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The first hour of the show featured two matches of note, the set up for an angle that would pay-off by the end of the show and a comedy bit that would also pay off later, and that was it. Compared to the haphazard pacing of Impact in recent years, this was a pleasure to watch. The second hour featured some storylines being furthered and then another good match to close the show, followed by a solid celebrity angle. If you haven't been watching Impact in recent months, this would be a great show to jump back in on to give them another chance.
Onto my thoughts for the show:
The opening segment with Bobby Roode and Sting was strong. Roode delivered his usual good promo, bragging that once again he had walked out of the last PPV with his belt and even better, Sting had to raise his hand. Sting came out and delivered another strong promo (I don't know what's gotten into him the last few months, but it's so great to watch), informing Roode that he was going to make it right, right now and Roode was going to defend against Jeff Hardy, immediately.
Again, the audio level of the crowd for the taped shows is so much better than the live broadcasts. I really hope TNA can address that one day.
The idea of kicking off the show with a main event caliber match is nothing new for TNA, but it felt much fresher last night since they gave the match a good amount of TV time to develop and tell their story in the ring. Jeff Hardy was on fire just beating the hell out of the champion and maintaining control to the point that you really had the idea that Roode was in dire straights and could be in danger of losing the belt. Angle interfering to cause Hardy's loss might have had some fans throwing up their hands, but since it was positioned so early in the show, as opposed to a run-in closing the show, I didn't feel like it left the same "I've wasted my time investing in this" bitter taste. It set up Angle vs. Hardy for down the line and set the stage for Sting to announce the top contenders' bout as well as the show-closing angle with Sting and Roode. Plus, they opened the show with an entertaining match that was hot for its entire 17 minute bell to bell duration.
They showed The New York Giants' Brandon Jacobs a number of times, teasing his appearance later very well. They also showed Mike Straka from Inside MMA a number of times. You'd think SpikeTV would have given Straka a t-shirt to promote the show since he's going to be on well, their network!
The Eric Young-ODB comedy stuff was the usual goofiness that we get from Young, but the difference this week is that it was the only silliness on the show. It's one thing to do this when you are treating all the other characters like goofy caricatures, but on a show that was treated with a serious tone the entire duration, using the oddball Young-ODB romance to lighten things up with short vignettes was fine with me - it actually made the vignettes more entertaining. The bit later on with Young serenading ODB, who finally drags him off to have sex telling him, "don't take off the guitar" was great.
The Jesse Sorensen video package perfectly explained the seriousness of his injury at the PPV over the weekend, almost to the point that I suspect some fans will now think it was a work. They didn't exploit the injury or milk it for replay buys (since they showed the spot where it took place) but established that something happened to Sorensen, that they wished him well and set the stage for a hopefully eventual comeback storyline for Sorensen.
The X-Division tag was a short but solid match starting the story of Austin Aries and Zema Ion, his top contender for the X-Division title, trying to out-heel each other. The work in the tag bout was good and the story of Ion stealing the spotlight and the victory from his partner was easy to follow and a perfect first step in the new chapter.
WWhile there were some spots in the Knockouts Battle Royal that didn't look good, I was left with hope for the division for the first time in forever. One, they suddenly remembered Sarita is a hell of a wrestler again, as opposed to eye candy. Two, none of the women called each others skanks or whores, which was always an immediate turn-off and embarassment to watch. Third, Madison Rayne has always been a good talker and she did a nice job setting the stage for turning on Gail Kim and winning the match so she can challenge for her "best friend's" title. I wouldn't have given Kim such a large speaking role, since that's never been her forte but everything else here was fine.
The promos from Bully Ray and James Storm setting up the number one contender's match were both strong. Storm brings this believable intensity to his words that you don't get from overly scripted promos with forced verbiage we see all over wrestling these days.
The Eric Bischoff promo was the usual good promo you'd expect from him. Boy, was Chelsea a sight for sore eyes! If the idea is to put her with Gunner, I like it, as it adds a little more pizzaz to him. Bischoff basically mocked his son Garett, which pretty much means he'll be back in the weeks to come. It's hard not to feel bad for him as he's going to continue to be booked into a situation that he's not ready for.
Their main event match was also an entertaining back and forth match. Again, they paced the show differently so they had time to actually tell a story in the ring, as opposed to ring announcements, go to a break, come back and go to the finish, which made Impact must-skip TV for a lot of fans. Here, they told a good story with Ray working over Storm's foot to prevent him from being able to use the superkick. Then, Storm used the other leg for the kick and was awesome in how he sold. Solid storytelling here as well.
Then we had the celebrity angle. Had this had come any other week than the very day WWE announced Wrestlemania at Metlife Stadium, I'd suspect this would have gotten a lot more attention overnight. The good news is that Brandon Jacobs was believable in his role of the celeb getting pissed at being disrespected by Ray, going as far as to yell at him that he's not really from New York. Jacobs shove was hard and Ray hit the corner of the ring as opposed to just taking a flat bump from it, making the moment look more believable. Ray's facial expressions in the aftermath were out of this world awesome. The backstage interview with Jacobs and Storm was so good it gave Storm back all the momentum he seemed to have lost in recent weeks and teased perfectly that Jacobs would be back next week./p>
ThThe final segment with Bobby Roode laying out Sting? I loved it. I can't remember the last time that a heel just blatantly acted like such a piece of trash, lowblowing Sting and beating him bloody. I really liked the bit where Roode took Stings' trademark shades and wore them, sneering and happy with himself. There was no 45 minute soliloqy, no happy endings, just the heel champion tired of being pushed around lashing out at the veteran, who you know is going to come for revenge. It was simple pro wrestling 101 that's worked from the dawn of time, but felt so much fresher here since well, forever.
As I wrote earlier, this was the perfect jumping back on point if you haven't been following TNA. I know some people will see the names Bischoff and Hogan involved and believe that means they shouldn't give the company a chance, but for everyone whining that they want to see new stars getting pushed and on TV in their pro wrestling, that was what we had here tonight - and in logical angles with matches that told good stories through their physicality. Let's hope that this is the start of a new trend - and that the ratings reflect it - because TNA and wrestling in general both severely need it.
Well worth your two hour investment.
Mike Johnson can be reached at Mike@PWInsider.com. He suggests the film "Attack the Block" for your viewing pleasure.
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