TNA IMPACT HITS & MISSES (7/16): Stop this low-IQ threat in promos, who cut a smart promo, the booking mistake in the Knockouts Tournament, a pending top feud I don’t want to see

HITS

Moose defeating AJ Francis via DQ due to Frankie Kazarian Interference

On one hand, I hate the constant chicanery finishes in pro wrestling in recent history. On the other hand, Francis has been losing constantly lately so it’s not the worst thing in the world to protect him tonight if you believe he has any upward mobility up the card potential. I do assume that Moose will ultimately go over in the feud, though. I will lean Hit on this one.

Elayna Black basic heel Promo

Elayna Black has been doing a great job of being simple and staying in her lane as a traditional Knockouts heel. Her promos are simple and arrogantly to the point, as they should be. She established that Wendy Choo is legitimate and there is respect there for the Knockouts TV Title Tournament match next week while simultaneously dismissing Choo as a true threat. She also acknowledged their history without going too deep and over-explaining or being meta.

Ricky Sosa getting involved after the main event X-Division Title Match

I pray that this means that Sosa is now being positioned for the X-Division Title after Fabian Aichner failed, but I can’t fully trust that TNA will pull the trigger based on their recent booking history.

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MISSES

The Elegance Brand sweeping the first round of the Knockouts TV Title Tournament

While I think that Heather and M by Elegance have some potential as a tag team or even as singles acts (if they break away from the awful Elegance Brand gimmick), I don’t think that they should’ve been in a position to win both of their first round tournament matches over other qualified Knockouts, particularly Rosemary. M was rather clunky in her match against Rosemary tonight, as well.

Bear Bronson threatening to Kill Ricky Sosa and then defeating him in a match

Please stop with these low-IQ promos about “killing” someone. I don’t care that it was a distraction finish, you do not have Bear Bronson defeating Ricky Sosa this early in Sosa’s run. If you’re going to have a member of the System defeat Sosa, have it be the more credible Cedric Alexander or Eddie Edwards. Why does TNA insist on knee-capping their future talents at every turn?

Frankie Kazarian feuding with Moose?

Having Frankie Kazarian on guest commentary for Moose-AJ Francis match was a dead giveaway that there would be shenanigans and a likely cheap finish to the match. I absolutely don’t want to see Kazarian feud with Moose moving forward. It would, at best, be a lateral feud for Moose. At least AJ Francis is a younger wrestler I can see some potential in.

Elayna Black going face on Xia Brookside

Both of these women are clear heels so why did TNA feel the need to have Elayna give a face promo against Brookside in saying that “Brookside is jealous of her because she is everything that Xia can never be”? This is making the fans side with Black over Brookside and giving them mixed emotions.

Mustafa Ali, Order 4, and the “transformational” addition of Mila Moore?”

Mustafa Ali is one of the better talents in modern TNA and he has been dragged down by Order 4 for far too long. I was optimistic that the recent descent between Ali and the faction meant that he was dumping them to go along as a pure singles act. Adding Mila Moore, who I barely know, is certainly not what I was looking for to add credibility to Ali or to add intrigue to Order 4. It was very underwhelming and I am almost certain a majority of the fanbase would not get an ounce of excitement from this creative decision.

The Righteous get invited to the Hardy Compound

I’m very confused at what we’re doing here. The Righteous have been heavily de-legitimized over the last few weeks and now they’re planning on re-igniting their feud with the tag champion Hardys? If so, this was probably the worst way they could’ve gone about building it.

Thea Hail going over Harley Hudson

I’m a big fan of Hail and her improvement throughout her NXT run but the point is she is currently an NXT-signed wrestler. Hudson is a signed Knockout and has a good amount of potential. This seemed like a good, low-risk opportunity to put a homegrown TNA talent over an established, but not critical, NXT wrestler.

Mopey KC Navarro gets Lambasted by Nic Nemeth

I’m a big fan of KC Navarro, but this may have been his worst promo yet. He came across as mopey, unconfident, and honestly rather pathetic. Meanwhile, Nic Nemeth was tearing him down calling him a loser and, overall, just ripping him to shreds. Not a very good approach from Navarro and bad instincts from Nemeth (which isn’t entirely surprising looking at the totality of his career).

Cedric Alexander retaining the X-Division Title over Fabian Aichner

You give Aichner the great debut, you show him as strong and build him consistently since that debut and then you have him lose his pinnacle X-Division Title match against Alexander? I personally think that Alexander should’ve lost the title at Slammiversary but I figured that maybe they wanted to put the title on Aichner in a singles match rather than a multi-person gimmick match to give Aichner the proper moment. TNA is allergic to elevating debuting wrestlers and moving younger talents up the card at the right pace. Speaking of debuts, has TNA even mentioned Uhaa Nation since his debut at Slammiversary? It’s been over three weeks now.