The return that I had personally been dreading for over a year now happened tonight, and I swear, neither Butch nor I were privy to Impact show notes. Butch came up with the idea of Joseph Park, or one of his alter egos at least, as TNA's savior independently of any thought the guys writing the show had, but then again, maybe he knows them so well? I don't know. But yeah, Abyss is back, and there's not a whole lot of anything anyone of us can do.
I understand I may not be part of an overwhelming consensus at my malaise at that certain incarnation of one man playing a role could be. I am over the moon with Joseph Park, but Abyss was always a sore point for me. I can't think of any one person who instilled such polar reactions with each of his differing personae. Maybe Davey Richards being utterly awesome as part of Team Statutory with Kyle O'Reilly and Joey Ryan in PWG last year and him every other waking moment of his wrestling career counts, but the former had a very small sample size. I digress.
I won't deny that there's a freshness associated with the character now, and he feels shinier and newer. Whether it's as dimestore Kane Foley or as the awesomely affable lawyer type, he's not the hero TNA deserves. I mean, have you seen a bunch of whinier, more entitled asswipes carrying themselves like they've got the safety of their company owed to them? I mean, it bears repeating, but if I had everyone yelling at me to make a decision in the manner which first James Storm and then Kurt Angle were yelling at AJ Styles, I'd either keep putting it off or don the Aces and Eights cut too. No, AJ Styles doesn't owe you an answer anymore than John Cena owes Ryback that dollar-sixty. Wait a second, that's a bad example. John Cena totally owes Ryback a dollar-sixty.
Furthermore, Storm proved further that he must be engaged in some epic interpromotional douche-off with Sheamus, because there really is no reason why he should have felt the need to ruin an otherwise great tag match by his very existence. Okay, I get it, Christopher Daniels was in the wrong yanking Aries' trunks halfway to his ankles, but the correct way to reprimand that behavior isn't eventually nailing him with a superkick. God, at least the other drunk mess of a ref actually takes her job seriously. Storm deserved that beatdown he got after the match and then some. I'd have sentenced him to be the next one Robb Stark beheaded at Riverrun after Rickard Karstark, and here I go mixing my show metaphors again. Sorry, it's been a long week.
It's telling tonight that the most lasting impression I got from Impact tonight was "Hey, DOC and Magnus had a good match, I'd like to see them get 12 minutes on a pay-per-view." Between that and the Chris Sabin/Kenny King sexual innuendo-off and the return of Abyss, the good on TNA's roster was highlighted, although not in the best ways. The pieces are there, but the direction could be better. Of course, they'd rather have one of their four precious PPV main event spots on the calendar go to a 50-something with bad timing in the ring and even worse character chops out of it in his hold age, but whatever, I suppose.
I understand I may not be part of an overwhelming consensus at my malaise at that certain incarnation of one man playing a role could be. I am over the moon with Joseph Park, but Abyss was always a sore point for me. I can't think of any one person who instilled such polar reactions with each of his differing personae. Maybe Davey Richards being utterly awesome as part of Team Statutory with Kyle O'Reilly and Joey Ryan in PWG last year and him every other waking moment of his wrestling career counts, but the former had a very small sample size. I digress.
I won't deny that there's a freshness associated with the character now, and he feels shinier and newer. Whether it's as dimestore Kane Foley or as the awesomely affable lawyer type, he's not the hero TNA deserves. I mean, have you seen a bunch of whinier, more entitled asswipes carrying themselves like they've got the safety of their company owed to them? I mean, it bears repeating, but if I had everyone yelling at me to make a decision in the manner which first James Storm and then Kurt Angle were yelling at AJ Styles, I'd either keep putting it off or don the Aces and Eights cut too. No, AJ Styles doesn't owe you an answer anymore than John Cena owes Ryback that dollar-sixty. Wait a second, that's a bad example. John Cena totally owes Ryback a dollar-sixty.
Furthermore, Storm proved further that he must be engaged in some epic interpromotional douche-off with Sheamus, because there really is no reason why he should have felt the need to ruin an otherwise great tag match by his very existence. Okay, I get it, Christopher Daniels was in the wrong yanking Aries' trunks halfway to his ankles, but the correct way to reprimand that behavior isn't eventually nailing him with a superkick. God, at least the other drunk mess of a ref actually takes her job seriously. Storm deserved that beatdown he got after the match and then some. I'd have sentenced him to be the next one Robb Stark beheaded at Riverrun after Rickard Karstark, and here I go mixing my show metaphors again. Sorry, it's been a long week.
It's telling tonight that the most lasting impression I got from Impact tonight was "Hey, DOC and Magnus had a good match, I'd like to see them get 12 minutes on a pay-per-view." Between that and the Chris Sabin/Kenny King sexual innuendo-off and the return of Abyss, the good on TNA's roster was highlighted, although not in the best ways. The pieces are there, but the direction could be better. Of course, they'd rather have one of their four precious PPV main event spots on the calendar go to a 50-something with bad timing in the ring and even worse character chops out of it in his hold age, but whatever, I suppose.