– First match was gut check match between two “local” guys. Shawn Shultz went over on bigger guy didn’t catch his name. Not a great match and neither guy were local.
– Mr Anderson over Tyrus: a lot of prematch shenanigans. Anderson tried to get heat by teasing the Funkasaurus and dancing. Finish came with a blatant low blow and sarcastic ref counting 3 super fast.
– Gail Kim beat Awesome Kong via DQ. Solid stuff from these 2 as usual. Finish came when Kong grabbed ref by throat for chokeslam and Kong was DQ’d.
– Earl Hebner HOF induction was next. It was really weird for this to be happening here. Earl is from Richmond and they made is seem like Richmond was “right down the road”. Billy Corgan came out for the presentation. Billy and Earl mentioned Dusty Rhodes a lot.
– Bobby Roode over Eli Drake. Typical match. A lot of pre match mic work by Drake. Roode went over clean and afterwards shared a beer with Earl Hebner.
– Kurt Angle over Eric Young. Nothing crazy or over the top. Good matchup. Angle went over clean with Angle slam.
– The Wolves over Jesse Godderz and Andrew Everett. Probably longest match of the night. Only tag match on the card. Nothing too memorable. Wolves went over clean.
– TNA Champion Ethan Carter went over Matt Hardy and Drew Galloway. Tyrus was at ringside for match. After match, EC3 got on mic and said those 2 weren’t going to make it to Bound For Glory and ordered Tyrus to help. Out came Jeff Hardy with a chair to even the odds. They laid EC3 on table, Galloway did a swanton, but the table didn’t break. They then laid him on the table again and Matt splashed EC3 through table to send the fans home happy.
Submitted by Joshua Watkins
Meet & Greet with Matt & Jeff Hardy before the show
– Gut Check Dark Match: Shawn Shultz pins Eric Adams with a Tornado DDT (4:00)
– Match #1: Mr. Anderson pins Tyrus with a blatant low blow and fast count from referee Brian Hebner (7:20)
– Match #2: TNA Knockout’s Championship Gail Kim retains when Awesome Kong grabs referee Brian Stiffler for the DQ (4:00) Post-Match: Gail Kim lays out Awesome Kong with Eat Defeat
– Earl Hebner Hall Of Fame Ceremony feat. Billy Corgan, Brian Hebner, Jeremy Borash, & the entire locker room. (Jeremy Borash made sure to mention that the TV cameras were there & that this will be shown on the Bound For Glory PPV)
– Match #3: King Of The Mountain Championship TNA Hall Of Famer Earl Hebner counts 3 as Bobby Roode pins Eli Drake with the Roode Bomb to retain (15:00)
*Best match of the night* – Match #4: Kurt Angle pins Eric Young with the Angle Slam (7:00)
– Intermission – (I noticed people leaving at this point. Kurt Angle’s return was the main draw of this show.)
– Match #5: TNA World Tag Team Championship The American Wolves (Eddie Edwards & Davey Richards) retain against Jessie Godderz & Andrew Everett Superkick/Suplex Tag Team Finish, Richards pins Everett (12:30)
*Great match*
– Match #6: Main Event: TNA World Heavyweight Championship Three-Way Drew Galloway vs Matt Hardy vs Ethan Carter III (c) w/ Tyrus Tyrus pulls the ref out of the ring, EC3 hits Matt Hardy with the Title Belt for the pin to retain. (10:20) Post-Match: EC3 & Tyrus beat down Matt Hardy & Drew Galloway until Jeff Hardy makes the save with a steel chair.
The Hardy’s put EC3 on a table, Galloway attempted a swanton but the table didn’t break, then Matt Hardy splashes EC3 through the table.
The news for last night’s ratings weren’t good for pro wrestling.
Impact last night in the 9 p.m. time slot did 275,000 viewers, slightly up from 272,000 last week, but still the fourth lowest since the move to Wednesday. The midnight replay did 69,000 viewers. The show was the go-home show for Bound for Glory, headlined by Drew Galloway & Matt Hardy vs. Ethan Carter III & Tyrus.
ROH did 127,000 viewers for a show headlined by Shinsuke Nakamura vs.Adam Cole. It is the second lowest number for ROH since getting on Destination America.
Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Mike Sempervive returns today with special guest SOCAL VAL for a great interview talking her career, TNA, the indies, SHINE and more (23:00)! Plus, all the news in wrestling and MMA, calls, texts and more! A fun show as always so check it out~!
Last week, we got a darned fine edition of Impact. EC3 bullied Jeff Hardy around a bit and beat Spud to defend his title in another great match, Gail Kim beat Jade in a good match to retain her title, and Chris Melendez won his leg back from Eric Young in a lumberjack match. That was about the worst part of the show, with the main event five-man elimination match not only making Drew the number one contender for Bound For Glory, but also delivering a far better match than this year’s King of the Mountain match. This week, Matt Hardy and Drew team up to face EC3 and Tyrus, and Dixie’s going to name a special referee for Drew vs. EC3.
The show opens with a recap of Lashley suplexing guys in the main event, en route to Drew Sick Kicking him for the win. EC3 and Tyrus come out while Josh hypes up EC3 vs. Drew as the BFG main event. He calls it a “can’t miss” main event, but doesn’t cite why. EC3 says he isn’t in a good mood, but he is happy that he kicked Jeff Hardy out the door. He also isn’t happy that their biggest show is in four days and no one is talking about its main event. EC3 is insulted by Dixie cheering Drew on, and he calls her out.
Dixie comes out in a multi-colored blouse while Josh ends his cheerleading streak for EC3. Dixie says he’s been in a great champion in the ring, but outside of it, he’s an embarrassment to the company. She praises Drew for saving the company, which EC3 wasn’t interested in doing. EC3 says he was disowned by her, but he wasn’t given the chance to lead Team TNA. He calls Drew the chosen one, but he can’t beat him at BFG – or ever.
Drew comes down to his kick-ass Rising theme looking fairly pissed. He goes nose to nose with EC3 and has an aura about him just doing that. He tells EC3 to shut up and the reason no one likes him is that he’s a little bitch who thinks he’s the best in the world – he turned his back on TNA. EC3 slaps the belt to prove that he’s the best and Drew says that the second-best thing he does is talking. The best is in the ring because he’s an animal and he’ll tear EC3 apart. Well, at least they’ve established some kind of rivalry between them – even if it is right before the PPV.
EC3 says he beat every TNA Hall of Famer, and he’ll beat Drew too. At BFG, Drew won’t stand up – he’ll stay down. Drew says he isn’t a savior, but he will be the TNA World Heavyweight Champion. Josh says this is one of the most-anticipated matches in quite some time. How? In what way? Why would this statement be true? Pope and Josh talk about how important a win here is tonight in the main event to gain the momentum for the title match. Josh says the BPs face the Dollhouse, and tonight, they’re down a member. Shera also faces Storm in a No DQ match to blow their rivalry off tonight. Storm tells Shera that he is the reason the other Revolution members are doubting him, but he’s a TNA legend and he’ll cut down Shera for the buzzards.
After a break, Dixie is talking to someone backstage before EC3 interrupts her about Drew being the chosen one now and not him. Recap of the Revolution splitup over the past month and Shera breaking away from Storm. Christy Hemme appears after being largely off-screen for a while and announces Storm as he comes down the aisle. Shera comes down and brawls with Storm.
Mahabali Shera vs. James Storm – No DQ
After the mid-aisle brawl, they go in the ring where Storm low blows him. Josh points out that there isn’t much of a Revolution left – as both Manik and Abyss have left. So then that would seemingly make this a one-man faction. Shera grabs him for a fallaway slam and we see a graphic for Earl Hebner’s hall of fame induction at BFG. Storm gets a back cracker. Storm grabs a pack of chairs and brings them in and sets them up like a bridge. Shera goes up top awkwardly, but gets slammed off the top and he goes through the chair bridge for 2.
Storm brings a table in and the crowd chants “one more table”. Storm goes for the whirly bird through the table, but Shera powers out and they bonk heads. Storm gets the bottle, drinks from it, and spews the beer onto Early accidentally. This forces him to rest against the table lightly before a spear hits and Earl can’t count it. Shera is hit with a cowbell and eats a whirly bird through the table for a 2 count. Storm breaks the bottle over the ringpost to use it as a stabbing device here in a mid-card match that is opening the show.
