10/27 Moore’s TNA Impact Wrestling TV Review: “Treat or Delete” – The Hardy Family Halloween Special, Eddie Edwards and Bobby Lashley contract signing, Cody and Brandi Rhodes vs. Mike Bennett and Maria

By John Moore

TNA Impact Wrestling on PopTV
Taped October 2016 in Orlando, Florida at Universal Studios 

This week’s Impact Wrestling started off in Cameron, North Carolina as shown written in a water tower. Broken Matt Hardy said that he invited the cameras over because these events must be documented. Matt said we were going to celebrate All Hallows Eve at his personal pumpkin patch. Matt brought Brother Nero, Reby, Maxel, and Senor Benjamin (who wore a Vanguard 1 hologram t-shirt) to the patch. Matt thanked Vanguard 1 and Senor Benjamin for making a corn maze which Matt said would be delightful. The Hardy family then explored the corn maze. Jeff Hardy got lost and for some reason started to eat some corn. Matt said he was adrift in Senor Benjamin’s maze of corn for the third year. Jeff was choking on the raw corn. Matt Hardy had a premonition and he summoned the scribe out of nowhere. Matt said an outsider will come to the Hardy Compound and will deliver a message that would be looming. The Hardy Family then conquered the corn maze. Matt said they were going home to indulge in “Treat or Delete!”…

John’s Thoughts: Treat or delete? Looks like we’re getting the TNA/Hardy Halloween special. Honestly though, I’m much more hyped to see this show than your traditional Halloween Raw or pre Broken Hardy Impact.

Ethan Carter III was making his entrance for a tag team match after the opening cinematic. Josh Mathews and Pope D’Angelo Dinero checked in on commentary. His tag team partner was the BroMan Jessie Godderz. Jessie’s video wall reminded us that he was a BroMan. This was the tag team match set up from last week. Eli Drake was out first. Aron Rex followed receiving a “Dixie Carter” like reaction…

1. Ethan Carter III and Jessie Godderz vs. Eli Drake and Aron Rex. Godderz started the match against Aron Rex. Rex took down Rex with a shoulder block. Godderz came right back with an armdrag. Speaking of Dixie Carter, the screen reminded us that we should all follow Dixie Carter for some reason. EC3 and Godderz traded tags to work on Godderz. Godderz hit a high dropkick on Rex. EC3 followed up with a missile dropkick. Rex managed to stagger Ethan and tagged in Drake. Drake dominated a bit until he was hit by a clothesline. Eli Drake ran around outside and ran back in the ring to tag in Rex.

Rex blocked the Boston crab. Drake tagged in and was met with a shot from the gut. Godderz hit Drake with an enziguri. Godderz and EC3 nailed Drake with a double flapjack… [C]

The heels dominated back from the break. Godderz gained a little bit of breathing room after he and Drake clotheslined each other. Both men got the tags. EC3 hit a DDT on Rex to cause him to retreat. Drake stopped Ethan from doing the stinger splash by holding his leg which allowed Rex to run in and put the boots to Ethan. Drake tagged in and isolated Ethan in his corner. Drake countered what little momentum Carter could muster with a scoop slam and elbow drop. Rex tagged in and they continued the isolation game. Rex hit the elbow of distain on EC3. Ethan tried to run at Drake with a splash but took a cutter from Drake. Drake gained a nearfall which Josh called it like Vince McMahon would have told him to; by saying we have a winner but no.

Rex and Drake continued to dominate. EC3 and Drake traded right hands. EC3 escaped and locked in the sleeper hold on drake. Drake escaped and locked in a sleeper hold of his own. EC3 escaped with a jawbreaker. EC3 escaped a scoop slam and tagged in Godderz for the hot tag. Godderz hit an Olympic Slam on Drake. Drake tagged in Rex but Godderz continued his attack. Godderz dropkicked Drake off the top rope. The referee lost control over who was the legal man. Rex raked the eyes of Godderz and had some sort of foreign object on his hands which Josh Mathews pointed out. Aron Rex won with a single punch. (huh… that’s two matches in a row where I watched someone use “The power of the punch” finish. the last one was on last night’s Lucha Underground).

Aron Rex and Eli Drake defeated Jessie Godderz and Ethan Carter III via pinfall in 11:19 of TV time.

