Ladder Match: I do not want to disrespect AJ Styles and Kaz which is why I am giving their ladder match the lone Hit for Impact this week. Despite my tremendous objections to this ladder match (more later), I want to separate my disgust for the TNA bookers from my admiration for the talented members of the roster who go out and do their best to implement the idiotic booking decisions. Styles and Kaz gave it their all and put on a good ladder match, with plenty of high spots and ladder moves to keep me entertained. Clearly, these two have great ability and it was on display in this match. I will discuss the problems with this match later, but for now I will say that Styles and Kaz had the fortune of being in one of the more traditional of the Christmas-themed gimmick matches, which along with their ability helped them carry off the only good match of the show.
IMPACT MISSES
Christmas Party: I had the fortune of not seeing the Thanksgiving episode of Impact, but after reading what happened and now seeing this Christmas party debacle, I can’t imagine Thanksgiving being worse than this. Every single joke fell flat. In fact, every single moment fell flat. I was so annoyed by Eric Young’s constant talk about Santa Clause to the point where he said “Santa!” every time the door bell rang, and it rang a lot! TNA tried to use the party to advance characters and storylines, but also just for random slut jokes. They didn’t succeed either way. Sanjay Dutt stealing the kiss from So Cal Val was the closest thing to a good moment that happened during the party. I was not entertained by a single party segment, and worse than that, I was heavily annoyed by them.
Double North Pole Match: Of the Christmas gimmick matches on the show, this one actually had some potential. It was an interesting concept that the two teams were basically playing capture the flag. However, there were some problems. If the goal of the match is to grab the stipulation from the opposite corner’s pole, then why were they tagging in and out? There is no DQ, and nothing in the rules to suggest that only the legal man could grab the stipulation. They could have even played up strategy where one guy was left in the corner to guard his team’s pole. Instead, it was basically a standard and rather boring and sloppy six man tag match. It was not well executed. The little people getting involved did not help. It was just a bad match.
Silent Night, Bloody Night: This was another bad match, but for different reasons. First of all, can someone explain to me what Shark Boy was doing in this match? That was just stupid, as are his never heeling injuries. Shouldn’t he take some time off? He’s in a neck brace for goodness sake! This was a standard TNA weapons match, complete with Abyss’ standard bump into his own standard thumb tacks. Seriously, is there a single fan out there who doesn’t know beyond all doubt that Abyss is going to end up in his own tacks every single time? I was happy to see Rellik finally pick up a win in TNA after losing every other match he had been in, but who really cares about Rellik? Even the Impact Zone crowd which usually will pop for anything seemed out of this match.
Is TNA Trying to Kill Ladder Matches?: Seriously, I am really asking. They just did a ladder match on Impact two weeks ago. That is not an exaggeration. On December 6th, Impact featured a ladder match of Team 3D & Johnny Devine vs. The Motor City Machine Guns & Jay Lethal. Plus, it has not been very long since they had a PPV ladder match of Christian Cage vs. Kaz. That is three ladder matches in a short amount of time which is too many. The ladder match should feel special. Doing them so close together ruins that feeling. Plus, the reindeer costume gimmick was a terrible idea. The participants in a ladder match should be fighting over something important, like a title or a title shot in the future, not something silly like making his opponent look ridiculous. As much as I liked the action of the match, I could not get involved in the drama or suspense of the match, because the gimmick was stupid and I knew that Styles was going to lose and be forced to wear the costume. And, this may seem like a small detail, but how did Styles go from selling the incredible pain of a ladder match, to showing no signs of injury when flopping around in the costume? He just went through a painful ladder match, but he had no injuries, and plenty of energy to try to escape his situation. That really makes the ladder match seem like a big deal. WWE just did a ladder match on Raw two weeks ago. WWE should not have another ladder match until Money in the Bank at WrestleMania. If they do, it will get a Miss. These matches have to be protected, which is good for business and for the health of the wrestlers who are in them, as they should not be in dangerous matches so often.
Gimmicks: I have complained so many times (both here and in conversations) over the last few years about TNA and gimmick matches. If they did not do so many gimmick matches all the time, mostly on their PPVs, but also on Impact, then I might feel differently about presenting a Christmas themed gimmick match barrage on Impact this week. But, the fact of the matter is that TNA has way too many gimmick matches way too often. As I discussed about the ladder matches, these matches need to feel special, and they never do in TNA. How do you sell a cage match on a PPV, when you just gave away a free cage match on Impact that was nothing special? I didn’t give that match a Miss, because it was o.k., but it certainly wasn’t a Hit. As I said above, I liked the idea of the Double North Pole match, but the execution was not there, and there were problems with the gimmick too. A major problem with the gimmick is that it was a gimmick match to determine the type of gimmick match that these same two teams will have at the PPV. The Santa's Workshop Street Fight was a mess. I probably could have given it a Miss, but Awesome Kong’s dominance at then end saved it from the Miss column. I have already complained in great detail about Silent Night, Bloody Night, and the reindeer ladder match, so I won’t say anything more about them here. If the matches themselves had at least been enjoyable to watch, TNA might have had a decent Impact, but they were not.
Jon Mezzera is PWTorch.com's Hitlist Specialist, providing his point of view in the Torch's hitlist format for Raw, Smackdown, ECW, and TNA Impact each week. Email him at jmezz-torch@sbcglobal.net.
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