TNA Impact 9/2 live TV results & recap: Bobby Roode vs. PJ Black

By Jeremy Peeples, WrestlingObserver.com

Last week, Matt Hardy demanded a World title shot this week and got it – but there’s a catch. If he loses, Jeff becomes EC3’s assistant. Also, Eric Young won a quick match and now holds legal possession of Chris Melendez’s leg. Tigre Uno retained the X Title in a 3-way, while the Wolves beat Abyss and Manik to retain the tag titles. Brooke retained against Velvet, and Roode won a 4-way to get a shot at PJ Black’s King of the Mountain Title.

In the main event, Drew Galloway used his crimonolgy degree to deduce that Jeff Jarrett was behind the attacks on himself and Bully. Karen came out and said that wasn’t true – she was behind them, and then the TNA roster got their asses handed to them by a lot of the GFW roster, who stood tall. The invasion that isn’t an invasion has now become an invasion – or something.

Matt and Jeff Hardy enter the building “earlier today” and we get a recap of the Jeff-Dixie-Drew stuff from last week. A very green video filter is placed over the show-closing beatdown, making it even harder to tell who’s who in this. Dixie looks like the wicked witch of the west here. The Jarrett and the GFW roster come down while Pope says he’s glad he’s here on Impact to hear his explanation. Jeff says that the GFW-TNA supershow was off the charts successful, and Josh wants him out of the TNA hall of fame.

Speaking of witches, La Bruja Karen says she had Bully taken out to get what Jeff deserved. Mordetsky took out Bully and Drew. Jeff says that he’s here to have a corporate hostile takeover and that he’s out to make another global empire. Mordetsky makes an Adonis open challenge for tonight, leading to Lashley coming out. An ad for One Night Only – Gut Check 2015 airs, with MVP, Samuel Shaw, and a slew of other released guys on it.

Lashley vs. Chris Mordetsky

A “this is war” chant breaks out while a collar and elbow tie-up starts things off. Josh talks about the show trending and Mordetsky gets a side headlock. Josh buries the GFW roster, while Pope puts Kong over all of them. Nice exchange of wrestling moves and holds here in this promotional war. Lashley avoids the full nelson, and gets a full nelson slam. Chris takes him down with a Polish hammer before attacking the spine by jumping onto his back. Adonis chinlock leads to him being backdropped over the top onto the apron and being forearmed into the barricade awkwardly.

Josh says that TNA put GFW on the map. Adonis gets a butterfly suplex alongside a camera angle that makes it look like the whole building just has two rows of people full due to the dimmed house lighting. Josh talks about Mordetsky being the most outspoken member of the GFW roster…in catering. German to Chris leads a corner lariat and corner spear. Delayed suplex sends Mordetsky down, but Chris avoids the spear and gets a spinebuster. Mordetsky stomps around for the Lock, but Lashley avoids it with a rollthrough. Shouldermount powerslam sends Chris down, and he gets the big spear for…a DQ win due to PJ Black and other GFW guys coming in and attacking. The Wolves come down and get beaten up too. Myers hits Lashley with a flatliner while Jeff calls down to Karen to bring down the surprise. Josh throws to a break.

Karen comes down with Feast or Fired case number 3, from whenever the last one of these matches was. Karen says that Magnus gave her the case and it’s time for a TNA Tag Title match with Lee and Myers against the Wolves. Earl Hebner stands up for TNA and PUNCHES JEFF JARRETT, who punches him back and knocks him down very slowly. Scott D’Amore, Lei’D Tapa and her husband come down and bully Brian Stiffler into the ring while burying D’Amore for always eating Twinkies.

Trevor Lee and Bryan Myers vs. The Wolves – TNA Tag Team Titles

Eddie kicks out at 1. Josh is outraged that this is being allowed – well, he’s not wrong. Josh is upset over a ruling from February being held up here and Pope explains that Magnus has left TNA – which has never been said on TNA TV, and gave it to Jeff. Josh puts over Myers being a tag team champion “all over the world”, which I think is just he and Ryder holding them as Edgeheads briefly. Eddie gets the half-crab and Davey gets the cloverleaf, but Sonjay gets involved. Lee hits Eddie with a case and wins. Well, everything about that sucked. However, it’s a chance for Lee and to a lesser extent Myers to be given a chance to shine.

