I saw CB did a recap of Impact but didn’t add his opinion to everything, so out of the very kindness of my heart, I decided to début this column called watching so you don’t have to. This is mainly for TNA shows, but if something else happens that’s awful and finds its way on TV or PPV, I will be sure to review it. Although, I don’t know how many Impacts I can tolerate before I eventually give up, but I am going to try my best to bring some TNA to Pulse and jam it down the reader’s throats.
1. I know people complain about giving away PPV matches on TV, but this didn’t bother me. Jeff Hardy and Kurt Angle had a good Angle formula match, plus they didn’t give you all they could so there’s more to be seen.
2. However, just because Angle didn’t lose by pin or submission, DOESN’T MEAN DIDN’T LOSE THE MATCH TNA. It works if Angle was champion because the title doesn’t switch hands, but he’s not the champion. And sure, the finish leaves a cheap taste in Jeff Hardy fan’s mouth and chances are Jeff Hardy will pin Angle at Lockdown, but the writers shouldn’t make Angle say Hardy never beat him because he did.
3. Bully Ray and Austin Aries are the best things going for TNA. Enough said.
4. The Knockouts match had too many people in it and was disjointed.
5. James Storm and AJ Styles had a solid match. Styles, as usual, was crisp and bumped like crazy while Storm was able to keep up this Styles’ speed and looks like he’s recovering well from his injury. It was a good win for Storm heading into Lockdown and this match doesn’t hurt AJ at all if they’re ready to try to push him for the 100th time. I wish they added some psychology and storytelling into their match by having Styles become overzealous because he’s trying to avoid being superkick, thus opening up other opportunities for Storm and allowing him to win the match. Maybe they can do that when Storm wins the title in their rematch.
6. The MCMGS are a great team. They’re extremely fast, athletic, and know how to put on entertaining matches. However, I wish they slowed it down a notch and picked properly picked their spots. Sometimes, they’re too fast for fans to process what they just did and don’t have time to react. If they took it down a notch, the high-risked moves would have more meaning and the higher paced would be more fun if it didn’t happen over the entire course of the match.
7. Magnus/ Joe vs. MCMG has been booked and if they do the match right, it could be a really good match. Hopefully, they’ll invest some time into it to increase the anticipation.
8. I don’t know which Bischoff I want to see more out of TNA. On one hand, Eric Bischoff is on TV way too much. But on the other, his son sucks at wrestling. *Flips a coin*. Okay, I want Eric Bischoff off TV. At least we get small doses of his son.
9. Anderson vs. Roode was just a match and then the finish played into the story that Hogan was putting some control back into TNA. It was whatever.
10. I actually didn’t mind this Impact. There were some nice quality matches and, most importantly, everything was just simple. It’s seemingly amazing that if put hardly any effort into their booking and just showcased the wrestlers with talent, the show would be amazingly better. Even though it’s stupid if they’re doing it, I hope the angle of Hogan adding more structure in TNA leads to there being more wrestling and less crazy shit that’s hard to follow on the show. Hey, what can I say? I’m desperate.
Check out my new upcoming Monday column about current WWE and the Attitude Era. Until then, have a great weekend.
