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

[suttree]

I would really like someone who thought Impact this week was good to explain to me how it was good? Bully Ray comes out as the new World champion and the President of Aces & Eights, and doesn't do anything to explain to fans how any of the Aces & Eights angle over the last nine months makes sense. He gave nothing to clear loop holes and plot holes, all he did was make silly nWo references and throw out some catch phrases. Woo hoo! Aces & Eights is suddenly awesome now!

And please tell me how a stable that couldn't win a match, and couldn't even hold their own against the TNA roster - besides when they were outnumbering them - suddenly can not only stand toe to toe with the roster, but annihilate them and dominate them. Since f'cking when? We're suppose to take them seriously now? We're not suppose to watch that segment and laugh because of how silly it is. Oh no, whose going to stop this crazy stable of unstoppable talents... like Devon Dudley, Garrett Bischoff, and Wes Briscoe. Oh, and a few other WWE rejects who were getting dominated a few months ago in TNA.

Bully Ray is Jesus! He's suddenly made Aces & Eights invincible. All he needed was to win the World Heavyweight championship!

And then they promote AJ Styles returning to Impact this week.. and all he does is come out, scare off Daniels and Kaz, and then stand there. Why in the hell would they promote a wrestlers return and not have a reason behind doing it? The segment was entirely pointless and really made no sense at all. If he had just made a surprise return, okay, as people could be left to guess why he returned and what his motivation is.. but to promote it? And then to have nothing happen when a star returns, is just plain silly.

Now AJ Styles is being portrayed as some modern day Sting, the Aces & Eights as some modern day nWo, and Bully Ray as some modern day Hollywood Hogan, and we're suppose to find all of this entertaining and awesome? Its not. It's being done horribly, it's unoriginal because its so obvious, and if anyone wanted to really see it done well, and exciting and shocking, then they might as well go watch the old shows from WCW. This is just getting ridiculous now.

The only thing that was any good with Impact was Daniels and Kaz, who are always entertaining.

Oh, and whatever happened to those segments that hinted at Matt Morgan finally breaking out and becoming the monster he should be?

What do you mean "pointless"? If you saw the segment, then you know they are building something with AJ, unless you missed him clothlining Storm during FF.

Im not sure what you expected, but this is episodic TV. Just because you got it all "figured" out doesn’t mean other(non smark) people cant enjoy it. Overall nobody owes you any explanation, you either love it or you don’t.

About bully and the aces – what is so hard to believe about a stable getting stronger after a dominant leader took over? Doesn’t sound too complicated to me, certainly not in wrestling where people have way way to much free time to overanalyze stuff. Plus, they did use weapons to get an advantage.

 

[ヒュー　G.　レックション]

Bully Ray comes out as the new World champion and the President of Aces & Eights, and doesn't do anything to explain to fans how any of the Aces & Eights angle over the last nine months makes sense. He gave nothing to clear loop holes and plot holes, all he did was make silly nWo references and throw out some catch phrases.

What holes do you think there are? Regardless, next week Aces said on Twitter they are going to show a video package of how Bully's master plan was achieved throughout the 9 months.

My thoughts, Impact was great, bad on match content but good on storyline content. Aries vs Sting was really cool. But no other memorable matches. Bully really has turned Aces & Eights around.

 

[Mighty NorCal]

that X division match was a total fucking abomination. Good show otherwise though. Hot segment with Gail and Taryn, and the vingettes showing the entire arc of As and 8s was fucking brilliant.

 

[MisterRob]

If you need to go back, explain nine months of a storyline, step by step, and how it makes sense and how it was all done, that's a failed storyline. That's a convoluted, unsuccessful mess. Why the hell would the writers script in a Plan A failing and a Plan B happening, when the viewers never knew what the plan was in the first place and, if those segments trying to piece together some logic in their convoluted mess, would have never known. Ridiculous.

Great job of TNA going back and finding some way of explaining every step of the storyline, but it's quite clear they just found answers that had not been previously planned when they actually started this whole Aces & Eights angle.

None of this, for me, makes Aces & Eights anymore interesting, though.

 

[Zeven_Zion]

If you need to go back, explain nine months of a storyline, step by step, and how it makes sense and how it was all done, that's a failed storyline. That's a convoluted, unsuccessful mess. Why the hell would the writers script in a Plan A failing and a Plan B happening, when the viewers never knew what the plan was in the first place and, if those segments trying to piece together some logic in their convoluted mess, would have never known. Ridiculous.

Great job of TNA going back and finding some way of explaining every step of the storyline, but it's quite clear they just found answers that had not been previously planned when they actually started this whole Aces & Eights angle.

None of this, for me, makes Aces & Eights anymore interesting, though.

Like anything TNA does would've please you of all people.

It's a bad angle if it had to be explained? Son, it had to be explained because it was a GOOD SWERVE. That's Ray's whole point. "I fooled all of you". Plans like this aren't simple, plans like this have a lot of elements to them and Ray's explanation added so much to his character and to the stable, not to mention crediblity to TNA's writing team. It would've been a horrible angle if he didn't have to explain it. If WE, the common fucks, figured it out prior to that explanation then it strips off its entire credibility and Ray's validity as a leader. If we figured it out, how come Hogan didn't? Good thing we never did. Not until the last second that is.

Like he said, it's like a magician showing you how he did his magic trick. When you see how he pulled it off, do you think "Oh, he only does it because it's so convulted and complex", or do you think "God damn, that's genius I can't believe I didn't see it". It's the latter, unless you're biased and you WANT to not like this, completely.

All of it made sense, it connected all the dots and now that it's explained we get the how's and why's. How the hell is that a bad thing? It was an interesting, innovative segment, one I haven't seen before. You constantly bitch for something new - this was new. You constantly bitch for long term storylines, proper booking and so on - this was it. Yet, somehow, you still have a problem with it. Fuck's wrong with you.

 

[snoopy]

If you need to go back, explain nine months of a storyline, step by step, and how it makes sense and how it was all done, that's a failed storyline. That's a convoluted, unsuccessful mess. Why the hell would the writers script in a Plan A failing and a Plan B happening, when the viewers never knew what the plan was in the first place and, if those segments trying to piece together some logic in their convoluted mess, would have never known. Ridiculous.

Great job of TNA going back and finding some way of explaining every step of the storyline, but it's quite clear they just found answers that had not been previously planned when they actually started this whole Aces & Eights angle.

