Reviewing the 2/9/12 episode of IMPACT WRESTLING…
1. Excellent video on the history between Christopher Daniels/AJ Styles/Frankie Kazarian. With a lot of stuff still to be revealed, the story plays out nicely in the hype package while still leaving some mysteries to be solved going into and after this Sunday’s PPV Against All Odds.
2. I actually like the way TNA has been accentuating the sexiness of their ring announcer Christy Hemme. It makes her more of a viable commodity in merchandising keeping her a stand out character in her own right. They do this with a simple but effective full body camera scan leading up to her announcement for the next match.
3. I laughed at A-Double’s teasing of his pendulum elbow to the roaring crowd. Could he be turning face eventually? He’s so effective as a self important egotistical prick that it would suck to see him turned baby, but if fans follow suit of the Brits and start to really cheer Austin Aries, it could happen.
4. I thought it was a great touch to show Hulk Hogan send the cameras out when talking to Sting and then reference that he talked to the Stinger in his promo where he announced the match to the live event audience. Very cool. I do think there were some missed opportunities in the segment with Hogan/Garett Bischoff vs. Eric Bischoff/Gunner. I think as Hulk made his comeback to the live crowd after Eric’s low blow, a simple tearing of the shirt might have erupted the crowd even more. Also, thought Hogan AND Garett should have tossed Gunner out of the ring to steer attention to Garett. Although Garett did get a big punch on his Dad, it gave me an idea that in a Father/Son angle, perhaps in the future they could do some kind of whipping angle, where Eric takes off his belt and whips his son with the help of Gunner. Perhaps at the PPV, even if they lose, maybe a post match attack as Hogan used to whip opponents with his weight lifting belt, they can do a similar angle to the Hogan/Garett combination.
5. Noticeable improvement from in ring quality from Velvet Sky as she battled and upset Mickie James this week. Perhaps a heel turn for Mickie might help Velvet Sky’s career as well as Mickie can challenge many other Knockouts to up their game perhaps like no other Knockout can save for maybe Gail Kim and Tara, who they themselves had a brief little brawl for the final push of their match.
6. Move of the Night:
AJ Style’s– Somersault flip dive to the outside on Christopher Daniels.
While sometimes these high risk moves can look mundane when done so often, I do have to say when you look at how much room AJ had with the backwards looking guard rails out there in the UK and how he hit Daniels so perfectly there with very little breathing room, that move was a thing of beauty.
7. Lines of the Night:
During the 3-way X-Division Match
a. After Shelley broke up a superplex by Aries on Williams by slapping his ass
Taz – “What the hell was that? Reminded(me of) my honeymoon there for a minute.”
Mike Tenay – “Were you on the receiving end?”
Taz – “No comment.”
b. After Aries kicked Williams in the gonads as he held Shelley in the bridged pin position after the Rolling Chaos Theory suplex
Taz – “Awww, Yambag city right there. Ref never saw it. Aries…awwww…Just kicked Williams right in the nuts.”
That is hilarious. Probably the best called move I’ve heard. ha ha. I think that’s the first time I can remember the phrase “Just kicked (someone) right in the nuts” on a TV broadcast.
c. Bully Ray hilariously to James Storm in the corner after they separate.
Bully Ray – “Clean break, my friend.”
Then he tries to waffle him and misses.
8. Notable Matches of the Night
Non-Title Match
AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels
I believe there was a “This is Awesome” chant from the British fans. And it was. Very good match up. I enjoyed the off the ropes enziguri by Daniels among other spots in the match(see thought #6). Daniels and AJ just have unmatched chemistry as opponents. Daniels gets the tainted win which leads me to solidify my prediction that AJ will get the win.
X-Division Non-Title Match
CHAMPION A-Double Austin Aries vs. Doug Williams vs. Alex Shelley
Very entertaining match with the crowd wild for it and Shelley picks up the big win non-title over the champion, Austin Aries. Unfortunately, while he pinned A-Double, it follows Gail Kim and Tara in that it makes it kind of predictable that Tara and Shelley won’t win or gives that impression at the very least. Very good to see Douglas Williams again and he held his own in this very good, albeit short match.
9. Final Show Thoughts:
I can’t rave enough about how awesome the UK fans or rather as Magnus put it, English fans were for TNA and Impact Wrestling. They upped the intensity level and excitement level of the show just as they did last week. Huge 6th man award goes to the UK TNA fans. The video packages were once again at the very top of their game this week specifically the Daniels/Kazarian/Styles history as well as the title history video hyping all competitors. Great stuff. Sting teaming with James Storm I thought would have happened last week, but they saved it for this week. It makes perfect sense with Jeff Hardy banned from travel right now and storyline “hurt” from Bobby Roode and Bully Ray’s table attack. Nice continuity and ending to the tag team Main Event for the show, too with Bully Ray refusing to help Bobby Roode while he was in the Scorpion Deathlock. It also gave Sting a nice send off win in one of his few matches he’s had in the past half a year.
10. IMPACT PLAYERs of the WEEK:
AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels, Alex Shelley, Velvet Sky, Bully Ray, Sting
Huge match between Styles/Daniels, Shelley and Sky with big wins over champions or former champions, Ray continues to be a strong TV presence and Sting still has it.
That is all.
M.C. Brown
You can find me on Twitter as
ShocXwavE
