WWE Monday Night RAW Review // 19th March 2018

With just under three week's until WrestleMania, the latest episode of Monday Night RAW came to us from Dallas, Texas for the first time since 2016's RAW after Mania. The show featured the culmination of the Bray Wyatt and "Woken" Matt Hardy feud as the two faced off in Ultimate Deletion at the Hardy Compound, Asuka putting her streak on the line against RAW Women's Champion Alexa Bliss, the return of Universal Champion Brock Lesnar, a six man tag between The Miztourage and The Balor Club, an escalation of the issues between Bayley & Sasha Banks as they faced Absolution's Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville, John Cena demanding an answer to his WrestleMania challenge to The Undertaker, Braun Strowman vs. RAW Tag Team Champion Cesaro and Titus Worldwide taking on The Revival...but was it any good? Here's our review. 

Commentary - Michael Cole, Corey Graves, Jonathan Coachman & Seth Rollins 

Interviewer - Charly Caruso 

Ring Announcer - JoJo

The Ultimate Deletion // 

"Woken" Matt Hardy vs. Bray Wyatt

Before the match - As Queen Rebecca played the piano, Matt Hardy introduced us to King Maxel and Lord Wolfgang, told Vanguard1 to scan the Hardy Compound for an intruder and Senor Benjamin to prepare the battlefield - Hardy discussed his plans for the match with the spirit of George Washington, now inside a giraffe - Hardy took a trip around the Lake of Reincarnation, inside his dilapidated boat, Skaarsgard

So, The Ultimate Deletion finally arrived, with Matt Hardy victorious over Bray Wyatt, and it was...good. I'm not sure it was TNA's Final Deletion levels of madness, but it was much closer to that than the House of Horrors thing we saw last April, which is a massive positive. The close camera work produced a claustrophobic feel, that was difficult to get used to at the start, because of the match coming at the tail end of a three hour RAW. The idea of the two moving between different "zones" within the Hardy compound was a cute one, with the on-screen graphic helping to create the feel, with the match shifting in tone numerous times because of this. This could have been jarring, but I felt like the darker moments gave the comedy a more unexpected feel, which helped some of the more out there times. I would've liked Bray to have been a bit more engaged in the wackiness, as his character has more potential than what was shown here, with most of the memorable moments coming from Hardy's utterances, like when he tried to work out whether to use a "chair with wheels" or a "mower of lawns" on his opponent. The finish was the best part of the whole thing, being completely absurd and felt like WWE fully embracing the concept, as Hardy disappeared after Vanguard1 had caused a distraction, Senor Benjamin throwing an inflatable globe (take that Flip Gordon!) at Wyatt (who had found Benjamin hiding under Skaarsgard) to catch, with Benjamin and a debuting Brother Nero singing "He's got the whole world in his hands", before Hardy returned to win with a Twist of Fate. It was very daft and presumably not everyone's cup of tea, but I enjoyed this a lot, especially the second half. Overall, it was simply just a treat to see the Broken Universe fully realised on WWE television, making what felt like an endless and, at times, directionless feud feel worthwhile.

After the match - Matt Hardy pushed Bray Wyatt into the Lake of Reincarnation, with it being insinuated that Wyatt had perished in the water by Senor Benjamin.

RAW Women's Champion Alexa Bliss (with Mickie James) vs. "The Empress of Tomorrow" Asuka 

Before the match - Alexa Bliss made it clear that she wasn't sorry for what she said about Nia Jax last week in a fairly run of the mill promo for the Goddess. Your classic Bliss bait and switch situation, before being interrupted by Asuka for the match. 

Asuka remained undefeated this week as Alexa Bliss ended up losing by countout after attempting to walk out on what had been a sloppy match. I'm not quite sure what the issue with this bout was, but as soon as Asuka got on offence it went downhill quickly with Bliss taking a number of weird bumps off Asuka's attacks, alongside a weird moment where they dicked around the ropes for a bit and then Bliss took a back bump. Whatever it was it didn't work. Whilst 80-90% of the match didn't come together as well as it should have, there were two nice moments of action that stopped the match from being a complete dud, as Bliss jumping out of the way of a leg sweep from Asuka and immediately landing a dropkick, as well as a Code Red out of the corner from the RAW Women's Champion both looked lovely. It's also worth noting that Dallas was pretty into the match, especially the Code Red near fall. After some fumbling around Bliss spent a lengthy period in the ankle lock before attempting to get out of dodge with the help of James, which at least wasn't another pinfall or submission loss for the champion before WrestleMania.

