TNA Impact Wrestling Spoilers for 2/2/17

[DreamBroken]

 

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*Taped for Xplosion: Marshe Rockett def. Samuel Shaw

TNA Impact Wrestling - Airing February 2, 2017 from Orlando, FL

*Show opens with a Broken Hardys promo. Matt talks about using a teleportation system and they must win every tag team title ever as they want all the gold . They will defeat the Bucks of Youth, the Day of the New and The Family of Wyatts. It's the return of Open Fight Night so Jeff Hardy is challenging Lashley for the TNA Worlds Championship. Lashley comes out and says he's ready for war but asks if Jeff is ready to take the title from him alone so Matt agrees to go to the back.

*Lashley(c) def. Jeff Hardy to retain the TNA Worlds Heavyweight Championship. After the match, Eddie Edwards comes out and congratulates Lashley on retaining the title. Lashley says he knows how great he is and doesn't need Eddie's praise. Edwards calls him "Triple B" for Bitch Boy Bobby and challenges him to a rematch. Lashley agrees to the rematch on the condition that if Eddie loses, he goes to the back of the line and doesn't get another shot.

*Sienna (w/ Maria Kanellis) def. Brooke with the Silencer after Maria pushed Brooke off the top rope.

*The DCC (Bram & James Storm) def. Decay in a Falls Count Anywhere match when Bram pinned Crazzy Steve after a piledriver off the apron through a table

*Impact Grand Champ Drew Galloway comes out and says he will make the Impact Grand championship more important than the world title. Drew says while he was out injured, the title didn't exist so Aron Rex & Moose's reigns don't count. Moose interrupts and says Drew beat him the last two weeks by kicking him in the nuts to win so tonight he's gonna kick his ass. Drew says that no one wants to see him against Moose again so he will defend his title against a different challenger..

*Drew Galloway(c) def. Rob Ryzin via pinfall in round 1 to retain the Impact Grand Championship

*Trevor Lee def. DJ Z(c) to win the X Division Championship in a Ladder match

*Eli Drake and Tyrus came to the ring. Eli is having Tyrus talk for him so the crowd doesn't get to hear his voice. They call out Ethan Carter III, who comes out in street clothes still selling the effects of his last man standing match with Lashley. Eli attacks EC3 to begin a match..

*Ethan Carter III def. Eli Drake (w/ Tyrus). After the match, Drake attacked EC3 with a baseball bat. The lights went out and the DCC appeared then beat down EC3 as well. The DCC then turn and beat down Eli Drake & Tyrus as well. Storm drinks a beer in the ring while Bram and Kingston give EC3 a spike piledriver onto a steel chair.

[DreamBroken]

Another pretty good show here. Lashley/Hardy was good stuff and felt like a big time main event in the opener. Great Lashley match and promo after. Solid feud progressions elsewhere on the card. EC3/Eli is always good though Eli looks a bit weak still never able to beat EC3 even injured. DJ Z had one of the better X title reigns. DCC is back to looking like a major threat again.

[Thibs]

I enjoyed the show but I thought the last angle was a mess. Eli/Tyrus and DCC are all tweeners while EC3 is a face and they're all fighting each other why?  

It just seems like a good amount of logic that Corgan brought to the storytelling is gone. 

[J.T.]

Got to watch this before heading in to work.  It was a solid show but I had to roll my eyes a bit during the whole BBB thing.

Eddie Edwards is a fucking Oompa Loompa compared to Lashley, so I was surprised that line was booked to get Lashley bent out of shape and goad him into a title shit.  Get to the back of the line, Vanilla Midget..

[NikoBaltimore]

9 hours ago, Thibs said:

I enjoyed the show but I thought the last angle was a mess. Eli/Tyrus and DCC are all tweeners while EC3 is a face and they're all fighting each other why?  

It just seems like a good amount of logic that Corgan brought to the storytelling is gone. 

Eli and Tyrus teamed up for a tag title shot and have been together since.  Eli and EC3 feuded last year over who would get a title shot.  So at the end of it all EC3 won and Eli had to shutup for the rest of the year.  So this is basically them having a match because there's still bad blood between them.

I fell asleep before the end so I don't recall if DCC came out.  But man did they lose whatever cool factor they had.  Even in beating Decay they're now a couple random guys teaming up for some reason.  Either go full Anonymous or come up with a different tag gimmick.

8 hours ago, J.T. said:

Eddie Edwards is a fucking Oompa Loompa compared to Lashley, so I was surprised that line was booked to get Lashley bent out of shape and goad him into a title shit.

