By Jason Powell
TNA Impact Wrestling Hits
Thanksgiving with Allie, Maria, Mike Bennett, Laurel Van Ness, and Braxton Sutter: Sure, it was absurd to see a Thanksgiving feast set up in the middle of a wrestling ring. If you could get past that, this was a really fun segment. Bennett expressing thanks for food, Tom Brady, and his wife was great, and the follow up of asking Maria if the way he praised her was okay was a riot. Van Ness shined in her role as the Allie agitator, and showing her in regular attire made her more believable
EC3 vs. Eli Drake: The stipulation was actually that Drake would not be able to talk for the rest of the year rather than for a full year. It was a bit of a downer to discover this, though with him losing the match it’s a lot more realistic that they only do this for a month. I just fear that we’re in for a long December full of the Dummy button being used. Nevertheless, this was a good match with a creative stipulation.
Broken Matt: A fun visit to Cameron with Reby Hardy using a referee in her attempt to restore Matt’s memory. Wuss Matthew may not be as fun as Broken Matt, but it’s entertaining and makes the viewer miss the Broken character at a time when it could jump the shark if it were overexposed. The wait is over, as we learned at the end of the show that Broken Matt is back.
TNA Impact Wrestling Misses
The DCC: We know who their identities, but so far there’s no depth in terms of the concept of the faction. It’s as if James Storm and Bram found a friend and decided to start wearing costumes because they thought it was cool. It doesn’t help that we’ve seen so many invading factions in TNA over the years. Aces & 8’s may not have been perfect, but there was genuine intrigue as to who was in the group, who the leader was and what their purpose was. DCC is just James Storm and two guys with one word names playing dress up. There’s no sense of danger. Sure, they are performing the cliche early odd numbered beatdowns as they did on Jeff Hardy this week, but it’s hard not to feel like they will be put in their place once the odds are even.
X Division Gold: The random three-way trios match produced some good action before they went crazy with rapid fire eliminations in unofficial record time. Perhaps the most annoying part about the concept is that it pairs Rockstar Spud and Decay. I enjoy Rockstar Spud and feel he’s been poorly utilized in 2016. Decay has been a very pleasant surprise. I have no desire to see those worlds collide in terms of them teaming together out of nowhere.
Al Snow and Mahabali Shera vs. The Tribunal: TNA found a way to make viewers feel ungrateful on Thanksgiving.
Robbie E vs. Grado in a Turkey Suit match: The only thing worse than a match involving Grado and The Tribunal is the turkey suit nightmare. Here’s hoping Anthem tells Dixie Carter she can keep the suit as the perfect gesture of thanks for everything she’s done.
Everyone did well in their roles for the Thanksgiving buffet bit. Allie is really over with the crowd and Maria and co. truly hated for their abuse of her. This was a good step towards Allie’s independence but feel that it’s only a step and will continue. Hopefully,they’ll move on soon before the angle overstays its welcome.
Speaking of which,the “Broken” stuff just isn’t for me. Why would you want your spouse to stay mentally broken and not actually get help?
Have they said what DCC stands for? Read it may be Death Council Committee? You’re right James Storm and co. definitely need to explain what they’re about. Why keep making videos with the masks on? There’s 6 masks on the table in front of them so are more joining?
Eli Drake not being able to speak only for the rest of the year obviously makes sense as a whole year would be too long.
Hearing Pope say they don’t know how the winning X-division team would get a title shot made me want someone to say,shouldn’t we know that ahead of time?