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December 18, 2010

TNA Impact: A new member for Immortal/Fortune?

Judging by the final segment of TNA Impact Thursday night, it appears that Rob Terry is joining the Immortal/Fortune heel faction.

I know what you’re thinking: Who really cares what Terry does?

Terry isn’t a performer I have a whole lot of interest in either. But it’s obvious that TNA sees some value in Terry and is trying to find the right spot for him. Taking over Matt Morgan’s role as the muscle of Immortal/Fortune would be perfect for him.

Terry’s best trait obviously is his freakish physique, and as an enforcer, he would be able to spend most of his time standing outside the ring looking intimidating. He also could be booked in a lot of tag team matches so that his shortcomings as a worker wouldn’t be as exposed as they would be in singles action.

After seeing Terry’s reaction when he lost to Rob Van Dam on Thursday’s episode, I was convinced that a heel turn was inevitable (earlier in the show, Terry wasn’t receptive to Kazarian’s suggestion that he come over to the dark side), but I figured it would play out for a few weeks.

Terry, however, interfered in the main event and cost Morgan and Mr. Anderson their tag team match against Jeff Hardy and Kazarian.

Other thoughts on Thursday’s show:

Terry really didn’t look all that bad in the match against RVD, so he does seem to be improving. ...

A.J. Styles’ attack on Douglas Williams in the trailer was well done and looked more like a real fight than a lot of backstage brawls do. However, Madison Rayne and Tara repeatedly screaming for Styles and Williams to get out of their dressing room nearly ruined the segment and was completely unnecessary. It was great, though, when Styles told the two women to shut up and he called them hookers. ...

The “Double-J Double-M A” segments that are being used to build to a match between Jeff Jarrett and Kurt Angle continue to be awesome. ...

The opening segment between Morgan and Mr. Anderson wasn’t all that compelling, and Hardy interjecting himself into the conversation didn’t make it any better. During the verbal exchange, Hardy said to the fans at the Impact Zone: “You marks all know us. We’re professional wrestlers; we’re con men.” Lines such as that serve no purpose. ...

It’s nice to see the TNA X Division title back on Jay Lethal, who defeated Robbie E. for the belt in a decent match. Christy Hemme handcuffed herself to Cookie at ringside so that Cookie couldn’t interfere. After the match, Lethal kissed Hemme, so perhaps those two are going to be put together as on on-screen couple. Man, didn’t Lethal learn anything from his last experience with a redhead in TNA? ...

Brother Ray apparently is now going to be known as Bully Ray. I like it. He plays the bully role very well, and the diminutive Amazing Red – who got tossed all around the ring by Ray – was the perfect opponent for him. ...

When Team 3D (then known as The Dudley Boyz) split up several years ago in WWE and became singles wrestlers for a short time, Ray was a babyface and Devon a heel. Looking back, it’s clear that they were miscast in those roles, which is probably why their singles runs were unsuccessful. Ray as the heel and Devon as the face works much better. ...

It appeared that “The Pope” D’Angelo Dinero was spending money from his collection plate on adult entertainment, but I’m guessing it will be revealed that it’s not what it seems. ...

When Williams ran into Magnus backstage, Magnus mentioned that Desmond Wolfe is coming back soon. That’s great news. ...

Miss Tessmacher made her wrestling debut in a tag team match with Mickie James against Rayne and Tara. Tessmacher might be green, but she’s already a better worker than Lacey Von Erich. ...

I don’t remember who it was, but after Hulk Hogan threw the TNA world title belt in a trash can last month, someone remarked to me that they wouldn’t be surprised if a wrestler retrieved the belt from the trash and started wearing it and defending it. Sure enough, there was Eric Young on Thursday’s show wearing the belt and talking about how he found it in the trash. Yes, Vince Russo has recycled another one of his brilliant ideas. For those who may not remember, during Russo’s run in WCW, Hacksaw Jim Duggan found the WCW Television title belt in the trash and declared himself the champion. ...

Generation Me losing to the team of Young and Orlando Jordan is a travesty. ...

Mike Tenay said, “How do you not love Eric Young?” Let me count the ways.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 1:56 AM | | Comments (14)
        

Comments

Hi there Kevin, If you don't mind one day could you make a special entry listing all of Vince Russo "Brilliant" ideas and Angles? Would appreciate it :)
keep up the good work

"During the verbal exchange, Hardy said to the fans at the Impact Zone: “You marks all know us. We’re professional wrestlers; we’re con men.” Lines such as that serve no purpose..."

This line reaks of Vince Russo. And it serves no discernible purpose, just like Vince Russo. . .

Highlight of the night (aside from Miss Tessmacher):

When that fat slob yelling at Jarrett after the match somehow managed to squirm out of his coat, swung it behind him and whacked some guy's camera in the process.

Kevin...Brooke/Ms Tessmacher is not green she actually wrestled in the WWE/ECW and in WWE development areas.
Jeff Hardy's monotone/black light promo's are ruining his heel turn. Maybe TNA needs to let him show some passion.
Maybe I'm wrong but isn't it about time for Devon and BullyRay to get in the ring. Never thought I'd ever think that Devon was better on the mike than BR.

RESPONSE FROM KE: From what I recall, Brooke Adams spent most of her time in WWE dancing with Kelly Kelly and Layla. I believe she has very little actual in-ring experience.

