Reviewing the 12/23/10 episode of TNA.
10 Thoughts on TNA Impact
1. Rob Terry is now Ric Flair and Immortal’s bitch…er… bodyguard
Line of the Night(s) LON: Matt Morgan to Eric Bischoff
Matt- “Well, how about we start by taking YOUR temperature with this size 18 straight down your ass.”
Straight down your ass, Matt?
2. Ric Flair continues to be intense and believable on the mic. Ric is an invaluable asset to the company in helping put talent and storylines over. Ric’s promo on Foley was great. Mick Foley returned to help Matt Morgan on his crusade to help save/preserve Mr. Anderson’s livelihood, but Ric Flair promptly calls Foley out as part of the problem by raising the bar to impossible heights during Foley’s heyday. Good stuff.
LON: Ric Flair to Mick Foley
Ric- “When I die it’ll either be here(ring) or on top of a wild woman.”
So many intense exchanges it must be seen to be fully appreciated.
3. Again, Amazing Red is wasted. Instead of having him involved in the 4 way X-Division #1 contender’s match, he is getting smacked around by Jeff Jarrett. At least they protected him somewhat by having him “Blinded” right before the MMA challenge even began. Speaking of the 4-Way X-Division match, Kazarian won the match while Jay Lethal provided commentary. Jay was very reserved. At least when he was portraying outlandish characters Jay was incredibly entertaining. TNA needs to tap into that well again to keep Jay as an entertaining character. Perhaps a heel turn would help him. As it is now, Kazarian is the favorite to take the title from Jay.
LON: Taz during the X-Division 4-way #1 Contenders match between Gen Me, Kazarian and Robbie E.
Taz- “Gen Me are men even tho they are wearing those… pants.”
4. Nice touch with having RVD comment about being in the ring with Jeff Hardy for the first time since Jeff’s turn, tonight. It plays it up as a big deal and very important, which their first singles match in TNA should be if it actually gets to happen. They teased the imminent match up in the main event as well as Jeff avoided RVD there. Hopefully this builds up their actual encounter when they finally deliver. As long as they keep moving forward with this, I have a feeling it will.
5. Knockout action backstage and in ring was in full effect on the program. A strap match seed is being sown between Sarita and Velvet Sky with Sarita’s attack on Velvet. Excellent. Unfortunately it put Angelina in a handicap match for the Knockouts Tag Team titles. Speaking of which, I can not mention how much I enjoy it when Madison’s bottom comes up during her matches revealing her tan colored tights/panties with the kiss on the cheek. Also, a very nice storyline twist with having Winter come out to help Angelina resulting in them winning the tag team titles. That’s going to cause some tension in the Beautiful People. Winter earns a TNA title in her TNA TV debut match.
LON:Â Taz on Madison Rayne’s nonchalant cover on former Champion Angelina Love
Taz- “She’s not just going to lay there like a dead fish. No disrespect to fish.”
6. The Pope sure looks guilty of sleaziness, but TNA could turn the storyline into a face competitor accusing The Pope of wrongdoing only to be proven wrong. So the way TNA has set it up they could still end up keeping The Pope as a face.
7. AJ Styles and Douglas Williams really put on a wrestling clinic in their 15/20 minute Iron Man Match. I will say I question having one of the falls occur during the commercial break. When you can control what you show to viewers , even if you want to add the mystique that anything can happen during the commercial break, why would you? You want the viewer to see the most exciting elements of the match. It’s not exactly like TNA fans have a traveling TV show to have an option to go to based on that. At least not yet.
8. Exciting Main Event. Not a whole lot of time, but from what was given, they used the time to showcase the participants wisely. With the tag titles on the line, it also added an extra dimension to the match. TNA did the right finish to ensure more competitive Motor City Machine Guns vs. Beer Money match ups.
9. With Hulk Hogan sidelined and stripped of his power in TNA, for what reason or explanation would we be given that the intro still features all Immortal team members. For a few weeks it is understandable, but with some of your best star power still missing from the intro, TNA should be featuring such stars as Mickie James, Mr. Anderson, RVD(and eventually Kurt Angle) prominently to try to grab interest from some casual fans. Not to mention using such young and exciting talent in the intro like Gen Me or TNA’s finest such as the Motor City Machine Guns, The Beautiful People, Douglas Williams(when he comes back Samoa Joe) or stars they helped break out like The Pope and Matt Morgan. If you catch someone’s eye with the opening segment, you can really whet their appetite for TNA wrestling with a killer opening montage.
10. The multiple title matches on this week’s impact really made the show feel special. Three titles were decided/defended adding to what amounted to a star studded action packed Christmas show.
Match of the Night:
TNA IRON MAN match for the Television Championship
Douglas Williams ( c) vs. AJ Styles
Great chain wrestling, action and added drama to the match with not only Douglas Williams scoring the fall right before time expiring, but the Overtime as well. This is wrestling at it’s finest. Also, this is how you use a lack of a conclusive finish because here on TV it is perfect for the rivalry as well as build up anticipation to see another rematch at Genesis. Â Well done, gentlemen.
That is all.
M.C. Brown
You can find me on Twitter under
ShocXwavE
