[Official] TNA TV Shows Aftermath, Review & Ratings Thread
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ECW Sandman
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I am HUGH Fallen Angel Fan have been sense I first started watching TNA back in 04-05 on FSN.
Funny thing about this episode, the only thing i hate was the knockout segments. First i hate the whole Karen Angle being the boss of the knockout segment, only because i doesn't make sense to have here as the boss especially if it lead to a match at some point against Traci Brooks or Mickie James.
As for Mickie James, why gives her the belt back so soon, i really would have love to see Winter run with the ball a little bit longer, see what they could have done with the character as champion instead of going back to Mickie James. Like i wrote somewhere else, Mickie James is the John Cena of TNA, they really don't want to hurt her standing in the knockout division and she's book to look boring and it's always the same type of match everytime. Too bad because Mickie is better then that.
As for Mickie James, why gives her the belt back so soon, i really would have love to see Winter run with the ball a little bit longer, see what they could have done with the character as champion instead of going back to Mickie James. Like i wrote somewhere else, Mickie James is the John Cena of TNA, they really don't want to hurt her standing in the knockout division and she's book to look boring and it's always the same type of match everytime. Too bad because Mickie is better then that.
Jack-Hammer
YOU WILL RESPECT MY AUTHORITAH!!!!
Impact Wrestling - September 1, 2011
Opening Segment - The opener of the show didn't really do much for me. Mostly, it was just the same old same old that we've seen out of Hulk Hogan and Sting for a while now. For me, there was a little too much mutual ******io going on between Hogan & Angle. I know they're in an alliance, I guess I'm just tired of all the talk about "respect" and how much everyone respects each other and what they've done or meant for the business. The segment did do an ok job of setting up the main event but I can't pretend to care. As I feared a few weeks back, the TNA World Heavyweight Championship has entered a period of stagnation. Everything at this point in time with it feels like filler and, to be honest, that's exactly what it is until it's time for Bound For Glory. I'm not saying that there's necessarily anything that TNA could have done to avoid it, I'm just not interested in Angle vs. Sting. Thumbs Down
Rob Van Dam vs. Gunner - This match was to determine the final member in the BFG Series final four. As with other BFG Series matches shown on IW, nothing particularly memorable about the match. It was alright while it lasted but, generally speaking, it just came across like the typical 5 minutes of filler that passes for wrestling action on TNA television. The stuff with Samoa Joe & Jerry Lynn just further took away from the match and Gunner continues to lookl ike he's out of his league in my eyes as RVD spent much of the match dominating him. Gunner does wind up getting the win after Jerry Lynn pushes RVD off the top rope as he's going for the Five Star Frog Splash. The whole situation with RVD & Jerry Lynn has lazy booking written all over it and I'd bet that the explanation for Lynn's actions will probably be as lame as his involvement has been. Gunner is the final member of the BFG Series final four. *1/4
Eric Bischoff & The Knockouts - For me, it's kind of hard to care about a 15 minute segment featuring the Knockouts, though I won't be at all surprised if it turns out to be the highest rated segment of last night's show. Bischoff did a good job coming across as a sexist sleazeball though the whole notion of Traci Brooks "sleeping" with Bischoff only to be double crossed is a worn out cliche` that we've seen dozens of times in movies, television and even in wrestling in the past. Making Karen Jarrett the VP of the Knockouts Division is interesting. She's easily the most over female on the TNA roster. At the same time though, what it did mostly was just make every Knockout on the roster look like a face even if they're heels. It wasn't a bad segment or anything like that, don't get me wrong on that. I don't necessarily care about the Knockout Division anymore as it's long since devolved to the same level as the Divas in WWE, but this could be good use of Karen Jarrett and she did a good job on the stick. Thumbs Up
Brian Kendrick & Jesse Sorensen vs. Austin Aries & Kid Kash - Pretty decent 5 minute X Division tag team match here. I absolutely despise Brian Kendrick's entrance music but all the wrestlers did a solid job in the match. I honestly don't know why some people are suddenly going crazy over Sorensen. He has a solid look and looks to be solid in the ring so far but there are people that are practically saying that he's the next Randy Orton or AJ Styles. The "Tower of Doom" spot was fun though definitely had the look of a hugely, heavily choreographed spot. It got a rise out of the crowd who, for the most part, had been fairly quiet. Sorensen winds up getting the win over Kid Kash via roll up. They're protecting Aries as the top heel of the X Division, which is good, but there's still nobody else that stands out in the X Division right now. **
Jeff Hardy Hype - I thought TNA did a decent job of hyping Jeff Hardy's return for next week's show. It'll definitely be a big draw, TNA wise, and it'll give people a reason to tune in next week. As I said in a thread I started recently, this could be an intriguing opportunity for both TNA & Jeff Hardy or it can wind up looking like a train wreck that makes Jerry Springer look classy. Thumbs Up
Mickie James vs. Winter for the TNA Knockouts Championship - Pretty decent match overall I have to admit. This was definitely an above average Knockout match that told a good story and had some good action. The downside was that we're treated to another meaningless Knockouts title change. The TNA Knockouts Championship is pretty worthless and I don't see why they even bothered to put it on Winter in the first place. It's almost like Mickie James is TNA's version of John Cena, just with a large C cup and looks better in her outfits. Mickie gets the win at the 6 minute mark after landing a kick to Winter. **
Matt Morgan & Samoa Joe - Decent brawl segment between these two but nothing overly special. TNA had an opportunity here to make Samoa Joe look like a monster but they didn't do it. Instead, he ultimately came out on the worse end of the brawl. Joe punted him in the crotch and that's all well and good but this didn't really progress Joe any further than where we've seen him for a while. Why not just have him go in there and just flat out wreck guys like Mark Henry does? Thumbs In The Middle
AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels - Very solid match up from these guys with good back and forth action. The opening saw some fun rapid fire chain wrestling from them. The match was good paced and competitive, far above the standard norm that we usually see on Impact Wrestling. Of course, this match can't compare to some of the stuff we've seen from them in the past. It was only 7 minutes, but it was a quality 7 minutes. The ending comes with Styles going to the top, slipping and Daniels taking advantage to get the win. ***
Kurt Angle vs. Sting for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship - Generally speaking, pretty standard TNA main event with tons of overbooking, blatant referee incompotence and a good measure of outside interference. There was some decent action that happened during the match but, again, all the overbooking ultimately just took away from the match. Sting eventually puts Angle in the Scorpion Deathlock and Angle taps, only the ref is away trying to get Gunner out of the way. Sting lets Angle go, jaws with Hogan for a bit and then Angle hits the Angle Slam on the steel chair for the win. *1/2
Overall Show - Overall, I thought last night's episode of Impact Wrestling was a decent show. Personally, I don't believe they knocked one out of the park by any stretch but I enjoyed it much more than usual. The opening segment was typical and generally uninteresting for me. RVD vs. Gunner was your typical forgettable BFG Series match, the X Division tag team match was pretty solid though no one outside of Austin Aries comes off as having star potential. The Knockout segment was ok, a minor hit in my view as Karen Jarrett did a good job on the mic and it's good use of her. The Knockouts Championship match between Mickie James & Winter was much better than usual but it's ultimately just another meaningless title change. The hype for Jeff Hardy's return was good, they didn't try to go overboard with it and the brawl with Samoa Joe & Matt Morgan was kinda hit & miss. AJ Styles vs. Chrisopher Daniels was a very solid, fun 7 minute match while the main event was the typical convoluted, overbooked stuff we're used to seeing from TNA. Overall wrestling content on the show was actually pretty solid and all the storylines continue to be the same. Aside from Jeff Hardy's announced return, I don't think there was anything that happened last night to turn someone on if they weren't turned on for what TNA was putting out before.
Grade: C
Opening Segment - The opener of the show didn't really do much for me. Mostly, it was just the same old same old that we've seen out of Hulk Hogan and Sting for a while now. For me, there was a little too much mutual ******io going on between Hogan & Angle. I know they're in an alliance, I guess I'm just tired of all the talk about "respect" and how much everyone respects each other and what they've done or meant for the business. The segment did do an ok job of setting up the main event but I can't pretend to care. As I feared a few weeks back, the TNA World Heavyweight Championship has entered a period of stagnation. Everything at this point in time with it feels like filler and, to be honest, that's exactly what it is until it's time for Bound For Glory. I'm not saying that there's necessarily anything that TNA could have done to avoid it, I'm just not interested in Angle vs. Sting. Thumbs Down
Rob Van Dam vs. Gunner - This match was to determine the final member in the BFG Series final four. As with other BFG Series matches shown on IW, nothing particularly memorable about the match. It was alright while it lasted but, generally speaking, it just came across like the typical 5 minutes of filler that passes for wrestling action on TNA television. The stuff with Samoa Joe & Jerry Lynn just further took away from the match and Gunner continues to lookl ike he's out of his league in my eyes as RVD spent much of the match dominating him. Gunner does wind up getting the win after Jerry Lynn pushes RVD off the top rope as he's going for the Five Star Frog Splash. The whole situation with RVD & Jerry Lynn has lazy booking written all over it and I'd bet that the explanation for Lynn's actions will probably be as lame as his involvement has been. Gunner is the final member of the BFG Series final four. *1/4
Eric Bischoff & The Knockouts - For me, it's kind of hard to care about a 15 minute segment featuring the Knockouts, though I won't be at all surprised if it turns out to be the highest rated segment of last night's show. Bischoff did a good job coming across as a sexist sleazeball though the whole notion of Traci Brooks "sleeping" with Bischoff only to be double crossed is a worn out cliche` that we've seen dozens of times in movies, television and even in wrestling in the past. Making Karen Jarrett the VP of the Knockouts Division is interesting. She's easily the most over female on the TNA roster. At the same time though, what it did mostly was just make every Knockout on the roster look like a face even if they're heels. It wasn't a bad segment or anything like that, don't get me wrong on that. I don't necessarily care about the Knockout Division anymore as it's long since devolved to the same level as the Divas in WWE, but this could be good use of Karen Jarrett and she did a good job on the stick. Thumbs Up
Brian Kendrick & Jesse Sorensen vs. Austin Aries & Kid Kash - Pretty decent 5 minute X Division tag team match here. I absolutely despise Brian Kendrick's entrance music but all the wrestlers did a solid job in the match. I honestly don't know why some people are suddenly going crazy over Sorensen. He has a solid look and looks to be solid in the ring so far but there are people that are practically saying that he's the next Randy Orton or AJ Styles. The "Tower of Doom" spot was fun though definitely had the look of a hugely, heavily choreographed spot. It got a rise out of the crowd who, for the most part, had been fairly quiet. Sorensen winds up getting the win over Kid Kash via roll up. They're protecting Aries as the top heel of the X Division, which is good, but there's still nobody else that stands out in the X Division right now. **
Jeff Hardy Hype - I thought TNA did a decent job of hyping Jeff Hardy's return for next week's show. It'll definitely be a big draw, TNA wise, and it'll give people a reason to tune in next week. As I said in a thread I started recently, this could be an intriguing opportunity for both TNA & Jeff Hardy or it can wind up looking like a train wreck that makes Jerry Springer look classy. Thumbs Up
Mickie James vs. Winter for the TNA Knockouts Championship - Pretty decent match overall I have to admit. This was definitely an above average Knockout match that told a good story and had some good action. The downside was that we're treated to another meaningless Knockouts title change. The TNA Knockouts Championship is pretty worthless and I don't see why they even bothered to put it on Winter in the first place. It's almost like Mickie James is TNA's version of John Cena, just with a large C cup and looks better in her outfits. Mickie gets the win at the 6 minute mark after landing a kick to Winter. **
Matt Morgan & Samoa Joe - Decent brawl segment between these two but nothing overly special. TNA had an opportunity here to make Samoa Joe look like a monster but they didn't do it. Instead, he ultimately came out on the worse end of the brawl. Joe punted him in the crotch and that's all well and good but this didn't really progress Joe any further than where we've seen him for a while. Why not just have him go in there and just flat out wreck guys like Mark Henry does? Thumbs In The Middle
AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels - Very solid match up from these guys with good back and forth action. The opening saw some fun rapid fire chain wrestling from them. The match was good paced and competitive, far above the standard norm that we usually see on Impact Wrestling. Of course, this match can't compare to some of the stuff we've seen from them in the past. It was only 7 minutes, but it was a quality 7 minutes. The ending comes with Styles going to the top, slipping and Daniels taking advantage to get the win. ***
Kurt Angle vs. Sting for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship - Generally speaking, pretty standard TNA main event with tons of overbooking, blatant referee incompotence and a good measure of outside interference. There was some decent action that happened during the match but, again, all the overbooking ultimately just took away from the match. Sting eventually puts Angle in the Scorpion Deathlock and Angle taps, only the ref is away trying to get Gunner out of the way. Sting lets Angle go, jaws with Hogan for a bit and then Angle hits the Angle Slam on the steel chair for the win. *1/2
Overall Show - Overall, I thought last night's episode of Impact Wrestling was a decent show. Personally, I don't believe they knocked one out of the park by any stretch but I enjoyed it much more than usual. The opening segment was typical and generally uninteresting for me. RVD vs. Gunner was your typical forgettable BFG Series match, the X Division tag team match was pretty solid though no one outside of Austin Aries comes off as having star potential. The Knockout segment was ok, a minor hit in my view as Karen Jarrett did a good job on the mic and it's good use of her. The Knockouts Championship match between Mickie James & Winter was much better than usual but it's ultimately just another meaningless title change. The hype for Jeff Hardy's return was good, they didn't try to go overboard with it and the brawl with Samoa Joe & Matt Morgan was kinda hit & miss. AJ Styles vs. Chrisopher Daniels was a very solid, fun 7 minute match while the main event was the typical convoluted, overbooked stuff we're used to seeing from TNA. Overall wrestling content on the show was actually pretty solid and all the storylines continue to be the same. Aside from Jeff Hardy's announced return, I don't think there was anything that happened last night to turn someone on if they weren't turned on for what TNA was putting out before.
Grade: C
Jack-Hammer
YOU WILL RESPECT MY AUTHORITAH!!!!
TNA Impact Wrestling - September 8, 2011
Opening Segment - IW opened tonight with Mr. Anderson coming out to a nice pop from the crowd in Huntsville. Anderson was ok on the mic but I'm just kinda over the asshole schtick at this point in time. I wasn't at all crazy about his interaction with Sting after The Icon came out. The segment did a good job of setting up the main event of Angle vs. Anderson but I can't say I'm all that excited. Anderson is someone who has really grown weak over the course of this year and just no longer strikes me as a viable main event threat at this time. Thumbs In The Middle
Devon & The Pope D'Angelo Dinero vs. The British Invasion - Generally speaking, pretty lame tag team match here. It was a match to determine the #1 contenders for the TNA World Tag Team Championship and who would face Mexican America at No Surrender. To me, the match kind of showed just how far the tag team scene has fallen in TNA. To my knowlege, this was really the first team up of Pope & Devon and tonight was just a random appearance from the brits. So, of course, you knew the brits were going to lose and lose quickly before the bell rang. There was some decent action, just ultimately hard to become invested that the winners would face the reigning tag champs at a ppv. Pope & Devon get the win at the 3.5 minute mark when Devon got the win via spinebuster. Oh, and Mexican America were doing guest commentary. 1/2*
BFG Series Final Four Promo Segment - Overall, I thought this was a great promo segment featuring some strong mic work from Bully Ray & Bobby Roode. It was kind of standard stuff with Ray hyping himself as a "tag team god". I also like that he kinda put over Beer Money at the same time. Roode also did a good job of basically saying that he wasn't buying into Ray's strategy of trying to form a rift between himself & Storm. He & Ray also did a good job of generally hyping the importance of being a World Champion. One thing I noticed however is that, more than ever, Gunner is someone that just looks completely out of place and out of his league. Gunner just looks like someone who should be carrying these 3 guys' bags to and from their car. He didn't say a word during the promo and stood there like a chump instead of interjecting himself and making himself a presence in this situation. The rest of it was good, but I'm just more convinced than ever that Gunner's just not got it. Thumbs Up
Eric Young vs. Robbie E. for the TNA Television Championship - The last 30 seconds of this match were actually pretty decent. The other 2.5 minutes of it was what you'd generally come to expect from EY & Robbie E. and that's not saying much. If they're not going to start having TV title matches once again, then stop treating the title like a comedy prop. EY retains after hitting Robbie with a piledriver. After the match, Rob Terry jumps Young and leaves him laying after a powerbomb. 1/2*
RVD & Jerry Lynn and Knockouts Backstage - The first segment showed RVD confronting Lynn in what looked like a bathroom. He says that Lynn screwed him and Lynn confirms that he did because RVD is the one that all the companies call for contracts and all this and that. Basically, they're doing a jealousy angle with these two in which Lynn feels he's the better man but hasn't gotten opportunities. It's better than them going with what I feared they were going for, which was Lynn doing what he did because RVD didn't appreciate his attemps to help him. As for the Knockouts backstage, Karen Jarrett did a nice job of invoking her authority as Knockout VP over Mickie James & Velvet Sky. I wish they'd have left out Karen basically saying that Velvet needed to lose weight. I've heard enough ridiculous and inaccurate fat jokes in wrestling over the last year or so to last a lifetime. Far as I'm concerned, ain't nothing but some sweet thickness Velvet Sky has. Both segments were passable. Nothing great or anything like that, but ok. Thumbs Up
Kurt Angle vs. Mr. Andeson for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship - Pretty good match while it lasted. I say that a lot when it comes to TNA main event matches and this one was kinda more of the same. Angle & Anderson were having a solid match and the last 30-60 seconds of the match itself put a big damper on it. The first 6 minutes of the match were solid with Angle & Anderson giving a good showing of themselves. After that came the first step of the big overbooking aspect we see constantly in TNA main events. There was a slight ref bump, he didn't get knocked down, and Angle hits a low blow on Anderson before hitting the Angle Slam. Sting grabs the ref by the ankle, pulls him out to keep him from making the count. Angle screams at both of them, Anderson recovers and hits the Mic Check. Anderson goes for the win and here comes Immortal to end the match via DQ. I guess it's alright for Sting to yank the ref out of the ring but Gunner can't kick Anderson in the head. Immortal beats down Anderson & Sting and leaves them laying. **1/4
Mickie James & Velvet Sky vs. Angelina Love & Winter - Decent 5 minute Knockout tag match. Not really great but not bad and definitely above average in my view. Velvet looked much better out there tonight than in the last tag match I saw her. The ending came with Winter using that stupid blood mist or acid or whatever the hell it is and spit it in Mickie's eyes for the win. I can't say I give a crap about Mickie James vs. Winter and the match was ok. It was filler, but it was ok filler. *
Austin Aries & Brian Kendrick - Pretty much what I was expecting here. Aries did a good job on the mic and got some good heat from the crowd. Kendrick came out in a suit and, for a moment, I thought he might do something different but it was mostly just the same. He started talking about Buddha & meditation and all this other philosophical gunk that he spews all the time and I just tuned him out after that. He started to beat on Aries for a bit before A Double beat a hasty retreat. I seriously hope they put the X Division Championship on him and get it off of that goof Kendrick. Thumbs In The Middle
Bobby Roode vs. James Storm vs. Bully Ray vs. Gunner[/B] - This was supposed to be a Four Corners match but, generally, it just turned out to be a tag team match without any of the guys having to tag in and out. Before the match started, Samoa Joe & Matt Morgan were brawling outside the ring. I should say that Joe came down the ramp and Morgan came after him & jumped him. Just really thrown together and generally unnecessary. As for the match itself, it really just felt like your typical forgettable BFG Series match. Kind of a cluster of spots here and there with the Four Corners aspect of the match kind of wasted. The ending comes after Ray nails Storm before hitting a Bubba Bomb on Roode. Gunner comes out of the corner with a running knee into Ray's face and scores the win. I know they did that to somehow try and make Gunner look dangerous and a legit contender but, seriously, it just didn't work. It came off like a fluke and Gunner continues to just look like he's far out of his league. *1/2
Jeff Hardy Segment - Hardy came out to a big round of applause and got on the mic. Hardy looked uncomfortable talking, though that's normal as the guy can't really talk on the mic. I thought it could have been the subject matter but I find that hard to believe because Hardy completely danced around the subject at hand. He said he'd made mistakes and didn't deserve the cheers he was getting, which I do agree with, but he never just flat out came out and said "I have a drug problem". That was what I was hoping and praying to hear, not to put him down or anything like that. It just would have been a HUGE step and would have lent just a HUGE aspect of reality to where TNA could eventually go with this. Hardy came off to me looking like someone who was trying his best to act like he was remorseful instead of showing genuine emotion. There were no tears in his eyes, you could see that clearly as the camera was so close that you could count the number of hairs on his chin. It all just felt quite underwhelming to me quite frankly. Earlier today, it was reported that Hardy will be in jail for 10 days, pay a six figure fine and be on probation for 2.5 years. I'm hoping that Hardy has had a legit breakthrough, I honestly am. As a viewer of tonight's show, however, I just didn't see it on my television. That doesn't mean that Hardy hasn't had a breakthrough or anything like that, he just came across as a guy phoning it in in my view on the screen. I saw a guy say that he basically screwed up and would like another chance. And the fans that just suddenly started chanting and applauding as if all was just forgiven and forgotten...that was just pitiful. Time will ultimately tell but just going by this, I thought the promo was a huge letdown. Thumbs Down
Overall Show - Overall, I thought the show was sort of like last week's show in the sense that it had it's ups and downs. I did think last week's show was better, however. The show opened with a basic promo to set up the main event, nothing wrong with that. The problem is that I no longer see Anderson as a viable main eventer. He's just looked far too weak for far too long and, in my opinion, needs to be built back up. The promo featuring the BFG Series Final Four was the highlight of the show for me as Roode & Ray really did a great job on the stick. Austin Aries also had a good night on the mic, it's just a shame that he's feuding with Brian Kendrick. As for wrestling action on the show, pretty weak overall. The first match was a 3.5 minute snoozefest featuring a team that's been "thrown together", to use the IWC term, and a team of brits having a random appearance on the show. Eric Young vs. Robbie E. was pretty much the 2.5 minutes of crap you'd expect, thought he last 30 seconds were actually alright. The Knockouts had an alright filler tag match in which Winter pulls out the lame blood mist again. The TNA WHC match between Angle & Anderson was pretty solid and had a chance to be really good but we were treated to your typical overbooked, convoluted ending. The BFG Series Four Corners match was kinda dull, was a FC match in name only until the last 5 seconds of it and was as forgettable as all the other BFG Series matches on IW. Lastly, Jeff Hardy's promo was just very underwhelming I thought. Maybe Jeff Hardy just can't really express himself that well emotionally, maybe he was feeding us a line of bullshit that he didn't mean a word of, I dunno. To me, it just looked and sounded like something rehearsed. If I'm wrong, then I fully accept that I stuck my foot in my mouth on this. Shit, I hope I'm wrong. It just didn't feel like nearly what I was hoping for.
