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

[IANdrewDiceClay]

It wasn't really fun to watch, though. The top two matches were shockingly bad and Mr Anderson vs Sam Shaw was horrendous. An unmasked Abyss protecting the world champion is very Corporate Kane. And that shite with the hand through the ring was hokey as fuck. The Lethal Lockdown was pretty bad as well. To many people in the match didn't seem to be over with the crowd. Richards and Edwards and the Bro Mans just didn't belong in a main event of a PPV. The Wolves because they just debuted and nobody has got to know them. And the Bro Mans are an entertaining comedy act. They aren't a pair you'd put in a match if your company was depending on it. Willow was great, though. I doubt he's great in the way they want you to perceive him. Its a hilarious act. Like a parody of some kind, which is at least a step up from a hand coming out of the ring. One thing that looked bad was, Willow did a dive off the top of the cage and 4 blokes missed him and he landed between them all. Bunch of clowns.

 

One thing I noticed is that almost everyone wore black. I know its a funny thing to bring up, but its one of the things I hate to see. We all like to see a bit of colour. Chris Sabin, one of the Japanese lads, Sam Shaw, Mr Anderson, Christy Hemme, Bobby Lashley, Extreme Tiger, James Storm, Samoa Joe, Magnus, Lady Tapa, Abyss, Austin Aries, MVP, Richards, Edwards, Willow and Bully Ray all wore black outfits. This lot could be told to change the outfits up a bit. Along with the black cage, the black suits on the commentators, the black tables, the black chairs they use, the black suit Borash had on, the black ramp, the black railings, the black lighting to hide the thousands upon thousands of empty seats and the generic black ring aprons, the shows look so dull.

 

On the plus side, Gunner continues to look great and he had a good match with the ever reliable James Storm. Storm is wearing long tights now. So is Mr Anderson. Bob Ryder must have got a job lot of them recently.

Edited March 10, 2014 by IANdrewDiceClay

[chiefdave]

Now that NBC's exclusive negotiating window with WWE has expired it's being reported that one of the companies who have expressed an interest is Viacom. Looking at their channels it would be very likely WWE programming would end up on Spike. That would almost certainly lead to TNA's deal not being renewed. A lot of ifs and buts at the moment but if it did come to fruition would losing the Spike deal kill TNA off?

[Sphinx]

One thing I noticed is that almost everyone wore black. I know its a funny thing to bring up, but its one of the things I hate to see. We all like to see a bit of colour. Chris Sabin, one of the Japanese lads, Sam Shaw, Mr Anderson, Christy Hemme, Bobby Lashley, Extreme Tiger, James Storm, Samoa Joe, Magnus, Lady Tapa, Abyss, Austin Aries, MVP, Richards, Edwards, Willow and Bully Ray all wore black outfits. This lot could be told to change the outfits up a bit. Along with the black cage, the black suits on the commentators, the black tables, the black chairs they use, the black suit Borash had on, the black ramp, the black railings, the black lighting to hide the thousands upon thousands of empty seats and the generic black ring aprons, the shows look so dull.

 

Dressing a tad prematurely for TNA's funeral.

[ratedrpoed]

One thing I noticed is that almost everyone wore black.

 

Is there a reason why the majority of wrestlers wear black?

[Up Chuck]

So out of vague interest, I just had a peek at the Lethal Lockdown bit where Hardy showed up as Willow. From what I can tell, the deal was: Hardy was shut out of the building by Dixie, so Willow, who's had some vignettes on Impact, showed up instead. The thing I have no idea about is whether they're trying to disguise, in storyline terms, the fact that Willow is Hardy. Is it just supposed to be obvious? Because, like, you could see his tats, the dive off the cage was pure Hardy, and he came out to a song that sounded like it was by Hardy's band, with Hardy singing. What's going on here? If it's supposed to be obvious that it's the same guy, is that supposed to hint that Dixie sabotaged her own team or something? Please tell me I missed some massive contextual qualifiers by only watching about five minutes of the show.

[SSJLogan]

So out of vague interest, I just had a peek at the Lethal Lockdown bit where Hardy showed up as Willow. From what I can tell, the deal was: Hardy was shut out of the building by Dixie, so Willow, who's had some vignettes on Impact, showed up instead. The thing I have no idea about is whether they're trying to disguise, in storyline terms, the fact that Willow is Hardy. Is it just supposed to be obvious? Because, like, you could see his tats, the dive off the cage was pure Hardy, and he came out to a song that sounded like it was by Hardy's band, with Hardy singing. What's going on here? If it's supposed to be obvious that it's the same guy, is that supposed to hint that Dixie sabotaged her own team or something? Please tell me I missed some massive contextual qualifiers by only watching about five minutes of the show.

