7-21-11 Impact Running Diary

[Rasha]

If my diary seems a little rushed or unfocused this week I apologize. You have to understand, I've been clicking off and on ESPN.com for six hours now and am already getting antsy about my first fantasy football draft. I have a disease.

9:01 - Speaking of things that are rushed and unfocused, how about that Ken Anderson title reign?

9:03 - Sting may look like The Joker, but he sounds like Jim Carrey in "The Mask."

9:05 - Did Angle wear that clown costume all week? No wonder Karen won custody.

9:07 - "You're gunna have ta work wit each otha!"

9:09 - I'm glad to see they didn't just dump Anderson from the Main Event. Good booking to help keep him, Ray, and Immortal relevant.

[COMMERCIALS]

9:14 - Devon is tied for second-place in the BFG Series right now, having as many points as AJ Styles and Robert Roode combined. Wrestling is fake.

9:16 - So while Crimson, Morgan, Gunner, and even AJ Styles are getting their points wrestling in house shows, we get to watch this on Impact?

9:18 - Could the winner of RVD/Steiner face Devon next week in a "Nobody Gives a Shit" match?

9:22 - So Steiner beats RVD's ass, RVD gets a sneaky win, and Steiner chases a ref out of the ring. What did the last eight minutes accomplish for these two men or TNA as a whole? Nothing.

[COMMERCIALS]

9:26 - Why does winning a TNA singles title immediately make people uninteresting? Mickie has been irrelevant as champion.

9:29 - Awwwwwwww.

9:30 - Mickie, your cage match with Tara "tore the roof off the Impact Zone." Your match with Velvet will barely spill a drink on the floor.

9:32 - I'm sleepy.

9:34 - So we go from a Knockouts in-ring segment to a Knockouts backstage segment? Where's Devon when you need him?!

[COMMERCIALS]

9:38 - We return to... ANOTHER Knockouts segment? Is it Breast Cancer Awareness month?!

9:40 - Joe: "I'm scorin' tonight. I'm scorin' tonight." Is he going to the prom?

9:41 - Styles/Daniels tease. Glad to see their match at Destination X actually DID happen. I was starting to think I'd dreamt the whole thing.

[COMMERCIALS]

9:47 - Okay, I'm sorry I made fun of RVD and Steiner. But this barrage of Knockouts is excessive punishment, wrestling gods!

9:49 - It's too bad Lacey Von Erich is gone. She and Tessmacher could have had a match would've shattered the space-time continuum.

9:52 - Oh look, new Knockout tag champs. You'll always remember where you were when you saw it happen!

9:53 - Tenay just said, "Mexican America had been dominant in that Knockout tag division for months." Really, Mike? For one, there are no other teams. And two, Rosita and Sarita never wrestled! But otherwise, that was spot-on commentary!

[COMMERCIALS]

10:01 - I'm sorry, but isn't it time to give Gunner some decent music? This sounds like the theme of some random Goldberg victim from WCW Thunder.

10:04 - I kinda' wanted to see Joe try and climb that ladder. Might have been amusing.

10:06 - Morgan wrestles like a heel, right down to the arrogant posing. Why don't they end the charade and and just turn him?

[COMMERCIALS]

10:11 - Tom Cruise's "witchcraft" is the star of the night so far.

10:13 - Cee Lo Green could never have been in the Nation of Domination. Not black enough.

10:14 - X-Division Title match. Will they let the division stand on its own or will Immortal come fuck it up?

10:16 - Shelley has such a star quality to him. He really could be something if they'd push him.

10:18 - Does Kendrick have to become a helpless ragdoll in every match he wrestles? It's getting redundant.

10:20 - As good as an Aries-Shelley feud will be, they really should find a way to hype the title first. Getting it off Abyss and "saving the X-Division" was just the first step. Kendrick needs a good storyline now.

[COMMERCIALS]

10:25 - So not only does Kendrick get his ass beat routinely, but he also cries backstage? Does this have something to do with the anti-bullying campaign?

10:26 - Sarita looks like a valet for Demolition.

