Impact Wrestling on Pop TV
Tuesday, April 5
Impact Zone
Soundstage 20, Universal Studios
Orlando, FL

Six Sides of Steel
Jeff Hardy def. Eric Young

Hardy jumped Young and Bram before the bell and they brawled around ringside. Young filled the cage with some chairs and a table before the match spilled back into the ring and the match actually began. They brawled for a while before Hardy set up four chairs in the middle of the ring but Young Piledrove him on the chairs for a nearfall. That was a crazy bump to take. Hardy hit a couple of Twist of Fates, placed Young on a table and followed with a Swanton off the cage through the table for the win. Some of the brawling was overly nondescript but the two huge bumps at least made this somewhat memorable. Nobody can ever accuse Jeff Hardy of not giving his all to TNA. ***

Matt Hardy and Drew Galloway went face to face before their World title main event. Hardy said he deserved to be World champion and that Drew stole the Word title from him. Drew said that he has the passion that Matt no longer has. Tyrus then grabbed the mic and said he still has a World title shot that he earned in October last year and that he might even insert himself into the main event of the show. Hardy and Galloway sad very little of substance here, this was mostly to establish that Tyrus still has a title shot and plans to use it soon.

Street Fight
Bobby Lashley def. “The Pope” D’Angelo Dinero

Lashley jumped Pope before the bell and then proceeded to beat the living hell out of Pope.  Lashley tried to crush Pope’s skull on the steps but Pope escaped and started wailing on Lashley with weapons. Pope jumped out of the corner but ate a Spear in mid-air giving Lashley the win. Lashley hit Pope with two Spears after the match (one of which caused Pope to knee himself in the face) before EC3 came out and Lashley backed down. I like the slow build they’re doing toward EC3/Lashley. There are some cool directions they can take Lashley vs. Pope from here if this isn’t the end. Pope having a crisis of confidence and then pursuing a real comeback would be a cool story. This was a fun little match. Mike Bennett jumped EC3 from behind. After the match EC3 and Bennett agreed to wrestle next week and then brawled for a while before Bennett fled in a car. Bennett is still looking for a real standout moment in TNA. **1/2

TNA Knockouts Championship
Jade def. Madison Rayne and Gail Kim©

This match was on fast forward because of how little time they had unfortunately. Maria hit Kim with the Knockouts title and Jade hit an STO to win the title. The action was a load of fun and they were doing some really fun stuff but this was way too short. Jade and Kim could have a really fun 15 minute Impact main event if TNA wanted that. **1/4

Shane Helms came out with Trevor Lee to follow up on his offer to become Eddie Edwards new tag team partner. Edwards declined because Helms was trying to leech off of his title rematch. Helms was about to attack Edwards but Beer Money made the save. Storm was amused by the colour of Helms jacket for a moment and challenged Helms and Lee to a fight. Helms and Lee declined but Decay came out instead and they brawled.

TNA World Heavyweight Championship
Drew Galloway© def. Matt Hardy

They went back and forth for a while before Matt Hardy hit a gutwrench suplex from the top rope. Matt hardy took his boot off and attempted struck Drew with it but Drew kicked out. Drew hit the Future Shock but the Tyrus pulled the referee out. Jeff Hardy ran out and took out Tyrus. Matt hit the Twist of Fate but Drew kicked out. Hardy went for the Twist of Fate again but Galloway reversed into the Iron Maiden to score the submission win. A perfectly fine match but nothing special with some of the usual interference tropes. **3/4

Final Thoughts:

A pretty okay show with segments flowing into each other and achieving two things at once in a way that helped streamline things. There was nothing must see or anything but everything was solid enough. I hope this is the end of Matt Hardy as a featured act because the formula of his matches is getting extremely tired and he feels like an act from the past desperately clinging to the spotlight (which I suppose is part of his character but it feels old). I don’t care about him anymore.