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TNA Impact Reax #1: "TNA might look into building a MMA division and offer one match every PPV."
Mar 21, 2008 - 1:02:26 PM


Steve H of California (4.0): Best Match: Styles-Booker (while it lasted). So I don't know if you all realize this, but Rellik is killer spelled backwards. How annoying is that? Anyway, here's what I don't get: Why is Kurt Angle showing off an MMA style. Last time I checked this is PRO WRESTLING. It's a work. Sorry, but that's stupid. So he and Joe have an MMA match at the PPV? So what? All seems ridiculous to me. On the plus side, Angle's promos were solid tonight. Why is Steiner mad at Petey: THEY WON! And as far as ODB goes, it's enough already. Damn, she bugs the hell out of me. 3D was solid tonight and they have been for quite awhile now. Good to see Sting coming back, I guess. Truthfully, wrestling is really boring right now to me. Thank God for Awesome Kong and Saeed who are the the best thing in the business right now. Okay show.

Terrie Neilson of Las Vegas, Nev. (7.0): Best: Christian-Rhino interview; Booker promo Worst: Steiner-Williams saga My goodness! If it weren't for the notes I take, I certainly couldn't keep up with everything going on. Except for the main event, none of the matches seemed to be allowed to be enjoyed at home (the crowd looked like they enjoyed it there) and there was so much stuff to digest, as per TNA usual. Jim Cornette is inconsistent as usual, and at one time I liked him in this role. I do give him credit for holding Sharmelle accountable for her behavior; where is this authority figure otherwise? Why is Matt Morgan on TNA if all he's going to do is stand there? What followups there were were treated as inconsequential with the million other things going on. The whole Steiner-Williams thing is going nowhere fast. Val seems to find Sonjay cute and charming in the dinner date video, yet her reaction after Dutt clearly cheated to win isn't shown. The highlights of the night were Booker's promo and the sit-down between Christian and Rhino. Booker did very well to put over his continuing issues with Roode and set up his upcoming match with Styles. The sit-down was nicely done to address the issues between Christian and Rhino, further solidify Christian's faceness, and put Rhino in a position to be in the Lethal Lockdown match. Lockdown is starting to shape up nicely, but TNA needs to trim off the fat (lose the excessive material and muzzle Mike Tenay and Don West during promos) if we're going to enjoy the meat they're serving.

Shane McKinley of Danville, Calif. (2.5): Best Match: Women's Worst Match: Tomko vs. Rhino. Oh boy. A lot of these storylines ain't all that good. Watching my dogs play with each other was more entertaining. No one wants to see Booker & Sharmell vs. Roode & Banks at Lockdown. Flawed logic in having Sharmell "forced" to wrestle (she can simply no-show and Booker can bring out Kong or whatever). Is the end in sight for this feud? Please? If Team 3D is being set up to fight Styles & Tomko, will LAX simply feed Styles and Tomko? Probably. Steiners' "initiation" of Petey with Tenay saying I should check out TNA Today on their website so I can see Petey get electrocuted or have his fingernails ripped out. Yeah. Vague references of the history of Cage-Rhino (could have splice in shots of them growing up in the biz while conducting the interview). Tomko vs. Rhino was a joke with a finish that can be only described as "abysmal." What would you watch in Sonay Dutt vs. Homicide? A fast-paced contest or Dutt selling the knee and Homicide looking bored? The Dutt-SoCal Val-Lethal bit is not the grandest epic saga in the world, so I don't get why it is being pushed instead of what Dutt and Lethal can do in the ring. Styles vs. Booker had the potential to be good, but it turned into the usual mess. Viewer: "Boy, this sure is turning out to be a swell contest. Wait. Camera shot to Karen. Camera shot to Sharmell. Ref incompetence. Styles rolled up in a school boy pin. That's a weak pin. It can't be the end. But it is. Ugh." Banks, could you at least try to sell the strap? I wondered who wrote Kong's promo. Dear Lord. Best match of the night was the women's match, with actual wrestling and the announcers focusing on the match. Joe's training video package failed, because it didn't show Joe training at all. It just showed some MMA dudes talking about a match they probably have no idea about. Angle's MMA match was effective, as the jobbers actually had some credentials (names, backgrounds). TNA might look into building a MMA division and offer one match every PPV or so to break up the montony of storyline drivel (like this show). Main event was a whole lot of nothing. Bad news that next week's big big show has hardly any recognition to the average Joe (lip service is not enough) and that average Joes who turned off Impact early to watch basketball (which is very possible) will have no idea that Sting was announced to come next week. Plain bad on a lot of levels.