Grade: C-
Opening Segment - IW opened tonight with Mr. Anderson coming out to a nice pop from the crowd in Huntsville. Anderson was ok on the mic but I'm just kinda over the asshole schtick at this point in time. I wasn't at all crazy about his interaction with Sting after The Icon came out. The segment did a good job of setting up the main event of Angle vs. Anderson but I can't say I'm all that excited. Anderson is someone who has really grown weak over the course of this year and just no longer strikes me as a viable main event threat at this time. Thumbs In The Middle
Devon & The Pope D'Angelo Dinero vs. The British Invasion - Generally speaking, pretty lame tag team match here. It was a match to determine the #1 contenders for the TNA World Tag Team Championship and who would face Mexican America at No Surrender. To me, the match kind of showed just how far the tag team scene has fallen in TNA. To my knowlege, this was really the first team up of Pope & Devon and tonight was just a random appearance from the brits. So, of course, you knew the brits were going to lose and lose quickly before the bell rang. There was some decent action, just ultimately hard to become invested that the winners would face the reigning tag champs at a ppv. Pope & Devon get the win at the 3.5 minute mark when Devon got the win via spinebuster. Oh, and Mexican America were doing guest commentary. 1/2*
BFG Series Final Four Promo Segment - Overall, I thought this was a great promo segment featuring some strong mic work from Bully Ray & Bobby Roode. It was kind of standard stuff with Ray hyping himself as a "tag team god". I also like that he kinda put over Beer Money at the same time. Roode also did a good job of basically saying that he wasn't buying into Ray's strategy of trying to form a rift between himself & Storm. He & Ray also did a good job of generally hyping the importance of being a World Champion. One thing I noticed however is that, more than ever, Gunner is someone that just looks completely out of place and out of his league. Gunner just looks like someone who should be carrying these 3 guys' bags to and from their car. He didn't say a word during the promo and stood there like a chump instead of interjecting himself and making himself a presence in this situation. The rest of it was good, but I'm just more convinced than ever that Gunner's just not got it. Thumbs Up
Eric Young vs. Robbie E. for the TNA Television Championship - The last 30 seconds of this match were actually pretty decent. The other 2.5 minutes of it was what you'd generally come to expect from EY & Robbie E. and that's not saying much. If they're not going to start having TV title matches once again, then stop treating the title like a comedy prop. EY retains after hitting Robbie with a piledriver. After the match, Rob Terry jumps Young and leaves him laying after a powerbomb. 1/2*
RVD & Jerry Lynn and Knockouts Backstage - The first segment showed RVD confronting Lynn in what looked like a bathroom. He says that Lynn screwed him and Lynn confirms that he did because RVD is the one that all the companies call for contracts and all this and that. Basically, they're doing a jealousy angle with these two in which Lynn feels he's the better man but hasn't gotten opportunities. It's better than them going with what I feared they were going for, which was Lynn doing what he did because RVD didn't appreciate his attemps to help him. As for the Knockouts backstage, Karen Jarrett did a nice job of invoking her authority as Knockout VP over Mickie James & Velvet Sky. I wish they'd have left out Karen basically saying that Velvet needed to lose weight. I've heard enough ridiculous and inaccurate fat jokes in wrestling over the last year or so to last a lifetime. Far as I'm concerned, ain't nothing but some sweet thickness Velvet Sky has. Both segments were passable. Nothing great or anything like that, but ok. Thumbs Up
Kurt Angle vs. Mr. Andeson for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship - Pretty good match while it lasted. I say that a lot when it comes to TNA main event matches and this one was kinda more of the same. Angle & Anderson were having a solid match and the last 30-60 seconds of the match itself put a big damper on it. The first 6 minutes of the match were solid with Angle & Anderson giving a good showing of themselves. After that came the first step of the big overbooking aspect we see constantly in TNA main events. There was a slight ref bump, he didn't get knocked down, and Angle hits a low blow on Anderson before hitting the Angle Slam. Sting grabs the ref by the ankle, pulls him out to keep him from making the count. Angle screams at both of them, Anderson recovers and hits the Mic Check. Anderson goes for the win and here comes Immortal to end the match via DQ. I guess it's alright for Sting to yank the ref out of the ring but Gunner can't kick Anderson in the head. Immortal beats down Anderson & Sting and leaves them laying. **1/4
Mickie James & Velvet Sky vs. Angelina Love & Winter - Decent 5 minute Knockout tag match. Not really great but not bad and definitely above average in my view. Velvet looked much better out there tonight than in the last tag match I saw her. The ending came with Winter using that stupid blood mist or acid or whatever the hell it is and spit it in Mickie's eyes for the win. I can't say I give a crap about Mickie James vs. Winter and the match was ok. It was filler, but it was ok filler. *
Austin Aries & Brian Kendrick - Pretty much what I was expecting here. Aries did a good job on the mic and got some good heat from the crowd. Kendrick came out in a suit and, for a moment, I thought he might do something different but it was mostly just the same. He started talking about Buddha & meditation and all this other philosophical gunk that he spews all the time and I just tuned him out after that. He started to beat on Aries for a bit before A Double beat a hasty retreat. I seriously hope they put the X Division Championship on him and get it off of that goof Kendrick. Thumbs In The Middle
Bobby Roode vs. James Storm vs. Bully Ray vs. Gunner[/B] - This was supposed to be a Four Corners match but, generally, it just turned out to be a tag team match without any of the guys having to tag in and out. Before the match started, Samoa Joe & Matt Morgan were brawling outside the ring. I should say that Joe came down the ramp and Morgan came after him & jumped him. Just really thrown together and generally unnecessary. As for the match itself, it really just felt like your typical forgettable BFG Series match. Kind of a cluster of spots here and there with the Four Corners aspect of the match kind of wasted. The ending comes after Ray nails Storm before hitting a Bubba Bomb on Roode. Gunner comes out of the corner with a running knee into Ray's face and scores the win. I know they did that to somehow try and make Gunner look dangerous and a legit contender but, seriously, it just didn't work. It came off like a fluke and Gunner continues to just look like he's far out of his league. *1/2
Jeff Hardy Segment - Hardy came out to a big round of applause and got on the mic. Hardy looked uncomfortable talking, though that's normal as the guy can't really talk on the mic. I thought it could have been the subject matter but I find that hard to believe because Hardy completely danced around the subject at hand. He said he'd made mistakes and didn't deserve the cheers he was getting, which I do agree with, but he never just flat out came out and said "I have a drug problem". That was what I was hoping and praying to hear, not to put him down or anything like that. It just would have been a HUGE step and would have lent just a HUGE aspect of reality to where TNA could eventually go with this. Hardy came off to me looking like someone who was trying his best to act like he was remorseful instead of showing genuine emotion. There were no tears in his eyes, you could see that clearly as the camera was so close that you could count the number of hairs on his chin. It all just felt quite underwhelming to me quite frankly. Earlier today, it was reported that Hardy will be in jail for 10 days, pay a six figure fine and be on probation for 2.5 years. I'm hoping that Hardy has had a legit breakthrough, I honestly am. As a viewer of tonight's show, however, I just didn't see it on my television. That doesn't mean that Hardy hasn't had a breakthrough or anything like that, he just came across as a guy phoning it in in my view on the screen. I saw a guy say that he basically screwed up and would like another chance. And the fans that just suddenly started chanting and applauding as if all was just forgiven and forgotten...that was just pitiful. Time will ultimately tell but just going by this, I thought the promo was a huge letdown. Thumbs Down
Overall Show - Overall, I thought the show was sort of like last week's show in the sense that it had it's ups and downs. I did think last week's show was better, however. The show opened with a basic promo to set up the main event, nothing wrong with that. The problem is that I no longer see Anderson as a viable main eventer. He's just looked far too weak for far too long and, in my opinion, needs to be built back up. The promo featuring the BFG Series Final Four was the highlight of the show for me as Roode & Ray really did a great job on the stick. Austin Aries also had a good night on the mic, it's just a shame that he's feuding with Brian Kendrick. As for wrestling action on the show, pretty weak overall. The first match was a 3.5 minute snoozefest featuring a team that's been "thrown together", to use the IWC term, and a team of brits having a random appearance on the show. Eric Young vs. Robbie E. was pretty much the 2.5 minutes of crap you'd expect, thought he last 30 seconds were actually alright. The Knockouts had an alright filler tag match in which Winter pulls out the lame blood mist again. The TNA WHC match between Angle & Anderson was pretty solid and had a chance to be really good but we were treated to your typical overbooked, convoluted ending. The BFG Series Four Corners match was kinda dull, was a FC match in name only until the last 5 seconds of it and was as forgettable as all the other BFG Series matches on IW. Lastly, Jeff Hardy's promo was just very underwhelming I thought. Maybe Jeff Hardy just can't really express himself that well emotionally, maybe he was feeding us a line of bullshit that he didn't mean a word of, I dunno. To me, it just looked and sounded like something rehearsed. If I'm wrong, then I fully accept that I stuck my foot in my mouth on this. Shit, I hope I'm wrong. It just didn't feel like nearly what I was hoping for.
Grade: C-
Jack-Hammer
YOU WILL RESPECT MY AUTHORITAH!!!!
TNA Impact Wrestling - September 15, 2011
Opening Segment - Basic segment last night to further hype the match between Sting & Ric Flair. When Flair came out in his robe, I was hoping that TNA was going to go right into their match and get it out of the way. I should have known better though. Sting & Flair did ok on the mic, I just didn't get into the segment. There wasn't anything particularly bad about the segment, I just have no interest in Sting vs. Flair in 2011. If you've been interested and excited about this match, then this was just par for the course. If you're not interested, then nothing that was said last night changed your mind. If you liked it, you liked it and if you didn't, then you didn't. Thumb s Down
Mexican America vs. Devon, The Pope, Tara & Miss Tessmacher - This was your basic 8 person tag match in TNA, meaning that it was a convoluted, chaotic cluster in which the general rules of tag team wrestling matches meant absolutely nothing. The first few minutes of the match had some decent action with the men but the rest of the 5 minutes revolved around Sarita & Rosita entering the ring to interfere with either Devon or Pope or all four men going at it inside the ring with the referee just standing there with his thumb up his ass. Sarita, at least, on Mickie James' level inside the ring and it's a shame to see her watered down to the point where she usually looks no better than most of the Divas in WWE. The faces get the win after Tara & Tessmacher hit double finishes on Sarita & Rosita, again with the ref just ignoring the basic principles of tag team wrestling. 1/2*
Karen Jarrett & The Knockouts - Good stuff in a couple of backstage segments with Jarrett generally abusing the Knockouts in general. This is good use of Karen Jarrett and she set up a series of matches over the next several telecasts between Knockouts, the winners of which will go onto face the TNA Knockouts Champion at BFG in a 4 way dance. I also loved how Karen just sorta shut Mickie down and told her that she wasn't getting another rematch. I've no interest in her wrestling Winter 1 on 1 again. The first match pits Velvet Sky vs. Angelina Love. Solid segment that featured Karen Jarrett in a role where she's able to really contribute. Thumbs Up
Fortune Promo Segment - I'm a little mixed about this promo segment. On one hand it was nice to see TNA using some of the top guys in the company's history putting over Robert Roode. On the other, I kinda thought they went overboard. AJ Styles sounded so jacked up that I thought he was going to *****e Roode on the spot. James Storm's words, for me, are the ones that really mattered as he & Roode have been partners for a long time and have dominated tag team wrestling in TNA. He's really the one guy that Roode, to me, has really seemed legitimately close with even since Fortune began. Kurt Angle came out smiling all creepily and announced that he was able to book Roode over the course of the next several weeks in singles matches against Fortune members. I'm sorta mixed here as well. On one hand, it gives Roode some high profile matches on IW in which they can build him up to really look like a threat to Kurt Angle when BFG comes. It can also bring about the break up of Fortune. On the other, it could also lead into Roode & Storm breaking up over the cliche` jealousy issues but maybe that won't happen. I was also disappointed that Roode didn't say anything during the promo and he was really the one I wanted to hear from. Thumbs In The Middle
Velvet Sky vs. Angelina Love - Generally speaking, this was a piss poor match. There were some botched spots here and there and some of Velvet's offense just looked very clunky and generally weak. The match also crawled along at a snail's pace, I just kept glancing at the clock wishing that it'd be over. At 8.5 minutes, it was longer than most matches on IW and Knockout matches in general but, as I said, it crawled along at a very, very slow pace and was just dull. As far as the ending goes, here comes the overbooking. Winter climbs up on the apron with Angelina holding Velvet's arms behind her while leading her towards the ropes. Now, the ref is looking right at them so if Winter hits Velvet with the title, then Angleina gets DQ'd and Velvet wins. It's just so friggin' stupid. Predictably, Velvet ducks and Angelina gets smacked with the belt, which leads me to wonder why Velvet didn't get DQ'd since Winter hit Angelina. James Storm spit beer into the ref's face at No Surrender and get's DQ'd but the ref lets it go when one of the competitors gets smacked in the face with a belt? I just hate TNA's inconsistent use of the general ruses of wrestling just to suit whatever. It leads to so much weak booking and lame match endings. Velvet then hit a DDT for the win so she's in the title match at BFG. 1/4*
Matt Morgan vs. Samoa Joe - I was disappointed here. It was alright for a 4.5 minute match but Tenay saying that the match was by submission only killed a lot of interest I had for this going in. I've never seen Matt Morgan use anything other than a standing side headlock, so I knew that Joe was ultimately going to win this. The action wasn't as good as in their match at No Surrender and the pace just seemed kind of slow. The ending comes with Joe having Morgan on his shoulder, doing a slight leap and taking an ass bump. Morgan then grabs hold of his leg and I don't get that. I've seen Joe do this a few times with the guy always grabbing his leg like it hurt even though all of the impact of the move looks like it would be in the guy's midsection. So shouldn't he be holding his ribs instead? Joe then locks on an ankle lock and Morgan does tap. *
Jeff Hardy Backstage - They showed Jeff Hardy talking with a couple of guys backstage last night, the first being AJ Styles and the other being Devon later on in the night. I thought TNA did a good job with showing two different guys with two different views on Jeff Hardy. Styles came off as angry and voiced a lot of opinions that I've heard about Hardy myself. Devon came off more like a big brother that was disappointed in him and preached to him about how he wouldn't turn his back on him. I'm mixed about these segments in that, while Styles & Devon did a good job, it just only reinforces the notion that Hardy's redemption is little more than a wrestling angle and that it doesn't feel authentic. It also just made me feel even more that Hardy's promo last week just felt like something he was told to go out there and do whether he meant it or not. I hope I'm wrong but, as I said, it's just what my gut tells me at this time. Thumbs In The Middle
Bobby Roode vs. Kazarian - Very solid 6 minute match between the two Fortune members. There was some good action in the match, even though the crowd at the Impact Zone was virtually dead through most of it. It also did a good job of telling a story of potential frustration & jealousy towards Roode that Fortune members might have. I knew Roode was going to win when this match was announced, but it was still a solid effort from both men. Roode locks in the Crippler Crossface on Kazarian in the middle of the ring, forcing him to tap. **3/4
Sting vs. Ric Flair - This match was better than I expected, but it was still just really bad. There wasn't a ton of blown spots like the internet suggested there was, maybe TNA had done a lot of editing of the match before it aired, but it ultimately just felt like what it was for me: two old men trying to wrestle. They tried to give this match a feel that it was like 2001 or 1991 all over again, at least Taz & Tenay did, but this match was no classic by any remote stretch of the imagination. At 15 minutes in length, it was the longest match I've seen on TNA television in 2 years. The last match I recall being as long was Angle vs. Styles in that 20 minute clinic that ended in a draw not long after Styles won the TNA WHC. The match dragged and, of course, was heavily overbooked because here comes Immortal down to help Flair out. Hogan gives Flair brass knucks, Flair hits Sting with them, Sting kicks out, Anderson comes out to make the save, etc. Sting does wind up getting the win, as we all knew that he would weeks ago when this match was first announced via the Scorpion Deathlock. 3/4*
Overall Show - Par for the course overall. It was weaker than last week's show as last week's was weaker than the show before it. There were a few highlights of the show but I found myself continuing to glance at the clock in the hopes that the show would end or something on screen would end so they'd go to something else. The opening promo was basic hype for the main event. If you weren't interested before, you weren't afterward. If you were, then nothing changed. The Fortune promo segment was good but a little disappointing. TNA loves to do the "I have nothing but respect for you" kinda stuff a lot and they did it here. Storm did a good job on the mic, but I was disappointed Roode didn't say anything and he's the one that really needed to talk. The segment did set up what should be a series of interesting matches that'll made Roode look good, however. I also liked Karen Jarrett on the show as her role as the VP of the Knockouts Division suits her character perfectly. Most of the wrestling action on the show flat out sucked, there's just no other way to put it. The opening 8 person tag match was the typical 5 minute convoluted cluster that's become par for the course in TNA. The Velvet Sky vs. Angelina Love match dragged by at a snail's pace, was generally dull and showed some more of that wonderful referee incompotence/ignoring of the basic rules of wrestling that we see a lot of in TNA. Morgan vs. Joe II was disappointing with also pretty slow action and a stipulation that's announced by Mike Tenay just after the bell rings that immediately told you Joe was going to win. Bobby Roode vs. Kazarian was a very solid match and was the only match on the entire card that was not only good but actually worth a damn. Sting vs. Ric Flair wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be, but it was still a huge waste of 15 minutes in my opinion. I did like how TNA announced several matches for next week's show and that's something I'd honestly like to see WWE do more often. Aside from that and the general build up of Robert Roode, there was nothing of real note or interest.
