Thursday, January 8 – 12:11 P.M. (CT)

-Mick Foley is making his in-ring debut for TNA this weekend. Insert crickets sound here. This should be a huge moment for the company, but there's no buzz about the product, let alone Foley's return to the ring. TNA has one more chance to promote the show on Impact tonight, but it will take something truly special to get fringe pay-per-view buyers to take a chance on this show.

The buildup for Foley's return to the ring has been disappointing thus far. His program as the executive who tried to get along with the Main Event Mafia has provided its share of entertaining moments, but it doesn't feel like they've been building to this moment since Mick debuted in TNA.

Rather, it feels like he felt snubbed that the Mafia didn't honor his request to end the gang-like beatings on the TNA Originals, and therefore he added himself to the match. There's no real emotion in that storyline. We've seen what WWE and Ring of Honor did with Foley in the past, and TNA's storylline that led to his in-ring return pales in comparison.

Of course, it doesn't help that Foley is working a six-man tag match rather than a focussed, singles program with one heel who got under his skin to the point that he's coming out of retirement. That's likely out of TNA's control, though, as they are wisely protecting Foley by limiting his involvement in the match.

Foley may not feel comfortable working a singles match at this stage in his career, but he can still deliver on the mic. TNA desperately needs him to deliver a home run promo on tonight's show that will make people care about his involvement in the match and get people excited about the pay-per-view.

-The hype for Foley's return has been disappointing thus far, but TNA has done a very good job of building up to the Jeff Jarrett vs. Kurt Angle rematch. Of course, this has led to quips from several people in the company who question how good TNA would be if the creative team put half as much thought and effort into the programs that don't involve Jarrett.

Nevertheless, I am excited to see Jarrett vs. Angle. Their first match lived up to the hype and the rematch should be even better. I don't care for the way they continue to drag Jarrett's daughters into the storyline, but they have done a good job of creating the big match feel for the rematch, which should be the highlight of Sunday's pay-per-view.

-I wish I could get excited about the Sting vs. Rhino title match. Rhino has stepped up his game since TNA gave him the chance to be the mouthpiece of the Frontline. I still believe that role should have gone to Samoa Joe and/or A.J. Styles, but Rhino deserves a lot of credit for making the most of the opportunity.

Unfortunately, the storyline with Sting is a mess. He's a reluctant heel in the Mafia. He still howls for the fans and even slaps their hands at ringside occasionally, which makes it hard for the babyfaces who work against him to get the fans behind them. Sting has been portrayed as misguided, and that doesn't exactly make the fans want to see him get his ass kicked.

Worse yet, TNA has done nothing to make viewers believe there's a chance that Rhino will win the title on Sunday. Of course, you never rule out anything with the TNA creative team because they like to surprise fans or swerve viewers just for the sake of swerving them, but no one is ordering this show because they think Rhino might capture the gold.

One could argue that this is a throwaway title match, much like John Cena vs. JBL at the Royal Rumble appeared to be. The difference is that WWE took a tired program that people had seen before and enhanced it with the Shawn Michaels storyline. I don't know how many people think JBL will win the belt at the Rumble, but the Michaels saga added a real hook that will lead to pay-per-view buys.

What's the hook for Rhino vs. Sting? Rhino comes across like Sting's random opponent of the month, and the only storyline between these two is that their on opposite sides in the Mafia vs. Frontline feud. Unlike Foley, I'm not convinced that Rhino or Sting can deliver the type of last minute sales pitch to get viewers excited about their match. I hope I'm wrong. I guess we'll get our answer tonight on Impact, which I'll be covering live here on Dot Net.

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