TNA Impact Wrestling Review - May 15, 2014

Bobby Lashley, MVP and Kenny King join forces.

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

TNA World Heavyweight Champion Eric Young Called Out MVP

Say what you will about Young not having any credibility as champion (though I personally believe he does), he stays serious when appropriate and can cut a good, intense promo. He did just that here and MVP's response was also well done. I'm still not over the fact that MVP's heel turn was completely unnecessary right now, but at least the two are making the most of it to the best of their abilities.


Willow def. Magnus and Bram in a 2-on-1 Handicap Match

The match was pretty much there, as there wasn't really anything special about it. Its main purpose was to further the story between Magnus and Bram, so I guess it was effective in that sense. Making them lose despite the odds being in their favor didn't exactly make them credible, but it showed that Magnus isn't as "hardcore" as he once was according to Bram. I can get into the idea of the two teaming up, but when they'll get the same page remains to be seen.

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James Storm splashes beer in Mr. Anderson's face.

Gail Kim def. Velvet Sky

So, I guess this match solidified Kim as a babyface? That's pure speculation off the fact she was smiling and slapping the hands of fans as she was making her way to the ring. Anyway, Kim did a fine job of carrying Sky, who held her own for most of the matchup, to a passable bout. Kim picking up the win was logical as she is being set up as the next challenger to Angelina Love's Knockouts Championship and it's a feud that feels fresh because I think we had yet to see prior to this point.


Kazarian def. Crazy Steve by DQ

I was content with The Menagerie last week because the presentation of the act was cool and it was kept to a minimum, but this was just... odd, and that's just being generous. Obviously, it wasn't much of a match, and I felt bad for Kazarian because he's basically on his way out of the company. The entrance music playing for the entire match was definitely unique, but it got annoying after a while. It dragged on for far too long and I'm not exactly sure now what they're trying to accomplish with this group.


TNA World Heavyweight Champion Eric Young Brawled with MVP

It was rather asinine to think that there was no other security guards in the building that the ones that took Austin Aries away. Why did it take so long for other guards to arrive and help MVP against Young? The brawl was a nice preview of what was to come in their match later on in the night, but it could have been kept brief backstage instead and prevented Young from becoming overexposed. I also liked Austin Aries' involvement in all this and I hope he's in for more television time because of it.


James Storm def. Mr. Anderson

I like the idea of these two feuding and I think it can be entertaining if given mic time. They work well in the ring together and they could have had an even better match had it gone longer. They made the most out of the time they had here and Storm winning after utilizing heel tactics allows the feud to continue. It was basic, simple storytelling at its finest.


X-Division Champion Sanada def. Tigre Uno and DJ Zema in a Triple Threat Match

What exactly did Zema do to earn a title shot? That was never established. I'm fine with Sanada defending the title on a regular basis, but if the challengers aren't deserving of a title shot then there's no point. It was your typical X-Division match with some cool spots thrown in, but in the end, no one had any real reason to care. The announcers made mention of the fact that Destination X will be returning this summer, but if the title doesn't mean anything, then how will the event?


TNA World Heavyweight Champion Eric Young def. MVP by Disqualification

I didn't at all expect them to go all out since they're saving the big match until Slammiversary, so they did a good job of just brawling for the most part and not making the match too boring. The disqualification finish made sense, but MVP not ordering another referee to come down to restart the match did not. As the commentators said, Kenny King was just fighting against MVP a few weeks ago, so unless they try to make sense of it next week, then this was completely illogical. Bobby Lashley was a fine face, but the only plus to him turning is that he'll actually get television time. I can't say I'm excited for a potential pairing of the three men given that it seems like they were thrown together because they're all African-American, but we'll see where it goes.


Overall Show

There aren't many matches confirmed for Slammiversary as of now, but it's still about a month away so they have time to fill out the rest of the card. This show was all about MVP and Eric Young as well as Dixie Carter and Bully Ray, and both angles aren't exciting right now. The latter angle is just stupid and I have no desire to see Dixie on TV any longer. There wasn't anything that stood out about this show except for the ending, but it was a decent as a whole.

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