The Impact Crater 01.24.08

Quick & Dirty Results

Segment #1: Kevin Nash Interview Segment
Segment #2: A Prick Named Bob & James Storm def. Eric Young & Sonjay Dutt
Segment #3: Jay Lethal Interview Segment
Segment #4: Gail Kim Interview Segment
Segment #5: Travis Tomko/Kurt Angle Brawl
Segment #6: Johnny Devine def. Jay Lethal (c) in a street fight to win the X Division Title
Segment #7: Booker T./Bobby Roode Interview Segment
Segment #7: Tiger Mask IV & Curry Man def. Jimmy Rave & Lance Hoyt
Segment #8: Samoa Joe/Jim Cornette Interview Segment
Segment #9: Travis Tomko & AJ Styles (c) def. The Murder City Machine Guns & The Dudley Boys to retain the TNA Tag Team Titles

The Main Stuff

Angle Numero Uno: At Least They’re Getting One Thing Right

Taken as a whole, this was a very frustrating episode of Impact. I’ll discuss why that was in more detail a little bit later on. Right now, though, I’d like to address the one thing that the company hasn’t managed to screw up yet. His name is Travis Tomko. The man walked away from the first Impact of the year looking like a major star thanks to his promo on and subsequent physical interaction with World Champion Kurt Angle, and he’s followed it up in subsequent weeks with a pair of strong squashes. I personally would’ve allowed those squashes to continue with Tomko slowly moving up to stiffer and stiffer competition every week, but TNA chose a different route. At the end of the day, that route wound up being fairly effective.

This evening, Tomko was insulted by a certain Kurt Angle, TNA World Heavyweight Champion. Instead of rolling with that insult, Tomko did what any muscular, three hundred pound babyface should do in a such a situation: He kicked Angle’s ass. He didn’t just start a fight, either. By the end of the battle, Tomko was pretty clearly the victor. That’s how you make a star in pro wrestling, ladies and gentleman. You keep a guy strong for his entire time in the promotion, and, when it’s time to pull the trigger on his interaction with the upper echelon, you have him hang with the guys who are already there. It’s such a simple formula that TNA has managed to screw up so many times (See: Joe, Samoa) that I am amazed that they finally got it right here. Of course, we are getting a Tomko/Angle singles match next week, so in seven days they could flush it all away. However, Tomko’s push is a rare instance in which TNA has done something so properly for so long that I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt in this situation. As it stands now, I would be completely fine with this man challenging for and possibly holding the TNA Title by the end of 2008.

The one drawback to all of tonight’s focus on Tomko is the fact that we received literally two minutes of build towards Kurt Angle vs. Christian at the company’s next pay per view. I’m willing to overlook that in this particular instance, though, as I see the building up of Tomko as a long-term investment that, if paid off properly, will help the company generate far more pay per view buys over several months than the number that they will be losing due to a poor build of the February show.

Angle Numero Dos: Nash Bridges the Generation Gap

The relationship between Kevin Nash and Samoa Joe can officially join Sting vs. Abyss and Eric Young vs. Bobby Roode as one of TNA’s most confusing storylines. First, Joe cuts a promo in which he calls Nash a worthless old man. Then they get booked together in a tag team match, and Nash walks out on Joe. After that, Joe threatens to kick Nash’s ass, and Nash responds by threatening Joe with a baseball bat. All of this somehow leads to Nash being Joe’s mentor. WHY?! Usually TNA puts a few guys together on a team and then has them act like they’re feuding for the next two months. This time they did the opposite, as they had two guys act like they were feuding for two months, after which they inexplicably made them friends. We don’t know why Joe feels that he needs Nash’s help, we don’t know why Nash wants to help Joe, and we don’t know how either man is benefitting from the other’s help. Explaining all of this would take literally ten minutes, and I don’t know why the company can’t drop one of the several other useless segments on this show in order to do it.

Then Joe started to randomly attack people throughout the card. I’m really beginning to hate the fact that, in this company, the way to get something that you want is not to earn it but rather to either bitch or disrupt the program until management gets tired of dealing with you and simply acquiesces to your demands. News flash, TNA: Having wrestler beat a bunch of his opponents clean in the middle of the ring until he’s granted a title match is just as effective, if not moreso, than anything you’ve done here.