None of this, for me, makes Aces & Eights anymore interesting, though.

Why in the Hell would they give away a storyline plot and tell what a storyline is about aren't you as a viewer supposed to try and think at some point? Why do some of you people want storylines just laid out on a silver platter?Aren't you an Intelligent adult? And the reason they had to go back and cover the Holes was because people are so stuck on simple pro wrestling storylines it was obvious Bully Ray was an Ace's and 8's member but people like you refuse think and just sit there watching the show expecting things to be simple but if you actually thought things out the answers were as obvious as night and day.Why people couldn't figure out that just because Bully Ray was fighting the Ace's and 8's that it didn't mean he wasn't a member of the group. But it was funny some knew he was a member but still couldn't figure out that he was trying to fool Hulk Hogan by fighting the Ace's and 8's

It was obvious Garret Bischoff and Wes Briscoe were Ace's and 8's members and If you watched every week for the past three years like I have you knew Bully Ray was a member as well. People just don't think when comes to Pro Wrestling, Other Episodic T.V. shows like Breaking Bad ask fans to think and figure things out but Pro Wrestling fans don't want to think they want it handed to them.

Or simply put some people watch one week and take two weeks from watching and then comeback and say the storyline makes no sense. That's another reason to recap a storyline and another reason is some people just are not that bright!

 

[Papa Pillman]

Some good news for TNA...

This past Thursday's episode of Impact drew the same rating (1.07) that the previous week drew, this is notable for a couple reasons...

First, the show went head-to-head with the first round action of NCAA basketball tournament(fuck you NCAA, I refuse to refer to the round of 64 as the "second" round). But that didn't drag down the number.

Second, the previous week's show had several advantages besides not going up against the tourney. It was the Lockdown fallout show, it was the first road airing, and it was the live portion of the Chicago tapings, while the latest episode was taped.

The fact that TNA was able to pull in basically the same viewership in light of those circumstances has to be considered a success.

This also comes on the heels of the news that RAW's rating dropped significantly(most likely due to going head-to-head with the Heat/Celtics game that went to the wire and saw the Heat continue their historic win streak in what was the third most watched regular season NBA game of all-time). So major basketball action had a far more noticable effect on the RAW's Neilsen number than it did on Impact's.

 

[MisterRob]

Like anything TNA does would've please you of all people.

Yes, I know. I have high standards. I expect to be entertained among many other demanding things.

It's a bad angle if it had to be explained? Son, it had to be explained because it was a GOOD SWERVE. That's Ray's whole point. "I fooled all of you". Plans like this aren't simple, plans like this have a lot of elements to them and Ray's explanation added so much to his character and to the stable, not to mention crediblity to TNA's writing team. It would've been a horrible angle if he didn't have to explain it. If WE, the common fucks, figured it out prior to that explanation then it strips off its entire credibility and Ray's validity as a leader. If we figured it out, how come Hogan didn't? Good thing we never did. Not until the last second that is.

I’m not your son, and you certainly aren’t Steve Austin.

And no, it certainly did not have to be explained because it was a GOOD SWERVE. It wasn’t a good swerve at all, and anything that needs that much of an elaborate explanation has failed miserably. Does an author need to sit down and explain every detail of a book he read to his audience? No, because if its that complicated and convoluted and lacking sense that the readers finished the book and need that to make sense of it he FAILED in his writing. If a film maker has to go back and explain every detail of his movie so the audience who just watched it can understand what he did and how he did it, then that film maker has FAILED in making that film. Wrestling isn’t some tv show that’s full of overly complicated stories, with convoluted angles like LOST, and its never meant to be that. It’s WRESTLING. And the fact that the writers and TNA had to go back and make Bully Ray explain an entire NINE month angle to the audience shows that they failed immensely.

If you’ve been watching for nine months and needed that explanation, and needed all of those details pieced together, then its an even greater failure. And casual fans? Casual fans should be able to turn on the show and from watching one episode gather what’s going on. They should be able to piece together what feud is happening and why, in general, those two people are feuding. If they turn on the show, watch the entire episode, and can’t gather any semblance of that.. and therefore need a bunch of segments explaining an entire nine month angle.. then that show has failed. That casual fan is going to not watch the show again. Die-hard TNA fans lost interest in the damn angle over the course of it, how do you think casual fans felt?

What wrestling company in the past has had to go back and explain nine months of fucking storyline? What company has ever had to go back and explain how their angle made sense?

Not to mention this wasn’t in any way a good SWERVE. People had predicted Bully Ray was part of the stable all along. Some thought about it, but weren’t entirely sure. Some KNEW without a doubt he was behind it and predicted it long ahead of time. The only thing that left any question to most, those uncertain, is the fact that parts of the angle MADE NO SENSE with Bully Ray. But if people are predicting it long in advance, and aren’t surprised at all by these turn of events, then how the fuck is that a GOOD SWERVE? Its not a swerve at all. And TNA planting people to throw garbage and pretend like the audience was shocked and angry doesn’t fool anyone into making it a good swerve.

You know why Hogan joining the nWo was a good swerve? Because no one saw it coming!! No one predicted it before it happened, and if they claimed they did then they’re full of SHIT.
TNA failed on all accounts.

You know what else they failed in doing, which those video explanations proved?

They failed at making Aces & Eights look any more credible then the pathetic talent pool of rejects they were seen as before. Devon was bitter because no one gave a shit that he was leaving, and the company and Hogan didn’t care about him because he wasn’t worth their interest as a talent. Knox and Festus were bitter because they couldn’t make it in the big leagues and were cast aside like rejects, so they came to take their anger out in TNA. Garrett Bischoff’s motivation was that Hogan and others didn’t see enough potential in him and knew he was a weak talent, and because of that didn’t give him his share of opportunities…. And we’re suppose to view him as WHAT now? Wes Briscoe is the same, but even worse Aces & Eights had to slip D’Lo Brown into Gut Check just to get him enough votes to be ON the roster, because if D’Lo Brown hadn’t been there (and the storyline and angle directly points this out) Wes Briscoe would not have won the Gut Check or gotten a contract… because he wasn’t good enough and doesn’t have enough talent. That’s what the videos showed! That’s what this angle explained! They went back and stated that these guys couldn’t cut it on their own and are now a part of Aces & Eights. How can anyone take them seriously now and think they’re anything but worthless goons who have no talent?

