Impact wrestling thread - It's a Don West tribute thread now!

[pryko]

I'm not saying Daniel Bryan getting pushed is a bad thing, but how long ago is it that Chris Sabin has been going 50/50 on the first match of ther card? His only loss is to "Suicide" / Aries since his return isn't it? He's been injured for so long, and prior to that he was in a sucessful tag team

[IANdrewDiceClay]

I think TNA has hit the wall massively. ECW modeled their promotion on the golden carrot. Its what made Heyman so good as a promoter and motivator. He'd tell his roster "we haven't got any money, but if we get *THIS* and get *THIS* and then we are in a position to get *THIS*, then we'll be in the game". Its why ECW lasted so long and gained a huge following even though it had no money ever. TNA has done the same thing, but there are no golden carrots left. When ECW went under, you had all these "what if" questions. If TNA goes under tomorrow, you'd say "well, they got on the road, they went to Mondays, they cut the PPVs, they went live, they signed a load of big WWE names and nobody cared". TNA is just fucked. They are a TV show which bleeds money. They aren't even in the same business as WWE. WWE has 99.9% of the market share. TNA share revolves around people watching because its there. Not because anyone is loyal to it. If they were loyal to it, more than 6000 of those 1.2 million would buy their PPVs. What golden carrots are left in TNA? They got on TV, and that was huge news. Their PPVs and TV ratings steadily grew. Then 2006 came. They had a one hour show with a roster WWE couldn't touch in terms of talent. A young AJ Styles, who blew away anyone. A dead cert to be the next Chris Jericho in Alex Shelley. Chris Sabin who was an fantastic worker and was so marketable as a young flyer who teenagers could like. Bobby Roode and James Storm were there. They were as good then as they are now. Austin Aries was there. Low Ki was there. LAX who were one of the first things I'd seen to look big time in TNA. Konnan was firing off the promos and was so motivated to get this act over. Top to bottom they had this incredible roster. Then you had Samoa Joe, who (believe it or not) was genuinely spoke about as the next big thing. People loved this bloke so much. I loved him. He had something TNA has never had from one of its home grown. He brought the big match atmosphere. Whether it was against Christopher Daniels or Sabu or Scott Steiner, there was a huge sense of anticipation over his bouts. For a while there was a belief TNA could get themselves in a position to really grow and throw stones at the big machine in Stamford. 7 years later, its amazing to see what has happened in that time.

 

They brought in Russo who murdered their PPV business and killed the aura of everyone. Joe, AJ, LAX. They were all fucked with by the end of 2006. You had a program on the table that even a clown could book. Angle vs Joe. Joe was undefeated, Angle was Angle. Common sense says, you build Joe for the full year, you have Angle win the belt and keep it until Bound For Glory and then the two bulls collide. But no, Angle and Joe wrestled three times in 6 weeks and Angle's debut was given away for free. They continued this for the next couple of years, with each golden carrot not making a difference. TNA went on Monday nights and failed. TNA spent millions on ex-WWE talent and killed their aura (the RVD debut being a notable example). They went live. It didnt matter. They went on the road, its killing them. What is there you can do now? What is there to tell your audience and talent "we'll get there in the end". If they go back to a free building (which they have to), its pretty much saying 'that's all folks'. They'll never go back on the road again if they do that. Its no wonder a load of them want out. RVD, Flair, Christian all returned to WWE. Sting wants out. The realization seems to have finally sunk in that there's no way out of the rut for TNA. And that wouldn't be so bad if TNA were doing better than WWE in other areas like they used to. But TNA doesn't attract young exciting indy talent anymore. TNA doesn't put on better wrestling than WWE anymore. WWE used to be the land of the Boogey Man and steroid bodies. TNA used to have a load of young lads banging out cracking matches. NXT has all that now.

 

TNA rolled the dice massively on going on the road. Everyone thought it was a good idea IF they had a business plan to sort make this viable. Nobody in their right might would have thought spending $1.2 million a month on a venture where your average is selling 2000 seats. TNA are in the shit heavily right now. Its not a case of "well, everyone says they'll go out of business". The fact is, if they continue spending 7 figures a month, they are going to go out of business. They have to get off the road. The big thing is they've been forced to fire their head of talent relations, their head of creative and their house show road agent. You dont do that if things are going swimmingly. You cut costs by firing low level talent. You dont cut costs firing people in high positions in the office.

 

Oh and cant agree enough with what Butch is saying about Chris Sabin. He's got no future and he hasn't got enough likability charisma to make it a special moment. It just makes the promotion look small time and indy level putting the belt on him with that shite finish.

Edited July 19, 2013 by IANdrewDiceClay

[UK Kat Von D]

The only thing about Sabin winning the title that really bothers me is the Suicide/Aries story, which I enjoyed a lot more than anything WWE have done for a long time. I was massively into that and would have loved for Aries to take the title leading into BFG. Hogan could have given Sabin the empty BFG spot to compensate him of sorts, with Sabin going after Aries for revenge while starting off at a points disadvantage. Add in Roode's friendship/past, Hardy knowing he has done it before, Styles doing whatever he is doing now and there is a clear final four in the series. Not to mention Aries recent involvement with Hernandez and Bad Influence. Anderson trying to get Bully's belt back with the question mark over what will happen if Anderson (god forbid) did win the title. Pretty much everyone would have a genuine feud set up with Aries where as Sabin has been off TV so long theres no obvious opponents for him if he holds it until BFG. I don't mind the feel good story, but we already had that when he won the X-Division title.

