The Official TNA / Impact / GFW Discussion Thread

[Jaysin]

My fantasy booking when I read that Daniels was the new number 1 contender was that he beats Hardy and holds it until Destination X where AJ Styles happens to be X Division champion and trades the X title for the shot at the World Title...

 

Then I remembered Destination X isn't happening.

[jwt13]

So wedding seemed to draw a pretty good rating, a 1.15 rounds up to 1.2 which is iirc one of the best in around a year. TNA is definitely on the right path

[dpoolez]

The wedding angle was good. TNA did a great job revealing Taz as part of A&8s. One part that made me LOL was when i noticed Sting was on the mat getting stomped out. He literately came out of nowhere.

 

TNA is a decent show. The storylines IMO could be done better but everything is solid enough to enjoy.

[liontamer]

Didn't see the Tazz swerve coming, but I like it. He'll be a good mouthpiece and can serve a similar role to what EB did early for the nWo. Hoping the higher power is not JJ, although that would be logical to an extent.

 

One question, why don't they put on new masks once they've been unmasked? I know that we know their identify, but it makes more sense to remask because

 

- it makes it difficult to know how many different members there really are

- Allows for the excitement of more unmaskings, as some of them will be "false" (meaning that may you unmask Devon a second or third time, before finding out another member)

- Makes it more difficult to learn who the final members are (when you're down to 2 or three people with masks, you know who to go for. When they are all still wearing masks, you don't, and you never really know if you've gotten them all)

 

Wouldn't need to remask for promos necessarily, just when they brawl or are otherwise at heightened risk of unmasking.

[LordJaguar]

A's & 8's newest members...Garret Bischoff and Wes Brisco??? ok im done with TNGhey

[Jaysin]

A's & 8's newest members...Garret Bischoff and Wes Brisco??? ok im done with TNGhey

 

Really hurt your brain coming up with that gem of an insult didn't ya?

[Big Roguey]

A's & 8's newest members...Garret Bischoff and Wes Brisco??? ok im done with TNGhey

 

Really hurt your brain coming up with that gem of an insult didn't ya?

 

I always thought Brisco and Bischoff were obviously in, even more so with Devon being the first one unmasked. I'm willing to give them a chance.

 

And as much as people crap on it, I dig the route they are going down with Angle. He's moving down the ladder and helping younger talent on TV instead of trying to hog the main event title scene.

[Rone Rivendale]

and once again, thanks for the f'ing spoilers.

[Blackman]

and once again, thanks for the f'ing spoilers.

 

It's live TV. If you missed it, people are gonna talk about it on forums like this, which is no crime. It's always a pain if you're 'behind', but we're just gonna have to accept it. Start up facebook and you get spoilers in the face all the time. If you really want the experience to be new, avoid the internet altogether. Or just watch it live like most people do.

[BHK1978]

It's live TV. If you missed it, people are gonna talk about it on forums like this, which is no crime. It's always a pain if you're 'behind', but we're just gonna have to accept it. Start up facebook and you get spoilers in the face all the time. If you really want the experience to be new, avoid the internet altogether. Or just watch it live like most people do.

 

The show was not live tonight, it was taped because they were in England. If you notice Rone posted at 6:56 pm EST, so the show had not aired over here yet. So while it was no crime for the other poster to post a spoiler in here, the they could have put it in white type seeing how the show had not aired yet.

[Rone Rivendale]

Yeah, what he said.

 

I'll accept your apology any time. ^_^

[LordJaguar]

that "spoiler" was floating around the net for over a week. and I apologize if my insult was only slightly better than the POBYW shows.

[Blackman]

Ow sorry guys. Didn't realise that. In that case it's justified. Wouldn't like that either if beta testers would spoil story-driven games when you're just scouting for info. Especially in pro wrestling, which is so awfully all about the story, you don't want spoilers. Some are indeed floating the internet, but not in forums like this one which are imo meant to discuss the series as they air.