After the match - Nia Jax charged down to ringside and chased Alexa Bliss through the crowd after sending Mickie James head-first into the ringpost - After Bliss complained about Jax, Kurt Angle made a match between Bliss and Jax for the RAW Women's Championship at WrestleMania. 

Brock Lesnar returns 

Ruddy hell. After week's of boiling under nicely with no appearance from Brock Lesnar, the Universal title feud was kicked up a gear or two as The Beast returned and brutally assaulted WrestleMania challenger, Roman Reigns. Takeaway the transparency of what WWE have been doing with Reigns lately, because elements of the fanbase will never be convinced for whatever reason they have, this was a great piece of WWE theatre from start to finish. Reigns turning up despite being suspended last week gave him a rebellious edge and even if destroying three US marshals whilst handcuffed was a bit heavy handed and should probably result in Reigns missing WrestleMania, it was at least a fun thing to watch. I think that was the main takeaway from the segment, as the subsequent appearance from Lesnar, as he destroyed a still handcuffed Reigns was at what ever you chose to watch it at an entertaining situation, with a number of well-timed moments tent-poling the segment. Both the initial appearance of Lesnar and when he returned as Reigns was being carted out on a stretcher produced a good sense of foreboding as you knew exactly what was going to happen (whilst Reigns played both moments well) and either you got excited because you dislike Roman Reigns or it made it dislike the Brock Lesnar character for assaulting a defenceless Big Dog. I'm big into this feud at the moment and look forward to seeing what WWE has in store on the final two episodes before WrestleMania.

Intercontinental Champion The Miz, Bo Dallas & Curtis Axel vs. Luke Gallows, Karl Anderson & Finn Balor

Before the match - The Miz cut a promo about not being on the cover of "WrestleMania Magazine", which had echoes of CM Punk once again, whilst also promising to send "Tyler Black and Prince Nevitt (sic)" back to the bingo halls in a weird moment. 

Nothing special to be found in this six man tag, as Finn Balor got the win for his team with a schoolboy roll-up pin on WrestleMania opponent The Miz. Most of the action was solid, yet unspectacular, with it often feeling like the teams were simply trying to get through the bout and move on to next week, with nothing getting past second gear. The Miztourage have their act pretty nailed on, with lots of creative heely cheating here, as they targeted Balor early on, which made a lot of sense considering Balor challenges for Miz's title in less than three weeks. The one moment of weirdness came as Karl Anderson seemed to struggle with Miz's snap DDT routine, leading to an atrocious looking chain of action, that hurt the match heading into the break. I wasn't a massive fan of the finish either, as Balor and Miz went for the overused reversal of Skull-Crushing Finale, where the person taking jumps when taking the move and rolls through for a pin, before a slightly clunky series of reversals and nearfalls lead to Balor getting the win. The three-way rivalry between Balor, Miz and Seth Rollins (who was on commentary) had been moving at a nice pace and whilst this week didn't quite put the brakes on the IC title feud, it did end up taking the creative foot off the accelerator a little.

After the match - Seth Rollins made the save for Finn Balor after The Miztourage attempted to assault the Irishman, with the Rollins and Balor having a staredown to conclude the segment. 

Sasha Banks confronts Bayley 

We got the closest we have so far to getting some form of explanation for the ongoing issues between Bayley and Sasha Banks this week as the pair got some mic time before their match with Absolution. Whilst I am interested in the feud and there's a couple of good ideas in there, this segment felt a little forced to me, with Bayley especially not bringing much conviction to her promo. That being said, the content she was supposedly given to work with wasn't the best as she had lines like "it ate at my core" and motivation being that Banks smiled after she kicked her off the pod at Elimination Chamber. We again saw glimpses of Banks "Legit Boss" character when she told Bayley she'd allow her to apologise to her, but I think it's taking a little bit too long to get into the meat of this feud. Sometimes a slow-burn can be effective, but the content needs to be stronger than what these two are being given and actually play to their strengths, rather than putting them in awkward positions like this one. It wasn't a bad segment, but it could have been a lot better with either better or looser scripting. Absolution would interrupt before we'd find out anything significant and we'd head into the match.

