TNA Genesis 2009 Review

TNA Genesis kicked off the 2009 Wrestling PPV season this past weekend with a card which featured what they were calling a triple main event. The preparation and the build for the event had been hampered by the festive season but TNA had to forget about all that and show us an insight in to what 2009 is going to be like for TNA.

Good Points

Angle vs. Jarrett

These two put on another brutal match which left both the other main event matches in the shade. The match had been well built over the past few months and it more than delivered. In a match in which Jarrett said he couldn’t lose he was beaten in the idle of the ring by the bully Angle who reclaimed some pride after losing to Jarrett in their first encounter.

Shelley vs Sabin

These two put on a match of the night effort. Everyone going in to the match was unsure of whether they would actually fight each other due to their tag team partnership or if they would have a trick up their sleeve but to theirs and creative teams credit they put on a superb match. The ending spoiled the match for me with Shelley getting the cheap win but I understand why creative team needed to do it to develop the storyline.

Bad Points

Missing in Action

There were some big changes to the card that had been advertised and pushed over the last few weeks. Christy Hemme was injured during training so her match against Kong was scrapped, Nash was in hospital so he was out of the six man tag and then to top it all off they decided to run a storyline in which Rhino was late getting to the building after being beaten up by MEM earlier in the day. All this meant that we had an unannounced six man tag to kick off the show and that Kip James was bizarrely added to the six man main event.

Ordering of the card

To have a six man tag match with no major champion or challenger as the final match of the night ahead of the actual title match and the feud with the biggest stars in Angle/Jarrett made no sense whatsoever. All they managed to do was downgrade the title, take away from Angle / Jarrett and show how weak the MEM / Frontline factions are as D’Von, Kip James and Scott Steiner should be nowhere near a main event.

Overall

The show exposed TNA’s weakness at the moment which is having too many guys at the top that shouldn’t be there. If you are going to push MEM and the Frontline storyline which I think they should then they need to use the top guns to do it and not have a match where AJ Styles is the only credible performer in there.

TNA iMPACT Review - Thursday 8th January 2009

After missing the last few iMPACT’s and with Genesis this weekend I was interested to see how TNA would build the matches in one night for the PPV.

Good Points

A show of emotion

Was great to see the emotion shown by Jarrett and Angle. TNA really pushed the Jarrett story hard with BG James taking up the fight for his friend against the bully Kurt Angle which lead to Jarrett having to make the save as Angle and the MEM tried to destroy his friend. Can’t wait to see this match at Genesis.

Build for the six man

There was some great build for the six man tag match as D-Von and AJ came together to fight for TNA and to have the back of Jarrett. The show of solidarity was added to by Foley’s impassioned promo as the show went off the air.

Unpredictability

We had the Shane the referee getting fired and then rehired as a wrestler, we had the debut of a new Knockout and new tag team champions as Creed & Lethal cashed in their shot. Not it can be a doubled edge sword which I will talk about it the bad points but I was happy with two of the unpredictable things than happened.

Bad Points

No Push for the title match

The Sting / Rhino match was only hyped by a few minutes on the mic by Sting which was underplayed as it came off the back of a killer Angle promo. This has the potential to win the award for the worst built title match in wrestling history which only devalues the TNA title.

Structure

TNA need to work on their structure I counted six non wrestling segments in a row at one point three of which were backstage interviews. Yes a TV show needs to have lots of non wrestling segments but you need to intersperse them not have them all in one chunk.

Title change before the main event

TNA had been pushing Matt Morgan/Abyss vs. Beer Money as the tag title match for some time and done a great feud between these pairings only on the iMPACT before the PPV to have Beer Money lose the belts to Creed and Lethal and for them then to turn the match in to a triple threat at the PPV. If a title match is advertised for a PPV don’t change the champions on the show before.

Overall

A mixed bag of crazy and inspired booking. I just hope for TNA’s sake that Jarrett vs Angle delivers.

TNA iMPACT Review - 4th December 2008

After missing last week’s iMPACT I was looking forward to see what TNA were going to do with their last show before Final Resolution. With the biggest faction war in TNA history going on it was going to be interesting to see if it would be the Main Event Mafia or the Frontline getting the upper hand before the PPV.

