TNA Impact Wrestling Results (9/22): Cody Rhodes Appears, Grand Title Tournament Continues And More
TNA IMPACT WRESTLING ON POP TV
SEASON 14 EPISODE 38
TAPED AT THE IMPACT ZONE IN ORLANDO FLORIDA
The show opens with a recap of The Hardys-Decay "Great War" announcement and angle last week on Impact. The video also includes the injury suffered by EC3 at the world title press conference and his return last week at the end of the show.
We are now in The Impact Zone. The show is starting off with a semifinal Impact Grand Championship tournament match.
IMPACT GRAND CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT
DREW GALLOWAY VS EDDIE EDWARDS
ROUND ONE
This is single elimination tournament. 3 rounds scored by 3 judges. 3 minute rounds. Rounds judged by aggressiveness, control and physicality.
Eddie Edwards and Drew Galloway go strike for strike early. Drew hits a big overhead suplex and some stiff shots. Edwards battles back and hits a big boot to force Galloway outside the ring. Edwards does a flying dive to the outside but gets caught by Drew and slammed on the apron. Less than a minute remaining in the round. Both men back in the ring. Drew attempts two pinfalls. Edwards back on his feet and tries two covers of his own. Galloway then hits three straight suplexes on Edwards and covers him for a 2 count. The round ends.
Round One Scorecard- Judges 1 and 2 score it 10-9 for Drew. Judge 3 10-9 for Edwards. Galloway wins the round.
ROUND TWO
Edwards attacks Drew quickly as the second round begins. He takes Drew to the top rope and hits a top rope huranacrana and covers Galloway for a 2 count. Edwards back to the top rope. Galloway chases him up to the top. Edwards kicks Drew down and Galloway ends up tied up in the tree of woe. Edwards tries to take but Drew uses his power to counter and throw Edwards off the top rope. Edwards back on his feet, hits the "boston knee party" on Galloway but Drew is knocked outside the ring. Edwards hits two straight dives on Galloway as round two comes to an end.
Round Two Scorecard- Judges 1 and 3 score the round 10-9 for Edwards. Judge 2 10-9 for Galloway. So Edwards wins this round and both men are tied going into the final round.
ROUND THREE
Galloway and Edwards start striking each other in the middle of the ring. Galloway wins the exchange and knocks Edwards down. Edwards rallies and gets a half crab on Drew but Galloway counters and puts Edwards into The Iron Maiden submission. Edwards counters it and applies a submission of his own. Galloway gets out and tries a tombstone piledriver but Edwards escapes. Both men continue to counter each other in a very nice exchange. They are back to striking each other with chops as there is only 1 minute left. Both men slowing down from the hard strikes. Under 30 seconds left, Galloway hits a razors edge styled turnbuckle power bomb on Edwards and then the future shock DDT. Both men are laid out. Drew lays his arm over Edwards and Eddie lifts his arm up at 2 and a half when the bell for round three rings.
Round Three Scorecard- The show goes to break before this announcement.... Back from the break. Edwards and Galloway in the ring with the ref. Drew and Eddie waiting for their hands to be raised.
Judge 1 scores the bout for Drew Galloway.... Judge 2 scores the bout for Eddie Edwards.... Judge 3 scores the bout for Drew Galloway.
DREW GALLOWAY DEFEATS EDDIE EDWARDS BY DECISION TO ADVANCE TO THE IMPACT GRAND CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL AT BOUND FOR GLORY
Post match. Jeremy Borash is in the ring with Drew Galloway. Borash asks Drew his thoughts and preference for the final. Drew says that nothing has changed. He is the same man he has always been. Calls TNA a rigged system. Says he was the main soldier for the company before it turned on him. Drew tells TNA management to put The Grand Championship Tournament Final on last at the pay per view because EC3 and Lashley will not be able to follow his performance.
Out comes EC3. He arrives on the scene. Drew lays on the mat waiting for EC3 to enter the ring. EC3 threatens Drew when he gets in the ring. Drew says that Ethan Carter always gets special treatment from the higher ups in Nashville. Drew tells Ethan that he thinks that Lashley is going to beat EC3 and that when Drew becomes Impact Grand Champion. Carter won't need to politic to get a title shot. Drew will gladly give him one. Galloway then says that Carter wouldn't be able to last 2 rounds with him in a Impact Grand Championship styled match. As Galloway walks away and leaves the ring. Carter says that the last time they faced, He beat Galloway and will do it again.
