Same Old Faces

TNA might be getting it now. Yeah, it may be too little too late, but at least Impact has had plenty of good wrestling the past two weeks. The storylines are still convoluted and boring for the most part though.

Between the hypnosis cases, mole in the “network” and ad-libs by Hogan [why do guys like Hogan and Flair feel it’s necessary to speak to their opponents while their music is on?] TNA is still not working from its strengths.

But then again, to use the tired cliché, “Rome wasn’t built in a day.”

Tired is a good word to use for TNA’s product right now as well. They put the old guys like Sting, Hogan and Bischoff on the screen way too much. The same thing goes for people such as Rob Van Dam, Mr. Anderson, Kurt Angle and Jeff Jarrett.

In order for this company to truly succeed, the former WWE stars have to work hand in hand with the youngsters and stop burying them every chance they get.

If they don’t, this show will continue to have that same old WCW/Tired WWE feel to it.

And fans will stop watching.

Mr. Anderson has picked up a lot of steam lately and on Thursday, he not only pissed off Hulk Hogan and Immortal, he paid for it too. Charged with the uber difficult task of running the gauntlet against the group, Anderson has the toughest road ahead of him among the world heavyweight title contenders going into Lockdown. Can he rise above it and win the TNA title for the second time?

The bottom line is all three of the wrestlers in the main event at Lockdown have won the title before and all three have them have been unable to make the company hotter as the champ. It’s time for this company to push someone else–possibly less established and roll the dice.

In the end, while the result may not change the fate of the company, it’ll motivate the locker room and get them to think that they have a chance to grow there. Because as of right now, this company belongs to the old dogs.

Van Dam, one of the other guys vying for the title, had an opportunity to join Immortal last night, but Sting had to come down and ruin the party.

Regardless, Van Dam has a decision to make.

Simply put, Sting’s involvement in this is a joke. What happened to the silent, bat-wielding Sting millions of people fell in love with? It’s hard to believe that angle was over 15 years ago. It was an angle that saved his career, but once that was over, he’s been a vanilla face with a great resume. Sure, he’s had some fantastic matches since then, but he hasn’t been nearly as hot in a decade. Sadly, the now-weekly confrontations between Hogan and Sting are boring now. This whole “Hogan is bad for keeping the young guns down and I’m good for no reason” nonsense is just that. If the Stinger were a real team player, he’d be in the upper mid-card putting over a heel or a new face. Instead, just like Hogan, he’s holding on to a spot he lost a long time ago.

It’s nice to see the Mickie James and Madison Rayne angle coming to an end. These two are both talented performers, but the company has stretched them way too thin. However, the angle with Winter/Angelina Love and Velvet Skye continues to drag on. Enough is enough already, end this melodrama at Lockdown and have all three of these characters move on to something different.

Matches:

Douglas Williams w/Magnus vs. Jesse Neal w/Shannon Moore Vs. Orlando Jordan w/Eric Young vs. Crimson w/Scott Steiner: This match was a mess with no real tags and very little offense. On a positive note, it appears as if Abyss is going to start a program with Crimson. On another note, this one not so positive, the gender-bender angle of Jordan is a disaster. No one wants to see him with a wedgee in the ring. He and Young could be a fun tag team; they don’t need any silly angles; they just have to go out and wrestle and have fun.

Matt Hardy vs. Frankie Kazarian: Hardy has made significant strides since joining the company out of shape a few months ago. A good match with a ton of offense, both of these guys painted an excellent picture with solid back and forth action. To see Hardy win with a submission move, a double-underhook choke he calls the ice pick, was weird, but it was still a quality performance.

Jeff Jarrett, The Pope, Hernandez w/ Mexican America vs. Samoa Joe, Matt Morgan and Kurt Angle: The commercial break at the start of the match didn’t help. In spite of that, this match had a good pace. Nevertheless, it appears that TNA isn’t giving anything away here, as the Pope secured a victory with a pair of brass knuckles.

Abyss vs. James Storm: Classic big man vs. smart little man contest. These two get high marks for delivering a match full of solid counters and near falls in spite of the short length.

Mr. Anderson vs. Murphy, Rob Terry, Gunner and Bully Ray: After he beat Murphy via the mic-check/complete shot in about three minutes, Anderson defeated Terry with the same move in about four minutes. Both Murphy and Terry worked on Anderson’s legs and Gunner did the same. It wasn’t enough however, as Gunner got beat with a mic-check as well. Ray, on the other hand, delivered a beat down to Anderson once it was his turn to enter the ring. It looked like Anderson would suffer the same fate as AJ Styles when Ray was ready to deliver a powerbomb off the entrance ring, but his plan was foiled by Sting.