TNA Impact Wrestling 9/16 live TV results: GFW vs. TNA Lethal Lockdown for control of the company
By Jeremy Peeples, WrestlingObserver.com
Last week, the world’s fastest invasion angle continued when the Wolves regained the tag team titles from Trevor Lee and Bryan Myers. Former TNA World Champion Eric Young came out with Chris Melendez’s artificial leg and shoved him down, while also defacing the leg with by putting athletic tape over it with “My Leg” and EY all over it. In the main event, Chris Mordetsky beat Drew Galloway to get the man advantage in tonight’s Winner Takes All Lethal Lockdown match to blow off the GFW vs. TNA invasion. Oh, and TNA’s “biggest show of the year” is in two weeks and has had literally zero build for it.
Yet another really green video package hyped up Lethal Lockdown, with clips of prior matches. The announcer guy says the taglines while Dixie recites them from a promo. Josh hypes up gladiators stepping inside six sides of steel as Dixie Carter faces Jeff Jarrett…a match that isn’t happening here. JB is mid-ring saying that he has been in TNA for 13 years and two names are what you think of with TNA – Dixie Carter and Jeff Jarrett. Now, on the night of the show, it’s time to make Lethal Lockdown official. Karen is out in a slick leather shirt and black leather pants, while Jeff is in jeans and a baby blue button-down shirt. Has he ever dressed nicely in a wrestling ring?
Dixie comes down while Josh says that she has made some mistakes with TNA, a company that was once on Spike TV. Josh assures Dixie that he and Pope are behind her – I’m sure that’s a real help to her confidence. JB explains. The stipulation. In a very. Stilted manner. JB says that each has agreed to say a few words, oh thank God. Dixie says that Jeff’s action removed him from power and that even a few weeks ago, she was hopeful that she and Jeff could rewrite the ending to TNA’s story. Karen calls her delusional while Jeff says that EY is nuts, he’s at least on his side.
Jeff says that he invested the first dollar in TNA and after tonight, he’ll be standing on top of two world-class wrestling companies. He hypes up the Global Force Wrestling Amped Army, which I guess is the roster, and tells Dixie that she should’ve always been on the outside of the business looking in. Jeff takes out JB. After 12 minutes, this ended. Josh, in a blinding checkered shirt and Pope are in their booth. Josh hypes up the TNA roster while we get a rundown of tonight’s four way Knockouts title match.
In a great bit, we see Jeff driving EC3 around. EC3 asks that he open his door, but he’s fine just staying in and appreciates Jeff at least knowing he took a couple of turns too quickly. EC3 asks for Jeff’s phone to watch cat videos and says his taste in music sucks. This was fantastic, and then Josh threatens us with a history lesson in Dixie Carter vs. Jeff Jarrett. We get a quick video telling us that TNA used to be a global powerhouse with huge starts, but with Jarrett gone, it fell. Well, this is bizarre to say the least.
Ad for Bound For Glory airs – the show is still two weeks away with zero matches announced. Abyss faces Shera next, and we get a Shera-Revolution recap. They actually made this seem fairly epic, and used some of the footage they shot during the final Spike shows that never aired otherwise. Abyss hobbled down and really doesn’t move like he should be working in this gimmick anymore. Shera came out doing “the Shera” dance, which the front row actually got behind a bit here. Shera teaches Bigfoot how to dance. He tries to show Abyss how to do it, but Abyss isn’t amused and attacks.
Shera vs. Abyss
Josh calls this the most important night of the year in TNA. I thought that was Bound For Glory? Pope calls Lethal Lockdown a battle to “keep TNA afloat”. Josh hypes up that if you use the promo code TeamTNA, you can save 20% on your order on ShopTNA. Abyss clotheslines him down. Abyss gets a neck crank on the mat. Abyss rakes the eyes to avoid the Sky High and grabs Janice. He threatens the referee with this implement of death, which isn’t a DQ. Shera gets a chokeslam for 2, but Storm comes down with a cowbell. He accidentally hits Abyss, who then accidentally hits Storm, and Shera hits the Sky High for the win. This was a fine match to use to take 20% off an order of some classic TNA PPV DVDs. Definitely get the Cross the Line triple pack and you can’t go wrong with any BFG except for 2014.
EC3 recaps a cat video with a ball of yarn and having fun at a Hardy party. After a break, Jeff Jarrett is in his ring gear and hypes up Team GFW – which apparently now includes Eric Young. Or maybe not, as Josh and Pope have no idea why he’s there despite Jeff saying that EY has sided with him. EC3 comes out without Jeff while Pope says that if that’s what EC3 does to Jeff when cameras are on, imagine what he does when they’re not on. No thanks. EC3 scolds them for playing Jeff’s theme. Jeff comes out in a suit with EC3 faces on it while EC3 tells Jeff he may come now and talks about how shaking his tush on the catwalk. Well, maybe Pope’s homoerotic subtext is now text.
EC3 tells Jeff that he needs this job to provide for his family and pay his medical bills. Jeff Hardy, the former top draw in pro wrestling, playing second fiddle to EC3 in this suit really does make it seem like his career has hit the skids. HBK lost his money giving it to friends, Big Show invested in a strip mall, and I guess Jeff Hardy lost all of his signing a TNA Wrestling contract.
Rockstar Spud came down to draw the parallels between Jeff Hardy being EC3’s assistant in a wacky suit and himself formerly having that role. Spud calls him garbage, while EC3 say that garbage couldn’t beat Sting, Bully, and Angle. EC3 cheapshots Spud, who recovers and attacks EC3, but is attacked by Tyrus. EC3 tells Jeff to “hit him”. Better be specific there EC3…and he actually hits Spud instead of hitting Tyrus despite having plausible deniability. Knockouts title is up next, giving us our second match in the first hour of this show.
