My not so angry review of last night's iMPACT

[Ace Diamond]

Ok, I know I'll probably get some more crap for this, but I kind of wanted to get my thoughts down on last night's TNA iMPACT episode, in a manner that was less angry than the way I delieverd them during the show. feel free to contribute to or debate my opinions on this.

Cold Opening: Oh great, a ratings ploy in the style of Freakazoid's Candlejack skit. You want to know why this makes even less sense? If they weren't allowed to mention Booker for legal reasons, why the smurf was he hyped on the website?

Opening Promo: "TCB" Karen Angle? Angle Alliance? what is this alphabet soup bullcrap? Is Jim Cornette going to offer us a New Deal? Fortunately Kevin Nash showing up in an attempt to destroy the celebration was good, since Nash (despite his limited ring skill) is good at making a brawl look nice. Also cool was the X-Division being the ones to come to his aid.

Backstage: Nash rants on phone, Crystal is there for no reason.

Match 1: LAX vs. Worst Tag Team Name since "Rated RKO"

Ok so I'm guessing Lance is the Rock, and Jimmy is obviously the Rave...so Christy Hemme is the one with the STD's then? In any event this was a nice match, complete with cuts to Christy Hemme displaying her "o" face. Then LAX (weren't they faces?) beat up Hemme and Ariel in disguise attacks with the slapjack cause suckas got to know.

Team 3D's hostage situation: Ok TNA, we get it, you don't like that the Internet is critical of you, please stop. The list of demands was kind of funny, though at one point my friend asked "what's wrong with him?" in regards to Brother D-Von's Of Mice and Men-worthy laugh. Also, given who the hostage eventually was, if the X-Division didn't give in and we never saw him again...wouldn't that really not be that different from the norm?

Crazy Christian's Backstage Blowup: Great, now they're retconning Joe pinning Christian. I know, it was never touched upon but since Christian's entire unbeaten gimmick always hinged on him never being pinned or made to submit, and he's now only slightly more delusional than he was during that time, it's not a big change.

Intergender Tag Match: Good little match, don't have a damn clue what's up with Chris Harris' video. Ms. Brooks finally snapping on the Indy wrestler plant a.k.a. Robert Roode's biggest fan (in her pants) finally advances the storyline, but...sympathy for Ms. Brooks could only happen under these circumstances in the iMPACT Zone, since it'd make more sense for the fan to attack first.

Jim Cornette's Office: Cornette gives Morgan a piece of his mind for setting up matches for Genesis, which I think is silly especially because Cornette talks about people above him he has to answer to. Who are these people? Dixie? Jeff Jarrett? ...Larry Zybysko? Then we get another problem as Rave and Hoyt complain about Spike TV's rule about "no guys hitting girls" and yet...didn't we have that happen in a tag match?


Team 3D vs. X-Division: TNA proves that just like the WWE they can do dick and "your mom" jokes. Now granted I find it funny regardless of promotion, but I bet some people who hated DX's work laughed at this. The amazing twist here is that Rikishi ran over Austin Johnny Devine is the traitor. Seriously, Johnny Devine? It just doesn't work because he showed up maybe once in the last 3 months. What's his beef? That he's invisible? I really think this was one of their "we need two hours to do this" storyline, and that Devine is in Brother Runt's place.

AJ's apology: "Don't break up with me, Christian" was gold, also Tomko's fake assurances followed up immediately with "no it won't" was good too. Great segment and they really play off each other well.

Nash and Hall segment: As much as I know they're both old and shouldn't be in high profile segments, I have to admit it's awesome to see the Outsiders again. Six-man Match @ Turning Point versus AA? No problem, although granted the World TNA title won't be defended (unless they keep doing the "title can change in tag match" idea which is dumb as smurf)

Rellik vs. Reign vs. Abyss: The continuing revolving door of Judas's temporary sucessors continue to prove they can't do much against Abyss as he picks up the victory. Then Rhino saves him.

...what?

Angle's Response: Saying that Waltman doesn't have enough brain cells to get into the building is like calling the kettle black, Kurt. But hey, it's Waltman. Also he at least builds Kaz up a bit, which is nice.

