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 7/29/15)

Jarrett Struts Into Fame 

– To the night’s credit: there was a fair amount of hype for the episode, as we got the big payoff match with Mickie James/Magnus against James Storm/Serena, what stipulation Matt Hardy would pick for his TNA World Heavyweight Championship match against Champion Ethan Carter III and of course, the biggie – Jeff Jarrett’s induction into the Hall Of Fame this year.

– Did Josh Matthews even believe himself when he called it “Wednesday’s Hottest Show”?

– As far as the Austin Aries, Rockstar Spud and Bully Ray in-ring segment, it did a decent job of getting us to the angle that will most likely lead to Aries’ TNA “departure,” in a loss to Spud next week, with the consensus that Aries heeled it up and talked himself into trouble by putting himself in the situation. Aries had a good presence in the ring and on the mic, so it’s going to be hard for TNA to replace him in that sense. He was someone that could go in the main event and the tag team division. At least, it’ll be a good way for Spud to rebound, as he has had a rough last few weeks. He did a good job in talking about how he fought for the X-Division and it taught him everything he knows now. For the record, Bully did good in the segment too by sticking up for Spud, but why on earth would Aries want the “Rockstar” name? He’s already been Austin Starr and those days were rather forgettable for him. The stipulation is kind of lame looking at it in a glance, but it’ll serve more long-term purpose. Also liked the little sucker punch from Aries that ended the segment.

– Liked seeing the “patriotic” duo of Angle and Chris Melendez together, as Angle can help Melendez get over. They also approached Melendez’s match with Eric Young with a correct amount of caution to make Young come off as a big threat and built it as a general big moment for Melendez.

– Not for nothing, those Tigre Uno pictures in the “Tigre Talks Trump” graphic make him look slightly goofy.

– The Melendez-Young match was a “second go at things” since EY decisively beat him previously. Melendez’s promo touched up on that and put over his relentlessness though it leaned a little close to a John Cena promo. He’s got a good, tough look to him though. Young’s response promo fit his character and his eyebrow cut made him look slightly more badass and deranged. Sort of weird to have Young decisively win again with barely no fight from Melendez, though it established more tension with Young and Angle. “Young should move on”? Really, Josh? Melendez was the one that called him out.

– Matt Hardy’s backstage segment had him say “we” hadn’t decided what the match stipulation would be. Maybe him and his brother? Most likely. Unless his wife joined the company.

– The Marti Bell-Brooke match for the Knockouts Championship was more of what you’d expect from these ladies. What did Marti do to earn a shot at the Title though? Same story as before with their previous matches- the heels pull shenanigans, “dark” Gail Kim’s video plays, Brooke gets the finisher and the win. Is it building for an ultimate Terrell-Kim match? Nope. Seems to just be a general Kim-Dollhouse match.

– The Tigre Uno video package did more good to establish him as a longtime veteran of Lucha Libre and what he has brought to the United States and lives for what he does, also bringing his family along for the emotional ride. The B-roll (shots of film that roll while the subject is talking, for you non-film folks) was the same as last week pretty much, but it again established him as a star. It’s still hard to take him too seriously when the shots of him in the ring are of him as a jobber just doing aerials. What’s worse is that he challenged a guy who was definitely not going to show up. For that matter, he could’ve done his backstage promo on Trump through a translator, as it was pretty rough and broken. He speaks with a lot of passion in Spanish and that all went away with the English promo.

– EC3 with Tyrus talked about how a match stipulation didn’t scare him because he couldn’t be beat and he shoved the camera. Typical stuff by now.

– The EC3/Tyrus in-ring promo had EC3 pick on Bully and The Hardys for where they came from. EC3’s comments about Matt being the “Khloe to the Kim Kardashian” did kind of make sense. Jeff coming out was only inevitable and loved EC3’s monotone comment to him coming down. This was the foundation to a Jeff Hardy-EC3 match and we have to hope that this is what they do for Bound For Glory in October. It was incredibly predictable that they’d pick full metal mayhem for the match with no one allowed at ringside.

– The Magnus/Mickie James backdate promo had Magnus sell the match as more of a fight and not a celebration. Mickie did a good job of also addressing things and expressing disappointment for Serena.

– The Mickie/Magnus-Storm/Serena match was a decent payoff to things, letting Mickie score the pinfall on Serena and hit Storm with the DDT as well, after the heels had the advantage of most of the bout. Like a doofus, Khoya came down to the ring and botched interference with his big dumb stick, and played into the finish. Revolution are such goofs. Serena is a good fit for them and it’s left in the air what happens to them without Storm? Will there be an angle where they take him out? Mutiny perhaps?

– Part two of Mr. Anderson’s sit-down interview with Mike Tenay was more of a “revisit” than anything new. Bram’s attack was brutal, but nobody questioned Anderson’s future, but it’ll be interesting to see Anderson with more of an edge. Bram sent in a challenge for next week at No Surrender with a personal shot at his children and family life. Also hyped was the Eli Drake-Drew Galloway match and Gail Kim-Dollhouse.

– Given the context of the moment, we can see Jarrett’s induction segment with Dixie Carter was genuinely heartfelt and touching. Jarrett’s name-dropping speech came from the heart but we’re sure that there were some mutters about paychecks and whatnot. He also looked spiffed up for the occasion with a haircut and a suit. Nice touching moment but we had the whole feeling of anticipating a heel coming out to ruin the moment or something of that sort but they stuck to the high road on it. Bobby Roode was out there with general “good guys” to greet Jarrett on the stage, so is he a face once again?

Quick Results

– Eric Young def. Chris Melendez (w/Kurt Angle) via pinfall

– Knockouts Championship – Brooke def. Marti Bell (w/Jade, Taryn Terrell) via pinfall

– Mickie James/Magnus def. James Storm/Serena via pinfall