Impact Wrestling 697 Review // Team Eddie Edwards vs. Team Chris Adonis // Eli Drake Gravy Train Turkey Trot

Bound For Glory 2017 Review // Johnny Impact vs. Eli Drake
Impact Wrestling 695 Review // Alberto El Patron and Johnny Impact Brawl

Impact Wrestling 696 Review // Petey Williams vs. Eli Drake

It was Thanksgiving on 23rd November, so Impact Wrestling treated us to a Turkey based episode. Yeah. Taped at the Aberdeen Pavillion in Ottawa, Ontario, the show featured just one original match, pitting Team Eddie Edwards against Team Chris Adonis. Throughout the show names were drawn, taking up an outstanding near twenty five minutes, leading to Fallah Bahh, Garza Jr., Richard Justice and Allie joining Edwards' team and Adonis' team consisting off KM, El Hijo del Fantasma, Caleb Konley and Laurel Van Ness. The show also featured a number of flash back matches from Thanksgivings gone by including Rhino, Alex Shelley & Sheik Abdul Bashir battling it out in a three way from 2008. But was it any good? Let's take a look. (SPOILER - IT WASN'T GOOD. NOT GOOD AT ALL)

Eli Drake Gravy Train Turkey Trot // Team Eddie Edwards (Eddie Edwards, Allie [Cherry Bomb], Richard Justice [Dick Justice], Garza Jr. & Fallah Bahh [Franciz]) def. Team Chris Adonis (Chris Adonis [Chris Masters], El Hijo del Fantasma, Caleb Konley, Laurel van Ness [Chelsea Green] & KM [Kevin Matthews]) // Pinfall

*If the following paragraph seems repetitive, drawn out and entirely unnecessary, then I've made my point. It's also good to remember it took up 25 minutes* 

Robert Irvine prepared a Thanksgiving meal, whilst Jeremy Borash fannied around with a tumbler...Borash did some more fannying around with a tumbler...Eli Drake told a story to Borash about his Dad's creamy mashed potatoes. They also drew the first team captain for the newly rechristened Gravy Train Turkey Trot, Eddie Edwards...Edwards told McKenzie Mitchell that tonight he'd be ticking an item off his bucket list by competing in the match...Borash drew El Hijo Del Fantasma as the first member of Team two, whilst Drake stole his bread roll...Fantasma told Mitchell that they don't have Thankgiving in Mexico... Borash let us know that they'd be drawing more names later on... Eli Drake gave his thoughts on Johnny Impact vs. Alberto El Patron happening next week, which didn't amount to a whole lot...Borash finally drew the next member of Eddie Edwards' team, Allie...Allie actually seemed pretty excited about the prospect of dressing as a turkey...Borash let us know that they'd be drawing more names later on...Caleb Konley was drawn as the next member of Team Two by Borash...Trevor Lee told Konley that he'd better not lose the match, in another Mitchell interview...Drake pulled Richard Justice as Edwards' next team member...Justice was buzzing for the opportunity when he spoke to Mitchell... Borash drew KM as the next entrant into the Gravy Train Turkey Trot...KM told Mitchell that all he cared about was impressing American Top Team later on...Laurel Van Ness was the next name out of Borash's tumbler... van Ness danced around like a turkey in her interview with Mitchell...Drake asked Chris Adonis "would you?" with Adonis replying "I would stuff that turkey" seemingly in regards to van Ness...Borash pulled another name out of his tumbler, Fallah Bahh...Bahh spoke to Mitchell, saying only the words "Bahh" and "Gobble Gobble"...Borash and Drake spoke about Bahh's weight and then drew Garza Jr.'s name out of the tumbler...Garza Jr. told a Mitchell that a Mexican wrestler never gives up or something...The team captain for the second team was revealed as Chris Adonis, with Drake attempting to put the name back in the tumbler, Adonis seemed furious about the possibility...Adonis gave Caleb Konley, Fantasma and KM a pep talk, whilst van Ness danced around like a turkey...Edwards gave Allie, Justice, Garza and Bahh a team talk, with Justice more interested in the fact that there would be food around the ring...Before the match began Drake made Borash read an oath to the competitors, making them promise to wear the Turkey suit if they were pinned in the match, whilst standing around tables full of Thanksgiving treats... 

Yeah. Well, the match certainly was something. It wasn't completely terrible, but it was pretty terrible. My highlights included Justice attacking Konley with a bread roll, van Ness riding around on Justice's back for a bit, Josh Mathews continuously corpsing on commentary, Bahh and Justice teaming up on KM and a comedy dive spot where Justice pulled his straps down and then fell off the apron, getting caught by the majority of the match, before Allie came flying off the top to knock everyone down. Undoubtedly, the comedy from Justice was the best part of the whole thing, which says more about the use of the likes of Edwards, Garza, Fantasma and Konley, than it does Justice's skills. Then there was the other stuff. Oh dear the other stuff. The commentary making jokes about Bahh and Justice being larger gentleman, KM hitting some of the weakest strikes you ever did see, Garza once again wrestling with an obviously injured arm, Adonis knocking Edwards off the apron to distract the referee and then simply kicking Garza a bit, the referee dropping Garza's hand to the mat multiple times when in an Adonis waistlock and then doing NOTHING about it, followed by Garza eventually escaping and then going straight to the hot tag with absolute no build or struggle. Just a general lack of psychology or common sense in the structure of the bout, with it appearing at multiple times like no one had discussed anything about the match at any point. After Adonis shouting "Masterlock" like a fucking teat, Edwards escaped quickly and got a roll up win in a sloppy finish. After twenty five minutes of mindless build-up segments, the match was over in under half that time and I felt like I'd lost at least three years of my life and many, many brain cells.