SUPER-BONUS ECW ON SCI-FI REAX

Terrie Neilson of Las Vegas, Nev. (7.0): Best: Colin Delaney Worst: Estrada, of all people Comparing tonight's ECW to last night's Raw is like comparing brand-name vegetable soup to college-made vegetable soup. You already know what you're getting in the brand-name soup; the ingredients are clearly labeled and you can taste them without getting that sour taste. College-made soup is the kind where you throw in whatever you have on hand as ingredients and hope nothing is spoiled or bad. And the taste is unpredictable and occasionally unpalatable. Kane and Kofi get another squash match in for TV and keep them in people's memory, although Elijah Burke still does deserve better. The six-man tag match was a fun little match that included the very cool launching of Shelton Benjamin to the outside of the ring. Match reminds us of the feuds running (Punk-Benjamin due to MITB; Miz/Morrison-Jesse/Festus for tag titles) and the big move was a teaser for MITB. I was expecting an ECW or hardcore related name to be the one mentioned as Hall Of Fame inductee (like The Sheik last year), but the name is barely familiar to a longtimer like me. I remember Dr. Jerry Graham more easily than I know of Eddie Graham. He almost looked like Pat Patterson in some places. I'm really liking Colin Delaney right now. He showed progress in his character in that he's gaining confidence in small intervals. Colin vs. Chavo had the crowd going. Nice to give Colin a quick pre-promo before the match. The crowd responded nicely to Delaney, and his offense/defense feels about right in line for where he should be at this point. The crowd deflated when Delaney lost, but I thought it was wise he didn't get it yet. They can easily play out a storyline of Colin keeping on keeping on, despite frustrations, and finally getting that memorable win and contract. Tommy Dreamer can still be in it in the advisor role, give a sense that he's watching what Colin does and gives instructions to help toward the next step (like avoiding blind spots). The surprise disappointment was Armando Estrada, who went from awesome heel manager for Umaga to an almost non-descript sorta face GM. He was fine in delivery, but he just doesn't have that face feel.

We welcome your 1-10 score and comments on this show for a "Raw Reax" feature in the Torch Feedback section of PWTorch.com. Just to add a twist to this feature, include not just your hometown, but also your occupation (mechanic, lawyer, stay-at-home-dad, college student, etc.) so readers get a flavor for what everyone does as "day jobs." To contribute your thoughts on Raw, click here.

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MORE "Torch Feedback" ARTICLES
Smackdown TV Reax #1: "Fresh match-ups, superstars, and storylines just create great TV"
Thursday Night TV Reax - SS/Impact: "X Division, we hardly knew ya after Abyss beat up the only two representatives who showed up"
ECW TV Reax #2: "Yoshi is already on the road to being the next Funaki at this point"
ECW TV Reax #1: "I think Abraham Washington has some charisma, but dear Lord, that was the most pointless segment in pro wrestling history"
WWE Raw Reax #4: "I'm not sure how WWE could have made it any clearer that MVP isn't in Triple H's league"
WWE Raw Reax #3: "I like the ECW influx, but I fear for what may happen to Bourne and Swagger"
WWE Raw Reax #2: "Henry's move to Raw was a bit of a surprise; his apparent face turn was a bigger surprise"
WWE Raw Reax #1: "I find it ironic the flagship had to be bailed out by Smackdown and ECW"
WWE The Bash PPV Reax #2: "For all this Miz-Cena buildup, the match was simply an unmitigated squash"
WWE The Bash PPV Reax #1: "I'll quite happily pay for another match between Rey and Jericho"
WWE Superstars/Smackdown Reax #1: "There is a sweet fork in the road with Punk and either possibility is a good one"
WWE Raw Reax #1: "How bad is the show when the MVP is a bucket of chicken?"
TNA Impact Reax #1: "Nothing jumps out as something that will be (or is allowed to be) the Slammiversary PPV draw"
WWE Raw/ECW TV Reax: "Let's just pray that we can make it through this Trump storyline in one piece"
WWE Raw Reax #1: "The Trump announcement was just... garbage, like a vacuum, sucking out any sort of energy or believability."
ECW/Smackdown Reax #1: "The door was open to turn C.M. Punk heel, but something key was missing..."
WWE Superstars Reax #1: "Jericho deserves credit for his interactions lately with R-Truth, Dirk Ziggler, Morrison, Rey, etc."
TORCH READERS WRITE BACK: Why was Kozlov smiling on the ECW TV broadcast?
WWE Raw Reax #4: "I was excited for Miz-Cena - I like the way they're building this feud and I don't want it messed up"
WWE Raw Reax #3: "The burial of Orton and Legacy was sealed with an exclamation point"

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