Rants

Impact Wrestling – September 24, 2014

By Scott Keith on 24th September 2014

Impact
Wrestling

Date:
September 24, 2014

Location:
Manhattan Center, New York City, New York

Commentators:
Mike Tenay, Tazz

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

We’re
wrapping up the summer in New York and three shows left before Bound
For Glory. The interesting thing for tonight is a tournament for a
future title shot which may or may not be at the biggest show of the
year. Granted at this point it looks like that’s Lockdown anymore as
Bound For Glory is shaping up as another One Night Only level show.
Let’s get to it.

We
open with a video on Roode vs. Lashley from last week where Bobby
almost won the title.

JB
explains the tournament concept: five qualifying matches with the
winners facing each other in a five way later tonight. The winner
can challenge for any match they choose and the matches are
surprises. This would fit better if they all hadn’t been announced
on TNA’s website. MVP, Magnus, Austin Aries, Abyss and Robbie E.
will all have qualifying matches.

Video
on MVP.

Gold
Rush Tournament Qualifying Match: MVP vs. Low Ki

Low
Ki gets a video as well, talking about wanting to push the roster
over the years. Feeling out process to start with MVP shoving Low Ki
into the corner. He rams Ki into the buckle but gets kicked hard in
the chest to send MVP across the ring. A slam out of the corner gets
two for MVP but Ki fires off some chops and kicks to the chest. MVP
opens up his vest and says hit me harder so Ki snaps off one of the
hardest chops I’ve ever seen. MVP comes back with a knee to the ribs
and a kick to the face to send Low Ki out to the floor. We actually
get a plancha to take Low Ki before going to a break.

Back
with MVP still in control with a facebuster and the Ballin Elbow.
Low Ki gets back up and is thrown into the air, only to land in a
standing position on MVP’s shoulders and jump forward to dropkick MVP
in the back. Awesome looking move. A kick to the head gets two on
MVP before Ki sends him outside for a big springboard dive. Back in
and Ki tries a cartwheel kick but MVP takes 

out his leg. The Drive
By is enough to send MVP to the finals at 13:05.

Rating:
C+. This was a stiffer match
than usual with both guys hammering on each other. Ki looked good
with that spot of landing on MVP’s shoulders looking incredible. MVP
needed a big win as he’s almost only been a talker for the last few
months with only a handful of matches here and there.

The
BroMans argue over whose girlfriend is hotter. They agree to
disagree but Robbie brags about being in the tournament and then
being on Amazing Race with Brooke starting this Sunday. He plans on
switching between both girls but Jesse points out that cameras will
be everywhere. Like the one filming them right now. They point out
said camera and Robbie runs. This was actually kind of funny.

Quick
tribute to Eric the Actor from the Howard Stern Show, a big wrestling
fan who passed away over the weekend.

Video
on the Tag Team Title series. The Wolves will pick the final
stipulation next week.

Robbie
E. comes out for his match and says he’s a huge star all around the
world.

Gold
Rush Tournament Qualifying Match: Robbie E. vs. Tajiri

The
fans chant WELCOME BACK to Tajiri, suggesting that this was taped out
of order with other shows. A big kick sends Robbie out to the floor
but he sends Tajiri’s ribs into the apron. Back in and we hit the
chinlock for a bit before Tajiri pops up with his namesake handspring
elbow for two. There’s the Tarantula but the Buzzsaw Kick misses.
Robbie gets two off an implant DDT but the referee gets bumped,
allowing Tajiri to blow the mist and hit the Buzzsaw to advance at
3:40.

Rating:
D+. I’m a fan of Tajiri’s and
he’s about the same guy he was back in ECW at this point. That’s
very impressive given that he’s in his 40s now and still goes just as
well. He’s a guy like Rhino where you know what you’re getting and
he doesn’t shift from that, but he can still make it work.

Spud
insists there are no problems with he and Ethan Carter III and takes
a call from him. The funny bit here: he shows the phone and it says
“EC3 – BEST FRIEND”. After a break he’s still on the phone and
tries to stand up to Ethan but gets talked down. Much like Robbie,
he runs when he sees a camera on him.

Gold
Rush Tournament Qualifying Match: Austin Aries vs. Knux

The
fans are entirely behind Aries who tries a test of strength for some
reason. Aries rolls away so Knux does a handstand, only to have
Aries spin around. Taz changes the story again by saying Rebel and
Knux are dating, even though I thought they were brother and sister
before. Knux gets taken down by a wristlock so he nips up to a huge
response. Knux takes a bow so Aries tries a brainbuster to stop the
fun. The big guy shoves him off so Aries dropkicks the knee out and
takes over in the corner.

Aries
knocks him to the floor but Knux blocks the suicide dive with a big
boot. Back in and Aries fires off more kicks to the leg to send Knux
outside again. The suicide dive connects, but it’s with the Freak
and Craazy Steve instead of Knux. Back in again with Knux getting
two off a huge side slam. The Sky High is countered with a
hurricanrana and Aries nails the corner dropkick. Knux is too big
for the brainbuster so Austin hits some discus forearms and another
corner dropkick before getting the big man up for the brainbuster and
the pin at 7:04.

Rating:
C. I liked this match better
than I was expecting to but the Menagerie makes me smile most of the
time. Knux is a talented guy but he can only go so far as the leader
of a failing carnival. To be fair though it’s very nice to look at
Rebel….who may or may not be his sister and/or girlfriend depending
on what week it is.

Video
on Roode vs. Lashley from last week.

Gold
Rush Tournament Qualifying Match: Mr. Anderson vs. Magnus

Magnus
jumps him to start and slams him face first into the mat for some
early two counts. We hit the chinlock for a bit before a clothesline
gets two on Anderson. Back up and a double clothesline puts both
guys down before Anderson wins a slugout. Magnus grabs a belly to
back suplex into a slam for a close two. He loads it up again but
Anderson reverses into the Mic Check for the pin at 6:50.

Rating:
D. Really basic match here
until the last 45 seconds or so. These guys are the low level main
event wrestlers in TNA right now as they’re both former World
Champions but neither guy has anything going for him. The match
wasn’t terrible but it really didn’t feel like they had any interest
in trying out there.

Quick
video on set of the Knockouts calendar shoot.

Video
on Team 3D going into the Hall of Fame.

We
recap the tournament so far.

Video
on Gail Kim vs. Havok for next week. This is designed to make Havok
look like a monster.

Gold
Rush Tournament Qualifying Match: Abyss vs. Samuel Shaw

The
fans chant “Dexter Morgan” at Shaw. Abyss knocks him down and
grabs a chokeslam but Shaw kicks him in the ribs to escape. Instead
Abyss grabs him by the throat again and shoves him out to the floor
in a big crash. Shaw fights back on the floor and rams Abyss into
the steps.

He
goes after Abyss’ arm in what is called a smart move by ramming it
into various objects. This idea works in theory, but it would make
more sense to go after the arm Abyss uses for his big moves. To be
fair though, Shaw is a bit out there. Shockingly enough, Abyss makes
a comeback using moves with his strong arm, including a chokeslam to
put Shaw on the floor. Shaw grabs a chair and blasts Abyss in the
head, which Hebner somehow doesn’t see. Back in and the Black Hole
Slam ends Shaw at 6:35.

Rating:
D+. Well now that that
formality is out of the way, let’s get on with the main event. This
was the usual tournament match where a big name beats up someone that
has no chance of beating them. At least they kept it short as
there’s no real reason to sit through a long match which isn’t very
good and has no surprise to it.

Gold
Rush Tournament Finals: Austin Aries vs. Abyss vs. Tajiri vs. MVP vs.
Mr. Anderson

Winner
gets a shot at any title at anytime and it’s one fall to a finish.
MVP stays in the ring while everyone else brawls on the floor but
Abyss will have none of that. Instead MVP bails to the corner so
Abyss can beat up Anderson to start. It’s off to Tajiri who wins a
kickoff with Anderson before missing a charge into the corner.
Anderson misses a charge of his own and hits the post, giving Tajiri
a rollup for two. Aries comes in and grabs on Tajiri’s head but
Taijri scores with the handspring elbow for two.

Back
from a break with Aries countering the Tarantula but getting kneed in
the back to block the suicide dive. Anderson comes in for the
rolling fireman’s carry for two but it’s off to Abyss. Aries escapes
the chokeslam and slaps MVP for a tag. MVP doesn’t want to come in
so Aries catapults him in over the top but MVP tags out to Tajiri.

Abyss
brings in Anderson who is quickly caught in the Tarantula. Mr. slams
Tajiri down off the top but MVP tags himself in. Anderson looks
right at him before MVP hits the Drive By for two as Aries makes the
save. Everything breaks down and MVP loads up the Drive By on Aries,
only to get rolled up for the pin at 15:12.

Rating:
C. The match was ok but we’ve
seen all these guys once tonight so this was kind of repetitive.
Aries winning is the best option, even though we’ve seen him vs.
Lashley before. I can’t imagine he’d pick Joe, even though it would
be an entertaining match. This wasn’t bad but it didn’t work all
that well.

Overall
Rating: D+. Well that was
different. This was literally a one idea show and
they’re already recycling challengers for the World Title.
You have to assume it’s the World Title, but there was that one time
when Kaval went after the Intercontinental Title instead of the World
Title like a sane person. It’s now clear that Bound For Glory isn’t
going to be an important show this year, which is a shame given that
they usually do something big with it. Then again TNA needs to worry
about staying alive at this point and how would the biggest show of
the year help them do that?

The
wrestling wasn’t great tonight and I’m not a fan of one concept
shows. This felt much more like a One Night Only and
that’s not something you want to do. TNA survives off Impact anymore
and now they’re going with that one idea formula which has worked SO
well before. Nothing much to see here and it could have been spread
out over a few weeks to set up some other stuff.

Results

MVP
b. Low Ki – Drive By

Tajiri
b. Robbie E. – Buzzsaw Kick

Austin
Aries b. Knux – Brainbuster

Mr.
Anderson b. Magnus – Mic Check

Abyss
b. Samuel Shaw – Black Hole Slam

Austin
Aries b. Abyss, Mr. Anderson, MVP and Tajiri – Rollup to MVP

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

Rants

Impact Wrestling – September 17, 2014

By Scott Keith on 17th September 2014

Impact
Wrestling

Date: September 16,
2014

Location: Manhattan
Center, New York City, New York

Commentators: Mike
Tenay, Taz

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

This is the No
Surrender special, which doesn’t really need to exist as we’re only a
few weeks away from Bound For Glory. The card is fairly stacked
though as we have a ladder match to continue the Tag Team Title
series and Bobbly Lashley defending against Bobby Roode. Maybe we’ll
even start building up the biggest show of the year. Let’s get to
it.

We open with a recap of
the tag team series. The Hardys and Team 3D have won a match each
and the first team to two wins are the Tag Team Champions.

Battle Royal

Taryn
Terrell, Madison Rayne, Angelina
Love, Velvet Sky, Rebel, Brittany, Havok

The winner gets a title
shot at some point in the future. Havok destroys everyone in sight
to start so the rest of the girls try to gang up on her. That goes
as well as you would expect it to and Havok puts on Madison and Taryn
in succession. The Beautiful People work together against Brittany
and Rebel but Havok puts Brittany out. Rebel low bridges Angelina to
the floor, leaving Rebel, Havok and Velvet. Rebel goes to the middle
rope but gets shoved out onto the steps for the elimination. Velvet
tries some kicks and a sleeper but Havok snapmares her over and slams
Sky to the floor for the win at 6:00.

Rating: D+.
This was your usual battle royal but they did a great job at making
Havok look dominant. She sold the big beatdown a little bit but not
enough that she stopped looking like a monster. The division has
needed a new story for a long time and this might be just what it
needed.

Gunner tells Samuel
Shaw that his foot is fine and suggests that Shaw ask Brittany out.
Shaw says he can’t because he’s fixated on someone else. It’s going
to be Gunner isn’t it?

Here
are MVP and Kenny King for a chat. MVP talks about how Lashley is
going to win tonight and the headlines tomorrow will read Roode
Awakening. He shifts over to someone else who has been making
headlines: Chris Melendez. The Wounded Warrior comes out and they
offer Melendez a spot on their team to carry their bags. Melendez
turns it down, saying he doesn’t need to be handed anything. King
takes this as Melendez saying he’s better than them. Kenny calls him
peg leg and wants a referee out here right now.

Chris Melendez vs.
Kenny King

MVP nails Melendez
after the bell and we take a break ten seconds in. Back with King
still in control and kicking Melendez in the back of the head. Some
right hands get King two and it’s off to a chinlock. A legdrop gets
another two for Kenny and he picks Chris up, only to be countered
into a sunset flip for the pin at 6:58.

Rating: D.
This was a squash with Melendez getting in one move the entire match.
King continues to be a hanger on with the other two members of the
trio as he just doesn’t do much for me. Melendez is getting a nice
push, though he hasn’t had the chance to show us much other than
rookie level skills. That’s not a knock on him or anything as he is
a rookie, but he needs
more ring time.

King beats Chris down
post match until Mr. Anderson makes the save.

Video on Roode vs.
Lashley.

Anderson checks on
Melendez, who says he isn’t hurt or injured.

X-Division Title:
Homicide vs. Samoa Joe

Joe is defending.
Feeling out process to start with Joe taking Homicide into the corner
and firing off some kicks. A chop to the back and the knee drop gets
two but Homicide gets in a few shots of his own to take over. He
stats working on Joe’s neck until Joe catches him in a release
overhead belly to belly suplex into the corner. A snap powerslam
gets two for Joe but Homicide goes back to the neck. He loads up the
Gringo Killa but Joe gets underneath him for the Koquina Clutch for
the submission at 5:45.

Rating: C-.
The match was way too short to mean much but it wasn’t bad while it
lasted. Homicide is a guy where I just don’t get the appeal. I
don’t care for his style and his matches don’t do anything for me.
Joe is a decent X-Division Champion and it’s nice to see the title
actually defended more than once every few months.

Post
match James Storm and the Great Sanada come out to beat up both guys.
A low superkick lays out Homicide and Manik comes out in completely
new attire to nail Homicide with a frog splash.

The
Wolves talk about how this series is about their legacy and how
they’re climbing ladders to prove themselves.

Eric
Young and Bobby Roode reminisce about how insane this year has been.

Wolves vs. Hardys
vs. Team 3D

This is a ladder match
and only the Wolves can’t win the series here. The Wolves charge the
ring to start the brawl and an ECW chant already starts up. The
champions send the Hardys and Team 3D to the floor for back to back
suicide dives. We get the first ladder brought in but Richards has
to stop to kick Ray in the head. Ray and Matt both get hit by the
ladder with Ray being driven back into the corner.

Jeff kicks the ladder
into the Wolves and hits a Whisper in the Wind to put both champions
down. We get the required helicopter spot with the ladder on Ray’s
head before he just drops the ladder on Richards’ back. What’s Up
crushes Davey even more but Matt breaks up an attempt to get the
tables. Edwards stops Matt from pulling down the belts but D-Von
pushes the ladder over to send both guys into the ropes.

We take a break and
come back with Ray powerbombing Jeff onto a pile of ladders, knocking
another ladder into Eddie and Matt’s faces. Ray sets up a ladder but
the Wolves powerbomb him down for a save. The Wolves, D-Von and Matt
all climb up until Davey and D-Von knock each other off and Matt hits
a Twist of Fate on Eddie. Jeff loads up a ladder in the corner and
tries to jump over it but Ray gets up and superplexes him down with
Jeff’s feet hitting the titles on the way down.

Davey hammers away on
D-Von in the corner until Ray slaps him HARD across the back to set
up a Doomsday Device. Now the Hardys start cleaning house with the
ladder and hit double Twists of Fate to Team 3D. Matt moonsaults Ray
and Jeff Swantons D-Von in a cool spot. Poetry in Motion crushes
Eddie against a ladder as the Hardys are in total control. They lay
Davey onto a ladder and Matt holds it up for a splash from Jeff.

Team 3D comes back with
tables but the Wolves bring in chairs (fans: “TLC!”). Davey
double stomps Matt through a table at ringside, leaving Eddie to
climb for the belts. Jeff is right there with him but Davey shoves
the ladder over, sending Jeff ribs first onto a ladder. Eddie pulls
down the belts to tie the series up at 18:10.

Rating: B.
I think we’ve established that these three teams are going to be
awesome no matter what they do. It’s obvious that they’re setting up
a TLC match (even though that’s what this was) for the final match
and that’s the logical choice. Unfortunately I’m not sure where they
can go after this as the division could crash back down to earth
after Bound For Glory. Still though, at least it’s great stuff while
it lasts.

Gunner
vs. Bram

They
lock up to start and the fight quickly heads to the floor. Gunner
hammers away and gets two off a headbutt back inside. An exploder
suplex gets the same but Bram gets in some shots to the knee to take
over. Samuel Shaw comes out to offer support as Bram cannonballs
down onto Gunner’s leg. Gunner comes back with a clothesline and
some headbutts, but his knee gives out on a powerbomb attempt. Shaw
comes in and accidentally hits Gunner again, giving Bram the pin at
4:08.

Rating: C-.
This was a decent power brawl as both guys can work a similar style
well enough. I’m not sure where this story with Shaw and Gunner is
going, but I have a bad feeling it might be Gunner as Shaw’s latest
obsession. Shaw has outlived his usefulness at this point as the
insanity has basically been written off, leaving him as just kind of
odd. He’s nothing special in the ring either so I’m not sure why
he’s still around.

Gail Kim is ready for
Havok.

TNA World Title:
Lashley vs. Bobby Roode

Lashley is defending
and I’ll only refer to Roode as Bobby. The champion shoves him down
to start and leapfrogs over Roode with ease. Roode clotheslines him
out to the floor to get himself a breather but MVP trips Bobby up to
change control again. Things backfire though as the referee ejects
MVP as we take a break.

Back with Roode not
being able to get a fisherman’s suplex due to his back. He holds his
back and screams, prompting Tenay to say “I’m sensing his back is
hurt!” Lashley throws him across the ring but gets caught in the
Crossface until King makes the save. Eric Young comes out to deal
with King and the Crossface goes on again. Lashley powers out with
relative ease and there’s the spear for a very close two. The shock
on Lashley’s face at the kickout is good stuff.

A quick Roode Bomb gets
two and both guys are spent. They slug it out until Roode grabs a
spinebuster for two. The powerslam gets two for Lashley and he has
nothing left. Roode gets back up and Roode Bombs Lashley over the
top and out to the floor for a big crash. Back in and Lahley slams
Roode off the top but Roode jumps over the spear. He injures his leg
though and can’t Roode Bomb the champ, setting up the second spear to
retain Lashley’s title at 17:07.

Rating: B.
The match got better as it went on, but who in the world is left for
Lashley to fight? There are three shows left before Bound For Glory
and Lashley has cleaned out the entire main event scene. I’m really
not sure who they’re going to put him against at the show unless he’s
going to fight some guy from Wrestle-1 that maybe five American fans
have heard of. The match was good stuff here and probably could have
headlined Bound For Glory.

A
quick video for next week announces MVP vs. Robbie E vs. Magnus vs.
Abyss vs. Austin Aries for a future World Title shot, though no date
is given. Only MVP and Aries come off as good challengers there and
MVP vs. Lashley would be one of the weakest main events I could think
of.

Overall Rating: B.
This was one of the best shows they’ve had in a long time with two
long and good matches and nothing really bad. Impact is actually
really entertaining right now and easy stuff to sit through as
they’ve cut out most of the stupid stuff and just let the wrestling
act for itself. That being said, they’re running out of time before
the PPV and we only have a few matches even penciled in. The build
is going to be weak at best and that’s not good when the show is
already in a weird place due to not airing live in America. Really
solid show this week.

Results

Havok won a battle
royal last eliminating Velvet Sky

Chris Melendez b. Kenny
King – Sunset flip

Samoa Joe b. Homicide –
Koquina Clutch

Wolves b. Team 3D and
Hardys – Edwards pulled down the title belts

Bram b. Gunner – Pin
after Samuel Shaw accidentally hit Gunner

Lashley b. Bobby Roode
– Spear

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

Rants

Impact Wrestling – September 3, 2014

By Scott Keith on 3rd September 2014

Impact
Wrestling

Date:
September 3, 2014

Location:
Manhattan Center, New York City, New York

Commentators:
Mike Tenay, Taz

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

We’re
still in New York and things are actually going well for TNA, at
least on screen. Last week we saw a really good tag team match and
the World Title scene is starting to take shape. That being said,
Bound For Glory is getting closer and closer and there really isn’t
much taking shape for the biggest show of the year. Other than
penciling in the finals of the tag team series, there isn’t a major
challenger on the horizon for Lashley. Let’s get to it.

We
open with a recap of last week’s main event. Team 3D gets to pick
the stipulation for the next match.

Here’s
the Trio with something to say. MVP says Lashley is about to become
the Bellator World Champion and says no one can stop him. This
brings out Samoa Joe to
praise MVP for his skills as a hype man. Joe says Lashley isn’t the
toughest man in the world, the city, or even in this ring. He wants
to drop these belts and have a fight right now. King
gets in Joe’s face and the brawl is on. Referees break them up and
MVP makes Joe vs. Lashley later.

Video
on Taryn Terrell vs. Gail Kim. They make this sound WAY bigger than
it really is.

Knockouts
Title: Gail Kim vs. Taryn Terrell

Gail
is defending and quickly takes her down to start. A rollup gets two
for Terrell and a middle rope clothesline gets the same. Gail comes
right back with a top rope hurricanrana, followed by a DDT on the
arm. She misses the charge in the corner though and falls out to the
floor. Taryn
loads up the steps but gets caught in a neckbreaker onto the steel
which knocks both girls silly. Back
in and Eat Defeat gets two, followed by an RKO for the same for
Taryn. Gail
is staggered so Terrell goes up for a high cross body, only to have
Gail roll through to retain at 6:00.

Rating:
C+.
The match was decent but the fans chanting THIS IS AWESOME shows how
lame womens’ wrestling has been lately. It was entertaining but
awesome is a stretch to put it mildly. This was miles beneath the
stuff they did a year or so ago but it still wasn’t bad. The
division is pretty horrible anymore though as there’s barely a
division to speak of.

We
might get a solution to that here though as Havok debuts and destroys
Taryn with White Noise and Gail with a one arm chokeslam.

MVP
tells Eric Young to watch out for Roode tonight.

The BroMans try to get
a phone signal to find out who they’ve been matched up with on their
dating game.

Here’s EC3 to rip on
the fans cheering for Dixie being powerbombed through a table. The
Carter charity is ending and Rhino will be the first victim. Carter
has a list of demands: the firing of Bully Ray, the banning of the
words violence and extreme, and the ending of YOU CAN’T WRESTLE
chants due to him proving his skills. The fans start a CM Punk chant
and Ethan says he’d love to beat him too. Rhino jumps the barricade
and beats Carter up, only to have SPud pull Ethan to the floor.
Rhino wants a fight right now and Carter says it’s on….against
Spud.

Some chick is admiring
Samuel Shaw when Gunner comes up to ask about Shaw putting on
Gunner’s uniform. Shaw says he wanted to look like a hero and Gunner
says it’s cool.

Samuel
Shaw/Gunner vs. Bram/Magnus

Shaw nails a nice
dropkick on Magnus to start before it’s quickly off to Gunner for a
double back elbow. Bram comes in and rams Gunner face first into the
buckle for no effect, so Gunner does the exact same thing to the
Brit. A finger to the eye stops Gunner so Shaw tags himself in, much
to Gunner’s annoyance. Shaw and Magnus clothesline each other and a
double tag brings in Gunner to run over Bram. A slingshot suplex
gets two on Bram but Gunner has to nail Magnus. Gunner hurts his
knee coming off the middle rope, allowing Bram to clip him for a pin
at 4:02.

Rating:
D+. I’m still not sure where
they’re going with Gunner and Shaw and I really don’t care for the
most part. Shaw is a character instead of a wrestler and that’s ok
for the most part, but this story really doesn’t make very
interesting television. This story has been going on for months now
and it really hasn’t gone anywhere yet. The characters aren’t the
best in the first place, making the whole thing really tiring.

MVP
reminds Roode of his past issues with Young.

The
BroMans aregue some more until the Beautiful People come up as their
dates. DJZ is told to get them on the guest list for every club.

Eric
Young vs. Bobby Roode

These
two got out of a cage at the same time so this is a singles match for
the next World Title shot. Tenay
tries to explain MVP’s comments by saying Roode was a bigger deal in
Team Canada but that Young was never subservient to Bobby. That’s
true, but there’s no mention made of the time where Roode owned
Young’s TNA contract and treated him like a slave. Feeling
out process to start until Young takes him down with a headlock.

An
early piledriver attempt is countered with a backdrop and Roode kicks
him in the face to take over. Young
backflips over the corner and goes up top for a missile dropkick and
two. Roode comes right back
with a Blockbuster and the spinebuster for two each. A
wheelbarrow suplex gets the same for Eric, even though he missed the
accompanying neckrbeaker.

Young
busts out a moonsault for another near fall but he gets caught in the
Crossface. He rolls out for
two and nails a DDT on Roode for the same. There’s the top rope
elbow but Bobby kicks out again. Eric’s
piledriver is countered into a pinfall reversal sequence, capped off
by Roode hitting the Roode Bomb for the pin and the title shot at
8:17.

Rating:
C. The match was good but there
wasn’t much emotion to this for the most part. It also doesn’t help
that Young just does not feel like a main eventer and the ending
wasn’t really in doubt. I’m also not a fan of how far back TNA goes
for its history. They’re bringing up issues these guys had about ten
years ago for the backstory and if you weren’t around back then, none
of what they’re talking about makes sense.

