Tonight on Impact, new TNA World Champion Sting speaks for the first time since his return, "Jersey Shore"'s Angelina competes in a 6-Knockout Tag match, and AJ Styles, Matt Hardy, and Ric Flair meet in a 3-way Street Fight.
But first, WWE presents us with the oft-overlooked Superstars. Read on for my thoughts on the two shows, as they happen.
I like that they're pushing this match as important in the WrestleMania season.
I wonder if the No Holds Barred stipulation was chosen because Taker's not 100%?
I'm pretty sure that a grenade is someone you DON'T want to pick up, but that's neither here nor there.
I liked the Masters/Reks match, though I continue to wonder what WWE's plans are for these two. I'd certainly rather have them get some TV time here than none at all, and they're doing well, but I think they need to shuffle some of these guys onto Raw and Smackdown (and some of the Raw and Smackdown guys who aren't on this show) sometimes so it doesn't seem like they're just being thrown on here to give them something to do.
Holy random tag team generator! Maybe the Raw General Manager really IS a sentient computer, and makes matches like this via some program. It wouldn't be as random without the Divas' involvement, but it'd still be out-there.
This match actually makes sense, thankfully (though the "random" one is at least faces vs. heels). That is kind of an upset. A pleasant surprise though. I guess next week we get Primo vs. Santino. I wonder if we'll get a big Tag Team Turmoil match or something at WrestleMania. If The Corre still holds the Tag Team Titles, it could be a #1 Contenders' match. Otherwise, those guys will likely end up in the pre-show Battle Royal.
I wonder what Khali, Mark Henry, and Natalya talked about over the commercial break. (I know that it was taped and they just broke it up with commercials, but in kayfabe they stood there for a few minutes waiting for their opponents).
Did Kidd and Natalya ever break up on-screen? I don't really remember Natalya picking a side when the Hart Dynasty split up.
I liked Kidd wanting a tag then leaving when it was Khali. Pretty funny and a good heel move.
That match was pretty pointless. At least we know that Regal will theoretically continue wrestling as he announces on NXT.
So um, what's going down between Kidd and Regal? It certainly didn't work out when Hawkins and Archer split up.
On to Impact: Oh cool, they're still in Fayetteville. I thought they just taped one episode there.
I'm a little bit surprised that they started this show with Sting, as big as his return is. Then again, they have one episode to set up most of the card to Sunday's PPV, so it might be a good idea.
Sting, Hogan, and Bischoff. Just like 1997. Hogan's really aged since then.
When's Anderson just going to go full-throttle and have someone throw him beers when he gets in the ring? But there's one major difference between Austin and Anderson: Austin could always cut good promos and his character wasn't as forced. Austin didn't have to tell you he was an asshole, he just was one.
Let's just have the whole show be people interrupting people.
Actually we didn't know that Sting was facing Hardy and Anderson was facing RVD this Sunday, because they just made those matches right then.
In segment two, people interrupt people AND yell at the same time.
Pope vs. Joe should have been saved for Sunday. Have a "confrontation" or something for them tonight to build to the show you're trying to get people to pay for.
The fans could not have cared much less about Okato getting knocked out.
This match was just so-so, though it was a nice move by Pope to keep the chain to his chest until he was out of the referee's view. Samoa Joe used to be looked at as the future of wrestling. He's 31 but all of the high-impact matches he's had have slowed him down.
Roxxi must have moved from New Orleans, LA, where she was originally billed as being from as the "Voodoo Queen".
I think Madison's improving.
I thought Bully Ray was already in the parking lot waiting for Dreamer? I might be wrong here.
"The Lincoln Lawyer" with a song by Linkin Park. I see what they did there.
Before he showed up at the end of the segment, I was wondering what had happened to Tommy Dreamer being in the parking lot.
So, Devon beats the ever-loving crap out of Ray, to the point that Dreamer tells him to back off, and then he gets up and beats up the security guy? I guess he was faking it to some extent. At least I hope that's what they were going for there.
Nice touch with Winter not being happy at the Beautiful People entrance.
Wow, that was a mess. Is Angelina going to be on the PPV or not?
Another mess: Why didn't they just make Flair/Matt vs. AJ in a handicap match?
It's kind of hard to take Hogan seriously as a heel when during the show he's in commercials as a harmless goof.
You'd think that Anderson and Hardy wouldn't be able to coexist in the same room like that. These two were in a blood feud a few months back. There should be a lot more tension there.
I think that that's the biggest pop I've heard AJ get that wasn't from a high-spot.
Kind of a funny line by Flair in reference to Fayetteville.
AJ's actually only 4 years younger than Matt Hardy so the "young" talk's a little weird.
I wonder how much blood Flair's lost over the years. The American Red Cross is probably not pleased with that statistic.
Ric Flair, 62, just pinned the 32-year-old AJ Styles. Make of that what you will. That should be played out as an unusual circumstance that AJ will want revenge for.
Sting and RVD trying to make sense of their situaion could have been done better. Like, they could have explained WHY Sting thought RVD was still a part of it when he was being kept out of the title picture. Not that there's much of a good explanation beyond him thinking that it was an elaborate swerve.
Generation Me dress like the least credible wrestlers this side of Curry Man and Hornswoggle. These two are NXT-level. But they can do flashy double-team moves, so they were and are hits on the indie scene.
Another innovative interview segment, this time with D'Angelo Dinero. I wish TNA would worry more about being good than being innovative. Ditto with the Jarretts segment. I don't know why it was decided that wrestling needed cameramen to be part of the story when they've never been necessary before.
This Sunday, see 4 men nearly kill themselves in a match that will be soon forgotten about and probably won't help any of them be taken seriously higher up the card. Edge, Christian, and the Hardy Boys (to a lesser extent the Dudley Boys) did crazy high-flying matches early in their careers, but weren't taken seriously as top stars until they expanded their repertoires and made those high-spots mean something.
The top four stars in the promotion, if this match is any indication, are all wrestlers who made their name in another promotion. Two of them are over 40.
And that's a wrap. I'll be back for more ranting and rambling tomorrow for Smackdown.
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