Impact was once again a solid show this week. It’s true that there has been a lot of wrestling this week, including Sunday there has been 12 hours of TNA and WWE. Not including pre-shows, plus shows like main event and superstars, I’ll be honest; I don’t have a clue when they air. So, that is a lot of wrestling – it’s lucky I like wrestling.
As I said, a solid show, maybe not one that sticks out as being above average, but average for Impact this year is still an entertaining show, which holds my attention for the majority of the two hours the show is on. It’s still important to point out, on the Impact roster; there are two types of wrestler. Of course there are different divisions and such, but the clear divide is the realistic wrestlers – like Lashley – and the out of this world wrestlers – Matt Hardy and Decay. The majority of the roster falls into that realistic category. Having some wrestlers who are completely different, a bit of a different flavour, is a smart tactic. You do risk turning some fans off, the Rosemary stuff on this show wasn’t for everyone, but the show managed to offer different types of characters, which can attract different kinds of viewers.
Speaking of the Rosemary stuff. This has the potential to go very, very badly. So far, we’ve had some very well produced video packages which create intrigue. At the moment they portray Rosemary as a crazed lunatic who is seeing and hearing things. Bram represents the viewer, he doesn’t see it, and he knows it is all in the head of Rosemary. I hope it stays that way, if we begin to see the tree appearing on the video screen, telling Rosemary what to do, I will probably cry.
I understand this whole Lashley wants all the singles titles storyline. It is an entertaining storyline, but I just don’t think it’s worth it. Every title you put on Lashley removes another feud that could have been going on. We could have had a completely separate feud going on in the X Division right now. If Lashley wins the king of the mountain title, it just removes another storyline that we could see on Impact, because they all get tied into Lashley. Lashley doesn’t need all of the titles, he is enough of a threat, and entertaining enough, as world champion.
I’m happy James Storm is being utilised in a feud again. James Storm without a doubt, still has every little bit of talent needed to be world champion. However, I will not complain seeing him feud with someone as amazing as Eli Drake. I’ve talked about my love of Eli Drake’s promos before; James Storm however, is still one of the best promos in TNA. I really am hoping for more of James Storm in the coming months, I’d assume we are more likely to see him have a run at the world title after Bound for glory. While we are speaking of promos, I’ll give credit where credit is due. Shera had a lot of fire in his promo in this episode of Impact. It may have been better had he been able to pronounce “The tribunal” correctly, he still has a strong accent though, so it’s unavoidable.
Moose had a nice little squash match this week. The guy is an absolute beast, and my interest in a match between Moose and Lashley goes up every week. I just hope TNA saves it for a pay per view and really gives it some build up. Should they want to, and should they wait a bit, they could even wait until Slammiversay next year before paying this off. Moose is obviously very impressive in the ring. Very agile for such a big guy, which isn’t uncommon these days in fairness, but Moose is less lanky and far more bulky than a lot of the known agile big men.
I’ve enjoyed the bound for glory playoffs; it has brought us some great matches. The main event this week, Bennett vs Galloway, was great – as you’d expect when any two of Galloway, EC3 and Bennett are in the ring together. The gripe I’d have with the playoffs however, would have to be that the finals are next week. We’ve went through the whole thing is three weeks. I feel like it could have been spaced out more, at least an episode between the semi-finals and final. Nonetheless, I’ve enjoyed the idea of the playoffs. It’s something different, and something to look forward to in the weeks before bound for glory, though I still enjoyed the bound for glory series they used to do more. Bennett beat Galloway after some shenanigans. Again, I really enjoyed this match. Bennett, Galloway and EC3 are kind of like the three faces of TNA I’d feel at this point. The only reason none of them have the world title is because they have interesting storylines leading to them winning it. Plus, frankly none of them really need it. Impact has a lot of talent on its roster that is figuring it out, that have a lot of potential, are still very entertaining now but still have more of their character to unlock and make the best out of. These three are there, they know their characters, and they have it figured out.
Coming off of this, we have EC3 vs Bennett in the finals next week. I have no doubts this will be a great match, I’ve enjoyed their previous two matches a lot. It would make sense for Ethan to win. Of course because the winner will face Lashley – a heel – so unless Lashley makes a face turn it’s hard to see Bennett win. This is somewhat of a rubber match for these two, having each previously had a victory over the other. I’m not sure if they will play that fact up. We will see more matches between the two in the future, I am sure of that. It will be interesting to see where Drew Galloway goes next after this. Having inadvertently been hit by EC3 with a kendo stick, his animosity with Ethan will be at an all-time high. If as I predicted, Ethan does win next week, I guess we will see the payoff between Drew and Ethan in the weeks of TV leading up to bound for glory? In which case, who does Drew face at the October event? I’d say Give James Storm the KOTM title, then have Eli feud with Galloway.
So that is another week of Impact done. As I write this on Friday morning I’ve got no more wrestling to watch until Monday – I am all caught up. There is a lot of wrestling to watch at the moment. Hopefully I’ll manage to stay on top of it as my life gets back to being a little busier in a few months. As I am thoroughly enjoying all of the wrestling I’m watching right now. Just a heads up, I will be writing a weekly column comparing my opinions, and the ratings, of RAW and Smackdown on a weekly basis, starting next week. Look out for that, it should hopefully be out on the Thursday.
