Vince Russo has been increasingly active in getting more pop culture on to the TNA shows and the past few Impact episodes seem to have pulled it off. References to shows like CSI. The Dudley’s cutting a promo on Internet marks and their love of the X-Division. And various comedy skits seemed to have gelled effectively.
There are two trains of thought in TNA, one is trying to make it cutting edge and new era whilst the other is trying to imitate WWE and trying to live off attitude era nostalgia. It seems the new era is starting to win out.