Wrestling Beginning to Matter? Not Yet

On the surface, you’d think that this week’s episode of Impact Wrestling was solid, with six matches on the card.

Would have been nice if that was indeed the case.

Aside from the Kurt Angle/Rob Van Dam main event [which, still was roughly a seven-minute match], this week’s Impact was still more about pushing weak programs and less about high quality in-ring action.

At this point, TNA can change their slogan all they want and say that they’re all about wrestling, but they haven’t proven anything yet.

In the end, the show was watchable, but it’s not the dynamic experience that’s been promised.

Some of the yammering was actually enjoyable however. The scorpion sit-down segment, with Ken Anderson dressed up as ‘80s Sting was actually a mild success. With Disco Inferno as his first guest, Anderson and Inferno had a nice little exchange, which eventually led to the former WCW television champion getting his forehead split open with Anderson’s microphone.

Quite a different type of mic-check.

Soon after, the real Sting made his way to the ring and Anderson ran through the crowd. While this little skirmish was entertaining, does it really build animosity for their angle?

One angle that is building hatred is the one between ODB and Velvet Sky. After Sky came out and asked ODB to come to the ring to get the bottom of their situation, ODB essentially beat the crap out of the knockout. When Sky asked her what her problem was afterward, ODB replied, “Whores like you.” ODB is not a bad in-ring competitor, but it remains to be seen if these two can have a decent match together.

Another new feud that is a head scratcher is the one between The Pope and Devon. It’s like the creative team threw two guys together that had nothing else going on, in hopes of catching some fire.

Guess what?

The Pope isn’t over and Devon isn’t over. What will the end result of this be? A boring mid-card encounter. Devon and The Pope are both talented workers, but this does nothing for either of them.

The same thing goes for the consistent burying of the X-Division. Like Ring of Honor and Dragon Gate USA, guys like Amazing Red and Brian Kendrick don’t need angles. If TNA were smart, they’d let them go out at the start of the show and just wrestle.

Instead, they’d rather just talk about doing it.

If wrestling really mattered in TNA, there would be actual wrestling and much less talking.

Matches:

Streetfight: AJ Styles and Christopher Daniels vs. Bully Ray and Tommy Dreamer: A hardcore street fight that was illogical and phony. Early on, Styles hit Dreamer with a splash from the audience about 15 feet down. However, within a minute or so, he was back in the match. Soon after, Styles, who was wearing a neck brace, was the victim of three spinning neckbreakers from Ray and Dreamer. Ironically, that put Styles out for about 20 seconds until he got a second wind. Once he was back in the fold, Daniels and Styles used a spike piledriver double-team finish to earn the win.

Matt Morgan vs. Jeff Jarrett w/ Karen Jarrett: A decent back and forth encounter with a nice amount of drama [interference from Karen Jarrett] and offense. Nice touch to have Morgan kick out of Jarrett’s finish too. It was all for naught however once Scott Steiner hit the ring and took Morgan out with his version of the complete shot, which enabled Jarrett to get the win. In the end, it’s sad how Morgan can’t find a way into a championship program. The current feud between him and Steiner is just another roadblock.

Mickie James vs. Winter w/ Angelina Love for the TNA Knockouts Title: A quick match where Winter showed she’s not as green as she was a few months ago. However, James ended up the winner after delivering her spike DDT finisher. After the match, Love took out James outside the ring.

Brian Kendrick vs. Abyss for the TNA X-Division Title: While Kendrick got in some offense, Abyss, who was attacked by Kazarian before the match, still took care of him handedly with the Black Hole Slam. This is not the way to get the smaller X-Division stars over.

Eric Young vs. Gunner for the TNA Television Title: An attempt by Young to recreate the infamous “finger” match between Hulk Hogan and Kevin Nash, Young put his own spin on the situation, rolling up Gunner to win the TV Title. Hilarious, but at the same time, these two might be able to have a great match together and behind Young’s silliness, an angle between the two of them might hold some water. At the same time, this little stunt robs the TV title of the small amount of legitimacy it had.

Kurt Angle vs. Rob Van Dam: These guys pushed a brisk pace. Both delivered a nice amount of their offense until Angle hit the Olympic Slam for the win. Overall, it was a solid match that showed TNA still has great in-ring talent and that these guys are still excellent competitors. However, with Jarrett providing color commentary throughout and the camera going to a picture-in-picture for long periods of the match, the focus of this contest wasn’t where it should have been.