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

[PowerButchi]

Fucking hell, TNA...

 

<-- click on 'spoiler' to show/hide the spoiler

JUDAS MESIAS????

 

[close spoiler]

");document.close();

[ColinBollocks]

What's the latest news on Chris Sabin?

[Loki]

The work visa issue is pretty embarrassing for a major promotion. For any promotion in fact. Added to the Daffney thing and the handling of the Bobby Roode and RVD contract situations, the thing where a load of women told them to fuck off when they asked them to appear on the Knockouts PPV and the fact they've told the workers that they are only giving them one pay cheque for a double taping, and you have to question who is in charge of this sort of thing. Impact and the PPVs are usually good to watch and going on the road is a step in the right direction, but their reputation is pretty horrible among the wrestlers in the business. As far as acquiring new talent like a John Morrison or a Chris Masters or even bringing back an Awesome Kong or something they just aren't an attractive promotion. The Gut Check contestants sort of sum up the likes of who they are aiming for. Joey Ryan (who's been around for a decade and nobody showed interest in him) and Wes Brisco (the son of a WWE talent scout who they sacked). If they'd have been more aggressive and threw some money towards the likes of Pac, El Generico, Ricochet, Low Ki and Cesaro, they could have had them. Or at least showed they were in the market for people like that. Seeing Funaki and Christian York on the same PPV just sort of sent it home that TNA's talent initiative is weak as piss. The fact they allowed Alex Shelley to leave is shocking.

 

Still, the TVs good at least.

 

Interesting. To some extent, Ian, this is a knock-on from WWE changing the way they acquire talent as well. In the 2000s there was definitely a system whereby most new talent was scouted into OVW, taught how to wrestle there and brought up onto the main roster when needed.

 

Now they are much more likely to pull in top indy talent and debut them after a little bit of polish. This means they are offering more attractive contracts to indy stars than they were in, say, 2006. That means TNA don't have their pick any more, they are now competing with WWE for talent, and they're always going to lose out there unless it's someone they KNOW is worth it, like Bobby Roode.

 

How is OVW shaping up for TNA as a dev territory? Are there any decent prospects or is it all Gut check rejects?

[PowerButchi]

Now they are much more likely to pull in top indy talent and debut them after a little bit of polish. This means they are offering more attractive contracts to indy stars than they were in, say, 2006.

 

I think a lot of it is that TNA burned the top indy talent so many times in the past as well though, especially when they did things like stopping them appearing on DVDs and insisting on handling their 3rd party bookings. Combine this with the success of your Punks and Bryans, and now WWE is not just a viable place to work for the elite indy guys, but it's THE place to work for them now.

[pgi86]

How is OVW shaping up for TNA as a dev territory? Are there any decent prospects or is it all Gut check rejects?

 

OVW under WWE and OVW under TNA are two different companies. When it was WWE's developmental territory it was 99% WWE-contracted talent. Now it's 30+ local OVW workers and a dozen TNA workers. There's several decent OVW guys but overall most of them are not that good and are clearly just lower indy level people. So, it's kind of hard to say how the TNA crew is coming along because they're not exactly working against top notch competition, which can drag your work down. As things stand, the following TNA people are currently in OVW:

 

Doug Williams - The current heavyweight champ. Obviously, he's not a developmental talent but he's the one doing a lot of their training as well as helping write the OVW television (along with Al Snow, I believe).

Rob Terry - He has improved a bit but at the end of the day he's still Rob Terry and not exactly a super worker or a good promo.

Crimson - Hard to say if he's improved in the ring due to the reasons explained above but he's definitely improved as a character. For starters he now actually has a character. He's part of a heel military group and has in fact been fun in that role, doing both serious and humorous stuff.

Jessie Godderz - When he started in OVW he was shit but he's developed nicely over time. He's not great or anything but he's solid at what he does. His biggest strengths are his look, his presence and his facials. He's got those aspects down. Still needs to work on everything else though but considering he's really only two years into his career I'd say he's doing quite alright in his limited role at TNA.

Rockstar Spud - Made his debut last week and immediately won the TV Title.

The Blossom Twins - Recently returned to OVW, now as developmental talent. They're probably the perfect example of what I was talking about when I mentioned the lack of quality competition in OVW. Not that I've seen a ton of their OVW work but almost any OVW match of theirs I've seen has been, well, not that good. But on the other hand almost every time I've watched them against people on the UK scene or even in TNA they've come off as much better wrestlers than they do in OVW. So again, it's about having quality opponents to wrestle against. In OVW they don't have that, unless you consider Sojo Bolt a quality opponent. In TNA they would have better opponents to bring them up a level, for the most part, so they would do better there, I reckon.

= Jay Bradley - Made his debut a couple of weeks ago. The guy is solid on all fronts. Doesn't really need to be in OVW but yet there he is. Oh well, I guess it won't hurt him.