They even devalued Mr. Kennedy who couldn’t cut it on his own and placed him now, willingly, in a group of rejects. Not only that, he now willingly has accepted his role as standing in the shadow of Bully Ray! There’s no tension there, there’s no sign he’s angry at being inferior to the new Champion like the tensions they had during the Immortal angle. No, he’s perfectly fine with accepting that he’s a failure and not talented enough, and now he’s just following along. How can anyone take Mr. Kennedy seriously anymore? How can they see him as anything else now? Perception is everything. The audience accepts what you show and explain to them is fact!

Even fucking Bully Ray, the head of Aces & Eights, wasn’t strong enough to get the job done on his own and FAILED to win Bound for Glory. He failed in his first attempt and had to make a PLAN B! Imagine if the nWo had sat down after the fact and explained that they had failed the first time and had to make a Plan B to take over WCW!? A PLAN B! That's hilarious. Perception would've been entirely different of the nWo. Unreal.

 

[snoopy]

Yes, I know. I have high standards. I expect to be entertained among many other demanding things.


I’m not your son, and you certainly aren’t Steve Austin.

And no, it certainly did not have to be explained because it was a GOOD SWERVE. It wasn’t a good swerve at all, and anything that needs that much of an elaborate explanation has failed miserably. Does an author need to sit down and explain every detail of a book he read to his audience? No, because if its that complicated and convoluted and lacking sense that the readers finished the book and need that to make sense of it he FAILED in his writing. If a film maker has to go back and explain every detail of his movie so the audience who just watched it can understand what he did and how he did it, then that film maker has FAILED in making that film. Wrestling isn’t some tv show that’s full of overly complicated stories, with convoluted angles like LOST, and its never meant to be that. It’s WRESTLING. And the fact that the writers and TNA had to go back and make Bully Ray explain an entire NINE month angle to the audience shows that they failed immensely.

If you’ve been watching for nine months and needed that explanation, and needed all of those details pieced together, then its an even greater failure. And casual fans? Casual fans should be able to turn on the show and from watching one episode gather what’s going on. They should be able to piece together what feud is happening and why, in general, those two people are feuding. If they turn on the show, watch the entire episode, and can’t gather any semblance of that.. and therefore need a bunch of segments explaining an entire nine month angle.. then that show has failed. That casual fan is going to not watch the show again. Die-hard TNA fans lost interest in the damn angle over the course of it, how do you think casual fans felt?

What wrestling company in the past has had to go back and explain nine months of fucking storyline? What company has ever had to go back and explain how their angle made sense?

Not to mention this wasn’t in any way a good SWERVE. People had predicted Bully Ray was part of the stable all along. Some thought about it, but weren’t entirely sure. Some KNEW without a doubt he was behind it and predicted it long ahead of time. The only thing that left any question to most, those uncertain, is the fact that parts of the angle MADE NO SENSE with Bully Ray. But if people are predicting it long in advance, and aren’t surprised at all by these turn of events, then how the fuck is that a GOOD SWERVE? Its not a swerve at all. And TNA planting people to throw garbage and pretend like the audience was shocked and angry doesn’t fool anyone into making it a good swerve.

You know why Hogan joining the nWo was a good swerve? Because no one saw it coming!! No one predicted it before it happened, and if they claimed they did then they’re full of SHIT.
TNA failed on all accounts.

You know what else they failed in doing, which those video explanations proved?

They failed at making Aces & Eights look any more credible then the pathetic talent pool of rejects they were seen as before. Devon was bitter because no one gave a shit that he was leaving, and the company and Hogan didn’t care about him because he wasn’t worth their interest as a talent. Knox and Festus were bitter because they couldn’t make it in the big leagues and were cast aside like rejects, so they came to take their anger out in TNA. Garrett Bischoff’s motivation was that Hogan and others didn’t see enough potential in him and knew he was a weak talent, and because of that didn’t give him his share of opportunities…. And we’re suppose to view him as WHAT now? Wes Briscoe is the same, but even worse Aces & Eights had to slip D’Lo Brown into Gut Check just to get him enough votes to be ON the roster, because if D’Lo Brown hadn’t been there (and the storyline and angle directly points this out) Wes Briscoe would not have won the Gut Check or gotten a contract… because he wasn’t good enough and doesn’t have enough talent. That’s what the videos showed! That’s what this angle explained! They went back and stated that these guys couldn’t cut it on their own and are now a part of Aces & Eights. How can anyone take them seriously now and think they’re anything but worthless goons who have no talent?

They even devalued Mr. Kennedy who couldn’t cut it on his own and placed him now, willingly, in a group of rejects. Not only that, he now willingly has accepted his role as standing in the shadow of Bully Ray! There’s no tension there, there’s no sign he’s angry at being inferior to the new Champion like the tensions they had during the Immortal angle. No, he’s perfectly fine with accepting that he’s a failure and not talented enough, and now he’s just following along. How can anyone take Mr. Kennedy seriously anymore? How can they see him as anything else now? Perception is everything. The audience accepts what you show and explain to them is fact!

Even fucking Bully Ray, the head of Aces & Eights, wasn’t strong enough to get the job done on his own and FAILED to win Bound for Glory. He failed in his first attempt and had to make a PLAN B! Imagine if the nWo had sat down after the fact and explained that they had failed the first time and had to make a Plan B to take over WCW!? A PLAN B! That's hilarious. Perception would've been entirely different of the nWo. Unreal.

Dude you are a one trick pony! You know Pro Wrestling one way and that's all you know. What do you do, just sit there and wait for your X-division spotfest with your brain completely shut off? How about thinking? It's amazing one mans convoluted storyline is another mans thought provoking storyline. And dude the ketchup is out of the bottle there's no going back so either change your mind set or change the channel because they ain't going back.

And this BS About casual fans should be able to turn on a show and pick up what's going is why people consider the WWE boring. It's like people complain when it's predictable and call it convoluted when it's not predictable. Damn what the hell are they suppose to do?

 

[3drinks]

Loved the show last night, and I have to say that this was the first time in a while that I actually felt like I didn't want to get up or I'd miss something. I can't say this about Raw or Smackdown! I find myself always fidgeting or typing on Skype during those shows. And dat arena, sweet sold out, packed to the brim crowd. Reminded me a bit of Raw in 2002. TNA has come a long way, and I'm glad I've been supporting the company through this time (yes, even the dreadfully slow reveals of Aces n' Eights).

