[Official] TNA TV Shows Aftermath, Review & Ratings Thread

[Jack-Hammer]

Yeah, the rating could be looked at as a good thing, depending upon how you looked at it. TNA's core audience has typically hovered around that 1.0 mark and those fans are staying with the product, so that's a good thing in and of itself. It's can also be looked at as a good thing seeing as how they started during the Road to WrestleMania. The WWE is going all out next week with three big matches, Stone Cold hosting and Bret Hart being on the show as well. Next week could be pretty revealing.

On the other hand, this is also the lowest rating the show has pulled since Hogan's debut with the company. TNA was counting on Hogan and Flair to be the major draws of the show last night, so I can also see if some see the rating as a disappointment as well.

 

[Hulkamaniac]

The show was actually up in the powerhouse demographics.

Spike TV�s live telecast of �TNA iMPACT� in its new timeslot on Monday, March 8 drew more men in the key demographic of Men 18-34 and Men 18-49 than the show was previously drawing on Thursday nights.

-- M18-49: .98 (+5%)

-- M18-34: .92 (+11%)

Spike TV notes that a significant portion of the audience watch on DVR over the week (Live +7 rating) � and we will not have an accurate rating until those numbers are computed in about two weeks.

That's a positive. That said, it's a disappointing number to me. It's also to be noted that a lot of fans that watch TNA also watch WWE, so they are competing for similar fans, and TNA didn't see a significant drop-off. But still, a bit disappointing.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

When you look at the quarterly hour breakdown of iMPACT! last night, it's somewhat telling: 99, .98, 1.00, 1.07, 1.07, 1.03, .95, and .76. The first hour drew consistently around the 1.0-1.1 mark. For the second hour, the show continued to taper off much as it has been doing. The final segment of the show only drew a .76 and that has to be disappointing. The main event of the show, the major thing that TNA has hyped leading into last night's show was, once again, the lowest drawing segment of the night.

 

[EStreet]

Two thoughts:
1. the opening seemed very slow to develope with the "Main Event" kicking off the show. Didnt have the feel of the "big match" they were hyping it up to be, and with that said, i thought everyone involved was waiting for the lights to go out (guys in the ring, Tenay, Taz)..Sting's return was absolutely great tho and glad to see him as a real heel not the classic "TNA Tweener"

2. TNA Live is simply 100x better than WWE products and TNA taped..there is an excitement in the ImPact zone that doesnt feel fake or dubbed in, and segments flow nicely because they arent cutting and pasting on the edit room

oh and 3rd thought.

While Flair and Hogan look horrible in the ring..the fact they bust themselves up and bleed everywhere makes up for it. they aren't going through the mothions and resting on their names, they actually tried to do something that they could both do still (obviously not wrestle) BLEED

 

[It's...Baylariat!]

I don't know how anyone can say that TNA was a success last night. Did it entertain us? Yes it did. Immensely. Did they have quality wrestling? Yes they did. Much better than the WWE's been putting out the past few months. But is TNA's Monday Night iMPACT a success? Absolutely NOT. Their rating was a 1.0. That's not good. At all. They didn't gain anybody new to watch their show. If anything, they lost a few thousand views because it went head to head with Raw. This goes to show you that in order to show the world how good TNA is... these things need to happen.

1) Getting the word out. Clearly they're not promoting the show enough. Or else people would watch it. There's something wrong with the advertising campaigns if they're not gaining viewers on such a huge night. They need a near complete overhaul of their advertising campaign and simply use things to get the word out to wrestling fans and random people that TNA is good and people need to watch it.

2) Keep doing what their doing wrestling wise. There is ZERO wrong with their overall production. They're a quality wrestling show and their stories could get interesting as the days and weeks go by.

3) Refrain from HOT SHOT BOOKING! Hot Shot booking means to book a major match on Free TV with very little to zero build. That was the downfall of WCW. The reason people watch the show is the story. They want to see great wrestling with a great story. Make them want to tune in next week. It's that simple. Their ending last night was great... it's just a matter of what they do with it next week. Hopefully they won't give away a PPV quality match on a TAPED iMPACT next week. That would not bode well for anyone.

