TNA Impact Wrestling results: Matt Hardy vs. EC3 vs. Jeff Hardy title match; surprise finish

Previously on TNA Impact:

On last week’s Impact, “The Destroyer” Lashley defeated Kurt Angle in Angle’s final match in TNA. After the match, Lashley continued to beat down the Olympic Gold Medalist until Ethan Carter III made the save and Lashley backed off.

Tonight:

TNA returns to Orlando for a semi-live edition of Impact. Impact airs on a two-hour tape delay, which is the closest to live that TNA gets. In the main event, TNA World Champion Matt Hardy will defend his title against Ethan Carter III. Finally, coming back to the action, Jeff Hardy makes his return to TNA and will take on Eric Young. Additionally, “Miracle” Mike Bennett and “The First Lady of Professional Wrestling” Maria Kanellis face off against the team of Drew Galloway and Knockouts Champion, Gail Kim in an exciting mixed tag team match.

Show Recap:

-Josh Matthews and The Pope welcome us to the Impact Zone in Orlando, Florida. We kick the night off with Jeff Hardy making his return to TNA.

-Backstage, Eric Young is going nuts and is looking for TNA President Dixie Carter. He finds her at the Gorilla Position and he promises to hurt Jeff Hardy. EY tells Dixie that what he does to Jeff is on her.

Eric Young vs. Jeff Hardy

Jeff and EY brawl around ringside with Jeff dominating the early moments. Jeff is seeking revenge after EY piledrove Jeff on the steel steps prior to the tour in the U.K. Dixie comes out and announces that the winner of this match will be added to the TNA World title main event later.

Jeff goes for a springboard splash to the outside, but EY gets his knees up to gain the advantage. Jeff is over huge with the live crowd. They trade shots in the middle of the ring and Jeff gets the better of EY. Jeff hits the classic swanton bomb and scores the pin fall. Jeff is added to tonight’s main event making it TNA World Champion Matt Hardy defending against both EC3 and Jeff Hardy in a triple threat.

TNA World Champion Matt Hardy, his wife Reby and son Maxell make their way to the ring without bodyguard Tyrus.

-Back from commercial, we’re in the ring with the Hardy family. Matt congratulates Jeff for his victory and apologies for not saving him when Eric Young piledrove him on the steel steps. Reby tells Jeff that Jeff is Maxell’s second favorite wrestler. Jeff holds Maxell and the crowd chants “Uncle Jeff”. Suddenly, the tables turn when Matt asks Jeff to bow out of the main event tonight. Matt promises to give Jeff a title shot down the line, maybe at Bound for Glory 2017 or 2018. Jeff doesn’t agree to the deal and ends up hitting Matt Hardy with the Twist of Fate.

-Backstage, Eddie Edwards address Davey’s injury and title loss last week. A commotion sturs as Decay jumps Eddie, beating him into the ground.

-Still in the back, “Miracle” Mike Bennett and Maria Kanellis promise to beat Drew Galloway and Gail Kim next.

-Back from commercial, Beer Money approaches Eddie Edwards and wants to help him gain revenge on The Decay.

-In the arena, Maria Kanellis introduces “Miracle” Mike Bennett. Both come out wearing hot pink, and to be honest both look pretty hot.

“Miracle” Mike Bennett & “The First Lady of Professional Wrestling” Maria Kanellis vs. Drew Galloway & Knockouts Champion Gail Kim

Gail wants to start the match with Maria, but Maria tags out quickly. Drew and Mike start off the match, but Drew tags in Gail. They double-team The Miracle, and not in a fun way. Gail ends up taking out Bennett and sends him to the outside. Maria takes the chance to gain the advantage on Gail. Gail makes a comeback, but Maria quickly tags out again.

Maria slaps Drew in the face and Drew does the gentlemanly thing and chopped the hell out of Mike instead of hitting Maria. Drew went to the top, and then Mike pulled him off. Maria tried to prevent Drew from tagging Gail; instead Gail furiously came into the ring and ran wild. She hit eat defeat on Bennett, but then got rolled up from behind by Maria for the three count. The Miracle and The First Lady of Pro Wrestling get the victory.

-Next we get a video package on the Kurt Angle vs. Lashley main event last week. Josh tells us that he’s going to interview the man the ruined Angle’s retirement last week next in the ring.

-Back from commercial, Josh Matthews is in the ring. He briefly discusses Kurt Angle’s retirement from TNA from last week before introducing “The Destroyer” Lashley. Basically, Lashley is a fighter and is not looking for friends. Josh asks Lashley why he would attack his friend and mentor Kurt after the match. Lashley says he has no friends. Crowd chants “Lashley Sucks”. Lashley gets mad at Josh and ends up throwing Josh around the ring. Lashley sets up for the spear, but The Pope leaves the announce booth and stops Lashley from spearing Josh. Pope gets Josh out of the ring, but then Lashley hits the spear on The Pope. This got a ton of heat from the crowd.

-In the back, Decay cut a promo on Beer Money and The Wolves.

-Back from commercial, Jeremy Borash replaces The Pope and joins Josh on commentary.

-Backstage, EC3 approaches Jeff Hardy and mentions that Matt has pulled a surprise on him in each of their previous encounters. He’s implies that he doesn’t trust Jeff. Jeff is out to win the TNA world title.

