Coming off two solid Impacts taped from England and on the heels of a lackluster PPV this past Sunday, what can we expect from TNA Impact this week? That's the problem...let's find out.

Last Week

In the final Impact taped from England, TNA delivered a decent show. The week prior—also taped while in England—TNA once again delivered a decent performance. Since then, we have had a below average PPV and a lot of changes backstage. This is going to be an interesting Impact to be certain.

This Week's Opening Segment

Bobby Roode opens this edition of Impact by coming to the ring to gloat about still being Champ post Against All Odds and takes the opportunity to make fun of Sting for his role in the PPV, in which we saw Sting accidentally hit Jeff Hardy with Roode's title allowing Roode to pin Hardy to retain. 

Sting came out to declare that he did in fact make a mistake, and because of that he needs to make things right for Jeff Hardy. According to Sting, Hardy deserves yet another title shot and that shot will come on this edition of Impact in a No DQ/No time limit match—despite the show's two hour time limit, and much to the displeasure of Roode.

Segment Pros

It was relatively short and that is always good with talking segments.

Roode still being the champ is a very good thing for TNA, as prior to his run the TNA Heavyweight Title was becoming a joke. The building of Roode—despite the stupid decision to have Sting make him submit in a main event match last week on Impact—has been stellar.

Roode has swagger. He is equal parts Curt Hennig, Rick Flair and Ravishing Rick Rude all in one character. He has the body language, the facial expression and voice inflection to support his mic skills and in-ring ability to be the complete heel that TNA needs moving forward.

Segment Cons

My idea of having Bully Ray take advantage of Roode at Against All Odds by allowing Bully to pin James Storm to become champion was—in my humble opinion—a much better idea than what TNA came up with here.

Bobby Roode could have opened this Impact complaining how he was never pinned and therefore not only did he never lose his title but that Bully Ray is not the real "champion". Bully could have come out to gloat—prompting these two to get physical—before Sting came out to make a match between them later on in this edition of Impact.

Roode would then do what he does best—cheat—to reclaim his title and everything would be right back on track. In this manner, Roode would have never lost any heat and most likely would have picked up more as a result and Bully Ray would have received a nice, brief career nod. It would have been a welcome mini-pause in Roode's reign.

Sting could have then named Storm as the new number one contender and there ya go.

Instead we get Hardy in yet another title shot vs. Roode.

Sting was—as usual—way over the top on the mic in this segment and Roode was equally over the top with his reaction to Sting's announcement. No one in this segment is a threat for an Oscar nomination.

***The camera showed New York Giants' Brandon Jacobs at ringside. Now, unless he was visiting Disney Land, why would he be in the Impact Studio? Hmm....

Back from Commercial ...

Hardy. vs Roode

Jeff Hardy came out with a lot of intensity that continued throughout a very long, mostly one-sided match that eventually saw Roode pin Hardy with an assist from a returning (why????) Kurt Angle.

Match Rating: 1 star

Match Pros

Hardy lost and at least it was not the main event. Angle interfering like he did puts Hardy into a feud with him and away from the title—making that the only reason this was a pro. That's it, as I seriously can't think of anything else that was positive about this match.

Match Cons

While it's a pro that Angle's interference takes Hardy out of the title picture, it also signals the start of a Hardy/Angle feud that I don't want to see. I don't know anyone else that wants to see it either. 

This was an incredibly long, incredibly boring, incredibly one-sided match that saw way too many standard moves sold like a bomb went off. At one point, Hardy tossed Roode off the ramp and Roode landed on his feet and sold it as if he landed on his head. Tenay and Taz even made it appear like it was a hard fall. "Nothing but concrete" screamed Tenay.

Apparently we are supposed to be dumb.

Angle's run-in was a disappointment as I was hoping he would be gone a lot longer than he was. There are so many other people that they could have put in Angle's spot to give them some exposure. Pope immediately comes to mind. Angle is played out, and I, for one, am tired of seeing him—and Hardy—on Impact.

***Back from Commercial—Bobby Roode gloats in the back about beating Hardy and complains about Sting stacking the deck against him. Sting shows up to prove Roode's point. Sting is going to be setting up a number one contenders match later on between "a couple of gentleman" in his quest to rid TNA of Roode as a Champ.

