Impact
Wrestling
Date:
November 5, 2014
Location: Sands
Bethlehem Events Center, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
Commentators: Mike
Tenay, Taz
Reviewed by Tommy Hall
We
might be getting close to the end of Impact's run as there are only a
handful of episodes left before their TV show runs out. We keep
hearing about various other networks that want to pick TNA up but
there's never anything definitive about them. As for the show
tonight, we're likely setting up Roode vs. Lashley III and finishing
the tag team tournament. Let's get to it.
We
open with a recap of Lashley vs. Roode from last week with Roode
winning the title.
Angle
is in the ring to start the show and says there's a new World
Champion in the house. Roode comes out and talks about how this is
all he ever wanted to do since he was a kid. Now he gets to be the
best because he's the World Champion. He's proud to be here in the
ring with the best ever in Kurt Angle and is proud to be our
champion.
Cue
Lashley with MVP and King for the big showdown. MVP calls Lashley
the most dominant champion in TNA history but Roode is just a guy
that needed help from Angle to win the title. He keeps talking
though and says Lashley only became champion because MVP hurt his
knee. MVP wants a shot and Kurt agrees, seeing where this could be
going. Roode agrees and Lashley doesn't look pleased.
Quick video on the
tournament final.
Joe and Low Ki say
they'll prove everyone wrong when they work together to win the
tournament.
Tag
Team Tournament Finals: Samoa Joe/Low Ki vs. Hardys
Winner
get a title shot at some point in the future. Jeff and Ki get things
going with Hardy taking a kick to the knee. They both start slowly
until Ko grabs the arm, only to get nailed in the back. Off to Matt
for an arm wringer of his own before Joe comes in for some right
hands to pound Matt down in the corner. The non-brothers take over
with their strikes until it's back to Jeff for a front facelock.
Matt
comes right back in with the middle rope elbow to the back for two.
A double belly to back suplex gets two with Joe making a quick save.
Jeff headscissors Ki out of the corner but charges into some boots in
the corner. A Shining Wizard misses but Ki kicks Jeff in the back of
the head to take over. Back to Joe for the knee drop for two as we
take a break.
Back
with Jeff nailing the Whisper in the Wind to drop Joe next to him. A
double tag brings in Matt and Ki with the Side Effect connecting for
two. Another Side Effect gets the same result and a
bulldog/clothesline combination takes down both X-Division guys. Ki
crotches Matt on the top to break up a moonsault, setting up the top
rope Warrior's Way for two.
Back
up and a Twist gets two on Ki as everything breaks down. Joe breaks
up Jeff's Twist and kicks him in the head. The Twist from Matt is
countered with the Clutch but Jeff Swantons Matt to break it up.
Most people would have just kicked Joe but that's not how Jeff rolls.
Things settle back down and Ki can't hit the Ki Crusher on Jeff.
Back to Matt for Poetry in Motion followed by the Swanton and a
moonsault from Matt for the pin at 14:38.
Rating:
B-.
Good match but it doesn't hold up that well after the tag team series
rocked the house for so many weeks. Also I'm not all that wild on
seeing the Hardys again but they're still good enough in the ring and
over with the crowd so it's not the worst idea in the world. At
least we don't have the potential of champions that hate each other
again.
James
Storm is with Davey Richards in the back and says he wants an answer
in a week.
Roode
says MVP suspended him months ago but now he can take care of MVP
once and for all. He won't hide as champion and he'll prove why he's
TNA's MVP.
We
recap Gunner and Samuel Shaw's long running story with Brittany
catching Shaw's eye and breaking the team up.
Here
are Shaw and Brittany to rip on Gunner and Christy Hemme, who never
appreciated Shaw's artistic genius. Neither of them can ever do the
things that she can do, which include licking Shaw's face. Cue
Gunner to say Shaw turned on him for a girl. Crazy attracts crazy
though and that's another problem for Shaw. His biggest problem
though is that Shaw wanted to be Gunner instead of just being like
him. Gunner calls them creepy again and the fight is on. Brittany
saves her new man by jumping on Gunner's back, allowing Shaw to hit
him low. Shaw puts on gloves and chokes Gunner out.
