TNA IMPACT! Review 4/26/2016

Hey guys, it is Josh Masterson, the internet’s resident TNA and EVOLVE freak. I won’t be able to do Impact reviews every week, but I’ll do them as often as I can.

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First I want to thank TNA for having the class to have a quick RIP Chyna graphic as the show started.

The show opened up with a quick promo from Tyrus and then got right to the point with the World Title match. Kind of an odd decision to have the World Title match start the show, but I’m kinda used to it as Galloway for whatever reason opened up a few EVOLVE shows with title defences when he was their champion from August 2014 to July 2015.

TNA World Heavyweight Championship
Drew Galloway (c) vs Tyrus
This was okay I guess. For those of you who don’t know, Tyrus isn’t generally a top guy in TNA. He won a lower card battle royal at Bound for Glory for the title shot and was just cashing it in now. There was interference from Spud as expected. Speaking of Spud, I don’t understand why earlier this year at Lockdown he attacked EC3 because he was still mad that EC3 turned on him in late 2014. Yet, he isn’t still mad at Tyrus who helped EC3 torture him for months. I guess we aren’t supposed to look that far into it? Anyway, I had very little expectations going in as Tyrus has been far from impressive when it comes to match quality since coming to TNA towards the end of 2014. *3/4

After this we got a backstage segment with Beer Money. Its weird to see Bobby Roode still on Impact when now its been weeks since he was shown in the crowd at NXT Takeover.

Another segment after this with Maria talking in the ring. There was some obnoxious sound during the background of this that made it pretty hard to listen to until Gail came out. Gail has improved a lot on the mic and Maria is great. Anyway it was an okay segment, more tension between Maria and Gail. Maria, the new boss of the Knockouts, set up a match between Gail Kim and Rosemary. Before I talk about the match I just want to say that the Decay’s theme is awesome.

Gail Kim vs Rosemary
This is Rosemary’s first singles match in TNA so I was very interested in this. This was an alright match, a little bit too short to be anything special but it was fine for what it was. When both Maria and Steve got involved I was concerned that Gail was gonna ‘overcome the odds’ like she always does and was happy she didn’t. A lot of the time Gail is booked too strongly for her own good and it was nice to see someone new like Rosemary beating Gail even if it wasn’t clean. Just want to clarify I have nothing against Gail, she’s probably the best of all time in my opinion, its just nice to see her not win for once. **1/4

Up next was an Eli Drake talk show called “Fact of Life.” I usually like Eli Drake but this was extremely corny. In my opinion, having a lower mid carder talking badly about main event wrestlers is kind of unnecessary and ridiculous. BroMans came out and it became even more cringeworthy. Rough segment.

Tag Team Championship
Beer Money (c) vs Decay Valley of Shadows
I’m guessing the reason they made up some new type of match (that was exactly the same as any hardcore match type other than some ridiculous lighting) is to make it seem like they don’t overdo Monsters Ball matches. But they really do. The hardcore stipulation matches with Abyss are done to death and there hasn’t been a really good, creative one other than the Decay vs Wolves match earlier this year since Abyss’ 2014 feud with Bram (which led to a bunch of great matches including Abyss and Willow vs Magnus and Bram, definitely watch that if you haven’t). This became pretty fun at the end but the majority of it was pretty dull. Thank you to Bobby Roode for 12 great years, excited to see where he goes from here. **1/2

Falls Count Anywhere
King of the Mountain Championship
Bram vs Eric Young (c)
This was alright, kinda short. It is kind of ridiculous to have another hardcore style match immediately after the last one. Nothing remotely special and I probably will have forgotten it happened by tomorrow, but I’m excited to see Bram as champion. *3/4

After that we got a segment between Reby Sky, Rockstar Spud, and Jeff Hardy. Rockstar Spud’s first heel run when he was with Dixie and EC3 was phenomenal but this time with Matt Hardy it just isn’t working for me. The lines between Reby and Jeff are so personal and great but Spud getting involved just ruins it. Reby is really good on the mic, one of my favorite characters in the company right now. This Matt and Jeff feud is great and I’m excited to see where it goes from here.

Mike Bennett vs EC3
This was a decent match, I enjoyed it for the most part. Before they brought the chair in there were some cool sequences and some good wrestling. But having EC3’s over two year undefeated streak end in such an unimportant match with a dumb finish is ridiculous to me. Maybe I would be somewhat okay with the streak ending at the hands of Bennett if it was in an important well built PPV match but for it to end like this is just dumb. EC3 has been the one person they’ve consistently protected and booked great, and then they did this. It was a good match but the finish took away from it a lot. **3/4

Final Thoughts: I feel like a lot of change is coming. The tapings that begin airing next week seem like they will feature the debuts of a variety of new talent. There was definitely some progress made tonight, especially with the Decay. It was a decent show, none of the matches are really must see. I’d say the only thing worth going out of your way to see is the main event, but even that was ruined by the finish and outcome. Relatively skippable show this week but its not really hard to get through either.
Final Rating – 5.5/10