-- 7/1 TNA Impact Reax

Gary Sartori of Windsor Locks, Conn. (5.0): I say, overall, TNA had a pretty good show. First, the good. The Joe-Styles match was good. I think A.J. being fed up with both Kazarian and Ric Flair indicates it's time for a face turn again and possibly teaming up with Jay Lethal. I also think Joe plays the "loner" quite well. I think they're setting up Joe as a Randy Orton type character. The Morgan-Lethal match was pretty much as expected. The Machine Guns-Ink, Inc. match was also as expected, but Bubba Ray and Devon seem totally out of place here. They should be feuding with Beer Money. Also, I thought the main event was good. Abyss is really stepping up to the plate. Sorry, but I don't buy Mr. Anderson as a face. He should be teaming up with Abyss against Hardy and RVD. ... Now for the not so good. What in the world are they doing with Sting? Is this what he's become, a yelling maniac? I am one of Sting's biggest fans, but he should be nowhere near a ring anymore. Same with Ric Flair. Flair wrestling Lethal at the next PPV doesn't make any sense to me. The ladies match was filler, and not very good. The Wolfe-Kendrick match had an ending that was pretty much as expected like other matches. And Chelsea is pretty much useless right now. Overall, a pretty good show. I believe it's much better than the "Nexus" crap WWE is throwing at the audience.

Ken K. of Three Oaks, Mich. (7.5): Best Match: Abyss vs. Jeff Hardy. Worst Match: Madison Rayne vs. Taylor Wilde. Sean Radican posed a question in his blog this week: "How can anyone give Impact a positive review?" The answer came quite easily to me - I watched the show to be entertained as a wrestling fan, not to find holes with the grander business problems within TNA. A show which included buildup for every match on the upcoming Pay-Per-View, an emotional return for The Pope, a hot opening segment, continued character development for Abyss, Styles/Kazarian, Sting, and Anderson, among others, and some solid matches in Joe vs. Styles, MCMG vs. Ink, Inc., and the main event definitely proved to be entertaining. The show had a few low points. Taylor Wilde seemed very off her game, which didn't help her match with Madison, who is still growing as a champion. The crowd seemed out of this match as well, which actually made the ex-ECW group's appearance somewhat timely to get the fans to come back to life. Eric Bischoff's possible scheming to get Dixie Carter on his and Hogan's side was an intriguing twist, but I'm not certain TNA needed so many segments to get the point across. Desmond Wolfe continues to flounder, but he helped Kendrick in the process. Back to the good, however, Brother Devon and Douglas Williams both added some strong commentary to their respective angles this week, while the Pope-Angle confrontation was great in its simplicity and emotion to help build to what should be a stellar PPV match. I enjoyed arrogant Matt Morgan playing his "Main Event Mafia" hype card again to get his name out there to Flair, whether he is actually being recruited to Fortune or not. A.J. and Kazarian continue to have a subtle-but-effective rivalry and A.J.'s challenge made me look forward to their match next week (and maybe a Styles face turn?). All in all, it certainly wasn't a show that blew me away, but, as a fan of professional wrestling, I was entertained throughout.

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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