Bryan Staebell
Impact Recap for 5/19
This week’s Impact centered around 2 things. One worked (with a caveat). One…didn’t (with a possible surprising caveat of its own).
Let’s start with the good.
There was a concentrated effort to push Magnus as a star. The show opened with him addressing his loss in the BFG series finals and then overcoming the attack of EGO (Roode, Kaz and Daniels) for a while before Sting and Joe evened up the odds. This led to a very good 6 man tag match later in the show. Really good match where everyone looked great. Sting took the beating for most of the match and then when he had the Scorpion applied for the win, Bobby Roode came in to hit him with his baseball bat. Magnus ran in, shielded Sting, took the bat shot and was pinned. Good job making Magnus look like a top babyface. Now…the problem. After the match Tenay pushed on commentary that Magnus had lost again. Never mind that he sacrificed himself and was hit with a baseball bat…the story was about him losing after dropping the series finals and blowing the points lead in the series before that. This is a dangerous game. Ask James Storm if you can find him in the lower midcard. My expectation is that this is just a short term storyline (and one that doesn’t even make that much sense…he BEAT Roode to make the finals and he only lost the points lead because AJ Styles won a last minute Gauntlet…hardly a long slump…) set up for Bound For Glory. I expect he’ll get what’s pushed as a big win there against…someone. They are holding their cards very close to the chest on this BFG card. Odds right now would lean towards a Magnus/Bobby Roode singles match (and given how great Roode is in the ring with him…that may be the right call to ensure a very good match). Another 6 man (maybe this time with Angle) or even a “Magnus wants to prove himself” against either Sting (since he may be leaving) or Angle (since he may be returning) are possible. No matter what…they are showing a commitment to pushing a new guy. Their track record in doing so is what causes concern.
Now the bad.
Dixie Carter turned heel after AJ Styles cut one of those worked shoot promos bitching about how guys like Alex Shelley, Jay Lethal and Petey Williams don’t have jobs because Dixie is obsessed with paying “stars” over pushing their own talent. Dixie came out and buried him for being not all that great (yes he is main eventing the biggest PPV of the year). This came off like an amazing ice cream swirl of “CM Punk’s contract runs out after his title match” and “Daniel Bryan isn’t what’s best for business”. To make matters worse AJ and Dixie are two of the worst talkers in the business let alone the company. There was almost nothing to like about the angle or the segment itself.
Almost.
There is ONE and I mean only ONE redeeming thing about this whole mess. It’s actually going somewhere real. It’s an angle that someone came up with based on what is actually going to happen in the near future. They have positioned the babyface as the champion of the unheralded in-ring worker who hasn’t gotten a fair shot. They have positioned the heel as the champion of big names and past accomplishments. And THAT is the surprising cleverness in this eye rolling story. They can’t afford to have the big name talent anymore and are going to need everyone to get behind a roster mostly made up of guys who people can’t just flip on and say “Hey there’s so and so”. It’s going to be Magnus, Manik and Chris Sabin on the screen…not Sting, Anderson and Mickie James. Or…at least it could be. There’s a lot left to be decided on many a contract (Styles included). But I see why they did this. Hogan’s contract is up before BFG, Sting at the end of the year, Anderson any minute now, Mickie’s is already, Devon already, Styles at the end of the year… There is no way to know how this roster will shake out come 2014…though there will for sure be a shift towards less established stars. And this angle is setting up that reality.
Elsewhere on the show ODB became the new Knockouts Champion out of complete necessity. The original plan for the belt had to have been Taryn Terrell beating Mickie James at BFG. Taryn got pregnant and Mickie rejected their contract offer. ODB is in a great spot. By my count she is the only babyface on the entire knockouts roster. Gail Kim is a heel. Brooke Tessmacher is now a heel. Velvet Sky appears to have turned heel. Taryn is a babyface but she’s out for who knows how long…if she comes back at all. Mickie was a heel (a great one in fact). Mickie and TNA continue to negotiate…but for now this was her goodbye. Decent match. Finish came out of nowhere.
