TNA 8/11 The Grim Review: Anderson Gets Bullied and Sting Gets Stung by Hogan

Hello and welcome once again to another issue of the Grim Review, I am Alex "The Grim Reaper" Baker bringing you my thoughts on the latest episode of Impact.

This week's episode comes on the tail of what I thought was a disappointing, but good PPV in Hardcore Justice, so we'll see if TNA can continue the somewhat positive momentum for this PPV (for my review of the PPR, click here).

I am reviewing this somewhat live, as I'm typing this while watching the show, so if I misspell something or make an error, please take it with a grain of salt, I'm only human. Also realize that when it comes to reviewing, some guys are sugar, I'm lemon juice. I give you my honest opinion of the product and weather it's positive or negative, I stand by my opinion and don't sugarcoat it.

This week we find out why Angle screwed Sting and whats next for Mr. Anderson and Immortal, so without further ado, lets start the review (Rhyming unintentional, but still awesome).

(One last note before we start: As you guys may have noticed I review the shows and the PPV differently. So I thought I'd take this time to clarify how I review TNA's shows. I grade every segment and match on a five-point scale, with three being average and five being perfect.

After all this I tally up the numbers and find the average score for the night, then I give it a letter grade. Now realize please that the grade I give a show is not the same as the grade I give a PPV, an A show may be around a C PPV, it's just different you know. I hope that clarified any questions you had about how I grade.)

Oh look, TNA's starting off with a segment involving Immortal and not a match. Glad to see their starting the show out differently then they normally do.

Immoral vs. Anderson

Ray starts the group as Immortal, but we already knew that *wink*. He then informs us that Bischoff has made a BFG match for later tonight, and it will be Steiner vs. Ray vs. Gunner vs. Crimson. Ray informs us that Crimson will walk away tonight with his first loss and that he will pick up the pin.

Wouldn't that be a great way to end the undefeated streak, just have him drop it to a 40+ year old guy? That would be a great way of explaining TNA booking in one match, old guys burying a young talent.

After Ray gets done talking about how tough Anderson is, he explains they should put aside their differences because this was about more then just them, it was about Immortal, gaining control of TNA, and making him the World Heavyweight Champion. Anderson laughs at the thought of that, as do I.

Anderson refuses Bully Rays hand and says that he should have won at Hardcore Justice. Basically things breakdown, Ray and Anderson start fighting, Steiner tries to break it up, Anderson hits him for some reason and Immortal lays Anderson out.

Here's my question, why even put Anderson in Immortal if the entire point was to turn him into a loner and a tweener again at the end. This whole thing was pointless and did nothing for Anderson other then starting a good feud with Ray that I hope continues.

I also find it funny that in just a few short weeks Anderson went from your champ, to being wheeled out on a stretcher. Never since Jack Swagger and Ziggles the Clown has a guy fallen faster that I can remember.

Overall this was an effective promo, but the whole Anderson storyline has hurt him a lot. Yet again Ray was the star of the segment on the mic.

Overall Segment Rating: 3 out of 5

After the break Bischoff informs Immortal that Hogan's on his way (I can hardly contain my excitement). He also tells the guys that Angle's on his way and that they should be ready, looks like they might be trading Anderson for Angle, whatever.

Match 1 – Madison Rayne vs. Mickie James in a #1 Contender match

So if Mickie lost her belt last Sunday, why is she in a #1 contenders match, doesn't she get an automatic rematch? I guess like the WWE, that only matters when they want it to matter.

Winner: Mickie James by pinfall via Mickie-DT

Very short match, didn't really have time to tell a story, but whatever. It was your typical Knockouts match, nothing special, but nothing terrible. Kind of a short match, but it could have been a lot worse. Mickie James doesn't work in TNA for me, she's the opposite of Gail Kim, she's much better as a Diva then a Knockout in my opinion, as Gail Kim was better in TNA then the WWE.

Overall Match Rating: 2.5 out of 5

Match 2 – Robbie E. vs. Brian Kendrick

Fun Fact: Robbie E and Cookie still have jobs and Amazing Red does not. That's something to think about.

