IMPACT Might Finally be Getting it, Opening the Show With Wrestling!

[DangerousDave]

I think TNA took a big step in the right direction on tonight's (5/26) Impact by opening the show with an excellent wrestling match. Grab my interest immediately with some great action in the beginning of the show and I'm likely to be sucked into watching the whole two hours. Bore me with a 20 minute promo every week and I'm likely to watch some other show while the promo, I know is going to happen, gets over with. While I watch the other show i just may get drawn into watching the whole show and skipping Impact altogether. I think opening with long winded promos every week has really hurt TNA's ratings. When I watched tonight, I really be believed "wrestling matters". They had some good promos which ended in a beat down, which is almost as good as a match to me.

They did a lot of other things right too. They promoted upcoming matches in the show, which made me want to continue watching. I think the mix of wrestling and promos was about right. They kept the show moving and held my interest. I would give tonight's show 5 stars.

Did you notice an improvement in tonight's Impact?

Do you think this is the format Impact should follow?

How many stars to you give tonight's show?

 

[MoeIsBetter]

I think their getting their formula in place but Impact hasn't changed a whole lot other than their placement of matches and promos. I agree though, I liked opening with a match. Got me involved right away. Good job Impact.

 

[Vincent Michaels]

It was good to open up with a wrestling match. But it was bad when it was a little under 40 minutes between that and the next match with nothing but segments and promos, and when the opening match is only about 4 minutes long. While things like the main evnt which was built up all through the night only went about 7 1/2 minutes and was worth little to nothing considering it wasn't part of a fued considering no interference by Jarrett, eventhough he made the match last week. I really hated iMPACT! Wrestling this week honestly.

 

[yur_momma]

Did you notice an improvement in tonight's Impact?

NO. still incredibly boring...why does winter/mangelina (no i didnt spell that wrong, the bitch is a man i swear) get any air time? does absolutely anyone give a shit what this is leading to? seriously look around, i challenge you to find a thread started for this crap.

Do you think this is the format Impact should follow?
since i didnt notice anything different, im gonna say no

How many stars to you give tonight's show?

0. couldnt even sit through the whole thing and was forced to change channels to keep me awake.

 

[jhauth11]

WHAT!!! Impact started with someone other then Hogan or Immortal .. :O i think im about to faint

... On the other hand itsss great for once TNA is living up to what they say and thats wrestling matters

 

[WWWYKI777]

Lack of Madisson Rayne = Ratings drop!

I didn't see the 1st match actually so to me its like it started w/ the Anderson & Disco promo

Oh yeah and impact has been doing something right ever since the most Bound For Glory since then its been great

People who still think TNA is no good may just be nuts , do they at least hate WWE too cause WWE is the worse company of the 2 imo

Impact > RAW > > > Smackdown > > > > > > > > > > Superstars > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > (Insert about 56,000,000 more ">"s here) > > > NXT

 

[Zeven_Zion]

Like Bischoff said on Monday Night Mayhem, they'll try different formats of the show now and during the summer. The numbers will tell which format will work best so they can finally find one and stick with it. It's a work in progress, can't be flawless, but the show was very good in my eyes.

 

[Dowdsy McDowds]

NO. still incredibly boring...why does winter/mangelina (no i didnt spell that wrong, the bitch is a man i swear) get any air time? does absolutely anyone give a shit what this is leading to? seriously look around, i challenge you to find a thread started for this crap.

.

http://forums.wrestlezone.com/showthread.php?t=163356

Done.

I haven't seen Impact this week but I would say that since Victory Road, I have noticed many subtle improvements and think they are beginning to get some rhythm going. That's not to say they are perfect of course but they are making headway and by starting the show with a match is something I hope we see more often.

 

[Rayne]

I didn't watch Impact this week- Bulls/Heat dominated my night, and I didn't care enough to flip over to Spike afterwards. Keep trying to win my heart though, TNA, you might just get it yet.

Opening with wrestling is a positive step in establishing TNA/IW as a different company than the WWE. The die hards hate admitting it, but over the past year and a half the differences between the two became largely cosmetic. Each show would open with a 10-20 minute promo from the current Top Guy. (For some reason Eric Bischoff thinks he's a top guy, but that's beside the point.) You put your strongest foot forwards to start- if people tune in and see an EY/OJ comedy bit right off the bat, they tend not to stick around. Opening with wrestling puts it right out front what TNA/IW is trying to be about.