All I can say, is if this continues, and WWE continues on their downward spiral, TNA coming closer and closer to a head-to-head with the juggernaut will be more of a reality than others would expect. Not saying that they're ready yet, of course, but with a solid year like last night would certainly help.

I'm just saying, I'm really proud of TNA for pulling a sell-out crowd, something WWE can't do except for Wrestlemania. Cheers.

 

[scottyshowman82]

Solid Impact. Great Full Metal Mayhem/TLC Match. Two things that surprised me and shocked me about tonight. One, Adam Pierce did not win Gut Check, he's gotta come back in the near future doing something and two Austin Aries and Bobby Roode lost their tag team titles. I love this team, I really mark out pretty bad for this team and I was down for the whole taking all titles thing. I thought it was believable and doable by these two. I wonder what the reason is for them losing the belts? I guess we'll find out in the coming weeks.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

TNA Impact Wrestling
April 11, 2013
Corpus Christi, Texas

1. Bobby Roode & Austin Aries vs. Chavo Guerrero & Hernandes in a 2 out of 3 Falls Match for the TNA World Tag Team Championship - I'm pretty mixed on this match. To me, the 2 out of 3 falls stipulation was completely wasted here. The first two falls of the match happened within the first 2 minutes of the match, leaving the next 13 minutes or so for the final & deciding fall. A plus here is that the teams worked well together and generally put on a pretty entertaining match. The live crowd was very much behind Chavo & Hernandez, but I'd be shocked otherwise as roughly 60% of the population of Corpus Christi is Hispanic, or at least partially Latino. There was some good action in the match even if the ending was predictable. With the tag team division generally down to 3 teams going back & forth over the title, TNA can't really afford to do without a team. As a result, Chavo & Hernandez pick up the 3rd & final fall after Chavo delivers a double Frog Splash. Chavo & Hernandez are the new TNA World Tag Team Champions. **1/4

Joseph Park - I've got mixed feelings on Park at this time. I know a lot of people like him and I do have to praise Chris Park on effectively pulling off such a radically different character than Abyss. For me personally though, the charm is really starting to wear off. I like the idea of this character as more of a talker and not as a wrestler. I could see him being someone's manager/mouthpiece, but the idea of him wrestling just does absolutely nothing for me. He did an okay job on the mic but I generally lost interest when he started going on about Aces & Eights. I've just no real desire to see Park fight A&E members. Devon coming out and ultimately laying out Park with a punch to the gut, with the chain wrapped around his fist, only means that it's going forward. Thumbs Down

2. Taryn Terrell vs. Gail Kim - Generally speaking, it felt more like an average Diva match for WWE. Taryn is smoking hot, no question, but I it's a little strange that she's generally the focus of the KO Division right now, even though Velvet is champ. With so much attention put on Taryn, I just wonder why TNA simply didn't keep the belt on Tara or put it on Gail since that's who Taryn is feuding with. As for the match itself, it told a basic story of ODB as the ref countering Gail's cheating. Taryn scores the win at the 2.5 minute match via a surprise roll up while Gail is arguing with ODB. *

Gut Check Segment - Backstage, Al Snow is with Bruce Pritchard & Danny Davis, with Adam Pearce & Magno standing by. They went on for a minute before Pritchard announced that Pearce didn't make the cut and was eliminated from consideration. Pearce shook his head and said "damn fool" before walking off. I pretty much knew he wouldn't get the thumbs up, or I should say it just seemed pretty obvious, since the babyface Gut Check judges generally don't respond well to heels. Personally, I didn't find Pearce at all impressive last week. So, I think it's a pretty safe bet that Pearce winds up in Aces & Eights sometime within the next 3 or 4 weeks. NA

AJ Styles - At the top of the 9 pm hour, Hulk Hogan comes out to a big pop and panders to the crowd for a bit after a video presentation recapping the AJ Styles storyline. Hogan calls out Styles and demands to know which side he's on, after Styles has ultimately made his way down to the ring. Styles says that he doesn't respond well to ultimatums just before James Storm's music hits. Storm cuts a promo while he's on his way to the ring, stating that he didn't come here to talk or drink beer, but to fight. I groaned a little bit when Bad Influence's music hit because I'm so burned on Styles interacting with Daniels & Kazarian, but it turned out to be pretty decent. In a nutshell, Daniels & Kazarian make a pitch for Styles not to join Hogan or Aces & Eights, but to join up with them instead. Styles didn't give anyone an answer before leaving the ring. I'm a little mixed on the element of Bad Influence added to the situation. Daniels & Kazarian did a good job but the idea of Styles joining them after the whole Claire Lynch garbage is beyond ridiculous. If he does ultimately join them, then it's arguably the worst logic gap in TNA history. If he doesn't join them, then we might see him resuming the never-ending feud with Daniels, and I personally don't want that. Still, adding them to the mix does throw more questions on to where Styles' loyalty will ultimately stand. Thumbs Up

3. Rob Terry vs. Joey Ryan - The way this match came about, I think Ryan was making the moves on Brooke Hogan backstage and made another outdated penis joke or something and wound up in this match. Nothing to say here. Just a general filler/squash match with Terry decimating Joey Ryan at the 2.5 minute mark. NA

Gut Check Segment - Standard Gut Check in-ring segment with the judges standing around and Magno coming out. Magno generally cut a generic babyface promo in which he put over Texas and the Luchadore tradition, etc. He ultimately gets the thumbs down from both Danny Davis & Bruce Pritchard, Al Snow didn't vote as he was last in line and the other two had already voted no. Like Pearce, I didn't see anything particularly impressive about Magno. He was sloppy last week and seemed pretty slow for a Luchadore. NA

