Category: Impact Wrestling

By Jeremy Peeples, WrestlingObserver.com

Last week, TNA paid tribute to Dusty Rhodes with a video package and EC3 beat Lashley thanks to a ton of ref bumps and interference. Lashley also won his Bellator fight, and was even allowed to wear an Impact Wrestling cap on Spike.  Joseph Park returned to face Bram, and lost not only the match, but his fortune. Investing in Tout didn’t work out well for him. Kong and Brooke beat the Dolls, and Jessie demolished DJZ. Robbie E returned to set up their match at Slammiversary this Sunday. Also, Storm threatened to throw Magnus’s infant son off the stage, but it was just a doll and everyone moved on like nothing had ever happened.

The Takeaway

Jeff Jarrett returned to the company for at least the time being and announced that he’ll be in this Sunday’s King of the Mountain match. Tigre Uno won the X Title in a three way elimination match, and the Dirty Heels beat the Wolves in a Full Metal Mayhem to set up next week’s world tag title match. Velvet Sky beat Angeilna to earn a spot on the roster, and Kurt Angle beat Matt Hardy before making EC3 tap out afterwards.

This week’s show starts off with EC3 and Tyrus meeting with JB and EC3 saying that Kurt will face a legacy guy from TNA’s past. We get a recap of EC3-Lashley from last week. Heels vs. Wolves in Full Metal Mayhem is hyped up. Kurt Angle comes down and we’re told that Josh and Pope are at ringside. Kurt says that in one week, he can prove that he’s the best and shut EC3 up. Tonight, he’ll beat EC3’s guy and they’ve added a new screen opposite the hard camera showing who is speaking. It’s a nice little touch that makes the new Impact Zone a little better-looking.

EC3 comes down with Tyrus, whose left arm is all bandaged up. EC3 says Kurt is only the best for now. Kurt wants the match and says that next week, he’ll make EC3 tap and tonight, he’ll make his opponent tap out too. EC3 runs down everyone he’s beaten and Kurt says EC3 is obsessed with himself and his ego will bite him in the ass. Next week, he’ll make EC3 tap out. EC3 said he won’t tap, and we see that Matt Hardy is EC3’s opponent. Well, this certainly ate up TV time. Pope and Josh are shown at ringside and run down tonight’s card. The Wolves vs. The Dirty Heels and Velvet Sky returns to face Angelina, and if Sky wins, she can return. So Velvet Sky wrestles, and if she wins, she gets to keep wrestling. Great stip. Low-Ki is out for the three-way elimination match for the X Title. Tigre comes down, followed by Grado while Josh talks about how everything here is trending – well then how important is that then?

Match One – Low-Ki vs. Grado vs. Tigre Uno – X Division Title

Ki chops away as Josh hypes Dixie showing the new green title belt on Twitter. Grado punches and elbows away at Ki. Pope talks about the title being green for money. Uno gets a sliding kick to Ki, but can’t slam Grado. Grado sends Uno down and goes up top, but Ki stops him, sends him down, and double stomps his head off to eliminate him. Uno chops Ki in the corner, but eats a corner forearm for 2. Ki kicks him down and goes up top, but gets crotched and eats a springboard rana for 2. Ki misses the giant corner charge dropkick and Uno tells Ki to move a bit, and sure enough, he wins with the Phoenix splash to win the title. He grabs the title and a small amount of streamers fall from the sky. 

JB is backstage and sounds like he’s underwater. Bram brags about beating up old people because he hates everyone. A gloved hand is on JB’s shoulder and he says “it’s time”. Love vs. Sky is up next. First Taryn is in lingerie and is angry at the Dolls in a very echoey room. Lashley and Anderson will face Tyrus and ECE at the PPV. Angelina comes down and screeches while Velvet’s new theme and entrance video greet us. Josh says that Velvet has this chance because the fans wanted it and Velvet was wrongfully fired before.

