10 Thoughts on… TNA Impact on Pop TV 04.12.2016 (Mike Bennett vs. EC3, Jeff Hardy & Drew Galloway vs. Matt Hardy & Tyrus, DJ Zima vs. Trevor Lee)

10 Thoughts, Reviews, Top Story

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TNA is back with another show as the rumors of their demise ramp up again. Here we go!

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1. The show kicks off with the entire @MattHardyBrand faction coming down including Maxell(!) and calling out Jeff Hardy. They do another promo segment to set up a match where they will fight over the Hardy name. More Hardy vs. Hardy?

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2. Beer Money puts the TNA Tag Titles up against three teams – the BroMans, Decay and Bram & Eric Young. Boozer cruiser! Solid match with a lot of action, and Beer Money ended up retaining. I didn’t read spoilers and expected Beer Money to lose so I was pleasantly surprised by the finish.

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3. Backstage the Hardy’s chat further and make a tag team match Matt Hardy & Tyrus vs. Jeff Hardy and a mystery partner. The winning team chooses a stip for a Hardys singles match next week. So much Hardys.

4. Maria comes out to cut a promo and brings out the new KO champ Jade! Maria wants Jade to hand her the title but Jade refuses. The rest of the active Knockouts come down to argue, and Billy Corgan comes onto the stage to settle them down. He makes a match for next week with all the women and the winner is the GM of the Knockouts or something.

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5. Eddie Edwards was shown taken out in the back, so his match against Trevor Lee was off. Gregory Shane Helms called out anyone from the back, and the returning DJ Zima Ion answered the call. He ended up winning via rollup in a non-title match, and Eddie Edwards ran down after the match to make the save in a 2 on 1 beatdown. Edwards looked fine, he couldn’t have had the match?

6. Backstage promos aired earlier for EC3 and now Mike Bennett to hype up their match. Both were good promos and I’m a strong advocate of this type of in-show build to make a match seem big-time.

7. Mike Bennett vs. EC3 for the first time ever. Maria doing the intro for the second time in about a half hour is a bit much. The match is solid, somewhat like mid-level WWE style. EC3 has added a Stinger Splash that Josh called an EC3 Splash. Bennett is tapping as Maria distracts the ref, then the match is thrown out when the chair is involved.

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8. Al Snow went to the ring to apologize to Grado and Shera. At first he did apologize, then when he walked out, he SHOCKINGLY attacked Shera anyway. Snow went on and on about paying dues in this hard business. After the commercial he cut an intense screaming promo. The back to back Helms and Snow on this and last week’s shows are real low-lights, not because of the performances per se, but just how low rent they come across in 2016

9. Jade defended the Knockouts Title against Maidson Rayne in what ended up as a pretty short match. Fine for what it was.

10. Jeff Hardy and Drew Galloway vs. Tyrus and Matt Hardy was the main event, and the heels won with cheating. Reby Sky handed Matt a hammer and he used it on his brother, so they will fight in an I Quit match next week.

Overall not a great show, even for the second run of 2016 TNA tapings which has been markedly worse. Next week is Jeff vs Matt again, a TNA Knockouts match for “control” of the division, and Eddie Edwards vs. DJ Zima for an X Title shot. Doesn’t sound great. TNA does tapings after that.

Jonathan Widro is the owner and founder of Inside Pulse. Over a decade ago he burst onto the scene with a pro-WCW reporting style that earned him the nickname WCWidro. Check him out on Twitter for mostly inane non sequiturs