TV Review: IMPACT Wrestling #628 - Ethan Carter III v Matt Hardy 8

The catch-up on IMPACT Wrestling reviews continues!

This episode featured the Semi-Finals of the Bound for Glory Play-Offs, an X Division title Ladder match and a Monster's Ball clash for the Tag Team titles. With The Decay, Gail Kim and the debuting David Starr in action, this was going to great, right?

The headline encounter featured Ethan Carter III and "Broken" Matt Hardy battling for a spot in the Bound for Glory Play-Off Final. Before the action got underway, there was a promo segment that initially began with Hardy berating Brother Nero, before EC3 would interrupt. The Universal Studios crowd seems to absolutely adore EC3 and he gave another strong performance on the mic, with an entertaining run-down of a number of "Broken" tropes, whilst also helping to add towards the Hardy v Nero feud that has been rumbling along for some time now. It was a nice reminder of the EC3 and Hardy feud from earlier in the year that brought a little extra spice to the match that directly followed it. 

EC3 and Hardy put on a good main event, with a story driven by The Ass-Kicking Machine (kayfabe) injuring his ankle off a missile dropkick, including Hardy removing EC3's boot to further go after the injury. Hardy has unquestionably reenvigorated his character over the past six months and that allowed him to wrestle a visually different style to pretty much anyone on TV at the moment, utilising mainly headbutts and biting to keep control of the match. In a business where everything has been done, anything that's remotely divergent from the norm, instantly draws you in and that's exactly what Hardy's got going on right now. For my tastes the finish was a little over-booked with Reby Hardy sliding a hammer to Nero, before Nero slid it across the ring in-between Hardy & EC3, with the ref removing the hammer from Hardy's grasp, EC3 would pick up the win after nailing Hardy with the boot that had been removed earlier. Anything that take such a long winded explanation is too much for me, but it did advance that Hardy-Nero feud, whilst bringing the previously removed boot back into the match was a neat piece of storytelling also.

The second semi-final involved "The Miracle" Mike Bennett and Drew Galloway and despite some nice ideas, ended up becoming even more over-booked than the main event. Moose, EC3 and Maria Kanellis-Bennett would all end up getting involved in a bout that went just over 7 minutes in an example of trying to do too much at the same time. The one thing that came out here looking good was Moose, who looked like a true destructive force, taking out Galloway on his entrance, later for a near fall and then EC3 after being sent into the steel steps himself. EC3 clobbering Galloway by mistake has been done to death in this feud alone and didn't have much impact at all, especially compared to the other times we've seen this happen. Bennett's heel character is building especially with Moose now at his side, but I'm still waiting for him to have a breakout match in the company.

Lashley's X Division title defense against DJ Z was a bit unexpected and in another case of hot shot booking in TNA was made a Ladder match also. Personally, I'd have preferred to see a singles bout before the two, before a arrogant Lashley gave Z the opportunity to choose the match type as we got here. This was arguably the strongest match on the show though, telling a decent power v speed type story, whilst throwing in a number of impressive spots that lifted the excitement. Z took his opportunity towards the top of the card and owned it pulling out a series high spots including a senton off the announce table and a big crossbody of the top of the ladder to the floor! He also ended up taking a ridiculous gorilla press bump off the top of the ladder for the finish. Even if it was Z who really made this bout tick, it's Lashley's dominance that continues!

James Storm guested on an entertaining edition of King of the Mountain Champion Eli Drake's Fact of Life talk show, with a future title bout between the two being scheduled. Both threw around sophomoric insults about shagging mothers and southern redneck incest and such, whilst Drake also teased a potential showdown with Lashley at a latter date. Drake continues to improve on the microphone managing to be incredibly watchable, whilst making you want to see someone kick his teeth in Row Z at the same time and this was no different. The segment concluded with Drake standing over his rival, after coming out on top in a scrap, ending things with Blaunt Force Trauma, before repeatedly shouting his popular catchphrase "Dummy Yeah" into Storm's knocked out ears (as seen above, Dummy (yeah))

Similar to the X Division title Ladder match, the tag team title bout seemed to blindside me and then it was like "Oh we're having a Monster's Ball match, okay. Cool." In another similarity, The Decay's Abyss & Crazzy Steve defending against The Bro-Mans' Jessie Godderz & Robbie E was a compact but brutal match. Straight out of the gates with the big moments, this was a very good spot-fest, that saw barbed wire boards and thumbs tacks get introduced within the first two minutes! With a genuinely believable near fall, after E & Godderz got on a roll and Mr. Pec-tacular got The Adonis Crab locked in on Steve, who spent a long time in the hold and two big bumps from both Bro-Mans en route to The Decay retaining the belts, this was an exhilarating sprint between two teams whose stock have been continuously raising as 2016 goes on.

ROH's Moose had his in-ring debut for TNA opposite CZW's David Starr, also making his debut. This was a straight-forward squash match, in which the former American football player looked like a beast. Whilst it was a positive debut for Moose, it was a shame that the talented Starr wasn't allowed much of an opportunity to show off what he could do for the company. Following the bout, Moose would have a confrontation with World Heavyweight and X Division Champion Lashley, whilst Mike Bennett built up the potential of a match between the two, before quickly denying the live crowd of that possibility. Lashley throwing some bitchy lines towards his younger rival, with Bennett having to hold Moose back from a fight was a different piece of booking that continued to blur the lines between heel and face for everyone but Bennett. Just like the Lashley v EC3 feud and latter the EC3 v Galloway feud, Moose v Lashley seems like something that TNA is going keep teasing, continue to make people want to see the match more and more before it's ready to deliver.

The only women's match on the card saw Gail Kim begin her run towards a Knockout's Championship shot with a victory over Madison Rayne in a match that happened. Every move was performed well enough, but there was no feel of urgency and the purpose of the match was never put over clearly enough by either the performers or the commentary team. Considering Rayne had turned heel on Kim just a week previously, she didn't do act that of a heel, until arguing with referee Earl Hebner in the finish. Things weren't helped by Josh Matthews at the announce desk who continues to be cringe-worthy listen throughout and even more so when his wife, Rayne, is in the ring!

