TNA Impact Wrestling results: Drew Galloway vs. Bobby Lashley, Bobby Roode vs. Matt Hardy

Last week, Tigre Uno won a three way match to advance in the series. Drew Galloway beat Spud with the sick kick, while Bram demolished Grado in short order. Jessie Godderz beat Micah, and Davey Richards being Robbie E in a pretty good match. Kenny King beat Crazzy Steve, while Austin Aries lost to Bobby Lashley in the best match of the series to date. The show begins with a recap of last week’s events and tonight’s card, including Gail vs. Tigre Uno, Drew vs. Lashley, and Matt Hardy vs. Bobby Roode. DJZ faces EC3 up next. They say that if Ronda Rousey can be beat, then so can EC3. Wow. 

DJZ vs. EC3

EC3 is hyped up by Josh as the man who has never been pinned and talks about how DJZ has no chance, despite just saying that EC3 could be beaten if Ronda Rousey could. Is it too much to ask for a character to be consistent for five minutes? Basic armwork to start while Josh talks about Bracket Brawl. EC3’s flapjack is countered by a dropkick. They fight to the floor and EC3 tosses him in, turns his back, and eats a basement dropkick. Josh points out that Tyrus should’ve warned him, and then reminds us that Tyrus wants a World Title shot against EC3 if he wins the series. They go back to the floor and EC3 tosses him into the post.

Josh runs through more of tonight’s card, including Eli Drake vs. Shera. DJZ gets a jawkbreaker into a flying neckbreaker. DJZ’s wacky popping DDT is countered for the 50th time in just the Series, before he hits a regular DDT. DJZ flips around while standing before getting a rana. He goes for it again, but eats a sitout powerbomb and the One Percenter wins. EC3 moves on to the round of eight. We see the brackets, so now we don’t need to play Bracket Brawl to actually see who could fight who in this. Gail Kim vs. Tigre Uno is up next and they hype it up as historic because it’s the first time the X Division Champion will face the Knockouts Champion. Gail puts over how TNA has always let women be themselves, and now she can take the World title. After a break, Gail gets an intro while Uno gets nothing.

Gail Kim vs. Tigre Uno

Gail gets 2 off a quick schoolboy. Love Gail being shocked that a schoolboy didn’t win a mid-card match in 2015. Tigre gets a front facelock and wrestles her down to the mat before getting a headlock. Josh points out that Tigre being a luchardor helps him here since he has likely faced female wrestlers before. Gail pops up and gets a blind crossbody, but Tigre rolls through for 2. Tigre counters Eat Defeat into a wacky lucha submission before Gail sunset flips out of it for 2. Gail gets the headscissors into the octopus stretch, leading to Tigre dumping her on the apron. Uno does a forward roll mid-ring before doing a plancha. Josh busts out his first “trending topic” mention of the night before Gail lands a top rope rana and a shotgun dropkick that sends Uno into the buckle.

Gail struggles to get the ringpost figure four on, but does so safely. Tigre counters a sunset flip counter attempt into a cradle to win. Bram vs. Davey is up next and they hype up Lashley vs. “The Captain” Drew Galloway. What is he the captain of and why is that one of his nicknames?  Josh and Pope recap Gail vs. Uno and they re-recap the results of both that match and the EC3 match. We get a recap of Bram’s path of destruction in the series so far, but he gets no intro. Davey gets a partial intro before the bell rings.

Bram vs. Davey Richards

They start off with a collar and elbow tie-up that Bram wins. Bram overpowers him again before mocking Davey. Davey gets a go-behind and starts working on the arm. Bram knocks him down with a punch before Josh runs down Bram’s nicknames. Bram throws him to the floor, but Davey runs back in and gets a baseball slide dropkick to the floor before some machine gun kicks against the barricade. Davey attacks him with some corner mount punches before low-bridging him and sends Bram to the floor. Bram attacks and lands a fireman’s carry facebuster into the steps. Josh gives Bram a new nickname – Calculated Chaos. Maybe he can get a math teacher gimmick and confound the roster with Calculus Chaos. Bram shoves Davey’s back into the ropes, but Davey avoids the charge. Davey hits a double stomp off the steps, in what is easily the best part of the match so far.

Back-bumping missile dropkick leads to a nip-up and a big exploder to Bram. Josh calls this match a big upset if Davey can win despite Davey being an ROH World Champion. Double stomp off the top gets 2. Bram gets the F5 as a transition move to the impaler DDT, which Davey turns into a small package for the win. This sets up Davey vs. EC3, which has the potential to be quite good. Eli says that the future four was a group of losers and Shera is a great dancer and a strong guy, but is a moron. Drake vs. Shera is up next. Drake gets no intro, while Shera gets his and a few fans do the Shera Shake. We get a Shera hype video of his run through the series.

