-- 1/21 TNA Impact Reax

Aaron Flow of Buffalo, N.Y. (5.0): Best Match: Styles vs. Angle. Worst: Draw between the altered crowd noise and the un-original screwjob. This Impact started off fantastic. I love the Styles heal turn with the dirtiest player in the game as his mentor. TNA really needs to capitalize on their usage of Flair because, as old as he is, he can still light up any room he steps into. I like what they are doing with the Beautiful People, but I fear the women's division is going to hurt if they lose Awesome Kong. I really did not have a problem with the rest of the show. It was entertaining and, until the end, it seemed to be booked solidly. My main problem with the entire show was that the crowd noise was so altered that it almost seemed generic at times. It was almost like a video game. I am not a fan of the people at the Impact Zone, as I find some of them to be spoiled and annoying, however it's such a tough situation to decide weather to please them somewhat or to dull down the show so that it sounds like everyone is reacting perfectly to whatever terrible writing TNA is pushing. I think it really shows the difference between a good and terrible booker when Vince Russo can't even write to the crowd he performs to. Paul Heyman and the Original ECW did this better than anyone performing in front of extremely smart, hostile, and angry crowds. On a show I would have originally given about a 9.0, I give it a 5.0 because of how bad the few negatives were on this show.

Bill Sartori of Windsor Locks, Conn. (4.5): What was with the end of Impact? The Montreal Screw job part 457. What a freaking joke. The Bischoff ending with him coming out covered in his own blood was just as bad. Watching Nash and the Nasty Boys is like watching guys who needs walkers and canes to get around. Just too painful to watch. A.J. Styles as the heir apparent to Flair: I don't think so. (I thought Triple H or Lex Luger were the heirs to Flair.) Memo to Big Rob: Just turn face now and beat the hell out of the British Invasion. Angelina Love needs some help. Awesome Kong wants to leave? What's up with that? Bring back the six-sided ring. The conventional four-corner ring next to the ramp just doesn't look right.

Ken Kettler of Chicago, Ill. (7.0): Best Match: Angle vs. Styles. Worst Match: Nasty Boys vs. Young/Nash. TNA has suddenly received a ton of flak related to the Hogan/Bischoff era hurting the product. Pardon me for being an optimist, but I just don't buy into the doom and gloom. This week's show had its share of ups and downs, with the biggest downer being the end of a very good main event. While it was awful at the time, I actually got a kick out of the whole thing as (a) Hogan has never exactly been the most knowledgeable guy regarding Montreal and (b) Angle played his part perfectly. If WWE planned to re-live Montreal one more time with Bret, I guess TNA stole their heat. Moving on to the good stuff... Styles was a lot of fun to watch in his role with Flair and, for once, I didn't feel like he was an underdog against Angle. Angelina Love came off as a star on this show and Madison did a great job selling for her. I liked how Velvet really showed a lot of emotion in her dealings with her former partner. Orlando Jordan winning, I can deal with, as long as Pope gets a chance to shine in recovering from his knee problems and beating O.J. clean at a later date. Bischoff continued to play his "neutral mastermind" character excellently, as he left people wondering how he would deal with Lashley. The British Invasion sadly looks to be slowly imploding, but at least Rob Terry reminded us that Feast or Fired occurred. Eric Young has fallen hard, which made his match sad to watch, but I honestly didn't feel the Nastys did too bad of a job in the ring other than being their usual stiff working, ancient selves. Abyss's crazy over-reacting to Anderson's promo was actually fun to watch. Foley came across more "real" on this episode than he has most of his TNA run, though I'm not sure his "firing" was that great of a cliffhanger. Apart from the loss of steam at the end of the show, my only other major disappointment was a complete lack of Beer Money, MCMG, Wolfe, Daniels, Joe, the X Division, and 90 percent of the Knockouts division. Things aren't perfect, but they aren't apocalyptic either.

We welcome your 0-10 score and comments on this show for a "TNA TV Reax" feature in the Torch Feedback section of PWTorch.com. Just to add a twist to this feature, include not just your hometown, but also your occupation (mechanic, lawyer, stay-at-home-dad, college student, etc.) so readers get a flavor for what everyone does as "day jobs." To contribute your thoughts on Impact, click here.

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