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 1/26/16)

Brother Vs. Brother

– “Big Money” Matt Hardy possibly had his career moment with his latest heel turn and following promo to close out last week’s show upon winning the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. As always, follow-up’s key. They addressed Jeff Hardy’s thoughts on it, who was purposely recommended to go to the hospital by Matt and his wife Reby before the match so he wouldn’t intervene in their plans. We liked how the show started with Jeff being approached backstage by cameras and addressing how Matt wouldn’t return his calls or texts and needed answers. Of course it was a little silly that in the midst of a serious search for explanations, he felt the urge to go paint his face first. This was a slick lead-in to the opening video which showcased Matt’s turn by resorting to low-blows, extreme Twists Of Fates and a hammer to finally become new Champion, turning Ethan Carter III babyface in the process, also gaining EC3’s former bodyguard, Tyrus.

– The opening segment with Jeff, Matt, Reby and Tyrus (who held Matt’s baby son the entire segment, hilarious) was an excellent kick-off to things. Sure, the Hardys aren’t synonymous with long promo segments, but this had enough storyline support to keep our interests. Jeff was rightfully disgusted by his brother’s actions and simply wanted answers. Matt had his new “family” and even a new theme song with the words, “I am iconic!” thrown in the intro, as he came out suit-clad. Matt’s new personality is that of someone who was convinced by his wife to stop giving and start taking. Reby even threw in a few good hateful lines to Jeff, blaming him for getting injured to make them forfeit the Tag Titles last year. Jeff’s comebacks of calling them bitches was acceptable for what it was, but we liked that he jumped the gun by asking to be Matt’s first Title defense. Of course our minds went to EC3, the former Champ, who should be owed that opportunity, but perhaps they were building to something with him later in the show or simply having him sell those injuries. Matt gave the perfect brother heel answer in saying he loved Jeff, but would rid himself of all guilt after taking him out got good. Matt had a golden run in Ring Of Honor as a top heel (anybody remember that “flash card” video segment?) and we even dug the “Mattitude” era in WWE, so he can play a great heel, with the exception of that forced turn back in 2009. All in all, this was a strong segment that put everything together and hyped a big main event.

– Oh, Feast Or Fired. Why is this still around? The whole concept lacks any intelligible qualities. Why on earth would anybody want to risk their careers for a Title shot that they could earn traditionally? Jeff received a World Title shot in the previous segment without risking his career. It’s all silly. They tried to make the match feel big by including a mashup of promos by competitors like Drew Galloway, Beer Money, Chris Melendez, Grado and Rockstar Spud, who all discussed the big rewards weighing out the ultimate risk. We knew Galloway would gun for a World Title shot, Beer Money had been targeting the World Tag Titles and Melendez, Grado or Spud were in the running for the King Of The Mountain Championship Title shot or the infamous pink slip.

– The “Feast Or Fired” match between Beer Money, Spud, Grado, Galloway, Melendez, Robbie E, Aiden O’Shea, King Of The Mountain Champion Eric Young, Bram, Jessie Godderz, Eli Drake had everyone vying for four briefcases, three with Shots for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship, World Tag Team Championship, King Of The Mountain Championship and the pink slip. Grado got case #2. Galloway got case #1. Drake got case #4. Storm got case #3. A senseless boring spot fest for a stupid stipulation. Watching a group of people scramble for four unnamed cases isn’t the least bit intriguing. What could work better would be if the match had four people and only three cases with unrevealed Title shots, the only person remaining not to get a case would be fired on the spot. This is just TNA being TNA. Also, why’s Young in a match where one of the prizes is a shot at his own Championship? They could’ve filled this logic gap by having Young address it in the video package that he was trying to get out of defending the belt, but leaving it unmentioned made it look bad.

– We liked the Kurt Angle-Jeff backstage segment as we got the message that Angle had Jeff’s back while Jeff felt conflicted about needing to fight his brother and disliked Reby for constantly being in her brother’s ear, causing this new attitude change.

– How many times are we going to see X-Division Champion defend his Title against DJ Z and Mandrews? This was the same match we had seen countless times, even with the same tired old spots, like Mandrews’ Skateboard hurricanrana. DJ Z at least switched things up a bit to keep things slightly freshened. Tigre retaining was no surprise and then out comes Gregory Shane Helms in that damn green jacket… again. This time however, we had an actual payoff since he cut a promo that put the X-Division over as something that built the company and confidently told Tigre he’d have one week to prepare to lose his Championship, ending it with a condescending “amigo” and telling him his time was over. Helms was sort of heelish there, which makes sense against the babyface Uno. At this point, we want to just get this match over and done with. It sounded cool back in October. They stretched it out way too long.