10:29 - You know what pisses off Anarquia more than anything? Undercover cops in chat rooms.

10:31 - "Wildcat" Chris Harris is watching Storm's promo from his sofa, eating his fifth Hot Pocket.

10:33 - It really is time for Beer Money to drop those belts. The tag division is just going to hold them back at this point.

[COMMERCIALS]

10:38 - LMAO @ the "Immortal Forever" DVD. They oughta' sell that in a combo-pack with "The Best of Orlando Jordan."

10:39 - Oh no, they ruined the Mickie/Velvet match! It's like Victory Road all over again!

10:41 - Traci Brooks returns... again.

10:43 - Maybe if we hadn't seen this same segment an hour ago it'd be less boring.

10:45 - I hope I never have an emergency when I'm visiting Orlando, FL. The police response time is somewhat disturbing.

[COMMERCIALS]

10:50 - So we're going to start teasing Anderson/Ray heat already? Really?

10:54 - We've really gotta save these Borash match announcements for special occasions. This seems a bit gratuitous.

10:58 - Not much vertical in those Stinger Splashes anymore.

10:59 - So we come out of this match realizing that Sting and Angle are really good and that Ray is disappointed with Anderson. One of these things we already knew, and the other is just too damn soon coming off Anderson just joining Immortal. Ugh.


Two more Impact's until the "Hard Justice" PPV, and right now I can't say I'm feeling the card very much. Sting/Angle is alright, but what else do you have? Beer Money versus Mexican America is lackluster and we don't even have an opponent for Kendrick yet. They spent more time building up the Knockouts tonight than anything else.

 

[two_doinks_or_an_illusion]

watched this for the first time in about year.

1. steiner is completely terrible in the ring now
2. they put a WOMEN'S title match in the 9:30-10 block?
3. the main event was one of the single worst worked matches I have ever seen.
4. The redneck/mexican interview was completely racist, which would be fine, if it was the slightest bit entertaining.

this company sucks.

 

[cwcanno]

I just want to say thank you for your recap of tonights Impact. I have been a dedicated Impact follower for the past three years. I have missed only one episode. That is until tonight.

I am in no way a TNA basher or hater or a WWE whatever. I just finally got tired today. I have been watching TNA for the last three years in hopes that my viewership will help to boost their ratings and give the E a run for thier money. Well I give up. I am tired of watching boring, horrible, or otherwise Unbelievalbe storylines.

I started watching Impact but had to give up a little less than half way through. I couldn't finish it. It was horrible, and for the first time it was the knockouts that made me do it.

 

[HBK_EDGE]

I watched the first hour and 15 minutes but couldn't get back into it after the 45 minutes of straight knockout matches.

 

[Wonder]

I hate Impact and i haven't watched it for months, but this is hilarious.

10:29 - You know what pisses off Anarquia more than anything? Undercover cops in chat rooms.

^Brilliant.

 

[Razakel]

Yeah this edition of Impact was atrocious. I remember back when the knockout division was exciting and had Awesome Kong,Gail Kim,Taylor Wilde,Hamada and Daffney in competitive matches that were actually really good.Anybody remember when Hamada did a moonsault threw a table and the crowd went nuts? yeah,those days are long gone...Now it's replaced with these terrible "backstage brawls" with a shaky cam with hair pulling and obnoxious screaming. It's actually insulting to call these matches "knockout" matches at this point because they're almost a carbon copy of WWE Diva matches.

...and seriously what the hell are they doing with Samoa joe? They are completely burying him.He's better off in ROH or Japan. The only thing i liked about this edition of Impact was the small Austin Aries cameo and looking at Rosita.That's it.lol

 

[Ralf E. Chubbs]

I just want to say thank you for your recap of tonights Impact. I have been a dedicated Impact follower for the past three years. I have missed only one episode. That is until tonight.

I am in no way a TNA basher or hater or a WWE whatever. I just finally got tired today. I have been watching TNA for the last three years in hopes that my viewership will help to boost their ratings and give the E a run for thier money. Well I give up. I am tired of watching boring, horrible, or otherwise Unbelievalbe storylines.

