BRM Reviews the 10/4/2012 Impact (bad)

[Big Red Machine]

HOGAN & STING IN HOGAN’S OFFICE- eh. After Sting said that he was going to watch all of the matches tonight, Hogan and Sting just repeated things that we either already knew or figured (Hogan would be watching the matches, too, and would advise Sting, they have each other’s backs, etc.) I’m also really not sure why they need a partner by the end of tonight.

MR. ANDERSON vs. GUNNER (w/Kid Kash)- 3/10

TARA & GAIL BACKSTAGE- okay.

GAIL KIM & TARA vs. BROOKE TESSMACHER & ODB- 4/10

AL SNOW AND & JOEY RYAN SEGMENT- good, but I really wish they had done it so that this was the original deal, rather than having Joey look dumb for not reading a contract before signing it.

STING & BULLY RAY- Bad. Sting doesn’t need a bully. He needs a fired-up, tough SOB. That is what Bully Ray is. Why is Sting telling him to go and mercilessly beat on someone?

TNA TV TITLE MATCH: Samoa Joe(c) vs. Rob Van Dam- 4/10
This was great for a four minute match, but why the hell did they give JOE vs. RVD only four minutes?!

DANIELS & KAZ TRY TO SELL DISSENSION BETWEEN AJ & ANGLE- why the hell would anyone believe Kaz & Daniels about anything at this point?

AUSTIN ARIES, JEFF HARDY, & BULLY RAY SEGMENT- not a bad way to set up the main event, but it does make Sting asking Bully Ray to prove himself look a bit silly when they remind you that he pinned the World Champ a few weeks ago.

CHAVO GUERRERO (w/Hernandez) vs. KURT ANGLE (w/AJ Styles)- 6.25/10
When TNA brougth Chavo in, they built him up as if he were a huge star, but they never gave him the chance to have a match that made him look like a star. This wasn't exactly that, but at least he looked like he belonged in the ring with Kurt. The post0match stuff would have been better without Kaz and Daniels, IMO.

So Doug Williams, who hasn't been on TV in forever (aside from beating a guy who wasn't good enough to earn a contract) randomly gets an X-Division Title shot?
TNA X-DIVISION TITLE MATCH: Zema Ion(c) vs. Doug Williams- okay, I'm calling BS here. Doug Williams should not be tapping out less than two minutes.

ZEMA ION PROMO- AWESOME!

BRUCE PRICHARD YELLS AT D'LO ABOUT MATT MORGAN- Good segment, but who died and made Bruce Prichard boss? Shouldn't Hogan or Dixie be doing this yelling? Prichard is in charge of talent, not live events.

JAMES STORM, BOBBY ROODE & KING MO SEGMENT- Doing this right after the Matt Morgan thing really exposed the flaw in the build-up of the King Mo part of this. If the angle is that the refs don't want to do the match because they are afraid of getting hurt, they should have had segments/matches/brawls involving Storm and Roode in which referees actually did get hurt.
I also absolutely hated Sotmr and Mo drinking beer together at the end of the segment. It makes it look like the referee is on the side of the babyface.

ACES & EIGHTS SEGMENT- How is it that Aces & Eights need to win a match to be granted access to the Impact Zone, yet they have magically control of the PandTron and can beam video from their clubhouse into it? If they have guys on the inside who can get them into the building (as they proved last week with the Leva Bates PA), why do they need a match to get access to the Impact Zone? The Aces & Eights guy's promo was pretty good.

MAGNUS WILL GET A TV TITLE SHOT AT BFG- OH COME ON! They just give him a shot against Joe simply because they had a small issue last month? They could have done a much, much, MUCH better job of building this up.

AUSTIN ARIES vs. JEFF HARDY vs. BULLY RAY- no rating. Okay segment. The main problem with this match was that it was way too short. It got less than five minutes of TV time, which is nowhere close to okay for a main event. If this had been ten minutes longer, I would have loved it. They told the story very well, making Bully Ray look tough, and I like how it is a reversal of the normal situation where tow heels team up on a babyface to make the babyface look strong for taking so much punishment.

ARIES & HARDY STUFF AFTER THE MATCH- not bad, but I would have shown this at the beginning of next week as footage from after Impact went off the air.

HOGAN & STING PICK A PARTNER FOR STING- Horrible This absolutely should not have been its own segment. Instead, give the main event more time, then have Bully Ray make his way up the ramp after his win and have Sting and Hogan come out to meet him at the top of the ramp and say "this is our guy." Instead, they wasted seven minutes giving Hogan an entrance, then letting Hogan ramble on telling us things we already know. Then they show that Aces & Eights knocked Anderson out because he walked outside of the Impact Zone. So I guess security is only in the building, not on on the premises, just outside the door.
Also, having Bully Ray be the second choice buried him a bit.
Oh, and did anyone catch how Hogan decided to talk up how Aces & Eights have singled him out to make it personal for him, putting the focus of the story on himself, rather than the talent.

Overall, a bad episode of Impact

STUPID ANNOUNCER QUOTES:
1. Tenay says that he thinks the fact that it is teacher vs. student will make Tessmacher “more vulnerable” at BFG.- Umm… Mike? It was teacher vs. student last month at No Surrender, too… and Tessmacher won clean.