Angle Numero Tres: The Shirts Don’t Lie: X Sux

I know that this goes without saying in January 2008, but I’ll say it anyway: The X Division is a total mess. This episode of Impact saw Jay Lethal receive an award for being the X Division wrestler of the year, which was allegedly voted on by the fans. Instead of capitalizing on the young man’s apparent popularity, TNA decides to make him look like the biggest loser on the roster, not just dropping his title but dropping it to the guy who has wrongfully been carrying around his belt for several weeks. So, he doesn’t just lose the title. He also fails miserably in his quest to get his property back, missing out on what had to have been at least his third opportunity to regain the gold. On top of that, the match that he lost his belt in SUCKED. The two men got literally five minutes of televison time for their “street fight,” meaning that, as soon as the bell rang, they were forced to begin doing spots that should be reserved for the last quarter of a twenty minute hardcore match. I know that using the picture of the berries is usually Larry’s gimmick, but I’ve got half a mind to do it tonight, because Jay Lethal was put six feet underground on this episode of Impact.

And the Rest . . .

~ Good to see Bubba Ray Dudley making a joke about Jim Cornette falling off of a scaffold which only 0.05% of the audience will get.

~ Hey, what happened to Bobby Roode being part of Kurt Angle’s stable? Continuity! At least Bobby had the opportunity to get in a clean win and a good promo tonight.

~ Okay, so I complain and complain and complain some more about this company never doing any replays of angles from prior weeks’ shows. So what angle do they make sure to give replay time to? The friggin’ Shark Boy comedy story that won’t draw a dime and isn’t even that funny. This show blows.

~ My favorite part of the entire episode was a crowd shot during the Shark Boy interview in which a fan in the front row covered up his face, as though he was embarrassed to be seen at the show.

~ Interesting to see Tiger Mask IV in the slot that he got this evening. For those of you not aware, New Japan Pro Wrestling sent both TMIV and reigning IWGP Champion Shisuke Nakamura to the Impact tapings this week. Nakamura will be having a match against Kurt Angle next month in New Japan, and supposedly the idea behind Nakamura’s visit was getting that bout some publicity. So, what match did Nakamura get? He defeated Elix Skipper on TNA Xplosion. You’d think that, if the idea was really to give NJPW some press, their champion would be the one teaming with Curry Man this evening instead of Tiger.

Overall

Ninety percent of this show was bad. The Joe and Lethal portions of the show did nothing to help either of those mens’ careers, and Lethal’s involvement in tonight’s episode may have crossed the line in to actively hurting him. Add to that Shark Boy’s horrendously unfunny new gimmick, undercard in-ring action that was mediocre at best, and a main event which came nowhere near living up to the potential that it had on paper, and you’ve got all of the ingredients necessary for a program that I normally would give an immediate thumbs down. You will recall, however, that I said those negative factors comprised ninety percent of the show. The other ten was all Tomko, all the time. As detailed earlier, TNA is doing absolutely everything right with this man, and I was glad to see it. In fact, everything he was involved with was so good that I would recommend going out of your way to see this show even if you’re without a Tivo and would be forced to endure the less than entertaining portions of the program.

Reader Feedback

We’ll kick it off with regular John R. who first quotes me and then compliments me on said quote:

“I’ve long said that I don’t care if the Murder City Machine Guns, Samoa Joe, or Christopher Daniels are at the top of the company’s cards. All I want are well-written storylines, good promos, and excellent matches, regardless of which performers are featured.”

Excellent quotes Ryan! More people should adopt that line of thinking. The best feuds are usually the ones in which there’s some heartfelt emotion towards one of the competitors. As much as I despise bringing up the WWE on a TNA board, I think the perfect example of this would be the Jeff Hardy/Orton feud. It started off as just a simple setup for the World Title. However it became more serious when Orton attacked Jeff’s brother, so now it’s more about personal revenge. Simply enough, the hottest angle in wrestling. See, that’s what TNA doesn’t get. They have had opportunity after opportunity to capitalize on the whole “up and comers fighting for respect” card. Between Joe and Chris Harris, the bookers could’ve used the disrespect card and the fans would’ve gotten behind them, as long as they were fighting for the right reasons. But nooooooooo, TNA had to go and turn them into whiny complainers and now no one cares what happens. The Steiners promo on the Dudleys last year shows what happens when you don’t try and attempt to artificially create emotion.

