TV Review: TNA Impact Wrestling #608 (Angle vs. Lashley)

Broadcast on 8th March 2016 (taped 31st January 2016) the 608th episode of TNA's Impact Wrestling aired from the Barclaycard Arena in Birmingham, West Midlands, England. Kurt Angle had his last match for TNA as he faced Lashley and The Wolves defended their TNA World Tag Team Championships against Beer Money...but was it any good? Let's find out

impact wrestling #608 match card

Match 1 - TNA King of the Mountain Championship King of the Mountain - Big Damo vs. Bram vs. Eric Young (C) vs. Jimmy Havoc vs. Will Ospreay

Match 2 - TNA Knockout's Championship - Gail Kim (C) vs. Jade 

Match 3 - TNA World Tag Team Championship - Beer Money vs. The Wolves (C)

Match 4 - Singles - Lashley vs. Kurt Angle

tna talents pay tribute to kurt angle

Numerous TNA talents surrounded the ring to open the show, as TNA said goodbye to one of their best ever performers and 6 time TNA World Heavyweight Champion, Kurt Angle. Dixie Carter was the first to thank Angle for his time with the company and quite rightly TNA had edited out the "What?" chant that had hampered Dixie's emotional speech when I watched the segment get taped. Drew Galloway also took the time put over Kurt Angle and thank him for choosing the wrestle him twice on Angle's farewell tour. The last person to get involved was Lashley, who continued his slow-burn heel turn. His promo ability still isn't the strongest around, but he did what he to do here. A good idea to build towards Angle's final match with the company later on in the show and one that came off much better on TV than it did live in the arena. 

eric young defeats bram, will ospreay, jimmy havoc and big damo to retain the tna king of the mountain championship in a king of the mountain match

RANDOM KING OF THE MOUNTAIN MATCH WITH ABSOLUTELY NO BUILD...BECAUSE...TNA! The real success of this match for me was that it offered a good showcase for the British Indy talent. IPW:UK's Will Ospreay and Jimmy Havoc, and ICW's Big Damo all looked comfortable in front of the 3000+ crowd and working alongside two accomplished TV performers like Eric Young and Bram. Havoc's dive off the top of the Penalty Box cage and Ospreay taking a Neckbreaker off the ladder from Young stand out as the two best spots of the match. It was a shame that the match never had me convinced that Young would be dropping the title, as the format of the contest held things back a little in that sense. Bram and Eric Young eventually going at it provided a cool moment, that the crowd was more into than I would have expected, getting behind fellow Brit, Bram, before Young would eventually hang the title for the victory. Not the greatest example of the gimmick this one, but still will hopefully have had anyone new to Ospreay, Havoc or Damo looking to find out more about these three talented wrestlers.

fast-forward...Maria put in a killer performance in her backstage segment with Dixie Carter, no idea what actually happened though...

mike bennett and drew galloway continue to clash

The feud between Mike Bennett and Drew Galloway continued to grow, as the two had a war of words. Bennett opening the segment by claiming that he deserved a world title shot, citing that Kurt Angle leaving TNA and Ethan Carter III now being unable to challenge for the World title as reasons for this. The Birmingham crowd was on the Miracle's back, and Galloway heading out got a decent pop. The former ROH World Tag Team Champion has quickly aclimatised to the TNA environment and this feud with Galloway should leave him a position to become a major star for the promotion, he's got all the tools to do it, just as this segment proved. Galloway got the better of Bennett in the confrontation, but The Miracle still managed to escape before the former WWE Intercontinental Champion could hit the Claymore kick.

fast-forward...Backstage, Kurt Angle chatted to the TNA World Tag Team Champions The Wolves, wishing them good luck in their defense against Beer Money and also giving Davey Richards his blessing to use the Ankle Lock...

gail kim defeats jade to retain the tna knockout's championship

I'll be the first to admit that this match could have been a hell of a lot better, but it was still a solid slice of women's wrestling. Certain elements of the match could have done with emphasising for me, as there were a lot of ideas here that could have done with being spotlighting more. Gail locking on a Figure Four on the ringpost, for example, seemed to be thrown away when it could have been used to really drive the story of the contest. A big thumbs up for Gail selling her shoulder following a series of submission moves focused on that area. A highlight of the action for me was Jade turning Gail's rana attempt into a powerbomb, which looked brutal and was timed very well. A bit of a scrappy finish as Gail got the win, with Jade rolling through a crossbody for a two count before Gail rolled back through for the win, which was seemingly to set up a rematch between the two. Hopefully a rematch get's a little bit more time and attention, as this only scratched the surface of what the two talent should be capable of together. (8 minutes, 15 seconds)

beer money defeats the wolves to win the tna world tag team championship

The best match of the night for me here, as two of TNA's best tandems a very good tag bout for the Birmingham crowd. The match went back and forth, with both sides afforded exciting hot tag sequences, that made use of having two babyface tag teams in the ring together. This kept things a great tempo throughout, whilst allowing the crowd to stay lively with things pretty much split down the middle for the two sides. The closing sequences of action were superb as both sides traded big moves with all four guys getting involved and the pace rising and rising. It was a real shame that Davey Richards suffered a leg injury as he came off the top rope to take James Storm's version of the Codebreaker. This meant that Eddie Edwards had to finish the match alone, and lead to the finish feeling a little flat when Beer Money hit their D.W.I. tag finish. A rematch once Richards' is fit again certainly wouldn't go a miss, it's just a shame that it might be a while until they get to do it again in front of such a captive audience as they had here. (14 minutes)

fast-forward...Mike Bennett and Kurt Angle had a confrontation backstage, which weirdly seemed to sew the seeds for a future Angle comeback...After a scuffle in the ring, Grado escaped with Eli Drake's Feast or Fired briefcase (Jessie Godderz and Mahabli Shera also got involved)...A tribute video to Kurt Angle aired, with Pat Kenny, Al Snow, Shane Helms and Earl Hebner putting over the former 4 time WWE World Heavyweight Champion... 

lashley defeats kurt angle

I think pretty much everyone in the arena had decided that Kurt Angle was going to win his final match in TNA, but that was with everyone thinking with their heart, rather than their head. Angle has always come across as the traditionalist and would surely have wanted to give back to company, by allowing someone to get some heat from defeating him. This was another good match on Angle's "Farewell Tour", up there with the bouts with Drew Galloway and Bobby Roode from recent weeks. Certainly, the match had a lot of similarities to those contests, being heavily based on submissions with Angle locking on the Ankle Lock a number of times. A highlight of the match for me was Lashley pulling himself to ropes whilst Angle had a Grapevined version of the hold on, only for Angle to pull him back into the ring and try to lock it on again. Lashley's selling following the hold was some of the best that I've seen from the former WWE United States Champion. Whilst there was some sweet amatuer style action on offer, I felt the bout suffered from an over-reliance on the pairs finishers, with Lashley hitting a number of Spears before getting the pin. Whilst none of his three matches on this tour would be up there with some of Angle's best work, in my opinion, the fact that he managed to wrestle 3 matches of this quality over consecutive nights at this stage in his career is a testament to the true talent that Kurt Angle is. TNA will struggle to replace him.

Following the match, Lashley cemented his heel turn, by levelling Angle following initially embracing his opponent. Lashley got a bucket load of heat for this, and managed to take out both Drew Galloway and Eddie Edwards (seemingly Davey Richards was still too injured to help out) with Spears as they attempted to make the save. The pay-off for the segment was Lashley deciding to back down from Ethan Carter III and leave the ring, with the two closing the show with a stare down. There's another interesting feud to be had here, if the right heel role is found for Lashley, I'm intrigued to see exactly where TNA takes this towards the end of March and into April on TV. 

finally...

atpw scale rating - 5.68/10

Three weeks in a row that Impact Wrestling has managed to top it's best ATPW Scale Rating for 2016! Whilst this week's show receives just 0.02 more than last week, to see the show manage to maintain strong scores over the last few weeks is hopefully a sign that TNA is beginning to turn to the corner. There wasn't any particularly blow away on this week's show, but there was consitently solid content throughout the show, with every match and segment providing some form of entertainment. The show peaked towards the end of the broadcast with Beer Money winning the TNA World Tag Team Championships, before Kurt Angle lost his final contest to Lashley in the main event. 

