The Official TNA / Impact / GFW Discussion Thread

[sebsplex]

Can you watch TNA on Sky in the UK? If so, which channel?

 

It's on Challenge TV... no idea why it got shunted onto a channel with game shows from the 80s and early 90s when Bravo shut down, but whatever.

 

Impact airs for the first time on Sunday nights 9pm-11pm and repeats on Tuesdays. PPVs usually air on the first Wednesday night after they've been held. Xplosion is shown on Challenge too, but I can never remember when it's on.

 

The Extreme Sports Channel also still shows Greatest TNA matches (or whatever it's called).

[panix04]

thanks for the info - will set to record!

[Jaysin]

Jay Bradley is one of the Gut Check contestants this week

 

He was Ryan Braddock on Smackdown few years back. He never amounted to anything, but he had a solid foundation and a good look.

[cappyboy]

Jay Bradley is one of the Gut Check contestants this week

 

He was Ryan Braddock on Smackdown few years back. He never amounted to anything, but he had a solid foundation and a good look.

 

Yeah. I think the most memorable thing anyone can say about him as Braddock is the time he was bundled up and carted off on a hand truck by Jesse & Festus when Smackdown was in the process of switching networks. Which incidentally is the most entertaining thing I can remember Jesse and Festus doing together off the top of my head.

[BHK1978]

Yeah. I think the most memorable thing anyone can say about him as Braddock is the time he was bundled up and carted off on a hand truck by Jesse & Festus when Smackdown was in the process of switching networks. Which incidentally is the most entertaining thing I can remember Jesse and Festus doing together off the top of my head.

 

Wait a second now, Festus is DOC...wait, you are right he still sucks.

[Teh_Showtime]

Literally in contention with Greg Oden for oldest looking young guy

 

When he was in Punk's SeS way back when he looked like he was in his mid 30s. He's not even 30 yet.

 

He seems like a fun person though he had one of the better episodes of Colt's AoW podcast though it was no cliff compton

[D-Lyrium]

Finally got around to watching last week's Impact. It was a lot better than the two weeks before it, but the main event was just weird.

 

For a start, you've got a steel cage match on TV, which unless I missed something was completely unannounced until the show started (they made the tag match the week before but I can't remember hearing anything about a steel cage).

 

Then they completely voided what is usually one of the key elements of a steel cage match, the fact that nobody could interfere, by... having Doc interfere seemingly at will. Then when Angle tried to get back in the referee stopped him (?!). Crazy stuff. Good match though.

 

Also, not sure if it was just because it was edited for the UK, but was the segment was Doc calling out Sting as much of a waste of time as it seemed? It consisted essentially of 2-3 minutes of Doc repeatedly demanding Sting showed up, then the bat that D-Von stole from Sting (which he couldn't find in an earlier segment, in a rare example of actual thought being put into TNA booking) drops from the rafters. Not going to lie, that was pretty cool. Then Doc goes mental, then ad break... then Kash vs. Christian York. No more mention of Doc. He's disappeared and apparently forgotten about Sting. Odd.

 

The rest of the show (I've made a habit of skipping any segment with a Hogan family member in it, it ups the show's final grade by at least 10 points) was pretty good though. I'm loving Bad Influence's 'impersonator' gimmick, and they dragged James Storm to a credible segment too. Loved the "I'll kick you in the twitter, punch him in his Facebook, and on your wall I'm gonna write 'sorry about your damn luck!'" line.

 

The Triple Threat at Genesis was the obvious choice, and should be pretty good.

 

I'm so glad I record Impact though. I don't think I could sit through all the Hogan, the hype videos and the "MOMENTS AGO" stuff. Why do American shows feel the need to do that? I know what happened moments ago, I was here moments ago and watched it. "Last Week", sure, but "here's what happened two minutes ago before the commercials" is just stupid. Especially last week, when one of the MOMENTS AGO videos was a recap of the Hogan promo that I skipped. ¬_¬ Especially this Hogan/Brooke/Bully Ray storyline, because what I've bothered to watch of it makes NO SENSE. Hulk, your daughter is twenty f'n four years old, if she wants to kiss a boy, she's allowed to do so. That, and they've essentially been running the exact same "You kissed my daughter", "So what daddy?", "WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO TO MAKE YOU TRUST ME??!" promo for the last month.

[cappyboy]

Wait a second now, Festus is DOC...wait, you are right he still sucks.

 

No, I'm not. You're putting words in my mouth. I never said anything that was meant to be a judgment of DOC's talent .Or Jesse's. Or Braddock's. Much less an indictment. I'm not going to question your indictment but it's all yours. Please leave me out of it.

[haloed]

So it seems TNA is going to have only 4 PPVs a year. I think that's awesome. Should lead to great build for the shows. The other month's are going to be taped PPV's specials with a theme. The first two are apparently going to be tag team related and than x-division for the second. Sounds like they will have a 14.95 price tag.

 

 

Oh one other thing, the Robbie's are awesome and really entertaining right now.

