TNA Imapct Hits

Beer Money vs. Rock-n-Rave: Jimmy Rave did a really nice job of getting the live crowd behind him and Lance Rock early on. As much as I hate the redneck name of the Off The Wagon Challenge, it's a nice television hook for TNA. That said, I wish the guys who were eliminating people from the roster were showcased more than the guys who are leaving.

Sting and Kurt Angle: This week's followup wasn't nearly as strong as the last two weeks of angles, but they are doing a good job of building up to one of their biggest matches. I am turned off by the role that Jeff Jarrett is playing in the build to the match. The focus seemed to drift away from Sting vs. Angle to how great it was that Jeff booked the match. I realize they're building to an eventual Angle vs. Jarrett rubber match, but they can get back there without so much Jarrett involvement in this feud.

TNA Impact Misses

Samoa Joe has a big knife: The police were called because someone trashed Booker T's locker room, yet Samoa Joe was shown on camera holding a giant Rambo knife to Steiner's throat and no one seemed to care. Mike Tenay didn't even flinch on commentary, as he simply said something about Joe's nation of violence and then moved on to whatever was next on the frantically paced show. First of all, what the hell is a nation of violence? Second, you'd think that a wrestler holding a knife to the throat of another wrestler would be major news, but in the overbooked world of TNA it was forgotten seconds later. Even Scott Steiner seemed unfazed when he came out to the ring a short time later.

Don West lashes out at Mike Tenay: Is West a heel? Everything he said made Tenay seem like the prick and kiss ass that West said he was. How many times did Tenay praise Jeff Jarrett for putting together the Sting vs. Kurt Angle match? I'm all for an announcer shakeup and I'd even welcome West playing a heel color commentator role, but I don't want this angle to overshadow the wrestlers who make money for the promotion. That said, kudos to West for delivering a quality promo.

A.J. Styles: Does anyone know why he's so pissed at Booker T? A.J. just shows up every week and attacks Booker because he wants the world to know that he's a legend. I don't get it. The Mafia faction was supposedly designed to get the young guys over, but I challenge anyone to name a younger wrestler who is in a better place right now because of the Mafia storyline.

Sojourner Bolt and Rhaka Khan vs. Awesome Kong and Raisha Saeed. A horrible match. It's time for Khan to take the loss in a match against Beer Money. Her look is trashy and she's atrocious in the ring and on the mic. At the very least, they should keep her off television until she improves.

Four-way Ladder Match: Good action during the five minutes of the match that aired. Unfortunately, the four wrestlers who were involved in the match took a backseat to the Suicide character. Viewers don't know whether Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin are heels, they've been given no reason to care about Consequences Creed, and they're bored with the Black Machismo character that TNA just won't give up on.

Overall show: This was a big step backward following the last two weeks of above average shows. You'd think TNA creative would have figured out that the last two shows clicked because they slowed down and focussed on Kurt Angle vs. Sting. I was hoping they'd show similar focus on other storylines, but they jumped right back to the rapid fire chaos that makes Impact so frustrating to watch.

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