The Official TNA / Impact / GFW Discussion Thread

[Basmat01]

Well at least it proves that you dont need Sting, Jeff Hardy, RVD, Abyss, Bully Ray, Matt Morgan, Hulk Hogan ect to have a good PPV.

 

Personally I dont think Ares will hold the title that long.

[Hyde Hill]

Great great ppv. Numbers are enjoyment simple enough.

 

Last chance four way: Highly enjoyable with good spots and without bad setups etc. 7.25/10

 

Kash vs Andrews: Good match with Kash doing good work in butting Andrews over. 7/10

 

Joe Promo: Good and to the point. 7.5/10

 

King vs Williams: More technical match and also good. 7/10

 

Daniels promo: Excellent as always. 7.75/10

 

Dutt vs Cameron: My personal fav out of the qualifiers. 7.25/10

 

Sorenson promo: Decent stuff and sets up a good story. Not as impressed as others apparently 6.5/10

 

Ion vs Casanova: Did what it should do. 6.5/10

 

King, Dutt, Andrews, Roode promo: Good stuff from the three and excellent from Roode. 7.25/10

 

Joe vs Angle: Kickass match as always between these two. 8.25/10

 

Daniels vs AJ video: Good package focusing on the strong parts of the story. 8/10

 

AJ vs Daniels: Super stuff. 9/10

 

Aries promo: Also good as always. 7.75/10

 

Ultimate X: Good match and Dutt is a badass could have been higher but can't blame an unfortunate injury. 7.5/10

 

Ion Promo: He did a decent job despite the annoying fans. 7/10

 

Aries vs Roode video package: Excellent 9/10

 

Aries vs Roode: 10/10 nough said.

 

Total enjoyment PPV: 9.25/10

 

Moving forward:

 

I still expect Roode to win it back possibly with Storm costing Aries the win as he wants Roode at BFG setting up Storm vs Aries post BFG. While Roode vs Storm for the title has been lessened slightly it is still an epic story and deserves the title. But even without it it will be great. If Aries retains I expect Angle or Hardy or RVD to put him over at BFG.

 

BFG series has now been thrown wide open elevating the excitement level of it, I think what the Roode vs Storm story has lost has been more then won in the BFG series, Aries story and X division elevation so its an overall win.

 

In the X division I expect Ion to hold it for a while with Dutt and King being the main chasers till Sorensen comes back, after that we shall see. Williams and Kash get either let go to make room for other new guys or get transitioned to primary tag scene. King not winning is the right call as a non established guy shouldn't come out of nowhere to win it. While hot with the die hard wrestling followers he isn't as much with the casuals yet. Plus we have to see if his tag buddy shows up soon.

 

Being the IWC some minor minor gripes: Impact zone was mediocre and not as good as the live TV's imho, King vs Williams and Andrews vs Kash went a tad too long that time should have gone to Daniels vs AJ, Ultimate X and Aries vs Roode. Would have liked the old raise the hand three times deal with the Angle submission. If Roode had kicked out of the brainbuster for another near fall it would have been 11/10.

 

I was on the fence if TNA should go the slow route with income coming before investment as it came to advertising, going on the road etc aka the smart and safe route. But with the current product I really feel Dixie should ask Panda for a second round of investment like in 2004-2005 in order to try and blow the roof of the place aka the risky route. The talent is there, the product is there, the momentum is there, the booking is there. If it doesn't work out they can always go back to this level and pay Panda back. After the Asylum era, the Cross the Change era we are now officially in the Real era.

[Macca316]

I think one of 2 things now needs to happen, either Roode needs to start interfering in Storms matches and cost him the BFG series or Storm wins and goes to face Aries and Roode interferes costing Storm the title.

 

gives them a reason to continue feuding and lets Aries have a decent run with the belt.

[Hyde Hill]

Think need is over stating it as Roode vs Storm for the belt will still be great and this win has solidified Aries as a main event level talent. As long as he remains a prominent part of the show and in the title hunt he will be fine. TNA twelve for the win.

[The Stallion]

First time posting in a long while and first time watching a TNA show in a while. All I have to say is WOW. What a great PPV! The Aries win I did not see coming and while I love him as World Champion I dont think TNA should have pulled the trigger on him so soon. Roode as World Champion was working really well and he plays the part of the Heel Champ so good that I really thought it should have continued until at least BFG. I think Aries should have had a few more high profile wins under his belt before putting on the Title. Sure he beat Bully and Joe, but Bully has not been the world champ yet and what has Joe been really doing (besides having another awesome match against Kurt last night). However this does set up Aries for matches against those guys, I think his status in the company should have been higher.

