The Official TNA / Impact / GFW Discussion Thread

[justtxyank]

I've always been higher on Sid than most, so I'd love to see him back in a major promotion.

[thommohawk]

Looks like Sid's the man Nash was referring to when he said Hogan's not coming in alone.....I thought he meant Ken "Mr. Anderson" Kennedy or Ric Flair, who both of which I believe will come to TNA with Hogan on the back of the Australia tour, I sense Hogan will bring these guys in all at once probably on a PPV so the impact the segment has is heightened. Though I think the Hogan/Nash stable is a swerve in waiting as they are making it too obvious, so there's more to that than meets the eye - I'm not saying Russo is that good but between Russo, Hogan, Nash and Flair there's so much history there (all be it bad history) that they can play around with to make compelling viewing for the smart mark fans who've been there before and know that there's some real heat between a couple of those people not to mention almost all of them had a hand in both the rise and fall of WCW. It wouldn't surprise me either, to see Eric Bischoff in a part time role as an authority figure not dissimilar to when he was running the show in WCW.

 

As for AJ Style's mystery attacker, it's not AJ lol, and it doesn't look like it's Tomko either seeing as how his return to TNA was revealed in an on screen interview, if it is him though it would have made sense to have the reveal be directly after another attack considering all the buildup it's been getting, but then again this is Vince Russo we are talking about so anything's possible with that guy!

 

Is it possible that the attacker is Goldberg ? Perhaps he's signed with TNA and we don't know yet ? Like when Angle signed and nobody knew until the reveal....I doubt it, but the guy is big and bald, doesn't look like it's Tomko anymore so who could it be ? Perhaps RELLIK!

[Johnny Fenoli]

Didnt really want to start a whole thread for this... But here are some results from the Hulkamania Tour (not mine, stolen from a site):

 

 

The night started with my mate and I making our way into Rod Laver Arena. It was raining bucket loads and we just wanted to get inside the damn place! I went to the box office and the lady gave us 150 dollar seats (considering we paid 120 for the pair it was a great saving).

 

The show had a very WCW feel to it, just second rate, nostalgic and well...everything Hulk Hogan. The ring ropes were yellow and red, the graphics on the titantron were yellow and red (flames) and the merchandise stand was all Hogan merchandise. Now I know Hogan is the biggest draw in wrestling, but it felt as if the show was way too much about him. His opponent is a very massive star too, but the poster to the show had a giant picture of Hogan, with Ric's name written somewhere down the bottom. I would have enjoyed seeing HOGAN VS. FLAIR (or something to that effect).

 

The crowd was at about 6,500 - 7,500. It was half full, the floor was full, the platinum seats (think WWE tour) were about 80% full, and the gold seats (think WWE tour) were about 40% full. An entire section of the gold seats (which held around 2,500 - 3,500) was curtained off. Also behind the titantron, the 'bronze' seats at WWE tours, it looked as if it never existed. Overall the attendance relieved me, I didn't want the show to fail, I wanted people to turn up and in all honestly they did.

 

The first match featured 'Rock Of Love' Vs. Eugene and the PIMPfather (with a few of his hoes). It lasted about 3-4 minutes, very boring, crap, forgettable match. The highlight was when one of the members of Rock Of Love took his shirt off after the entrance and the crowd chanted 'put your shirt on!!' Pimpfather and Eugene won 1.5/10

 

Then the second match featured Shannon Moore against Spartan 3000. It was a pretty slow paced cruiserweight match up (if thats what it was meant to be). Spartan won after a pretty sweet shooting star press. 4/10 (for the finish)

 

The third match was the biggest embarrassment to wrestling. Dear lord this was shocking. The Nasty Pensioners W/Jimmy Hart Vs. Gangrel and some Samoan Undertaker dude called Black Pearl. This match was just so terrible, it gets me thinking how easy it is to manipulate a wrestling crowd. Knobs was an absolute dud out there, hitting someone with a baking tray AND STILL lost his breath, the guy started chanted and most people chanted with him. Anyway it was so bad, the 'shots' were very poorly done, the timing was amateurish and the actual entertainment value was pitiful, it was like a fake pub fight between the town drunk and the town fatty with the winner being NOBODY. 0/10 (Nasty Boys won)

 

Brutus Beefcake Vs. Heidenriech (however its spelt) was the next match, BAD, full stop, get rid of Hogan's posse. Beefcake won, but ultimately we were all the losers after seeing those horrendous tights he was wearing, blehh!! 1/10 (Nostalgic factor, since I like Beefcake) ...Beefcake won also!

