I can't believe I am actually typing this sentence, but it sure looks as if Mick Foley is turning heel. Again.
On Thursday night's episode of TNA Impact, Foley was portrayed as insecure and paranoid because he wasn't given a head's up about Hulk Hogan joining TNA and TNA president Dixie Carter is not returning his text messages.It was just a few weeks ago that Foley went babyface after a short stint as a heel during his feud with Abyss. If Foley does indeed turn heel in this story line, it will make the fifth time he has switched sides in his 14-month stint in TNA.
I get it that Foley is supposed to be unpredictable and unstable, but this is ridiculous. At this point, it almost seems like a rib on the audience. If you're a casual viewer, you have to be totally confused.
Plus, every time Foley turns, it has less impact and weakens his character. It really shocks me that Foley – who has always had a good mind for the business from a creative standpoint – is allowing it to happen.
I think there are too many turns in TNA in general. In recent weeks, Kurt Angle, Team 3D, Daniels, D'Angelo Dinero, Traci Brooks and Jesse Neal have all turned. I don't know about you, but all those turns have my head spinning.
Other thoughts on Thursday's show:
TNA spent a week hyping that there would be a taped interview with Sting talking about his potential retirement and Hogan coming to TNA. Mike Tenay mentioned it at the top of the show, saying that the interview "evolved into an unprecedented turn of events." Wow. I couldn't wait to see what happened. Unfortunately, nothing did. Sting no-showed it. Talk about a bait and switch. Why go out of your way to tick off your audience? ...
TNA is doing a good job of making the partnership with Hogan come off as a big deal. Having the talent express their thoughts about Hogan in taped segments is a nice touch, and showing comments from Hogan and footage from his book signings also are effective at building anticipation for his imminent arrival. ...
I think I saw A.J. Styles' nose growing when he was talking about how excited he was about Hogan joining TNA. ...
Kevin Nash told Foley that Hogan is not coming alone. I hope that doesn't mean that he's bringing Brutus Beefcake, The Nasty Boys and Jimmy Hart with him. Actually, I wouldn't mind if "The Mouth of the South" came. ...
Nash bringing up his two-week suspension – which he got for blasting TNA officials backstage and cutting an unscripted promo because he thought the company did not properly take care of Chris Sabin after he suffered a scary-looking injury in the ring – was too much of an inside reference. Vince Russo has never been able to grasp the concept that not every fan reads the Internet. Once again, casual viewers are left confused. ...
The main event, which saw Desmond Wolfe and Daniels defeat Angle and Styles, was really good. Daniels, who scored the winning pin over Styles, is coming off more like a major star than he has at any time in his career. His ability as a worker has never been in question, but his intensity and mic work as of late have also been top notch. ...
So Raven and Dr. Stevie hang Abyss with a cable and TNA cuts to a commercial while he's being choked out. Unless I missed it, the attack wasn't mentioned the rest of the show. Was Abyss choked to death? Was he sent to the hospital? It's pretty inexcusable to leave the audience, um, hanging. ...
Speaking of Abyss, I find him a lot more entertaining as a lovable-but-dangerous monster than when he was a mute monster. Based on what I read on the Internet, I'm in the minority on that one, but I think his former character was too one dimensional and needed to evolve. ...
Dr. Stevie appears to be the leader of the group consisting of him, Raven and Daffney, which I'm happy about. I like Raven, but Stevie is doing the best work of his career, and he shouldn't be Raven's lackey anymore. ...
I like Neal's new look. TNA obviously wanted a dramatic physical transformation, and they succeeded. I do think it could have been accomplished without putting Neal in a sweatshirt and gym shorts when he first came on the scene, however. They could have just had him wear nondescript tights and boots. And if they were going to give him a gimmick haircut when his character changed, they should have had him start out with a normal one. ...
The Sarita-Alissa Flash match was good. Flash is quickly becoming my favorite female wrestler. Having her not show a lot of skin and teasing the crowd that they're going to see some is a good way to get heat. She needs to do something like that because I think the fans at the Impact Zone want to cheer her. ...
The Hamada-Taylor Wilde match was hard-hitting and entertaining. Hamada also is becoming one of my favorites. The one problem I had with the match was that it was so rushed that the women didn't have enough time to sufficiently sell all the high-impact moves. ...
I usually find ODB very entertaining, but the "Trash Talking" interview segment she did with Homicide was really bad. That would have never made it on the air if I was in charge. Beyond the fact that it just wasn't funny, it didn't make any sense for Homicide (a heel) and ODB (a babyface) to be so friendly with each other. They should have been trading insults. How can you mess up something that basic? ...
A backstage segment with The Beautiful People and Lauren immediately followed the ODB-Homicide disaster and it was almost as bad. Madison Rayne and Lacey Von Erich put on a cringe-worthy performance. ....
I was surprised that Tomko was shown on camera. I figured we wouldn't see him until it was revealed that he was the mystery man who was attacking Styles. Perhaps he won't end up being the attacker. Or perhaps the whole thing has already been forgotten. ...
Having a microphone on Don West and listening to him yell instructions to Amazing Red during Red's match against Scott Steiner was annoying. I also thought it was totally backward how West, Tenay and Taz kept saying that it was unfair that Red had to face Steiner and he was going to end up getting hurt. How weak does that make Red look? Again, how can you mess up something so basic?
Is Big Rob Terry actually going to turn babyface? Why?