Wade Keller, Torch Editor (4.0)

I'm never crazy about entrusting a pro wrestling promotion with a fake-rape type of storyline. Pro wrestling's history of handling false accusations by women against men pretty much always ends up with an uncomfortable storyline that just reeks of the men running the show trying to send some signal rooted in their real life frustration with women. There are some places pro wrestling storylines should go, not because there's some hard and fast rule against it, but just because it's so difficult in a wrestling environment to pull it off without taking viewers to a place I don't think they want to go when watching pro wrestling.

More sloppy wrestling on this show than usual for TNA throughout many of the matches... They didn't do any follow up on the Sting-Jarrett feud. The Sting turn feels so flat and contradictory that I think it'd led to pretty much total ambivalence... The character development remains a mess. Are Team 3D now heels? Should we sympathize with Williams, since Kaz sure seems to? Is Sting still fighting for TNA and does he still love TNA?... The backstage video footage is more creepy and disconcerting than innovative and compelling. That concept needs some tweaking... I'll also say there were quite a few scenes on this show that demanding more acting chops than the people involved have.

James Caldwell, Torch Assistant Editor (3.0)

This was a mess. Yes, this was taped the day after the news came down that TNA failed on Monday nights and they were moving back to Thursdays, but there are no excuses for this show. The PPV hype was abysmal from top-to-bottom, the Abyss assault angle set pro wrestling back a couple decades, the multiple camera filters and presentations make it seem like amateur hour where someone in the production truck has a new tool on Apple and wants to experiment with a bunch of different "cool features" without adhering to a general internal logic of how the show should be presented, and the wrestling was, as usual, secondary to the "TV drama" type angles that Vince Russo wants to define his career on by creating these elaborate stories that make no sense at the end of the day.

Last week, the Sting-Hogan promo exchange mess made no sense. This week, it was the Abyss angle where TNA apparently (a) wanted to take to exercise their anti-women demons and (b) apparently wanted to riff on the media taking a "shoot first, ask questions later" approach. All of this had nothing to do with presenting a compelling pro wrestling TV show that should have been designed to sell the PPV on Sunday. It's been well-documented that TNA serves the TV master first, but they didn't even try to sell the PPV and get some extra coin in their pocket.

The final angle on the show with Jeff Hardy and Mr. Anderson was fine to set up the PPV...until Jeff Hardy came off the ladder and splashed Mr. Anderson through the table. Why would anyone buy a PPV after getting the happy ending on free TV? So, Hardy wins a wrestling match that TNA has conditioned the audience to view as filler and skippable content is supposed to be a bigger deal than watching Hardy take Anderson through the table with four different camera angles? Why would anyone buy the PPV after seeing the big payoff?

TNA also seemed to be hyping that RVD vs. Styles vs. Jeff Hardy was actually for the TNA World Title. They made it pretty clear at the top of the show, then, suddenly, it was non-title when it came match time. Why would anyone buy a PPV to see RVD vs. Styles after (a) seeing RVD vs. Styles vs. Hardy on free TV and (b) TNA promising a World Title match at the top of the show, then switching it to a non-title deal when the match came around?

One of the biggest flaws on the show exposed one of TNA's biggest weaknesses creatively. Samoa Joe and Matt Morgan picked up their first real interaction to start a program heading to Slammiversary, yet TNA gave away the Muscle Buster the first time they touched! TNA shows time and time again they don't have a clue how to pace a story and build anticipation. Why would you give that away, even if it was to set up The Band getting the tag titles? The first Muscle Buster should have been built for weeks and weeks to see if Joe could actually get Morgan up in the air for Muscle Buster on the Slammiversary PPV. Now, the audience has seen it without being able to anticipate "the moment" and the program has lost some steam. Sure, TNA can recover in the weeks to come, but it exposed the short-sighted, unsophisticated, undisciplined creative effort from this company.

The rest of the show was like an episode of Monty Python. I've used this analogy before with TNA Impact. It just seems like the show moves at the pace of "And now, for something completely different," and not as an attempt at satire or humor, but in a serious tone that turns into laughable, unintentional comedy. Here's an angle, then here's a guy in the ring, then here's another angle, and here's a guy walking down the hallway, then there's Christy Hemme editorializing, then there's Rob Terry walking down the hallway, then there's RVD and Jeff Hardy talking awkwardly in a side room, then here's another random match, etc. The show is moving a million miles per hour and it's not entertaining to watch. It's a total mess.

Nick D'Achino, PWTorch.com Contributor (2.0)

It's been a criticism of those in TNA that they are obsessed with trying to re-create their past successes by repeating them over and over. This show featured TNA repeating past failures over and over. Relying on guys like established names to get you ratings did work at one point. Contrived angles about alleged Sexual Assault never worked. Talking about “popping ratings” never worked. This week hearkened back to Thursday Impacts of old, where nearly every segment was rant worthy. Since the Van Dam title win, there appears to be less of a Hogan or Bischoff influence with each passing week. TNA has tried everything from different networks, to different timeslots, to different nights of the week, to different shaped rings, yet they will not change actual WRITER of the show. It boggles the mind.

Don’t get me started on Abyss crying about not doing “it” without knowing what he was being accused of. Don’t get me started on the fact that it was a repeat of an angle done with Goldberg from one of the most disastrous WCW Nitro’s in history from 1999. Putting the tag titles on Hall and Nash in 2010 was going to draw criticism to begin with, but to not even put them over in victory and have them win the titles like they did? I'm sure in some twisted logic TNA creative thinks that because they didn't actually win a real match, that makes it OKAY for them to have the titles because they really didn't beat anyone. Of course that then does absolutely nothing for the value of the tag titles or the team holding them. From Jeff Hardy's bizarre promo, to showing Ric Flair the way they did, to the over reliance on awful skits that pushed the bounds of the acting skills of their wrestlers, TNA showcased the absolute worst of its roster on this Impact.

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