Hopefully people want to see professional wrestling still. I have my doubts. What will be the real trick is knowing when to give up or follow through with the format; ratings aren't going to improve overnight, but riding a format that isn't working is only going to hurt you when you try something else. (Insert joke here about Hogan and needles spiking a tenth of a ratings point.)

 

[TellMeWhy]

Like Bischoff said on Monday Night Mayhem, they'll try different formats of the show now and during the summer. The numbers will tell which format will work best so they can finally find one and stick with it. It's a work in progress, can't be flawless, but the show was very good in my eyes.

Yeah I was going to say the same thing. T/S shouldn't be excited just yet as tonight's format was just 1 of among many experiments as all the other impacts will be up until the summer. Impact opening up with a match was a refreshment since we haven't seen that in some time so I guess it was a good thing but to be honest I've been used to the opening promos for quite some time now that I'm almost accustomed to a promo at the start of a show. I really don't know how to think of it. But overall Impact Wresting was a solid show. Much better than last week's show.

 

[Brian in Austin]

I thought this was a good show overall, but have to agree about the Winter/Angelina storyline. (is anyone else creeped out by it like I am?) Anyway, other than that segment, I liked most all of the show, with the exception being the Hogan/Bischoff/Foley segment. I get that they had to work that storyline this week given what they hyped about it last week. But the 3 of them looked so uncomfortable and like their lines were forced.

1. Bischoff needs to drop the whole "I love you guys so much" line. It's no longer funny and smacks of WCW days.

2. Hogan and Foley looked like they were waiting for each other to get their lines out.

3. At the end Hogan couldn't have looked more fake with his reaction to Bryan Kendrick v. Abyss.

 

[SimonPheonix]

Let me start off by saying I watch both shows wwe and tna .........Raw or Smackdown can be boring at times but to me wwe is better entertainment .... tna does have some of the best wrestlers in the world BUT ........ they are not booking their talent right n my opinion ..... last nights impact compared to raw this week SUCKED ! first of all MANgelina's ( i spelled it correctly ) angle with winter is gettin on my damn nerves .... I was just thinkin where the hell is
Matt Morgan ? Then he comes out and jobs to old tired ass jeff jarrett ... Really ..... really ! brian kendrick vs abyss the squash match failed the ref was in the way he quotes sun tzu come on u expect me to believe he read the art of war ... yyyyeah ! AJ styles wrestling with a neck brace on was funny as hell gotta love AJ ...... No beer money ! .... and why the hell is RVD made to Job for everyone THIS MAKES NO DAMN SENSE TO ME you have one of the greatest wrestlers of all time and vince russo clearly has no idea what to do with him .....
I really wann like tna every now and then i see a glimmer of hope for this company but last night was a dissapointment ...

 

[Brian in Austin]

Let me start off by saying I watch both shows wwe and tna .........Raw or Smackdown can be boring at times but to me wwe is better entertainment .... tna does have some of the best wrestlers in the world BUT ........ they are not booking their talent right n my opinion ..... last nights impact compared to raw this week SUCKED ! first of all MANgelina's ( i spelled it correctly ) angle with winter is gettin on my damn nerves .... I was just thinkin where the hell is
Matt Morgan ? Then he comes out and jobs to old tired ass jeff jarrett ... Really ..... really ! brian kendrick vs abyss the squash match failed the ref was in the way he quotes sun tzu come on u expect me to believe he read the art of war ... yyyyeah ! AJ styles wrestling with a neck brace on was funny as hell gotta love AJ ...... No beer money ! .... and why the hell is RVD made to Job for everyone THIS MAKES NO DAMN SENSE TO ME you have one of the greatest wrestlers of all time and vince russo clearly has no idea what to do with him .....
I really wann like tna every now and then i see a glimmer of hope for this company but last night was a dissapointment ...

Have to disagree with you on some of your points.

1. I thought the AJ angle was a good one and it's something that's been done over the years in wrestling. (the neck brace, leg wrap/cast, etc.) My concern with this storyline is that I don't want to see Dreamer go over AJ in a PPV. If that happens, I have to question the validity of it. AJ needs to go over Dreamer if they match them up at Slammiversary.

