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Pruett's Pause: TNA Impact Wrestling - Bully Ray and Sting get the tables, Austin Aries and Bobby Roode capture tag team gold, Garett Bischoff and Wes Brisco explain themselves

Posted in: Pruett Editorials, MUST-READ LISTING
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Feb 8, 2013 - 01:00 PM

By Will Pruett

- Alright, TNA, we get it. A wedding happened. Why kick off every episode with a recap of it?

- All the dramatic music in the world couldn't have helped make the Wes Brisco and Garett Bischoff turn seem like a big deal.

- The opening Aces and Eights promo was what it was. It seemed like TNA was playing a whole lot of canned heat over the promo as well. Devon still has quite a few weaknesses as a lead for the group. I figured TNA would try to take him out of the leadership role quickly, but it is four months after Bound for Glory and he's still underperforming in it.

- Wes Brisco is upset because he had to start at the bottom of the company and work his way up. This is actually a logical explanation for why he would join this group. It might be the first logical explanation since the Aces and Eights became a group.

- I liked the way this episode built up Kurt Angle's eventual return. Devon built up to it during his promo and the commentators did a nice job of it as well. It should be a big moment when Angle does confront the bikers.

- Why didn't Taz travel overseas? If the goal was to make him the mouthpiece, he needed to be on this monthlong stretch of Impact episodes cutting promos. If he wasn't supposed to be a mouthpiece, why put him in the group?

- Rob Van Dam continues to be the only star in the X Division. I thought he would be good for the division in the short term, but now we're just seeing him beat smaller stars over and over.

- Kenny King and Zema Ion didn't even have an opportunity to show their actually personalities in this thrown together, random, three-way championship match. I know TNA crams an awful lot into their shows, but this one really needed a promo from each of those guys.

- The video recap was all I saw of the TNA British Bootcamp show and it actually looked pretty cool. I'd love to see something like it in the U.S. sometime.

- Jesse impressed me a whole lot with his promo. He seemed more at home in front of the big Manchester crowd than he has in the Impact Zone.

- James Storm, who should have been in the main event of Bound for Glory and was a main eventer a year ago, is now feuding with Jesse. This is unfortunate. Storm should be doing so much more.

- Bobby Roode and Austin Aries vs. Chavo Guerrero and Hernandez was pretty entertaining. It was easily the best match of Chavo and Hernandez's run. It also provided a fair amount of entertainment from Roode and Aries.

- Giving Roode and Aries the Tag Team Championships at this moment made sense. I am worried about TNA being really into this story with them now, then abandoning it. They tend to abandon stories after a little while. Also, isn't their act a little too much like Kane and Daniel Bryan?

- Where do Chavo and Hernandez go after this match? They'll most likely have a rematch, but after it, I don't see the team sticking together. Will Hernandez go back to waiting for another Hispanic tag team partner? Will Chavo vs. RVD be our X Division feud?

- I liked the moment between Hulk Hogan and Bully Ray. It allowed Bully, who has been all humility and smiles lately, to show he is still a bad guy. It allowed Hulk to be the concerned father.

- Why was the A.J. Styles video package shown? Is he returning soon? It almost seemed like it was only there to fill time, since it wasn't mentioned before or after it aired.

- I'm so glad TNA's announcing team took the opportunity to tell "spotted dick" jokes instead of paying attention to a Knockout's match. Stay classy, TNA.

- Tara vs. Tessmacher was a pretty good match, too. TNA needs to build some excitement in the Knockout's division. It would also be great to see the division get back to being important to TNA's success.

- Viewers in the U.S. have no idea who Rockstar Spud is or why he is on TV. I know TNA wanted to debut him in front of a U.K. crowd, but he could have used a video package focussed solely on him.

- Is it too late not to call this kid Spud? That's probably a dumb name.

- Robbie E. seems to be the guy picking on rookies. I wonder if the goal is for him to eventually be mean to Gut Check kids during their judging or matches. I also wonder if TNA is actually breaking the Robbie's up.

- As much as I didn't enjoy the moment between Bully and Brooke prior to the match, I did like Sting and Bully deciding to get their war paint on. Bully Ray with his face painted like Sting's makes me smile.

- If the MRI on Jeff Hardy showed no damage, why wasn't he on the U.K. tour? These are things fans overseas should be asking.

- On a side note, I'm glad TNA was able to reach a deal with Jeff Hardy, if for nothing else, for their storytelling. I was dreading a tournament to crown a TNA Champion.

- I'm convinced TNA is not promoting individual members of Aces and Eights because they know people aren't invested in the individuals or the faction. Instead of saying Devon and DOC are wrestling, they're able to cover themselves just by saying the faction name. I don't think this is the right way to promote, but I can see TNA's logic.

- The main event tables match was fun to watch. The fans were into it and the big "get the tables" moment was awesome. Bully Ray was able to creat enough movement around Sting, so his limitations weren't evident.

- The Aces and Eights lost another major match. This seems to be all that happens in main events in TNA. It's a big problem for the faction that I've mentioned many times. I don't know if the concept can be saved.

- The big celebration with Bully and Brooke was cute. Is the cuteness going to eventually annoy fans? I have no idea.

This show was really fun. It had two big tag team matches that delivered in the ring. The rest of the show probably didn't matter all that much. While the show was fun, I do have to admit that missing this episode probably wouldn't have mattered aside from the title change. It seemed based on sending the huge crowd home happy, not telling great stories.

Did you enjoy TNA this week? Am I way off? Feel free to email me at itswilltime@gmail.com or to follow me and chat me up on twitter at twitter.com/itswilltime.

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