James Caldwell, Torch Assistant Editor (4.5)

I have to give this week's Impact a slight thumbs down, mainly because I saw a better version of the episode live at the Impact tapings compared to what aired on Spike TV. Blame it on the show being over-booked and TNA forced to cut corners to squeeze into two hours. The overall product seemed to be a mish-mash of angles, matches, and segments without a consistent flow.

I'm not sold on the ECW Invasion angle in principle. I want to see where it's leading before writing it off as another attempt at nostalgia to re-live the '90s, but the actual angle, as it played out on TV, was a letdown. A much better kick-off to the angle occurred at Monday's TV taping. The version that played out on TV was very tame and lacked a certain fire that was present on Monday when it was taped. Again, blame it on TNA over-booking the show and having to cut corners presenting the "big angle" on the show.

The rest of the show was over-loaded with gimmick matches and stipulations leading to more stipulation match. Thankfully, Motor City Machineguns and Beer Money had another stand-out match. If I ordered the Victory Road PPV, though, I would be upset with TNA giving away the best match of the PPV four days later on free TV.

Abyss being named the new #1 contender to the TNA Title wasn't explained well at all. The determination of the new Top 10 wasn't explained well either. Again, blame it on the show being over-booked to where TNA had to hit so many points on a rapid-fire basis that the entire product came across like a mish-mash of too many things being packed into two hours.

Greg Parks, Torch Columnist (4.0)

Bad on a lot of levels, from confusion in several segments (including the main one, ya know, the one that's supposed to change things for the 9th time) to rushed matches to gimmick match after gimmick match after gimmick match. Ric Flair's Fortune announcement should've been a huge deal, but instead, he and the others were whisked away so Abyss and the old ECW codgers could take center stage.

Dixie Carter inviting the ECW guys is intriguing, but why did she wait so long into the segment to pronounce that? And if she invited them, it's not really an invasion, is it? And why was Al Snow shocked, considering he was fighting on the ECW side? My head hurts. At least we got another good Machine Guns vs. Beer Money match. I have a feeling I'll be writing that exact sentence for the next few weeks.

Daniel Wilkenfeld, PWTorch.com Contributor (6.0)

There was a lot of good action tonight, but it's really hard for me to get over my continual aggravation with respect to the nonsensical rankings. It would be one thing if they didn't have the fan voting, but with that as a factor the illogical placement of Abyss at #1 Contender just seems personally insulting. Since the end was a cliff-hanger, it's hard to know what to make of it. I'm giving it a tentative thumbs up, since it did raise my interest for next week, but I fully expect to have to ret-con that down after next week's show. As to the show as a whole, I'm torn. With a hot ending and more Machine Guns awesomeness, I can't give it a bad grade, but with the really just awful ranking update and first segment I can't give it a good grade either. Let's just call it a 6?

We suggest these recent related articles...

MCMAHON'S TNA IMPACT REPORT 9/30: Final hype for Bound for Glory, Ciampa also wrestles on Impact, Dollhouse vs. BP, more; Overall Reax

MCMAHON'S TNA IMPACT REPORT 9/23: ECIII defends TNA Title, #1 contender match, Hardy "quits" servanthood, two more title matches, more; Overall Reax

MCMAHON'S TNA IMPACT REPORT 9/16: Team TNA vs. Team GFW for control of TNA, new Knockouts champion, more; Overall Reax