TNA iMPACT Review - Thursday 28th August 2008

After a good iMPACT last week and the promise of Sting appearing on this episode people were interested to see how TNA was going to handle the storyline and so was I.

Good Points

Abyss on Karen’s Angle

Abyss delivered a great promo and finally got chance to verbalise about his return and his action as of late, it also explained what was going on during his absence. It was a master class of character work in wrestling. Abyss should be given more time on the mic to voice his character as I fell it would get the fans back in to him again.

Knockouts Division

The Knockouts division really held this show together with Awesome Kong kicking the show off with a win against an unknown which forced ODB in to make a save which she backed up with an awesome promo later. We then had another excellent Beautiful People promo and finally a win for the pairing over Roxi and Taylor Wilde. If this wasn’t enough we learnt that Traci Brooks has been assigned by Cornette to run the division which should make things interesting as they get their very own GM style character.

Tying up loose ends

I always like it when promotions remember about loose ends and go back to them which is what TNA did here with Nash cashing in his favour for helping our Cornette many, many iMPACT’s ago and getting himself a shot at Angle. This shows great writing and gives people a reason to watch every week as they get a better understanding of why things are happening.

Bad Points

Sting's lack of impact

After watching Undertaker’s promo on Smackdown Sting’s big promo at the end of iMPACT wasn’t even close. Sting started spouting his message of how the new guys need to respect the old guys which we expected he would but it is a tired storyline idea and a flawed one at that. Sting claimed that AJ needed to pay his dues to the legends that paved the way where in fact he has been with TNA since the start and when comparing him with Angle as he has only been in the business just over 10 years I am sure AJ was getting in to wrestling before Angle came on the scene.

SoCal story line

This is ridiculous soap opera writing at the moment with the latest idea being that Jay Lethal and Sonjay Dutt as going to wrestle for a ring and whoever gets it will marry So Cal. It’s storylines like this which get wrestling a bad rep.

Team 3D

This week their role was reduced just to comedy heels and as a side part of a Booker T promo. Normally they at least get a match or a chance to do something which backstage makes them seem like heel team and not just goofballs.

Overall

After all the build up not enough substance. It’s not going to happen but they need to push Abyss back to main event. Instead we are going to see a new school, old school feud over the next months with I’m sure some surprising heel or face turns.

TNA Hard Justice 2008 Review

If you have been reading my blog for some time now you will know that I haven’t enjoyed many TNA PPV’s. So I wasn’t expecting too much from this one but I was hoping there would be a few standout moments.

Good Points

Angle vs AJ Styles match of the year candidate

This was one of my favourite matches of the year so far. As you already know I’m a huge AJ Styles fan and have loved the storyline between him and Angle. However I haven’t been a fan of their recent bouts but this one really showcased both at their best. The only problem I have is with Angle’s history of neck problems I cringe hen I see some of the moves and some of the risks he takes especially where they do endings when a stretcher comes out because with Kurt’s history there is always a chance it could be real.

Great effort put in to the Knockouts Division

The six woman tag was brilliant one of the best women’s tag matches I have seen in some time. The promos and videos before hand were brilliant as they labelled The Beautiful People as the step sisters from the Cinderella story. I like videos like this which are made to feel more like short films than wrestling promos.

Bad Points

LAX lose titles to Beer Money

This had the potential to be a great feuds but I feel that the longevity in this was to keep LAX as champs for a bit longer to build them and make it mean more when Beer Money finally got the belts off them. I feel this results weakened LAX and didn’t enhance Beer Money.

More could have been done with Sting

To have Sting come out and attack AJ Styles was the wrong thing to do. AJ had just been built as a heel for going back and attacking Angle whilst on a stretcher and that heat was then ruined by Sting. For all the build up they did with Sting they should have done more with him. It started off well with him being filmed coming in to the arena but after that it soon went downhill.

Team 3D losing their way

Their feud with Cage and Rhino isn’t really helping develop either team at the moment. The inappropriateness of their characters behaviour round women doesn’t fit in the current climate and to top this off they are suppose to be pushed as believable heels but then have comedy moments like getting them to go in the rafters and say they are scared of heights. You can have comedy heels but they need to be built as such and not just try and change between comedy and bad ass heels.

Booker T killed off

After having him beaten to a pulp at Victory Road in his home town and to have him lose clean well at least clean for a weapons match is stupid. You now have Angle who can’t wrestle a full programme, AJ and Sting put in a feud together and the other main eventers like Christian Cage pushed so far down the card they aren’t seen as main eventers any more. The only thing I can think of is that this leaves the way clean for Jeff Jarrett to come back.

Overall

Well worth the watch for the two matches I have mentioned. As an event as a whole again it didn’t work for me. They need to try and stop having too many matches which are overhyped and instead have a double main event which is hyped and an undercard which isn’t hyped that much but develops the talent involved well and is a talking point after the event.

TNA iMPACT Review - Thursday 24th April 2008

After a hectic week last week on iMPACT I was looking forward to see what was going to happen this week and if it could be just as crazy.

