DQ called
yet isn’t clear. Eric hits a quick piledriver for two but goes up
for a cross body, only to have Angle roll through into the ankle lock
to retain at 14:33.

Rating: C.
The match was ok but the most obvious ending ever and an unnecessary
brawl in the middle didn’t do it any favors. Now hopefully we can
get away from the Young vs. Angle story and get on to Carter taking
the title at Slammiversary because I never want to see Eric get
another title shot.

Angle
poses on the stage for a long time and no one attacks him to end the
show.

Overall Rating: C.
Good enough show this week but it’s really nothing memorable. Ray
coming back is cool, but they would have been better off by not
announcing it as a former World Champion as Dixie’s clues made it a
pretty obvious reveal. The Sky return was the same obvious swerve,
which doesn’t leave a lot going on here. This was basically a
preview for what they have coming, which is fine as it’s the start of
a new cycle, but there wasn’t much to see here.

Results

Ethan Carter III b. Mr.
Anderson – Pin after a spike to the throat from Tyrus

Drew Galloway b. MVP –
Futureshock

Dollhouse b. Gail
Kim/Awesome Kong – Rollup to Kim

Kurt Angle b. Eric
Young – Ankle lock

Remember to check out my website at kbwrestlingreviews.com and head over to my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

Rants

Impact Wrestling – May 1, 2015

By Scott Keith on 1st May 2015

Impact
Wrestling

Date: May 1, 2015

Location: Impact Zone,
Orlando, Florida

Commentators: Josh
Matthews, Al Snow

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

This is another special
episode with Hardcore Justice, which was a One Night Only special in
early April. Hopefully this is a bit of a better card as that show
was just a step above a nightmare. Kurt Angle is scheduled to defend
the World Title against Eric Young, but that was the case last week
as well. Let’s get to it.

The opening video talks
about making things hardcore tonight.

Davey
Richards/Hardys vs. Revolution

Street fight with
Khoya/Manik/Abyss here and the fight starts in the aisle before we
have time for entrances. Davey hits a nice delayed vertical suplex
on Manik but Khoya is laying waste to Jeff on the floor with a
trashcan lid. Poetry in Motion hits Manik and Abyss takes one as
well but with a chair as a bonus. A Twist of Fate looks to set up
the Swanton on Abyss but Manik makes a save. Khoya muscles Jeff off
the top for a slam and pounds away as this is still all over the
place. Matt cleans house with a chair and some trashcan shots until
Manik takes him down with another trashcan.

Back in and a big Tower
of Doom leaves only Abyss standing but Davey flips out of a chokeslam
attempt and nails Creeping Death to send Abyss outside. Khoya joins
his partner and gets taken down by Davey’s suicide dive. Jeff dives
as well, leaving Matt to hit the Side Effect on Manik. Davey hits a
top rope double stomp for two but Abyss makes the save with a
chokeslam. We get Abyss’ old crotching himself on a chair spot,
setting up the Twist and Swanton for the pin for Jeff at 9:43.

Rating:
C+. Well that was fun. There’s
no sarcasm there as these guys kept it moving for nearly ten minutes
and just beat each other up. The built in story of the Revolution
destroying Eddie Edwards and Jeff gave the match a purpose and the
brawling held up. Good opener here.

James
Storm comes out and tells Abyss that he’s failed once too often.

Mr.
Anderson liked interrupting EC3 last week and has a campaign sign of
his own for tonight.

Package
on Billy Corgan coming to TNA. This could be good, but it could also
be a disaster.

Here’s Mr. Anderson
wearing a tie and behind a podium. He doesn’t care about campaign
promises, but he does want to see Ethan Carter III getting a
whipping. This brings out Carter with Tyrus holding a campaign sign.
Fans: “YOU CAN’T WRESTLE!” Anderson: “They think you can’t
wrestle.”

Anderson says that if
Carter wants the title, then he needs to come take it. Carter
mentions being undefeated and that gets Anderson to his point. He
unveils his own sign, which says Mr. Anderson to beat the streak.
That sounds like a step beneath conquering but close enough.
Anderson wants a match on the live show May 8 (first mention of the
match being live) but thinks we should let the fans vote. The match
is on without any voting but Carter warns Anderson to tread lightly.
This election gimmick is money.

X-Division
Title: Kenny King vs. Mandrews vs. Tigre Uno vs. Rockstar Spud

Spud, who has injured
ribs coming in, is defending in this ladder match. Everyone busts
out the dives to start with Mandrews topping them all with a huge
shooting star press to take out King and Uno. King makes a quick
save as Spud is still down on the floor. Tigre catapults the ladder
into Mandrews and King, only to have Spud shove the ladder over for
the save. King nails Spud in the bad ribs but walks into a tornado
DDT off the ladder. Tigre plants Mandrews with a kind of reverse
Samoan drop, only to have Spud shoves him off the top.

King goes back to the
bad ribs with a hard ladder shot to the bandages until Mandrews
knocks Kenny to the floor. It’s Uno with the save this time as he
takes Mandrews down with a C4 off the ladder. Spud wins a slugout
with King but Kenny kicks him in the bad ribs. Tigre springs onto
the ladder but get slammed down. The distraction lets Spud get back
up, remove the bowtie, and bite King’s face. A big right hand knocks
King down but Homicide breaks it up, sending the bad ribs down onto
another ladder. King gets up and wins the title at 7:54.

Rating:
C. What happened to this
division? It used to be one of the highlights of the company but I
can’t remember the last time there was a story that didn’t involve
Option C and Destination X. It’s a title match, a few random
matches, then a big multi-man mess with four to seven guys fighting
for the belt and maybe one personality between them. Yeah the spots
are cool, but I’d love to see someone actually make the division mean
something again, even for a little bit.