There was certainly room for improvement throughout, with the biggest example being the lack of build for Eric Young's King of the Mountain Championship defence, that with a little extra thought (Young being forced to defend his title after upsetting Dixie Carter for example) would have resulted in a better and more satisfying contest. 

We'll have to see whether TNA can keep up the solid run of shows in the UK over the last five weeks when they return to Orlando next week with a live episode, featuring Ethan Carter III getting another shot at Matt Hardy's TNA World Heavyweight Championship and the return of Jeff Hardy against TNA King of the Mountain Champion, Eric Young.

TV Review: TNA IMPACT Wrestling #607 (Angle vs. Roode)

*DISCLAIMER - This review contains spoilers for the 607th episode of the Impact Wrestling that will air on 6th March 2016 on Challenge TV in the UK and other international territories. Parts of this review are taken from our Live Event Review of the TV Taping that this show was a part of, which can be found here and here also contains spoilers for Impact Wrestling #608, Xplosion episodes and One Night Only: Joker's Wild*

Broadcast on 1st March 2016 (taped 30th/31st January 2016) the 607th episode of TNA's Impact Wrestling aired from the SSE Arena, Wembley, London and the Barclaycard Arena, Birmingham, both England. Kurt Angle faced Bobby Roode in the former 4 time WWE World Heavyweight Champion's penultimate match with TNA and Ethan Carter III attempted to gain some revenge on Rockstar Spud in an Unsanctioned Street Fight...but was it any good? Let's find out.  

impact wrestling #607 match card

Match 1 - Singles - Bobby Roode vs. Kurt Angle

Match 2 - No Disqualification - Abyss w/The Decay vs. Jimmy Havoc

Match 3 - TNA King of the Mountain Championship - Big Damo vs. Eric Young (C) w/Bram

Match 4 - Singles - Mike Bennett vs. Drew Galloway

Match 5 - Unsanctioned Street Fight - Ethan Carter III vs. Rockstar Spud

kurt angle defeats bobby roode

For me, this was the best match of the night, as Kurt Angle faced Bobby Roode for the ninth and final time. The two have a clear chemistry in the ring and exchanged holds with ease in the first half of the match. I enjoyed the pacing of things here, especially in the earlier portion of the bout as they kept things slow and allowing Roode to slip into a tweener role as he attempted to put Angle away. In a similar sequence to the one Angle used with Drew Galloway on Impact Wrestling #604, there was some strong submission based wrestling with the duo trading Ankle Locks and Crossfaces. Roode did an especially good job of selling his injured ankle towards the end of the match. Both men got decent near falls off the Angle Slam and Roode Bomb respectively, although I'm not sure how much I bought into them after previous matches on Angle's Farewell Tour. With Angle recording his 4th victory in a row over Roode, the match felt like it finished way too early, as there was potential to grow into a very special match, in front of a London crowd who were hyped. The duo have had better encounters with each other on Impact Wrestling in 2013 and 2014, as well as the 2013 edition of Bound For Glory, but this was still a high quality opener for a TV show, that the rest of the episode struggled to follow. 

The after match festivities were a lot of fun, as James Storm headed down to the ring to celebrate with Angle and commiserate Roode, as Beer Money held a bit of a beer bash for the TNA Hall of Famer. Obviously, with Angle not drinking, there was a wonderful moment when Storm pulled a 4 litre bottle of milk from his bag and the crowd chanted "Chug, Chug, Chug" Utter silliness ensued as Angle spilled more milk down him than he got in mouth! Angle then made sure that we had another quality match scheduled for the next week, as he called out The Wolves and set them up for a match with Beer Money with the TNA World Tag Team Championships on the line! Fun, fun, fun. 

ethan carter iii challenges rockstar spud to a fight

A superb segment here as Rockstar Spud gave his explanation for siding with Matt Hardy in last week's Steel Cage TNA World Heavyweight Championship match and turning on Ethan Carter III. Considering that the majority of the Birmingham crowd wouldn't have seen Spud turn on EC3, I thought all involved did a great job in getting Spud heat. Matt Hardy was out before Spud in another clever piece of booking. Having Spud side with The Iconic One who has proved to be a hated TNA World Heavyweight Champion across the entire UK tour, allowed the former 2 time TNA X Division Champion a great platform on which to portray his new heel character, with the Barclaycard Arena happy to shower their hometown boy with boos and "Who Are Ya?" chants. Spud's promo was glorious as he called back to losing his hair to EC3 a year ago, and how he felt the fans didn't have his back, going as far to call himself a "National Treasure". The segment closed with EC3 heading down to the ring and taking Hardy and Tyrus, with Spud escaping up the entrance ramp, before EC3 cut a fiery promo challenging Spud to a "fight" later tonight. 

abyss defeats jimmy havoc in a no disqualification match

IPW:UK regular Jimmy Havoc made his in-ring TNA debut, against the man most would have booked him against if given the chance, Abyss (accompanied by The Decay). A rematch from SWE Great Expectations in Stevenage last July, this was a fun bout, full of weapons and big highspots, but felt very short for what it needed to be. Havoc took most of the big bumps in the match, crashing through a table at ringside and taking a Black Hole Slam onto a barbed wire board for the finish, as the former NWA World Heavyweight Champion dominated and controlled the pace with ease. This was probably the best the two could do with the time they were given, and just a week worth of build. It's a shame that this storyline was so rushed, and that Havoc is seemingly done with TNA, for now, as there was a lot more potential here than what was eventually realised.

gail kim calls out maria

The Women's segment of the evening, started with TNA Knockout's Gail Kim cutting a promo about being a wrestler. Despite having the upmost respect for Gail as a performer, after seeing her cringe-worthy mixed tag bout teaming with Lashley against Tyrus and Jade at the London TV taping back in January, I found it hard to buy into a lot of what she was saying. However, I did think that Maria's reply was superb. The meat of promo consisted of ripping on Gail and pulling apart pieces of promo, questioning why Gail married a celebrity chef and aired their wedding on TV, if she only wanted to be a wrestler and not a celebrity. Finishing off by name dropping Donald Trump and you had another entertaining promo from one of TNA's best signings in recent memory. There was of the most heat I've heard for a very long time, Maria had the Barclaycard Arena worked up into an absolute frenzy. The segment concluded with Gail chasing Maria up the entrance ramp, only for Jade to attack the Knockout's Champion and challenge her to a match later on in the night. Great stuff. 

eric young defeats big damo to retain the tna king of the mountain championship

After Eric Young (with Bram) had issued a challenge to any Brit in the back to come and face him for the TNA King of the Mountain strap, out came ICW regular Big Damo to make his TNA debut. It seemed like Damo wasn't quite as over as Jimmy Havoc was earlier in the evening, with the crowd reluctant to get behind him, over the villainous, but familiar Young. Having said that, the crowd did warm to him by the end of clash, as once he managed to string a few big moves together, many began to realise that he wasn't your generic big man. Unfortunately, the match didn't produce anything that made me think that Young wouldn't be returning his title, and I was proved right when he hit a truly spectacular piledriver and a near 300lb Irishman. Way too short once again to truly explore what the two could've done together, but it does however continue to rise the prestige of the King of the Mountain Championship and solidify Young as one of the top heels in the company.

