By Jon Mezzera, Torch Specialist

IMPACT HITS

Rough Cut: TNA generally does a good job with these video packages. I still think a better use for them would be in introducing new talent, rather than reintroducing talent that has been around for awhile. I liked learning something about Hernandez's background, but he has been around for over 2 years, and it seems a little late at this point. However, it was still a well produced video and I look forward to seeing what they say about Homicide next week. I also look forward to seeing where they go with LAX after the series of videos, and hope they do better afterwards than they did with Roxxi.

Joe & Styles vs. Beer Money: I enjoyed this match from the start with James Storm riding his beer cooler scooter to the ring. That was great. Beer Money continues to be an entertaining team. They had a good match with Samoa Joe and AJ Styles. The match went a decent length for a change and featured some nice wrestling action. It was a bit formulaic with Beer Money isolating Styles for much of the match, but it was still enjoyable. Team 3D helped out here on guest commentary. They were amusing which helped keep the match from dragging during the isolation. They did a nice job of addressing the Main Event Mafia situation with some interesting comments about the faction. The match itself picked up nicely at the end with the hot tag to Joe. It will be interesting to see where things go from here after Team 3D accidentally (it would seem) cost Joe and Styles the match.

IMPACT MISSES

Opening Segment: There was so much wrong with how Impact started, it is hard to know where to start. The opening was too crowded. There was so much going on, it was hard for anything to sink in. After the typical PPV replay video, there was a scene in the back with Jeremy Borash talking to Jeff Jarrett and Mick Foley. Foley is the goofiest guy, yet suddenly he is upset about others acting goofy? I don't buy it. I'm still unclear as to who is in charge of the company. Then the Impact intro played. Then Foley came out to call out the TNA Originals, or the Young Guys, or whatever they're called (they have to come up with one name, preferably a good one, and stick with it). Foley's speech was quite frankly boring. It was supposed to get the troops and the fans riled up, but it didn't. It wasn't inspiring or entertaining at all. I understand giving Eric Young the X-Division Title shot he earned at the PPV, but what did the others do to earn their Title shots? Didn't they all just lose? Didn't Matt Morgan & Abyss earn a Tag Team Title match last week? Why are Joe and Styles getting one this week instead? Didn't Jay Lethal lose to Sheik Abdual Bashir a few weeks ago in 2 minutes? Then why is he getting a shot at the World Title? And, after all those announcements, instead of cutting to commercial so that they could sink in, it cut to Lauren welcoming Christian Cage to the show and having him welcomed also by the Main Event Mafia. Too much occurred, and none of it was good.

Young vs. Bashir: Once again, the TNA bookers have gotten in the way of two talented wrestlers. Give Young and Bashir more time and a chance to just go out there and put together a good one on one match without all the gimmickry, and you might be surprised at the result. Instead, we get a few minutes of solid action, followed by a mockery of a match when the referee got so heavily involved. Eric Young put his hands on the ref first, yet that didn't seem to upset him. Considering his history with Bashir, it is totally unbelievable that whoever is running the show would allow him to ever referee a Bashir match again. It makes no sense. I can't believe Young could celebrate winning the X-Division Title that way. I am also confused by the fact that a man not wearing a striped shirt counted the three. It was a mess.

Sarah Palin Invite: Wasn't the actual Presidential campaign long enough? Aren't we all glad it is over. I don't need to be reminded of it with the fake campaign commercial. Also, politics and wrestling don't mix well. Doesn't TNA remember the horrible horrible horrible Obama vs. Clinton mess (worst segment ever) from Raw early this year? I understand the desire to get some main stream publicity. I see that it is already working. But, at what cost? Jarrett was interviewed last year on ESPN with Pacman Jones trying to get the same type of publicity (albeit on a smaller scale) and look at how that worked out. This can't possibly be the best use of the Beautiful People.

End of the Show: Enough of the WWE references already. What was this supposed to accomplish? It made the Main Event Mafia look strong I guess, for beating down a guy when they have a four on one advantage. But, they played up Christian Cage as a heel by stating that he was going to leave TNA to go to WWE. So, why should the fans care about seeing him get beat up? The MEM are heels. But by disposing of one who turned his back on TNA, they were acting like babyfaces. Kurt Angle was right when he said that nobody in the back would come to Christian's aid. But, then the fans aren't going to care either. The WWE should have been kept out of this. Also, the beating wasn't that impressive. They each hit a big move on Christian, but it didn't seem like the type of beating that would keep him out of action for a long time. So, if he does end up staying in TNA, he will look bad when he eventually returns after a long break after only taking that rather small beat down. The beat down of Petey Williams earlier in the show was more viscous.

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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