TNA Gut Check

[ramblinroy682]

So, I was thinking it might be fun to throw out some names from the iwc for who should come out and make challenge and fight for a TNA contract as part of the new fight night concept.

So, I would love to hear who you'd like to see. It would be great if there was a video clip of the guy you suggest.

Mine would be Shaun Ricker from NWA Hollywood. He's not the best technical wrestler who's ever lived but he oozes charisma. He's got a great build, speaks great on the mic, and is pretty athletic. I'd say he'd be great to challenge Devon or a guy like Gunner.

Here's a clip.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mE7-XFum4-o&feature=youtube_gdata_player

 

[The Mountie]

It will probably end up being wrestlers like Scott Steiner and Kevin Nash. It's a simple concept that could generate some exciting TV and showcase some good indy wrestlers, but I have no faith in TNA whatsoever and I wouldn't be surprised if their first open fight night contender is Psycho Sid. I really hope I'm wrong, WWE could do with the competition but I foresee major disappointment for TNA fans.

 

[Danger Burger]

They said theyre going to work on a new younger roster, so i see this as their best way of developing it. Yeah, grated theres more than likely gna be a few names wev heard before (nash said he's be very open to it) as they cant simply bring in 100 complete strangers and get away with it!

Way too go you complete muckers Mountee and xavyer on not reading the post! WHO WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE, not do you think TNA are going to muck it up again! Do you guys watch TNA at all??

I wouldnt mind if devon hannible nicholson shows up to challenge Kurt. This one seems obvious to me and id love to see it! He's been making the videos challenging Kurt, and now theres comveniently an open fight night every month, two trained wrestlers who want to fight, both with legitimate amatuer skills too, both great on the mic too!

The open fight night is a great idea for drawing an audience, though there are still some who wont bother checking it out (despite their desires to bash it at all opportunities!). TNA's problem is that it isnt gaining enough loyal fans! This is a great opportunity to grab some people, so it has to be great. it cant just rely on get the win and youre in ideas, its got to set up a fued each month, just one, the other matches can be throw aways! Its also a great chance to get a guy set up as a monster with a load of jobbers looking to get a contract, only to get squashed!

Its a great time for this as well, sorenson and storm are away, alot of talent is gone to Ring Ka King and alot of fueds are winding down!! I say they give it all theyv got!!

 

[lil bitch Kid]

What is the difference between "gut check" and "open challenge night" or whatever Hogan called it?

My guess would be that we'll start with the RKK roster and then wait for a big WWE star to either get released or not be re-signed. If it's the same thing, which is my guess, it's a cool concept, but I also think it's a holding pattern to get a huge name.

 

[Skairipa Matrix]

i think the gut check is gonna be tna's way of bringing up a few people from OVW mainly jesse godderz i can see him showing up in a month or 2 and earning a contract by squashing a guy like eric young whos talented but wont lose anything by getting destroyed by him if this gut check can include women id like to see tna use this to get taeler hendrix up from OVW and into the knockouts divison....but i also see this as a possible way for someone like john morrison to join tna maybe but its hard to tell what there gonna do with it it hasnt started yet

 

[MB1025]

The gut check is for people who are not under contract to come in, wrestle, and get judged by Hogan and 2 other judges to see if they get a contract.

Open fight night is for the contracted wrestlers to come out and challenge someone on the TNA roster.

 

[FitFinlay4Life]

I'd like to see some of the old XDivision pioneers return and challenge A Double, leading to it being a ploy by Chris Daniels and Kaz to discredit him. How great would it be to have names like Petey Williams, Low-Ki, Sonjay Dutt et cetera? It would also serve to highlight an important building block of TNA's history with Slammiversary X upcoming.

 

[demetrius15]

Jason Wayne.

 

[Chess]

As Finlay said. Bring back Low Ki and Dutt, not interested in petey to be honest. Hopefully we will get some ROH talent like Steen and I would love to see Prince Devitt join TNA.

Hopefully TNA will bring in some more X Division stars and maybe some Tag teams to revitalise these divisions.

Finally perhaps we will se The Pope return under a new and entertaining character.

 

[fenfool]

I miss Petey, Dutt & Lo Ki, but I don't want to see them in the Fight Night, and I don't think they will be. I think this will be some new guys. Guys like Chavo Guerrero and Colt Cabana would be great to see, but again, not in this format. I would love to see some new tag teams debut this way.

