The Impact Insight: 01/13/2011

Hello, all. I am JP Nichols, ex-writer for The Cool Kids’ Table & 411mania making my column writing return. I am going to be doing columns on Impact, my *favorite* show throughout the week. Due to attending more of their shows than most people, I get the live perspective that most reviewers do not. To start off, I thought I would share some brief thoughts from the Genesis 2011 PPV this past Sunday.

Sadly, “Hell” did not debut at the PPV as advertised. Well, I suppose it did in some form, but not in the way that TNA probably wanted.
– I did not care for the show in the least really. AJ being taken off the show really killed it with me as he vs. Doug was the only thing I was looking forward to on the show along with the guns & beer money (Lethal/Kazarian to an extent as well.) Beyond that though, there was nothing that did a lot for me on paper and it turned out that way with the show itself.
– Lethal/Kazarian was a solid match that was hurt by the ending (a trend throughout the night). It was a pretty good match though.
– Mickie/Madison was OK by the typical Knockout’s standard. Mickie is at least an improvement over the Knockouts that they have. (The only other one that I would consider myself a fan of is Sarita). However, when you look at the people in the division that they had this time last year it is a HUGE farcry. On the “biggest show in TNA History” last year, we had a match for the KO’s tag titles in Kong and Hamada challenging Sarita and Taylor Wilde. Only one of those four now remain in the company. Sad.
– Guns/Beer Money was the easy MOTN (as expected, especially when AJ/Doug was taken off the card). I felt it was the best match they have had together besides their Victory Road PPV match last year and their 2/3 falls match at The Whole F’n Show last year. They actually slowed things down unlike how some of their matches were last year, which I was ok with.
– My favorite program in the world (Bully Ray vs. Brother Devon) finally happened and I thought the match was a joke. Granted it was obvious that this feud would continue but to seem like a blood feud and end up as a match with hitting people with shoes and soda/beer cans, it was a joke.
– Abyss/Doug was not a good match and well below what I had expected out of AJ vs. Doug. It was a last minute thing changing the match around and Abyss is NO AJ Styles but seriously, this match was a huge chore to get through.
– Matt Hardy/Rob Van Dam was not good either. Somehow, I think Matt surpassed his brother in terms of looking worse . He was very slow and sluggish and RVD 2011 is in no position to be able to try to pull something good out of today’s Matt Hardy.
– The Kurt Angle/Jeff Jarrett “match” got a DUD from me and was my most hated thing on the show (which says a lot considering how much I did not like this show top to bottom). I have thought that Jarrett’s work in the character has been his best in a while, but I absolutely hate fake MMA in wrestling and this did absolutely nothing to change that.
– Matt Morgan/Anderson was an iffy main event. Nothing much to report on it really. The following main event was a good way to pop the crowd at least but I was not crazy about the match itself. Anderson is supposed to have been concussed yet here he has taken several blows to the head between both matches and he is still able to win?
Not a good PPV at all really. Seven of the eight advertised matches had some type of shenanigan mess with the ending. It is kind of sad when the first mainstream PPV of the year can already be nominated for worst mainstream PPV of the year. Only thing I would recommend checking out is the tag title match, and probably the opener. I suppose I would recommend the real main event as well if you are at least somewhat interested in seeing the world title change hands, but beyond that, this show gets a skip from me.
Now onto Impact.

1.13.11 Impact Review
SEGMENT #1: Mr. Anderson celebrates with his @$$holes
I have always wondered why TNA censors the shirts that say @$$hole on them for Anderson, yet allow him to say it on TV. Kind of stupid to me. Anyway, this was your basic post-PPV face winning the belt promo. Anderson gave a bit of backstory pointing out how it has been his dream to win the belt, having beat several former world champs in the other company but thanks to Eric/Hogan/Dixie/Russo he gets to be the asshole he is today. He thanked Matt Morgan as well who came out to congratulate Anderson and let him know that even though that they are friends that he will still be coming for the title. Then after that, Bischoff came out to inform Anderson that Jeff is getting his re-match for the title on the February 3rd Impact and Hogan will return then as well. Anderson got in Eric’s face and Jeff came on the screen and said his title will come back to him in three weeks which leads to a brawl with Immortal beating up RVD and eventually Anderson who ran back to attempt to make the save. This ended setting up the main event of the reuniting of the Hardys vs. Mr. Anderson + Rob Van Dam.
This segment felt like it was doing too much. Not sure exactly how I feel about them building towards Hardy’s big rematch being on an Impact rather than a PPV as well.
Rating: Thumbs in the middle, leaning down
SEGMENT TWO: TNA World Tag Team Championship Match: Beer Money (C) vs. the Motor City Machine Guns ***
Match Result: Robert Roode pinned Alex Shelley in about seven and a half minutes.
It is hard to believe that in basically the past six months, this match has happened eight times (Six of those times being in the span of a month). The Guns had the upperhand throughout the majority of the match until Shelley accidentally superkicked Sabin (mind you at the PPV, Sabin accidentally yakuza kicked Shelley) leading to the Guns losing. I am sort of indifferent to the idea of the Guns breaking up. I am for it, since it could help potentially revitalize the X-Division (especially if guys like TJ Perkins + El Generico also get signed), but at the same time, I am not really sold on the idea of Beer Money only having The Young Bucks and Ink Inc to face (or worse *shudder* Orlando Jordan + Eric Young). I still am clueless as to why this company has not given The Briscoes a shot or even the Kings of Wrestling. With this match though, if you have seen these teams face once, you should know what to expect here. Easily the best segment on the show.
Rating: Thumbs up
Segment #3: The Pope and Joe continue their “feud”
I still am sort of unsure as to what the purpose is of these two feuding. Pope tells Joe that he forgives him, but if the roles were reversed, would Joe forgive him? Pope says that he has gotten pictures of Joe doing things including showing a pic of Joe and his wife that is a picture of two pigs having sex. Lovely. Joe comes out and tells Pope for a guy that is pimpin’, he always runs like a bitch. Sooner or later, Joe is coming after him and is going to kill him.
Unfunny comedy in a feud that essentially has no reason to be happening other than putting two guys that should be in the upper card in a mid card feud. Yeah, this gets a thumbs down.
Thumbs Down

