Csonka’s TNA Impact Review 2.23.16

TNA Impact Review 2.23.16

OFFICIAL RESULTS
– Six Sides of Steel Match: Beer Money defeated Bram and Young @ 8:30 via pin [**¾]
– X-Division Title Six Sides of Steel Match: Champion Trevor Lee defeated Tigre Uno @ 6:11 via pin [**½]
– Lethal Lockdown Match: Dollhouse defeated Gail Kim and Velvet Sky @ 11:15 via pin [**¾]
– Six Sides of Steel Match: Odarg the Great defeated Eli Drake @ 6:45 via escape [*]
– TNA Title Six Sides of Steel Match: Champion Matt Hardy defeated Ethan Carter III @ 11:35 via escape [**½]

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– Thank the lord we’re starting with WRESTLING!

Six Sides of Steel Match: Beer Money vs. Bram & Eric Young: They brawled on the floor to begin, and then did the gimmick where they isolated one face on the floor (Bram DDT’d Storm on the floor) and then worked over Roode in the cage. The cage door was unchained, but when Storm tried to get in, he tried to climb to do so. Roode survived a couple minutes of double teams; Storm made it in and hit a lung blower off the ropes. He cleaned house on both Young and Bram, which allowed Roode to recover. It then developed into both teams brawling, Young and Bram teased a spike piledriver, but Beer Money fought back and got a near fall off of a top rope splash from Roode. Young countered DWI, and then they did an every one down spot, which got the first big reaction of the match. Beer Money hit their suplex, chanted their name and then hit DWI on Bram for the win. It started slowly, but worked into a pretty good match, with the right guys winning and the right guy taking the pin. I also loved that TNA finally broke away from the WWE crutch of kicking off the show with a talking segment.

– We see team Big Money Matt arriving earlier today. EC3 arrived in his gear.

– Madison Rayne was attacked backstage and her participation in the lethal lockdown is now in doubt.

Ethan Carter III Talks: Carter sat ion the ring steps and got a great reaction. He played to the local crowd, and hyped his six sides of steel match with Hardy tonight. Carter has wanted the match ever since he lost the title the way he did, and he plans to get vengeance tonight. He also says that Hardy cannot beat him on his own. Carter then say she did have help last week, and calls out a man that used to be a friend, Rockstar Spud. Carter spoke about the match they had last year and their history together. He also explained what he said to Spud before he shaved his head, and but Spud over big time and thanked Spud for helping him last week. Spud accepted the handshake, but said he did what was right, and will always do that. Spud said that no one tells him what to do, slams Hardy and Tyrus and then said that, “this cage is where revenge takes place and where payback gets made.” Hardy (w/Tyrus and Reby) then made his way out to interrupt things. Hardy claimed that everything in the building was his because his brand absorbed TNA. He warned Spud that if he came near the ring during the main event that he would never be the same and that Carter would be embarrassed. Carter promised that tonight’s cage match would be hell on Earth. They worked some very careful verbiage there, which will play into later tonight.

– Creepy English guy Jimmy Havoc talks about Rosemary backstage. She was mine before she was yours he tells Abyss and Steve, noting that they have no idea what they did together. He brings out the dangerous side of Rosemary, and he will get her back.

– Shane Helms and his horrible jacket did the ring announcing for Trevor Lee.

X-Division Title Six Sides of Steel Match: Champion Trevor Lee w/Shane Helms vs. Tigre Uno: So we’re only having this because they have no other X-Division guys to use. Lee beat Uno for the title, and then beat him in the rematch, I see no need for this match. Josh talking about Lee joining deep division of X-Division talent was laughable. The first few minutes were fine, but completely lacked any heat or energy. It got better as Uno made his comeback, slamming Lee to the cage and doing some flying; it finally woke up the crowd. Uno tried to climb out to win, got cut off, but then sent Lee to the mat. Uno headed all the way up top and hit a big high cross instead of escaping to win the title, because babyfaces are stupid. It got a near fall. Lee fought back, hit a jumping knee strike and God’s Last Gift to retain. It was fine. Lee is fine as the champion, but he needs guys to work with and TNA has to be dedicated to actually booking the division for it to mean anything.

– Maria meets with Gail Kim about Madison Rayne being attacked. Maria blamed Kim for her friends getting hurt and Kim got pissed, and told Maria to get in the ring and fight with her tonight to prove herself.

– Rosemary is being creepy backstage and Creepy English guy Jimmy Havoc arrives. He gives her a gift, and wants them to be back together. Crazzy Steve then arrives and they laugh. Yup.

Lethal Lockdown Match: Gail Kim, Velvet Sky and ??? vs. The Dollhouse (Rebel, Jade and Marti): They smartly started with Kim vs. Jade. Hey both went for weapons after the initial battle, and did a double down spot off the ropes. Then, before the next person could come in, they went to a commercial. Post break, Kim was in control and then Marti made her entrance. She cut off Kim from getting a weapon, and worked her over. Jade laid on the mat during a time where they should have been double-teaming Kim and getting a good heat before Sky’s entrance. They didn’t do that, instead went into Sky making a light save and running wild. Rebel then came in to complete team Dollhouse, the first thing she did was whiff on a kick to Sky, who sold it anyway. She got a bit better after that, some weapons were introduced, and when the time expired, Maria came to the ring and teased that she would help Kim and Sky, but she instead just locked the cage, refused to help and left. Dollhouse then worked the 3 on 2 advantage until Sky and Kim just fought back. We got a bunch of kendo stick and cookie sheet shots, and some near falls. Jade then destroyed Kim with a package piledriver on a chair and that was that. The first half, much like the opener, was really flat and they didn’t play to the stipulation as well as they could have. It wasn’t bad, but it lacked. Thankfully it picked up down the stretch, and I loved Jade winning with a murder, death, kill version of her finish. It positions her as a title contender, and the likely leader of Dollhouse going forward.