Match Two – Velvet Sky vs. Angelina Love

Velvet shoves her and kicks her down. They punch around a bit on the floor and Velvet shoves her into the steps. Velvet stands tall on them, but eats a dropkick coming into the ring. Love gets 2. Angelina hits a corner splash and gets 2 off a sideslam. Angelina goes up and Velvet picks her ankle and sends her down. Clothesline barrage hits and it’s followed up by a slap. Velvet avoids the botox injection and hits a stunner to win. Josh says it’s time to take her off the alumni page while fans hold up a babe-ality sign for her.

The Dirty Heels are backstage and ask if these guys are paid to ask them questions. Aries says they’re probably not and Aries says that he thought about his wrestling training and not having anything in there about tables, ladders, or chairs. The video quality took a massive drop here, and it looks almost like a cell phone video, and they’re still in an echoey area.

After a break, we get another “razor’s edge” promo and MVP is met by a guy with another cell phone camera reading a script very badly. MVP says the BDC is back with a different strategy, and they’re stronger than ever now. The Dirty Heels come down, followed by the Wolves. Josh plugs the shirts of both teams.

Match Three – The Wolves vs. The Dirty Heels – Tag Title Series TLC Match

Wolves attack with a chop and kick combo along with double stomps. Aries grabs a chair while Pope says this stip really favors the Heels, who stall on the floor. The Heels take their chairs and sit in them for some strategy. A double dive is countered by a ladder to the heads of the Wolves. The Heels boast and we go to a break.

We come back to the Heels dominating. They each lock on chinlocks using the chairs to sit down – awesome! Trash can lid shot to Davey sets up the backbreaker>pendulum elbow combo. Pope tells them to not drop the lid as Josh says he never won a world title, but each Heel did. Aries tosses Eddie into Roode, but he eats a kick. Davey attacks with chairs to the gut while Eddie goes for lid shots to the head. The Heels duck out to avoid damage and eat a double dive once. Twice. Three dives! Aries has a massive welt above his right hip.

Aries catches a chair and eats a chairshot from Davey, who hits Roode while holding a chair over Roode’s back for an Eddie double stomp! Falcon Arrow gets 2 for the Wolves. Eddie grabs a chain, which is something I don’t recall seeing used in one of these – so that’s new. Davey puts the chain on his kicking leg, but Aries ducks a kick and gets the Last Chancery. Eddie bonks his belly with a trash can to end the move. 

Roode pulls Davey out and Aries dives onto him. Roode gets a powerbomb while Aries hits a missile dropkick to send Eddie through a table and get 2. The busted table is by the ropes and Aries chops away at Eddie in the corner. Double team alarm click to Roode hits, but Aries makes the save. Corner chop to Roode sets up a trash can on the head and a chairshot. The Wolves climb up top on opposite side and hit a double Van Terminator! Roode saves Aries from a trashcan and chair double powerbomb>backstabber with a low blow. The series now tied up at 2-2.

JB meets with Matt, who says that he became a father yesterday and wants to be the TNA World Champion. He doesn’t like EC3, but EC3 comes in and says that he’ll be champion next week. Matt says he’s made his legacy, but what will EC3’s be if he taps out? Jeff and Karen Jarrett come down in Global Force Wrestling shirts and Josh kills this by saying “I think Impact Wrestling just broke the internet”. 

Jeff asks if Hell has frozen over and asks why the co-founders of Global Force Wrestling in the middle of a TNA ring. He’ll address some points tonight and some points later on. A week ago, he was in Winston Salem and got a text from TNA management. They wanted a conference call with him and had a proposal. He put his phone back in his pocket and wondered what they wanted. Did they want a talent exchange? A co-promoted show? He talked with them and he was asked to come back for a match.