Jeff Hardy beat Manik in a pretty good match that needed more time to tell its story. Manik wanted to prove himself against a top guy…and then lasted only a few minutes. They still tried to sell it like he gave Hardy a real run…but…come on. Chris Sabin attacked Manik post match. Sabin is with Velvet on screen now and he is a total heel. I guess that makes her one too. She hasn’t full on turned yet…but I get the impression she will. I see people knocking Sabin as a heel because his promos aren’t great or it not making sense…but I completely disagree. His character change makes total sense and I find his promos (where he basically puts himself over as a living legend that no one respects) are appropriately funny. And him being full of himself for winning the TNA title and then, rightly, feeling that no one respects that accomplishment…his heel act makes more sense than most…he’s totally right.
Gunner pinned Hernandez clean in an OK match. Gunner is working hard…Hernandez is a big stiff at this point. This was supposed to be a tag team match but Chavo claimed he was injured. Then when his partner lost he said there is no way the tag champs could beat both of them. So they’re heels now too. Everyone is a heel now. Still zero people looking forward to this tag match.
Robbie E lost matches to both Eric Young and Joseph Park in seconds. No idea why.
They also did more Bully Ray friction with the remaining Aces and 8’s B team. Knux came off well. Forgettable though.
If you can look past the organizational reshuffling taking over all of the booking decisions…this show had some good wrestling on it.
Impact Preview for 9/26
Only 2 matches announced for the show so far.
Manik vs. Chris Sabin for the X title
Eric Young, Joseph Park and ODB vs. Bro Mans and a mystery partner
Whoever the partner is will likely have to be ODB’s next challenger since they, again, have no one. Tessmacher and Sky are doing other things. Gail Kim vs. ODB has been done to death. Lei’D Tapa was called up to house shows lately (because…again…they…have…no…one). I could see it being Tapa.
As for the X title match I’m more curious if this is a program leading to a BFG match than I am who walks out with the title. Here is an easy way to decipher how serious they are about pushing Chris Sabin going forward: If he’s wrestling Manik for the X title at BFG…not so much. If he’s wrestling Jeff Hardy (who returned to the ring after Sabin attacked Manik to chase him away)…then he’s getting a real push. For their sake I hope it’s the latter. Not only would Sabin/Hardy be fresh and good…they need to follow up on Sabin with a higher profile match. And it’s not like Hardy is doing anything else.
Elsewhere the show will have Hulk Hogan reacting to the Dixie/AJ mess. That’s EXACTLY what it needs. They’ll also do more Bully Ray/Aces and 8’s fallout. This week’s show will mark 4 shows until Bound For Glory…any chance we can have the champion and challengers storylines be…I don’t know…about each other? No? Ok.
We will have to have a better idea about the BFG card coming out of next Thursday’s double taping. A lot top guys are still floating directionless. Will Kurt Angle return to the ring that night? Last years Main Eventers Jeff Hardy and Austin Aries are completely directionless. Will Magnus get a big singles match to keep his push going or will he be saddled in another 6 man? Bobby Roode? Samoa Joe? Sting? Bad Influence? Not doing that 6 man opens a lot of possibilities. Will Chris Sabin be stuck in X division limbo because they have no guys? Or does he get to actually be a name going forward? We should know by the next time I write this column.
Random Access
There is talk of TNA taking Impact back off the road following the UK tour that will make up all of February’s Impacts. The fact is ratings haven’t moved despite the show’s looking and sounding better. They can’t go back to the Impact Zone since it’s been rented out already. The bottom line is it will hurt the product but will probably help keep them in business longer. So…what are you going to do?
The next One Night Only PPV is the TNA Champion’s Tournament. It will air in early November.
The list of upcoming TV/PPV tapings is as follows:
9/26 – Little Rock, AR (the live 9/26 show and the taped 10/3 show)
10/10 – Tulsa, OK (the live 10/10 show and the taped 10/17 show. Go home shows for BFG)
10/20- San Diego, CA – Bound For Glory
10/24 – Salt Lake City, UT (the live 10/24 show and the taped 10/31 show)
11/7 – Cincinnati, OH (the live 11/7 show and the taped 11/14 show)
11/21- Baltimore, MD (the live 11/21 show and the taped 11/28 show)
12/27 – Philadelphia, PA (taped for 1/2 and 1/9 I guess. No idea why. December 27 is more in the holidays than January 2…)
