TNA Impact TV Results
July 1, 2015
Taped in Orlando, Fla.
Aired on Destination America
Report by Mike McMahon (@MikeMcMahonDOG), PWTorch contributor

- The Card: Kurt Angle defends the TNA World Hvt. Title against Ethan Carter III. … The Wolves vs. Austin Aries & Bobby Roode for the TNA Tag Team Titles. … Jeff Jarrett will discuss the TNA/GFW relationship. … The Rising vs. The Beatdown Clan … Taryn Terrell defends the TNA Knockouts Title against Awesome Kong and Brooke.

[Q1] Impact opens with a video package highlighting Kurt Angle’s accomplishments throughout his TNA career. The video turns to Ethan Carter III’s accomplishments in TNA, highlighting his undefeated streak.

Arena: Josh Mathews welcomes us to the show over a slew of graphics, highlighting what’s to come tonight.

Out of the graphics, Impact cut to the ramp where the Beat Down Clan was making their entrance into the arena for their match vs. The Rising. The Rising’s ring walk was next.

1 -- THE RISING (DREW MCINTYRE & ELI DRAKE & MICA) vs. THE BEAT DOWN CLAN (MVP & LOW KI & KENNY KING & HERNANDEZ) -- handicap elimination tag match -- losing team must disband

This match will follow strict six-man tag rules. The leaders, Drew Galloway and MVP, start the match with a series of punches.

MVP tags in Low Ki, who overpowers Galloway and drives his shoulder into the corner, but Galloway comes back with some big chops on Low Ki. Galloway heads to the corner and tags in Mica. Low Ki then manages to tag in Kenny King.

Notably, on commentary, Mathews and The Pope are keeping the focus on this match, not talking much about what’s to come later in the show. King starts to get the better of Mica and then tags in MVP, who is keeping Mica in the BDC’s corner. MVP tags King back in. Mica needs to make a tag but the BDC is keeping him isolated in their corner.

Low Ki tags back in and hits a springboard kick on Mica off the second rope to eliminate him.

*** Mica eliminated by Low Ki via pinfall ***

[Commercial Break at 9:09]

Back from the break, Low Ki and MVP are double-teaming Galloway near the BDC corner. Pope accurately states that these teams are “fighting for survival.”

Galloway’s size is really evident when he’s in there across from Low Ki, who much shorter. Galloway is able to hit a back-body drop to put both men down, looking for tags.

[Q2] Eli Drake and MVP get tags simultaneously. Drake catches Kenny King, who comes in for a double team, and then runs a suicide dive on to MVP on the outside, but he’s grabbing his knee on the outside after the landing. The referee comes over and starts to check on him, and is calling for a doctor. Galloway looks concerned while the BDC regroups in their corner.

“Like sharks, and chum is in the water,” Mathews said of the BDC. Drake is ruled no longer able to continue, so it will be Drew Galloway vs. the entire BDC.

*** Eli Drake removed from the match ***

Galloway stands in the ring with his arms raised, inviting the fight. Hernandez, who is fresh, is in first. Galloway and Hernandez trade some open-hand slaps before a brawl starts in the corner. Galloway and Hernandez begin to trade chops while Mathews sounds pessimistic, noting that Galloway has “no chance” to beat the BDC.

King gets the tag and he’s quickly in control. Low Ki tagged in and he goes for another springboard kick while King holds Galloway, but he ducks and Low Ki hits King with the kick. Galloway rolls up Low Ki for the elimination.

*** Low Ki eliminated by Drew Galloway via pinfall ***

Galloway immediately jumps on King, who Low Ki kicked seconds before, and scored another pin.

*** Kenny King eliminated by Drew Galloway via pinfall ***

Hernandez in next for the BDC, which is down to just him and MVP. After some back-and-forth, Hernandez hits Galloway with a powerbomb and tagged in MVP. Galloway is in trouble now, crawling up a standing MVP and trying to slap him, but MVP shoves him back to the mat. MVP sends Galloway off the rope and hits him with a drive-by kick to score the pin.

WINNER: The Beatdown Clan at 16:40.

Post-match, Galloway is shown for a few moments lying on his back while Mathews points out that The Rising is no more in TNA. They then quickly cut to some graphics showcasing what’s to come later in the show before crashing to a break.

[Reax: A good opening match, which was given plenty of time. The match ended abruptly, though, and there was little time left to digest that The Rising is no more, and that the BDC won the match. The match was solid, but the follow-up after MVP’s pin seemed to be rushed into the break. That said, Galloway is better off as a singles competitor at this point and he should be happy that this trio came to an end.]

[Commercial at 9:21]

Backstage: BDC is celebrating their win. MVP asks where Low Ki is, and King said he was taken to the hospital because it looked like he separated his shoulder.

