The Official TNA / Impact / GFW Discussion Thread

[Jaysin]

-Jeff Hardy vs. Austin Aries in a ladder match for the TNA Title.: I really think there's going to be something screwy with the finish. Like Aries grabs Jeff's title, and Jeff grabs the real world title...something like that.

 

-A.J. Styles vs. Bobby Roode vs. James Storm in a No. 1 contenders match with an additional stipulation.: Roode wins, pinning AJ. I'd like to see AJ and Joey Ryan feud...

 

-Chavo Guerrero and Hernandez vs. Christopher Daniels and Kazarian for the TNA Tag Titles.: As much as I love Chavo, I hate Hernandez. He's just terrible. Daniels & Kazarian are in my opinion, the second most entertaining tag team in mainstream wrestling. Behind only Team Hell No.

 

-Samoa Joe vs. Magnus for the TNA TV Title in a No DQ match.: Mag Daddy wins dragging this out another PPV or so

 

-Devon vs. Kurt Angle.: Gotta give Aces & 8's some wins.

 

-Rob Van Dam vs. Joey Ryan for the X Division Title.: Joey wins when RVD receives a carbon footprint. I don't care of Hogan said Morgan is banned from ring side, Morgan will disobey.

 

-Tara and Jesse vs. ODB and Eric Young.: Tara and Jesse win because EY no shows on ODB.

 

-DOC (formerly Luke Gallows) vs. Joseph Park.: Doc looked brutal on Impact when he beat Sting with the hammer. I hope that brutality continues into the PPV.

 

I just realized I picked all heels...but whatever.

[infinitywpi]

So, watched TNA for the first time in forever last night. Had the boy watch it with me. He got slightly confused ("If it's a different company, why are they talking about AJ?") but in the end, he said "I like the other guys better... but the fights on this one were more fun."

 

Pretty much sums up how I feel about it. TNA has better action, WWE has better characters. But I gotta say... the Dudleys as singles stars are far better than they have any right to be. And I like what I see from Bobby Roode and Hernandez (Yes, it's been a -long- time since I last watched TNA).

[crownsy]

I thought impact was pretty good this week, although I could have done without the whole "director of Choas" thing. the minute they said that i Just busted out laughing.

 

All I could think about was A & E having a board meeting and the leader turning to gallows and going "next we're going to hear about out 2nd quarter outlook for mischievous actives and shenanigans. What's our forecast looking like director gallows?"

 

Then quickly followed up by thinking

 

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_P8n0J5nF3I0/SwSDwmgzTQI/AAAAAAAABmQ/J_9auh08hWE/s1600/butters+professor+chaos.jpg

 

I mean, you wanna call him Doc, fine. but can't we just call him Doc? biker gangs use that nickname all the time, "director of chaos?"

 

I wanna know some of the other members titles.

 

Presenter of organizational preparations?

 

Coordinator of Combating Kilts?

[MrSelfDestruct]

just saw them live in Mt. Pleasant. decent show, was a little disappointed not to see guys like AJ, Daniels, Aries. It was main evented by Gunner and r. Anderson vs. A&8's. Eric Young and RVD got the biggest pops besides Miss Tessmacher spending half the match (literally) just shaking her ass. like she would stop and do it, repeatedly.

[OctoberRaven]

I mean, you wanna call him Doc, fine. but can't we just call him Doc? biker gangs use that nickname all the time, "director of chaos?

 

DOC is just a convenient shortener. Like calling Christopher Daniels as Daniels or Chris.

 

And no, Director of Chaos is not a usual title for motorcycle clubs. It's probably a take on the Men of Mayhem (which I don't think is a typical MC title either) from Sons of Anarchy.

[crownsy]

DOC is just a convenient shortener. Like calling Christopher Daniels as Daniels or Chris.

 

And no, Director of Chaos is not a usual title for motorcycle clubs. It's probably a take on the Men of Mayhem (which I don't think is a typical MC title either) from Sons of Anarchy.

 

Yea, I get that it's a shortener, I'm laughing at the stupidity of requiring an executive title that lame just so they can shorten it to Doc.

 

Alternatively they could have just called him Doc and said he has rudimentary medical training.

 

Instead everytime I see him I'll just think of professor chaos. I hope the next guy outed is the executive officer in charge of disarray.