You thought this was over? Oh no, my naive friend. There was still ten minutes left of the show. How did they fill those ten minutes? Well, Adonis had to get in the turkey suit, of course. This was much more interesting than the match, but that's not saying much at all. It went like so; Eli Drake said Adonis didn't have to wear the costume, Jeremy Borash said he did, Adonis tried to leave, security stopped him, Adonis tried to leave again, security stopped him again, Borash said if Adonis didn't wear the suit then Drake would have to wear it and then in the best moment of the show, Drake motioned for security to take Adonis back to the ring, whilst saying otherwise on the mic, then Adonis wore the turkey suit. It wasn't high class television and went on for an excruciating long time, but there were moments of relief, mostly enjoying the depth of Drake's performance. The show concluded with a food fight, including Garza Jr. lobbing an entire turkey at Eddie Edwards (his own captain) and Edwards ducking a cherry pie attack from Adonis, leaving Drake covered in pie as the show went off the air.

Turkey Bowl // "The War Machine" Rhino def. Alex Shelley and Sheik Abdul Bashir [Shawn Daivari] // Pinfall 

This bout originally aired on iMPACT 231 (broadcast in November 2008, taped at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida) and was certainly not a classic. That being said it was probably the best of the three archive bouts, with Shelley and Bashir teaming up to tackle the more powerful Rhino, only for the War Machine to come flying back and pin Shelley with a Gore.

After the match, Mick Foley forced Alex Shelley to wear the Turkey Suit, in an over-the-top promo, threatening to fire the Motor City Machine Guns member. This segment was not entertaining the first time, it really didn't need to be re-aired.

Eli Drake, Dezmond Xavier, Petey Williams, Trevor Lee, Bobby Lashley and Allie let us know their favourite Thanksgiving memories...Drake, Sami Callihan, Alberto El Patron, Williams, KC Spinelli, Johnny Impact and Matt Sydal let us know what their favourite Thanksgiving food was...Drake, Sienna, Ethan Carter III, Impact, Sydal and Allie let us know what they were thankful for...Drake, Willliams and Eddie Edwards (who looked quite ill) told us about their Thanksgiving Traditions... 

Turkey Bowl // Eric Young def. Robbie E // Pinfall

This was a baffling encounter from Impact Wrestling 385 (aired November 2011, taped at Universal Studios in Orlando Florida), with my enjoyment coming from Taz relentless taking the piss out of the whole thing on commentary. Referee Rudy Charles was for some reason positioned as the star of the contest, using the turkey suit to count pinfalls and also randomly breaking out into a chicken dance at various points, before Young picked up the win with a jumping Piledriver.

After the match, Eric Young and referee Rudy Charles made Rob Terry wear the turkey suit.

Turkey Suit Challenge // Robbie E def. Grado // Pinfall 

From Impact Wrestling 645 (aired in November 2016, taped at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida) we had this bout that was straight up comedy wrestling, as well as having Aiden O'Shea [Jay Bradley] on the outside as some kind of enforcer. Nipple twists, both being terrified of the turkey suit for reasons that weren't explained and Grado pulling out Robbie E's arse were amongst the "highlights", en route to Robbie E earning the victory after blocking a sunset flip.

After the match, Grado put on the turkey suit and rather enjoyed it, beginning to cut some shapes in the suit, whilst Robbie E also pranced round like a fool, whilst Aiden O'Shea looked on for some reason.

Sienna, Madison Rayne, Rosemary and Allie spoke about the upcoming tournament for the vacant Knockout's Championship

The Pluto TV rewind of the week was Diamond Dallas Page given Raven a Diamond Cutter in a match against Monty Brown, taken from Impact 24 (aired November 2004, taped at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida)

This may have been the worst episode of any professional wrestling show that has aired in 2017. 25 minutes of drawing names out of tumblers and bad jokes, ten minutes of talking heads discussing Thanksgiving traditions without a single interesting story, one original match that if you were kind you would call "not awful" and three previous Turkey Bowl matches, that ranged from short unoriginal comedy to bizarre referee dominated action to a three way that was certainly a match that happened at one point. Also, does anyone want to watch two Robbie E matches on the same show? After a killer episode last week, Impact Wrestling let themselves down on Thanksgiving and episode 697 deserves to be burned in a bin.

Review by James Marston (@IAmNotAlanDale)

Impact Wrestling #672 Review (1st June 2017)

On 1st June, Impact Wrestling aired their 672nd episode on POP TV, taped on 23rd April at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. The show featured a Six Sides of Steel match between Alberto el Patron [Alberto Del Rio] and Ethan Carter III for el Patron's GFW Global Championship and EC3's Impact World Heavyweight title shot at Slammiversary, alongside Eli Drake [Shaun Ricker] challenging for Moose's Impact Grand Championship, as well as appearances from X Division Champion Low Ki, LAX, Tyrus [Brodus Clay], Dutch Mantel and Karen Jarrett. But was it any good? Let's take a look.

