TNA Impact Results: 1-7-15
Results courtesy of
PWTorch.com (direct link to Caldwell's complete report). Condensed here to mostly in-ring results.
1 -- KURT ANGLE vs. MVP -- Street Fight
Angle and MVP continued to fight in their street clothes. No announcers on the air. Angle, his shirt untucked, took a boot from MVP as referee Brian Hebner tried to restore order. Mathews eventually spoke, noting they're in the balcony. Angle came back with a belly-to-belly back, but MVP countered with an armbar. Angle sold a knee injury, giving MVP a target to beat down Angle. More bleeping was required for an "M-V-P****" chant from the crowd.
MVP continued to work on Angle's knee before going for a cover now down to a white tanktop undershirt. MVP wanted a powerbomb, but Angle rolled through and teased an anklelock targeting MVP's dress shoes. MVP countered with a neck vice, but Angle fought out as his dress shirt flew around. MVP went for a corner boot, but Angle ducked and nailed a suplex for the pin and the win.
WINNER: Angle at 11:24. Hard to take a match seriously when wrestlers are exchanging wrestling holds in their street clothes (as opposed to "athletic" street wear like Dean Ambrose). It was a problem at the end of Impact's run on Spike and it was present here again. Just have a fight, but don't ring a bell, protect the match setting. The lighting was good, though, making the "match" pop out with the Lakers Lighting putting the focus on the ring.
2 -- TNA tag champs JAMES STORM & ABYSS vs. THE WOLVES (DAVEY RICHARDS & EDDIE EDWARDS) -- TNA Tag Title match
Just as the bell was going to sound, Jeff Hardy's music played. Out came Matt and Jeff Hardy dressed in street clothes. Which, apparently does not disqualify them from wrestling. Mathews sent the show to break with a teaser for why the Hardys came out here.
On the other side of the break, the bell sounded for the match. The Wolves quickly took the champs to the floor, then delivered four consecutive suicide dives. Davey and Eddie, who were sporting cat-claw bodypaint on their chests, howled toward the crowd before going to work on Storm back in the ring. Storm eventually took control on Davey as TNA cut to a ringside shot of the Hardys watching the action.
Eddie hot-tagged into the match, but Abyss cut him off from behind. Davey got another tag and combined with Eddie for a foot stomp to Storm's exposed chest for a two count. The extra heels ran interference from the outside, then randomly wandered into the ring, so the Hardys hit the ring to take out Manik and Sanada. With the ref distracted, Jeff got into a tug-of-war with Abyss over a cowbell. Jeff lost his balance and smacked into Eddie. Storm capitalized with Last Call to Eddie for the pin and the win.
Post-match, Jeff was so concerned about inadvertently costing The Wolves the Tag Titles that he smiled and hugged a fan ringside. Davey sold frustration in the ring while glaring toward the Hardys.
WINNERS: Storm & Abyss at 6:14 to retain the Tag Titles. The usual Impact booking where the ref loses control and outside involvement determines the outcome of the match.
3 -- X Division champion LOW KI vs. AUSTIN ARIES -- X Division Title match
As the wrestlers felt each other out, Mathews and Taz offered the generalized talking points about the X Division being about "no limits." Mathews then mixed in a Ring of Honor and WWE reference in back-to-back sentences, noting Aries's ROH Title reigns and Taz interviewing WWE Hall of Famer Edge on his first podcast. Since there was no issue in-play, the announcers settled for "evaluating" the match as the wrestlers exchanged control.
Aries teased a brainbuster, but Ki slipped out onto Aries's back and slapped on a standing submission. Aries fell to the mat, then reached out for the bottom rope to get a break. Mathews introduced the WWE word "abeyance" in reference to the X Division Title being held up last year when Aries gave up the title to go after the TNA Title. Ki went for a top-rope move, but Aries crotched him and delivered a brainbuster for the pin and the win. Mathews sounded like he was calling the end of a filler WWE Superstars with little excitement for the title change.
WINNER: Aries at 7:09 to capture the X Division Title. Could have meant so much more if they established a back-story to the match, had Aries talk about the importance of the title beforehand, and gone with a new marketing approach to wrestlers in the X Division instead of the same marketing approach lumping X Division wrestlers together as interchangeable "flippy-floppy guys."
4 -- KNOCKOUTS BATTLE ROYAL -- Knockouts Title match
Quick eliminations, then Jessie hopped on the ring apron to try to help out the Beautiful People, but he got knocked off the ring apron. The BP were eliminated, then it came down to Taryn and Havok. Taryn eliminated the former KO champion, then celebrated with the title belt.
But, Havok jumped her from behind and beat down the champ. Suddenly, the lights went out and Amazing/Awesome Kong (Kharma in WWE) was standing in the ring. Kong and Havok went face-to-face as the crowd popped. Refs jumped in the ring to separate the two giants of the Knockouts division. Kong suddenly took out one of the refs before posing for the crowd. Will there be any consequences for Kong's actions attacking a ref? Of course, Angle resigned his post, so there is currently not an authority figure.
WINNER: Taryn at 5:04 to retain the KO Title.
5 -- TNA World Hvt. champion BOBBY ROODE vs. BOBBY LASHLEY -- TNA World Title match
Back-and-forth early on as the wrestlers battled for control. TNA took focus off the match to cut to an inset video of MVP and Kenny King returning to the building. They were joined by two men in masks to hide their identities. A lone security guy said they're not allowed in the building, so MVP and Co. beat the man down and they entered the building. Impact cut to break with Mathews wondering who the men are.
Back from break, Lashley was standing over Roode on the floor. Lashley then brought Roode back into the ring to wear him down. Lashley went for Ten Punches in the corner, but Roode came back with a sit-out powerbomb for a two count. Lashley responded with Roode's own Roode Bomb finisher, but Roode kicked out.
Lashley wanted a spear, but Roode moved and Lashley ate the corner turnbuckle pad. Roode nailed Lashley's own spear finisher, but Lashley kicked out again. Suddenly, the ringside cameraman turned around to face the entrance ramp right in front of the hard camera. On-cue, MVP, King, and the two masked man walked down to ringside. In the ring, Roode went for the Roode Bomb and connected. Roode covered, but Lashley kicked out. The crowd was distracted by the extra men at ringside, but re-engaged for Roode applying a cross-face submission on Lashley.
Suddenly, King yanked the ref out of the ring and roughed him up. No DQ was rendered (as pointed out by Michael Cupach). And, since the timekeeper has power to ring the bell without a ref, as established in the opening "match," there should have been a bell. Kurt Angle then ran down to ringside to fight King, but he was beat down by MVP, King, and the masked men. Meanwhile, a match was going on.
Suddenly, Low Ki and Samoa Joe unmasked as MVP's hired goons. Eric Young hit the ring with a chair and chased off the heels. But, he turned around to jab Roode in the gut and bash the chair over Roode's back. Mathews noted EY's friendship with Roode is apparently out the window. EY chucked the ref back into the ring, Lashley came to his feet, and Lashley delivered a spear to Roode. Lashley pinned Roode for the win.
Post-match, Joe celebrated with MVP as EY kind of freaked out. Apparently he went off the deep-end with his storyline wife, ODB, going to ROH? Joe posed on the ring steps as text flashed on the bottom of the screen noting "this program was recorded live and broadcast with a delay." The show closed with a shot of Lashley looking around trying to process events. Mathews wondered aloud what's going to happen next Friday night.
WINNER: Lashley at 19:58 to capture the TNA World Title. The title match and title change was secondary to what TNA wanted to do at the end of the match with the multiple heel turns and new MVP stable.
