TNA Impact Hits & Misses 5/10
By Teddy Panagiotopoulos, PWTorch specialist

Pre-Impact Thoughts: On last week’s Impact, Alex Silva earned an Impact Wrestling contract via the approval of Al Snow, EVP of talent relations Bruce Prichard, and, eventually, Ric Flair. Did Silva deserve a contract? If it were decided strictly on his match against Robbie E., then the answer would be a negative. But, according to Prichard, he saw how well Silva competed in Ohio Valley Wrestling and knows what Silva is capable of. I agree with Al Snow that, with the right grooming and proper seasoning, Silva could be great. I mean, not every wrestler is perfect out of the gate so taking a chance on Silva is not a bad decision. But, I do disagree with the decision to have Silva earn a contract as the first contestant of the on-air Gut Check. It should be made more challenging to earn a contract so that when someone eventually does, it will mean much more. But, since Gut Check is only once a month, it is tough to build a weekly storyline into a monthly attraction.

This week, TNA is in final hype mode for Sunday’s Sacrifice PPV, which is scheduled for a headline match of Rob Van Dam challenging Bobby Roode for the World Heavyweight Championship. Did TNA do enough to entice viewers into purchasing the PPV and abandoning their mother’s love for wanting to watch wrestling on Mother’s Day? Let’s find out……

IMPACT HITS

-- Opening Segment: First, and I am sure I mentioned this previously, but why is Bobby Roode stuck with the “Bobby” name when he is the cocky, suit-wearing, heel? It was fine when he was drinking beer with James Storm, but he should have returned to the Robert Roode name when he first turned heel six months ago. Beyond that gripe, I liked Roode's promo to start the show. He has finally found his groove as World champion, and by announcing his “countdown” of two weeks until he is the "longest-reigning World Heavyweight champion in company history," it only helps magnify his cockiness and arrogance. Roode bragging about attacking RVD, Mr. Anderson, and Jeff Hardy on last week’s show did not help matters one bit when his three rivals stormed the ring to get themselves a piece of the champ, though. Ultimately, it led to Anderson and Hardy coming to blows amongst themselves and an appearance by Hulk Hogan.

While Hogan’s stipulation for the four-way Impact main event surely fit the Sacrifice theme billing, RVD looked like a true dope risking his World championship opportunity. Even Roode yelled at him to not take the chance, but Van Dam did so anyway. While I will focus on the rest of the segments involving these four men later on in the H&M’s, this opening segment did a fine job launching the show.

-- Velvet Sky vs. Brooke Tessmacher: While the overall match was a bit sloppy, the Hit is for what occurred after the match and for the storyline, in general. I like Gail Kim as the Knockouts champion and, while I may not have agreed with putting the title on her so suddenly after returning to TNA, I am a fan of the longevity of her Knockouts Championship reign and her role making Velvet Sky and, potentially, Brooke Tessmacher, look good in defeat. Also, as I mentioned in a previous column, the role of "underdog babyface" suits Tessmacher well - she is just starting to establish herself as an in-ring competitor.

I am sure people familiar with Tessmacher still think of her as just a member of Extreme Expose who is trying to wrestle. (Can anyone believe if Tessmacher wins the title on Sunday, that every member of that group will have won their respective company’s ladies’s championship? And, that two out of three - with Layla holding WWE's Divas Title - would be current champs? Certainly not something I would have thought would happen when they were aligned together 5-6-years ago.) In any event, Tessmacher will look to wrestle her best match to-date at Sacrifice when opposite Kim, but I firmly believe Kim will retain the KO Championship and head into Slammiversary next month as champion.

-- Bully Ray: Ray was all over the TV this week. He assaulted Matt Morgan prior to his match with Crimson, which ended with Morgan carried off in a stretcher and Ray proclaiming it would be Austin Aries’s future at Sacrifice. Then, his ongoing feud with Abyss’s "brother, Joseph Park," came to the forefront this week when Parks entered the Impact Zone for the first time and stood in the ring, soaking in the scenery, to call out Ray for a confrontation. After poking fun at Ray for losing to Devon and being pummeled by Aries last week and whether or not if the “bullying” was working for him, Ray used his bully antics on Parks by shoving the monster’s brother to the mat and walking out. When Ray walked out, Park, grinning toward the entrance way, looked as if he knew something Ray (and the fans) did not.

It appears TNA is lining up a series of babyfaces for Ray to feud with. His current top opponent, Aries, should get the victory over Bully at Sacrifice if TNA wants to show the X Division stars are more than just “a bunch of guys flying around and no-selling in the X Division." Then, Ray could be feuding with Abyss (again), this time at Slammiversary. Plus, whenever TNA wants to return to his open-ended feud with Devon, it's apparent Ray has his plate full of opponents in the coming months. Even though the big PPVs should end with feel-good moments, I would not be disappointed if Bully Ray eventually won the TNA World Heavyweight Championship at Bound For Glory. He has certainly put in massive amounts of effort and training to get himself in the best shape of his life. Why not reward the man with a run at the top of the mountain?

