Rob Van Dam wasn't the whole show on Monday's exciting episode of TNA Impact, but he definitely was the star of it.
First, RVD defeated Jeff Hardy in a match to determine which of them would get a TNA world title shot later that night against A.J. Styles, and then RVD defeated Styles to win the championship.
Both of the matches were good and RVD scored clean wins in each. TNA has really put him over strong the past two nights, as he also won two matches at Sunday's Lockdown pay-per-view. On that card, RVD was a member of the victorious Team Hogan in the Lethal Lockdown main event and he also defeated James Storm.
After Styles retained his title against "The Pope" D'Angelo Dinero at Lockdown, I wrote that I agreed with that decision because there was no need to take the belt off of him yet. However, I do like the way things played out Monday night. The result definitely surprised me (in a good way).
On a night in which the cast of MacGruber was featured prominently on Raw and stars such as John Cena, Batista and Randy Orton were stranded in Ireland, TNA used the RVD matches to give channel-flipping viewers compelling reasons to stick with Impact.
TNA wisely started the RVD-Hardy match toward the end of the first hour and had it carry over into the second to ho head to head with the opening of Raw. It will be interesting to see how the competing segments did in the ratings and what percentage (if any) tuned out of Raw to watch the RVD-Styles match. At the very least, I expect Thursday's replay of Impact do a higher-than-usual number.
With the title change, TNA also planted the idea in viewers' heads that anything can happen on a given episode, even two top babyfaces wrestling each other and a world title change on the same night.
Other thoughts on Monday's show:
I was expecting Hardy – who is a bigger star than RVD – to win the No. 1 contender's match and challenge Styles, but in retrospect, RVD was the wise choice. It's for the best to keep the belt off Hardy until his legal issues are resolved. …
The confetti celebration in the ring after RVD's win was cool, but how did TNA know to have the confetti there, especially since the title match was booked on the fly at the beginning of the show? And why was the confetti red and yellow? …
RVD and Hardy were so chummy after their match that I was starting to think that Hardy was going to turn on him in the title match. It's good to see that even Vince Russo knows better than to do that. …
If TNA would have held off RVD's title win until tonight's Impact taping, his reign would have begun on 4/20. …
The Lethal Lockdown rematch – which saw Abyss, Jeff Jarrett, Samoa Joe and Rob Terry defeat Sting, Desmond Wolfe and Beer Money – was good. Joe scored the winning pin and was put over strong in his unannounced return (yes, he's getting another restart). However, when Eric Bischoff teased a big surprise as the fourth member of the babyface team, I think it was a bit of a letdown that it turned out to be Joe and not a debuting star. …
Styles got a lot of heel heat from the crowd and he cut a decent promo, but I still believe he would be more effective without doing the "Little Naitch" gimmick. …
It's so strange seeing Bischoff and Jarrett suddenly on the same side with no explanation. When Abyss said, "I trust Eric Bischoff," Jarrett was standing right next to him and didn't bat an eye. …
It was announced that Ric Flair will wrestle Abyss next week with both Hall of Fame rings on the line. Good Lord. …
Taz said, "Abyss is not a Hall of Famer, but maybe he will be one day." I seriously doubt Vince McMahon will ever induct Abyss. ...
Terry looked bad making the save after Sting, Wolfe and Beer Money jumped Abyss and Jarrett. He had a lot of difficulty getting Wolfe up for a press slam, and then he lost his balance and fell over when delivering a big boot to Sting. …
It looks as if Daffney is a babyface now, although in TNA you can never really be sure. …
I was glad that Shannon Moore turned down Matt Morgan's offer to be his partner after seeing what Morgan did to Red last week.