TNA Impact Wrestling Review - March 2, 2017

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Knockouts Champion Rosemary def. Jade in a Last Knockout Standing Match

The matches these two have had over the past few months have really exceeded my expectations and this was another strong matchup from them. Similar to their Six Sides of Steel and Monster's Ball matches, they worked a hardcore style and took each other to the absolute extreme. I could have sworn this would be the bout where Jade finally overcame her demons and regained the gold, but it makes more sense now she didn't considering she has since left the company. Even still, this was a fantastic farewell from her. I also loved how this match immediately kicked off the show.

Moose and Cody Brawled

After Cody turned on Moose last week, I was wondering whether we would see Cody in the Impact Zone again, and this answered that question. They had a hot brawl that the crowd was very much engaged in, so that was cool. But perhaps the best part came when Cody tossed Josh Mathews to the floor and the crowd chanted "Thank you, Cody!" Hilarious. I assume Cody will be brought back again soon to wrap up this rivalry if he isn't going to be full-time for them.

James Storm def. Jessie Godderz

Godderz's feud with The DCC hasn't intrigued me in the slightest. I'm a big fan of Storm, but he and this entire DCC group have felt lifeless since the moment they debuted on TNA TV. This was easily the best match of the three Godderz has had with members of The DCC, but I just couldn't bring myself to care. The fact Storm needed as much help as he did beating Godderz was sad. Here's hoping the fresh batch of tapings and new creative regime will bring these guys better fortunes.

X-Division Champion Trevor Lee def. Andrew Everett

This is exactly the type of match I was hoping for when The Helms Dynasty turned on Everett a few weeks back. Now that there is legitimate bad blood at stake, I can finally get invested in the X-Division and the title matches. These two produced a very fun match and I was completely content with Lee cheating to retain his title because it protects Everett in defeat. They could produce an even better bout if their feud continues and I have my fingers crossed it will.

World Tag Team Champions The Broken Hardyz def. The Ecktourage to Win the MCW Tag Team Championship (World Tag Team Championship Was Not Defended)

Once again, only highlights of the match were shown, which is a shame because I'm familiar with Dirty Money of The Ecktourage from the northeast wrestling scene and the guy can go. However, most of the match was barely televised and clips of Brother Nero and Senor Benjamin chasing down another tag team with fireworks aired instead. Hey, I'm not complaining because it was entertaining as all hell. But I believe this marked the final televised appearance for The Broken Hardyz (and obviously management didn't know that at the time this was filmed), so this was a weird way for them to go out without even dropping the TNA tag team titles first.

Moose def. Drew Galloway to Win the Impact Grand Championship

Rekindling this rivalry in the midst of Moose's new feud with Cody felt so forced. From a storyline standpoint, I understood why Galloway would want to pick up the scraps of an injured Moose, but he and Moose haven't interacted in weeks! It was painfully apparent TNA wanted to get the title off Galloway because they likely knew he wasn't going to re-sign. This was actually a pretty good match and that's saying something because I don't typically like these MMA-style matchups. Similar to The Broken Hardyz and Jade, this was the last you'll see of Galloway in TNA, unless he returns at the tapings to be written off.

TNA World Heavyweight Champion Lashley def. Josh Barnett

I didn't think Lashley and Barnett would contest a classic of any kind, so I can't say I was disappointed by this at all. This was fairly brief for a world title match and it wasn't terrible because Barnett does have experience in the ring, but he should stick to commentating at this stage of his career. Barnett appeared to get his shoulder up for the three count, but that wasn't acknowledged by anyone other than by D'Angelo Dinero for a split second and that was it. Apparently, according to the spoiler report, Barnett initially won in fluky fashion but the match was restarted. That never aired, oddly enough. Unless they intend to bring back Barnett at the next set of tapings, this was a waste of time.

Overall Show

As the final show in a lengthy set of tapings, this show was almost the end of an era for TNA. Then again, I feel like I've said that a million times in the past with this company and nothing ever really changes. They have had countless changes in power and reboots and whatnot and the stagnant creative direction stays the same. Dinero teased that "change was coming" on next week's episode, which is set to be taped tonight, and I honestly am not looking forward to it based off what I've heard heading in. We'll see how it plays out, but with so many departures and the Jarretts back in charge (ugh), I'm not optimistic.