Quick
recap of Angle vs. Young.

We
get to the voting for Carter vs. Anderson
next week: you can vote for arm wrestling or a falls count anywhere
match. The voting idea is cool, but does TNA have an app? You’re
not a real wrestling company if you don’t have an app. And if TNA
does have one, HOW MANY TIMES HAS IT BEEN DOWNLOADED??? THIS IS
VITAL INFORMATION TO MY ABILITY TO BE A WRESTLING FAN!

Here’s Eric Young with
a stretcher. Angle has wanted to see the real Eric Young, but the
real version of him has been the one that has put everyone on a
stretcher just like this. Tonight he has Kurt Angle in a non-title
match, but that’s what Young wants. That means he can hurt Angle all
he wants and put him out forever. See, Young is crazy because he has
big eyes. You know who else has big eyes and is basically the exact
same character as Young, but with a lot more energy and presence.

The Beat Down Clan is
ready to take Drew Galloway down in the pipe on a pole match.

Rockstar Spud feels
like he’s been robbed because his name was on a list with Jerry Lynn
and AJ Styles. He’ll get his title back. Spud showed good emotion
here and he’s growing on me more every time I see him.

Dollhouse promo with
Taryn acting all psycho. She’s not worried about Brooke because it’s
playtime. This is their house. The Dollhouse.

Knockouts
Title: Brooke vs. Taryn Terrell

Taryn is defending but
Brooke knocks her into the corner and out to the floor to start.
Back in and some neckbreakers get two for Brooke but Jade trips her
up, allowing Taryn to take over. She rubs Brooke’s face into the
mat, starting a discussion of what the mat feels like. It’s not
really funny, but at least it’s not Tazz and Tenay chattering.

A standing Curb Stomp
looks to set up a high cross body from the champ but Brooke half
dodges half falls out of the way. She nails a middle rope X-Factor
but the Dollhouse pulls Taryn outside. That’s fine with Brooke who
dives on all of them with a nice plancha. Back in and Marti offers a
distraction, allowing Jade to shove Brooke off the top. Taryn’s
cutter retains the title at 7:18.

Rating:
C. Not bad here but there was
no doubt about who was going to win here. They’re setting up a cool
idea here with the Dollhouse being unbeatable and saying no one can
beat her. That sounds like the calling card for one more match from
Mickie James, who might just win the title and have one more run to
further the wedge between her and Magnus?

The
Dollhouse celebrates but Gail Kim comes out. Taryn points out that
it’s three on one but Kong comes out to help even things up. The
Dollhouse isn’t so sure now.

Slammiversary
will be on pay per view on June 28.

Video
on the Rising.

Low
Ki vs. Drew Galloway

Pipe
on a pole match, the second one I’ve seen Drew in in three days.
Galloway has bad ribs coming
in. They quickly head
outside with the fans holding Low Ki for chops from Drew. Chair
shots are exchanged with
Drew getting the better of it but not being able to get the pipe.
Drew can’t hit a powerbomb onto the chair so
Ki fires off kicks to the ribs. It’s not enough to get the pipe
down, but Ki kicks Drew onto
the chair and hits a Warrior’s Way to drive the ribs into the steel.

That’s
only good for two of course, but suddenly Ki remembers the pipe.
Drew pops up to his feet and
slugs it out on the top with
the pipe falling to the floor. Ki knocks him into the Tree of Woe
but misses another Warrior’s Way, allowing Drew to get the pipe. A
shot to the ribs gets two on Galloway but he hits a quick Future
Shock onto the chair (which doesn’t hurt his ribs whatsoever) for the
pin at 7:25.

Rating:
D+. Other than the story, there
was zero need for this to be a pipe match and the pipe didn’t even
play into the finish. It’s basically the same problem that killed
the other pipe on a pole match, but at least they used the pipe here.
I’m still not seeing the point of this feud, but this match didn’t
help things.

The BDC and the Rising
come out for a big brawl.

We recap Storm talking
Mickie James out of her retirement last week.

Mickie James was filmed
earlier today when James Storm came up to her at the market.
Thankfully they were both mic’d up when Storm asked to hold Mickie
and Magnus’ son.

Magnus is in the ring
but Storm cuts him off before he can say anything. Storm says he
wasn’t the one that said Mickie should have one more match but Magnus
is getting annoyed. Mickie isn’t one of the Revolution lost souls
and Storm can’t manipulate her. Storm smiles and says it was Magnus
who hired a camera crew. He implies that he and Mickie used to be a
thing and wonders why Mickie didn’t tell him about running into Storm
in the parking lot. Good night how much better is Storm as the
devil’s advocate instead of leading the horrible Revolution?

Angle says tonight is
about violence and Young is leaving on a stretcher.

Eric
Young vs. Kurt Angle

Non-title stretcher
match but you win by strapping your opponent to a stretcher, meaning
no line to cross. Angle has a bruised knee and chest coming in.
They trade stomps to start with Young throwing Kurt to the floor.
Both guys are rammed into the steps with Angle getting the better of
it, only to get sent hard into the post as we take a break. Back
with Angle reversing a whip but getting punched in the jaw. A
release belly to belly puts Young down but Eric sends him outside.
Young stomps him onto the steps to put Angle down, allowing him to
finally get the stretcher.

Angle can’t hit the
German off the apron but he can roll the Germans back inside. The
third one causes a turnbuckle pad to be ripped off but they fall to
the floor with Kurt still holding the grip. A low blow with Young’s
shin guard slows Kurt down but the piledriver is countered into a
catapult into the post. Angle hits the Slam on the floor but can’t
strap Young onto the stretcher. The piledriver is countered into the
ankle lock but Eric rolls him into the buckle. Now a pair of
piledrivers connect and Young straps him to the stretcher for the win
at 15:21.

