The Jobber Blogger #114 – TNA: IMPACT WRESTLING – 3/7/14

Well here we are, my first Day Off in over a week (new job included) and I’m spending it Writing up this week’s TNA: Impact! Yes that’s dedication folks! But you know what, I do this to myself and set it as my deadlines, I actually plan my week around being able to watch and Write up Impact, and I love that.

It gives me structure and I honestly feel it’s warranted and relevant, and I look at The Jobber Blogger as a type of “work”, so it needs to be done, and I’m happy to do it.

You will also be pleased to know Impact didn’t suck this week, in fact it was a good show! Some of it sucks, but that’s only in terms of how they’ve decided to film it.

But let’s not focus on that too much, I shall save that for when I get into it, and no, I won’t talk about my random Guardians of The Galaxy binge spending! Else we’ll be here for a while!

TNA: IMPACT WRESTLING – 3/7/14

Yup, it was the day before Independence Day when this aired, and funny enough weeks and weeks before it when it was filmed. I’m sure the New York tapings were done on the 26th or 27th (or both) of June, which means this was filmed what, a week or so prior to that.

The Television Tapings suck ass. Sure back in the 1990’s it’s fine, who can spoil anything. But it’s 2014, everything that happens is splattered all over the internet, and I’m doing my best to avoid anything from the New York shows, because I’m sure they’re something special.

Which brings me to my most enjoyable and biggest gripe from this week’s show. The fans in attendance, have NO IDEA what’s going on. They would have seen Slammiversary and possibly the show after that. I guess they might have known Bobby Lashley is the World Champ, but they wouldn’t know that Kurt Angle is new Director of Wrestling Operations, or that Bobby Roode is indeed a good guy again. Unless TNA started their show by spoiling it. Which might be true, they did start the tapings in the UK I attended last year by filling people in on what happened.

I like the idea of people just turning up and the show they watch is like far in advance of the show they last saw. It’s a weird mix of when it airs, and how early it was filmed and how much more they’ve filmed already. It’s confusing and annoying, it ruins the “spark” for it not being live.

Anyway, Kurt Angle kicked off the show introducing himself as the new director of wrestling operations, and making his first order of business to reinstate Earl Hebner, much to the joy of some over excitable dude in attendance.

Stupid “firings” don’t mean anything, everyone knew he would be back, and never even went. The only decent thing was Feast or Fired, and thankfully Chavo got fired and we’ve not seen him since, Huzah!

Angle then got out a piece of paper calling it his “Cheat Sheet” because he’s made so many good matches he couldn’t remember them. Or in other words “we weren’t prepared enough”.

When someone apparently running the show needs a piece of paper to remember anything and read from it, that’s a bad sign going forward right?

Angle then made a series of matches, but Samoa Joe took offense to him being left off the list and decided to call out Kurt on being “just like everyone else”.

Sure Joe then spun it on the whole “you love the World Title, how long will it be before you give yourself a shot”, rather than the “we all know you don’t want to be in TNA, and hope to leave in a few months, so why would we trust you to do a good job!”

Which the latter would have been far better, if people actually call Kurt out on his pro WWE motives.

Either way Angle and Joe got a bit heated with Angle saying “that’s the Samoa Joe I want to see” and Joe saying “careful what you wish for”. Which pretty much means naff all. Joe’s been stale for many years now and keeps hinting at his “true self” and then never does anything. I’m a little board of Joe now, if I’m honest.

Knux and The Freak vs. Jesse and DJ Z vs. The Wolves – World Tag-Team Championships

We saw the very end of Jesse and DJ Z’s entrance and then the entirety of The Wolves’. TNA put so much time into making The Menagerie something “different” and their entrance best exemplifies that, so to continuously skip it, surely devalues them?

I was wondering where Robbie E is, but apparently it’s because of his Clown Phobia. So no idea what’s going on there, or if in fact he will be back to do something related to it soon.

Rob Terry wore a different mask in the ring to the one he wears for everything else, and I don’t hate it. I do however hate his stupid ridiculous neck tattoo. But for the character he’s playing it’s fine, but to think he looks that dumb in his personal life, well…. it’s kind of stupid really.

