wrestling / TV Reports

Csonka’s TNA Impact Review 8.25.16

August 25, 2016 | Posted by Larry Csonka
6
The 411 Rating
Community Grade
12345678910
Your Grade
Loading...
Csonka’s TNA Impact Review 8.25.16  

TNA Impact Review 8.25.16

OFFICIAL RESULTS
#1 Contender’s Battle Royal: Mike Bennett won @ 12:30 [**½]
– Abyss defeated Brother Nero @ 9:59 via pin []
Knockouts Title No DQ Match: Allie defeated Champion Sienna, Marti Bell, Madison Rayne and Jade @ 4:25 via pin to become the NEW Knockouts Champion [DUD]
The Winner Gets a World Title Shot at Bound For Glory: Ethan Carter III defeated Drew Galloway @ 14:33 via pin [***½]


– EC3 and Galloway had an odd meeting at a rooftop pool, they were summoned there and spotted bottle of whiskey. This led to a video package on the Galloway has constantly been fucked angle.

– Lashley was out to do commentary for the #1 Contender’s Battle Royal; in a nice layer of continuity, Pope left because of his past issues with Lashley.

#1 Contender’s Battle Royal : Participants: Robbie E, Jessie, Eli Drake, Baron Dax, Basile Baraka, Grado, Mahabali Shera, Mike Bennett, Moose, and Eddie Edwards. Lashley mocking the rather shallow talent pool in this match was fun; he was pretty great overall on commentary. This was every battle royal ever early on, with Moose tossing Dax and Shera early. They worked through a break, and came back to Baraka and Robbie getting tossed. The final four were Bennett, Moose, Edwards and Jessie. Moose tossed Jessie after he hit a springboard clothesline to Moose and Bennett, Edwards had to try and fight off Moose and Bennett; Edwards went for a RANA, Moose caught him and went to toss him and Bennett was the sneaky asshole and eliminated both. This was every average battle royal, and I am not thrilled about another Mike Bennett main event but it does play perfectly into the Moose/Bennett break up they have been teasing.

– EC3 and Drew drink as Aron Rex arrives at the building.

– We get a video for the Fixer; Tyrus allegedly still works for this company.

– Moose was pissed at Bennett, who claimed it was all Edwards’ fault as he was trying to save him.

Broken Matt Has The Words of English to Speak: Broken Matt has the #1 contender’s contract that he and Brother Nero won last week; it is his majestic key. He wants to save the tag titles from decay with his broken brilliance. Brother Nero then arrived, and Broken Matt wondered why he was here. Brother Nero claimed that he was here to work, wrestle and win for the creatures. Broken Matt has set his sights on Decay, and will render them obsolete. Rosemary cut a promo from the camera stand, claiming that the Hardys rely too much on emotion; they have the tag titles and will never allow the Hardys to have them. Abyss then arrived on the ramp and spoke about destroying the Hardy legacy Steve cut a promo from the crowd, noting that Broken matt has so much to lose, they will shatter he and his legacy. Despite all of Matt’s premonitions, he will never see them coming. Broken Matt says he know who tried to kidnap King Maxel, and he will reveal them tonight and EAT THEM. They set up an Abyss vs. Brother Nero match, as Abyss said that they had history and he wanted to do it one more time, “you broken son of a bitch!” That was a really fun segment, playing well off of the gimmicks. As I said before, I am all in on the feud, and the promo stuff here worked.

Abyss vs. Brother Nero: Brother Nero attacked and hit a dive to the floor, and we went to a commercial as the bell rang. Post break Abyss was working over Brother Nero as Broken Matt demanded that he delete Abyss. This was lethargic and choppy, no real flow as both guys are really beat up. Brother Nero went to go for he swanton, Broken Matt told him to stop being a spot monkey and to win with honor. Brother Nero then dove off the top onto Crazzy Steve and returned to the ring. Steve had a chain, Brother Nero fought back and kicks Abyss in the balls and hit him with the chain for a near fall. Abyss hit a chokeslam, Rosemary took the ref and Steve accidentally misted Abyss. Brother Nero hit the twist of fate for another near fall. Broken Matt revealed Steve tried to steal Maxel and tried to eat his face. Rosemary misted Brother Nero; Abyss hit the black hole slam and picked p the victory. He match wasn’t good, and for the kick off to the feud, I felt that they did way too much and that by the end of the match it lost it’s effect. They still have six weeks to build, and need to hold some back. Post match Broke Matt chastised Brother Nero for being a spot monkey; he wants brother Nero to truly embrace being broken.

– Maria yelled at Allie, because Sienna has a title match tonight and she did not know about it. Rock and Roll Billy arrived, and said he was the one that made the title match,

– Bennett meets with Lashley backstage, the champion politely explains that he will be destroying him when they face.

