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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 5.58/10

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

Words - James Marston

All images remain the property of their respective owners.

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

Aired - 11th August 2016

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Best of the Rest 

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

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 5.22/10 

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

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

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

Words - James Marston 
Banner - Kai Stellar 

TV Review: IMPACT Wrestling #627 - Eddie Edwards v Lashley 2 - Six Sides of Steel

So after getting bogged down in various other things, I missed a number of episodes of IMPACT Wrestling las, so I thought instead of skipping those review's I'd go back and try to catch up as we head toward Bound For Glory. 

This episode saw a rematch from last week's Destination X (#626) special, with Eddie Edwards and Lashley once again putting their respective titles on the line, this time inside a Steel cage. Also on the show the Bound For Glory Play-Off tournament began with the likes of Bram, Brother Nero and Ethan Carter III all vying for a World Heavyweight Championship shot on TNA's biggest night of the year. Would it be a recipe for a tasty wrestling show though? 

A huge main event this week, as Lashley would simultaneously retain his World Heavyweight Championship and take Eddie Edwards' X Division belt in good TV cage match. As much as the match was almost all about Lashley becoming even more of an all-encompassing champion and making him look like an utter beast, it was a surprisingly entertaining watch. Lashley's got a rather different kind of charisma to most wrestlers that are labelled "charismatic" but when in control of the bout, taking his time to play with the Impact Zone crowd, it was difficult to take my eyes of him. This contrasted well with the in your face opening of Edwards hitting a stunning tope conhilo through the cage door. Both men's selling throughout and especially towards the end made it look like they'd both been in a real war with each, which, of course, not only makes the bout more interesting to watch on TV, but also puts each of their offence over, which is especially important for Edwards. Some of the near falls felt a bit gratuitous, like Lashley kicking out of Edwards' Boston Knee Party that caused the World title to crash in The Destroyers' face was a silly thing to kick-out of and hurts Edwards' more than it will help Lashley. 

The finish was well done, as Lashley hit two spears in quick succession to get the pin, which in many ways does the opposite of the early near falls mentioned. Having Lashley not go for the pin after the first spear, suggests that he believes that Edwards could potentially kick out and therefore needs another. This boosts Edwards without having to have him actually kick out of Lashley's finish, whilst also making the now dual champion look a more cerebral competitor. What I didn't like was the brawl that would follow the match, with Drew Galloway, Ethan Carter III, Matt Hardy, Mike Bennett and Moose all filling the cage and scrapping in various formations (Note that Edwards was on the floor throughout all these shenanigans). Nothing wrong with what was done in-ring in particular, but the moment having the World Heavyweight Champion also become X-Division Champion should have been given time to to breath and allow the audience to truly grasp what had happened. It should have felt more special than it did. 

The Bound for Glory Play-Offs began on this episode, with the biggest Quarter Final bout seeing Ethan Carter III advance after beating King of the Mountain Champion Eli Drake in a clunky encounter. Before the match could get underway however, both men would get some time on the microphone, with Drew Galloway also getting involved. The main bulk of this would be the continuation of the Galloway v EC3 feud that has been bubbling under for a while now, with both producing strong promos, that got over their sudden dislike for each other in a believable manner. Both men got cattier with each other as the promo went along, with Galloway in particular doing a lot of verbal flexing, mixing fact and fiction as he reminded EC3 that his job was because of (kayfabe) Aunt Dixie, whilst it was TNA that had come to Galloway. It was teased that the two would square of in the final of the BFG Play-Offs, before Drake would make his entrance popping the bubble in his own unique way.

Drake and EC3 had only faced off once before in singles action and whilst the match had a couple of cool ideas, the two didn't seem to gel particularly well and a number of their exchanges seemed to suffer from a pacing problem. The guys tried to do the best with their seven minutes, pulling out some big near falls, but for me the structure was a too much too soon situation. Drake's character work continues to impress me and the frustration that he showed at not being able to put EC3 away was played nicely and it's clear he's been impressing those within the company as well, as Galloway only picked up a flash roll-up victory. If the match had been a little smoother and with an extra five or six minutes, then it could have acted as a real springboard for Drake in the company, however I feel in this form it only gave him a little nudge.