I think that, at the end of the day, this is one of TNA’s biggest problems. Because the storylines are so contrived and men are forced to act in ways that real men would not act, the whole show does have a very “artificial” feeling. That’s why I keep asking questions like, “Why would Kurt Angle and Christian fight over AJ Styles when he’s totally incompetent?” Setting up a scenario in which something so unrealistic happens makes it difficult for crowds to relate to the characters and thereby prevents the sort of legitimate emotion that John mentions from developing. Something simple and realistic like Jeff Hardy wanting to avenge his brother or the Steiners wanting to be remembered as the greatest tag team in history over the Dudleys is usually the far more effective route.

He’s not a regular like John, but he’s got a lot to say . . . he’s Chicago Eric! (Not to be confused with Eddie Chicago, who regularly writes in about my UWF recaps.

Just a silly observation from a wrestling fan of 37 years in the once-mecca of Chicago: You gotta make up your mind on whether or not you think TNA sucks. Yes, you (and everyone else on the planet for that matter) generally rip (correctly) on the writing for the show. Blame Vince Russo. He’s behind alot of it. But I will say that since TNA went to two-hours per week, some improvements have been made. They’ve made Bobby Roode into more of an asshole, the Motor City Machine Guns are slowly moving upwards, Booker T is already being misused (at this point, but it’s still early), the Womens Division is definitely the best segment as most of the ladies roster has more talent than anything the ‘E can provide right now, and Samoa Joe is FINALLY going to get his elevation developed.

It’ll be interesting to see what happens in the next several weeks. Let’s hope they don’t fuck it up too much. I know that’s asking a lot.

Oh, I think I’ve pretty clearly made a decision on whether TNA sucks. It does. However, holding that opinion doesn’t mean that I can’t also give them credit when they do things properly, which does occasionally happen. (For example, unlike you, I think Booker T. is being used as part of a great angle right now, and I’ll say as much.) I do think that your suggested expansion of their touring schedule is a good idea, IF the company finds a way to make these tours profitable. If it’s being done just so that they can be more like WWE or because management is under the misguided belief that this will somehow promote the rest of their product, then it’s worthless and should stop immediately.

Davy wants to talk commentary and Shark Boy:

I think TNA is just getting better because of the clean finishes. There were a few run ins but they were after the fact and security actually seemed to be doing their job by splitting them up in a timely fashion. But I think instead of a lot of short matches and short segments, they should go to a couple of longer matches and fewer backstage segments. Crystal is now the hardest working person on TNA because she has to track down and talk to everybody only to get shot down. And when will Petey Williams or Steiner get their title matches?

The Shark Boy impersonating Stone Cold gimmick better lead to Sharky doing something cool like maybe winning the X Division Title or any match using the “Shark Boy Stunner”.

It’s funny you mention the Stunner, because, for a period of time, Sharky’s finisher WAS a variation on Austin’s famous move. I believe that Shark Boy called it the “Dead Sea Drop,” but it was first popularized by Masato Tanaka in Japan and called the “Diamond Dust.” It involves the man performing the maneuver standing behind his opponent on the second rope and then doing a front flip in to a Stunner/Ace Crusher variant. It’s a fun move if you manage to pull it off correctly.

On the commentary front, I personally don’t care as much about names of moves as you do, although I can certainly see where your argument comes from. I also don’t mind a limited amount of promoting other angles during matches, as those angles do need to be put over by the commentary team, and it can be difficult to find time to cut away to Tenay and West specifically for that purpose. However, I’d say that you are correct in your belief that the majority of the announcing in a match should be focused on that match. To do otherwise detracts from the importance of the ongoing contest, which is an invitation to change the channel. If anything, I find Tenay and West’s announcing during PROMOS to be far more obnoxious than anything they do during matches, as they’re not content to let any word or action by a wrestler speak for itself. Sometimes the on-camera action is enough to get the storyline over, and, if I were producing the show, I’d have the two men’s mics cut during wrestlers’ interviews. If there is a point in which commentary is needed to clarify something, it can always be dubbed over in post-production.