Out comes Bobby Lashley and he is headed towards the ring. While Carter is waiting on Lashley. Mike Bennett sneaks into the ring and attacks EC3 from behind. Both Lashley and Bennett start beating down Carter. Bennett holds up Carter and Lashley spears him. Out comes Moose to even the odds. Moose throws Lashley out of the ring and then goes after Bennett. Bennett kicks Moose, Lashley runs in and spears Moose. Carter and Moose are left laying in the ring while Lashley and Bennett leave. This is the scheduled main event for later on tonight with Lashley and The Miracle taking on Moose and Ethan Carter III.
Backstage is Allie and she is on her cell phone as Maria is walking towards her. Allie is on the phone with a local wrestler who is scheduled for a public workout for Knockouts Champ, Maria. Allie is making sure that the person on the other end of the phone doesn't have a lot of wrestling experience because that's what Maria has requested. Maria interrupts Allie as she is spelling out her name to the person on the phone. Maria spells out Stupid to insult Allie. Allie says that tonight's public workout is going to be super amazing for Maria. Maria says that she wants to send a message to Gail Kim and prove that she is the greatest champ ever. Maria forces Allie to agree with her.
Video package now with Aron Rex talking about the importance of The Impact Grand Championship tournament. The video is a preview of tonight's upcoming Aron Rex-Eli Drake tournament match. Drake plays the heel talking about his greatness. Rex talks about how the 6 sided ring is a new experience for him. Rex puts over Drake's talking skills but he's not sure of his in ring ability. Drake says that the match will not last long and that he is going to showcase how good he really is.
Back from the break. Mike Bennett is over joyed talking to Bobby Lashley backstage about what they just did to Moose and Carter. Bennett proclaims that maybe he and Lashley can become friends. Lashley is not going for it. Takes full credit for the beating put on Moose and Carter. Bennett asks for a future world title match. Lashley trash talks Bennett. Mike Bennett backs down.
We are now back ringside. Eli Drake makes his way to the ring for The Grand Championship tournament. Followed by Aron Rex.
Drake takes the mic before the match begins. Drake "properly" introduces himself to Aron Rex. Drake tells Rex to not get "lost in the sauce" and try and grab the mic and talk him down. Rex grabs a mic and tells Drake that Eli's insults were weak. That he could have eaten a bowl of alphabet soup and crapped out better insults than the ones Drake just used on him. Rather than insult Eli, Rex says that he is going to tell the tale of Eli Drake. Rex tells Drake "Welcome to The Big Leagues".
Aron Rex says that an out of work Chippendales dancer and a muppet got busy and 9 months later, Eli Drake popped out. Rex says that Drake puts on way too much body oil and bought his thin knee pads from the boy's volleyball department at K Mart.
IMPACT GRAND CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT SEMIFINAL MATCH
ARON REX VS ELI DRAKE
ROUND ONE
The round starts after the commercial break. Side headlocks and counters to start the round. Both men basically working in offense from side headlocks. Under a minute left, Rex gets momentum with a few knees. He gets a Russian leg sweep. Rex goes for an elbow. Drake crawls outside the ring. Rex chases him down and brings him back in the ring. Less than 30 seconds left. Rex hits an inverted atomic drop and then follows that up with a leg lock submission attempt as the bell goes off for round one.
Round One scorecard- The Judges all score the round 10-9 for Rex.
ROUND TWO
Rex tries again for a submission. Drake fights out of it. Drake turns the tide and hits an axe handle and some hard shots and tries for a pin fall. Gets a 2 count. Drake stays aggressive. Hits a neckbreaker and attempts a pin on Rex but Rex grabs the bottom rope and breaks the count. Drake attemps a suplex, Rex counters into an inside cradle for a 2 count. Drake kicks out. Springs back up and hits a ddt on Rex for a 2 count of his own. Under a minute left, Drake goes for his signature move, Blaunt Force Trauma but Rex blocks it. Drake hits a power slam on Aron Rex, taunts him and then follows with an elbow drop for a 2 count. As the time ticks downin round 2, Drake is pounding away on Rex to end the road.