This was too much of a cluster to really care about, and there were several big parts of the story – like Magnus leaving, that needed to be explained for this to mean much of anything. Roode says he doesn’t care about what’s going on – he’s tired of being disrespected by TNA and GFW, and he wants to get gold again tonight. He gets his title shot next.

Josh recaps tonight’s “corporate hostile takeover”, the tag title change, and the Lashley-Mordetsky match. Josh and Pope explain that Magnus, Nick Aldis gave them the case while they talk about the KOTM Title match. Josh says that a Roode win of this meaningless title gives TNA some of its power back. Josh plugs the main event stip and says that if Matt loses, we could see Jeff as EC3’s assistant on the house shows.

JB interviews EC3, who enjoyed the Hardy Boys Mysteries, despite hating the title. He was a bigger fan of Choose Your Own Adventure, and wants to go to page 131 – where Matt Hardy lays broken and defeated. EC3 tells Jeff to get ready to do the work. Dixie Carter comes into the building 42 minutes into the show – did someone just tweet her about the hostile takeover? PJ Black comes down to his Jeff Hardy-sung theme while Roode has his usual one. Roode tells PJ to look around – it’s TNA, he’s a TNA guy, and he’s a TNA Original. He helped build TNA and some hate him, some love him, but he steps foot into this building and this ring, he’s earned their respect. It’s his house, it’s their house, and boy does TNA’s rapid descent just makes every promo about this feud that much funnier.

Bobby Roode vs. PJ Black – Legends/Global/World TV/King of the Mountain Title Match

Roode runs wild with forearms in the corner before hitting a high backdrop. Roode chops and punches away. Josh plugs TNA’s Youtube shows, but PJ eats a superkick. PJ gets a pair of suicide dives and tears up a sign in his honor. Springboard Savage snap lariat hits for an ad break. Roode gets a second rope blockbuster while Josh talks about wanting Roode to be KOTM Champion at BFG. They exchange punches to the face, so I guess that blockbuster didn’t really do much damage.

Roode gets more chops. Roode avoids a springboard and gets a spinebuster for 2. Josh tells Mordetsky to study Roode to learn how to do a spinebuster – well, he’s not wrong. Pope says now it’s getting real, so I guess everything else was fake. PJ gets an inverted DDT for 2. Springboard moonssault gets 2 while they talk about the “hostile corporate takeover” a few more times. Roode gets the crossface, but Sonjay distracts him. Roode gets cradled horribly for 2 and gets the crossface while Drew attacks Sonjay. PJ escapes the crossface, but eats the Roode Bomb for the win. One small child yells “yes” over and over.

Jeff’s theme hits before the tag champs come down and Roode escapes. Jeff says he wants to take back what was stolen from him, leading to Dixie coming down. Jeff buries Dixie for making mistakes, while Dixie says that at least she owns up to hers. Dixie and Jeff Jarrett are having a debate over who has done the most damage to TNA. Amazing. Dixie says that Jeff taught her a lot about wrestling, and he taught her more about ego – and how leading with ego leads to disaster. Then she and Jeff shout over each other.

Jeff talks about having ownership stake and Dixie proposes something to get rid of one of them – a winner takes all match. Jeff says he walks on Earth to serve, not to be served. He stands by his guys because they believe in him and they believe in GFW. He’ll get in the trenches and fight with them – he has a crew behind him, and she has no one. Drew comes down to stand up for Dixie. This feels like yet another part of the story we’ve missed several chapters of. The Wolves come down, then Lashley, while Drew tells them to start making a white flag. Josh resurrects the TNA Front Line name for this group – sure, doom it even further.