Rating:
C. And my eyes roll again.
There’s no crazy, there’s no reason to believe Young is winning the
title in the likely title match next week, there’s no reason for
Young to have this spot over his English counterpart and there’s no
reason to believe we’re not getting Carter vs. Angle in the actually
interesting feud. I can’t
stand this story as it’s just killing time until we get to the feud
people actually want to see. Again, if Young actually acted crazy, I
might care a little bit, but his matches are just standard heel
matches with a piledriver as a finisher. It
gets old hearing HE’S CRAZY when there’s no actual evidence of him
being crazy.

Overall
Rating: C-. This didn’t do it
for me as the hardcore stuff didn’t change much. I like a lot of the
places they’re going and next week has potential to be interesting,
but they MUST get past this Young main event run as he’s just not in
Angle’s league. Storm vs.
Magnus, Gail/Kong vs. the Dollhouse and Galloway vs. the BDC are all
good though and I could go for Spud fighting to get his title back as
well. It’s a passable show, but the hardcore stuff didn’t add much.

Results

Hardys/Davey Richards
b. Revolution – Swanton Bomb to Abyss

Kenny King b. Rockstar
Spud, Tigre Uno and Mandrews – King pulled down the title

Taryn Terrell b. Brooke
– Cutter

Drew Galloway b. Low Ki
– Future Shock on a chair

Eric Young b. Kurt
Angle – Young strapped Angle to a chair

Remember to follow me
on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of 1998 Pay Per View
reviews at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00UYAMB8U

And check out my Amazon
author page with wrestling books for under $4 at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

Rants

Impact Wrestling – April 10, 2015

By Scott Keith on 10th April 2015

Impact
Wrestling

Date: April 10, 2015

Location: Impact Zone,
Orlando, Florida

Commentators: Taz, Josh
Matthews

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

This is an interesting
time for TNA as they have a bunch of potential challengers for Kurt
Angle’s World Title but it seems that Lashley has the most valid
claim to a shot. Last week Angle pinned Lashley but the replay
showed that Lashley’s shoulder was up. Other than that we have Drew
Galloway’s Rising ready to deal with MVP’s Beat Down Clan. Let’s get
to it.

We open with a recap of
Galloway debuting a few weeks back to try and take back wrestling
from the Beat Down Clan. He now has his friends in the Rising to
help in his battle.

Tonight, fan Tweets
will be airing on screen. This is apparently interesting for reasons
that I don’t really understand but WWE does it so it’s a good idea
right?

Here’s Kurt Angle to
address the end of last week’s show. There’s been a lot of buzz over
the match with Lashley so he’d like Lashley out here right now. We
look at the tape of Lashley’s shoulder being up and the fans want a
rematch. Angle says he won’t back down from a title defense because
he knows he can beat Lashley again. They’re ready to fight tonight
but Eric Young comes out to crank up the suck.

Eric says he’s #1
contender and the rankings say so. He’s a main event champion and
Angle is holding his belt. The fans don’t seem to agree but Young
grabs Lashley’s face. Angle goes for Young but Lashley spears the
champ down by mistake. Oh the drama. Maybe we can see Eric Young
get in a match way over his head again but get to see him survive
because he’s Eric Young and has been around forever and for some
reason that makes him interesting. I mean, he’s not tall like Big
Show but he has been around a long time.

Post break, Angle is
still in the ring and says he’ll fight Lashley and Young tonight at
the same time.

Video on the history of
Awesome Kong vs. Gail Kim.

Gail
Kim vs. Awesome Kong

#1 contenders match.
They go nose to nose until Gail gets launched across the ring by the
hair. Back up and Kin gets in a few unsold shots before being tossed
right back down. As the match goes on, I get THRILLING Tweets of
fans saying they like the match and that they’re watching the show.
You can’t buy journalism like this people. Gail fights up from a
camel clutch but runs into a hard clothesline. King rips the
turnbuckle pad off and sends Gail outside, only to get dropkicked
into the barricade.

Back in and Gail fires
off forearms to the chest before getting two off a spinning cross
body. Kong misses a charge into the exposed buckle to give Gail two
as we get a Tweet from Jim Ross about how good Gail is. See, that’s
the kind of thing we need live commentary to point out. Eat Defeat
gets another near fall but Kong just grabs her by the throat and sets
Kim on the top rope. Gail dives again and goes right into the
Awesome Bomb for the pin at 7:18.

Rating:
C. This is one of those old,
storied feuds in TNA that was indeed cool ten years ago or however
long it was, but now it’s more like “hey, I remember when they had
matches back then.” Thankfully they didn’t play that up too strong
here and it was really just a step above a Kong squash. Taryn vs.
Kong could be good if they book it right.

We
immediately cut to James Storm and Mickie James. Mickie thanks him
for the save last week but that’s just how southerners are raised.
This is more like the old Storm. She goes to leave but he asks for a
hug. Manik comes up and asks what was up with that but Storm goes
back into Revolution mode and tells Manik to never question his
motives. He orders Manik to round up the team for a fight. That
transition from Kong to Storm was way too fast and something TNA
needs to work on. It’s ok to stay on the winner more than two
seconds before you get to your next thing.

Back
from a break with the Revolution in the ring and Storm sitting in a
chair. He’s brought them out here to make things very clear: this is
about a revolution, not for him to take care of them. Each and every
one of the men in this ring failed him, which is why Sanada is gone.
Storm yells at Khoya, saying
he brought him out of that horrible country but now Khoya has failed
him.

