It’s the second show in New York and the main story is whether or not Austin Aries is going to cash in the X-Division Title for a shot at the World Title next week. Does TNA think that the fans believe he might keep the midcard title instead of going after the big one using an idea he created? Other than that I’m sure Bully will be chasing Dixie around the arena with a table in hand again. Let’s get to it.

Austin Aries arrives.

We look back at the end of last week’s show where Ray almost put Dixie through a table.

MVP vs. Bobby Roode

Falls count anywhere. There’s no MVP so we go to the back where Angle orders MVP, still on crutches, to the ring. Roode runs to the back and goes after MVP before ramming him into various hard objects. They head back to the arena and fight in the crowd. There hasn’t been a bell yet. MVP throws a beer at Roode and hits him in the ribs with chair but misses a running kick to the face.

They get back to ringside and MVP knocks him down for some two counts. I didn’t hear a bell but I guess that doesn’t matter in a brawl like this. Roode suplexes him on the ramp for two as Kenny King makes a save. Eric Young jumps King from behind and chases him off as Roode is sent into the steps. Back in and MVP nails Roode in the back with a chair over and over. He tries a running boot to drive Roode’s head into the chair but Bobby moves and kicks out the bad knee. Now it’s Roode with the chair and hammers away at the knee before putting on a bad looking Sharpshooter for the submission at approximately 8:00.

Rating: C. This was nothing too great but at least Roode comes out looking strong. It really would have hurt him if he had lost to a one legged boss, and TNA is NEVER known for having their top face get treated like a loser. Good enough match here though and it’s nice to see a match open the show for a change.

Video on Hardy vs. Lashley last week.

It’s the last night in Bethlehem, meaning we’re heading for New York next week. Tonight Kurt Angle has scheduled a series of title matches with only the World Title not being on the line. However, there will be a twenty man battle royal with the winner getting a World Title shot at some point in the future. Let’s get to it.

We open with a video about how so many titles are on the line this week. Most of them were last week as well but it’s nice to see matches that matter twice in a row.

Here’s Kurt Angle to declare this the Championship Showcase, meaning every match has championship ramifications. He runs down the card before asking Willow to come out here. Kurt says Jeff Hardy became Willow because of the dark place that Dixie Carter had put him in. Now it’s just Kurt Angle, and Kurt needs the most competitive wrestler in the world, and that’s Jeff Hardy. Kurt isn’t asking Willow to go away forever, but just for tonight.

Austin Aries says he’ll win the X-Division Title tonight.

Tag Team Titles: Wolves vs. Bram/Magnus

The Wolves are defending and it’s Davey vs. Magnus to get things going. A rolling enziguri puts Magnus down and the champions double team him in the corner. Bram comes in as well and gets kicked down just as quickly. It’s off to Bram legally but Davey rams him head first into Eddie ala the British Bulldogs. Magnus gets in a cheap shot from the apron to take over before getting Eddie off the apron so there’s no one for Davey to tag. The challengers take over and Magnus avoids a quick enziguri.

Another kick to the head connects and Bram can’t make a fast enough save. Edwards comes in with fast chops to cleans house before a top rope hurricanrana gets two on Bram. The Wolves sends the Brits to the floor for a double suicide dive. Back in and Davey misses the top rope double stomp but escapes a powerbomb into a backslide. The legal Eddie runs in and grabs Bram’s legs in a rollup for the pin at 7:17.

Rating: C. Nice match here but again, the Wolves need challengers to be built up to challenge them, not for them to beat week in and week out. They don’t need to prove how awesome they are and the division is already weak enough. It was entertaining stuff though and I’m fine with the Wolves like this. Just keep them away from fighting each other for awhile.

Bobby Roode is fired up.

Speaking of Roode, here he is in the arena. He talks about wanting something so much that you need it. For months, Dixie Carter made him sit at home and then MVP did the same. MVP sees him as a threat, but now this threat is in the middle of the ring. He wants to get his hands on MVP and doesn’t care about a doctor’s note. If MVP isn’t here by a count of ten, Roode is coming to the back and ripping MVP apart.

MVP’s music hits at about five and he comes out in a wheelchair and says Roode has made his knee injury even worse. It’s swollen so big that he can’t even get an MRI. He’s so upset that he won’t stand for this. Roode comes up the ramp anyway but has to dispatch Kenny King. MVP is sent down to the ring but King nails Roode with a chair. Eric Young comes out for the save but Lashley runs out to spear him down.

James Storm sits down with Sanada in the back and says Sanada will disgrace Japan and the Great Muta if he loses the title. Storm says Muta controls Sanada through the title, but Storm likes what he sees in Sanada. Interesting indeed.

We see the Angle and Willow segment again.

Angle says he thinks he got to Hardy, and that was his goal.

X-Divison Title: Sanada vs. Austin Aries

Sanada is defending and quickly spins out of a wristlock into a headlock on the mat but Aries pops right out of it. A dropkick nails Aries but he’s right on his feet again for a standoff. They head to the mat for the Last Chancery from Aries but Sanada is quickly in the ropes. Sanada puts on a rolling cradle for two and Aries is dizzy. A running clothesline puts him on the floor and but he slides in before Sanada can dive. Back in and Aries shoves him off the top to break up a springboard attempt, allowing him to hit a top rope ax handle to the floor.

Back in and Aries goes up, only to get dropkicked out of the air. Sanada sends him to the floor for a running dive off the apron but Aries counters the tiger suplex. The running dropkick in the corner sets up the brainbuster but Sanada flips out and gets the tiger suplex for two. The moonsault connects for two but an Aries avoids a second. The brainbuster gets two and the 450 gives Aries the pin at 8:26.

Rating: B. The match was awesome, but this basically makes Sanada’s entire reign totally pointless. It’s going to hurt the title even more when the belt is vacated and we have to have yet another tournament for the title and no big name enters it because there’s no reason to care about the X-Division Title until next July. Option C might be the worst thing ever for the division.

Ray doesn’t want to talk about Rhino and we go to a break very abruptly. We get the full version of the interview after we get back, with Ray shouting at the interviewer about how he’s going to talk to Rhino face to face.

Ethan Carter III says Rhino is going to reveal the real Bully.

Bully comes out to the ring and says when he was starting out, Bam Bam Bigelow gave him some advice: by the time he was established, he could count the number of true friends he had on one hand. That brings Ray to Rhino, who he wants out here right now, face to face. He gets Rhino but also gets Spud and Ethan Carter III. Bully demands answers from Rhino but Rhino says this is about the two of them. When Rhino was watching Team 3D being announced for the Hall of Fame, Rhino realized that Bully was a con man.

Ray has conned Paul Heyman and Dixie Carter. Bully says that’s a cop out and says Rhino has been brainwashed. This is just jealousy and Ray is in the Hall of Fame because the people say he should be. Rhino is responsible for his own career and is the only reason he got fired from WWE and TNA. He was hardcore at one point but now he’s just a coward. Ethan says he paid off Rhino because Rhino needs the money. Ray says he’s going to rip Carter apart but gets Gored. The beatdown ensues but Tommy Dreamer makes the save with a kendo stick. You know what the chant is.

The Beautiful People complain about how their flirting didn’t get them anywhere. Angelina says she’s going to win the title back tonight.

Knux says the Menagerie should win tonight because they’re tailor made for a battle royal.

Knockouts Title: Angelina Love vs. Gail Kim vs. Brittany vs. Madison Rayne

Gail is defending. Brittany jumps Madison on the way to the ring but Gail comes out for the save. Things settle down with Gail faceplanting Madison but Angelina pulls the champion out to the floor. Angelina and Brittany double team Madison with Love playing on Brittany’s inexperience to get a quick near fall. Madison hits a kind of suplex jawbreaker to put Brittany down but walks into the Botox Injection from Angelina. Eat Defeat to Love is enough to retain Gail’s title at 5:35.

Rating: D+. I can’t count how many times I’ve seen a match that was almost identical to this one between the Knockouts. They’ve been doing the exact same kind of multi girl matches for years now and, just like the people in them, they’re only slightly different than the last one. These get old and pretty easy to predict very fast.

Austin Aries says he always seems to have the X-Division Title around this time of the year. The title is the key for a title shot and everyone thinks he’s going to cash the title in for a title shot in New York City but he likes to mix things up. He says the division is important again.

Video on Destination X, three weeks from tonight.

Bobby Roode doesn’t care about MVP and the trio, but he’ll be back for them later.

MVP talks about how Lashley is a franchise player. We see Lashley working out wearing the title belt.

Battle Royal

Knux, Crazy Steve, The Freak, Bobby Roode, Eric Young, Ethan Carter III, Rockstar Spud, Manik, DJZ, Bram, Sanada, Magnus, Jesse Godderz, Bully Ray, Jeff Hardy, Mr. Anderson, Kenny King, Gunner, James Storm, Tigre Uno

The winner gets a title shot next week. Roode is now in long tights. Hardy comes out as Jeff Hardy for the first time in a few months. I think I’ve got everyone in the match but it’s always hard to tell. Jesse quickly dropkicks Crazy Steve out for the first elimination but the Freak puts him out a few seconds later. DJZ goes after the two remaining members of the Menagerie and is quickly eliminated. Bram and Magnus put the Freak out and Knux misses a big boot, allowing them to dump him as well. Storm knocks Hardy to the apron and bites Hardy’s fingers but can’t get an elimination.

Bram forearms Tigre Uno out as the ring is clearing a bit. Sanada is tossed as well before Roode clotheslines Magnus to the floor. Storm does the same to Anderson and tosses Gunner as well. Hardy gets rid of Bram, bringing out Abyss to hammer Bram to the back. Kenny King misses a charge at Manik and is able to eliminate him from the apron. Roode and Storm have the required showdown as we go to a break.

Back with Roode dumping Storm, getting us down to a final group of Spud, Carter, Ray, Young, King, Hardy and Roode. Spud tries to chop Ray and gets grabbed low for his efforts.
Ray knocks out Spud and Ethan but eliminates himself in the process. Down to four now. Young is down in the corner as Roode spinebusts King, only to have MVP get in a cheap shot to Bobby with his crutch for an elimination.

Young dumps King and we’re down to Hardy vs. Eric. They shake hands and we’re ready to go. A quick belly to belly attempt sends Hardy to the apron but he comes back in with a jawbreaker. Young is sent over the corner for a Flair Flip so of course he struts along the apron. Hardy is nice enough to not nail him but a dropkick knocks Young out for the at 16:00.

Rating: C+. This was a decent enough battle royal as they kept things moving fast enough that it didn’t get boring. Hardy winning the title shot was pretty obvious the second his music hit but he’s one of the best choices. I have no idea where Samoa Joe was, but I’m assuming this is setting up Joe vs. Angle down the line.

Jeff says he won, bad hair and all. He’s the next World Champion and is doing it for the creatures. Lashley comes out and holds up the belt to end the show.

Overall Rating: C+. I actually liked tonight’s show for the most part, but the X-Division stuff gets on my nerves. It’s such a waste of potential for the division and comes off too much like Money in the Bank. Other than that though we had two good matches and a decent enough battle royal to set up a big main event next week. The show did its job and wasn’t terrible so it works well enough for me.

Results
Wolves b. Bram/Magnus – Rollup to Bram
Austin Aries b. Sanada – 450 Splash
Gail Kim b. Madison Rayne, Angelina Love and Brittany – Eat Defeat to Love
Jeff Hardy won a battle royal last eliminating Eric Young

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We’re out of Slammiversary and Eric Young is still World Champion. However, there is something new tonight to keep our minds off of him: TOMMY DREAMER! Yes, the man who used to be in a big time indy promotion about thirteen years ago and now runs another promotion which sounds like a tribute to ECW (I know there’s more to it than that) is back because of some angle involving Bully Ray at a recent House of Hardcore show. Apparently Dixie has invited Dreamer to the Impact Zone for a confrontation, because Dixie being at war with two groups just isn’t enough Dixie. Let’s get to it.

We open with a package on Slammiversary, highlighting Young pinning Aries to retain the title.

