Weekly TNA Impact Discussion Thread

[Rosie]

Opening Segment With The Wolves and Announcers and Cody: Things took way too long to even start the show. That took around 10 minutes and it was just a mess. Brawl...shoot...and then Cody kind of embarrassing himself. And when you guys mentioned arguing announcers, right as soon as the DCC make their entrance, they start bickering...

DCC vs Reno Scum: The in-ring action itself was fine for how brief was it, and served the purpose of putting the new team over and possibly hinting descension around the DCC (although, honestly, they should have been used better over the past while, but whatever). But here is the first case where commentary ruined a match which was otherwise ok. During the entire match it was Josh Mathews being an arrogant a-hole, not caring about the wrestlers and asking "Who are they" and JB trying to start a fight with Matthews. This was a completely blown opportunity as the goal of commentary is to elevate wrestlers, push forward narrative, and explain what is going on but they did NONE of that!

X-Division Fatal Four Way: Alright match with decent action. The complaining wasn't so bad at commentary until the end, Braxton goes over and it was ok-ish...Also why is Laura still in her wedding dress looking like a zombie?

Knockouts Match: First of all, is it sad that The Pope is the voice of reason? Also, the bickering in this match is unbearable...there was a span of 10 seconds there was no talking and I was very relieving...then bickering again. But for the ring action, Rachel, since I have heard she is still fairly new to wrestling with like a year of experience or so (I think, there was too much bickering) she did alright, although she needs to improve her striking a bit as some of them are hit and miss. The match wasn't anything special, Sienna wins with the Silencer, which she needs a new finish.

Bruce Prichard Segment: Starts off alright, tries to hype up new era etc, although he perhaps shoots a bit. He brings Bobby Lashley out. He mentions Trump, MINUS FIVE STARS jk. But eh, this segment probably should have started the show and they should have had what was the opening segment after a match or two. But overall this segment was alright and, like I said, should have been the opening segment.

Cody/Dutch segment: Why are they embarrassing Cody? Also, why do they have that comedic sticker saying "Make Impact Great" on Dutch's scooter...AND WHY ARE THEY MENTIONING WWE SO DAMN MUCH!? But heart-warming speech from Dutch...even if they basically mention everyone who has left for WWE or retired...and he shoots a bit...

Writing off Hardy's: Was great for the Hardy's vs Smokin' Joe, but at the same time, could have written them off differently, but they probably had to do it on short notice.

Main Event: while overbooked and the commentary was a pain, other than that, had some good action.

As a whole, this episode was rough. Just weird ordering for everything, not all the matches really stood out, and as well, now I see why everyone was ragging on the commentary. The Pope ends up becoming the best man in the booth and both JB and JM are hurting it a lot. Not to mention the night was more focused on being shootpact by shitting on the old regime and the fact they mentioned WWE and the people who are now guys so much I just found that a bit odd, even if some of them are TNA originals, maybe during the opening sequence and Dutch's promo was alright, but it became a bit too much. I hope that they will improve in the future but for now, I am waiting a bit before I see another episode...

 

[Crithu]

Opening Segment With The Wolves and Announcers and Cody: Things took way too long to even start the show. That took around 10 minutes and it was just a mess. Brawl...shoot...and then Cody kind of embarrassing himself. And when you guys mentioned arguing announcers, right as soon as the DCC make their entrance, they start bickering...

DCC vs Reno Scum: The in-ring action itself was fine for how brief was it, and served the purpose of putting the new team over and possibly hinting descension around the DCC (although, honestly, they should have been used better over the past while, but whatever). But here is the first case where commentary ruined a match which was otherwise ok. During the entire match it was Josh Mathews being an arrogant a-hole, not caring about the wrestlers and asking "Who are they" and JB trying to start a fight with Matthews. This was a completely blown opportunity as the goal of commentary is to elevate wrestlers, push forward narrative, and explain what is going on but they did NONE of that!

X-Division Fatal Four Way: Alright match with decent action. The complaining wasn't so bad at commentary until the end, Braxton goes over and it was ok-ish...Also why is Laura still in her wedding dress looking like a zombie?

