TNA Impact Results, Review, & Video (Oct. 27, 2016): Family Feud

TNA Impact returned last night (Oct. 27, 2016) from the Impact Zone in Orlando, Florida with the main event tag match which will serve as Brandi Rhodes’ first TNA match.

You can find the results of the show at the live blog here.

Brandi’s debut

The main event match tonight was Cody and Brandi Rhodes against The Miracle Mike Bennett and Maria Kanellis, set up by Maria’s sneak attack on Brandi last week.

Brandi hasn’t had many matches. In fact, ProFightDB only has three listed matches and the last one listed prior to last night’s was in 2011. So it is expected that she’s going to be really green in the ring. It was on the story of the match to work that in to the best of their ability.

And they did that and built Brandi’s character as well.

The story coming into the match was that Brandi was straight pissed off. When Cody was cutting that Facebook promo talking about Superman, Brandi interrupted and warned Maria she was going to kick her ass. Tonight backstage, Cody was with Brandi delivering a promo about the Miracle and what that word means. Brandi’s contribution? She just said that she’s "going to make that bitch tap out."

And on the way to the ring, she blew past her husband and b-lined it to the ring to try to get started fighting early. That’s all good character building showing us that maybe Brandi Rhodes isn’t someone you want to screw with.

Because this was all set up, they were able to build the story of the match around the Bennetts denying Brandi any chance of getting in the ring. A couple times Brandi’s frustration and temper cost her husband a chance to tag out when she tried to enter without a tag.

Finally Cody made the tag and and Brandi was off to the races, chasing down Maria. Much of it was chasing and strikes because Brandi is so new in the ring. She moved like someone thinking about what they were supposed to do next. That’s something that takes time. The match ended with a double tap out and the Rhodes were victorious.

It was a fun main event based on a story that helped strengthen the character of Brandi, which seemed to come naturally, and hide her weaknesses.

After the match, they made their way backstage and when Cody was shaking hands with members of the crew, Bobby Lashley attacked him. Even then, Brandi would not be frightened, trying to land some strikes on the Destroyer.

Lashley just shrugged them off and told the beaten Cody that "Nobody comes into my house without my permission." Man, Lashley is badass. Speaking of...

Contract Signing

Eddie Edwards and Bobby Lashley will have their TNA championship rematch next week. Tonight was the contract singing.

I’m a fan of contract signings. It gives every match associated with it a bigger feel and gives both people involved a chance to get on the microphone and sell us on the match without extraneous gimmicks. Just a promo to convince us on why we want to watch this match.

Tonight’s did well. Lashley reminded Edwards that he always hurts him. Even when he won, Eddie was taken to school. And yes, Lashley took Edwards lightly last time, but now he’s going to make him pay. In fact, he told Edwards that he should just forfeit the title and save himself the trouble.

Eddie called out Bobby’s mind games and employed some of his own. He asked Lashley what would happen if he doesn’t win next week. All that confidence and all that poise, what will happen to it if Lashley can’t prove that Edwards win was really a fluke? Would he be remembered as the Destroyer or Eddie Edwards’ bitch? This got to Lashley, who actually lost his composure for a moment. But he soon regained it and signed the contract.

This contract signing added a little wrinkle to next week’s big rematch. While no stipulations were added and nothing was changed, Edwards brought up an excellent point. What would happen to Lashley if he lost to Edwards twice in a row? Surely, he could no longer call it a fluke. A fluke doesn’t happen consecutively. That’s something that could change Lashley. But Eddie Edwards is going to be facing a Bobby Lashley that isn’t going be taking anything lightly. He’s going to get an 100% focused Destroyer and that may be too much for the champ next week.

This should be good.

Stand up for yourself

Before her match against Laurel Van Ness, Allie met with the predatory lender himself Billy Corgan in the empty arena prior to the show. He tells her that Maria doesn’t make matches around here. He does. So she doesn’t have to have this match tonight. But Allie insists. Because sometimes, you just need to stand up for yourself.

This was a good prelude to the match. It tied up the loose end of the fact that Maria isn’t allowed to make matches. But more importantly it strengthened Allie’s character by agreeing to stand up for herself even if it meant taking a beating.

And she did take a beating. Laurel Van Ness controlled the vast majority of the match. Allie had that moment of fire where she unloaded briefly on Van Ness, even picking up a nearfall, and it was brief but satisfying. But Laurel soon rebounded to get the win. And at this stage of the game, she should. Within this world, Van Ness is a wrestler. Allie isn’t. (Funny enough, in real life, Van Ness is the rookie of while Cherry Bomb is a ten year veteran.)

There’s also another thing they’re working with this feud. Apparently backstage Allie may have interest in Braxton Sutter (her real life husband) but Van Ness keeps flirting with him, assuming he’s into her too. We’ll see how that all plays out. Relationship stuff often doesn’t hit, but if it leads to Van Ness learning she’s not all she believes herself to be, it could work.