I started watching Impact but had to give up a little less than half way through. I couldn't finish it. It was horrible, and for the first time it was the knockouts that made me do it.

Last night was the first time I FF'd through more of the show than I actually watched.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

Impact really sucked this week, your review is pretty much spot on. The main event was awful

The only good point about the show in my eyes was that Tara and Tessmacher won the KO Tag Team titles, although they dont mean much. It will hopefully mean that we get more and more Tara on Impact every week.

Fuck it, just give that woman her own show! I would not miss a second

 

[Miz_Mark]

I have been watching TNA for the last three years in hopes that my viewership will help to boost their ratings and give the E a run for thier money.

You do realize that unless you're a Nielson household, your viewership will do absolutely nothing to boost their ratings, right?

 

[Chess]

10:38 - LMAO @ the "Immortal Forever" DVD. They oughta' sell that in a combo-pack with "The Best of Orlando Jordan."

Line of the week in another great review.

I will say while this was not by any means a great show it was definately not as bad as some people here are making out. I enjoyed the X Division title match and the ladder match, was surprised by Steiner/RVD actually being OK and found Eric Young funny once again. Get rid of the excessive knnockouts action and this was not that bad, well still better than Raw again. I think we may have been spoiled with the build for Destination X and are struggling without more X Division on our screens.

Originally Posted by cwcanno
I am in no way a TNA basher or hater or a WWE whatever. I just finally got tired today. I have been watching TNA for the last three years in hopes that my viewership will help to boost their ratings and give the E a run for thier money. Well I give up. I am tired of watching boring, horrible, or otherwise Unbelievalbe storylines.

I believe this as much as I believe CM Punk is a free agent.

See you next week if I am not playing with some

 

[Olan]

Love reading your recaps. can't believe you missed the highlight of the show. Angelina Love toid Mickie and Velvet they should get a motel room and both said maybe later. Now there is a TNA PPV worth buying.

Just kidding but I did not think the show was that bad.

 

[Rasha]

I will say while this was not by any means a great show it was definately not as bad as some people here are making out. I enjoyed the X Division title match and the ladder match, was surprised by Steiner/RVD actually being OK and found Eric Young funny once again. Get rid of the excessive knnockouts action and this was not that bad, well still better than Raw again. I think we may have been spoiled with the build for Destination X and are struggling without more X Division on our screens.

I don't think it's fair to say "spoiled by the build to Destination X." We saw what the company was capable of and now are disappointed that they can't keep the momentum. It's not like they don't have the same talent available or the foundation laid for some good new storylines. They're just fucking up right now. For example:

- Last week we had Madison vs. Tara in a singles match. Did that week, plus what happened with them this week, really need to be stretched over two shows? Why not just have the Knockouts Tag Title match last week and keep all of the Madison/Tara interaction, minus the actual singles match, consolidated into that show? The feud would be in the same exact place AND you would've opened another slot this week for some of the men.

- RVD vs Steiner... not a terrible match but also one that accomplished nothing. Neither guy is winning the BFG Series. Why not take that clunky, average ladder match and break it up into two matches? How about Gunner vs. AJ Styles, a relevant singles match coming off the Fortune clown attack, and then Morgan vs Samoa Joe later that night? Better showcase of young talent and more interesting action.

- Lastly, how much better could the Main Event stuff have been? I mean, I thought Hogan and Bischoff had some stroke in the company. I get that they wanted to feature Ray and Anderson and I appreciate that, but when Immortal loses the World Title to the guy who is waging war DIRECTLY AGAINST Hulk and Eric, I'd like for them to make a freakin' appearance. What went down last night just felt weak and lackluster. Even Sting and Angle's promo didn't do much for me.

Sting - "I need the belt to have the power to stop Hogan and Bischoff."
Angle - "I need the belt because... uhhh... I can't afford to lose."

Really? That's supposed to build intrigue? They've only got two more shows to make me want to buy a PPV to see that match, and right now I couldn't care less.

