By Will Pruett

- TNA can talk all they want about putting focus on younger talent. Their actions show different. Look at the opening segment and video of Impact. The video was an Eric Bischoff recap segment. The opening segment was all Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair. The focus is on wrestlers who were main eventing in 1984.

- Flair could be an extremely meaningful act in any company, but putting him in a crazy old man role does not achieve that. He is basically worthless in TNA (and the ratings prove it). I don't want to be too negative about Flair, because I do think he can be worth a lot if used correctly, but TNA has used him in every way but the correct one.

- Shouldn't the judges from Gut Check have known that they were judges before the first match last week?

- Velvet Sky and Brooke Tessmacher vs. Gail Kim and Madison Rayne was a pretty decent match. They had more time than we usually see from either women's division in wrestling and they used it well. While I'm usually critical of her work, Sky actually seemed to be engaged and working hard here. It was a welcome improvement over what we usually see.

- Brooke Tessmacher winning another fall over Gail Kim is simple quality storytelling. It makes total sense and sets up Kim as in jeopardy heading into a pay-per-view match with Tessmacher.

- Rob Van Dam has never been known for his exceptional interview skills, but what we saw on this show was just embarrassing. Van Dam seemed stiff and unnatural as he talked about how good he was. It definitely came off like an unskilled heel promo, as opposed to the current babyface number one contender discussing his upcoming match.

- I don't know about the in-ring portion, but on the mic Bobby Roode and Van Dam do not seem to have commentary. It's like their cutting promos separately and they are being spliced together at this point.

- It's an old concept, but I still enjoy the "choose your rivals opponent" concept. In the era of champions wrestling on TV on a weekly basis, it is one of the more intriguing ways to build a rivalry.

- The comedy provided by Robbie E. and Robbie T. in matching cardigans was all the reason I needed to not hate this match.

- Robbie T. was well used in his short match with Devon. He didn't look too bad because he wasn't called upon to do too much.

- Devon still isn't my ideal choice for the TV Champion, but neither are Robbie E. or Robbie T.

- At some point on this show we saw a highlight package from TNA's first anniversary show and Jeff Jarrett vs. Raven. That highlight package showed that overbooking in TNA is a tradition that has lasted ten long years.

- I don't love Bruce Prichard getting involved on TV, even if it is in Gut Check segments. The last thing TNA needs is a fifth onscreen authority figure.

- The judges segment for Gut Check was way too inside, way too off-putting, and far less exciting than it was promised to be. They neutered Alex Silva right off the bat by calling him too small, too inexperienced, and pointing out that he choked under pressure. If the goal is to get this young wrestler over, how do those points accomplish it?

- Hulk Hogan is not exactly the fairest General Manager, is he? He scheduled a No Disqualification match for the sole purpose of a babyface getting the upper hand on a heel. Also, Hogan and Anderson could star in a bad buddy comedy, but I don't believe them as wrestling characters.

- Jeff Hardy vs. Rob Van Dam is a great attention grabber for the top of the second hour. The actual match, however, was not that great. Hardy and Van Dam didn't seem to be willing to pull out all, or even half, of the stops to impress. I have yet to see anything from Rob Van Dam during this run that makes me believe he is more motivated than he has been in TNA.

- If this ongoing Eric Bischoff and Jeremy Borash situation is not leading to an embarrassingly bad tuxedo match, I'll be disappointed.

- Austin Aries does a really great job of holding his own on the mic with Bully Ray, but I still question the focus on Aries' size. He is still a rising star and he needs all of the help he can get. Can he overcome the barbs about his size? Yes he can. Should he have to? No, he shouldn't.

- I should not be able to sympathize with Bobby Roode when he complains about being unfairly treated. Hulk Hogan's portrayal of an authority figure makes that difficult.

- With Samoa Joe, Christopher Daniels and A.J. Styles all in the ring together, I knew I wouldn't be disappointed in the six man tag. Those three put together one of the best matches and most likely the best rivalry in TNA history.

- Is Kurt Angle turning babyface now? I'm not exactly sure. After last week he seemed to be on that path, but this week he was teaming with the heels. While he was admittedly frustrated with them, he was not always acting like a babyface. The odd booking of Kurt Angle continues.

- WWE was right. Kazarian does look better with shorter hair.

- You'd think that Alex Silva would have at least worn pants to his contract ceremony.

- Bruce Prichard basically said "You're not that good, but we really need talent." How does that get Silva over?

- There were some good aspects to the presentation of the Gut Check. There were also some negative parts. Overall, it all seemed too inside and too self serving. I don't understand why you give the first guy to come out for it a contract, instead of showing how hard it is to earn one. I don't see what Alex Silva did in his match to earn a contract either. Shouldn't this kayfabe competition come down to in-ring performance and didn't Silva lose without getting a ton of offense in?

- In a real sport, if someone performed as poorly in a tryout as Silva did, they might make the practice squad, but they would never make it to the main roster.

- The positive portions of the Gut Check were shown in Alex Silva's promo. The promo wasn't great, but the reactions to it from Flair and Prichard were. They sold that Silva sold himself and that made him look good. I only wish it would have come back to in-ring competition and that Silva would have had a showing last week he could have sold the judges on.

- I enjoyed a great deal of what Bobby Roode and Ken Anderson did in the main event. They had a relatively tame No Disqualification match while still taking advantage of the stipulation. The ending, with Hardy and Rob Van Dam getting involved was classic overbooking, but if the idea is to have all three men in the title picture, it makes sense.

- Bobby Roode actually used (what I presume is) his finisher to win a match! For those wondering, it was a fisherman's suplex. Roode should have more victories like this over mid card and upper mid card talent. He is a good enough wrestler to be a World Champion, he just isn't a good enough character at this point.

Overall, this show was effective at building towards Sacrifice and semi-effective at getting the Gut Check concept over. The rest was a mix of good and bad, mostly leaning on the positive side of things. The show improved over the last few weeks with newfound focus and a nice intensity. It did not start strong, but after the opening, the show picked up steam and forward momentum.

The Sacrifice main event still does not excite me, but that may be because I strongly doubt that Rob Van Dam is motivated beyond coasting. It is a decent B pay-per-view main event, but it isn't spectacular. Between this and the lead feud in TNA being Hogan and Flair, I am still pessimistic about the product while still giving this show a thumbs up.

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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