The last time I watched TNA was probably around the time Samoa Joe left the company. He was still shown on TV as part of MVP’s Beat Down Clan, but the consecutive departures of AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels and now Joe was too much. With the rise of NXT and Lucha Underground, TNA no longer seemed like a viable option. That all changed.
During my hiatus, I was still following Impact Wrestling on social media outlets Twitter and Instagram. And every now and then, I would see a picture that would pique my interest. “Drew Galloway on TNA?” A few days later, “When did Mia Yim (Jade) make her way to the Knockouts? Is that Marti Bell(e) from WSU? The Doll House?”
Then there were other sights: “Kurt Angle is the TNA champion… again!?” Even though he’s in the TNA freak’n Hall of Fame, he’s now a 6-time TNA champ. My belief is that Bobby Roode should have led TNA in its Destination America venture as the champion. No offense to Kurt Angle, but TNA needs a fresh 2015 champion, not a classic 2005 champion.
So May 1st, or May 2nd and 3rd when I finally watched it, TNA presented Hardcore Justice for free on Destination America, which makes it nothing more than a themed episode of Impact Wrestling. Side note: remember Championship Thursdays? It was on the 3rd Impact Wrestling episode of every month? No?
Coming back to Hardcore Justice, the show opened with a three on three team match (no tagging involved) with the use of as much foreign weapons as possible. Abyss was slipping, he did not introduce any broken shards of glass or his spiked two-by-four Janice. Then again, this wasn’t a Monster’s Ball match. TNA Tag Champs The Hardys teamed with Davey Richards (where in the world is Eddie Edwards?) to take on The Revolution’s Abyss, Manik and Khoya. Not a fan of these melee hardcore matches, because the in-ring story telling then gets split six ways with little sense being made. And commentary with Josh Matthews and Al Snow did not explain why The Revolution are feuding with Matt and Jeff Hardy and Davey Richards.
The BDC has an interesting rivalry going on against The Rising lead by Drew Galloway. Don’t know much about The Rising, except that Drew had an impressive speech with his mates, and he used the battle cry #StandUp. I’m all for it, and he had a killer steel pipe on a pole match against Low Ki. Of course, Drew’s victory turned into an assault by the BDC, then the odds were evened when the other two members of The Rising came to Drew’s aid. Again, I’m all for this new faction and cannot wait to see what else Drew has to offer outside of the WWE.
BDC is also back in possession of the X Division championship thanks to Homicide doing the favors for Kenny King.
And when did Mickie James come back? And how did James Storm become this wedge between Mickie and Magnus? Speaking of, when did the fourth wall break down to reveal that Mickie and Magnus were even together with a son? Baby is adorable as hell, and truly crushes this blogger’s heart because Mickie James is taken. But you got to love the intensity on the mic between Magnus and Storm, that’s a big match waiting to happen.
As for The Doll House, using jawbreakers as added insults to their fallen opponents. Kind of reminds me of that movie. You know… that 1999 movie Jawbreaker?
Is it just me, or is The Doll House freakier than The Wyatt Family? Marti Bell just looks crazy, and you never know about Jade. I assume Taryn Terrell formed these ladies to protect her Knockouts championship from Awesome Kong.
Side note: Are Taryn and Drew still together?
Then the main event, a non-titled Stretcher match. Much different from a WWE Stretcher match, where not only did you have to incapacitate your opponent enough to place them on a stretcher, you have to wheel them across the finish line. TNA doesn’t have time for stretcher racing, the goal for their match is simply to strap your opponent to the stretcher… ding, ding.
Eric Young is coming into his own as a psycho heel but he seriously copped that ring gear style from the reigning and defending ROH World Heavyweight champion Jay Briscoe! #demboys #ManUP! It was good business to have EY go over Kurt Angle because it was a non-title match. Wrestling logic made easy, because if EY lost a non-title match against the champ, why would anyone bother to watch the title match?
With the introduction of The Rising to oppose the BDC, The Doll House to secure Taryn’s reign as the champ, and the great storytelling between Magnus and James Storm, TNA has my support.
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About the blogger: I love pro wrestling and all of its layers of athleticism and entertainment. I also love to read and write, which is why, hopefully, WrestlingTimesX will come across as different, in a better way, than anything else that you read on the web. My mantra on wrestling, in any state, is to love it then, now, and forever.
Carlos Pimentel
WrestlingTimesX 