Impact
Wrestling
Date:
July 1, 2015
Location:
Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators:
Josh Matthews, D'Angelo Dinero
Reviewed by Tommy Hall
This
is a big special show called Bell to Bell, headlined by Ethan Carter
III challenging Kurt Angle for the World Title. We're also coming
off a pretty lackluster Slammiversary with the main story being Jeff
Jarrett winning King of the Mountain and taking the newly created
title to Global Force Wrestling. We also have a thirty minute Iron
Man match for the Tag Team Titles so this is a packed show. Let's
get to it.
The
opening video looks at Angle's TNA career but tonight he's up against
someone who has never lost. It's a simple video but it hits every
point it needed to touch.
The
Rising vs. Beat Down Clan
The
losing team must disband, thank goodness. It's also a 4-3
elimination match with Hernandez/MVP/Kenny King/Low Ki vs. Drew
Galloway/Mica/Eli Drake. MVP and Drew get things going with Galloway
kicking him in the face and hammering away in the corner. Low Ki
comes in and loses some skin off Galloway's chops. It's off to King
vs. Mica with the former taking Mica down with ease for a bunch of
right hands to the head. That's more aggression than you usually see
from him.
The
BDC starts taking over but Hernandez isn't pleased that he didn't get
a tag. Ki gets a nice running start into the corner and kicks Mica
in the head for the elimination. Back with Ki suplexing Galloway for
two as this is very one sided so far. Drew quickly rolls over to the
corner for the hot tag to Drake for some house cleaning, including a
dive to take MVP down on the floor. Drake comes up favoring his knee
though and it's time for the trainers. That's officially an
elimination so it's Galloway vs. the entire BDC.
Hernandez
gets things going for his team as the Pope talks about pork chops.
They chop it out in the corner (dang maybe Pope is on to something)
but it's quickly off to Ki, who accidentally kicks King in the head,
allowing Drew to roll up Low Ki for the elimination, followed by a
quick cover on King to get it down to 2-1. See, now that's logical
thinking and doesn't make the whole match seem fake.
Drew
gives Ki a shoulder breaker onto the steps, likely to write Ki off
the show, only to walk into a Border Toss. MVP's Playmaker (or
whatever he's calling that stupid move these days) drops Galloway
again but he tells MVP to bring it, earning him a Drive By to the
head for the pin at 16:45.
Rating:
C. Well, at least it's finally
done. The Rising was one of the most worthless stables I've ever
seen as they just had no reason to exist. The BDC is nothing special
either but at least they seem to have a purpose. Galloway was
clearly several steps ahead of his partners so getting rid of Drake
and Mica is a good thing for him.
Post
break, MVP is told that Low Ki is heading to the hospital for his
shoulder. Oh yeah that's his way off TV.
Here's
Magnus with something to say. He
doesn't think much of James Storm and doesn't care that Storm's
parents didn't give him enough hugs and kisses. That's an image I
didn't expect to think of today. Storm played some mind games but
what he forgot was the power of a man when his family is threatened.
Magnus brings out Mickie James, who is totally fine after that near
death thing. Mickie thanks
Magnus for always being there for him because he's the man for her.
Cue
Storm and Khoya, with the Cowboy saying he's here to talk to Mickie.
He thinks Mickie should be
be thanking him for not pushing her a little bit harder. Storm
didn't want her in the Revolution, but rather to prove how easy it is
to manipulate a woman. He could have any woman he wanted but Mickie
doesn't seem to take too kindly to this line of thinking.
Mickie
would love to take the bet that Storm can't find one woman to be on
his side, because she and Magnus will fight the two of them anytime.
This was a pretty awkward exchange but at least it gets Mickie back
in the ring and maybe some fresh blood in the Knockouts division.
One other thing: it's always amusing to hear the commentary reference
a match happening but not being able to say who actually won.
Tag
Team Titles: Wolves vs. Dirty Heels
The
belts are vacant coming in and this is a thirty minute Iron Man match
for the fifth match in a best of five series. I'm so glad this is it
for these teams as I'm long past over caring about watching them
fight. Oddly enough they say that Aries won but couldn't say who won
between Storm and Magnus.
Davey
and Aries fight into the corner to start before it's off to the
partners with the Wolves taking over on Roode's arm. Back to Aries
who takes Eddie down as they're clearly taking their time to start.
An elbow to the back gets two on Eddie but he easily drives Aries
into the corner for the tag. Things speed up a bit with some Wolves
double teaming before Eddie suplexes Austin for no cover. Instead
it's off to Davey vs. Roode with Richards putting on a kind of
reverse Figure Four.
Ever
the smart heel, Aries pushes the bottom rope towards his partner for
the save. The Heels (stupid meta name) take over in the corner and
start working on Eddie's leg to really slow things down. We hit the
ten minute mark as the leg work continues. The Heels make a wish on
Eddie's legs but he finally snaps off a hurricanrana to make the tag
off to Richards. Davey takes over and everything breaks down with
Bobby getting tied up in the Tree of Woe, setting up a swan dive into
the corner (cool spot) for two.
We
take a break and come back with just under twelve minutes to go and
no score. Richards is in trouble and Aries' top rope ax handle to
the floor makes it even worse. Edwards breaks up a cover with ten
minutes to go. Davey breaks up a catapult into a forearm and stomps
Roode down, finally allowing the tag off to Eddie. Edwards kicks
Roode off the top and hits a backpack Stunner for a very close two.
A jackknife cover gets another near fall on Roode and Eddie is
stunned.
Now
the catapult works with Aries adding a slingshot elbow drop for two
of his own. The Last Chancery nearly gets a submission but Davey
makes the save. It's not like that move EVER WORKS ANYWAY so I
didn't get the drama. The double top rope double stomp gets a VERY
close two on Aries and we hit five minutes to go. Roode plants
Edwards with a spinebuster and Aries nails the 450 for the first fall
with four minutes left.
