The Final Impact
October 25, 2013
By: Josh Boutwell of Wrestleview.com
Before I can get to tonight’s show I have to talk about a lot of other things since it’s been a very eventful past few days for TNA. First off, I thoroughly enjoyed Bound for Glory. The reaction to BFG has been all over the place. Some people hated it, some people despised it, some people were indifferent. To me it was a show with a terrible build, below average card on paper, but delivered match wise. When Bro-Mans won the Gauntlet I was pissed and had no desire to watch that match but for the first time Jesse & Robbie E looked competent in the ring and actually put on a good wrestling match. The Knockouts were good and the Ultimate X was a spot fest with huge spots that we would expect, though I hated the inclusion of the ladder. EC3’s debut should have been held for Impact, no reason to do a squash like that on PPV. The best of the best, however, was Bobby Roode vs. Angle and AJ vs. Bully. Roode and Angle tore the house down and stole the show in one of Roode’s best singles matches. AJ and Ray went all out as well and the outcome was very satisfying. I’m pretty sure everyone is aware that I’m a huge AJ Styles mark so it was great for me to see him once again with the belt.
Now, on to the news of the week they we all heard today. First, TNA is moving back to Universal Studios effectively admitting the on the road shows were a failure in a very unfortunate turn of events. The only positive is that it’s being reported they will still do select tapings on the road, and I’m hoping they are saving those shows for the PPV-like shows they’ve been doing most months. The other news was this new 24/7 idea TNA is doing where they are going to be filling Youtube and social media with hours of content in and out the ring during the weeks which I think is a neat idea for the fans, but not something I will likely take much advantage of. I think you definitely risk burn out on that much content and trying to keep up with all of this stuff. I have a hard time as it is trying to stay up on what WWE is doing, watching TNA, trying to pay attention as much as possible to Indy’s as well as Lucha Libre and some in Japan.
Now to Impact and good lord the opening was WAY too long. AJ Styles was really on it and came off really well as well. Bully did too but even then it was way too long, and then Mr. Anderson got involved. Who’s idea was that?! Save it for the ending and have a big reveal, that was just stupid timing.
It was just too much especially considering we also had long segments with Roode/Angle, the tag team division, and the ending. I know you’re coming out of BFG and are kind of in reset mode heading into a bunch of different directions and you want to get a lot of things over but goodness let’s have some WRESTLING on a WRESTLING show.
The Knockouts was okay for its length but it was just too short and the fact that they teamed Gail with Brooke instead of Tapa continues to lead me to believe that they feel Tapa is still too green to be in the ring. Which again you ask, why bring her up yet?
EC3’s character is interesting and I have no problem with giving it a chance but these squash matches over 80 pound local jobbers are going to get old quick especially on such a wrestling-lite show like this week. His finish is pretty sick I must say. Yes, I know it’s just Dean Ambrose’s move but EC3 definitley makes it look pretty wicked.
They obviously look to be setting up a 4-Way for the Tag Titles and the segment they had was pretty funny at times but again just too long.
Roode and Angle were stellar yet again as they continue to have an impressive program going on. For now it looks like they are keeping MEM and EGO out of it but I have a feeling this could lead to some really fun tag team matches involving Bad Influence and Joe and Magnus down the line too before Magnus’ eventual heel turn.
AJ and Ray had a really fun match that was completely different than BFG. This one was more straight forward with Ray going after AJ’s injured ribs and AJ trying to catch the bigger guy with his quick high spots. The BFG match was a mix of spectacle and brawling.
It’s going to be interesting to see where the AJ Styles character goes from here. There has been rumors online that they are going to go a bit the CM Punk route here with him taking the belt maybe to indy shows and even possibly to Great Muta’s new promotion in Japan. How awesome would it be for TNA to show footage of AJ defending his belt in Japan against Muta?
They’ve set up some interesting things going forward with Anderson and Bully obviously heading into a program, the tag titles, Gail Kim and Tapa, Roode/Angle, and what will happen with AJ but there was just too much thrown at us tonight and not enough of it was actual in-ring action.
– Promo/Segment of the Night: Angle/Roode
– Match of the Night: AJ vs. Ray (***)
– Overall Grade: C-
Until next week… PEACE!
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