TNA Impact Results, Review, & Video (March 1, 2016): An Unfair Advantage

TNA Impact returned last night (March 1, 2016) with a show from Birmingham, England, which is the home town of the recent turncoat Rockstar Spud. Let's see how it was.

Kurt Angle defeats Bobby Roode via submission.

After the match Bobby Roode gets on the microphone to thank Kurt for everything. The men embrace. James Storm comes out and does the same, thanking Kurt for his friendship. He says it's time to celebrate and while Beer Money have a couple beers, they give Kurt a carton of milk which he chugs. Kurt then says how he wants to see Beer Money vs. the Wovles.

The Wolves come out and first Davey Richards talks about what Kurt Angle meant to him. Eddie Edwards then tells Beer Money they can have their match. He also tells them that they should hold onto their Feast or Fired briefcase because they are going to need it since the Wolves will win. They look to prove they are the best team in TNA history. This match is schedule for next week.

As a whole, the Kurt Angle Farewell Tour has felt disjointed. It has been Kurt Angle wrestling a bunch of matches against choice opponents, but it has come across as random with little reason to get invested outside the fact these are Kurt's last TNA matches. Angle was a big deal in TNA so it actually feels like they put too little emphasis of this final string of matches. While his matches with Drew Galloway had some weight because of promos from Drew talking about their meaning, every other match has been a bit random with no build prior. It's odd that they didn't lay out who Angle was going to face, why, and when in the beginning. Then each of those his opponents could talk about what that match means and what Kurt Angle meant to them. And Kurt could talk about what he was looking to get out of these final matches. Without some background like that, these matches have felt more meaningless than they should.

All that aside, I enjoyed this match, but I'm a sucker for multi-submission reversals, and this had that in spades. It's clear Kurt doesn't have what he used to have, but that's to be expected. The man is retiring. But he still has enough to put on an enjoyable match.

However, the part of this I enjoyed the most was the celebration with Roode and Storm after because you could tell all that emotion was real. Kurt was tearing up during this and the emotion on the faces of Beer Money was clear. Those small moments of real emotion in wrestling are always enjoyable. Kurt has done a great deal for TNA and deserves such moments.

________________________

Matt Hardy comes down to the ring with Reby and Tyrus to say that he owns EC3, that he's beaten him so many times that it's become boring. That is it for title shots where Ethan Carter is concerned. He will not get another shot. He credits Rockstar Spud for helping him out and introduces the man.

Rockstar Spud starts by putting down his home town. He lambasts them for chanting for EC3 and typically following the "Flavour of the month." He goes on to talk about how his home people are jealous of him for getting out of that dump and going on to live his dream of becoming a star. What he did to Ethan was good, old fashioned revenge by taking from Ethan what he treasures most: the TNA Heavyweight Title. He dedicates himself now to the family of Matt Hardy.

EC3's music plays and the former champ comes down with a chair, eventually clearing the ring. As the Hardy family retreats, Carter challenges Rockstar Spud to a straight up fight, and he's more than happy to do it in Birmingham, where enough people have seen Spud's ugly face that they can help the coroner ID the body.

Throughout Rockstar Spud's time in TNA, his biggest strength was always character work and this segment allowed him to show that. He came out to his usual music, but without the suit and without the bowtie. This time he was all in black with a leather jacket. He was easily able to get heat from the home crowd all while still making his heel turn make sense by reminding us what EC3 did to him in that very building a year ago. While Matt mainly sat back for this one, the perverse enjoyment he got every time Spud put him over up was excellent. I continue to really enjoy shithead Matt Hardy.

I also really enjoy silent, intense Ethan Carter a lot. He still seems to be finding his footing as a face when on the microphone, not connecting quite as well as EC3 the heel did. But it's still really good. Plus, EC3 the heel wasn't built in a day. He needed time to cultivate that and it likely won't take long for him to really find the groove of face EC3.

________________________

Abyss defeats Jimmy Havoc in a hardcore match via pinfall.

While they have created some intrigue surrounding Jimmy Havoc and his curious past with the Decay's Rosemary, this match seemed to do a disservice to it all. It didn't do anything to advance the story nor continue to introduce Havoc to fans who may not have seen him.

I know I don't know much about Havoc, so maybe a hardcore match is up his alley, but this didn't feel like the best match to maintain his intrigue. Part of the problem is that we just had a Monsters Ball match two weeks ago, and if you've seen one Monster's Ball match, you've pretty much seen all of them. Someone is going to get a cheese grater to the nads, Abyss is going to become all twitchy when going through a table, he's going to once against fail to properly hit someone with a board with nails in it, and someone is going into a thin board with barbed wire attached to it (a device that does not exist anywhere else in this world.)

The match did have a couple fun spots and Havoc looked comfortable in it (so maybe the hardcore match is a common match of his) but the most enjoyment I got out of the match was watching Crazzy Steve and Rosemary's interactions on the outside. Their creepy charisma draws me in and I just want to watch them. If there's anywhere that Abyss should be in TNA, it's in a group like this, but he doesn't have that magnetism that Steve and Rosemary do.

________________________

Gail Kim comes down to the ring to call out Maria Kanellis. Gail says that she did not join the Knockouts to be famous but to be a fighter. She has put her body on the line to do so. Last week, Maria had the chance to do the same but failed to do so.

