On TNA Impact, Foley isn’t just good, he’s great
I don’t know how much Mick Foley has left as a wrestler, but there’s no doubt that he is at the top of his game as a performer.
Foley, who struggled to remain relevant during the latter part of his last WWE stint, just may be the most compelling character in the business right now. His split personality promo Thursday night on TNA Impact was nothing short of brilliant, and I’m willing to bet that it convinced some people who were on the fence to buy Sunday’s Lockdown pay-per-view, which features Foley and TNA world champion Sting in the main event.
In the segment, Foley interviewed his alter ego, Cactus Jack. When I first heard this was going to happen, I figured it was going to be done backstage using camera tricks to have both Foley and Cactus Jack in the shot. I recall Foley doing something similar with his Mankind, Cactus Jack and Dude Love personas in WWE about a decade ago.
Instead, Foley did a one-man show in a front of a live crowd, which was incredibly ambitious and potentially corny, but he pulled it off. I don’t think there are many other wrestlers who could have. The Foley character and the Cactus Jack character have entirely different mannerisms and speech patterns, but Foley seamlessly moved from one persona to the other during a heated exchange with himself .
It’s obvious that Foley is determined to prove that WWE underestimated how much value he still has. It also was apparent that the concept and dialogue for this angle came from Foley.
The theme of the promo was one that Foley has used before — that he has gotten soft and become something of a sell-out. In other words, the kind of guy that Cactus Jack would hate.
Drawing blood from above his eye after repeatedly punching himself made the scene all the more dramatic. Sting, who came out to confront Foley, also played his part well, as he kept asking him if this was all an act or if Foley had really lost his mind.
Great stuff.
Other thoughts on Thursday night’s show:
As far as go-home shows, this was definitely one of TNA’s better ones. The returning Christopher Daniels (well, actually, he never left) was revealed as the fourth member of Team Jarrett. He got a nice pop and then had a fantastic match with Kurt Angle. The finish was well-booked (Daniels got the three-count, but the decision was reversed by Jeff Jarrett when the replay showed that Angle’s shoulder was up and Daniels’ shoulders were down), as it made Daniels look strong while also furthering the story line of where Jarrett’s loyalties lie. ...
The Beer Money-Team 3-D angle, which saw Robert Roode and James Storm brutalize and bloody former ECW stars Balls Mahoney and Brother Runt (where was my man Axl Rotten?), was well done. The one drawback was that it took way too long for Team 3-D to make the save. Also, it was announced that the Beer Money-Team 3-D match at Lockdown is going to be a Philadelphia Street Fight, which means they can fight all over the building. Doesn’t that kind of defeat the whole point of a cage match? ...
The three-way between Homicide, Chris Sabin and Naito was entertaining. ...
Not-so entertaining was Cody Deaner’s wrestling debut. Somebody please make this guy go away. He’s the most annoying character since Eugene.
Comments
I'm not sure if I missed it, but I never heard an explanation for why the result of the Angle-Daniels match was changed. I thought it was because Daniels had Angle tights briefly. I just never heard anything from the announcers. It felt like it was not presented properly. West should have been screaming about the result right when it happened if he is going to be a heel announcer.
RESPONSE FROM KE: I'm not sure the announcers ever did make it entirely clear. I saw Daniels' shoulders on the mat right away, so I just assumed that's what it was.
Posted by: Mike in AZ | April 18, 2009 1:02 AM
Anyone else noticed Christopher Daniels mouth the words 'I never left' when he stood up on the ring apron?
As much as i enjoyed the Curry Man gimmick, i'm glad to have the original Christopher Daniels return.
Hopefully they use him correctly because he's too good a talent to be limited to brief comedic matches.
RESPONSE FROM KE: I did notice that.
Posted by: John | April 18, 2009 1:31 AM
My favorite moment on Impact this week was Daniels visibly mouthing 'I never left!' before his match. Good stuff.
For one of the few times ever, the upcoming TNA PPV has more compelling storylines for their matches than WWE does. While Backlash feels like a retread of Wrestlemania, Lockdown only has 1 'here we go again' kinda match (Morgan vs. Abyss, ch. 19) and the rest of the card should be fun before, during and after the event.
Thanks for your good work, Kevin.
Posted by: Franklin Oliver | April 18, 2009 1:37 AM
Hey Kevin, just want you to know you spelled Beer Money as "Beet Money"
RESPONSE FROM KE: Thanks for the catch. It's nice to have so many editors out there looking out for typos. BTW, I am not a fan of beets.