But overall, TNA's going to have to step up their game and focus on getting the word out to people about their show. Or it will fail.

 

[MisterRob]

TNA fans baffle me. The show gets a 1.0 and still people can't accept that's a bad rating and a very bad sign, instead they're trying to dance around and give it some sort of praise. Impact could get a .5 and TNA fans would still argue it was good, still ramble on about "well it's not a great rating, but it's pretty good considering". It's absolutely ridiculous, really. Impact didn't succeed in any way last night, and they actually proved that January 4th was also a failure because not only did they not keep any of the audience that tried out Impact that week, but they've lost pieces of their own, core audience. A 1.0 is not a good sign anyway you try to twist it.

 

[Captain Insane0]

TNA fans baffle me. The show gets a 1.0 and still people can't accept that's a bad rating and a very bad sign, instead they're trying to dance around and give it some sort of praise. Impact could get a .5 and TNA fans would still argue it was good, still ramble on about "well it's not a great rating, but it's pretty good considering". It's absolutely ridiculous, really. Impact didn't succeed in any way last night, and they actually proved that January 4th was also a failure because not only did they not keep any of the audience that tried out Impact that week, but they've lost pieces of their own, core audience. A 1.0 is not a good sign anyway you try to twist it.

Very Ture. I hear that they were competing with raw when wrestlemania is coming. i didnt hear that before though. TNA fans are a glass half full kind of fans. 1.0 are you serious there Jan 4 show did a 1.5 and that show was much worse than mondays. and even after that show there rating went south each week after. imagine impact getting worse rating than 1.0 i would like to see you guys see that as good. you might like the show and not care about the ratings but Spike does and any other tv compnay does. TNA will be gone when Monday Night Football comes back.

 

[MisterTNA]

So day 1 of the "New Monday Night Wars" is over. How did TNA do?
In my opinion it was definitely different. The landscape is surely changing. The thing is i'm not too sure if I will like it. I'll just comment on some main points and ask a few questions.

They start the show off with the main event nice move and definitely a shocker.Sting turns heel!!! Now how far they will go with this idk but i think it was done (for this first show at least) very well.

I don't agree with this "friendly" version of Abyss. To me it's extremely corny and slightly boring. I want the monster back.

Why does Shannon Moore get a title shot?

Sting vs. RVD I understand why the match was so short and for my first comment i am nitpicking, but why the rolling thunder? Couldn't we see a 5 star? lol But seriously, how does it make sense for the referees to stand in Stings way as he tries to leave the ring?

I like the Beer Money/Double J segment and match as I think Beer Money work better as heels. It's good to see them back on tv.

Last the main event that they changed to start the show now restarts as a no DQ match with Hogan saying their will be a winner, Mike Tenay announcing that Spike has agreed to let the match go until it's conclusion, and Taz reiterating that Impact will stay on the air until a winner is decided. Then, in classic TNA fashion, all hell breaks loose ending with Jeff Hardy coming out and clearing house. But guess what? There is no winner. Spike even cut the show off before Jeff could jump off the rope for the swanton.

I am going to stick around and support TNA, but i'm just not sure they are ready for this "war" they are looking for.

Thoughts?

That's really good. Kudos to you. I have said this. How can TNA expect to beat WWE's #1 Show, when it can hardly beat WWE's 3rd or 4th show? . Not only that, you can't draw people if your whole show is about fucking Hulk Hogan. For the millionth time...Hogan marks...HOGAN DOES NOT DRAW A FUCKING DIME ANYMORE. He didn't draw shit in Australia and he isn't drawing dick in TNA. Nobody cares. Why? Because we have seen this over...and over...and over. It's old.

TNA loves to brag about "Crossing the line" But they haven't crossed it in months. I'm curious how Sid will try to convince people how a 1.0 rating is a good thing? Cause it's not. It's horrible. If they don't draw better than a 1.5 on a weekly basis soon, Panda will pull the plug. Simply as that. TNA will be dead. You can't keep paying Hogan, and Bischoff, and RVD and Hardy and Angle and Sting and Anderson and pull 1.0 ratings. Nobody is that dumb. I told everyone. Hogan doesn't care about TNA period. He cares about himself, always have, always will. If Dixie had any guts, she'd tell Hogan get as far away from TNA as possible, and take Hall, Nash and Xpac with you. Get off of Monday nights til you draw a 1.5 or better on Thursdays.