They
shake hands post match.

Lashley
stares Roode down in the back.

To
no one’s surprise, Team 3D picks a tables match for the second match
in the tag team series. Ray
has lost track of how many Tag Team Titles they’ve won.

Homicide
vs. DJZ vs. Craazy Steve vs. Low Ki vs. Manik
vs. Tigre Uno

Winner
gets an X-Division Title shot at some point in the future and this is
one fall to a finish. Low Ki hammers on Tigre to start before
hitting a kind of spinebuster for two. A fisherman’s suplex gets the
same with all four other guys making the save. Off to Manik
vs.Homicide with the masked man being sent into the ropes for a tag
to DJZ.

Steve
comes in with a sunset flip for two on DJZ before everything breaks
down. DJZ and Steve are sent to the floor with Low Ki and Tigre
being backdropped after them. Manik and Homicide trade some suplex
attempts until Manik jumps into a cutter. The Gringo Killa gives
Homicide the title shot at 4:32.

Rating:
D+.
Well that happened. There’s no story, there’s no psychology, there’s
absolutely nothing we haven’t seen before. This division is such a
disaster at this point as it’s back to the old habit of some big
multiman match to set up a one off title shot and then do it all over
again. That gets really old really fast and we reached that point a
long time ago.

Sanada
comes in and superkicks Manik while James Storm watches from
ringside. They drag the unconscious Manik to the back.

Austin
Aries is in the ring to talk about his skin being green from the mist
attack last week. He calls out Sanada and Storm but James insists
that this is the GREAT Sanada. He welcomed Sanada with open arms,
just like he will with Manik. Storm instills a vision of greatness
in these people, all led by the legend himself.

Sanada
is going to be the greatest man that ever came out of Japan and the
man people think of instead of the Great Muta. Aries doesn’t like
the word great being thrown around this much and says both guys have
ticked off a lot of people. He didn’t come here alone, so here’s
Tajiri to help in the fight. The good guys clean house and Storm
slaps some sense into Sanada. Tajiri looks less intimidating without
his goatee.

Spud
isn’t sure why he’s facing Rhino but Ethan threatens to fire Spud if
he doesn’t go out there.

We
recap Chris Melendez’s debut last week. He
debuts next Wednesday.

Rockstar
Spud vs. Rhino

Rhino
throws him into the corner to start and then gorilla presses him
down. Spud
gets in a few shots to the back and Rhino just gets mad. The Gore
misses and Spud brings in a trashcan. He takes too long to pose
though and the Gore ends Spud at 2:34.

Carter
leaves Spud behind.

Bobby
Lashley vs. Samoa Joe

Non-title.
The
brawl starts on the floor with Joe sending Lashley flying off a
suplex. Back in and Joe nails a few Facewashes followed by the
running boot to the face. Joe puts on a guillotine choke but Lashley
drives him into the corner and scores with a neckbreaker. We hit the
chinlock on Joe for a bit before Lashley leapfrogs him into a
clothesline. Back
to the nerve hold for a few moments before Joe plants him for two.
Lashley powerslams him off the top but misses the spear. Joe puts on
the choke but has to deal with Kenny King. The distraction lets
Lashley hit a full nelson slam and the spear for the pin at 6:43.

Rating:
D+.
Another watchable match but not much more than that. TNA really
needs to work on its big showdowns as these matches that are supposed
to be huge come off more like filler. This didn’t do anything for me
and just made the X-Division Champion look weaker than the World
Champion.

Overall
Rating: C-.
The wrestling wasn’t bad but this show felt like it went on forever.
The problem for TNA right now is it feels like they’re just spinning
their wheels and waiting for Bound For Glory to get here, but the
more shows like this, the less interesting it sounds. Other than the
Aries vs. Storm feud, nothing on here feels like it matters or holds
any interest. They’re just people going out there and then moving on
to next week. It isn’t terrible, but there’s no emotion to it and
that makes for some very long shows.

Results

Gail
Kim b. Taryn Terrell – Kim rolled through a high cross body

Bram/Magnus
b. Gunner/Samuel Shaw – Clip to Gunner

Bobby
Roode b. Eric Young – Roode Bomb

Homicide
b. Tigre Uno, Manik, DJZ, Craazy Steve and Low Ki – Gringo Killa to
Manik

Rhino
b. Rockstar Spud – Gore

Lashley
b.
Samoa Joe – Spear

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

Rants

Impact Wrestling – August 14, 2014

By Scott Keith on 14th August 2014

Impact
Wrestling

Date: August 14, 2014

Location: Manhattan
Center, New York City, New York

Commentators: Mike
Tenay, Taz

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

It’s kind of a new era
in TNA as Dixie Carter, at least in theory, is off TV for a very long
time. Last week Team 3D powerbombed her (kind of) through a table in
the big moment that people had been waiting to see for years. Now
we’re getting ready for Bound For Glory but there really isn’t
anything set up in advance. There are about two months left but only
one episode lets on Thursdays. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of
Dixie being put through a table.

Here’s a very happy Ray
to open things up. He thanks all of us for believing in him until he
put Dixie through a table. Ray needed all of the fans’ help to do it
but there is one man in particular he needs to thank. Rick had
Scott, Hawk had Animal, and he has D-Von. This brings out D-Von who
says it feels good to be home in New York City. Now that Dixie is
gone, it’s time to get down to business.

Cue the Hardys and it’s
time for an old school showdown. Matt says it’s been twelve years
since the four of them were all together and congratulates the two of
them on being inducted into the Hall of Fame. He brings up the first
ever tag team table match in 2000 (wasn’t that done before in ECW?)
and Bully helps him through their history of ladders and TLC matches.
The fans want to see it one more time and all four seem totally cool
with the idea.

Recap of Joe winning
the X-Division Title last week.

Joe talks about being
tasked with revamping the X-Division.

Manik
vs. Crazzy Steve vs. Tigre Uno vs. DJZ vs. Low Ki vs. Homicide

Elimination rules with
tags and the winner gets an X-Division Title shot next week. Steve
and Tigre start things off with DJZ tripping up Steve from the floor.
Tigre slams Steve down and hits a Phoenix Splash for the elimination
in less than a minute. Manik comes in to flip around a lot, only to
get caught in a nice springboard armdrag. Manik comes back with a
springboard dropkick of his own and a tiger suplex into a gutbuster
for a fast pin to get us down to four.

Everyone not named DJZ
has a staredown in the middle of the ring until DJZ hits a
springboard dropkick to take down Low Ki and Homicide. Manik catches
himself in the ropes but gets cradled by DJZ for the third
elimination in less than three minutes. The veterans double team DJZ
and tags turns hammering on him until Homicide hits a Gringo Killa
for the pin, getting us down to two.

They hammer away on
each other until Homicide sends him to the floor, setting up a
flipping suicide dive to send Low Ki into the barricade. A running
knee to the face in the corner gets two for Homicide as the fans
think this is awesome. Low Ki blocks a Gringo Killa and kicks
Homicide into the corner. The Ki Crusher gives Low Ki the title shot
at 7:02.

Rating:
D+. So why in the world did
they not just do Low Ki vs. Homicide? The match was nothing special
due to how fast everything had to go and it was really annoying to
sit through. Nothing to see on the match but at least they got the
major two guys in there at the end for the longest time.

Here
are a banged up Spud, Ethan Carter III and Rhino to address their
future. Spud nearly cries when talking about the travesty of Dixie
being put through a table. He freaks out when the fans won’t give
him a moment of silence but Ethan takes the mic. Carter demands
Bully’s termination from the company but here’s Kurt Angle to
interrupt. Kurt tells them to shut up because this isn’t Nashville.
They’ll either wrestle
tonight or get thrown out.

Ethan
yells a lot so here are the cops. Spud freaks out because he has a
British passport, meaning he has diplomatic immunity. This doesn’t
quite work and he’s quickly taken down and handcuffed. Ethan
freaks out again and talks about having more money than he’ll ever
need. He tries to bribe the cop and is arrested as well, drawing a
big smile from Kurt.

Samuel
Shaw says the trouble between Gunner and Mr. Anderson is his fault
but Gunner says it’s Anderson’s prejudices. Gunner wishes Shaw luck
tonight.

Ethan
and Spud are thrown out of the building.

Back from a break and
they’re still in the building and offering bribes. Rhino is being
ejected as well but now they’re thrown out onto the street.

Mr.
Anderson vs. Gunner

They shove each other
to start until Anderson runs him over with a shoulder. Gunner does
the same and it’s an early standoff. Anderson gets muscled down to
the mat but spins out and cranks on a hammerlock. Back up and they
slug it out until Shaw comes in to brawl with Anderson for the DQ at
2:52.

The Beautiful People
aren’t quite on the same page for the fourway tonight.

We get a clip from
after Impact with Bully Ray singing Ding Dong The Wicked Witch Is
Dead. Dixie may have a broken back and will be interviewed next
week.

Knockouts
Title: Taryn Terrell vs. Angelina Love vs. Gail Kim vs. Velvet Sky

Kim is defending and
it’s one fall to a finish. Big brawl to start with the Beautiful
People taking early control. Terrell gets beaten down until the
Beautiful People head outside where Gail takes them both out with a
cross body from the apron. Terrell dives onto all three and everyone
is down. Fans: “BETTER THAN DIVAS!” Back in and the Beautiful
People get in an argument over who gets the pin, allowing Gail to
send both of them into the corner. Angelina breaks up In Yo Face but
gets taken down by Taryn, allowing Gail to make Velvet Eat Defeat to
retain at 4:48.

Rating:
C. Well that happened. It’s
happened a bunch of times in the Knockout division and there’s almost
no reason to care anymore. I can’t count how many times I’ve seen
the Knockouts have a fourway match and it’s really not interesting
anymore. Also, they couldn’t give a title match more than five
minutes? Let something like this feel big instead of rushing it
along and maybe it means something.

The
Trio isn’t worried about Dixie Carter.

MVP/Kenny
King/Lashley vs. Austin Aries/Bobby Roode/Eric Young

Roode
and Lashley get things going as the fans are behind Aries. King
comes in to nail Roode instead and tells Lashley that he’s got this
one. Bobby comes back with some clotheslines but King bails to avoid
a Crossface. Aries gets the tag and shoves King into a backbreaker
from Roode, followed by a slingshot elbow for two. It’s off to Young
vs. Lashley with Eric’s piledriver attempt being easily countered.
Lashley misses a charge and falls to the floor but King crotches Eric
to slow things down.

MVP
comes in and tries a few covers but opts for just nailing Young in
the face instead. Eric rolls over and tags in Aries to clean house,
including a missile dropkick to King. Lashley’s spear is countered
into the Last Chancery and everything breaks down. MVP beats on
Roode but walks into a piledriver from Young. Lashley picks Young up
for a powerslam but Aries escapes one of his own before nailing
Lashley with discus forearms. The running dropkick in the corner
looks to set up the 450 but MVP nails Aries in the back with the
crutch, setting up the spear from Lashley for the pin at 8:12.

Rating:
C+.
This was good stuff and I continue to wonder who gets Lashley
(assuming he’s still champion) at Bound For Glory. Young isn’t going
there and Aries had his shot, so you would think it’s Bobby Roode.
I’m not sure you go with him, even though he seems like the best
option. That’s one of TNA’s major problems: they can’t build a face
to save their lives.

H_V_K is coming. We
should be getting the other letters soon.

The Wolves have loved
watching the Hardys and Team 3D for years and they’ll enjoy it again
tonight. They’d be glad to give Team 3D a shot.

Here’s Abyss with
something to say. He demands that Bram get out here right now with
his Janice. Abyss gets what he wants plus Magnus as a bonus. Bram
stands in front of him as Abyss says possession doesn’t mean anything
to him so give Janice back. Bram says she’s his now and that it
drives him wild to hit Abyss with Janice.

Abyss asks if Bram
wants to get extreme and the fans are entirely behind him. He wants
the match to have tacks, glass, barbed wire, and Janice hanging above
the ring. Bram accepts the challenge and Magnus says Abyss doesn’t
get many women except Janice. The fight is on but Bram clips Abyss
and takes Janice with him.

In a very dark and
creepy vignette, James Storm is at his farm with Sanada and calls him
weak, confused and lost. Storm says he is Sanada’s glory and
salvation. He yells at the cameraman to leave. Awesome segment.

Hardcore Justice is
next week.

Hardys
vs. Team 3D

You would think this
would get a bigger build. Team 3D has the old school camouflage on.
D-Von cranks on a headlock on Matt but walks into an elbow to the
jaw. Off to Jeff vs. Bully with Ray nailing him in the jaw as we
take a break. Back with Jeff taking over but Bully breaks up an
attempt at Poetry in Motion. D-Von puts Jeff in a chinlock before
it’s back to Ray for some hard elbow drops.

A neckbreaker gets two
for D-Von and there’s the reverse 3D for two more. We hit a bearhug
from Bully on Jeff, who gets backdropped when trying to escape. Ray
goes to the middle rope and taken down with a nice hurricanrana for
two. The hot tag brings in Matt to hammer on D-Von with a bulldog
getting two. There’s the Side Effect for two more as everything
breaks down. Matt takes a clothesline and Jeff gets crotched going
for the Whisper in the Wind.

D-Von loads up a
superplex but Matt pulls him away, setting a Doomsday Device with
Jeff nailing a Whisper in the Wind instead of a clothesline for two.
Bully breaks up what appeared to be a double superplex and there’s
the real Doomsday Device for two on Matt. What’s Up nails Matt and
it’s table time but Jeff dives on Team 3D to break it up. Back in
and the Twist of Fate sets up the Swanton to D-Von for two. The
announcers undersell the kickout before 3D ends Matt at 16:57.

Rating:
B-. The match was good but is
little more than nostalgia. That being said, this was far better
than almost anything else that TNA’s tag division does these days as
it’s nice to have more than two teams at a time. Throwing these four
with the Wolves into a three way would get a big reaction and could
draw a nice audience. Assuming there’s more than a two hour build
that is.

They
embrace to end the show.

Overall
Rating: B-.
There were some issues with this show (short matches for one thing)
but the energy and storytelling is getting good. I still don’t trust
TNA due to how many times they’ve burned me over the years, but
they’re hot going into the move to Wednesdays. This wasn’t great or
anything, but it’s a good sign that they have something to do after
getting rid of Dixie. Solid
show this week and a nice surprise.

Results

Low Ki b. Homicide,
Manik, Tigre Uno, DJZ and Crazzy Steve – Ki Crusher to Homicide

Mr. Anderson b. Gunner
via DQ when Samuel Shaw interfered

Gail Kim b. Angelina
Love, Velvet Sky and Taryn Terrell – Eat Defeat to Sky

Lashley/MVP/Kenny King
b. Austin Aries/Eric Young/Bobby Roode – Spear to Aries

Team 3D b. Hardys –
3D to Matt

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

Rants

Impact Wrestling – July 31, 2014 (Destination X 2014)

By Scott Keith on 31st July 2014

Impact
Wrestling

Date: July 31, 2014

Location: Manhattan
Center, New York City, New York

Commentators: Mike Tenay, Taz

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

It’s Destination X,
meaning for one night a year, the X Division actually matters. In
this case we have another Option C, as Austin Aries has cashed in his
X-Division Title for a World Title shot. Also, we have the reunited
Hardy Boys challenging the Wolves for the World Tag Team Titles which
should be awesome. Let’s get to it.

We open with a video of
Aries in an empty arena and talking about how he’s willing to give it
all up for one chance tonight.

The opening video talks
about the two title matches.

Here are Dixie and
company to get things going. Dixie brags about changing the rules on
everyone and giving them the real EC Dub (not ECW of course). She’s
given them a star in Ethan and he’ll lead TNA into the future. Ethan
talks about how the two men who debuted last week are the real ECW
men. First up is the man formerly known as Big Z, but now he’ll go
by his real name of Rycklon. The other guy is just known as Gene
Snitsky.

This brings Ethan to
Team 3D and Dreamer. The fans want tables but Ethan says this is
going to become the house that the Carters built. A challenge is
issued for one final challenge to end this war once and for all.
Also, Dixie is NEVER going to be put through a table, no matter what.

Tag
Team Titles: Hardys vs. Wolves

Wolves are defending.
Eddie and Matt crank arm work to start as the fans are split. The
champions take over but Matt sends Richards into the corner to take
over. Off to Jeff as the Hardys start working over Davey’s arm. A
double suplex gets two and it’s back to a wristlock from Matt.
Richards finally gets in a shot to the head and makes a tag off to
Edwards to clean house.

A double hurricanrana
puts both Hardys on the floor, setting up a double suicide dive to
keep the champions in control. Back in and Eddie enziguris Jeff into
a German suplex from Davey for two. Matt saves his brother from a
double suplex before the Wolves are thrown outside. Poetry In Motion
over the top puts everyone down before a regular one hits Eddie in
the corner.

The Side Effect sets up
the Swanton but Richards sends Jeff outside before a cover. Matt
gets two off a moonsault to Edwards before both Hardys put on Ice
Picks (double underhook guillotine chokes). Davey breaks Jeff’s hold
and makes the save before sending him crashing to the floor.

The kick to Matt’s
chest sets up the double double stomp for two on Matt. Back up and a
Twist of Fate gets two on Davey and a backslide gets the same for
Richards. Jeff is still down, allowing the Wolves to hit their
powerbomb/top robe Backstabber for the pin on Matt at 10:08.

Rating:
B. This was good but not great.
The tagging part went away a few minutes into the match but that’s
probably the best thing all around. I didn’t know who was going to
win here and that’s a very good thing considering how this could have
gone. The Hardys still looked good and Matt hasn’t looked like this
in years.

Video
on Low Ki, an X-Division pioneer.

Low
Ki and Joe stare at each other in the back.

X-Division
Title Qualifying Match: DJZ vs. Manik vs. Low Ki

It’s
the usual series of triple threats to set up another triple threat
for the vacant title. DJZ
heads outside to start, allowing Manik and Low Ki to dive around a
lot. Back in and DJZ dropkicks both guys down before sending Manik
outside. Low Ki counters a tornado DDT and sends DJZ into the
corner, only to have Manik come back in to break it up.

Low
Ki gets sent to the floor and Manik puts a Black Widow on DJZ. He
changes it over to an Indian Deathlock but Ki kicks him down to crank
on DJZ’s leg even worse. Ki gets knocked off the top and DZJ gets
two off a rollup to Manik. DJZ gets kicked off the top and out to
the floor and the Ki Crusher ends Manik at 5:10.

Rating:
C. The match was fine but I
really have a problem getting into these qualifying matches. They’re
so similar every single year with people being brought back,
wrestling maybe a match or two after it’s over, and then usually
leaving again. That really isn’t all that interesting and gets
tiresome quick. Still though, not a bad match.

We
look back at Sanada turning on Great Muta and joining forces with
James Storm last week.

Here’s
Storm with something to say. What we saw last week was a student
rising up instead of being held down by his mentor. Now Storm is
Sanada’s new mentor and will see that he gets everything done.

X-Division
Title Qualifying Match: Sanada vs. Brian Cage vs. Crazzy Steve

The
muscular Cage (he once appeared on Gut Check) cleans house to start
and gets two off a backbreaker to Sanada. Steve gets in Cage’s face
and offers a test of strength before stomping on Cage’s foot. That’s
fine with Cage as he picks up Sanada in a Samoan drop and Sanada in a
slam at the same time. Both guys get thrown down before Cage can’t
hit a delayed vertical superplex on Steve. The Crazzy one hits a
sunset bomb for two but Sanada makes the save. Sanada gets hammered
down in the corner but Cage misses a Lionsault, allowing Sanada to
hit a tiger suplex on Steve for the pin at 3:55.

Rating:
D+. Cage looked really
impressive but there was no question who was going to win here.
Sanada is a guy that we have a reason to care about which puts him
far ahead of a lot of the international talent brought in for
something like this. There isn’t much to say here though, as is the
case most of the time on this special.

Team
3D and Dreamer accept.

Bobby
Roode gives Aries a pep talk.

Here
are Team 3D and Tommy Dreamer with something to say. D-Von
talks about being gone for awhile but now he’s back with his best
friend Dreamer and his Brother Ray. They know how to finish a war
and that’s what they’re going to do. Dreamer says he’s been in wars
against and with these men along with others that will die for all of
us. Being hardcore is a work ethic and
he would go to war with anyone in TNA because that’s what this
business is all about.

This
brings out Dixie’s cronies with Ethan saying this is war, but the war
is next week. Ray isn’t pleased and asks if Ethan knows who he is
and where they are. Ray may not know how to do a lot of things, but
he knows how to start a riot in New York City. If
Ethan gets to name the time, Ray gets to make it a weapons match.

Angle
and Joe shake hands in the back and Angle is pleased.

Team
Dixie is ready for next week.

The
Beautiful People don’t think much of Terryn and Gail Kim.

Someone
whose name begins with an H is coming.

X-Division
Qualifying Match: Samoa Joe vs. Tigre Uno vs. Homicide

Before
the match, Joe talks about how awesome he is and how he’ll bring the
focus back to the X-Division. Tigre
is quickly thrown down but Homicide sends Joe out to the floor for a
big running flip dive as we take a break. Back
with Tigre dropkicking both guys down but he gets double teamed with
a High/Low.

Joe
and Homicide have their big showdown with Joe taking over and
hammering away. Some knees to Homicide’s head have him in trouble
but Tigre comes back and takes over with kicks of his own. Homicide
takes Tigre down with a tornado DDT but Uno is in the corner. Joe
takes over again but Homicide breaks up the MuscleBuster. That only
lasts for a few seconds though as Joe busts up Homicide’s muscles to
advance at 9:50.

Rating:
C+. It’s the best of the three
matches but that really doesn’t cover a lot of ground. Joe advancing
is the logical move and I really hope Homicide isn’t going to be
around full time. I’ve never cared for him and he doesn’t seem to do
much other than wrestle a strong style which doesn’t do anything for
me.

Video
on Abyss vs. Bram. Abyss sings My Girl and brings out Janice.

Video
on Aries cashing in the X Title last week.

We
recap the X-Division stuff.

TNA
World Title: Austin Aries vs. Bobby Lashley

Bobby
is defending and it’s a
staredown to start. Aries goes to the leg to start but it’s a very
slow opening. More kicks
have Lashley in trouble and Austin wraps his leg around the ropes for
even more kicks. A dropkick
to the back sends Lashley to the floor but his dive is caught in
midair for a belly to belly suplex as we take a break. Back
with Lashley taking over and putting on a reverse bearhug.

Aries
fights up but gets caught in a regular bearhug. Austin escapes again
but gets caught in a nice gorilla press drop. The Dominator is
countered with a discus forearm and a series of regular forearms in
the corner. Lashley is sent
to the floor and Aries hits the top rope ax handle, setting up a
missile dropkick back inside. The corner dropkick is caught in the
Dominator though (sweet counter) but the spear is countered into the
Last Chancery.

Lashley
fights out and lifts Aries for a suplex but just throws Aries
forward. Another spear attempt misses and there’s the discus forearm
to send Lashley back into the corner. The
running drokick sets up the brainbuster but Lashley is up at two.
Lashley rolls away to avoid the 450 but Aries misses the suicide
dive. Back in and the spear retains Lashley’s title at 16:28.

Rating:
B-. Good match here as Lashley
piles up another hero. This is basic wrestling booking as we’re
waiting on the hero to rise up and take the title back to the good
side. Lashley is little more than a dragon, but that doesn’t mean
it’s not a good story. Nice match here too with Aries playing the
hero really well.

The
final video shows Dixie being lifted up for a powerbomb next week
with a Twitter hashtag of ITHAPPENS.

Overall
Rating: B-. I didn’t hate the
show but this really didn’t feel special. The opener was
entertaining and the main event was good as well, but there was
nothing on here that I’m going to think about soon after this show.
I really don’t know what’s
coming for Bound For Glory but we should be getting to its build in
the next few weeks.

I
can’t imagine this is going to help the X-Division either as it looks
to be exactly what happened before: the division will mean something
for a few weeks and then go away because it doesn’t mean anything
until next year’s Destination X. At least it was entertaining while
it lasted this year. Good
but definitely not great show here.

Results

Wolves
b. Hardys – Powerbomb/Backstabber combination to Matt

Low
Ki b. DJZ and Manik – Ki Crusher to Manik

Sanada
b. Brian Cage and Crazzy Steve – Tiger suplex to Steve

Samoa
Joe b. Tigre Uno and Homicide – MuscleBuster to Homicide

Bobby
Lashley b. Austin Aries – Spear

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

Rants

Impact Wrestling – July 3, 2014

By Scott Keith on 3rd July 2014

Impact
Wrestling

Date:
July 3, 2014

Location:
Bethlehem Events Center, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

Commentators:
Mike Tenay, Tazz

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

As
usual, things are changing in TNA. After last week, Kurt Angle is
the new TNA boss, which means it’s Angle vs. Dixie now which is far
better than Dixie vs. MVP. That being said, MVP still has power due
to owning part of the company but he doesn’t have onscreen authority.
In other words, things are overcomplicated and another version of
the exact same idea TNA has been trying for years. Let’s get to it.

We
open with a recap of Angle becoming the new boss last week.

Here’s
Angle to open things up. He welcomes us to the Red White and Blue
Throwdown, but first of all he has a special announcement. Kurt
invites Earl Hebner out here and reinstates him to right one of MVP’s
wrongs. Angle reads the card off a piece of paper before Samoa Joe
cuts him off.

Joe
says that Angle is here to save us with his honor but Joe doesn’t buy
it. When is Angle going to give himself a title match? Joe thinks
it’s when the knee is healed. Angle claims that Joe has been lazy
lately but Joe goes on a rant about paying his dues while Angle was
in learjets and limousines. If Angle hasn’t heard, Joe is pro
wrestling and Angle should be careful what he wishes for.

