Csonka’s TNA Impact Review 9.16.15

TNA Impact Review 9.16.15

OFFICIAL RESULTS
– Mahabali Shera defeated Abyss @ 5:05 via pin [*]
– Knockouts Title Match: Gail Kim defeated Champion Brooke, Gail Kim, Awesome Kong and Lei’d Tapa @ 12:30 via pin [***]
– Lethal Lockdown: Team TNA defeated Team GFW @ 31:45 via pin [***¼]

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* Opening video package.

CONTRACT SIGNING: Not going to lie, the angle still feels rushed and things out of place. Ideally it would have been nice to have the contact signing a week or so before the big match, not on the same show. Borash gives the quick run through, both Jeff and Dixie have put their ownership stakes on the line, and the winner of tonight’s main event will control the company. We then go debate style, where they both get their say. Dixie felt that they had potential again as partners, she never wanted Jarrett to go, she never forced him out and she wanted to rewrite history. Jarrett said that tonight was about the business moving forward, and he knows that the roster wants him in charge and Eric Young jumping ship to support GFW is proof of that. He also said he invested his blood, sweat, tears and own money, the first dollar, into the company. But Dixie removed him from power, she set the whole thing in motion and that is why they are here. Jarrett also KO’d Borash. Overall I wouldn’t call this a blow away segment, but I felt that they kept it close enough to home to please the “smart fans,” but never got too over the top that it felt poorly acted. They found a nice balance. It was a good open to play into tonight’s main event.

* EC3 arrives, and was not pleased with Jeff Hardy’s driving. He then informs Jeff that they got him a gift, and wants him to wear it tonight. EC3 then informs us that he has 10 to 12 cat videos that he needs to watch before he enters the building.

* We then get moments in Jarrett and Carter history.

* We get a video package on Mahabali Shera’s TNA career, time in and then separation from the Revolution.

* Bound For Glory is 18 days away, and outside of Angle wrestling, we know nothing about the show.

Mahabali Shera vs. Abyss: Shera is now a wacky dancing fellow; also, Big Foot is in the crowd. Shera is doing the old “going through the stable to get to the leader” deal here, having to battle Abyss first. He wanted the masked man to dance, that failed and Abyss slowly beat on him for a while. Abyss used the most rudimentary 1980s monster offense to work over Shera, who eventually made his comeback. Abyss hit a chokeslam, and then got the stupid board with the nails on it, also known as the worst weapon in US wrestling. Shera avoided the strike and chokeslamed Abyss, Storm then ran in and accidentally hit Abyss. It became a complete cluster at this point, Abyss accidentally hit Storm and Shera hit a sky high and picked up the win. The match wasn’t very good, not because it was sloppy, but it had no hook to it to make you care. Abyss isn’t hated and did nothing to make you hate him. Shera is not a sympathetic babyface either; he’s just a guy. Also, there are reports of the rumored TV tapings in India and that they want to push Shera as a star, well if that’s the case he should run through a goof like Abyss and then have to go through all of the bullshit in the match with Storm for the big win. If you do all of the bullshit, smoke and mirrors now, where do you go for the Strom match? It should have been better, Shera runs through Abyss, then they do the big beat down post match and have Storm cutting a promo about how Shera is nothing and that he doesn’t deserve a shot to face him yet. Shera’s matches should be short and explosive, where he dominates; then go longer with Storm. You’d then have the bells and whistles, and Storm working a match that would protect Shera’s weaknesses.

* We get moments in Jarrett and Carter history.

Fireside Chats With Ethan Carter III: He of course praised himself, and then introduced the NEW Jeff Hardy. No music Jeff Hardy arrived, wearing a suit with Carter’s face all over it. The fans chanted for Jeff, Carter demanded Jeff have them stop, he refused and then eventually did as told. The crowd chanted a bit more, and then gave up. Carter put himself over even more, in a super dick kind of way, which brought out Rockstar Spud. He reminded us about his history with Carter, stood up to him and called him garbage. Carter then took a cheap shot with the mic, and laid out Spud. Spud would fight back and attack Carter, got laid out by Tyrus and then Carter demanded that Jeff do some dirty work and take out Spud. Carter demanded that Jeff hit Spud, and Jeff refused. Carter demanded again and Jeff finally relented and laid out Spud with a right as Tyrus held him. I am glad that they did this, because these angles die when the face refuses to do nothing he’s told. Jeff HAS to be a bit of a bitch for this to have any hope. Carter started well, but got a bit too over the top with the yelling for me. Also, it’s hard to believe that Jeff “needs the job,” they should play it up as he owes it to his brother/his fans to honor his word to make it click a bit more for me. I hate when the companies portray wrestlers as dumb or poor.

* We get moments in Jarrett and Carter history.

* Jarrett and Galloway argue backstage. Jarrett tries to tell him that he has his money involved, and that Young has also invested in GFW and left TNA out in the cold.