Here’s the Trio to open the show. MVP looks upset and says he’ll get straight to the point: no he can’t wrestle and he’s still disgusted by what happened last Sunday. Dixie cried to the board of directors and probably threw around some money, earning him an official reprimand. He doesn’t care to hear from some stuffed shirt in Dallas because he’s been making this company the best he can. The show is directed by and starring MVP with his great supporting cast.

That brings MVP to Eric Young, who MVP wants out here right now. Eric says Slammiversary was great but he didn’t get to punch MVP in the face. MVP accuses Eric and Aries of collusion to keep the title, but Young says the fans are in charge around here. He doesn’t want to wait two hours and wants to come beat up MVP right now. Kenny King grabs the mic and wants a title shot right now, which Eric is totally cool with.

TNA World Title: Eric Young vs. Kenny King

Young hammers away to start and nails a quick Thesz press, only to be sent out to the floor in front of Lashley and MVP. This brings out the Wolves, Joe and Aries with chairs to even the odds. King nails a dive onto Young and puts on a chinlock back inside. Eric fights up and makes his comeback but gets punched in the ribs coming off the top. The Royal Flush is quickly countered into a small package though and Eric keeps the title at 3:38.

Rating: D+. Nothing to see here due to a lack of time but the four guys coming to the ring was more interesting. Someone is going to have to join MVP’s team soon as it’s 5-2 at this point, but I’m not sure who it could actually be. Joe and Aries are hot right now so they would be the most likely candidates.

Back from a break and the Trio are yelling at the bell ringer, claiming that Kenny kicked out. Eric Young and his supporters come out to make the save. MVP gets on the mic and yells about being God. He’s making another World Title match tonight with Lashley getting a title shot. The Wolves are going to defend tonight against Aries/Joe and another team that isn’t announced. First though, Earl Hebner needs to get out here FAST. MVP yells at him for counting slowly and fires Earl. Brian Hebner comes out to plead for his dad’s job but it doesn’t work. MVP was acting like he had lost his mind here.

The Carters are here and pleased with what happened on Sunday. Dixie will respond to a keyboard warrior tonight.

Eric promises to defend the belt all night long. What happened with Earl isn’t cool though. He gets a phone call from someone and needs the guy here tonight. Eric leaves his phone and the call was from Kurt Angle.

Tag Team Titles: Austin Aries/Samoa Joe vs. Wolves vs. Willow/Abyss

Aries and Willow get things going and trade some headlocks. Austin takes him down and brings in Joe for a running knee drop. Willow brings in Abyss to splash Joe in the corner followed by Poetry in Motion for good measure. Willow gets caught in the Clutch and Aries puts Abyss in the Last Chancery but the Wolves make the double save. Joe and Aries are sent to the floor but slide in to avoid dives and hit suicide dives of their own. We see Tommy Dreamer arriving and we take a break.

Back with Abyss hammering away on Davey and glaring the referee down to the floor. Eddie comes in and a double dropkick knocks Abyss into the corner for a tag off to Aries. The Wolves quickly take Aries down and Eddie drops a top rope knee drop for two. A loud chop has Aries in more trouble and the champions double team him in the corner. In a nice combo, Eddie German suplexes Aries and Davey rolls him up for a close two. Aries dropkicks Davey down and hits a discus forearm to send him into the corner, but right into Abyss.

Aries rolls away and makes the tag off to Joe as things start to break down. The backsplash and powerslam get two on Abyss followed by a middle rope kick to the chest. Abyss gets over for a tag to Willow as everything breaks down. Aries, Joe and the Wolves wind up on the floor so Willow can hit a huge dive to take everyone down. Back in and Davey blocks the Swanton with knees, setting up a powerbomb from Eddie into the Backstabber from Davey to retain at 13:10.

Rating: B-. Good match here and finall something that got time to develop. That’s one of Impact’s biggest issues anymore: there’s no time for a match like this, meaning nothing can really get going. The Wolves need competition and if makeshift teams of former World Champions are how they get there then so be it.

MVP tells King and Lashley to take care of Angle if need be.

We get the explanation for Tommy Dreamer being here tonight. He runs House of Hardcore, an independent promotion, and received permission to use TNA talent. Dixie intervened and pulled the talent at the last minute and Dreamer is upset. He gets a live mic tonight.

Samoa Joe and Austin Aries are escorted out of the building.

MVP makes the Wolves defend the Titles again tonight against Bram/Magnus.

Here are Dixie and Spud so she can brag about Slammiversary. She tells Bully that she’ll never go through a table and goes on a rant about negative haters telling her how to run her company and hiding behind a keyboard. This brings her to Tommy Dreamer, who gets to talk about why he hates Dixie in person.

Dreamer comes out and Dixie says she’s starting to remember who he is. She rants about him hiding behind 140 characters in his little hardcore promotion and offers to let him talk. Dreamer thanks her for letting him be here but has to stop for an ECW chant. Tommy talks about social media and how they met on Twitter. They sat at her home and watched a football game, then set up Hardcore Justice as a way to give the ECW fans and wrestlers closure.

Now Dreamer watches Impact and is disgusted by what he sees her doing. What happened to the woman that sat in the crowd and then drank beers with the ECW guys in the ring? Now it’s the Dixie Carter Show out here (Spud: “YES!”) and Dreamer can’t handle it. If Dixie wants her own reality show, go to Hollywood and get one. Dreamer does just run a small company but he travels the world and talks to wrestling fans. He talks to fans who are battling cancer and tells them to watch wrestling.

Dreamer was at Slammiversary and saw Dixie be a fan again, so please remember why she fell in love with wrestling in the first place. Dixie nearly breaks down and hugs Dreamer….and hits him low. Spud and Ethan run in and beat Dreamer out to the floor. Not sure what the point of it was but Dreamer’s speech wasn’t bad.

Angle arrives and asks Lashley and King to get him MVP. They don’t seem to approve.

MVP comes up to Angle to tell him that he doesn’t have time to talk.

Tag Team Titles: Wolves vs. Bram/Magnus

The Wolves work over Magnus’ arm to start but Eddie gets sent to the floor and Bram whips him into the barricade. Back in and Eddie kicks Magnus in the face before diving over to make the tag to Davey. Everything breaks down and Magnus basically no sells a bunch of kicks in the corner. Davey does the throw one man into the other and dropkick him into a DDT spot (I can’t stand that thing) but Bram pelts a chair at Davey for the DQ at 4:30.

Rating: D+. This didn’t have time to go anywhere, much like the entire show tonight. The Wolves need challengers and Bram/Magnus fit the description, but in a show this rushed due to a LONG Dreamer speech, there’s no time to showcase the match at all. Bram wanting to hurt people instead of win is interesting though.

Abyss and Willow save Davey from having his neck Pillmanized.

MVP talks to a crying Brian Hebner and implies that he’s fired if Brian doesn’t screw over Eric.

MVP talks to a crying Brian Hebner and implies that he’s fired if Brian doesn’t screw over Eric.

Magnus and Bram reveal they were paid off to hurt the Wolves. Abyss and Willow attack them.

Gail Kim brings out the returning Terryn Terrell. We get the required “I respect you” speech Terryn says she’s back after having a baby girl but remembers being tied 1-1 with Gail. Therefore, we need a rubber match to determine the best Knockout. This brings out the Beautiful People with Angelina saying Gail doesn’t run this division. Gail and Terryn get jumped but eventually Terrell cleans house and the Beautiful People are sent running. Nothing special here but it was ANYTHING other than MVP/Dixie so I’ll take it.

Speaking of MVP, he goes to see what Angle wants. Angle wants MVP to look inside himself and see what he’s really doing. This goes nowhere as Angle is ejected from the building as well.

Gail and Terryn are sent out for no apparent reason.

JB says he’s never seen anything like this because the backstage area and productions staff is completely gone. MVP pops up because his 198 segments tonight haven’t been enough. He ejects JB and the cameraman for good measure.

TNA World Title: Bobby Lashley vs. Eric Young

Young is on his own while King and MVP are in Lashley’s corner. A clothesline puts Lashley to the floor and a big cross body off the top puts Lashley down again. Back in and Eric’s cross body is caught in mid air but he rolls Lashley up for two. A HUGE backdrop puts the champion down again and Eric is sent to the floor. Back from a break with Eric in trouble and getting suplexed down with one arm.

The champion makes his comeback and gets two off his third cross body of the match. Lashley stomps him in the corner but misses a charge, only to come back with a kick to the ribs. Eric nails the piledriver out of nowhere but King pulls the referee out at two. Lashley nails Kenny by mistake and Eric hits a quick DDT. The top rope elbow misses though and Lashley spears him down for the pin and the title at 8:45.

Rating: D+. This was just a step above a squash for Lashley and WHY DID THIS NOT HAPPEN ON SUNDAY? I’m sure there’s some reason for it but given that it’s TNA I doubt they can explain it to you. Thankfully Young doesn’t come off as a worthless champion, but he’s only a step above transitional.

Results
Eric Young b. Kenny King – Small package
Wolves b. Austin Aries/Samoa Joe and Willow/Abyss – Powerbomb/Backstabber combo to Willow
Wolves b. Bram/Magnus via DQ when Bram used a chair
Bobby Lashley b. Eric Young – Spear

Time for another TNA pay per view which at least has been good in the last few years. The show has had some decent build, but due to a combination of injuries and TNA’s horrific marketing skills, the World Title match has been changed and there was no mention of the X Division Title match on television. The show does look good on paper though and we get the newest Hall of Fame announcement. Let’s get to it.

We open with the trio in the back with MVP saying he’s here to make sure Dixie doesn’t screw things up tonight. MVP can’t be out there with them though because of his knee.

Video on the history of TNA up to this point.

X-Division Title: Sanada vs. Tigre Uno vs. Davey Richards vs. Eddie Edwards vs. Crazy Steve vs. Manik

Sanada is defending and this is a ladder match. Also keep in mind that Destination X and Option C are coming up soon. Manik dives through the ropes to take out Sanada before the bell. The Wolves follow suit with stereo suicide dives and Steve has apparently knocked Tigre Uno down. Steve gets a ladder from under the ring and uses it to climb back to the apron. Tigre dropkicks him down and mostly misses a corkscrew dive to take everyone out.

Sanada and Manik fight over a ladder in the ring with the champion taking over via a springboard chop to the head. Tigre replaces Manik and kicks Sanada in the back of the head but the Wolves double team him into a German suplex onto the ladder in the corner. Edwards throws in a fresh ladder but Manik dropkicks both of them down. Steve (very popular tonight) comes in for the Terry Funk spinning ladder spot, taking down everyone that comes into the ring.

Manik makes a save but Steve shoves the ladder over, only to have Manik land on the top rope and dive out to knock out the Wolves. Steve goes up again and touches the belt but of course loses his hand eye coordination since this is a ladder match, allowing Sanada to make the save. The ladder is busted so Sanada slams Steve onto it to set up the moonsault. The fans think this is awesome as Tigre enziguris Sanada off a better ladder.

Tigre wedges the broken ladder into the standing one to form a bridge, but the Wolves catch him in a powerbomb/top rope Backstabber combo. The Wolves both go after the belt but Sanada makes the save. Edwards Sanada clothesline each other to the floor and Eddie crashes into the barricade, leaving Davey on top. Manik makes the save and powerbombs Davey onto the bridged ladder in a SCARY landing. Sanada climbs up to retain at 9:40 before someone dies.

Rating: B-. The match was fun but some of those spots looked too dangerous for my taste. Richards getting powerbombed was way too scary looking and I didn’t like how he landed. Hopefully everyone is fine, but I question having people go through a match like this without even giving the match hype on TV.

The announcers explain the World Title situation. For once this is totally beyond their control.

Here’s the trio with MVP on crutches to insult Texas A&M and the fans for booing him. They shouldn’t be so angry at him while he’s here against doctor’s orders. Dixie has gone to the Board of Directors in an estrogen filled moment of insanity, resulting in him being censored. MVP explains the World Title situation to the live crowd and says he won’t be involved in either qualifying match. King and Lashley promise to win their matches, unlike Texas A&M.

Samoa Joe vs. Bobby Lashley

Winner goes to the title match tonight. Lashley quickly takes Joe into the corner but gets enziguried in the other corner to give Joe control. Bobby leapfrogs over the Samoan and clotheslines him down, only to have Joe pound him down with strikes. The Facewash is loaded up but Bobby rolls to the floor to get a breather. You don’t go outside on Joe though and it’s the suicide elbow to take Lashley out again.

