The Official TNA / Impact / GFW Discussion Thread

[Self]

Watched the last part of Impact. Awful Main Event. Ruined the show for me. Wolfe had a good promo hyping it. Pope had a good promo hyping it. I fast-forwarded much of Abyss' blubbering, but I assume he hyped it too. That's fine. Talking is good if it ends with a satisfying match... but the match sucked. Wolfe and Abyss just disappeared.

 

Didn't mind the ref stoppage finish. Better they did it on a Submission than for punching in the corner.

[Basmat01]

From what I have read Morley wanted to work in Mexico and was going to continue to work for TNA BUT because they are moving to monday nights Morley couldnt do both. so pretty much it was one or the other and he choose Mexico.

[PeterHilton]

I have a new favorite youtube channel:

 

http://www.youtube.com/user/scotthalltv

 

Scott Hall is a mess, but at least he owns it.

[Wrestling Century]

Do any of you guys think that TNA will sign Goldberg? I hope that TNA signs Goldberg.

[Stennick]

Goldberg has said he's got little interest in signing with TNA. He's doing three or four different television shows for like the Speed Channel and some other niche cable networks. He's done wrestling and honestly I don't think he's got much name value. He was a big deal for one year 12 years ago.

[Self]

I just wish the folks in charge would remember what made Goldberg special for that year. That win streak was awesome. If TNA could really get behind someone and actually push them in the Goldberg fashion, it would be a step in the right direction.

 

I liked Goldberg. Had no problem with the Spear + Jackhammer ultra-squash formula.

[jesterx7769]

He has lots of money now (search for things on his car collection) and would be a waste since the only people that would like him would be WCW fans after WWE burried him so quickly. I think the value of Sting brings in anyone Goldberg would bring in (old WCW fans that refused to watch WWE) so they have that base covered.

 

Unfortunately Goldberg as a whole is nothing special (never was) and if TNA (or WWE for that matter) wanted to they could easily create a new Goldberg by giving a big muscular guy a 100 win streak and as much as I dont like that idea I would rather see Matt Morgan get 100 straight wins (remember WCW used alot of house shows in that streak) than them sign Goldberg for alot of money

 

On a different note, Monday should be awesome with RVD and Sting appearing, that is I'm assuming RVD debuts Monday as I dont see why he wouldn't with how big a night it is unless his contract isn't completley official by then

[lazorbeak]

While Goldberg's peak year was over ten years ago and I absolutely agree he'd serve absolutely no purpose aside from completing the transition from TNA to WCW circa 1998, it's also not true that he is no longer a big deal or that Sting fills the same role. Yes, Sting was a huge deal in 1997, but he practically disappeared after WCW outside of his yearly BFG title wins for TNA. Comparatively, Goldberg is currently on a pretty highly rated reality show, has acted in a number of TV and film roles, and was a world champion in WWE. Goldberg has done a far better job staying in the public's mind and would probably be the biggest "name" signing TNA could make. That said, TNA doesn't have room for him on the roster, he's 43 years old, and he's never been a great wrestler.

[Hyde Hill]

I have a new favorite youtube channel:

 

http://www.youtube.com/user/scotthalltv

 

Scott Hall is a mess, but at least he owns it.

 

http://www.youtube.com/user/TheOutsiderScottHall#p/u

 

Some of his older stuff is here.

[Hyde Hill]

Thing with golberg is what do you do with him? If ,and that is a big if, TNA signs him he probably will be on a light schedule. In order to be an attraction he needs to be Goldberg eg a very dominant wrestler. And then he needs to lose to someone. Once that is done you need to a) follow up on the one that won and b) either release him or build him up again. Also age is a big factor in that he doesn't have any long term value and while Goldberg is still a big name TNA now has enough big names from the past and if Jeff comes back present as well. So for a short run with him beating other old guys and then having a high profile loss to say Morgan, sure why not depending on the cost. Otherwise don't bother.

[Moe Hunter]

the only people that would like him would be WCW fans after WWE burried him so quickly...

Unfortunately Goldberg as a whole is nothing special (never was)

 

Hold on. I don't think you can have it both ways. Either Goldberg was nothing special, OR he was buried. I don't think going toe to toe with Triple H, and suffering Evolution beatdowns is burial, unless somehow Goldberg is supposed to be much better than Triple H. I don't think beating Jericho, The Rock and Brock Lesnar can be considered burial. If anything, WWE continued to book him much better than he deserved for his talent.