Grade: D+
Opening Segment - Basic segment last night to further hype the match between Sting & Ric Flair. When Flair came out in his robe, I was hoping that TNA was going to go right into their match and get it out of the way. I should have known better though. Sting & Flair did ok on the mic, I just didn't get into the segment. There wasn't anything particularly bad about the segment, I just have no interest in Sting vs. Flair in 2011. If you've been interested and excited about this match, then this was just par for the course. If you're not interested, then nothing that was said last night changed your mind. If you liked it, you liked it and if you didn't, then you didn't. Thumb s Down
Mexican America vs. Devon, The Pope, Tara & Miss Tessmacher - This was your basic 8 person tag match in TNA, meaning that it was a convoluted, chaotic cluster in which the general rules of tag team wrestling matches meant absolutely nothing. The first few minutes of the match had some decent action with the men but the rest of the 5 minutes revolved around Sarita & Rosita entering the ring to interfere with either Devon or Pope or all four men going at it inside the ring with the referee just standing there with his thumb up his ass. Sarita, at least, on Mickie James' level inside the ring and it's a shame to see her watered down to the point where she usually looks no better than most of the Divas in WWE. The faces get the win after Tara & Tessmacher hit double finishes on Sarita & Rosita, again with the ref just ignoring the basic principles of tag team wrestling. 1/2*
Karen Jarrett & The Knockouts - Good stuff in a couple of backstage segments with Jarrett generally abusing the Knockouts in general. This is good use of Karen Jarrett and she set up a series of matches over the next several telecasts between Knockouts, the winners of which will go onto face the TNA Knockouts Champion at BFG in a 4 way dance. I also loved how Karen just sorta shut Mickie down and told her that she wasn't getting another rematch. I've no interest in her wrestling Winter 1 on 1 again. The first match pits Velvet Sky vs. Angelina Love. Solid segment that featured Karen Jarrett in a role where she's able to really contribute. Thumbs Up
Fortune Promo Segment - I'm a little mixed about this promo segment. On one hand it was nice to see TNA using some of the top guys in the company's history putting over Robert Roode. On the other, I kinda thought they went overboard. AJ Styles sounded so jacked up that I thought he was going to *****e Roode on the spot. James Storm's words, for me, are the ones that really mattered as he & Roode have been partners for a long time and have dominated tag team wrestling in TNA. He's really the one guy that Roode, to me, has really seemed legitimately close with even since Fortune began. Kurt Angle came out smiling all creepily and announced that he was able to book Roode over the course of the next several weeks in singles matches against Fortune members. I'm sorta mixed here as well. On one hand, it gives Roode some high profile matches on IW in which they can build him up to really look like a threat to Kurt Angle when BFG comes. It can also bring about the break up of Fortune. On the other, it could also lead into Roode & Storm breaking up over the cliche` jealousy issues but maybe that won't happen. I was also disappointed that Roode didn't say anything during the promo and he was really the one I wanted to hear from. Thumbs In The Middle
Velvet Sky vs. Angelina Love - Generally speaking, this was a piss poor match. There were some botched spots here and there and some of Velvet's offense just looked very clunky and generally weak. The match also crawled along at a snail's pace, I just kept glancing at the clock wishing that it'd be over. At 8.5 minutes, it was longer than most matches on IW and Knockout matches in general but, as I said, it crawled along at a very, very slow pace and was just dull. As far as the ending goes, here comes the overbooking. Winter climbs up on the apron with Angelina holding Velvet's arms behind her while leading her towards the ropes. Now, the ref is looking right at them so if Winter hits Velvet with the title, then Angleina gets DQ'd and Velvet wins. It's just so friggin' stupid. Predictably, Velvet ducks and Angelina gets smacked with the belt, which leads me to wonder why Velvet didn't get DQ'd since Winter hit Angelina. James Storm spit beer into the ref's face at No Surrender and get's DQ'd but the ref lets it go when one of the competitors gets smacked in the face with a belt? I just hate TNA's inconsistent use of the general ruses of wrestling just to suit whatever. It leads to so much weak booking and lame match endings. Velvet then hit a DDT for the win so she's in the title match at BFG. 1/4*
Matt Morgan vs. Samoa Joe - I was disappointed here. It was alright for a 4.5 minute match but Tenay saying that the match was by submission only killed a lot of interest I had for this going in. I've never seen Matt Morgan use anything other than a standing side headlock, so I knew that Joe was ultimately going to win this. The action wasn't as good as in their match at No Surrender and the pace just seemed kind of slow. The ending comes with Joe having Morgan on his shoulder, doing a slight leap and taking an ass bump. Morgan then grabs hold of his leg and I don't get that. I've seen Joe do this a few times with the guy always grabbing his leg like it hurt even though all of the impact of the move looks like it would be in the guy's midsection. So shouldn't he be holding his ribs instead? Joe then locks on an ankle lock and Morgan does tap. *
Jeff Hardy Backstage - They showed Jeff Hardy talking with a couple of guys backstage last night, the first being AJ Styles and the other being Devon later on in the night. I thought TNA did a good job with showing two different guys with two different views on Jeff Hardy. Styles came off as angry and voiced a lot of opinions that I've heard about Hardy myself. Devon came off more like a big brother that was disappointed in him and preached to him about how he wouldn't turn his back on him. I'm mixed about these segments in that, while Styles & Devon did a good job, it just only reinforces the notion that Hardy's redemption is little more than a wrestling angle and that it doesn't feel authentic. It also just made me feel even more that Hardy's promo last week just felt like something he was told to go out there and do whether he meant it or not. I hope I'm wrong but, as I said, it's just what my gut tells me at this time. Thumbs In The Middle
Bobby Roode vs. Kazarian - Very solid 6 minute match between the two Fortune members. There was some good action in the match, even though the crowd at the Impact Zone was virtually dead through most of it. It also did a good job of telling a story of potential frustration & jealousy towards Roode that Fortune members might have. I knew Roode was going to win when this match was announced, but it was still a solid effort from both men. Roode locks in the Crippler Crossface on Kazarian in the middle of the ring, forcing him to tap. **3/4
Sting vs. Ric Flair - This match was better than I expected, but it was still just really bad. There wasn't a ton of blown spots like the internet suggested there was, maybe TNA had done a lot of editing of the match before it aired, but it ultimately just felt like what it was for me: two old men trying to wrestle. They tried to give this match a feel that it was like 2001 or 1991 all over again, at least Taz & Tenay did, but this match was no classic by any remote stretch of the imagination. At 15 minutes in length, it was the longest match I've seen on TNA television in 2 years. The last match I recall being as long was Angle vs. Styles in that 20 minute clinic that ended in a draw not long after Styles won the TNA WHC. The match dragged and, of course, was heavily overbooked because here comes Immortal down to help Flair out. Hogan gives Flair brass knucks, Flair hits Sting with them, Sting kicks out, Anderson comes out to make the save, etc. Sting does wind up getting the win, as we all knew that he would weeks ago when this match was first announced via the Scorpion Deathlock. 3/4*
Overall Show - Par for the course overall. It was weaker than last week's show as last week's was weaker than the show before it. There were a few highlights of the show but I found myself continuing to glance at the clock in the hopes that the show would end or something on screen would end so they'd go to something else. The opening promo was basic hype for the main event. If you weren't interested before, you weren't afterward. If you were, then nothing changed. The Fortune promo segment was good but a little disappointing. TNA loves to do the "I have nothing but respect for you" kinda stuff a lot and they did it here. Storm did a good job on the mic, but I was disappointed Roode didn't say anything and he's the one that really needed to talk. The segment did set up what should be a series of interesting matches that'll made Roode look good, however. I also liked Karen Jarrett on the show as her role as the VP of the Knockouts Division suits her character perfectly. Most of the wrestling action on the show flat out sucked, there's just no other way to put it. The opening 8 person tag match was the typical 5 minute convoluted cluster that's become par for the course in TNA. The Velvet Sky vs. Angelina Love match dragged by at a snail's pace, was generally dull and showed some more of that wonderful referee incompotence/ignoring of the basic rules of wrestling that we see a lot of in TNA. Morgan vs. Joe II was disappointing with also pretty slow action and a stipulation that's announced by Mike Tenay just after the bell rings that immediately told you Joe was going to win. Bobby Roode vs. Kazarian was a very solid match and was the only match on the entire card that was not only good but actually worth a damn. Sting vs. Ric Flair wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be, but it was still a huge waste of 15 minutes in my opinion. I did like how TNA announced several matches for next week's show and that's something I'd honestly like to see WWE do more often. Aside from that and the general build up of Robert Roode, there was nothing of real note or interest.
Grade: D+
Is it just me or does it seem like TNA is not only using boo tracks but cheer tracks? I swear it seemed, when Bobby Roode came out, his reaction was a lot of fake cheers. Even when Fortune was in the ring cutting their promos it seemed like a lot of the reaction was not coming from the crowd. If that's the case its pretty sad, and I certainly hope they don't have to do that to try to get Roode as being more over to the audience then he really is. Roode's one of, if not the, favorites of mine in TNA and I'm really happy to see him getting his chance to shine and run with the ball. They're really pushing him as the NEXT World champion, so I'm hoping that's not some Russo swerve to then drop the ball and make him lose to Angle at Bound for Glory, making the entire Series a waste of time and staying with the same old, same old.
I liked that Roode has to compete now against all the members of Fortune. That at least guarantees a good match every single week and proves that the Originals are the back bone of TNA when it comes to wrestling content, much like the Four Horsemen and the Radicals were in WCW. What I didn't like about lastnight, though, was the fact that Ric Flair was wrapped up in a match with Sting, something that shouldn't be taking place at all in 2011, and had absolutely nothing to do with the Fortune segment. Don't you think Ric Flair, the guy who brought together Fortune, made them in the exact image of the Four Horsemen, and created them to dominate TNA, would be interested with what's happening with his stable? Don't you think he'd take some interest in Bobby Roode possibly becoming the next World champion? Don't you think Roode, and Fortune, could use the rub from Flair being involved in the angle much more then fucking Sting needs a rub from Ric Flair... or we need to see a 60 year old man wrestling in the ring!?
Honestly, this is what's wrong with TNA. Instead of pushing the young talent and building your future stars and having them the MAIN EVENT, having them the SPOTLIGHT of your company, they're overshadowed by the entire Immortal angle and by a main event where a guy in his 50s is wrestling a guy in his 60s. Seriously? Would it not be better for the company to center the main angle and the main focus around your World champion, the quest of a young, future star to become champion, and use those old legends/veterans to compliment that. Flair in a manager role right now is far more effective and useful to the young talent and to the product as a whole then him wrestling any kind of match for silly nostalgia. The ratings aren't going to change, it doesn't help the long term goals of the company, so what the hell's the point? Flair could be building up Roode as the next star, as the man whose going to dethrone Angle, FAR better then any of the other members of Fortune can. And that helps the long term success of Roode as a main attraction and the product itself.
I'm not going to review the rest of the show; it was what it was. If you saw it then you know, if you didn't then you really didn't miss much. I will say that I like the reality based back stage segments TNA does (and thanks for listening to me and getting rid of the ridiculous shakey cams!), but I absolutely hate the fact they're turning Jeff Hardy's personal problems into an angle and trying to make us feel sympathy for him. Sympathy for a selfish prick who also happens to be an addict? Fuck you.
I also found the main event very lacking and was even tempted to turn it. Maybe some people love nostalgia that much, but I'm tired of seeing old man Sting and Flair on my television. Why would I care about a match between them? Flair looked absolutely horrible in the ring. I don't mean in his ability to wrestle, although you could really tell by some of the bumps he took that he shouldn't be in there. What I mean is physically he LOOKS like a 60 year old man. I don't see how anyone could take that match seriously, and there wasn't even a hint of drama to it or to the stipulation that Sting could lose. It was utterly forgettable.
I give the show a D.
I liked that Roode has to compete now against all the members of Fortune. That at least guarantees a good match every single week and proves that the Originals are the back bone of TNA when it comes to wrestling content, much like the Four Horsemen and the Radicals were in WCW. What I didn't like about lastnight, though, was the fact that Ric Flair was wrapped up in a match with Sting, something that shouldn't be taking place at all in 2011, and had absolutely nothing to do with the Fortune segment. Don't you think Ric Flair, the guy who brought together Fortune, made them in the exact image of the Four Horsemen, and created them to dominate TNA, would be interested with what's happening with his stable? Don't you think he'd take some interest in Bobby Roode possibly becoming the next World champion? Don't you think Roode, and Fortune, could use the rub from Flair being involved in the angle much more then fucking Sting needs a rub from Ric Flair... or we need to see a 60 year old man wrestling in the ring!?
Honestly, this is what's wrong with TNA. Instead of pushing the young talent and building your future stars and having them the MAIN EVENT, having them the SPOTLIGHT of your company, they're overshadowed by the entire Immortal angle and by a main event where a guy in his 50s is wrestling a guy in his 60s. Seriously? Would it not be better for the company to center the main angle and the main focus around your World champion, the quest of a young, future star to become champion, and use those old legends/veterans to compliment that. Flair in a manager role right now is far more effective and useful to the young talent and to the product as a whole then him wrestling any kind of match for silly nostalgia. The ratings aren't going to change, it doesn't help the long term goals of the company, so what the hell's the point? Flair could be building up Roode as the next star, as the man whose going to dethrone Angle, FAR better then any of the other members of Fortune can. And that helps the long term success of Roode as a main attraction and the product itself.
I'm not going to review the rest of the show; it was what it was. If you saw it then you know, if you didn't then you really didn't miss much. I will say that I like the reality based back stage segments TNA does (and thanks for listening to me and getting rid of the ridiculous shakey cams!), but I absolutely hate the fact they're turning Jeff Hardy's personal problems into an angle and trying to make us feel sympathy for him. Sympathy for a selfish prick who also happens to be an addict? Fuck you.
I also found the main event very lacking and was even tempted to turn it. Maybe some people love nostalgia that much, but I'm tired of seeing old man Sting and Flair on my television. Why would I care about a match between them? Flair looked absolutely horrible in the ring. I don't mean in his ability to wrestle, although you could really tell by some of the bumps he took that he shouldn't be in there. What I mean is physically he LOOKS like a 60 year old man. I don't see how anyone could take that match seriously, and there wasn't even a hint of drama to it or to the stipulation that Sting could lose. It was utterly forgettable.
I give the show a D.
Superstar77
Pre-Show Stalwart
I might be in the minority but I actually thought the September 15th Impact was a good show. Not great but better than their usual shows.
I like what their doing with Bobby Roode and it was nice to see Forture stand behind him when Kurt Angle made the announcement that he has to face them all in one on one matches. I think Christopher Daniels may be the one to turn on them.
Bobby Roode vs Kazarian - Good match and I would have no problem with Roode winning the world title at Bound For Glory.
I think Kazarian deserves a chance to move up as well. Because I feel he's done everyone he can do in the X Division.
Angelina Love vs Velvet Sky - These two have a long history and it's a shame they never got a real one on one PPV match to settle their feud last year. Velvet wins and gets to spot at BFG to face Winter for the Knockout title. I would like to have to have seen a clean finish in this match though. Everyone says Velvet should have been DQ'ed which I don't get because Winter was going to hit her with the title and she's with Angelina so the referee actually made the right call for once.
Though I still have to wonder what was the point of Mickie James winning the Knockout title back from Winter on Impact a few weeks ago. Only for Winter to get it back at No Surrender.
The Pope, Devon, Tara & Brooke Tessmacher defeated Mexican America in an 8 person tag match - This was a cluster of a match and Anarquia tries why too hard and comes off as a poser imo. I don't have much to say about this match.
Samoa Joe vs Matt Morgan - Joes wins by submission and I believe this is his first win since Lockdown. I guess he will face Crimson at BFG.
Ric Flair vs Sting - This wasn't as bad as the reports made it out to be. It wasn't great but it was entertaining for it what it was. Sting wins and earns the right to face Hulk Hogan at BFG.
I like what their doing with Bobby Roode and it was nice to see Forture stand behind him when Kurt Angle made the announcement that he has to face them all in one on one matches. I think Christopher Daniels may be the one to turn on them.
Bobby Roode vs Kazarian - Good match and I would have no problem with Roode winning the world title at Bound For Glory.
I think Kazarian deserves a chance to move up as well. Because I feel he's done everyone he can do in the X Division.
Angelina Love vs Velvet Sky - These two have a long history and it's a shame they never got a real one on one PPV match to settle their feud last year. Velvet wins and gets to spot at BFG to face Winter for the Knockout title. I would like to have to have seen a clean finish in this match though. Everyone says Velvet should have been DQ'ed which I don't get because Winter was going to hit her with the title and she's with Angelina so the referee actually made the right call for once.
Though I still have to wonder what was the point of Mickie James winning the Knockout title back from Winter on Impact a few weeks ago. Only for Winter to get it back at No Surrender.
The Pope, Devon, Tara & Brooke Tessmacher defeated Mexican America in an 8 person tag match - This was a cluster of a match and Anarquia tries why too hard and comes off as a poser imo. I don't have much to say about this match.
Samoa Joe vs Matt Morgan - Joes wins by submission and I believe this is his first win since Lockdown. I guess he will face Crimson at BFG.
Ric Flair vs Sting - This wasn't as bad as the reports made it out to be. It wasn't great but it was entertaining for it what it was. Sting wins and earns the right to face Hulk Hogan at BFG.
Jack-Hammer
YOU WILL RESPECT MY AUTHORITAH!!!!
TNA Impact Wrestling - September 22, 2011
Opening Segment - Generally speaking, this is more of the same stuff with Hogan & Sting setting up their match at BFG. The only real difference was that Sting was carrying a contract and he decked Eric Bischoff when Bischoff came down to the ring to scold him. Watching Hogan weeble wobble around the ring only reinforces the notion that I don't want to see this match. As I said with last week's Hogan vs. Sting segment, you probably enjoyed this if you're already interested in it. If you weren't into it before, nothing happened here to change your mind. Thumbs Down
Karen Jarrett & The Knockouts - They did another short segment backstage with Karen Jarrett setting up the next Knockout match between Mickie James & Miss Tessmacher. Karen initially scolds Tessmacher and tells her not to go out there and do her stripper things, which of course means she's going to. Quite frankly, it's really the only thing she's got going for her. She then turns to Traci Brooks and starts in on her for showing off her breasts, again, before saying she's not running a brothel. Kazarian steps up and defends Traci and says Karen's not worth 50 cents an hour, which pisses Karen off as she calls Jeff on speed dial. It was an alright, short segment but Karen just continuing to insult the Knockouts is already starting to get a tad repetitive. Also, Kazarian defending his wife's honor might not have given me something to chuckle about if she, kayfabe, hadn't ****ed herself out to Eric Bischoff in order to be put in charge of the Knockout Divisioin. Thumbs In The Middle
1. Mickie James vs. Miss Tessmacher - Kind of a basic 3 minute Knockout match. Tessmacher did her stripper thing. She's hot and it gets her over with the crowd. Plus, as I said, it's really the only thing she's got. The match kind of reminded me of some John Cena matches I've seen in which Cena is in the ring with someone that you know he's going to demolish after he gets pissed off, like David Otunga for instance. Cena's opponent gets some moves in and looks to be holding his own for a little bit but Cena turns on the offense and just plows through the guy like he's nothing. Same thing here just with a couple of gorgeous women. Tessmacher gets in a few moves before Mickie decides to get serious. Once Mickie does, she owns Tessmacher and dominates her for about 30 seconds before hitting her with the DDT for the win. 1/2*
Jeff Hardy Segments - As with last week, they did a couple of backstage segments with Hardy apologizing to people. The first one was Hardy apologizing to Al Snow. A lot of TNA viewers might now know who Snow is or even give a damn, but Hardy apologizing to him balances this angle in an interesting way. Apologizing to everyone from road agents to wrestlers does give something of an impression that Hardy is sincere. I don't necessarily believe it as it all just seems like a typical angle, but they did a nice job here. The second one was Jeff talking with Matt Morgan back in a trailer. Morgan did a nice job of venting his frustration in condemning Jeff professionally while sympathizing with him on a personal level due to his pain pill addiction. Hardy then talked with Angle backstage later in the show and I just kinda laughed about this. Given Kurt Angle's own problems with the law, the fact that he himself had problems with pain killers, etc. it just seemed really phony. Thumbs In The Middle
2. Austin Aries vs. Jesse Sorensen for the TNA X Division Championship - Solid 4 minute match with some good action, though too short for a title match in my view. Aries injected personality into the match with mocking Sorensen while running around the ringside with his football. Sorensen looked solid in the ring and hit a great looking Kofi Kingston type of high cross body from the top rope. The crowd gave Aries some legit heat and not just the usual 20 or so people that make sounds in the Impact Zone while everyone else just sort of sits on their hands. Kid Kash's appearance, for me, took away from the match a bit as I don't particularly care about him feuding with Sorensen. They're both a couple of bland, generic nobodies so there's no interest. The ending comes when Kash gets up on the ring apron after Sorensen hits him in the back with the football. Aries dropkicks Sorensen and knocks him into the corner, then rolls him up for the win. At least it gets Sorensen out of the way and lets Aries move on. **1/4
Mexican America & Ink Inc. - Mexican America has arrived at a "tattoo parlor" and we see Anarquia having just gotten a new tat on his chest. Ink Inc. arrives and the two teams begin to brawl. The brawl was ok but it looked really really fake and cheesy in some parts, especially with Moore & Anarquia brawling out in the front of the show because their punches looked so incredibly fake that it wasn't even funny. The freaks get the upper hand eventually with Neal putting Hernandez through a table and both he & Moore deciding to put a tat on Anarquia. Anarquia screams while the camera is pushed away. An ok segment overall but nothing I'm all that wild about right now. Mexican America sucks in my view and Ink Inc. isn't that much better. Still, these are really the only two viable teams in TNA at this point. Thumbs In The Middle
Kurt Angle, Bobby Roode & James Storm - Good segment here with the three of them interacting well. Angle did his bit and Roode did a solid job on the mic. The only problem I have with Roode is that whenever he talks on the mic, it's generally about the same thing: namely how much the business means to him, how long he's been doing it and how much he's given up for it. I know he's got more in him than that. Angle tried to sew the seeds of discontent between Beer Money by bringing James Storm out. Storm got in Roode's face for a few moments and some in the crowd started a small "you sold out" chant and popped big for Storm when they realized he hadn't "sold out". Storm definitely has a bit of Stong Cold Steve Austin in his character and I think people could feel that. I think he's more comfortable than Roode is on the mic, that's not to say that Roode's bad though. Storm's just not as repetitive. Storm challenges Angle to a match before heading back with the "Sorry about your damn luck" line. Good segment that keeps building Roode for BFG while not leaving Storm by the wayside as sort of the odd man out. Thumbs Up
3. Bully Ray & Jerry Lynn vs. Mr. Anderson - This match was originally supposed to be a tag match with RVD as Anderson's partner, but RVD was laid out backstage by "parties unknown". I'm not really a fan of handicap matches but this one did a good job of telling a logical and necessary story that ultimately helped to build up RVD vs. Jerry Lynn, yet again, and Ray vs. Anderson at BFG. Anderson got in a lot of offense but never could get the pin because of the 2 on 1 advantage. The ending comes with the ref distracted by Lynn, Ray pulls out a chain and hits Anderson with it for the win at the 6 minute mark. Well booked match and the strongest Anderson has looked in many months. **1/4
Chrisopher Daniels & AJ Styles - Good segment here from these two and the best I've heard from Daniels on the mic. Daniels seemed more like your classic, cocky heel here rather than the "Fallen Angel" and all that crap. He & Styles eventually get into it and brawl all over the place. Kazarian tries to break them up at one point but Daniels gets in the last word by kicking Styles right in the company store. Styles sold it well while Daniels exited. The brawl ran a little long and I'd have been more into it if TNA didn't pull out the "let's do a big brawl" card so often. Also, I'm not all that excited about this feud generally. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure it'll produce a great match at BFG but it comes across as mostly a filler feud for both guys as we've seen them wrestle each other so many times. Thumbs In The Middle
4. Kurt Angle vs. Cowboy James Storm - Very good match from both guys that had a good pace and just a lot of energy from both wrestlers. A quality tv main event on TNA television is something of a rarity. The match had a lot of fun, believable near falls and both guys looked strong. It was nice to see Storm giving the reigning TNA WHC all he wanted. Gunner runs out at the 10 minute mark and provides a distraction to Storm, allowing Angle to hit the Angle Slam. Storm kicks out and gets a great reaction from the crowd. I thought the match was over as well. Storm eventually hits a superkick on Angle but the ref was out. A second ref comes to make the count but is pulled out by Gunner. Gunner then hits Storm with the belt but Roode comes out and clears Gunner out. I could have done without the ref bump, it's such a huge cliche` in TNA. While there was some interference, it's not the mind boggling cluster that we usually see take place in the main event. Storm came out looking like a star and we were treated to a fun 12.5 minute main event on TNA television that didn't end in a convoluted clusterfuck. ***1/4
Overall Show - From an overall perspective, I think last night's episode of Impact Wrestling was the strongest I've seen during the Hogan-Bischoff Era in TNA. Most of the promo segments generated mixed feelings for me but they definitely weren't bad. The opening promo did nothing for me as it's just the same Hogan & Sting stuff. Angle, Roode & Storm delivered a quality promo segment that established both Storm & Roode as guys to watch, I just with Roode wasn't so repetitive with his promo speeches. Daniels & Styles also delivered a good promo though the brawl just seemed tired and overdone. Overall wrestling action on the show was much stronger than I've seen in a long while. The Knockout match was typical really with an outcome we all saw before the two even got into the ring. Aries & Sorensen had a short but solid match with Aries getting a win and, hopefully, moving on. The handicap tag match with Bully Ray & Jerry Lynn against Mr. Anderson was solid and told a good logical story with Anderson looking better than he has in a very long time. The main event between Kurt Angle & James Storm was a very entertaining match with good storytelling, some believable near falls and good all around action. What I enjoyed the most was that it wasn't the messy jumble of interference that's become a staple of TNA main events and that Storm looked like a star. One huge reason why I enjoyed this episode as much as I did was because there was a lot of attention placed on guys that are great talents able to make people give a crap about what they're into.