Raven wants to move from mid-card act Shark Boy and in to discussion of the main event:

Good stuff, as usual, but this is one of the few times I disagree with you on something. I thought all of the “drama” of AJ maybe having to decide whether he goes for the title or gives Angle a few months off, only to lose the match was a nice change of pace. TNA is usually either booked too obviously or with ridiculous swerves that make no sense. I would have been pissed if AJ won (despite me being an AJ fan), because it would have resulted in more Angle crap and Karen spending half the damn show being a slut and trying to influence AJ to give Angle some time off. Instead we get a number one contender match that ends cleanly (other than the Joe bullcrap), with a wrestler hopefully getting a clear-cut shot at the title at a PPV. There will be limited drama since Christian already opposes Angle and AJ, so it’s not like we have to have our time wasted on more needless drama bologna on who’s siding with who. To be honest, with the lead up to the match I was thinking we were going to get a typical Russo-booked result with AJ winning, then deciding to go for the title, only to “swerve” Angle and remain at Christian’s side after all. It’s nice we don’t have to put up with that angle.

What I personally would have liked to have seen was no “hiatus” option for Styles at all. A straight up number one contenders’ match between the three men would’ve been far better. That option would completely eliminate the need for the AJ vignettes during Impact, which would have opened up television time for angles that needed it. After all, this was the show in which we saw the Dustin Rhodes storyline and the Kevin Nash/Samoa Joe storyline “furthered” by near-meaningless fifteen second skits, so there would have been at least two uses to which the extra time could’ve been put.

JBB has a question about my year in review features:

I’m just curious, will we get a Worst Finishers in TNA of 2007 or Best? Or perhaps a Worst Debut, Best Debut of 2007? My nominee of the worst finishers list: Judas Mesias’ “low-impact fall on your face while I hug your head” move. Is there a move that looks less impactful than his so-called “Straight to Hell” finisher? As for the best, I nominate any move Hernandez hits on Jimmy Rave because it seems like must of Jimmy Rave bitch-slapped Hernandez’s kid sister, because it seems Jimmy Rave nearly seems to die when he is wrestling Big Nandez.

I’m not going to do lengthy write-ups on best/worst finisher or best/worst debut, because, quite frankly, the Year in Review stuff is taking much longer to get through than I thought that it would, and it’s been a pain to get through the three categories that I already promised. With that said, since you requested it, here are quick lists on each topic:

Best Finisher of 2007

5.) Roxxi LaVeaux’s Dominator – She’s tall enough relative to the rest of the division that it looks like a very long, hard drop for any of her opponents.

4.) Amazing Kong’s Powerbomb – It looks brutal if you’re watching strictly as a fan, but if you step back and take a look at her technique, it’s usually pretty damn safe unless the woman taking the move screws up.

3.) Chris Sabin’s Cradle Shock – I usually hate Michinoku Driver variations because nobody does it as well as TAKA used to. Sabin’s is as close to the original as we get in the United States.

2.) Hernandez’s Border Toss – He doesn’t get to hit it nearly as much as he used to, but Jesus does this look brutal when he nails it on a smaller man.

1.) Homicide’s Kudoh Driver – If I have to explain why this one is so awesome, chances are good you haven’t seen it.

Worst Finisher of 2007

5.) Travis Tomko’s Clothesline – He needs to study some tapes of guys like Stan Hansen and JBL for pointers on how to throw a really brutal looking lariat finish. Right now it looks too soft.

4.) Scott Steiner’s Steiner Recliner – None of Steiner’s recent opponents have been flexible enough to make this look brutal.

3.) Judas Mesias’ Straight to Hell – I generally dislike moves in which the guy supposedly hurting his opponent is taking a flat back bump.

2.) Jay Lethal’s Top Rope Elbow – He’s gotten better at it, but his first several tries last year looked more like a Superfly Splash than they did a Macho Man elbow.

1.) ODB’s . . . ummm . . . Modified Thesz Press – Something about hitting your opponent in the face with your genitals doesn’t strike me as a good finisher.