The strongest match from the opening round of the BFG P-O was a big physical brawl that saw Drew Galloway advance over Bram. Brawling when done properly is one of my favourite styles, so seeing Galloway and Bram throw big blows at each other and scrapping around ringside with purpose was right up my ally. Two babyfaces and countrymen being happy to go at each other like this, lifts the tournament instantly, also doing wonders for the belt currently around Lashley's waist. In the middle of the melee, the pair put together a handful of intelligent sequences where they'd manage to wriggle out of each others finishers and get a near fall of their own. Galloway's Northern Lights Suplex out of Bram's Brighter Side of Suffering DDT was a notably well worked moment. Similar to the way EC3 v Drake was booked, but in my opinion executed much more successfully here, Galloway would win with a top rope variation of the Futureshock DDT, which not only looked great but also meant that Bram was elevated for the way The Captain put him away. The first time I've been properly impressed with Bram in the ring, Galloway brought out the best in him.

On paper, a two minute victory over Jeff Hardy or Brother Nero would be a huge win for Mike Bennett, however, of course, it didn't quite go down that way. Jeff's feud with brother Matt took the driving seat here, giving the match a unique narrative, that I feel you'll either love or hate, or maybe both at the same time. Basically, Matt had egged Jeff on to attempt the same dirt bike jump that broke his leg back in May 2015 and Jeff pretty quickly came flying off his bike, in a spectacular stunt. Of course, this would play into the bout, with Hardy not been able to do any of his offence, including crumpling to the mat trying to do an Irish whip. Jeff's selling was good enough to make the out there story just about work. Bennett made full use of the opportunity, looking like a twat as he ground down Hardy before hitting a Cutter for the win. The win will do a lot for Bennett in his current heel role, he has something to boast about, that will be a pretty hollow boast and hopefully get the fans backs up. The win would earn Bennett a match with Drew Galloway in the Semi-Final.

Before Lashley and Eddie Edwards would get in the Steel Cage for the main event, they were also involved in the opening segment, with Mike Bennett, Moose and Dixie Carter all participating also. The segment was to set-up a number of stiplation for later in the show, as Carter would ban Moose from ringside for Bennett's BFG P-O's. match with Jeff Hardy and decreed that if either Bennett or Moose interfered in the main event then Bennett would be fired. A nice bit of logic here, as without it it would've have been really weird for Bennett and Moose to interfere last week and not this week. The tease for a Lashley v Moose bout was continued, with the World Heavyweight Champion challenging Moose to a fight, only for Edwards to come flying down the ramp to take out Moose from behind. It didn't make a whole lot of sense for Lashley to be calling out Moose with a title match later in the night, but at least the brawl that would lead to the stipulations being added was an entertaining watch. 

Completing our look at the 21st July card, we have Matt Hardy picking up a cheap victory over James Storm to advance to the Semi-Final of the BFG P-O's. I found a lot to like in this one, as Hardy's character continues to get even more bizarre, throwing headbutts early in the match and going to bite Storm at various points. He's completely re-invented his in-ring work to match up with his character development, which is more difficult than it sounds. Both going for their finishers early was a nice touch and those exchanges fuelled the rest of the bout as it got wilder as time went on, including Storm riding the Boozer Cruiser into Hardy's groin with the latter propped up on the steel steps and Storm leaping over the guardrail with the pair brawling in the crowd. Entertaining stuff here, Reby Hardy nailing The Cowboy in the ankle with a hammer when it seemed like Storm was about to seal the victory was a satisfying ending, that aided both men going forward. Hardy would be scheduled for a Semi-Final bout with his old rival, Ethan Carter III. 

Finally... 

ATPW Scale Rating - 5.03/10

A decent episode here, with the main event presented a satisfying contest, alongside an intriguing piece of storyline advancement, even if the concluding brawl let down the action that the match had presented. The Bound for Glory Play-Off were a mix bag, as Bram and Drew Galloway presented a real satisfying brawl of a bout, however the highest profile match a clash between Ethan Carter III and King of the Mountain Champion Eli Drake didn't quite manage to connect. Still a mostly entertaining episode, that pushed forward some interesting narratives, as they begin to build towards 2nd October's supercard.

All content - James Marston

TV Review: IMPACT Wrestling #626 - Destination X 2016 - Lashley v Edwards (James Marston)

As the dust settled following last week's Final Deletion, TNA would look to keep the foot on the gas pedal presenting an Destination X 2016 special of the show. With a major main event with both the World Heavyweight and X Division belts on the line, a major debut and a big return, would the strategy pay off or would TNA careen off the road once again? 

