Brian Hoops, PWTorch.com Contributor (5.0)

TNA had moments of delivering something that could potentially challenge Raw on Mondays, but in the end, their booking decisions, again, were a detriment to the product.

Opening segment was fine, getting Flair and Hogan out there for the curious eyes that might have been watching to see what Impact would deliver and then promising them in the main event, at least allowed fans a reason to watch the product. The Sting turn was a surprise, which should have been enough of a major angle alone, to push throughout the show.

Good X Division match and I liked the fact that they were given a little mic time prior to the match instead of hitting the ring cold. It would be more effective to do backstage interviews or vignettes to build up the significance of the title match. Strange the way they followed up the X Division three way with a Knockouts three-way for the Tag Team titles.

Good debut for RVD, for 10 seconds, then it was all down-hill from there. They booked the debut, the beat-down and the comeback (which RVD didn't do, it was Hogan) all in the same segment. Amazingly stupid as it took the focus off of RVD and put it on Hogan (again).

I missed the Beer Money heel turn. TNA has some great tag teams, Beer Money included. This is one area they have a major advantage over WWE that they need to promote.

Final match was fine for what it was. It brought the nostalgia fans over to watch the program with Hogan and Flair, but did they use the time they had to build up the stars of TNA? I think they failed in this regard.

Shane McKinley, PWTorch.com Contributor (7.5)

It certainly did feel like a big night on Impact. One thing can be said for TNA's product: they'll go heads over heels in their zaniness. Wrestlers are getting busted open left and right and
unbiased Mike Tenay is yelling, "Take that Ric Flair! Yeah!" At times the product felt unfocused and unrefined, but it strove not to be boring (too bad the Nash-Young-The Band angle exists).

To many, before Impact started, Hogan vs. Flair was a non-factor, but TNA sure pretended that Hogan vs. Flair was the hottest feud going down. Heck, even Hogan wrestling wasn't an all out car wreck.

Sweet throwback X Division match here, even though the finish stunk. Kaz had the most cred here in facing off against loser Daniels and major chump Williams. So what's the match outcome? Williams vs. Shannon Moore for the X Division Belt at the PPV. Guh. The Beautiful People win the Knockouts belts in a messy match, but kudos to the follow-up interview backstage. Impact sure had a "live, anything wacky can happen" feel to it (a Bischoff specialty).

Seeing RVD was nice. Seeing Sting beat up everybody in Florida...not so nice. But hell, they had to hammer home the point that Sting's heel now. Beer Money's heel too, apparently. That Beer Money-Jeff Jarrett-Mick Foley as Special Guest Ref was nonsense.

Kurt Angle surrounded by soldiers, or as Mr. Anderson called them, "high-school dropouts" (loved that line) was a very unique sight. Impact in large part felt fresh, but sadly, there is some old junk still around. Namely: Why is Bubba still around? And should Impact be more than just a show where Hogan's daughter can audition for Hollywood? This "Hogan's Crony" stuff needs to stop. They finally got around to pumping up "Destination X". What they'll do with RVD and Sting (I'm not ready to start trusting Jeff Hardy as a TNA regular quite yet) will bring viewers in.

Greg Parks, Torch Columnist (6.0)

Just reading the reaction on the Internet, Impact was a very polarizing show for most people. Either you loved it, or you hated it. I think TNA showed some good signs on this episode, but still make the same mistakes in other areas that have hampered them for years. The Hulk Hogan drama was especially over-the-top for me and a real turn-off.

The heel turns by Sting and Beer Money just seemed so contrived. Sting's heel run didn't work last time, so I don't know what exactly will be different this time. Beer Money were just re-introduced as faces, and are all of a sudden heels with no explanation. I liked the X Division segment, especially the time given to it. Now will Bischoff please tell me what qualifications are needed to be in such a division?

I wasn't a big fan of the involvement of the military in the Anderson-Angle segment. It was a nice visual and Anderson registered a few zingers, but it just felt like it was too much. And the beat-down they gave Anderson on the outside looked real weak. Teasing the main event to open the show was probably a good move opposite Raw, but as we've learned with main events that open the show, things are rarely settled at that point. The funniest part of the night was the dozens of security holding Hogan back from getting at Sting....yet having no problem with Sting pummeling a helpless RVD with a baseball bat.

Daniel Wilkenfeld, PWTorch.com Contributor (8.0)

I really enjoyed this show. I’d heard about RVD, but missed Sting and Jeff Hardy (and, technically, Shannon Moore), which is always nice (for those who wonder why I’m sometimes out of the loop, it’s because I want to be able to enjoy shows like these). The Hardy appearance was a bit tempered by the fact that they teased it two months ago, but hopefully it’s the real deal this time. The focus on the X Division was a huge change of pace, as was the fact that, by my math, there was more bell to bell action this week then the past two weeks combined (though they did have the extra eight minutes).

The Women’s tag belt situation was very rushed, but honestly with Kong and Gail Kim both missing, the Women’s Division is not what it once was. If you’re going to keep around the belts though, you should at least make them slightly meaningful. The bigger problem tonight was the return of the whining about Hogan wrestling, which was not especially helped by Brooke’s performance. Even that though played out somewhat well — contrary to some opinions in the comments, I think they actually covered Flair’s and Hogan’s weaknesses pretty well, and the bottom line for the episode revolved around Abyss, AJ, Pope, and Jeff Hardy, which is much better than I expected.

The Sting heel turn could have been done better, but since they haven’t tipped their hand much on where that’s going it’s a bit soon to judge. Even the The Band segment, which lately have been the bane of Impact, was fairly effective this week, as it seemed like someone actually remembered that that storyline should, at some point, have a payoff. This was a good show that planted some interesting seeds all of which, I have no doubt, TNA will utterly fail to cultivate.

Since then I realized that I was treating it like any other Impact, which might not be the appropriate standard. It was a big night. On the one hand, that exacerbates whatever problems it might have had. On the other, it does make the things it did to give it a big night feel much more relevant in the grand scheme of things, so I think it's actually pretty close to a wash.

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