The Official TNA / Impact / GFW Discussion Thread

[Jaysin]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="petecrimson00" data-cite="petecrimson00" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="25170" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>I haven't watched it and probably won't was it worse than the Zema Ion one from Destnation X last year? That one was borrrrring<p> </p><p> I'm sure the finish was because Sabin has torn both ACLs though.. I tore one of my own and I can't imagine scaling that rope.</p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> I don't know really. It had it's moments where it looked like it was going to be good, but then they didn't really continue with it. There were a few good spots and that's about it. The finish was a total clunker. Velvet Sky is terrible at her current gimmick, she's a fantastic heel, but this "I'm a face but my boyfriend is a heel" thing is just bad.</p><p> </p><p> The only matches I really think people should see off Bound For Glory are AJ Styles vs Bully Ray, Angle vs Roode, and to a lesser extent, BroMans vs Storm & Gunner. The tag title match was fairly good and I didn't expect to enjoy Jesse that much. </p><p> </p><p> I haven't watched wrestling in a long time really, but I watch Bound For Glory every year. The show was good enough to get me to watch Impact this week, so I think that's a good sign.</p>

[bigtplaystew]

<p>The Aces and Eights storyline that didn't get resolved was probably a tease, but it's certainly an awkward one. </p><p> </p><p>

I liked BFG. AJ vs Bully was really great. I mean we all knew the outcome before hand so maybe it took away the meaning for some of the fans. But I suspend disbelief pretty well and just had fun with the match. Roode vs Angle was great. The Tag title match was entertaining I love to hate the Bromanz. All in all a pretty good PPV.</p>

[Basmat01]

<p><span>http://www.sescoops.com/wp-content/gallery/bfg-empty-arena/adynsqvl.jpg?71483d</span></p><p> </p><p>

TNA bound for glory</p><p> </p><p>

I don't know if this pic was taken to try and make TNA look bad.</p>

[Hashasheen]

Even as bad as that picture looks, they still apparently had more people than last year's BFG. *shrugs*

[1234]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Basmat01" data-cite="Basmat01" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="25170" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><span>http://www.sescoops.com/wp-content/gallery/bfg-empty-arena/adynsqvl.jpg?71483d</span><p> </p><p> TNA bound for glory</p><p> </p><p> I don't know if this pic was taken to try and make TNA look bad.</p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> That picture alone is a bit misleading. This is a shot of the other side, which I am guessing they focused on selling to look good on camera. Still not great for half the arena to be (pretty much) empty, but the attendance was better than the picture above makes out.</p><p> </p><p> <img alt="BXEA-bxCEAEj4No.jpg:large" data-src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BXEA-bxCEAEj4No.jpg:large" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p>

[D-Lyrium]

So... Bound for Glory. Just watched it. Here's some thoughts (bear in mind that at the time of writing this I haven't read the thread, will respond to that later).

 

Firstly, holy crap that AJ/Bully recap video was awesome. Best hype video TNA have EVER done. If only the promo segments were that brief and concise the first time around. ¬_¬ I also loved the throwbacks to various points in AJ's career, too. TNA's execution of their (generally good) ideas is normally pretty shoddy to be honest, but Bully vs. AJ really did feel (to me) like the under appreciated fan favourite getting his last chance against the big bad champion.

 

Also, in general, I loved Tazz/Tenay tonight. Strange thing for me to say, but they were on the money most of the night for once.

 

Ultimate X: Kinda meh. Some fun moments, but it ended in sudden and rather bizarre fashion for me. Enjoyable, don't get me wrong, but it felt like it lasted more like 5 minutes than 12. I can't work out what was missing... there was either no start, or no middle, but it was just awkward. And then it ended. And Austin Aries' poor knees must be buggered after all those "being pulled off the wires" bumps.

 

Abyss reveal: Massively ham-fisted. It was cool to see Abyss back, and it was a nice surprise (I mean, it was obvious it was going to happen at some point, but they didn't make it obvious it'd be tonight until the actual PPV itself). The segment itself was pointless though. Entertaining, of course, because Daniels was in it, but pointless. I'd hoped he'd come back and help Eric Young win the gauntlet match, but instead they had to have a whole new segment where EGO come out and be pointless, just so that Abyss can attack them. Meh.

