IMPACT Wrestling LD for 08.26.15 — Velvet/Brooke, Wolves/Revolution, KOTM Contender

[It's Damn Real!]

Live Discussion for August 26th, 2015

 

[It's Damn Real!]

I'm in.

 

[Chrome]

God Mode

 

[It's Damn Real!]

I actually think EC3's last few promos have been pretty poor. At least for his standards.

 

[Chrome]

"You're just a daredevil that can't stick a landing."

God I love ECIII

 

[Chrome]

We live in a world where Eric Young, villainous hobo at large, is one of the most "feared" men in TNA while wearing bubblegum pink and being obsessed over a leg because he feels like it.

 

[Chrome]

Eric Young just won a man's leg in a wrestling match.

Unreal

 

[It's Damn Real!]

Eric Young just won a man's leg in a wrestling match.

Unreal

If it means not having to see, or more specifically hear, Melendez, it is a good thing.

 

[Chrome]

EC3 on twitter right now talking a lot of shit about Jeff Hardy lmao

 

[klunderbunker]

Review is up.

Good Grief This Is Lame

 

[It's Damn Real!]

I completely spaced on this whole episode. Lost interest not even half way though. Finished it out of habit, not desire.

 

[Starkist]

That is how I have been feeling about TNA lately. I think all wrestling has me burnt out. Might have to take a break after this coming RAW I am going to.

 

[klunderbunker]

I completely spaced on this whole episode. Lost interest not even half way though. Finished it out of habit, not desire.

If they're going out, they're going out really poorly. This Carter vs. Hardys feud is dragging because of Jeff's injury and the invasion is just pitiful.

 

[It's Damn Real!]

That is how I have been feeling about TNA lately. I think all wrestling has me burnt out. Might have to take a break after this coming RAW I am going to.

Watching out of habit rather than desire? I've been like that for a while now.

But I've also put a lot of my heart into this company, and genuinely want to see it succeed.

But I've also resigned myself to the fact it's likely these are the death throes of the company as we know it. We've already seen them make drastic, drastic changes to the presentation of their product, and with so many pillars of TNA gone, it's almost unrecognizable. Reminds me a lot, in that sense, of WCW in 2000 or early 2001.

If they're going out, they're going out really poorly. This Carter vs. Hardys feud is dragging because of Jeff's injury and the invasion is just pitiful.

Especially because Carter has already beaten Matt at his own match, which should have been the major blow off between the two. Jeff being hurt clearly puts him on the sidelines where he'd probably have otherwise have stepped into the feud by now.

The invasion thing is being handled poorly too. Way too much over-the-top soap opera bullshit. Like Galloway coming out to talk about the rental cars being in Jeff's name. I watched that, and out loud just groaned and said "seriously?"

Give me back the TNA product that first hit DA all those months ago. Just hard-hitting, balls to the wall wrestling. Enough with this dramatic bad acting bullshit.

 

[klunderbunker]

Watching out of habit rather than desire? I've been like that for a while now.

But I've also put a lot of my heart into this company, and genuinely want to see it succeed.

But I've also resigned myself to the fact it's likely these are the death throes of the company as we know it. We've already seen them make drastic, drastic changes to the presentation of their product, and with so many pillars of TNA gone, it's almost unrecognizable. Reminds me a lot, in that sense, of WCW in 2000 or early 2001.



Especially because Carter has already beaten Matt at his own match, which should have been the major blow off between the two. Jeff being hurt clearly puts him on the sidelines where he'd probably have otherwise have stepped into the feud by now.

The invasion thing is being handled poorly too. Way too much over-the-top soap opera bullshit. Like Galloway coming out to talk about the rental cars being in Jeff's name. I watched that, and out loud just groaned and said "seriously?"

Give me back the TNA product that first hit DA all those months ago. Just hard-hitting, balls to the wall wrestling. Enough with this dramatic bad acting bullshit.

I wouldn't mind some non-WWE ripoffs either.

Eric Young as Daniel Bryan has been proven about a dozen times.

Lashley - Brock Lesnar: Monster with incredible power and former amateur wrestling champion. Won the title a few months after Lesnar. Speaking of which, what happened to Lashley? He lost the title and has been toiling in the midcard for months.

Ethan Carter III - Seth Rollins: Talented wrestler who got his spot because of his connection with the bosses. Rollins won the title a few months before Carter.