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 4.88/10

A slight dip in quality from last week's episode here, in which the two Bound for Glory Play-Off Semi-Finals both failed to deliver on their promise. The bouts that became the best of the show came completely unannounced on the show as Lashley v DJ Z in a Ladder match and The Decay v The Bro-Mans in Monster's Ball, both delivered in all their random, spot-based glory. The weak women's bout, a squash match for Moose and the over-booked Bennett v Galloway contest dragged the score below an average five for IMPACT Wrestling #628.

All content - James Marston

TV Review: IMPACT Wrestling #627 - Eddie Edwards v Lashley 2 - Six Sides of Steel

So after getting bogged down in various other things, I missed a number of episodes of IMPACT Wrestling las, so I thought instead of skipping those review's I'd go back and try to catch up as we head toward Bound For Glory. 

This episode saw a rematch from last week's Destination X (#626) special, with Eddie Edwards and Lashley once again putting their respective titles on the line, this time inside a Steel cage. Also on the show the Bound For Glory Play-Off tournament began with the likes of Bram, Brother Nero and Ethan Carter III all vying for a World Heavyweight Championship shot on TNA's biggest night of the year. Would it be a recipe for a tasty wrestling show though? 

A huge main event this week, as Lashley would simultaneously retain his World Heavyweight Championship and take Eddie Edwards' X Division belt in good TV cage match. As much as the match was almost all about Lashley becoming even more of an all-encompassing champion and making him look like an utter beast, it was a surprisingly entertaining watch. Lashley's got a rather different kind of charisma to most wrestlers that are labelled "charismatic" but when in control of the bout, taking his time to play with the Impact Zone crowd, it was difficult to take my eyes of him. This contrasted well with the in your face opening of Edwards hitting a stunning tope conhilo through the cage door. Both men's selling throughout and especially towards the end made it look like they'd both been in a real war with each, which, of course, not only makes the bout more interesting to watch on TV, but also puts each of their offence over, which is especially important for Edwards. Some of the near falls felt a bit gratuitous, like Lashley kicking out of Edwards' Boston Knee Party that caused the World title to crash in The Destroyers' face was a silly thing to kick-out of and hurts Edwards' more than it will help Lashley. 

The finish was well done, as Lashley hit two spears in quick succession to get the pin, which in many ways does the opposite of the early near falls mentioned. Having Lashley not go for the pin after the first spear, suggests that he believes that Edwards could potentially kick out and therefore needs another. This boosts Edwards without having to have him actually kick out of Lashley's finish, whilst also making the now dual champion look a more cerebral competitor. What I didn't like was the brawl that would follow the match, with Drew Galloway, Ethan Carter III, Matt Hardy, Mike Bennett and Moose all filling the cage and scrapping in various formations (Note that Edwards was on the floor throughout all these shenanigans). Nothing wrong with what was done in-ring in particular, but the moment having the World Heavyweight Champion also become X-Division Champion should have been given time to to breath and allow the audience to truly grasp what had happened. It should have felt more special than it did. 

The Bound for Glory Play-Offs began on this episode, with the biggest Quarter Final bout seeing Ethan Carter III advance after beating King of the Mountain Champion Eli Drake in a clunky encounter. Before the match could get underway however, both men would get some time on the microphone, with Drew Galloway also getting involved. The main bulk of this would be the continuation of the Galloway v EC3 feud that has been bubbling under for a while now, with both producing strong promos, that got over their sudden dislike for each other in a believable manner. Both men got cattier with each other as the promo went along, with Galloway in particular doing a lot of verbal flexing, mixing fact and fiction as he reminded EC3 that his job was because of (kayfabe) Aunt Dixie, whilst it was TNA that had come to Galloway. It was teased that the two would square of in the final of the BFG Play-Offs, before Drake would make his entrance popping the bubble in his own unique way.

Drake and EC3 had only faced off once before in singles action and whilst the match had a couple of cool ideas, the two didn't seem to gel particularly well and a number of their exchanges seemed to suffer from a pacing problem. The guys tried to do the best with their seven minutes, pulling out some big near falls, but for me the structure was a too much too soon situation. Drake's character work continues to impress me and the frustration that he showed at not being able to put EC3 away was played nicely and it's clear he's been impressing those within the company as well, as Galloway only picked up a flash roll-up victory. If the match had been a little smoother and with an extra five or six minutes, then it could have acted as a real springboard for Drake in the company, however I feel in this form it only gave him a little nudge.

The strongest match from the opening round of the BFG P-O was a big physical brawl that saw Drew Galloway advance over Bram. Brawling when done properly is one of my favourite styles, so seeing Galloway and Bram throw big blows at each other and scrapping around ringside with purpose was right up my ally. Two babyfaces and countrymen being happy to go at each other like this, lifts the tournament instantly, also doing wonders for the belt currently around Lashley's waist. In the middle of the melee, the pair put together a handful of intelligent sequences where they'd manage to wriggle out of each others finishers and get a near fall of their own. Galloway's Northern Lights Suplex out of Bram's Brighter Side of Suffering DDT was a notably well worked moment. Similar to the way EC3 v Drake was booked, but in my opinion executed much more successfully here, Galloway would win with a top rope variation of the Futureshock DDT, which not only looked great but also meant that Bram was elevated for the way The Captain put him away. The first time I've been properly impressed with Bram in the ring, Galloway brought out the best in him.

On paper, a two minute victory over Jeff Hardy or Brother Nero would be a huge win for Mike Bennett, however, of course, it didn't quite go down that way. Jeff's feud with brother Matt took the driving seat here, giving the match a unique narrative, that I feel you'll either love or hate, or maybe both at the same time. Basically, Matt had egged Jeff on to attempt the same dirt bike jump that broke his leg back in May 2015 and Jeff pretty quickly came flying off his bike, in a spectacular stunt. Of course, this would play into the bout, with Hardy not been able to do any of his offence, including crumpling to the mat trying to do an Irish whip. Jeff's selling was good enough to make the out there story just about work. Bennett made full use of the opportunity, looking like a twat as he ground down Hardy before hitting a Cutter for the win. The win will do a lot for Bennett in his current heel role, he has something to boast about, that will be a pretty hollow boast and hopefully get the fans backs up. The win would earn Bennett a match with Drew Galloway in the Semi-Final.

