Holy crap, the UK Tour. I'm not sure what it was about this one... there was the crowd which obviously helped, it felt like they were out in the Tokyo Dome... Taz wasn't on commentary which is ALWAYS a bonus for the show, instead of having boring and aggravating commentary it was just boring, so pretty par for the course for mainstream wrestling commentary nowadays... Idk, the show just had a MUCH different feel to it, and that part of it lead to the first show in a while that was greater than the sum of it's parts.
-Wow, Magnus is a heat machine in the UK! That's unbelievable, being the first British champion and all that. Am really loving Magnus when he's like this, while he had the eye-roll-worthy cocky heel stuff going that is completely played out... he also has the balls to back it up. How about that, we have a heel that isn't completely castrated. How great of a segment was this for that alone? Then Samoa Joe really stood out. Joe really came across like a killing machine in his promo... actually, all the promos were on a whole different level today. Isn't it amazing what happens in front of real fans instead of the wrestlers just staring at empty seats and yelling at the camera?
-Tenay yelling "The limo with the new investor has arrived!" before a minivan drives up? Priceless.
-Okay, Velvet screwing Sabin out of the title and then dumping him was fine, but it took too long to get there. I'm laughing that it took her so long. And no, smarks, this feud didn't "devalue" the X-Title. The title's meaning is tied to Option C, so as long as it doesn't mess with that, it doesn't mess with the title.
-We don't have enough friends in wrestling, and that's part of what made this James Storm/Gunner promo so great. They tallked about a whole bunch of relatable stuff about standing by your partner, what's wrong with that? Definitely Gunner's best promo.. .hell, he started a USA chant on the UK Tour. They're infinitely more likable and believable as a team now that they aren't obviously just placeholder champions. Bad Influence coming out and testing their newfound re-friendship was great, too, getting Gunner to put up his briefcase when he didn't have to. Capitalizing on those dumb reckless drunks' stupidity made Bad Influence look like a million bucks even though they lost the match.
-Okay, I have a big complaint with TNA. There were 2 matches on this show, since I fast-forwarded through one and nobody watched the Knockouts' match, and while I'm okay with that now... those matches should deliver. The wrestling quality on Impact is definitely subpar and forgettable, and I wish they could do something to spice it up some. What can they do?
-Bobby Roode turning face on Dixie? You called it, Test. And this oughta be awesome. The 2 big issues I mentioned a few weeks ago have been addressed, the lack of faces and the pointlessness of putting heat on Dixie. And people wonder why I watch Impact. TNA creates solutions while WWE dig themselves deeper holes.
-I'm a HUGE Rockstar Spud fan at this point, this dude is entertaining as hell! To not see Davey tower over him was kinda odd, but whatever. The New Investor FINALLY put an end to these bullshit run-in main events and that made me mark-out big time. Putting heat on Dixie Carter was actually good for something, who knew? Also, LOVE how after Hogan and Bischoff created this massive scheme and carried it out over 6 months with backstage shenanigans and committed fraud at Bound for Glory 2010 to take over the company... MVP can take over just by buying stock.
1: Who knew it was so easy? Hogan and Bischoff look like complete fucking idiots in retrospect and I love it.
-Hey, Eric Young and Abyss in a Monster's Ball next week, wooooooo... yeah, I don't care.
-It's kinda hard for me to care about Bully and Anderson because this feud should have ended along with the worst storyline in wrestling history, but when Bully and Anderson have a mic it's also very hard not to care. And every time Bully Ray says "I would love to piledrive your wife" I mark. Hard. Coffin matches suck in 2014 but if anyone can do it, it's Bully Ray. Problem is, outside of the one line about piledriving his wife, I don't remember a line that was said here... ahh, the Aces and EIghts fallout at it's best.
-Really good tag main event! Also forgettable, but this was at least good when I sat through it. Can't expect much from Joe these days but he really brought it here, and Angle does what Angle does. Joe taps out Magnus clean and gets a title shot at Lockdown, great. Not sure why Kurt wasn't upset with this, but he's just happy to be inducted into the Hall of Fame soon after he PUT IT OVER so well the past few months. Guess I can buy that... whatever, after 4 long years we're FINALLY getting a Samoa Joe push. If he brings it, this'll be tremendous television.