Round Two Scorecard- Split decision in the round Judges 1 and 2 score it 10-9 for Eli Drake. Judge 3 scores it 10-9 f0r Rex
ROUND THREE
Drake back on the offensive to start the round. Immediate finish in this round as Rex rallies quickly, goes off the ropes and hits a spinning forearm that Rex calls The Revelator for the victory.
ARON REX DEFEATS ELI DRAKE IN ROUND THREE TO ADVANCE TO THE IMPACT GRAND CHAMPIONSHIP FINALS AT BOUND FOR GLORY
Backstage, The Decay are presumably in a darkened part of the arena with red flashing lights surrounding them. The Decay are talking about The Great War upcoming between them and The Hardys at Bound for Glory when VanGuard v.1 is on the scene running surveillance for The Hardy's. VG1 is in Stealt Flight Mode. The Decay notices it and as they turn to it. A hologram of a cackling Senor Benjamin appears. Benjamin is laughing while holding a shovel that reads what else but "DELETE". VG1 retreats and goes into "return home" mode.
Back from the break. Aron Rex is backstage asked about his tournament victory. When he is interrupted by Drew Galloway. Drew tells Aron that he is going to be the one that wins The Impact Grand Championship at Bound For Glory. Rex says that Drew is going to be "The One" that spends that night at the hospital.
The show then cuts to an open field at day time.... A familiar voice says "You don't know a man until you walk a mile in his shoes". The camera shows a man wearing a suit. The man says, " I learn more about me everyday". As the man is walking, he continues by saying "with every mile", "my past is just that and my story is being written one step at a time". As the man in the suit walks towards his luxury car. The man says his future is decided by the "roads" that he takes. The man gets into his car and at this point, You can clearly hear and then see this man is Cody Rhodes. As Cody prepares to drive away in the car, He says He is bound for a new adventure and that where he is going, He is bound for gold and glory. The camera pans to Cody's face and he says his roads lead to.... Bound For Glory. Cody drives away and in big bold letters on a black screen it reads.... CODY ARRIVES.... BOUND FOR GLORY... 10-2-16
Back in The Impact Zone. Josh Matthews calls this monumental news that the son of the American dream, Cody will be at Bound For Glory. Josh also brings up the fact that Cody's wife Brandi was signed by TNA this past Monday. As Josh is speaking, The TNA Tag Champs The Decay are headed to the ring.
Rosemary is on the mic first. Nearly hyperventilating while talking about The Hardys and the upcoming Great War at Bound For Glory. The fans chant Delete at Rosemary and The Decay. That chant has been getting around a lot lately. Specifically on WWE shows.
Abyss is on the mic now and he also hypes what The Decay is going to do to The Hardys at BFG. How they will destroy their legacy. Crazzy Steve on the mic says that they don't fear a great war with The Hardy's that they embrace it. Steve calls the fans zombie sheep. This leads to a DECAY chant from the group. Broken Matt Hardy is in the crowd. He tells Decay that they now exist in a world of magic. Vanguard One is Magic. Scarsguard is Magic. Broken Matt touts the upcoming Great War battle which will take place all over the world. Matt says he is going to delete The Decay's tag title reign. The fans chant Delete. Jeff Hardy is now in another part of the crowd on the mic. Jeff says that at The Great War that they will decide The Decay's fate. Jeff cackles at The Decay and tells each member what will happen to them at The Great War. Jeff says that The Decay will end up being obsolete. Jeff and Matt team up singing the obsolete theme. Rosemary tells the Hardy's that The Decay is not scared of them and that it is currently 3 on 2. Matt calls Rosemary's threat delightful and says that the seven deities have told him that The Decay are bound for glory.
The lights go out.... After about a minute, The lights are back on. Steve and Abyss are tied to the corners of the ring. Rosemary is looking out to the crowd and behind her is Reby Sky. Reby attacks Rosemary. Rosemary escapes. Reby gets on the mic and says that next week Rosemary's mom will be the one left without her baby.... The Hardys grab the tag tites and pose with them chanting delete and obsolete with the crowd as The Decay watch on bound to the corners.
