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 6/21/16)

Hardy’s Revenge 2016

– Because it’s Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (or Impact Wrestling? No, that’s the name of the television show… Has to be… They never actually call themselves “TNA,” but… eh, never mind), every year we have a situation where Jeff Hardy returns from some kind of dastardly doing by an opponent and gets “revenge” with a main event where he gets said retribution. What great timing this year since he was entangled in a brotherly rivalry with a “Broken” Matt Hardy in a feud that has intrigued and confused us simultaneously. Arguably, we’d say the peak has been the “Swanton from the Heavens,” but things continue because now Matt’s a weird, piano-driven, big-haired maniac. Anyways, the show’s opening video previewed this big Six Sides Of Steel main event between the Hardys.

– There was nice attention paid to the World Title scene, as a big focus was on the quarrels between Drew Galloway and Ethan Carter III and an overconfident TNA World Heavyweight Champion Lashley over the whole thing. In the previous week’s main event, Galloway received his rematch, but lost because EC3 accidentally hit him with a chair upon an attempt to stop Lashley from “ruining” the match. This week, we saw Galloway outright come out and call EC3 out to blame him for what happened. EC3 felt that Galloway burned himself out and did everything to himself. Just when they were about to come to blows, Lashley came out and kept his act going. We never do understand why a heel Champion wouldn’t want to let his rivals just fight each other to the death instead of intervening, but it created a reason for the night’s first match and had World Title implications upon interest in EC3/Galloway’s strained relationship. In other words, Lashley would fight them both with a partner and if they won, his partner would get a Title shot. If Ec3/Galloway won, they’d get Title shots. Yup, you follow? Enter in TNA King Of The Mountain Champion Eli Drake as Lashley’s partner and we were set. Could guess who’s winning this.

– The dysfunction of the EC3/Galloway team was the main story of the match as it went on, as they one-upped each other at the expense of Drake’s chest. Some nice action down the stretch though, as the chaos nearly cost the babyfaces the match, with them disagreeing who’d get the pinfall. Brief tease as Lashley speared EC3 (not the legal man) for Galloway to throw him out and pin Drake to secure their future Title shots.

– TNA World Tag Team Champions Decay have been doing fine things, as far as dark, crazed, face-painted individuals go. Some open speculation amongst Abyss and Crazzy Steve as for who Rosemary was talking about as another addition saw her use third-person point of view as “we.” Sounds like the reveal would happen soon.

– Lashley made it no secret that he had an edge in getting to choose between Galloway and EC3 on his own terms and tried to intimidate Galloway in a backstage segment with the fact. Definitely like this new Lashley. Reminds us of what NXT’s doing right now with their Champion, Samoa Joe. They’re almost virtually the same character and that’s a good thing.

– Sounds like TNA wants to get Bram over as a babyface, but aren’t sure where to start. They’ve made the choice to have him work with Decay, which we guess fits his “crazy” image, but there’s hopefully more to it than this. They teased having Bram join Decay as the newest member but he refused with the reason of not needing anybody and after mentioning how Rosemary was attractive, he wasn’t a “freak.” The heel beatdown that followed made sense given Bram called them “freaks” and it also makes us want to see how Bram gets back at them, likely with a partner.

– Lashley’s game of mental edge continued on as he told EC3 the same thing he told Galloway earlier in how he held all the cards this time. EC3 didn’t do more than refer to Lashley as a coward, but it gave us a hook as Lashley revealed that he’d announce who he chose first ti face by the end of the night. Waiting game. Yes.

– Since Marti Bell’s return at Slammiversary where she cost Jade the TNA Knockouts Championship, there has been a renewed rivalry between the two former Dollhouse mates. They’ve tried to give us background with Bell cutting some promos on how she felt betrayed while Jade has been mainly silent on the issue and just fights the woman who comes at her. It has been the female equivalent of WWE’s Sami Zayn-Kevin Owens feud nearly, just a bit worse. The Bell-Jade match had the right amount of animosity (we liked how Jade ran down to the ring to chase the baton-brandishing Bell) and there were some justifiably harsh spots to coincide with the storyline’s feel. Their styles didn’t mesh at times, but at least the dirty baton finish kept Bell on the upside of the feud so far. We feel this heading towards a hardcore stipulation of some kind to even the odds.