***Eric Young is in the back with a...guitar?  You see, Eric forgot to get something for ODB on Valentines Day, so he is apparently going to sing to her later to win her back. By the way, the reason he forgot Valentines Day? Well,  Tuesday is a long day for Eric—he wakes at 2 AM, goes goes to Jujitsu class because shoot fighting is his life. Later, his license was taken away for an unknown reason so he had to walk home where he faced his blind mother in a best four-out-of-seven backgammon tournament in which he won—because she's blind. It happens.

***Sting meets up with Bully Ray and James Storm and offers them a number one contenders match as the main event on Impact tonight. Good stuff.

***Back from Commercial—Mike Tenay provides a voice-over update on the injury Jesse Sorenson received at Against All Odds. Jesse has a long recovery ahead after breaking his neck and bruising his spine. It was a clean, crisp, professional and well done update that did not exploit in any way. Good job, TNA. 

X-Division Champion Austin Aries and Zema Ion vs. Alex Shelley and Shannon Moore

Ion comes out first only to be pushed out of the way by Aries—and rightfully so—because Aries is, after all, the greatest man that ever lived. This was an average match that saw Ion roll up Shelley for the win.

Match Rating: 1 Star

Match Pros

Anytime Aries is involved I'm going to be happy. Ion—a young, fresh talent—getting exposure is a good thing. I liked the pairing of Shelley and Moore and it was great to see Moore getting some exposure.

Mach Cons

Given the talent in the ring, this should have been a longer, better match. Instead, it was very short, rushed and just another day at the TNA office where they say they want to showcase the X-Division and end up proving that their intentions are merely lip-service.

TNA wasted a great opportunity to have some sort of interaction between Aries and his new number one contender as well as not putting their absolute best foot forward by allowing Aries time to do what he does best—cut a promo.

Complete booking incompetence exposes that TNA still has a long way to go before they can ever be taken seriously.

***Backstage Gail Kim walks with Madison Rayne as Gail laments on how she is not appreciated as the champ. Madison Rayne tells her that tonight—in the 10-woman battle royal in which the winner gets a shot at Kim and her title—Rayne will have her best interests at heart. All Kim has to do is sit and look pretty at ringside and not worry about any of those girls because none of them could beat Kim for her title.

Madison conveniently left her name out of "the other girls" comment and with that we can all collectively smell what she is cookin'. Good stuff.

Back from commercial it's time for the Battle Royal. 

TNA Knockouts Battle Royal

A decently paced and properly timed match that had Madison and Kim sitting at ringside mocking each wrestler that was eliminated. The end saw Madison enter the ring to eliminate Velvet Sky who appeared to be the winner.

Match rating: 2 stars

Match Pros

I am not sure what is going on within TNA, but this match once again ends with a future match pitting heel vs. heel against each other.

I like this trend.

Sarita looked awesome in that outfit and is poorly used in TNA. She needs to be elevated. The match was well paced and properly booked. It served its purpose and entertained.

Madison Rayne winning the match was unexpected—if you didn't read the spoilers—proving it interesting decision as it sets up an interesting match with Kim in the future.

Match Cons

While it was an "interesting" twist to have Madison win in the fashion that she did one has to wonder if the fact that she went to the floor when the match started be a cause for her elimination? It was odd and confusing and not sold or explained very well by Taz and Tenay, which comes as no surprise to anyone.

It was one of those examples where TNA creative once again got lazy.

***Backstage a fired up James Storm declares he will defeat Bully Ray in the main event later on Impact. He put an exclamation point on his statement by punching a hole in a wall—walls don't punch back Jimmy.

***Back from Commercial Joe and Magnus celebrate their title victory with each man getting a change to talk. Joe—not know for promo work—was pretty good here. This pairing was one of the best things TNA has done in years...you heard me, years.

Back from Commercial Bischoff and company hit the ring and suddenly I need my Tums.

Eric Bischoff, Gunner, Ric Flair and...Chelsea?

Eric Bischoff, a man that really loves to hear himself talk and is the only one that does, brags about Gunner defeating his son Garett at Against All Odds, supposedly killing off his career before it began. Champagne and cigars were brought out as if this was something we should all care about when in reality no one does.

Segment Pros

It was short. That's it.

Segment Cons

So TNA can bring back Chesea but allow Desmond Wolf to walk? Unbelievable.

