Reviewing the 1/12/12 episode of IMPACT WRESTLING…
1. Perhaps a more appropriate sign for the fans at Impact Zone to hold up would be Hardy got ScROODEd. Jeff’s freaky eyelid makeup this week showed painted on cartoon eyes which really looked whacked out after his crash into the guard rail and his struggling to get up. See #6.
2. It is very hard to stare at anything but Christy Hemme’s chest when she is announcing in that top she was wearing this week. That looks much better on Christy, by the way, than it did on Karen Jarrett’s frame.
3. TNA needs to pick either a promo or a commercial for their sponsor. Don’t try to do both. The segment with Crimson and Matt Morgan outside of the Direct Auto Insurance office was ridiculous. Why was there a camera there? Should they have just done a video following Morgan in his everyday life potentially to promote something or a dvd or documentary and then “run across” Crimson? That really was bizarre. That being said after the segment and match, Redwrite and Blueprint were attacked by Magnus and Samoa Joe who looked very good in their vicious attack on the Tag Team Champions. They look to be staying as a tag team now which is a good thing for both of their careers at this point as they can take Joe and Magnus places with this pairing.
4. TNA created two mysteries this week revolving around first what secret is Christopher Daniels holding over Kazarian that might be making him do his bidding(ex. turn on AJ Styles) and who is Garett Bischoff’s secret “shocker” of a trainer. What exactly Daniels is doing or helping Kaz with will remain to be seen, could be money related, but it seems rather obvious at this point that Garett’s “shocker” is Hulk Hogan. Who else could it be? Goldberg? Ha.
5. For the last few weeks the team of ODB and Eric Young consistently seem to be in some of the most entertaining parts of the show. A rather ordinary Winter vs. ODB match is elevated into a very unpredictable contest with Eric’s antics and the odd pairing of ODB and Eric Young. The Wild Card tag tournament has produced both Joe and Magnus, ODB and EY and an opportunity to start a feud between Kazarian and AJ Styles. Job well done. By the way, AJ firing that microphone to the back of Daniels during the Kaz/AJ/Daniels segment was definitely a cool looking first.
6. Move of the Night(or rather Missed Move):
Jeff Hardy’s– Poetry in Motion crash and burn into the guard rail.
That was sick looking. The fans reaching out to tag Jeff and what I thought was one fan saying “Flyers never quit” was comical.
7. Lines of the Night:
a. After Eric Young performed an Airplane Spin on Angelina Love during the ODB vs. Winter match resulting in Angelina rolling out of the ring and EY falling out of the ring
Tenay – “Well that didn’t work out too well, but he did clear the ring of Angelina Love.”
Taz– “And himself.”
8. Match of the Night
TNA WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH
CHAMPION Bobby Roode vs. Jeff Hardy
This was actually a very good entertaining match up filled with a lot of crowd emotion. There was an incomplete finish, but what do any of you expect with a FREE TV Main Event that is being developed to tell a continuing story. Not to mention a cliffhanger for next week. That’s a TV Main Event’s job. What TNA needs to learn how to do is deliver on the money match ups they charge people for on Pay Per View. These types of endings are justifiable on Impact Wrestling, but I can’t condone multiple screwy finishes on their PPV match ups, especially in the main event which is supposed to be the main draw to sell the buys of the PPV. Unacceptable in my opinion. Save the screw jobs for Impact.
9. Final Show Thoughts:
The show had a few moments, but one of the less entertaining shows of the past couple of months in my opinion. The Joe/Magnus attack on the champs was better than the tag match itself. Kurt Angle vs. James Storm fell below expectations for me and while elevated Storm to #1 Contender was nothing special. The beer spewing near fall would have actually been a better way to end the PPV match up rather than back to back nutshot match influencing endings, but they used it here to tease a Kurt win which in the end he fell victim to Storm’s Last Call again. Kurt didn’t seem his usual Olympic self this week and I’m not sure if they tried to really sell he wasn’t ready for the match, which is a good excuse, but in reality the matches between the two should get better, not worse. It’s too bad they didn’t keep RVD around to have a mini-feud with Kurt Angle before his rumored “defection” back to WWE. That would be a nice feud for them both to have and give them both some meaningful segments and entertaining matches. Had TNA not shelved RVD, he could have gotten involved in the Angle/Storm feud like it seemed like they were going to do a few weeks back. Sting in a very weird Hamburglar looking shirt this week always seems AWOL when the show or PPV needs him most. Does he go sit in a skybox somewhere to watch the Main Event? Speaking of owners, it was a nice touch to acknowledge Dixie at ringside and hear her chant “Go Jeff!”. She can be the Mark Cuban of the wrestling world. Big match made for next week was Madison Rayne vs. Mickie James in a cage stemming from Sting’s conversation with Madison which has it’s moments and a resolution to the Main Event with the cliffhanger. Let’s hope Sting and Roode don’t talk baby talk next week. That was awful as was some of the overacting on the show and the mocking of Vince’s Twitter Love by Bully Ray. It’s bad enough on WWE TV without being mocked on Impact. I’d expect a Bully Ray vs. Jeff Hardy feud coming which years ago in TNA wouldn’t have seemed intriguing but now has life. The Beer Money rematches will now have some added dimension as well. TNA acknowledged Brooke Adams by her real name giving her some press plugging her Hooters deal, she looks fantastic as usual, which was a nice gesture and a way to cross promote. If only Mick Foley got this treatment, right Mick? The X-Division was sadly missing from this show which also adds to the drop in quality of it. If Impact Wrestling is going to have at least one Knockouts match a week, then the same should go for the X-Division and Tag Division. Spread the love and attention around, TNA.
10. IMPACT PLAYERs of the WEEK:
Jeff Hardy, Samoa Joe, Magnus, AJ Styles, Eric Young, ODB
Hardy has a stellar match with Roode, who doesn’t make the list this week not for that but for his bad overacting in the Twitter segment and subpar vs. Sting promo, Joe and Magnus looked killer, AJ did great in his segment and kudos to ODB and EY for embracing the pairing.
That is all.
M.C. Brown
You can find me on Twitter as
ShocXwavE
