Impact Wrestling 4/3/14 Review

Tonight's Impact has a theme of "Bell to Bell" and maybe I'm out of the loop but I'm not sure what that means exactly. They do have a big card booked. I'd also like to point out that the Impact Zone looks a lot better in the current setup. We open with another chapter in the Bobby Roode/Eric Young rivalry. They cut a promo saying they want a Submission Match like it's a new thing even though Josh Matthews announces it as such during the opening. Thanks to their long history together, this was a good match and it had a different feel to their previous fights because of the submission focus. I was surprised to see Young win, but Roode didn't look bad due to all of the work done on his leg throughout. Good opener.

A few weeks back, the Wolves captured the TNA Tag Team Titles for the third time. Unfortunately, at a recent One Night Only taping, Eddie Edwards broke his heel in a bad way. They even show an X-Ray, which is ugly. They come to the ring for an interview with Jeremy Borash. The Wolves have been a favorite team of mine for years and I once saw them defend the ROH Tag Titles in a Ladder Way while Eddie had a broken elbow. Talk about earning my respect. Unfortunately, they have to relinqush the belts here because Davey Richards won't get a replacement partne because he and Eddie are family. Whatever is going to happen with the titles should he interesting. I'd like a tournament but I can't think of enough teams. TNA needs to bolster their once loaded tag team division again.

The Knockouts Division is almost always must see television. Here, we get the first ever Knockouts Champion, Gail Kim, against the girl with the most reigns, Angelina Love. Love cuts a promo about how she should be considered the greatest Knockout ever. Her voice hurts my ear. It's solid stuff here and Kim wins with the Eat Defeat. Commentary is annoying because they argue about who the best is and if the Champion means being the best. It's distracting. We get some Network synergy as one of the shows from Destination America visits the Revolution at James Storms' ranch. Gotta love synergy. The Falls Count Anywhere match follows and it was exactly what it should have been. Hard hitting and the kind of thing you'd expect from a grudge match. In an interesting twist, Mickie James gets involved and when Bram goes after her, James Storm of all people stops him from attacking her. I was surprised to see Magnus go over, since I thought Bram would win here and Magnus would eventually win out the entire feud.

I'm happy to say that there hasn't been any BDC on this episode, which is a plus. However, there was also no Drew Galloway, EC3 or Austin Aries, so that's not good. It did keep the show focused though. Leading into the TNA World Heavyweight Title main event, the company again did a good job in hyping it as a major deal. Much like their first match a few weeks back, this was damn fine work. Lashley deserves a ton of credit for good he has gotten after having just, maybe one good match in his WWE run. They go back and forth for a little over twenty minutes and the finish comes as Lashley applies an Ankle Lock, only for Kurt to counter into a rollup. Lashley's shoulder was clearly up but the referee is in horrid position and misses it. I guess we're gonna get another match in the series. I'd rather other guys move into the title picture, but at least these matches are good. Another solid show from TNA. 7.5/10.