First, a bit of wrestling talk. It seems Impact was on at 8 pm tonight instead of its usual 9 pm slot. I'm pretty sure this was done because of the NCAA Championship game on tonight at 9 (more on that later). I remember now they talked about this numerous times during last week's episode, but of course I forgot. So I only wound up catching the last half of Impact this week. Too bad. I caught the tail end of what looked to have been a doozy of a ladder match between Kurt Angle and Mr. Anderson.
I'm having a serious issue with the direction the Knockout Division is taking lately. Apparently tonight Tara, Daffney, Velvet Skye, and Angelina Love competed in a feast or fired type of match where each had to grab a case suspended above the ring (I missed this part of the show). At the end of the show, they each opened their cases to see what was inside. Now, in a standard feast or fired match, three of the cases will contain various title shots and one will have a pink slip. This match was slightly different. Tara's Knockout Title went into one case, an open contract to set up any match went into another, Tara's pet spider Poison (which had been stolen by Daffney) went into the third, and the final case contained an order for that woman to go to the ring and perform a strip tease.
Angelina got the case with the belt, making her the new Knockout Champ. Tara got Poison back. Velvet got the open contract, which she immediately used to set up a match between her and Angelina (more on that in a minute), and Daffney was ordered to strip. Okay, so here's my dilemma. I think Daffney's smoking hot. Hell, all the Knockouts are really hot, but Daffney's my second favorite (after Christy Hemme), so the idea of her stripping is appealing to me. However, I've always had huge respect for the Knockout Division because they're mostly all very talented wrestlers. Unlike WWE's Divas, these women can really put on a good show and don't have to rely on/resort to the kind of stuff WWE used to always do, like bra and panty matches or lesbian situations. Skin for the sake of skin, basically. In my opinion, TNA and the Knockout Division are better than that, they're above that, and as much as I wouldn't mind seeing skin on those lovely ladies, I really feel like it would take something away from them to have them go that route.
So Daffney reluctantly goes to the ring, and old cliched stripper music starts playing. She takes off her tiny hat and makes some angry faces at the camera, very obviously not wanting to strip, and starts to slowly pull her shoulder straps down when she's attacked by Lacey Von Erich, who's in a robe and lingerie. Lacey beats down Daffney and proceeds to do a strip tease herself. I guess she just wanted the attention. The situation proceeds to breakdown, of course, and all the Knockouts start fighting for various reasons. This is when Velvet calls out Angelina. Thing is, though, she never actually says anything about their match being for the title, like I assumed she would. She challenges Angelina to something she called a leather and lace match. Now, I don't know exactly what that entails, so I might be way off base here, but it sounds dangerously close to a bra and panties match to me. I just don't want to see the Knockout Division become a t&a side show (no pun intended). They're better than that.
Moving on briefly to the world of actual sports. Like I mentioned earlier, the final game of the NCAA Basketball Tournament was tonight. Duke vs. Butler. I missed some of the beginning (what overlapped with Impact) but watched the rest. It was actually a really good, competitive game. Duke won in the end. I've never been a big fan of Duke, and I was pretty disappointed to see that after all the upsets and buzzer beaters in this tournament, a number one seed still won it all. Oh well.
Also, today was Opening Day for my Cincinnati Reds (I capitalized it because it's basically a city-wide holiday in Cincinnati)! I'm very excited to see baseball back, but the Reds got spanked pretty hard by the hated Cardinals. I guess it could've been worse, though. It could've been the Cubs. Here's to hoping the Reds can have a decent season!
Showing posts with label impact. Show all posts
Showing posts with label impact. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
An update on TNA
I've decided I won't be doing weekly reviews of Impact anymore. I'm not sure if I'm going to catch the show every week, and I figure there are plenty of other places online people can go to get show results. That said, I will continue to post my opinions on how the company is doing when I can.
The last few weeks, ever since the move to Mondays, have been surprisingly good. I'm really happy with most of the new talent TNA has brought in (they can lose Bubba the Love Sponge right now, though, that guy seriously makes me want to change the channel), and there's been a good ratio between matches and segments. It was really nice to see Jay Lethal back on TV this week.
Keep up the good work, TNA! I'm looking forward to Lockdown.
The last few weeks, ever since the move to Mondays, have been surprisingly good. I'm really happy with most of the new talent TNA has brought in (they can lose Bubba the Love Sponge right now, though, that guy seriously makes me want to change the channel), and there's been a good ratio between matches and segments. It was really nice to see Jay Lethal back on TV this week.
Keep up the good work, TNA! I'm looking forward to Lockdown.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
TNA Impact review - 3/8/10
I just got done watching this, and I have to say wow. I was impressed. If you've been reading my blog, you know that TNA has been disappointing me for the most part since Hulk Hogan took over the show, but tonight was really good.
I hadn't planned on watching it live on Monday night, so I Tivoed it just in case I decided to watch it later. After hearing from my buddy Shin DT that it was a great show, I had to check it out. I was mostly impressed at the amount of matches. It seemed like they were non-stop. And in between the matches, there were actual old-school wrestling segments that consisted of guys talking in the ring to promote their feuds or backstage interviews. No more of this soap opera style garbage of guys having overly long, way too serious conversations in the back rooms. If it's not in the ring or in the interview studio then it shouldn't be on the air. There are exceptions to the rule, of course, but that's the way it should usually be.
Now, to the matches. First off we had the main event (yes, I know this is unusual, but they were calling it that) of Hogan and Abyss vs. AJ and Flair. This didn't last too long. After a few minutes the lights went out, Sting appeared, and he beat the crap out of Hogan and Abyss. So the match was ruled no contest and Hogan decided that they would finish it later that night with no disqualifications.
Next we have a great segment in the ring between X-Division Champ Doug Williams, #1 contender Kaz, and Christopher Daniels, all arguing about who best represents the X-Division. Eric Bischoff comes out and tells them if they want to argue about it that bad, they can have a match. The bell rings, and the three of them go at it. Williams wins to retain his title with one of the sickest finishers I've ever seen. I believe he called it the Chaos Theory something or another. I've only seen this move done in video games before, never real life. Williams, from behind, splashed Daniels into the corner, then pulled him backwards into a roll-up, but instead of just pinning him there he kept going, flipped Daniels all the way around and suplexed him! With a bridge! I had to replay it like a dozen times! Insane! It really upped my respect for Doug Williams.
