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LOOKING AT AN 'OUTSIDE OF THE WRESTLING, THIS WAS ONE TURKEY OF AN EPISODE' EDITION OF TNA IMPACT

Last night's Impact was symptomatic of the current TNA product overall.  There was some good wrestling, particularly Samoa Joe vs. Chris Sabin vs. AJ Styles, but a lot of the presentation of the episode was done in such a campy way that it undermined the work of those in the ring.  In the same episode TNA is plugging what they are promising to be their most violent, bloody show of the year, we're watching really bad "comedy" vignettes featuring the Angle family Thanksgiving dinner.  The company was all over the place.   

As far as the vignettes featuring the Angle family dinner, let me just get this out of the way.  I hated them. I don't mean I shook my head at them and rolled my eyes, either.  I HATED THEM.  I thought these vignettes only served to make a joke out of the TNA champion and proceeded to make everyone involved look completely ludicrous and lame.  How TNA can expect Kurt Angle to draw as a top tier heel when they book him in that role? I will never, ever understand the mindset here.  It's almost as if they don't want him to work in that role, which would be an absolutely insane move for a company trying to claw and scratch their way out of the 1.1 rating range.  

Beyond the fact that the Angles are dressed as pilgrims, why are Chris Harris and James Storm sitting nearby palling around after their violent, bloody feud from a few months back?  Why did Awesome Kong have to be the stereotypical heavyset woman ripping apart a turkey carcass and trying to eat fake fruit, going from a female Big Van Vader to Bertha Faye 2007 in the process?   It was almost as if the company decided that since they were airing on Thanksgiving, they were going to do comedy, which made no sense on any level, especially after they opened the show promising smash mouth, hard-hitting wrestling!

When the only highlight of these segments was Angle giving thanks for Pacman Jones not being part of the company anymore, it speaks volumes for what I thought was just some awful television  TNA cannot outdo WWE when it comes to "sports-entertainment" and they really need to realize that, because it doesn't just come across as bad wrestling TV, but bad television, period.  To me, this was the wrestling equivalent of the Star Wars Holiday Special.  Let's never speak of it EVER again.  

The Turkey Bowl

While the idea of the Turkey Bowl was silly, it made sense for the company to play off the holiday and I thought the video opening the show playing up the show was silly in a cute way while building up the concept.  The Three-Ways were so random, they felt like something that were legitimately yanked out of a hat, but in the case of two of the bouts, they were fun to watch.  The final was also really entertaining.

Abyss vs. Brother Devon vs. Chris Sabin  - I thought this was a fast paced, fun match.  There were a ton of run-ins, but since they were building towards the PPV, at least they all made sense in terms of building towards Turning Point.  Everyone involved worked hard here.

Johnny Devine vs. Samoa Joe vs. Kip James - Kip James in the same match with Samoa Joe?  Really?  When you think about it, Devine "turning traitor" on the X-Division was a smart move since they need more X heels.  I thought it was funny Joe was listed as from the Heavyweight division.  What is wrong with the X-Division that they can't even mention Joe's past in it?  The match was OK, but wasn't memorable at all.  Even worse, everyone knew who was going to get pinned before the bell even rang, with Devine losing clean and somewhat diluting his heel turn after just a week.  VKM does nothing for me.  Kip should have been the one taking the loss here.  If Joe is main eventing while teaming with Hall and Nash at the PPV, he can certainly pin the former Billy Gunn, especially when Devine shouldn't be losing until one of the X guys he screwed over get their revenge.

Christian Cage vs. AJ Styles vs. Jay Lethal - With Cage arriving late, we were treated to a few minutes of Lethal vs. Styles, which was good.  When Cage finally entered, we went to commercial.  When we came back, Styles was nowhere to be found.  That was weird.  This was another fun match overall.  I liked the way Styles stole the match from Cage but at the same time, was still trying to kiss up to him and get back in his good graces.

Turkey Bowl Final - I liked that they gave this match time because with Sabin, Joe and AJ involved, you can put together a great in-ring match.  By allowing them the time and spreading the match out over several commercial breaks, it was entertaining and came across as important.  It made sense for Joe to win since he's headlining the PPV, AJ gets to play his comedic side while dressing like the Gobbledy Gooker and Sabin gets to have a good showing with two top players.  

Other Segments

Velvet Sky vs. ODB vs. Angelina Love -  I got a big kick out of seeing the crowd getting behind ODB as she's one of my favorite females in the business right now and does a great job in the ring and connecting with the audience.  Love and Sky each had their moments, but it seemed to be designed to set up ODB as the next challenger for Gail Kim once the Awesome Kong program runs it course.  ODB's body language was actually funnier in three minutes than 99% of the Angle vignettes.

The Booker T video feature pushing Booker's in-ring debut was put together well.  TNA pushed that we'd learn next week why he chose to join TNA and I hope they deliver on that.

The Christopher Daniels promo reminded me of some of his work heading the Prophecy in ROH during that company's fledgling days.  I always enjoyed that era of Daniels' work, so I'd love to see them take him in that direction here.

Rhetorical Questions

Was The Angle family dinner TNA's answer the to the trial of Eric Bischoff on Raw?

If Karen and Kurt were dressed like pilgrims, why wasn't their daughter?

Since she wasn't, does that mean she's the smartest one in the entire family?

Did you notice in some segments, Kurt Angle acted like he was at home when The Outsiders were told the dinner was at a nearby studio?

If so, why did it take the Outsiders so long to find their way there?

When Kurt Angle said he was thankful Pacman Jones was no longer in TNA, does this mean TNA realizes what a bad idea it was?

If you were Chris Harris, would you sit next to Jackie Moore and James Storm to eat dinner?

Did you notice Harris said that the only way he'd get on TV was by being in a segment with Angle?

Isn't it sad that he's right?

If Traci Brooks is so concerned about her sick mother, why isn't she with mom for Thanksgiving?

Why wasn't Shark Boy sent to the children's table?

Why in the world couldn't Kip James lose in that three-way?

Didn't anyone realize that it would make no sense for Johnny Devine to turn heel and then lose the next week?

Why would you go to Thanksgiving dinner in your ring outfits?

Who squealed more like a woman when Black Reign's rat ended up on the dinner table - Karen Angle or Jeremy Borash?

Wasn't Velvet Sky's entrance into the ring just hot?

When Don West said, "I never wanted to be a ring rope so bad in all my life", didn't you think, "Amen, Brother Don?"

Did you notice how awesome ODB is?

How awful was the Awesome Kong stuff during the Angle family dinner?

If the rest of the dinner congregation left when Team 3D arrived, why were they all sitting at the table when the Outsiders walked in?

Didn't TNA build up Booker T's in-ring debut next week like it was a huge deal?

Don't you wish they'd do that regularly for all of their storylines?

Didn't you just know the Angle dinner was all going to turn into a food fight?

If Jay Lethal was really channeling Randy Savage, shouldn't he have used SoCal Val as a shield during the food fight?

How ridiculous did Angle and AJ look at the end of Impact?

Did you catch Samoa Joe say that the "Kurt Angle comey hour" was bombing?

Does that make him a Thanksgiving prophet?

Why the hell was Eric Young out there at the end, anyway?

Have I told you ODB is awesome?

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

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