By Ryan Kester

Open Fight Night Debut

I want to start off by clearly stating that I like the Open Fight Night concept on paper. I feel it can open up a lot of unique possibilities for the company and prove to be very entertaining. However, the debut of this concept needed to start off with a bang to sell viewers on its importance, and I feel TNA made several key mistakes last night in doing so.

The first Gut Check ended with the young hopeful getting destroyed by one of TNA's undercarders. This is supposed to be one of the biggest selling points of the show yet Silva was presented in the same manner as a lot of WWE's NXT Rookies for his first impression to viewers. TNA has a chance to create young stars with this segment, and yet they chose to initiate the idea with a squash. Is this concept doomed forming the start? No, but this was certainly an underwhelming way to begin.

Then the way TNA handled the challenge to the Tag Team Titles left a lot to be desired. TNA built up the elimination process the entire evening on who would face the champions in the main event, only to deliver a final decision that lacked logic, a successful defense from the champions, and then moved on without any real payoff.

This is indicative of a lot of my issues with TNA's current creative direction. They have been consistently pulling back and not delivering conclusions to stories that live up to the hype they are presented with. Doing so in an isolated manner can be a great thing for business as delayed gratification can heighten fan interest. However, this is a trend that has been going on since last year's Bound For Glory, and it's something that makes it very easy to lose interest in the TNA product.

Eric Bischoff appreciation

In a night already starved for time the attempt to create a mini-feud that had barely seen focus on TNA television between Jeremy Borash and Eric Bischoff, and the main event slot being used to get Eric's son over, this entire saga felt like an extreme waste of time and energy.

The ceremony let a lot of the air out of the show as it went on for far too long and served more to get the Bischoffs on television than it did to advance any of TNA's main stories or work with the Open Fight Night concept. I would be more forgiving if it was at least entertaining, but it simply was not.

Gail Kim and Miss Tessmacher

This segment highlighted one of the issues I see with the Open Fight Night concept. The story told in this match was well done as it made Gail Kim look like an extremely cocky heel and it gave Tessmacher a boost by pulling out the victory. If Open Fight Night was used to establish a contender for the beginning of a feud, then this would have worked very well.

However, two problems sprang up because of this match. One, it was non-title even though champions are supposed to be perfectly susceptible to challenges on Open Fight Night, and two, it created a storyline when TNA is already trying to tell the story of Velvet Sky chasing Gail Kim. TNA can come up with a three-way feud here, but from my perspective that only muddies the waters of a division that has already been losing its focus the past several months.

Television Title

I like seeing the TV Title defended every week on Impact. It makes sense, and it can be used like it was last night where it gave two guys in a longer-than-usual match a chance to get the live crowd revved up for the show.

It will be interesting to see what happen when TNA moves the belt off of Devon. If TNA keeps the consistently clean wins up with this title, it could very well help a new player in TNA get over.

Overall Show

Last night's show featured some good ideas that were hindered by a sloppy execution. The Open Fight Night concept has potential, but it is going to need a degree of polish and focus that last night seemed to be lacking.

If you have any questions or comments or just wish to chat with a fellow wrestling fan about whatever, then feel free to email me at ryan.kester@gmail.com or follow me on Twitter at @TheRyanKester.

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