Taz did have a bit of a slip up when talking about the Freak stating “even if he is a man!” which I’m sure he meant in a Man vs. Monster type of way, but obviously came across far more gender orientated. Funny stuff…

Davey Richards got the hot tag and closed out the match quickly taking a Win for the Wolves.

Bobby Roode vs. Kenny King – Street Fight

This marks Roodes’ first match back, earlier on in the show he went after MVP but got attacked by King, hence forth making this match. Angle found Roode and Roode told him what happened, so Angle tried to solve the problem, but it didn’t dawn on me till MVP and Kenny King started joking about the “principles office” and telling on people, at just how stupid and immature this all made Roode look.

I kind of hope it’s a running gag now, that if anyone attacks Roode it’s all “are you going to run and tell on me now?” I’d laugh.

Roode barely got any reaction despite the fact TNA are working hard to pushing him currently. I love Roode, and I think he’s back at the fan base level, but obviously those in attendance have no idea where Roode stands. Wrestling really is dumb at just how quickly people move around and jump between Heels and Faces.

Roode and King brawled around the arena for a good while, then brought a Chair into play. A good physical match, and if anything I enjoyed King’s mouthing off trash talking the most. In the end Roode hit his “Roode Bomb” still hate that name, on the Steel Chair and took the win.

Brittany called out Madison Rayne so she could apologise for not taking Madison’s advice seriously, and how she made an error blah blah blah. I can’t say I exptected Brittany to attack Madison, but I certainly didn’t rule it out. I thought it would be more that she would say whatever to bring Madison closer to her. To then eventually turn on her. But hey, just outright beating her up worked too.

I can’t help but notice that Brittany had a good bit of Blonde in her hair, Beautiful People…. mmhmm.

Ethan Carter the Third vs. Bully Ray – Tables Match

One of the main things to take away from this match is just how good both sides have been in their current positions on the roster. Bully is a ridiculous good guy, because he really shouldn’t be. I do think he’s great at getting the fans going, but better if he didn’t pander to the other baby faces quite as much. But either way Bully got the crowd going every step of the way, and just as a counter measure, EC3 did very little to draw the heat on him. So together, they work very well.

I think about this a lot, but Bully didn’t look at himself as a “TNA Guy”, he views himself as an ECW Guy. Which is fine, the “guys” are those who are usually responsible for building their respective brand.

But when you think about it, Bully was in ECW for I believe 4 years, the WWE for 6 years and TNA for 9 years. So next year, Bully would have been in TNA for longer than both ECW and WWE combined, which in my opinion, makes him a TNA guy. Not to mention the fact that he’s had the best years of his Career and his most success whilst being a part of the TNA Roster.

Either way, Bully had EC3 up for a Power-bomb through the Table when Rockstar Spud delivered a Low-Blow. This led to the return of Rhino, no idea if Rhino is “back” or just doing a couple of dates like before. I’m sure we knew he was coming back for the New York tapings.

Rhino ran for Spud, then stopped and Gored Bully instead, aligning himself with EC3. So interesting to say the least.

I do like a good return and Rhino’s was rather unexpected, even better when they return with a pop and turn. EC3 then put Bully through a Table for the win.

Despite how much Bully is walking around talking big, he’s been getting his ass kicked for ages now. I don’t remember the last time he won.

Gunner and Samuel Shaw turned up on Impact, last week was the final segment I presume of Shaw in his padded cell. Gunner being able to get him out as long as he is in constant care of him. This is a weird idea, the whole Shaw thing has been weird since the get go, but I don’t hate it, I’m intrigued. I like the fact that they bumped into Anderson first who obviously wasn’t best pleased to see Shaw. And then of course they went to visit Christy for the same reaction. I’m starting to think Shaw is putting it on, and Gunner will have to feud with him. Oooo, maybe Gunner ends up getting committed and comes back rather weird, now that would be interesting!

Gail Kim vs. Angelina Love – Knockouts Championship

I don’t know how to word the introduction to this match. This is the kind of match that makes me “feel” something. And I shall explain that by saying it was fairly obvious who was going to win, but me personally, didn’t want that to happen, so I hung on to that hope.