As Storm goes to bludgeon him with the bottle, a maskless Manik and Abyss make the save by doing the finger point and then pointing at Storm. Abyss chokeslams him while Manik hits the frog splash and Sheera gets the Sky High for the win. Josh calls this an upset while Pope points out that everything was legal. A backstage guy talks about how important the KOTM Title is, and asks Roode why – Roode says he’ll explain in a minute. After a break, someone asks Dixie about EC3 and she says that EC3 has been questioning her about everything for weeks. She wants to reward someone with a a special treat – if EC3’s team loses, Matt Hardy is added to the BFG main event.
Bobby Roode Explains the Importance of the TNA Legends/Global/World TV/King of the Mountain Championship
Roode says he’s proudly the KOTM Champion, but he’s been asked just what this title means. It means pro wrestling, it represents the love of the sport. If that’s the case, why hasn’t it been defended recently? He swears to defend it with honor and respect soon, and he’ll kick this off at BFG. He’ll defend it in an open challenge to anyone in TNA and he will prove why he is the It Factory of pro wrestling. Lashley comes down while Josh wonders how he can see these two face off. Well, he can either watch BFG where these two will apparently have a match – or you can watch the first World Title reign of Lashley where they had some fantastic matches.
In an amusing bit, the fans chant “let’s go Bobby” which flusters Lashley. Lashley says he came to TNA to compete against the best in the world and that in wrestling, Roode is at the top of the food chain. He also wanted to collect as many titles as possible. Now, he wants one more match – he wants Bobby vs. Bobby in a fight to the finish for the KOTM Title. Lashley wants a handshake, as does Roode. Well great – maybe they can go have some milk and cookies later too. Taryn says that they’ve taken out Angelina and it’s time for the Dolls to take over and allow Taryn to stand over the BPs.
DJZ is out, and then he comes Tomasso Ciampa! So he gets to be on both Impact and NXT – wow. Trevor Lee is out for this as well. Josh is mystified by this, but says that as a former TNA Tag Team Champion, Lee and Myers have a match at BFG against the Wolves for the titles.
DJZ vs. Trevor Lee vs. Tomasso Ciampa – X Division Match
DJZ gets a rana, and Lee hits a slick flip dive to the floor against Ciampa. For the first time in a long time, it really feels like there’s some new blood in this division. Shame that doesn’t seem like it will last with Ciampa on WWE’s radar and Lee only being here due to the GFW deal. Ciampa gets a suplex/brainbuster hybrid onto Lee. DJZ gets a pop-up dropkick and a double tornado DDT onto both guys! Z hits corner forearms and then Lee gets a deadlift German onto Ciampa for a 2. DJZ’s tornado DDT is tossed off, so Z hits a kneeling superkick onto Ciampa. Powerbomb>lungblower hits for Ciampa, but it only gets 2. Lee gets a corkscrew crossbody powerslam for the win. This was short, but exciting – and that’s more than can be said about the X division for quite a while.
Madison buries the Dollhouse for having a stupid name and a tiny dollhouse. Angelina says that their name at least fits, and she’s got her arm in a sling – so they’re going with the arm injury instead of her pregnancy. Velvet takes great pride in destroying Taryn’s hand, and they’ll tear off the doll parts one by one. The revamped look for the BPs all basing their attire on Velvet isn’t flattering for any of them.
Brooke chats about being proud to be a knockout and beating Gail to win her first KOs title. We see her working out and she talks about how we haven’t seen the last of her. Josh hypes up Kong vs. Gail. EC3 says that the main event stipulation is a steaming pile of BS. EC3 tells Matt that he won’t make it to the BFG main event and Drew will lose tonight and at BFG. The Dollhouse comes down to face the BPs. BPs attack them in the aisle.
The Dollhouse vs. The Beautiful People
Velvet gets into a catfight with Marti. Velvet gets a jumping forearm in the corner and clotheslines her down for 2. Madison gets a yakuza kick for 2. Marti forearms her down to tag Jade in. Jade chops away, so Madison responds with chops and forearms. Madison hits something on the apron that is blocked by the referee and gets 2. Velvet gets a three kick combo and a neckbreaker for 2. Dolls hold Velvet and Jade dropkicks her down.
