Powell’s TNA Impact Wrestling Hit List: Eddie Edwards vs. EC3 for the TNA Championship, Allie vs. Laurel Van Ness, Moose vs. Aron Rex for the TNA Grand Championship, Broken Matt hypes Total Nonstop Deletion

By Jason Powell

TNA Impact Wrestling Hits

Broken Matt Hardy hypes Total Nonstop Deletion: Any segment involving King Maxel dressed in the same attire as his father is a Hit. He clapped with the crowd and then stole the show when he did the “Delete” arm motion. It will be very interesting to see what type of numbers the Total Nonstop Deletion edition of Impact delivers next week. Either way, I am really looking forward to the madness, and the video teaser that aired during the show added to that enthusiasm.

Moose vs. Aron Rex for the TNA Grand Championship: A minor Hit. Did Aron Rex dance with the Rockettes at the first WrestleMania? The opening segment with “Jedi” Drew Galloway returning to challenge Moose to a future match combined with this match helped make the Grand Championship feel more important.

Allie vs. Laurel Van Ness: A minor Hit. The match was over with the crowd and both women played their roles well. However, it didn’t feel like TNA got everything they could have out of this moment. As much television time as the Allie vs. Maria saga has received, it still felt like something was missing in the build to Allie’s big victory. There wasn’t enough hype given to the actual Allie vs. Van Ness match. It felt like just another match on the show going in, so the reveal that Allie has been training with Braxton Sutter didn’t pack as much of a punch because it didn’t feel like the stakes were high or like this was a high profile match. On the plus side, Allie’s post match giddiness in the scene outside the building was cute.

TNA Impact Wrestling Misses

Eddie Edwards vs. EC3 for the TNA Title: The Eddie Edwards as TNA Champion experiment has been a flop. TNA had a really good thing going with Lashley as the champion. They rolled the dice on Edwards, and it just hasn’t paid off. Edwards is excellent in the ring, but he never had the type of connection with the audience to justify this move. The finish of the match was contrived. It was a flat finish that did nothing for either wrestler or the championship.

Mandrews vs. Aiden O’Shea: Did TNA cut a Billy Corgan segment that explained why this match took place? O’Shea has come off heelish in his backstage segments while working as Corgan’s muscle, yet he faced newly turned heel Mandrews without any explanation. Did this match air out of sequence? Mandrews seemed a bit gloomy before the match, but he came off like the underdog babyface while working against the bigger man, and his finisher was a Shooting Star Press.

Al Snow and Mahabali Shera vs. The Tribunal: The strap match gimmick made this more tolerable than usual because it provided me with hope that it was the end of the feud. I realize that’s probably wishful thinking, but a man can dream of a world without Tribunal matches.