Best Debut of 2007

2.) Booker T. & Sharmell – The contract signing that they did on their first Impact made them both seem like huge stars, in part because of Cornette’s mic work and in part because of Booker’s mic work.

1.) The Amazing Kong – The entire division was standing around the ring and cowering in fear. How much better can a debut get?

Yeah, I’ve only got two names on my “best” list. I can’t think of that many decent debuts in 2007 in TNA, honestly.

Worst Debut of 2007

5.) Booker T. – I know that I already put him on the “best” list, but his debut had aspects that were both very good and very bad. The good was what I mentioned above. The bad was the fact that his first match in was a tag bout in which he got completely lost in the shuffle.

4.) Jimmy Rave – He magically appeared in the middle of a battle royale and was treated like nothing special. Fortunately, it’s Jimmy Rave, so he really is nothing special.

3.) Matt Morgan – His character has recovered, but his debut was pathetic. He was just standing in the background of a room with no explanation as to why he was there.

2.) Rellik – He debuted and immediately went on a three or four week streak of getting pinned. How are we supposed to take a guy like that seriously?

1.) Karen Angle – I think that my opinions on this debut were covered in enough detail when I ran down the worst angles of the year.

GLOBAL Reader Feedback

I didn’t just review Impact last week, oh no. I also took a look at the promotion’s Global Impact special. Let’s take a look at what readers were saying on the heels of that review, beginning with Captain Snackpipe, a first-timer to the world of Japanese pro wrestling:

Even though I don’t watch TNA as much as I used to, I really wanted to see how Japanese wrestling was like so I decided to watch Global Impact. Yuji Nagata was not a big name when he was in WCW. He didn’t even stay that long, but I can completely understand why he is such a big name over in Japan. Nagata and Angle worked very hard in the match and that was one of the best matches I have seen in awhile. Even though I am an American I did enjoy the submission battles that Angle and Nagata went through. I loved how it was more of the wrestling aspect and not a whole lot of showmanship like WWE loves to push. I usually don’t buy DVDs but I just might have to watch it. Seeing Japanese wrestling is something fresh and new to me.

I don’t have much to add to this, but I thought it would be a good idea to publish a comment which seems typical of the response that first-time viewers of Japanese wrestling had upon viewing Global Impact. At least online, the response to the show amongst this group seems to have been overwhelmingly positive.

Of course, for every point, there is a counterpoint. For thoughts much different than the Captain’s, let’s head to JLA JRC:

I guess I’m gonna be the spoilsport here, but I was bored out of my mind watching this. I kept flipping channels just to stay awake. There was too much of the documentary/behind the scenes footage front-loaded. I would have included one more match and have the documentary portion spread out throughout the hour. I also wasn’t all that impressed with the main event. I think this has to do with the fact that I was never in the “Kurt Angle is the greatest wrestler in the world” camp even when he was in his prime in the WWE. He was fun to watch and especially listen to, but it wasn’t like I was worshiping him like a lot of you guys did/do. As someone who mainly watched this due to all of the publicity behind it, (I hadn’t watched TNA in months) I was severely disappointed. I will, however, continue to read Byers’ hilarious reviews of the show. He’s that great of a columnist.

I also thought that the special could have used at least one more match, but I saw that flaw as a minor one which did not ruin the rest of the show for me. As far as Angle/Nagata is concerned, I do think that it has been overrated in some circles online (particularly when folks talk it up as an early match of the year candidate), but I still think that it was better than the vast majority of free television main events that we get in the United States. It was certainly better than the Styles/Joe/Christian match from last week, and I’d put it on the same level as the very good Hardy/Umaga cage match which opened up the year for Monday Night Raw.

Appropriately enough, a man who labeled himself Just Askin’ has a simple question:

Isn’t Tomko’s first name Tyson, not Travis?

His legit first name, which he currently uses in professional wrestling, is Travis. Tyson was the first name that he used in WWE.

Hell Boy Sets Fire has a second simple question, this one about the man who we saw in last week’s main event:

Wasn’t Yuji Nagata used in WCW as a jobber? Just wondering, because I seem to remember the name.

