Impact Wrestling – April 5, 2016: Nope, Not Buying It
Impact Wrestling Date: April 5, 2016
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Jeremy Borash, Josh Matthews
It’s a night of revenge tonight in what might be (and hopefully is) the last match in the Jeff Hardy vs. Eric Young feud. In this case they’re inside a cage in a match that doesn’t mean much, especially since the King of the Mountain Title isn’t on the line. To be fair the thing is hardly ever defended so this isn’t a big surprise. Let’s get to it.
We open with a recap of the end of last week’s show with Drew Galloway successfully defending the title against Jeff, setting up Matt Hardy challenging for the title tonight, along with Jeff vs. Eric.
Jeff Hardy vs. Eric Young
Non-title and inside six sides of steel. Before the match, Young gets his standard promo time and promises to piledrive Hardy to death. Young has Bram with him so Hardy brings out a table. They start brawling on the floor without a bell and Bram helps Eric send him into the cage wall. A piledriver on the exposed concrete doesn’t work as TNA’s insurance policy doesn’t cover death.
Young tells Bram to get a table as the handicap beating continues. They FINALLY get inside for the opening bell with a table and a bunch of chairs thrown inside for fun. A jawbreaker staggers Young and the whole double beatdown is forgotten. We take a break less than a minute after the bell and come back with Young sending Hardy head first into the cage. Eric wedges a chair into the corner but of course Hardy reverses him into it instead.
They tease putting each other through the table until Jeff gets kicked to the mat. The legdrop between the legs has Young down for two but Jeff takes too much time loading up some chairs in the middle of the ring, allowing Eric to piledrive him through them for two. You know, because of course a piledriver onto open chairs only gets two. Young sets up a table instead, only to have Jeff hit a quick Twist of Fate. That’s not enough either of course as he puts Eric on the table for a heavily edited Swanton off the top of the cage for the pin at 13:19.
Rating: C+. The match was fun but nothing we haven’t seen before. On top of that it’s also a waste of the King of the Mountain Title, which Hardy never mentioned or showed any suggestion of wanting whatsoever. I know the belt already means nothing but it’s not like Jeff has to pretty much acknowledge it throughout the feud. Good match though.
Dixie Carter talks to Maria and Gail over how they can’t just make a #1 contender. The result is a three way for the title tonight because what else were they going to do. Dixie doesn’t want to hear Maria’s ideas either.
Jeff is icing his head and wants the Creatures to stay with him.
Here are Matt Hardy (with the Brand) and Drew Galloway for their final speeches before the title match. Granted they’re also the first speeches but you have to stretch sometimes in TNA. Drew says Matt is going to talk all night long so it’s time for him to shut up. Matt thinks that Drew has his property because he has an entourage like a champion and is the epitome of success in this business.
Tonight he’s going to take the title that belongs to him. Drew talks about how Matt has lost his passion and is now only in it for the money. Matt doesn’t like Drew bringing up his win over Jeff but promises to get the title back. That’s it but Tyrus says he’s coming for the winner. Are we really waiting for Tyrus vs. Galloway or Hardy now? Apparently it’s set up like a Money in the Bank as he implies he might cash it in tonight.
Pope talks about being ready for a fight tonight because it might be the last thing he knows how to do. It’s a lot easier to jump on than it is to jump off daddy.
Post break Ethan Carter III comes up to laugh at Tyrus’ threat. Tyrus: “I hate you.” Ethan: “I hate you more.”
Lashley vs. D’Angelo Dinero
This is a street fight after Pope saved Josh Matthews from a beatdown a few weeks ago. Pope has been active at least down in OVW so he’s certainly not coming out of mothballs. Lashley jumps him from behind to start and the beating is quickly on with Pope in early trouble. The opening bell is late again and it’s all Lashley early.
As you might expect, the announcers ignore the match to talk about Tyrus cashing in, which apparently has to be announced in advance. That’s a bit better at least. Lashley gets in a delayed vertical suplex and loads up a stomp onto the steps, only to get blasted with a trashcan. Some kendo stick shots to the back have Lashley down with Josh being far too happy over the beatdown. Not that it matters as Lashley comes right back with a spear for the pin at 6:48.
Rating: C-. This had a lot of potential on paper but the match really wasn’t much to see. I get the idea of having it be a street fight for the sake of giving Pope a fighting chance but this was just a step above a squash. Pope would be a good addition to the roster as he’s not that old and can cut an energetic promo. I mean, it’s not like they have anyone else to put out there.
