Tna Impact

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On March 27th TNA put on its first live episode in its history. It was excellent and fun and for once delivered on what TNA had guaranteed. It may have been the most watchable Impact episode since the show first started airing on SpikeTV.

The wrestling matches were very good for TV, by TNA standards. They began with Alex Shelley vs. Johnny Devine, which lasted a 9 minutes and had a clean finish. The match had great action while it lasted and ended up with Devine scoring the pin after his dangerous looking Divine Intervention (double underhook piledriver). The 6-man tag match featuring Petey Williams, Scott Steiner, LAX and their female counterparts was also good, and LAX is building up a lot of steam and continue to demonstrate why they are one of the best tag teams in wrestling. The Kurt Angle MMA-style match with Tomko and A.J. Styles was definitely watchable, partly because of the hard way cut that Tomko suffered, but also because it was done about as well as it could've been. They're trying to mix MMA with pro wrestling, which could have been disastrous, but instead ended up decent at worst.

Booker T vs. Robert Roode was probably the best match either of the two has been involved in since they've been in TNA. The match had an excellent level of intensity throughout, though I didn't like the First Blood match stip, they did well in working with what they were given. The Women's Title match was also an great for a free TV match, though it was rather short at 6 minutes, but that's acceptable because I'm not sure if ODB had the opportunity to set up any spots before the match. Either way, it was a great TV match with yet another clean finish.

Finally, we got to the main event. This was probably the second or third best wrestling match we've ever seen on TNA Impact. It had yet another clean ending. All of the clean finishes on the show made me walk away as a fan feeling satisfied (take note, Vince Russo). Hopefully this will become the norm, though I highly doubt it. They'll have clean finishes one week only to return to the old Vince Russo booking formula of cheap finishes and interference.

TNA didn't seem to have many problems putting on their first live wrestling TV show, either. Granted, the audio was glitchy a few times, but it was just for a couple seconds and was tolerable. Most of the lighting and audio was well done, and it made me happy that they didn't get the chance to overproduce the show. It gave Impact a bit of realism that it's usually sorely lacking. It also made it easier to watch without the camera constantly panning all over the place.

The announcers were even more tolerable than usual. Mike Tenay and Don West, having to improv on the live broadcast, calmed down just a tiny little bit. Though Don West had a few lines that made me want to turn off the TV in frustration, I was mostly able to tune out the announcers the whole episode. Anyone ever consider replacing these old announcers with some younger guys? What about that MMA guy you brought in for this broadcast, he'd be a great replacement for Tenay, West, or both (please, please both).

This show also more clearly defined who was face and who was heel. It's difficult as a wrestling fan if I do not know who I'm to cheer for. It seems like Vince Russo has set up a three-month revolving door for who is good, bad and in between with every wrestler playing musical chairs at each of TNA's quarterly major wrestling Pay-Per-Views. I don't know if Russo's "Cross the Line" experiment can work, with wrestlers displayed in more of a realistic way where there are no truly good or bad people. Either way, if it brings realism back to wrestling that has seemingly disappeared in the last decade, then I'm all for it.

Adam Fox maintains a Pro Wrestling blog and several other blogs

TNA Sacrifice 2009 PPV Review

From Orlando, Florida. Original airdate: 5/24/09

Red d. Kiyoshi on the preshow, Red Star Press -- pin (**1/2).

Crowd points out that Amazing Red is, in fact, Amazing. Anyways, this was an extended Impact Special, though it was fun enough. Red looks a lot better with those new tights. He doesn't look like a backyard wrestler.

Foley arrives in a car. Hehe, Sting arrives in a bee coloured car and Foley arrives in an old banger.

Eric Young & Lethal Consequences d. Motor City Machine Guns & Sheikh Bashir, Lethal roll up -- pin Bashir (14:00, ***1/2).

Eric Young's back from being raped by Fat Joe. Anyways, this was fun and energetic and great way to start the show. Matches like that are what made me initially love TNA, though it lost all semblance of a tag team match halfway through as I seriously didn't know who the legal man was at the end. And Don West is more annoying than usual as his mic has been turned way up.

Taylor Wilde d. Daffney in a Monster's Ball match -- TKO (4:00, DUD).

Nothing match as calling it a "Monster's Ball" raised expectations that it couldn't meet. Post-match, Dr. Stevie wanted Abyss to put Wilde through some tacks, but he hesitated. Lauren then came out to stop him, so Stevie put his hands on her and Abyss chokeslammed him into the tacks for his troubles. Daffney losing this was weird, especially as it didn't really tie into the post-match stuff anyway.

