It wasn’t good news when it came to pro wrestling ratings on Wednesday, November 4th, on Destination America.
TNA Impact did 262,000 viewers at 9 PM — its third lowest to date since they started on the network. What’s really bad about that number is it was very slightly down from last week’s show which went head-to-head with the World Series. The replay did 81,000 viewers, so the combined total was the sixth lowest to date.
The show was headlined by Bobby Roode vs. Eric Young, and also featured Eddie Edwards vs. Davey Richards in a battle of tag team partners.
On the Ring Of Honor side of things, their 11 PM airing fell from its record 227,000 viewers to a lower-than-usual 141,000 viewers. ROH only has a few weeks left on its Destination America contract and as of yet, no renewal has been announced. The show featured AJ Styles vs. Kyle O’Reilly vs. Adam Cole, and the Young Bucks vs. Silas Young and the Beer City Bruiser.
Last week, Gail Kim and Awesome Kong main evented the show and Gail advanced in the tournament. DJZ beat the X Division Champion Tigre Uno, while current NXT wrestler James Storm advanced by beating Abyss with his cowbell and hitting two superkicks. Aiden O’Shea beat Crazzy Steve, and Drew Galloway beat Grado. The show begins with a recap of last week’s events. Eddie Edwards faces Davey Richards tonight, while the main event will feature Robert Roode vs. Eric Young, and we’ll get a Jeff Hardy interview. Josh says that tonight is the most pivotal of nights and talks about it being a must-win situation for both Davey and Eddie.
Madison Rayne faces Brooke tonight as well. We see a brief clip of the Hardy interview talking about how he can’t believe he broke his leg after winning the tag titles. Madison Rayne comes out to face Brooke. Madison says that the knockouts started the women’s wrestling revolution and how what Ronda Rousey has done for UFC, they’ve done for wrestling. Madison says if she doesn’t win, it’s over for her with this series. She likes having the odds against her while Brooke just quickly comes down.
Madison Rayne vs. Brooke
They start off with a back and forth collar-and-elbow tieup and a “Brooke’s gotta booty” chant starts. Brooke slips out of a headlock and grabs her wrist in an odd spot. Ah – it’s her fingers – she broke some in her last match. Brooke goes down due to the fingers again. Madison chops away and knocks her down with a dreadful forearm. Brooke gets a flapjack and a chant from the fans. Brooke goes up top and gets 2 off the flying elbow. Brooke drops her because she can’t lift her for the facebuster, so Madison hits the Rayne Drop for the win. Madison picks her up and holds her hand high. Eric Young rants and raves about being cheated in the World Title Series and how he makes his own luck. After a break, we see a recap of the last year of the Roode vs. EY feud. Pope and Josh ramble on for a bit while Spud comes down to face Bram in the World Title Series.
Rockstar Spud vs. Bram
Pope picks Bram to win, while Josh mocks him for calling that a fearless prediction. Spud slaps Bram and lands some forearms. Spud would be so great in WWE as Spudley Dudley. Spud bites the thumb to gain a further advantage. Bram sends him down and misses a pair of elbows. Bram slams him down and sends him to the floor onto the steps hard. Bram fish-hooks him and sends him into the ring. Bram misses a Stinger splash and Spud runs wild with corner forearms. Drop toehold leads to a shining enzuiguri. Bram avoids the Underdog and wants the Impaler DDT, but Spud schoolboys him for 2. Bram hits the Impaler for the win, and we see a graphic showing that he’s up 3 points.
Bobby says he could care less what EY says to him, and still blames him for losing the TNA Title earlier this year. He says he’s KOTM Champion and by winning this series, he’ll close out the year with two titles. So I guess the KOTM Title’s importance is now that it’s a bragging right if you win the World Title. We see another clip of Jeff Hardy talking about how great it was to see Matt as World Champion at BFG in North Carolina. Josh uses more WWE speak as the title is in a “state of abeyance” while we learn that Manik vs. Mandrews is up next. Mandrews skates down to the ring while Manik saunters down to one of the better themes in the company right now.
Manik vs. Mandrews
They have a little standoff to start before Mandrews trips him off the ropes. Lots of wacky armbars and cradles here before Mandrews focuses on a hammerlock. Mandrews goes for a reverse rana, but eats a face plant and Manik locks him in a Muta lock surfboard combination before Manik transitions into a straightjacket choke. They exchange more cradles before Mandrews gets 2 off a sunset flip. This is one of the most mat wrestling-heavy matches in this division in quite some time. Manik stands on the elbow and stomps it. Manik eats a backdrop and a dropkick before being hit with a giant DDT. Manik grabs him the tiger codebreaker, but it gets countered. Mandrews goes for a standing moonsault, but eats a knee and gets locked in an armbar. Mandrews takes him down with a Northern Lights suplex and gets a standing corkscrew moonsault and goes up top. Shooting Star Suplex is met with knees before a modified Go To Sleep wins for Manik. This was one of the best X division matches in quite some time – Mandrews has shined quite a bit in each of his World Title Series matches.
We see a recap of the Wolves beating Brian Myers and Trevor Lee way back… a few months ago in the super-rushed GFW vs. TNA invasion. The Wolves say they’re in wrestling for the competition, and tonight, the best man will win. The Jeff Hardy interview is next. But first, we get EY saying that he’s going to attack Roode at the right time – so him just standing in a hallway is strategy. Jeff talks about the big bump at Lockdown off the cage and how his comeback proved that he could be as good as ever. They show clips of the cage match, but him doing a see-saw dive off the top of it. The Hardys winning the Ultimate X for the tag titles is shown and we see him ride dirt bikes. He says he made three big jumping spots on his property. He did one, then landed a second one, and wanted to topple this third one for years. He says if he’d hit it harder, he could’ve landed it. He was knocked out and his first thought was breaking his leg after the win. We’ll hear more of it later. Next, it’s the battle of the Wolves. Davey comes out first in black, while Eddie is in white. We see Matt Hardy beating Davey and Robbie E beating Eddie.
Davey Richards vs. Eddie Edwards
They tie-up and go back and forth. They then grab hands and try to win the leverage game. Back and forth monkey flips get quick covers for 2. We get some cool mini-kip ups to bring them to their feet and exchange headlocks. ‘O Connor roll leads to a submission and then a cradle for 2. They each grab one another’s foot in a spot I don’t recall seeing before. They stand off for an ad break . Davey avoids a dropkick and lands one of his own. Eddie gets an inverted atomic drop and a superkick for 2. Eddie lands a running back elbow for 2. Eddie gets a snapmare and chinlock before landing a facebuster.
Davey lands a running elbow in the corner and a big spin kick to Eddie up top. Davey lands a big superplex, but can’t follow up. They exchange big forearms and Eddie hits an even bigger flapjack facebuster for 2.5. Davey avoids the backpack stunner and lands a big kick and German for 2. In the final minute, we get a series of cradles before a chop exchange. They go for kicks and chops and Davey lands a lariat, but can’t cover in time – it’s a draw so they each get one point. They raise each other’s hands and had yet another fantastic match. Between that and Manik vs. Mandrews, this has been a very satisfying show wrstling-wise. Series recap video shows how Hardy is advancing to the round of 16, and the second part of the Jeff interview is coming up.