Lashley spears him down two more times before Ethan Carter III comes out for a slow save. As Lashley leaves, Mike Bennett sneaks in and jumps Carter from behind.
Post break, Carter offers to fight Bennett right now. Instead he gets Maria who talks about the people. Carter: “OH PUT A SOCK IN IT TOOTS!” Bennett comes out and accuses EC3 as someone who is looking for an excuse, just like everyone else around here. Carter is willing to get rid of Bennett at any time but Mike yells at him for losing the title. It means Carter has nothing left but he’s still making excuse after excuse. Bennett goes on a great rant about how he’s going to be World Champion after beating Carter, leaving everyone to say YES WE DO.
Carter is ready right now but Mike says we’ll do it next week. That’s not enough for Ethan as he goes after Mike and runs Maria over in the process. They go into the parking lot with Bennett getting hit in the back with a chair until he steals a tire iron from a car to knock Carter away, allowing him to steal the car and escape. This was REALLY good stuff and one of the best buildups to a match that I’ve seen TNA do in a long time.
Rockstar Spud has a plan for Tyrus but he crumples it up. Man that’s just rude. Imagine the time and effort he put into that.
Knockouts Title: Jade vs. Madison Rayne vs. Gail Kim
Gail is defending. Jade gets beaten back and forth to start but Gail is sent to the floor, leaving Rayne to get a rollup for two. The champ gets suplexed and it’s the challengers slugging it out until Gail pops back up for a neckbreaker to Madison and a DDT to Jade at the same time. Jade dives through the ropes to take Madison down as the announcers talk about Gail potentially injuring her leg. Well that and the Schitt’s Creek show with a horrible transition. As the challengers fight on the floor, Maria sneaks in with a belt shot to Gail, setting up an STO from Jade for the pin and the title at 3:41.
Rating: D-. The ending is the right choice (though you know Gail is going to get the title back in a few months at most because we must praise Gail Kim at every given chance) but the match was a mess with almost no time and all three looking in different libraries instead of on the same page. Nothing to see here but at least we have a fresh champion.
Galloway is ready to defend his title.
Shane Helms wants to hear Eddie Edwards’ answer but it should be obvious from here.
We look back at Al Snow beating up Grado last week.
Snow says Billy Corgan should understand his actions. Apparently Snow is upset that they’re letting anyone in, including people like Grado. Snow is suspended for a week without pay and is expected to publicly apologize.
Here are Helms and Trevor Lee for Edwards’ answer about joining up for a tag team. Eddie comes out and says everything takes time but Helms doesn’t like that word. He’s teamed with people a lot less talented than Eddie and found success so imagine what they could do together. Eddie doesn’t buy it though and thinks Shane just wants the automatic title shot he has coming. That belongs to Davey Richards though, meaning he wants no part of the Helms Dynasty when he’s already part of the Wolves Nation.
Violence is about to erupt when Beer Money comes out for the save. Insults are issued and Beer Money confirms that they are in fact, Beer Money. Storm says line up the teams because they’ll knock them down. Cue Decay with Rosemary saying when you wish on a dying star, you will decay, decay, decay. Abyss wants the titles so Storm says they’re ready to fight right now. The brawl is quickly on but security breaks it up even faster.
Matt talks about being ready to take his title back tonight. As he talks about how it’s time for him to take, Tyrus is slowly seen walking up the hallway behind him for a really cool visual.
Beer Money wants Decay next week.
TNA World Title: Drew Galloway vs. Matt Hardy
Drew is defending. Tyrus stands in the ring for the intros before taking off his gear and….going to the floor. Matt is smart enough to use the distraction to jump Drew from behind for an early advantage. A bulldog and legdrop have Drew in trouble and we take a break. Back with Matt hitting a Side Effect on the apron and going back inside, allowing Spud (called a ring rat by Josh) to get in a few cheap shots. A pair of neckbreakers gets two for Matt but Drew comes back with a good looking belly to belly.
Matt takes him up top for a quick gutwrench superplex but has to stop and take off his boot due to an ankle injury. Apparently it’s just a ruse though (how villainous) as Spud tries to come in for a cheap shot, only to get suplexed as well. Futureshock connects but Tyrus pulls the referee out at two. Cue Jeff to beat up Tyrus as Matt Twists Drew for another near fall. Drew is done with this though and grabs the Iron Maiden for the tap out at 12:10.