Good Points

Jarrett / Angle feud

It’s great to see this feud continuing as it has some great emotion in it and is believable. The intensity of Angle’s and Jarrett’s confrontation in the iMPACT zone was immense and I for one hopes Angle beat Rhino so we get to see Angle vs. Jarrett 2.

Faction Wars

Finally the Frotnline have a name and look like a cohesive unit because when I last watched they were a mess. I think team 3D is a great addition to the faction I just hope that they don’t do the obvious and turn them heel having them double cross the Frontline.

Bad Points

Sarah Palin lookalike

The Sarah Palin lookalike was a terrible idea. We’ve moved on from the election and her segments were just awful. Having comedy segments like this just took us out of the intensity that the faction wars were building.

Abyss drinking with beer money

These segments took Abyss from an unstoppable monster to a pathetic bumbling idiot as he was lead in to drinking by Beer Money and then beaten up.

Overall

A solid episode of iMPACT which was got me excited for the PPV. It is very hard to promote a PPV which has an eight man tag for a main event but they did their best.

TNA iMPACT Review - Thursday 20th November 2008

After missing a few episodes of iMPACT I was quite out of the loop of the latest TNA going on’s so I was looking forward to see where the Main Event Mafia vs. Originals storyline had go to.

Good Points

Main Event Mafia

They are running rough shot like all heel factions should. They are laying the beat on wrestlers in five on one attacks and trying to dictate to management on how the show should be run. They opened the show with a nice burial segment which ended with Rhino being put in the coffin and then ended the show dismayed after not getting there own way in the booking of the next PPV.

Push for Rhino

Rhino has been pushed to the front of the Originals cause after attacking the Main Event Mafia by himself and then ending the show by goring Angle after being informed that the two would face each other at the next PPV.

Bad Points

Cage of to WWE

Now it has been widely reported for some time that Christian was done with TNA and wanted back to WWE but addressing the situation live on iMPACT I thought was stupid. Instead of just leaving it as Main Event Mafia having a burial service for him they had to bring up that he was going to WWE. It would have made more sense to just say that they had laid a beating to him so bad next week that he would never return to TNA.

Originals are a shambles

To have a proper stable war you need two recognised stables something TNA doesn’t have at the moment. To book the faction that people are referring to as the Originals but are yet to be given a proper names as fighting each other and with some people on the fringes not sure if they are part of the faction is stupid. To be great heels Main Event Mafia need a good face stable to work off.

Overall

TNA have a good storyline going at the moment and one I have been calling out for, for some time but they are executing it so poorly it’s cringeworthy.

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 July 2008

With some interesting storylines hotting up in TNA at the momen and with Kurt and Joe both having more TV time I was looking forward to shee what they were going o do this week on iMPACT.

Good Points

Great storyline build for Booker T and Samoa Joe

The show started and ended with these two in the ring which was great to see. The match in place for Hard Justice sounds great as we get ready for full metal mayhem inside the six sides of steel. Having Sting’s music hit and then for Samoa Joe to be laid out when the lights came back up has added intrigue to the feud although I believe this wasn’t Sting but a staged set up to make it look like Sting.

Push for Matt Morgan

Great to see Matt’s continuing push and put in a position where he can show off his size and ability. I have him down as a main eventer in 2009 so watch this space. I still believe if handled right he has potential.

New segment

Great new segment called Karen’s Angle, much like the rough cuts segment, very distinguishable as a shoot section of the show rather than a storyline section. Look forward to seeing next week’s part 2 of her interview with Kaz.

Bad Points

Giving away PPV style matches

This week we had a five table elimination match featuring the team of 3D and Angle vs. Christian, Rhino and AJ as well as a strap match between Beer Money and Motor City Machine Guns. Stipulation matches like this should be saved for PPV.

After Thoughts

Sometimes it is best not to feature something than to just throw something non noteworthy in. This was the case for the Sonjay Dutt / Lethal / Val storyline as they put in a few minutes of Sonjay in hospital which looked like a last minute idea to keep something from the storyline in the episode.

Overall

Great episode, lots of video segments lots of focus on the main storyline, can’t ask for anymore than that really.