He says he doesn’t wrestle for his own promotion, so why would he wrestle here? It’s his match – King of the Mountain. It won’t be on just an Impact show – but the company’s 13th anniversary. He remembered all the great times in the Impact Zone, like when Cornette talked about Kurt Angle coming to TNA. He had chills when Samoa Joe gave him the headbutt from Hell and seeing the growth of AJ Styles. Beer Money became the best team in company history. EY went from a goof to having more TV shows than Ryan Seacrest and thought about looking in the rear view mirror.

Since April 14, 2014, he’s poured everything into Global Force Wrestling. How will this affect the staff, the roster? He asks how it would affect Karen? She says she loves Jeff, but she’s different than Jeff. He told her to sit down and says that GFW is their future. She wasn’t sold on this, but Jeff sold her on it. She says she loves him and will support him in anything he does. At 11 AM, she was on the phone with some of the GFW talent roster and Sonjay Dutt crying. She cries over the thought of giving up everything they’ve built with GFW for TNA, and Sonjay told her that Jeff didn’t go out in TNA the way he wanted to. He had to go out his way.

He was fired in a backstage bit by Sting, and that was glorious by the way. She says she didn’t come here to go home. Jeff’s going to leave TNA on his terms and make things right. Damn, she cut a hell of a money promo for this show for Jeff. It’s such a shame they’re not doing this on Spike now, because they could actually gain a bit of traction. Jeff will be in the King of the Mountain and walk down the TNA aisle one last time. This was incredible and a must-watch segment.

Match Four – “The Man With 500 Nicknames” Bram vs. “The Man They Call” Vader

Bram is mid-ring as Josh calls him the Human Hate Machine. Really now? Vader comes down, and it’s spoiled by his tron before he’s even shown. Vader circles around Bram while Josh talks about how you should never burn a bridge in wrestling. Pope mocks Josh for giving Bram 8,000 nicknames. Vader gets his corner punches and a lariat. Shortarm clotheslines follows that up.

Bram attacks and takes Vader’s mask off. Vader messes around with his pants before a Vader bomb gets 2. Vader gets the wrench and hits Vader, so after Josh talks about how Bram’s matches have relaxed rules, this is a DQ. Matt Morgan comes down and fallaway slams him. So Bram can’t beat a 60 year and gets his ass kicked by Matt Morgan.  Next, Chris Melendez faces EY. EY comes out while Josh is offended by EY and mocks Pope for liking him. Pope says that if Chris can survive an IED, he can survive EY.

Match Five – Eric Young vs. Chris Melendez

A collar and elbow tie-up starts this while Pope calls EY a bearded terror. EY rakes his face in the corner with his boot. Josh interrupts this for breaking news – Matt Morgan will face Bram. Please don’t all call your PPV providers at once, you might break their phone lines. EY gets a pair of two counts hooking the artificial leg and they show off EY’s revamped tattoo. EY wrenches at the neck and tries to take his leg off afterwards, but gets kicked off and eats forearms. Chris ducks down and eats a piledriver, giving EY the win. This was short, and EY’s a good guy for Chris to work with at this stage in his career. Kurt Angle faces Matt Hardy next.

Before the match, a brawl before The Rising (remember them?) and the BDC is happening on the ramp. During all this, Hernandez comes down and clotheslines Drew down. Well, this certainly doesn’t bode well for Lucha Underground continuing for a second season. Hernandez hits the Border Toss to Drew. Match five in the best of five series will happen on next week’s Bell to Bell show. Taryn defends the title against Kong and Brooke, and in the main event, Kurt Angle faces EC3 for the World title. Meanwhile, on Sunday, Jeff Jarrett is in a king of the mountain match against people we don’t know for a prize we’re unaware of and with stipulations that haven’t been explained. Matt comes down, followed by Kurt. 