mike bennett defeats drew galloway via submission

After defeating Mandrews, Robbie E and Pepper Parks since his TNA debut in January, this was almost certainly the biggest win of Mike Bennett's TNA career. Made even more special by the fact that Galloway had defeated Kurt Angle on Impact Wrestling #604. The two wrestled a reasonable contest, working well for their first match with each other. Galloway bought a real fire to the contest, going straight after Bennett from the first bell, this made it much easier to buy into the idea of his hate for his opponent. The partnership of Bennett and Maria was spotlighted again as The First Lady of Wrestling helped her husband to stay in the match, putting his foot on the ropes when The Voice of the People had locked on his new Iron Maiden submission hold. There's more to come in this rivalry that is steadily heating up, with both guys having potential to put on a great match in the future, if they get the mix just right.

fast-forward...A recap of Kurt Angle and Lashley's TNA World Heavyweight Championship match from IMPACT Wrestling #557 (aired March 2015)...

ethan carter III "defeats" rockstar spud in an unsantioned street fight

This was a bit of a weird one and didn't quite hit the mark for me. Firstly, I couldn't get my head around their not being a referee for the bout...well, I understand the concept, but don't think it really paid off here. EC3 battered Rockstar Spud for 8 minutes or so, with Spud getting in minimal offence throughout (Mainly underhanded stuff like eyes rakes and low blows). There was some cool spots here, like Spud getting powerbombed through a table, but nothing that managed to trump anything that happened in the recent tag team Monster's Ball from IMPACT Wrestling #605 or Jimmy Havoc vs. Abyss that aired earlier in the night. For a feud that has so much depth I was a little disappointed with what was presented here and even more so with how rushed this was, with Spud only turning on EC3 last week, after the pair had reconciled just a few weeks prior. The finish of the match that saw EC3 have to be pulled off Spud after locking in a Chicken Wing submission, was another strange piece of booking, with the crowd having no idea how to react to their new hero refusing to let go off a hold on someone they hadn't actually seen turn heel.

finally...

atpw scale rating - 5.66/10

After last week's IMPACT Wrestling managed to score the highest mark of 2016 so far, this week's edition has managed to top it. Two fine promo segments were the highlight of the show for me, with Rockstar Spud and Maria both shining in their respective segments. Kurt Angle and Bobby Roode also put forward a quality TV, Jimmy Havoc and Abyss did the best they could in an entertaining No Disqualification match and Mike Bennett got a big victory over Drew Galloway in a match that showed signs of real potential in the pair's current rivalry.

That being said, there was still the case of some of the content needing a little bit more time to breath and tell a more satisfying story. This couldn't have been seen clearer in one of the marquee bouts between Rockstar Spud and Ethan Carter III. Rushed from last week's heel turn from Spud, it felt like with a few extra week's to tell their particular story then this would have been a much more satisfying close to the show. 

Next week has a lot of promise, as the final show from the UK tour will see Kurt Angle wrestle his final TNA match, opposite Lashley, as well as Beer Money challenging The Wolves for the TNA World Tag Team Championship! See you next week.

Live Event Review: TNA Maximum Impact VIII Tour - Birmingham (Gauntlet Battle Royal)

*DISCLAIMER - This article contains spoilers for the 607th and 608th episodes of Impact Wrestling. These will air on the 1st and 8th March on Pop! in the USA and 6th and 13th March on Challenge in the UK. There's also spoilers for the upcoming One Night Only: Joker's Wild PPV and episodes of Xplosion* 

On 31st January 2016, TNA concluded their eighth tour of the United Kingdom at the Barclaycard Arena in Birmingham with a double TV taping for Impact Wrestling and more! The likes of Jade, Will Ospreay, Bram, Tigre Uno and Mandrews battled it out in Gauntlet Battle Royal, The Wolves defended their TNA World Tag Team Championships against Beer Money, Kurt Angle said goodbye to TNA with the roster at ringside and Angle wrestled his last match from TNA against Lashley...but was it any good?

full card

Match 1 - Tag Team - Big Damo & Jimmy Havoc vs. Drew Galloway & Mike Bennett

Match 2 - Singles - Jessie Godderz vs. Tigre Uno

Match 3 - Unsanctioned - Ethan Carter III vs. Rockstar Spud

Match 4 - Tag Team - The Beautiful People (Madison Rayne & Velvet Sky) vs. The Dollhouse (Marti Belle & Rebel)

Match 5 - TNA King of the Mountain Championship King of the Mountain - Big Damo vs. Bram vs. Eric Young (C) vs. Jimmy Havoc vs. Will Ospreay

Match 6 - TNA Knockout's Championship - Gail Kim (C) vs. Jade

Match 7 - TNA World Tag Team Championship - Beer Money vs. The Wolves (C)

Match 8 - Singles - Kurt Angle vs. Lashley

Match 9 - Gauntlet Battle Royal - Bram vs. Drew Galloway vs. Eddie Edwards vs. Eric Young vs. Grado vs. Jade vs. Mandrews vs. Matt Hardy vs. Mike Bennett (with Maria) vs. Rockstar Spud vs. Tigre Uno vs. Tyrus vs. Will Ospreay

drew galloway and mike bennett defeat big damo and jimmy havoc

Created under the "Joker's Wild" format (and supposedly taped for that PPV) this was decent opener, that focused on the on-going issues between Drew Galloway and Mike Bennett that had played out for the last few days of the tour, whilst also showcasing the talents of IPW:UK's Jimmy Havoc and SWA's Big Damo. Both Havoc and Damo were allowed to show off what they had to offer with technically sound sequences with the Feast or Fired briefcase holder. It was a shame that slip by Damo whilst trying to hit a Bret's rope White Noise saw the crowd turn on him slightly, with more than a couple of comments being made around me. This is a move I've seen the Irishman have trouble with before. Galloway and Bennett ended up advancing to the final, with a fun finish that saw Bennett steal a pin cover from Galloway after the former EVOLVE Champion had leveled Havoc with a Claymore Kick.

ethan carter iii challenges rockstar spud to a fight

This was one of my favourite talking segments of the weekend, if not my outright favourite. Considering that the majority of the Birmingham crowd wouldn't have seen Rockstar Spud turn on Ethan Carter III during his Steel Cage match with Matt Hardy, the previous night in London, I thought all involved did a great job in getting Spud heat. After Jeremy Borash had explained to the crowd what had happened the night before, Matt Hardy was out before Spud in another clever piece of booking. Having Spud side with a Matt Hardy who has proved to be a hated TNA World Heavyweight Champion across the entire UK tour, allowed the former 2 time TNA X Division Champion a great platform on which to portray his new heel character, with the Barclaycard Arena happy to shower their hometown boy with boos. Spud's promo was glorious as he called back to losing his hair to EC3 a year ago, and how he felt the fans didn't have his back, going as far to call himself a "National Treasure". My only complaint about the segment, that ended with a vicious promo from EC3 challenging Spud to a fight, was that the timing of Spud's turn seemed a little off, coming off Spud being announced as an ambassador for the Starlight Foundation.

jessie godderz defeats tigre uno

Undoubtedly the worst match of the tour here, as Jessie Godderz and Tigre Uno stumbled through a bout that struggled to connect with the crowd. A number of notable botches throughout, and featured some heat scratching pieces of offence. Uno landing belly first on the top rope and Godderz shaking it a little (as if Uno had landed balls first) was one of the strangest bits of action that I've seen live in all of wrestling. I'm not sure what happened here, as both guys had seemed a least competent in the ring at the previous two tapings, but here looked like they'd never stepped into a ring before. The finish of the match wasn't much better, as Godderz botched a Boston Crab attempt somehow, and had to lock it in twice, whilst Uno lay there. Just awful. The only saving grace here was that Uno was, at least, mildly over with the Birmingham crowd.

