The show began with Dixie, Galloway, and other wrestlers honoring Kurt Angle before his retirement match.
Lashley paid his respects, but underscored that he intended to end Angle.
1. King of the Mountain (Legendary Global TV) Championship: King of the Mountain style match: Will Ospreay v. Damo v. Jimmy Havoc(~!) v. "Mr. 2006" Bram v. Eric Young (c) The announcers reminded us about Bram's promise to make 2006 his year. Damo got a shot despite losing last week, as did Havoc. Havoc however had an impressive match last week, and did so again this week. Ospreay had a similarly impressive debut with a very X-Division style. Bram reminds me of the glory days of 2006, so I was happy to see him. EY is good for the division. Winner: and still KOTM (LGT) Champion, Eric Young.
Celebration Video for Angle: Kurt v. Joe in 2006.
Maria wasted our time by talking to Dixie about Bennett.
Maria and Bennett wasted more of our time, before Detective Galloway chased them off.
Celebration Video for Angle: Angle winning the first ever TNA Heavyweight Championship match at Slamiversary 2007.
Backstage, first ever TNA Champion Angle was talking with the Wolves about how he liked their work. Angle wanted to honor Davey Richards by giving him the signature move that he had inherited from the other first Heavyweight Champion of TNA, Ken Shamrock. And Angle actually referred to Shamrock by name(~!). Anklelock Bequeathed.
Angle really should have bequeathed to Eddie Edwards the Olympic Slam at the same time. Its not nice to only give one tag dude a present.
2. Knockouts Championship: Jade (w/out the rest of the Dollhouse) v. Gail Kim (c) Starmaking match for Jade, but Kim's superwoman. Winner: and still Knockouts Champion, Gail Kim
Video interview with Matthew Hardy, complaining about Ethan getting a second rematch shot against him next week. But, the Cold Blooded one played it cool, reminded us that he beat the unbeatable one twice, and that he plans to beat him for a third time.
3. TNA Tag Team Championship: Beer Money (James Storm and Bobby Roode) v. The Wolves (Eddie Edwards and Davey Richards) (c) The tag team titles are still cursed, so Davey Richards tore his ACL. Winners: and NEW WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS of the WORLD, via the belts not being doused with enough holy water, BEER MONEY, INCORPORATED!
The announcers asked us if we remembered the time Angle was inducted into the Hall of Fame. Sure we do! They then proceeded to show a video of the night before the time that Angle WASN'T inducted into the Hall of Fame. (They showed Angle's ceremony before BFG 2013. For Plot Reasons, Angle wound up not being inducted until his feud with Roode ended, around 2014 or so.)
Bennett talked smack to Angle, but Angle scared him off.
Eli Drake and his bromance 2.0 bro "The Man" Jessie Godderz stopped Grado from playing a video that might reveal the mystery of Grado's briefcase. Mahabali Shera ran out for the save, and let his bro Grado steal Drake's briefcase and run off.
While Eli Drake has a weak name, he's a tremendous force on the mic. He's got potential.
Jeff Hardy returns next week.
Celebration video with Al Snow, some other dude, and Shane Helms randomly talking about how great Kurt is.
4. The Ultimate Angle Match, Kurt Angle's Retirement from wrestling in TNA: "The Destroyer" Bobby Lashley versus "Olympic Hero, and Olympic Gold Medalist" Kurt Angle Despite Angle putting up a fight, this was Lashley's time. Winner: "The Destroyer" Bobby Lashley
Afterwards, Lashley gave Angle the hug of respect. Followed by the Beatdown of Heel Turn.
Galloway ran out for the save, only to get speared.
Eddie Edwards ran out, and a spear for him too.
That brought out a silent Ethan Carter. EC3 marched into the ring, leading Lashley to back off without a fight. Such is the ring presence of our protagonist.
Going forward, the thought of a babyface Ethan Carter III v. a heel Bobby Lashley is very alluring. Seeds have been planted for that match since soon after EC3's debut, when MVP, Lashley, and King would beatdown EC3 without EC3 getting a chance at revenge. Back then, Ethan was early in his heel run, but was already showing signs of growing into a sympathetic character. Since then we've had babyface Lashley v. heel Ethan a couple of times, but a flipped alignment match is the best way to go.
That random chick who'd been trying to turn Lashley to the darkside surprisingly and thankfully did not appear this week, but now that the Angle match has been completed without overbooking, I hope she'll return to explore her new prospect.
A caveat: the husband and i are writing this together.
We watched the entire show and were left puzzled. This was probably the first TNA show I personally watched since they tried to be WCW 2.0 and air on Mondays.
TNA's crowd in London was eerily silent.
Angle's last match in TNA was against Lashley? Good lord, they could have given anyone the rub and they gave it to Boring Bobby Lashley?!?!
I have absolutely no idea what the hell the first match was. King of The Mountain? A reverse ladder match? Pin someone for the chance to put a belt up on the hook at the top of a ladder?
Angle name-dropping Ken Shamrock was nice.
The Wolves would be amazing in NXT. Outside of that one blown spot during their sole match, why weren't they offered a contract? Oh yeah, they're short. Same goes with James Storm - I liked him there.
Oh well.
Hey, it's Mia Yim! Hey! Its Gail Kim! Decent match, though the Knockouts division isn't as strong as NXT's womens group tho.
I've never seen a "retirement" or going away match end the way it did.
(edited by Doctor Mom on 15.3.16 0654) Take Two "I don't give a damns" and please...don't call Me In The Morning
Originally posted by Doctor MomThe Wolves would be amazing in NXT. Outside of that one blown spot during their sole match, why weren't they offered a contract? Oh yeah, they're short. Same goes with James Storm - I liked him there.
Being short didn't help and their timing was probably 12 months too soon - they'd have better luck now if Austin Aries can get in - but they were also told to have a certain match and had a different one when they got to the ring. The match itself was a test to see if they would follow orders and they didn't pass.
Storm was offered a minimal NXT deal and ended up with a better TNA deal.
Lashley was awesome as a silent bad ass heel back in 2014 with MVP as his mouthpiece and his in ring work has been really strong the last few years. I feel like he's best cast as a heel.
Steiner on Smackdown! = bad news. Steiner on RAW = great news. cfjb speaks wise booking tales. That'd be great TV. It's obvious that HHH and HBK can do great matches together, plus Booker and Steiner have worked well together as well.