Up to now, the Allie story has been one of the top ones in TNA.

Hardy Halloween

There were a ton of clips at the Hardy estate for Halloween and it was typical Hardy wildness. Storyline, it was mainly fluff so it was mainly dependent on the typical Hardy insanity. There was a lot of Itchweeed, which is one part of the Broken Universe that doesn’t do it for me. But like any Hardy bit it had its gems. Matt gave a kid dressed as Peter Pan ("Are you Stephen Amell") green beans for his treat saying "No one likes a fat Hardy."

There was also a segment where two people dressed like Trump and Clinton knocked on the door. Señor Benjamin tasered the Trump. After Itchweed asked Hillary about her DELETED e-mails, the fake Clinton was chased off by a Vanguard One dressed as a ghost. But the funniest part of that was these two were just two people in costumes and the Hardys really thought they were actually Hillary and Donald. So these poor bastards knocked on the wrong door and got harassed by the neighborhood weirdos. It’s a wonder anyone would trick or treat there.

The final segment, the only part that built some of the next story for the Hardys, was when a little girl in a DCC (the named of the new mysterious masked trio) mask dropped off a video. It was the standard hacker-esque video of the DCC, this time challenging the Hardys to a title match next week. Unfortunately, they over did the distorted audio and it was difficult to make out what they were saying at all.

Hardy bits are really a "Your Mileage May Vary" type thing. I definitely chuckled at some of them, but there were maybe 5 or 6 segments and there didn’t need to be that many. But again, Itchweeed doesn’t do it for me.

This new stable looks to be a good fit for the Hardys, though. The Hardys need a more "gimmicky" opponent and the DCC looks to fit that so far.

How the mighty have fallen

Last week, Rockstar Spud promised some partners to participate in DJ Z’s X Division trios thingy. Again, we still have absolutely no idea why this is happening or the structure of it or the prize if there is one. It’s just random tag matches for no reason at all. But that’s par for the course when it comes to the booking of the X Division.

So color me sad when Rockstar Spud chose Abyss and Crazzy Steve of Decay as his partners. And then their team loses! Granted, it’s because of the hubris of Spud tagging himself in and getting handled, but the Decay still lost that match.

It just kind of sucks to have the Decay associated with the X Division because let’s face it, the X Division sucks. Not the members of the X Division. I enjoy the wrestlers. Mandrews is a joy to watch. DJ Z puts on really fun matches. Spud is an excellent character. But their booking has been garbage for years now.

So to add one of TNA hottest acts to one of TNA’s laziest divisions is straight up depressing. I was OK with Decay losing to the Hardys because the Hardys are the hottest act in TNA, even though they really didn’t need the titles. But to see the Decay (without Rosemary nonetheless) then mixing it up with the X Division and losing? That doesn’t instill confidence for their future.

Hopefully there are real plans for Decay coming soon. It would be criminal if they meander in this for some time.

Aligning feuds

Eli Drake and Aron Rex won a tag match against Jessie Godderz and EC3. Not much was advanced here, but it did reinforce that Aron Rex is not a nice guy. He won the match against Godderz after raking the eyes and then hitting a punch that knocked him out, likely because he had taped over the rings he was wearing on his hands last week. The announcers made sure to question why his random punch knocked Godderz out and it was Mathews who reminded us all about the rings.

Not much to be said here. The tag match got the feud represented on the show but didn’t really do much for the Carter/Drake feud.

Backstage later, Godderz confronted Rex about his cheap way of winning and requested a title match for next week, to which Rex obliged. This could be the impetus of the end of the Rex heel turn.

Something for everyone

Grado came out tonight talking about how much he loves Robbie E and asks Robbie to join him. He then runs backstage and changes into a ridiculous BroMan outfit - a pair of tight trunks, a lot of body oil, and excessive face tanner. Robbie E is not into it at first but eventually comes around.

It was wildly ridiculous. I’ll admit I chuckled a couple times but know that such stupidity isn’t for everyone.

Then the lights went out and the DCC attacked the makeshift BroMans, leaving them laying.

This segment had dumb Grado stuff for those who enjoy that. And if you didn’t, you got to see the new stable kick the tar out of him. There’s something for everyone.

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Pros of the Show:

• Allie’s story continues to be TNA’s best
• There was some good Hardy stuff during those segments
• Good main event story that was able to hide Brandi’s in ring work

Cons of the Show:

• The Decay taking part in X Force Gold

This was a pretty good show overall with a main event with a good story, a strong contract signing leading into next week, and more of the Allie story, which has been great. There were some comedy bits that are going to hit with some and miss with others, but nothing that detracted from the show.

Grade: B