In-ring: Magnus, who lost to James Storm at Slammiversary on Sunday, was in the ring for a promo on Storm that was taped prior to Slammiversary. He said what James Storm did to Mickie James and his family was an attempt to destroy it, but it actually made their family stronger.

Magnus brought out his wife, Mickie James, who made her entrance and grabbed a mic in the ring. She says it’s good to be back. She starts by thanking the fans for their concern over the last few weeks. She said that more importantly, she needs to thank Magnus, who stood by her side and believing in her. Mickie said that’s what real love is. Mickie then turns her attention to James Storm, whose music begins to play as soon as she mentions his name.

[Q3] Storm makes his entrance along with Khoya and remains on the ramp. Storm said he’s here to talk to Mickie, and no one else. Storm said it’s great to see Mickie “moving around.” He said that she should be thanking him, not Magnus.

“Just imagine if I were to push you just a little bit harder,” he said. “Just imagine, holding your new baby son in a wheelchair. Not being able to pick him up when he falls, because you’re in a wheelchair.”

Storm said he wanted to show the world how easy it was to manipulate a woman. He said he could have any woman he wants next to him in his revolution. Mickie shoots back, calling him a waste of a man. Mickie asked if he really thought he could find one woman, because she’d take that bet. She thanked Storm for bringing the crazy back to Mickie James, and promising the people one more match. She told him to go find one woman, because her and Magnus had plans on “kicking both their asses.” James’s music played as Storm retreated to the back.

[ Reax: Mickie James was really good on the mic. Magnus sounded a little dry and nowhere near mad enough, considering Storm tried to murder his wife only a few weeks ago. ]

On commentary, Mathews hyped that The Wolves vs. The Dirty Heels 30-minute Iron Man match is next for the TNA Tag Titles.

[Commercial break at 9:33]

Backstage: Ethan Carter III was shown warming up with Tyrus, getting ready for tonight’s main event.

Arena: Bobby Roode and Austin Aries are making their entrances. The Tag Titles are set at a table near ringside, and Roode and Aries stop to admire them before hitting the ring. The Wolves are out next, and they also stop and admire the titles on their way to the ring.

2 -- THE WOLVES (DAVEY RICHARDS & EDDIE EDWARDS) vs. DIRTY HEELS (BOBBY ROODE & AUSTIN ARIES) -- 30-minute Iron Man Match for the TNA Tag Team Titles

Austin Aries and Davey Richards get the match started. Some quick tags by both teams early in the match. Things finally settle down with Aries and Edwards in the ring. Aries is trying to keep Edwards isolated to his corner, and tags in Roode.

[ Reax: Why is there not a clock graphic on the screen? There is a clock on the jumbotron inside the arena, but nothing for the television viewer to indicate how much time is left in the match. ]

After more quick tags, The Wolves score some double-team moves on Roode to take control of the match. Aries gets back into the ring and starts to wrestle Edwards despite there not appearing to be a tag. Even Pope questioned it on the broadcast. Richards and Roode back in. Richards locked into a modified figure-four leglock, but Roode escapes on the rope to avoid the submission.

[Q4] With Edwards isolated in the Dirty Heels’s corner, Aries and Roode again switch out without making a tag while the referee’s back was turned. The match has slowed considerably now, as you’d expect. There’s no way they they could have kept up the fast pace of the first five minutes. Christy Hemme makes an announcement 10 minutes into the match that the score is 0-0, and a short graphic appears on screen.

The Dirty Heels go for another double-team, but Edwards somehow manages a double-hurricanrana, and he’s also able to get the hot tag to Richards, who is back in the ring for The Wolves.

Aries is hung in the the Tree of Woe in the corner and Edwards hits a diving headbutt off the top, but Aries is able to get a shoulder up on Richards’s pin attempt.

[Commercial break at 9:52]

Back from the break at 9:56, Aries has control of Richards in the middle of the six-sided ring and there’s 11:50 remaining in the match. Mathews notes that no falls occurred during the break, so the score is still 0-0. Mathews said that the Dirty Heels were in control of the match during the break, isolating Richards in their corner just as they had to Edwards earlier in the match.

Mathews questions if these teams know each other so well, would it go the distance without any falls? Pope just says that it’s possible. Hemme then announces the 10-minute warning, and that the score is still 0-0.

[Q5] Richards manages to tag in Edwards, who goes after Aries on the outside. He then turns his attention to Roode, hitting a missile dropkick. Roode right back up, though, and he nails Edwards with a boot to the face as Edwards charged him in the corner.

Aries also charges the ring and he’s cut off by Richards. The action is coming fast and furious after several minutes of the Dirty Heels getting heat on Richards. Nearfalls for both teams after high-impact, double-team moves.

Edwards and Roode are the legal men with just over seven minutes remaining in the match, and the score is still 0-0. With six minutes remaining, Aries has Edwards in a submission hold for about 45 seconds, and Edwards looked close to tapping. Richards came in to break it up but Roode cut him off. Richards fights free and is able to break up the submission. The Wolves then score a double primal howl on Aries, but Roode breaks up the pin.

