TNA/Impact Wrestling

[Legato]

http://www.lordsofpain.net/news/tna/..._revealed.html

At today's Impact tapings, the word about the "new concept" that Hulk Hogan was been saying would "change the business" and be "momentum-shifting" is something where TNA will be calling on their fans to film TNA wrestlers whenever they may encounter them, in or out of the ring.

It almost sounds like a TMZ-style "paparazzi" thing, with people trying to film the every move of the TNA wrestlers.

Early reports are that the idea isn't going over very well with the TNA locker room, with one person pointing out that Hogan is perhaps the last person who should promote something like this with the way his own personal videos are coming back to haunt him these days.

Swing and a miss again Hogan

[darthjoker]

Swing and a miss again Hogan

hahaha, they are gonna make TNA into reality TV? LOL, I guess they want people so worry about recording and follow tna stars, that they will forget to come back early home to watch wwe. LOL

[Alex]

hahaha, they are gonna make TNA into reality TV? LOL, I guess they want people so worry about recording and follow tna stars, that they will forget to come back early home to watch wwe. LOL

They can show wrestlers cards getting declined at the grocery store.

[darthjoker]

They can show wrestlers cards getting declined at the grocery store.

ehh, based on what comments I have read from you all in this tna thread. I am going to guess that those credit cards are kayfabe right? I dont know if they make credit cards for so little amount of money.LOL

[Alex]

ehh, based on what comments I have read from you all in this tna thread. I am going to guess that those credit cards are kayfabe right? I dont know if they make credit cards for so little amount of money.LOL

ZING!!!!!
Nicely Done.

[clayholio]

ehh, based on what comments I have read from you all in this tna thread. I am going to guess that those credit cards are kayfabe right? I dont know if they make credit cards for so little amount of money.LOL

Nice...

That sounds like a wretched idea, though. I assume they'll end up with enough trapped-in-a-bathroom-stall footage to fill two hours every week.

[lboinyamouf4sho]

I think the show doesn't have enough credibility or interest depth for my liking. I like Magnus, for example. (Though I probably prefer his RKK stuff to TNA's.) I'm cool with seeing him get a tag title run. But the tag division has been neglected over time. There just aren't many compelling teams. Aries is cool but the X-Division is all but Double A & his bitches. Similar story in the Knockouts division with Gail & Mickie (who unlike AA aren't even compelling characters.)

I do love Bully Ray. And I'm glad to see Storm and Roode get solo chances. Though I confess that their chemistry/enjoyment factor as a team has not been matched by anything I have seen from either so far.

Jeff Hardy still sucks, to me. And anything involving a Bischoff is pretty much guaranteed to be God Awful.

If they were finding their niche, I might more consider saying,"Alright, I just don't enjoy it." But most of the speak I've seen has not only their ratings & PPV buys tumbling, but now reports are their house shows are further struggling.

Honestly as it is presented, I don't think TNA has much appeal toward picking up new fans, certainly domestically speaking. And apparently is having an increasingly difficult time holding on to the ones it already possessed.

to each their own, but honestly don't think ratings/buys reflect quality, they've had better ratings/buys with worse quality of shows ppvs.

No eight tracks for me, but I too still use a vcr to tape things. The Sony VCR/DVD is close to a decade old and still hanging in, so I figure why not run with it. No sense spending in an area that doesn't really require it.

I haven't bought video tapes in many years. But I still have some from back far as the 80's. Virtually all still play quite well to perfectly. Their main practical disadvantage is their weight and the space they take up.

yeah, storage is kind of an issue. i have a couple hundred tapes of PPVs from the 90s-early 00's.

[Gryphon]

Spoilers for this week

spoilers:

* Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan open the show with an in-ring segment, teasing a match between the two. * Brooke Tessmacher and Velvet Sky beat Madison Rayne and Gail Kim. * In-ring segment with Bobby Roode and Rob Van Dam picking each other's opponents for later. * TNA Television Champion Devon beat Rob Terry by DQ. * A Gutcheck segment where Al Snow, Bruce Prichard and Ric Flair grant Alex Silva a TNA contract. * Rob Van Dam beat Jeff Hardy. * Segment with Bully Ray messing with Jeremy Borash. Austin Aries comes out for the save and they brawl. * AJ Styles, Samoa Joe and Magnus beat Daniels, Kazarian and Kurt Angle. * Bobby Roode beat Mr. Anderson in a No DQ match. The match ended in chaos as everyone interfered. Roode lays everyone out with chairshots to end the show.

end of spoilers

[Gryphon]

Spoilers for next week

spoilers:

