Impact Wrestling Musings 30/10/2011

- James Storm gave a strong opening promo, saying all the right things a new World Champion should. The first segment was also noteworthy for the main event resurgence of Samoa Joe, if only for one night. I know Joe has been featured week in, week out during his feud with Crimson and Matt Morgan, but I'll be damned if that compares to interrupting the World Champion and angling for a title shot. To his credit, he did a phenomenal job. He made a really rather interesting point when he compared Fortune to Immortal. Whether they're heels or faces, they're still trying to keep the title within their ranks by passing opportunities amongst them. I'd hope this would prove to management that Joe can hang in the main event scene, something that all we fans have known for the past six years, but something tells me he'll be back to midcard jobbing inside of a week. He was never going to be a serious contender, just an obstacle for Bobby Roode before he could get his hands on James Storm next week at the live arena tapings.

- I've noticed in the past two weeks that Sting has stopped wearing his "Insane Icon" makeup. I know he's transitioned into the authority role, but that shouldn't mean he can't have fun with it. The insane Sting gimmick was the best work he'd done in years and it's a shame to see it go. Although, he did raise a smirk with his "ta ta for now" closing line. Such an obvious tie-in to their cross promotion, I'm surprised no one else came out with it already.

- Christopher Daniels got some much appreciated airtime this week. His initial backstage promo was a little crazy, what with him accusing AJ Styles of rigging the audio at Bound for Glory in their I Quit match. I know he's playing the cowardly heel, but delusional too? Also, was it just me or did he call RVD, Bob Van Dam? I'd love for that to become a thing. As for the match itself, it made for a really interesting pairing that you don't see everyday and they both made the best of it. I would've been rather happy with the match had they not gone for the old screwdriver ending that blighted Daniels' BFG match. A screwdriver is a terrible weapon to use in professional wrestling as there's simply no way to utilise it. If Daniels ever used it, his opponent would be legitimately stabbed and lying in a pool of their own blood, which is never going to happen!

- Before I move on to my next point, I just want to highlight how directionless Rob Van Dam seems to be at the moment. 2010 was damn near the year of RVD. He had his shocking debut, pinning Sting in seconds, followed in short order by his triumphant World Heavyweight Title win, a nostaglia brimmed Hardcore Justice PPV, the formation of EV2 and a major injury angle that was the focus of Impact for months. He'd never had so much focus in his entire career! Yet 2011 seems to have swung the other way, taking so much focus off him, it's a surprise he's still on the roster. Sure he revived his old rivalry with Jerry Lynn for a few months, but it always felt like more of an afterthought than a centre piece feud. Get him back in the hunt for a title!

- Gail Kim cut a wonderful return promo to highlight her motivations as to why she returned and why she sided with Karen Jarrett. Although, I'll always snigger whenever someone mentions "another company". I know they'd probably get sued if they mentioned WWE, but it's hilarious to see them dance around the word that's on the tip of their tongue. Following up the brilliant promo, Gail reestablished her credibility with a devastating squash match against Tara. The only criticism I'd have is that Tara is typically such a dominant woman in the ring, she pretty much just stood there and took a beating, without any real attempt to fight back. Maybe someone like Miss Tessmacher would've been better for putting Gail over. That way she's still beating a champion, but beating someone so green would be realistic. I'm really looking forward to see what Gail and Velvet Sky have in store for us at Turning Point.

- The Television Title still exists! I saw it! There's video evidence and everything! Eric Young made a rare appearance on Impact this week to defend his title against Robbie E yet again. The match was short, pointless and only there to set up the future appearances of another cast member from Jersey Shore (although points to Eric Young for the very funny "you kicked me in the gut....who does that?!?!"). I don't have a clue why TNA are so obsessed by trying to draw in the Jersey Shore crowd as there's sod all crossover potential. Even if, by some fluke, new viewers do tune in to see this no talent hack reality "star" on Impact, what will they find? Eric Young, Robbie E and Rob Terry? Seriously? Those are the guys you want in your big media initiative? Viewers sure as hell aren't going to tune in and think "those three guys...those are the stars...i must see them again!". Bringing in cast members from Jersey Shore didn't work the previous two times they tried and it won't work again now. Notice how I'm not even bothering to learn the guy's name, as he'll be gone in a couple of weeks anyway.

- I know Jeff Jarrett has been cutting the same promo on Jeff Hardy's flaws for the past three weeks, but I find myself empathising with Jarrett somewhat. Hardy totally screwed the pooch at Victory Road. He showed up high as a kite to the company's PPV main event and ruined the whole show. Stuff like that shouldn't be allowed to slide and I've yet to hear a reason out of Hardy's mouth that justifies a second chance. He burnt his bridges, how the hell did he get back across to the land of fan favourites?!?! Whenever someone calls him out on his bad behaviour, he comes up with the same generic excuses about "sorry I'm not as perfect as you" or "everyone deserves a second chance" and nobody ever questions it. Jeff Jarrett was right to remind people this wasn't the first time either, as Hardy no showed the Turning Point main event years earlier. I used to really enjoy Jeff Hardy's work, but as he's gotten older, slower and more beaten up, the talent doesn't make up for his sins like it used to. The fact Hardy gets to go straight into a feud with the founder is even a little too good for him. He should have to work his way up from the very bottom. Help out the X division, reinvigorate the Television Title, partner with an up and comer for the Tag division, anything but a legitimate heavyweight feud that puts him in sight of the World Title picture.

- Bobby Roode vs Samoa Joe was a terrific main event match, more of which we should see from Impact Wrestling on a regular basis. Two young guys at the height of their talents, duking it out for the right to be number one contender, as it should be. I'd even go so far as to say I wouldn't have minded had Samoa Joe picked up the victory and gone on to Turning Point to face James Storm in the main event. It would've been a rather nice layer to the buildup to the inevitable Roode/Storm feud. Instead, the booking is on full steam ahead and as quick as Storm won the World Title, they're positioning Roode to take it from him just as fast. What could've been a tremendous year long program between two modern greats, will instead be blown off in under a month. TNA must be more careful with their storytelling, as sometimes they burn through material so fast, viewers could get whiplash!

- I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the blatant nepotism going on at Impact Wrestling right now. For some unknown reason, TNA management have it in their heads that Garrett Bischoff aka referee Jackson James aka Eric Bischoff's son, has what it takes to be the next big thing in professional wrestling and they'll sabotage however many weeks worth of television to put that point across. Well I'm here to say, categorically, it won't work. This guy has been on our screens for over a year now and nobody even knew he was there! Does that say megastar to you? Before you say "but he was a referee, nobody pays attention to the referee", I'd point out out that exemplifies my point right there - he's never wrestled a single match in TNA, on Impact Wrestling, at a house show, hell, I'm not even sure if he IS trained. If that's not evidence enough to convince you he shouldn't be taking up valuable airtime that could be going to any number of neglected wrestlers in the back, how about looking at his all important final segment. His father carried the whole promo, never let him speak once and he spent so much time looking back and forth at the crowd for encouragement, I thought he'd developed a tick! Garrett Bischoff had the look of a deer in headlights! As such, our episode cliffhanger devolved into two old men beating up an apparently untrained referee. Hearing rumblings that this angle is meant to be drawn out for the next six months until the Lockdown PPV, fills me with pure unfiltered dread and makes me want to stop watching, period. In what bizarro world should Eric Bischoff and his son take the main event slot of Impact to air their family squabbles in public?!?! Eric may be doing his son a favour, but he's certainly not doing the viewing public one. As far as I'm concerned, Impact ended when James Storm came out and placed a beer on the stage for the victorious Bobby Roode. Now THAT, was an ending.