[jesterx7769]

The nothing comes from he isn't as legendary as people make him out to be. It is the streak that had meaning. I agree I misspoke with the "nothing" as it was exaggerated and I should have just said highly over rated. He was never known for ring work, or charisma, or any other major feud/storyline it was the streak. which i said i would rather see TNA give someone else a streak than focus on a streak from 10 years ago

 

He has remained a "big name" b/c there are so very few wrestlers from a major promotion not working. Who else is there right now that could realistically work? And Goldberg is really close age wise to not being considered anymore.

 

By buried in WWE, I mean they never gave him a full chance and he wasnt really there for very long. He was only there for his one year contract. To me it always seem like, "lets give the WCW guy a brief run to make it seem like we dont have bad blood with WCW, but lets make sure its brief since were not really pushing any other WCW talent" I agree buried was exaggerating, more like, tossed aside but the way people talk about him is as if he just left WWE whiched lead me to exaggerate.

[brashleyholland]

lets give the WCW guy a brief run to make it seem like we dont have bad blood with WCW

 

Why would they care? They'd bought WCW by that point right, so why would it matter if they had bad blood with WCW?

 

Admittedly, I didn't see a whole lot of Goldberg post-streak. As far as I'm aware though, he was a bit of a one-trick poney. As far as him going to TNA, I can't see the benefit. Having him go on a 'streak' in TNA is just rehashing another decade-old angle.

 

I can't think what WCW fans he'd bring to TNA that Hogan, Nash, JJ, Flair and Sting haven't already.

[PeterHilton]

Why would they care? They'd bought WCW by that point right, so why would it matter if they had bad blood with WCW?

 

 

Wow. Either you know nothing about Vince McMahon or you didn't watch the E during the InVasion.

 

Pretty apparent they went out of their way to prove the the WWE wrestlers were better than the WCW "stars" they brought in.

[jesterx7769]

They cared b/c of the WCW fans and probably realized in that year without Goldberg or other big WCW talent doing well (no Sting, Booker T losing title to Angle then losing to Rock in that first year, Hogan had JUST returned) all WCW fans hadn't turned into WWE fans. I dont know what the ratings were back then or PPV buys but WWE was probably hoping that by buying WCW they could retain 3/4's of those ratings/PPV buys and were dissapointed when they didnt. Alot of people were critical of the invasion angle after they got their brief run in the beginning then quickly lost to WWE workers. I was big into other wrestling forums back then and knew alot of WCW fans that were turned off by WWE and to me Goldberg seemed like a way of trying to get those people to turn into WWE fans and latch onto people like Triple H (hence pairing him with Flair and finally beating Goldberg)

[tristram]

To me, Goldberg started to develop better skills the more his 'streak' went on. And, also in the matches he was allowed to work with the likes of Bret Hart. Matches where he was given beyond the standard 2 minute burial of his opponent. Sadly, of course we know what happened in the end with Bret Hart, but there was some decent mat wrestling and some nice pieces of psychology developing in Goldberg's actual wrestling which was masked because we kept seeing squash matches. He could wrestle some decent matches, the match he had with DDP in 1998 I thought was very, very good, but having said that everytime DDP stepped onto PPV around that period he'd pull off an awesome match. If you put him with someone who genuinely gets a rub out of winning against him, who is a great worker, and who, despite losing starts to highlight some of the fighting 'babyface' type qualities that a character like Goldberg needs to develop to add layers to his character, someone like a DDP, someone like a Benoit, someone like a Jericho, provided you have pushed them hard as well leading into the match then I suspect you have room to move beyond the streak. Give him a genuine reason to lose, IE he got out mat wrestled, or in the case of say a DDP, the People's Champion, the man who gives his all night in night out and everyone knows it and respects him for it, DDP stays the distance, and all of a sudden Goldberg post streak is recoverable and can be developed in many different ways because you have added to his character.

 

The problem with the streak is how it ended, and instead of making a massive thing out of the guy who beat him, they do the whole finger poke of doom thing which coincides with a night where they come up with a flawed, stupid and all manner of mercy killing storyline to keep him away from the arena where he's arrested for sexual harrassment. In truth, I don't think anyone had any real idea what to do with him to end his streak and beyond that, which is very disappointing because he should have been one of their key players.

[tristram]

Why would they care? They'd bought WCW by that point right, so why would it matter if they had bad blood with WCW?

 

Admittedly, I didn't see a whole lot of Goldberg post-streak. As far as I'm aware though, he was a bit of a one-trick poney. As far as him going to TNA, I can't see the benefit. Having him go on a 'streak' in TNA is just rehashing another decade-old angle.

 

I can't think what WCW fans he'd bring to TNA that Hogan, Nash, JJ, Flair and Sting haven't already.

