The Final Impact
April 3, 2015
By: Josh Boutwell of Wrestleview.com
TNA certainly lived up to the “Bell to Bell” slogan of last night’s Impact with probably “bell to bell” the best night of in-ring action TNA has given us all year in a year that has been very good so far. Every match was good and if you love the in-ring aspect of wrestling you definitely need to catch this episode.
I still stand by my statement that the Last Man Standing Match should have been the finish of the Roode-EY feud, but the Submission Match was yet another fantastic chapter in what was already a terrific story. They told a very simple yet very effective story in the match with Roode injuring his knee early and EY repeatedly going after it leading to the finish. I’m not sure why they would want EY to go over in the finish of the feud especially after Roode pretty much won every other match between the two other than wanting EY to look strong at the end. Nonetheless it was a great match and I am looking forward to what TNA does with these two going forward.
Gail Kim-Angelina was one of the best Knockouts singles matches TNA has had in quite some time, and Angelina showed that she still has it despite not really being given much to do in the past year. They are Knockouts originals and I’d love to see both girls do more with younger Knockouts like Brooke and Taryn going forward, especially Angelina.
The Wolves promo was probably the strongest promo they have given, especially from Davey. It will be interesting to see how TNA handles Davey with Eddie out for an extended period of time but whoever the next champions are automatically has a built in feud when Eddie returns.
The Revolution thing with the ghost hunter show was horrible, just dumb all in all. I understand Destination America wanting to promote their other shows with TNA but good lord that is just dumb.
Bram and Magnus was as physical as you would expect between those two without them having to go overboard with the hardcore wrestling. I was completely confused by Storm’s involvement until the interaction between Storm and Magnus backstage. It looks like they are moving Magnus toward a feud with Storm but what is next for Bram? Good match nonetheless.
Angle-Lashley II was equally as good as their early TNA Match of the Year contender despite the contested finish. The way it finished gives Lashley an out and hopefully yet another rematch between the two because honestly I could watch them face off every week. They have terrific chemistry together in the ring and the nearfalls down the stretch were awesome. This could be a feud that TNA stretches out all the way to Slammiversary in June but there doesn’t even really have to be a true heel in it because of how awesome the matches are.
If you like women’s wrestling this show had something for you, if you like technical wrestling this show had something for you, if you like hard hitting/hardcore style wrestling this show had something for you, and if you like story telling this show had something for you. Honestly the only thing it was missing was some high flying X-Division action but TNA can only pack in so much without hurting the quality of the rest of what airs. I really wish TNA would do one of these “Bell to Bell” shows every month with the focus on the in-ring product. Bell-to-Bell certainly delivered.
– Segment/Promo of the Night: The Wolves
– Match of the Night: Angle vs. Lashley (****1/2)
– Overall Grade: A+
Until next week… PEACE!
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