[Derek B]

I only just got caught up with Impact last night, I rather enjoyed the show again and I'm looking forward to catching the PPV as soon as I possibly can. TNA has been doing a lot of good things lately and I'm enjoying a lot of the show, which I can't say about WWE programming just now.

 

I hope more people give TNA a chance. I know they've had some really bad stuff in the past but they are managing to do a lot right and there are quite a few people getting the chance to shine at last. The TNA main event scene is shifting towards a group of guys who are hitting their prime (and Kurt Angle) which makes me happy... Team 3D have both come along awesomely as singles guys, I'm actually enjoying D-Von which I didn't think I could/would. Bully is turning into a star just now and I'm delighted to see it, he's always been a good talent but he's just never been able to get out of the tag team shadow til now, just because 3D were so good together.

 

All in all, I'm looking forward to the PPV. I'm hoping Matt Morgan is about to get a prominent place on the roster, he's one of the best big men to have come along in the last 15 years and could be an amazing star given the chance... but for now, I'm going to avoid this thread so that I don't get spoilered on the PPV. I hope lots of folk watch it, you know it's going to be more entertaining than a WWE show so give it a look!

[Fleisch]

Just finished watching Turning Point. Not a bad PPV over all. Sure it had a few "bathroom break" moments but I've seen a lot worse from TNA & WWE this year. My quick thoughts...

 

Samoa Joe v Magnus had me entertained. I think Magnus could be big for TNA if used properly. This feud with Joe is perfect for him at the moment. The loss doesn't really hurt him either.

 

ODB & EY vs. Tara & "The Z List Sensation" Jesse was what it was... a comedy filler match with EY and ODB playing their parts to perfection. Enjoyable light comedy relief.

 

RVD vs. Joey Ryan, can I ask why RVD is X-Division Champ? There is no way he is 225lb or below and that was the last weight restriction they put on the belt, has that magically been rescinded off TV? Anyway, not a bad match but we all knew RVD isn't about to job to Joey Ryan clean and it's way too early for him to win the X-Division title.

 

Wasn't really sold on the Joseph Park v. DOC match at first, although I still think DOC could have a pretty decent career (The guy is still only 29). I am waiting to see whether or not they are going to continue this "brother of Abyss" thing or whether it is finally revealed Abyss is Parks alter ego - as Dexter would say his "Dark Passenger". Either way the match finally peeked my attention and was quite enjoyable. Bully Ray as a face = HELL NO! Love his heel persona.

 

Chavo & Hernandez vs Daniels & Kazarian for the tag titles was a bust for me. So long as Chavo & Hernandez hold those belts, I couldn't care less about them. They are boring and stereotypical. I skipped the match on that basis to almost the end as I wanted to see if Daniels & Kazarian won... which they didn't so not interested.

 

Roode/Storm/Styles match was excellent however the finish was not what I hoped as I was hoping for a Roode win because I really do not like James Storm, his need to shout and force out every word out in a promo pisses me off to the point I have to skip past them anytime he talks. We all knew AJ would be the one pinned as well. That said though, it can't take away from the fact Storm is a hard worker in the ring (well all 3 are) and I would say despite the outcome it was still my favourite match of the show.

 

Kurt Angle vs. Devon wasn't bad either but by no means an epic encounter. Outcome was obvious, Angle escaping an A&8's attack too doesn't sit right and I feel the option was there to get even more heat on the group.

 

The main event was really good, few botched moments but that's to be expected in a ladder match, I thought Aries was brilliant as always. I'm also not so "anti" at them having Hardy as Champion anymore (which I was after Bound for Glory). That being said, I do think Aries was the better worker on the night and made Hardy look a lot better.

 

Probably give it a 6 out of 10 of course that's just my quick take on what I thought of the show personally.

[FINisher]

I'm still surprised that Aries and Hardy didn't injure each other in that main event. There were some legit, brutal botches and just plain high velocity spots in that main event. Didn't really enjoy the PPV all in all. Something is still missing.

[haloed]

Thought Turning Point was solid but weak compared to the last few months worth of PPVs. The Ladder Match was crazy though. Enjoyed the Doc/Park encounter, not as good as Park/Ray encounter but still a solid story. Figured his inner Abyss would come out.

 

Solid PPV though, happy I got it.

