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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 5.22/10

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

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

TV Review: IMPACT Wrestling #623 (James Marston)

I ripped into last week's IMPACT Wrestling, which apart from a stellar main event between Lashley and Drew Galloway, was a piss poor TV show. Could the show recover and start the summer with a bang? 

There was a lot going on this week with some major storyline twists and turns, but I'll begin by talking about the lengthy segment that would see Billy Corgan recommend TNA President Dixie Carter take a week off and Mike Bennett win the X Division title from Eddie Edwards. The first portion of the segment is a hard one to review, because so much of it hangs on where the storyline is going over the next few weeks. It was however an improvement on last week's segment, that would lead to Carter slapping Maria Kanellis-Bennett, as I thought both MKB and Bennett where on really strong form from the beginning, bringing an intensity to proceedings that managed to drive the segment. I'm also finding myself beginning to warm towards Billy Corgan's character, as he's slotted into a tweener role that hasn't been seen enough in the authority figure sphere lately, obviously this could change. I'm slightly worried that we're heading towards a power struggle angle, which I wouldn't be too interested in, but overall I thought everyone played their roles well here, even the ever so hammy Carter. 

Personally, I feel that parts of this segment could have been split over two weeks at least. As Bennett asked Corgan for an X Division title shot (because apparently Destination X is "just around the corner) with Corgan rambling a bit before giving it him straight away. Bennett and Eddie Edwards had previously squared off in Ring of Honor and North East Wrestling and I think that showed here as the pair went through a series of enjoyable action, and looked comfortable throughout. The narrative of Bennett trying to show that he could wrestle the "X-Division style" was a bit corny, but wasn't overplayed so therefore just about managed to work here, with Edwards using his pace to make a comeback rounding off things well. Bennett nicking a win by holding onto MKB at ringside to gain leverage on a pin was a fine finish that topped a pacy closing sequence well. Marking his first championship since dropping the ROH World Tag belt in December last year, I'm looking forward to seeing what Bennett can bring as the head of the division and looking forward an increased focus on the division heading into the Destination X special. 

The show would begin with a belting on-mic showdown between Drew Galloway and Ethan Carter III. The two went at it hammer and tongues as Galloway accused EC3 of costing him the TNA World Heavyweight Championship in last week's main event. Both men brought a great energy here, seeming to bounce off each other, continually driving each other to produce better and better performances. The scripting was top notch as the two babyfaces threw barbs and made the World Heavyweight title look important at the same time. The interruption from Lashley that followed did take a bit of the sting out of things however, with a questionable piece of booking as Lashley gave both men an opportunity to win a title shot at the same time, rather than simply fighting each other. I struggled to understand the logic behind Lashley's decision as he also offered Eli Drake an title shot if he could help him beat Galloway and EC3. I think the choice of match would have felt much more logical had it been made by a separate authority figure, perhaps Carter or Corgan. 

The tag clash would follow up straight away and although I'd have liked to have seen the story given a bit more breathing room, this was a more than solid opening contest for the show. I was really into the first portion of the bout, with Lashley and Drake finding a nice groove for their team, playing up their roles as they use many an underhanded tactics to keep in control of EC3. I'm a sucker for the spot where a hot tag is cut off by an opponent pulling the hot tagee off the apron, so got a big kick out of it being used here. The closing few minutes ended up being a bit scrappy, with a lot of different elements trying to be threaded through just a few minutes of action, with Lashley's awkward bump off a TKO from EC3 adding to this. Galloway would pick up the pinfall on Drake (after a One Percenter (Headlock Driver) from EC3) with Dixie Carter later informing Lashley that he'd face both "The Captain" and "The Ass Kicking Machine" on next week's episode. 

The Hardy Boyz feud would come to an end in the show-closing Six Sides of Steel bout, that probably needs to be seen to be fully believed. Anyone who's caught any of the feud between Matt and Jeff will know by know that's been utter ridiculous throughout, straddling the line between bizarrely genius and just straight up bizarre and of course, the final chapter would be no different. The match was an all-action affair, with Jeff filling the ring with Tables, Ladders and Chairs before the match, leading to more than a few weapon shots here. If WWE calls their TLC PPV, wrestling's "Demolition Derby" then the final spot here may have been the true embodiment of that term as Jeff scaled a ladder on top of turnbuckle (slightly higher that cage) before leaping off, putting himself through a table, that itself was placed another table, with Matt lying on it, covered in a steel chairs. It looked like Jeff may have slightly miscalculated his jump as he seemed to come down on shoulder or side of his head in process of taking out his brother. Was this match any good? I couldn't tell you. Was this match entertaining? Hell yes. 

