Impact
Wrestling
Date:
February 13, 2015
Location:
SSE Hydro, Glasgow, Scotland
Attendance:
1,500
Commentators:
Josh Matthews, Taz
Reviewed by Tommy Hall
We're
back in the UK this week for the first of several taped shows. This
tour usually results in some very high energy shows with the crowd
eating up whatever TNA gives them. For once that seems more deserved
as these recent shows have been a lot more entertaining and well put
together than some of the last ones on Spike. Tonight is about the
fallout from Lockdown so let's get to it.
We
open with a recap of Lashley saying he wouldn't team with Angle until
he changed his mind a week later and helped his team win Lethal
Lockdown.
The
BDC arrived earlier, now in matching gear. MVP tells them to forget
what happened last week because it's time to show everyone what they
do. Eric Young is here and I'm just going to start calling him a
member of the team. The only reason he isn't at this point is TNA
said he wasn't, but it's close enough so yeah he's a member of the
team.
Here's
Angle to open the show. He's usually been on his own, but he has to
thank Gunner and Aries for helping him last week. The BDC wants to
say they control the World Title, but the best wrestler in the world
controls that title. Angle invites Lashley out here right now and
they shake hands. Lashley says he was there to get his hands on MVP,
not to help Angle. That's fine with Angle, because he wants to be
World Champion again. It actually has been a very long time.
Before
the champ can say anything, here's the BDC to interrupt. MVP says
last week's pin in Lethal Lockdown is stripped from the record books
for some reason so now and it's time for one of those two to get a
beat down. Lashley cuts MVP off and issues a challenge to either two
of them for a tag match against himself and Angle. This was a
totally acceptable opening segment, but more importantly it was done
in about ten minutes. Take notes WWE.
Austin
Aries stops Bobby Roode in the back and goes over their history
together. Roode of course respects Aries and agrees to give the fans
something special. Unlike the opening segment, I have no idea why
this was necessary.
We
look back at Jeremy Borash preventing EC3 from cutting Spud's hair
last week.
Carter
says he's wealthy so he gets whatever he wants, and that would be to
shave Spud's head. Tonight it's Carter/Tyrus vs.
Mandrews/Spud/Borash.
Austin
Aries vs. Bobby Roode
So
they're actually trying to make this Top 5 concept mean something.
Next week there will be a 20 man gauntlet. The first fifteen
entrants will be at random but the last five will be determined by
the top five. Aries comes into this match at #3 and Roode is #1,
basically making this match for the last spot in the gauntlet. The
prize is of course a World Title shot the following week.
They
trade arm holds to start with Aries going to a headstand but getting
caught in an early Crossface. That goes nowhere but neither does
Aries' early Last Chancery. Both of their other finishers miss as
well and Aries is sent to the apron but he shoulders Roode in the
ribs and hits the slingshot hilo for two. Fast start here. Aries
follows him to the floor with a huge top rope ax handle but gets
dropped with a gordbuster back inside.
The
spinebuster sets up the Blockbuster for two but Aries fights out of
the Roode Bomb. Maybe Bobby should have stuck to busting. Austin
knocks him off the top rope and hits the missile dropkick, followed
by a discus forearm to send him outside. The suicide dive hits the
barricade though and Roode takes over. Back in and Aries gets caught
in the Crossface for the tap out at 8:21.
Rating:
B-. The match was entertaining
but the ending was kind of surprising. It does fit the idea of Aries
hitting the barricade, but it's rare to see someone with a top
ranking cleanly defending it like this. By saying “this is for the
#1 spot in something”, you're almost guaranteeing that it's going
to change. The surprise isn't a bad thing though and it worked quite
well.
Roode
says this is pro wrestling. I'd call that a pretty big stretch.
Aries leaves and Roode says
it's time to get his title back. Roode
vs. Lashley III never happened and he deserves a rematch. Cue
Eric Young to jump Roode from behind and plant him with a piledriver.
Of course he does, because where would we be without Eric freaking
Young to take the focus off a good match and a logical story
progression to keep up a feud where Roode won the big gimmick match?
Oh that would be because we can have a TRILOGY, and that's the magic
word in wrestling for some reason, even when there was no desire to
see a second match.