Bottom line is that they jumped the gun on Anderson dropping the title. I'm not even a big fan of the guy but this is more about the writing. Last week should have seen Anderson retain the title thanks to some Immortal interference. Then you could have Sting going directly after the rest of Immortal, perhaps feuding with Bully Ray, while Angle comes in for his title shot. You could have had a short build to an Anderson/Angle match at "Hard Justice," with Anderson again retaining, and then continued to a rematch at No Surrender with Angle taking the title.

This would have given Anderson a three-month reign to establish himself as the company's premiere heel and hopefully given Immortal some credibility again. Then, after No Surrender, you could have had Anderson and Ray developing inter-stable conflict while Angle goes on to face the winner of the BFG Series.

Not saying this is a perfect scenario or anything, but doesn't it make more sense and do more for the people involved than the current direction? Is Sting/Angle really going to accomplish anything for either guy? It's just a transitional use of the World Title to keep things moving until Bound For Glory

 

[Brian in Austin]

I watched the 2nd half of the show this week and have to say I wasn't impressed. The knockouts trainwreck was horrible, the Sting/Angle v. Anderson/Ray match was horribly booked, and the Beer Money/Mexican America promo was even worse. I just don't understand what's going on with TNA anymore as it seems they've now peaked and it's all downhill from here. The Kendrick v. Alex Shelley match was at best sloppy. I'm left wondering where they go from here. Angle will have to carry Sting in their match at BFG and we'll see where it goes from here, but it was pretty lackluster stuff.

 

[GrandSword]

I seriously can't believe what I'm reading.

I've never been one of those guys who come on here and write stuff like "well if you don't like it piss off" or "you're just a WWE mark.." etc etc, but as far as Impact goes last night I really have no idea what any one is complaining about.

1. Joker -who cares how old he is because he is the most entertaining guy besides CM Punk in the industry right now -Sting comes out with the title pulls off his lines perfectly and really sells his new character and then is confronted by argably the best wrestler ever Kurt about the World title match. Mutal respect.

Immortal walks out and sets up the main event for later on. Cool, TNA's top two guys against their two top heels... sounds great to me.

RVD vs. Steiner, I don't know about you gys but this was a dream match for me years ago, and although they've both lost a step or two, seeing them in the ring fighting it out for a reason (the BFG Series) not random as the OP seems to make out, on free tv... man good guy vs bad guy two top names in the industry. Awesome

4 way Ladder match, my god what a great match, it put Gunner in with the big boys, and god does AJ and Joe b oth know how to work a multi man match. Shit for the time given it was a super hot match. Never knew who was going to get the win, and like most ladder matches where the ending is always some botch because they have to do some sort of shit set up move, Morgan's carbon footprint takes Gunner's head off to clear the ring and cimb the ladder. Awesome stuff again.

Then we have the X Div Championship match where Alex Shelley does some of the most amazing pin attempts ever seen on tv. Just an awesome match were both guys were put over thanks to Aries. Aries on tv is always a win.

And although the main event was short, it was still fun to see Angle and Sting kick ass and make short work of the two punks who don't deserve to be in the ring with them kayfabe wise.

This is wrestling people, and it was a good wrestling show. No Hogan or Bischoff which could be seen as them hiding in shame after Sting regained the title, and not bogging the show down with their long winded promos.

It was a well paced show and they had a lot of segmenst and yet a alot of exciting action with them. Impact Wrestling once again puts on a great show. Not sure what you people are wanting, but I don't think your supercritcial selves will ever get it...

 

[Rasha]

It was a well paced show and they had a lot of segmenst and yet a alot of exciting action with them. Impact Wrestling once again puts on a great show. Not sure what you people are wanting, but I don't think your supercritcial selves will ever get it...

Glad you're so easy to please, bro.

If you go back and ready my diaries from the last few months, you'll know that I'm not a hater. I root for this company and I always praise what I find worthwhile. But this show was not praiseworthy, and I'm going to call it like I see it. That's the only way to maintain credibility.

If you find Sting entertaining then that's great. Personally, I find his new direction ridiculous. This is a guy who's been kicked out of the Horsemen, betrayed by WCW, engaged in a one-man war with the NWO... and now he snaps? It's just too over the top for me. We've already seen Sting's dark side, and I think most of us would have much rather seen him go back to the silent warrior than this new gimmick.

