5 best things happening at Impact Wrestling right now

As a longtime TNA fan, it hurts to see the current predicament the promotion finds itself in. TNA/GFW/Impact Wrestling has fallen upon hard times as of late and is far from the company that was once viewed as legitimate competition to the WWE.

Although the company’s downward trend over the past five years can be attributed to poor fiscal policies on part of management, it may also have to do with the plethora of talent bidding adieu to the Impact Zone over the company’s alleged draconian stronghold over its performers, whilst simultaneously failing to adequately compensate the talent on a timely basis.

Regardless of all the talk about Impact Wrestling shutting down -- regardless of the long-running rumours of management cashing out, the troubled promotion seems to bite down on its mouthpiece and grind through, sneering in the face of adversity. Say what you want about the organisation, its performers always leave it all inside the ring, and somehow manage to keep the TNA community’s hopes alive -- we’re not done yet, Holmes! (*Read in Konnan’s voice*)

The Impact Zone is now playing host to a few new faces, as well as welcoming a couple of popular vets. Down, but not out, here are a few notable developments, in no particular order of importance, who -- slowly but surely -- promise to bring Impact Wrestling back to its TNA glory days.

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#5 WWE imports

Johnny Impact now competes in Impact Wrestling

The string of former WWE stalwarts making an impact in the Impact Zone (pun intended), is nothing new for the promotion, with several WWE legends such as Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Kurt Angle and Kevin Nash gracing the six-sided ring over the course of their careers.

Nevertheless, the aforementioned stars, except Angle, joined the Impact ranks at the tail end of their respective careers and have long ago departed as well. What’s interesting about the new wave of former WWE Superstars signing with Impact is that performers such as Matt Sydal (WWE’s Evan Bourne) and Johnny Impact (John Morrison) can still go, and perform at the highest levels of the sport.

Additionally, WWE veterans such as the aforementioned duo serve to draw the attention of the causal professional wrestling fan, which is one of the key reasons behind Impact Wrestling being more than happy to hire talent who’re fresh off the WWE boat.

Besides, Matt and Johnny were one of the hottest agents on the free market, and sources confirm that Anthem has managed to talk them into putting pen to paper at a throwaway price, which only goes to benefit the promotion for as long as their contracts run. Speaking of which…

#4 The Knockouts

Rosemary is famed for her wrestling prowess

Ever since the WWE went PG after a transition phase in 2007, TNA took over and projected its female competitors aka Knockouts, in a more suggestive manner as compared to PG WWE’s toned down female performers.

Although the Knockouts division had been panned by many for comprising nothing more than pretty faces, and getting by simply on the looks of its top stars namely Velvet Sky and Angelina Love, the roster also comprised the likes of legendary wrestler Gail Kim.

With the recent promotional departure and retirement of the aforementioned Sky and Love, Impact Wrestling seems to be drifting towards hiring wrestling-based female talent rather than hunting down pretty faces and signing them up purely for their appearance and attractiveness.

Impact Wrestling now boasts the likes of highly-technical female competitors such as Sienna, Taya Valkyrie, Rosemary, Gail Kim, Allie, to name a few. At a time when Women’s Pro-Wrestling is soaring in terms of popularity, the promotion is making a lot of noise with its Knockouts. That brings me to…

#3 The Jinder Mahal/Mahabali Shera contrast

Mahabali Shera (Left) is booked well by Impact as opposed to WWE going crazy by pushing Jinder Mahal (Right) to the moon

Arguably the most highly-criticised storyline in all of professional wrestling for 2017 will be WWE’s shocking decision to book Jinder Mahal for a considerably lengthy reign with the company’s most prestigious title -- the WWE Championship.

Although the WWE hoped to break into the Indian market with said booking, the promotion’s standing in India remains the same as it was before the reign of "The Modern Day Maharajah". In other words, WWE failed to attain its planned financial growth objectives in the Indian market, with Mahal as champion.

On the other hand, a couple of Indian stars as regulars in the Impact Zone -- Mahabali Shera a young, blue-blooded prospect who legitimately hails from India, and Sonjay Dutt, who’s as Indian as Mahal… or rather should I say Indo-Canadian.

Regardless, Impact Wrestling did in fact tour India, putting the X Division Championship on Dutt. However, the promotion to date respects its fans and refrains from putting its most prestigious belt -- the GFW Global Championship -- on a relatively unpopular foreigner rather than its more ‘over’ stars.

In simple words, as of today, Impact management is impressively slick in its booking of foreign talent, instead of going overboard and causing all-out mayhem among the fans. Speaking of good booking…

#2 Taryn Terrell and booking a star like a STAR!

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you must’ve heard that the founder of the Dollhouse, Taryn Terrell, is back in the Impact Zone. She’s as fit as ever and from what we’ve seen over the past few weeks, hasn’t lost a step -- graceful in the ring and vicious on the mic.

Apart from Velvet Sky, Brooke Tessmacher and Taryn Terrell, seldom has a TNA Knockout broken into the mainstream as a bona fide star. The aforementioned trio has had considerable success in the modelling industry as well, and Impact Wrestling, to its credit, has expertly utilised their fame to forward the company’s agenda.

Regardless, now with Sky and Tessmacher out of the picture, Taryn’s return to Impact Wrestling has come as a much-needed adrenaline shot to the Knockouts division -- not because it lacks good wrestlers, but since it lacks a mainstream star to keep the casual fan from tuning out.

On that note, my hat is off to Impact’s bookerman (sic) for holding his horses and not rushing Terrell back into the game, but instead carefully building her up and booking her as the evil heel -- a role she’s expertly brought to life in the past.

Just in case you missed it, here’s the catchy new entrance music for the original Dollhouse Queen --

#1 The Dummy Era

For long, Eli Drake has been one of the most underappreciated talents in the pro-wrestling business. However, the dummy-whooping mic-savant has now ascended to the top of the Impact Wrestling food chain, courtesy a slew of unforeseen circumstances that befell the company over the past few months.

Impact Wrestling has looked to push every big-name pro-wrestling star they got their hands on -- be it Cody Rhodes, Alberto El Patron or longtime TNA loyalist Bobby Lashley. However, with Cody leaving for greener pastures, El Patron’s issues outside the ring, and Lashley’s intentions of devoting all of his time to his MMA career, Impact Wrestling put its biggest title, the GFW Global Championship, on Eli Drake.

The answer to their problems lay right in front of them the entire time, but, well, as the old saying goes -- better late than never.

Impact Wrestling would be better served to go forward with their rebuilding phase, represented by an excellent worker and consummate professional. They don’t make ‘em much better than E L I Drake!

Drake may very well be the new face of Impact -- with Lashley out for good -- and more so because I truly believe Drake is a much more complete entertainer than Bobby, El Patron or Cody, given that the destroyer of Dummies is not only a highly technical mat wrestler, but also one of the best trash talkers in the sport today.

For all you TNA loyalists out there, what do you feel is the best thing going on in the Impact Zone today? Sound off in the comments!