We see clips of Davey vs. Eddie and they go to the back with Davey saying that Eddie chopped his claw paint off. Eddie says if he couldn’t get the win, he’s glad they at least got a draw. Davey says that the third person in the ring was the Wolves Nation. Davey says that the Wolves are an organic team, and we see more clips of Jeff Hardy at BFG. Jeff says he was heartbroken watching Matt give up the tag titles on Impact. Jeff says that sucked, but he was glad to see Matt go for the World Title. He goes through working for EC3 and being humiliated, but gets in a great line about making sure Tyrus watched Sesame Street. He loved seeing Matt win the title at BFG in NC in a repeat of clips they showed earlier today and last week. Jeff says yeah, he was a bit unfair to EC3, but he’s glad that Matt did the brave thing and gave up the title. He’s been banned from every show, but he’ll use that time to heal up and hopefully get in the ring again soon.
Roode stands around a truck and asks where EY is and he confronts him – EY tells him he already won the fight because he’s got Roode worried about him. Well, that was an unsatisfying way to spend an hour of TV time – but it makes for a fine story point. Josh and Pope play Swipe Left and Swipe Right. Pope predicts Shera to win. Shera is out not doing his dance, but in his blue non-Khoya gear at least. King doesn’t want to take about what Shera has done to him stealing his girls. This is apparently a storyline that’s been happening or something.
Mahabali Shera vs. Kenny King
Shera twirls his mustache while King does pushups. King locks on a headlock , but he gets tackled down. King takes him down with a headlock and gets backdropped hard. Kenny King gets a blockbuster, but Shera goes to the floor. King goes for a tornado dive and mostly misses Shera. Pope says that Shera isn’t dancing in the series because it’s serious business. I greatly appreciate them at least trying to find logical ways to patch things together. King goes for the shotgun knee shot in the corner, but it misses. Shera misses a lariat a mile above King’s head, but lands a better one to send King down. Shera lands a scary suplex holding onto King’s tights for dear life to hang onto him. Shera gets the Sky High to win. Kenny King tried, but he couldn’t do much with Shera, who is far too limited to do be on national TV at this point.
Josh recaps tonight’s matches and Matt Hardy faces Eddie next week. Gail Kim faces Madison Rayne, while Mr. Anderson faces EC3 in the main event. We get another recap of the EY vs. Roode rivalry. Eric Young comes out and they show clips of him in the series and he talks about being a world class pro wrestler. Roode comes out while Josh talks about how Roode demolished Storm in the series, but Storm beat Abyss. Roode poses and we go to a break.
Eric Young vs. Robert Roode
Roode slugs away in the corner and sends him up high for a backdrop. EY is sent to the floor and he bides his time and insults the fans. A little kid in a Superman shirt almost flinches as EY threatens to punch him. EY hops off the top rope and eats a punch to the gut, doing a perfect flip as a result. EY rakes the eyes to avoid a Roode Bomb and lands a neckbreaker. Josh blamed EY for sending TNA on a downward spiral in 2015. Josh recaps all of their epic wars, and leaves out that at least one of them was hyped up as their final match ever. EY gets a chinlock, but Roode fights out and gets a dropkick slightly above the belly for 2. EY charges, but eats an elbow after yelling at the fans. EY takes a big shot and does a delayed Flair Flop. Roode punches away some more, but EY flips to the apron and lands a shoulder to the gut. EY eats a spinebuster for 2. EY avoids the fisherman suplex, while Roode avoids the piledriver. EY rushes in and eats a boot. EY uses the ref to distract Roode and hits a piledriver to win the match. This was technically fine, but nothing special or memorable at all. Josh runs down next week’s card and we see hype clips for its matches. To see every screenshot taken for the show, just click here.
Last week, Aries beat Anderson in a fantastic match to advance in the series and also take Anderson out of it. Mandrews debuted a new skater/surfer gimmick, and surfed on Tigre Uno’s back. His Johnny Ace cosplay didn’t help him though, as Uno won the match. Manik beat DJZ with a funky GTS, and in the main event, EC3 beat Lashley thanks to cheating. It was a very filler-heavy episode of the show, and quite skippable outside of the Aries match. The show begins with a recap of last week’s events and we’ll see Uno face DJZ, while the main event is Awesome Kong against Gail Kim.
Storm faces Abyss, and Robbie E faces Matt Hardy tonight. Robbie E comes down in the background while Josh talks about how Group Champions “is being called the toughest group to get out of”, and offers up no explanation as to who is saying this. Pope rambles about how his prophecies come true and we get an EC3 promo after last week’s show. Robbie E should logically be in the ring and we get a recap of the rankings for Team Tag Team Specialists. Robbie’s intro is finally over, leading to Matt’s. Pope says that Matt should get a Wrestletarium award – okey dokey.
Matt Hardy vs. Robbie E
They start things off with some mat wrestling before Matt throws Robbie’s head into the buckle. Robbie counters the bulldog and lands some corner shots. Josh recaps the Robbie E vs. Robbie G rivalry and Matt trips Robbie up on the apron. Robbie avoids being tossed into the buckle on the apron, and kicks Matt before hitting a somersault dive off the apron. Matt’s trapped against the apron and eats a big lariat. Pope buries Robbie E’s old gimmick like he was Leif Cassidy or Avatar and praises him for getting extreme. In what way has he become extreme? Kudos on the horrible Al Snow gimmick bashing, but they did at least give Snow a WWF gig. Robbie goes up top and gets snapmared down. Pope mentions the Wrestletarian award and tells Josh to trademark that. Well, given how WWE swooped in and got “Four Horesweomen”, might as well.
Big flying Hart Attack hits for Robbie. Matt gets the splash mountain powerbomb for 2 – he hasn’t busted that out for many years. Robbie avoids Matt’s weird movements before the Twist to hit the Boom Drop for 2. Matt hits a second Side Effect and Robbie pops up into a Twist of Fate for the win. This was pretty fun – Matt is dong surprisingly well in singles matches and he and Robbie shake hands and hug after the match. Josh tells us to update our leaderboards at home – as if anyone on Earth is doing that. Gail is interviewed about losing to Brooke in the series, and she says that Brooke was better that night – and tonight, she’s coming for Kong.
We get a recap of Robbie vs. Matt and Matt cuts a post-match promo about how Robbie E has grown. Robbie says he doesn’t feel like a loser because he earned respect and he’s becoming more serious. Matt is interrupted by Grado, who wants a selfie. Matt does the V1-AAAAHHH bit and blocks Grado’s face. Well, that was a thing. Grado comes down while the commentary is drowned out by Pope talking about Game of War and Drew Galloway. Josh puts Grado over as “one of the top 32 competitors in the World Title Series” of 32 competitors. Poor Grado. We get a Galloway hype video.