 

 

By the way, seriously think Jesse Godderz has a ton of star potential. Once this Tara/ Jesse thing runs its course he could become big. Has a great look and is actually really good in the ring, imo.

[The Stallion]

My biggest complaint about the PPV was the location. If they insist on keeping Impact in Orlando, then every PPV needs to be held on the road. Turning Point looked like a regular Impact episode on Sunday because they kept it in Orlando. Especially since TNA is known for putting big matches on regular TV, they have to do something to differentiate Impact from there PPV. I also have to agree with everybody on here that the Jesse guy has a lot of upward potential. He has a solid grasp of fundamentals, can sell and is not sloppy at all in the ring.

[Derek B]

I just finished watching the show and I'm happy to say I enjoyed it. The WWE doesn't suit my tastes at all these days but TNA has managed to win me back again and this was a solidly good PPV. My favourite match of the night was probably Joe vs Magnus, which might be a bit of a surprise really. Joe has been doing some great stuff lately as he kills people and Magnus came out of this match looking great despite the loss, so it's a win-win for both men. I still remember when Magnus first showed up in his gladiator gimmick and I thought he was going to go nowhere... but he's really improved and he's really looking like a star.

 

The TNA TV title has been doing great things for Samoa Joe and guys like Magnus, Matt Morgan, maybe RVD, Pope (when he's not injured), Bully Ray, Anderson (maybe), AJ... guys like that should be contesting the belt. Not necessarily top guys, but guys with the right combination of credibililty and entertainment skills that can kill jobbers and put on interesting matches with each other on a weekly basis. They might not be the top guys in TNA right now, but all of them have either been at the top or could be... and the TV title could be great if it's on TV most weeks and these kinds of guys are fighting over it.

 

I love Eric Young, he has an epic beard. I'm still waiting for a segment where Brooke Hogan walks up to Eric and ODB and tells them that they're being stripped of the Knockout Tag belts for not defending them for 7 months (or however long it is) but giving ODB a title shot in exchange (and possibly getting Eric a TV or X title shot too), leading to Eric stripping far too much and all the comedy that ensues from him doing that in front of Brooke.

 

I half expected Matt Morgan to kill RVD somehow, leading to a Joey Ryan title win... with AJ now out of the world title picture I figure he switches to the X division and puts on some awesome matches there again as people come back from "injury" and the division gets rebuilt again. RVD vs Matt Morgan program seems to imply that RVD is dropping the X belt at some point soon to me... could be a fun time for the X division on the back of that as Matt Morgan keeps running wild on TNA and plays with Hogan, all while Hogan is motivating MAtt Morgan in his own weird way.

 

Storm has the title shot vs Hardy, this pleases me. I love James Storm and I love that TNA have been pushing Roode and Storm as TNA's top guys for about the last 18 months with the first Bound For Glory series being part of that. No-one wins as much as either of those two (and perhaps Austin Aries) and that's something that makes me happy. That superkick on AJ at the end looked amazing but I have to admit I was kinda pulling for a Roode victory on that one. At the same time, I was also pulling for an Austin Aries win too... the ladder match was brutal at times, some insane ladder spots and the two men worked hard to put on a great match but there's something missing between them for me. I can't put my finger on what it is, but I think it might be that I think it looks odd when Jeff faces someone smaller than he is. Dunno why that's weird to me but it is.

 

Tag title match was fun but I really would rather that Kaz and Daniels had won, they're more entertaining, they're better and they've got a chemistry I enjoy. Not that I dislike Team TexMex, but Chavo is no Eddie Guerrero and every time he breaks out an Eddie move in tribute I'm painfully reminded of that.

 

DoC beat Parks, a much more open match than I'd expected but it wasn't bad. Angle escaping from the group as D-Von tapped was a weird finish for me, it mostly highlights that the TNA roster don't seem to care about helping people except when the plot suits them. Where were Kurt's back up? Why did no-one come to help him when the group came out? Eh... wrestling logic, it happens. Not a terrible match but D-Von isn't ever going to be as good as Bully, he never has been and he never will be. I'm glad Kurt won, because I don't want to see D-von beating Kurt Angle ever, even with help.

 

So yeah, a mostly good PPV that I mostly enjoyed. Hopefully Impact keeps on rolling with more goodness after this and more people give TNA a chance because it really is far better than the WWE.