Rating: C-. Too many Hardys around of course but it’s good to have Matt and Jeff out of the way so we can get on to some more interesting challengers. You know, like Tyrus apparently. They really need to give him his title shot already so we don’t have to sit around waiting on him to cash in like he’s someone interesting.
Overall Rating: C+. I had a good time with this show as they seem to actually be setting up some stuff for the future. Unfortunately I don’t have much hope for this company to pull stuff off but at least they’re showing some potential here. At long as they stop focusing on the Hardys as the stars of the promotion, things could get better over the next few weeks.
Results
Jeff Hardy b. Eric Young – Swanton Bomb through a table
Lashley b. D’Angelo Dinero – Spear
Jade b. Madison Rayne and Gail Kim – STO to Kim
Drew Galloway b. Matt Hardy – Iron Maiden
Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of the History of the Intercontinental Title at Amazon for just $3.99 at:
Wrestler of the Day – November 28: D’Angelo Dinero
Today we’re looking at a guy whose popularity I’ll never understand: D’Angelo Dinero.
Burke got his start in 2003 and spent a few years in OVW. Given that his run there might be the least interesting stuff I’ve ever seen in wrestling (not an exaggeration), we’ll skip ahead to his debut in ECW on November 28, 2006.
Hardy Boys vs. Elijah Burke/Sylvester Terkay
Terkay is a big MMA style guy who never did much in America. Jeff and Burke get things going with Hardy taking Elijah down with a headscissors. Off to Matt for a top wristlock won by Matt before Jeff comes back in with a dropkick for two. Terkay comes in and drills Jeff with a slam but misses a hard charge into the post. Matt comes in with a Side Effect for Burke and some clotheslines for Terkay. The Hardys double team Terkay down and hit Poetry in Motion, followed by the Twist/Swanton for the pin.
Rating: D+. Not much to see here but it wasn’t terrible. At the end of the day the Hardys were slumming it in ECW until they were ready for their real reunion tour on Raw and Samckdown. The match wasn’t anything of note but then again neither were Burke or Terkay in WWE at all.
Burke became the leader of the New Breed and would face the ECW Originals at Wrestlemania XXIII.
New Breed vs. ECW Originals
It’s Elijah Burke/Matt Striker/Kevin Thron/Marcus Cor Van vs. Rob Van Dam/Tommy Dreamer/Sabu and for no reason whatsoever this is a regular eight man tag instead of the Extreme Rules match we would get on ECW a few days later. Striker starts with Sabu and Matt is in early trouble. It’s quickly off to Sandman vs. Burke but before Sandy does much he brings in Dreamer. Cor Von hits Dreamer in the back and comes in to pound away a bit.
It’s quickly back to Burke (the New Breed’s leader and more famous as D’Angelo Dinero) for the running knees to the back for two. Thorn comes in to crush Dreamer into the corner and put on a chinlock. Back up and a sitout powerbomb gets two for Thorn and here’s Cor Von again. Burke comes in as well but Dreamer takes them down with a simultaneous neckbreaker/reverse DDT combo. The hot tag brings in Van Dam and there’s the top rope kick to Thorn. Rolling Thunder lands on Striker as everything breaks down. With everyone else on the floor, Van Dam Five Stars Striker for the pin.
Rating: D+. Seriously, why wasn’t this the Extreme Rules match? The whole point of ECW is to be extreme but we got a seven minute tag match which went nowhere at all. The theory was to finally let these guys get on Wrestlemania, but Van Dam had been on it before and won a title here. Nothing to see here at all.
Burke wanted CM Punk to join the New Breed and fought him at Judgment Day 2007 as a result.
CM Punk vs. Elijah Burke
Burke is more known as the Pope now. Punk has heavily taped ribs and IT’S CLOBBERING TIME!!! Burke wanted Punk in the ECW New Breed but Punk said no, so here’s a match. Basically Elijah is just a loudmouth at this point and is overly cocky. He’s a rare example of TNA taking a guy and doing FAR better with him than WWE did. The fans are behind Punk here.