 

Tag Title Match: Ooooh, so THAT'S who the TNA Tag Champions are. I forgot, since THEY HAVEN'T BEEN ON TV ALL MONTH. What was the actual point in "Mr Olympia/Roided Up Kurt Angle" guy too? He did literally nothing except block the view of some guys in the front rows. Other than that, a decent match. Accidentally spoiled the result by reading that every title changed hands (I fully expected the world title to of course, but was a little pissed I read that as I've been trying to de-internet myself from TNA other than this thread. It makes it so much more fun).

 

HOF Ceremony: Like most TNA angles not involving Austin Aries, Bully Ray or EGO/Bobby Roode, it was awkward and ultimately a bit pointless. When you realise that those 9 minutes could've been better spent on the Ultimate X match than Angle not being inducted into the HoF, it grates on me a little bit. But in TNA's defence, it WAS only 9 minutes. That's like... less than an Impact-opening Dixie promo. My favourite thing about the segment was mishearing "you deserve it!" as "Super Dragon!".

 

Knockouts: I love me some ODB, and the other two weren't bad either. Not really much to say. Considering they're building up Lei'd Tapa (whose name I still despise), I figured they kinda had to have Gail Kim win, because ODB doesn't DO "underdog" and Brooke doesn't DO "babyface" (or, to be shallow and crass for a moment, any kind of face at all. ooh burn). But considering the post-match shenanigans, I'm confused as to what's going on there.

 

As for Tapa herself, I'm intrigued. I actually want to see more of her, which is a good thing. Wait, no, more of her character. Not more of her, like... eww.

 

The fans didn't seem to give a shit either way. Seriously, this crowd is awful.

 

Who's the black interviewer guy? Never seen him before. Maybe they only let him out for PPVs when Borash is busy getting beaten up by heels and interviewing more important people than the Tag Team Champions.

 

Roode/Angle: Wow... definitely the best wrestling match I've seen for ages. Bobby Roode is too good. If I was TEW I might say the match suffered from a lack of selling shown. But I'm not, so I enjoyed it. I wish they wouldn't do the "omg Angle's neck he might be paralysed" thing so often though. Unless it was genuine. ¬_¬

 

Ethan Carter: Why the hell was that on PPV? Seriously? His whole debut has been completely 'meh'. Three or four vignettes where he vaguely condescends people, then he beats up that guy from PWG for a few minutes. Seriously? To be fair to him though, he looked good. But that could easily have been on the pre-show. I know he's meant to be the spoiled brat related to the owner, but seriously... the PPV has enough crap filler on it. And his lame kanji tattoo is silly. ¬_¬ Having said all that, the guy himself looks really awesome. Hope he can mix things up a bit and doesn't keep squashing jobbers for weeks.

 

Magnus vs. Sting: The Match That Build-up Forgot. On the go-home show, Sting's name was mentioned all of once outside of promo videos (and Magnus WRESTLED on that show, folks). So to say I was anticipating this match would be a complete lie. If Magnus wasn't from Britain and actually a pretty fantastic person in real life I would care even less. However. I did love Magnus' "Flair Flop" out of the corner after the Stinger Splash when they were trading Sting mannerism impressions. That was glorious (even more so because Tazz had referenced the Sting/Flair rivalry when Magnus was doing his Sting impression earlier).

 

I think they were shooting for a memorable Teacher vs. Student match with the student winning and blowing off the teacher now that he's 'learned all he could', but what they got was almost Lesnar/Goldberg in it's disappointment. The fans didn't crap all over it as hard, but they certainly didn't give a crap, which in some ways was worse (although it was a terrible crowd) and why should they? The entire feud felt rushed and ham-fisted. It almost felt like they wanted to start it ages ago but for some reason couldn't, so had to condense the whole thing and do some things that didn't make any sense. And the match itself... it just had no "oomph" to it. Sting looked every one of his years, and Magnus just didn't have that "I'm wrestling my hero" attitude, for me. The permanent deer-in-the-headlights expression on his face probably didn't help.

