Impact? Not quite...

Here is a post of a different kind for me, or at least one based on a subject I just don't write a lot about these days. That's right, wrestling. Pro wrestling to be exact. Tonight was the first time in a while that I've actually gone out of my way to watch a TNA show. Generally speaking, things don't usually make all that much sense and there seems to be a lot of random match ups and what not. Needless to say, tonight was absolutely no different.

Yeah I know not every show in the world will be to everyone's liking, I get that part. But after all of this time, I was hoping that maybe things would have changed by now. You know, maybe their story telling would have gotten better? Well like I said, tonight was absolutely no different I'm afraid.

First off, Kurt Angle vs. Matt Morgan for Bound For Glory? Now I get there is a bit of revenge to be had, since apparently Morgan had "cost" Angle the TNA World title. But from the way Angle played it off, his losing the title didn't seem to bother him all that much. Hell, I thought it was kind of funny when he said the Main Event Mafia continued their dominance by holding onto most of their titles. Oops! That's right, everyone but you!

Speaking of the TNA World title, AJ Styles as Champion is awesome to me. I've been a fan of his for a long while, definitely longer then I have been a TNA fan. What bugged me is how he came across during his first promo as champ. He called Sting out to the ring and exchanged some words of praise and then Sting goes to leave.

But!

Then Styles says he knows what Sting did for him at No Surrender. What did he do exactly? Well he could have pinned Angle and won the title for himself. Instead he dove out and took out Matt Morgan, leaving Styles to win the title. He (Sting) stepped aside for him and handed him the title!

I don't know, to me that whole promo came across as if Styles was actually undermining himself as champion. What I am hoping won't happen is Styles turns (or Sting turns) heel again. Please! Don't. Do. It!

Another point of confusion for me was the street fight between Suicide and D'Angelo Dinero (formerly Eljiah Burke). Who was the heel here? It sure seemed like everyone was more behind Dinero then Suicide, whom I assumed was the good guy in this exchange.

Truthfully, I don't care much for the Suicide character all that much. On the flip side though, it was pretty cool to see Dinero in action. Glad to see the guy getting more TV time then when he was with WWE. Hopefully there will be a title reign in his future somewhere.

The TNA Knockouts Tag Title match between the new champs Sarita & Taylor Wilde against ODB & Tara was an okay match. I guess it could have been a lot better or even great, but for whatever reason Awesome Kong walked down and Tara went on the attack, leaving ODB alone against the newly crowned champions.

What does this accomplish? Heck if I know! Are they trying to set up a possible triple threat between Kong, Tara and ODB? It appears that way to me...

Samoa Joe versus Daniels versus Homicide wasn't all that much better. If TNA was trying to recapture the magic of old, it was a failure in my opinion. I mean Joe and Homicide spent most of the match beating down Daniels and it wasn't until the end when Joe and Homicide turned on each other and Joe destroyed him.

Let me put it this way: The match was pretty dull.

Speaking of which, why the hell is Christopher Daniels just called Daniels now? Being a wrestling fan who reads more recaps then is able to watch the shows, I was a little confused for a while when I kept reading Daniels. I think his trip as Curry Man, then Suicide ruined this guy's career. So sad...

Matt Morgan & Hernandez versus Kurt Angle & Eric Young served a little purpose I suppose, in that the divide between the MEM and World Elite seems to be widening by the week. Truthfully I was surprised when Morgan and Hernandez didn't jump out of the ring and attack both the Mafia and World Elite. They have issues with both sides and these guys are freakin' human towers! But meh, that is just me I guess.

Bobby Lashley kills Jethro Holliday. Need I say more?

I'm actually intrigued by the TNA Tag Team Champions, Scott Steiner and Booker T. These two guys have a lot of history with each other and they've exchanged the WCW World title a few times as well. And I have to agree, they do look pretty good as tag team. I never, ever would have thought I'd see one half of Harlem Heat teaming with one half of the Steiner brothers.

As far as Mick Foley and Abyss is concerned... what the hell is this? Foley is mad over a busted picture and Abyss is still an emotional "monster"? I can't believe they wasted the main event spot for this "match," which seemed to only serve the purpose of allowing Foley to beat the hell out of Abyss over said picture. What is even sadder is the fact that actual teams like Lethal Consequences and the Motor City Machine Guns are used in the stupid backstage crap.

Overall, as I'm sure it is a little obvious by now, I didn't really enjoy the show all that much. It was my hope that the show would have gotten better since the last time I watched and to be fair it has, to a certain degree. What saddens me is I felt like I was still watching a WWE show, with all of these ex-WWE wrestlers running all over the place.

Like others have stated, I would love to see the X-Division returned to its former glory. It was a spot fest some days, sure. But the action was a much faster pace and it was certainly different then having to always watch these slower matches. It is a nice change of pace. And hell, if these tag teams of X-Division guys won't ever be used as teams, then why not break it up and have them return to the X-Division? At least they would be able to have matches more often or so I'd think.

AJ Styles as TNA World Champion is cool.

AJ Styles underselling himself and saying the title was handed to him? Not so much. I had flashbacks to when Eric Bischoff handed Triple H the World Heavyweight title, back in the day when Brock Lesner took the WWE Undisputed Championship to Smackdown.

I'm not wrestling genius, but I don't think that is how you'd want to start to build up a World Champion. My only guess to the reason why this was done is because there is something brewing... and I hope my predictions on what is entirely wrong.

One thing I forgot to mention that I actually liked was Alissa Flash's attack on Hamada. The attack seemed to drag a little too long, but I am liking how TNA is actually building up some heels for their Knockouts Division. From my limited knowledge, it sure seems like they are lacking in that respect.

Speaking of whom, where were the Beautiful People tonight?

Last thing here, I wonder where this rivalry between the Main Event Mafia and World Elite is going? Both are heel groups and I can't see either side being able to flip over to being entirely good guys. Hmm...

Overall, I am a little disappointed with the show just because of the fact that I would love to be a fan of this company. But nine times out of ten, the shows just aren't all that enjoyable for me. I guess all I can do now is back off, keep an eye on the recaps and perhaps try this yet again in the future.