OFFICIAL TNA Impact thread

[Trumpers]

I am incredibly confused about any criticism of the last TNA show. It was by far the best weekly show I have seen in wrestling for sometime. Promos were good, matches were solid and the show flowed. I am sure half the time you guys rag on Hogan because its easy to do. So what if he appeared in 3 segments, he is suppose to be a guy who took over the company about a month ago!

[Trumpers]

I think it was either DQ or J-Vo

who mentioned reading Death of WCW book which I own and inspired me to pick it up again. Based on some of the shit they did and the nonsensical angles (240 wrestlers on their books at one stage! whom all got plane tickets bought for them!). I see what TNA has done so far as pretty positive.

[Vintage Gary]

I brought it up, and yeah apart from the Nasty Boys and Val Venis beating Chris Daniels at the Jan PPV, they arent doing bad.

[Trumpers]

Just watched last weeks show, once again thoroughly enjoyed it minus maybe Hogan on the Band at the end. Promos were damn good all around!

[Rob]

The tag match main event was highlight of the show IMO. It was played out a lot better as a face/heel vs face/heel than I've seen before.

[Trumpers]

I am watching Smackdown after it...and this fucking sucks.

[Duckman]

Really enjoyed the Joe/AJ/Flair segment - they should have ended the show with that and then had the EB announcing as the ref just as the show finished.

The Hogan/Angle/Band deal should've been at the top of the second hour.

Other than that it was another solid show, although the matches were a bit short again.

EB is my favourite performer in wrestling right now.  His promos are second to none and his backstage bits this week with Foley and Jarrett were money.

If they had changed the layout of the show around to finish with AJ/Joe then it would have been top notch.

Peace

Duckman

[Fnord]

My DVR cut off right as Hogan put on the brass knuckles... what happened after that?

[Rob]

He punched himself RIGHT IN THE NUTS.


Then he hit the leg drop on them.


Dude it was insane.

[Duckman]

My DVR cut off right as Hogan put on the brass knuckles... what happened after that?

He put the knucks on, laid out Hall and 6-Pac and then helped Angle up to end the show and prove he's not on The Band's side.

Kind of a lame ending to the go home show for a PPV.  Like I said above, would've put this in the middle of the show then had AJ/Joe/Flair finish the show.

Peace

Duckman

[Duckman]

A really, really solid episode of Impact this week.  First things first, every single segment built and hyped the PPV this Sunday.  That's something TNA have never been able to do on a go home show - massive improvement in this regard.  This show had a really good flow to it, the rush of last week wasn't as bad and it made the show much more enjoyable.

Opening segment was a blast.  A few people have complained about AJ on the mic here but I thought he was really good.  Ric Flair was insane as usual, punching himself in the head to draw blood and then cutting the promo with blood all over him was classic.  Jeff Hardy came across like a total star and got a real rock star reaction from the crowd.  AJ challenging Hardy to the match because 'you've come into my house' was logical motivation for the heel World Champ to issue the challenge. The crowd loved all of this.   A really good segment to open the show which set up the main event nicely.

3D and Runt vs. The Nasty Boys I skipped, don't hate this but just couldn't be arsed watching it.  No interest to me personally.

Angle and Pope vs. Anderson and Wolfe was great.  A short match but it did what it needed to do, got Pope over big during the match and Anderson over HUGE after it.  His beat down and busting open of Angle was really well done.  It was funny though because in the background you could see Brooke Hogan looking really worried for Kurt - wonder if she knows it's all a work or if Hogan's been kayfabeing all these years, lol! 

My only gripe is they should have done this last week and then saved the Army beat down thing for the PPV to blow off the feud - the booking was a bit arse backwards but this match and post match angle made up for it.

TBP vs Angelina Love continues to impress.  I love Daffney and her big move after the match on Love was fucking brutal!  The Knockouts division has much more direction in recent weeks and Daffney vs Tara was worked into this nicely.

RVD getting his revenge on Sting was cool but I'd love to see RVD used in a different postion - a feud with Wolfe would be good, although their styles might not mesh too well.  I think post PPV you'll see RVD being showcased in a much stronger fashion and hopefully working with a TNA guy to help them get over.

Hogan and EB with the tension building between them is being done really well.  TNA should make sure not to pull the trigger on them seperating too soon because at the moment it's money.  Plus the grin on Sting's face when EB saved him from Hogan was just quality - very knowing and subtle, great work by Sting.

