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

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

match card

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

Match 2 - Singles - Mike Bennett vs. Mandrews

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

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

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

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

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

ethan carter iii called out tyrus

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

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

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

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

mike bennett defeated mandrews

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

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

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

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

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

madison rayne and gail kim defeat the dollhouse

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

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

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

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

ethan carter iii and rockstar spud defeated matt hardy and tyrus

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

finally...

atpw scale rating - 4.71/10

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

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

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

Match Card 

1 - Singles - Mandrews vs. Will Ospreay

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

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

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

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

6 - Singles - Drew Galloway vs. Kurt Angle

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

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

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

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

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

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

mandrews defeats will ospreay 

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

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

matt hardy had stuff to say

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

lashley defeats bram 

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

mike bennett interrupts kurt angle

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

trevor lee defeats tigre uno to retain the x division championship

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

beer money defeats the decay via disqualification 

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

grado returns

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

jade defeats madison rayne

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

drew galloway defeats kurt angle

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

matt hardy calls out dixie carter

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

mike bennett defeats mandrews

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

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

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

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

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

ethan carter iii calls out tyrus 

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

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

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

gail kim and madison rayne defeated the dollhouse

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

ethan carter iii and rockstar spud defeated matt hardy and tyrus

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

view from the partner in crime

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

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

finally...

atpw scale rating - 4.52/10

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

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

Kamikaze Pro Monster Live Review

In front of their biggest Bournville crowd to date, Kamikaze Pro presented Monster at Cadbury Club. Headlined by an appearance former NWA World Heavyweight Champion Abyss, the show also featured a number of established and up and coming British names including Relentless Division Champion Marshall X, Chris Brookes, Clint Margera, Damian Dunne, Dan Maloney, Ethan Silver, Project Lucha, Ryan Smile, The Hunter Brothers and more in action.

Kamikaze Pro Ring Announcer/General Manager Lawrie Neal opened the show with his usual energetic opening, in front of a congregation that featured a nice mixture of familes and adult males who were very receptive from the beginning.

A Monday Night RAW-esque opening segment followed, with current Kamikaze Pro Champion Robbie X accompanied by his cohorts from So Scandalous. It was a simple but effective segment, with the group running down their achievements in the promotion and seemingly now going by the name The Bigger Picture, before Neal snapped and placed Robbie X's title match with Kay Lee Ray as the opening bout of the show. Whilst the three Bigger Picture teammates all put in competent efforts on the microphone with maybe a little too much shouting, it was Neal that put in the star performance here for me, being both believable in his role of down-trodden boss man and getting the crowd hyped for the upcoming clash.

One Fall Match for the Kamikaze Pro Championship

Robbie X (C) 

vs. 

Kay Lee Ray

This match worked like a charm, for one simple reason, it's easy to hate Robbie X and it's easy to cheer for Kay Lee Ray. The two performers took advantage of a crowd that was completely into everything that was going on to put together an enjoyable encounter. Kay Lee especially put in a strong performance, with some superb facial expressions getting over her frustration and pain when unable to put Robbie X away with a series of nice near falls. Whilst the wrestling was solid throughout, it was the big highspots that stand out amongst the crowd, with both wrestlers taking big bumps during with Kay Lee getting sent into the ringside chairs standing out as particular highlight of the bout, for sheer visuals alone. Unfortunately the finish didn't quite work for me, as Kay Lee seemed to have the contest finished with a Gori-Bomb, only for Ryan Smile to jump up on the apron as the referee was about to count to three. It's about points like this when it becomes difficult to suspend disbelief, as I couldn't get my head around the referee not just counting to three at this point. Things would have been just fine had Smile pulled the referee out of the ring instead, surely? With Robbie X retaining his title thanks to a school boy roll up, it was a shame to see a match that was entertaining, end with the unsatisfactory finish.

Winner - Robbie X via pinfall

One Fall Tag Team Match 

Omari & Liam Doyle 

vs. 

