TNA Impact Hits & Misses 2/9
By Teddy Panagiotopoulos, PWTorch specialist

IMPACT HITS

A.J. Styles vs. Daniels: While I would much rather see A.J. Styles and Christopher Daniels square off on the PPV instead of A.J. and Kazarian, I still give this match a hit. At just short of seven minutes, it served its purpose of enhancing Daniels's heel gimmick and setting up Styles to get revenge on Daniels on Sunday by beating Kazarian and figuring out what Daniels has over Kaz. As stated previously, Kazarian plays the role of conflicted best friend well and it continued to show during this match. Hopefully, there's a good payoff to this feud as all three men deserve to be higher on the card.

Magnus/Samoa Joe In-Ring Promo: Magnus truly shined on the mic in this segment. Despite being in his home country, he still showed how he can control a crowd and he summed up the recent history between the two teams without talking for forever. However, this feud continues to come across like a convoluted mess, as Joe and Magnus were the faces for the crowd, but once Morgan and Crimson arrived, and got the upper hand in the brawl, Joe and Magnus bailed out of the ring, acting like heels. The heels and the faces have not been clearly defined and, as a result, it has led to the fans picking their favorites. Nevertheless, I am rooting for Joe and Magnus to capture the Tag Team Championships at Against All Odds as it would be better served for Morgan and Crimson to continue their own rivalry from months ago, and build to a one-on-one match at Lockdown.

Triple Threat X Division Match: The X Division continues to be the highlight of recent editions of Impact and the trend continued with this Triple Threat match. Similar to Mark Haskins last week, it made sense for Doug Williams to be showcased in front of his home country. I thought, with him involved in the match, Williams would be the one on the receiving end of the pinfall to prevent the champion from pinning the challenger (or vice versa), so I was surprised with Shelley pinning Aries. It was surprising, yet logical, for Shelley to get the non-title victory as Aries retaining his championship at Against All Odds seems definite.

Main Event Tag Match: The main event was a standard tag team match with three of the four men involved in the title match at the PPV and “Special Enforcer,” Sting. Despite his age and physical limitations, Sting can still get the job done inside the ring. He may not be what he once was but, every once in a while, he can still bring it and I think he brought it in this tag match. But, although the match was solid, the ending is what I enjoyed the most. As Roode was trapped in the Scorpion Deathlock, Bully Ray entered in the ring with Roode's championship belt and looked to hit Sting from behind. But, just as Ray was about to commit the move, he stopped short, dropped down on one knee, and told Roode, “See you in three days, Champ,” which led to the champion tapping out as Ray walked out on him.

While having the World champion submit to a wrestler/authority figure never looks good, it cemented Ray's intentions all along of wanting to become the Heavyweight Champion and how his partnership with Roode was nothing more than a personal benefit. Now, instead of worrying mostly about just Storm and Hardy, Roode has to worry about all three challengers, plus Sting lurking around ringside to make sure everything is fair. It certainly places Roode in a vulnerable position and this would be the perfect opportunity to give Roode a straight-up win. A clean victory would finally legitimize Roode's four-month reign as World Heavyweight Champion.

IMPACT MISSES

Opening Segment: While Impact has started off strong the last few weeks, it was not the case this week. It was a marginal miss, as there were aspects of the opening I did like. I understand where those may seem it is far too early for the dynamic of Bobby Roode and Bully Ray to be at odds, but ultimately, both of these men are in the four-way World Title Match at Against All Odds, so it makes sense for them to not be on the same page. While the interaction between Roode and Ray was fine, once Sting interrupted, the segment went downhill. Roode and Ray did not even get their thoughts across before the “Insane Icon” arrived on the scene. I like Sting as the laid-back authority figure but, as Wade Keller mentioned in his Impact report, it should take something important and meaningful for Sting to get physically involved and to schedule himself in a match. Plus, where has Jeff Hardy been the last two weeks? He seems to have vanished off the face of the earth, and he's going to be in the main event on Sunday? Unreal.

