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By Jon Mezzera, Torch Specialist

IMPACT HITS

Yoshino vs. Williams: Last week’s World X Cup matches were bad and very short. This week was better, as one of the matches was good, the other o.k., and both were given more time than last week. Masato Yoshino vs. Dough Williams was fun. Yoshino has been the biggest stand out in the World X Cup for his speed and athleticism. This was our first chance to see Williams and he looked impressive. He wrestled a different style and I question him being an X-Division wrestler. Although I guess I’m still not totally clear on what the requirements of the Division are, so maybe he fits. It was a good contrast of styles. I loved William’s finisher as he rolled through on a roll-up attempt and blasted Yoshino with a hard hitting German suplex. That is an example of a little twist on a well-established move that actually makes the move look more devastating (as opposed to Victor Koslov’s surfboard move in the ropes from a few weeks back). Kaz vs. Ultimo Guerrero wasn’t good enough to get a Hit (Kaz took three huge top rope moves and kicked out each time. All Guerrero took was a weak looking Wave of the Future from Kaz and lost. That alone kept the match from being a Hit), but it was better than what we saw last week. I don’t like the World X Cup, but at least we got better in ring action from it this week.

Angle and the Beautiful People: Kurt Angle and the Beautiful People starred in two good back stage segments that were much better than anything Angle was involved in last week. I found it amusing that Angle would be upset at Angelina Love and Velvet Sky for worrying more about their make-up and tans than their match. Love and Sky were good, including their interaction with Jeremy Borash. The best part was when Sky was listing to Kurt who all might be in attendance whom they want to impress. When she listed “talent scouts,” Love from the tanning bed gleefully repeated it while giving the thumbs up sign. I’m not sure why, but that made me laugh. I am enjoying the chemistry between these three. They worked well together in the Main Event, but it was not good enough to get a Hit. I enjoyed their work this week.

Taylor vs. Kong: Awesome Kong and Taylor Wilde (I wasn’t sure she had a last name) put on a good match. It went 10 minutes, and while it was interrupted by a commercial break, the time that we saw was enjoyable. I wouldn’t have minded if it had gone on a few more minutes, which is a testament to how good it was. After sitting through some lame Knockouts matches lately (Kong squashing fans and Moose in ugly Bimbo Brawls), it was nice to see TNA get the Knockout division back to where it should be, which is featuring good wrestling matches. They did a good job of playing up the underdog story. Kong dominated, but Wilde showed a lot of fire and heart throughout. She made multiple quick comebacks to keep the match from being too one sided. It kept things exciting with the possibility that she would pull off the big upset. In the end, she actually did pull off the upset which I believe was a mistake (more later).

IMPACT MISSES

Parking Lot Brawl: I don’t understand why this “match” was happening. TNA has been building up the Fans’ Revenge match at Victory Road as LAX’s chance to get their revenge on Beer Money for all of the strap beatings that they have done lately. Instead, Homicide got a chance at revenge on Robert Roode in this Parking Lot Brawl. It was just a mess. I love how in all of the mayhem of using weapons and brawling and throwing each other into cars and walls, that Homicide actually had the presence of mind to set up his finishing move. The announcers made a big deal about the partners being banned, but James Storm easily came in to interfere. That makes TNA management and security look like a joke. This is a case where an impromptu brawl between the two leading to the ring area would have been better than a match.

Where Have They Been 6 Man Tag: This match baffled me. Why were these six guys having this match? Why was it falls count anywhere? If anyone can give a reasonable answer to either of those questions (or both), I would appreciate it. The last Impact before a PPV should focus on selling the PPV. Everything should be moving towards that goal. Having a random match with six random men who have nothing to do with each other or the PPV is a bad idea. Most of these guys haven’t been on t.v. for several weeks. Two weeks ago, Tomko was all of a sudden back working with Kurt Angle. Last week, he wasn’t on. This week, he was involved in this. It seems like a waste. TNA has spent the past several weeks building up Matt Morgan in Rough Cut, so I assumed he would be the featured wrestler in the match and get the win. Wrong. The match was a mess, didn’t need to happen, didn’t accomplish anything, and hurt the overall product by being another meaningless gimmick match.

Kong Loses Title: I don’t like that Awesome Kong lost the Knockout Title to Taylor Wilde. TNA has done a nice job of introducing Taylor to the fans. She has had good showings in her first challenge to Kong, and her match vs. Ryesha Saeed last week. The fans are behind her, and with the fall of ODB and Gail Kim (despite their presence in the Main Event, they aren’t close to as hot as they were a few months ago), she is arguably the most popular Knockout. But, Kong is Kong. She has been the dominant force in TNA. Her fan challenge storyline has hurt her, and losing the title does as well. Taylor should have lost after having a strong showing. She should have earned a TNA contract based on the match, despite losing in the end. The fans would still be behind her, and after she gave Kong more trouble than any other Knockout, the fans would love to watch her chase for that Title. There will be a rematch at the PPV, so we will have to wait and see what happens. But, putting the Title on Taylor so soon is a mistake.

Hype for Joe vs. Booker T: Overall, the hype for the Victory Road Main Event has been solid at best, but it was pretty bad on the final sell Impact. TNA is putting more time and attention into just about every other match on the card, while the hype for the Main Event is relegated to only one segment per week. This week’s segment was a rather lackluster in ring face off between Champion Samoa Joe and challenger Booker T. It was rather boring. Booker T asked Joe who he had beaten, and Joe didn’t answer. He could have at least named Kurt Angle. Then Booker names the greats that he has beaten, and he starts with Rick Martel. Really? I was a big fan of “the Model”, and still use Arrogance cologne, but he was hardly a huge star despite being an AWA Champion. Steve Austin and Chris Jericho were better choices, but then his list was over. I was underwhelmed by the list. He could have said Scott Steiner and Kurt Angle, but they are in the company and probably would have cried if either Booker or Joe had mentioned defeating them in the past. I didn’t care about the match before, and Sting’s presence didn’t help. Is it just me, or do Don West and Mike Tenay have orgasms every time Sting appears in the Impact Zone? They are way too excited about his presence. They want to know why Sting is there. Well, he is a contracted wrestler. They never ask what Karen Angle is doing there. That’s what I really want to know. But, I digress. Knowing that Sting will be watching means nothing to me, as he will likely be one of only a small number of people paying attention to the match.

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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