Christopher Daniels vs. Senshi: This was a solid match, with an interesting storyline, that suffered from a commercial break. This would have been better if it had been uninterrupted. The briefcase situation was terrible (more later), but the storyline was Elix Skipper’s attempt to keep XXX together. It is unfortunate that TNA has done such a poor job with the group, so the fans were not into the story of the match at all. But, this Hit is largely for the wrestlers involved who put a lot of effort into it (even Senshi who could have phoned it in, knowing that he was on his way out). Skipper played the part of the torn referee well, and his reluctant three count was good considering that Daniels used him to get the advantage over Senshi.
“Maple Leaf Muscle”: This is a marginal Hit as I’m not thrilled with giving a smaller guy a body builder gimmick. But, Petey Williams is a talented wrestler who has been held back by the lack of a character. This Hit is for TNA finally gave him a character, and for the hope that this leads somewhere, although a different character probably would have been better.
Ladder Match: While not a classic ladder match, Team 3D & Johnny Devine vs. Jay Lethal & The Motor City Machine Guns, was a fun match, and it was better than the Impact ladder matches of recent memory. It had good action and some nice ladder spots. It suffered from a lack of a compelling object hanging over the ring (and is it just me, or did they hang the belt way too low?). But, it was a fun match to watch despite the booking issues.
Main Event: Impact had some pretty good in ring action, culminating in a good Main Event. As often happens in matches with so many people, any semblance of story telling or ring psychology goes out the window in favor of fast paced action. That was the case here, but that action was good. I loved Kevin Nash teasing a dive to the outside. The back and forth exchange between Tomko and Samoa Joe was very strong. The X-Division guys, AJ Styles, Kaz, Eric Young, and even Joe got to showcase their high flying abilities. There were too many guys in the match for any one to stand out. But, it was still a good Main Event.
IMPACT MISSES
Briefcase Situation: This briefcase situation gave me a headache all night long, and in the end left me wanting to throw up. Jim Cornette should be ashamed of himself for putting Matt Morgan in charge of the cases to begin with. XXX fighting over possession of the case, when they don’t know the contents is silly. It has already been established that Morgan does not have the power to book matches, but he still did. And, why did Senshi agree to the match? Apparently the Voodoo Kin Mafia are about to break up for some reason and are also arguing about the case. Maybe Cornette should actually run Impact while it is being filmed, and schedule meetings for other times. Then, after being promised several times that we would find out the contents of the cases, we were told towards the end that we would find out next week. We thought they would be revealed at the PPV, but TNA pulled a bait and switch and told us that they would be revealed on Impact this week. Here is another bait and switch. Why should we care? Should we really expect the reveal next week? I know I don’t expect it to happen, and I don’t care if it does. This is one of the worst wrestling storylines in recent memory.
Rellik & Reign vs. LAX (and aftermath): Rellik continues to get the shaft as I believe he has never won a match in TNA. Even though he never wins, he is apparently immortal (in the words of Don West) as he and Black Reign were perfectly fine after the Match of 10,000 tacks at the PPV. The match itself was very sloppy. I don’t care anything about Lance Hoyt, Jimmy Rave and Christie Hemme. The fact that everyone still thinks that the new member of the Latino Nation is a man despite the fact that we can see she has breasts is insulting to my intelligence.
Kim vs. ODB: The only good thing about this match was that it left Gail Kim in the ring to be attacked by Awesome Kong, as TNA continued to do a good job of building that rivalry. But, the match itself was bad. Kim is a great wrestler, but ODB has shown nothing in terms of in ring skill. The match was very sloppy. Kim had nothing to work with. And, since a heel was going to win the match, as per TNA Rule #1, there had to be cheating involved.
Idea of the Ladder Match: While the match was fun with nice action, the idea behind the match was ridiculous. First of all, if Lethal wanted his belt back when he confronted Team 3D in Jim Cornette’s office, then why didn’t he punch Brother Ray in the mouth, kick him in the groin, and take his belt back? Brother Ray is right, where are his balls? And Cornette is not much of an authority figure when he tells the wrestlers to work it out for themselves. The match was confusing as it was for possession of the belt, but not for the title. The real problem is that Team 3D stole the belt once, so what is to keep them from stealing it again? The official winner of the match is not important. What is important is who ends up with the belt at the end of the night. So, the match itself was pointless as was the screw job finish (see TNA Rule #1 above).
Angle Alliance, Christian, Joe, Etc.: The segment with the Angle Alliance, Robert Roode, Christian Cage, and Samoa Joe & friends was very bad. TNA doesn’t seem to understand that everyone in the ring were heels. Christian cut a babyface promo on Angle, then heel promos on Tomko and Styles. Are we supposed to cheer for him when he bad mouths Angle, but boo him when he bad mouths the others? Styles did a great job playing his part, in his dejected look after the verbal berating, his hug of Christian, and his attempt to keep Roode and Angle from hurting Christian in the end. But, who didn’t see Angle turing on Christian coming? This was a long talking segment, with nobody to cheer for. In general, heel vs. heel is not interesting. It was supposed to be a shocking moment that Angle would let Christian be the leader, but everyone knew that he was pretending, so it wasn’t a bid deal. And as I said, everyone knew a turn was coming. I wish I could say that I was surprised that TNA had the group break up so soon after forming (on the same show), but I am not surprised TNA would do something so stupid at all, which is sad. In fact, I knew it would happen. And, I have to mention how idiotic it is for TNA to bring up a WWE feud between Angle and Booker T from a few years ago. Most fans won’t know what they were talking about. Form your own identity, and stop bringing up the past!
Jon Mezzera is PWTorch.com's Hitlist Specialist, providing his point of view in the Torch's hitlist format for Raw, Smackdown, ECW, and TNA Impact each week. Email him at jmezz-torch@sbcglobal.net.
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