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RADICAN'S TAKE
RADICAN: Impact greatness highlighted by Kong, MCMG, Team 3D, Styles Jun 21, 2008 - 6:07:23 PM
This was a great edition of Impact. I thought the show had a great flow from start to finish and the match quality was tremendous from top to bottom with the exception of the Salinas vs. Jacqueline contest. If you couple these elements with some very good backstage segments, you've got a great show on your hands.
Booker T looked good in going over B.G. James. I liked the backstage stuff with Joe and Borash watching Booker that lead into Nash entering the equation. I'm glad Joe is getting away from being the whiny heel and is now turning into more of a "man of the people" champion. Working a program with Booker and then Nash can't hurt Joe either, as he'll get rub from two big names. I don't care much for Joe yelling at Nash, I think he can come off as more of a badass just by playing things cool.
The MCMG are stars whether management likes them or not. The past two weeks, they've been great. Sabin and Shelley will both be stars one day and they are a blast to watch as they just begin their careers. I hope management sees them in a different light at some point, as there is money to be made with them in the tag division anchoring the undercards on PPVs from month to month against a wealth of tag team talent on the roster.
I don't get the X Cup rules yet, but the new talent TNA has brought in is impressive. TNA nicely set up an X Cup Preview match by highlight Kaz as being someone important before he faced Alex Koslov. The spot where Koslov dances and kicks his opponent at the same time is great.
The Awesome Kong $25,000 challenge was a blast as well with the "fan" getting a ton of offense this week. I'm excited to see where this goes, as it only furthers Kong's reputation as a monster in the Knockouts division.
The Team 3D promo setting up their match against Cage & Styles was awesome. Those guys came across like big time stars. D-Von surprised me with his mic work tonight, as he promised blood, guts, and all sorts of violence on Styles and Cage. That's how you set up a main event.
The main event match itself was great. The faces beat on the heels forever. Then the heels cheated to get the advantage. Cage made a one-man comeback before the match broke down and the right man (Styles) got the pin. I loved the ending as well with Trigg distracting Styles to set up Angle attacking him from behind, which will only strengthen the programs under the Joe-Booker T main event at the next PPV.
Other thoughts: Matt Morgan telling me how he made the most prestigious high school basketball team in high school and decided to quit because the competition was too stiff didn't come across well… Salinas is a terrible wrestler and I loved how Jacqueline just beat the crap out of her and choked her out to win… I wonder if TNA will fly me out to Texas so I can accidentally strap Caldwell in his front row seat during the LAX match (just kidding about Caldwell, but I'd love to do some strapping)…
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