Return of the Armchair Booker

I missed the first hour of last night's TNA Impact! prime time special, coming into the show at the end of the Christian Cage/Rhino barbed wire cage match fiasco. Cage was wearing the ol' crimson mask already. The ending of that match, whereby Cage won the match but lost the war, was pretty darn good booking. But Cage did not need to be sent down to the ring to mess up the awesome-tastic 3-way X-Division championship match. Styles, Sabin, and Christopher Daniels were really on fire last night. I saw at least 3 maneuvers I had never seen before.

And the final match was a booking trainwreck. The contestants, Kurt Angle and Abyss, both have high profile matches headlining the card for Sundays PPV, right? Why on earth would Abyss be selected as the sacrificial lamb for Angle's first match in TNA. We all know Angle needs a clean win to establish his credentials for people (like me) who have never seen him work in the ring. Abyss's credibility is already shaky given the fact that no one seriously believes he will take the championship from Our Lord & Savior Stingus Christ. Why make the man do a clean job only a few days before. Is the plan to let Sting squash Abyss? And the double run-in was stupid as well. Samoa Joe doesn't need to pummel and unconscious Angle to build up heat for this feud. And he doesn't need to cast as the blackhearted heel of the piece. Up until this broadcast I was completely happy with the scenario that two badass tweeners were going at simply because that's what badass tweeners do. And I hate tweeners! Don't go off-script the moment you have me hooked, TNA! And as much as I think Sting should, you know, earn that bajillion dollars he's making, his appearance last night was effed up the moment he stepped off his magical flying pogo stick. Again, I ask if this run-in was necessary. It didn't help the match I was watching and it didn't make me more interested in the upcoming Sting/Abyss match.

The actual wrestling match between Angle and Abyss was pretty darn good. It's been a long time since I've seen a David & Goliath match-up where the David role was played by a technical mat wrestler. Nowadays that role is usually filled with a high-flyer. Given Angle's performance last night the match I want to see right now is Angle versus Robert Roode. Let those guys kick it old school for ten or fifteen minutes.