Bayley & Sasha Banks vs. Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville (with Paige)

A decent tag team encounter saw Absolution's Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville pick up a big victory over Bayley & Sasha Banks as the issues between the later continued to cause them issues. This was a pretty standard tag team match structure, with the relationship between Bayley & Banks being used as fuel to keep things interesting throughout as both women would tag in on each other at various points. It was hardly revolutionary storytelling but it worked well enough within the time and was highlighted by a rather lovely hot tag from Bayley in the final third. There were a couple of moments of awkwardness, mostly revolving around the Absolution duo struggling with pinfalls, as well as a sloppy hiptoss from Banks to Rose at one point. The finish obviously played on the Bayley/Banks relationship as Banks ended up inadvertently distracting the referee by attacking Rose as Bayley had a backslide pin on Deville, before more arguing between the pair allowed the New Jersyan to pick up the win with a jumping roundhouse kick. I'd like to see WWE get a bit more creative with this feud sooner rather than later, as whilst it's been okay, it's been very paint by numbers and has quite often failed at getting into what had made the relationship between the pair interesting in the first place, that being their juxtaposed characters and history in NXT.

John Cena wants an answer from The Undertaker

Another firey promo from John Cena this week, as Big Match John looked to find a way to get The Undertaker to face him at WrestleMania, before Kane turned up and chokeslammed the 13 time WWE Champion, leaving the audience with more questions than answers with just two more episodes before WrestleMania. Cena's promo was a natural progression of what we saw last week, with no answer from The Undertaker on Cena's Mania challenge, as John went in hard on The Deadman with an angry, almost rant-like speech about what he believed to be cowardice. Cena's performance the last two week's have been spot on, managing to portray a number of different things at the same time, as it appears more like the character is simply trying to rile up Undertaker, rather than believing what he's actually saying. Some of the lines in this were superb as well with the pinnacle being "You are not the God that they made you, you are the man that you've allowed yourself to become. And that man, Undertaker, is a coward. The Undertaker is a coward.", as it built towards the coward line and pulled on a number of topics Cena had discussed previously. Adding Kane into the mix is a good way to prologue the feud with Undertaker having to appear, but having the commentary team wonder whether it will be Cena vs. Kane at WrestleMania seems counter-productive, as I'm not sure many people would either be interested in seeing that match on the biggest stage or would even buy into the possibility. It'll actually be Cena vs. Kane next week on RAW , when hopefully Kane's brother will finally make his appearance post-match.

Braun Strowman addresses having to choose a tag team partner for WrestleMania

So we didn't actually find out who Braun Strowman will be tagging with at WrestleMania, but we did get a Mighty Boosh reference from Sheamus. I can forgive Sheamus stumbling all over his promo and having to repeat himself a few times, because he mentioned "Old Gregg" and Old Gregg's got a mangina. What more do you want from a promo? Seriously though, I wonder how many people watching actually got the reference that was tucked away in between Black Panther, Captain America, Ricky and Morty and Dallas Cowboy's owners references. Who cares it worked for me, so fuck everyone else. The rest of the segment was Cesaro & Sheamus telling Strowman they'd give him a beatdown and Strowman being like "Nah pals, you wo" and we'd transition into a match between Cesaro & Strowman, after Sheamus had bluffed that he'd help fight the Monster as well. Oh, there was also a weird moment where it was implied that Cesaro & Sheamus were sleeping together that really popped Dallas for some reason, but felt kinda dated from where I was sitting. 