This segment should have never happened. TNA just wasted money—money they don't have— by having to pay Flair, Chelsea and Gunner an appearance fee for doing nothing. What did this segment add to Impact? TNA simply does not get it. Eric Bischoff is not "over" because he is an effective heel that draws heat. Eric Bischoff gets booed because TNA fans don't want him in the ring, on the mic or involved with the on-air aspect of the program.

Dixie Cater—in knowing a thing about this business—has been conned into thinking that she needs people like Russo and Bischoff. TNA just got rid of Russo because that is what Russo wanted. Unfortunately, there is no one in Dixie's ear to make her realize that Bischoff also needs to go.

***Backstage the camera focuses on Bully Rays calves as if they are important in aiding him in winning a world title. I just don't don't get the Bully Ray calf-obsession. Apparently Bully Ray is known as "Calf-zilla" and since I never hear him referred to that at anytime in his 20-year wrestling career I will assume it's the pet name that other wrestlers gave him while showering together in the many, many locker room showers they have all used together all those years on the road.

While that might explain how those calves got that big let's hope TNA does not feel the need to provide us with a back story about it.

Anyway, Bully gives a great promo—as usual—and declares he will defeat James Storm. If TNA is smart, they would have him do just that—but that's a huge if.

***Back from Commercial Christy Hemme is seen interviewing Mike Strata about the new LIVE MMA recap show debuting next week. This was incredibly stupid of TNA and you can see why in the very last item in the "Things Observed" section at the end of this article.

***Eric Young catches up to ODB in the back...Okay, I really get on TNA for their attempts at humor and going to the well too often with Young in these type of segments. However, they are smart to keep them short and how can you NOT laugh at a song that contains the following line: "I fell for you like a turd from a tall horse."

I'm sorry—I am a total Young/ODB mark. You compare the talent he has to the talent Eric Bischoff thinks he has and it's truly mind-boggling at how they are used within TNA.

Main Event: Bully Ray vs. James Storm

Methodical, one-sided match that showcased why Bully Ray is one of the best workers in the business and why he should have won the title—even for a very short time—at Against All Odds. Bully Ray worked the leg and the foot of Storm the entire match to thwart Storms dangerous and out-of-nowhere finisher—The Last Call—but in the end it wasn't enough as Storm unleashed the super kick from hell for the three-count.

Match Rating: 4 stars

Pros

While in many way this was as much a one-sided match as the earlier Hardy/Storm opener, it was one-sided in a good way and told a far better story. Bully Ray was methodical in his pursuit of defeating James Storm in order to become the No. 1 contender. He told a great story of trying to negate Storms major offensive weapon—the super kick. Bully was very effective and Storm sold it well.

In the end, it was not enough as Storm won clean and without interference—another pro about this match because it legitimizes Storm—with the super kick from out of nowhere despite the efforts of Ray to prevent him from doing just that.

In this match we witnessed why I named Storm's "Last Call" as the best finisher in TNA right now.

Storm winning this match clean with a move—that comes without warning and from out of no where— that can defeat anyone—including Roode—makes him a serious and legitimate threat to win the title.

This is great news for Storm and his fans after a few moths of being pushed down. 

Read about my pics for TNA's best finishers in my recent TNA 5 Spot column. The link appears at the end of this article.

Cons

I cannot think of anything negative. Unlike the Hardy/Roode title match to open this Impact, I felt the importance of this match come through in the story that was told. 

Post Match Celebration

James Storm decided to celebrate with Brandon Jacobs at ringside. Bully Ray attacked Storm and then confronted Jacobs. Bully took his beer, berated the big man and then spit beer onto his face. Jacobs exploded by shoving—and not pulling anything back—Bully Ray who subsequently took a hard bump into the side of the ring.

Security—including a very unconvincing, cartoon-faced D-LO Brown—held back Jacobs from doing more damage as Impact went to commercial.

Normally I am not a major fan of non-wrestling entertainers, athletes and actors getting involved in wrestling, but TNA could use all the publicity they can get. Jacobs was pretty good here and managed to avoid both underselling and overselling his involvement as most non-wrestlers are prone to do when they get involved with an angle.

***Back from Commercial Storm and Jacobs talk about what just happened and Jacobs was absolutely horrendous. Lesson learned TNA—let him be physical next week but keep him away from the mic.

***Impact ends this week in a very strange way. Normally Impact ends with a match but this week it ends as it opened—with Sting and Roode in the ring.