Eli Drake and Aron Rex celebrated their win. Josh Mathews was particularly focused on the fingers of Aron Rex. Josh Mathews pointed out how Rex had tape on his fingers. Josh Mathews also pointed out how Aron Rex wore giant rings on his fingers last week to insinuate that he used the rings as weapons to knock out Godderz. Josh Mathews kept calling for different camera angles but they couldn’t get a good angle on if Rex used foreign objects. They showed clips of Maria tripping Brandi Rhodes from last week…

Maria was talking to herself in a mirror and talking about how Mike Bennett was a better husband than Cody Rhodes. Suddenly Brandi walked into the room and scared off Maria. Josh Mathews said Cody and Brandi would be facing Mike Bennett and Maria Kenellis later tonight…

Jeremy Borash was backstage and Grado dance on set. Grado said his favorite holiday was Halloween. He liked asking for candy. He said he can no longer get the candy but he can give the trick. He teased dressing up as someone. Jeremy Borash wanted to know and said he would keep it off mic. They then said Bro Man I think which means he’s dressing up as BroMans?… [C]

John’s Thoughts: That was an okay match that probably went four or five minutes longer than it should have. It dragged a bit with the heel isolation segments. Josh Mathews got lame again this week by doing the Vince McMahon false finish call which he did in most of last week’s matches. He did redeem himself though by pointing out the possible cheating by Aron Rex. I like the attention to continuity as Rex did make it a point to show off his rings last week without pointing them out and they did come into play this week.

Back at the Hardy Compound, trick or treaters came to the Hardys’ door. Matt assumed that the Robin Hood kid was dressing as Stephen Amell, the Green Arrow. Matt asked them for treat or delete. They wanted treats of course. Reby tried to give them candy but Matt called it poison and instead gave them green beans. The green arrow kid didn’t like green beans. Matt told him to take a bite and kid said it wasn’t good. A baby came to the door and said “gah!”. Matt assumed it was “Treat” in a foreign tune. Jeff walked up to some kids and said “I’ll fade away and classify myself as obsolete”. The kids responded with “Obsolete” and Matt gave them green beans. One of the kids was dressed up as a box of doughnuts. Matt said if you eat too many doughnuts you can instantaneously turn into a “Fatt Hardy” and no one likes a “Fatt Hardy”…

John’s Thoughts: Dammit Matt! You would think that these references would get old soon but Matt just continues to crack me and the viewers up!!!

Rockstar Spud was cutting a backstage promo and called himself a two time X Division Champion and future world champion. He said he found two partners including a former X Division Champion…

Grado made his entrance next. He said this was the best and he loves coming to TNA where he has the time of his life. Grado said this was his dream. Grado said he wants more and he will bring out an inspiration guy. He said this guy was a legend. He said this guy was a future TNA Hall of Famer with the best hip toss in the game today. He called this guy the best wrestler in the world, Robbie E. Robbie E wouldn’t come out until after a while. Robbie said this was weird. Grado said this was Halloween. He said on Halloween you can be anybody you want to be. Grado said he wanted to be a BroMan and ran backstage. Robbie said it takes years to be a BroMan. Grado came out wearing yellow tights and covered himself in oil…

John’s Thoughts: Is Grado trying to be a BroMan or is he going for Big Dick Johnson? The legacy of Lucha Underground’s Chris DeJoseph will live on forever!

Grado tried to do play Jessie Godderz and he made the BroMan entrance. Grado made his way to the announce table and scared Pope. The lights went out and when they came back on the DCC guys put the boots to Robbie E and Grado. The DCC laid out Robbie with a punt to the gut. One of the masked guys gave Grado a spike piledriver… [C]

They showed a clip from before Impact. Allie walked into a near empty Impact Zone. Aiden O’Shea called Allie over so she can chat with Billy Corgan. Allie said hello to Billy Corgan. Billy said Maria no longer makes matches, he does. Allie said she will probably get her ass kicked tonight but she has to stand up for herself. Corgan said what happens in the ring could be really tough. Allie said sometimes in life you have to take a stand and that’s what she’s going to do. Billy Corgan said to let’s do it and he booked Allie vs. Laurel Van Ness…

It was Team X Gold time. Ugh. But they didn’t do the X Division intro graphic this time. DJ Zema Ion, Mark Andrews, and Braxton Sutter came out and we were told they were called Team Go For Broke. Rockstar Spud came out to his old entrance theme. Spud said he was sick of being overlooked in this division. He said he was a future world champion and was going to bring out his team. He said he promised that they will feel pain, hurt, and were going to Decay. Decay came out as Spud’s partners. Josh Mathews pointed out how Abyss was the former X Division Champion that Spud was talking about…

