By Jeremy Peeples, WrestlingObserver.com
Last week, TNA followed up Slammiversary with a “bell to bell” show featuring EC3 winning the World title from Kurt Angle. The BDC beat The Rising, forcing Drew Galloway’s group to disband, while Eli Drake suffered an iffy “knee injury” that kept him from losing. Mickie James swore vengeance on James Storm and any woman he can get to join his Revolution. The Wolves beat the Dirty Heels in an iron man match to win the tag titles, and we got about 30 seconds of a Jarrett and Tenay interview that mentioned GFW and TNA, but little else. Gail Kim returned and is back to get her title from Taryn Terrell and the Dollhouse.
The Takeaway
EC3 defended the title three times in largely nothing matches. We also got a couple of handicap matches, a Bram vs. Anderson match, and a Robbie E-Jessie street fight. Dixie Carter also returned and turned face, while Josh turned face and heel several times throughout the show. You can safely skip this show.
We get a long recap of the EC3-Angle match from last week, with new camera angles. EC3 is shown holding the belt up last week, and comes out with it now. Josh hypes up a new day for TNA, but sadly didn’t use clap therapy for it. EC3 says he’s unbeaten and the new TNA World Heavyweight Champion. Tyrus holds the belt up for him and EC3 says that Dixie’s returning and has put him in charge tonight. He’s booked a heck of a card and will defend his title EC3-times tonight!
Matt Hardy comes down and wants a title match. He asks for a Twitter campaign here on this taped show. EC3 asks Tyrus if he likes the idea of #mattforchamp, and Tyrus disagrees while a giant “yes” chant breaks out. EC3 declines and Matt guarantees an ass-kicking anyway. EC3 points out that he’s running the show and mocks Matt for being a new dad and sings “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag”. The Dirty Heels come down and we get a brief recap of the Wolves beating them.
Matt Hardy vs. The Dirty Heels
EC3 comes down for commentary and hypes up a slobberknocker. Pope asks why the dinosaur is here and EC3 buries Pope for not following him on Twitter. Josh buries Pope for preventing him from talking to EC3. Aries runs wild with kicks and face rakes while Pope buries EC3 for making this unfair match. Matt gets the Ice Pick, which you’d never know because Josh is too busy talking about EC3’s mic not working. Hardy gets the Ice Pick once again, now on Aries. Pope gives EC3 his headset and Matt gets some clotheslines and a bulldog/dropkick to both guys. Matt does his goofy stuff before the Twist and it gets countered, so he doesn’t do that crap and hits it. Aries runs wild, but eats a kick in the corner. Aries counters a suplex and Roode holds Matt’s foot down for the win. EC3 says he lives for this – I sure hope not.
Josh hypes up the return of Dixie Carter and the second part of Jeff Jarrett’s interview, which will hopefully go longer than a minute. The Rising is backstage with Eli on a crutch to deliver one final message. If they were forced to disband last week, why weren’t they allowed to deliver this message then? Why are they being given a one week stay of execution? Did the BDC sign off on that or does every broken up faction get an extra to talk from now on?
An ad airs for Knockouts Knockdown 2015 and The Rising is mid-ring. Drew is sad about the end of The Rising. Why? Josh said last week that you can just change your name and get around the stipulation. Eli says they all deserve better than this and he thanks him for bringing him into TNA, and soon, he’ll show him how much that means. I don’t like Drew’s odds. Drew says that wrestling will be around forever and the roster is the future and the future is bright. A very mild TNA chant breaks out. Drew says that #standup will continue and EC3 feigns crying at ringside.
Tyrus comforts his boss in his time of need, and EC3 laments that he’s already booked Drew in a three on three tag because he now has no partners and “this ship has sunk”. Yup, the ship sure has. EC3 says that it’s time for Drew to have a new one on three match against a totally different faction than the one he was feuding with. Josh points out that this is the second handicap match of the evening, which doesn’t make this any more interesting.
Drew Galloway vs. The Revolution
Pope calls the action, or at least the Twitter action as #standup is apparently a global phenomenon. Abyss chokes Drew on the ropes. Drew clotheslines and neckbreakers the heels down, but Khoya gets a Sky High for two because Abyss wants the win. Drew dropkicks Khoya into Abyss, which sends the 350 pounder to the floor and crotches Manik up top. Drew counts to three and gets a Sick Kick for the win.
