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Superstars/Impact Reax #1: "TNA is showing direction, but still failing at the simple basics. Baby steps are better than nothing, though." Oct 23, 2009 - 11:14:44 AM
Terrie Neilson of Las Vegas, Nev. (9.0): Best: Kelly vs. Gail. Worst: Matt Hardy pays again. It was a nice tidy little package tonight. The Cena-Orton story has been played already, but is still a well-produced vignette for the PPV. It was also Miz's turn for the shine and polish, and that video was also nicely done. Jackson/Kozlov vs. Dreamer/Goldust was what it was. Jackson was slightly better than usual, though that still isn't saying much. It's good to see Goldust still getting a nice crowd response, and the win. I rated Kelly vs. Gail as best because it was actually a pretty decent match, plus it didn't need any bells and whistles to get over after-the-fact. Truth/Hardy vs. Escobar/McIntyre was decent enough, but I'm getting tired of Matt Hardy eating the loss. It still seems like he's still getting punished for being Jeff Hardy's brother. Just so unfair it's ridiculous. Thankfully, the crowd knows better of this Hardy and gave him a nice response when they could.
-- 10/22 TNA Impact Reax
Ian Denbow of Washington, D.C. (7.0): Best Match: Anything featuring Desmond Wolfe. Worst Match: DQ in a cage – what??? I have to say, TNA really picked it up last night, and although there were still some problems, they put on an entertaining show that really blurred the lines between fact and fiction. First off – kudos to them to for debuting Nigel McGuinness properly, although Kurt Angle's face turn seemed a bit rushed. Okay – we get it that he respects the younger guys – but why should the Mafia not be with him in the center of the ring? Just because he (now) respects the younger guys, why should the Mafia be broken up? They could have broken them up a lot better than Kurt Angle just alluding to it. And after all the messed up things he’s done to the Originals/Frontline/whatever, we’re supposed to consider him a face after one speech in the ring about how he respects them now? This should have played out for a few weeks I think, but at least Kurt has a stellar wrestler in McGuinness to play off of, as he’s a natural heel. The only thing missing from both segments was him calling Kurt a wanker. Along those same lines, TNA should have stretched out the Kong/Saeed tension a bit longer. She cost her the title (despite helping her how many times), and for that one mistake gets powerbombed through the stage? Don’t get me wrong, I much prefer her alter ego and I am excited that she will be featured more now, but TNA could have made a few bucks on this one. And what was up with the whole Rhino thing? He made some severely true points, but then it’s all for nothing really by having him lose cleanly. Yeah, he sounds like the guy you want on your side going to war, but he lost the opening battle. All bark and no bite is how they are presenting him, which is another wasted opportunity. Is this going to be the Millionaires Club vs. the New Blood part two? Didn’t we just have a giant feud over the last year of this exact same storyline? Don’t get me wrong, it has potential, but they’re already failing at it when they could be succeeding. The rest of the show was good and better than normal. I’m glad to see Tomko (assumedly he’s who attacked A.J. Styles) back and I'm quite curious to see how Ken Anderson will fit into all this. They are showing direction, but still failing at the simple basics. Baby steps are better than nothing, though.
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