This week on Defiant… Austin Aries is defending his title against a proverbial tomato can… Or is he?
Before the show open, we’ve got plugs for upcoming shows: Lights Out and No Regrets, the latter of which will feature a 30 man rumble. At least they’re resisting the urge to do it in January like everyone else.
Last week – IPW issues a challenge for a 5 on 5 match at Chain Reaction, whily Billy Woods set up a title shot for Austin Aries against Gabriel Kidd. Also last week, Millie McKenzie dumped Bea Priestley on her head a bit. Martin Kirby’s out first, looking to address the fact that it was his loss a few weeks back that allowed IPW to take over. It’s resulted in him not having a match here, and also in him not caring about their “stupid little promotional war”. Kirby’s only motivation is that Defiant title, and he wants a shot against Austin Aries “right now”.
Yeah, it’s not happening, as Billy Woods heads out with Damian Dunne and Robert Sharpe, his appointed goons. Kirby’s again told that he has the night off, and they do the “easy way/hard way” cliche, before Martin seemingly gets confused over Dunne’s “no fun-ahh” catchphrase that a fan shouts out. Martin refuses to move, so he threatens to hijack the show again.
Rob Sharpe manages to come in and attack Kirby, but he slips out as Dunne whacks Sharpe with the loudhailer. Yay for dopey invaders! Kirby superkicks Dunne before chasing after Woods.
Defiant Women’s Championship: Veda Scott & Little Miss Roxxy vs. Kay Lee Ray (c)
So, whomever gets the pin here gets the title, so this is less of a handicap match and more of a triple-threat, right?
Kay Lee tries for the Gory Bomb early, but the numbers game breaks in as Roxxy and Veda double-team her… with Veda doing a lot of the work it seemed. Ray nearly sneaks in a roll-up, but Roxxy breaks it up as it’s now her turn to stomp on Kay Lee in the corner. We’re back to the double-teams as Kay Lee eats a tonne of kicks before Roxxy pulled her into a back cracker… but she’s not thrilled at Veda’s attempt to steal the pin.
Cue a shoving match as the crowd got back into it, just as Kay Lee hit a superkick that helped Roxxy accidentally DDT Veda. Kay Lee’s back with a crossbody forearm out of the corner that Veda breaks up the pin on… but the champion dumps Scott onto Roxxy with a superplex to help get another near-fall.
Veda sneaks in with a swinging Fisherman’s neckbreaker, but Roxxy breaks up the pin, because of course, before she positions herself as Veda gets dumped with the Gory Bomb, with Kay Lee pinning both women at the same time. Eh, this was there – the faux-triple threat stuff was clunky, but it wasn’t too bad a match given those involved. **¾
We’re backstage with Zack Gibson, who’s apparently turned down a match with Rampage Brown. Zack claims that because he’s a thinking man’s wrestler, he’s not going to take the match now as there’s no money in the Rampage fight. Instead, he wants a trios match – Rampage vs. Gibson with a pair of their trainees on each side… with Rampage getting his singles match IF he wins, and Gibson gets a three-on-one match with Rampage instead.
Hunter Brothers (Jim Hunter & Lee Hunter) vs. South Coast Connection (Kelly Sixx & Ashley Dunn)
The Hunters beat Dunn and Sixx back on episode 3 in Birmingham, so this is a chance at redemption for the relative newcomers.
Lee starts out by taking Dunn into the ropes, but there’s an instant blind tag as the South Coasters work together to batter Lee with a armdrag/battering ram combo. Jim’s tagged in and is quickly isolated, but a tiltawhirl backbreaker to Dunn cuts that off as the “Mindsweeper” finds himself trapped in the wrong corner.
Another backbreaker and an elbow drop keeps Dunn down, but he’s able to burst free and tag in Sixx, who lands a dropkick on Jim, then a low one to take him into the corner for a nice cannonball. Lee rushes in to try and slam Kelly, but the SCC come back with a nice ushigoroshi from Dunn before they chain together a back cracker and a uranage for a near-fall.
More fast-pace flippy dos end with Lee’s moonsault taking down both Dunn and Sixx, as the Hunters then snap into a DDT and their sunset flip/neckbreaker combo for another two-count. Sixx tries to mount a comeback, launching Dunn into a ‘rana on Lee Hunter, before they went for a spike belly-to-back piledriver… but apparently they were pinning the wrong Hunter brother! When they went for Jim, Sixx tried to get a small package, only for Jim to reverse it as the Hunters pick up the win. A bit of a weird finish, and a flat one too… not that the crowd inside the Coronet were making much noise throughout the night. **½
Next week, Primate defends his Hardcore title against Jimmy Havoc… again… then they have to team up to defend their tag titles against Chris Ridgeway and Mark Haskins.
