-- 12/17 TNA Impact Reax

Jarel Barnes of Virginia Beach, Va. (6.0): Best Match: Wolfe vs. Daniels. Worst Match: Multi-team tag match. TNA was a lot better than last week's garbage dump. This week was more watchable, but not by much. It appears to me that the whole Jarrett-Angle-Foley-Carter scenario has its good and its bad parts. It's good because it's an interesting way to set up the drama of who's Hogan's rival. It's bad because the delivery and execution of the segments sucks! Lou Ferrigno's little pop-up with Mick Foley being screwed by Nash was really dumb. I like the tension with Nash and Foley, but I prefer it without physical contact between the two until a PPV match. The Abyss segment wasn't cool at all because the average TNA fan wouldn't have known about the YouTube video of Abyss being "burned" by Dr. Stevie and Raven. And the video was crap anyways because they tried to pass a studio lot in Orlando as the Arena. This cheapens the product when you have Raven and Dr. Stevie beat down a giant man in flip-flops. The Beautiful People without Angelina Love are just horrible to watch, but the tag match was actually decent. Sarita and Taylor Wilde make a great tag team, and Sarita could be pushed a little better. Hamada/Kong makes sense because of Kong's Japanese wrestling background and they probably should have been together from the jump without that Raisha Saeed character. Hamada moves beautifully in the ring and is one of the best wrestlers in TNA male or female. As for the KO Division champion, ODB, she is inconsistent at times. During the match with Roxxi, I loved the "Implant Buster" comment by Taz, but still, Taz had his worst night on commentary. ... The Daniels/Wolfe match was classic. Nice European-style storytelling meshing with Daniels's high-flying ring persona. As for January 4, this will be a big day, but people have to understand that consistent marketing and good wrestling is needed and that popular wrestlers should be pushed over favorites. This process will take at least six months to a year before TNA is on some even field with WWE, brother.

Terrie Neilson of Las Vegas, Nev. (3.0): Best: Daniels vs. Wolfe. Worst: January 4 expectations. As the show progressed, my gut-feeling became worse and worse that January 4 will be the day that TNA tries to start NWO vs. DX with the Hulkster and it fails. Before getting there, Roxxi returned to get a win over ODB. But she hardly looked hardcore (attire wise). Hamada (a face so far) was randomly teamed with Kong, who has been recently on a heel run. Those two could make a good team, but why were they paired together? And where is Alissa Flash, who was feuding with Hamada? Lethal was jobbed again to a legend. I wouldn't exactly call Tatanka a legend, but at least he moved in the ring better than Neidhart. Is it Lethal who is in the doghouse to explain the jobbing...or Savage? The one good thing about a time limit draw is that it's an acceptable, unclean finish. Wolfe-Daniels could be a nice PPV match later, though I'm sure TNA had fun trying to sell this as a dual-heel match. The main event ended with not one, but two heels standing tall to promote two separate PPV events. It probably means the faces will prevail, and thus champion A.J. Styles retains. While half of the broadcast was focused on the PPV matches, the other half focused on the Foley-Jarrett-Carter-Hogan quadrangle. My question is how much of this will take over the PPV, thus killing what actually looks like a potentially good outing on Sunday?

THarris of Huntsville, Ala. (3.5): Best Match: ODB-Roxie. Worst Match: Lumberjack match. Impact bored me to tears. The angle with Jarrett, Foley, and Carter is bothersome on so many fronts and I don't know or care where it's going. It's boring. Russo stated one time that he writes Impact like "Lost." It now looks like he's writing it like "As the World Turns." What he needs to write is his resignation letter and let Hogan turn over the writing of the show to people who know what they're doing like Jim Cornette. Seeing Mick Foley stumble and bumble throughout the show didn't make me want to stay tuned in to see what was going to happen. This circus was good ten years ago, but somebody tell them that it's 2009, not 1999. I switched off the show a couple of times and went to watch "Housewives" because their show is more entertaining than TNA. I used to order the TNA PPVs, but they're so predictable. I'll just save my money for the next WWE PPV where at least I'm somewhat mildly entertained. ... Daniels, Abyss, Samoa Joe, A.J. Styles, and Team 3D are all acts that have worn thin. Real thin. Desmond Wolfe was a breath of fresh air for two weeks. Now he's as stale as they are. Long story made real short - Impact isn't getting better. It's still a D-level TV show. Even Tenay and Taz seemed somewhat embarrassed by what they were seeing.

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.

We suggest these recent related articles...

WWE PPV REAX #1: "I wanted the biggest event of the summer to end with an exclamation point; it ended with a semicolon and a question"

WWE PPV REAX #1: Battleground finish generates mixed reactions...

WWE PPV REAX #2: In-Person Battleground Report on overall show, reactions, more