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Raw, er Impact, opened with a long interview segment featuring TNA champion Kurt Angle giving us all the exposition we already saw in the opening video, but that's the Vince Russo method.  The entire segment was built around who would be Sting's mystery partner, with the idea of teasing it to mess with Angle's head (and to get people to pay to see who it is, sucka).  The segment was perfectly fine and there were some cute lines, especially Angle's declaration that he's watched enough CSI and Law & Order to "crack a case."  It ended with Kevin Nash laying out Angle after Sting tossed Angle back into the ring.  If all this strife between Angle and Nash ends up being some goofy plot to beat Sting and partner, I tap out. 

That set us up for A Scooby-Doo mystery episode of Impact.  As in previous weeks, we saw a continuous series of vignettes building to a cliffhanger ending for the show, this time being the return appearance of Scott Hall next week.  Kurt Angle and Jeremy Borash can ham it up with the best of them, this time as interrogators.  You can't help but to laugh at it, but at the same time, there's no real logic behind this.  I did pop for the loving gaze between Jay Lethal and So Cal Val, teasing that Val would be the Miss Elizabeth in the Black Machismo equation.  Of all the segments, Robert Roode cut yet another great promo.  The brief bit with Chris Harris complaining about how the same top names are featured every week on Impact was great too.  Now, if only it wasn't true.  With the exception of Angle blubbering over his father "not loving him" and the silly beating Eric Young, nothing seemed too over the top and it was entertaining campy stuff.  That said, is this really what a World title build should be?  Depends on how you see it.

James Storm vs. Kaz was a solid match, for the two minutes it lasted.  You can see TNA is trying to make Kaz a player here, which is perfectly fine with me.  He's a good, hard worker.  If they can bring out his persona a bit more, he'll be a great asset.  The match was probably too short for a semi-final tournament bout that we are supposed to take seriously, but bell to bell, the work was good.  I liked the surprise back bridge finish.  TNA really needs to do something James Storm and The Sandman.  I think Eric Young would be hysterical playing off the two of them.  Hey, uh, whatever happened to the Kaz-Ms. Brooks storyline?  And, um, why isn't James Storm mad he just lost a bid at the World title?

Kevin Nash was interviewed backstage, teasing we'd know who would be Sting's partner by the end of the show. 

The entire X-Division beatdown of Team 3D was a great segment.  Brother Ray set it up perfectly with his mic work burying the X-Division and even online scribes who have correctly noted that the X-Division has been an asset that is being squandered.  When he's given the platform, Ray can talk with the best of them.  His comments led to some really good mic work by Alex Shelley and finally all of the X-Division laying out the bullies.  Team 3D escaping with their lives was fine with me and I'm curious to see how the Motor City Machineguns fare at Genesis.  If they get a clean, come from behind miracle win, TNA is onto something here.  This segment, however, was tons of fun.

Awesome Kong vs. Christy Hemme was another good squash for Kong, so of course, she's not facing Gail Kim at the next PPV? Huh?  Well, at least we get ODB on PPV.  That's always a great thing.  The look of Kong's face when Hemme slapped her was great.  Did anyone else catch Don West calling Hemme "Gail Kim?"  With the exception of one spot that didn't connect right, Hemme did a great job as the punching bag for Big Van Kong. 

Eric Young knows who Sting's partner is.  The plot thickens, my Dear Watson.

TNA said that Junior Fatu wouldn't be appearing due to "unknown reasons."  That's actually smart because if the two sides come to terms, Fatu can say Christian Cage gave him four flat tires or something to drop him right back into the storylines.

The backstage segment with Abyss terrorizing Dustin Rhodes was a short but violent backstage beatdown.  As a character, Abyss really needed this because he's looked like a sad sack getting his head beaten in recently when he's supposed to be the badass monster hitting Black Hole Slams through tacks.  I liked it.

The Christian Cage backstage promo complaining about the ongoing mystery, saying the only mystery is that he's not getting a bye.  It made total sense for Cage's character to care only about himself and the promo was good.

While the mixed tag was OK, it was more of a backdrop for the Robert Roode-Samoa Joe post-match brawl and that was great.  The amount of blood coming from Joe's head after he was tossed into the ring steps was Ian vs. Axl Rotten level and added to the intensity of the scene.  While I didn't care for the uncreative way of kicking off this feud, the brawl in the crowd, including the tease of Roode's new girl getting involved was awesome, with the only downside being that TNA didn't show enough of it.

Chris Harris vs. Christian Cage was another good match on the show.  It made total sense for Harris to get the title opportunity and losing in the manner he did only gives him another reason to be even more bitter as a character.  Cage dragging in the ladder at the end made sense as well since they are obviously building to a ladder match at the PPV. 

The Black Reign promo was by the numbers for the character.  What the hell is a Little Shop of Horrors match?  You feed your opponent to the Audrey II?

The LAX vs. AJ Styles & Tomko main event featured the return of a very good main event to Impact after skipping one last week.  You have to love Homicide's antics after he nails the tope con hilo to the outside.  Some really good work here and I was surprised to see the clean finish at the end.  Styles and Tomko are really one hell of a team.  LAX making the save for themselves was good, as it didn't kill their heat too much, but why are the Steiners involved at the end?

The Scott Hall tease at the end was a good cliffhanger I thought.  We'll see if his appearance means anything for the ratings, though.

Overall, much improved from last week.  If you like silly camp, there was more than enough here for you.  If you like good wrestling, well, there was some of that, not to mention some decent promos involving 3D, Shelley, Harris, Roode and Cage.  TNA did a decent job mixing everything this week.  There's some stuff I don't personally care for, like building a World title match with campy comedy, but it was well done for what it was.

Mike Johnson can be reached at Mike@PWInsider.com.

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