TNA Impact Hits

Kurt Angle brawls with Matt Morgan: Going into the commercial break, Daniels came out and brawled with Samoa Joe. Coming back from the break, Angle and Morgan were alone. I realize TNA has done the pull apart brawl thing a lot lately, but this one worked and made sense. Both men want to leave No Surrender as the TNA World Champion. They have a personal history. They do not like each other (for now). It wasn’t fifty guys beating each other up for no good reason. I thought this was a solid way to take the show off the air.

Woman’s tag team tournament: I do like how they slowed down and really stretched this thing out over several weeks. I understand there were going to be some thrown together teams, so I was not thrilled to see Sarita and Taylor Wilde advance, but it is what it is. I would have rather seen The Beautiful People vs. Awesome Kong and Raisha Saeed. Nonetheless, the overall tournament is a definite hit.

Rhino promo: Rhino absolutely nailed this. I really enjoyed his “broken character” promo, complete with logical speaking, intensity, and straight up rage. Great stuff. Brother Devon came out and did a nice job trying to calm him down and when you thought he may have succeeded, Rhino attacked him. This was by far the best segment on the show. I also liked how he made it clear he would not just lay down for Lashley.

Go home show formula: This might seem oddly placed given how heavy the bottom portion of this column is going to be, but the show touched on (and promoted) every pay-per-view match. Every match on this show was short and served the purpose of getting over their respective programs for Sunday’s show. I actually enjoyed the show even though it will appear I did not. The show was odd in that way.

TNA Impact Misses

Sting and A.J. Styles interview: I understand both men are babyfaces and have to act as such. However, Styles was one of the reasons Sting decided to join the Main Event Mafia to begin with. Styles is coming across as a star crossed fan of Sting’s as opposed to a former World Champion. That is not all his fault; the announcers keep asking if it is “A.J.’s time?” Well, A.J. was a former World Champion, so he was the past, is the present, and will be the future.

Hernandez, Homicide, and the World Elite: This thing is officially not working in my opinion. I praised this when it first began and stuck by it as the weeks went by. However, Homicide’s promo on Hernandez did not make much sense. Hernandez then squashed two WE guys before getting outsmarted by Homicide and Young for the second straight week. All of this and Young still wants Hernandez in his group. The whole thing is currently a mess.

D’Angelo Dinero vs. Suicide: I praised TNA, last week I believe, for having a good X Division program that did not involve the X Division Championship. Dinero and Suicide has been well done since Dinero debuted in TNA. So, despite the solid build to this match (and what I thought would be future matches), they had Dinero win decisively in a few minutes. This is one of those “scratch your head” moments in terms of booking.

Madison Rayne rejoins The Beautiful People: I love The Beautiful People and I want to see Velvet Sky take over as the leader of the group. However, Madison rejoined too quickly. They really could have built to her return by having her prove how sorry she was over time and then Velvet finally accepting her. Instead, it took a few minutes and she was back. Velvet was not thrilled about it, but Angelina seemed to accept Madison right away.

Lauren gets sexually harassed: Lauren is a beautiful woman and has proven to be a damn good backstage interviewer. So, why does she allow D’Angelo Dinero to harass her? Beyond that, she saw Kevin Nash as a pig, but then completely fell for what Nash was feeding her. Then she interviews her friend Taylor and wonders why her man Abyss is upset. Lauren is too smart to fall for a womanizer and her character is all over the place.

The Motor City Machine Guns: Yes, there limited commentary was humorous at times, but what purpose did it serve? I understand the need to develop their personalities, but let them work while they are doing that. These guys have ridiculous talent and are an extremely talented team, so the answer is to have them not wrestle on TV? I hope this leads to something for them, but I have said that before.

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