Joe gets cocky for a split second and Lashley is able to send him into the steps. Back in and Lashley fights out of the corner Rock Bottom with a swinging neckbreaker for two. A snap suplex sets up a nerve hold on Joe and an elbow to the face stops his comeback cold. Another nerve hold is broken up by a kick to the head and the backsplash gets two. Now the release Rock Bottom looks to set up the Clutch but Lashley drives him into the corner. Joe has to stop himself from running into Earl Hebner, allowing Bobby to nail the spear for the pin at 8:50.

Rating: C+. This wasn’t bad with Lashley getting one of his biggest wins since coming back. Putting Joe in the title match didn’t make a ton of sense after Lashley beat Eric on Thursday so this was the best option all things considered. I’m still not wild on Lashley’s in ring work, especially the spear due to so many people using it, but he could be worse.

The Carters have a party suite above the arena. Dixie thinks Ray will see Ethan’s vicious side tonight. Dixie won’t comment on the meetings she had this week until she’s in the middle of the ring. The only hint she’ll give is that the karma that got to MVP is nothing compared to what’s coming. Spud looks like the Joker.

Magnus vs. Willow

Bram and Abyss are the seconds here. Magnus stomps away in the corner to start and avoids a baseball slide to send Willow into the steps. Back in and a big clothesline gets the same for the Brit. There’s a buckle bomb for good measure and Magnus hammers away on the mask. We hit the chinlock for a bit before Willow fights back with an atomic drop and the legdrop between the legs for two.

The Twist is countered but Magnus runs into two boots in the corner. A middle rope splash gets two for Willow before Magnus avoids the Swanton. Bram tries to interfere but Abyss is right there to hammer away. All four guys start brawling on the floor until Willow goes up top and just jumps backwards onto the Brits.

Now Abyss and Bram fight in the ring with the Monster easily throwing him to the floor. The guys in the match get back in as Bram gets his metal bar, only to be one upped by Janice. They walk up the ramp as Magnus breaks up the Whisper in the Wind, setting up a belly to back suplex into a side slam for the pin on Willow at 10:00.

Rating: C-. This was a mess for the most part but not bad. They would have been better off making this a tag match to get everyone in there, but that seems to be where they’re headed anyway. The Willow gimmick isn’t doing anything for me either as the announcement that it’s Jeff Hardy just killed the whole point of the character.

Here’s Kurt Angle to announce the newest Hall of Fame inductee. Angle talks about how being in the Hall of Fame means you’ve earned respect forever from the boys in the back and the fans. The inductee is……Team 3D in a bit of a surprise. A loud and long WE WANT TABLES chant goes up and we go to a wide shot of the arena for some reason.

Bully can barely get a full sentence out as the fans are chanting WELCOME BACK. They accept the induction because of every single one of the fans. D-Von says he wasn’t going to come back to TNA but if he’s going out, he has to be by Bully’s side after all their history together. Catchphrases and poses close out the segment.

Ethan Carter cuts a good promo about how he’s beaten all the members of the TNA Hall of Fame so tonight he gets to beat the latest. This isn’t Von Erich Country anymore because the Carters have taken over.

Austin Aries vs. Kenny King

Winner goes to the cage match tonight. Aries hits the corner dropkick less than thirty seconds in but King escapes the brainbuster and gets to the floor. The top rope ax handle puts King down again but King crotches him on top to get a breather. A dropkick puts Austin on the floor and King sends him hard into the barricade for good measure.

They head inside again with King hammering away before putting on something like a seated abdominal stretch. Aries fights up and smacks King’s ears to put him on the floor, setting up a suicide dive. King is thrown back inside so Aries can ram him over and over into the buckles, setting up a missile dropkick for two.

King comes back with a cradle suplex and a high kick but gets caught with his feet on the ropes. The Last Chancery can’t get the submission so King comes back with a springboard Blockbuster for a close two. Aries gets tired of dealing with King and takes him into the corner for a super brainbuster to send Austin to the cage at 10:04.

Rating: C+. This is the logical choice as King hasn’t really shown that he can beat a guy of Aries’ level in a one on one match. The ending sequence was really cool and it gives us a more intriguing main event than Eric vs. two members of the trip. Aries is a guy that could be brought up the ranks in TNA to fill in their lack of top faces.

JB introduces some Dallas Cowboys to a VERY mixed reaction. After that mention is over, JB brings out the latest Von Erichs: Ross and Marshall, accompanied by an ancient looking Kevin. The Bro Mans interrupt and say that a lot of things in Texas aren’t tight, including being a Von Erich. Robbie isn’t here for reasons not specified.

Bro Mans vs. Ross Von Erich/Marshall Von Erich

Marshall wrestles barefoot like Kevin did. This is DJZ and Jesse for the team tonight. Marshall cleans house on DJZ to start but can’t hook the Claw. A powerslam puts DJZ back down and it’s off to the older Ross for some dropkicks. Jesse breaks up something off the top rope and DJZ hits a nice flip dive to take Ross down on the ramp.

Back in and Jesse nails a dropkick bur Ross avoids a second one and makes the hot tag to Marshall. Everything breaks down and Ross hits a missile dropkick to put both guys down. Jesse brings in a chair but gets it dropkicked into his face, setting up a series of basic double team moves from the brothers. Not that it matters as DJZ brings in the chair for the DQ at 5:07.

Rating: D+. Well that was a waste of pay per view time. The Von Erichs looked ok at best but it’s clear that they need ring time more than anything else. They didn’t know how to finish a match yet and it looked like they needed to get through a bunch of spots instead of bringing the match to a close. Not terrible, but the ending really didn’t work for me.

Post match Kevin comes in to put the Claw on Jesse, drawing the only big pop from the crowd.

Angelina says she’ll keep the title tonight. JB asks how many time Angelina has won the title without Velvet’s help but Angelina says they’re a team.

Knockouts Title: Gail Kim vs. Angelina Love

Angelina is defending and Gail won a triple threat on Thursday to set this up. Gail hits a quick running forearm to start but her top rope huricanrana is countered with a powerbomb. A side slam gets two on Kim and Angelina throws her out to the floor. Velvet interference doesn’t help as Kim sends Love knees first into the steps. Back in and Gail gets crotched on the top, setting up an ugly looking reverse bulldog for two.

Sky uses the hairspray but referee Stiffler ignores it. The Botox Injection gets two and here’s Earl Hebner to eject Sky and make himself referee. Gail speeds things up and gets two off a neckbreaker but gets powerbombed for two more. Kim accidentally dropkicks Earl in the back but nails Eat Defeat. Stiffler ignores the cover to check on Earl and does the same again when Love gets rolled up. Angelina reverses into a rollup of her own and Stiffler counts the pin to retain the title at 6:57.

Rating: D+. Egads this story is getting old. Didn’t we have Stiffler in love with the Beautiful People like five years ago? Nothing to see here for the most part as Gail vs. Angelina has been done on PPV so many times that they ran out of stuff to do years ago. The match was ridiculously overbooked. Also don’t we already have a questionable referee in Brian Hebner?

D-Von has to go back to the hotel for dinner with his kids. Bully cuts a promo on Texas wrestling legends and thinks Ethan is in way over his head. His advice to Ethan: start praying. Ethan gets crucified for the sins of his Aunt Dixie and he’ll be baptized in blood.

Bully Ray vs. Ethan Carter III

Texas Death Match, meaning last man standing. Ray brings out a bullrope ala Stan Hansen for a nice tribute. Carter is thrown to the floor by the rope to start and Ray brings out a pair of tables. They’re stacked next to each other on the floor but Carter recovers from the coma he was in to get in a few shots and take over. Ray fights right back and sets up another table in the corner but the fans want cowbell.

Carter avoids the table but gets his chest ripped off by more chops. Time for the cheese grater to rip up Ethan’s chest (barely), which isn’t something you often see. Carter gets in a few shots to take over and sends Ray face first into a chair on the mat. He goes up top but gets crotched and superplexed onto the chair to put both guys down. Ray grabs a Dallas Cowboys trashcan from under the ring before starting to cut up the mats to expose the wood under the canvas.

Joker Spud comes out with a kendo stick shot to Ray’s back for no effect. Ray kicks him low and knocks Spud silly with the stick but Carter hits a quick One Percenter onto the exposed boards for our first count over twelve minutes into the match. Ray is up at eight so Carter pours out the glass in the trashcan. Carter goes up but dives into a Bubba Cutter, sending the injured chest into the glass for a cool spot. He’s up at eight though so Ray takes the stick outside to knock Ethan silly again.

Ray puts him on the tables and goes up but here’s Dixie for a distraction. Bully goes after her and sends Ethan into Dixie to knock her out cold. Ethan gets punched down and Ray puts Dixie on the table. He takes too long though, allowing Spud to pull her off and Ethan knocks Ray through the tables with a kendo stick shot for the win at 17:05.

Rating: C. It was a nice brawl with some nice spots but NO ONE CARES ABOUT DIXIE. After all this, if she doesn’t go through a table in New York, this whole story has been a huge waste of time. Also, never accept an induction to the Hall of Fame unless you want to lose on a last second fluke the same night. At least D-Von didn’t join forces with Dixie.

We recap Anderson vs. Storm. This started in a qualifying match for a World Title shot before Anderson cheated to win a drinking contest and made fun of cowboys. Why TNA thinks he’s going to be cheered in Texas doing this is beyond me.

Mr. Anderson vs. James Storm

Storm grabs a mic even though it’s 10:22 and we’ve got another match after this. He rips on the Cowboys because he’s a Titans fan but the booing breaks up his catchphrase. The brawl is on before the bell with Anderson high fiving the Cowboys and spitting beer in Storm’s face. They get in the ring for the opening bell and James goes right for the knee. A few shots have Anderson so banged up that he can’t run across the ring and a Figure Four has him in even more trouble.

Anderson is quickly in the ropes and Storm misses a charge in the corner to give Mr. a breather. Storm gets crotched on the top and slammed down for two, only to send Anderson face first into the middle buckle. Now it’s Anderson going up but getting kicked in the back of the head. He’s still able to pick Storm up for the rolling fireman’s carry off the middle rope but Storm kicks him out to the floor. Storm spits beer at the Cowboys so they jump the railing for a distraction, allowing Anderson to hit the Mic Check for the pin at 5:25.

Rating: C-. The match was short due to time but it was still entertaining enough. Anderson vs. Storm didn’t need the Cowboys for this to work but since it’s a midcard match in TNA, I’m sure we’ll get 19 rematches to keep things going way after its expiration date. The Cowboys might get them some extra media attention if nothing else.

Austin Aries tells Eric Young that the greatest man should win the match tonight. Eric says they’ve flown in crazy people to the show tonight.

We recap the main event, which is just an Eric Young video due to the last minute changes.

TNA World Title: Austin Aries vs. Bobby Lashley vs. Eric Young

In a cage with Young defending with wins by pin or submissino, not escape. Lashley takes over to start but gets double teamed down. The smaller guys do a fast paced sequence until Lashley throws Aries into the cage. Young gets the same as well, allowing Lashley to stand tall. Bobby throws both guys around again but misses a charge into the post. Young and Aries go at it again until Eric hammers on Bobby in the corner.

Aries powerbombs the champion down but stops to go after Lashley again, only to be suplexed into the cage for two. We get a bad looking botch as Aries hits a running cross body in the corner but Young just lets him bounce off of him for some reason. Young gets to show off his freakish strength with a double Death Valley Driver but Lashley is up at two. He puts Young on top of the cage as the fans chant please don’t die. Aries goes up top as well to take Lashley down with a hurricanrana, but Eric stands up on top of the cage for the huge elbow to Bobby.

Aries punts Eric in the head though and hits the brainbuster for a very close two. Lashley spears Austin down for two and spinebusters the champion, only to miss the spear and fall out of the cage. Remember that doesn’t end the match though as escape doesn’t count. Young hits the top rope elbow on Aries for another close near fall. The piledriver is countered with a low dropkick to Young’s face and everyone is down. Young and Aries slug it out but both guys miss forearms. Aries hits some discus forearms and the corner dropkick but walks into the piledriver to retain Eric’s title at 12:10.

