TNA Impact Wrestling Thoughts By David Damage 3 / 11 / 2011

TNA is on the road, in Georgia….

TNA World Champion James Storm comes to the ring and cuts a good promo on achieving his dreams by winning the Title, before he calls out Bobby Roode and tells him that he will give him the first opportunity at the World Title later tonight.
Bobby Roode says that while they were struggling as singles competitors in the company, it was James Storm who came up with the marketing ideas and helped him show the world how good he is and how good Beer Money have been. He thanks Storm and tells him that they should steal the show with their match tonight, as they have always done.

Strong promo segment to start the show.

Knockout Tag Team Title Match: Brooke Tessmacher & Tera Vs Madison Rayne & Gail Kim (With Karen Angle and Traci)

Good Knockout tag match. Tessmacher is improving each time I see her in the ring and Karen was really good in her role on the outside, cheering on her team and getting in the face of Brooke and Tera during the match. Gail Kim and Tera were both on top form. With Karen’s interference, Gail Kim and Madison were able to take the titles from Tera and Brooke.
I think the Titles should have stayed with Tera and Brooke, but this match was pretty good for a short TV match.

Garrett Bischoff is in the ring and he cuts a promo on his father, who he calls into the ring to give an apology to. Eric Bischoff heads down the ramp and meets his son in the ring.
Garrett apologises to Eric before he punching him down. He continues the assault until Ric Flair and Gunner make the save.
I’m not really into the Bischoff family feud, but the segment wasn’t completely offensive either.

Backstage, Samoa Joe asks Sting if he can help him with anything… Sting says no, but wonders if there is anything he can do for him…. Joe thanks him for the chance he was given last week, but says that he had better be treated with respect going forward, otherwise he will take Sting out….
Eric Bischoff asks Sting if he would book Garrison in a match and if so, he would be willing to re-negotiate his own contract. Sting says that he will talk to Garrison first before he makes the decision.

Chris Daniels is backstage and says ever since he started putting himself first, he has been on a winning streak… he no-sells his loss to Styles at Bound For Glory, saying “I quit” was played through the sound system. He also gloats about beating RVD last week (he lost the match by DQ), not realising that RVD is standing behind him. He calls him Bob Van Dam again and turns around into a right hand. They brawl backstage, as RVD is upset with being threatened by the attempted screwdriver attack by Daniels last week. Chris Daniels pulls a row of chairs down to escape RVD, who tells him that he will see him again at Turning Point…. Great stuff. I’m a big fan of both these guys and I’m looking forward to their match at Turning Point.

Austin Aries Vs Jesse Sorensen

Kid Kash takes a headset during the match and trash-talks Jesse for showing him no respect backstage, being the legend that he is.
Austin Aries is amazing as always and he has a good, short TV match with Jesse, who continues to impress me as a good, young talent. Jesse gets a quick surprise pinfall on Aries.
Austin meets Kid Kash on the ramp, who is ready to head to the ring and beat down Sorensen, but Aries tells him not to and to talk with him backstage instead…

Good Bobby Roode video promo….

Robbie E & Rob Terry / Eric Young & Ronnie (From Jersey Shore) Segment turns into a brawl. Both Robbies take down Eric and whip Ronnie with a belt.
Eric Young takes the mic and challenges them to a match for next week.
There was no need for this segment…

Jeff Hardy & Mr Anderson Vs Bully Ray & Jeff Jarrett
I’m a fan of all these guys and I thought they had a really good tag match. Jarrett and Ray cut off the ring and double team Hardy, who eventually makes the hot tag to Anderson. The match ends when Scott Steiner comes to the ring to interrupt a double Swanton Bomb attempt and Jarrett and Bully Ray lose the match by DQ.
After the match, Steiner, Ray and Jarrett beat down Hardy and Anderson.

Sting is backstage with Garrett Bischoff and he tells him about Eric’s offer from earlier in the show. Garrett tells Sting that he accepts the challenge for a match of Eric’s choosing if it means that his father’s contract will be re-negotiated.

Matt Morgan and Crimson are in the ring. Morgan challenges Crimson to a match at Turning Point… the Irresistible Force meeting the immovable object… to prove who the best “big man” in the company is. Crimson accepts the challenge for Turning Point and tells Morgan that nobody is going to end his undefeated streak…

TNA World Title: James Storm Vs Bobby Roode

Storm and Roode start the match exchanging holds, showing respect for one another and going move-for-move.
They have a great match in which Roode begins to get frustrated near the end as he isn’t able to put James Storm away…
For the finish, the referee gets knocked out of the ring along with Roode.
Roode takes James Storm’s bottle from ringside and smashes it over his head behind the referee’s back.
The referee turns around in time to count James Storm’s shoulders to the mat and we have a new TNA World Champion in Bobby Roode, who stand above his fallen former partner and spits on him. Heel turn complete.

Overall, I thought this was another strong edition of TNA Impact, with a cracking main event. They crowned a new World Champion and pulled the trigger on Roode’s heel turn at the same time, giving us fresh main event matches, like Bobby Roode against his former Fortune ally, AJ Styles at Turning Point.

This was so much better than "Raw Is The Muppets" that I can't even begin to describe it....