Supercard Review: TNA Bound For Glory 2016 - Brother Nero & Matt Hardy v The Decay - The Great War

After all the rumours had stopped, TNA's biggest night of the year Bound For Glory took place in Orlando, Florida on 2nd October 2016. In the main event, Brother Nero and "Broken" Matt Hardy would challenge The Decay for the World Tag Team Championships in The Great War, whilst Lashley would defend his World Heavyweight Championship against Ethan Carter III. With Eddie Edwards, Aron Rex, Braxton Sutter, Eli Drake and Rockstar Spud also taking up major spots within the card, could Bound For Glory prove to be a success amidst all the hearsay?

In the most anticpated match of the evening, Brother Nero & "Broken" Matt Hardy won the World Tag Team Championship from The Decay ("The Monster" Abyss & Crazzy Steve) in a completely bonkers encounter, dubbed The Great War. Anyone who has seen The Final Deletion and/or Delete or Decay will have known the kind of thing to expect, but with this match mixing live and pre-recorded action it may very well have been the most unpredictable slice of the trilogy. The pre-recorded portion began after the teams had brawled backstage and was split into two halves as Abyss and Hardy collided outside the building and Steve and Nero remained around the backstage area. The ability to jump between two distinct areas of action upped the ante on the insanity, bringing more "What the fuck is going on?" factor than every before, as Nero morphed into various characters because of a bucket labbeled "The Lake of Restoration" and Abyss and Hardy fought on the back of a pick-up truck driven by Rosemary, whilst The Monster's girlfriend come 2x4 with nails sticking out of it Janice was on fire. 

The stuff inside Impact Zone sandwiched the pre-recorded section, with the first part setting the stage for the violence of second as Rosemary hit a wonderful coast to coast on Hardy with trash can and Abyss stapled Nero in the face. The second portion gradually built to the finish with Nero & Hardy able to lay out each member of The Decay one by one. Abyss took a modified Side Effect on the barbed wire board (which was also covered in tacks), before being sandwiched between two boards and hit with an elbow drop, Reby Hardy would return to powerbomb Rosemary off the apron through the table and Steve took a barage of offence including multiple chair shots and a Twist of Fate with the chair wrapped round his neck. As has been a staple of the "Broken and Obsolete" story, the finish made multiple call backs as Hardy allowed his Brother to "Indulge in his addiction", meaning that Nero hit a Swantom Bomb off the top of the massive ladder through two tables to give his team the victory. As a match, The Great War is difficult to analyse, if you take it for what it was a real spectacle of utter madness then you've got over 20 minutes of mind-boggling entertainment. Wrestling should be fun and The Great War was certainly that.

When it came time for Ethan Carter III to challenge Lashley for the World Heavyweight Championship, I couldn't help but feel that having this match go on last was a mistake. Yes, it was for the World title and yes, it had plenty of build, but it was never going to able to compete with The Great War. Firstly, you had the heel champion retaining the title, which 9 times out of 10 is going to leave the biggest event of the year feeling a little flat, which I don't think would have been the case had the show concluded with The Great War. Secondly, giving the match a "No Holds Barred" stipulation meant that it was suddenly put in the same ball park as the other match and with the Hardyz and The Decay using barbed wire and thumb tacks, Lashley and EC3 weren't going to be able to provide that level of brutality in their own contest. 

In it's own right Lashley v EC3 was a good wrestling match, that started strongly with Lashley nailing The Ass Kicking Machine with a spear during the in-ring introductions. Having the World Heavyweight Champion still get Jeremy Borash to complete his introduction after the fact was a great moment, that built his character well. The overall storytelling of Lashley's frustration at being unable to put EC3 away despite multiple spears, built the match well with EC3 selling the moves well to aid the story, even if the spears didn't create believable near falls because of their timing and the fact that every man and his dog has kicked out of Lashley's spear on multiple occassions by this point. Where the match was held back for me was Lashley's bumping ability, which ended up hurting a number of the contest's bigger spots, like a TK3 onto the steel steps that looked awful as well as his odd way of taking German suplexes for EC3's fire up sequence in the last part of the bout. The finish of the middle rope spear got a cool reaction out of the Impact Zone, but for me took a little too long in it's build up. Lashley retaining his belt to close the show was interesting decision as was having EC3 lose clean, however this was still a good watch that held my attention throughout. 