Rebel kicks Velvet in the corner and they chat about her wearing gloves because she doesn’t want to sully her hands on the BPs. Jade gets a necksnap for 2. Double-down off a double lariat. They tag out and Madison runs down Marti a few times. Enzuiguri gets 2 for Madison. Josh hypes up Lashley vs. Roode in another TNA Greatest Hits match at BFG. Madison gets a powerbomb for 2. Velvet gets thrown into the steps, but she avoids an arm-smashing chairshot. Rebel throws powder in the eyes of Madison and the heels get a schoolgirl win. Pope is just fine with this cheating. So who is the babyface announcer here? EY rants about wanting a man, woman, or child to face him – he isn’t afraid of anyone. We’ll hear from him next.
Josh hypes up a big announcement from Dixie on Monday at Noon ET before hyping up the #SheraShake takeover on social media. You have until noon tomorrow to enter to win, and you could get a free viewing of BFG via Flipps. Gail hypes up her matches with Kong as being their best. At BFG, they’ll determine who the best Knockouts champion in history is, and it will establish their legacy and go down in history. Gail says she’ll win, and well, she should – but a Kong win would be nice too even though she really can’t do much at this point.
Eric Young, who of course lost a war hero’s leg last week, is out to rant. He’s pissed about losing the leg and no one is good enough to beat him and he’s God. Robbie E is out and begs EY to shut up. So now we’ve got EY vs. Robbie E, or maybe just a brawl. EY low blows him and he declares himself to be God after beating up Robbie E. Sarge comes down and eats a back suplex. EY goes for a chair, but Chris gets it and threatens to use it – so EY bails.
Now Mr. Anderson is out because he’s Sarge’s friend and he says he’s been looking for God his whole life, so he’s glad to finally meet him. That’s the best thing Anderson’s done in eons. Anderson beats him up on the apron, while Robbie hits the Boom Drop, Sarge gets a stunner, and Anderson gets the Mic Drop. Recap of last week’s main event leads to Matt greeting Drew and saying that tonight, they’ll win and turn the main event into a three way match. Drew loves Matt’s plan and he wants Matt to get a chance and he enjoys wrestling throwing them curveballs. Drew says that it doesn’t matter if there are 50 or 100 people out there (in the ring, I presume), he will emerge victorious and win the title.
Recap of everyone hitting their finishers on EY because he turned on TNA. So that’s why they did that? Not because he stole a man’s leg? EY yells to Dixie about it not being fair and Dixie agrees – because at BFG, he’ll only have to worry about Kurt Angle. So to recap, the buildup to Kurt Angle’s big return match on PPV is his opponent being beaten up by a parade of mid-carders. I would call that a wee bit questionable. They could’ve at least shown a recap of EY taking Kurt out to make this seem like a slump for EY. EC3 and Tyrus come out for the main event. Matt comes out after a break, followed by Drew to really stretch this match out as much as humanly possible.
EC3 and Tyrus vs. Matt Hardy and Drew Galloway
Josh asks why Drew wouldn’t just throw this match to get the one he wants. Pope says that isn’t in Drew’s character – finally, a character on Impact makes a good point. Josh uses WWE math for a possible three way at BFG. Drew and EC3 have another staredown, so EC3 tags Tyrus in. Matt tags in after a brief brawl and they stomp away on Tyrus. Tyrus gets an advantage with some fish-hooking and then EC3 tags in for a 2. He brings Tyrus in for some corner double-teams. Tyrus spits at Drew on the apron and gets a nerve hold on Matt, which leads to some hilarious facial expressions from Matt.
Josh announces Bound For Gold with a ton of mid-carders, including Aiden ‘O Shea, who has never once been a character on Impact. He also offered up no further details – so I guess the winner gets a shot at the KOTM Title. Tyrus gets a chinlock and Josh mocks Pope for being against rope usage when it’s done to Matt, but it was okay with the Dolls. Josh is not the character to point this out given his wishy-washy nature.
Tyrus gets a Tenta-style rotating powerslam for 2. EC3 gets a neck wringer and knees him in the gut. Side Effect hits and Drew comes in. Now Josh is a big fan of Drew wanting to earn the win tonight and completely sees Pope’s point form before. Drew hits EC3 with a belly to belly, but Tyrus is legal and jumps him. Matt gets a flying clothesline off the top on Tyrus, who then eats a Twist of Fate. Drew gets the Sick Kick for the win – so Bound For Glory is now Matt Hardy vs. Drew Galloway vs. EC3. Why Matt couldn’t win this I have no idea, as it makes Matt look really weak.