The
Heels get smart by throwing the Wolves to the floor to kill some time
and Aries keeps up the intelligence with a suicide dive to take them
both out. Eddie starts fighting back at the two minute mark and the
powerbomb/Backstabber combo ties things up with about seventy five
seconds left. Roode sneaks in with a belt shot to the head for two
but Eddie counters the Roode Bomb into a rollup for the pin. The
last ten seconds quickly run out and the Wolves get the titles back
at 30:00.
Rating:
B+. I'm really not wild on the
feud as a whole but the last two matches were far more entertaining
than the first three. This match was a really good example of a
match taking its time and the wrestlers thinking instead of just
throwing everything in at the same time. Really well done match here
and I never once questioned the Wolves' ability to get two straight
falls near the end. That's a very good sign and the match worked
really well.
Knockouts
Title: Awesome Kong vs. Brooke vs. Taryn Terrell
Taryn
is defending and this is one
fall to a finish. Brooke
and Taryn get in a brawl to start as Kong stomps around the ring.
The champ gets double teamed
with Kong hitting a corner splash, sending Taryn running to the floor
for a breather. Simple heel
strategy at least. It's
fine with Kong who chinlocks Brooke down and then swings her around
by the throat. Taryn comes back in with
a dropkick to Kong but she turns around and
eats a dropkick from Brooke.
There's
a chokeslam from Kong on the champ but the Dollhouse pulls her to the
floor for a quick beating. Brooke hits a pretty lame spear on Taryn
as Josh wants the Dollhouse gone forever. Yes because the last thing
we need are three good looking women on the show. Jade
hits a quick Stunner over the top rope to daze Kong, setting up the
Taryn Cutter for the pin at 4:44.
Rating:
D. This felt like something out
of the Divas division, as the match was more about the heel champion
escaping than anything about the match itself. It's not the worst
I've ever seen, but the Knockouts work better when there's a bit more
time for them to work with. Taryn retaining is good though because
whoever takes it from her is going to look like a giant killer.
Post
match the PLAYTIME IS OVER video comes on again.....and it's Gail
Kim. Well of course it is, as it's been at least six weeks since
she's been out there reminding us how SERIOUS this is and how she's a
real wrestler. I know Kim is one of the best Knockouts ever (and
probably the best ever) but she's basically the female Dean Malenko:
incredibly talented, but the charisma of a frozen turkey dinner.
It's
time for the big sitdown interview with the Jarretts. Here's the
whole thing: the last eight days were shocking, there's a future
between TNA and Global Force, and Jeff is excited about it. This
wasn't even two minutes long.
TNA
World Title: Ethan Carter III vs. Kurt Angle
Angle
is defending and Carter is undefeated. After
some Big Match Intros we're ready to go with the fans sounding pretty
much behind the champ. Thankfully
the bell rings after a break so we don't have to miss a bunch of time
after a few opening seconds. I wish WWE would figure out that
mentality. The fans start
the dueling chants as we have a very basic standoff to get things
going.
Angle
takes him down into a wristlock but is all like SCREW
YOU NECK TUMOR and starts
busting out the suplexes. Carter
is sent to the floor and gets suplexed out there as well with Kurt in
all fired up mode. Back in
and Carter scores with a clothesline for one and it's off to a
chinlock. There's the
Stinger Splash, followed by a TKO of all things (always loved that
move) for two. Angle misses
a charge into the post and gets DDT'd (DDP'd according to Josh) on
the apron.
Back
from a break with Carter
holding a full nelson but Kurt easily powers out because neck
surgeries mean nothing to him. Both
guys are down off a clothesline but it's Kurt quickly up and busting
out the suplexes. The Angle Slam is countered so it's time to roll
some more Germans. Now the
Slam gets two but Carter breaks up the ankle lock and sends Kurt to
the floor. Tyrus finally gets involved with a clothesline but the
1%er is countered into another ankle lock.
That
goes nowhere so it's back to the Germans because Kurt is really,
really repetitive at times. Another
Slam gets another two (remember that repetitive thing?) and
it's back to the ankle lock, only to have the referee get bumped on
the counter. Tyrus takes Angle out and the 1%er gets two more. Well
at least they didn't go with the obvious ending. The
monster tries to bring in a chair (because monsters need chairs) and
gets ejected as Josh becomes a face announcer again by saying it's
the right call.
Another
1%er is countered into the ankle lock with the grapevine but Carter
actually makes the rope. I can't imagine there are more than five
people that have gotten out of the grapevine version so well done
there. Another Angle Slam is countered into a rollup to give Carter
the title at 20:16.
Rating:
B-. Well
it was good, but I'm not really sure how I like Carter winning with a
rollup. On one hand, I like the idea of having Carter win on a
fluke, but this is going to set up another period of Angle chasing
the title, which really isn't something TNA needs to do at this
point. Angle is still good, but I really do not want to see him near
the World Title ever again in all of history. Still though, good
match and Carter winning was the only right answer, but this really
didn't make Carter feel like anything bigger than he was before.
Overall
Rating: B. Good show for the
most part here but there were some major issues. The Knockouts Title
match and the elimination tag were bad and boring respectfully and
the Jarrett interview was more insulting than anything else. The
rest was good though and it felt like a major night, but it certainly
didn't light anything new on fire.
Results
Beat
Down Clan b. The Rising – Drive By to Galloway
Wolves
b. Dirty Heels – Rollup to Roode
Taryn
Terrell b. Awesome Kong and Brooke – Taryn Cutter to Kong
Ethan
Carter III b. Kurt Angle – Rollup
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