Knockouts Match: First of all, is it sad that The Pope is the voice of reason? Also, the bickering in this match is unbearable...there was a span of 10 seconds there was no talking and I was very relieving...then bickering again. But for the ring action, Rachel, since I have heard she is still fairly new to wrestling with like a year of experience or so (I think, there was too much bickering) she did alright, although she needs to improve her striking a bit as some of them are hit and miss. The match wasn't anything special, Sienna wins with the Silencer, which she needs a new finish.

Bruce Prichard Segment: Starts off alright, tries to hype up new era etc, although he perhaps shoots a bit. He brings Bobby Lashley out. He mentions Trump, MINUS FIVE STARS jk. But eh, this segment probably should have started the show and they should have had what was the opening segment after a match or two. But overall this segment was alright and, like I said, should have been the opening segment.

Cody/Dutch segment: Why are they embarrassing Cody? Also, why do they have that comedic sticker saying "Make Impact Great" on Dutch's scooter...AND WHY ARE THEY MENTIONING WWE SO DAMN MUCH!? But heart-warming speech from Dutch...even if they basically mention everyone who has left for WWE or retired...and he shoots a bit...

Writing off Hardy's: Was great for the Hardy's vs Smokin' Joe, but at the same time, could have written them off differently, but they probably had to do it on short notice.

Main Event: while overbooked and the commentary was a pain, other than that, had some good action.

As a whole, this episode was rough. Just weird ordering for everything, not all the matches really stood out, and as well, now I see why everyone was ragging on the commentary. The Pope ends up becoming the best man in the booth and both JB and JM are hurting it a lot. Not to mention the night was more focused on being shootpact by shitting on the old regime and the fact they mentioned WWE and the people who are now guys so much I just found that a bit odd, even if some of them are TNA originals, maybe during the opening sequence and Dutch's promo was alright, but it became a bit too much. I hope that they will improve in the future but for now, I am waiting a bit before I see another episode...

I agree this episode was not very good. I am hoping it was because they were wanting to squeeze in as many "changes" as they can. Starting off with commentary, it was just plain awful. I had the exact same thoughts when The Pope was the saving grace of the announce team. I can't even stand Josh Mathews' voice anymore. It's okay to be a heel commentator and root for the heels, but if you're putting the attention on yourself, then you are doing your job wrong. JB was spending too much time on Josh as well and I hope that stops because I feel like he'll do a good job in this role. In general, I okay with a 3 man commentary booth. It allows 1 man to do play-by-play and the other two to play heel and face (not against each other, though). Honestly, I say get rid of Mathews, and move JB to the lead announcer role and make him the play-by-play guy. Have The Pope be the face color and bring in Spud as the heel color.

So the two segments with Bruce Prichard and Dutch Mantell, I didn't see the reason for both of them. I know that you're trying to show off "new" management, but all this time could have been used for other segments and matches (like the opening tag team match). Also while I'm at it, I don't understand why they needed so many WWE references. It's okay to mention them, but they probably said WWE more than Impact Wrestling. Your goal is to differentiate yourself not try to draw yourself closer.

The Wolves brawl at the beginning of the show just seemed odd placement and had no excitement to me. I would have moved it to somewhere in the middle of the show. Have someone getting interviewed backstage and then after the interview the wolves show up and are brawling, completely wrecking the set. They continue to destroy stuff all through the backstage area until they come out into the Impact Zone. That would have let the brawl build up a little bit before heading into the crowd.

The Cody segments were pointless. It was like they just wanted to get him on the show and that was it. They could have just put him in an interview segment where he calls Moose a coward for not showing up tonight or something like that and it would have been much better. Also, since Jeff's in the company now, is everyone going to carry around their GFW belts? One, they are ugly, and 2 they are GFW. If TNA is trying to become more successful, they need to distance themselves from GFW, which is a failure of its own.