 

It also doesn't help that Taz and Tenay pretty much laughed off the Willow character saying 'You know who that is don't you' and 'I swear i've seen those tattoos before'. Only thing worth watching on that entire show was Storm vs Gunner.

[Surf Digby]

One thing I noticed is that almost everyone wore black.

Is there a reason why the majority of wrestlers wear black?

"Because Austin did".

[garynysmon]

Now that NBC's exclusive negotiating window with WWE has expired it's being reported that one of the companies who have expressed an interest is Viacom. Looking at their channels it would be very likely WWE programming would end up on Spike. That would almost certainly lead to TNA's deal not being renewed. A lot of ifs and buts at the moment but if it did come to fruition would losing the Spike deal kill TNA off?

 

I don't think there's much doubt about that tbh.

[FLips]

Figure going round a few sites is that they only sold 900 tickets.

[simonworden]

900 is bad, just started watching lockdown and it doesnt look so terrible on TV as i thought, after seeing so many photos of recent PPVS (last few yers) with 1500 people at them Its easier to pick up but they are still good with disguising it.

 

I think the Willow character surely has to be some extension of Hardy in the story lines, perhaps in a Faces of Foley kind of way or a known alter ego of Hardy that he can pull out when he has no other choice. Unless they go down the route hardy has completely lost it and now thinks he is Willow.

 

If 900 Tickets are all they can sell for Lockdown then TNA need to really regroup and stop touching any arenas at all. They need to make the product look as stunning as possible on TV like they did with the original impact zone to various levels of success and be prepared to try and flog it as a nice little TV show to other networks if they lose spike. Basically work out what a B level network would pay for the show and work out a way to break even minimum otherwise they are dead. House shows in arenas and alike really need to go as well. For one its just a waste of money when a local nightclub or theatre would work fine and secondly if I went to a show in a 80% empty arena I would have a worse time than if it was full and it would put me off going back

[IANdrewDiceClay]

I dont think there are any long term plans being made in TNA right now. Look at who the main people are? Dixie Carter, who cant walk out on herself. Gunner, who I like but until they started losing names by the truck load poor Gunner was on the sidelines doing nothing. Magnus, who again looks great, talks great, but wrestles like a bloke in NXT who wont get the call up until 2016. Spud, who is so Butlins and is overexposed every week. The Bro Mans, who are a fine under card comedy act, but you aren't putting them in a match with the company on the line. The American Wolves, who nobody in wrestling wanted, so they showed up in TNA. MVP who WWE didn't want and who outstayed his welcome in New Japan, so showed up in TNA. The promotion seems to have a bunch of people who have either been there far to long or have no where else to go. They are going to start losing some big names when the contracts are due. TNA are in this odd position where they either stick or twist. They are done in September if this TV deal doesn't get renewed. So what do you do? Do you spend more money improving the product in the hope you are going to still be around after the summer? Or do you just keep things as it is and hope for the best. There's this unfortunate black cloud over TNA right now. Kaz and Daniels deals are due soon, so they are taking a back seat it looks like. Are they going to stick around after what happened to AJ? They have a lot of stock in the business, so are they going to take a pay cut when Jarrett, ROH and New Japan would take them? Then there's the talk of WWE wanting a Hall of Fame at Universal, that would kick TNA out of the Impact Zone and have to go on the road. There's so many different things to worry about if you're TNA. I dont know why the Carters didn't just sell up to Jarrett.

 

The positive thing is, in the current climate, if Spike does renew TNA, their TV licensing money goes up and you could see some money being pumped back into he promotion. The company desperately needs some positive news. This last 12 months have been a killer for them. And its a shame, too, because I remember Lockdown 2013 was a super show for them. The attendance was their best ever, the Aces and 8s leader reveal angle was pretty hot and they had some good stuff on the table. They had a massive UK tour, a big house on PPV and a run of great business going on the road initially. Momentum wise, they were never better.

Edited March 11, 2014 by IANdrewDiceClay

[thefallenangel]

Why TNA don't just run 2 UK tours a year in smaller arena which they can tape 8/9 shows from in bigger arenas?

 

I will agree the writing does seem to be on the wall unless someone can invest big or is Jarrett waiting to buy TNA without a TV deal for a steal compared to the Carters price

[PowerButchi]

Without a TV deal then TNA is totally worthless and not worth Jarrett buying it for any amount. Why do you think Vince picked up WCW for only about 2million? Because without a TV contract all he was essentially buying was a tape library. Wrestling with no TV isn't a worth a penny to anyone.

[KingOfMetal]

If it came to it, how much do we think Vince would buy the library for? Or would he not bother

[PowerButchi]

Not very much, even if they did bother. It'd only be good for a Kurt Angle, Jeff Hardy or Sting DVD. And that's even with the Network.