2. I agree with your point about the Winter/Angelina storyline. This thing needs to go away and quickly. It's goofy and just keeps getting worse.

3. I thought the Angle/RVD match was a good one and the truth is, you're probably right about them not knowing what to do with RVD. Who can he feud with now? Abyss? Been there, done that. Hulkie? (LoL) Nope. Jeff Har....oh wait!! (LoL). Maybe a feud with Matt Hardy (where was he this week?) will work.

4. I liked the Morgan/Jarrett match right up until Steiner did the run in. I get it, they have something invested in that storyline. Problem is Steiner is on his last legs and realistically Morgan should win this thing hands down. So let's see where that one goes. What SHOULD happen is Morgan needs to go over Steiner, but right now they're making a giant look like an X division size guy.

5. Beer Money - Allegedly Roode is hurt and I'm wondering where they are going with the partner for Storm. (will this be the way they reunite America's Most Wanted?) If so, perhaps that's how they push Roode out and get him on his singles push, which I believe he deserves and is ready for. So overall I was okay with it even though Bischoff really struggled with the commentary part.

 

[Brian in Austin]

And where was Crimson ?

This is the problem with a roster too laden with wrestlers. Not enough air time for everyone. No Matt Hardy, no Crimson, no Gen Me (essentially), no word on MCMG at all (yes I'm aware of the injury issues), no Ric Flair, just speaks to how difficult it is for them to get everyone their time.

 

[VencomHardcore]

LAST NIGHTS IMPACT WAS THE SAME STUFF .. DIFFERENT ORDER

The opening was great but then we go 40 minutes of promos and talking. How can Wrestling Matter when you still put so little of it in your show.

Anyone talking about how great TNA is = a loyalist that can't really be objective. So if TNA talked for 2 Hours, they would still say how great it was to enjoy promos that moved the storylines...lol

I was disappointed. I was happy to see the show start off with action. Then after the constant promos, Turned the Channel. TNA really doesn't get it at all.

I would rather see Smackdown or ROH because I want wrestling not a show filled with promos and quick wrestling matches.

 

[SimonPheonix]

you said you disagree with my points the funny thing is I totally agree with everything you just said ! lol .... maybe it came out wrong or somethin ...

 

[Kosugi19]

I loved the last two weeks of Impact. I think its the cool thing to hate on TNA so people just do without actually giving it a try. I love WWE but as it sits now Im way more excited to watch Impact. I can sit and watch Raw and pretty much guess right on whats going to happen no surprises with that show what so eve. Its seems more and more their are to many of the same type wrestlers in my opinion. Tired of watching everybody in suits with their uptight attitudes! Impact does not seem as scripted as I have no clue whats going on or what their wrestlers are going to say which makes it fun. lastly actually seeing some blood last night call me a sicko but it was great.

 

[SimonPheonix]

I loved the last two weeks of Impact. I think its the cool thing to hate on TNA so people just do without actually giving it a try. I love WWE but as it sits now Im way more excited to watch Impact. I can sit and watch Raw and pretty much guess right on whats going to happen no surprises with that show what so eve. Its seems more and more their are to many of the same type wrestlers in my opinion. Tired of watching everybody in suits with their uptight attitudes! Impact does not seem as scripted as I have no clue whats going on or what their wrestlers are going to say which makes it fun. lastly actually seeing some blood last night call me a sicko but it was great.

I agree with generity of the show (i dont think thats a word but so what) alot of guys do look the same and it is predictable most of the time but there are moments that are predictable and not at the same time ..... for example Christian vs. Orton at OTL .... Everyone with a ounce of sense knew orton would retain but WWE made me believe that christian may have a chance with the way they cut their promos ..... like I said I wanna like TNA I love kurt,ken,rvd,flair,HOGAN (yes I said Hogan) AJ, DW, Sting the hardy's I mean the list goes on and on ...... but if wrestling matters then gotdamnit wrestle and shut the hell up ! Let WWE do the talking, they're better at it, focus on wrestling and be better at that like we all know they can be

 

[Daniel]

They opened with a match. Yeah, that's cool. But the match was average at best, the way it was booked was awful and it lasted five minutes. The rest of the show showed that it was just the same stuff but in a different order.