Aron Rex's victory over Eddie Edwards to became the first ever Grand Champion was a dull affair that didn't come close to exploring what the round system could do. Fought as three five minute rounds, Edwards won the first round after dominating with dropkicks, a hurricanrana and a suicide dive, before Rex evended the score with a round that saw him focus on Edwards' legs. I think the thing that struck me the most is that this didn't feel any different to a normal match, yeah there was timer ticking away in the corner, but for what is supposed to be a brand new division, I expected the pair to employ a different style. I thought that we'd be seeing a more hard-hitting, MMA inspired type of wrestling, but as soon as Rex did a dismal flip after taking a hurricanrana I knew that this was not to be the case. Oh yeah, the lights went off in the middle of the second round, as well.

The final round lacked the drama that it should have had, as with both men level surely was the time that Rex and Edwards would have been trying to put the match to bed without having to go to the judges decision. This is where Rex previously working the leg could have been used to the fullest, as whilst Edwards sold the injury well on numerous occassions, that story was allowed to fade into the distance. The match finished with the pair punching each other on their knees, after Edwards had hit a shining wizard, which with the match supposedly being scored based on dominance, didn't make a whole lot of sense. Obviously, Rex was awarded the third round and hilariously, the on-screen graphic appeared to contradict Jeremy Borash's announced result of split decision. Honestly, Rex appeared to look like he wanted to anywhere else during most of the match, appearing happy to go through the motions and even in his celebration looked like he couldn't wait to get behind the curtain.

Eli Drake would earn himself a World Heavyweight Championship match in a Bound for Gold Gauntlet Battle Royal, that also featured Braxton Sutter, Rockstar Spud, Basile Baraka, Grado, Robbie E, Jessie Godderz, Baron Dax, Tyrus and Mahabali Shera. This match never looked like being anything other than basic, but there was a few good performances in the mix. Most notably, Spud was one form throughout starting the match with a low-blow on Godderz, before holding onto the bottom rope with all he could. Despite being a heel, it was only he and Grado who got any kind of crowd support during the match, as it appeared the crowd recognised that he was the one trying his hardest to entertain them. You'll either love Grado doing the Bushwacker Luke spot or it'll make you groan, however considering the size of the pop he recieved it feels a little short sighted not to have him feature more. There was also some decent stuff put together by The Bro-Mans, including their initial falling out as E tried to eliminate Godderz, before they worked the best series of action of the match with The Tribunal that would see all but Godderz eliminated within a matter of seconds.

The finish saw Drake able to hold onto the bottom rope using just his feet, before blindsiding Tyrus and Godderz to eliminate them both and win the match. As impressive as Drake staying in the ring was, the finish was still a repeat of a spot that we've seen multiple times over the years and didn't really add a lot to the moment. Out of the field, Drake was probably the most likely winner as he's been featured in major storylines on Impact Wrestling over the last couple of month's and has impressed particularly with his promo ability, getting his "Dummy" catchphrase over well. Overall, this was probably slightly better than last years effort, but was essentially a way of filling up fifteen minutes without having to work particularly hard to do so. How acts like Mandrews and Andrew Everrett didn't find a way into this match, I have no idea as they had the ability to breath some life into this plod-fest.

Gail Kim joining the likes of Kurt Angle, Sting and Team 3D in the TNA Hall of Fame was a sugary sweet moment that featured a shit-tonne of hyperbole. Christy Hemme, Taryn Terrell and Awesome Kong all returned to take part in the Dixie Carter-lead induction, that included Kim being described as "the greatest female wrestler to have ever lived". There's no doubt that Kim is the most deserving woman of an induction into TNA's Hall of Fame, but backing up that description would be tough task for anyone. The best part of this segment was when Kim finally got to talk for herself, after Carter had said "Thank you" into the camera rather than to the woman who was standing directly beside her. The speech was heart felt and passionate as Kim discussed having high and lows with the business and read a list of thank yous to various people who have helped her along the way. 

