Impact
Wrestling
Date: September 16,
2014
Location: Manhattan
Center, New York City, New York
Commentators: Mike
Tenay, Taz
Reviewed by Tommy Hall
This is the No
Surrender special, which doesn't really need to exist as we're only a
few weeks away from Bound For Glory. The card is fairly stacked
though as we have a ladder match to continue the Tag Team Title
series and Bobbly Lashley defending against Bobby Roode. Maybe we'll
even start building up the biggest show of the year. Let's get to
it.
We open with a recap of
the tag team series. The Hardys and Team 3D have won a match each
and the first team to two wins are the Tag Team Champions.
Battle Royal
Taryn
Terrell, Madison Rayne, Angelina
Love, Velvet Sky, Rebel, Brittany, Havok
The winner gets a title
shot at some point in the future. Havok destroys everyone in sight
to start so the rest of the girls try to gang up on her. That goes
as well as you would expect it to and Havok puts on Madison and Taryn
in succession. The Beautiful People work together against Brittany
and Rebel but Havok puts Brittany out. Rebel low bridges Angelina to
the floor, leaving Rebel, Havok and Velvet. Rebel goes to the middle
rope but gets shoved out onto the steps for the elimination. Velvet
tries some kicks and a sleeper but Havok snapmares her over and slams
Sky to the floor for the win at 6:00.
Rating: D+.
This was your usual battle royal but they did a great job at making
Havok look dominant. She sold the big beatdown a little bit but not
enough that she stopped looking like a monster. The division has
needed a new story for a long time and this might be just what it
needed.
Gunner tells Samuel
Shaw that his foot is fine and suggests that Shaw ask Brittany out.
Shaw says he can't because he's fixated on someone else. It's going
to be Gunner isn't it?
Here
are MVP and Kenny King for a chat. MVP talks about how Lashley is
going to win tonight and the headlines tomorrow will read Roode
Awakening. He shifts over to someone else who has been making
headlines: Chris Melendez. The Wounded Warrior comes out and they
offer Melendez a spot on their team to carry their bags. Melendez
turns it down, saying he doesn't need to be handed anything. King
takes this as Melendez saying he's better than them. Kenny calls him
peg leg and wants a referee out here right now.
Chris Melendez vs.
Kenny King
MVP nails Melendez
after the bell and we take a break ten seconds in. Back with King
still in control and kicking Melendez in the back of the head. Some
right hands get King two and it's off to a chinlock. A legdrop gets
another two for Kenny and he picks Chris up, only to be countered
into a sunset flip for the pin at 6:58.
Rating: D.
This was a squash with Melendez getting in one move the entire match.
King continues to be a hanger on with the other two members of the
trio as he just doesn't do much for me. Melendez is getting a nice
push, though he hasn't had the chance to show us much other than
rookie level skills. That's not a knock on him or anything as he is
a rookie, but he needs
more ring time.
King beats Chris down
post match until Mr. Anderson makes the save.
Video on Roode vs.
Lashley.
Anderson checks on
Melendez, who says he isn't hurt or injured.
X-Division Title:
Homicide vs. Samoa Joe
Joe is defending.
Feeling out process to start with Joe taking Homicide into the corner
and firing off some kicks. A chop to the back and the knee drop gets
two but Homicide gets in a few shots of his own to take over. He
stats working on Joe's neck until Joe catches him in a release
overhead belly to belly suplex into the corner. A snap powerslam
gets two for Joe but Homicide goes back to the neck. He loads up the
Gringo Killa but Joe gets underneath him for the Koquina Clutch for
the submission at 5:45.
Rating: C-.
The match was way too short to mean much but it wasn't bad while it
lasted. Homicide is a guy where I just don't get the appeal. I
don't care for his style and his matches don't do anything for me.
Joe is a decent X-Division Champion and it's nice to see the title
actually defended more than once every few months.
Post
match James Storm and the Great Sanada come out to beat up both guys.
A low superkick lays out Homicide and Manik comes out in completely
new attire to nail Homicide with a frog splash.
The
Wolves talk about how this series is about their legacy and how
they're climbing ladders to prove themselves.
Eric
Young and Bobby Roode reminisce about how insane this year has been.
Wolves vs. Hardys
vs. Team 3D
This is a ladder match
and only the Wolves can't win the series here. The Wolves charge the
ring to start the brawl and an ECW chant already starts up. The
champions send the Hardys and Team 3D to the floor for back to back
suicide dives. We get the first ladder brought in but Richards has
to stop to kick Ray in the head. Ray and Matt both get hit by the
ladder with Ray being driven back into the corner.
Jeff kicks the ladder
into the Wolves and hits a Whisper in the Wind to put both champions
down. We get the required helicopter spot with the ladder on Ray's
head before he just drops the ladder on Richards' back. What's Up
crushes Davey even more but Matt breaks up an attempt to get the
tables. Edwards stops Matt from pulling down the belts but D-Von
pushes the ladder over to send both guys into the ropes.
We take a break and
come back with Ray powerbombing Jeff onto a pile of ladders, knocking
another ladder into Eddie and Matt's faces. Ray sets up a ladder but
the Wolves powerbomb him down for a save. The Wolves, D-Von and Matt
all climb up until Davey and D-Von knock each other off and Matt hits
a Twist of Fate on Eddie. Jeff loads up a ladder in the corner and
tries to jump over it but Ray gets up and superplexes him down with
Jeff's feet hitting the titles on the way down.