An
Indian wrestler named Mahabali Shera is coming to TNA. We get a nice
package on his international accomplishments and how sure he is that
he belongs on the roster.
We
recap the opening segment.
MVP
tells Angle that this is all about him (MVP) despite what Angle
thinks.
D-Von/Tommy
Dreamer vs. Bram/Magnus
Time
for the ECW tribute match of the week. The old guys jump the Brits
from behind to start and take over early on. They get back to
ringside for a baseball slide from Dreamer and a beer shot to Magnus'
head. Back in and Magnus hits D-Von in the knee with his metal rod
as the weapons are brought in. Dreamer gets a flashback with a drop
toehold onto the chair. A trashcan shot puts Dreamer down again and
Bram adds a chair to the back.
The
Brits backdrop Dreamer down but D-Von comes back with some chair
shots of his own. We get the Tower of Doom out of the corner with
Dreamer taking the worst of it but D-Von taking almost nothing at
all. Magnus comes back with some kendo stick shots to Dreamer's
back. Tommy fights up and sends Magnus into a trashcan in the
corner, setting up a DDT for the pin at 9:40.
Rating:
D.
GO AWAY TOMMY DREAMER! If you want to go to your “it's not ECW!”
ECW tribute promotion then fine, but stop bringing him around and
having him beat World Champions. Dreamer stopped mattering years ago
and has been doing a legends tour for what feels like forever. I
used to like the guy but man alive how many times can he do the same
thing?
Gail Kim wants her
title back.
Here's
Spud for a chat. He doesn't want anyone to feel sorry for him, even
though he's had to do some things that he isn't proud of. When he
won British Boot Camp, he had no friends and nothing to do in TNA.
Then he became Dixie Carter's Chief of Staff and he loved every bit
of it.
He
would have done anything for the Carters but then his best friend
Ethan turned into a complete and utter wanker. Ethan said Spud's
suits make him sick but he isn't changing for anyone, especially
Ethan Carter III. Carter calls himself a 1%er, so Spud is Mr. 99%
and has these people behind him. JB talks about Spud growing up on
British Boot Camp and says he's with Spud.
This
brings out Ethan and Tyrus with Carter calling everyone in the crowd
a loser. The villains get in the ring and Ethan demands an apology
from Spud but the Rockstar says no. Tyrus grabs him from behind and
Spud apologizes....for Ethan being so worthless. Ethan goes after JB
for some reason and slaps him, only to have Spud get in some shots
from behind. Eric Young runs in to save Spud from the double
teaming.
Knockouts
Title: Havok vs. Gail Kim
Gail
is defending and has a bad shoulder. The brawl starts in the aisle
with Gail getting in some shots, only to have Havok try to ram her
shoulder first into the post. Gail comes back with some kicks but
Havok just runs her over. The bell hasn't rung yet as Gail is sent
face first into the post. Havok drags her up the ramp and throws
Gail off the stage. We get a maniacal laugh as medics check on Gail.
No match.
Post
break Gail says let's fight.
Knockouts
Title: Havok vs. Gail Kim
Havok
sends her shoulder first into the buckle to start and slams Gail down
on the arm. Gail's rollup is blocked but she dropkicks Havok into
the corner. They head outside with Havok missing a dive off the
apron and landing on the steps. Havok comes right back by sending
Kim face first into the steps but the champ breaks up the count at
nine.
Back
in and Gail hooks on something like the Black Widow, only to be
countered into a kind of Samoan drop. Gail gets slammed down but
pops back up for a top rope cross body and two more. Eat Defeat is
countered into a spinebuster on the arm for another two. The
chokeslam is countered into Eat Defeat for two but Gail jumps into
the chokeslam to retain the title at 6:35.