Rating: B-. This got better near the end but Eric keeping the title made me roll my eyes. The reign has been far better than I expected it to be but he needs to be the focal point of the company instead of the other guy in the major feuds. To be fair though, I’d assume MVP was supposed to take the title tonight before the injuries.

Young helps Aries up after the match.

Overall Rating: B-. As usual, TNA puts on a good show for Slammiversary. I really wish they could get their stuff together on TV because if this was what they were putting out there every week, things would be so much easier to sit through. Instead we’re usually stuck with one story dominating a show or 19 Dixie Carter segments with her bad acting talking about whatever war she’s having that no one cares about. Good show but not as good as the last few years’. Nothing blew the doors off but most of the matches were solid and nothing was bad so I can’t complain much.

Results
Sanada b. Crazy Steve, Manik, Eddie Edwards, Davey Richards and Tigre Uno – Sanada pulled down the title belt
Bobby Lashley b. Samoa Joe – Spear
Magnus b. Willow – Belly to back suplex into a side slam
Ross Von Erich/Marshall Von Erich b. Bro Mans via DQ when DJZ used a chair
Angelina Love b. Gail Kim – Rollup
Ethan Carter III b. Bully Ray when Ray couldn’t answer the ten count
Eric Young b. Austin Aries and Bobby Lashley – Piledriver to Aries

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Since MVP is injured and can’t wrestle, the main event has been changed to a three way in the cage, because wrestling NEEDS triple threats. Eric Young will still be defending, but his opponents will be determined. Instead of selecting a challenger, the winners of two previously announced matches will be entered in to face Young.

The first qualifying match is Samoa Joe vs. Bobby Lashley. This is the more interesting one of the two and I think they’ll keep Lashley strong, even though Joe presents a more interesting case to be champion. Unfortunately this is TNA, so Joe has to look strong one week and then get beaten a few days later.

The other qualifier is Austin Aries vs. Kenny King. I’ll take Aries here, even though it looks like they’re setting up Young to overcome the odds again and keep the title over the other two members of the Trio.

In case it’s not clear, I’ll take Young to keep the title. Odds are they’ll put the title on someone else at Destination X anyway.

Two of the Von Erich children are having a tag match. This hasn’t been advertised on TV much if at all, but if they did we might have to cut out one of 19 segments a given act got o a show. Their opponents are to be announced, but could it possibly be anyone other than the Bro Mans? Von Erichs win.

Ethan wins the Texas Death Match due to Dixie causing trouble. She has to go through a table in New York. I mean…..she HAS TO.

Magnus beats Willow, setting up a tag match with Abyss joining Hardy to face the Brits in the future.

Storm beats Anderson but they’ll have 97 gimmick matches in the future to keep the feud going way past its expiration date.

Love beats Kim and I don’t care enough to go into why.

The other match that hasn’t been announced on Impact: Sanada vs. Manik vs. Tigre Uno vs. Crazy Steve vs. Eddie Edwards vs. Davey Richards for the X-Division Title. We’re less than two weeks away from Destination X and the X Division Title match can’t even get a backstage promo. Is it any wonder why this company is in such horrible shape?

Overall Slammiversary looks like the most thrown together PPV in a long time. The main event isn’t their fault, but too much of the card is either tacked on or a match that hasn’t been given enough time for people to care about it. The show should set up some interesting stuff in the future with Destination X so soon but instead it feels like they’re just filling time until we can get back to the multi way war for control of the company. Then again, Slammiversary has been a very solid show for a few years running now.

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We’re only a few weeks away from Slammiversary and the interesting thing is MVP has injured his knee in a match in England. However, everything tonight has been taped in advance, so unless something taped has been added in, it’s going to be interesting to see if he can make the title match or not. As for tonight, I’m sure we’re going to be bombarded with stuff about the trio which still needs a name. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of the Trio’s dominance until Samoa Joe made the save to end last week’s show.

The trio is looking for Samoa Joe.

Samoa Joe comes out with something to say. Joe talks about MVP looking for him, so here he is to make things easy for the boss. Cue the trio with King saying he’s tired of Joe trying to be a tough guy. Joe gets right in MVP’s face and tells him what the mouthpiece can do with his mouth. MVP says time is money and Joe is wasting his. Joe calls MVP a scumbag and a liar but MVP yells at him for bailing after losing a gauntlet match. Unlike Joe, MVP did his job. Joe wants to fight all of them tonight but here’s Austin Aries to interrupt. Aries wants in on this fight, so MVP makes Aries vs. Joe for tonight, loser leaving TNA.

Bram is ready for his fight with Willow tonight. However, he doesn’t think Magnus will ever be ready.

Willow vs. Bram

Willow hammers away in the corner to start but Bram takes over on the floor. Back in and an elbow to the jaw puts Willow down for some trash talking stomps. Willow nails three straight dropkicks including the slingshot version in the corner. They head outside again and Willow hits a big dive to take over again. Poetry In Motion off the steps has Bram in trouble but he sends Willow into the steps to put Willow down. Bram rams him into the steps and throws Willow back inside before pulling out that crowbar. Magnus tries to talk him out of it but Magnus blasts Willow with it instead for the DQ at 4:58.

Rating: C. This was more angle than match but the high spots were good. Bram is a solid guy out there and has a great look to him so I can’t complain all that much. Willow isn’t really all that extreme and is pretty much just Jeff Hardy with a stupid looking mask, making the whole thing stupid.

MVP gets in an argument with the Wolves before putting them in a match against each other. If they don’t do it, they lose the belts.

Mr. Anderson is imitating James Storm at some bar.

Davey Richards vs. Eddie Edwards

Richards still has bad ribs. Kenny King is watch the match from the stage and doesn’t seem pleased. The Wolves starts very tentatively as they don’t want to hurt each other but King demands that the Wolves start showing some teeth. They trade modified surfboards followed by a half crab from Edwards. Eddie finally rolls him up for the pin at 4:20.

Rating: D. This wasn’t supposed to be much of a match, but I’m really not sure what it was supposed to accomplish. Given how King was talking you would think he’d get beaten up after the match, but did they really need to fill in six minutes on this whole thing just for that kind of a payoff?

King says that’s not good enough and wants to see someone get beaten up. I think you can figure it out from there, but in case you can’t, King gets taken apart.

Dixie Carter freaks out on MVP for putting Aries and Joe in a contract match. MVP says don’t worry about it.

We recap Brittany telling Madison how she really felt.

Madison tells Brittany to stay out of her title match this week.

Robbie E. is scared of the clown in the Menagerie. Apparently he had a bad experience when he was ten years old and it still freaks him out today.

MVP tells the referee that there must be a winner in Joe vs. Aries.

Joe went home because MVP was another power hungry villain. Aries comes in and says Joe did go home. He says he saw MVP for what he was months ago and got sent home as a result. Tonight they’re both in trouble but only one can win.

The BroMans are in the ring and Robbie is still freaking out over the clowns. This brings out the Menagerie to laugh at the BroMans and scare them to death with the balloons. DJZ and Crazy Steve get in a horn off and the Menagerie cleans house.

Bully and Eric Young tell the referee to do the right thing tonight. Referee Brian Hebner says he has to put food on his table and leaves. Ray says they’ll do what they have to do.

Gunner and Samuel Shaw play Go Fish in the psych ward.

Austin Aries vs. Samoa Joe

Loser is gone. Joe hammers away to start and hits an early Facewash in the corner. Aries fights out of the MuscleBuster and gets two off a rollup but Joe is too big to be taken up in the brainbuster. Instead Joe sends him into the corner for the enziguri but Aries rolls out of the corner Rock Bottom. There’s the Last Chancery but Eric Young comes out to pull Brian Hebner to the floor. He does the same when Joe puts on the Clutch and Bully Ray punches Hebner out. Joe and Aries are ticked off and we’ll call this a no contest at 5:30.

Rating: C-. You can barely grade this due to the ending, which is the biggest problem with the whole thing: this is the second match of the night that hasn’t had enough time to go anywhere and has been about the trio angle instead of anything else. That story is dominating everything and it’s getting annoying in a hurry.

Speaking of which, here’s the trio to say that MVP runs TNA. Ray says MVP has a god complex and should come fight. After some trash talk, we get the following match made for tonight: Bully Ray/Eric Young/Austin Aries/Samoa Joe vs. MVP/Kenny King/Samoa Joe/Bobby Lashley/Ethan Carter III, and let’s make it first blood because why not.

Anderson makes fun of cowboys again.

Now Anderson is in the arena as the most stereotypical cowboy ever. James Storm finally comes out and says he doesn’t take kindly to a man cheating in a drinking contest. Storm wants to fight but not tonight. Anderson comes out and the fight is on with Storm getting the better of it and nailing Last Call. A challenge is made for Slammiversary.

Gunner brings Shaw his sketchbook as part of his therapy. After a break, Gunner looks at drawings of Shaw in Christy’s shadown, Shaw’s house and Shaw’s mom. There’s an unfinished drawing of what looks to be Gunner, who asks Shaw to finish it now.

Knockouts Title: Madison Rayne vs. Angelina Love

Angelina is defending and heads outside at the bell. The chase is on with Angelina chasing after Velvet for some reason until Madison catches the champion in the ring. A Velvet distraction lets Angelina dropkick Rayne to the floor and here’s Brittany to check on her. Back in and Madison nails some clotheslines to take over followed by the mat humper. Not that it matters as Velvet sprays hairspray into Brittany’s eyes to give Love the pin at 4:00.

Rating: D+. Yes believe it or not, this was the exact same thing we’ve seen from the Beautiful People since they reunited. I’m assuming we’re leading towards Brittany being hurt by Madison not wanting her and join the Beautiful People as a result, but it’s not exactly thrilling stuff getting there.

After a break, Madison wants to know why Brittany didn’t help her. Brittany logically points out that she did exactly what Madison told her to do.

Ethan Carter III/MVP/Kenny King/Bobby Lashley vs. Eric Young/Samoa Joe/Bully Ray/Eric Young

First blood for no apparent reason. Aries and King get us going as you have to tag in a match where it’s about blood. A quick Last Chancery is broken up by Ethan so Aries takes him over to the corner for a tag off to Young. Carter runs away from Ray but Bully wants MVP. They slug it out with Ray getting the better of it via a big boot to the face so it’s quickly off to King. Ray catches him in a front facelock and brings in Joe. King runs off as well so we get Lashley vs. Joe in a showdown. That sounds interesting so let’s take a break.

Back with Joe hitting the running enziguri in the corner on Lashley and bringing in the World Champion. Eric gets taken down in the corner and the heels stat their shots to the head. They show some nice thinking by going after the forehead with punches and kicks followed by a hard elbow from MVP. All four villains get in some shots to Young’s head with Ethan asking if Eric is ready to bleed.

Young finally breaks free and makes the tag off to Joe who clans house. Lashley spears him down but gets caught by an Eric missile dropkick. Everything breaks down and we get the secondary finishers a go-go. Aries dives off the top to take out MVP and King but Ethan plants Ray with a spinebuster. Ray grabs the chain and blasts Carter in the head for the blood and the win at 14:45.

Rating: D+. I have no idea why this was a first blood match. It’s not terrible but there was no reason to not have this be a regular match and have Ray pin King. The match didn’t do anything of note though and doesn’t advance the story for the most part. Considering there are only two matches set for Slammiversary, this wasn’t the most logical match.

As the winners celebrate, we cut to the back to see the trio destroying Ethan. Dixie breaks it up and gets in MVP’s face, saying the same blood in Ethan flows through her. MVP doesn’t care so Dixie says if he wants a war, he’s got one. This REALLY felt like something to make us sympathize with the Carters and that’s about as bad of an idea as they could have.

Overall Rating: D+. The more I watch TNA, the more it becomes apparent that this main event scene is a disaster. There are WAY too many people running around in it as you have the eight in the main event tonight, plus the Wolves and Dixie. That’s WAY too much for one angle and it’s bogging things down. It doesn’t help that we have to sit through the long series of segments over and over again every week because almost nothing else gets significant time.