Drew Galloway vs. Grado
Grado cradles Drew for 2, and Drew just can’t lift him up because he’s too fat – so he hulks up and chucks him. Drew chops him big-time in the corner and Drew eats an accidental low blow a little later while Grado asks the ref to “check his bollocks”. Drew fights back with more chops and a big overhead belly to belly suplex for 2. Drew wants him to fire back, so he does and he plants him in the corner for the cannonball! Drew gets locked into a tree of woe, which leads to a German suplex and he then preps the foot for the Sick Kick/Claymore for the win. We get a history lesson on Gail vs. Kong – with clips of Gail beating Kong for the title at Final Resolution 2008. We then see a far too long recap of the Storm, Abyss, and Shera storyline. Aiden ‘O Shea is out to face Crazzy Steve in one of the more random matches we’ve seen on Impact in a while. Aiden is apparently from Chicago, and comes to the ring in a wifebeater and slacks.
Crazzy Steve vs. Aiden O’Shea
Crazzy Steve starts the match shaking his ass to O’Shea’s theme. Josh brings up that Aiden is from Chicago and of Irish descent, and Aiden steals his horn and plays keep away with it. Steve gets a jawbreaker and GETS THE HORN. The horn is blown into Aiden’s ears and shocks him, but he lands a solid punch to get the lead. Aiden tosses him into the buckle and pounces him down to the mat. Steve attacks the hand on the floor, but Aiden hits him with He Used to Call it the Boom Stick lariat for the win. Abyss cuts a promo on Storm and we see a Storm vs. Abyss hype video showing Storm’s title win and some of Abyss’s title wins. Jeff Hardy DVD ad.
We get clips of Kong vs. Gail from earlier this year on Impact, with Kong beating Gail with a counter-to-center ring Awesome bomb. Recap of Drew beating Grado earlier and we get a subtitled promo from Grado backstage. Pope and Josh talk for a bit about the World Title Series while Storm comes out to face Abyss, who is already in the ring. Storm talks about he and Abyss being one of the four guys left in TNA who have been in TNA since day one – giving fans some great entertainment. Storm tells Abyss to do the smart thing and let him win by countout – if Storm’s smart, why doesn’t he just ask for a win via pinfall to get more points? Abyss tells Storm that he’s still the Monster and refuses. Storm is in his weird orange camo gear that never needs to be seen again.
James Storm vs. Abyss
They start a clubbering and Storm lands a superkick to the gut, but Abyss gains control quickly for an ad break. WWE 2K16 ad. When we come back, Storm slams Abyss into the steps. Storm hops off the steps into a chokeslam setup, but he shoves Abyss into the post. Storm brings a chair in and Earl takes it while the fans chant for tables. The chair is put in the corner and they fight over a corner shot, but neither hits it. Storm lands some corner punches and eats the chair. Abyss gets a splash and gets 2. They plug Earl Hebner’s Hall of Fame T-shirt, which they somehow felt was something anyone would want to spend money on. Pope says “that is available, indeed”. Abyss brings his implement of death Janice into the ring, but it gets stuck in the buckle. Storm hits him with a cowbell for 2. So to recap, you can bring a chair into the ring in TNA, and a board with nails in it – but no cowbells. They fight up top and Storm gets a sunset bomb and a big flying elbow for 2. Abyss gets a chokeslam for 2. Storm takes a swig and spits it at Abyss, who is blinded and eats two superkicks for the win. They recap the World Champions group, which sees EY have zero points.
Recap of Storm vs. Abyss and O’Shea vs. Steve. Shera will face Kenny King next week and we get a JB interview with Shera. He says he’ll win the title and make his friends, family, and country proud. JB is excited to announce the India tour and Shera says that he’ll return home as World Champion. Pope puts over the Shera Shake dance craze. Brooke faces Madison Rayne next week as well. Next week, we’ll see a Jeff Hardy interview about the BFG main event – and we see a little clip of him saying seeing his brother hold the title win in their home state with his family was the best. We get a recap video of an Eric Young vs. Robert Roode rivalry. I’ve forgotten about any issue they’ve had recently, so this is actually a good thing. We see their history over the past year and are told they’ll face off next week in the World Title Series. Tigre Uno comes out to face DJZ.
DJZ vs. Tigre Uno
Uno starts this off with a quick legdrop and armbar. A hammerlock leads to Josh being buried by Pope for not calling the action. Josh responds by saying he just wants to see Pope do it so he can fail. Is Josh supposed to be a babyface? DJZ lands a corner kick and hits a corner rana. DJZ flips around and eats a spinkick. Josh says the X division is like playing a video game, which Pope confirms. Uno goes for a hopping something or other and gets necksnapped on the rope. DJZ lands a tilt-a-whirl headscissors into the steps. Josh says that a win here means that DJZ can make a valid case to get an X Title shot just by beating the champion – excellent point there. DJZ gets some shoulder thrusts in the corner and lands some forearms with Uno perched up top.
Uno counters a superplex, but leaps into a dropkick to the ribs for 2. Uno goes for his wacky pop-up DDT, which is countered. Uno gets a spinkick and a baseball slide kick. Orno rolls around and then…stops before doing a tornado dive. Uno gets a springboard dropkick a pop-up rana for 2. DJZ hits a running spinning rana and gets shotgun knees to the spine. Pope implies it’s Vintage Elijah Burke, but forgives Josh for not watching TNA before he came into the company. Boy is this a bizarre commentary team. DJZ finally lands his goofy DDT for the win. We get a highlight reel of Gail vs. Kong from BFG set to epic music – it actually makes it seem like a good match, so they did their job here. Gail comes down and Josh says the champions don’t have their championship titles because they don’t want any distractions while going after the World title.
Gail Kim vs. Awesome Kong
Gail tries to roll away from Kong, but gets shoved into the corner. Gail attacks the shoulder and lands some forearms before just getting clubbed down for a break. We come back to Kong tossing Gail’s leg on the mat before locking on a camel clutch. Gail goes for a handspring headscissor, but Kong flipped her around and hit a lariat. Kong lands a Mongolian chop and locks on a sleeper. Gail escapes and kicks away, but gets leg tripped by Kong. Gail locks on the standing Octopus stretch, but gets kryptonite krunched out of it. It gets 2 and Gail sends her to the floor and gets a flipping senton to the floor.
Gail gets a combination armbar/choke on the mat. Kong escapes, but eats a series of kicks. Josh announces that we have five minutes left in the match. Kong goes for a chokeslam, but gets DDT’d out of it. Gail lands some leg kicks and dropkicks, and gets 2 off a crossbody. Kong counters Eat Defeat, but goes for a powerbomb and eats a cradle for a loss. They had a pretty good match here, but nothing on the show topped anything Aries has done so far. Next week’s Davey vs. Eddie match has the potential to be quite good – as does Roode vs. EY. To see every screen taken for the show, just click here.
Last week, Matt Hardy beat Davey to advance in the series. Aiden ‘O Shea debuted on Impact and lost to Kenny King, who is now in ROH. Eric Young lost to Abyss after declaring himself to be God. Robbie E beat Eddie Edwards in a good little match, while Shera defeated Crazzy Steve while still wearing his “Khoya” gear because as Josh said, he wanted to be reminded of who he wasn’t. In the main event, Robert Roode beat James Storm, now in WWE, in an absolutely nothing match that didn’t even play off of their history beyond one “BEER! MONEY” spot.