 

But spoilers are daily affairs nowadays. Just got the co-main spoiled through an accidental fb visit. Oops. :àp

[20LEgend]

The justification in the WWE thread for spoilers is either WWE spoiled it themselves or the thread says no spoilers, even if it's been floating around it's not hard to put it in white text, especially when this thread doesn't say "may contain spoilers". It just comes across as selfish IMO - I read spoilers but I make sure to wait until at least after the show. You posted it on the day of the show, you could have just waited for 24 hours, but clearly you were desperate to get out that you are 'done with TNA' () that you had to ruin it for others. Maybe we should have a "wrestling spoilers/general wrestling" thread or easier still put 'may contain spoilers' in the thread title like the WWE one, because it seems impossible to get people to just wait and not post spoilers.

 

that "spoiler" was floating around the net for over a week. and I apologize if my insult was only slightly better than the POBYW shows.

 

 

Also, I don't get the point it was floating about, the people who you 'spoiled' it for had avoided it so it obviously was quite easily avoidable. What does 'floating about' even mean? I've seen it in one place and I haven't even been trying to avoid it, and I saw it in an article that was tagged 'spoiler'

[Rayelek]

<p>While I only saw the highlights on Youtube for tonight's episode and got a read of the results online, it seemed pretty solid. Garrett Bischoff is going to have a hard time being forgettable, but Wes Brisco gave pretty solid justification for joining A&8s.</p><p> </p><p>

The tag title match was great story-wise and I liked what they did with the finish. The Aries/Roode going for all of the titles storyline could really be big by the end of the year.</p><p> </p><p>

The biggest thing I'm not liking right now (aside from keeping the belt on Jeff Hardy while he can't travel overseas) is Rob Van Dam as X Division champ. Really all he seems to bring to a match is the "already being over" factor. And at this stage of his career, he isn't going to get a lot more character development. Right now he's just going over the lower card guys while they basically feud with each other. Zema Ion's reign with the belt was way better and did something for the belt, the champion and the division. Then they dropped the belt off of him for what, to give RVD a PPV check and take Zema off the mic? TNA, C'mon man!</p>

[crownsy]

<p>If that show passes for solid, then TNA is not going anywhere. That show, aside from two segments was a steaming pile.</p><p> </p><p>

The Tag match was awesome, easily worth the price of DVR'ing the show. I also like that storyline in general, that Rhoode and Areis have decided to take every title in the company to make themselves the center of power. </p><p> </p><p>

But the rest of the show was utterly awful.</p><p> </p><p>

First, lets discuss the whole wrestlecrap that is the A & E storyline and related hogan family drama.</p><p> </p><p>

1) Why on earth does anyone in the locker room care about this stable? Tonight they were once again easily dispatched by the faces, after talking smack all night. When was the last time the A & E group won a match, clean or otherwise, or came off looking dangerous in a segment? </p><p> </p><p>

The above wouldn't be a problem except TNA is telling me, the viewer, that these guys are a legit threat. It's one thing when you have a group like, say 3MB on WWE, who are supposed to be a joke and only get to beat up midcarders. It's quite another when you expect me to invest in a stable as a threat to the company and have them lose EVERY SINGLE WEEK, clean to the faces.</p><p> </p><p>

2) Aside from anderson, who in this stable is helping to elevate it? D.O.C is a joke, he loses every match. Garret and Brisco are awkward on the mic and in the ring. Devon is a nice UMC in TNA, but again, he losses constantly/ gets outsmarted by 2 semi retired wrestlers in Sting and Hogan. </p><p> </p><p>

3) If Taz is such a "key part" of this organization, why does TNA allow them to trash TNA's guys on commentary? I understand A & 8 won the "right" to be in the impact zone, but I'm not clear, at all, how that requires Hogan or Dixie to keep Taz as one of the voices of their company, rather than making him the groups spokesperson, ala a manager.</p><p> </p><p>

Also, Taz is even worse as a heel commentator than he is as a face. He comes off as a stuttering halfwit, not a good look for A & 8</p><p> </p><p>

Moving on to the rest of the show:</p><p> </p><p>

The whole Hogan-Bubba-Brooke-A&E love fest is s awful. Brooke is as talented as a block of soap, and brings down every segment she's in.</p><p> </p><p>