Hogan and The Bischoffs: On last week's Impact, Hulk Hogan proclaimed in a backstage interview that TNA is “right on the verge of becoming the greatest company in the world” and, for those who read last week's column, I responded how this should never be mentioned on TV and, from within TNA, they should already consider themselves the greatest company in the world. So, what does TNA decide to do this week? They replayed the footage! Unacceptable. Then, Hogan and Garett Bischoff were shown speaking to Sting, and Hogan started feeding Sting with mouthfuls of nonsense about being there for the Icon if he needs him.

Later on, during the in-ring segment, Hogan announced Sting's decision that gave him the power to book Garett vs. Gunner at Against All Odds. How gullible is Sting to allow this to happen? This is the same guy who told Dixie Carter, for nearly two years, not trust Hogan and Eric Bischoff, and now here he is giving Hogan the authority to book a match for a PPV? I know Hogan is a babyface now, but the Stinger should still have reservations about trusting Hogan. I just don't understand. I could discuss in further detail about Hogan's attempt to put his “stamp of approval” on Garett, and how Hogan positioned himself at the top-of-the-second-hour (which is usually one of Impact's highest-rated segments) but my head hurts. And, the thought of Garett Bischoff “as the future of this business” tied my stomach in knots. Just too much dedication and focus on Hogan at this point in his career.

Mickie James vs. Velvet Sky: Usually, the Knockouts land in the Hits column, but something seemed off with the Mickie vs. Velvet match. As gorgeous as Velvet is, and as how much she improved recently, it was not her best match against James. I did not think Mickie fared well, either, as both Knockouts were sloppy and the moves were clunky. The ending roll-up was especially poorly executed. The only bright spot to take from this match was Mickie showing some aggression during the match and some disbelief with the loss. Is there a heel turn in the works for Mickie? It would certainly freshen up her current, beyond-stale, character.

Star Wars Theme: Maybe it's because I am not a Star Wars fan, but this did not work out well. Although the gimmick did not include wrestlers disguised as Star Wars characters, I thought it was pointless and borderline annoying for Mike Tenay to continuously plug Star Wars throughout the night. Sure, "Episode I: The Phantom Menace" is re-released in 3D in theaters, but that does not mean I want to see footage of Luke Skywalker, Yoda, and Darth Vader spliced together in the opening video package. I am sure it was a marketing tool on behalf of Spike TV to intrigue Star Wars fans into watching Impact and if the ratings prove an increase in the audience, then it was wise promotion on Spike's part. Plus, Impact benefited from a seven-minute over-run, so I guess all sides got what they wanted in the end.

***

OVERALL: I thought this was the weaker of the two tapings in London, as last week's show was much better. In relation to Against All Odds, almost all of the matches were given final hype. Gail Kim and Tara's backstage brawl was neither a hit or a miss because it did not raise or lower my expectation for their KO Title Match on Sunday. Also, Zema Ion and Jesse Sorensen are squaring off in a #1 contenders X Division match at the PPV? I would never had guessed that since I have not seen Sorensen since last month's Genesis PPV. Sorensen was eliminated in that match due to Ion's distraction but a promo from either one of them would have been nice heading into Against All Odds. Also, Jeff Hardy's absence hurt the World Title build-up somewhat, but Ray and Roode's budding rivalry softened the blow of Hardy's disappearance.

Against All Odds looks great on-paper, but that has never been the problem. The ongoing problem within TNA is creative continuously preventing the talent from doing what they do best – wrestle. If TNA can limit the over-booked finishes to one match (if that), and allow the rest of the matches to be decided with clear-cut winners, then Against All Odds could be a great PPV. With only seven matches announced, there is plenty of time to be handed out to make every match entertaining. I'll be interested to see how things play out on Sunday, but if TNA continues to screw the paying customer with cop-out finishes, people could start tuning out of the free television show regardless of the theme.

[Torch art credit Cory Gould (c) PWTorch.com]

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