TNA Tag Champions Beer Money (Bobby Roode & James Storm) and Eddie Edwards vs. Decay (Abyss, Crazy Steve & Rosemary)

Rosemary is going to be Abyss and Crazy Steve’s partner in this match. The babyfaces get the early advantage until the heels are able to isolate Roode in their corner. Rosemary comes in and hits Roode with some shots before tagging back out. Roode makes the hot tag to James Storm. Storm runs wild on Crazy Steve and tags in Eddie who also goes nuts in the ring. Eddie hits a dive to the outside on Abyss. Roode and Storm went to hit the double suplex on Rosemary, but Crazy Steve pulls her out of the ring. The crowd booed this, as they really wanted to see her get the double suplex. Rosemary spits the mist into Roode’s eyes and Steve rolls up Eddie for the win.

-Backstage, Grado is seen talking to Billy Corgan. Billy tells him that they’re going to settle this issue with Eli Drake, in the ring.

-Back from commercial, Matt Hardy and Reby approach Dixie. They argue back and forth about tonight’s main event. Basically, Matt and Reby are mad that Jeff is in the match and Dixie does everything for the fans. Like an idiot, Matt reveals his plan to Dixie that he’s just going to punch the referee in the face and get disqualified. Predictably, Dixie makes the triple threat a no dq and no count out match.

-We get a video package recapping the Feast or Fired briefcase situation between Eli Drake and Grado. Eli Drake makes his way down to the ring. He demands Billy Corgan brings out his Feast or Fired Briefcase which Grado stole. Eli brings up Donald Trump to get some cheap heat.

We see a video of Eli Drake switching the Feast or Fired Briefcase. Billy Corgan and Grado come down to the ring and Billy claims that the evidence isn’t clear of what Eli is doing. So Billy announces that Grado will face Eli in a ladder match with Grado’s new contract hanging from the ceiling. If Eli gets to it first he can tear the contract up.

Ladder Match for Grado’s Contract: Grado vs. Eli Drake

With zero promotion, we get a ladder match for Grado’s contract. Eli dominates Grado in the early moments of the match. Grado sends Eli into the ladder and starts to climb up. Jesse Godderz comes out and push’s the ladder over sending Grado crashing to the mat. Mahabali Shera makes the save and sends Godderz to the outside. Inside the ring, Grado dives off the ladder onto Eli, Shera and Jesse on the outside. This gets a “This Is awesome” chant from the crowd. Grado hits the electric chair on Eli off the ladder. The crowd was a bit dead at the start of the match, but now they’re going crazy and chanting for Grado. Grado and Eli are at the top of the ladder battling for the contract. Grado knocks Eli off and pulls down the contract.

Surprisingly, this short match ended up being pretty good and the ending got a great reaction from the crowd.

-Back from commercial and in the back, Eric Young is mad at Bram for not helping him earlier in the night. Suddenly in the background Willow (who is Jeff Hardy’s alter ego) made an appearance and disappeared. EY freaked out and pointed him out to Bram.

TNA World Champion Matt Hardy vs. Ethan Carter III vs. Jeff Hardy

As Jeff made his way down to the ring, Josh made absolutely no mention of Jeff’s alter ego Willow appearing in the back. EC3 gets a decent reaction from the crowd as he comes down to the ring. Matt comes out alone. Match starts off with EC3 and Jeff taking turns stomping Matt in the corner. Matt jumps EC3 and sends him in the other direction. Matt wants to do the old Hardy Boys double team move in the corner, but Jeff refuses. He does it with EC3 instead. Matt and Jeff briefly work together to take out EC3, but soon turn on each other, just like old times. EC3 hits a powerslam on Jeff off the top, and then a beautiful looking drop kick on Matt.

Back from commercial, Matt Hardy takes out EC3 and he rolls out of the ring. In the ring, Jeff and Matt exchange shots in the center. Jeff gets the better of Matt until EY and Bram interfere. They throw Jeff to the outside where EY hits another piledriver on Jeff. Jeff is apparently out of the match as officials take him to the back. EC3 gets back to his feet and attacks Matt. EC3 is beating Matt all over the ring when Rockstar Spud and Tyrus run down. EC3 gives Tyrus a huge Samoan drop, which sends Tyrus to the outside. EC3 press slams Spud onto Tyrus on the outside. EC3 hits the one percenter, but “Miracle” Mike Bennett interferes breaking up the pin. Bennett and EC3 brawl into the crowd. Bennett beats EC3 down with violent chair shots. EC3 is apparently out of the match as well as officials are helping EC3 to the back. The match is over.

Matt takes the mic and said that he told everyone that he was going to leave as the TNA World Champion. Suddenly, Drew Galloway comes out and he cashes in his Feast or Fired Briefcase and World Title shot.

TNA World Champion Matt Hardy vs. Drew Galloway

The match is official and underway. They trade shots briefly, until Drew hits the claymore and then hits the Futureshock DDT for the pin! Drew Galloway is the NEW TNA World Champion! The crowd actually went nuts for Drew coming out and popped huge for the title change. Drew celebrates his win in the crowd. The show ends with Drew Galloway celebrating his title win

Final Thoughts:

Ratings for TNA on POP TV have been down and declining for the most part. However, TNA has attempted to put on a fun and exciting show since coming to POP TV. This week’s show was a good effort by the company. The show featured a good triple threat main event and then a thrilling surprise with Drew winning the World title. The title change came across good on TV and felt like somewhat of a big deal.

Next Week on TNA Impact:

On next week’s show, Beer Money has issued an open challenge to any TNA tag team for a shot at their belts. Also, the aftermath of Drew Galloway’s title win.