Instant Reaction - TNA Impact 5/16
By Benjamin Tucker, PWTorch TV specialist

DVR Guide - What to Watch Later:

- X Division Title match (Q5)
- Bully Ray-Sting segment (Q8)

Overall Score - 5.5

And Impact slogs through another week of uneventful segments, characters that say the exact same thing week after week with no change, and matches that just feel thrown out there. No, it wasn't bad, but it sure was boring. With only one match worth watching and one promo segment actually feeling important, Impact is feeling just as lifeless as Raw every Monday. It's just an hour shorter.

Just like WWE, TNA is lacking truly personal feuds to round out their show. You could argue that the Aces & Eights story is personal, as is the Storm-tag team and Styles-Angle feud. Three personal stories might seem like a lot, but when considering Storm has feuded with these same guys (most notably Roode) time after time and just seems randomly thrown in the Tag Title situation and how A.J. Styles's story is in the exact same position it was two months ago, then the term "personal" really doesn't work. They're trying to make these segments feel "personal," but all they do is feel forced and repetitive. Wow, Storm and Roode going at it. A.J. Styles attacking Kurt Angle. I've never seen that before. Neither of those stories feels important, and the Aces story is starting to tread water again as well. To be a worthwhile personal feud the stakes have to seem like they keep getting raised every single show. For some reason, TNA doesn't see that as a viable booking scenario outside of the main event, instead opting to drag segments as long as possible without actually getting anything accomplished.

The main event segment was the only part of the show that truly felt important. Bully laying down the stipulation to Sting was well done and everyone acted accordingly. It gave a big fight feel to their match, something which is lacking in a lot of other stories. Go through the rest of tonight's matches and tell me where you saw any sense of passion or urgency. There wasn't any.

The X Division Title matches are stuck in three-way matches which severely inhibit storyline development, and the Knockouts Title is still being defended on a "new challenger a month" format. What makes these shows boring is that TNA is not focusing on improving their storylines at all. Everything, from the set-ups from matches to the characters, just feels flat. There is no sense of levity to any undercard feud because such little time is spent developing each person. Where is the emotion? Why should I care about the Tag Titles when there are only three teams rotating every month? It doesn't matter who wins them because the penalty for losing is downplayed so much. "Oh well, you lost the strap. I guess you'll be challenging instead of defending the titles next month."

Outside of the X Division Title match, there was no match worth looking for. Which means that three-quarters of the show did not further storylines or feature compelling matches. Right now TNA's booking staff seems about as tuned out as the announcers. Throwing out random title defenses won't do anyone a bit of good. TNA is stuck in television limbo right now, and I'm not sure how much longer they can stay like this.

Overall, emotion is lacking, and tonight's show was a prime example. Either nothing is moving along fast enough or random people are thrown out in random segments guaranteed to bore. The talent is there, but the writing is not backing them up. And I'm betting that in three weeks A.J. Styles will still be brooding in the crowd, the Tag Titles will be defended amongst the same three teams, a new Knockout of the month will be challenging for the title, and Joseph Park will still be looking for Abyss.

Other than those problems, tonight was fine.

Any questions or comments? Feel free to message me on Twitter @BTuckertorch .

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