TNA Impact! The Thoughts

This week's TNA Impact! was built around the ECW storyline that has been going on since Tommy Dreamer's debut at Slammiversary. At the end of the night, fans got to witness a special moment in professional wrestling history.

The show opened with a video package featuring Abyss and a quick recap of the brawl to end last week's Impact! and a brand new opening is featured. The theme of this week's show is "Extreme Invitation."

Match One: A.J. STYLES v. ROB TERRY for the Global Belt

Rob Terry was in full control of this match, but thanks to Kazarian for holding Terry by the feet, Styles was able to capture the belt in a short match. This opening match was something to remember but by Styles capturing the belt, this gives Ric Flair's "Fortune" heel group a push.

WINNER: A.J. STYLES

RATING: 2.5/5

Match Two: ANGELINA LOVE and TAYLOR WILDE v. MADISON RAYNE and SARITA

Before the match begins, Love is forced to surrender her Knockouts Belt to Rayne because of the interference by the mystery motorcycle woman. This match was another quick one that featured the mystery woman beat down Love and Wilde in the post-match brawl.

WINNER: LOVE and WILDE

RATING: 2.5/5

Match Three: KURT ANGLE v. HERNANDEZ

This was a pretty solid match that featured a good amount of action in the ring. Angle continues to get his major push for the World Heavyweight Title.

WINNER: ANGLE

RATING: 3/5

Match Four: SAMOA JOE v. JEFF HARDY

Another very good match, as Joe and Hardy met for the first time. I would have liked to see a winner, but it was a great tease by TNA to set up a pay-per-view match between the two.

WINNER: TIME LIMIT DRAW

RATING: 3.5/5

Match Five: MATT MORGAN v. MR. ANDERSON

This match was a decent one but pretty short that set up a potential long feud between Mr. Anderson and Morgan.

WINNER: MR. ANDERSON

RATING: 2.5/5

Match Six: BEER MONEY v. MOTOR CITY MACHINE GUNS

An extremely exciting street fight. These two tag teams have proven that they are not only TNA's best tag teams, but the best in pro wrestling today. This match was pin pointed to perfection, nothing but praise for this one.

WINNER: BEER MONEY (up 2-0 on MCMG)

RATING: 5/5

TNA President Dixie Carter walks out to the ring to make a huge announcement regarding the ECW originals. She welcomes the ECW originals to the ring as they received a nice crowd reaction. Tommy Dreamer cuts an emotional promo that seemed like a shoot about ECW, WWE, his career, and much more. Carter, after being asked by Dreamer for one night of extreme wrestling, approved and gives them full control of the product. Dreamer closes Impact! to a huge pop from the audience by saying, "Impact Zone, we're going extreme."  

OVERALL SHOW RATING: 3/5

PERAGINE'S TAKE : This was a solid Impact! episode. I wasn't crazy on the slow start with the short matches, but it picked up when Kurt Angle and Hernandez faced off in the ring. The highlight of the matches was again Beer Money and the Motor City Machine Guns. 

The ECW storyline, I feel really peaked at this week's broadcast. Tommy Dreamer cut a terrific promo on real life and what ECW meant. His take on the similarities between ECW and TNA was very accurate, as I personally feel TNA gives it a bigger attraction.  Obviously, ECW was very limited on WWE television with its PG rules. 

TNA's Hardcore Justice PPV should be a buy for many, including myself. I feel TNA did a good job and approached the ECW originals storyline carefully and executed it well. 

OTHER OPINIONS on HOGAN AND BISCHOFF : Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff were again not featured, but will be back at next week's Impact! I do not mind having both of them appear on air, but I believe the cut down on TV time since moving back to Thursday nights was a good choice. It is not a bad thing to have them in at least one segment per show to keep them going.