Impact started off with a pretty good opening segment featuring really strong mic work by Storm and Hardy was better than usual on the mic and Sting and Roode played their parts well. I feel like I bitch about it every week, but boy you wish they’d advertise big matches with more advance time. I feel like Storm is best off wrestling strong heels like Ray, Angle and Roode than a guy like Hardy who is a mega face and the most over guy on the roster.
Styles Vs Gunner was a underwhelming four plus minute match. The ring work was okish, but they didn’t get time to tell a story and really Gunner didn’t gain much by beating Styles as Kaz interfered and cost Styles the match. Styles didn’t look like a strong baby face jumping over the guardrail to get away from Gunner after Gunner tried to DDT him on the floor, he should have fought Gunner off. It feels like Styles has never mattered less. I’m not overly excited about this Kaz story as it seems like the whole lame reluctant heel storyline that saw last year with Dreamer and it never really played out. As far as Gunner if you’re gonna push him push him as he’s still smarting from jobbing to Garrett Bischoff numerous times.
The Crimson-Magnus match barely lasted over a minute and made Magnus look very weak. Why am I supposed to see the tag team he’s in as a threat when he’s disposed of so easily? IMO Magnus has far more potential than Crimson as he’s a really good promo guy and has improved in the ring. The post match beat down on Crimson and Morgan was supposed to give Joe and Magnus back their heat but IMO it didn’t wash away the match. I would have booked a competitive match, but they may not trust Crimson to wrestle more than a few minutes in a singles match. He is that bad.
The Garrett workout video with the cheesy music was really cheesy and a total waste of time.
The Mickie-Madison match was a good no nonsense steel cage match that should be the blow off to their long ass feud. They have been pretty much been feuding off and on for around a year. I was glad their was no interference by Gail and the match got a good amount of time. The chin locks in a cage match was silly, but otherwise it was a really good match and really by far the best match these two have had against each other.
The Aries-Shelley segment was one of the best talking segments on Impact in months. It was great to see two tremendous talents like Aries and Shelley get 10-12 minutes to talk and build up a match. The video package showing Aries dominating the X division was very, very good. This was really the highlight of the show and it was great to see the X division spotlighted. Aries and Shelley got off plenty of great lines and the promo exchange is wort searching for on you tube. I’m really looking forward to the matches these two have. I really hope the segment doesn’t bomb out because it will give tptb reasons not to spotlight the X Division like they did tonight. If TNA was run by smarter people both guys would get huge poshes. The usually dead Impact Zone was really hot for this segment.
The Eric Young-Angelina Love match wasn’t really a match just the usual Eric Young zaniness ending with a low blow which is the finish to too many TNA matches. Poor Love used to be part of the hottest acts in the promotion and now in feuding with Eric Young which never leads to anything good. I have a bad feeling that ODB and Young are the next Knockouts tag champs. I enjoy ODB, Eric Young not so much.
I really liked the backstage segment with Bully Ray and Sting. Bully is such a great heel and so in tune with his character more so than almost anyone in wrestling.
Hardy Vs Storm was a very solid match up. They both did a good job and the crowd was more split than I expected. I like that Storm had control of the match and had Hardy possibly beat before Ray ran in. I was afraid that Hardy would have Storm beat before the run in like he had Roode beat last week. As far as the screw job finish the second week in a row and coming off a ppv with a screw job finish well it’s not good. Impact much like Raw bleeds viewers in the second hour and this result sure won’t help. You keep having screw job finishes in the main event people won’t bother watching because they’re expecting a screw job finish like fans did on Nitro’s main events. We learned last week that week that Ray wants a title shot so all his run ins and protecting of Roode is explained as he’s never gotten title shots like Hardy has. I suspect that all these run ins will lead to a four way match for the world title at Against All Odds. I would guess Roode will retain by snaking a pin on Hardy or Ray.
All in all, not a bad show with one really great talking segment, an excellent knockouts match and a strong main event match that was marred by a screw job finish. The Garrett Bischoff push and all the airtime Eric Young and Garrett gets over far more talented guys does annoy me.
hulkhogan69 