After a quick jaunt over to AAA in Mexico, Rockstar Spud returned to in ring action with TNA after coming out and forcefully replacing Balam (better known as Lince Dorada in FIP and WWN, and a competitor in the upcoming WWE Cruiserweight Class) in a match with Braxton Sutter. Spud cut an enjoyable promo as he dismissed Balam and complained about all the attention that Sutter had been getting as of late. The resulting match was a little on the short side, as Sutter ended up pinning Spud in under three minutes. It did make Sutter look very good in there, but seeing as TNA are continuing with a Spud/Sutter feud (Spud would attack Sutter after the bout), I feel like a few more minutes here would have benefited the pair going forward.

In the Knockouts Division this week, Jade and Marti Bell collided in well put together grudge match. Jade looked like a real bad ass here, as she continued to grow into her babyface role by dominated Jade throughout the match. There was a palpable sense of her dislike for her former Doll House stable mate and this drove the match as Jade refused to let Bell get hardly any offence in, as well as hitting a brutal looking Electric Chair Facebuster onto the apron from the outside of the ring. Bell's metal baton played a big part in the match, with referee Earl Hebner having to discourage Jade from using it, before Bell would profit from nailing Jade in the head as she attempted a suicide dive, in a nice piece of storytelling. Perhaps the bout could have done with a few more minutes, but this was still an enjoyable slice of action, that saw both women put in strong performances in their respective roles and advance their rivalry nicely.

Lastly, this week's show saw a new storyline created as World Tag Team Champions The Decay would first offer Bram a slot in their group, before attacking the former King of the Mountain Champion when he declined their offer. The segment was carried by Rosemary, who did the majority of the talking, with more than a bit of a sexual undercurrent, in order to convince Bram of why he should join, with some solid reasoning that harked back to his past in the promotion. I thought Bram did a decent job here, as he tries to find his feet after his face turn. Depending on where this goes over the next few weeks, it has the potential to really make Bram as an upper level face talent for the company, although it will even more important to keep The Decay group looking strong. 

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 5.94/10 

This was the best episode of IMPACT Wrestling I've seen this year. A complete turn around from last week's episode as I found something to enjoy in each and every segment, and beyond that there was some brilliant work from guys like Drew Galloway, Ethan Carter III and Mike Bennett. The storyline advancement was spot on in most places with even feuds lower down the card getting some much needed attention, which brought a lovely depth to the show. The Hardy Boyz steel cage bout was completely bonkers, but I'd still be happy to call it the best match on the show for it's sheer entertainment value.

I'm hoping to see a higher level of consistency over the rest of the summer from TNA, with more shows like this and less like the week before!

TV Review: IMPACT Wrestling #622 - Gold Rush (James Marston)

Just two days removed from Slammiversary XIV, TNA presented a special edition of IMPACT Wrestling from Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida, USA. Gold Rush would ever match as Championship bout, so it had to be good, yeah?

Headline Segments

Singles Match - TNA World Heavyweight Championship - Lashley vs. Drew Galloway 

Mike Bennett and Maria Kanellis-Bennett call out Dixie Carter

But was it any good? Let's find out.

This episode began with a fairly run of the mill opening segment, as new TNA World Heavyweight Champion Lashley kicked off proceedings. For me, Lashley is pretty ineffective with a solo promo and that showed here, as he lacked conviction in his delivery, especially when tasked with major claims like "I am better than every wrestler in the wrestling business today". What I did like however was how the rest of the segment went, as Ethan Carter III was out to lay claim to a title shot, before Drew Galloway interrupted to invoke his rematch clause. A rather savvy piece of booking here, as we've seen EC3 and Lashley cross paths a couple of times since March, with various things stopping them from having full blown fight with each other, so once again this segment teased a scrap continuing to add fuel to that fire, whilst simultaneously keeping it on the back burner. EC3 and Galloway both a lot of energy to the segment, with Galloway's promo being particularly strong in it's content and delivery. 

