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Impact Analysis #3

Posted on 06 Jan 2010 by c-walk

-= TNA IMPACT =-= 01/04/2010 =-= Time For A Change =-

-- The highly anticipated 3-hour episode of TNA Impact starts off with a highlight of the X-Division, inside the Steel Asylum. The match includes The Motorcity Machine Guns, Homicide, Kiyoshi, Jay Lethal, Consequences Creed, Suicide & Amazing Red. This is a great idea for an opener, since the X-Divison works such a fast, exciting pace. The only negative is that the bright red cage makes it somewhat hard to tell what’s going on inside the ring. Despite that, there are still a few good spots. The most impressive one would be when Red was thrown off the turnbuckle, flipping in mid-air, only to land a hurricanrana on Chris Sabin. That guy is just crazy. Soon after, Homicide uses a baton to take out everyone in the match! The official result is a “no contest”, which is pretty odd. I mean, yes, he did use a foreign object… but it was essentially in a cage match. The unintentional humour starts early when Homicide climbs to the top of the cage, but can’t get himself completely out of the structure. Granted, it doesn’t look easy to do, but for a big moment like this (especially on such a hyped Impact episode) you’d think he could’ve practiced it beforehand.

-- After dropping back into the ring, the first major surprise of the night occurs when JEFF HARDY comes out through the crowd! To say I’m shocked would be an understatement. Hardy brawls with Homicide on the outside, hitting him with a mean chair shot, followed by a twist of fate. He then climbs to the top of the Steel Asylum, leaving a good visual ending right before the commercial break.

-- Kevin Nash gets interviewed backstage, and his calm demeanour is rather eerie. He simply states that he’s “looking forward to seeing an old friend again”. Foreshadowing…

-- Tara vs, ODB for the Knockout Championship is next. They have a solid match, on the same level as their previous PPV match. In a relative shocker, ODB upsets Tara to win back the Knockout’s Title! After the match, Tara attacks ODB and hits the Widow’s Peak. I can only imagine this will lead to another PPV match, possibly with an added stipulation this time.

-- A limousine is pulling up to the arena, and it’s RIC FLAIR! WOW! I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised, since he did work with Hogan on the tour in Australia. But still, this is another HUGE name for TNA to pick up.

-- Mick Foley is outside the Impact lot, trying to get into the arena, but security won’t let him in. My guess is that he will accept this, and simply go home… or not.

-- Bobby and Kristal Lashley come out for some promo time. The way this couple have been booked lately, I’m surprised the ring announcer didn’t say “On the way to the ring… KRISTAAAAL LAAASHLEEEEY… Oh, and her husband, Bobby”. Unsurprisingly, Kristal has the microphone first. She starts off as a face, but then heels on the crowd soon after. She then claims that Bobby wants to be released from TNA. Didn’t Bobby win that tournament last month on order to get a future TNA World Title shot? Why would he want to leave before even attempting to win the title? What does Bobby have to say about this?!…. Nothing, apparently.

-- The Beautiful People are backstage, and the only thing worth noting is the back-and-fourth blonde moments between the three women. “We are live, without a net!” “Wait, who’s Annette?”

-- Backstage, we see Scott Hall and Sean “X-Pac” Waltman trying to get into the building. We go to commercial. We come back and they are making their way through the crowd. We go to commercial. I have to say, the breaks throughout the show are very annoying. I doubt all the blame can be put on TNA, especially since it’s one of their first times going live on television, but in the future I really hope that the commercial breaks are split up a little better.

-- And now it’s time. Hulk Hogan is in the Impact Zone! He gets a huge reaction from the crowd, which goes to show you that, despite the fact that he is old and has made numerous comebacks in the past ten years… The Hulkster is still a draw. On his way to the ring, he points out a “Hogan Owns Vince” sign. Nice. Hulk cuts a good promo, with the only confusing bit being that he says (more than once) that he’s been in the back all day, working with the younger talent. Weren’t they just saying that Hogan’s limo was “on it’s way to the arena”? Maybe he was helping them all day through speakerphone.

-- Hogan’s promo is interrupted by Hall and Waltman, who are glad to see Hogan back so that they can continue where they left off. Hall wants the big parties, which comes to a surprise to nobody, but Hogan says that it’s time to grow up and “do the right thing”. Isn’t Hogan in his late 50’s? Well, better late than never, right? Nash comes out to the ring, followed later by Eric Bischoff, who says that everyone has to earn his or her position in TNA. There are going to be big changes. We then get a shot of Sting in the rafters. So, the big changes will be the slow transformation back to WCW? Regardless, this was a great segment that had a very powerful feel to it.

-- The next match is another championship match, this time for the Knockout’s Tag Titles. Sarita & Taylor Wilde go up against the monster team of Awesome Kong & Hamada. There is lots of fast-paced action to start, including a fantastic double-dive to the outside from Sarita and Wilde. In the end, however, Kong and Hamada hit an Awesome Bomb – Missile Dropkick combo to win the belts! I see a pretty long title reign in store for these two.

