Impact Wrestling review (4/11)

I'll admit, Raw's crowd on Monday put on the performance of a lifetime and no matter what the Corpus Christi, Texas crowd pulled, it wouldn't equal the rabid nature of that unit.

I guess that means TNA will have to earn my interest through compelling TV. Let's look!

TNA World Tag Team Championships: Austin Aries and Bobby Roode (c) v. Hernandez and Chavo Guerrero Jr. - This was supposedly a 2-out-of-3 falls match, but the first two falls finished so quickly we effectively got a 12-minute one-fall match with 3 minutes of sudden finishers preceding it. However, the action was strong, the match was clean, time was given and it was fun to watch. I also like that TNA didn't just open the show with talking for once. I give the match 3.25 out of 5 stars and give the whole segment an 8.2/10

Joseph Park gets legal and Devon doesn't like it. TESTIFY! - I love Park's passion in this speech, but it felt really cliche until he started talking about vigilante lawyer work (which makes no sense at all). Devon tears up the document of annulment (and I guess that's the only copy because Park's really down about that) and then beats him up. So... kudos for getting Park more active in this feud, but this was kind of weird. I think a 5/10 works here.

Teryn Terrell and Gail Kim blow off their feud (in three minutes or less!) - The feud was built well, people were behind these two wrestling (since the former Tiffany isn't too bad in the ring and Gail Kim is, well, Gail Kim), so why didn't this get more time? It was awesome in its brief existence, and Teryn didn't do badly in the post-match interview. I just feel a lot of payoff was wasted and have to give this segment 4.5/10.

Styles video package and Gut Check elimination - The video was fine for what it was. It just caught people up on the last few weeks. The Gut Check drew a lot of hate for eliminating 5-time NWA champion Adam Pearce first, which is definitely a bad call. But still, Pearce is fairly old to be starting out in TNA (in a storyline sense) and I really don't care all that much. The Gut Check segments aren't that interesting anyway and I give the whole thing 4/10

AJ Styles is confronted about his decision on whose side he's on - This was surprising, but in a good way. Styles has been told to join Aces & Eights as well as Team Hogan, and Hulk wants an answer. James Storm comes out to demand for Hulk as well, and then Bad Influence of all people come out. Daniels and Kaz apologize (to AJ and, I assume, everyone forced to watch) for the Claire Lynch crap and make a case for him to join them in an "us against the world" crusade. Honestly, they're the only ones who have made a decent case so far, so this was fun, and the part where Daniels puts over all the group's World title reigns (which only AJ contributes to) is some nice, subtle humor. It set up a Storm/Styles match and was entertaining, so how about a nice 7.5/10

Kurt Angle says things and Joey Ryan gets squashed - This was probably the trash segment of the night. It accomplished very little and forced me to watch Joey Ryan again, who got his ass handed to him by Rob Terry. This was not interesting at all. 3/10

Gut Check claims another loser/Hogan drama/Bully Ray says awesome things - Magno gets unanimously dumped from the Gut Check for competing in a terrible match a week ago. Yay. This was boring and got too much time. Thankfully, it was book-ended by Matt Morgan being a douchebag to Hogan and Bully Ray rallying the Aces & Eights, saying he must fight alone. So two really awesome things surround a boring thing. Let's say 6/10.

World Championship Full Metal Mayhem match: Bully Ray (c) v. Jeff Hardy - Hell. Yes. This was just what this show needed to end on. A feud-ending style of match between two guys used to tables, ladders and chairs (and steel chains), and a fairly clean victory. Yeah, there were complaints about Taz hinting to Ray about using the hammer, but hammers are metal and this was Full Metal Mayhem, so I'm fairly sure that's fine. My one complaint is that it was clear toward the end that Ray being set up on the table was done poorly (there is no logical sense WHY he's rolling onto a collapsible table), but otherwise, it was a fun match. I'd say 3.5 stars and 8.5/10.

Overall, the show averages out to a 5.8/10, but I'm adding .5 points for delivering on two strong World Championship matches on free television. So it actually comes out to a 6.3/10.

It was an average show that felt bigger because of the implications going on with the titles. Definitely two matches and a couple promos to check out, though I think the whole Gut Check thing has run its course.

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