The Official TNA / Impact / GFW Discussion Thread

[tristram]

And then to bank on the aspect of the promotion that gave it back some popularity after starting to stagnate (IE the Four Horsemen), WCW did the honourable thing and basically booked it and the workers in it into the ground. I have never been so fired up for a fight as to when Ric Flair rips on Bischoff that night when the Horsemen reform, it is such a hot segment. Pity, like the way the Sting-Hogan feud had been booked, that the pay-off dates are poorly executed and all the stigma and work that goes into it all is blown to smitherenes.

 

I hope they use the nWo-ites and the Hogan-allies to help put over the likes of Beer Money, Jay Lethal, Samoa Joe and the like. In my mind, I have no problem with the older guys coming in if they intermingle with the lower card and help build them up to go over. I'm not saying to job the first night, I'm saying to built up interest, and then to let their opponents superior wrestling skills take over. Of the newcomers, aside from Flair of course, the guy I'm looking forward to the most is Jeff Hardy.

[Franchise22]

The night after Wrestlemania 14 is when RAW first one the night X Pac debuted, etc.

 

I think the last time WCW won in the ratings was when Flair reformed the Horseman. Legend goes that people were tuned in for Nitro for whatever reason that night when the Foley comment tipped them in favor of winning the night.

 

a lot of speculation, so ill throw mine in. im sure the exact correct info is out there somewhere. i think the last rarings win was when goldberg went over hogan for the belt at the georgia dome.

[Stennick]

That might be but the Flair thing happened aftewards so I guess its just a matter of it Flair's reformation of the Horseman.

 

Flair's thing happened on Sept 14th 1998. That show scored a 4.5 rating against RAW that did a 4.0 according to a few different websites I checked.

 

On Oct 26th of 98 RAW did a 4.5 and Nitro did a 5.1.

 

In the new year of 99 Nitro scored three 5.0 ratings out of four weeks in the month of January but RAW never did under 5.5 with 5.7 being their highest for the month. So it looks like to be that Oct 26th was the last time they won the ratings war in 1998.

 

Now I'm going to head over and see what took place on that show.This was the show right after Havoc 98 where it was DDP/Goldberg and Warrior/Hogan. If you remember which I do because my parents bought the ppv the show cut out in the middle of the Hogan/Warrior match and we never got to see Goldberg/DDP.

 

So this show airs the main event of Havoc in its entirety. The main event of this show is DDP/Hart where DDP wins the U.S Title.

 

RAW on the other hand was the week after Austin made Vince piss his pants while forcing him to give him a brand new contract. I'm guessing Vince screwed him out of a match and it cost him his "career". The Main event was Shamrock vs. Austin in an I Quit Match.

 

So yeah really you give away a match between WCW's two biggest babyfaces of the ppv caliber for free and you're gonna get a big rating and they did just that for their final win ever.

[SaySo]

^ I heard WCW had to refund PPV viewers for the mishap of DDP/Goldberg because of the incident.

 

Jeff Cohen sent in the following recap:

 

Howard Stern played a clip of the Hogan/Nash/Hall/X-Pac/Bischoff segment this am.

 

Now these are all casual fans who don't follow the business and they had no idea what Hogan and Hall were talking about, "doing the right thing for the business," etc.

 

This is what happens when the writers script stuff that is so "inside" or coded – they lose the 99 percent of the audience that doesn't understand the lingo, or has followed the convoluted storylines.

 

Plus, Stern pointed out that the content was completely scripted, noting that every line was enunciated and they were waiting for the crowd to pop after every sentence.

 

I know it's tough to write a promo where guys say they want to make easy money by working main events and holding back young talent.

 

But they didn't even try.

 

Stern lost interest and changed the subject in two minutes.

 

He came back to staffers explaining the NWO gimmick from WCW. One staffer did know the backstory of Waltman and Hall being fired "from every organization for being drunks." The other staffer talked about how Tara's tights got pulled down.

 

They talked about how Hogan is going to run the company differently, Robin interjected, "Who cares who runs the company?" Basically killing the premise of using feuding booking factions as a way to draw money.

 

"I can't imagine that Bubba is into this," Hogan said. "I mean, he must like getting the money for being a backstage announcer. But Bubba's a pretty smart guy. Bubba knows this is not real, right?"

 

Stern also kept talking about Hogan was out there "in his bathing suit," when Hulk was decked in the shirt and pants, etc.

 

Stern was making fun of "guys in thongs out there talking," and did a lot of "isn't this gay" talk. Then again, this is coming from a guy who spent 10 minutes talking about "Conveyer Belt of Love" as great TV.

[Purple Cowboy]

I listen to Howard a lot so just thought I'd say Howards comments are probably meant to be friendly shots at Bubba rather than his honest take since Bubba of course replays his show on one of Howard's stations at Sirius. They constantly do whatever crossover they can to get people to listen to both shows. So then Bubba talks about it to his audience and sends some of them to Stern, etc..

