SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
Intro: Continuing a string of live Impact broadcasts emanating from Canada, Impact opened the show this week with an in-ring promo by Matt Hardy. The Hardys lost the TNA Tag Team Championship to the Nemeth brothers, TNA World Champion Nic, and his brother Ryan.
FEUD: THE NEMETHS vs. THE HARDYS
Matt Hardy entered the Impact Zone to declare that he and his brother Jeff would be going after the TNA Tag Team Titles again, and accused the Nemeths of the backstage attack of Jeff Hardy last week. Matt Hardy declared that he and his brother “will not die”. The Nemeth’s interrupted Matt’s promo to deliver their own promo. Nic Nemeth admonished fans for bothering him while he eats “surf & turf, no big deal”. Nic Nemeth claimed that the Nemeths were not responsible for the attack on Jeff Hardy. Matt Hardy attacked the Nemeths who used their numbers to gain the advantage.
Breakdown: The opening segment to Impact this week was not very awe-inspiring. Matt Hardy accusing the Nemeths of attacking Jeff makes storyline sense, but this feud feels long in the tooth, to me.
Grade: C
BACKSTAGE WITH TREY MIGUEL
Trey Miguel cut a good promo backstage declaring why he intended to defeat Jason Hotch to earn a shot at Mustafa Ali’s International Championship.
Breakdown: Trey Miguel’s first significant mic work since returning went pretty well in this backstage segment and a Jason Hotch-Trey Miguel match for the #1 Contendership to Ali’s International Championship makes sense and should make for a good match.
Grade: B+
BACKSTAGE WITH ELAYNA BLACK, INTERRUPTED BY M BY ELEGANCE/ELEGANCE BRAND
Elayna Black continued to exhibit her agony of defeat in the wake of her loss against Xia Brookside at Lockdown. After a good promo last week, Black was interrupted in this segment by the newly crowned inaugural Knockouts Television Champion M By Elegance and the rest of Elegance Brand. M By Elegance ducked a match against Black, volunteering Heather By Elegance for the match, who seemed displeased.
Breakdown: I was not a big fan of this segment. I am enjoying Elayna Black selling the agony of defeat from her Lockdown loss against Brookside, but M By Elegance was bad here and the segment diminished Elayna Black to some degree.
Grade: D
AJ FRANCIS (w/EXPRESSIONS) vs. BRENT OAKLEY
AJ Francis defeated Elijah at Lockdown and this segment seemed to be a bit of an re-introduction of the character to the audience. After a quick squash match and victory for Francis, he challenged Avery Styles, claiming to be the “greatest AJ to set foot in an TNA ring. Santino Marella entered the Impact Zone to make Avery Styles’ debut match against AJ Francis. Before the match could be made official, Frankie Kazarian interjected and insisted that Styles was not ready to take the match against Francis
Breakdown: The ongoing storyline of Avery Styles being “mentored” by Frankie Kazarian is working for me right now. There are several ways this could go. Francis being rejected in challenging Styles makes him look goofy but I think it makes sense that Kazarian would be the first official feud for Avery Styles in TNA.
Grade: B
ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW…
Check out the latest episode of “Destination Impact” with Zac Clarke and Jerud Buhagiar, part of the PWTorch Dailycast line-up: CLICK HERE to stream (or search “pwtorch” on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or any other iOS or Android app to subscribe free)
HARLEY HUDSON & INDI HARTWELL vs. XIA BROOKSIDE & ZOEY SERRANO
Ahead of this tag match, Daria Rae joined the commentary team, who called Zoey Serrano “the most talented female wrestler in all of professional wrestling”. Indi Hartwell is being built up as a potential challenger to dethrone Brookside as TNA Knockouts World Champion and this tag match is a good way to introduce Serrano in the ring. Early in the match, Brookside & Serrano displayed some dysfunction and Serrano attacked a fan in the audience. After some back and forth action, Indi Hartwell secured a victory over Xia Brookside, forcing her to tap out to some sort of arm bar maneuver.