That is an awesome typo

[Thibs]

2 hours ago, NikoBaltimore said:

Eli and Tyrus teamed up for a tag title shot and have been together since.  Eli and EC3 feuded last year over who would get a title shot.  So at the end of it all EC3 won and Eli had to shutup for the rest of the year.  So this is basically them having a match because there's still bad blood between them.

I fell asleep before the end so I don't recall if DCC came out.  But man did they lose whatever cool factor they had.  Even in beating Decay they're now a couple random guys teaming up for some reason.  Either go full Anonymous or come up with a different tag gimmick.

That is an awesome typo

The Eli/EC3 stuff makes sense but I think the DCC is just directionless. I hate to keep harping on Corgan, but it just seems like this was partly his brainchild and the people who are writing the show aren't capable of developing those kind of characters.

[NikoBaltimore]

I really liked them when they first showed up.  I think unmasking was a bad idea, it just killed the mystique that they should have had.  On top of that while the theme isn't hot garbage it doesn't fit what they're going for at all.  I still like them though and can't complain with Kingston cutting promos.

[Thibs]

I would like the theme more if Mathews would shut the fuck up so I could hear it. 

It just seems like they're supposed to be this anonymous/vigilante type group and non of that has been develop. They're just thrown out into matches and angles like any other wrestlers with the character part not being paid attention to. Idk that guys like Jarrett and Dutch can handle those types of characters. 

I do think the stories will be more consistent at the next tapings when the creative isn't in transition anymore. 

[caley]

Guys...guys...I have to ask.  Do you think Russo is back involved in this? It feels like there is no consistency whatsoever.  Guys turn from week to week, turn back, act heelish or faceish depending on what feud they want to shoehorn them in with.  It reminds me a lot of Russo's shades of grey booking.

As for the show, I hope this is the end of the briefcase nonsense because the booking made everyone of those guys look stupid, in all honesty.  1. Jeff Hardy has his pick of the roster, can do whatever he wants, so he books Lashley in a straight one-on-one match.  Why wouldn't he choose a three-way match with his brother to put the advantage on his side?  Or a ladder match in order to be a match of his specialty and what that could conceivably handicap Lashley?  2. The DCC has second choice, can choose whatever they want (Save for a World Title match or a tag title match the latter of which doesn't really make much sense but whatever), so they choose a Falls Count Anywhere match against Decay?  Why wouldn't they pick a 3-1 match against Steve or Abyss?  Or ban Rosemary from ringside?  Or go after the Impact Grand championship? Or anything other than a rematch of a match they already had and only lost on DQ during which they beat up Decay? 3. Trevor Lee has the third case and can challenge for anything he wants, so he chooses a ladder match.  This one made the most sense, but it would have made even more sense to make it a 3-way with him and Everett to give the added advantage?  4. Eli Drake has the fourth choice and chooses a match against a guy who is injured and outside the title realm?  Wouldn't it make more sense to challenge Eddie Edwards for his title shot? Or again challenge Drew Galloway for his title? Or make it No DQ so he can use Tyrus in the match?

Really, the way this briefcase deal was booked devalued everyone and everything in TNA save for the World Title, EC3 and Bobby Lashley.  Hardy looks weak for challenging and losing to Lashley in a match.  The Grand Championship looks like a title that no one wants because no one bothered to use their briefcase to challenge for the title and instead used their briefcases to have non-title matches with people they already faced recently.  The DCC look stupid for challenging Decay to a match in which they got their butts kicked, and then barely won.  Abyss and Steve look stupid for accepting the challenge, because why would they bother?  They could just say "Nah", it was never really established that they HAD to take the match.  Trevor Lee looks stupid for not making the match more in his favour and weak because he could only beat a badly-injured DJZ by getting him stuck under the ladder.  Eli Drake and Tyrus look like absolute morons for wasting their briefcase on a match against an injured wrestler whom TNA has gone out of their way to point out is struggling and LOSING!  It's just weak, weak booking.

Spoilered for fantasy booking.

1. Hardy comes out first and challenges Lashley in a ladder match because ladder matches are his specialty, have Lashley goad Jeff into keeping Matt in the back.  Then have a similar match where it's emphasized that Lashley struggles with the ladders, then have him spear Hardy off the ladder (Or the ring hanging above, it would probably be a safer spot than what they did do!) for the win.  Hardy looks smarter, Lashley stays strong.