There’s
always room for one more, but now there can always be room for one
less. He’s going to win this Tag Team Title tournament and one of
them is going to be his partner. The fans chant for Manik, but Storm
makes a three way to determine who gets the spot. A referee comes
out and Storm insists that there must be a winner.

Abyss
vs. Khoya vs. Manik

Abyss
cleans house but Manik hits him with a chair, which seems to be
legal. Khoya picks up a
stick that Storm left in the ring but Abyss knocks him into the
corner. Apparently the
title match is next week in Ultimate X. That’s rather sudden but
that’s life in TNA. Manik counters a chokeslam into a standing cross
armbreaker (Six Second Magic for you No Mercy fans out there) but
Khoya comes in for the save. A Sky High to Manik is enough to get
Khoya the spot in the tournament at 2:50.

We
go back to James Storm’s barn with the ghost hunters from last week.
The results are
inconclusive.

Here’s the Rising for a
chat. Drew really does fit in this role. He’s so awesome that he
can cut a promo and have his LIVE Tweet show up on screen at the same
time. Drew says he’d give us the shirt off his back and that’s
exactly what he does. He started the Stand Up campaign to bring
wrestling back where it belongs and the fans are part of the Rising
with them. Drew hands the microphone off for the official
introductions.

First up we have Micah,
formerly known as Camacho. The BDC is a bunch of bullies and it’s
time to punch them right in the mouth. The other member is Eli Drake
(you might know him as Shaun Ricker) and he talks about how they’re
definitely not Superstars, but professional wrestlers. Drew throws
down the gauntlet and here’s the BDC to answer. King thinks they’re
rising like a yeast infection and MVP accepts the challenge. Drew
counts down from three to one and the brawl is on in the aisle as we
go to a break. Drake and Micah are just warm bodies but they were
fine here.

Rising
vs. Beat Down Clan

This would be the
second match made by the wrestlers in the first hour. King grabs a
headlock on Drake to start but gets caught in a powerslam. It’s
quickly off to Micah vs. MVP with the BDC taking over and stomping
away in the corner. MVP comes back in and puts on a chinlock before
kicking Micah in the face for two. Micah scores with a Samoan drop
and Drew gets the hot tag to clean house. Everything breaks down
with the Rising clearing the ring, leaving Micah to dive onto all
three of them. Drew and Drake pose but a masked man in BDC gear
sneaks in with what looked like a pipe for the DQ at 6:52.

Rating:
D+.
This match was watchable but I’m
really not seeing why I should care. Rising is a bunch of newcomers
and Drew stands out, but I’m not really sure why these teams need to
fight. The BDC hasn’t actually won anything other than the X Title
once or twice. Do we really need a stable to fight against them?

The
masked man is Homicide. Oh…..great.

Angle
says he’s ready to prove himself again when Eric Young jumps him.
After a break, Angle insists
he’s fighting tonight.

DJZ
vs. Davey Richards

Feeling
out process to start with both guys flying around a bit until Davey
dropkicks him out to the floor. Davey kicks him in the face from the
apron but DJZ comes back with some shots of his own back inside.
That’s fine with Davey as he wins a slugout and sends DJZ to the
floor for a suicide dive. Back
in again and a running kick gets two for Davey but he misses the top
rope stomp. Instead he
throws DJZ up in the air for the kick to the chest, setting up a
spinning kick to the head (Creeping Death) for the pin at 5:32.

Rating:
C. Well that happened. I guess
they’re setting up the tag tournament next week but it was announced
as the X-Division match of the night. The match was entertaining
enough but having matches for the sake of having a match isn’t the
best way to get my interest up. Still though, watchable.

Homicide
says the BDC is familia. MVP
says they’re the Beat Down Clan and they do what they do because they
can. I’ve heard worse catchphrases.

We see some girls
playing with dolls. The Dollhouse is coming soon. The girls
appeared to be Marti Belle and Mia Yim.

Here are the Hardys to
celebrate beating James Storm last week. Next on their list is
winning the Tag Team Champions for the first time in TNA. This
brings out Ethan Carter III and Tyrus to remind us that Ethan is
undefeated for nineteen months, but somehow he hasn’t gotten his
title shot. He’s entering the tournament to get a Tag Team Title,
but he needs a partner. He wants someone who can hurt people and
that man is…..Bram. Now that’s interesting. Bram comes out and
says he hates everyone, but he’ll team up with Carter because he
hates him the least.

This brings out
Anderson, who asks if Carter just said he and Bram are the odds on
favorites. Carter: “Yup.” Anderson: “Huh?” “Yeah.”
“Huh?” “I do.” “Huh?” “Indeed.” This goes on for
about ten more seconds because Carter is rather entertaining on the
mic. Anderson’s partner is Spud and they have a quick argument over
Spud grabbing Anderson’s microphone. The two of them head to the
ring but Austin Aries comes out, talks about loving gold, and
announces Roode as his partner.

A preview for next week
shows that we have four qualifying matches and the winners going to
an Ultimate X match for the Tag Team Titles. It also shows the four
teams in the Ultimate X match because these previews aren’t thought
out in advance.

TNA
World Title: Kurt Angle vs. Eric Young vs. Lashley

Angle is defending and
this is one fall to a finish. Young hides on the floor to start and
lets the suplex machines fight, but they quickly get together and
beat Young back and forth. Lashley plays Bret on a Hart Attack and
Young gets beaten up on the floor as we take a break. Back with
Angle busting out the suplexes on both guys and clotheslining Lashley
to the floor. Kurt ducks his head and eats a piledriver but Lashley
makes the save and throws Eric outside.

