TNA iMPACT Review - Thursday 7th August 2008

After a disappointing TNA last week in terms of setting up Hard Justice I hoped that this week would be a more focused edition of iMPACT and that the right feuds would be developed. The show was good last week but this week’s episode isn’t about being a good wrestling show it’s about selling the PPV.

Good Points

Jay Lethal / SoCal Val / Sonjay Dutt storyline developing nicely

The TNA creative team did a good job with this one as they developed the feud nicely for a Hard Justice. Just as we thought Sonjay was going to be rumbled for stealing the wedding ring, Sonjay managed to worm his way out of the situation and back in to the affections of Val. Looking forward to seeing what the outcome is or if there will be another twist this Sunday.

Karen’s Angle turning in to Jerry Springer

They are using Karen’s Angle well now as they have taken it away from the shoot style interview it started like when it first aired. Now it’s more like Jerry Springer which fits perfectly on a wrestling show as Karen’s guests get out of control.

Liking the new start style.

On WWE they usually start with the announcers sat behind the desk promoting what was going to be happening but now TNA have a new style which they should keep to. The style is to have Mike Tenay in the ring with a mic and his broadcast colleagues like Jeremy Borash out in the crowd giving their opinions which I think is better than having them behind a desk.

Bad Points

Stuff that shouldn’t be on a wrestling show

Team 3D’s backstage interview with Beer Money had no place on a wrestling show. In a world where we are looking even more closely at how media with a large male following portrays women this segment had me reaching for the remote to change channel. The interview consisted of Brother Ray making sexual comments about the female interviewer and then trying to pull at her top. There wasn’t any need for Brother Ray to do this as he is already one of the top heel in the promotion and the creative team should be ashamed of themselves.

Too many backstage interviews

At one point I counted three backstage interviews in a row. Now I agree that the spotlight shouldn’t be on actual wrestling matches on a TV show but you have to keep the show moving and keeping it fresh. Having three backstage interviews in a row was overkill.

Poor storyline development

Again TNA need to learn how to sell a PPV today on iMPACT not all feuds were featured and then those that were most were just featured in the last twenty minutes so if you missed that you wouldn’t have a clue about Hard Justice. In the last twenty minutes the main event was a gauntlet match featuring many different feuds which really did nothing to further any of them as it was just a mess.

Overall

TNA has the potential to be great but until thy learn how to sell PPV’s properly they are just going to keep going round in circles.

TNA Impact Review - Thursday 6th March 2008

I was expecting big things this week from Impact as it was there last TV show before Destination X. However as usual what I watched was a bit of a mixed bag with some good and bad points.

Tomko

The show opened strong with a good Angle Alliance promo which continued to paint Tomko as an outsider with in the Alliance and getting ready to leave Angle’s group. Then later in the show they built him with a victory over Samoa Joe which is no small thing. Tomko is getting pushed to the moon at the moment, it will be interesting to see what he does when he is given more higher profile single matches.

Robert Roode

Robert is doing a great job getting heat from the fans as he got one of the loudest reactions of the night when the fans booed him out of the building. The only problem then came when he had a pull apart with Booker T as for two people that supposedly hate each other it was one of the least intense pull aparts I have seen in some time.

Too many parodies and mimics

Now I find Jay Lethal’s mimicking of Randy Savage funny and entertaining but the reason it works is that it is different to what everyone else is doing. Now Sharkboy is doing a parody of the Stone Cold character I find myself getting annoyed by both of them. On a weekly TV show you are trying to attract casual non wrestling fans to tune in to your show so you want to give them an entertaining yet easy to understand programme. Even some of mimics may be lost of wrestling fans who have only just got in to wrestling so I think TNA needs to start being a bit more creative.

Production

Again I’m still seeing shots with other cameras in shot. Worse than this I am seeing some of the most non fluid camera movements. First off the vision mixer shouldn’t pick a shot until its ready and then when the cameraman is live they need to learn not to panic and jerk the shot all over the place.

Are we excited or ready for the PPV?

I didn’t think Impact did enough to get us excited about Destination X. The unclear ending the Angle vs. Cage match and the fact the show went off air during mid action I don’t think gave us a clear stand out memory to get us pumped for the weekend. There was too much focus on matches which shouldn’t have been the top highlighted matches. More time should have been given to develop the X-Division title match, Rhino vs. James Storm and Booker T vs. Roode instead of focusing on the women’s title match, the Fish Street Market fight and the monsters tag match.