By Chris Reed, Torch specialist

-- 8/20 TNA IMPACT HITS & MISSES

Hard Justice is history, and now the Main Event Mafia holds every men's title currently in TNA. Matt Morgan got pinned by Kurt Angle in the main event of the three-way dance for the TNA World Championship, Samoa Joe took over the X-Division title, Kevin Nash beat Mick Foley in a bloodbath match for the Legends title, and Booker T and Scott Steiner retained the tag team straps. What's next for the Mafia? Will the faces find a way to recover? Here's what happened on Impact:

IMPACT HITS

Taz Replaces Don West On Color: I'm sure some people would have liked to see Don West get at least a goodbye on Impact, but almost every knowledgeable wrestling fan has salivated at the possibility of Taz on the mic for TNA ever since Taz left the WWE. Even with his heel turn, Don West has mostly been annoying, grating, irritating, and just not very keen on the athleticism of the wrestlers in the ring. Taz brings that unique combination of someone who has been in the ring and understands ring psychology along with a mic style that is currently one of the best in the business. Here's hoping to a long career of Taz behind the stick.

Beer Money vs. British Invasion: Once again TNA shows its difference from WWE by allowing their wrestlers to bleed on normal TV. I know this may seem like a minor detail, but it just demonstrates that TNA is trying to be the more intense label in the wrestling wars. Beer Money has grown into a fire hot face team that the fans want to see kick some butt, and they delivered so in an intense hardcore match with British Invasion. It also goes to show that titles don't need to be on the line for a match to have some passion behind it.

Samoa Joe vs. Homicide: Samoa Joe is finally starting to look like the bad-ass that we have known him to be. He's gotten rid of that whiny voice that was plaguing him for months, the ridiculous machete knife seems to be going away, and Joe is just doing what he does best -- wrestle. Homicide got in some good looking moves, but Joe's unique combination of power and speed could wind up keeping that X-Division title around his waist for a long time. And I'm sure that both myself and many other TNA fans would like to see some legitimacy restored to the X-Division once again. With Samoa Joe as the champion again, we could be on that path.

IMPACT MISSES

A.J. Styles Needs A Pacifier: There was absolutely no one in the arena or watching the show that seriously thought for one moment that A.J. Styles was going to retire from wrestling. This pathetic display of a lack of guts is so opposite what we have come to expect from Styles over the years that it just shocked me. I understand the idea of having Sting come out and lift Styles up to be the leader of TNA. I understand the idea of Sting wanting to pass the torch to another wrestler. Anyone who has watched TNA with regularity knows that Styles is the next generation of wrestling superstar and that he does moves in the ring that are just fluid and smooth. Please don't have Styles become the whiner that Samoa Joe was in the past.

Matt Morgan Has No Brain: At the top of the show, Morgan was bound and determined to shove that axe handle sideways up the rear entry of Kurt Angle. Later, in a backstage interview, Morgan "accidentally" stated that by the end of the show, Angle would have Morgan's boot. And yet, when they were in the match together, Morgan bowed down at the feet of Angle and easily gave up the shot he had to turn on Angle and become a white-hot babyface. Morgan even allowed Angle to put him in the position where Morgan wound up taking the table bump from Team 3D to end the match. Seriously, if Morgan wants to be taken with any legitimacy, he needs to step up and start doing something about being used like a puppet by the Mafia all the time.

Annoucement of TNA Knockouts Tag Team Title: Reading over some of the reviews out there, it seems I may be in the minority on this subject, but I'm just not fond of TNA creating another championship which they'll more than likely wind up flushing down the toilet and make meaningless. TNA has enough trouble making their other titles seem worthwhile, and they even have planted the seeds for a man (Cody Deaner) to be the champion of their ladies' division. I unfortunately remember WWE having a man be the champion of their ladies' division, and even a few times where a woman was a champion in a man's division. It hasn't worked before, it won't work again. TNA needs to focus on making their titles mean something instead of creating new ones.

Chris Reed is a PWTorch Specialist covering TNA Impact with a weekly Hits & Misses column.

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