After the match ended, Shannon Moore came running out and attacked Williams, and Bischoff announced that Williams would defend the title against Moore at the next pay-per-view, Destination X. Moore is a really talented guy, but that make-up he wears is just goofy.
Next we had a three way tag match for the held up Knockout Tag Team Championship. It appears Awesome Kong is done with the company, so her and Hamada no longer hold the titles. As a quick side note, I want to say that TNA is making a huge mistake letting Kong go just so they can keep Bubba the Love Sponge. That dude is a piece of human garbage that brings nothing whatsoever to the show. I have to force myself not to change the channel every time I see him. *Ahem!* But I digress.
The match consisted of Taylor and Sarita, Tara and Angelina Love, and the Beautiful People, represented by Velvet Skye and Madison Rayne. Lacey Von Erich was at ringside with them. It was a pretty decent match, but it ended a bit too quickly. Out of nowhere, Daffney slides into the ring with Tara's Knockout Championship belt and clocks Tara! The Beautiful People take advantage of the chaos and score the pin, becoming the new champs. So I suppose this means we'll see a feud now between Tara and Daffney. After the match, the Beautiful People celebrate backstage and declare that Lacey is a champion too, even though she wasn't a part of the match. Maybe TNA will let them decide which two members of the team will defend the belts in each title defense, similar to what the Fabulous Freebirds and Demolition used to do.
Next we were supposed to have a match between the Pope and Desmond Wolfe, but Wolfe attacked Pope during his backstage interview and messed up his ankle, so the match was called off. More on this later.
Now we get Sting vs. a mystery opponent. This match was made directly by Dixie Carter, who vowed to never get involved with match making, after Sting got in her face after the incident with Hogan and Abyss at the start of the show. So Sting goes down to the ring, some strange music starts playing, and the crowd goes nuts. But because the cameramen aren't shooting the entrance ramp, we can't see the video package that is airing and don't know right away who it is. Turns out to be Mr. Monday Night himself, Rob Van Dam! RVD comes rushing out of the crowd and stuns Sting, landing a few quick hits and then his Rolling Thunder finisher to score a really fast pin! After that, though, Sting gets up and whips the crap out of RVD with his bat. Not really the best debut ever for RVD. I mean, sure, he came out and scored a win on Sting, but then proceeds to get his butt kicked. Hard. Hogan even comes out to try and help and Stings whips Hogan as well. I don't like seeing Sting as a heel, but I have to say I do like seeing him beat Hogan down.
Next we get Kevin Nash and Eric Young in the ring calling out Scott Hall and Sean Waltman. Nash says he convinced Hogan to give them a contract, one night only, for a fight at Destination X. Hall and Waltman come out and suggest that if they win, they should be allowed to stay. Eric Bischoff appears on the screen at this point and agrees, but says if Hall and Waltman lose then they have to go away from TNA for good. Hall and Nash shake on this, and EY extends his hand to Waltman, but Waltman sucker punches him for his effort. Instead of the usual farce of security trying to hold everyone back, Bischoff declares that EY and Waltman should be allowed to go at it. Hall and Nash are escorted away, and EY proceeds to whip Waltman in another match that was good, but too short.
Next, a load of soldiers dressed in fatigues come down and line the ramp, followed by Kurt Angle. The soldiers then surround the ring, lumberjack style. Kurt's really going for this whole all-American soldier supporter gimmick, isn't he? Kurt starts cutting a promo on Mr. Anderson, same as we've seen in the previous weeks. This time, though, when Anderson appears on the big screen to fire back, Kurt wastes no time running backstage and attacking him. Angle pulls Anderson out to the ring, where he proceeds to beat him down and let all the soldiers have a turn as well. It was this lumberjack style atmosphere that made this an entertaining segment, to me. After the beatdown, all the soldiers hoisted Angle up on their shoulders and carried him away, while Angle proudly waved an American flag. By the way, I found it ironic that the whole time Anderson was ripping on the military he was wearing a Captain America t-shirt. Angle tried to rip it off of him at one point, but seemed to be having trouble. It being live TV, he abandoned the idea and instead just spit on Anderson.
Next, the low point of the show for me, was Bischoff's continued testing of Jeff Jarrett and Mick Foley. Jarrett had to wrestle a handicap match against Beer Money, and Foley had to referee. Foley tried to help by providing Jarrett with a barbed wire bat, but another ref ran in and stopped it from happening. Beer Money won, and this angle just keeps getting older and older. Enough already.
Lastly, the continuation of our main event, Hogan and Abyss vs. AJ and Flair, no DQ! I swear, Hogan and Flair will die in the ring one day. They're both showing their age a lot worse than ever, both very slow. It's obvious that the younger guys were trying to be careful with them. But, they both still bleed really well. Both of them were wearing the crimson mask by the end of the match. We got to see a cool spot where Hogan and Abyss both Hulked up at the same time, and the match ended with Hogan slinging AJ into a Black Hole Slam from Abyss. After the match, Desmond Wolfe comes running out for some reason to help Flair and AJ, and then the Pope comes limping out to stop him. All six men fight for a few minutes before Jeff Hardy appears! He comes running out to help Hogan as well. The show ended at that point, but I read online that Hogan and his boys chased Flair and the heels out of the ring.
So, we had seven matches if you count both of the Hogan/Abyss vs. Flair/AJ matches separately. Most of them were good matches, though many of them could have gone longer. We had some new feuds started, some good work advancing existing feuds, and a couple of new additions to the show. I just hope that TNA can keep this level of product up. They're going to need to in order to survive on Monday nights.
I hadn't planned on watching it live on Monday night, so I Tivoed it just in case I decided to watch it later. After hearing from my buddy Shin DT that it was a great show, I had to check it out. I was mostly impressed at the amount of matches. It seemed like they were non-stop. And in between the matches, there were actual old-school wrestling segments that consisted of guys talking in the ring to promote their feuds or backstage interviews. No more of this soap opera style garbage of guys having overly long, way too serious conversations in the back rooms. If it's not in the ring or in the interview studio then it shouldn't be on the air. There are exceptions to the rule, of course, but that's the way it should usually be.
