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CALDWELL'S POLL ANALYSIS: Torch readers vote on MVP of TNA Impact - Something new (Victoria & Raven), something old (Styles), and something blue (DW) May 30, 2009 - 1:49:36 PM
TORCH TNA IMPACT MVP POLL ANALYSIS: Who was the MVP of the 5/28 edition of TNA Impact? After Thursday night's episode of Impact, we asked Torch readers to select the MVP of the show and two of the three returning/debuting stars picked up the most number of votes.
Lisa Marie (a/k/a Victoria in WWE) scored 22 percent of the vote to secure the top vote for MVP of the show. Lisa Marie's debut on Impact was obviously well-received by Torch readers, as she was quickly inserted into the top of the Knockouts division.
The Knockouts division has been scuffling for several months since Gail Kim departed TNA for WWE. TNA's latest attempt to breathe fresh air into the Division was to turn Awesome Kong babyface, which actually worked well in the build-up to the Sacrifice PPV for her match against current champ Angelina Love.
Victoria's involvement at the top of the Division is a possible remedy for what TNA needed after Gail's departure: star power, name brand value, and a wrestler who is inspired to be part of something new and different. Torch readers obviously liked what they saw in Lisa Marie's TNA debut.
Second-place in the MVP vote went to Raven with 17 percent for his nostalgic return to TNA. After running the TNA Impact MVP poll for five weeks, I get the sense that Torch readers gravitate toward whatever or whoever stands out on the show as new or different when making their pick.
There is just so much that happens on TNA Impact during a two-hour broadcast that it's difficult to pin down the one overall star of the show who really made the broadcast worth watching or performed at a higher level than everyone else. There's just too much stuff on the show that it comes down to who stood out the most or did something new/different.
Third place in the MVP voting went to A.J. Styles with 11 percent. Styles qualified for the King of the Mountain match at Slammiversary with a victory over Daniels and tried to right the Samoa Joe ship during a pre-match interview with Daniels.
Torch readers were not big fans of how TNA presented Styles during the Sacrifice PPV build-up. Styles's MVP voting average was a mere 4.0 percent from April 30 - May 21. Adding in this week's result, his average jumped to 5.4 percent in the five weeks since we started tracking Impact MVP voting.
After Styles was Knockouts champion Angelina Love, who assuredly stood out to Torch readers (remember, that's the key to the MVP vote for Impact) and picked up a victory over Sojo Bolt to retain the Knockouts Title.
Angelina has an impressive 6.6 percent average over the five-week Impact MVP voting period. That puts her as the third most popular vote-recipient behind Mick Foley (12 percent) and Daniels (8.8 percent) among TNA personalities who have appeared in at least four MVP polls. She passed Kurt Angle this week after Angle only received 1 percent of the vote on this week's show, which killed his average.
Rounding out the Top Five were Sting and Don West, who tied with 6 percent of the vote. West is a weekly fixture in the Top Five thanks to his heel commentary aimed at Torch readers who would vote in this here poll.
Meanwhile, Sting had a strong performance as the new leader of the Main Event Mafia. I'm sure his scripted public condemnation of the epicly-terrible Sharmell vs. Jenna feud earned him some votes with Torch readers.
Poll Results as of 6:00 p.m. CST on Wednesday Top Five
(1) Lisa Marie (Victoria) ... 22%
(2) Raven ... 17%
(3) A.J. Styles ... 11%
(4) Angelina Love ... 7%
(5t) Sting ... 6%
(5t) Don West ... 6%
Torch readers write back! How do you see the voting? Have additional thoughts on the poll results? Send in your feedback to pwtorch@gmail.com
Send feedback on this article to pwtorch@gmail.com and we'll regularly publish reader feedback in the "Torch Feedback" category on the Main Listing.
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