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Impact Analysis #6

Posted on 04 Feb 2010 by c-walk

-= TNA IMPACT =-= 02/04/2010 =-= The Breaking of the Band =-

-- The show opens with a qualifying match for the upcoming 8-Card Stud Tournament that will be at Against All Odds later this month. Brutus Magnus takes on Mr. Anderson in the opener, which I find to be an odd choice, since both men are essentially heels (although one is a much more popular heel than the other). Despite their current alignment, I found this to be a fun match to start off Impact. The match itself wasn’t too long, but I actually enjoyed it more than Anderson’s match last week (which was against Jeff Jarrett, for those of you who lack short-term memory). Anderson predictably gets the win.

-- The first major promo time goes to Eric Bischoff, which is never a bad thing. He is quickly interrupted by Mick Foley. I was hoping Bischoff would get more time to lead in to Foley’s appearance, since he can certainly hold his own on the microphone, but the exchange of words between these two men ended up being fantastic! Foley says that he doesn’t hate anyone in this business… but Bischoff is an exception. He calls Bischoff the worst commentator ever, to which Taz quickly adds in, “I guess Mick never heard of Mike Adamle.” Zing zing! Bischoff ends up booking Foley vs. Nash in a No DQ match for later tonight.

-- A Tag Title match is next with the champions, Morgandez, defending against Team 3D. This was your typical Dudley match, with Team 3D keeping a slower pace, until Hernandez can make the hot tag to Morgan. In the end, The Nasty Boys knock D-Von off the ropes, while Morgan gets the pin on Bubba. After the match, 3D scare off the Nasty Boys and give respect to the champs. Nothing special.

-- After the break, Jesse Neal is on his way to the ring. Am I the only one who completely forgot about this kid? Last I remember was a vicious chair shot he took a few months back. But I’m sure that chair shot wasn’t as painful for him as this match, since he’s facing Samoa Joe. Joe’s booking has been very inconsistent lately. Last month, he beat Abyss, lost clean to Desmond Wolfe, and then disappeared for two weeks. Luckily, the “old Joe” was back for this match. Neal got in a few punches and an eye rake, which is more than I expected. Joe dominates the match and actually calls out AJ Styles, right before hitting the Muscle Buster for the win. Maybe Joe is going to face AJ at Against All Odds, since the champ needs an opponent, right?

-- Next up is The Pope vs. AJ Styles, and this is a match I actually suggested last week for the PPV. Very solid match between two of the best athletes in TNA, and their styles mesh well together. Surprisingly, Pope actually gets the win after reversing a suplex attempt into a small package! This immediately brings Flair in, who goes after Pope. The beat down doesn’t last long before Samoa Joe comes to the rescue! Wow, Joe’s push came out of nowhere.

-- After a break, Joe and Pope are still in the ring, and Joe tells AJ that he’s cashing in his title shot at Against All Odds. Makes sense for the storyline, and I’m sure the match will be great, but I still think Joe should’ve waited to make that announcement. I don’t see how it can work in his advantage to let Styles know when he’s going to cash in his shot. And I don’t see Joe winning the belt, either. They seem to be building towards another Styles-Angle match in the coming months. If I had to guess, it will happen at Lockdown.

-- Backstage, Mick Foley is talking to Abyss. One of TNA’s best promo guys is talking to one of TNA’s worst promo guys. I miss the days when Abyss was a killing machine, who let James Mitchell do all the talking for him.

-- It’s time for the second 8-Card Stud Tournament qualifying match, this time between Tomko and Kurt Angle. Again, this seems like a predictable outcome, but I guess Angle qualifying is already a given, so it didn’t matter who they put him in with. The match starts out with a German suplex from Angle, followed by a big boot from Tomko, followed by a headbutt by Angle… No collar-and-elbow tie-up for them! This was a decent TV match, with Angle hitting a total of 8 German suplexes, before making Tomko tap out to the ankle lock.

-- Another title match tonight, this time the Knockout’s Title is on the line, with Tara defending against Angelina Love. I enjoy the chemistry between these two. There were lots of reversals and pin attempts, including the classic northern lights suplex pin, which they actually bridged out of perfectly! Tara eventually rolls up Angelina for the win, which leads to The Beautiful People coming out to attack Love, which also leads to Tara helping out her opponent in taking out the trash (not literally, since ODB isn’t involved).

-- The main event for the evening is Mick Foley vs. Kevin Nash in a No DQ match. The announcer says that there is a 20-minute time limit, but a brief glance at the clock says that this won’t be longer than 5 minutes. To be blunt, this was not good. Foley tried hard to make it work, but it can be challenging when you’re working with a guy who just can’t move around anymore. Foley got pinned after a big boot by Nash, but the real story happens after the bell. Hall and Syxx-pac come into the ring through the crowd… and lay out Nash! They beat up on Foley, too, leaving both men down, as the show comes to a close.


--= Final Thoughts =-
I enjoyed this edition of TNA Impact very much! Some people have criticized Impact for not having enough wrestling in the past, but that certainly was not the case this time. There were seven matches, which included a variety of different wrestling styles, and the one major in-ring promo was excellently done! Hulk Hogan was involved in a couple backstage segments, but wasn’t seen nearly as much as last week. The right people went over in every match, including the tournament qualifiers. The remarkable thing is that I honestly wasn’t in the mood to watch wrestling tonight, but I’m very glad that I did. It was an extraordinary show!

-= Top 3 =-
1. Samoa Joe (for doing a complete 180 degrees, and getting his path focused on the World Title)
2. Mick Foley (for cutting a fantastic promo with Bischoff)
3. Kurt Angle (for qualifying for the tournament and keeping me interested)

That’s your Impact Analysis for the week! It has been posted much sooner than the previous one, eh? I’m hoping this trend of submitting reviews on time will continue, but I guess we’ll find out next week. Thanks for reading!
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