Sting announces that Storm will face Roode at TNA's next PPV, Lock Down, and it will be in a steel cage.

Roode attacks Sting, beating him over and over until eventually rendering Sting bloody and unconscious. Roode closes out the show while looking down at a fallen and bloody Sting suggesting that Sting learn to mind his own business.

Powerful segment that must come at some cost for a wrestler attacking an official, but I can only hope things between Roode and Sting end here—as Sting made Roode tap last week and Roode got his revenge this week—and without a future match between these two.

Please TNA, don't go there.

Overall Bottom Line this Week

Interesting show that did not have a lot of matches but told a lot of stories. Overall, it was a good Impact but despite a 10-woman battle royal it was another week that exposes TNA's penchant for poor roster use. 

Where is Styles, Kaz, Daniels, Pope and Kash? These are the people we want to see, Why does TNA fail to realize this?

If Aries is going to be on in a wrestling capacity he needs to have a mic in his had at some point before or after his match. Having Aries on Impact and not giving him a mic is like having a Yacht and never letting it out of the dock.

When Styles is not on, it does not feel like TNA. Pope can't be on but Bischoff can?

TNA can do much, much better but in no way was this a bad edition of Impact. It was a good show overall.

Weekly Awards

Line of the Night: "It feels more than, it feels right because Joe and I are the best team going today"—Magnus on winning the Tag Titles at Against All Odds. Testify my brother!

Star of the Night" Bully Ray for his methodical tactics vs. Storm reminding us that this is wrestling after all.

Match of the Night: Bully Ray vs. Storm. It felt like an important match and that is the point. Great story told.

Promo of the Night: Magnus and Joe in the back celebrating their title win. Joe—not know for promo's—was good and Magnus continued to show his skill.Joe's smug chuckle at the mention of Crimson's undefeated streak told a very real—and true—story of what a joke that streak is.

Dud of the Night: Brandon Jacobs on the mic. Stick to football, kid.

Based on their performance I want to see more of: Magnus, Joe, Roode, Bully, Storm, Styles, Daniels,Sarita, Young, ODB, Moore, Shelley, Aries and Ion. 

Based on their performance I want to see less of: Flair, Eric Bischoff, Gunner, Brandon Jacobs on the Mic, Jeff Hardy who has suddenly become RD, predictable and lame, 

25 Things observed watching this Impact

1. Sting has been in the business for over 20 years and in all that time he has yet to learn that a microphone allows him to speak in normal tones so he won't have to yell for everyone to hear him. 

2. Bobby Roode just faced three men at a PPV in which he emerged victorious. In fact, he pinned Hardy to retain his title. So why is he so upset at only having to face just one man, Hardy, tonight on Impact? And the Oscar goes too....not Bobby Roode.

3. Why does Sting wear sunglasses and gloves indoors?

4: Hardy's body is clearly banged up. It's painful just watching him. He has become RVD before our eyes.

5. Eric Young should get his own sitcom on TV. He should at the every least get some guest spots on some weekly comedies. The guy is incredibly entertaining...the only problem is, I don't think he is acting. That's a scary thought but he's still funny.

6. Seeing Sorenson lie on the mat like that, particularly the angle of his arm and legs, it was clear he was in pain and had no feeling going on—scary. Hopefully he can come back and TNA can really have an real inspiring story to work with.

7. In just coming to the ring by moving Ion out of his way, Austin Aries made it worthwhile for me to tune into Impact this week. I am a total and complete Aries mark and I admit that with pride.

8. Ion should do a 450-splash on whomever it was that cut his hair while they—or perhaps he, or both—were drunk.

9. I like the idea of pairing Ion and Aries as a team on the heels of Ion becoming the number one contender to Aries title. They fact they did not really address this in a post-match was incredibly shot-sighted.

10. Shelley and Moore actually make a pretty good looking team.

11. It's nice to see Moore in action on Impact. The only mystery is, who it was that remembered he was still on the roster?

12. How much does anyone want to bet that Tenay never heard of Brandon Jacobs before trying to make it seem like he did on tonight's Impact?

13. Shelley is very talented—aside from the fact that he makes me sick pandering to the crowd before, during and after every single move.

14. You have to love Madison Rayne in her role. In that backstage segment with Kim, Madison does a convincing job of telling Kim what she needed to hear, and not what was really going on in her mind.

