-Eric Young is backstage and puts over his two opponents – Austin Aries and Lashley. He says he’s just crazy enough to retain his title tonight, and he’ll do whatever it takes, surrounded by a bunch of crazy people in Dallas, TX.
TNA World Heavyweight Championship Cage Match
Eric Young (c) vs. Lashley vs. Austin Aries
Lashley uses his size to dominate early, stacking both guys up and slamming them on the mat. He starts charging at both guys, leveling shoulder shots into his opponents all around the cage. Aries fights back, as does EY, and they collide in the middle of the ring. The champ with a big clothesline on Aries, followed by a back suplex. EY goes to work on Lashley with mounted punches in the corner. Aries tries to help, and sets up for the Brainbuster, but Lashley tosses him into the steel cage. DDT out of nowhere by the champion for a two-count. All three guys fight to the corner, and SOMEHOW Eric Young manages to lift both his opponents for a fallaway slam! EY tries to escape the cage – the announcers JUST literally said you can’t escape to win – but Lashley stops him. They’re all hanging off the cage – Aries hits a jumping hurricanrana to send Lashley down ten feet to his doom. Young perches himself on top of the cage and DROPS THE ELBOW down twenty feet! 1….2…Aries makes the save. Aries hits the Brainbuster on Young! 1…2…the champion kicks out. Austin gets to his feet and Lashley spears him almost out of his boots, but EY makes the save. The big man powerslams the champ and sets up for the spear, but Lashley misses and sends himself through the door and out to the floor. Young hits the top rope elbow on Aries for a very close two-count. He tries for a roll-up; Aries rolls through and dropkicks him right in the jaw. Both guys get to their feet and start exchanging right hands and forearm shots, beating the hell out of each other. Aries nails a discus forearm, then another, then his signature missile dropkick into the corner. He sets up for another Brainbuster, but EY uses the cage for leverage and reverses into a piledriver! 1…2…3.
Winner: Eric Young (retains)
-Show of respect after the match, as EY pulls Austin Aries to his feet and the two shake hands.
KILLAM: That was quite a good match, with an outsanding performance from ALL THREE GUYS – I know a lot of people assumed Lashley would be the weak link, but he played his part very well. What’s better is TNA didn’t ruin it with a ton of run-ins and distractions. Just three guys wrestling in a cage for the title.
The rest of the show, top to bottom, was pretty solid. Nothing blew my mind, and there wasn’t really any major news to come out of this PPV, which may negatively effect the ratings on Thursday, but that’s not really my concern as a fan first. Still, outside of the over-booked Knockouts junk, nothing on the card was bad, and the X-Division was given a real chance to shine. The Cowboys may have been mentioned one or two or three too many times, but I understand the need to use a big, mainstream news name when you can. Probably the wrong season for it, but I don’t blame TNA for trying. A huge win for EC3 makes me a happy camper, I was pleased by the Hall of Fame announcer (although we still have ZERO original self-produced TNA stars on the list), and it’s nice to have no major complaints heading out of a PPV. If there was a downside, it’s that I’m not particular compelled to tune in on Thursday night, because everything I wanted to see played itself out here and didn’t leave me hanging. Good news for PPV-only watchers, I suppose…