 

AJ/Bully: This may be an unpopular opinion, but I love how they've handled the Bully/Aces storyline ever since the 'loser leaves their stable' match. Everything about Bully is awesome, from his facial expressions to his "spit in the air and catch it in his mouth again" thing, to giving me an education into how a wrestling ring is put together.

 

The match was pretty good Main Event fare. Not incredible, but still good. It kept me interested, although it was a bit slow in places. There were a loooot of "I'm going to wait before I do this to give him a chance to recover and counter me" type moments, which I hate when it's done in an obvious fashion. Also the setting up of taking the covers off the mat didn't really come into play much. The only real move that involved that was one bodyslam onto the boards. Which was nothing to do with the finish.

 

Then they did another thing that annoys the piss out of me: A highlights package showing most of the match immediately after the match finishes.

 

Overall, it was an average show. I enjoyed it and wouldn't have felt ripped off if I'd paid for it (assuming it's around $25-30 over there?), but it didn't feel like Bound for Glory. It felt like 'just a PPV'.

 

Wrestlemania always felt 'special', when I watched it. Even in the years where that was all I watched (WM20 and 21), WM felt like a big deal. It was where the shit hit the fan and great things happened.

 

BFG is supposed to be the flagship event of TNA's calender, but it felt more like a No Way Out, a set-up for the big show. Like, I'm genuinely interested in a lot of "what happens next" storylines coming out of BFG, but that's not what BFG was supposed to be. It was meant to be the BIG blowoff to the previous storylines. It just wasn't.

 

The only thing 'blown off' at that PPV was Magnus' push. ¬_¬

[TakerNGN74]

Angle vs. Roode was a great match and one of the best matches I've seen in a long time. Easily a 4 star match, I would have rated it 5 stars but I hated the finish with a passion.

[akujy]

BFG was the worst PPV of the year IMO. That is not what one expects on TNA's biggest show of the year.

[Jaysin]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="akujy" data-cite="akujy" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="25170" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>BFG was the worst PPV of the year IMO. That is not what one expects on TNA's biggest show of the year.</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Really? Worst of the year? What about WWE Battleground?</p><p> </p><p> BFG was an average show with three fairly good matches.</p>

[20LEgend]

On the picture, it's not a good look IMO to have a load of empty seats on display. The fans on one side would've seen that all night and it'd hurts the atmosphere I think. I don't know what they could've done but from it's looks bad.

 

Also showing Magnus lose to AJ after he just beat Sting was a bit dumb.

[bigtplaystew]

Ethan Carter debuting at BFG to barely beat some jabroni was hilarious. "We are Carters. And the world needs us." LOL. Awesome.

 

Bromanz are making me laugh too. I legit enjoyed their title win.

[D-Lyrium]

If the rest of the PPV was great, I could've forgiven the EC3 debut as characterful overindulgence. But since the rest of the PPV was average at best (minus two good matches) it could've done without that to be honest.

 

I do enjoy the Bromanz though. People cry about Jesse Godderz being "a reality TV star", (I read a twitter comment where someone hilariously said "It's like when David Arquette won the WCW World Title", which amused me no end) but he's a hell of a lot more entertaining than the vast majority of "proper wrestlers" TNA has.

[bigtplaystew]

I feel like BFG was a success for them. It wasn't an amazing top to bottom PPV, but really I mean they can't be expected to compete with WWE's financial or star power. Is it equivalent to Wrestlemania? No. Nothing is. But the main event was incredible and angle/roode was very good.

 

The rest of the card, I have to agree, was mediocre but I still think it was their best PPV since last BFG. I'm not really arguing that anyone's wrong to see it as an average show. Because we'd kind of be splitting hairs. In the history of wrestling will this be remembered or stand out in any way? Probably not, unless the company has some huge boom behind AJ and he really catches on in the mainstream but I don't foresee this PPV really having that kind of impact. I just think for that company in this current time frame with their current situation, I think they had a pretty darn good PPV.

