Reviewing the 3/31/11 episode of TNA…
1. I don’t remember referees having the ability to suspend wrestlers or threaten to suspend them for any amount of time. Earl Hebner after being bullied by Mr. Anderson threatened to suspend him for 90 days minimum. What was funnier was RVD coming out near the end of the segment asking Earl to make it a 3-Way at Lockdown. While Earl couldn’t make the match, Hulk Hogan did, as it is now official for Lockdown World Champion Sting vs. RVD vs. Mr. Anderson.
2. It’s good to see Douglas Williams back on TV as he has reformed his team with Magnus of The British Invasion. Orlando Jordan and Eric Young, while on commentary, revealed there will be a 4 team tag match at Lockdown. EY & OJ also teased there will be a mystery team all during the Scott Steiner vs. Shannon Moore match. After the match OJ & EY were attacked by the British Invasion who made their statement that they will be that mystery team and the fourth team competing in the 4-way Tag Team match at Lockdown. Moore continued to disrespect Steiner during the match as Taz, EY and OJ traded sexual innuendoes during the match. Taz seems to really enjoy himself when Fruitz and Nutz are in the broadcast booth. The match looks to be OJ/EY vs. Crimson/Steiner vs. Brohawks, Inc. vs. BI(who should just use the name London Brawling if Desmond can not return).
3. It looks like Winter has been drugging Angelina Love with something in her drink. Velvet even stated as much that she thinks she is being drugged. In fact, if Jason Hervey or whoever is operating the camera showed her the tape it’d be pretty obvious to Velvet that Angelina is drinking some Winter flavored Kool-Aid.
4. RVD coming out to save Sting, but letting Immortal continue to hammer Mr. Anderson was very believable. Considering Anderson is an asshole running amok in TNA, it’s not surprising that the RVD character wouldn’t give a crap what happens to him at this point. Flair and Immortal’s comments afterwards were great pointing out the lack of solidarity in the Andesrson/RVD/Sting team.
5. TNA wove a nice thread that actually made the arrest angle, no pun intended, work this time. Although if police just watch the tape of Karen and Jeff Jarrett concocting a false threat/assault they’d be in a hell of a lot more trouble even if Kurt didn’t press charges back. At this point Kurt shouldn’t really be doing much to Jarrett until the PPV. As he chased him, the police stopped him which was perfect. The money in this feud is the fans seeing Kurt tear Jarrett limb from limb in that cage at Lockdown. The recap of the feud in the video was very well done. At times blurred the line between storyline and reality with some things an average fan may not even know. Kurt’s statement was made when he smashed the guitar over Jarrett’s head and made Jeff agree to that match. All that is left now is the main course at Lockdown. Time for this feud to end.
6. It’s pretty sad or pathetic or whatever you want to call it that to even use Hulk Hogan in a physical fashion he has to come down to ringside in a back brace just to rake Anderson’s eyes and throw him into a cage. Using Hogan in an authority role is one thing. TNA has done a decent job with that since there is no question Hogan is believable in the role and of course can talk. When it comes to the physical stuff, it would have been just as easy to use Gunner and Murphy to do the dirty work here for Hogan as he directed traffic. Having him come down in that back brace just exposed him. Since Rob Terry would be selling the ankle lock and Jarrett seems too self involved in his own business to do Immortal’s dirty work, the TV Champion, Gunner and his partner Murphy could have done the same thing Hogan did if not more.
7. I think TNA had a huge spot and opportunity to properly do a killer reintroduction of Christopher Daniels and end the show on a big note with Daniels’ huge return and save of Fortune after they came down to save Sting and Van Dam. But I think by trying to blend too much of Reaction with iMPACT here they actually killed some of the buzz and vibe of the show’s ending. First, just as the crowd begins to chant “Fallen Angel. Fallen Angel.”, TNA goes to commercial. It also doesn’t help that Ric Flair is completely burying Daniels as a nobody when they come back from commercial in a very sloppy out there post match promo with Immortal. I think the Immortal boys were trying not to bury Daniels but Flair kept ruining it as they attempted to put him over. Fortune and Daniels’ promo afterwards wasn’t very strong either. Kaz seemed to stumble over his words and Daniels’ thoughts should have been saved for next week. The only ones who I felt were even remotely believable were Beer Money. Sting’s comments and the RVD/Anderson brawl were overkill and should have also been saved for next week. TNA flubbed this ending big time.
8. Lines of the Night:
a. In response to Orlando Jordan when he asked why Scott Steiner is called Big Poppa Pump
Taz-“Probably because he works out and gets his swell on. Don’t go anywhere with that Orlando.”
b. In reference to Velvet Sky’s trademark entrance
Taz-“Look at that…a little Hydraulic-like rear buttocks.”
c. On their opponents in the cage match
Matt Hardy-“None of them can coexist. None of them…It’s us against three single individuals. We’re gonna kill them.”
d. While Angelina was staring an empty stare from the ring ramp as Winter choked out Velvet Sky
Taz-“(How can)Something so hot be so cold(?)”
9. Match of the Night:
Max Buck vs. Jeremy Buck
There are a lot of tag teams in TNA right now. So much to the point where TNA can probably afford to break up Generation Me, at least for a little while. If we are going to be treated to such high octane innovative and exciting matches like this one, then there won’t be that many complaining. Very enjoyable match here as the story looks like Max feels Jeremy should have let him win at Victory Road and lay down for him as the younger brother. Max played the heel to get the win as it looks like Jeremy will be the face/underdog in this feud. The match was short, but easily the best one of the night.
10. Final Show Thoughts:
While TNA concentrated and kept focus on a handful of feuds/matches for Lockdown, there was no sign of any promotion for Mickie James vs. Madison Rayne Lockdown hair vs. Knockouts Title match other than a mention by Mike Tenay during the Winter vs. Velvet Sky match. Hopefully since the Sky/Winter feud is getting more attention they can do something with them at Lockdown if they are going to devote precious TV time to them as they battle for Angelina Love. Perhaps Angelina on a pole match? On second thought, that may not make it past censors. Going back to Mickie/Madison, it would have been nice to keep their feud prominent using extra time they could have had if they just would have ended the show with the Daniels return. I may not be a gigantic fan of Daniels, but I will say if you are going to take the time to give this guy such a prominent return to the program it would help to handle it better. The show went on about 6 minutes too long. A five minute video recap of the Mickie vs. Madison earlier in the show and letting the show end with the crowd chanting “Fallen Angel” as Mike Tenay put Daniels over as AJ’s best friend back to avenge him would have been a nice way to end the show with a shocker and cliffhanger. TNA needs to learn the art of letting things sink in and let simple things tell the story sometimes. This was a prime example of too much. Someone please reel Flair in, too. His comments near the end of the show did nothing but hurt the storyline and degraded his opponent. And I’m usually the first to give Flair credit for making those around him better and what he means to TNA in his current capacity. Not this time.
Show MVPs:
Generation Me
With TNA devoting a lot of it’s attention to the feud with Sting/RVD/Anderson and Immortal/Fortune, it began to get old by the end of the night. To the point of overkill. The match between GEN ME stood out, entertained me and makes me hope for a big time PPV match between the two where it is given a lot more time.
That is all.
M.C. Brown
You can find me on Twitter as
ShocXwavE