Now, to the matches. First off we had the main event (yes, I know this is unusual, but they were calling it that) of Hogan and Abyss vs. AJ and Flair. This didn't last too long. After a few minutes the lights went out, Sting appeared, and he beat the crap out of Hogan and Abyss. So the match was ruled no contest and Hogan decided that they would finish it later that night with no disqualifications.
Next we have a great segment in the ring between X-Division Champ Doug Williams, #1 contender Kaz, and Christopher Daniels, all arguing about who best represents the X-Division. Eric Bischoff comes out and tells them if they want to argue about it that bad, they can have a match. The bell rings, and the three of them go at it. Williams wins to retain his title with one of the sickest finishers I've ever seen. I believe he called it the Chaos Theory something or another. I've only seen this move done in video games before, never real life. Williams, from behind, splashed Daniels into the corner, then pulled him backwards into a roll-up, but instead of just pinning him there he kept going, flipped Daniels all the way around and suplexed him! With a bridge! I had to replay it like a dozen times! Insane! It really upped my respect for Doug Williams.
After the match ended, Shannon Moore came running out and attacked Williams, and Bischoff announced that Williams would defend the title against Moore at the next pay-per-view, Destination X. Moore is a really talented guy, but that make-up he wears is just goofy.
Next we had a three way tag match for the held up Knockout Tag Team Championship. It appears Awesome Kong is done with the company, so her and Hamada no longer hold the titles. As a quick side note, I want to say that TNA is making a huge mistake letting Kong go just so they can keep Bubba the Love Sponge. That dude is a piece of human garbage that brings nothing whatsoever to the show. I have to force myself not to change the channel every time I see him. *Ahem!* But I digress.
The match consisted of Taylor and Sarita, Tara and Angelina Love, and the Beautiful People, represented by Velvet Skye and Madison Rayne. Lacey Von Erich was at ringside with them. It was a pretty decent match, but it ended a bit too quickly. Out of nowhere, Daffney slides into the ring with Tara's Knockout Championship belt and clocks Tara! The Beautiful People take advantage of the chaos and score the pin, becoming the new champs. So I suppose this means we'll see a feud now between Tara and Daffney. After the match, the Beautiful People celebrate backstage and declare that Lacey is a champion too, even though she wasn't a part of the match. Maybe TNA will let them decide which two members of the team will defend the belts in each title defense, similar to what the Fabulous Freebirds and Demolition used to do.
Next we were supposed to have a match between the Pope and Desmond Wolfe, but Wolfe attacked Pope during his backstage interview and messed up his ankle, so the match was called off. More on this later.
Now we get Sting vs. a mystery opponent. This match was made directly by Dixie Carter, who vowed to never get involved with match making, after Sting got in her face after the incident with Hogan and Abyss at the start of the show. So Sting goes down to the ring, some strange music starts playing, and the crowd goes nuts. But because the cameramen aren't shooting the entrance ramp, we can't see the video package that is airing and don't know right away who it is. Turns out to be Mr. Monday Night himself, Rob Van Dam! RVD comes rushing out of the crowd and stuns Sting, landing a few quick hits and then his Rolling Thunder finisher to score a really fast pin! After that, though, Sting gets up and whips the crap out of RVD with his bat. Not really the best debut ever for RVD. I mean, sure, he came out and scored a win on Sting, but then proceeds to get his butt kicked. Hard. Hogan even comes out to try and help and Stings whips Hogan as well. I don't like seeing Sting as a heel, but I have to say I do like seeing him beat Hogan down.
Next we get Kevin Nash and Eric Young in the ring calling out Scott Hall and Sean Waltman. Nash says he convinced Hogan to give them a contract, one night only, for a fight at Destination X. Hall and Waltman come out and suggest that if they win, they should be allowed to stay. Eric Bischoff appears on the screen at this point and agrees, but says if Hall and Waltman lose then they have to go away from TNA for good. Hall and Nash shake on this, and EY extends his hand to Waltman, but Waltman sucker punches him for his effort. Instead of the usual farce of security trying to hold everyone back, Bischoff declares that EY and Waltman should be allowed to go at it. Hall and Nash are escorted away, and EY proceeds to whip Waltman in another match that was good, but too short.
Next, a load of soldiers dressed in fatigues come down and line the ramp, followed by Kurt Angle. The soldiers then surround the ring, lumberjack style. Kurt's really going for this whole all-American soldier supporter gimmick, isn't he? Kurt starts cutting a promo on Mr. Anderson, same as we've seen in the previous weeks. This time, though, when Anderson appears on the big screen to fire back, Kurt wastes no time running backstage and attacking him. Angle pulls Anderson out to the ring, where he proceeds to beat him down and let all the soldiers have a turn as well. It was this lumberjack style atmosphere that made this an entertaining segment, to me. After the beatdown, all the soldiers hoisted Angle up on their shoulders and carried him away, while Angle proudly waved an American flag. By the way, I found it ironic that the whole time Anderson was ripping on the military he was wearing a Captain America t-shirt. Angle tried to rip it off of him at one point, but seemed to be having trouble. It being live TV, he abandoned the idea and instead just spit on Anderson.
Next, the low point of the show for me, was Bischoff's continued testing of Jeff Jarrett and Mick Foley. Jarrett had to wrestle a handicap match against Beer Money, and Foley had to referee. Foley tried to help by providing Jarrett with a barbed wire bat, but another ref ran in and stopped it from happening. Beer Money won, and this angle just keeps getting older and older. Enough already.
Lastly, the continuation of our main event, Hogan and Abyss vs. AJ and Flair, no DQ! I swear, Hogan and Flair will die in the ring one day. They're both showing their age a lot worse than ever, both very slow. It's obvious that the younger guys were trying to be careful with them. But, they both still bleed really well. Both of them were wearing the crimson mask by the end of the match. We got to see a cool spot where Hogan and Abyss both Hulked up at the same time, and the match ended with Hogan slinging AJ into a Black Hole Slam from Abyss. After the match, Desmond Wolfe comes running out for some reason to help Flair and AJ, and then the Pope comes limping out to stop him. All six men fight for a few minutes before Jeff Hardy appears! He comes running out to help Hogan as well. The show ended at that point, but I read online that Hogan and his boys chased Flair and the heels out of the ring.
