Segment 8: The Main Event Mafia (with A.J. Styles) vs. Aces & Eights
Positives: First off, A.J. Styles’ return as a defined babyface got over like crazy, at least with the live crowd. Styles feels like a great fit with the Mafia, as he is a “TNA Original” with loads of championship credentials. He also adds another “big match wrestler” to the Mafia, which patches a hole created by Kurt Angle’s absence.
Mike Tenay absolutely lost his babyface announcer mind to a beyond-Tony-Schiavone level when the match started. In stark contrast to the Knockouts match, Tenay went out of his way to make this match seem like a huge deal and the addition of A.J. Styles to the mafia a great coup. Even Taz sold that Styles turning face was a big blow to the plans of Aces & Eights.
Taz said Magnus “looks like Tarzan, but fights like Jane,” which is an oldie, but a notable goodie. Speaking of Magnus, his long sell went over surprisingly well. Every heel who got into the ring to work him over got loud “______________ sucks” chants, and his teammates (particularly Rampage and Sting) were well-protected from over exposure.
Above all, this match felt like a real main event. Wrestlers in a top storyline were fighting with something meaningful on the line, and they delivered a match of worthy length that told a story that, even with many bells and whistles, was easy for the crowd to get behind. The finish felt like a big moment in the Aces & Eights angle and also a big moment for one of TNA’s all time top stars, A.J. Styles.
Negatives: Watching Garrett Bischoff on offense makes you feel bad for the guy selling, and watching him sell makes you feel bad for the guy on offense. Knux and Brisco are clunky and awful too, but at least they understand how to play heel.
The part of the match surrounding Rampage’s flurry of offense felt a little off. First, Samoa Joe visibly shoved Rampage into position, at which point Rampage stood up and just waited for someone to run at him. The ref was outside the ring for the whole exchange, which led to an awkward moment in which Knux had Sting pinned for a near-criminal length of time. It goes to show that wrestling is hard enough without one guy in the match everybody else has to work around.
Segment Score: +1
NET +/- SCORE FOR TNA IMPACT WRESTLING 8/22: +4