Yes, he was. The major Japanese promotions have a tradition of sending young wrestlers to foreign countries for extended periods of time so that they can gain experience in many different styles of wrestling. Nagata got sent to WCW for part of his “excursion,” while guys like Jushin Liger were sent to Stampede Wrestling in Canada and even legends like Giant Baba spent many months touring various American territories several decades back.

Mark makes a solid point about a solid point that I made:

Ryan, I also like how you mentioned Angle putting over Nagata so much before the match, thus making his win even more impressive. That is rarely done anymore. Flair was always great at that.

This very same topic got covered a few weeks ago in the Crater. It seems that far too many people are obsessed with simply tearing their opponents down as opposed to building them up so that their matches are seen as something special. I personally blame this on the influence of the Rock. Don’t get me wrong, I love Rocky as a performer. However, I think that there are many people who misinterpret what made him stand out on the mic and think that it’s acceptable to turn promos in to diss sessions just because he did it with some success.

TNA Impact’s Year in Review

Welcome to part three of the Impact Crater’s look back at 2007. For the last two weeks, we’ve been looking at the best and worst storylines that took place in the last calendar year. This week, we’re going to change gears from storylines to episodes, as I count down the five greatest episodes of TNA’s free TV show from ’07. Next week I’ll come back with the five worst, but, for the time being, revel in my positivity!

The Best Impacts of 2007

Number Five: February 22 (Link)

February 22 was a rare night on which all three of TNA’s major angles delivered some quality television. However, the show winds up at number five instead of higher up on the list because there was still a cardinal error made in the most important storyline of the evening. The first segment on the show saw an interview with AJ Styles and Rhino, two men who were headed in to TNA’s first “Elevation X” scaffold match. It was brief, but the wrestlers still managed to say exactly what needed to be said in terms of explaining their feud to the fans and getting them excited in the upcoming pay per view contest. Elsewhere on the show, the Latin American Exchange of Hernandez and Homicide faced rivals the Dudley Boys in a country whippin’ match. The in-ring itself was solid, and the Dudleys’ victory on that particular evening was exactly what the feud needed given that LAX had obtained numerous victories over the former ECW stars. Combine that with a decent X Division ladder match in the main event, and this was already looking like a strong contender for one of the best shows of the year.

What really put it over the top, though, was a contract signing for the upcoming pay per view bout between Scott Steiner and Kurt Angle. Angle, who had not yet become a total parody of himself, did some great mic work, with Steiner responding in kind. The angle between the two men was a rather unique one, with Scotty portraying the money-hungry heel out to get the biggest financial reward possible and Angle representing the athlete who wants to compete in a sport simply for the sake of competing in it. Their promo on this evening, combined with an AWESOME chain link coif-assisted headbutt by Steiner, did the perfect job of putting the angle over. Unfortunately, there was a completely needless three-on-one beatdown of Kurt after the match, which damaged Scotty’s credibility when combined with a beating that the Olympic gold medalist had dealt to him the prior week. It was an unfortunate misstep in an otherwise highly entertaining and effective wrestling show.

Number Four: October 18 (Link)

Perhaps the biggest factor in this show making the list was the actual wrestling on it. We were given three matches that were all very good for the amount of time that they were provided, namely the main event of Samoa Joe vs. Christian, a contest pitting Frankie Kazarian against Lance Hoyt, and a tag team affair featuring Bobby Roode and James Storm wrestling Chris Harris and Rhino. We were also treated to an early appearance of the Amazing Kong who DESTROYED Talia Madison in what was, though not a technically sound encounter, a squash both necessary to and effective at establishing Kong as the monster which she would become.

Good wrestling wasn’t the only thing that we got on this episode, though. There was a top notch interview segment with Jim Cornette in which recently crowned champions were presented with their new belts. This made it appear as though the company’s titles were of the utmost importance. It’s simple things like that which get fans to take the product seriously, thereby allowing them to develop the emotional investment that sells live event tickets and pay per views. We were also treated to some decent advancement of a burgeoning three-way rivalry between Sting, Kevin Nash, and Kurt Angle. There was some of Angle’s trademark needless comedy, but the interaction between the trio of wrestlers was largely meaningful and did a good job of making Nash look like a legitimate threat to Kurt as opposed to an aging Kenny Rogers lookalike. Unfortunately, the quality of this angle wouldn’t hold up, with the bout involving the three men became an inane tag match with the World Title on the line. Well, at least the company managed to get things right for one night.

