January 28th, 2010On Thursday night, TNA Wrestling returns to SpikeTV at 9/8c for two hours of Total Nonstop Action as the road to the February 14 "Against All Odds" Pay-Per-View continues!
- What will happen next involving Hulk Hogan, Eric Bischoff, Mick Foley and Jeff Jarrett as the struggle for power continues in TNA Wrestling? WIll Mick Foley get his job back?
- Will Kurt Angle get answers regarding the controversial ending to his iMPACT World Title match against AJ Styles this past week? Who screwed who in this volatile situation?
- What's next for TNA World Heavyweight Champion "The Phenomenal" AJ Styles and his new mentor "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair?
- In Knockouts action, it will be The Beautiful People taking on Knockouts Champion Tara, Awesome kong and Hamada
- Plus, the Motor City Machineguns and Brian Kendrick will battle X Champion the Amazing Red and Generation Me!
All this and more on Thursday's huge "iMPACT!" on SpikeTV at 9/8c
Credit: TNAWrestling.comReview time...
Opening with Ric Flair and AJ StylesLet's see here, i'm completely torn now on how I feel about AJ mimicking Flair. I like the fact that Flair is AJ's mentor, but I think he should also be AJ's mouthpiece. Styles is very limited, when it comes to mic skills and it showed in this promo. The guy is a natural face and there's no much they can do about that, but have Flair speak for the guy. Just make sure Flair breathes between sentences... Whooo!
I'm really also enjoying Hogan as the "authority figure" in TNA. Seems that he's "fair" and gives the fans what they want... storyline wise. Angle/Styles AGAIN, here's to hoping Angle wi... scratch that. AJ needs a healthy and long reign as champion. Here's to hoping Styles goes over Angle, cleanly.
Rating: 3/5Hernandez & Matt Morgan ( c ) def. The British Invasion
TNA World Tag Team ChampionshipA rematch from Genesis? Eh, not sure this is the one i'd do again. Nonetheless, it was still a good match at Genesis. However, this week's... not so much. It was a decent iMPACT! length match, but the ending spot was poorly done. Hernandez should have either knocked out Magnus, or Brutus should have bumped out of the ring. Him just sitting there, not trying to break up the count... awful. I'd also imagine Rob Terry is gonna be kicked out of the British Invasion soon. My only worry, is that TNA will push him as a face... like they tried to do with talentless Hernandez.
Rating: 3/5Orlando Jordan def. D'Angelo DineroFirst off, isn't this considered a hate crime? Anyway, Jordan needs to change the gimmick. The robed gimmick has been completely overdone, nor does it suit him. Wasn't expecting much out of this... but Jordan wasn't awful in the ring. The guy can work and I completely expect a Jordan/Pope feud to come out of this. I'd imagine Dinero will go over, in the end. Which is a good thing. The match length was entirely too short and that's something Hogan and TNA need to work on, though.
People complain about Jordan going cleanly over Dinero. How else do you build a feud and a talent, by having the face go over in the first match. It was obvious Jordan was going to pick up the win and rightfully so. Bringing him in and having him lose his first match wouldn't have made much sense now, would it?
Rating: 3/5Angelina Love def. Madison RayneUgh, another reason why womens wrestling is awful... in both WWE and TNA. It's like they are excused from being mediocre wrestlers, because they are female. I've never seen a crisp female wrestler in my entire 16 + years of watching professional wrestling. WCW and ECW didn't have much of it, which was a fantastic idea. What happened after the match was the only part of this match that did anything for me. It builds The Beautiful People a little more. However, once Lacey Von Erich steps foot in that ring... it's always a disaster. Release all 4 of these girls ( any many other knockouts ), if you want to be taken as a serious company. Womens wrestling is a joke, plain and simple.
Rating: 2/5The Nasty Boys def. Kevin Nash & Eric YoungNot sure if Hogan sees any potential in Young, but he's an above average talent. The guy will never be anything major in his career, but he fits perfectly in what you want for you're mid-card. He can work and makes talent look good. I enjoyed this match, simply for the simplicity of it. No, the Nasties, nor Nash can work a 4 star match ( at least not anymore ). However, they understand the logic of professional wrestling. Something Reckless Youth and Don Montoya taught us... "work smart, not hard". Wrestling doesn't need to be a fast paced, tiresome match all the time. Nasties did what they needed to do, in this match. Make the crowd hate them ( besides the annoying "Bubba Army" ) and get the win, in a bit of a controversial manor.
Much like Jordan, there's no reason the Nasties should have "jobbed" here. They needed a win here, to make them look like logical challengers to Team 3D. Also, Young is the less experienced and younger talent in the match. He took the Pumphandle and the pin, like he should have. I fully expect Young to turn face soon and join TNA's side, in this battle.