gail kim calls out maria 

The first Women's segment of the evening, started with TNA Knockout's Gail Kim cutting a promo about being a wrestler. Despite having the upmost respect for Gail as a performer, after seeing her cringe-worthy mixed tag bout teaming with Lashley against Tyrus and Jade the night before, I found it hard to buy into a lot of what she was saying. However, I did think that Maria's reply was superb. With a long drawn out tete a tete with the Barclaycard Arena, as she kept asking  "Do you want to hear me talk some more?" and got a tremendous amount of heat. The meat of promo consisted of ripping on Gail and pulling apart pieces of promo, questioning why Gail married a celebrity chef and aired their wedding on TV, if she only wanted to be a wrestler and not a celebrity. Finishing off by name dropping Donald Trump and you had another entertaining promo from one of TNA's best signings in recent memory. The segment concluded with Gail chasing Maria up the entrance ramp, only for Jade to attack the Knockout's Champion and challenge her to a match later on in the night. 

ethan carter III "defeats" rockstar spud in a birmingham street fight

This was a bit of a weird one and didn't quite hit the mark for me. Firstly, I couldn't get my head around their not being a referee for the bout...well, I understand the concept, but don't think it really paid off here. EC3 battered Rockstar Spud for 8 minutes or so, with Spud getting in minimal offence throughout. There was some cool spots here, like Spud getting powerbombed through a table, but nothing that managed to trump anything that happened in the tag team Monster's Ball in Manchester or Jimmy Havoc vs. Abyss in a No DQ in London. For a feud that has so much depth I was a little disappointed with what was presented here. The finish of the match that saw EC3 have to be pulled off Spud after locking in a Chicken Wing submission, was another strange piece of booking, with the crowd having no idea how to react to their new hero refusing to let go off a hold on someone they hadn't actually seen turn heel.

tna talents pay tribute to kurt angle

Numerous TNA talents surrounded the ring, as TNA said good bye to one of their best ever performers and 6 time TNA World Heavyweight Champion, Kurt Angle. Dixie Carter was the first to thank Angle for his time with the company. It was a shame that the Birmingham crowd decided now was the time to pull out the "What?" chant as Dixie's emotional speech was pretty much ruined because of it. I'm hoping that it can be rescued for TV. Drew Galloway also took the time put over Kurt Angle and thank him for choosing the wrestle him twice on Angle's farewell tour. The last person to get involved was Lashley, who continued his slow-burn heel turn, well, I think he did, as you could barely hear what he had to say as he mumbled some words down the mic and buggered off. A good idea to build towards Angle's final match with the company, that unfortunately came off a bit flat in the arena.

the beautiful people defeat the dollhouse 

This match seemingly put the Beautiful People's feud with The Dollhouse to bed, as Velvet Sky and Madison Rayne dominated a fairly basic women's tag team match. Velvet and Madison were put over as the stronger duo for the most part, with the Dollhouse managing to get in some offence on Madison with numerous underhanded tricks. The crowd seemed very into the Beautiful People here, especially once the hot tag was made to Velvet and this buoyed the match a little bit, with Velvet winning the match for her team with a Stunner. For a feud ender, especially after the Lethal Lockdown match the previous night, this could have a little more oomph behind it to truly satisfy. Obviously, women's programmes for the tour had to changed, due to Awesome Kong being sent home, and considering that TNA did a decent job of shuffling things up throughout the tour.

eric young defeats bram, will ospreay, jimmy havoc and big damo to retain the tna king of the mountain championship in a king of the mountain match

The real success of this match for me was that it offered a good showcase for the British Indy talent. IPW:UK's Will Ospreay and Jimmy Havoc, and ICW's Big Damo both looked comfortable in front of the 3000+ crowd and working alongside two accomplished TV performers like Eric Young. Havoc's dive of the top of the Penalty Box cage and Ospreay taking a Neckbreaker off the ladder from Young stand out as the two best spots of the match. It was a shame that the match never had me convinced that Young would be dropping the title, as the format of the contest held things back a little in that sense. Bram and Eric Young eventually going at it provided a cool moment, that the crowd was more into than I would have expected, getting behind fellow Brit, Bram, before Young would eventually hang the title for the victory. Not the greatest example of the gimmick this one, but still will hopefully have had anyone new to Ospreay, Havoc or Damo looking to find out more about these three talented wrestlers.

mike bennett and drew galloway continue to clash

The feud between Mike Bennett and Drew Galloway continued to grow, as the two had a war of words. Bennett opening the segment by claiming that he deserved a world title shot, citing that Kurt Angle leaving TNA and Ethan Carter III now being unable to challenge for the World title as reasons for this. The Birmingham crowd was once again on the Miracle's back, and Galloway heading out got a decent pop. The former ROH World Tag Team Champion has quickly aclimatised to the TNA enviroment and this feud with Galloway should leave him a position to become a major star for the promotion, he's got all the tools to do it, just as this segment proved.

gail kim defeats jade to retain the tna knockout's championship

Gail Kim and Jade are two of the best Women's wrestlers on TV and it was a shame that the crowd didn't seem particularly into what they had to offer. Although I'll be the first to admit that this match could have been a hell of a lot better, it was still a solid slice of women's wrestling. Certain elements of the match could have done with emphasising for me, as there were a lot of ideas here that could have done with being spotlighting more. Gail locking on a Figure Four on the ringpost, for example, seemed to be thrown away when it could have been used to really drive the story of the contest. A highlight of the action for me was Jade turning Gail's rana attempt into a powerbomb, which looked brutal and was timed very well. A bit of a scrappy finish as Gail got the win, which was seemingly to set up a rematch between the two. Hopefully a rematch get's a little bit more time and attention, as this only scratched the surface of what the two talent should be capable of together.

beer money defeats the wolves to win the tna world tag team championship

The best match of the night for me here, as two of TNA's best tandems a very good tag bout for the Birmingham crowd. The match went back and forth, with both sides afforded exciting hot tag sequences, that made use of having two babyface tag teams in the ring together. This kept things a great tempo throughout, whilst allowing the crowd to stay lively with things pretty much split down the middle for the two sides. The closing sequences of action were superb as both sides traded big moves with all four guys getting involved and the pace rising and rising. It was a real shame that Davey Richards seemed to suffer a leg injury as he came off the top rope to take James Storm's version of the Codebreaker. This meant that Eddie Edwards had to finish the match alone, and lead to the finish feeling a little flat when Beer Money hit their D.W.I. tag finish. A rematch once Richards' is fit again certainly wouldn't go a miss, it's just a shame that it might be a while until they get to do it again in front of such a captive audience as they had here.

grado steals eli drake's feast or fired briefcase

The Grado vs. Eli Drake feud continued, as after luring Eli Drake and Jessie Godderz out into the arena, Grado was able to use a distraction from his pal, Mahabli Shera to nab Drake's Feast or Fired briefcase for a shot at the TNA King of the Mountain Championship and run up the entrance way. Whether we'll finally get to see what Grado's proof that he was screwed was or not, I have no idea, but this was a short piece of comic relief, nothing more, nothing less.

lashley defeats kurt angle

I think pretty much everyone in the arena had decided that Kurt Angle was going to win his final match in TNA, but that was with everyone thinking with their heart, rather than their head. Angle has always come across as the traditionalist and would surely have wanted to give back to company, by allowing someone to get some heat from defeating him. This was another good match on Angle's "Farewell Tour", up there with the bouts with Drew Galloway and Bobby Roode from the previous two nights. Certainly, the match had a lot of similarities to those contests, being heavily based on Submissions with Angle locking on the Ankle Lock a number of times. A highlight of the match for me was Lashley pulling himself to ropes whilst Angle had a Grapevined version of the hold on, only for Angle to pull him back into the ring and try to lock it on again. Lashley's selling following the hold was some of the best that I've seen from the former WWE United States Champion. Whilst there was some sweet amatuer style action on offer, I felt the bout suffered from an over-reliance on the pairs finishers, with Lashley hitting a number of Spears before getting the pin. Whilst none of his three matches on this tour would be up there with some of Angle's best work, in my opinion, the fact that he managed to wrestle 3 matches back-to-back of this quality at this stage in his career is a testament to the true talent that Kurt Angle is. TNA will struggle to replace him.

