TNA No Surrender 2008 Review

After a good PPV last time out I was looking forward to seeing what TNA would deliver on their first PPV outside of the United States. As most of you know it takes a lot for me to get excited about a TNA PPV but here are my thoughts on what went down.

Good Points

Team 3D help build talent

Was great to see Team 3D building the team of Abyss and Matt Morgan. The match had a great tempo and really pushed Abyss and Matt Morgan strong as they came back after every other handed trick in the book by Team 3D and so many false finishes to finally get an impressive victory.

SoCal turns on Lethal

After a terrible storyline it had a really good payoff as SoCal deliberately cost Jay Lethal the match so that Sonjay could win and that she could go off with him. It will be interesting to see what they do with this new heel couple in TNA. Having a Heel couple on a show is always fun for the creative team.

Good X-Division match

The quality of wrestling was phenomenal in this one with some great spots as Bashir won the X-Division title in the backyard of the X-Division champion. Consequences Creed and Petey Williams put in an awesome performance but it will be interesting to see what Bashir does with the title as he has great character skills.

Bad Points

Sting kicking the show off

With Sting hitting the ring to do a long in ring promo to kick the show off made the show feel like a regular weekly TV show. In the promo he then went on to say he would face the winner of the title match at the next PPV. Message to TNA concentrate on the PPV you are doing and not the next one, that was a promo which should have been kept for the iMPACT after the PPV.

Two Women’s matches on one PPV

It shows how much belief that TNA has in this division to put two all female fights on a PPV card when guys like Rhino are just reduced to support roles on the card. ODB and Kong put in some awesome performances but I just wasn’t feeling the Knockouts tonight.

Main event not living up to the hype

I thought that TNA could have done more with the event it just seemed to predictable at times especially when Jarrett came out to nail Angle. Now if TNA hadn’t mentioned Jarrett at all in the build up to the PPV and then have hit Angle with the guitar and then explain his actions on the next iMPACT would have caused interest. As it happened you knew Angle was going to be feuding with Jarrett so wouldn’t win the belt and as they hand’t been doing much with Cage recently he wasn’t going to win the belt so it was another easy predictable win for Samoa Joe.

Overall

A couple of solid matches, nothing to jump up and down about. I think the next PPV should be a lot better though with some good storyline movement in this show which sets us up nicely.

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 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.