PWTORCH.COM
VIP SIGN-UP JUMP TO VIP
CONTACT US VISIT MMA TORCH




Select Next Article by Category



WE ARE A PROUD UGO AFFILIATE SINCE 1999



prowrestling.NET

WANT MORE NEWS? JASON POWELL, A TEN YEAR VETERAN INSIDER FULL-TIME PROFESSIONAL REPORTER, BREAKS NEWS AND OFFERS INSIDER INSIGHT EVERY DAY

MMATORCH.com

CLICK FOR DAILY UFC NEWS, UFC PPV LIVE COVERAGE, DAILY PODCASTS, BLOGS




The Specialists
2/21 TNA Impact Hits & Misses: Karen & AJ, Lethal, Main Event, End of the Show
Feb 22, 2008 - 4:34:24 PM


Email This Article- Contact Us - VIP Sign-Up - Back to Home Page

| subscribe to this feed

By Jon Mezzera, Torch Specialist

IMPACT HITS

Karen and AJ: As ridiculous as the Karen Angle and AJ Styles “marriage” idea is, it did provide some fun moments. I was happy TNA didn’t try to pass it off as a real marriage. Karen was able to trick Styles into thinking that it was, but he has been less than intelligent, so that makes sense. I particularly enjoyed the scene in the restaurant. Styles was great going from buffoon trying to be romantic, to being romantic with the snow globe story, to being a buffoon again ordering grub at the end of the scene. He did a good job, as did Karen. Jeremy Borash’s off screen comments were good too, especially during the scene in the alligator park. While I am tired of the on again, off again marital problems of the Angles, this week was pretty fun.

Brother Ray: Let me start out by saying that it was unbelievable that Brother Devon made weight last week. It is even more unbelievable that Brother Ray made weight this week. However, Ray entertained me after the weigh in. I laughed out loud when he called Devon a fat bastard. I probably shouldn’t, but I did. His attempt to apologize was amusing too. I really liked how he held onto the mic during the opening minute of the match. I would have enjoyed seeing him continue to talk into the mic longer. His horrible dance was very funny. This angle would be better if a more believable weight had been chosen.

Christian Cage’s Promo: Christian Cage cut a good promo about his six man tag match with Samoa Joe & Kevin Nash vs. The Angle Alliance. He addressed what happened to him last week, that it was Styles who hit him with a chair. He was good in discussing his past with Styles & Tomko and moving on to the future. I like the idea that he and his partners aren’t trying to be friends, or pretend that they like each other. He did a good job of expressing the notion that they are coming together just for one purpose, to destroy the Angle Alliance. It was straight forward and well delivered.

Main Event: Booker T vs. Kurt Angle was a good match. Unfortunately, TNA felt the need to interrupt a 16 minute match with two commercials so we ended up only seeing 9 of those minutes. But, what we saw was good which isn’t surprising as they had some very good matches in WWE. There was no reason why this match happened. It suffered from the fact that there was nothing on the line, and there was no issue between the two wrestlers. Why were they having a match? It suffered from the predictable interference from Robert Roode. I would have liked to have seen the match with only one commercial, but that is a testament to Booker T and Angle. They did a good job putting on a match to entertain the fans. Therefore, I am giving the match a marginal Hit, based on their effort despite some of my problems with it.

IMPACT MISSES

Kip James’ Turn: I can’t imagine caring any less about two long time wrestling stars. The New Age Outlaws were a huge deal in wrestling once upon a time. No longer. The turn was very predictable and nobody really cares. Kip James’ promo after he turned on BG James was headache inducing. It was just another screaming promo. TNA does too many turns. This was just foreshadowing ODB and Gail Kim turning on each other, on the same show that Sanjay Dutt would be given his reason to eventually turn on Jay Lethal. It is just too many turns, and none of them mean anything when done so often.

Lethal Lovefest: I could have done without the tribute to Jay Lethal. He wasn’t on last week, so his victory at the PPV couldn’t have been that important. Jim Cornette mentioned Lethal’s many accomplishments over the last two years, but only listed three things. That was less than impressive. Lethal was fine in his promo, but if he is not going to do the Randy Savage imitation, why is he still called “Black Machismo” and still coming out to the same music? I would love to see him cut a promo officially dropping the Savage gimmick and saying that he is finally going to talk as himself. Instead, we get these half and half moments which are bad.

