TNA Impact! Wrestling (5/26) Review and Opinions

The May 26th, 2011 edition of TNA Impact!

Wrestling begins with in memory of the Macho Man Randy Savage, followed by Sting and Mr. Anderson World Heavyweight title match promo. After the new Impact! Wrestling video, we go right into the action with a tag team matchup.  

PERAGINE'S TAKE: Great way to begin the show. Right off the bat with a tag team match. Fans want to see wrestling and instead of having the usual talking segment to kick off the show, TNA did the opposite.

Tag Team Street Fight: AJ Styles and Christopher Daniels against Tommy Dreamer and Billy Ray

Your Winners: Styles and Daniels. Excellent opening match. Lots of action both in and out of the ring, including a strong reaction from the crowd. It felt different and TNA should approach this more often by opening a show with solid action like this match.  

We cut to Hulk Hogan arriving in his car to the Impact! Wrestling Zone.

After the commercial break, Mr. Anderson comes out in retro Sting gear to the ring. He welcomes the crowd, to no reaction, to the "Scorpion Sitdown."  He brings out his first guest, Disco Inferno (former WCW wrestler).  

Mr. Anderson interviews Disco Inferno, who talked about Sting. Disco, who questions Mr. Anderson and mocks him in the ring, gets hammered in the head by Anderson's microphone. While Disco is being beat up, Sting comes out for the save.

Back from commercials, Eric Young finds Gunner in the restroom.  

Velvet Sky enters the ring and calls out ODB. ODB blames Velvet for getting her fired in TNA. ODB attacks Velvet to the ground before security breaks it up.  

After another commercial break, there's a quick recap of last week's Ric Flair and Robert Roode segment.  

Back to Impact! Wrestling, Eric Bischoff is with Roode and James Storm backstage, followed by The Pope explaining what happened on TNA Explosion.  Backstage again, Kurt Angle is with Matt Morgan.  

Commercials appear.

Jeff Jarrett versus Matt Morgan

Your winner: Jeff Jarrett.  

Decent match with some good action. Interference by Scott Steiner was a good call by TNA because it still shows they're moving along with the Steiner and Morgan feud after they didn't fight at the company's last pay-per-view.

We return with Eric Bischoff in the ring. Bischoff introduces Hulk Hogan. Hogan begins to talk about his meetings with "the Network" last week and how Immortal is back in control.  

Mick Foley comes out. Foley says that after Hogan left, the Network turned their opinions with Mick Foley about the X-Division and expanding it even further, including promoting Destination X pay-per-view.  

Hogan challenges him to face Abyss before Brian Kendrick interrupts. Kendrick and a few X-Division wrestlers come out. Kendrick wants to face Abyss, and Hogan grants it.

Winter versus Mickie James

Your winner: Mickie James.  

Decent match with some decent action in the ring. The storyline with Angelina and Winter continues to get a bit odder each episode.

Backstage, Abyss cuts a promo about Kendrick and is attacked by Kazarian, who takes away his most valued possession, the weapon named "Janice."

X-Division Title: Brian Kendrick versus Abyss

Your winner and still X-Division champion: Abyss.  

Good match. Abyss doesn't really fit into the X-Division picture but I think having him as champion lets other challengers step up and showcase their talent. TNA is beginning to have the division rise up after it was not shown for quite sometime on television due to the Immortal and Fortune storyline.

TV Title: Eric Young versus Gunner

Your winner and new TV Title champion: Eric Young.  

Very quick match but quite amusing. Young, who tried to recreate history by letting Gunner win (in reference to the Kevin Nash and Hulk Hogan controversy in WCW), fooled Gunner and counter his pin for the win.  

Rob Van Dam versus Kurt Angle

Your winner: Kurt Angle.  

Very solid main event. Fun match to watch, as both wrestlers feature great technical moves in the ring. Good way to end Impact! Wrestling.  

PERAGINE'S TAKE:

This week's edition of Impact! Wrestling was a better show than last week's episode.  

Overall, six matches is a pretty good number (if you really want to count the Young and Gunner segment).  

Main event was also pretty solid, alongside with the opening match. I enjoyed this week as well because once the show began, we saw a good tag team brawl to kick it off.  

However, I still believe more wrestling is needed. I understand talking segments and backstage features are appropriate to build a character or feud, but hopefully overtime we will see more action in the ring.   

Overall, I give this show a good rating in my book. TNA still needs to explore its options but Impact! Wrestling this week was a step up from last week's edition.