By Jon Mezzera, Torch Specialist

IMPACT HITS

Creed vs. Styles: This was a solid opening match. It wasn’t long, only 5 minutes, but it had good action while it lasted. It was good to see AJ Styles pick up a strong victory. Consequences Creed is basically a jobber and this was basically a squash, but it was better to watch, with Creed holding his own for much of the match, than a typical 2 to 3 minute squash. The problem was the back story for this match. Having the announcers tell the audience about the history between these two doesn’t cut it. Styles helped give Creed his job in TNA. Why are we hearing that from the announcers and not from the wrestlers? It was like a lame after thought that maybe TNA should have a reason why this random match was happening between two babyfaces. The problem is that they had no reason to wrestle if they were old friends. So the reason for the match was almost Miss worthy, but the match itself was fun to watch.

Brother Ray: This was a good week for Brother Ray. His promo before his match with Christian Cage was very good. He got heat on himself, put over what Team 3D did to Rhino last week, and gave a hook for the fans to keep watching to see what he had in store for Christian. The post-match assault with the glass table was memorable. It was good to see TNA not feel their normal compulsion to cut to something in the back right away after that big spot. Ray’s good night continued with his interaction backstage with Kurt Angle. I was confused as to why Tomko and pals were trying to get Kurt to stop picking on Karen, but Ray was good in his part. He was great in putting down Karen and building up Kurt as being able to do better than her. The thought of Ray setting up Kurt on a series of blind dates has some definite comedic potential. Hopefully it will be done well. I am intrigued by Ray’s line at the end when he told Kurt that his happiness is all that Ray cares about. I’m curious to see where this goes from here.

Booker T’s Locker Room: This was a fun segment. It was a nice follow up to all the complaining Booker T has done lately about his locker room. This fit in well with his character. I was expecting a more regal feel to the decorations, so I was pleased that he didn’t have a throne or anything like that. Booker delivered well. Jeremy Borash was amusing also. I laughed out loud when Borash pointed out Booker’s photo of the “great one” and Booker said yes, and also pictured is Muhammad Ali. That was a predictable joke, but it still made me laugh. It was also good to see Booker get serious in the end so that he could prepare for his match vs. Kevin Nash.

Better Pacing: This was one of the best paced Impacts in recent memory. The show was not as crammed with content as it usually is, and that is a good thing. Even well-paced Impacts are usually way over crowded with content and super hectic in the opening segment, but that was not the case here. TNA let things sink in this week. I mentioned above how good it was for TNA to stay with Christian in the ring after he was put through the glass. How many times have we seen similar instances when TNA immediately cut to the back to JB? I did not feel as bombarded as I often do after watching Impact. The pacing did get more frenetic towards the end of the show. Before the Main Event, there was one segment that included a Rough Cut video with Matt Morgan, the scene between Angle, Tomko and Team 3D, Moose vs. ODB, and a video on Samoa Joe and Kevin Nash. That was the only case when I felt the pacing was poor. There is definitely room for more improvement, but it was a step in the right direction.

IMPACT MISSES

Kong Challenge: I continue to dislike this use of Awesome Kong. The fact that a fan took her to the limit last week made her look weak. It was good that she looked strong this week, but afterwards the same fan from last week made her look weak again. Kong should be severely fined for pushing her at ring side, and she should be arrested for coming into the ring. We are being asked to believe that she is just a fan, yet it is unbelievable that TNA would allow a fan to behave this way. It is mindful of when Payton Banks (whatever happened to her?) started to attack Ms. Brooks at ringside and was always able to get back into the Impact Zone. My biggest problem with this is that it makes the entire Knockouts roster look bad. Taylor has had better success against Kong than any Knockout. Don’t the Knockouts want a Title match? When was the last time Kong defended the Title? The entire purpose of this angle seems to be introducing Taylor, but that could have been done in a better way that didn’t make Kong look bad, didn’t put her Championship run on hold, and didn’t make people forget about the Knockout division.

Wasting Beautiful People: Last week, Velvet Sky and Angelina Love were not on Impact. This week they were, but not utilized in a good way. I enjoyed the video on Gail Kim last week, but I didn’t enjoy the video on Angelina Love as much. I’m not sure why, but it didn’t work for me. It wasn’t bad, but not good. TNA is building this feud between Kim and Love, and I’m not sure that these videos are the way to go. Then, The Beautiful People make an appearance, and it has nothing to do with Kim. Instead they were harassing Karen Angle on behalf of Kurt. Sky and Love have been good, but interjecting them into the never ending Angle family drama is a mistake. Kurt gets revenge on Karen by having them put a bag on her head? I don’t get it. They have been an entertaining duo who have been wasted the last two weeks.

Moose vs. ODB: Notice a pattern here? The Knockouts have been such a strength of Impact, but lately that has not been the case. The bad night for the ladies continued with this ugly and random match. Why did ODB vs. Moose happen? Why was it a street fight? Moose has only been on one Impact, followed by a PPV where she got pinned. Having this match take place is like skipping multiple steps in both introducing Moose to the TNA fans and in building a feud between these two. The match itself wasn’t good. It was just an ugly brawl. ODB was so hot a few months ago, but she has fallen down fast. I don’t understand having Moose get the win in this situation. It was not a good night for the Knockouts.

Unprotected Chair Shot: I hate to keep harping on this, but unfortunately TNA (and WWE too) keeps insisting on having unprotected chair shots to the head. What was particularly disturbing this time, was that Joe barely sold the chair shot. If you are going to do it (which you shouldn’t) it should be a move that takes a wrestler out. Instead, Joe was able to quickly fully recover and attack Booker T. The time it took Joe to get in the ring and attack Booker after taking a chair shot to the head was exactly 61 seconds. That means that Joe put the health of his brain on the line for one minute of selling, followed by no selling at all. It was disgraceful.

Jon Mezzera is PWTorch.com's Hits & Misses Specialist, providing his point of view for Raw, Smackdown, ECW, and TNA Impact each week. Email him at jmezz-torch@sbcglobal.net.

For another view from the original Hitlist author, compare Jason Powell's views to mine by visiting prowrestling.NET's "Hitlist" section here.

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