Grade: B
Opening Segment - Generally speaking, this is more of the same stuff with Hogan & Sting setting up their match at BFG. The only real difference was that Sting was carrying a contract and he decked Eric Bischoff when Bischoff came down to the ring to scold him. Watching Hogan weeble wobble around the ring only reinforces the notion that I don't want to see this match. As I said with last week's Hogan vs. Sting segment, you probably enjoyed this if you're already interested in it. If you weren't into it before, nothing happened here to change your mind. Thumbs Down
Karen Jarrett & The Knockouts - They did another short segment backstage with Karen Jarrett setting up the next Knockout match between Mickie James & Miss Tessmacher. Karen initially scolds Tessmacher and tells her not to go out there and do her stripper things, which of course means she's going to. Quite frankly, it's really the only thing she's got going for her. She then turns to Traci Brooks and starts in on her for showing off her breasts, again, before saying she's not running a brothel. Kazarian steps up and defends Traci and says Karen's not worth 50 cents an hour, which pisses Karen off as she calls Jeff on speed dial. It was an alright, short segment but Karen just continuing to insult the Knockouts is already starting to get a tad repetitive. Also, Kazarian defending his wife's honor might not have given me something to chuckle about if she, kayfabe, hadn't ****ed herself out to Eric Bischoff in order to be put in charge of the Knockout Divisioin. Thumbs In The Middle
1. Mickie James vs. Miss Tessmacher - Kind of a basic 3 minute Knockout match. Tessmacher did her stripper thing. She's hot and it gets her over with the crowd. Plus, as I said, it's really the only thing she's got. The match kind of reminded me of some John Cena matches I've seen in which Cena is in the ring with someone that you know he's going to demolish after he gets pissed off, like David Otunga for instance. Cena's opponent gets some moves in and looks to be holding his own for a little bit but Cena turns on the offense and just plows through the guy like he's nothing. Same thing here just with a couple of gorgeous women. Tessmacher gets in a few moves before Mickie decides to get serious. Once Mickie does, she owns Tessmacher and dominates her for about 30 seconds before hitting her with the DDT for the win. 1/2*
Jeff Hardy Segments - As with last week, they did a couple of backstage segments with Hardy apologizing to people. The first one was Hardy apologizing to Al Snow. A lot of TNA viewers might now know who Snow is or even give a damn, but Hardy apologizing to him balances this angle in an interesting way. Apologizing to everyone from road agents to wrestlers does give something of an impression that Hardy is sincere. I don't necessarily believe it as it all just seems like a typical angle, but they did a nice job here. The second one was Jeff talking with Matt Morgan back in a trailer. Morgan did a nice job of venting his frustration in condemning Jeff professionally while sympathizing with him on a personal level due to his pain pill addiction. Hardy then talked with Angle backstage later in the show and I just kinda laughed about this. Given Kurt Angle's own problems with the law, the fact that he himself had problems with pain killers, etc. it just seemed really phony. Thumbs In The Middle
2. Austin Aries vs. Jesse Sorensen for the TNA X Division Championship - Solid 4 minute match with some good action, though too short for a title match in my view. Aries injected personality into the match with mocking Sorensen while running around the ringside with his football. Sorensen looked solid in the ring and hit a great looking Kofi Kingston type of high cross body from the top rope. The crowd gave Aries some legit heat and not just the usual 20 or so people that make sounds in the Impact Zone while everyone else just sort of sits on their hands. Kid Kash's appearance, for me, took away from the match a bit as I don't particularly care about him feuding with Sorensen. They're both a couple of bland, generic nobodies so there's no interest. The ending comes when Kash gets up on the ring apron after Sorensen hits him in the back with the football. Aries dropkicks Sorensen and knocks him into the corner, then rolls him up for the win. At least it gets Sorensen out of the way and lets Aries move on. **1/4
Mexican America & Ink Inc. - Mexican America has arrived at a "tattoo parlor" and we see Anarquia having just gotten a new tat on his chest. Ink Inc. arrives and the two teams begin to brawl. The brawl was ok but it looked really really fake and cheesy in some parts, especially with Moore & Anarquia brawling out in the front of the show because their punches looked so incredibly fake that it wasn't even funny. The freaks get the upper hand eventually with Neal putting Hernandez through a table and both he & Moore deciding to put a tat on Anarquia. Anarquia screams while the camera is pushed away. An ok segment overall but nothing I'm all that wild about right now. Mexican America sucks in my view and Ink Inc. isn't that much better. Still, these are really the only two viable teams in TNA at this point. Thumbs In The Middle
Kurt Angle, Bobby Roode & James Storm - Good segment here with the three of them interacting well. Angle did his bit and Roode did a solid job on the mic. The only problem I have with Roode is that whenever he talks on the mic, it's generally about the same thing: namely how much the business means to him, how long he's been doing it and how much he's given up for it. I know he's got more in him than that. Angle tried to sew the seeds of discontent between Beer Money by bringing James Storm out. Storm got in Roode's face for a few moments and some in the crowd started a small "you sold out" chant and popped big for Storm when they realized he hadn't "sold out". Storm definitely has a bit of Stong Cold Steve Austin in his character and I think people could feel that. I think he's more comfortable than Roode is on the mic, that's not to say that Roode's bad though. Storm's just not as repetitive. Storm challenges Angle to a match before heading back with the "Sorry about your damn luck" line. Good segment that keeps building Roode for BFG while not leaving Storm by the wayside as sort of the odd man out. Thumbs Up
3. Bully Ray & Jerry Lynn vs. Mr. Anderson - This match was originally supposed to be a tag match with RVD as Anderson's partner, but RVD was laid out backstage by "parties unknown". I'm not really a fan of handicap matches but this one did a good job of telling a logical and necessary story that ultimately helped to build up RVD vs. Jerry Lynn, yet again, and Ray vs. Anderson at BFG. Anderson got in a lot of offense but never could get the pin because of the 2 on 1 advantage. The ending comes with the ref distracted by Lynn, Ray pulls out a chain and hits Anderson with it for the win at the 6 minute mark. Well booked match and the strongest Anderson has looked in many months. **1/4
Chrisopher Daniels & AJ Styles - Good segment here from these two and the best I've heard from Daniels on the mic. Daniels seemed more like your classic, cocky heel here rather than the "Fallen Angel" and all that crap. He & Styles eventually get into it and brawl all over the place. Kazarian tries to break them up at one point but Daniels gets in the last word by kicking Styles right in the company store. Styles sold it well while Daniels exited. The brawl ran a little long and I'd have been more into it if TNA didn't pull out the "let's do a big brawl" card so often. Also, I'm not all that excited about this feud generally. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure it'll produce a great match at BFG but it comes across as mostly a filler feud for both guys as we've seen them wrestle each other so many times. Thumbs In The Middle
4. Kurt Angle vs. Cowboy James Storm - Very good match from both guys that had a good pace and just a lot of energy from both wrestlers. A quality tv main event on TNA television is something of a rarity. The match had a lot of fun, believable near falls and both guys looked strong. It was nice to see Storm giving the reigning TNA WHC all he wanted. Gunner runs out at the 10 minute mark and provides a distraction to Storm, allowing Angle to hit the Angle Slam. Storm kicks out and gets a great reaction from the crowd. I thought the match was over as well. Storm eventually hits a superkick on Angle but the ref was out. A second ref comes to make the count but is pulled out by Gunner. Gunner then hits Storm with the belt but Roode comes out and clears Gunner out. I could have done without the ref bump, it's such a huge cliche` in TNA. While there was some interference, it's not the mind boggling cluster that we usually see take place in the main event. Storm came out looking like a star and we were treated to a fun 12.5 minute main event on TNA television that didn't end in a convoluted clusterfuck. ***1/4
Overall Show - From an overall perspective, I think last night's episode of Impact Wrestling was the strongest I've seen during the Hogan-Bischoff Era in TNA. Most of the promo segments generated mixed feelings for me but they definitely weren't bad. The opening promo did nothing for me as it's just the same Hogan & Sting stuff. Angle, Roode & Storm delivered a quality promo segment that established both Storm & Roode as guys to watch, I just with Roode wasn't so repetitive with his promo speeches. Daniels & Styles also delivered a good promo though the brawl just seemed tired and overdone. Overall wrestling action on the show was much stronger than I've seen in a long while. The Knockout match was typical really with an outcome we all saw before the two even got into the ring. Aries & Sorensen had a short but solid match with Aries getting a win and, hopefully, moving on. The handicap tag match with Bully Ray & Jerry Lynn against Mr. Anderson was solid and told a good logical story with Anderson looking better than he has in a very long time. The main event between Kurt Angle & James Storm was a very entertaining match with good storytelling, some believable near falls and good all around action. What I enjoyed the most was that it wasn't the messy jumble of interference that's become a staple of TNA main events and that Storm looked like a star. One huge reason why I enjoyed this episode as much as I did was because there was a lot of attention placed on guys that are great talents able to make people give a crap about what they're into.
Grade: B
Jack-Hammer
YOU WILL RESPECT MY AUTHORITAH!!!!
TNA Impact Wrestling -September 29, 2011
Opening Segment - I'm mixed on the opening of the show. It was nice to see Sting drop "The Joker" character and help put over Roode as a worthy #1 contender for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. Roode was alright on the mic though, again, it felt a little repetetive as he keeps talking about how he's sacrificed for wrestling and has been on the road for 13 years and all this. I know the guy can talk and I know he has more to say than that. The segment did a good job of generally hyping Roode vs. Styles for later on but I felt it dragged when Styles & Angle came out. Roode & Sting already did what needed to be done so why have 4 guys to do a job 2 can do? Besides, for me, it's getting a little tedious with everyone putting in their 2 cents about Bobby Roode being #1 contender. Thumbs In The Middle
1. Brian Kendrick vs. Jesse Sorensen vs. Alex Shelley vs. Zema Ion vs. Kid Kash in a ladder match to determine the #1 contender for the TNA X Division Championship - Overall, I thought this match was just dull. There were a few high spots here and there, mostly by Zema out there firmly confirming his status as a spot monkey that has nothing else whatsoever to offer, but the thing that killed this match for me was that it was so short. TNA just doesn't understand that 5 minute gimmick matches, especially gimmick matches with so many participants involved, just simply do not work. The action wasn't especially interesting, the use of the ladder as a weapon was minimal and most of the guys in the match are just your standard, nameless X Division faces. Brian Kendrick wound up getting the win and will face Austin Aries at BFG. I'm sure it'll be a good match but I'm already anxious for Aries to move on from Kendrick. Aries did a solid job on guest commentary and was really the highlight of the whole thing. *
The Jarretts, Kazarian & Traci Brooks - Pretty dull segment for me. In some ways, it came across as a watered down Jerry Springer segment with two guys getting into it due to drama involving their women. I'm just a little burned out on Jarrett being in a feud because of his chick. It went on for so long and was so dragged out with Kurt Angle that I guess I'm just not feeling it right now. Also, it's hard for me to be sympathetic towards Traci Brooks as her character ****ed herself out to Bischoff in order to be put in charge of the Knockouts. Kazarian defending the "honor" of his wife would be a whole lot easier to take with a straight face if she wasn't prostituting herself. Jarrett also, for all intents and purposes, made Kazarian look like a bitch on the mic. Harmless filler but not particularly good filler in my view. Thumbs Down
Mexican America & Ink Inc. - Mixed feelings on the beatdown of Ink Inc. at the hands of Mexican America. On one hand, it was a solid beating at ringside and it certainly saved us from having to endure what would almost certainly be a highly forgettable, convoluted and overbooked match between Neal & Hernandez. I guess the only real downside is that I don't really give a crap about either of these teams. Using spray paint on the backs of Ink Inc. came across like a cheap nWo/Outsiders rip off since Anarquia & Hernandez couldn't carry Hall & Nash's bags. Thumbs In The Middle
2. Madison Rayne vs. Tara - This bored the crap out of me. I kept glancing up at the clock every 5 seconds it seemed just hoping for this thing to be over. They dragged this mind numbing spectacle in which Earl Hebner was the center of attention for 5 minutes, which was about 3 to 3.5 minutes longer than it needed to be. I get what they were doing, I understand that, but that still doesn't make it especially good. This is a qualifying match for one of these women to go to the biggest TNA ppv of the year and wrestle in a match for the TNA Knockouts Championship. Instead, the focus was on Earl Hebner getting goosed and generally felt up by Madison Rayne. The cheap finish with Rayne getting the win was just really poor for me. Hebner's nose was right on the mat so there was no way he'd see Rayne's feet on the ropes, even though every shred of common sense should tell the ref what's going on. It's an extremely outdated finisher. But yeah, this match completely blew. 1/4*
Crimson, Samoa Joe & Matt Morgan - Decent segment here. If you look over Joe's speech on the mic, which sounded like a villain monologue from a 1950s comic book, and focused on the action then things were fine. Joe took some good shots but ultimately got the upper hand on Crimson. Some are no doubt pissing and moaning that Joe had to take a cheap way to get an upper hand even though it's kinda what heels do. I find it much more believable than portraying Joe as this unstoppable badass because I just don't get that from Joe and never have. Morgan broke it up and saved Crimson after the damage was already done. Painless and solid I thought. Thumbs Up
3. Mr. Anderson vs. The Pope D'Angelo Dinero - Lame 4 minute match in which half of it revolved around the drama of Devon's sons. There was some decent action the first 90 seconds or so before everyone moved to the outside. Devon's boys grabbed hold of Anderson to prevent him from striking Pope, which got the ref involved and which also got Devon involved. Anderson gets back in the ring waiting on everyone, Bully Ray hits him from behind with a kendo stick and Pope gets the win. This will no doubt bring back up the tensions between Devon & Pope and I really wish they wouldn't go back there. 1/4*
Bobby Roode Video Package - This was an excellent package put together featuring a look into Bobby Roode's personal life. This is what I've been wanting to see mostly for the past few weeks. I've wanted to see the man who is #1 contender for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. I've wanted to get some insight into what makes him tick rather than having every guy in the locker room come out to cut a promo on how they feel about him being #1 contender. Good stuff here. Thumbs Up
4. Bobby Roode vs. AJ Styles - Very good back & forth 8.5 minute match here. While I thought the match dragged just a little in some spots, they told a good story and both wrestlers looked strong throughout. Aside from a little dragging here and there, I thought the match was well paced with just entertaining action all around. You knew that Roode was going to walk out the winner, of course, but the match was still fun to watch. The ending comes with Roode forcing Styles to tap to the Crossface. I like how they're giving Roode solid & decisive wins rather than making them look flukey. ***
Hulk Hogan's Announcement - I cry bullshit on this. Maybe not 100% complete bullshit, but pretty close. Hogan announcing his retirment from wrestling is all well and good but I don't buy into it, at least not at this particular time. TNA's biggest ppv of the year is coming up and Hogan will be part of it in some way. Hogan gave it his all in his speech tonight but maybe I'm just a cynical bastard because I just didn't buy into the emotion of it. They've spent months setting the stage for Sting vs. Hogan at BFG and Hogan's not going to walk away right now. As a fan, I wish that I did buy into Hogan retiring in Knoxville next week because I've no interest in watching him try to wrestle again. I'm sure some will love this speech, I'm sure some probably got a little emotional but I just don't buy it. To me, it's as transparent an unmuddied lake. If it does turn out that I'm wrong, then I've got tons of crow to shovel down my throat. But, for now, no sale. Thumbs Down
Overall Show - Last week's show was one of the strongest episodes I've seen in a VERY long time but this one was just extremely weak all around in my view. The opening promo segment was ok, nothing special about it but I'm just bored with everyone giving their opinion on Roode & his chances. The X Division ladder match was your standard, forgettable TNA 5 minute gimmick match. The Knockout match was the worst women's match I've seen in quite a while. It was 5 torturously dull minutes in which the centerpiece of the match was an old man getting fondled by a woman young enough to be his granddaughter. Mr. Anderson vs. The Pope was also just really dull. Mexican America & Ink Inc. continue to build their feud up. I'm not really into either of them but they're trying. Samoa Joe, Crimson & Matt Morgan had a decent segment, nothing to write home about. The highlights of the show were the Bobby Roode video package and the Roode vs. Styles match. The video package was a great look at Bobby Roode and who he is while Roode vs. Styles was a quality tv main event match. Hulk Hogan's big announcement just let me kind of rolling my eyes. I just don't buy into it at all right now. He's not going to retire, at least not until Sting winds up beating him in a match at BFG. For me, the show was mostly a bust with except from about 10:35 p.m. through 10:50 p.m. which featured the Roode video and the Roode vs. Styles match.
