The Final Impact
May 3, 2013
By: Josh Boutwell of Wrestleview.com
The opening to last night’s Impact was just there to set up the Main Event, but it wasn’t very good at all. Neither Sting nor Hogan were convincing, especially Sting. Sting was like a battered wife for weeks and now Hogan just simply says “my bad” and Sting is cool again.
The opening X-Division match was solid, but relatively short. It was pretty much just a Chris Sabin highlight reel. He didn’t do any high spots and really seemed to be reverting to his pre-Motor City Machine Guns style of a lot of power moves rather than quick, high-flying offense. Hopefully he will integrate a bit of high flying eventually as he gets more confident on the knee, but this more ground-based style will obviously be a lot easier on the knees. The powerbomb into the Cradle Shock and Tree of Woe/Suplex spots were really cool and I dug his new finish. I’m really looking forward to King/Petey/Sabin match. I’m pretty sure that will be the first time King & Sabin have been in the ring together.
Excellent, entertaining promo yet again by Bad Influence & Dirty Heels, at least until Chavo came out. I swear Chavo screws up at LEAST once everytime he opens his mouth. I don’t have near as much of a problem with Chavo as it seems many other TNA fans do. I actually think he’s a really solid wrestler, but the guy his horrible on the microphone.
Kurt Angle & D-Lo was surprisingly good. It wasn’t anything that would blow your mind, but it was a really good, hard hitting match with both guys doing what you’re supposed to do in a match like that: pick a body part and beat the hell out of it. Kurt went after the leg and D-Lo went after the arm. I rolled my eyes at the thought of D-Lo getting back in the ring, but I would much rather see him than have to sit threw another Garett Bischoff match anytime soon. It’s going to be interesting to see where they take this because D-Lo swore on his “colors” that he would take Angle out and Bully definitely didn’t seem to be too happy with him. The promo with AJ and Angle afterward was pretty solid too with Angle seeming to have a bit of intensity that is best at.
Another Rob Terry match, another uninteresting squash. The combination of weirdoes (Robbie, Jesse, & Joey) together was more entertaining than the match itself. So Terry has squashed both Robbie & Jesse in singles matches, then in a Handicap Match, and now they added Joey Ryan to it. What’s next? Are they going to bring back Gillberg and let him join the squash party too? What is this leading too? It’s just filler at this point.
Solid Knockouts action again this week, Gail’s beat down on Terrell after the match looked brutal and was done well. They still have no direction at all with Mickie. She’s just treading water which is very unfortunate for her, especially with an album getting ready to come out.
Sting and Morgan wasn’t very good, it wasn’t bad, but it just wasn’t very entertaining. The story of the match was simple, but effective with the cocky heel making a big mistake and the veteran taking advantage of it. Morgan did look strong in defeat, but I just have no desire to see Sting in the Main Event at this point anymore. I have even less desire to see Hogan in that spot which some of the rumors are claiming TNA is leading to. That is the last thing TNA needs at this point.
All in all an okay show with nothing wonderful, but nothing outright dreadful either which is disappointing in itself because for a few weeks, TNA was putting on some really good shows back to back. Hopefully they can pick things back up in the coming weeks heading into Slammiversary.
– Promo/Segment of the Night: Bad Influence/Dirty Heels
– Match of the Night: Angle vs. D-Lo (**1/2)
– Overall Grade: C
Until next week… PEACE! 
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