Recap video of Jeff Jarrett’s return to TNA where he won the KOTM Title, was inducted into the Hall of Fame, took over for Bully Ray after he was inducted as the authority figure and then beaten up before Jeff was revealed as behind it. Jeff meets with Drew and talks about how he has his shares on the line and that Dixie has lost EY. Drew looks gigantic next to Jeff here. Jeff says it’s now 5-on-4 for the heel team and then Josh and Pope repeat this exact same point a few times and Pope says that they should erase Jeff Jarrett from TNA and the Hall of Fame. Earl Hebner’s Hall of Fame induction will be in his home state, and he’ll be inducted by William Corgan.
Brooke vs. Gail Kim vs. Awesome Kong vs. Lei’D Tapa – Knockouts Title 4-Way
The challengers are mid-ring while Brooke gets a full intro. Kong and Tapa get alternating tree slams on the babyfaces. Tapa and Kong get into a monster clubbering exchange before Gail and Brooke double team Tapa. Kong attacks and TNA takes her out for a bit. After a break, a 619 by Gail is avoided by Tapa and she hits her with a snake eyes on the railing. Kong runs through Brooke before Kong gingerly dives onto Tapa off the apron.
Josh talks about how Brooke has broken fingers, but she’s still competing. Brooke gets 2 off a Russian legsweep. Gail gets the corner crossbody, but Brooke avoids the ringpost figure four. Tapa avoids Kong, who plows into Brooke. Tapa grabs Gail off the corner crossbody and slams her down. Tapa hits a terrifying superplex to Gail, leading to a Kong dive onto Tapa, allowing Brooke to flying elbow drop Kong. Kong gets Samoan dropped on the apron over the top rope by Kong and with Gail and Brooke alone, Gail reverses a sunset flip ala Bulldog against Bret and wins the title. Gail and Brooke adhere to the Code of Honor.
Josh hypes up the main event next while Team TNA ponders what will happen and Drew is quite upset that the terms “failure” and “mistakes” are being used to describe TNA. EC3 is offended by Jeff Hardy pulling some “backdoor action” on him since Spud now has a TNA World Title match with EC3 next week. Did Jeff Hardy empty his savings account to bribe Dixie for that? Why would that happen logically? Pope shows off the key on his action figure because it symbolizes success and that’s what TNA is all about. We get a recap of the rivalry as JB describes Lethal Lockdown.
Team TNA vs. Team GFW – Lethal Lockdown for Control of TNA
Sonjay Dutt starts the match off for GFW while Davey is starting it for Team TNA. Josh corrects himself saying that the Wolves are now five-time TNA Tag Team Champions – which is amazing since they’ve only been in the company for about a year and a half now. After the break, Davey and Sonjday Dutt brawl in “the most important main event in TNA history”. Sonjay bites the hand of Davey to avoid a suplex and then Josh thanks the fans for making #winnertakesall trend. Davey gets a cloverleaf, but EY comes down. I wonder if the artificial leg he won in a wrestling match will be one of the weapons in this match.
EY and Sonjay double team him for a bit while “you sold out” chants rain down on EY. Drew runs down and attacks. Pope makes Drew seem quite lame by using his full legal name to describe him before a break. After the break, we’ve missed a lot of in-ring action because they picked this break to do things in real-time. Bryan Myers is mid-ring and Sonjay has Drew in a camel clutch. Lashley comes down and hits Sonjay with a flipping German suplex and spears EY and Sonjay. Lashley is such a fun video game character in a wrestling match.
Mordetsky comes down and chokes Drew in the corner while Myers punches away at Davey in another corner. Eddie comes in and runs wild while the Wolves get some double teams. Jeff Jarrett is the final member of his own team, and Josh isn’t at all shocked by this. Well, given that Jeff was in his full gear right after the opening segment, he shouldn’t be. Josh prays that TNA has a fifth guy, and Pope says that he’s just signed to be a commentator or else he’d be in there. Well, that’s pretty cowardly of him. Bram comes down as the fifth man while everyone stands around so the weapons can fall for the Lethal Lockdown portion of the match after an ad break.
This time, the ad break wasn’t in real-time as they’ve all patiently waited until after the break to begin this portion of the match. Jeff beats up guys with a trash can after Pope scolds the GFW guys for using weapons, but then says the TNA guys need to use them because that’s what they’re for. Pope says he isn’t biased, but he’s fully behind TNA. So he’s biased then, and Josh says that this match is a monitor sellout in the back. Sonjay superkicks Eddie, but eats an Alarm Clock.
Team TNA immediately surrounds Jeff, and in a hilarious bit, he immediately scrambles to the camera opening and clutches his wife while begging her to not let them take him. EY piledrives Drew, but Lashley eats a Stroke after hitting the spear. Trash can to the head of Jeff leads to a double Van Terminator from the Wolves. Bram and Mordetsky hit each other with trash can lids. Drew boots Myers and hits the Future Shock on Myers to win the match. Why not have Jeff eat the fall? They set up a spot with him nearly eating all the finishers of the faces, and it would’ve been a fitting end. Instead, Drew Galloway saved TNA by beating Curt Hawkins – it’s like Hogan winning War Games by beating Zodiac.
Jeff crawls out of the ring and is surrounded by his crew. Drew grabs the case, so maybe he can cash it in for a shot at the KOTM Title or something. Dixie comes down and hugs Drew, who presents her with the case in a heroic pose. Drew was so great here. They grab a fan’s “We are TNA” sign and hold it up. They gave this match nearly the entire second hour of the show and gave the celebration plenty of time too. They didn’t hype up anything for next week’s show, so this really could’ve just been a finale for TNA as a whole and felt like a somewhat fitting ending.
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