Wrestling Fans View From The Orange Couch-Mick Foley In TNA And Last Night's Impact

After watching Impact last night, I thought I may comment on the show, especially the last segment. I won't promise this to be a weekly segment but on occasion, you may see me voice my opinions. Last night, TNA fans saw the show end with Sting, Kurt Angle and Jeff Jarrett in the ring as Jeff introduced Mick Foley to the crowd, though not really by name, just pointing to him on the screen above the entrance ramp. With those 4 legends in the same segment, what is TNA trying to accomplish and what impact will Mick Foley have on the TNA product?

Let's face it, TNA is not as big as WWE and trying to say they have that popularity is humoring yourself. However, I must admit that though I don't always like the direction they take, I prefer TNA to WWE because I think their younger talent is more exciting then WWE(even though they do have some great future stars as well). So TNA is looking for anything that gets wrestling fans to notice their product and I can't blame them for that one bit. Beer Money is a great tag team, the MotorCity MachineGuns are exciting and AJ and Joe are the brightest future in wrestling there is but if nobody is watching, nobody will notice. So you take Sting, Jeff Jarrett, Kevin Nash, Team 3D, Booker T, Kurt Angle and now Mick Foley and use them to gain any exposure you can as long as you also give time to the young guys, which I also think TNA does better then WWE. Mick Foley is not only a legend in the wrestling business but he is also a best selling New York Times best selling author(hey, I once was ranked in the top 100,00 on Amazon.com with my book haha) so he can help sell your product with more mainstream exposure.

This brings me to my other point, what exactly does TNA have planned for Mick Foley? I don't have inside sources, I never wrestled a day in my life but as a fan of almost 30 years and someone who loves being creative, this is my view on what I would do. You can point to Mick not being in the best shape of his career but if he can at least get in shape enough to handle a couple matches, I would do that but make them special attraction matches. I think it's inevitable that we see at least one Sting/Foley match and I would love to see that but I would also love to see him and Joe in a highly built up match that not only shows how good Joe is but also helps protect the legacy of Foley/Cactus Jack without damaging Foley's well being. Use a story line to help build these two and avoid Ultimate X or big theme style match but I think a street fight type deal would be entertaining with these two. I also think like most I have heard speak about Foley's return that you must find him a role either in the booth or somewhere that he can give the fans exposure to that great personality of his (like his days as a former commissioner which lead to great Foley, Edge and Christian segments every week or maybe a consultant type deal like Nash did with Joe where he helps work with any of the young guys who want his help). The acquisitions of Kurt and Booker T were great in ring decisions but Mick is one of those people who can help you in so many ways. Let's face it, the Rock was electrifying but without Rock and Sock and their feud, I don't think he would have been as popular as he was(This Is Your Life segment is still one of the highest ratings in history and discussed occasionally with fans of that era). Mick is at his best when he helps show potential stars how great they can be in the ring and outside of it and I think this could go down as their best signing of former WWE talent so far, even if he doesn't see the in ring time that Kurt or Booker T do.

TNA Impact was a good show this week with the Beer Money/LAX stuff, Traci Brooks finally getting air time in her new role and making an immediate impact, and the elevation of the young guns/veterans storyline including more guys in the locker room when MCMG showed respect to AJ but flipped off Christian. I think it's especially great when TNA focuses on their in ring product and even better because they have the best tag teams in wrestling and are not afraid to focus on them as well. I also like when they take a guy like Jay Lethal and when he is angered, drops his character while explaining it well as they did (a tribute to Macho Man) to show how serious they are about something but have no problems with adding personality to some, especially if that's what it takes to get a talented wrestler airtime and the fans can get into it.

I would rate this show, on a scale of 1-12 with 1 being skip it unless completely bored and 12 being, if you missed this, you missed the best show ever, I would give this week's impact a 9. I highly recommend any wrestling fan to check out at least the last 15 minutes or so with Jarrett, Sting, Angle and Foley especially and the MCMG/AJ&Christian match and don't fast forward through the Beer Money&Jackie/LAX& Hector segment especially if you plan to watch again next week, which according to the spoilers, should be another good show.