By Hubert O'Hearn, Torch specialist

-- 5/28 TNA IMPACT HITS & MISSES

IMPACT HITS

Samoa Joe v. 2.0 - Okay, so the "I've been ordered to kill you Kurt" line was maybe just a leeedle bit much, to the point where I wonder if Samoa Joe muffed it. "I've been ordered to tell you Kurt that Joe's going to kill you" would have been way better. But that aside, definitely maybe TNA has decided to re-cast Joe as the merciless babyface wrestling machine that he plays better than anyone else in the company. And the hatchet-burying session with A.J. Styles and Daniels finally puts together a team to compete with the Main Event Mafia.

Victoria - The signing of Victoria improves the whole Knockouts division by 25 percent. No exaggeration. Her character had its heart ripped out by WWE from the day they had her do that crazy ass jitterbug entrance and it is so good to see her back where she belongs: as an extremely talented, athletic wrestler who can be put right into the title picture with Angelina Love and Awesome Kong.

Cute Kip Canned - Come on, admit it. You were happy inside when Angelina fired Kip James. Heck, if I were Kip James I'd be happy I didn't have to play that annoying character any more.

Sting takes Charge - For a guy who has stated that he's running the final lap of a long career, Sting has given us his best promo work of that long career. His cleaning house of some of the MEM nonsense - the Tweedledumb and Tweedledumber security guards and the Jenna vs. Sharmell bitchathon (see: Misses) can lead in some interesting directions. Will Kurt Angle rebel and be kicked out of the MEM? Will the MEM become disgruntled with the straight-arrow Sting in charge? Is this the lighting of the long fuse that will explode the MEM storyline? Any way TNA runs with it, we'll stay interested.

Team 3D and Beer Money - Equally intriguing is the mutual admiration society between Team 3D and Beer Money. You just can't tell if this is the awaited turn of Beer Money into faces - which would work - or if Beer Money will suddenly turn back into cocky heels. Either way, it works and hopefully TNA stretches out the mystery to right before Slammiversary.

IMPACT MISSES

Daniels vs. Styles - This is a Miss not because of the actual match. Yeah, it could have been longer, but that's virtually par for the course for all non-PPV TV wrestling these days. I just don't like seeing the renewal of one of the key rivalries in TNA history just tossed out there with no build-up. If they had announced this King of the Mountain qualifier for next week or in two weeks, don't you think that just maybe wrestling fans might have phoned up other wrestling fans and said, "hey, you gotta see this one."

Eric Young, Portrait of Frustration - You can see what they're trying to do with EY. Build him up, knock him down, build him up, knock him down until finally he just explodes. But in the process they're risking turning him into a whiny doofus. Speaking of whiny doofuses (doofi?) We have...

Steven Richards and Raven beating up Abyss - Some of you would call this a Hit and I won't argue the point too hard. Heck, at least TNA knows how to use Steven Richards, which WWE never once figured out. But in the process they've crippled the Abyss character. Are we ever going to buy into him being "The Monster" Abyss again? And if Richards with Raven and Daffney are going to be a faction ... umm, does TNA really need another faction? But hey, I'm willing to be pleasantly surprised.

Jenna and Sharmell - Please remember, I'm a big TNA fan. That's why I write this column. I sincerely state that Impact is the best wrestling show on TV today. Period. Go ahead and call me an idiot. I don't care. But I would rather have long, hot needles plunged into my eyes than watch any more scenes like that fruit-bat crazy cat fight between Jenna Morasca and Sharmell. And this whole thing is doing Booker T and Kevin Nash no favors either. They just sort of stand around and look sheepish. Yecchhh. But if nothing else we believe in two unalienable truths: the redemptive power of the human spirit and the ability of wrestling creative teams to bury bad angles.

Tony Donofrio is a new PPV Hits & Misses Specialist covering WWE PPVs. Contact Tony at PWTorchTD@gmail.com

Hubert O'Hearn is a new PWTorch Specialist covering TNA Impact with a weekly Hits & Misses column. You can read Hubert's Hits & Misses column and Chris Reed's new TNA Hits & Misses column weekly on PWTorch.com

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