Rating: 3/5Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff call out Sean Waltman and Scott HallThere's no need for the massive pyro, for Hogan. I do enjoy watching him and Eric pose, for nostalgic purposes though. I thought this promo was a little pointless. Hogan calls out Hall and Waltman, just to tell them to leave? Eh, it served it's purpose and i'm a little interested in seeing how this whole Hall/Nash/Waltman/Hogan/Bischoff thing turns out. I imagine Nash will ask Hogan to give them another chance. Possibly even saving Hogan and Easy E from a beat down from Foley.
Rating: 2/5Mr. Anderson's TNA iMPACT! debutIt's sad, since Kennedy can be gold on the mic... however, this promo wasn't one of those examples. The high pitch voice was a little much and the promo contradicted itself. He claims he's not going to come to TNA saying "he's the best, blah blah blah"... but in the promo, he basically does.
Now, i'll admit... i'm not the smartest person in the world, but am I the only one that didn't see Abyss, until he was standing behind Kennedy? Haha. Love how they did this, with Abyss' reactions to what Anderson was saying. Not sure how I feel about these two going into a program together, though. Their Genesis encounter was pretty bad and I feel was a miss-pairing on TNA creative's part. Unless they fix that and find some chemistry, this could be one of those great feuds storyline wise... but awful in the ring.
Rating: 4/5AJ Styles ( c ) def. Kurt AngleI must admit, i'm pretty tired of seeing these two battle it out anymore. Give it a break and come back a year from now and i'll eat it up again, though. Just glad this was on iMPACT! and with not much time left. I knew this wouldn't be another dragged on "classic" between these two. The finish:
I don't like the idea of "re-doing" the screwjob angle, especially with it now being fresh within the WWE again. I mean, we're talking to a T:
the quick bell, Hebner, Hogan standing on the outside, Angle spitting, Angle ripping apart the announce table. The only thing it was missing, was Angle writing "WWE" in the air, with his finger. However, it'll do it's purpose... which is create a buzz within the wrestling community. Haven't checked yet, but I imagine people are asking on the WWE board if "Angle is really coming back to the WWE?" That's who TNA is aiming this storyline to. People who don't read dirt sheets and still think gimmicks and storylines are real. We all know Angle isn't going anywhere, so i'm also interested to see what TNA do with this. Hoping Angle takes a little time off ( getting a little stale, seeing him constantly ), then comes back with a bang.
The way I look at this, is it leading up to Lockdown:
Team Jarrett - Jeff Jarrett, Mick Foley, Kurt Angle, Sting & Team 3D vs.
Team Hogan Kevin Nash, Sean Waltman, Scott Hall, Ric Flair & The Nasty Boys
Rating: 2/5Eric Bischoff fires Mick Foley!Again, it's not so much that I enjoy being remotely confused. But I do like how Eric cam stumbling out, bleeding, after ( what we're to assume was ) an ass beating from Foley. Him firing Foley is again, something that will spark the interest to those who don't read dirt sheets and still think gimmicks and storylines are real. Much like the Angle thing, this interests me... simply because i'm curious as to what will be done next week.
Rating: 3/5Things I was upset about, were the lack of MANY TNA superstars:
Alex Shelley, Amazing Red, Brian Kendrick, Chris Sabin, Daniels, Desmond Wolfe, James Storm, Robert Roode, Samoa Joe, Sean Morley and Tomko. The list could go on much longer, but those are all guys that were seen less than 8 days ( some even less than 5 ) ago. Not only that, but for the most part... these guys weren't even mentioned on the show. This is one of TNA's major problems still, which i'll talk about in my own thread.
I was also a little angry we didn't see either of the only two matches scheduled for the show. With again, no mention of a reason they weren't shown. However, after reading next week's preview, I have a feeling they were suppose to happen next week the entire time and was a mess up on TNA's part. Granted these matches would have made iMPACT! at least 3 times better, it gives me hope for next week's show. It also appears that MAYBE a majority of the guys ( and girls ) left out this week, will be in next. At least nine.
I also dislike the Bubba Army up front, just as much as the "smart marks". The fat kid annoyed the hell out me, as did the Bubba Army... decked out in Hogan and Nasty Boys shirts. Also, why is beer being distributed at Universal Studios. If they didn't serve it, they could avoid drunken 50 year old ladies, sexually dancing to the talent's themes. Haha
Overal TNA iMPACT! rating for January 21st: 2/5They need to work on the length of matches, or at least cut down the quantity of matches they have. They also need to get rid of the older talent, in the long run. I still have confidence that all these older guys are there to build storylines easier and eventually put over some of the younger, homegrown talent.
- Triple S
