-- 7/24 WWE Smackdown Reax

Kevin Hudson of Toronto, Ont. (7.5): Best Match: Hardy-Jericho. Worst Match: Eve-Natalya. I can't believe we got to watch that awesome Jericho-Hardy match on free television. It was a 15-minute clinic on how to tear the roof off of a place. It also helps that Jeff Hardy is easily the most over guy in the company right now. Even Cena doesn't get a pop like Jeff was getting any time he made an appearance tonight. It's too bad they followed that gem with a brutal Mike Knox squash to Khali. The show bounced back a bit with a decent outing from Finlay and Ziggler. Dolph is awesome, and has been made to look very good going into his match with Mysterio this Sunday. For the first time ever I actually enjoyed, and even laughed a little, at the 'Word Up' segment. The snowball fight line from Jesse was pretty good. Unfortunately, they followed this up by having Eve go over Natalya. Natalya is easily the best woman in the company not challenging for or holding a title, and there is no way she should be lying down for eye-candy like Eve. Here's to hoping the Hart Dynasty gets their much-deserved push before it's too late. The show did finish on a high-note with another great TV match from Punk and Mysterio. Even with the few missteps on the program, this show was about 1,000 times better than last Monday's Raw. The show did a lot, in my opinion, to hype the Smackdown Night of Champion matches, something Raw didn't come close to doing. Raw is the "A" show, Michael Cole? You haven't been on the "A" show for months, my friend, because the flagship program holds nothing on the Friday night show; hasn't for a long time, and won't in the foreseeable future.

Terrie Neilson of Las Vegas, Nev. (8.5): Best: Hardy vs. Jericho; Eve vs. Natalya. Worst: Khali vs. Knox. After some really big bumps in the road, the wrestling week ended on a solid note. Smackdown did what Raw bungled and ECW isn't given the importance to do: put in a great final PPV sell. Since WrestleMania, no one has been able to touch Chris Jericho in the ring. He's had the sweet surprise with Steamboat, an on-fire match series with Mysterio, and just as good match with Jeff Hardy. Jeff's Whisper In The Wind finally looked legit, though dangerously so. Kane-Khali is keeping up the intrigue. Too bad the end game will be a disappointment. And the Khali-Knox match wasn't much to look at it, but the Punjabi Plunge was pretty impressively bumped by Knox. Jesse got to bring up his Freebirds ties. I wish his character was taken more seriously, but the door is open finally. And Jesse's taken another step toward aligning with Cryme Tyme. Hart Dynasty needs another guy, and a potentially good six-man tag match could be on the horizon. HD with Jericho to keep the Canadian thing going? Meanwhile, a very good effort by their female sides. It almost upstaged what little build there was for the Michelle-Melina PPV title match. The Dolph-Maria relationship continues to intrigue me in a good way. I notice he threw his sweat over her head and out of her way. She then checks on him later (dare I say a heelish move after the fact), giving Finlay a win. Truth-Haas was a serviceable match with the added sweetness of JR's answer to Grisham's "What's Up?" The subtle little exchange did quite a bit alone to spur interest in the PPV, even if the card looks too familiar. Punk's "challenge" promo made a tough assumption: that there wasn't even one person not afflicted with one or more of the Big Three vices (smoking, drinking, drugs). Should he have said he was a vegetarian/vegan, too, who drives an E85 or electric car to really drive his lifestyle home? Jeff's promo was nicely delivered and should have been placed after Punk's to really have the point-counterpoint together for comparison. The kid who won the Rey Mysterio mask design contest came up with a good design. Congrats, kid. The match was another good one for the week, but I think even the crowd knew something was coming. They were a little too quiet for the longest time. I think they also expected a dirty or no finish, so they didn't seem disappointed at the finish. ECW didn't have a fair shake, but in the end Smackdown made the most of the final build.

-- 7/23 TNA Impact Reax

Adam Riemer (0.5): Best: n/a Worst: The fact that people still say Triple H is the worst at burying people, they should see what TNA is doing. One week ago, I thought TNA finally had what it took to go head to head with WWE, then Victory Road happened and it was like 20 steps back because Impact was a very bad show. No one knows the "truth" as to why Jarrett is not on TV, (even though we can all assume what it was for), but even though I don't really care for his character, not having him on TV leaves so many holes to their storylines. It is good to see Taz, but they are still trying to explain the absolute stupidity of having Joe join the Mafia. Having Taz pretty much say that Joe was lost before he came around left me scratching my head. Joe was a World Champion wasn't he? How was he lost? Wasn't he the most over guy in the company before TNA buried his character to just be some lackey to Kurt Angle? If Joe was ordered by Taz to kill Kurt Angle, and Joe was ordered to take out the Mafia and create this Nation of Violence, why is it all of a sudden about money? My head hurts! Is Traci now in the Mafia? Glad to see she is the law for the knockouts. If she was really suppose to be the law, why didn't she confront Angelina Love about basically buying a ref so she could win the title? My head still hurts! Lauren is still the WORST backstage announcer in the business. Her facial expressions and her over-selling everything is just beyond ridiculousness. Hey there is Daffney! Two weeks ago she was a star in a high profile feud. This week, she was just another Knockout competing for the Mafia...how sad and stupid. We see that either A.J. Styles or Matt Morgan will face Kurt Angle and Sting. (Why does Sting get a title shot - he just tapped out to Joe?) I love A.J., but the man has been buried 20 times by the Main Event Mafia. I don't like Morgan's character at all, but at least he will add intrigue when Kurt and he are in the same ring against each other. Is it really the Main Event Mafia anymore? I mean, are they just adding people left and right? This is becoming like the NWO Hollywood when 240 people were in it. Is Eric Young now in the Mafia? His turn was ridiculously obvious. I actually think Eric vs. A.J. would be much more entertaining than A.J. being involved with Sting and Kurt. Mick Foley is still entertaining, but the Keys On the Pole match was such a stupid gimmick match. Mick just needs to call it quits in the ring; he is not Ric Flair, who could still put on good matches. I like Mick on the mic, and would much rather have him just go back to being the deranged authority figure of TNA. Bobby Lashley would have surprised me more if he attacked Mick Foley, but it's a shame that former WWE superstars are burying the likes of A.J. Styles, Daniels, Kaz, etc.

We welcome your 0-10 score and comments on this show for a "TV 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 Smackdown and Impact, click here.

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