In the main events conclusion, Mike Bennett would make good on his promise, as he'd attack the referee, causing Lashley and Eddie Edwards title for title bout to go to a no-contest, before he brought out former Ring of Honor stand out, Moose to clean house. Before all the match however, there was an in-ring segment between the two champions, that would start as interview conducted by Jeremy Borash and boil down to an attack from Lashley as he attempted to gain some extra leverage for later on. I'm usually not a fan of these kinds of segments that TNA like to do before a big main event, as they can cause over-exposure for those involved and take away part of the bout attraction later on. However, although I'd have preferred it to take place a week earlier, this bought an extra layer to main event, as Edwards' partner in The Wolves, Davey Richards made his return to the company from injury to save Edwards from a beatdown. Earlier, Lashley had cut a promo that had strong content surrounding Edwards underdog status, but was a little rushed in places.

A fairly simple match between Lashley and Edwards, which played out as a power v speed type affair, as Lashley would dominate his smaller his opponent with impact moves like a brutal overhead release belly-to-belly suplex onto the entrance. Edwards offence was mostly kept to hope spots with Lashley always able to get back into the match, surviving a nice tornado DDT reversal and a sitout spinebuster. There was a slip up from Lashley on a top rope spot, that unfortunately saw the two just decide to try to repeat the spot, which wasn't quite worth the wait. That was the exception to the rule however as the wrestling portion of the contest was a great watch and a compelling main event. The sport-entertainment portion started slow with a ref bump as Lashley had the contest won, but exploded in a brilliant false finish as Richards aided Edwards in hitting their Chasing the Wolf finish, before Bennett would make his mark. The debut of Moose genuinelly shocked me as many had thought he was heading to WWE, he looked like a beast here, taking out the Wolves, before a low blow from Bennett allowed him to hit the World Heavyweight Champion with a forearm. There's a lot of possibilities with Moose on board now, the next couple of weeks should be very interesting indeed. 

In a show that had "The Miracle" all over it, he began the night by attacking DJ Z after "That Yung Go Hard" had became #1 Contender to the X Division title by winning a Ladder match that also included Andrew Everett, Trevor Lee, Braxton Sutter, Rockstar Spud and Mandrews. Let's start with the positives here, this match was as fun as you would expect, with plenty of thrills and spills from the bell as DJ Z and Mandrews nailed Lee and Everrett with dual tope conhilos. There were also some clever moments like Spud biting Sutter's knee (as a call back to Sutter knocking Spud's teeth out last week) to stop him ascending the ladder and Sutter and Mandrews moving two ladders further apart as Lee tried to climb both, before DJ Z hit a front kick to the chicken nuggetts. The closing moments made DJ Z look strong as he fought off all of the Helms Dynasty, including seeing Everrett off the top of a ladder to the outside, en route to claiming victory. A fun and pacy bout, but the third week in a row where we've seen multi-man encounters for either the X Division belt or #1 Contender statues, meaning the division does feel slightly interchangeable and leaving everyone lacking a proper identity. I'll get into Bennett's over-exposure in just a mo. 

With more batshit crazy segments from Matt Hardy's house airing this week, the Hardy Boyz feud was clearly far from over after The Final Deletion. An in-ring segment brought us the core of the story this week with Matt proclaiming he would be making Jeff Hardy his "obsolete mule" Jeff's contract with TNA is apparently been terminated due to the result of last week's bout, so what an "obsolete mule" will involved, I have no idea. Matt was once again marvelous here, with his bizarre broken character continuing to run riot. He worked the crowd perfectly, having them eat out of the palm of his hand, by calling the Final Deletion the greatest match in history and just being generally annoying by shouting "delete" so many times. I'm find him mesmerising to watch at the moment. A few weeks ago I thought this feud had dragged on long enough, but all of a sudden I want more and with a emotional Jeff (now apparently only allowed to be called "Brother Nero") staying silent and calm throughout there's some legs left in this old dog yet. 

TNA has a problem of giving the audience all their eggs and then chucking the basket at them as well and that was the case as Mike Bennett suffered defeat against DJ Z. Yeah, that's the same Mike Bennett who'd previously been involved in the opening segment and would later be involved in the main event and the same DJ Z who had earlier won a multi-man ladder match. Even for TNA everything was moving way too quick here. The scrap was a solid watch, with similarities to the main event as DJ Z fought from underneath after Bennett berated him throughout the clash. DJ Z's speed was the main focus of the bout as he pulled off a number of quick reversals as hope spots and a beautiful tope conhilo. It was shame that DJ Z didn't look like he'd had a ladder melee earlier in the night, let alone sell the post-match beat-down though. The X-Division guys coming out to foil Bennett's plan of leaving the fight was a cool touch and was an entertaining pay-off to "The Miracle"'s time in the X Division. 