Breakdown: What a mess. Zoey Serrano’s debut match did not do much to get her over. Furthermore, booking the world champion to tap out to Hartwell, with a submission that did not look very good, was interesting. On the surface, I liked the construction of this tag match, but it may have been a better route to get Serrano a victory against a lesser talent. I like the perceived elevation of Harley Hudson, and clearly TNA is gearing up to give a big push to Indi Hartwell, so there are some positives here.
Grade: B
INJURY REPORT
Jeff Hardy is not medically cleared to compete after the backstage attack last week. Mustafa Ali is still out of action due to the punctured lung suffered at Lockdown.
Breakdown: TNA got back to presenting the Injury Report in a more believable way this week.
Grade: B
RYAN NEMETH TAKEN OUT BACKSTAGE
In similar fashion to Jeff Hardy last week, and a number of other wrestlers over the last few weeks, Ryan Nemeth was found beaten down backstage.
Breakdown: The ongoing mystery attack story line is in dire need of advancement or a reveal of some sort, very soon, in my opinion. More and more, I fear the payoff will not be overly satisfying.
Grade: C
BOUND FOR GLORY X-DIVISION CHAMPIONSHIP QUALIFIER
KC NAVARRO vs. JOE ALONZO
Leon Slater joined the commentary team for this match as the former X-Division Champion. Slater chose to use Option C, cashing in the X-Division Title for a shot at Nic Nemeth’s TNA World Championship at Bound For Glory. Joe Alonzo claimed Leon Slater relinquished the X-Division Title to avoid wrestling Alonzo. After a series of spots on the outside of the ring, Navarro took a nasty bump on the floor, landing awkwardly on his right leg, allowing Joe Alonzo to take over. After a solid match, Navarro overcame Alonzo to advance to the X-Division Title match at Bound For Glory.
Breakdown: I enjoyed this segment and match. I was not familiar with Joe Alonzo when he was signed by TNA, but I thought he was impressive both on the mic and in the ring. Navarro-Alonzo had good chemistry in the ring, and I am looking at Navarro as a likely candidate to be the next X-Division Champion.
Grade: A
BACKSTAGE WITH FABIAN AICHNER
Fabian Aichner congratulated Navarro on his victory and advancement to the X-Division Title match at Bound For Glory, and also declared that he, Aichner, would be the next X-Division Champion after winning his qualifying match next week.
Breakdown: I have been very critical of TNA’s booking of Fabian Aichner since he joined the promotion. He has made the most of every appearance, whether in the ring, or with the limited mic time he has been given. TNA has another problem on their hands with this X-Division Title match that will feature several competitors who are all in need of a victory.
Grade: A
TNA KNOCKOUTS TAG TEAM TITLE OPEN CHALLENGE
ALLIE & KIERRA HOGAN {c} vs. VIPRESS & SHAZZA MCKENZIE
Allie and Rosemary won the tag titles from Elegance Brand at Slammiversary. Rosemary sustained an injury leading to Kierra Hogan’s return at Lockdown, to join Allie and retain the Knockouts Tag Team titles. The new team of Hogan & Allie held an open challenge that was apparently answered by the team of Vipress & Shazza Mckenzie. Vipress & Mckenzie were defeated in relatively short order; Allie & Hogan retaining the tag titles. As the segment came to a close, Tom Hannifan wondered who would be next to step up to challenge the Knockouts Tag Team Champions.
Breakdown: I thought the concept of an open challenge is that the champions’ challenge is answered by wrestlers who enter the ringside area, but in this incarnation, the challengers, who were enhancement talents, were already in the ring for the match. I found that odd as it would make perfect sense to just have a non-title match here. TNA is in dire need of more depth in the Knockouts division to build up its subdivisions, and commentary making note of that gives me hope that some changes are coming.
Grade: C
BACKSTAGE WITH DARIA RAE & INDI HARTWELL
Indi Hartwell made the case to Daria Rae that she should be the #1 Contender for the Knockouts World Championship, but Rae announced that Gabby Forza was the next challenger for Brookside’s title.