Look at the Wolves for example. Their match was set up in about 30 seconds, it didn’t even last five minutes, and it was never mentioned again. It’s clear that their match wasn’t a priority at all and that they were on the card so we would remember they exist and happen to be champions. The angle needs to split into stand alone stories (Joe vs. Lashley and Ray vs. Carter would work fine) to let the main event breathe a bit.

On top of that, Eric Young feels like he’s just there because he’s World Champion. I know that that’s obvious, but he feels like a supporting character in what’s really Bully and Aries’ fight with the trio. It would make sense to get the title off of Young soon and get the real big names into the feud. Young has been fine in the role, but he’s just not a World Champion caliber guy.

Finally, there is some hope for TNA: the midcard stuff actually has my interest. I’m curious to see where the Gunner/Shaw stuff goes and the Storm vs. Anderson match should be good. Adding Brittany into the Beautiful People stuff is at least something different and Bram/Magnus as a ruthless team is good stuff. There are some solid stories in TNA if you can get past half the roster being in one story.

Results
Willow b. Bram via DQ when Magnus interfered
Eddie Edwards b. Davey Richards – Rollup
Austin Aries vs. Samoa Joe went to a no contest
Angelina Love b. Madison Rayne – Rollup
Bully Ray/Eric Young/Samoa Joe/Austin Aries b. Ethan Carter III/Bobby Lashley/MVP/Kenny King – Chain shot to Carter

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After last week, the only hope that I have is that the focus is spread out a little bit, rather than having almost everything being about the new trio. We’re coming up on Slammiversary with Eric Young defending against MVP, but now we also have to deal with Dixie Carter not being ok with MVP’s actions. Let’s get to it.

We open with a video on the trio’s dominance and desire for power with a lot of clips from last week.

Here’s Bully Ray to say that he’s obsessed with six people here in TNA. They all have bullseyes on their backs and he promises to put them all through tables. There are six tables standing up next to the ramp with names on them: Lashley, EC3, Kenny King, MVP, Spud and Dixie Carter. Ray heads to the ring and calls out anybody for a fight right now. He gets MVP in wrestling gear but the boss is walking slow. MVP says this isn’t happening tonight and there’s no fun in coming to the ring for a fight. Well, at least not on his own.

King and Lashley come out as well but EC3 and Spud slide into jump Ray. The trio gets in as well and Ray is in big trouble. EC3 and Spud bring the Spud table to the ring but Eric Young, Austin Aries and the Wolves come in for the save. The heels leave but Spud gets caught. Aries wants a six man tag and Ray wants it next. As a preview, Ray hits a middle rope powerbomb to drive Spud through the table.

MVP/Bobby Lashley/Kenny King vs. Wolves/Austin Aries

This is joined in process in a big brawl on the floor as we come back. It’s Lashley throwing Aries around to get us going legally before choking away. Aries comes back with some kicks to the leg as Edwards and King come inside for brawling as well. Aries escapes the powerslam and low bridges Lashley to the floor. King is sent outside the same way, followed by Richards (with his heavily taped ribs) sending MVP out to join them. The Wolves hit stereo dives and Aries comes off the top to take out Lashley as we take a break.

Back with King in trouble but MVP throws in a kick from the apron to put Edwards in trouble. Lashley comes in off the tag and throws Eddie around with ease. He drives shoulders in the corner before it’s back to MVP for a hard lariat and two. King comes back in but Edwards flips out of a German suplex and makes the tag to Aries.

Austin fights hard but gets caught in a running powerslam from Lashley. Aries escapes the Royal Flush though and nails the brainbuster on King. Back to Richards who goes up and rips the tape off his ribs, only to have the double stomp hit King’s shoulders. Lashley spears him down though and MVP hits a Drive By for the pin on Richards at 14:50.

Rating: C. Not bad but the injury was clearly going to be the focal point of the match. I’m kind of surprised they had this match here instead of swapping some people in for a big match at the pay per view. I’m really hoping Dixie’s team doesn’t hook up with the trio but it certainly looks like we’re heading that way.

Bram tells Magnus to be out there for his match.

EC3 is worried about going through a table but Dixie says don’t worry about it because she has business with MVP.

Tigre Uno vs. Bram

Bram runs Tigre down to start and growls at him with some freaky eyes. Uno fights out of a choke but gets clotheslined down for his efforts. An Impaler DDT gets the pin on Tigre at 2:08.

Post match Magnus has to stop Bram from killing Tigre with the metal rod. Bram says the old Magnus would have ripped the mask off and beaten him senseless. Magnus says maybe Bram needs a better opponent. Maybe someone a little crazy. Maybe a former World Champion. Maybe….it should be Willow.

Anderson asks Gunner what’s up with him and Shaw. Gunner says Anderson knows what it’s like to be in the military and Shaw just needs someone to talk to. They’re a team tonight.

Brittany wants Madison Rayne’s help against the Beautiful People tonight. Madison tells her to not have the match and Brittany reluctantly agrees.

Gunner/Mr. Anderson vs. BroMans

The BroMans jump Gunner and Anderson to start and it’s Gunner in early trouble. Double teaming ensues and Robbie gets two off a middle rope knee drop. Gunner comes back with a bad looking fall away slam and it’s off to Anderson to clean house. Everything breaks down and the Mic Check sets up a top rope headbutt from Gunner for the pin on Robbie at 3:14.

Rating: D. Just a glorified squash here as Anderson vs. Gunner seems to be an upcoming story, even though Anderson vs. Storm was set up over the last few weeks. The BroMans have gone from Tag Team Champions to jobber tag team in just a few weeks, even though there’s almost no one to challenge the Wolves.

Post match the Menagerie comes out to freak out the BroMans. The goofy guys (the BroMans if that’s not clear) get destroyed.

Gail Kim agrees to be Brittany’s partner.

Here are Dixie and Ethan to call out MVP. The trio comes out and Dixie offers some help, but MVP says he’s got power and a title shot, so why does he need the Carters? Dixie threatens to go to Dallas and tell the board what kind of abuse of power MVP has been showing. So the board of directors doesn’t even watch the show? MVP says he has a ton of money, which Dixie calls dirty. MVP says he’d love to play a game of money chicken and see who blinks first.

Eric and Bully come out with weapons but Ray says don’t do it and wait for the time and place. MVP says it won’t go well for the champion and Eric should just lose the title and go fish. Bully wants to go now but Eric stops him. “Time and place. Where were you a few seconds ago when you said that?” MVP makes Ray vs. Eric with EC3 as the referee. Ray says no but MVP threatens to fire him.

Ray says go ahead but Dixie asks who is going to pick up the pieces and fight her and MVP? Eric doesn’t have the ego or stomach to fight this war. Also, isn’t Bully from New York, because New Yorkers don’t quit. Ray says he’ll never quit until Dixie is gone. All the people want Dixie out of here forever and promises to put all five people in the ring through tables.

We look at EC3 injuring Angle’s knee a few weeks back. Earlier today, Angle said the knee rehab is going well even though he’s still in a cast. He thanks the fans for their support.

Beautiful People vs. Brittany/Gail Kim

Brittany comes out and then runs up the ramp to point at Gail during her entrance. Angelina pops Brittany with forearms and a shoulder to start before running shaking her hips a bit. Velvet comes in for some choking in the corner but Brittany trips her up for two. The Beautiful People take her back into the corner for some double teaming before Brittany finally dives over for the tag. Brittany tags herself in and says she has this, only to miss a Tajiri handspring into a moonsault. Angelina kicks her head off with the Botox Injection to give Velvet the pin at 5:40.

Rating: D+. Totally basic match here but the problem is the story. As I’ve been saying for weeks now, this is the same stuff we’ve been seeing forever with the Beautiful People and it hasn’t been interesting in forever. It’s like they’re just completely out of ideas and they’re doing the same stuff over and over again.

Ray says if he beats Eric he’ll be #1 contender. They respect each other though, because that’s just what you do in TNA.

After a break and Brittany is still in the ring. She calls Madison down for a talk and asks her why she wouldn’t team up against the Beautiful People tonight. Madison says this is getting weird for her. The issues with the Beautiful People have been going on for years and there are some things that only her and the Beautiful People know about. She won’t be responsible for Brittany being dragged into that. Brittany says she’ll accept responsibility and only wants to be with Madison.

Madison asks what Brittany just said and Brittany gets close to her and repeats it. Rayne shoves her away and says this just went a bit too far. Brittany needs to keep her distance but that’s too far. Brittany freaks out and asks why Madison doesn’t like her. Cue the Beautiful People who say that’s the real Madison Rayne and they made her that way. Madison says she’s not like either of them and that she’s coming for the Title next week.

The trio wants to do business with EC3 and he’s kind of interested.

Bully Ray vs. Eric Young

Non-title. King is guest ring announcers, EC3 is guest referee, Lashley is guest enforcer and MVP is guest timekeeper because this idea hasn’t been done to death before. Lashley is holding Eric’s title. Ray actually starts with an armdrag but Young nails a pair of his own before dropkicking Ray to the floor. King gets in a cheap shot but Young comes out to stand guard.

Back with the guys still being tentative and not wanting to fight each other while also having to watch the trio on the floor. Ray finally gets tired of dealing with it (and we’re running out of time) and kicks Carter in the face. The trio comes in and beats both guys down for a no contest at roughly 10:00. I’m not going to rate this as a lot of it was during the break and there was barely any wrestling at all.

Samoa Joe returns for the save and does the always awesome side step of a King dive. A MuscleBuster to King ends the show.

Overall Rating: D. Do you remember back in the Aces and 8’s clubhouse when they threw darts to pick out their next targets? TNA feels like they’ve put every old booking idea on a dart board and throw darts to pick what they put on the shows. This week’s show was better than last week’s as they had some other stuff get focus, but at the same time it had the same lack of energy that TNA constantly deals with.

Above all else though, the moment they lost me this week was when Dixie Carter said Ray didn’t have the ability to fight this war. I actually said out loud, “Why does it have to be a war?”. We just got done having a nearly two year war against Aces and 8’s, and now that team’s leader is on the other side of a war? Why do we need to do this same thing again? Between that and the two heel groups seeming to merge or at least have common goals (albeit with issues between the leaders), it feels like we’re doing the same thing that people complained about for over a year. Why would I want to watch that again?

Results
MVP/Kenny King/Bobby Lashley b. Wolves/Austin Aries – Drive By to Richards
Bram b. Tigre Uno – Impaler DDT
Gunner/Mr. Anderson b. BroMans – Flying headbutt to Robbie
Beautiful People b. Brittany/Gail Kim – Sky pinned Brittany after a Botox Injection from Love
Eric Young vs. Bully Ray went to a no contest when Kenny King, Bobby Lashley and MVP interfered

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Last week’s major development made me feel like I’m experiencing deja vu. Yet again there’s a group teaming together, seemingly to take over TNA. This time it’s MVP, Bobby Lashley and Kenny King hooking up with reasons left to be explained tonight. The main idea tonight is Dixie Carter coming to confront MVP and see where all this is going. I’m sure this is going to be thrilling. Let’s get to it.

The opening recap shows MVP turning a few weeks ago and then being joined by Lashley and King.

The three villains arrive and run into Kazarian. He’s on the phone and doesn’t seem impressed so King beats Kaz down. MVP: “Was that necessary?” King: “No.”

MVP, Lashley and King hit the ring with MVP offering to give the people a history lesson. He’s a brilliant individual and it was because of his brilliance that he was able to bring in his friends and take power. Sometimes when you take power, blood must be spilled. Never again was he going to ask for permission to do anything because this is a business. At the end of the day, it’s all about power, money and respect. MVP is now in control and everyone just has to accept it. Yes he has sold out arenas and he’s done it again tonight.

King says he couldn’t believe it when MVP asked him to do this and takes credit for the exhibition match from a few weeks ago. Everyone was shocked and the same thing happened when he fought Lashley. Then MVP brought Lashley in at Lockdown because Lashley knew politics were a waste of time. MVP calls himself a god but here are the Wolves to interrupt.

Davey quotes the money, power and respect line and says they don’t have any respect for MVP anymore. MVP told them it was about heart and that’s why they followed him at Lockdown. MVP gets them confused (King: “It don’t matter!”) before saying he gave them this chance to get out of taking 15 hour bus rides in Japan to eat Ramen Noodles.