Backstage, Anderson congratulates EC3 on winning. Even though he doesn’t like the guy, he appreciates him being able to accomplish his dream and do so on his own. Anderson respects him putting the title up three times and wants one of the shots. EC3 declines and says he already has a match – against Bram. According to Twitter, he’s re-signed a deal with TNA – and that match is next. Anderson comes to face “The Chesterfield Plague, The Human Hate Machine” Bram who seemingly gets a new nickname with every contract.
Mr. Anderson vs. Bram
Maybe TNA has signed each nickname of Bram’s to a contract and that’s why he’s signed up through the end of time. Bram gets an armbar on the ground. Anderson gets a neckbreaker and a two count off a Kenton bomb. Bram hits him with a chair to the head on the floor for a DQ and Josh ponders that he doesn’t care. Well, I sure hope Bram wouldn’t care about a DQ against Mr. Anderson. Bram yells at someone to drop Anderson’s mic, and Bram uses it to do Anderson’s intro and bash his head in with. Josh says “ouch” to every shot and we close to Bram rapping the mic against his own head. Okay then.
Jessie “The Man” Godderz is mid-ring and we see clips of a street fight from last week. Did that air on Xplosion? I have no recollection of it on Impact, but it’s leading to a street fight match this week. Pope says he wouldn’t wear his tights or boots to a street fight like these men are.
Jessie Godderz vs. Robbie E – Street Fight
Robbie dives to the floor and gets a running trash can lid shot to the head. Robbie gets a kendo stick from under the ring and gets a Cesaroplex onto a lid. Robbie puts the can over the genital region of Jessie and thwacks the lid with the stick. Jessie sidesteps a plancha and drives Robbie’s back into the post with a backbreaker. Josh theorizes that Jessie is trying to hurt him, which Pope buries him for since it’s a street fight. Jessie gets a slow buckle bomb and rakes the forearm across the face.
Jessie gets the cane and hits the gut and back, but tosses it to the crowd. Jessie tosses a garbage can in and puts it in the corner. Robbie is down and Jessie gets another cane, but Robbie legsweeps him. Robbie’s nose is busted up and he eats a big dropkick after a few punches. Jessie brings a few chairs in, but gets rammed into the trash can.
This is a by the numbers garbage match from nearly any video game of the past decade. Jessie lands a Last Ride through two chairs and it only gets two. Why not have that as a finish? It’s an over move, it looked vile, and it’s a mid-card match. Ah, now it makes sense – the Adonis Crab is locked on with Jessie sitting in the chair and trapping Robbie, who passes out from the pain. Why would you re-use the legendary Austin vs. Bret finish for Robbie E vs. Jessie Godderz of all things?
EC3 talks about having three five star matches tonight, thus creating a 15-star evening. Lashley bumps into EC3 and wants to be one of the opponents. EC3 declines, but does make Lashley vs. Tyrus. God, I hope that’s short. Angle is reading and the camera guy asks what he’s reading, and Kurt just says that things are going to get interesting. Okay then – maybe he was reading the new Dusty bio in the Observer.
Jarrett interview is up and Jeff says the deal between GFW and TNA is a work in progress. In August of 2014, he made GFW and has made alliances with companies across the world. He never thought TNA would be one of the alliances, thus framing GFW as bigger than TNA on TNA’s TV show. We get some GFW Youtube footage of the events of the past couple of weeks. Jeff says the KOTM title will now be the centerpiece of GFW and possibly other companies. Mid-ring, EC3 is here instantly – it’s title match time. EC3 says he has to go back to where he started – against Norv Ferman. Or Norv Fernum as he was known before and as the graphic states.
EC3 vs. Norv Fernum
Maybe TNA has re-signed Norv Fernum and/or Norv Ferman to contracts. Headlocker driver hits and Norv takes a great bump for it. EC3 doing his own intros and outros is quite great – he’s good at the job. Pope says that this is just a way for EC3 to stroke his ego while Josh strokes him. EC3 says that it’s Shark Week on Discover, so it’s time for Shark Boy!
EC3 vs. Shark Boy
Shark Boy was last seen being fat and thus getting a months-long series of storylines out of what was going to just be a one-shot – so kudos to him for that. He’s also lost his excess weight and is back in shape. EC3 tells him he’ll need a bigger boat and asks if he has a chance – Sharky responds with a shell yeah! Shark Boy pounds away with corner mount punches, but he eats a big lariat. Headlock Driver hits for the win. Josh wants a “shelfie” with Shark Boy. I normally don’t like Josh, but that was a great line.