The show starts with a recap of the BFG main event, the injunction, the World Title Series, and the debut of Group X Division tonight. Andrews faces Mandrews and DJZ faces Manik. Anderson faces Aries, and EC3 faces Lashley. Pope talked about Group Future 4 being on the show tonight and how Aries and EC3 have one point each due to a tie. Aries faces Anderson next, but first we get some stuff between Aries and EC3 in the roundtable. Anderson picks Lashley to beat EC3, while Lashley just looks bored. Anderson comes down and does his full intro instead of just the “Anderson, Anderson” bit. Aries comes out with Thea Trinidad once again.
Ken Anderson vs. Austin Aries
Aries and Anderson exchange basic armwork mid-ring. They focus on the roundtable, with Anderson saying that he and Aries traveled the indies and EC3 asks just what those are. Anderson avoids the missile dropkick. Anderson clubs at the head and lands some shoulder thrusts, but only gets 1. Aries takes him down and gets a slingshot elbow, which Pope says is “shades of Austin Starr”. Oh dear God no. Anderson lays some punches into Aries in the corner before they go back and forth with body blows. EC3 not knowing what the indies are is the one thing that pisses Josh off about EC3, and then Pope says “EC3 was born into the big time – Impact Wrestling!” Ad break time.
Anderson gets a series of elbows and lariats before getting a neckbreaker. Aries shoulders the stomach and flips over before Christy says that there are five minutes left. If nothing else, TNA has at least made time limits into a viable match finish again with this thing. Aries lands the missile dropkick while Thea claps away. Anderson gets the Finlay Roll by catching Aries in the corner and getting 2. Aries armdrags his way out of the Mic Check, and he goes for the brainbuster – but get crotched up top by Anderson.
Aries boxes his way out of that situation and lands the 450 for a 2.5 count. Anderson gets a tornado kick for 2. Aries goes up for a superplex, but Anderson counters into the Lambeau Leap for 2.5. They mess up a Mic Check armdrag a bit, but wind up just fine with Anderson going up top and getting caught by Aries with a super brainbuster for the win! This was sloppy at times, but fairly good – Aries being included in this thing has really increased the match quality of the show. Josh says that Anderson has now been eliminated from the series.
Josh reveals that tonight, we’ll see the Bound For Glory PPV main event for some reason. Maybe they should’ve booked 64 matches for this thing or something, because that makes no sense to do now. In week one, it would – but not now. After a break, we see clips of Ultimate X highlights from BFG. Andrew Everett’s insane flip bump off the X aired a lot, as did Josh calling Shane Helms the greatest cruiserweight of all time. In a similarly ridiculous bit, he asks Pope if Tigre is the greatest X division champion of all time. Mandrews skates partially down to the ring, resulting in Josh calling him “one Dynamic Dude”.
Tigre Uno vs “The Dynamic Dude” Mandrews
Mark Andrews just can’t catch a break in TNA when it comes to names. So if Okada and Baretta are any indication, he should be signed by New Japan in a couple of years and be used to the full extent of his abilities. They flip around on the mat for a bit with some covers getting quick 2 counts. Mandrews does a skateboard pose during the “indy standoff” spot. While they’re wrestling a bit, Josh talks about exorcism live and then Pope says that’s not his job. Josh mocks him for leaving the Bound For Gold match before Pope says his career is over, so it doesn’t need resurrection.
Mandrews surfs on Uno for a bit, which is different than skating. Uno and Mandrws exchange gutwrenches, leading to a wacky lucha gutwrench submission by Uno. Josh talks about numbers for a bit and says that Anderson is absolutely out of this. Josh runs through every possible combination of things that could happen for the EC3 match in such a way that it comes off like minute 50 of an hour long math class where by the end, you just hear nothing and it’s just random noise. Mandrews flies over the top to attack Uno. Uno hits a German into the buckle and gets the win. The Bound For Glory main event airs next.
But first, Josh recaps that Anderson lost and is now out of the tournament mathematically – but he can at least play spoiler for EC3. Aries cuts a promo backstage about setting the bar high because he demands it out of himself. Josh recaps that all of this is due to the BFG series and now, in the third week of the series, we see the match. They join it in progress after intros and throw some new plugs in with graphics for Valpak coupons. Drew hitting the Kryptonite Krunch on the steps onto EC3 is still crazy, and we go to a break after a 2 count.
We come back to see EC3 suplex Matt over the top through Drew on top of a table. German suplex tower of doom hits. Three-way kneeling punch exchange leads to some chops. Frye-Takayama exchange from Matt and Drew leads to a double One Percenter for 2. EC3 shoves Jeff to get DQed, but Jeff won’t do it – so he kicks Drew low to force it as well. Josh and Pope point out that there are no DQs here. EC3 grabs a chair and goes to hit Drew, but Jeff takes it and hits him. In a nice bit, EC3 kicks the chair base out of Drew’s way before the Sick Kick. Matt hits the Twist on Drew to get his revenge on…EC3. And somehow, this story fell flat. EC3 shoving Big John over the table remains hilarious.
Voiceover work recaps the injunction “We could not have a world champion – and Dixie felt that wasn’t the right thing to do”. EC3 is asked about the World Title Series and he talks about how we just saw the travesty that happened to him and he does this for him tonight. We go back to Josh and Pope pondering about what could happen with the points tonight. I can get a few lifetimes without ever hearing the phrase “group play”. Josh and Pope are going to play Swipe Left and Swipe Right with the Future 4 group.
They plug the Jeff Hardy DVD and resume talking about Group Wild Card. In a bizarre move, we see an “earlier tonight” graphic for Jessie Godderz vs. Crimson and just get clips of Crimson missing a shoulder charge and Godderz winning with the Adonis Crab. Jessie’s video package takes longer than the match. Jessie says that he isn’t all talk and he can back it up. He claims to be the best mix of agility, power, and flexibility – and he’ll be the next TNA World Champion. Between Jessie’s confidence and the clips of him just destroying dudes, this was effective – but bizarrely inserted into the show overall. Following up on clips of that match, we get clips of Eli Drake vs. Micah in a battle of former Rising members. They brawl and get a double countout and earn one point each. Why on Earth did they bother showing the full BFG match if they actually shot matches in full?
In a hilarious bit, Destination America makes sure to tell people to not attempt to do an exorcism themselves. Pope is against Grado, but for Brooke and Kong. Manik comes out and he has his mask on. Josh says that Manik went maskless at BFG and he didn’t win. Pope says that he didn’t wear the mask at BFG to make sure he could see every opponent at the PPV. Josh points out a team he likes that wears different uniforms each week and it changes things up. Pope says that he feuded with Suicide for a while and the advantage of a mask is that you can’t read its owner’s full facial expressions.