Number Three: November 15 (Link)

The qualities which made October 18 a strong show are very similar to the qualities which made November 15 a strong show. It was a mix of the excellent in-ring action that the TNA roster has always been capable of providing as well as booking in key angles which wasn’t quite as bad as what we’re used to from the trio of Jarrett, Russo, and Mantel. The quality wrestling was in large part provided by Kurt Angle and Frankie Kazarian, who had an absolutely AWESOME World Title match hot on the heels of Kazarian winning the Fight for Your Right (To PARRRRRTY!) tournament and becoming one of the hottest acts in the company. The emotion and anticipation behind that bout were both through the roof, and the two definitely delivered on what both the live and television audiences were expecting. The show’s match quality was bolstered by one of the best mixed tag team matches to occur in recent years, with Chris Harris and former America’s Most Wanted valet Gail Kim going up against Bobby Roode and Traci Brooks. Oh, and we had Kong against up and coming SHIMMER star Alexa Thatcher in another high quality squash.

The best interview segment of the evening shared several qualities with the effective champion crowning promo from October. It was the contract signing of Booker T. and his wife Sharmell, who had recently joined the company on pay per view. Giving them their own contract signing made sure that they were immediately forces to be reckoned with in TNA, and the ensuing mic work by the Book and rival Christian was both simple and effective.

Number Two: July 26 (Link)

The wrestling on this show wasn’t as great as the wrestling on some shows lower on the list. However, the promos and the booking were so good that they more than compensated for the weaker matches. I’m not saying that the matches were bad, mind you. The pairings of Sting and Bobby Roode, AJ Styles and Abyss, and LAX and the Murder City Machine Guns all delivered solid outings. However, none of them could touch the “sports entertainment” portions of the show.

One of those “sports entertainment” segments was a beatdown of Abyss and Sting by Christian and his cronies. No, this was not the most memorable Christian/Abyss angle in which Abyss’ bizarre desire to mutilate himself was taken to new heights thanks to a double blading of the monster’s arms. This was a second, less violent affair. Despite the fact that it was not as memorable as the original, it was exactly what the rivalry needed at this particular point, as a series of matches between the two sides had left it fairly stagnant. This was the perfect big angle to revitalize the feud heading in to its final matches. Better still was the promo involving the Steiner Brothers and the Dudley Boys. I don’t know what I can say about this particular promo that hasn’t already been said before. I praised it highly when it first aired, I praised it highly when I proclaimed the Steiner Brothers vs. the Dudley Boys to be TNA’s best feud of 2007, and the entire 411 staff praised it highly when we voted it one of the three best promos of the entire year. If you’re a wrestling fan and you haven’t seen this interview, something is wrong with you. Go hunt it down right now.

Number One: July 5 (Link)

Usually the phrase “one match show” is a bit of an insult, meaning that there was only one thing worth seeing on a particular wrestling card. However, I would call the July 5 Impact a “one match show,” and it was absolutely awesome. On the previous edition of Impact, Kurt Angle wrestled Rhino and Christian in a three way dance that took up an entire episode of Impact. Even before it aired, people within TNA claimed that the match was the greatest in the history of the company. Those people were dead wrong. Though it was a perfectly acceptable pro wrestling affair, it was not nearly as good as several matches that took place in the company’s past, and it was definitely not as good as the match we all saw on July 5. That match was the tag team division’s answer to Christian/Angle/Rhino. The Dudley Boys stepped in to the ring with LAX and the team of AJ Styles and Christopher Daniels. Though they didn’t go an hour, they did almost hit the forty minute mark, and that forty minutes was filled with action from bell-to-bell. Had Shawn Michaels and John Cena not had an absolute classic on an episode of Monday Night Raw, it would have been the best match on all of free television in 2007, and it was enough to singlehandedly make this edition of Impact the best of the year.

And, after entirely too much discussion of TNA. We are done. I’ll be back on Sunday with the Custom Made News Report. You should check that out, and you should also check out my MySpace profile, where you can add me as a friend to receive a bulletin notification every time that I post a new article on 411.