TNA IMPACT HITS & MISSES (1/22): Santana’s in-ring promo, Trey Miguel’s return, Feast or Fired, Cedric Alexander misdirection, Carlos Silva, more

HITS

Santana’s Entrance:

I’m a little torn on this one because, overall, I enjoy Santana’s entrance and his bond with the crowd but I also can’t help feeling this is somewhat a knockoff version of Jey Uso’s entrance in WWE. I’m going to lean Hit here, but I’d also like to see a bit more creativity in the entrance to provide an obvious differentiation.

Santana’s In-Ring Promo:

Santana hit the staples of a post-championship win babyface promo. He spoke about what the title meant to him, he talked about what it took to get there, he laid out a path for him as champion and a few names who could be worthy future challengers – and he did it with the right amount of bravado. The only thing I would change is that he needs to vary his cadence a bit.

Side note: Miss on the crowd with the “You deserve it!” chants. So tired and boring.

Trey Miguel’s Return:

Trey Miguel might have felt like just another face in AEW had he been allowed to stay signed with them along with his Rascalz brethren. Much like visa issues and bad weather, it was likely a matter of circumstance that he had little choice but to re-sign with TNA – but still very much a win for the company and a solid plan B for Miguel. I think relative to the TNA roster – if pushed properly – Miguel can be pushed convincingly in the main event scene of the company which had lost quite a bit of talent just before their AMC debut.

The Feast or Fired Match Itself:

While the concept of Feast and Fired match made the “Misses” portion of my list later on in this article, the actual match itself was fast-paced and fun. A nice slice of what can be so exciting, historically, from the TNA “X Division” was showcased tonight for potential new eyes.

Santana-Nic Nemeth Parking Lot Promo:

While I dislike the “just bring family into the feud” trope that Nic Nemeth hit in this segment and Nemeth’s overall delivery (which hasn’t grown or changed at all since his time in WWE) – this feud definitely needed some fuel to feel consequential. I think that there were probably more efficient ways to accomplish this, but overall I give them credit for recognizing more juice was needed and attempting to act on it.

Quick Hits

•Leading off with a video package reviewing the Genesis PPV/PLE: I always advocate for showing fans what they missed or reinforcing what happened to lead off the weekly TV after a big company event.

•Ali’s backstage promo: Ali is perfectly hate-able and in all of the right ways. The heat is real and palpable. It was short and effective

•Elayna Black’s Promo: While the promo was very short, it was decent. I’m not sure that I would feel very comfortable giving her much more time than TNA Creative did tonight, however. Short and sweet might be the way to roll with her as she continues to learn. She is still very young even though she had been in NXT for a few years prior.

ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW…

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MISSES

Please Keep Carlos Silva off of my Television:

He carries absolutely no clout and lacks any charisma. If you’re going to have a kayfabe “official,” let it be Daria or Santino who are actually good and talented at their kayfabe jobs.

Missing Talents:

Visa issues last week and a snow storm this week. Damn, this has been a disaster for TNA from a talent perspective to kick-off their TNA tenure. It’s not necessarily their fault, but it is a miss but circumstances, unfortunately.

Moose vs. Cedric Alexander:

I never like to comment on someone cosmetically, but Cedric Alexander really stood out here in a negative way. He legitimately looked like he had the beginnings of beer gut. It’s not the impression you want to make in your first match in-front of the potentially new AMC audience. I also think there was correlation between this somewhat slow, plodding match with Moose. It’s not the way you want to utilize one of your biggest stars in Moose within your first two episodes viewable by a wider base.

The Elegance Brand:

I don’t get the Elegance Brand. Are they supposed to be like a bad version of a modeling agency? Somewhat like the MxM Collection in AEW? If so, it screams bad comedy and I’m not sure that I would give them so much TV time and I’m certain that I wouldn’t have them holding the Knockouts Tag Team championship. It seems as though Ash by Elegance (the former Dana Brooke in WWE) was the obvious leader and now she hasn’t really contributed for months due to an injury – physically, at least; she did make an appearance backstage tonight.

The Feast or Fired Concept:

The minutiae of the concept is way too convoluted. Something that complex in explanation is probably not something that you want to introduce on the second episode on your new network . It also just takes pieces of a bunch of other bad gimmick matches and mashes them together. In my opinion, the risk is far greater than the reward in this match. Why would so many people be interested in competing in it?

Nemeth’s berating the backstage group playing video games:

As a very occasional TNA observer prior to last week, I wasn’t really familiar with the group that Nemeth was berating backstage for playing video games and not supporting him against Santana and how would I (or any other new viewer) be? Also – worse than Santana’s entrance feeling like a light Jey Uso’s – the video game backstage nonsense is a blatant ripoff of the Judgement Day’s antics in WWE for a few years now. Much too cartoony of a segment following the very serious main event building segment between Santana and Nemeth.

Arianna Grace’s completely transparent “apology” to Santino:

The overacting here was really bad. This was one of way too many “pull-the-rug-out-from-underneath-you” moments that TNA insists on squeezing into their shows. The acting didn’t make Grace look good and the stupidity of Santino didn’t exactly make him sympathetic.

Elijah involved in the main event:

Elijah screams “mid-card WWE retread” in the worst way to me. I don’t think it’s a very good look to have him involved in your main event scene/match if you’re TNA. Also, I know it was a win through chicanery, but I think I’d be working hard to put guys like Ali over instead of a Hardy’s act that almost certainly has to be on its last legs (right?)

The System “Swerve for a the sake of a Swerve” Show Closing Angle:

First of all – I know it’s TNA – the Bear Brunson reveal was the definition of Meh – so people were probably upset to begin with – but then we get the beatdown of JDC and Moose. Cedric Alexander proceeds to rush to the ring with a steel chair – presumably to rescue a respected rival in Moose. Alexander then “saves” Moose only to strike him in the back with the chair immediately after. What was the point of that? Moose and JDC were already being beaten down. Alexander should’ve simply rushed the ring and helped with the beat down but, instead, he acted as if he was on Moose’s side for the sake of, what? Fooling the audience? It, along with several other segments from tonight’s Impact, took me totally out of it. Stop with these tired, old acts and try something differentiating and fresh with a logical foundation.