Nothing of note to start other than some striking and Punk throwing on a chinlock. That makes sense here as he’s trying to conserve wind due to the ribs being injured. Punk keeps firing off kicks and adds a suplex for two. British Bulldog suplex gets two and we hit the chinlock, both by Punk if that wasn’t clear. That doesn’t last long as Punk hits a springboard reverse cross body for two.
Burke finally gets to the ribs and Punk can’t get the knee in the corner. Punk is noving very gingerly because of the ribs. GTS can’t hit so he settles for a springboard dropkick to send Burke to the floor. This has been almost all Punk for the first 8 minutes and he adds a suicide dive to the floor to continue his advantage. Burke manages to pull him off the top in almost a powerbomb style move and it’s time to work on the bad ribs.
Off to the body scissors and the fans chant for JBL for absolutely no reason at all. See, in contrast to the opener with Carlito doing a bunch of different stuff to Flair’s arm, Burke is using the same body scissors the entire time. There are TONS of moves and holds to use on the ribs but he uses the same one. Big difference and it made me enjoy the Carlito stuff more.
Punk gets out of it and they head to the corner. Superplex by Punk has both guys in EXTREME (it’s an ECW match so you have to capitalize that word) agony. Punk is up first and starts firing off strikes. Enziguri gets two. Knee in the corner hits this time but he can’t get the bulldog. Elijah Express (double knee in the corner) misses as does the GTS and an STO gets two for Burke. Double knees his this time and Punk is caught in the Tree of Woe for a bit before the cover only gets two. Punk reverses another STO and the GTS hits for the pin. We even get a faster count as per ECW tradition.
Rating: B. Good match here as they had a lot of time and it paid off in the end. Burke isn’t a guy that I was ever a fan of in WWE but this was a very good outing from him. Then again being in there with him probably didn’t hurt things at all. Punk would of course become a far bigger deal than Burke in WWE but that was to be expected.
Here’s a rematch for Punk’s ECW Title at Unforgiven 2007.
ECW Title: CM Punk vs. Elijah Burke
Man did these two go on different career paths. Burke is more famous as the Pope D’Angelo Dinero. We get a video on Punk winning the title recently in his final title shot. He had like four of them so he had to win one eventually. Burke doesn’t even get a full entrance. On a PPV. That should tell you a lot about his chances here. Feeling out process to start as Punk gets a quick cross armbreaker that goes nowhere.
Burke takes over for a few seconds but Punk grabs a Russian legsweep for two. They mess up an Irish whip into the corner as their legs collide and Burke takes over by just slamming Punk’s head off the mat. Why make things too complicated? Bow and arrow rest hold goes on Punk for a few seconds but he fights out and hits the knee/bulldog combo followed by the springboard clothesline for two.
Out to the floor and Punk gets his back rammed into various objects that aren’t meant to have your back rammed into. Burke hooks a Boston Crab but Punk makes a rope. Here are some rolling Germans but Punk blocks the third one. In a cool looking hold, Burke hooks the legs in a Texas Cloverleaf position but is standing and facing Punk instead of sitting on Punk’s back.
Punk finally gets out of it and hits an enziguri, only to get popped in the head with an uppercut. Burke was an amateur boxer so that’s a good move for him to use. That’s one of the issues I have with Barrett: he’s this bareknuckle champion but he never throws punches. Why not? Not that it matters as Punk rolls Burke up out of nowhere for the pin to retain.
Rating: C-. Not much of a debut as the champion here as Burke of all people dominated for the majority of the match and Punk won on a total fluke. It wasn’t a particularly good match either as this could have easily been the main event on ECW. Punk would lose the title soon enough to Chavo Guerrero and go on to win Money in the Bank, so he did ok I think.
Burke would do a grand total of nothing else in WWE before heading to TNA in mid 2009. Here he is at No Surrender that year.
Suicide vs. D’Angelo Dinero
Falls count anywhere and they’re already in the back when this starts. Pope drops an elbow off some anvil cases but hurts himself in the process. This is being written the day after Randy Savage died so that hurt a bit to see. Suicide grabs a small package for two as we more or less have a hardcore match here. They fought on Impact apparently and this is the rematch.
Pope gets backdropped into a small dumpster for two. Let’s get a golf cart to run over Suicide with now. So it’s an attempted homicide on Suicide? Pope climbs a small fence and Suicide pulls his shorts down. Thankfully he has regular tights on under it. Naturally Suicide pulls those down too and yeah there it is. For some reason Pope can’t pull them up for awhile so there’s your visual for the match.