Arguably the best wrestling match on the show came at the beginning as DJ Z retained the X Division title in a pacy encounter with Trevor Lee. The match was full of great reversal and sequences that built nicely throughout with the pair always seeming that something up their sleeve to keep the match engaging and exciting throughout. The final stretch that saw Lee going for a German Suplex whilst Z was looking for the ZDT was very well executed, with the duo having a number of ways to hold off each move being hit, including Z turning a German suplex into a reverse rana. I think had the duo been given a bit more time to run with then they only would have created even better action and added to it with more depth to the story-telling. Overall, this was a cracking opening contest, that was nice change from the usual multi-man X Division bout that TNA have chosen to gone with on their last couple of supercards.

Moose going over Mike Bennett in a grudge match was a mixed bag, that featured some decent wrestling, but also showed up that Moose was not quite ready for the major push he seems destined for within TNA. That's because after Moose's face shine, Bennett focused heavily on Moose's knee, beginning with a nice low dropkick. Did Moose sell that on his comeback? Did he fuck! This could have been used to really drive the match later on, giving Bennett chances to get back into the match, whilst also allowing Moose to look stronger for having fought through the injury. There was one great sequence in the final third of the bout that saw Moose block a Cutter, before the duo went through a series of back and forth strikes and concluded with Bennett nailing a cutter as Moose came in with a diving crossbody for a strong near fall. Looking at the results across the show, it would seem obvious for Moose to move into an anticipated bout with Lashley over the World Heavyweight strap, whether Moose is ready for a match on that level, I'm still not convinced.

Rounding out the show was new TNA Hall of Famer Gail Kim winning her sixth Knockout's Championship from Maria Kanellis-Bennett in a satisfying climax to their feud that has been running since the beginning of the year. This was a sound storyline match up, that saw the deck constantly stacked against Kim, but with the challenger always building momentum against the woman who has tried to hold her down throughout the year. The interference from Allie and Mike Bennett worked well, with MKB's cast producing both a strong false finish and a babyface shine moment for Kim as she chucked it into the crowd. Kim's comeback was a great moment with Kim showing her frustration well as she battered MKB with a number of strikes before running through a number of her greatest hits, including a Figure Four around the ringpost and Eat Defeat to win the title. This match will never be accused of being a technical masterpiece, but it was an entertaining conclusion to the storyline, that allowed a feel good moment to go alongside Kim's induction.

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 5.58/10

In conclusion, Bound For Glory was a mostly entertaining show that featured satisfying climaxes to a number of long running feuds (The Great War, Knockout's Championship), a couple of good title matches (World Heavyweight Championship, X Division Championship), yet was held back by major slots on the card being taken by dull matches and uninterested performers (Grand Championship, Bound For Gold Gauntlet). This leaves Bound For Glory 2016 with an above average rating on the ATPW Scale, when perhaps with a little shuffling we could've seen a show get a "Good" rating.

Words - James Marston

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TV Review: IMPACT Wrestling #630 - Brother Nero & Matt Hardy v The Tribunal

Aired - 11th August 2016

For the first time in four week's TNA aired IMPACT Wrestling live, as Brother Nero and Matt Hardy teamed up to face The Tribunal and Lashley put his World Heavyweight and X-Division Championships up against "The Cowboy" James Storm's King of the Mountain title, but would that produce a great hour and a quarter of television? 