• ICYMI - A recap of Josh Mathews and Jeremy Borash's feud including Scott Steiner's return to Impact last week, as well as the #671 promos from World Heavyweight Champion [Bobby] Lashley and Ethan Carter III, before EC3 became #1 Contender in last week's Three Way main event against Magnus and James Storm.

el Patron interrupted EC3's #1 Contender Celebration

Ethan Carter III's victory celebration, after becoming #1 Contender last week, was utterly ridiculous, over-the-top and thoroughly entertaining as the 2 time Impact World Heavyweight Champion introduced us to his barber shop quarter, cellist and violinist. This was similar to a segment with Jeff Jarrett from one of the very early episodes of Impact, with each song having me in bits and EC3's off the cuff remarks complimenting the musical frivolity well. The quartet sang his theme music, then "For he's the number one contender" before finishing up with "Goodbye my Bobby Lashley babe" and it was glorious. EC3 hammed it up, managing to be annoying and entertaining, as he named members of the group including Jimmy with the Gimp leg and Tom Foolery, whilst the singing lead perfectly into GFW Global Champion Alberto el Patron's interruption. The segment concluded with Bruce Prichard (joined by Karen Jarrett, Dutch Mantell and Tyrus) cut off a potential scrap by booking the duo for the show's main event with both el Patron's GFW Global title and EC3's Slammiversary title shot on the line. It's all to be inside a steel cage, because...because it will be. The use of Prichard in this segment was head and shoulders above him starting the show last week, although I'm not sure how I feel about having a trio of babyface authority figures flanked by a bodyguard! 

Moose def. Drake to retain Impact Grand Championship

A decent opening contest, with Moose and Eli Drake doing a good job with the three, 3 minute rounds gimmick, working in a nice story with a solid ebb and flow. Drake took the first round, spending most of the match working over the left leg of his opponent, with the bell ringing just as he locked in a Figure Four Leg Lock. The second round continued with a similar feel as Drake upped the ante and wrapped Moose's legs around the ringpost a few times, a closing flurry from Moose including a massive drop kick that knocked Drake to the outside, followed up by hitting a Pop-up Powerbomb, running senton and mid-rope Moonsault all within the last minute. Moose's selling was intermittent and not the strongest part of his game, but he still favoured the leg when it was important to do so, as he couldn't cover Drake after the moonsault. The final round was probably the weakest of the three as I didn't feel like it managed to cap off the story, as well as it could have and any match that doesn't have a definitive finish is always going to end flat. That's an issue with the gimmick itself, but the two did worked in some sound near falls with Drake kicking out of the Go to Hell (Sitout Chokebomb with Drake seated on the top turnbuckle) as well as Eli's second Chris Adonis [Chris Masters] grabbing Moose's leg before a Gravy Train (Over-the-shoulder belly to back piledriver) just before the end of the third round. The highlight of the entire segment may have been Eli's face when it was announced that Moose had won the match, great stuff. 

• Backstage - Knockout's Champion Rosemary [Courtney Rush] surprised Allie [Cherry Bomb], promising to protect her, whilst the terrified Allie struggled to find words...a superb performance from both.

Allie def. Nova 

My main takeaway from this match is that the debuting Amber Nova is way too good looking to be an enhancement talent. The photo doesn't do her justice, so Google her or something. From her entrance onward she looked like a star and even with her limited in-ring experience I'd suggest Impact sign her before anyone else does and find some kind of on-screen role as she develops. Obviously looks aren't everything, but they're a bloody good start. The match itself was probably a little too long for what it needed to do, but the focus on Allie growing as a professional wrestler (despite having been wrestling for over a decade) and her underdog character was nice, as she fought from underneath to seal only her third victory in Impact with a Death Allie Driver. The match got her character and story over clearly, but just went a tad too long for me. 

LAX def. V.o.W. in a No Disqualification Match to Win the Vacant GFW Tag Team Championship

My main issue with this match was that it was No Disqualification, without any need to be. Literally all the cheating or anything LAX (Santana [Mike Draztik] and Ortiz [Angel Ortiz] with Konnan, Homicide and Diamante [Angel Rose]) could have been disqualified for happened with the referee distracted. This would've made perfect sense in a regular match and worked to get the team some more heat when they repeatedly broke the rules to get the victory, but the impact is lessened when the rules are taken away. It felt like the talent hadn't been told the match was No DQ as there was nothing from Veterans of War (Mayweather [Crimson] & Wilcox [Jax Dane]) that would've suggested they had any kind of dislike for Santana and Ortiz and considering the anti-American rhetoric of the group, you would've expect V.O.W. to want to inflict some damage with a few toys, if they could have. Aside from that the match was okay and the timing of some the spots with the outside interference (like Konnan hitting Mayweather with a bat and Homicide whipping Wilcox with an Impact World Tag title belt just as the V.o.W. looked capable of cleaning house) kept the contest entertaining. There's potential in both teams, but they're being under-served at the moment.

• Backstage - McKenzie Mitchell interviewed Jeremy Borash and Joseph Park [Abyss] about their Slammiversary match with Josh Mathews and Scott Steiner, with Park attempting to hype JB up, only for Borash to tell him he was nuts and walk off.

Ki def. Everett to retain X-Division Championship 

A good X Division title match, that was hurt by Andrew Everett slipping on the loose ropes at a crucial point, as well as having Sonjay Dutt on commentary which distracted from the story of Everett chasing the title after a sizeable build. Before the slip the match was heading in the right direction as Low Ki had spent the majority with the momentum, following a baseball slide through the second and third ropes. There was some nice stuff building up to Everett's comeback with the 24 year old doing a convincing job as the underdog against the vicious World Warrior. A number of hope spots involving kicks and a solid amount of time spent on the mat later and Everett got some space with a tasty Kylo Kick (Backflip kick), before a rana into the buckle and a running shooting star press had the match feeling like it was about to break into something special. Unfortunately, that's where the slip came and whilst the pair quickly transitioned into something else, with Ki laying into Everett before we got a sweet shooting star press near fall, most of the drive had been sucked out. Ki would go on to retain after pulling some wonderful facial expressions in the build towards his corner dropkick before pinning Everett with the Warrior's Way. 