They have now spent nearly as much time explaining Manik wearing a mask than they have building up some PPVs. Manik stomps a mudhole into DJZ while Josh talks about Helms being the greatest cruiserweight of all time. Pope says he could be the best, while Josh says the title was changed from blue to green due to Helms. Manik gets a snap suplex and then a back suplex before Josh buries Pope for calling a suplex a “souffle” since Solie at least knew the difference between a wrestling move and a breakfast order.
DJZ gets a series of atomic drops before awkwardly positioning his body into the ropes to miss a DDT attempt and Manik gets a cross armbreaker. DJZ dives off the top and eats a pair of boots before Manik misses a frog splash. DJZ misses his silly pop-up tornado DDT before Manik hits a bizarre version of the GTS with a back bump and a kick to the face for the win. We get a recap of a June 17 match between Lashley and EC3 with a weird blue filter put on everything.
Next week, Gail faces Awesome Kong – which Pope hypes up as a BFG rematch. God help us all if they choose to air that as filler programming too. James Storm faces Abyss next week and Robbie is hyped up as tying Matt Hardy on top of the tag team specialists group. EC3 comes out with Tyrus. Josh is now back on EC3’s side and points out that Matt didn’t actually beat EC3 to get revenge. Josh points out via math that Lashley is at least in a position to not be eliminated right now.
EC3 vs. Lashley
Lashley dominates a tie-up, so EC3 stalls on the floor. EC3 comes in and gets pushed around, so he cowers in the corner. Lashley gets a beal and then hits a few lariats before a break. After it, EC3 dominates Lashley on the floor and tosses him into the steps. Lashley hoists him up and hits a spinebuster on the floor. Tyrus pounces into Lashley and he smacks into the post. EC3 gets some mounted punches and grinds away with a cravate. Lashley punches away, but is sent to the floor. Tyrus attacks Lashley again and Josh says that Tyrus could result in more fines for EC3. EC3 goes for a suplex, but it gets countered.
Josh talks about Tyrus’s antics being a complete insult to Dixie and Billy Corgan’s edict about there being no interference in this. I guess that might’ve been in the full video, but they never mentioned that until this very moment on TV. EC3 and Lashley get into a punch exchange before Lashley gets a German suplex and chains it into an overhead belly to belly suplex. Lashley gets a powerslam for 2. Lashley rolls into a rear naked choke, but EC3 escapes thanks to Tyrus.
EC3 gets the Stinger Splash, and there are two minutes left in the match. Lashley turns mounted punches into a running powerbomb. Lashley hits the spear, but Tyrus pulls him out of the ring. EC3 kicks out when Lashley comes in, and Josh gives Tyrus credit for making that happen and only saying it could’ve happened due to the break. Tyrus brings a chair in and eats a spear. That isn’t a DQ, and while the ref is distracted by Tyrus, EC3 low blows Lashley and wins with the One Percenter. Josh calls him a no good SOB, so for this segment at least, he is against EC3. Well, there was absolutely nothing on this show worthwhile outside of the Aries match. Everything involving EC3 was a cluster, they really screwed up this thing feeling important just airing seconds of some matches – so you never really know when they’ll do that, and it marginalizes the people they do that to.
To see every screen taken for the show, just click here.
On Monday, TNA Wrestling officially announced what has been reported for months: they will be touring Mumbai, India, with shows announced for 12/2, 12/3 and 12/4.
The two key parts of the announcement were that Dalip Singh, the former Great Khali, will be working with the promotion, although they did not announce him as wrestling on the shows. They also did not announce Impact tapings for the three events. They did mention that the 12/4 show would be a One Night Only PPV taping that will air live on Sony SIX in India — the company’s regular TV station in the market. However, all three shows will be taped.
TNA said Singh and John Gaburick would be searching for new Indian talent for TNA. The company is heavily focusing on Indian and is trying to find new native wrestlers. Singh runs a wrestling school there. TNA announced that Singh will be part of the selection process, will mentor prospective Indian wrestlers, and will be endorsing the live events.
Last week, the World Title Series began with a mixed bag of matches. Austin Aries vs. EC3 was fantastic, while Grado vs. Rockstar Spud in a WWE cosplay match was among the worst matches on TV this year. Lashley beat Ken Anderson in a very good main event, while Kong beat Rayne to advance in the knockouts bracket. Gail also lost to Brooke in a good match in that same bracket. Tonight, we’ll find out the other 16 competitors that will fill out the field.
A Bound For Glory recap video starts the show off. We see Matt Hardy winning the title by beating Galloway, the injunction, and Matt’s vacating of the title. Dixie and Billy Corgan’s announcement of the World Title Series, alongside the various groups are shown before we see the results of each match from last week. Josh and Pope, who Josh calls “the most entertaining commentator in the business” are against their green screen.
They run down the next fields – Group Tag Team Specialists, Group Future Four. Group X Division, and Group TNA Originals were announced. Robbie E cuts a promo on Robbie G from his car, and in portrait mode. He challenges him to a TNA Impact match. Matt Hardy is set to face Davey, who comes out first. The Wolves’ win over Team GFW is shown from BFG. Matt comes out and we see Matt’s BFG celebration while Josh points out how little that wound up meaning.
Matt Hardy vs. Davey Richards
Matt and Davey have a nice babyface vs. babyface match here. They don’t want to hurt one another, but Davey does land a nice dropkick. During the roundtable, Davey talks about being ready for this while Matt puts over the fellow tag specialists and he plans to win. Apron warfare breaks out as Davey gets some kicks, but gets caught in a Side Effect on the apron. Matt gets a snapmare and a series of legdrops for 2. Matt locks on a sleeper and turns it into a slam for 2. Matt drapes him over the second rope and hits a Nightmare on Helms Street for 2.
Matt walks the middle rope for an elbow, but Davey gets a backstabber. Matt gets low-bridged and Davey hits a suicide dive while Josh talks about BFG trending non-stop for nearly two weeks. Handspring kick hits for 2. Josh talks about Little Pope, the doll, being a big star at BFG. Davey backslides his way out of a Twist of Fate. Side Effect gets 2. Matt goes up and eats a big kick to the chest. Matt avoids the double stomp off the top and hits a Twist of Fate for the win. Hooray! A Beer Money video package! We see some clips of their greatest moments, Storm’s title win, and then Roode winning it from him. Tonight, they will have their final match in TNA.
In the Group X Division roundtable, we get everyone insulting each other. Manik buries Mandrews and calls him Bart Simpson for having a skateboard. Is his gimmick now that he’s a Dynamic Dude? Pope makes two picks while Josh begs for hashtags. Aiden ‘O Shea makes his Impact debut and we see him throw hands while Josh tells pope that Aiden throws hands better than Elijah Burke ever did. Kenny King is out to face him.
Aiden ‘O Shea vs. Kenny King
Aiden throws his shirt at King to get in cheapshots. A pair of jabs to the jaw leads to a hard body shot. Aiden ‘O Shea misses the Boomstick lariat and then just spins around maniacally on one foot to stare at Kenny immediately. Aiden stands on the achilles tendon in a nice bit. In the roundtable, Shera says that he is bigger, stronger, and faster. Steve honks in either agreement or disagreement. Kenny gets a sunset flip for a loose 2 count. Aiden gets a back suplex into a backbreaker. Kenny kicks his way out of a Boomstick and gets a spin kick. Kenny goes for the Royal Flush, but he gets his eyes raked. Kenny gets a kick on the apron and hits a springboard blockbuster for the win. EY rambles backstage about how the World title goes through him in 2015. He’s also God, and he’s getting the World Title again because it’s all he’s ever cared about. EY faces Abyss next.