Matt Hardy and Brother Nero [Jeff Hardy] have been all over TNA's product for some time now and their storyline progressed as they teamed up to face The Tribunal (Baron Dax [Marcus Louis] and Basille Baraka [Tom LaRuffa]). Before the bout, there was a tremendously entertaining segment that began with Hardy calling out Nero, as well as planting a seed that he'd had a premonition that Tag Team Champions The Decay (Abyss, Crazzy Steve & Rosemary [Courtney Rush]). As with pretty much anything involving The Hardy Boyz in 2016, it was incredibly watchable and immensly quotable with Nero perhaps outshining Hardy's madness with lines like "Let's talk about last week, why did you bite a part of a man's face off?" and "If I'm a mule, you two [The Tribunal] are miniature donkies". The only let down was that we had to hear the Tribunal talk, with their act boiling down to telling they crowd that they smell and being French. 

The match took on a similar style to that of Hardy & Nero's bout with Chuck Taylor and JT Dunn on #629, with Obsolete Mule doing most of the work, whilst Broken stayed on the outside, for the most part. The most interesting stuff though came on the outside, as Hardy appeared to hypnotise a fan to rip up his pro-Jeff Hardy sign and join him in screaming "Delete! Delete!". It was different, but not out of place from the rest of this bonkers feud. The first story development would see Hardy bite the fingers of The Tribunal's manager, Al Snow, before throwing Dax into the steel steps. We hadn't seen Hardy do anything to aid Nero the previous week, so it was cool to see this change, especially as Nero went on to pick up the win with a Twist of Fate on Baraka. The sinister conclusion as Nero seemed to snap, hitting Dax, Baraka and Snow with numerous Twist of Fates, before hitting a slingshot crossbody to Snow that would put him through a table. I became clear that Nero had joined his brother on the Broken side, as he through himself off the top rope through another table, in a what the fuck did I just watch moment. It's the logical direction for the story to take and with both brothers now Broken it opens up even more storyline possibilities. 

Lashley's dominance continued as he ended "The Cowboy" James Storm's King of the Mountain title reign after just a week, in a bout that also had The Destroyer's World Heavyweight and X Division titles on the line! This was a good show-closer, that had a captive audience from the opening bell. The first spot of the match was a brilliant call back to Storm's 2011 World title win, as he nailed Lashley with a Last Call superkick, but unlike the victory over Kurt Angle, the referee, Brian Hebner, was too busy getting ring announcer, Jeremy Borash out of the ring, resulting in only a two count for Storm. The crowd were so into the moment and those that could remember back to 2011 were at the very least given a nostalgic buzz. It was a shame that it took two or three minutes before commentators Josh Matthews and "The Pope" D'Angelo Dinero made the connection between the two events, as an on-the-ball commentator would have upped the drama and made the moment even better. 

Both men played their roles well, with Lashley beating the shit into Storm shortly after the start, controlling the bout whilst The Cowboy was a hot and fiery babyface getting a number of hope spots before hitting a lung blower and Eye of the Storm [Spinning crucifix cross] for a near fall. After this though, I feel like the last portion of the bout should have been booked a little tighter than it was, however if this is Storm's final match in TNA (which seems to be the case, as of writing) then having Lashley kick out of two further Last Call's is perhaps a little more understandable, as it gives The Dominator a further rub and makes him look even stronger than before. The finish, however, didn't do a whole lot for me, as Lashley no-selling a codebreaker and hitting a spear, made it even harder to suspend my disbelief, because this didn't make much sense at all. There were ways of putting over Lashley strong in the finish that would have been more effective. However, the match did benefit from not having the interference that has hampered a couple of TNA main events recently.

Lashley and James Storm had been out earlier on as well, in an opening segment that involved Ethan Carter III, "The Miracle" Mike Bennett, Moose and Eddie Edwards. For me, this segment was trying to do way too much at the same time and actually ended up achieving very little across the ten minutes. EC3's initial promo was uncharacteristically lacking direction, treading over ground about searching for perfection and being on a quest to be the best, whilst Lashley came out said he was the best and then Storm interrupted Lashley and chatted about poop whilst his microphone appeared to break. The segment would conclude with Lashley and Storm brawling up the entrance way, whilst EC3 would be jumped from behind by Bennett and Moose, with Edwards making the save, with a tag match being scheduled for later on. 