EC3 and Moose are backstage all heated up from what took place earlier in the night. Moose talks about what he is going to do to both Lashley and Mike Bennett tonight.
Back from the break. DJ Z gets in the ring and on the mic. He talks about how happy he is to be X division champion. He talks about how immature he was in the past and how much he has changed since then. He wants to be a fighting champ and throws down an open challenge for his title tonight. Both Trevor Lee and Andrew Everrett come out together with Trevor Lee being the one who challenges DJ Z.
X DIVISION TITLE MATCH
DJ Z VS TREVOR LEE
Andrew interferes in the early part of this one to get the match going in Trevor Lee's favor. Lee controls the first few minutes of the match on the mat. The action finally gets to the outside. DJ Z rallies and hits an over the top rope tope on both Lee and Everett. Action back in the ring, Z hits a missile dropkick on Lee and then follows that up jawbreaker and flying elbow. Everett gets involved again, distracts Z on the apron. This gives Lee the opportunity to attack Z from behind. Both men battle to the top rope. Z hits a top rope huracanrana on Lee and then follows that up with "The DDZ" for the victory.
DJ Z DEFEATS TREVOR LEE TO RETAIN THE X DIVISION TITLE
Post match, Everett is in the ring and attacks Z. Both he and Lee beat down on Z. Out comes Eddie Edwards to save DJZ. The Helms Dynasty flees the ring. Eddie Edwards gets on the mic and he compliments DJZ. Talks about their history together. He challenges DJZ to a 1 on 1 match next week for the X Division Title. DJ Z accepts the challenge.
Backstage, Maria is prepping for her workout by punching Allie's hands. Allie tells Maria that she got the perfect opponent for Maria tonight. Maria says that she hopes that Allie doesn't mess this up just like she does with everything else. Allie says she doesn't always mess up. Like the time, she laid down for Maria so that she can win the knockouts title. Maria berates Allie and walks off. Allie is left with her head down sobbing.
An ad airs for "The Fixer" when the show returns from break.
Maria is headed to the ring in her ring gear with Allie and Sienna. In the ring, Allie gets on the mic and asks everyone for her attention. Maria snatches the mic away from her and calls Allie annoying. Maria tells Allie to stand back and get out of her camera shot. Maria turns to Sienna and calls Sienna her enforcer. She promises Sienna a title shot but tonight. Maria calls herself the greatest knockouts champ. The fans chant for Allie and Maria gets angry and pushes Allie into the corner. Maria tells Allie to announce her opponent. A young African American woman comes into the ring with blonde hair. Allie doesn't get the chance to introduce her name. Maria pretends to go over and shake the woman's hand and she kicks her in the gut. The ref gets distracted and Sienna chokes out Maria's public workout opponent. Maria makes quick work of her opponent and pins her.
Post "workout". Maria is on the mic bragging about her victory. Maria calls for next opponent. Allie says she didn't book anyone because Maria was looking for an easy opponent. Maria insults Allie some more. Out comes a woman dressed in all black attire. Looking like an old school burglar with a black hooded type mask. The "hooded" woman tries martial arts kicks when she gets in the ring. Maria does a waist lock on the Ninja lady. Maria runs over to the corner and is yelling at Allie, who defends herself on the mic. The ninja woman takes off her hood/mask and it's revealed to be Gail Kim. Kim goes after Maria. Goes for The "Eat Defeat/The Feet". Sienna gets in the ring and makes the save. Maria escapes. Gail Kim hits her finisher on Sienna as Maria leaves up the ramp way.
When the show returns from the break. The Cody video is re-aired. Hyping his debut at Bound For Glory.
Josh Matthews says that next week's Impact is labeled The Road to Glory" just days before the ppv. He then goes through the entire lineup for Bound For Glory 10 days from now. A brief video is shown of Cody posing in the hype video for BFG.
IMPACT MAIN EVENT
BOBBY LASHLEY & THE MIRACLE MIKE BENNETT VS ETHAN CARTER III & MOOSE
As all 4 men look to battle immediately. Mike Bennett runs away from the ring and heads to ringside. Leaving Bobby Lashley to take on both Moose and EC3 at the same time. Lashley heads to the rampway to get Bennett and gets in his face to get him back in the match. As the show goes to it's final break.
