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

[PunkStep]

ROH have run shows from high school gyms, I'm sure of it? I remember at least one of their earlier shows taking place in one.

[JNLister]

I'm assuming these are sold shows for school fundraisers?

 

WWF did used to run high school gyms in the 80s, but it would be the smallest show when they were doing four a night.

[Carbomb]

Caught Impact for the first time in months, mainly because of Spud getting a higher profile - wanted to see how he'd do, and he did very well indeed: he's always had a knack for getting under people's skin as a villain, and he did it particularly well with that little bastard's bow-tie.

 

As a show, it's not the most offensive thing I've seen from TNA: the funeral was a bit "meh" for me, but oddly, Dixie wasn't all "miss" this time - the turkey dinner thing was cringe-worthy, but her promo at AJ was a bit more believable than her usual shite.

 

The real highlight for me, though, was the Bro-Mans - even though I stopped watching originally, I thought they were excellent, but not enough to keep me watching by themselves. They're still not, but adding Zema Ion as their personal DJ was a stroke of sheer brilliance, I felt - a novel twist to the manager/extra man iteration which not only fit the gimmick, but really gives each guy a chance to turn everything up to eleven; Zema's frequent hitting the horn on his laptop and extra mike work just adds so much to the performance. Also, they're all really under-rated on the mike, especially Ion - that "two guys with bodies so heavenly, they sweat holy water" line was cringingly great.

 

Then again, I've always felt Ion to be under-rated promo-wise: I remember him coming out with some great stuff in the past, like hitting a ring dive, then turning to the camera and yelling: "Did you see that? That should be 'Impact of the Week'!"

 

The rest of it, like the teasing tension between Storm and Gunner, the Turkey Bowl, The Nerds, the KOs match - all a bit crappy, really. The Turkey Dinner, kicking out Velvet Sky, was OK, but I was hoping that when Kurt came out, he'd do something like say "Looks like you've got no cranberry sauce" and proceed to dump a load of red goo on them from above, instead of the boring old beat-up that followed. And whilst there's a certain suspension of disbelief when one guy hits another with a plastic water bottle, throwing water everywhere, I just can't stretch to it when Eric Young hits two guys with a roast turkey - that's a step too crap.

[wrestlescotland]

At least they doing house shows in better sized venues. They might actually make off doing shows in high school gyms. I would think the venue hire would be relatively cheap and they can stick on a pretty average card. Make a few quid and if they pack the place out use a bigger venue next time rather than booking 3000 seat venues and bringing in 300/400 people.

[Forrest]

I know this is pretty verboten for the TNA thread, but I've actually enjoyed quite a few things on Impact recently.

 

Turning Point was decent. I enjoyed all the hardcorey type matches. I was actually interested in Turning Point! They did a better job building this than Survivor Series!

 

One thing I really liked was Sam (sorry, Samuel) Shaw. That was the weirdest thing I have seen in a wrestling show for a long time. It looked like the opening minutes of a skinflick where they tried to set up a storyline. Why was Christy Hemme sent to his house to conduct a 35 second interview? Why was Sam Shaw's house completely devoid of possessions? Why is he spending his life drawing Jeff Hardy? Why did he readjust the pen and paper that Christy used? What the hell were those really gory-looking drawings that Sam didn't want to show Christy? I really want to find out what they do with this, but I fear it'll be another Wyatt family deal that gets blown out the water when they step into the ring.

 

Also, I liked Great Muta having his dinner on Impact. I liked AJ Styles pointing at a massive fan and saying "Japanese" to indicate what race she is, ijust in case we were confused. I like Dixie calling Japan and Mexico "third world countries". I liked the fact that Aces and Eights trumped the nWo story by actually having a blow-off match. I really enjoyed the A&8 funeral. I really enjoyed Zema Ion becoming an obnoxious DJ prick. I fucking LOVE the siren. More sirens in Wrestling.

 

But you know what? I just don't fucking care about watching the matches. The matches are just like Raw, boring as hell with no rhyme or reason to them. If they could just scrap the matches and turn it into a really odd soap opera, that would be amazing. It won't last though, they'll get AJ back and start trying to book proper matches again and I won't care but for now, TNA's on a really bizarre roll.