Kenny
King beats up Bobby Roode in the back.

After
a break, Angle checks on Roode. Bobby isn’t mad at Angle because he
wouldn’t be here without Kurt. Roode wants a match with MVP after
this. Angle says come with him.

Tag
Team Titles: Menagerie vs. Wolves vs. BroMans

The
Wolves are defending and the Menagerie is the Freak and Knux. It’s a
brawl to start with the Menagerie cleaning house. They LAUNCH DJZ
over the top onto everyone else at ringside. Back in and the Freak
suplexes both Wolves at the same time but Jesse tags himself in to
work on Eddie. Jesse works on the arm before bringing in DJZ for a
Hart Attack. DJZ is no Robbie though as it only gets two, allowing
Eddie to hurricanrana both of them down at the same time. A hot tag
brings in Davey who sends the Menagerie into each other. Davey
throws Jesse into the kick from Eddie for the pin to retain at 4:18.

Rating:
C. Nice and fun match here with
all three teams looking decent. The Freak as the mindless muscle is
the right idea for him as his singles pushes haven’t worked at all.
The Wolves need opponents so putting them against two teams at once
isn’t the best idea in the world. Still though, not bad.

Roode
yells at MVP but MVP can’t fight due to the knee injury. Kenny King
is there and gets yelled at as well, but Angle says it’s in the ring
in a street fight.

Bobby
Roode vs. Kenny King

MVP
tries to come out but Angle ejects him. Roode, sporting a bad
shoulder from the earlier attack, jumps King in the aisle before the
bell. They fight into the stands and then backstage with Roode being
sent into a wall and covered in garbage. King is thrown off a low
balcony before coming back as they head down to ringside. Roode
backdrops King over the barricade and into ringside. King nails him
with a chair and throws him inside for a cover as the bell rings. A
snap suplex gets two more and King hammers away, but Roode comes back
with the Roode Bomb onto the chair for the pin at 1:58.

Ethan
Carter III says there is no way Bully Ray will put him or his aunt
through a table.

Roode
says Angle gave him exactly what he needed, but MVP and Lashley are
next.

Austin
Aries is with Angle and asks him for a rematch for the X Division
Title. Angle grants the request even though he knows it’s for Option
C at Destination X. Kurt wants to face Aries at some point and
Austin likes the idea.

Brittany,
clad in red white and blue, calls out Madison to settle all this.
Madison says she’ll fight if need be but Brittany wants to apologize
instead. She’s sorry this got so out of hand and that she just
respects Madison. Rayne says she’s glad Brittany learned something
and knows how hard it can be to navigate the locker room as the new
girl. They shake hands and Brittany says never meet your heroes
because they’ll always disappoint you. She lays Madison out and
sends her into the post before hitting a reverse DDT on the floor.

Bully
Ray yells about Ethan Carter needing a bunch of help to win the Texas
Death match. Tonight, Ethan goes through a table.

MVP
says Eric Young’s heart won’t help him against Lashley.

Bully
Ray vs. Ethan Carter III

Tables
match. Ray hammers away to start and takes it to the floor where he
rams Ethan into various objects. Back in and Bully does the Flip
Flop and Fly before calling for a table. He takes his sweet time
though, allowing Ethan to nail him with a clothesline. Carter
hammers away and gets in some shots with Ray’s chain. He drives in
right hands in the corner but Ray grabs him for a powerbomb. Spud
comes in for a low blow and some double teaming, but Rhyno returns
and Gores….Bully, allowing Ethan to chokeslam Ray through the table
for the win at 7:08.

Rating:
C-. This was all for the angle
instead of the match and there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s a
sign of the return of the ECW guys because a company that went out of
business thirteen years ago certainly needs another reunion right?
I’m always liked Rhyno though so this isn’t the worst thing in the
world. Dixie’s team needed another member anyway.

Eric
Young tells Roode he doesn’t care about what the paper says. He’s
ready for Lashley.

We
recap the Samuel Shaw story. He’s been released to Gunner’s
supervision. Shaw is back at the arena and sounds nervous but sane.
They run into Anderson and Ken isn’t pleased. Gunner says give him
another chance and goes into his story about his friend with PTSD,
because TNA thinks post traumatic stress disorder and being an insane
stalker are the same thing. Anderson says if Shaw has changed, he
can talk to someone else. They go find Christy and Shaw apologizes.
Christy and Anderson don’t seem convinced, even though Shaw sounded
both sincere and sane.

Velvet
is all over referee Stiffler who will be refereeing Angelina’s match
tonight. Sex is implied if he calls things her way.

Angle
tells Stiffler that he isn’t refereeing because it makes TNA look
bad.

Knux
tells the Menagerie that this is wrestling and not the carnival.
Someone wants their money. Knux and Rebel look worried.

Knockouts
Title: Angelina Love vs. Gail Kim

Love
is defending but Brian Hebner is refereeing. They quickly head
outside where Angelina distracts the referee so Sky can post Gail. A
hard clothesline gives the champion a near fall and Kim is tied up in
the Tree of Woe. Velvet snaps Gail’s throat across the top rope,
earning her an ejection. Gail comes back with elbows and shoulders
followed by a missile dropkick for two. Kim goes up but gets caught
with a Botox Injection to knock her out to the floor. Love breaks up
the count because she wants a pin but Kim is up at two. Eat Defeat
out of nowhere gives Gail the title back at 6:02.

Rating:
D+. So Gail is champion again.
How exactly does this change anything at all? It feels like these
two have traded the title about a dozen times now and each reign is
less interesting than the previous one. This division is so
creatively bankrupt and they just need something, ANYTHING, new at
this point.

Angle
makes a 20 man battle royal for the #1 contendership to the World
Title for next week.

TNA
World Title: Bobby Lashley vs. Eric Young

Lashley
is defending. MVP is at ringside so Roode comes out to even the
odds. MVP gets caught interfering almost right at the bell so he and
Roode are both ejected. Lashley runs Young over and absorbs some
right hands before knocking Eric to the floor. Young is holding his
ankle and the champion goes after the injury like a smart villain
should. Back in and we get a half crab followed by a DDT on the
ankle. Eric comes back with a dropkick and, after fighting Lashley
off, drops the top rope elbow for two. The leg goes out on a
piledriver attempt and there’s the Dominator powerslam. A spear
retains Lashley’s title at 7:00.

Rating:
C-. This was fine for what it
was. It knocks Young out of the main event scene after a decent and
surprising run as Lashley gets a clean and dominant win. It would
seem like we’re headed towards Lashley vs. Roode at Bound For Glory
and there’s nothing wrong with that. Not a great match but for a
title rematch it did its job.

Overall
Rating: C. This wasn’t too bad.
Nothing on here really stands out but it did a good enough job of
advancing the stories. The New York tapings seem like the real treat
coming up but this was a nice episode to bridge the gap. Nothing
really significant happened, but the lack of Dixie or any heel
authority figure for that matter is such a nice break. The show
wasn’t great but more importantly it wasn’t infuriating. That’s a
big step in the right direction.

Results

Wolves
b. Menagerie and BroMans – Kick to the chest to Jesse

Bobby
Roode b. Kenny King – Roode Bomb

Ethan
Carter III b. Bully Ray – Chokeslam through the table

Gail
Kim b. Angelina Love – Eat Defeat

Bobby
Lashley b. Eric Young – Spear

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

Rants

Impact Wrestling – June 26, 2014

By Scott Keith on 26th June 2014

Impact
Wrestling

Date: June
26, 2014
Location: Bethlehem Events Center, Bethlehem,
Pennsylvania

Commentators:
Mike Tenay, Tazz

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

We’re still
in Pennsylvania for the second of about ten straight taped shows.
The big story coming off last week is Lashley winning the World Title
from Eric Young to give the trio even more control. MVP was very
abusive with his power though so the mighty hand of the invisible
Board of Directors might be in play tonight. Let’s get to it.

We open with
a recap of last week’s main event.

The trio is
in the back and MVP says they’re ready to fight tonight.

Beautiful
People vs. Gail Kim/Terryn Terrell

Angelina and
Gail get things going with Love missing an early splash in the
corner, allowing Gail to hammer with forearms to the jaw. Off to
Terryn who hammers away for a bit but gets caught by the double team
on the floor. A double elbow drop gets two for Velvet followed by
some forearms to the head. A running neckbreaker gets two and we hit
the chinlock. Terryn finally escapes to make the hot tag as
everything breaks down. Terrell hits a cross body to put both
Beautiful People down, allowing Gail to hit Eat Defeat on Angelina
for the pin at 6:45.

Rating:
D+. Standard Knockouts tag here
to set up the latest title match between Gail and Angelina because we
haven’t seen them fight enough times already. Again, can we please
get some fresh ideas in this division? I can’t remember the last new
story we had for the girls, and it’s getting really tiresome.

Bound For
Glory is in Tokyo. That’s going to be interesting.

Dixie Carter
says it’s a good night to be Dixie Carter.

Here are King
and MVP with something to say. There’s a table with champagne set up
behind them and three good looking women to make the view a bit
better. MVP brings out Lashley and says they conquered last week,
just like they promised they would, and now they own the world. Eric
Young is going to be asking for his release after the beating they
gave him last week. This brings out Eric with his arm in a sling.
He knows you can’t fight city hall but he only wants to fight them.
Young charges to the ring and gets beaten down by the two healthy
guys. Bobby Roode jumps the barricade to make another save.

Back from a
break with Roode talking about signing his contract on the same day
as Eric Young and how they both have TNA in their blood. Eric Young
has spent the last seven years fighting for the love of wrestling and
Roode says they both want the title. They want their company back,
because that’s what TNA originals say to heel stables on this show.
Roode is back to fight for what he loves and doesn’t care what MVP
does.

MVP asks to
get in the ring and be civilized. The boss says every action has a
reaction and Roode’s actions have earned a reaction from MVP. In his
capacity as the boss, Roode is officially….interrupted by a guy in
a suit. His name is Mr. Armstrong and he’s a member of the board of
directors. In a Texas accent, he says MVP is no longer Director of
Wrestling Operations and his replacement will be here tonight. Roode
nails MVP.

The Menagerie
gets a phone call. Apparently they have to win a title or the family
business is going under. Crazy Steve is going to win the X-Division
Title tonight. The Bro Mans come in and say they’re getting the shot
because they speak strong style. An unmasked Manik comes in and says
he’s getting the shot. He puts on the mask and says Steve has
something on his face.

Spud and
Dixie think she gets power back tonight.

X-Division
Title: Sanada vs. Crazy Steve vs. Manik vs. DJZ

Sanada had
the choice of opponent and picked all of them. Fast pace to start
with Sanada getting a quick rollup but DJZ trips him to the floor.
Steve bites DJZ’s head and fingers but Sanada sunset flips both of
them, sending both guys flying. A missile dropkick puts both guys
down but Manik puts the champion in an Indian Deathlock. Manik hits
a huge dive to take out all three challengers on the floor. Back in
and DJZ hits a tornado DDT on Steve but we get a Tower of Doom to
send both guys down. A quick tiger suplex from Sanada is enough for
the pin on DJZ at 3:26.

Rating: C.
Some nice high spots but that’s really about it. It’s nice to see
them finally pay attention to the title a few weeks before
Destination X, even though it’s not going to mean a thing after July
or whenever the special airs. Sanada isn’t going into the show as
champion, which makes the last few months of his reign fairly
pointless.

MVP
says no one takes anything from him.

Magnus
and Bram say a Monster’s Ball match sounds like an old Friday night
to them.

Here
are Dixie and Spud to gloat. Fan: “NO ONE CARES! YOU SUCK!”
She says she’s always put faith in wrestlers and they keep screwing
her over. There’s a table behind her for no apparent reason. Dixie
laughs at the fans for buying into MVP’s nonsense and promises to
give the fans what they want: More Dixie!

She
brings out the lawyer or whatever he is from earlier and offers him a
toast. He says there’s been a misunderstanding because Dixie isn’t
the new Director. The champagne goes into her face and says this
isn’t happening over her dead body. This brings out Bully Ray who
drinks some of the champagne and threatens to put them both through a
table. Dixie offers $200,000 for him to let her go but he wants the
table. Ethan Carter runs out and is easily dispatched and Spud gets
the same treatment. Dixie is lited up but Spud moves the table for
the save.

Dixie
is panicking and Ray says he was that close.

Mr.
Anderson vs. James Storm

It’s
a brawl on the floor to start as the announcers speculate about who
the new boss might be. They fight into the ring and the swinging
neckbreaker puts Storm down but Anderson might have hurt his
shoulder. Closing Time and a Backstabber get two for Storm but he
misses the Last Call. The Mic Check is countered by a grabbed rope
and the Last Call gives Storm the pin at 2:19.

Gunner
has gotten Samuel Shaw out of the asylum under his care. Shaw shakes
his hand.

James
Storm asks Sanada if he’s ready for the pressure of Destination X and
implies that he’s coming for the title.

Tommy
Dreamer jumps Ethan Carter and they brawl in the back. The fight
spills into the arena with Dreamer hitting Ethan with a trashcan but
getting hit low and slammed on the ramp. Dreamer suplexes him onto
the floor but gets whipped into the steps. Ethan goes into the steps
as well and they head inside where Dreamer keeps hammering away.
Security breaks it up and the fans say let them fight.

Willow
and Abyss are ready for Monster’s Ball.

The
trio goes to wait on the new boss. After
a break they attack the driver when he won’t say who he’s driving.

Bram/Magnus
vs. Abyss/Willow

Monster’s
Ball meaning anything goes and weapons are encouraged. Abyss hammers
on Bram to start and knocks him out to the floor, leaving the other
two in the ring to brawl. Abyss sets up a barbed wire board between
the ring and barricade but stops to throw weapons into the ring. The
Brits hammer away with trashcans but Willow comes back with a double
clothesline. Whisper in the Wind drops Magnus and a trashcan to the
head puts Bram down. The Swanton misses but Abyss finds Janice. As
usual though it gets stuck in the turnbuckle before any murder can
take place.

Bram
is busted open but he’s able to handcuff Abyss to the barricade. The
double teaming ensues on Willow but Abyss breaks the cuffs and makes
a save. Magnus lays him out with a trashcan, only to have Willow
makes the save with a kendo stick and Twists of Fate all around.
Magnus throws the chair to knocks Willow off the top and through the
barbed wire in a big crash. Abyss has thumbtacks and, after avoiding
a shot from Janice, chokeslams Magnus down onto them. Bram nails
Abyss in the ribs with Janice for the pin at 9:00.

Rating: C.
This had all the standard spots for a Monster’s Ball match but the
violence was solid enough to make the whole thing work. TNA overuses
this gimmick a bit, though at least it’s not as bad as some of the
stuff WWE does. This was good enough and put over Bram and Magnus
which was the whole point. Good enough.

The
lawyer comes out and announces Kurt Angle as the new Director
because….well who else was it going to be? Angle
says it’s time for him to give back but here’s the trio to interrupt.
MVP can’t believe that this is his replacement and violence is
threatened, but Angle shouts that HE’S THE FREAKING BOSS. Angle
makes Lashley vs. Young II for next week
and reinstates Bobby Roode. The brawl is on to end the show.

Overall
Rating: C+. This was MUCH
better than last week as they actually had some other stuff going on
besides the one main story. The show wasn’t great or anything but
after last week I would have given anything a better rating. The big
surprise at the end wasn’t really a surprise at all but at least it’s
back to a face vs. a heel on top of the company. Given that this is
TNA I’d be stunned if Angle didn’t walk into Tokyo as a heel though.
They’re taking a major risk by taping so many weeks of shows in
advance but this was at least a good second step.

Results

Gail
Kim/Terryn Terrell b. Beautiful People – Eat Defeat to Love

Sanada b.
Crazy Steve, Manik and DJZ – Tiger suplex to DJZ

James Storm
b. Mr. Anderson – Last Call

Bram/Magnus
b. Willow/Abyss – Bram pinned Abyss after hitting him with Janice

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

Rants

Impact Wrestling – June 5, 2014

By Scott Keith on 5th June 2014

Impact
Wrestling

Date:
June 5, 2014

Location:
Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida

Commentators:
Mike Tenay, Tazz

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

We’re
only a few weeks away from Slammiversary and the interesting thing is
MVP has injured his knee in a match in England. However, everything
tonight has been taped in advance, so unless something taped has been
added in, it’s going to be interesting to see if he can make the
title match or not. As for tonight, I’m sure we’re going to be
bombarded with stuff about the trio which still needs a name. Let’s
get to it.

We
open with a recap of the Trio’s dominance until Samoa Joe made the
save to end last week’s show.

The
trio is looking for Samoa Joe.

Samoa
Joe comes out with something to say. Joe talks about MVP looking for
him, so here he is to make things easy for the boss. Cue the trio
with King saying he’s tired of Joe trying to be a tough guy. Joe
gets right in MVP’s face and tells him what the mouthpiece can do
with his mouth. MVP says time is money and Joe is wasting his. Joe
calls MVP a scumbag and a liar but MVP yells at him for bailing after
losing a gauntlet match. Unlike Joe, MVP did his job. Joe wants to
fight all of them tonight but here’s Austin Aries to interrupt.
Aries wants in on this fight, so MVP makes Aries vs. Joe for tonight,
loser leaving TNA.

Bram
is ready for his fight with Willow tonight. However, he doesn’t
think Magnus will ever be ready.

Willow
vs. Bram

Willow
hammers away in the corner to start but Bram takes over on the floor.
Back in and an elbow to the jaw puts Willow down for some trash
talking stomps. Willow nails three straight dropkicks including the
slingshot version in the corner. They head outside again and Willow
hits a big dive to take over again. Poetry In Motion off the steps
has Bram in trouble but he sends Willow into the steps to put Willow
down. Bram rams him into the steps and throws Willow back inside
before pulling out that crowbar. Magnus tries to talk him out of it
but Magnus blasts Willow with it instead for the DQ at 4:58.

Rating:
C. This was more angle than
match but the high spots were good. Bram is a solid guy out there
and has a great look to him so I can’t complain all that much.
Willow isn’t really all that extreme and is pretty much just Jeff
Hardy with a stupid looking mask, making the whole thing stupid.

MVP
gets in an argument with the Wolves before putting them in a match
against each other. If they don’t do it, they lose the belts.

Mr.
Anderson is imitating James Storm at some bar.

Davey
Richards vs. Eddie Edwards

Richards
still has bad ribs. Kenny King is watch the match from the stage and
doesn’t seem pleased. The Wolves starts very tentatively as they
don’t want to hurt each other but King demands that the Wolves start
showing some teeth. They trade modified surfboards followed by a
half crab from Edwards. Eddie finally rolls him up
for the pin at 4:20.

Rating:
D. This wasn’t supposed to be
much of a match, but I’m really not sure what it was supposed to
accomplish. Given how King was talking you would think he’d get
beaten up after the match, but did they really need to fill in six
minutes on this whole thing just for that kind of a payoff?

King
says that’s not good enough and wants to see someone get beaten up.
I think you can figure it out from there, but in case you can’t, King
gets taken apart.

Dixie
Carter freaks out on MVP for putting Aries and Joe in a contract
match. MVP says don’t worry about it.

We
recap Brittany telling Madison how she really felt.

Madison
tells Brittany to stay out of her title match this week.

Robbie
E. is scared of the clown in the Menagerie. Apparently he had a bad
experience when he was ten years old and it still freaks him out
today.

MVP
tells the referee that there must be a winner in Joe vs. Aries.

Joe
went home because MVP was another power hungry villain. Aries comes
in and says Joe did go home. He says he saw MVP for what he was
months ago and got sent home as a result. Tonight they’re both in
trouble but only one can win.

The
BroMans are in the ring and Robbie is still freaking out over the
clowns. This brings out the Menagerie to laugh at the BroMans and
scare them to death with the balloons. DJZ and Crazy Steve get in a
horn off and the Menagerie cleans house.

Bully
and Eric Young tell the referee to do the right thing tonight.
Referee Brian Hebner says he has to put food on his table and leaves.
Ray says they’ll do what they have to do.

Gunner
and Samuel Shaw play Go Fish in the psych ward.

Austin
Aries vs. Samoa Joe

Loser
is gone. Joe hammers away to start and hits an early Facewash in the
corner. Aries fights out of the MuscleBuster and gets two off a
rollup but Joe is too big to be taken up in the brainbuster. Instead
Joe sends him into the corner for the enziguri but Aries rolls out of
the corner Rock Bottom. There’s the Last Chancery but Eric Young
comes out to pull Brian Hebner to the floor. He does the same when
Joe puts on the Clutch and Bully Ray punches Hebner out. Joe and
Aries are ticked off and we’ll call this a no contest at 5:30.

Rating:
C-. You can barely grade this
due to the ending, which is the biggest problem with the whole thing:
this is the second match of the night that hasn’t had enough time to
go anywhere and has been about the trio angle instead of anything
else. That story is dominating everything and it’s getting annoying
in a hurry. Also, nice job on that whole THERE MUST BE A WINNER
thing that we spent three scenes on.

Speaking
of which, here’s the trio to say that MVP runs TNA. Ray says MVP has
a god complex and should come fight. After some trash talk, we get
the following match made for tonight: Bully Ray/Eric Young/Austin
Aries/Samoa Joe vs. MVP/Kenny King/Bobby Lashley/Ethan Carter III, and let’s
make it first blood because why not.

Anderson
makes fun of cowboys again.

Now
Anderson is in the arena as the most stereotypical cowboy ever.
James Storm finally comes out and says he doesn’t take kindly to a
man cheating in a drinking contest. Storm wants to fight but not
tonight. Anderson comes out and the fight is on with
Storm getting the better of it and nailing Last Call. A challenge is
made for Slammiversary.

Gunner
brings Shaw his sketchbook as part of his therapy. After a break,
Gunner looks at drawings of Shaw in Christy’s shadown, Shaw’s house
and Shaw’s mom. There’s an unfinished drawing of what looks to be
Gunner, who asks Shaw to finish it now.

Knockouts
Title: Madison Rayne vs. Angelina Love

Angelina
is defending and heads
outside at the bell. The chase is on with Angelina chasing after
Velvet for some reason until Madison catches the champion in the
ring. A Velvet distraction lets Angelina dropkick Rayne to the floor
and here’s Brittany to check on her. Back in and Madison nails some
clotheslines to take over followed by the mat humper. Not that it
matters as Velvet sprays hairspray into Brittany’s eyes to give Love
the pin at 4:00.

Rating:
D+. Yes believe it or not, this
was the exact same thing we’ve seen from the Beautiful People since
they reunited. I’m assuming we’re leading towards Brittany being
hurt by Madison not wanting her and join the Beautiful People as a
result, but it’s not exactly thrilling stuff getting there.

After
a break, Madison wants to know why Brittany didn’t help her.
Brittany logically points out that she did exactly what Madison told
her to do.

Ethan
Carter III/MVP/Kenny King/Bobby Lashley vs. Eric Young/Samoa
Joe/Bully Ray/Eric Young

First
blood for no apparent reason. Aries and King get us going as you
have to tag in a match where it’s about blood. A quick Last Chancery
is broken up by Ethan so Aries takes him over to the corner for a tag
off to Young. Carter runs away from Ray but Bully wants MVP. They
slug it out with Ray getting the better of it via a big boot to the
face so it’s quickly off to King. Ray catches him in a front
facelock and brings in Joe. King runs off as well so we get Lashley
vs. Joe in a showdown. That sounds interesting so let’s take a
break.

Back
with Joe hitting the running enziguri in the corner on Lashley and
bringing in the World Champion. Eric gets taken down in the corner
and the heels stat their shots to the head. They show some nice
thinking by going after the forehead with punches and kicks followed
by a hard elbow from MVP. All four villains get in some shots to
Young’s head with Ethan asking if Eric is ready to bleed.

Young
finally breaks free and makes the tag off to Joe who clans house.
Lashley spears him down but gets caught by an Eric missile dropkick.
Everything breaks down and we get the secondary finishers a go-go.
Aries dives off the top to take out MVP and King but Ethan plants Ray
with a spinebuster. Ray grabs the chain and blasts Carter in the
head for the blood and the win at 14:45.

Rating:
D+. I have no idea why this was
a first blood match. It’s not terrible but there was no reason to
not have this be a regular match and have Ray pin King. The match
didn’t do anything of note though and doesn’t advance the story for
the most part. Considering there are only two matches set for
Slammiversary, this wasn’t the most logical match.

As
the winners celebrate, we cut to the back to see the trio destroying
Ethan. Dixie breaks it up and gets in MVP’s face, saying the same
blood in Ethan flows through her. MVP doesn’t care so Dixie says if
he wants a war, he’s got one. This REALLY felt like something to
make us sympathize with the Carters and that’s about as bad of an
idea as they could have.

Overall
Rating: D+. The more I watch
TNA, the more it becomes apparent that this main event scene is a
disaster. There are WAY too many people running around in it as you
have the eight in the main event tonight, plus the Wolves and Dixie.
That’s WAY too much for one angle and it’s bogging things down. It
doesn’t help that we have to sit through the long series of segments
over and over again every week because almost nothing else gets
significant time.

Look
at the Wolves for example. Their match was set up in about 30
seconds, it didn’t even last five minutes, and it was never mentioned
again. It’s clear that their match wasn’t a priority at all and that
they were on the card so we would remember they exist and happen to
be champions. The angle needs to split into stand alone stories (Joe
vs. Lashley and Ray vs. Carter would work fine) to let the main event
breathe a bit.