EC3 asks Tyrus to cut him and Kurt comes down with his envelope. Kurt says he has a contract and can get his rematch whenever he wants. He wants the title back and wants the rematch tonight. Pope wants this while Josh clearly doesn’t. Lashley’s out now too – so maybe he’s the third man. According to Josh, it’s Kurt. I have no idea what’s happening here.
Lashley vs. Tyrus
So the series is over, and now it’s time for Lashley vs. Tyrus. Lashley manages to outwrestle Tyrus, but eats a facebuster. Lashley hops up for a sleeper, but eats a crossbody for 2. EC3 says that Norv is like his son and we’re seeing his guy dominate an MMA expert. Exploder by Tyrus to Lashley and we’ll be getting EC3 vs. Angle in the main event. Tyrus goes up for a Vader bomb, but he’s hit in the thigh and hit with an electric chair drop. This was pretty scary as he kept moving backwards a bit and Lashley couldn’t keep him very steady – he hits it and gets the spear for the win. Velvet Sky vs. Madison Rayne is up next.
But first, it’s part two of…part two of the Jarrett-Tenay interview. Jeff is asked what his legacy is in TNA ans he says the facts speak for themselves. In the ring, he was proud of his series with Kurt at that point in his career. He loved his early matches with AJ Styles and he’s proud to see him become what he is and he’s so proud of AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, and the other TNA Originals. He loved Don West and he takes great pride in that team. Velvet comes out first while Josh talks about her just wanting her spot back. Madison gets a jobber intro, but a mic. She says Velvet’s dressed like a fan, so Velvet beats her up.
Velvet Sky vs. Madison Rayne
Pope says that Velvet’s got not just any stunner – but the Number One Stunner. Velvet beats her up on the floor, but breaks the count at 7. Madison tackles her down for 2. Northern lights suplex gets 2 and Madison follows that up with a cravate and knee strikes. Madison does the wave and shakes her hips before the headscissor driver. Velvet gets up and hits a series of kicks while Pople rattles off the Konami code. Velvet gets the Number One Stunner for the win.
We see the TNA crew doing some charity work, and get Kurt Angle’s ring introduction right after. EC3’s intro is greeted with a pretty healthy amount of cheers. EC3 comes out and the belt looks great on him, but it’s hurt by him being scared and not arrogant – so he doesn’t look nearly as cool here as he usually does.
EC3 vs. Kurt Angle – TNA World Title
EC3 rolls to the floor out by “the man dinosaur” as Pope calls him. EC3 breaks the count a few times, but Kurt traps him in the corner and works on the leg. Kurt snap suplexes him over for 1. Rolling Germans hit for Kurt, but Tyrus goes up on the apron to take out Tyrus. Ankle lock is on EC3 mid-ring and EC3 pulls himself up via Brian Hebner and punches him out and taps out. Another ref came in and calls for the bell – and we’re told it’s via DQ. Josh says we’re not quite sure what happened and he recaps the events. Okay then. The main event will be Dixie Carter’s return and she comes into the building for the first time since being put through a table by Bully Ray nearly one year ago.
EC3 is mid-ring twirling the mic around and says he’s done it again. Tonight, his aunt returns and we get her theme again. Dixie gets no reaction coming out, but a quick “Dixie” chant. Ethan hopes his aunt is proud and she stumbles over her lines as he talks. She shuts him up and says that she hasn’t been in the ring since she broke her back due to the “reign of Carter”. She says she was the monster who lied and manipulated everyone while hurting the company and its fans. Now he’s making the same mistakes she made. Dixie says she can’t change the past and wishes she could, but she can make sure her mistakes aren’t repeated.
He’s earned the title, but he has to defend it without his last name. She’s embarrassed by the show tonight, but he’s right about one thing – the show needs someone in charge to make the tough decisions. She wants this to be the best wrestling company in the world and knows who can make it that – it’s not her, and it’s not EC3. Next week, we’ll get an X Title three way and Brooke vs. Taryn for the Knockouts title. Well, that was an abrupt ending to a largely bad show.
To see every screenshot for the show, just click here.