Finally, who am I supposed to cheer for next week with Roode vs. Black? Roode is a heel but Black is part of GFW, who are now the big heels. So am I supposed to cheer for Roode because he's standing up for TNA (which is borderline gimmick infringement on TNA's detective in residence) and ignore all of his heel shenanigans? Or just boo both guys and live with whoever wins?

 

[It's Damn Real!]

EY isn't a DB rip-off at all. He's playing something closer to a fusion between Raven and Brian Pillman these days. "Mine! Mine! What about me? It's MINE!" kinda thing. I have no idea what DB is up to these days, but the only connection between the two was well over a year ago when TNA had EY win as the underdog after DB won a WWE championship at Wrestlemania, or whenever it was. The only thing still linking them is they both have a beard.

But the correlations to WWE guys doesn't actually bother me. It's how they're presented within the product that matters. None of this mattered when they first went to DA and were a hard-hitting product. But they've gone back to this bad acting bullshit again. This horrible, overly dramatic story-telling that goes well beyond where it needs to to successfully convey a pro wrestling feud.

All this ultra-drama nonsense stinks of WWE. Which just reminds everyone that TNA can't think for themselves, and reinforces the trope that they effectively model their product after what someone else has already done. Namely WWE.

ROH doesn't have this problem. Lucha Underground doesn't have this problem. They do their own thing. They are who they are, they know who they are, they like who they are and they consistently put out a weekly (or in the case of LU, seasonal) product that they know is theirs. If people like it, great, if they don't, oh well.

 

[klunderbunker]

EY isn't a DB rip-off at all. He's playing something closer to a fusion between Raven and Brian Pillman these days. "Mine! Mine! What about me? It's MINE!" kinda thing. I have no idea what DB is up to these days, but the only connection between the two was well over a year ago when TNA had EY win as the underdog after DB won a WWE championship at Wrestlemania, or whenever it was. The only thing still linking them is they both have a beard.

But the correlations to WWE guys doesn't actually bother me. It's how they're presented within the product that matters. None of this mattered when they first went to DA and were a hard-hitting product. But they've gone back to this bad acting bullshit again. This horrible, overly dramatic story-telling that goes well beyond where it needs to to successfully convey a pro wrestling feud.

All this ultra-drama nonsense stinks of WWE. Which just reminds everyone that TNA can't think for themselves, and reinforces the trope that they effectively model their product after what someone else has already done. Namely WWE.

ROH doesn't have this problem. Lucha Underground doesn't have this problem. They do their own thing. They are who they are, they know who they are, they like who they are and they consistently put out a weekly (or in the case of LU, seasonal) product that they know is theirs. If people like it, great, if they don't, oh well.

When he won the title, he was a Daniel Bryan ripoff. That's what I was referring to.

It bothers me when it's so blatant. Why would I want to watch more WWE when they're already so oversaturated?

 

[It's Damn Real!]

Well right, that I agree with. That's what I was getting at with the ultra-drama stuff, and effectively designing the entire product to feel like an extension of already existing WWE content that, hilariously enough, people are largely unhappy with!

It's bad enough you are effectively copying what someone else is doing and trying to tell me it's different. What's worse is that you are copying something people are actually COMPLAINING about!

 

[klunderbunker]

Well right, that I agree with. That's what I was getting at with the ultra-drama stuff, and effectively designing the entire product to feel like an extension of already existing WWE content that, hilariously enough, people are largely unhappy with!

It's bad enough you are effectively copying what someone else is doing and trying to tell me it's different. What's worse is that you are copying something people are actually COMPLAINING about!

It's one of the few things that WCW did at the end of its run that you can see today. There were so many WWF copies it was unreal.

 

[Lowdown]

WWE isn't squeaking clean in that regard either. That whole title for title match at Summerslam piggy-backed on the title for title match at Best in the World for ROH this past June. I get that plots a gimmicks get copied/stolen/infringed, but its the sign of the times. I haven't watched Impact in about a month, primarily based on the reviews I read here and elsewhere. I like what ROH does, and I'm trying to find a way to watch Lucha Underground. But I'm also kinda teetering on being burnt-out on wrestling if things continue to go the way it has the last few months. You'd think EC3's title reign would've been special, but instead its been underwhelming, through no fault of his own.