Before Lashley and Eddie Edwards would get in the Steel Cage for the main event, they were also involved in the opening segment, with Mike Bennett, Moose and Dixie Carter all participating also. The segment was to set-up a number of stiplation for later in the show, as Carter would ban Moose from ringside for Bennett's BFG P-O's. match with Jeff Hardy and decreed that if either Bennett or Moose interfered in the main event then Bennett would be fired. A nice bit of logic here, as without it it would've have been really weird for Bennett and Moose to interfere last week and not this week. The tease for a Lashley v Moose bout was continued, with the World Heavyweight Champion challenging Moose to a fight, only for Edwards to come flying down the ramp to take out Moose from behind. It didn't make a whole lot of sense for Lashley to be calling out Moose with a title match later in the night, but at least the brawl that would lead to the stipulations being added was an entertaining watch. 

Completing our look at the 21st July card, we have Matt Hardy picking up a cheap victory over James Storm to advance to the Semi-Final of the BFG P-O's. I found a lot to like in this one, as Hardy's character continues to get even more bizarre, throwing headbutts early in the match and going to bite Storm at various points. He's completely re-invented his in-ring work to match up with his character development, which is more difficult than it sounds. Both going for their finishers early was a nice touch and those exchanges fuelled the rest of the bout as it got wilder as time went on, including Storm riding the Boozer Cruiser into Hardy's groin with the latter propped up on the steel steps and Storm leaping over the guardrail with the pair brawling in the crowd. Entertaining stuff here, Reby Hardy nailing The Cowboy in the ankle with a hammer when it seemed like Storm was about to seal the victory was a satisfying ending, that aided both men going forward. Hardy would be scheduled for a Semi-Final bout with his old rival, Ethan Carter III. 

Finally... 

ATPW Scale Rating - 5.03/10

A decent episode here, with the main event presented a satisfying contest, alongside an intriguing piece of storyline advancement, even if the concluding brawl let down the action that the match had presented. The Bound for Glory Play-Off were a mix bag, as Bram and Drew Galloway presented a real satisfying brawl of a bout, however the highest profile match a clash between Ethan Carter III and King of the Mountain Champion Eli Drake didn't quite manage to connect. Still a mostly entertaining episode, that pushed forward some interesting narratives, as they begin to build towards 2nd October's supercard.

All content - James Marston

TV Review: IMPACT Wrestling #626 - Destination X 2016 - Lashley v Edwards (James Marston)

As the dust settled following last week's Final Deletion, TNA would look to keep the foot on the gas pedal presenting an Destination X 2016 special of the show. With a major main event with both the World Heavyweight and X Division belts on the line, a major debut and a big return, would the strategy pay off or would TNA careen off the road once again? 

In the main events conclusion, Mike Bennett would make good on his promise, as he'd attack the referee, causing Lashley and Eddie Edwards title for title bout to go to a no-contest, before he brought out former Ring of Honor stand out, Moose to clean house. Before all the match however, there was an in-ring segment between the two champions, that would start as interview conducted by Jeremy Borash and boil down to an attack from Lashley as he attempted to gain some extra leverage for later on. I'm usually not a fan of these kinds of segments that TNA like to do before a big main event, as they can cause over-exposure for those involved and take away part of the bout attraction later on. However, although I'd have preferred it to take place a week earlier, this bought an extra layer to main event, as Edwards' partner in The Wolves, Davey Richards made his return to the company from injury to save Edwards from a beatdown. Earlier, Lashley had cut a promo that had strong content surrounding Edwards underdog status, but was a little rushed in places.

A fairly simple match between Lashley and Edwards, which played out as a power v speed type affair, as Lashley would dominate his smaller his opponent with impact moves like a brutal overhead release belly-to-belly suplex onto the entrance. Edwards offence was mostly kept to hope spots with Lashley always able to get back into the match, surviving a nice tornado DDT reversal and a sitout spinebuster. There was a slip up from Lashley on a top rope spot, that unfortunately saw the two just decide to try to repeat the spot, which wasn't quite worth the wait. That was the exception to the rule however as the wrestling portion of the contest was a great watch and a compelling main event. The sport-entertainment portion started slow with a ref bump as Lashley had the contest won, but exploded in a brilliant false finish as Richards aided Edwards in hitting their Chasing the Wolf finish, before Bennett would make his mark. The debut of Moose genuinelly shocked me as many had thought he was heading to WWE, he looked like a beast here, taking out the Wolves, before a low blow from Bennett allowed him to hit the World Heavyweight Champion with a forearm. There's a lot of possibilities with Moose on board now, the next couple of weeks should be very interesting indeed. 

In a show that had "The Miracle" all over it, he began the night by attacking DJ Z after "That Yung Go Hard" had became #1 Contender to the X Division title by winning a Ladder match that also included Andrew Everett, Trevor Lee, Braxton Sutter, Rockstar Spud and Mandrews. Let's start with the positives here, this match was as fun as you would expect, with plenty of thrills and spills from the bell as DJ Z and Mandrews nailed Lee and Everrett with dual tope conhilos. There were also some clever moments like Spud biting Sutter's knee (as a call back to Sutter knocking Spud's teeth out last week) to stop him ascending the ladder and Sutter and Mandrews moving two ladders further apart as Lee tried to climb both, before DJ Z hit a front kick to the chicken nuggetts. The closing moments made DJ Z look strong as he fought off all of the Helms Dynasty, including seeing Everrett off the top of a ladder to the outside, en route to claiming victory. A fun and pacy bout, but the third week in a row where we've seen multi-man encounters for either the X Division belt or #1 Contender statues, meaning the division does feel slightly interchangeable and leaving everyone lacking a proper identity. I'll get into Bennett's over-exposure in just a mo. 

With more batshit crazy segments from Matt Hardy's house airing this week, the Hardy Boyz feud was clearly far from over after The Final Deletion. An in-ring segment brought us the core of the story this week with Matt proclaiming he would be making Jeff Hardy his "obsolete mule" Jeff's contract with TNA is apparently been terminated due to the result of last week's bout, so what an "obsolete mule" will involved, I have no idea. Matt was once again marvelous here, with his bizarre broken character continuing to run riot. He worked the crowd perfectly, having them eat out of the palm of his hand, by calling the Final Deletion the greatest match in history and just being generally annoying by shouting "delete" so many times. I'm find him mesmerising to watch at the moment. A few weeks ago I thought this feud had dragged on long enough, but all of a sudden I want more and with a emotional Jeff (now apparently only allowed to be called "Brother Nero") staying silent and calm throughout there's some legs left in this old dog yet. 

