TNA Imapct Hits

Desmond Wolfe and Daniels vs. Kurt Angle and A.J. Styles: Quality hype throughout the night with Angle and Styles bickering, and Daniels complaining about being slighted. I wish they would give Daniels a full fledged heel turn rather than the Vince Russo shades of gray silliness, but I really enjoyed the match and the fact that Daniels scored a necessary pinfall win over Styles. The only negative was that Wolfe didn't get a chance to get his heat back after losing to Angle at Turning Point.

Mick Foley: It's awkward that he turned briefly on Abyss, became a babyface again, and is already showing signs of turning heel on Hulk Hogan. Still, he's playing his part well by expression frustration over Dixie Carter not giving him the heads up on the Hogan signing. I believe TNA needs to position Foley as a heel heading into the eventual feud with Hogan. However, my concern is that Russo is too caught up in the shades of gray tweener booking, and Foley seems more concerned with being cute than being a heel. Here's hoping Russo books an actual heel turn for Foley and that Mick reminds everyone what a great heel he can be when the time comes.

Hulk Hogan videos: These clips made it seem a little more real because Hogan was actually speaking about TNA in newer clips. I'm not sure why TNA made a bigger fuss over the Sting interview that never took place when they could have teased additional comments from Hogan, but I liked the footage they aired.

Kevin Nash: No, I'm not a fan of Nash joining the lame World Elite faction and playing the bodyguard role for the over-pushed Eric Young. However, I did enjoy the tease that Hogan isn't coming alone. This is clearly designed to make viewers wonder whether the NWO is about to invade TNA. Of course, WWE owns the rights to the NWO name so that won't be happening, but I still enjoy the mystery they're creating about which Hogan will show up.

Overall show: A minor hit. Yes, it's one of those shows with more misses than hits, but I still enjoyed the overall show and the storyline direction of the top feuds featuring Styles vs. Daniels, and Angle vs. Wolfe. Throw in quality hype for Hogan's debut and some good in-ring action and this was a decent show.

TNA Impact Misses

Sting: This was a total bait and switch. They could have told the same story of being surprised that Sting skipped the interview by acknowledging early in the show that he didn't show up at the scheduled time. Rather, they waited until the last half-hour of the show to let viewers know that they wouldn't be delivering something they'd been hyping for a week. By the way, I hope we weren't supposed to believe the footage from outside Sting's house was live. It looked awfully bright outside for 9:40 at night.

Tomko's return: A former TNA Tag Champ and singles contender returns and they just casually sneak him onto the broadcast? If the idea was to keep it low profile so that people aren't suspecting that he'll be revealed as the mystery man who keeps attacking A.J. Styles, then why bother reintroducing him before the big reveal? I can't think of a less enthusiastic way to reintroduce a wrestler.

Team 3D and Rhino beat Hernandez, Matt Morgan, and D'Angelo Dinero: Did they really have three of the company's rising stars lose just for the sake of putting heat on Jesse Neal? I believe this is two pinfall losses in a row for Hernandez in these matches, and Morgan has yet to be put in a position to do anything meaningful since his breakout match against Kurt Angle. By the way, when a guy Morgan's size takes a big bump through a table on the floor, it should be treated like a major moment, not just a throwaway portion of the match. TNA must do a better job of getting over Morgan's size. He comes off like an ordinary wrestler rather than the most agile nearly seven-foot wrestler in the business because his big spots are rarely spotlighted.

Sarita vs. Alissa Flash: There was a lot of buzz over Sarita before she joined the company. Unfortunately, she just hasn't lived up to the hype. She's a good in-ring performer, but she lacks in the charisma department and the fans haven't taken to her. Meanwhile, Flash was featured as Sarita's first opponent on TNA television. She showed excellent charisma and great in-ring skills. Yet for some reason, TNA continues to push Sarita as a bigger deal than Flash. The fans appear ready to back Flash, but the creative team needs to give them a reason. By the way, does anyone care about the Flash vs. Traci Brooks program? Move on.

The Beautiful People: Did I really hear a fart noise as Lacey Von Erich was walking off the interview set?

ODB talk show: I dig the ODB character, but TNA creative has to give up on this bizarre notion that she's a good talk show host. They changed the name, but the end result was still the same in that I feel like I'm watching a warped edition of GLOW whenever she hosts a backstage talk show.

Tara: Didn't Tara pin Awesome Kong at the pay-per-view? I realize you can only spotlight so much during a two-hour show, but how is that not a major talking point coming out of Turning Point? The current creative team doesn't book the women nearly as well as the last creative team.

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