-- 7/30 TNA Impact Reax

Terrie Neilson of Las Vegas, Nev. (3.0): Best: Young promo. Worst: Joe vs. Hernandez (not the match). TNA saved itself from another goose-egg but not by much. Unlike most ex-WWE wrestlers, Tara burned no bridges on camera. Good idea, Victoria; you may need it later. The Knockouts tag match that followed took away from the Knockouts Title by making the Tara-Kong feud more important. Not sure what the point of the whole Rhino-Neal storyline is if they keep getting interrupted, unless that is purposely supposed to lead somewhere. Stevie Richards put a $50,000 bounty on Abyss... is that what I gathered from the rambling promo? Whatever. Traci's promo explaining herself to an extent goes back to her pairing with Robert Roode as his assistant. It was about money and work then; it's about money and work now. Eric Young gave a sweet promo that further developed his heel character and placed him right in the center of the World Elite faction. Young is a great choice as leader. The tables match that followed benefited big time from the crowd heat. But the promo brought us full circle to MEM. We have two heel factions and no major group representing the faces. And Young's promo planted a major bullseye on the biggest point of Angle's promo, the money issue. Why didn't The World Elite have an issue with the MEM-TNA salary discrepancy as part of their rant about the U.S. being corrupt? The Guns carrying "Yes We Still Work Here" signs is a sad statement that never will be properly rectified. Joe vs. Hernandez should have been saved for a PPV, with Hernandez defending his title shot case. But no, we got this quickie match (complete with impressive delayed suplex) that strangely buried Joe. The follow-up didn't get me curious about the direction of Joe and Taz; it made me mad that his push has gone sideways instead. I'm reserving judgment on Lashley for the time being as he seems to be tied up with Mick Foley and I still have the "spidey sense" of a swerve coming.

Bill Sartori of Windsor Locks, Conn. (4.5): So, we now have three factions in TNA: The Main Event Mafia, the Originals (or what's left of them), and now the World Elite. What, does everyone get to join a group? Oops, I almost forgot about the Divas...er Knockouts. They have their own group, so we have four autonomous groups in TNA vying for power, glory, and...title belts. The show was watchable but I was going back and forth between TNA and a repeat of "The Lost Boys," (on G4, no less), a 1987 vampire movie with Corey Haim, Jason Patric, and Edward Herrmann as the lead vampire. I see a PPV six-man between Foley, Sting, and Lashley vs. the Mafia in the near future. I say that Foley gets to keep the Legends belt until someone at TNA figures out that Nash wasn't the legal man when he was pinned and shouldn't have lost. Oh well, so much for logic in pro wrestling.

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

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