They may have heart but to be where MVP is today, you have to be heartless. MVP threatens to send them back to the indies and the brawl is on. The Wolves are outnumbered and Lashley hits a big spear on Edwards. Davey is dragged up to the stage and speared off and through a table. King cackles like a witch.

A ticked off Eric Young arrives.

The Carters arrive.

Davey has been taken to a hospital.

Here’s Eric Young to vent a bit. MVP cuts him off almost immediately and brings out Lashley and King. Young says the shame should be on him and then asks Lashley how he’ll be able to explain this to his son. MVP holds Bobby back and says Lashley’s son will be behind the wheel of a very expensive car then and won’t care what Lashley did. The trio gets into the ring and Eric is ready to fight. It goes as badly as you would expect until Austin Aries runs out and helps Young fight them off.

Aries grabs the mic and says he’s one of the few that saw MVP for what he really was: a liar in cheap suits. Austin calls MVP out for a match and MVP accepts for later tonight. That’s not all from MVP though as he’s going to give Eric Young a match tonight. No opponent given but MVP says it’s coming.

Bram has gotten Magnus a falls count anywhere match with Willow tonight. Magnus says he’s getting sick of this and punches Bram in the jaw. Bram laughs and says that’s what they want. Magnus says he’s crazy.

Angelina is issuing an open challenge for a title shot. Gail Kim comes up to accept it but she’s not allowed. Kim lays Angelina out and beats her up a bit.

Here are the Beautiful People with Angelina saying all former Knockouts Champions are excluded from accepting.

Knockouts Title: Angelina Love vs. Brittany

Love jumps Brittany during her posing and takes over quickly. Brittany gets knocked down again but shoves Love out of the corner. A handspring elbow runs into Angelina’s elbow but Brittany comes back with an O’Connor Roll, only to be distracted by Velvet. The distraction lets Angelina hit the Botox Injection for the pin at 3:28.

Rating: D. Points for having someone new in there like Brittany, but the match was nothing to see at all. The Beautiful People are getting less and less interesting every week, especially with them getting what they wanted so easily. This whole division is just worthless to me anymore and it’s not getting any more interesting at all.

Gail Kim comes out to prevent the makeover.

Dixie is going to address MVP tonight. We knew that already.

James Storm comes to see Mr. Anderson at a bar and a drinking contest begins.

MVP vs. Austin Aries

Aries jumps him from the apron but MVP sends him into the barricade to take over. They get inside with Aries in control and hitting a running elbow in the corner followed by raining down some right hands. MVP shoves him over the top and out to the floor before slapping Aries down. Back in and MVP misses a running kick in the corner and Aries goes for the leg. MVP blocks the brainbuster but gets caught by the running dropkick in the corner. Aries nails a second but Lashley runs in to break up the 450 for the DQ at 3:48.

Rating: C. This was fun while it lasted but you knew there was no way it was getting a clean finish this early in the feud. Aries is a good choice to have in this spot but he and Young need a third guy to make this a better fight. The match wasn’t much wrestling but they fought the entire time which is always a nice touch.

Aries gets beaten down until Young comes out as well. The champion gets beaten down until MVP announces Lashley as Young’s opponent for later. Dixie comes out for the showdown because this story hasn’t gotten enough TV time tonight. After a break Dixie yells at MVP for ignoring her and says she’s never hurt anyone. “Except shoving Bully Ray through two tables….and breaking two of his ribs.”

MVP says she’s been banned from the Impact Zone but here’s Bully to chase Dixie and Ethan off. MVP says Bully was banned from the building too but Ray gets in his face and says MVP is here because of Ray. Bully wants to know why they’re picking on Eric Young, who has been here since day one and worked his way to the top to become World Champion.

MVP asks when Bully started caring but King jumps Ray for the three on one beatdown. The trio leaves and the Carters come back. Dixie: “Ethan, get the tables.” Ethan: “Ok.” Ray tries to fight back but gets planted through the wood. Dixie gets to say she fears no one again. I really hope this is just a one off confrontation between MVP and Dixie, because the last thing I (and I think most TNA fans) want is another power struggle.

Post break Ray limps after the Carters but they escape in a limo.

Magnus vs. Willow

Falls count anywhere. We get a quick video about Bram trying to unleash the beast inside Magnus, just in case this wasn’t enough like Cena and Bray Wyatt already. Magnus misses a charge to the floor but blocks a dive with his knees. They fight in the aisle with Magnus still turning down the use of something metal. Back inside and Willow takes over with some legdrops but misses the Swanton.

The Whisper in the Wind connects for two and a clothesline puts Magnus on the floor. Willow’s slingshot splash lands for two more but Magnus clotheslines him down onto the ramp. Bram offers him the metal again and this time a shot to the ribs has Willow in trouble. Magnus can’t bring himself to hit Willow in the back of the head though, allowing Willow to hit a Twist of Fate on the ramp for the pin at 4:58.

Rating: C. Not a bad brawl here but Willow was up WAY too fast after that shot to the ribs. He might have been down fifteen seconds and then is able to hit his finisher and pin a World Champion? That’s a bit too much of a stretch for my taste but with as little time as they had they couldn’t do much else.

Gunner tells Samuel Shaw he’s been in an asylum before too.

Eddie Edwards is back.

After a break, Gunner is still in the asylum with Shaw. Gunner tells him a story about a friend of his who went through basic training with him. The friend went through something that sounds like PTSD and Gunner was the one there to help him get into a place just like this. That’s why he understands what it’s like for Shaw to be in here. In the end the guy got better and found himself. Gunner believes there’s good inside Shaw and that he can get better. Shaw asks why he should trust Gunner. That’s a good question, and Gunner says he’ll prove his trustworthiness by trying to get Shaw out of the straitjacket.

Here’s Edwards to call out any member of the trio for a fight right now. King comes out and the brawl is on immediately. Edwards chokes him with a shirt and hammers away before they get in the ring. Kenny gets in a few shots with the mic to take over but Edwards avoids a moonsault. Edwards hits a suicide dive and rips at Kenny’s face but gets sent into the steps. A high collar suplex puts Edwards down on the ramp and Kenny walks away. Eddie is holding his shoulder.

The drinking contest is continuing and it appears that Anderson is cheating by drinking something without alcohol. Storm is on about his 12th beer.

MVP comes up to Brian Hebner. He apologizes for King attacking Hebner recently and Brian accepts. MVP gives Hebner the main event match tonight and implies that Brian needs to help him. Hebner doesn’t say anything.

Back to the bar where Storm can barely talk and Anderson says he’s totally sober. He’s been drinking Near Beer and proceeds to beat Storm up. Anderson takes Storm outside and throws him into a trash can before putting the $100 bet in Storm’s mouth.

Eric Young says he’s banged up but he learns from his mistakes. Tonight Lashley will learn that his biggest mistake was letting Young get up.

Eric Young vs. Bobby Lashley

Non-title. Eric starts fast but gets taken down and thrown to the floor, into the barricade. Back in and Lashley hammers away before bending Young’s back over the ropes. A hard palm strike to the chest drops Young again and we take a break. Back with Lashley hitting a delayed vertical suplex for two before putting on a bearhug.

Young fights back with a missile dropkick and the piledriver. No cover though as Young goes up, only to have to fight off King and MVP. It’s not a DQ yet as Young gets crotched on the top. Lashley gets up and a spear sets up the powerslam for the pin at 10:33. Well at least it wasn’t clean.

Rating: D+. Nothing to see here again, other than about the 857th time that the trio has been on screen tonight. It’s the same old problem that TNA has always had: if they’ve got a top story, it’s going to DOMINATE a show until you’re either hooked on it or totally sick of it. Heaven forbid anything else get anytime.

Aries tries to make a save with a kendo stick but gets triple teamed as well. The trio stands tall to end the show.

Overall Rating: D-. Why can’t TNA learn anything? Why do they insist on going back to the EXACT SAME THING over and over and over and over and over again? Tonight was ALL about this new trio and if you don’t like them, WELL SCREW YOU BECAUSE THAT’S WHAT YOU’RE GETTING LALALALALALALA I CAN’T HEAR YOU! That’s what it’s like to be a TNA fan. If you don’t like what you’re getting, deal with it because they’re going to use the same story over and over again.

Other than the trio stuff, the Dixie angle continues and unfortunately we’re probably not going to get her being put through a table. That’s the ONLY payoff to the whole thing but if it never happens, or happens anywhere other than Slammiversary or the New York tapings, it’s yet another waste of a story and our time by TNA.

The rest of the show wasn’t anything to remember. The beer drinking contest was fine but they made it clear where it was going halfway through. Gunner and Shaw is somewhat interesting, but it’s a BIG step down for Gunner after months of beating Storm time after time. The Beautiful People are still the same act we’ve seen for years from them now, making this show feel like it’s stuck on replay.

Results
Angelina Love b. Brittany – Botox Injection
Austin Aries b. MVP via DQ when Bobby Lashley interfered
Willow b. Magnus – Twist of Fate on the ramp
Bobby Lashley b. Eric Young – Powerslam

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Today is A-Double Austin Aries.

NWA Midwest X-Division Title: Austin Aries vs. Shawn Daivari vs. Justin Kage

This show is outside and the title seems to be vacant coming in. To really play up racial stereotypes, Daivari brings his magic carpet to the ring with him. Feeling out process to start until Shawn grabs a headlock on Kage. Aries bails to the floor to watch before charging into headscissors from Daivari at the same time that Kage is taken over by a headlock in a sloppy combo.

Aries sends both guys to the floor for a corkscrew dive before we head back inside for some more slipping. Daivari and Kage both hit moonsaults out of the corner for two each on Aries before they wind up slugging it out. Daivari loads up a fall away slam on Kage but gets German suplexed by Austin for a three man spot. One of the announcers keeps imitating Dusty Rhodes for some reason.

We get a Tower of Doom out of the corner with Kage getting dropped on the back of his head in a scary crash. Back up and Aries hits the running dropkick in the corner to Kage and a fisherman’s buster gets two. Aries tries a sunset flip but gets caught in a reverse piledriver (think Kaz’s Fade to Black) for two with Daivari making the save.

Daivari hits a top rope splash, complete with carpet, but Aries’ unnamed lackey puts his foot on the ropes. The same reverse piledriver from Kage is good for two on Daivari but with Kage goes to the floor to fight the lackey. Another lackey nails Daivari with the title, allowing Aries to hit the 450 for the pin and the title.

Rating: D+. So yeah indy wrestling like this is usually dull and this was no exception. It looked like three guys imitating stuff they had seen in ECW (thank goodness it was without the weapons) and while I’ve seen FAR FAR worse, this was nothing all that special. Aries and Daivari would obviously get better but they were still nothing great here. I don’t think Kage ever went anywhere.

Aries would soon head to ROH and would challenge the longest reigning champion in the company’s history, Samoa Joe, at Final Battle 2004.

ROH World Title: Samoa Joe vs. Austin Aries

Aries won’t shake hands to start but charges into the corner at the bell and hammers away. Joe shrugs him off and sends Aries onto the mat for a figure four neck lock. That goes nowhere so we hit a headlock takeover until Aries gets to the ropes to avoid a series of forearms to the face. Austin can’t take him down with a headlock and shoulder blocks have about the same effect. He tries another should and Joe just slaps him in the face.

Instead Aries goes after the knee and takes him down with relative ease. Off to an STF as color commentator CM Punk snaps off the history of people trying knee work on Joe to no avail. Aries dropkicks the knee to put Joe down again and we get a Flair knee crusher, only to have Joe pop up for an enziguri. Joe goes to work in the corner with a string of chops followed by the Facewash.

Aries absorbs some knees to the head but can’t pick Joe up for the brainbuster. Instead he gets sent to the floor but avoids the suicide dive, only to slide back in and have his suicide dive hit Joe’s boot. Joe hits the Ole Kick against two different barricades before asking for a fan’s chair. The third Ole Kick misses though and Joe gets caught up on the barricade. Aries comes back with a running dropkick to take Joe down and the champion is in trouble.