Awesome Kong vs. Alexa Jobber: Squash followed up by Gail attacking Kong and doing well until she makes a critical mistake and gets Powerbombed

Contract Signing: Oh god who could it be? Ok now that i got the sarcasm out of the way I loved Booker's remixed theme and he did do a good promo, his interaction with Frustrated Christian Cage was good too...only one problem. He's now #1 Contender by virtue of punching the crap out of Christian. Thanks TNA, you're now putting other WWE guys over the WWE guys you brought in earlier. With Christian gone, what hope is there for Joe? Also, isn't this redundant since Angle isn't going to be defending his title at Turning Point?

Kaz Video: You know, this really should've been on PPV or at least the special Thanksgiving ep. of iMPACT. Especially since Kaz is hailed as "the fastest rising star"

Kaz Promo: Short, serious, to the point, good.

Kaz vs. Kurt: Amazing match, I know I said it should be on PPV, and I still think it should, but it was amazing nonetheless. The finish looked awkward but in the end Kaz remains standing tall and undaunted, sort of like how Jeff Hardy lost the ladder match to the Undertaker. Nash and Hall attack Angle, StylesKo come for the save, then Joe attacks as well. Joe probably isn't the secret partner though. Why do I say that? Because TNA thinks swerves are t3h lulz.

Overall, it was a good show. Not great, not smurfing amazing, but good. Still feels a bit rushed, especially when they pulled the trigger on Kaz vs. Angle. I would've given it at least a week to build if you couldn't put it on PPV, but that's me.

[comahan]

They wont switch Joe out, only because they have the picture up on the site hyping the match and its announced in the ppv match listing. If it was like "IS JOE THE THIRD MAN?!" then id agree.

And I think the Kaz match being on TV was a combo of what has already been said a million times here. Which is he cant sell PPV's, but the other factor is, Why put it on PPV and have Angle make Kaz look like a million bucks in front of a very small portion of the audience when you can do it in front of a million and a half viewers? I think that was the major reason. Sure, it might have seemed a bit more important for him on PPV, but a huge portion of the audience would have gone without seeing his huge win over Cage, and his close match with Angle, which I think would have hurt him.

And I dont think Booker is the actual #1 contender, it was just, kind of a screw up. Cage said he was the king around here and youd have to get past me, and it was either a screw up on Bookers end or dumb writing that had him say the number one contenders line. Other than that, I loved the signing segment.

[Rube]

comahan said:

They wont switch Joe out, only because they
And I dont think Booker is the actual #1 contender, it was just, kind of a screw up. Cage said he was the king around here and youd have to get past me, and it was either a screw up on Bookers end or dumb writing that had him say the number one contenders line. Other than that, I loved the signing segment.

Pretty sure Booker just said that because Christian has called himself "the real number 1 contender" a bunch of times.

They would have been stupid to make KAZ VS. Angle the main event of a ppv. It was the definition of a TV main event.

[GaTechGrad]

What?

For some reason, I'm really digging the mid-card storylines (Abyss vs Mitchell's army of monsters and Gail Kim vs Awesome Kong) more than the main event storylines. The Hall and Nash reunion reminds me too much of the DX reunion on RAW... great for one night, but those guys are definitely past their prime. I haven't read the spoilers, but it seems like Booker T is taking Sting's "spot" for now.

I'm just wondering if Harvey Wippleman will be on RAW next week to do a spoof of Booker T, like he did when Rick Rude left.

[Ace Diamond]

comahan said:

They wont switch Joe out, only because they have the picture up on the site hyping the match and its announced in the ppv match listing. If it was like "IS JOE THE THIRD MAN?!" then id agree.

And I think the Kaz match being on TV was a combo of what has already been said a million times here. Which is he cant sell PPV's, but the other factor is, Why put it on PPV and have Angle make Kaz look like a million bucks in front of a very small portion of the audience when you can do it in front of a million and a half viewers? I think that was the major reason. Sure, it might have seemed a bit more important for him on PPV, but a huge portion of the audience would have gone without seeing his huge win over Cage, and his close match with Angle, which I think would have hurt him.

And I dont think Booker is the actual #1 contender, it was just, kind of a screw up. Cage said he was the king around here and youd have to get past me, and it was either a screw up on Bookers end or dumb writing that had him say the number one contenders line. Other than that, I loved the signing segment.

