3/15 Impact Reviews (VR Go home show)

[Dolph'sZiggler]

Post your thoughts on the show here. My thoughts:

Opening segment: Storm is awesome on the mic. He is what a face should sound like on the stick, not a generic, corny, half ass robot. Storm built towards LD, his intensity was great, but Bully came out to remind him that he is still what's next on Storm's plate. Bully was great as always. The match makes perfect sense at VR because it's Bully who wants to take out Storm so he can take his title shot. Set up a match later for Storm/Gunner. Not a big fan of Gunner, but he's a good candidate to job to Storm and give him a win going into VR. Also D Lo Brown came out to break up the Storm/Gunner scuffle, so bonus points there.

Rayne/Kim- I enjoy their catyness back and forth, and Sting booking them both in singles matches made sense. Only complaint: I would have put Gail with Velvet and Rayne with Micky, instead of booking the two good workers together and the two sub par workers together. Madison is so damn hot. Do want.

Rayne/Velvet match- 5 start technical masterpiece. Seriously though, Madison entertains me. Her interacting with the crowd on the way out, and her telling Velvet she loves her after she beat her and saying 'we can still be friends' Have I mentioned how hot Maddie is? Goodness. Velvet aint bad either

Joe/Crimson- Wasn't really too interested in this match as we all knew what was going to happen. Same with their match Sunday. Not sure why they are still feuding, wish they would just move on from this. Decent back and forth between Joe and Crimson, but whatever. Looking forward to Crimson turning heel and what they do with joe/Magnus next

Aries/Ion promo- possibly the highlight of the night. Aries was on point as always, his highlight package was great, and I'll be honest, Ion surprised me a bit. He sort of had a crazy look about him, and his mic work wasn't that bad. Really good stuff from both guys. The heel/heel dynamic is going to be fun to watch at VR

The search for Abyss- I like this storyline, but the one quick segment with Gunner was a little bland.

EY/ODB- Not a bad backstage segment, provided some lulz

Angle backstage promo- hilarious. Heel Angle is amazing

Mickie James/GK- We've seen this match enough, but Mickie was looking hella fine, so I was okay with it. The ending was pretty Blue though. Not the best we've seen out of these two

Anderson/Daniels- Anderson was a little corny, but sort of entertaining. Daniels was okay. Not the best segment of the night, not the best feud going, but it should be an okay tag match @ VR. I laughed when Anderson got his drink knocked out of his hand and was like 'ohhhhhhhhhhh... not that! not thatt..'. The match itself was again, just okay. Anderson does seem to be in better shape then when he left, so that's good. Kaz and Aj both get involved and as expected Anderson goes over.

Angle/Garrett- Let me start by saying, no, Bischoff should be nowhere near a legend like Kurt Angle.. I get that. And yes, when we heard 5 minute challenge it telegraphed what was about ot happen. BUT this is what I felt should have been going on with Garrett all along. He should be the Mikey Whipwreck of TNA. Getting the dog shit kicked out of him, but showing his heart by never quitting. He got in no offense out of a few punches that Angle no sold. Angle didn't look weak at all , because it was booked in a way that he could have beaten GB at any time had he chosen, but he was toying with him. Garrett's heart came into play in the last 30 seconds, and Angle couldn't finish him off after toying with him for 4 1/2 minutes. that all said, not a fan of what this is building towards, which is Angle/Hardy being tossed into the Garrett Bischoff angle for a lethal lockdown match next month

Storm/Gunner- Not bad, did what it needed to do. Storm goes over clean and it helped build towards his match at VR.

Contract signing- Roode was top shelf. Him digging in with both fists on Sting was damn entertaining. I expected Sting to wind up getting the better of him physically because obviously Roode will go over at VR.

Overall- 7.5/10. No outstanding matches, but no really terrible ones. Most everything was watchable, and we got some excellent promos. All in all it did what a go home show needs to do. I came out of this Impact looking forward to VR moreso than I was coming into it.

Ultimately, yes, it's a filler/throwaway PPV whatever you want to call it, and the matches are pretty predictable, but it should provide some entertainment.