Braun Strowman vs. RAW Tag Team Champion Cesaro 

A fairly straightforward Braun Strowman match here as the Monster Amongst Men put away one half of the RAW Tag Team Champions with a running powerslam after catching a crossbody attempt. With just over of five minutes of television time for the bout, the two worked a solid encounter, that saw most of Cesaro's offence coming from dodging a Strowman attack or from a Sheamus distraction, whilst the Swiss Cyborg struggled against the power of his #1 contender. Within the structure there was a number of good highspots, including Braun catching Cesaro diving off the steps and ramming him into the barricade and Strowman charging around the ring to shoulder barge the fuck out of Sheamus, whilst the best wrestling could be found in a nice sequence where Cesaro attempted the Neutralizer and the springboard spinning uppercut to no success. I guess next week we'll see Sheamus step in against the Monster and then at some point we'll find out Strowman's partner of choice, with my money on a returning Big Show.

Apollo & Titus O'Neil vs. Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder

The Revival put away Titus Worldwide with a Shatter Machine to Apollo in what was a completely random, but all-action tag bout. There was some really nice stuff in this bout, especially when Apollo got tagged in, with the Georgian working well with Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder on a couple of sequences. 

After the match - The Revival announced themselves as the first entrants into the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal.

Also on the show 

- An extended sit-down interview with Ronda Rousey and Kurt Angle, featured an emotional Rousey discussing her previous exploits and how they've lead her to be ready for the Grandest Stage of The All, with very little from Angle. It's weird that WWE announced Rousey would be at every RAW between Fastlane and WrestleMania and now she's missed two in a row.

- Mark Henry was announced for the 2018 Hall of Fame class, with a package including interviews with The Godfather, Xavier Woods, The Big Show and The Rock. No problems with Henry's induction here, he's given the company over 20 years of services, had over 1000 matches with them and his 2011 World Heavyweight title run and Hall of Pain gimmick was one of the highlights of the early part of this decade. 

- This week's "Hungry for Mania Moment" was John Cena defeating John "Bradshaw" Layfield for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 21. 

ATPW Scale Rating //

5.5 out of 10

Written by James Marston //

@IAmNotAlanDale 

TV Review: IMPACT Wrestling #638 - Lashley v Eddie Edwards 4

As the rumours continued to swirl like the nearby Hurricane Matthew, TNA continued to move forward with the first episode of IMPACT Wrestling since Bound For Glory. With Lashley choosing to face Eddie Edwards in the main event with the World Heavyweight Championship on the line and The Decay, Trevor Lee, Gail Kim, Andrew Everett and Mandrews all playing a major role in the show...this was going to be awesome...right?

In a big storyline twist, Eddie Edwards collected his first World Heavyweight Championship with a victory over Lashley, after the former Champion had picked Edwards as his challenger as the easiest option from a selection that also included Ethan Carter III and Moose. This lead to short but enjoyable main event, that told a strong underdog story as Edwards fought against the powerful and dominant champion Lashley. The Destroyer kept things simple, as following a German Suplex that appeared like it was about to kill Edwards, Lashley controlled the pace and took his time to wind up the crowd. Even though the crowd seemed to side with Moose to get a title opportunity, they quickly got behind Edwards, helped by the structure with Edwards getting a number of exciting hope spots that would always be cut off by a big power move. The finish was very well done as Edwards caught Lashley with a Boston Knee Party as Lashley came flying in with a spear attempt. With this ending the show, it left me wanting to see what would happen next and how different the show would be next week. Good work from everyone involved.

Unfortunately the "Wolf Creek" Cage Match was less enjoyable, as Brother Nero (Jeff Hardy) & "Broken" Matt Hardy defended their World Tag Team Championships against The Decay ("The Monster" Abyss and Crazzy Steve) in what boiled down to being an advert for a new show on Pop. Firstly, I was a little uncomfortable with the idea behind the gimmick, which showed similarities to the Ambrose Asylum match that WWE did earlier in the year and various other gimmicks, but according to the commentary team were "the weapons of choice" of a famous Australian serial killer. Why? Because Pop are doing a show about him. Secondly, the conclusion to the match didn't even air because of technical difficulties, forcing TNA and Pop to put the match on Youtube. A couple of weird weapons got involved, like a weird grappling hook and Reby Hardy (Reby Sky) hitting Rosemary (Courtney Rush) with a rabbit on a stick, but there was nothing that made me sit up and take notice. After the hot Great War from Bound For Glory, this match seemed to take all the momentum out of the feud. 