4. Bully Ray vs. Jeff Hardy in a Full Metal Mayhem Match for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship - A strong main event to close out the show. Probably the strongest match on TNA television in 2013 thus far. Lots of good action and a couple of sick looking high spots. The match did drag a little when it came time to set up all those tables for the big spot of Hardy hitting the Swanton Bomb on Ray, but that's to be expected in this sort of match. The only real complaint I had was the use of the hammer. Like a knife, a hammer is one of these weapons that I find kind of ridiculous in wrestling, whether it be a hammer from the timekeeper's table to Triple H using the sledgehammer. It's just too unbelievable. As Ray is outside the ring, Taz gives him the hammer and he climbs up just as Hardy is about to pull the title down. Ray smacks Hardy upside the head with the hammer, causing him to fall off the ladder and through a table. Ray grabs the title and pulls it down a little past the 17 minute mark. Considering the type of match this was, the way Ray won is actually about as clean a win as you can get. I'm glad they didn't have Aces & Eights coming down as it simply made Ray look strong in the match. ***1/2

Final Thoughts - I thought last night's show was okay. It didn't feel like the epic sort of show that it was built to be, but it was still pretty solid. Aside from the main event, there wasn't really anything else on the show that felt important. The rest of the show wasn't horrible or anything, it just felt like it was there. The 2 out of 3 falls match was okay though, as I said, it felt like the stipulation in this match was unnecessary and wasted. I've little interest in LAX 3.0 as tag champs and I don't think a huge number of non-Hispanic fans will either as they're just flat out dull. Gut Check was nothing tonight and I think we'll see Pearce as part of Aces & Eights. The KO match was what it was, as was Joseph Park and Terry vs. Ryan. The AJ Styles promo segment was solid as it raised another possibility of Styles' potential direction in joining Bad Influence, even though doing so would make absolutely no sense at all. The main event was the clear highlight of the show. Ray successfully defending his title without any help from Aces & Eights only seems, at least to me, to reinforce the notion that Bully Ray doesn't really need them. Just seems that Bully Ray is carrying a lot of unnecessary weight. Take the main event out of the show and, all in all, it would've been a very dry, bland show.

Grade: B-

 

[Jack-Hammer]

TNA Impact Wrestling
April 18, 2013
Corpus Christi, Texas

1. Kurt Angle vs. Wes Brisco & Garett Bischoff - The action was okay, nothing more & nothing less. For me, what this match generally accomplishes was showing just how inferior Bischoff & Brisco are compared to someone like Angle. The outcome was obvious before the match even began: you had to know that there'd be interference, which makes the overall match a disappointment. Aces & Eights doesn't have nearly the credibility to keep pulling out these cheap wins, not when they've spent 99% of their existence looking like a 3rd rage group of directionless thugs. Even though it's a handicap match, a clean win for Brisco & Bischoff would have made them look good. Here, they just came off like a couple of rookies in over their heads against an all time great. Probably the coolest part of the match was Angle's double German suplex, which did look pretty good. The end comes when Anderson & D-Lo run out with Anderson distracting the ref and D-Lo passing a chain to Bischoff. Brisco was in the ankle lock at this time and Bischoff whacks Angle in the back of the head with the chain, allowing Brisco to get the pin about the 11 minute mark. Anderson's post match promo indicated that there'll be a lot of attacks by A&E on the show. *3/4

2. Kenny King vs. Petey Williams vs. Zema Ion for the TNA X Division Championship - Another week, another X Division match without any sense of build up or even a rudimentary storyline. The X Cam didn't really do much of anything for me. If anything, it pulled away the veil from wrestling even further by being able to more clearly see just how choreographed the moves are. The fact that you could clearly here what the wrestlers were saying to each other only made it worse. As for the visual it presented, meh. Williams hits the Canadian Destroyer on King after about a minute or so of action and most of the match was basically a one on one match between Williams & Ion. The end comes after Williams has Ion in the Sharpshooter, when King comes running out of nowhere and delivers a knee to Williams. King makes the cover on Ion and gets the win about the 5 minute mark. Since Williams wasn't pinned, and King essentially "stole" the win from him, I'm guessing this is supposed to count as TNA building a feud between them with the story ultimately being King drops the belt to Williams. **

Magnus and Aces & Eights - A match for the TV title was scheduled between Magnus & Devon but Knux & Doc jump him on the stage and beat him down. They deliver a double chokeslam to Magnus on the ramp before Samoa Joe comes out to make the save, causing them to flee. I guess three 270+ pound guys, including one with a chain wrapped around his fist, can take on Magnus but not Samoa Joe? After the commercial, Samoa Joe cuts a screaming promo where he calls them all cowards and that he'd see Devon in the ring tonight, so it'll be Joe he's defending the title against it seems. NA

3. Mickie James vs. Miss Tessmacher to determine the #1 contender for the TNA Women's Knockout Championship - I don't know when the last time I said this was, it's been a long time I'm sure, but I have to say that I enjoyed the Diva match on Raw much more than this match. The pace of this match was awful and almost painfully slow at times. The only real interest I had in it was watching two beautiful women rolling around with each other in skimpy outfits. It's hard to get excited about Mickie James at this point, as a wrestler, as she's been MIA about a month now and I don't really know what she's done to "earn" being in a #1 contender's match. TNA tried to make it seem as though the women were on an equal playing field in terms of ability, but it's just too much to believe. Mickie James is the biggest female star in wrestling since Trish Stratus while Tessmacher only really became a singles force in women's wrestling, on the level that TNA currently is, less than a year ago when she won the KO title for the first time. I will say that they at least tried their best to put on a decent match. The end comes with Mickie going for her DDT finisher but Tessmacher counters with an extremely sloppy sunset flip/role up attempt in which Mickie ultimately just sat on her. Mickie reaches back and hooks both of her legs and leans forward, allowing her to score the win at the 7 minute mark. *1/2

Tag Team Showdown - This all starts out with Bad Influence coming out and doing their thing or a bit before they get on the mic & start talking about AJ Styles and how they want him to join them, despite how it would make no sense whatsoever. Then it transitioned into Daniels & Kazarian issuing a challenge for the tag titles. Roode & Aries interrupt and come to the ring, stating that Bad Influence aren't the #1 contenders, but they are. They jawed on boringly for a minute or so before Chavo & Hernandez come to the ring, standing behind Roode & Aries. Bad Influence backs up out of the ring while LAX 3.0 beats up on Roode & Aries. This would seem interesting if TNA hadn't already been having these three teams, the only teams they have at the moment, have all feuded with each other, at various points, over the course of the entire year, possibly more. So I guess we'll ultimately wind up with a tripe threat tag match at some point in the near future. NA