Well as I said I understand the rationale that Kaz can't sell PPVs, but I still think that at the very least they should've given this match a week of buildup and have it the following week on the Thanksgiving Show, which was being made to be a very big deal.

[comahan]

aodpilot said:

comahan said:

They wont switch Joe out, only because they have the picture up on the site hyping the match and its announced in the ppv match listing. If it was like "IS JOE THE THIRD MAN?!" then id agree.

And I think the Kaz match being on TV was a combo of what has already been said a million times here. Which is he cant sell PPV's, but the other factor is, Why put it on PPV and have Angle make Kaz look like a million bucks in front of a very small portion of the audience when you can do it in front of a million and a half viewers? I think that was the major reason. Sure, it might have seemed a bit more important for him on PPV, but a huge portion of the audience would have gone without seeing his huge win over Cage, and his close match with Angle, which I think would have hurt him.

And I dont think Booker is the actual #1 contender, it was just, kind of a screw up. Cage said he was the king around here and youd have to get past me, and it was either a screw up on Bookers end or dumb writing that had him say the number one contenders line. Other than that, I loved the signing segment.

Well as I said I understand the rationale that Kaz can't sell PPVs, but I still think that at the very least they should've given this match a week of buildup and have it the following week on the Thanksgiving Show, which was being made to be a very big deal.

I wouldn't disagree with that.

[Ace Diamond]

comahan said:

aodpilot said:

Well as I said I understand the rationale that Kaz can't sell PPVs, but I still think that at the very least they should've given this match a week of buildup and have it the following week on the Thanksgiving Show, which was being made to be a very big deal.

I wouldn't disagree with that.

Yeah. Also, the reason I'm wondering about Joe's status as the third man is because Sting is MIA for the moment, and TNA probably feels that nWo Wolfpac was an awesome concept...and...

But that's all just really idle speculation

[comahan]

aodpilot said:

comahan said:

I wouldn't disagree with that.

Yeah. Also, the reason I'm wondering about Joe's status as the third man is because Sting is MIA for the moment, and TNA probably feels that nWo Wolfpac was an awesome concept...and...

But that's all just really idle speculation

Yea, I have no idea where Sting went, lol. I dont think hes advertised to be on next weeks show either.

*Goes to check spoilers to see if Sting vanished from the face of the earth.*

[Ace Diamond]

comahan said:

aodpilot said:

Yeah. Also, the reason I'm wondering about Joe's status as the third man is because Sting is MIA for the moment, and TNA probably feels that nWo Wolfpac was an awesome concept...and...

But that's all just really idle speculation

Yea, I have no idea where Sting went, lol. I dont think hes advertised to be on next weeks show either.

*Goes to check spoilers to see if Sting vanished from the face of the earth.*

While you're at it, see where Christopher Daniels went

[radicalbuttercup]

Am I the only one who's really, really, bored with Rhyno? The Dr.Phil of wrestling? He's such a caring man for a "War Machine". He never seems to have any forward momentum..just goes from feud to feud.

[Ace Diamond]

radicalbuttercup said:

Am I the only one who's really, really, bored with Rhyno? The Dr.Phil of wrestling? He's such a caring man for a "War Machine". He never seems to have any forward momentum..just goes from feud to feud.

That's kind of the point I was making. I can't remember what he did, if anything, between helping someone, getting drunk (or did he) and now helping Abyss. It's just...odd. He does something, vanishes, does something else, vanishes...

[comahan]

aodpilot said:

comahan said:

Yea, I have no idea where Sting went, lol. I dont think hes advertised to be on next weeks show either.

*Goes to check spoilers to see if Sting vanished from the face of the earth.*

While you're at it, see where Christopher Daniels went

He might still be in japan for the TNA NJPW invasion thing. Not sure.

[Ace Diamond]

comahan said:

aodpilot said:

While you're at it, see where Christopher Daniels went

He might still be in japan for the TNA NJPW invasion thing. Not sure.

So basically he reforms XXX and vanishes.

...speaking of the TNA/NJPW war, will we in the states ever see any of this or will it just be a Japan-only thing that, much like The Fire Pro series up until recently, will have to be "imported"

[Michael Coello]

If you seriously have doubts about Joe's status as the 3rd man, the TNA website plainly says that he's the third man.