2. DCC comes out right after and challenges Hardys for a tag title shot (The fact that the tag titles couldn't be challenged for because Jeff wrestled a previous match was a dumb stipulation), with DCC trying to take advantage of Hardy's just being injured at Lashley.  In the end have Hardyz win with some shenanigans (Decay, Vanguard1 or Senor Benjamin with the taser or something).  DCC loses but it's a wonky loss and won't hurt them.  Jeff is emphasized for being tough for wrestling two matches like it back-to-back.
3. Trevor Lee challenges for the X Title with Everett in a ladder match.  Then you can even tease dissension between Everett and Lee (Which is what felt like they were going for last week).  Everett takes out DJZ with a move, Lee sneaks up and grabs the title.
4. Eli Drake comes out and challenges Drew MacIntyre for the Grand Championship in a 2 on 1 handicap match.  MacIntyre replies that Grand Championship can only be contested under Grand Championship rules.  So Eli changes it to a Grand Championship gauntlet match, first MacIntyre versus Tyrus, then the winner versus him.  MacIntyre gets clobbered by Tyrus, but rolls him up for the win.  Drake comes in and tries to pick the bones of MacIntyre, only for MacIntyre to try to walk out.  Moose prevents MacIntyre from leaving.  MacIntyre cheats to win.  You can still do a post-match schmozz with DCC and EC3 or whatever you want.  But everyone just looks smarter and tougher in this scenario

Anyways, all that aside

-Hardy-Lashley was good.  Jeff took two totally unecessarily dangerous bumps in this one that were exciting but lead you to go "Jeez, Jeff, you don't need to do that anymore!"  That powerbomb on the stairs was just NASTY.  The pescado only to land tailbone-first was just ill-advised.

-Those Arron Rex segments were pretty bad.  I fast-forwarded through most of them.

-DCC-Decay was fun, but barbed wire/tacks in two weeks back to back feels like overkill (And this is even more TNA's fault because they moved matches around only to put it back-to-back with the Monster's Ball match!).  Eddie Kingston needs to talk more.  Everything he says and does looks so menacing and evil.

-I think it's way too early to be turning Drake face (I assume he's going to end up having to team with EC3 and Tyrus to fight DCC).  He should stay heel for much longer.  I still dislike the no talking thing, but he looks badass with the baseball bat and Tyrus as his back-up.

[caley]

2 hours ago, Thibs said:

I would like the theme more if Mathews would shut the fuck up so I could hear it. 

 

Whoever told him and his wife to shout "Ooh!" "Aah!" and "Oof!" after every move was mistaken.  It's so annoying, and they both do it!

Also, I'm unclear on if Pope is supposed to be a heel commentator or a color commentator who sides with either side.  During the DJZ match he was saying he expected DJZ to pull it out.  During the Lashley match, he was all on Lashley's side.

And, man, that got uncomfortable during the X-Division match when Pope jokingly said that Matthews was always looking for shortcuts then Matthews (seemingly really angry) shouts "You take a shortcut every time you get paid by the office every two weeks!" followed by several seconds of silence was kinda great.

[Thibs]

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Guys...guys...I have to ask.  Do you think Russo is back involved in this? It feels like there is no consistency whatsoever.  Guys turn from week to week, turn back, act heelish or faceish depending on what feud they want to shoehorn them in with.  It reminds me a lot of Russo's shades of grey booking.
 

I doubt it. With Russo, at least there's shit actually happening on the show. There's usually a running thread from beginning to end. Whether its good or makes any sense, its at least there. With this, they're just throwing matches out there and trying to build characters that they don't know how to build. 

I think its two things-- lack of Corgan and a booking team in transition. This entire set of tapings was basically a transition to March so I'm cautiously optimistic that Dutch can give it some more direction. But if they were smart, they'd get rid of Gaburick and bring back Corgan to work with Dutch and Jeff. You have a guy who brings innovation to the product and then you have your old school pro wrestling guys. 

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Whoever told him and his wife to shout "Ooh!" "Aah!" and "Oof!" after every move was mistaken.  It's so annoying, and they both do it!

Also, I'm unclear on if Pope is supposed to be a heel commentator or a color commentator who sides with either side.  During the DJZ match he was saying he expected DJZ to pull it out.  During the Lashley match, he was all on Lashley's side.

And, man, that got uncomfortable during the X-Division match when Pope jokingly said that Matthews was always looking for shortcuts then Matthews (seemingly really angry) shouts "You take a shortcut every time you get paid by the office every two weeks!" followed by several seconds of silence was kinda great.

 

LOL that's priceless. I'll have to go back and listen to that. Totally seems like the type of passive aggressive, whiny thing he would say. 

He's awful. And the talking over the entrances part is the worst thing. I can't believe a guy who's been in the business for 10+ years, has worked for Vince, doesn't know how to shut his mouth during a quality entrance. And its frustrating because they finally figured out how to get entrances/music right and how important that is to a character, and then you have this asshat blatantly ruining it.