Sienna would hold onto her Knockout's Championship in a random Four Way, pinning Gail Kim in a conflict that also included Jade and Marti Bell. All three challengers have been prominent on TV recently, but whether anyone deserved a title scuffle was questionable given that all three had lost singles bouts over the last three weeks. Whilst all four women put in effort, the lack of build-up and the presentation, including the commentary, made this match feel completely throwaway. With the correct build this match could have felt huge. It was an easy watch that continued two feuds nicely (Kim & Sienna, Bell & Jade), while the best action came when Jade and Kim went toe to toe again, including a lovely German suplex from Jade. I think the contest would have been better off splitting the heels and faces and doing a tag bout, where extra storylines could be advanced whilst not devaluing the belt further with a thrown together championship clash. 

The only match on the show that didn't do anything for me at all, was Bram's victory over Abyss, thanks to Abyss' Decay stablemate and Bram's apparent lover Rosemary causing a distraction. The duo seemed to tread water waiting for Rosemary's inevitable appearance, going through the motions in a dreary clash. Things weren't helped by the commentary team talking about anything other than the match, despite their being a few weeks of back story heading in. Not a foot was put wrong between "The Monster" and "The Chesterfield Plague" but I don't like enough was done to draw me into the bout. At the conclusion of the scuffle, as Rosemary finally made her appearance, no one seemed to have a clue how they were supposed to be playing the moment. Everyone just looked confused at each other and I looked confused at the television screen. I'd been so into The Decay, but this feud is killing them for me at the moment. 

Drew Galloway and Ethan Carter III would return from their suspension to beat seven shades of shite into each other, in a superb brawl around ringside and then to the back. There was a real intensity to the action as the two tore strips off each, with Galloway nailing some tasty knife edge chops and a swinging slam situation into the ring-post. It was a believable that the two had an genuine issue, because they both a ferocity to every little interaction they had, making sure each attack looked like it was designed to hurt. I'm really digging this feud at the moment, as it's all about the World Heavyweight Championship, without being for the World Heavyweight Championship. This can only make the belt look like a more worthwhile and precious prize to get your hands on, elevating the status of the strap. A big thumbs up that's been taking steady as well! 

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 5.63/10

Another entertaining episode of IMPACT Wrestling, as the show featured good to great moments across it's card. There were a number of highlights for me, with Drew Galloway and Ethan Carter III's brawl being my favourite moment of the show, Matt Hardy continued to excel in his fascinating "Broken" character, Eddie Edwards and Lashley put together a strong main event and there was plenty to enjoy about the X Division ladder match. That's without mentioning the surprise debut of Moose and the return of Davey Richards. 

There were still problems, like a lack legitimate focus and coherent booking in the X Division, Women and Tag Team ranks. Random multi-man or women bout manage to plug the gap in airtime, but won't keep the fans hooked and show a lack of planning. If you want a Four Way title match, making sure each of the challengers have been built to look like contenders previously. The other major issue was the over reliance on Mike Bennett who took up a hell of a lot of screen-time. I loved Bennett to bits, but being involved in the opener, leading to match in the 2nd half, before being involved in the main event was way too much. 

With Dixie Carter announcing a Steel Cage rematch between Lashley and Eddie Edwards next week, and big matches like Galloway v EC3, the beginning of the Bound for Glory Play-Offs and more looming in the future TNA are showing more than a few signs of promise for the rest of the summer!

TV Review: IMPACT Wrestling #624 - EC3 v Galloway v Lashley (James Marston)

After a belter of an episode last week, how would TNA look to capitalise? With a big three-way title match in the main event, this was gonna be another strong episode...or was it? 

The aforementioned three way main event would see Lashley hold onto his TNA World Heavyweight Championship, taking advantage of Drew Galloway nailing Ethan Carter III with a Claymore Kick to hit a spear on both opponents, before pinning EC3. As TV main events go this was a bloody good showing from all three men as they told a nice story and kept a solid pace. Having two babyfaces and a single heel could have been the matches undoing, but the ground work had been put in last week with Galloway and EC3 clearly not seeing eye to eye, and built on here, with the fan favourites working together to try to keep Lashley out of the match, so they had more of an opportunity to tear each other a part. My main complaint here is that everything needed more time to fully develop, with the ending feeling a little rushed, an extra five minutes and few more convincing near falls and we'd have had a brilliant match here. 