In the arena now and Pope rings the bell on Suicide’s head and talks about Jingle Bells for no apparent reason. Hey let’s go to the ring for a change of pace. More brawling follows and it’s table time. Suicide takes a belly to back suplex on the ramp for two. Neither guy can get thrown off the ramp through a table so Suicide covers on the stage for two. He takes over and hammers away on the stage for another few minutes with nothing of note happening. Pope gets put on a table but the double leg drop through it misses and we’re done.
Rating: C-. It’s just a hardcore match. I tend to say that a lot when I review these but a lot of the time there’s nothing to distinguish these from any others that occur. This probably ran too long as it’s about 12 minutes, especially given how long there was between a lot of the bigger moves. Not a very good match but hardcore matches are all about on the same level anyway so we’ll say this was fine, if not a bit generic. Also did anyone expect Pope to lose when he used the sponsor’s product?
Next up is Final Resolution 2009.
Matt Morgan/Hernandez/D’Angelo Dinero/Suicide vs. Rhyno/Team 3D/Jesse Neal
This is an elimination match so think Survivor Series. Actually for the first five minutes it’s 1 on 4 and that would be Hernandez vs. the other four. Why is that the case? Who freaking cares? Apparently not TNA as they barely mention it. Leave it to TNA to be able to screw this up. If Hernandez loses in this five minutes it’s over but it’s just an elimination for the other guys. Leave it to TNA to manage to screw up an elimination tag with overly complicated rules.
Neal is a total jobber at this point and just a student of Team 3D. Hernandez is coming off a super push where he was almost world champion but was then pushed down into a tag team with Morgan just because. Ray beats on Hernandez a bit and it’s off to Rhyno. Why are these teams feuding? Not necessary information. Gore hits for two so we know Rhyno won’t last long. Another Gore misses and a rollup makes it 1-3 which is soon to be 4-3.
Neal is sent out to get a chair but the heels just stand around while the rest of the time runs out and here are the other three. Morgan is also in the middle of a big push which would just die when Hogan got there. Hernandez dives out on everyone at once and we get down to regular stuff. Suicide (Kazarian) hammers on Neal to start. They have this whole thing backwards at this point as the faces are dominating, which is the total wrong idea in matches like these.
Not being very intelligent, Neal picks up the chair and pops Suicide with it. Hernandez, not being very intelligent either, picks up the same chair and pops Neal with it. So it’s a DQ if you hit someone no longer in the match? 3D takes out Suicide so it’s 2-2 now….wait why is Neal still out there? He cracked Suicide with the chair and the referee clearly saw it. Dang he reacted to it. Why does this surprise me? What the heck ever man.
It’s Dinero vs. Ray at the moment and now Neal leaves as it’s a DQ for him. How do you make a simple DQ complicated? Pope gets a top rope clothesline for two. 3D takes Pope out and it’s 2-1 finally. Team 3D hammers him together for awhile which the referee doesn’t seem to have much of an issue with. Morgan hits a double clothesline and splashes them both in the corner.
D-Von takes the corner elbows but can still save Ray from a chokeslam. Oh and the Dudleys are the IWGP Tag Champions here. Not that it means anything to the vast majority of wrestling fans but TNA insisted it mattered so there we are. There hasn’t been any time during the 2-1 part where a Dudley has been on the apron.
Big boot takes out D-Von, even though the hand didn’t hit the mat the third time and they wait 15 seconds to announce his elimination. So it’s Ray vs. Morgan now which would be a win for Ray at the moment somehow. Ray counters the Hellevator into a DDT and it’s chair time. Carbon Footprint into the chair ends it.
Rating: D. What the heck were they thinking here? Was there any need for the five minute thing or for this to take up sixteen minutes or air time? I mean dude, what the heck? It wasn’t even anything special with the two DQs and the total lack of drama as the biggest star on the other team was who, Ray? This was boring as all goodness and another example ot TNA managing to take something simple and overcomplicate it.
Dinero would enter the Eight Card Stud tournament at Against All Odds 2010 for a future World Title shot.
8 Card Stud Quarterfinals: Desmond Wolfe vs. D’Angelo Dinero
Sweet goodness Chelsea looks great. Good night though, shut up Tenay and West. Wolfe is a guy I like more and more every time I see him. Pope….I just don’t get it. He’s a wrestling Slick and somehow that’s a gimmick? Wait…Tenay just asked which young stud will break through. Angle, Abyss and Foley are all former world champions, Hernandez has been around forever and everyone knows Kennedy.
