Instant Reaction - TNA Impact Wrestling 3/1
By Benjamin Tucker, PWTorch TV specialist

Overall Score - 8.0

And yet another good edition of Impact Wrestling! To tell you the truth, I'm shocked that the show has improved so much over the last couple of months. But, now shows don't seem as lazily thrown together, have several good matches, and actually seem to value (most) of the championships. When was the last time you remember Primo and Epico with the Tag Titles on the main event of Raw? The segment leading up to the main event six-man tag was given just enough time to breathe and let all three heel characters get their points across effectively. While I still don't like Sting's authority role, he was fine tonight. The resultant tag match was really entertaining to watch. All of the guys in the match can work, and storyline-wise everything made sense. Sure, Roode still looks like the least credible champion since Santino's IC title runs, but if that's the direction TNA is going with it, fine.

The rest of the show was pretty solid, too. The opening segment with Angle and Hardy was entertaining. It needed to set up a personal issue between the two and did so effectively, without having it feel too forced. I still firmly believe that Kurt Angle's best promos are when he injects some humor into them. I also enjoyed TNA's attempt to change up match gimmicks with the opener. A two-man gauntlet match actually made sense on paper to a certain extent, and the resultant match was great. The finish wasn't bad, and Styles and Daniels were moving around the ring like a blur. I'm still not too interested in the actual feud, but the action was still solid.

Speaking of action, the Knockouts weren't bad tonight. The KO matches weren't five-star classics, but the Knockouts did their job well. If only Taz and Tenay would actually call the action, the KO would mean a lot more. Really, there wasn't a lot to complain about tonight. Victory Road wasn't hyped as much as I would've liked, but Rome wasn't built in a day. A bit more focus and Impact would be a consistently great show week in and week out. Has Russo leaving the company really made the shows this much better?!

Any questions or comments? Follow me on Twitter at BTuckertorch, or e-mail me at btuckertorch@aol.com.

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