Not exactly Razor sharp
Some thoughts on last night’s TNA Impact:
Scott Hall’s return to television was predictably anticlimactic.
The former Razor Ramon, now a haggard, out-of-shape 49-year-old, showed up looking like anything but a star in his baggy jersey and jeans. The funniest part – or the saddest, depending on how you look at it – was that Kurt Angle and Kevin Nash were scripted to act as if Hall was someone to be feared, but he certainly didn’t come across as much of a threat.
At one point, Angle confronted Hall and tried to sucker-punch him, but Hall went all Daniel Puder on him and overpowered him. That’s right, the TNA world champion and former Olympic gold medalist was punked out by a guy who looked like Scott Hall’s father.
The show ended with Hall and former tag-team partner Nash face to face in the ring. They talked about how the Kliq still rules the wrestling world. Well, they did this week, as Raw was built around the DX reunion of Shawn Michaels and Triple H, and Impact was built around The Outsiders reunion of Hall and Nash. After teasing some tension, Hall said that he was not Sting’s mystery partner, and he and Nash embraced. …
As is the case every week, there was way too much of the Angles. Kurt and wife Karen were in about seven or eight segments. None of them were good, but they were better than last week’s unwatchable and seemingly endless interrogation scenes. …
At one point on Total Nonstop Angles, Karen walked into the men’s room. It was never explained why she went in there. Vince Russo always has been partial to bathroom humor. …
Jeremy Borash is becoming as overexposed as the Angles. I always thought his facial expressions and delivery added to the backstage segments, but he jumped the shark last week during the interrogations. He was better as the impartial announcer who goes along for the ride than he is as the Angles’ sophomoric sidekick. …
Christian Cage and Kaz had a good match to open the show. Kaz, who lost after interference by Tomko and A.J. Styles, is a talented worker and he has breakout potential, but right now there seems to be something missing. He definitely needs improvement on his promos, and his look is too cookie-cutter. …
Every time I watch Gail Kim wrestle, I can’t get over the fact that WWE let her go. It’s too bad TNA decided to debut so many women at once, because none of the newcomers stand out except for Awesome Kong. ODB’s look and character are different from the other women, but she hasn’t gotten a push. TNA should do vignettes on the women, especially ODB, to try to get them over. …
Eric Young is popular as a mid-card comedy act, but he looked out of place in the six-man tag main event that also involved Angle, Robert Roode, James Storm, Samoa Joe and Sting. It was good to see Roode and Storm in there with the big boys, though. I don’t think it will happen, but I would love for Roode get an upset win over Joe at the Genesis pay-per-view Sunday.
Comments
I don't understand what they are doing with TNA. Why do they continue to trot out old wcw talent. Why are the Jarretts allowing this to happen? I imagine that the talent pool is deeper today, perhaps they need a new scout.
Posted by: Greg | November 10, 2007 4:24 PM
I think Scott Hall was brought in to reform the outsiders the way WWE reformed DX. The older wrestlers are being brought in to raise the ratings. Booker T and Sharmell are now in TNA to do the same. It was shocking to me that Kaz won the fight to the right to face Kurt Angle in the future for the TNA championship. I think they will do something that Kaz will put his title oppurtunity on the line to someone else and lose because a Kaz-Angle match I dont think will be entertaining at all.
ODB seems like a smaller version of Chyna and they should give her some kind of push if she gets better in the ring. I agree WWE should never let Gail Kim go. She could never be compared to Trish Stratus but she definately could have been in the mix for the women's title but not carry the womens division like Trish did. Now she will be the leader of the womens division because of her experience.
Posted by: Dave | November 12, 2007 3:11 PM
What do you think of the win for Kaz yesterday? He's now scheduled to face Angle at the next Impact. While he's not main event material yet, and they'd be crazy to have him win, this is good news for all those who wanted TNA to push some of their own.
Posted by: chris | November 12, 2007 4:37 PM