By Ryan Kester

Dot Net Members are listening to Jason Powell's audio review of TNA Impact and the two-hour Dot Net Weekly audio show. Join us on the ad-free version of the website by signing up for membership now via the Dot Net Members' Signup Page.

Bully Ray and Mr. Anderson

TNA began a babyface turn for Mr. Anderson last night, and I find myself hesitant to get excited about the idea. Anderson, a man I've been saying needed a new character for years, finally found a new rhythm with Aces and Eights where he dropped a lot of his pseudo-Stone Cold persona and became a good heel with a more realistic cadence. The idea of turning him off of that, especially for someone that's been through so many turns in the past few years, just gives one pause. What's even more worrisome, is that when he had his big moment at the end of the show, Anderson slipped into his old mannerisms and brought back the very act that made him so stale in the first place.

That being said, the interactions between Bully Ray and Mr. Anderson last night were entertaining. If Anderson can find a way to keep the next phase of his character from being an old incarnation, then we could have a solid babyface out of the man.

AJ Styles

It took a silly path to get here, but AJ Styles is in the final four of the BFGS. For my money, Styles took a lot of shine off of his character with his promo from last week; he simply didn't have the breakout moment that TNA was obviously expecting with that performance.

Styles certainly look like the early favorite to win the BFGS, but the Series has done anything but produce the expected winner in years past. I would not be surprised for that to be a similar move this year with Styles being a red herring for a Magnus or Aries win.

Chris Sabin

I'm not sold on the story TNA is trying to tell with Sabin. The story certainly needs time to develop, but he was certainly acting in a heel manner last night, which is a mistake for his character. Sabin had a short spell as a babyface since his return, and he has butterfingered championships left and right. TNA has booked Sabin terribly with his babyface character, and turning him on the tails of that is simply underwhelming.

There is certainly a degree of patience that needs to happen with whatever they are doing with Sabin; they just started on this path when they paired Velvet Sky with his character last week. However, if the plan is to turn Sabin, it could not come at a more convoluted time in TNA. Much like Sabin's first championship run was overshadowed by the overarching TNA storylines, if they turn him now it will be a similar degree of background noise.

Overall Show

While I make my misgivings with TNA's current product no secret, last night's show was entertaining. Luckily, Bound For Glory is on the horizon, and come that time TNA should shake up enough of their content to where they get out of the stories that haven't clicked with me. For last night's purposes, they managed to find a way of producing an entertaining edition of Impact despite my reservations.

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.

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