But first, we see Matt beat Davey in the opener. Davey says he won’t make excuses because Matt’s a legend. He isn’t about excuses, and tonight, Matt was the better man. Matt leads Team Tag Team Specialists with three points. EC3 will have an interview via Skype later tonight. Josh and Pope do a bizarre Tinder-style swipe for the TNA Originals brackets. Roode says that EY has lost his mind and that he’ll be screwed over by his mental problems. EY says that it was hard to decide who was going to lose, and EY says that he’ll answer JB’s “first question” even though we just saw one, and predicted that Roode will be eliminated. Storm says that Abyss will lose because he can’t even walk a straight line. Abyss says that Storm came to him, not the other way around. “YOU PROMISED ME ALL KINDS OF STUFF, AND NONE OF IT HAPPENED!”. EY comes down in his crazy fisherman getup.We see clips of EY attacking Kurt and the doctor, before EY lost to Angle at BFG. Josh and Pope talk about Pope entering Bound For Gold, and it takes more time to do that than his appearance took.
Eric Young vs. Abyss
Abyss shoulders him down a few time. Abyss goes for a chokeslam, but EY bites his hand for an ad break. We come back and EY has Abyss reeling, but Abyss still sends him over the top to the floor. They fight on the floor and Abyss misses a charge into the post. Josh says that unlike Storm, TNA doesn’t have empty promises and is coming to the UK soon. So what about that Halloween Hardcore tour? EY puts Abyss on the apron and boots his head. EY chokes him on the ropes and then dives into a chokeslam, which is countered – but a Samoan drop isn’t. Abyss clubs him down a few times and goes for another chokeslam, but he stomps his foot to escape. Abyss finally gets the chokeslam for 2. Abyss gets Janice (the weapon, not the person) from under the ring. TNA Hall of Famer Earl Hebner grabs it, and EY low blows Abyss and hits a flying elbow for 2. Abyss backdrops him out of a piledriver and hits the Black Hole Slam for the win.
We see the standings for the Originals team – Abyss is in the lead with three points. Josh is joined by EC3 on Skype. EC3 is in a cheap-looking room that is painted black, and it’s like an echo chamber in there too. EC3 says he should be champion and Josh says he was left with just one point last week. EC3 says that Aries didn’t beat him – no one will. EC3 will face Lashley next week and Josh asks if he’s behind the 8 Ball. EC3 says he’s confused by that unless it’s a reference to the Magic 8 Ball, and the series isn’t over until he wins.
We get a recap of Abyss beating EY, so EY is behind and Abyss leads the pack. EY says Abyss, the fans, and the company are all against him. EY says he wins in the end and he is serious and he will win. okay then. Abyss tells Storm and Roode that they’ll meet the same fate EY did. Robbie E is out first while Josh talks about Robbie wanting to be taken seriously. Well, that’s just not happening with this gimmick. Eddie Edwards comes out to face him.
Eddie Edwards vs. Robbie E.
They go into a collar and elbow tie-up and we see Eddie say that Robbie has turned over a new leaf. They exchange rolls on the mat and Robbie looks more impressive here as a wrestler than he has before in TNA. Robbie lands a big back elbow-leading lariat for 2. Eddie Matrixes out of a lariat and gets an inverted atomic drop and a running knee for 2.
Robbie avoids a corner charge that sends Eddie to the floor. Robbie dives to the floor onto Eddie and gets a big “Robbie” chant. Robbie gets a Hart Attack for 2. Robbie gets a big suplex while Matt says that Robbie is the least-likely to move on. Of course, the in-ring action takes up less space than the talking. Eddie flips out of a German and sends Robbie to the apron and then the floor. They double lariat each other on the floor. Nasty chop on the floor sends Robbie into the ring. Robbie gets the Boom Drop for 2. Eddie flips out of a reverse DDT and gets a German and a half crab. Running enzuiguri to the head hurts Robbie, but Robbie lands the reverse DDT for the win. This was a pretty solid little match – Robbie E’s stock rose a bit with it. Well, in theory. Pope calls Robbie’s story a Cinderella story that every wrestling fan can get behind.
We see clips of Roode’s dominant World Title reign. We see him lose it, then regain it before losing it again. He holds the KOTM Title, but wants to be the World Champion too and prove that he’s the greatest wrestler alive. Roode says that tonight, he and Storm put their history behind them – and he’ll beat him tonight and prove that he wants the title more.
Robbie vs. Eddie clips air and Robbie says that yeah, you might think he’s a joke – but he’s a two-time tag champ and a former X Division champion too. Eddie says that Robbie surprised a lot of people and he poked fun at him, but he regrets it now. Josh says that Robbie is now “trending in a positive direction” and we go to the roundtable for Team Future Four. Eli Drake cuts a great promo about how he needs to be in a roundtable with guys holding gold. One guy looks like a peacock and Micah still wants to be his friend. Jessie says that E-li Drake doesn’t matter and Crimson says he’s been to war and he’ll take Eli out. Micah says that the next person who will progress is he and Crimson while calling Eli a son of a bitch. Crimson says Micah will go on alongside him too. Crazzy Steve is out to face Mahabala Shera. Oh my God – this will be a thing.
Crazzy Steve vs. Mahabali Shera
Shera isn’t doing his Shera shake, and he’s in his Khoya gear – so this is definitely exposing the odd taping schedule of this. Josh says that he asked Shera why he has Khoya on his trunks and he says it’s a reminder of what he isn’t. Shera overpowers Steve and plows through him with a shoulderblock. Shera lands a corner lariat while the crowd chants for Crazzy Steve. Josh ponders what kind of interviews Steve will do with Conan ‘O Brien and Jimmy Fallon. Steve runs wild with lariats to the back. Shera swipes him away, but eats forearms and a dropkick. Steve bites the forehead, but eats a Sky High and Shera wins.
We get another recap of Storm being attacked by Roode, and how the Revolution was just his attempt to rekindle what worked with Beer Money. The Revolution broke up due to Storm, and now Storm walks alone in his quest for the World title. Storm vs. Roode is the main event, and up next. Josh ponders what’s going to happen tonight before we see the rankings for Group Champions. EC3 faces Lashley next week and we get a highlight reel of Lashley kicking ass in the ring and the gym. The song used here is pretty darn catchy. Storm comes out first looking great in his slicker jacket while Roode comes out in Terry Taylor’s black and red robe. He’s certainly got his money’s worth out of that investment. Roode doesn’t have the belt on during his intro.
