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I haven't watched the full episode of TNA Impact from last night, but I took a potentially less painful route of watching two clips from the show that gave me confidence in the direction of TNA's storylines.
The key, though, is getting past the illogical, throw-it-against-the-wall-and-hope-it-sticks storyline explanation of Samoa Joe joining the Main Event Mafia. Jenna's money. Mafia members took one...or eighteen for the team. Joe needs money. Whatever the explanation, it's weak. Nothing would have made sense because the storyline inherently goes against Joe's character. It's automatically flawed.
However, if you just watch two clips from last night's show, all can be forgiven. At least, I'm willing to move past the illogical in favor of TNA putting some not-Monday Night Wars-era stars in a position to become actual stars for this company.
First clip is the tag team confrontation between Beer Money and Steiner/Booker, followed by the invasion by Team 3D.
What stood out to me about this was putting James Storm in a position to be on Steiner and Booker's level. It was one of those classic confrontations when you have an up-and-coming babyface or a heel - because I have no idea what Beer Money is right now - going toe-to-toe with an established star and the up-and-comer simply doesn't back down.
James Storm's character is built on not giving a flip about anything. Put him against a hothead like Steiner and there are some combustible elements that make for great TV. Storm looked tough, he held his own, and he got the crowd on his side. Storm was positioned to be a future main event star in one segment alone.
Of course, the whole thing degenerated into a classic "TNA re-lives the past" segment with Steiner and Booker having a discourse with Team 3D, but the takeaway should be Beer Money being positioned as legit stars in the tag division. Since TNA is so adamant about talking up their tag division, Storm & Roode come across like stars being the most-important part of the division as the tag champs.
That was a solid piece of TV with several issues in play, combustible elements, and an up-and-coming star standing tall and standing his ground against two established stars with the audience firmly behind him. Nice piece of booking.
The second clip I watched was the mid-ring Mafia board meeting hosted by Sting with Kurt Angle, Kevin Nash, Samoa Joe, Matt Morgan, Booker, and Steiner.
The key to this was one line from Kevin Nash. One line should be replayed over and over and over when trying to make Samoa Joe a star in this company. The storyline doesn't make a lick of sense and never will make sense, but one line can surpass all of that.
Kevin Nash to Sting referencing Samoa Joe: "This is about money. This is about money. We took her money - we took Jenna's money - we bought this sonofabitch right here because we couldn't beat him."
The line comes at the 4:40 mark with Nash letting it sink in for added effect. The line was reinforced later in the segment when Joe attacked Sting from behind after Sting appeared to clear the Mafia from the ring to stand tall for a moment.
The problem with Joe's character ever since he won the TNA World Title from Kurt Angle at Lockdown 2008 has been ambiguity. Heel? Face? The most annoying person ever scripted on a TV show?
Now, we know Joe clearly is a heel. Now, we also know the Mafia thought so highly of him that they couldn't beat him, so they bought him. In crazy pro wrestling logic, sometimes the ticket to establishing a star is establishing the price someone is willing to pay to obtain a person's services.
Joe is positioned as the "hired gun" of the Mafia, which could help him become the star TNA needs him to be. I'm judging this from one segment without having watched the entire show, but the stand-out line from Nash's promo directly established how big of a deal Joe is for the first time in 14 months.
Now, it's up to TNA to follow-through and elevate Joe and James Storm. These two will be main-eventing PPVs well after Sting, Nash, Booker, Steiner, and Angle are out of the company. TNA took the right step this week at the very least focusing on them as big deals. Send feedback on this article to pwtorch@gmail.com and we'll regularly publish reader feedback in the "Torch Feedback" category on the Main Listing.