TNA has a problem of giving the audience all their eggs and then chucking the basket at them as well and that was the case as Mike Bennett suffered defeat against DJ Z. Yeah, that's the same Mike Bennett who'd previously been involved in the opening segment and would later be involved in the main event and the same DJ Z who had earlier won a multi-man ladder match. Even for TNA everything was moving way too quick here. The scrap was a solid watch, with similarities to the main event as DJ Z fought from underneath after Bennett berated him throughout the clash. DJ Z's speed was the main focus of the bout as he pulled off a number of quick reversals as hope spots and a beautiful tope conhilo. It was shame that DJ Z didn't look like he'd had a ladder melee earlier in the night, let alone sell the post-match beat-down though. The X-Division guys coming out to foil Bennett's plan of leaving the fight was a cool touch and was an entertaining pay-off to "The Miracle"'s time in the X Division. 

Sienna would hold onto her Knockout's Championship in a random Four Way, pinning Gail Kim in a conflict that also included Jade and Marti Bell. All three challengers have been prominent on TV recently, but whether anyone deserved a title scuffle was questionable given that all three had lost singles bouts over the last three weeks. Whilst all four women put in effort, the lack of build-up and the presentation, including the commentary, made this match feel completely throwaway. With the correct build this match could have felt huge. It was an easy watch that continued two feuds nicely (Kim & Sienna, Bell & Jade), while the best action came when Jade and Kim went toe to toe again, including a lovely German suplex from Jade. I think the contest would have been better off splitting the heels and faces and doing a tag bout, where extra storylines could be advanced whilst not devaluing the belt further with a thrown together championship clash. 

The only match on the show that didn't do anything for me at all, was Bram's victory over Abyss, thanks to Abyss' Decay stablemate and Bram's apparent lover Rosemary causing a distraction. The duo seemed to tread water waiting for Rosemary's inevitable appearance, going through the motions in a dreary clash. Things weren't helped by the commentary team talking about anything other than the match, despite their being a few weeks of back story heading in. Not a foot was put wrong between "The Monster" and "The Chesterfield Plague" but I don't like enough was done to draw me into the bout. At the conclusion of the scuffle, as Rosemary finally made her appearance, no one seemed to have a clue how they were supposed to be playing the moment. Everyone just looked confused at each other and I looked confused at the television screen. I'd been so into The Decay, but this feud is killing them for me at the moment. 

Drew Galloway and Ethan Carter III would return from their suspension to beat seven shades of shite into each other, in a superb brawl around ringside and then to the back. There was a real intensity to the action as the two tore strips off each, with Galloway nailing some tasty knife edge chops and a swinging slam situation into the ring-post. It was a believable that the two had an genuine issue, because they both a ferocity to every little interaction they had, making sure each attack looked like it was designed to hurt. I'm really digging this feud at the moment, as it's all about the World Heavyweight Championship, without being for the World Heavyweight Championship. This can only make the belt look like a more worthwhile and precious prize to get your hands on, elevating the status of the strap. A big thumbs up that's been taking steady as well! 

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 5.63/10

Another entertaining episode of IMPACT Wrestling, as the show featured good to great moments across it's card. There were a number of highlights for me, with Drew Galloway and Ethan Carter III's brawl being my favourite moment of the show, Matt Hardy continued to excel in his fascinating "Broken" character, Eddie Edwards and Lashley put together a strong main event and there was plenty to enjoy about the X Division ladder match. That's without mentioning the surprise debut of Moose and the return of Davey Richards. 

There were still problems, like a lack legitimate focus and coherent booking in the X Division, Women and Tag Team ranks. Random multi-man or women bout manage to plug the gap in airtime, but won't keep the fans hooked and show a lack of planning. If you want a Four Way title match, making sure each of the challengers have been built to look like contenders previously. The other major issue was the over reliance on Mike Bennett who took up a hell of a lot of screen-time. I loved Bennett to bits, but being involved in the opener, leading to match in the 2nd half, before being involved in the main event was way too much. 

With Dixie Carter announcing a Steel Cage rematch between Lashley and Eddie Edwards next week, and big matches like Galloway v EC3, the beginning of the Bound for Glory Play-Offs and more looming in the future TNA are showing more than a few signs of promise for the rest of the summer!

Re-Making an iMPACT #4 - Styles & Brown v Abyss & Dallas (James & David Marston)

TNA Xplosion #83 Results (19th June 2004) - NWA Total Nonstop Action #103 Results (23rd June 2004)

As iMPACT rounded off it's first month on the air, you'd be expecting TNA to be finding the correct formula for it's hour of television each week running alongside a weekly PPV. Coming out of last week's PPV that celebrated two years of the company by having both the NWA World Heavyweight and X Division Championship matches end in No Contests, how would TNA look to explain the results? With D'Lo Brown teaming with AJ Styles to face "The Monster" Abyss and Dallas in a big tag team main event, would this be the episode where TNA would finally crack the code?

Larry Zybszko replaced Dusty Rhodes as the shows judge, "in case" a match went to a time-limit draw.

After X Division Champion AJ Styles had niftily turned Dallas' chokebomb attempt in a hurricarana and scored the pinfall, the June 25th 2004 show concluded with  Monty Brown attacking D'Lo Brown, being aided by "The Monster" Abyss' chain, whilst Kid Kash nailed Styles with a Money Maker and continued the beatdown with Dallas. A fairly straightforward way to build to the Brown v Brown PPV match, although weirdly Kash and Styles wouldn't face off again for sometime. Before this, the tag main event had been a strong television clash, following a simple storyline where Goldylocks would give the heels the advantage on the outside, which built into a wonderful hot tag sequence from Styles. Whilst Dallas & Abyss aren't the smoothest wrestlers and Brown's timing was off on a couple of the points, the closing stages of the match feature some fast-paced and exciting action, with a few twist and turns and a devastating looking suicide dive from Brown, before Styles secured the victory.