 

But that said, Howard also isn't a wrestling fan.

[TracyBrooksFan]

Daniels Twitter

 

Frankie and Traci's wedding was a beautiful affair. Some tears were shed, but the joy overflowed!! Absolutely fabulous!!

 

http://i49.tinypic.com/51ole8.jpg

 

 

LOL@Tommy

 

THETOMMYDREAMER

 

@facdaniels That's awesome tell the happy couple I said congrats I hope Brother Ray doesn't eat the entire wedding cake

 

 

Taylor's Twitter

 

A very special wedding day between 2 very special people. So much <3 in the air. Yup, I'm going to be a big girly mess!

[Hyde Hill]

Dammit just read on PWI that Hogan said on the Spunge show he wants to scrap the Steel Asylum.

 

Apparently 10 idiots told him it had a good door for a door escape (I hate those and would totally kill the gimmick) then before going live they saw it had no door, duh. And that no one could escape out the top?? How in the blue hell did Daniels, Kaz and I think Lethal do it before then? So they decided on a DQ finish?? How is that better? Why not have Suicide win as you know he can do it or do a time limit finish? Seeing it was a non title match. Should make Suicide number 1 contender and then Homicide can blackmail him with his identity either after Suicide wins the title or to get the shot.

 

They also mentioned that doing a big bump in the structure was impossible, hmm yeah not like there where any big bumps in the previous editions.

 

No mention of the shoddy camera work and homicide taking way to long to escape out the top. So him being unable to do so was the plan?

 

Way to kill a nice (not great) gimmick match TNA in five minutes. Like I said before Steel Asylum itself has given some decent/good matches. Spotty yes but also entertaining. Return to page 52 for a link to the last one.

 

Good Bye Steel Asylum, you will be missed. Well at least by me.

[TracyBrooksFan]

damn i like the terror dome

[Bigpapa42]

Dammit just read on PWI that Hogan said on the Spunge show he wants to scrap the Steel Asylum.

 

Apparently 10 idiots told him it had a good door for a door escape (I hate those and would totally kill the gimmick) then before going live they saw it had no door, duh. And that no one could escape out the top?? How in the blue hell did Daniels, Kaz and I think Lethal do it before then? So they decided on a DQ finish?? How is that better? Why not have Suicide win as you know he can do it or do a time limit finish? Seeing it was a non title match. Should make Suicide number 1 contender and then Homicide can blackmail him with his identity either after Suicide wins the title or to get the shot.

 

They also mentioned that doing a big bump in the structure was impossible, hmm yeah not like there where any big bumps in the previous editions.

 

No mention of the shoddy camera work and homicide taking way to long to escape out the top. So him being unable to do so was the plan?

 

Way to kill a nice (not great) gimmick match TNA in five minutes. Like I said before Steel Asylum itself has given some decent/good matches. Spotty yes but also entertaining. Return to page 52 for a link to the last one.

 

Good Bye Steel Asylum, you will be missed. Well at least by me.

 

So Hogan had no idea about the steel asylum cage and how it works? That's... worrisome...

[Moe Hunter]

I just read that Hogan had no idea that the TNA ring had six sides, and said "well doesn't that leave a whole bunch of exposed turnbuckles if you only have 12 pads?"

 

Yeah.... Oh Wait! I don't believe everything I read. Like that guy who "scooped" us all about Hardy, when Dixie had already announced his appearance via Twitter.

 

 

Anywho, having finally seen the show via torrent since it doesn't get broadcast here...

 

Steel Asylum was a pile of crap. No sense at all, most of the moves you couldn't even tell who was doing what to who as they were all so contrived and assisted. Amazing Red really seems to suck bad.

 

As has been said, all the Hogan promos were awful. So he wants to put over that he's not going back to the old ways, and he's gonna push the young guys? A better way of doing that would be... Not having the old guys on at all, and actually featuring the young guys!

 

ODB tries way too hard on her gimmick, it's akin to the cheesey BS New Zealand wrestling we have on at the moment from KPW. Other than that, very impressed with the Knockouts. Confused as to what The Beautiful People's gimmick is though, how self-aware are they? They seem to be going in and out of character at whim.

 

Glad to see Burke find his "time to shine!" finally. McMahon really should have followed through with him after announcing him as the future on ECW. Wolfe is pretty awesome, too bad these guys didn't get more time.

 

Is it just me, or did Foley say "here's a video package for Dixie and Hulk", stare into the camera, and then NOTHING played? Then he just continues to try and get in the building.

 

Very anticlimatic and not dramatic at all, all of the "trying to get in" and "oh no, someone's been taken out!" crap. Bubba the Love Sponge is an idiot too. I don't like Borash, but I like this guy even less.