The running powerslam
gets two on the champ and a big spear gets the same with Young making
the save. Lashley tweaks his ankle on a leapfrog but is still able
to low bridge Eric to the floor due to Eric sucking so much. Both
challengers get rolling Germans but Young breaks up the ankle lock
(it lasts about 20 seconds, which Josh timed as three minutes) and
puts Lashley in the Figure Four. Lashley makes the rope so Eric
wedges a chair in the corner, only to get caught in the delayed
vertical. The spear hits the chair though and Angle Slams both guys,
setting up the moonsault onto Lashley’s bad leg for the pin at 13:43.

Rating:
B-. So now we get Angle vs.
Young because Young will be CRAZY while saying he never got beat
right? You know, because we
absolutely, totally and completely need Eric Young in our lives and
main events. He’s been around for years you know. The match was
decent enough, as long as Young was kept reined in.

Post
match Angle leaves so Young goes after Bobby’s leg with the chair and
puts on another figure four.

Overall
Rating: C+. Decent enough show
that set up the tournament next week, but the wrestling outside of
the main event was only so good. The stories don’t have the same
heat they did a few weeks back, but at least we’ve still got enough
good stuff to keep things going. I
would however appreciate a top heel instead of a bunch of mid level
ones running around. Angle
seems to be a transitional champion and that’s the right kind of
reign for him at the moment, hopefully with Carter rising up to the
top spot soon enough.

Results

Awesome Kong b. Gail
Kim – Awesome Bomb

Khoya b. Abyss and
Manik – Sky High to Manik

Rising b. Beat Down
Clan via DQ when Homicide interfered

Davey Richards b. DJZ –
Creeping Death

Kurt Angle b. Lashley
and Eric Young – Moonsault to Lashley

Remember to check out my website at kbwrestlingreviews.com and head over to my Amazon author page with wrestling books for under $4 at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

Rants

Impact Wrestling – April 3, 2015

By Scott Keith on 3rd April 2015

Impact
Wrestling
Date:
April 3, 2015

Location:
Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida

Commentators:
Josh
Matthews, Taz

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

We’re
still in Orlando and the big story tonight is who gets to be the #1
contender. A large group of people want the shot at Angle but
tonight
Lashley gets the World Title shot at Kurt Angle.
As far as other
in ring action goes, tonight we have Bobby Roode vs. Eric Young in
what is being billed as their final showdown. Let’s get to it.

This
show is also billed as bell to bell, but it’s not yet clear what that
means.

On
tap for tonight, Lashley vs. Angle for the title, Gail Kim vs.
Angelina
Love,
Magnus vs. Bram in a falls count anywhere match and Young vs. Roode
in a submission match.

Eric
Young vs. Bobby Roode

Before
the match, Young says all good things must come to an end. Tonight,
he says he’s ending Roode’s career and tonight it’s the final chapter
for Roode. Matthews says
this feud has become like Pacquiao vs. Mayweather. No, no it hasn’t.
Roode says he’s already won two matches against Young but now Young
wants to be the #1 contender. Tonight, Roode is making sure that
this story ends forever. Young
promises to make Roode tap, so Roode accepts this as a submission
match, even though that was announced earlier in the show.

The
fight starts on the floor with Roode getting the better of it but
coming back inside to get
stomped down. Josh
talks about an interview with the referee earlier in the week where
he talked about this kind of a match, making the pre-match promo
sound even more out of place. They
head back outside with Young in control and raking the eyes.

Roode
can’t get the Crossface as Young makes it to the ropes, which the
announcers cover by saying the referee wasn’t going to call
submissions in the ropes despite a lack of disqualifications. Not
the best explanation but it’s better than nothing. Back
in again and Roode gets kicked in the leg but still catches Eric in
the spinebuster. We come
back from a break with Roode getting thrown out of the corner and
jarring his knee again.

Young
throws on a leg bar but Bobby is next to the ropes, which gets a
count from the referee. It’s
time for Young to get psycho again and bend the knee around the post
with something like Bret Hart’s Hartbreaker. The
referee breaks it up again and Roode gets back up for a quick
Crossface. Young has a bad
arm coming in but is able to get to the ropes for the break.

Instead
Roode puts on a Boston crab but
gets kicked to the floor on the escape.
Young sends the knee into
the steps again and we hit
the figure four inside. Bobby
turns it over and the referee is bumped, just as Roode puts on the
Crossface to make Young tap. No referee though so Young hits a leg
lariat and turns his leg brace around to make the Figure Four hurt
even worse, forcing Roode to
tap at 16:58. So we’re back
to Garvin vs. Valentine from 1990 now?

Rating:
B-. Gah of course Young wins
because WE MUST PRAISE HIS NAME for being all intense and looking
like he’s trying to scare small children. See, he’s really crazy and
we have to watch him hurt people, likely because he’s one of the only
people they know won’t leave. I’m sick of seeing Young pushed and
having him trade wins with Bobby Roode isn’t going to make me care
about him.

Here’s
Davey Richards with both tag belts. Eddie Edwards follows him out on
crutches and it looks like the titles are going to be vacated. Eddie
says he’s broken his heel in half and the titles are going to have to
be held up as the Wolves can’t defend them. JB
asks Davey about a replacement partner but Davey says the Wolves
aren’t the Wolves without Eddie so no deal. They’ll
be coming for the titles when his foot heals.

Lashley
promises to get his title back.

Angelina
Love vs. Gail Kim

Love
says she flaunts what she has but she’s also a great wrestler. She
promises to prove it tonight and blasts Gail in the face at the
opening bell. A side slam
gets two on Gail as the announcers argue over whether being a
champion means you’re the best. Josh says holding the belt means
you’re the best, which is what the belt used to mean a long time ago
before someone decided they were just props you pass around for fun.
They head outside with Gail
being sent into the apron but coming back with a Russian legsweep to
send Love into them as well.