The show began with a cool segment that saw all the champions in TNA come to the ring to argue their case for being the true champion of the company. For those not keeping score that meant Lashley, Aron Rex (Damien Sandow), Gail Kim, "Broken" Matt Hardy (no Jeff for unknown reasons) and DJ Z (Shiima Xion) all in the ring. This segment had the feel of a reboot, as each champion was introduced and the concept of each division was explained during the conversion. This therefore makes this episode a great jumping on point for anyone who is fancying giving TNA another chance. Billy Corgan (accompanied by Aiden O'Shea) would eventually come out to announce the plans for the evening, where all the titles, bar the X Division belt, would be on the line, as well as setting up the gimmick for Lashley's title match. A solid opening segment, that made it clear what the viewer would be getting throughout the rest of the evening.

Cody (Rhodes) had his first appearance on IMPACT Wrestling, alongside Brandi Rhodes, addressing the crowd, before ending up in a brawl with "The Miracle" Mike Bennett and Maria Kanellis-Bennett. This was a great piece of television as Cody introduced himself well to the audience, putting over a number of event from the PPV, whilst also taking his time when telling stories. Cody talked with passion about wanting to win the World Heavyweight Championship and also mentioned that Bennett was on the list of competitors that he made when he left WWE earlier in the year. Once Bennett and MKB were out, the performers worked the crowd well getting them to chant "Cody" repeatedly, before Bennett would up his game and produce some real fire on the mic. It worked so well, because Bennett having gripes about Cody having a title shot, made complete sense and was delivered with such conviction. It was easy to believe what Bennett was saying and therefore I instantly bought into the feud. 

Ethan Carter III would enter a new feud with Eli Drake on an episode of "Fact of Life". This was an entertaining collision, starting off comical with Drake continually pressing his Dummy button every time EC3 tried to speak before turning serious and producing two good promos, including a marvelous effort from Drake. The ability to shift from light entertainment style in an intense situation with ease, should be commended as there are only a few wrestler in the business who can do this well on a regular basis. As good a job as EC3 did with his promo, begging Drake to hit the button so that he could beat him up, it was Drake's effort that sticks out in my mind. Perhaps, it had a similar theme to Bennett's later in the show, but it worked just as effectively as Drake bought the passion, talking about his run in TNA and how he's worked to get to the spot he was in. Let's not forget that Drake has title shot thanks to his Bound For Gold win and a fiery feud with EC3 could set him up for a title win next year. Credit to both guys for making me want to see them fight again! 

Team X Gold made it's debut this week, as X Division Champion DJ Z, Braxton Sutter (Pepper Parks) & Mandrews (Mark Andrews) went over Andrew Everett, Marshe Rockett and Trevor Lee in a fun six man tag. In terms of the action this was a good debut for the Team X Gold, because it was pacy, used the trios match style well and included plenty of exciting action over a short period of time. It was great to see Mandrews get the pin and get a proper chance to showcase himself well as I've been willing TNA to start using him correctly. This was actually Mandrews first win on IMPACT Wrestling since July 2015! Unfortunately, I still have absolutely no idea what Team X Gold is. There was nothing before the match to explain it other than it was an idea of Billy Corgan and Z, whilst Josh Matthews attempts to get over the concept on commentary was a bit of a mess. "Once you see a team established, they will stay a team" What? "The referee will enforce the rules more" What? 

Best of the Rest 

• Aron Rex retaining the Grand Championship over The Tribunal's Baron Dax in a solid encounter that ended abruptly with a second round submission.

• Gail Kim retained her Knockout's Championship despite a dominant performance from Sienna, before Sienna, Maria Kanellis-Bennett & Laurel Van Ness took part in a beat down of Kim, as Allie looked on.

