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 8/5/15)

No Surrender 2015

– With all the struggles TNA has encountered this year, we can give them credit where credit is due. When they need to put together a card for a “PPV”-themed Impact episode, they always pull out something decent. That was all evident in the opening video, which hyped all of the No Surrender-themed matches: Eli Drake vs. Drew Galloway, Bram vs. Mr. Anderson, Gail Kim vs. The Dollhouse, Austin Aries vs. Rockstar Spud “Career vs. Name” match and Matt Hardy vs. Ethan Carter III in Full Metal Mayhem for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship.

– The Bram-Anderson match had storyline support with Anderson’s sidelining injury by Bram on a past Impact episode. Common sense would tell you Anderson would seek payback and with evidence of past interviews, he’d have a “darker side.” He came out and was… pretty much the same Anderson we all know. He did match blows with Bram for the early portion, with things taking a brawl format. The match’s second part involved Bram going in for the kill, not quite getting to put Anderson away, growing frustrated. It was a good comeback story for Anderson to hit the Mic Check before Bram could hit him with the microphone. Bram did get to finally strike after the bell rang. Not sure about that. Should’ve let Bram stay down for this, but the discussions involving Josh Matthews and The Pope suggested that this is a feud now.

– The Matt/Jeff Hardy backstage promo hyped the main event, with the story that the Hardys always defied the odds when people counted them out. Nice to see Jeff actually endorse his brother this time. Hardy did have the “new father” card to play up for an emotional response from the fans.

– James Storm’s in-ring promo talked about what he did with The Revolution and directed his anger towards his members, particularly Khoya. Storm got some good heat, with the way he insulted the crowd and slapped Khoya silly. We knew it was buildings to a turn, so no better moment than right here. We’re all for the new Mohammed Shira character, but if only he had more refined mic skills, this segment really would’ve worked. His mic skills left a lot to desire. In theory though – a good segment.

– Storm’s backstage promo put forth a challenge to Shira for later on with good intensity.

– The Gail Kim-Dollhouse match was easy to predict, since new “dark leather” Kim is on a push, in a rivalry with Taryn Terrell, who tried to sneak attack her and spent the rest of the match cowering in fear and then ran away, leaving her friends to fend for themselves and they didn’t last. The obvious news coming out of it is the remaining showdown with Kim-Terrell.

– Drew Galloway’s promo was shot in a cool, interesting way and was good hype for the match with Drake later, wanting to “Stand Up” to watch him fall.

– The Galloway-Drake match brought the right amount of intensity, taking on a more physical style, as Galloway resorted to the concrete mat to take care of his dirty work, subjecting Drake to run away several times only to be brought back. Liked this story because it showed that Drake was waiting for a chance and pounced on it, beating Galloway by using the ropes for a cheap win.

– So we learned that Brian Hebner will be the new Senior Referee when his dad up and leaves thanks to Bully Ray. Alright? We liked the idea of Bobby Roode showing great concern about not having Aries around in the future, since it made a lot of sense, having him personally affected by it, bringing an ounce of realism to TNA’s very real situation. Bully had the justification of saying Aries talked himself into trouble, which made sense from his perspective as an authority figure to do something about it. Roode vowing to do everything possible to make sure Aries didn’t lose added an extra side of intrigue to the match, though they never actually followed up on it in the actual match.

– The Aries-Spud match was great, especially towards the finish. It started with Aries toying around and then getting paranoid when Spud wouldn’t stay down. Spud’s comeback was fun to watch here, and yet, Aries met him every step of the way, putting him back down just enough times to cast doubt upon the fans. Liked the finish of the “Super Underdog” off the top rope as it spoke to what it took to beat Aries and seal his TNA fate. The moment quickly turned into a “goodbye” for Aries, who showed sportsmanship in congratulating Spud, making the moment very real.

– The Aries-Roode backstage segment had Aries mention the unpredictability of pro wrestling, while Roode was unsure where to go from there. The “See you down the road” line was something to hang on, but you could see the conflict on Roode’s face that something would go down soon.

– The Shera-Storm match was basically more of Storm slapping him around and then Shera making a comeback before Storm blatantly hit him with the cowbell, causing a DQ.

– A backstage shot of Bully laid out backstage. Can we blame Roode for this? Bully could’ve looked a bit more hurt than relaxed.

– The Dixie-Jeff Jarrett backstage promo saw Jarrett offer to help run the show in Bully’s absence for one week. It was supposed to be looked at as a good thing for Jarrett to do. Let the “invasion” begin.

– The EC3 backstage promo saw confidence from EC3, with a classic promo when it was “game time” for him.

– The Hardy-EC3 Full Metal Mayhem match for the World Heavyweight Championship turned out to be better than expected thanks to the many table spots, that actually made Hardy appear closer than ever to becoming new Champion. EC3 won this match though all on his own and makes us wonder why TNA doesn’t take this approach more often with him.

Quick Results

• Mr. Anderson def. Bram via pinfall
• 3-On-1 Handicap Match – Gail Kim def. The Dollhouse via pinfall
• Eli Drake def. Drew Galloway via pinfall
• If Austin Aries Loses, He Leaves TNA – Rockstar Spud def. Austin Aries via pinfall
• Mahabali Shera def. James Storm via DQ
• TNA World Heavyweight Championship – Full Metal Mayhem – Ethan Carter III (Champion) def. Matt Hardy to retain