 

In general, why even feature matches that go for only a minute or two, on a THREE HOUR SHOW? For a company that claims, and fans that chant "this is wrestling", there was very little wrestling to be seen.

 

 

Oh, and did anyone notice that sign "TNA - The New Era"? Yeah, nice acronym dude!

[BurningHamster]

Confused as to what The Beautiful People's gimmick is though, how self-aware are they? They seem to be going in and out of character at whim.

 

You know those chicks who are on facebook and have 2000 friends and all their photos include them holding up an alcoholic beverage while pressing their face against someone who looks like their equally fake-tanned twin? They are probably pouting too?

 

That is pretty much what I always saw them as being. I too have to admit being confused as to how self-aware they are though.

[Zeel1]

Oh, and did anyone notice that sign "TNA - The New Era"? Yeah, nice acronym dude!

 

Afterwards, he was probably thinking "Damn it, I knew I should've went with The New Age!"

[Hyde Hill]

So Hogan had no idea about the steel asylum cage and how it works? That's... worrisome...

 

Here is the article about what he apparently said on the Sponge show. No chance in hell that I am gonna listen to it and as it is PWI I am thinking it is probably a correct excerpt.

 

http://www.pwinsider.com/article/44167/hulk-hogan-is-going-to-try-to-move-impact-to-monday-nights-says-jim-cornette-is-bitter-talks-about-the-finish-to-mondays-cage-match-and-more-.html?p=1

 

He also talks about Cornette and moving to Mondays.

 

And Linkage to a real steel asylum match to see what we will be missing for those that don't want to scroll back:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QXXaXLuOLM

[Stennick]

And Linkage to a real steel asylum match to see what we will be missing for those that don't want to scroll back:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QXXaXLuOLM

 

I still don't see what makes the match so great. The bright red steel makes my eyes hurt, there are too many guys in the ring to try and follow while forcing my eyes to see through the steel. Sometimes TNA tries to out gimmick themselves. I like it that they try to be different and sometimes it works. Ultimate X was a fun match. But Monsters Ball, King of the Mountain, Steel Asylum, these just don't really work for me.

 

I for one would be ok with that and the six sided ring going bye bye. I like that they want to be different as I said but some things just don't work for me.

[Fleisch]

I had hoped I'd be proven wrong about Hogan coming in and TNA getting an influx of his cronies to "help get the promotion noticed". More like get his has been/never where friends a cushy little pay day! Who the hell wants to see the Nasty Boys? They were a pile of feces in the early 90's - I doubt they've learned anything new since then. Brian Knobbs is about 200lbs overweight and Jerry Saggs - well he's Jerry Saggs! They are going to blow the tag division into new heights!!! I think not. The once proud tag team division just got downgraded.

 

Who the hell is Bubba the Love Sponge? He sounds like a gay pornstar!

 

Hogans name mentioned every two minutes... way to take away from the talent doing a better job than he ever did in ring. Don't get me wrong, Hogan has done alot for the business, but his best was like 15/20 years ago. The guy was a big deal when I first started watching wrestling in 1990 at the tender age of 8... I'm now nearly 28! My friends kids watch it and you mention Hogan to them, and they'd rather see John Cena! If the shows are going to revolve around him and his merry band of men then sadly I see TNA tanking big time, which is a shame because they really do have some good talent and up until they decided to "compete" (what a laugh) they were putting on some entertaining shows.

 

I'm not even going to comment on the steel asylum match - it was like Hogan came in and thought "I'm not having these guys upstage my debut - tonight is about ME and my buddies - rubbish finish please to p*** off and alienate the fans we have."

 

All in all, this week and next week are 2 of the crappest shows in TNA history.

[Hyde Hill]

The replay did a 0.9 rating. Even taking into account people that watched it twice or thought it would be a new show (and decided to stick around) that is still a very good rating. If you ad say half on top of the 1.5 you get close to Smackdown ratings.

[TracyBrooksFan]

The replay did a 0.9 rating. Even taking into account people that watched it twice or thought it would be a new show (and decided to stick around) that is still a very good rating. If you ad say half on top of the 1.5 you get close to Smackdown ratings.

 

it a good replay rating and remember that it was on against BCS title game

[Stennick]

The replay did a 0.9 rating. Even taking into account people that watched it twice or thought it would be a new show (and decided to stick around) that is still a very good rating. If you ad say half on top of the 1.5 you get close to Smackdown ratings.

 

What is 1.5 wasn't that their original rating for this? Are you saying that if you add 1.5 plus the .9 you get 2.4 and thats close to Smackdown numbers?

 

its a great replay number. Like Cornette said next weeks rating will be the true test. No Fiesta Bowl, no BCS title game. If the fans come back next week as strong as they did the debut week or if they get an even BIGGER number then I'll have no choice but to say that whatever Hogan is doing is working for TNA and Spike no matter how much I don't enjoy their product currently.