So, we had seven matches if you count both of the Hogan/Abyss vs. Flair/AJ matches separately. Most of them were good matches, though many of them could have gone longer. We had some new feuds started, some good work advancing existing feuds, and a couple of new additions to the show. I just hope that TNA can keep this level of product up. They're going to need to in order to survive on Monday nights.
Friday, March 5, 2010
TNA Impact review - 3/4/10
I skipped Impact last week, but since this was the last Thursday edition of the show I decided to watch it tonight. I wasn't impressed. I'm not going to do a detailed review, because there was hardly anything to review. There were, I think, four or five matches, and all of them were only a few minutes long, with the exception of the main event. One of these matches, Jeff Jarrett vs. Sean Morley, happened in a public restroom that Jarrett was cleaning at the time, and Jarrett didn't even know about it until Morley bust in on him with a referee.
It's just ridiculous what TNA has become in the two months that Hulk Hogan has been running the show. It's become so hard for me to keep interested. There's hardly any wrestling anymore! I may try and watch the first Monday show, I may not. Either way, I doubt I'll stick with it on a weekly basis anymore.
It's just ridiculous what TNA has become in the two months that Hulk Hogan has been running the show. It's become so hard for me to keep interested. There's hardly any wrestling anymore! I may try and watch the first Monday show, I may not. Either way, I doubt I'll stick with it on a weekly basis anymore.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Quick wrestling update
I only managed to catch a little more than half of Impact again this week, so I'm not going to do a full review. I don't even remember much of what happened. It was good to see Kaz get out of that stupid Suicide costume and return to action as himself. I also really enjoyed seeing Hogan give Abyss his ring and that pep talk. I hope this means the true Monster Abyss will be back soon.
The big news of the week is that starting early next month, Impact will be moving to Mondays! I haven't been a big fan of Raw in almost ten years, but I still seriously doubt that Impact can stand up against them. I see this as a potentially very bad move for TNA. From what I've read around the internet, I think a lot of people agree with me that Hogan is taking the company in the wrong direction, and moving them to Mondays might just sink them for good.
Wouldn't it be crazy if we learned five yeas from now that Hogan was working for Vince McMahon the entire time to run TNA into the ground?
The big news of the week is that starting early next month, Impact will be moving to Mondays! I haven't been a big fan of Raw in almost ten years, but I still seriously doubt that Impact can stand up against them. I see this as a potentially very bad move for TNA. From what I've read around the internet, I think a lot of people agree with me that Hogan is taking the company in the wrong direction, and moving them to Mondays might just sink them for good.
Wouldn't it be crazy if we learned five yeas from now that Hogan was working for Vince McMahon the entire time to run TNA into the ground?
Friday, February 12, 2010
TNA Impact review - 2/11/10
I only managed to catch the last half of Impact this week. I have to say, though, that I don't really feel like I missed much. The news I continue to read about Hogan's thoughts about TNA have me thinking I may have to quit watching. I might wind up following Smackdown instead of TNA, which is kind of a depressing thought. I haven't actively followed a WWE product since 2001. Anyway, on to the review of the half of Impact I managed to catch.
First off we had a handicap match, Angelina Love and Tara vs. the Beautiful People. The Beautiful People win due to their numbers advantage and willingness to fight dirty. The Beautiful People really need to work on their in-ring skills, by the way. They're probably the weakest link in the Knockouts Division right now. Decent match overall, though.
Next came Desmond Wolfe and Hernandez vs. Ken Anderson and Kurt Angle. This match apparently was made because all of these guys will be in the Eight Card Stud Tournament. Anderson and Angle win, though they didn't get along very well. This match was filled with talented wrestlers, but for some reason I found it kind of hard to pay attention to. I don't remember much of the details.
Those were the only two matches I got to see. The rest of the show was filled with more shouting between AJ Styles and Samoa Joe, and the revelation that Eric Bischoff would be the special guest referee at their match. At the end of the show we saw Kurt Angle come to the ring and call out the Band. Scott Hall and Sean Waltman came out and beat Angle down with brass knuckles. Then Hogan came to the ring, acted like he was going to help the Band beat Angle some more, but instead turned on them. The show ended with Hogan helping Angle to his feet. I'm sure this segment would have been more meaningful to me if I had seen the beginning of the show.
Considering this was the Impact before Against All Odds, I would have expected more. I know I only saw half the show, but just two matches? And no real main event, on top of that. Very poor, TNA, very poor. Please don't make me switch to Smackdown. Pick it up, guys!
By the way, just to let you all know ahead of time, I will not be getting Against All Odds. It's pretty rare I order any pay-per-views these days.
First off we had a handicap match, Angelina Love and Tara vs. the Beautiful People. The Beautiful People win due to their numbers advantage and willingness to fight dirty. The Beautiful People really need to work on their in-ring skills, by the way. They're probably the weakest link in the Knockouts Division right now. Decent match overall, though.
Next came Desmond Wolfe and Hernandez vs. Ken Anderson and Kurt Angle. This match apparently was made because all of these guys will be in the Eight Card Stud Tournament. Anderson and Angle win, though they didn't get along very well. This match was filled with talented wrestlers, but for some reason I found it kind of hard to pay attention to. I don't remember much of the details.
Those were the only two matches I got to see. The rest of the show was filled with more shouting between AJ Styles and Samoa Joe, and the revelation that Eric Bischoff would be the special guest referee at their match. At the end of the show we saw Kurt Angle come to the ring and call out the Band. Scott Hall and Sean Waltman came out and beat Angle down with brass knuckles. Then Hogan came to the ring, acted like he was going to help the Band beat Angle some more, but instead turned on them. The show ended with Hogan helping Angle to his feet. I'm sure this segment would have been more meaningful to me if I had seen the beginning of the show.
Considering this was the Impact before Against All Odds, I would have expected more. I know I only saw half the show, but just two matches? And no real main event, on top of that. Very poor, TNA, very poor. Please don't make me switch to Smackdown. Pick it up, guys!
By the way, just to let you all know ahead of time, I will not be getting Against All Odds. It's pretty rare I order any pay-per-views these days.
