TNA iMPACT Review - Thursday 26th March 2009

After a good little show last week it was time for TNA to bring us one step closer to Lockdown. At the moment they may be in WWE’ shadow with Wrestlemania upon us but TNA still need to show us what they can bring.

Good Points

The build for Lethal Lockdown

Tonight’s show was all about getting us ready for Lethal Lockdown with forty minutes spent deciding on team captains. To decide on captains they held a 20 man gauntlet match in a cage with the last standing being opposing team captains. Angle had promised to win it and captain MEM and he would stop at nothing to do it but after a very entertaining PPV quality match it was Samoa Joe that came out the victor beating Angle.

Sting has enough of Foley

Sting was in no mood to joke about with Foley this week as a little bit of heat got added to this feud from Sting’s side. This feud was started off by Sting trying to look out for Foley but now its personal and with Foley telling Sting he still has some cage dives left in him it should be an ok match at Lockdown.

Bad Points

Segment order

Again with TNA we had four non wrestling segments back to back. It’s not rocket science but TNA need to start mixing it up a little bit more in their running order to make the show flow better.

Dixie Carter tries to take the high ground and fails

This week Dixie Carter got in an argument on the internet where they both counter claimed that the other company isn’t producing family friendly TV and that they were. However Dixie needs to look at her own promotion if she is going to let wrestlers throw out throwaway lines which have sexual references which aren’t needed. This week it was Scott Steiner during a backstage segment with the Main Event Mafia.

Overall

A bit light but all in all a good show with a hot ending. Having these shows once in a while is great as it feels like you are getting PPV for free but they should go back to the usual format next week.

TNA Lockdown Review

Sunday night was a night for TNA to make history after one of the biggest builds to a match in TNA history it was time for Samoa Joe to put his career on the line against Kurt Angle for the chance to become TNA Heavyweight champion. The card also featured a stack Lethal Lockdown match and an array of other matches in the only PPV of the year promoted by any wrestling company where all matches take place inside the six sides of steel.

Good Points

Push for Johnny Devine

After months of being Team 3D’s sidekick finally Johnny Devine was given a push on his own after a strong showing in the Xscape match. Although Lethal won I thought they built Johnny well as a new opponent for him and Consequences Creed didn’t have a bad outing either so wll done to TNA for freshening up the X-Division.

Knockouts back on track

After being bored in recent months by the Knockouts division they did good at Lockdown. First we had a big win for Roxxi Laveaux in the Queen of the Cage match which establishes her as a worthy contender for the Women’s title. Then we had Awesome Kong in a match that she didn’t win as Gail Kim and ODB got the win over Kong and Saeed. They used Saeed well in this match to keep Kong strong even though she lost. To cap it all off Peyton Banks and Sharmell were used brilliantly to add to the match between Booker T and Robert Roode.

A good Lethal Lockdown match

After no build throughout the event and a stacked card for this one I thought TNA did a poor job of selling it but the guys in the cage forgot about all that and put on a great match ending with a big push for Rhino as he secured the victory for Team Cage.

The Reign of Joe

After months of Angle on top Lockdown marked the beginning of the era of Samoa Joe as he won the TNA Heavyweight title. TNA have done this brilliantly as if you are going to give someone the belt for it to mean something you have to build it well and get people interested an watching. Thanks to TNA booking Samoa Joe has been given an excellent platform to start his reign. The match in itself was very unique with it looking more like a UFC fight that a wrestling match. I’m not too sure how I feel about this as if I want to watch some MMA I will watch UFC I watch TNA to watch wrestling but it was good to see something so different and TNA trying something new to cash in on the popularity of MMA.

Bad Points

BG James vs. Kip James

After all the build TNA gave to this one and what this match could have been I was left feeling very disappointed by this one. Again it turned in to a Booker T / Robert Roode situation where the storyline is full of intensity but when they actually get in the ring the match is as intense as an old age pensioner’s will to win at bingo.