2. DJ Z, Braxton Sutter, and Mark Andrews vs. Rockstar Spud, Crazzy Steve, and Abyss. Spud teased starting the match with Sutter but then tagged in Abyss. Abyss fought Sutter into the corner who quickly escaped . Sutter mounted punches in the corner. Sutter went to the top and knocked down Abyss with a flying shoulder block. Abyss gave Steve a powerslam and tagged in Andrews. Steve countered with a short arm clothesline. Spud tagged himself in after Steve dominated Andrews. Andrews escaped with a jawbreaker making Spud quickly tag in Abyss. Abyss and Steve traded tags to keep Andrews in their corner. Steve kicked Andrews away from his corner.

Andrews hit a double footstomp on Steve. DJ Z tagged in. Zema hit Steve with a back elbow. Zema ran off Steve’s back to kick Abyss off the apron. Spud was caught and hit with the ZDT for the win.

DJ Zema Ion, Braxton Sutter, and Mark Andrews defeated Rockstar Spud, Crazzy Steve, and Abyss via pinfall in 4:00.

Team Go for Broke celebrated in the middle of the ring as Spud rolled on the ground in pain. Sutter had this flag that he waved around. It had a gold X. Eddie Edwards was shown walking backstage wearing a suit. Josh Mathews said a contract signing with Lashley was happening after the break… [C]

John’s Thoughts: What is Team X Gold again? Is it to wave a flag with a gold letter on it? Honestly, it probably is just a name they give to six person spotfest these days. With heavyweight Marshe Rockett a few weeks ago and Abyss this week I assuming they are going with the “No Limits” thing in the X Division again. Well… Who cares? until they finally figure out how to not do multi-men spotfests. On another note, I noticed earlier but it stood out with them editing out Spud’s theme. They took out both Smashing Pumpkins songs so far with the Impact Wrestling theme and Spud’s theme. They edited in Spud’s babyface theme while also using the last TNA Impact intro theme on Spike TV which was produced by Dale Oliver. I’m not going to assume that this is due to all of the TNA legal battle.

Cody and Brandi were interviewed backstage. Cody said Maria took advantage of the opportunity to attack his wife. Cody said when a Bennett and a Rhodes are in the ring the Rhodes will always win. Cody said a miracle is a creation of a divine agency but Bennett wasn’t a Miracle he was just smoke and mirrors. Brandi Rhodes said she was going to make that bitch tap out…

Jeremy Borash was in the ring for the Bobby Lashley and Eddie Edwards contract signing. Lashley was out first and Josh Mathews talked about Lashley picking up a win in Bellator recently and calling out Eddie Edwards. Eddie Edwards followed with his entrance. JB said seven days from tonight both men will face each other for the World Championship. Borash said that Impact officials have banned Lashley and Edwards from having any physicality until the matchup. Borash said each man will have a chance for final comments. Lashley as the challenger was allowed first comments.

Lashley said it was funny how there was a no tough clause in the contract and it was because everyone knows that it was always pain for Edwards and fun for Lashley. Lashley said the same thing will happen next week with Edwards getting beat up. Lashley said that’s why he has to jump through hoops. Lashley said everyone wants Eddie to win but it doesn’t matter what they want. Lashley said next week he was going to destroy Eddie and it will go poof. Lashley said the title should go on the shoulders of someone who is credible. Lashley said he can defend this company against anyone who steps in the ring. Lashley said he was the most dominant man in combat sports. Lashley said the title on Edwards’s shoulder is a joke. He said he wants Edwards to sign the contract. He said Edwards should just forfeit the title and make history by retiring as champion.

Edwards stopped Lashley and said that Lashley was playing mind games. Edwards said he knows he got his ass whooped the first time. He said he told his wife he felt like he got hit by a truck but the next time he saw her she saw him with the World Heavyweight Championship. Edwards brought up how Lashley thought Edwards was the easy choice and that was on Lashley and now he was getting a rematch. Lashley said Eddie was right, he underestimated Eddie Edwards and thought that when he saw the three guys standing there he thought that Eddie was going to be an easy match. He said this was supposed to be a walkthrough and he made a mistake. Lashley said Eddie Edwards got lucky. Lashley said this was not a movie and it was real life. He said in real life you get lucky and now you’re going to pay. He said he was going to beat Eddie down and walk his sorry ass out of this arena and become world champion again.