In more tag team action, Team Canada's Bobby Roode and Petey Williams picked up a big victory over America's Most Wanted, after The Natural's had interfered and nailed Chris Harris with a nasty chair shot. The match follows your regular tag structure, with James Storm in the face in peril role, before Harris cleaned house on a hot tag, but did seem to be going in a different direction in the last few minutes. All four men were involved in a back and fourth melee, which included a superb Tower of Doom that got a big reaction out of the iMPACT zone. It seemed like the ten minute time limit was about to hamper the action, as I'm sure the two teams could have launched into a blistering final stretch with more time, so in a way I was happy to see the screwy finish over having the match go to a judges decision. 

Another tag team match saw The Amazing Red, Chris Sabin & Primetime overcome Kazarian, [Kazushi] Miyamoto and NOSAWA [Rongai] in a decent X-Division affair. The standout competitor of the bout was Sabin, whose offence always looked polished and seemed to be the most creative competitor of the match, pulling out a lovely enziguri and DDT combo on Kazarian and NOSAWA at one point, as well as a stunning dive over the top rope. If everyone in the match had been as composed as Sabin, I think this would have been a much better contest as a lot of the action felt rushed and therefore became botchy. The biggest culprit of this is The Amazing Red, who has two major slips whilst trying perform slingshot moves, which stop the match from having the usual free-flowing feel that we've come to expect from the X-Division

If you've read the previous editions of Re-Making an iMPACT, you'll know we aren't the biggest fans of the non-wrestling segments and despite it's absurdity this week was no different. Basically, on the recent PPV, Jeff Jarrett's NWA World Heavyweight title bout with Ron Killings had ended in a no-contest after Killings had used Jarrett's guitar, a move that Director of Authority, Vince Russo had decried would lead to an automatic disqualification and therefore title change. For unexplained reasons a quartet of trumpets played Jarrett to the ring, before Larry Zybszko came out to tell Jarrett he'd have to wait until the next PPV to find out who Russo had decided to give the belt to, despite the decision being surely what this show was made for! We did pop pretty hard when Jarrett nailed Zbyszko with his guitar, for rambling with phrasing like "I just left the big room, Jeffrey". The segment ended in a disappointing scrap between 3 Live Kru and Jarrett's Elite Guard (Collyer & Hernandez)

"The Alpha Male" Monty Brown would continue his undefeated streak with a victory over "Irish" Pat Kenney (Simon Diamond) in a dull as dishwater contest. To say that we're big fans of "The Alpha Male" would be like saying we're big fans gouging our own eyes out. The match was full of wear down holds as the duo struggled to fill their three minute bout with anything remotely interesting. To be fair to Kenney, he did pull out a sweet float over in a superkick, but his character came across a just a generic bloke. I've no idea why he has "Irish" in front of his name either. Is their another Pat Kenney running around, so we need to distinguish between the two? The finish is an awkward set-up into the piss-poor Pounce. 

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 4.05/10

The most-action packed episode to date, there's some top quality wrestling on display here with the main event and semi main event tag bouts both delivering. However, there's also a segment with Jeff Jarrett and Larry Zbyszko which answer none of the questions that the previous PPV asked and kind of paints the companies top heel as a babyface (He takes out an annoying authority figure and then gets attacked by three men) whilst Monty Brown appeared for much longer than I'd have liked. There's a core group of guys that are beginning to become the highlight of the show each week, like AJ Styles and Team Canada, whilst others are proving a drag on our enjoyment of the show, *cough* Monty Brown *cough*. 

Next Time - Team Canada v 3 Live Kru

Re-Making an iMPACT: #3 - Killings v Young (James & David Marston)

TNA Xplosion #82 Results (12th June 2004) - NWA Total Non-Stop Action #102 Results (16th June 2004)

After a strong start, TNA seemed to stutter with it's second episode of iMPACT last week, with the weekly PPVs proving difficult to run alongside a weekly hour of television. Would TNA begin to iron out the creases with it's 3rd episode, aired on 18th June 2004 and headlined by Ron "The Truth" Killings taking on Team Canada's Eric Young, or would it be more of the same?

Ron Killings' disappointingly straight forward victory over Team Canada's Eric Young, turned out to be more of a way of getting Killings into an angle with NWA World Heavyweight Champion Jeff Jarrett than it did an attempt to put on a satisfying main event match. There were some nice touches in the match, like Scott D'Amore tripping Killings with his hockey stick, only to be chased off by Jerry Lynn, and Killings nailing a lovely overhead belly-to-belly suplex of the middle rope, but boiled down to spell of control for both competitors before Killings hit an dancey axe kick situation for a flat win. The segment that followed was a weird way to built to Killings' challenge for Jarrett's belt on Wednesday's PPV, as Jarrett nailed Dusty Rhodes (who was on guest commentary) with his guitar, before getting the best of Killings and sending him into the crowd. Killings looked like a punk, whilst Vince Russo would steal the spotlight to pointlessly mention that titles can change hands by DQ in TNA. Not good. 

The show kicked off with a pacey six way bout where Hector Garza pinned Miyamoto following a Tornillo, in a match that also involved Michael Shane, Chris Sabin, Primetime and Kazarian. The match involved lots of twists and turns with guys tagging themselves in at various points, keeping the turnover of different performers high, but for a match with so much talent there was little actually worth talking about here. Mike Tenay's reference to the debuting Miyamoto being from "the Orient" and his use of red mist show an outdated view of Japanese performers even for 2004. The idea of legal men becomes a distant dream in the closing stages, making the earlier tag in and tag out situation entirely pointless. A fun opener, but mainly fluff and pretty pointless.

X Division Champion AJ Styles continued his fine run of form, both in kayfabe and performance-wise, with a victory over Mr. Aguila with a Styles Clash. Whilst it's hardly the best representation of the X Division style, it does show off "The Phenomenal One" as a performer well with Aguila making sure Styles looks his shiny best. The finish is intriguing as Styles seems to have suffered a legitimate injury being unable to lift Aguila up for a Styles Clash, grabbing his back. I'd be willing to chalk this up to selling, had the pair not immediately gone to repeat the move, that would grab the win for Styles. When Kid Kash and Dallas attempt to jump the X Division Champion after the match, 4 time WWE European Champion D'Lo Brown turned up to make the save, before cutting a promo staking his claim to an NWA World Heavyweight Championship. No, D'Lo, get yourself away from the World title picture. 