With 4:05 remaining, Aries hits a 450 splash on Edwards and scores the first pinfall.

*** Dirty Heels lead 1-0 after Austin Aries pinned Eddie Edwards ***

After the pin, Aries goes for a few more pins on Edwards, but he kicks out three times in a row. The Wolves are trying to recover on the outside with about three minutes remaining. The Dirty Heels seem content letting them stay on the outside and suddenly Aries takes out both Wolves with a suicide dive through the middle rope.

With two minutes remaining, Edwards starts to fight his way back into the ring. He’s smashing Aries’s head with forearms as Richards climbs back on the apron. Aries fights Edwards to the corner and crunches his shoulder into Edwards’s gut. With 1:12 remaining, Edwards pins Aries after Richards assists on a backcracker.

*** Match Tied 1-1 after Edwards pinned Aries ***

Roode brings the title in the ring with the officials’s back turned and hits Edwards. Aries goes for the cover, but Edwards kicks out at two. With nine seconds remaining, Roode goes for the Roode Bomb, but Edwards rolls through and schoolboys Roode, scoring a pinfall.

*** Wolves lead 2-1 after Edwards pinned Roode ***

As the time neared its expiration, Roode came back with a submission attempt, locking in the crossface on Edwards as the seconds ticked off, but the clock ran out.

WINNERS: The Wolves 2-1 falls to win the Best-of-Five Series 3-2 for the vacant TNA Tag Titles.

Post-match, The Wolves are celebrating in the ring as TNA throws to a graphic hyping tonight’s World Title main event.

[ Reax: Great match to end a great series. TNA was running the risk of going to the well too often with the Wolves and multi-match series after their series with Team 3D and The Hardys last summer, but these four really pulled it off. All five matches were terrific, and it was good to see that they kept Roode protected, with him having the submission locked in as time expired, going for the match-tying submission. The only complaint would be, after investing more than one hour of television time to these two teams over the last several weeks, there wasn’t much celebration for the babyface team that won. The match ended and it was glossed over, with the show tossed quickly to commercial. ]

[Commercial Break at 10:10]

[Q6] Arena: Back from the break, Awesome Kong was making her entrance for the TNA Knockouts Title match. Brooke was out next, followed by Taryn Terrell and her Dollhouse compadres.

3 -- Knockouts champion TARYN TERRELL (w/Marti Belle and Jade) vs. AWESOME KONG vs. BROOKE -- three-way match for the TNA Knockouts Title

Brooke jumps Taryn as the match starts. While this is happening, Kong just walks around the ring, waiting for these two to finish. Kong grabs Taryn and tosses her across the ring. Brooke grabs Taryn’s hair and tosses her back to Kong. Terrell rolls to the outside as Kong begins to overpower Brooke inside the ring.

Mathews points out that Terrell won the title in a three-way where she didn’t pin the champion, Gail Kim, last year. Kong hits a chokeslam on Terrell while Brooke was down. She hits the rope and the Dollhouse pulls her to the outside and begins to attack, taking her out of the ring. Brooke recovers and sets up Taryn for something from the top rope, but Jade and Belle are able to cut her off and toss her to the outside.

Back in the ring, Kong rolls in. Jade grabs Kong from the outside and hits a neckbreaker from the outside, over the ropes, and Terrell swoops in for the pinfall.

WINNER: Taryn Terrell retains the title at 5:20.

Post-match, as the Dollhouse is making its way to the back, their music stops and the lights go out. Gail Kim’s music plays briefly before going back to The Dollhouse music. Terrell starts to freak out on the ramp as the show goes to break.

[ Reax: Kong was hurt in this match, taking the pinfall off a neckbreaker on the rope. That’s a move which we see quite often and it’s a move others have kicked out of. Keeping the title on Terrell is fine, especially since it’s safe to assume she’s going to enter a feud with Gail Kim at some point in the near future, but they would have been better off pinning Brooke. At the very least, they could have protected Kong more if she was going to take the fall. Instead she looked weak, taking the pin after getting essentially bounced off the rope. ]

[Commercial Break at 10:24]

Back from the break, Mike Tenay is sitting in a darkened, empty arena with Jeff and Karen Jarrett for an "exclusive interview."

Tenay asks what last week means for the future. Jarrett said that last week was surreal. Jarrett said that, with a 100 percent guarantee, there is a future between Global Force and TNA, and it’s going to shock some people. TNA then cut to a graphic hyping a second part of the interview, which will air next week.

[ Reax: That’s it? They hype an “exclusive interview” and they air about 45 seconds, before hyping that a second part of the interview will air next week? Very weak. ]

Arena: Ethan Carter III is making his entrance for the TNA World Title main event along with Tyrus.