After
a break, Roode is being helped out and Young piledrives him on the
stage. In case you didn't
know, Eric Young is CRAZY.
Here's
Al Snow, looking ancient. He's been having issues with one of the
students on British Boot Camp, which I'd assume has been seen by
about 18 American fans. The fans in the arena certainly seem to know
it though as they start chanting for Grado, one of the contestants on
the most recent season. In
Grado, Snow found someone else who thought he could do what Snow does
but Grado was just another failure.
Snow
gives Grado one more chance to come out here and quit before he has
to give the student a beating next week. Grado
comes out and looks like a cleaned up Louis Spicolli. Snow rips into
him for a lack of respect and heart. He's the heel here if that
wasn't clear. Grado takes the mic away and says Snow doesn't realize
where he is. They're in Glasgow and the people here won't take this
from Snow. Grado's mom is
in the front row so Snow yells at her, causing Grado to nail him in
the face. The fight is made for next week.
After
the segment is over, I still have the same two questions I had before
it started: who is Grado and why am I supposed to care about this
feud? We first heard about Grado maybe two minutes before he
appeared and were given a very basic backstory about him. I get that
the fans live are going to like him, but if you don't or can't watch
British Boot Camp, there's a good chance you don't know who this guy
is. Show us some stuff from the show and give us a reason to care,
because otherwise it's the same as bringing in the ECW guys for shows
in the northeast. If you didn't care for ECW, you don't care about
that.
I
don't care about British Boot Camp, but it's more because I haven't
been exposed to it. I'm not a fan of just expecting the fans to know
what you're talking about, especially when you can clear it up with a
quick package or by giving us some information more than two minutes
before the whole thing starts. It's going to get some loud pops in
the arena, but there are a lot more fans on the other side of the
camera. I will give them
this though: Snow did a great job at riling up a crowd like an old
school talker can.
Craazy
Steve vs. Bram
Bram
pulls him out of the corner to start, sending Steve's head into the
buckle. He grabs the mic and says he wants Magnus, stomping at
Steve's head more every time. Steve's comeback lasts as long as you
would expect and an impaler DDT gives Bram the pin at 2:20.
JB
says he can't wrestle but Spud says they're men and they're going to
be fine.
Gunner
asks Angle if he's sure about teaming with Lashley. Kurt knows he
and Lashley are fighting one day and he wants the champ at his best.
Ethan
Carter III/Tyrus vs. Rockstar Spud/Mandrews/Jeremy Borash
Carter,
sporting a huge brace on his arm due to a recent surgery, is thinking
this week and has cordless clippers to shave some hair. Spud gets
right in Carter's face but Tyrus comes in instead. That goes badly
for Spud and Mandrews is thrown down as well so it's time for JB vs.
Carter. Ethan easily pounds Jeremy into the corner and it's off to
Mandrews to take the real beating. Tyrus plants him with the t-bone
and now Carter comes in to pick the bones.
The
announcers get off topic to talk about the main event tag as carter
sends Mandrews face first into the mat. Mandrews fights out of a
chinlock and hits an enziguri, allowing for the tag to Spud. Tyrus
breaks up the Spud offense with a claw hold but accidentally splashes
his boss. A Dudley Dog sends Tyrus to the floor and......Borash goes
up top for a dive onto Tyrus! Borash looks dead after landing but
still it looked good at the time. Back in and the 1%er is enough to
pin Spud at 6:06.
Rating:
C. Spud
is rapidly growing on me as he keeps getting better and better in the
ring and is nailing the Spike Dudley mold of fighting beyond his
size. The dive from Borash was more cool than anything else and gave
me a little smile. This story continues to live WAY beyond its means
and is far more entertaining than it has any right to be. I know
Spud is going to lose in the end, but man alive they're making it fun
along the way.
Carter
and Tyrus go for the hair but the lights go out and Mr. Anderson
appears to take out the heels.
Gunner
says he's ready for the gauntlet but gets beaten down by the BDC.
Here's
Madison to talk about something. Before she can really get going,
she keeps getting interrupted by what sounds like a microphone being
dropped and stepped on. She says she's one title reign away from the
all time record and no one can beat her. I think you know what's
coming.