Following the match, Lashley cemented his heel turn, by levelling Angle following initially embracing 4 time WWE World Heavyweight Champion. Lashley got a bucket load of heat for this, and managed to take out both Drew Galloway and Eddie Edwards (seemingly Davey Richards was still too injured to help out) with Spears as they attempted to make the save. The pay-off for the segment was Lashley deciding to back down from Ethan Carter III and leave the ring, with the two ending the segment in a stare down. There's another interesting feud to be had here, if the right heel role is found for Lashley, I'm interested to see exactly where TNA takes this towards the end of March and into April on television.

drew galloway defeats bram, eddie edwards, eric young, grado, jade, mandrews, matt hardy, mike bennett, rockstar spud, tigre uno, tyrus and will ospreay in a gauntlet battle royal

What a strange, strange match this was. After three nights of four hours worth of tapings, I was completely drained, so a 13-man half an hour plus Gauntlet Battle Royal (Essentially a Royal Rumble) wasn't exactly the first thing on my mind to end the weekend. The match was a pretty slow affair for the most part, and wasn't helped by a good proportion of the crowd already gone after the Lashley vs. Angle match, and those that were left absolutely knackered from three and half hours of taping. The start of the bout was a little awkward as Mandrews was quickly dumped out by Mike Bennett (seemingly due to the injury suffered by Mandrews at the London taping) leaving Bennett in the ring alone, before Jade and Tigre Uno botched a Tornado DDT twice.

Someone who's performance deserves a mention was that of IPW:UK talent Will Ospreay who was a beam of light in the middle of the bout. Ospreay put on a display for the Barclaycard Arena, showing just a glimpse of his thrilling moveset as he flew around the ring, including hitting beautiful standing shooting star press. The crowd quickly got behind The Aerial Assassin and it was a shame to see him eliminated before the bout reached it's conclusion and you could feel the crowd deflate as soon as he was chucked out. 

The final moments of the bout were perhaps some of it's finest, as Grado, Mike Bennett, Drew Galloway and TNA World Heavyweight Champion Matt Hardy remained in the bout. The pop for Grado ducking Hardy's charge and sending the Champion over the top rope was surprisingly big considering the arena was at most 2/3's full by this time. After Bennett sent Grado out, Bennett and Galloway put on some fine work going backwards and forwards on the apron. It was a shame that there was nothing of any real importance on the line here, as Galloway and Bennett created some real dramatic spots with both men teetering on the edge, that would have been even better with something behind it.

The show finished with a real party atmosphere as Grado congratulate Galloway and the two had some good banter on the microphone. Grado even ended up handing out a bag of Revels at ringside, what a time to be alive. A number of the babyface roster headed to the ring to have a good ol' dance also. In one of those moments that those who had stuck around will surely never forget, Billy Corgan offered to ring Madonna for Grado and ask her if he could use "Like A Prayer" on TV, only for Corgan to turn heel and refuse to do so, before leaving. The Barclaycard Arena played the song anyway and even Earl Hebner did a cartwheel in celebration. Things closed with Tyrus coming out to tell everyone about the upcoming curfew, refuse to do his Funkasaurus dance and then take a Stunner from Galloway to end the show. One of the strangest segments I've ever watched, but also some of the most fun I've had a wrestling show. Utterly ridiculous stuff.

view from the partner in crime

For each of the TNA tour shows I took a different pal along, just to keep things fresh. For Birmingham, I took work colleague and avid WWE fan, Luke Bowman. Here's his thoughts on the show...

When I was given the chance to represent ATPW on the recent TNA tour, I honestly didn’t know what to expect. But the excitement of being able to watch Kurt Angle's last match [with TNA] was something I wasn’t going to turn down. And believe me it was as emotional and electrifying as you’d expect with Bobby Lashley living up to the occasion wonderfully. Plus the added fact that I’d get to see one of my childhood heroes Matt Hardy, even if he didn’t live up to what I remembered of him, especially during the Battle royale which finished off an overall brilliant night of professional wrestling.

finally...

atpw scale rating - 4.83/10

Similar to the other two events on this tour, this was a long night of action and talk that had it's moments, but could have been much better. Rockstar Spud's showdown with Ethan Carter III was some of the best mic work of the entire tour, but was followed up by an Birmingham Street Fight that didn't quite hit the spot for me. Beer Money and The Wolves tore it up over the TNA World Tag Team Championships, only for Davey Richards to suffer an injury that hampered the closing stages of the bout. Kurt Angle's final match in the TNA was a good bout with Lashley, that saw the later return to his role as one of the companies top heels, and produce a storyline with EC3 that could run for months, but Dixie Carter's farewell speech to the TNA Hall of Famer was destroyed with "What?" chants from the Barclaycard Arena. The less said about Jessie Godderz and Tigre Uno's stinker the better!

Finally, the tour closed with a strangely placed battle royal, that featured competitors who had won previously taped "Joker's Wild" tag team matches, only one of which had taken place at this event. A thirty minutes battle royal, the longest match of the entire tour was a big ask for a group of fans that had already gone through three hours of action.

For me, this show was the 2nd best of the tour, coming in behind the London show the previous night, but stepping up just a head of the opening night in Manchester. 

TV Review: TNA Impact Wrestling #605 (The Wolves vs. The Decay *MONSTER'S BALL*)

On the 16th February 2015, the 605th episode of TNA's Impact Wrestling aired on Pop TV. The show featured The Wolves defending their TNA World Tag Team Championships against The Decay's Abyss & Crazzy Steve and TNA World Heavyweight Champion Matt Hardy teamed with Tyrus to face Ethan Carter III and Rockstar Spud...but was it any good? Let's find out!

match card

Match 1 - TNA King of the Mountain Championship - Eric Young (C) w/Bram vs. James Storm w/Bobby Roode

Match 2 - Singles - Mike Bennett vs. Mandrews

Match 3 - TNA World Tag Team Championship Monster's Ball - The Decay w/Rosemary vs. The Wolves (C)

Match 4 - Tag Team - Gail Kim & Madison Rayne vs. The Dollhouse w/Rebel

Match 5 - Tag Team - Eli Drake & Jessie Godderz vs. Mahabali Shera & Odarg the Great

Match 6 - Tag Team - TNA World Heavyweight Champion Matt Hardy & Tyrus vs. Ethan Carter III & Rockstar Spud

fast-forward...A recap from last week's show featuring The Wolves challenging The Decay to a TNA World Tag Team Championship match, with Abyss making the match Monster's Ball and TNA World Heavyweight Champion Matt Hardy failing to make Dixie Carter fire her nephew Ethan Carter III...In a backstage area, Dixie Carter revealed to Ethan Carter III that he'd face Matt Hardy for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship inside a Steel Cage at Lockdown in London next week, before EC3 said he'd be heading to the ring to kick off the show...

ethan carter iii called out tyrus

Ethan Carter III was out to cement his babyface turn and open the show, with the former TNA World Heavyweight Champion calling out Tyrus for a fight, after accusing the former Funkasaurus of breast-feeding Matt Hardy's child. There was an awful lot cut from EC3's opening speech from what was heard in the Manchester Arena, as his ass-kicking babyface who swears a lot character was toned down a hell of a lot, with absolutely no reference to the poop chute or any other orifice. Obviously this lead to ambush attack by Hardy, with EC3 managing to escape unharmed, and it was confirmed that Hardy & Tyrus would team up to face EC3 and a partner of his choice later on in the show.

james storm and eric young go to a no contest over the king of the mountain championship

