TNA Slammiversary 2008 Review

After some very entertaining editions of impact I was looking forward to TNA’s biggest show of the year Slammiversary. I was looking forward to Angle vs. Styles and the King of the Mountain match especially. TNA have invested a lot of time in promoting these two matches but hopefully the rest of the card could provide some good entertainment.

Good Points

The Return of Abyss

After many weeks of Abyss promos being run on impact Abyss finally made his return to the TNA ring by attacking Scott Steiner, Petey Williams and Raka Khan leaving them all laying in the middle of the ring. Abyss was sporting a new outfit and a new attitude. Looks like TNA are just slowly putting him back in the mix with the Steiner feud but hopefully he will make his way back up the ranks shortly.

Two brilliant matches

The two best matches of the night weren’t the two main events. These honours went to Petey Williams vs Kaz and team 3D vs. LAX. As good to see a great tag team match as we rarely get one these days on WWE programming and Petey Williams underlined why he is one of my favourite wrestlers in TNA.

Push for Samoa Joe

Although the match was a shocker it was good to see Samoa Joe’s push continued as he won the honour of being the first champion to step in to a King of the Mountain match as champion and walk out with the belt. It was very obvious that Samoa Joe was going to win but it needed to happen.

Bad Points

Terrible use of Moose

The new muscle for the Beautiful People debuted on Thursday’s edition of impact knocking down everyone in her path and then three days later she is getting beaten up and losing in her match teaming with the Beautiful People against ODB, Gail Kim and Roxy.

Kurt Angle vs. AJ Styles

After some of the most heated segments ever on impact in recent weeks this match fell in to the Booker T / Robert Roode trap of have no intensity in the match. TNA are doing well at building intense storylines on impact but it just seems recently that these intense storylines have been ruined by less than intense pay paer view matches. When this happens it undoes all the good work that has been one before it.

King of the Mountain

The match had nothing we hadn’t seen before and did little to keep the viewer hooked. If you are not going to do anything new in the match then you need to have an excellently worked out match in the ring which didn’t happen.

Overall

I’m glad I don’t have to pay for TNA PPV’s. The problem with developing good storylines on impact is that you have to deliver them on PPV”s which they don’t seem able to do.

TNA iMPACT Review - Thursday 5th June 2008

This being the iMPACT before TNA’s biggest Pay Per View of the year Slammiversary I was expecting big things this week. TNA have built some good storylines and it as going to be interesting to see what they were going to do for the final push.

Good Points

Great Push for AJ Styles

I am so happy AJ is finally getting pushed in the top feud after months of playing the comedy sidekick. After weeks of getting a beatdown on iMPACT AJ returned the favour for Christian Cage for his help last week at the beginning of the show and then it was turn for the faces to win the skirmish at the end as Samoa Joe came to the aid of Styles and the faces. The love triangle angle with Karen, Kurt and AJ is brilliant and each have played their part in making this an intense rivalry.

A storyline for Nash

Nash is being used well by TNA. After weeks of helping Samoa Joe as an advisor and protector Nash now has the position of special enforcer in the King of the Mountain match and Samoa Joe now thinks he is going to screw him. I am expecting a Nash heel turn at Slammiversary.

The Beautiful People getting good TV time

The Beautiful People are the best female tandem in wrestling at the moment ok they are the only female tandem on TV but they are good. Now they have a new girl as their muscle to back them up things can only be getting better.

Bad Points

Samoa Joe has the cushiest job in wrestling

I can’t remember the last time Samoa Joe had a match on iMPACT or the last time he was on the screen for more than five minutes. Samoa Joe has been king of the pre-records lately and if you work it out he must be on some pay per minute. If he was doing a ton of media I could kind of understand it but Kurt Angle is the one doing all the media so it definitely is the cushiest job.

Kurt Angle has the second most cushiest job in wrestling

When TNA has a much lighter schedule than WWE and when you are trying to establish yourself as a real competitor you need your top guys doing the work in the ring which TNA don’t have at the moment.

Overall

The cast that you see in the ring are really pulling their weight but with your main stars not pulling theirs its hard to see if TNA will ever become a competitor for WWE. This said I’m looking forward to a couple of good storylines they have put in place for Slammiversary.