Eddie Edwards said he wasn’t a one hit wonder, he wasn’t Vanilla Ice. Eddie said this wasn’t a Rocky movie. Eddie said that this is his whole life. He said this was going to be a fight but a fight that he’s not going to run from so he was going to sign the contract now. Lashley wanted to know if Eddie signed it and then signed it himself. Eddie asked Lashley what would happen if Lashley signs the contract and loses. He said would the fans see Lashley as the man who was unbeatable, or as Eddie Edwards’s bitch. Lashley flipped the table and JB reminded Lashley that there was not supposed to be physicality. Lashley signed the contract and Borash announced that the match was official. Lashley said Eddie signed his fate and Lashley was going to hurt Eddie real bad. Lashley said Eddie made a mistake and that was the last time for Eddie. Eddie Edwards held up his title as Lashley exited up the ramp…

John’s Thoughts: How the hell did Lashley get so good on the mic? He went from only having one blank facial expression to being a master of many! Lashley was great here and made himself a deep character here. What also helped is that he won his Bellator fight recently (even though Bellator doesn’t really put him against top tier competition I hear). Lashley was so good that he won over a decent portion of the crowd that isn’t fully sold on Eddie Edwards yet. Eddie is trying, but his title win did come out of nowhere and Eddie was just recovering from being in X Division hell. Eddie Edwards does seem to get better at the end of his promos whereas the beginnings of his promos are very generic babyface.

Clips from last week’s Maria and Allie segment played where Allie stood up to Maria. Laurel Van Ness found Braxton Sutter backstage and said she notices how Allie looked at Sutter. Laurel proposed that they celebrate their victories later together…

Back at the Hardy Compound Matt, Jeff, and Senor Benjamin were shocked at the latest trick or treater. Matt yelled “Holy neon green beans!” to Brother Nero. He asked the person if they were a bit too old to be treating or deleting? Jeff asked this person how old he was. Jeff said he was familiar but the costume was horrific. The camera shifted to show that it was Shane Helms as The Hurricane! Matt yelled Delete and shut the door which made Hurricane pout and walk away.

Matt asked where was Jeff’s costume even though this was supposed to be Jeff’s favorite holiday. Jeff said sorry and walked out. Jeff then rang the bell and was transformed into his Itchweed character (I looked this up, Itchweed is one of Jeff’s OMEGA/Hardy Show alter egos. Just like Willow the Wisp). Jeff was spazzing out and saying random things. Matt said that Jeff’s accelerated speech was glorious. Jeff then revved up the weedwacker and showed off his amazing lawn trimming skills again. Jeff wrote Happy Halloween in the lawn…

John’s Thoughts: The Hardys should handle all pro wrestling holiday specials from now on…

3. Laurel Van Ness vs. Allie. Allie was dressed in street clothes. Madison Rayne was on commentary for some reason. Laurel gave Allie shoulder tackles in the corner. Laurel tossed around Allie with ease. Allie managed to slap Laurel but Laurel ran at Allie with a clothesline. Laurel then tossed Allie outside to continue the one-sided match. Allie dodged an incoming Laurel which sent her into the steel steps. Allie took Laurel in the ring and gave Laurel the ground and pound. Allie tripped Laurel and got a nearfall out of it. Laurel hit the back stomp on Allie to pick up the win.

Laurel Van Ness defeated Allie via pinfall in 4:39.

Allie cried on the floor as Laurel walked out of the ring…

It was back to the Hardy Compound where Señor Benjamin opened the door to two people dressed up as Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. Señor Benjamin told the Trump guy that he was going to build a wall and bury Trump beneath it. Benjamin tased the Trump guy and laughed. Jeff/Itchweed ran in and talked to Hilary about Emails. Matt ran in and said Hilary deleted them. Jeff talked about Boo Radley from To Kill a Mockingbird. Boo Radley Vanguard 1 flew in and scared off the Hilary person. Matt told the scribe that in the darkest hour of our country he will illuminate the country with his broken brilliance. Matt Hardy then proposed himself as president for 2016… [C]

Jessie Godderz confronted Aron Rex backstage and asked him whether he was proud in the ways he picked up wins against Godderz. Rex said a win was a win and what a champ does is win. Jessie then asked Rex for a title shot which Rex granted. Rex told Godderz to get ready and that he would see him in the ring (as he adjusted the tape covering his rings)…

