TNA Impact Report – 2/23/16

We see the video hyping tonight’s Lockdown special, as Ethan Carter III will finally get his rematch with Matt Hardy inside the Six Sides of Steel.
We’re in London for the third of five weeks in the UK, and we get right into the action with our opening match!
Six Sides Of Steel: Beer Money vs Eric Young & Bram

Beer Money attacks Bram and Young during their entrance, and they start brawling in the aisle.  Young goes for a piledriver on the floor, but Roode backdrops out as Storm rams Bram into the cage.  Storm works Bram over with a chair as Roode and Young finally make their way inside the cage, and Bram gives Storm the implant DDT on the floor.  Bram goes into the cage, the door shuts, and Bram secures the lock to trap Roode inside the cage with both opponents.  Roode ducks a shot from Young that ends up connecting with Bram, and Roode takes Young out with a Blockbuster as Storm climbs over the top of the cage to join the action.  Bram goes up to meet him and gets his face repeatedly slammed into the cage before Storm just shoves Bram to the mat, then comes off the top with Closing Time to Young.  Storm is a house of fire taking on both Bram and Young by himself, but Bram gets a couple of shots in to slow Beer Money’s momentum down.  They hit the old America’s Most Wanted finish on Roode for 2 (wonder if anyone else caught that), but Roode catapults Young into Bram, then Storm gives Bram a superfrankensteiner and Roode hits a frogsplash for 2.  Beer Money goes for the DWI, but Young rakes Roode’s eyes and gives him a belly to belly suplex, Storm hits the Last Call on Young, Bram with a leg lariat on Storm, and all four men are down.  All four men are up. All four men are brawling.  Beer Money with a double suplex on Young, they do BEER…..MONEY! and hit the DWI on Bram for the win.
Winners: Beer Money
Great opener and a big win for Beer Money.  I’m really digging the reunion so far.
Josh and Pope run down tonight’s main event matches, then we go back to earlier tonight as Matt Hardy and his entourage arrive at the arena.  Then we see Ethan Carter III backstage, and he’s…WALKING!  We’ll hear from him after this break!

We’re back, and a referee is rushing downstairs to find Madison Rayne on the floor of a stairwell clutching her knee, the victim of an apparent attack.
Ethan Carter III comes down to ringside and takes a seat on the steps leading into the cage.  He says there’s no better place to fight than London, and behind him is Six Sides of Steel, where men are separated from boys.  He’s going to fight Matt Hardy tonight, and he’s been waiting for this match ever since Matt caved his head in with a chair and needed Tyrus and his wife, Hepatitis Hardy to help him win the World Title.  Tonight is his vengeance, and the facts are that Matt can’t beat him.  But now, EC3 had a little help from an old colleague, and would like Rockstar Spud to come to the ring because he has something to say.  EC3 says they tore the house down one year ago in this building, and he’s sorry he shaved his head, but he also said that Spud has more heart than anyone he’s ever met.  Lion, tiger, gazelle, he’s the most passionate man he’s ever met, and sometimes he has more guts than brains, but last week he had his back, and he’s humble enough to thank him.  EC3 sticks his hand out, Spud looks really conflicted, but the fans chant to SHAKE HIS HOND, so that’s what Spud does.  Spud says he did what he did last week because it was the right thing to do, and EC3 is right that he sometimes has more guts than brains, but he’ll always do what’s right.  Matt Hardy is rotten to the core, and he has the nerve to try and tell Spud what to do.  EC3 knows that nobody tells him what to do, and he’s not scared of Matt Hardy, Tyrus, or anyone.  This cage is where revenge happens and where payback gets made, so tonight, he promises that he…wait a minute, Spud’s thought gets cut off by the entrance of the Matt Hardy entourage.  Matt asks if EC3, Spud, and all the lsoers in the crowd know where they’re standing.  Dixie tells everyone that this is their company, but it really all belongs to Matt Hardy because the Matt Hardy Brand has absorbed the Impact Wrestling Brand.  Spud has defied him twice and it won’t happen again, because if he comes anywhere near that cage, he swears that Spud’s life will never be the same.  He doesn’t even want to hear from EC3 because nobody embarrasses him, and tonight will be the most embarrassing night of his career.  EC3 says Matt’s not fighting the people or Spud tonight, he’s fighting EC3 in this cage, and it will be hell on earth courtesy of EC3.