Rating:
C.
The match wasn't bad but I'm just not interested in Gail Kim anymore.
There's almost nothing left for her to do and it's not interesting
anymore. It didn't help that the story was almost identical to what
they did the first time. Havok is a good monster and whoever gets to
slay her is going to be a big star.
Shera is at TNA when
Manik comes up to him. Manik is very nice and asks to hear some more
about Sheva. I'm not sure where this is going.
Lashley leaves as MVP
asks if Lashley is really mad.
TNA
World Title: Bobby Roode vs. MVP
Roode
is defending of course. A quick suplex gets two on Roode and a
clothesline sends him outside. Back in and the crowd is completely
behind Roode, only to have MVP take him down with a facebuster.
Ballin Elbow and a fisherman's suplex get two and we hit a crossface
chicken wing on the champion.
Bobby
fights up and avoids the running boot in the corner, setting up a
Roode Bomb attempt. MVP flips out though and avoids a Blockbuster
before kicking Bobby in the face for two. The Drive By misses and
Bobby gets two off a rollup. Now the running boot connects but the
Playmaker is countered into the Roode Bomb for the pin at 6:55.
Rating:
D+.
Well that happened. This felt like a post show dark match instead of
the TV main event with Roode beating him in a hurry and barely being
in any real trouble. It's clear that we're going to get Lashley vs.
Roode III eventually so this was little more than a pit stop for the
champ.
Post match Lashley
comes in and spears Roode down. He walks past MVP to end the show.
Overall
Rating: C-.
If TNA is about to wrap up, this is the perfect way to start going
out: potential to be interesting but tripping up too many times on
the way there. The wrestling wasn't bad tonight, save for the stupid
ECW match. That's another thing TNA has done to death over the
years: try to imitate some other company in hopes of generating
nostalgia. It works for awhile, but then TNA just can't let it go
and be its own company. The show was good enough tonight but as
usual lately, TNA seems to be content sticking with basics instead of
trying to do anything special.
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
Thunder Force 2 & 4 were great too. And Bio Hazard Battle, Curse, Gynoug, MUSHA....
ReplyDeleteI meant to say IV; 3 is great, but 4 is one of my all time favorite games regardless of genre.
ReplyDeleteAnd I've always wondered about this one...was Sting growing his hair out all through '96 before then turning into The Crow just some magnificent bit of coincidental timing? The idea wasn't even presented to him until like June, after Hall got there, but by March before that he already had a full coif going on. I'm sure he was sick of bleaching & spiking after a decade of it and that's why he started growing it back out, but he always looked kinda ridiculous with that news anchor style hairdo while still being Surfer Sting.
ReplyDeleteThe Nets play HHH's theme when the second half begins.
ReplyDeleteThat was the highlight of the game
What moment is that?
ReplyDeleteKings dominate Denver and improve to 4-1.
ReplyDeleteGotta enjoy this while I can.
Bethlehem being the death of TNA->TNA is the Antichrist.
ReplyDeleteGod, if I had enough lives, I'd love, love, LOVE to catalogue Ric's color choices for big matches. What was worn most frequently, least frequently, and his W-L record. I predict that his worst record comes with the red-tight look--seems he was always wearing the red for his most catastrophic losses.
ReplyDeleteThat's true but WCW did have a ton of useless steroid freaks who quite frankly were even worse workers than Warlord (*cough Ron Studd Emory Hale Jim Powers *cough) so it wouldn't have been the worst idea in the world to have him around as another guy casual fans had heard of and remembered from the Hulk Hogan era.
ReplyDeleteBut then again, this is the same company that gave Billy Jack Haynes and Matt Borne dumb gimmicks that any opening match jobber could have played instead of using their more familiar names to draw at least a few extra viewers so you kinda have to throw common sense out the door when it comes to discussing WCW.
