TNA IMPACT HITS & MISSES (8/6): The Nick Nemeth-Jeff Hardy build got it backwards and made it seem like Hardy would rather be painting than winnign the title, AJ Francis becomes a jobber, Hotch glows

HITS

Jason Hotch’s wholesome backstage interview with his family

Jason Hotch’s backstage interview with Gia with his wife and daughter beside him was cute and wholesome. It also exemplified that “thrill of victory” aspect of wrestling that truly engages me. It was organic and flowing. I’m curious to see how far Hotch can go. TNA may have made a wise decision in elevating him. I just wish it wasn’t at the expense of Mustafa Ali. The intensity from Hotch in standing up for his family was admirable (even though I wasn’t a fan of that backstage segment as you’ll see in my misses).

Unannounced High-powered tag match

The match this week was meh but KC Navarro Vs. Brian Myers leading to a tag match of the System (Myers and Edwards) Vs. Navarro and Fabian Aichner. Much like I’ve been discussing running with a Slater and Sosa tag team, if they aren’t going to go in that direction, a Navarro and Aichner tag team would more than suffice. I did also get a kick out of Santino calling the System, “Edward Edwards and Mike Myers”. It was a great match to boot. Navarro and Aichner need to go over in a scheduled match, however. Speaking of Sosa, he made a run in after the match with a steel chair. It’s interesting as he and Slater, as a team, own recent wins over the System but Slater seems Hell bent on taking the X-Division Title from Cedric Alexander.

Wendy Choo as a juxtaposition to Xia Brookside

TNA did a wise thing by putting Wendy Choo opposite Xia Brookside for the Knockouts Title tonight. Choo is a pure, likeable babyface (unlike Elayna Black) and she did her job in helping Brookside get her heel heat in this match. I just wish that they would have found a better way to make this match as Choo was just in a Knockouts TV tournament match time limit draw with the likely Knockouts Title challenger at Lockdown in Black. Choo should’ve probably gotten a win on last week’s Impact over a credible talent to help justify this match. The match length was appropriate. It wasn’t too short to make Choo a joke but it wasn’t too long to make Brookside look like a lacking champion.

ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW…

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MISSES

“The Hardys have greatly changed since the Deletion of the Righteous”

I’m paraphrasing a quote from Matt Rehwoldt, a bit, but the above line was the gist of it. How exactly have the Hardys changed? They’re wearing Goat masks now (commentary also hammered us over the head with this)? Not witty or original or much character layering. Also, please stop showing Aimee Garcia. It’s been two straight weeks now, and I know she’s on one of your networks newer shows, but she’s not particularly famous and it comes across as just desperate.

Have the Righteous changed at all?

The Righteous don’t feel any different either, still speaking in platitudes. The crowd shared my sentiment with boos for the seemingly babyface turning Righteous. I heard several audible “shut ups” from the crowd during their promo. It was all world salad, dribble-drabble. I guess the one nugget we can takeaway is that they’re now “shepherds looking for a flock”. The only saving grace to this angle would be if Joe Gacy and Dexter Lumus (formerly Sam Shaw in TNA) from the recently released Wyatt Sicks in WWE are the debuting “flock”.

Elayna Black as a wooden babyface

Elayna Black was on such a nice run as a straight-forward, old school heel and TNA turned that on its head because they haven’t properly built the Knockouts division main faces to have a credible opposition to Xia Brookside. In her backstage promo tonight, opposite of Brookside, Black simply came across as rehearsed and wooden as a “fake face”. It isn’t remotely natural or believable. It would also be hard to turn her, after this feud, and keep any sense of credibility as a dirtball heel. It seems like quite the risk for very little to no reward.

Are we really on our way to an all Elegance final for the inaugural Knockouts TV Championship?

I want to start by saying that TNA dropped the ball letting Mara Sade get away to AEW (allegedly). If her write-off from TNA was a passing mention of an “abdominal injury” during the injury report then shame on TNA. Regarding her tournament match tonight, I would feel great believing that we aren’t heading to an all Elegance Brand final of the tournament with Heather by Elegance winning tonight but with TNA booking, I can’t feel certain. Use this tournament to put over Jada Stone or Indi Hartwell now that Sade has gone by the waste-side. I’m okay if one of the Elegance win one side of the bracket then either Jada or Indi wins the other side and overcomes the pest heel in the finals (even though it wouldn’t be a credible heel).

Frankie Kazarian-Moose at Lockdown as a step-down

“King of TNA” Vs. “The Face of the Franchise”. What exactly made Frankie Kazarian the “King of TNA” it’s incredibly lame to give yourself a nickname much less such a boring nickname. I am glad that Moose is calling it out but he shouldn’t even be acknowledging it as a determining factor for the match. Also, Kazarian is a real step-down for Moose to go from beating Eddie Edwards at Slammiversary to facing Kazarian at Lockdown. I don’t think anyone really cares that it’s “first time ever”.

Creepy Mustafa Ali backstage segment with the Hotch family

Ali sitting next to his Hotch’s Wife and Daughter backstage was creepy and unnecessary. It doesn’t even jive with his heel character. Just mentioning what he said in a promo would have been better than the segment itself. Some bad creative decisions from Ali lately. Also, Hotch and Ali doesn’t really seem worthy of a “Lockdown” stipulation based off of one, not that offensive interaction, between Hotch’s Wife and Ali. In fact, none of the current Lockdown matches feel Lockdown worthy in terms of build intensity.

Pre-taped, cinematic package of the Bunny “looking” for Rosemary

This felt natural. Usually when my good friends go missing I have someone fill me looking for them ominously with Easter Eggs included.

AJ Francis turning into a joke of a jobber

Man, already AJ Francis losing one feud to Elijah (who had just lost to Mr. Elegance) and now losing in a fluke, roll-up pin to the Hometown Man because of an Elijah distraction, making him look like a fool. It’s clear where TNA sees Francis and it’s not above mid-card comedy and jobbing with an occasional, cookie crumb win here and there.

Cedric Alexander going meta opposite of Leon Slater

How has Leon Slater had everything “handed to him”? He’s been relatively successful in terms of win-loss record in TNA. Suggesting that he received everything because of his “pretty smile” isn’t accurate in kayfabe. Also, mentioning getting “rubs” from AJ Styles and the Hardys is another example of going meta with his promo. Slater was given very little material when he should have owned the pre-taped face-to-face. I hate the awful post-produced music in these types of interviews. TNA also did this on the go-home show to the Slammivesary title match between Santana and Nic Nemeth.

Nic Nemeth and Jeff Hardy also go to post-production

Why would you do two segments on the same show that are so similar? This pre-taped backstage “face-to-face” was a carbon copy of the aforementioned Cedric Alexander and Leon Slater segment. Nic Nemeth essentially talking to Jeff Hardy similar to Cedric talking to Leon. There was very little back-and-forth. The corny post-production music was also present. This segment made me believe that Jeff Hardy would rather paint than beat Nic Nemeth for the TNA World Title and Nemeth made me feel as though all he cares about is the title. That is almost completely opposite of how it should feel in a heel-face dynamic.