SUBMITTED BY THE NEWEST MEMBER OF THA O SHOW WRITING TEAM: THE HITMANAt last Sunday's Turning Point pay-per-view, TNA did almost everything right. The young talent got over, the main event was an instant classic, the X-Division got a kick with the PCS, a possible reunion of Roode and Young was teased and they managed to keep Ron Killings from going postal for one more week.
After an event that did so much to lay solid building blocks for both the near and distant future, TNA had to keep up their momentum on Thursday's "iMPACT!". While it wasn't a perfect episode, it was easily one of the best "iMPACT!" programs to be broadcast since the inception of the show.
Before the opening video was even shown, Don West was taken out by Kurt Angle. I'm going to start a petition saying that every "iMPACT!" should start like this. It instantly makes the program better.
Moments before West was taken out, Samoa Joe cut a promo stating that he was now more interested in the NWA Heavyweight Championship than he was in a rematch with Angle. A teaser for a future storyline: that's something TNA rarely does.
Build-up = ratings. There was one bad thing about this, though. Angle then spent the entire night going around the back acting like a lunatic, which didn't make any sense. Wasn't he supposed to be the bigger face of the two? And isn't taking out Eric Young backstage pretty much the most heel thing you can do these days?
Speaking of Eric Young, TNA is doing a good job of leaving the Young/Roode tandem in suspense. A lot of smarks would love to see these two as a tag-team again, and the way TNA is playing it out is going to make it red hot if it happens. I'll get back to that in a minute.
An Abyss squash, early in the program, I can somewhat understand - but to Ron Killings? Seriously, aren't they trying to keep this guy from wanting out? Killings has enough charisma and good enough in-ring skills to be a main eventer, but he's been overlooked ever since the summer of 2004. No wonder he wants out so badly.
It would seem that Petey Williams is actually going to get a push. Following what happened in his match tonight, a heel turn for Daniels seems imminent, so Williams, who is quietly one of the most over faces in TNA, might be in line for another run with the X-Division Title. Who wouldn't love to see that?
The PCS...it seems to be a see-saw storyline there. One week, it'll be entertaining, the next week it'll be cheesy or just plain not funny. I enjoyed the ink blot segment last week, as well as the match at Turning Point, but the push-up scene tonight was very poorly done. And the steroid jokes were old after about 10 seconds.
The time it takes you to read this sentence was about the approximate amount of time that VKM had anything shown this week.
Getting back to the Young/Roode thing...after what happened in the main event match, I think their reunion will most likely happen. I understand that putting over LAX is something TNA wants to focus on since they're a young team that will probably be around for a long time. The AMW gimmick has gone stale and pretty much run its course, but they could have given this feud a much bigger payoff match.
Have it at Final Resolution and make it a Full Metal Mayhem match or something of that sort. Also, I question breaking up AMW at this point in time. Team 3D doesn't wrestle as much as they used to, VKM never wrestles and with Shane Douglas leaving The Naturals, they may end up in creative limbo - there's not many teams left. The tag division in TNA is slowly shrinking without most of us picking up on it.
While I disagree with breaking up AMW, I'm interested to see how it will play out and what will happen to Harris and Storm after they're done feuding. History has taught us all that one of them is gonna become a star and the other one will end up jobbing.
Finally, we had Christian Cage and Tomko with the age-old, God-awful "I've got a secret" angle. I'm going to have to do my best Eric Young impression for a moment and be scared of the ghost of Katie Vick. This is one of the worst angles in wrestling, and why it gets used is beyond my comprehension. Another angle that gets used a lot is the whole "manager and wrestler coming to blows as one turns on the other" storyline.
The beginning steps of this are being displayed with Abyss and Mitchell. Why is this even necessary? Abyss is already in the middle of a storyline, with two feuds, no less. There's no real reason to tack this on right now.However, for the sake of argument, let's just say that Abyss turns on Mitchell, or vice versa. What happens then? It would seem logical that TNA would partner Mitchell with someone new and have them feud with Abyss. So now, in addition to being the champion, he's feuding with three different people.
If this were to happen, one of two things would occur - either "iMPACT!" would have Abyss on screen for a good three quarters of the show - or suddenly the champion would be taking a backseat to other storylines, thus devaluing the belt in the eyes of viewers.
Would a Mitchell/Abyss separation lead to a good storyline? Maybe. But not while Abyss is the champ. And probably not for another 6 months or so after he loses the belt, because we all know how big of a hard-on TNA has for rematch storylines.
Overall, it wasn't a perfect show, but it would seem that TNA is starting to understand how to put together solid programming. Now they need to keep building on this. They need to use the momentum that they're gaining. TNA is starting to get it.
I wonder what the hell happened to Russo, though. There's no way in hell that he could be the one responsible for putting out this good of a product.
7 comments: on "TNA's Real "Turning Point""
Welcome to Tha O Show Hitman...we appreciate you coming aboard...fine work, thus far.
One thing...I disagree about the PCS skits. I actually find myself really enjoying them.
I love how Nash has re-invented himself by not taking himself too seriously. He seems to have a natural knack for comedy and I like how the skits seems very improvish.
I thought it was hilarious when Jay Lethal had to do push-ups first and asked why. To which Nash goes "Cuz you're black". At the same time, I both couldn't believe he said that and thought it was so funny as well - I didn't take offense at all.
Also loved when Alex Shelley was singing "Push Ups" to the tune of Salt-N-Pepa's "Push It". I'll give 'em this...PCS is WAY better than VKM.
Abyss v Killings was not a squash... it was a loss... a good test to get the crowd's reaction to a possible future main-event... Killings is money
I myself do like the idea of having the PCS storyline; I just think some of the jokes they use aren't as funny as the rest. Not many people have ever accused Nash of being a comedian, so while he does do a good job, it's hit or miss, so every now and then he'll inadvertantly throw a stinker in there. In my opinion, the best way to play it out would be to have Nash rag a different person in the PCS each week. That way, we don't hear the same joke every week (the steroid thing was funny the first week, but the second week it seemed like he was just rehashing what he had last week).
I'll give you that, it wasn't a classic sqaush-type match, but they did spend a large portion of the match having Killings try to unsuccessfuly perform moves as simple as an irish whip or a toe kick.
I don't know if anyone here has heard of Ballpark Brawl, but it's a yearly indy show in Buffalo, and a few years ago they had Killings face Abyss. It was a very good match. When I heard about this match, I had hopes that it would lead to a feud over the title down the line based on how solid their match at BPB was. Whether or not it will happen remains to be seen.
As far as Joe v Angle... I think they're just alternating face/heel roles, so neither entertainer loses their momentum and/or marketability; but still able to keep this program interesting... and yes a weekly Don West attack (by anyone in the TNA lockerroom) would make for great entertainment
How come jobbers never have cool secrets?
Signguy-
Abyss' appearance always did remind me of a Kane/Mankind hybrid. Maybe they'll also include that he has a fetish for socks.
I don't know why, but for some reason, one of the lines that Christian Cage said at Bound For Glory has been playing through my head all day-"So I guess this means I'm not invited to Sunday dinner anymore. Well, that's okay, because your aunt's cooking sucked anyway."
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