TNA Impact! Recap and Opinions

TNA is slowly but truly rebuilding their Thursday audience and the ratings are showing why.  Thursday's nights edition of TNA Impact! scored a 1.0 rating (rounded up from 0.96) with 1,286,000 million viewers, up from last week's number.  Though they are still behind their usual Thursday nights drawing, TNA is seeing that the move back to Thursday was a step in the right direction.

Now, here is the recap and opinions of this past edition of TNA Impact!:

The show began with Eric Bischoff walking out with his beautiful female assistant to announce the results of the top 10 rankings.  From 10 to five, it was Samoa Joe, Rob Terry, Desmond Wolfe, “The Pope” D’Angelo Dinero, Abyss, and Mr. Anderson.  Four was Jeff Hardy, three was A.J Styles, two was Kurt Angle, and the No. 1 contender was...Sting.

After he was announced, Sting walked down the rampway and knocked out Bischoff with his black bat.  Hardy would then deliver a Twist of Fate to Sting.  This would set up not only the Slammiversary main event with Rob Van Dam, but TNA Impact’s main event, featuring Sting vs Hardy.  

The opening of the show was pretty strong, as Sting would be the center focus of the program.

The first match opened with Roxxi against Madison Rayne.  It was nice to see Roxxi back in the ring, defeating Rayne.  To me, this match wasn’t anything to talk about.  It was a match and lets leave it at that.

Kurt Angle would then make his TNA return, cutting a strong promo about withdrawing from the ranking list and starting fresh.  I could see a push happening for Angle.

The next match was between Rob Terry and Orland Jordan.  

On a side note, wasn’t that entrance by Jordan something you don’t see everyday?  Personally, I like it when unexpected events occur.

Jordan would be victorious and nearly split Terry’s legs in half after the match by putting more damage to his injured leg.  

The next match was a decent one featuring Beer Money Inc vs Rob Van Dam and Jay Lethal.  However, the main criticism I have is that the match was too short, finishing up in just four minutes.  

But it's something I’m use to now.  TNA likes to keep its matches on the shorter side.

Sting would then suddenly appear and attack RVD.  Sting is pushing his heel turn more and more.  In my opinion, I think he does a great job at it.  I didn’t forget you too, Ric Flair.

After a short speech delivered by Hardy, the storyline involving Abyss and Chelsea continued.  After a confrontation with Wolfe and Abyss, Abyss hit the “Black Hole Slam” and was able to capture Chelsea.  Not very interested.

The following match was Shannon Moore against Eric Young, the newest member of “The Band.”  Thanks to outside interference by Bubba Ray, who had heat with Jesse Neal backstage, and Scott Hall’s quick attack on Moore, Young was able to hit the pile driver and prevail victorious.

The X Division Battle for the No. 10 spot on the contender’s list was an entertaining one but extremely quick.  Kazarian was the winner, with Ric Flair looking on and impressed.  Is something brewing between the two?  Too bad this match was rushed.  It could have been a ton better.

Jeff Hardy and Sting was the main event.  With Sting in control and about to put the finishing touches on a victory, Mr. Anderson came out and attacked Sting.  This allowed Hardy to win.  Is Mr. Anderson turning face?  Or is he playing his tricks?  With this character, no one knows.  As Mr. Anderson was about to talk, Sting attacked both Anderson and Hardy with his baseball bat to end the show.


The Opinion Section

The Good: Opening of the show was decent, well enough to fit into this category.  Sting’s heel turn intensifying.  The main event was pretty decent as well.  

The Bad: This episode had way to short of matches.  A few examples I can point out are Beer Money/RVD and Lethal and X Division matches.  Those matches could really build on something strong but both lasted shortly.