What is up wrestling fans, I am the WrestlingNerd bringing you another written review. Today, we take a look at TNA Impact Wrestling on 7/7/11. Impact hasn't been THAT bad lately, so would that streak continue or would we go right back into Dumbass Ave? Well, let's find out and start the review.
We open the show with Immortal calling out Anderson in the ring. Once Anderson arrives, him and Bully Ray exchanged insults about Anderson's catchphrase. Finally, Bully tells him to either wise up and join Immortal or lose his championship to Sting Ledger because he is too insane to deal with. You would think with Bully's character that he wouldn't be admitting to having issues with taking out Sting, but apparently he does? Anyway, Scott Steiner is talking about screwing (Can someone teach Steiner to read? I feel like he is going to have a stroke in the middle of one of his promos) and Gunner tells him it is Immortal vs Kurt Angle and Sting while Anderson needs to decide who he is with tonight or else....We finally hear Sting's music and he is up in the catwalk laughing like a madman while the lights turn back on and Angle clears house. Angle ends the segment by telling Anderson to make "the easy decision" tonight. So, this is basically a re-hash of last week's show since Immortal asked Anderson to join Immortal or do things the hard way. What did they do this week? The exact same thing. How unoriginal is that? Not only that, but they have been teasing this "Anderson joining/not joining Immortal" for months now, so it's like they are re-hashing stuff from a few months back. I don't know about this one since they have been doing this for so long now that I just don't even care anymore. Also, can anyone take Sting seriously anymore?
Match #1: Crimson vs Robert Roode in a BFG Series Match
More BFG Matches done off screen. I am also getting the feeling the house shows are getting the better matches/matchups than the ones we are getting on tv every week. At the house show, they had RVD vs Crimson and RVD vs AJ Styles. I really feel they are going overboard with the matches here since the scoreboard is already out of control. Didn't TNA realize that BFG isn't until October? Anyone else feel the scoreboard is going to reach 200 points by the leader at this rate? Not only that, but at some of these house shows, Devon beat Bully cleanly. With how the stocks of both guys look, Devon has no business beating Bully cleanly. Another thing about this series is I feel I have an idea on where this is going, but let me talk about the match first. The match was ok, but nothing amazing. The finish comes when Crimson hits the Sky High for the clean win. Roode is sitting at 0 points. I feel what is going to happen is during the "second half" of this tournament, Roode is going to start piling up submission victories and thus make a late charge to see if he can make a miracle happen. The other two guys at 0 points are Samoa Joe and Pope. Joe is basically a minor character in TNA these days while Pope is too busy with Devon's family to make a run at this tournament, so Roode is the best choice to make it a race at the end. Crimson is leading the points at 31, but we all know that will be different by next week, so it's almost pointless to even address it.
Winner via pinfall: Crimson
Backstage with Abyss. Even after one whole week, he STILL has not found his mask and is still searching for it. We also see in a different camera shot that Brian Kendrick is wearing the mask and is making his way to the ring. Ok, first of all? Why is Abyss still searching for this thing after a week? Doesn't he have multiple masks in his inventory? Can't he just make a new one or buy one? Plus, are you telling me Abyss was walking about the damn arena with a towel over his head for one full week? Give me a break. I thought Immortal was this big powerful group with lots of money. You mean to tell me Abyss just can't walk up to Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff and tell them to give him a new mask? Heck, doesn't Immortal even pay Abyss enough money to get another one? Imagine if the WWE did something like this with Rey Mysterio? It would be beyond stupid because Rey has tons of different mask, and if one gets stolen, he would just get another one and not search for the same one. I know, more wrestling logic. However, even THIS is a little much for the world of wrestling logic. Abyss, smart enough to fully understand the Art of War, but stupid enough to not buy a spare mask. That's pretty weak.
After a commercial break, Kendrick is now in the ring with the mask (I could dive deeper into this whole mask thing, but we need to finish up this review so f*** it). Abyss arrives and Kendrick says he has every intention of giving the mask back to Abyss, but he stole it so he could say something to him. Kendrick again talks as if he just smoked a ton of weed and is speaking Yoda gibberish, but he basically said Abyss should be trying to help the X Division and not destroy it. He also said Abyss hides behind a mask because he is dealing with some emotional pain (Isn't the established kayfabe of Abyss is he is a former criminal and wore a mask to conceal his identity? So, Kendrick basically told Abyss what he and everyone else who watches this show already knows? Kendrick is really the "thinker" of our times, right?). He gives him back the mask and once be puts it back on, he thanks Kendrick by destroying him. Wow, Kendrick is just a freaking idiot. Instead of using the mask as some sort of leverage or psychological edge, he just gives it back to him and tells him stuff he already knows? Even with Kendrick's character and how out there he is, this still makes no sense. It would have helped if Abyss actually showed some emotion or hesitation during the attack, but it really didn't seem like he did any of that.....unless he did a very bad acting job. Who knows? I was really for this whole X Division storyline when it started, but it quickly took a backseat and it has had some poor buildup since.