The episode's first match saw Jeff Hardy challenging for the TNA King of the Mountain Championship against Eli Drake in a sloppy encounter. The clash had a couple of nice ideas, like Drake's springboard flying attack thing being turned into a powerbomb by Hardy, but more often than not these ideas where met with a scrappy execution. Outside this the match was fairly straightforward, with Drake dominating the earlier part of the match after throwing Hardy into the barricade, before a Whisper in the Wind would change the tide for Hardy. The finish earned an audible sigh from me, as Hardy nailed a Twist of Fate and then a Swanton Bomb, only for Matt Hardy to turn up and bite referee Earl Hebner's hand leading to the disqualification finish and Drake retaining his title. I honestly thought the Hardy stuff had been finished the previous Sunday at Slammiversary and that this show would feature fresher storylines, but nah, this bizarre feud rolls on.

fast-forward...Nice little backstage segment with Ethan Carter III and Drew Galloway having a chat about Galloway's TNA World Heavyweight Championship rematch with Lashley later in the show...

Thought that was all the Hardy shenanigans you were gonna get this week. Hell no, motherfucker. To be fair to the segment, it did manage to take the family rivalry to whole new level of utter insanity. Matt Hardy is doing some of the weirdest stuff that I've seen in the wrestling business and I've no idea if it's completely awful or bloody awesome. With Matt cutting his promo from the stairs that Jeff had jumped off a few months ago, there was no particular reason given for why this feud was continuing, it just was. There may have never been a storyline that has been so damn quotable as this one. "This here is the origin of broken Matt Hardy", "You had zero remorse for my lurvely wife" "For those sins you must be deleted" "Fight me with hona" with even Jeff chipping in with the ridiculous statement that baby Maxel was "the youngest teenage superstar ever to grace this sport". It all ended up with a silly spot as Matt pushed Jeff down the handrail of the stairs, which lets be honest wasn't the most brutal spot and was a bit of an anti-climax following the intense weirdness of the rest of the segment.

fast-forward...Matt Hardy left me questioning the meaning of life as he challenged Jeff Hardy to a Six Sides of Steel match next week in a backstage promo...

Eddie Edwards was putting his newly won TNA X Division Championship on the line against former champion Trevor Lee in a short encounter next. The pair showed real promise that they could produce a memorable encounter, if given more than four minutes to put something together. The action was crisp and the pair looked comfortable with each other as they crammed as much activity as they could into their match. A nice near fall for each lead to match feeling fairly open as Lee got a two of a Jumping Knee after distraction from Gregory Shane Helms, and Edwards countered Lee's small package driver with a small package of his own. It was a frustrating watch, as you could see the pair were fighting against the time constraints and therefore were never able to take things up a notch. Edwards would retain the title in simple finish, connecting with a Boston Knee Party to collect victory.

fast-forward...The Bro-Mans used some kind surveillance system to watch Raquel get changed, yeah, um, wow, 2016...Ethan Carter III and Lashley bumped into each other backstage, with EC3 reminding Lashley that he'd be coming for whoever was holding the title after tonight...

One of the most heavily promoted sections of the show was the announcement of this year's inductee into the TNA Hall of Fame. Dixie Carter was on hand to unveil five time TNA Women's Knockout Champion and one time TNA Women's Knockout Tag Team Champion Gail Kim, with a promo flooded with hyperbole and video package on Kim's TNA career. To be fair, Kim was probably the only name that could think of as a possible induction this year, with names like AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels and Samoa Joe all aligned with rival promotions. Whilst the official ceremony will take place in October at Bound For Glory, Kim thanked ANYONE SHE'D EVER WRESTLED anyway. This will most likely be used to add momentum to Kim's feud with Maria Kanellis-Bennett.

fast-forward...The Decay cut a short promo about their upcoming TNA World Tag Team Championship match, including some cryptic words from Rosemary about finding someone who needed to decay...Jade interviewed Jeremy Borash's sit-down interview with Marti Belle, attacking her former Dollhouse partner, throwing her into a row of chairs before having to be restrained...

The Decay put their TNA World Tag Team Championships in a Four Corners match involving The BroMans, Grado and Mahabali Shera and The Tribunal in a thrown together bout. It'd be hard to make a case for any of the three challenging teams deserving a title shot, with the BroMans having lost to The Decay and The Tribunal only having their first match as a duo and defeating Grado and Shera two days earlier at Slammiversary. Therefore the match ended up being fairly disjointed and whilst it didn't descend into becoming an absolute mess, neither did it provide anything of any real note. The Decay picked up their third successful title defense, capitalising on Al Snow's attack on Grado, with Abyss chokeslamming Crazzy Steve onto the prone Scotsman for the pinfall. 