Both
girls beat the count back in and slug it out with Gail taking over
and scoring with a missile dropkick for two. Eat
Defeat is countered so Gail goes up for a hurricanrana, only to have
Love just stand there as Gail crashes. It was supposed to be a
powerbomb counter I think but Love didn’t actually use her arms. The
Botox Injection gets two as Gail gets her foot on the ropes. Another
attempt hits the ropes though and Eat Defeat gives Kim the pin at
6:49.

Rating:
D+. I’m not a fan of either of
these girls and this didn’t make me care much more. Gail in the
title scene has been done so many times that it’s really hard to
care, but I have a feeling they’re setting up another Kong vs. Kim
match because this company LOVES to recap stuff that was cool ten
years ago.

The
cast of a ghost hunting show goes to the Revolution’s ranch. Storm
asks them to see if an old friend of his is still haunting a barn so
the cast investigates. They
think there might have been a murder. More on this later.

We
recap Bram vs. Magnus, with Magnus wanting to be a family man and
Bram wanting him to be back like his old self again. Bram has gone
insane over it and attacked Magnus over and over, eventually bringing
Magnus’ girlfriend Mickie James into it.

Magnus
vs. Bram

Falls
count anywhere. Magnus
takes it right to the floor to start and sends Bram into the
barricade. They head up to
the stage where Bram tries a powerbomb like Magnus did last week but
Magnus quickly counters out. He can’t piledrive Bram on the stage
either and gets dropped by a low blow. Back
to ringside with Bram sending him into the apron but getting caught
by a missile dropkick back inside. Magnus
can’t keep control though and they head outside with Bram sending him
into the steps. With an
evil smile on his face, Bram comes back in with some right hands but
walks into a clothesline as we take a break.

Back
with Magnus punching from the middle rope as the announcers hype a
live Twitter on next week’s show. Both
guys are down so here’s Mickie James to cheer for Magnus but
he wants her to leave. The distraction lets Bram get a chair to
blast Magnus in the back. He
sends Magnus into the post as well before laying him on the steps.
Now Mickie gets in to
distract Bram but James Storm of all people comes out to say you
don’t hit a woman.

Magnus
gets back up and stomps a charging Bram with a boot, setting up
something like a Rock Bottom for two. Magnus
can’t follow up though and gets chaired in the head for another near
fall. The Brighter Side of
Suffering onto the chair gets two more and Bram is stunned. Back
up and Magnus hits a powerbomb, followed by a second powerbomb and
the belly to back into a Rock Bottom (the
Spineshaker according to Wikipedia)
for the pin at 18:55.

Rating:
B.
I liked this more than I thought I would and I was very relieved that
Storm just stopped a single thing and then left. This continues to
be one of the best stories TNA has done in a very long time and I
didn’t want the Revolution to screw that up. Good brawl here, but
the ending kind of came out of nowhere.

Angle
says Lashley has never fought anyone like him.

Magnus
goes up to ask Storm what that was about. Storm says he was looking
out for an old friend. Magnus isn’t sure what to think of that and
we can’t see Mickie’s reaction.

We
look at Angle vs. Lashley with Kurt winning the title.

TNA
World Title: Kurt Angle vs. Lashley

Lashley
is challenging and wearing orange tonight. Angle’s
entrance takes place during the break. Feeling
out process to start with Lashley knocking him to the mat off a
shoulder. Lashley slows
things down with a headlock and Kurt heads outside for a breather.
Back in and Lashley wrestles
him to the mat but the champ fights up and nails a clothesline to
send Lashley outside. Back
in again and
Lashley drives a shoulder into the ribs and puts on a bearhug. He
switches over to a waistlock but
the fans get Kurt to fight up.

We
come back from a break with Lashley
still stomping away but getting backdropped to the floor. Lashley
gets back in but Angle can’t roll the Germans on him. A spinebuster
gets two on the champion and Lashley is getting annoyed. He
misses a big swing though and now some Germans connect but Lashley
grabs the ropes to counter the third. Kurt gets caught in a running
powerslam for two but the third attempt at rolling Germans works
better. The Angle Slam gets two and
it’s off to the ankle lock but
Lashley rolls him to the floor. A
limping Lashley follows him outside and sends Kurt into the steps.

They
get back in with Lashley smiling, then
no selling the ankle lock with a one armed delayed vertical suplex.
A good looking spear gets
two and Angle is bleeding from the back of his head. With
nothing left to do, Lashley goes up top but gets caught in a super
Angle Slam for a close two. Angle
completely misses the moonsault and now it’s Lashley putting Kurt in
the ankle lock. The champ
almost taps but rolls Lashley into the buckle for a rollup to retain
at 21:19. Lashley’s shoulder was clearly off the mat.

Rating:
B+. I
liked the match but it didn’t quite hit the mark the previous one
did. This felt like they were going for the huge match feel and it
worked to a degree, but it felt more like they were just trying
instead of achieving. Still though, really good stuff here and more
than worthy of a TV main event.

Lashley
shakes hands but the replay shows that his shoulder was indeed up.

Overall
Rating: B.
Really solid show for the pay per view caliber show of the month.
The Knockouts weren’t great but Angelina hasn’t been a top shelf
worker for a good while now. The main event was good and Bram vs.
Magnus continues to be awesome. If they can find some way to maim
Eric Young and launch him to Mars, everything will be great in TNA
all over again. I’m still not sure what Bell to Bell meant but at
least it was still entertaining.