The dude who did the run in on Decay’s promo last week says that Rosemary is the kind of girl you don’t forget, but before she was Miss Crazzy Steve, she was his, and he doesn’t know the half of what they did together.  Rosemary is dangerous, and he brings that side out of her and is getting her back.

X Division Title Match: Trevor Lee vs Tigre Uno
Trevor tries to finish Tigre off quick with a couple of rollups right off the bell, but Tigre survives and does flippy dippy stuff.  Tigre tries to climb out of the ring, but Trevor yanks him off the top rope and Tigre lands right on his head.  Trevor grounds Tigre by choking him on the bottom rope, then turns Tigre inside out with a clothesline for 2.  Trevor with a delayed gutwrench, then kicks Tigre around by the head until Tigre fires up and lays in a series of chops.  Tigre with a leaping enziguiri, Trevor is rocked, and Tigre rams him back and forth from one side of the cage to the other.  Tigre off the second rope with a legdrop to the ding ding for 2, then a crucifix bomb for another 2.  Tigre tries to climb out, but Trevor rushes in and stops him with a leaping forearm, but Tigre kicks Trevor off, goes to the top of the cage, and comes off with a flying bodypress that got so much air that Tigre nearly overshot the far side of the ring.  Tigre makes a cover, but Trevor kicks out at 2.  Trevor recovers, hits a leaping kneestrike, and hits the cradle driver for the win.
Winner: Trevor Lee
Great match, and Trevor has now beaten Tigre Uno in three straight matches, so can we finally get someone else into the title picture now?
Maria Kanellis catches Gail Kim backstage and says it’s such a shame what happened to Madison, and what the Knockouts Division needs is a leader.  Gail Kim says she’s tired of listening to Maria’s mouth, so if she wants to prove how great she is, she can put her boots on and take Madison’s place.
The guy finds Rosemary backstage and gives her a gift because he wants her back.  He leaves, and then Crazzy Steve comes out from behind a curtain, and grabs the gift bag.  Rosemary looks at him and shakes her head, then they start crazzy laughing.
Lethal Lockdown: The Dollhouse vs Gail Kim, Velvet Sky & Madison Rayne
Jade and Gail start us off, and they waste no time tearing into each other.  I love watching these two wrestle.  Gail with a quick flying headscissors, Jade pops off one of her own, then drills Gail with a series of stiff kicks to the chest.  Gail ducks one and connects with a kick to Jade’s back, and both girls climb up to try and grab some of the weapons hanging at the top.  They both tumble to the mat at the same time, they get up and wipe each other out with a double clothesline as we go to commercial.
We’re back as Gail boots Jade in the face and unloads with hard forearms and a running clothesline.  The clock counts down, and Marti Bell is in next.  She stomps Gail down in the corner, then she and Jade work Gail over until the clock counts down again and Velvet Sky comes in and cleans house on Marti and Jade.  Velvet bulldogs Marti and works her over with kicks in the corner, and before we know it, the clock counts down to Rebel entering last to complete the Dollhouse team, and she pulls out…wow, some pretty impressive kicks and takedowns.  I didn’t realize she knew any of that stuff.  She climbs up, gets a cookie sheet, and drills Gail with it, then whips Jade and Marti into Velvet in the corner before hitting a springboard elbow of her own.  Holy crap, when did she learn to do all this stuff?  The clock counts down, Maria Kanellis runs down in her ring gear…then shakes her head and walks off, locking the door behind her and dooming Velvet and Gail to defeat at the hands of three girls they had squashed multiple times on their own, much less with a partner.  Gail shoots daggers out her eyes at Maria as she mocks her from the floor, and the Dollhouse proceed to destroy both Gail and Velvet.  Velvet tries to fight back on her own as Gail is down in the corner, and she buys enough time for Gail to recover and join in the fight.  They double flapjack Jade off the top rope, beat the crap out of Rebel with kendo sticks, and then Marti comes out of nowhere and lays them both out with a cookie sheet.  Marti gets a chair, but Gail kneesmashes her face before she can use it, then hits Eat DaFeet on Rebel.  She makes a cover, Jade breaks it up at 2 with a kendo stick, and gives Gail a package piledriver on a chair for the win.
