wrestling / TV Reports

Csonka’s TNA Impact Review 2.23.17

February 23, 2017 | Posted by Larry Csonka
7.2
The 411 Rating
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Csonka’s TNA Impact Review 2.23.17  

Csonka’s TNA Impact Review 2.23.17

OFFICIAL RESULTS
– Tyrus defeated Eli Drake @ 2:08 via DQ [NR]
– Jessie Godderz defeated Bram @ 4:05 via pin [**]
– Josh Barnett defeated Bad Bones @ 2:57 via submission [NR]
X-Division Title Match: Champion Trevor Lee defeated DJZ @ 5:15 via pin [**¾]


– In memoryof George Steele, Chavo Guerrero Sr, Ivan Koloff and Nicole bass.

– Matt feeds George Washington (his giraffe) and explains that he has to transform back to his Egyptian form. He seeks George’s advice, and then meets with Vanguard1; he’s concerned with Vanguard’s drinking issues. The seven deities have explained to Matt that he may lose his abilities in his transformation, so of course Matt transfers his abilities to brother Nero, who has a premonition. Vanguard1 then teleports Matt to Egypt, leaving Nero behind. The show may have peaked here.

Cody is Back: Cody explained that Lashley cut his first stop in TNA short, but tonight’s not about Lashley, it’s about Brandi. He brings up her “mini-Moose” nickname, and says that in his absence Moose stood up for Brandi while he was away. Cody calls out moose, who then makes his way to the ring. Cody even holds the ropes open for him, and then thanks Moose on behalf of all of the Rhodes family and says he is one of them. Moose says that they have his number; if they ever need anything, he has their back. Cody is not thrilled that Brandi has Moose’s number, and then asks if they are going to sleep together. Moose says he was just being a friend, but Cody calls him a slut. Brandi says she hopes Cody is joking, because he’s embarrassing her. Cody says he’s joking, it may have been in bad taste he says; he then kisses Brandi and low blows Moose. Cody hits cross Rhodes as Brandi throws a fit. Cody then grabs Brandi and takes her to the back. Well that was not good; the acing was poor, and it just felt like it came out of nowhere. Cody should have been focused on Lashley upon his return, but since he’s Bullet Club, he has the idea in his head that he can be an effective heel, but I don’t buy it in NJPW, I don’t buy it in ROH and I didn’t feel it here. Cody as a bad guy feels like a guy “playing bad guy.” I didn’t find this to be a good segment in any way, I have no excitement for the feud with Moose and don’t want to see Impact turn into the Rhodes family drama hour.

– Post break, Cody yells at the cameraman to stay away from Brandi.

– We get a video package on the Eli Drake/Tyrus relationship and break up. This was a well-done video package.

– Drake cut a quick pre-match promo, putting Tyrus in his place, and reminding us all that he’s the star.

Eli Drake vs. Tyrus: Drake tried to attack, but Tyrus cut him off and sent him to the floor. Drake tried to talk himself out of this, and wanted Tyrus to lay down. Tyrus refuses and tells Drake to lay down. Tyrus fired up and then Drake laid out the ref to try and get himself DQ’d. Drake promised Tyrus a raise, but Tyrus refused to shake his hand and offered a hug. Tyrus defeated Eli Drake @ 2:08 via DQ [NR] Drake talks his way out of being killed, the DQ was clever as well.

– Maria, Sienna and Laurel prepare for the wedding, they mock Allie (who is not there yet) and make jokes that Laurel’s dress is “really white.”

– Back in Cameron, Matt has returned in his first ever vessel, from 7 A.D.; he is the king of gold. Skarsgard is no longer dilapidated; he is now a golden vessel that will house all of their tag team gold.

Jade Talks: Jade says the war with Rosemary is far from over, she wants to take the title back from that sick freak, so get your ass out here. Rosemary arrives, laughing at Jade and saying Jade should be concerned with saving herself. Rosemary says she’s finished with Jade, but Jade is not finished with her. She is still standing, she survived monster’s ball (playing Rosemary’s game) and Jade proposes a last knockouts standing match to end the feud. Rosemary accepts, noting that jade can have her dance with the demon; Jade says that now they are playing he game now. Good segment here, these two play so well off of each other on promos and in the ring. I said it before and will say it again, they really need to go all in on them both to really rebuild the division. Save_Us.Coach/Damore.

– Braxton wants to call Allie, but Mike Bennett interrupts him and gives him some booze. Bennett tries to give marriage advice, essentially bitching about Maria and then he drinks. Bennett tries to focus him on the wedding night, but Sutter is focused on Allie.

Bram w/Kingston vs. Jessie Godderz: Godderz attacked right away, hitting a dropkick and then Kingston distracted Godderz and tripped him up on the apron. They worked to the floor for walk and brawl Bram time. Kingston worked in some cheap shots while Godderz was on the floor, but back in Godderz made a comeback, hitting the blockbuster and locking in the crab. Kingston distracted the ref, but Godderz catapulted Bram into Kingston and got the roll up for the win. Jessie Godderz defeated Bram @ 4:05 via pin [**] I am thrilled that Godderz is getting some attention and love, but holy shit the DCC is such a horribly booked stable. Godderz outsmarted them last week, and then not only (basically) beat two guys on his own here, but also again outsmarted them and escaped. I wouldn’t be shocked if the DCC is scrapped by the end of the next tapings in March due to how damaged they are.

– The Hardys teleport to the CWF locker room to win more gold. The Mid-Atlantic Outlaws, the #1 contenders, try to conform the Hardys. The CWF guys want the Hardys to get the chance because the champions have held the titles captive for 12-years.

– Allie arrives as Maria, Laurel and Sienna continue to celebrate. They make fun of her for being heart broken over Sutter. Allie leaves as Laurel tells her to get her hotel room ready. Allie runs into Sutter, and questions his motives, but all he can do is apologize and act angry.