Posted by: Brendan | April 18, 2009 1:53 AM
I loved tonight's show. It was likely one of the better weekly shows any promotion has put out this year. Naito Vs Homicide Vs Sabin was a tremendous X division match. It had cool spots and was a good appetizer for the three way tag match at Lockdown. Excellent promo work from Styles and Jarrett all night. Deaner and ODB Vs Daphne and Abyss was pretty entertaining if nothing else. Deaner has a goofy type of charisma. The Foley ''interviewing'' Cactus Jack was weird but very entertaining. The build for the Sting-Foley has been flat out great. I think the match will be far better than expected. The build for Beer Money-Team 3-D has been as good as it gets. I liked that they beat down Runt and Ball but the chairshots to the head made me squemish. Daniels returning and wrestling Angle was the highlight of the night. The crowd went wild and the match was as good as a 10+ minutes match can be and just imagine how great a 25 minute match between those two can be. It would be a moty contender easily. I am really looking forward to the ppv on Sunday.
Posted by: graves9 | April 18, 2009 2:31 AM
When I saw the two chairs out in the ring I thought Foley might do a Woody Allen routine a la Bananas where he go back and forth between chairs in the course of the interview until he was out of breath. "Are you being coy with me?"
It could have been like playing the cello in a marching band but Foley pulled it off as only he could.
I also liked how he played the entrance music of various TNA wrestlers past and present.
The inclusion of Curry Man's music was a nice foreshadowing of what was to come in the main event.
But it begs a couple of questions. If Christopher Daniels is part of Team Jarrett does that mean Kaz will be resuming the role of Suicide and defend the TNA X-Division Title? Or is Daniels pulling double duty on Sunday?
Posted by: Aaron Goldstein | April 18, 2009 2:46 AM
One more question.
Given that the PPV is in Philly and given that Storm & Roode attacked Brother Runt and Balls Mahoney is it possible we could see a special appearance from Taz to help out Team 3D? Even if only for one night.
RESPONSE FROM KE: The Tazz rumors are running wild. Wouldn't shock me at all. If you remember, Brother Ray even used Tazz's old catchphrase on Impact recently.
Posted by: Aaron Goldstein | April 18, 2009 3:04 AM
FALLEN ANGEL !! glad to see daniels back on tv as himself. overall i thought it was a great show leading into the ppv this wknd.
Posted by: jason | April 18, 2009 7:37 AM
Spot on analysis, though I disagree with you on one thing Cody Deaner is much worse than Eugene in my opinion
Absolutely unwatchable segment.
Posted by: michealdeff | April 18, 2009 8:54 AM
Kevin, that was the best episode of Impact I've ever seen. I'm so pumped about tomorrow, I guess I'll see you on the bus?
Also, Taz dropped some hints on his facebook page that he might show up in TNA, what do you think his chances of being in Philly tomorrow are??
RESPONSE FROM KE: We'll all find out at the same time tomorrow. See you there.
Posted by: Ben | April 18, 2009 11:25 AM
Nobody's more annoying than Hornswoggle.
Posted by: Killer Tofu | April 18, 2009 11:46 AM
one main difference between cody deaner and eugene is that eugene can actually wrestle. nick dinsmore's talents were really misused in wwe. if you look back at his days in ovw, his tag team with rob conway was great. wouldn't it be awesome if rvd showed up tomorrow night because it's in philly? he's a former world champ and he could be the person tna has signed. actually, for that matter, it could be any former ecw superstar that is a former world champ, but most likely it would be taz. in response to aaron's comment, i heard that if kaz can't wrestle tomorrow night, then daniels will pull double duty. it won't be the first time, because he wrestled on the same card as curry man in the last year or so in japan. the way lockdown is shaping up, mick foley's comment about this being bigger than wrestlemania would be true. i went to the show last year in lowell and the way it looks this year's ppv will be way better. the queen of the cage match is not as big as last year's, there is not a cuffed to the cage match(the dumbest idea for a match ever) the x-division xscape match looks pretty good, the tag title matches this year are great, morgan-abyss hopefully will steal the show, and the 2 main events are looking awesome. i was wondering, what ever happened to roxxi? is she injured?
Posted by: paul19 | April 18, 2009 12:58 PM
Wow Kev , it's been a while since you've gushed so after a TNA airing !
Posted by: the artist formerly known as jack in hebron | April 18, 2009 4:07 PM
GREAT impact this week. the last four episodes were quite solid, but this one was just great. Every single segment was valuable and worthy of our time.
"I can hit the music I want because I run this place."
It was hillarious when Foley started to ask for some random thememusics. Foley beating Sting with the curryman thememusic was priceless.
Posted by: Gaston | April 18, 2009 5:12 PM
I have heard a lot of good things about Impact this week.
Why did it have to be this week that I was stuck in the ER with pneumonia as opposed to being home to watch wrestling?
RESPONSE FROM KE: Hope you're feeling better, Mina.
Posted by: Mina | April 19, 2009 12:27 AM