• In the Arena - Rockstar Spud made his return to Impact by jumping Swoggle [Hornswoggle] in the crowd and gaining revenge by brutalising his rival with a hammer, whilst constantly shouting "Why?" in an unsettling segment.

el Patron def. EC3 in a Six Sides of Steel Match to retain GFW Global Championship and become #1 Contender to the Impact World Heavyweight Championship 

The main event Steel cage match wasn't the neatest of matches you'll see this year and at times even verged into clunky territory, but Alberto el Patron and Ethan Carter III brought the intensity and scrapped it out in brawly main event. With the gimmick being used well, there was lots of your generic steel cage spots early on, alongside some cool use of the comically large camera holes Impact has in their enclosure. The clash built itself up well with both men whipping out a couple of signatures for near falls and getting creative with the structure that allowed EC3 to hit a Samoan drop off the top rope and an electric chair facebuster to thwart escape attempts. The two shifted gears following a double knee armbreaker that el Patron usually uses to set up for his signature cross armbreaker, with EC3 managing to set El Presidente up for the TK3 only to find himself caught in the submission hold. After The Ass-Kicking Machine escaped, he got two decent near falls from the TK3 and a Sitout Powerbomb before the match reached it's crescendo on top of the cage. 

The finish here saw the match's most spectacular spot as after el Patron chased EC3 up to the top of the cage and managed to send him into a tree of woe with a series of nasty looking kicks. The GFW Global Champion sat a top the structure and then came crashing down with awe-inspiring double stomp. The move provided the bout with it's memorable moment, before el Patron retained and booked his place in the main event of Slammiversary with a rope-walk Frog Splash. Personally, I would've liked to have seen Alberto get the pin after the double stomp as that just felt like the matches natural conclusion, however having EC3 kick out of the move, before a frustrated champion went deeper into his arsenal, may have been even better. Overall, this was a cracking scrap of a cage match, with big near falls and an eye-catching highspot and whilst it would never get mistaken for a wrestling clinic, that wasn't what it needed to be either. 

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 5.31/10

A better showing from Impact this week in their last show from Universal until Slammiversary. The opening segment was the peak for me, with the Barbershop Quarter complimenting Ethan Carter III's stellar villain work, whilst his main event cage match with Alberto el Patron also delivered. Low Ki v Andrew Everrett showed promise until the slip and Moose v Eli Drake was an okay showing of the pair despite the cumbersome rules of the Grand Championship. Allie's match with Amber Nova went too long and the LAX v Veterans of War match didn't meet my expectations, in part because the match was needlessly labelled as No DQ. Putting the Josh Mathews and Jeremy Borash feud on the backburner was certainly a positive with Mathews commentary with just D'Angelo Dinero being much more palatable than anything that occurred when he was having to bicker back and forth with JB over the matches. 

The tapings from Mumbai, India begin next week and I'm more than a little intrigued to see how they come off on television. I'm hoping for a return to the madness that was Ring Ka King as we head toward Slammiversary on 2nd July.

Impact Wrestling #671 Review (25/05/2017)

On 25th May, Impact Wrestling aired their 671st episode, taped at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida on 23rd April. Ethan Carter III, James Storm and Magnus battled to become #1 Contender to the Impact World Heavyweight Championship, KM & Kongo Kong tagged up against Mahabali Shera and Braxton Sutter leading to Rosemary making her presence felt when Sienna and Laurel Van Ness attacked Allie, as well as appearances from Lashley, a returning Scott Steiner, Joseph Park, Davey Richards and Angelina Love. But was it any good? Let's take a look...

• ICYMI - Low Ki is dominating the X Division (I'm not sure why they included this as there was no X-Division content on the show) and Ethan Carter III attacked Bruce Pritchard after getting told to grow some balls last week.

Prichard, Lashley, EC3, Magnus and Storm Segment

Nothing says hot wrestling TV show in 2017 like starting with a Bruce Prichard promo. Fair play to Prichard for selling his ribs from the Ethan Carter III attack the other week, but there really was no need for him to be in the ring at the start of the show, considering all he really did was introduce World Heavyweight Champion Lashley, whilst Tyrus stood about awkwardly. I feel having Lashley open the show alone in the ring would have been much more effective and given the open a much crisper pace, as with three contenders having to make entrances also the segment was already very stop and start. After Lashley had claimed to be "the man to beat, who can't be beaten", which is a great line by the way, we Ethan Carter III, Magnus and James Storm interrupting each other to lay down their cases for why they'd win the upcoming Triple Threat #1 Contenders bout. Out of the three, I was surprised with the performance of Magnus on the mic, with Brit sounding dynamic and at times irreverent as he referred to his opponents as "ham sandwiches". The segment closed with Prichard telling EC3, Magnus and Storm that if they touched each other before the main event that the bout would be cancelled and they would be suspended indefinitely, whilst also bizarrely making the match No Disqualification despite it being a three way. 

KM & Kong def. Shera & Sutter

A dull opening tag bout here, that did very little for me, but luckily the post-match segment with Rosemary [Courtney Rush] saving Allie [Cherry Bomb] from an attack by Sienna [Allysin Kay] and Laurel Van Ness [Chelsea Green] was much fresher and got a strong reaction out of the crowd. The tag match plodded along with not a whole lot of note. There wasn't much that was actively bad, but there certainly wasn't anything to shout about with even the Braxton Sutter [Pepper Parks] hot tag feeling humdrum. By the time, Kongo Kong hit Mahabali Shera with a headbutt from the apron allowing KM [Kevin Matthews] to get a school boy roll-up victory with a handful of tights, the match had gone at least five minutes too long and I'd be surprised with some of the Impact Zone hadn't fallen asleep. Whilst Sienna and LVN chasing Allie around the ring in the match was probably the worst portion of the bout, their involvement after the blokes had brawled to the back was the saving grace of the segment. The two laying the boots into Allie made them look like massive dicks, with LVN's nutter bride gimmick adding a weird edge, before Rosemary's music hit and the Impact Zone woke up. The Knockout's Champion staring down Sienna and LVN, before spraying green mist in Sienna's eyes and hitting Red Wedding on LVN got a great reaction, with Rosemary looking like the bad ass bitch she is in the process. With the history between Rosemary and Allie on the Canadian indies, I'm very interested in seeing how this storyline plays out and hopefully we get to see them bring their rivalry to Impact Wrestling after a brief partnership. 