Friday, February 5, 2010
TNA Impact review and wrestling news - 2/4/10
This may be a long post. Just warning you.
First off, Impact. This was a pretty good Impact, for the the most part. Our first match of the night, at the top of the show no less, was Brutus Magnus and Ken Anderson in an Eight Card Stud tournament qualifier. Anderson won this pretty easily. His push in TNA appears to continue. After that we had Hernandez and Matt Morgan defending the Tag Titles against Team 3D. This was a good match. Team 3D lost due to interference from the Nasty Boys, but after the match Morgan and Hernandez helped 3D fight the Nasties off, and the two teams exchanged fist bumps. Good to see.
Our next match saw Samoa Joe basically squash Jesse Neal. I was glad to see Joe get a strong victory, as he hasn't had one lately, but I didn't like seeing Neal get squashed. I think he could have potential.
Match number four was AJ Styles vs. the Pope, D'Angelo Dinero in a non-title match. This was easily the match of the night. Lots of great action from two crazy guys willing to put it all on the line for the fans. I remember when pretty much every match was like that in TNA. But I digress. Dinero actually managed to steal a win here after countering an attempted suplex with an inside cradle. As soon as the bell rang, Ric Flair dived into the ring and he and a shocked AJ proceeded to beat the pulp out of the Pope. This prompted Samoa Joe to run back out. He came to Pope's defense and eventually the two of them tossed AJ and Flair out of the ring. Joe then got on the mic and called AJ out. He accused AJ of going soft and forgetting what it means to be a warrior. This set up what will hopefully be a great program between these two yet again.
Next we had another Eight Card Stud qualifier, between Kurt Angle and Tomko. Angle won this after multiple German suplexes and application of the ankle lock. This match was not what it could have been. Maybe it was just because I'd just watched the AJ/Pope match, but this seemed slow. Angle looked good, but Tomko needs to tighten his game up. I've been a fan of his ever since he started in TNA, but he seems to have lost a step, and gained a few pounds. A little time in the gym and some extra time in the ring would do him good.
Next we had Tara defending the Knockout Championship against Angelina Love. The match was solid, but I couldn't help but be distracted by the big blur over Tara's chest. Apparently she had a bit of nipple pop out during the match. It was like that for a good half the match and all of the aftermath. Why didn't anyone say something to her? Anyway, Tara won the match, and afterward the Beautiful People came out to attack Angelina. I'm glad they let this match end clean. I expected Angelina to lose because of the Beautiful People. Tara helped Angelina fight the Beautiful People off, and that was pretty much that.
Finally came the main event, our seventh match of the night! I hope the powers that be in TNA decide to give us this many matches on a more regular basis. My only problem is the ridiculous policy of going to commercial during the matches! But anyway, our main event, Kevin Nash vs. Mick Foley. This match came about after a segment earlier in the night where Foley and Bischoff had another argument in the ring. Fighting Nash was basically Foley's punishment. I really hate the wrestler vs. boss angle. I didn't like it when it was Austin vs. McMahon and I still don't like it now, but I suppose it's going to continue as long as Bischoff is holding Abyss's job over Foley's head.
The match, which was no disqualification, was pretty terrible. Now, I'm a huge fan of both Mick Foley and Kevin Nash. Always have been, always will be. I even got to meet Nash once, and he was pretty cool. But these two guys are so broken down that putting them in a match against each other was just a bad idea. There was no one to carry the match. All we got was some sloppy shots with chairs and a barbed wire bat, some minor offense by Foley, and then an out-of-nowhere big boot from Nash. Nash won the match. Afterwards, Hall and Waltman showed up again, but this time they jumped Nash. Not really sure where that's going, since Nash has been the one guy in the company that keeps going to bat for them, but whatever.
Non-match segments included more development of the issues between Angle and Hogan. Apparently Angle believes Hogan asked Hall and Waltman to attack him last week. Of course, Hogan denies this. I wonder if this is leading to an actual program between Angle and Hogan. So far it hasn't looked like Hulk has any interest in getting into the ring in TNA. I'd like to see him wrestle again, but the problem is that ever since he's been in the company, he really hasn't acted at all like Hulk Hogan, or even Hollywood Hogan. He's pretty much just acted like Terry Bollea, and Terry Bollea is kind of an ass.
Overall this was a really good Impact. Lots of quality matches, even though the main event was weak. I'm still very worried about the direction Hogan is taking TNA, though.
Now for some quick tidbits going on in the world of wrestling.
I read a bit of news concerning Hogan's frustration with TNA. Well guess what, Hulk? The fans aren't all dancing in the aisles right now either. Apparently Hogan is upset because he's not being allowed to push everyone he wants to. Dixie Carter has said that she doesn't want any/all of the TNA originals being buried, but Hulk just isn't high on all of them. He said he liked Tomko, because at least Tomko looked like a wrestler. This is not something I like hearing. This makes me think that Hogan feels the same way Vince McMahon does, that all wrestlers should be big men. I don't have a problem with big men, if they can move well, but you have to have smaller guys as well! Look at the success of the X Division. They're mostly all smaller guys, and they're also pretty much what put TNA on the map. Look at how successful the Knockouts have been. With the exception of Awesome Kong and maybe ODB, you couldn't call any of them big men. Big women? Either way, they're all smaller technical or high flying wrestlers, and they often have the highest rated segments of the night. And you can't say that's because they're hot, because if that were all it was then WWE's Divas would be just as highly rated.
And hey, look back further. Look at the success of WCW's Cruiserweight Division! That was so over they made them their own tag division, much like TNA's Knockouts now. I just don't want to see Hogan throwing his weight around and turning TNA into a WWE clone. They're successful because they're different. Big men are fine, but don't hold back smaller guys just because the big men can't keep up.
One last bit, it seems WWE is getting rid of their version of ECW, and I say good riddance. It was actually a good show, the few times I watched it, but I always hated that they had the nerve to call a show ECW. ECW, the real ECW back in the day, was something special. This show that WWE ran on Tuesday nights was decent, but it was not ECW. Apparently WWE plans on replacing the show with a new thing called NXT, for the next generation of wrestlers.
