Impact! Review

TNA get cagey!

By Phil Allely

As Dixie Carter and Vince McMahon have a war of words and the WWE prepare for their biggest show of the year, it was down to TNA’s writers and bookers to come up with an episode of Impact! That could hold the attention of the all too fickle wrestling fans, who are easily distracted by other programs.

Thankfully perhaps Dixie’s response to Vince and her faith in her brand has helped the company turn a corner. This week TNA continued to make good TV and further repay their loyal fans for the time and dedication they give to the company each and every week.

The two hour broadcast was headlined by a first for TV, a 20 man captains gauntlet match in the six sides of steel. The idea being the last two men left standing at the end would be the captains of the Lethal Lockdown weapons match at the all cage match Lockdown PPV.

Of course the match was a mess at times, with too many participants vying for limited space to work, the pins came infrequently, but the in-ring action when needed was stiff, tough and suitably invoking. The Main Event Mafia duo of Scott Steiner and Kurt Angle dominated, with Angle eliminating many contenders and even ambushing Jeff Jarrett with a steel chair for good measure.

The end came when Jarrett (strapped shoulder and all) returned to the fray and bested Steiner, before a fresh Samoa Joe stormed the ring and pulverised a weary Angle. So there we have it the team captains for Lethal Lockdown will be Joe and Kurt, leading to a nice brutal Main Event Mafia v Frontline scrap for dominance I’d say.

In a superb segment the ever popular World Heavyweight Champion Sting confronted an uber cocky Mick Foley about their upcoming match. Foley made some great comments about this being the only event in April fans were talking about and that he’d a few big bumps left in his tired body still. Sting looked every bit the champ and carried things off in style. If their ring work can match their mic work it may be a match of the year candidate for the pair.

The more serious than ever Beer Money had a sit down chat with Mike Tenay and equally straight-faced Team 3D. It was articulate, well researched and wrote the interfering Jacqueline out of the picture too. Expect fireworks when the teams battle it out for the IWGP and TNA tag team titles in Team 3D’s old stomping ECW stomping ground of Philadelphia.

Match-wise we also saw The Beautiful People take on and beat Awesome Kong and Raisha Saeed in a fair Knockouts brawl, Love and Sky pulled off the upset and looked every bit the well oiled team in doing so.
Suicide defended his newly won X Division title against Kiyoshi and easily put away the Great Muta inspired Japanese star.

Impact! Did exactly what a weekly show could, gave some good progressive matches, helped the next PPV along and built up some new feuds along the way. Yes there are still some flaws and top heavy booking, but overall TNA should be patting themselves on the back for yet another good show.