VOW def. Bah & Bokara in GFW Tag Team Championship Tournament Semi-Final

A straight-forward tag, but head and shoulders above the previous bout with the Veterans of War shining in their victory, whilst Fallah Bah and Mario Bokara looked more than capable in their roles. I felt like Mayweather [Crimson] in particular looked much better than I remember him being here, hitting a nice series of moves, including a Falcon Arrow, during the face shine as well as showing good timing in the finish as he came crashing into the picture to deliver a big boot to Bah on the outside. The crowd was into VOW, chanting "USA" throughout the heat sequence before the hot tag to Wilcox [Jax Dane] headed straight into the finish, with Veterans of War hitting M.O.A.D. (Fireman's Carry Flapjack and Cutter combination) on Bokara to send them into the Final against current Impact Tag Team Champions LAX (Ortiz [Angel Ortiz] & Santana [Mike Draztik]). After the previous confrontation between the two teams and their juxaposed idealogies should produce an intense match and I'm actually surprised we didn't see LAX head out to at least stare down with Mayweather & Wilcox post-match. 

Mathews, Borash, Park and Steiner Segment 

SCOTT STEINER IS BACK! He may be twenty years past his prime in the ring, but by Jove he's back on Impact Wrestling and heading to Slammiversary. Steiner was revealed as Josh Mathews partner against Jeremy Borash and Joseph Park [Abyss] for the 2nd July PPV. The build to Steiner's appearance was actually rather well done with Mathews initially attempting to apologise to Borash before losing his rag when Park came to ring, leading to Park challenging Josh to a fight and just after the bell rang, Steiner's music hit and the crowd popped. Mathews shone in this segment as his initial grovelling being relatable to everything people hate about no back bone politicians before exploding into his cutting promo on JB and Park, calling them "Tweedle dee and Tweedle Dumbass" before stating "I'm giving you two the rub", which you could tell he had a lot of fun with. The selling of Borash and Park when Steiner came out was ridiculously hammy and camp, whilst having D'Angelo Dinero on commentary describe Steiner as "one of the most feared men in all of professional wrestling" was unnecessarily over-the-top. Mathews kept things interesting by skipping about the place in joy as Steiner chased JB through the crowd, swung at some obvious plants in the crowd and then locking Park in the Steiner Recliner. I would've liked to have seen Mathews heat used to help get a younger talent over and I'm not quite sure of the benefits of this programme for anyone going forward. 

• A natural promo from Impact  Grand Champion Moose, explaining why the divisions rules play to his advantage and his plans on holding the title going into Slammiversary. 

• After Eli Drake had goaded Moose into putting the Grand Championship on the line next week, Chris Adonis [Chris Masters] jumped Moose from behind, leading to a two on one beat down. 

Alisha & Edwards def. Richards & Love 

It looks like this feud is far from over as despite Alisha [Lexxus] getting a roll-up pinfall on Angelina Love, a theatrical post-match attack that saw Eddie Edwards hand-cuffed to the ropes by Davey Richards and Love powerbomb Alisha through a table added more fuel to the fire that has been burning since February. The interaction between Richards and Edwards was the good stuff in the match, as the two laid into each other with various strikes, before Richards took control focussing on Eddie's leg, including a lovely spot in the Figure Four Leg Lock with Love grabbing hold of Davey's hands for extra leverage. Beyond a nice diving crossbody to the outside from Alisha, the Women's portion was mostly cat-fighting, which I think we really should've moved on from in 2017. There are better and more interesting ways to sell the dislike between two women than having them grab at each others hair and roll around. The post-match angle was needed because Richards and Edwards really deserve to have a blow-off singles match, which has the opportunity to be something special, depending on what gimmick it's given. 

EC3 def. Magnus and Storm to become #1 Contender to the Impact World Heavyweight Championship 

This was a high-quality TV main event, with Ethan Carter III, Magnus and James Storm telling a classic triple threat story, with a strong babyface in the shape of Storm. We got to see The Cowboy lay some hard af chops into main rival EC3 early on, but after dishing out a double suplex onto the ramp, the heels controlled the bout, with Storm selling effectively and looking great when fighting from underneath. As someone who remembers Magnus' TNA World title a few years ago, I got a kick out of seeing Magnus and EC3 working together again! The build up towards the inevitable Storm comeback had the Impact Zone invested and was booked superbly as the heels took turns nailing him with a kendo stick. EC3 accidentally hit Magnus and profusely apologised by battering Storm with a couple of brutal shots to our hero, with the spot then being mirrored as Magnus hit EC3 with the stick, but the Brit didn't stop. Having the relationship between the villains break down, allowed for Storm to sell his beating and then come back on fire, hitting a DDT and Neckbreaker combo on the pair, before belting them with a steel chair. The first two thirds of the match managed to be a tonne of fun, but also tell an effective story that made everyone involved look good in their own way. 

