Impact Wrestling Final Thoughts
May 18, 2016
By: Josh Boutwell of Wrestleview.com
TNA put together another subpar week of TV this week. It’s still better than what they were putting out the second half of the run on Destination America, but after really starting out strong on POP Impact is kind of running in place for me right now.
They really hot shotted this thing with all the Willow’s. I thought they were going to let that play out for a month but honestly it is probably for the better. Most everyone already realized it was going to be Matt as the reveal so better to just get it over with then trying to make it suspenseful when everyone already knows who it is. Matt’s reasoning for being Willow was strong and his promo was really good too. This dark Matt Hardy is almost as interesting as when he started doing the “Big Money Matt” stuff, and it’s not near as corny as when he was doing the “Cold Blood” Matt Hardy stuff in his first TNA run. It’s nice to see Matt able to reinvent himself so many times.
I love that Lashley and Galloway just fight wherever they see each other. This feels so much like an old school blood feud of “I hate you so I’m going to kick your ass” stuff. The match really just got going when they did the screwy finish. There is obviously a ton more to do with these guys and I am looking forward to it. The old school big brawl to end the show was fun too.
Sienna looked dominating against Velvet which really helped to further make Sienna strong. It sucks that Velvet had her last match that way but honestly I’m fine with them using her to make Sienna look strong on the way out. Velvet has not improved at all in years and along with Rebel is one of the weaker female wrestlers TNA has ever had.
Like Galloway-Lashley the EC3-Bennett feud continues with strong promos from both guys and EC3 continuing on the Bennett Gauntlet. EC3-Tyrus was really hectic and sloppy at times but also had some brutal spots and the finish was original and creative at least. I hated the stuff with Bennett and Hebner though. I have no desire to see old man Hebner kicking out of a pin attempt from Bennett no matter what the circumstance. That was very unneeded.
The X-Division match was fine but like every match they give these guys it was way too short to mean anything. I just don’t understand this. They re-signed Tigre Uno yesterday so right now the X-Division consists of Trevor Lee, Shane Helms (as a manger now and likely a wrestler soon), Eddie Edwards, Tigre Uno, Andrew Everett, Zema Ion, and they signed both Pepper Parks and Caleb Konley a few weeks ago. That is a damn good roster of X-Division wrestlers, but TNA will sometimes go two weeks with no mention whatsoever of the division. And then when they do get featured like this week there was no promoting the match beforehand and then they got five minutes. Give these guys 15 minutes every week whether a promo and a match or just a match. Let them get over with the fans in the ring and with their personalities. Do personality features and vignettes like they did with The Wolves and The Decay in the past. The talent is there but guys like AJ Styles, Jerry Lynn, Low-Ki, Samoa Joe, Christopher Daniels, etc. didn’t put the X-Division on the map by being given 5 minute matches and no promos/vignettes every three weeks. They were heavily featured every single week. If you can give Mahabali Shera TV time you can damn sure give the X-Division.
I don’t like the stuff with Eli Dake’s talk show but I hate talk show segments on wrestling shows. It is horrible that it has become such a regular part of wrestling these days. With that said I think Bram vs. Drake is going to be a fantastic feud. Bram as a babyface is certainly different with how intense he is and Drake is so great in his smart ass, smarmy heel role.
The programs they are building to for Slammiversary are pretty obvious with Lashley-Galloway, Bennett-EC3, Hardy-Hardy, Gail/Jade vs. Sienna/Maria (or some form), and the Carolina boys against everyone in the X-Division as the main programs/feuds right now.
-Promo/Segment of the Week: All the brawls! MORE HATE!
-Match of the Night: Galloway vs. Lashley (**1/2)
-Overall Grade: C+