Impact Review:
The Shane and Roode encounter was a great way to start off the new Impact. Obviously, Shane had to open things up, and he was able to give an alright promo, without blabbing everything about his new changes. Roode interrupting fits right in with his character, Shane O Mac's the new big dog in town and this would threaten Roode, so he needs to make a statement and assert himself. That is a stupid idea, because it just lands him in hot bother. Both men lay themselves out on the table with this one, and it helps give us something to build on in the future, but I hope you can turn it around so it isn't Roode vs. Hogan/Sting Mark II. Gauntlet match for the number 1 contendership is a great idea, but i don't know if it's really great to have the champion and challenger facing off in a match before Slammiversary. I prefer to keep guys seperated, particulalry for a major PPV main event build. Despite that, it served it's purpose and gets an 8/10.
What the hell? How did Shane get from out of the ring into his office and already into conversation with someone in the space of a 3/4 minute commercial. Was it like Wiggum P.I. when the Big Daddy is being chased and runs into the office and turns round in the chair just in the nick of time for the dramatic turnaround? Anyway, aren't Kaz and Daniels tag champs anyway? Surely you could've just had them defend the titles against the Usos instead of possibly giving them two seperate reigns? Usos are a great team and they showed themselves really well against Kaz and Daniels. Enjoyable little match which debuted the Usos perfectly. The strange vacation of the titles brings the scores down, but it still gets a 7/10
Quite liked Madison trying to worm her way into a Divas title match, thought thatw as quite funny, particularly Gail Kim's not-impressed reaction. Urgh, Melina is a mental cow, but she is a good talent. She's quite good in-ring, but I have a great dislike for her. That said, I vividly remember Melina and Gail Kim had a cracker on Superstars once, so a fued between the two could be great. Surely this means that we'll be seeing a JoMo appearance down the line though? The match was your usual Gail Kim/Madison Rayne fare, they do their best to tip the odds in their favour with ringside intereference, although it's good to see them finally getting something approaching what they deserve. I see a 2 on 2 fued brewing here. It's a Knockouts match, so I highly doubt I'd ever be lavishing you with snowflakes for this one, but it was passable defintiely. 6/10.
TYSON!
I love Tyson Kidd, me, and can be such a cocky dick that this interview made great sense. Excited about these new signings, but I'm even MORE excited about Kidd vs, Aries. Tyson Kidd doesn't have bad matches, and neither does Aries, clearly this will be great... And I was right. You nailed the free-flowing pace and switching of momentum between the two perfectly and I really feel you made Tyson look like a legit threat. I hope he gets an X Division title run, or at the very elast an extended fued with Aries as a PPV match between the two would be gold. You've ramped up Tyson's ********ishness with the sign ripping and gloating which I loved. Could have been longer, but it's a first match on Impact so there's plenty of time for that in the future, so until then you get 9/10.
I like Crimson, so this encounter is good news to me, but you'll have to do a lot of work on him to get him up to World title standard. WHAT DID I SAY? YES! JoMo's in TNA! A perfect addition for the X Division, in my opinion but... oh wait, he's calling Samoa Joe fat. I get the sentiment, but I feel it was just a bit basic. I think there should definitely be something else to base this beef off of apart from "I'm John Hennigan, I'm an arrogant prick. You're Samoa Joe, you're a lard-arse". I am definitely looking forward to their matches though. Crimson getting pushed gets big points, but the lack of depth to Joe/John brings it down a bit to 7.5/10.
Roode/Styles was done really well, I think. The pace was obviously a bit quicker than usual, but you were really able to show Roode's desperation with the hand swatting, the referee shield and the low blow. It really made it look like Roode had the fear. And right away, it continues with a rake to the eyes first thing on Hardy. Roode really is using every trick in the book, but Hardy keeps coming at him with everything in his arsenal. An enjoyable fast-forwarded match, a sort of trailer for the full-length matches the two have had. And next up... it's Orton! This is MASSIVE for TNA, a real gamechanging moment for them. Great idea to have on the first new Impact, although the only question I have is could Orton's in-ring debut have been saved for Slammiversary? Orton's first match could have been buyrate central, but this way is just as good. It's a hard decision: Make a definite Impact moment, or make a large buyrate? Nonetheless, great way to debut him and although I'm not Orton's biggest fan, it's clearly going to really legitimise the new regime. Roode using every shortcut in the book in the space of 10/15 minutes and then having the smile wiped off his face was great. If this had happened in real life by now, it would be one of the Slammiversary vignettes they keep showing on Impact at the moment. 8/10.
Overall, a good Impact. Definite room for improvement, but it's only the first episode, so that's allowed. I'm really looking forward to the Kidd/Aries and Joe/Morrison fueds from an in-ring perspective, but everything on the show was interesting and I'm really forward to how you spin Roode/Orton at Slammiversary. 91 out of a possible 120, if you put it into a calculator gives a very acceptable 7.5/10. Well done!
You've got some great feuds building towards Slammiversary and I can tell it's going to be a stacked card!!