 

Compared to Aries, Sabin just seems boring

[FLips]

What I don't get about TNA is that even if money is an issue, why aren't they focused on putting on quality TV anymore? They still have great talent, and they brought in some promising guys through Gutcheck, but they seem content just to coast along and put on shite TV every week. Even WCW in it's dying days had a barrage of up and coming talent putting on class matches, and enough main event power left there to bring in an audience.

[PowerButchi]

Hogan could have given Sabin the empty BFG spot to compensate him of sorts, with Sabin going after Aries for revenge while starting off at a points disadvantage. Add in Roode's friendship/past, Hardy knowing he has done it before, Styles doing whatever he is doing now and there is a clear final four in the series.

 

Where do you go with Magnus then though? Or any member of the MEM for that matter? Magnus is about one of the few things TNA are doing right, they need to keep with him.

[Sphinx]

You'd of thought Tenay and Borash would've

You'd of thought at least Hogan would've

How?????

 

Maybe Ronnie will slap me silly for it, but I'm sure there's no problem with would've. Well, other than aesthetically.

 

I'm in complete agreement with Ian's post (change). As I said before, the only thing they can do is take a step backwards to take a step forward. Trying to present TNA as on a par with WWE with their naff Hall of Fame and visual presentation without their big names isn't going to do them favours and even further reinforce the idea of them being WWE-lite. They need to presented differently and, preferably, look for a different format for their shows. They had that opportunity in 2005/6 as you say, Ian.

[air_raid]

Maybe Ronnie will slap me silly for it, but I'm sure there's no problem with would've. Well, other than aesthetically.

 

That's my point. In the same sentence he's used "you'd of," the mental cripple's abbreviation of "you would have" then demonstrated that he's actually familiar with "would've" where a more consistent dribbler would have used "would of." Twice within the same post. I'm at a loss as to how this is possible.

[Sphinx]

Ah, fair enough. Didn't even consider that.

[UK Kat Von D]

Hogan could have given Sabin the empty BFG spot to compensate him of sorts, with Sabin going after Aries for revenge while starting off at a points disadvantage. Add in Roode's friendship/past, Hardy knowing he has done it before, Styles doing whatever he is doing now and there is a clear final four in the series.

 

Where do you go with Magnus then though? Or any member of the MEM for that matter? Magnus is about one of the few things TNA are doing right, they need to keep with him.

 

Magnus is an up and comer looking for to main event his first BFG, that's enough of a story for him and would work better with Aries rather than Sabin. You cant prove yourself by beating Sabin and he wouldnt have the heel qualities to oppose Magnus. Ill admit Magnus vs Bully Ray would be better, but that would mean scrapping any possibility of Hogan working the show.

 

 

The point about TNA not putting out quality television is bollocks. I know I'm complaining about this but WWE put out a few shows a year where nothing is worth complaining about in some way. Putting the title on Sabin might not be as good as putting it on Aries but the product as a whole is still good

[air_raid]

Someone talk Ian away from the window :

 

- WWE is reportedly interested in former TNA star Matt Morgan, according to PWInsider.com.

[WWFChilli]

Someone talk Ian away from the window :

 

- WWE is reportedly interested in former TNA star Matt Morgan, according to PWInsider.com.

 

Oh for fucks sake!

[IANdrewDiceClay]

Someone talk Ian away from the window :

 

- WWE is reportedly interested in former TNA star Matt Morgan, according to PWInsider.com.

It was always going to happen. He would have went last year if the TNA lawsuit wasn't on going. And there was a reason he put his notice in yonks before the cuts started. Its got Lord Tensai wrote all over it, but who knows. At least there will be no more shit theme song, Flash Gordon knickers and shite kick. Those are three things he wont be bringing with him. So whatever. See what happens.

 

Read PWInsiders take on it. They basically say WWE is waiting for him to get off steroids without actually saying it:

WWE is interested in former TNA star Matt Morgan but it could be a while before he's signed, if they come to an agreement, because he would still have to do pre-signing testing.

Edited July 19, 2013 by IANdrewDiceClay

[air_raid]

Plus they'll give him a new gimmick. "The Blueprint. What the hell is a Blueprint? Am I supposed to be scared of a Blueprint?"

 

I should they should call him "Marvelous" Matt Morgan, the world's tallest magician, and have him bamboozle his opponents with tricks before beating them with simple roll ups, like Spellbinder/Phantasio.

[Sphinx]

Maybe he can become Matthew Matician. He'll subtract your limbs, add pain and get the 1-2-3.

[AshC]

Escaped prisoner Morgan Free Man, a babyface Nailz.