EC3 is shocked, and then Dixie comes down and announces the BFG main event officially. She says it will be fair and there is someone who is now available to be a guest referee – Jeff Hardy. In an amusing bit, he fist bumps Dixie. So now EC3 has basically a one-on-three handicap match and the idea of making it fair is to have one of the participant’s brother as the referee. Well, this was easily the worst-built BFG ever – and that’s saying something with last year’s show really setting the bar low.
To see every screenshot for the show, just click here.
The main event for Sunday’s TNA Bound for Glory PPV is now Ethan Carter III defending the TNA title in a three-way against Drew Galloway and Matt Hardy, a change from the originally announced main event of Carter vs. Galloway.
On tonight’s TNA Impact Wrestling show on Destination America, there was a stipulation match where Galloway & Hardy were to face Carter & Tyrus. If Galloway & Hardy won, then Hardy would be added to the main event. Galloway & Hardy won, thus adding Hardy to the match.
TNA Bound for Glory takes place on Sunday in Concord, NC, with the following card:
Kurt Angle vs. Eric Young
Bound for Gold Gauntlet Match: Mr. Anderson, Abyss, Robbie E, Mahabali Shera, Tyrus, Eli Drake, Aiden O’Shea, Chris Melendez and Jessie Godderz
TNA X-Division Ultimate X Title Match: Champion Tigre Uno vs. Rockstar Spud vs. TJ Perkins (TJP) vs. DJZ
TNA Tag Team Champions The Wolves vs. Trevor Lee and Brian Myers
TNA Knockouts Champion Gail Kim vs. Awesome Kong
King of the Mountain Champion Bobby Roode vs. Lashley
TNA World Champion Ethan Carter III vs. Drew Galloway vs. Matt Hardy
On Tuesday, former TNA world champion Kurt Angle announced that he would be facing Eric Young on Sunday’s Bound for Glory PPV show in Concord, NC.
Bound for Glory is TNA’s second PPV show of the year with much of the direct hype for the show scheduled on tomorrow night’s Impact show.
The main event will be Ethan Carter III defending his TNA title against Drew Galloway.
Angle will be returning after an operation to remove a tumor in his neck. He has already said that he will not be renewing his TNA contract when it expires in January so, in theory, this will be his last PPV match with the company that he joined in 2006.
The full Bound for Glory card features:
– Tigre Uno vs. Rockstar Spud vs. DJ Z vs. TJP for the TNA X-Division Title in an Ultimate X Match
– The Wolves vs. Brian Meyers & Trevor Lee in a TNA vs. Global Force Wrestling match for the TNA World Tag Team Titles
– Gail Kim vs. Awesome Kong for the TNA Knockouts Title
– Abyss vs. Aiden O’Shea vs. Chris Melendez vs. Eli Drake vs. Jesse Godderz vs. Mahabali Shera vs. Mr. Anderson vs. Robbie E vs. Tyrus in a Gauntlet match with the winner getting a future shot at the TNA World Heavyweight Title
– Bobby Roode vs. Lashley for the TNA King of the Mountain Title in a King of the Mountain Match.
Barely one week after the “blow-off” of the TNA vs. Global Force Wrestling feud on television, TNA has announced a new match for the Bound for Glory PPV on October 4th in Concord, NC, as Eddie Edwards & Davey Richards will defend the TNA Tag Team Championship against Trevor Lee & Brian Myers, who are billed as GFW wrestlers.
The teams wrestled twice on television at the last set of tapings, with Lee & Myers scoring a fluke title win, but then dropping them back before the blow-off Lethal Lockdown match that aired on 9/16.
The two organizations seem to be maintaining an alliance, which behind-the-scenes is described as cordial but uneasy, because they both have reason right now to benefit from working with the other.
Bound for Glory also features:
– Gail Kim vs. Awesome Kong for the TNA Knockouts Title
– Tigre Uno defending the X-Division Title in an Ultimate X match
– Ethan Carter III vs. Drew Galloway for the TNA World Heavyweight Title
– Bobby Roode vs. Lashley vs. the TNA King of the Mountain Championship
There was good and bad news on the ratings for TNA and ROH on DestinationAmerica.
The audience tuned in later than usual, as the ROH show at 11 p.m. did 168,000 viewers, nearly double the previous week, and the best in that time slot since July 29.
