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LOOKING AT THE FIRST-EVER MONDAY NIGHT IMPACT

So last night was the historic first live iMPACT on Monday night.....while I enjoyed the show thoroughly from start to finish (finally a wrestling show that did not have me sitting there saying all night how I knew what was gonna happen next), I think some clarification could have been made regarding some of the things we saw.  I know it is going to sound like I'm ripping the show apart, but some things we saw just didn't make sense and could have either been tweaked a little or clarified by commentary to make the audience understand the direction we are headed.

First, why the awful ending to the Steel Asylum match?  I'm sorry, aren't cage matches supposed to be no DQ?  What would it have hurt to have Red climb out, keep the belt clean and then have Homicide go into his tirade in the cage because he lost and take everyone out with the baton....THEN have Hardy come out to beat him down and climb the cage just like he did?!?

Nash kept saying Hulk wasn't coming alone.....was Bischoff the big surprise coming with Hulk?  Was Bischoff the one that jumped from the other limo?  Or was it someone else?  Couldn't they have clarified that a little better?  I mean, everyone knew Bischoff was a part of this from the beginning....I mean, he introduced Hogan at the press conference at MSG....shoot, Hall even said on TV he knew "Easy E" was coming....clarification by Tenay & Taz here was not good.  If someone else was the limo jumper, why did we not see them last night on TV?  If Bischoff was the limo jumper, couldn't Taz & Tenay have clarified?  "Bischoff must've been who we saw jump into Hogan's limo."  That's it, one phrase and mystery solved.  If there is someone else, then Bischoff and Hogan should've alluded to it to keep the intrigue up.

OK, I'm lost.....why put the Knockouts belt back on ODB?!?!....then have her get knocked out by the former champ and stand over the new champ with the belt?  So Tara has had the Knockouts belt twice now and held it for less than a month both times?!?  Who did she p!$$ off?

Flair showed up, walked into AJ's locker room.....AJ got interviewed, nothing was said.....AJ wrestled, Flair walked out.....again, I would have liked to see the commentators take ownership and say "What is Flair doing here?  What did he say to AJ earlier?"  Build up some momentum for why Flair is in TNA, please....

Seriously, are they trying to turn Lashley heel?  Or is he gonna be a face and his wife be the heel?  Why have him walk out shaking hands and then just stand there while she talked down to all the people he just shook hands with?  Odd....

The Hogan/nWo segment was cool to see.....not sure the direction they're going with this "everyone earns their spot" mantra, but it's interesting.....Sting in the rafters was a cool throwback.  Commentators did a good job selling Sting's appearance, why not Flair's?

I know that I'm not the target market for the TNA Knockout Tag Titles, but I honestly felt that fell really flat.  Hamada took like a minute to get positioned right for the dropkick and Kong and Sarita looked stupid just standing there forever.....honestly I don't like the Knockouts Tag Titles to begin with...my theory is if no one is really vying for the belt, what is the importance of a belt?  Do you hear me Eric Young?  By the way, how did he not get any airtime during a 3 hour show?  2 seconds when Flair walked by?  Really?  For a champion?  What about Daniels?  He started an interview and got cut off by JB talking to Foley on the phone?  Wasn't he headlining the last PPV?  The Nasty Boys & Val Venis each got more TV time than Young & Daniels combined.....and they're washed up!  That really bothers me, I'm sorry.  The Nasty Boys suck and were only there bc Knobbs is a Hogan lackey.  A couple of weeks ago Nash & Young joked that if Knobbs was coming in, they were leaving.....well, looks like that's what happened to Young when Knobbs showed up, he left our TV screens this week. 

Pope's character is great and he's great in the ring.  Bright future and the crowd digs him.

Jeff Jarrett's promo was awesome, until Hogan got involved.  I know they are planting seeds for Hogan/Bischoff vs Jarrett/Foley power struggle but I didn't like how they turned this around on Jeff.....

Shannon Moore solidified his spot last night as a lackey.....he followed Hardy around like a puppy dog giving him all these encouraging comments and made himself look like a tool.  It's all in how you sell it and he sold himself as a coattail rider.

AJ vs Angle was awesome.....Hogan coming out to congratulate them was awesome.  I honestly thought he was going to introduce some big new surprise that was gonna be in a 3 way dance with them at Genesis....maybe Ken Anderson?  I was hoping they were gonna tie the whole night together after that match....but no, the nWo beat down Foley and Hogan walked in and looked around.....leaving no commentary for clarification or asking any questions....just left everyone hanging wondering what exactly just happened?  Were they the ones beating down MCMG, Rhino & Beer Money?  I'd assume so, but no commentary was made to allude to that....did Hogan plan this all along?  Are there sides in TNA and they're starting to draw the line?  Honestly I'm confused asking all these questions!!!!

One more question.....are they trying to channel the show "Lost"?  I've never watched an episode but I've heard when you watch it you feel "lost" in the storyline.....while I'm very excited for TNA and what the future holds, I have a lot of unanswered questions and no real direction....which I guess can be a very good thing in this day and age....just a little clarification in next week's show will help!!!

Bravo to TNA for keeping me entertained last night for 3 hours and excited for the future!  It definitely was not a WWE show!!!

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