[dcxbox]

So it seems TNA is going to have only 4 PPVs a year. I think that's awesome. Should lead to great build for the shows. The other month's are going to be taped PPV's specials with a theme. The first two are apparently going to be tag team related and than x-division for the second. Sounds like they will have a 14.95 price tag.

 

 

Oh one other thing, the Robbie's are awesome and really entertaining right now.

the 14.95 ppvs wont draw a dime as they are taped but also as they are taped months in advance. they are taping them this month one is airing like april or march and the tag one is airing in may.

live ppvs right now average 7,000-11k buys a month with bound for glory this year doing maybe 19-20k buys i think (2012) the last big draw they had was 2011 bound for glory. tnas biggest ppvs ever ranged from 30k-60k (sting jarret bound for glory, and joe angle 1, and i think one or 2 lockdowns) lockdown though is tnas highest selling ppv even though they try to treat bound for glory as tnas mania/starcade

 

they would be best suited as monday night live special events on spike tv once a month on off months and along with ppvs not be in orlando.

[infinitywpi]

I gotta say, I'm enjoying the heck out of TNA recently. Even this Bully Ray / Brooke thing, which has train wreck written all over it, is working for me.

 

Can the WWE steal some of their writers? And maybe Bully Ray, Roode, Joe, A-Dub, and Tessmacher?

[BHK1978]

No, I'm not. You're putting words in my mouth. I never said anything that was meant to be a judgment of DOC's talent .Or Jesse's. Or Braddock's. Much less an indictment. I'm not going to question your indictment but it's all yours. Please leave me out of it.

 

Did you not say that you only remember him doing one thing entertaining?

 

Maybe I should have said you did not find him memorable, which I agree with you on that if that is indeed what you are saying (I would hate for you to go off on me for putting more words in your mouth.).

 

That being said, I have to admit that I find your over reaction to my post to be a bit odd. It is not like I am trying to impugn your character or anything.

[The Final Countdown]

Did you not say that you only remember him doing one thing entertaining?

It was one thing that he did together with Jesse as part of the Jesse & Festus team, not one thing over his entire career.

 

I liked Gallows as part of the SES. I'm sort of indifferent to him in A&8s, but that's also my general reaction to the entire group as a whole.

 

I gotta say, I'm enjoying the heck out of TNA recently. Even this Bully Ray / Brooke thing, which has train wreck written all over it, is working for me.

 

Can the WWE steal some of their writers? And maybe Bully Ray, Roode, Joe, A-Dub, and Tessmacher?

Agree; I've really liked TNA as a whole since the summer, even if I don't agree with all of their decisions. I find them much more enjoyable than WWE these days, and as a result I definitely don't want to see WWE sign any of those guys you mentioned. I don't think they'd 'get' Joe, they had ample opportunity to sign Aries for years, I imagine they'd only sign Bully if they brought D-Von back as well and teamed them back up, and Roode's perfect in TNA. I'd be fine with them signing Tess, who I don't really care about one way or the other.

[jwt13]

TNA is much better than WWE to me right now, they have made new stars in Aries and Roode, plus their using the stars they had in a good manner. I'm interested to see where this AJ storyline goes will they have a "Crow" like AJ gimmick like sting did when he became a "Free Agent" in the WCW days without all the face paint? Or will they go a different route. Also I agree the Bully/Brooke/Hulk thing had me worried but the way it has been booked so far is really entertaining. Plus I can see ratings improving now that there is no college or pro football on Thursdays and now that the title is on a established star like Hardy.

[infinitywpi]

So, by my count, this is 50 minutes in and we've had all of three matches and not much backstage bullcrap. WWE could learn some lessons.

[jwt13]

I'm surprised York went over King but it was a heck of a match. Good show so far.

[infinitywpi]

So... Park just needs one more character after this to qualify as 'The New Foley', right?

[jwt13]

Very good PPV and one of the best triple threats I can remember seeing. Also Hardy has been on top of his game lately with some of the better matches he's had in years, he deserves a good run with the title.

[infinitywpi]

From a match perspective, yeah, that was a fun PPV. But there was very little going on storyline-wise. How is Impact next week different from Impact last week? Well... nothing really changed here. No new champions. No plot points. We're getting Hardy / Daniels at some point. That's about it.

 

Still, was a fun show, glad I watched it, but it was like a really action-packed movie that spent all their budget on stunts and not enough on a script. It could have been so much more.

[Rone Rivendale]

From a match perspective, yeah, that was a fun PPV. But there was very little going on storyline-wise. How is Impact next week different from Impact last week? Well... nothing really changed here. No new champions. No plot points. We're getting Hardy / Daniels at some point. That's about it.

 

Still, was a fun show, glad I watched it, but it was like a really action-packed movie that spent all their budget on stunts and not enough on a script. It could have been so much more.

 

 

Aries has a good reason to forget Hardy for the moment and take out Roode after he was betrayed in the main event.

 

You glossed over Daniels getting a title shot. This is a guy who has been in TNA for most of it's existence. Now, it's a World Title shot on iMPACT so Daniels has no chance but it could be the start of a good feud that could see Daniels FINALLY get the belt.