- Later that night, Nash brought Scott Hall back to TNA – and they challenged Angle, Styles and Tomko for a six-man match at the upcoming “Turning Point”. In a huge surprise, it was revealed before the program went off the air that Samoa Joe would be Hall and Nash’s partner at the PPV!

BTW, Daniels is in the land of gaijin & "Do You Like Horny Bunnies" video games, Japan.

[Ace Diamond]

sinister1 said:

If you seriously have doubts about Joe's status as the 3rd man, the TNA website plainly says that he's the third man.

- Later that night, Nash brought Scott Hall back to TNA – and they challenged Angle, Styles and Tomko for a six-man match at the upcoming “Turning Point”. In a huge surprise, it was revealed before the program went off the air that Samoa Joe would be Hall and Nash’s partner at the PPV!

BTW, Daniels is in the land of gaijin & "Do You Like Horny Bunnies" video games, Japan.

Well given that the TNA website can apparently hype Booker T despite the fact that they can't hype Booker T because he hadn't signed his contract yet...can we trust the TNA website? or TNA?

Seriously though thanks for clearing that up.

[comahan]

aodpilot said:

comahan said:

He might still be in japan for the TNA NJPW invasion thing. Not sure.

So basically he reforms XXX and vanishes.

...speaking of the TNA/NJPW war, will we in the states ever see any of this or will it just be a Japan-only thing that, much like The Fire Pro series up until recently, will have to be "imported"

Ill try and find it in a sec, as I almost made a thread about it the other day, but I read that they made the decision not to tape the 1/4 show in Japan cause of the large cost, but would be showing clips from over there.

[poi zen rana]

aodpilot said:

Ok, I know I'll probably get some more crap for this, but I kind of wanted to get my thoughts down on last night's TNA iMPACT episode, in a manner that was less angry than the way I delieverd them during the show. feel free to contribute to or debate my opinions on this.

i will take you up on this offer.

Cold Opening: Oh great, a ratings ploy in the style of Freakazoid's Candlejack skit. You want to know why this makes even less sense? If they weren't allowed to mention Booker for legal reasons, why the smurf was he hyped on the website?

i assumed this was geared to the non smark fan. it seemed to me they were holding off announcing just what happened at the pay per view to build up suspense to the wrestling fans who just watch the show and do not look up wrestling on the internet.

Match 1: LAX vs. Worst Tag Team Name since "Rated RKO"

Ok so I'm guessing Lance is the Rock, and Jimmy is obviously the Rave...so Christy Hemme is the one with the STD's then? In any event this was a nice match, complete with cuts to Christy Hemme displaying her "o" face. Then LAX (weren't they faces?) beat up Hemme and Ariel in disguise attacks with the slapjack cause suckas got to know.

lax are both more like bad ass faces. you could call them tweeners, but they are reminiscent of say steve austin attacking people even though he is a face. tna does enjoy blurring the line, but at least to me i don't consider that a completely bad thing because usually once in the match the faces and heels are clearer.

Team 3D's hostage situation: Ok TNA, we get it, you don't like that the Internet is critical of you, please stop. The list of demands was kind of funny, though at one point my friend asked "what's wrong with him?" in regards to Brother D-Von's Of Mice and Men-worthy laugh. Also, given who the hostage eventually was, if the X-Division didn't give in and we never saw him again...wouldn't that really not be that different from the norm?

i never got the impression tna was saying they don't like being criticized through 3d's comments. it hadn't crossed my mind until i read this. i believe team 3d just know how to play heels. they are feuding with the x division. tna has a pretty strong smark following already, and many of the fans of the x division are smarks. so by attacking what is a majority of their opponents fan base, it just seemed like another way to get more heat, thus building themselves up and putting over the x division heroes that put them in their place.

Crazy Christian's Backstage Blowup: Great, now they're retconning Joe pinning Christian. I know, it was never touched upon but since Christian's entire unbeaten gimmick always hinged on him never being pinned or made to submit, and he's now only slightly more delusional than he was during that time, it's not a big change.

i don't think the point is supposed to be "they" are retconning joe beating christian. christian himself is the one denying it happened. just like he always calls himself the champ. it is a further extension of his gimmick. i don't think tna is pretending it didn't happen. i was actually hoping he would deny it because it seemed it would go so well with his character and i think it does.