Austin Aries is a guest commentator for this match. Brian "White Sabu" Kendrick, Robbie E and Cookie have the fun award for being three of my least 5 favorite people in TNA right now (the other 2 are Jeff and Karen Jarrett). I don't mind Kendrick as a wrestler, but his gimmick, whatever it is, is terrible.

Winner: Brian Kendrick by pinfall via Sliced Bread

Another short match. This was a good match, but it could have been much better had it only received a little more time, also don't know why they needed Cookie's interference to end the match, but yet again it could have been worse. 

Austin Aries once again proved why he is the greatest wrestler in the X-Division, as he was great on commentary. The match advanced the story of Kendrick/Aries, but other then that it was forgettable.

Overall Match Rating: 3.25 out of 5

Devon is backstage with Pope and says that he doesn't like teaming with him, but it's BFG Series time and a man's gotta do, what a man's gotta do, or something to that effect. Pope says that Devon shouldn't worry, because one of them is getting the points tonight.

Jeff and Karen Jarrett show up with sombreros in hand. Oh Jeff Jarrett, has anyone else won so many titles while drawing so little money like you. To me you symbolize everything wrong with backstage politics and using your daddy's job to boost your meaningless career.

Taz then makes matters worse by making a Mexican Water joke, proving once again why he is one of the worst commentators out there (Kevin Kelly laughs at you).

Cookie and Robbie E are seen backstage breaking up...thank you TNA, you just made up for everything you've ever done to anger me.

Match 3 – Beer Money, Inc. vs. AJ Styles and Rob Van Dam vs. The Pope  D’Angelo Dinero and Devon in a BFG Series Tag Team 3 Way Match

Christopher Daniels on commentary making this the second time one of my favorite wrestler's in the business has been on commentary tonight. Daniels vs Aries would be a dream match for me, make it happen TNA, maybe add AJ and make it a triple threat match.

Winner: Roode pins Pope via Northern Lights Suplex

Finally a match that got time and had every guy got their spots. AJ had hit some nice high flying moves, RVD was there to do his couple of spots and then go home, Pope and Devon advanced their feud and Beer Money put on a show.

Still don't like the BFG Series, but it was a solid match.

Match Rating: 4.25 out of 5

Kurt Angle's coming to the ring, my bad Russo booking sense are tingling.

Sting gets Stung......Brother!!!

Angle comes out and basically says he took out Sting because he is getting revenge on Dixie Carter for how she lied to him 3 years earlier about Jeff and Karen. He says that now that he has power he will keep Dixie from every gaining control of the company again.

Oh, Russo, you love mixing real life and dumb storylines, if you could liquefy that concept, and put it on top of a pole while a ref is taking a bump in the ring from a wrestler that just did a heel swerve, you would have your dream match.

Angle goes on to explains that his mission now is to take out all the young talent until there's no one left but Kurt Angle. Lots of boo's can be heard...but, everyone on camera is clapping and cheering...huh, note to production, canned heat doesn't work if the image on the TV doesn't match.

Sting comes out to confront Angle as he's leaving. Angle acts like he's about to hit Sting with a chair, but doesn't. Instead Hogan comes out and hits Sting with his own chair.

Well listen up, BROTHER! The Hulkster has to get his mandatory TV time, BROTHER! And he doesn't care it haters like the Grimster here don't want to see him in another match, BROTHER! Sting vs Hulk-a-mania is coming soon, BROTHER! And there's nothing you haters can do about it, BROTHER!

We did two things that I hate in this segment: (1) they brought back the Angle/Jarrett storyline of death, and (2) they advanced the Hogan/Sting storyline. Overall the mic work by Angle was OK, but this segment was terrible. Between the pointless storyline and Hogan's TV time we prove once again that the real problem in TNA right now is Hogan and TNA creative.

Overall Segment Review: 1.5 out of 5

Match 4 – ODB and Jackie vs. Tara and Brooke Tessmacher

I thought ODB and Jackie got fired a few weeks back after losing the match, why are they here?

Overall this was an OK match, but TNA's constant need to emphasize T&A instead of actual women's wrestling angers me. This proves once again that Russo was not joking all those years ago when he called Women's Wrestling a gimmick.

It really is sad that people every week have to deal with this BS from the WWE and TNA, while great wrestlers at Shimmer and New Japan, like Sara Del Rey, put on four-star matches night in and night out, but they don't get called up because they don't have the look or the sex-appeal.