James Storm and Eric Young are two very competent workers inside the six sided ring and it would be difficult to fault anything they did inside that ring. However, they did both seem to go through the motions in this one as the trod water until the messy DQ/non finish thing that happened. I'm not even sure what did happen here, but it ended up in Bram and Bobby Roode both getting involved and the match seemingly being thrown out. There was however a cool crowd brawl that followed, with James Storm throwing beer over Bram. With the two teams facing each other at Lockdown next week, I suppose this arena wide brawl was to push what the two teams would do when confined to the six sided ring and we'd see it continue throughout the night.

fast-forward...Drew Galloway approached Ethan Carter III about being his partner in the main event, with EC3 claiming he wanted to "go it alone"...

mike bennett defeated mandrews

Mike Bennett (with Maria) continued his feud with Drew Galloway, cutting a post-match promo about both his rival and the man we saw him with earlier in the night, Kurt Angle, before calling out Mandrews for a match. This was another bout, that having Mandrews and Mike Bennett elsewhere, felt like it could have been so much better, but did the job it needed to do for TV. Bennett looked impressive in his comfortable victory. However, the finish came across as a little bit messy, as Bennett hit a Rope Hung Cutter, a wrist-lock transitioned into a right hook and then his Divine Intervention Samoa Driver to put Mandrews away in an over-crowded finish. Galloway was out to make the save when Bennett tried to do even more damage. The commentary was utterly useless throughout, never making me feel like Mandrews could pull off the upset, even when on offense, with Pope especially content to run-down the 24 year old from Cardiff, who is still without a singles win on Impact Wrestling and hasn't picked up a victory on TV since his October victory over Crazzy Steve on Xplosion.

fast-forward...The Decay's promo was interestingly shot through a grate, but fuck that shit, Jimmy Havoc debuted to reveal he's got some kind of past with Rosemary, sweet baby jesus...A recap of Kurt Angle's TNA World Heavyweight Championship victory over Lashley from the Impact Wrestling #557 

the wolves defeated the decay to retain the tna world tag team championship in monster's ball

This match was everything I wanted to be, as The Wolves and The Decay ran through a series of great spots and got all kinds of weapons involved in the action. Davey Richards suicide dive that sent Abyss crashing through a barbed wire board stands out particular, alongside Crazzy Steve getting whacked with Janice (with a Steel Chair getting in the way, to stop, you know, death). The story of the match with Davey Richards struggling to see following some red mist from Steve came across much clearer on television than it did inside the arena, with Josh Matthews keeping it in the mind of the home viewer nicely on commentary. He let himself down with the line "Davey Richards sucking the mist out of the mouth of Rosemary" however. The finish was a little bit of weird one again, as Eddie Edwards held an interfering Rosemary in place, and Richards threatened to hit her with a cheese grater, before deciding to plant a big ol' Ric Flair-esque smooch on her. It was a bit uncomfortable to watch, but the reveal that Richards' had somehow nicked Rosemary's green mist, was a pretty cool moment. The Wolves hitting their version of Chasing the Dragon onto a steel chair covered in thumb tacks ended the match on a high point, seemingly putting The Wolves vs. The Decay feud to bed. Easily the best match of the show as Richards & Edwards picked up their fifth defense of the titles since winning them from Brian Meyers & Trevor Lee on Impact Wrestling in September.

fast-forward...Ethan Carter III reminded Rockstar Spud that he wanted to face Tyrus & Matt Hardy on his own

madison rayne and gail kim defeat the dollhouse

It seemed like the crowd couldn't have cared less about this week's women's bout, as this tag match played out to almost complete silence. The babyfaces won with a roll up from Madison Rayne, but beyond that there was nothing memorable from this short 4 minute encounter. In almost a mirror image of last week's women's match, Velvet Sky came out to make the save after The Dollhouse attacked Gail and Madison post match. Velvet got a strong reaction from the Manchester Arena though, cutting a passionate promo challenging The Dollhouse to a Lethal Lockdown bout in London next week. 

fast-forward...Mahabli Shera bought out his new friend, Odarg the Great, in a bizarre backstage interview...Beer Money were still brawling backstage with Eric Young and Bram, before Bobby Roode issued a challenge for a Steel Cage match, next week at Lockdown...

odarg the great and mahabli shera defeat eli drake and jessie godderz

I popped hard for Odarg the Great, due to silliness of the whole storyline. Basically, if you hadn't worked out, Great is Grado under a mask. The match got a decent amount of time for a comedy bout, with Mahabli Shera working as the face in peril, as the crowd got ready to erupt for a Great hot tag! Pulling out all the signature moves, I couldn't have been happier with how this match went, as Shera & Great picked up a roll-up victory, as Drake had managed to un-mask the new comer, giving Grado (or Odarg) his first TV victory for TNA since last June. Utterly ridiculous stuff, I can imagine this might not be some people's cup of tea, but those people need to lighten up a bit! Long live Odarg the Great! 

ethan carter iii and rockstar spud defeated matt hardy and tyrus

With the main event being the fourth tag team match in a row, it has to be said that there was more than a little of a burn out effect by the time the bell rang to start this one. The narrative played out rather nicely, with Ethan Carter III coming out on his own and getting battered by Matt Hardy & Tyrus, before Rockstar Spud came out to be his partner. However, despite EC3's partner being no massive surprise, we did get a well played moment where after having an opportunity to tag in Spud, EC3 tried to keep going on his own, adding a decent layer of drama to the bout. A stand out moment from the bout saw EC3 go for a dive off the top rope to the outside, with Tyrus and Hardy failing to protect him properly, leading to EC3 face planting the floor in what looked like a pretty nasty bump, which actually looked much worse on TV than it did in the arena. Despite the drama, the finish was a little rushed, but EC3 getting a clean pinfall on Hardy after a One Percenter at least allowed EC3 some legit momentum heading into his TNA World Heavyweight Championship rematch next week and ended the show on a crowd pleasing moment. 

finally...

atpw scale rating - 4.71/10

An improvement on last week's score of 4.4, as well as the score for this TV taping as a whole (4.52) this was a slightly better episode, that takes the Episode of the tour crown for the time being. The Monster's Ball bout over the TNA World Tag Team Championship, as well as the tag bout that saw Rockstar Spud offer his help to Ethan Carter III against TNA World Heavyweight Champion Matt Hardy and Tyrus, both played their part producing two very different matches. One saw a feud end in utter chaos, whilst the other escalated a rivalry for a World Heavyweight Championship match next week. Personally, I felt the Monster's Ball match would have been a better fit as the main event of the show, because anything that followed was always going to struggle to compete with the violence, as we saw the women's tag team match suffer for going on straight after it. Overall, this wasn't the best two hours of wrestling you'll find, but it was watchable throughout with anything that wasn't particularly great no sticking around for too long and with two quality tag team matches as well.

Live Event Review: TNA Maximum Impact VIII Tour - Manchester (The Wolves vs. The Decay *Monster's Ball*)

*DISCLAIMER - This article contains spoilers for the 604th and 605th episodes of Impact Wrestling, as well as episodes of Xplosion. These will air on the 9th and 16th February on Pop! in the USA and 14th and 21st February on Challenge in the UK*
On 29th January 2016, TNA kicked off their eighth tour of the United Kingdom at the Manchester Arena in Hunts Bank, Manchester with a double TV taping for Impact Wrestling and more! TNA World Heavyweight Champion Matt Hardy demanded Dixie Carter fire Ethan Carter III, The Wolves defended the TNA World Tag Team Championships against The Decay in Monsters Ball, Kurt Angle went one on one with Drew Galloway and Matt Hardy teamed with Tyrus to take on Ethan Carter III and Rockstar Spud...but was it any good? 

