TNA Impact Hitlist: Kevin Nash vs. Kurt Angle, Team 3D, James Storm, Eric Young, Curry Man

Impact Hits

Kevin Nash vs. Kurt Angle: A quality television main event. Both wrestlers worked hard and this was an entertaining match from start to finish. I was more intrigued by this matchup than I am by the six-man tag pay-per-view main event. If TNA had booked Nash vs. Angle as a title match and let both wrestlers sell it on the mic (remember when Nash did mic work?), I think it could have sold more pay-per-views than the six-man tag match they are going with. I’m sure some people would have complained about Nash headlining a TNA pay-per-view, but the only thing that matters is whether people buy it. I just have a hard time seeing how a six-man tag match that eliminates the TNA Title and the TNA Tag Titles from the show is going to lead to pay-per-view buys. The match should be entertaining, but that doesn’t matter if no one orders it in the first place.

James Storm: I have no interest in his silly feud with Eric Young over the drinking title and that was the saddest excuse for a ladder match I’ve seen (more on that below), but Storm really impressed me on the mic last night. He’s come a long way in that department and I hope TNA will let him evolve from the drunken cowboy gimmick into being a more credible performer.

Curry Man: The gimmick doesn’t do much for me personally. Nevertheless, TNA did a good job of spotlighting the gimmick with the unique production work and the shots of the live crowd dancing along with the character. It’s hard to say if this is one of those gimmicks that’s more over in the Impact Zone than it is nationally (see Lance Hoyt's initial babyface push), but at least TNA is doing something out of the ordinary to make the gimmick stand out.

Impact Misses

Team 3D skits: This is a classic case of TNA overdoing it. One skit or even just the in-ring segment would have told the same same joke that TNA wasted three skits and one in-ring segment telling over and over. Kurt Angle and Booker T like to tell the wrestlers that “less means more” in the ring. Perhaps the creative team should apply that same approach to their booking. Recent shows have been ridiculously overbooked and filled with this type of comedy. I’ve been told that some people in the office feel that they need to move away from serious story lines because they’re on the same network as UFC, which sounds ass backwards to me. They may never win over the entire UFC audience, but they would lure some UFC viewers their way if they promoted a more realistic product that didn’t come across like a parody of WWE’s worst sports entertainment moments. For what it’s worth, the in-ring segment with Brother Ray and Brother Devon stripping to their boxers got a chuckle out of me.

James Storm vs. Eric Young ladder match: This was one of the worst ladder matches in history. The whole point of the match from the creative team’s perspective was to establish that Storm is afraid of heights. Couldn’t they have established the same thing by having him panic when he tried to climb to the top rope in a standard match? Ladder matches raise the expectations of fans and this match did nothing to meet those expectations. It came across like a cheap stunt that lured in fans for the ladder match and then gave them something totally different.

Tomko: He was a huge part of last month’s story lines, but he’s slowly disappeared ever since his turned on Christian Cage at the Against All Odds show. It was bad enough that his explanation for turning on Christian wasn’t treated as a major event, but he didn’t even have a speaking role on Impact this week. Tomko was one of the hottest acts in the company when they appeared to be setting him up for a babyface turn. I think the turn is still coming eventually, but I’m not sure whether they’ll be able to regain the buzz they had over his character before they decided to swerve everyone just for the sake of swerving everyone at Against All Odds.

Eric Young: I got a kick out of the “Don’t Fire Eric” bit and he’s been responsible for some good comedy in TNA. However, this lame bit of him being afraid of monsters is just ridiculous. If the goal is to make children identify with his character, then perhaps TNA should keep him out of drinking championships. Even if that happens, TNA has to ask themselves whether it’s worth marketing a character to children in this manner if it alienates adults who watch the show.

Check back tonight for live coverage of Smackdown and again on Saturday for the Dot Net debut of the Smackdown Hitlist.