Back in and Aries has to fight out of a choke, only to get caught in a powerslam for two. A hurricanrana out of a powerbomb gets two for Austin but he charges into the Island Driver (kind of a reverse White Noise) for two. Aries breaks up the Muscle Buster and hits the 450 for another near fall but Joe is too big to lift for the brainbuster.

Instead it’s a sunset flip but Joe rolls through, only to get caught in a Boston crab. That goes nowhere either but the crowd is entirely behind Austin now. Another brainbuster attempt goes nowhere and Joe is getting ticked off. Aries responds by just hitting him harder but Joe gets fired up. Another kick to the knee puts the champion down though and it’s the brainbuster into the 450 to give Aries the title.

Rating: B-. The story here worked much better than I was expecting with the knee work coming back to haunt Joe later. I also dug the idea of Aries trying different offenses with the leg and the brainbuster before finally combining them to take the title. It’s not a great match but I liked it better than I expected to.

Aries would hold the title for about six months before dropping it to CM Punk. He would team up with a bunch of other young guys as Generation Next (a team he was part of when he won the title) before heading into the upper midcard. That’s where he was for an ROH vs. Dragon Gate match at Final Battle 2006.

Matt Sydal/Shingo/CIMA vs. Delirious/Austin Aries/Roderick Strong

Sydal is more commonly known as Evan Bourne as I mentioned above. Shingo is from Dragon Gate and CIMA might be as well. His name is pronounced Shima so this could lead to some misspellings. Also, I’m not capitalizing his name again. It’s the same thing despite what some would have you believe. Delirious is….yeah.

Aries is the only two time ROH World Champion so he’s something special here. Strong is a guy with something like 16 ways to hit a backbreaker. This is under Dragon Gate Rules which aren’t explained. Strong, Aries and Sydal were in a team called Generation Next together.

Apparently you don’t have to tag to switch off but you have to be on offense. Ok that makes sense. Delirious goes into a trance and goes insane once the bell rings. He’s definitely interesting if nothing else. He’s great in the ring if nothing else. He starts with Sydal who I’ll likely call Bourne at least once. This is your usual insane Japanese match and apparently the fans like Cima.

There isn’t much to talk about here other than it’s just general insanity the whole time. This is what you call a spotfest with some mild wrestling involved. It’s not bad or anything, but it’s not comparable to traditional matches. It’s weird seeing Sydal being considered a serious competitor rather than a spot monkey or jobber.

The fans like both teams. Aries is getting beaten down pretty fiercely. I think the team with the Japanese guys and Sydal are the heels even though Daniels, Sydal’s partner, was ridiculously popular. Fisherman’s suplex gets two on Aries. Strong gets the tag and comes in and he and Delirious clean house.

Cima is getting his head handed to him. With everyone brawling on the floor, Sydal goes up top and the crowd just rises to their feet. Great visual there. Delirious hits Shadows Over Hell (Splash to the back of a guy not on the mat) is followed by a 450 from Aries. This is totally insane. Cobra Stretch, Delirious’ submission, is broken up. Cima hits a package piledriver on Delirious for the pin.

Rating: B. This falls into that gray arena of entertaining but bad as far as flow or anything like that goes. Then again that’s kind of the point of the Dragon Gate promotion. This was supposed to be completely insane and it more or less was. It was fun though so I can’t complain much at all.

Aries would head to TNA for a bit as Austin Starr, where he would take part in Kevin Nash’s X-Division competition called the Paparazzi Championship Series. To this day I still have no idea what the point of this thing was but it was entertaining and got a veteran involved with the X-Division so it did its job….whatever that was. From Lockdown 2007.

Austin Starr vs. Senshi

No backstory to this, because I don’t think TNA can explain it either. Bob Backlund, a focal point of the story, is guest referee. This went on for awhile and there was something about Kevin Nash holding a tournament which turned into a talent show and the X-Division Title was involved somehow. It made no sense and I don’t think they knew what was going on with it. I say that about a lot of stories, but this was one of the stranger ones ever.

Starr is Austin Aries who is from TV Land. See what I mean by this story making no sense? Backlund tries to keep things civil and Senshi takes over with his high impact stuff. Senshi chops him a lot Starr takes over with a back rake and suplex for two. STO sets up the pendulum elbow for two. Powerbomb gets two and it’s off to a half crab. Some more back work eats up a minute or two.

Senshi comes back with kicks to take over. Starr gets backdropped into the cage and a Capo kick gets two. Austin takes over again because guys of this style don’t particularly care for selling. He hits a powerbomb kind of move out of the corner and uses the ropes for two. Backlund gets shoved into the ropes to crotch Senshi who was setting for the Warrior’s Way. 450 gets two. Starr shoves Backlund and Bob shoves him into a rollup for the pin.

Rating: C-. The match was fine, but I just don’t care about these guys. I have no idea what the point of it was and like I said, I doubt TNA did either. This was basically any match with these two in it that you would pick out of a pile. There were some decent spots, but it came and went and I don’t care. Just not my taste at all.

It was soon back to ROH, including this match against Silas Young (billed from 21 Jump Street) on April 19, 2008.

Silas Young vs. Austin Aries

Feeling out process to start as the announcers talk about Aries possibly joining the Age of the Fall. Both guys trade headscissors and takedowns until Aries knees him in the face to take over. They head outside with Aries still in control but he misses a missile dropkick to give Young an opening. Silas hammers away in the corner and counters a charging Aries with a gutbuster. Aries comes back with a series of knee strikes to the head and now the missile dropkick connects. The brainbuster is countered but Aries gets his knees up to block a splash. This time the brainbuster connects and the Last Chancery makes Young tap.

Rating: C-. Just a basic match here to open the show. Aries is a fast paced guy who can make a match like this work and Young was decent enough in his role to make the match work. At the end of the day though, there’s only so much you can do in a five minute match where the winner wasn’t really in doubt.

We’ll jump to 2009 as Aries is still a big deal in ROH and starting to gear up for another title push. He would try to get a bit closer at Eliminating the Competition in February 2009 against Sami Callihan.

Austin Aries vs. Sami Callihan

Before the match, Aries wants to know where his appreciation is. The fans should be thanking him for being here tonight because it took A-Double being added to a D level town like Danbury, Connecticut to make it a B level show. Aries makes fun of Callihan and offers a mocking handshake which Sami actually accepts. Callihan cranks on the arm to start but Aries takes over Sami’s arm to get control.

Now we go to amateur style with Sami easily riding Aries on the mat. Sami takes him down with a makeshift spinebuster before putting on what Luke Harper called the Gator Roll. Back up and Aries can’t suplex him but does knock Callihan to the floor with a knee to the back. We get a stump puller of all things from Aries followed by an STO and the Pendulum Elbow.

A Stroke gets two but Sami fights back with some kicks to the chest and a Diamond Cutter to a kneeling Aries. Back up again and Aries can’t hit the brainbuster before getting caught in a snap belly to belly suplex for two. A belly to back gets the same but Aries comes back with a running dropkick in the corner. The brainbuster connects a few seconds later for the pin on Sami.

Rating: C-. This wasn’t terrible with Sami being a guy I’ve always liked for some reason. Aries was just on fire at this point though and no one was going to have much of a chance against him. Callihan was trying out there and that’s all he needed to do in a match like this. I’m glad he eventually got into the WWE.

Aries would win the title in a few months and hold it for over half a year. One of his matches during this reign was a “dream” tag team match at Survival of the Fittest 2009.

Briscoes vs. Austin Aries/Davey Richards

So this is a dream tag team match. Richards is a tag team champion and Aries is world champion. The Briscoes are more or less tag team gods in ROH. Actually there’s no pretty much to that. Good night those are some awesomely bad sideburns. This is random but you have to remember that their TV show is taped about 6 weeks in advance in big long blocks of TV tapings.

So therefore, what’s going to happen in say early November has already been taped, so the outcomes are already known. Apparently in this taping cycle, Austin’s chant has switched from Austin Pervert to Austin censored, which he makes sure the crowd knows. That’s just funny to me for some reason.

Davey has a title shot that he can cash in but his tag partner is injured so he needed Aries to help him her. The deal is he won’t cash in tonight and he has a tag partner. Ok then. The Briscoes are named Mark and Jay mind you and Mark and Davey start us off. They spend a LONG time talking about Aries defending against Ruckus in Poland. I mean they go on for probably three minutes about it.

The announcers debate which team is better. Why would you even argue that? You have two guys that aren’t partners normally and brothers who have won more tag titles than anyone. Where’s the argument here? This is a rather slow paced match but it’s a slow build and not boring at all so I can’t complain there.

Apparently the Briscoes like to drink a lot. Good to know then. The odd thing about ROH is that in their I think 7 year existence, they’ve had one two time champion: Aries. That’s very odd when you think about it. He and Davey have a competition of throwing kicks on Jay. Not bad I guess.

And yep there’s your miscommunication as Richards misses an enziguri and Austin gets kicked in the head, allowing Jay to get the hot tag to Mark. They’re keeping it basic and there’s nothing wrong with that. With one match to go we have a match and a half left. That’s quite odd indeed.

The Briscoes crank it up by throwing off some double team stuff but the Doomsday Device doesn’t get to launch. Now we’re cranking up the speed and it’s getting better. Not that it was bad earlier but this is better. Mark and Davey do a brief strong style which works really well. I’m digging this in case you can’t tell. Aries accidently kicks Richards in the head and just walks out, allowing the Doomsday Device to connect for the pin.

Rating: B-. This was good but not great. I’ve never been a big fan of these kinds of matches but it certainly wasn’t that bad at all. The Briscoes are good but something tells me this wasn’t their best stuff. Aries and Richards seem pretty good but I didn’t get to see enough of Aries to really know. This was good but I wouldn’t call it a dream match.

Tyler Black would finally take the title from Aries at the 8th Anniversary Show. Aries would drop down the card a bit but was still a big deal. Here’s a match with him in his new role from Death Before Dishonor VIII.

Delirious vs. Austin Aries

Delirious is in his insane red tonight. Aries tried to injure Delirious and hurt his throat, setting this up. Again, simple booking can work best at times. The Express gets thrown out for the sake of a match. Mist is shot out almost immediately and Aries is in trouble. Who came up with that thing in the first place? It’s such a staple anymore that if you had trademarked it you would make a fortune.

Chokebomb by Delirious which is a rather cool move actually. Aries is still blind about 3 minutes in. Aries goes for a brainbuster on the referee, I guess just not noticing the shirt there. He gets some water in his eyes and now we’re ready to go. Out on the floor and Aries sets Delirious up for the Savage/Steamboat axe handle spot that set up their Mania 3 match and was also used to put Delirious out. This one of course misses though as we need to brawl more.

Hot shot gets two for Aries as he takes over. Cobra Clutch suplex gets two for Delirious as he hits it out of nowhere. He starts his comeback and lands like 5 sentons to the back of Aries. Cobra Clutch is countered and Delirious goes to the floor. Aries goes for a suicide dive and faceplants into the wall in a SICK looking bump. And here’s the Express for the CHEAP DQ! This feud is still going on today (well not today but when I wrote this it was) so you get the idea here.

Rating: C+. This was ok but the ending crippled it. Delirious is certainly different than most guys but in the ring I’ve never quite gotten the appeal of Aries. He’s good but I’ve never found him to be great at all. This was a decent match but the ending hurt it badly. The idea was supposed to be for Delirious to get his revenge and to this day he still hasn’t. I get stretching an angle out but this is a bit much.

Aries would head to TNA permanently in the summer of 2011 and immediately rise to the top of the X-Division. He would challenge for the title at No Surrender 2011.

X-Division Title: Brian Kendrick vs. Austin Aries

Kendrick is wearing a Genghis Khan head dress. I haven’t been incredibly impressed by Aries but I keep being told he’s the best in the world for some reason. They go to the mat quickly and that gets no one anything. They trade counters and Kendrick hooks a Fujiwara Armbar, making it the third match tonight where we’ve seen that submission. They speed it up a bit and Kendrick gets a headscissors to get a small advantage.

Aries is sent to the apron so he can chill a bit. Kendrick gets bored I guess and goes after him and back inside we go. Kendrick gets a kick to the head in and tries Sliced Bread but Aries heads for the outside. Brian rams him into the railing a few times and tries Sliced Bread out there which doesn’t work either. Aries gets a Russian Leg Sweep into the post to take over, getting two in the ring.