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 3rd April 2008

After WWE’s recent Wrestlemania extravaganza TNA needed to start pushing this week to get hold of those viewers who are excited for wrestling again and get some attention to their upcoming PPV Lockdown. So as always here are my good and bad points of this week’s show.

Good Points

Formula

Every week the formula of TNA shows gets better and better. This week the show started with a video recap of all the recent incidents in TNA. I believe that every weekly show should start with a video recap as weekly shows are about getting new viewers to your show so that they will buy the PPV so they need to know what is going on and your existing fan base needs to be reminded of recent events just in case they have forgotten something that happened or missed a recent episode.

Good booking of Lethal Lockdown feud

After my plea last week TNA have improved their booking of Lethal Lockdown and as per my suggestion they broke the feuds down in to singles and tag matches with AJ Styles & Tomko going up against Rhino & Cage whilst Sting headlined against James Storm. It was good to see James Storm getting a big push but they have to be careful not to do it at the expense of Tomko and Cage.

Use of Matt Morgan

This show was about pushing Matt Morgan which they did by featuring him in many segments throughout the show. All episode they had been building the fact that he was on Team Tomko’s side by letting them add Storm to their team for him to then turn on Storm in the main event as in his capacity as referee assisted Sting to the win and to rip off his Ref’s shirt to unveil his Team Cage T-Shirt. The storyline was telegraphed and you could see it happening a mile off but it was still good TV.

Bad Points

Superhero or Superidiot Eric Young

This is cringeworthy TV at best with the Eric Young segments. Now it’s bad enough that it takes up TV time but when they have him interrupting other people like Kurt Angle and ruining their segments. Now Eric is doing his best with this storyline but TNA need to find him something new and fast.

Lighting and Camera angle of backstage segments

This is something TNA need to improve on. Their backstage segments went from being overly bright to overly dark and back again throughout the show. The camera angles are also very interesting as throughout backstage segments the cameramen seem to want to be consistently changing angles with no direction or purpose. Changing the lighting or a camera angle for a reason is good production but this currently seems to be inconsistent at best.

Overall

A great show more of the same please TNA creative team just remember to work on production and try and keep us guessing.

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.

TNA Impact Review - Thursday 28th February 2008

The show got off to a great start with a backstage segment featuring the continuing breakdown of Karen and Kurt Angle’s marriage. Kurt is really doing well at trying to make himself the top heel in the promotion which is hard for him considering how many fans he has. The first in ring segment was the right storyline to push next which was the Booker T / Robert Roode feud. Unfortunately though after Booker T called Robert out it was Payton banks that made her way down to ringside to slap Booker with Traci Brooks making the save. It was a good idea to build the Booker T can’t hit a woman like Robert Roode side of the storyline but it was poorly executed with the segment leaving the focus on the girls and no Booker & Roode.

I’m loving the 3D weight loss storyline at the moment. At first I was annoyed with their invasion in to the X-Division but now that they are away from the title and playing comedy heels instead of angry heels it works a lot better. Their out of ring segments which follow them trying to lose weight backstage and during the week are hilarious.

The two storylines which I’m not in to at the moment are the Eric Young monsters angle and the James Storm / Rhino feud. I think the Eric young being scared of Rellik and Black Reign storyline could get interesting if he decides to take on a superhero alter-ego but if not done right could look very bad. With the James Storm / Rhino storyline I am not buying James Storm’s work. What should be an intense feud has got too much comedy in it with Storm’s fear of heights and his drinking championship matches whereas Rhino is playing this feud with the intensity its back story deserves.

After the poor start to the continuation to the Booker T / Robert Roode feud it ended well on the night with Robert Roode finally making getting inside the venue. At first this didn’t make any sense as he had been running from Booker T for the last couple of weeks as a villain should so to actually come to the venue made no sense for me. The ending was superb though with Robert Roode handcuffing Booker T and laying a beat down in the ring on him until security broke it up. The only problem with this intense finish is that thy need to continue at this same level of intensity up until their PPV match or this night will be lost.

The main event wasn’t much to write home about. What Nash is doing in a main event I will never know but at least it was a non title bout with Kurt. So overall a solid outing with nothing spectacular for TNA this week.