 

I liked D's thoughts on Magnus/Sting. When I first watched it I was ok with the match but I realize I was kind of grading it on a curve. Sting being Sting's age and Magnus being at Magnus' level. When you look at that match it was supposed to be a big deal for Magus (and for the card) and I get the sense he dropped the ball a little bit. "Deer in headlights look" made me lol and it's accurate. He didn't look comfortable at all and really wasn't himself in that match. Maybe he was "protecting" Sting too much. I don't know. I feel like they would have been better served having Magnus square off with Anderson or someone like that at BFG where they could be in a more intense, physical (call it stiff) match where Magnus could have shown off that (I think somewhat under appreciated) side of his abilities. Bully would have been ideal for Magnus too but obviously they had other plans.

[Rone Rivendale]

On the picture, it's not a good look IMO to have a load of empty seats on display. The fans on one side would've seen that all night and it'd hurts the atmosphere I think. I don't know what they could've done but from it's looks bad.

 

Also showing Magnus lose to AJ after he just beat Sting was a bit dumb.

 

Once it was obvious they had that many empty spots, they should have just allowed people to move down. You still have a massive empty spot, but you make the experience way better for the paying customers you did get, and that keeps them as happy returning customers. They might be over a decade old now but they still need to worry about getting a 'base'. That would be one way.

[Jaysin]

I feel like if this was the PPV they were trying to make Magnus with, he should have either faced Bully for the title or faced someone like Angle or Joe to solidify himself as a major player.

 

I love AJ, and I loved his match with Bully, but this could have been the show to prove that AJ isn't TNA's only home grown talent.

[Teh_Showtime]

<p>I thought the title match was just ok</p><p> </p><p>

I was annoyed by how early the inevitable interference came in because from that point on the action took a backseat.</p><p> </p><p>

I would compare it to the Bully/Hardy cage match from earlier in the year where we knew the interference was happening at one point, but in that match that had a lot of time to have a great match before it happened. I'm still interested in seeing how AJ handles himself in the outside promotions since it's a bit of a heel move in general to flaunt a title from another place, but he left TNA as a face.</p>

[alphadraighon]

<p>I've been hearing rumors this evening that TNA is up for sale.</p><p> </p><p>

Anyone have any insight or opinions on the subject? Also, looking for some reliable sources on the subject.</p><p> </p><p>

<a href="http://www.cagesideseats.com/tna-impact/2013/10/27/5035998/is-tna-up-for-sale-due-to-the-carter-family-wanting-out-of-the" rel="external nofollow">http://www.cagesideseats.com/tna-impact/2013/10/27/5035998/is-tna-up-for-sale-due-to-the-carter-family-wanting-out-of-the</a></p>

[Rickymex]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="alphadraighon" data-cite="alphadraighon" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="25170" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>I've been hearing rumors this evening that TNA is up for sale.<p> </p><p> Anyone have any insight or opinions on the subject? Also, looking for some reliable sources on the subject.</p><p> </p><p> <a href="http://www.cagesideseats.com/tna-impact/2013/10/27/5035998/is-tna-up-for-sale-due-to-the-carter-family-wanting-out-of-the" rel="external nofollow">http://www.cagesideseats.com/tna-impact/2013/10/27/5035998/is-tna-up-for-sale-due-to-the-carter-family-wanting-out-of-the</a></p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> If they do sale it then Spike TV would probably be the one that buys it since Impact does good ratings for them</p>

[Swagger]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Jaysin" data-cite="Jaysin" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="25170" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>I feel like if this was the PPV they were trying to make Magnus with, he should have either faced Bully for the title or faced someone like Angle or Joe to solidify himself as a major player.<p> </p><p> I love AJ, and I loved his match with Bully, but this could have been the show to prove that AJ isn't TNA's only home grown talent.</p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> I think the long and short of it is that Magnus really isn't that good. The WWE would push him to the moon and market him correctly, but TNA isn't the wrestling company mainstream, casual fans watch, that's WWE. TNA is for wrestling fans looking for an alternative. Magnus would end up being the home grown watered down, awkward name Cena, and not in a good way.</p><p> </p><p> To do what you are suggesting, AJ v2, they'd need to start someone from the ground up.</p>

