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They really need to start giving these X-Division guys some character development. Hebner, Slick Johnson, Larry Zbyszko...NEXT! Good Christian interview. He's really starting to find his way again. Truth on the mic? Not so great. Match of Ten Thousand Thumbtacks wasn't anything special, which is disappointing considering their PPV match & the match from Hardcore War were so great.
They need to get Jeff Jarrett off my TV! That last segment was about the cheesiest thing I've seen in awhile. TNA had better be seriously thinking of changing directions quickly with the heavyweight belt, because right now JJ is an albatross around the neck of TNA. As much as he has done to keep TNA afloat over the years, he has done just as much to keep them from growing to their full potential in my opinion.
And this entire belt versus career thing would make so much more sense if Sting would have won the belt last PPV. Sting wants to rid TNA of Jarrett (or he did at one point) and JJ wants nothing more than to be the champ. Sting's belt versus Jarrett's career would seem the way to go to me.
Also, while I was glad to see Low Ki get some TV time for once, this marks the second week in a row where Samoa Joe is nowhere to be found. How about taking two minutes out of the closing segment and giving Joe a little promo time?
After two weeks of solid shows, TNA took a big step backwards last night.
Brian
**********
- Solid opening promo. Konnan's dedication comes across as sincere, and the dopey faces aren't looking as dopey now with their rematch clause. A tag team Ultimate X match with these performers has me salivating.
- Petey/Senshi vs. Sabin/Lethal. Senshi's chest kicks are exceptionally stiff. Great tag team setup for the Hesitation Dropkick. Forward bicycle kick by Senshi on Lethal looked great. The final set piece with Senshi ignoring his partner
- "Don't Fire" Eric Young vs. Shark Boy. Tenay describes SB as the "cult favorite of the Impact Zone", but it's clear that title's been handed to Eric Young. He's lapping up the approval. Delivers a nice finisher to take out SB to the roars of the fan. Only the stupid Ref vs. Ref action distracts from what was a nice match for the up and comer.
- Christian/Rhino recap. Fantastic video package, once again. Christian's ego starts talking, and The Truth answers. Clever John Cena rip by Christian ("rapping poseur"), and the dustup is on. I like this matchup, as these guys have complimentary sizes and styles.
- Abyss vs. Runt. An early Acid Drop gives Runt some momentum, though it bothered me that the announcers didn't call that. Emo Raven makes another appearance. Tacks on a table! Scarier than snakes on a plane. What's scarier than that? A double stack of tacked tables! Acid Drop into the bag o' tacks in the ring, and this one is over. The save by the Raven (who appears to have borrowed contacts from an owl) and subsequent booting of Abyss into the tacks sets up a whole new feud. Nice work by all involved; short, but brutal.
- The firing squad is incoming for the Execution. Eh, silly. Jarrett's recap remixed with the Sting video from last week sets us up for the Execution. Jarrett calls out some random plant, er, fan for throwing a bottle and has him ejected. Jarrett pushes all his props, Cornette steps in by phone, and puts him on trial with a lie detector test...next week! The gimmick of letting the fans have some say in what happens to Jarrett if he fails is a fascinating one. I presume it will lead to online voting for opponents, matches, stips etc. It paints TNA in a fan-friendly fashion, when the most recent round of fan participation from the WWE has been the god-awful Diva searches.
All in all, a good week of matches and setups. I even enjoyed the Execution. Solid B+ this week, and good lead up to the PPV.
Aredubya
**********
Best segment, Jarrett's Public Execution and Match of 10 Thousand Tacks
Worst segment, Shark Boy/Eric Young
Grade 7.5
Good show tonight. Definitely not their best but decent. But in watching TNA , I've found out is expect more from them in one hour than RAW and ECW in three. Konnan is single handedly getting LAX over. Konnan before was trying to be a super cute street thug and it just fell flat. Now with Konnan getting an attitude and telling the "gringoes" what his fellow illegal Latinos are going to do, he's hitting a nerve in the American psyche. Good move on TNA's part because as Konnan would say, keep it real dog. Good push for Bound for Glory on October 22nd in Detroit. The Sting video was very well done. Almost too slick really.
I wasn't too impressed with the Shark Boy/Eric Young match. Why purpose does Shark Boy add to the show? The Abyss/Runt match was brutal. Abyss chokeslammed little Runt so hard on the tacks that I actually thought Runt was hurt. Good job of sliding in Raven into their angle. Cornette calling into the show "by telephone" finally explains the purpose of that red telephone that has been shown for at least three months. Don West looked liked such a dork when he answered the phone that it was humorous. Good ending to the show and good setup for Jarrett's polygraph test next week.
Piers
South Carolina
**********
One of the worst impacts ever. TNA continues to do the same spotfest filled multi X division matches and the guys come off as stale and vanilla. Eugene Young vs. Shark Boy was a joke. TNA reeks of desperation while they take shots at WWE while they are getting there asses handed to them in every way possible including in ring product at the moment. Nobody cares about a Jarrett/Sting feud again. I'm predicting this weeks rating to be horrible.
Gary