On
top of that, Eric Young feels like he’s just there because he’s World
Champion. I know that that’s obvious, but he feels like a supporting
character in what’s really Bully and Aries’ fight with the trio. It
would make sense to get the title off of Young soon and get the real
big names into the feud. Young has been fine in the role, but he’s
just not a World Champion caliber guy.

Finally,
there is some hope for TNA: the midcard stuff actually has my
interest. I’m curious to see where the Gunner/Shaw stuff goes and
the Storm vs. Anderson match should be good. Adding Brittany into
the Beautiful People stuff is at least something different and
Bram/Magnus as a ruthless team is good stuff. There are some solid
stories in TNA if you can get past half the roster being in one
story.

Results

Willow
b. Bram via DQ when Magnus interfered

Eddie
Edwards b. Davey Richards – Rollup

Austin
Aries vs. Samoa Joe went to a no contest

Angelina
Love b. Madison Rayne – Rollup

Bully
Ray/Eric Young/Samoa Joe/Austin Aries b. Ethan Carter III/Bobby
Lashley/MVP/Kenny King – Chain shot to Carter

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

Rants

Impact Wrestling – May 22, 2014

By Scott Keith on 22nd May 2014

Impact
Wrestling

Date: May 22,
2014

Location:
Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida

Commentators:
Mike Tenay, Taz

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

Last week’s
major development made me feel like I’m experiencing deja vu. Yet
again there’s a group teaming together, seemingly to take over TNA.
This time it’s MVP, Bobby Lashley and Kenny King hooking up with
reasons left to be explained tonight. The main idea tonight is Dixie
Carter coming to confront MVP and see where all this is going. I’m
sure this is going to be thrilling. Let’s get to it.

The opening
recap shows MVP turning a few weeks ago and then being joined by
Lashley and King.

The three
villains arrive and run into Kazarian. He’s on the phone and doesn’t
seem impressed so King beats Kaz down. MVP: “Was that necessary?”
King: “No.”

MVP, Lashley
and King hit the ring with MVP offering to give the people a history
lesson. He’s a brilliant individual and it was because of his
brilliance that he was able to bring in his friends and take power.
Sometimes when you take power, blood must be spilled. Never again
was he going to ask for permission to do anything because this is a
business. At the end of the day, it’s all about power, money and
respect. MVP is now in control and everyone just has to accept it.
Yes he has sold out arenas and he’s done it again tonight.

King says he
couldn’t believe it when MVP asked him to do this and takes credit
for the exhibition match from a few weeks ago. Everyone was shocked
and the same thing happened when he fought Lashley. Then MVP brought
Lashley in at Lockdown because Lashley knew politics were a waste of
time. MVP calls himself a god but here are the Wolves to interrupt.

Davey quotes
the money, power and respect line and says they don’t have any
respect for MVP anymore. MVP told them it was about heart and that’s
why they followed him at Lockdown. MVP gets them confused (King: “It
don’t matter!”) before saying he gave them this chance to get out
of taking 15 hour bus rides in Japan to eat Ramen Noodles.

They may have
heart but to be where MVP is today, you have to be heartless. MVP
threatens to send them back to the indies and the brawl is on. The
Wolves are outnumbered and Lashley hits a big spear on Edwards.
Davey is dragged up to the stage and speared off and through a table.
King cackles like a witch.

A ticked off
Eric Young arrives.

The Carters
arrive.

Davey has
been taken to a hospital.

Here’s Eric
Young to vent a bit. MVP cuts him off almost immediately and brings
out Lashley and King. Young says the shame should be on him and then
asks Lashley how he’ll be able to explain this to his son. MVP holds
Bobby back and says Lashley’s son will be behind the wheel of a very
expensive car then and won’t care what Lashley did. The trio gets
into the ring and Eric is ready to fight. It goes as badly as you
would expect until Austin Aries runs out and helps Young fight them
off.

Aries grabs
the mic and says he’s one of the few that saw MVP for what he really
was: a liar in cheap suits. Austin calls MVP out for a match and MVP
accepts for later tonight. That’s not all from MVP though as he’s
going to give Eric Young a match tonight. No opponent given but MVP
says it’s coming.

Bram has
gotten Magnus a falls count anywhere match with Willow tonight.
Magnus says he’s getting sick of this and punches Bram in the jaw.
Bram laughs and says that’s what they want. Magnus says he’s crazy.

Angelina is
issuing an open challenge for a title shot. Gail Kim comes up to
accept it but she’s not allowed. Kim lays Angelina out and beats her
up a bit.

Here are the
Beautiful People with Angelina saying all former Knockouts Champions
are excluded from accepting.

Knockouts
Title: Angelina Love vs. Brittany

Love jumps
Brittany during her posing and takes over quickly. Brittany gets
knocked down again but shoves Love out of the corner. A handspring
elbow runs into Angelina’s elbow but Brittany comes back with an
O’Connor Roll, only to be distracted by Velvet. The distraction lets
Angelina hit the Botox Injection for the pin at 3:28.

Rating: D.
Points for having someone new in there like Brittany, but the match
was nothing to see at all. The Beautiful People are getting less and
less interesting every week, especially with them getting what they
wanted so easily. This whole division is just worthless to me
anymore and it’s not getting any more interesting at all.

Gail
Kim comes out to prevent the makeover.

Dixie
is going to address MVP tonight. We knew that already.

James Storm
comes to see Mr. Anderson at a bar and a drinking contest begins.

MVP vs.
Austin Aries

Aries jumps
him from the apron but MVP sends him into the barricade to take over.
They get inside with Aries in control and hitting a running elbow in
the corner followed by raining down some right hands. MVP shoves him
over the top and out to the floor before slapping Aries down. Back
in and MVP misses a running kick in the corner and Aries goes for the
leg. MVP blocks the brainbuster but gets caught by the running
dropkick in the corner. Aries nails a second but Lashley runs in to
break up the 450 for the DQ at 3:48.

Rating: C.
This was fun while it lasted but you knew there was no way it was
getting a clean finish this early in the feud. Aries is a good
choice to have in this spot but he and Young need a third guy to make
this a better fight. The match wasn’t much wrestling but they fought
the entire time which is always a nice touch.

Aries
gets beaten down until Young comes out as well. The champion gets
beaten down until MVP announces Lashley as Young’s opponent for
later. Dixie comes out for the showdown because this story hasn’t
gotten enough TV time tonight. After
a break Dixie yells at MVP for ignoring her and says she’s never hurt
anyone. “Except shoving Bully Ray through two tables….and
breaking two of his ribs.”

MVP
says she’s been banned from the Impact Zone but here’s Bully to chase
Dixie and Ethan off. MVP says Bully was banned from the building too
but Ray gets in his face and says MVP is here because of Ray. Bully
wants to know why they’re picking on Eric Young, who has been here
since day one and worked his way to the top to become World Champion.

MVP
asks when Bully started caring but King jumps Ray for the three on
one beatdown. The trio leaves and the Carters come back. Dixie:
“Ethan, get the tables.” Ethan: “Ok.” Ray
tries to fight back but gets planted through the wood. Dixie gets to
say she fears no one again. I really hope this is just a one off
confrontation between MVP and Dixie, because the last thing I (and I
think most TNA fans) want is another power struggle.

Post
break Ray limps after the Carters but they escape in a limo.

Magnus
vs. Willow

Falls
count anywhere. We get a quick video about Bram trying to unleash
the beast inside Magnus, just in case this wasn’t enough like Cena
and Bray Wyatt already. Magnus misses a charge to the floor but
blocks a dive with his knees. They fight in the aisle with Magnus
still turning down the use of something metal. Back inside and
Willow takes over with some legdrops but misses the Swanton.

The
Whisper in the Wind connects for two and a clothesline puts Magnus on
the floor. Willow’s slingshot splash lands for two more but Magnus
clotheslines him down onto the ramp. Bram offers him the metal again
and this time a shot to the ribs has Willow in trouble. Magnus can’t
bring himself to hit Willow in the back of the head though, allowing
Willow to hit a Twist of Fate on the ramp for the pin at 4:58.

Rating: C.
Not a bad brawl here but Willow was up WAY too fast after that shot
to the ribs. He might have been down fifteen seconds and then is
able to hit his finisher and pin a World Champion? That’s a bit too
much of a stretch for my taste but with as little time as they had
they couldn’t do much else.

Gunner
tells Samuel Shaw he’s been in an asylum before too.

Eddie
Edwards is back.

After a
break, Gunner is still in the asylum with Shaw. Gunner tells him a
story about a friend of his who went through basic training with him.
The friend went through something that sounds like PTSD and Gunner
was the one there to help him get into a place just like this.
That’s why he understands what it’s like for Shaw to be in here. In
the end the guy got better and found himself. Gunner believes
there’s good inside Shaw and that he can get better. Shaw asks why
he should trust Gunner. That’s a good question, and Gunner says
he’ll prove his trustworthiness by trying to get Shaw out of the
straitjacket.

Here’s
Edwards to call out any member of the trio for a fight right now.
King comes out and the brawl is on immediately. Edwards chokes him
with a shirt and hammers away before they get in the ring. Kenny
gets in a few shots with the mic to take over but Edwards avoids a
moonsault. Edwards hits a suicide dive and rips at Kenny’s face but
gets sent into the steps. A high collar suplex puts Edwards down on
the ramp and Kenny walks away. Eddie is holding his shoulder.

The drinking
contest is continuing and it appears that Anderson is cheating by
drinking something without alcohol. Storm is on about his 12th
beer.

MVP comes up
to Brian Hebner. He apologizes for King attacking Hebner recently
and Brian accepts. MVP gives Hebner the main event match tonight and
implies that Brian needs to help him. Hebner doesn’t say anything.

Back to the
bar where Storm can barely talk and Anderson says he’s totally sober.
He’s been drinking Near Beer and proceeds to beat Storm up.
Anderson takes Storm outside and throws him into a trash can before
putting the $100 bet in Storm’s mouth.

Eric Young
says he’s banged up but he learns from his mistakes. Tonight Lashley
will learn that his biggest mistake was letting Young get up.

Eric Young
vs. Bobby Lashley

Non-title.
Eric starts fast but gets taken down and thrown to the floor, into
the barricade. Back in and Lashley hammers away before bending
Young’s back over the ropes. A hard palm strike to the chest drops
Young again and we take a break. Back with Lashley hitting a delayed
vertical suplex for two before putting on a bearhug.

Young fights
back with a missile dropkick and the piledriver. No cover though as
Young goes up, only to have to fight off King and MVP. It’s not a DQ
yet as Young gets crotched on the top. Lashley gets up and a spear
sets up the powerslam for the pin at 10:33. Well at least it wasn’t
clean.

Rating:
D+. Nothing to see here again,
other than about the 857th
time that the trio has been on screen tonight. It’s the same old
problem that TNA has always had: if they’ve got a top story, it’s
going to DOMINATE a show until you’re either hooked on it or totally
sick of it. Heaven forbid anything else get anytime.

Aries
tries to make a save with a kendo stick but gets triple teamed as
well. The trio stands tall
to end the show.

Overall
Rating: D-. Why can’t TNA learn
anything? Why do they insist on going back to the EXACT SAME THING
over and over and over and over and over again? Tonight was ALL
about this new trio and if you don’t like them, WELL SCREW YOU
BECAUSE THAT’S WHAT YOU’RE GETTING LALALALALALALA I CAN’T HEAR YOU!
That’s what it’s like to be a TNA fan. If you don’t like what you’re
getting, deal with it because they’re going to use the same story
over and over again.

Other
than the trio stuff, the Dixie angle continues and unfortunately
we’re probably not going to get her being put through a table.
That’s the ONLY payoff to the whole thing but if it never happens, or
happens anywhere other than Slammiversary or the New York tapings,
it’s yet another waste of a story and our time by TNA.

The
rest of the show wasn’t anything to remember. The beer drinking
contest was fine but they made it clear where it was going halfway
through. Gunner and Shaw is somewhat interesting, but it’s a BIG
step down for Gunner after months of beating Storm time after time.
The Beautiful People are still the same act we’ve seen for years from
them now, making this show feel like it’s stuck on replay.

Results

Angelina Love
b. Brittany – Botox Injection

Austin Aries
b. MVP via DQ when Bobby Lashley interfered

Willow b.
Magnus – Twist of Fate on the ramp

Bobby Lashley
b. Eric Young – Powerslam

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

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Rants

Rants

Impact Wrestling – May 15, 2014

By Scott Keith on 15th May 2014

Impact
Wrestling

Date: May 15, 2014

Location: Impact Zone,
Orlando, Florida

Commentators: Mike
Tenay, Tazz

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

Another week has passed
and the main story is, say it with me, a heel authority figure
corrupted by power. Last week MVP turned heel and announced himself
as the #1 contender to the World Title. Other than that we’ve got
Bully Ray heading to Texas to go after Dixie Carter. Why he would
wait a week to do so is beyond me but maybe they’ll show us footage
from the previous week. Let’s get to it.

Eric Young is waiting
for MVP to arrive but security pulls him away from the boss’ limo.

Video on MVP turning on
Young last week.

Here’s Young (minus the
belt) in the arena to open things up. Eric rants about how he
thought MVP was something different that’s why he fought so hard for
him. Anything would have been better than Dixie Carter but this
isn’t good at all. Eric says if MVP wants a fight he can come out
here right now. MVP pops up on screen and says he did this for the
money and the power. He’s going to do Eric a favor though: Young can
keep the title until Slammiversary when MVP takes it away.

Dixie is in Nashville
driving around with Spud. They go to her house and see a bunch of
tables spray painted with Dixie Fears Bully.

Recap of Bram trying to
make Magnus into his old self by sending him after Willow.

Willow is ready for
revenge but wants it in his realm.

Bram/Magnus vs.
Willow

They start in the dark
rafters but are down on the floor in about ten seconds. Tagging is
required here and it’s Bram whipping Willow into the corner to start.
Bram hammers Willow in the corner and brings in Magnus for some
stomping of his own. Back to Bram but he gets reversed into the
corner for forearms and the slingshot dropkick. Willow decks Magnus
off the apron but can’t hit the Twist. Magnus trips Willow up,
allowing Bram to suplex him down. Back to Magnus with Bram sliding
in a metal object. Magnus won’t go insane like Bram wants though,
allowing Willow to small package Magnus for the pin at 4:22.

Rating: D+.
This was more storytelling than a match and there’s nothing wrong
with that. Bram wanting Magnus to be all violent and evil again is a
good idea for Magnus as his time on the top just didn’t work for the
most part. He’s boring as a proper Englishman and all that jazz, so
have him be evil instead and get something interesting going instead.
Bram looked good.

Young
trashes MVP’s office.

Bully
Ray calls Dixie and tells her and Spud to come inside.

Gail
Kim comes to the ring and says she’s not here to wear an evening gown
or to get a makeover. She calls out the Beautiful People and gets
what she wants. Angelina says the Beautiful People are what everyone
should aspire to be. Velvet jumps Gail from behind and it’s time for
a match.

Velvet
Sky vs. Gail Kim

Gail
is in trouble to start but jumps over Velvet in the corner to get a
breather. She hits the running cross body in the corner but misses a
charge and falls out to the floor. Angelina gets in a few shots and
throws Gail back inside for a DDT and two. Gail comes back with Eat
Defeat out of nowhere for the pin at 3:43.

Rating: D.
It’s the same story with the same ideas and the same people we’ve
seen doing this FOREVER now and I don’t care anymore. I’m assuming
Gail gets a title shot at Slammiversary, but who cares if she wins?
What difference does it make as they’ve all been champion like a
million times anyway. Match was nothing.

Gail
gets laid out post match.

Ethan
Carter brags about injuring Kurt Angle last week and says this is his
world now.

Crazy
Steve vs. Kazarian

Steve
is the Menagerie’s clown. Kaz
sends him to the floor to start as we have carnival music and weird
lighting. Kaz trips over Steve on the floor as the Freak stares him
down. Steve low bridges Kaz to the floor as we’re in full on comedy
match mode. The balloons are brought in and Steve breaks them with a
top rope splash. Now he’s running around with a horn as Freak poses
on the apron. Rebel is in the ring as well, hanging upside down on
the ropes. The referee gets pantsed and it’s thrown out at 2:34 with
Kaz winning by DQ.

The Menagerie doesn’t
seem to mind losing.

Aries tries to get into
MVP’s office but security stops him. MVP comes out and gets some
cheap shots but Young shows up to jump the boss as we take a break.
Back with the two still fighting and MVP in control. He tries to
hang Eric with his tie but the champion fights back as they head to
the ramp. Young seems to be favoring his arm so MVP hammers away on
it back in the ring. Security comes down to break it up but MVP gets
in more shots on the arm, including a flying armbar. MVP makes the
title match tonight with him getting the title shot.

Spud tries to sneak up
on Ray in Dixie’s house but the cameraman gives him away. Spud is
captured but Ray tells the camera guys to stay there.

Mr. Anderson vs.
James Storm

The opening bell is
after a break and the brawl is already on the floor. Anderson takes
him into the barricade but Anderson’s hand is slammed into the steps
to give Storm control. Back inside with Storm working over the arm
but getting caught in the swinging neckbreaker. Storm tries to run
from the Mic Check, allowing him to hit a quick low blow for two, as
the referee catches Storm’s feet on the ropes. A running DDT gets
two on Anderson and it’s beer bottle time. The referee takes the
bottle away but Storm spits in Anderson’s face, setting up the Last
Call for the pin at 5:00.

Rating: D+.
These matches are starting to get repetitive. The arm work went
nowhere here and the match was only ok if you stretch a lot. It’s
nice to see Storm FINALLY get a win though. That’s his first singles
win on TV in over a year. That simply should not happen to a former
World Champion.

Samuel
Shaw is in an institution and can only say Christy.

Video on Sanada
training and what the X Title means to him.

X-Division Title:
Sanada vs. Tigre Uno vs. DJZ

DJZ is coming in with
bad ribs. Sanada is defending and he teams up with Tigre to take Ion
down to start. Tigre tries a quick rollup for two on the champ.
There’s a bunch of confetti in the ring from Sanada’s entrance and
it’s all over everyone’s back. Sanada misses a standing moonsault on
Tigre but snaps up with a dropkick to the back. DJZ comes back in
but gets caught in a rolling cradle for two for the champ.

Tigre stays on the
floor for a bit as DJZ nails some forearms to Sanada in the corner.
Sanada comes back with some chops as Tigre is still on the floor.
Tigre finally comes back in with a dropkick to both guys, followed by
a spinning Asai Moonsault to the floor. He throws DJZ back inside
but Ion breaks up a moonsault. Sanada springboards back in with a
chop to DJZ’s head and hits a tiger suplex for the pin to retain at
5:33.

Rating: C.
Sanada is still good but these guys are pretty much the entire
division right now. It’s the same problem the division has had for
years now: you can find one guy that does well for awhile but the
division is dead save for the month before Destination X. Nothing
much to see here but it wasn’t bad.

Ray
calls Dixie from Spud’s phone and tells her she’s all alone.

Gunner
comes to see Samuel Shaw in the institution because Shaw needs
someone to talk to.

We
recap Ethan injuring Angle’s knee last week.

Dixie
goes into her house and finds Spud tied up. Bully shuts the door and
asks Dixie if she ever though it would come to this. He’s doing it
because of what she did at Sacrifice and wants to know if she
believes he’s afraid of her. Ray asks if she wants this to end. She
does of course but he wants her to say she fears him. She’s about to
say it when Ethan jumps Ray from behind. Dixie says she fears no
one.

We
recap Roode and MVP brawling last week, leading to MVP suspending
Roode from Impact for the foreseeable
future.

TNA
World Title: Eric Young vs. MVP

Young
attacks before the bell but is sent bad arm first into the steps.
MVP works it over even more as the match hasn’t actually started yet.
Back from a break with the opening bell and MVP staying on the bad
arm. Eric fights up and hits some of his usual stuff before loading
up the top rope elbow, only to have Kenny King of all people come
down and shove Eric off the top for the DQ at 3:10.

Rating: D.
I don’t have a rating in me for this one. Most of it was just arm
work anyway.

MVP
tells the referee to restart the match or he’s fired. The referee
won’t do it so King decks him. King and MVP beat up Eric until Bobby
Lashley comes out for the save….before joining up with them to
destroy Young. Eric is slammed through some chairs by Lashley and
taunted with the belt. The new heel faction stands tall to end the
show. Taz: “This is bad Mike.” Preach it brother.

Overall Rating: D.
TNA is entering it’s summer lull and they’re diving in head first.
There was some watchable stuff tonight but the stories are just
killing everything else. As I’ve complained about probably a dozen
times before, it feels like we’ve seen every bit of this before. The
Beautiful People are dominant and calling people ugly, the heel
authority figure(s) are receiving far more TV time than anyone else,
and the title picture is about the plucky champion fighting to keep
the main evil authority figure from gaining ultimate power.

It’s
the same stuff this company has run with for YEARS now and it’s just
not working here. We’re coming up on one of the biggest shows of the
year and looking at Eric Young vs. MVP for the World Title. I could
picture that being a midcard title match, but TNA doesn’t have time
for a midcard title. Maybe if Dixie didn’t have to have five
segments a show we could, but Heaven forbid she’s not one of the
focal points of the show. The more I think about it the more it
seems like they want her to turn face, which would be about the
dumbest thing they could do. In other words, look for face Dixie to
send her guy in to face MVP at BFG.

Results

Willow b. Bram/Willow –
Small package to Magnus

Gail Kim b. Velvet Sky
– Eat Defeat

Kazarian b. Crazy Steve
via DQ when Menagerie interfered

Sanada b. DJZ and Tigre
Uno – Tiger suplex to DJZ

Eric Young b. MVP via
DQ when Kenny King interfered

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

Rants

Impact Wrestling – May 8, 2014

By Scott Keith on 8th May 2014

Impact
Wrestling

Date: May 8, 2014

Location: Impact Zone,
Orlando, Florida

Commentators: Mike
Tenay, Taz

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

Slammiversary is
looming and Eric Young doesn’t have a challenger yet. The problem
with having a champion that defends every week is you quickly run out
of fresh matchups, so TNA is either going to have to turn someone or
bring someone up the card in a hurry. Other than that we get to see
Bully want to put Dixie through a table in about 19 segments tonight.
Let’s get to it.

Earlier today Bully Ray
was driving to Nashville at the TNA offices to find Dixie Carter,
thereby complying with MVP’s wishes to not go after her at the Impact
Zone.

We recap Eric Young
defending the title every week.

Speaking of Eric, here
he is in street clothes to get things going. He talks about how
awesome the reign has been but there’s one hiccup. Eric promised to
defend the title every week but since MVP hasn’t booked him in a
match, he’s going to book himself in one. We have an open challenge
for tonight and here’s Bobby Roode.

Bobby goes on a LONG
rant about how great he is before Eric says that Roode got a shot
last week and got pinned. Roode says it wasn’t fair because he had
to wrestle twice last week and goes on another rant about their
history together in Team Canada. If Young gives him another shot and
wins, Roode will never ask for another match. Young says ok as this
segment took about eight minutes longer than it needed to.

MVP tells Young that he
can’t do that and suggests Young take a few weeks off. If Young
will, MVP guarantees that his opponent at Slammiversary will be
someone Young has never faced before.

Madison
Rayne/Brittany vs. Beautiful People

Evening Gown match
under elimination rules. The Beautiful People are in black and their
opponents are in white to make sure the alignment is clear. Velvet
and Angelina double team Brittany in the corner to start as they’re
actually treating this like a real match so far. Brittany fights up
and makes the tag off to Madison who does moves that make sure her
skirt flies up. Madison can’t strip Velvet’s gown though, allowing
Love to trip Brittany up so Velvet can strip her for an elimination
as we take a break.

Back with Madison down
2-1 and getting double teamed. It doesn’t last long though as
Madison fights off both girls and is able to quickly strip Velvet to
get us down to one on one. Madison has control for a bit until
Velvet flashes the referee, allowing Angelina to spray her in the
face and get the win at 11:00.

Rating: D+.
They looked good, this was barely wrestling, next.

Dixie is in a bad mood
and walks away from Spud, who is in a leopard print coat.

We recap Ethan Carter
III vs. Kurt Angle.

Bram tells Magnus to
become his old self again.

Kurt Angle vs. Ethan
Carter III

Angle goes after the
arm to start but Ethan backs off. A snap suplex sets up the Rolling
Germans to Ethan but Angle falls down holding his bad knee. Angle
tries to fight back with a German suplex but the knee is just gone.
Ethan gets in a quick chop block and pins Angle at 3:27.

Rating: D+.
This didn’t have time to go anywhere and the injury took up a good
chunk of the match. I’ll give them points for keeping Ethan so
strong and I kind of like not having Angle beat him with ease. It’s
making Ethan look like a much bigger deal which is something TNA
really needs to do.

After
a break, Angle says he felt the knee pop.

Here’s
MVP with something to say. He talks about how demanding this company
is and how the fans are even more demanding. However, he can’t have
Eric Young making his own matches because wrestlers are supposed to
wrestle so TNA can abide. “And hey, the Dude abides right?” MVP
says he has a major announcement about who Eric will face at
Slammiversary but here’s Bobby Roode to interrupt. Roode
says the same stuff he said to Eric and demands the title match
tonight. MVP has the same reply that Eric did (you lost last week)
and the brawl is on. The fans want to see it but referees break it
up.

Bully
is in Nashville but Spud says he’s not welcome here. Bully goes into
her office anyway, yells at Spud for wearing green socks and sits in
Dixie’s chair. He gets on the phone and tells the secretary to get
the staff together for a meeting. Oh and a sandwich.

Knux
and company are here. Rebel is in a rather revealing outfit and
dancing with fire. A wooden crate comes up and Knux says it’s
someone’s home.

Roode
is ejected by security.