Grade: D+
Opening Segment - I'm mixed on the opening of the show. It was nice to see Sting drop "The Joker" character and help put over Roode as a worthy #1 contender for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. Roode was alright on the mic though, again, it felt a little repetetive as he keeps talking about how he's sacrificed for wrestling and has been on the road for 13 years and all this. I know the guy can talk and I know he has more to say than that. The segment did a good job of generally hyping Roode vs. Styles for later on but I felt it dragged when Styles & Angle came out. Roode & Sting already did what needed to be done so why have 4 guys to do a job 2 can do? Besides, for me, it's getting a little tedious with everyone putting in their 2 cents about Bobby Roode being #1 contender. Thumbs In The Middle
1. Brian Kendrick vs. Jesse Sorensen vs. Alex Shelley vs. Zema Ion vs. Kid Kash in a ladder match to determine the #1 contender for the TNA X Division Championship - Overall, I thought this match was just dull. There were a few high spots here and there, mostly by Zema out there firmly confirming his status as a spot monkey that has nothing else whatsoever to offer, but the thing that killed this match for me was that it was so short. TNA just doesn't understand that 5 minute gimmick matches, especially gimmick matches with so many participants involved, just simply do not work. The action wasn't especially interesting, the use of the ladder as a weapon was minimal and most of the guys in the match are just your standard, nameless X Division faces. Brian Kendrick wound up getting the win and will face Austin Aries at BFG. I'm sure it'll be a good match but I'm already anxious for Aries to move on from Kendrick. Aries did a solid job on guest commentary and was really the highlight of the whole thing. *
The Jarretts, Kazarian & Traci Brooks - Pretty dull segment for me. In some ways, it came across as a watered down Jerry Springer segment with two guys getting into it due to drama involving their women. I'm just a little burned out on Jarrett being in a feud because of his chick. It went on for so long and was so dragged out with Kurt Angle that I guess I'm just not feeling it right now. Also, it's hard for me to be sympathetic towards Traci Brooks as her character ****ed herself out to Bischoff in order to be put in charge of the Knockouts. Kazarian defending the "honor" of his wife would be a whole lot easier to take with a straight face if she wasn't prostituting herself. Jarrett also, for all intents and purposes, made Kazarian look like a bitch on the mic. Harmless filler but not particularly good filler in my view. Thumbs Down
Mexican America & Ink Inc. - Mixed feelings on the beatdown of Ink Inc. at the hands of Mexican America. On one hand, it was a solid beating at ringside and it certainly saved us from having to endure what would almost certainly be a highly forgettable, convoluted and overbooked match between Neal & Hernandez. I guess the only real downside is that I don't really give a crap about either of these teams. Using spray paint on the backs of Ink Inc. came across like a cheap nWo/Outsiders rip off since Anarquia & Hernandez couldn't carry Hall & Nash's bags. Thumbs In The Middle
2. Madison Rayne vs. Tara - This bored the crap out of me. I kept glancing up at the clock every 5 seconds it seemed just hoping for this thing to be over. They dragged this mind numbing spectacle in which Earl Hebner was the center of attention for 5 minutes, which was about 3 to 3.5 minutes longer than it needed to be. I get what they were doing, I understand that, but that still doesn't make it especially good. This is a qualifying match for one of these women to go to the biggest TNA ppv of the year and wrestle in a match for the TNA Knockouts Championship. Instead, the focus was on Earl Hebner getting goosed and generally felt up by Madison Rayne. The cheap finish with Rayne getting the win was just really poor for me. Hebner's nose was right on the mat so there was no way he'd see Rayne's feet on the ropes, even though every shred of common sense should tell the ref what's going on. It's an extremely outdated finisher. But yeah, this match completely blew. 1/4*
Crimson, Samoa Joe & Matt Morgan - Decent segment here. If you look over Joe's speech on the mic, which sounded like a villain monologue from a 1950s comic book, and focused on the action then things were fine. Joe took some good shots but ultimately got the upper hand on Crimson. Some are no doubt pissing and moaning that Joe had to take a cheap way to get an upper hand even though it's kinda what heels do. I find it much more believable than portraying Joe as this unstoppable badass because I just don't get that from Joe and never have. Morgan broke it up and saved Crimson after the damage was already done. Painless and solid I thought. Thumbs Up
3. Mr. Anderson vs. The Pope D'Angelo Dinero - Lame 4 minute match in which half of it revolved around the drama of Devon's sons. There was some decent action the first 90 seconds or so before everyone moved to the outside. Devon's boys grabbed hold of Anderson to prevent him from striking Pope, which got the ref involved and which also got Devon involved. Anderson gets back in the ring waiting on everyone, Bully Ray hits him from behind with a kendo stick and Pope gets the win. This will no doubt bring back up the tensions between Devon & Pope and I really wish they wouldn't go back there. 1/4*
Bobby Roode Video Package - This was an excellent package put together featuring a look into Bobby Roode's personal life. This is what I've been wanting to see mostly for the past few weeks. I've wanted to see the man who is #1 contender for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. I've wanted to get some insight into what makes him tick rather than having every guy in the locker room come out to cut a promo on how they feel about him being #1 contender. Good stuff here. Thumbs Up
4. Bobby Roode vs. AJ Styles - Very good back & forth 8.5 minute match here. While I thought the match dragged just a little in some spots, they told a good story and both wrestlers looked strong throughout. Aside from a little dragging here and there, I thought the match was well paced with just entertaining action all around. You knew that Roode was going to walk out the winner, of course, but the match was still fun to watch. The ending comes with Roode forcing Styles to tap to the Crossface. I like how they're giving Roode solid & decisive wins rather than making them look flukey. ***
Hulk Hogan's Announcement - I cry bullshit on this. Maybe not 100% complete bullshit, but pretty close. Hogan announcing his retirment from wrestling is all well and good but I don't buy into it, at least not at this particular time. TNA's biggest ppv of the year is coming up and Hogan will be part of it in some way. Hogan gave it his all in his speech tonight but maybe I'm just a cynical bastard because I just didn't buy into the emotion of it. They've spent months setting the stage for Sting vs. Hogan at BFG and Hogan's not going to walk away right now. As a fan, I wish that I did buy into Hogan retiring in Knoxville next week because I've no interest in watching him try to wrestle again. I'm sure some will love this speech, I'm sure some probably got a little emotional but I just don't buy it. To me, it's as transparent an unmuddied lake. If it does turn out that I'm wrong, then I've got tons of crow to shovel down my throat. But, for now, no sale. Thumbs Down
Overall Show - Last week's show was one of the strongest episodes I've seen in a VERY long time but this one was just extremely weak all around in my view. The opening promo segment was ok, nothing special about it but I'm just bored with everyone giving their opinion on Roode & his chances. The X Division ladder match was your standard, forgettable TNA 5 minute gimmick match. The Knockout match was the worst women's match I've seen in quite a while. It was 5 torturously dull minutes in which the centerpiece of the match was an old man getting fondled by a woman young enough to be his granddaughter. Mr. Anderson vs. The Pope was also just really dull. Mexican America & Ink Inc. continue to build their feud up. I'm not really into either of them but they're trying. Samoa Joe, Crimson & Matt Morgan had a decent segment, nothing to write home about. The highlights of the show were the Bobby Roode video package and the Roode vs. Styles match. The video package was a great look at Bobby Roode and who he is while Roode vs. Styles was a quality tv main event match. Hulk Hogan's big announcement just let me kind of rolling my eyes. I just don't buy into it at all right now. He's not going to retire, at least not until Sting winds up beating him in a match at BFG. For me, the show was mostly a bust with except from about 10:35 p.m. through 10:50 p.m. which featured the Roode video and the Roode vs. Styles match.
Grade: D+
Jack-Hammer
YOU WILL RESPECT MY AUTHORITAH!!!!
TNA Impact Wrestling - October 6, 2011
Opening Segment - Fun, energetic way to kick off the show with Storm & Roode playing off each other. Storm was hugely over with the Knoxville crowd and just seems so much more at ease on the mic than Roode does at the moment. Roode did a solid job and it was nice to finally hear him talk about something other than how much he's sacrificed for wrestling and his 13 years on the road. That's great and all but it seems like that's all he's had to say whenever he's gotten on the mic, even before becoming #1 contender, so it was good to see him spread his wings more. They did a good job of setting up their match for the night and this was also a simple, yet effective, way of possibly setting up something between them after BFG. Beer Money is gonna break up and it's gonna be nasty, that's just how it is. Thumbs Up
1. Kazarian vs. Gunner - An ok 4 minute match, nothing really to write home about, but generally decent action throughout. Gunner still comes across as a generic henchman that TNA desperately tries to get over as "Mr. Intensity" but he looked good here overall. Kazarian added a nice dash of athleticism and the match went at a decent clip. The ending of the match, however, really turned me off. Gunner spent much of the second half of the match working over Kazarian's arm and gets a clean submission win. After the match, Gunner continues to attack Kazarian a little, not much, and the ref reverses the decision. I HATE when that happens. The match was over, Gunner actually won fairly, so let him beat on his opponent all he likes. It'd just put some heat on Gunner and generate sympathy for Kazarian. Reversing the decision and giving the match to Kazarian just made him look weak in my eyes and it kinda killed the match for me. *1/4
Mr. Anderson & Bully Ray - I had mixed feelings on this segment. I enjoyed Ray on the mic, he continues to do a good job, but I'm just over Anderson. I'm just over this whole asshole thing along with his juvenile, high school homeroom style penis jokes and all this and that. I'm just tired of the guy and kinda wish that TNA would repackage him. He's just damaged goods right now in my eyes and it's going to be hard for me to take him seriously as a main event level guy again after it's all said and done. Anderson challenges Bully Ray to a Falls Count Anywhere match at BFG, though Ray doesn't actually accept then and there but we all know he will. With Ray having gotten the best of Anderson up to this point, which they both point out in the promo, booking 101 suggests that Anderson wins at BFG to blow off this feud. Thumbs In The Middle
2. Mickie James & Velvet Sky vs. Winter & Madison Rayne - Standard 4.5 minute Knockouts match. It was ok while it lasted, nothing particularly noteworthy. For the most part, it was just like every other women's match I've seen in TNA for the longest time. I will say that it wasn't the overbooked cluster that we've seen so many times in TNA matches. Mickie James looked crisp inside the ring and really continues to come across as the only real star in the Knockouts Division. The match ends with Velvet Sky getting rolled up by Madison Rayne for the win. *
Eric Bischoff & Jeff Hardy - This segment didn't do a thing for me personally. It's true that Eric Bischoff was being a douche out there to Jeff Hardy, granted, but it's not as if Bischoff wasn't saying anything out there that Hardy didn't have coming. It feels as though TNA is trying to make Jeff Hardy come across as this sympathetic babyface by simply having him oppose Bischoff & Immortal. I'm sure it'll work as numerous fans have already just accepted Hardy back with open arms despite the lack of any true feeling of substance behind Hardy's repentence. For me though, it just isn't clicking. It's hard for me to be sympathetic towards Hardy in this angle because I haven't seen any real reason. Besides, a lot of what Bischoff was saying was a reflection of many comments I've read towards Jeff Hardy over the course of this year and for much longer. Bischoff's character might be a creep, but he's still a creep that brought up a lot of great points. Just having Hardy be this "rebel" fighting against the system doesn't work in this case because the rebel doesn't have a legit moral or even "political" axe to grind in my eyes. Thumbs Down
3. Crimson vs. Samoe Joe - Again, sort of decent while it lasted but I was kind of bored for the most part. This match seemed to drag on by at a snail's pace, though I thought it told a decent story. Also, it's kind of hard to get behind a match like this because of Crimson's "undefeated streak". Crimson got in some decent offense but Joe controlled much of the second half of the match by working on Crimson's injured leg. The ending comes about the 5.25 minute mark with Crimson rolling Joe up in a modified small package for the win. Just when it seemed that TNA might be getting back on track with making Joe some kind of brutal badass, they undo all that with having Crimson go over him in such a flukey way. *
4. Bobby Roode vs. Cowboy James Storm - Great back & forth, competitive match here that lived up to what I was hoping for. Good storytelling and good action throughout the match with both guys, in my view, ultimately coming across looking like stars. There were a lot of great, believable near falls in the match such as when Storm hit a DDT, Roode with a spinebuster, Storm with a superplex and Roode locking in the crossface. As usual, there was a ref bump here and some outside interference. While the ref was down, Kurt Angle hits the ring and hits Storm. The ref recovers and Storm kicks out. Roode then locks in the Fisherman Suplex for the win a little before the 15 minute mark. The ref bump & interference have both become standard for every TNA main event, but at least the interference wasn't an over the top cluster like usual. Angle seemingly "helping" Roode could be a factor in causing tension between Beer Money, which we all know is coming before too long. Still, a very entertaining match. ***1/4
Hulk Hogan's Retirement Ceremony - Even before all the reports of Hogan allegedly signing a new contract with TNA, I never bought into this "retirement" angle. I understand suspension of disbelief is important to enjoying wrestling and I've no problen suspending it, but not when it's such a lazy & hackneyed booking attempt as this. Sting coming out and just coincidentally having this video footage of Hogan & Bischoff mocking the fans was every bit as weak as Kevin Nash being the one that sent the texts to himself from Triple H's office at SummerSlam. But, at least there was some intrigue there whereas I knew that Hogan wasn't going anywhere until, at the very least, after BFG. The way Sting lured Hogan into setting up the stipulation for their match at BFG was also just plain old hackneyed writing and lazy as all hell. Thumbs Down
Overall Show - Generally speaking, I thought this week's show was ok. Not a great show but I enjoyed it more than last week's. The opening promo segment with Storm & Roode was really good in my view. Just energetic, well paced and fun. The promo segment with Ray & Anderson was mixed for me because I'm just kind of tired of Anderson's schtick. He's just not at all intriguing anymore. Hardy & Bischoff's segment had the opposite effect on me personally that was intended as I just don't have sympathy for Jeff Hardy at this time, a big reason for that is that they haven't done anything in TNA as part of this storyline to make him seem sympathetic. The Hogan retirement ceremony was a joke that was terribly written with a very weak climax. Overall wrestling action on the show was a dud. Kazarian vs. Gunner was ok but the reversed decision was another of those eye rollingly bad TNA match finishes that I've become accusomed to. The Knockouts match was your standard stuff. Crimson vs. Joe moves along at a snail's pace and the weak ending undid everything TNA has done for Joe over the past month or so. Roode vs. Storm was the one saving grace in terms of wrestling content. They put up a great match that was just plain fun to watch. Roode & Storm were easily the highlights of this week's show but I also enjoyed the overall pace of the show even if much of the content was kind of lackluster. They didn't try to cram too much into each segment, nor did we have a huge clusterfuck of match interference like we usually see. There was some outside interference in a few matches, but it was nothing like what normally takes place. There was the standard ref bump, of course, but it could've been a lot worse.
Grade: C
Opening Segment - Fun, energetic way to kick off the show with Storm & Roode playing off each other. Storm was hugely over with the Knoxville crowd and just seems so much more at ease on the mic than Roode does at the moment. Roode did a solid job and it was nice to finally hear him talk about something other than how much he's sacrificed for wrestling and his 13 years on the road. That's great and all but it seems like that's all he's had to say whenever he's gotten on the mic, even before becoming #1 contender, so it was good to see him spread his wings more. They did a good job of setting up their match for the night and this was also a simple, yet effective, way of possibly setting up something between them after BFG. Beer Money is gonna break up and it's gonna be nasty, that's just how it is. Thumbs Up
1. Kazarian vs. Gunner - An ok 4 minute match, nothing really to write home about, but generally decent action throughout. Gunner still comes across as a generic henchman that TNA desperately tries to get over as "Mr. Intensity" but he looked good here overall. Kazarian added a nice dash of athleticism and the match went at a decent clip. The ending of the match, however, really turned me off. Gunner spent much of the second half of the match working over Kazarian's arm and gets a clean submission win. After the match, Gunner continues to attack Kazarian a little, not much, and the ref reverses the decision. I HATE when that happens. The match was over, Gunner actually won fairly, so let him beat on his opponent all he likes. It'd just put some heat on Gunner and generate sympathy for Kazarian. Reversing the decision and giving the match to Kazarian just made him look weak in my eyes and it kinda killed the match for me. *1/4
Mr. Anderson & Bully Ray - I had mixed feelings on this segment. I enjoyed Ray on the mic, he continues to do a good job, but I'm just over Anderson. I'm just over this whole asshole thing along with his juvenile, high school homeroom style penis jokes and all this and that. I'm just tired of the guy and kinda wish that TNA would repackage him. He's just damaged goods right now in my eyes and it's going to be hard for me to take him seriously as a main event level guy again after it's all said and done. Anderson challenges Bully Ray to a Falls Count Anywhere match at BFG, though Ray doesn't actually accept then and there but we all know he will. With Ray having gotten the best of Anderson up to this point, which they both point out in the promo, booking 101 suggests that Anderson wins at BFG to blow off this feud. Thumbs In The Middle
2. Mickie James & Velvet Sky vs. Winter & Madison Rayne - Standard 4.5 minute Knockouts match. It was ok while it lasted, nothing particularly noteworthy. For the most part, it was just like every other women's match I've seen in TNA for the longest time. I will say that it wasn't the overbooked cluster that we've seen so many times in TNA matches. Mickie James looked crisp inside the ring and really continues to come across as the only real star in the Knockouts Division. The match ends with Velvet Sky getting rolled up by Madison Rayne for the win. *
Eric Bischoff & Jeff Hardy - This segment didn't do a thing for me personally. It's true that Eric Bischoff was being a douche out there to Jeff Hardy, granted, but it's not as if Bischoff wasn't saying anything out there that Hardy didn't have coming. It feels as though TNA is trying to make Jeff Hardy come across as this sympathetic babyface by simply having him oppose Bischoff & Immortal. I'm sure it'll work as numerous fans have already just accepted Hardy back with open arms despite the lack of any true feeling of substance behind Hardy's repentence. For me though, it just isn't clicking. It's hard for me to be sympathetic towards Hardy in this angle because I haven't seen any real reason. Besides, a lot of what Bischoff was saying was a reflection of many comments I've read towards Jeff Hardy over the course of this year and for much longer. Bischoff's character might be a creep, but he's still a creep that brought up a lot of great points. Just having Hardy be this "rebel" fighting against the system doesn't work in this case because the rebel doesn't have a legit moral or even "political" axe to grind in my eyes. Thumbs Down
3. Crimson vs. Samoe Joe - Again, sort of decent while it lasted but I was kind of bored for the most part. This match seemed to drag on by at a snail's pace, though I thought it told a decent story. Also, it's kind of hard to get behind a match like this because of Crimson's "undefeated streak". Crimson got in some decent offense but Joe controlled much of the second half of the match by working on Crimson's injured leg. The ending comes about the 5.25 minute mark with Crimson rolling Joe up in a modified small package for the win. Just when it seemed that TNA might be getting back on track with making Joe some kind of brutal badass, they undo all that with having Crimson go over him in such a flukey way. *
4. Bobby Roode vs. Cowboy James Storm - Great back & forth, competitive match here that lived up to what I was hoping for. Good storytelling and good action throughout the match with both guys, in my view, ultimately coming across looking like stars. There were a lot of great, believable near falls in the match such as when Storm hit a DDT, Roode with a spinebuster, Storm with a superplex and Roode locking in the crossface. As usual, there was a ref bump here and some outside interference. While the ref was down, Kurt Angle hits the ring and hits Storm. The ref recovers and Storm kicks out. Roode then locks in the Fisherman Suplex for the win a little before the 15 minute mark. The ref bump & interference have both become standard for every TNA main event, but at least the interference wasn't an over the top cluster like usual. Angle seemingly "helping" Roode could be a factor in causing tension between Beer Money, which we all know is coming before too long. Still, a very entertaining match. ***1/4
Hulk Hogan's Retirement Ceremony - Even before all the reports of Hogan allegedly signing a new contract with TNA, I never bought into this "retirement" angle. I understand suspension of disbelief is important to enjoying wrestling and I've no problen suspending it, but not when it's such a lazy & hackneyed booking attempt as this. Sting coming out and just coincidentally having this video footage of Hogan & Bischoff mocking the fans was every bit as weak as Kevin Nash being the one that sent the texts to himself from Triple H's office at SummerSlam. But, at least there was some intrigue there whereas I knew that Hogan wasn't going anywhere until, at the very least, after BFG. The way Sting lured Hogan into setting up the stipulation for their match at BFG was also just plain old hackneyed writing and lazy as all hell. Thumbs Down
Overall Show - Generally speaking, I thought this week's show was ok. Not a great show but I enjoyed it more than last week's. The opening promo segment with Storm & Roode was really good in my view. Just energetic, well paced and fun. The promo segment with Ray & Anderson was mixed for me because I'm just kind of tired of Anderson's schtick. He's just not at all intriguing anymore. Hardy & Bischoff's segment had the opposite effect on me personally that was intended as I just don't have sympathy for Jeff Hardy at this time, a big reason for that is that they haven't done anything in TNA as part of this storyline to make him seem sympathetic. The Hogan retirement ceremony was a joke that was terribly written with a very weak climax. Overall wrestling action on the show was a dud. Kazarian vs. Gunner was ok but the reversed decision was another of those eye rollingly bad TNA match finishes that I've become accusomed to. The Knockouts match was your standard stuff. Crimson vs. Joe moves along at a snail's pace and the weak ending undid everything TNA has done for Joe over the past month or so. Roode vs. Storm was the one saving grace in terms of wrestling content. They put up a great match that was just plain fun to watch. Roode & Storm were easily the highlights of this week's show but I also enjoyed the overall pace of the show even if much of the content was kind of lackluster. They didn't try to cram too much into each segment, nor did we have a huge clusterfuck of match interference like we usually see. There was some outside interference in a few matches, but it was nothing like what normally takes place. There was the standard ref bump, of course, but it could've been a lot worse.
Grade: C
I would just like to point out that hogan is doing the espn work for free for a whole day just to promote IW. If you believe this.. Just close the thread because you don't get it.