Yeah. Knowing PHX, though, they'd be idiots and flip Dragic for Greg Mornoe or something, instead of turning Thomas and some picks into Horford or whatever.
ReplyDeleteNo, it wasn't. This show needed to be axed around the same time Family Guy fell off.
ReplyDeleteAh, the unforgettable visual of the Four Horsemen literally COWERING IN FEAR OF THEIR LIVES in front of Hulk Hogan. The WWF was truly a special kind of terrible to be losing to that kind of nonsense.
ReplyDeleteYeah...tommy dreamer shouldn't be on tv anymore.
ReplyDeleteAwesome Simpsons reference to lead off!
ReplyDeleteI popped into 411 and shit all over Davey Richards, and the locals are revolting. This should be fun.
ReplyDeleteHe works cheap. Probably free.
ReplyDeleteThis was the first episode of Nitro I ever saw! Growing up in Canada, we didn't have access to TNT, then I found myself in Detroit for one of my brother's hockey tournaments. I was staying in the hotel channel-surfing, and came upon a friggin' Arn Anderson vs. Randy Savage match, plus promises of HOGAN vs. FLAIR later on in the same show. My 10-year-old mind was blown.
ReplyDeleteJust a dozen doughnut sticks and a cup of coffee does it.
ReplyDeletebig fan of Barbarian's 1992 WCW push
ReplyDeleteBig Josh was one of the most over faces in the company by the time he left, selling t-shirts and everything
ReplyDeletelog roll!
Tom Zenk to, guy would of made millions with Vince if he'd just waited his turn
ReplyDeleteNORTHERN EXPOSURE!
ReplyDelete(For the uninitiated: I ain't talking about that godawful CBS show, Northern Exposure was Josh's finisher. (John "Earthquake" Tenta's running ass drop) As dumb finisher names go, that one's near or at the top of the list.)
Because it's Dreamer and D-Von (with Tazz on the mic) of course TNA's hardcore stuff is going to remind us of ECW. But is it fair to accuse any wrestling company that does hardcore of copying ECW? TNA should be its own company, but why is a company that infuses hardcore elements automatically out of the running for being its own company? Why does ECW get to own hardcore forever?
ReplyDeleteEvery company from WWE down to backyard indies infuse some hardcore into the product now because it's a perfectly use-able thing in pro wrestling. So is it the hardcore or is it the people involved that make what TNA's doing an ECW rip-off? If last night's match was Bram & Magnus vs. Gunner & Eric Young with no Tazz in sight, would that still be copying ECW, or would it be TNA being its own company?
Look at it this way: Let's say we're giving the 1980s Lakers credit for inventing -- or at least popularizing -- fast-break basketball in the modern NBA. Long after that "Showtime" group disbanded, we wouldn't be saying that an NBA team in 2014 that plays fast-break basketball is "copying" the '80s Lakers.
The EC3-Spud segment was really good, really simple professional wrestling storytelling.
ReplyDeleteBut it's not the exact quote! IT'S NOT THE EXACT QUOTE!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteThey could be sneaky respectable like last year's Suns if the D continues to hold. I think they should've held on to Not Zeke Thomas but Collison was a great quality, veteran pickup, Boogie is a beast when he's not getting thrown out and Gay is actually shooting like the star he was paid to be. And they have quality wins on the board already that are impressive
ReplyDeleteThe moment we had. The two of us had a moment. Starting this moment, from now. From this moment on, this will be the moment. Starting now.
ReplyDeleteIT TOOK FIVE OF THEM!!! ARN ANDERSON!!! HUUUAHHH!!!! FOUR HORSEMEN, THE FOUR HORSEMEN'S DEAD!
ReplyDeleteHeel Orton does but everyone finds it boring. Fuck them though, cause the Garvin stomp rules
ReplyDeleteClaire Forlani is the shit though.
ReplyDeleteWhat DO we call you?
