FanPost

TNA Impact Results & Review (February 13, 2015): Open Title Season

Courtesy of ImpactWrestling.com

Author's note: I've decided to post an TNA Impact review since we have not had one in a few weeks. However, this by no means is me trying to lay claim to the weekly review. So if Jardine is planning on coming on back and taking it over, that is fine by me. If no one wants to do it regularly, then I'll see how it goes.

I am going to recap what happens, but I'm going to recap in large strokes, not tiny details. Then I'll go over how I felt each part delivered.

TNA returned to Scotland, which is good for them. The European crowds are usually pretty hot crowds and seem to really pop for the TNA program. Plus, this arena has a titantron, which has been missing from TNA in awhile. It feels bush league without one when they used to have one all the time.

The one downside to this locale/filming was there was one camera/lighting issue that detracted from the show. One shot always seemed to have a yellowish hue compared to the others, which threw me off during matches. But asides from that, it's a good venue.

__________________________

Now, onto the main angle of the night:

The continual story of the night was focused around Angle, Lashley, and the Beat Down Clan (BDC).

Angle opens the show up and calls out Lashley, saying he intends to get himself a title shot. The BDC comes out and MVP says that their loss at Lockdown didn't count because Lashley wasn't part of the match. This sets up a match between 2 of the BDC (MVP and Samoa Joe) and Angle and Lashley later in the show

Throughout the night, Gunner and Aries make their way into Angle's dressing room, to let him know they are also interested in winning the title. Both men, later on, were taken out by the BDC in the hallway.

The tag match, which is the main event, ends when Angle throws an ankle lock on Joe despite the fact he is not the legal man. Lashley tries to tell Angle that Angle is not the legal man. In the confusion, MVP rolls up Lashley for the win. Kurt and Lashley argue as the show ends.

This main angle of the night (pun unintended) was setting up the fact there are multiple challengers for this title, including Kurt Angle. Angle, along with John Cena, has 15 title wins so I don't expect him ever getting 16. But adding him to the mix with Roode, Aries, and Gunner makes things interesting right now because they can go any way for Lashley's first opponent.

MVP continues to be a very solid heel on the microphone. He's not a cool heel, just a scumbag who uses strength in numbers and wins by opportune means.

As for the match itself, it was a strong tag team match, but part of me has a hard time believing the veteran Angle wouldn't know he's not the legal man. I figure they are setting up Angle vs Roode eventually (I don't read the spoilers so I don't actually know.) While that should be a decent match, I'm hoping it's not a long feud. Angle has become more and more limited in the ring and there are younger guys who deserve longer programs for the title.

My final note is with the BDC. They are still just random guys working together. Without a strong back story, and having wrestled together in the past is not that, it's tougher to buy into them as a faction. However, they do now have matching skull caps that say BDC. Eric Young does not have a BDC cap, which outlines the fact that even though he rode to the stadium with them, he's still not an official member. As of now, said skull caps aren't available on TNA's website, so I am sorry for those who were excited for them.

__________________________

Roode defeats Aries by submission. Then he's attacked from behind by Eric Young and eats a pile driver. As he's being walked to the back, EY comes out again and delivers another pile driver.

The two past tag champs (Long Live the Dirty Heels!) battled in a match that normally would be meaningless. However, with TNA's new ranking system, the match had more meaning. Next week, there will be an Over the Top Rope Gauntlet, which is pretty much a 20 man Royal Rumble, where the winner becomes #1 Contender. The last 5 entrants will be counting down 5-1 in the rankings, giving more incentive to try to move as high up on the list as possible. Going into this match, Roode was ranked #1 and Aries #3, so an Aries win could move him to a better spot going into the Gauntlet next week.

This match was really good, which should be no surprise given these are the best two wrestlers in the company. Unfortunately, the slim roster takes away from the big fight feel of this match because there aren't many match ups options. None-the-less, the match between them still delivered and Taz and Matthews did a good job calling the match.

I'm still not completely buying Eric Young as a heel, but he does do ruthless very well. Silent crazy EY, which we got tonight, is better than when he has to explain himself on the mic. His mic work suits his crazy face persona, but not as much the heel.