Its because he's getting paid, there going to talk about how career. Thel mention WWE to, undoubtably, you see, panda idiot.. I mean energy. See this crippled old man, a man who once was a god, offer to go on espn. After destroying there company for a year or more. And promote them for a day, he has them in a great spot, there injecting him with fresh loads of cash. And undoubtably when the red n yellow comes back the impact wrestling faithful will MTFO, they even go to the door and pay the gate entry Again
Its because he's getting paid, there going to talk about how career. Thel mention WWE to, undoubtably, you see, panda idiot.. I mean energy. See this crippled old man, a man who once was a god, offer to go on espn. After destroying there company for a year or more. And promote them for a day, he has them in a great spot, there injecting him with fresh loads of cash. And undoubtably when the red n yellow comes back the impact wrestling faithful will MTFO, they even go to the door and pay the gate entry Again
Jack-Hammer
YOU WILL RESPECT MY AUTHORITAH!!!!
TNA Impact Wrestling - October 13, 2011
Opening Segment - Good, solid promo segment from Roode & Angle. TNA's done a great job of building hype for this match and it's easily the most interesting the TNA WHC scene has been for me since Styles was carrying the strap. Roode held his own with Angle and Angle put himself over as "the greatest wrestler of all time" convincingly, though he does have credentials to back up the claim. I also dig how they haven't had Roode & Angle get physical with one another. It just gives me the overall impression that TNA is going to try and create an epic feeling for the match. I'm dubious about the non-interference agreement Angle made with Roode. Heels do often go back on their word after all. Nothing would make me happier than to see this match go a great length, be highly competitive and not have half the locker room interfere. I do hope it happens, but I'm not gonna hold my breath. Thumbs Up
1. AJ Styles & Rob Van Dam vs. Chrisopher Daniels & Jerry Lynn - Fun & athletic 6 minute tag match that featured some great energy and some fun offense. The crowd really popped for when Styles was in the ring and we were treated to some glimpses of brilliance from him that we don't often see on IW. Not that Styles doesn't have brilliance in his in-ring abilities of course, it's just that most of the matches on TNA are so short that we just don't get much time to see much. I thought they did a good job of telling the story of Daniels vs. Styles but not really RVD vs. Lynn so much. Daniels vs. Styles has gotten much more build and RVD vs. Lynn just felt kinda tacked on for this match. Styles staring Daniels down as he went for the Styles Clash was a nice touch. Styles his the move on Lynn for the clean win. I think it would've been better for the heels to have gotten the win here to build heat for them at the ppv, but it was still a fun match while it lasted. **1/4
2. Samoa Joe vs. Matt Morgan - Pretty dull match in my view. There was some decent offense but I just had this feeling that Joe was gonna lose another match and that's exactly what happened. And, yet again, he loses via a type of roll up about the 2.5 minute mark. Joe then starts to work on Morgan's ankle, Crimson limps down to the ring and makes the save. Joe challenges them to a triple threat match at the ppv. There's just no heat in any of these situations right now, Joe's just lost so many times and has already been beaten by both guys clean with a couple of flukey looking wins. Just tacking this match onto BFG will relegate it to pure filler. 1/2*
Mexican America & Ink Inc. - Lame promo segment that degenerated into a lame beatdown in the ring. Of these four guys, none of them are even remotely good on the mic. I actually laughed a little when Hernandez said he'd show them how it's done "Mexican prison style". It sounded like he expected Ink Inc. to bend over and grab their toes so he'd show them where the wild goose goes instead of sounding like smack from a badass thug. Jesse Neal's finance, Christina Von Eerie, made her debut and took out Sarita & Rosita to help Ink Inc. rally against MA. From what I understand about this gal, she talks the talk and walks the walk when it comes to the whole tattooed Punk biz, whereas Neal has come across like a poser the entire time. Thumbs Down
3. Brian Kendrick & Jesse Sorensen vs. Austin Aries & Kid Kash - Decent X Division tag team match here. Some fun offense and some good energy for the match with all four guys looking pretty good here. Sorensen looks good inside the ring, but there's just no spark yet with this kid. He still just seems kinda generic with his letterman jacket and carrying his football. Kid Kash looked pretty good up until he botched the moonsault attempt. The heel team had some "misunderstandings" with things breaking down. Kendrick ultimately gets the win after hitting a superkick on Aries and following it up with Sliced Bread. Kendrick winning makes sense as it gives the impression that he's got momentum going into BFG, but it almost certainly means that Aries will retain. I certainly hope that's the case as I just flat out hate Kendrick's character. **
Knockouts Segment - I'm kinda mixed on the Knockout segment. On one hand, I thought Madison Rayne & Karen Jarrett did a good job out there. Their characters mesh together nicely. Mickie James just seemed like the proverbial 3rd wheel out there and just didn't really contribute. She was just..well she was there, that's about it. Karen picked on Velvet for the segment and said that BFG was a night of prestige, not for street walking hos. I rolled my eyes when Velvet said she couldn't understand why Karen would think that as she was grinding and humping the middle rope in her entrance just a few minutes earlier. Don't get me wrong, I love Velvet's interest, but it's just stupid to say you don't understand why someone thinks you're a **** when your entire character is centered around acting like a ****. Karen eventually got pushed down and it broke down into a brawl with the heels getting the best of it. Karen then runs down Traci Brooks some more: you know, the chick who prostituted herself to Eric Bischoff so she'd get put in control of the Knockouts that we're supposed to feel sorry for. Karen is entertaining, but it's just getting very, very repetitive to hear her constantly going back to the ho & **** cards when it comes to the Knockouts. Thumbs In The Middle
AJ Styles & Christopher Daniels - Good final hype for their match I thought. Styles mentioning their wives won't talk to one another and how their kids won't play together anymore is a nice little personal touch to this feud. Daniels attacks Styles as he's about to leave and chokes him out. This match is relying heavily on nostalgia for what these two have done in the past. Not that there's anything wrong with that and I'm sure it'll be an entertaining match, but the outcome is as clear as day considering the match stipulation. Thumbs Up
4. Mr. Anderson vs. Scott Steiner - This match just didn't do anything for me. Consistent interference from Bully Ray, which was a given since he was the "special enforcer" for this match, and another horrendous example of referee stupidity. The ref stood there and watched Anderson get a low blow from Steiner and didn't DQ him. Refs in TNA will reverse a match decision if a guy wins cleanly but continues to attack his opponent AFTER the match is officially over but they won't DQ a guy for a blatant low blow right in front of them...wow...just wow. Anyhow, Abyss runs down and attempts to hit Anderson with a chain, hits Steiner and allows Anderson to get the win at the 3.5 minute mark. The aftermath with Immortal beating down Abyss and putting Anderson through a table pretty much guarantees that the Anderson vs. Ray match is going to be one massive cluster of interference and brawling. 1/2*
Bobby Roode Video Package - Yet another great video package put together here. TNA needs to do this kinda thing more often as it just really makes fans wanna get behind the guy. Roode is already a beloved figure in TNA among fans, but these video packages coupled with the build up for BFG just make you wanna invest in the guy all the more. Thumbs Up
5. Bobby Roode vs. Jeff Jarrett & Gunner - Alright while it lasted, but nothing to write home about. It was easily the weakest match we've seen Roode have thus far. I mean, the match did involve Gunner after all. I get the idea of build Roode up as a guy that can handle 2 guys, but this was just a 4 minute match and one of the guys in the match is someone that's given Kurt Angle all he can handle in the past. Roode forces Gunner to tap before Immortal hits the ring. They beat on Roode for a while before Storm comes in for the save, but he gets laid out too. Jeff Hardy's music hits and he comes out and helps Roode & Storm get the upper hand. I guess this means that Hardy will be at BFG, maybe even in a match. Hardy's involvment didn't really do much for me and the match wasn't that much but, then again, they've done a good job building up the Angle vs. Roode match that it didn't hurt things. *1/4
Hulk Hogan & Sting Contract Signing - I don't really know what happened here because I turned off the tv. I just don't give a shit about this match whatsoever and I just hope & pray that this isn't the match that closes the show, but I have a feeling that it will be. N/A
Overall Show - I thought the show was pretty decent this week, probably a bit better than last week's show. At least TNA is at least watchable now, so that's saying something. For a regular episode, it was definitely above average but it wasn't all that hot for a go home show. There'll be about 3 or 4 really good matches at BFG I'm sure, but the only one that TNA has done a great job with is the match between Angle & Roode. Angle & Roode had a good promo segment to start the show off with. The Mexican America & Ink Inc. promo/brawl segment did nothing for me. The Knockouts promo segment was ok, but it was repetitive and it's just kinda hard for me to have sympathy for Velvet or Traci Brooks. As far as wrestling goes, sort of a mixed bag in general. The opening tag match featuring Styles & RVD vs. Daniels & Lynn was fun and energetic as was the X Division tag match. They were too short to be great but they were both solid, fun tv matches. The rest of the wrestling action didn't do much for me. Joe vs. Morgan was just plain boring as was Anderson vs. Steiner. Roode vs. Gunner & Jarrett wasn't really much to write home about, but the aftermath put a nice little final hype for Roode's match with Angle at BFG. There wasn't anything hugely wrong with the show tonight or anything, it just wasn't all that great for a go home show.
Grade: C+
Opening Segment - Good, solid promo segment from Roode & Angle. TNA's done a great job of building hype for this match and it's easily the most interesting the TNA WHC scene has been for me since Styles was carrying the strap. Roode held his own with Angle and Angle put himself over as "the greatest wrestler of all time" convincingly, though he does have credentials to back up the claim. I also dig how they haven't had Roode & Angle get physical with one another. It just gives me the overall impression that TNA is going to try and create an epic feeling for the match. I'm dubious about the non-interference agreement Angle made with Roode. Heels do often go back on their word after all. Nothing would make me happier than to see this match go a great length, be highly competitive and not have half the locker room interfere. I do hope it happens, but I'm not gonna hold my breath. Thumbs Up
1. AJ Styles & Rob Van Dam vs. Chrisopher Daniels & Jerry Lynn - Fun & athletic 6 minute tag match that featured some great energy and some fun offense. The crowd really popped for when Styles was in the ring and we were treated to some glimpses of brilliance from him that we don't often see on IW. Not that Styles doesn't have brilliance in his in-ring abilities of course, it's just that most of the matches on TNA are so short that we just don't get much time to see much. I thought they did a good job of telling the story of Daniels vs. Styles but not really RVD vs. Lynn so much. Daniels vs. Styles has gotten much more build and RVD vs. Lynn just felt kinda tacked on for this match. Styles staring Daniels down as he went for the Styles Clash was a nice touch. Styles his the move on Lynn for the clean win. I think it would've been better for the heels to have gotten the win here to build heat for them at the ppv, but it was still a fun match while it lasted. **1/4
2. Samoa Joe vs. Matt Morgan - Pretty dull match in my view. There was some decent offense but I just had this feeling that Joe was gonna lose another match and that's exactly what happened. And, yet again, he loses via a type of roll up about the 2.5 minute mark. Joe then starts to work on Morgan's ankle, Crimson limps down to the ring and makes the save. Joe challenges them to a triple threat match at the ppv. There's just no heat in any of these situations right now, Joe's just lost so many times and has already been beaten by both guys clean with a couple of flukey looking wins. Just tacking this match onto BFG will relegate it to pure filler. 1/2*
Mexican America & Ink Inc. - Lame promo segment that degenerated into a lame beatdown in the ring. Of these four guys, none of them are even remotely good on the mic. I actually laughed a little when Hernandez said he'd show them how it's done "Mexican prison style". It sounded like he expected Ink Inc. to bend over and grab their toes so he'd show them where the wild goose goes instead of sounding like smack from a badass thug. Jesse Neal's finance, Christina Von Eerie, made her debut and took out Sarita & Rosita to help Ink Inc. rally against MA. From what I understand about this gal, she talks the talk and walks the walk when it comes to the whole tattooed Punk biz, whereas Neal has come across like a poser the entire time. Thumbs Down
3. Brian Kendrick & Jesse Sorensen vs. Austin Aries & Kid Kash - Decent X Division tag team match here. Some fun offense and some good energy for the match with all four guys looking pretty good here. Sorensen looks good inside the ring, but there's just no spark yet with this kid. He still just seems kinda generic with his letterman jacket and carrying his football. Kid Kash looked pretty good up until he botched the moonsault attempt. The heel team had some "misunderstandings" with things breaking down. Kendrick ultimately gets the win after hitting a superkick on Aries and following it up with Sliced Bread. Kendrick winning makes sense as it gives the impression that he's got momentum going into BFG, but it almost certainly means that Aries will retain. I certainly hope that's the case as I just flat out hate Kendrick's character. **
Knockouts Segment - I'm kinda mixed on the Knockout segment. On one hand, I thought Madison Rayne & Karen Jarrett did a good job out there. Their characters mesh together nicely. Mickie James just seemed like the proverbial 3rd wheel out there and just didn't really contribute. She was just..well she was there, that's about it. Karen picked on Velvet for the segment and said that BFG was a night of prestige, not for street walking hos. I rolled my eyes when Velvet said she couldn't understand why Karen would think that as she was grinding and humping the middle rope in her entrance just a few minutes earlier. Don't get me wrong, I love Velvet's interest, but it's just stupid to say you don't understand why someone thinks you're a **** when your entire character is centered around acting like a ****. Karen eventually got pushed down and it broke down into a brawl with the heels getting the best of it. Karen then runs down Traci Brooks some more: you know, the chick who prostituted herself to Eric Bischoff so she'd get put in control of the Knockouts that we're supposed to feel sorry for. Karen is entertaining, but it's just getting very, very repetitive to hear her constantly going back to the ho & **** cards when it comes to the Knockouts. Thumbs In The Middle
AJ Styles & Christopher Daniels - Good final hype for their match I thought. Styles mentioning their wives won't talk to one another and how their kids won't play together anymore is a nice little personal touch to this feud. Daniels attacks Styles as he's about to leave and chokes him out. This match is relying heavily on nostalgia for what these two have done in the past. Not that there's anything wrong with that and I'm sure it'll be an entertaining match, but the outcome is as clear as day considering the match stipulation. Thumbs Up
4. Mr. Anderson vs. Scott Steiner - This match just didn't do anything for me. Consistent interference from Bully Ray, which was a given since he was the "special enforcer" for this match, and another horrendous example of referee stupidity. The ref stood there and watched Anderson get a low blow from Steiner and didn't DQ him. Refs in TNA will reverse a match decision if a guy wins cleanly but continues to attack his opponent AFTER the match is officially over but they won't DQ a guy for a blatant low blow right in front of them...wow...just wow. Anyhow, Abyss runs down and attempts to hit Anderson with a chain, hits Steiner and allows Anderson to get the win at the 3.5 minute mark. The aftermath with Immortal beating down Abyss and putting Anderson through a table pretty much guarantees that the Anderson vs. Ray match is going to be one massive cluster of interference and brawling. 1/2*
Bobby Roode Video Package - Yet another great video package put together here. TNA needs to do this kinda thing more often as it just really makes fans wanna get behind the guy. Roode is already a beloved figure in TNA among fans, but these video packages coupled with the build up for BFG just make you wanna invest in the guy all the more. Thumbs Up
5. Bobby Roode vs. Jeff Jarrett & Gunner - Alright while it lasted, but nothing to write home about. It was easily the weakest match we've seen Roode have thus far. I mean, the match did involve Gunner after all. I get the idea of build Roode up as a guy that can handle 2 guys, but this was just a 4 minute match and one of the guys in the match is someone that's given Kurt Angle all he can handle in the past. Roode forces Gunner to tap before Immortal hits the ring. They beat on Roode for a while before Storm comes in for the save, but he gets laid out too. Jeff Hardy's music hits and he comes out and helps Roode & Storm get the upper hand. I guess this means that Hardy will be at BFG, maybe even in a match. Hardy's involvment didn't really do much for me and the match wasn't that much but, then again, they've done a good job building up the Angle vs. Roode match that it didn't hurt things. *1/4
Hulk Hogan & Sting Contract Signing - I don't really know what happened here because I turned off the tv. I just don't give a shit about this match whatsoever and I just hope & pray that this isn't the match that closes the show, but I have a feeling that it will be. N/A
Overall Show - I thought the show was pretty decent this week, probably a bit better than last week's show. At least TNA is at least watchable now, so that's saying something. For a regular episode, it was definitely above average but it wasn't all that hot for a go home show. There'll be about 3 or 4 really good matches at BFG I'm sure, but the only one that TNA has done a great job with is the match between Angle & Roode. Angle & Roode had a good promo segment to start the show off with. The Mexican America & Ink Inc. promo/brawl segment did nothing for me. The Knockouts promo segment was ok, but it was repetitive and it's just kinda hard for me to have sympathy for Velvet or Traci Brooks. As far as wrestling goes, sort of a mixed bag in general. The opening tag match featuring Styles & RVD vs. Daniels & Lynn was fun and energetic as was the X Division tag match. They were too short to be great but they were both solid, fun tv matches. The rest of the wrestling action didn't do much for me. Joe vs. Morgan was just plain boring as was Anderson vs. Steiner. Roode vs. Gunner & Jarrett wasn't really much to write home about, but the aftermath put a nice little final hype for Roode's match with Angle at BFG. There wasn't anything hugely wrong with the show tonight or anything, it just wasn't all that great for a go home show.
Grade: C+
Jack-Hammer
YOU WILL RESPECT MY AUTHORITAH!!!!