I have to disagree on Eric Young's gimmick, it's hysterical. Don't tell me you didn't laugh when he threw the referee out of the "battle royal?"

RESPONSE FROM KE: I didn't laugh.

It was classic when your boy Eric Young said he'd defend the belt in a battle royale and proceeded to throw the ref over the top rope. But what was even better was Taz's commentary in the match; "Tremendous strength by (Orlando) Jordan - depsite the fact he's dressed like a Hooters Girl."

Not a bad show this week. They are definitely pushing more wrestling, which is a good thing. Hardy needs to drop the belt. Morgan should get it for a while.

Hey, Kevin - Of course Ms. Tessmacher has skills. She was trained by Lacy Von Erich! BTW, I could watch the Christmas commercial of Velvet Skye on a continuous loop. I hope Russo realizes that the Beautiful People are just what Angelina said they were on Reaction - THE RATINGS GIRLS - and puts the Tag Team belts on them next week. Speaking of next week, I hope we don't get the "Fourtune Run-in" when BM$ faces MCMG. Just let them go 20 minutes or more and if after those 20 minutes Storm and Roode get the belts through some chicanery of their own (i.e. no outside interference) then so be it.

All in all it was a decent show. However, I could do without the Double J portion.

Mike Tenay said, “How do you not love Eric Young?” Let me count the ways.

Let me guess, you've lost count.

Sorry Kev, you're in a losing battle here. Eric Young and his current gimmick are hilarious!

And honestly, I'm going to have to say the having Orlando Jordan part of the act makes it even better. Orlando's previous gimmick of being completely over the top was just too much(white goo bottle anyone?) but his current persona of trying to get EY to notice him as more than a tag team partner is a gold mine, including the heel turn when he finally realizes that it won't ever happen(or who knows, it might, but I doubt it).

In the end EY is hilarious, that is all. But then again, I do think watching Robbie E get his a** kicked is hilarious as well.

- W/ Team 3Ds singles runs in WWE, i kinda remember Devon's run being unsuccessful and Bubba Ray's run bein kinda successful. he did win the hardcore championship on multiple occassions and he had a pretty strong backing by the crowd. but i understand your overall point. TNA got the ball w/ wat they're doin w/ them now.

Just wanted to put this out there about the TNA knockouts tag team championship since it was mentioned a little bit: every time i see those championship, all i can think of is the incredibly HORRIBLE booking of Taylor Wilde and Hamada. now i was never that much up on Hamada to begin w/, but i thought she shoulda been treated better than that. as do Taylor Wilde. it buries the championship. no excuse they could come up w/ will make up for building up a team of women who are hard-working and very talented and then keep them off television 95% of their reign? that's like putting the WWE championship on John Cena and then fire him 6 months later after havin him not appear on television since winning it. it's like "wat the f? wat are you thinkin w/ doin that?" so w/ them doin that, the belt has no merit. the Divas Championship has more credibility than those belts do now. OK i'm done.

GOD FINALLY somebody shares my sentiments on Eric Young. didn't like in Team Canada, don't like him now. now my negative feelings toward him did go down a bit wen he turned and stopped the stupid crap, but after a while i could NOT take his talking anymore. obviously he's not too much of friends w/ Stevie Richards otherwise he woulda taken a tip from him and went to a doctor to work on his voice. LET THIS BE A LESSON KIDS: THAT IS WAT YOUR VOICE SOUNDS LIKE ON CIGARETTES.

TNA also picked up the ball on the heel turn of Hardy also i think. even though they sometimes don't know how to use some of their wrestlers, they also know how to do wat WWE for some reason didn't know how to do. they tried doin this w/ Hardy back in 2002, but it didn't work. it was just sloppy. didn't make sense, it was random. one week he's teamin w/ RVD and literally the next he's interferin w/ his match against Kane and takes them both out. and wat did he get? a superkick to the face by Shawn Michaels, which put the nail in the coffin on that story. but now in TNA, he really fits the character. i love his promo videos, i love seein him on Reaction and actually i like him more wen he's not wrestling. wen he's in his casual attire w/ the facepaint, but then wen he wrestlers, the whole thing gets ruined bc we all know he's not one of the best wrestlers and because of that, he easily gets destroyed. he needs to do somethin to take that off him to really put together how dark his character really is.

Just wanted to say that I find EY to be hilarious, and that him and Orlando Jordan make an excellent pairing - perfect for a light relief section in a show. I agree that Gen Me shouldn't have lost like that, although I quite enjoyed the move he tapped out to.

Entirely agree with your sentiments on Rob Terry.

Finally, I think the Styles/Williams feud is going to be gold (much like the Kazarian/Williams thing before it). They are both exceptional in-ring performers, although Williams still needs to improve on the mike - he can do heel ok, but the face thing doesn't come naturally to him. Their styles compliment each other perfectly, and their match at Final Resolution was one of (if not) the best on the bill.

I agree with the others Kern, the Darren Young gimmick is a riot!!

...oh wait wrong company

i wanna see
the self proclaimed Anti-Christ of professional wrestling VS The Pope

sounds cool
:D

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About Kevin Eck
The Baltimore Sun's Kevin Eck blogs about professional wrestling.
E-mail Kevin.
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