I wish I knew my indy wrestlers better, but I'd like to see Sara Del Ray, Kenny Omega...Kikutaro, maybe...El Generico, Adam Cole & Kyle O'Reilly. Not sure of the contract status of any of them, but all deserve a shot at performing for a national audience.

 

[Trill Co$by]

A few names come to mind for me. Names like Joey Ryan, Jimmy Jacobs, Eddie Edwards, El Generico, Kevin Steen, and Chuck Taylor... but really, I wouldn't expect TNA to use this for just an X-Division filler. I mean, the X-Division is solid. If anything, I think that TNA could use this to bring in some big guys. I'd personally like to see a local guy named Jacoby Boykins try and get in.

Also, this brings TNA somewhat back to their routes. When TNA first started coming up, they went to promotions and looked around the back stage areas for potential up and coming stars. Guys like Styles, Storm, Harris, and Low-ki were scouted from the indies that Double J attended.

 

[#heel420]

I'm looking forward to this. I think it's a smart way to bring in new talent, whether it be from OVW or former WWE stars. I predict this is where we see the Impact Zone debuts of Chris Masters, John Morrison and maybe even Shelton Benjamin. But knowing TNA their more likely than not to drop the ball on this one.

 

[whoopin' ass]

call me a mark, but i would like Carlito. with Ring Ka King coming to an end, we might see guys like Chavo, Harry Smith, etc who work there but not for TNA. Harry Smith would be another name i would like to see in TNA. I wouldn`t bet on a lot of ROH guys simply because i think the new owners put everyone under tight contracts when they took over so unless someone`s contract is running out right away, it will be a while.

 

[Mr_billy]

Rasche Brown was a monster in ROH, and the burning Hammer is a beast of a Move, I'd love to se the Skull Crusher show up. Him or a return of Monte Brown. Those are the two I'd like to see show up.
For pure sentimental reasons, and he has had great matches with Daniels, Colt Cabana, even if it is one night only to take him to the limit.

 

[waylon p]

I would like to see Kevin Douglas, Nick bondage, Byron willcott, J.D. Kerry, or maybe (ok, not exactly a youth choice, but.....) Kenta.

But really, I think this is a fine idea. I hope they utilize the concept, rather than using it to bring back established stars.....unless it is lo-ki, Petey Williams, and Sonjay Dutt. I agree with the posters who said they miss them. I do, too.

 

[Mitch Valentine]

Hopefully some NorCal talent gets a shot at this!

Guys like Rik Luxury, "Rock Legend Scum" Adam Thornstowe and Dylan Drake are very deserving and great wrestlers!

Check out www.youtube.com/PCWProWrestling

 

[Jack-Hammer]

The first TNA Gut Check match took place on IW last night featuring Robbie E vs. Alex Silva.

First impressions aren't always everything, but I was thoroughly unimpressed with the how it was started off last night. It turned out to be even more generic than I'd been concerned that it would be. Robbie E is about as far down on the totem pole in TNA as you can get right now, yet he beats Silva in what amounted to, basically, a 2 minute squash match. Silva, who is part of the OVW roster, also came off as utterly unimpressive in pretty much every way.

I'm not saying that Silva should have won, that would certainly be moving this concept much further down the line than it needs to go at this point, but TNA had an opportunity to inject some real interest into the concept from the get-go by actually having a competetive match. While Robbie E isn't AJ Styles, he's still a member of the main TNA roster. Giving this young nobody possibly a 10 minute or so match in which he makes the TNA star work for his victory would've had me interested in seeing who they cart out next time around. To me, it would've stated that this was something to watch & pay attention to right from the very start but TNA didn't go that route.

I haven't given up on the idea yet as it still has promise and still sounds good on paper. Personally though, I think TNA could've used last night to build up good momentum for the Gut Check concept going forward. It came in with a whimper instead of a roar.

 

[steve_smith]

I think they should keep these 'gut check' matches squash matches for a while. It would make the TNA roster look stronger as they are squashing these new up-and-coming wrestlers (jobbers). Then, when you are not expecting it, someone legitimate comes through and the pay off is much better.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I think they should keep these 'gut check' matches squash matches for a while. It would make the TNA roster look stronger as they are squashing these new up-and-coming wrestlers (jobbers). Then, when you are not expecting it, someone legitimate comes through and the pay off is much better.