Main Event – Kurt Angle vs. Matt Hardy

A collar and elbow tie-up starts things off, and Matt gets 2 off a swinging neckbreaker. Matt sets Kurt up on the second rope and hits an Eye of the Hurricane for 2. Pope calls this a PPV-quality main event anywhere in the world. Really now? This would be maybe an hour one main event on SmackDown in 2003. Kurt takes him down with a chinlock. Back and forth punch exchange mid-ring. Kurt gets the rolling Germans. Matt gets off a Side Effect and Josh announces Aries vs. Davey for the PPV.

Angle slam gets 2. The winner of Aries-Richards picks the stipulation for the final match in the series. Kurt gets the ankle lock, but Matt rolls through for 2. Matt takes him down, but misses a moonsault. More Germans by Kurt lead to an Angle Slam attempt, but Matt counters with a Side Effect for 2. Two more Side Effects hit for 2. Twist of Fate hits and gets 2.5. Matt goes for another Twist, but Kurt grabs the ankle for another ankle lock for the win. This was fine, but never got out of first gear. It was nothing but move after move without much more to it. EC3 jumps in, but Matt is taken out by Tyrus. Kurt gets the ankle lock on EC3, who taps out. Kurt gets his hand raised and…that certainly was a show ending.

To see every screenshot taken for the show, just click here.

By Jeremy Peeples, WrestlingObserver.com

Last week, Kurt Angle beat Rockstar Spud to defend his title to start the show and went on to beat Austin Aries in the main event as well. Crimson returned and beat the re-re-re-re-re-signed Bram, whose TNA future is bright and quite secure. Tonight, EC3 faces an opponent of Kurt Angle’s choosing, and we’ll get a contract signing for Angle vs. EC3.

The show begins with a stellar tribute video to Dusty Rhodes. Beyond a still graphic, we get NWA clips along with him running wild in the earlier days of TNA. An Angle-EC3 video package starts things off as we see Pope in a new kind of horrible black and white shirt and Tenay is mid-ring for the EC3-Angle contract signing. Mike Tenay introduced EC3, who comes out in a skin-tight white shirt that looks ridiculous.

Kurt comes down and Josh announces that on July 1, Angle will face EC3 at the “Bell to Bell” Impact. EC3 says that Kurt’s beaten next big things, nature boys, rated R superstars, dead men, immortals, cerebral assassins, and guys you can’t even see. Submission machines, charismatic enigmas, kings of mountains, and what they have in common is that they’ve been beaten – and EC3 hasn’t. Boom. This was exactly how you put over your guys instead of another company’s. Kurt says that it’s all true, but he’s been here before, and when EC3 loses to him, he’ll crumble. Kurt says that tonight, EC3’s tune-up match will be against Lashley, who walks down the aisle.

Next week, we get Low-Ki vs. Grado vs. Tigre Uno for the X Title. Recap of the tag title series. The Wolves come down to talk about the series. Davey says that whoever holds the gold is the best in the world. They beat the Bro Mans, the Hardys, and Team 3D and beat them – even with tables, ladders, and chairs involved. Eddie wants match four tonight, while Roode says Aries isn’t cleared and the Dirty Heels call the shots here. They challenge him to a one on one match, and Roode says no unless they agree to his terms. The winner of the match gets to pick the stipulation for match four of the series. Davey’s all for it and wants to kick the crap out of him, but Eddie wants the match since Roode hit him with a chair. An all-new ad for Impact on Destination America airs, hyping up next week’s “live” show.

Match One – Bobby Roode vs. Eddie Edwards

Roode clubs Eddie to start things off. Eddie avoids a charge by Roode and gets a suicide dive. Eddie chops away on the floor and sends Roode in, who comes back with punches and corner kicks. Josh says that a limited number of travel packages are available and Eddie gets a shining wizard for 2. Roode slams him down and gets a kneedrop and chops. Roode snapmares him and chinlocks him. Roode gets a corner lariat, but Eddie comes back with a leg lariat as pope calls Angle-Aries the match of the year. Josh tells everyone to check out TNA’s Youtube channel for a five star match. Mid-ring chop and forearm exchange leads to a corner machine gun chop by Eddie. Backpack stunner gets 2 for Eddie. Double stomp misses and Roode gets a spinebuster for 2. Davey comes down, as does Aries while Roode tries to use a chair and Eddie wins via distraction schoolboy. Davey makes Match four Full Metal Mayhem.

