The Final Impact
April 4, 2014
By: Josh Boutwell of Wrestleview.com
If you blinked at any point tonight you probably missed something. They jam packed just about everything they could into the show. Sometimes at too quick of a speed for you to absorb everything.
I liked that they went straight to the ring to open the show with the Tables Match. There for awhile TNA got into this rut where every single week opened up with an in the ring promo, but lately they’ve been varying it up with brawls, matches, and promos.
The Tables Match was really fun and I’m just enjoying Roode’s run right now. He really is selling this thing like he hates Bully Ray with every fiber of his being because Bully screwed him out of a piece of the company. The attack after the match was great as well and that the heels played on Willow’s erratic behavior by having Spud come out.
Damn did I love me some Kenny King tonight. He’s always been a cocky dude but he really let his character shine through tonight with how brash and open he was. Great one liners and as stupid as the thought of the Exhibition Match was pretty much because even the announcers were trying to figure out what the hell that meant, the match was still pretty entertaining while it lasted. For the most part they just flat out chain wrestled, I guess the point being since it was an exhibition they would exhibit their wrestling ability with no strikes and such, which was great to see MVP do. They’re playing it like the frustrated youngster is getting into MVP’s head which I like and this could be a nice little program for King.
The X-Division match was fun while it lasted but they just didn’t give them enough time to really kick it into that next gear. At the same time they didn’t go overboard with the high spots leaving more for us to see in the next matches. In fact they only did a couple of high spots each and no dives at all. I really love the thought of a “Best of” series primarily because almost all of the ones I can think of were great to watch. AJ Styles and Jerry Lynn had a wonderful Best of 3 Series in the early days of TNA, as did AJ and D-Lo Brown. Also, the Best of Seven series I mentioned in the recap between the murderer and Booker T and the awesome Machine Guns/Beer money Best of Five Series a few years ago (which I think resulted in my feud of the year and match of the year that year). This could be a great way to really get the fans into these two guys, if they’re able to get some time and gel in the ring. Hopefully they save the finale for the PPV and give them a good amount of time, maybe a 2/3 Falls Match or something like that.
The Knockouts had an okay match for the time they were given but it’s just good to see BP back in the ring together and being as nasty as they ever were. I get an odd early Mickie James vibe from Brittany which could be interesting if I’m right. By that I mean she kind of comes off a bit stalkerish like Mickie was with Trish Stratus back in the day. They’ve done it very subtly like with Brittany pointing out that Madison was her biggest influence, and then wearing matching gear and trying to become friends with her.
I’ve only seen a couple of straightjacket matches and this week was a lot like the ones I’ve seen, just not very good. It’s just an awkward match type to begin with. Shaw was great in his creepiness though.
I like this manipulative heel role Magnus is playing with Abyss. He’s using Abyss in the same way that James Mitchell did though he points out to Abyss that he’s not abusive the way Mitchell was, and manipulates him by saying he loves him. Yes, it’s corny but it plays into the narrative that Abyss was an odd kid that was never loved and became a monster that his origin supposedly started from and it just makes Magnus’ character seem that more sleazy. I wonder if all these James Mitchell namedrops is leading to something more there?
The Fatal 4-Way was really fun with nonstop action throughout that was actually hard to keep up with. The finish wasn’t that great but it did play into Abyss and Magnus’ relationship obviously. Joe can still say he got screwed over because he had the match won twice and would have if it was just a one-on-one match. EY looked credible during the match as well.
– Segment/Promo of the Night: Kenny King
– Match of the Night: Fatal 4-Way (***)
– Overall Grade: B
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