By Nicholas Jason Lopez

“Notes In Observance” features random thoughts and analysis on recent television shows. Quick results can be found at the bottom of the post.

(Aired 7/1/15)

EC3 Goes For The Gold 

– The opening video hyped the Kurt Angle-Ethan Carter III World Heavyweight Championship match. If only this was Slammiversary material. Actually, a lot of this show was what should’ve been Slammiversary. This was undoubtedly the best Impact of the Destination America era in terms of consistent top-to-bottom enjoyment.

– It was obvious about three weeks into the Beat Down Clan-Rising rivalry that it would long wear out its welcome to the point where all those involved would be hurt by the storyline. Think of where MVP was at the end of last year, crawling near the top of the card and somehow he dwelled to the bottom while it went on. Both teams seemed to float without direction, so kudos to the decision to make one disband. Liked the story told during the match that teased serious melodrama with BDC at a 4-man to 2 advantage as Drew Galloway turned two quick pins in his favor. Luckily, reality set in and this was the night that BDC lived to fight another day. Galloway looked like a trooper for holding out as long as he could, but there’s honestly more money in BDC if you had to compare the two teams, though that doesn’t really say much. BDC was around since the first show this year really and with the addition of Hernandez, it didn’t make sense for them to disband. Plus, this allows The Rising guys to go on singles runs and a guy like Galloway could really flourish from that. The match itself was ultimately filler material, but was entertaining. Low-Ki’s “injury” was a good way to write him out, as it seemed that will be the way he goes out of TNA for now.

– The MVP/King/Hernandez backstage segment had King confirm Low-Ki’s “injury” and MVP wanted to celebrate. Will BDC make their way to the top of the card again? Where do they go from here? Will they challenge for the tag titles?

– The segment with Magnus, Mickie James, James Storm and Khoya was okay for what it was, though actually would’ve sufficed for pre-Slammiversray match build. It sort of brought the storyline full-circle, even despite the fact that Storm appeared to win the feud after Sunday’s match. Anyways, Storm’s words spoke out very strong here and were bold enough to match Mickie’s insults. The hook for next week was to see what woman Storm would bring in to fight Mickie in her last career match. With the rumor of the former Serena Deeb from WWE making her TNA debut, her look and style matches what The Revolution is going for, so we’re going to predict that that’s where that leads. It’s hard to really see anything long-term with this storyline knowing that Magnus and Storm are gone past these tapings. What happens to The Revolution? Not that they were ever portrayed as anything beyond Storm’s goofy henchmen, but we can;t imagine they will just disappear without explanation. Then again, it’s TNA. On that note, how cool would something like Eric Young taking over the group be? He’s crazy enough for it to work. It was also frustrating to see that not one instance of the Pay-Per-View that people paid $40 for three days prior was addressed not until almost the halfway point.

– Say what you want, but the Best-Of-Five Series between The Dirty Heels and The Wolves was exactly what the tag division needed. It’s almost a sad thing to see it come to an end, especially along with Austin Aries’ TNA run (seemingly), but what a way to end it. Exceptional as expected, right up there in quality with the first two matches of the series. Loved the changing paces of the match to fit the time left in the match and it strayed away from the tired and predictable. The first fall took nearly 26 minutes and made us question a Sudden Death situation, but the finish saw those thoughts put to rest. Have to applaud the heart of The Wolves and this was a strong performance here, along with the Heels as well. Only complaint was that not nearly enough time was shown for the new Champions to celebrate, especially with the fact that they needed five matches to do it, seven if you count the stipulation matches.

– The Knockouts Champion three-way between Awesome Kong, Brooke and Taryn Terrell was pretty good, also surprising considering the result with Terrell winning with the rumors of her leaving the company, so maybe she will get the belt off her on next week’s show. That aside, the story of the match was really the Dollhouse helping Terrell every step of the way. Gail Kim being revealed as the person behind the “fire” video saying playtime was over was a real letdown, considering that would’ve been a cool way to debut a new Knockout. Terrell and Kim feuded as recent as a month ago. Did need a video vignette to hype her return like that? We expect Kim to challenge Terrell for the Title and win.

– Part one of the Jeff Jarrett interview with Mike Tenay looked at Jarrett’s win in King Of The Mountain and what it meant for both his company and TNA. He said there’d be a future and it would shock some people. Invasion angle? Way too short though. It’s amazing how insignificant Slammiversary felt on this show and again – that’s a slap in the face to the fans that spent money to see it.

– The TNA World Heavyweight Championship match between EC3 and Angle exceeded the hype it received and this was PPV-quality stuff on a free show. The aspect of EC3 having Tyrus do his dirty work until he got ejected made it look like a sure-fire retain for Angle, as they even teased a submission in the Angle Lock, only for EC3 to pull out a surprise pin. Intense bout that topped off a show miles ahead better than its PPV predecessor. EC3 as Champion is a drawing factor a company that badly needs it.

Quick Results

– Losing Team Must Disband Permanently – 4-On-3 Handicap Elimination Tag – The Beat Down Clan def. The Rising via pinfall 

– Vacant TNA Tag Team Championships – 30-Minute Iron Man Tag – The Wolves def. The Dirty Heels 2 Falls to 1 to regain titles 

– Knockouts Championship – Three-Way – Taryn Terrell (Champion) (w/Marti Bell, Jade) def. Awesome Kong and Brooke to retain 

– TNA World Heavyweight Championship – Ethan Carter III (w/Tyrus) def. Kurt Angle (Champion) via pinfall to become new Champion