Reviewing the 10/20/11 episode of IMPACT WRESTLING…
1. 30 more years of Hulkamania, Sting? Oh, please, no. I know major wrestling companies have used piped in crowd sounds before but when the fans in the background are not moving at all, it’s kind of hard to believe that what we are hearing is really happening, TNA editors. By the way, the opening ran long. Very long. By the time the entire mix of personalities were introduced and stories played out, almost half the show was over.
2. Part of me believes that Roode’s initial rant to Kurt Angle about working 13 years to get to his spot and what happened at Bound For Glory was “Bullshit”{bleeped} was tailor made to be spoken to Hulk Hogan’s face if he could. Just insert Hulk Hogan in where Kurt is mentioned and see if it doesn’t make sense. Hogan’s recent public comments about Roode not being ready, but Storm is rang too true to have been spoken publicly by the Hulkster. I can totally understand why AJ Styles responded the way he did.
3. I’m getting a bit tired of tag team matches where the partner is allowed to tag themselves in from the middle of the ring apron. Isn’t that why there is a tag rope? If TNA or any fed wants to extend the tag rope so it makes it half way across the ring, so be it, but make them hang onto the rope when they make a tag. It’s nothing directly at the Knockouts Tag match, just a general observation which I’ve been seeing happening WAY too much nowadays. On a positive note, what followed the tag/slap was a very nice high cross body off the top from Brooke Tessmacher to get the pin for her team, TNT over Winter Love for a successful title defense. I do think Brooke’s music and entrance should be used for the team, tho.
4. Going back to reactions, piped in or otherwise… Opposed to probably the inflated Hogan reaction, the reactions for both Jeff Hardy and Velvet Sky seemed very genuine. Hardy especially. It looked like the crowd had erupted. If he can keep his head on straight, he may be even more popular than before in TNA after his run-in with the law. I truly hope he can stay out of trouble for the rest of his career and life. Also, who would have thought a couple years ago that Jeff Jarrett would have a couple compelling feuds ahead of him. Jeff’s character seemed well out of steam. Now, the Kurt Angle feud dragged on way too long, but this feud with Jeff seems natural and organic and provides a veteran for Jeff to re-prove himself against and Jarrett can provide a nice stepping stone moving forward. Although that pointless Mexican title needs to go. It’s about as pointless as Eric Young’s title right now.
5. Getting back to Velvet, her backstage comments and video were really well done. I’m still not a fan of TNA pushing the bullied aspect of her character growing up. Let’s face it, even if that were true, how about having her address how she became one of the biggest bullies on the TNA roster when she joined up with Angelina Love proclaiming to cleanse the TNA roster one ugly person at a time? If that isn’t the definition of bully, I don’t know what is. If she is going to claim she’s been a victim and bullied all her life, then she should apologize for becoming one for that stretch of her career. Let’s not defy logic by ignoring what got her to the dance folks.
6. Why would Sting &/or Dixie Carter allow Karen Jarrett to stay the VP of the Knockouts? She’s running around with a blatant abuse of authority completely contradicting what Sting and Dixie want to bring back to TNA. A powerless Immortal in TNA. I sincerely hope this is addressed next week. That being said, it was nice to see Gail Kim return to TNA. She attacked Velvet Sky on behalf of Karen Jarrett and seemed to form an alliance with Karen and Madison Rayne.
7. Lines of the Night:
a. Mike Tenay on the letting of the pigeons loose
Mike Tenay– “They’re fluttering.”
b. On James Storm’s request to face him later on in a World Title match
Kurt Angle– “James Storm, I think you need to stop drinking on the job.”
8. Move/Match of the Night
World Title MatchÂ
Heavyweight Champion Kurt Angle vs. The Cowboy James StormÂ
With Kurt’s injury unfortunately this match could not go long and it wasn’t going to. Kurt was relentless at the start but fell victim to Storm’s superkick out of nowhere after Kurt spun the referee around to get him away from his attack on Storm in the corner. It had to be a surprise finish for the live crowd and made for a nice moment. Making the clear move of the night:
Cowboy James Storm’s Super Kick Finished off Kurt Angle for the shocking and exciting pin to pick up the victory which the other half of Beer Money started just days earlier. It was an awesome sight seeing Storm, Roode and Fortune celebrating the victory and the brief comments from Storm who was going to surrender the title to Roode, Roode reaffirmed what he told Storm in a great pre-match backstage walk and talk. He earned it and it was his. Great moment for TNA television. Kurt and James had a nice match a couple weeks ago and it’s a shame they couldn’t do more here, but this moment lives forever in wrestling history now.
9. Final Show Thoughts:
Lots of talking on this show. Really. I mean for Total Non-Stop Action they sure had to explain a lot on the program. More than likely there was not much they could do if they wanted to move the company and stories forward, but boy did it seem like he took a long way to get there. To effectively let the moments and transitions take place and the magnitude of certain things, I guess it had to be done. Kurt Angle was back on his game on the mic, which was great to see. He should have a legitimate beef with having to defend his title this quickly and in the condition he was in. TNA’s house show ticket ads and Twitter comments are a nice touch, but can be distracting during the matches. They need to pick the right place to use these, especially when there is not much ring action to begin with. It was nice to see TNA give Gunner some time to cut a promo. If they are going to continue to push him, this is needed. And having him go up against Abyss can be a nice filler program as he learns. Abyss is back to being an out of control monster, but on the babyface side opposing Immortal. Also opposing Immortal is the rechristened Jackson James now known by his real name of Garrett Bischoff. Garrett looks to be portrayed as a wrestler now or at least it appears that way as he punched his Dad and was carrying himself as a wrestler helping out Hulk Hogan and Sting, who also fended off Immortal with bats. Eric Young, the king of the beard returned to TV this week and teased bringing in another awful Jersey Shore member. Ronnie, I think it was to TNA. I will save comments here. Robbies, E. and T. looked to have more chemistry this week as well as Robbie E. seemed to be a tad more serious in his character in a sense where while he’s playing a douche, he seemed less like a parody and more delusional/arrogant which seemed to work playing off Eric Young. The rest of the show set things up moving forward and provides some nice intrigue into what will happen next with a lot of the characters, which is what TNA really needs going forward. Some characters are going to need ample TV time next week as there wasn’t time for them this week.
10. IMPACT PLAYERs of the WEEK:Â
James Storm, Jeff Hardy, Velvet Sky, Gail Kim, Sting
Storm grabbed the belt, Hardy and Sky got nice ovations, Kim returned and the Stinger is in charge now receiving full authority on Impact Wrestling from Dixie Carter who vowed to stay off the camera and run business end things from the home base.
That is all.
M.C. Brown
You can find me on Twitter as
ShocXwavE