And for the love of god, why would you make AJ Ric Flair 2.0? He can't talk like Ric, he can't wrestle like Ric, and he can't perform like Ric. That's setting him up for failure.

Sad part is TNA has talent. REAL good talent. Pope, Angle, Beer Money, MCMG, Wolfe, Hernadez and Blue Print. The Knockouts, the X division. There is NO excuse why that roster is pulling 1.0 in a super hyped Impact. NONE.

And TNA needs to survive cause those guys above might not get real shots in WWE. But they can carry TNA. But they have to be handed the torch. Not below an aging Hogan, Flair, Sting.

 

[TellMeWhy]

That's really good. Kudos to you. I have said this. How can TNA expect to beat WWE's #1 Show, when it can hardly beat WWE's 3rd or 4th show? . Not only that, you can't draw people if your whole show is about fucking Hulk Hogan. For the millionth time...Hogan marks...HOGAN DOES NOT DRAW A FUCKING DIME ANYMORE. He didn't draw shit in Australia and he isn't drawing dick in TNA. Nobody cares. Why? Because we have seen this over...and over...and over. It's old.

TNA loves to brag about "Crossing the line" But they haven't crossed it in months. I'm curious how Sid will try to convince people how a 1.0 rating is a good thing? Cause it's not. It's horrible. If they don't draw better than a 1.5 on a weekly basis soon, Panda will pull the plug. Simply as that. TNA will be dead. You can't keep paying Hogan, and Bischoff, and RVD and Hardy and Angle and Sting and Anderson and pull 1.0 ratings. Nobody is that dumb. I told everyone. Hogan doesn't care about TNA period. He cares about himself, always have, always will. If Dixie had any guts, she'd tell Hogan get as far away from TNA as possible, and take Hall, Nash and Xpac with you. Get off of Monday nights til you draw a 1.5 or better on Thursdays.

And for the love of god, why would you make AJ Ric Flair 2.0? He can't talk like Ric, he can't wrestle like Ric, and he can't perform like Ric. That's setting him up for failure.

Sad part is TNA has talent. REAL good talent. Pope, Angle, Beer Money, MCMG, Wolfe, Hernadez and Blue Print. The Knockouts, the X division. There is NO excuse why that roster is pulling 1.0 in a super hyped Impact. NONE.

And TNA needs to survive cause those guys above might not get real shots in WWE. But they can carry TNA. But they have to be handed the torch. Not below an aging Hogan, Flair, Sting.

Why is your name MisterTNA. You sound like a complete TNA hater and WWE mark. Have you considered MrWWE. I mean seriously, TNA pulled a 1.0. Sitting here blaming Hogan for TNA's low rating is ridiculous. He's gotten TNA to Monday Nights. They had the stars, they had the superior show, they had the energy. All they didn't have was the promotion that January 4th had. Calm down. TNA is still on Mondays which is a step in the right direction. No one ever said that TNA would be pulling strong numbers out of the gate immediately. Get over yourself.

 

[BladeRunner]

TNA fans baffle me. The show gets a 1.0 and still people can't accept that's a bad rating and a very bad sign, instead they're trying to dance around and give it some sort of praise. Impact could get a .5 and TNA fans would still argue it was good, still ramble on about "well it's not a great rating, but it's pretty good considering". It's absolutely ridiculous, really.

Not one person has said "it's pretty good considering". You're mischaracterizing people's arguments. Probably because you want to start another pointless 5-10 page argument again.

Everyone who happens to watch TNA knows that it generally gets the 1.0 rating on average. And then everyone said that that's ok, but it could be better. This was in response to a guy who said it was a "terrible rating". A terrible rating would have been below average obliviously.

You say some people are nothing but overly positive about TNA?