Only one problem with that. There's already a company called NXT Wrestling. They're based out of Scotland, and have been around since 2007, I believe. And NXT out of Scotland uses the next generation gimmick as well. Of course, this won't stop WWE from just doing whatever they want anyway. But when WWE NXT starts airing, just remember that the entire concept of the show is ripped off from another company.
First off, Impact. This was a pretty good Impact, for the the most part. Our first match of the night, at the top of the show no less, was Brutus Magnus and Ken Anderson in an Eight Card Stud tournament qualifier. Anderson won this pretty easily. His push in TNA appears to continue. After that we had Hernandez and Matt Morgan defending the Tag Titles against Team 3D. This was a good match. Team 3D lost due to interference from the Nasty Boys, but after the match Morgan and Hernandez helped 3D fight the Nasties off, and the two teams exchanged fist bumps. Good to see.
Our next match saw Samoa Joe basically squash Jesse Neal. I was glad to see Joe get a strong victory, as he hasn't had one lately, but I didn't like seeing Neal get squashed. I think he could have potential.
Match number four was AJ Styles vs. the Pope, D'Angelo Dinero in a non-title match. This was easily the match of the night. Lots of great action from two crazy guys willing to put it all on the line for the fans. I remember when pretty much every match was like that in TNA. But I digress. Dinero actually managed to steal a win here after countering an attempted suplex with an inside cradle. As soon as the bell rang, Ric Flair dived into the ring and he and a shocked AJ proceeded to beat the pulp out of the Pope. This prompted Samoa Joe to run back out. He came to Pope's defense and eventually the two of them tossed AJ and Flair out of the ring. Joe then got on the mic and called AJ out. He accused AJ of going soft and forgetting what it means to be a warrior. This set up what will hopefully be a great program between these two yet again.
Next we had another Eight Card Stud qualifier, between Kurt Angle and Tomko. Angle won this after multiple German suplexes and application of the ankle lock. This match was not what it could have been. Maybe it was just because I'd just watched the AJ/Pope match, but this seemed slow. Angle looked good, but Tomko needs to tighten his game up. I've been a fan of his ever since he started in TNA, but he seems to have lost a step, and gained a few pounds. A little time in the gym and some extra time in the ring would do him good.
Next we had Tara defending the Knockout Championship against Angelina Love. The match was solid, but I couldn't help but be distracted by the big blur over Tara's chest. Apparently she had a bit of nipple pop out during the match. It was like that for a good half the match and all of the aftermath. Why didn't anyone say something to her? Anyway, Tara won the match, and afterward the Beautiful People came out to attack Angelina. I'm glad they let this match end clean. I expected Angelina to lose because of the Beautiful People. Tara helped Angelina fight the Beautiful People off, and that was pretty much that.
Finally came the main event, our seventh match of the night! I hope the powers that be in TNA decide to give us this many matches on a more regular basis. My only problem is the ridiculous policy of going to commercial during the matches! But anyway, our main event, Kevin Nash vs. Mick Foley. This match came about after a segment earlier in the night where Foley and Bischoff had another argument in the ring. Fighting Nash was basically Foley's punishment. I really hate the wrestler vs. boss angle. I didn't like it when it was Austin vs. McMahon and I still don't like it now, but I suppose it's going to continue as long as Bischoff is holding Abyss's job over Foley's head.
The match, which was no disqualification, was pretty terrible. Now, I'm a huge fan of both Mick Foley and Kevin Nash. Always have been, always will be. I even got to meet Nash once, and he was pretty cool. But these two guys are so broken down that putting them in a match against each other was just a bad idea. There was no one to carry the match. All we got was some sloppy shots with chairs and a barbed wire bat, some minor offense by Foley, and then an out-of-nowhere big boot from Nash. Nash won the match. Afterwards, Hall and Waltman showed up again, but this time they jumped Nash. Not really sure where that's going, since Nash has been the one guy in the company that keeps going to bat for them, but whatever.
Non-match segments included more development of the issues between Angle and Hogan. Apparently Angle believes Hogan asked Hall and Waltman to attack him last week. Of course, Hogan denies this. I wonder if this is leading to an actual program between Angle and Hogan. So far it hasn't looked like Hulk has any interest in getting into the ring in TNA. I'd like to see him wrestle again, but the problem is that ever since he's been in the company, he really hasn't acted at all like Hulk Hogan, or even Hollywood Hogan. He's pretty much just acted like Terry Bollea, and Terry Bollea is kind of an ass.
Overall this was a really good Impact. Lots of quality matches, even though the main event was weak. I'm still very worried about the direction Hogan is taking TNA, though.
Now for some quick tidbits going on in the world of wrestling.
I read a bit of news concerning Hogan's frustration with TNA. Well guess what, Hulk? The fans aren't all dancing in the aisles right now either. Apparently Hogan is upset because he's not being allowed to push everyone he wants to. Dixie Carter has said that she doesn't want any/all of the TNA originals being buried, but Hulk just isn't high on all of them. He said he liked Tomko, because at least Tomko looked like a wrestler. This is not something I like hearing. This makes me think that Hogan feels the same way Vince McMahon does, that all wrestlers should be big men. I don't have a problem with big men, if they can move well, but you have to have smaller guys as well! Look at the success of the X Division. They're mostly all smaller guys, and they're also pretty much what put TNA on the map. Look at how successful the Knockouts have been. With the exception of Awesome Kong and maybe ODB, you couldn't call any of them big men. Big women? Either way, they're all smaller technical or high flying wrestlers, and they often have the highest rated segments of the night. And you can't say that's because they're hot, because if that were all it was then WWE's Divas would be just as highly rated.
And hey, look back further. Look at the success of WCW's Cruiserweight Division! That was so over they made them their own tag division, much like TNA's Knockouts now. I just don't want to see Hogan throwing his weight around and turning TNA into a WWE clone. They're successful because they're different. Big men are fine, but don't hold back smaller guys just because the big men can't keep up.
One last bit, it seems WWE is getting rid of their version of ECW, and I say good riddance. It was actually a good show, the few times I watched it, but I always hated that they had the nerve to call a show ECW. ECW, the real ECW back in the day, was something special. This show that WWE ran on Tuesday nights was decent, but it was not ECW. Apparently WWE plans on replacing the show with a new thing called NXT, for the next generation of wrestlers.
