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Shane McKinley of Danville, Calif. (2.0): Best Match: Tomko vs. Cage. Worst Match: Opening. I think I'm done with TNA. I know that ratings are key, but does every segment have to throw away "quality" and "logic" for ratings? Does TNA have feuds because fans want to see a engaging story, or just because wrestlers need something to do on the show? I'm in their key demographic and I have my boys (in key demographic as well) telling me to change the channel back to the basketball game because this "crap is stupid." I'm not pulling some really insightful stuff here, these things are pretty blunt. Why would Team 3D be promoting A.J. Styles's trading card in their promo? Could you promote the card in a better place, like a commercial? To make the heels and the show more believable? Why are there camera shots of fans bowing to heel Booker? Are there really any TNA fans left, or is the audience just mostly tourists who don't know any better? Isn't Christian "everybody's nothing without the title" Cage supposed to be this great promo guy? Why is Joe seemingly the only wrestler in TNA who cares anymore? Could you stay with the A.J. Styles attack and let it pan out? Didn't Karen know what happened to A.J. five seconds ago? Could she at least in some way acknowledge what just happened? What do American Idol and Abyss have in common? Why do outsiders get more attention and more love than your own wrestlers? Could you at least try and put in some logic behind why a pervert American Idol would be taping Val and Lethal? Or do you just throw things at the wall and hope they stick? Why do hot angles (Roxxi, Joe) get screwed up? Is it because you showcase the same match week in and week out? Why are you still doing these Eric and Abyss skits, when obviously they are making people change the channel? Why have you turned Jim Cornette into a puppet? Didn't he show some power last month? Or don't shows and characters from last month mean anything? Who is "TNA management" that Cornnette keeps referring too? Are they imaginary? Since when is it morally right to sacrifice morals for ratings? Obviously the Kong beating up fans was a low-rated segment and a large number of fans who care about your stupid project didn't want to see that again, but TNA in its ignorance and entrenchment makes up blatant lies about how "it was the highest rated segment." While you're at it, why don't you kill puppies at the top of the hour, too? I'm sure that will draw ratings. Wait, I think I just figured something out! According to TNA, watching women get beat up will get big ratings! Watching wrestlers in "Christmas light cage" matches, "barbed wire Christmas tree" matches, and "reindeer-ladder" matches that were showcased in TNA's Christmas show got big ratings as well according to Matt Morgan! Oh wait. That's because you're lying and you're too lazy to think of fixing something that stinks. Bravo, TNA, for continuing with the failed Kong Angle that nobody wants to see. Why watch something if they seemingly don't care to fix things that fans complain about? Probably the only thing going right now is A.J. Styles, but I don't know why Impacts have to be so rotten. I have tried not caring about the show and trying to focus on the matches, but usually the rest of the show is so bad that I simply do not care if they can deliver two or three star matches anymore. My friends ask me why I watch "that crap" and I don't know what to say. If they are going to keep with the same mentality for every Impact, then I am not going to watch anymore. I'm tired of Impact not being consistent, and watching Impact now is more frustrating than fun. Impact should be instead titled "Stupidity and Madness" (S & M) because that's all it is.

Terrie Neilson of Las Vegas, Nev. (0.0): Best: Christian vs. Tomko. Worst: Angle so desperately needing a paycheck? I'm actually giving TNA a big fat goose-egg for one action that outweighs every piece of build going into Slammiversary so far.  While I couldn't make out the chants, the opening was hot and crowd was all over it.  Styles is a full face now and the crowd is all good about that; last week's massive beatdown worked.  The b.s. over Karen really needs to go, but it does feed well into the whole thing.  Kong is in a holding pattern fighting fans now apparently. In the meantime, the only female feud going on has nothing to do with the title.  The value of the Women's Title is going down faster than the price of gas is going up.   Ace Young's video featuring Lethal and Val was pretty decent, and the crowd didn't seem to mind him too much.  Just wish there was something cooler about the whole Val-Jay-Sonjay triangle.  J.B. must study astral projection or something because he was everywhere in no time flat.  The video packages for both Rhino-Storm and Christian-Tomko were nicely done and both matches were very good, though I give the edge to Christian-Tomko for the heat level. Minus Jim Cornette's updates on Slammiversary and the "main event" second beatdown of A.J. Styles, now including Christian, I would have given tonight an 8.0.  One thing ended it all:  Kurt Angle scheduled for the PPV when he's clearly been announced as having an injured neck.  Who in their ever-infinite wisdom is allowing this to happen?  Kurt Angle was wearing full clothes because I bet his noticeably changed physique hasn't righted itself; Booker was probably in suit and tie so as not make Kurt look so obviously out of place.  All it takes is one bad bump in his current condition, and I don't even want to think what the consequences could be.  Epitaph to Kurt Angle that I don't want to see, giving a nod to WWE since TNA can't keep its head out of WWE's ass: "Samoa Joe didn't kill Kurt Angle.  Kurt Angle killed Kurt Angle."