Winners: The Dollhouse
Wow, this match was absolutely awesome!  I gotta give the Dollhouse credit, I didn’t think Marti or Rebel brought much to the table before this, but they both really went above and beyond the call of duty here and really impressed the hell out of me.  all five girls did, this was really, really good, and I’m thrilled Jade got a clean win over the Knockouts Champion.
Kurt Angle sees EC3 backstage and shakes his hand.  Angle says his time here is short, and EC3 is going to be the guy carrying this place after he’s gone, and he’s really proud of EC3.  EC3 says the biggest lesson he learned from Kurt is how to take care of business, and tonight, his business is revenge on Matt Hardy.
Decay get a cool little promo video, then we’re off to the ring as Kurt Angle comes out to address the fans.  He says this is his farewell tour, and he couldn’t be happier to have it right here in the UK where he had some of his fondest memories in wrestling.  One of those memories was last year when he defeated Bobby Lashley for the TNA World Title, but Kurt doesn’t get to continue that thought because Lashley’s music hits and he comes out to have a word with the soon to be retiree.  Lashley says he can’t believe he’s out here bragging about beating him last year.  Kurt was right, it was a great match, and yes he beat him, and yes, he got in his head for an entire year, but Lashley told him that he’s here to get revenge.  Lashley thought that telling Kurt this would light a fire under his ass and turn him into the Olympic hero again and he would go on a tear so that he could get his revenge by beating Angle at his best.  That’s not what happened, and the fans all want Angle to be the Olympic champion he should be again, they want him to be Kurt Angle, but he looks in Angle’s eyes, and he sees that he’s not.  Lashley says he can beat Angle on his best day, but Angle cuts him off and says he came out here to talk to the fans, but Lashley just pissed him off and they don’t have to wait.  Lashley laughs at that, starts to take his jacket off, then put it back on and leaves.
We’re back from commercial and Eli Drake is in the ring saying that Grado got fired and he got a King Of The Mountain Title shot, so he wants to know why Grado’s running around in a mask calling himself Odarg.  Grado never belonged here in the first place, but after tonight, he’s going to take that mask off his fat stupid face, and that’s not an insult, it’s just a fact of life.
Six Sides Of Steel: Eli Drake vs Odarg The Great
Drake sneak attacks Dave Scherer’s new favorite TNA wrestler and mocks the crowd, but Grado kicks him off and tries to climb the cage…but can’t quite get it done.  He ends up falling to the mat, but comedy wrestles his way around Drake and goes for the door.  Jessie holds the door shut, so Odarg blatantly rips off Colt Cabana’s offense instead.  Eli kicks Odarg in the ding ding to take control, then rams him into the cage.  Drake with a running powerslam and an elbowdrop, then gives Odarg a vertical suplex into the cage for 2.  Eli tries to climb out, but Odarg climbs up under him and hits an electric chair to the mat.  That looked like a rough bump.  Jessie Godderz tries to stop Odarg from coming out the door, but Mahabali Shera runs out and puts a stop to that, allowing Odarg to ram Eli from one side of the cage to the other before flattening him with a bionic elbow.  Odarg with a cannonball in the corner, and then he tries to climb out.  He takes the straps down, makes it to the top, but Eli is up and grabbing at his ankle.  Odarg kicks Drake off and goes over the top,  Drake runs back up and grabs the mask, but Odarg drops to the floor to get the win.