Knockouts Title No DQ Match: Champion Sienna vs. Marti Bell vs. Madison Rayne vs. Jade vs. Allie: Jade and bell took each other out early, brawling to the floor. Sienna worked over Rayne, Allie kept trying to help but did more harm than good. Maria came out to watch as Sienna demanded that Allie attack, but again she just wasn’t any help. Basically Sienna was kicking ass until Allie tried to “help,” and then things went wrong. They hit random moves, Jade hit the package piledriver on Rayne and that led to Sienna getting sent to the floor as Bell and Allie fought over the baton. Jade took out Bell, who had hit Allie and she landed on Rayne for the win. This was not good at all; the match had no flow as it was all about the cute Allie spots to set up the fluke win for her. The booking of the knockouts has been atrocious, as the focus is all on Km and Maria, with everyone else being a second-class citizen Sienna’s title reign, which had some potential for sure due to her talent and the others they have under contract, never got going and she almost felt absentee as a champion because she’s part of Team Maria. With the Allie win and angle they have been running, I think we all know where this is going, no spoilers needed. The only difference between the Knockouts and the X-Division is that thanks to Kim and Maria, the Knockouts get regular TV time. Both divisions are in dire need of care and attention.

– Rex promised that at the end of the night, either EC3 or Galloway will be Bound for Glory.

– Galloway and EC3 drink and talk about their feelings.

– We get another commercial for The Fixer.

– Allie was excited about her title win.

– More of EC3 and Galloway drinking and discussing their issues, which have led to tonight’s main event. I appreciate the different format here as opposed to the regular in ring promos; it was well done. Galloway tossed EC3 into the pool.

– We see Lashley leaving and he sees Moose. Lashley says one day Moose will smarten up and won’t keep falling for Bennett’s shit. Lashley invited him to join him for dinner.

Eli Drake’s Fact of Life: Drake was joined by the X-Division; Spud, DJ Z, Sutter, Mandrews, Lee and Everett. Next week they will crown a new X-Division champion, and Drake wants to know who they think won’t be the new champion. Sutter and Spud ran each other down, and then Spud called everyone losers. He was rather entertaining. DJ Z got fired up because of how Drake ran them down and said that someone will beat Lashley, and it will be him. Drake said they will have a hell of a match and do flips and it will be great and then hit his dummy button a bunch of times. This led to the X-Division guys brawling with Mandrews hitting a big dive. Drake teased a dive and DJ Z then hit a dive. He ran off Drake and held the title and posed. I am glad that they did something to hype next week’s title match, but it was rather average and flat throughout. I also absolutely hate that “all these guys get a title shot because it’s what we have despite the fact that no one gets to wrestle or establish any real momentum.” Think of all of the time wasted on Grado and Shera vs. The Tribunal that could have gone to these guys.

The Winner Gets a World Title Shot at Bound For Glory: EC3 vs. Drew Galloway: Aron Rex is the special referee. The worked a very even back and forth for the first two minutes and then went to the commercial break. Post break, EC3 sent Galloway to the floor; he went for a suicide dive and was cut off and Galloway pulled him to the floor. Galloway hit the Celtic cross on the steps, which led to a countout tease. Back in the ring, Galloway took the heat and slowly stomped away at EC3. EC3 managed to start a comeback, but Galloway caught him as he went for the corner splash and hit an overhead belly to belly to put an end to that. EC3 again fought back, went up top and Galloway followed and went for another Celtic cross, but EC3 countered into a sunset flip bomb for a near fall, and then powered him up and hit a sitout powerbomb for another near fall. After a series of counters, EC3 ht the TKO and then the corner splash, but Galloway hit he claymore and a powerbomb for a near fall. They traded chops, but EC3 cut off the charge with a flapjack and went for the one percenter, but Galloway escaped and hit the claymore for a near fall. Galloway pulled EC3 to the corner, but EC3 countered him and hit a hangman’s one percenter for the near fall. Galloway countered a one percenter into the jumping tombstone, which got a near fall. Galloway was not pleased with the count, but recovered and set for another claymore. EC3 countered and escaped the future shock and got the jackknife cradle for the win.

– Post match a pissed off Galloway attacked Rex, who was offering to shake his hand. Galloway tossed him to the floor and continued the assault, tossing him into the ring post. He then closed the show by repeatedly slamming Rex’s head to the steps. Galloway feels wronged; even though he lost cleanly, but the loss caused him to snap and give us the official heel turn as he attacked a man who did nothing wrong, Galloway just feels he has been wronged. This sets the stage for Rex’s first main feud as well.

– Next week: An Ultimate X gauntlet match for the vacant X-Division title, Lashley defends the TNA Title against Mike Bennett.

– End scene.

– Thanks for reading.

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

6.0
The final score: review Average
The 411
This was not quite as good as the previous weeks, as there were some highs (the main event and post angle, promo work for the tag title feud) but unfortunately some lows (the Knockouts, flat X-Division, Nero vs. Abyss). The good news is that they continue to build from week to week well; outside of the Knockouts angle, which feels like it is going nowhere, things are going smoothly. This was an overall solid show.
legend