Finally Mic Foley has got some balls!!  Him shaving EB's head had me marking out, I have to admit.  Foley's facial expressions here were priceless as was EB's reaction.  Could they have saved it for PPV and built it up?  Probably but to be honest, do TNA do angles on PPV?  Not really - they're usually all about the matches.  EB has needed to 'show his ass' as a heel for a while now and tonight was the night and they did it in spectacular fashion.

I didn't mind the Hall and Nash 'match' because it built towards the match at the PPV.  Hall is looking much better, seems to have dropped weight and his balance looks a lot better.  He still doesn't sell shit or bump but he hasn't had to much in this angle.  Hopefully X-Pac and Young have their working boots on for the PPV because they're going to be carrying most of this one! 

The tension between Morgan and Hernandez leading into the Tag Title match with Beer Money was well done.  I actually found myself agreeing with Morgan's logic for not helping Hernandez during the handicap match - he got involved in the EB/Jarrett feud for no reason and so has to take what's coming to him.  I reckon they'll split at the PPV and Beer Money get the Tag Titles and TNA build the division around them for a long time.

The whole X Divison segment with Generation Me and MCMG's was fucking AWESOME!  Who says these guys can't cut promos?  Fucking great way to build up for the PPV.  Kendrick and Red getting involved in the brawl was excellent.  Add Daniels and then Kazarian with the ladder and that shit was on!!  Fantastic brawl with some crazy moments to really highlight what to expect at the PPV - the dive off the ladder by Red was fucking nuts!  That one five minute segment got me excited for the PPV.  Best X Division segment on Impact in forever!  More of this please TNA, MORE!!

The main event was a quality match and even though I can't stand Abyss his involvement as the enforcer on behalf of Hogan made sense in the story and was logical.  Hardy and AJ will be a money feud down the line that they can come back to but it made sense to whet the appetite of the fans with this TV main event.  Plus AJ's in-ring heel work is getting better with each match.  I loved him going for a big dive and then stopping and bad mouthing the fans instead!  The crowd heat for this match was excellent too and both guys looked sharp and crisp wih their moves.  Hardy hasn't gone back to that sloppy style he had in TNA previously - which usually means he's clean, or at least slightly clean! 

As soon as they did the ref bump I was expecting the usually over booked run-in finish that TNA get slagged off for but they didn't go for that which was fantastic.  Abyss stopped AJ and Flair using chairs, AJ misses the springboard 450 and Hardy hits the twist of fate and swanton for the clean 3 count by Abyss!  A great finish to the match and even though I hate seeing the World Champ pinned clean again it was logical and also builds into the PPV match with Abyss on Sunday.  Also the overhead camera angle for the swanton bomb was fucking cool!  Hardy is immediately established as a main event threat and they can reference back to this match for the eventual AJ vs Hardy feud.

Abyss choke slamming Flair through the ramp was a great visual and AJ's terrified expression was great.  I'm pretty sure Abyss isn't winning the World Title on Sunday but TNA have done a good job of making him look like he could, this week and last when he pinned AJ.  I still expect Styles to win at the PPV and the next against Pope before probably dropping the World Title to either Hardy or RVD in the summer but for a go-home show this was well paced, put over the matches for the PPV extremely well and above all else was entertaining throughout.

Solid show and I'm actually going to watch Destination X now whereas last week I wasn't!

Peace

Duckman

[Jack Benevolence]

I really enjoyed this show. I wont rehash details, but overall I found myself enjoying every part. I was bummed by AJ losing clean, but when the champ is a heel, it's easier to get away with that.

[Duckman]

BEST IMPACT IN YEARS.

I don't know what happened between the last few months and this show but God damn!  What an improvement.

Headline grabbing, exciting as hell, logical booking and one of the most fun weekly wrestling shows I've seen in a long, long time.

Well worth watching guys and if they can follow up with shows in a similar style I'll be a happy man!

Plus, RVD vs. Styles feud?  It's going to be money!

Peace

Duckman

[Speedy]

Anderson vs. Angle... was a match and a fucking half.

[Jack Benevolence]

This was easily one of the best monday night shows in a long, long time. RVD vs Styles should build to an amazing feud. I can't wait to see those two have a PPV match where they can get even more go time.

Joe is back, and he doesn't have his knife. I think everyone wins here.

I'm not a Hardy fan, but I even enjoyed his segments. And even though AJ can struggle on the mic, RVD seems so easy to work off of, it should be awesome.