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Dan Strauss of Goodhue, Minn. (6.0): Best: Kaz vs. Petey Williams. Worst: Beer Money whipping everyone and their mother. The initial confrontation of Samoa Joe and Booker T was alright. Did Joe come from a funeral? Not sure he should be wearing a suit, doesn't seem to be his style. We saw some great action and spots early on with Kaz vs. Petey Williams. My only issue is the inconsistant effectiveness of some moves. Kaz hit two moves that resembled WWE finishing moves; one was a move that looked like Randy Orton's RKO, and the other resembled a Mic Check by Mr. Kennedy. Petey kicked out of both, as well as a sweet looking backwards piledriver. TNA seems to like doing this with the spotfest matches to keep the matches going and provoke close two counts, but you're losing credibility in the whole industry because you have some guys kicking out after two to the same moves that spell the end to other matches. Great match, though. Brother Ray's line about Christian's ego being bigger than Awesome Kong's toilet seat was hilarious. The battle royal was alright, although it appeared the fans in the Impact Zone couldn't count along with the timer very well. I did notice Beer Money brought belts with them and whipped fans, refs, and other authority figures; have they done that before? Of course they have; they do it every damn week and it's getting old. We're supposed to believe they whip random fans without any lawsuit? What's next, ramming a car into an unconscious wrestler in jean shorts? The show ending was okay, I guess. I really don't think this is a money feud anymore.

Shane McKinley of Danville, Calif. (5.5): Best Match: Gauntlet. Worst Match: TNA Championship Titles. I would like to buy TNA some lights. Most of their backstage skits are dark and murky. It makes the show look unprofessional. Samoa Joe doesn't want the belt back? Booker T is the new "champion" because his wife counted the three? What? Haven't TNA fans (who are not VIP) suffered enough without Beer Money lashing at them? I'm through with Kaz. Every week he does not win yet the same old "roller coaster career" bit gets played up. Enough. That freight train hit you. When the Kaz-Petey match ended, I forgot that the X Division Title was on the line. Titles are a joke in TNA. Liked the Nash-Joe bit. Good psychology. Drunken frat boys are more entertaining than the Curryman-Sharkboy-Super Eric triangle of crap. Solution? Beer Money randomly shows up and beats them up (all the while in near darkness). People change their names to Nikki Sixx. Lance Hoyt's new name? Lance Rock. Um, yeah. Probably one of the worst bits in the Team 3D-Angle and Cage-Styles-Rhino. Nobody sold the effects of such a "brutal match." Nobody seems to put any logic or thought into what they were saying. While I do applaud Cage shooting down TNA's usual formula of wrestlers saying "we're going to kick your ass but we'll wait till the PPV," his logic of "we get to decide the time and type of match, not you" is just unbelivable. Best part of the night was the Knockout Gaunlet, because maybe it was the most focused. Uh, Creed gets a title shot at Booker's "championship"? Somebody give TNA a crash course on "making belts significant." A TNA belt means as much as a belt from JCPenny's. Sonjay Dutt-Jay Lethal feud? Is this still going on? TNA must have a fetish for whipping people. Liked the ending with Booker getting in the head of Joe, and the heel turn of Sting. Other than that same old song and dance: matches that people have already seen before (Kaz vs. Petey), a hyping of next week, and a throwaway gimmick match (strecther match). What I don't get in the Booker-Joe feud is how the title is being treated. I like the feud, but this championship title bit is just nonsense. No way should the flagship championship title (or any title, for that matter) be secondary to a current feud. Belts (whch stay around and never get injured) should always have more significance than a wrestler or feuds (who come and go). TNA continues to shoot itself in the foot with the overemphasis on gimmick matches (thus burning out the novelty of the match) and the underemphasis of title belts (which makes title matches seem less important).

Terrie Neilson of Las Vegas, Nev. (6.0): Best: Booker-Joe promo Worst: The feeling of filler. Keeping my picky brain out of things I was entertained for the most part by tonight's show. As far as most of the show went, the transition from one PPV to the next went fairly smoothly. There seems to be some other transitions happening: Lance's name change (fits better), Kaz potentially turning heel off a losing streak, the Eric/Super Eric story continues. The Dutt-Lethal-Val soap opera further going down the tubes a la the Eddie Guerrero chair fake (and most certainly a replay will not be used to prove anything). Right now I don't know which show is worse with anrachy running amok, Raw or TNA. The current storyline is that Raw is completely without a GM running their show playing to large venues, which is a valid enough reason. Meanwhile on TNA, Beer Money is running rampant, strapping everyone in sight in the same small venue they play in every week. Mike Tenay and Don West are all over it worried about the legal consequences of their actions, and that was perfectly fine. Jim Cornette, though, was too busy setting up the Knockouts Rumble-uh, Gauntlet-match, and apparently couldn't make it into the arena fast enough. Looks like Traci Brooks may be serving as some kind of liaison for Cornette, and that might be a good thing if booked right (which it isn't already). And this whole business with Sting has me throwing up my hands. He figures into the finish in a way that doesn't fit either his character or the Joe-Booker storyline. Cornette at least had a set when ordering Booker to surrender the belt as he made it clear that the decision couldn't stand. I'm guessing Joe allowed Booker to keep the belt as some form of symbolic chase for the gold and psych-up strategy, but for the umpteenth time we have title belt which is in someone other than the real owner's hands. All through the night there was build toward trying to find an answer to Sting's appearance and actions, and at the end... nothing was answered. Cornette didn't seem too worried about Sting, since he didn't demand to see him and get an answer since the match finish was affected. Tenay was able to sit Sting down before to interview him, and now apparently he has lost his ability to do that? But in the end, I give big kudos to the little boy throwing down X chops during Beer Money's in-ring whipping free for all. Hey kid, I'm not down with this either, and I got two words for it! Need I say more?

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