[Hyde Hill]

Try and watch at least the build towards this PPV. It was so good that Aries winning did feel legit. I'd go from post Lockdown till now which was all really good minus one segment, last segment second impact after Slammiversary, to get really caught up with what TNA is doing. And welcome back and enjoy the show.

[Rone Rivendale]

If you look at he X Title as being more prestigious than say, the US or IC Titles in WWE (which it is), than Aries year long run with it was the build up to his legit Main Event status. And his promos with Roode before the PPV were great. Aries is a smaller guy, but he carries himself like a champion. Since he was the 1st two time ROH Champion, he's been there and knows how to handle it.

 

I REALLY hope Aries holds onto the belt for at least two months, I think that's the threshold they have to shoot for to not consider his rise to the top as being a wasted opportunity. I like the idea of Storm winning the BFG and then losing to Aries by interference from Roode. Let Roode and Storm have their feud continue to grow without the title involved and allow Aries to feud with some of the other stars of his caliber (ring wise) like AJ, Daniels, Joe, Angle. Maybe Joe and Angle to start since AJ and Daniels is far from over.

 

I didn't get to see the PPV, but it sounds like one of the better ones TNA has had in a long time. iMPACT has definitely been on the upswing lately with the gut check and the open challenges. Lots of new talent, lots of good established talent. Hogan's staying on the GM side, which is good.

 

WWE better hope their next generation (the current FCW and NXT stars) can carry the banner. I'm not saying TNA is going to take over the #1 spot, cuz that would be silly, but if TNA continues to grow like they have and WWE doesn't deliver people might start to migrate over. Word of mouth is a very powerful tool. More powerful than any advertising campaign.

 

Just look at WCW. They officially were around since somewhere in the early 90's (91 maybe?), but they didn't catch fire until several years later. And they got there by having what TNA has right now: Established stars from WWE who could still go and still get a pop (Nash, Hall, Jarrett, Scott Steiner, Hogan(late 90's Hogan was still good and 'Hollywood' was the top heel in the business)) as well as young stars ready to break through (Jericho, Eddie, Mysterio, etc)

 

All it takes is the right mix of talent, with the right opportunity for enough people to see it and tell their friends, family, etc that something special is happening. WCW rode the wave for a long time until they got WAY too overconfident and Bishoff made the mistake of giving away the Mankind WWE Title win. WCW never won the ratings war again after that nite.

 

So TL;DR, TNA might be on the verge of stepping to the next level. They just need to keep doing what they are doing and don't rush it.

[Astil]

Austin And Shiima Won! Yessssssss!

[Makhai]

Review time.

 

Mason Andrews defeated Rubix, Dakota Darsow and Lars Only

 

Least preferred dude won this match, and it was pretty garbage. - D-

 

Mason Andrews defeated Kid Kash

 

I was bored out of my mind at this point. Match was mediocre. - D

 

Kenny King defeated Douglas Williams

 

I'm already tired of Kenny King, and I've seen him twice now. - D

 

Sonjay Dutt defeated Rashad Cameron

 

I've got nothing to say about this match really. Wasn't very interested to see it, turned out to be an acceptable squash. - C

 

Zema Ion defeated Flip Cassonova

 

Zema Ion is probably my least favorite wrestler in the whole world. Flip isn't anybody to write home about, neither was the match. - D

 

As we turn for home, this is trending as the worst PPV I've seen...

 

Samoa Joe defeated Kurt Angle in a Bound For Glory Tournament Match

 

It was Angle-Joe, again. Did it's job, not their best match. - C

 

A.J. Styles defeated Christopher Daniels in a Last Man Standing Match

 

This was good. Glad they shoehorned this together at the last minute, kept me from going to bed early. No build, didn't go anywhere, and the story has fallen apart completely, which hurt it big time.- C+

 

 

Zema Ion defeated Mason Andrews, Kenny King and Sonjay Dutt to determine the new TNA X Division Champion

 

Yawn... This match made me miss Chris Sabin about 65x more than I did before. Nothing interesting, or noteworthy about it. Just totally lame from pillar-to-post. - D-

 

Austin Aries defeated Bobby Roode © for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship

 

This match was great, let's start off there. It was rough in some spots, for instance, Bobby Roode's finisher getting kicked out of got zero pop from the fans... and some dumb pacing issues like that. but otherwise it was really good. The finish was... interesting.

