By James Caldwell, Torch assistant editor

TNA X Division champion Samoa Joe was booked to retain the X Title over Homicide and Daniels on last night's edition of TNA Impact.

The TV match picked up from the Joe vs. Daniels singles match at the No Surrender PPV last Sunday. Homicide's involvement fresh off a heel turn seemed to move Joe into a "tweener role" despite Joe being in the Main Event Mafia heel faction.

During the X Title match, the fans in Orlando cheered when Joe popped up from the mat and glared into the hard camera in a replica of the infamous confrontation between Kurt Angle and Joe when Angle debuted in TNA three years ago.

Joe also changed his wardrobe from the longer baggy pants that he wore leading to his heel turn to what looks like something he would wear to play soccer. Shin guards included. The clip from Impact below shows Joe's wardrobe change.

Also in the clip from the three-way title match is a cameo from TNA head writer Vince Russo. At the 0:20 mark below, Homicide is shown retrieving a chair from Russo, who is sitting on the front row. It's a very quick side shot of Russo.

Caldwell's Analysis: TNA seems to be slowly turning the Mafia away from being complete heels to a tweener role that could take the group a few different directions. The key was Kurt Angle intentionally or unintentionally being made into a sympathetic figure at the TNA PPV when he was matched up against four other babyfaces.

On Impact, Samoa Joe was cheered by TNA fans when he gave everyone a glimpse into the past when he popped up from the mat and stared a hole in Homicide's back. He also dropped the wrestling gear that fans associated with him as a heel.

The other major faction in TNA, World Elite, has been positioned as 100 percent heels and the storyline is that they are in constant conflict with the Mafia. When given a choice, fans are cheering the Mafia over the World Elite. The signs point to TNA slowly turning the Mafia into a "we're not the bad guys anymore" role, although that could easily change at the drop of a hat based on TNA having a tendency to quickly move storylines along.

Video of the Joe vs. Homicide vs. Daniels match is below. The second video below is the end of the Kurt Angle & Eric Young vs. Matt Morgan & Hernandez match from Impact that focused on the shaky alliance between the Mafia and World Elite. Videos courtesy of TNA's official YouTube page.

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