I get the idea of what he’s saying but it’s still kind of dumb. The people are behind Pope, but at the same time how serious can you take the Impact Zone fans? They’re starting out fast paced here which I like pretty well. Wolfe’s nipples are really close together. NICE DDT on Pope. Pope has a unique style of striking which is reminding me of Sting, which is a compliment.
A top rope cross body gets two. The big lariat misses and Pope gets a rollup for two. And then we get a very contrived ending on the levels of the 619 as Pope hits the dumbest finisher in the company at the moment with the double knee to the back of the conveniently placed opponent for the pin.
Rating: B. Not bad at all and a very solid opener. They went out there and had a fast paced match. I would have had Wolfe go further, but if they wanted Pope to go over strong, I can’t argue with how they did it as it was a completely clean win. It’s a shame that Wolfe didn’t get to do more in TNA.
8 Card Stud Semi-Finals: D’Angelo Dinero vs. Matt Morgan
Again I ask: what is a street pope? I don’t get it. Pope does the Bret Hart glasses thing which works. They’re going big man vs. little man here so that’s all well and good. We’re on the floor now and not a lot is going on. Oh I almost forgot: this is the feud that made me hate Burke. Back in OVW these two feuded FOREVER and it couldn’t have been more boring if their lives depended on it.
It was that feud that made me hate Burke and it’s why I have issues about him to this day. Expect a low grade here. Morgan is acting very heelish here and I’m not big on that at all. It’s bearhug time so they’re not doing themselves any favors at all. Morgan is dominating here and screw that as Pope is making his comeback.
Morgan BLUEPRINTS UP though and takes his head off with a clothesline. So one minute Pope is in survival mode and the next he’s hitting the knees to the back for the pin. Riiiight. Oh I especially love Morgan being on the corner and looking over his shoulder twice to see when he needs to be ready to sell.
Rating: D+. While I want to fail it because of the people in it, this didn’t do it for me. The story and psychology were pretty much non existent here and the ending was completely unbelievable as in yeah right that was stupid. Yes there’s likely some bias in there and it wasn’t jumping off the page bad or anything so don’t think that’s what I’m saying.
8 Card Stud Finals: Mr. Anderson vs. D’Angelo Dinero
Pope takes forever getting out there because he got beaten up. Ok then. The referee starts counting and you know he’ll be there in time so this is kind of pointless. Yep there he is. Anderson beats on him on the ramp. Even money says they’ll brawl on the floor too. Hey they’re fighting on the floor! They haven’t actually been in the ring yet. AJ and Flair are watching in the back.
This has been ALL Anderson, making the ending a tad obvious. Pope of course is ok after that much of a beating. Most of the match is Anderson beating on Pope and there’s your comeback. The DDE gets two and Anderson is in control again. Pope uses an STO which is Kennedy’s finisher in reverse. Kennedy cuts a promo mid match and stops to hit the Mic Check for two and a pop from the fans. That’s….a bit too much from Pope. Anderson misses a Swanton and Pope hits the double knees to the back. He REALLY needs a new finisher.
Rating: B. They kept it simple here and it worked. This was fun. That’s the best way to put it I think as it wasn’t particularly great or even very good but it was fun. That’s all you can ask for here I guess. Either way it worked fine though so all in all this was a good main event.
And now the title shot at Lockdown 2010.
TNA World Title: D’Angelo Dinero vs. AJ Styles
Hebner throws Flair out to start. If he stays gone, then sweet. We get the big match intros which it should get. Tenay thinks that Flair being gone helps Pope. You can’t buy commentary like that people! We start off rather well. One good thing about Styles is he can work just about any style you ask him to.
Pope can move out there so this is a solid looking match. Also, this is a good thing as you have two smaller guys with limited muscles in the title picture. That’s a legit alternative to WWE. AJ hits the forearm and the 450 but goes to the top of the cage and misses. Solid match so far. The double knee hits and gets two. AJ reaches through the cage and grabs a pen from the camera guy. Uh, ok. And he jabs Pope in the eye to set up the Styles Clash for the pin.