I would have tried and used some of the other talents in some pre-taped segments where they explain how they will make Impact great. This would give them face time on the show and reduce the filler of bad segments. I would have had Lashley open up (without Prichard) and had him to do a promo about making Impact great how he's been doing it from his first day in the company. Then you could have Alberto come out (with better music) and challenge him. That brings out EC3. Then you can have Prichard come out, make a quick pitch on what he's going to do for the company (like 30 sec) and then set up a match between Alberto and EC3 with the winner challenging Lashley next week. I don't understand why writers are so bad at booking for future shows. Everyone wants to just give away stuff on that show (Okay, there will be a title match right now!) instead of promoting and selling a future episode to bring in new fans.

Anyways, I've been a fan through much worse things than this, so I'll continue to watch. I hope it gets better once they take the focus off of the management (and commentary) and put it on the talent where it belongs.

 

[Rosie]

I agree this episode was not very good. I am hoping it was because they were wanting to squeeze in as many "changes" as they can. Starting off with commentary, it was just plain awful. I had the exact same thoughts when The Pope was the saving grace of the announce team. I can't even stand Josh Mathews' voice anymore. It's okay to be a heel commentator and root for the heels, but if you're putting the attention on yourself, then you are doing your job wrong. JB was spending too much time on Josh as well and I hope that stops because I feel like he'll do a good job in this role. In general, I okay with a 3 man commentary booth. It allows 1 man to do play-by-play and the other two to play heel and face (not against each other, though). Honestly, I say get rid of Mathews, and move JB to the lead announcer role and make him the play-by-play guy. Have The Pope be the face color and bring in Spud as the heel color.

So the two segments with Bruce Prichard and Dutch Mantell, I didn't see the reason for both of them. I know that you're trying to show off "new" management, but all this time could have been used for other segments and matches (like the opening tag team match). Also while I'm at it, I don't understand why they needed so many WWE references. It's okay to mention them, but they probably said WWE more than Impact Wrestling. Your goal is to differentiate yourself not try to draw yourself closer.

The Wolves brawl at the beginning of the show just seemed odd placement and had no excitement to me. I would have moved it to somewhere in the middle of the show. Have someone getting interviewed backstage and then after the interview the wolves show up and are brawling, completely wrecking the set. They continue to destroy stuff all through the backstage area until they come out into the Impact Zone. That would have let the brawl build up a little bit before heading into the crowd.

The Cody segments were pointless. It was like they just wanted to get him on the show and that was it. They could have just put him in an interview segment where he calls Moose a coward for not showing up tonight or something like that and it would have been much better. Also, since Jeff's in the company now, is everyone going to carry around their GFW belts? One, they are ugly, and 2 they are GFW. If TNA is trying to become more successful, they need to distance themselves from GFW, which is a failure of its own.

I would have tried and used some of the other talents in some pre-taped segments where they explain how they will make Impact great. This would give them face time on the show and reduce the filler of bad segments. I would have had Lashley open up (without Prichard) and had him to do a promo about making Impact great how he's been doing it from his first day in the company. Then you could have Alberto come out (with better music) and challenge him. That brings out EC3. Then you can have Prichard come out, make a quick pitch on what he's going to do for the company (like 30 sec) and then set up a match between Alberto and EC3 with the winner challenging Lashley next week. I don't understand why writers are so bad at booking for future shows. Everyone wants to just give away stuff on that show (Okay, there will be a title match right now!) instead of promoting and selling a future episode to bring in new fans.

Anyways, I've been a fan through much worse things than this, so I'll continue to watch. I hope it gets better once they take the focus off of the management (and commentary) and put it on the talent where it belongs.

Well said. Most of it wasn't needed, and the WWE references are dumb af.

I'm not sure if I will tune in next week since it is most likely the same shit, but when the next tapings come, I hope they listen and learn.

P.S: The "Make Impact Great" catchphrase they have now is stupid. It should be "Make an Impact!" That way, it would be the good kind of cheesy.

 

[Crithu]

Well said. Most of it wasn't needed, and the WWE references are dumb af.

I'm not sure if I will tune in next week since it is most likely the same shit, but when the next tapings come, I hope they listen and learn.