[ubernoob]

I don't know what it is about TNA, but I just cannot stand it. Tried to watch the PPV and had to turn it off.

 

They have good talent, but the promotion is just... missing something. I don't know if it's the cheesy production values, the horrendous direction (see: Producer heard saying "Cut" after an angle was run) or just the fact that it seems such a knock-off product. It's a shame, because they really do have a lot of talent there.

 

Infuriating. I might go back and just watch the Hardy/Aries match.

[tristram]

I like what TNA is doing at the moment. They finally seem to be trying to deliver on what they've promised, and creating some separation from WWE. That's not a shot against WWE either, there's things they are doing that I enjoy as well. Its great seeing Hardy, Aries, Storm and Roode as the top dogs.

 

As far as production value, the two funniest ones I can recall come from WCW. Once when Chris Jericho was in a backstage segment pretending he was locked out. He's pulling at the door, pretending its locked... some security dude inside thinks whats going on, and opens the door in the middle of a live cut. The second one also involves Chris Jericho. Wrath and him have a run-off segment backstage... anyhow, they then show Jericho and Wrath running past a semi-truck, at which point they just stop and saunter into a slow leisurely walk, caught on camera.

[MrSelfDestruct]

Jericho was always comedic gold. I almost wish he'd jump ship to TNA before he's too old to. Give him an actual decent World Title run that he has deserved (longer than like 2 months) and he could help build up even more guys.

[D-Lyrium]

My thoughts as I watch Turning Point (it aired tonight over here). I haven't read any of the Turning Point posts so sorry if some thoughts are repeated.

 

- Already? Maybe it's only because TNA only has an hour of TV, or maybe it's because I'm watching the shows a few days after they air or something... maybe it's just because I haven't followed WWE for ages, but it feels like Bound for Glory was last week. ¬_¬

 

- So they're holding the PPV in the same arena the TV show is in every week? Weird decision. It's even the same canvas as the week before, with the same aprons. Literally only the rope tape colour and logo on the big screen has changed. THERE ARE IMPACT LOGOS EVERYWHERE STILL, GUYS.

 

- Woo, Todd Kennely!

 

TVPPV Title Match:

- Even I'm bored of this matchup by now and I've only been watching a month or so. Christ knows how you lot must feel about it.

 

- "If there's anyone on the TNA roster that has an MMA style it's Samoa Joe". Ah, King Mo. Easy come, easy go, eh?

 

- Joe has the softest kayfabe skull of any Samoan I've ever seen. First a wrench shot lays him out cold for minutes on end, while Sting can survive a full-on assault with a hammer. Now having a chair thrown at his head is devastating.

 

- Good enough match, but I couldn't help feeling I'd seen it all before already. The elbow drop was niiiice though, especially because of the angle they showed it from.

 

- I never did understand that "irish whip, bend down, get kicked in the face" spot. What was he intending to do by bending down? A backdrop? On SAMOA JOE? Srsly?

 

- Joe wins? Really? Even more easily than the last two times? Who's next for Magnus then, Robbie T? Way to make the guy look completely inferior in every way.

 

Mixed Tag:

- I love the whole Jesse/Tera thing (say it like that and I'll type it like that, bitch ). The whole delusional hollywood star thing is gold.

 

- Why is this match even happening? Didn't ODB beat both these guys at once last week, on her own?

 

- Jesse's already more watchable than Cena. ¬_¬ On a more serious note, this match was brilliant, I thought. Well put together and well executed.

 

X-Division Match

- Tazz saying that merely being X-Division champion somehow makes you a better wrestler is almost more laughable than Tenay (of all people) calling Ryan interchangeably 'inexperienced' and 'well traveled', often in the same sentence.

 

- "Who will ever forget the Gut Check confrontation between Joey Ryan and Al Snow?!" now that's just ****ing hyperbole for hyperbole's sake...

 

- Enjoyable match, despite Tenay's best efforts. Ryan vs. York next week?

 

- Matt Morgan's neatly trimmed body hair is hilarious being just below dat beard.

 

Parks vs. Doc

 

- Joseph Parks is approximately 8 million times more entertaining than Abyss ever was. I BELIEVE IN JOSEPH PARKS. Everything about his character is perfectly portrayed, right down to having no entrance music. Even the crowd bought into it really well. It reminded me of that Drew Carey vs. Kane skit in the Royal Rumble ages ago, except good.

