Impact Wrestling Final Thoughts
May 3, 2016
By: Josh Boutwell of Wrestleview.com
TNA seemed to be reverting back to that “crash TV” style of action a bit tonight along with some old school influences as well in what I thought was a really, really enjoyable Impact.
The opening video with Lashley tracking Drew down at a gym and them getting into a wild brawl was very old school and something you would expect to see back in the old Memphis territory back in the day. It was very refreshing to see something like that instead of the typical in-ring promo or even a match to start.
Bennett and Maria’s promos were great and Hardy was okay but the match really didn’t have a chance to get going when Lashley got involved. Dixie and Lashley were really bad on the microphone so that hurt things. Lashley needs a mouthpiece for him badly.
I was not into the over the top “evolution” of Decay backstage. That was just a little bit too much for me and reminded me of 80’s WWF and not in a good way. The promo in the ring was much, much better though and I’m digging their new look. Abyss has needed a new look for years. Everytime they would give him a “new look” they would just change his mask around a little bit but the facepaint really fits him and I love the whole “Beautiful Monster” thing and it fits in with Rosemary’s Decay stuff. He and Storm had a good match but them attacking Hardy in the Main Event was a bit bizarre, and needs to be explained.
I absolutely loved the brawl between Jade and Sienna because right of the bat you establish this knew Knockout as a bad ass and someone not to be messed with. Right out of the gate she is perceived as a threat and their brawl was great. I love Jade’s defiant character too.
The KOTM Match was fine but just way too short. I really wish they would have held off on doing one of those matches until Slammiversary and just brought back that Slammiversary tradition. Everett needs a chance to really let loose in a match. I hope Jessie was just doing a great job at selling his knee but it really looked like he may have tweaked it. Good action while it lasted in this one though.
I loved EC3’s promo and it is so refreshing seeing a babyface say “yeah you won and I’m not going to whine, but I am going to say that it made me better and I’m going to beat your ass when we face each other again.” It just seems like nowadays every babyface whines and makes excuses when they lose. The EC3 character had a million built in excuses, good ones too because he was screwed over and over in that match, but instead he says “I’m going to be better” and even hoped that Bennett would win the World Title just so he could take it from him. The evolution of the EC3 character has been really great.
Main Event was really good with Jeff taking some absolutely ridiculous bumps and considering how beat up his body has to feel right now you have to major respect for what this guy will do to his body to entertain us. All three guys busted their asses too and the Spear off the steps was nasty, great finish. They really need to start building towards Slammiversary soon though.
– Promo/Segment of the Night: Lashley-Drew fight, Sienna-Jade fight, EC3 promo
– Match of the Night: Bennett vs. Lashley vs. Hardy (***1/2)
– Overall Grade: A-