The longest segment of the show so far was up next and it was more talking. This time an appearance from Mike Bennett and Maria Kanellis-Bennett, which is usually a highlight of the show for me, but unfortunately I felt that the segment came across as long-winded and ended up feeling much longer than it actually was. The narrative was basically that MKB would continue to get more and more aggressive with Dixie Carter, leading to Carter slapping her. Um, cool, I suppose. But it was just full of filler, as Billy Corgan came out for no particular reason and then Carter came out anyway, with everyone involved just rambling about nonsense. Carter shouting "These people do not want to hear you talk anymore" got a chuckle from me because how utterly ridiculous that statement is coming from the head of the company, who is also taking up precious TV time by talking. Carter should be nowhere MKB, there's no benefit for anyone of running with this storyline, especially when the one moment that the segment hinged on, the slap, looked bloody awful anyway. 

If the rest of the show had been the miss, we were about to get a whole lot of hit as Drew Galloway unsuccessfully challenged for Lashley's TNA World Heavyweight Championship in a very good TV match. The pair hooked me from the opening exchange of action as Galloway went straight after Lashley, showing a detirmination to win back the title he lost the previous Sunday and a hatred for the man who had taken it from him, then The Destroyer clocked him in the ribs, which just so happened to be heavily taped and you had a match with a real story to tell. Galloway has developed into a top drawer performer over the last two years and it was all on show here. His selling was spot on, his facial expressions were believable and his offence looked strong and had a real purpose behind it, whilst helped by the narrative and booking, Galloway made it very easy to get behind him. On the flip side, Lashley looked like a dick, constantly going after the injury, posturing for the crowd and squaring up to Ethan Carter III on commentary and it worked as Universal Studios were on his back the whole match. The finish perhaps could have been a little stronger, with a bit of overbooking en route to Lashley pinning Galloway to retain, but it managed to work itself into the ongoing storyline in a way that will hopefully be paid off over the next couple of months. Doors have been opened for a Lashley vs. EC3 tie, whilst EC3 accidentally nailing Galloway with a chair creates some more storyline options going forward. 

finally...

atpw scale rating - 3.94/10

This wasn't a good two hours of wrestling. It would be very kind to describe anything other than the main event above average here. Lashley and Drew Galloway with some help from Ethan Carter III may have produced a smashing television bout, with some clever booking and interesting storytelling, but if the undercard doesn't pull at least some of it's weight then you're going to end up with a fairly poor wrestling show. The lengthy segment with Dixie Carter slapping Maria Kanellis-Bennett, the under-developed World Tag Team and X Division Championship match and whatever the fuck is going on with The Hardy Boyz are to blame for this shows, relatively, low rating score. With this being an important live episode and coming directly out of a PPV involving a World title change, I can't help but feel that TNA missed a trick in not putting on more quality matches and focusing needless segments like Gail Kim being named as the next TNA Hall of Famer.

Hopefully next week picks up a little!

TV Review: IMPACT Wrestling #616 (Bennett vs. Lashley vs. Hardy)

On 3rd May 2016, TNA aired the 616th episode of IMPACT Wrestling, taped on 21st April 2016 at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida, USA, on POP TV. TNA World Heavyweight Champion Drew Galloway acted as special guest referee for a #1 Contender's Three way bout for his title between "The Miracle" Mike Bennett, "The Destroyer" Lashley and "The Charismatic Enigma" Jeff Hardy, after Lashley had demanded a shot at the gold after interrupting Bennett and Hardy's singles match earlier in the show...but was it any good? Let's take a look!

impact wrestling #616 match card

Match 1 – Men's Singles - “The Miracle” Mike Bennett with Maria Kanellis-Bennett vs. Jeff Hardy

Match 2 – Men's Singles – TNA World Tag Team Champion“The Monster” Abyss with The Decay: TNA World Tag Team Champion Crazzy Steve & Rosemary vs. “The Cowboy” James Storm

Match 3 – TNA King of the Mountain Championship King of the Mountain Men's Ladder – Andrew Everrett with Gregory Shane Helms vs. Jessie Godderz vs. Eddie Edwards vs. TNA King of the Mountain Championship Feast or Fired Briefcase Holder Eli Drake vs. Bram ©


Match 4 – TNA World Heavyweight Championship #1 Contender's Men's Three Way – “The Miracle” Mike Bennett with Maria Kanellis-Bennett vs. “The Destroyer” Lashley vs. “The Charismatic Enigma” Jeff Hardy