#1 Contender Situation: Petey Williams won the #1 X-Division ranking in the X-Division gauntlet match in early January. ODB won the Knockout gauntlet and thus earned not only the #1 ranking, but also a title shot against Awesome Kong. So, if ODB got a title shot by being ranked #1 in the Knockout Division, then why didn’t Williams get a title shot by being ranked #1 in the X-Division? So, Williams shouldn’t have had to earn a title shot on Impact. Of course, Scott Steiner should be the #1 contender seeing as how he has the Feast or Fired briefcase. He should also be getting a title shot against Kurt Angle for the same reason. Instead, Angle doesn’t seem to have to defend the title for two months until Lockdown, when he faces Samoa Joe, who hasn’t earned anything. What about Steiner’s shot? What is going on?

I Don’t Have a Pulse: According to Don West, I am dead. He said that if you don’t find Curry Man and Shark Boy entertaining, then you don’t have a pulse. Well guess what? I don’t have a pulse. I would say that Shark Boy should come up with something original for a gimmick instead of just doing an imitation of one of the biggest stars in wrestling history, but I wasn’t thrilled with his old gimmick either. Besides, if he tries to come up with something original, he might come up with something as stupid as Curry Man which would be just as bad.

Pull Apart Brawl: Does every Knockout feud have to start with a pull apart brawl? We saw it multiple times with Gail Kim and Awesome Kong. Then we saw it with Kong and ODB. Now we see it with ODB and Kim. Do something different! I hate to sound sexist (or redundant since I believe I said the same thing about a Kong-Kim brawl), but I find it very hard to believe that multiple security guards wouldn’t be able to hold Kim back. I just want to see a Knockout feud handled in a different way.

End of the Show: After the solid Main Event, Impact had a quick and very bad ending. The multiple run-ins by Robert Roode, Christian Cage, and Samoa Joe, along with the walk-in by Kevin Nash were very anticlimactic. A run-in should get the crowd hyped, but for some reason these did not. Then, the very end of the show was terrible with Nash declaring that he and Angle would be wrestling next week and Don West screaming about the match. Three things. One, how did Nash get the power to make a match? Two, does anyone actually think that match will happen, and if so, does anyone actually want to see it? Three, why is Don West screaming about it? Seriously, it wasn’t that big of a deal, but he screamed like it was the biggest announcement in the history of the Universe.

Jon Mezzera is PWTorch.com's Hits & Misses Specialist, providing his point of view for Raw, Smackdown, ECW, and TNA Impact each week. Email him at jmezz-torch@sbcglobal.net.

For more BREAKING NEWS on WWE, TNA, ROH
visit our affiliate: JASON POWELL'S PROWRESTLING.NET

For UFC AND MMA NEWS & BLOGS
visit our affiliate: MMATORCH.COM - now featuring Jamie Penick's MMATorch Daily Audio Updates!

REACT TO THIS STORY IN OUR FREE PWTORCH FORUM

PWTORCH VIP SIGN-UP INFO - NO ADS, EXCLUSIVE CONTENT

| subscribe to this feed

MORE "The Specialists" ARTICLES
11/18 WWE ECW Hits & Misses: Miz & Morrison, All American Challenge, 6 Man Tag
PARKS: The Mike Adamle Experiment - How much blame for his failure is on his shoulders?
UNDER THE MICROSCOPE - 11/17 Raw: Clearance sale for Released Wrestlers merch, Relationship Building with Punk & Kofi, Batista vs. Ref
MAGIC, MEMORIES AND MANIA: Ten Step Plan for a more refreshing John Cena return
THE ABSURDITY OF IT ALL - ECW TV 11/18: The Offspring of Chris Masters and Alex Wright, The JoMizzy Fan Club, Doing The Vince Dance On Live Television
11/17 WWE Raw Hits & Misses: Superstar Forum, Jericho's Promo, Hardy vs. Regal, Lumberjack Match
THE ABSURDITY OF IT ALL - WWE Raw 11/17: Raw re-uses Scripts, Spoon-feeds Storylines, and Jericho Tries to convince Cena-haters
11/14 WWE Smackdown Hits & Misses: Hardy vs. Benjamin, Fat Jokes, Hardy vs. Undertaker
FAST FORWARD 11/17: Predictions on Survivor Series, Christopher Daniels, and Please No on Jeff Hardy's deranged character
KEY MOMENT OF THE WEEK: Guide to the beginning, middle, and end of the Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho feud
THE ABSURDITY OF IT ALL - 11/14 WWE Smackdown: That's the Fine Art of Delivering Bad Jokes and Burying Opponents, Baby
11/13 TNA Impact Hits & Misses: Young vs. Bashir, Tag Title Match, End of the Show
UNDER THE MICROSCOPE - 11/13 TNA IMPACT: What I noticed that you might have missed
THE ABSURDITY OF IT ALL - TNA Impact 11/13: Young Dorks vs. 007 MEM, Worst Feud of 2008, Awesome Kong to Decapitate Disney Characters
11/11 WWE ECW Hits & Misses: Hardy vs. Finlay
11/10 WWE Raw Hits & Misses: Priceless, Phoenix vs. James, Michaels vs. Jericho
ECW Storylines and Feuds - Analyzing everything, which would be the Hardy-Finlay and Dreamer-Swagger feuds
Raw Storylines and Feuds - The final week for Jericho-Michaels, Kane-Mysterio, and more
ABSURDITY OF IT ALL Midweek Report: ECW, Survivor Series, Randy Orton, And Them Chinlock Blues
Smackdown Storylines and Feuds - Complete rundown of all the rivalries on WWE's blue brand