The final third of the bout continued Storm's underdog story, but also picked up the pace and featured a number of decent near falls. Highlights including Storm hitting a brutal-looking hangman's DDT onto the apron to Ethan, Magnus' Kings Lynn Cloverleaf on Storm being broken with an EC3 chair shot to the back, a nice tree of woe tower of doom with Magnus German suplexing EC3, but the strongest sequence saw Storm push Carter into a steel chair wedged between the first and second rope, then hit a running neckbreaker, only for the fall to be broken by a Magnus diving elbow drop. The finish completed Storm's valiant fight and then ripped away as Magnus ate a Last Call Super kick, only for EC3 to push the Cowboy out of the ring and steal the pin. This was an astute piece of booking that added to Storm's story as he chases another World title run, showing he has the potential, whilst furthering his feud with Carter. With the commentary repeatedly referring to GFW Global Champion Alberto El Patron [Alberto Del Rio] don't be surprised if we see another twist in the tale between now and Slammiversary.

Finally... 

ATPW Scale Rating - 4.92/10

This show was all about it's main event with the three talent shining in a well-put together contest. However, elsewhere some of the booking and talent positioning still leaves a lot to be desired. There was no need to have Bruce Prichard opening the show, Scott Steiner's return was bizarre and the opener was as dull as dishwater's dishwater. There were flashes of greatness like Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards' portions of the mixed tag, Rosemary saving Allie, the development of the Veterans of War tag team and Josh Mathews joyful performance in his segment and the fact that he and Jeremy Borash never shared the commentary desk. The new regime currently feels like one step forward and then another back, producing as many positives change as there has been negative, hopefully once we get to Slammiversary at the start of July we'll have a product that has found it's feet and ironed out some of the creases.

Feud for Thought: Spud vs. EC3

This article is part of #ATPW24, in aid of MIND Charity. You can help support the cause by going to www.justgiving.co.uk/acrossthepondwrestling

Back on New Years Day 2013, some fella from Birmingham going by the name of Rockstar Spud hit our TV screens on TNA's British Bootcamp. At the same time, Derrick Bateman had gone almost 2 months without a match with his then employer, WWE. The debut edition of Feud for Thought will look at how the two became a beacon of light on TNA television over the next two years, initially as allies and more recently as rivals.

Ethan Carter III made his debut on TNA television at Bound for Glory 2013, just six weeks later on Impact Wrestling, the Chief of Staff character was born as Rockstar Spud returned to TNA TV. A partnership was born that would last for a whole year, with the pair involved in a number of backstage skits together, developing the relationship between the two. Spud would involve himself in EC3's matches, all under the watchful eye of Madamme Dixie Carter. 

It was through his characterisation of the Chief of Staff character that would really excel throughout this time. Every little detail seemed to be thought out and even when handed questionable content to perform Spud seemed to find something that would keep the audience glued to his performances, whilst wanted to see him get his head kicked in at the same time. At this same time Carter was running through the TNA roster, maintaining his Undefeated streak. Whilst the matches were never particularly notable, I believe it was this steady build of cheap victories, DQ and Countout wins, that helped develop the EC3 character and that would become even more important when the two would eventually feud.

The pairing was always based around Carter being in charge, whilst Spud seemed infatuated with both EC3 and his aunt Dixie, seemingly doing anything to make sure they were happy. However, the show build to implosion began when Dixie ended up going through a table at the hands of Bully Ray, with EC3 blaming both Spud and hired gun Rhino for the incident. It was October 8th that saw the feud ignite, with Spud snaping and slapping EC3, only to end up fired as Chief of Staff. 

Their feud would last over five months before the two would have a one on one singles match. With Carter bringing in Tyrus as his bodyguard and Jeremy Borash, Mandrews and Mr. Anderson all turning up to help Spud at some point or another, the two were allowed to collide indirectly at different times. It was refreshing to see a feud go so long, whilst also not having the two facing each other in twenty seven singles matches along the way. 

With Carter seemingly obsessed with removing Spud's hair in an attempt to humilate him, this became the focal point of their when TNA returned to our screens on Destination America in 2015. Many a mans head was shaved bald in the crossfire, many a follicle fell in courageous battle for their cause. All the while you feel the swell building towards the two finally colliding, especially across the shows taped on the UK tour. The large crowds seemed to push both man's performances, everything seemed that little bit more important to them, in a time when TNA was really upping it's game.

So when they finally did collide on the 13th March episode of Impact, this match between someone rotting in WWE two years ago and 5' 4'' lad from Birmingham was main eventing the show. And bloody hell did they deliver! A brutal encounter, full of passion and hatred, drama and excitement. The crowd loved it, buying into every movement the pair put together and that allowed Carter and Spud to shine even more. By the finish, with Carter pulling out the win, it impossible not to feel for Spud and even though you'd hate to say it, be impressed by EC3. He'd put a hell of a shift in to get something he wanted.

Luckily, a post-match segment changed that and we were reminded exactly why we were supposed to hate Carter as he teased a reconciliation before destroying Spud and taking his hair. A fitting end to a long running feud, Carter will be able to move forward and up the card towards a full time main event berth that he seems to have his name written all over. Spud on the other hand seems to be moving into the X-Division, and won't be harmed at all by his competitive loss to Carter, in fact, the crowd might be behind him even more.

TNA Impact Wrestling 5th September 2013 Review

TNA Impact Wrestling focused largely on the Bound For Glory Series, with the first part of the tournament coming to close with a Twelve Man Gauntlet match (or Royal Rumble). Whilst TNA chose to have Sting and Bully Ray's No Disqualification bout go in the usual main event slot, to me the Bound For Glory Series, which will be the focus once again in the next two week's No Surrender themed special episodes, was where my interest lied, for almost all of the show.

