RESULTS:
- Ryan Nemeth over BDE in 5:00 (pre-show)
- X Division Championship: Leon Slater (c) over Cedric Alexander in 14:20 (Recommended)
- Frankie Kazarian over Elijah in 12:25
- Special Agent Zero over Moose in 11:00
- Hardcore Country Match: The Elegance Brandy over Mickie James, ODB & Taryn Terrell in 11:00
- Nic Nemeth over AJ Francis in 16:00
The pre-show opened with Daria Rae joining Tom Hannifan & Matthew Rehwoldt to preview the show over the course of the hour.
The System walked out to discuss their matches. The standout was Bear Bronson, who ran down the Hardys and stated there would be “nothing left of them but the memories,” and delivered it well.
In the lone match on the one-hour countdown, Ryan Nemeth beat BDE again.
Nemeth cut a negative promo about Cleveland, where he was born and grew up. His parents were in the front row and noted that his father’s favorite was Nic, and he was more of a Mama’s boy. He said once he became a star, he took advice from Art Modell and got out of this city.
He took off his pants to reveal Pittsburgh Steelers-inspired trunks and took a shot at McKenzie Mitchell for marrying someone from Cleveland (Vic Joseph). It was an entertaining promo, and his father appeared to get a kick out of watching his second-favorite son on the pre-show.
BDE was beaten down at the start, hit a Clip Cutter for a two-count, and a Frog Splash. Nemeth took the splash and rolled to the edge of the apron, snapped BDE’s neck on the rope, and hit the Big Hollywood Ending to win.
Nemeth beat BDE at Sacrifice and again at Rebellion, so this likely leads to BDE getting his first big win against Nemeth, eventually.
Carlos Silva joined the desk and didn’t receive a warm response. It wasn’t loud, but the audience that was paying attention didn’t care for Silva after several days of bad PR for the company.
Eric Young interrupted, and he’s going to confront EC3 to ask why he deserves to be in TNA. Maybe he should have asked Silva.
Ace Steel ended the pre-show with a breakdown of the main event and several other matches.
That concluded the sixty-minute iHeartRadio commercial, and we head to the pay-per-view.
Leon Slater retains the X Division title
This match kicked off the main show in high gear and received a great response from the audience. They chanted “TNA” at the beginning and were buzzing once the bell rang.
Alexander targeted the neck with a pair of German suplexes and built toward a Brainbuster, which led to a two-count. Alexander ascended the turnbuckle and hit a Brainbuster to Slater onto the top buckle and followed with the Lumbar Check, but Slater got his foot on the rope. The whole place went nuts for the sequence and belief that Slater may actually lose.
Alexander grabbed the X Division title and brought it into the ring, and walked into a Styles Clash, landing on top of the belt and hit by the Swanton 450 as Slater retained.
This was excellent and could easily be the match of the show.
NCAA Rules Match
Frankie Kazarian defeated Elijah in a match that definitely overdelivered with action, but also had a gaping hole of logic, which was impossible to ignore for the audience and Tom Hannifan.
If you missed Impact, they did a segment where Elijah was hanging out at a cemetery (just because), and a kid told him his father just died and wanted to pray with him. It was A TRAP, and Kazarian jumped Elijah and handed the kid $20 and shortchanged him on the agreed amount of $100. If ever there was an angle that was a metaphor for the past few days of TNA’s news cycle.
The match is going along fine as Elijah attempted a springboard and began to be whipped by the guitar strap that Kazarian has obtained. Hannifan tries to explain why the referee is simply allowing this to happen, arguing that Elijah brought the guitar out with him. What if he brought a sword?
Then, Hannifan compared the leniency to the referees in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. Yes, remember when Michigan grabbed their leather belts at halftime and started whipping the hell out of the players on Arizona? Yes, that game.
It was utterly ridiculous, but this was still an entertaining match, and both worked really hard. Kazarian slid the dreaded guitar into the ring and landed a slingshot cutter right onto the instrument for a near-fall.
After NCAA official Frank Gastineau allowed this to turn into an impromptu street fight, he drew a line in the sand. Elijah grabbed the remnants of his shattered guitar, and this was just too much. Gastineau took it away from Elijah, turned his back, and Kazarian kicked him in the balls and won with a roll-up.
A totally entertaining and yet utterly ridiculous match. It brought me back to TNA in 2007.
Moose is Great Handed a Loss
Moose and Special Agent Zero had your “meat match” of the show, with several risky spots, and kept the audience’s engagement throughout it.
Zero hit a dive as Moose was arriving at the ring with Alisha and injured Alisha’s ankle, which played into things later.
Moose’s big spot was hitting a spear to Zero off the apron and through a table. Moose’s feet nearly hooked onto the rope and would have been another fun 24 hours of X discourse.
Moose won’t stay down and fired up, caught another dive by Zero, which was damn impressive, given the height and size of Zero. Moose was getting ready for a spear when the Great Hands of John Skyler and Jason Hotch ran out.
Moose knocked Skyler off the apron but also knocked Alisha, who re-injured her ankle on the floor. Moose played Hogan to her Elizabeth and went to carry her to the back when Zero struck him with a running boot. Zero hit a Choke Bomb on the edge of the apron and another in the ring to win.
I liked the match. Zero has been well protected under Order 4, and now it feels like they are ready to elevate him after all this careful booking of him as the muscle of that group.
It feels like Alisha is turning.
ODB into the TNA Hall of Fame
The Elegance Brand defeated Mickie James, ODB & Taryn Terrell in a Hardcore Country Match.
This was an attempt at a hardcore match, but it was all over the place, and I cannot say it worked.
Ash by Elegance got into it with the “stars” of Love is Blind Ohio in the front row, a show that sounds like one you’d watch if you’re bargaining down from mandatory prison time.
Terrell brought out a giant lollipop and then emptied a bag full of more lollipops and used these as serious weapons.
On TV, Mickie James referred to The Concierge as “Pickle Dick”, so the comedy ensued in this one. First, they had a cooler full of pickle juice and “pickle boarded” Mr. Elegance in the cooler (this guy is great, by the way, and totally owns the character and does a great job in the role). Then, dressed the concierge in a pickle suit and tossed him to the floor.
ODB was left alone and snapped Mr. Elegance’s balls with a pair of tongs. Ash returned and sprayed her with hairspray in the eyes, and all the women jumped onto ODB for the win.
I can’t say I enjoyed this, and it was a comedy-based weapons match.
Then, Carlos Silva and Tommy Dreamer entered the ring, and we had this crazy transition from “pickle dick” humor and the babyfaces losing the match, to announcing ODB is going into the Hall of Fame. This was a nice moment, and it seemed like a genuine surprise for her to hear this.
The Hall of Fame ceremony will be at Bound for Glory in Tampa on October 11.