And, even putting aside the fact that who Brooke dates is none of hogans buisness, as she's a 25 year old grown woman, the whole thing feels like a creepy outgrowth of the far, far to "loving" for my taste odd ball relationship Hogan and Brooke share in real life. It's creepy, and I don't want it tossed in my face on impact. I get enough heeby jeebies out of his tweets about her.</p><p> </p><p>

But again, putting that aside, why does hogan feel like he needs to kiss bully's behind to keep him focused on fighting A & 8? A & 8 haven't been presented to the audience as a threat in any way in months, since the masks started coming off. In fact, the rest of the M/E and UMC faces seem not to give a damn about this group, which once again, TNA wants me the viewer, to see as a powerful stable ala MEM.</p><p> </p><p>

RVD, who I love, is just keeping the glass ceiling on the X-Division. The Knockouts division is a straight joke now, which is awful as I loved that division as a feature that set TNA apart from WWE. (again, the decline began when they started to make the knockouts division "brooke hogan's desperate attempt to be a star" rather than a wrestling division.) </p><p> </p><p>

This show was like a 3/10. Watch the really good tag match, watch Rob Terry continue to develop, dump the rest. </p><p> </p><p>

It's all the more frustrating because prior to the unmasking of A & 8, impact was doing a really solid job of telling stories. Now it's back to Hogan stroking his own ego with the M/E scene and Knockouts division.</p>

[Rone Rivendale]

I thought iMPACT was really good. But I don't nitpick and study each second of the show trying to find faults either. *shrugs*

 

The Roode/Aries vs Chavo/Hernandez match was really good.

 

Wes Brisco's promo was really solid and made a believer that he could be a future star of TNA.

 

Taz is doing fine on commentary. He is there for the same reason Bischoff was there for NWO. To give a voice for the invading group. And A&8 don't have to win matches to dominate TNA. How many matches has The Shield won? You think they aren't dominating? A&8 dominate by taking people out. Hogan, Sting, Angle, etc.

 

I've always loved the KOs. They treat their women's division 10x better than WWE has treated theirs since the days of Trish/Lita/Molly/Victoria/etc. The Tara/Brooke match was really solid. Hard to believe Brooke is the same woman who was once just a part of Extreme Expose in WWECW.

 

Sorry to rain on everyone's pity party.

[crownsy]

I thought iMPACT was really good. But I don't nitpick and study each second of the show trying to find faults either. *shrugs*

 

The Roode/Aries vs Chavo/Hernandez match was really good.

 

Wes Brisco's promo was really solid and made a believer that he could be a future star of TNA.

 

Taz is doing fine on commentary. He is there for the same reason Bischoff was there for NWO. To give a voice for the invading group. And A&8 don't have to win matches to dominate TNA. How many matches has The Shield won? You think they aren't dominating? A&8 dominate by taking people out. Hogan, Sting, Angle, etc.

 

I've always loved the KOs. They treat their women's division 10x better than WWE has treated theirs since the days of Trish/Lita/Molly/Victoria/etc. The Tara/Brooke match was really solid. Hard to believe Brooke is the same woman who was once just a part of Extreme Expose in WWECW.

 

Sorry to rain on everyone's pity party.

 

I didn't realize not suckling at the tit of TNA no matter how bad of a show they put on was a "pity party". I like TNA as a company, and am glad I got back on bored with them a few months ago when the jettisoned russo, but that show was awful, outside of the Tag action and the promo's relating to it, which as I said were top notch.

 

 

To your points, when is the last time A & 8 "dominated" any of those guys? 3 months ago? They put one awful looking beat down on angle last week, but that was only after a long match and the numbers game wore him down. most weeks are the same for A & 8.

 

1. Send the group out for a promo, which Devon usually does an OK job at.

2. Talk smack about Sting/Hogan ect. in their ridiculous clubhouse.

3. Go out and lose clean to whatever face they have a match with

4. attempt a numbers game beat down post loss.

5. get run off by a hobbling hogan.

6. repeat.

 

I understand Taz's purpose, my contention is he sucks at it. If you like him, then that's fine, everyone has different tastes.

 

I don't see what the shield has to do with anything, as i don't remember using them as any sort of measuring stick for A & 8. If you want my opinion on them, I think WWE has squandered a hot start for them by keeping them out of the ring to long, but that ambrose and rollins are good young talents. But again, not sure how thier actions in WWE relate to the cluster that has become the A & 8 storyline since the masks came off.

