TNA IMPACT HITS & MISSES (8/20): Rich Swann “upsetting” Mr. Elegance, Jada Stone’s win eliminated an irritant, Mustafa Ali’s political character, announce team credibility takes a hit

HITS

John Skylar being forced by Mustafa Ali to face his “best friend” Jason Hotch

While I didn’t love the Mustafa Ali promo, I did like the idea of John Skylar being forced by his stable leader, Mustafa Ali (and Daria Rae) to face his best friend Jason Hotch just days before Hotch’s International Title defense against Ali. This is a very human story of two best friends being forced into combat from outside forces and, as fans, we are invested in how they will interact. Normally, I’m not a fan of Daria Rae unnecessarily inserting herself into situations like this but, in this case, it works because Hotch wanted to do the right thing and refuse the match but was threatened by Rae with substantial punishment if he elected to forgo the match. Hotch getting swarmed and beatdown by Order 4 and the “secret service” was the right move and built up the fans desire to cheer the mistreated Hotch and boo the bully Ali and Order 4.

Rich Swann “upsetting?” Mr. Elegance

I was almost certain that Rich Swann would not end Mr. Elegance’s undefeated streak in TNA but I felt strongly that it should happen. TNA surprised me by having Swann pull off the “upset” win. The Elegance Brand, even as a comedy act, has been treated so strongly in TNA, for some reason, that I always suspect that they will win even if it’s against the most logical idea of credibility. I am still curious what they have in mind for Mr. Elegance. Do they think that he is a singles act with potential who will eventually break away from the brand or do they see him as a comedy act who they feel they have to keep strong, for some reason?

Jada Stone erasing the potential of an all Elegance Brand final and getting a deserved push

I have to admit, with Rich Swann going over Mr. Elegance and Jada Stone defeating Heather by Elegance in the Knockouts TNA Television Title tournament semi-final felt like TNA eliminating many irritants this week. Jada Stone being in the final of the Knockouts TV Title tournament and being added to the Lethal Lockdown match feels like a huge elevation for her which I am a fan of. I think that she will now be getting the push that was supposed to go to Mara Sade before she abruptly left the company. In hindsight, I like M by Elegance being opposite of Stone in the tournament final because it is such a strong face-heel contrast the crowd is surely to be heavily behind Stone. The only issue I see is that the win could lack credibility for Stone although that can be course corrected quickly.

Brian Myers winning Lethal Lockdown match advantage for the System at Lockdown

I am generally a fan of the heel team having the advantage for the Lethal Lockdown match and any other WarGames-like match. It makes the fan get even more behind the face team due to the underdog, comeback story of the disadvantage.

Harley Hudson’s Facetime chat with Traci Brooks

I felt bad about forgetting to include Hudson’s inspirational “this is my life” video package from last week in my “hits” so I wanted to make sure that I included her good work and this good storyline on the “hits” side for this week. The Facetime interaction Hudson had with Traci Brooks was good. While it felt a bit too performative, at times, the content about believing in oneself from a former Knockouts legend will resonate with the weekly audience, in my opinion, and it continues to frame Hudson in a likeable way. The fans are invested in Hudson and will be rooting for her to defeat Alisha Edwards and keep her job in TNA, as she deserves. It was a good idea to give Harley the “feel good” win over Edwards tonight.

Paint by number acceptable multi-men match melee

The Hardys & Moose & Elijah vs. The Nemeths & Frankie Kazarian & AJ Francis was an old formula but I suppose that is for a reason. It works for a stipulation PPV like Lockdown (even though I’m not a fan of calendar event PPVs).

ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW…

Check out the latest episode of “Destination Impact” with Zac Clarke and Jerud Buhagiar, part of the PWTorch Dailycast line-up: CLICK HERE to stream (or search “pwtorch” on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or any other iOS or Android app to subscribe free)

MISSES

Mustafa Ali’s disconnected in-ring promo:

I’m not a big fan of Mustafa Ali playing this political character. It feels performative rather than natural to his heel character. The “In Ali we trust” slogan just adds to the unnatural feel. I do have to admit that Ali does seem to be getting legitimate heat from the crowd.

The Righteous courting BDE to join them and leave Rich Swann?

This seems like a weird fit. I like the idea of the Righteous adding new members but I feel as though that they should come from outside of the company, at this point. I cannot think of a good fit inside the company, currently, and I think that it would be a bad idea to force it for the sake of the idea. Also, with the big win from Rich Swann tonight over Mr. Elegance and the relative failure of the Righteous against the Hardys, in comparison, over the last few months, why would BDE be incentivized to leave Swann and join the Righteous?

What is Elayna Black even trying to be?

This week it almost seemed as though Black was trying to be a heel opposite of Xia Brookside when she had been acting as more than the face for weeks now. She came across as arrogant and bullish when she kept bringing up “humiliating” Brookside last week with the stupid “bad makeup” angle. What Brookside said during tonight’s promo wasn’t even exactly wrong or delusional when she talked about her recent dominance in the Knockouts division. Does TNA think that Black is the face simply because she will be in her hometown of Chicago for Lockdown? That wreaks of lazy booking that will have future repercussions.

The weekly “injury report” continues to hurt the announce team’s credibility

Contained the phrase “shut up, dork” from Matt Rehwoldt and his weekly obsession with pigeon-holing Nic Nemeth in the tired segment. Yes, this unnecessary weekly nonsense is exactly what will give your announce team credibility when it truly matters and you want the viewers to believe it.

Daria Rae’s “reason” for coming after Harley Hudson’s job on commentary

Daria Rae did, surprisingly, bring up a good plausibly deniable point about why she has been after Hudson’s job, because of her poor win/loss record over the last year. That being said, I’m certain I could find others with similar or worse win/loss percentages to Hudson whom Rae hasn’t gone after, which I suppose makes her the heel, but also sacrifices making sense. Tom Hannifin made a good point and asked when the last time Alisha Edwards won a match was? Rae’s answer was that Alisha Edwards “helped bring wins to her husband” and “was the heartbeat of the locker room”. Doesn’t that just admit that Alisha helps her husband cheat? Why would any authority figure support that and, even if they did because they’re a “heel”, why would they admit their hypocrisy and inconsistency on live TV in front of their bosses presumably?

Another “mystery attacker” angle

So Cedric Alexander is attacked and beaten down backstage on this week’s episode. We had Moose beat down last week, we have a missing Rosemary and now this angle. It’s just way too much similarity in angles going around for what is already a tired trope anyway. Also, it was just a weird way to end your go-home episode for a PPV.