By Will Pruett

- Impact began with two of the top three babyfaces in TNA welcoming the other top babyface in TNA to the ring. None of these people happened to be active wrestlers. Instead, we saw Sting and Dixie Carter welcoming Hulk Hogan. If there is one part of TNA that needs to be fixed, it has to be this one. Authority figures should never matter more than wrestlers.

- Hit TV shows often acknowledge main characters discussing story lines with their writers. This is what makes them hits, right?

- Aside from my complaints about the Hogan work, a lot happened in the opening segment. I was surprised to see that Mr. Anderson is a babyface this week after being a sort of spoiler heel last week. I was also impressed by Bobby Roode's work on the mic.

- As a person that raved about Jeff Hardy vs. Kurt Angle at Victory Road, I expected to really enjoy their Impact rematch. Sadly, I did not. The match never seemed to kick into a rhythm (perhaps it was hindered by the long commercial break) and coming back to Kurt bleeding, whether it was via hard-way or blade, made it feel even more disjointed.

- The ending of Hardy vs. Angle at least demonstrates a real desire in TNA to justify the cage stipulation in top matches. It feels a little clumsy, but an effort is better than just randomly assigned cage matches.

- I know that TNA prides themselves on the Lockdown concept, but why not just have the top three or four matches take place in a cage? The name is established and it would make the cage mean so much more.

- I wonder if Ric Flair was in a prominent lackey role on this show to take advantage of his second Hall of Fame induction. If I were to read into it, I would say that the lackey portion was meant to put him in his place after some comments he made on Saturday at the Hall of Fame got back to TNA creative.

- Bully Ray is a talented and creative promo artist. Because of this, I believe that he can do better than calling Austin Aries small. Aries will have to battle his size all the way up the card in TNA and beginning (what I assume is) a main event push with these insults sets a bad tone.

- I'm all for slow burns, but what exactly is Joseph Parks doing? It is a great beginning to an interesting Abyss story, but part two needs to take place soon. He's running out of people to introduce himself to.

- I enjoyed the James Storm and A.J. Styles backstage segment. It makes total sense for a babyface to seek a challenge going into the biggest match of their career. This is a logical touch that we don't see often in wrestling that I greatly appreciate.

- The Knockout's almost-tag-esque number one contenders match was as nonsensical as it was slow. Especially at the end, it felt like I was watching the standard multi-person finish playing at half speed. This was not a good match or a good use of the immensely talented women in the ring.

- The least talented woman in that match won it with Velvet Sky becoming the Knockout challenger of the month. I don't see the value of her as a wrestler. She could add to an act very nicely as a valet, but unless she improves in the ring (and she has not for years) she should not be wrestling with the talented likes of Gail Kim, Madison Rayne and Tara.

- Storm and Styles had a nice little match with a great back and forth. I love the work that TNA has done to put over Storm in the ring. His wins headed into Lockdown have not gone without notice. The narrative is quite simple: he's on a roll and is headed into the biggest match of his life.

- My major complaint about Storm's push is that it has not been the central story of the show. The power struggle and the Bischoff family drama have both taken precedence over him.

- Next week we have been promised a face to face confrontation between Bobby Roode and James Storm. This should be very interesting and very fun. They have cut great promos going into Lockdown individually, so now it is time to see if that carries over into microphone chemistry with each other.

- I groaned out loud when I saw Mexican America in the ring, then I realized who their opponents would be. I cannot be happier to see the Motor City Machine Guns back in the ring. They are a truly amazing team that can reinvigorate the TNA tag team division.

- Was it just me, or did Chris Sabin seem to be playing it very safe in the ring? I don't blame him at all, but he did not look to be as comfortable as he once was.

- TNA's attempt to recreate War Games is usually a semi-exciting matchup. While the teams rarely form organically, it is usually a very interesting match to watch. This year, I have no interest in it. Locking what could be a very fun and interesting match to the family drama going on between the Bischoffs is a horrid choice.

- Nothing that TNA is doing to get Garett Bischoff over is working. The fans aren't taking notice of him as a viable threat. All it does is create a discontentedness with fans of the product.

- One Bischoff leaving TNA after Lockdown officially eliminates the need for and the purpose of the other Bischoff in the promotion. I tend to hope Eric Bischoff ends up staying in the company so he can continue to do commentary for Xplosion.

- I say it every week, but I'll say it again, TNA's production team knows how to build a match better than their creative team does.

- Bobby Roode vs. Mr. Anderson was a decent main event. The wrestling was good, but the story telling bothered me. Anderson is not a huge star. He could easily put over Roode clean and give Roode a small sample of credibility. At this rate, Bobby Roode should use the World Championship the same way Daniel Bryan did on Sunday. If he doesn't, then James Storm is not doing his job correctly.

- Hulk Hogan was quite the attention whore on this show, wasn't he? Less is more with any authority figure and that goes double for a major star that should move out of the way.

This was an odd episode of Impact Wrestling. There were a few decent matches, but they were overshadowed by the overall narrative of the show, which is Hogan. TNA is attempting to brand this as yet another new era, but is ten days away from a major pay-per-view really the time to do that? The stories being told do not seem to be cohesive at this moment and whether that is due to shakeups in creative or just a lack of skill in telling stories, it is detrimental to the show.

Beyond the biggest story, which has nothing to do with wrestling (which matters!), TNA is telling a nice story with James Storm. I wish I could say that it is the main narrative on the show, but in most moments Hulk Hogan is standing behind him and rather then lending him some star power, Hogan purposefully outshines all others.

Let's do some good old fashioned talking about this show! Feel free to email me at itswilltime@gmail.com or to follow me on twitter at twitter.com/itswilltime.

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