It appears that after quite some time, TNA is beginning to learn from their mistakes. While there is still way too much promo, they are cutting to the chase faster than they were a few weeks ago.
The result is a much better show.
After the first 10 minutes, not only did ODB and Velvet Sky get in a backstage tango, Mr. Anderson cut a short promo where he announced he’d fight one of Sting’s greatest opponents on the show and Brian Kendrick got a match with Frankie Kazarian.
Was it ground-breaking? Not exactly, but at least it wasn’t Hogan and Bischoff on TV for 15 minutes.
Later on, Alex Shelley made his return to Impact and offered his services to Beer Money to replace Robert Roode at Slammiversary against the British Invasion team of Doug Williams and Magnus. The big problem here is that this angle hasn’t been pushed and while it’s great to see Shelley in the ring again, it’s not going to mean much. In order for it to, TNA has to start to develop their other tag teams. Otherwise, the division will be a joke.
On the positive side, there was solid wrestling on this week’s episode as Crimson, Matt Hardy, Brian Kendrick and Frank Kazarian competed in two of the better matches on Impact this year.
This is what fans want to see. It’s in TNA’s best interest to continue to keep this aspect of the show up for as long as they can.
If they can then get some hot storylines going, then they may have something to work with.
However, ending the show with Hogan and Bischoff in the ring proves that this company still has a long road ahead of them.
Matches:
Matt Hardy vs. Crimson: Crimson continues to grow as an in-ring performer and as a result, has been given more time for his matches. Overall, this was a decent match that went back and forth and showed that Crimson has a few more moves in his repertoire tan some thought. However, he went back to the Sky High powerbomb for the win. After the match, Samoa Joe came to the ring and got speared for his trouble. Their match at Slammiversary looks to be a sleeper hit.
Angelina Love w/ Winter vs. Miss Tessmacher: A sloppy match highlighted by a nasty side slam by Love. Nevertheless, Love’s finisher, a reverse DDT into a codebreaker was solid. At the same time, Tessmacher sold well and is getting better every match.
Mr. Anderson vs. Great Muta [Eric Young]: This originally wasn’t much of a match and later on it wasn’t either. There were flashes of solidity though when Young hit a moonsault and a belly to belly suplex on Anderson. At this point, it looks like Anderson is working hurt. His spinning neckbreaker was much slower than it usually is and he seemed a step off. Young ironically got the pin after he hit Anderson with the Poison Mist and then rolled him up with the schoolboy. After the match, Gunner hit the ring and took his frustrations out on Young, but Sting made the save.
Brian Kendrick vs. Frankie Kazarian: A great encounter that got a five-minute extension after both competitors battled for 10 minutes. This is what TNA Impact should be all about. These guys traded offense and got the crowd into the contest. This is what the fans want. However, just when it was beginning to get extra good, Abyss came to the ring soon after the start of the overtime and delivered the shock treatment backbreaker to Kendrick and the Black Hole Slam on Kazarian. He then announced that the X-Division was dead. For TNA’s sake, lets help he’s wrong.
Jeff Jarrett w/ Karen Jarrett and Scott Steiner vs. Kurt Angle and Matt Morgan: A match that had its moments with Steiner and Morgan going through a nice amount of their moveset. However, the match was ruined when Angle and Jarrett went backstage. Apparently, Karen Jarrett fell down the stairs and Angle and Jarrett began cursing at one another while the paramedics came. At the same time, Steiner pinned Morgan with a move we didn’t get to see. Bad editing.
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