Ring of Honor set its all-time record last night on Destination America, doing 227,000 viewers at 11 p.m. This blows away the previous time slot record for the promotion of 175,000 set on the 10/7 show.
TNA last night did 266,000 viewers for the 9 p.m. show, and another 98,000 viewers for the replay. The first showing was the third lowest for the show’s first-run, but the replay was up from usual levels, probably because the ROH show gave them a far stronger lead-in than usual.
The ratings for Destination America are even more important now because both groups deals are coming due, with ROH’s deal up in early December. With new people in charge of the network, the long-term status of wrestling on the station is currently under evaluation.
Dave Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez are back today with special guest Bobby Lashley to talk Bellator 145, his fight with James Thompson, pro-wrestling vs. MMA training, staying in shape at 39 and having the best run of his career and more! A fun show as always so check it out!
Ultimate Fighter last night did 585,000 viewers, putting it in third place behind the Mets-Cubs game and a preseason NBA game, when it came to sports programming last night in the time slot.
For Destination America, TNA Impact had another weak night, doing 264,000 viewers for the first show and 63,000 for the second show, for a combined 327,000 viewers, tying last week for the third lowest since moving to the channel.
ROH fell 24 percent going against the Mets game, doing 132,000 viewers.
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.
Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Mike Sempervive returns today to talk all the news in wrestling and MMA, and there’s tons of it from WWE, TNA, CMLL and more, plus phone calls, emails, text messages and assorted fun!
This is a FREE SHOW so please spread the word! We air FREE every day at noon Pacific/3 ET on Sports Byline USA, TuneIn Radio, iHeart and more, plus replay at 5 PT/8 ET! Sign up at wrestlingobserver.com for daily commercial-free replays, daily bonus subscriber-only shows, plus over 7,000 archived shows dating back to 2005!
Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Mike Sempervive returns for OPEN LINE FRIDAYS talking tons of topics, WWE, NXT Takeover, the Divas, TNA and their title tournament, and tons more! A fun show as always so check it out~!
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.
