Tyrus dumped Al Snow (the fans didn’t like that), Melendez, and Shera in quick succession. If I was a wrestler in this match, I would be doing a Dolph Ziggler and gathering the troops to take Tyrus out.
TOMMY DREAMER entered wearing yellow polka dots to a nice ovation, and the “ECW” chants could be heard as Dreamer went full Dusty Rhodes mode with dusty punches and dusty elbows. Abyss entered the fray, and immediately chokeslammed Robbie E (can’t remember when Robbie entered, but does anyone really care?), which was followed up by the two biggest men in TNA Wrestling, Abyss and Tyrus, getting locked into a vicious stare down for the ages.
Abyss entered, then Pope was all like .. “yeah, it’s my time daddy”, even though he was clearly messing with the rules of the match by entering himself so soon after Abyss. The Pope’s music played (which I missed, as I was always a fan of the Pope), and Dinero entered the ring while Abyss & Tyrus continued their stare down.
Anyone with at least two brain cells could tell it was the absolute worst time for Pope to enter. Just to sell how monstrous the stare down was, Pope danced in the ring, and Abyss/Tyrus noticed and stared at Pope instead, Pope noticed and quickly eliminated himself so he could carry Josh Matthews on commentary once again … daddy.
So instead of the two monsters fighting it out, Abyss turned to Dreamer and gave him a black hole slam. Tyrus hit Abyss from behind and eliminated him with a clothesline .. so much for “The Monster”. Now, in any match with logic, all the remaining wrestlers would have turned on Tyrus, but no, they just let him carry on with whatever. Godderz eliminated Robbie, Anderson eliminated Dreamer (some boo’s for that), which left the original two of Anderson and Godderz with Tyrus.
And then yeah, Anderson simply didn’t think to team with Jessie to get Tyrus out, and eliminated Jessie. Tyrus and Anderson fought for a while, as Tyrus got some near pin-falls, and Tyrus finished him with a massive dinosaur-sized punch to the face.
EC3 immediately came down to congratulate his buddy, and assumed Tyrus would use his victory to give them a tag team title shot. Tyrus had other ideas, as the big man told everyone he was tired (yes, he looked really blown up), and he’d worked hard to get an opportunity for himself, so he told EC3 he would challenge for the “Heavyweight .. World Championship Of The WORLD!”. Dammit Tyrus, you can’t dance, and you can’t use a mic either, just stand there and look pretty in future.
Once again, no buildup, no inventive eliminations, no amazing ending, and all the pops went to Al Snow and Dreamer. So just like the previous match, it served the purpose of putting Tyrus over (despite his huge string of losses since his TNA debut), but it was nothing new or special, and the match was neither good or terrible, so I guess it was Average. It showed possible dissension between EC3 and his bodyguard, which could have been an interesting match in the future, but the events later in the night may have put an end to it.
Match #3 – The Wolves (Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards) (c) vs. Brian Myers and Trevor Lee for the TNA World Tag Team Championship – Match Length: (11:24)
Yay, good match incoming. You can’t go wrong with The Wolves, they always deliver no matter who they’re facing, and luckily Brian Myers (AKA Curt Hawkins) and Trevor Lee (Hardy Boyz biggest fan) are no slouches.
I’m already missing the best-of-5 series between The Wolves and The Dirty Heels, and it looks like The Wolves have no serious competition once again; why is it so difficult to find a real tag team to feud with Richards & Edwards over the titles for several months?
The one thing which annoyed me was the repeated praise of Trevor Lee by Josh and Pope. I could deal with them telling us Trevor Lee’s dad was one of the founders of OMEGA (with Matt Hardy), and how Trevor Lee grew up in North Carolina idolizing the Hardy Boyz, but they spent half of the match praising Lee. And did you know? Trevor Lee is an amazing athlete. Also Trevor Lee has a beard so he appears more grown up. Yep.
So the match itself, Myers & Lee cut the ring in half and executed a game plan to reclaim the tag team titles. Luckily, this match made a lot of sense, and the crowd eventually started a “Let’s Go Wolves” chant. Plenty of action in this one, all four men worked hard to deliver a solid contest.
The highest point of was the incredibly obvious double suicide dive, which the fans were seriously anticipating, and The Wolves reveled in the appreciation as they hit the classic double suicide dive. Wolves finished things off with a Brainbuster & Superkick combination, and that’s all she wrote. The Wolves celebrated with their titles, and I sat there wondering if The Wolves will have serious competition in the future.
Considering it was far better than the first two matches, and all four wrestlers played their part with no serious mistakes, I’ll rate this Very Good. The Wolves remain an asset to TNA Wrestling, and until they find two seriously bad dudes to rival them, they will continue their dominance. The Wolves need serious competition.
Match #4 – Bobby Roode (c) vs. Lashley for the TNA King of the Mountain Championship – Match Length: (14:17)
Before this, Drew Galloway had a backstage interview with Jeremy Borash. He told the fans he was “Wrestling’s Chosen One”, which is a small dig at his “Chosen One” gimmick in WWE, and ended it by saying he was going to “kill himself” to do what it takes to win the World Championship. Is talk of suicide acceptable in a promo? You decide.
Fans will say “Why is the King of the Mountain Championship not defended in a King of the Mountain match?”, and I can see why they do, because if you’re going to name a title after a match, you should consider defending it in that match, but then you wouldn’t get decent singles matches to emphasize the importance, and too many King of the Mountain matches would take away from the concept.
In a short time, Bobby Roode has sold this newly named championship as a “wrestler’s championship”, a title which represents excellence in professional wrestling. Thanks Roode, someone had to make this championship of many names mean something. Lashley wasn’t doing anything for BFG 2015, so he answered Roode’s open challenge and respectfully challenged him to a match.
To be honest, we already saw Roode vs Lashley this year for the World Heavyweight Championship, and at least on those occasions TNA defined who was the heel, and who was the babyface. This time, both men were playing babyface, so it was difficult to side with either. While I absolutely respect the ability of Roode, Lashley doesn’t quite match his wrestling ability, so it’s always Roode carrying things, and I can only get invested in Roode matches when he’s feuding, because that’s what he does best.
I remember lots of vertical suplex, and the crowd remaining quiet. Ten minutes in, the spear and the Roode bomb were used, and they felt more like regular moves. Roode delivered a crossface shortly after, despite zero work being done on Lashley for it be effective. And then the match entered Steve Austin vs The Rock mode, as Lashley stole the Roode Bomb, Roode stole the Spear, and the fans mildly chanted “This is awesome”. So both men went for their own finishers again, Lashley went for an arm hold again, but Roode simply out-wrestled Lashley and delivered the Roode bomb for the win. Lashley showed his respect and shook his hand afterwards.
While the fans showed interest in the match (especially after the stolen finishers) I had no interest. I found it difficult to remain focused on the heatless exchange. it was just a standard wrestling match with too many finishers, and you could tell Roode was held back by the lack of Lashley’s wrestling ability.
By this point the dead crowd was even more apparent. Why can’t TNA take their major events to venues with boisterous fans? Why not hold BFG in the UK where the fans actually appreciate TNA and get excited for it? Why have the venue in North Carolina, a side of American which has seen so much wrestling over the decades. It kills my head thinking about it, you really need to attract the loud fans who will sell your product, not the quiet family fans who happily sit there in silence.
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