-- Matt Morgan & Hernandez face Raven & Dr. Stevie in a Number One Contender’s match for the TNA Tag Titles. The match is over almost as soon as it starts. Hernandez body checks Raven into his corner. Stevie gets tagged in, only to receive a Carbon Footprint boot from Morgan, and three seconds later, we have the winners. Honestly, I think Morgan and Hernandez would have a tougher time beating the Knockout Tag Champs then they would with the TNA Tag Champs!

-- Pope and Desmond Wolfe have a decent match. There is some good chain wrestling at the start. Surprisingly, Pope counters the Tower of London into a small package and picks up the win! Some people might be worried that this is a sign of Wolfe’s push cooling off, but I don’t think so. I think they just want to elevate Pope higher, and Wolfe was the right man for the job. Both of these guys have loads of potential, so it should be interesting to see where they go from here.

-- Backstage, we’ve seen numerous people (including the MCMG’s, Rhino and Beer Money) laid out by a mystery attacker. Separately, Bischoff tells AJ Styles that he’s going to be defending the TNA World Title against Kurt Angle tonight! Now that is a fitting main event!

-- Next up, Jeff Jarrett cuts a solid promo, speaking on his influence in TNA and how they have grown over the past seven years. Hogan interrupts (via video) and says that HE is Dixie’s partner, not Jarrett. Apparently, Jarrett will have to prove himself in TNA, just like everyone else (…Hogan and friends excluded).

-- Abyss was supposed to face Rhino, but now he’s facing Samoa Joe instead. This is a solid big-man match-up, with both competitors hitting most of their signature moves. The match ends when Joe sneaks a chair shot to Abyss’ head, and then locks in a rear naked choke for the submission victory.

-- Now it’s time for our main event! AJ Styles defending the TNA World Heavyweight Championship against Kurt Angle. Needless to say, there is some great wrestling to start this match off. Not too far into the match, a masked man attacks Styles while the ref is distracted. I was very worried that this would end the match with a lame finish, but Angle sends the masked man out of the ring and helps Styles to his feet. The match continues! There are almost too many good moves to call. Styles goes for a springboard, but Angle catches him and hits a belly-to-belly suplex. Styles attempts the pelé kick, but Angle catches his foot and puts him in the ankle lock. Angle kicks out of the Styles Clash twice, and then AJ kicks out of the Angle Slam twice (including one that was from the top rope!). There are tons of counters, and now Ric Flair is out to watch the match. Angle kicks out of one spring board 450 Splash, but a second one finally puts him away for the 3-count! This is easily an early Match of the Year candidate. Ironic, since they had the TV Match of the Year for 2009, and now it’s a definite possibility for 2010, as well. Amazing stuff!

-- After the match, Hulk Hogan comes out and says that Angle and Styles are the two best wrestlers in the world today, and after the match they just had, it’s hard to argue that point. Hogan is then informed that Mick Foley is in the building. He heads to the back, but Hall, Nash & Pac are already beating up the “Hardcore Icon”. And that’s our show!


--= Final Thoughts =-

This edition of Impact was being hyped around Hogan’s appearance, and while he did make a few appearances throughout the night, I am glad that some other stars got a chance to shine, as well. People will be quick to criticize some of the surprise appearances, but I thoroughly enjoyed seeing some of the familiar faces throughout the night. It made me constantly wonder who else was going to show up, and what else was going to happen. I would’ve liked to see a few people utilized more on the show, namely Beer Money and Christopher Daniels (after having a extraordinary match with AJ at Final Resolution, he should’ve been featured in a match on Impact). There were some other minor things that could’ve been changed, too. The final segment should have taken place live in the ring, and Flair could’ve had a bigger role. However, I believe that TNA has set up a lot of angles for up-coming episodes of Impact, which is what they need to do in order to keep the viewers interested. I am definitely looking forward to seeing how they capitalize on all this in the coming weeks.

-= Top 3 =-
1. AJ Styles (for having a truly phenomenal match, and retaining his title)
2. Kurt Angle (for wrestling in a match-of-the-year candidate)
3. Hulk Hogan (for bringing more attention to TNA)

That’s your Impact Analysis for the week! I was going to post something on last week’s episode, but nothing major occurred. It was basically just an eight-woman tournament, along with three great TNA matches from last year. For those of you that didn’t catch Final Resolution, it was a pretty solid pay-per-view. The two main events were what stood out the most. Angle and Wolfe had a great two-out-of-three-falls match, while Styles and Daniels wrestled wonderfully in the main event. I haven’t heard much talk about their match, which is a shame, because it had some astonishing moments, as well as a very smart finish. Anyhow, I hope you enjoyed this week’s edition of the Impact Analysis!

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