I think that last night's Impact Wrestling was atrocious. I think that was down to the actual show and not losing my ability to fast-forward if KB's review is anything to go by. Anyone who believes they got the balance of wrestling and talking right isn't thinking hard enough. They had 22 minutes of wrestling on a 2 hour show which keeps on saying "wrestling matters". That's stupid. Add to that the fact that the wrestling they had was badly booked (Kendrick losing to Abyss clean, Dreamer/Ray losing clean to Daniels and an injured AJ Styles, etc) and not very good.

They're not close to getting the "formula" right if last night's show is anything to go by.

 

[Brian in Austin]

They opened with a match. Yeah, that's cool. But the match was average at best, the way it was booked was awful and it lasted five minutes. The rest of the show showed that it was just the same stuff but in a different order.

I think that last night's Impact Wrestling was atrocious. I think that was down to the actual show and not losing my ability to fast-forward if KB's review is anything to go by. Anyone who believes they got the balance of wrestling and talking right isn't thinking hard enough. They had 22 minutes of wrestling on a 2 hour show which keeps on saying "wrestling matters". That's stupid. Add to that the fact that the wrestling they had was badly booked (Kendrick losing to Abyss clean, Dreamer/Ray losing clean to Daniels and an injured AJ Styles, etc) and not very good.

They're not close to getting the "formula" right if last night's show is anything to go by.

I agree with you on the Abyss/Kendrick match. It should have been some sort of run-in by the X division guys to help out Kendrick. But I do think they got the AJ/Daniels v. Dreamer/Ray was booked correctly. There's no way Dreamer is relevant to any of this and he should NOT go over AJ or Daniels in any way, shape, or form.

 

[Dizzy]

They opened with a match. Yeah, that's cool. But the match was average at best, the way it was booked was awful and it lasted five minutes. The rest of the show showed that it was just the same stuff but in a different order.

I think that last night's Impact Wrestling was atrocious. I think that was down to the actual show and not losing my ability to fast-forward if KB's review is anything to go by. Anyone who believes they got the balance of wrestling and talking right isn't thinking hard enough. They had 22 minutes of wrestling on a 2 hour show which keeps on saying "wrestling matters". That's stupid. Add to that the fact that the wrestling they had was badly booked (Kendrick losing to Abyss clean, Dreamer/Ray losing clean to Daniels and an injured AJ Styles, etc) and not very good.

They're not close to getting the "formula" right if last night's show is anything to go by.

Here we go with the hypocrisy.

So, they are gonna showcase a non-stop amount of wrestling instead of building towards the PPV which is in a few weeks? Does that shit make any sense?

"Wrestling Matters" = Wrestling is a form of entertainment. Therefore, OTHER qualities in wrestling like promos, skits and entertainment values also are apart of wrestling. I would think the "smark" IWC would realize that.

Their tag line isn't "We will showcase 60 minutes worth of wrestling"

Building an X-Division PPV = Form of "Wrestling Matters"

You expected Kendrick to beat Abyss AFTER he just won the title last week? Are you serious?

Did you want Dreamer/Ray to go over clean on Styles and Daniels? If they did, you and everyone else would bitch and moan about it.

TNA gets a ton of crap for not having clean finishes. They have a few last night and it's still a problem.

 

[Daniel]

Here we go with the hypocrisy.

This should be good.

So, they are gonna showcase a non-stop amount of wrestling instead of building towards the PPV which is in a few weeks? Does that shit make any sense?

Absolutely not. But more importantly, where did I say that? Where did I even suggest or allude to that?

"Wrestling Matters" = Wrestling is a form of entertainment. Therefore, OTHER qualities in wrestling like promos, skits and entertainment values also are apart of wrestling. I would think the "smark" IWC would realize that.

Yes. You're right about the fact that professional wrestling is more than just what happens in the ring. However, TNA are only concentrating on the in-ring aspect of wrestling with this "wrestling matters" campaign. Mick Foley talking about how "wrestling takes place in a wrestling ring" all the time is indicative of this.

Their tag line isn't "We will showcase 60 minutes worth of wrestling"

Well, you're not wrong there. And at no point did I say that they should show an hour of wrestling. But I think more than 22 minutes on a show which claims that "wrestling matters" isn't too much to ask.