 

Gail Kim dominated the KOs match and then was screwed out of winning the #1 contendership when her foot was obv under the ropes and got pinned anyway. So she has a reason to be involved in the Tara/Velvet match.

 

After Kenny King got upset by Christian York, they have a reason to feud. And RVD needs a new rival if those 2 go at it.

 

Anderson made his choice on the A&8s thing obv, and A&8s overall went 2-1 in matches. So they stayed strong while still being hunted by Sting.

 

So yeah.... nothing happened to advance anything. It was pointless.

[cappyboy]

Did you not say that you only remember him doing one thing entertaining?

 

Maybe I should have said you did not find him memorable, which I agree with you on that if that is indeed what you are saying (I would hate for you to go off on me for putting more words in your mouth.).

 

That being said, I have to admit that I find your over reaction to my post to be a bit odd. It is not like I am trying to impugn your character or anything.

 

No, you weren't ripping my character. And I appreciate that. But the conclusion you jumped to felt a little "fixed your post" and I've always found that bit presumptuous and annoying. I agree though that "memorable" would have been more accurate. Jesse and Festus may not have gotten any real moments other than bundling up undercard talent to move them to the new network. But I always felt like they did well with what little material they did get and I enjoyed seeing DOC play the "turned on and off by the ring bell" gimmick as Festus. They were like good supporting actors in my mind. You don't usually think about them but you'd notice if the show didn't have them.

 

Heck, I've always liked DOC in general. The guy may not be particularly gifted but for his build and style, he seems to carry himself well in the ring. Other than the bell gimmick with Festus, his characters have never have had anything to set them apart. So can't judge there. He's never going to be a marquee guy in a promotion of any size but you gotta have those workmanlike guys as well. And in that capacity, Hankinson strikes me as an addition to any roster.

[infinitywpi]

Meh. Aries and Roode were already semi-feuding/not on the best of terms to begin with; Gail lost the match the same way she beat Mickie, due to the ref not seeing a body part under the ropes; King and York were already "All but officially feuding" with King ragging on him backstage in promos; Anderson had already joined A&8s on Impact, all this was was spelling it out for people who couldn't see it already; and A&8s beat Joe Park but lost to Sting, which is pretty much what everyone expected.

 

So, yeah, stuff -happened-, but nothing -changed-. And if nothing else, Daniels winning pretty much flat out said "Oh, and Hardy will retain".

 

I find it interesting that they can book Impact so that I want to watch next week and see what happens, so that I want to watch a PPV to see what happens, and then have a PPV where... nothing really happens. A few more plot developments on PPV wouldn't hurt.

[jwt13]

Just watched Impact from last night and WOW I never saw that swerve coming shoutout to TNA for doing that huge surprise to me.

[infinitywpi]

Yeah, definately did not see that coming.

 

Giving A&8s a 'voice' is going to go a long way towards making them a serious threat.

[Fleisch]

So, yeah, stuff -happened-, but nothing -changed-. And if nothing else, Daniels winning pretty much flat out said "Oh, and Hardy will retain".

 

I find it interesting that they can book Impact so that I want to watch next week and see what happens, so that I want to watch a PPV to see what happens, and then have a PPV where... nothing really happens. A few more plot developments on PPV wouldn't hurt.

 

Have to say when Daniels won it was obvious Hardy would win, but if I'm honest, I never saw Roode or Aries winning the World Title at Genesis anyway (no matter how badly I would love to see one of them as Champ again). Impact really does entertain me too - but I agree they need to book better PPV's, especially now they're down to 4. The PPV's need to be something special.

 

I also have to say last nights Impact wasn't too bad. The ending though, I did not see that coming! And what a guy to have as the mouthpiece to A&8's. It also makes sense because of his friendship with Devon so it's not just like a random choice, it fits.

 

----------------------------------------------

 

I know a lot of people seem to have the "who cares about DOC" thing going on, but to me the guy is a solid mid-card talent who is still pretty young (29?) and has time to develop. I like the guy, and the character again fits the Aces & Eights group, same with Mike Knox. I can see them as a legitimate tag team too, maybe even a run with the tag belts down the line. I like where the story is going, unmask lesser known members leading up to the bigger picture, which some wrestling fans elsewhere don't seem to realise. I mean I think on these forums we're all pretty switched on to know if you unmask the "big surprise" at the beginning, then nobody cares when any of the "lesser" members are unmasked. TNA have a story they can play out for months with this group and I love the fact they aren't rushing all the unmaskings and revelations.

 

TNA have got a lot of things right Daniels & Kazarian are entertaining as hell and I can't help but smirk when they're up to their shenanigans. I am intrigued to see when and how they'll bring AJ Styles back, Bobby Roode and Austin Aries looking like they'll be gunning for the tag belts, or maybe even going after all the belts following their promo on Impact. Kenny King and Christian York looks like it could become a good mid-card feud, and personally it'd be even better if one of them was holding the X-Division title. I don't think any company in history has ever got everything 100% right with their product, and there are things TNA could improve but I feel they are heading in the right direction, and their storylines make me want to tune in again the next week.

 

Of course this is all a matter of personal preference and I by no means expect everyone to agree just throwing my thoughts out there.