Tag
Team Titles: Wolves vs. Bro Mans

It’s
a ladder match and the challengers (Bro Mans) get a jobber entrance.
Zema shoves the ladder over
in the aisle to distract the champions, allowing the Bro Mans to jump
them from behind with the ladder. Back inside and we get the bell
but the Wolves are right there for the save. The Wolves load up the
baseball slide into the ladder but the Bro Mans lift it up like a
gate. The champions go back inside and set up a double suicide dive,
only to hit the ladder faces first.

Jesse
drops Davey chest first onto the barricade as the Bro Mans take over.
They set up a ladder between the ring and some steps in the aisle
but Davey escapes a suplex onto said ladder. All four climb a pair
of ladders in the ring and a set of headbutts put all four back on
the mat. Jesse makes a save by jumping up the ladder to stop Davey
before Eddie suplexes Jesse over the top and out to the floor, only
to fall out himself as well. Davey puts Robbie on the bridged ladder
for the double stomp from the top as everyone is down again. The
Wolves climb up, throw Zema over the top and onto the Bro Mans, and
retain the belts at 7:00.

Rating: C+.
There were some big spots in there but it’s another gimmick match
that doesn’t really mean anything and doesn’t have the time to go
anywhere because TNA flies through their shows as fast as they can.
Much like the Ascension in NXT though, there aren’t many teams to
challenge for the belts now and it’s going to get repetitive watching
them beat up the Bro Mans over and over again.

Crazy
Steve and the Freak (Rob Terry in a mask) break out of the crate.

Spud
has lost Bully Ray.

Kazarian
vs. Knux

The
Menagerie is a carnival themed stable comprised of Knux, his good
looking sister Rebel, two men on stilts, Crazy Steve (a clown) and
the Freak (a masked muscle man). Kaz jumps Knux from behind to start
but is easily thrown down. He does score with a top rope missile
dropkick and a kick to the jaw but stops to yell at Crazy Steve. Kaz
turns around and runs into the Freak, allowing Knux to throw him back
into the ring. A Sky High powerbomb is enough for the pin on Kaz at
2:16.

Spud
goes into the staff’s office and runs down Ray, only to turn around
and see Ray behind him. Ray: “Get us a case of beer!” Spud:
“It’s 11am!” Ray: “You’re right. Get us two.” Spud leaves
and the staff says the new motto is Bully Fears Dixie. Ray has an
idea of how to fix this.

As a result of the
incidents last week, Anderson faces Storm next week.

Gunner tells Anderson
that Storm is lying whenever he talks.

Dixie’s staff is now
all drunk and in Bully Ray shirts. Spud panics and gets on the table
to calm everything down. Ray says he’ll let Spud have the drones
back if he tells Ray where Dixie is. Spud says he doesn’t know so
Ray offers to leave if Spud will have one beer with him. Spud drinks
it and gets powerbombed through a table. Ray steals his phone and
gets Dixie’s address.

Willow talks about
getting screwed over in the Dixieland match which started the
evolution into what he is now. He wants revenge on Magnus.

Magnus vs. Willow

Willow gets jumped
during his entrance as Bram looks on approvingly. A hard elbow drop
gets two for the Brit but Willow fights up with a Whisper in the Wind
and the flying forearm. The seated dropkick and mule kick put Magnus
in the corner but he rolls outside. That’s fine for Willow as he
kicks Magnus down and hits that sliding splash. As they head back
inside though, Bram sends Willow into the steps for the DQ at 2:32.

Post match Willow is
handcuffed to the ropes and attacked with a turnbuckle hook.

Angle has a broken bone
in his leg and a torn ACL.

MVP calls out Eric for
the announcement of the Slammiversary opponent. The boss asks the
fans to cheer for the champ and says there’s nothing Eric can’t
accomplish. He says Eric deserves the best competition there is, so
here’s the opponent. Eric looks at the stage and MVP lays him out
with a chain around his fist. He says he’ll see Eric at
Slammiversary to end the show.

Overall Rating: C+.
I liked tonight’s show for the most part but there are still
problems. First of all they are setting up stuff for the future, but
at the end of the day it’s still for Eric Young defending against the
latest heel power figure. Actually he’s one of two current heel
power figures as Ray is off in Nashville chasing after Dixie. That
being said, there was some interesting stuff here and some fresh
matches, so the good outweighs the bad. I just really hope the MVP
stuff doesn’t dominate the show, which is about as stupid of a hope
as I can have at this point.

Results

Beautiful People b.
Madison Rayne/Brittany – Love ripped off Madison’s dress

Ethan Carter III b.
Kurt Angle – Chop block

Wolves b. Bro Mans –
Wolves pulled down the belts

Knux b. Kazarian –
Sky High

Willow b. Magnus via DQ
when Bram interfered

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

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Rants

Rants

Impact Wrestling – April 24, 2014

By Scott Keith on 24th April 2014

Impact
Wrestling

Date: April 24, 2014

Location: Impact Zone,
Orlando, Florida

Commentators: Taz, Mike
Tenay

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

It’s the go home show
for Sacrifice and we have most of the card set up if you can remember
some of the matches we’ve heard discussed here or there. Things are
being set up for the TV show week to week, which defeats the purpose
of having monthly PPVs but it’s TNA so you know they have to screw up
something every now and then. Let’s get to it.

Angle is warming up in
the back and says if Spud backs out of their match tonight, he’s
coming for EC3.

We recap the World
Title change from a few weeks ago and last week’s Monster’s Ball
match.

Here’s Magnus with what
looks like a grappling hook. He calls out Abyss because it’s the
Monster’s fault that Magnus lost the title. Magnus calls Abyss a
blithering idiot. The weapon in his hand is part of a turnbuckle and
Magnus yells at Abyss for not coming down to ringside. Abyss says
he’d be fired if he came down so Magnus fires him anyway. The
monster says that it was never about the money but wanting to belong
to someone. Abyss says he’s still a monster and looks to want a
fight but here’s MVP to
interrupt.

MVP says calm down and
that Abyss isn’t his favorite person after Abyss hit him with a chair
a few weeks ago. However, MVP is all about second chances so maybe
Abyss should be offered a full time spot on the roster if he can win
his match tonight. That match is of course against Magnus and MVP
literally skips away. Abyss is thrilled and promises to take care of
Magnus tonight.

Spud tells EC3 to save
the speech this week but EC3 cuts him off and says last week he saw a
ghost. It was actually real though and there’s only one man that can
beat Angle: Carter himself. Tonight Spud needs to be a gazelle for
Carter. Ethan adjusts Spud’s tie and the picture is starting to make
sense to the Rockster.

Rockstar Spud vs.
Kurt Angle

Spud goes for a leg
dive and is literally thrown across the ring. A tilt-a-whirl
backbreaker puts Spud down and Angle no sells everything until Carter
trips him up to give Spud quick control. Angle
runs the ropes for the suplex and the ankle lock gets the win at
2:04.

Ethan clips Angle post
match but Willow makes the
save.

The Beautiful People
promise to give Madison a makeover.

Kenny King is in MVP’s
office when the boss comes in. King thinks he should be the top name
on this program so MVP gives him a match right now.

Here’s Madison Rayne
for even more talking. She calls out the Beautiful People so here’s
Angelina to yell at her for trying to be a role model. Madison
apologizes and the fight is on until the numbers catch up with her.
They load up the bag but
Brittany comes in to try for a save. That goes as well as you would
expect and Velvet hits In Yo Face to Madison. Now Rayne gets the
bag.

Mr.
Anderson has something special planned for Samuel Shaw tonight.

Gail Kim wants to team
up with Madison to help fight the Beautiful People. Madison accepts
and Brittany promises to be there again.

Kenny King vs. Bobby
Lashley

Lashley easily throws
King down a few times to start and runs him over before throwing King
off a headlock. King bails
to the floor and tries to sneak up on Bobby, only to have Lashley
pull a reverse leapfrog into a powerslam. Lashley moves the referee
out of the corner and blocks a pike in the eye but gets caught by the
other hand. King snaps Bobby’s throat across the top rope and scores
with a springboard missile dropkick.

Bobby fights back with
pure power and hits a hard shoulder in the corner. Lashley
grabs King’s boot to the ribs but gets kicked in the head. King
tries a Blockbuster but gets caught in mid air for a suplex. That
looked awesome. King dives away to avoid the spear and takes the
countout at 5:37.

Rating: D+.
The Blockbuster counter was awesome but this was a VERY dull match
otherwise. It was basically a squash until King walked out at the
end. I’m not sure how seeing Kenny getting beaten up for four
minutes and then leaving makes me want to see him fight even more but
there are a lot of things I don’t get in TNA.

Mr.
Anderson goes to see Samuel Shaw’s family and the mom’s name is
Christy. Anderson’s face is rather amusing. More on this later.

Beer
Money has a talk in the back and after ranting about history a bit,
Storm wants credit for making Gunner what he is today.

Austin Aries vs. MVP

This is a result of
Aries turning his back on MVP at Lockdown and then losing the match.
Aries grabs a cravate to start but MVP takes over with a wristlock.
A nice flip gets Aries out of a headlock and he nails MVP with a low
dropkick. MVP comes right back with a facebuster and the Ballin
Elbow but Aries bails outside. The boss dives onto Aries as the
announcers are in their own little world. Aries dropkicks him back
to the floor and hits a top rope ax handle so let’s talk about Abyss.

Back in and the
slingshot hilo sets up a running elbow drop for two on MVP and a
middle rope elbow to the back gets the same. Aries
misses the running dropkick but bites his way out of a standing
choke. MVP comes right back with a discus lariat for two but walks
into a facebuster to put both guys down. Aries misses a 450 and the
Drive By is good for the pin at 6:38.

Rating: C.
It’s the best match and segment of the night but I’m still not
interested in what they’re doing here. That’s the story of the
entire show so far: it’s just not all that interesting and things
aren’t getting much better. MVP beating Aries changes nothing and it
ends a storyline that didn’t have a lot of interest in the first
place. How does seeing this make me want to buy Sacrifice?

Video
on Sanada.

Back
at the Shaw house with the mom straight out of Leave it to Beaver
talking about how talented her son is. She’s baking homemade apple
pie for Samuel who still lives in the basement. So what was the
apartment he took Christy to a few months ago?

James Storm/Bobby
Roode vs. Bully Ray/Gunner

Storm grabs a headlock
on Ray after a break but both members of Beer Money are taken down
with backdrops. Gunner comes in to work on Storm’s arm as we hear
about their latest gimmick match on Sunday, this one being an I Quit
match. Ray fights out of the corner but Roode distracts the referee
so Storm can crotch him against the post. Storm: “IT’S BECAUSE
YOU’RE FAT!”

Back in and Roode
cranks on a front facelock until
Ray fights up, only to be slammed back down. Ray comes back with a
suplex and makes the hot tag to Gunner for some house cleaning.
Gunner
plays D-Von for What’s Up on Storm and
it’s table time. Ray misses an elbow from the apron to drive himself
through the table. Back inside Gunner hits an F5 on Roode but walks
into the Last Call for the pin at 7:05.

Rating: C-.
Nothing wrong with mixing up two feuds, but at the end of the day
I’ve seen Gunner vs. Storm so many times now that I’m not interested
in it anymore. Roode vs. Ray is fine but I’ve pretty much forgotten
why they’re fighting (and no I’m not asking people to tell me). The
match was fine though.

Magnus
says it’s his time.

Anderson
goes downstairs with the mom giving a creepy wave as the door shuts.
Mr. sees something and says oh my god as we go to a break.

Anderson
looks at the room and it’s designed like an 8 year old’s. Shaw comes
in and does something as the cameraman leaves. The mom is still the
same kind of Stepford Wife that she was before and hugs her son as he
comes up from the basement. Creepy, creepy segment.

Beautiful
People vs. Gail Kim/Madison Rayne

Madison
cleans house to start and the Beautiful People are knocked to the
floor for a double dropkick through the ropes. Velvet
and Madison are back in the ring now for Madison’s crotch slam to the
mat before it’s back to Gail for some right hands and a clothesline.
Kim
misses a charge into the corner and it’s off to Angelina for some
shots to the face. She gets caught in the corner for Gail’s running
cross body to the ribs though and everything breaks down.

Back
in for a leg choke from Gail to make Angelina look annoyed. Sky’s
distraction breaks up the hold and Angelina grabs a sleeper, only to
have Gail come out with a backbreaker. Rayne comes back in for a bad
looking enziguri as the crowd goes SILENT. Not for a botch or
anything but because they just don’t seem interested. Thankfully
Angelina gets the hint and rolls up Madison with a handful of tights
for the pin at 5:00.

Rating: D.
The crowd told the whole story here. There was just nothing
interesting going on out there and the people didn’t care. It’s the
same story we’ve seen about 8,000 times now in this division and
nothing has changed at all. The Beautiful People aren’t interesting
as there’s no one to fight them because TNA can’t make new stars for
this division. Where was Brittany either?

Knux
is back at the carnival with I think his ex-girlfriend. He says he
has to go back to Impact because it’s what he does best. She’ll be
supportive of him for the first time, but says she’s going with him.

Abyss says he lost
sight of the one person who cares about him and tonight is for him.

The Wolves want the Tag Team Titles. It’s a handicap
match with Zema Ion joining the Bro Mans.

We run down the PPV card.

Magnus vs. Abyss

Eric Young comes out for commentary and if Abyss wins he
gets a full time job. Abyss takes him into the corner to start and
nails some clotheslines before launching the Brit to the floor. Back
with Magnus working on the leg as Abyss is supposed to be a face
after being all violent for so many weeks. The leg is wrapped around
the post but Abyss grabs him by the throat…..and Magnus kicks him
low for the DQ at 7:40.

Rating: D. Well
that….happened. It’s angle advancement but much like the rest of
this show, the angles aren’t all that interesting. This was supposed
to be a big face turn for Abyss I think, but it really doesn’t work
when he spent the last few weeks trying to torture the new top face.

Post match Magnus
beats on him with a chair until Young comes down and gets beaten down
as well.

An ad for the fallout
show from Sacrifice eats up the last minute. Not an ad FOR THE PAY
PER VIEW mind you, but an ad for the TV show you just watched.

Overall Rating: D. This was a really boring show.
That’s the best word to describe it as almost nothing on here made
me want to watch another show going forward. It’s a bunch of ideas
we’ve seen before with a lot of the same characters and nothing that
has been made better by changing around the faces. Sacrifices just
does not need to be a PPV as TNA currently feels like a bunch of old
ideas thrown into a blender and put on mix to see if it works better
if you twist everything around. Shockingly enough, it’s not working.

Results

Kurt Angle b. Rockstar
– Ankle lock

Bobby Lashley b. Kenny
King via countout

MVP b. Austin Aries –
Drive By

Bobby Roode/James Storm
b. Gunner/Bully Ray – Last Call to Gunner

Beautiful People b.
Madison Rayne/Gail Kim – Rollup to Rayne

Abyss b. Magnus via DQ
when Magnus kicked Abyss low

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

Rants

Impact Wrestling – April 10, 2014

By Scott Keith on 10th April 2014

Impact
Wrestling

Date: April 10, 2014

Location: Impact Zone,
Orlando, Florida

Commentators: Mike
Tenay, Tazz

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

Dixie Carter is back
tonight. Let’s all just take a minute to prepare ourselves for this.
You can almost feel the power struggle starting from here.
Officially she still has some power in TNA as she runs the behind the
scenes stuff as opposed to MVP running the on camera stuff. Tonight
is all about her wrath, which means it’s time for some bad acting.
Let’s get to it.

We open with an In
Memory graphic for Warrior.

Dixie Carter arrives
and has something planned for tonight.

There’s a ten man
gauntlet tonight for the title shot at Sacrifice.

MVP says Magnus
successfully defended his title against three men last week but
tonight he finds out his next challenger. Samoa Joe won’t be one of
the entrants because he’s “not available.”

Gauntlet
Match

It’s basically a ten
man Royal Rumble. James Storm is #1 and Gunner is #2 and of course
the brawl is on in the aisle. They get inside with Gunner avoiding a
middle rope ax handle and taking him into the corner for a stomping.
Storm is in even more trouble until Bobby Roode comes in at #3 to
give him a breather. Beer Money reunites for a bit but Gunner shrugs
off the ten rams into the top turnbuckle. Bully Ray is #4 and cleans
house as you would expect him to. A double suplex has no effect
though and he clotheslines Beer Money down.

Gunner and Ray load up
What’s Up to Storm but Roode makes the save Ethan Carter III comes in
at #5 to give the heels an advantage. Ray shrugs everything off and
chops away but Roode punches him down in the corner. No one has been
eliminated yet. Carter and Roode try to toss Ray until Bobby Lashley
is in at #6. The big man cleans house and hammers on all the heels
until Gunner, Ray and Bobby have a three way standoff. That goes
nowhere and they keep beating up the villains.

Abyss is #7 and cleans
house but Ray tries to toss him. Magnus comes out for commentary as
we take a break. Back with Sanada having entered and Eric Young
entering at I believe #9. No eliminations yet. Everyone fights
against the ropes and teases a few eliminations but no one is really
close. Willow is #10 and we get a showdown with Carter. A Twisting
Stunner has Carter in trouble as Spud wheelchairs down to ringside,
only to pop up and pull Willow down for the elimination.

Abyss chokeslams Sanada
and throws him out but walks into a spear from Lashley. Roode throws
the bald Bobby out though, only to get tossed by Ray. We’re down to
Ray, Gunner, Storm, Carter, Abyss and Young. Ray is about to go off
on Carter but Roode trips him up, allowing Carter to throw him out
and get us down to five. Storm nails a superkick to Gunner and
easily throws him out.

The three heels team up
on Young but he skins the cat and eliminates Carter on the way back
in. Abyss lays him out again though and the double teaming
continues. Eric trips both of them up though and actually hits the
top rope elbow on Abyss. Storm takes him right back down with the
Backstabber though, followed by an Orton Elevated DDT. The Last Call
misses though and Young throws him out. Abyss hits Shock Treatment
on Eric but can’t get him out. Young fights back with some right
hands and an ax handle, followed by a clothesline for the win and
title shot at 26:21.

Rating:
D+. ERIC YOUNG? This is the
guy they’re giving a title match to? Not Gunner, Ray, Joe, or ANYONE
ELSE??? They have like five PPVs a year and the guy who was doing a
Dr. Frankenstein gimmick earlier in the year is getting one of the
main event slots? He’s more bearable when he’s serious but my
goodness this matches my head hurt.

Eric calls out MVP post
match. The boss comes out after a break and Eric says he does a
great job. Young isn’t a doctor but since this is live TV, anything
can happen. What MVP just saw was Eric earning a title shot. This
is live TV though and Eric is feeling crazy. He wants his title shot
TONIGHT. MVP asks if he’s sure and says it’s on. Magnus says that’s
fine because everything abides by his rules. MVP says there are no
Magnus Rules in effect, meaning the title changes hands on a countout
or DQ and Abyss is banned from ringside. If anyone interferes,
they’re fired on the spot.

Spud, in a jacket that
looks like it was involved in an explosion at a paint factory, has a
surprise party for Dixie. She tells him to tone it down and accuses
Spud of selling her down the river. Dixie leaves but as Spud follows
her out, Willow invades the room and cleans house.

Angelina
Love vs. ODB vs. Gail Kim vs. Brittany

The winner gets Madison
at Sacrifice for the title. It’s a brawl to start with the girls
pairing off in the corners. Gail and Angelina start double teaming
Brittany but get in an argument over who gets the pin. Brittany
fights back and cleans house until ODB comes back in and runs
everyone over. Angelina takes a Bronco Buster but Gail kicks ODB
down. Brittany hits a handspring moonsault for no cover on ODB but
walks into a Downward Spiral from Love. Eat Defeat doesn’t work and
Velvet sprays hairspray in Gail’s eyes, setting up a Brogue Kick from
Angelina for the pin at 4:37.

Rating:
D+. Well that was….obvious.
Angelina has been feuding with Madison for weeks now so the match at
the PPV is the logical progression of the story. It wasn’t anything
to see but Brittany got to show off a little bit. I’m still not wild
on the Beautiful People reunion as we’ve covered just about
everything they can do.

Dixie
comes in to see MVP and mocks some of the stuff he’s done lately.
Apparently MVP stands for Massive Violation of Power. She says all
of this is because of one disgruntled wrestler and she’ll take care
of him tonight. Dixie wants him in the front row for her moment
tonight.

Robbie E.’s flight is
canceled but MVP thinks Jesse and Zema should defend the titles
against the Wolves tonight unless Robbie can make it here by bell
time.

We recap Eric getting a
title shot tonight.

Magnus thinks Eric is
making a huge mistake.

Here’s Dixie for her
big moment. She immediately calls out Bully, drawing a WE DON’T LIKE
YOU chant. Ray comes out and the fans want him to put Dixie through
a table. He thanks her for being around this week but Dixie talks
about Roode suckering him into an attack a few weeks ago. Dixie rubs
it in that Roode put Ray through three tables last week before
ranting about him costing her the company.

Ray says this is the
fans’ company and the wrestlers’ company but never Dixie’s company.
They talk over each other a lot until Dixie says she wants her money
back for Ray not doing his job. Ray says he’s spent it on a new car
and at Rick’s Cabaret in New York. “You’d like it. They’ve got a
lot of wine, women and song. A lot of women actually.”

Ray loads up his
catchphrase but Dixie slaps the mic out of his hand. She’s from
DALLAS, TEXAS and is responsible for every check that comes out of
the company. Dixie slaps him in the face but Roode jumps Ray from
behind. They load up a table but Ray fights back, only to have Roode
bail from a powerbomb. Ray stares Dixie down and we take a break.

Post break Magnus wants
to know what Dixie is doing. She says she’s going to her hotel,
having a glass of wine and going to bed. Magnus calls her a typical
woman and Dixie yells about him having an insurance policy before
leaving.

Tag
Team Titles: Wolves vs. Zema Ion/Jesse Godderz

The Wolves are
challenging. Eddie chops Jesse to start but Davey (now with a blond
mohawk on top of his regular hair) makes a blind tag and double teams
Jesse down. Zema snaps Davey’s throat across the top rope to give
the champions control. The Wolves send the champions outside and hit
stereo suicide dives to take them down again.

Back inside and Jesse
slips in a knee from the apron to stagger Eddie, only to have him
catch both of them in a hurricanrana at the same time. Hot tag
brings in Davey to clean house with kicks and suplexes. A missile
dropkick gets two on Godderz and the toss into the kick looks to get
the pin, but Robbie E. runs in for the DQ at 3:43.

Rating:
C-. Not bad here but this time
the ending was somewhat in doubt. I actually thought they might
change the titles here, which would have been a
bit too early with the PPV coming up in a few weeks. The Wolves are
the best team in the company and having them chase the titles for a
few months is a good idea.

Christy
is going to shock us with something about Samuel Shaw tonight. She
wants to talk to him in the ring about commitment.

Here’s
Christy to the ring to invite Samuel for a chat. She
insists that he’s not creepy and says this whole thing is
complicated. Shaw says he’s the love of her life and she agrees.
Christy asks if he trusts her and she rubs her hands over his face.
She wants to know if Shaw would go anywhere she asks him to go but he
just slowly rips off his glove. Christy makes some rather suggestive
noises and tells him to close his eyes.

A
van with the words Psychiatric Services shows up on screen and of
course Anderson pops out. He comes into the arena and rubs his hands
behind Shaw’s back before laying him out with a Mic Check. The fans
chant funny farm and Anderson chucks him over the top. He crawls
towards Christy but Anderson chucks him into the van in the back.
Shaw pops out and runs away though, making this whole segment pretty
worthless.

Willow
blames Carter and Spud for costing him the gauntlet match and wants a
handicap match next week.

Impact
is coming to New York City in June.

TNA
World Title: Eric Young vs. Magnus

Eh
why not. It worked at Wrestlemania XXX. Young scores with a quick
dropkick and flips over the corner before strutting down the apron.
Apparently Young has a bad arm coming into this to really hammer in
the similarities. Magnus avoids a charge into the corner and sends
Eric out to the floor with a big running knee. Back in and Eric
sends Magnus to the floor, only to get nailed as he tries a suicide
dive.

Magnus
sends him into the steps and we take a break. Back with the champion
getting two off a gutwrench suplex and we hit a sleeper on Young.
Eric is quickly out of the
hold but gets caught in a camel clutch to work on the back as well as
the bad arm. Young powers
up into an electric chair and both guys are down. Back up and some
forearms and a clothesline drop Magnus. The arm seems fine at the
moment. Eric tries a wheelbarrow slam into a neckbreaker but mostly
drops Magnus on the way down.

The
top rope elbow gets two and Magnus nails the Michinoku Driver for the
same. He brings the belt into the ring but the referee takes it
away. Young loads up a Death Valley Driver but gets hit low for two.
Magnus is livid and gets caught in a crucifix for two. Eric comes
back with a piledriver for the pin and the title at 13:05.

Rating:
C. Eric Young is the TNA World
Champion. Yes it’s a blatant ripoff of Daniel Bryan on Sunday, but
Eric Young hasn’t earned the spot like Bryan has. He’s a comedy guy
that has kept a job for a long time. That doesn’t mean he should be
the World Champion. I’m assuming this doesn’t make it past
Sacrifice, but I’ve only been able to tolerate Young for this many
years. Having him as World Champion is too far for me.

Overall
Rating: C. The ending just
doesn’t do it for me as I’ve already explained. The rest of the show
wasn’t bad, but this is the kind of show you need to build up to. I
get that they needed to do everything in one night, but let us know
in advance that this is coming. The Dixie stuff didn’t do anything
for me but it’s probably continuing over the next few weeks. The
wrestling was ok tonight but this is a very questionable way to use a
story like this.