Davey hammers away on
D-Von in the corner until Ray slaps him HARD across the back to set
up a Doomsday Device. Now the Hardys start cleaning house with the
ladder and hit double Twists of Fate to Team 3D. Matt moonsaults Ray
and Jeff Swantons D-Von in a cool spot. Poetry in Motion crushes
Eddie against a ladder as the Hardys are in total control. They lay
Davey onto a ladder and Matt holds it up for a splash from Jeff.
Team 3D comes back with
tables but the Wolves bring in chairs (fans: “TLC!”). Davey
double stomps Matt through a table at ringside, leaving Eddie to
climb for the belts. Jeff is right there with him but Davey shoves
the ladder over, sending Jeff ribs first onto a ladder. Eddie pulls
down the belts to tie the series up at 18:10.
Rating: B.
I think we've established that these three teams are going to be
awesome no matter what they do. It's obvious that they're setting up
a TLC match (even though that's what this was) for the final match
and that's the logical choice. Unfortunately I'm not sure where they
can go after this as the division could crash back down to earth
after Bound For Glory. Still though, at least it's great stuff while
it lasts.
Gunner
vs. Bram
They
lock up to start and the fight quickly heads to the floor. Gunner
hammers away and gets two off a headbutt back inside. An exploder
suplex gets the same but Bram gets in some shots to the knee to take
over. Samuel Shaw comes out to offer support as Bram cannonballs
down onto Gunner's leg. Gunner comes back with a clothesline and
some headbutts, but his knee gives out on a powerbomb attempt. Shaw
comes in and accidentally hits Gunner again, giving Bram the pin at
4:08.
Rating: C-.
This was a decent power brawl as both guys can work a similar style
well enough. I'm not sure where this story with Shaw and Gunner is
going, but I have a bad feeling it might be Gunner as Shaw's latest
obsession. Shaw has outlived his usefulness at this point as the
insanity has basically been written off, leaving him as just kind of
odd. He's nothing special in the ring either so I'm not sure why
he's still around.
Gail Kim is ready for
Havok.
TNA World Title:
Lashley vs. Bobby Roode
Lashley is defending
and I'll only refer to Roode as Bobby. The champion shoves him down
to start and leapfrogs over Roode with ease. Roode clotheslines him
out to the floor to get himself a breather but MVP trips Bobby up to
change control again. Things backfire though as the referee ejects
MVP as we take a break.
Back with Roode not
being able to get a fisherman's suplex due to his back. He holds his
back and screams, prompting Tenay to say “I'm sensing his back is
hurt!” Lashley throws him across the ring but gets caught in the
Crossface until King makes the save. Eric Young comes out to deal
with King and the Crossface goes on again. Lashley powers out with
relative ease and there's the spear for a very close two. The shock
on Lashley's face at the kickout is good stuff.
A quick Roode Bomb gets
two and both guys are spent. They slug it out until Roode grabs a
spinebuster for two. The powerslam gets two for Lashley and he has
nothing left. Roode gets back up and Roode Bombs Lashley over the
top and out to the floor for a big crash. Back in and Lahley slams
Roode off the top but Roode jumps over the spear. He injures his leg
though and can't Roode Bomb the champ, setting up the second spear to
retain Lashley's title at 17:07.
Rating: B.
The match got better as it went on, but who in the world is left for
Lashley to fight? There are three shows left before Bound For Glory
and Lashley has cleaned out the entire main event scene. I'm really
not sure who they're going to put him against at the show unless he's
going to fight some guy from Wrestle-1 that maybe five American fans
have heard of. The match was good stuff here and probably could have
headlined Bound For Glory.
A
quick video for next week announces MVP vs. Robbie E vs. Magnus vs.
Abyss vs. Austin Aries for a future World Title shot, though no date
is given. Only MVP and Aries come off as good challengers there and
MVP vs. Lashley would be one of the weakest main events I could think
of.
Overall Rating: B.
This was one of the best shows they've had in a long time with two
long and good matches and nothing really bad. Impact is actually
really entertaining right now and easy stuff to sit through as
they've cut out most of the stupid stuff and just let the wrestling
act for itself. That being said, they're running out of time before
the PPV and we only have a few matches even penciled in. The build
is going to be weak at best and that's not good when the show is
already in a weird place due to not airing live in America. Really
solid show this week.
Results
Havok won a battle
royal last eliminating Velvet Sky
Chris Melendez b. Kenny
King – Sunset flip
Samoa Joe b. Homicide –
Koquina Clutch
Wolves b. Team 3D and
Hardys – Edwards pulled down the title belts
Bram b. Gunner – Pin
after Samuel Shaw accidentally hit Gunner
Lashley b. Bobby Roode
– Spear
Remember to check out my website at kbwrestlingreviews.com and head over to my Amazon author page with wrestling books for under $4 at:
http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6
Cool. Will give this a listen shortly
ReplyDeleteHaven't been watching Impact, but judging from these reviews they've been putting on good shows, but the only fault I see with the programming is that TNA is doing nothing to build up long term or draw money in the long run.
ReplyDeleteAt this point they have to do their best to stay around. They don't have a long term at this point so why hold anything back?
ReplyDeleteI'm really glad you survived the purge! I mostly follow TNA through your recaps. It sounds a lot better lately.
ReplyDeleteHomicide was a fun wrestler 10 years ago. Now he's just an unmotivated slug. He sucks now. His feuds with Daniel Bryan in ROH were epic, though.
Oh that exlains it. Was wondering why he was burying Homicide in his review because Homicide could go when he was motivated.
ReplyDeleteI liked their match at Final Battle 2004.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, I can't stand most strong style wrestlers. It comes off as an excuse to not sell and be way stiffer than necessary.