 

lol - ask wrestlers like DDP and Lance Storm about that. You know, DDP who goes from cornerstone of WCW to a gimmick of inspirational positivity guru, who.. as everyone knows, was married to Kimberly Page one of the hottest chicks of the 90s, so what do you do? Disguise him as a man after Taker's horse face wife, and then... then... job him to her. As far as Storm goes, basically turn him into a comic joke with no credibility. Aside from Ric Flair who genuinely benefited from going to the WWE, not many received career longevity by going to Connecticut.

 

Goldberg was a one trick pony because he was booked as a one trick pony. Imagine if you take a genuine great NWA/WCW superstar like Ricky Steamboat or Great Muta or Sting and say fellas, you've got 1 to 2 minutes max every night, I want you to do the spear and jackhammer, and thats it, how else can you be made to look? When they needed to pad out matches on Pay-Per-View he had some decent qualities to him. Not outstanding, but enough coupled with the massive popularity and star quality to make something more of him, far beyond a one trick pony.

[jesterx7769]

Agreed, the ending was probably the worst way to end it and not much came after it (for either party) I wasn't dissapoined at the cheating aspect as it kinda seemed like you had to cheat to beat him, just in retrospect looking at the post-defeat action they could have def. done more and i agree with you it seemed like they didnt know what to do w/him since he didnt have the streak to fall back on

 

edit: Actually, a cool ending would have been losing to Flair, showing it took "The dirtiest player in the game" to beat this monster man beast that is Goldberg, and I dont think anyone would look bad losing to Flair after a low blow. Better than a cattleprod.

[brashleyholland]

Wow. Either you know nothing about Vince McMahon or you didn't watch the E during the InVasion.

 

Pretty apparent they went out of their way to prove the the WWE wrestlers were better than the WCW "stars" they brought in.

 

Yes....which was my point. He said that they gave Goldberg a push in WWE to show that they (WWE) didn't have bad blood with WCW.

 

My point: Why would the WWE care if anyone thought they had bad blood with WCW? They'd bought, burried and killed the company by the time they'd brought Goldberg in. So why would they push Goldberg to prove that there was no bad blood? That was my point.

[jesterx7769]

Anyone have spoilers or ideas on what will be on the first 5 minutes of Impact on Monday due to their promo video?

 

I imagine it's either going to be 1) Sting returns 2) RVD Debuts or 3) The Hogan/Abyss vs. Styles/Flair match to open the show (which personally I would rather see 1 or 2)

[PeterHilton]

Yes....which was my point. He said that they gave Goldberg a push in WWE to show that they (WWE) didn't have bad blood with WCW.

 

My point: Why would the WWE care if anyone thought they had bad blood with WCW? They'd bought, burried and killed the company by the time they'd brought Goldberg in. So why would they push Goldberg to prove that there was no bad blood? That was my point.

 

Ah..I misread.

[brashleyholland]

 

Goldberg was a one trick pony because he was booked as a one trick pony. Imagine if you take a genuine great NWA/WCW superstar like Ricky Steamboat or Great Muta or Sting and say fellas, you've got 1 to 2 minutes max every night, I want you to do the spear and jackhammer, and thats it, how else can you be made to look? When they needed to pad out matches on Pay-Per-View he had some decent qualities to him. Not outstanding, but enough coupled with the massive popularity and star quality to make something more of him, far beyond a one trick pony.

 

Could he have been booked as anything else though? I guess we'll never know.

 

To me, someone like say, Flair, is great because they *can* be booked in a variety of ways. He could make almost anyone look good, can work with big guys, small guys, have technical masterclasses or wild brawls.

 

It's a case of what came first, the chicken or the egg? Was Goldberg one-dimentional because he was booked a certain way, or was he booked a certain way because he was one-dimentional?

[brashleyholland]

Ah..I misread.

 

It's all gravy.

 

I just watched the final PPV of the Invasion last night for the first time (Survivor Series 2001?) and yeah...not great :-p

[cappyboy]

 

It's a case of what came first, the chicken or the egg? Was Goldberg one-dimentional because he was booked a certain way, or was he booked a certain way because he was one-dimentional?

 

I'll field this one. In any way most of us have are capable of observing first-hand, he was one-dimensional because he was booked a certain way. Could be it was the only dimension he had. But in general, we'd only be able to know that secondhand from folks who were there in WCW at the time. So I'd be more comfortable saying the former until reliable inside voices said otherwise.

[Hyde Hill]

Anyone have spoilers or ideas on what will be on the first 5 minutes of Impact on Monday due to their promo video?

 

I imagine it's either going to be 1) Sting returns 2) RVD Debuts or 3) The Hogan/Abyss vs. Styles/Flair match to open the show (which personally I would rather see 1 or 2)

 

I would go for option 2 as it seems to also be a dig to how stories get released etc and TNA where not too happy that Spike confirmed the rumor that Hogan had started.