Reviewing the 12/22/11 episode of IMPACT WRESTLING…
1. Anytime RVD and Kazarian square off in any fashion it is a treat, if even only for one reason. RVD’s monkey flip to Kazarian is among the best I have ever witnessed. Truly a work of art. Christmas present there to fans of them both.
2. Anthony Nese reminds me of a cross between Tommy Dreamer and Little Guido. Although the kid may indeed have a ton of more raw talent at his disposal. This week he and Zema Ion squared off again in another great match up.
3. I think Devon’s kids, now dubbed Team Double Trouble by The Pope are going to have to pick up the intensity and believability if they are going to be taken as credible contenders. Besides looking really young, they have an uphill battle with their experience. One of the kids’ chairshots on their Dad and subsequent intensity were weak. Pope was good in his role as usual as was Devon.
4. Picking up where Karen Jarrett left off, the new screeching annoying VP of the Knockouts is Madison Rayne. Only this VP can brawl as well as look good. I think the match she forced between Tara and Brooke Tessmacher(TNT) besides backfiring, ended up becoming even more entertaining than I thought, which looks like it could lead to a Madison Rayne & Gail Kim vs. TNT match up. The crowd was into TNT which would make a 2nd tag team title reign a good idea to let Madison focus on her new role and Gail concentrate solely on defending her TNA Knockouts Title.
5. The odd tag team of ODB and Eric Young is just goofy enough to work. The vignettes in the restaurant were out there as was the tag team match itself, but it was entertaining in a bizarre sort of way, so I have to give them that. The bits with the Mamacitas and Eric Young were good. Expected them to get more involved with ODB, tho or get on the apron to tag with Anarquia when Shannon Moore left, but with it looking like Hernandez being gone, looks like Anarquia may be too, with him being kicked in the cojones and pinned by ODB. Adios, muchacho.
6. Move of the Night:
Jeff Hardy and Sting’s– double slingshot plancha on Bobby Roode and Bully Ray
Sting at 52 going airborne? Hell yeah!
7. Lines of the Night:
a.Taz on Madison Rayne on her way to the ring in a referee shirt
Taz– “I think more of our referees should dress like that and look like her.”
b. Taz on the crowd’s USA chant while TNT & Madison Rayne were in the ring
Taz– “Meanwhile there’s a USA chant and everybody in the ring is American.”
c. Bully Ray and Bobby Roode backstage promo before their Main Event tag match
Bully Ray– “Two of the greatest wrestlers in the history of our business…two of the best performers to ever step foot in a ring tagging together tonight…{pause} against Jeff Hardy and Sting.”
I’m sure this was used and I heard it before, but it was good. Ray has great delivery.
8. Match of the Night
Match 2
Best of 3 for the final spot in Genesis 4-Way match for X-Division Title
Zema Ion vs. Anthony Nese
Zema played the cocky heel role yet again, picking up Nese after a pin he should have taken. This time Nese took advantage of the situation and upon Zema’s attempt to do another finisher on him, rolled him up for the win to take match #2. Each man seemed to have scouted each other and the match was a nice back and forth contest. This edged out the RVD/Daniels vs. Kazarian/Styles match. Good chemistry and the promo vignettes helped build up the two combatants which was a nice touch, especially for new or casual viewers who would not recognize these two young up and comers.
9. Final Show Thoughts:
It was a Christmas treat to see Sting and Jeff Hardy team up. They had good chemistry both in and out of the ring, which made for enjoyable TV against Bully Ray and Bobby Roode who also made a good team. Kurt Angle made good on his promise to go to Leiper’s Fork, Tennessee to start a bar fight with James Storm’s town folk. Kurt dressed as ridiculous as one can get in cowboy get up made short work of the bar patrons after he spit in a girl’s face earlier during his interruption of Storm’s video. Nice way to keep up the bad blood even though I think it got a too comedic considering the other content on the show. Kurt in just a cowboy hat could have sufficed. Would have loved to see him suplexing the hell out of those guys in the bar “bullying” them to give Storm even more fire for revenge. In their pretaped promo Crimson and Matt Morgan came off as heels vowing to defeat anybody that challenges them, but mores in an unlikeable way, so I don’t know if it’s TNA’s intention to turn them into heels, but that might be an interesting twist and place the contending team in an underdog role, which by way of the mismatched teams in the Wildcard tournament they already are. Not a bad idea. The show was entertaining, even at some of it’s lower points so I will say it was a decent show from that standpoint even if the wrestling wasn’t the greatest. The brawl for what it was in the main event was alright. Sting carried his own and I like that he did the plancha with Jeff to the outside. Roode took the fall on this one, but I’m sure he’ll come back to get his heat back next week.
10. IMPACT PLAYERs of the WEEK:
Anthony Nese, Sting, Jeff Hardy, TNT, Taz, Eric Young
Nese impressed me with a great athletic performance, Sting and Hardy were very good in and out of the ring, TNT played their roles well and both Taz and EY were on their game tonight and it came off for entertaining TV.
That is all.
Merry Christmas, Everyone!
M.C. Brown
You can find me on Twitter as
ShocXwavE