The Hardys Expedition for Gold Continues: The CWF locker room stuff was amusing and I love that those guys got some TV time. We get our clips of the Hardys vs. Mathis and Rage. The action looked solid enough, with a lively crowd. The Hardys of course won, collecting more gold. These segments are fun and provide a break in the usual look and flow of Impact, which is a welcomed change. Jeff rolled one of them down the steps in a garbage bin prior to the win.

– The Hardys then teleported back to Cameron, and put their new titles in their golden boat.

– We get a video package on Josh Barnett, who discusses his history in combat sports and his relationship with Lashley. Good video package.

Josh Barnett vs. Bad Bones: Barnett will face Lashley next week, as long as he wins here. Bad Bones is a German wrestler, known by many for his work with wXw (he also worked the last One Night Only PPV). Barnett used his striking and ground game early, lit up Bones with a flurry of strikes, Bones then for some reason got in some offense on Barnett. Barnett then hit a gut wrench suplex, knee strikes and KILLED Bones with a powerbomb; then hit a northern lights suplex and won with a key lock. Josh Barnett defeated Bad Bones @ 2:57 via submission [NR] This was good, and largely what it should have been but I would have had Barnett completely steamroll Bones, Barnett shouldn’t have sold anything from him here if he’s facing Lashley next week.

Champion Trevor Lee vs. DJZ: Helms is out with Lee, DJZ wipes out Lee with a dive as he makes his entrance. Lee looked to fight back, but DJZ hit a RANA off the apron. Back in and DJZ hits a high cross for 2. Clotheslines followed as DJZ ran wild, hitting a jawbreaker but his ankle lowed him down, allowing Lee to hit a German. Lee then worked the ankle, looking to ground the injured former champion. Lee maintained control, hitting a lariat and covering for 2. DJZ fought off a German, cradling Lee for 2. DJZ hit a dropkick, but was too slow to follow up, due to the ankle. He managed to hit a reverse RANA, but Helms distracted him, allowing Lee to roll him up with the tights to retain. Champion Trevor Lee defeated DJZ @ 5:15 via pin [**¾] Pretty good match overall, they kept a nice pace and made the most of the limited time given to them.

– Lee tried to injure DJZ again, but Everett made the save and laid out Lee with a shooting star press.

– Maria asks Sutter if he’s ready for his wedding and reminds him why he is doing this, and Sutter wants it to stop. Maria says he will never have to think about Allie when he marries Laurel tonight.

Braxton & Laurel’s Wedding: Bennett is out with Sutter, double fisting bottles of champagne. Spud and Rex arrive, they are part of the festivities; Spud is the flower boy. Maria and Sienna are the bridesmaids. We had to go through a commercial break. Post break, Laurel makes her entrance. Maria of course has to cut a promo, saying the same shit she says every week. She demands that Allie come out; Allie is the ring bearer and comes out to her theme music. Maria hates that she’s wearing one of the bridesmaid dresses and Sutter loves what he sees. Maria instructs her to watch the nuptials. The crowd chants “we object” as the ceremony starts. Rex cries, and Maria demands that they speed things up, and wants to get to the “I dos.” Laurel reads her own vows, which are really focused on her and Sutter doesn’t care for them. Sutter says he forgot to write his vows down, and the official asks if any one thinks they should not be married. More, “we object” chants. Maria says they aren’t doing this part of the ceremony. Maria yells at Allie, knocks her down and yells at her to pick up the rings. Laurel of course says “I do,” but Sutter looks at Allie lovingly as Laurel demands he say “I do,” but as the crowd chants “just say no,” Sutter says “I don’t.” Laurel is pissed, and Sutter says he cannot stand being around her and he knows she will make some guy completely miserable some day. He can’t marry her because he’s in love with someone else, and always has been in love with Allie. Maria is pissed and starts to yell again. Sutter says he had enough, he only did all of this because she threatened to fire Allie; he’s sick of her and these games and there is nothing she can do about it. Maria fires Allie, but she says no, because she quits. Sienna grabs Allie, Sutter makes the save and then takes out Bennett. Brooke is also out to help, running off Sienna as Allie attacks Maria. Robbie E also arrives to work over Bennett, and Sutter and Allie finally kiss. Maria freaks out as Laurel takes to drinking. The biggest issue here was that Pope and Josh would NOT SHUT UP. They never laid out enough to allow the dialogue tell the story or for the crowd to come cross as hot as they were. And make no mistake about it, the crowd was into this angle big time and helped make it come off way better than I could have hoped. Their investment into the Allie character has been the key to this whole thing, and really caused the whole angle to come to life during the dire Gail vs. Maria feud. Thanks to the crowd, this came off as one of the hottest TNA angles in years, with the fans feeling genuinely invested into a babyface character. The question now is can the company properly follow up on this with Allie, and going forward, can the company rebuild the knockouts division, which has been held hostage one way or another by Maria for the better part of a year or so. I hope so, Allie is the most over female that they’ve likely ever had, and they have the Jade vs. Rosemary feud as well. With Coach D’Amore returning, I have higher hopes than I normally would.

– They teased tension all show long with Pope and Mathews, leading to Mathews getting frustrated and leaving at the end.

– End scene.

– Thanks for reading.

 photo fe36ffd0-0da4-4e3b-a2d3-b026b341dd87_zps41ef5d61.jpg
“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”

7.2
The final score: review Good
The 411
Overall a good show tonight, based off of the particularly strong wedding segment. It was better than the prior two weeks, Josh Barnett looked good in his in ring debut, while Rosemary and Jade continue to be great. Hopefully things pick up pick up with the new creative in charge at the March tapings. They have things to work off or, I just hope that they have a solid plan in place.
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