Velvet kept getting involved, and Gail did an awesome job of selling her being pushed into the Turnbuckle post from the outside. But alas, poor Velvet got removed and Gail was on fire.

This pretty much just goes for the whole “Good guys dominate” now that Kurt Angle is in charge.

That hope I held on to was present when Angelina connected with the Botox Injection as Gail was climbing the Ropes, sending Gail to the floor. I was fairly sure it was count out victory time till she insisted on pinning her.

So yeah, Gail won.

I do very much so like Gail, don’t get me wrong, most cases I’m fine with her winning and being the Champ. I just love Angelina so much.

Regardless of all of that though, this match was fantastic! I’m even tempted to mark it down for Match of the Year nomination territory! Probably won’t be when I look back on them…. but I also will do it anyway! Coz that’s how I roll. Also role.

Eric Young vs. Bobby Lashley – World Heavyweight Championship

Roode gave EY a motivational speech, which EY pretty much delivered to himself now I come to think of it. Either way, Roode and MVP came to ringside but both were sent to the back.

The match pretty much focussed on EY’s endless struggle to mount any offence on Lashley, and also injuring his leg in the process.

EY put up a fight, but Lashley dropped him with the Dominator and then Speared him for the Victory and retained his World Championship.

I do like Lashley currently, I think the whole “non talking” with MVP as his manager type of deal is maybe too much Lesnar territory. But Lashley is impressive, I like the fact he didn’t need to do anything to win, other than be himself.

I don’t look at him as James Storm level’s of danger, violence and bad guy territory, but currently, I’m happy for Lashley to beat down the opposition.

Though they did beg the question “who can match Lashley”. Which really, there isn’t anyone.

 

Till then,

Dan Wilkinson

http://www.facebook.com/TotalNonstopRewind

http://www.TheJobberBlogger.wordpress.com

http://www.TheSteelChair.com

The Jobber Blogger #113 – TNA: IMPACT WRESTLING – 26/6/14

What a weird week!

So yes, this is going up late again, I know. However, what you might not know is that this is probably the first time where I’ve ever watched Impact so late. Least since Challenge TV first started airing Impact on Tuesday nights. It’s been all go, and lots to do and to think of what is different in just one week…. is crazy.

Well, I have a new job, and whilst on the topic I would like to give a big thank you out there to the people that actually made it possible. This includes Dan and Jon from CageAmateursUK (now StrikeTapandGrapple) they were the first people to pick up my blog. Of course David from TheWrestlingPress, but in a lot of ways it’s The Steel Chair’s own Adam Carr that helped me.

To I think I started this blog purely to just write about Wrestling, give myself something to Write about each week and see what happened. But in turn, it led me to understand a lot about WordPress, SEO, and all kinds of website knowledge that actually helped me get my new job. So a big thank you to those and of course to The Jobber Blogger!

So yes, this might in fact move my plans a little later than… planned, but it’s all about settling in and finding the routines. This weekend has been packed, new induction thrown in, work all weekend then straight into a new job. It’s been go, go, go. But now I can actually plan my time a little better, so hopefully, The Jobber Blogger will keep to his newly out of time watch plan schedule of clock ticking chimes time.

So TNA Impact happened this week. I feel it’s almost bad on purpose to let everyone get excited for the New York shows. If that’s so, then they succeeded. Here’s why!

TNA: IMPACT WRESTLING – 26/6/14

Angelina Love and Velvet Sky vs. Gail Kim and Taryn Terrell

Yes, Impact kicked off with a match, and I love the Knockouts! Well, okay technically there was a bit about MVP, Lashley and King arriving, but it’s not even worth mentioning…. aside from that there mention… which is there, before this part…. etc.

I love how Velvet Sky manages to make Angelina look so much better every week. Is that weird? Angelina having White leg warmers made her look better than the black ones Velvet wore. That’s Wrestling journalism 1-o-1.

So here’s the main thing I took away from this match.

And no, part of me is tempted to run my “Hot Mess” banners again from last year, with my never ending struggle to understand just what the hell that nickname meant. No, what I mean this time, is that Taryn is being billed as “someone”. And really, she left just before she got going. She was the referee, but I barely remember what she looked like, aside from what she wore and her hair colour. I remember Gail then treated her bad and Brooke Hogan added her to the roster. Then Taryn and Gail had what, two matches, then she left.

