Impact Wrestling Review: AJ Styles Stripped Of Title, New Tournament Commenced

By Chris Featherstone

This episode of Impact Wrestling was the second installment held in Salt Lake City, UT. Due to AJ Styles leaving TNA with its World Heavyweight Championship, Dixie Carter had some interesting news concerning the future of the company?an eight-man tournament was going to crown a new champion.

Ethan Carter III vs. Norv Fernum was just another match to create the character of EC3. Although I do like the explanation of why he is fighting jobbers (them being hand picked by Dixie), the jury is still out on him. EC3 will really show how much TNA can build a character from the ground up nowadays, as opposed to how they did the first few years of the company. It will be interesting to see if they still have the creative ability to make him a legitimate star in the coming months.


Magnus winning the gauntlet battle royal made sense, and adding Sting simply furthered the tension between the two. Again, Magnus turning heel is not a good idea right now. He needs to be more developed as a babyface, both in character and in charisma; because honestly, he does not have much of either. This is also why the television title should come back, for people like Magnus to have and gain momentum for the main event.

Magnus has a ton of potential to be a top guy, but needs to properly be built without hasteful decision making by the creative team. A Magnus/EC3 feud would work right now, with Magnus being offered to join "Team Dixie" but refusing.


Gail Kim vs. ODB was a decent match, but nothing special. The bottom line is, there has to be more depth in the division for it to be relevant again. ODB is a good idea to make a top babyface of the Knockouts, but when you're only working with Gail Kim, Lei'D Tapa, and occasionally Brooke and Velvet Sky, those are not ingredients for a successful division. Maybe ODB going against the odds and defeating Lei'D Tapa to get another shot at the title would help.

Bro Mans vs. Storm/Gunner was actually better than I expected. Although the Bro Mans still should not be the representation of the tag team division, at least them being heels can cause more intrigue in a babyface team chasing the titles. It does not look like Storm and Gunner will be the team to vie for the titles anymore since Storm is in the tournament, but it should be interesting whom that team will be.


Kurt Angle vs. Bobby Roode was an excellent match. I truly believe TNA would benefit if these two were fighting over the world title, because both wrestler's mic and in-ring work demands attention. As far as the injury angle, it can be a bit more creative than Angle losing due to convulsions, but I have little doubt that there will be an atoning payoff in the end. Until then, more abrupt finishes, I suppose.


Was the referee stoppage in the Angle/Roode match a work? Sound off below, but make sure to pay close attention to the 3:28 mark in the video above.

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