TNA IMPACT! Review 7/12/16

Hey guys, it is the internet’s resident TNA and EVOLVE fanatic, back again with my what has become weekly Impact review. Since it was pretty late last week I decided to write the review as I watched the show live on Tuesday night so that I could get it up as soon as possible. This also adds a different dynamic as I completely avoided spoilers for this show so this is my natural reactions to everything that happened.

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The opening segment with “Broken” Matt Hardy getting rid of ‘the material remains of Brother Nero’ while riding around on the dilapidated boat (which he has now named but I have no idea how to spell it) was fantastic. This entire feud is so great. Final Deletion was one of the most memorable and funniest matches I’ve ever seen, the match at Slammiversary was legitimately one of my favorite matches of the year, and the feud has produced tons of other great and entertaining moments.

Ladder Match #1 Contender for the X-Division Championship
Mark Andrews vs Braxton Sutter vs Rockstar Spud vs Trevor Lee vs Andrew Everett vs DJ Z
For a while I’ve felt negatively about Spud’s role in TNA but he definitely added to this match as he was very entertaining and I loved the interactions and continuity with him and Sutter (in a recent multi man X-Division match Sutter messed up Spud’s mouth with a kick and they made reference to that). This was a very fun, faced paced opener and while I wish it would’ve gotten a little bit more time there were a lot of creative spots and I really enjoyed it. I was very happy with the outcome as I’ve always felt that DJ Z has been underappreciated. ***

After the match Bennett attacked DJ Z and said it was just the beginning of him ruining Destination X. I just hope he doesn’t interfere in the main event.

After this there was a segment building up the main event between Lashley and Eddie Edwards. The buildup to this match has been great and this was no exception. For two guys who get a lot of criticism for their mic work they have done a great job at making people care about this match. They ended up brawling and it seemed like Lashley was trying to make sure Eddie wasn’t able to compete later tonight but then Davey returned and made the save! Davey is quite possibly my favorite wrestler in the world so I was extremely happy about this and I had no idea he was ready to return so it was a great surprise. The thing that scares me (I’m writing this while I watch) is that I can totally see Davey screwing Eddie out of the main event now, which I would somewhat be okay with but also wouldn’t be because the tag division kind of needs them to at least be a team to some extent.

Next up was another bizarre segment with Matt Hardy, which is pretty much the only way to describe it. I have literally no idea what they’re going to do with this storyline next but I’m sure it’ll be highly entertaining no matter what.

Bram vs Abyss w/Crazzy Steve
This was actually a pretty decent match and that is coming from someone who is definitely not a big fan of either of these guys in 2016. My only problem with this was that the finish was extremely predictable, as soon as The Decay came out without Rosemary. I knew exactly what was going to happen, but it was a pretty decent match for what it was. **

Knockouts Championship
Sienna (c) vs Gail Kim vs Jade vs Marti Bell
This was a pretty decent match with Gail and Jade’s interactions being the highlight. I still think it was too soon for Sienna to become champion but I am a fan of her and she has done pretty well so far. **1/2

Next up was more stuff with the Hardys. After some more extremely weird pre-taped stuff, Matt made Jeff come out to the ring. Matt said that Jeff’s contract with TNA was terminated but then decided that he would go wrestle somewhere else so he decided to make Jeff his own property. This feud is so weird and crazy but the wrestling world is very much invested in it so they’re doing something right.

Mike Bennett vs DJ Z
This was a fine match but at this point I was honestly just ready for the main event which probably isn’t a good sign. I loved how they had all the X-Division guys come out and defend DJ Z, that was a cool moment. Maria looked great which was another bonus. This was fine but nothing special and it really could have and probably should have waited until next week. *3/4

EC3 and Galloway had a fun little brawl but again I just wanted the main event to start so I didn’t really care about it even though I’m a huge fan of both guys. After that there was a segment with Davey and Eddie that made me think even more that Davey will screw Eddie out of the main event (I hope I’m wrong)

TNA World Heavyweight Championship and X-Division Championship
Lashley vs Eddie Edwards
I was extremely excited for this match but also cautious because with pretty much any big TNA match theres a chance that overbooking will ruin it. I’m happy I was wrong about Davey turning but yes, overbooking pretty much did ruin it. This was a pretty fun match but instead of just having a good main event of course they had to kill it. Bennett interfered and Moose came out and beat up everyone. I’m far from being anything close to a fan of Moose but even if I was I don’t know why his beatdown couldn’t have waited until after the main event other than that that would have required TNA to have a real finish to a main event.
**3/4

Final Thoughts: This was on its way to being one of my favorite Impacts of the year but the second half of the show dragged a bit early on and then the ending was so annoying. This show was their opportunity to keep the momentum they had from Final Deletion and as usual overbooking ruined it. Hopefully I’m wrong and people are still willing to give it a chance. It was a good episode until the ending and I hope that next week Eddie and Lashley can make up for what happened this week, plus I’m just happy that my favorite wrestler is finally back.

Final Rating: 6/10.