Match #2: Jesse Sorenson vs Anthony Nese vs Jack Evans for the X Division Tournament
Theses are three guys who have never been on TNA programming and are basically three Indy guys I haven't heard of until now. Like I have said in the past, I don't pay attention to the Indys and I don't really care what they did over there or how the IWC wants to have sex with them. I just want to see what they can do and offer this generation of pro wrestling on live tv. Jesse and Anthony really didn't impress me during this match. Evans was the one who really stood out. This guy does a ton of flips with his in ring style. He looks like he should be in the X Games or something. Kinda odd he looks like Sheamus if Sheamus had the muscle sucked out of him, but whatever. I feel he is just being a showoff with some of these moves at times, but I will admit he definitely fits the formula for an X Division guy. You might want to check out this guy because he does have some interesting moves. The matchup was ok and the finish comes when Evans hits a 630 Splash for the win. That's right, a 630. He was definitely a fan favorite by the Impact Zone tonight, but that audience gets easily impressed. TNA really needs to travel and get out of the Impact Zone since performing in front of the same audience is disappointing.
Winner via pinfall: Jack Evans
A video package of Robbie E, Alex Shelley, Shannon Moore, and Amazing Red whom are going to compete in a Ultimate X Match. The winner of this match becomes the #1 Contender to the X Division title. Robbie E still has a job with this company? There was a quick backstage segment with Velvet Sky. She talks about getting rid of ODB and Jacki tonight and continues to thank God or the plastic surgeon for still having a job in TNA. Seriously, I feel like her boobs are going to blow up at any second with how big they are getting. In one of the stranger scenes for tonight (and I know that is saying a lot), Sting is singing Survivor while Angle wonders if he is ok. Are you serious? How can he be ok if he is singing like a stage dancer and continues to audition to Christopher Nolan for the next Batman film? I think Jeff Hardy is just wondering if he can score the kind of drug Sting is on at this point.
Match #3: ODB and Jacki vs Velvet Sky in a Handicap Match
Before the match started, ODB mocks the second rope ass shot that Sky does while Sky comes from behind and hits Jacki with a chair and attacks ODB, thus the match finally begins. The match is about what you expect out the KO division. You know, as much as I make fun of the KO division, it is somehow more entertaining than the diva division in the WWE. That's what happens when you rely on Kelly Kelly to be your ace in the hole. Anyway, the matchup is about you expect with the KO division. Unspiring in ring ability with a botched or screwed up ending. The finish comes when ODB is about to use the chair on Sky, but she dodges and ends up hitting Jacki. At this point, the match should be over since the referee clearly saw this, but for some reason he just lets it slide. I guess you could make the argument that a heel hit her own partner and thus can't call for the bell. In pro wrestling, if the person who gets hit by the weapon is actually involved in the match, the match would be called off if the ref saw it. This is another example of TNA just changing the rules to specific matches just to adapt to their madness. Anyway, Sky ends up taking ODB out of the ring and hits a DDT on a stunned Jacki and wins the match. Really, ODB and Jacki should have won via a DQ since she used a weapon. I know it is common in tag matches for partners to accidently hit each other, but not with a weapon in plain referee sight. I guess TNA came out with a cop out ending for Sky to overcome the odds, but something tells me this would have made a lot more sense if there was a ref bump. It was a mess and Sky appears to have done away with both ODB and Jacki.....for now. I wouldn't be surprised if they show up next week and this week's matchup was just a complete waste of time.
Winner via pinfall: Velvet Sky
Backstage with Pope and Devon. Pope wants to make this tag team work out and for him to be on the same page as Devon, but Devon still doesn't trust him. With the way this scene looked, it almost appeared that Devon is the heel while Pope is the face. I think it was the way the lines were delivered that made it look like this, but I am pretty sure it was intended to be the other way around. Does anyone really care about this storyline?