Back at the Hardy Compound, a trick or treater wearing a DCC mask and Spiderman costume handed Reby a tablet for Matt to watch. The Hardy Family watched the video. It was the DCC and they said they warned them and they didn’t prepare. They said the first attack was a warning shot and the next attack was a statement. They said they hold Broken, Obsolete, and Champions dear. They said next week they challenge the Hardys and will take everything away from them. Josh Mathews then said that the challenge was placed for the world tag titles and wondered if the Hardys will accept…

Mike Bennett was backstage and said Cody likes saying “all roads lead to…”. Bennett said his road leads to Mike Bennett. Bennett said he pinned the unpinnable EC3 and that Lashley was afraid to face him. Bennett said he beat the current TNA World Champion Eddie Edwards. Bennett said that Cody doesn’t have the first lady of professional wrestling as well, Maria. Maria said Cody only has Brandi Rhodes. Maria said Brandi was one tenth of herself. Maria said tonight they were going to find out why Maria was the first lady of professional wrestling… [C]

A video package played recapping Lashley losing to Eddie Edwards for the TNA World Championship. After that Maria and Mike Bennett made their way to the ring for the main event match.

4. Mike Bennett and Maria vs. Cody and Brandi Rhodes. Brandi wanted to start the match off with Maria who joked around with mock workouts. Maria quickly tagged in Mike Bennett. Cody had to come in and eat a superkick. Josh Mathews pointed out how this was mixed tag rules so the men had to face the men while the women faced the women. Cody turned the early tide and hit Bennett with a delayed front suplex. Cody was distracted by Brandi wanting to come in the match which allowed Bennett to sneak in a cutter.[C]

Bennett dominated coming back from the break. Bennett tossed Cody out of the ring and distracted the ref so Maria could kick Cody in the gut. Bennett tossed Cody into the outside barricade. Cody got a few shots in but accidentally gave the clothesline into the turnbuckle. Mike Bennett ran the ropes but accidentally knocked off Maria from the apron to cause Bennett to be distracted. Cody tried to tag Brandi but Maria tripped her off the apron. Bennett tried to hold Cody into position for a low blow but she accidentally kicked Bennett in the balls. This allowed Brandi to be tagged in to pummel Maria with punches. Brandi and Maria had a catfight sequence.

Brandi hit clotheslines on Maria. Maria came back with a kick but fell into Mike Bennett who teased ball pain. Brandi locked in some sort of submission while Cody locked in the Indian Deathlock. Mike Bennett and Maria tapped out in unison.

Cody and Brandi defeated Mike Bennett and Maria via pinfall in 6:26 of TV time.

Cody and Brandi shared a kiss in the middle of the ring. They showed highlights from the match as Josh Mathews did the play-by-play. The camera followed Cody and Brandi to the backstage area. Cody thanked the production people. Lashley ran in and beat up Cody. Brandi tried bout couldn’t stop Bobby Lashley. A camera showed Cody’s POV and Lashley told Cody that no one comes in his house without his permission…

John’s Thoughts: Nope. That wasn’t a good match at all. Building a match around the limitations of Brandi and Maria would certainly not produce a good match on TV. I like that Cody is trying to do this possibly to get Brandi some experience but she’s just too green to appear on national TV as a pro wrestler. Everything Cody is doing seems to be moving in fast forward because he’s just breezing through all of his feuds after one or two weeks per feud. That’s probably a result of him not being contracted to TNA. I did like the Lashley attack afterwards. It was simple, albeit a bit cheesy with the camera angle. Lashley is just too good these days so anything he does is golden.

Looking back at this episode, noting stood out as must see from an in-ring perspective but several segments made this show. One segment was the Lashley and Eddie Edwards contract signing which was splendid. At the same time, the Hardy madness still hasn’t gotten old. I know people are usually sick of pro wrestling holiday specials but this holiday special was fun because of the Hardy Broken universe. I want to see the Thanksgiving special and Christmas one now! That surely beats having the TNA Turkey Bowl which I hope they don’t bring back now that they actually have control over their television content this year.

Feedback is always appreciated and feel free to contact me via twitter @liljohnm to tweet and discuss Impact. You can also comment and discuss TNA directly with me via email: jmoore3.net@gmail.com.