Well how about, you're nothing but overly negative about it, and not to mention you want to argue with everybody in the TNA forum who could possibly disagree with you. And you will go on for pages. You don't come here to enjoy talking TNA you come here to attack it and anyone who watches it. I never see you say positive things about the product.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

A 1.0 is the worst rating they've done in months. I saw the actual number sourced to being a .98 and not a 1.0.

What TNA fucked up doing was going head to head with Raw. They need to do the show from 8-10. That way, they get the first hour with no wrestling on television, and then they'll retain some of the audience they had as they go from 9-10.

To make matters worse, they're going to be running a taped show head to head with Stone Cold Steve Austin next week. Does anyone see TNA drawing above a 1.0 then as well? That rating is going to drop, especially with the immensely popular Stone Cold Steve Austin hosting Raw.

I think the problem with TNA is that they're trying to cram too much into one two hour show. And I've said it over and over again, but the best way to compete with the WWE is to not acknowledge the WWE and go about doing things their way, with zero influence. They also need a second show to keep everything spaced out, with some of the neglected undercard guys getting a chance to shine. It would also help pace some of the storylines that they rush and don't have much cohesion.

Going 8-10 is the key to helping TNA evolve. That is the first shoe that has to drop here.

 

[jaxx]

OMG!! I don't wanna come off as anti-tna or just straight up rant about last nights show, so lets hit the positives. I really really really want TNA to succeed which is why it pisses me off when they screw up. First off I applaud them for actually wrestling on the show, and I appreciate the fact that Bischof recognized the x-division as the adrenaline of TNA and I hope this will refocus and renew the x-division. kaz, daniels, and williams had a good match.

Now, I have said it b4 and I'll say it again, please, please, FIRE RUSSO!! This impact could have been so much better,yet Dixie continues to let Russo write and book matches that make no sense. What was the purpose of turning sting heel? You've tried it twice and failed!! Fans just love this guy, he's my favorite wrestler also. He still gets cheers from the fans even when he's trying to be a heel. Where the hell is the logic in this? Beer money turned heel again? Why? oh wait, because they're trying to get noticed, because they haven't been on tv. But wait a minute, Beer money wrestled last week and pinnned the wtt champions. Where the hell is the logic in this? (classic russo)

Now this is not Russo's fault, but if you are gonna sign a top talent like RVD, please advertise so you can create interest. Once you announce this signing then you tease, and entice the fans to watch in order to see who else shows up. I apologize for going on and on, but as a fan I really wanna see this company succeed because of the great talent they have.

How do you feel about last nights impact?

 

[Suneeboy]

I didn’t know WWE fans would jack off this much to RAW dominating in the ratings on the first night. I also don’t understand why WWE marks jump in a TNA forum to bash TNA and praise the WWE. There is a WWE vs. TNA forum for that.

The great thing is though, I am loving it all. An inter-promotional war between the fans over which is best. If we didn’t have TNA we would have VERY little to talk about now wouldn’t we? Be glad that TNA is here, because like it or not, it has become the missing link that pro wrestling has needed.

iMPACT! Was a GREAT show, and from an entertainment standpoint, destroyed RAW in every possible way. Hogan can draw. They drew 1.3 million people to watch iMPACT! At the SAME TIME Raw was going on. Do you know that people have been watching RAW go unopposed for 9 years? Do you think that TNA will draw at least half of that viewership away in one night? The wrestling fan base is DEAD man why the fuck can’t people see that? We are the only people watching wrestling. It’s not mainstream, and it’s not cool to watch like it was in the 90s. More than half of the wrestling viewers of 10 years ago are completely GONE! Why? Ask yourself that. Why have ratings for pro wrestling on Monday Nights dropped by more than HALF in 10 years? One reason is because the WWE goes unopposed.

In total, professional wrestling on March 8th drew 4.4 in the ratings. When was the last time RAW drew a 4.4????? Do you understand the significance of having 2 shows on Mondays? Do you understand that this is the first step towards something huge? I don’t think so. I think many would rather be fanboys and look at bullshit then look at what is actually happening before our eyes.