And yes, there's something to be said for Sting vs. Angle. But go look at my second post in this thread and tell me you don't agree that it's bad timing. They basically wasted the last few months of building Anderson up with this move. If you just had to do Sting vs. Angle, did it really need the World Title to be involved? How much better would Hard Justice be if you had Anderson defending the title against Styles, Roode, or some other young guy and then Sting and Angle as another match on the card? As we've seen recently with matches like HBK/Undertaker, the title isn't necessary when two icons are in a program.

I don't totally disagree with you, either. I had no problem with them booking the Sting/Angle vs. Anderson/Ray match. I just didn't like how it was executed. I enjoyed Shelley's performance as well but I thought they made Kendrick look weak in the process. As for RVD/Steiner and some of the other points, I already broke down ways that this week's show could have been better in my second post on this thread.

I find it interesting that you didn't even address the excessive use of the Knockouts, which for me and most of the other "super critics" was the biggest problem from the show. What's your defense for that?

 

[Brian in Austin]

Glad you're so easy to please, bro.

If you go back and ready my diaries from the last few months, you'll know that I'm not a hater. I root for this company and I always praise what I find worthwhile. But this show was not praiseworthy, and I'm going to call it like I see it. That's the only way to maintain credibility.

If you find Sting entertaining then that's great. Personally, I find his new direction ridiculous. This is a guy who's been kicked out of the Horsemen, betrayed by WCW, engaged in a one-man war with the NWO... and now he snaps? It's just too over the top for me. We've already seen Sting's dark side, and I think most of us would have much rather seen him go back to the silent warrior than this new gimmick.

And yes, there's something to be said for Sting vs. Angle. But go look at my second post in this thread and tell me you don't agree that it's bad timing. They basically wasted the last few months of building Anderson up with this move. If you just had to do Sting vs. Angle, did it really need the World Title to be involved? How much better would Hard Justice be if you had Anderson defending the title against Styles, Roode, or some other young guy and then Sting and Angle as another match on the card? As we've seen recently with matches like HBK/Undertaker, the title isn't necessary when two icons are in a program.

I don't totally disagree with you, either. I had no problem with them booking the Sting/Angle vs. Anderson/Ray match. I just didn't like how it was executed. I enjoyed Shelley's performance as well but I thought they made Kendrick look weak in the process. As for RVD/Steiner and some of the other points, I already broke down ways that this week's show could have been better in my second post on this thread.

I find it interesting that you didn't even address the excessive use of the Knockouts, which for me and most of the other "super critics" was the biggest problem from the show. What's your defense for that?

Rasha I have to say I believe you're right on target with the Sting v. Angle storyline. This could have been billed as a straight up, icon v. icon, or icon v. olympic champion storyline without the whole 'joker' gimmick from Sting. I'm really puzzled by Borden's use of his character over the last few years given what we saw in WCW which worked HUGE for him. I'm on your side with your view on 'the crow' Sting versus this new goofy joker rendition and I have to wonder what he thinks the legacy of his character will end up being, especially when you consider new fans who might have been too young for his early years and subsequent character change in WCW. For Angle, his legacy is always going to be that he was a former Olympic champion who turned pro and became one of the best of all time as an in-ring performer. For Michaels it was his never say die attitude and david versus goliath gimmick (especially against the taker), and his flair for the dramatic. But for Sting, what is it? Is it his WCW gimmick v. NWO, his short run as a don with MEM, the bright colors Sting, or this new gimmick? It's, as you say, just over the top and unnecessary.