= Taeler Hendrix - She's fine, I guess. Not good, not bad. Just kind of there. Plays a decent heel and has a nice arse. That's all I can say about her, really.

= Alex Silva & Sam Shaw - They've been working as a team and are the current tag champs. Their wrestling has improved a little bit but overall they're still bland and definitely need more work.

 

And that's about it. I reckon Lei'd Tapa might join them soon too. Wouldn't be surprised in Taryn Terrell does a short stint in OVW too now that she's seemingly about to become a knockout and stop being a referee. She did one short stint in OVW and her matches were really, really bad. Again, might've been due to her working with shitty opponents but either way I did not like her performance at all. She looked hot as hell in her little pink outfit though so there's that. Anyway, all in all I'd say OVW has produced some results but nothing to brag about. That being said, when talking about developmental territories OVW is still pretty much the best option for TNA. Unless TNA have the money to spend on building their own developmental promotion like WWE's NXT, OVW is the best suited indy company out there to be a developmental league (weekly TV, montly big events, house shows, have a building and training facilities, etc). It is what it is.

Edited March 19, 2013 by pgi86

[Loki]

I think Jessie G is pretty good actually. I like his bumping. And Jay Bradley should just come up now.

[Carbomb]

I think Jessie G is pretty good actually. I like his bumping. And Jay Bradley should just come up now.

 

I've been an advocate of Jessie for quite a while now. He's got "star" written all over him, and his match with Bully Ray shows he can chickenshit it and fire it up when he needs to. Looked pretty plausible to me.

 

And yeah - Jay Bradley's pretty damn good; he's got character, ability, an unusual but bad-ass look, and his finisher is surprisingly good. People should only use lariat finishes when they look like they kill, and his Boom-Stick Lariat looks like it murders.

[pgi86]

Apparently, Bob Holly is working the Hardcore Justice PPV taping today.

Edited March 19, 2013 by pgi86

[PowerButchi]

Finally, TNA does the right thing. They should hire him, and he should twat everyone.

[wrestlingmad]

Finally, TNA does the right thing. They should hire him, and he should twat everyone.

Damn right, what great news. Bob Holly destroying gut check competitors is quality TV!

[pgi86]

For those wondering, here's the card for the Hardcore Justice PPV they taped today. All matches are contested under no DQ/hardcore rules:

 

Tag Team Tables Match

Jeff Hardy & Brother Runt vs. Team 3D (Bully Ray & Devon)

 

Ladder Match

Bad Influence (Kazarian & Christopher Daniels) vs. Generation Me (Max Buck & Jeremy Buck)

 

Monster's Ball Match

Judas Mesias (w/ James Mitchell) vs. Joseph Park

 

Elimination Match

James Storm, Bob Holly & Magnus vs. DOC, Knox & Wes Brisco

 

Hardcore Knockouts Match

Jackie Moore vs. ODB

 

LAX (Homicide & Hernandez) vs. The New Church (Slash & Sinn)

 

Hardcore Gauntlet Match (everyone enters the ring with a weapon)

2 Cold Scorpio vs. Gunner vs. Crimson vs. Devon Storm vs. Shark Boy vs. Nunzio vs. Johnny Swinger vs. Funaki vs. Sam Shaw

 

This one sounds like a lot of fun. In fact, I think it might be my favourite one on paper out of all the 7 taped PPV line-ups so far.

Edited March 19, 2013 by pgi86

[IANdrewDiceClay]

I'm hoping someone in power does that thing where they go "why is Jim Mitchell still without a job?" I bet each member on this forum could think of 50 things each they could do with Mitchell and Joseph Park. Especially now the brain trusts are no longer there that did that "Abyss shot his Mam and Sting cant doesn't want the police to find out even though its on the telly" storyline. Glad Shark Boy gets a payday as well.

 

Anyone want to take my bet that Bob Holly takes a dislike to Wes Brisco's hair and gives him a kicking on this show?

Edited March 19, 2013 by IANdrewDiceClay

[CTXRussomark]

The New Church! Nice!!!

 

They were one of the highlights of the early TNA Asylum days (albeit the superior Slash/Brian Lee incarnation) and had some pretty great entrance music to boot. Whatever happened to Brian Lee? I recall reports of personal problems and then him looking almost anorexic during his latter TNA days, then he left/was fired and Sinn was brought in as a replacement.

[PowerButchi]

Fucking Scorpio! Superb. This is easily the best line up on paper. AND NO RAVEN OR SHANE DOUGLAS!

[Loki]

I was just thinking that, Ian, that I wouldn't want to be Wes Brisco in that match.

 

What a fun PPV! The New Church, blimey, that's going back a LONG way. And a reformed LAX is something to see. They've got just the right sort of "remember them" guys on here.