By Greg Parks, PWTorch columnist

TNA took full advantage of an undermanned Raw roster and put on a heck of an Impact show this past week. Probably the best one I've seen, even counting January 4th's Hulk Hogan/Eric Bischoff kick-off event. Raw, on the other hand, appeared like they weren't even attempting to put on a good show, likely hoping they'd get a pass from the fans. They also probably didn't expect that TNA would come out guns a-blazing.


1. Rob Van Dam wins TNA World Heavyweight Championship. I'm sure few fans expected RVD to walk out of Universal Studios as Champion after Monday's Impact. But A.J. Styles as champion just didn't seem to be working. An uncharacteristically bold move from TNA management.

2. Samoa Joe returns, helps Team Hogan. Joe returned with no explanation after being abducted several weeks ago. He returned as bad-ass Samoa Joe, and hopefully we'll get an explanation on where he was/how Bischoff was able to get him to return, this Monday night.

3. Undertaker accepts Jack Swagger's challenge. We haven't seen Taker since his Wrestlemania match with Shawn Michaels, and few expected to see him at all until the summer was over. But a thin roster because of the Raw squad being stuck in Europe forced WWE's hand and Taker had to fill in.

4. R-Truth blown up by MacGruber. This probably would've been higher if this was treated as anything but a joke. Since it was treated as such, it's almost barely worth mentioning. However, at the time, I'm sure fans figured WWE would address it later in the show, or at least, in Truth's next WWE appearance. They were wrong.

5. RVD beats Jeff Hardy for the #1 Contender to the TNA World Title. This was a bit of an upset, as Hardy as been portrayed as more of a major player in TNA than RVD. But perhaps Hardy's legal situation caused TNA to think that RVD would be the safer bet to carry the brand, at least, for the near future.

6. Hulk Hogan puts over World Title huge in opening segment. The opening segment on Impact was almost too long, but TNA did something in that one segment they haven't done in months: establish the importance of the World Title. In Vince Russo's booking history, titles have not meant much, and while this was only one week, hopefully the title being the focus is a sign of things to come.

7. Rey Mysterio cuts off a piece of CM Punk's hair. Punk's hair is on the line at Extreme Rules tonight, and Mysterio got things started early but taking the scissors to Punk's long locks on Monday. That would seem to indicate Punk will be winning on Sunday, a good bet anyway since that would even the feud at one win apiece.

8. Eric Bischoff teases World Heayvweight Title ranking system. Instituting a ranking system and explaining why wrestlers get the opportunity at the title would further improve the prestige of the belt. Hopefully, TNA keeps the formula relatively simple, though I know that's asking a lot in their case.

9. Lilian Garcia returns for one night. With Justin Roberts likely still in England and Raw in Garcia's backyard, it made sense to give her a call to help out this past week. As hard as I've been on her for her announcing in the past, it was nice to hear her do ring introductions again, if only for one night.

10. Vladimir Kozlov thwarted by The Great Khali. Last week, Kozlov promised to destroy MacGruber, but the action star had a back-up plan: Khaluber, aka The Great Khali. Luckily, they kept the match short. It was a bit surprising too, as Khali had signed off Smackdown a few weeks ago to go back to his home country for a while.

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