Commentary: "The Pope" D'Angelo Dinero & Josh Matthews

Theme Song: "Roustabout" by Billy Corgan

fast-forward...Lashley attacks TNA World Heavyweight Champion Drew Galloway in a gym and the pair end up brawling in an MMA cage before getting separated by a load of TNA guys...Tightly produced recap of Mike Bennett defeating Ethan Carter III from IMPACT Wrestling #614, EC3's first pinfall loss in TNA...

hardy defeats bennett via disqualification due to interference from lashley, carter books hardy vs. bennett vs. lashley in main event

An interesting first in-ring section to the show, that took a number of twists and turns over it's 15 minutes screen time. Mike Bennett continued to impress on the microphone, looking very comfortable as the shows focal point, commanding the screen as he boasted about being the first person to pin Ethan Carter III on IMPACT Wrestling #615. Whilst Bennett's performance was spot on, I couldn't help but feel that certain parts of the promo, such as referring to himself as "God" had been recycled from elsewhere, with Eric Young claiming the very same thing on TNA programming quite recently. The segment would develop with Jeff Hardy interrupting Bennett and taking umbrage to "The Miracle"'s words, so much so that he spent about three weeks slapping hands with fans before getting into the ring. After a bit of back and forth, Bennett agreed to go ask Dixie Carter for a match with Hardy as the show's main event, with Hardy attacking "The Miracle" before he could get out of the ring and having the match begin after the break. A few flaws here, but Bennett's performance made things extremely watchable, his intonation and facial expressions are steadily turning him into one of the promotions brightest stars.

The second big swing of the evening was that the match lasted under two minutes, as "The Destroyer" Lashley injected himself into proceedings by nailing Hardy with a big spear to give "The Charismatic Enigma" the disqualification victory. Lashley gave Bennett a bit of hiding as well just for good measure. Of course, Lashley has had problems with TNA World Heavyweight Champion Drew Galloway, as was seen at the start of the show, so that's what this was all about. Lashley called out Dixie Carter and demanded a title match, only to be placed a three way with the men he had interrupted and have Galloway inserted in as the Special Guest Referee. For me, this was another case of TNA just rushing things a little bit too much, with the first twenty five minutes of the show featuring at least another week's worth of booking in there. Non the less, we had been presented with our main event earlier on, with lots of reasons to stay tuned to see what happened. 

fast-forward...A very weird backstage segment with The Decay where Rosemary spat liquid into Crazzy Steve's mouth and into Abyss' face as part of their “transformation”...

abyss defeats storm 

Just like the show-open, there was a lot going here. The pacing was perhaps slightly out, but the new revelations involved current TNA World Tag Team Champions The Decay was handled much better than they could have been. On paper it's a ridiculous piece of storyline with Crazzy Steve now able to speak because Rosemary spat some stuff in his mouth and Abyss now with a mask and sporting face-paint "scars" because she spat in his face. The performers and especially Rosemary really went for it with a dark promo, that seemingly got a babyface reaction from Universal Studios crowd. After a short interruption and attack from James Storm, who would confirm that his Beer Money partner, Bobby Roode, had departed from TNA, Abyss and Storm would have a short match in one of "The Monster"'s most dominant performance in recent teams. A blast of mist and Black Hole slam would ensure that Abyss would remain undefeated in singles action in 2016. This wouldn't be the last we'd see out of The Decay either...

fast-forward...Jeff Hardy chats about his upcoming main event match...

sienna debuts, sides with kanellis-bennett and attacks jade 

Another case of TNA cramming as much as they possible can into each segment here. We got TNA Knockout's Champion Jade's babyface turn as she refused to lay down for "Head of the Knockout's" Maria Kanellis-Bennett, which got a pretty good reaction out of Universal Studios with the Orlando crowd quick to get behind their champion. This would herald the debut of SHINE star Allysin Kay, now going under the name Sienna. The newcomer looked impressive on her debut, dominating Jade and throwing her around the ring with ease. MKB was quick to point out this wasn't a match and this allowed Sienna to take things to the outside throwing Jade into the steps, including a brutal looking wheelbarrow swing. Giving MKB someone to do her dirty work in the Knockout's division is a solid move, as "The First Lady of Pro-Wrestling" was always going to struggle to be the promotions top female heel without getting too involved physically. Sienna and Jade being no strangers to each other having competed numerous times on the independent circuit over the last four years, including a trip to China, should lead to a great chemistry when they finally tie up for a proper match. 