The debut had been teased for week's and Aron Rex [Damien Sandow] finally made his debut in TNA as he came to the ring to cut a promo. I've got a lot of time for Rex on the microphone, but this speech did next to nothing for me. It was the kind of promo that we've seen numerous times from ex-WWE talents after they've been fired and headed out to TNA. I'm sure that dumb smarks were jerking off to it, because it was semi-shoot talking about how WWE never gave him the right opportunities and how he'd get those opportunities in TNA etc. The fact that the character started the promo by saying he wasn't going to talk about what he went on to talk about was very frustrating. The crowd weirdly chanted "You deserve it", which didn't help the situation. Josh Matthew's saying that it was "shoot" on commentary was just stupid. I'd have preferred Rex to have gone straight into a storyline and to have been debuted in a way that had actual significance or shock value, as this was way too pedestrian and didn't give me any reason to find out what Rex would be up to next. 

The aforementioned Moose & Mike Bennett vs. Eddie Edwards & Ethan Carter III tag contest was a decent opening contest, that featured some cool spots, but could have done with a bit more time. The section which I'd have liked to have seen extended slightly was Bennett & Moose's heater, as Edwards could have done with having a longer time as the face in peril. It would've made more of the franky fantastic hot tag sequence that saw EC3 cleaning house, before both he and Edwards nailed suicide dives in stereo. The heroic duo played the moment perfectly, building towards the dives and making the moment feel special. Edwards would also later pull out a Frankensteiner on Bennett, for another highlight. The finish cleverly built up the fledgling Bennett and Moose unit, as after The Miracle had sent EC3 into the steel steps, Moose would nail Go to Hell (Sitout chokebomb to an opponent seated on a turnbuckle) on Edwards, with Bennett getting the pin. It showed what the two could do when on the same page, but also teased that they might not be on that page for all that long. 

In the only women's action, Gail Kim's quest for a Knockout's Championship shot as she clashed with Marti Bell, in a bout that Maria Kanellis-Bennett had made a No DQ match. Kim and Bell showed potential with an early scrap, but the match quickly descended into an interference-laden affair as the MKB & Kim feud slapped the viewer hard in the face. The First Lady of Wrestling and her apprentice Allie [Cherry Bomb] were out at ringside almost instantly, whilst MKB would send Allie into the ring with Bell's knightstick after a few minutes also. Kim would even get the win after sending Allie and the knightstick into Bell. Despite a nasty looking blockbuster from Kim at one point, I'm pretty certain that if allowed to wrestle for more than two minutes that Kim and Bell would have been able to create some compelling action and used the No DQ gimmick to create some cool spots, with MKB already making the match No DQ then the idea of her putting Kim through hell to earn an opportunity would still have been present, whilst Bell would hardly have been hurt from losing clean to someone who will be inducted into TNA's Hall of Fame in October!

Best of the Rest 

• Drew Galloway [Drew McIntyre] challenged Ethan Carter III to put his World Heavyweight Championship shot at Bound For Glory on the line against him, in a passion in-ring promo, that heigtened the rivalry between the pair as Galloway called EC3 a "snake in the grass". 

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 5.22/10 

This episode wasn't quite as good as the previous week's, but was still a step in the good direction, remaining the right side of average. That's thanks mostly to the show's top two matches, with Hardy & Nero v The Tribunal proving to be the best thing on the show, mainly because I'm in love with "Broken" Matt and the revelation of a "Broken" Nero should prove glorious, whilst Lashley v Storm also featured some good quality action. The only part from the undercard that I felt managed to come close to this level was the Edwards & EC3 v Moose & Bennett tag bout. If Galloway's promo had been a bit longer it would've bump up the score, as well.

It's a shame that the rest of the undercard didn't manage to match these standards, with the opening segment lacking clear direction, Rex's debut being the same old shit and the No DQ bout between Kim and Bell being a bit of a mess. 

The next episode has got a four team Ladder match to decide the #1 Contenders to The Decay's Tag Team titles, so that's gonna be great, yah? 

Words - James Marston 
Banner - Kai Stellar 

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