By Shane McKinley, Torch specialist

-The opening of Impact featured A.J. Styles in the ring with RVD, Jeff Hardy, and Hulk Hogan. Or in TNA lingo, "A pipsqueak in the ring with these great ex-WWE guys." It's understandable that TNA goes gaga over anybody who was under the WWE umbrella. Arguably, these ex-WWE guys have gotten way more exposure than any TNA homegrown wrestler has received.

Still, it was a somewhat sad Impact for any A.J. Styles fan out there. The opening promo was pretty much TNA saying to A.J. Styles, "Thanks for keeping the belt warm. You did a great job. But we're gonna give the strap to Mr. Monday Night, junior."

It was music to my ears to hear TNA hype up the importance of the World Heavyweight Title. Imagine that, the World championship actually being important. Hulk Hogan was hyping up the title, brotha. So was TNA, as they must have dropped the phrase "World Champion" a zillion times through the broadcast.

And lo and behold, TNA brags that next week they are going to debut a "ranking system." Gasp. Can this be true? Does this mean that no longer will there be instances of "yesterday, Rhino was a jobber, now he's the #1 contender to Sting's TNA belt?" TNA even scrolled the actual wins and losses from Lockdown during one point of the show. Hey, I am all for a ranking system because the more fans feel that a contender is actually credible (meaning not Rhino), the more they will buy into the character, storyline, feud, and hopefully the PPV. Plus, this is hopefully a way to make what happens in the ring, you know, actually matter.

Kudos to TNA for the unique camera work. I'm not talking about the same problem of TNA's cameramen learning how the zoom button works. I mean the camera shots of Flair chatting it up with Styles, following RVD backstage as he makes his way to the ring, and honest to goodness, RVD and Jeff Hardy watching a replay of their great match and making comments (major thumbs up).

Rob Van Dam's music is like a Mortal Kombat song effed up, but it hits the mark as crazy fans yell "R-V-D!" like lunatics.

If you're like me, there are wrestlers you figure you can take. You figure you could get a couple of shots in with fuddy duddies like Jeff Jarrett or D.H. Smith, for example. Samoa Joe is one of those few guys who I actually feel the brutality from his moves coming from my TV screen, and I'm 3,000 miles away. It's a testament to Joe how much he has "it" that the fans still chant "Joe's gonna kill you" despite how much TNA's booking has screwed up his character. I had a smile ear to ear as Joe was murderizing people in the ring. Welcome back, Joe.

-Matt Morgan has pretty much the dumbest angle in wrestling right now. He's going around referring to himself as "we" because he has both of the tag team gold. First of all, only the British elite and the comic book villain Venom can refer to oneself as "we." And second of all, Oily Morgan is in the back begging for little squirt Shannon Moore to be his tag team partner. Lastly, just where are the tag teams in TNA? Namely, the face tag teams? You're either a Hogan Hero or a Flair Goon, or a little nobody that TNA would drop in a heartbeat to get a WWE castoff.

TNA keeps bringing up the fact that viewers are interested in finding out why Sting has turned heel. First, there's a time limit regarding these matters. Chances are people have already moved on. And second, who the hell cares in why Sting turned heel? Is it a reason for anybody to care about? Signs point to no.

-Abyss cuts promos like a psychotic governor ordering to launch the missiles. Abyss yells lullabies to put children to sleep. Every instance that happens to poor Abyss must be conveyed in the highest volume possible. It's cartoonish and is unbelievable. I'm worried that Abyss has a hearing problem.

-The X Division already has a storyline in place: Doug Williams is the "rightful" owner of the X Division belt, not that lucky Kaz. There should be something that we see next Monday regarding this situation.

-I'm fine with Rob Terry's offense consisting nothing more than clotheslines, because frankly he has gotten that "dangerous" label put on him. If I had Rob Terry in the ring with guys like Sting and Beer Money, all I would let Terry do is clotheslines. Rob Terry became a Hogan Hero last Impact, which is fine. The bad news? Orlando Jordan stared ominously at Terry from the stage, signaling a start to their feud. Boo .

-That's it for me. I'm going to my "Paul Heyman is my idol and TNA should get him!" meeting. We all dress up like Pauly, hastily craft up wrestling cards, write checks that will bounce, complain loudly about how the TV network is screwing us, and talk about how much Eric Bischoff sucks. It's a great group!

Email is mckinley.torch@gmail.com

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