ReplyDeleteMy guess is there was a heel turn of some sort coming. They just hadn't planned it out yet. He would've beem the 3rd guy, if not hogan.
ReplyDeleteIt wasn't "them." It was hogan
ReplyDeleteUm... Adam works. I don't like being called by anything but my first name, honestly. Not a fan of nicknames, and as I've said I fucking hate being called by my last name.
ReplyDeleteI don't have those moments
ReplyDeleteBut for me, those moments I don't have last a lifetime :(
He's worn the powder blue tights/royal blue pads/turquoise boots combo for most of his most memorable wins in the 80's too.
ReplyDelete"The Game" or "King of Kings"?
ReplyDeleteYeah, everybody was freaking out after LeBron, Wade and Bosh's first few games together -- rumors that Pat Riley was going to fire Spoelstra and take over himself, etc. -- and that team ended up in the Finals that same season. I'm not worried about the Cavs yet.
ReplyDeleteYou would if they were using the same guys from the 80s. Doing hardcore on its own is a bit lame anyway, but doing it with ECW guys is copying ECW, and they'd admit it. They know what they're doing when they're booking it. I never thought Mick Foley vs Abyss was copying ECW, but having Tommy Dreamer doing hardcore is living off ECW, there's no doubt about it. Dreamer isn't there for any other reason.
ReplyDeleteBoy, I really hope somebody got fired for that blunder!
ReplyDeleteGlad I'm not the only one that hated CBS cancelling a good show like Night Heat to make room for that godawful travesty.
ReplyDeleteWhy would a man whose shirt says "Genius at Work" spend all of his time watching a children's cartoon show?
ReplyDeleteWe call that place 'Shelbyville'
ReplyDeleteIf the Barbarian wants you to give him a 5 year contract... You give him a 5 year contract.
ReplyDelete"Eric notes that there’s some stupid thing going on over on RAW, but the Smoking Gunns won it anyway and no one cares. "
ReplyDeleteChrist yeah. Hogan/Flair, Savage/Arn, Benoit/Regal or a 35 minute Smokin' Gunns match. BRING BACK NITRO NOW.
But... Did those 3 WCW matches have uniforms, and time outs? I THINK NOT!!!!!
ReplyDeleteHe's a better defender.
ReplyDeleteRight now LeBron needs to assert himself until Blatt figures out his rotations.
MAKE IT GOOD
ReplyDeleteSince TNA is WWE's enemy, does that make Vincent Kennedy McMahon God?
ReplyDeleteSpud is the best part of TNA by far.
ReplyDeleteMike Tenay is a big ninny.
Was he drinking Sprite more often?
ReplyDeleteWhat a hero.
ReplyDeleteThe Observer's posted this about Impact:
ReplyDelete"The Spike website is listing the movie End of Watch for the Wednesday, November 26th time slot -- the first week that would have had "Best of Impact Wrestling" programming that was orginally talked about for the remainder of the year.
It's been reported that Spike will continue airing Impact in December and this is only a one night thing. However, Spike also said that they have not determined whether Impact will air on either Dec. 24 or Dec. 31. A Spike official said that the change was made because 11/26 (Thanksgiving eve) is usually a weak night for television.
The Wednesday, November 19th show is the final original episode as TNA has no events scheduled in November to do new tapings. However, there are plans not announced for future tapings."
Plans not announced! Mixture of bad and good news here.
Sting/Luger vs. Warlord/Barbarian would've been a hot match...........8 years prior.
ReplyDeleteBadass Pillman:
ReplyDeletehttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v408/drvenkman21/PillmanTrenchcoat1_zps81485cdb.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v408/drvenkman21/PillmanTrenchcoat2_zps2433d42a.jpg
That Benoit, Pillman, AA and Flair incarnation had SO much potential! It's what one of my all time what is stables. Sad to see Benoit jobbed out here but that was pretty much the story with him his whole WCW run. He hadn't even crossed Sullivan yet. Why they gave him a spot in the Horseman and had losing all the time was WCW at it's finest.
