TNA Impact Wrestling Moves Toward Sting/Hulk Hogan/Kurt Angle Resolution

While there may have been confusion and too much packed into a two-hour program, there was enough carryover from Sunday's PPV event to make me believe there will be new angles and many changes before the next PPV, Never Surrender in a month.

Now that Kurt Angle and Hulk Hogan have formed a super alliance and have vowed to destroy anything remotely associated with Dixie Carter, the stones are being set for Hogan’s face change and the balance of power to shift within the brand.

Never once did I see any connection between what Hogan was doing and the changes Eric Bischoff were implementing—something we have seen a lot of lately.

Angle and Hogan present a completely new story to the show, which needed a change of sorts. While Angle defeated Sting and there is still no word yet on how long Angle will be with the company on a consistent basis because of his Olympic commitments. But I wonder if putting the belt on someone else and having the arc between Sting and Hogan’s final confrontation happen after Bound for Glory, may be during the holidays.

Angle is great both as a face and heel and shows his ability to catch the fans, keep them involved and still know when to hold back. Angle as a heel makes sense now that we see changes and cracks within Immortal and Fortune.

I’ll talk about that in a few minutes.

The best thing I see now is that everyone is changing roles. There will be more depth to the Bully Ray/Mr. Anderson angle. Anderson has to make some kind of face change and become a favorite again. Bully Ray and Gunner are too entrenched as heels and Abyss is on the fence. Scott Steiner is his neurotic self and plays the role of enforcer pretty well, but he is nothing more than a bit player now.

We can also see a change in attitudes of tag team partners (James Storm and Bobby Roode) and a connection and disconnection between Devon and The Pope. The look on Storm’s face when Roode won the match and gained the seven points in the Bound for Glory three-way dance tag match was all you needed to know.

I also think Matt Morgan’s injury hurt creatively more than we thought, as he was going to finally reach the Promised Land and lead the brand with Crimson, Roode and maybe The Pope with a face change. Now, we have to wait and see what happens with Morgan’s injury and what direction creative will take Impact without him.

Also, the final segment of the night with Angle attacking Crimson was brilliant. It showed he was a mark and thought of by the world champion as the most significant threat to the title. It also begs the question, “Is Angle now a member of Immortal?”

Now that Sting does not have the title, what will his role be other than an escape from the “Joker” persona where, if you saw last night, he was wearing black and white face paint. You should see a more serious Stinger from now on.

The idea about the X-Division having a weight limit is good because now we will see better action—more high flying and more danger. And for all that he speaks about wanting to do it “his” way; I see Austin Aries and Eric Bischoff getting very cozy. Could Aries join immortal and take Anderson’s spot? Will Anderson seek the aid of others to battle the establishment? Could the Hardys have a role in the rebirth of Dixie Carter’s TNA Wrestling once they clean themselves up in rehab?

The cracks in Immortal are much like cracks in the Four Horsemen when Ole left and was replaced by Lex Luger and, later, Barry Windham. There was confusion in the ranks, which spilled into a feud. Bully Ray and Anderson are two tough SOBs so the action is more intense and the reality is, Bully Ray really is a better voice right now. Anderson is a great performer, but there is a small gap between the two.

And Mickie James winning the match last night to be the top contender for the Knockouts Title was no surprise, but I sure would like to see others get a shot at Winter’s title. James is great, but her character is too PG and others like Brooke Tessmacher and ODB would be a great challenge to the title, as would my girl Velvet Sky. If ODB and Jackie remain in the company, the women’s division will heat up even more over the end of summer.

And because it was the only thing I hated about the program, I will not mention Jeff and Karen Jarrett. It’s old already. And where is Chavo Guerrero when you need him?