 

On one hand you can say, Ares can just drop it back. On the other I say, you've just neutered your year-long belt feud. And it's going to take more than a BFG series win for Storm and 1 month for Roode as champion to get that momentum back. Maybe you can do it by having Roode absolutely destroy Ares in a flaming table match or something. But you guys saw the roof come off the Impact Zone when Ares got the pin... that's what a hated heel champion getting his due on your A-PPV should look like. Not your hated heel champion dropping the belt to an otherwise mistreated cocky heel(turned cocky babyface?) on your Z-PPV.

 

It felt to me like Savage pinning Hogan for the belt on Saturday Night Main Event, 3 weeks before Wrestlemania V. Ok, now what are you doing for BFG?

 

Anyway, - A

 

Overall Show grade: B-

[Arrows]

And you missed the entire point of the PPV.

 

Well done.

[Tiberious]

I'm happy that TNA was willing to really focus on the X-Division in this PPV. A year or two ago I don't think they would have been willing to book it like this, but I'm glad they were willing to risk it. The only people without ties to the X-Division on the card were Angle and Roode, and in both cases they lost to their (former) X-Division Opponent. I think it did a good job of putting over the importance of the X-Division and showing that the division is still meaningful.

 

Not every match on the card was great by any means, but I like the message TNA is sending in being confident enough in their X-Division to run a PPV focused on them.

[Arrows]

I'm happy that TNA was willing to really focus on the X-Division in this PPV. A year or two ago I don't think they would have been willing to book it like this, but I'm glad they were willing to risk it. The only people without ties to the X-Division on the card were Angle and Roode, and in both cases they lost to their (former) X-Division Opponent. I think it did a good job of putting over the importance of the X-Division and showing that the division is still meaningful.

 

Not every match on the card was great by any means, but I like the message TNA is sending in being confident enough in their X-Division to run a PPV focused on them.

 

/nod

 

Not to mention, the X-Division guys have proven it CAN work, which is huge. After all these years of "Old guy this, old guy that. Old guy wins this belt, old guy holds four belts." Bla bla bla.

 

Not ONE old guy, except for Angle, was on this show, and Angle was what, midcard? This PPV is exactly what TNA needed to have happen, because now it's entirely possible to keep the focus on guys like these, which is where it should be.

 

Oh. Latest I've heard says TNA is going to three hours. Guessing this'll mean we see more of these indy guys becoming a regular thing, with the X-Division getting an hour or so of the time throughout Impacts.

 

Aries loses, none of this matters at all because the X-Division is put beneath everything again. Kinda feel like after last night, Destination X might be the third most important TNA PPV, behind BFG/Slammihoweveryoufnspellit.

[Makhai]

And you missed the entire point of the PPV.

 

Well done.

 

No I didn't. Ares getting the shot and an entire card of assorted misfits boring me to tears was all the bone the X-Division deserved. And frankly, the X-Division without Ares is total garbage... So if I never saw it again, I wouldn't lose any sleep over it.

 

I'm looking forward to Garrett taking the belt off of whoever in June so he can claim that Destination X World Title shot!

[Jaysin]

/nod

 

Not to mention, the X-Division guys have proven it CAN work, which is huge. After all these years of "Old guy this, old guy that. Old guy wins this belt, old guy holds four belts." Bla bla bla.

 

Not ONE old guy, except for Angle, was on this show, and Angle was what, midcard? This PPV is exactly what TNA needed to have happen, because now it's entirely possible to keep the focus on guys like these, which is where it should be.

 

Oh. Latest I've heard says TNA is going to three hours. Guessing this'll mean we see more of these indy guys becoming a regular thing, with the X-Division getting an hour or so of the time throughout Impacts.

 

Aries loses, none of this matters at all because the X-Division is put beneath everything again. Kinda feel like after last night, Destination X might be the third most important TNA PPV, behind BFG/Slammihoweveryoufnspellit.

 

Isn't the extra hour the Rewind show?

[Hyde Hill]

/nod

 

Not to mention, the X-Division guys have proven it CAN work, which is huge. After all these years of "Old guy this, old guy that. Old guy wins this belt, old guy holds four belts." Bla bla bla.

 

Not ONE old guy, except for Angle, was on this show, and Angle was what, midcard? This PPV is exactly what TNA needed to have happen, because now it's entirely possible to keep the focus on guys like these, which is where it should be.

 

Oh. Latest I've heard says TNA is going to three hours. Guessing this'll mean we see more of these indy guys becoming a regular thing, with the X-Division getting an hour or so of the time throughout Impacts.

 

Aries loses, none of this matters at all because the X-Division is put beneath everything again. Kinda feel like after last night, Destination X might be the third most important TNA PPV, behind BFG/Slammihoweveryoufnspellit.