Results

Eric Young won a
gauntlet match last eliminating Abyss

Angelina Love b.
Brittany, ODB and Gail Kim – Bicycle kick to Kim

Wolves b. Zema
Ion/Jesse Godderz via DQ when Robbie E. interfered

Eric Young b. Magnus –
Piledriver

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Rants

Rants

Impact Wrestling – April 3, 2014

By Scott Keith on 3rd April 2014

Impact
Wrestling

Date: April 3, 2014

Location: Impact Zone,
Orlando, Florida

Commentators: Mike
Tenay, Tazz

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

It’s a big show this
week with a fourway for the World Title as Magnus defends against
Eric Young, Samoa Joe and his own employee Abyss. Other than that we
also have a tag team tables match between Bully Ray/Willow vs. Ethan
Carter III/Bobby Roode as two feuds are combined. Hardy certainly is
quick to forgive Ray for that hammer to the head at last year’s
Lockdown. Let’s get to it.

The opening video is
your standard recap of the four way for the title.

Bully Ray/Willow vs.
Ethan Carter III/Bobby Roode

Tables match. It’s a
brawl to start with the feuding parties teaming off and the good guys
taking an early advantage. Poetry in Motion crushes Roode in the
corner and there’s a What’s Up for Ethan. Ray wants the tables and
the fans chant for them as well. Ray throws one in but Roode takes
him down with a clothesline while Ethan nails Willow with a dropkick.
A double backdrop through the table doesn’t quite work as Ray makes
the save, only to get forearmed down by Carter.

Hardy makes the same
save from a double suplex but takes a Carter clothesline. Carter
tries to ram Willow face first into the mat but gets screamed at for
his efforts. A cartwheel into a splash sets up the slingshot
dropkick and Willow dances a bit. The Twisting Stunner sets up a
Twist of Fate but here’s Spud in a wheelchair to distract the
Swanton.

Ethan is still on the
table though so Ray goes up, only to have Roode shove him over the
table instead. Roode goes up but Bully grabs a crotch claw of all
things before throwing him into Ethan. A big double clothesline
drops the heels and there’s the Flip Flop and Fly to Bobby. Roode is
able to save Ethan from a powerbomb through the table though and
catches Ray in a spinebuster through the table for the win at 6:14.

Rating: C.
It was energetic but there wasn’t much to see here. Willow was
nowhere to be seen for the last few minutes but at least we still
have the two singles matches to look forward to. Unfortunately, the
Russo booking theory strikes again: a regular match between Roode and
Ray is going to see lame now after all these table spots over the
last few weeks.

Bobby
hits the Roode Bomb to send Ray through another table but he’s still
not done. A top rope splash puts Ray through another table. Did
Willow get shot or something?

Kenny
King shows up on a golf cart but is told he doesn’t have a match. He
tips the production guy anyway.

Magnus says don’t worry
about Abyss tonight.

MVP is thrilled for the
viewers tonight because the card is so awesome. Kenny King comes in
and asks why he doesn’t have a match but is told to come back later.

Mr. Anderson vs.
Samuel Shaw

This is a straitjacket
match which is like a casket match but you know, with a straitjacket
instead of a casket. You have to put the other guy in it to win.
Before the match Shaw insists that he isn’t creepy and talks about
his hands making art. The worst crime in society is to be ordinary
but Anderson jump Shaw to start on the fight on the floor. Shaw is
sent into the steps and Anderson walks around a lot as we go to a
break.

Back with Shaw hitting
Anderson with the straitjacket and nailing some right hands.
Anderson’s arms go into the jacket but he fights back with shots to
the face and his usual stuff, despite barely being able to use his
arms. The rolling fireman’s carry puts Shaw down but he low blows
his way to freedom. Anderson is taken down by the choke but fights
out of another attempt at being put in the jacket. The problem with
this match is quickly made obvious: it takes a LONG time to put
someone in the jacket so it takes a long time for Shaw to get it on
for the win at 9:16.

Rating: D.
Thirty three minutes in and two gimmick matches down. This was just
stupid all around with a gimmick that didn’t work at all and took
forever to get anywhere. The feud has just kept going with no real
advancement in weeks. Shaw is creepy and wants Christy, who you can
almost bet will be sleeping with him soon.

The
Beautiful People say they made Madison and they’ll break her tonight,
no matter who her mystery
partner is.

Eric
Young says he made the monster and is scared of what he’s become.

We’re supposed to start
the first match a best of three series for Sanada’s X-Division Title
but we have an interruption. Before the match Kenny King comes out
and says he means no disrespect to his international friends but this
should be about him. He’s the Pretty Boy Pitbull and he is the
X-Division. He was doing stuff that Mil Mascaras was only dreaming of
when he was a toddler but MVP breaks things up after that great line.
He says King can’t mess with his show, which sends King into a rant
about how this isn’t MVP’s show.

King
wants to be in the ring but MVP says the card is booked for tonight.
He offers King a spot next week but Kenny has another idea: an
exhibition match with MVP tonight. MVP says no again but King slaps
him in the face. The challenge goes out again and MVP says it’s on
for tonight.

Sanada
vs. Tigre Uno

The
match starts after a break with some very fast paced kicks and
counters to kicks, including a kick sending Sanada out to the floor.
Back in and Tigre cranks on both of the champion’s arms until Sanada
gets to the corner and takes Uno down, only to miss a standing
moonsault. Uno misses a splash in the corner and gets rolled up for a
close two count. After a quick run to the floor, Tigre comes back in
with a spinwheel kick, only to springboard into a dropkick. Sanada
gets crotched on the top rope but gets his knees up to block a split
legged moonsault. A tiger suplex is enough to pin Tigre at 3:40.

Rating: C.
Standard cruiserweight style match here with both guys flying all
over the place for a few minutes. They better have Tigre at least
win one match though or he looks like a loser who got beat two
straight falls, albeit against a very talented guy in Sanada. It
didn’t have time to go anywhere but it was still good enough while it
lasted.

Magnus
says he’ll tell us where Abyss has been.

The new Knockout
Brittany offers to be Madison’s partner tonight in acting reminiscent
of a bad Divas segment. Madison turns her down because it’s a never
ending cycle with the Beautiful People. Brittany won’t take no for
an answer and Madison eventually gives in.

Magnus calls Abyss to
the ring and here’s the monster in a suit. The champ says Abyss
looks like a winner because of who he’s associated with. They need
to discuss strategy for the match tonight, which really is a handicap
match instead of a four corners match. Magnus says everyone knows
what is going to happen tonight because they’re a team. He brings up
James Mitchell and Eric Young to scare Abyss before giving him a big
hug. They go to leave but Eric Young jumps them in the aisle. This
goes about as well as you would expect until Joe makes the save.
Eric isn’t pleased for some reason.

Robbie E comes in to
see MVP and says Jesse is injured so the Bro Mans can’t defend
against the Wolves tonight. Lawsuits are threatened and the title
match is off.

We get more of Knux
going back to see his dad about shutting down the family carnival.
The dad invites him in and says Knux was supposed to take all this
stuff over. Knux says his dad always told him to do what he dreamed
of but now dad wants him to come back here and keep things going to
help a lot of people. Knux agrees to stay for a few days.

Beautiful People vs.
Brittany/Madison Rayne

Brittany starts with
Love and scores with some early armdrags and a bad looking slam. Off
to Velvet who charges into an elbow but trips Brittany to the mat. A
double Beautiful Elbow gets two for Angelina as Tenay plugs the
Bellator show. The Beautiful People double team Brittany for a bit
until she takes Love down and makes the hot tag to Rayne. Brittany
tags herself back in for no apparent reason as everything breaks
down. A quick double kick from the Beautiful People (called the
Makeover) is enough to pin Brittany at 4:03.

Rating: D+.
I’m not liking this Beautiful People reunion so far as it’s basically
the same story we saw from them a few years back and now we’re just
watching it again. What exactly can they accomplish in the division
again? Getting the title back? It’s not like they haven’t been able
to do that already, so why are we rehashing the same idea?

Kenny
King vs. MVP

This
is an exhibition match, which will be explained later I assume. They
shake hands to start and MVP puts on a wristlock. King escapes and
stands on the buckle for a bit as this is slow paced to start. They
trade wristlocks and hammerlocks until King grabs a headlock. MVP
trips King down and puts on an STF but lets it go for no apparent
reason.

Kenny
takes him down again before flipping up to his feet for some posing.
We get some chain wrestling on the mat into a front facelock from MVP
as the fans chant YOU STILL GOT IT. They finally start throwing
punches and it turns into a scrap on the mat until the bell rings for
no apparent reason at 5:22.

Rating: D+.
So King is going to prove how entertaining he is by having a boring
match? This didn’t work for me either as MVP is getting less and
less interesting every week. He’s just another authority figure who
is in over his head and it’s not going anywhere. Nothing match for
the most part here but it looked to be setting something up for the
future.

Magnus
asks if Ethan has his back tonight. Carter thinks Magnus is scared
of Abyss and doesn’t answer.

MVP
jumps King in the back.

TNA
World Title: Samoa Joe vs. Eric Young vs. Magnus vs. Abyss

This
is one fall to a finish and Magnus is defending. Abyss goes after
Eric as the champion fires off forearms to Joe against the ropes.
Joe comes back with the running backsplash before they head outside.
Young slides through Abyss’ legs and dropkicks him to the floor
before hitting a suicide dive to take out all three guys. Back in
and Eric gets two on Magnus via a high cross body. Abyss splashes
his boss by mistake, leaving us with Eric vs. Joe. Magnus and Abyss
get back into things as we take a break.

Back
with Magnus and Abyss in control as the champion directs the monster
on who to attack. Abyss
rips at Joe’s face as Magnus drops Eric with an elbow to the face.
The slow heel dominance
continues as Brian Hebner runs away from Abyss. Eric is sat on the
top rope but Magnus wants to do this one himself. Young fights out
of a superplex attempt and knocks Abyss back, setting up a double
missile dropkick.

Magnus
stops the momentum by throwing Eric out to the floor though, only to
have Joe come back and take over. A powerslam gets two on Magnus but
Eric makes the save. The same move gets the same result on Young
with Abyss making the save. There’s a powerslam to Abyss but Joe
can’t follow up. Instead he grabs the choke on Magnus but the
champion grabs the referee and kicks the Samoan low.

The
Black Hole Slam puts Joe down and Magnus whips him knees first into
the steps. Young bites his way out of a chokeslam but walks into a
Black Hole Slam of his own. Abyss doesn’t cover though as Magnus
tells him no. Magnus slowly explains things to Abyss and drops the
elbow on Young to retain the title at 14:13.

Rating: C+.
It’s not a bad match but the angle was more important than the
wrestling. I have a feeling this gives us Joe vs. Magnus again
because we still haven’t had a clean fall between them. The problem
is that’s not a very interesting story and it’s really starting to
bring things down. Eric taking the fall makes by far the most sense
though.

Next
week: The Wrath of Dixie. Oh joy.

Overall Rating: C-.
This Russo booking is already getting old again. The stories aren’t
interesting and it’s gimmick overload everywhere else. Why we can’t
just have some simple stories and good matches is beyond me, but the
fact that it’s worked best for TNA over the years has no bearing on
the current product whatsoever. The show wasn’t bad but there’s
nothing I want to see going forward, and that’s not good.

Results

Bobby Roode/Ethan
Carter III b. Willow/Jeff Hardy – Spinebuster to Ray through a
table

Samuel Shaw b. Mr.
Anderson – Shaw put Anderson in the straitjacket

Sanada b. Tigre Uno –
Tiger suplex

Beautiful People b.
Brittany/Madison Rayne – Makeover to Brittany

MVP vs. Kenny King went
to a no contest

Magnus b. Abyss, Eric
Young and Samoa Joe – Top rope elbow to Young

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Rants

Rants

Impact Wrestling – March 27, 2014

By Scott Keith on 27th March 2014

Impact
Wrestling

Date: March 27, 2014

Location: Impact Zone,
Orlando, Florida

Commentators: Mike
Tenay, Tazz

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

We’re less than a month
into the MVP Regime and things are already looking down on the new
boss. The big story coming out of last week is Magnus retaining the
World Title with the help of Abyss, much like he did at Lockdown.
Other than that we have Roode vs. Ray coming up and Angelina Love
attacking Madison Rayne last week when Madison turned down her offer
to reform the Beautiful People. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of
Storm attacking Gunner’s father last week.

Here’s MVP to get
things going. He wants Abyss out here right now because Magnus is
champion because of his associates, not his own talent. The cream
should always rise to the top but here are Abyss and Magnus to
interrupt. Magnus insists that Abyss has a personal services
contract with Magnus, meaning Abyss doesn’t answer to MVP at all.
The only time MVP has control over Abyss is when he’s in the ring
with Magnus, which gives MVP an idea.

MVP thinks Abyss should
be more than the world’s ugliest valet, so how about a shot at the
World Title? We’ll do that next week, but Samoa Joe is thrown into
the mix because he still hasn’t gotten a fair shake. This brings out
Joe who says he doesn’t want to be in a handicap match and doesn’t
like the idea of MVP controlling him. MVP says that’s not what’s
going on but the brawl is quickly on with all four guys. Eric Young
runs out to join in and we go to a break.

Back with Joe, MVP and
Eric still in the ring and the latter holding a mic. He says he
brought the monster out of Abyss so he has to be the one to stop him.
Eric wants to be in a match with Abyss next week while Joe gets to
take on Magnus one on one. Young uses the MVP Principle of motivate,
validate and participate by talking about how he’s been around here
forever.

He lists off a bunch of
his gimmicks and titles before saying he’s participated in everything
TNA has thrown at him. Joe says not yet because he hasn’t gotten his
one on one title shot. MVP says not so fast and makes it a fourway
with Eric added to the title match. That’s not cool with Joe and the
brawl is on again. The Samoan gets the better of it until referees
break it up. Joe wants Eric tonight and MVP grants his wish.

Bully Ray has his
Twitter Machine again tonight and says Roode is getting the tables
tonight.

The Wolves
ask MVP to give them Magnus/Abyss tonight.  The boss reluctantly
agrees.

Ethan Carter and Spud
(covered in grass for a disguise) are in the woods searching for
Willow. Back from a break and the search continues. Ethan lists off
the people he’s defeated and says it’s eye for an eye. They’ve found
a house and are sure that Willow is inside. More later.

Magnus/Abyss vs.
Wolves

Davey starts with the
World Champion but neither guy is able to get an advantage. Richards
backflips out of a suplex attempt and brings in Eddie for some double
teaming. A legdrop gets two on Magnus before it’s quickly back to
Richards. Magnus makes a blind tag though and Abyss takes them both
down with a double clothesline to the back of the head as we take a
break.

Back with Magnus
running over Eddie for two and putting on a chinlock. Magnus takes
him into the corner but charges into a boot, allowing Eddie to take
him down with a middle rope hurricanrana. Off to Richards as Abyss
comes in to try and save is boss. Instead he splashes him in the
corner and the Wolves take over.

An enziguri from
Richards into a German by Edwards gets two on Magnus. Abyss gets
double chopped but the Wolves have to backflip out of a double
chokeslam. The Monster is sent outside where Richards hits a suicide
dive before Edwards locks on a half crab. Magnus taps out
immediately to avoid injury at 8:36.

Rating: C.
So the way to make the champion look smart is to have him submit all
the time? I get the idea but it’s really not the way I’d go about
doing things. Have him get counted out disqualified or something but
come up with something better than constantly having him lose.
That’s one of the big things I’d like to change about modern
wrestling: make champions losing feel like BIG deals. This doesn’t
do anything for the Wolves and it makes Magnus look weak as well.

Here’s Angelina to
complain about Velvet not answering her calls. Sky comes to the ring
and says she has a big problem with Madison. Attacking old friends
isn’t what Sky signed up for. Angelina wants to know what Sky signed
up for, because without her, Velvet is nothing. Sky doesn’t say
anything and Love says it’s because Velvet knows she’s right. Love
says Velvet has changed because she’s lacking her swagger now.
Angelina faces Madison tonight and Velvet has to pick a side by the
time the match ends.

We recap Storm and
Gunner as tag team partners.

The hunt for Willow
continues. Back from a break and Carter goes into the house. He
screams loudly but is just faking to mess with Spud. Willow sneaks
up on Spud and kidnaps him, freaking Carter out. Willow’s laugh
makes it even worse.

We look at the Feast or
Fired briefcase coming between Gunner and Storm.

Here’s Bully Ray to a
BIG face reaction. He has a bunch of fans bring down tables until
there are about seven of them in and around the ring. Ray talks
about making sure Dixie Carter was gone and then he put Roode through
a table. He asks the fans if they want to see Roode go through a lot
of tables but here’s Bobby to interrupt.

Roode lists off a bunch
of accomplishments before saying he got Ray to come to Nashville last
week before laying him out. He’s the guy that calls the shots around
here and will pick when, where and how this happens. Ray says let
the people decide but Roode walks away. Bully goes after him in the
aisle and the fight is on. Roode is in trouble but he avoids going
through a table.

Ray hurts his own hand
on a table and Roode takes over but has to avoid a Cutter on the
floor. They fight on the apron before heading inside. Roode misses
a Blockbuster but avoids a big boot through the table. Ray is banged
up but still escapes a Roode Bomb through the table. Bobby gets pot
of a powerbomb through the table and sidesteps a charging Bully to
send him through a table in the corner.

Abyss comes into
Magnus’ locker room and wants to know what he was doing out there.
Magnus told Abyss he would do that to save himself for title matches.
That’s not cool with Abyss because he doesn’t like to lose, but
Magnus says get used to it, because Abyss is losing last week.

Knux and his lady
friend are at their shut down arcade. The girl yells at him for
abandoning them and says they need to go talk to his dad.

Madison Rayne vs.
Angelina Love

Non-title. Madison
attacks Love at the bell and here’s Velvet. Love knocks the champ to
the floor but Velvet doesn’t do anything. They head back inside with
Madison in control until Angelina kicks her in the ribs to take over.
Madison is sent to the floor again and Angelina yells at Velvet for
not attacking her. Back in and Love yells a lot but gets her face
slammed into the mat. Angelina glares at Velvet again but Madison
shoves her to the floor. Sky uses the distraction to DDT Madison on
the floor, giving Angelina the easy pin at 5:10.

Rating: D+.
This was all story instead of the wrestling and there’s nothing wrong
with that. I’m not a big fan of the Beautiful People reuniting but
it’s far better than doing the same stuff the division has been doing
over and over again for years. Having
some heels in the division is a good thing though and it’s about as
much as you can ask.

Kenny
King introduces himself to MVP and not much is said.

Samoa Joe vs. Eric
Young

Eric is aggressive to
start but takes a hard knee to the ribs to stop his momentum. A
running forearm drops Joe for two but he comes back with the heavy
shots to the head. The fans are behind Eric but Joe runs him over
with an elbow to the face. Joe nails the running enziguri in the
corner to take over and a big running knee drop gets two. Eric comes
back with a running clothesline and actually slams the Samoa down.

Young loads up the
elbow but Joe gets to his feet. Young charges into the Rock Bottom
out of the corner for two but drops Joe with an elbow. The Samoan
avoids a moonsault but can’t quite get the Clutch. Eric tries to
kick out of the corner but falls on his back, putting the choke on
full until Young passes out at 5:50.

Rating: C.
This was a better match than I was expecting, even though there
wasn’t much to it. Young was better than usual out there and is SO
much easier to sit through when he’s playing it serious than being
insane. It’s not a bad match and it made perfect sense for things to
go as they did.

Earl
Hebner comes out to tell his son Brian that Joe’s shoulders were down
while he had the choke on and it should have been a pin. Thankfully
nothing changes and Earl pats his son on the back.

Ethan Carter goes to a
cabin to rescue Spud.

We see a clip from
after last week’s show of Samuel Shaw going into the Knockouts locker
room and finding Christy all alone. She tells him to get out but he
gets right up in front of her and cuts off a piece of her hair.
That’s all he needs and he leaves. Shaw has been suspended for one
week, but he’ll be in a straitjacket match next week.

Also next week there’s
the fourway for the title plus Willow/Ray vs. Roode/Carter in a
tables match.

We recap the recent
history of Gunner vs. Storm.

Gunner vs. James
Storm

This is an Unlocked
match, which is another name for a street fight. The fight is on in
the aisle again and Gunner quickly sets up a table. Storm gets in a
right hand before the table is completely set so he finishes Gunner’s
job. Gunner is whipped knees first into the steps as Tenay tells us
we’ll see Ethan and Willow’s confrontation before the show ends. A
running knee to Gunner’s head knocks him from the apron to the floor.
They haven’t been in the ring yet.

Storm suplexes Gunner
onto the ramp but gets sent into the steps for his efforts. Gunner
nails him in the ribs with a chair and they finally get inside. The
Cowboy comes back with a middle rope DDT of all things for no cover
as we take a break. Back with Storm loading up a chair in the corner
but getting reversed by Gunner. They slug it out with trashcan lids
before Storm gets speared down for two.

Storm counters a sunset
flip into a catapult, sending Gunner face first into the chair. A
Backstabber sets up a VERY long top rope elbow to give Storm a near
fall. Storm pulls out a beer bottle but the distraction lets Gunner
spear him through the ropes and through the table on the floor ala
Edge and Mick Foley. That only gets two so Gunner sets up two chairs
(one of which is broken) in the middle of the ring.

A superplex through the
chairs (Storm barely hit them) is enough for two in a nice throwback
to the ending at Lockdown. Storm comes back with a Closing Time and
a pair of Last Calls for two. James gets the beer bottle but Gunner
finds his own to lay out Storm. An F5 is enough to pin the Cowboy at
15:03.

Rating: B+.
This was one heck of a fight with both guys beating the tar out of
each other. There’s something awesome about two men just hammering
each other until one of them can’t get up. I don’t like the story
here though as the match was tacked on to the feud after the previous
match should have ended things. Still though, awesome stuff.

Carter
finds Spud tied to a bed next to a skeleton. Willow screams a lot
and attacks Carter from behind with the umbrella. He leaves and
Carter says if Willow wants to play games, then game on.

Overall Rating: C+.
This show had its moments but it didn’t work all that well. That
being said, it did build up some stuff for next week that I kind of
want to see, so it’s not without merit. They’re thinking outside the
box a bit more and changing some things up since Lockdown and that’s
the best thing they can do. I still don’t need a boss character (MVP
has been ok) but he’s been used sparingly enough that it’s not
overkill…..yet.

Results

Wolves b. Magnus/Abyss
– Half crab to Magnus

Angelina Love b.
Madison Rayne – Pin after a DDT from Velvet Sky

Samoa Joe b. Eric Young
– Koquina Clutch

Gunner b. James Storm –
F5

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Rants

Rants

Impact Wrestling – March 6, 2014

By Scott Keith on 6th March 2014

Impact
Wrestling

Date: March 6, 2014

Location: Wembley
Arena, London, England

Commentators: Mike
Tenay, Tazz

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

We’re STILL in England
and it’s the go home show for Lockdown. The main story coming into
tonight is a six man elimination tag for the advantage in Lethal
Lockdown on Sunday. TNA has been doing better lately but they need a
really good showing on Sunday to take it to the next level. Given
their track record, I’m hoping for good things tonight. Let’s get to
it.

After the usual recap,
here are Roode and the Bro Mans with something to say. The Bro Mans
are champions again, having won the titles in Japan. Nice touch of
continuity there. Roode says he and his team are ready for Lockdown
and he wants MVP right now. Instead he gets Aries (wearing the X
Title to take away the nice bit of continuity) who says that 10% of
the pie isn’t much but it’s a piece and Aries wants half.

The Bro Mans say not so
fast because they want a piece too. Roode says no because he’s the
captain and he isn’t sharing. The top priority is winning the match
and Aries says that isn’t a problem. There isn’t a single person in
this company that can save MVP, so here are the Wolves and MVP to
disagree.

MVP says he made a
mistake when he trusted Aries, but he won’t be fooled twice in a row.
He had to do some hustling to come up with another partner and he
has made his decision. Before he can say anything, here’s Dixie
Carter to cut him off. She doesn’t care who MVP’s partner is because
she’s been in New York securing the victory for Team Roode. The
company means everything to her and she’ll do anything to keep it
under her control.

MVP understands but
asks if Dixie wants to know the mystery partner. It’s a former world
champion and that’s enough for Dixie to want to know. It’s Jeff
Hardy and Dixie FREAKS. Dixie says over her dead body and MVP offers
to send a wreath to her funeral. Roode jumps MVP and the six man
starts before a break.

MVP/Wolves
vs. Robbie E/Austin Aries/Bobby Roode

Elimination tag and the
winning team gets the advantage at Lockdown. We’re joined in
progress after a break with Robbie driving Edwards into the corner
before it’s off to Roode for some kicks to the ribs. The villains
take turns working over Eddie until he backflips out of a belly to
back suplex and makes the tag off to MVP. The title belts are laying
in the corner of the rung until Davey lays one of them on the floor.
MVP hits a quick Drive By for the pin on Robbie at 2:00.

The Wolves hit a double
kick on Roode for two but Aries comes in with a running dropkick in
the corner to Edwards, followed by the brainbuster for the pin at
3:45 total. Richards and Aries come in for a slugout with Richards
kicking Aries agianst the ropes but Austin coming back with a discus
forearm to put both guys down. A double tag brings in MVP and Roode
for a forearm and clothesline exchange that goes nowhere. Roode gets
knocked down but Aries makes the save, allowing Roode to hit a
clothesline to the back of MVP’s head for a pin (with Roode holding
the feet) at 5:10 total.