Stop being a child and stop acting like a dick and realize that what TNA is doing is better FOR US ALL. Their actions are helping to revive wrestling. Look how much shit we ALL have to talk about now!!!!! If they fall, wrestling once again will fall.

The ratings were great, not bad by any stretch of the imagination. It was great to finally break the ice – officially. Add to that that it was a great show, and I will be watching next week on Monday.

 

[gtajoker01]

I agree I see a lot of problems with tna and if they dont fix it soon they are screwed. the x division match was great I think there should of been more wrestling i feel like they wasted so much time segment after segment talking and talking. I feel like tna is smothering with former wwe talent its sad and pathetic. I have to say tna's obsession with wwe is sad and pathetic. and if they really want to succeed i suggest they make their shows less predictable. I knew sting would turn heel.

 

[brochester8]

I agree with you on RVD. I found it funny that before commericial when they showed Sting and was "wondering" who his opponent would be. Then Taz asked Tenay what he was doing at 4:20 today, which completely gives it away to anyone who may not have already figured that it was going to be RVD. I agree they should have advertised RVD because many fans may not have internet and that is where I learned he would be there, and I'm sure that's where everyone else found out.

 

[AndarielHalo]

It was typical TNA iMPACT! Sting's heel-turn could be seen as soon as he appeared and did not immediately smash up Ric Flair and AJ Flair. And in typical TNA fashion, they completely forget that whole Sting thing before Hogan came about him not being happy about Hogan coming, wondering about his future in the company, etcetera. Why the hell would he come back to help Hulk Hogan and suck up to him?

The X Division is proudly touted, and Bischoff says he was so excited about being in TNA because of the X Division, and it's the heart of TNA... which is why he's said and done buttfuck nothing about the X Division since first coming here? YOU HURT THE THINGS YOU LOVE!! then they put on a match so heavily scripted, you could see the Kaz high-flying double-attacks virtually as soon as Christopher Daniels and Doug Williams started weakly punching at each other.

We get the main event starting early, then being screwed off early so we can get MORE of the EXACT SAME STUFF FROM LAST WEEK of Hulk Hogan's friends and family begging him not to go out there and wrestle.


The handling of Rob Van Dam was one of the biggest fuckups of TNA this year alone. First, Sting is tense and worried about him coming out, then gets easily beat by him in 20 seconds? Then he proceeds to spend 6-8 minutes just obliterating his shit again and again... and security HOLDS HULK HOGAN BACK, AWAY FROM STING, LETTING STING CONTINUE TO BEAT THE FUCKING SHIT OUT OF ROB VAN DAM?!

AND THEN STING JUST WHALLOPS HOGAN IN THE GUT, AND THEY STIIIILLL DO BUTTFUCK NOTHING TO STOP STING?!?!?!


The thinking and execution and reaction to that can best be summarized in this youtube video



Everything else was just average iMPACT

 

[Post]

Overall, I enjoyed Impact on 3/8. I saw a few things that needed work, but the Sting thing was not one of them.

Really, Sting is a chump. He is way past his expiration date and cuts terrible promos. Thank God they kept him off of the mic. The attacks on Hogan, Abyss, and RVD kept my interest. It showed a different side of Sting. I will tune in to follow this storyline.

The handling of RVD was HORRIBLE! I get that it is a way to build something up with Sting. RVD wrestled a 20 second match then got worked over with a baseball bat for 10 minutes...Nice introduction to the TNA fan base...looking like an absolute pussy. Then at the end of the show they had Jeff hardy come down for the big save. So, Hardy is what sticks in everyone's head and not RVD's 1st appearance.

Hardy should not have been showcased on RVD's 1st night...that was poor. They placed him at the very end of the show, so it's not like anyone switched over to see him...RAW was already over.

Beer Money going heel? Whatever I don't care as long as they are on tv. Roode and Storm are both great.

X division? Great triple threat match! Doug Williams is quickly becoming one of my favorites! Great Finisher! Shannon Moore was unexpected. I hope they keep the strap on Williams for a while. It would not be good to have the X Title be a revolving door (again).