Building an X-Division PPV = Form of "Wrestling Matters"

Building the X-Division? That's why the star of the X-Division got beat clean in five minutes last night, right?

You expected Kendrick to beat Abyss AFTER he just won the title last week? Are you serious?

I didn't say Kendrick should've one. I said that Abyss shouldn't have won clean. Have Immortal interfere or let him use a weapon. Kendrick losing clean in five minutes makes him look really weak. And when he's supposed to be leading the X-Division, it's stupid.

Did you want Dreamer/Ray to go over clean on Styles and Daniels? If they did, you and everyone else would bitch and moan about it.

Dreamer and Bully Ray winning clean wouldn't have been the worst thing. Styles was wrestling in a neck brace and selling the crap out of his injury. It wouldn't really harm them if Dreamer and Ray did go over.

TNA gets a ton of crap for not having clean finishes. They have a few last night and it's still a problem.

TNA gets some criticism for not having clean finishes on PPV. Having some dusty finishes on TV is booking 101.

 

[MB1025]

This should be good.



Absolutely not. But more importantly, where did I say that? Where did I even suggest or allude to that?



Yes. You're right about the fact that professional wrestling is more than just what happens in the ring. However, TNA are only concentrating on the in-ring aspect of wrestling with this "wrestling matters" campaign. Mick Foley talking about how "wrestling takes place in a wrestling ring" all the time is indicative of this.



Well, you're not wrong there. And at no point did I say that they should show an hour of wrestling. But I think more than 22 minutes on a show which claims that "wrestling matters" isn't too much to ask.



Building the X-Division? That's why the star of the X-Division got beat clean in five minutes last night, right?



I didn't say Kendrick should've one. I said that Abyss shouldn't have won clean. Have Immortal interfere or let him use a weapon. Kendrick losing clean in five minutes makes him look really weak. And when he's supposed to be leading the X-Division, it's stupid.



Dreamer and Bully Ray winning clean wouldn't have been the worst thing. Styles was wrestling in a neck brace and selling the crap out of his injury. It wouldn't really harm them if Dreamer and Ray did go over.



TNA gets some criticism for not having clean finishes on PPV. Having some dusty finishes on TV is booking 101.

Wait a second? Why should Abyss, who has the clear advantage in just about everything except speed, need help to beat Kendrick? You want to know how to build a proper heel like Abyss. You put him in with people who he can destroy to make him look strong. People are acting like Kendrick losing to Abyss in 5 minutes is diminishing Kendrick as a wrestler. Kendrick hasn't had a match in months and was pretty much re introduced 2-3 weeks ago. Also it is pretty obvious what the story line is. Abyss is going to run through the X Division while Foley brings in wrestlers from all over the world. That way in a couple of months after Abyss has bullied and destroyed wrestlers the person to take him out will look really good. Booking 101. Baby faces chancing the dominate heel.

As far as the AJ Styles/Dreamer thing goes you are way off on this. The feud is between Bully Ray and AJ Styles. All Tommy Dreamer is there for is to keep AJ Styles and Bully Ray apart. So when they fight people wouldn't have seen Ray and Styles fight before. That is why they didn't touch each other before the match. So now AJ Styles pinned Tommy Dreamer while protecting Bully Ray. AJ and Ray both come out looking good going forward. TNA is actually using Dreamer correctly, but people don't see that because they would rather watch TNA and try to find the bad things instead of enjoying the show.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

It's refreshing to see Impact Wrestling open with a wrestling match last night but let's not assign this more significance than it deserves.

While opening with wrestling is a departure from the usual format layout TNA has, the match would have had more of an impact had it not been such a typical TNA chesnut: a 4 minute gimmick match. TNA has an uncanny knack for taking matches that should be nice treats and rendering them meaningless. A street fight is something that should be special, something that the fans can sink their teeth into. Instead, it was a half assed 4 minute street fight reminiscent of what we'd see in the WWE back in the late 90s for the Hardcore Title.

 

[Nero89]

not only opening with wrestling, they opened with their top, self developed talent(aj, even though he wasnt great but neither was the match). also a huge step is that they had the match a hardcore style match, which is something wwe is slying away from nowadays. even "extreme" rules isnt that hardcore. there where 4 different blood spots that episode. dont try to be ecw, but try to include some of what made the attitude era work