ReplyDeletemy favorite of them
ReplyDeleteIt's not breezy if you say it's breezy.
ReplyDeleteI actually watched the Best Ring Gear episode of Countdown last night on the Network as well, and there was a really funny vignette with Randy Orton that I couldn't place. He was in the dressing room picking out his gear for the night, with three identical "Orton" tights, and he choose the blue trim on the name after mulling it over. I'm not sure if it was from one of the shows or what, but it was done so deadpan that it was really funny.
ReplyDeleteOr Brooklyn Brawler getting a cooler full of ice dumped on him.
ReplyDeleteYesssssssssss! Thank you Scott! Did Warlord end up being The Ultimate Solution? Or did they just hire this roided up guy for it?
ReplyDeleteJeep Swenson. Was also Bane in Batman and Robin. I always thought Uma Thurman was underrated in that movie.
ReplyDeleteIf it was Bram/Magnus vs. Gunner/Young in a hardcore match then yeah it would be them being their own company. With two ECW guys in the old ECW territory in an ECW style match, especially considering how much TNA has praised ECW in the past, it's almost impossible to give them the benefit of the doubt. If there hadn't been EV 2.0 or the original Hardcore Justice then maybe, but it's too much for me.
ReplyDeleteWell tbf, Hogan was missing from April til July
ReplyDeleteMakes sense. That guy was so so roided up.
ReplyDeleteYea fucking right, man. South Park hasn't gone off the rails that like Family Guy has.
ReplyDeleteIt was from the doc on his DVD. It's on the network, you should check it out, it's not bad. It follows him around during the build to Mania and goes over his career.
ReplyDeleteas shitty as this may have been, I would like a Raw that uses a good amount of time focusing on a new kind of match with crazy rules and talented guys. It would be DIFFERENT which I would welcome.
ReplyDelete"An Indian wrestler named Mahabali Shera is coming to TNA"
ReplyDeleteBetter hurry
The Game
ReplyDeleteWCW was much better than WWE, but the roster still looked more like 1989 instead of 1995. Funny is that WWE 2014 doesn't look much different than WWE 2008...
ReplyDeleteTNA forgot to announce that they're not announcing anything. :(
ReplyDeleteWhen you can line up $110 million to save ECW, money ain't no thang.
ReplyDeletein terms of main event talent, the WWE had the better roster in 1995. the booking was the thing that made the WCW such a success (for example, as Buster Abbott already mentioned, putting matches that felt like ppv matches on free tv was huge!).
ReplyDeleteNo, just kamikazes.
ReplyDeleteTNA wishes it were WWE's enemy.
ReplyDeleteTNA is some kid down the street that did a backflip one time, and everybody (WWE) kind of remembers SOMEONE doing it, but can't pinpoint who did it and really doesn't care to investigate.
95 Nitro's had they heavily protect Benoit, Eddie, and Malenko. Malenko more so than the rest. They didn't do much with Benoit at the start of his run
ReplyDeleteI feel like Razor Ramon was the inheritor of the random color scheme ring gear, and the last to really do anything with it. He always reminded me of that version of Street Fighter II where you could put Guile or whoever in like 6 ridiculous color schemes. How much could a guy like Ziggler benefit from something like that? Mix it up with some reds, pinks, blues, greens, to really push the show off gimmick? And yeah, Flair got so lazy in his later years. He wasn't even coordinating robe colors with trunk colors!
ReplyDeleteI love when he log rolled Rude at that one Starrcade, and Rude popped up like, "nope, my abs are too strong for that". It was a great bit.
ReplyDeleteThe Faces of Fear in 1996 was a solid tag team that fit over by out working everyone else.
ReplyDeleteTrue, but he hasn't really used that character in a long time. Both inside and outside the ring, his characteristics were so aligned with each other and amazing in 2009 or so.
ReplyDelete