TNA Impact Wrestling - October 20, 2011
Opening Segment - At 41 minutes in length, this had to easily be the single longest promo segment in the history of wrestling. Overall, I thought it was pretty lame and was AT LEAST twice as long as it needed to be. Sting initially came out and did his thing and put over Hulk Hogan. Hogans music hits and he & Sting spent a few minutes going down on each other, then Hogan goes into some long winded speech about how he wasnt being a leader but was, instead, a follower of Eric Bischoff. What an absolute load of horse shit. I guess every fan thats watched TNA for the past year, since last years BFG at least, is supposed to forget that Hulk Hogan has been the overall centerpiece of Immortal. Hogans face turn made absolutely no sense whatsoever and listening to him trying to tell everyone why it happened was almost painful. I was glad when Hogan left and then, here comes Dixie Carter. She & Sting go back and forth with the comrades in arms type of deal. Then, Kurt Angle comes out and runs his mouth for a while. By this time, Ive just zoned out and have almost completely lost interest. Bobby Roode came out after this but there was no saving this segment by now. Roode did a nice job on the mic, I will say that, but trying to make this super huge deal out of Angle grabbing onto a rope to retain the title is just weak stuff. Hogans call to not make Roode champ at BFG has lead to an extremely weak follow up thus far. James Storm comes out after Angle talks about some clause that says he only had to face Roode that one, single time. Storm goes on for a bit before Sting finally makes a match between Angle & Storm for the title. Literally, the clock read 8:41 p.m. when they cut from the ring and showed Hogan walking backstage. The segment went far too long, listening to Hogan & Sting suck up to each other was just pure bullshit, Hogans explanation for his behavior was just beyond weak. Roode & Storm both did well on the mic but nothing couldve saved this segment from being the insanely dragged out bore that it was. I understand that you sometimes have to have a long promo segment, especially coming off a major ppv, but nothing justifies a 41 minute promo segment. Thumbs Down
1. Tara & Miss Tessmacher vs. Angelina Love & Winter for the TNA Knockouts Tag Team Championship - We finally get some wrestling action on the show about 8:46 p.m. but the problem is that its for titles that hold less meaning than, arguably, any other title in wrestling history. That being said, it was actually a pretty decent match while it lasted. Some good chemistry between the two teams and some surprisingly good action at times. The ending comes with Tessmacher making a blind tag and hitting a nice looking high cross body for the win. Nothing to write home about, but alright while it lasted. *1/4
Jeff Jarrett & Jeff Hardy - So, it looks like were getting another promo segment. Jeff Jarrett calls out Jeff Hardy, calling him Nero a couple of times, and goes on for a few minutes about how he brought Hardy in, how much of a screw up he is, how hes let everyone down, etc. Basically, the exact same thing weve heard him do with Hardy a couple of times already. He gives Hardy an ultimatum of getting out of the ring or getting into it with him. TNA tried its best to make it seem the crowd was into this but the canned heat was beyond obvious. The vast majority of the audience was sitting as still as could be while all this noise is going on. Hardy says that Jarrett is the only one that has a problem with him being here and its not the problems hes had that causes Jarrett to hate him, its because of the reaction Hardy gets that Jarrett never will. Then they start fighting, then here comes security. DLo Brown & Al Snow run out to help, they yell at each other for a bit. TNA actually piped in the crowd popping for when it looked like DLo and Snow were about to come to blows. Good lord. Typical TNA brawl that Ive seen a thousand times before. Thumbs Down
Eric Young & Robbie E - Eric Young is backstage doing a photo shoot and Robbie E comes up and says that Young is ducking him and that the Television Championship should be his. They go back and forth with some nonsense about star power and mentioned that some guy from Jersey Shore is coming soon and how EY is friends with him. Just ehhh..Just a lousy segment, but at least it was short. Thumbs Down
2. Abyss vs. Gunner - Before the match, Gunner cuts a promo about how Abyss is trash and that you have to prove to Immortal that you belong at the top. I actually laughed when he called himself Abyss biggest nightmare. Gunner came off sounding like a stooge thats gotten a little too big headed for his own good. Abyss comes out and basically dominates Gunner, tosses him around like a rag doll for about 2 minutes before running out, looking scared. Mr. Intensity as Mike Tenay calls him, gets himself counted out after looking like a complete scrub. It looks like Abyss is back to being a monster, which could be viewed as good I guess. At the same time, however, his character has changed too many times to be important and the guy is just damaged goods as he is. 1/4*
Velvet Sky Promo - They started off with a video segment in which Velvet tells of how she was bullied as she was growing up and how coming to TNA changed her. She talked while the vid was playing and Velvet did a good job of putting over TNA and the Knockouts Championship in and of itself, which is a good thing as it needs all the help it can get. She comes out to a legitimately nice reaction and did her entrance where shes humping the middle rope, which has been the highlight of the entire show thus far and were about 1.5 hours into the show. Velvet did a good job putting over how hard shes worked and she legitimately did sound emotional. Her entire speech did sound like something of an anti-bullying message, but it did seem legitimately heartfelt so I couldnt fault her for it. Karen Jarretts music hits and she comes out with Tits McGee by her side. Karen did a good job on the mic and I cracked up at her Im a mom, you dont see me cryin over crap!! I laughed my ass off. She screamed at both Traci Brooks & Velvet for a few minutes before calling security to get the trash out of her ring. Karen then turns back to Velvet and dresses her down, calls her a bitch a couple of times. Eventually, here comes Madison Rayne out before Velvet gets jumped by Gail Kim. Kim gets virtually no reaction or fan fair and already feels like just another gal on the roster. Still, a pretty good segment overall. Thumbs Up
Hulk Hogan & Immortal - Yet another long winded promo segment. It started out with Eric Bischoff coming out with the members of Immortal surrounding ringside. Listening to Bischoff go on about hes the man that made Hulk Hogan just made me roll my eyes as Hogan was the biggest thing in wrestling when Eric Bischoff was a scrub backstage announcer for Verne Gagnes dying AWA organization. He goes on about how Hogan dares to come between him and his son. Hogan responds that hes found out a few things about Bischoff in the past few days and that his son is the kind of man that Eric Bischoff could never be. Wow..this is just some lousy writing here. As Immortal is about to jump in and beat on Hogan, here comes Sting with two baseball bats. He and Hogan run off Immortal. As Bischoff is backing up the ramp, his brat is standing there looking like one pissed off little cub scout. I dont know what happened next as I went for a Pepsi but I dont give two shits about some angle in which Bischoff & his son have some sort of lame ass coming of age feud. Thumbs Down
3. Kurt Angle vs. Cowboy James Storm for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship - Wow just wow well I guess this is a good example of just how much stroke Hogan has in TNA. A few days ago, we were hearing about how Bobby Roode wasnt ready but that Hardy & James Storm were. So, lo and behold, Storm wins the title 48 hours after BFG when this episode was taped. So we go from what was, in my view, a very solid competitive match between Roode & Angle at BFG to Storm winning the title from Angle a 2 minute match? Im not hating on Storm, Im a fan of the guy, but this whole situation surrounding the title has been screwed up and just poorly booked since Hogan decided to pull the plug on the Bobby Roode title change. Angle beats on Storm for a few minutes in the corner before James Storm is able to hit a super kick for the win. N/A
Overall Show - This is one of the worst episodes of Impact Wrestling I can remember watching. The night was packed with boring promo segments, a total of about 7 minutes of wrestling action, and huge focus on Hulk Hogans actions at BFG rather than focusing on the aftermath of lots of matches. The opening promo segment was unnecessarily long. It was extremely dull, dragged out and stretched to 41 minutes in length. The next promo segment was seeing Jeff Jarrett & Jeff Hardy do, basically, the same shoot promo theyve done a few times already. I didnt mind Velvet Skys promo as it was actually pretty good and she did a good job of putting over the Knockouts title. Then we have another promo segment with Hogan talking to Bischoff before he & Sting run Immortal off. Wrestling action was just flat out lousy. The Knockouts tag title match was actually pretty decent at 3.5 minutes. Abyss spent 2 minutes smacking Gunner around before Gunner gets counted out. And we have a match for the TNA WHC with Angle & Storm that lasts all of about 2 minutes in which Storm hits a single move, namely a super kick, and pins Angle for the title. I love James Storm, hes a helluva good wrestler, but the way the title picture has been booked is just beyond weak. The part with him trying to give away the WHC to Bobby Roode was just just friggin stupid. Its the TNA WHC!!!! Youre not supposed to try and give away the, supposed, most prestigious title in the company. I have to say that if this is Bruce Pritchards first show as head writer, Im not the least bit impressed.
Grade: F
Opening Segment - At 41 minutes in length, this had to easily be the single longest promo segment in the history of wrestling. Overall, I thought it was pretty lame and was AT LEAST twice as long as it needed to be. Sting initially came out and did his thing and put over Hulk Hogan. Hogans music hits and he & Sting spent a few minutes going down on each other, then Hogan goes into some long winded speech about how he wasnt being a leader but was, instead, a follower of Eric Bischoff. What an absolute load of horse shit. I guess every fan thats watched TNA for the past year, since last years BFG at least, is supposed to forget that Hulk Hogan has been the overall centerpiece of Immortal. Hogans face turn made absolutely no sense whatsoever and listening to him trying to tell everyone why it happened was almost painful. I was glad when Hogan left and then, here comes Dixie Carter. She & Sting go back and forth with the comrades in arms type of deal. Then, Kurt Angle comes out and runs his mouth for a while. By this time, Ive just zoned out and have almost completely lost interest. Bobby Roode came out after this but there was no saving this segment by now. Roode did a nice job on the mic, I will say that, but trying to make this super huge deal out of Angle grabbing onto a rope to retain the title is just weak stuff. Hogans call to not make Roode champ at BFG has lead to an extremely weak follow up thus far. James Storm comes out after Angle talks about some clause that says he only had to face Roode that one, single time. Storm goes on for a bit before Sting finally makes a match between Angle & Storm for the title. Literally, the clock read 8:41 p.m. when they cut from the ring and showed Hogan walking backstage. The segment went far too long, listening to Hogan & Sting suck up to each other was just pure bullshit, Hogans explanation for his behavior was just beyond weak. Roode & Storm both did well on the mic but nothing couldve saved this segment from being the insanely dragged out bore that it was. I understand that you sometimes have to have a long promo segment, especially coming off a major ppv, but nothing justifies a 41 minute promo segment. Thumbs Down
1. Tara & Miss Tessmacher vs. Angelina Love & Winter for the TNA Knockouts Tag Team Championship - We finally get some wrestling action on the show about 8:46 p.m. but the problem is that its for titles that hold less meaning than, arguably, any other title in wrestling history. That being said, it was actually a pretty decent match while it lasted. Some good chemistry between the two teams and some surprisingly good action at times. The ending comes with Tessmacher making a blind tag and hitting a nice looking high cross body for the win. Nothing to write home about, but alright while it lasted. *1/4
Jeff Jarrett & Jeff Hardy - So, it looks like were getting another promo segment. Jeff Jarrett calls out Jeff Hardy, calling him Nero a couple of times, and goes on for a few minutes about how he brought Hardy in, how much of a screw up he is, how hes let everyone down, etc. Basically, the exact same thing weve heard him do with Hardy a couple of times already. He gives Hardy an ultimatum of getting out of the ring or getting into it with him. TNA tried its best to make it seem the crowd was into this but the canned heat was beyond obvious. The vast majority of the audience was sitting as still as could be while all this noise is going on. Hardy says that Jarrett is the only one that has a problem with him being here and its not the problems hes had that causes Jarrett to hate him, its because of the reaction Hardy gets that Jarrett never will. Then they start fighting, then here comes security. DLo Brown & Al Snow run out to help, they yell at each other for a bit. TNA actually piped in the crowd popping for when it looked like DLo and Snow were about to come to blows. Good lord. Typical TNA brawl that Ive seen a thousand times before. Thumbs Down
Eric Young & Robbie E - Eric Young is backstage doing a photo shoot and Robbie E comes up and says that Young is ducking him and that the Television Championship should be his. They go back and forth with some nonsense about star power and mentioned that some guy from Jersey Shore is coming soon and how EY is friends with him. Just ehhh..Just a lousy segment, but at least it was short. Thumbs Down
2. Abyss vs. Gunner - Before the match, Gunner cuts a promo about how Abyss is trash and that you have to prove to Immortal that you belong at the top. I actually laughed when he called himself Abyss biggest nightmare. Gunner came off sounding like a stooge thats gotten a little too big headed for his own good. Abyss comes out and basically dominates Gunner, tosses him around like a rag doll for about 2 minutes before running out, looking scared. Mr. Intensity as Mike Tenay calls him, gets himself counted out after looking like a complete scrub. It looks like Abyss is back to being a monster, which could be viewed as good I guess. At the same time, however, his character has changed too many times to be important and the guy is just damaged goods as he is. 1/4*
Velvet Sky Promo - They started off with a video segment in which Velvet tells of how she was bullied as she was growing up and how coming to TNA changed her. She talked while the vid was playing and Velvet did a good job of putting over TNA and the Knockouts Championship in and of itself, which is a good thing as it needs all the help it can get. She comes out to a legitimately nice reaction and did her entrance where shes humping the middle rope, which has been the highlight of the entire show thus far and were about 1.5 hours into the show. Velvet did a good job putting over how hard shes worked and she legitimately did sound emotional. Her entire speech did sound like something of an anti-bullying message, but it did seem legitimately heartfelt so I couldnt fault her for it. Karen Jarretts music hits and she comes out with Tits McGee by her side. Karen did a good job on the mic and I cracked up at her Im a mom, you dont see me cryin over crap!! I laughed my ass off. She screamed at both Traci Brooks & Velvet for a few minutes before calling security to get the trash out of her ring. Karen then turns back to Velvet and dresses her down, calls her a bitch a couple of times. Eventually, here comes Madison Rayne out before Velvet gets jumped by Gail Kim. Kim gets virtually no reaction or fan fair and already feels like just another gal on the roster. Still, a pretty good segment overall. Thumbs Up
Hulk Hogan & Immortal - Yet another long winded promo segment. It started out with Eric Bischoff coming out with the members of Immortal surrounding ringside. Listening to Bischoff go on about hes the man that made Hulk Hogan just made me roll my eyes as Hogan was the biggest thing in wrestling when Eric Bischoff was a scrub backstage announcer for Verne Gagnes dying AWA organization. He goes on about how Hogan dares to come between him and his son. Hogan responds that hes found out a few things about Bischoff in the past few days and that his son is the kind of man that Eric Bischoff could never be. Wow..this is just some lousy writing here. As Immortal is about to jump in and beat on Hogan, here comes Sting with two baseball bats. He and Hogan run off Immortal. As Bischoff is backing up the ramp, his brat is standing there looking like one pissed off little cub scout. I dont know what happened next as I went for a Pepsi but I dont give two shits about some angle in which Bischoff & his son have some sort of lame ass coming of age feud. Thumbs Down
3. Kurt Angle vs. Cowboy James Storm for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship - Wow just wow well I guess this is a good example of just how much stroke Hogan has in TNA. A few days ago, we were hearing about how Bobby Roode wasnt ready but that Hardy & James Storm were. So, lo and behold, Storm wins the title 48 hours after BFG when this episode was taped. So we go from what was, in my view, a very solid competitive match between Roode & Angle at BFG to Storm winning the title from Angle a 2 minute match? Im not hating on Storm, Im a fan of the guy, but this whole situation surrounding the title has been screwed up and just poorly booked since Hogan decided to pull the plug on the Bobby Roode title change. Angle beats on Storm for a few minutes in the corner before James Storm is able to hit a super kick for the win. N/A
Overall Show - This is one of the worst episodes of Impact Wrestling I can remember watching. The night was packed with boring promo segments, a total of about 7 minutes of wrestling action, and huge focus on Hulk Hogans actions at BFG rather than focusing on the aftermath of lots of matches. The opening promo segment was unnecessarily long. It was extremely dull, dragged out and stretched to 41 minutes in length. The next promo segment was seeing Jeff Jarrett & Jeff Hardy do, basically, the same shoot promo theyve done a few times already. I didnt mind Velvet Skys promo as it was actually pretty good and she did a good job of putting over the Knockouts title. Then we have another promo segment with Hogan talking to Bischoff before he & Sting run Immortal off. Wrestling action was just flat out lousy. The Knockouts tag title match was actually pretty decent at 3.5 minutes. Abyss spent 2 minutes smacking Gunner around before Gunner gets counted out. And we have a match for the TNA WHC with Angle & Storm that lasts all of about 2 minutes in which Storm hits a single move, namely a super kick, and pins Angle for the title. I love James Storm, hes a helluva good wrestler, but the way the title picture has been booked is just beyond weak. The part with him trying to give away the WHC to Bobby Roode was just just friggin stupid. Its the TNA WHC!!!! Youre not supposed to try and give away the, supposed, most prestigious title in the company. I have to say that if this is Bruce Pritchards first show as head writer, Im not the least bit impressed.
Grade: F
Little Jerry Lawler
Sigmund Freud On Ritalin And Roids
I loved this episode of Impact and the reason was that I knew what to expect of the show after the biggest PPV of the year. I'm sorry if you thought that there was going to be a lot of wrestling because you should have known better. A Hardy/Jarrett feud is in the works, Gail Kim returned, Hogan continues his face turn, and I'm interested to see where this Garrett/Eric angle is going. I'm sure some people will complain about the emphasis on the main eventers for tonight but that is just fine to me because they are who the fans care about the most. I admit that I teared up a bit Storm won and I don't think it's stupid, JackHammer, what you think Storm did. Look at it from his position. He saw his partner win the BFG Series and they built him up by beating all the members of Fortune. He gets his chance and gets screwed out of the title and doesn't get a rematch. He volunteers to face the champion and wins but he knows that Roode deserved it more becaue of the previous circumstances.
People kept bitching about how the title wasn't on homegrown talent, as ridiculous a belief as there's ever been, and now they did. Two tag team guys are on their way to being singles stars and I can't wait to see what happens next week.
People kept bitching about how the title wasn't on homegrown talent, as ridiculous a belief as there's ever been, and now they did. Two tag team guys are on their way to being singles stars and I can't wait to see what happens next week.
SpecialFNK
Mid-Card Championship Winner
if your a big fan of wrestling then you probably did not like this episode of Impact.
WHAT DID YOU EXPECT?
you had to knowing going in there would be a lot of talking. the same as you had last year after the 10/10/10 Bound For Glory. there was a lot to explain and talk about.
wrestling is more than just wrestling. it's entertainment. despite the lack of wrestling tonight, there was a lot of entertainment.
one of the things I noticed was the crowd. the crowd at the Impact Zone tonight was HOT.
for those who say Hulk Hogan is washed up and should no longer be in TNA. did you hear the crowd? the crowd was crazy hot for Hogan.
the crowd was hot for all/most of show.
Jeff Hardy had the fans on his side.
Abyss looked crazy good tonight. he actually looked like a monster. it's too bad TNA didn't use this monster Abyss when he was heel instead of now. and what's with the intense Gunner running away scared? I didn't like that. if TNA wanted to make Abyss look the way he did it could have been done better against Steiner so you didn't make Gunner look so bad.
I love me some Velvet Sky. Gail Kim, not so much.
I like that Sting has the authority. he is basically the GM of TNA. he gets to make all the decisions on TV, while Dixie has her company back and can remain off TV. I'm just wondering what role Hogan will play going forward. does he have power?
I enjoyed tonight's show. but then again I watch to be entertained and I don't just watch to see wrestling.
yes there was a lot of talking, but like I started out saying.. what did you expect after BFG?
WHAT DID YOU EXPECT?
you had to knowing going in there would be a lot of talking. the same as you had last year after the 10/10/10 Bound For Glory. there was a lot to explain and talk about.
wrestling is more than just wrestling. it's entertainment. despite the lack of wrestling tonight, there was a lot of entertainment.
one of the things I noticed was the crowd. the crowd at the Impact Zone tonight was HOT.
for those who say Hulk Hogan is washed up and should no longer be in TNA. did you hear the crowd? the crowd was crazy hot for Hogan.
the crowd was hot for all/most of show.
Jeff Hardy had the fans on his side.
Abyss looked crazy good tonight. he actually looked like a monster. it's too bad TNA didn't use this monster Abyss when he was heel instead of now. and what's with the intense Gunner running away scared? I didn't like that. if TNA wanted to make Abyss look the way he did it could have been done better against Steiner so you didn't make Gunner look so bad.
I love me some Velvet Sky. Gail Kim, not so much.
I like that Sting has the authority. he is basically the GM of TNA. he gets to make all the decisions on TV, while Dixie has her company back and can remain off TV. I'm just wondering what role Hogan will play going forward. does he have power?
I enjoyed tonight's show. but then again I watch to be entertained and I don't just watch to see wrestling.
yes there was a lot of talking, but like I started out saying.. what did you expect after BFG?
SpecialFNK
Mid-Card Championship Winner
I geuss I can't edit my post anymore. but wanted to add something else.
I liked the way Sting was used tonight.
when he returned to TNA he won the world title and his number 1 priority was to be against Hogan/Bischoff. mission accomplished. now he no longer needs to be a focus in the main event scene.
Dixie made Sting the authority figure in TNA, the one to make on air decisions. with this I thought it was good to see Sting without any face paint.
I think this is a good role for Sting and TNA going forward.
I liked the way Sting was used tonight.
when he returned to TNA he won the world title and his number 1 priority was to be against Hogan/Bischoff. mission accomplished. now he no longer needs to be a focus in the main event scene.
Dixie made Sting the authority figure in TNA, the one to make on air decisions. with this I thought it was good to see Sting without any face paint.
I think this is a good role for Sting and TNA going forward.
Papa Pillman
I've got more Ho's than Jim Duggan
This entire review is an absolute bias joke. Its like you work for VKM.
You seriously expect anyone to take this garbage review seriously when you gave this week's Raw a fucking B+?!?
This week's Raw was arguably the worst Raw I have ever seen, and I have been watching the show since its inception. Yet somehow you find a way to prop it up and praise its merits??
Obviously this week's Impact was going to be "non-wrestling-segment" heavy, coming out of BFG there is bound to be alot of fallout to be addressed. Not to mention that they have to now build into all of their end-of-year storylines.
I agree that on wrestling alone, the show was arguably a fail due to the limited amount of time alotted to in-ring affairs, and I'm dissapointed by that. I will say though, that I don't hate the way the Storm/Angle match played-out. Thats the thing about a guy with a Super-kick finisher, it can be sudden. How many guys have we seen HBK knockout cold instantly during the course of every kind of confrontation imaginable over the years? It's not far fetched that Angle screwed up and got caught- it happens in fight sports all the time. An ending like this adds an element of realism(not to mention it saves Angle from having to do two fifteen-minute matches in 48 hours on an injured wheel).
Oddly however, the show redeemed itself in spite of itself. They were forced to present too many promo encounters for one two-hour wrestling show to handle normally, but they were saved by the fact that they all seemed to work.
The opening segment, while admittedly longer than necesary, was solidly realized, and the commercial breaks saved it from coming off like an early 2000s Raw opener where Hunter would drag on for 22-26 minutes about absolutely nothing before a commercial break could save you. That segment had to be done. Sting had to have his moment, Hogan had to have his, Dixie had to have hers, and thankfully they saved the most important thing for last and built the world title match well with good mic work from Kurt and Beer Money.
The Hardy segment with Jarrett was somewhat re-hashed from BFG but was probably done for the benefit of those who didn't see the PPV. Still is wasn't badly executed, and this entire Hardy storyline has been done much better than the BS reviews which tend to appear in this thread would suggest.
Also the Crowd was indeed very hot tonight. There wasn't as much canned reaction needed tonight as there normally is in the IZ, and not nearly as much canned response tonight as is heard on the average episode of Smackdown. Most of Hardy's pop was legit, as was the "D-Lo pop"(C'mon we're all D-Lo marks at heart).
The "Immortal calling-out Hogan" segment was also better than it should have been. It teased some nice potential pay-offs down the road, and didn't drag on too long.
Both Garret Bischoff, and Abyss both came out of tonight looking strong as well.
I always hope to see more wrestling when I tune into a wrestling show, but I also realize the "nature-of-the-beast" as it pertains to working toward monthly PPVs with only two hours a week to do it. Coming off the biggest night of the year, a night where alot of things were determined, and alot more things left up-in-the-air, this type of a show was practically unavoidable.
Now, let's hope that tonight got alot of the legwork done on the story-building side and they can focus on more wrestling heading into the next PPV offering.
