*Spoilers* iMPACT 21/3 Discussion

[Carbomb]

TNA are desperate for babyfaces. There's only Sting (who has done this storyline every year since 2005 with Planet Jarrett, the Main Event Mafia, Immortal and countless others), Hulk Hogan (who is on crutches more often than not) and Jeff Hardy. AJ Styles will probably join them, but that's a long way off. The rest either have no credibility left (Storm and Joe), aren't accepted yet (Magnus) or play it for laughs (Park and Eric Young).

 

You missed out Angle. He's still very solid, and I think between him and Hardy, they can be relied upon to give Bully a decent title run for a while until they've got some more guys lined up. RVD might make some decent cannon fodder for a short while.

 

Also, I disagree about Joe. I think he's been pretty well re-habbed this year. He's nowhere near what he used to be, and may never be again, but he seems pretty credible as an upper midcard threat to the main. Storm isn't completely bereft of credibility, he's just got no momentum. People still buy him as an arse-kicker, but he's not capturing anyone's imagination enough yet.

 

Anyway, they really should bring in Masters; he's good enough to bring something extra to the face side of things, and he looks ready-made for the main event, or at least the upper midcard with a view to pushing him to the main pretty sharpish.

[IANdrewDiceClay]

I forgot about Kurt Angle. Probably says it all.

 

I'll rephrase my original point. TNA need babyfaces who haven't been around for years doing the same angles. Kurt Angle, Sting and Jeff Hardy are the same names in recycled storylines. I've seen Bully Ray vs Jeff Hardy about a 1000 times since 1999. I've seen Sting vs Blokes in jeans more times than I can think as well. They need someone new. Whether they bring someone in or they bring someone up from the level they are at.

 

Also, Samoa Joe is a uppercard act who looks ridiculous these days. He's well over weight, his knees are shot and he smells of 2007. Years of bad booking and apathetic performances have type cast him as someone who will never get to the level he was at. Not that he was at much of a level to start with, but a few years back they could have done something big with him. His reputation is shot. He's another Matt Morgan. Someone who's been around forever, who doesn't seen to do much until the next revamp.

 

As far as James Storm goes, he is fucked. Career finished as a headline babyface. They broke every rule in the book in regards to booking his run as a face. He got a title shot in his home town (and lost). They gave him a 20 point head start in the BFG series (and lost). He won a title shot for the TNA title and stupidly got convinced to put it on the line against Bobby Roode (and lost). They might as well have stamped "daft cunt" on his cowboy hat and recreated that scene from Deliverance with him.

[UK Kat Von D]

The Aces and Eights shite in every segment would have been overkill. They were all over this show as it is.

 

The ending just seemed the absolute perfect time to run out and clubberize all four top Hogan picks. I appreciate they were trying to keep the Aces & Eights off the show (other than in recap form) this week, but it seemed to be set-up perfectly for an attack.

 

Aces & Eights don't attack when you think they should, Aces & Eights attack when they want to. The good guys will do the right thing (like Hardy wanting to earn his rematch) even if a normal person thinks thats stupid.

[Dirty Eddie]

The Aces and Eights shite in every segment would have been overkill. They were all over this show as it is.

 

The ending just seemed the absolute perfect time to run out and clubberize all four top Hogan picks. I appreciate they were trying to keep the Aces & Eights off the show (other than in recap form) this week, but it seemed to be set-up perfectly for an attack.

 

Aces & Eights don't attack when you think they should, Aces & Eights attack when they want to. The good guys will do the right thing (like Hardy wanting to earn his rematch) even if a normal person thinks thats stupid.

 

 

That bit in bold sounds like you are cutting a promo for them! What does that even mean?

 

I'm just saying they missed an easy target, that's all. From a kayfabe point of view it was a wasted opportunity. Hogan was dumb enough to put his top 4 in a match against each other, you'd think that the end of the match (when everyone had given their all) would be a perfect time and place for a nasty heel beatdown.

 

Hardy didn't "do the right thing", he made a nonsensical decision. He'd been utterly screwed over for HIS World Title. Only an idiot would give that rematch against the evil Bully up. It's not like he graciously "stepped aside" so Hogan could get revenge or something, he just decided to not have his automatic re-match after having his title stolen. That's makes him an idiot.

[UK Kat Von D]

Well you brought up an issue from a kayfabe point of view, so I gave you an explanation from a kayfabe point of view. It was supposed to sound like something they would say

 

You are looking at it from too much of a "real world" point of view. Its just like how in real life Cena would have been an idiot for putting his Mania match on the line against Punk, but in wrestling that makes him the hero.

[Dirty Eddie]

You are looking at it from too much of a "real world" point of view. Its just like how in real life Cena would have been an idiot for putting his Mania match on the line against Punk, but in wrestling that makes him the hero.

 

The Cena and Hardy situations a very different though. Cena's whole deal this year has been about redemption. He had his "worst career year" last year and so this year he's needed to win the rumble to secure his title shot, beat Punk - to prove that he can when it matters, and at Mania he MUST beat the Rock. His choice to fight Punk was indeed heroic, but it also made sense for his character. It's all about getting over the hurdles he failed at last year.

