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TNA returns from it's home in Orlando with a new edition of Impact. It's an episode where every singles title is defended and a new man in charge is revealed. Let's get right to it.
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The ring is surrounded by the locker room as the show comes on the air. Dixie Carter is in the ring and gives a remorseful speech about how she lost the trust of the wrestlers due to her past actions. She regrets that now and wants to make things right. She says that Impact Wrestling is important for pro-wrestling and she wants to earn the trust of the roster.
She's interrupted by Ethan Carter who strolls out to the ramp casually late and demands to know who the new person in charge is. His question is answered when Bully Ray's music hits.
Bully joins Dixie in the ring, leaving Ethan on the ramp. He tells everyone that he got a call from Dixie who apologized for letting everyone down. He say that he has a good read on bull crap and believed her for the first time in his life. He accepted the position and then asked the wrestlers to get in the ring with them to show they are on the same level.
Ray then turned his attention to EC3 and told the champ that he will have to defend his title against the winner of a 20 man battle royal, which is starting now.
Well, Dixie's promo sure had that meta feel. And an awkward one too. Apologizing to the staff for acting in ways that lost their trust but wanting to fight to keep TNA on top? Sounds like it could be something said when the cameras aren't on. What made it a bit awkward is most of the news about the TNA locker room doesn't fit a real life story of Dixie getting the trust of her crew. Were these wrestlers listening to this and thinking "What BS"? Plus she was over the top with the remorseful bit.
It's good to have Bully back, but it's weird to have a guy who can wrestle play an authority figure. I suppose it's a card TNA can always play if they need to, but the idea of the GM eventually coming the focal point of the story is a tiresome one. In the end, though, Bully Ray is a strong character and if played well, this could work out well.
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The battle royal takes up two segments. In the first segment we see a bunch of jobbers get eliminated. Then TNA goes to commercial and when they return there are only three men left: Drew Galloway, Eric Young, and MVP. Young tried to eliminate both Drew and MVP but Galloway held the rope to staved off elimination. He later hit Eric Young with his flying kick that sent Young slowly over the turnbuckle onto the floor.
Battle Royals are at the best when they advance multiple storylines. However, that's not the case if all the stories are advanced/introduced during the commercial break. Jessie eliminated Robbie during the commercial. Kenny King was eliminated by Micah during the commercial. Aries eliminated Bram during the commercial. MVP eliminated Aries during the commercial. We missed the meaty part of the match that could help advance or create stories.
This is likely some of that fancy editing so we don't see Hernandez, but no matter the reason, it comes off poorly. If that's the case, we can expect many more weeks of weird stuff like this.
Obviously when there's two heels and a face at the end of the match and the champion is a bad guy, the ending has little doubt surrounding it. Unfortunately, Young seemed to take awhile to get over that top rope, making the final finish to the battle royal look sloppy. Galloway picks up another big win and goes on to face the champ later on.
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Throughout the night, TNA played video packages of all the past TNA Hall of Famers and said they'll announce the next inductee next week.
Given the fact that Dixie already tweeted that it's Jeff Jarrett who's being inducted, it's weird that they're making a teaser of it.
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A backstage interview between Mike Tenay and Mr. Anderson is aired. Tenay asks about the future of Anderson's career after his brutal beating at the hands of Bram last week. Anderson say's he feels as good as he has in ten years. However, Bram is a man with no regard for anything and he's a dark man. Anderson said that he knows he can go to that place he needs to go to face Bram, but isn't sure if he wants to.
This was a great interview. Anderson put his over the top verbose persona aside and played this serious. He also did an excellent job putting over Bram's character. He mentions his children early in the interview, possibly implying that maybe the reason he doesn't want to go to a dark place to beat Bram is because he doesn't want to be that man as a father.
After the kick off to this story last week and this solid interview this week, this angle looks to be an exciting one.
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Tigre Uno defeats Grado, Rockstar Spud, and DJ Z in a fatal four way to retain the X Division title.
Despite having his big Donald Trump segment next week, Tigre Uno was an afterthought this match. (Since the Trump angle was very well be something spur of the moment, it likely wasn't in the minds of anyone during this taping.) The focuses of this match were Grado's comedy show and his showdown with Rockstar Spud.
I'm not vehemently anti-Grado like I was when I first starting reviewing Impact and they introduced him in the UK. But it's disappointing to see that the X Division has become a comedy show more than a display of guys who can really amaze in that ring. The two men that fit the X Division style tonight were Tigre Uno and DJ Z and they were on the back burner of the match. Not that watching Grado and Rockstar Spud stare each other down like they're the Rock and Hulk Hogan wasn't entertaining in its own right, but it's not the X Division. But maybe now it is.
Unfortunately, the end of the the match was Tigre Uno landing his top rope splash on Grado's legs instead of the body and winning with that. It was a sloppy ending to the match.
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Brooke defeats Taryn Terrell to win the Knockouts Title
Most of the match, Taryn uses the Doll House numbers advantage to keep the upper hand. But then the lights go out and Gail Kim does a Wyatt-esque appearance wearing an outfit similar to that of the Arrow but black and without sleeves. She takes out Jade and Marti Bell, the lights go out again, and she disappears. When they come back on, Taryn is distracted from what just happened and Brooke hits a face breaker to win the title.
What weird booking. This suddenness of this title change is what helped fuel the "Taryn leaving TNA rumor."