Match #4: AJ Styles vs Christopher Daniels vs RVD vs Jerry Lynn in a Four Corners Match
The concept of a 4 Corners match is it basically acts like a tag match, but anyone can tag in anyone at anytime and your not just restricted to tagging in one corner. I thought this might be pretty good, but it ended up being a letdown. It was ok, but everytime I started to see something interesting, we would get another blind tag and that ended the previous exchange. I felt this matchup would have been a lot better if it was under the Fatal 4way rules and not this concept. The finish comes when RVD does a blind tag on Lynn. During this time, Lynn hits a finisher on Daniels. RVD hits a Five Star Frogsplash and wins the match. The match was ok, but I know we could have gotten something MUCH better if it wasn't so restricted.
Winner via pinfall: RVD
Backstage or on location with Eric Young who is talking about driving a trailor to Hollywood and challenge celebrities. Remember, Young is still under the impression that being the TV Champion entitles him to defend the belt to "tv worthy" talent. Where is all of this going? Plus, did Orlando Jordan just forget about getting into Young's pants and decided to leave? Great job explaining that one TNA.
Match #5: Matt Morgan and James Storm vs Devon and Pope in a BFG Series Match
Tag team matches are so pointless in this series since only one guy wins the points. Even if you are on the winning team, you don't get any points (....and may God have mercy on your soul). This system is so broken and unfair. I feel if you are in a tag match and get the pinfall, you should win 6 points and the other guy at least gets 2 points. It basically turns it into a Fatal 4way since only one guy gets the credit while the other three get nothing. Another match in which the finish was a mess. The finish comes when the ref is dealing with Morgan on the outside. Pope grabs Storm's title belt and hits Storm in the face with it. He is about to get the pinfall, but decides to let Devon get the points and tags him in. Not only was that strange, but Pope and Devon magically traded corners with Morgan and Storm because they switched sides and the ref doesn't seem to care. Clearly, something was screwed up or botched for this to happen. I have said this so many times that it has lost meaning, but this show is taped. Why not do a second take to fix the mistake? This mistake was really bad and just about everyone saw the mess up. Do these referees even know the fu***** rules to the matches? I know, more wrestling logic, but this is getting ridiculous. Anyway, Pope basically handed Devon the points to try and gain his trust, but he still wasn't buying the Pope. I almost have to call bulls*** on this series since Devon has 21 points and is tied for second place.
Winner via pinfall: Devon and Pope
More backstage scenes. Why is there so many backstage scenes on this show? Plus, some of them aren't even necessary. Anderson says he will make a decision that people will not like. Gee, well THAT pretty much gives away the ending to the show. Don't believe me? Well....just wait to be disappointed. On location with the Jarretts who are in Mexico and claim they will be back next week to celebrate Jarrett's birthday and they have surprises in store for TNA. You know, I was really hoping Jarrett would be making less appearances after losing his last match, but it seems like he is making more appearances than Angle as of late. One more backstage scene where Hogan is throwing fake punches at Sting while Sting is acting the crap out of it and is laughing his ass off. I actually took a stage combat course in college, and this looks really bad from my perspective. Hogan's back was facing the camera and he was throwing punches like Little Mac from Mike Tyson's Punch Out while Sting was acting the crap out of it. To make it even worse, Hogan gets the baseball bat and "hits" Sting in the face with it and he goes down. I have seen the puppets on Sesame Street show more animation than this. In fact, seeing Big Bird vs the Cookie Monster would be better than this piece of crap....with the Count as the special guest referee.
Match #6: Bully Ray, Scott Steiner, Abyss and Gunner vs Kurt Angle and ????
Angle was on his own for this entire match since the Joker has been dealt with. At one point, Anderson arrives and appears to be in the corner of Angle and wants to be tagged in. Hmm....since Anderson isn't even in ring gear, I smell a double cross. Anyway, he is tagged into the match and throws a bunch of cheap punches at Immortal. He is about to hit Mic Check on Bully, but decides to use it on Angle. He lets Immortal pick the bones for the cheap win. After the match, Anderson jumps into Abyss' arms, thus singling he has joined Immortal. The show ends with Hogan coming out to celebrate the fact they added another member and now have the world title.