So it’s Richards 2-1
against Roode and Aries. Austin starts by working over Davey in the
corner and getting two off a bulldog. Davey is sent outside for a
top rope ax handle from Aries but comes back with a dropkick to take
out both heels. A running knee to Roode’s chest looks to set up the
top rope double stomp but Bobby rolls away. The Roode Bomb is
countered but Richards rolls into a half crab, only to have Aries
come in with a chair to the arm for a DQ at 7:55 total. Edwards
comes out to check on his partner and we take a break.

After a break there’s
no official winner, but Earl Hebner gives them one hour to get Davey
back in the ring for a match with Roode. The trainer doesn’t think
it’s going to happen.

We recap Samuel Shaw
and Mr. Anderson fighting because Shaw creeped Hemme out. Shaw says
last week was beautiful and he’ll do something else beautiful in the
ring tonight.

Samuel
Shaw vs. Eric Young

Shaw comes out with a
cup of tea. Christy isn’t in her usual ringside seat so Anderson
comes out to do the intros instead. Shaw yells at Anderson and
almost gets rolled up for the pin. Young hammers away in the corner
but Shaw just smiles at him. Samuel hammers away in the corner as
the fans call him creepy. Shaw yells at Anderson again and Eric
hammers away and is sent to the apron for some strutting. A forearm
to the head sets up a belly to belly for two. They head outside and
Shaw throws the tea into Young’s eyes for a DQ at 2:23.

Shaw throws Young into
Anderson and chokes Mr. out again. He says he’ll be going to claim
what is rightfully his. Christy wisely walks away in the back.

Richards says he needs
to go to the hospital but MVP has something to do. Davey looks
confused.

Richards says he needs
to go to the hospital but MVP has something to do. Davey looks
confused.

Back from a break and
MVP is looking for Aries. He goes into the locker room and yells at
Austin over attacking Davey. MVP knows how things are working now.

We recap the Ethan vs.
Angle showdown last week. Ethan comes in to see Dixie and she tells
him to just focus.

Shaw is looking for
Christy in the back. After a break he’s still looking and goes into
the locker room. Instead he finds Velvet getting dressed and asks
where Christy is. Velvet says the makeup room and runs off.

Here’s Ethan Carter III
to call out Kurt Angle. If there’s one thing he learned last week,
it’s never meet your heroes because they might sucker punch you in
the face. Carter rants about all of the parts of Angle’s leg that
he’ll injure and lists off all the people he’s beaten. Once he beats
Angle on Sunday, he’ll be the American Icon. Angle finally limps out
and says he’s ready to go now but Carter runs. Kurt goes to leave
but Ethan jumps him to go after the leg. He slaps on a leg lock
until referees make the save.

MVP talks to the Wolves
and Richards says he’ll be standing up tonight.

Video on Kenny King
being King of the Night. Nice idea at least.

Alpha
Female/Gail Kim/Lei’D Tapa vs. Velvet Sky/Madison Rayne/ODB

Madison jumps Gail to
start and scores with a quick northern lights suplex. Off to ODB for
a Bronco Buster but Tapa comes in and powerbombs her down for two.
Back up and they slug it out until it’s off to Velvet vs. Alpha
Female. Everything breaks down and Sabin goes after Velvet with a
chain and yells at her a lot. Chris charges at her but gets low
bridged to the floor. Alpha Female tries a full nelson but gets
kicked in the face. In Yo Face is enough to pin Female at 4:17.

Rating:
D+. This was a messy match and
it didn’t go much of anywhere. I’m not sure why you would have
Female lose this quickly unless she’s just there for the European
tour. Madison and Velvet only had a few seconds here but that’s
better than no build for their title match on Sunday. Yeah they have
a title match on Sunday.

Shaw is still looking
for the makeup room.

Willow is still creepy.

Shaw goes to find
Christy but finds Anderson in a red wig instead. They fight behind a
door and Anderson puts lipstick on Shaw’s head.

We recap Storm vs.
Gunner.

Here’s Gunner to talk
about the code he lives by. He takes every day at a time and he
remembers a lot of days since he won that briefcase. This Sunday at
Lockdown he’s inside a cage and that brings back a lot of memories
for him. This brings out Storm (minus the catchphrase to start his
music) who says it sounds like Gunner is just complaining about his
bad luck. Gunner needs to pack a lunch on Sunday because it’s going
to be an all day beating. Storm gets in the ring and promises to cut
Gunner down before kicking him low. The Last Call to a kneeling
Gunner knocks him cold. Apparently it’s a last man standing match.

Roode wants Richards in
the ring right now.

Bobby comes out and
wants the referee to count to ten so his team can win. Davey comes
out around six and it’s time for our match.

Davey
Richards vs. Bobby Roode

Bobby of course goes
right after the arm and wraps it around the post. Back in and Roode
drops a knee on the arm and stands around for a bit. Richards rolls
to the floor and manages to crotch Roode as Bobby goes after him.
Roode heads outside but gets taken down by a suicide dive, only to
injure the arm even worse. Back inside and a missile dropkick gets
two for Davey and he fires off some kicks to the chest. The Roode
Bomb is countered into a half crab but Bobby rolls over and kicks at
the bad arm. Richards goes shoulder first into the post and the
Roode Bomb sets up the Crossface for the tap at 5:31.

Rating:
C. Basic idea here but it did
its job well enough. This give MVP’s team a slight disadvantage
going into Sunday which is something they need to do given how one
sided the match is on paper. Richards sold the arm well and it’s a
decent enough story coming into the PPV.

MVP and Edwards make
the save.

Tigre Uno is still
coming.

Dixie tells Magnus to
stop worrying and just win on Sunday. She implies his match means
nothing to her.

Here are Magnus and Joe
for their showdown to end the show. Magnus says the two of them have
won titles and championships in Japan and here in TNA, including here
in this building. Joe has had far too many chances to win the title
but has blown it time after time due to his rage, and that’s exactly
what’s going to happen on Sunday.

Joe says that he does
have a rage problem because he wants to make people feel as much pain
as he can. That’s exactly what he can do on Sunday because it’s
Joe’s Rules, meaning he can beat on Magnus as long as he want and
take the title from him. Magnus gets in a cheap shot and gets choked
out to end the show.

Overall
Rating: C-. This was a good go
home show but it didn’t do much for me. The heels getting the
advantage in the cage isn’t a surprise at all and the matches were
just ok. Joe vs. Magnus was a good build but I can’t imagine Magnus
loses the title this early. It should be a good show on Sunday but
this was just ok.

Results

MVP/Wolves vs. Bobby
Roode/Austin Aries/Robbie E went to a no contest

Eric Young b. Samuel
Shaw via DQ when Shaw threw tea into Young’s eyes

Velvet Sky/Madison
Rayne/ODB b. Alpha Female/Gail Kim/Lei’D Tapa – In Yo Face to
Female

Bobby Roode b. Davey
Richards – Crossface

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

Rants

Impact Wrestling – February 27, 2014

By Scott Keith on 27th February 2014

Impact
Wrestling

Date:
February 27, 2014

Location:
Wembley Arena, London, England

Commentators:
Tazz, Mike Tenay

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

The
main story coming out of last week’s show are Storm turning on Gunner
to cost him the world title and the official announcement of Lethal
Lockdown for control of the company. Bobby Roode will be captaining
Dixie’s team but we’re not sure who will be joining him against Team
MVP. Other than that we’ll likely get more build towards Joe vs.
Magnus. Let’s get to it.

We
open with a recap of last week’s events.

Kurt
Angle is inducted into the Hall of Fame tonight. They couldn’t wait
for a PPV weekend in nine days for that?

Gunner
is looking for James Storm and promises him a beating.

Dixie
Carter isn’t here tonight so Roode and Spud have match making
authority. Nice to see that if one boss isn’t around, a bunch of
others can take her place.

Here’s
MVP to open things up with a long list of nicknames. First up, he
guarantees that Gunner will get his title shot once he wins full
control of TNA. However, that means that it’s Magnus vs. Joe at
Lockdown for the world title. MVP brings out Samoa Joe to a very
enthusiastic pop from the London crowd. Magnus comes out as well to
some solid heat from his home country crowd. We get a clip of his
title defense last week where Storm saves the title for the champ.

Magnus
rips on London for slipping from a great city into a town ridden with
crime, poverty and debauchery. As for MVP, Magnus is the only person
that handles his career, so MVP needs to get on with whatever he’s
saying. We’re here for a contract signing tonight and MVP tilts the
advantage even further to Joe by making it knockout or tap out only.

Joe
immediately signs but Magnus says he’s got a whole decks of cards
left to play. He calls Joe an unrefined animal and his fans use
horrible chants like Joe’s Gonna Kill You. Joe is a dangerous animal
and Magnus is the man that will put that animal down. Magnus signs
as well and tells Joe to do something about Magnus getting in his
face. Joe headbutts him into the corner and ERUPTS on the champion
with rights and lefts. He stomps Magnus down in the corner but
referees pull him off.

We
get a clip from a house show where the Wolves took the Tag Titles
from the Bro Mans.

The
Bro Mans and Zema are panicking over losing their titles and decide
the easiest way to get revenge is to get on Team Roode. They go to
see Bobby but he says Bad Influence wants in too. Tonight Roode is
making a triple threat tag tonight with Bad Influence, the Wolves and
the Bro Mans. If either the Bro Mans or Bad Influence win, they’re
on the team. If the Wolves win, the search continues.

Bad
Influence vs. Bro Mans vs. Wolves

Non-title
and no entrances for anyone. Daniels runs Davey over to start but
walks into some armdrags into an O’Connor Roll for two. Davey hooks
a modified surfboard as Eddie and Kaz come in for a regular version
of the same move to Kazarian. Things settle back down and it’s off
to Kaz who walks into an armdrag of his own. The Wolves start
speeding things up and working on the arm but Kaz is able to get
Davey into the corner for a double team as Bad Influence takes over.

Daniels
teases making a tag to a Bro Man but pulls Davey back in a smart
move. Richards is able to get a hot tag to Eddie who cleans house
and slams Kaz down for two. Robbie makes the save and Zema is
already blowing that stupid horn. Bad Influence hits a quick
powerbomb/neckbreaker combo for two on Edwards but Eddie comes back
with a running Stunner out of the corner to Kaz. Everything breaks
down and Davey hits the top rope double stomp to Kaz but Robbie comes
in to steal the pin at 5:30.

Rating:
C. So they’re putting a comedy
team in a match for the future of the company. It didn’t work at Old
School and it’s not likely to work here. Bad Influence are also a
comedy team but at least they’re capable of having some awesome
matches when they need to. The Wolves are growing on me and I don’t
have a problem with them winning the titles so soon.

Ethan
Carter III has selected a British wrestling legend as his opponent
tonight and he’ll become the new face of American wrestling.

Bobby Roode recruits Austin
Aries for his team.
Doug
Williams vs. Ethan Carter III

The
fans are entirely behind Williams and he jumps Ethan to start.
Williams pounds away for a few moments before Ethan hits a quick low
blow and the One Percenter for the pin at 1:20.

Carter
goes after Doug’s knee post match.

James
Storm arrives and comes to the ring after a break. He says he
doesn’t run and asks Gunner to come out here if he wants an
explanation for what happened last week. Gunner says this better be
good. Storm says he screwed Gunner out of his title shot and had it
planned out ever since Gunner stole the briefcase in Feast or Fired.
The nail in the coffin was Gunner handing him the Tag Title briefcase
like feeding scraps to a dog. Storm says Gunner should owe him a
thank you for picking his career up off the ground.

Gunner
says the sad thing is James Storm actually believes that. In the
Marine Corps, a thank you was standing next to your friend no matter
what. Gunner went over to war so that James Storm could sit here and
drink those cold beers. Storm says it doesn’t matter if Gunner had
lived or died but Gunner says the people would care. The fight is on
and Storm swings a chair at Gunner’s head, only to hit the post
instead. Storm runs off when Gunner gets the chair.

After
a break Gunner says Storm won’t be able to run forever and he’ll have
to go through Gunner.

Magnus
is in the ring and looking disheveled
after Joe’s attack earlier. He’s
found someone to take care of Joe but of course they’re not from
England. He went to Germany and found a natural born killer named
Bad Bones, who I believe won the international Gut Check competition.

Joe
vs. Bad Bones

Bones
is a bald guy with a lot of tattoos and some muscles. He jumps Joe
during the entrance but Joe pounds him into the corner and hits the
Facewash. The
MuscleBuster and Koquina Clutch get the submission from Bones at
1:16. So much for Bones.

MVP
asks Aries for his decision on Lethal Lockdown. Aries isn’t sure
because he doesn’t trust either guy because you can’t do that in this
business. He asks to referee their match tonight so he can make his
decision up close and personal. MVP agrees.

It’s
time for Angle’s Hall of Fame induction. JB gives him a very nice
induction and we get a video that I believe aired when he was
announced last year. Angle limps to the ring and is given a Rolex
watch. He’s touched by the fans’ reaction and says the Hall of Fame
is about the fans. TNA wouldn’t exist without them and he can’t
thank them enough. He was supposed to accept this honor back in
October but he wasn’t in a good place, either personally or
professionally.

Angle
says he’s in a better place now and thanks God for giving him the
abilities he has. He thanks his wife and kids for their support and
hopes he can make them proud. The talent in the back keeps him
motivated and help him every day. Angle thanks each and every one of
the fans and says it’s a great night to be Kurt Angle. That seems to
be it but here’s EC3 to interrupt.

Ethan
says he was touched by the ceremony and the video, but he has a
tribute video of his own. We see a video of him attacking Kurt’s
knee last week, complete with thought bubbles that aren’t
particularly funny (“I am the new face of American wrestling”,
because being the face of everything is a thing in wrestling now).

Ethan
says he has big news and Angle invites him into the ring to share it
with the world. He opens a piece of paper, with writing on the back
saying he beat Angle and Sting. Apparently Angle has a torn ACL and
MCL, meaning he requires surgery due to the attack at Ethan’s hands.
His career might be over, so Ethan thinks Angle should retire. Angle
gets in his face and asks why Ethan would do this when he knows Angle
will tear his throat out.

Ethan
says he knows Kurt is injured but Angle says you should go straight
to the source. Carter: “Why? The internet is always right. Well
at least 50% of the time.” Angle says the actual source is right
100% of the time. He has no torn ACL or MCL and knocks Ethan out of
the ring. Angle says cut the music because he has an announcement.
MVP has given him a match at Lockdown with any wrestler he wants, so
guess who he’s picked.

Lei’D
Tapa/Alpha Female vs. Madison Rayne/Velvet Sky

Alpha
Female really doesn’t work as a name. It’s a brawl to start as Tazz
talks about Alpha Female and Bad Bones, completely failing to be
funny as usual. Tapa throws Madison around but it’s quickly off to
Velvet vs. Female. Sabin tries to come in and go after Velvet but
Alpha Female quickly saves him. Tapa misses a middle rope splash but
Sabin offers a distraction, allowing Gail to cheap shot Madison.
Tapa hits her over the shoulder Stunner for the pin on Rayne at 2:31.

The
monsters beat down Madison and Velvet until ODB makes the save.

Tigre
Uno is coming at Lockdown. It’s Extreme Tiger from AAA.

Samuel
Shaw says people don’t understand. He was helping Christy Hemme last
week and the people don’t understand that. He’ll make them
understand right now.

Shaw
comes to the arena and quotes Ralph Waldo Emerson, saying that to be
great is to be misunderstood. Christy has misunderstood him so he
asks her to get in the ring. He says there are certain men that
aren’t respecting her and those men have been looking at her wrong.
Shaw is here to protect her and wants everything from her. This
brings out Anderson and Shaw says he’s one of those guys. Christy is
lucky Shaw was there last week but Anderson tells him to shut up.

Whatever
relationship Shaw thinks he has with Christy isn’t real but here’s
what is real. Anderson rolls up his sleeves but Shaw says he’s been
nothing but a gentleman. Even if he were to try something with her
though, she would be receptive because women like her are always
available. Christy slaps him in the face and Shaw hides behind her
as Anderson comes in. Shaw shoves Christy onto Anderson and slaps
the choke on Mr., pulling him down to the mat.

Willow
is still creepy and still coming.

Storm
and Gunner fight in the back until agents break it up. Gunner shouts
that this ends at Lockdown.

Eric
Young hopes Joseph Park comes back instead of Abyss.

Bobby
Roode vs. MVP

Austin
Aries is guest referee and wearing shorts ala Shawn Michaels on the
first weekly Smackdown. Feeling out process to start with MVP taking
it to the mat with a headlock. Roode fights up and they get in a
jawing session until MVP runs him over with a shoulder block. A
clothesline drops Roode again but it’s only good for a one count.
Roode blocks a tornado DDT attempt by slamming MVP down onto the mat.
A knee drop sets up a chinlock from Roode, followed by a hard
clothesline for two.

MVP
avoids a charge in the corner and hammers on Roode before taking him
down with a nice high collar suplex. The Ballin Elbow sets up a
fisherman’s suplex for two and we get a far too close shot of Aries.
The Playmaker is countered and Roode charges into a boot in the
corner. MVP charges into a spinebuster for two but fights out of the
Roode Bomb.

The
Playmaker connects for a VERY close two and MVP takes a second to
question Aries. Roode comes back to trade forearms but MVP gets the
better of it, only to get caught by an enziguri. MVP kicks out the
knee and loads up the Drive By but Aries lays him out with a discus
elbow, setting up the Roode Bomb for the pin at 9:40.

Rating:
C. Basic match here as we were
just waiting for the Aries decision to end the match. MVP is fine in
this roll and there’s nothing wrong with him wrestling a match here
and there. The match was nothing special and Aries being added to
the team helps, but the Bro Mans are going to sink any hope Team
Dixie has save for a screwjob.

Overall
Rating: C+. Perfectly fine show
here with a development to end the show and some decent matches in
between. They’re filling in the card for Lockdown, even though
there’s only ten days before the show. Either way, things are
picking up a bit and it’s amazing how much easier this show is to sit
through without Dixie hogging all the screen time.

Results

Bro
Mans b. Bad Influence and The Wolves – Robbie pinned Kazarian after
a double stomp from Richards

Ethan
Carter III b. Doug Williams – One Percenter

Samoa
Joe b. Bad Bones – Koquina Clutch

Lei’D
Tapa/Alpha Female b. Velvet Sky/Madison Rayne – Over the shoulder
Stunner to Rayne

Bobby
Roode b. MVP – Roode Bomb

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Rants

Rants

Impact Wrestling – February 20, 2014

By Scott Keith on 20th February 2014

Impact
Wrestling

Date:
February 20, 2014

Location:
Manchester Arena, Manchester, England

Commentators:
Mike Tenay, Tazz

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

We’re
still in Manchester and the big story is the announcement of Lethal
Lockdown between Team MVP and Team Dixie for control of the company
in two and a half weeks. Last week’s show saw a huge emphasis on the
MVP vs. Dixie story with very little else getting extended TV time so
hopefully things are given more room to breathe tonight. The main
event is Gunner cashing in his Feast or Fired case on Magnus for a
World Title shot. Let’s get to it.

We
open with an In Memory graphic for Nelson Frazier Jr.

The
opening recap shows us Gunner’s road to the world title shot tonight
which has been his dream since he was a kid. All he’s wanted to be
is a champion and tonight is his chance.

Dixie
ensures Magnus that something is a done deal and tells him to go to
the ring and break some bad news. Magnus says if Dixie goes down,
he’s not going down with her. The champ also tells Ethan that they
need to get along, personal feelings aside. Ethan shakes the champ’s
hand and they all head to the ring.

Magnus
calls MVP out to the ring to make an announcement, as long as the
fans sit down and be quiet while he does it. The champ says he isn’t
impressed by people who glorify criminal conduct or people like MVP
who have spent nine years in jail. Magnus warns MVP to never think
about getting in the ring with him, because nine years in jail will
be nothing like nine minutes in the ring with the world champ. MVP
goes on a rant about how Magnus is always calling himself the
champion and a real champion shouldn’t have to do that.

Enough
of that though as MVP cuts to the chase: is the Lethal Lockdown match
on or not? Magnus accepts on Dixie’s behalf but he won’t be in the
match at team captain. He has bigger fish to fry than dealing with
some 50 Cena wannabe. If MVP tries to mess with Magnus, he’ll make
MVP his…..MVP: “Don’t say it.” Magnus says it anyway and the
fight is on. Cue Ethan for the double team and we see Spud telling
security to hold the Wolves back. Gunner finally comes out for the
save and the heels run, only to have the Wolves show up behind them.
Magnus shoves Ethan to them and a kick to the ribs drops Carter.

We
recap Bobby Roode helping Magnus over and over again for a promised
title shot, only to have Dixie back out of the deal. Roode had to
beat Joe last week to get the shot but lost, sending him over the
edge. Bobby responds tonight.

Back
from a break and Ethan shouts at Magnus that he literally just threw
him to the Wolves. Magnus says that it was in the best interest of
the Carters and Ethan is ticked.

Samoa
Joe is in the ring and says he gets the winner of tonight’s title
match at Lockdown. That leaves him without a match tonight and
that’s not cool. He’s here in Manchester to get into a fight so any
member of Dixieland that wants a fight, come get it. This brings out
Zema and the BroMans who surround the ring. Joe asks which it’ll be
before saying he’ll fight all three.

BroMans/Zema
Ion vs. Samoa Joe

Joe
cleans house to start and sidesteps Zema’s middle rope cross body.
The tag champions break up the MuscleBuster and Jesse hits a nice
dropkick. Robbie drops a middle rope elbow and Zema gets two off a
middle rope moonsault. All three of them hit charges in the corner
but Joe pulls the BroMans into the way of a Zema missile dropkick. A
DDT/Russian legsweep combo takes the champions down to the floor and
there’s the suicide elbow. Back inside and Zema charges into the
corner Rock Bottom, setting up the MuscleBuster and Koquina Clutch
for the win at 3:38.

Rating:
C+. This
was the right way to use a comedy tag team and their goofy manager.
Thankfully the Bro Mans didn’t lose the fall here, even though they
got beaten up pretty badly. It’s a good way to make Joe look strong
heading into Lockdown and that’s the right idea given the odds he’s
up against.

Christy
Hemme gets a new battery pack from a production hand.  After she
leaves, Samuel Shaw comes up and destroys the guy before taking
Christy’s old pack.

Bobby
Roode goes in to see James Storm and says James is one of the guys
that he’s been able to trust in wrestling. Roode apologizes for
everything he’s done to Storm over the years and calls the Beer Money
times special. Storm isn’t sure what to think and asks if Roode has
been in his beer. He thinks Roode is retiring and tries to talk him
out of it, saying Roode needs to slap the business back in the face
and move on to the next day. They hug and seem to be on good terms.

Austin
Aries comes in to see MVP and is offered a spot on the team at
Lockdown. MVP calls it the anchor spot but Aries says he puts things
over the top instead of dragging them down. Aries asks what’s in it
for him and MVP makes some vague promises. Austin says he’s heard
that before and MVP just says things will be positive. That’s not
enough for Aries but he says he’ll think about it.

Video
on the Maximum Impact tour.

Madison
Rayne and I believe Gail Kim get in a fight in the back. The camera
looked to be a regular handheld one instead of a professional one.

Gail
Kim vs. Madison Rayne

This
is a street fight and the title is not on the line. Madison comes
out first and jumps Gail with a cookie sheet. Gail comes back with
some choking with a kendo stick but misses a charge into the corner.
Madison kicks her to the floor but Tapa dares her to come outside.
The champ is happy to oblige and catches Tapa in a guillotine choke,
kicking Gail in the process.

Tapa
stays on her feet and drives Madison spine first into the apron.
Gail puts on the Figure Four around the post but can’t hold onto it
that long. Madison comes back with a shot to the face and a
clothesline to the ribs which is called a spear. Tapa comes in but
takes a cookie sheet to the ribs. The distraction lets Gail hit
Madison with the belt for the pin at 4:40.

Rating:
C. This was a nice fight but it
needed a bit more time. Tapa continues to be a waste of a spot as
there’s nothing to her other than she’s big and screams a lot. It
doesn’t help that Gail, while very talented, has done almost
everything she can do in TNA and there’s not much interesting she can
do.

Anderson
shows Christy pictures of his kids and Shaw isn’t cool with it.

Another
Gunner video on wanting to be a wrestler since he was a kid and
becoming a Marine. We hear from his family who are so proud of him.
Well done video.

Kurt
Angle will be inducted into the Hall of Fame next week.

Ethan
says he can’t take anything away from Angle’s career and he’ll let
Kurt announce his news next week. He won’t say what that news is but
retirement seemed to be implied.

James
Storm tells Gunner that this is his time. Gunner says he’s wanted
this his whole life and gives Storm the Tag Title Feast or Fired
case.

Here’s
an emotional looking Roode for his announcement. He says he’s been
proud to call Impact Wrestling his home for the last eleven years.
As kids, a lot of us have a dream we want to achieve and he’s gotten
to do that for seventeen years. Roode isn’t proud of a lot of the
things he’s done in the past but he can’t change those things. The
only thing he can change is the future and that’s why he’s here
tonight. Tonight is his
last night as a pro wrestler but the fans say NO.

For
the last several months he’s looked in the mirror and only seen hate.
He’s had to put up with Dixie’s nonsense for months now and he has
to walk away. He thanks the fans but here’s Dixie to stop him from
leaving. Roode doesn’t get to make that call because he still has a
TNA contract. Dixie brings up Jeff Hardy, AJ Styles and Sting as
people that just caused her problems.

