TNA Impact Coverage: Checked in the Gut…Live

“Guy in the back. Play that footage or I’ll bust you in the head,” Bully Ray

Much like how Bully Ray pushed the buttons of Joseph Park, TNA pushed the button of their audience last night on a live edition of TNA Impact. The matches were solid, but the weak gut check segment, combined with the debut of Brooke Hogan, made for an overall average show. Lets just say that Hogan, although beautiful, has no other reason to be on TNA except for the fact that her recording career hasn’t taken off the way that she would have liked. What could she possibly add to the show?

The answer is, no much.

For a live program, there just wasn’t the intensity needed. The pace was just as lackluster as it’s been for months.

Sad too that a guy like Joey Ryan can’t get a shot in a company in dire need of a shakeup. With his look, charisma and wrestling ability, Ryan would have been a good complement to anyone in the tag team division or as a mid-carder in the TV and X-Division. If that segment wasn’t indeed a work, both Ryan and TNA should take an etiquette class as well. Both sides were over the top unprofessional and boring to boot.

In the world of circle-jerked machismo that is TNA, the company continues to hit itself in the face with its own mess of failed creative juices. Even the closing to the show, which tried desperately to shock, was predictable and lame.

Matches:

Lumberjack Match: Sting vs. TNA Heavyweight Champion Robert Roode [Non-Title]:The Stinger was solid in his first match back in a few months. Roode was a bit over the top in his selling however. The lumberjacks as well did nothing to add flavor to the encounter- aside from when Stinger knocked the heels down with a springboard splash to the outside. The match heated up towards the end though; Roode was able to counter a Scorpion Deathlock into a Crossface, but Sting nailed the Scorpion Death Drop into his trademark submission for the win.

TNA X-Division Champion Austin Aries vs. Chris Sabin: High-energy contest. Sabin nailed a beautiful Test neckbreaker with Aries’ legs on the top rope, but he wasn’t able to hit his Future Shock finisher, as Aries countered it and rolled up Sabin for the win.

TV Champion Devon vs. Jeff Hardy: Huge match for the champion, who held his own the entire scrap. Hitting his Saving Grace neckbreaker, Devon looked great, but Hardy was a step ahead after his Twist of Fate. Robbie E and Rob Terry once again interrupted one of Devon’s matches, leading to a no-contest.

A.J. Styles vs. Christopher Daniels: These guys have simply wrestled too many times. It’s done. It’s boring now. TNA needs to move on and save this match for another time, maybe Daniels’ retirement or something. Styles needs real competition and Daniels and Frank Kazarian need to focus on getting the Tag Team division the respect it used to have. The match itself was solid, as Styles won with his flipping reverse DDT. After the match, KAzarian and Angle got involved.

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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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