Whilst the main event was to the point, the same can not be said about the opening segment. X Division Champion Mike Bennett, Maria Kanellis-Bennett, Lashley, EC3, Billy Corgan and Galloway were all involved in what essentially boiled down to Corgan booking a Number One Contender's Battle Royal for Bennett's title, before a brawl would eventually lead to Galloway accidentally nailing EC3 with a Claymore Kick. At times it felt a little directionless, and despite strong performances, from Bennett in particular, almost everything needed to be tightened up and streamlined. A lot of the stuff like Galloway and EC3's accident was unnecessary because the building blocks were already in place from last week and without a date set for Destination X, Bennett's involvement with Lashley lacked urgency. 

You thought the Hardy Boyz were done with their feud? You were wrong. This feud will never end. Ever. As has been the case for months, this was complete and utter lunacy. Matt Hardy being driven around ringside by Reby Hardy in what he referred to as his "chair with wheels", as he ranted about his previous matches with Jeff and all other manner of things in his ridiculous voice was so bizarre, but completely entertaining at the same time. Despite the madness, the angle actually played out quite simply with Matt baiting Jeff, before using Reby to attack his brother from behind after doing a Linda McMahon and rising from his chair with wheels. The two will face off "one last time" next week, apparently, at their own home in North Carolina. It's being billed as "Brother Nero: The Final Deletion" because why the fuck wouldn't it be? 

King of the Mountain Champion Eli Drake's Fact of Life talk show segment was back this week with James Storm turning up as the eventual guest. I say "eventual" because before Storm would interrupt we'd get a promo from Drake about mashed potatoes. Yeah, mashed potatoes. It was actually very entertaining and completely different from pretty much anything anyone else is doing. The segment for took a dive when Storm came out, because similar to the opening segment, it felt flabby and could have done with a bit of a trim. A feud with Storm could do good things for Drake's career, and with Storm eventually hitting a Last Call Superkick on Drake to close the segment, it looks like we're heading that way over the next few weeks, at least.

Braxton Sutter would become the number one contender to Mike Bennett's X Division Champion by outlasting Trevor Lee, Andrew Everett, Eddie Edwards, DJ Z, Mandrews and Rockstar Spud in an over-the-top Battle Royal, only to be attack by the Helms Dynasty and  therefore losing in his immediate title match, and Bennett retaining the title. The battle royal was a fun bout, with a lot of talented performers in there. It was great to see Mandrews get some screen-time and he made a real case for deserving more focus with a series of action with Lee and Everrett that was among the best in the match. The angle with The Helms Dynasty was done well and actually protected Sutter from a loss to Bennett, allowing him to keep the momentum of winning the battle royal. 

Sienna retained the Knockout's Championship over Gail Kim in a match that aired on the show. Not a whole lot of interesting wrestling content here, with the sole highlight of the match being a nice reversal of a crucifix into a powerful Samoan drop from Sienna. The bout was fairly short and never really looked to get out of first gear as Jade came out to neutralise the distraction from Sienna's valet Allie, only for Marti Bell to attack Jade, which lead to eventual distraction that'd allow Sienna to hold onto her title. I absolutely hated Monty Brown's Pounce finisher so the fact that Sienna is now using it as The Silencer made me put my head in my hands and cry a little. 

It was the dream match we've all been waiting for as Grado, Mahabali Shera and a newly packaged Tyrus would go over Al Snow and The Tribunal in six man tag action. Yay. The crowd tried to chant "USA" at one point, which considering there was a Scotsman, an Indian and an American on one team and two Frenchmen and an American on the other team made literally zero sense. The match wasn't terrible, with some nice ref distraction and heely goings on from the Tribunal and Snow and a decent hot tag from Tyrus. The end of the bout was a bit messy though, before Tyrus would win with a weak looking World's Strongest Slam.  

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 4.79/10

Not a great show this week, with a few clunky segments and matches that could have done with a bit more thought and tidying up. I think the best way to describe this show was that it felt very "first draft". Some good ideas, but a lot of flab. The main event and the mental Hardyz segment keep it from turning into an utter mess. It's ironic that the one thing that felt like it was overly cut short was the one part of the show that really excelled at what was done. With a bit more main event this show would have been much improved.

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

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

Headline Segments

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

Mike Bennett and Maria Kanellis-Bennett call out Dixie Carter

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

finally...

atpw scale rating - 3.94/10

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

Hopefully next week picks up a little!