As an Englishman, got to say I'm loving seeing Brutus Magnus in TNA. Sure, his gimmick is rather early 90s WWE, but as Oblivion on Gladiators this guy has shown that he can get an arena full of people booing him very quickly!
Also, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed Against All Odds after finding TNA depressingly awful for a good while. Maybe it just had no trouble exceeding my low expectations? Or, possibly it was just the novelty of watching Booker T get embarrassed by AJ Styles for a change.

I think that Angle being billed as a '12 time World Champion' also includes his amateur championships as well.

That's what I make out of 'World Champion' and as opposed to 'World Heavyweight Champion'

RESPONSE FROM KEVIN ECK: I think you're right, but that's pretty misleading.

Perhaps for Angle's 12 championships they count his 2 NCAAs, his 1995 amateur championship, & his Olympic medal.

Not sure if you heard but Steiner actually did another 'blast from the past' signature move during the Against All Odds PPV. He finished Petey Williams off with the Steiner Screwdriver. I always thought it was a potentially dangerous move but it was executed nicely. I'm sure it can be found online somewhere.

RESPONSE FROM KEVIN ECK: I read that. I'll cehck it out on YouTube. I usually try to catch the big matches from TNA PPVs on there.

Last night's Impact was the best in quite some time.

I concur that Sting's promo and the return of the Frankensteiner were highlights of the show. Whatever you think of Abyss, I hope Stevie Richards will get the sort of opportunity in TNA he never got in the WWE.

Sojourner Bolt and Madison Rayne as the final two participants in the mini Royal Rumble was a pleasant surprise. But a face turn for Sojourner seems odd since she's only been a heel for a couple of months. Then again Rhaka Khan's face turn lasted all of three weeks. However, I had hoped Raisha would win, challenge Kong and unveil Cheerleader Melissa.

It was interesting to see the promo for Ultimate X. One moment A.J. Styles said you couldn't describe Ultimate X. The next moment Alex Shelley described Ultimate X succinctly. It was also interesting to see Brother Devon interviewed about Ultimate X considering that at about this time a year ago he and Brother Ray were trying to eliminate the X Division.

I like how Tenay pointed out Earl Hebner's history of being at the center of controversy with respect to Andre The Giant and Bret Hart. How about when Hebner helped Jarrett win the TNA title at Slammiversary a couple of years ago?

Finally, is it just me or is Jacqueline's chest much bigger than it was a month ago?

I just finished watching TNA (via dvr) and ODB was outrageous..I couldn't stop laughing..give me more!!

So much for the young stars of the Frontline. The last pay-per-view saw a main event with four 38+ year olds vying for the world title. The MEM has consistently made the Frontline look like weak and disjointed. Now, TNA is taking a step farther by saying that MEM members are so damn good that they can only falter when there is internal dissension. What kind of message is that sending about the young guys?

This was a pretty good Impact.

I've never been a much of a Sting fan in teh past but his promos of late have really turned me. I think he is the most enigmatic wrestler currently and he is living up to his "icon" billing.

Sting/Angle were really good in selling their conflict last night. This is a conflict made in wrestling heaven!

Hopefully some of this intensity can carry over to the Front Line guys once Sting does his inevitable turn and becomes their leader.

So Angle is the Boss of the Mafia? That doesn't make any sense at all. Sting is the TNA World Champion, he is a legit legend in the business and he shouldn't be booked as a pushover even though he held his own last night. In Goodfella's terms, Sting should be Paul Cicero, the quiet leader that lets his cronies do the dirty work. He should be respected and feared by everyone due to his clout and power. Angle should be the Tommy DeVito of the group. He's got the big mouth and he's got the short temper. I think this is the wrong way to break up the MEM but who knows, maybe Sting just can't stand being a heel

Why does TNA need more female wrestlers for its 2 hour show then the WWE has in its entire roster?

You could tell by the lack of fan reaction last night that the Knockout division is completely over saturated.

This show had decent amount of wrestling (40-45 minutes of it, I think) which is a very good positive step in the right direction. This should be the basic format of Impact shows if they want to touch decent levels in show quality and make a real progress from their own pathetic standards set in 2007.

I'm not on the TNA staff so I can't say if this is correct for sure, but this might be their logic for Angle's 12 World Championships:

One IWGP Third Belt Championship

Two TNA World Heavyweight Championship

One WCW World Heavyweight Championship

One World Heavyweight Championship (WWE)

Four WWE/F Championships

One Olympic Gold Medal in Freestyle Wrestling, Heavyweight Division

One World Championships Gold Medal in Freestyle Wrestling, Heavyweight Division

The twelfth could be one of two things: The Power Pro Wrestling Heavyweight Championship (obviously not a World Title), or his FILA World Freestyle Championship in 95

Obviously, there's some question as to the World status of some of these Titles and they're not telling you that they're including ameteur Titles, which they have to be in order to get to twelve. Still, it wouldn't be the first time ever in wrestling where the numbers have been embellished.

