In 2014, I became too focused on the WWE. I stopped watching TNA and some indy promotions. In 2015, I plan on righting that wrong, as I did with NJPW and now with TNA. Their Destination America debut opened with an intro of the wrestlers in hotels getting ready before appearing at the same time outside of the arena. Kenny King levels Bobby Roode and a huge brawl ensues that spills into the arena. It's a fast start that got the crowd in New York going and is pretty different than how you would see a WWE show start. It's strange though. Kurt Angle comes out and announces that every champion defends their titles tonight. MVP interrupts and gets in Kurt's face, calling him out. This leads Angle to announce that he's been activated as a wrestler and sets up a Street Fight with MVP right now. Their opening match is alright, but nothing special. It was kept rather short and Angle won. An alright way to start the show.
We get a backstage segmenta where MVP is pissed as Kenny King for not helping him. Mike Tenay announces that, while he's not on commentary, he's going to be hosting Impact Unlocked, which will be a second show for TNA, involving interviews and stats and such. EC3, with Brodus Clay, I mean Tyrus, behind him says that he's coming for Rockstar Spud. After a sitdown interview with James Storm, he and Abyss arrive to defend their titles. The Revolution is a STRANGE looking stable. Storm's theme is a cover of Johnny Cash's "God's Gonna Cut You Down." Their opponents are the Wolves, one of my favorite tag teams in recent memory. Before the match gets underway, the Hardy Boyz come towards the ring in street clothes. This was better than the opener, but still nothing to write home about. The Hardys get involved, leading to the Revolution retaining. If I was TNA, I would have made sure Jeff Hardy wrestled as he can still be a money man.
Jeremy Borash, who has gained a ton of weight over the years, is in the middle of the ring. He goes to introduce someone but is cut off by Ethan Carter III. I like EC3, but he totally steals Tyson Kidd's FACT gimmick. He does make me laugh by putting the microphone to fans chanting "You can't wrestle" and responding with "I disagree" or "I'm very good." Tyrus brings out Rockstar Spud and they are going to shave him, but Borash gets in the way. He slaps EC3, but the cameraman totally misses it and just sees Tyrus' crotch. Good move. Tyrus squashes Jeremy, leading EC3 to shaving JB's head. Of the few things I've seen in TNA over the past year, EC3 is probably my favorite. This was a solid segment to get him more heat.
Time for the TNA X-Division Championship match. Low-Ki, the Champion, has his old Senshi theme. I remember when the X-Division was THE thing that separated TNA from everyone else. It was a focal point of the show, but has really fallen in importance as of late. A highlight video is shown of the X Division, just further reminding me of what the title used to be. He is defending against Austin Aries, another guy who is on the list of things that TNA has botched. Aries is a five time X Division Champion and has the longest reign ever at 298 days. Aries won the TNA World Title in 2012 and should have stayed at the top of the company after that. Strangely enough, after doing a video package that highlighted Low-Ki and his impact, pun intended, on the X Division, he drops the title to Austin Aries. I'm not a fan of the decision simply because I want Austin Aries as a top guy in the company. Solid match though.
The TNA Knockouts Championship is defended in a Knockouts Battle Royal. Returning from the commercial, we see the Beautiful People, which is never a bad thing. LET THE PIGEONS LOOSE! Of course, we don't get that from Taz. Robbie E is brought back for his return from the Amazing Race. He blames his loss at the Amazing Race on Brooke Tessmacher, who he calls his ex-girlfriend. I expected Brooke to interrupt, but it's the Champion Taryn instead. I'd just to say that the BroMans/Beautiful People pairing is great. This your standard battle royal, with Rebel going out first. Unfortunately, Madison Rayne is out next, which upsets me. Angelina Love is out, leaving the final four as Taryn, Gail, Havok and Velvet. Robbie E's ex, Brooke, is out and she attacks Robbie. Velvet is eliminated and Brooke chases them to the back. As Havok tosses Gail, Taryn sneaks up and eliminates her. Havok gets back in and takes her out. The lights go out and OHMYFUCKINGGOD AWESOME KONG HAS RETURNED! She is face to face with Havok, and that's something I want to see. Referees break it up, so Kong chokeslams one. This was probably he best part of the night. Her theme is still hard as fuck.
71 days ago, Bobby Roode won his second TNA Championship by beating Lashley in their second match. This is the third encounter and they point out that Bobby's firth reign was lasted a record setting 256 days. During the match, we cut to a backstage shot of Kenny King, MVP and two guys in masks attacking security. Kurt Angle wanted a Match of the Year candidate, but these two didn't deliver. It wasn't bad, it just didn't click. MVP, Kenny King and the masked men appear on the ramp before taking out the referee. Kurt Angle comes out but gets taken out too. Samoa Joe and Low Ki are revealed to the men under the masks! From nowhere, Eric Young appears and takes out Roode with a steel chair. Commentary even brings up their Team Canada roots. A spear from Lashley wins him the title. Not sure why they did the title change again. Lashley even looked confused at this turn of events.
A cliffhanger ending, but not in the best way. It seems that TNA always has to have a random heel turn in their big shows. I get not explaining it, but this came from out of nowhere. I also will never get over how badly this company fucked up Samoa Joe. The show went by fast and didn't drag. It wasn't bad at all and had some cool moments. I'll check it out next week. 6.5/10