So for her to “come back” as this… Star, seems a little weird to me. Though Taryn was very good. Which then brings about my gripe, she seems much….. less good, now.

Of course part of me is just looking for how she managed to have a child and still look that slim, same with Madison. And then I am obviously more consciously looking for errors and “rust”. Clearly she will have been Wrestling and Training long before her recent return, but she does look a little “out of shape”. Not in a disrespectful way, but she seemed to struggle keeping up her stamina whilst running, and her top-rope cross-body block, whilst good, nearly missed.

Or here is the other side of that story, she’s teaming with Gail Kim. Now Gail Kim is perfect at Wrestling. Like literally perfect. Wrestling never looks more fake then when you watch the Women wrestle, least.. most of them. They seem to stumble a bit more, they’re a tad slower, maybe even more cautious. This isn’t a complaint, just an observation.

However Gail Kim is the opposite of that, she Wrestles, and does it extremely well, she’s very fluid, very fast, always on point. Which means when she’s working “with” someone, she can usually cover most of the other parts easily. However when there is her, and someone not as good, it shows.

All in all, I am glad Taryn is back, and I’m sure she’ll be up to speed in no time! In the end though Gail picked up the win on Angelina with Eat Defeat. Also just because you all asked so nicely, apparently…

MVP and Kenny King made their way to the ring accompanied by random Girls, as that is clearly the sign of success and celebrations. You know, sex with strangers, and hence forth… disease.

This was big old Bobby Lashley “THE DESTROYER!”‘s celebration of being the new World Champion. Something else I found interesting, Lashley is just being called… Lashley. Seems they are giving him the Brook treatment.

MVP prattled on about conquering the world because he has the World Championship in his stable. This still makes no sense.

EY came out fighting and got beaten down, leading to Bobby Roode once again jumping the guard rail to save him. And EY wasn’t annoyed that Roode didn’t do it earlier “last week” and help him, oh I don’t know… win?

Roode then had to the usual “Since day one!” speech that means your credible. Also he had to praise Eric Young’s work and fighting spirit, which is also another check box to be a good guy. And then last but not least, my new favourite hated phrasing “Time to get TNA back!” with the added bonus of “For each and every one of the fans!”

Oh how I hate that. Thankfully TNA swerved this same old crap nicely, so I’m pleased.

This blessing came in the form of a badly executed package of crap named Earl Sullivan Armstrong, who appeared like a cross between Clint Eastwood and Sam Neill, Sam Eastwood you could say… or Clint Neill.

Also sounds like a nail-product when spoken quickly with a bad accent.

This though is better than the Kevin Nash lookalike who turned up last time. Or that other chap who looked like someone else I don’t remember. Anywho, so this “Board of Directors” dude came out and fired MVP from the role of Director of Wrestling Operations, which is much better then just dragging this out to be a match for Bound for Glory. It seems maybe TNA wants to please fans, and going back to the six-sided ring, planning a really big show in the New York tapings and clearly finding Slammiversary was such a success when it had little to do with all of this crap.

Then Roode punched MVP.

DJ Z vs. Manik vs. Crazy Steve vs. Sanada – X-Division Championship

The second best match on the card.

Again, they probably didn’t need the silly intro backstage to set up this match. The X-Division usually works best when they just… Wrestle.

There isn’t really much to say to be honest, other than Crazy Steve was awesome, Manik is impressive (unless he takes his mask off or talks) and Sanada won… obviously.

TNA really annoy me when they make things so obviously… obvious, then push it down your throat just in case you didn’t notice. How many times do I need to be told about The Great Muta and his connection to Sanada now, guess what, after 4 Months of heading it every time he’s on the Show… I don’t need to hear it anymore.

So when Sanada wins, Mike Tenay adds “The Great Muta must be pleased”.

Really? Must he be pleased. So basically he’s not going to be pleased, he’s’ going to be pissed. They are going to fight, something is going down. It’s obvious, you telling me directly it’s not, makes it more obvious. Don’t say anything… then it’s better. I can see it now, “The Mentor, The Apprentice, They Were Once Like Brothers!” SHUT UP! It’s Crap! CRAP CRAP CRAP!