Meanwhile, Borash says that two former world champs and a new Knockout will appear on Impact next week.

X-Division champion Suicide draws with Daniels -- time-limit draw (17:00, **).

MCMG caused Suicide to lose in 12 minutes, but Daniels didn't want the title that way, so he wanted 5 more minutes, in which he ran out of time. Poor guy. Match was OK, but not good.

Knockouts champion Angelina Love d. Awesome Kong, rollup -- pin (7:00, *).

End came when Love sprayed Kong, but nothing actually came out of the spray bottle, but Kong sold it anyway. Wow, I was predicting a Kong squash and this wasn't quite the Knockouts match I was expecting. Post-match, Angie eats a pair of Implant Busters.

Meanwhile, Sting promises to retire on his terms.

Samoa Joe w/ fear for cardio d. Kevin Nash, Coquina Clutch -- submission (8:00, DUD).

Joe needs a tan. Brown pants and his white flabby gut just don't look right. Anyways, I was surprised by Nash getting killed here and this was easily one of the worst matches of the night as Joe looked like crap. They actuality had a decent match at Turning Point all things considered. Joe went haywire post-match, killing referees then Steiner came out to check on Nash once Joe was gone. It's funny how Joe came across as more of a killer when he didn't have a knife.

Beer Money d. British Invasion in a 3D Invitational Final, Storm superkick -- pin Williams (12:00, ***).

Good tag action as it was entertaining. Beer Money are actuality better faces than heels right now as when Robert Roode got the hot tag, I thought I was watching a tag match from the Rock N Roll Express. Beer Money shake with 3D, post-match.

TNA Legends champion AJ Styles d. Booker T in a I Quit Match -- towel throw (16:00, ***).

Every time I hear Book's TNA theme, all I can think is DAMN I miss the Harlem Heat music. End came when Jenna Morasca threw in the towel. Anyways, this was a good match, one of Booker's best in TNA, but the finish turned me off big-time as "unrelated person throwing in a towel into the ring and the ref calling the match" is my least favorite finish ever. And the fact that this match ONLY existed to put over the Sharmelle/Jenna feud? Disgusting.

Sting d. TNA World champion Mick Foley, Kurt Angle, & Jeff Jarrett in a Ultimate Sacrifice Match, (14:00, ***).

End came when Sting suplexed Foley on the floor while Jarrett gave Angle a stroke off the middle rope onto a chair in the ring (SUPER CHAIR STROKE~!), but Sting jumped in and pinned Angle to become the new leader of the MEM, but not the champion (THAT DAMN ULTIMATE OPPORTUNIST STING~!). Again, this was an entertaining match, but hated the dumb rule where you had to pin Foley to become champ. Even the ref looked confused when the bell rung. There was no indication on the television that you had to pin Foley to win the title, the whole idea was that each guy was sacrificing their stake to win the title not take Jeff Jarrett's stake away, or becoming a Mafia leader or retiring Sting for good.

Final Thoughts: This PPV wasn't bad, but it was just so boring. That's TNA in a nutshell. It's not WCW Millionaire Club bad though, as the actual wrestling wasn't bad at all. From a booking perspective, the main event and the I Quit match were big turn offs. Did you know beforehand that Foley had to be pinned in order to lose the title?

Death Threat of the Night: Russo - his stench strikes again. Why the hell would someone decide to become the leader of a crappy stable instead of the top champion? Man, logic and Russo don't mix together very well.

Best Match of the Night: The Opener - reminded me of the old school X-Division matches.

Worst Match of the Night: Nash v. Joe - Joe looked so unmotivated.

Jobber of the Night: Nash for doing the clean job.

Blown Spot of the Night: No spray coming out of the spray bottle.

Surprise of the Night: Ref Bump? In a TNA Main Event? Inconceivable!

Well Done: Sting pinning Angle was the most harmless outcome, and therefore, probably the stupidest ending outside of Jarrett becoming the new Godfather.

Over Done: Don West - he sucks as a heel commentator. I just don't buy him as a heel at all. You can't make someone a heel broadcaster that easily. The reason JBL and Lawler were so great was because they were heels for most of their careers.

Screw the Smarks: Jenna Morasca throwing in the towel. Bret and Helen Hart say hello.

Idiot of the Night: Bashir - using WMD in your move names? This is 2009, not 2003, right?

Thank God For: They didn't kill 10 minutes with the trophy presentation.

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Mine
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Rino vs. Kip James.

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