"The Polish Punisher" Mika & "The Wolf of Wall Street" Elliot Jordan

This is a difficult one to review, because it features four competitors from Kamikaze Pro's training school, all of whom have had limited experience in front of a live crowd. However, due to this encounter being featured on a main show, and not on separate academy match or as a pre-show, it would unfair of me to review it in a fashion different from how I would approach any other contest on the card. To their credit, all four of these men were nicely over with the Cadbury Club, with Omari especially seeming to have special connection with the crowd. All four also looked very comfortable in front of a crowd, with Mika and Elliot Jordan looking strong and confident in their character during a smattering of interactions with those at ringside. 

The match was a basic tag team contest structure, with Doyle taking the majority of the beatings from the heel duo. It was a shame to see Doyle's gimmick (that of a drunken Irishman) never really play apart in the bout, in which anyone else could have been playing Doyle's role. Also, after taking a rather long beating, for Doyle to seem perfectly fine after the hot tag was a real shame, essentially rendering the previous sequence redundant. Not having Doyle take a swig from his whisky bottle to fire himself up again seemed like a missed opportunity. A handful of the bumps weren't as crisp as they should have been, with the finish seeing Omari hit an awkward Modified lifting reverse STO (think NXT's Baron Corbin's End of Days) standing out. Whilst Doyle, Omari, Jordan and Mika all showed some potential here, there's still a long road ahead for these four trainees.

Winners - Omari & Doyle via pinfall

Six Way Elimination Match for the Kamikaze Pro Relentless Division Championship

"Bad Man" Marshall X

vs.

"All Day Star" Ryan Smile

vs.

"Number 1" Damian Dunne

vs.

Ethan Silver

vs.

Dan Maloney

vs.

Chris Brookes

Almost as if Kamikaze took notes from our Fight Club: Pro review last week, this match was made an elimination matchup and given plenty of time. There was strong performance from all involved, but Ethan Silver's outing in the early section of the contest jumps to mind straight away. Silver took an extended beating from the likes of Damian Dunne, Ryan Smile and their untrusting ally for the bout, Dan Maloney. Silver's stature made him the perfect guy to have this spot, bringing to mind TNA's Mark Andrews in his ability to garner support from the crowd from taking a beating. His sequence with Dan Maloney a little further into the clash showed an ability to mix it up with the bigger man, and create an exciting back and forth sequence. 

The match kept a great pace throughout, with things ebbing and flowing nicely, with some exhilarating dive sequences that one would expect of a division entitled "Relentless", with Smile's conhilo over the ringpost being the cream of the crop (even if the pop didn't further his cause as a top heel in the company). Alongside those highspots, there was a lot of storyline and character development, with the continuing efforts of Smile, Dunne and Maloney to dominate Silver and Brookes, whilst Marshall X did his best to stay out of everyone's way, with the bout sharing similarities with a tag team elimination encounter at times. 

Marshall X would go on to retain his title for the second time, after things had been whittled down to just he and Brookes. Marshall's performance throughout the whole match, in term of character, made this finish extremely satisfying to watch, whilst also getting a great reaction from the crowd. From staying out of the ring for as long as he could, to stealing a pinfall on Silver after a disqualified Maloney had attacked Silver with a TKO, to getting Smile disqualified by throwing Smile a steel chair with the referee's back turn (Marshall had already hit Brookes with the chair), it was difficult not to be frustrated to see Marshall not get his comeuppance at the end of the contest, in all of the right ways. 

Order of Elimination

1st - Maloney via disqualification
2nd - Silver via pinfall (from Marshall X)
3rd - Dunne via submission (from Brookes)

4th - Smile via disqualification
5th - Brookes via pinfall (from Marshall X)

Winner - Marshall X

After, the match, Lawrie Neal announced that Marshall would defend the title at Brute Force in Great Barr on August 29th, against a returning Pete Dunne. With Neal referencing that Dunne was still in China, Dynamite coming out and battering Marshall X got a great reaction from the crowd. With the two both hot with the crowd in their respective roles, their bout on August 29th may very well steal the show.

The interval was a length half an hour, that did seem to go on for an age. Lawrie Neal welcomed us back to the show, in a shortened version of his opening for the first half, which was much needed after that lengthy interval.

One Fall Tag Team Match for the Kamikaze Pro Tag Team Championship

The Hunter Brothers (C)

vs.