P.S: The "Make Impact Great" catchphrase they have now is stupid. It should be "Make an Impact!" That way, it would be the good kind of cheesy.

Agree with catchphrase, and you're probably right about the tapings. If there is a big change from this episode it probably won't happen unail the next set of tapings.

 

[Stopspot]

A note that not everyone is talking about, is all the segments with guys like Pritchard and Mantel and everyone else talking about how everything used to suck. How bad everything was "back then".

Basically telling the fans, the loyal hardcore fans who have been with the company through everything, that the haters were right and they did suck for a long long time.

 

[Snowman1]

What an absolute failure of a show the Anthem debut wound up being. I miss Dixie

 

[RedDwarfTechy]

I wanted to give TNA a shot so I tried to watch one of their recent episodes.

Josh. Mathews.

So painful... ears bleeding...

I will NEVER complain about Otunga ever again

So i guess that's the plus side - tunga:

 

[Crithu]

There may be spoilers in this post BTW. I tried to avoid giving away too much in case you want to watch the show.

This weeks' episode was miles ahead of last weeks. The whole commentary feud, while still present, was dialed back a ton. They focused more on the in-ring action than the previous week. They did a better job of building up the new teams than they did last week.

All the matches this week were decent, especially the X Division match which I think was the match of the night. I hope they continue to build up the division and bring in more fresh faces to add more excitement. Also, we need some actual one-on-one feuds instead of random multi-man matches. A good storyline can make a good match even better and that's what we need moving forward.

LAX returning was pretty good. They came in and destroyed everyone and showed that they were a force to be reckoned with in the Tag Team Division. I wish they would have held off on crowning new champions for a little while to build up the new teams a little more. This would have allowed people to care a little more about the wins and losses in the upcoming tournament. Also, to me, a 4 team tournament is not as exciting. I would have gone with an 8 team tournament that way there is a little more uncertainty in the winner. You could have thrown DCC and Drake and Tyrus in there and would have only needed 2 more teams. Or you could have just used those 6 teams and had the final match be a 3-way match. Anyways, I hope the tournament turns out well.

 

[Jacob Fox]

I am giving Impact a chance simply because of my loyalty to Jeff Jarrett, but so far I can't say I am enjoying it at all. I mean, LAX coming back was pretty awesome. Honestly, I still wish Hernandez would have been with them.

Rome wasn't built in a day, though. I'll give them a chance and you can tell they are at least trying. But they have a LONG way to go and a lot of work to repair this company.

 

[RedDwarfTechy]

I am giving Impact a chance simply because of my loyalty to Jeff Jarrett, but so far I can't say I am enjoying it at all. I mean, LAX coming back was pretty awesome. Honestly, I still wish Hernandez would have been with them.

Rome wasn't built in a day, though. I'll give them a chance and you can tell they are at least trying. But they have a LONG way to go and a lot of work to repair this company.

Only one thing they need to do to win me back, the wrestling itself isnt bothering me - Mute/Fire Josh Mathews.

 

[Jacob Fox]

Only one thing they need to do to win me back, the wrestling itself isnt bothering me - Mute/Fire Josh Mathews.

Truer words have never been spoken

 

[Impactsona]

Spoiler: Future TNA Spoiler .

If I remember right, Josh is removed after his team loses .a match vs Borash;s Team

 

[RedDwarfTechy]

Spoiler: Future TNA Spoiler .

If I remember right, Josh is removed after his team loses .a match vs Borash;s Team

When is that happening? because i'll be watching non stop after that lol

 

[Jacob Fox]

Spoiler: Future TNA Spoiler .

If I remember right, Josh is removed after his team loses .a match vs Borash;s Team

That would be heaven

 

[RedDwarfTechy]

Watched the last episode, it was alright. The tag match was okay and the main event was okay too. But is it just me or is Trevor Lee give off a lazy vibe. I've seen Everett from his match with Shibata in RevPro.

All in all, a decent episode and like Crithu said, Josh wasn't hogging the mic so much this ep, can't wait to get him out of there though!