Mahabali Shera vs. Eli Drake

Drake punches away at him in the corner while Josh plugs the January TV tapings. Shera lands a slam and clotheslines Drake to the floor. Josh says that Shera isn’t even polished and he’s already doing very well in TNA. Drake stomps away on Shera and lands a series of elbows for 2. Drake gets a nice back suplex, but misses a big leaping elbow drop. Drake ducks down and eats a boot and clothesline. Shera backdrops him and does the Shake for a second. Drake goes up and eats a slam before losing to the Sky High. Matt Hardy cuts a promo on Roode in a very dark room while someone coughs in the background. He says his formula is “Twist of Fate, win” and how his dream is like him – it will not die. Roode vs. Hardy is up next. Josh and Pope pick the winners for the remaining match and each man gets intros for this match.

Bobby Roode vs. Matt Hardy

Roode goes to the floor to stall and establish himself as the heel in this match. Bobby backs him up into the corner and pats his chest, while Matt responds with his pose. Matt shoulderblocks him down and he lands a clothesline to take him down. Roode rolls to the floor to break Matt’s momentum. Roode pulls Matt into the post on the floor and slams the wrist into the steps a few times. Roode dominates in the corner and says that this is why he’s the It Factor – Roode just acting like a heel is so much better than whatever his babyface character is. Roode gets the crossface on, but Matt gets to the rope. Side Effect hits and he gets 2 before landing a clothesine, but the bulldog is tossed off by Roode.

Hardy finally gets the bulldog for 2. Twist of Fate is countered into a schoolboy for 2. Another crossface is locked on by Roode, but turned into a cradle for 2. Roode bomb countered into a Side Effect that is countered. Roode does the V-1ah bit in the corner, but eats a kick and a Twist of Fate for the loss. Matt Hardy advances in the series. Drew talks about the series has given him a second chance and it’s an innovative tournament, and something that benefits the fans and himself. Godderz comes out to face Awesome Kong.

Jessie Godderz vs. Awesome Kong

The crowd chants “Kong’s gonna kill you” to start things off. Jessie says that Kong doesn’t really want to wrestle, she just wants to touch his body. Jessie offers a kiss, but wants that thought to marinade for a bit. Kong kisses him with a big punch! Kong chops him and drops him with shoulder charges. Kong avalanches him in the corner and slams him down three times. Jessie tries to leave, but Kong tosses him into the post and punches away. Godderz gets a thumb to the eye, but he misses a charging lariat and hits the steps. Kong’s splash misses and he wins with a bad cradle. Finish aside, this was a really fun match. EY faces Kenny King next. After a break, they recap how Jessie cheated to beat Kong and goes on to face Matt Hardy next week. 

Kenny King vs. Eric Young

Kenny gets a partial intro, while EY gets none. Josh says that EY was a headliner all year while Kenny King was held back by being in the BDC. King gets a headlock and sends EY into the ropes for his flip. EY sends King to the floor and scowls a bit .They fight on the apron before King sends EY into the ring with a headstand kick. EY regains control and stomps King’s head on the apron before kicking him to the floor. EY gets backdropped to the floor and King dives onto him. King lands a springboard crossbody and gets 2 off a schoolboy. EY counters the Royal Flush with an eye rake. Kenny gets a spinebuster for 2. EY grabs the ref to distract him and piledrives King to win. We see the brackets and a graphic for Lashley vs. Galloway, followed by a small hype video for it.

Drew Galloway vs. Lashley

Lashley is called the most dominant athlete in all of sports to start. They exchange armholds to start before we get a clean break in the corner. Lashley gets a chinlock before flipping forward over Drew and turning it into a rear naked choke, which I’ve never seen before. Lashley stomps away in the corner for an ad break. After the break, Drew kicks Lashley and punches him before being Bieled into the corner. Drew gets a flying clothesline and sends him to the floor. They fight on the floor and Lashley sends him back first onto the top of the steps. Delayed suplex gets 2 for Lashley. Drew sends his shoulder into the post and clubs the back. Lashley takes Drew to suplex city with a German and an overhead belly to belly. Lashley goes for a torture rack, but can’t lift him. Lashley gets the powerslam for 2. Drew gets 2 off a neckbreaker. Lashley misses a corner charge and Drew hits White Noise before setting up the Claymore kick. Drew charges in, but eats a spear and loses. Lashley moves on to the round of eight.