Instant Reaction - Impact Wrestling 4/19
By Benjamin Tucker, PWTorch TV specialist

Overall Score - 6.5

Impact was a decent show this week. Not too much wowed me, especially in terms of match quality, but there were multiple segments worth seeing. For one, I'm excited about the Open Fight Night concept. If every match ends in a screwy finish, then this will become a train wreck easily. But, the idea is definitely a good one, and it's a really nice idea to use the TV Title as the "fighting champion" title - it at least gives the title some purpose and could give some new guys TV time.

James Storm's promo was also a highlight of the night. It wasn't rushed and Storm had the crowd in the palm of his hand. He's really improved in the depth of his promos over the past year, and his talents were put on full display here.

Unfortunately, match quality wasn't up to par this week. Angle vs. Styles was almost completely taken up by commercial breaks, the TV Title match didn't have any meat to it, and the women's match was a train wreck. Someone has to either help the women or limit their movesets, because some people in the Division seem to have no idea what's going on half the time.

The opening and closing matches were fine, but nothing too special in the end. Speaking of the main event, I thought that Hogan was a face now. Why then would he essentially screw over Anderson and Hardy by placing RVD in the number one contender's match? Isn't it wrong to go against a promise of having a one-on-one match? I sort of understand the story they were trying to tell, but it just didn't work. And, I'm not too sure of RVD being number one contender. He hasn't seemed motivated ever since he started working for TNA. And, as a side note, could someone get Mr. Parks a map of Universal Studios? It's taken him months to find one guy who's at the same building all the time. Only three more months before he finds Bully Ray...

A lot of these gripes are small, but add up on a two-hour show. I'm interested to see if this OFN concept will end up working well for TNA, and Storm's promo tonight was stellar. Even if match content wasn't quite where I feel it should have been, it still wasn't that bad. In the end, the show was decent, but not amazing. Another "good enough" week for TNA.

***

Any questions or comments? Follow me on Twitter at BTuckertorch, or e-mail me at btuckertorch@aol.com.

[Torch art credit Travis Beaven (c) PWTorch.com]

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