Because after all Taryn did to Gail - breaking her hand, messing with her family - the table was set for Taryn and Gail to have one more epic battle (like the ones they had two years ago) and have Gail win the title. There is a part of wrestling that should always be somewhat unpredictable to keep fans believing anything can happen at any time. But that should not be at the expense of a story, especially one they've been telling for so long.
I've made my greviences regarding the Doll House well known. But I will say recently, they've toned it down to a point where I can tolerate it. Yes, I would still love to see Jade actually wrestle in a feud and yes the the school girls/lingerie outfits are over the top. But recently, it's been more about simple heel/face dynamics. Given that, I was looking forward to that one final match between Gail and Taryn for the title. I'm sure they'll have the match, but it won't mean as much if Gail isn't also trying to take Taryn's prized possession as part of her revenge.
While this match was sloppy at times, Taryn was on her game with her heeling. From pretending she wasn't cheating to Hebner to becoming incensed when the cheating didn't work, I enjoyed her here. Unfortunately for Brooke, she felt like an afterthought to this match, playing second fiddle to the Gail Kim/Taryn Terrell feud.
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Kurt angle comes out and says that he talked to Bully and last week's match with Ethan Carter for the title will not count as his rematch. He will have one in the future at a time he chooses, but that will be after he comes back from having surgery to remove a tumor in his neck.
Before he is done speaking, Eric Young comes down to the ring to tell Kurt that even though Young didn't cause the tumor, all of the pile drivers that Young gave Angle in their feud is going to take its toll and maybe Angle should never come back. Because if he does, Young is going to hurt him.
Young then attacks Angle and they fight to the outside. EY sets Kurt up for a pile driver on the floor, but Chris Melendez makes the save. Young pretends to leave but instead attacks Melendez and delivers a pile driver on the outside to the Sarge.
You know what's weird? Eric Young had two prominent roles this show and they never mentioned him stealing the King of the Mountain title from the GFW event. I did not expect him to come out with the title since this was all taped prior, but they could have at least showed us some footage and had Matthews talk about it. It's very odd to completely ignore that. Though with Jarrett getting inducted in the Hall of Fame, maybe they want to postpone this angle until that is done? I don't know.
Not too much to be said about this bit tonight. I could do without any more Eric Young vs. Kurt Angle, but I'm glad they're continuing the Sarge's feud with Young. Sarge lost cleanly to Young after the whole story with EY ripping off Melendez's prosthetic leg. For that to be the end didn't feel right.
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An edited version of the Slammiversary match between James Storm and Magnus is replayed
Backstage Storm says that he has a woman picked for the mixed tag Mickie challenged himto the other week and it's someone that's very close to Mickie.
I didn't even think of this until Jardine mentioned it in the live thread, but this was probably replayed because they needed to edit out some more BDC/Hernandez stuff. This was a good way to show the best of the Storm/Magnus feud (their match) and not all the stuff leading up to it.
Storm's teaser about his partner has me curious. There aren't many current women that Mickie has that much history with. I know her biggest feud was with Tara and she's been gone a long time. I'm sure she's feuded with Angelina Love and Madison Rayne, but those stories don't stick out in my memory.
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Prior to the main event, EC3 tries to get Bully to postpone the title match to next week so they can promote more. Bully told Carter to start acting like a champion. Bully said that he's been champion so he knows what it takes, despite being a dirty heel champ his entire run.
EC3 defeats Drew Galloway to retain his title. To help even the score given more Tyrus interference early on, former Rising member Eli Drake hobbled down on his crutches to keep Tyrus at bay. When the referee goes down and Tyrus tries to interfere, Drake gets into the ring and looks to use his crutch to hold off Tyrus. However he turns and breaks the crutch over Drew, allowing EC3 to get the pin.
Unlike last week's title match, this all worked well this week.
Seeing Carter and Galloway, two young, talented guys in a TNA title match felt right. Kurt Angle was a fine champion, but TNA should be a company that pushes young guys to the top. These two big men had a fun battle and I would be lying if I said that the fact these guy are making the most of their lives post-WWE didn't add to it. I love Drew's intense persona and really enjoyed him stepping right up to Tyrus before the match even started. Drew's intensity against Carter's arrogance is a great blend.
Unlike last week, Carter held his own during much of the match. EC3 heeling because he wants to get every edge he can works. EC3 heeling because he's not good enough to have a chance against Angle like he did last week didn't.
This built to Drew's next feud, which will be against his old Rising partner Eli Drake. It would have been more meaningful if the other guys in the Rising and the friendship between them had been built more, but that didn't take much away from this. The one thing I recall ever saying about Eli Drake is he comes off more like a heel. Now that he is, I'm looking forward to seeing what this story has to offer.
Hopefully, tonight's match was just a teaser for a legitimate Carter/Galloway feud down the line.
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Pros of the Show:
- Main event match featured two young guys and built Drew Galloway's next feud
- They're doing a good job building Anderson vs. Bram
- Bully Ray is a strong presence for TNA to have
Cons of the Show:
- Brooke being the one to defeat Taryn and not Gail is a big wasted opportunity
- Disappointing X Division showing
- The majority of battle royal eliminations was during commercial
- Dixie's promo felt awkward
The main event was fun to watch, but the rest of the show wasn't connecting, which is pretty much the opposite of last week.
Grade: C+
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That's it from me. What did you all think of tonight's Impact?