 

- Stone Cold Doc Foley looks pretty cool. Now that Tenay has stopped saying 'Director of Chaos Doc' over and over again anyway.

 

- I loved the Parks/Abyss thing with the blood, but again it was MASSIVELY oversold by the announcers (Kennelly this time, admittedly).

 

- I also loved the fact that Parks didn't win. No matter how over he gets with the crowd, a guy who has a gimmick that he's not a wrestler should not beat a guy who is a wrestler, no matter who the guy actually is. Good booking, IMO.

 

Tag Titles

- Scandalous that when Tenay was running through the Guerrero family history, he mentoned every Guerrero except Eddy. Especially dickish since it was around the 7th anniversary of his death.

 

- It's impossible to not like Hernandez after that match, surely? He's awesome! The fact I've said basically nothing about this match is a testament to how good it was, I didn't have time to look away.

 

Triple Threat

- Been genuinely excited for this one. Not just the match itself, but for once the result too! Actual genuine 'high stakes' in a wrestling match.

 

- Whatever happened to Petey Williams? Random thought as I watch this match.

 

- Good match. The finish I predicted (Storm pinning AJ), as it made most sense. AJ losing was pretty much a lock, and since Storm beat Roode, it wouldn't really feel right to have Roode getting a title shot first. Storm vs. Hardy will be weird though ('cause Hardy ain't losing in a ladder match...).

 

Angle vs D-Von

- Am I the only one that hand-suplexes the remote a lot when Angle is wrestling? ¬_¬

 

- Decent match, although I do think D-Von is being portrayed as way too much of a coward to still have the respect of all these big tough bikers. Doc is supposed to be the one 'on trial' or whatever, but he's going around beating the crap out of guys with hammers and screaming "You're dead!" at Angle, while D-Von is running away from everyone and trying to win matches with the weakest looking Spear wrestling has ever seen. ¬_¬ Overall it was good, and the finish was cool, but D-Von just looks like a complete schmuck.

 

Ladder Match

- Wow... just wow. Ladder matches are almost always excellent, but put Jeff Hardy in one and holy crap. It's almost as if physics just does whatever Jeff tells it to do.

 

- Jeff Hardy wrestling someone smaller than him for a World Title is weeeeeeeird.

 

- A world title being defended in a ladder match in a major promotion is also weiiiirrd. Has that ever happened before on PPV?

 

- I'm sure that Aries footstomp on Hardy's head that Hardy didn't react to for about three whole seconds is going to end up on Botchamania. To be fair though, there can't be much from Turning Point that does end up on there. It was a pretty solid match, with some genuinely brutal bumps. It's weird though, I always have this mentality that I really fear for Hardy's opponent in a ladder match, but don't really care if Hardy himself gets hurt. It's like "meh, he's used to it by now". As if "being used to it" is a good enough defence when you're falling 10ft off a ladder onto another ladder. ¬_¬ But when Aries gets Twist of Fate'd off a ladder from 3/4 of the way up onto the canvas, it's all "OMG I HOPE HE'S OK!11". Wrestling does weird things to me.

 

- Excellent main event. I also loved the 'Aries-ised' touches like with the remote to control the title lift thing. Brilliant way to end a great show.

 

Overall I loved Turning Point, possibly more than Bound for Glory. In fact, definitely more than Bound for Glory. Reading through the comments it seems me and Derek are the only ones, but that's fine. We can have our own little TNA love-in. ¬_¬ I really don't get why people don't like Hernandez. I can see how he might get a bit boring in singles matches, but in his team with Chavo he's brilliant.

[Derek B]

I like Hernandez as a tag guy, he's great for coming in and doing some explosive offense or power spots... but as a singles guy I've never been impressed with him. It's probably why he keeps ending up in tag teams with smaller guys, so they can get beaten up and he can tag in to clean house. Though one of the spots I liked from Chavo/Hernandez that they should do in every match is Hernandez doing the stalling vertical suplex whie Chavo does the 3 Amigos... that made me very happy the first time I saw it, it showcases exactly who they are and is pretty cool to see.