– After she was unceremoniously slapped by Dixie Carter, Maria was out to take charge along with The Miracle. They had calling out Dixie in their agenda. Oh geez.

– Just when Lashley had all the momentum, Dixie took it away like that when she decided that it’d be three-way next week in the main event because they “needed the biggest match they could get.” Right. Did like Lashley’s “I’m cool with it, but inside my head, I’m really not” response to the news.

– The ensemble of Miracle, Maria, Dixie and William Corgan make for some shaky-ass segments. Miracle/Maria did manage to get good heat with overdramatic accusations of assault before the nonsense kicked in. Dixie was way too dramatic for her own acting good. Still don’t know why it was the “slap that changed everything.” Been poorly explained. A “turn” happened when Corgan sympathized with Miracle/Maria and promptly dismissed Dixie for a week leave. They then manipulated him into allowing Miracle an X-Division Championship shot to be able to go through with his “Option C” mission to get to the TNA World Heavyweight Championship by Destination X.

– The TNA X-Division Championship match between Champion Edwards and Miracle didn’t get enough time to become anything great and needless to say, it was the result we’d end up caring about by the end. The dirty finish actually gave Miracle his first TNA Title and at the expense of Edwards, who just got over as Champion with the feud against The Helms Dynasty. Don’t necessarily agree with it, but there is a rematch in store we’d imagine.

– Finally, something interesting with The Bro-Mans/Raquel. It was implied that Jessie/Raquel are connecting romantically behind Robbie E’s back and Robbie only found out because he got the feed to the parking lot camera from Jessie’s iPad (cheap Big Brother After Dark plug) but it created something. Understandably, Robbie walked out of the room when Jessie came in, much to his confusion. Will they now fight over Raquel? Decent job at making Jessie look conflicted in all of this.

– The push of Braxton Sutter continued and this time, they were smart to pair him up with Rockstar Spud, who lit it up with an intense pre-match promo where he essentially verbally barraged Sutter’s original “Balam” opponent and insulted Sutter to his face. Impromptu match FTW. The match itself was an uneventful squash and we were about to poop on how Spud has constantly been misused… until the well-done low-blow after Spud teased approval for Sutter.

– Another smart moment to push new talent with a hype video to get TNA Knockouts Champion Sienna over as a versatile ass-kicker in the form of mixed martial arts and brutality in the ring. It gave her an identity and she explained how she wrestled all over the world in front of many different crowds and was ready for whatever was coming. We also got her clear mission to destroy Gail Kim when the two would fight next week with the belt on the line. Good stuff. Also like how she proclaimed herself “The New Breed Of The Knockouts.” That could catch on.

– Now it was main event time… Six Sides Of Steel, Hardys-style. It was the expected bout, as Jeff introduced a ladder and two tables to the fray, while Reby gave her “Broken” husband a hearty intro. The brothers delivered an exciting, entertaining match but because it was “Hardy’s Revenge,” Jeff couldn’t possibly lose this. Matt had some credibility since he kicked out of two Twist Of Fates and a Swanton Bomb at one point but it led to the latest crazy “Jeff finish” – a Swanton Bomb off the top of the cage and though Matt and two tables placed strategically. Does that mean it’s all over?

Quick Results

• If Drew Galloway/Ethan Carter III Win, They Receive Shots At TNA World Heavyweight Championship. If Lashley/Eli Drake Win, Drake Receives Shot At TNA World Heavyweight Championship – Ethan Carter III/Drew Galloway def. Lashley/Eli Drake via pinfall 
• Marti Bell def. Jade via pinfall 
• TNA X-Division Championship – The Miracle (w/Maria) def. Eddie Edwards (Champion) via pinfall to become new Champion 
• Braxton Sutter def. Rockstar Spud via pinfall 
• Six Sides Of Steel – Jeff Hardy def. Matt Hardy via pinfall