 

[milfy21]

well in a whole the tna impact was way better then raw monday. I mean raw is getting so stale with the same wrestlers in the same matches every monday night. And when raw switch is it up a make a different match there is normally a stupid ending to it. Come on Vince vs cena u knew would be a total flop like it was. I believe that tna yes there was some stupid parts of the show ... i think the whole beer money jeff jarret match was sorta out of the blue.. but w/e atleast they have awsome matches and they change it up alot more then raw does. Raw will have the same match for months and months. Thats kewl if it is done right but the last time a remember them doing a long program right was undertaker and batista a while ago. Tna did a awsome program with angle and wolfe when he first came in.

Now onto the whole f'n show Rvd will be a key piece alone with jeff hardy. As far as they can go is as far as tna will go. RvD and hardy both bring with them main event exsperience that will only help TNA. personally i was more hyped up about RVD return then i was for hogan brets or anyone else. But thats me there are other people that think Bret's return was awsome. My thought is that the wwe totally could made the hart dynasty something important with Hart and they blew it.

The last thing is Stings heel turn.. dont you remember that when they first were going to the nwo in wcw. They were going to have sting be the main guy but changed there mind and went with hogan. So i think there just going to turn him heel and bring back the wolf pack, seeing how hall and waltmen keep bringin it up.

The heel change will work for sting now with rvd and hardy in tna as faces. With them here it allows sting to fued with them as the heel seeing rvd and hardy will have awsome fan support. That is why sting did what he did to rvd it wouldnt of work if he did it to someone like the pope(yes hes getting alot of fans support, but nothing like rvd)

Them are my thought on impact this week compard to raw... i would give impact a 8-10 and raw like the casual 5 were it always is even tho next money they have a good looking show on paper but lets see what the creative team can do. After reading the impact spoiler for next week they better have a good show because IMPACT has a awsome main event

 

[jaxx]

OMG!! I don't wanna come off as anti-tna or just straight up rant about last nights show, so lets hit the positives. I really really really want TNA to succeed which is why it pisses me off when they screw up. First off I applaud them for actually wrestling on the show, and I appreciate the fact that Bischof recognized the x-division as the adrenaline of TNA and I hope this will refocus and renew the x-division. kaz, daniels, and williams had a good match.

Now, I have said it b4 and I'll say it again, please, please, FIRE RUSSO!! This impact could have been so much better,yet Dixie continues to let Russo write and book matches that make no sense. What was the purpose of turning sting heel? You've tried it twice and failed!! Fans just love this guy, he's my favorite wrestler also. He still gets cheers from the fans even when he's trying to be a heel. Where the hell is the logic in this? Beer money turned heel again? Why? oh wait, because they're trying to get noticed, because they haven't been on tv. But wait a minute, Beer money wrestled last week and pinnned the wtt champions. Where the hell is the logic in this? (classic russo)

Now this is not Russo's fault, but if you are gonna sign a top talent like RVD, please advertise so you can create interest. Once you announce this signing then you tease, and entice the fans to watch in order to see who else shows up. I apologize for going on and on, but as a fan I really wanna see this company succeed because of the great talent they have.

How do you feel about last nights impact?
Edit/Delete Message

 

[Captain Insane0]

if you liked seeing two old geezers bleed themselves to death TNA on monday was much better. RVD and Sting situation was so stupid. i called my friend a TNA mark and told him that and he agreed. I know u wanna make sting heel when it probably wont work but you have RVD debuting have him beat THE ICON Sting with the rolling thunder. Then Sting goes batting practice on him all over the ring. and hogan who is in charge i guess is being held back by security which allows him to be hit by sting. Does he have power or not. That alone was one of the worst debuts ive ever seen besides the SHockmaster LMAO.

 

[T2KFreeker]

Learn people. Who said Sting is a heel? The storyline hasn't played out. I am telling you he is going to be a part of the Jarrett and Foley group due to the fact he "Hates" Hogan and Bischoff. At least let the storyline play out. I do agree that th ey really should have handled the RVD thing better than they did. Other than that though, TNA was just fine and if they can continue to keep this energy and book the stuff right, TNA will succeed. The company is moving in the right direction. Hell, even Mark Madden had to admit that Mondays Impact didn't suck and I almost had a heart attack on that one. TNA impressed Madden? All Hell froze over! Impact was fine last Monday. Watch RAW? Now there is a show that totally needs something new as I was thoroughly bored watching it.

