Andre Polizzi of San Jose, Calif. (4.0) Best match: Angle & Roode vs. Booker & Christian. Worst match: Elix Skipper vs. Samoa Joe. This was an OK edition of Impact. No wait. I really liked it. Wait. Time out. It sucked. Ah heck. Tune in next week to find out whether I liked this week's Impact or not. And, if I'm still not sure by next week you can bet two weeks from tonight we will unveil my thoughts on the final Impact of 2007, one-by-one on the January 10 episode. I am actually torn about this episode. On the one hand, I like the apparent storylines being setup for the first couple months of '08. Loose cannon Samoa Joe intrigues me. Christian's coalition vs. Team Angle is good, but the idea of A.J. Styles (and an incredulous Tomko) caught in the crossfire makes it better. Add in the ongoing success of the TNA Knockouts and TNA seems prepared to crest a little bit higher in 2008 than even I thought was possible. On the other hand though, does anyone trust TNA to continue these storylines in a coherent, well-written manner? Honestly, they haven't earned that benefit of the doubt at this point. Sadly, I almost expect Samoa Joe to have a babyface victory over say Robert Roode next week, and A.J. Styles to turn on Tomko out of nowhere. On the negative side, the other storylines need to go. Abyss vs. the Mitchell Monster Club? Tired and played out long ago. Roode vs. Brooks? I can't stop cringing. All storylines involving the X Division, Team 3-D, Booker T, Kip and B.G. James, and Scott Steiner? I bet if you put them all in a hat and drew names the match-ups would be better. Finally, this show was originally graded a 5.0, then I realized I watched a whole show without LAX and immediately docked it another full point.
Terrie Neilson of Las Vegas, Nev (3.0) Best: Styles/Tomko vs. Sabin/Shelley. Worst: oh, the immaturity! After watching tonight's episode, I have to wonder if this is the actual morale of the TNA roster. There was so much bickering, pissing, and moaning, that I almost stopped watching because it was annoying me so much. I thought Senshi left, yet he's in a match with Mesias - probably doing the honors before he officially leaves. Eric Young is usually fun to watch, but not tonight. What was his purpose for being there? He seemed to make A.J.'s situations (match and decision) worse. Cornette showed some cajones with 3D - the match for Final Resolution remains as was decided last week. But, he did absolutely nothing to address their theft of the X Division belt. Matt Morgan has a heel vibe, or if nothing else is a complete Neanderthal idiot trying to get one over on Cornette to cover his butt. Joe is getting the VKM treatment. I would have rather heard from Joe's own mouth what he wanted as opposed to hearing it from Tenay. I'm still trying to see how Steiner can prove that Petey lied to him about the case issue. While neither has been treated as important enough for a world title shot, Petey at least gets a foot in the door. There is effort in the Rhodes-Kaz feud, but they're in a creative corner with the whole personality disorder issue. There is also no explanation for how Christian is #1 Contender when he didn't seem to earn it. And TNA tries the serial TV route, again, by ending the show without Styles's decision. They have to watch what they're doing. Just earlier today, I was hearing a conversation about the daytime soaps, which makes constant use of the serial carryover element. One person said something to the effect of how soaps develop so slowly that it's easy to miss a few shows and not get lost. TNA, like WWE, are weekly shows, and really can't benefit from extensive carryover as feuds these days are much shorter and more intense. They can't afford their audience missing shows, which could happen at this rate.
Sam Robinson of Sykesville, Md. (8.0) Best Match: Women’s match (who ever thought we’d be able to say that!) Worst: None really. This was a good episode of Impact as all the story lines moved along pretty nicely. I’m not real pleased with the fact that Christian became the number 1 contender out of practically nowhere, but if it moves the story along, I guess I’m for it. The only story that didn’t get advanced (unless I missed it) was the LAX vs. Hemme’s Boys feud. But, with Tedge (that would be Test/Edge) and Rave (who they’ve done very little with) in the mix, who really cares. I think the thing that made me the most upset was when “corporate” paid off Cornette for his “excellent match making”. You know it’s bad when they have to show on camera what they are having to do behind the scenes to make things believable. Because you know they had to pay off Cornette to be part of this crap. Glad to see they finally figured out how to turn Joe heel, though you could clearly hear the crowd pop for most of it. Who cares about Skipper, though? Have Joe decimate someone who matters, then it will be complete. The Women’s division is the best thing going on Impact right now, but why do they keep trying to establish ODB as a heel when the crowd pops so big for her? Where was my Kong decimation? I really missed it tonight. My biggest concern with the main event feud is where does Booker really fit in here? Yeah, he hates Roode for bad-mouthing his wife, and Roode is part of the Angle Alliance even if West and Tenay don’t mention it, but keep it out of the ongoing argument between Kurt and Christian over A.J. Oh, and why is the TNA Title on the line, and not the services of A.J.?
We still welcome your 1-10 score and comments. To contribute your thoughts on Impact, click here. Please keep your thoughts to around 10-15 lines if possible to increase your odds of being published.
PWTORCH FORMAT CONVENTIONS
For the sake of clarity to our readers (and to save us time editing these same things over and over), please follow these simple conventions when writing Torch Reax:
-Wrestlers teaming together should be connected with "&" symbol (e.g. Hunter & Michaels, Devon & Ray) or with a "/" (e.g. Animal/Hawk, Harris/Storm), but not dashes and not the word "and."
-To designate wrestlers who are fighting, feuding, or wrestling each other, put a dash (-) between them (e.g. Michaels-McMahon, Jarrett-Sting, Hogan-Andre) or use "vs."
-The word versus should always be abbreviated this way: "vs." with a period afterward (not "v." or "v/s" or "VS" or "VS." or any other way).
-Plus, it's just our policy, but we don't indulge wresting promotions' strange spelling fetishes where they spell Raw, Smackdown, Heat, Impact, etc. with the haphazard capitalization of various leTTeRz. It seems very "junior high," so no RAW (it's Raw), no iMPACT (it's Impact), etc.
-Please try to avoid overuse of dot-dot-dots. If you have a thought that's "trailing off," you can use for effect, but otherwise, just use periods, commas, and our personal favorite, semicolons if you dare. We have always had a policy of only one exclamation point and no ALL CAPS. Let your words convey the meaning of your point. There's many to choose from out there.
INCREDIBLE BENEFITS! Over 50 full-length audio updates per month (iPod compatible)... New weekly award-winning Pro Wrestling Torch Newsletter (text and printable pdf versions) with latest exclusive insider news, new Torch Talks, great columns, Keller's cover story, much more... Hundreds of full-length back issues of PWTorch Newsletter from late-'80s to today... Ad-free access to PWTorch.com's Main Listing... VIP Forum with interaction with other subscribers and Torch staff... Torch Talk Library with text and audio of hundreds of interview installments from last 20 years... Great layout... Deepest archives on pro wrestling history anywhere... Keller's PWTorch Today PDF Bulletins with email alerts... VIP Email reports on major PPVs and TV shows... Staff Roundtable Reviews (text and audio) followiing major events... The best staff of writers and world class reporting since 1987... We'd love for you to join us and experience the most entertaining, authoritative, experienced staff of professional reporters and commentators in the business... SIGN ME UP NOW!
PWTORCH READER POLLPWTORCH YEAR-END VOTING 2008 - Vote on Individual Awards I (MVP, Best Wrestler, Best Heel/Face). MVP of 2008: Carefully review the entire list before making your selection. ...
VOTE IN OR SEE RESULTS OF PREVIOUS POLLS
