Keith Watanabe * NET 2.0

Impact was quite good this week. Mostly setup but they had been doing well creating the build up for a few feuds. But easily the biggest anticipated match is Scott Steiner vs Samoa Joe. The interviews and build up to this match have been excellent as noted here and elsewhere. This is what good promos are about. I always like the cocky, sarcastic, comedic promos as well, but those are almost cliche now. This is just a "bring the hatred and your ego" type of promo, which works towards both guys' favors as it works off their reputations. And probably the biggest reason why this feud has been so successful is merely the simplicity of it. The most important thing is that it's got people talking and mostly in a positive manner. People want to see Samoa Joe as the real breakout star in TNA because he just "gets it." He understands pro-wrestling and you can see it each time he goes in there. At the same time, this is a make-it or break-it point for Samoa Joe and TNA. The big question is how good of a match will this be after all the hype. There's a tremendous amount of expectation going into this match. If the match has an injury some place, that'll be tragic. If Steiner can't go it'll be tragic. The other thing is that this match does not have to answer all the questions. It's a good starting point to building the feud of the year. We had teasers between these two at the previous PPV. It wet our appetites. But why stop there? The anticipation is incredibly high and people want to see more. You could easily prolong this type of feud for three PPVs. Obviously, Samoa Joe is motivated and he's asking Scott Steiner to bring everything he's got. Is Steiner going to be equally motivated in finding an opponent who's willing to go hard and fast with him? What kind of match should we expect? For me, it's hard hitting, tons of suplexes, maybe one high spot or two (from Joe), smash mouth style brawl. Let it erupt around a bit, but don't force this type of match to enter the crowds too much; save that for a street fight style match but just tease the notion occasionally. This is pro-wrestling at it's potential best. The main event has been booked decently but it doesn't have the heat level that Scott vs Joe does. This might be Christian Cage's ending run as champion before he might move into pursuit mode. But the good part is that it throws a lot of questions into the mix. No one I believe expects Abyss to get it. Jeff Jarrett is always a wild card and he made a very interesting promo about his strategy; I don't think people picked up on this as much as they did but it shows two things: it puts most of the emphasis and question marks around Sting and Christian towards the end point while it makes Jarrett a sneaky bastard who's looking to manipulate or slip in to get his title back. Then there's Ron Killings who will probably like Christian be the worker of the group. This is his second main event in the last year or so, but the claim is that he's hungry. He even made another promo where he deviated from typical "what's up?" line. So the next question is for the spot hungry fans, does that mean Ron will turn up his game plan? I don't see him as the winner here, but he ought to make a mark where he essentially says to the world "I'm back!" With all the talk of Sting and Christian singling each other out in the end, no one really has thought about Ron making that heel turn. This is a great opportunity to move him towards that point, setup him up for a main event feud with Christian to get him moving again. Then there's Sting. Of course of everyone he makes the most logical sense to put the belt on if one were to choose someone to switch titles. That would trigger the Christian in pursuit-as-heel routine before Sting eventually puts him over. But that's just meeting expectations; it's not trying to defy them. The rest of the card looks interesting too. AJ Styles/Christopher Daniels really need to give themselves a name. They have some great tag team moves and will make a fantastic face team against AMW. The whole neutralizer aspect to their team implies to me that Christy Hemme will manage them (she is, after all, training in the dojo). I can see it as a brief opportunity to allow Christy to show off some flashy move or two to counter Gail's sweet hurricanranas and tornado DDTs (I mean, she's really NAILED them each time on these guys). Since only two titles are on the line and that this is their biggest PPV, this would be an excellent candidate for a title change. The last match was very good so this one ought to be better. I do suspect that the title will switch but if not, it should be because of the James Gang and Team 3D. But I think just having their neutralizer show up will be enough to nail in the pin. I think this will be the match of the night. James Gang vs Team 3D is cool because it's given both teams a slight breath of fresh air. The upcoming tag match should be an ugly brawl, but hopefully they can turn it up a notch and bring the hatred rather than the silliness. Kevin Nash vs Chris Sabin. Okay, you have to admit at least the booking has been amusing. Not necessarily complimentary but they took some basic ideas, spoofed it up with humor and tried to color it a little. Of course, the winner has been Alex Shelley who is the next major break out star from the X-Division. But the focus looks to be on Sabin and what his tactics are going to be. Very simple angle in the David vs Goliath syndrome. In fact, Nash partly laid out the strategy for the match in an interview where he mentioned that the first 7 minutes is where a big man like himself needs to put away the smaller guy. I think the first 5-7 minutes is going to be Nash goofing around. What I think the match should do is not have Sabin suddenly stop selling and go into high gear (this is where his main weakness lies as a wrestler), but to piss Nash off. For instance, a nasty dropkick to the jaw that leaves a bruise. Nash tries to mount his comeback but starts to have problems keeping up. Now, that I think about this match, it's almost like Razor Ramon vs 1-2-3 Kid back in the day, except with Nash (who's bigger than Scott Hall and less mobile). There was a good tag match on Nitro where Benoit finished a run against Sullivan and started by tagging with Ric Flair against the Outsiders. At one point Nash grew pissed at Benoit and you could see things turn up a bit as Benoit fought out of a powerbomb. That's what Sabin needs. Nash is going to humor himself with his arrogance about being big, so Sabin has to utilize that as Nash's ultimate weakness. The other thing is that Sabin HAS TO SELL. Sabin's selling the X-Division is non-existent. Part of the big vs little man match style is the little guy selling for 2-3 minutes every time a big guy hits him with a major move to demonstrate the impact and power of a larger person. I think part of this type of match would be to have Kevin beat a little selling into Sabin. The other thing is to give Sabin a little color. BTW, i vote for Sonjay or Shelley interferring, which will allow Sabin to show that he wasn't cleanly pinned (this is the assumption) while giving Kevin the win. Rhino vs Bobby Roode/Scott D'amore. This is their attempt at moving Bobby up into the ranks. Bobby's basics are good; he can cut a usable promo and has enough moves and bumping to survive. However, he's lacking something that puts him over the top. I don't think it's a killer finisher, but just a style to move his identity upwards. If he were in the WWE, he would be gunning either for the US title or Intercontinental title. but he lacks that gimmick to propel him any further foward. There's a six man X-Division match. The big two in that match are Shelley and Senshi. Senshi hasn't been around on TV for a while, but a win here is logical. Have him win leading to the following night in challenging Samoa Joe for the X-Division championship (and winning with Scott Steiner coming out to punk Joe with a lead pipe a la Goldberg back in WCW). Even with Nash in Shelley's corner, I don't think Nash should make an appearance at this point on the PPV, unless he gives Shelley some advice. However, with Jay Lethal and Sonjay in the match, they might just scrub him out as being a sell out while Senshi gives Sharkboy a nasty foot stomp for the win.