TNA IMPACT! Reviews and Thoughts

TNA has tons of reasons to smile about, as their Impact! show once again received loads of positive views by fans and critics. 

The company couldn’t go wrong on Thursday night, as they heavily promoted their Slammiversary pay per view. 

Even going head-to-head with Game four of the NBA Playoffs, TNA scored a very positive rating, which was a nice jump from last week’s number.

After the show’s opening segment, I felt it was going to be an enjoyable night.

We begin the show with the title, “A Flair for the Dramatics.” 

AJ Styles, alongside Kazarian, Desmond Wolfe, James Storm, and Robert Roode make their way to the ring. 

Styles announces that Ric Flair will not be at Impact! tonight and that he learned he was booked in a eight-man tag match. 

After talking about the Four Horsemen and their similarities with this particular group, Styles kicks Kazarian out of the group, who is obviously not pleased. 

Then Ric Flair’s music plays but it’s Jay Lethal reliving his Flair performance. This was the part when I felt it was going to be a good show. 

Lethal, after performing like Flair very well once again, introduced his team of Abyss and Mr. Anderson. 

Despite having just three people, Lethal considered Abyss two people in one.  Interesting. 

As they storm to the ring for a brawl and the heels out in front, Jeff Hardy’s music plays, comes to the ring from the crowd and clears the area. 

Great start to Impact!

The first match was Brian Kendrick vs. Homicide.  In a very good opening match for the night, Kendrick was the winner. 

Despite the attention was based on Homicide, the match itself set up the reason why Kendrick is the No. One contender for Doug Williams’ belt.

After a commercial break, Brother Ray and Devon walk to the ring to confront Jesse Neal and Shannon Moore. This was a confrontation meant to build up Neal and Ray’s match at Slammiversary . 

Hernandez made his return to the ring since his “injury” months ago. 

After Eric Bischoff told Matt Morgan backstage that he was ready to introduce his tag team partner, Morgan appeared extremely unhappy. 

As Morgan waits in the ring, Hulk Hogan comes out and introduces Hernandez.  Hernandez would then beat down Morgan in the ring, despite being his tag team partner that night. 

After Morgan is laid out, The Band (Scott Hall, Kevin Nash and Eric Young) come out to the ring.  Young pins Morgan, who is clearly KO’d in the ring.

Going backstage, Rob Van Dam gets knocked out as Sting then takes his belt and leaves a hurt RVD. 

Sting would go on to write the word “Deception” on the belt.

The Kurt Angle and Amazing Red match was an amazing one, possibly the best match of the night. Angle would win the match up by hitting the Olympic Slam. 

TNA then shows a package of highlights from the company’s eight years of existence, celebrating their success.

The main event was AJ Styles, James Storm, Robert Roode, and Desmond Wolfe against Jay Lethal, Abyss, Mr. Anderson, and Jeff Hardy.  The match itself was a very good one, as it lasted over 10 minutes. 

The ending was exciting, as every wrestler went back and forth performing their finishing moves.  Eventually, AJ hit the Styles Clash for the win.

After a final commercial break, RVD and Sting brawl backstage and the ring. 

Sting would then shove RVD into a steel chair on the turnbuckle, knocking him out again. He grabs a mic, talked about that the belt is called deception and that RVD owns it until Sunday.

OVERALL THOUGHTS

The show was another solid one. The four matches were well put and exciting. 

The build up for Slammiversary was also displayed properly, as the Sting and RVD confrontations helped gain interest in the Heavyweight Title match. 

TNA is producing well right now and must continue to build a bigger audience. 

THE RATINGS

After scoring a low last week, TNA rebounded nicely to a 1.0 rating with 1.28 million viewers.

DIXIE’S SURPRISE

Yesterday (6/11/10), TNA President Dixie Carter announced this on Twitter. 

“Just got off phone w/Spike prez Kevin Kay. He is all in and agrees this will change TNA on every level.” 

Rumor has it that the company spoke with Paul Heyman and Kevin Sullivan. 

I do not see another big name coming to TNA, as the company has a solid roster with star power. I could see things on the creative side changing. 

We will find out soon!