Bound For Glory Series Twelve Man Gauntlet Match

To build up to this one, TNA started the show with a short vignette featuring clips of interviews with each of the twelve Bound For Glory Series competitors. In case you've missed TNA over the last couple of months, that's AJ Styles, Magnus, Mr. Anderson, Samoa Joe, Kazarian, Bobby Roode, Austin Aries, Jeff Hardy, Joseph Park, Christopher Daniels, Hernandez and Jay Bradley. I though this was a really good idea, with each man explaining their motives for winning the Gauntlet and why they will win, really setting up the importance of the Gauntlet match. Obviously, a lot of the participants wanted to win, so they could reach the final four and go onto No Surrender next week, but people like Jay Bradley and Hernandez who had no chance of winning at least mixed it up a bit. To continue on that theme, both Bradley and Hernandez were interviewed by Jeremy Borash, both actually gave decent interviews, but there was one problem here...I simply didn't care. Bradley spoke about how a certain organisation had possibly enlisted him to eliminate a certain individual and you could see it coming a mile off. It was clear who Bradley was talking about in both cases, and it was clear Bradley wouldn't be eliminating them, he's been booked as a loser throughout the whole Bound For Glory Series, why would things be changing now? 

The thing with Gauntlets/Royal Rumbles is they have to be full of spots and storyline to make them any good, you can't just sort of have twelve men come out and have them all swap between who is punching who in the corner of the ring, because it becomes pretty boring pretty quickly and this one bordered on the latter most of the time. There was the stuff with Jay Bradley, but it simply didn't work. It was revealed he was meant to be eliminating AJ Styles, but Styles had already been in the match for quite some time, and Bradley had a perfect opportunity when Styles entered the ring and clotheslined Joseph Park over the top rope, but it just wasn't picked upon. Despite earlier saying the order of entry was decided by who was higher up the standing, Mike Tenay and Taz still questioned who was in next which didn't help the proceedings. Bad Influence both did a good job in developing a story, helping keep each other in the match and work over other wrestlers, although a double hip toss wasn't exactly an exciting way to eliminate Hernandez. 

For me, the match really picked up with the entry of Austin Aries, charging down the ramp and hitting a leaping double clothesline on Bad Influence. This is where The Extraordinary Gentleman's Organisation remembered they were all a group and took the fight to Aries, finally a bit of storyline development. There was a nice series that saw Samoa Joe attempt to save Magnus from Bad Influence only to get eliminated himself, before Bobby Roode saved Kazarian by eliminating Jeff Hardy, as EGO's dominance continued it looked more likely they would produce the winner, with only Styles, Aries and Magnus opposing them. A nifty looking monkey flip from Styles would eliminate Kaz, although it was harmed by the jarring visual of seeing Kaz land on the elevated entrance ramp rather than the floor. Another nice piece of teamwork from EGO, saw Daniels save Roode from a bodyslam from Magnus and go on to eliminate the Brit, to bring the field down to four. Speedy eliminations of Aries and Roode by Styles, both of whom had already qualified for the final four, left Styles and Daniels to battle it out. Unfortunately, they didn't stick with tradition and then have a one on one match, like how they would usually do in TNA, with Styles eliminating Daniels following a Clothesline. I thought this was a real shame, as I quite excited to see the two go at it one more time, and thought the closing stages of the bout up were really good up until this point.

With the Final Four settled as AJ Styles, Magnus, Bobby Roode and Austin Aries (I got two out of four, by the way!), the only thing left to do was choose who would face who. So later in the AJ Styles came down to the ring and after some deliberation, picked Austin Aries as his opponent. Styles' reasoning was solid, with Aries having a victory over him in the Series and Styles wanting to prove himself once again, with Aries declaring that their would be a clear winner next week, I could help but be excited to see these two lock up for the second time on television. So that meant that the other semi final would see Bobby Roode vs. Magnus, with Magnus holding the victory over Roode in the Series proper already. With two decent promos from both guys outlining why they should win, it all set up very nicely for next week. It's obvious TNA had expected to have more time here, with a lot of the booking that seemed clear early on (Joseph Park being revealed as Abyss for a late push, Chavo Guerrero turning on Hernandez) having to be dropped, which is strange really because they should really know their own schedule, but they have actually done a pretty good job of coming up with a final four that I'm interested in. AJ Styles would be my pick to win, although you could make strong cases for both Austin Aries or Magnus to go head to head with Bully Ray at Bound For Glory as well. 

No Disqualification Match: 

Sting

 vs. 

World Heavyweight Champion 

Bully Ray 

with Aces & Eights 

(Anderson/Tessmacher)

There was no amount of build up TNA could do that would get me excited for this match. I saw it at Slammiversary and I'm pretty sure no one was crying out to see a Sting-Bully Ray II. Even with Bully Ray continuing his trend of top notch promos at the start of the show, addressing his Aces and Eights stablemates, Mr. Anderson, Tito Ortiz, Knux, Wes Brisco & Garrett Bischoff, with “main squeeze” Brooke Tessmacher by his side. Ray did a good job trying to keep his group in check, it's clear that Ray has relished his role here, it's a shame he hasn't really had a decent face to go opposite against. Ray also set up a number of matches for his group, including Knux taking on Chris Sabin and Brisco & Bischoff taking on World Tag Team Champions James Storm and Gunner. This is certainly the best use we've seen of the Aces & Eights group, with my previous main gripe with the group being that they were never in matches, however I think it might be too little too late. 

The build continued throughout the show, with both Aces & Eights and Main Event Mafia having backstage segments. Firstly, we saw Bully Ray's reaction to Mr. Anderson failing to win the Bound For Glory Series Gauntlet match earlier in the night. I thought this was  really well shot and performed little scene, with Bully Ray once again putting in a stellar performance. With Anderson showing a burst of aggression, before Bully Ray put him back in line, it looked like that would be the last we'd hear of Anderson's uprising, at least for now. For the Main Event Mafia, we saw Sting chatting with Rampage Jackson. Now I expected to hate this segment, but it was actually quite sweet. It came across to me as the veteran Sting departing some knowledge to the green Jackson, with Jackson happy to sit and listen whilst Sting cut a pretty decent promo, however I still wasn't anymore exciting to see the main event. 

