AJ Styles and Austin Aries remain the only real reasons to watch TNA Impact. Although the Knockouts Division and Tag Team Division have the potential to get spicy fast, the boring Main Event Mafia vs. Aces and Eights angle continues to bog down the company.
Check out our weekly TNA Impact Power Rankings to see who else has the potential to make the show more than a mediocre cavalcade of talented performers consistently undermined by poor writing.
5: Gunner and James Storm: Why would Gunner and Storm make the Power Rankings when they lost to the much younger and inexperienced team of Garret Bischoff and Wes Brisco? That’s easy. Because for the first time in months, the Tag Team Champions are now engaged in a real feud and will be featured on the show with much more regularity. That is a long-term win.
4: Main Event Mafia: Sting’s win over Bully Ray keeps the faction relevant, but they are in desperate need of something. Magnus’ match with Bobby Roode has the potential to make the young Brit relevant, but it’s not enough. At this point, they miss Kurt Angle and are simply boring.
3: Aces and Eights: Bully Ray said in the show’s opening segment that the club would win all of their matches. While Mr. Anderson didn’t win the 20-point Bound for Glory Series guantlet match and Bully Ray was defeated by Sting in a non-title bout, Wes Brisco and Garret Bischoff defeated TNA Tag Team Champions James Storm and Gunner, while Mike Knox got the DQ win over Chris Sabin. Regardless of their inner squabbles, the club remains the top faction in the company.
2: Austin Aries: “The Greatest Man Who Ever Lived” came up short in the Impact gauntlet match for 20 points in the Bound for Glory Series, but AJ Styles’ announcement that he will face Aries at No Surrender gives Aries a push back into World Title contention. Even if Aries can’t beat Styles at No Surrender, he’ll be in the ring with the best worker in the company. That’s exactly where he needs to be at this point in his career.
1: AJ Styles: The Phenomenal One’s win in the 20-point Bound for Glory Series gauntlet match earned him the #1 position in the series and the chance to pick his opponent for No Surrender. Styles picked Austin Aries in what will easily be the best match on the No Surrender card. Thought Styles was finished a few months ago? Think again. His push to get in World Title contention started this week.
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.
AJ Styles and Austin Aries remain the only real reasons to watch TNA Impact. Although the Knockouts Division and Tag Team Division have the potential to get spicy fast, the boring Main Event Mafia vs. Aces and Eights angle continues to bog down the company.
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