Knockouts Title Match: Champion Brooke vs. Gail Kim vs. Awesome Kong vs. Lei’d Tapa: Brooke and Kim attacked the monsters early, which was a mistake because they got tossed and we had the monsters battle. They kept the Tapa and Kong stuff basic early, doing the big striking battle and going to a commercial. Post commercial the monsters were still the focus, with Kong doing a high cross off the apron to Tapa, Kim hitting one on Kong and then Brooke doing a final high cross to Kim. Brooke and Kim had some good back and forth in the ring, and also picked up the pace nicely. Hey again went to the floor and Kong accidentally took out Brooke when she was charging Tapa. Kong ate a mafia kick from Tapa and was sent to the floor, leaving Kim alone with Tapa. Kim broke down Tapa by working the leg, all four then were back in and we got Kong splashing Tapa off the ropes, and then Brooke hitting the elbow on Kong leaving all four down. The battle would continue, Tapa again went after Kong, Kim got involved and the monsters were sent to the floor and then Kim and Brooke went back and worth and Kim Davey Boy Smith’d Brooke on the sunset flip try to win the title. Overall a good match, they started at one level, picked it up well, worked to the strengths of everyone and I enjoyed it. I think that judging by last week’s effort, and the work here, that Kim and Brooke could have a really good match if given the time and opportunity.

* Galloway gave a speech to team TNA to hype them up for the big lethal Lockdown match.

* Carter is upset and yelling at Jeff, because Spud has a world title match next week. Carter says Spud can’t win, because hardy is in his corner, and it’s in his best interest for Carter to win.

* We get moments in Jarrett and Carter history.

Lethal Lockdown For Control of TNA: Team TNA (Lashley, Richards, Edwards, Galloway and ???) vs. Team Global Force Wrestling (Jarrett, Dutt, Young, Myers and Mordetsky): Dutt and Richards were in for the first three minutes. Then guys enter every two, and you can only win the match when all ten men are in and “lethal lockdown” officially begins. They worked the basic back and forth, Richards got control as time went down and Young was next in. Richards tried to fight him off, but the numbers got to him and GFW controlled. Time counted down and Galloway came in to even the odds. Team TNA had control and we went to the first commercial. After the break, GFW was in control as Myers was the third man in for them. So far and so good, TNA has had issues with the basic booking of the war games/lethal lockdown match; so far the faces even the odds and get some run, and then the heels get the heat with the extra man. It is simple. Lashley was then in to even the odds, and started to straight up murderize people. Mordetsky was the fourth GFW man, and when his entrance distracted Lashley, the GFW team all attacked Lashley and worked him over. We’re keeping it simple, if a bit slow, but so far they are using the formula that works here and I appreciate it. Team TNA started to make their comeback as Edwards entered, who at this time is the last TNA man we know of. The Wolves quickly started to work together, Lashley worked over Mordetsky and then Jarrett entered for GFW. GFW, as they should have, took over right away and were very pleased with themselves. Time ticked down and then Bram was TNA’s final man; well that is unfortunate. I guess Bobby Roode was too busy for this, I mean he has a checkered past in TNA, but who in the hell would trust BRAM? We had the big standoff as the cage roof came down to officially start lethal lockdown. They went to commercial, came back and we had the big brawl and then started to see the weapons (trashcans, kendo sticks, chairs) introduced. GFW took control and Mordetsky tried to get Galloway to submit, but a miscommunication from the GFW team allowed TNA to fight back. Jarrett tried to escape through the cage door, screaming “PLEASE DON’T LET THEM TAKE ME” and that led to team TNA beating the shit out of him, but GFW would manage to make the save. We got the finisher buffet, a double Van Terminator on Jarrett and then Brian Myers of all people running wild for a bit. Galloway would hit the future shock on him (onto a chair) and TNA won the match. Ok, the build to the final stretch was done well and had good action. The final stretch suffered from what a lot of these matches do, a lot of guys doing a lot of moves in a limited place, which gets a bit clustered. Also it didn’t have the biggest amount of drama, it just felt like a really long cage match down the stretch. The fact that Jarrett did not take the pin is also annoying, he was the man behind the evil takeover, and needed to be the one to take the final fall to set this as a final nail in the coffin. I felt that the lack of finality (having a minion of Jarrett’s lose) took away from the ending. It works fine as an ending, but I can’t help but to think with a few tweaks and Jarrett begin finished that it comes off way better.

* End scene.

* Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”

7.0

The final score: review Good

The 411

This was an overall good show tonight, they closed the GFW angle up, we had two good matches, a new knockouts champion and some fun stuff with EC3 (as usual). The show felt easy to watch, and outside of the Shera match, was enjoyable. Now they need to focus on the next two weeks, and build to Bound for Glory.