Welcome back, as another episode of "TNA Impact" comes to a close. With tonight's show, the company put the finishing touches on the build to tomorrow's TNA Sacrifice, and it was a fairly uneventful installment as a result. It was an especially System-heavy episode, so your mileage with this one may depend on how much you're willing and able to put up with the current state of that faction. As you'll soon find out, not everyone here at Wrestling Inc. is a fan.The review below won't cover everything from tonight's show, so be sure to read through our Impact results for more detail. If you're here to learn what we thought about the latest episode, though, grab your popcorn and get scrolling. Be sure to fill us in on your thoughts in the comments, and we'll be back next week to cover the post-Sacrifice happenings.
Since joining the TNA family, BDE has been in several massive matches with the likes of former World Champions in Eric Young, Nic Nemeth, and tonight with Mustafa Ali. And between the two of them, the chemistry was electric in tonight's opener.Sure, Ali took home the pin, but let's not dismiss how impressive BDE has been so far. Under the guidance of Rich Swann, it's a great pairing, as many of us watched Swann go from X-Division standout to a two-time former world champion (Impact and TNA World Heavyweight Champion) who stood toe-to-toe with the likes of men like "The Wrestling God" Kenny Omega. Under Swann's tutelage, BDE will soar to the top of this division pronto.His opponent, the great and unstoppable Ali, also wants to return to world title contention, and matches like these will help him get there. Since his TNA career began, it's like there's been a resurgence in his veteran career. We have and are continuing to see the star we should have seen all along in WWE.My only complaint with this match was how short it was. I wish it could've tacked on some extra minutes. It went by so quickly. But like they say, when something is good, don't blink, or else you'll miss it.Written by Brie Coder
Did the singles match between Jeff Hardy and Brian Myers from this edition of "Thursday Night iMPACT" feel pretty random? Sure, but it was otherwise pretty innocuous and I didn't really have an issue with the match itself. My issue mostly came with the post-match brawl that involved Jeff, Matt Hardy, The System, and The Righteous.If you cast your mind back, then you may remember that The System defeated The Hardys and The Righteous in an Eight Man Tag Team Match on the February 26 episode of "Thursday Night iMPACT". I remember thinking that it was a little bit of a random match at the time, but The Hardys and The Righteous had been shown to form an alliance at that point so I didn't think too much about it. Having watched the post match brawl with all three teams, the Eight Man Tag Team Match makes a whole lot more sense to me in retrospect.When you consider that both the February 26 episode and this episode of "Thursday Night iMPACT" all took place in the same block of tapings, it would've made far more sense to have had the match between Jeff and Myers with the three team post match brawl a few weeks back in order to set up the Eight Man Tag Team Match and give it a little bit more of a storyline. The ordering of things just didn't make much sense to me, and I felt like there was a much more straightforward way for TNA to do this entire thing.Written by Olivia Quinlan
Okay, it can only be said in my best Jim Carrey voice: the Knockouts division was "SMOKIN'" in tonight's go-home show!Let's talk about what happened in the ring first. The tensions between Jody Threat and Tessa Blanchard have been at an all-time high. Their singles match, scheduled for tomorrow night, will rock this joint (the Alario Center in Westwego, Louisiana). But tonight's contention was a superb showcase that showcased all the wrestlers involved. The compelling magnitude of all the different personalities meshed together in tonight's match was intriguing to watch. No one was left out of having their spotlighted moment.Outside of the ring, in an Undead Realm far, far away, the Rosemary and Allie comeback tour has been kooky and brilliant. Think about it: Allie was gone from Impact/TNA for seven years. She was killed off by the forces of all seven deadly sins. Each week, what are they doing? They are collecting those sins to resurrect The Bunny from the dead. It's euphoric and hard to miss every week.I know some of us have criticized recent episodes. But if there is one thing that has remained consistently entertaining to watch, it's the Knockouts division. We're seeing a lot of veteran, new, and young workhorses that other women's divisions elsewhere are aspiring to be like. Keep it up, Knockouts!Written by Brie Coder
The TNA Knockouts World Championship is the (obviously) the biggest title in the women's division. For that reason, you would think that TNA would want to do at least something to hype up the Triple Threat Match between Arianna Grace, Dani Luna, and Li Yng Lee for tomorrow's Sacrifice pay-per-view event. Whether it's something as simple as videos from all three competitors or some sort of match that involves one or more of them that leads to a post-match brawl, TNA had plenty of options to choose from to create some last minute hype for the Sacrifice Triple Threat Match.Instead, there wasn't even any sign of any of the three women on this edition of "Thursday Night iMPACT". While I can recognize that TNA tapes their shows in advance and might not have even had the Sacrifice Triple Threat in mind from a creative standpoint, it wouldn't have been that hard to add in a video or two just to do at least something for it. In general, this episode did an absolutely horrendous job of creating hype for any of the matches on the Sacrifice card in my opinion and was incredibly lackluster to sit through for 2 hours. There was no reason to not even have any mention of the Knockouts World Championship, and I found it really disappointing to see no attention being paid to the Triple Threat Sacrifice Match.Written by Olivia Quinlan
In recent weeks, I've issued complaints over the mishandling of television time and lackluster/awkward celebrity appearances on TNA Wrestling programming. In one fell swoop, though, tonight's match between Bear Bronson and Moose greatly made up for them.Similar to last week, Moose took on a member of The System on "Thursday Night iMPACT," this time the equally as powerful Bear Bronson. Much to my delight, Moose and Bronson received a decent amount of time (about 13 minutes with commercials included) to deliver that exciting big man vs. big man matchup. Aside from his obvious strength, Moose got the opportunity to show off his athleticism as well. I found myself particularly impressed by Moose's urange-senton-kipup sequence that preceded Broson's pop-up powerbomb.Perhaps some of Moose's athleticism can be traced back to his professional football career, which interestingly played a part in the outcome of this match. When Bronson called for his System stablesmates to run interference in his match, a series of former Atlanta Falcons, who were also Moose's old teammates, arose from their seats to confront the TNA stars. Naturally, a brawl between the former NFL players and The System members then ensued on the outside, allowing Moose to spear Bronson to victory in the ring.Of the numerous celebrity appearances seen in TNA this year, the Atlanta Falcons proved to be one of the better ones. They didn't just stand in the crowd and wave. Neither did they dump cups of meat on the talent (I'm looking at you, Mama June). They got physical in a manner that made sense, both storyline and hype-wise, and at the end of the day, that's all I can really ask for.Written by Ella Jay
TNA doesn't really have a good relationship with the concept of the wrestling faction, smashing together all manner of names over the years and hoping for the best, the result being not so much the best. And that appears to be the matter with the System too, despite the very deliberate attempt to try and make them something that matters.They are legitimately everywhere on every single show, but they are more often than not some of the more mundane moments of the show. It's all obvious, trodden and trodden again road, yet they continue to do it in lieu of what they could be doing.One might say TNA is filled with veterans and those either yet to be or not quite on the radar of the bigger two companies, but there are also some really good names on the roster that could be getting the attention that is being given to them. Every week TNA goes for what feels like contented middle-of-the-road booking and while it's great that they have this landmark TV deal it doesn't feel as though its done any good for them creatively speaking. It's just really frustrating.The issue is the very nature of what the System is and how the System has been presented means there's only going to be more of this, and it has an effect on the overall desire to watch the show every week. There is so much more the promotion can be doing, so very much like in real life, the System is broken and it's beginning to grate on me.Written byMax Everett