Intergender Tag Match: Good little match, don't have a damn clue what's up with Chris Harris' video. Ms. Brooks finally snapping on the Indy wrestler plant a.k.a. Robert Roode's biggest fan (in her pants) finally advances the storyline, but...sympathy for Ms. Brooks could only happen under these circumstances in the iMPACT Zone, since it'd make more sense for the fan to attack first.

as far as the fan attacking first making more sense, it could, but in this situation the fan has been petitioning for ms. brooks to be fired from the job that it is public knowledge she needs to be able to financially support her sick mother. so i can buy the face striking the heel in this situation.

Team 3D vs. X-Division: TNA proves that just like the WWE they can do dick and "your mom" jokes. Now granted I find it funny regardless of promotion, but I bet some people who hated DX's work laughed at this. The amazing twist here is that Rikishi ran over Austin Johnny Devine is the traitor. Seriously, Johnny Devine? It just doesn't work because he showed up maybe once in the last 3 months. What's his beef? That he's invisible? I really think this was one of their "we need two hours to do this" storyline, and that Devine is in Brother Runt's place.

i don't remember the dick jokes exactly but i did find the mom jokes funnier than recent wwe work with hhh. possibly because it doesn't happen all the time, possibly because i have heard hhh making the same jokes for many many years. who knows why. him not showing up actually to me makes more sense, he is selling out his friends and helping team 3d take over because he is overlooked. add to the fact that his last character was a follower in a group that abandoned him it makes double sense for him to be convinced that he is under appreciated in tna and to take out his friends who get so much more attention than him. i think it works on a couple of levels. plus it is obvious that it will be leading up to 3d and devine vs motor city and lethal which i am personally looking forward to.

Contract Signing: Oh god who could it be? Ok now that i got the sarcasm out of the way I loved Booker's remixed theme and he did do a good promo, his interaction with Frustrated Christian Cage was good too...only one problem. He's now #1 Contender by virtue of punching the crap out of Christian. Thanks TNA, you're now putting other WWE guys over the WWE guys you brought in earlier. With Christian gone, what hope is there for Joe? Also, isn't this redundant since Angle isn't going to be defending his title at Turning Point?

while i was watching impact i had some other stuff going on so i wasn't paying the closest attention during this part and could easily have missed something, but i was under the impression booker just claimed he should be #1 contender. i wasn't aware it was official.

[The F'N Captain]

Good TNA, like I said in the main thread last night, better than RAW's effort this week.

TNA's doing better at pacing. I think they needed two hours but when they first got the extra hour they had no idea how to book it right. TNA is doing better, and hopefully they can build off this momentum. Especially with pushing guys like MCMG and even Kaz as well as the established stars like Joe, Abyss, Sting and the "WWE Crew".

[thestinger]

aodpilot said:

Crazy Christian's Backstage Blowup: Great, now they're retconning Joe pinning Christian. I know, it was never touched upon but since Christian's entire unbeaten gimmick always hinged on him never being pinned or made to submit, and he's now only slightly more delusional than he was during that time, it's not a big change.

TNA did acknowledge the loss. Crystal interuppted him and asked, "Undefeated?" before Christian demanded she never question him on that again.

That exchange happened solely to acknowledge the fact that Joe beat Christian. He's the only guy who refuses to acknowledge it.

[Ace Diamond]

thestinger said:

aodpilot said:

Crazy Christian's Backstage Blowup: Great, now they're retconning Joe pinning Christian. I know, it was never touched upon but since Christian's entire unbeaten gimmick always hinged on him never being pinned or made to submit, and he's now only slightly more delusional than he was during that time, it's not a big change.

TNA did acknowledge the loss. Crystal interuppted him and asked, "Undefeated?" before Christian demanded she never question him on that again.

That exchange happened solely to acknowledge the fact that Joe beat Christian. He's the only guy who refuses to acknowledge it.

Or it was in reference to the Ladder match at Genesis, you know, the thing they were talking about. See my problem is that TNA loves to break the rules with the way they word things, such as claiming Tag Title runs as world title runs when most people wouldn't think of that off the bat.