TNA at 9 p.m. did 272,000 viewers, its second lowest to date.
The TNA midnight replay did 122,000 viewers, the best replay number to date.
That seems to mean that a lot of the people who tuned into ROH than usually don’t also stay with TNA.
It would appear “Empire” on FOX may tell the story, since nothing else on television in the 9-11 p.m. time slot did numbers out of the ordinary enough to change regular viewing patterns.
Last week, the GFW vs. TNA feud was blown off after about a month with a Lethal Lockdown match. Drew Galloway beat Bryan Myers to win Jarrett’s stock in the company, and now the build for TNA’s biggest event of the year (in under two weeks) can begin. Tonight, Rockstar Spud has been given a title shot against EC3 due to Jeff Hardy apparently going to Dixie and calling in a favor.
Josh’s recap of the “ten year journey” between GFW vs. TNA ended last week in Lethal Lockdown. Bram’s entrance was hyped up a bit, and the match itself came off like a perfectly functional War Games match even in highlight form. Josh’s “TNA is showing signs of life” line remains hilarious. In the ring, Dixie stands with Team TNA while the roster is on the floor. Drew gets a partial intro here as the team captain. Drew cuts an awesome promo about the whole team being warriors and Dixie makes a match with Team TNA going to war in a match to determine a number one contender for the TNA World Title at Bound For Glory.
Dixie says that the TNA crew has never been better, but she wants EY to come out because he’s now exiled from the title hunt. Pope ponders that EY isn’t playing with a full deck while he carries around Chris Melendez’s artificial leg. Dixie says that EY turned his back on the roster and the company, while EY says she should’ve done that when he retired Kurt Angle or took a war hero’s leg. Well, that’s valid. He says he has an “i-ron clad contract” with TNA Wrestling and he basically wound up a winner no matter what, and there’s nothing Dixie can do about it. Dixie says there are people fighting on the front line and brings out Melendez. Sarge comes down while EY threatens him being holding his leg like a baseball bat. As stupid as the leg stipulation was, it is even worse being thrown into the main event storyline too. Dixie makes Melendez vs. EY in a lumberjack match for the leg, and it’s next.
Eric Young vs. Chris Melendez in a Lumberjack Match for Melendez’s Leg
Chris is tossed out, but gets thrown in and gets 2 off a sunset flip. EY stomps his head while Pope talks about how the show’s main eventers could get a bonus for saving TNA, but they’d much rather get a shot at the TNA World Title at BFG. EY gets a chinlock while the roster slaps the mat in support of Sarge. Josh points out that Spud could be main eventing BFG as World Champion if he wins tonight and says that he’s the ultimate underdog. How exactly? He hasn’t won a match in a long time. Melendez gets a Samoan drop thanks to a lot of help from EY, and then gets a Bubba bomb too. EY hits him with the leg, but he doesn’t want the win right now. EY wants a superplex, but gets bumped and then eats a missile dropkick – so Melendez has won his leg back. The roster holds him high and EY helped him look great here by taking big bumps. Taryn and the Dolls talk about their hatred for Gail. She has a favorite Doll, and it’s Jade – so she gets to beat up Gail tonight. EC3 tells Jeff Hardy to do what he says or the paychecks go away.
Recap of Dixie announcing tonight’s main event. Pope and Josh talk about the GFW vs. TNA invasion and how big tonight’s show is because we’ll find out the main event of BFG, plus we have a Knockouts title match, an X Title match, and a World Title match. Well, in theory that should matter. In execution, it really doesn’t. Jade comes down and does her full intro, but has added little bunny hops on her knees on the apron. Gail gets her slightly more epic intro.
Gail Kim vs. Jade – Knockouts Title Match
Josh says that if Gail wins here, she will go on to face Awesome Kong. Why is Kong getting a title shot beyond it being a TNA Greatest Hits rematch? Jade jumps Gail and gets 2 off a German suplex. Jade gets a Yakuza kick in the corner for 2. Jade hits a series of machine gun Kobashi chops in the corner while Pope talks about her being big on the indy scene, but doesn’t elaborate on that. Gail comes back and gets the corner crossbody and the ringpost figure four. Gail goes for Eat Defeat, but Jade counters it into a Liger bomb for 2. Josh takes a shot at the divas “revolution” leading to the Dolls attacking, and then the BPs of Velvet and Madison attack the Dolls. The Dolls look doesn’t work for Rebel, and Madison dressing like Velvet, only with fishnets and booty shorts doesn’t suit her at all. The factions brawl before Kong comes down to seemingly attack Gail, but she just stares her down like “I’ve got this”. Spud is interviewed and he says that he and EC3 have come full circle. He understands if Jeff hits him, but he wants to be TNA World Champion.Tigre Uno comes out to face Kenny King, who gets no intro.