 

 

agree to disagree on Wes. I thought his promo was forgettable. But to be fair he had to follow garret and that put him in kinda a bad spot, since little B sucked the life from the building.

 

And I loved the knockouts division too. But I don't understand how you can say the current knockouts division is anything close to what they had going on even a year ago. It is essentially now a vehicle to give brooke hogan's untalented self a chance to "act" on television.

 

The Tara-Tessmatcher match was serviceable, but no where near what the knockouts division is capable of putting on and was putting on last year and in the past.

[bigtplaystew]

TNA is going on the road and leaving the Impact Zone permanently. I think this is smart. They will have actual wrestling fans that pay money to go see them instead of a dead crowd staring aimlessly at the ring and piped in noise.

[crownsy]

TNA is going on the road and leaving the Impact Zone permanently. I think this is smart. They will have actual wrestling fans that pay money to go see them instead of a dead crowd staring aimlessly at the ring and piped in noise.

 

Agreed, should be a nice change. And it will allow the young guys to work in front of crowds that actually want to be there for a wrestling show, and not a theme park crowd.

[Mr_Tricky]

I'm not a big wrestling fan, mostly because there isn't a single well-executed product that appeals to me, but I've been watching TNA recently, and I have to say, I greatly prefer it to WWE.

 

While it has an enormous amount of flaws, it has much more for adults to enjoy. I feel like almost every match in the WWE is the same, with the exception of the real talented in-ring guys like Danial Bryan, CM Punk, and Dolph Ziggler. That's why it kind of confuses me when people excuse John Cena and Randy Orton for being stifled by WWE concerning their in-ring ability. There are guys who can put on really good matches while being stifled too. An adult wants to see those guys win.

 

Then, I really just can't care about the storylines. I don't see how any adult can root against a heel in the WWE. There is nothing to really hate about them. In the 90's, I watched Chris Jericho slap Chyna around the ring. No matter how much you wanted to root for the bad guy, you had to hate Chris Jericho for that. Now what does a heel do, say something arrogant and cheat a little? That's fun.

 

I like that TNA allows their talent to work a little stiffer and be more inventive. I also think they have much more to offer an adult than WWE. For all the terrible decisions made by TNA, I think they're the only hope for a watchable wrestling product in the US.

[Blackman]

I've been waiting for years for TNA to sign one of the sole Belgian wrestlers, but it looks like it's not gonna happen.

 

 

Fits right into their program.

 

Maybe it's the music video that puts them off. Understandable.

 

Btw: that promotion stole the name Adonis from the C-verse. Or is it vice versa.

[Big Roguey]

I've been waiting for years for TNA to sign one of the sole Belgian wrestlers, but it looks like it's not gonna happen.

 

 

Fits right into their program.

 

Maybe it's the music video that puts them off. Understandable.

 

Btw: that promotion stole the name Adonis from the C-verse. Or is it vice versa.

 

I don't know what it is but I really liked that video. It might be that the slightly sleazy dance music, the wonderfully insane characters topped off with the phrase Wrestle It being chanted a lot made it wonderful.

[Rickymex]

My favorite thing about TNA at the moment is that they are not afraid of having heel vs heel and face vs face matches. They know that Roode and Aries are going to put an great match in both in-ring and entertainment quality.

 

In addition I believe that TNA has more consistent characters. Apart from CM Punk and Heyman almost no one can touch guys like Roode, Aries, and Bully Ray in playing their characters.

 

My only complaint is the extreme lack of focus in the X-Division. RVD is no longer and X-Division wrestler. You can immediately see that he is way slower than his opponents, his moveset is the same, and he is one of the sloppiest wrestlers if not the most in the division. Kenny King, Shiima Xion and even Christian York have to slow down their style to keep down(?) with RVD. I like RVD and know he has a lot to offer the company but the X-Division is about fast-paced action that never lets down. You would think that with the ties they have with AAA and the various fast paced workers found in the indies that they would be able to build a strong foundation for the division.

[Jaysin]

I was hoping they'd sign ACH for the X Division, but he just signed with Ring of Honor