Awesome
Kong vs. Madison Rayne
Kong
splashes her in the corner but misses one in the middle of the ring.
That's the extent of Madison's luck as the Implant Buster ends her at
1:24.
Aries
is in Angle's locker room and says he tapped out because he has his
eyes on the World Title. Angle doesn't seem to care and again this
seemed a bit worthless.
We
look back at Jeff Hardy's injury last week to keep him off the UK
tour.
Cue
Matt Hardy to give us an update on his brother's condition. Jeff has
taken a lot of risks over the years and given us memories that will
last forever. Every time he's been hurt before, Jeff has always been
able to give Matt a little sign that he's ok and will be back. Last
week though, there was nothing from Jeff. This brings out the
Revolution so Storm can say that Matt is right.
Storm
did what Edge and Christian and Team 3D couldn't do. Sting, Kurt
Angle, Roode, Aries, Lashley or even the Undertaker couldn't do what
he did. He put Jeff Hardy down because heroes only exist because of
villains. Matt has two options: join the Revolution or join his
brother in the hospital. Matt says Jeff's hospital bed is pretty
nice and the beating is on. Manik puts him in a cross armbreaker and
they go for the noose but the Wolves run out for the save.
Aries
won't say when he's cashing in and gets attacked by the BDC. They
even throw him out the door but are nice enough to throw him his
briefcase. We actually get a replay of it not thirty seconds later.
Apparently throwing him the briefcase is a way for the BDC to attack
Lashley as much as they want without worrying about Aries. If
they're beating him down, wouldn't they be able to see Aries coming?
Or they could just, keep the briefcase if its presence is required.
Kurt
Angle/Bobby Lashley vs. MVP/Samoa Joe
Ki
and King are of course at ringside. Angle and Joe get things going
after a break and they trade arm control to start. It's quickly off
to Lashley for a running shoulder to Joe's ample gut and a hard
clothesline. MVP bails from contact and Joe gets in some cheap shots
to take over. It's off to MVP for a running basement dropkick and
that's about it for the leader. Joe runs him over again and King
gets in some choking from the floor. We hit the chinlock for a bit
before Lashley throws Joe down, allowing for the tag off to Angle.
It's Germans time but the Angle Slam only gets two on Joe.
Everything
breaks down and MVP sends Kurt shoulder first into the post for two.
We settle down to MVP working over Angle before it's back to Joe for
a weak crossface chicken wing. Angle fights out and makes hot tag
the sequel to Lashley. The big delayed vertical suplex drops MVP and
a spinebuster gets two. Everything breaks down again and Lashley
loads up the spear to Joe but Angle grabs the ankle lock. The
distraction lets MVP roll up Lashley with a handful of trunks for the
pin at 10:08.
Rating:
B-. Nice main event style tag
here and it's clear that MVP is the next major challenger to the
title before we get to Angle vs. Lashley in their big showdown. This
feels a lot like Reigns vs. Bryan and it's being done a bit better.
It's a nice three way feud,
but MVP really doesn't need a stable behind him to do this. Just
have them all be guys instead of MVP running a group and let them
have a feud. Still though, good enough.
Overall
Rating: B. TNA is rolling right
now and this was another
good wrestling show. They're setting up stories and seem to be
paying them off. No it's not perfect and there are some tweeks that
need to be made, but I'm very pleased with what I'm getting at the
moment. If nothing else,
they're not cramming 19 segments on one story into a show and are
spreading things around a good bit. That
being said, I've thought this before and TNA has managed to screw it
up like no other. Hopefully
it lasts a good while though as this has been very entertaining
lately.
Results
Bobby
Roode b. Austin Aries – Crossface
Bram
b. Craazy Steve – Impaler DDT
Tyrus/Ethan
Carter III b. Rockstar Spud/Mandrews/Jeremy Borash – 1%er to Spud
Awesome
Kong b. Madison Rayne – Implant Buster
MVP/Samoa
Joe b. Lashley/Kurt Angle – Rollup with a handful of trunks
Remember to check out my website at kbwrestlingreviews.com and head over to my Amazon author page with wrestling books for under $4 at:
Al Snow Calls Out British Boot Camp 2 Contestant Grado http://youtu.be/PITuhi3TzDA
ReplyDeleteSeemed like a good heated segment, but yeah, they should have at least showed clips from the Bootcamp show before doing this angle because it just came out of nowhere.