• It was announced that Maria Kanellis-Bennett will face Gail Kim for the Knockout's Championship next week with MKB's career on the line - McKenzie Mitchell interviewed Eddie Edwards - Maria Kanellis-Bennett berated Allie for revealing she was able to compete at Bound For Glory - Jeremy Borash interviewed Moose - Jeremy Borash interviewed Ethan Carter III

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 5.21/10 

Show in a Sentence - Some good wrestling, some great talking, a decent post-Bound For Glory episode

Match of the Night - Lashley v Eddie Edwards 

Non-Wrestling Segment of the Night - Cody, Brandi Rhodes, Mike Bennett & Maria Kanellis-Bennett 

Words - James Marston

Banner - Kai Stellar

TV Review: IMPACT Wrestling #628 - Ethan Carter III v Matt Hardy 8

The catch-up on IMPACT Wrestling reviews continues!

This episode featured the Semi-Finals of the Bound for Glory Play-Offs, an X Division title Ladder match and a Monster's Ball clash for the Tag Team titles. With The Decay, Gail Kim and the debuting David Starr in action, this was going to great, right?

The headline encounter featured Ethan Carter III and "Broken" Matt Hardy battling for a spot in the Bound for Glory Play-Off Final. Before the action got underway, there was a promo segment that initially began with Hardy berating Brother Nero, before EC3 would interrupt. The Universal Studios crowd seems to absolutely adore EC3 and he gave another strong performance on the mic, with an entertaining run-down of a number of "Broken" tropes, whilst also helping to add towards the Hardy v Nero feud that has been rumbling along for some time now. It was a nice reminder of the EC3 and Hardy feud from earlier in the year that brought a little extra spice to the match that directly followed it. 

EC3 and Hardy put on a good main event, with a story driven by The Ass-Kicking Machine (kayfabe) injuring his ankle off a missile dropkick, including Hardy removing EC3's boot to further go after the injury. Hardy has unquestionably reenvigorated his character over the past six months and that allowed him to wrestle a visually different style to pretty much anyone on TV at the moment, utilising mainly headbutts and biting to keep control of the match. In a business where everything has been done, anything that's remotely divergent from the norm, instantly draws you in and that's exactly what Hardy's got going on right now. For my tastes the finish was a little over-booked with Reby Hardy sliding a hammer to Nero, before Nero slid it across the ring in-between Hardy & EC3, with the ref removing the hammer from Hardy's grasp, EC3 would pick up the win after nailing Hardy with the boot that had been removed earlier. Anything that take such a long winded explanation is too much for me, but it did advance that Hardy-Nero feud, whilst bringing the previously removed boot back into the match was a neat piece of storytelling also.

The second semi-final involved "The Miracle" Mike Bennett and Drew Galloway and despite some nice ideas, ended up becoming even more over-booked than the main event. Moose, EC3 and Maria Kanellis-Bennett would all end up getting involved in a bout that went just over 7 minutes in an example of trying to do too much at the same time. The one thing that came out here looking good was Moose, who looked like a true destructive force, taking out Galloway on his entrance, later for a near fall and then EC3 after being sent into the steel steps himself. EC3 clobbering Galloway by mistake has been done to death in this feud alone and didn't have much impact at all, especially compared to the other times we've seen this happen. Bennett's heel character is building especially with Moose now at his side, but I'm still waiting for him to have a breakout match in the company.

Lashley's X Division title defense against DJ Z was a bit unexpected and in another case of hot shot booking in TNA was made a Ladder match also. Personally, I'd have preferred to see a singles bout before the two, before a arrogant Lashley gave Z the opportunity to choose the match type as we got here. This was arguably the strongest match on the show though, telling a decent power v speed type story, whilst throwing in a number of impressive spots that lifted the excitement. Z took his opportunity towards the top of the card and owned it pulling out a series high spots including a senton off the announce table and a big crossbody of the top of the ladder to the floor! He also ended up taking a ridiculous gorilla press bump off the top of the ladder for the finish. Even if it was Z who really made this bout tick, it's Lashley's dominance that continues!

