Tha "iMPACT!" Dispatch: It's Tha Wrestling!

Memo to TNA-you are on the right track. I haven't watched much TNA lately, but what I saw last night was exponentially better than anything I had seen in TNA over the past few months. They stepped up their game last night, and I hope it's a trend.

Case and point. The show begins with Samoa Joe vs. Kaz for the World Heavyweight Championship. A title match for an opening bout? I'm down with that, especially with Kaz, who I wouldn't mind seeing with the belt at some point.

These two put on a great opening match, and after the match, Booker T came out to throw down a challenge to Samoa Joe. Booker claimed that Joe only won last Sunday because Kevin Nash interfered. Later in the show, Joe and Nash would get in each other's faces, with Nash claiming that Joe couldn't beat Booker because Booker was in Joe's head. Both promos were entertaining segment by three guys who can work the stick.

In the end, we were given the announcement that Booker T will face Samoa Joe at the main event of Victory Road. I'm not sure what role Kevin Nash will play in this match, and there's probably too much time between now and the match to speculate on that, but looking past that, a match between Joe and Booker will be sweet.

The World X Cup is returning, and I couldn't be happier. If there's one thing that TNA must be given credit for over WWE, it's this tournament. Most American fans don't get the chance to see wrestlers from Mexico or Japan, and the World X Cup does a great job of showcasing talent from around the world. Plus, Tyson Dux is going to be in the frigging thing. How can you not love that?

As a preview of the tournament, The Motorcity Machine Guns (representing Team TNA) took on Doi and Yoshino from Team Japan. I had never heard of these two guys, but they were a very entertaining tag team, and if the purpose of this match was to build anticipation for World X Cup, it did just that and then some.

LAX defended their tag team titles last night against Robert Roode and James Storm. All four guys in this match wrestled their asses off, and I O'd for Homocide hitting the Gringo Cutter on the ring apron. I realize that I shouldn't be surprised that Homocide did that, considering that he's done some really sick shit in the past, but it was still a sweet spot.

After a damn solid match, Storm tied a belt around his boot and hit Hernandez with the Superkick as he's about to give Roode the Border Toss (which, by the way, is the best finisher in wrestling). Roode pins Hernandez following the kick, and Roode and Storm are crowned new champs. Not to steal Booker T's steez, but I can dig it.

However, as the match ends, a commercial starts, and when they return from commercial, the match is officially restarted. Now, first of all, this is an excellent placement of commercial, a concept that often eludes TNA. Secondly, we got to see more of this match. Let's face it, watching Hernandez throw people around is fun.

Consequences Creed is one of my favorite guys in TNA right now. Part of why I'm marking out for the guy is that he's wrestling while still in college. You gotta tip your hat to a guy who's wrestling professionally while getting higher education. Last night, he lost to Sonjay Dutt, who seems primed for a push now that he's finally turned heel. Now the stage is set for Lethal vs. Dutt next Thursday. I smell a schmoz finish in the making, but that's neither here nor there.

Scott D'Amore is a freaking genius. Angelina Love and Velvet Sky can't cut very good promos (or, at least, they didn't last night), but their paper bag gimmick is so remarkably fitting.

It's no big secret that I'm not a fan of the Kurt Angle/Karen Angle storyline that keeps repeating every month, but it finally looks like it has a purpose. AJ Styles is now a face again and is getting a push. Even though this was a gimmick match, I was fine with that, as the stipulation fit into the storyline. AJ, the face, kept getting attacked by the heel lumberjacks at the behest of Kurt Angle.
After Kurt got the win, the major heels (Angle, Tomko, Team 3D) began to beat up on AJ and the other major faces (Christian, Rhino, Matt Morgan) until the new look Abyss came down to the ring. I'm excited to see Abyss back, I think he's a solid worker and can be a valuable asset to TNA.

Also in the aftermath, Awesome Kong came down to ring and attacked Karen Angle per Kurt's orders. Again, I think this whole story played itself out a long time ago, but last night's show was so good from top to bottom that I'm not going to let it ruin what I believed to otherwise be an damn strong show. Kudos, TNA.

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