4. Devon vs. Samoa Joe for the TNA Television Championship - Nothing to get excited about really. The first TV title match in months and it's basically a 3 minute snoozefest. Devon & Joe go at it for a bit before Joe gains the upper hand, ultimately setting Devon up for the Muscle Buster. Aces & Eights come out to distract Earl Hebner while Anderson runs in from behind and punches Joe with the "brass knuckles" before scurrying out. Devon makes the cover and scores the win. It looks like TNA is going back to Aces & Eights scoring cheap wins with no aspect of credibility about them, at least when it comes to them and not Bully Ray. The group beats Joe down afterward, including Anderson hitting him in the face with the "brass knuckles" one more time, this time with Joe selling it like he'd been shot in the face. *

5. James Storm vs. AJ Styles - Easily the best match on the card, though that wouldn't take all that much. Before the match started, Styles stood on the ring apron and simply stared at Storm. He tries to walk away but Storm attacks him. They fight on the ramp for a bit before Storm knocks Styles through the ropes and into the ring. After he joins him, the ref calls for the bell and the match officially starts. The match was pretty back & forth for the first minute or so, but Styles ultimately takes control for a while. Storm mounts a comeback shortly thereafter. They almost botched a backdrop but they recovered nicely with Storm hitting an inverted atomic drop before they tried the spot again, this time pulling it off. Storm eventually sits AJ on the top, presumably going for a Superplex, but Styles fights out of it and leaves Storm tied upside down. He delivers a running dropkick into the corner just as Bad Influence comes walking out. Storm & AJ both spill out onto the floor before fighting back into the ring. Storm gains the advantage long enough so that he's able to set up the Last Call. He goes for it but Styles catches his foot and reverses into a submission hold. It looks kinda weak to be honest. Styles basically just grabs Storm by the left leg, is lying half on top of him and is merely pulling his leg back, yet Storm sells it like his leg's been run over by a Mack truck. Storm soon taps, giving Styles the clean win at about the 10.5 minute mark. After the match, Kazarian & Daniels come in to celebrate with Styles but he takes them both out. He then briefly stares at Storm before calmly making his way out of the ring just as Aces & Eights attack with both Storm & Bad Influence getting beaten down. **3/4

Bully Ray - After the beating, Ray does his thing on the mic for a bit. Ray is the one saving grace of Aces & Eights and, frankly, I don't see how Ray needs the group whatsoever. It's like he's packing around an extra 2,000 pounds worth of dead weight on his back. Ray calls out that the group has taken out all of the "heroes" in TNA and that there's only one left. He said that he plans to call Hogan out next week. Nice stuff by Ray, even if you don't care about him calling out Hogan. Thumbs Up

Final Thoughts - Last night's episode of Impact Wrestling was very mediocre in my opinion. Generally speaking, the only thing on the show that was really worth watching was the Styles vs. Storm match. Everything else was straight up flat and dull. The rest of the wrestling action boil down to Aces & Eights revering back to scoring cheap wins without the credibility to keep them from looking like scrubs, another random X Division match with interchangeable high flyers and a very slow paced KO title #1 contender's match. It doesn't look like TNA has made Aces & Eights more formidable, it simply looks like they dumbed down the babyfaces. With Sting & Hogan preaching unity and all the various faces joining forces to watch each other's backs, as we've seen them do, why didn't that happen tonight? It just seems that TNA has no interest in making Aces & Eights into a stronger group, only that they're lowering the competence of the babyfaces so that things are on a more even kilter.

Grade: D+

 

[ヒュー　G.　レックション]

Argh, I absolutely hated how Impact ended last week. Stingand Hogan beating down the whole Aces and Eights INCLUDING the world champion Bully Ray? I'll defend Hogan and Sting's TNA prescence at the best of times but that was ridiculous! It's such a shame because the segment was great before that, with Bully saying that Hogan fears him because he reminds him of himself. And that Bully was the last real old school wrestler left. That was great.

But then all of the Aces come out...despite Bully telling them to not interfere?

This is how I would've liked it to go down: when Hogan was setting up Bully for the big boot Bully should've bounced off the ropes with a big boot of his own(since he does them often) and then Sting would've chased away Bully with the bat, no Aces run in.

 

[Jay-Mos]

Every now and again - and that may only be once or twice a year - there is an Impact that fires on ALL cylinders.

Impact Wrestling - 9th of May, 2013

Easily my favourite Impact of 2013 so far. Easily.


Match of the Night:

Austin Aries & Bobby Roode vs Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian

So .. many .. highlights !!
Sequences were excellently scripted and perfectly performed.
The ending, although debatably disappointing, didn't tarnish an otherwise iridescent display of undeniable dream-fest workmanship.
Match of the night ?
Try 'current TNA match of the YEAR'.
Yep, I liked it that much.


In-Ring Promo of the Night:
Congratulations, Kenny King.
You are officially the best mic. worker in the company.


Commentary Highlight of the Night:
Mike "Hyper-Passion" Tenay: "Kurt .. extending the arm, reaching out .. Sting - at the same time, gets his hand in .. trryyying to get the taaggg !!!"
Wow-oh-wow, Mike sure got himself psyched-up for that bit .. !


Commentary Lowlight of the Night:
(tough to pick just one, but .. )
Taz thought Kazarian was going for a Kryptonite Krunch when he was actually (and blatantly) going for the Fade To Black piledriver - you know, his finisher.
For the love of a crucified religious figure .. a competent commentator would know a wrestler's finisher.


Chillest Dude:
Magnus.
Stood up to a group beat down, then fearlessly stared out Doc, knowing he was about to get pasted with a foreign object .. love me some Mag-Daddy !!


Hottest Knockout:
Velvet Sky wins.
Her ass-jiggling antics when she was itching to get a tag from Mickie, made sure of it.


A special mention goes to ..

The 'Suicide Returns Soon' promo

SQUEEEEL !!!

I abso-f#ckin-lutely L-O-V-E-D this !!!!

Whoever was behind the making of it, deserves a wage-packet bonus .. and a raise .. and a blow job.
No kidding, I watched it on loop, and 'for those in the know', the effort that went into it was exceptional.

I can be quoted elsewhere as saying I was excited for a one-time Suicide return ..
If he comes back as 'dark' as he's portrayed in this promo, I'll have a hard-on for him forever !

Hang on .. I might be wrong, but I think parts of the promo flicker in 3D ..
Holy shi%, I've got to get me a pair of those cheap red and blue goggles to find out !!!