It's not going to make the guys on the roster look any stronger by plowing through nameless nobodies from from their developmental territory with no effort. They can put on squash matches anytime but that's not supposed to be what the Gut Check concept is about. I don't mean that every one of the potential signees should look strong, a few squash matches here and there are fine. But starting off from the very beginning with one? Sorry, but that doesn't do the slightest thing to generate interest. The idea is to get the concept over to generate positive interest and the way to do that is to not start the whole thing off with a worthless squash. C'mon, can you honestly tell me that Robbie E looked impressive? It's hard to view a guy as strong or dominant when he's about as far from those things as can be to begin with.

TNA is trying to generate better ratings. That's supposed to be the point of Gut Check, Open Fight Night and the fact that they're soon moving IW to a different time slot. Not that TNA can't turn it around, but this was about as poor of a first impression for this concept as it could've gotten.

 

[ABMorales787]

I'd give it time. Imagine OVW having a tank like when Brock was down there. TNA get's the chance to do a major first impression with that. Not to mention indy talent is also available. Imagine Carlito or John Morrison or even the Briscoes making their debut via this. The first time was just a teaser and I'd say it worked pretty well for testing the waters.

 

[Rayne]

Step 1: Bring in indy wrestlers no one has heard of to job to mid-card stars.
Step 2: ???
Step 3: Profit!

The total lack of enthusiasm here says everything that needs to be said about TNA/IW Gut Check. The people that are given to defending TNA/IW at all costs are saying "give it time" or "it was a start". IDR, who'll support TNA/IW in every way he can if he can be honest about it, has kept silent, and I can't blame him. We all know that the first installment of Gut Check didn't live up to the hype; it flat out Sucked. If I wanted to see mid-card 'stars' squash people I've never heard of, I'd pull out the VCR and watch some early-90's RAW.

There's always time to retune the concept. But people aren't going to give an eighth of a shit about this if it involves no-name wrestlers getting beaten by people they hardly care about as it is.

 

[It's Damn Real!]

Step 1: Bring in indy wrestlers no one has heard of to job to mid-card stars.
Step 2: ???
Step 3: Profit!

The total lack of enthusiasm here says everything that needs to be said about TNA/IW Gut Check. The people that are given to defending TNA/IW at all costs are saying "give it time" or "it was a start". IDR, who'll support TNA/IW in every way he can if he can be honest about it, has kept silent, and I can't blame him. We all know that the first installment of Gut Check didn't live up to the hype; it flat out Sucked. If I wanted to see mid-card 'stars' squash people I've never heard of, I'd pull out the VCR and watch some early-90's RAW.

There's always time to retune the concept. But people aren't going to give an eighth of a shit about this if it involves no-name wrestlers getting beaten by people they hardly care about as it is.

My take on this whole thing is premature right now. I'm willing to "give it time", but the biggest issue I have with this right off the bat is that the preparation and presentation of this whole process was completely convoluted , misrepresented and it's execution through one week made no real impact (no pun intended) and barely explained the process any better the second time around.

Who are the four judges? Hogan, Dixie Carter and Al Snow we now know, but who is the fourth? What's the point in "judging" the performance of guys who come in to job to other TNA performers? How is this supposed to impress anyone?

The whole concept just seems so... underdeveloped.

 

[anvilx8]

When I first heard Hogan mention this idea, I thought it was ANY "non-tna" wrestler who wanted to earn a contract. But when I watched impact and saw what it really was, I was dissapointed. That means we can't see any former wwe guys, or big name ROH guys debut via "gut check".. what a let down.

 

[GrandSword]

The concept is a way to showcase OVW talent, and see if they get over with the fans... We get non-WWE rejects, new guys, and hopefully the next big thing..

 

[It's Damn Real!]

The way this was presented was poor. It failed to explain itself in a way that wouldn't leave fans questioning it's core principle(s), but based off what I saw tonight the concept is pretty clear:

[OVW] Wrestlers are given an opportunity to perform on iMPACT!, and win, lose or draw are then judged on their performance the following week before the three Gut Check judges (still not sure where Hogan fits in here) — Al Snow, Ric Flair and TNA's VP of Talent Relations, Bruce Prichard.

They're really banking quite a bit on the reality-style competition concept, but if the Silva debut is anything to expect, then this segment/concept is likely to be a success IMO, provided they shore up whatever loose ends are left to be taken care of.