In his iMPACT debut, Sabu teamed with Sonjay Dutt in a losing effort against The Naturals' Andy Douglas and Chase Stevens. Before the match began America's Most Wanted attacked The Naturals with security separating the two teams with Mike Tenay explaining that The Naturals had stolen some of AMW's clothes on the recent PPV. Nothing actually came of the attack, the tag match carried on like nothing happened and AMW weren't seen again. I thought that Dutt shined the brightest here, bringing a nice energy in both his rana littered face shine and his come back. He's far from polished at this point, but you can tell there's some real talent in there. The finish ended up a bit of mess with way too many elements coming together at once, not helped by their being a steel chair in the ring that almost killed Dutt on his Hindu Press attempt. No appearance from Raven either despite the commentary team pushing his rivalry with Sabu hard throughout.

Abyss also picked up another squash victory, this time over D-Ray 3000. 

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 4.25

A bit of an improvement on last week's episode, which is mainly down to their being a lot less talking, as the match quality remained average, at best. There were some promising performances from the likes of Sonjay Dutt, whilst AJ Styles has quickly became the star of the show. The booking continues to be the main thing that's holding the show back, with a lack of intelligence or forethought. Having to build a PPV every week is still not helping the situation either. 

Next Time - AJ Styles & D'Lo Brown vs. Abyss & Dallas

Re-Making an iMPACT - #2 - Team Canada v Team Mexico (James & David Marston)

TNA Xplosion #81 Results (5th June 2004) - NWA Total Non-Stop Action #101 Results (9th June 2004) 

With the first episode setting out the show's stall nicely in the ring, but featuring a weak World title talking segment, how would the 2nd episode of iMPACT, headlined by a Team Canada vs. Team Mexico six man tag bout, go about building on it's strengths and sorting out it's weakness? 

This 11th June 2004 edition of iMPACT was main evented by Team Canada's Bobby Roode, Eric Young and Petey Williams besting Team Mexico's Abismo Negro, Heavy Metal and Mr. Aguila with Roode pinning Metal following some interference from Scott D'Amore and a Roode Bomb. Team NWA's Chris Sabin, Primetime and Jerry Lynn came out after the match to stop the villainous Team Canada from delivering any further damage, with show finishing with everyone brawling in the ring to lead into their Flag Match on the PPV. The two teams didn't seem to mesh, with offence often looking a bit unrefined, with Team Mexico just doing a lot of rolling about and mainly hitting clotheslines. To be fair to the Mexican lads, Aguila and Negro did do a pretty sweet suicide dive and tope conhilo double team at one point. I have got a lot of time for Team Canada however and they are beginning to look like a well-polished team in the ring with D'Amore on the outside bringing that extra heely edge to group with his interference. 

3 Live Kru's BJ James, Ron "The Truth" Killings and Konnan quickly disposed off David Young and The Natural's Andy Douglas & Chase Stevens, thanks to a Corkscrew Scissors Kick from Killings to losing streak gimmick inflicted, David Young. The match wasn't particularly good, but I'd take it over the talking that followed any day of the week. It was all a bit messy, again with weekly PPVs to thank for this. NWA World Heavyweight Champion Jeff Jarrett would come out, only to be interrupted by Dusty Rhodes on the other ramp, who would book Jarrett in a title match with Killings on 23rd June. It was awkwardly worded and with a PPV to push for next week, booking a match for a future PPV begins to make things more complicated than they should ever need to be. The segment would finish with Jarrett promising a "public execution" on this week's PPV. Yay. What? Why? The one saving grace here was that the iMPACT zone's dual entrance ways gave the moment a unique visual. 

"The Phenomenal" AJ Styles retained his newly won X Division Championship in a rematch from the last PPV's main event, against Kazarian in a disappointingly brief encounter. The pair wrestled a balanced match, full of smooth transitions and crisp execution, but they never really get to go to that next level and the match suffers from never really changing gears. As beautiful as Styles transition to the Styles Clash is, it comes at a point where I was hoping the pair would begin to up the ante and therefore left me feeling slightly flat. Styles was quickly shifted into a feud with Dallas and Kid Kash after the match, with the tag team taking out "The Phenomenal One", jumping him from behind. 

Kash was in action himself, with "The Notorious K.I.D." beating The Amazing Red in another bout that didn't quite live up to my expectations. The one highlight of the bout was a worldie though as Red turned a top rope powerbomb attempt Kash into a hurricanrana! However, I find Kash in control to be really dull, there's not much wrong with what he was doing technically, it just didn't engage me. A spot where he attempted to hit three moonsaults, the first from the bottom rope, second from the middle rope, only for Red to get his knees up on the third, bugged me more than probably should have for it's lack of sense, as did Kash hitting a Double Underhook backbreaker, despite his finish being a Double Underhook Piledriver.

Elsewhere on the show, Monty Brown would go over Sonny Siaki in a squash match. 

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 3.94/10

After a strong start, iMPACT already seems to be going off the rails in it's second week, with a big drop in match quality. The shift to two singles matches, should have seen an improvement and more satisfying action, but despite both Styles vs. Kazarian and Kash vs. Red having their moments, neither will live long in the memory. A PPV main event rematch on TV should have felt much more special than the X Division Championship bout did. The show was once again harmed by an over-complicated and wordy talking segment involving NWA World Champion Jeff Jarrett and Dusty Rhodes, with #1 Contender Ron Killings and his 3 Live Kru buddies ending up feeling like an after though. With twelve more weeks until TNA abandons the weekly PPV concept, I'm expecting more of the same until then.

Next Time - Killings v Young

TV Review: IMPACT Wrestling #625 - Eight Man Ultimate X (James Marston)

A big old mental week of IMPACT Wrestling this week, with Matt and Jeff Hardy's Final Deletion match grabbing all the headline and taking up all the space on our Twitter feeds right now. That's exactly why we chose to give the match and it's build up it's own special article and review which can be found here - Final Deletion - Let's face it the storyline has been pretty much outside of IMPACT Wrestling for weeks and months anyway, in terms of production and style, so it deserved it's space where I could go more in depth. On the show itself however, the Eight Man Ultimate X match and prior segment got much more time, so that's gonna be the main focus of this article. Obviously, I'm gonna talk about Final Deletion, but if you want a more in depth look then click the link above. Right that's enough of an intro, let's talk about the show. 

