TNA Impact: Fleeting Thoughts

Thursday night was a night of pro wrestling epiphany for me.

After nearly forgetting TNA iMPACT! was on, I tuned in to Spike TV just in time to catch EV 2.0 in the ring to kick off the show.

Over the course of the next two hours, I made a handful of observations and those epiphanies I mentioned earlier.

Instead of one central theme (outside of TNA's relatively questionable booking and writing) there seemed to be a multitude of thoughts, opinions, and criticisms I came across.

- The promo introducing Beer Money as the third and fourth members of Fortune (or Fourtune—however they're spelling it) was a conglomeration of everything that is wrong with TNA.

First, Ric Flair probably shouldn't be talking about having wild parties with 20-somethings anymore. You're in your 60s, Ric. Take it easy. It's painful to watch Flair, one of the greatest wrestlers in the history of the business, go downhill like this.

It's not a good sign when half of Fortune can actually deliver on the mic. AJ Styles is great, and I really like Robert Roode's promos, but Kazarian and James Storm aren't on the same planet as Styles and Roode.

TNA is trying to be something other than a second-rate promotion, but it refuses to stop writing WWE into its promos. In his relatively short time on the mic last night, Kazarian referenced the "TNA galaxy," and said Fortune was "not an angry bunch of rookies."

Referencing the WWE Universe and Nexus, respectively, isn't a great way to improve the product.

And finally, has there ever been a more explicit bastardization of one of wrestling's greatest factions? It's pathetic to see Flair hold up the four fingers next to Storm and Kazarian. I can only imagine what Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard, JJ Dillon, and Barry Windham think about that.

- The best-of-five series between Beer Money and the Motor City Machine Guns is the best thing TNA has brought to the ring in quite some time. It's been said by many more people before me, but the first three matches have been excellent. Next week's Ultimate X match ought to be one for the ages.

With that being said, if TNA takes the gold off the Machine Guns, it would be an absolute travesty. Few tag teams in recent memory have been as over as Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin are right now. And any pro wrestling fan knows these two deserve a long title run.

- Even though Abyss' character is basically a hybrid of Mankind and the old-school Kane, I still can't turn the channel when he's on. His current program, with whoever "they" are, is solid in the same way the Raw GM storyline was at first.

Like the GM storyline on Raw , however, the constant references to "them" will get stale very quickly without a substantial group being revealed as the ones behind Abyss' marching orders.

- The biggest mistake WWE ever made was letting Kurt Angle walk. Because he didn't finish his career in WWE, he may never get the mention he deserves in the Best Wrestler Ever discussion.

He's still better in the ring than most anyone in WWE or TNA, and he works the mic like few others in pro wrestling history ever could. Unless reports of retirement leak before he reaches the TNA World title, this storyline has a relatively predictable ending. But is anyone really complaining?

- TNA's Knockouts division is awful. I could barely watch the promo featuring Madison Rayne, Lacey Von Erich, and Velvet Sky Thursday night. I do applaud TNA, however, for emphasizing the in-ring action as much as the vignettes and storylines, as opposed to hiring a platoon of models to parade around in parody of a once strong women's division.

- I also applaud TNA for the "Whole F'n Show." There is no way Vince McMahon would ever put a pay-per-view-quality show on Monday or Friday nights. Supershows and three-hour specials never come close to the pay-per-view shows.

Do you agree with my observations? Disagree? Leave a comment and let me know what you think!