Breakdown: The continued bickering between Indi and Rae at times feels very played out already. Rae’s preposterous naming of Gabby Forza as the #1 Contender to Brookside’s title is an obvious pursuit of heat, and though it is designed to make the viewer want to see Indi get her shot, it makes the World Title feel less important in the meantime.
Grade: D
BACKSTAGE WITH RICKY SOSA
Ricky Sosa gave a promo detailing his own agony of defeat since coming up short in Lethal Lockdown and in a shot for the tag titles teaming with Leon Slater against the Nemeths last week. Sosa was interrupted by The System here who gave generic reasons as to why Sosa should not get in their way. Elijah, who defeated Bear Bronson last week, and was subsequently attacked by The System, stepped into the segment to counter The System.
Breakdown: Ricky Sosa has been one of the hottest young acts in TNA for a few months now but has suffered several defeats lately. I have been very critical of TNA having Sosa come up on the losing side so many times in recent weeks, and I fear what life for Sosa will be like if he is destined to be mixed into the System-vortex for the next several months.
Grade: C
DUTCH (w/ VINCENT) vs. BDE (w/ RICH SWANN)
The Righteous have been focused on recruitment and expansion of their ranks lately. They set their sights on BDE and defeated BDE & Rich Swann at Lockdown. On Impact this week, Dutch sought to convince BDE to join The Righteous through a head to head contest. Before the match, Vincent offered BDE the chance to get his first singles victory in TNA by having Dutch lay down for him. BDE declined the offer, attacking Dutch. Dutch controlled much of the match early on with BDE scoring a hope spot shortly before being defeated by Dutch. After the match, Vincent attacked Rich Swann, and Dutch carried BDE away to end the segment.
Breakdown: I assume this angle is leading to BDE being brainwashed by The Righteous. BDE does not seem to be the best fit for The Righteous, but that looks to be the direction for now. I would like to note that I do feel the tag division needs more acts, so if this is serving as an eventual elevation of BDE, or the BDE/Swann pairing, then I’ll be patient with it.
Grade: B
BACKSTAGE WITH MILA MOORE AND JOHN SKYLER
John Skyler appeared to be asking Mila Moore on a date when she was distracted by an apparent phone call with Mustafa Ali. Moore mentioned Agent Zero as the segment ended.
#1 CONTENDERS FOR INTERNATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
TREY MIGUEL vs. JASON HOTCH
Jason Hotch’s brief reign as International Champion ended at Lockdown, when Mustafa Ali defeated him to regain the title. Trey Miguel also returned from injuries recently and set his sights on the International Championship and Ali. Hotch and Miguel faced off this week to determine Ali’s next challenger. The two wrestlers began displaying their athleticism early in the match with some fast, back and forth action. The match settled into some mat work and submissions at the midpoint, with Miguel controlling most of the action. The two wrestlers effectively got the fans into the match with a series of athletic exchanges. Ruining a good main event match, Special Agent Zero interfered in the match, leading to a draw, essentially.
Breakdown: The fans were not rewarded for getting so into this match. Miguel and Hotch worked well together, and I was curious how they would book this. The epidemic of bad finishes in pro wrestling continues. I cannot imagine being a ticket purchaser and not getting a finish to this match. The action was good, though. I predict Miguel comes out of the feud with the International Title after a triple threat match at Bound For Glory.
Grade: C
BACKSTAGE WITH MATT HARDY & NIC NEMETH, SANTINO MAKES THE MATCH
Breakdown: The mystery attacker angle struck Ryan Nemeth, but Matt Hardy’s rage was still focused on Nick Nemeth. TNA has made it a recent habit to return to storylines after cooling them off for a couple weeks and that continued here. Matt Hardy came across as delusional and not very likable, and Nemeth is just Nemeth. Perhaps TNA thinks they will hot shot a ratings increase by booking this Hardy-Nemeth match for the TNA World Title, but it is not very compelling to me.
Grade: C
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.