Welcome to the second edition of TNA: The Good, The Bad, And The WTF?, the newest wrestling column to grace GuysNation.com. What we intend to do here is not simply tell you what happens in TNA but using my 14 years of wrestling mega-fandom and my habit of over-analyzing things I am going to tell you simply what rocked about the programming and what stunk about it. The highs and lows so you can judge for yourself if it’s all worth your time. Also as the ‘net-loving acronym in my title exclaims I’ll also highlight the segments and angles that make you go “Wait? Did I really just see that? Seriously?” Since we did our recap of the show in general last week let’s get down to the nitty gritty this week. The three things that stood out the most about IMPACT!
The Good: This awkward “Bischoff hates the X Division” angle produced a beautiful match between Brian Kendrick and Kazarian. It really was the kind of match everyone who wants to know why the X Division built TNA should watch. Matches like this make me want to watch the PPV versions. Having the audience interaction point where the fans begged for more time so the match wouldn’t end in a draw made for great television. Even the Abyss run-in “non-ending” worked because it plays into the story of Abyss is the tool of Bischoff’s destruction. Frankly put if you get rid of the boss and just had Abyss out to conquer and eliminate the X Division then this angle would be just about perfect.
The Bad: Bischoff overdose/getting fired swerve. See this is what drives me and so many wrestling fans batshit insane about TNA. They say “Wrestling Matters!” then run an angle where Erich Bischoff, a man whose never been a proper wrestler no matter how often he gets in the ring to stink it up, versus Mick Foley, whose body is so broken down he can barely get into the ring without making you feel pity, over who has the power in TNA. Now that wouldn’t be bad if it was one segment on the show. But they did this swerve-tastic “Mystery Letter” thing that had Eric sweating all night. Which meant several segments with him “saying goodbye” thus even the four year olds who have never heard of a Swerve are going “No way he’s leaving. They are playing this up way too much”. Worst part? Wrestling Matters but we had matches that could have used the extra time cut short so these excessive segments that took away the “Foley’s Fired!” surprise could be aired. NO MONEY MADE!
The WTF: Okay so we have Katie Lea/Winter. This whole angle has gone on WAY too long. The whole stalker angle was cute at first. The pulling Angelina away from Velvet was amusing the first few weeks. But all “modern fans have too short an attention span” jokes aside they spent several weeks showing this every week. Having everyone notice Winter is drugging Angelina and brainwashing her. NO ONE STOPS IT! Seriously stuff like this where it’s like “Yeah we should get some law enforcement on this. Seriously” is what hurts suspension of disbelief. Which hurts emotional investment. Which hurts the making money part. The worst part? This week the “drugged and out of it” Angelina finally speaks for the first time in months and….. Is Sucked Into The Mania! See Winter apparently thinks her and Angelina were lovers of a different time and great rulers or something. Which was fine as she should sound loopy. But now Angelina is all about it and preaching it too. FAIL! This angle has gone from psychologically intriguing to Saturday Morning Cartoon Crap. How do you people screw this up? Doesn’t one person on creative have a degree in Creative Writing? Any Lit Majors?
So yeah. That’s it for this week. Join us again soon as we take a look at the next thing TNA hands us and ask: Is It Good, Is It Bad, or WTF?
Oh and here’s more loving with our WTF Star of the week. WINTER!
