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

[The Gaffer]

Really enjoyed this Impact. Rich Swan and the big lad are a fun tag team, the X Division street fight was a great high octane WWF 99 style hardcore match,  Scorsese produced Shamrock cutting a dodgy promo was oddly enticing and Tessa Blanchard is absolutely one of my new favourite things in wrestling. 

Plenty going on. Nothing earth shattering but nothing terrible, either. The myriad of on location vignettes are a great touch. Love the simple shooting and editing of them. RVD doing a really lazy version of his heel act works for me. Josh Matthews isn't nearly as bad on commentary as I'd have thought. Just a little daft. But nobody's in his ear, the dialogue with Don Callis is nice, and I just enjoy the feel of the whole thing. 

I didn't know what the fuck I was watching at points. There was definitely a surreal vignette where a woman died in a hospital, right? There's someone called Moose doing a hilariously deadpan, badly acted Mr. Perfect gimmick where he's great at all the sports but speaks like he's off his face on ambien. Not trying to sound dense or anything. This Impact was my proper entry point back in. I have no clue who most of these people are. 

Thumbs up. 

Edited November 1, 2019 by Gay as FOOK

[UK Kat Von D]

Just watched the ending of an episode of FNUK, what the fuck kind of name is that? The backstage skits were absolute dog shit, apparently made by total amateurs. Sami won the title, wasn’t a fan off that. It is a shame that Cage is slumming it here.

I used to really enjoy TNA but now I’m genuinely shocked this is even on TV and people watch it 

[mim731]

8 hours ago, UK Kat Von D said:

Just watched the ending of an episode of FNUK, what the fuck kind of name is that? The backstage skits were absolute dog shit, apparently made by total amateurs. 

I think FNUK is the branded block on the channel (as Fight Network UK) rather than the name of the show. But given it's TNA I could be wrong.

As for the backstage skits, it just goes to show how much Jeremy Borash actually did for the company, and the non-wrestling stuff on TV has definitely suffered as a result, from what I've seen.

[UK Kat Von D]

The main thing I hate about the in ring stuff is how clunky the ring sounds. Every bump sounds cheap 

[Accident Prone]

1 hour ago, UK Kat Von D said:

The main thing I hate about the in ring stuff is how clunky the ring sounds. Every bump sounds cheap 

Oh good God, yes. I caught up with some Bound For Glory yesterday and the ring sounded really off. The noise the fucking thing made when someone took a simple bump or ran the ropes, let alone falling off ladders, was jarring. It really took me out of the matches.

[garynysmon]

I generally iike both Impact Wrestling and Jim Cornette so I feel a bit torn in this. But fucking hell, its hard to defend this 'penis' shit by Joey Ryan. I liked his act when he was last in TNA but this is plain stupid.

 

[Hannibal Scorch]

On 11/4/2019 at 9:56 AM, UK Kat Von D said:

The main thing I hate about the in ring stuff is how clunky the ring sounds. Every bump sounds cheap 

Bob Rosen was in charge. They let him go a while back and he now works for TNA. He makes the rings as well as sets them up

[UK Kat Von D]

1 hour ago, garynysmon said:

I generally iike both Impact Wrestling and Jim Cornette so I feel a bit torn in this. But fucking hell, its hard to defend this 'penis' shit by Joey Ryan. I liked his act when he was last in TNA but this is plain stupid.

 

That’s the best thing they’ve done in years, not saying much because they’ve managed to set the bar really fucking low 

[The Gaffer]

I remember thinking during last week's show that I really like the ring sounds. I like hearing some good, honest thwacks from it. Reminds me of the new gen rings or WCW. 

The WWE ring now sounds like it's padded to make no noise, the mics under the ring amplify what is there, and then that audio is EQed before it goes back out to the arena. 

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

The Joey Ryan power cock stuff is bad enough but those clothesline are fucking woeful. Looks like the sort of shit a One Rumble Wonder would throw not someone who has been around as long as Shamrock. 

[BomberPat]

I don't care for Joey Ryan's schtick really - nothing to do with it being "comedy" or killing the business or whatever, I just don't think it's very funny, or that he's very good at making it occur creatively during his match in the way other people have done with similar bits. But I do like the idea of everyone who complains about it "killing the business" now having to justify themselves to Ken Shamrock.

[Snitsky's back acne]

'...but..but... the people in the crowd loved it!'.
Oh no, wait, they really didn't.
Joey Ryan is a one trick pony and that pony is VERY old and tired right now.

I like Impact and think they have done some great stuff over the past 18 months [barring the 'undead realm' stuff which can just fuck off) but this is... yeah, not for me...

[BomberPat]

Ryan was pretty good in Lucha Underground, as a sleazy undercover cop. If he's just a sleazeball gimmick, he can be alright, but reducing it to nothing but that one spot is tiresome, particularly when you don't find that spot particularly funny in the first place (though, full disclosure, I once stole it for someone to use in a match I worked).

I guess the biggest problem I have with it now is just...why do people keep grabbing his dick? It's one thing if it stems from blocking a low blow, or if he someone manipulates the match into the position, but why would a guy like Ken Shamrock in kayfabe grab Joey Ryan's dick? 

I've worked a ton of matches where the humour is derived from "accidental" low blow spots - a heel taking a drop toe hold to send them head-first into their partner's crotch, that sort of thing - and the comedy is closer to innuendo, it's funny that you'd inadvertently end up in that position, and then how you sell it adds to that. When the set-up is literally just "GRAB MY DICK", you lose 90% of the joke.

[garynysmon]

16 minutes ago, BomberPat said:

Ryan was pretty good in Lucha Underground, as a sleazy undercover cop. If he's just a sleazeball gimmick, he can be alright, but reducing it to nothing but that one spot is tiresome, particularly when you don't find that spot particularly funny in the first place

I can see how it would be a funny spot in a match as a one-off, or even on the indy's when you're basically performing to a different crowd every night. But surely its not a spot like the people's elbow or the worm and gets tired very quickly.

Its a shame really as I liked Joey Ryan's character originally and the sleazy bastard stuff was pretty unique when he first came along.

@BomberPat not defending the spot, but he manipulated Ken Shamrock into a handshake and forced it onto his dick, so it wasn't quite Shamrock going in to cop a feel.

Edited November 7, 2019 by garynysmon

[garynysmon]

Impact's Throwback Throwdown is on 5Star at 11:30pm tonight.

I haven't watched it yet, but its been getting some good reviews online and sounds like a bit of a Southpaw Regional Wrestling type thing. Basically its the Impact roster cosplaying an early 80's promotion.

Spoilers:

https://www.f4wonline.com/tna-results/impact-wrestling-results-throwback-throwdown-298286

https://www.pwinsider.com/article/131724/complete-impact-wrestling-report-the-single-greatest-most-unique-and-fun-episode-in-years-as-impact-throws-back-to-the-80s.html?p=1

 

Edited November 29, 2019 by garynysmon