 

Hardy on the other hand should have been pissed off that Bully Ray had turned on TNA, hit him with a hammer and stolen his world Title. He should have been hell-bent on getting his re-match and getting even. Instead he went "you know what chaps, maybe Magnus or Fat Joe deserve it more than me. Let's all have a ruck and find out". It just seemed silly. I was expecting a show of solidarity, not all four fighting each other.

[Loki]

Given the lack of decent babyfaces, maybe they should think about turning Roode face again? He and Aries have been getting some face pops from the larger crowds recently, so popular is their stuff.

[CTXRussomark]

Nah Roode deserves better than being turned purely to make up the numbers. When they eventually turn him face again it needs to be part of a long-term plan to give him a run as top babyface which isn't gonna happen in the current climate. He's excelled so much since his heel turn that any eventual turn should be a big deal and the main focus of the company.

[Sexy Dad]

Aries and Roode are definately running the risk of 'turning face' based on the recent crowd reactions and based on the fact that they're going into a program with Daniels and Kaz. Hopefully they don't become second thought good guys mixed up in the Bound for Glory series as there is a chance they could get lost in the mix.

 

Personally, I'd like to see Roode be the guy to take down Aces and Eights and regain HIS title from Bully Ray and take up a Triple H (pre HBK) 2002 style run. It looks like that's going to be AJ's role though....in that respect, TNA could have plenty of top-level faces; the current booking just doesn't show off the roster's full potential. Not a dig at TNA by any means, I just feel that the demoting of Storm and notching Hardy up the card has had a knock on effect that has left a bunch of guys not in the best position.

[Loki]

Did Storm really do anything wrong? I find it hard to pinpoint it. He's got a good look, his promo style is over in the south at least, he's a good hand for a big man in the rasslin department. I hate to blame the writers, as it's the easy thing to do, but man they've made him look like an idiot for the last 12 months.

 

Hardy is clearly popular and sells tickets and merch, but he doesn't fit at all with the style of the rest of the show and it does feel like he sucks in all other faces' heat.

[IANdrewDiceClay]

No idea. I remember he was a total after thought in Bobby Roode's pre-Bound For Glory 2011 run. But he totally caught on in about the final month or so. His promos were super over and he was having better matches in the lead up than Roode was. They even gave him the World title and set plans in motion to make him their next big babyface star.

 

For me, just watching him as a viewer, he isn't someone who can survive bad booking. Kurt Angle can, because he's great and Jeff Hardy can because he's over, but someone like Storm has a lot going against him. His accent's a bit comedic. His gimmick is a proper clich

[Loki]

I think the Christian York honeymoon is well and truly over. He had probably the best introduction to TNA of any new star I can remember, and I was fantasy booking all sorts of shit, but he really does move with that sort of half-speed style that makes you thinkk, fucking hell get on with it.

 

The new X Div rules are such obvious patent bollocks that I'm holding out for it being part of a storyline. The division is dead anyway, and this is just wrapping the coffin in lead. Right now I'd kill for Shelley/Sabin/Lethal/Senshi.

 

Also, after a few weeks of actually looking a bit hotter, Brooke is back to looking like something out of Greek mythology. Whatever was in Bully's spunk didn't have a permanent effect it seems.

[NEWM]

I know it's easier said than done, but they need to turn Roode and Aries without actually turning them, if you know what I mean. Aries was in this spot when he first won the Heavyweight Title, but they turned him full babykissing face, realised he sucked in that role and quickly had him turn heel again on Hardy.

 

As long as everybody on the roster isn't doing it like back in the Attitude Era, you can still be a cunt and be a babyface too. Had Roode and Aries not emerged out of nowhere these past few months, it definitely would have happened to Kaz and Daniels eventually. Just start being cunts to heels too, then be cunts with a cool t-shirt lots of fans buy, then stop being cunts to fans, then be cunts exclusively to heels, and don't make friends with babyfaces. It happened to Beer Money twice, and the organic face turn has so much more juice in it for everybody involved. Fans want to emotionally invest in people they believe in, not just cheer Roode and Aries because they like them as wrestlers and will cheer them to spite da bookerz. It's how they should have turned Orton in 04, and how they should have turned The Miz yonks before they did.

[ColinBollocks]

See, the X Division is easy to fix, it's just TNA don't want to spend the money doing it. The wrestlers in the division aren't that much different to when Aries was its featured star and champion, it's just Kenny King is a bit rubbish and can't drag it up a level. At the very least Aries could put together a match that told a story and wasn't just blokes missing flip spots.

[NEWM]

I reckon the X Division is fucked. It was only ever worth anything when it was a full tilt alternative to anything WWE would do. In 02-08ish, that was absolutely the case, especially in the early years of establishing it. When the WWE abandoned the Cruiserweight Division completely and just inserted flashy types like Kofi, Morrison and the like into the main roster, the X Division needed the best of whatever was happening in Mexico and Japan to stay in front, and it never happened. I think Ian said it and he was nailed on, WWE have got a better crop of X type guys than TNA could currently dream of. Who's competing with Adrian Neville's finisher on the TNA roster? Who's teflon to doing jobs and readily available to rehab at a moments notice like Kofi Kingston? At this point, you basically need paraplegic wrestlers doing weapons brawls or 400-pounders that can do 450 splashes to make it a divison with it's own uniqueness.