Tigre Uno vs. Kenny King – X Division Title Match
Uno gets a Mistico pop-up dropkick and then a springboard dive to the floor onto King. They get in several “fast and furious” mentions in the span of one minute. King gets 2 off a spinkick. King puts him up for a superplex, but Uno fights off and dives off with a crossbody. Uno gets a spinning headscissors for 2. Kenny gets an Irish Curse backbreaker and an exploder for 2. Kenny lands a slick-looking spinebuster for 2. Kenny flips around a bit, but misses the shotgun knees and eats a tiltawhirl DDT and frog splash. Tigre Uno wins, and they put over that he was trained by Rey Mysterio.
Recap of Jeff Hardy being humiliated for all of one week by EC3. It’s used to hype up Spud vs. EC3 with a recap of their whole history and EC3 beating hall of famers and Rockstar Spud himself. EC3 comes out, so even in TNA, the World Title is the mid-card main event.
EC3 vs. Rockstar Spud – TNA World Heavyweight Title
These two had a classic in London. Spud wants a handshake, but EC3 slaps him and chops his chest. Spud gets some corner chops in both knife-edge and overhand varieties. Spud goes for the old Bobby Jaggers headlock punches, but EC3 hits a lariat and some mounted punches. EC3 misses a Stinger splash and eats a series of corner forearms before being low-bridged and being hit with a dive by Spud. Tyrus grabs a fan’s sign and just puts it down gently. Spud has a great look of determination on his face on the top rope and lands a big flying AJ-style forearm. EC3 counters Spud and gets a Rampage powerbomb for 2. EC3 calls for the One Percenter, but Spud hangs on and eats elbows to the neck. Spud bites EC3’s hand and lands an enzuiguri, setting him up for another one, but he counters the Underdog attempt with a TKO using the knee and the One Percenter for the win. This was a bite-sized version of their classic, but still very good.
EC3 asks Tyrus for a favor – please heart punch Spud real fast. EC3 wants Tyrus to hold Spud so Jeff can end his career with a Twist of Fate. Really? That move barely gets a two count in TNA. EC3 hypes up Jeff by having him strip the jacket off, but he refused to end Spud’s career. They threaten to end his career, but Matt comes in and Tyrus attacks him. EC3 tells Jeff to hit Matt, who responds by kicking Tyrus in the balls while Jeff hits EC3. Well, this was all a lot of fun. Backstage, EC3 yells at Jeff about how his Creatures better follow him to the soup kitchen because he’s going to fire him later.
James Storm and the Revolution are mid-ring and he tells Shera that his name is Koya and he’ll be taken out by the Revolution. Abyss, for some reason, is now against Storm. He isn’t a pathetic sheep and says that the monster stands in no man’s shadow. Abyss says that he is a TNA Original Original and was here 13 years ago and scarred his body while giving up his blood, sweat, and tears for the company. He says Storm didn’t make the Monster, he did.
Manik stands up to Storm saying that Koya’s name is Shera. Storm shoves him down a couple of times while Storm takes credit for Manik’s character. They go into a full-blown Roots bit over the name with the “say his name” bit and Manik continues to say “Shera”. Manik says Storm didn’t make him or the mask, and he takes it out while a “TJP” chant breaks out. Shera’s theme hits and the fans actually start doing “the Shera dance”. Shera confronts Storm, who says they’ll fight on his time and breaks out the “sorry about your damn luck” line again. The Wolves and Drew talk about what an honor it was to team together, buttonight, they go to war to fight EC3. Josh announces that Tigre Uno will defend the X Title in an Ultimate X match. Matt tells Jeff what he did is okay because he has a family to feed. Everyone comes down for the main event.