CRAP DAMN IT!

In what was yet another annoying segment, Dixie Carter and Spud made their way to the ring to celebrate Dixie gaining back control over Wrestling Operations. The very fact it was laid on so thick about Dixie believing to get it back, well you know what I’m going to say anyway.

And in fact, this guy in the crowd also wanted to say what he pleased, and TNA seemingly were happy to air it…

He could have meant, “no-one cares you suck” in which case people are happy to see Dixie. But I’m sure he meant, just that no-one cares what she was saying, and that she sucks. It was a weird mix of “informative fan” meets “idiot fan”. No-One Cares Dixie…. also you suck, the whole you suck part therefore means he like most are in fact… stupid.

Guess what, I don’t care what he says, in fact I’m sure No-One Cares about this guy’s opinion.

As always Dixie managed to draw a huge negative reaction, and I must admit, I chuckled when TNA showed a shot of an old woman in the crowd covering her ears. It looked like she was hating the loud response from the fans and how horrible Dixie indeed is. But then, I’m fairly sure she didn’t even want to be there and got dragged by some relative and hated the experience. Still…. chuckled.

Ronson Johnson Blackhead – the board of Directors guy then came back out to tell Dixie she wasn’t the new Director of Wrestling Operations. They’re going to need some snazzier, punchier titles, this is getting hard to type!

Of course, Spud stole the show with a Spit-Take which would only have been better if he had indeed took yet another sip of Wine, and then spat that part out too.

Blah blah blah, Dixie whined, Bully Ray came out (to an awesome reaction I might add) and Bully got his hands on Dixie, with her being pretty close to going through a table. Woop.

James Storm vs. Mr. Anderson

This was a little bit weird, fairly sure their feud wasn’t that engaging the first time. So now they’re dragging it out a little longer… because why not. I do think that Gunner and Sam Shaw could fit into this somehow, so there you have it. Perhaps they could be the bond between Storm and Anderson.

Regardless of anything, anyway, Storm is awesome. The best Heel on the roster by far, the very fact he’s not in the main event scene right now pains me. If only I could write TNA! I REALLY WANT TO!

Anderson hit his rolling slam thing…. mini green bay plunge, only he “injured” himself. Which I’m sure was a work, but it looked pretty damn authentic, so kudos!

Anderson tried to drop Storm with a mic-check but Storm held the ropes sending Anderson down by himself, he got back up groggy to yet another awesome Last Call Superkick.

What was more out of character perhaps, and also interesting, was James Storm seeking out Sanada backstage, giving up a bit of abuse and then adding on the pressure of Sanda’s X-Division Reign, and if he will cash it in for a shot at the World Championship, and not to “chock” trying to win the big one. So perhaps something could be interesting coming out of this.

EC3 and Tommy Dreamer had a fight!

Magnus and Bram vs. Abyss and Willow – Monsters Ball

I have to admit, I like the team of Willow and Abyss, I liked their promo, I like them together. Fits. Magnus still looks like a gay man.

And with a name like “Magnus”… that’s not good at all.

Yet again, Bram impressed me. I love how he moves around, I love his crazy stare, and really intense attitude. He’d fit well with Gunner and Storm. Not so much Magnus.

The Monsters Ball never disappoints, and this was the second in recent memory, and again, didn’t disappoint. Obviously the highlights were Willow climbing to the top rope only to have Magnus throw a chair at him and he fall off the top through the Barbed Wire Board, scary flash backs to Daffney, that Guard Rail looked too close for comfort.

Abyss then choke-slammed Magnus onto some Thumbtacks, which is weird, you don’t normally see Magnus in that kind of environment. In the end though it was Bram who did this awesome creepy stalking thing on Abyss then hit him in the stomach with Janice for the win.

So this took me a little by surprise, this year’s Bound For Glory is going to be in Tokyo Japan. This has me really, really excited. I honestly can’t wait to see it, I know this might sound like sarcasm, but I’m being serious,… seriously.

