It began with Jeff Hardy giving a promo about how something weird was in the air. Matt told Jeff to relax and trust him, for he is a risk taking chessmaster.
Tyrus then came out, unaccompanied by EC3 for perhaps the first time. Tyrus pointed out that normally he only focuses on business, but that he would make an exception tonight because Jeff said mean things about him the previous week.
1. Jeff Hardy defeated Tyrus via DQ. Tyrus spent the short match attacking Jeff's bad leg. He then got himself DQed while still fresh. Matt went backstage before the match started, presumably putting faith in Jeff to handle things on his own, while he prepped for his title match later in the evening. EC3 did not make an appearance either, for Tyrus was not acting on his orders for once.
Feast or Fired 2015-16 was announced for a week later. It will feature Bobby Roode, James Storm, Eric Young, Bram, Grado, Chris Melendez, Rockstar Spud, Robbie E, Ariden O’Shea, Eli Drake, Jessie Godderz, and Drew Galloway. This year's match will be a bit different--the X title shot has been replaced with a KOTM (TV) title shot.
The tag champs, the Wolves, announced that they were accepting Beer Money's open challenge. However, that was quickly curtailed by Crazzy Steve and (Abyss?) attacking them. I guess Steve and Abyss are evil now! Might as well be. I mean, technically Abyss never turned face again after his cult ended... AND he might have a grudge against Storm. Plus, Rebel turned evil, so the rest of the Menagerie might be prone for randomly turning. This is understandably what happens when one debuts as Mike Knux's sidekick.
2. Gail Kim (c) defeated Awesome Kong (w/the rest of the Dollhouse: Rebel, Jade, Marti Bell) to retain the Knockouts Title This was a result of Kong winning the #1 contenders match at the One Night Only PPV. The Beautiful People helped even the odds a bit, but mainly the Dollhouse looked incompetent by not interfering earlier in the match. Announcers tried to cover for it by noting that Kong wanted to try to beat Kim on her own. Kim's superwoman, so trying to beat her without help is a bad idea.
Beer Money called out EY/Bram, seeking vengeance for losing the KOTM title to EY last week. However, the calendars in the arena indicated the wrong year (not 2006!), so Bram likely refused to compete. Thus, Beer Money got the 2016 version of the Bro-Mans instead.
3. Beer Money (James Storm and Bobby Roode) defeated Eli Drake and "The Man" Jesse Godderz Mr. Pectacular Godderz got pinned.
Matt Hardy and his wife Reby Sky expressed their concern about Jeff's health. Jeff admitted that his leg was in pretty bad shape. Matt expressed confidence that he could win tonight, even without Jeff watching his back. (Afterall, it is not as if Matt's always been in Jeff's shadow. He can totally do things on his own.) Jeff listened to his brother, and headed to the hospital, to put his own health first for a change. Reby resisted the urge to do an evil glare, thus ending her streak of two weeks of glares.
Bobby Lashley challenged Kurt Angle to a future match on Angle's retirement tour. Angle accepted. Lashley then made it clear that he was bringing his badass side back, and wasn't going to be another happy-go-lucky challenger like Galloway was. Lashley reminded Angle that he'd wanted this rematch ever since he lost the title to Angle last year.
Then a new Knockout flirted with Lashley backstage.
4. "The Miracle" Mike Bennett (w/ Maria Kanellis) defeated "The Jobber" Pepper Parks Weak week for Bennett after showing some signs of a character last week when he got into an argument with EC3. He didn't like that Ethan showed him no respect when he tried to be nice to the champion. Of course, by this point EC3 has disrespected and/or beaten everyone on the roster, so Bennett's just another in a long list of people who don't like the champ.
EC3 and Tyrus cut an amazing promo from the back of an ambulance. Ethan promised to send Matt home in it. The Champion quoted Revelation 6:8 -- "Behold a pale horse. The rider upon him is death. Hell followed with him."
5. MATTHEW HARDY (ALL CAPS, ALL COLD BLOOD) defeated the undefeated Ethan Carter III (c) to win the TNA World Heavyweight Championship in a last man standing match
Matt spent the match unhinged, starting from the beginning when he attacked Ethan during introductions. Matthew yelled v-One-ah to invoke a year prior to 2006, back when Matt mattered. When neither a low blow nor twist-of-fating EC3 in a chair could keep the champ down, Reby passed Matthew a hammer.
Before Matthew could Sabin his way to a title, Ethan countered and took him down with a One Percenter. This drew in Tyrus to turn on his boss. No one came down to help the champ, because he already burned bridges with Dixie and Spud, the only ones who really cared about him. Jeff wasn't around to intervene either, what with Tyrus injuring his leg, and Matthew/Reby convincing him to leave the arena and go to the hospital. Ethan got up after one of Tyrus's slams, but one final cold-blooded belt shot by MATTHEW was enough to seal the deal.
Afterwards, Matthew, Tyrus, and Reby cut a promo over Ethan's still unconscious body. The era of the villain protagonist is over. The era of Matthew bragging about being rich enough to afford anything has begin has begun (And that includes Tyrus's services--Tyrus of course only does things for business, and wouldn't have challenged Jeff at the beginning of the show merely over a petty insult. Matthew doubled what Ethan was paying him.)
Going forward, since this was a Last Man Standing Match, Ethan Carter is still unpinned, and never submitted, but he's going to have to change strategies and rebuild his friendships if he wants a chance against this new cold blooded faction.
This marks Ethan's first singles loss of any sort in TNA. He's lost tag matches before when a partner's been pinned, had the occasional tie, he lost a battle royal to Eric Young a couple of years ago, but this is the first time that the loss has been one-on-one. It will be interesting to see how he copes with it.
I look forward to the brilliance of heel Matthew Hardy. His Version One character is still unforgettable, so I am very excited about what he brings to this high profile villain role. His twitter rants are a good sign of the entertainment to come: https://twitter.com/MATTHARDYBRAND
Didn't see the show but did see the highlights and holy shit does Reby Sky have a shit ton of botox in her lips right up there with the the Broncos owners wife. Hey a sledgehammer in a diaper bag is pretty original I'll give them that.
EC3 was a top flight heel so I'm not happy with him being a face now and I bet they're building more to Jeff vs Matt as the end game over EC3 getting the title back.
Remember when TNA's tag division was stacked? Now Crazzy Steve and Abyss are gonna feud with the Wolves before we get to an evitable Wolves-Beer Money feud.
I hate that they are bringing feast or fired back and it is not a good hook to get me or anyone to watch this week.
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