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LOOKING AT A 'IF THEY WOULD DO SHOWS LIKE THIS EVERY WEEK, NO ONE WOULD EVER COMPLAIN' EDITION OF TNA IMPACT

Let's face it.  At times, we all like to complain about what TNA should have done creatively and/or could have done to make things better.  It's almost part of being someone who follows TNA closely - complaining about what's bad about the company, almost to the point that you often overlook and understate the positives of TNA and their TV series, Impact.

This week's episode saw TNA present two great matches that show the quality of weekly wrestling they can present if they opt to script it.  The catch 22 is the same as always - personalities and personal issues are what drive ratings and sell tickets, not excellent matches.  Still, when being an alternative to World Wrestling Entertainment's in-ring style and presentation are also very important when it comes to converting viewers into followers, TNA did a very good job of showcasing some great wrestling this week.

Samoa Joe vs. Kaz, which opened the broadcast, was one hell of a match, especially when you consider it was taped the day after a PPV where both really worked hard and Kaz is dealing with an elbow problem.  Kaz has been the victim of late of the type of start/stop/start pushes that cause fan apathy for a performer, but he's been able to string some really good matches together and is starting to really find himself.  I don't think it's a surprise to anyone reading this that I think Samoa Joe is the company's franchise player - indeed, the closest thing to their homegrown star - and I think he's one hell of a performer.  At times, I want to tear my hair out because of the way he's portrayed (and I admit part of that is likely because I felt TNA portrayed him perfectly when he was the X-Division bully), but I thought the match last night was exactly how Joe should be portrayed - the no-nonsense, asskicking, fighting World champion.

The Booker T-Samoa Joe vignettes building the Victory Road PPV bout were fine as well, except for one aspect - why in the world are either of them being scripted to talk about how terrible the locker room is?  That just makes the company sound like some backwoods indy company.  Every sentence and segment should be designed to put over the company, not tear it down.  I don't think there was one viewer who giggled or laughed at the World champ and his top contender saying the locker rooms smell like urine.  In a company that talks all about "power" and "politics" and "stroke", we are to believe that the most important performer in the company doesn't have enough of any to get a clean locker room?

The World X Cup preview featuring The Motor City Machineguns against Dragon Gate's Masato Yoshino and Naruki Doi was absolutely perfect in its presentation as well.  The Machineguns are the highspot masters for the company when it comes to fast, hot, synchronized action.  Doi and Yoshino are awesome at that fast paced, lucha libre on acid and speed style and meshed perfectly with the Guns.  If you've never been exposed to these talents, you really want to see this match and should tape the replay tonight.  

The rest of the show featured absolutely nothing bad from an in-ring perspective.  Were all the matches blow away bouts?  No, but there was nothing abysmal on the show in my opinion.

AJ Styles vs. Kurt Angle in the Lumberjack match was solid, especially considering that Angle likely shouldn't be wrestling two matches in two nights given his injuries, yet he did.  He's out of his mind and completely inhuman, and I hope the ends to the means aren't anything that is going to continue to threaten his long-term health, but the match was solid and set off several storyline twists - Team 3D laying out Rhino, Awesome Kong collecting the bounty on Karen Angle and continuing to build AJ as the babyface who fights his rear off and gets laid out for it. 

LAX vs. Robert Roode & James Storm was OK but the storyline they kicked off seemed really forced to me.  Roode and Storm keep bubbling in the mid-card and end up back there after teases of being top names.  Roode was feuding with Booker T while Storm laid out Sting (hey, anyone else remember he works here?) a few months back, but here they are back in a tag team situation after evolving past being tag performers.  I expect the matches will continue to be good - I'm really looking forward to Homicide and Roode tearing it up - but it just felt like TNA needed something for these talents, so they threw them all together.  I also didn't like the tease of the Tag title change and re-start.  First, it takes LAX and makes them look like they they aren't dominant champions, especially after they sneaked a win over Team 3D at the PPV.  These guys are the center-piece of the tag division and one of the most over acts in the company - treat them as such.  They don't need Hector Guerrero to fight their fights for them either.  They are two tough street thugs.  Let them show it.

Beyond that, how many times have we seen talents get screwed out of wins, yet nothing is ever overturned and/or restarted?  TNA needs to decide how credible they want their officials to be and stick to their guns, not float back and forth with their rulebook.  It only inspires confusion among viewers.

Curry Man vs. Alez Kozlov was fine as an introduction to Kozlov.  In a way, I like that Curry has had an extended run on TNA because if and when TNA brings back Christopher Daniels, he'll seem really fresh as a character.  

Sonjay Dutt defeated Consequences Creed was fine for a backdrop for Jay Lethal hitting the ring.  I was happy to see the, not mincing words, stupider aspects of the wedding angle at Slammiversary, ignored when it was recapped.  Lethal vs. Dutt should be able to get some legs behind it as both are talented and it's a personal issue.  I hope TNA doesn't go with the obvious and repetitive eventual turn of So Cal Val, since it's been seen 100,000 times before.   It does seem odd that Creed is losing so often after all the vignettes done to introduce him, however.

Gail Kim vs. Velvet Sky wasn't one of the Knockout division's signature fantastic matches, but allowed to Kim to get some revenge on the Beautiful People for her "knee injury."

Was this a perfect episode? No, but what is ever perfect?  Still, this was one of the better Impact presentations in recent months and really worth taping when it replays tonight, just based on Joe vs. Kaz and the World X Cup tag.

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

 

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