Impact Wrestling on Pop TV
Tuesday, June 14
Impact Zone
Soundstage 20, Universal Studios
Orlando, FL

Bobby Lashley opened the show saying how this was live TV and anything can happen – how true that was considering this show aired two hours late after a mix up with Pop TV. It was pretty sad to see everybody pile on TNA last night after they produced a TV show which their television partner couldn’t get on the air. It’s rather reflective of the current state of their brand image. They have a really unfortunate stroke of luck and then they’re the worst. Lashley said he was the most dominant TNA champion ever, EC3 interrupted and demanded a title match but Drew Galloway hobbled out and invoked his rematch clause for the main event. Lashley’s promos have come on leaps and bounds – he’s way more comfortable and confident then he used to be.

TNA King of the Mountain Championship
Jeff Hardy def. Eli Drake © by Disqualification

Drake controlled Hardy and cut off a number of comebacks, Jeff hit a Whisper in the Wind and made a comeback,  Jeff hit the Twist of Fate and the Swanton but Matt Hardy bit Earl Hebner’s hand to cause the DQ. Poor Earl should get checked for like rabies or something. By the numbers TV match. **1/4

Jeff called Matt back out after the match because Jeff wanted to finally squash their beef. Matt appeared in the same spot where Jeff jumped on him from. Matt said that he was standing at the origin of “Broken” Matt Hardy. Jeff looked rather fed up with Matt’s nonsense. Matt said Jeff must be deleted in wonderfully dramatic fashion. Jeff went to grab a table but Matt demanded Jeff fight him with “HONAH!” Matt is the gift that keeps on giving. Reby sprayed a fire extinguisher in Jeff’s eyes and Matt slid Jeff down a rail into a table. Matt then rolled his eyes into the back of his head Undertaker style. While I’d have preferred to see Slammiversary be the end of this whole affair, I can’t really give out about getting a little more Broken Matt. Matt and Jeff will face inside Six Sides of Steel next week.

TNA X-Division Championship
Eddie Edwards © def. Trevor Lee (w/ Shane Helms)

Lee jumped Edwards early, dominated for a while, Edwards made a comeback, Lee scored a nearfall off a big knee and Edwards then won with a Shining Wizard which Edwards is calling the Boston Knee Party. Bafflingly short. In fact the shortest match on this show. This is what happens when you have nobody within the company advocating for the X-Division anymore. **1/4

Everybody on the roster was standing on the stage as Dixie Carter made her entrance to announce the next TNA Hall of Fame inductee. She introduced Gail Kim as the next TNA Hall of Famer. Kim has been the stalwart of the Knockouts since the inception of the division and, with some help from Awesome Kong, justified the divisions existence and legitimised women’s wrestling in TNA. For as long she has been there, the division has had hope. She’s been the standard of excellence raising the quality of everything around her. An extremely worthy inductee.  She will officially be inducted at Bound For Glory in October. Kim got choked up as she thanked everybody. Everybody congratulated Kim as she left.

TNA World Tag Team Championships
Decay (Abyss and Crazy Steve w/ Rosemary) © def. The BroMans (Jessie Godderz and Robbie E), Mahabali Shera and Grado, and The Tribunal (Basile Baraka and Baron Dax w/ Al Snow)

Decay suggested they plan to recruit a new member before the match. I have no idea why The BroMans and Shera and Grado are getting title shots after losing at Slammiversary. Baraka beat down Robbie before he made the tag to Jessie. Everybody had a little moment to shine before Al Snow pushed Grado off the top giving Decay a chance to pick up the win. Very similar to last week’s ten man tag in that this was fun with the action ticking over and the match never slowing down. **3/4

Mike Bennett made his way to the ring with Maria. Bennett was upset at the lack of appreciation he was getting. Bennett was wearing a tank top with pineapples on it. It’s like an episode of Psych with the hidden pineapple easter eggs. Billy Corgan (who the Bennett’s have in their pocket) made his way to the ring and failed to smooth things over. This then brought out Dixie Carter who berated Maria. Maria fired back saying she’d do a better job running TNA than Dixie does. After more verbal sparring Dixie slapped Maria. Another battle over power and control – yay! I assume this all sets up Dixie vs. Maria with Gail Kim as Dixie’s proxy. Maria is a good performer but we’ve done all this before with somebody shouting about how incompetent and unqualified Dixie is.

TNA World Heavyweight Championship
Bobby Lashley © def. Drew Galloway

EC3, who was palling it up backstage with Galloway earlier in the show, was on guest commentary. Galloway had his ribs taped because of their match from Sunday. As usual TNA rushed into doing the Lashley/Galloway rematch for no other reason than impatience. TNA never gets the most out of anything they do. Lashley and Drew went straight to throwing bombs including a sidewalk slam on the apron. Drew rolled a Spear attempt into an armbar but Lashley reached the ropes. Lashley and Drew exchanged submission attempts before Galloway hit a nasty piledriver for a near fall. Drew hit the Celtic Cross off the middle rope but Lashley kicked out again. Galloway took out Lashley with the Claymore so Lashley grabbed a steel chair. I hate Lashley resorting to trying to use a weapon because that makes him just like everybody else and he shouldn’t be everybody else. EC3 stopped Lashley from using the chair and sought to use the chair himself but accidentally hit Drew. Lashley then submitted Galloway with his head and arm choke. This was the worst use of a World title match – using one simply as a means to a story end. Title matches should feel special and important. Not simply a frame upon which to hang whatever the next story beat you want to drive home. This was good fun before the antics kicked in because Lashley and Drew have great chemistry. ***1/4

Final Thoughts:

A perfectly enjoyable breezy show but as usual it left a lot on the table. The World title main event was a lot of fun but it could have meant an awful lot more with an actual build and story behind it and the X-Division title match was a shameful inefficient use of resources. At least there was some solid character work from Lashley, EC3 and Galloway on this show.