We start tonight's Superstars with JTG vs. Chavo Guerrero. I assume at this point we're done with the "Chavo and a partner face the tag champs" story. Maybe the pay-off was supposed to be McIntyre's post-match attack? It just seems like they dropped it out of the blue. But on the bright side, we haven't seen the Eagle or Hornswoggle in a while either so I'm ok with dropping storylines. It's not like Chavo's story was going anywhere anyway...
Not much to say about the 2nd and 3rd match. They were good, and we got to see people who we normally don't see show off some good wrestling. I wonder what these guys would be doing if it wasn't for Superstars? It seemed like everyone was working particularly hard tonight.
Read on for my thoughts on the main event, and all of Impact.
Yoshi Tatsu and Tyson Kidd get it. Despite not getting much of a push, these two had the crowd highly into their match. They told a story in there and had some very good wrestling. It all meant something. Kidd was the mean heel trying to break Tatsu's spirit and Tatsu was the hurt underdog trying to overcome him. This is how you get smaller wrestlers over without stupid gimmicks and spotfests. The crowd wasn't chanting "This is awesome" or "Let's go Kidd, Let's go Tatsu". They cheered the face and booed the heel.
It's rare that TNA can accomplish this with their midcarders. Some of it's the talent and some of its the booking. Either way, it's something that really needs work. Speaking of which, when was the last time a midcarder made it up the ranks in TNA that wasn't a former WWE star? Five years ago if you'd have asked me who the future of TNA was, I would have said AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, Abyss, Jay Lethal, and Robert Roode at least. Are any of them much higher on the card than they were back then?
Anyway, rant over. I think WWE should have a Superstars-exclusive championship (except maybe for PPVs) that all these people are fighting for. It can be a stepping stone to a bigger role on the other shows. Maybe call it the Rising Championship to show that it's for rising stars? Just a thought.
TNA started off with a pretty good angle. Good work by everyone involved. Oh, and did anyone else catch the Jimmy Hart backstage cameo?
TNA's really developing the characters of these Knockouts. They're more distinct than they used to be. Madison's a screechy "queen bee" with a supposedly loaded glove (even though it didn't look like she loaded it this time) and Tara at her side, and Velvet's new look is different and separates her from the typical Beautiful People attire.
Okada? Who? Why are we supposed to care about this guy? He's apparently from New Japan Pro Wrestling and has wrestled some matches on Xplosion. He's made a grand total of one appearance on Impact, in the EV2 run-in angle. It'd be nice if Taz or Tenay clued us in on who he is.
Matt Morgan vs. Rob Terry. Two big guys who have never faced off (that I know of), with a story between them. Surely they're going to build this up to match on either 2/3 or Against All Odds, right? Nope. Morgan beat him in no-time flat, really devaluing someone they could build as a monster heel. While the match wouldn't have been a technical classic by any stretch, they could have built Morgan vs. Terry as a semi-main event. Now Terry's established as not much of a threat in the ring, so they'll need to build him back up. I did like that Morgan got beat down by Abyss and Terry, so the segment wasn't a TOTAL loss.
More hype for "they". Who could possibly stand up to Immortal? Dixie Carter should come back with a strong babyface group united under her leadership. The point here is to get over some younger, fresher babyfaces and heels since the older guys aren't going to be around forever. Angle, Lethal, Morgan, Joe, Anderson, MCMG, Crimson, Red, and Dinero are my picks from a storyline standpoint. Joe and Dinero would be the "Rock and Jericho" of their side (in that they'd reluctantly work together but still hate each other and maybe face off as well. You can't just erase their recent history. Maybe Devon can join and Ray can join Immortal. Call Dixie's group They as a jab to Immortal. They're already being called that.
Another brief X-Division match with not much meaning. Hopefully this is just a set up to a more satisfying conclusion. And it's really almost time to pull the trigger on the referee heel turn (Jackson Andrews is Eric Bischoff's real-life son) Hopefully that's on 2/3 as well.
Jeff Jarrett's great in his role. I admit I cracked up when the crowd chanted "sloppy seconds". They had Kurt break it up too soon. Karen "shooting" really had potential, AND he had already been escorted out. Karen should have spilled a lot of dirt, then Kurt could have tried to fight through security in handcuffs to attempt to get to Jarrett. Then next week, he could have held a "press conference" or something angrily refuting what she said. He'd be P.O.'d that Jeff brought her into this, and it'd add more fuel to the fire. Instead it was just a prelude to another beatdown. I hate when they rush things like this. Then again, it is called "Total Nonstop Action".
Didn't I see Tommy Dreamer wrestle Jeff Hardy in like 2001? Ok, that jab wasn't really necessary, but I do think I saw them face off what seems like quite a few years back in WWE. Tommy Dreamer's career needs to be winding down at this point. He's lost a few steps over the years. But he certainly has a following, so I don't think we'll see the end of him any time soon.
I really hope TNA's getting paid for the Smirnoff Ice product placement. Kurt Angle with a black baseball bat... that could be a hint at something.
I didn't even recognize Matt Hardy when he ran-in. I mostly liked this match.
That's the best they could come up with for Bully Ray and Brian Kendrick to do? I guess this will ead to a match between them before we get back to Ray and Devon. I think Kendrick's character needs some tweaking. It's more of something to shake your head at than cheer for.
Thankfully that wasn't the end of that angle this week. Nice work by Ray and Devon as has been the norm lately from them. I still want to see some EV2 cameos to sell the importance of this clash.
Pretty cool end to Impact. Roode and Flair should have shut up, and the camera and focus should have stayed with Crimson until he was done talking. Then you can have Flair and Roode and whomever react and they get jumped by Angle. TNA tries to do too much at one time.
That's all for tonight. I'll be back for a look at Smackdown tomorrow.
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