TNA IMPACT HITS & MISSES (2/19): Dueling authority figures with Daria and Santino, Mickie James return Santana-Slater interactions,

No Surrender Review Opener

It’s always good to open your week after PLE/PPV with a review of the key takeaways from the event. It signals to the audience that the event was of significance and should make you feel like you missed out if you didn’t view it. Showing the Nashville skyline to open the show was a nice touch too. Nashville is a foundational city in TNA’s history as a company.

The Return of Mickie James

Mickie is a TNA legend and a welcome returning addition to the Knockouts Division (see “Misses” for further evaluation).

Indi Hartwell defeating Heather by Elegance

I’m not sure how high Indi’s actual ceiling is, but with what currently exists in the Knockout Division, I’m all for giving her a shot. She can definitely play a strong comedy-type role, but can they transition her to something more serious and substantial?

Santana-Slater In-ring interaction

Give me Santana-Leon Slater. The whole Steve Maclin distraction is just mucking things up. These are the two biggest stars on the rise in TNA and the company needs all the firepower it can get as it still breaks into this AMC relationship. Once they get past the Nemeths, I’d like to see a match on a big stage.

Putting Trey Miguel over Stacks

Trey Miguel is arguably a top three or four talent in TNA and he needs to be maximized. Having him lose to a low-level NXT crossover in Stacks would be a huge hit to his credibility after limping back to TNA when things fell through with his Rascalz brethren over in AEW. Santana/Slater/Miguel is the future of TNA babyfaces, assuming they all stay in TNA for the long-term (which might be a big assumption).

JDC’s Retirement Video being run Multiple Weeks?

I’m really not sure if this is a hit or miss; I’ll lean slightly towards a hit. It’s a really good short clip on JDC’s career and who he is as a wrestler and real-life person but I don’t get the point of running it multiple weeks on AMC. Is it simply to get traffic to their YouTube channel? It leads me to believe that there is more going on here. I’m willing to let it play out (unless I’m entirely misreading this).

Elayna Black-Mara Sade In-Ring Faceoff

I was going into this fully expecting to make it a Miss, but I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised. Elayna Black isn’t horrible, although she can use some work, but Mara Sade really carried this segment. She spoke with conviction, but not arrogance. She was strong and articulate. She made me want to see Black get her comeuppance and I believe that she will give it to her.

ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW…

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MISSES

Wasting Mickie James returning debut feud on the Elegance Brand

Please stop trying to make the Elegance Brand a thing and pushing them so hard while allocating so much pressure screen time on AMC to this atrocious act. Also, Heather’s match with Indi Hartwell tonight was beyond rough. There’s always so much chicanery going on that it’s almost impossible to make a cohesive, flowing match.

Steve Maclin begging for his job back

How is this supposed to make Steve Maclin look credible? Why not just turn him heel the traditional way rather than the stupid Feast or Fired stunt? TNA is trying to reinvent the wheel here and it’s completely unnecessary. I’m a fan of Maclin, but this angle is doing him zero favors. I also don’t get feeding Maclin to Santana so quickly after getting the title back after they already botched the coronation in the first place. This won’t be a hot angle and it’s to no fault of either performer; it’s all due to creative decisions.

Nic Nemeth’s Yelling Promos

Some things never change – WWE or TNA, Nic Nemeth loves to raise those vocal cords regardless of situation or context and it showed itself tonight opposite of Santana and Slater.

Ariana Grace at Knockout’s World Champion

How much a once-proud and acclaimed division has fallen. Grace is not good in-ring and even worse on the mic. She is the highest-level of Nepo-baby and it’s hurting the brand and reputation of the division. (That’s not even mentioning that she’s not even under contract to TNA.)

Trey Miguel’s Custom Belt

His custom title belt looks like some Cracker Jack prize that the host from Nickelodeon’s “Slime Time Live” would give to kids in the late-’90s.

Tessa Blanchard’s Convoluted Match

What I know about Tessa Blanchard outside of kayfabe may very much have biased my opinion on her. I’ll readily admit that. That being said, her match tonight with Jody Threat was slow and plodding and never got out of that gear. There were also too many bells and whistles with multiple post-match run outs and beatdowns. I didn’t really get the impression that the crowd was much into the match either.

Mance Warner’s Weird, Tough Guy Act

He’s a little too much “cartoonishly spooky facial expressions and monster movie-like grunting” for me. He really reminds me of the deficiencies that showed up in Karrion Kross’s act once he left TNA for NXT and then to the WWE main roster. It’s a bit low-rent. I really like Steph De Lauder as his partner, though.

Elijah vs. Ali Main Event Casket Match

I’m not a fan, at all, of the Elijah act. However, I really enjoy Mustafa Ali. He makes Order 4 work. That being said, the constant clashing of the Santino/Daria leadership regime is taking me out of some storylines and matches (like this one). If these two just continue to keep canceling out each other’s orders, what is the point? In kayfabe, wouldn’t it only make sense that leadership like Carlos Silva pick one G.M. to end the non-stop chaos? The tomfoolery in this match just didn’t make much sense and took me out of the moment. The casket almost felt secondary and that should never be the case in a big stipulation match.