Results

Eric
Young b. Bobby Roode – Figure Four

Gail
Kim b. Angelina Love – Eat Defeat

Magnus
b. Bram – Spineshaker

Kurt
Angle b. Lashley – Rollup

Remember to check out my website at kbwrestlingreviews.com and head over to my Amazon author page with wrestling books for under $4 at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

Rants

Impact Wrestling – March 27, 2015

By Scott Keith on 27th March 2015

Impact
Wrestling

Date:
March 27, 2015

Location:
Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida

Commentators:
Josh Matthews, Taz

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

We’re
finally back in America after a pretty awesome UK tour and the main
story is Kurt Angle defeating Lashley to win the World Title. As for
tonight, the big story is the return of Jeff Hardy from his annual “I
can’t go to Europe” leave for a showdown inside a cage against
James Storm. Let’s get to it.

We
open with a recap of Storm shoving Hardy off the cage a few weeks ago
to put him out of action.

Here
are Storm and Khoya for a chat to get things going. Storm says
tonight is supposed to be about Hardy’s revenge but Hardy isn’t here.
A few weeks back, Storm did exactly what he said he was going to do
when he put out Jeff and then last week he did the same to Matt.
Jeff Hardy is known for diving off cages so Storm just tried to help
him. The fans chant for Hardy so Storm pulls out a watermelon and
says this is Hardy before throwing it over the cage and out to the
floor.

This
brings out Jeff who says Storm did what no one else could do and put
him out for a bit, but Jeff is still standing. He wants to start
now, but here’s Manik to get in a cheap shot and lay Hardy out.
Storm orders Manik to break his arm but Jeff hits a twisting Stunner
to put Manik down. This brings out Abyss to send Jeff into the cage
but Hardy takes the chair away from Abyss and lays him out. Jeff
asks someone to lower the roof of the cage, which happens to be full
of weapons. The match is later tonight.

We
look at Austin Aries getting his Feast or Fired briefcase back,
allowing Spud to win the X-Division Title.

The
BDC says they can’t replace someone (meaning Joe) but MVP says it’s
time for Low Ki to get the X-Division Title back tonight.

Ad
for the Sting DVD set. How long has it been since they had a DVD
release?

Storm
sends Khoya to get rid of Jeff Hardy.

X-Division
Title: Low Ki vs. Rockstar Spud

Rematch
from last week’s “match”. I’m not the biggest Low Ki fan so
hopefully this doesn’t end Spud’s hot streak. It’s a slow start
until Ki takes him down to the mat for a hard kick to the ribs.
Spud’s chops have no effect but some right hands do. That’s the
extent of his offense though as Spud gets dropped again and keeps
shaking his head. A double stomp knocks Spud silly and he has to
beat a ten count back up.

Back
up and Spud snaps off some left hands followed by a dropkick as he
tries to speed things up. He plants Ki with a running DDT and takes
off the bowtie. Cue MVP and King for distractions to break up the
Underdog, but Drew Galloway distracts them, allowing Spud to small
Low Ki for the pin at 5:11.

Rating:
D. Spud got beaten up for most
of the match here before a fluke ending. I’ve never been a fan of
booking that makes the champion look weak and that’s exactly how Spud
came off. He doesn’t have the highest stature in the first place and
this isn’t the best way for him to look stronger. Drew vs. the BDC
isn’t the most interesting feud in the world either.

Post
break the BDC is still in the ring (oh joy) to rant about Galloway
and threaten to send him to the hospital. MVP wants Drew out here
right now and that’s exactly what he gets. Drew admits that he’s
both dumb and crazy because he’s still here after King hit him with a
pipe. He wants to know who will stand up with him tonight and asks
the fans if they’re tired of the BDC.

Drew
says they have a rising going on right now but King turns it into a
Braveheart analogy. Ki wants Low Ki right now and it’s on, with two
guys (the recently released Camacho and indy wrestler Shaun Ricker)
jumping in from the crowd for a three on three brawl. The newly
named Rising clear the ring. Great. ANOTHER faction.

Video
on Kong wanting to take Taryn Terrell’s Knockout Title.

The
BDC is ready to call someone to replace Joe.

Brooke
vs. Awesome Kong

Let
the squashing begin. Brooke fires off kicks to the leg but gets run
over by a standing clothesline. A front slam drops Brooke again
before King stands on her hair. Brooke even tries to fight back from
the mat but her forearms have no effect. Kong shrugs off some
clotheslines but the Awesome Bomb is countered (Kidman!) into a
faceplant. A top rope elbow gets two on Kong but she comes back with
a chokeslam and the Implant Buster for the pin at 4:15.

Rating:
D+.
I’m glad that they’re back to having Brooke just be eye candy instead
of having her do WACKY COMEDY with Robbie E. At least this match
made Kong look dominant instead of having her lose in a triple
threat, even though that’s the calling card of the Knockouts
division.

Kong
hits another Implant Buster and gets a table from under the ring.
Taryn comes in to hammer on
Kong, eventually putting her down with a missile dropkick and low
bridging her to the floor. Kong
shrugs all that off though and powerbombs Terrell through the table.

Video
on Lashley vs. Angle from last week.

Aries
implies he’s cashing in tonight.

Jeff
Hardy is talking about the match tonight when Khoya comes in. Hardy
fights him off and finds a conveniently placed ladder to get in even
more damage. Khoya tries to get up so Jeff breaks bottles over his
face. That’s a bit excessive.

Here’s
Kurt Angle for his championship celebration. He says this is title
#14 (it’s still a huge stretch Kurt) but this one is different. Kurt
talks about having to work this much harder to get here and it’s his
proudest moment thus far. Cue Ethan Carter III (FINALLY) to talk
about how Angle has inspired everyone in the back, even him.