[UK Kat Von D]

The Samuel Shaw was an interesting one. While it was going on I figured TNA were just being cheap putting him in an obviously empty fake house. Looking at his drawings I thought they were just a bit shit and weird. Then when he asked Christy out I figured all this bollocks was to set up a shit love story. But then he moved the pen and now I think he is obviously a psychopath who's gonna murder Christy Hemme along with a few with knockouts. When he moved the pen it went from boring and weird to potential really great

[King Pitcos]

Sounds like it might be worth watching bits and pieces of TNA at the moment then. I watched the funeral video on Youtube the other day and wasn't impressed. The only good bits were the bits mentioned in this thread, but they were a few seconds each from a several minute segment that was largely crap. I did like them having a go at twisting a comedy skit into a serious one, though. I've always liked Zema Ion, so I'll try and check out his DJ gimmick at some point.

[dangerously420]

I love what they are doing with Ethan Carter III. Great repackage of Derrick Bateman from WWE NXT. Hope he ends up being a possible title story with AJ Styles to help Aunt D get back her title.

[Nick James]

EC3's face annoys me for some reason, I thinks it's the Zoolander face he always pulls. He used to do it while he was Derrick Bateman aswel so it can't just be a character trait.

[mim731]

So the air horn/DJ thing with Xema Ion is an excellent addition to the Bro-mans act. Makes them seem like such wankers (as intended).

[Socrates]

Sounds like it might be worth watching bits and pieces of TNA at the moment then.

 

I'd go as far to say that it's been ok the last few weeks. Not great. Not even good. But it has gone from being a chore to watch to something that's decent with fewer "WTF?" moments.

[Mr Butternut Squash]

Forrest's post intrigued me enough to have a watch myself this week. It was alright. Better than Raw. Dixie isn't any good in front of a live crowd but I enjoyed her in the backstage bits. I mean, they're quite shit, but I liked her as the shallow bitch in power who's really crumbling underneath the bravado. Unlike the stuff that's going on on the other channel it doesn't make all the people that are (legit) underneath her look ineffective. And she has some funny lines. I liked Spud as well. He's a weird little bloke but he projects big confidence and looks really comfortable in his role. A natural.

 

Watching this show reminded me of how the one thing that TNA aren't completely inept at is comedy. The funeral wasn't earth shattering or anything, but it was a 5min+ skit that didn't even tempt me to hover above the bottom of the stream until a more interesting picture appeared in the little scrolling box. It actually made me laugh several times as well, which puts it above any WWE skit I've ever seen. The turkey dress up segment on the other hand was terrible, and I say that as a fan of the Bromans and the skinny job dudes. The meal at the end wasn't all that either. Except for Chris Sabin. This heel turns done him good ain't it? I thought he was cracking all night. What a fucking little cunt.

 

I liked EC3 when I saw him at BFG. Then he picked up a microphone . .

 

Where was Austin Aries?

 

Tazz isn't as delightfully shit as he used to be but I still love him. We should catch up for a bit of that thanksgiving 'wielding' sometime.

 

The best thing on the show was the entrance of Bobby Rhode and friends for the elimination tag. What a feast for the eyes! I've become conditioned to expect Randal Keith Oilypants type entrances in modern wrestling, so I was overjoyed when lovely robes, leather jackets, waistcoats, military insignia, daft swimming goggles and Sabin's shit indy shorts filled the screen with colour (mainly black). This felt Survivor Series 91 shit. They're all great stooges too (except Bobby). Not enough stooges in wrestling any more.

 

Was this in the Impact Zone? I think the show will benefit from being back in there. They were starting to get a nice flow and cohesion about Impact before they left, and with Aces and 8s gone it can only improve. Until the next heel stable turns up that is. Or until AJ Styles returns. I just want wrestling to be fun again. Sack off Kurt Angle and get some new faces in there and it might be alright.

 

I paid zero attention to the wrestling, but yeah, alright show.

Edited December 2, 2013 by Mr Butternut Squash

[Loki]

The other nice thing that's happening at the moment is that Joe seems to be more like himself again. He's still losing the big matches, and it still effectively a JTTS, but he looks more like a badass than he did for a few years.

 

I'm concerned at the amount of Anderson on the show at the moment though. I know he's going through his annual (be half-decent) period, but still.

[Forrest]

Watching Samoa Joe eat all those sandwiches at the funeral was probably the first time I've actually been inerested by something Joe has done in ages. I don't care for Joe when he's acting like a lethal killing machine because I've seen it all before, but I found it quite funny that Joe spent about three seconds of this segment not eating. It made him more human and more relatable in the sense that he just likes a free scran as much as the next person. They should make it a running joke that Joe is never seen in segments without food. It's not going to save the company, and Joe would probably put on tons of weight, but I would like it.

 

They'll just have him go on another streak until AJ comes back and Daniels will somehow win a title shot to set up the thousandth chapter in their 3-way saga, though.

[AshC]

I enjoyed this show. There were a few things on there which felt fresh and were a step in the right direction. Am thrilled for Spud.