It was a classic metaphoric example of Madison peeing on Kim's back and telling her that it was 'Rayning".

15. Brooke has the best rear-end in the business. Seriously, it's hypnotic. If she did Velvet's entrance I believe Taz would explode.

16. Velvet has the best entrance of all knockouts...it needs to be in slow motion even though it would give Taz a heart attack. On second thought, that's just a good reason to put it in slow motion.

17. Why does Winter have so many rolls under her arms? She is skinny, so where are they coming from? She has more rolls under her arms that the bakery on the corner has for sale.

18. Why would Tara—by all accounts a great technical female wrestler—attempt to pick up ODB from the apron instead of kicking her off of it to eliminate her? It's little things like that...

19: During the Knockouts match Tenay "just received word from the back" that "Immortals" Eric Bischoff just arrived and will come out later to speak his mind. "Immortal" no longer exists and no one wants to see E.B or hear E.B on TV. It's little things like that too...

20. Velvet Skye continues to be over with the crowd—and continues to be mismanaged by TNA.

21. Anyone catch Samoa Joe try (and fail) to hold in his laugh when the off-screen interviewer said that Crimson was undefeated? We are all laughing with you Joe, and I hope TNA is smart enough to have Joe—who had a legit streak—be the man to break Crimson's fake and unjust streak sometime in the very near future.

22. Watching Ric Flair walking to the ring with Chelsea, Gunner and Eric Bischoff for a two minute segment in which he played second fiddle to the likes of E.B. is painful to watch. Once a legend in the business—now a joke—Flair—judging by the way he drank that "champagne—probably agreed to appear because of the Champagne. Sad to watch.

23. Only Eric Young would sing a song about falling for a girl like a turd from a tall horse.

24. Only ODB would be turned on by that.

25. Bully Ray audibly screamed to a fan at ringside "Shut-up Bitch" and got a great reaction from the crowd. Bully Ray is one of a handful of wrestlers that can make a dead crowd wake up.

26. When is the last time you saw a wrestler go so methodical focusing on the body part of a wrestler that they took off their opponents boot off? This is why Bully Ray is one of the best workers in the business.

27. Once again—on a taped show—TNA goes to commercial break during the main event. TNA continues to have bad commercial management which is the leading reason why their ratings suffer. Check out my recent column "Explaining TNA's Low Ratings and Why It Doesn't Matter"—the link appears at the end of this article.

28. Great Main event, telling a good story and setting up the long awaited feud between James Storm and Bobby Roode. Good interaction from Brandon Jacobs until they let him talk on the mic. Let's hope TNA will learn a lesson from this when he appears on next week's Impact.

29. Instead of people continuing to slam Hogan, perhaps they should focus on slamming Sting for his over-involvement in the main events on Impact complete with making the champ Tap-out just prior to the main event. The criticism no longer applies to Hogan folks...Sting is the problem now.

30. Final thought...Having Christy Hemme interview the guy from Spikes new LIVE MMA show debuting next week on Spike was perhaps the dumbest thing I have ever seen.

Why?

This show will most likely replace TNA as Spike's number one show and the fact that it will be LIVE while TNA foolishly remains a taped product—and one that desperately needs to be live—is mind-boggling.

I get that TNA aligning itself with this show is good for TNA by association, but it simply makes no sense unless Spike and TNA will attempt to monitor the success of this live show as a possible litmus test for TNA IMPACT to go live on Spike as well in the near future.

That's all for this week my friends!

Missed Last Week's Review  (Which is likely seeing as how it was never edited or moved up as usual on the TNA page here at Bleacher Report)? Check It out: TNA IMPACT REVIEW  For February 9, 2012

Special Commentary

Explaining TNA's Low Ratings and Why It Doesn't Matter

Check out my other columns in the TNA 5 Spot Series

TNA 5 Spot: Five Reason Why TNA needs to Abandon their Monthly PPV

TNA 5 Spot: Five Angles I want to see in TNA this year

TNA 5 Spot: Top Five Wrestlers with the Best Offensive Arsenal in TNA Right Now

TNA 5 Spot: Top 5 Finishers in TNA Right Now

TNA 5 Spot: 5 Things TNA Can Do to Compete with WWE

TNA 5 Spot: Top 5 Underutilized Wrestlers on the TNA Roster Right Now

TNA 5 Spot: Top 5 Mic Skills in TNA Right Now

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