No Standouts

Yes there were some nice matches at Lockdown but it seemed like they were only interested in making the main event a standout which is a shame. Yes the main event should be the best match on the card but in a three hour show you need a couple more stand out matches to keep your energy and excitement up until the main event starts.

Again problems with production

After finally starting to get to grips with how to produce a good opening video it was back to square one at Lockdown. Tonight we were greeted by an over the top voice over and a selection of clips which were useless as it was hard to keep a track of who was who. This wasn’t the only downside to the production as after the opening video we had a return to early 90s WWF style of wrestling coverage with the commentators going in to the crowd to get their thoughts on the Samoa Joe / Angle match. Worse than all this though was again camera shot selections. To help the camera men out there were bi holes cut in to the six side of steel but the art of good production is doing this without the audience at home knowing you have done it. They kept picking shots which had cameramen zooming in and out of these gaping holes which were clear for everyone to see but if they had only picked shots when the cameramen had shots which didn’t show the hole and picked a new shot before they had zoomed out.

Overall

This won’t get down as the best wrestling pay per view ever as it wasn’t but it may go down as one of the most historical of all time.

TNA Impact Review - Thursday 20th March 2008

Here is my rundown of the good and bad points of this weeks TNA iMPACT.

Good Points

Great out of ring segments

TNA are really doing well with these parts of the show. I like the segments with Mike Tenay when he brings together two feuding wrestlers together to air there grievances. It’s different to what the WWE do and brings in a chat show type element to the show. I’m also loving the rough cuts series they are doing with Kip James and BG James. It’s like having a programme within a programme and bring a reality TV style element to the show.

Building Kurt Angle for Lockdown

TNA are showing how the WWE should be handling the Floyd Mayweather / Big Show build up. Kurt Angle got to showcase his phenomenal amateur wrestling skills with a public workout against some supposed mixed martial artists. They are doing well at trying to create a MMA / Wrestling cross over.

Finally a well worked ending

After weeks of complaining finally TNA booked a proper finish to a show. The show ended with Sting’s music and video hitting as the announcers announced his return and his involvement in team Cage for Lethal Lockdown.

Bad Points

What are they doing to LAX

With tag teams like Eric Young & Kaz, Black Rein & Rellik and Rock & Rave Infection getting pushes they are killing a great tag team in LAX. This week Homicide had to lose to Sonjay Dutt a guy that hardly ever gets a proper match on iMPACT and only segments these days are interrupting or tagging along with Jay Lethal and SoCal Val.

Slow down

After not appearing last week on iMPACT and without any build Booker T kicked off the show with an in ring segment on the mic. Within five minutes Robert Roode had come down to interrupt and James Cornette was down to make a tag team match for Lockdown pitting Booker and Sharmell against Roode and Banks. Then we had Rhino and Cage talking for the first time in months then Rhino telling Cage where he could go to Cage then rescuing him from Tomko and AJ to then Rhino joining team Cage. Fans need fast paced action and need to know what is happening at a PPV ahead of time but for storylines to mean something and for people to buy in to them you can’t build them in five minutes.

No Samoa Joe

Last week Samoa Joe hinted that he wouldn’t be back in the iMPACT Zone until he won the belt from Kurt Angle. If this is true it is going to be very hard to build their match. No matter how good Angle continues to do in his segments in the build up he needs Samoa Joe there to build the feud. However saying this Kurt Angle recently did a podcast for my friends Simon and JK from The Sun Wrestlecast which he did out of character and said the belt needs to be put on Samoa Joe and soon. Yes I think it is good for wrestlers to come out of character for interviews like this with media companies but they shouldn’t be speaking like this about people they are about to go in a storyline with.

To listen to the Wrestlecast go to:

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/wrestling/article908680.ece

Overall

Much improved. TNA seem to be ironing out the little problems put need to keep their eyes on the big issues and storylines. I think TNA are doing well at building a varied entertainment show that would appeal to a wide range of demographics.