Impact 2-23-12

Due to the busy week we've been having here, I completely forgot to plug our appearance on the Squared Circle Jerks podcast. Episode 13 was much nicer than our last apperance, as we discussed the latest editions of TNA and NWA Hollywood with Paul and newest podcaster Jeff. Go give us a listen!!


Matches:

1. Samoa Joe & Magnus v. Matt Morgan & Crimson - 3 out of 5
2. Zema Ion v. Alex Shelley - 3 out of 5
3. Gail Kim v. ODB - 4 out of 5
4. AJ Styles v. Robbie E - 3 out of 5
5. Jeff Hardy & James Storm v. Bully Ray & Kurt Angle - 3 out of 5


This week we had to once again endure the travesty of celebrity football player Brandon Jacobs being involved in our wrestling program. Athletes of other sports are generally terrible actors, and Jacobs kept up the tradition by cutting a painful promo against Bully Ray (who, incidentally showed up and made the segment infinitely better by generally existing, and also by calling him Brenda). Then he interfered in the main event. Which was... interesting, to say the least. Despite there being no announcement whatsoever that this match was no DQ, the ref just watched as Jacobs got into the ring and laid Bully Ray out on a table that he and Angle had dragged into the ring. Bah. The worst part of this is that I don't think this is the last we're going to be seeing of this big oaf.

I want to say that I like what TNA is doing with the women lately. I'm not sure that Madison Rayne has actually turned face yet, but it certainly feels like she's out-conniving Gail Kim as the number one contender to her title. According to Madison, she did Kim a favor by winning the Battle Royal, because she felt the rest of the roster was not up to Kim's caliber of talent. This week, she showed up mid-match, which distracted Kim, but not enough to make her lose. That was a good decision for the story, because then of course Madison tried to congratulate Kim, but apparently these two are not on the same page about where their friendship is at this point. Which, admittedly, is probably the case, but I really can't wait to see how this one plays out for us.

And then, there was Sting. TNA seems to be using Twitter lately as a mechanism for storyline, which I can't say that I dislike. While WWE certainly mentions tweets that their talent sent out as commentary on their storylines, TNA is actually using Twitter within the plot. Here's the summary: Sting tweeted simply, "I'm done." Everyone wondered what he meant, except for Bobby Roode, who simply assumed he'd succeeded in making Sting quit, and quickly took credit for ending the icon's career. At the end of the show, Sting came out to address it, and was soon interrupted by Bobby Roode, who did everything but try to push Sting out the door. Apparently, what Sting meant was, "I'm done taking this crap and going halfway with this jackass" and he then slabbed black paint on half of his face before somehow convincing himself that he's living in the Wizard of Oz, and jumping even farther into the deep end than he was when he was The Joker. Oh, yeah, and he's gonna take on Bobby Roode at Lockdown. Time will only tell if this is a marketable idea.