Impact Wrestling (Airing 5/10 on Spike TV): * TNA Champion Bobby Roode heads to the ring. He asks if there is anything more that he has been the most dominant champion in Impact Wrestling history, listing who he has beaten. He also mentions how in two weeks, he will be the person who has held the title for the longest time, longer than guys like AJ Styles, Kurt Angle, Jeff Hardy, and others. He says that “Mr P-P-V” will go 1-on-1 with the IT Factor Sunday at Sacrifice and he will be the next one to fall. Rob Van Dam runs out and attacks Roode. Mr. Anderson runs out and also attacks Roode. Hardy runs out and attacks Roode while also attacking Anderson. Hulk Hogan comes to the stage and says he has an idea for tonight’s main event, as long as RVD is OK with it. He wants to book a Fatal 4 Way where everyone has potential for something to gain. If Hardy or Anderson win, they take RVD’s spot at Sacrifice. If Roode wins, he can pick whoever he feels is weakest to defend the title against. If RVD wins, he can pick a stipulation for him vs Roode on Sunday. RVD agrees and Hogan says the match will happen later tonight. * Brooke Tessmacher beat Velvet Sky with her finisher. Gail Kim laid out Brooke after. * Crimson vs. Matt Morgan is about to take place until Bully Ray jumps Morgan. He puts Morgan’s arm against the post and hits it with a chair. Morgan ends up having to be taken out on a stretcher. Crimson took a mic and said that Morgan had a lot of talk, saying how he was going to end Crimson’s undefeated streak. He tells the referee that it is technically a scheduled contest and tells the ref to count Morgan out. * Crimson beat Matt Morgan by count out. Crimson then runs down Matt Morgan some more and leaves. * In an X Division Title Match, Austin Aries defeated Zema Ion with a Brainbuster. * Christopher Daniels and Kazarian came to the ring. Kazarian had a small folder in hand. They said that tonight they will reveal AJ’s secret, but they will give AJ one more chance to fess up for himself. At first, it seemed like AJ was not going to come out but then he made his way to the ring. He said that there is nothing that they could have on him. Kazarian pulled out one photo and it was of AJ and Dixie Carter standing together talking. AJ thought nothing of it. They then pulled out a second photo and it was of AJ and Dixie embracing, which AJ seemed a bit surprised by. They then pulled out a third picture and it was of AJ and Dixie kissing. Daniels and Kazarian left while AJ seemed to be in shock from the whole thing. * In a TV Title Match Devon beat Robbie E. Robbie T laid out Devon after with a Running Powerslam. * Joseph Park came to the ring and said it was nice to finally be in front of the fans. He said he is here to find out where Abyss is. Through his searching, he has determined that Bully Ray has to be involved. Bully Ray makes his way to the ring and says that Joseph is wrong. Joseph says that the last time Abyss was seen, he pinned Bully Ray. He then asks how the whole “bullying” thing is going for Ray considering that two weeks ago, he wrestled his former tag team partner that Ray claimed to carry (Devon) and Devon beat him. He then says that Austin Aries, a guy half the size of Ray, brought it to Ray last week. Ray ends up laying out Park with a punch and leaving. * In a Fatal 4 Way Match, Rob Van Dam beat Jeff Hardy, Mr. Anderson, and TNA Champion Bobby Roode when he pinned Roode with a Five Star Frog Splash. RVD then went to the outside and pulled a ladder out from under the ring (likely implying him vs Roode in either a Ladder Match or a Full Metal Mayhem match at Sacrifice. He set up the ladder and climbed to the top of it to pose for the fans when blue flame pyro went off and and Abyss came to the stage. He had a microphone in hand and said “Little brother, don’t get too close to the fire because if you do, you’re going to get burned,” likely in reference to Joseph Park and that ended Impact. Xplosion: Samoa Joe w/Magnus defeated Kazarian w/Christopher Daniels via Muscle Buster. Steven Walters beat John Skyler with a Piledriver. NOTE: the above match seemed to be taped for Xplosion as Borash and Pat Kenney were doing commentary for it. Taz and Tenay were once again not present for the taping. They were also not present yesterday.

end of spoilers

[Legato]

Seen worse cards but this one isn't too bad. Not too fond of spoilers:

Dixie getting more screen time. Linda McMahon has more personality than her

end of spoilers

[Legato]

Big Rob and Robbie E is TNA's equivalent of The Ambiguously Gay Duo

[Legato]

Thank God for closed captioning. There are times I cant understand what Flair is saying

[Kevin M.]

Abyss without the mask reminds me of William Regal for some reason.

[Legato]

Abyss without the mask reminds me of William Regal for some reason.

Abyss wishes he's as awesome as Regal

[clayholio]

You know, there's a lot of problems that TNA has right now. But probably the biggest one is that even on the night when Impact airs, no one is talking about anything they're doing. I'm not just talking about here, PWTorch doesn't have a single "live coverage" article tonight, Prowrestling.net has a b-teamer doing only one. Maybe another couple will pop up by the weekend. They're getting absolutely no coverage at all, regardless of ratings. I think Anarquia's release got more internet play than their actual TV show has gotten tonight. Whatever TNA thinks their problems are, none of them eclipse the fact that people have just checked out on them. I don't know what they could do to reverse that, but ripping off "Chopped" and giving unknowns "their big chance" isn't going to make a difference.

Ahem.

So, as usual, the highlights were Roode, Bully Ray, and Austin Aries. Plus, RVD had his first good promo under TNA contract. Wondering where the hell Zema Ion went; he seemed to be picking up steam for a while.

EDIT: Oh yeah, I nearly forgot. Joe seemed to be having fun out there for the first time in years. It looked good on him.