By Ryan Kester

Jeff Hardy and Austin Aries

All signs point to a future triple threat match with Bobby Roode and Austin Aries challenging for Hardy's belt. The work towards that match was well done this evening with all three men getting some focus throughout the show and the brief physical exchange between Aries and Hardy was well done.

I have not read the spoilers for next week, so I'm guessing when I say I imagine that Roode will interfere in next week's world title match to repay Aries outbidding Roode with Aces and Eights, and from there we will get a triple threat for all three men to settle the score.

Bully Ray and Hulk Hogan

I've been hard on this angle in previous weeks, but I enjoyed the brief exchange between Bully Ray and Hulk Hogan backstage. Hogan is still coming off as more cartoonish overprotective father stereotype than a real dad dealing with the often real issue of seeing their daughter dating someone they wish they didn't, but with the pretapes TNA found a way to get the authenticity this angle requires right.

I hope TNA keeps with the pretapes for the majority of this angle as the arena promos have left a lot to be desired. Hogan still needs to tweak his reasoning a bit, but the story involved isn't at a complete loss yet.

AJ Styles

It appears that my heel turn predictions for Styles are coming to fruition. TNA didn't go far enough to get the fans to turn on Styles, bur he is certainly heeling up his mannerisms and facial expressions. I did have one man contact me saying that this looks like a serve turn a la 1996 Sting. I certainly hope that bloke is wrong, however, as I feel the best thing to freshen up the very stale Styles act is to have him embrace the whiny aspects of his character and become a heel.

Velvet Sky

I was somewhat excited to see Sky make her return to TNA, but that enthusiasm evaporated when I saw that she hasn't done a thing to improve her ring work in her time off/ She's just as green as ever and I really hope they find a valet role for her as I feel that's where she would be the most useful.

Overall Show

Last night's Impact missed the mark for me. There simply wasn't much to get really excited about ion the show and it felt like the usual show we get from TNA this time of year where stories aren't progressed in a meaningful way as the company tries to ride out the holiday season. It's an understandable position to take creatively, but it doesn't make for the most entertaining television.

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.

RECOMMEND THIS ARTICLE: