Liveblog: TNA Impact (11-13-08)

Some people say I don't give TNA a fair chance so I thought it might be an interesting Liveblog on my day off.

The "Turning Point" highlight reel looks pretty impressive. Except for Nash. He just looks old. Poor Joe.

Foley and Jarrett kick things off - grrrrreeeeat. I'm going to call Jarrett turning on Foley to join the Main Event Mafia at some point because it just seems like a Vince Russo thing to do. It's weird to see Foley on TNA. His promo comes across forced. He's supposed to be fired-up but it just wasn't there.

Different opening since the last time I watched. It's... okay. This is the first time I've watched since the new set too. I'm not watching in HD so I guess I don't get the full effect but... well, it's better, I think, than it was. But it still looks like a low rent WWE ripoff.

Foley on his way to the ring. PPV recap. God damn, Nash looks old. Everyone else looked okay and if I didn't know better, I might even think I really missed out on a good show. Foley in-ring time. Foley's calling out the kids to give them a peptalk. He's reading off a list. I don't know if that's a work or not. It'd be pretty funny if Foley couldn't remember their names. The TNA video wall you can seen on the hard cam shot looks pretty good.

So, since Petey's not Steiner's Mini-Me anymore, how come he still looks like Steiner? Foley just said you don't win a World Series with four strikeouts. That's... odd. He just asked Shelley if he's "playing with a booger." Wow. I really have been too hard on TNA. I guess Shelley's supposed to be the cocky youngster who doesn't respect his colleagues. Uh oh! Foley threatened to deal with him next week - and I don't care. Foley needs to stop saying "ass" if they're going to keep bleeping it. This promo blows. It's boring and has none of the fire of Foley's best work. Eric Young's getting pushed again, I guess. I like Eric Young outside the ring - not sure how I feel about him inside the ring. Joe and AJ against Beer Money for the titles. That might be fun. Sting ve Lethal... oh, sorry... Black Machismo. I can't believe he's still using that gimmmick.

Parking lot interview with Christian and the Main Event Mafia. Sting looks weird in a suit. Steiner looks like a badass always. I guess it's some kind of a sign that Sting as the World Champ has to stand in the back. Did Nash just smell the interviewer woman? Creepy. Christian threw away the suit they gave him! Ooooooh snap!

ODB is backstage. She called the interview woman "Sugartits" which made me giggle, I must admit. Apparently ODB is getting her own interview show. Pretty sure that won't make me tune in.

Awesome Kong! One of the things about TNA that I actually enjoy. But she's teaming with Steiner's former freak so I'm not happy. I'd love to see Kong in the WWE just tear through the entire women's division to build up to a big showdown with Beth Phoenix. That'd be the most fun women's division angle since the Trish/Mickie angle. Tag match with Roxxi and Taylor Wilde. I can see why the WWE got rid of Taylor. I mean, she's cute enough but she blends in with the rest of the Divas. Plus, she looks like she can actually wrestle and we just can't have that. I do give TNA credit for building a hell of a women's division though. I really enjoy the Beautiful People. Just as I say that, this match fell apart to being barely watchable. Kong wins. She's just too cool. She's wasted in TNA post-Gail feud but Vince probably wouldn't give her the time of day.

MCMGs promo. Alex Shelley is ranting. There was a "Communist Russia" reference as well as a "Ghostbusters" one. Awesome. Sabin's not as fun. He delivers the serious part of the promo and sucks at it.

Apparently whassherface is the "Commissioner" of the women's division now. That's lame. Raesha Saed says Kong is going to hurt civilians next week if she doesn't get competition - even if it means vacationers who worship "that stupid mouse." That's awesome. I wish I could pick and choose the good parts of TNA into like... a thirty minute show.

X-Division Title match with Eric Young against the former Daivari who they've turned into a terrorist gimmmick. Stay classy, Orlando. This'll sound bad but was Daivari always this dark? Do they have chairs in the Impact Zone? The ringside people always appear to be standing. I remember seeing Daivari in a dark match at a WWE show years ago when he was doing the Flying Carpet gimmick. Eric Young is pretty dull inside the ring. Not exactly the kind of wrestler I'd choose to represent the X-Division. Uh oh. It's a face ref! The ref is hulking up! That's a pretty big pop for the ref. Young wins the title when the ref beats up Daivari... and I don't care. So, the ring fills up with people to celebrate. And by "fills up" I mean Consequences Creed, Jay Lethal, Petey Williams, and ODB. Three guys who should be after that same title - and ODB. Oh, the Guns come out too and subtly golf clap. They rule.

EY gives a post-match peptalk to the others. Blah. AJ looks sorta into it. Joe just looks annoyed and the Guns seem to be mocking him. I don't know if it's too early to have infighting within the "TNA Originals" but at least the reactions of those three seem to fit their characters.

"Rough Cut" with LAX. That's kind of a cool idea. I'll give them props for that. Hernandez lifting weights - the guy is a monster. I guess it was just about Hernandez since Homicide didn't speak. Still a pretty cool segment.

Main Event Mafia promo. Kurt speaks for the group which seems weird to me with Sting holding the big gold. Petey shows up to talk to Steiner. Steiner kicks him out of the room and says he'll talk to him later. Whatever.

Jay Lethal promo. The Savage gimmick has to go. If you want to put the Originals over as taking this seriously, have Lethal give up the gimmick and say it's time to get serious? Give the guy a chance to get over on his own. If he bombs, put him back in the gimmick. Petey's buddies with him now. Weren't they just feuding? The interviewer chick warns Petey to be careful when he talks to Steiner. Petey says Steiner's got his hook-up. Yeah. He's gonna get taken out by the Mafia.

Tenay says, "There's never been a faction in the history of pro wrestling where every member has been a former World Champion." That could be true. I'd have to think about it for a while. Steiner vs Rhino. Good lord. Rhino's fallen a long way from when I used to really look forward to his matches. He's lost the in-ring intensity that really made him fun. Steiner's wrestling in a shirt now. His arms are still huge though so I don't think he's getting off the juice. Wow. Steiner has to cheat to beat Rhino. Interesting.

Interview with Sting. That wasn't a bad promo. Mr. Borden's still got a little in the tank.

Sting vs Lethal for the gold. The match isn't bad but it's nothing great so far. The MCMGs come out to ringside which interests me a little bit. Botched spot too close to the ropes. Sabin holds Sting for Lethal. Jay doesn't want to do it. He's a good guy! He throws Sabin out of the ring. And Sting takes advantage to win. If nothing else, this proves Dark Helmet was right when he said, "Evil will always beat good because good is dumb." AJ and Joe come out to yell at the Guns. If we get a Joe/AJ vs Guns feud out of this, I'm in.

The Mafia is beating up Petey. Nash should Mysterio him into a wall. But no. Just trash cans and a breakaway 2x4. Steiner's beating the crap out of him while wearing his sunglasses. That's pretty cool. Tenay says, "I've never seen anything like this from any faction at any time in wrestling history." Really? A backstage beatdown? Hasn't pretty much every faction at every time in wrestling history done something like that?

Petey's "in a pool of his own blood." The announcers should lay out in those segments. It might have more... impact... no pun intended.

Backstage promo with Beer Money. Apparently they are neither Main Event nor Original. For now anyways. Eventually it'll probably be nWo style where everyone is either in the Mafia or against them. Wow. Miss Jackie looks old. That was a nice, effective, simple promo.

Ok. So, there's a Jarrett hype piece that starts with, "I have been a World Champion everywhere I've been." Did I miss something? I'm pretty sure Vince never got that nutty when Dubba J was up in New York.

Joe's music is pretty awesome. It's quite ominous. I guess it's Main Event time. I'm gonna go out on a limb and predict this'll be a fun match until some wacky overbooking takes control and ruins it.

It's a pretty solid match but the Dudleys on commentary bugs me. Wow. There was a DQ because Bubba spit beer on someone. Fuck TNA.

Oh, so the Main Event is actually Christian joining the Mafia. Well, that's sure to have some great work in it.

THEY'RE SHOOTING, MY GOD! THEY'RE SHOOTING! So, the Main Event is the Mafia beating down Christian because he may be "jumping ship." To me, that only makes sense if Christian's staying with the company.

Anyways... show's over. It was okay but I wouldn't have been sad if I missed it.