The show opens up with promos for Kurt Angle and Tazz in the balcony of the arena. Very good way to start the show. This one has a special feel to it.
Bully Ray & Tommy Dreamer are out next, but they are interrupted mid-promo by EC3 and Rhino. As the weeks go on, I continue to grow more fond of EC3. The way he worked the fans here and responded to their chants here was perfect. His future is bright. The two teams end up brawling and we have our first match of the evening.
1) Bully Ray & Tommy Dreamer vs. Rhino & EC3
Pretty basic tag team match here, but it was very entertaining. The crowd was on fire so that helped it alot. Bully & Dreamer got some cool double team moves in to get a nice pop from the crowd. EC3 & Rhino drew a ton of heat from the NYC faithful simply by just being themselves and for scoring the cheap victory. Good start to the show.
2) Austin Aries vs. Eddie Edwards vs. Manik vs. Davey Richards vs. Zema Ion vs. Tigre Uno vs. Crazy Steve vs. Senada - 8 Man Gauntlet for the X Division Title
The competitors entered in the order listed above. Aries and Edwards start out with a nice exchange then Manik enters the fray and the pace really picks up. Davey Richards hit the ring next and did some team work with Eddie. Zema Ion, yes I refuse to call him DJZ, hit the ring and did his share of fantastic manuevers. They cut to commercial and when we come back, Tigre Uno and Crazy Steve are in. There's a nice multi man spot here where all seven men hit high impact moves on each other leaving no one standing. It earns a "This is awesome" chant and I agree. That was great. Manik hurricanranas Zema out of the ring and takes himself out as well. It ends up coming down to Aries and Senada. They had a phenomenal match last week and while their exchange here wasn't as good, it was still entertaining. Senada got control first and kept a pretty slow pace while Aries kicked into high gear every time he got control of the match which ended up earning him the victory. Fun X Division showcase.
3) Bobby Roode & Eric Young vs. MVP & Kenny King
This was a decent tag team match until it ended in a bogus DQ finish. I really wasn't feeling this one for some reason. I think the DQ finish is what hindered my enjoyment of this segment. I just feel like the guys involved are capable of much more. A Falls Count Anywhere Match is made between Roode and MVP for next week though so I'm sure that will make up for it.
4) Brittany vs. Madison Rayne - No Disqualification Match
The TNA knockouts always deliver and that was the case here. Really good showing for both women. Some nice moves on the outside such as a northern lights suplex on the floor by Madison. Solid match with both Madison and Brittany putting in a great performance. I really enjoyed it.
5) Bobby Lashley vs. Jeff Hardy - TNA World Title Match
These guys got 15+ minutes and they took full advantage of the time they had. After EY pulled one hell of a performance out of Lashley a few weeks ago, I expected Hardy to do the same here and that's exactly what happened. Lashley has really been impressing me during his run as World Champ and he continued to do so here. Great performance from both men in this match with Jeff Hardy stealing the show by going for a swanton bomb on Lashley on the steel steps only for Lashley to move which left Hardy out to dry. Hardy took a sick bump on the steps here. It's crazy that he will still take risks like this at his age. Major respect to him. Great match here, one hell of a main event! One of the best TV matches of the year EASILY. If not THE best.
The show closed with Bully & Dreamer teasing putting Dixie through a table yet again, but she got away. However, EC3 didn't escape and he suffered the wrath of the reunited Team 3D. Devon made his return here to help Bully plant EC3 through a table which got a huge pop from the crowd. Nice ending to the show.
Overall thoughts: Good show tonight. TNA is really trying to improve and it shows. The past month hasn't been consisently good, but it has been consistently better than how TNA started the year. That trend continued here with yet another solid showing from Impact Wrestling. The match to see here is Lashley vs. Hardy. If you missed it, it's something I'd highly recommend checking out. I expect TNA to only get better as these NYC shows roll on. With that being said, I'm looking forward to next week.
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