fast-forward...Jeremy Borash was “supposed” to interview Ethan Carter III, but he doesn't show up, instead Mike Bennett takes his spot...

bram defeats everrett, godderz, edwards and drake to retain tna king of the mountain championship in a king of the mountain ladder match

Before I get into the quality of this contest, I'd like to mention how chucking away a King of the Mountain ladder match with no build, rhyme or reason on television is completely stupid. Before the match appeared on the screen I had no idea there was a King of the Mountain match on the show (and I was watching it five days after the original broadcast!) and even then I couldn't work out what Andrew Everett, Eddie Edwards, Jessie Godderz and Eli Drake had done to earn themselves a shot at the belt that Bram had won just one week earlier. The match itself was decent, with a handful of nice spots, like Bram's missile front drop kick to knock Drake off the ladder, but nothing to get too excited about. Edwards and Everrett would end up brawling to the back in the middle of the match, further relegating the title belt they were supposed to be fighting over, after Everett had spent most of the match looking like a complete chump, getting pinned by Bram and submitting to Godderz within five minutes. To further confuse things Drake has the Feast or Fired briefcase for a shot at TNA King of the Mountain Championship and even tried to cash in after the match, only for Bram to recover and fight off his challenge. 

ec3 has words for bennett, lashley defeats hardy and bennett to become number one contender to tna world heavyweight championship

Before the main event for the evening could get under way, we finally got to hear from Ethan Carter III about his loss to Mike Bennett last week, when EC3 confronted Bennett moments after "The Miracle" had made his way to the ring. "The Ass-Kicking Machine" nailed his promo, which was particularly well-crafted, shying away from a lot of wrestling cliches and feeling fresh and original. EC3 accepted his loss to Bennett, claiming to not want to be like those who he had defeated during his undefeated streak, saying the loss would make him "absolute", before finishing off by recalling Bennett referring to himself as "God" earlier in the show, adding that if that was the case then EC3 would be his "Devil". Captivating stuff here, especially having EC3 saying it directly to Bennett inside the ring, which added a whole different dimension to proceedings. A rematch between the two is now much bigger and I can't wait to see what the pair do again. A quick stare-down with Lashley as EC3 exited kept their feud ticking over also.

A quality main event here, with Bennett, Lashley and Jeff Hardy all working hard to create a match that blended a number of on-going narratives and introduced some new ones. Strong pacing became the driving heart of the contest with "The Destroyer" and "The Miracle" forming an un-easy alliance early on, the built well towards a comeback from Hardy that would culminate in a Whisper in the Wind to the outside onto both opponents from "The Charismatic Enigma". Lashley would go on to Spear, Guest Referee, Drew Galloway after Bennett had managed to dodge, leading to a dramatic moment when Hardy was unable to secure the pin on "The Destroyer" after a Twist of Fate and Swantom Bomb. The idea of Hardy taking his frustration out on Bennett was a nice twist, with Hardy hitting a beautiful Swanton Bomb onto a set of steel steps on the outside of the ring, essentially eliminating Bennett from the match. The finish would see another appearance from The Decay, as they attacked Hardy, finishing with Abyss hitting a chokeslam onto the steps. It was something that I didn't see coming and the more I think about a feud between Hardy and the World Tag Team Champions, the more excited I get about it's potential. I liked that Lashley didn't just pin Hardy after the attack, with "The Destroyer" nailing a brilliant spear on Hardy after running up the steel steps and pushing "The Artist" back first into the ring-post. A strong finish to the show saw Lashley and Galloway have a bit of a scrap, after "The Destroyer" had attempted to get "The Captain" to raise his arm in victory. 

finally...

atpw scale rating - 5.54/10

The main event three way was the highlight of a fairly enjoyable two hours of television from TNA this week. Lashley becoming Number One Contender pushes him into an intriguing clash with Drew Galloway that has been coming for the last couple of weeks, being made even more personal due to Lashley's gym attack that opened the show. Mike Bennett kept the in-ring open going, even if I sort of feel that it was slightly unneeded piece of build towards the main event. Sienna's debut was the strongest part of the shows undercard, whilst the King of the Mountain ladder match was just as throwaway as the non-existent build would suggest, but still had it's moments. 

Not a bad episode of IMPACT Wrestling at all, with plenty to look forward to over the next couple of weeks also.