Winner via pinfall: Immortal
You know, I could go into a whirlwind in how this doesn't make any sense since Anderson has rebelled against Immortal and has had issues with Hogan and crew, but I just don't care anymore and I think TNA instantly wants you to forget it ever happened. I guess you could argue Anderson's current character has changed since the beginning of the year. So it makes sense to join Immortal, but the transition and logic is all over the place with this one. At the end of the day, there is plotholes up the ass, but I will accept it since Immortal needed another member and needed to get the world title back to lead into bigger events. It was also nice to FINALLY set something up between Angle and Anderson, since you almost forget Angle is the #1 Contender. I guess that's what happens when you do a filler/tribute PPV. If you look at the current card for this PPV, not a lot of the matches serve an importance for furture events or storylines. This reminds me a lot of last year when TNA did Hardcore Justice, which was basically ECW One Night Stand 2.0. The PPV itself might be something worth watching, but it mainly appeals to the long time wrestling fans, IWC, or fans of lightweight, cruiserweight, and X Division wrestling. I don't really see casual fans ordering up this PPV because they want to see the big guys/main event level guys and not the lightweights. Especially since WWE has MITB on the way and just about the entire wrestling world is wondering what is going on with CM Punk, Cena and Vince McMahon. I am aware I am going to piss off a lot of wrestling fans with what I am about to say, but there isn't a lot of money in the X Division and the money will always be on the bigger guys or main eventers. Yes, guys like Amazing Red or Jack Evans have some amazing moves and can wrestle circles around guys like John Cena or Randy Orton, but 9 times out of 10, your paying to watch Cena and Orton and the lightweight guys are just an after thought. Most people say TNA was at its best when it centered around the X Division. My arguement against that is if the X Division really made TNA stand out, why did they draw in such garbage ratings and casual fans had no idea what TNA was? Even when TNA started going with the bigger guys/main eventers to showcase the show, the ratings did go up but they are at around 1.1-1.2. It really isn't much better, but it was more than the X Division being the center of attention. Even though TNA is a little more well know now, it still isn't well known by the casual audience. That is why I think that even though Dest X will be a decent PPV, it won't get a lot of buyrates because casual fans don't care about smaller guys and the major storylines are absent for this showing. I am aware some people are going to tear me a new one, but it doesn't bother me and realize people are going to disagree with me. And there is nothing wrong with having a difference of opinion.
Overall Impression:
I think Vegeta can sum up my feelings on this week's show...
Joking aside, one of the worse Impacts I have seen in a while, but I have seen TNA do much.....MUCH worse and this actually falls into the territory of it being watchable and somewhat tolerable. The matches weren't really anything special this week and I felt some of these scenes were just ridiculous. Two of the match ups ended with a botch/dumb referees. The promos/segments were just strange this week. Abyss searching for his mask after a whole week was just stupid and dumb, Pope and Devon do a storyline nobody is really interested in, Sting continues to lose his damn mind, the BFG Series is broken, Young continues to not be funny, and bad choreography make it a sandwich nobody wants to eat. I also felt this week's Impact was pretty boring. I felt the hype up for the Dest X PPV wasn't done very well. This was the Go Home edition since the PPV is this Sunday and it failed to grab my attention. In fact, you almost forget there is a PPV this Sunday based on the card and buildup. Again, some of these matchups look interesting, but there isn't a lot in terms of storylines that are on the table and I feel it will make the PPV suffer. I have said this so many times as well....I really want TNA to succeed and challenge the WWE, but this isn't going to get the job done. I will admit that ever since they changed the name of the show to IW, they have made improvements.....very slow improvements. Still, there are times in which stuff still makes no sense, backstage scenes up the wazzu, and how badly edited the show turns out. I almost felt that Anderson joining Immortal was pretty predictable since Anderson has been a full heel ever since he started dressing up like Sting, but it isn't a bad idea. In fact, Anderson aligning with Immortal isn't a bad idea, just not executed too well since they have been teasing this all year. I don't think TNA will ever get over the top until guys like Russo are gone and replaced by someone more capable. To be fair, outside of the CM Punk storyline, there isn't a ton of things in the world of wrestling that are a must see at the moment. Still, WWE is at least doing some ok things while TNA at times it feels they are doing something good, but they quickly dive back into their old habits. Well, that is going to do it for the review and I hope you enjoyed it. As always, tell me what you thought of my review and tonight's show. You can also check me out on blogspot/blogger if you search the WrestlingNerd show. I will see you guys next time on the WrestlingNerd show, see you next time and if you excuse me, I have to clean up this blood now.
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