By Chris Reed, Torch specialist

-- 11/12 TNA IMPACT HITS & MISSES

I had to take a week off last Impact, but in reality, I didn't miss a whole lot of important wrestling action. This week's review takes a look back at what was the last Impact before last Sunday's PPV action. I'll also throw in a few final thoughts about the PPV at the end of this column, but here's what was good and what wasn't from Impact.

IMPACT HITS

Desmond Wolfe and Kurt Angle Build-up: It's almost amazing to see Kurt Angle going so far to put over a new wrestler for the purpose of building up that new person, but that's exactly what Angle has done in their brawls on Impact. You could see the gears turn as Angle realized that Wolfe was trying to sneak attack him, but still Wolfe got the better of him with the DDT on the outside. It was a very nice way to whet the whistle of the TNA wrestling fan to order the PPV on Sunday and see Angle try to get his revenge.

Raven's Return: When Raven left TNA some months ago, he left a lot of unfinished business with Abyss for no reason, and in the process made a bad angle become worse between Abyss and Dr. Stevie. With Raven back in the mix, we have the potential to have some nice hardcore matches return. Hopefully Raven sticks around long enough to deliver some of the great promos that he killed during his last TNA run. And with one fireball to Foley, Raven is back.

IMPACT MISSES

Super Dave Osborne: His voice sounds like sandpaper grating across barbed wire, and his comedy/stuntman act is boring and mundane. Add to all that the fact that Super Dave knew absolutely nothing whatsoever about the TNA product made his appearance on the show just that much more annoying.

Jay Lethal Jobs To Jim Neidhart: Okay, I admit, I loved the Hart Foundation. Back in the '80s, that is. Neidhart looked at least fifty pounds overweight in the ring, and still he managed to pin Lethal in about three minutes. Lethal's challenge to the legends could have been a nice little angle to lead up to Hogan's arrival in TNA, but instead TNA killed the entire act in less than one week. The only possible positive that could come out of this may be the death of Black Machismo and maybe the return of Jay Lethal, the TNA wrestler, instead of the over-actor. Oh, by the way, to the studio audience at Orlando -- Jim Neidhart does not, in any way, "still got it."

Alissa Flash vs. Traci Brooks: Mike Tenay tried his best to sell us on the fact that Flash went too far by targeting Traci's birth defect with the focus on her right arm. Baloney. Any wrestler should always try to target the weak points of their opponent; that's one of the key elements of wrestling. Add to the fact that absolutely no one has tried to get the audience over that Traci was a face ever since her turn to the Main Event Mafia and even the audience didn't understand what Traci was so ticked off about and was booing her temper tantrum against Flash at the end.

Beer Money Inserted Into Tag Title Match At Last Minute: I was really looking forward to seeing the Motor City Machine Guns get a one-on-one shot against British Invasion for the Tag Titles ever since I watched their awesome match a while back aginst No Limit from Global Impact where MCMG won the IWGP Junior Tag Team Titles. I know the fans love Beer Money, but with three days left before the PPV to have them thrown into the PPV match seemed like a major throwaway.

In the end, the hype for the PPV wasn't as good as it could have been, but the last two matches of Turning Point saved the show from becoming a moderately-bad PPV into a moderately-watchable PPV. The Angle-Wolfe match was a clinic in just about any way you looked at it, and the Styles-Daniels-Joe World Title match was only a few steps below their classic from the past. Amazing Red had a decent opener, the Knockouts tag match was quickly forgettable, the three-way Tag Title match wound up with a ridiculous distraction finish that totally stole the impact from the match itself, the Tara-Kong match was pretty good at best, the six-man tag match was a nice brawl for what it was, and the Steiner-Lashley match was a pretty ugly garbage brawl. All in all, the PPV made for a halfway decent Sunday night of entertainment.

Chris Reed is a PWTorch Specialist covering TNA Impact with a weekly Hits & Misses column.

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