By Jon Mezzera, Torch Specialist

IMPACT HITS

Don West: I was hoping that West would play a tweener color commentator, and not a straight heel commentator, but this was better than having both him and Mike Tenay as total babyfaces. However, in acting as a heel, West made sense, which points to the backwards way that TNA books its faces and heels. He is a heel now, yet most of what he said made sense. It would make more sense for Mick Foley and Jeff Jarrett to try to get Kurt Angle out of the Main Event Mafia. West was right in saying that Suicide shouldn't attack wrestlers who are tired, but should test himself in a real match. West was right when he said that the Governor didn't have any business in the ring during the Knockouts Fatal Fourway tag. West was right that AJ Styles is not acting like a good guy in attacking Booker T from behind and stealing his property. West was right that Tenay shouldn't condone Samoa Joe's actions with the knife. Everything he said was true, but he is a heel. Again, that calls into question TNA's booking strategy.

Beer Money vs. LAX: This was a good Tag Team Championship match. It went a decent length (it could have gone longer) and featured some nice wrestling action. Beer Money played their heel roles very well. Homicide got to show off some of his high flying ability. Hernandez got to show off his great power and agility. There were some nice moves and sequences. The DQ finish was to be expected. LAX isn't going anywhere, and the Off the Wagon challenge just started, so Beer Money isn't going to drop the Titles so soon.

Team 3D Returns: I had been curious about the whereabouts of Team 3D. They were in the main event of the last PPV, but hadn't been on the first few Impacts afterwards. It was good to see them return. It is a bit odd for them to be back in a Tag Title feud, not feuding with the Main Event Mafia, but this is probably where they belong. Brother Ray was strong on the mic when challenging Beer Money. James Storm and Robert Roode were hilarious in how they kept saying "yep" to Ray's accusations. They played their part to perfection. It will be interesting to see how Beer Money vs. Team 3D plays out with the Off the Wagon stipulation.

Beer Money: Considering that Beer Money was part of two of my three Hits when I first outlined my Hits & Misses, I figured I should raise them up as being a Hit for their work throughout the show. Robert Roode was good in his part of the early interview with Lauren. James Storm was funny in the way he accidentally slapped Roode on the butt when leaving, and then came back to correct himself and slap Jacqueline instead. I already mentioned their good match with LAX and their amusing "yep"s when confronted by Team 3D. They are a really entertaining team right now, and they have been for quite some time.

IMPACT MISSES

Ultimate X Hype: TNA has been doing a good job of hyping the concept of Ultimate X with a series of Rough Cut videos over the last few weeks. The problem is that they hadn't once said who was going to be in the match at Destination X, and what was going to be on the line. They finally hinted at the fact that it would be for the X Division Title, meaning Alex Shelley would be in it. But, they still haven't announced any of the other competitors. This is the problem with the X Division, particularly on PPV. It is too associated with the group, and not with individuals in the group. Too often, an X Division PPV match is a cluster of multiple wrestlers. The same is going to be true here. Ultimate X might be a very exciting spectacle, but shouldn't the fans care about the wrestlers in the match, not just the nature of the match itself?

Knockouts Fatal Four Way Tag: This was a mess. This is about having too many wrestlers in such a short match, with all of them trying to get in their moves and accomplish too much in too short a time. There was constant cheating. There was outside interference twice. There are two and a half Knockouts storylines right now. One is Soujourner Bolt and Rhaka Khan leaving the Kongtourage, with the subplot of Bolt vs. Awesome Kong for the Knockouts Title. Two is the ongoing feud between Taylor Wilde, Roxxi, the Governor vs. The Beautiful People. And a half is the recent turn by Madison Rayne and her feud with Wilde, and possibly Roxxi too. I am calling it a half because of the speculation that she will join the Beautiful People. TNA tried to advance all of those angles in this one match, only 3 minutes of which aired. Roxxi looked the strongest, while the Champion and her challenger were put on the back burner. The match was too hectic, too short, and too unfocused to develop any of the angles involved.

Too Much Happening: This was one of the worst Impacts in awhile in terms of cramming too much content into the show. There were so many short bits, whether they were videos, interviews, fights, or even matches, that nothing could sink in. They didn't allow for any of the moments to stand out. I see at least three problems with this type of presentation.

•Headache Inducing: The first problem is that with so many short bits followed by a quick cut to another short bit, then another and another, I got a headache watching this show. The first two segments were the worst. The first started with a recap video, the title of the episode, Jeremy Borash with Jeff Jarrett announcing Angle's suspension, then the intro video, then West and Tenay talking about West's actions last week, then finally a breath with the long scene with Foley, Sting and the MEM, then a quick cut to Angle arriving, then a commercial. The second segment was just as bad with a Rough Cut of Ultimate X, Lauren's interview with Lethal Consequences, a short match of Kiyoshi vs. Shelley, another Ultimate X video, then a scene in the back with the MEM. The show got better from there, but not much.

•Not Enough Wrestling: Kiyoshi vs. Shelley was 4 minutes. Through 45 minutes, that had been the only match. Eventually there was the Knockouts tag, but that was only 6 minutes, half of which aired. Matt Morgan vs. Shane Sewell was 3 minutes. The main event Tag Team Title match was only 9 minutes, 6 of which aired. That was it. That is a total of approximately 22 minutes of wrestling, 16 of which aired. That is not good.

•Too Much MEM: The MEM really dominated this episode. Between the six members of the group, they appeared twelve different times on the show. There are eleven segments on the show, broken down into the multiple little bits discussed above. The Mafia appeared twelve times, and their presence also dominated when they weren't on screen, like the many scenes involving Jeff Jarrett talking about them, or when the announcers talked about them during Kiyoshi vs. Shelley. The effect of them dominating the show is that any other angle wasn't given enough time to develop. Plus, you get tired of seeing the same guys over and over again. Maybe if they weren't on so much, you could devote more than one match to the two and a half on going Knockouts storylines. Maybe you can have a fifth match, or give more time to the existing ones.

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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