PWInsider - WWE News, Wrestling News, WWE

LOOKING AT A 'YET ANOTHER TNA TITLE CONTROVERSY' EDITION OF TNA IMPACT

Last night's episode of TNA Impact was more of the same.  That's pretty much all you can really say about it, except that unlike previous editions of the two hour version of the show, we were missing that one really strong match in the main event position.  That strong match was replaced with a series of storylines in each hour in an attempt to build viewer interest.  The first hour was the Angles-Nash soap opera and the second was devoted to the TNA title situation.  Whether that strategy helps with the ratings, we'll know in a few hours.

A good portion of the first hour was devoted to a series of vignettes where Kurt Angle and his wife Karen tried to bring Kevin Nash back into the fold.  As much as I want to absolutely hate this storyline because logically it makes no sense, everyone was pretty damn funny in their role.  Nash asking Angle if he made him a "mix tape" when Angle promised him a gift cracked me up.  Karen Angle was great as the wife questioning her husband all night and as dopey as the whole seduction twist was, everyone played it up to the hilt in a campy style that kept it from being boring.  I don't know if this is going to make the company money and it's not how I see Kurt Angle being best used but it made me smirk, especially Karen Angle calling Jeremy Borash a perv.  When she's on, she's really entertaining and she and Borash play off well. Still, despite the fact that I didn't want to like these segments, I laughed at a few of them because everyone played their roles to the hilt.  . 

LAX & The Steiners vs. VKM & AJ Styles & Tomko - Nothing really memorable here except the masked female LAX follower giving Homicide a slapjack to help win the match.  They didn't put this over on the commentary, but Homicide acted confused as if he didn't know who it was (99% sure it's Shelly "Ariel" Martinez, who had been considered for some time for that role).  Next week will be Tomko and Styles defending against LAX, which should be worlds better without the other two teams as this didn't mesh well at all with so many personalities crammed into such a short match.

Sting does a backstage promo talking about how he wants Kurt Angle to think about what he's going to do to Kurt Angle for attacking his son.  How come Sting's angrier this week than he was last week or even at the PPV?

James Storm defeated Eric Young.  Another match that was too short to be anything of any real note.  I hated that Eric Young lost his chance to earn a World title shot but was happy to be drinking a beer 30 seconds later.  Why is Jackie Moore wanting to give Young a beer anyway?

Team 3D gave a good, intense promo explaining that they were going to destroy the X-Division because the Motor City Machineguns cost them their bout against the Steiners and because the X-Division were a bunch of boys who didn't deserve to be wrestlers.  I'm all for 3D in the bully role but does anyone realize that the way this is presented, they are painting the X-Division as being the 2007 versions of Brooklyn Brawler, Terry Gibbs and Red Rooster?  Just because WWE flushes the credibility of their Cruisers down the toilet doesn't mean TNA should.  Where would the company be if they treated AJ Styles, Low Ki and Jerry Lynn as being meaningless during the first year of the company?  Where would they be if Samoa Joe was being slapped around and being told his matches sucked and he wasn't a real wrestler during the 18 month time period he was pushed as a monster?  This is a great idea on paper but being presented in a way that makes the X-Division stars look like losers when the reality is they are the glue that hold the company together.  The Four Way that ended almost immediately because 3D laid everyone out was more of the same.  Does anyone remember when Petey Williams was having great matches on a regular basis? Sigh.

Robert Roode's promo backstage was awesome.  Seriously.  He took the absolutely horrible promo where Junior Fatu didn't even know his name last week and turned them into a tremendously well done seething heel promo.  More and more I see something really special in Roode and I can really see him being a player here down the line.  I hated the way he was shoved into a program with Samoa Joe because the way it was started doesn't help either party in my opinion, but if Roode keeps cutting promos this good, he can't be denied. 

Sting vs. Kurt Angle was an OK match but nothing the level of their PPV bout.  TNA does yet another controversial title hold-up angle.  The title hasn't been in existence long enough to be playing these games.  I can only imagine what wrestling purist Jim Cornette thinks when he's handed these scenarios.  Mike Tenay did a decent job playing the role of the outraged announcer, standing up for the fans by proxy because anyone who cares about the company was throwing their hands up at this one.  Cornette threatening Tenay was something I didn't see coming.

Awesome Kong squashing Angel Williams was exactly what it should have been.  Perfectly fine for this role.

Jim Mitchell and Black Reign menaced Abyss...again?  What happened to the Monster?  Where is his best pal Sting to give him a hand since he's the one who helped Abyss gain his independence?  I know TNA's plans were screwed up when Judas Mesias went down (he finally returned to the ring this week, by the way), but Abyss is really suffering as a persona right now.  I'm hoping there's a plan here I don't see.

Fatu defeated Robert Roode after Samoa Joe drilled Roode with a chair,  Christian Cage joined Don West on commentary and did an OK job but nothing that really stood out.  Joe going after Cage was nice to see since TNA usually moves on so quick on their storylines, the last program is forgotten (See Steiners vs. 3D).  Fatu is really over with the crowd since they see him as a former WWE name.  I thought the match was good but there was probably too much going on, a theme for this show.  The girl at ringside cheering on Roode was Rain from SHIMMER, so it looks like she'll be programmed with Brooks.

Jim Cornette came out and announced that despite all the laws of physics and science, Kurt Angle was still the new TNA champion.  He then announced it would be Nash and Angle vs. Sting and a partner of Sting's choice at the next PPV, for the title, which makes as much sense as anything on this show.

There were some OK segments, but nothing memorable inside the ring.  Robert Roode's promo was the best thing on the show.  Hopefully next week will be a different story.  This week, however, was one that left you feeling dizzy.  If you missed it, there's no need to catch the replay, even with the World title situation.

Mike Johnson can be reached at Mike@PWInsider.com.

If you enjoy PWInsider.com you can check out the AD-FREE PWInsider Elite section, which features exclusive audio updates, news, our critically acclaimed podcasts, interviews and more by clicking here!