__________________________

Al Snow comes out as a heel and calls out the man he eliminated from British Bootcamp, a Scottish wrestler named Grado. Grado comes out to confront him. Snow then gets out of the ring and berates Grado's mom, who is in the crowd. Grado then softly pushes Snow away from his mom. They will have a match next week. The crowd ate it up

So apparently Grado is somebody. He's Scottish, so the crowd loved him. But I've never heard of him so it was tough to care at all about this segment. All of a sudden Al Snow is heel? And I'm supposed to get behind Grado, who was just some dude in a singlet and backwards hat? Grado cut a quick promo that was apparently passionate because he shouted it.

The announcers did a poor job selling why I should care. And as of now, I don't. This was a segment that was probably great for those there, but fell completely flat at home.

__________________________

Bram defeates Crazzy Steve via pinfall in quick fashion. Throughout the match, he calls out Magnus, who isn't here tonight.

Bram is another good wrestler when he plays a vicious bastard. Not much to say about this because it was so short. But they did a good job selling Bram as a psycho. If they take some time building it, Magnus vs Bram could be a good program.

As for Crazzy Steve, he's kind of lost in the fray without the Menagerie. Are they even still a thing?

__________________________

In a backstage promo, EC3 challenges Rockstar Spud, Mandrews, and Jeremy Borash to a tag match against him and Tyrus. In said match, EC3 pins Rockstar Spud for the win after hitting him in the back with an arm brace, which the announcers mentioned they don't know why he is wearing it. As EC3 goes to shave Spud's head, Ken Anderson redebuts for the save.

Before the break due to the network switch, Spud vs EC3 was the hottest program they had. The fans got fully behind Spud and EC3 was playing the perfect heel. However, with months long break and overall stalling the story line has cooled this off. EC3 is still an excellent heel, and Spud is still a fun face, but the rest of the players in this story are just bringing it down.

Take Jeremy Borash for example. What was he doing in this match in the first place? It's OK to say no. And why would he ever tag himself in against legit wrestlers? He did a top turn buckle dive out of the ring onto Tyrus that looked too dangerous. Tyrus is a big guy but did a really poor job catching him. And all for what? To see a ring announcer in a match for some reason.

I was wondering when Ken Anderson would come back, but it just seems like this is another way to delay the inevitable finish to this story, which should be Spud going over EC3 in a one on one match. But much like the Joseph Park/Abyss story, it'll probably be so drawn out we just won't care by the time it happens.

__________________________

Madison Rayne comes out to cut a heel promo. She is eventually interrupted by Awesome Kong, who defeats quickly her via pinfall with the Implant Buster.

I'm an Awesome Kong fan. She's got an awesome (pardon the second pun of the night) and unique look. However, she's still working as a face and that's only going to fly for so long, given her dominant size. As for Madison, I'm glad she's a heel again. Her face work earlier last year still came off as heelish.

__________________________

Matt Hardy comes out and says last week was the first time he witnessed a broken Jeff Hardy. James Storm and his Revolution interrupts. Storm puts himself over as the only person who could put down Jeff Hardy and then gives Matt an ultimatum: Join the Revolution or Get taken out like his brother. Obviously Matt declines and gets a team beat down. Before they can do too much damage, the Wolves make the save.

The Revolution is growing on me. Their randomness in the beginning of their formation made it tougher to get behind them, but Storm has come into his own as a cultist leader. I wish the other members of the group got some more exposure though. The Great Sanada has just been there for awhile.

I'm also a fan of the Wolves as a tag team in TNA and I wouldn't mind a Revolution vs Wolves program to continue a bit longer.

__________________________

Pros of this show:

  • Scotland is a good venue.
  • TNA is using their ranking system to add a little something to the story and meaning behind matches. The two main matches were strong.
  • MVP and EC3 continue to be strong heels.
  • Open title picture

Cons of this show:

  • Al Snow/Grado segment. Seriously, this was bad.
  • EC3/Spud losing much of its heat, especially somehow inserting Anderson into it.
  • BDC still seems too random
  • 15 + year veteran Kurt Angle doesn't know when he's not the legal man

Overall, asides from the Grado segment, nothing too bad on this show. Just a simple wrestling show that shows how open the title picture is for next week's Battle Royal for the #1 Contendership. Since no review is complete without an arbitrary grade, here we go.

Grade: B-

Sound off on the show below if you watched it. If you didn't and used this as your recap and need me to fill in any blanks, go for it.

The FanPosts are solely the subjective opinions of Cageside Seats readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cageside Seats editors or staff.