I’ve obviously seen Wrestling in Japan before (on TV of course) but not a full show like this, an American PPV, in Japan. That excites me, I’m sure we’ll see Sanada and The Great Muta and probably a lot of other Japanese stars too, so yeah, very unexpected, and totally pumped!

And of course the show then ended with the reveal of the “new Director of Wrestling Operations”. Which was also blatantly obvious. Though I’m slightly more interested then I was actually seeing Kurt in action, than when I just assumed it would be Kurt.

Also the no-one cares fan now suddenly cares.

MVP, Lashley and King made their way to the ring to confront Kurt, who didn’t back down, and even went a little… weird.

And then made a World Title Re-Match next week with Lashley vs. EY and then reinstated Bobby Roode.

Roode and EY then started fighting Lashley and King, and that was it.

This was Bobby Lashley’s first week as the TNA World Champ, and to be fair, I almost forgot he was the new Champion. It was very understated.

Either way, TNA have done a nice job of correcting the main dragging issues with their show and finally putting an interesting angle on it. Literally. Kurt Angle.

 

Till then!

Dan Wilkinson

http://www.facebook.com/TotalNonstopRewind

http://www.TheSteelChair.com

http://www.TheJobberBlogger.wordpress.com

The Jobber Blogger #112 – TNA: IMPACT WRESTLING – 19/6/14

What do you mean it’s up late! What’s up late! SUNDAY! SUNDAY!!! Well okay, so it’s a little late. But guess what, some of us have a life you know, and although most of mine revolves around wrestling and comic books and video games and oh my! But yes, sadly this week’s edition is a little late to leave the press-room. I have a good explanation though… I went away for the weekend, it was great, thanks for asking. I crammed in Impact on Friday but didn’t get home till Monday, then busy day Monday, yes including work, and same on Tuesday, and so here we are! Wednesday, and it’s The Jobber Blogger time!

 

Speaking of The Jobber Blogger time, I am officially hitting 2014 in the face with my face, I’ve started my very own blog page… hopefully that works wonders. Yes –

TheJobberBlogger.wordpress.com

It’s time to kick it up a notch!

TNA: IMPACT WRESTLING – 19/6/14

I love the 19th.

But, did I love this week’s edition of Impact? It’s all starting to come back to me now, and yes, it was pretty good. BUT! And a big but, I might add, it did feel a little “short” in comparison to the greatness that was Slammiversary.

Let me fill you in on the reasons, Slammiversary was TNA – full force, Wrestling, Wrestling, Wrestling, and guess what, a show packed with Wrestling with the best locker-room in the industry, that makes one hell of a great show. So to come off of that and have Impact, albeit a good show, but it was less Wrestling and back to the ever flowing Storylines.

Part of me is getting a bit bored of MVP’s current ordeal, but hey, Impact shakes things up, so let’s go with that.

MVP, Lashley and King kicked off Impact, something I really didn’t need, but I get it. I just hate the format of “talking” and long, long, long repetitive talking to kick off a Wrestling show. Least we’re past the days of having Hogan stumble around on his announcements to boot. MVP was obviously “annoyed” over Eric Young’s successful title defence from Slammiversary. To add, MVP was also blabbing on endlessly about how he’s annoyed about the Board of Directors’ threats toward him. Some crap about this being his show, and he’s going to do as he pleases.

EY then came out, some weird Camera Angles later and they were just re-treading the same ground we’ve seen for weeks now. I don’t need to witness them yelling at each other. Either way, it did at least hit something worthwhile …. eventually.

Eric Young vs. Kenny King – World Heavyweight Championship

Yes, MVP wanted EY to defend his belt on the show, and Kenny’s “hot headed”.. ness, added to him making the challenge, and so the World title was to be defended right away.

Least on this show, it makes sense to have MVP talk it through before hand, it just find it annoying. Perhaps, they could have started the show with MVP backstage yelling about how much he’s annoyed and making the match as he walked toward the ring, and then boom, Impact starts, World Title match right off the bat.

Unfortunately the talking just gets worse and worse.

MVP and Bobby Lashley stayed at Ring-Side, which in turn brought out Samoa Joe, Austin Aries and the Wolves.