Before the match, General Manager Hulk Hogan, banned Tito Ortiz from ringside and made the match No Disqualification. These two ideas seemed juxtaposed, what would happen if Ortiz interfered? Why were Mr. Anderson and Brooke Tessmacher allowed to stay at ringside? I've heard of WWE logic, but TNA logic is getting pretty ropey. The match was essentially a slim line version of the one they had at Slammiversary. Firsty, Sting took it to Ray with a steel chair, before Ray took the upperhand and they repeated the spot from Slammiversary where Ray removed the padding on the ring to expose the boards. I wasn't fan of it the first time and I don't like it anymore now. Sting reversed Ray's Piledriver and managed to lock in a Scorpion Death Lock, with Aces & Eight's Knux, Brisco & Bischoff making the save for their President. Main Event's Mafia Samoa Joe, Magnus & Rampage Jackson came down and fought Aces and Eights to the back. It was a nice twist on what we had seen at Slammiversary, showing that Sting now had some guys watching his back, so I can't really complain about that.


The finish saw Sting manage to lock Ray in the Scorpion Death Lock again, with Anderson on the outside wielding a hammer. With Anderson refusing to make the save for his President, Ray tapped out and Sting picked up the submission victory. In isolation, this was a pretty good finish and did set up nicely for next week's No Surrender, but TNA just had their World Heavyweight Champion lose clean to someone who can't even challenge for the title. I'd love to know the logic that we into that one. So Anderson got in the ring and said he'd be facing Bully Ray next week at No Surrender for the World Heavyweight Championship, and I have to say I quite liked the return of face Anderson, complete with announcing his own name. I thought it was a really strong end to Impact Wrestling, but they did about two-three months worth of build for this match, in about a two weeks. This moment could have felt even stronger, if they'd have just let it breath for a bit and really build to Anderson's turn. The other issue I had with this was that Anderson has just lost the Bound For Glory Series, and is getting a title shot next week...whilst the final four will battle it out to get a shot on the same show. It's the timing more than anything that annoyed me about this, if it was shuffled around and maybe two months down the line, this would have been a red hot ending to the show.

Best of the Rest (In The World)

Elsewhere on Impact Wrestling, we saw the return of former World Heavyweight Champion Chris Sabin, in his first television bout since losing the World Heavyweight title, taking on Aces & Eight's Knux. I was interested to see Knux back in the ring, because he's hardly been in the ring since turning up in TNA. He's been in a handful of multi man tag team bouts, but this was actually only his second singles match on television, and his last match was back in January! Knux has been handled pretty poorly since joining TNA, as have most of Aces and Eights as individuals, which has in turn harmed the Aces & Eights group in general. Get the guys in the ring, show us what they can do! I thought Knux had a lot more to give the company, after enjoying the majority of his run in WWE as Mike Knox.

The match was decent, it didn't exactly set the world a light, but it was okay. Sabin worked Knux's knee for some reason, during the opening of the match, I guess the logic was that Sabin was trying to get Knux on the ground, but it didn't quite work. Knux looked pretty good when he took control of Sabin, with power moves and nice diving leg drop, that I wasn't expecting from such a big man. The finish saw Bully Ray hand Knux a hammer, with Sabin hitting a basement dropkick to Knux's knee. With the hammer now loose, Sabin jumped on it and whacked Knux in the head, giving Knux a disqualification victory. I'm waiting to see where they go with Sabin before burying this finish, obviously they have something planned for him and it didn't exactly harm Knux either. After the match, we saw Sabin and real-life girlfriend Velvet Sky, with Sabin saying something has got to change, so it would seem they are working on something for Sabin and it has to be better than his World Heavyweight title reign! 

There was also tag team action with World Tag Team Champions James Storm & Gunner taking on Aces & Eight's Wes Brisco & Garrett Bischoff. The bout kicked off with the cliché spot of Brisco & Bischoff attacking Storm & Gunner on the entrance ramp, but Storm & Gunner quickly gained the upperhand before the match officially got going. I didn't want to say it, but I was actually quite impressed with Brisco and Bischoff who did a pretty good job of working over Storm, Brisco looked especially good. The bout built up well with a hot tag to Gunner, and number of nice near falls for both teams. The finish used another wrestling cliché with Brisco distracting the referee by bringing the tag belt into the ring, allowing Bischoff to hit Gunner with a chain to pick up the victory. You'd expect a rematch to happen further down the line, possibly with the belts on the line, but currently I'm positive about Brisco and Bischoff moving into the tag team division after this bout. 

Knockout's Champion Mickie James was also on the show, in a truly awful segment with ODB. Both women actually gave a good performance, but the material they were given was tripe. It focussed on Miley Cyrus and that whole twerking thing as an attempt to get heat on James. Eventually, James tried to hit ODB with the belt, only for ODB to fight back and then the two had a stare down. I have no idea why they didn't put on or the other on top during this segment, as it just didn't look right having James leap up. I'm actually quite excited to see the James vs. ODB match, but if segments like this continue then I might start losing interest. 

Finally...

My final thoughts on this week's Impact Wrestling.

1. TNA had to rush their plans for the Bound For Glory Series, but the final four actually looks pretty interesting.

2. Bully Ray vs. Anderson needed another two or three months worth of build and it could've been red hot.

3. This week's booking of Aces & Eights, showcasing the member of the group in actual matches, should have been happening about nine months ago.