Only one problem with that. There's already a company called NXT Wrestling. They're based out of Scotland, and have been around since 2007, I believe. And NXT out of Scotland uses the next generation gimmick as well. Of course, this won't stop WWE from just doing whatever they want anyway. But when WWE NXT starts airing, just remember that the entire concept of the show is ripped off from another company.
Friday, January 29, 2010
TNA Impact review - 1/28/10
It's Thursday night, and for me that's wrestling night. I rarely, if ever, watch the WWE shows, but I try to at least keep up with what's going on in TNA. Now that Hulk Hogan is with the company (along with pretty much all of his friends), I've been watching it every week to see if it's going to turn out good. I'm still undecided... On to this week's show!
So apparently Hogan and Bischoff have decided to set up an eight-man tournament to decide the number one contender to the World Title. I'm all for this, I always like a good tournament. So tonight they had two matches to qualify for the tournament. Desmond Wolfe beat Sean Morley, then Hernandez beat Chris Daniels. I'm pretty happy with Morley being in TNA. He was definitely the biggest shock for me when he showed up on the live show at the beginning of the year. I was always a fan of him back in his Val Venis days. Both of these matches were decent.
The next match up was the Beautiful People vs. Tara, Awesome Kong, and Hamada. Pretty cool to see the Knockout Champ, Tara, teaming up with the Knockout Tag Champs. But I can't stand what's become of the Beautiful People. I admit, I hadn't seen the show for a few months before Hogan came in. When I last watched, the Beautiful People were made up of Velvet Sky and Angelina Love, and their gimmick was the girls who know exactly how hot they are and act nasty accordingly. Now, the Beautiful People are Velvet Sky, Madison Rayne, and Lacey Von Erich, and their gimmick has basically become dumb blonds. It's really disappointing. They used to be entertaining, but not so much anymore. On top of that, they keep doing this thing where they tease that they're going to kiss, but then they don't. Now, don't get me wrong. These are three very attractive women, and I'm all for eye candy and skin, but what I've always loved about TNA's women's division is the fact that they didn't have to rely on that kind of stuff. The women in TNA are, mostly, all very talented wrestlers who can put on the same kind of show as the men. Unlike WWE, they don't need to have pillow fights, lingerie matches, or faux-lesbianism, so I hate seeing the Beautiful People resort to that.
As for the actual match, the Beautiful People cheated to win. The match really wasn't so great. Madison Rayne needs to work on her in-ring skills a bit. Lacey was only all right, too, a surprise considering she's a Von Erich. Velvet is carrying them both for now.
Next we had another six-man tag match. Brian Kendrick and the Motor City Machine Guns won out against Amazing Red and Generation Me. Now, this was my first time seeing Generation Me. I don't know who they are or where they came from, but they seem talented. Good teamwork, lots of high flying, very X Division. Problem is their look (that glittery purple trim is not cool) and that name! Generation Me? Whatever, guys. Good match, though.
After the match, the British Invasion came out to the ring. Apparently Rob Terry won the X Division Title shot at the last Feast or Fired match, and he was there to collect. So poor Amazing Red, who just got pretty beat down in the last match, had to defend. However, before the match could start, Brutus Magnus basically forced Terry to give the shot to Doug Williams. So Williams wrestled the match, beat Red, and became the new X Division Champion. All this is just furthering the angle they've been building on for weeks now where Magnus and Williams don't respect Terry, and I'm sure Terry will eventually split off from the British Invasion and go his own way.
Finally, the main event of the night, Ken Anderson vs. Jeff Jarrett. Earlier in the night, Jarrett had told Hogan and Bischoff he was willing to do whatever he needed to to get back into the swing of things. So Bischoff, being the devious little ass that he is, decides to throw Jarrett in with Anderson, who had an open challenge out. Jarrett hasn't wrestled in seven months, so he really wasn't ready for this, but he looked good in the ring. The match was good. In the end, Anderson got the win after hitting Jarrett with a low blow, but both wrestlers came out of the match looking good.
Aside from the actual matches, we got to see more of the Foley/Bischoff feud. Hogan basically gave Foley his job back on the condition he and Bischoff sort out their issues. Bischoff essentially told Foley that Foley would fall in line or Abyss would lose his job. Kind of a stupid angle, but worth it to hear Foley tell a story about how his three year old son took a poop in a tunnel at Chuck E. Cheese.
We also got a segment hyping up the feud between Team 3D and the Nasty Boys. I'm sure this will be a decent feud once the matches actually start, but for now I agree with what 3D said tonight. That is, where have the Nasties been for the past ten years while 3D was out winning titles? That's right, on their butts out of work because no one wanted them. They only have jobs now because they're tight with Hogan. But that's okay, as long as they can work in the ring. We'll have to wait and see.
Angle apologized to Hogan for spitting in his face last week after that recreation of the Montreal Screwjob (Hebner admitted to taking a payment from Ric Flair on that, by the way, and Hogan suspended him). He also announced that he would have a qualifying match to get into the tournament. I guess that's next week. After the segment, Scott Hall and Sean Waltman attacked Angle, seemingly for no reason.
Not a whole lot else happened. More of AJ and Flair, which is really not working well, in my opinion. It's just not AJ's style, pardon the pun. Bischoff called Bobby Lashley into his office to fire him. We'll see where that goes. And Ken Anderson had a funny interview with Christy Hemme. Let me make this clear. I don't like Ken Anderson. He's a good enough wrestler, but I can't stand the character he plays. I don't mean that like, "Ooh, he's a bad guy, I don't like him. I can't wait to see him get beat!" No. I mean it like, "Ugh, not this guy again! Change the channel!" His gimmick, the whole having to announce himself thing, it's just so stupid. I can't for the life of me figure out how he ever got over. But even I have to admit it was really funny seeing him pop back onto the screen after having walked away, right in Christy Hemme's face, to repeat his name again. Oh, and by the way, Christy Hemme? Still the most beautiful woman in wrestling.
Before I finish, I'd just like to add that I don't like what Hogan and Bischoff have done to the Impact Zone. I'm alright with the ring going back to the classic four sides, but it needs to be a bit bigger. The size was my favorite aspect of the six sided ring. Also, I think there needs to be more room around the outside of the ring. I swear, if you had a front row seat I think you might actually be able to reach out and touch the ring apron. And finally, that new ramp has to go! I can't even elaborate on this one, it's just bad! Put it back the way it was!