Sheeeeeeeeit fellas.
ReplyDeleteI might have to check this out. I really didn't like the first two shows much, but I should give it another go based on this.
ReplyDeleteAre you watching Boot Camp Tom?
ReplyDeleteMost of my wrestling viewing comes from watching 5 minute clips, but no haven't even watched a single clip from that show. Have you watched it, do you recommend it?
ReplyDeletePlus they're in the UK so the crowd should be good even if the product sucks.
ReplyDeleteIt's been a very nice surprise. The shows are nothing mind blowing but they're logical stories that are moving forward. Given what I sit through with Raw and Smackdown every week, that's a nice change of pace.
ReplyDeleteI saw a little bit of the first season, but to be honest when I saw who they picked as the winner I kinda figured the whole thing had been a waste of time. I'm not really in on the whole Spud thing. He seems like a very occasionally amusing character who takes up an INCREDIBLE amount of TV time, at least during the Dixie era shows.
ReplyDeleteI know the more they do it they'll be subject to diminishing returns, but how much does it cost TNA to come over here? Is there a case to be made for them coming over and taping TV several times a year? They always have these two months of big hot crowd TV each year, and then it's always gotta be a downer when they go back to the US and have to turn the lights back down. Why not just tape as much TV as possible over here?
ReplyDeleteApparently MVP wrestles in some sort of Manchester United outfit. Now I MUST watch.
ReplyDeleteEven though TNA might draw decent crowds over here, I can't imagine them making any money with travel costs/hiring venues etc., but I could be wrong. It seems impossible for those travelling circuses type businesses to make money if it wasn't for sponsorship money helping them.
ReplyDeleteBut yeah with all the NXT talk recently and people suggesting they make a different NXT company in different territories, maybe TNA could could do well by creating a indy promotion/developmental system in the UK. Most of the acts would be local UK wrestlers in order to cut costs, but they could send a few TNA guys to the system in order to convince people it's a TNA-lite company or something.
I don't watch enough TNA to say Spud is being overused but he seems like a good midcard act and I hear good reviews about the guy, but sadly due to his size, he'll never be a main event guy, so it's counter productive for TNA to give the guy main event airtime.
ReplyDeleteHoly crap, 1,500 gate is terrible. Here are the attendances for the last four Scotish tours...
ReplyDelete27/01/11 2,600
1/23/12 1,800
30/1/14 5,500
13/1/15 1,500
Being outdrawn by ICW...
TNA needs to create a Scottish gimmick where the wrestler likes to drink and fight and be accompanied to the ring by a little Nessie mascot.
ReplyDeleteWhat happened last year that got them 5500?
ReplyDeleteI think they moved from a smaller arena to a bigger arena in 2014
ReplyDeleteWith a name like TNA maybe they thought they were going to see a live porn show?
ReplyDeleteYou lost me at "Eric Young is here".
ReplyDeleteTNA's jumping on the Patton Oswald craze I see.
ReplyDeleteThere's an "Awesome Kong lapdance" joke here, but I'm not touching it.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of Kong, this is awesome https://38.media.tumblr.com/f0ca1141df4e5f78ca16cd7ae628d864/tumblr_nczq54qFrn1qf7xjao3_250.gif
ReplyDeleteThere was WAYYYY more than 1500 there.
ReplyDeleteSheep don't count.
ReplyDeleteFinally, GRADO hits the screens. Guy's amazing. Decent wrestler, not great, but he has charisma off the charts
ReplyDeleteOh Sara Del Rey, how I wish they would just use you in NXT for at least a short while
ReplyDeleteits on youtube they posted a few nothing big
ReplyDeletei think they're using him more to make ec3 look like a bigger ass before moving him up the card (Ec3 i'm talking about) not sure its working though.
ReplyDeletethose were noisy sheep lol jk but good crowd nonetheless better then some of the ones they get out here especially in the stupid impact zone.
ReplyDeleteDAMN. Who is that dropping poor Kong on her head?
ReplyDeleteYep, this Spud storyline is turning everyone that I hated in TNA into characters that I'm starting to care about.
ReplyDelete