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Cage vs. Styles: The first good moment of a very bad Impact came three fourths of the way through the show with the very good final Four Ways to Glory qualifier. I was not surprised that Christian Cage and AJ Styles put on a good match. The match went 12 minutes and had a lot of good action. Cage and Styles worked well together and put on a good match. They did a good job of selling the fact that they know each other and each other's moves so well. That meant that the match told a story in addition to the nice quality in ring action. Putting two talents in the ring like this, where they have a history and know how to play into that history, which plenty of action and athleticism is going to land a match in the Hit column every time. That was certainly the case here. I can even forgive the predictable Frank Trigg run in.
Sting Says "Jeff": I don't recall really enjoying Sting's end of the show promo. I'm just not into this storyline at all. However, I was thrilled that TNA finally let someone actually say the name "Jeff" on air. Sure, he only used his first name, but it is a start. Plus, Mike Tenay said the last name afterwards. I don't understand why nobody could say Jeff Jarrett until now, but at least that is over.
IMPACT MISSES
Opening Segment: I hate Impact. I don’t want to, but TNA keeps putting on shows like this and I have no choice. This bad Impact got off to a bad start. In general, I am not a fan of starting wrestling shows with long talking segments. WWE does it too often. TNA should always start Impact with a match to give a better feel to the start of the show than what we often get from the competition. If they are going to start with talking, make it interesting. I was so bored listening to Kurt Angle and Booker T talk. They both can talk on the mic, but here they just droned on and on. Christian Cage is a great talker, but he came out and didn't help. This did nothing to make me want to see the rest of the show. I really just wanted to change the channel.
End of Bashir vs. Creed: The match between Sheik Abdual Bashir and Consequences Creed was o.k. until the end. Having the referee restart the match just because the fans at ringside told him that Bashir had cheated was terrible. He took their word for it! What? It was totally ridiculous. Then his fight with Bashir afterwards was horrible too. Introducing a new wrestler by having him be a referee first suggests that anyone can be a wrestler. If he is a trained wrestler, then why wasn't he wrestling? If he wasn't, yet he can wrestle, that undermines the entire industry. Either way, it is a bad mistake.
Prince Justice Brotherhood: I hate these guys. I hate Super Eric (I do like Eric Young). I hate Curry Man (I do like Christopher Daniels). I hate Shark Boy’s stupid Steve Austin imitation (I do hate Shark Boy too). Put them together and you get my least favorite wrestling group ever. I don't want to see them. I don't want to hear them. I don't want to see them wrestle. This week, I had to do all three.
Kip James: This guy is ruining the most enjoyable act in TNA. I used to look forward to seeing The Beautiful People each week, but not any more. Angelina Love is a good talker and Velvet Sky has shown improvement on the mic. They are over with the fans. Why add James to the act? I hope TNA is trying to get him a rub from The Beautiful People, not the other way around. But, it doesn't really matter. His presence is very distracting. I like how during the interview, Love kept holding the paper bag in front of Lauren's head, and I like the idea of Love challenging Taylor Wilde to a beauty pageant next week. But, I can't enjoy any of it.
Eye Patch Homicide: Don't the TNA bookers remember how their horrible horrible eye patch gimmick ruined Chris Harris' career? I guess not, otherwise they wouldn't be bringing Homicide back with an eye patch. Of course, Vince Russo doesn't recall how the Millionaires Club vs. The New Breed (or was it New Blood?) in WCW was a disaster. I shouldn't be surprised, considering that instead of letting Homicide and Hernandez (who can both talk) ever talk, they gave them Eddie Guerrero’s brother to talk for them (Hector isn’t Eddie on the mic). They haven't known what to do with this team since Konnan left the company.
ODB Steals a Burka: ODB vs. Raisha Saeed was a decent match. However, I was very uncomfortable after the match watching ODB trying to rip the burka off of Saeed. Maybe I am being too politically correct, but that is part of her character's religion. She is a heel because she is the manager of the top heel in the Knockouts Division, she bad mouths Awesome Kong's opponents, and she cheats. She isn't a heel because she is a Muslim. All of that is fine. Her "mask" as the announcers called it has nothing to do with her being a heel. A babyface like ODB shouldn't be trying to take it off. There hasn't been a mystery as to who she is. She doesn't flaunt her religion. There was absolutely no storyline reason for ODB to do it. It is disrespectful to people of that faith. I am not saying that religion should be off limits in pro wrestling. But, if you are going to attack another wrestler's religion, there should be a reason for it.
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. Send feedback on this article to pwtorch@gmail.com and we'll regularly publish reader feedback in the "Torch Feedback" category on the Main Listing.
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