 

Guess you only read the headlines as the first hour will be a rewind show recapping the show before it.

 

And thanks for one of the worst reviews ever again makhai , no taste or understanding of wrestling or how to write a review imho. Or what TNA has been doing lately imho. As evidenced even more by the Garret Bischoff comment in jest or no.

[Arrows]

To be honest, I don't go to sites to get my information. Have a friend, who absolutely hates TNA, who mentioned the hour extension before deciding not to talk about TNA anymore at all, so I wasn't aware of what exactly it entailed.

 

I tend to avoid going to sites because I like to keep some things a surprise for myself. Makes it a lot easier to be a wrestling fan again when I don't know everything and try to judge on work rate alone.

[Self]

I thought the show was pretty good.

 

I've been a massive fan of this X-Division tournament, but ultimately that element of this show was a bit of a let down for me. The four way was good (hindsight being 20/20 the wrong guy won, but can't blame 'em for that) and I thoroughly enjoyed Kash/Andrews, largely for Kash's excellent heel work and the 'already fatigued' story, but beyond that I found the qualifiers all a bit too long and a bit too similar. The quickness of X-Division action on TV is part of it's charm for me. Wrestling 'real' matches of a decent length, I was struck by how uninterested I was by the characters on display.

 

Very disappointed with Ion winning. From a mark perspective, I don't like him. From a smarkier perspective, they've been building up all these new faces, and the title goes to a guy we haven't seen on TV in ages. I found it very unsatisfying.

 

Joe/Angle did very little for me. Really dug AJ/Daniels. Got into Aries/Roode by the end. Good show. A little hurt by the crowd. A little hurt by having to watch it in one sitting to avoid spoilers (I have no patience any more). Could have done with more variety on the card.

 

"Rubix!"

[Hyde Hill]

To be honest, I don't go to sites to get my information. Have a friend, who absolutely hates TNA, who mentioned the hour extension before deciding not to talk about TNA anymore at all, so I wasn't aware of what exactly it entailed.

 

I tend to avoid going to sites because I like to keep some things a surprise for myself. Makes it a lot easier to be a wrestling fan again when I don't know everything and try to judge on work rate alone.

 

Totally get that, I tend to only go to PWI of the general sites as that's the closest to a non dirt sheet around but I do avoid spoilers.

 

Edit:

 

Also to ad into the three hour thing Spike apparently did ask them to go three hours of new content but TNA declined as they wanted full quality focus on the 2 hours they have. I totally understand that if true but given the depth of the roster once the reshuffle is done and the total product is hitting its stride without needing as much attention I would like for TNA to get a good B show that really gets attention, similar to like early WWECW when it still got attention so with storylines etc and not like superstars, that then payoff on Impact or ppv as the roster is so deep right now they need something for the undercard. Pretty much a revamped and improved Xplosion which they are already airing in a lot of international markets. Saturday, Sunday morning or Tuesday would be good slots.

[MrSelfDestruct]

Am I the only one that thinks they are playing up the Ion/Sorenson feud too much, having Ion win the title ironically whe Sorenson wished for it and won't be back for months, I think that could've gone a bit more tastefully, especially the way too short Ultimate X.

 

but the main event was badass and believable. I hadnt been that excited at the end of a match in forever. I felt like a kid again

[Hyde Hill]

Am I the only one that thinks they are playing up the Ion/Sorenson feud too much, having Ion win the title ironically whe Sorenson wished for it and won't be back for months, I think that could've gone a bit more tastefully, especially the way too short Ultimate X.

 

Think the ultimate X disappointing more because of the bad execution of the finish and Dutt's injury early in the match. But Ion winning was the right choice as you don't want someone "new" coming in just winning the belt and he was the most viable of the heels. They kinda telegraphed it with the Sorenson thing but not too much, didn't think the segment was in bad taste or anything. Now you will have Ion holding and the new guys that get signed chasing.

 

but the main event was badass and believable. I hadnt been that excited at the end of a match in forever. I felt like a kid again

 

Personally to me that is one of the best things current creative is doing. Suspension of disbelief is back. With for instance the worked shoot nature of the Joey Ryan thing I am now less convinced Morgan is gone and that he might be part of Aces and Eights for instance. Ah well I am confident current creative will give us something good or at least decent as long as they don't hire bad actresses.

[MrSelfDestruct]

Think the ultimate X disappointing more because of the bad execution of the finish and Dutt's injury early in the match. But Ion winning was the right choice as you don't want someone "new" coming in just winning the belt and he was the most viable of the heels. They kinda telegraphed it with the Sorenson thing but not too much, didn't think the segment was in bad taste or anything. Now you will have Ion holding and the new guys that get signed chasing.

