Impact started off with a Bully Ray-Jeff Hardy brawl and they brawled and brawled and Storm and Roode got involved and we had more brawling which TNA just overdoes and tonight was another example of overdoing the brawling. The segment with Roode, Storm, Hardy, and Ray in the ring with Sting had even more brawling and for some reason security never ran in to break it up leaving Sting to try futility to break it up. I do dislike how at times guys in an intense feud can stand in the ring and calmly stand in the ring and cut promos on each other and I understand what TNA was trying to do by showing how intense the feud is between these four guys but it was overkill. It was a different start than the usual opening talkie segment, but I didn’t feel it.
Tara Vs Velvet Vs Mickie James for the number one contendership in the knockouts division was an okay match because Velvet mostly stayed out of the way. The match got nine minutes but most of the match was cut by the commercial break. I was surprised that Tara went over Mickie clean as a whistle. TNA really has done nothing with Tara since she and Tessmacher lost the knockouts title so the result of the match was surprising. Tara Vs Gail should be a really good match, but the problem is that Tara doesn’t mean much and Gail beat her relatively easily a few months ago. I will say both women cut relatively effective promos after the match. TNA really has done nothing with Velvet since she dropped the title. I wish TNA would reunite her with Angelina.
Alex Shelley cut a good mini promo before his match with Zema Ion. Shelley Vs Ion was a solid match 4-5 minute match that got a good reaction. Shelley was over like rover. The match really was ground based as Shelley pulled out some swank ground based moves. That is part of his move set that we don’t see that much in TNA. I had hoped that Aries would have cut a post match promo or joined the broadcast team for the match as he has in the past. I also wish the Shelley-Ion match would have gotten a few more minutes, but that would only happen if they cut Young’s comedy match or segment and that’s not happening. I wish the X division would have gotten the type of spotlight they got last week, but hey at least we had an X division competitor two weeks in a row which is very rare.
The best thing I can say about the Bischoff’s segment is that it was short. I’m not sure why Eric wouldn’t want the camera man to take a shot of the mystery trainer and I guess the camera man didn’t see the guy and couldn’t tell anyone? I can’t wait til the reveal of Hogan as the trainer.
Eric Young and ODB Vs Angelina Love and Winter got a whopping seven minutes and the first half of the match was Eric Young’s tired comedy act where he takes of his pants and keeps locking up with the referee while Taz and Tenay laugh like idiots. My goodness how awful. Young segments have lost viewers at times so he his match was thrown in the top of the hour which usually get the highest ratings. It’s good to have friends in high places like Russo looking out for Young. The match was tolerable when ODB was in there but even then Young was acting like a fool. Young has added a new wrinkle as he has the fans count whenever someones not in the ring and they annoyingly started counting the rest of the show. The crowd was going nuts for Young so there’s TNA’S rationalization all this airtime. You know because the 500 mooks in the Impact Zone speak for us all.
The Daniels-Styles-Kaz segment was effective it’s too bad the crowd was all about amusing themselves. Styles who is hit or miss on the mic wasn’t very good, but Daniels was great on the mic playing the dickhead heel. He was right on about all Styles’ whining when things don’t go his way and Kaz was very good in playing a conflicted character. I’m glad we’re getting a Kaz-Styles match over yet another Styles-Daniels match which I’ve grown tired of. I’m interested on what they payoff will be and what the reveal is f there is one because the Dreamer angle didn’t have one.
I liked that TNA recapped Morgan and Crimson’s feud with Magnus and Joe, it’s too bad the feud has been so one sided. The feud stayed that way as Morgan went over Joe with a discus clothesline which is a transition move. The match was actually really good and the crowd as usual was into Joe. Magnus and Joe put the beat down on Morgan and Crimson again, but they still look very undeserving of a tag title shot and that’s unfortunate cause they’re a fun team.
The Main Event tables match between Roode and Ray Vs Hardy and Storm was pretty good for a tables match and got a good amount of time. I would have liked to see Ray and Roode go over in the match as it would make them look stronger and it’s not like Hardy or Storm would look weak. The post match beat down was fine and did put heat on the heels and Hardy being taken out is a storyline explanation for why he won’t be on the next few Impacts in the UK. I don’t believe he’s allowed to leave the country so that’s why he won’t be at the Impact tapings. Bull Ray continues to be a great heel and a highlight of the show and is being booked well. I wish they would be booking Roode better than they are as they’ve lost their way with him.
All in all, today’s show was a step down from last weeks excellent show. The most memorable part of the two hours might have been the countless commercials for Liam Neeson’s newest movie. There were so many commercials for the movie that it annoyed me almost as much as Eric Young does. The show wasn’t really bad just a step down from last week. I’m not all that excited about next weeks show with Hogan returning next week as the show has improved by leaps and bounds with him not on it.
hulkhogan69 