Bram vs. Davey Richards vs. Eddie Edwards vs. Lashley vs. Drew Galloway – 5 Way Elimination Number One Contender’s Match
Wolves go to double team Bram, but he lariats them down. Drew and Bram go at it leading to Bram hitting a slick spin kick. Lashley and Bram go at it a bit, and Bram gets 2 off a Michinoku driver. Wolves go to double suplex Bram, but he suplexes both men. They’ve been sorta-pushing Bram for a while and this is easily the best he’s looked yet. Wolves dive into Drew and Lashley and then go after Bram. Wolves get some double teams and finally take him out with double stomps. It’s down to four babyfaces for the win.
After a break, Lashley gets a delayed suplex to Davey, and Eddie’s attacks can’t end it. Drew attacks and it’s still on. Eddie finally saves and the Wolves low bridge Lashley. Drew eats a shining wizard by Eddie. Inverted atomic drop and a superkick hit Lashley. Eddie gets the half crab while Davey gets a cloverleaf. The other faces escape and the Wolves go at it in friendly warfare. Lashley and Drew hit their finishers on the Wolves, who get pinned – so it’s down to Drew vs. Lashley for the shot.
Drew lands a lariat and a flyover corner forearm. Drew takes him out with a flying clothesline off the top. Lashley hits some corner punches and chokes away in the corner with his boot. Snap suplex with a floatover gets 2. Drew pops up in the corner, but eats a powerslam for 2. Lashley charges in, but eats a boot, but responds with a German suplex smoothly transitioned into an overhead belly to belly. Schoolboy counter for a spear gets 2, while the sick kick hits and Drew wins to get the title shot. Really good match here – and when combined with the Spud-EC3 match, that gives it two matches worth going out of your way to see. EC3 tells everyone to call, Tweet, Facebook and screencap this because he’s going to fire Jeff Hardy.
Josh recaps the Drew vs . Lashley match and Drew says that the four men in the ring were the four best in the world. He says the fans believe in him because he’s real and he’s going to live up to his potential at Bound For Glory. EC3 gets whatted and responds to it by saying every word on its own. Well, that’s an amusing way to handle that. Jeff shows off the giant EC3 face being defaced with his artwork. Jeff asks why he should care about being fired and EC3 tells him that without EC3 employing him, he won’t be able to create art for his creatures and provide for his family.
EC3 commands Jeff to kiss the TNA World Title like it’s the king’s ring. EC3 demands that Jeff recite a promo including the line “yet in God mode”. Jeff tells EC3 to take the job and shove it, leading to EC3 firing him and ending the show. Next week’s show has Drew and Matt teaming up against EC3 and Tyrus while Dixie names a special referee for Drew vs. EC3 at BFG. After a fairly long slump, Impact felt like it was back on track with a pair of very good matches and a pretty good one in Jade vs. Gail too.
I was at the TNA house show tonight at the York Fairgrounds in York, PA.
Results:
Tyrus b. DJZ by pinfall in a nothing match. Nobody knew Tyrus by his TNA name. Everyone was yelling Brodus and Funkasaurus.
The Wolves b. Abyss/Manik by pinfall in a decent match. Wolves were kind of over.
Gail Kim b. Awesome Kong by pinfall. Kong doesn’t look like she’s moving around too well. After the match, she went into the empty ringside seats and started throwing chairs like she was in Japan. Except there probably would have been people in the seats in Japan.
Tommy Dreamer b. Eli Drake by pinfall. Dreamer came out to his old ECW music and he got the biggest pop of the night for anyone not named Hardy. Nobody knew who Drake was. They brawled in the crowd and Dreamer had little kids slap Drake and dump popcorn on him.
Bobby Roode b. Mr. Anderson and Drew Galloway in a 3-way. I believe Roode pinned Anderson. This was the best match of the night. Roode and Galloway came across as big stars and deserve much more than this. Anderson held his own in the match too. This was the 4th match of the night that featured nut shots by the way. Gotta go for the easy heat.
EC3 w/Tyrus & Jeff Hardy b. Matt Hardy by pinfall. EC3 and Jeff Hardy played up the personal assistant thing with EC3 telling Jeff not to do something and he did it anyway. Jeff started “EC3 sucks” chants, etc. EC3 pinned Matt via inside cradle after a Tyrus distraction and Jeff hitting Tyrus on the back with a chair. Then the Hardys put EC3 through a table via a Matt splash off the top rope to send the crowd home happy. The only thing physical Jeff did was the chairshot and a few punches.
