Igniting Upon Impact: Hogan, Foley, and Nash Share the Spotlight

Image Credit: TWD Media

For a company promoting change and trying to build an image of pushing younger talent, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling devoted the lion’s share of its Impact broadcast Thursday to three wrestlers well past their prime.

Coming off a pay-per-view featuring outstanding match-ups between Kurt Angle and TNA newcomer Desmond Wolfe and TNA World Heavyweight Champion A.J. Styles, Samoa Joe and Christopher Daniels, the company seemed to place the emphasis of the weekly broadcast on Mick Foley, Kevin Nash and a yet-to-debut Hulk Hogan.

Foley, donning an eye patch from the “fireball” that a returning Raven shot in his face last week, started the show in the ring with his colleague Abyss, but he wasn’t there to talk about revenge.

Instead, Foley brushed off the attack and the injury to talk about how he had to show identification just to get in the building and to address his claims TNA President Dixie Carter has been slowly removing his authority since the announcement of Hogan’s signing.

Dr. Stevie and Raven hit the entrance ramp, and Raven thankfully pointed out the pure ludicrousness of Foley’s opening promo, questioning if he even has the authority to book a match between the two duos for later in the evening.

Then, after finishing a completely unrelated backstage segment, Nash turns, looks at the camera and decides to tell Foley that he has all the answers to the “Hardcore Legend’s” questions, prompting the commentators to remind viewers of the relationship between Nash and Hogan.

Foley would then seek out Nash, wanting to hear answers for himself, but Nash would have nothing of it unless Foley could refund the cash he lost during a legitimate two-week suspension after criticizing a decision to continue a tag team match after one of the competitors suffered a potentially serious injury at the Impact tapings a few weeks ago.

Foley retreated to his office, where Abyss tried to talk him out of competing that night because of his injury. Foley told him everyone had choices, just like Carter when she chose not to tell him about Hogan’s signing.

But even with all these backstage antics, Foley wouldn’t make an appearance in his tag team match, as his partner Abyss blocked him in his office with a desk to prevent him from further injuring himself.

After Abyss fought the match himself, Foley sought out Stevie and Raven in the back, only to fall victim to an attack from the duo and Daffney.

The only positive foreseeable result for this whole Foley versus Carter and Hogan angle would be if Foley loses the “executive shareholder” title, adding some clarity to a power structure in TNA that not too long ago involved a mysterious board of directors, Jim Cornette, Jeff Jarrett, Dixie Carter, and Mick Foley.

As for Nash, his only involvement on the show wasn’t the brief exchange with Abyss.

Rather, he introduced himself as the new power player in Eric Young’s World Elite, forging a partnership with the rising star who “outsmarted the smartest man” in the business at Bound for Glory.

Nash accompanied Young and the rest of World Elite to the ring for a match, and stood looming behind Taz and Mike Tenay for the duration of the doubt.

The industry veteran has potential to make an impact as a manager and mentor for the World Elite, so this storyline definitely has potential to grow and foster into something good.

As for Hogan, he continued to get more airtime on this show than TNA’s current stars including Jay Lethal, Consequences Creed, Christy Hemme, Kip James and Shark Boy, probably combined.

Angle’s animosity

In the evening’s main event, Styles and Angle teamed together for the first time in TNA history, and in a refreshing change, the company didn’t ignore the history between the two.

In their first backstage promo, Styles seemed to hold his own better than usual when addressing Daniels, his presumed Final Resolution challenger, but when he began verbally sparring with Angle, Styles’ promo skills went into relapse.

Another quick segment later in the show gave viewers a shot of the animosity between the two heating up because of Angle’s belief that Styles has denied him a rematch request since stealing his title in September by pinning Matt Morgan.

The former allies, who have also competed as arch-rivals, had to put their differences aside to face a challenge from Wolfe and Daniels in a solid and entertaining television main event.

The latter captured the match after a combination of a Tower of London and Best Moonsault Ever on Styles, as Wolfe and Angle brawled to the back.

All signs point to Styles and Daniels squaring off one-on-one at Final Resolution while Angle and Wolfe endure a rematch from their Match of the Year contender.

Both of these matches have potential to capitalize on the hype created at Turning Point, but one has to wonder where it leaves Samoa Joe and when the brewing animosity between Angle and Styles will result in another match between these two superstars.