SEGMENT #4: Beer Money are beaten up and hype for Angle/Karen/Jarrett
In the back, we see Flair/AJ/Eric discussing how to get the belt off Anderson. When they get back to the Immortal locker-room, they find Beer Money beaten up by (apparently) RVD and Anderson. After this, we get a recap of the Jarrett/Angle story with comments from all three involved. Jarrett mentions how after Sunday, he is going to hang up the MMA boots and go undefeated. Pretty much usual story continuation all around here.
Thumbs in the middle
SEGMENT #5: No more Double J Double M A Challenge and Karen Angle returns.
Jarrett put over how he is retiring from MMA and wants to bring out the woman that has helped him be as successful as he has been in it: Karen Jarrett. However, Kurt came out and man handled all of Jarrett’s guards until he and Jeff almost got into it. However, Karen came out and laid into Kurt saying next week, she was going to tell the world her story and not let him ruin her happiness with Jeff.
I don’t see why she didn’t just say it right there since she had a live mic, and Kurt in the ring. Whatever. I am actually pretty interested by this feud just because of the circumstances behind it. Not to mention, from a work standpoint, Jarrett and Angle have proven to have great chemistry. This was a fine segment.
Thumbs up
SEGMENT #6: Winter & Angelina Love vs. Madison Rayne & Tara *
Match result: Winter made Tara pass out in a choke in about three minutes.
Good lord,  I don’t know which theme is worse: Winter’s or Madison’s. This match as a whole felt pretty pointless. Mickie came out and chased Madison to the back leading to Winter going nuts on Tara and getting the win. I don’t really know what this could’ve accomplished that just a backstage segment could not have.
Thumbs down
SEGMENT #7: Abyss vs. Matt Morgan *
Match result: Matt Morgan pinned Abyss via Carbon  in under three and a half minutes.
Morgan essentially dominated Abyss in this match and only got offense when Flair would distract Morgan. After the match, Rob Terry came out and he/Abyss/Flair beat down Morgan. Pretty forgettable match/segment overall.
Thumbs in the middle.
SEGMENT #8: Another THEY is coming
In the back, Crimson (aka Tommy Mercer aka Little Red, Amazing Red’s brother) choked Abyss and told him to pass a message to Eric/Flair that on February 3rd, they are coming for every member of Immortal. If it didn’t seem painfully obvious to me that it would be the possible return of the Main Event Mafia or the fact that this is four months after the four month build of the previous THEY, this COULD be interesting. I will say I am happy with someone fresh getting pushed in Crimson but alas, can’t say that I am looking forward to this.
SEGMENT #9: Mr. Anderson & Rob Van Dam vs. The Hardys **
Match Result: Jeff Hardy pinned Mr. Anderson in almost fourteen minutes via Swanton Bomb.
It’s sad when I can honestly say that I only think one of the four people in this main event looks presentable enough to be in the main event. Matt especially looks really bad. The Tyler Reks comparison is pretty off though considering he does have dreads while Matt has braids making Matt look more like a knockoff of Raven 2002. Regardless, this was pretty basic but also got pretty ugly at points. I’m not sure how smart it is having the World Champion get pinned on his first show after winning the title. I suppose it does build towards Jeff/Anderson again on 2/3 but it still seems counterproductive to me. Plus it gives us the usual IMMORTAL STANDING TALL that we have seen for the past four months. It feels like something that has been seen long before Immortal showed up as well (between them, the Main Event Mafia, Angle Alliance, etc.)
Thumbs in the middle for the segment
Overall: Not a lot of wrestling on this show. There is a new champion, but it feels like the same old routine in Orlando. They are at least building towards something (the 2/3 Impact) with the new THEY and Hardy/Anderson again, but that doesn’t do much in terms of profit. Overall, not a TERRIBLE episode but certainly not a good one.
OVERALL EPISODE: Thumbs in the middle, leaning down
The 127 Hours segment of the show (aka best segment): Beer Money/Motor City
The THIS SEGMENT FELT LIKE IT WAS 127 HOURS segment of the show (aka worst segment): Pope/Joe promo