 

[rondiesel2005]

Rasha I have to say I believe you're right on target with the Sting v. Angle storyline. This could have been billed as a straight up, icon v. icon, or icon v. olympic champion storyline without the whole 'joker' gimmick from Sting. I'm really puzzled by Borden's use of his character over the last few years given what we saw in WCW which worked HUGE for him. I'm on your side with your view on 'the crow' Sting versus this new goofy joker rendition and I have to wonder what he thinks the legacy of his character will end up being, especially when you consider new fans who might have been too young for his early years and subsequent character change in WCW. For Angle, his legacy is always going to be that he was a former Olympic champion who turned pro and became one of the best of all time as an in-ring performer. For Michaels it was his never say die attitude and david versus goliath gimmick (especially against the taker), and his flair for the dramatic. But for Sting, what is it? Is it his WCW gimmick v. NWO, his short run as a don with MEM, the bright colors Sting, or this new gimmick? It's, as you say, just over the top and unnecessary.

That is a question you have to ask to Steve Borden about his use of character for the last few years. I been wondering the same thing when he join the main event mafia, they made him wear a suit plus didn't wear face paint till he had a match on impact. I can't even say if this was his idea to go with the joker gimmick or Russo's because clearly somebody in the creative management is a fan of the movie Dark Knight and felt it was a good idea for Sting to do the joker gimmick. And remember when he came back for that 3-3-3 11 promo, he shows up with a colorful long coat maybe trying to blend in his crow and surfer sting gimmick together. That is how I saw it.

I am sure Sting is going to say he had fun doing the Joker gimmick and had fun with his last run with the company, but it will question his legacy on how he wants his fans to remember his character. I enjoy his crow gimmick in WCW, he change up his face paint design I had no problem with that. But now I think there are some fans that are confuse because of the direction of Sting's character and don't understand where it's going. I hope for Angle Vs Sting at the pay per view that he goes back to the crow gimmick because I can't take The joker's gimmick seriously, it looks silly and he over do it which kills the buzz and it will make the fans wishing that he didn't do the joker gimmick in the first place

 

[Superstar77]

I actually thought the RVD / Scott Steiner match was decent.

James Storm promo to Mexican America was great.

IMO the Knockout tag titles should just be scraped at this point.

Eric Young's antics lately just aren't funny to me. He's been TV champion for 2 months now and has done nothing with it.

I really enjoyed Angelina's promo. It's good to see her acting like her old heel self.

Unlike some I actually wanted to see the Mickie James / Velvet Sky match.

I like that Velvet is getting a push I just don't like how TNA has gone about it. They have more less turned her into an abuse victim.

I don't care for the whole ODB / Jackie angle and I think it should have ended 2 weeks ago when Velvet beat them.

I have a bad feeling that Traci might turn on Velvet if they have a tag match against ODB & Jackie next week.

I missed the main event so I can't speak about it.

I still think it was dumb idea to take the world title off of Mr. Anderson and give back to Sting.

 

[Brian in Austin]

That is a question you have to ask to Steve Borden about his use of character for the last few years. I been wondering the same thing when he join the main event mafia, they made him wear a suit plus didn't wear face paint till he had a match on impact. I can't even say if this was his idea to go with the joker gimmick or Russo's because clearly somebody in the creative management is a fan of the movie Dark Knight and felt it was a good idea for Sting to do the joker gimmick. And remember when he came back for that 3-3-3 11 promo, he shows up with a colorful long coat maybe trying to blend in his crow and surfer sting gimmick together. That is how I saw it.

I am sure Sting is going to say he had fun doing the Joker gimmick and had fun with his last run with the company, but it will question his legacy on how he wants his fans to remember his character. I enjoy his crow gimmick in WCW, he change up his face paint design I had no problem with that. But now I think there are some fans that are confuse because of the direction of Sting's character and don't understand where it's going. I hope for Angle Vs Sting at the pay per view that he goes back to the crow gimmick because I can't take The joker's gimmick seriously, it looks silly and he over do it which kills the buzz and it will make the fans wishing that he didn't do the joker gimmick in the first place

I would think given his deal with TNA that Borden plays a role in deciding the direction of his character, which at this point is almost seen as his intellectual property. Which I'm not sure how that has worked out with WWE having purchased the intellectual property of WCW. Given how much WWE cares about keeping name rights to their characters, I'm surprised there weren't issues between the two parties. (Borden and WWE HQ) Whatever the case, I agree it's been difficult to watch this latest incarnation of the character and I'm also confused as to where it's going to lead. So if Hogan turns face does that mean Sting goes back this crow gimmick? Or California surfer Sting? And why? How does the direction of Hogan's character impact Sting? It just doesn't make any sense to me. How does this Sting gimmick coincide with Angle being his opponent at BFG and why was this match necessary at this time given Sting's crusade against Immortal? And given his religious beliefs, why wouldn't they have kept him playing the Sting he was being previous to this latest change to continue 'the good fight' against Immortal? It just seems to mixed-up to me.