 

[Snowman1]

I'm completely stealing your format here. My expectations were very low due to last week's trainwreck. TNA would earn 5 out of 10 just for keeping the Bischoffs and EY/ODB under 10 minutes combined and reign in Sting's character. Mission accomplished.

Opening segment: How do you remind the TNA fans why they love the product, after pissing us all off last week? Throw James Storm out there to work the mic, and then get Bully Ray to confront him. Top-notch stuff from both, as usual, and Storm has clearly surpassed anyone in professional wrestling in terms of mic ability.

Rayne/Kim- Two knockout matches? +Ratings points. Madison Rayne on my TV but not in the ring? +Happiness points. Sting actually playing it straight and not being an insufferable jackass? +1 point for this review. Thank. God.

Rayne/Velvet- Liked the finish, but the rest of the match was pretty hard to follow. It did what it was supposed to, and they're still hot. Good. Did you sense a Madison face turn tease? Interesting.

Joe/Crimson- Good job, TNA, you created a pseudo-heel team in Crimson/Morgan so the crowd won't be confused. The match was quite good, Samoa Joe is just awesome.

Ion/Aries Promo: This was so great. Ion needs to work on his delivery, but with practice, this guy will be incredible on the mic. This guy oozes character and really sounds like a genuine badass while playing the male model gimmick to perfection. He's taking a oxymoron of a gimmick and making it work, and shoot, name-dropping Sorenson didn't even faze him. Aries goes without saying at this point.

Joseph Park, Esquire: Hey, we aren't dropping this storyline! It's still going on! Good job, TNA, if you don't have anything to add to it, just remind the fans that it's there.

EY/ODB: They kept it short, and EY actually made me laugh. Thank you.

Angle backstage promo: These writers are giving him a complete shit sandwich right now, and he's turning it into KFC. This feud with Jeff is paper-thin and the Garett feud is completely illogical, and he's selling both like a champ in under 5 minutes. Thank you, Jeff Hardy, for explaining his side of why he wants this match at VR. Figured they were going to not explain why Jeff wanted this match and half-ass Angle's side, which doesn't do anything in terms of build... right, Orton and Kane?

Mickie/Gail: Did you see Mickie's ring attire in Ring Ka King... I like. I like a lot.

Anderson/Daniels: So good to see Anderson back, his sarcasm was greatly missed. The match was better than I expected, Anderson's in much better ring shape as you said. But with the Anderson return and him winning here, then the face team is 2-0 going into VR. That's one less match for the fans to want to see...

Angle/Garrett 5-minute challenge: Angle no-selling all of Garrett's offense was so great! As you said, the Mikey Whipwreck effect is in full force, and getting in some hope spots really helped as well. Angle got a lot of heat for several things he did, so no complaints! I was watching this with a friend though, and he couldn't help but bring it up: He's got Jeff Hardy on his side as he chases down Kurt Angle, and Ric Flair really wants to take him out. In kayfabe, who the hell is Garrett to demand even a passing glance from these Hall of Famers, more less a full-fledged feud? And no, they shouldn't care about his daddy either.

Storm/Gunner: Nice way to make up for the lack of Storm last week, with Bully selling their feud. Wish Gunner would have looked better, with all the quality wrestling you get on this show, this felt like a real squash. Hate Bully being a little chump though.

Roode/Sting: You had Roode do all the talking, and Sting kept his mouth shut. Thank you. Roode isn't afraid to pull any punches, but it's almost sad that he's the 5th best mic worker on this show, at best.

Overall: 8 out of 10
+5 The ridiculous shit was kept short and tolerable. Thank you.
+1 Phenomenal promos
+1 No bad matches other than the one we knew would be bad, and it had "distractions"
+1 Good booking for the most part, explaining and advancing storylines, nudging the fans to lean one way in PPV matches, etc.

-1 No great or memorable matches
-1 Victory Road still looks lackluster.

 

[Dolph'sZiggler]

Roode being the 5th best mic worker behind guys like Aries, Storm, Bully, and the like isn't really a bad thing though. I was glued to the TV when he was tearing away at Sting, so much truth in what he was saying, without having to just kick down the 4th wall. Like the HHH/HBK promo that had the IWC abuzz when you can toe a the line without full on crossing it like CM Punk has to, it's much better than just jumping across the line and laughing about it.