By Jon Mezzera, Torch Specialist

IMPACT HITS

Announcing Matches: Every week, usually after a long video recap and other random action around the building, the announcers list the matches that will be taking place on Impact. It is a nice touch that I’ve never commented on before. I am usually too distracted by the video recap, the idiotic episode title, and any other distractions to pay attention to the announcement of what matches will be happening. However, this week there was no recap or episode title. The show started with the Impact intro video, then went right to the match announcements. It was a nice change of pace to just start the show with a quick run down of what is going to be coming up. It is something WWE never does. They might plug one, or at the most two matches, but usually not at the very beginning of the show.

Booker & Roode vs. Rhino & Christian: It was also a nice change of pace to start Impact off with a match and not a long talking segment. This tag match was solid with some nice action. It was a good way to get four of the five men from Sunday’s King of the Mountain match in the ring at the same time. The match only went 5 minutes, but it was good while it lasted. The lame DQ finish took away from the quality, but the match was still a good way to start the show. Afterwards, it was good to hear from AJ Styles, although Jim Cornette’s involvement was so condescending towards Styles that I should probably give him a Miss.

Steiner & Williams: I was glad to see after three weeks of Impact without them, that Scott Steiner and Petey Williams finally made an appearance. Steiner was in the Main Event of the last PPV, so I’m not sure why he hasn’t been on since. Williams is the X-Division Champ, so I’m not sure why he hasn’t been on either. I found this interview to be amusing. I laughed when Steiner took over for Williams. Everything he said about Kaz and the Terrordome was true by the way. It was just a circus act. I also liked how Williams got cut off at the end. It was a funny scene, which actually hyped a PPV match that hadn’t been hyped the previous three weeks, and also continued to develop the relationship between Steiner and Williams.

IMPACT MISSES

Beautiful People: I have enjoyed the work of the Beautiful People, but unfortunately this was not one of their good weeks. Part of the problem was that Velvet Sky isn’t as good on the mic or in the ring as Angelina Love and she carried the load in terms of both this week. I can go the rest of my life without hearing a wrestler refer to the fans as “marks.” Their rip off Booker T WCW line about hating the game has got to go. Sky vs. ODB was mostly interrupted in my area by an Emergency Broadcast Alert, so I can’t comment on its quality, but the post match was brutal to watch. This wasn’t Sky or Love’s fault, as Roxxi just got no pop coming to the ring, and looked bad in doing so, and Gail Kim did as well. Adding this new muscle, Mickie Knuckles to the group doesn’t make much sense either.

Bachelor Party: These were three terrible segments. With the exception of James Storm crashing the party to get free booze, there wasn’t anything good about them. There were too many references to old wrestlers like Lanny Poffo (I miss the Genius by the way), Jake “the Snake” Roberts, Kamala, Koko B Ware, and George “the Animal” Steel. Each scene had too many things going on and too much noise. The deal with Kip James as the stripper was bad. It was just three big messes that I didn’t need to see on my t.v.

X-Division King of the Mountain: I don’t understand giving away a King of the Mountain match for free three days before Slammiversary. Why am I going to pay $30 to see another one when I just saw this one, and there is no guarantee that the PPV version will be any better. Sure, there was some good action and some amazing high spots. But, most of the match was just a mess of random moves in the context of some very convoluted rules. None of the Heavyweights will be able to do some of the crazy high spots that Kaz and Chris Sabin were able to do. The ending was very predictable and very anticlimactic. Everyone watching should have known for 100% certainty that Kaz was going to win the match. The way he won was boring. And why are these X-Division guys getting a Heavyweight Title shot? What does that say about the X-Divsion Title? Now, I feel like I’ve just seen King of the Mountain and don’t particularly want to see it again in three days.

Random 6-Man Tag: Why did Jim Cornette make this match? He took three totally random heels who have nothing to do with each other, and put them in a match with a random babyface and a random babyface tag team. I don’t know why this match happened. I don’t know why I was supposed to care who got the win. I don’t know why LAX isn’t being treated better than this. I don’t know why Matt Morgan is a babyface or why he is doing Undertaker’s Old School. I don’t know why Lance Hoyt who is mad at Jay Lethal was in this match. There are way too many unanswered questions for a meaningless six man tag.

Point-Counter-Point: I like how instead of focusing on Kurt Angle vs. AJ Styles, TNA is still focusing on the Angle family drama. Actually, I don’t like that at all. This split-screen satellite interview accomplished nothing. We have heard all of this from these two multiple times already. This didn’t make me want to buy a PPV. It didn’t make me want to tune in next week. Even Styles seemed more upset that Angle accused him of sleeping with Karen then about the back to back bloody beatings Angle has given him the last two weeks.

Main Event: Styles vs. Tomko could have been a huge match at a PPV. With Kurt Angle’s neck injury, TNA had a chance to prolong his feud with Styles and delay their eventual match. Tomko was a suitable replacement and should have faced Styles at Slammiversary, not on Impact. They were a huge deal as Tag Team Champions for a long time. They have split up, and Tomko has helped destroy Styles. TNA had a chance to build to a meaningful match, but instead they gave it away with no hype for free on Impact, and then didn’t even deliver a satisfying match. The match went less than 8 minutes, and with a commercial break, we only got to see a little over 4 minutes of the match. There was some good wrestling, but the match was too short for what it could have been. It was also distracted from by the involvement of Kevin Nash as special enforcer and Robert Roode and Booker T’s attempts to interfere. TNA messed up a big opportunity.

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 another view from the original Hitlist author, compare Jason Powell's views to mine by visiting prowrestling.NET's "Hitlist" section here.

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