 

I'm sure there was an intermission next, they came back with a Divas bikini contest, Lacey won I think?? (I didn't know the girls, but they were hot).

I really liked the titantron being used for the match ups, you could see the wrestling on the screen and it helped heaps, the backstage interviews were FANTASTIC too, it really got the crowd involved and it wouldn't hurt the WWE to pretape a few promos like that in America and just play them here for us and pretend its live. It was great.

 

By this point the ring announcer asked if we are excited for the main event!! Because Hulk Hogan is lacing up those boots as we speak! We get a backstage interview with Flair and what can I say? The ENTIRE crowd was standing, looking at the titantron, this man has presence and brought prestige into this event. My mate said it best, without Hogan and Flair this show would have been at Pipeworks.

 

Mr. Anderson Vs. Sean Morley was the next match, it was okay, it was way too slow, felt a little second rate, I've seen the guys do better. But it was first CLASS compared to the rest of the crap we saw. Kennedy won with a botched Mic Check! 5/10

 

Next up was Rikishi & Grandmaster Sexay (nice Thriller dance on the way to the ring too!) Vs. Umaga & Orlando Jordan. I'll tell you right now, Jordan will be a WWE employee in the next 12 months. He is much better then how he was back in 2004. He seems to be building a persona, its good. The match was alright, Too Cool won and started dancing with the referee (who tried the worm). It was an okay match, after the intermission things got better, that's for sure. 5.5/10

 

The ring announcer (who I thought was great) was pumping us up for the main event! He told us Hogan is lacing those boots back there and will be out any minute. So by the looks of it, Hogan was lacing up his shoes for 45 minutes? LOL! Hogan was interviewed backstage and was awesome Hogan!

 

The entrances occurred, they also showed a promo on the screen from the press conference. It was great, the entrances of both those superstars was worth the ticket.

 

The match was okay, lots of blood, no legdrop, it was better than what all the kids could do too. Hogan is an amazing crowd manipulator, everyone was sleeping and he got them off their feet. We just loved being their for Hogan! Hogan won after a shot with the brass knuckles, he looks very rusty at the start, understandable though. I'll give that match a 10/10. It was everything I expected and more to be honest.

 

Overall the show gets a 6/10 from me. Before the intermission, I believe I saw the worst form of entertainment in the history of my life. After the intermission we got some solid acts, Kennedy, Umaga, Venis, Hogan, Flair...they saved the show and really helped it not rot into the ground.

[Moe Hunter]

Hogan, Nash, Flair, Sting, Booker T, Scott Steiner, Sid Vicious (Raven, Daffney, Jarrett)... Really? Why on earth would TNA go for this? I could have sworn they were supposed to be "edgy" and "alternative" for a "new generation".

 

This truly is nothing more than WCW 10 years ago. AJ's got a title reign that might last more than a few weeks now, after how many years since he was supposedly their #1 guy? How long before another old timer takes his place and he's forgotten about again?

[tristram]

Did I just read through that and not see a Hogan promo?? If Hogan isn't winding up the crowd...yuck. It means I've got a couple of hours to sit through with the wife going "When's Hogan coming out?" "Where's Flair?" "Who's that guy?" "I don't know him, who's he?" "How old is that guy?", "Who's he?" and of course "Who's he?" intermitted with "When does this end?" and "Can we go home now?"

[tristram]

Hogan, Nash, Flair, Sting, Booker T, Scott Steiner, Sid Vicious (Raven, Daffney, Jarrett)... Really? Why on earth would TNA go for this? I could have sworn they were supposed to be "edgy" and "alternative" for a "new generation".

 

This truly is nothing more than WCW 10 years ago. AJ's got a title reign that might last more than a few weeks now, after how many years since he was supposedly their #1 guy? How long before another old timer takes his place and he's forgotten about again?

 

In fairness... AJ had a brief run in WCW too when they enacted the WCW Cruiserweight Tag Division he tagged with Air Paris... A lot of those guys I would personally pay to see, probably with the massive exception of Sid Vicious... Their last Pay-Per-View was pretty good and featured Styles, Daniels and Samoa Joe in the main event and Kurt Angle and Desmond Wolfe in the semi main event (hardly a WCW love in)... Raven is pretty sweet no matter what he's doing and frankly I regard him more as a ECW megastar...

 

As long as they still have time for the Knock Outs, the X Division, grow storylines for the X Division guys to get feuds with the WCW guys and then on a few occasions allow the X Division type guys to go over, then it's all ok to me.

 

Also, I think it's Pepsi that's for a new generation

[rodzillahotrod]

Did you miss the third attack? Because there he was all dressed in black and a mask and you could clearly see he was way taller then AJ and more muscular.

