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The Katz Files – Arnie Katz

Nobody Asked Me about TNA, But…

The Kingfish Arnie Katz continues a “Katz Files” tradition with answers to some ticklish questions that no one asked him. This t time, he has been watching TNA iMPACT and thinking about what flashes across the screen.

I was watching TNA iMPACT this week and…

Nobody asked me, but…

… Has Christy Hemme turned face when no one was looking? The attack on the Rock n Rave Infection two weeks ago led to a match between Velvet Sky and Christy Hemme. The Beautiful People had stopped, and then humiliated, Hemme on her way to the hospital. The interest questions is what effect, if any, this babyface stint will have on Hemme and the tag team she manages when they return to the show.

… I was more impressed by the formation of the Main Event Mafia than Mick Foley’s declaration of ownership. The latter is a somewhat fresh way of implementing a traditional booking idea, the celebrity GM. The former introduces another traditional idea, the wrestling group, and that may have more far-reaching consequences than whether Foley stays for a while or leaves immediately. TNA has experimented with groups in the past, but they went a little wild and soon had just about every wrestler on the roster in one group or another. The Main Event Mafia is the genesis of a main event heel group. When the babyfaces organize a counter-force, TNA will have a way to elevate its top talent to the elite level in the eyes of the fans. Let’s hope they make the most of it.

… Isn’t it getting a little tiring to have Lauren and Jeremy Borash interview wrestler after wrestler who has nothing to say? Those cuts to the parking lot have been especially unexciting. Like most things, this works a lot better when it isn’t over-used.

… Matt Morgan may be over-selling it just a teensy bit, but doesn’t he add an interesting angle to the Abyss saga? Just when it seemed that Morgan was going to let his desire to win overcome his scruples, the Bound for Glory match in which Abyss went through the burning table snapped him back to the Right Side. Now his role is to try to protect Abyss; and he’s making it surprisingly believable consider the fact that Abyss doesn’t look like a man who needs much protection.

… Casting no aspersions on Creed-Bashir as a program, wasn’t the Lethal-Bashir match on the 10/23 iMPACT pretty damn good for a short TV match? Black Machismo needs to do something that doesn’t involve Sonjay Dutt, at least for a while, and a run against the athletic and entertaining Jay Lethal would be fine.

A booking idea for the next Dutt-Lethal feud: SoCal Val should start making eyes at Jay Lethal. It would be very low-level at first, but gradually it would become obvious that SoCal Val is coming on to Black Machismo. In a tag team match in which Lethal and Dutt are on opposite teams, Val does something that helps Lethal, but only indirectly hurts Dutt (by making his team lose). When SoCal Val got sufficiently blatant, the actual feud would erupt and, eventually, lead to a match in which SoCal Val is the prize. Black Machismo beats Dutt to the point where he is helpless. Then he stops. He tells Dutt that they used to be best friends and now they are enemies – and all because of the machinations of one greedy and exploitative gold digger. The two men shake hands and leave her standing in the ring with a stunned expression. Maybe Curry Man comes out, puts an arm around her and says, “Come with me. I love you long time.”

… I don’t think it’s a problem if TNA makes Team 3-D babyfaces, at least for the duration of the program with Beer Money. Brother Ray and Brother Devon have been faces in the past and slide back and forth that line with practiced ease. In a way, one of the secrets of their success is that they are always a little nasty as babyfaces and always a little lovable as heels.

… Shouldn’t TNA put up a little sign that tells us dimwitted Left Coasters that the vote they are taking is already over? I think they owe it to their fans as a courtesy.,

… Wasn’t the Knockout Championship title change handled well? Granted, a match that didn’t end with a screwjob finish would be even better, but this set up a feud between Taylor Wilde and Raisha Saeed while clearing the decks for a program with Awesome Kong and Roxxi.

It’s too bad TNA doesn’t have a second weekly show so that they could give more time to plots involving the Knockout and X Divisions. Both suffer when important wrestlers don’t get mic time for a month or so.

… Didn’t Kevin Nash do better than you expected in that main event on iMPACT from Las Vegas? He may be old and brittle, but he can still perform a move with impressive authority. And his mic work, though, uneven, is among the best when he’s in the mood.

I’ll be back tomorrow with another installment of the Internet’s fastest-rising wrestling column. I hope you’ll join me – and I’d be especially grateful if you tell your friends about it.

— Arnie Katz
[email protected]
(10/29/08)