James Storm vs. Robert Roode
Storm starts this by doing the “Beer!” part of Beer Money while Roode just stares there sternly. Josh calls Roode both the purist’s purist and the wrestler’s wrestler. Is he also a whistler’s whistler? Pope points out that Storm is holding up one finger to show that there’s always room for one more in the Revolution, while Josh says that’s silly since there is no Revolution.
Storm lands a knee to the gut and clubs the back. Roode comes back and gets some cornermount punches and a big dropkick. Storm gets a suckerpunch to send Roode back into the ring. They brawl to the floor and Storm is flung into the barricade. Storm distracts the ref while he low blows Roode. Roode takes three bumps for it. Josh says if you can’t keep track of this tournament, don’t worry – you can just check out the TNA site. Storm gets the Nightmare of Helms Street for 2 and plants a chinlock mid-ring.
Christy points out that there are five minutes left in the match. Nothing of real note has happened outside of the awesome low blow selling from Roode. Josh points out that the TNA Originals group has also been World Champions, alongside Group Champions. Spinebuster hits Storm for 2. Roode gets a blockbuster for 2. Storm avoids the Perfectplex and gets a very slow flying spinning headscissors for 2. Storm grabs a chair and Roode kicks him, so Roode grabs it and the ref takes it from him – it distracts the ref and Storm gets 2 off a cowbell shot. Roode avoids the superkick, so Storm goes for the whirlybird, but Roode kicks the gut and wins with a Perfectplex. For roughly eight years, Roode and Storm have been linked to each other and this was the end of it. The company did a fine job making the match feel epic beforehand, but it just didn’t come across as anything more than filler – it wasn’t even an homage to classic spots. It was just a series of moves that led to a finish and didn’t elicit any emotion whatsoever
To see every screen from the show, just click here.
TNA’s follow-up to Bound for Glory on Wednesday night produced its best ratings numbers since September 9th.
The beginning of the TNA title tournament did 335,000 viewers for the first-run Destination America episode and 112,000 for the replay. The replay was the second best replay number since the show moved to Wednesday at midnight.
Ring of Honor did 175,000 viewers for their Field of Honor episode from MCU Field in Brooklyn featuring a Kazuchika Okada vs. Roderick Strong main event. It was the company’s best number ever in the 11 PM EST time slot.
As has been expected, TNA officially announced that its three January shows in the U.K. will be television tapings for Impact.
Impact’s best shows of 2015 were the shows taped in the U.K. with the larger crowds that made the product seem more lively and major league like.
TNA announced that appearing at the tapings would be Grado, Eddie Edwards, Davey Richards, Ken Anderson, Tigre Uno, Mahabili Shera, GailKim, Velvet Sky, Madison Rayne, Kurt Angle, Bobby Lashley, Matt Hardy,Ethan Carter III, Drew Galloway, Eric Young, Bobby Roode, Rockstar Spud,Taryn Terrell, Brooke, Robbie E and Mark Andrews.
The shows are 1/29 at the Manchester Arena; 1/30 in London at SSE Arena at Wembley and 1/31 in Birmingham at the Barclaycard Arena.
Last week, TNA delivered a fairly dreadful TV show and an okay PPV. Matt Hardy won the world title by beating Drew Galloway, but vacated it the next day due to an “injunction” by EC3. Today, TNA announced the TNA World Title Series – a tournament to determine a new champion. A BFG recap video starts the show. The story of this match is that Drew did all the work, but thanks to his brother’s cheapshot, Matt got the win. Josh and Pope are in front of a green screen.
We see EC3 push Big John and then him announcing the injunction, and then Matt vacating the title. Matt’s living room at least has better lighting than Impact. Matt, the babyface, complains a lot and says that he proved EC3 is scared of him because he beat him. Actually no, you beat Drew. Matt says that he’ll win the title again, and we see Dixie and William Corgan announce the World Title Series. Corgan says that since he’s come on board, they have clarified their titles. So what does the King of the Mountain Title accomplish again? Josh says “Thanks Dixie” as if she was speaking to him, which was weird. Josh describes it as a 32 man tournament spread across four groups, and Pope tells fans to go to Twitter and brag about it. Josh says that #MattForChamp has been a thing for nearly a year. A year, a couple of months – same thing. We then get a series of graphics explaining this whole thing. This is so confusing. Group UK, Group Wildcard, Group Knockouts, Group Champions will go at it. Drew faces Bram, and we hear from Drew about this match and says that title shots come and go, but he’ll get his destiny – the TNA World Title. This got the show 14 minutes closer to the grave.
Bram is mid-ring before Drew comes down. Josh says that Drew should be happy for this series, and if you missed BFG, you can get it via your PPV provider now. Why would anyone do that? They already showed you the highlights of the main event and made the main event’s result meaningless. Bram and Drew butt heads and Josh agrees with Pope that lawyers belong in an office after just saying that EC3 did the right thing by getting lawyers involved.
We get some weird cut-in with Bram and Drew engaging in a full conversation while this action is going on. Bram hates him for getting to the U.S. before him. Drew eats a steel steps shot. Bram gets a chinlock, but Drew chops away. Drew bumps beautifully into the corner. Drew lands some nice punches and gets a slam. Bram goes to the floor and two fans hold Bram so he can chop Bram. Drew bounces his head off the steps a bunch and back suplexes him onto the apron. Sick kick hits for the win. A graphic shows that Drew has three points now and we see a graphical breakdown of the point totals. Grado faces Spud later. Gail says that TNA has always been a place that women can succeed, and she can now be World Heavyweight Champion. She faces Brooke next.
Recap of the Sick kick to Bram. Drew says that he won because he had a strategy, and he calls it a war. I like them doing post-match interviews – between that and the pre-match stuff, it should in theory make matches seem more important. Brooke comes out to face Gail. Gail doesn’t have her title, stated by Pope because this isn’t a Knockouts title match. Josh says Christmas is three months away, so if you’re shopping for Josh, you’ve got some extra time to get him something. Gail cuts a heelish promo on Brooke about creating this division while Brooke says she’s a three time champ. Brooke takes a scary bump off a monkey flip from Gail. A cradle exchange gets 2.
Brooke gets a pop-up lariat and she sends Gail to the floor. Brooke drop toeholds her down and gets a bizarre version of the Cattle Mutilation. Gail locks on a weird leglock and breaks it up. Brooke shoves Gail on her face during Eat Defeat. They exchange forearms, but Brooke gets the upper hand with a lariat. Super X factor hits and Brooke goes up top for the flying elbow. Brooke misses and Gail sweeps the leg and gets a ringpost figure four. Gail goes for Eat Defeat, but Brooke counters it, so Gail goes for a figure four and she gets small packaged for the loss! Brooke advances in a very good match. EC3 talks about the World Title Series and says it’s the EC3 Screwjob Series. EC3 says that Aries is back just because the title is on the line, and the story is now that Aries voluntarily left and didn’t leave due to a loss. Josh talks about the knockouts match and we see Spud coming to the ring while they talk over his intro. They do it for Grado too, and it’s really weird to see.
