Impact Wrestling Final Thoughts
August 12, 2015
By: Josh Boutwell of Wrestleview.com
The concept of the TNA vs. GFW stuff was really interesting to me (not near as much as a TNA vs. ROH or TNA vs. Lucha Underground rivalry would be but that is neither here nor there) but I was disappointed with the fact that the two of the matches featured GFW guys that were old TNA stars. That isn’t exactly my idea of “fresh matchups” (though technically they would be considered “fresh” since neither Kong/Tapa or Tigre/Dutt have ever happened. I dont know honestly, it just felt like TNA guys going at it in those matches) but the other two matches featuring GFW guys did feature fresh matchups and they were the best of the night. TNA really went downhill as the summer started with some really bad shows but the last few weeks have been really solid with some really fun action going on. They also have an interesting, to me at least, thing going on with the GFW dynamic but I still don’t know exactly where this is going to lead.
The opening segment with Jarrett was fine but I didn’t understand why some guys just got to be in the KOTM Match just for the heck of it while Lashley had to win a match to earn his way in? And you have Roode cutting a pretty awesome promo about being left out only for Robbie E to replace an injured Drew Galloway which was very random and odd.
The match between Kong and Tapa was okay for what it was, just two power houses slugging it out, but Tapa is still very, very green and it shows. Her manager however did cut a pretty good short promo before the match.
The promo between Roode and Spud was very good, primarily because of how awesome Roode is.
EC3 and Matt Hardy’s dueling promos were good as well as it seems this rivalry will continue on for awhile. I would say it is just a placeholder for Jeff Hardy to return but I don’t think Jeff is going to be back for still some time.
The Wolves vs. Trevor Lee/Myers was one of those matches that did feel fresh and it was absolutely action packed. Given a couple more minutes those two teams could have really tore the house down. I like Trevor Lee, he’s aggressive as hell with some awesome strikes, and Myers looks to be at his peak right now. He really never got to show much in WWE so he seems to be going out of his way to show there is more to him. I’d love to see these two teams in a series of matches and TNA should look into making sure they use them more even after the GFW feud ends.
Tigre/Dutt was an okay match and Dutt looked awesome but they really needed about another 5 minutes to get going and it would have been great. I’m sure they will have a rematch since Dutt’s loss could be blamed on his showboating heelish ways.
Lashley/Jessie was a ton better than it had any business being. For awhile there it looked like Lashley was just going to squash his way through it but Jessie actually got some decent offense in there down the stretch.
The Main Event was pretty damn good with several big spots that you come to expect in these type of matches though I think could have been given a little more time (the commercial breaks hurt). The biggest highlights were Robbie’s Plancha off the penalty box, Lashley’s Spear off the top, and Black’s 450 off the ladder. PJ Black was the star of the match in my opinion, that guy is one of the most criminal underused wrestlers in the past 3 years or so. He was awesome and I have to give Robbie E some credit too. That just seemed like such a random person to stick in the match but he pulled off some cool stuff and showed some fire that he doesn’t usually do. EC3 vs. PJ Black should be a pretty solid match next week.
There weren’t any matches quite as good as the two best matches last week but everything was solid tonight while last weeks show was just those two matches and a bunch of crap pretty much.
– Promo/Segment of the Night: Bobby Roode
– Match of the Night: King of the Mountain (***1/2)
– Overall Grade: B
Scheduled for Next Week:
– Open Mic Challenge: Mr. Anderson vs. Bram
– Handicap Steel Cage Match: Gail Kim vs. The Dollhouse
– TNA World Title: Ethan Carter III (c) vs. PJ Black