A new voiceover guy blandly talks about Lashley being the destroyer while clips of him destroying dudes are shown. JB says he was going to interview Bram’s opponent, but no one showed up. Joseph Park shows up says he lost his teeth, his spot on the Impact roster, his law firm, and he invested the rest of his money in Tout. HA! Joseph Park is so much more fun than Abyss now. Bram attacks a camera man for filming him. Drew Galloway tells everyone to Show Your Impact, which sounds like an arrestable offense in most states. Bram comes down and Josh recaps Bram beating Crimson. Joseph Park has gone from his Under Armour gear and is now down to Wal-Mart workout gear. Pope says that Park never really looked like he had money, so this doesn’t hurt him much. Park tells Bram that his actions are felonious, so Bram assaults him.

Match Two – Joseph Park vs. Bram

Bram punches away and rakes the face in the corner. Park comes back with corner punches, but eats more punches while Josh calls Bram “The Plague of Chesterfield”. Bram gets a chair, but Park double-legs him like a 10 year old and punches away like a six year old. Pope says that Park’s punches are great, while Josh says he’s in a boxing hall of fame, so how can he say that. Bram gets a kendo stick, which Park uses on him after a low blow. A chokeslam gets 2. Oh, and these are no DQ matches by the way – Josh just alerted us to that. Park eats a spear through the table for a loss – this was fun. Taryn listens to her theme and says that she has made a wacky stipulation match – if Kong and Brooke beat the Dolls, they can each get a shot at her title, but if they lose, neither can get a shot. Josh said he’d explain Taryn’s explanation next. A vignette airs telling us the world is burning and the wicked will pay for injustice.

We get a recap of tonight’s Kurt-EC3 stuff. The Dollhouse comes down and Josh calls Taryn a genius. Jade and Marti jump Brooke as she comes down, but Kong’s theme hits and stops them in their tracks. Kong attacks Marti, but Taryn attacks from behind before the bell.

Match Three – The Dolls vs. Brooke’s Gotta Booty and Kong’s Gotta Powerbomb

Brooke and Marti start it on the floor and Kong attacks Jade mid-ring. Josh is now a face while Pope sides with the heels and Josh buries Pope for being a heel after siding with them other times tonight. Ugh. Jade hair mares Brooke into the corner and tags Marti in. Josh says that Taryn will beat Gail’s record as champion, and Pope says he’s going to hand-deliver roses to her personally. The heels attack while the commentators talk about evites to the party. Brooke elbows Jade, but eats an axe kick. Josh plugs BBQ Pitmasters and Brooke gets more forearms and elbows. Marti comes in and rains down mounted punches. Jade gets a suplex and does a sitting jump for joy and gets 2. Jade misses a lionsault while Pope talks about Kong going by that name because it is rooted in royalty.

Kong comes in and slams away. She goes for the Awesome bomb, but Jade dropkicks her. Kong suplexes both Dolls down. Brooke spears Jade, while Kong chokeslams Marti. Brooke gets a flying elbow off of Kong’s shoulders, so they each get a title shot at Taryn. This was fun, and while Kong isn’t anywhere near what she was seven years ago, she still has an aura. Pope says to get a paramedic because that elbow might’ve exploded something on Marti. Jade carries Marti away and Josh talks about the history of EY and Chris Melendez before Melendez calls out EY next.

Full Metal Mayhem is announced for next week’s show. Christy Hemme welcomes Melendez out to the ring. Melendez says he sacrificed a lot, and EY comes out and says he doesn’t care what Melendez did. EY is world class, and Melendez is at the bottom in wrestling. Melendez wants a match next week and EY accepts. Well, this was short and sweet. After a break, Jessie comes out to a new sinister theme song. DJZ comes out to fight.