Angle
did the impossible last week when he beat Lashley, but it seems
impossible to go 18 months undefeated and beat every TNA Hall of
Famer (minus D-Von but who cares about him anyway). Angle doesn’t
buy it but here’s Roode to interrupt as well. He wants his rematch
for the title and Angle doesn’t seem opposed to the idea. Angle
deserves this moment but it’s just a moment.

This
brings out Eric Young (of freaking course) to say he took the title
from Bobby Roode because he’s always been better than Bobby. Young
says the title goes through him but Austin Aries comes out carrying
the briefcase. After pointing out that Carter hasn’t won the title,
he opens the briefcase and reveals a bottle of champagne. The
question is who the toast is for. Angle says he’ll fight anyone
anywhere anytime. As he goes to leave, Lashley comes out to say it’s
his rematch time. That’s fine with Angle but a huge brawl breaks out
with all the people in the ring. We’re still not done because Mr.
Anderson comes out to join in.

Austin
Aries/Mr. Anderson/Bobby Roode vs. Ethan Carter III/Eric Young/Tyrus

Joined
in progress after a break with Carter in trouble. Roode catapults
Carter into a forearm from Aries for two before it’s off to Anderson
to stay on the arm. Off to Tyrus vs. Roode with the big man
suplexing Bobby down. Off to Carter to choke on the ropes before
putting on a chinlock. Young can’t get the piledriver as Roode
counters with a backdrop and makes the hot tag to Aries.

Everything
breaks down with Tyrus nailing Aries with a clothesline but Anderson
takes out the big man. Aries forearms Carter to the floor and hits
the suicide dive but Young posts Anderson. Back in and Roode
spinebusters Young down, setting up the 450 but Aries only hits mat.
He also bangs up his knee, allowing Young to slap on a Figure Four
for the submission at 7:26.

Rating:
C-. This match was a good
example of a lot of TNA’s problems in a single match: too many people
involved in a story and stuff happening WAY too fast. Set this up
for next week’s main event instead of just throwing everything
together at once. I like the idea of everyone wanting the belt as
it’s what wrestling is built on, but let things breathe a bit and
build the anticipation.

Here’s
Bram to call Magnus a coward over and over. Magnus has been sending
his old lady out here to fight his battles, but it makes sense as
she’s more of a man than he’ll ever be. A mention of Magnus’ son is
enough to bring Magnus himself out to say this is about to become
more than anyone can handle. Bram promises to make Mickie cry, but
she says they’ll be tears of joy when Bram is beaten all around the
Impact Zone.

That’s
what Bram wanted to hear, because he thinks Mickie will have to go
back to an empty house. Don’t worry though because his door is
always open. It’s on now but a low blow puts Magnus down. Bram
grabs Mickie and tries to make her kiss his boot before just trying
to kiss her instead.

Magnus
gets back up and suplexes him down before beating Bram with that
wrench Bram carries. They go to leave but Mickie has to get in some
shots of her own. This is still an awesome story and the promos are
on fire. It also helps that it’s something relatable. Instead of a
cult leader messing with a psychedelic daredevil, it’s a man
defending his family.

Angle
says he beat Lashley once but beating him again will be tough. He
won’t be intimidated though.

James
Storm vs. Jeff Hardy

Inside
the cage with weapons and Storm blasts him with a trashcan before the
bell. Hardy quickly fights back and sends him into some buckles.
Poetry in Motion with a chair connects once but misses the second
time to give Storm control again. Back with Matthews telling us
which guy is which and recapping the events that set this up in about
ten seconds. I miss basic announcing like that and it’s so
refreshing to hear it again. Storm tells the fans to shut up and
gets taken down by a running clothesline. The Swanton hits knees
though and the Eye of the Storm gets two.

Closing
Time into a Backstabber sets up the Last Call but Storm wants the
cowbell. Hardy takes it away and hits Storm with it, setting up the
Swanton for two. Back up and Storm goes up top so Jeff grabs the top
of the cage for some dropkicks into a hurricanrana for another near
fall. They’re just going spot to spot at this point. Some trashcan
lid shots to the head and a cowbell shot look to set up the Swanton
but Jeff monkey bars across the top into a swinging Vader Bomb (minus
the pumping) for the pin at 14:55.

Rating:
C+. Fun match but there are
some issues here, starting with the weapons. A single moment a few
weeks ago really doesn’t warrant a gimmick cage match in the first
match back for Jeff. Where is this feud supposed to go? That’s one
of TNA’s long running issues: knowing how to end a feud. This is
probably going to continue for weeks after the big match happened
early on. Still though, it was a fun match, assuming you can ignore
the parts that didn’t need to be there.

After
a preview for next week, we get a nice In Memory Of graphic for Perro
Aguayo Jr. WWE didn’t do that.

Overall
Rating: C. This show was a
great example of one of TNA’s major problems flaring up again: they
don’t know how to calm down and let things breathe. Look at earlier:
we have three stables, a gimmick cage match, a falls count anywhere
match next week, and a World Title match next week. That kind of
stuff should fill up six weeks, not two shows. Let the show take its
time instead of firing off everything at once and see how much better
the builds are. It’s a good show this week with Magnus and Bram as
the highlights, but these shows wear me out more often than not and
that’s more like Raw than anything else.

Results

Rockstar
Spud b. Low Ki – Small package

Awesome
Kong b. Brooke – Implant Buster

Eric
Young/Ethan Carter III/Tyrus vs. Bobby Roode/Austin Aries/Mr.
Anderson – Figure four to Aries

Jeff
Hardy b. James Storm – Swinging splash from the roof of the cage

Remember to check out my website at kbwrestlingreviews.com and head over to my Amazon author page with wrestling books for under $4 at:

Rants