TV Review: TNA IMPACT Wrestling #610 (TNA World Heavyweight Championship #1 Contender's Gauntlet)

On 22nd March 2016, TNA aired the 610th episode of Impact Wrestling, having previously taped the event on 15th March 2016 at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida, USA. The show featured Bram, Jeff Hardy, Ethan Carter III, Matt Hardy, Rockstar Spud, "The Miracle" Mike Bennett, Eric Young, Lashley and Tyrus competed in a Gauntlet Match to crown a new #1 Contender to Drew Galloway's TNA World Heavyweight Championship, after a chaotic opening segment involving everyone (minus Lashley) lead to Dixie Carter announcing the bout...but was it any good? Let's take a look.

impact wrestling #610 match card

Match 1 - TNA World Tag Team Championship - Beer Money (C) vs. The Bro-Mans

Match 2 - Street Fight - Crazzy Steve w/Rosemary vs. Eddie Edwards

Match 3 - TNA Knockout's Championship #1 Contender's Three Way - Jade vs. Marti Bell vs. Rebel

Match 4 - TNA World Heavyweight Championship #1 Contender's Gauntlet - Bram vs. Eric Young vs. Ethan Carter III vs. Jeff Hardy vs. Lashley vs. Matt Hardy vs. Mike Bennett vs. Rockstar Spud vs. Tyrus

drew galloway opens the show, shenanigans occur

What a start to the show! An exciting opening segment with lots of different faces and storylines, that set's up something to stick around for in the shows main event spot. New TNA World Heavyweight Champion Drew Galloway was on form with passionate opening promo, showing just what kind of Champion he'll be and kicking off his run well. The Matt Hardy Brand interrupted, before we got a slew of competitors attempting to state their case for a shot at Galloway's title. Jeff Hardy, Eric Young, Bram and Ethan Carter III all had a bit of a brawl, before Mike Bennett was the final one to have his say, coming out with Maria and reminding us that he was the last one to pin Galloway, back at IMPACT Wrestling #607. That's what made this segment work best for me, everyone involved had a real claim to a title shot and Galloway looked more than up for a scrap with anyone of them! "I'll bloody fight you all" he said.

TNA President Dixie Carter was out to settle things to the delight of everyone....I actually thought that Dixie did a pretty good job with what she had to do. I much prefer her role at the moment, compared to the over-done all-powerful heel boss thing she was doing a few years ago. Her saying something "they don't wanna see you argue for a title shot, they wanna see you fight for it!" was a sweet line, that managed to cut through the chaos of the rest of the opening. It set up the main event for later on and presented something a little bit different for people to tune in to. One of the strongest opening segments TNA have done in the last six months, and having plenty of names vying for a title shot can only be good for the title.

fast-forward...Mike Bennett selected his number for the gauntlet match from Jeremy Borash's golden tumbler...

beer money defeat the bro-man to retain the tna world tag team championships

The Bro-Mans were hardly the most excited duo to have answer Beer Money open challenge (only open to former tag team champions) but they did offer James Storm and Bobby Roode someone to quickly build their title reign up against, which with a pretty lacklustre tag division (You've only got The Decay and Bram & Eric Young teaming regularly) at the moment could have been hard to do otherwise. Although it was hardly a highly anticipated reunion, considering they last teamed together on One Night Only: Joker's Wild 4 that aired on 4th March. The bout itself was fairly basic in it's tag team structure, with Beer Money obviously coming out on top after about five minutes. I thought the closing stages of the bout were a little bit sloppy, with the four bumbling their way through what looked like it should have been a pacy series of moves, before Roode pinned Robbie E after a weak looking D.W.I. Not the greatest start to Beer Money's title reign this and it showed up just how much TNA need to build up it's tag division. 

fast-forward...The Decay cut another creepy backstage promo, calling out Eddie Edwards to a No Disqualification bout later in the show...Bram and Eric Young picked their numbers out of Jeremy Borash's tumbler, with Young seeing Willow again...

eddie edwards defeats crazzy steve in a no disqualification match

A decent no disqualification bout here, as Eddie Edwards looked to seek revenge on The Decay after they defeated him in six man tag action last week. Steve and Edwards worked well together, keeping a strong pace throughout and peppering in a couple of cool spots. A piece of action on the outside that saw Steve trip Edwards on the steps before hitting a cannonball stands out as the highlight of the match. Rosemary's involvement in the finish was handled well, as she costs Edwards the victory, before Steve accidentally ran into her allowing Edwards to get the win with a school-boy roll up. Whilst it didn't featured as much brutality as other recent TNA bouts, there was a lot to enjoy throughout here. It'll be interesting to see if this feud continues, but without Davey Richards able to compete, there isn't really anywhere else to take things at the moment. It'd be cool to see Edwards get a run as a singles competitor, as we saw in ROH he's got a lot to offer TNA in that department as well.