Obviously I didn’t expect Kenny to win, he’s a great talent and continues to impress. I honestly feel Kenny will play more of a role next month with Destination X. Either way, King set up EY for the Royal Flush, which was counted into a Small Package giving Eric Young the win, and retaining his World Championship.

After the match had finished however MVP, Lashley and King were still surrounding the ring, as MVP decided to take out his frustrations with the Time Keeper, slapping him around.

Joe, Aries and the Wolves came down to stop MVP’s assault on the Time Keeper which of course ended in a brawl. MVP then made Bobby Lashley vs. Eric Young in the main event, defending his World championship for the second time, and also placed Joe and Aries against the Wolves for the Tag-Team Championships.

All of this was at least good, it’s different than the usual, but it just took far too long.

– This is actually a re-edit, I got down to page four and realised I hadn’t mentioned the Firing of Earl Hebner. Earl Hebner got “fired”.

Austin Aries and Samoa Joe vs. The Wolves vs. Willow and Abyss – World Tag-Team Championships

I honestly didn’t expect Willow and Abyss to be a team in this match, I thought it would be the obvious, Bromans. But thankfully Willow and Abyss made for a more interesting dynamic.

Though did beg the question what happened to Bram and Magnus, but more on that later as it turns out.

Despite the fact that Willow debuted in the Lockdown Main Event, we’ve hardly seen him interact with other Talent. Sure he’s done it all as Jeff, but the new Character is a little weird, so to see it bounce back from other established stars was interesting, and yes, he did the crazy Back Plunge again.

I hope Willow and Abyss don’t become a “team”, I’m sure they won’t. Specially on the news that Matt Hardy is coming to the New York tapings to re-team with Jeff.

In the end it was in fact Willow who got singled out by The Wolves, and some double team moves later, The Wolves took the victory.

This is yet another sign that Willow really isn’t all that dangerous, clearly.

 

Dixie Carter and Spud made their way to the ring to call out Tommy Dreamer.

Dixie had such a negative reaction, that it really shows one of two things, either she’s really good at being a Heel, or there is something Wrestling fans just utterly hate about Women.

Very few people can just get under the fans skin to the extent that Dixie has. I would throw Vince McMahon (though he can easily swing to a face) and of course Eric Bischoff.

I’m fairly sure most people see Dixie as portraying a Character, but at the same time people do seem to think she’s the one making all the bad choices they hate. And actually removing Dixie will fix issues…. it doesn’t quite work like that.

So here’s what else is funny, Tommy Dream, Bully Ray and Dixie Carter all insisted that this House of Hardcore mess was not a “work”. Despite the fact that it clearly is, one, Tommy Dreamer works for TNA. Two, he wouldn’t turn up otherwise. And most certainly, three, he wouldn’t be given a mic, and then give a storyline fuelled promo that had absolutely nothing to do with why he was invited in the first place.

Wasn’t Dreamer supposed to be annoyed that Dixie screwed over his Main Event and his fans from his own promotion. Yet he spent the entire time talking about how great TNA is, and that Dixie isn’t the woman he once met who was passionate about giving back to the Wrestling fans.

Some crap about how he could see Dixie in her private Box at Slammiversary during the Von Erich’s match.

Either way, a good heartfelt Wrestling promo that touches on the real issues, always wins the fans over. And that’s exactly what Dreamer did, he won everyone over by talking about how great TNA once was. Dixie then kneed him in the Crotch, which was… better. Leaving Spud and mainly EC3 to beat up Dreamer. I guess this is just getting started right. Despite how absurd it almost seems to say Bully is working with Dixie (storyline) if Dreamer gets involved on Bully’s side, I believe Bully will turn all the more.

The Wolves vs. Magnus and Bram – World Tag-Team Championships

Yes after their successful defence earlier on in the night, MVP made the Wolves do double duty just like he is doing with EY. This time The Wolves had to defend against scary bearded man and George Michael.

This is what I feared, we’re being told that Magnus is different, he put on some silly body warmer to look different. But yet doesn’t feel different at all. He doesn’t Wrestle different, he doesn’t fight different. It’s just Magnus. Bram feels different.

The best part of this match is the reasons behind it, Davey Richards was on fire (as usual) but in the end Magnus just attacked with a Chair, and then Bram joined in, going to a DQ.

