Friday, July 30 – 5:15 P.M. (CT)

-Yes, it's two blogs for the price of one day. I watched TNA Impact on delay this morning. I took Thursday night off to take the girlfriend out for a night on the town. She picked the Thai food restaurant, which was accompanied by a crazed couple that thought their baby was choking and created a scene unlike anything I ever witnessed even when I worked the late night shift at White Castle many years ago. Anyway, here are some random thoughts on Thursday's Impact.

-Abyss is still talking about "They" even though the ECW guys have arrived. It's not the ECW crew, so who could it be? "Who cares?!?" responded one TNA source when I attempted to share my theory. Granted, I feel the same way, but humor me.

As the Abyss saga unfolds, we have also had the bizarre verbal exchanges between Jeff Jarrett and Kevin Nash that no one understands. They seem to be implying that Nash has figured out that Jarrett is a bad guy. Meanwhile, Sting thinks Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff are the bad guys, and lord knows Sting never wants to be a true bad guy.

We also had Bischoff delivering an insincere promo as he praised Dixie's decision to go forward with the TNA Hardcore Justice pay-per-view. Plus, why else would they have included that weird Bischoff phone call in the early stages of the Samoa Joe vs. Jeff Hardy match last week?

Admittedly, I thought it was just incompetence on the part of the TNA creative team upon first viewing. However, my guess now is that creative felt it was an important part of the storyline to have Bischoff offer public support for Dixie's decision, so they opted to feature it during the marquee match of the evening.

My guess is that Hogan and Bischoff's characters aren't as happy as they're letting on about the ECW reunion, so that's why Abyss said "They" hold Dixie Carter responsible.

While I must remind you that this is just a theory, I also must question what the payoff to such a story would be. Hogan can't really wrestle. Bischoff isn't a wrestler. No one wants to see another round of guitar-swinging heel Jarrett. So what's the point beyond Hogan and Bischoff being featured in a major storyline that would require Dixie to appear on television more often? Well, maybe there isn't a point beyond that.

-I hate the way they are just giving away an Ultimate X match on Impact next week. Don't get me wrong, I love the Beer Money vs. Motor City Machine Guns feud, but Ultimate X should be saved for pay-per-view. I'm sure it will be a hell of a match, though, as these two teams continue to deliver highly entertaining matches, just as many of us have been saying they would for years now.

-Mr. Anderson and Matt Morgan had a strong verbal exchange. Anderson played it a little more serious than usual, while Morgan hammed it up by spoofing Anderson's usual mic work. This feud is off to a strong start. What's up with the No Shirt Security duo? Murphy and Gunner? These guys have been hanging around for a year and that's the best names creative could come up with?

-Great, Eric Young is nuts again. He hasn't clicked as a character since the last time he was nuts, so TNA creative appears to be just throwing up their hands and putting him back in a role that was played out about a year before they finally abandoned it. Apparently, Young is screwy this time because of head trauma. Hey, maybe next week they can have Rob Terry perform a storyline roid rage and play on another major issue that should not be storyline fodder.

-As much as I like the idea of having a TV Title in TNA, how do they expect us to take a title belt seriously when it has changed names three times in less than two years? It started as Booker T's little red toy belt. Then TNA opted to call it the TNA Legends Title. Now A.J. Styles has decided to change it to a TV Title. Um, maybe next time TNA should use one of their numerous authority figures to make the title name change announcement so that it sounds more official.

Can any wrestler in TNA change the name of his title belt? What if Rob Van Dam changed the TNA Title to the RVD Title? How about the Motor City Machine Guns change the TNA World Tag Titles to the Detroit Rock City Tag Titles?

Maybe Madison Rayne can switch the TNA Knockouts Title to the TNA Cookie Cutter Title in honor of ODB's recent comments regarding the division. How about Velvet Sky and Madison Rayne refer to the TNA Knockouts Tag Title as worthless overkill? Wait, I already do that.

READ OUR INSIDER NEWS BEFORE ANYONE ELSE! BECOME A MEMBER AT OUR CHARTER RATE OF JUST $5 A MONTH - GET THE FIRST LOOK AT EXCLUSIVE INSIDER DOT NET NEWS, TONS OF EXCLUSIVE AUDIO CONTENT, MEMBER MESSAGE BOARD ACCESS, START YOUR OWN BLOG, AD-FREE MAIN LISTING: SIGN ME UP (or MORE INFO)

GOT AN IPHONE OR IPOD TOUCH? THEN BE SURE TO DOWNLOAD OUR NEW FREE iPhone APP: (click here!)
(or SEARCH "pro wrestling" in iTunes App Store)

FOR MORE BREAKING WWE & TNA NEWS AND COMMENTARY, VISIT OUR AFFILIATE PWTORCH.COM (click here!)

FOR MORE MMA & UFC NEWS AND COMMENTARY, VISIT OUR AFFILIATE MMATORCH.COM (click here!)