 

Well, Dutt wasn't exactly new, but I agree he wouldn't have been the right choice. Talent-wise, I'd say he was though absolutely, mainly because his qualifying match was really great IMO. But I like Ion winning I just hope they don't jsut play up the Sorenson feud the entire time.

 

 

 

Personally to me that is one of the best things current creative is doing. Suspension of disbelief is back. With for instance the worked shoot nature of the Joey Ryan thing I am now less convinced Morgan is gone and that he might be part of Aces and Eights for instance. Ah well I am confident current creative will give us something good or at least decent as long as they don't hire bad actresses.

 

I agree, that main event had me feeling like a kid again because I was in disbelief. I just hope he doesn't turn heel and become the typical cheat to win champion, similar to Roode as of late. A champion should win clean MOST of the time, not all, but most. To at least show he deserves it.

[Hyde Hill]

Think he will either have a good 2 month run with it before Roode gets it back setting up Storm vs Roode for the title or Roode vs Storm will be a grudge match and we get Aries vs Angle/AJ/Joe/Hardy at BFG where he gets put over. Either way will be fine and Roode did get a couple of clean and light cheat aka for a heel clean wins in his reign. I am confident the current writing team will do good whatever they do.

[Self]

Think the ultimate X disappointing more because of the bad execution of the finish and Dutt's injury early in the match. But Ion winning was the right choice as you don't want someone "new" coming in just winning the belt and he was the most viable of the heels. They kinda telegraphed it with the Sorenson thing but not too much, didn't think the segment was in bad taste or anything. Now you will have Ion holding and the new guys that get signed chasing.

 

That's a fair point I hadn't considered. Based on the story I'd been watching on television for the past few weeks, I expected one of the highlighted guys would win. Ion simply wasn't on television, so his win felt disjointed and unsatisfying to me. However, yeah. If you're giving it to a not-new guy, he's the most viable. I mean, I prefer Kid Kash. I LOVED his performance on Destination X, but Ion is more X-Divisiony.

 

Before the show, I'd have said Dutt or King should have won. Probably Dutt if you want 'safe' hands politically. In hindsight, good thing they didn't. Dutt got hurt. King was a let-down from his Impact performance. From a crowd perspective, the only newbie I think would have worked was Rubix. Crowd loved him. Could have been a star in one night. Instead, I dunno. It'll take a little longer.

[Blackman]

Kash has already been hogging that belt for years. Last thing we want is some sort of Triple H of the X-division.

[sebsplex]

For the ppv as a whole, I liked a good chunk of it, but I guess I'll echo Self in that too much of the early card felt like unnecessarily drawn out, better-suited-for-TV matches. As a shorter change of pace, they'd work OK, but whilst I'm all for seeing new talent, when there's too much exposed for too long, you realise you're not invested in them at all, which hurts when you're booking a tournament over one night, because beyond the "I want a contract, I'm primetime, this is my shot, blah", none of the journeys/stories were particularly distinct.

 

The rest served it's purpose. AJ/Daniels moved along and whilst I'm not thrilled with seeing Ion take the belt either, I guess there is a story behind it and from the pool of talent this year, it's hard to argue for many of the alternatives. King will likely be in the mix sooner rather than later and I like Kash, he works great as a transitional champion (not the type you want to win a tournament like this), but I assume the nailed-on Sorenson/Ion feud tipped it.

 

Even though he put in a turn last year as well, I wouldnt mind seeing Dakota Darsow come back post-ppv.

 

Aries going over Roode was undoubtedly the big push it came to establishing the X-Division wrestlers as a legitimate threat (and potential equals) to the top tier in TNA. It gave me memories of Angle putting over Lethal way back when he held all the TNA titles... only that time, creative dropped the ball completely, having Lethal punked out later in the same show (in a completely unrelated storyline no less) and the momentum from the big win quickly petered out on TV. Hopefully Aries fares far better, which TNA's current direction suggests is more likely than a year or so ago. It does makes me wonder if Storm's BFG focus will completely go if the prize isn't another crack at Roode?

 

Time will tell as always.

 

No I didn't. Ares getting the shot and an entire card of assorted misfits boring me to tears was all the bone the X-Division deserved. And frankly, the X-Division without Ares is total garbage... So if I never saw it again, I wouldn't lose any sleep over it.

 

Given this perspective (I'm not going to argue for or against it), it kinda makes me wonder why you'd go out of your way to watch Destination X at all?