At first, I wanted to write about what TNA had been up to on Impact Wrestling on a month by month basis, as opposed to reviewing each and every episode of Impact every single week. But at the end of January I just wasn't feel something to write about. Now, as TNA has had Impact Wrestling on Destination America for a solid two months I feel there is enough to be written about so here it goes.
1) The Championships
On the first show of 2015 Lashley recaptured the TNA Title from Bobby Roode. Austin Aries also won the X Division Title on that same show only to lose it back to Low Ki the following week. For the first two months of Impact Wrestling this year those have been the only title changes. James Storm and Abyss remain tag team champions and Taryn Terrell remains Knockouts Champion.
Hopefully Taryn Terrell (who I can't stand) is on her way to losing the Knockouts Title to Awesome Kong. Lashley has a full plate as he ended these two months with a match against MVP, and yet both Bobby Roode and Kurt Angle seem to wanting a shot as well. Austin Aries also looms in the background with the Feast or Fired briefcase granting him a TNA Title shot. Magnus has the briefcase for a tag team title shot but since Bram tried to kill him who knows what will happen with that. Rockstar Spud has the X Division Title shot briefcase so I expect him to move onto fighting Low-Ki once his program with EC3 is done.
The Hardyz, American Wolves and whoever Magnus can eventually find as a tag partner serve as good contenders for the tag team titles but the lack of challengers for the X Division title makes me feel like that belt might just drift by unnoticed these next few months.
2) Lock Down
TNA offered up Lock Down as a special edition of Impact on Friday night for free. Then again, WWE is giving away The Network for free during February so you essentially can watch WWE Fastlane for free as well. What I'm saying is that free doesn't always equal better. In this case, Lock Down was a solid show considering what we've seen in recent years and just because I feel like TNA really is kind of starting to find their stride here.
Havok vs. Awesome Kong happened and that was worth it alone. The only thing that really stood out as a "Why did they do that?" was the injury angle with Jeff Hardy because... wait for it... He couldn't work their next set of television tapings because he can't leave the country due to his past drug arrests.
Why not just have a scenario where The Revolution beats down Matt Hardy and they say that Jeff Hardy isn't there to help him because of his past catching up with him? I'm not saying that Jeff Hardy is a druggie or a bad person or whatever, but he made his mistakes and has presumably paid for them since he seems to have gotten his life together.
Putting together a notion that Jeff Hardy wants to do something that he can't- even though he's clean now and he got his life together- would just further enhance the whole "don't do drugs" message that I feel like TNA should be trying to send.
3) Comings and Goings
So TNA has had three returns/debuts and only two people gone so far this year. That doesn't mean that there won't be more contracts silently left not renewed but at the same time I'm not really counting the returns of guys like Mr. Anderson who was absent for the month of January. I'm talking about those who had been gone from the company for much longer than that.
So on one hand, we saw the return of Mickie James and well as Awesome Kong. If Mickie James returns to the ring this is most excellent news for the state of TNA's womens division. And why shouldn't TNA attempt to rebuild their once great roster of women when WWE seems to have all but given up on that option?
TNA also saw the debut of Drew Galloway, who I recently watched face Roderick Strong in a free match on YouTube from Evolve. I think Drew could be an asset to TNA or any promotion for that matter as he just seemed to be on a roster in WWE where they had too much talent and no idea what to do with it all. It's probably why Justin Gabriel left and Heath Slater still has a job.
On the other side of the page, we have Velvet Sky being fired via the Feast or Fired briefcase deal. I wish that since Velvet pulled down the briefcase but handed it to Robbie E, who was technically in the match not her, that they could have both just been fired together. I could seriously never have the Bromans on my television again and be that much better for it.
In perhaps the most shocking story to come out of TNA not only within these first two months but maybe all year (Hopefully all year for them) it was announced that Samoa Joe and TNA did not come to terms on a new contract and as such Samoa Joe has left TNA. You know, first off, I don't care what Joe wanted, TNA should have given it to him. You can't build up new talent very well without veteran talent on your roster, both on television and in the locker room.
And I'm not talking about veteran talent like Kurt Angle, MVP, etc. but rather guys who made their name in TNA since the beginning (or close enough to it) I mean, who will be next now-- Abyss? Robert Roode? James Storm? TNA is running out of originals and they should be trying to keep these guys rather than worrying about new talent. (Why not just give Bromans' money to Joe and fire them??)