Wayne Maye of Richmond, Va. (2.0): Best Match: Christian vs. Tomko, which isn't saying much. Worst Match: Everything else on this show. Well, I'm leaving TNA reax? It's going to snow tonight! First and foremost, I'm a WWE loyalist, and I normally don't watch Impact, but on this particular night, I just thought I'd watch for the hell of it. Even though I'm sort of biased towards WWE, my thoughts are honest and I'm calling it definitely like I see it. To begin things, we have a 20 minute interview segment with Samoa Joe, Booker T, Team 3D, Christian, LAX, and Hector Guerrero (he sounded like a poor version of Eddie Guerrero, even though they're related, respectively). Booker (it seemed like he was in King Booker mode for this promo), Joe, and Christian were good on the mic, but really, this segment was almost pointless and went nowhere. A.J. Styles's attack at the end was sort of predictable, but it meant less because the camera abruptly cut away to Karen Angle backstage. So much for his "big revenge.” Ah, they were hyping that A.J. had a "big announcement" in regards to Karen later. Can't wait to get to that one. That promo with Ace Young, Sonjay Dutt, Val, and Jay Lethal was average at best, but forgettable. That Randy Savage impersonation was okay at first, but now it's definitely run its course. Also, TNA gets several million points deducted for copying the classic Savage-Liz (R.I.P.) angle from WWF 1991. The Hoyt & Rave vs. Dutt & Lethal three minute tag match was nothing special, just like the post-match promo, in which they cut to another commercial when Dutt was about to make his announcement, and some announcement it was because it seems as if the crowd could care not less about Dutt being the best man at the Slammiversary wedding. All signs point to that being a complete disaster, by the way. Also, that music video was beyond horrible. Now, I have to talk about this next promo with Angelina Love and Velvet Sky. Angelina had the worst line of the night (and possibly the worst line I EVER heard on any wrestling program) when she said "don't hate our good looks, hate the game." I said to myself, that didn't make any sense, and my wife said she was about to say the same thing. The "Knockouts" match was so boring it almost knocked me out, to sleep that is. Funny story: During this match, I was attempting to explain to my wife about the rules of that Battle Royal/Ladder/Loser Gets Her Head Shaved match, and I had a difficult time explaining the rules, and she kept looking at me like, "stop while you're ahead, it's too complicated to explain." Moving on from the silly segment with Cornette and Borash and Booker and Team 3D storming the office, we come to the Eric Young segment, which was not funny or entertaining. Why this guy is still getting TV time I'll never know. at this point in the show. It's alarming to mention that between the interview segments and backstage antics, there was roughly 35 minutes alloted to talking, which by far exceeded the total match time in the first hour, which was one of the worst first hours of wrestling I've ever witnessed. The Nash-Cornette segment was another time-wasting event, with Nash not only being an enforcer for the upcoming KOTM match, but also somehow becomes an enforcer of sorts in his office. I'll let you draw your own conclusions on that one. That Abyss video was ridiculous. The Awesome Kong segment with the "random fan" was another pointless segment that doesn't look like it's going anywhere. That "fan" literally had no chance in hell and I think the crowd noticed that, too. What a way to showcase your alleged number one female competitor. I also want to mention the video packages leading into the Rhino vs. James Storm match. Is it me or did the packages seem not only pointless in trying to hype the KOTM qualifying matches, but did those video packages come off as some of the most cheesy packages ever? There packages are nowhere near the video packages that WWE produces. Just saying. Which brings me to the match, where Rhino and Storm had what I consider a lackluster match. Tomko's interview was well, interesting. I can see why they kept him off the mic in WWE, but I do admit that TNA has effectively used Tomko better than WWE did. The match with Christian and Tomko was the match of the night, but nothing that you'll remember tomorrow. I seriously hope Christian goes back to WWE someday. I do not know what to say about the final segment. AJ teases that he has a "big announcement", and when it's time, he gets thrashed by Angle. What a swerve, I say sarcastically. Man, is Angle a shell of his former self or what. He could definitely use some time away from the ring. Christian and AJ get the boots laid to them by Angle, Team 3D, and Booker, and I'm thinking to myself, is this compelling enough to make me purchase Slammiversary, I don't think so. Overall, I can't honestly say that I wasted my time watching this show, but it did provide me some laughter and continuous questions about the booking of this program, which is absolutely horrendous. I kept asking myself (and my wife), why am I watching this? She couldn't even answer and neither can I. This was one of the worst episodes of wrestling I've seen since the ECW debut show on Sci-Fi in 2006. I'm not even sure if I'm going to watch next week's Impact. All I know is I'm going to continue to be my loyal WWE self and anticipate One Night Stand this Sunday! Thumbs all the way down for this episode of Impact.

We welcome your 1-10 score and comments on this show for a "Impact 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 Impact, click here.


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