By Jason Powell

TNA Impact Wrestling Hits

James Storm and Gunner: They are laying it on thick with Gunner's military background and now his father getting beaten up right in front of him. Factor in Storm saying that Gunner's grandfather is probably happy he is dead was pushing it. If someone laid out that list for me and I wasn't watching, I'd just assume that the whole thing would be a turnoff, but that's not the case. Gunner is really believable in his role and the Storm attack on his father was well done. These two had the best match at the Lockdown pay-per-view and they followed up with a good angle that keeps their program alive despite the flawed start of having their first match held inside a cage. Okay, maybe the dead grandpa line was too much, but it beats hearing heel Storm throw out the witty babyface one-liners he was using a couple weeks ago.

Bobby Lashley vs. EC3: The Willow finish felt out of nowhere, but the actual match was entertaining. Lashley is more over than I expected him to be, and EC3 continues to shine as one of the bright young stars of TNA (and that's coming from someone who couldn't stand Derrick Bateman).

TNA Impact Wrestling Misses

Magnus vs. Samoa Joe: MVP is now in control of wrestling operations, yet nothing has changed. Couldn't he have just threatened to fire anyone who interfered in the match? Wouldn't it have made sense to establish that things will be different with him in charge? No, not in TNA, where they always find a way to give the heels cheap wins designed to protect the babyface. The problem is the fans still lose interest in the babyface, and the real heat goes to the company for booking crap finishes rather than going to the heel.

Abyss: He somehow looks more comically awful than he did in the Carhartt jacket. It's just not working. Creative added the layer of the split personality that was Joseph Park, but now he's just the same old Abyss with yet another new look. It's not very good when he's in the ring, but he looked like a low rent Halloween haunted house worker while wearing the jacket throughout the main event.

Willow: The promo in the rafters with MVP lost me in a big way. It's one thing if Jeff Hardy is playing mind games with the heels, but talking that way to MVP was weird and left me feeling like someone should call in negotiator Max Berman to offer Willow some help. "I'll gouge your right eye out with my thumb, I shit you not, you little freak! Now, will you get down here? I'm gonna punch you in the eye until it turns to jelly! I'll stab you with forks until you bleed, how bout that?"

BroMans vs. The Wolves vs. Sanada and Tigre Uno: Listen to the crowd reaction after the finish. There weren't boos, there was mostly silence until the stupid sound effect kicked in. I enjoyed some of the match, but I can't get past the fact that the newcomers lost the match, and the Wolves looked like absolute dopes by being more concerned with howling for the fans than climbing up top and hitting their move. BroMans are the goofball vulnerable heel tag team, yet they looked like the smartest guys in this match. That's not a good thing.

Bully Ray in Dixie Carter's office: Babyfaces are stupid night continued with Ray talking to an empty chair. He spent how much time talking and never figured out that the chair was empty? Come on! I'd say that the awful music was out of place, but it was actually appropriate for this low rent nonsense. I enjoyed a lot of what Ray had to say, but I forgot most of it because I was laughing so hard when he spun the empty chair around.

Angelina Love, Velvet Sky, and Madison Rayne: Bad acting, too much talking, and a piss poor reunion of an act that I was genuinely looking forward to seeing together again. Here's hoping it gets better now that the pieces appear to be in place.

Gail Kim vs. Lei'D Tapa: I don't know why this happened so quickly. They had a falling out last week that came out of nowhere, and suddenly this week they were facing off with Tapa's job somehow on the line. Who were viewers supposed to side with? Why were viewers supposed to care that Tapa's job was on the line? I don't know if there were circumstances that caused the story to be rushed, but it didn't make for good television.

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