Match Four – Jessie Godderz vs. DJZ

DJZ runs wild with strikes and then does two flips for a jawbreaker. Jessie gets a punch and a pieface before laying DJZ out with a powerbomb. Josh says that Magnus would be here later to talk about Storm’s near-criminal actions, before saying that it was criminal since he shoved her off a train platform. Jessie tosses DJZ hard into the corner before getting the Adonis Crab for the win. A basic Boston crab was put over as a finish in 2015 – I like it, it’s not how dangerous the move is, but how dangerous you teach the fans it is. Jessie says he’s the reason the Bro Mans won the titles twice, while stomping away at DJZ. Jessie cut a nice, sinister promo here and he’s got something mixing in a bit of comedy during the Bro Mans portions of it. Jessie goes for the over the top press slam, but Robbie makes the save with some Thesz press punches. This greatly over-delivered.

We get a recap of the Storm-Mickie train station thing, but they didn’t mute the audio – so you can barely hear Josh or whoever was speaking in the clip. Magnus will be in the ring to talk and/or kick some ass next. But first, we get an ad for Slammiversary. Magnus comes out in jeans and a tanktop without his theme and grabs the mic from Christy. He says he’ll crack heads until Storm comes down. Security comes down and Magnus threatens Bob Ryder, Dixie, and Big John – he won’t give them the show back until he gets Storm. Storm thankfully obliges and comes down. He says that he wasn’t the bad guy, Magnus was. 

Magnus was jealous of him for getting attention from Mickie, and it was Magnus who hired a camera crew while Storm asks what happened when the cameras weren’t rolling. Storm brings out a baby carriage and says Mickie’s a sorry excuse for a woman, and Magnus is a sorry man. They fight on the ramp and Magnus lays out security while Storm pushes the carriage off and Magnus reveals it’s a doll and Josh just treats it like nothing. They jump right to the announcing motel room about two frames after revealing that it’s a doll. EC3 hype video sets up the main event. EC3 comes out and Josh, who earlier ranted about heel announcers, was a heel announcer here. Lashley comes out and they cut away during the intro for an ad break.

Main Event – EC3 vs. Lashley

Lashley powers EC3 into the corner, and EC3 hides behind the rope for a bit. EC3 punches him and it gets no reaction. Lashley leapfrogs him and gets a lariat before some shoulder charges. Corner punches from Lashley while Josh wants the marquee to say that EC3 has been unbeaten. Josh tells Tyrus to earn his check by guarding EC3 on the floor. EC3 gets a baseball slide while Pope says that Tyrus is the man dinosaur and Josh says he loved him in Jurassic World. EC3 suplexes Lashley on the floor before getting a mid-ring chinlock.

They exchange punches, but EC3 gets a bad-looking flying knee for 2. EC3 gets a chair, but the ref gets it and EC3 punches him some more. Tyrus puts the chair in the corner, but Lashley knocks it down while Josh says that Earl hasn’t called for a DQ in 2015. Yup, blame the ref for bad booking. EC3 gets out of a torture rack, but eats a powerslam for 2. EC3 avoids a corner spear and sends Lashley into the chair for 2 after a DDT. Lashley gets the spear, but Earl’s down and Tyrus attacks Tyrus. Brian Hebner runs in and counts 2, so Tyrus takes out Brian. Shouldn’t this be a DQ too? If it’s all Earl’s fault, why isn’t this a DQ? Tyrus attacks another ref who counts 2, so Lashley spears Tyrus. Lashley hits a chair to the back, gets the headlock driver and Earl counts three. Josh says that EC3 has been undefeated for 598 days while Tyrus holds EC3’s hand high. This was a pretty good show overall despite not having the best lineup.

To see every screenshot taken for the show, just click here.