improper wrote:Thoughts:
- Opening was pretty much what you'd expect. Fast-paced and fun. A little sloppy, probably due to Petey being tossed in last-minute. Phoenix did Phoenix things, which is always awesome.
- Really enjoyed Blanchard/Allie. It feels like ages since I've seen a women's match where the women actually wrestled like they hated each other. They were stiffing the hell out of each other and it made for a fun match.
- The hardcore match was more or less what it needed to be. Probably could have stood to be a bit more violent given that it was the culmination of the feud, but overall it was fine. Liked the Shining Wizard using the chair.
- Cage/Sydal was really good, unsurprisingly.
- The second women's match was meh. Worst thing on the card thus far. Not awful or anything, but infinitely skippable.
- The tag title match was awesome. Just balls to the wall, constant action, great spots. Exactly what you want to see from that stipulation in a tornado tag match.
- It's insane to me that Pentagon and Phoenix are brothers. Have there ever been two other brothers as ludicrously talented as those two who worked such wildly different gimmicks?
- I love how Impact actually lets these guys work the crowd. I feel like you never see that in WWE, and only sometimes in NXT. Callihan flipping off the crowd when they were chanting "ONE MORE CHAIR" was great. The crowd gets so much more into shows when the wrestlers occasionally interact with them.
- LOL when Pentagon missed the nail with the bat and hit Sami in the head. Guess Sami had that coming, though, right?
- Callihan's kickout of Pentagon's finisher through the four chairs was goddamn epic. The look on his face and whatever the hell was pouring out of his mouth sold it so well.
- As expected, Pentagon/Callihan was a show-stealer. Just a great, brutal match from start to finish. These two just beat the hell out of each other and it was incredibly fun to watch.
- Main event was great as well. Still can't believe how badly WWE dropped the ball on Aries. Dude's a star.
Overall, that was a great show. About the best compliment I can give is that it felt like a Takeover special. Basically all of the matches were good to great aside from the women's title one, which was just forgettable. They've clearly embraced the NXT booking system...hire great wrestlers, let them be themselves, book sensibly, and deliver with the matches.
Yea thats the difference between WWE and TNA. TNA always seems to get more out of less, WWE always finds ways to get less out of more. Part of that problem is they just have TOO MUCH talent. Guys get lost in the shuffle and they struggle to keep everybody relevant. Thats where they miss a guy like Russo. Bruce Pritchard said that for all his faults, Russo did have a knack for keeping everybody involved in something credible at all times. Seems like thats missing now
) so it would be great to get an answer but even that you would have to take with a grain of salt.
