Csonka’s TNA Impact Review 8.12.15

TNA Impact Review 8.12.15

OFFICIAL RESULTS
– Awesome Kong vs. Lei’d Tapa went to a countout @ 4:40 [*]
– KOTM Qualifier: Lashley defeated Jessie Godderz @ 5:40 via pin [**]
– Non-Title Match: The Wolves defeated Trevor Lee and Brian Myers @ 6:30 via pin [***]
– Non-Title Match: Champion Tigre Uno defeated Sonjay Dutt @ 3:23 via pin [**]
– KOTM Title Match: PJ Black defeated Lashley, Eric Young, Robbie E and Chris Mordetzky @ 15:02 to become the NEW KOTM Champion [**½]

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* We get the opening video package.

Jeff Jarrett Talks: Jeff and Karen Jarrett make their way to the ring. Jarrett is in charge this week, due to Bully Ray being attacked last week. Jeff discusses his journey back to TNA, and says his TNA career is done and he is focused on Global Force Wrestling. Tonight, some of the GFW roster members are here to help put on the show. He hypes some matches tonight, including the KOTM Title match as the main event. Eric Young then appeared, claiming to be the king of the world and God. He’s had an impact on so may things, and now wants the KOTM title and tells Jarrett to book a match between them. Jarred then explained that the KOTM title match would be to crowd a new champion, because as promised, he will not be defending the belt. Guys from TNA & GFW will compete in a KOTM match for the title, and Jarrett puts Young in the match. Young of course attacked Jarrett, but the GFW roster made the save. Some TNA guys then came out and we had a big old brawl. This was a solid segment to set the tone for the show tonight, which is a different show due to the GFW interaction. Although I have no idea why A) the TNA roster would come to Young’s defense and B) why Ken Anderson, allegedly Chris Melendez’s best friend, would rush to Young’s side and not kick his ass after he destroyed his friend multiple times. I get the unity thing, but Young is a psychotic heel and has burnt bridges with pretty much the whole roster, so that lacks any real logic here. Also, cutting to commercial right as the brawl started lacked any sense. Let it play out a bit more.

* The GFW guys rabble on backstage, and Jarrett calms the troops down. He told them tonight is about competition and says that this is not an invasion. Uh huh…

* Royal Red cut a promo, putting over Tapa as the most dominant woman in wrestling. He basically yells a lot, and is hard to understand because he doesn’t enunciate well.

Awesome Kong vs. Lei’d Tapa w/Royal Red: Tapa was previously in TNA, and she wasn’t very good, at all. Lets hope that she has improved since we last saw her. They tried to set this as the battle of the monsters, with both ladies doing the same things to a stalemate several times. It was rough, not that the work was supposed to be beautiful here due to the style, but just felt off at times and there was a bit too much waiting around. They then brawled to the floor and we had a countout in our first “inter-promotional” match. I personally feel that sends a bad message to the viewer that the first match you run between the two companies has no finish. It tells me that I shouldn’t get too invested because I may not get a pay off. The overall match wasn’t very good, I got exactly what they were going for, but I didn’t think it was very good. Tapa hasn’t really improved and Kong still seems to be struggling with her back issues, which is unfortunate.

* Drew Galloway and PJ Black are added to tonight’s KOTM match. I have no issue with awarding some people spots in the match, I just wish there was some explanation (Dixie wanted this guy in, Jeff wanted this guy in).

Bobby Roode Talks: Bobby Roode is in the ring, discusses the craziness here tonight, and is pissed about not being considered for the KOTM match. He then calls out Rockstar Spud. Roode dressed him down for sending Aries packing, and then Spud called him a condescending prick. Spud gave his overcoming the odds speech, noting that he’d stand up for himself. Roode then put over Spud, and said Spud would have never beat him and that he would have ended Spud’s career. This led to a brawl, with Roode pummeling the little guy and choking Spud out with his own jacket. Roode hit the Roode bomb and tossed Spud to the floor and slammed Spud to the steps. He then applied the crossface, thusly humbling Spud. On one hand I get Roode being upset that his partner was gone, and his mic work as always was good, but I felt that this was a completely poor follow up for Spud. He has this really good match with Aries last week, gets this big win and then this week, gets the shit kicked out of him. I was really hoping that he would get back on track, and that they would start something big this week, but that didn’t happen. It almost felt as if they were writing him out, maybe he is injured. Anyway, I didn’t feel this was the right play after giving him such a big victory last week. But again I will add, Roode’s mic work was good as always and he seems to always make the best out of what he’s given. I feel the segment did way more for Roode’s character than Spud’s, and Spud really needed it more. Hopefully the follow up will be worth it and that creative actually has plans, otherwise they may have wasted the Aries match on him.

* I think I would have tried to bump this back and fit in another match, because it’s 9:42PM ET and we’ve had just over four minutes of in ring time and two in ring talking segments.

* Following the break, Jarrett has words with Roode. Roode is pissed that he’s been left off the show, and says what he did tonight was a wakeup call.

KOTM Qualifier: Lashley vs. Jessie Godderz: Lashley used his power early, and then they went to the floor and Lashley maintained control and beat Godderz around ringside. Godderz was able to avoid the spear a few times, and temporarily took control of things. Lashley made his comeback and hit several suplexes but Godderz again avoided the spear. He failed at the crab, and then into a not so smooth finish where the spear by Lashley connected and that is all. This was basically an extended squash for Lashley, who looked good, but they relied way too much on teasing the spear. Godderz has worked hard and looks good, but still has a long way to go. This match with Lashley was easy proof of that, Godderz wants to be where Lashley is but is nowhere near close to it. Hopefully we can get Lashley back on track, he has a lot to offer and needs to be booked better. I know he’s been absent recently due to the Hernandez stuff, but another feud with the BDC was not exciting to me.

