After a very strong angle last week on Impact in which A.J. Styles was bloodied and beaten in a five-on-one attack, TNA could have done a better job advancing the story line on Thursday night’s episode.

During a long promo segment that opened the show and seemingly involved half the roster, A.J. Styles did a run-in seconds before an abrupt cutaway to a backstage segment. It was way too early in the show to see Styles after last week’s dramatic ending.

The teaser throughout the show was that Styles had something that he wanted to tell Karen Angle. Not surprisingly, he never got to tell her anything, as he was beaten down again by the band of heels, only this beat-down had much less impact.

Here’s what I think is a better scenario:

I would have kept Styles away from the Impact Zone altogether. In the opening segment, the announcers say that Styles is going to talk about what happened last week during a sit-down interview with Mike Tenay later in the show. During the interview, Styles cuts a serious, intense promo. Rather than just having the black eye that he was sporting in last night’s episode, he also has a bandage for the cuts on his head. When Tenay asks him about his relationship with Karen, Styles says that he wants to speak to her directly — which he will do next week on Impact.

Then, what occurred Thursday night — Styles not getting to talk to Karen and suffering another attack — would happen on the next episode, which is the go-home show for the Slammiversary pay-per-view. That way, they get another week out of the story line, and the impact from the original angle resonates longer.

It’s really just basic booking. Two angles from the early ‘80s immediately come to mind as textbook examples of this type of angle. When Jimmy Snuka and Bruno Sammartino suffered brutal beat-downs from Magnificent Muraco and Larry Zbyszko, respectively, the babyfaces didn’t do a run-in in the first segment of the very next show. Instead, they did emotional, intense sit-down interviews in an empty arena.

It’s just a shame, because it seems like TNA missed an opportunity to really have people dying to see Styles versus Kurt Angle at Slammiversary.

Other thoughts from Thursday night’s show:

Both King of the Mountain qualifying matches were good. Christian Cage beating Tomko was the right call, but I would have had James Storm beat Rhino. …

Speaking of Tomko, he seemed like a sure breakout star when he was the strong, silent guy who rolled his eyes during Cage’s promos. Now he comes across as just a cookie-cutter heel who yells during his promos. …

Booker T. is doing as much of his King Booker schtick as possible without getting a cease and desist letter from WWE legal. I laughed out loud when he burst into Jim Cornette’s office and talked about having a locker that smelled like rat urine. Perhaps Black Reign/Goldust, Booker’s former tag-team partner, was playing a rib by having his pet rat, Misty, soil the locker. …

Awesome Kong’s Awesome Bombs are looking more dangerous every week. …

When Kevin Nash came into Cornette’s office with a baseball bat, Brother Devon asked if he thought he was Billy Jack. I’m not sure if he was referencing the wrestler from 20 years ago or the movie from almost 40 years ago. Either way, I bet most viewers under 30 had no idea what he was talking about. …

Angelina Love and Velvet Sky continue to be impressive — the brown-bag treatment is a nice touch — but Love’s altering of Booker T.’s old catch phrase didn’t make any sense. She said, “Don’t hate our beautiful looks, hate the game.” …

TNA was begging me to turn the channel when they had The Rock and Rave Infection in the ring, some American Idol reject named Ace Young outside the ring and Hermie Sadler on commentary. I don’t know what’s worse — Ace Young on Impact or Cousin Sal on Raw. Probably, Cousin Sal. At least American Idol is the most popular show on TV, but I still would have much rather seen Ace Frehley than Ace Young. Heck, I would have rather seen “Ace” Orton, Johnny Ace, Ace Darling or Ace Steel over Ace Young.