For me, the booking of the shows open has been everything that's been wrong with the X-Division for the last couple of years rolled into one. I've made it clear in recent reviews that I'm a big fan of Mike Bennett's work and he continued to portray his character perfectly well throughout the segment, but as Dixie Carter made her return after a week off (really not a return is it guys?) things quickly went down hill. Carter ripped into Bennett only seeing the title as a stepping stone. This is despite her owning the company that offers the X Division champion a chance to throw his belt down to get a chance at a different one. Had it been someone like Eddie Edwards, who Bennett won the title from via underhanded means, saying this, leading to Carter returning to make a 1 v 1 match between the two, you've got a segment that doesn't point out the flaw in the booking logic and allows someone to make the belt look like something that's worth holding on to in it's own right. 

Instead of having a one-on-one rematch between Edwards and Bennett, Carter announced an eight man Ultimate X match for the belt, that'd end up with Edwards winning the belt back anyway, after knocking Bennett off a ladder to retrieve the belt. Andrew Everrett, Trevor Lee, Mandrews, DJ Z, Braxton Sutter and Rockstar Spud were the other men in the bout. On it's own the match was a really fun watch with everyone involved putting in a lot of effort throughout, whether that be from pulling out beautiful dives like Mandrews' moonsault of the top of the scaffold structure or more character-driven work like that from Spud who left the match early after seemingly having some teeth kick out by rival Sutter.  Was this a great television contest, yes it really was. Would I have preferred to have seen a focused singles bout between Bennett and Edwards get the same amount of time? Almost certainly. 

Final Deletion was a bonkers match that took place at the Hardy's home in North Carolina, where Matt Hardy would defeat Jeff Hardy, after setting fire to a giant version of Jeff's logo whilst "The Charismatic Enigma" was at it's peak, sending Jeff crashing to the ground. The match was produced like a movie with incidental music instead of commentary. This was not a match that was built on it's realism. From a few minutes in, things hit bat shit level craziness, as Jeff jumped out of a tree onto Matt who was propped up on a ladder in the corner, both men attacked each other with fireworks, Matt hid in a dilapidated boat, thought he'd drowned his brother in a lake, Willow turned up, Benjamin tasered Willow, but Benjamin was actually Willow or something. I don't fucking know okay. These lads have turned me into a mess with their mental antics. The finish of the match somehow had to top the rest of this lunacy and as described above it did. Once you see this match you will never ever forget it.

With Destination X taking place next week, Jeremy Borash asked new X Division Champion Eddie Edwards his plans in regards to the World Heavyweight Championship. This developed into a cool back and forth between Edwards and World Heavyweight Champion Lashley on the mic with both bringing their "A game" to assemble an interestingly poised match for next week. The segment built throughout as, first, Lashley tried to convince Edwards why he shouldn't go for the World title, only to offer something knew after seeing just how fired up Edwards became about his opportunity. Next week the pair with face off with both titles on the line, even with the X Division not what it was, this is still a big match. Whilst Edwards promo had passion, I felt this was one of Lashley strongest ever non-wrestling performances on TV as he bought a calm, believable, cynicism to his character, especially when threatening to destroy the X Division. I'd have liked to have seen this a week after Edwards won back the belt, allowing for breathing space and protecting Edwards from over-exposure.

If I'm going to mention over-exposure in regards to Eddie Edwards then I'm definitely going to have to mention in it when talking about Mike Bennett and Maria Kanellis-Bennett. After opening the show with a promo, followed by Bennett dropping the X Division title, we then had another promo from the pair. I've been vocal about how much I've enjoyed the pairs work for TNA, but for me this was too much of a good thing. Absence makes the heart grow fonder after all. It all got a bit hammy when Billy Corgan and Dixie Carter came out, which lead to MKB throwing out a "This company is big enough for the both of us" situation to Carter, before Corgan called the couples bluff telling them to leave if they wanted to, before Bennett & MKB refused to quit and promised to make Destination X a disaster. I'm struggling to buy into this feud, as Carter and Corgan don't interest me either on their own or together and as the current driving babyface force, there's not a whole lot to buy into.

The Bro-Mans and Raquel picked up a surprise victory over World Tag Team Champions The Decay in six person tag team action, with Robbie E and Jessie Godderz hitting their Bro-Down finish to pin Crazzy Steve. The match turned in a decent tag clash, that despite a few questionable piece of booking like Godderz making his comeback on Abyss, as the two teams seemed to mesh well with their styles complementing each other. Following the hot tag and collision between Steve and Robbie E, the match flowed much better than I thought it would have heading into the match. The match played into another story that has been developing for the last two weeks, between The Decay and Bram, whilst also using The Bro-Mans Big Brother: After Dark cross-over as they played Bram necking with Rosemary backstage on the big screen before the match, with the Decays' loss being chalked up to this earlier distraction. 

In the other championship match of the evening, James Storm was unsuccessful in his challenge for Eli Drake's King of the Mountain Championship, despite winning the match via DQ after Drake attacked him with the title belt. This is another feud which has potential to blossom into something special on the undercard, and this match seemed to start building on the foundations that had been laid last week. The match was over quickly, but there was just enough of a glimpse of some in-ring chemistry between the two and we've seen what they can do on stick last week, so there's an opportunity here to produce some attractive television, whilst also allowing Drake to learn from a well-travelled veteran and elevating the King of the Mountain Championship in process. 

Considering the spot on the card they found themselves in, Jade and Marti Bell put on a more than enjoyable Street Fight, to seemingly conclude their feud as Jade got the pin with a Package Piledriver onto a steel chair. The two wrestled in jeans and looked like they wanted to hurt each, with Jade looking especially bad-ass. Despite Josh Mattews and The Pope being utter drivel on commentary, Jade and Bell bought crisp, strong offence and mixed it in with some of the usual plunder that TNA brings out for it's matches. For me, the more storyline moments like Jade pulling out nunchucks to counteract Bell's telescopic baton, before later holding the baton herself, were the weakest part of the match with rushing their moments with the camera just a tad. It's a shame that this feud has got to a gimmick bout already, because I'd've liked to see have seen what Jade and Bell could have done if allowed to explore their feud just a bit more.