Other Random Stuffz:

1 - The show was an anorexic eyelash away from consisting of 2/5's bell-to-bell wrestling.

2 - Jesse G took a weak Gail Kim non-contact collision to his mid-section and landed off the apron on his backside. He then started selling that he hurt his jaw .. WHAT ?!??
But where was he, when Tara was later getting ring-post-figure-foured by Kim ? .. I really wanted him to break it up and stand up for his lady .. alas, he was nowhere to be seen .

3 - Backstage, when Bully Ray ordered the 'Eights to grab D'Lo Brown, and they spread him flat-out on a storage box .. , I honestly thought they were going to gang-bang rape him.



Overall Score:
I've worked out a super-sophisticated calculation system that I'm tempted to call 'the Jay-Mos Jizz-O-Meter'.
It isn't too complicated to explain, but it is embarrassing, because you'll know how much time I put into working out the result.
Aaanyway, the overall score is ..

90.6 % !!!!

 

[Jay-Mos]

Impact Wrestling - 16th of May, 2013:


My Top 3 Moments of Full-Blooded Boner-ness:

1 The video for 'Suicide Returns Next Week' .. now, it wasn't as visually 'there' as last week's one .. but, by goodness, the scary-ass narrative to it was absolutely as dark as f#ck !!

2 During a backstage briefing to Aces and Eights, Mr. Anderson channelled Nicolas Cage's ultra coolness from the "Okay, let's ride!" scene in 'Gone in 60 Seconds' (and instantly proved that he could easily be the permanent mouthpiece for the gang).

3 Anderson's in-ring confronting of Kurt Angle .. specifically, the unleashing of his best cartooned Jim Carrey impressions, while on the mic.


The 3 Worst Things of the Night:

1 Joseph Park getting a match and microphone time? .. if I were in the crowd, you would have heard more than a couple of "Same Old $hit!" chants.

2 They had to remind us that Brooke Hogan is still around .. oh, and don't get me started on her annoying use of the term "girl/girlfriend".

3 Maybe Christy Hemme was trying to prove that she's not just employed to be some people's eye-candy, because, get this, she tried to do a proper 'main event style' intro for the X-division title match. Yep, and how did that go? .. Well, she totally blew at announcing Sabin, and she forgot how much Kenny King weighed.


Best In-Ring Move of the Night:
Gail Kim caught a scissor kick attempt by Velvet Sky, and twisted it into a sit-down legbreaker, stunner style !


Chillest Dude:
AJ 'Rugged Stud' Styles.
While hitting Angle with a quick, unexpected enzuigiri, he somehow managed to to arm-flip his hoodie up - as he was landing .. and it looked off-the-charts chill !!!


Hottest Knockout:
Sheesh .. nothing going on here tonight .. Velvet, by default, I guess.


Other Random Stuffz:

Hang on .. is D'Lo Brown seriously a better in-ring worker than most of the Aces and Eights ?!??

Poor Brian Hebner had to wear the technological head turd known as the 'ref cam', and not a single shot was used.

To 'cover' last week's PR incident; prior to a contract (non-)signing, JB took a big bump when Bully Ray power-shoved him, because, you know, that's what happens to ring announcers when a heel enters the ring .. happens all the time .. Honest, Mr Spike Executive, Sir ! ; )



Overall Score on the Jay-Mos Jizz-O-Meter:

35.8 %

 

[SpecialFNK]

figured I would drop this here.

PWTorch.com is reporting that TNA Impact Wrestling on Thrusday, May 16 sunk to a year-low 0.84 rating, down 17 percent from last week's show.

Other than Thanksgiving 2012, the last time Impact rounded to a 0.8 rating was October 4, 2012 against Thursday Night NFL programming.

- Impact averaged 1.054 million viewers, down 17 percent from last week's average of 1.270 million viewers. It was the fewest viewers of the year and the closest TNA has come to falling below one million viewers since the Monday Night Experiment in Spring 2010.

Impact was opposed by a potential NBA Playoffs elimination game featuring the big-market New York Knicks team, which drew 4.5 million viewers.

On cable TV Thursday night, Impact ranked #34 in overall viewers and #19 among males 18-34 and males 18-49. Impact was down one-tenth of a rating in the key male demos compared to last week.

0.84 is not good.
I had wondered whether TNA getting their name out there more this past week with the Aries/Hemme situation might actually make some more people tun in to see if it would be storyline or if anything would be mentioned at all. guess not.
I thought last nights show was weak.

 

[ヒュー　G.　レックション]

To 'cover' last week's PR incident; prior to a contract (non-)signing, JB took a big bump when Bully Ray power-shoved him, because, you know, that's what happens to ring announcers when a heel enters the ring .. happens all the time .. Honest, Mr Spike Executive, Sir ! ; )

That's not possible since this Impact was taped straight after last week's, before this whole controversy started. So it was just a coincidence Bully did that.

I loved the opening segment to this week's impact, with Park Hogan and Devon. I dunno why really but I was just so entertained by it, Devon insulting Joseph and then getting Joseph "PISSED OFF!" and the obvious elephant in the room, Abyss being right in front of him. I just loved it haha.

Also loved the final promo between Sting and Bully. Made me more excited for the match definitely especially with the added stipulation. The brawl at the end was kinda shitty but eh.

X Division I'm enjoying also. Probably the only guy that thinks that. People say it lacks story... who ever watched the X Division for the story? lol the 3 way matches have all been good for the most part so I say keep it up.

 

[The Roadie]

I agree about Parks. Its was greta to see the "Channelling" of Abyss.....the look of realisation in Joseph's face that he , in fact might be Abyss!

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Last night's show was the first with TNA moving back to their original Thursday night timeslot in the hopes of jacking up the show's ratings overall. According to tvbythenumbers.com, at least the preliminary numbers, last night's show was both the lowest of the year and the lowest since the Monday Night Experiment.

According to the site, last night's Impact Wrestling drew an average audience of 1,016,000 viewers, a big drop from last week's 1,379,000 viewers. The move could still work for TNA in the long haul though as there was some very stiff competition on cable last night. The NBA Playoff game on TNA drew 8,540,000 viewers, Pawn Stars has moved to Thursday nights, with the first two new episodes drawing 4,377,000 and 5,000,300 respectively and Swamp People drew 3,896,000 viewers.