Project Lucha

It would be almost impossible for these four men to have a bad encounter, wouldn't it? One of the most established tag teams in the country and two of top singles stars in the country, this was a smooth, quick paced tag team match that worked well as the opener for the second half of the show. A back and forth affair that saw both teams trading tags, and seemingly just having a great time inside the ring working with each other (as their Twitter accounts would stand testament to). A highlight for me was a spot that saw Martin Kirby through Jim into the bar area (almost the whole width of the building), allowing Lucha to dominate and get a very nice near fall because of it.

When the contest finished following the Hunter's swing into low dropkick signature double team move on Kirby (even this was a call back to an attempt at the move earlier on in the match) I'd have to say I was a tad disappointed. I wasn't entirely ready for things to end and was expecting both teams to really push things into the next gear for another three or four minutes before the close of the bout. That's more of a statement on my sky high expectations of all four men, than it does for the actual match itself. It would be great to see these two teams go at it again in a different slot on the card, or even without the lengthy interval before hand which, alongside both teams working babyface, took a little out of the crowd. A good tag team contest, that could have been better.

Winners - The Hunter Brothers by pinfall

One Fall Match

Sebastian Radclaw Ruby Summers

vs.

"The Chavette" Chardonnay

With Sebastian Radclaw off the show, this match took a bit of turn becoming a "Fighting Females" division matchup with Ruby Summer stepping in to replace Radclaw. A rather basic match would follow, with three errors that stand out in particular hurting my enjoyment of proceedings. Firstly, Chardonnay kicking out of a well-done Fisherman's suplex bang on the count of two felt like a huge waste of a big move that could have worked as a nice false finish, and secondly, the referee counting a pinfall on Ruby when her shoulders were clearly off the mat, and finally, the finish of the contest that saw Chardonnay lock in a crossface with Ruby's legs way past the ropes, and instead of Ruby calling for the ref to break the hold with Chardonnay moving her to middle of the ring and getting more heat doing so, Ruby moved her legs inside the ring and held them up in the air away from the ropes, before tapping out. 

Winner - Chardonnay by submission 

A wild raffle appeared, much to the wonderment of all in attendance.

Monster's Ball 

"The Monster" Abyss

vs.

Clint Margera

If you came to this show to see Abyss then you wouldn't have been disappointed by this one, as it worked almost as "Best of Abyss" situation with The Monster running through a series of his best-known spots and moves, including ending up with chair to the nads, chokeslam, black hole slam and an appearance of his favourite weapon Janice, the only thing that was really missing here was a Shock Treatment. That isn't to say that Clint Margera was merely there to make up the numbers and take Abyss' offence, the Wolverhampton fellow look impressive in there also, bringing out a number of weapons that suited the match-type. The start of the bout with Margera standing face to face with Abyss was a great moment, that was well-performed by both men.

Exactly what you would have expected if you were aware of either man, a brutal hardcore clash that spilled across the Cadbury Club, including a spot that saw Abyss go through a table on the outside. Steel chairs, baking trays, tables, thumb tacks and Janice all sent the crowd into a wild frenzy, as everyone in attendance lapped every moment of this match up with "Holy Shit" chants a plenty, especially when Margera took a chokeslam onto the tacks for a near fall. The finish came soon after as Abyss hit a Blackhole Slam to pick up the victory, much to the delight of the Bournville crowd. It was an occasion where having the import go over the regular was the right thing to, with Abyss putting Margera over after the contest, and putting him over strong. It would seem Margera has turned babyface in Kamikaze Pro, a role that he excels in for Fight Club: Pro up the road in the Wolverhampton, so it will interesting to see how his character progresses in the promotion over the next few months.

Finally...

In front of an animated Bournville crowd, Kamikaze Pro provided an enjoyable show, that had a little bit of something for everyone. The three title matches all provided plenty of entertainment with the Six-Man Elimination bout narrowly claiming the Match of the Night from me. Abyss came across as a hard working import, who seemed out to help the promotion and Clint Margera, rather than just take an easy paycheck. The other two matches weren't close to being able to compete with the rest of the card, but at least the four trainees continued to show promise in their on-going development.

The record crowd (just under 300 people) inside the Cadbury Club shows that Kamikaze is doing something right in Bournville and I'm pretty certain the majority of those in attendance will be back on 27th September when the company rolls into the venue again, and on the strength of this show, they may bring even more with them. 

ATPW Scale Rating - 5.42