James Storm guested on an entertaining edition of King of the Mountain Champion Eli Drake's Fact of Life talk show, with a future title bout between the two being scheduled. Both threw around sophomoric insults about shagging mothers and southern redneck incest and such, whilst Drake also teased a potential showdown with Lashley at a latter date. Drake continues to improve on the microphone managing to be incredibly watchable, whilst making you want to see someone kick his teeth in Row Z at the same time and this was no different. The segment concluded with Drake standing over his rival, after coming out on top in a scrap, ending things with Blaunt Force Trauma, before repeatedly shouting his popular catchphrase "Dummy Yeah" into Storm's knocked out ears (as seen above, Dummy (yeah))

Similar to the X Division title Ladder match, the tag team title bout seemed to blindside me and then it was like "Oh we're having a Monster's Ball match, okay. Cool." In another similarity, The Decay's Abyss & Crazzy Steve defending against The Bro-Mans' Jessie Godderz & Robbie E was a compact but brutal match. Straight out of the gates with the big moments, this was a very good spot-fest, that saw barbed wire boards and thumbs tacks get introduced within the first two minutes! With a genuinely believable near fall, after E & Godderz got on a roll and Mr. Pec-tacular got The Adonis Crab locked in on Steve, who spent a long time in the hold and two big bumps from both Bro-Mans en route to The Decay retaining the belts, this was an exhilarating sprint between two teams whose stock have been continuously raising as 2016 goes on.

ROH's Moose had his in-ring debut for TNA opposite CZW's David Starr, also making his debut. This was a straight-forward squash match, in which the former American football player looked like a beast. Whilst it was a positive debut for Moose, it was a shame that the talented Starr wasn't allowed much of an opportunity to show off what he could do for the company. Following the bout, Moose would have a confrontation with World Heavyweight and X Division Champion Lashley, whilst Mike Bennett built up the potential of a match between the two, before quickly denying the live crowd of that possibility. Lashley throwing some bitchy lines towards his younger rival, with Bennett having to hold Moose back from a fight was a different piece of booking that continued to blur the lines between heel and face for everyone but Bennett. Just like the Lashley v EC3 feud and latter the EC3 v Galloway feud, Moose v Lashley seems like something that TNA is going keep teasing, continue to make people want to see the match more and more before it's ready to deliver.

The only women's match on the card saw Gail Kim begin her run towards a Knockout's Championship shot with a victory over Madison Rayne in a match that happened. Every move was performed well enough, but there was no feel of urgency and the purpose of the match was never put over clearly enough by either the performers or the commentary team. Considering Rayne had turned heel on Kim just a week previously, she didn't do act that of a heel, until arguing with referee Earl Hebner in the finish. Things weren't helped by Josh Matthews at the announce desk who continues to be cringe-worthy listen throughout and even more so when his wife, Rayne, is in the ring!

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 4.88/10

A slight dip in quality from last week's episode here, in which the two Bound for Glory Play-Off Semi-Finals both failed to deliver on their promise. The bouts that became the best of the show came completely unannounced on the show as Lashley v DJ Z in a Ladder match and The Decay v The Bro-Mans in Monster's Ball, both delivered in all their random, spot-based glory. The weak women's bout, a squash match for Moose and the over-booked Bennett v Galloway contest dragged the score below an average five for IMPACT Wrestling #628.

All content - James Marston

TV Review: TNA The Final Deletion - Director's Cut (James Marston)

I knew you'd come. Now we are here at the point where I will talk about the Final Deletion. Words will be wrote and many a moment will be analysed, but will it truly matter when all that is left is the darkness inside our very souls. When we are Broken, can we ever truly complete anything? 

Okay, I lost it for a moment there. Sorry about that. Basically, I wanted to talk a little bit more about TNA's Final Deletion, than I usually would within the confines of a regular TV show review. I wanted to be able to focus on the entire story that ran throughout IMPACT Wrestling #625 and truly do justice to the dark masterpiece of wonder that it may very well be. So I decided I'd take a look at the Director's Cut. It's essentially all the scenes Matt Hardy, Jeff Hardy, Reby Hardy, Maxel Hardy, Senor Benjamin and a referee took part in throughout the show spliced together to create on stand-alone 18 minute piece of television. 

