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 10/28/15)

Kim And Kong Battle Once More

– The opening video highlighted last week’s happenings – Mr. Anderson being eliminated mathematically by losing to Austin Aries and Ethan Carter III pulling out all the cheap stops to beat Lashley to stand atop the Group Champions leaderboard. Hyped for action was Matt Hardy – eager to get back his old gold, as well as matches from Group X-Division and Group Knockouts, particularly a Gail Kim-Awesome Kong battle, which is always a good thing. We do have to applaud TNA for making the most out of old, recycled material. Maybe they should adopt this tournament style more often, as it gives the matches and shows purpose.

– EC3’s promo put over his defeat of Lashley last week, saying he had fortitude and defended his underhanded ways, referring to a “by any means necessary” attitude to beat the beast. Decent promo work that strung together the tournament matches to make them feel like they’re building to future encounters.

– The Group Tag Team Specialists match between Matt Hardy and Robbie E saw two guys with three points go at it. This was a good clash in styles and both guys worked to make this as interesting as possible, going both inside and outside the ring. We saw more of the serious Robbie (despite those stupid references to his pointless feud with athlete Rob Gronkowksi) and it was good for him, but we all expected fan favorite Hardy to win this, giving him six points.

– Gail Kim’s promo put over her having one more chance at the World Title, referenced her past battles with Kong and claimed she was ready for the challenge. This match had great hype through the night, feeling like the proper “main event showdown.” Not the first time Kim-Kong headlined an Impact either.

– Hardy’s promo put Robbie E over and how he didn’t expect his aggressiveness, while Robbie E said he didn’t feel like a loser and was slowly moving away from the goofball fans perceived him to be. This was good for both characters… then Grado showed up with Hardy for a “selfie” and we groaned.

– The Group UK match between Grado and Drew Galloway started with a good hype video that chronicled Galloway’s career journey and how he worked his way to the main event of Bound For Glory and now that he had another chance, he wouldn’t let it slip by. This was likely the video that started playing at BFG, before surrendering to technical difficulties. Galloway showed good intensity and seemed all business. Their chemistry was a bit strained, but we saw Galloway beg for some aggression from his opponent and we got a taste of that, but it wasn’t enough to beat Galloway’s German suplex prowess and with that, he now had six points.

– The Group Wildcard match between Aiden O’Shea and Crazzy Steve saw two guys with zero points clash as they looked to “get out of the basement.” Despite the attempts to build this up as something more than barely passable midcard comedy revolving around a horn, that’s exactly how it still came off. O’Shea won this with a Clothesline From Hell to put this one to bed. Could O’Shea’s character be any less original?

– Abyss’ promo hyped his match against James Storm and acknowledged a need to “destroy the past to build his future,” that he didn’t need Storm or The Revolution and only gold would soothe him. If this was a way to try to build Abyss back up, we’re all for it. He couldn’t had been any more useless as jobber material in The Revolution.

– Grado’s backstage promo put over how dazed he was from getting beat by Galloway, thinking he had keys to a forklift. Kind of funny, but we’re so over Grado at this point. He doesn’t connect with American fans the way he does overseas.

– The Group TNA Originals match between Storm and Abyss felt somewhat important thanks to the prior hype and Storm tried to play “good guy” to get out of facing Abyss, who reminded Storm of who the beast he was. This was a fun little match that teased weapon use and also had Janice, cowbells and then beer to ultimately help Storm go over. There were some decent near-falls here as well, but we expected Storm to win. Given Storm’s NXT debut, we doubt he’ll be a factor down the road.

– The Mahabali Shera promo segment with Jeremy Borash in Nashville put over how much he wanted to win the belt for his native India, and he also talked of his other Group Wildcard competitors. Also seen was hype for “One Night Only: Mumbai.” Decent stuff to push that show, but still pretty eh. Shera isn’t the mouthpiece babyface TNA wants him to be, no matter how hard they push his cause. Also hyped here for next week were action from Group Wildcard (Shera Vs. Kenny King) and Group Knockouts (Brooke Vs. Madison Rayne) and an exclusive interview with Jeff Hardy, who was the official Referee in the fateful BFG main event, probably a catalyst of the injunction.

– The Group X-Division match between X-Division Champion Tigre Uno and DJZ was your basic X-Division match with some high-flying cruiserweight-esque action. Nothing new brought to the table in terms of spots, but we were surprised to see DJZ beat the Champ and for what it was, it was a decent match. We’re dying to see DJZ go back to his old roots, as he had a fun character. Please adopt the hairspray cocky heel persona again.

– The Group Knockouts main event match between Kim and Kong had excellent hype throughout the night of highlights of their past battles years ago (we were reminded just how much those two could go), this past April, and then on BFG. This was a worthy main event that had a share of high-energy pacing, but ultimately paled in comparison to their past battles. You have to know we’ll never get that again with Kong’s in-ring limits, but still good enough as Kim beat Kong, now in back-to-back matches counting BFG.

Quick Results

• Group Tag Team Specialists – Matt Hardy def. Robbie E  via pinfall (Hardy +3, Robbie E +0)
• Group UK – Drew Galloway def. Grado via pinfall (Galloway +3, Grado +0)
• Group Wildcard – Aiden O’Shea def. Crazzy Steve via pinfall (O’Shea +3, Steve +0)
• Group TNA Originals – James Storm def. Abyss via pinfall (Storm +3, Abyss +0)
• Group X-Division – DJZ def. Tigre Uno via pinfall (DJZ +3, Tigre +0)
• Group Knockouts – Gail Kim def. Awesome Kong via pinfall (Kim +3, Kong +0)