Match Card 

1 - Singles - Mandrews vs. Will Ospreay

2 - Singles - Bram w/Eric Young vs. Lashley

3 - TNA X Division Championship - Tigre Uno vs. Trevor Lee (C) w/Gregory Shane Helms

4 - Tag Team - Beer Money (Bobby Roode & James Storm) vs. The Decay ("The Monster" Abyss & Crazzy Steve) w/Rosemary

5 - Singles - Jade w/The Dollshouse (Marti Belle & Rebel) vs. Madison Rayne 

6 - Singles - Drew Galloway vs. Kurt Angle

7 - Singles - Mandrews vs. "The Miracle" Mike Bennett w/Maria

8 - TNA King of the Moutain Championship - James Storm w/Bobby Roode vs. Eric Young (C) w/Bram

9 - Tag Team - Eli Drake & Jessie Godderz vs. Mahabli Shera & Odarg the Great

10 - TNA World Tag Team Championship Monster's Ball - The Decay ("The Monster" Abyss & Crazzy Steve) vs. The Wolves (C) (Davey Richards & Eddie Edwards)

11 - Tag Team - Gail Kim & Madison Rayne vs. The Dollhouse (Jade & Marti Belle) w/Rebel

12 - Tag Team - Ethan Carter III & Rockstar Spud vs. Matt Hardy & Tyrus

mandrews defeats will ospreay 

Anyone who's read my PROGRESS Wrestling reviews knows just how much I love Will Ospreay, so it was pretty cool getting to see his TNA debut against one of his most familiar opponents from the British independent circuit, Mandrews. With only a limited amount of time (there's been a lot made elsewhere about the pair only have four minutes wrestling time *cough* Meltzer *cough*) the pair pulled out their greatest hits in a fast paced, balls to the wall encounter. Reverse Rana's and skateboard madness, with Mandrews picking up the clean victory with a Shooting Star Press, this was just a little taster of what Ospreay and Mandrews are capable of inside that six sided ring. 

fast-forward...A sweet Ethan Carter III promo aired on the screen, this is the same promo that would later air on the #603 edition of Impact Wrestling...

matt hardy had stuff to say

The first appearance of the current TNA World Heavyweight Champion Matt Hardy, alongside wife Reby, infant son Maxel and bodyguard Tyrus, was an interesting one. The trio got a load of heat from a lively Manchester crowd, who weren't afraid to let the villainous group know how they felt. Whilst the jist of the segment was that Hardy wanted Dixie Carter to fire Ethan Carter III later in the night, the thing I'll take away most from this was the epic "Who are ya?" chant that Reby Sky got. It completely drowned out here entire promo, I hope that this comes across as well when this airs on TV! 

lashley defeats bram 

 Hmmm...this bout was a weird one. It was clearly being used to build Lashley as a force to be reckoned with, for his match with Kurt Angle later in the tour, but if that was the case the finish was certainly overbooked for it's needs. The wrestling content was fine, if not a little basic and Eric Young managed to work the crowd at ringside up nicely, being the most over element of the match. However, the aforementioned finish saw Bram hit his Brighter Side of Suffering finisher, and then Young jump onto the ring apron with King of the Mountain Championship, convincing Bram to lift up Lashley for a belt shot (which would have lead to the DQ) before Lashley ducked, hit a Spear and won the match. Maybe the commentary team will make more sense of this on TV than I could live. 

mike bennett interrupts kurt angle

Another slightly bizarre segment here. Firstly, Kurt Angle's crowd pleasing promo about his times coming to the UK was lovely. You know the like, "Manchester is awesome" "You fans are the best in the world" type thing that makes the crowd go "Yeah, we're in Manchester". Having Mike Bennett and Maria interrupt was where I was expecting business to really pick up and in a way it did and in a way it didn't. Bennett handled himself well on the microphone, cutting a promo about being a child and telling his Mom that one day he'd beat Kurt Angle, that was well paced and with an entertaining cadence. But then Angle said something and twatted Bennett in the face. Drew Galloway then came out and stood on the ramp. The promo really made me want to see Bennett get an opportunity against Angle, as they had weaved a great story for the match already, but with the two not scheduled to face each other on the tour, and Angle supposedly done with TNA afterward, I was a little confused at where the pay-off would come.   

trevor lee defeats tigre uno to retain the x division championship

With Trevor Lee's alignment with Gregory Shane Helms and subsequent TNA X Division Championship win still to air in the UK at this point, the Manchester crowd were luke warm for Tigre Uno's championship rematch, if not outright confused and indifferent. Lee and Uno put on a decent contest, but one that barely scratched the surface in terms of what a talent like Lee can do in the ring. With only five minutes allocated, and with the duo still seemingly unable to connect in the ring, this wasn't the best example of X Division action that one could find. The finish did however continue to build on Lee's relationship with Helms as the former WCW World Cruiserweight Champion's interference allowed Lee to hit a Small Package Driver to retain his title.

beer money defeats the decay via disqualification 

The build towards Beer Money vs. The Wolves continued here, with Beer Money attempting to cash-in their Feast or Fired briefcases for TNA World Tag Team title shots. Of course, The Decay (Abyss and Crazzy Steve with Rosemary) had previously stolen the physical belts, so Manchester actually ended up with a Beer Money vs. Decay match instead. The match had a basic tag team structure for the most part, with the crowd being completely into Beer Money's comeback as they ran through a number of their back catalogue of sweet tag team moves. The finish seemed to have a few people confused around me, as after Storm and Roode had hit the DWI on Steve, Abyss pulled the referee out of the ring, causing the Disqualification, this wasn't helped by no clear announcement of the result. However, with The Wolves coming out to make the save and challenging The Decay to a Monster's Ball match "next week" the crowd quickly forgot and got hyped for what was to come.

grado returns

Grado is back! Okay, so the episode in which he got fired hadn't actually aired yet, but he's back! Basically, Grado jumped the barricade and cut a promo claiming to have proof that he'd been screwed. We didn't get to see the proof as Eli Drake and some security came out and chased Grado to the back, in a weird Benny Hill style moment. 

jade defeats madison rayne

The first piece of Knockout's action of the night, was physical contest between The Dollhouse's Jade (with Marti Bella and Rebel, but without Awesome Kong)  and The Beautiful People's Madison Rayne (who strangely came out alone) For me, this could have gone a little bit longer, as the two looked like they could have put together a good match, if they were given the time. After Jade had picked up the win with a Package Piledriver, Gail Kim was out to make the save for Madison, with Velvet Sky conspicuous in her absence. 

drew galloway defeats kurt angle

In the best match of the show so far, Drew Galloway avenged his loss to Kurt Angle earlier in the year. The two went at it hammer and tounges for most of the match, trading big moves and near falls, with Angle hitting a sweet looking Angle Slam on the apron, before delivering another that had a most of the crowd convinced it was over. The long spells of submission based action were reminiscent of Angle's WWE tangles with Chris Benoit, as the two exchanged Ankle Locks and a new hold that seemed to be a Crossface/Scissored Armbar varation, that would eventually gain Galloway a surprising submission victory. For my personal taste, I wished the bout had been afforded a bit more time to settle in at the beginning, seemingly going straight into the big moves and near falls. For example, Galloway hitting a Futureshock DDT as a reversal to a backslide, looked great, but no one bought into it as a false finish because it came about four minutes into the match. Still, this was still a very good bout, that will should do a lot for Galloway as he continues to grow in TNA, with a future World Heavyweight title shot in his future, thanks to the Feast or Fired briefcase.

matt hardy calls out dixie carter

In a continuation of what we'd seen earlier, Matt Hardy was out to get Ethan Carter III fired, in an entertaining in-ring segment. The crowd being so into all the performers, especially Hardy and EC3 helped this greatly and seemed to allow the performers to bring even more energy into their act. Rockstar Spud's TNA return was handled nicely and he arguably pulled out the best spoken performance of the evening, cutting a lovely promo about his past with EC3 and why Dixie Carter shouldn't fire him, before getting taken out by Hardy and Tyrus. With EC3 able to take out Tyrus and Hardy managing to escape, the table was set for their feud to continue throughout the show and the rest of the tour.

