Moore’s TNA Impact Wrestling Hitlist: Matt Hardy vs. EC3 in a cage match for the TNA Title, Rockstar Spud turns on EC3, Dollhouse vs. Gail Kim and Velvet Sky in a Lethal Lockdown match, Decay, Trevor Lee vs. Tigre Uno for the X Division Title

By John Moore

TNA Impact Wrestling Hits

Rockstar Spud Heel Turn: This was the huge news of the night with a well executed heel turn for the fan favorite Rockstar Spud. They set this up when Spud swore “revenge” earlier in the show and and said that “Payback is made” in the cage. We haven’t gotten a huge Matt Hardy title defense but that works out since he’s the cocky heel champ, and Spud elevating to a top heel position allows EC3 to be sidetracked back into what was one of the top feuds in pro wrestling last year. Hardy is able to move on to take down alternate challengers to build up his status as champion before going back to EC3. I’m not 100 percent sold on Spud being a top heel yet, but he’s been a golden top babyface. I just have memories of him being the mid-card comedy heel and I hope his talent allows him to become main event serious on the mic. If nothing else, at least Spud is being featured prominently after being wasted for a long time following his last feud with EC3.

Gail Kim and Velvet Sky vs. Dollhouse: This Hit is mostly for Dollhouse finally getting a win as well as Maria making things a bit interesting by pulling Gail Kim in two directions. Dollhouse didn’t look dominated like they usually do in these handicap matches where Kim defeats all three women by herself (which happened last year in a cage). Hopefully TNA signs one or two more female wrestlers and they build up some credibility for one of the Dollhouse members to ascend to a higher status to face Gail. Maybe it could be Jade now that she pinned her to win this match.

Decay: I’m really relieved that Decay aren’t being discarded after their short tag title program with The Wolves. In fact, Decay was featured heavily throughout the show with a video package and segments with UK wrestler Jimmy Havoc (who hasn’t been named on the show yet). I’m not sure where this Jimmy Havoc thing goes. Maybe they find a way to replace Abyss with Havoc because Abyss is just Abyss, but I am most definitely intrigued and still entertained by this new dark stable. Maybe Rosemary can go into the Knockouts division, just don’t make her a member of Dollhouse.

Kurt Angle and Lashley: The Kurt Angle tour continues to be a nice side attraction on Impact and they are really doing a good job building up Lashley as Angle’s final opponent. Lashley is also doing some of the best mic work of his career, which isn’t much compared to how terrible he usually is. Just look at his promo last year with Angle regarding “videotape evidence.” Lashley really looks like he is getting in Angle’s head and Lashley seems primed to have a solid monster heel run. I honestly don’t remember the spoilers, so this left me wondering whether they will use the match with Angle to put Lashley over as a monster in the upper midcard/main event?

No Cage Holes: This is a personal Hit for me as TNA used to used to have giant holes in the cage that people could literally crawl in and out of. I know the holes helped them get solid camera shots unhindered by the cage, but you had Josh Mathews and Taz even being bewildered as to what the point of the cage was when people could crawl through or pass weapons through the giant holes. Props to TNA for filling in those literal plot holes.

Overall show: This was a solid show, as usual from Impact so far this year. TNA did a great job of spreading everything they were pushing throughout the show. They had EC3 sprinkled, Angle sprinkled, a good video package on Decay, Jimmy Havoc, Matt Hardy, a solid video package on Mike Bennett, essentially everything. The video packages were well done. Nothing left a bad taste in our mouths and even the bad segment were more so negligible than nausea inducing.

TNA Impact Wrestling Misses

Odarg vs. Eli Drake: Well, we got Bad Boxart Megaman vs. Side-ass man. Yeah! And Mahabali Shera was there too… I really want to like Grado, but TNA needs to find a way to tell a story with the guy as oppose to doing random slapstick. I hope they end up going back to the evidence storyline with Eli Drake exposing himself as the culprit in swapping Feast or Fired briefcases with Grado. Also, can we remove Mahabali Shera and Jessie Godderz from the picture? Godderz has potential as a singles wrestler and Shera really needs to train in a developmental system.

Trevor Lee vs. Tigre Uno: This match wasn’t bad. Lee is still a great all around performer. Tigre Uno can still do some cool arial moves. The problem here is that their matches are starting to feel pointless. One reason is that Tigre and Trevor don’t talk. Does Tigre want revenge and that’s why we’re getting the same repetitive match every week? Did this have to be in a cage? The lack of depth in the X Division is really showing and I feel the only way to fix this problem is to get rid of the Booker T Red Toy Belt used as the King of the Mountain Championship and open up the division like they did in the “Asylum Years”.