 

[elaire26]

I pulled into a bar Monday night and was able to actually watch the first night of MNW II head to head. I wanted TNA to do better, but IMO, RAW won.

Why?

Sting heel turn? Shwhat?
All about Hogan.
RVD quick win, then beat up?
Old guys desperate for money in the main event.
BROOKE HOGAN EVEN GOT A CHECK THIS WEEK? Double-U Tee Eff???
Not good, TNA. You let me down.

Dixie, please. Release Hogan, Bischoff, The Nastys, Jordan, Bubba... stop blowing money on garbage...

 

[avi01]

well, again I watched TNA really really wanting to like it but sorry, this is just bad.
I`m not going to say it was boring cause it had so much happening ,all over the place yeah...but all freaking abysmal.
RVD to TNA. This had me watch TNA over WWE this week and what a disappointment...terrible. Quick victory, probably not meaning much and bang got beat up big time. What was up with that? Worst segment and waste of talent cause I love RVD.
The Sting turns heel. Really? I don`t think him or Hogan are the persons on which they should loose so much screen time. And Hogan is doing all except helping.
There were some goof stuffs, sure but they were certainly not from TNA`s recent 'acquisitions'.They`re just hurting the show.
I really really tried to like this but it was bad. Raw was pretty meh, ups and downs and overall I think both shows were not good enough but still Raw was more entertaining. TNA had me like "WOW" but not for the right reason.

 

[MisterRob]

I was just reading Lance Storm's commentary on RAW vs. Impact this week. I often agree with Lance's insight and opinions and I felt the need to post his review on Impact because I feel entirely the same as him and I think it really gives some good insight not only into the show this past Monday but also into the problems in TNA's product right now.

My god I hated this show. I actually watched it first. I DVR’d both shows and with kids, I had to watch them in order of which DVR I had access to first and TNA won out. TNA did have way more happening on their show than RAW did but IMO most of it made little sense. Like RAW let me take a look at a few key segments.

Hogan & Abyss – Flair & AJ: I am so sick of the swerve for the sake of the swerve. Russo books this kind of thing all the time and its complete bullshit. The Sting turn was wrong on so many different levels I don’t even know where to start. WHY did Sting do what he did, it made no sense. I can hear the argument now, “Oh wait, why Sting turned heel will be revealed in time”, but that of course is complete bullshit and anyone who understand BOOKING knows it’s complete bullshit. This isn’t even about Sting’s motivation to turn heel, it’s about his actions on the show and the fact that they made no sense and ultimately made no impact. Before Sting came out the heels had the faces down and were stomping on them. Sting then ran down and stopped them, allowing the faces to get back to their feet. He then hits the faces he just saved with the bat, knocking them down and then he leaves. The heels then proceed to stomp on the baby faces again. The scene was EXACTY the same after Sting left as it was before he came out. Net result = 0; so what did it mean? The answer is nothing. Stings attacked resulted in NOTHING. If Sting wanted the faces to get beat up he could have just stayed in the back and did nothing and got the same result. I don’t even want to get into the fact that Russo has tried to turn Sting heel at least twice before and it has never worked. Fans like this guy, why swim up stream and try to get them to boo him?

Hogan backstage segments: Like the Chris Angle segments I want to lump these together because I hated them all. Although at least the Chris Angle stuff was just pointless, these segments were detrimental to the show. The thought of hyping a main event match by constantly promoting the fact that the top Hero in the match is too old and washed up to compete anymore is just beyond me. The bulk of these segments established that no one thought Hogan had anything left to offer and Hogan agreed with them. Then Hogan and Bischoff tell us that Hogan is the ONLY chance this company has and without him TNA is dead and not worth a damn. That’s one hell of a sales pitch. Better yet Earl Hebner; remember him? Earl was fired by Hulk Hogan for taking money from Ric and AJ to screw over Kurt Angle in a match Hogan booked. So Hogan not only hires him back but makes him the ref of his own match against Ric and AJ. (WTF?) It gets better, Hogan goes on to make Earl promise that if things get tough out there and it looks bad for him, PLEASE STOP THE MATCH. Unless the goal was to ensure Hogan can never draw a dime ever again, I have no idea what the point of this was.