 

[Brian in Austin]

I actually thought the RVD / Scott Steiner match was decent.

James Storm promo to Mexican America was great.

IMO the Knockout tag titles should just be scraped at this point.

Eric Young's antics lately just aren't funny to me. He's been TV champion for 2 months now and has done nothing with it.

I really enjoyed Angelina's promo. It's good to see her acting like her old heel self.

Unlike some I actually wanted to see the Mickie James / Velvet Sky match.

I like that Velvet is getting a push I just don't like how TNA has gone about it. They have more less turned her into an abuse victim.

I don't care for the whole ODB / Jackie angle and I think it should have ended 2 weeks ago when Velvet beat them.

I have a bad feeling that Traci might turn on Velvet if they have a tag match against ODB & Jackie next week.

I missed the main event so I can't speak about it.

I still think it was dumb idea to take the world title off of Mr. Anderson and give back to Sting.

I was pretty disappointed with the Beer Money/Mexican America promo. Anarquia seems out of place on the mic, but I'm sure it's because Hernandez is even worse. They should have gone at it physically during the promo to build the hype as the mic work was pretty average and didn't really build anything in my view.

I'm also tiring of the whole Velvet versus the entire Knockout division (seemingly) week after week. I keep expecting Mickie James to turn on her any moment using the same excuse, even though their gimmicks are very similar. On the same note, the OBD/Jackie thing is already overdone and they'd be better served making a run at the ladies tag titles, winning them, and threatening to run thru the entire lockerroom. Would like to see them backstage attacking the tag champs (regardless of who the champs are) week in and week out, building to a title match at BFG. (I know, too late for that now but thinking out loud.) Velvet or Mickie should have turned heel by now to set the stage (probably Velvet turning heel) for a big title match at a PPV, with Angelina helping her get the win and the title and turning on Winter. You could then turn Winter face, repackage her look to a more provocative look, have her as your new eye candy pursuing the title against all odds (if you will), with her winning the title at a ppv.

The one that's got me REALLY baffled is Ken Anderson. This was a guy that COULD have been the new face of the company as their champion. First, they overdo it with the a**hole gimmick until they finally dropped the use of the term every 2 seconds. Then he finally gets his shot, wins, and then joins Immortal AFTER winning the title, which made NO sense. It would have been better booked by having Immortal interfering on his behalf each time until he finally realized how important they were to him and his turning superheel. Instead, it's more of a milktoast storyline where he's a tweener with a foot seemingly on both sides of the fence. Anderson sells better as an anti-heel rather than a full fledged member of Immortal, which I see as a dying gimmick at this point. He'd be better served at this point of either going full blown nasty heel, or turning face again and becoming the new generation of anti-hero.

 

[GrandSword]

I was pretty disappointed with the Beer Money/Mexican America promo. Anarquia seems out of place on the mic, but I'm sure it's because Hernandez is even worse. They should have gone at it physically during the promo to build the hype as the mic work was pretty average and didn't really build anything in my view.

I'm also tiring of the whole Velvet versus the entire Knockout division (seemingly) week after week. I keep expecting Mickie James to turn on her any moment using the same excuse, even though their gimmicks are very similar. On the same note, the OBD/Jackie thing is already overdone and they'd be better served making a run at the ladies tag titles, winning them, and threatening to run thru the entire lockerroom. Would like to see them backstage attacking the tag champs (regardless of who the champs are) week in and week out, building to a title match at BFG. (I know, too late for that now but thinking out loud.) Velvet or Mickie should have turned heel by now to set the stage (probably Velvet turning heel) for a big title match at a PPV, with Angelina helping her get the win and the title and turning on Winter. You could then turn Winter face, repackage her look to a more provocative look, have her as your new eye candy pursuing the title against all odds (if you will), with her winning the title at a ppv.