[Q7] Angle is shown making his ring walk backstage before he appears in the arena. Jeremy Borash is in the ring to introduce the main event. Brian Hebner is the referee.

[ Reax: TNA did a nice job building this match, but neither Angle nor ECIII uttered a syllable on this show before the match itself. It would have been nice to at least see Angle or ECIII get a backstage interview before the match began. ]

[Commercial Break at 10:33]

4 -- TNA World Hvt. champion KURT ANGLE vs. ETHAN CARTER III (w/Tyrus) -- TNA World Hvt. Title match

After some back-and-forth wrestling to start the match, Angle hits ECIII with back-to-back german suplexes, but ECIII grabs the rope before Angle could hit the third. So, Angle changed his strategy and dumped ECIII over the top rope.

Back in the ring, Angle again hits two german suplexes before ECIII makes it to the ropes. Hebner forces Angle to break his grip and ECIII immediately attacks with punches to take control of the match. ECIII hits his splash in the corner at 5:00. He goes for a pin but Angle gets the shoulder up at two.

[Commercial Break at 10:44]

[Q8] Back from the break at 10:49, ECIII has Angle in a full nelson in the middle of the ring. Pope says that ECIII doesn’t have it fully locked in because Angle “has a 20-inch neck.”

Angle powers out and hits ECIII with a clothesline out of the corner at 12:00. Both men are back to their feet, and Angle hits three german suplexes, which makes seven now in the match. Angle appears to have a second wind after the german suplexes, and he grabs ECIII, hitting three more, bringing the total up to 10. Angle covers, but ECIII rolls out at two.

Mathews notes that it’s been 620 days for ECIII in TNA without a single defeat. Angle hits an Angle Slam, but ECIII powers out at two. Angle drops his straps and snatches ECIII’s foot for an anklelock, but ECIII rolls out and the momentum tosses Angle to the outside. Tyrus then sneaks around the corner and levels Angle with a clothesline.

With Hebner counting, Angle rolls back in at a seven count. ECIII looks for the One-Percenter, but Angle counters into an Ankle Lock. ECIII counters out again rolling through it, and Angle hits four more German Suplexes, bringing the total in the match to 14.

Tyrus climbs to the apron and Angle shoves ECIII into him, knocking him off. Angle then hits an Angle Slam on ECIII, but ECIII kicks out at two. Angle back up and grabs ECIII’s ankle for another Anklelock. ECIII again rolls through. Angle hits a belly-to-belly suplex, but ECIII takes out Hebner as he’s tossed. Tyrus then immediately jumps in and attacks Angle.

At 17:00, ECIII is waking up Hebner while Angle is still down from Tyrus’ attack. ECIII hits the One Percenter on Angle, but Angle kicks out at two. “What do you say about his guts?!” Pope yelled. Mathews notes that no one has ever kicked out of the One-Percenter.

On the outside, Tyrus grabs a chair. He’s trying to get into the ring with the chair, but Hebner ejects Tyrus from ringside. “Now let’s see what ECIII has!" Pope yelled.

ECIII sets up Angle for another One Percenter, but Angle counters, rolling through and grabbing an Anklelock. Angle hits the mat and wraps his leg around ECIII’s. Angle has it locked in tight. ECIII is in the middle of the ring. He’s reaching for the rope, but he’s several feet away. ECIII begins to drag Angle and Angle goes to reset, but ECIII takes advantage and kicks out.

Angle goes for the Angle Slam, but ECIII rolls through it, into a jackknife pin on Angle for the win.

WINNER: Ethan Carter III at 20:56 to win the TNA World Hvt. Title.

Post-match, Hebner hands ECIII the World Title and he celebrates in the ring. “The reign of Carter starts right now,” Mathews said. “It’s the dawning of a new day. ECIII is World Champion.”

ECIII has both hands on the belt, raising it above his head as the show goes off the air.

[Reax: A very entertaining World Title match, and what an evolution for ECIII. Debuting with the gimmick of being Dixie Carter’s “nephew” could have permanently handcuffed him like Robbie E. with the Jersey Shore gimmick, but ECIII has made that character his own and really “took the ball and ran with it,” as we hear so many wrestlers talk about needing to do.]

FINAL THOUGHTS: This was a very strong show, and arguably the best TNA has put together since debuting on Destination America. All four matches delivered, with the Tag Title match by far the best of the night. But, the main event was also very good. The only disappointments were the Jarrett interview, as well as not a lot of time given for post-match things. Something big happened, like The Wolves winning the Tag Titles, and it felt like TNA rushed the show into break rather than giving them time on screen to close out the series and the feud with a short title celebration. When a team wins the Stanley Cup or College Word Series, they’re generally shown piling on top of each other to let the celebration breathe. The broadcast doesn’t just cut to a break, like Impact did tonight.

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