 This edition, I talk critically about last night’s Impact and a bit about Lockdown. With nothing else newsworthy to talk about, you get something off the top of my head. This could be dangerous.
Edition 3
I’m back boys and girls. I almost couldn’t get anything up, but after watching last night’s TNA Impact I decided that there is an issue to address. There are some good things that have surfaced from TNA’s recent Pay-Per-View, Lockdown. However, after watching Impact this week and seeing next week’s Impact being spoiled, I feel that TNA is taking two steps backward for every step in the right direction.
Samoa Joe: TNA World Champion
Joe v. Angle V at Lockdown proved to be a classic bout between the two and quite possibly the best in their series. The MMA feel provided something unique to the match and it didn’t dominate what TNA is supposed to be, which is wrestling. The end result is that Joe has finally become TNA World Champion. It was long deserved and TNA did good to finally cash in while the iron was striking hot.
We turn to Impact and Joe delivers his first promo as the champion, but he gets interrupted by his Sacrifice opponent, Scott Steiner. This was a good opening segment that gave me some kind of a warm fuzzy feeling that Steiner v. Joe would be better than expected, especially with Steiner having a better attitude behind the scenes.
Then Angle comes out and proves that he’s the best heel in TNA by informing Joe that he has a rematch clause. Angle is best used in this manner and not in a way that makes him look like a bigger goof than he was in the WWE during his skit with Steve Austin. I won’t spoil next week for you, but I feel that the main event to Sacrifice will be interesting to say the least.
X Division Madness
So, we’ve been treated to a good storyline involving Jay Lethal and So Cal Val. Sonjay Dutt makes me wonder if he’s truly Lethal’s friend or if he’s trying to get into So Cal Val’s pants. Seeing Dutt inside the women’s restroom almost proves my theory, but it remains to be seen as we build to a possible X-Title match between those two.
Wait, I stand corrected. Petey Williams cashed in his X-Title shot that Scott Steiner gave him and became the new X Division Champion in a truly uninspired moment. Sure, a title change should be better, but Lethal came off retaining his title at Lockdown, he retained his title against Johnny Devine at Impact. You can argue at the fact that he was ultimately tired out, but you also have to figure that this man took Kurt Angle to the limit and won the X-Title, so for him to lose the title in such a manner is as bad as the woman using YouTube to declare her divorce. OK, not that bad…but there’s a reference.
To Be or Not To Be
I get the fact that we have to have some sort of comedy in wrestling. In the WWE, you have Santino Marella. In TNA, you have Shark Boy and Eric Young. Shark Boy wasn’t on this week’s Impact, but Eric was. He was featured in a match for the Tag Team Titles. Super Eric made his appearance and pinned AJ Styles to win the titles. It shook the tag division, which is one of TNA’s strong points.
However, TNA has another strong point; the ability to piss off the casual viewer. AJ Styles and Tomko are supposed to be heels. They can complain about a loss and still look good. However, they complained that they were scheduled to face EY and Kaz, not Super Eric and Kaz. So, Jim Cornette has the daunting task to confirm if Eric Young and Super Eric is the same person, which to 99.9% of us believe that he is. That could also be the smark is us. The line of the night comes from Cornette, when he apologizes for the stupidity that occurred on the broadcast. I think that’d be grounds for a shoot comment.Â
Anyways, it’s proven by some sort of scientific calculations that Eric Young and Super Eric is not the same person. Thus, the titles get stripped and Cornette rules over you. Sadly this took TNA back a few steps and it shows that while Vince Russo is in control, he will do anything to try to piss us off. Swerve, baby, swerve!
The Spoiled Brats that is the Knockout Division
It was nice to see Cornette continue to rule over everyone by putting the women in their place. “I want this!” “I want that!” He mentions that sacrifices would be made; leading up to something I won’t spoil because this is a spoiler free commentary. Again, this was another good segment that really tied into the theme for the Pay-Per-View.
We segue into the Women’s Championship and the bout was as good as you can expect. I’ve never seen Roxxi Laveaux wrestle other than TNA, and I heard some good comments about her matches against Awesome Kong for SHIMMER. If anyone has some good YouTube links for me to watch, feel free to comment below. If Pulse Glazer can get me into ROH easily, I’m sure I’ll get into almost anything else.
Roxxi was given more offense against Kong, but Kong continued to prove that she is indeed awesome. We know it won’t happen, but would it be fun to watch Kong take on Beth Phoenix or even Trish Stratus?Â
He’s Not a Genetic Freak, He’s Athletically Stacked
Matt Morgan is here and he is angry! It’s about time that Matt is being used for anything other than Jimbo’s backbone. Cornette was high on Morgan during their OVW days and the WWE gave Morgan a crappy gimmick. The developing feud between him and Storm can do wonders and it would showcase. Too bad NBC couldn’t come to terms with Morgan for the 2nd season of American Gladiators, but at least Morgan is finally getting in the ring and not being management.
Moving Forward…
There were some good things TNA has done recently, but you can’t deny the backwards logic that has surfaced in this episode of Impact. I could have spoiled next week’s Impact and have more potential issues, but for a show coming off a Pay-Per-View that exceeded expectations, the issues were minor at best. After all, it was either finding something to talk about or once again blow this column off. For the next edition of the Marshall Report, I think I’m going to allow for some interactivity and ask a couple questions about what is happening around wrestling. It’ll be interesting to see what responses I get.
This Monday, I’ll be back here for three hours as WWE airs a three hour King of the Ring Special. You don’t have to pay $39.95 for it; the WWE is being nice and giving it to you for free! Until then, have a great weekend!