 

Also, more teams need good tag team finishers. Beer Money had their suplexy neckbreakery things I forget the name of... the Dudleys had the 3D and the Road Warriors had the Doomsday Device... I can't really think of any good looking tag finishers any more these days and this makes me sad. Not just in TNA, but I can't think of any teams with finishers I can name, and it's things like the 3D that made the Dudleys so awesome as they had a move that no-one kicked out of, it made them look more dangerous as a unit than 2 randomly thrown together people and that's the essence of a good tag team, being better than the sun of their parts.

[D-Lyrium]

Edge and Christian had the Con-Chair-To, but that was highly illegal. ¬_¬

 

But yeah, you're right. There hardly seems to be any 'proper' tag team finishers these days, the most you ever get is two existing finishers/signature moves done in tandem.

[Jaysin]

Kaz and Daniels do a variation of the Total Elimination

[BHK1978]

I would really like to know why they have to keep on screwing James Storm. I think the fans really want to see James get that title shot and they keep on taking it away from him.

[D-Lyrium]

That was certainly a strange decision, yeah...

 

I hate it when they have a big blowoff match to "end it all", especially after a really long feud... and then it STILL doesn't end. The Turning Point match was ok, because it was a triple threat and wasn't really about "them". But ugh... Storm losing his shot I'm not too bothered about, it's an interesting way to take it and will make his eventual title match even more of a big deal. Plus there's the whole Face vs. Face thing.

 

Hell, I don't even mind that Roode has the shot now. I quite like him (in an 'appreciate his work as a bad guy' way), he's much better than Storm on the mic. Much like in the ring, you need one guy capable of 'leading' on the microphone in a feud, and Storm vs. Hardy wouldn't really have that at all. I just hate the fact that we had to have Roode vs. Storm yet again in order to get to that point. The match itself wasn't bad, but there was sooooo much Roode vs. Storm hype going on throughout the whole show, that's what I hated most. And the fact that having the Storm/Roode match on TV kinda cheapened the Bound for Glory match a bit (not that it compared in any way, quality-wise).

 

Talking of matches I'm bored of already, I'm thankful for Doc and his hammer. If I had to see Magnus vs. Samoa Joe AGAIN...

 

Yay for Mickie James though. I actually really liked that battle royale (except for the rather rushed/random elimination of ODB), and we got to see some Knockouts that we haven't seen in months, just to make sure they're all still alive. ¬_¬

 

Surprised to see AJ going after Daniels and not RVD. I kinda like it though, it's always been a match that you can rely on to be good, much like Rock/HHH, Benoit/Jericho or Punk/Danielson.

 

The Jeff Hardy Inner Monologue segments are even weirder when they come in the same segment as a regular angle. Aries playing a troublemaker/architect role as he hinted at in the last promo could be awesome.

 

Shame there was no Matt Morgan/Joey Ryan on the show. I guess it's hard to fit everything into two hours. ¬_¬ All the recap videos, vignettes and three or four James Storm/Bobby Roode promos were obviously essential.

 

So, Open Fight Night again. You know how I feel about those in general, but to be fair they seem to throw up some good TV, so I can't complain too much. Will be good to see the Gut Check guys in action. Since I've been watching, York is the only guy I've seen get through so I don't know who the others are. Will be nice to see them.

[TheOmniWarrior]

Garrett Bischoff and Wes Briscoe had a fairly good match tonight

[D-Lyrium]

Some thoughts on the Thanksgiving edition:

 

- Bischoff and Briscoe look pretty decent (moreso Briscoe, though I guess that's to be expected). Although Bischoff has a really lame tattoo on his left pec that looks a bit like the Ford logo. ¬_¬

 

- Wow, that match between the two Gut Check guys sure was a lesson in how to get two completely unknown guys over. Everyone was loving Generic Babyface Guy at the end. Generic Heel Guy really needs to either work on his legs or wear pants in the ring, though. I'm British and I just typed the word 'pants' to mean full-leg item of clothing. I feel weird. Not a bad match, though some of it was a bit clumsy I thought.

 

- The gut check chick is pretty cute. And it's not often you see female wrestlers full-on slugging each other.