Grado hits a belly bump to gain an early advantage. We get match audio while they play Grado’s promo on Spud, which is nearly impossible to understand because there’s so much noise going on. Grado misses the corner cannonball while Josh plugs the company’s next UK events. Spud gets his corner forearm series and a dropkick to the face. Grado hits possibly the worst Pedigree in recorded history for 2. Grado pulls the straps and gets an ankle lock, but Spud escapes. Spud hits a Stinger splash and a bulldog before hitting the world’s worst worm for 2. Grado goes for a People’s Elbow, but he blows up hitting the ropes too much. He hits it and gets 2. Grado goes for a Styles Clash, but Spud backdrops him. Spud does Taker’s throat slit, hits a chokeslam and crosses the arms for 2. Spud goes for an AA, but Grado counters with an elbow and goes for sweet chin music. Spud grabs the foot and hits a stunner ala WM XIV and the Dudley Dog for the win. This was bizarre and made TNA look so second-rate. It would be bad enough for a joke title tournament like the Beer Drinking Title, but this is for the World Title.
Pope and Josh talk about Group Champions, resulting in more shilling of EC3 by Josh. Josh hypes up Tyrus winning the Bound For Gold match and we hear from him for a second. He appears to have aged a decade since BFG and says that if EC3 wins, things will get interesting. EC3 is out to face Aries. Josh says that EC3 is still unpinned, which is true. Aries comes out with Thea Trinidad and Josh mocks nerds who point out that Aries lost a loser leaves town match. He’s back because he’s the smartest wrestler in the world and Josh says that Thea was once known as Rosita in TNA.
Aries and EC3 go to a stalemate while Josh talks about how brilliant EC3 was to get lawyers involved. EC3 says in his “roundtable” that he is the greatest living wrestler alive, and Aries says that EC3 will just hide behind Tyrus. Aries ducks down and gets a slick armdrag. Aries does a handstand into a dropkick, but EC3 avoids a pendulum elbow. Aries gets a big running elbow and sends EC3 to the steps, where he gets a series of punches almost like he’s in the corner with him. Tyrus looks at Thea, and Aries dives onto Tyrus and EC3 sends him to the floor for an ad break.
EC3 has Aries in a chinlock and sends him down to the mat for 2. Aries and EC3 are down to 5 minutes, and if they go to a draw, they’ll have one point each. Aries smashes EC3’s head on the buckles and hits a neckbreaker on the apron. A suicide dive hits EC3. Aries gets a missile dropkick, but EC3 gets the boot up before he can take a dropkick. Aries gets a discus elbow for 2. EC3 gets a TKO for 2. EC3 misses a Stinger splash and eats the corner dropkick. EC3 lands a pair of shoulder blocks and goes up for a superplex, but he gets his ears boxed and eats a 450 for 2.5. Boo/yay punch exchange leads to a Tyrus trip. EC3 gets a Rampage powerbomb for 2. Thea trips EC3 up and Aries gets a schoolboy into a Last Chancery. With under a minute to go, EC3 gets to the rope. Aries avoids the One Percenter, but eats an elbow and Aries goes for some PRIDE-style knees right as the time limit expires. This was much better than the BFG main event and a fantastic showcase for Aries. It’s a draw, so each man gets 1 point. EC3 jumps Aries, but still eats a brainbuster – they really made Aries look strong here. Pope says that each man getting one point is like them getting zero. No, by definition, it isn’t.
Anderson says that he’s part of the toughest group since they’re all former World Champions – I like that he’s putting the title over a lot here. He cut a nice serious promo here and didn’t come off like a goofball. Madison Rayne faces Awesome Kong next. Josh plugs every house show without taking a breath. Aries talks smack about EC3 – he beat legends, icons, and Hall of Famers – but he couldn’t beat Austin Aries. Aries just put himself over their former world champion marvelously. Kong goes for a powerbomb right away, which Pope calls the Implant Buster. He says that Kong is both Awesome and Amazing. shocked he didn’t say she has great karma too.
Madison says she’s a bit underutilized, but she will win. Kong says the seas boil with her rage and the tide is coming. Kong rams Rayne into the corner and clubs away. Kong goes a torture rack and turns it into a facebuster before missing a splash and Rayne gets an Oklahoma roll for 2. Rayne gets an enzuiguri and Kong goes down off a missile dropkick for 2. Kong gets a spinning backfist and an Implant Buster for the win. Lashley says he’s used to going against the unknown and it makes this even special. Okay then. Matt Hardy has an exclusive interview next.
JB interviews Matt backstage and he says that his goal was to be the World Champion. His wife, his son, and 82 year old dad were in the ring with him. It was a happy fairy tale ending, but because Jeff hit EC3, EC3 handcuffed TNA and Matt. Matt says that the only thing he could do to keep wrestling in TNA was forfeit the title. Matt has thrown his name into the hat for this. So to recap, the World Title Series was created due to Matt vs. EC3, and now we’ll get a scenario for another Matt vs. EC3 match. We get a recap of who is in the lead for each division.
Anderson gets a partial intro while Lashley gets a full entrance. We see a recap of Lashley’s first World title win against EY – back when TNA had a well-lit building with some excitement in it back in the salad days of 2014. Lashley gets a rolling front facelock and we get an ad break when it’s broken up. After a very long break, Lashley gets a double overhook suplex and hits a lariat. Lashley and Ken put each other over very briefly in their roundtable. We actually see the table for the first time, and it is indeed round. Lashley gets a delayed suplex, but misses a corner charge and Ken gets 2.
Pope says he fully expects Ken Anderson to cheat based on his past. I like Pope using logic in all this to tell a story that could be told, but doesn’t really need to be told. Anderson stops short while Lashley goes for a leapfrog and he gets a dropkick before going back to the arm that Lashley smacked into the post. Ken gets a couple of kicks and a divorce court for 2. Pope puts over that Anderson has “ruthless aggression”, a phrase that no one in wrestling outside of WWE has ever used. Lashley gets a lariat and hits another in the corner. Anderosn punches his way out of a torture rack, but eats a spinebuster. Anderson leaps over the spear and gets a couple of lariats. Anderson gets the Finlay Roll, a second, and gets a TKO for 2. Lashley charges in and eats a boot, but he gets the spear and the win.
Well, this show started off about as poorly as possible. However, after that point, it was a rock solid show in the ring outside of the Spud-Grado match. Every single match was worth watching and several of them were quite good. Match-wise, it was a better show than the PPV, and it wound up turning what seemed like an awful idea into a great one so far in terms of delivering great matches. Week one shows the concept can work, but the real key is the follow-up – if TNA can keep this up, then they can at least have the illusion of having momentum before shopping around for a new network deal in 2016.
Dixie Carter’ major announcement made today is that Mahabili Shera, Ethan Carter III and Rebel will be going to India with Executive Vice President of TV and Talent Relations John Gaburick from 10/19 to 10/22.
They did not make the announcement of the expected television tapings in India from 11/29 to 12/5. Talent has already been told of the India tour. The tour will likely be announced in two weeks as TNA and Sony SIX, its television partners in India, are scheduled to make a key announcement during that week.
The wrestlers will be appearing in Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Bangalore.
The story is that Gaburick and Shera will also be scouting for new talent from India to add to the roster.
