The word of the week for this edition is “Wrestling”. Or, more specifically, “Impact Wrestling”. Impact Wrestling is the name change enacted by TNA Wrestling lately, though it’s hard to tell if it’s a company-wide name change or if it’s limited to the weekly television show on SpikeTV. Either way, it comes with a brand new slogan as well. In Impact Wrestling, “Wrestling Matters”. Slowly but surely, that’s becoming much more evident.

Sure, there are a lot of things that somebody can rant on Impact Wrestling about: the (generally) terrible storylines; the overpopulation of legends/guys past their prime; the awful Impact Zone arena in Orlando; or even the fact that two of the most prominent people in the company helped contribute to the downfall of WCW – Eric Bischoff and Hulk Hogan.

But that’s not what this is about. Plenty of times, Impact/TNA has claimed that things would change in the company. It’s happened pretty much any time a new authority figure has come onto the scene – Vince Russo, Mick Foley, Hulk Hogan, Mick Foley again, Hulk Hogan again. This time, it sort of seems like they may be sticking to their guns when claiming that wrestling will indeed matter in this company.

Granted, a large part of this new slogan is likely a shot at WWE, who recently stepped away from the use of the term “wrestling”. In fact, the company is simple referred to as WWE now – not World Wrestling Entertainment. It’s Vince McMahon’s plan to further distance himself from the carny business of wrestling that he built his fortune upon. Unfortunately for Vince, people aren’t so easily fooled – WWE is a wrestling company and will always be a wrestling company.

At Impact Wrestling, though, it honestly feels like they are starting to build some new stars and to place a huge focus on the in-ring action. For instance, this past week’s episode of Impact Wrestling featured only two relatively brief in-ring segments. This coming from a show whose typical format was to feature talking for the first 40 minutes of the show before diving into a 4 minute wrestling match. Not only were the in-rings relatively short and to the point, but the counterpart to them was even more impressive.

Currently, Impact Wrestling is building to Destination X – a pay-per-view event focused entirely on its X Division, a segment of wrestlers who can be counted on to provide fast, exciting, high-flying action. Because of this, we’re seeing some new, young wrestlers popping up on the show in the hopes of earning a spot on the PPV. Additionally, athletes from around the world like Austin Aries and Jerry Lynn are making their presences known on the show.

In an era where announcers are involved in main-event level feuds on Monday nights, Impact Wrestling seems to be bringing professional wrestling back to Thursdays. They aren’t doing everything right, but who is ever doing everything right? They’re at least stepping away from the awful TNA name and presenting a different product than what you’ll typically find on Mondays and Fridays. In Impact Wrestling, you can believe that a young or new wrestler who connects with the crowd could become the next face of the company. As evidenced by Zack Ryder, the same can not be said for WWE.

TNA/Impact Wrestling has been given about a hundred second chances by wrestling fans, but this may be the one that finally sticks. If they continue to build new names through actual professional wrestling, they may start to see their ratings grow due to the fact that they’re embracing the one thing about this sport that the fans truly do love – professional wrestling.