 

- Christian York vs. Jeff Hardy was awesome, although they totally didn't sell the "broke into the business together" thing at all. To be fair, that's probably because they've tried really hard to make York not look like a complete failure so far, so "LOOK WHERE HE COULD'VE BEEN BY NOW!" is hardly a good comparison for him. Still, it was odd that they never mentioned the OMEGA days on commentary once, as I felt that's what York and Hardy were trying to sell in the ring, with all the counters and York using the ToF. Good match, enjoyed it.

 

- The Turkeybowl match was brilliant, as was the promo before it. I've marked over Jesse and Tara enough, but Robbies E and T are growing on me too, and obviously EY is also brilliant. The only minor negative was, I hate it when a worker comes out and does their whole entrance schtick, then goes backstage again, then in the VERY NEXT SEGMENT they have to come out and do it all again (and first out, too!).

EY and ODB look like they're having massive fun with their gimmick though, as am .

 

- That Aces and Eights attack was, IMO, a brilliant segment. Probably the most emotionally invested I've been in wrestling since... a long time ago. Actually felt horrible for poor ODB, and watching EY get brutalised was pretty hard, to be honest. A few things let it down a bit though. Firstly, being directly succeeded by a fairly light hearted Daniels/Kazarian promo. I would've liked at least an ad break or a vignette or something between that happy/sad rollercoaster of a segment, and the next match. Secondly, the fact that As-n-8s had barely been seen or heard from all night, before or after (Hogan telling EY to "watch out" for them because "they're everywhere tonight" was the first we'd seen of them all night, and only the third mention/appearance they made in the whole show). It's like As-n-8s have already gone from "taking over" to "beating down midcarders".

 

- I really hope that they're going somewhere with the "nobody bothers to come and help out" thing. Part of me really wants to believe that soon (maybe after Final Destination, because it's Genesis in January and that name kinda fits) there'll be a huge Team TNA angle where some guys realise that the locker room is too absorbed in their own squabbles to notice that everyone is being injured one by one, and actually bands together behind a few of the big babyfaces (Hogan, Sting and Angle?). Even Bully Ray has given up now it seems, usually you can at least count on him to belatedly stumble to the rescue. But another part of me still thinks "don't be silly, this is TNA. It's perfectly legit that the only people in the locker room able to help are Al Snow and Bruce Pritchard after a five minute wait".

 

- Which is even more ridiculous. Why is a whole biker gang armed with various weapons running scared of Al Snow and Bruce Pritchard?!

 

- I also had to laugh that RIGHT AFTER a recap of As-n-8s beatdown on Sting and Magnus, there was an advert (on the UK broadcast) for UK's Strongest Man, presented by... Magnus. He's hurtin' baaad, man.

 

- Talking of weirdness, why did Joey Ryan call out Chavo, rather than have Ryan and Morgan call out Chavo and Hernandez? Well, I know why. To save on the repetitive booking penalty (for more TEW references, see below!), but I mean, logically it didn't make much sense. "HOGAN'S TRYING TO SPLIT US APART, SO WE'RE GOING TO GO FOR THE TAG TEAM TITLES... SEPARATELY!

 

- Why does nobody in TNA have a tag team name (that is actually shorter than their surnames combined)?

 

- Why was Alex Shelley's picture (and *only* Shelley's, that I saw) crossed out on As-n-8s dartboard/wall? At least, I think it was Shelley, I'm not too up on what people look like these days. Also, if he's not an eligible target, why leave him up there? It's not like a black cross is going to deflect the dart or something. ¬_¬

 

- Woooow. That was an awkward closing segment. It didn't quite get it's own "This Is Awkward!" chant (my favourite bit of BfG ), but it essentially degraded into five minutes of Aries, Hogan, Bully and Brooke staring at each other awkwardly. Not the way I'd have ended a show, personally...

 

- How many feuds is Hogan going to have, anyway. You're only allowed to be a major member of one at a time, that's the rules. ¬_¬ Hogan's now in three, and isn't even a wrestler.

[sebsplex]

- I also had to laugh that RIGHT AFTER a recap of As-n-8s beatdown on Sting and Magnus, there was an advert (on the UK broadcast) for UK's Strongest Man, presented by... Magnus. He's hurtin' baaad, man.

 

I hope the injury doesn't affect the spot of panto he's doing at the Thearte Royal in Norwich . I was mulling over getting a ticket.

 

[D-Lyrium]

Bwaha. Brilliant. Obviously wanted to spend Christmas with the family or something.