Impact Wrestling – Dec. 12, 2013
This week, for some random reason, TNA decided to bring back their “Feast or Fired” gimmick. Even though they technically have no World Champion, and the “real” World Champion done split the company after Bound for Glory, we’re already crowning the first contender? Seems to me like an impulse decision made to compensate for some bad ratings last month, and in fear of the company recording half a dozen episodes of Impact all at once. History should tell TNA that strong wrestling and entertaining stories, rather than random gimmicks, will bring in fans. But to be fair, the viewership and ratings did go up for this week’s show, against a strong draw from NFL Thursday Night Football.
Kurt Angle and Bobby Roode solidified their 2-out-of-3 falls match for next week’s Final Resolution television special. Their story is pretty simple: Roode thinks he’s the best of all time, Angle got screwed out of the world title tournament. It’s physical, there’s a lot of emotion and passion on display, and more importantly the fans know that when the bell rings next week, they’re going to get a great wrestling match. My concern remains that the feud must end next week. I’ve enjoyed their program while it’s lasted, but there’s just not enough story there at the present to keep going all the way to Genesis.
Listening to the commentary team try and play up like they had no clue Abyss and Joseph Park are one in the same was probably the most entertaining moment of the week. Watching the angle play out on television has been entertaining some weeks, but others painful, as we’re just waiting to be told what we’ve already known for almost two years. Joe Park has been a great gimmick, and a welcome break from “The Monster” Abyss. But when you tell a guy to go out and pretend he doesn’t know how to wrestle, after 18 months you start believing it. I’m just ready for the whole thing to be done with. I want to see where they go with Park/Abyss, and who will come out on the other side of this feud; will we get a monster, a man, or something in between?
We’re almost two months into his debut, and I’m still a fan of the Ethan Carter III character. That said, the crowd did not care one bit about his being on Impact this week. And to be fair, the crowd didn’t care about anything for most of Impact this week. Madison Rayne got no response for her big return. The announce team barely woke up enough to make a fuss over it. This is the one huge downside to TNA returning to Orlando; when you book 6 or 7 episodes in a row, for a crowd of tourists who you can’t charge, there’s no energy in the building. Rockstar Spud is another character I would enjoy, and have in past weeks, that I couldn’t wait to see off my television screen this week. Those segments of him traveling through Georgia looking for AJ Styles were brutal.
All these segments were followed by my least favorite character in pro wrestling, Dixie Carter. By the half-way point of the show I really wanted to stop watching. At least her very presence elicits nuclear heat from the crowd, and Jeff Hardy can still draw a great pop. Granted, he had to start his own “Hardy” chant, which is kind of pathetic. Magnus once again had a segment-stealing promo, putting his opponent over as the “number one guy”. It’s a nice touch, really. Make your opponent as big as possible, so it’s a bigger deal when you beat him. Carter announced that they would be facing off in a Dixieland match, and then in one of the stupidest production moments of the year, they cut to a video package explaining what it was, complete with a horrendous throw from commentary. Cut back to the ring…and they are STILL THERE. Why not just explain the match live? Did she forget? Was it bad enough that the video package was necessary?