She
needs him but Roode says he doesn’t want more lies. Dixie apologizes
but Bobby says it’s not his problem and he doesn’t want to be here
anymore. She offers him the captain’s spot on her team at Lockdown,
offering him 10% of TNA if he wins. He can even have his own lawyers
draw up the contract. Bobby reluctantly agrees but threatens Dixie’s
future if she screws him over.

A
German wrestler named Bad Bones won the international Gut Check
challenge. He says something in German but we see Shaw jumping
Anderson and taking Christy away.

After
a break Bad Influence offers their services for Lethal Lockdown but
Roode tells them to prove it tonight. Bad Influence isn’t pleased.

Wolves
vs. Bad Influence

Edwards
and Kaz get us going and they hit the match for a nice technical
sequence into a standoff. Daniels comes in with a cheap shot to
Eddie but Edwards brings in Richards for a double Japanese armdrag.
Kaz gets kicked in the head but Daniels sends Richards to the floor.
Kaz drives him back first into the apron and sends him back inside
for a two count off a clothesline.

A
spinwheel kick gets two more on Davey but he sends Bad Influence into
each other and makes the tag off to Edwards. An over the shoulder
Stunner gets two on Daniels before Eddie throws Daniels into the air
for a kick from Davey. A pair of top rope double stomps from the
Wolves is enough for the pin on Daniels at 6:10.

Rating:
C+. I like the Wolves far
better as a tag team instead of singles guys fighting over Dan
Severn. The match was good for the amount of time it had and I’d
like to see the long form version between these teams. Edwards still
comes off as the better of the two and I’d see him as having a better
future as a singles guy

Shaw
takes Christy to a room where she wakes up. He tells her everything
is ok and chases off a cameraman.

Willow
is coming.

Video
on Magnus wanting to be a wrestler.

Roode
vs. MVP next week.

TNA
World Title: Magnus vs. Gunner

This
is no countout and No DQ. After the Big Match Intros, Magnus bails
to the floor before any contact is made. Back in and Gunner works on
a wristlock but gets reversed into a headlock. The hold stays on for
about two and a half minutes before Gunner comes back with a back
elbow and a clothesline. Magnus comes right back with a knee to the
back to send Gunner outside. The champ calls for help from the back
but gets the Wolves and Storm instead as we take a break.

Back
with Magnus putting on a camel clutch as Tenay tells us this is No DQ
and No countout, which I don’t remember being announced at first.
Gunner fights up so Magnus changes to a sleeper, only to get caught
in a belly to back suplex. It’s Magnus up first and the top rope
elbow gets two. Magnus goes to the floor and gets the title belt but
Gunner lifts him into a fireman’s carry. The champ escapes and both
guys try cross bodies to give us another stalemate.

Ethan
and the Bro Mans come in but the Wolves and Storm immediately come in
to counter and they fight to the back. Gunner powerbombs Magnus down
and hits a top rope headbutt to the ribs. Spud runs out and puts
Magnus’ foot on the ropes and Gunner is TICKED. He goes after the
Rockstar but gets blasted in the head with the title for a close two.
Storm comes back out as Gunner starts Hulking Up. A Rock Bottom
lays out Magnus and Gunner goes up again, only to have Storm
superkick him out of the air, giving Magnus the pin at 16:38.

Rating:
C+. This was a good match but
the constant interference needs to calm down for a bit. I do like
Storm turning as it means we don’t have to deal with him being the
guy who used to be world champion a few years ago for two weeks. The
match was going for an epic showdown but that doesn’t really work
when we’ve been told about Gunner’s backstory over the span of two
hours instead of say two months. Still though, good stuff and an
actual match instead of the insanity with Sting and AJ’s shots at
Magnus.

Overall
Rating: B-. SO much better than
last week. First and foremost, they kept Dixie to just a few
segments tonight instead of about 87 last week. The Shaw vs.
Anderson stuff helped as well as it sets up stuff for the future and
gave us something intriguing tonight. They also started setting the
stage for Lockdown which is getting closer and closer. The show
wasn’t great but it was such a jump up over last week that it was far
easier to sit through.

Results

Samoa
Joe b. Bro Mans/Zema Ion – Koquina Clutch to Ion

Gail
Kim b. Madison Rayne – Kim hit Rayne with the title belt

Wolves
b. Bad Influence – Top rope double stomp to Daniels

Magnus
b. Gunner – Pin after a Last Call from James Storm

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

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Rants

Impact Wrestling – February 13, 2014

By Scott Keith on 13th February 2014

Impact
Wrestling

Date:
February 13, 2014

Location:
Manchester Arena, Manchester, England

Commentators:
Taz, Mike Tenay

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

The
UK tour continues as we head into England for the first time this
year. The main stories coming out of last week are Samoa Joe
officially being #1 contender over Bobby Roode and an MVP vs. Dixie
summit that went absolutely nowhere. Lockdown is less than a month
away so odds are we’ll be hearing about Lethal Lockdown and the rest
of the card soon enough. Let’s get to it.

We
open with a recap of MVP standing up to Dixie for all of her evil
deeds in the last few months and promising changes to end Dixie’s
party.

No
time is wasted on getting to Dixie this week as she and her cronies
are in the ring to start the show. Dixie says she clearly hasn’t
lost a wink of sleep over MVP’s threats and the odds of him taking
over the company are about as good as her having a bad hair day.
Dixie brags about Magnus but Ethan takes the mic and says he’s the
one that ended the career of Kurt Angle.

Magnus
takes the mic as well but has to wait for a YOU SOLD OUT chant. It’s
nice to be back in Manchester because it means another year before he
has to be back here again. People like Manchester make him feel
ashamed to be British because he’s not from the north, nor is he a
paper champion. He’s a man who recognizes opportunity and there is
no opportunity in Manchester, other than a chance to be smacked in
the face by the world champion.

The
fans aren’t impressed so Magnus shifts his focus to MVP. He doesn’t
care what jail cell MVP came from but we need to get the pecking
order established. It’s Magnus on top, Dixie second, everybody else,
and then MVP. Magnus isn’t for sale but here are MVP and Joe with
something of their own to say. MVP sucks up to the crowd and says
that Joe will be challenging Magnus at Lockdown, which seems to take
the champion by surprise.

This
brings out Gunner with the Feast or Fired case, which will be cashed
in next week on Impact. Dixie says not so fast, because Gunner has
to face Ethan Carter for the briefcase tonight. MVP one ups her by
putting EC3’s Tag Team Title briefcase on the line as well, but makes
it a ladder match with both briefcases on the line. MVP tells
“C-3PO” that if anyone tries to cheat in this match, he’ll be out
here to level the playing field.

Gunner
vs. Ethan Carter III

Dang
they’re not wasting time tonight. Carter heads straight to the floor
to start but Gunner is waiting for him and heads back inside for a
running knee and a fallaway slam. Gunner goes to get a ladder but
Carter dropkicks him off the apron and sets up the ladder himself,
only to have Gunner send him into the buckle.

The
ladder is sat in the corner and Carter is sent flying into the steel,
only to have Gunner get the same treatment. He’s still able to
powerbomb Carter down for the save but Magnus comes in and shoves the
ladder over, only to draw in James Storm for the save. This brings
out MVP who makes it a winner take all tag team ladder match at about
4:30.

Rating:
D. This is one of the things I
can’t stand about modern wrestling: wasted gimmick matches. Why in
the world did they need to have a ladder match, only to throw in
another one a few seconds later? On top of that, a gimmick match is
supposed to attract viewers, but that usually requires more than five
minutes’ warning. How good
of a ladder match can you have with about four minutes of action?

James
Storm/Gunner vs. Ethan Carter III/Magnus

Joined
in progress with Storm in trouble and Magnus driving the ladder into
Gunner’s back. Gunner is laid across the ladder and splashed across
the back before both heels drop him ribs first onto the ladder.
Magnus rams the ladder into Gunner’s face and loads up the ladder but
Ethan tries to climb. That’s not cool with the champ who wants to go
instead. They get in an argument, despite it not being clear who
gets the case if Magnus pulls it down.

The
fight lets Storm come back in and clean house and Ethan is double
hiptossed onto the ladder. Magnus saves his partner from the Gun
Rack but Storm hits a Cactus Clothesline to send himself and Magnus
to the outside. Gunner comes back in with a swan dive to Carter and
goes up to pull down both cases for the win at 5:00.

Rating:
C-. Better match here but man
alive enough with the five minute gimmick matches. We just saw two
ladder matches combine to last under ten minutes and it doesn’t
really solve anything. In short, there was no reason for these
matches to use ladders other than it sounds cool on paper. Pay no
attention to the fact that if you weren’t watching in the last twenty
minutes, you would have no idea they were taking place.

Anderson
says he’ll win tonight because he has family and we get to see a
picture of his twin daughters.

Spud
has divided the office in half and makes sure that Dixie has more
flowers on her side. The Bro Mans come in and want to know what
Dixie is going to do about Gunner and Storm having the briefcase.
Yelling ensues when MVP comes in and says Dixie’s promises mean less
and less every day. MVP says people don’t want to see lawyers and
want to see action in the ring. What would be fair is to strip the
champions of the titles but instead he’ll give them a six man tag
match against the Wolves and a mystery partner, right now.

Bro
Mans/Zema Ion vs. Wolves/???

The
mystery partner is Samoa Joe. Davey starts with a Tajiri handspring
into a kick to Godderz’ head before a few headbutts from his parters
are good for two. Off to Edwards vs. Robbie with Eddie snapping off
a standing hurricanrana and a few chops. A running knee to the face
gets two and it’s quickly back to Davey who gets two off a chop from
Edwards. Zema adds in a knee from the apron but Davey grabs him by
the head and knocks him to the apron.

The
distraction lets E get in a cheap shot and the heels take over for
the first time. Zema stomps away before it’s back to Robbie for an
elbow to the jaw. Heel miscommunication puts the Bro Mans down and
it’s hot tag to Joe who cleans house. Everything breaks down and the
Wolves hit stereo suicide dives to the floor as Joe makes Zema tap
with the Clutch at 5:37.

Rating:
C. This was fine though I’ve
never been big on the Wolves. I was hoping the Bro Mans would be
allowed to be a bit more serious, but at the end of the day they’re a
comedy team so this is what you had to expect. I’d be fine with the
Wolves becoming Tag Team Champions but it was nice to have a
non-champion take the fall here.

Velvet
Sky begs Dixie to avoid a match with Chris Sabin but gets turned
down. MVP isn’t cool with that but Dixie reminds him that he’s not a
wrestler. Spud laughs at him, but MVP says he’s got his gear and
faces Spud next.

We
recap Eric Young vs. Joseph Park/Abyss. This would be the first
non-Dixie related segment of the entire show and we’re halfway done.

Here’s
Abyss without the mask to call out Eric Young to see what he’s done.
Abyss is under a hood like Kane was after he lost his mask back in
2003. Eric stops at ringside but Abyss asks him to come closer
unless he’s afraid. Young gets in the ring and says last week he
proved all he needed to prove. Park asked him to find Abyss and
that’s what he did. Abyss holds up the mask and says it’s the
reality of what he did last week. The hood comes back and Park says
he is Abyss but Young cuts him off and says he showed Park who he is.

Park
shouts at Eric and asks who either of them are because Young doesn’t
know. Abyss has destroyed his body and the lives and careers of
others. The scars and blood tell his story but he can’t be that man
anymore. The violence and destruction have to stop but Young says he
can help him. Abyss screams that he doesn’t want Eric’s help and
that he needs to find someone who understands him. He drops the mask
and walks away.

Earlier
today Samuel Shaw tried to help Christy with her luggage but she’s
nervous. He agrees to keep it professional and takes off his glove
to shake her hand. Shaw looks at his hand and slowly gets on the
bus.

MVP
vs. Spud

That
was a nice fifteen minute break but now it’s back to Dixieland. Spud
stalls on the floor before the bell while MVP lounges on the top
rope. MVP goes after him but Spud gets in a cheap shot on the way
back in to get things going. He pounds away but makes the mistake of
slapping the boss in the face. A facebuster sets up the Ballin Elbow
and the Drive By kick to the head for the pin at :59. That’s exactly
what it should have been.

Bobby
Roode is furiously looking for Dixie.

We
get a creepy promo of a guy in the woods holding a black and white
umbrella, wearing a black and white mask and dressed all in black.
He recites poetry and is apparently named Willow. Apparently this
was Jeff Hardy in a new gimmick.

Dixie
is on the phone when Roode comes in, demanding a title shot. He
doesn’t like being called a sore loser and says she doesn’t want him
against her.

Chris
Sabin vs. Velvet Sky

Sabin
offers her a free shot because this is what Velvet has always wanted.
Velvet kicks him in the knee and goes for the groin but Sabin is
wearing a cup. Like an idiot though he takes it out to show off and
gets hit low again, allowing Velvet to pound away. Cue a big woman
with a bleach blonde mohawk over dark hair to destroy Velvet with a
full nelson. Sabin is very pleased. No match obviously.

Ray
goes into Anderson’s dressing room and looks through his stuff,
including the pictures on his phone. He calls Anderson’s wife and
says this is the phone call she’s been dreading her entire life. Ray
says “no, not yet, but he’s coming home in a coffin. Tell the
twins daddy says goodbye.”

Roode
is in the back and says he lost it and that this has to come to an
end. It’s over and he can’t take this anymore. He has his jacket
and bag with him, saying he might have something for next week.
Security comes in and says he has to leave which Roode does without
incident.

We
recap Ray vs. Anderson in the casket match. Ray is angry at Anderson
for ending Aces and 8’s and has gotten far more serious as a result,
even threatening Anderson’s children.

Bully
Ray vs. Mr. Anderson

Casket
match. Anderson has some of the ugliest green tights I’ve ever seen.
Ray takes off his shirt and reveals what I believe is a Liverpool
jersey to anger the fans. Anderson takes him down and sends him into
the corner before dropping him with a neckbreaker. The jersey is
ripped off and stomped on by Anderson before they head outside. Mr.
spends too much time deciding where to throw his shirt and Ray gets
in a cheap shot as we take a break.

Back
with Anderson using a chair to knock a chair into Ray’s face and
sliding in a table. Anderson is bleeding from the mouth and Ray
kicks him in the face to take over. Ray rubs the blood on his own
face and pounds at the cut before throwing the casket into the ring.
Anderson gets crotched on top and superplexed back down but Ray can’t
get the lid on the casket.

Ray
raises up a chair to crush Anderson but a low blow stops him cold.
Instead he powerbombs Anderson through the table and earns a THIS IS
AWESOME chant. Ray loads up a piledriver in the casket but Anderson
counters into a Mic Check and puts on the lid for the win at 12:50.
The lid didn’t actually close but it was close enough.

Rating:
B-. That’s probably high but
after all the garbage we’ve had to sit through tonight I’ll take
anything. Ray has been an awesome heel throughout this story and I
would have liked it more if he had won, but the company is dying for
top faces at this point and Anderson is as good as anyone else they
could use.

In
the back we get even more Dixie vs. MVP with Carter offering him a
buyout. She offers him a contract and MVP is impressed but says no.
Dixie calls him crazy and MVP says he’s a wrestler so there might be
somet truth to that. A proposal is made for Lockdown: Lethal
Lockdown with Team MVP vs. Team Dixie for total control of the
company. Dixie keeps up her Stephanie McMahon style acting and
finally agrees.

Overall
Rating: D. Impact wrestling is
a two hour show. Tonight, approximately an hour and a half were
spent on Dixie Carter vs. MVP or something directly related to that
story. Here’s what wasn’t related to it: Eric Young/Abyss segment (8
minutes), Christy Hemme/Shaw segment (2 minutes), Ray vs. Anderson
(13
minutes), Sabin vs. Sky (5 minutes) and the Willow promo (1 minute).
That’s it. That’s everything on the show that wasn’t related to a
single storyline.

Even
Immortal didn’t make Impact that much about themselves and I didn’t
think things could get worse than that. Dixie vs. MVP is fine for a
story, but you need SOMETHING that isn’t related to or a result of
that story. There’s some
interesting stuff in TNA, but the same story being pounded into our
heads like this make it a lot less interesting to sit through.

Results

Ethan
Carter III vs. Gunner went to a no contest

James
Storm/Gunner b. Ethan Carter III/Magnus – Gunner pulled down the
briefcases

Wolves/Samoa
Joe b. Zema Ion/Bro Mans – Koquina Clutch to Ion

MVP
b. Spud – Drive By

Mr.
Anderson b. Bully Ray – Mic Check into a casket

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

Rants

Rants

Impact Wrestling – February 6, 2014

By Scott Keith on 6th February 2014

Impact
Wrestling

Date:
February 6, 2014

Location:
Hydro Arena, Glasgow, Scotland

Commentators:
Mike Tenay, Tazz

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

We’re
still in Scotland as we’re setting the stage for Lockdown. The big
story of course is the reveal of MVP as the new investor, starting
the big feud for the year. MVP is a decent enough choice but they
just need to do something else around here. The power struggle stuff
is so played out in TNA but at least there’s a new face involved in
things. Let’s get to it.

We
open with a fight in progress.

Eric
Young vs. Abyss

This
is Monster’s Ball, meaning anything goes. They’re fighting in the
back with Young actually in control and bringing Abyss through the
entrance. Abyss comes back with a big right hand and some forearms
to the back and the opening bell rings. Young crawls over to a
trashcan full of weapons and blasts Abyss in the back with a pipe to
get the advantage, only to have Abyss backdrop him on the floor.
It’s table time but Young hits a quick dropkick to get a breather.

Young
goes for the mast but Abyss slams him into the apron to get a
breather. They head inside for the first time with Eric coming off
the top, only to jump right into Abyss’ hands. A hard clothesline
drops Young again and Abyss goes outside to get a chair. The chair
is placed on Eric’s ribs but he manages to turn it on its side to
crotch a charging Abyss. Eric is sent into the corner and out to the
apron where he comes back with a missile dropkick for two.

Just
as Eric gets some momentum he gets sent face first into the chair in
the corner and a chokeslam gets two. Abyss goes outside and gets his
bag of tacks before loading up a superplex, only to have Young
counter with a sunset powerbomb into the tacks for two. Eric goes up
top but Abyss punches him off the top rope and out through the table
in a huge crash. Back in and Young somehow gets his foot on the
ropes to break the pin so Abyss pulls out the big weapon: Janice, the
baseball bat full of nails. Young rips the mask off to save himself
and reveal Joseph Park, earning himself the Black Hole Slam for the
pin at 9:41.

Rating:
B-. That might be a bit high
but I was digging this
match. It wasn’t the best hardcore match I’ve ever seen or anywhere
close to it but Young was working well out there. I can tolerate him
much more easily when he’s not being over the top and stupid which is
what we got here. Abyss is a fun character too as there’s something
awesome about a guy who just breaks stuff.

Park
picks up a broken piece of a mirror and sees himself, turning him
back into Joseph.

Roode
brings Dixie a contract for a title match against Magnus at Lockdown
but Dixie is disgusted. She says things have changed around here and
she can’t just give out title shots. Roode says this isn’t his
problem so Dixie makes him face Joe tonight for the title shot at
Lockdown. Bobby is still annoyed but Dixie implies a lot of help.

Here’s
MVP for his first speech as the new investor. He’s been around the
world for the last few years just living life. In his younger days
he got in trouble for not realizing the consequences of his actions.
It’s become clear to him that there are people here in TNA making the
same mistakes and he’s tired of seeing that every week. Over his
career he’s made a nice income and then used that money to make more
money.

He’s
found some people that think like he does and it’s time for a change.
TNA has so much potential but the bad leadership is killing it.
That will not happen under his watch but here’s Spud for an
interruption. Spud thinks MVP should come meet Dixie in person
because Dixie loves making new stars. MVP: “Yeah, herself.”
Spud says that if MVP were to come to Dixie, he would be greeted with
open arms. MVP threatens Spud with violence and then announces
Magnus vs. Kurt Angle in a non-title match.

Bully
Ray says he’ll bury Anderson next week but he’ll put the next person
he sees in a coffin as a preview.

Chris
Sabin is in a purple room and says he doesn’t accept that Velvet Sky
has broken his heart. She’s a woman worth fighting for and he’s
invited her here to this special room for later tonight.

Curry
Man vs. Bully Ray

Ray
comes out with the coffin and says that Curry Man is in the wrong
place at the wrong time. He kicks Curry Man’s head off and slowly
takes off the jacket. This isn’t even a match with no bell or
referee. Curry Man is laid out with a piledriver and a shout of
ANDERSON before Ray throws him in the coffin.

Magnus
complains to Dixie but she reminds him that it’s a non-title match
before checking her makeup. Spud insists she looks beautiful as
Ethan comes in. Dixie cuts him off before Ethan can say anything and
Ethan isn’t pleased, saying Dixie doesn’t have time for her own
blood. She’ll talk to him in a week.

Here’s
Austin Aries with something to say. As X-Division Champion, he
reminds us that it’s not the title that makes the man but the man
that makes the title. He’s held every title in this company and is
the man who invented Option C. His intention is to hold the X Title
until he can cash it in again but here are the Bro Mans for an
interruption. They’re just a distraction for Zema Ion to blast Aries
in the back with his Feast or Fired briefcase. Zema wants a referee
out here right now and the match is on.

X-Division
Title: Austin Aries vs. Zema Ion

Ion
gets two early near falls before a baseball slide to the back puts
Aries down again. Austin comes back with a chop but is sent into the
barricade to put him down again. A slingshot DDT gets two on Aries
but Ion misses a corkscrew moonsault, allowing Aries to hit a discus
forearm and a release belly to back suplex. There’s the running
corner dropkick and a brainbuster retains Aries’ title at 2:11.

Dixie
gets Spud ready to meet MVP.

We
recap Samuel Shaw revealing his shrine to Christy Hemme last week.
This week, Christy asks him what’s going on before cutting off their
personal relationship.

Roode
is tired of appeasing Dixie Carter. Magnus comes up and says Dixie’s
orders are Roode’s job, not favors. Roode needs to stop worrying
about favors and start worrying about Joe. The loss last week is
brought up and Magnus says he’ll tap out anytime in a non-title
match. Roode is annoyed and wishes Magnus luck against Angle.

MVP
comes in to see Dixie (in her fourth appearance in an hour), who
brags about building this company from the ground up. She talks down
to him a bit and tries to speak the wrestling language to him,
dropping terms like giving a rub and curtain jerking. MVP thinks we
should start in the ring in front of the fans and they bicker a bit
before MVP leaves. Spud thinks he’s a bloody nice bloke.

Kurt
Angle vs. Magnus

Non-title.
Magnus tries to wrestle with Angle to start and it goes as well as
you would expect it to. Kurt throws him down before hitting some
Rolling Germans and posing a bit. The Angle Slam is blocked with a
thumb to the eye but he takes Magnus down again for the ankle lock,
drawing in EC3 for the DQ at 2:30.

Ethan
goes after Angle’s bad knee and blasts it with a chair. He puts Kurt
in a leg lock, likely writing off Kurt for knee surgery.

Joe
tells Dixie that she started a war with the wrong man. He’ll fight a
war of attrition or a blitzkrieg and win every time.

Eric
Young had to expose Joseph Park for who he was because you have to
treat crazy with crazy. He doesn’t know what’s coming next.

We
recap Velvet Sky breaking up with Chris Sabin over the last few
weeks.

We’re
in that purple room whith Chris Sabin. This is where he and Velvet
had their first kiss and tonight it’s going to be special again.
Marriage is implied before a confused Velvet comes in. Back from a
break and Sabin apologizes to Velvet, calling this a big mistake. He
pulls out the ring box and Velvet is very nervous. There’s nothing
in the box though because Sabin is asking her to get out of his life.
He’s tired of hearing about Velvet all the time, even when he was
World Heavyweight Champion. Therefore next week, it’s Sabin vs.
Velvet in a match.

We
recap the MVP vs. Dixie stuff tonight.

Clip
of Joe making Magnus tap last week to become #1 contender.

Samoa
Joe vs. Bobby Roode

Physical
start with Joe running over Roode and dropping a knee, only to have
Bobby dropkick him off the apron. Back in and a neckbreaker gets two
on Joe and we hit the chinlock as the match slows down. Joe fights
up but misses his backsplash, only to catch Roode in a powerslam to
get a breather. There’s a HUGE handprint on Joe’s chest from a chop.
Roode fights off the MuscleBuster and blocks the Koquina Clutch
before getting caught by both moves for the pin by Joe at 6:54.

Rating:
C. This was fine and did its
job of making Joe look even more like a killer. Clean falls over
former world champions are never going to make someone look bad and
Joe is on a roll heading into Lockdown. Also, how nice was it to
have a match end without any interference? Such a concept.

Here
are Spud and Dixie to introduce MVP for the summit. Dixie brings up
Magnus to start and talks about how far he’s gone in such a short
time. Carter complains about the fans not shutting up and tells them
to give her the support she needs. This brings MVP to talking about
changes that he wants to make. He’s tired of Dixie making TNA a
place for all her friends to run roughshod over and refuses to be “a
butler at a Paula Dean party.” Dixie’s party is over and MVP
smiles at her to end the show.

Overall
Rating: C-. This
show brings up TNA’s long running problem of putting so much emphasis
on one idea: if you don’t like that story, you might as well not
watch the show. It’s not as bad as it was in the Aces and 8’s days,
but this show had five Dixie appearances and several other segments
that were about her story. Yeah she’s getting better in the role,
but that’s what people said about Aces and 8’s and look where that
went. There’s other good stuff on the show now, but it’s still
dominated by a power struggle story which isn’t what people want to
see right now.

Results

Abyss
b. Eric Young – Black Hole Slam

Austin
Aries b. Zema Ion – Brainbuster

Kurt
Angle b. Magnus via DQ when Ethan Carter III interfered

Samoa
Joe b. Bobby Roode – Koquina Clutch

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

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