Winner: Tara and Tess by pinfall after another roll-up

I don't blame the women in the match for having to go out there and act like glorified adult entertainers, but at some point Russo has to give these girls time in the ring to actually fight and show all the doubters that women's wrestling isn't a joke. Oh who am I kidding, they're going to get a 6 minute match at the next PPV and the loser will have to preform a strip tease after the match.

Match Rating: 2.5 out of 5

So the X-Division now has a weight limit, as an old school fan I shed a tear for this. The X-Division to me is not about weight limits, it's about no limits and this is just a slap in the face to Samoa Joe and all the other X-Division wrestlers that weren't 100 pound spot monkeys. It's a sad day for the X-Division.

In other news they announced an eight-man X-Division Gauntlet next week, and I am looking forward to it.

Senior Jeff Jarrett vs the NAACP

You know what, I'm OK with the purpose of this segment. In spite of Jeff Jarrett being in the ring, in spite of him having that stupid AAA belt, in spite of everything I dislike about this segment it gave me hope for 1 thing, Chavo may be coming to TNA (I hope we see the return of Pepe. If you don't know who Pepe was look him up, he was part of my childhood).

That being said, the segment itself was not funny and extremely, extremely racist, and that is why this segment got a low score.

Basically Jarrett comes out and makes fun of two Hispanic Janitors. He then beats them up after they say the name Guererro. Hector came to check on them after Jeff laid them out.

Now I'll say this, the segment wasn't funny and was quite racist, but at the end of the day, I'll take it as long as Chavo comes to TNA in the next few weeks and lays Jeff Jarrett out.

Overall Segment Rating: 1.5 out of 5

We get our weekly Eric Young segment. Couldn't you take this time and add it onto the Knockouts match and give them some time once in a blue moon.

Anderson's back and he's coming for revenge with a chain. Too bad Bully Ray gets saved by Gunner. They turn the camera away and beat him with the chain off screen.

Well...that was awkward and left a bad taste in my mouth. I could go a little more in-depth but I think I'll just leave it at awkward.

Match 5 – Gunner vs. Bully Ray vs. Scott Steiner vs. Crimson

Quick summery of this match, Immortal triple team Crimson, Crimson counters at the end and rolls up Gunner for the pin.

Winner Crimson by pinfall via Roll-up on Gunner

There have been WAY too many roll-ups as of late, and we got two more on this show. I understand you want to keep us guessing, but at the end of the day it's getting a little ridiculous.

Also once again Crimson's undefeated streak seems like an after thought and yet again I don't care about it.

Overall just an average match—nothing special here.

After the match Angle comes out and beats Crimson with a chair. Tenay reminds us that he said he was going to beat down every young guy in the company, as Crimson screams in pain. The show ends with Angle standing triumphantly over Crimson.

Overall Match Rating: 3 out of 5

Final Thoughts and Grade

Overall a very forgettable show that I didn't enjoy. The X-Division became a glorified Cruiserweight Division, the endless Power Struggle storyline continued, Hogan showed up on my TV, the Angle/Jarrett storyline appeared again, all of this was just bad.

There were some OK matches and the three-way tag match was very good, but at the end of the day this Impact was just not good. All that being said I thought that the good sort of balanced out the bad and it wasn't the worst wrestling two hours of wrestling I've ever seen.

Final grade: C-

Good Thing of the Night: Anderson becoming the Tweener Heel Again

The Dog Kennel from Hell Stupid Booking Achievement of Excellence: The Angle vs Dixie Storyline, tied with the X-Division Weight Limit

Star of the Night: (All the Way!!!) Austin Aries

Worst Wrestler of the Night: Hulk Hogan and his Weak Chair Shots of Doom

Thing that gives me hope: Chavo to TNA...maybe

Thing that fills me with dread: Hogan/Sting

Match of the Night: The three-way BFG Tag Match

Thanks for reading, and as always, be sure to comment. Also if you liked this article, be sure to give that props button some love.

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And if you would like to check out another one of my articles, here's a review of Ring of Honor's Honor Takes Center Stage Night 1—click here. 

This is Grim telling you to take care and once again thanks for reading.

See you, Space Cowboy...