* Drew Galloway was discovered laid out backstage.

* Jeff, Karen and Dixie all discuss the Galloway attack. Dixie is concerned about the main event, and says he will find a replacement. Dixie is headed to the hospital to check on Galloway.

EC3 Talks: Carter spoke about his greatness, that he defended the title in a car crash, in Hardy’s own match, and he walked out with the title. He’s such an egotistical, over the top, and at times delusional heel and that is a compliment. Matt Hardy then came to the ring, LIMPING AND SELLING from last week. Appreciated Matt. Matt put over Carter for winning, and then promised that he was not going away and would still fight for another chance to become the champion. Carter then acted sincere, noting that he feels mutual respect for Matt, and put him over for their match last week. Carter then said that these people should decide if Matt gets another shot at the title. Carter teased the match and then gave a big old NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO to Matt. LULZ. Tyrus then attacked and beat down Matt as Carter talked trash to him and mocking him for losing. Carter then laid out Matt with a belt shot. I really enjoyed this; Carter has his role down well and does a damn fine job here. He’s done the “fake out” before, like post match with Spud, but he does it so well that you almost believe him. He can flip that switch between asshole and “hey, he may be genuine here” so well. Again, I really enjoyed this, and it was a good follow up to last week’s match. It really worked so well because Carter won clean, which made you buy into what he was saying this week.

* Gail Kim faces Jade and Marti next week.

* Chris Mordetzky cut a promo about being added to the KOTM match tonight.

Non-Title Match: Champions The Wolves (Richards & Edwards) vs. Trevor Lee & Brian Myers: Trevor Lee has made a name on the independents, and Myers is the former Curt Hawkins in the WWE. The Wolves ran wild early, hitting stereo dives and looking to end things early. Myers crotched Richards on the top, and that led to he and Lee taking control. They had the heat on Edwards for a bit, and then Richards got the hot tag. Richards ran wild for a bit, it broke down and they had some really fun and fast paced action. The Wolves hit the toss up kick and then the powerbomb/lung blower combo to pick up the win on Lee. This was an enjoyable little sprint here.

* Lashley was asked about the KOTM match tonight. He says he can win any match he is in, but he is also here to defend TNA. He’s the man to do it, and will destroy anyone he has to in order to do so.

Non-Title Match: Champion Tigre Uno vs. Sonjay Dutt: Sonjay Dutt is a guy I always felt that TNA could have done more with, and is also a good guy to put against Uno because it allows Uno to pick up a good win against a name that TNA fans know. Uno controlled early, and then Dutt took control and even tried to remove the mask of Uno. Uno countered a top rope RANA into a sunset flip and picked up the win. I have no issue with Un winning, because he should have, but this is another example of the X-Division getting no time to shine. It was fine for the time given.

* Jarrett tried to make nice with EC3, who didn’t want any part of his shit. Jarrett said that EC3 should stick around, because the winner of tonight’s KOTM match would get a world title shot next week.

* We get a Mr. Anderson video package, hyping his feud with Bram. He and Bram will face next week, and they are fighting for Anderson’s microphone.

King of the Mountain Title Match: Eric Young vs. PJ Black vs. Chris Mordetzky vs. Lashley vs. Robbie E: Once you get a pin, you are eligible to get the title and climb to hang it. Pins count anywhere, and once you get pinned, you have to go to the penalty box for 2-minutes. Robbie E is Galloway’s replacement. OK. Black and Lashley got pins in the first minutes over Young and Mordetzky, and became eligible. At 2:30, Robbie then pinned Black to become eligible. Lashley then quickly pinned Robbie as they really are rushing through this. We had brawling as they worked through the break. After a LONG commercial break (almost four minutes) we were back to action. Mordetzky worked with Young, and then eliminated him. Robbie E did a big dive off of the penalty box onto Lashley and Mordetzky. Young would return and piledrive Robbie on the steps and pin him to become eligible. Mordetzky and Black looked to hang the title, they fought and then Lashley took them both out with spears. Young stopped him and looked to climb, but Black did the big springboard onto the ladder, Lashley speared Young off of the ladder. Black hit a 450 of sorts on Lashley (it was all knees) and hung the title to win the match and the title They guys worked hard enough, but I feel that this was poorly booked. They layout felt off, the early parts were extremely rushed and it felt clunky as hell at times.

* Black challenges EC3 for the title next week.

* End scene.

* Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”

6.0

The final score: review Average

The 411

Not a bad show at all tonight, but at the same time I felt it was a pretty average show. That’s not a bad thing, last week’s show was a strong one and this one just didn’t live up to that. Kong and Tapa was the low point of the evening. A lot of the wrestling was solid to good, but nothing that stood out like last week. The Wolves vs. Lee and Myers was the highlight of the night in the ring, but it wasn’t exactly a must see match. The booking leading to the KOTM match felt odd, as we had one qualifier and then the rest of the guys were just given a spot. If that was the case, just give Lashley (a former TNA champion a spot) like the others and give more time to Uno vs. Dutt or the main event, both really could have used the time. Don’t make it more difficult than it needs to be. I also worry about Spud, after such a big win last week, I am not sure that I have faith in creative to follow up with him. They did set the stage for next week’s matches, which is appreciated, so I hope that this was just a case of setting the stage to deliver something really good next week. I’d say the highlight of the night was the EC3 promo segment, that was something I really enjoyed.