– Angle met with EC3 backstage, and told C3 that he’d be the face of the company and the guy the others will look up to. Angle said he was proud of him. EC3 said Angle is the reason he got into wrestling, and tonight he is out for revenge.

Kurt Angle Talks: Angle faces Bobby Roode next week, and Lashley the week after as he finishes up his TNA farewell tour. Angle is happy to close his TNA career in the UK, and puts over the crowd and the fact that he won the title here last year. Here comes Lashley. Lashley is not happy that Angle is out here discussing his victory, admits that Angle got in his head, but plans to get revenge. Lashley wanted Angle to be the old Angle so that he could get his revenge. Everyone wants Angle to be the Angle of old, but Lashley says he can beat Angle on his best day. Angle got pissed and said they could go right here and now, but Lashley refused. It was a good segment to continue the change in attitude for Lashley and to build that match, unfortunately it did nothing to build to next week’s Angle vs. Roode match, which is the only real negative.

Six Sides of Steel Match: Eli Drake w/Jessie Godderz vs. Odarg the Great: Drake said he knew that Grado as Odarg, and that he would unmask him tonight and prove it. Odarg ran a round a bit, and then Drake attacked. Odarg tried and failed to climb out of the cage, because comedy. Odarg fought back, did more comedy and then got kicked in the balls. Drake then worked over Odarg with stomps and elbow drops. Drake eventually tired to climb out, Odarg stopped him and hit an electric chair off the ropes. Jessie opened the cage door, Odarg and Drake fought to escape, Jessie tried to help and Drake got his tights pulled down. Shera ran out to make the save. Odarg fired up and tossed Drake around with his ass hanging out of his tights. Odarg tried to escape, he climbed and Drake tried to stop him, failed, and then he tried one more time and pulled off Odarg’s mask and Odarg fell to the floor to pick up the win. Hey guys, Odarg is Grado. This did nothing for me, the first thing I did not enjoy in any way on this show.

– Abyss and Steve met with Creepy English guy Jimmy Havoc, and told him that Rosemary was theirs. Havoc claimed he was crazy and hardcore, and Rosemary made him great. Abyss and Steve then attacked him and rosemary returned the gift (a mask) from earlier.

– Billy Corgan reprimands Grado backstage. Drake arrives with the mask, and says Grado needs to be fired. The Harris brothers arrive to take him from the building. Shake our hand.

– We get a video package for Drew Galloway vs. Mike Bennett.

TNA Title Six Sides of Steel Match: Champion Matt Hardy w/Tyrus vs. Ethan Carter III: They tried to make this feel really important, with the camera showing the backstage walks to the ring for both champion and challenger. It was cool that as Matt walked to gorilla, you could hear the crowd signing EC3’s theme. They talked trash and then went right to brawling, which is exactly what they needed to do. Carter controlled early, but missed on the corner splash, allowing Matt to get the heat. Tyrus tossed Matt a chair, which he used to punish Carter. Matt eventually ran into the chair he set up in the corner, which allowed Carter to mount a brief comeback until Matt hit the side effect. He then hit another onto a chair, but Carter kicked out. Matt would use the chain from the door, Carter fought back and then Tyrus stood in his way when he tried to exit through the door. Carter and Tyrus brawled, and Tyrus hit his big ending to lay out Carter. Tyrus got the chain and tried to lock Carter in the corner, but Carter instead locked up Tyrus and beat him with chair shots. Twist of fate by matt, Carter kicked out. Carter stopped Matt from escaping, they did a big double down spot and then traded rights. Matt tried to use the chair and did as he delivered a chair assisted twist of fate, but Carter kicked out. Carter hit a low blow as Matt tried to hit him again with a chair, they threw punches as they crawled to the cage door and Reby made her way out with the hammer via diaper bag. Spud stopped her and made the save. As Carter made his way out Spud slammed the door in his face. Well Spud did say that, “this cage is where revenge takes place and where payback gets made.” Spud then opened the door for Matt and he retained. Matt then told Spud deserved this and allowed him to get a chair and as Carter crawled onto the steps, Spud grabbed at his hair, and then conchairto’d Carter. Spud has motivation to get his revenge, which is why I discussed the verbiage earlier in the show, it was very carefully spoken. The match was a bunch of shenanigans and more angle than match, and I don’t enjoy those a lot. What I do like is the fact that there are clear-cut motivations from Carter, Hardy and Spud, and I can roll with that. Also, for those that wonder why he would help Carter last week to turn this week, that’s easy. Spud was beaten bloody and had his head shaved in his home country last year, so he waited for the moment where he could embarrass Carter and cost him the most, so his motivations make sense.

* Next week we get Drew Galloway vs. Mike Bennett and Kurt Angle vs. Bobby Roode.

* End scene.

* Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”

6.8

The final score: review Average

The 411

TNA Impact continues to be an easy to watch and rock solid show. At times it doesn’t feel as if there is a ton happening, but they are making some good moves. They still need to fix the X-Division, and focus more on the guys that can help them, but outside of the Grado deal, I tend to find everything solid to good and most of it has purpose. The Lockdown stipulation was fine, as I don’t think it hurt the show, but as an overall product didn’t do a lot to accentuate it. They’re largely playing with the right pieces, but they just haven’t put together the right picture just yet.