Good Points

Improvements to Sacrifice

Thankfully TNA have seen sense and done what we expected them to and made the title match at Sacrifice a triple threat adding Kurt Angle to the Steiner, Samoa Joe match. They spent a good amount of time on iMPACT building all three guys and having Steiner interfere in the Angle vs. Samoa Joe match was the right move.

Knockouts are interesting again

After some dull weeks before Lockdown TNA are back on a roll with this division with good matches and adding an interesting stipulation to the Knockouts match at Sacrifice which is going to see on Knockout getting their head shaved. This is the first I have heard of something like this happening in a women’s match and after the Britney Spears head shaving incident I think this will get some media attention.

Karen Angle

Good to see her storyline continuing. They need to devote more time to it but what we did see with her and AJ was great. After Angle’s programme with Joe ends it will be good to have the Karen and AJ storyline simmering under to give him something different to do.

Bad Points

Use of Matt Morgan

The show kicked off with Matt Morgan to continue his push by beating on Kip James to open the show. Then he was nowhere to be seen. After his recent push they need to build him in to a good feud for Sacrifice.

Too much Cornette

I love Cornette and have done for years but I think he is overused. It seems every segment ends in a squabble that Cornette has to come out to settle. If Cornette only came out for the big moments it would make his character more important and add gravitas to what was happening.

Christian Cage back down the card

Cage’s slump down the card continues with him being booked in the tag division with Rhino. Now both guy are great but it just seems like these guys have been whacked together as they don’t know what to do with them which is never a good reason to put a storyline together.

Overall

If TNA come manage their talent a bit better they would have an awesome two hour weekly show. The storyline development rate is good and there is enough happening each show to keep the viewer entertained now if they put the right guys in the right positions they will be away.

TNA iMPACT Review - Thursday 27th March 2008

In all the hullabuloo of Wrestlemania week TNA were this week trying to make an impact of their own with a live show instead of a pre-record and the much hyped return of Sting.

Good Points

Go live every week

A live iMPACT had a much better feel to it than their pre-record broadcasts they usually put out every week. I know it’s more risky and more costly to go live but for the viewer it adds an edge to a show. There were a few mistakes with bad camera shots and so forth but the positives far outweighed the negatives.

Unpredictability

The show kicked off with a shot of Booker T and Robert Roode fighting through the crowd. Its an unusual move to a start show mid action but I thought it was different and added an edge to the show. The viewers who were tuning in to the show for the first time may not have been able to follow what was happening to begin with but as it was exciting it will have encouraged them to get in to the show and as it happens the situation was explained straight after through Jim Cornette.

Highlighting a WWE contracted wrestler in the crowd

This was a great move by the TNA to do a shot with a strap over the bottom of one half of the WWE Highlanders tag team who was in the crowd. Although he didn’t wrestle it gave the feel of the Monday Night Wars again when wrestlers showed up on other promotions shows after making the switch.

Great use of Sting

Was a great comeback by Sting strong on the mic and strong in the main event. Was a nice twist to see his return overshadowed by James Storm who interfered after the 8 man Lethal Lockdown warm up match for Team Tomko to lay the beat on Team Cage.

Bad Points

Terrible acting by Karen Angle

I never thought I would have a bad word to say about Karen but this week she got exposed. In a one on one backstage interview with Mike Tenay she put over the fact that her marriage had fallen apart. Getting a storyline like this right is very hard and unfortunately Karen fell in to the over acting category. Karen needs other characters to work off and constructed situations not backstage one on one interviews.

Giving away PPV matches for free

It’s the old WCW trap of giving away PPV matches for free which TNA fell in to this week. They had the Lethal Lockdown match just minus the six sides of steel as the main event. In my opinion once you have a match in place for a PPV you shouldn’t give away that match for free on TV. You should build the feud by getting the competitors to compete against each other but in different ways like they could have broken down the eight man tag in to two tag team matches, that’s what I have would have done.

Booker T – Hot and Cold

The first five minutes of iMPACT was intense with Booker T and Robert Roode fighting through the crowd. Jim Cornette announced a match to take place later on in the evening between the two which turned out to be a first blood match. Before the match Roode cut a promo on how he enjoyed beating on Booker’s wife but instead of adding intensity Booker T then after winning the math proceeded to hit Roode a few more times before the ref dragged him off. If someone had said that about your wife you would normally need security to pull you off. It is hard to maintain intensity for a long period of weeks but they need to wok hard to be consistent.

Knockouts Division getting stale

It’s just seems to be Awesome Kong, O.D.B and Gail Kim just revolving around the same match and the same storyline every week. They need a more entertaining storyline than just a simple we want your title storyline and they need time given to other girls in the division.

Who can understand what TNA are doing with LAX

After one member of LAX losing to Sonjay Dutt last week it was LAX’s turn to beat Steiner, Petey Williams and Raka Khan in a six person tag. So Lax lose to someone who is just there for comedy value but this week beat a team who are on a push and have storyline time it makes no sense.

Overall

Although there were a lot of bad points going live made this an entertaining show and without it would have just been remembered as a booking mess. A combination of going live every week and good booking will get this promotion to where it needs to go.