(c) 1999-2008 TDH Communications Inc. - All rights reserved.

Latest Free Podcasts
PWTorch Free Podcast
11/19 East Coast Audio: ECW - Miz & Morrison continue to shine, A guy debuted, Swagger punished (8 min. clip)
11/17 WWE Raw post-game Show: Caldwell and Parks discuss final hype for Survivor Series, John Cena's lack of presence, beards-a-plenty (7 min. clip)
11/17 VIP East Coast Audio: Smackdown - Matt Hardy vs. Shelton Benjamin, Intense debate on Jeff Hardy's character change (7 min. clip)
11/15 Radican Audio Showcase with Burgan pt. 2: Facebook, Last Call w/ Raven & Sandman review, WWE talent releases (10 min. clip)
11/15 Radican Audio Showcase with Burgan: In-depth thoughts and analysis of ROH's Driven PPV (10 min. clip)
11/14 Real Deal with Pat McNeill Audio: Jason Powell Interview, Funk & Foley Reunite, Survivor Series & More (5 min.clip)



ARE YOU VIP? SIGN UP NOW FOR $7.50 A MONTH FOR INSTANT ACCESS TO AD-FREE, BENEFIT-PACKED VIP VERSION OF PWTORCH.COM (see screen capture)
PWTORCH VIP HOME PAGE

INFO ON SUBSCRIPTION TO AD-FREE VIP SITE

INCREDIBLE BENEFITS!
Over 50 full-length audio updates per month (iPod compatible)... New weekly award-winning Pro Wrestling Torch Newsletter (text and printable pdf versions) with latest exclusive insider news, new Torch Talks, great columns, Keller's cover story, much more... Hundreds of full-length back issues of PWTorch Newsletter from late-'80s to today... Ad-free access to PWTorch.com's Main Listing... VIP Forum with interaction with other subscribers and Torch staff... Torch Talk Library with text and audio of hundreds of interview installments from last 20 years... Great layout... Deepest archives on pro wrestling history anywhere... Keller's PWTorch Today PDF Bulletins with email alerts... VIP Email reports on major PPVs and TV shows... Staff Roundtable Reviews (text and audio) followiing major events... The best staff of writers and world class reporting since 1987... We'd love for you to join us and experience the most entertaining, authoritative, experienced staff of professional reporters and commentators in the business... SIGN ME UP NOW!


PWTORCH READER POLL

Who was the MVP of the Nov. 17 Raw if you saw the show?
Chris Jericho
John Cena
Miz & Morrison
Shawn Michaels and/or Rey Mysterio
Stephanie McMahon
Cody Rhodes and/or Manu
Randy Orton
C.M. Punk
JBL and/or Kane
Santino Marella
William Regal
Matt Hardy
Batista
Cryme Tyme
Kelly Kelly
Victoria
Evan Bourne
Mike Knox
Mark Henry
  