So Dixie Carter comes back on television to an ovation of canned cheers while everyone just sits there in the crowd staring. Sting and Carter rattle on in a boring segment until Angle comes out and it sets up Bobby Roode challenging for the title but getting screwed over again and then James Storm slipping in, getting the shot at the title, and then in the main event going on in a 2 minute match with a gimped up Angle to win the World Heavyweight title. So you’re telling me people paid 60 dollars for the Bound for Glory PPV to get as screwed over as Roode did in the main event, leave the PPV deflated and disappointed, so the title can change hands the NEXT night on FREE television. Great business plan! That’s really going to make people want to keep ordering TNA PPVs. It's ALSO going to make people invest their time and interest in the Bound for Glory series next year! I mean, clearly you get rewarded for all those months of build up and getting behind the winner. When is TNA going to realize that you make money on PPVs not Television. They continuously do this and that’s why, really, only the foolish and die-hard TNA fans buy the PPVs. Why pay 60 dollars just to get fucked over?
You know what else doesn’t make any sense? Hulk Hogan’s entire face turn. Sting, an established old star becomes the one who eliminates Immortal and gets the payoff of giving the company back to Dixie Carter, when it could’ve and should’ve been used as a storyline to put over younger talent and give them the rub OVER the established talents like Hogan. But now Hogan’s a face who can’t wrestle or add anything to the product in terms of in ring ability and long term benefit, but yet he’s now in a feud with Eric Bischoff and the Immortal stable. So what’s the fucking payoff? There is absolutely none. Hogan can keep his spot on television and continue to take up the spotlight. Great!
You know what ELSE doesn’t make any sense? How is Karen Jarrett still in charge of the Knockouts division, and how does she and Jeff Jarrett still have any power or sway over ANYTHING with Dixie Carter back in power. That makes no fucking sense. Don’t you think Dixie, having been screwed out of her company and finally getting it back, would FIRE everyone who helped screw her or were in Immortal. How the hell are Bischoff, Jarrett, Hogan even around still? None of this makes any sense!!
The funniest thing is is that Hogan and others claim Roode wasn’t/isn’t ready… but James Storm is? Huh? They both had singles runs years ago that went nowhere, failing, and then they both ended up in a tag team together. Storm is in no way better on the mic then Roode. Storm is in no way more over then Roode. Storm is in no way better in the ring then Roode. Storm doesn’t have more charisma then Roode. They're both in the same position and they both deserve the title as much as one another, so the argument against Roode doesn't make any sense at all (like the rest of the show) when you then turn around and throw the title right on Storm. If Roode's not ready then Storm's not, if Storm's ready then Roode is.
Nothing about this episode of Impact really made a lot of sense at all. Not to mention it had so little wrestling and was just jam packed with boring (and yes, most of the segments were very boring) promos and talking after talking. Horrible impact, and people that paid for Bound for Glory were made into suckers. Way to treat your audience TNA!
You know what else doesn’t make any sense? Hulk Hogan’s entire face turn. Sting, an established old star becomes the one who eliminates Immortal and gets the payoff of giving the company back to Dixie Carter, when it could’ve and should’ve been used as a storyline to put over younger talent and give them the rub OVER the established talents like Hogan. But now Hogan’s a face who can’t wrestle or add anything to the product in terms of in ring ability and long term benefit, but yet he’s now in a feud with Eric Bischoff and the Immortal stable. So what’s the fucking payoff? There is absolutely none. Hogan can keep his spot on television and continue to take up the spotlight. Great!
You know what ELSE doesn’t make any sense? How is Karen Jarrett still in charge of the Knockouts division, and how does she and Jeff Jarrett still have any power or sway over ANYTHING with Dixie Carter back in power. That makes no fucking sense. Don’t you think Dixie, having been screwed out of her company and finally getting it back, would FIRE everyone who helped screw her or were in Immortal. How the hell are Bischoff, Jarrett, Hogan even around still? None of this makes any sense!!
The funniest thing is is that Hogan and others claim Roode wasn’t/isn’t ready… but James Storm is? Huh? They both had singles runs years ago that went nowhere, failing, and then they both ended up in a tag team together. Storm is in no way better on the mic then Roode. Storm is in no way more over then Roode. Storm is in no way better in the ring then Roode. Storm doesn’t have more charisma then Roode. They're both in the same position and they both deserve the title as much as one another, so the argument against Roode doesn't make any sense at all (like the rest of the show) when you then turn around and throw the title right on Storm. If Roode's not ready then Storm's not, if Storm's ready then Roode is.
Nothing about this episode of Impact really made a lot of sense at all. Not to mention it had so little wrestling and was just jam packed with boring (and yes, most of the segments were very boring) promos and talking after talking. Horrible impact, and people that paid for Bound for Glory were made into suckers. Way to treat your audience TNA!
SpecialFNK
Mid-Card Championship Winner
maybe TNA sees Impact with commercial money and ratings more important than PPV. if EVERYONE who viewed the PPV actually bought it then it would be better for them to make money, problem is so many people can get a free stream online. I've never paid for a PPV yet I've seen a lot of them.
Hogan might be old and unable to wrestle, but based on the crowd reaction he still has plenty to offer. not only to the crowd, but I guarantee you there are plenty of people watching on TV that got excited to see Hogan face turn at the PPV.
this is the 1st episode of Impact since BFG. not everything is going to be answered in 1 episode. it's a soap opera that will continue every week.
SpecialFNK
Mid-Card Championship Winner
this from twitter.
I don't know how that works out for a ratings number, but the most viewers in TNA history is pretty special.
Dieter_Von_Cunth
Dark Match Winner
Jack Hammer's reviews are kind of joke. Definetely he has an "E" bias to his reviews. You just have to look at the October 13th review of Impact. He didn't review the Hogan-Sting segment cause he hates both guys so he turned off the television. Hard to take a guy seriously when he can't review something without keeping his personal feelings out of it. He doesn't review shows objectionally.
Zeven_Zion
King Of The Ring
How someone can turn this week's show off and keep watching the last 3 RAWs who were dreadful, and keep giving them decent to great grades is beyond me. Hammer is objective and all, but at times his WWE side slithers out of nowhere and injects a healthy dose of bias. He's like a really well educated WWE fan. Still, different strokes for different folks. I like the guy but reviews like that are just ruining his fake Internet reputation. That's important, right?
Still, I'll take a million guys like him over those half-witted fucktards who drown the TNA section with their bullshit.
Dieter_Von_Cunth
Dark Match Winner
Really? You can review something without watching it? Especially a wrestling program? You expect people to take you seriously? I am not a fan of certain wrestlers either, but I don't let it cloud my judgement in what is good or what is not good if their in a segment on a wrestling program I am watching. I certainly wouldn't turn off the tv either if the segment I didn't want to watch came on and I was writing a review of the show OBJECTIVELY.
Jack-Hammer
YOU WILL RESPECT MY AUTHORITAH!!!!
TNA Impact Wrestling - October 27, 2011
Opening Segment - I’ve got mixed feelings on how the show opened. On one hand, some good stuff from James Storm on the mic, but that was expected. Storm revealing some of the more private aspects of his life, such as his relationship with his father, was expected but it was believable and genuine. After Kazarian, AJ Styles and Bobby Roode came out, Storm praised them and their relationship and offered the first title shot to Roode. Samoa Joe’s music hits and that’s when it all starts to go downhill for me. Samoa Joe demanding a title shot and calling himself the most dominant force in the history of TNA is laughable. All he’s done for 6 months is lose and he’s been in something of a funk of mediocrity for a few years now. Sting announcing that Joe would face Roode tonight in a #1 contender’s match left me feeling under whelmed. You know Joe isn’t going to win after he’s spent the majority of this year doing nothing but lose. Good stuff from Storm on the mic but Joe’s presence in a main event #1 contender’s match isn’t very interesting. Thumbs In The Middle
1. Rob Van Dam vs. Chrisopher Daniels - This match kind of bored me for the most part. It started out with a nice pace with both guys kind of feeling each other out. After that, the match kinda slowed to something of a crawl. It looked as though RVD & Daniels were both moving in slow motion at times with some extremely fake looking punches and kicks from both guys. We saw the usual RVD spots, he’s really slowed down, and the match ultimately ends in a DQ when Daniels hits RVD in the gut with a toolbox. He then pulls out a screwdriver but is run off as AJ Styles comes to the ring. More of this nonsense with a screwdriver. Is this going to be his thing like with Abdullah the Butcher and his fork? Is he doing it just for Halloween, since it’s October? You know, like Jason has his machete and Michael Myers has his butcher knife. Just some really, really weak stuff with this screwdriver crap. *
Knockouts Segment - Decent promo segment featuring mostly Gail Kim on the mic and Karen Jarrett putting her two cents worth in. Never really heard all that much from Gail Kim on the mic and I thought she did ok. She did come across, to me, as someone that was reading from something she’d memorized but she didn’t do all that bad really. Karen Jarrett was good but she’s getting repetitive when it comes to her role. It seems to consist mainly of just running down certain Knockouts and calling them ****s or ****es. It just seems like all of her promos as VP of the Knockouts Division are starting to run together because they all sound the same. Thumbs In The Middle
2. Tara vs. Gail Kim - There was some decent action here but I was pretty bored most of the time. I guess the reason why is that it was a squash match that got drawn out to 7 minutes in length. Tara got in very, very little offense on Kim so it was mostly just Kim showcasing some of what she’s got. Nothing wrong with that, but it got dull after about 3 minutes or so. I didn’t really see much to be all that impressed with except for that leg scissor submission hold Gail Kim used before Tara got in her only flurry of offense. Gail Kim did get the clean win after hitting her finisher, it’s the same one she used in WWE but I just can’t recall the name. I’m glad that they gave her a decisive victory over Tara and didn’t have interference going on, even though Madison Rayne & Karen Jarrett were both at ringside. 1/2*
3. Eric Young vs. Robbie E for the TNA Television Championship - Garbage, just pure garbage is all this was and it’s all the TV title is. Some might be into all the comedy stuff that Young is doing but it just irritates me. He’s not funny and he’s someone that has legit talent that’s just being squandered. This match didn’t even last a minute before Young wins with a crucifix. He & Meat Sack, AKA Rob Terry, beat on Young for a bit before Young announces that this guy from Jersey Shore will be on the show next week. N/A
Eric & Garett Bischoff - I’m not sure on how Bischoff’s kid spells his name. Some have told me it’s this way, some have said that it’s spelled differently so I dunno. Anyhow, mostly this was just Bischoff playing the role of an overbearing ass of a father dressing his kid down. Bischoff’s kid didn’t say a word and was dressed down even more by Ric Flair backstage and did look like this stuttering, green punk. This storyling holds ZERO interest for me whatsoever and just looks as though this green as a bean kid is going to get overexposed without being ready for it and because he happens to be Eric Bischoff’s son. Thumbs Down
4. Jeff Hardy vs. Bully Ray - There was some stuff with Jeff Jarrett on the mic before this match came about. I didn’t write anything about it because it’s exactly what we’ve seen out of them before. Ray attacks Hardy from behind before the match started and they put on a very solid match with some good action. Hardy looks to be in better overall shape than I’ve seen him in a while. Ray hit some good stiff looking shots at various points in the match, such as being chopped in the corner, that Hardy did a good job of selling. The end comes with Hardy hitting the Twist of Fate before hitting the Swanton Bomb off the top for the win at the 9.5 minute mark. Hardy looked pretty good here I have to say and the crowd at the Impact Zone was legitimately into the match. The fact that this was Hardy’s first match back gave away the ending and you could see it coming a mile away, but it was still a good solid television match. **1/2
5. Bobby Roode vs. Samoa Joe - Nice physical, hard hitting match and was more competitive than I expected it to be. There were some good near falls here and there and I found myself more interested in this match than I thought I’d be. Both guys gave some good back and forth action with both guys hitting some of their signature moves, including Roode’s Double R Spinebuster. There was a really nice spot late in the match in which Roode gets out of the Muscle Buster and takes Joe down in the armbar submission he’s been using. Joe countered and turned it into a nice cradle pin for a near fall. The ending comes when Roode counters an attempted leg lock from Joe and lands the Fisherman’s Suplex for the win at the 7 minute mark. Roode wins as is #1 contender for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. Very well wrestled match that seemed longer than it was, which is a good thing as they packed a lot of fun action into the match. ***
Clash of the Bischoffs - I don’t know what happened here and I don’t care. It’s a shame that a #1 contender’s match, one that was quite good at that, should take a backseat to this father/son storyline in which this nobody of a kid is getting a lot of exposure just because of who his daddy is. N/A
Overall Show - Much better show than last week, although that wouldn’t be hard at all considering that last week’s show was a virtual Titanic. The opening of the show was solid with some good work from Storm on the mic, but I just couldn’t get excited about seeing Samoa Joe face Bobby Roode for a shot at the title seeing as how Joe has lost almost every match I’ve seen him wrestle in 2011. RVD vs. Daniels was kind of boring in my view and the continued use of the screwdriver is really just kind of stupid. I won’t say that Daniels hasn’t been interesting as a heel, but the stuff with the screwdriver is nonsense. The Knockout promo segment was ok with Gail Kim doing a better job than I thought she’d do. Her match with Tara was extremely dull in my opinion as it was just a needlessly drawn out squash match. I do like that they made Gail Kim look like a real force and that they didn’t screw that up with tons of interference, but I’d have rather seen them have an actual match, even a 3 minute one, rather than a drawn out 7 minute squash. Eric Young vs. Robbie E was a waste of airtime as was the Bischoff segment. I’ve no desire to see this angle and I just know it’s going to be given a lot of television time in the weeks to come. Jeff Hardy vs. Bully Ray was a good, physical match and the Roode vs. Joe match was quite good, much better than I expected and I found myself more into it than I figured I’d be. The Hardy vs. Ray & Roode vs. Joe matches were the highlight of the show and ultimately saved it from being a total drag. I’m not sure how I feel about TNA already moving on Roode vs. Storm. I’m sure it’ll be a fine match but it just seems like they’re rushing into this, at least to me. This could be a real money feud if TNA waited, again in my opinion, but it doesn’t look like it’s going to happen.
Grade: C
Opening Segment - I’ve got mixed feelings on how the show opened. On one hand, some good stuff from James Storm on the mic, but that was expected. Storm revealing some of the more private aspects of his life, such as his relationship with his father, was expected but it was believable and genuine. After Kazarian, AJ Styles and Bobby Roode came out, Storm praised them and their relationship and offered the first title shot to Roode. Samoa Joe’s music hits and that’s when it all starts to go downhill for me. Samoa Joe demanding a title shot and calling himself the most dominant force in the history of TNA is laughable. All he’s done for 6 months is lose and he’s been in something of a funk of mediocrity for a few years now. Sting announcing that Joe would face Roode tonight in a #1 contender’s match left me feeling under whelmed. You know Joe isn’t going to win after he’s spent the majority of this year doing nothing but lose. Good stuff from Storm on the mic but Joe’s presence in a main event #1 contender’s match isn’t very interesting. Thumbs In The Middle
1. Rob Van Dam vs. Chrisopher Daniels - This match kind of bored me for the most part. It started out with a nice pace with both guys kind of feeling each other out. After that, the match kinda slowed to something of a crawl. It looked as though RVD & Daniels were both moving in slow motion at times with some extremely fake looking punches and kicks from both guys. We saw the usual RVD spots, he’s really slowed down, and the match ultimately ends in a DQ when Daniels hits RVD in the gut with a toolbox. He then pulls out a screwdriver but is run off as AJ Styles comes to the ring. More of this nonsense with a screwdriver. Is this going to be his thing like with Abdullah the Butcher and his fork? Is he doing it just for Halloween, since it’s October? You know, like Jason has his machete and Michael Myers has his butcher knife. Just some really, really weak stuff with this screwdriver crap. *
Knockouts Segment - Decent promo segment featuring mostly Gail Kim on the mic and Karen Jarrett putting her two cents worth in. Never really heard all that much from Gail Kim on the mic and I thought she did ok. She did come across, to me, as someone that was reading from something she’d memorized but she didn’t do all that bad really. Karen Jarrett was good but she’s getting repetitive when it comes to her role. It seems to consist mainly of just running down certain Knockouts and calling them ****s or ****es. It just seems like all of her promos as VP of the Knockouts Division are starting to run together because they all sound the same. Thumbs In The Middle
2. Tara vs. Gail Kim - There was some decent action here but I was pretty bored most of the time. I guess the reason why is that it was a squash match that got drawn out to 7 minutes in length. Tara got in very, very little offense on Kim so it was mostly just Kim showcasing some of what she’s got. Nothing wrong with that, but it got dull after about 3 minutes or so. I didn’t really see much to be all that impressed with except for that leg scissor submission hold Gail Kim used before Tara got in her only flurry of offense. Gail Kim did get the clean win after hitting her finisher, it’s the same one she used in WWE but I just can’t recall the name. I’m glad that they gave her a decisive victory over Tara and didn’t have interference going on, even though Madison Rayne & Karen Jarrett were both at ringside. 1/2*
3. Eric Young vs. Robbie E for the TNA Television Championship - Garbage, just pure garbage is all this was and it’s all the TV title is. Some might be into all the comedy stuff that Young is doing but it just irritates me. He’s not funny and he’s someone that has legit talent that’s just being squandered. This match didn’t even last a minute before Young wins with a crucifix. He & Meat Sack, AKA Rob Terry, beat on Young for a bit before Young announces that this guy from Jersey Shore will be on the show next week. N/A
Eric & Garett Bischoff - I’m not sure on how Bischoff’s kid spells his name. Some have told me it’s this way, some have said that it’s spelled differently so I dunno. Anyhow, mostly this was just Bischoff playing the role of an overbearing ass of a father dressing his kid down. Bischoff’s kid didn’t say a word and was dressed down even more by Ric Flair backstage and did look like this stuttering, green punk. This storyling holds ZERO interest for me whatsoever and just looks as though this green as a bean kid is going to get overexposed without being ready for it and because he happens to be Eric Bischoff’s son. Thumbs Down
4. Jeff Hardy vs. Bully Ray - There was some stuff with Jeff Jarrett on the mic before this match came about. I didn’t write anything about it because it’s exactly what we’ve seen out of them before. Ray attacks Hardy from behind before the match started and they put on a very solid match with some good action. Hardy looks to be in better overall shape than I’ve seen him in a while. Ray hit some good stiff looking shots at various points in the match, such as being chopped in the corner, that Hardy did a good job of selling. The end comes with Hardy hitting the Twist of Fate before hitting the Swanton Bomb off the top for the win at the 9.5 minute mark. Hardy looked pretty good here I have to say and the crowd at the Impact Zone was legitimately into the match. The fact that this was Hardy’s first match back gave away the ending and you could see it coming a mile away, but it was still a good solid television match. **1/2
5. Bobby Roode vs. Samoa Joe - Nice physical, hard hitting match and was more competitive than I expected it to be. There were some good near falls here and there and I found myself more interested in this match than I thought I’d be. Both guys gave some good back and forth action with both guys hitting some of their signature moves, including Roode’s Double R Spinebuster. There was a really nice spot late in the match in which Roode gets out of the Muscle Buster and takes Joe down in the armbar submission he’s been using. Joe countered and turned it into a nice cradle pin for a near fall. The ending comes when Roode counters an attempted leg lock from Joe and lands the Fisherman’s Suplex for the win at the 7 minute mark. Roode wins as is #1 contender for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. Very well wrestled match that seemed longer than it was, which is a good thing as they packed a lot of fun action into the match. ***
Clash of the Bischoffs - I don’t know what happened here and I don’t care. It’s a shame that a #1 contender’s match, one that was quite good at that, should take a backseat to this father/son storyline in which this nobody of a kid is getting a lot of exposure just because of who his daddy is. N/A
Overall Show - Much better show than last week, although that wouldn’t be hard at all considering that last week’s show was a virtual Titanic. The opening of the show was solid with some good work from Storm on the mic, but I just couldn’t get excited about seeing Samoa Joe face Bobby Roode for a shot at the title seeing as how Joe has lost almost every match I’ve seen him wrestle in 2011. RVD vs. Daniels was kind of boring in my view and the continued use of the screwdriver is really just kind of stupid. I won’t say that Daniels hasn’t been interesting as a heel, but the stuff with the screwdriver is nonsense. The Knockout promo segment was ok with Gail Kim doing a better job than I thought she’d do. Her match with Tara was extremely dull in my opinion as it was just a needlessly drawn out squash match. I do like that they made Gail Kim look like a real force and that they didn’t screw that up with tons of interference, but I’d have rather seen them have an actual match, even a 3 minute one, rather than a drawn out 7 minute squash. Eric Young vs. Robbie E was a waste of airtime as was the Bischoff segment. I’ve no desire to see this angle and I just know it’s going to be given a lot of television time in the weeks to come. Jeff Hardy vs. Bully Ray was a good, physical match and the Roode vs. Joe match was quite good, much better than I expected and I found myself more into it than I figured I’d be. The Hardy vs. Ray & Roode vs. Joe matches were the highlight of the show and ultimately saved it from being a total drag. I’m not sure how I feel about TNA already moving on Roode vs. Storm. I’m sure it’ll be a fine match but it just seems like they’re rushing into this, at least to me. This could be a real money feud if TNA waited, again in my opinion, but it doesn’t look like it’s going to happen.
Grade: C
- Status