 

That being said if their rating drops I hope we're not met with a ton of excuses on why their rating dropped. People within TNA and TNA fans both feel this was a homerun show and if you hit a home run show with your biggest audience ever then it would make sense if said audience returns and with the replay being as strong as it is that to me says that they told their friends who chose to watch RAW to check out the replay.

 

So now we'll see if fans are enjoying this or if they fall back to the dreaded 1.0. Honestly its weird that the replay did the number it did, I almost wonder if Thursdays may be whats holding them back from producing a good number. I say if this show does lower numbers put it on Monday night again and compare the two.

[Hyde Hill]

Yeah 1.5 was the original number. And 2.4 is actually better then Smackdown as they are around a 2.1/2.0 lately if I remember correctly as far as the numbers have been released.

 

Spike and TNA have indicated that returning to Monday occasionally or permanently could be an option.

 

Homerun show no imho, Run batted in yeah.

[cappyboy]

Daniels Twitter

 

Frankie and Traci's wedding was a beautiful affair. Some tears were shed, but the joy overflowed!! Absolutely fabulous!!

 

http://i49.tinypic.com/51ole8.jpg

 

Taylor's Twitter

 

A very special wedding day between 2 very special people. So much <3 in the air. Yup, I'm going to be a big girly mess!

 

I can believe Taylor as a "big girly mess" but man oh man that must have been mild compared to the waitresses who saw Daniels in that suit. The formalwear really suits him if you will pardon the pun.

[sabataged]

So Monday did a 1.5 and Thursday did a .9 and you think you can add this up for a final rating? I'm sorry but that that might be the stupidest thing I read on these boards in a few days, and beleive me it has some stiff competition. The ratings don't work like that. TNA needs to stick to defeating ECW, before moving on to Smackdown, or even Competing with RAW for that matter.

 

If we are doing totals for ratings why aren't we including AM RAW that runs Saturday mornings? It generally does a .6-.7

[MrCanada]

So Monday did a 1.5 and Thursday did a .9 and you think you can add this up for a final rating? I'm sorry but that that might be the stupidest thing I read on these boards in a few days, and beleive me it has some stiff competition. The ratings don't work like that. TNA needs to stick to defeating ECW, before moving on to Smackdown, or even Competing with RAW for that matter.

 

If we are doing totals for ratings why aren't we including AM RAW that runs Saturday mornings? It generally does a .6-.7

 

If you could do that do you count WWE replays too? Outside of the highlight shows? I know up here, RAW airs 9:15-9:30 and then replays from 12:00-2:00am right after (well there's 30 min of sports highlights).

 

EDIT:

 

I think I like this method of judging things though. By that arguement, if you add up all the cheers Amazing Red has EVER received in his wrestling career (from post-TNA when he debut in like 2000-until today) he is technically more over then Hogan was Monday in the impact zone, and therefore is the more over wrestler.

[sabataged]

If you could do that do you count WWE replays too? Outside of the highlight shows? I know up here, RAW airs 9:15-9:30 and then replays from 12:00-2:00am right after (well there's 30 min of sports highlights).

 

EDIT:

 

I think I like this method of judging things though. By that arguement, if you add up all the cheers Amazing Red has EVER received in his wrestling career (from post-TNA when he debut in like 2000-until today) he is technically more over then Hogan was Monday in the impact zone, and therefore is the more over wrestler.

 

Exactly the idea of combing the two editions of Impact into one rating to say it is already at Smackdown level is crazy. Besides that who the heck even gets MyNetworkTV. I give smackdown credit for pulling down a 2+ on MyNetworkTV. If Smackdown was on USA or Spike it would be getting 3+

[HughBatey4]

TNA isn't ready to compete with WWE on a WEEKLY basis.

 

On a one-night battle, TNA can go toe-to-toe. They can't pull out major signings like Hardy and Flair each week.

 

This is why TNA should have spent 2002 until 2009 building their talent instead of pushing Christian, Angle, Booker T, Sting, Team 3D, and Scott Steiner.

 

The only TNA guys that have been built as legit stars are AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, and Abyss. The rest may be over, but if they went off TV for a couple months, barely anybody would care.

[sabataged]

TNA isn't ready to compete with WWE on a WEEKLY basis.

 

On a one-night battle, TNA can go toe-to-toe. They can't pull out major signings like Hardy and Flair each week.

 

This is why TNA should have spent 2002 until 2009 building their talent instead of pushing Christian, Angle, Booker T, Sting, Team 3D, and Scott Steiner.

 

The only TNA guys that have been built as legit stars are AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, and Abyss. The rest may be over, but if they went off TV for a couple months, barely anybody would care.

 

So TNA should build their stars? In like a developmental system or what