Rating: B. Just a total letdown there at the end. I do not get the point in jobbing Pope out. For the life of me I do not get that. He match was solid though but after the previous match, the crowd was a bit dead. Still very solid stuff though and I can work with it. Unfortunately this was basically it for Dinero meaning anything in TNA.
Here’s Dinero against someone you might have heard of at Victory Road 2010.
Kurt Angle vs. D’Angelo Dinero
Angle is listed as #10 (TNA used to have a rankings system), yet he’s beaten two guys and Pope is 8th. I love the TNA thinking. We start on the ground. I’m watching this out of order since I got home late so this is the first match I watched. They’re doing the red, white and blue ropes which is cool looking. They booked themselves into a corner here as Angle can’t really lose but Pope is returning and hasn’t won a big match in months. Angle hits a buckle bomb which is always great looking.
This is a solid match to start but they’re not going to have a ton of time unless this goes up until eleven. Kurt is winning but not dominating which is a good thing. Pope steals the Rolling Germans which doesn’t work. Only a handful of people can suplex Angle and he isn’t one of them. Angle’s all like boy I’ll show you Rolling Germans.
Pope hits a Codebreaker and the fans are all behind Angle. Angle Slam hits from nowhere for two. Why are announcers still surprised by that? I don’t get it. Ankle Lock goes on but Pope gets a rollup for two. Ankle Lock again on the mat and it’s over. This needed a bit more time but was entertaining.
Rating: B-. Not bad at all here. The match was never in doubt though which is what hurt it. Angle is in a groove at the moment and this was no exception. This doesn’t hurt Pope that much though as he’ll likely move on to Anderson now. Decent enough match though and certainly passable.
TNA went even more insane than usual in 2010 and Dinero thought there was a conspiracy, leading to this mess at Bound For Glory 2010.
Sting/D’Angelo Dinero/Kevin Nash vs. Jeff Jarrett/Samoa Joe
Joe grabs Dinero’s arm to start and runs him over with a shoulder. Dinero comes back with a flying tackle but Joe pops back up and stares at him. Some rights and lefts in the corner don’t have much effect on Joe so it’s off to Sting for a rematch BFG 2008’s main event. Sting hammers away and tries the Stinger Splash, only to charge into the release Rock Bottom. Joe takes Sting outside and nails some left hands to the jaw. Nash comes in from behind with a shot to Joe’s back to give Sting control.
They walk around just like in 2008 but thankfully stay at ringside instead of going through the crowd. It’s off to Nash back inside for some right hands of his own, followed by knees to the ribs in the corner. Back to Dinero for some stompings in the corner, followed by a slingshot elbow drop for two. Joe fights off Dinero, decks Sting and hits an enziguri in the corner to drop Nash. He crawls over to Jarrett but Jeff drops to the floor and leaves. Joe is all alone and tries to fight them off but three guys are too much for him. The Jackknife is enough to pin the Samoan.
Rating: D+. This was storyline advancement even though it didn’t make sense at this time. To be fair though, NOTHING made sense at this point which is what made this such a must see show, as we were finally promised answers. The match was just kind of there, much like Joe who had no connection to anything here. The annoying part here though was we were building to Sting vs. Jarret for months and now they’re either neutral with each other or on the same side.
Dinero would fall through the floor after this, settling for this match at Lockdown 2011.
Dinero would hook up with D-Von in a team no one cared about. Here’s their Tag Team Title shot at No Surrender 2011.
Tag Titles: D-Von/D’Angelo Dinero vs. Mexican America
Remember when TNA had the best tag division by far? Man that seems like forever ago. Can we watch Sarita and Rosita dance instead of watching this match? D-Von vs. Anarquia starts us off. The fans chant for the USA. Off to Pope very quickly as they work on the arm. Ok back to D-Von as the challengers are tagging in very fast. SuperMex comes in and D-Von is all cool with that too.
A clothesline puts Hernandez down for a bit and it’s off to Pope, who according to the audience is pimping. If anyone knows what it means to be pimping, it’s a town famous for having a Mouse theme park in it. Anarquia comes in again and this is firmly in first or second gear. The challengers hit something resembling a Hart Attack but with a shoulder instead of a clothesline and D-Von playing the rope of Bret.
Pope kisses Rosita and then holds her by the air above the floor off the apron. FREAKING OW MAN!!! D-Von and Pope set for What’s Up but Sarita breaks it up. Despite looking nothing like him at all, D-Von lands the role of Ricky Morton. Anarquia hits a back elbow for two. Mexican America hits a pair of splashes and Rosita adds a dropkick. Hernandez takes forever to set up a charge and is taken down by a spear from D-Von.