So of course this has the wrestling world buzzing about what will happen in the future of Samoa Joe. There was a time when Samoa Joe wasn't interested in going to WWE but times have changed since then so people think he might end up in NXT. Me, personally, though, as much as I'd love to see him in NXT and then on the main WWE roster one day it is more likely that he'll just go back to Ring of Honor and Japan aka "The AJ Styles/Christopher Daniels/Frankie Kazarian/Matt Sydal Plan". Wait, Sydal went to Japan too, right? Oh well, my point remains.
4) Grado
The story with Grado is that he was on season two of British Boot Camp (didn't watch it) and showed up late for something so Al Snow doesn't like him. As much as this makes it feel as if he should be a heel, since he is near his homeland (His parents were in the crowd) he was pretty over.
I can't quite place who he reminds me of exactly, but Grado feels like a comical gimmick that will never be taken seriously and if TNA should decide to bring him to a taping in the United States it will be interesting to see the reaction he gets.
5) EC3 vs. Rockstar Spud and Mandrews
For a feud that it feels like Ethan Carter III and Rockstar Spud have been having since both were in the company (I can't remember the time when they were together anymore) they have had some pretty good moments with Mandrews, Tyrus and Jeremy Borash. The only problem that I have with this feud right now is that it doesn't seem as if it is going to end until Rockstar Spud shaves the head of EC3. This is somewhat pointless because EC3 has shorter hair and it therefore seems much less effective.
I remember once back in the day when there was a hair vs. hair match between Kurt Angle and Eddie Guerrero. At the time, Eddie had his famous mullet and Kurt was starting to go bald so he has that 1990's Bruce Willis deal going on. I- and everyone else probably- thought it was obvious that the guy with less hair would be getting his head shaved. I mean, you never see hair vs. hair matches that matter, like Bram vs. Gunner or something, you know, two guys who actually have a lot to lose.
(Blocking out that knockouts hair match)
Obviously Kurt Angle lost and started wearing a wig under amateur head gear while Eddie Guerrero eventually cut off his mullet one day for no reason. Nope. None at all. Just came out one day with shorter hair, like, "What? You couldn't have put that haircut into the storylines somehow?" Writers have always known to be so lazy.
The only positive so far with this is that Taz and Josh Mathews are at least putting a lot of emphasis on the fact that even though he doesn't have a lot of hair the haircuts EC3 gets are rather pricy.
6) Eddie Edwards broke his heel
Professional wrestling has never had a problem faking an injury but I always feel like they do this at the risk of taunting fate and having someone actually get injured. When word broke about Eddie Edwards suffering a broken heel in a match all I could think of was how it kind came back to bite them in the ass that they did that Jeff Hardy injury angle when it could have been much more meaningful.
So what does this mean for the American Wolves? I don't know and I don't care because I'm not really a big fan of them. Not too long before the injury was announced though, I do remember tweeting a bunch of names to Eddie Edwards like Rad Radford, Brad Bradly, you get the idea. I hope I didn't throw him off his game.
Are those red tattoos on their chests real anyway or is it super strong body paint? I kind of am curious if they're real or not considering how... umm... tacky they look.
7) The Reset
My main feelings on TNA for this year have come much like a reset button being hit. I know TNA has had some terrible, terrible times but they've also had some really good ones. So I'm just trying- in 2015- to wipe away the past and go into this new period of TNA with an open mind. It's hard to find the proper mix because TNA is still TNA, but I kind of like to think of it the same way as I would watching a new promotion for the first time.
The first name that, of course, comes right to mind is Lucha Underground. I went into Lucha Underground not sure what to expect other than knowing that they had a working relationship with AAA which made me happy. So in some ways, maybe yeah I'm thinking of this as being a new period in TNA where they have a working relationship with that older TNA talent but are still different.
Granted, there are times when I see Chavo Guerrero Jr. in Lucha Underground and think about him riding the pony or how Mil Muertes was in TNA for that matter, so sometimes that line is blurred and will be blurred in TNA as well but I'm just trying to take this whole thing in as if I watching a new promotion in TNA rather than the one that brought us awkward moments including but not limited to Homicide not being able to escape that cage. (Though from what I've heard, that's more on him than TNA itself, right?)
8) Where Do We Go From Here?
TNA certainly did not have a good first two months. They might have gained some talent on screen and their shows haven't been particularly terrible but the fact that Samoa Joe is gone is just too big of a notion to really get over. Lashley defending his title against Samoa Joe or if Kurt Angle captured it from Lashley and then TNA wanted to go back to Angle vs. Joe simply cannot happen now. Samoa Joe was a lot like that rock in TNA they knew they could rely on and without it everything just doesn't seem the same and definitely not as good. I assume the next two months will only further existing storylines because none of them have ended yet. Also it's worth noting that TNA no longer appears to have a PPV deal so that would make ROH the #2 promotion in the United States now, right?
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