Back from the break, Mike Bennett is in the ring with EC3 and hits a cutter on him. Lashley is in and goes after EC3's heavily bandaged ribs. He beats down on EC3. Tags back in Bennett. After a few minutes of Bennett and Lashley being in control. EC3 is able to get away from the double teaming when Bennett accidentally punches Lashley. Moose is in the ring on fire. He hits a couple of head butts, Hits a really nice flying cross body off the top rope. The battles goes to the outside, Moose uppercuts Lashley. Bennett in the ring with Bennett. The Miracle goes for his finisher and EC3 counters into a sunset flip and gets the victory in a surprising fashion.
ETHAN CARTER III & MOOSE DEFEAT MIKE BENNETT & BOBBY LASHLEY
Post match. Moose goes after Mike Bennett and they battle up the ramp way. Meanwhile in the ring, Lashley goes after EC3 and his injured ribs. Security runs into the ring to break both men up. Both Lashley and EC3 beat up the security members and clear the ring of them. They go back to fighting each other. The locker room empties out. The X division guys run out to the ring to break these two men up. Billy Corgan comes out. He announces that next week it's going to be a special Impact that Lashley and EC3 will be captains of teams next week in a Lethal Lockdown 6 sides of steel match. The winner gets to pick the stipulation for the world title match at Bound For Glory.
The show ends with a quick video preview of next week's Road to Glory edition of Impact.
SHOW CLOSING THOUGHTS
Let's take a quick trip down memory lane. Let's travel two decades. To a time when Cody no last name needed was only 11 years old. I realize a lot of fans watching wrestling today weren't even born in 1996 but humor me for a minute or two or three......
It was the fall of 1996, The "WWF" was on a shoe string budget. WCW was the high budget Live 2 hour weekly program..... While The WWF was 1 hour each week and taped their shows one whole month in advance. That would end up being 4 or 5 tapings in one night to build towards a monthly pay per view...... People probably wish that Raw was only a one hour show now but I digress.
The results of those RAW tapings would get out early thanks to Eric Bischoff sometimes on the air, the "dirt sheets" and this little computer thing called the internet. Which I accessed at that time on my "WebTV".
Nitro was the cool hip show with major stars and hot live crowds. The WWF was seen as stale and behind the times and they were. So they had to do something to try and compete. But how do you keep the show fresh and new when your shows are a month in the can without breaking the bank.
Born from this was live segments, interviews and major announcements from "WWF studios" in Stamford, Connecticut on taped Raw shows. Segments like Bret Hart from his home in Calgary in a split screen debate with Steve Austin that led to the survivor series. This also included the infamous Pillman gun incident on Raw in the fall of 96. You could argue whether that was good or bad.... No one has forgotten it but that Savio Vega main event from October of 96 isn't exactly notorious or remembered. It wasn't all good what the WWF did but they started thinking outside the box because they were forced to. It lead to great things.
Flash forward 20 years to present day TNA Impact and I see some similarities with The 1996 Raws. TNA tapes their shows a month and change in advance. It's all done for budgetary reasons. In this day and age, The results get out fast and breaking news becomes old news in a heartbeat.
Somehow someway, TNA has managed to keep their TV show feeling as if it is live and new every week. Credit to TNA for managing to keep their show fresh even though it's only "semi-live" once in a while. They have done this by being creative. It started with Final Deletion, The Rosemary/Bram video saga, Empty Arena matches, Empty Arena press conferences, Rooftop discussions, "Delete or Decay" and of course tonight with Cody's short walk though the park into his car. Sometimes in life and in wrestling, Having your hands tied is a good thing. It gets you out of your comfort zone and forces you to think outside the box.
For a long time, TNA has been the company that showed everyone how to not run a wrestling promotion. They were the poster boys for being dysfunctional and clueless. Have things turned around for good and in TNA's favor?... That's difficult to state at this point. The company is still in flux and it's future is up in the air but as of present day. They have to get credit for being resourceful and doing the right things. The company is headed in the right direction finally. Here's hoping that they get the financials straightened out. So that maybe in 2036, some writer on wrestlinginc can write a pretty lengthy write-up and point to 2016 and TNA's creative turnaround.