 

i still dont think its tomko and i've seen all 3 attacks he really didnt look that much taller then aj imo nor do i think tomko is that strong

[Hyde Hill]

Wrestling Observer is reporting they have signed Sweet Saraya Knight, don't know what they want with her seeing as she is 39 years old. She is British though so a WE knockout is a possibility but still. Anyone have more info on her and if she can still go?

[alden]

I think they have dropped the masked man attacking angle. It was not at the ppv or the last two impact....i know it was not on the last one atleast. I think it might have been tomko but they just dropped it and intorduced him on screen the way they did because they did not know what elce to do.

[rodzillahotrod]

i was thinking the samething but waiting to see if there was anymore news. i really hate when promtions just drop storylines without finishing them...

[Hyde Hill]

Russo. Nuf said.

[Self]

Russo. Nuf said.

 

It's not just a Russo thing. Vince McMahon has them going all the time. It even happens in mainstream TV and Movies. Characters and plot-lines are set up, but for one reason or another they're forgotten about or fade into the background. It can be annoying, but it's not a Russo-only problem.

[Hyde Hill]

No but he does have that problem in quite a major way and is the main "writer" for TNA atm.

[PhenomenalPat]

Wrestling Observer is reporting they have signed Sweet Saraya Knight, don't know what they want with her seeing as she is 39 years old. She is British though so a WE knockout is a possibility but still. Anyone have more info on her and if she can still go?

 

I dunno if she can, hopefully she can still go, cause she has some talent for sure. Hope she brings her daughter with her.

[Remianen]

Did I just read through that and not see a Hogan promo?? If Hogan isn't winding up the crowd...yuck. It means I've got a couple of hours to sit through with the wife going "When's Hogan coming out?" "Where's Flair?" "Who's that guy?" "I don't know him, who's he?" "How old is that guy?", "Who's he?" and of course "Who's he?" intermitted with "When does this end?" and "Can we go home now?"

 

God I hope you're kidding. I used to get pissed when I'd take a friend to SHIMMER shows and hear crap like that (til I just quit taking friends).

 

In fairness... AJ had a brief run in WCW too when they enacted the WCW Cruiserweight Tag Division he tagged with Air Paris... A lot of those guys I would personally pay to see, probably with the massive exception of Sid Vicious... Their last Pay-Per-View was pretty good and featured Styles, Daniels and Samoa Joe in the main event and Kurt Angle and Desmond Wolfe in the semi main event (hardly a WCW love in)... Raven is pretty sweet no matter what he's doing and frankly I regard him more as a ECW megastar...

 

You're a dyed in the wool WCW fan though, aren't you?

 

Wrestling Observer is reporting they have signed Sweet Saraya Knight, don't know what they want with her seeing as she is 39 years old. She is British though so a WE knockout is a possibility but still. Anyone have more info on her and if she can still go?

 

Sweet Saraya can still go. But you have to understand that the UK style is not the US style. If she's working the style she's most familiar with, she's easily one of the best workers the UK has. She's not a flippity floppity spot monkey (that's more Britani's style) but her strengths lie in her performance skills and charisma.

 

I dunno if she can, hopefully she can still go, cause she has some talent for sure. Hope she brings her daughter with her.

 

I dunno. Last I saw her a year ago, Britani was still really green. If she came to TNA, they'd have to restrict her to working only with the experienced hands (Hamada, Melissa, Sarah Stock, Tara, Kong) or doing color-by-numbers style matches with everyone else. Otherwise, somebody gon' get kilt!

 

Maybe they signed Saraya to work with the Knockouts as a road agent (she'd be good at that).

[Hyde Hill]

If they are gonna use her as the Knockout RA what is D'Amore gonna do? Go back to Border City or maybe get added to the creative team? Hoping the second of course. Well if she can still go then its all good imho.

[PhenomenalPat]

 

I dunno. Last I saw her a year ago, Britani was still really green. If she came to TNA, they'd have to restrict her to working only with the experienced hands (Hamada, Melissa, Sarah Stock, Tara, Kong) or doing color-by-numbers style matches with everyone else. Otherwise, somebody gon' get kilt!

 

Maybe they signed Saraya to work with the Knockouts as a road agent (she'd be good at that).

 

Not too familiar with Britani, just think she's hot and wouldn't mind seeing her on a semi regular basis.

[tristram]

God I hope you're kidding. I used to get pissed when I'd take a friend to SHIMMER shows and hear crap like that (til I just quit taking friends).

 

LOL. I am serious. My mrs is the best chick ever. She supports whatever sports teams I like, if I want to watch wrestling she'll watch it too... very easy going. But yes, if there's someone she doesn't know she's gonna be busting my chops asking a lot of questions.