Back inside a pair of elbows gets two for Aries. There’s stump puller to really mix things up. A release STO sets up the classically stupid pendulum elbow which misses. Kendrick is sent into the corner face first but he manages to break up a running dropkick. Brian hits a bunch of dropkicks of his own to send Aries outside and we go back in again. There’s a missile dropkick for two.

Tornado DDT gets two. He tries Sliced Bread again but gets tossed over the top and out to the floor in a very nasty crash. Aries tries a suicide dive but Kendrick moves, sending Aries crashing into the barricade. They both barely beat the count back in and slug it out. Aries avoids a charge and Kendrick hits the floor AGAIN. What is that, 6 times already? Back in a running dropkick in the corner gets two.

Aries sets for the brainbuster but gets rolled up for two. Backslide gets two. Aries fires off a tornado forearm for two and an elevated DDT ala Orton for two. 450 misses but Aries rolls through. Kendrick grabs a tiger suplex for two. He tries sliced bread but the referee is in the corner. Aries kicks him in a place that isn’t nice to kick another man and the brainbuster ends this at 14:20 with a new champion.

Rating: B-. This was probably the best match of the night so far but it still was nothing to write home about, let alone half a page. They went outside so many times I lost count and the whole thing felt kind of boring. It wasn’t a bad match and was pretty good at times, but when you can bore a TNA crowd, you’re doing something special. To be fair this has been an incredibly unimpressive show so it’s not this match’s fault.

Aries would be allowed to cash in his title for a shot at the World Title, which he received at Destination X 2012.

TNA World Title: Austin Aries vs. Bobby Roode

Feeling out process to start without a lot of offense either way. After about a minute and twenty seconds they lock up and Roode grabs the arm. Aries grabs the arm to counter but gets run over. They’re still in slow mode and that’s fine. A rolling cradle gets two for Aries and he hooks an STF. They hit the mat and Roode slaps him in the back of his head a few times. Now Aries takes him down to the mat and hits a slingshot tope for two.

Roode hooks a headscissors on the mat which is quickly broken up and they head outside. Aries hits a top rope ax handle to the floor but his missile dropkick misses back inside and Roode takes over. Roode hooks a chinlock but a knee drop misses. Aries fires off with kicks and tries the Last Chancery but it doesn’t go on right. Roode goes to the floor but avoids the suicide dive, sending Aries into the barricade.

Roode hooks a bodyscissors back in the ring followed by a hard whip into the corner. He talks a lot of trash to the downed Aries and hits a combination F5/Samoan Drop for two. Off to a body vice on the mat and Aries is cut on the nose. Aries makes a comeback and fires off forearms and chops in the corner. They slug it out and a discus forearm puts Roode down. A clothesline puts Roode on the floor and there’s the suicide dive which connects this time.

This time the missile dropkick hits as well but Aries charges into a powerslam out of the corner. Aries comes back again and tries the Last Chancery again, but Roode is pretty bad at selling it. Roode counters into a Crossface but Aries counters right back into the Chancery. Aries gets in another shot to the head and goes up for the 450, but Roode moves. Aries rolls through it anyway but walks into the spinebuster for two.

The champion sends him shoulder first into the post and goes back to the Crossface. That stays on for a long time but Aries makes the rope. Roode is frustrated now so he grabs the belt, only to have it taken away by the referee. That allows the champ to hit a low blow for two. Roode argues with the referee and gets shoved into the corner, allowing Aries to hit the corner dropkick.

Aries tries the brainbuster but Roode escapes and the ref is bumped. Roode hits a belt shot for a VERY close two. The fisherman’s suplex is countered into a small package for two and Aries punts Roode in the head. He grabs the brainbuster out of nowhere for the pin and the title in a huge shocker.

Rating: B+. Another good match to close the show here, but the point of this was in the surprise. This felt like a big moment and it was the right call to pull the trigger here. This show was designed around the X-Division and having the longest reigning champion win the world title here was the right way to make the X Title look like it can be something comparable to the world title. Good match too.

Aries would hold the title for several months and was champion coming into Bound For Glory 2012 where he would defend against the winner of the Bound For Glory Series.

TNA World Title: Jeff Hardy vs. Austin Aries

The fans are pretty much split which isn’t what they were hoping for I don’t think. We start with a long feeling out process and we have roughly half an hour for this. They head to the mat and Hardy actually keeps up with the champ (Aries is defending if I didn’t mention that) until they head to the corner for the slingshot dropkick. Aries comes back and puts Hardy on the apron for a slingshot ax handle. He takes a victory lap and then one in reverse.

Back in and Hardy gets two off a suplex. They’re still in first gear here and that’s fine. Jeff knocks Aries to the floor and mocks Aries. The fans don’t seem pleased with Jeff so he jumps off the apron with an ax handle of his own. Jeff charges at Aries but Hardy crashes into the barricade and hits Aries at the same time. Back in and Aries gets two off a top rope splash. Aries charges into a boot in the corner and the crowd is probably 80% pro Aries.

A backbreaker gets two for the champ and it’s off to an abdominal stretch on the mat. Aries takes him down again and hits a corkscrew plancha for two. Hardy blocks the Last Chancery and hits something Big Show used to call the Alley Oop. He sets for a powerbomb but throws Aries backwards instead of forwards. Show’s was a bit slower but it’s the same move. Hardy makes his comeback and hits the low dropkick for two.

Whisper in the Wind gets two and the fans have quieted down a bit. Twist of Fate is countered and Aries is knocked to the floor. Hardy misses a slingshot and there’s the suicide dive to drive Jeff into the barricade. Another dive takes Hardy out again with this one getting two in the ring. Aries is busted but nowhere near what Storm was earlier. There’s the Last Chancery but Jeff escapes quickly.

They head to the ramp and Jeff can’t hit the Twist, but rather gets clotheslined into the ropes. Aries drops him on his head, sending the back of Jeff’s head into the edge of the ramp. And people wonder why he’s a drug addict. A missile dropkick sends Jeff into the corner but he comes out with the Twist for two. Jeff loads up the Swanton but gets crotched and super ranaed down from a double standing position. That looked awesome. Corner dropkick sets up the Brainbuster for two and Aries is STUNNED. Aries puts Jeff on top but gets knocked off and the Swanton gives Jeff the title at 23:04.

Rating: B+. This was a good main event but after the Aces and 8’s stuff, this came off a bit flat. Also, TNA REALLY needs to mix up their main event styles. The kicking out of finishers and then the pin soon thereafter can only take you so far and they’ve done it for years now. Watch a few TNA PPV main events and the formulas are almost always the same. Hardy winning is the right choice but it doesn’t feel like a huge moment at all for the most part. Still though, a quite good match.

After dropping the World Title, Aries would join forces with Bobby Roode to try and take over TNA. Their first goal was the Tag Team Titles, for which they challenged on February 7, 2013.

Tag Titles: Chavo Guerrero/Hernandez vs. Austin Aries/Bobby Roode

The Texans are defending and dear goodness please let the titles change tonight. Chavo and Roode start things off with the champion taking over with some headscissors to start. Aries comes in but runs into Hernandez who scares him away. SuperMex puts Aries on the top rope so Austin cartwheels away. Roode tells a posing Aries to turn around and there’s the delayed vertical, but Roode makes the save.

A double suplex with Chavo helping out puts the challengers down and there’s a slingshot hilo onto Aries. Roode pulls Chavo to the floor but the suicide dive misses, sending Bobby into the barricade. We take a break and come back with Roode breaking up a cover by Hernandez. Chavo chops away on Aries in the corner and it’s back to Hernandez. A running splash gets two for Hernandez and here’s Guerrero ago.

Roode finally cheats a bit and hits Chavo in the back so Aries can hit a discus forearm to take down Chavo and give the heels control. Tazz, now part of a team, goes on a rant about how much being in a tag team sucks before talking about how much he loves Aces and 8’s. Off to Roode again for a chinlock as Tazz talks about sitting on a boil. Ok then. A top rope double ax hits Chavo on the floor and gets two for Austin back inside.

We hit a LONG chinlock by Roode before Aries comes in with some cheating. Chavo fights up and it’s a double clothesline to put both guys down. There’s the hot tag to Hernandez who cleans house, only to have Roode pull his own partner into the slingshout shoulder from Hernandez. SuperMex destroys Roode but Aries escapes Three Amigos. The heels are rammed together and Roode walks out, only to return as Aries hits Hernandez low. The spinebuster to Chavo sets up the 450 from Aries for the pin and the titles at 17:29.

Rating: B. I don’t like the challengers but this was a very solid tag match. If nothing else these two will actually be interesting instead of just sitting around doing nothing at all. This had a long heel in peril segment which you hardly ever see anymore. Good match here and nice to see a LONG TV match that means something.

While not an important set of shows, the One Night Only series had some solid matches. Aries participated in a tournament to determine the greatest World Champion of them all.

Tournament of Champions Quarter-Finals: Kurt Angle vs. Austin Aries

Angle is very passive to start and lets Aries dance around for a bit. Aries tries basic stuff like headlocks and wristlocks but Angle just smiles and doesn’t move at all, so Aries goes and lays on the top rope. Aries even offers to get down on the mat amateur style but Angle laughs him off. Instead Austin makes the referee get down on all fours as a demonstration of what he wants Angle to do.

Aries gets down again but this time Angle kicks him in the ribs to really get things going. Angle pounds away in the corner and we get a Flair Flop from Austin. A suplex gets two for Kurt but Aries kicks him low to block a German. Angle comes back with right hands to knock Aries through the ropes but Austin’s feet hang onto the top rope to keep him off the floor. He still manages to pull Angle to the outside and drops a top rope ax handle to take over again.

Back in and Aries hits some lame forearms to the back before mocking Angle’s lowering of the straps. From his back, Angle easily kicks him through the ropes to the floor before launching him back in from the apron. Aries flips out of the German suplex and puts on the Last Chancery.

That doesn’t last long as always so it’s off to a front facelock, only to have Angle grab the ankle lock. Austin kicks away again but gets caught in the Angle Slam for two. They fight for a suplex with Aries on the apron but he snaps Kurt’s throat on the top rope to take over. Angle avoids a missile dropkick but his Angle Slam is countered into a rollup for the pin out of nowhere.

Rating: C+. Yeah Angle vs. Aries was just a C+ match. I’m a bit surprised as well, but what in the world can you expect when the match has about ten minutes and the first few are spent on comedy? This is the kind of pairing that could tear the house down with twenty five minutes but here they’re stuck in a relatively quick match because we need to spend so much time on video packages.

We’ll move on since Aries would lose to Samoa Joe in the semi-finals. Our final match will be Aries going back to his roots and challenging for the X-Division Title at Genesis 2014.

X-Division Title: Chris Sabin vs. Austin Aries

Sabin is defending and Velvet is in a small cage at ringside, complete with a bag containing the gifts. Feeling out process to start until Aries grabs a quick Last Chancery. Sabin is thrown to the floor but jumps back onto the apron to crotch Aries in the corner. Aries gets caught in the Tree of Woe for a baseball slide but avoids being thrown to the floor.

He comes back with elbows to the head and a Lionsault for two. A discus forearm sets up the running dropkick in the corner but Sabin counters the brainbuster. Sabin heads to the floor and gets the bag from Velvet but it just has the bear. Aries gets in an ax handle from the apron followed by a missile dropkick. The brainbuster gives Aries the title at 5:10.

Rating: C-. I’m having a really hard time caring about these matches when I don’t think all three have combined to go twenty minutes. These are all just meaningless title changes and the belt hasn’t grown at all as a result. I believe this puts Aries at four title reigns and it doesn’t make him a bigger star at all.

Aries is a guy that I find overrated by a lot of the fans but there’s no arguing that he’s an incredibly talented wrestler and one of the best in TNA at the moment. His surprise win over Bobby Roode at Destination X 2012 was a great surprise and something that felt completely deserved. He’s certainly grown on me and was very entertaining at the TNA show I went to last year. The problem with him is the same that has plagued so many wrestlers: what does he do now in TNA? The answer is probably not much as he just doesn’t have a lot left to accomplish.

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