TNA Impact Wrestling Coverage: Return of the Stinger…Again

Breaking the fourth wall in pro wrestling?

Eh.

TNA is desperately trying to be cool. The closed-door meeting to start the show was anything but as authentic as it tried to be.

But hey, at least they’re admitting the show doesn’t work anymore.

This nonsense reality show garbage doesn’t work either though.

From the ticking soundtrack and camera shots, those segments felt more like “Celebrity Apprentice” than TNA.

Aside from that, the actual wrestling was decent and the few storyline developments, mainly Bully Ray and Joseph Park’s segment, were just as average.

The news of Hulk Hogan’s “guest” spiced up the show a bit, but when it was revealed to be Sting, it felt like the wait was unjustified. Once again TNA fails to captivate through storyline. At this point, they’d be better off just having matches and as little story as possible. Showcase those great athletes and go shopping for a creative team that can change the dynamic of the show completely. Right now, the show still feels like it’s missing something.

Matches:

TNA Knockout Champion Gail Kim & Madison Rayne vs. TNA Knockout Champions Eric Young and ODB: Early on, this match was all OBD, but when the show came back from the commercial break, Kim hit a slew of clotheslines and tagged in Rayne. The two worked well together until ODB hit a spear and tagged in Young. Once EY’s pants came off, the hip tosses and scoop slams were a plenty. But Kim ultimately got the pin on ODB, who was the victim of a double team after EY was too busy getting the crowd into the match.

Rob Van Dam vs. Gunner: Good back and forth contest. Gunner made the mistake of bringing a chair into the ring and after RVD hit the Vandaminator on the former TV champ, he hit the Five-Star Frog Splash for the win.

Television Champion Devon vs. Garret Bischoff: The challenger seemed more focused on keeping his hair out of his eyes than wrestling. Once the match got going, Robbie E. and Rob Terry interrupted the match and made it a no-contest. By the end of it, Bischoff and Devon were working as a team.

Gut Check: TNA X-Division Champion Austin Aries vs. Joey Ryan: He did better than Alex Silva, but the Ben Stiller a-la “Dodgeball” look-a-like did more selling than anything else. He’s got good ring psychology and his pump-handle variation was solid in-spite of a minor hiccup in his delivery. Aries’ Brainbuster was too much for him though and led to his defeat.

TNA Heavyweight Champion Robert Roode vs. A.J. Styles: Trademark Styles early on with a stellar dropkick, but Roode fought back hard. The champion worked on Styles’ arm for a while, but “The Phenomenal One” continued to run at Roode headfirst. Roode always appeared a step ahead. In a two-minute span, Roode hit a massive spear, applied his crossface and followed it up with a spinebuster and then the fisherman suplex. But Styles won’t stay down. But after Roode countered Styles’ 450 and delivered another fisherman suplex, Roode earned the win to become the longest-reigning heavyweight champion in TNA history

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14230 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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