VOTE IN OR SEE RESULTS OF PREVIOUS POLLS

UPCOMING EVENTS LISTING

Articles Grouped by Category
Torch Today
TORCH STORE: Buy Two, Get One Free November Special on Back Issue Sets, Keller DVD
TORCH TODAY: PWTorch invading WWE Universe - join the official PWTorch.com reader group
THE DAILY WORD 11/17: Caldwell looks at Raw tonight, Triple H up for major movie role, NWA tapings in Hollywood, Where's Orlando Jordan?
WWE News
WWE News: WWE stock price takes an absolute beating on Wednesday
WWE News: WWE video game accessible on your Mobile phone; Video preview included
WWE News: WWE trying to re-energize fanbase through social networking to challenge Myspace, Facebook
TNA News
TNA News: Kurt Angle positioning himself as future leader of TNA; why TNA started Main Event Mafia angle
TNA News: Results and News from Monday's event in Nashville with the Tennessee Titans (w/VIDEO)
TNA News: TNA challenging WWE for market share in key region after WWE finishes European tour (w/VIDEO)
ROH News
ROH News: New video wire with promos for Nigel McGuinness vs. Bryan Danielson, Austin Aries vs. Jimmy Jacobs
ROH News: Nigel McGuinness says whether he enjoys being a wrestler; comments on C.M. Punk and Colt Cabana
ROH News: Replay times for Ring of Honor's "Driven" PPV featuring Steen & Generico, Nigel, Briscoes, Danielson, Jerry Lynn
Other News
Other News: Where is he now? "The Model" Rick Martel missing the wrestling travel schedule (w/VIDEO)
Hogan News: Did RVD help boost viewership for Week 5 of Hulk Hogan's CCW? Complete series ratings analysis
Other News: Bret Hart discusses whether his wrestling career is over; describes second book project
PPV Reports
RADICAN'S ROH DRIVEN PPV REPORT: Strong-McGuinness, Steen & Generico vs. Black & Jacobs
KELLER'S TNA TURNING POINT PPV 11/9: Ongoing "virtual time" coverage of Sting vs. Styles, Nash vs. Samoa Joe, Main Event Mafia
CALDWELL'S TNA TURNING POINT PPV REPORT 11/9: Ongoing "virtual time" coverage of live PPV
TV Reports
11/18 ECW on Sci-Fi Report: Mayer's "alt perspective" report including Team Hardy vs. Team Henry, dancing debut, Dreamer vs. Swagger
CALDWELL'S ECW TV REPORT 11/18: Ongoing "virtual time" coverage of WWE's Sci-Fi show featuring Matt Hardy, Finlay, Miz & Morrison
KELLER'S WWE RAW REPORT 11/17: Ongoing coverage of live show including Santino raps for Akon, Orton-Punk
Arena Reports
11/12 WWE in Newcastle, U.K.: Batista & Mysterio vs. Jericho & Orton, Shawn Michaels vs. JBL, Haas Hogan in the house
WWE News: Complete Smackdown tapings report for next two weeks - Jeff Hardy, Triple H, Koslov set up Survivor Series
WWE News: Second detailed report from England with full results of tonight's Raw telecast
MMA / UFC Coverage
MMATorch Briefing: Fedor wants to fight Lesnar, Filho out of WEC, Heavyweight rankings, Big announcement
MMA Update: New Top Ten Heavyweight Rankings by MMATorch Staff Just Released
UFC 91 AUDIO ROUNDTABLE (free): Pennick, Ennis, Pelkey, Bent (67 min.)
KELLER'S TAKE
KELLER: A look back at Mike Adamle's infamously disastrous and embarrassing debut as ECW announcer
KELLER: WWE addressed a lot of problems with Raw last night - a march through the eight in our reader poll
KELLER SHORT: What was missing from last night's celebration of 800 episodes of WWE Raw...
MITCHELL'S TAKE
MITCHELL SHORT: WWE Raw Wrestlers Have No Guts Part 2
MITCHELL: Scott Steiner and The Main Event Mafia: The Comeback Promo
MOJO MITCHELL'S WWE RAW 11/10: Stream of Stephanie McMahon Gets Creative And Ends All The Bad Storylines (Okay, One of Them)
MCNEILL'S TAKE
McNEILL's Mailbag: On Lauren Thompson and 70's Style Booking
Indestructible: McNEILL previews TNA Turning Point 2008!
McNEILL's Mailbag: Should Michaels face 'Taker at WrestleMania?
CALDWELL'S TAKE
CALDWELL'S MEDIA CLUB: Eddie Guerrero DVD review Day 6 - Eddie vs. Rey Mysterio... 'Nuff Said
CALDWELL'S MEDIA CLUB: Eddie Guerrero DVD review Day 5 - Eddie vs. Chris Jericho; the day no one cared