Alright, so all in all this was a decent Impact. Better than last week's, and way better than the terrible Genesis PPV. TNA has done enough to keep me interested one more week.
So apparently Hogan and Bischoff have decided to set up an eight-man tournament to decide the number one contender to the World Title. I'm all for this, I always like a good tournament. So tonight they had two matches to qualify for the tournament. Desmond Wolfe beat Sean Morley, then Hernandez beat Chris Daniels. I'm pretty happy with Morley being in TNA. He was definitely the biggest shock for me when he showed up on the live show at the beginning of the year. I was always a fan of him back in his Val Venis days. Both of these matches were decent.
The next match up was the Beautiful People vs. Tara, Awesome Kong, and Hamada. Pretty cool to see the Knockout Champ, Tara, teaming up with the Knockout Tag Champs. But I can't stand what's become of the Beautiful People. I admit, I hadn't seen the show for a few months before Hogan came in. When I last watched, the Beautiful People were made up of Velvet Sky and Angelina Love, and their gimmick was the girls who know exactly how hot they are and act nasty accordingly. Now, the Beautiful People are Velvet Sky, Madison Rayne, and Lacey Von Erich, and their gimmick has basically become dumb blonds. It's really disappointing. They used to be entertaining, but not so much anymore. On top of that, they keep doing this thing where they tease that they're going to kiss, but then they don't. Now, don't get me wrong. These are three very attractive women, and I'm all for eye candy and skin, but what I've always loved about TNA's women's division is the fact that they didn't have to rely on that kind of stuff. The women in TNA are, mostly, all very talented wrestlers who can put on the same kind of show as the men. Unlike WWE, they don't need to have pillow fights, lingerie matches, or faux-lesbianism, so I hate seeing the Beautiful People resort to that.
As for the actual match, the Beautiful People cheated to win. The match really wasn't so great. Madison Rayne needs to work on her in-ring skills a bit. Lacey was only all right, too, a surprise considering she's a Von Erich. Velvet is carrying them both for now.
Next we had another six-man tag match. Brian Kendrick and the Motor City Machine Guns won out against Amazing Red and Generation Me. Now, this was my first time seeing Generation Me. I don't know who they are or where they came from, but they seem talented. Good teamwork, lots of high flying, very X Division. Problem is their look (that glittery purple trim is not cool) and that name! Generation Me? Whatever, guys. Good match, though.
After the match, the British Invasion came out to the ring. Apparently Rob Terry won the X Division Title shot at the last Feast or Fired match, and he was there to collect. So poor Amazing Red, who just got pretty beat down in the last match, had to defend. However, before the match could start, Brutus Magnus basically forced Terry to give the shot to Doug Williams. So Williams wrestled the match, beat Red, and became the new X Division Champion. All this is just furthering the angle they've been building on for weeks now where Magnus and Williams don't respect Terry, and I'm sure Terry will eventually split off from the British Invasion and go his own way.
Finally, the main event of the night, Ken Anderson vs. Jeff Jarrett. Earlier in the night, Jarrett had told Hogan and Bischoff he was willing to do whatever he needed to to get back into the swing of things. So Bischoff, being the devious little ass that he is, decides to throw Jarrett in with Anderson, who had an open challenge out. Jarrett hasn't wrestled in seven months, so he really wasn't ready for this, but he looked good in the ring. The match was good. In the end, Anderson got the win after hitting Jarrett with a low blow, but both wrestlers came out of the match looking good.
Aside from the actual matches, we got to see more of the Foley/Bischoff feud. Hogan basically gave Foley his job back on the condition he and Bischoff sort out their issues. Bischoff essentially told Foley that Foley would fall in line or Abyss would lose his job. Kind of a stupid angle, but worth it to hear Foley tell a story about how his three year old son took a poop in a tunnel at Chuck E. Cheese.
We also got a segment hyping up the feud between Team 3D and the Nasty Boys. I'm sure this will be a decent feud once the matches actually start, but for now I agree with what 3D said tonight. That is, where have the Nasties been for the past ten years while 3D was out winning titles? That's right, on their butts out of work because no one wanted them. They only have jobs now because they're tight with Hogan. But that's okay, as long as they can work in the ring. We'll have to wait and see.
Angle apologized to Hogan for spitting in his face last week after that recreation of the Montreal Screwjob (Hebner admitted to taking a payment from Ric Flair on that, by the way, and Hogan suspended him). He also announced that he would have a qualifying match to get into the tournament. I guess that's next week. After the segment, Scott Hall and Sean Waltman attacked Angle, seemingly for no reason.
Not a whole lot else happened. More of AJ and Flair, which is really not working well, in my opinion. It's just not AJ's style, pardon the pun. Bischoff called Bobby Lashley into his office to fire him. We'll see where that goes. And Ken Anderson had a funny interview with Christy Hemme. Let me make this clear. I don't like Ken Anderson. He's a good enough wrestler, but I can't stand the character he plays. I don't mean that like, "Ooh, he's a bad guy, I don't like him. I can't wait to see him get beat!" No. I mean it like, "Ugh, not this guy again! Change the channel!" His gimmick, the whole having to announce himself thing, it's just so stupid. I can't for the life of me figure out how he ever got over. But even I have to admit it was really funny seeing him pop back onto the screen after having walked away, right in Christy Hemme's face, to repeat his name again. Oh, and by the way, Christy Hemme? Still the most beautiful woman in wrestling.
Before I finish, I'd just like to add that I don't like what Hogan and Bischoff have done to the Impact Zone. I'm alright with the ring going back to the classic four sides, but it needs to be a bit bigger. The size was my favorite aspect of the six sided ring. Also, I think there needs to be more room around the outside of the ring. I swear, if you had a front row seat I think you might actually be able to reach out and touch the ring apron. And finally, that new ramp has to go! I can't even elaborate on this one, it's just bad! Put it back the way it was!
Alright, so all in all this was a decent Impact. Better than last week's, and way better than the terrible Genesis PPV. TNA has done enough to keep me interested one more week.
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