 

You're a dyed in the wool WCW fan though, aren't you?

 

Is it becoming obvious? :eek: Believe it or not, outside of these boards these days I find myself very uninterested in professional wrestling. But the WCW thing... it just reminds me of finishing high school where a heap of us were so into Sting fighting off the nWo ... it was the shizzle. We even had in class tipping competitions on Pay-Per-Views. Where I came from, we didn't have 'cable', we had two national broadcast channels and the only wrestling they picked up was WCW Monday Nitro and the Pay-Per-Views (for free), so there was no alternatives. So it became that you either loved rugby union or you loved WCW.

[Remianen]

Is it becoming obvious? :eek: Believe it or not, outside of these boards these days I find myself very uninterested in professional wrestling.

 

That seems like a fairly common occurrence.

 

And yes, your love of WCW is about as much a secret as my love of women's wrestling.

[rodzillahotrod]

LOL. I am serious. My mrs is the best chick ever. She supports whatever sports teams I like, if I want to watch wrestling she'll watch it too... very easy going. But yes, if there's someone she doesn't know she's gonna be busting my chops asking a lot of questions.

 

 

 

Is it becoming obvious? :eek: Believe it or not, outside of these boards these days I find myself very uninterested in professional wrestling. But the WCW thing... it just reminds me of finishing high school where a heap of us were so into Sting fighting off the nWo ... it was the shizzle. We even had in class tipping competitions on Pay-Per-Views. Where I came from, we didn't have 'cable', we had two national broadcast channels and the only wrestling they picked up was WCW Monday Nitro and the Pay-Per-Views (for free), so there was no alternatives. So it became that you either loved rugby union or you loved WCW.

 

u was on sting's side i was cheering for nwo almost the whole time lol till the end i stopped watching it. wow im kinda surprised u guys got only 2 channels but hey atleast u got the ppv free lol i've heard of small towns but wow only 2 channels is mind boggling. i've been in the woods where u a least got like 4 regular channels they might of been almost all news channels but at least there was 4 lol

[Moe Hunter]

What Tristram forgot to mention is that we had WCW on a 6 month delay! You could get PPVs at the video store well in advance of what you could see on TV. And Nitro usually started at like 11pm. Raw was on a channel that most of the country couldn't even get.

 

I got into wrestling through the games mostly. I started catching the programming later on, went back and got some old tapes, etc.

[tristram]

That seems like a fairly common occurrence.

 

And yes, your love of WCW is about as much a secret as my love of women's wrestling.

 

Maybe there's therapy for ''''specialists'''' like us?

 

u was on sting's side i was cheering for nwo almost the whole time lol till the end i stopped watching it. wow im kinda surprised u guys got only 2 channels but hey atleast u got the ppv free lol i've heard of small towns but wow only 2 channels is mind boggling. i've been in the woods where u a least got like 4 regular channels they might of been almost all news channels but at least there was 4 lol

 

Absolutely. Always on the Stinger's side. He was just .... so different.

 

And yes, we did get PPV free to air, TV2. Great times.

 

What Tristram forgot to mention is that we had WCW on a 6 month delay! You could get PPVs at the video store well in advance of what you could see on TV. And Nitro usually started at like 11pm. Raw was on a channel that most of the country couldn't even get.

 

I got into wrestling through the games mostly. I started catching the programming later on, went back and got some old tapes, etc.

 

Yes we did get it on delay. When Nitro first actually came on, it was something like a 2-3 month delay. And even before that, we got I think it was WCW International, and that was it. Nitro was Friday night on TV2 at 11PM. I don't believe we ever got Thunder, for that matter.

[mike b]

Well after listening to Bret Harts interview i know how he feels about Hogan going to TNA. He basically is saying its gonna become WCW all over again and hogan will just bring TNA down.

[sebsplex]

I don't believe we ever got Thunder, for that matter.

 

I don't think we ever got Thunder in the UK either, but by all accounts, perhaps it was for the best.

 

As for Hogan not coming alone... well that Nash segment keeps the hype-mill turning nicely. I'm not too sure where I stand on Sid coming to TNA (if he indeed is). I enjoyed some of his late stuff in the WWE(F), like winning the title from Bret Hart (if partly to help further the Hart/HBK feud). I didn't see a great deal of him in WCW... lets just hope someone keeps the scissors away from him.

[Hyde Hill]

Well after listening to Bret Harts interview i know how he feels about Hogan going to TNA. He basically is saying its gonna become WCW all over again and hogan will just bring TNA down.

 

Got a link for that?