 Jeff Jarrett sets up Drew Galloway for an attack. By Graham "GSM" Matthews TNA World Heavyweight Champion Ethan Carter III and Tyrus def. Matt Hardy and Rockstar Spud EC3's promo to kick off the show was solid and he continues to shine on the mic, but the segment lasted a little longer than it should have. Unnecessary segment length aside, everyone played their roles well here, especially Jeff Hardy. While EC3 got a little too goofy for his own good, Hardy was simple and straightforward as the sympathetic babyface. I'm typically not a fan of servant storylines because they rarely ever work in wrestling, but this one might have a shot of succeeding given how fun and how over-the-top EC3 can be. The tag team match was good but nothing memorable. Spud's involvement felt random, but it was refreshing to see Tyrus win a match for once. The Jarretts Called Out King of the Mountain Champion Bobby Roode The Jarrett promos seem to blend together from week-to-week, but that's not to say to say it wasn't good. Similar to the opening segment, everyone performed well on the mic and planted the seeds for something between Roode and Jarrett down the line. Roode has turned one too many times in recent years for it to matter anymore, but I'm all for him being positioned as a top babyface in this GFW angle if it means he'll be used properly. That said, I can't say I care about who holds the King of the Mountain Championship given how pointless and how damaged it is.  Awesome Kong and Lei'D Tapa come face-to-face. Robbie E, X-Division Champion Tigre Uno and Micah def. Jesse Godderz, Kenny King and Eli Drake
I appreciated the effort to make this match mean something via the pre-match backstage segment, but essentially it screamed "We have no idea what to do with these six guys so we'll just throw them in a random six-man tag team match." It's sad because Uno is the X-Division Champion and you would never know that because he was hardly spotlighted here at all. And wasn't King a babyface last week, and now he's a heel again? The match wasn't half-bad, but it was hard to invest in the action because all six guys are beyond directionless at the moment. Knockouts Champion Brooke def. Gail Kim by Disqualification This was one of the most memorable women's matches we've had in months in TNA. That's not a reflection on the talent in the division but rather the amount of storyline support they've been given. All of the matches featuring The Dollhouse have been fairly forgettable, so it was nice to see a competitive contest for once. Kim and Brooke have always worked well together, so I wasn't surprised they produced an above-average match here. The non-finish was logical to set up next week's Fatal 4-Way with Awesome Kong and Lei'D Tapa, though it might have been better to save it for Bound for Glory considering it's only a few weeks away. The Wolves def. Brian Meyers and Trevor Lee to Win the World Tag Team Championship Despite knowing next to nothing about Lee, I thoroughly enjoyed this match. Putting aside my thoughts on the Global Force Wrestling invasion angle and the lack of star power, there's a handful of excellent workers on the GFW roster and Meyers and Lee are among them. Of course, you can always count on The Wolves for an exceptional performance and this was the best bout these two teams have contested to date. I would have kept the belts on Meyers and Lee a little longer to establish them as a credible tandem, but it wouldn't be the first booking decision in this invasion angle I have questioned. Chris Melendez Called Out Eric Young Young has improved leaps and bounds as a heel and Melendez's progress is still coming along nicely, but for whatever reason, but I can't get into this feud. I'm sorry, but Young stealing Melendez's prosthetic leg is just too silly for my liking. The promo exchange was rather decent, but Young has gotten the better of Melendez at every turn and it wouldn't hurt him if he was already established. Because he's not, he's not benefiting from this program at all. Chris Mordetzky def. Drew Galloway in a Lumberjack Lethal Lockdown Advantage Match With the right opponent, Mordetsky can have a good match and he meshed a lot better with Galloway than he did with Lashley last week. It wasn't a great match by any means and the Lumberjack stipulation usually hinders a match more than it helps it, but the final few minutes were solid. In joining the GFW side, Young will give them instant credibility, but this reeks of the 2001 Invasion it isn't even funny. Overall Show This was a significant improvement over last week's dreadful episode, which I considered to be one of the worst editions of Impact Wrestling all year. I don't know if I'd go so far as to call this show good, but it was definitely better. It's just that I can't buy into this invasion angle because we've seen it so many times before and it's already off to a sour start. I'm not all that excited for next week's Lethal Lockdown main event and for the third straight year, their biggest event of the year Bound for Glory is being treated like an afterthought. What a shocker. |
Categories
All
Archives
January 2021
|
RSS Feed