The GFW roster celebrates backstage to make a team while Josh rants at them for getting ahead of themselves. Pope and Josh’s room appears to be lit by a single 40 watt bulb, as it’s nearly impossible to see them easily. Josh buries Pope for not getting him a wedding gift, so he gives Pope the knockouts calendar. Kenny King is mid-ring for the first time on TNA in months. He says he has no banner, no mask, or no crew – it’s just him on his two. He wants to be a king that fights fair and is a leader. Kenny King issues an open challenge to mess the rep up. Out comes Bram. So they can edit Hernandez off TV, but Bram VS. Kenny King is essential viewing?

Bram vs. Kenny King

Kenny kicks Bram off the apron and dives onto him on the floor. Pope says that if he was going to get back in the ring, he would team with King – so I guess Pope is officially retired. Bram lands a European uppercut in the corner. Pope says that Bram is the reincarnation of Bram…could they not edit this off, really? Kenny launches himself into the corner with a dropkick for 2 while Josh talks about the “dudes from GFW” and Pope talks about the future of TNA being bleak. Josh buries GFW for not having commentators and Bram wins with the DDT and Josh says “he’s done, he’s outta here”. Okay then, so maybe that’s it for Bram in TNA. Jeff talks about accepting a match with a “super-crazy consequence” while Matt says the thought of Jeff having to work for EC3 fuels him, while the thought of being TNA World Champion fuels him too. Then he says “ha!”. Velvet Sky speaks out next.

Velvet comes out while we get a recap of Rebel joining the Dollhouse. She says the knockouts division has evolved and so has she. She talks to Taryn and wants her out here now. Taryn says that she’s never crossed paths with Velvet and would destroy Velvet. She’s been in TV shows, movies, and magazines – while Velvet looks like she stumbled out of Hot Topic. The Dolls saunter down while Velvet is apparently trapped by three women in a six-sided ring. They beat her down and Pope brings up how stupid this was. Angelina Love and Madison Rayne come down – so it’s the Dollhouse against the Beautiful People. Angelina and Madison Rayne christen this team the new, badass BPs. In theory, this could be good – except the promo delivery was bad, and Angelina can’t work due to being pregnant. They hug and we get an ECE-Matt Hardy recap video.

Knockouts calendar ad leads to a recap of the Jeff vs. Dixie promo earlier. Drew asks Dixie if she’s sure and she says she has no choice – they need complete control of TNA back. She says this is an investment in the people who have stayed and knows this team won’t let her down. We finally get a graphic explaining that the “one match” will be a Lethal Lockdown match in two weeks for control of TNA. The Hardys come down followed by EC3 and Tyrus. Josh talks about EC3 being unbeaten in nearly two years in TNA.

Matt Hardy vs. EC3 – World Title Match

JB gives this a big match intro and we’re told that Matt is the top contender – but we see no rankings, so the top five is apparently a thing of the past. EC3 kisses the title and clutches it in his hands. Matt gets a collar and elbow tie-up and pushes EC3 into the ropes. Matt takes him down and elbows his back and lands something resembling Muay Thai knees to the face. EC3 is sent to the floor for an ad break.

After the break, EC3 is dominating, but misses a Hardy-pose flying elbow. Matt gets some punches, but is locked in a sleeper. Matt lands some punches and some lariats, including a clotheslines>bulldog combo in the corner. Hardy-pose elbow leads to a side effect for 2. Ref bump and Matt gets the Twist, but there’s no ref. Josh is now a babyface and very much against EC3 now. Tyrus hits a cheapshot, then EC3 gets a belt shot for a 2.9. Hardys cheat and only get 2. Then EC3 gets 2 and Pope brags about how no company delivers like TNA. Tyrus eats a baseball slide and a chair by Jeff. EC3 gets a TKO for 2. EC3 misses a stinger splash and eats a tornado DDT for 2. EC3 avoids a Twist with a lariat. EC3 low blows Matt and wins with a sunset flip – well, that finish was unexpected.

Josh talks about how reality is setting in for Jeff as he now has to be EC3’s assistant. Pope calls this a disappointment. Well, Pope is right in many ways. EC3 asks Jeff to raise his hand, which really does seem like a fairly light punishment. Next week, the Wolves get a title shot while Mordetsky faces Drew to get the man advantage in Lethal Lockdown.

To see every screenshot for the show, just click here.