Winner: Odarg The Great
Grado runs around celebrating with the fans, then realizes he’s unmasked and puts a jacket over his head before running to the back.
Decay is backstage and they run into the English guy.  Abyss says Rosemary is one of them, but English Guy says Rosemary is his muse, and he’s hardcore and she is useless with them and he’s going to take her back.  Abyss and Steve lay him out, then Rosemary drops whatever the gift was in front of him.
Matt Hardy and EC3 are backstage warming up, and they’ll face off in just a little bit!
Grado is backstage arguing with Billy Corgan about getting his job back, and Eli Drake comes in and says he needs to get out of here.  He sends Ron and Don Harris to eject Grado as he says that Grado should go home and watch on his couch like he’s supposed to, and he better never show his face back here.
Mike Bennett cuts a promo about how he is a Miracle and TNA needs a Miracle.  He can’t get how the fans think of Drew as a savior, and asks Drew if he remembers when he smashed that briefcase over his head, threw him into that wall, and put his boot in his face.  Finally, everyone will collectively ask if they believe in Miracles, and Maria pops up and says “Yes, we do.”
It’s main event time!
TNA World Title Match – Six Sides Of Steel: Matt Hardy vs Ethan Carter III
We got some great backstage shots of both men walking through the back on their way to the entranceway that gave this a great, big fight feel.  The bell rings, and they start trading blows right off the bat.  Hardy gets the early advantage, but EC3 fires back with some hard chops and short shoulderblocks.  Hardy dodges a Stinger Splash and hits an over the back neckbreaker, then tells Tyrus to chuck a chair into the ring for him.  The chair almost lands on EC3, but Hardy gets ahold of it and repeatedly smashes it over EC3’s back.  Hardy wedges the chair in the corner, but EC3 reverses a whip and sends Hardy crashing through it, and now EC3 makes his big comeback, hitting a Stinger Splash and a flapjack.  Hardy gets a Side Effect out of nowhere for 2, so he gives him another one on a steel chair for 2.  Hardy gets a chain and goes after EC3 with it, but EC3 pops Hardy up and hits a TKO out of nowhere.  HE goes for the door, but Tyrus walks up the steps to stand in EC3’s way.  EC3 flips him a double bird and says something naughty, then dares Tyrus to come into the ring.  Tyrus obliges, and EC3 goes right on the attack, peppering him with right hands and laying him out with a clothesline.  Tyrus is up and plants EC3 in the mat with a bodybag, and he tries to handcuff EC3 to the top rope, but EC3 switches it up and handcuffs Tyrus to the rope, then hammers him with a chair until Matt Hardy nails EC3 from behind and hits a Twist of Fate for 2.  Matt can’t believe EC3 kicked out, so he climbs the cage to try and escape, but EC3 follows him up and hits as much of a Russian legsweep as you can from that position.  Both men are down (all three if you count Tyrus), but they get to their feet and trade right hands until Matt Hardy kicks EC3 in the ding ding, then puts a chair around EC3’s neck and hits the nastiest Twist of Fate I think I’ve ever seen.  He confidently covers EC3, but that only gets 2, and Matt is in shock.  Matt is done screwing around, and he prepares to go for the kill with the chair, but EC3 returns the favor with a ding ding kick of his own.  They both crawl for the door as Reby comes down the aisle with the hammer, but Spud runs out and grabs the hammer out of her hand.  He yells at her as EC3 crawls out the cage door, but Spud slams the door shut on EC3’s head and allows Matt to escape the cage.
Winner: Matt Hardy
Well, I did NOT see that coming.  Matt tells Spud he deserves this, then hands Spud a chair and tells him to punish EC3.  EC3 is still unconscious on the ring steps, and Spud stands over him, grabs at the hair EC3 shaved off his head a year earlier, and smashes the chair down over EC3’s head.  He smiles at the fans, brushes his hair back, and throws his hands up in victory.  He spits his gum at EC3 and leaves with his new friends Matt and Reby Hardy as the referees attend to what’s left of EC3.
Source: PWInsider