TNA Impact Wrestling Hits & Misses 4/26
By Teddy Panagiotopoulos, PWTorch specialist

IMPACT HITS

-- Open Fight Night: While the concept of Open Fight Night is in its infancy, and can surely be judged after only one edition in the books, I thought it was a good start to the OFN gimmick. Was there too much Hulk Hogan? Yes, but more on that later. I like the concept of wrestlers challenging one another - even champions - and those challenged must accept and fight. It started off well with Devon challenging Bully Ray, and killed two birds with one stone since Devon has to defend the TV Championship every week, regardless. And, despite Devon beating Ray clean with a spinebuster, they did not deliver a full-fledged match and left the door open for an in-depth feud later on.

As for the other challenges on the show, Brooke Tessmacher's promo aimed at Gail Kim was just horrendous. But, horrid promo nonetheless, I like having Tessmacher as the next challenger to Kim's Knockouts Championship. It creates a buffer for Kim between big title matches at Lockdown and, presumably, at Slammiversary. Plus, Tessmacher is a fresh challenger and she has that underdog intangible that allows viewers to believe she can possibly win the KO Championship at Sacrifice.

I also thought Kurt Angle defeating Anarquia in a squash match worked perfectly. Angle is dealing with lingering injuries and Mexican America have been presented as a joke recently, so it fit the storyline of Angle dismantling Anarquia in quick fashion. Plus, the backstage segment with Angle confronting Daniels and Kazarian was intriguing. Is Angle turning face? Or, did Angle simply not want Kaz and Daniels to interfere in his match last week with A.J. Styles? I will focus on the other happenings on Impact in further detail but, overall, a solid start for Open Fight Night.

-- Gut Check: This is another concept I'm intrigued by. The concept allows TNA to provide a platform for new talent to be seen by the audience and, if done right, could create new stars instantly. Alex Silva, while not the best choice to be the first candidate, was used properly in what seemingly was a squash match against Robbie E. And, just because he did not win, doesn't necessarily mean he still won't win himself a contract on Impact. I believe Silva should not receive a contract right away, not because he does not deserve one (although his selling surely needs work), but because it would build up the contest effectively and would create buzz when a wrestler finally wins a contract.

Personally, I would like to see wrestlers outside of Ohio Valley Wrestling given an opportunity to secure a contract with Impact Wrestling. If the contest were to expand to include other talent on the independent scene, not just rookies, for example: Carlito, MVP, or even Jack Evans (who was part of the X Division Invitational last summer) these would be great additions to the roster. There are tons of great wrestlers on the independent circuit who are not affiliated with TNA via the developmental league, and would be terrific additions to the company.

And, as a final note, Bobby Roode acting like a total jerk toward Alex Silva was perfect. Why would Roode welcome Silva to Impact Wrestling? It certainly would not fit Roode's current character and if Silva gets a contract, there would be another set of eyes on Roode's World Championship. Job well done, Bobby Roode.

IMPACT MISSES

-- TNA Tag Title Match: This Miss is not meant to downplay the efforts by Samoa Joe, Magnus, Jeff Hardy, or Mr. Anderson. Instead, the Miss is for all the hoopla that led to the championship match. First, if the top teams in TNA really are The Motor City Machineguns, Kazarian & Daniels, Jeff Hardy & Mr. Anderson, and Eric Young & ODB, then there is a severe problem in TNA.

Then, Hogan eliminated the only legit tag team from the "competition," The Motor City Machineguns, because Hogan is worried about Sabin's surgically-repaired knee. Insanity, if you ask me. Then, Hogan rightfully eliminated ODB and Eric Young for some pointless reason. Finally, he eliminated Kazarian and Daniels and gave the title match to Hardy and Anderson because the latter team did not know how to co-exist? Yeah, that makes a boatload of sense. I am sure the business reason for putting Anderson and Hardy in the Tag Title Match was to further build up Joe and Magnus by having them defeat a pair of main-eventers. But, the process they used to get from point A to point B was ludicrous.

-- Ric Flair presents Eric Bischoff Appreciation Night: I commend Eric Bischoff for removing himself as an on-air character and putting his focus on TNA's creative and business decision-making. And, on a somewhat related note, I also like how Sting removed himself from television temporarily. While these guys are still valuable to the company in small doses or in other areas behind the scenes, the time for them to soak up precious television time has passed and the TV time should be devoted to other stars. Now, only if Flair and Hogan would take notice...

Nevertheless, I found the final segment focused on EB's final night on Impact Wrestling to be quite comical. It also delivered a feel-good moment at its conclusion with Garett and JB pushing the port-a-potty on its ass (pun intended) with the elder Bischoff stuck inside. As James Caldwell and Greg Parks stated in their weekly TV Chat, that poop sure looked like chocolate syrup. How's that Hershey taste, Mr. Bischoff?!

-- Hulk Hogan: Similar to Garett Bischoff, Hulk Hogan landing himself in the Miss column is starting to become a re-occurring trend. Right from the start, Hogan referring to all of the champions as "My Champions" made my eyes roll. Then, when he called Joe "Samoan Joe," it did not help matters. Hogan has made a career off basically ad-libbing his promos and not following off a script (I agree that wrestlers should not read straight off what the writers have written for them), but it seems Hogan is losing his touch on simply shooting off the tongue. I cannot take the man seriously when he refers to Joe and Magnus as "the greatest tag team ever."

Understandably, he wanted to endorse the tag champions, but there are other ways to accomplish such feat without sounding ridiculous. Not to mention the entire process stated earlier was to determine the challengers for the Tag Titles and it just was not the best night on the microphone for Hulkamania.

***

-- Post-Show Thoughts: Overall, I enjoyed the first edition of Open Fight Night and look forward to the next edition sometime in May. But, while TNA is trying to benefit from Hogan's name recognition, the end result has not changed since before Hogan arrived in TNA. Ratings have not improved; in fact, they are shrinking. TNA have made some changes to Impact's format over the last year, but the focus HAS to be on the in-ring talent and allowing them to go to the ring and wrestle. Once the focus finally is put upon what happens inside the ring, then I believe the ratings will improve and PPV buyrates will increase. But, this ongoing need to focus on Hogan, and even Ric Flair, to an extent, is not helping improve business in Impact Wrestling.

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