A Brief History of Matt vs. Jeff in TNA

If you've not been watching TNA this year, or you are reading this many, many years from now, primarily, Matt and Jeff Hardy have been feuding since way in January, when Jeff got all pissy about Matt doing nasty things to Ethan Carter III en route to becoming World Heavyweight Champion. With a little gap because Jeff can't get into the UK and TNA were taking five weeks worth of TV there, Matt and Jeff have been scrapping ever since. They've had two battles over the World Heavyweight title, one involving EC3, that would eventually lead to Drew Galloway cashing in his Feast or Fired Briefcase and Matt losing the belt. This would lead to feud heating up further with Matt blaming Jeff for losing the belt, they'd go on to scrap in a Gauntlet to become #1 Contender, which Jeff won and they'd fight in a tag team match where Matt and Tyrus went over Jeff and Galloway. Then came time to up the ante in an "I Quit" match when Jeff would leap off part of the stage and crush Matt, but seeing as neither said the words required, the feud continued. 

Matt returned under Jeff's Willow alias, claiming he was now "Broken" because of the event of the "I Quit" match. This is where the storyline took a turn for the absolute mental. Matt speaking in a weird Shakespearean-esque accent and playing the piano and things. All types of weird-ass shit, that trod the line between terribly awesome and awesomely terrible. Jeff winning a Full Metal Mayhem match at Slammiversary couldn't solve things, neither could "The Charismatic Enigma" jumping off a ladder on top of the ring post and threw tables and chairs and onto Matt in a Six Sides of Steel match, two weeks ago. Therefore, we were here, there was only one way to bring the family feud to an end. Where it began at The Hardy house. In a rickety old ring and all over the massive yard and that. 

THE FINAL DELETION REVIEW 

I'm going to split this into two parts. Stuff that happened before the match and the match, if you can call it a match, itself. From the very beginning it was just as mental as I wanted it to be. Matt's gardener Senor Benjamin made a return, as Matt and Reby celebrate Maxel's first birthday. Matt was saying thing in his weird voice and making claims about the candle on Maxel's cake. Perhaps my favourite part in the pre-amble towards the match was when Jeff received his message from Matt, his invitation to the dance, so to speak. That's because it came via a hologram that was delivered by a drone. Why was it done like this? Because the Hardyz like holograms and drones and they've taken a lot of drugs in the past. Jeff was playing his part wonderfully, because he looked so serious as he sped off on his motorbike to kick some butt. Whilst this was happening Matt was destroying Jeff's grass design by riding a sit-on lawn mover and waving his arms about. Why was it done like this? Because the Hardyz like sit-on lawn movers and they've taken a lot of drugs in the past. There was even more mental stuff like Matt ordering his Benjamin to get the "battlefield prepared for a massacre" before later handing him some gasoline. 

After a referee had arrived in his car, and Matt had summoned Jeff (again) by playing the violin, it was time. The match was produced like a movie with incidental music instead of commentary. I think the weirdest part of the match for me was that the pair started off wrestling like this was a regular match, there was a bit of brawl at the start, but then they started bouncing each other off the ropes, going for quick pinfalls and Jeff even took his shirt off when he went to hit a Swanton Bomb like he was expecting to get a pop. This was not a match that was built on it's realism. Which is probably for the best. From a few minutes in, things returned to the bat shit craziness, with weapons getting involved, and then Jeff jumped out of a tree onto Matt who was propped up on a ladder in the corner, then Matt introduced fireworks to the match, allowing for a beautiful aerial visual of the ring covered in the smoke. Jeff used his own fireworks, Matt hid in a dilapidated boat, thought he'd drowned his brother in a lake, Willow turned up, Benjamin tasered Willow, but Benjamin was actually Willow or something. I don't fucking know okay. These lads have turned me into a mess with their mental antics. The finish of the match somehow had to top the rest of this lunacy and it did. Jeff climbed a giant version of his logo, so Matt used Maxel's first birthday candle to set it on fire (because of the Gasoline), causing Jeff to fall off the logo. Matt would then pin him. Hence the Final Deletion. 

I'm shaking now recalling what I watched. It was funny in the weirdest way and they both did some really stupid stuff to each other. It was like if backyard wrestling had the budget and production of Lucha Underground, and also the access to a large lake, a dilapidated boat, shit loads of fireworks, a massive sculpture of Jeff Hardy's logo, a taser and other things Why did any of this happen? What does any of it mean? What will happen to either man going forward? Who the fuck knows. But this probably the best advert for either taking drugs or not taking drugs you will ever see, depending on your outlook on life.