We’re backstage with Gabriel Kidd and New-ish Adam, who asks if Gabe is distracted by what’s going on with Pastor William Eaver and co. Kidd’s suddenly able to put everything out of his mind as he goes for the big one.
Aussie Open (Mark Davis & Kyle Fletcher) vs. BT Gunn & Joe Coffey
Aussie Open are bad guys here, so there be no vicious high fives with the crowd.
Commentary notes that BT Gunn’s been out “for a month” with concussion after the original IPW attack, and the match starts on the outside as all four men brawl around ringside, with Davis taking some chops after his IPW tee had been ripped apart. Eventually the Aussies rebound as Davis held Gunn and Coffey in place for a springboard senton to the floor, and this crowd has seemingly forgotten how to make a noise. There’s “oohs” out of politeness when a frog splash gets Fletcher a two-count on Coffey, but the Iron man tried to come back, only for Fletcher to duck a chop in the corner and bring in Dunkzilla.
The pair tee off on each other with forearms, only for a back elbow to get caught as Coffey dumps Davis with a German suplex. Gunn’s back in with chops, before launching himself into Davis with a tope as Fletcher takes a crossbody for a near-fall. Coffey’s back with a swinging wheelbarrow to Fletcher, but Davis breaks up the pinning attempt and forces a tag, only for Gunn to land a rolling flatliner before Coffey’s crossbody nearly ends things.
We’re still in the land of breaking up pins, but there’s a spell where Aussie Open obliterate Coffey with a pop-up cutter for a two count… but the former Prestige pair are eventually able to shove Fletcher and Davis into each other as the IPW crew have to look bumbling, before the Black Coffey discus lariat gets BT and Joe the win. Decent enough, but very little of this match was allowed to settle thanks to the breathless pace. ***
Defiant Championship: Gabriel Kidd vs. Austin Aries (c)
Here’s the proverbial tomato can, with Kidd chosen for the title show thanks to his lengthy losing streak last year. Austin Aries is still using his old TNA music, so… yeah.
Aries mocks Kidd’s fighting stance from the off, but Gabriel’s able to go for an early wristlock… only to see Aries reverse it as a pinning attempt nearly ends the match. The champion stays in control too, cartwheeling past Kidd before a low dropkick saw him put the former Internet champion down for long enough for Aries to take a breather.
Kidd’s able to stop an armdrag before countering the counters into a diving boot as Aries barely gets a foot on the ropes in time. Aries powders to the outside, but Kidd goes out to throw him back in as a game of cat and mouse broke out, ending with Aries getting thrown into the railing before being lifted across them… only to move away as Kidd went for a flying forearm off the apron.
Aries breaks the count so he can keep up on Kidd outside with chops, before taking him back in for a slingshot senton to pick up another two-count. A diving uppercut off the middle rope to a sitting Kidd’s enough for another two-count, as the champion seemed to get frustrated at having taken him lightly. An over-the-head wristlock sees Aries try to get a submission, but Kidd holds on and starts firing back with some Dusty punches and body blows, eventually sucking the champion into a DDT.
They head back outside where Aries sneaks in a thrust kick as he goes to suplex Kidd… but this time it’s reversed as Kidd gets off that forearm to a prone Aries. Austin again ducks away from a boot as he flings himself in from the apron with a bell clapper to Kidd’s head, before a rolling elbow misses… Kidd chases in with a waistlock facebuster and a lariat to almost pick up the shock win.
Another boot in the corner, this time from Kidd, misses, and Aries capitalises with a rolling elbow, then a dropkick into the corner, before rolling Kidd down for the Last Chancery for the win. Pretty one-sided and as you’d expect, but this crowd… just did not seem to be into it. ***
The show goes off the air with Aries pulling Kidd up for a brainbuster, before shaking his hand and shoving Kidd away. Gabriel Kidd’s earned Aries’ respect, and the show ends with reminders of what’s on tap for next week: Gibson vs. Rampage in trios action… Gabriel Kidd & Prince Ameen vs. Pastor William Eaver & Liam Slater (huh?)… and the double-duty for Primate and Jimmy Havoc, facing each other for the Hardcore title before defending their tag titles against Ridgeway and Haskins.
I don’t get the whole Ameen and Kidd thing teaming up together next week – I’m guessing there’ll be a vignette or something to explain it, but that felt like it’d have fit better as a match that’s thrown in rather than built up in this form.
We’ve already beaten the horse dead, but this week’s episode made it painfully clear how the invasion stuff isn’t clicking… and with a dead crowd, it’s starting to hurt the TV product too. I’m guessing the remainder of this run of TV tapings will be in the same vein, so it’ll not be until the Chain Reaction PPV in a few weeks time that we’ll see the real effects of everything.