Bryan Staebell
Impact Recap for 11/21
The Aces and 8’s faction was finally put out of its misery on Thursday night when Mr. Anderson pinned Bully Ray in the main event of Impact’s return to Orlando. They had an alright match, though not as good as their last one. The crowd didn’t help (did I mention they were back in Orlando?).
Magnus defeated Samoa Joe in a very tame Falls Count Anywhere match to advance to the semi finals of the TNA title tournament. The match was okay but it was put in a tough spot as the first of 3 violent stipulation matches…and the only one without a feud between the competitors. The gimmick kind of hurt Magnus (who beat Joe for the first time) as he needed a win people would see as legitimate more than this one was…but I suspect the plan is for a heel Magnus to walk out with the title so it really wont matter as much in retrospect. Magnus will face Kurt Angle in the semis.
Bobby Roode defeated James Storm in a Death Match when Gunner threw in the towel. The finish came off bad but it is going somewhere. The match was good and since they had so much history to play off of the crowd was very into it. Roode, as always, brings out the best in his opponents. They actually did an Impact 365 video to hype this with Roode attacking Storm in an Orlando bar. Roode will face Jeff Hardy in the semis.
Ethan Carter III defeated Shark Boy to keep his undefeated streak alive. The best EC3 related thing on this show actually came earlier in a backstage segment. He found Dewey Barnes and Norv Fernum in the back and delivered a pretty hilarious burial to them. The gist was he flew them in just to tell them they were garbage so he could see their faces when he did it. The writers and EC3 himself are nailing this character thus far.
Gail Kim defeated Candice Larea in an open challenge. Not to the usual level of a Gail Kim match and super short. You need these dominant wins to get the person who finally beats her over though.
The most interesting thing on the show was a brief video featuring Sam Shaw. Shaw has a new look and an interesting new character:
I found this segment fascinating for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I’m glad Sam Shaw is going to be getting onto the roster, especially with a character that already is not quite like anything I’ve seen before. It’s one thing to say you want to bring new young talent on…it’s another to back it up. Secondly this video defied conventions a couple of times in interesting ways. Right off the bat you assume it’s going to be one of those filler meaningless pieces where Jeff Hardy shows off his painting or something. Shaw immediately throws that off track by asking to be known as Samuel Shaw. It’s a little point but it takes you out of the mindset of the usual pretaped fluff because something like that would normally just be cut around. Then there is the artbook reveal to the camera, but not Hemme. The reason that works is because they repeat the trick at the end of the video with Hemme not seeing the real Samuel Shaw. Shaw plays his part straight while the camera is filming the segment inside the segment…just as he plays it when Hemme’s attention is on him later. Then we get the end of the “Impact 365” taping and transition into a behind the scenes kind of segment. Shaw asks Hemme out and she happily agrees (I guess we aren’t supposed to know she’s married) writing her number on some paper in his apartment. Then she leaves and it reaches its perfect ending. Shaw becomes totally stone faced as he puts the pen and paper that Hemme used back into the exact position they were before she disturbed them. I’ve seen people online refer to the character as an American Psycho take…and it’s certainly easy to see it. I wonder how it will translate into the ring…but as evidenced by my writing more about this 2 minute clip than the rest of the show…I’m intrigued to find out.
Preview
They’ve taped 3 weeks worth of Impacts and aside from the Thanksgiving night main event…I have no idea what will air when. So here is a preview of what is coming up for the next several weeks. Some spoilers.
They will main event the Thanksgiving Impact with a classic Survivor Series elimination match. Kurt Angle, Magnus, Gunner and James Storm vs. Bobby Roode, Bad Influence and Chris Sabin.
Also confirmed for that show is the debut of Rockstar Spud as Dixie Carter’s assistant. So there’s another new, young guy to replace the bloated former WWE stars on the roster. EC3, Samuel Shaw, Rockstar Spud, Lei’D Tapa, a return for Zema Ion, a real push for Robbie E and Jessie Godderz…things are changing.
Everything else they taped could air any time between this Thursday and the 12/12 Impact:
There will be 2 Gail Kim open challenges. The second one sees the TNA return of Madison Rayne, though not in the role of mystery challenger.
There will be 3 more EC3 matches with the following opponents: Curry Man, Earl Hebner and Jeremy Borash. The storyline advances the third week with Sting getting involved as expected.
The semi finals of the TNA title tournament will see Magnus vs. Kurt Angle in a Falls Count Anywhere match and Jeff Hardy vs. Bobby Roode in a tables match.
They will finally begin to pay off the Joseph Park storyline.
Chris Sabin defends the X title against Chris Sabin.
Bro Mans defends the tag titles against James Storm and Gunner
The return of Feast or Famine
The next Impact that they will refer to as a former PPV now on free TV will be Final Resolution on 12/19. It will feature the finals of the TNA title tournament. It’s worth noting that this will be a taped show filmed in early December. The timing unfortunately worked out that way.
Impact 365
Only a top 3 this week…but the Samuel Shaw video up top more than makes up for that:
3. Bad Influence gets every video on this list
2. Undefeatedable
1. Don’t quit your day job
Random Slices
Following Final Resolution, the next “special” Impact will be Genesis live from Huntsville, AL on January 16. This is actually where TNA ran their first ever show.
Dixie Carter was featured in a Sports Illustrated article. You can read it here: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/more/news/20131121/dixie-carter-tna-wrestling/index.html
AJ Styles doesn’t have a next title defense booked yet…but the TNA website teases him appearing in the UK, Canada and Puerto Rico in the future.