A double tag brings in Anarquia and Pope with Pope cleaning most of the rooms in the house but not all of the house. Top rope cross body gets two on Anarquia and the champs take down Pope with Hernandez hitting a top rope headbutt but there’s no cover from either of them. Everything breaks down and a double shoulder block puts down Hernandez. The girls come in and get stereo spankings. D-Von takes down Hernandez and we go back to Wrestlemania V as Pope suplexes Anarquia back in but one of the chicks hooks his leg for the fall on top pin at 9:53.
Rating: D+. I wasn’t feeling this one but I could see how some people would. The girls got involved about five times and the ending was so cliched it’s almost unbearable. That’s what this show has been: one cliched ending after another. Also, D-Von and Pope are the best tag team they could get for this? At least the Brits are a regular team that gets along more than a week before the PPV. Not into this at all.
One more TNA match on Impact, June 21, 2012.
Bound For Glory Series: D’Angelo Dinero vs. Bully Ray
This is another call out, this time by Bully. Ray jumps Pope to start and gets some quick two counts. A boot to the face puts Dinero down but a splash misses for Ray. Dinero comes back with some elbows but Ray hits a corner splash. As he pounds away in the corner, here’s Abyss in the crowd. He tells Ray to bring it and the DDE sends Ray to the floor. Abyss comes over the rail and goes after Ray, who gets back in the ring but walks into an STO for the pin at 3:45.
Rating: C-. Not much here as these short matches are getting a little annoying. Abyss vs. Ray is still probably the most interesting story on the show right now which is covering a lot of territory. Pope was pretty much there to fill in a spot and there’s nothing wrong with that, but I’m not sure if he’s going to be able to do that forever.
We’ll wrap things up with a trip back to OVW after Burke left TNA. Here he is trying to get his OVW TV Title back on OVW TV, October 19, 2013 inside a steel cage.
TV Title: Shiloh Jonze vs. Elijah Burke
They have a REALLY high cage. Jonze has his army the Marauders backing him up. The Marauders get on the side of the cage but the referee ejects them all before the bell. Burke is wearing the same shirt he wore when he started years ago in OVW. He sends Jonze into the cage over and over again to start before no selling a lot of shots in the corner. A big gorilla press drops Jonze and the champ hides in the corner. All Burke so far.
We take a break and come back with Jonze charging into a boot in the corner but coming back with a spinning kick to the face. Burke won’t let him go out the door so Jonze drops a knee to the face. They both climb in the corner and slug it out on the top rope with Burke crotching Jonze down on the ropes. The referee checks on Shiloh but the champ just collapses. Burke would rather hurt him than escape though and sends Jonze into the cage a few times.
Jonze catches himself on the cage and tries to climb out but Burke is right there with him, pulling Shiloh down with a belly to back superplex as we take another break. Back with Burke holding Shiloh’s foot to keep him in the cage. Both guys get sent into the cage and things slow down a bit. They slug it out from their knees before fighting to their feet and throwing faster punches.
It’s Elijah taking over with a flying forearm and a series of elbows to the head. A powerslam gets two on the champ but Burke takes his sweet time climbing the cage. Jonze follows him up but Burke shoves him right onto the referee. Burke has the title won, but instead he dives off the VERY high cage for something like a splash to crush Jonze in a huge crash. Cue the Marauders to keep Burke from getting out and to slip Shiloh some handcuffs. Elijah takes them away and knocks Jonze silly but the rest of the Marauders keeps Burke in, allowing Jonze to nail him with a chair for the pin to retain.
Rating: B. WAY better than I was expecting here with Jonze being good enough to hang with Burke and Elijah’s big dive being a major highlight. The idea of the cage keeping the Marauders out made perfect sense and Jonze survived long enough to win. For an indy match, this was rather awesome.
I started watching Elijah Burke back in his first OVW run and lost any interest in him. The guy got much better over the years, but his OVW Title feud with Matt Morgan back in 2004 kept me from ever caring about him. Once he lost the title match to AJ at Lockdown 2010, his time as a big deal in TNA was done. There just wasn’t a way to come back from that and he fell down the card as a result. The guy is talented and much better than I remember him but I’m not the biggest fan.
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