TNA Impact Results, Review, & Video: The King of the Mountain

TNA Impact returned tonight with a Global Force vs. TNA wrestling night.  Plenty of inter-promotional matches and a King of the Mountain Title match were the big happenings of the night.  So how did they do?

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The show opens as Jeff Jarrett, still in the possession of the King of the Mountain title, and Karen Jarrett come down to the ring.  He cuts promo about how he's running a GFW vs. TNA show tonight since he's in charge.  Eric Young interrupts demanding a shot at the KOTM title .  Double J says that the title will be defended in all promotions all over the world.  There will be a King of the Mountain match tonight for the title that bears its name and Young is the first participant.  Jeff will not be wrestling in the match.  As Jeff and Karen leave, EY attacks Jarrett.  GFW wrestlers run out make the save.  TNA talent come out and a brawl ensues.

This whole thing with Eric Young stealing the KOTM belt from Jeff Jarrett at a GFW taping continues to confuse me.  Because Jarrett is not in this match tonight, saying he's a promoter and not a wrestler.  Don't get me wrong, that's great.  Jarrett shouldn't be in a bunch of King of the Mountain matches.  But with him not being the man who walks out with the title tonight adds even more confusion to this story.  Did this Eric Young thing not happen in this story they're telling?  Did they decide against it?  Or does it come later in TNA's story?

Either way, it's story telling at its worse.  My bet is that GFW aired it on their website thinking it would kick off some story and TNA opting not to go with that story.  Or something.  I don't know.  Because if that was supposed to happen prior to tonight, then somehow Jeff Jarrett got his title back between then and now.  Or it happens later on, which is just spoiling your own story.  In no way is it good.

That aside, there was nothing wrong with the opening segment.  While often pro-wrestling brawls are just for brawls sake, this one actually made sense.  Even though it wasn't explicitly explained, I would expect the locker room of a company to be really on edge when another company rolls through its doors and is vying to beat them in a bunch of matches.  Rival promotions are inherently enemies because they are competition.

Also, Jeff said backstage to the GFW guys "This is not an invasion" which is good.  Because the story of two promotions vying to see who is best is a good story.  An invasion story involving two companies that may have zero television deals between them in two months is not.

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Lei'd Tapa (w/Royal Red) vs.  Awesome Kong ends in double count out when Tapa is beating up Kong on the outside.  The segment fades to black as Kong lays out Tapa with a clothesline.

It's been more than a year since Lei'd Tapa stunk it up in TNA and it is clear she has improved.  This match wasn't any classic nor a match I'd even recommend finding if you didn't see it.  But Tapa has learned to play up her size and these two did not try anything more than they should.  They brawled and employed power moves, which is that's all the needed.  Yes there was some missed timing (especially on a triple clothesline spot from Kong to Tapa) and they didn't have great chemistry.  But much of that was covered by the enjoyment of a rare lady-hoss match.

No one loves a double count out, but I would guess TNA (and GFW?) want these two to work some more.  It's an idea while not super excited about, intrigued enough to give it a shot.

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Bobby Roode comes to the ring angry he wasn't considered for the KOTM match tonight.  He claims he is a main event guy, and it's an insult that Jarrett didn't put him in tonight's main event.  He calls out Rockstar Spud, and condescendingly congratulates him for retiring Austin Aries from TNA.  Spud retorts by calling Roode a "condescending prick." Roode states that if it were him and not Aries last week, he would have ended Spud's career.  Spud punches Bobby first but gets taken out by Bobby Roode with a clothesline, a Roode Bomb, and then has his shoulder injured when Roode tosses Spud shoulder first into the stairs and locks in a Cross Face.

Welcome back, super heel Bobby Roode.  I've missed you so much.  Seriously, when Roode is channeling his inner bad guy, he's the best there is.  And who better to stand up against him than the ultimate underdog himself Rockstar Spud?  Promos are Spud's best attribute and he held his own with the fire spitting Roode.  Even though Spud struck first, Bobby's beat down was a heat seeker.

Spud benefits when working from the best and Bobby, like Aries, is one of the best.  This could be a really fun feud.

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Bobby Lashley defeats Jessie Godderz by pinfall after hitting the ugliest looking spear ever.

The biggest surprise in all of this is that this wasn't just a squash match.  After years of watching Jessie play the role of squashee, it was good to see him get some offense in.  It was done well too.  They didn't have Godderz look dominant and they shouldn't, especially since Lashley was going on to compete in the main event later.  But Jessie got to do some heeling at times and got to control the match at points.

However that spear was terrible.  It looked like Jessie was almost trying to side swipe it.  Any time the announcer has to say "He didn't get all of that" and the Pope had to say that a lot tonight, you know it's a botch.  And any time the match ends on a botch, it's ugly and hurts what came before it.

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Every time that Ethan Carter the Third picks up a microphone, it's a treat to be held.  He's just a natural heel on the stick.  Even when we all knew he was not going to give Matt a title shot, he still came of as a weaselly bastard.  And I don't even want him to have to fight Matt Hardy again, which is where this looks where this is going.

But why does Matt get another shot?  Because he asked?  TNA has this whole ranking system for a reason and when you lose, you drop in the rankings.  And it's not as if EC3 cheated to win.  He won fair and square.  Maybe I'm just bitter because Matt Hardy/EC3 is not my cup of tea.  (Perhaps I'd look forward to EC3 versus Jeff more.  Though while Jeff is definitely better in the ring, I think Matt is much better on the microphone.)

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The Wolves defeat Trevor Lee and Brian Myers via pinfall

It is great to see the Wolves back after losing their feud with editing.  Their matches are always fun and tonight was no different.  Credit also goes to Lee and Myers, who worked well with the Wolves.  This match even had some scares that the champs may lose to the GFW duo.

Best match of the night (though unfortunately that's not a tough accomplishment.)  Let's hope we see more of both of these teams soon.

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