Segment 6: Bad Influence vs. Eric Young & Joseph Park
Positives: Even though Eric Young is years removed from doing anything significant, he still has a great connection with the crowd. Fans were popping like crazy for his offense throughout this match and booed the heels like crazy for beating him up.
This match had the right finish, with the two actual wrestlers defeating the comedy act.
Negatives: I’m usually a big fan of the comedy stylings of Bad Influence, but the opening minutes of this segment were hard to listen to. Kaz and Daniels succeeded in drawing boos, but it didn’t feel like the right kind of heat.
Daniels picking up the timekeeper’s hammer brought back too many unpleasant memories of Aces & Eights. I never want to see a wrestler pick up a hammer ever again.
Segment Score: +0
***
Segment 7: Angle/Aries Match Announcement
Positives: In his short promo, Austin Aries said all the right things about Kurt Angle looking past him. That, coupled with his attempts to help Angle protect himself, put him over really strong headed into their match next week.
TNA is doing a spectacular job building heat for an eventual match between Bobby Roode and Angle. Even if this makes the final of the World Heavyweight Title tournament a little obvious, it’s well worth it to build a compelling, important-seeming match.
Negatives: “The Wheel of Dixie” is really the worst name for anything ever.
Segment Score: +1
***
Segment 7: Chris Sabin vs. Jeff Hardy: Full Metal Mayhem
Positives: While it wasn’t pay per view quality by any means, this was an extremely physical match for free TV. Neither man can be accused of holding back.
There were a couple of really nice spots in this match. Sabin’s dragon screw neck whip onto the ladder looked good, and Hardy blocking Sabin with his knees while going through the table was something I’d never seen before. The finish was also crisp and clean, with Sabin taking the Twist of Fate in the middle of the ring and Hardy nailing a very cool-looking (and fairly dangerous looking) leapfrog/slingshot/whatever you want to call it Swanton Bomb.
Negatives: A little part of me dies every time two wrestlers capable of having a real match resort to swinging garbage at each other for fifteen minutes.
Segment Score: +0 (Some good moments, but I don’t have any love left for garbage matches.)
NET +/- SCORE FOR TNA IMPACT WRESTLING 10/31: +0
