Instant Reaction - TNA Impact 7/31
By Benjamin Tucker, PWTorch TV specialist

Overall Score - 7.5

Thursday's Impact is proof that you can have too much of a good thing. On a night meant to highlight TNA's X Division, the company produced four matches in a row that were little more than spotfests. Highly entertaining spotfests, mind you. But how long can you watch the same type of match over and over again before it starts to wear thin? By the final X Division Title qualifying match, I had seen enough triple threat spotfests for a long, long while.

Just as how a show can't be loaded with promos or brawls, matches need to vary from one to another. Use weapons in one match, work a slower pace in another, etc. The pacing of tonight's Impact was notably odd, but luckily the only sizable complaint worth making. For all intents and purposes, Destination X was a success in and out of the ring. Fresh talents were made to look strong and stories are being told at a fast pace. With all of the gloom and doom rumors surrounding TNA today, it's nice to see the glimmer of hope that is their refreshed television product.

Despite my gripes about the structure of the show, it can't be denied that there were a lot of memorable spots in the ring throughout the night. The X Division triple threat matches experienced a downgrade in quality as the night went on (and all three of them will be a major disappointment to fans of "traditional" wrestling matches), but they still managed to highlight different players in the X Division and establish a sort of hierarchy throughout the night. It pains me to hear TNA go through yet another "reboot" of the X Division, but this week was a fine start if the company becomes serious about promoting the more athletic side of TNA. At a certain point, though, the division will need to be presented in a fresh way, as opposed to trying to recapture the glory days of the past. As entertaining as tonight's matches were, they almost felt more like "greatest hits" renditions of X Division matches, rather than the beginning of a truly revitalized concept.

The opening match for the Tag Team Titles was arguably the strongest of the show, delivering the best sequences out of the four "spotfests" in the program. Both teams put together immensely impressive spots, with the Hardys in particular doing an incredible job. The Wolves are being presented fantastically on TNA television lately, and defeating the Hardys was yet another huge dose of credibility for them. Their next challenge will be finding new teams to feud with in a largely depleted division, but as it stands, the Wolves are definitely earning their keep. The odd howling can go away, though...

The main event of Austin Aries vs. Lashley, while not as entertaining as Lashley's last title defense against Jeff Hardy, was still a lot of fun to watch. Lashley is one of the most shocking successes of the year, coming in with zero momentum and quickly becoming a credible World champion. Giving him a clean win over Aries made the champion look like a monster, while the challenger lost nothing. The main event scene has rebounded fantastically since Eric Young dropped the title.

I thought the talking aspects of the program were well done in their own right. I would argue that whether or not the ECW reunions are overdone is not what's important; what's most notable is that TNA is logically building up a storyline and preparing their viewers well for the payoff. At the same time, these segments didn't take up a large portion of the show and still managed to put new talent in the spotlight (in this case, EC3, who has become a true stud on the mic in recent months).

While imperfect in terms of pacing, Destination X was a positive night for TNA. Storylines are logical, the main event scene has clean finishes in matches and isn't featuring the same four or five guys every week, etc. A lot of the issues that have plagued TNA for years finally seem to be dissipating. Whether it's for one week only or not, I feel like TNA is headed in the right direction and it's a lot of fun to watch. 

Any questions or comments? Message me on Twitter @BTuckertorch!

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