Hey Kevin great site ! I'm a big fan of wrestling since my days growing up on the AWA - (1st time at a match was when I was 7 saw a cage match between The Crusher & Mad Dog Vachon -) I bought my first TNA dvd Genesis w Jeff Hardy recently and wow A J Styles & Petey Williams had the match of a lifetime, I couldn't believe my eyes, it was awesome! With that, wondering any other PPV's that I should get that are "must see" with TNA or with A J Styles ? Would like to get everyone's ideas

Any talk of Scott Steiner = good talk in my book .

When the opening segment announced Sting would lay down for Angle at the end of the show, I was thinking Russo was going to recreate WCW's all-time low: the Fingerpoke of Doom! Since it didn't happen (not too surprisingly - nothing would turn fans off more than that), maybe it was Russo's way of saying FU to all the bloggers that point out his love for rehashing WCW storylines. I was a bit disappointed that they had a Nash interview segment about Angle's demand that Sting laydown, and he made no reference to the Fingerpoke...

Impact was pretty good for a change. As an englishman it's nice to have a Brit wrestling in both TNA and WWE, even if they are sometimes huge stereotypes. But hey, this is wrestling!

I can't believe that TNA have parted company with Little Petey Pump. I really thought this guy was great. I hear that it's down to contractual reasons. Hopefully Petey was arguing the case that he shouldn't have to keep losing to members of MEM clean. TNA say they are freshening up their mid-card, which to me is nonsense. Williams had so much fan support and they've done nothing with him. I think the PPV was a great example, when both Petey and Steiner came down looking the same. Why would a guy keep looking like his idol who had previously bashed his brain in?

Unfortunately I can't see WWE picking him up, so he may not be making it back onto TV anytime soon.

So long Petey Williams.

I didn't really get to view this until the replay Sat. a.m. I'm glad I watched this one . Seeing my man Scotty Steiner do the "Frankensteiner" brought a tear to my eye . I thought it was 1989 not 2009 . His interview before his match was classic Steiner , " I do two things very well , fight , and put my freaks horizontal ". Did he steal that qoute from you Kev :)
At the end of Steiners match when Samoa Joe appeared on screen telling him "you don't know where , and you don't know when " - suffice to say , the "when" probably wouldn't occur around Joe's feeding time .
I've not been tuning in much lately ,where's Traci B. ??

I had the oppertunity (if you want to call it that) to watch the opening of Impact this morning, obvisouly a replay. I couldn't help bu notice how poorly Nash and Stenier moved in the ring. Having been a fan for a long time, it amazes me that TNA would rely on the MEM to try to capatalize on a new audience. Instead of taking the members of MEM and elevating them to a satus that is beyond any that a TNA original could ever reach, weakens their program, especially with the poor movemnet by Nash and Steiner. With the likes of Styles, Joe and the MCMG, I do't understand why TNA would place so much emphasis on guys that are on the downside of their careers. In most physical sports, the guys on their downside of their careers are brought in for leadership and guidance. In TNA its just the opposite. Unless and until TNA allows these originals to get to that level, their progrom will undoubtly suffer. The MEM shoudl relly be not so much jobbing, but allowing the originals to get over. If TNA is that scared of their own guys, then they really need to reevalutate their business plan and potentiall get out of the business as a whole.

By the way, I enjoy your blog and look forward to it every week. Keep up the good work.

So how many has HHH won till now?

That was the best episode of Impact that i've seen.

The Sting/Angle confrontation was both exciting and enthralling and i can't wait to see where the angle goes.

The MCMG/Lethal Consequences match was excellent, although i think they need to revamp Jay Lethal's gimmick (it's very, very old now) whilst Consequences Creed is getting very close to suffering the 'Blue Chipper Rocky Maivia' syndrome so hopefully they add an edge to his character soon.

I hadn't been keeping up with the news of late so was shocked to see 'recently released' beside Petey Williams' name.
I don't know the reasons behind it, but i'm saddened because Petey was a very, very talented worker who added something unique to the X-Division roster.

What I'd really like to see is a pole on a pole match. If the good guys win there will never be another pole match allowed in TNA. Only problem is it would no doubt go the other way.