Quick Hits

-A much hyped sit-down interview with “The Icon” Sting to talk about his career and Hogan’s arrival in TNA never happened in a quite B.S. move by TNA. The interview was hyped last week on Impact, on the Web site this week and even earlier in the show. But at the end of the show, before the main event, Mike Tenay showed footage of Sting no-showing the interview at his home “earlier today.” Why would he have hyped it earlier in this broadcast if he knew Sting no showed earlier in the day. It’s things like this that make it hard to believe Hogan is the only missing key to bringing TNA to the next level.

-With Mick Foley trapped in his office, Abyss went it alone against Dr. Stevie and Raven. After Raven went for a fireball that was countered into a big boot from Abyss, referee Slick Johnson discovered the lighter and disqualified the heels. But after the official end of the match, Daffney brought out the weapons, as they continued to assault Abyss, leading into a commercial break.

-Amazing Red managed to gain some early offense against a behemoth opponent in Scott Steiner, but ultimately fell victim to Big Poppa Pump’s brutal beating. Laying Red out wasn’t enough for Steiner, however, as the sole survivor of the Main Event Mafia grabbed Red’s X Division title belt and a lead pipe and continued assaulting the champ until Bobby Lashley made the save. Apparently this means the feud between Lashley and Steiner will continue, after Steiner served Lashley his first loss in TNA last Sunday.

-Alex Shelley scored a pinfall over Brutus Magnus in an eight-man tag team match pitting the Motor City Machineguns and Beer Money against World Elite. The match wasn’t overly long but was a decent television match, even if it didn’t allow all eight participants a chance to perform. Hopefully this match will transition to a tag team title program between Shelley and Chris Sabin and Brutus Magnus and Doug Williams. James Storm and Robert Roode seem to now be focusing their issues on Eric Young and new cohort Kevin Nash, which could also lead to an interesting secondary tag division program.

-Hamada defeated Taylor Wilde in a clean finish to a short but decent enough knockouts match. The two exchanged offense and near-falls, but the finish came when Hamada locked in a Hamada Driver, sending Wilde to the mat. If Hamada can find herself a tag team partner, she may be headed for a Knockouts Tag Team Championship program against Wilde and Sarita. A heel turn and alignment with someone like Kong, who shares ties to Japan, could help take Hamada’s character to the next level in TNA.

-In the night’s second knockouts match, Wilde’s partner Sarita defeated “The Future Legend” Alissa Flash in a nice match. After it ended, Traci Brooks attacked Flash, continued their apparent feud that began last week. But it remains unclear who’s supposed to be getting fan support here, as Brooks has now been the instigator two weeks in a row after Flash has played the heel during the match. Is this a double turn in the works? Would it even really be a turn since Brooks kind of just reappeared last week as a babyface again after the disbanding of the Main Event Mafia?

-Jesse Neal returned to TNA with a new look, as he helped former mentor Rhino and new trainers Team 3D defeat Hernandez, Matt Morgan and D’Angelo Dinero in a street fight rematch from Turning Point. Neal is going to be the difference maker in this feud? Seriously? Anyway, the match saw some good offense and use of weapons by the young guys, who absolutely have to come out on top in this feud.

-ODB brought back a backstage interview segment, and from the first edition, it seems like it’s calling for an early cancellation. ODB partied with Homicide, sharing lame jokes and even worse dance moves while insulting Suicide. It’s hard to formulate words for how horrid and sickening this segment really was.

-Tomko appeared in a backstage interview with Lauren. Why? Doesn’t that make it less of a surprise when he’s unveiled to be the masked man attacking Styles? Now, instead of unknowing fans saying, “OMG! It’s Tomko!” it will be “Yeah… you showed us he was back three weeks ago…”

-Overall, this week’s show was pretty solid and an improvement from recent weeks. However, with seven title belts under the company’s control at the moment, it would have been nice to see a little more emphasis on building programs around these titles. While this is the transitional show from one pay-per-view’s build to another, it just seems even the world title went largely unhyped during this show.

Match Rundown

Amazing Red d. Scott Steiner by disqualification in a non-title match
Alex Shelley, Chris Sabin, James Storm and Robert Roode d. Brutus Magnus, Doug Williams, Kiyoshi and Sheik Abdul Bashir
Hamada d. Taylor Wilde
Abyss d. Dr. Stevie and Raven by disqualification
Sarita d. Alissa Flash
Brother Ray, Brother D’Von and Rhino d. Hernandez, Matt Morgan and D’Angelo Dinero in a street fight
Desmond Wolfe and Christopher Daniels d. A.J. Styles and Kurt Angle