– We’re in a new TNA world where Awesome Kong leads the Dollhouse and actually cuts promos. We don’t mind this though, since she’s entertaining on the mic in this role and has a Queen Latifah delivery to her. She’s got spunk. This hyped Kong’s match with Velvet Sky later on.

– The Drake-Godderz backstage segment was ultimately pointless since Godderz was convincing Drake to open the case early (against the “rules” if there ever were any) since he was paranoid about being fired now that he made a decision. Um, how about just avoiding the match entirely?

– The Angle-Matt-Tyrus backstage segment was a good follow-up to the previous Angle segment, since he wanted answers from Matt himself and criticized him for tarnishing his own family name, while Matt regarded himself as an innovator who built things and mentioned he highly respected Angle as someone on his level, but warned him not to put his nose in his business or it’d be broken. We’re guessing maybe Angle ends his TNA run with a match against Hardy, who could use the extra rub of saying he beat Angle and “ended his career.” Oh, the possibilities.

– The Kong-Sky match ultimately turned out to be a squash for Kong to showcase she could kick ass even without her Dollhouse mates at ringside. This seemed counterproductive though, since Kong’s a monster and never needed help before, but we applaud the effort to put Dollhouse over, especially with the post-match stuff when Madison Rayne tried to save Sky and ended up getting beat down by Rebel, Jade and Marti Bell, holding her down while Kong did a second rope frog splash, presumably crushing Sky’s insides.

– Given what previously happened to them, it made sense for TNA World Tag Team Champions, The Wolves, to want a match against Crazzy Steve and his “unnamed attacker” last week that beat them down and robbed their Titles. This was simply a challenge.

– Now for the ridiculously filler segment of the case reveals – we did like that “The Miracle” Mike Bennett and Maria had their weekly moment of TV time, finding the moment of someone about to lose their job “glorious and in need of a miracle.” Still don’t fully get this character or what it stands for, even through the great delivery and look to the character. This was basically a way to set up a Galloway-Bennett feud based on their interaction. Drake went first and relieved himself by knowing he had a KOTM Title shot, even though that creates an intensely awkward heel vs. heel match against Young. Storm received a Tag Title shot to no surprise, even if the idea of flirting with his career after just coming back to TNA in a big return was needless. Galloway would either receive a World Title shot or a pink slip and with Grado left, we held our collective breaths. Galloway got the Title shot and Grado the pink slip. Well, so much for that. Bye, Grado. Time for a repackaging.

– The Steve/Abyss-Wolves match revolved around the unraveling of Steve’s “bizarre” new stable, featuring a new gothic female clown, who came out talking in riddles before introducing Abyss as Steve’s new partner. We actually kind of like this pairing since it works for both guys and gives them something to do. The DQ finish was meant to set up a future match and we saw the gothic female clown spew purple mist in Davey Richard’s face. Can we run with The Bizarres as their team name for now?

– The final segment featuring Matt, Jeff, Reby, Tyrus, Young, Bram, Beer Money, Angle Steve and Abyss was a clever way to continue some feuds while also teasing the Jeff-Matt showdown only to rip it from our grasps at the last-minute, as they found a way to write Jeff off TV while TNA prepared to go to the United Kingdom, where Jeff’s banned from competing. While it’s predictable, they used the opportunity to get Young over with the table pilderiver to take Jeff out, while Matt/Reby kissed on the ramp and he did nothing to save his brother, while Young/Bram also attacked Jeff and were attacked by Beer Money, who were then attacked by Steve/Abyss. We even saw Angle try to reason with Matt before getting knocked out with the Championship by Tyrus. Matt left the segment with more heat, while the stage was set for EC3 to get a big hero’s welcome when he returns.

Quick Results

• Feast Or Fired – Grado Is Fired, Drew Galloway Wins TNA World Heavyweight Championship Title Shot, Eli Drake Wins King Of The Mountain Championship Title Shot and James Storm Wins TNA World Tag Team Championship Title Shot
• X-Division Championship – Tigre Uno (Champion) def. DJ Z and Mandrews via pinfall to retain
• Awesome Kong def. Velvet Sky via pinfall
• The Wolves def. Crazzy Steve/Abyss (w/Gothic Female Clown) via DQ