Maria comes down, stands between the entry way and ring, and tells Gail that she taught Gail a lesson last week. Maria wasn't going to join Lethal Lockdown last week because then she'd be just a wrestler, just like Gail and she doesn't want that. However she says Gail wants to be like her.

When Gail retorts, calling Maria "a crazy ass bitch" Maria isn't rattled. She calls Gail out for marrying a celebrity chef and having her wedding televised, which screams "look at me!" Maria is happy to be a celebrity and as for getting in the ring... well that will never, ever happen.

Gail tries to chase down Maria to get the fight she wants, but she's attacked from behind by Jade (and Jade alone) who eventually knocks Gail out with the KOs title. Jade tells Gail that if Gail wants a fight, she has it.

For a Knockouts division that has recently been very lazily booked, there was a whole lot of good in this segment.

Maria continues to be money on the microphone, sprinkling in cadences of disgust while talking with her Miracle voice. Looking at the story, it seems like the plan is to eventually get Maria in the ring, but that is a going to be a slow build to the payoff. That makes sense in not just telling a good story but to give time for Maria time to settle into the Knockouts division as a wrestler.

The only issue I have so far with this Gail/Maria feud is that Maria is so good on the microphone, Gail comes up looking short. Gail Kim has always been a solid promo, but she's not on the level of Kanellis. That leaves the heel making great points about celebrity weddings while the face has to resort to name calling and then trying to attack unprovoked. This doesn't at all kill a feud I'm all in for, but it could pose some problems at one point.

As for the Jade/Gail Kim feud, well, I'm all in on that too. I've been clamoring for Jade to because a focus and not a side piece to the Knockouts division, and it looks like it's finally happening. She looked like a total badass here tonight, coming out and delivering some sweet kicks to Gail without the help of the Doll House. Awesome Kong's dismissal left a void to be filled and Jade is just the woman to fill it.

________________________

Eric Young defeats Damo via pinfall to retain the King of the Mountain Championship.

Much like Jimmy Havoc, I didn't know anything about Damo prior his time on this tour. And damned if he didn't make a good impression. The moment before the match started when he got in the ring, stood toe to toe with Young and referred to himself as the baddest guy that side of the pond, was a fun moment, as was the unhinged EY loving it. Then this huge dude starts off a match with a running drop kick that I definitely did not see coming. It was a good showing for Damo and a fun match to showcase him.

________________________

The Miracle Mike Bennett defeats Drew Galloway via pinfall.

At the end of the match, Drew had Bennett in his new submission but Maria put the Miracle's foot on the rope for the break. When Drew was staring at her, Bennett rolled up Galloway and grabbed the tights for the win.

This was a standard back and forth match. Nothing to complain about but nothing stuck out. Much like in her other segment, Maria stands out as a star helping her husband get the win. Building Maria as the woman who can control both the women's division and possibly the men's, aiding the Miracle to victories on his way to the top, could be a really enjoyable arch for her. While it is Mike Bennett who said in an interview recently that he wants to be the Stone Cold of TNA, it's Maria who can really be a major star in this promotion.

The Pope also likes Maria, but that's because "Anyone who is in Playboy is OK by my book." The Pope likes naked women, folks. Sigh, this commentary team.

________________________

On his way to the ring for his unsanctioned street fight with Rockstar Spud, both Tyrus and Matt Hardy try to attack EC3. However, since they do it one by one instead of at the same time, Carter is able to neutralize them and toss them in the back of a tractor trailer and lock it.

For the next 15 minutes, EC3 beats the living hell out of Rockstar Spud in an unsanctioned street fight. He ends up putting through a table.

In my preview, I worried that the smaller Rockstar Spud didn't have the stature to be an effective heel during a match. That worry proved founded because that was the downfall to this poorly executed main event.

The entire main event was the guy we now like, Ethan Carter, manhandling a man half his size for well over 10 minutes. That does a terrible job getting sympathy and support on the babyface and usually leaves us feeling bad for the heel. Rockstar Spud hasn't been a heel for more than a week before he got his comeuppance many times over here in the form of an unrelented beating. Yes, Rockstar Spud cost EC3 the title and then hit him in the head with a chair, but it was not nearly long enough of Spud getting the upper hand for this at all to feel like sweet justice. Spud would have needed to keep screwing Carter for weeks for this to feel rewarding.

They could have achieved a victory for EC3 here and garnered him sympathy by having him go up against both Tyrus and Spud in a 2 on 1 handicapped street fight. Tyrus could have bene used as the means to keep Carter away from Spud the entire time while giving Carter someone he actually had to overcome. That way, after 15 minutes of Spud cowardly hiding behind the bigger man, the few moments when Ethan finally does get to him could feel warranted.

The main angle has been good prior, but this main event was very poorly executed.

________________________

Pros of the Show:

• Maria continues to shine
• That whole women's segment was really good, and Jade is finally looking like a star
• The nice moment between Kurt Angle and Beer Money

Cons of the Show:

• Poorly executed main event
• Repetitive hardcore match wasn't the best way to showcase Jimmy Havoc nor advance that story

The main event angle had a major hiccup tonight in a show where Maria Kanellis continues to be the star. Unfortunately, since the main angle is the weight of the show, a poor main event gave the show a worse feel.

Grade: C+