Mr. Anderson Is An A-Hole, We Get It!

Mr. Anderson (I still like thinking of him as Kennedy), delivered another good promo again tonight. He was once again pushing the idea that he is an a-hole, the fans are a-holes, and we should all be proud of that. This is a face? It's working. His helper tonight in pushing the idea was Christy Hemme. He was pretty much getting an eyeful of the sexy Ms. Hemme. Can you blame him? Christy did well in playing against him too.

I do have some criticisms. The first may not actually be an issue, but I have seen it happen a lot in the WWE. In the WWE, you would have a heel oozing great charisma, bringing it in the ring, and doing all else to become popular with the fans, whether that was the intention or not. The WWE does turn them face. Then, instead of letting the heel continue to do what made him so over, they turn them kind of lame, at least to many fans who originally liked them. Some people eat up a lame face. Another way of looking at it, why beat a point to death? Anderson is way over. The fans know what he is about. Instead of reminding them with segments like staring at Christy Hemme, have him show it in a more productive, but still entertaining, way. This is Kennedy, I know he can do it. That brings me to my other criticism. I think they really need to start pushing him against a single heel in a real feud. I am starting to think that they may not be building this turn as a swerve. If they were, they might have focused more on Kennedy and his direct target(s). Then again, an a-hole's direct target may be anyone he can sucker. I am just reading it as TNA really trying to make sure the fans view Anderson as a face, independent of his issues with Hardy or whoever. If I am wrong, TNA did a better job in developing this thing to sell him as a face before the swerve than I would have guessed. If I am not, I would like seeing him feud with someone big. A big heel. Having him be a part of the whole army against Flair's heels is only so much. If they have him turn on Jeff in the midst of all this, fine. But if not, I hope he gets a solid feud against a top heel soon. I think they already got the point across that some wrestlers are buying it in this storyline.

Mr. Anderson Has The Mic

The angle between Jeff Hardy and Mr. Anderson is pretty good. Mr. Anderson, Kennedy to the WWE Universe, delivered pretty well with his promos on Impact this week. Whoever said this guy lacked charisma and mic skills? But I really did like it especially this week. Jeff Hardy did his thing too.

The angle revolves around Kennedy trying to turn face. A lot of examples of this in pro wrestling history. In recent memory, and since I used to write about divas, the WWE had Maryse play respectable and good for a few weeks with Gail Kim. Maryse ended up only faking the turn to have fun at Gail's expense. TNA is not throwing things clearly into one direction to make you think that Anderson is either face for no hidden reason or heel in sheep's clothing. That added element of uncertainty is not the only reason I like this story more than what the WWE pulled a few months ago. As I said before, Kennedy is delivering with his character. Maryse did not do that. I do not care if Maryse wants to play evil in French. Anderson does not need to bust out a different language every five minutes to keep me interested. I do not care about any homosexual tension between him and Jeff. I say that because I recall some fans seeing lesbian tension between Gail and Maryse. Wow! I do not need that. Lastly, I am liking this angle more because I do not think it will get a lackluster finish or development like the WWE diva angle got. Gail reveals she speaks and understands French. Then? Done. Stupid. Maryse gets the title. This TNA angle can possibly be what I wanted to see from the WWE diva angle.

I am not going to try to predict what TNA has planned for Kennedy. Is this all part of a cunning heel plan? Will he try to be face, but then some issue with another face forces him to snap and go heel again? Will Jeff turn heel? I have my doubts on that last one. I am just going to sit back and enjoy it. This is something I actually can enjoy.