mike bennett defeats mandrews

Mike Bennett (with Maria) continued his feud with Drew Galloway, cutting a post-match promo about both his rival and the man we saw him with earlier in the night, Kurt Angle, before calling out Mandrews for a match. This was another bout, that having Mandrews and Mike Bennett elsewhere, felt like it could have been so much better, but did the job it needed to do for TV. Bennett looked impressive in his comfortable victory. However, the finish came across as a little bit messy, as Bennett hit a Rope Hung Cutter, a wrist-lock transitioned into a right hook and then his Divine Intervention Samoa Driver to put Mandrews away in an over-crowded finish. Galloway was out to make the save when Bennett tried to do even more damage.

james storm and eric young go to a no contest over the king of the mountain championship

James Storm and Eric Young are two very competent workers inside the six sided ring and it would be difficult to fault anything they did inside the ring. However, they did both seem to go through the motions in this one as the trod water until the messy DQ/non finish thing that happened. I'm not even sure what did happen here, but it ended up in Bram and Bobby Roode both getting involved and the match seemingly being thrown out. There was however a cool crowd brawl that followed, with James Storm throwing beer over Bram, not too far from where we were sitting.

odarg the great and mahabli shera defeat eli drake and jessie godderz

I popped hard for Odarg the Great, due to silliness of the whole storyline. Basically, if you hadn't worked out, Great is Grado under a mask, he came out to Madonna's Like a Prayer and the crowd (especially our section) lapped it up. The match got a decent amount of time for a comedy bout, with Mahabli Shera working as the face in peril, as the crowd got ready to erupt for a Great hot tag! Pulling out all the signature moves, I couldn't have been happier with how this match went, as Shera & Great picked up a roll-up victory, as Drake had managed to un-mask the new comer. Utterly ridiculous stuff, I can imagine this might not be some people's cup of tea, but those people need to lighten up a bit! Long live Odarg the Great! 

ethan carter iii calls out tyrus 

Ethan Carter III was back out to cement his babyface turn, by cutting profanity-laden promo on his plans for Matt Hardy. With such wonderful turns of phrase as "two fingers right up the poop shoot", EC3 further enamored himself to the Manchester Arena, supposedly bringing back memories of their last night out on the town. With EC3 apparently adamant on using more sexual references he called out Tyrus to meet his fists (I'll you with that image) after accusing the former Funkasaurus of breast-feeding Matt Hardy's child (Another image for you). Obviously this lead to ambush attack by Hardy, with EC3 managing to escape unharmed, and it was confirmed that Hardy & Tyrus would team up to face EC3 and a partner of his choice later on in the show.

the wolves defeat the decay in monster's ball to retain the world tag team championships

This match was everything I wanted to be, as The Wolves and The Decay ran through a series of great spots and got all kinds of weapons involved in the action. Davey Richards suicide dive that sent Abyss crashing through a barbed wire board stands out particular, alongside Crazzy Steve getting whacked with Janice (with a Steel Chair getting in the way, to stop, you know, death). The finish was a little bit of weird one again, as Eddie Edwards held an interfering Rosemary in place, and Richards threatened to hit her with a cheese grater, before deciding to plant a big ol' Ric Flair-esque smooch on her. It was a bit uncomfortable to watch, but the reveal that Richards' had somehow nicked Rosemary's green mist, was a pretty cool moment. The Wolves hitting their version of Chasing the Dragon onto a steel chair covered in thumb tacks ended the match on a high point, seemingly putting The Wolves vs. The Decay feud to bed. 

gail kim and madison rayne defeated the dollhouse

By this point in the night, I was absolutely knackered. It seemed like most of the crowd felt the same way, as this tag bout played out to almost complete silence. The babyfaces won with a roll up from Madison Rayne, but beyond that there was nothing memorable from this short 4 minute encounter. In almost a mirror image of the earlier knockout's match, Velvet Sky came out to make the save after The Dollhouse attacked Gail and Madison post match, making it even more confusing that she wasn't out to support her pals in either their previous two matches. Velvet got a strong reaction from Manchester though, cutting a passionate promo challenging The Dollhouse to a Lethal Lockdown bout in London.

ethan carter iii and rockstar spud defeated matt hardy and tyrus

After a long ass night of tapings, it was time for the main event, the fourth tag team match in a row, no less. The narrative for this one played out rather nicely, with Ethan Carter III coming out on his own and getting battered by Matt Hardy & Tyrus, before Rockstar Spud came out to be his partner (which let's be honest after the segment earlier in the night, wasn't a massive surprise). However, there was a well played moment where after having an opportunity to tag in Spud, EC3 tried to go it alone, adding a decent layer of drama to the bout. A stand out moment from the bout saw EC3 go for a dive off the top rope to the outside, with Tyrus and Hardy failing to protect him properly, leading to EC3 face planting the floor in what looked like a pretty nasty bump. Despite the drama, the finish was a little rushed, but EC3 getting a clean pinfall on Hardy after a One Percenter at least allowed EC3 a legitimate claim to a title rematch down the line and ended the show on a crowd pleasing moment. 

view from the partner in crime

For each of the TNA tour shows I took a different pal along, just to keep things fresh. For Manchester, I took Surprisingly Competent Media's Jozef Raczka. Here's his thoughts on the show...

I don’t know if I can say if this was a good show or not. I mean, TNA isn’t a brand that I’ve ever really given time to, most of my knowledge coming from a friend who said he caught an episode once in a dive bar in Swansea (he didn’t care for it). Beyond that, my entire knowledge of live events was witnessing the Sheffield night of the NXT tour back in December for which the wrestling talent was significantly more apparent. It’s not that there weren’t any talented people on the card: Eric Young and James Storm put on what I can legally call a match, Galloway managed to hold his own against Kurt Angle and his response to the ‘Thank You Angle’ chants, considering this was posited as his retirement Tour, were genuinely heart-warming and I will never forget being there for the debut of the greatest unknown discovery of his generation – Odarg The Great. But that said, the actual matches were imminently forgettable, even ‘big’ matches like a Monsters Ball (which I’m reliably informed is an Extreme Rules Match for non-TNA fans like myself) had some good spots but nothing really felt special enough. It overall was a bit meh, possibly an influence of most of the crowd being worn down from the endurance of the show lasting roughly four hours. That said I got to see Billy Corgan look embarrassed to be there, be part of the world’s longest ‘Who are ya’ chant at Matt Hardy’s wife and find out that there’s a wrestler called Crazzy Steve. With two z’s. Truly these are things to cherish in a cynical world. That said, Matt Hardy, if you’re reading this, we really did want Jeff.

finally...

atpw scale rating - 4.52/10

Similar to what Jozef said, I don't really know what my overall thoughts of the show. It was an incredibly draining night of wrestling, a lot of the younger members of the audience had left by the time the main event was on, as four hours is just too long, and expecting people to stay til gone 11pm is a huge ask of a wrestling company. That being said, there were some good matches to be seen here, with Kurt Angle's match with Drew Galloway and Monster's Ball standing out as the best matches of the night and there certainly wasn't anything that I would label a "bad" match, just some perplexing booking decisions at time and certain bouts not being given enough time to breath. However, if you sit down every Sunday night to watch Impact Wrestling on Challenge TV, then you almost certainly would have loved this show, as there was a shit-tonne of Impact Wrestling! A decent start to the UK tour. 

Our next review will cover the London tapings! Including Matt Hardy defending the TNA World Heavyweight Championship against Ethan Carter III inside a Steel Cage, The Dollhouse facing The Beautiful People and Gail Kim in Lethal Lockdown, Matt Hardy teaming with Will Ospreay to face James Storm & Eli Drake and Kurt Angle going one on one with Bobby Roode.