With next week's show being both live and the post Slammiversary episode, the numbers should be significantly better with people tuning in for the ppv aftermath.

 

[klunderbunker]

Last night's show was the first with TNA moving back to their original Thursday night timeslot in the hopes of jacking up the show's ratings overall. According to tvbythenumbers.com, at least the preliminary numbers, last night's show was both the lowest of the year and the lowest since the Monday Night Experiment.

According to the site, last night's Impact Wrestling drew an average audience of 1,016,000 viewers, a big drop from last week's 1,379,000 viewers. The move could still work for TNA in the long haul though as there was some very stiff competition on cable last night. The NBA Playoff game on TNA drew 8,540,000 viewers, Pawn Stars has moved to Thursday nights, with the first two new episodes drawing 4,377,000 and 5,000,300 respectively and Swamp People drew 3,896,000 viewers.

With next week's show being both live and the post Slammiversary episode, the numbers should be significantly better with people tuning in for the ppv aftermath.

While all that's true, TNA has one major problem that has nothing to with outside factors right now: they suck right now. This isn't the first time that they've got something against them, but they're not doing anything to draw people in. This Aces and 8's story has been going for a year now and it hasn't shown any sign of making people care, but TNA just keeps pushing it harder and harder. It hasn't worked before and it's not working now. That's a really bad sign for them and until they change something up, they're not going anywhere else.

 

[MisterRob]

TNA needs to desperately accept the failure of their current programming and, as any business should, cut their losses and move on. The Aces & Eights angle is horrible and even now, after all this time of trying to build it into something, it's going nowhere and no one cares at all. They also have a current champion who is doing nothing for their programming, as ratings prove, and that needs to change. People claim he's the best heel in the business... but he's not. You're not the best heel in the business if you don't draw, and Bully Ray doesn't draw shit.

It baffles me why they're still dragging this all on when everything is telling them they need to change course. AJ Crow isn't going to improve anything, either.

 

[SpecialFNK]

what's unfortunate is that "Aces and Eights" get blamed for the current failure of TNA. but the biggest failure is actually not even a wrestler. it's Bruce Prichard, and his long story lines that take forever to have anything happen. if Aces and Eights has a quicker storyline with more happening they would be getting more excitement.
you can miss consecutive episodes of Impact and not really miss much of what's going on. that is what sucks. TNA needs a change so viewers don't want to miss any episode.
at least with Russo more was happening.

 

[Whap Me Jungles]

TNA Impact on Thursday, June 20 scored a 0.86 rating, down 17 percent from last week's 1.03 rating.

Impact was against a tightly-contested NBA Finals Game 7, but did not score the lowest rating of the year. The May 30 episode scored a 0.82 rating and the May 16 episode scored a 0.84 rating.

Impact averaged 1.083 million viewers, avoiding dipping below one million viewers against The Finals. Impact was down ten percent compared to last week's average of 1.203 million viewers.

On cable TV Thursday night, Impact ranked #35 in overall viewers, #15 among m18-34, and #14 among m18-49.

The positive for TNA is the show was even vs. last week in m18-49, up one-tenth in males 18-34 and males 12-34, and even with teen males. It appears that with TNA skewing toward an older demo outside of 18-49, the overall rating was dragged down by older viewers watching The Finals and other programming.

Was to be expected against the NBA Finals. The fact that it wasn't a great show (especially for what it promised) didn't help.

Hopefully next week bounces back.

 

[Cereal Killer]

They also have a current champion who is doing nothing for their programming, as ratings prove, and that needs to change.

The "Icon" Sting came to TNA, and not much happened to their ratings. The best wrestler in the world Kurt Angle (Olympic gold medalist..duh) arrived in TNA, and nothing happened to their ratings. HULK HOGAN came to TNA and the ratings can't get above 1.2! The point is, nobody can have an impact on their ratings. But there is a way to change this. EXPAND THE MARKET. That will get them more fans, and then their wrestlers can be seen as stars. They just need more attention. If you went up to a WWE fan, telling them Bully is the TNA World Heavyweight Champion; they'll laugh. Why? Because they haven't seen how much he has progressed. Blaming Bully Ray for the low ratings is unfair, and given Sting, Angle and Hogan couldn't do anything to the ratings, (this is Hulk Hogan we're talking here), nobody will...unless they expand.

People claim he's the best heel in the business... but he's not

He is.

You're not the best heel in the business if you don't draw, and Bully Ray doesn't draw shit.

Back when WWF was running wild in the 80's, with Hogan carrying the business on his back, NWA's wrestling was always viewed as better, and their top star Ric Flair was viewed as the best Heel back then. But, nobody cared about NWA, everyone watched WWF because they had reached to the fans, used the media, merchandise, memorabilia, etc. Ric Flair is looked at as one of the greatest wrestlers of all time, but he didn't do much for NWA. Crowds were small for him, and he had no media coverage and all that jazz like Hogan did. The main reason? Vince McMahon's new movement in EXPANDING HIS MARKET. Because Flair had some issues drawing, are you saying he's not one of the greatest of all time? None of the TNA stars will be huge draws unless they have all the attention. Bruno Sammartino had all the Italians in New York, and wrestling fans. Wrestling fans as in wrestling fans that enjoyed in-ring focus. Hogan had literally been in a "Boom" period and had thousands of fans, as well as the media behind him, both in which still follow the WWE today (but smaller numbers) which give today's WWE stars attention.
Just because Bully doesn't draw much, does not mean he is a bad Heel. The way he cuts his promos and gets the fans to boo him CM Punk can't even do. Punk attacked Cena, Lawler and did all of that last Summer, and it was only until his feud with The Rock he was getting boos from the crowd. Heck, they even kept him off the night off of RAW because Vince was worried he would get cheered.

It baffles me why they're still dragging this all on when everything is telling them they need to change course.

Well if it ended as quick as possible, wouldn't that be an awful end to a mediocre storyline? It looks as if the Aces and Eights will come to an end at Bound For Glory, after the Bound For Glory series winner may end Bully's reign. If they ended it as soon as, instead of trying to make an effort, we would have several fans like yourself complaining that "TNA creative sucks", "Rubbish end to a rubbish story of bikers", etc, etc, etc.

AJ Crow isn't going to improve anything, either.

Back to square one.