The one that's got me REALLY baffled is Ken Anderson. This was a guy that COULD have been the new face of the company as their champion. First, they overdo it with the a**hole gimmick until they finally dropped the use of the term every 2 seconds. Then he finally gets his shot, wins, and then joins Immortal AFTER winning the title, which made NO sense. It would have been better booked by having Immortal interfering on his behalf each time until he finally realized how important they were to him and his turning superheel. Instead, it's more of a milktoast storyline where he's a tweener with a foot seemingly on both sides of the fence. Anderson sells better as an anti-heel rather than a full fledged member of Immortal, which I see as a dying gimmick at this point. He'd be better served at this point of either going full blown nasty heel, or turning face again and becoming the new generation of anti-hero.

I agree with what you are saying about TNA.

I'll go back to Rasha's first question about defending the Knockouts because I didn't make any reference to them. I think Velvet is a break out star along the lines of Trish. Her wrestling needs to improve but hey, Trish's in ring skills were terrible when she started. velvet is a marquee star of the company right now and is doing well. I think her working with Mickie James can only improve her as Batista did when he worked with Undertaker. I liked Angelina coming out and running down the two face KOs, and Velvet vs. Mickie can be a ppv match so the later segment when Jackie/ODB running out worked on that level.

I think Velvet though running out after them made the segment run too long at the end there. The heels were backing away thanks to Traci making the save and clearing the ring. It didn't need to continue, but it was a good enough segment, it gave alot of KOs exposure and just over ran.

We had 9 KOs on the show in a way that didn't seem too clusterfudgey which was good.

The Beer Money/ Mexiacan America segment I thought built up not just their match but the tag division slightly after Storm put over the other teams they faced to become 4x champs. I thought it was racist also so I agree to the guy who made that point, I wished Hernandez spoke more and Anarquia spoke a LOT less, Dez is a star, the guy is a freak and show be showcased more, would love to see him as a heel singles star, but the segment worked for setting up the ppv match imo.

Now Brian in Austin, Your totally right in the way that TNA is booking its storylines, I'm with you there, but the thread was critiquing the show, not TNA as a whole. So yeah if I was booking I do thingsdifferent too.

I would have gone with Hogan putting all the guys who dressed up as jokers in matches etc etc. maybe given Anderson his rematch or atleast organised it... but as far as the show went and the matches that were on it, and TNA is pushing wrestling again instead of storylines then it was a good show.

RVD/Steiner, Ladder match, X Title match and Main event were great.

So many comments on this thread and I love discussing TNA right now.

Now what I will say is that Sting's whole title reign and fight against Immortal
has been strange because he has been taken on faces the whole time. Anderson, RVD and now Angle... it's quite strange booking. Not only that is we have seen these matches before last years or the year before.

As far as Sting goes, he is super entertaining. His evolution inot the Insane Icon has been great. Has he snapped? I don't think so, he's only doing it to play with Immortal's head and be unpredicatable. As mentioned Sting has been stabbed in the back too many times, he is covering himself and making sure it doesn't happen again. He said to Angle at the end of Impact in a serious and clear tone "have I gone too far? Or not far enough?"

That was an awesome line! And I think it wnet that he hasn't really gone crazy, he just needs this craziness to finally takedown Immortal once and for all. Liek when he fought Abyss. He wasn't just going to allow Immrotal to carve huim up with barbed wire like they did Rob. He took the glove and busted up Abyss to prove he is willing to cross the line to win this war.

Look at it this way. Sting fought the nWo before. He did what he did to stop them and thought at Starrcade that he had finally defeated Hogan and the nWo... but he didn't. He didn't put the sword to it like he should have and it still lived. Not opnly that it split into two factions, which he had to join...

He wont make the same mistake this time. This time he will put the nail in the coffin of Hogan's regime this time