fast-forward...Jeff Hardy and Ethan Carter III picked their numbers for the Gauntlet from Jeremy Borash's tumbler, with EC3 cutting a passionate promo on Mike Bennett...

jade defeats marti bell and rebel to become number one contender to the tna knockout's championship

This was all a little weird, but I think I ended up liking it. Basically, Maria was supposed to face Gail Kim for the TNA Knockout's Championship, but called out the Dollhouse, revealing that TNA management had said she could give any Dollhouse member her shot at the title, setting up the three way and leaving Gail to awkwardly walk to the back. At first I was skeptical about the segment but with Maria explaining her position on commentary, saying she'd already defeated Gail and wanted the title to truly mean something before she won it, I was won round. It builds even more anticipation to final showdown between Gail and Maria. The three way itself was a good bout, with quite a few cool spots involving all three girls. The closing stages made Jade look like a boss as she dominated both of her opponents, and actually pinning both of them herself. Jade faced Gail on IMPACT Wrestling #608 and I asked for a more focused rematch, so I'm pretty happy on that front, and with the added element of Maria claiming that Jade is her protege, I'm very much looking forward to seeing what the three do with the opportunity they have.

fast-forward...The Matt Hardy Brand selected their numbers for the gauntlet from Jeremy Borash's tumbler, with Rockstar Spud's performance standing out especially...

jeff hardy wins a gauntlet match to become number one contender to the tna world heavyweight championship

This gauntlet was used to further a number of storylines TNA has going at the moment, was completely watchable, without being particularly memorable in it's own right. It seemed like a missed opportunity to not have any of the Matt Hardy Brand faction in the ring together, as Rockstar Spud found himself eliminated as Tyrus made his way to the ring and Tyrus was gone before Matt Hardy could get there. The group could have been used to drive the bout's story. We did however see Bram accidentally eliminate Eric Young to seemingly set-up a feud between the two, The Pope D'Angelo Dinero got involved in the bout to eliminate the man who attack himself last week, Lashley and after EC3 had eliminate Mike Bennett, Bennett helped Matt Hardy to eliminate him. Three big future feuds coming out of the battle royal with more fuel to add to the fire over the next few weeks, not bad at all.

The two Hardys being the final two in the match was a slightly obvious end to the bout, but both men put in some quality work here. There's definitely a sense that a one on one match between the two is inevitable at this point, and this tease of what could be to come was a pleasing one. The two going back and forth offered a couple of false finishes that kept the Orlando crowd engaged, with the strongest of these being Matt catching Jeff on the top rope as the younger brother went for a Whisper in the Wind. There was lots of drama towards the end of the bout, with Jeff on the apron, barely managing to hang on. Matt going for a Twist of Fate through the ropes was a nice piece of work, even if Josh Matthews called it as a Hangman's DDT, and Jeff managing to hit a back body drop over the top rope to win the bout gave a lovely visual on which to end the show. Jeff will provide a stellar first opponent for Drew Galloway's title reign next week and hopefully the pair are allowed to go full throttle, as they're more than capable of putting on a classic TV main event.

finally...

atpw scale rating - 5.71/10

TNA continues to deliver a solid two hours of television, with this episode scoring the highest ATPW Scale Rating for the show this year. The opening segment of the show completely nailed it, allowing a number of different faces to come across as stars, showcasing the new TNA World Heavyweight Champion Drew Galloway well and setting up an interesting main event for the show. Whilst that main event was hardly a blow away contest, it did set the wheels in motion for at least three different feuds, whilst also providing us with a new #1 Contender in the shape of Jeff Hardy. Hardy vs. Galloway next week is a marketable main event that if advertised well should draw a good rating. 

The undercard was varied, including a No DQ bout, a three way women's match with lots of storyline development and a World Tag Team Championship match that whilst not quite hitting the spot gave Beer Money more credibility as a Champions of a fairly weak division. 

 I want to be writing about great matches, not just good or decent matches! I think it's also worth noting that some of the promotions most exciting workers need to start getting more TV time, I'm talking about the likes of Trevor Lee, Andrew Everrett, Mandrews and Tigre Uno...basically the X Division! The show remains a watchable product and has been so for most of the year, however, with no storyline based PPV's it's time for the show to up their game in time of match quality.

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.