PWInsider - WWE News, Wrestling News, WWE

TNA TAKES A HUGE STEP FORWARD WITH NEW DIRECTION

After a truly lackluster live TNA Impact from Las Vegas, last week's Impact episode was a huge step in the right direction as it featured a number of elements that have been preventing TNA from clicking in the past several months. 

While some fans will bemoan the Main Event Mafia vs. Young Lions feud as derivative of the old WCW New Blood vs. Millionaires Club feud (and at it's core, it is, but what wrestling angle doesn't take a nod from something that has come before it?), but this week's episode of Impact was more focused and more serious than the company has presented itself in many, many moons.

Under the shadows of a re-designed Impact Zone, which made the company look 10,000 times more up to date and professional, TNA's talent were suddenly speaking and acting like they were actually in the midst of a war, as it was called, or at least a serious situation.  For the first time in many moons, it didn't feel like Impact was a caricature of a professional wrestling series or a secondary WWE brand, but a company that was trying to re-focus itself and was taking the first correct steps in doing so.

Whether it was Kurt Angle shoving Jeremy Borash out of the screen because he was so riled up he wanted to address Jeff Jarrett, AJ Styles cutting one of the best promos of his career at the open of the show while setting the stage, Samoa Joe and Alex Shelley going back and forth or even the company mascot Eric Young promising to stand with the other Young Lions before blowing off his usual silliness with Jeremy Borash with a serious, "Not tonight, JB", I felt like I was watching a wrestling show where wrestlers actually are mad at each other.

Many of the promos were so good that the one person who felt completely out of place was Mick Foley.  Although he's considered to be one of the all-time great wrestling interviews, Foley's goofy lines early in the show in Jeff Jarrett's office fell completely flat.  A segment in the ring with Sting later on was much better, but it really felt like Foley was going to be needing to play catch up because while everyone else was angry and on edge, he was still likable Mick Foley with a sock puppet.

That's not to say the episode was perfect.  There still needs to be more wrestling content on a two hour wrestling series in my opinion.  Some of the characters, such as Abyss, feel like they need to go back to their roots.  The Main Event Mafia theme music is awful.  Sting, while looking damn perfect in the part of a heel World champion, doesn't seem to have his heart into the angle yet.  The X-Division is still in a woeful, sad mess compared to its glory days.

But, it's still a big step in the right direction.  There were lots of seeds planted for future character evolution - is Eric Young going to finally grow up?  What are the Motor City Machineguns' motives?  Did anyone else notice that Scott Steiner didn't nail Petey Williams during the beatdown?

The show closing segment featuring the return of Scott Steiner echoed back to the days of the New World Order beatdowns of WCW, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.  You've got to get heat on your babyfaces so they can mount a comeback.  How the Young Lions are booked in the weeks to come will tell the tale of whether this is simply TNA creating a two-tier system of stars and others or whether they are trying to legitimately mesh the two sides into a cohesive roster.

TNA has always had a lot of great potential but at times, it's felt like it's not clicking and that the company was forcing its characters into situations that didn't feel organic.  This past week, however, TNA was trying to make an Impact.  I hope they keep it up and beyond that, continue to improve.

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!

• Tweet