Williams-Daniels-Kaz: Best match of the night on either show (ROH excluded, I don’t get HD Net, which makes me very sad). Wow three guys going out there and producing the best segment on Impact with no angles or bullshit at all. Good hard fought exciting match. Please give me more of this!!!!!

Sting – RVD: This was the worst thing on either show by far. To start I can’t believe they signed RVD and wanted to keep it secret. TNA needs ratings, to get those you have to get people who don’t watch your show to start. Rob is a big deal, fans LOVE this guy, so you need to let them know he will be on your show. That being said they did such a horrible job with RVD they should be glad if none of his fans saw this. Fans got to cheer RVD for about 10 second. He got a fluke (jumped him from behind) win over Sting, that meant nothing, and then proceeded to get the hell beat out of him for what felt like 10 minutes. This was a complete burial because the focus of this endless beat down wasn’t heat between RVD and Sting; it was between Sting and Hogan. RVD was left as nothing more than an after thought because the focus at the close of the segment was Sting laying out Hulk Hogan, again. Rob was not mentioned again, he was forgotten. What a waste. They wasted Rob Van Dam’s debut in order to get over Sting hitting Hogan with a bat... something that had already been done earlier in the show.

Beer Money – JJ: I just have to clarify one point here. Beer Money turned heel tonight because (according to the announcers) they hadn’t been on TV much lately and were trying to get noticed. For the record last week on Impact Beer Money pinned the World Tag Team Champions, and were scheduled to get a Title shot at the PPV. Remind me again how Vince Russo is a great story teller.

Main Event: If the show would have ended at the finish of this match I might have been able to give this a thumbs up since Abyss is challenging AJ at the next PPV and he pinned him here to build toward that match. Unfortunately the show didn’t end there and TNA decided to dilute all that with a bunch of run ins. Pope and Nigel have pretty much nothing to do with this and the show closed with Jeff Hardy laying out AJ Styles, despite AJ facing Abyss on this PPV and Pope on the next one.

In closing, the ratings just came in and the WAR may be over already. RAW got a 3.4 and Impact got 0.98. Yes the biggest night in TNA History Live on Monday night produced a ratings drop from the 1.1 they pulled the last 2 weeks doing taped shows on Thursdays and those 1.1’s were considered bad. If you look at the quarter hours, things look even worse. Impact opened and closed the show with their TOP angle: Hogan & Abyss vs. Flair and AJ. This was the match that was supposed to pull the ratings and the opening and closing segments of the show were the lowest rated. Excluding the over run, the last quarter hour rating for the show was a 0.76 (the lowest rated segment on the show). WWE’s last quarter hour on the other hand was a 3.6 (the highest rated segment on the show).

What more can be said,
Lance

 

[psykohurricane]

I'm glad that mister rob posted Lance's commentary because i actually wanted to post it since i totally agree with Lance about both show. I actually didn't watch the whole TNA show last monday because i was watching Raw and taping something else. So i taped the replay last thursday and just finish watching it and boy was i disappointed after watching. Yes, there was some good stuff in there like the Sting heel turn even through it was badly executed it still was really interesting. The x-division match was fun to watch even if it was a little bit predictable, same goes for the knockout tag title match. The rest of the show was pretty much boring. The fact is, nothing made sense and alot of what was happening was badly executed.

I'm all for being patient with TNA but it's been almost 8 years now and they still don't know how to produce well thought out storylines they means something. WCW was able to do that in 5 years.

TNA wants to play with the big dogs so do it and stop copying what the competition was doing 10 years ago. Create your own identity instead of copying someone else. You want to be respected by the competition and by the casual wrestling fans, go for it and do something that will get there attention because right now, with the current product you given them, your not going to be a threat for a very long time and will always be regarded as a WWE-lite type product.