[Basmat01]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Swagger" data-cite="Swagger" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="25170" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>I think the long and short of it is that Magnus really isn't that good. The WWE would push him to the moon and market him correctly, but TNA isn't the wrestling company mainstream, casual fans watch, that's WWE. TNA is for wrestling fans looking for an alternative. Magnus would end up being the home grown watered down, awkward name Cena, and not in a good way.<p> </p><p> To do what you are suggesting, AJ v2, they'd need to start someone from the ground up.</p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> I don't know about anyone else but I find Magnus rather dull.</p><p> </p><p> I feel the main reason AJ was given the title was because his contract is just about up and they want him to resign so they give him the title as a show of faith and seriously AJ needs a haircut the dude isn't 20 anymore and it makes him look dirty lol</p><p> </p><p> It kinda sucks to hear that tna might be up for sale. I think the issues more have to do with the business side of things and not product.</p>

[1234]

<p>It appears AJ Styles is actually going to be defending the title around the world. AAA have announced he will defend the title against El Mesias this Sunday.</p><p> </p><p>

I am very excited to see how far TNA go with this, and where else AJ will defend the belt.</p>

[Jaysin]

I'm guessing AAA and Muta's promotion Wrestle-1.

 

I'd imagine Scott D'Amore's promotion as well, Maximum Pro Wrestling up in Canada.

[LordJaguar]

I'd venture to guess he might show up in Ring Ka King and The Dudley's fed/training center too. If TNA were smart he would face Jay Brisco in ROH...

[Jaysin]

Ring Ka King has been done for over a year and a half.

[D-Lyrium]

Just watched last week's Impact. Some thoughts:

 

Eight minutes of wrestling in the first hour. Three matches in total on the show and two of them were four minutes long. "The alternative to WWE!" Yeah, sure. The opening segment was 23 minutes long (almost a quarter of the show) and at least 8 of those minutes were Ditzy Carter repeating herself.

 

Then after a 23 minute promo we obviously need 2 minutes of BFG recaps and chat.

 

Then a 4 minute Knockouts tag that still doesn't involve Lei'D Tapa wrestling. Don't debut her if she can't wrestle yet.

 

Then following that we get EC3 squashing a jobber. YAY! TNA! TNA! TNA!

 

Then more BFG recap, and a lame skit where Sting and Magnus look bored.

 

More BFG recap, because nobody watched it.

 

Angle recaps BFG, because the video immediately prior didn't do it well enough. The Roode comes out and we have four minutes of what would be decent promo if we hadn't had to sit through nearly half an hour solid of promo so far.

 

Then Bully Ray cuts a promo backstage with the Aces and still fails to address the hints of an Aces reunion that never happened at BFG, seemingly having forgotten that storyline already.

 

Then... we need more promo! We haven't had enough people talking! Here's 8 minutes of complete tag team cluster****. Again, if it wasn't the top of nearly an hour of talking, this segment would actually have been entertaining but I was just bored by this point. I did laugh at Storm drinking the champagne just like it was beer though. And apparently Abyss has forgotten he's Abyss again, or something. Whatever.

 

Then we need a FOURTH "AJ vs. Bully is our main event" graphic of the night. Four of them. We've only had two other matches and neither of them was hyped beforehand, it shouldn't be too hard to remember.

 

AJ vs. Bully is NEXT! Gee, I'm glad you're here to remind us, on-screen graphic!

 

And then we get...

 

... a much, much, much, much better main event that BFG had. Wha? Why couldn't THIS have been the BFG main event, and then this main event been that awkward "I've ruined the ring so lets stay away from that bit and not use it again" match from BFG?

 

Weird, weird show. An hour of pure crap from the darkest depths of WWE 2006, and then BOOM AWESOME.

 

 

 

.... and then MORE DIXIE.

 

Dixie Carter was used far too much on this show.

The fans were angered at the lack of wrestling on this show.

This show has lost us popularity in 205 regions.