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 5.22/10

An improvement on last week's episode but not quite reaching the year high of #625, the show will be remembered for generations to come. The Final Deletion will be discussed at wrestling shows and in bars and anywhere anyone who watches it happens to be. The X-Division guys went all out to show why they deserved more of a chance on the show, with guys like Mandrews and DJ Z making strong cases. Eddie Edwards showed he can handle himself with a promo opposite a main eventer, can he become a legit main eventer for TNA next week? Jade and Marti Bell put on the strongest contest on the undercard in their Street Fight, whilst the rest of the show managed to produce watchable wrestling onto which something can be built. The only thing I didn't particularly like was the second Mike Bennett and Maria Kanellis-Bennett promo, with Dixie Carter and Billy Corgan's weird power struggle struggling to strike a chord with me.

A big episode of IMPACT Wrestling, with The Final Deletion managing to cause a big stir amongst social media and all over the world. I'd like to thing that the card was just about strong enough that those who tuned in for Final Deletion will decide to stick around next week for the big Title for Title match between Lashley and Eddie Edwards.

TV Review: IMPACT Wrestling #624 - EC3 v Galloway v Lashley (James Marston)

After a belter of an episode last week, how would TNA look to capitalise? With a big three-way title match in the main event, this was gonna be another strong episode...or was it? 

The aforementioned three way main event would see Lashley hold onto his TNA World Heavyweight Championship, taking advantage of Drew Galloway nailing Ethan Carter III with a Claymore Kick to hit a spear on both opponents, before pinning EC3. As TV main events go this was a bloody good showing from all three men as they told a nice story and kept a solid pace. Having two babyfaces and a single heel could have been the matches undoing, but the ground work had been put in last week with Galloway and EC3 clearly not seeing eye to eye, and built on here, with the fan favourites working together to try to keep Lashley out of the match, so they had more of an opportunity to tear each other a part. My main complaint here is that everything needed more time to fully develop, with the ending feeling a little rushed, an extra five minutes and few more convincing near falls and we'd have had a brilliant match here. 

Whilst the main event was to the point, the same can not be said about the opening segment. X Division Champion Mike Bennett, Maria Kanellis-Bennett, Lashley, EC3, Billy Corgan and Galloway were all involved in what essentially boiled down to Corgan booking a Number One Contender's Battle Royal for Bennett's title, before a brawl would eventually lead to Galloway accidentally nailing EC3 with a Claymore Kick. At times it felt a little directionless, and despite strong performances, from Bennett in particular, almost everything needed to be tightened up and streamlined. A lot of the stuff like Galloway and EC3's accident was unnecessary because the building blocks were already in place from last week and without a date set for Destination X, Bennett's involvement with Lashley lacked urgency. 

You thought the Hardy Boyz were done with their feud? You were wrong. This feud will never end. Ever. As has been the case for months, this was complete and utter lunacy. Matt Hardy being driven around ringside by Reby Hardy in what he referred to as his "chair with wheels", as he ranted about his previous matches with Jeff and all other manner of things in his ridiculous voice was so bizarre, but completely entertaining at the same time. Despite the madness, the angle actually played out quite simply with Matt baiting Jeff, before using Reby to attack his brother from behind after doing a Linda McMahon and rising from his chair with wheels. The two will face off "one last time" next week, apparently, at their own home in North Carolina. It's being billed as "Brother Nero: The Final Deletion" because why the fuck wouldn't it be? 

King of the Mountain Champion Eli Drake's Fact of Life talk show segment was back this week with James Storm turning up as the eventual guest. I say "eventual" because before Storm would interrupt we'd get a promo from Drake about mashed potatoes. Yeah, mashed potatoes. It was actually very entertaining and completely different from pretty much anything anyone else is doing. The segment for took a dive when Storm came out, because similar to the opening segment, it felt flabby and could have done with a bit of a trim. A feud with Storm could do good things for Drake's career, and with Storm eventually hitting a Last Call Superkick on Drake to close the segment, it looks like we're heading that way over the next few weeks, at least.

Braxton Sutter would become the number one contender to Mike Bennett's X Division Champion by outlasting Trevor Lee, Andrew Everett, Eddie Edwards, DJ Z, Mandrews and Rockstar Spud in an over-the-top Battle Royal, only to be attack by the Helms Dynasty and  therefore losing in his immediate title match, and Bennett retaining the title. The battle royal was a fun bout, with a lot of talented performers in there. It was great to see Mandrews get some screen-time and he made a real case for deserving more focus with a series of action with Lee and Everrett that was among the best in the match. The angle with The Helms Dynasty was done well and actually protected Sutter from a loss to Bennett, allowing him to keep the momentum of winning the battle royal. 

Sienna retained the Knockout's Championship over Gail Kim in a match that aired on the show. Not a whole lot of interesting wrestling content here, with the sole highlight of the match being a nice reversal of a crucifix into a powerful Samoan drop from Sienna. The bout was fairly short and never really looked to get out of first gear as Jade came out to neutralise the distraction from Sienna's valet Allie, only for Marti Bell to attack Jade, which lead to eventual distraction that'd allow Sienna to hold onto her title. I absolutely hated Monty Brown's Pounce finisher so the fact that Sienna is now using it as The Silencer made me put my head in my hands and cry a little. 

It was the dream match we've all been waiting for as Grado, Mahabali Shera and a newly packaged Tyrus would go over Al Snow and The Tribunal in six man tag action. Yay. The crowd tried to chant "USA" at one point, which considering there was a Scotsman, an Indian and an American on one team and two Frenchmen and an American on the other team made literally zero sense. The match wasn't terrible, with some nice ref distraction and heely goings on from the Tribunal and Snow and a decent hot tag from Tyrus. The end of the bout was a bit messy though, before Tyrus would win with a weak looking World's Strongest Slam.  

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 4.79/10

Not a great show this week, with a few clunky segments and matches that could have done with a bit more thought and tidying up. I think the best way to describe this show was that it felt very "first draft". Some good ideas, but a lot of flab. The main event and the mental Hardyz segment keep it from turning into an utter mess. It's ironic that the one thing that felt like it was overly cut short was the one part of the show that really excelled at what was done. With a bit more main event this show would have been much improved.