Abyss and Willow then ran to save The Wolves and also get their hands on Magnus and Bram.

After the match thought, we saw Magnus and Bram backstage who said that they weren’t out to Win a match, just to beat up The Wolves, and had been paid to do so. See, I like that.

Then Willow and Abyss attacked them again, including Willow diving in the air screaming… which was kind of cool.

Because Gail Kim is a good now all of sudden for some reason, she re-introduced the returning Taryn Terrell, based on the fact that Gail and Taryn had their infamous “Last Knockout Standing” match last year at Slammiversary, Taryn had gained Gail’s respect, and so she wanted to welcome her back. Which is funny because after that match they were still feuding, so Gail wasn’t that pleased or “won over” apparently at the time. Is that too picky?

But because Taryn beat Gail, then Gail beat Taryn, there was no “tie breaker” match, and so the challenge was issued.

The Beautiful People then turned up, stating how Angelina is the leader of the Knockouts Division. Of course they ended up fighting, with Taryn and Gail getting the upper hand. I still kind of hope for Taryn to join forces with the Beautiful People, but who knows.

Maybe Madison will eventually be “if you can’t beat them, join them”.

Bobby Lashley (w/MVP and Kenny King) vs. Eric Young – World Heavyweight Championship

Yes, MVP made the stipulation that everyone else was to escorted out of the Arena. The only people left would be Bobby Lashley, MVP, King, EY and Brian Heber.

Brian was used in this position given all that went on with his Dad being “fired” and same old same old.

EY made a phone call to Kurt Angle to help him, Angle turned up but got held with Security, Lashley and King. All Angle said was “what are you doing MVP?” then MVP kicked him out, so a big waste of a phone call there.

EY actually managed to hold his own against Lashley, least for the main part. Which sort of sucks. I’d rather see EY have a chance, but for him more so to get beaten down, yet keep fighting. I would prefer that, rather than Lashley actually nearly being beaten.

EY hit the Pile-Driver on Lashley, but Kenny King pulled Brian Hebner out of the ring. In the end though, it was EY who missed his Elbow Drop only to be speared by Lashley, to then get the three count, and now Bobby Lashley is the new World Champion.

Kenny King then puts EY’s arm in a chair and starts to attack when Bobby Roode jumps the Guard Rail and everyone backs off. Yes, Roode is back from his suspension and even had his awesome “Off The Chain” music playing.

So let’s break this down.

One, it bugs me Roode made his return this way. Awesome to see him back obviously, he’s one of my favourites, however Roode surely could have helped EY before he lost the Belt?

Two, Lashley shouldn’t have had a hard time to defeat EY, would have been better if Lashley just wore him down and beat him up. Just like how he made quick work of EY before Slammiversary.

Three, it sort of sucks EY has lost the belt, they could have dropped the Belt at Slammiversary, which makes you think perhaps the original plan was to have MVP take the gold. Given that he won’t be cleared to Wrestle for a little while, the plans needed to change. Also dropping the belt on Impact would be more unexpected, and a Live Crowd helps.

Four, and this is the best one yet. TNA got a lot of stick for dropping the Belt on EY the very same week the WWE dropped their belt on their hairy bearded underdog. So now, you hear the rumours of Brock Lesnar making his come back to the WWE to properly Main Event Summer Slam for the World Championship, no doubt he probably winning also. So who better than to have Bobby Lashley, Bobbly Nobbly’s and all be the TNA World Champion, for TNA to say “look who is copying who now!” in TNA’s ever growing immature attempt to be relevant against the competition.

Either way, it was a good Impact, a little odd, nothing anywhere near as exciting as Slammiversary, but whatever.

Lashley’s World Title victory didn’t feel all that relevant, but I look forward to that more so in this week’s coming show. It’s when TNA hit New York (and we get to watch the shows) that will be special. It’s in New York, the 6-Sided Ring is coming back Full-Time, Matt Hardy, loads of stars coming back, should be awesome!

Till then!

 

Dan Wilkinson

http://www.thejobberblogger.wordpress.com

http://www.facebook.com/TotalNonstopRewind

http://www.TheSteelChair.com