-- RVD Video Package: Before I get into the main event, I enjoyed the video packages and backstage segments for Rob Van Dam heading into his main event title match at Sacrifice. I can’t ever remember, in the last 15 years of following RVD’s career, this kind of character development for a guy who has been around for so long. It was refreshing to hear RVD talk about himself in a more personal way, and referring to Greek mythology and one of the gods who had the choice to live a long and peaceful life or the shortened but heroic life. It was different to see RVD talk about refusing to be held back in Battle Creek, Michigan, with the people he went to school with stuck working at a cereal mill. This provided a sense that RVD's character loves the sport and, despite the feeling he has been “phoning it in” in TNA, it's apparent he wants to live out this adventure for as long as he can because he does not know how much longer it will last.

-- Four Corners Match: At ten minutes, it was the longest match of the night and a good main event to cap off Impact. It was predictable for RVD to win the match, as I do not believe TNA would change the main event to Sacrifice in the final segment before the PPV. Do I think RVD will win the World Title on Sunday? No. But, do I think the deck is stacked against Roode now that he must defend his title in a Ladder match? Yes. RVD may not be the pioneer of the Ladder match, but he has much more experience in this type of atmosphere than Roode and thus the possibility of RVD capturing the championship is not out of the question.

IMPACT MISSES

-- Sacrifice PPV hype: On the final show before the PPV - where the Tag Titles will be defended - I did not see tag champs Magnus and Samoa Joe at all. I also do not recall a video package hyping the Tag Title match and even the challengers, Kazarian and Daniels, did not have the decency to mention their upcoming championship match. In fact, Kaz and Daniels were too focused on revealing A.J. Styles's “relationship” with Dixie Carter.

Also, while I think Bully Ray vs. Austin Aries is going to be a fantastic “big man vs. smaller man” match, where was the final hype for the match this week? Aries defended his X Division Championship against Zema Ion, but it was a means to an end of having Aries defending the title so he could hold onto it for another 30 days while Ray had his focus on Matt Morgan and Abyss. Granted, Ray’s assault on Morgan was directed at Aries, but it didn’t pack the punch it was intended for. Maybe TNA felt the in-ring exchange between Aries and Ray was strong enough to be the final confrontation between the two before Sacrifice.

As it relates to the Television Championship match, I am non-committal. Devon has already beaten Robbie E. three times with the championship on the line (totaling about ten minutes in the three matches) and he defeated Robbie T. via disqualification a few weeks ago. I do not see Devon losing the title to either man and I hope he then moves on to a more worthy challenger for Slammiversary. I am sure this will be touched on during the TV Title match, but I would have liked some dissension between Robbie E. and T. heading into Sacrifice. I bet there will be a moment in the match where egos clash and one man will prevent the other from capturing the championship, allowing Devon to take advantage and retain his championship. But, it would have been nice to have that played out somewhat on TV.

-- Rest of the Sacrifice card: What are A.J. Styles and Kurt Angle wrestling over? No doubt, it will be a great match, but I question the match happening to begin with. Will Kaz and Daniels, after failing to win the Tag Titles earlier in the night, try to get involved, and the match will serve as a way to turn Angle babyface?

The same question could be said about Anderson vs. Hardy. Is it simply a grudge match between two men who can’t get along? Or, is it more about both of them wanting to be the World champion and preventing the other from getting close to the title? It has been touched on briefly, but it hasn’t been the focus. It feels like Sacrifice is the first phase to a longer feud.

-- A.J. Styles "Scandal" reveal: In regards to the reveal, I felt it was underwhelming. For months, Daniels said he had something over Styles and was even holding it over Kazarian’s head to start with. Then, when Kazarian aligned himself with Daniels, it seemed whatever Daniels had over Styles was forgotten and the storyline has been dragged through the mud for so long that the revelation would not justify the lengthy hold-out.

***

-- Post-Impact Thoughts: I have enjoyed the last two weeks of Impact, with the main reason being the show has not been focused on Hulk Hogan. He was part of the opening segments the last two weeks and featured sparingly throughout the rest of the show. I think Impact was a very good show, and the ending with Abyss’s return could spark some more interest at Sacrifice. It seemed to confirm, with Joseph Park saying he would buy a ticket to be at Sacrifice (by the way, buddy, the show is free to attend!), and Abyss returning at the end, that Abyss would be part of the PPV in some capacity. That might entice viewers to cough up some cash to see what he does, but I am sure Abyss resurfacing in TNA would be highly-focused upon on next week’s show.

Also, as mentioned by James Caldwell and Greg Parks in their weekly Chat, this is one of the PPVs that TNA should remove from the calendar year. With Sacrifice sandwiched between Lockdown and Slammiversary, it is an event deemed not necessary. Will Sacrifice be a good event? Quite possibly, as the line-up looks good on paper. But, it just looks like a forgettable and passable event on the road to Slammiversary.

[Torch art credit Grant Gould (c) PWTorch.com]

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