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 12/16/15)

Final Destination

– With this likely being the last episode of the “Destination America Era,” TNA took the next two hours to put focus on the final four competitors of the TNA World Title Series – Matt Hardy, Ethan Carter III, Eric Young and Bobby Lashley. It’s fitting given that these four were arguably the biggest stars of the year for the company where others left or fell short. Also in this filler-ific edition were two matches – an Eight-Man Tag between Group Future Four (Jessie Godderz, Eli Drake, Micah, Crimson) and Group X-Division (Manik, X-Division Champion Tigre Uno, Mandrews, DJZ) as well as a Four-Way Elimination match involving Bobby Roode, Rockstar Spud, Mr. Anderson and Eddie Edwards.

– Let’s get to the hype video portions of the show, that were each accompanied by one previous WTS match for each competitor in its entirety. Hardy’s portion had him say the same things again about how he accomplished the goal and had to climb the mountain again but didn’t mind because he wanted to prove to everybody how deserving he was. Lashley’s portion was from an odd hype video that mainly had The Pope and Josh Matthews talk about how fierce he was and on top of his game. Young’s portion put him over as a crazed individual who was in constant control of the Title’s fate. EC3’s portion was easily the most entertaining as it seemed to mock a general training video as we saw him briefly lift weights in a gym and throw his housekeeper in a pool. The name “Hardy” also made him take many shots of alcohol. His mic work was also stellar in putting over how the whole WTS was BS and revolved around a “loss” that should’ve never happened.

– The Eight-Man tag between Group Future Four and Group X-Division was basic filler deemed best for “X-Plosion” than Impact but it worked within the context of the tournament and them all being former competitors. it made sense that some of Group Future Four wouldn’t see eye-to-eye, like Drake/Godderz clashing egos and Drake/Micah being reluctant as former Rising stablemates. You had your fill of happy high-flying spots that the crowd seemed numb to, all ending in the story of Drake being abandoned by his team as his opponents were practically given him to destroy in the ring. As we said, forgettable stuff.

– The Four-Way Elimination All-Star match between Edwards, Roode, Spud and Anderson was better in terms of action but still fit the same “filler” category that was ultimately meaningless. The best part of the match was the Anderson-Roode final two but even that didn’t last long. Roode won by submission and people probably already forgot it by the end.

– Kurt Angle’s interview segment was him talking positively about the WTS and what it did for all the competitors, whom he had faced on different occasions. Filler stuff, but it was cool to see Angle back in the mix.

– The final four roundtable segment covered all the bases with Lashley accusing EC3 of not fighting for himself while EC3 talked about how he already beat Lashley in the tournament. Hardy said he wasn’t cool with some of what EY has done and vowed to beat it out of him. EY mentioned that Hardy emerged out of the weakest group while he came from the “group of death.” The segment ended with a memorable explosive burst from EY who was hellbent on ending Hardy. Granted, we didn’t hear anything new or groundbreaking, but it put the focus on the WTS, which will be the immediate focus when Impact Wrestling comes back on Jan. 5, 2016 debuting on POP TV.

Quick Results

• Eight-Man Tag – Group X-Division (Tigre Uno, Manik, Mandrews, DJZ) def. Group Future Four (Eli Drake, Jessie Godderz, Micah, Crimson) via pinfall
• Four-Way Elimination – Bobby Roode def. Rockstar Spud, Mr. Anderson and Eddie Edwards