Anderson Joins Immortal (Another Predictable Russo Swerve)

by Brian Phelps

Impact last night was surprisingly good. There were great matches along the way with moves I've never even seen as Impact showcased the X-Division. If you haven't heard of Jack Evans, find him on youtube. That guy was doing moves I haven't seen anyone do, including Sin Cara. The Fatal 4-Way between RVD, AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels, and Jerry Lynn was awesome. I really felt like RVD and Jerry Lynn were telling a story as they wrestled. Sting was great again as The Joker, but there was just one problem with an otherwise great Impact.

The main event ending was soooo predictable. It was an infamous "Russo Swerve", or at least he thinks he swerved the crowd. Before the main event, Sting and Angle tell Anderson that he better make the right decision (referring to Immortal inviting Anderson to join them as Sting and Angle had to fight Immortal later that night). Shortly afterward, Hogan attacks Sting just before the match backstage... forcing Angle to take on Immortal by himself. So, from that moment it was obvious that Mr. Anderson was going to join Immortal and screw over Angle. Lo and Behold, Anderson comes out during the handicap match and appeared to be fighting off Immortal... when all of a sudden he turns on Angle and gives him his patented 'mic check' finisher and Immortal gets the win. This is a typical Vince Russo written "Swerve" designed to trick the crowd for shock value, but he's done this so many times that you can smell it a mile away as I did. There were so many things about this that didn't make any sense. For instance, why did the referee allow Anderson to just run in and just join the tag match? The moment Anderson attacked Immortal at first, Kurt Angle would've been Disqualified lol. Oh well. Anderson screws Angle after claiming he wouldn't join Immortal, and then next thing you know he's hugging Immortal. This isn't the first Russo "Swerve". He's been doing it for years. I can name a few times recently that he's done it.

1) At Bound For Glory 2010, Jeff Hardy acts like he's going to hit Bischoff with Hogan's crutch... but then turns around and at the last second turns on Angle and Anderson and beats them down with Hogan's crutches... (Immortal is formed on this night)

2) Fortune began feuding with Immortal. Ric Flair comes out with AJ Styles for his match with Immortal's Matt Hardy, and during AJ's match out of nowhere Ric Flair throws AJ off the top turn buckle and hugs Matt Hardy. (Flair joins Immortal)

3) Let's not forget the most famous "Finger Poke of Doom" from WCW, where Nash came out as Champion to face Hollywood Hogan.. and instead of the bitter battle of nWo leaders... Hogan poked Nash, Nash fell on the mat on purpose, and Hogan pinned him. Nash hugs Hogan, and the two nWo's merge.

Russo enough of the stupid "swerves". You've done it so many times, you can smell it a mile away before you do it. It's ridiculous, and beyond predictable. Here's an idea. How about a clean finish?

What is Vince Russo doing? (Impact Review)

Impact started off great with an interesting confrontation between Sting and Mr. Anderson. Both Sting and Anderson are two guys that know how to tell a story, have great mic skills, and wrestling skills as well. So, when they got face-to-face it got me psyched. Not only that, but it's a match-up that has never been seen before. So, the crowd is buzzing until... you guessed it. Hogan HAD to come out to steal their thunder. He had to come out and put all the attention on himself. Hogan babbled on about crap we don't care about with Bischoff at his side. Anderson claims he was screwed out of his match with RVD. RVD then comes out to respond by telling Anderson he'll face him again. Then, all of a sudden of course Bully Ray, Matt Hardy, and Abyss come out and beat on RVD, Sting, and Anderson for no apparent reason. So, Hogan decides to make a 6-man tag team steel cage match. Ok, last time I checked a steel cage match was meant to settle a feud between either two guys or two tag teams. I didn't know it was to put 3 guys in who aren't feuding with anyone (Hardy, Abyss, Ray). Wouldn't it have made more sense to pit RVD against Anderson in the cage to decide the #1 contender? Well, it gets better because toward the end of the match all hell breaks loose. We get to see Ric Flair, Hulk Hogan, Robert Roode, James Storm, Kaz, and a returning Christopher Daniels interfere. Only Vince Russo could book this kind of moronic crap. Only Vince Russo would sit there and say "Ok, let's have a 6 man tag match inside a steel cage, and then have 6 other guys run in during it so that we'll have 12 bodies lying around in a match that was designed to keep everyone else out." It's so stupid, and it's not the wrestlers fault. You can tell that the wrestlers are giving it their all. It's just bad booking by Vince Russo. A typical Russo match. When will he learn that not every match has to be a triple threat match, or have 20 guys interfere at the end? It's ok to have two wrestlers duke it out, and have a fair and square ending with no interference. It's this kind of silly booking that is going to continue to hold back TNA from competing with WWE.

What does Sting as champion really do for TNA in 2011?

Last week on TNA iMPACT, Sting returned after a 4 month hiatus to win the TNA World Title from Jeff Hardy. It was a nice surprise, but I have to ask the burning question. What does Sting as champion really do for TNA at this point? What does it say about guys like RVD, Mr. Anderson, and Matt Morgan... 3 younger stars that have been trying to wrestle the title away from Hardy for 6 months when Sting waltzes in and wins the title on his first attempt... especially after not even being on TV in 4 months? This is what frustrates me about TNA. They spend almost a year building RVD slow road to revenge... and then turn around and put the title on Sting with NO BUILD at all. They spend months building Anderson and the concussion angle with Hardy, and instead of a rematch or anything... they put the belt on Sting with zero build. It also made no sense as far as Stings return because he said he wasn't going to deal with Immortal... and now all of a sudden he's ready to take them out? It was another swerve by Vince Russo, who can't just have a natural storyline build. He has to swerve us all the time, but the problem is that he just leaves tons of storylines unresolved. This is why TNA seems low brow sometimes in comparison. It's elementary things that TNA gets so wrong all the time.