Terrie Neilson of Las Vegas, Nev. (7.0) Best: Jay Lethal's honor and chivalry; Booker's and Christian's promos; Booker vs. Angle (until chaos showed up). Worst: Sharky/Curryman vs. Ray. Lots of promise, but old habits die hard. The waters got very muddy when there was no real resolution to the question of what ties bind Karen (true marital vs. staged/assumed marital). A.J., of all people, seemed to have it figured out the most: Karen is still married to Kurt in his eyes, but the door was open and he got caught up in the moment. The date was cute and felt naturally done. A.J. is coming out of his oafish shell, which is a very good thing. Meanwhile, Kip's turn could be seen a mile away, but I was surprised that he went after Bob first, since his follow-up trash promo clearly targeted B.G. Lethal got a very nice send-up and the crowd was loving it; they loved it enough that they still treated his asking So Cal Val out the same as if he asked her to marry him. Sonjay Dutt's facials were great to express his disappointment that Val accepted. Kaz is playing gimmickbuster to Reign and Rellik. Well, I'll be. There may actually be something to play with there. Steiner has both cases, brings in a freak who helps him be even more a heel, then they help Petey Williams? Okay, I'm totally confused with that one. Holding his contract hostage until he gets a title win - which he has more than deserved - sinks this angle deep. It's a win that won't feel like it should when it does happen. Curryman/Sharky vs. 3D was "second verse, same as the first... just in reverse." When Gail Kim and ODB teed off on each other, the crowd clearly like the idea of the match, but seems to have chosen that they'll both be faces. The fact that the issue is that while Kong is the enemy of both while these two are fierce competitors is much better than many female storylines I see anywhere. Theirs should be a good match so long as no one gets in the middle of it. Maybe, though I'm not holding my breath, this may lead to a small change of the title name. But the big penalty goes to a big question: can't a main event, for once, not be tampered with. I can understand Roode showing up. They could have left it alone, and leave something that some kind of agreement was made with Angle and Roode so that Roode wins this round in the feud. But no... everybody and his brother showed up to be involved. Have we seen the burial of Booker T? I'm beginning to wonder.     

Paul Calligan, Jr. of Hoover, Ala. (3.0): Best Match: Jay Lethal Appreciation  Worst Match:  ALL! Why? Because they all had the same endings and someone is getting paid six figures to spend two weeks at a time to come up with this un-original, uninspired crap. For the longest time, the only bad things I would allow myself to say about TNA were that they were stuffing too much into their one hour program, they didn't treat their home grown talent with the on-air respect they deserved (A.J., Samoa Joe, Ron Killings) or give them the opportunity to be the face of the company (they prefer ex-WWE stars or Sting who I believe is still collecting a hefty paycheck for... ???), and they may have had a bit more comedy than necessary on some episodes. But all things said, I was very proud that professional wrestling was taking off in the direction of young passionate stars on the rise, high quality matches on every show, wrestlers which connected with the fans and that the fans wanted to succeed regardless of face, heel, or tweener, storylines that were believable enough to make you think that these wrestlers showed up in different cars, stayed at different hotels, and would kick each other's tails if they crossed paths at the local bars. It was what I considered to be the re-birth of modern professional wrestling with most wrestlers on the roster having one focus - the World Championship! After Thursday's Impact, I shamefully and officially can admit that TNA appears to be headed down the same one way street to hell that WCW paved for them.  The biggest problem with that is this: they have one of the finest rosters in recent histories and no direction whatsoever. So many talented stars to battle for the TNA World Title and X-Division title which in my eyes should both be very prestigious; the TNA title because of the NWA history that brought it into existence, and the X-Division Title which sybolizes your hardest workers in the company on their last step before main eventing with the TNA World Title. TNA has confused it's purpose to the public and seems to be entertaining themselves or as we would say at church, preaching to the choir. I'm a sucka for a good laugh here and there in professional wrestling, but it's bad when the only thing I can remember at the end of the night is A.J. Styles, Karen, and Kurt Angle in a completely unbelievable love triangle, Shark Boy rambling about Curry Man speaking Japanese, every match ending with some type of interference, Don West screaming about nothing, Booker T and Kurt Angle putting on a decent but familiar match with a themed screwjob ending, and did I mention Don West's screaming?  I will admit that Jay Lethal is really coming into his own and the tease of a serious program with Sonjay Dutt would be reminiscent of the series of matches between Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero, although both of these guys are still young, stand on their own, and represent the "today" version of what would entertain fans from an in-ring perspective. With all that said, this was probably the worse wrestling show I have ever seen. But I am faithful and know that writers and bookers are all temporary and it's up to us to let TNA know that their current product is dead and stankin'. If they could simply realize that they had a recipe that at one time was working(just lacking exposure at the time), at least enough to keep us coming back to experience "wrestling" after having to endure "entertainment" on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Fridays. There is a place for this product and to be honest, I believe that this fall Smackdown should position themselves head-to-head with Impact to increase the competition factor that has caused professional wrestling has a whole to suffer. If everyone(WWE,TNA) steps up their game, then the wrestlers and the fans will all win and not be subjected to a product that is undeniably bad, undefendable, and unwatchable.

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