Saturday, April 3, 2010

TNA Impact - 03/22/10

1) The Beautiful People/ Daffney v. Tara/ Angelina Love/ Taylor Wilde/ Sarita- 2
2) Tomko v. Rob Terry- 1
3) Jeff Jarrett v. Mick Foley (No DQ Loser Leaves)- 4
4) Hernandez v. Matt Morgan- 2
5) Beer Money v. Rob Van Dam/ Jeff Hardy- 5

First match of the show is an 8 woman tag that became a sloppy brawl before the commercial break kicked in; one thing funny was Tara being held down on the ground but she still threw an errant fist at Madison's face. Overall the match itself was kind of a mess; Most of the faces looked good when in control, Angelina blasted Maidson with a great clothesline at one point, but the heels were off; Daffney really did nothing but put a spider in Tara's face and get the duke. I know people said the Peeps are improving, but Madison was just off, wrong position every time she turned around; Velvet and Lacey had charisma, and Velvet seemed to have the basics down. They tried a TLC match type ending where one person after another comes in and hits a finisher but the timing was off, and you could see diff. women waiting for their turn outside like standing in line for a ride on the Diamondback.

2nd match was a complete squash; Terry is Hulk's new steroid project and while he looks like a WBF champion, he has zero intensity, his finisher was a Kidman bomb, not exactly the type of power move that breeds winners. Tomko was probably the highest paid jobber in years.

This match determined who would lose their job, but you couldn't tell by the pace of this; it moved slower than Chris Masters did going to his latest Wellness test. I usually loathe Foley's terrible forearms but they were killing Jarrett here, and JJ was selling his heart out. The content was just so bland it was hard to get much enjoyment out of the match but their ending sequence came together nicely; Beer Money as ref's was patently dumb but you could tell they were happy to earn their paychecks that night. Great emotion of the two guys hugging after the match, made you actually believe this stip might be true, even though there's a better chance of Dixie Carter getting a Playboy spread.

This wasn't really a match, more an angle, that being said both guys showed some fire in slapping skin with each other on painful strikes. Hernandez took a dangerous "Test-like" bump over the top, which isn't a checkmark in the positive column. Can't score this too highly considering a serious neck injury is nothing to scoff at and this one was inserted in the show like a pandering cigarette ad in a People magazine.

Our main event was the one thing on this show that was really generally more match like than just an extension of an angle and it was a fun watch. You could tell all 4 guys were just enjoying working while in there. Beer Money really is one of the few things that's worked in TNA for some time now, as they're timing on moves and cutoffs as a team is quite great. Love their nearfall stuff too, Storm also has a great right hand and superkick. Hardy's selling was here and there, but he plays face in peril better than most. RVD isn't good for much in my opinion, but he can get a crowd pretty amped up. The ladder shot might make you take an extra stiff shot at the bar later and the finish was, sounding like a geek, pretty damn cool.

A quick note about the various angles and such on the show; they, inherently, were all over the board, made no sense or had context and were some of the silliest pieces of footage i've seen in a while but i did sure enjoy them! Bischoff playing a Mariachi solo, Hulk and Abyss wheeling Flair down the ramp to take that sick clothesline and Foley's forearm smash that ko'd Bubba were all doubly enjoyable and it was a nice change to hear unscripted promos from different guys.

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