-- 9/23 TNA Impact Reax

Clay Tonic of Richmond, Va. (5.5): Best Match: A.J. Styles vs. Sabu. Worst Match: Hamada/Wilde vs. The Beautiful People. Okay, so does TNA's product suck or is it awesome? I'm really confused. Impact rivals WWE's best TV when it's on point, but it falls below WWE's worst TV when it's not. WWE has some face-scrunchingly bad segments and they under-utilize some great talent, but at least you know who they're pushing. I'm not trying to get too philosophical here, but really, do most people find it worth two hours of nonsensical b.s. to watch two short matches of good wrestling? Socrates said "the unexamined life is not worth living." TNA's philosophy seems to be "our unexamined life is totally worth watching... so examine it for 15-20 minutes." Do people really want to study the backstage politics of TNA for a significant chunk of their recreational time every week? To enjoy Impact, you just have to look at the very, very big picture, and stop paying attention week-to-week, but that doesn't work. Who watches a weekly TV show with that kind of writing? You can't have a grudge one week, ignore it the next, go back to it the following week, so on and so on. Is Samoa Joe a jobber or a main eventer? What about the Pope? What about EV2.0? Are they a serious threat? I know "Dr." Stevie Richards beat Abyss, but Abyss only seems to be a threat when he gets DQ'ed, so does it even matter what he does? Is Abyss a title contender, a serial killer, a serious backstage influence, just some random weirdo, or none of the above? Are the Beautiful People there to be a dominant tag team, or just there for - pardon the pun - T&A? T&A would actually make sense, but I don't need T&A in my wrestling; I have the Internet. What is TNA trying to sell me here? Why should I believe Jeff Hardy or Mr. Anderson are the best in TNA? They don't seem any more dominant than any other random wrestler on their roster. TNA presents way too many questions, and Sabu doing awesome moves with a steel chair doesn't answer any of them. To be fair, I do like some Sabu with a steel chair, though.

-- 9/24 Question of the Day: Should TNA continue the EV2 angle after Bound for Glory?

Horrorfan, Torch reader: I believe the EV2.0 angle never should have started. WWE already did it within the last five years and it was barely successful. Maybe if they do keep it going, Vince will bail them out too.

-- 9/25 Question of the Day: Who could replace Christian on the Smackdown brand after his injury write-off?

Justin James of Lexington, S.C.: Looking over the Smackdown roster, which is light on faces to begin with (let alone "reliable" ones who can act as enhancement talent), I would expect to see MVP and JTG filling in for Christian in that role. WWE is more likely to try pushing Kofi to the next level than those two, I think. The other option would be to suddenly drop down Big Show into an enhancement guy, but that isn’t likely. Finlay coming off the bench would not be a huge surprise either. Or, perhaps a face turn for Chavo, who has a two-month or so winning streak, but hasn’t been mentioned in the same breath as “title shot” in forever.

Graham H., Torch reader: Smackdown is really scarce on babyfaces, as we already know. I'd like to see Kofi Kingston rise to a feud with Alberto Del Rio, which would just fit in above the U.S. Title level and below the main event level. Unfortunately, I can see Mysterio vs. Del Rio at Hell in a Cell and that feud continuing.

-- Paul Bearer blog Reax

Justin James of Lexington, S.C.: Looking at Paul Bearer’s blog that was reported on earlier, I have the feeling that this may well be The Undertaker’s final run in WWE, and that he is headed for retirement. They didn’t need Paul Bearer in this storyline feud with Kane, and it is not like WWE to plan this deeply, this far ahead for a storyline. Just as Shawn Michaels’ return to DX around this time of year was a prelude to his retirement, I feel fairly certain that Paul Bearer is being brought back to close the circle on The Undertaker once and for all.

[Torch art credit Grant Gould (c) PWTorch.com]

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