CALDWELL'S MEDIA CLUB: Eddie Guerrero DVD review Day 4 - Eddie vs. Ric Flair; the importance of the U.S. Title
RADICAN'S TAKE
TALES FROM THE PULPIT 11/18: Too small to be big and too big to be small: ROH's fight to get the buzz back (pt. 1)
RADICAN: Last Call with Raven & Sandman dissapoints despite fantastic production and high expectations
TALES FROM THE PULPIT 11/13: Why should you buy ROH's "Driven" PPV when it debuts tomorrow? (spoilers)
The Specialists
11/18 WWE ECW Hits & Misses: Miz & Morrison, All American Challenge, 6 Man Tag
PARKS: The Mike Adamle Experiment - How much blame for his failure is on his shoulders?
UNDER THE MICROSCOPE - 11/17 Raw: Clearance sale for Released Wrestlers merch, Relationship Building with Punk & Kofi, Batista vs. Ref
Guest Editorials
EDITORIAL: Career vs. Career - The Undertaker vs. John Cena at WrestleMania 25
EDITORIAL: A plan for a dramatic make-over of WWE through massive downscaling of TV, PPVs, roster size, titles
EDITORIAL: Vetter examines problems with ROH product
Torch Feedback
ECW on Sci-Fi Reax #1: "I was waiting for someone to take a shot at Swagger's lisp, but Ricky Ortiz?"
WWE Raw Reax #4: "Manu came away from his match with Batista stronger than when he walked in."
WWE Raw Reax #3: "...Easily the coolest moment on the show besides Santino's rap."
Ask the Editor
Ask the Editor: Wouldn't incorporating MMA-style holds into pro wrestling matches just be trying to be something it's not?
ASK THE EDITOR: Have the Michaels-Batista promos crossed a line with use of insider terms, references to "jobs"?
ASK THE EDITOR: Why do wrestlers in WWE refer to wrestling as "the business" and not "the sport"?
DVDs - VGames - Books
RADICAN: Last Call with Raven & Sandman dissapoints despite fantastic production and high expectations
RADICAN: Hey! The Claudio Castagnoli delivers one of the best independent releases of the year
DVD REVIEW by Brian Hoops: Magnum T.A. and Nikita Koloff reflections
Torch Flashbacks
WWE News Flashback: Mike Adamle the new G.M. of Raw: Controversial announcer shifted off of ECW announcing duties
RADICAN'S WWE SMACKDOWN REPORT 5 YRS. AGO (11-13-03): Benoit & John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar & Big Show, Vince McMahon rubs his temples, Kurt Angle
KELLER'S NWA-TNA PPV REPORT 5 YRS. AGO (11-12-03): Sting & A.J. Styles together vs. Lex Luger & Jeff Jarrett, Raven & The Sandman team, X Division Gauntlet
VIP Exclusive Features
11/19 Daily Keller Hotline: A specific proposal to overhaul the look and feel of WWE utilizing current talent in a new way (16 min.)
ECW ON SCI-FI ROUNDTABLE REVIEWS 11/18: Mayer, Mezzera, Parks rate and review
PWTorch Newsletter #1054 (19 Pages!): Your weekly megadose of news, analysis, columns, TV reports, more
Torch Trivia
Torch Trivia: How much do you know about Curt Hennig? - Part Two
Torch Trivia: How much do you know about Curt Hennig? - Part One
Torch Trivia: How much do you know about Champion vs. Champion matches?
Torch Instant Polls
Who was the MVP of the Nov. 17 Raw if you saw the show?
Rate the 11/17 WWE Raw on a 0-10 scale if you saw the event
POLL: What's your prediction for the Brock Lesnar vs. Randy Couture fight?
PWTorch Free Podcast
11/19 East Coast Audio: ECW - Miz & Morrison continue to shine, A guy debuted, Swagger punished (8 min. clip)
11/17 WWE Raw post-game Show: Caldwell and Parks discuss final hype for Survivor Series, John Cena's lack of presence, beards-a-plenty (7 min. clip)
11/17 VIP East Coast Audio: Smackdown - Matt Hardy vs. Shelton Benjamin, Intense debate on Jeff Hardy's character change (7 min. clip)
Annual Obituaries
SPECIALIST: List of Deceased Wrestlers for 1999 - Muchnick, Rick Rude, Owen Hart, Renegade...
SPECIALIST: List of Deceased Wrestlers for 2000 - Solie, Albright, Duncum, Tsuruta, Blue Demon, Al Costello
SPECIALIST: List of Deceased Wrestlers for 2001: Johnny Valentine, Terry Gordy, Chris Adams, Bertha Faye, Helen Hart