What do you think of the changes?

[noumenon]

So it's been a few weeks since the Hogan/Bishoff era as started up in TNA and already we've seen some changed implemented in the company. I know it's a little soon to tell how all of this will pan out in the long run, but so far what do you think of the changes that have been made?

Personally right off the bat I'm all for the four sided ring. I was a bit skeptical at first that it would take away from the charm of TNA, but I think it's done quite the opposite. Hogan called the 6 sided ring a "play pen", which at first kind of put me off... but honestly, I think he was right. Watching iMPACT with the four sided ring just seemed right in a way. It seems more official and for the first time ever while watching iMPACT I felt as if I was watching a "big show" if that makes sense.
The changes to the iMPACT Zone are also great. The place looks awesome, lots of new screens everywhere, a new entrance ramp elevated to the ring and stage set. Now if we could only get TNA to be broadcast in HD everywhere.


TNA has always been a clusterfuck of story lines but as of right now, I really think it's working out great. For the past 3 weeks iMPACT IMO has been pretty awesome and by far the best all around wrestling show on TV. Sure they aren't putting on a solid hour of wrestling every night, but their non-wrestling parts of the show are pretty damn entertaining. Contrary to what people thought, "The Band" and other new additions to the company are running around squashing existing talent. Everyone who should be getting pushed ATM is.
Another thing that I find great about TNA right now, THERE IS NO SUPERMAN CHARACTER! Everyone is booked to look like a fucking human being. No one is getting the monster unstoppable push and looking unbeatable to everyone on the roster. They're pushing and elevating people so that it looks as if on any given night anyone could beat anyone.

 

[Kizza]

Agreed, especially with the ring. Seen so much bitching about changing from the six sided ring, but if TNA are trying to convince us that they are the wrestling alternative to the WWE, it's probably best to stick to a wrestling ring, not some flashy hexagonal ring.

 

[LKP]

To be honest what Ive seen since Jan 4th has been very good. A step in the right direction and i think pushing Matt morgan with the tag titles for now is a good wise idea. By the summer he will be main eventing trust me on that. How long is it going to be though until all the hype has settled down and hogan and flair have their wrestling attire on? That is when tna will start going down hill in my opinion. Do not try to hard to get in viewers. It has its fall backs and they will be expecting it every week. Plus if TNA can get Paul heyman writing the storylines or as a manager for someone im all for it.

 

[Kizza]

Hogan will not wrestle more than one match, if at all. And it would only be against Sting, Nash or Hall.

 

[LKP]

Hogan vs sting at BFG i bet you. And sting wtf is he doing perving from the rafters? Do something stinger.

 

[Kizza]

I see Sting getting involved with AJ/Flair, with Sting confronting AJ/Flair about turning to the dark side and how AJ has destroyed Sting's trust in him yada yada feud Sting wins title again cos he's gay.

 

[noumenon]

LOL...yup. Though I also don't think we're going to be able to avoid the Sting confrontation with Hogan/Nash/Hall/Pac. Either way, I think all of the above are going to be pretty awesome to see happen.

 

[Kizza]

The next step is moving away from Orlando.

 

[Nation]

Bischoff needs to stop making fucking Daniels and Young job.

 

[JurassicBonez]

The changes so far have been alright. I didn't want to see the 6 sided ring go, but that's not a big issue. I hate thought that they got rid of the double sided entrance way. The ramp going straight into the ring is pretty cool looking though.

The new additions are iffy for me. Morely playing the face while Daniels plays the heel is dumb. The fans want to cheer Daniels so let them. His last promo, he was getting cheered the whole time and had to insult the fans in order to get cheap heat at the end. Keep the Nasty Boys out of the ring 3 weeks out of 4 and they will be alright. The Band isn't too bad right now either. They don't have any titles yet and aren't burying any talent. Plus they are keeping them interesting by showing distrust between them and Hogan, and then Hall/Waltman-Nash. And so far, Flair with Styles is golden.

I can't stand Bubba the Sponge though. Keep him off the tv. His segments last night were horrible. AND there were more than one. And the guys wanting a bigger role? Fuck that.

Another positive is the way they have iMPACT end now. They leave you wanting more. Like this week, Kurt quitting, Hogan being questioned on whether he had anything to do with the screw-job, and Bischof coming from the back bloody and firing Foley. It's great.

Over-all, the products pretty good. Some tidbits here or there but it's great. I don't turn from it at all when I watch.

 

[PeepShow]

Hogan will not wrestle more than one match, if at all. And it would only be against Sting, Nash or Hall.

Nah

You know there is eventually going to be a Hogan/Flair match down the line. Flair even hinted it last night.

As for the product, I'm liking it quite a bit atm. In my mind, I'm almost thinking that I'm enjoying it for the nostalgia, but idk. I think the product overall is good and everything is interesting to a certain extent. Kurt Angle just seems to step up his game more and more each week and last night was one of his best ever. The whole AJ/Flair combo I'm enjoying so far, so hopfully they continue w/ it for a while and not dump it w/in a month like they do w/ a lot of the stuff they do. Everything in the company though as I said is interesting at least and keeps us wondering where they are going to go from here. In the WWE, you pretty much know what's going to happen to a certain extent. It's just boring.

 

[Quintastic One]

I probably won't be able to remember all the changes that have happened but I'll do my best to comment on as much as possible.


4 Sided Ring:
I'll be honest, I didn't even notice the change when I watched Impact last night. It just felt normal and natural. I like the Japanese Style ramps connecting straight to the ring though, that's a nice touch.

Storylines:
Everyone is flip flopping from face to heel to tweener back to a different alignment again so quickly I can't keep up with who's who. Is the World Elite dissolved completely? Is it still around and just not being used? Am I supposed to see Bischoff or Foley as the bad guy here? Is Kurt Angle in the right or in the wrong? Where does Hogan stand in all of this? Far too many questions. Not enough answers. And if we know WCW booking then only more questions will be brought up with only half answers put out for the previous questions.

Roster Changes:
Losing Knockouts & X Division Stars: BAD THING. I don't care what anybody thinks. Losing Alissa Flash & Awesome Kong and the rumor of more X Division Guys leaving, is NOT good.

Mr. Anderson: He's having a fair program with Abyss right now. He beat him with Brass Knuckles, but Abyss beat him down on Impact. I like that Abyss still has something to do. So win or lose no complaints here.

Orlando Jordan: I thought I'd be more pissed about this guy being here. But he looks good. Seems to of sharpened his skills by alot and he's still young enough to actually provide some entertainment in TNA for a while.

Sean Morley: Val Venis in TNA? Good Thing. Jobbing out Daniels to him? Bad thing.

Scott Hall & Sean Waltman: Waltman can still work a good game, and Hall can still cut a damn good promo. Together as a team, they can help reduce the pain of what they lack on either end of the spectrum. But I wish they'd hurry up and explain what the fuck is going on with them.

The Nasty Boys: Jerry Saggs actually looks to be in decent shape for his age. Brian Knobs on the other hand looks like the Michellen Tire Baby. They didn't put on a horrible match against Young and Nash, and they sold offense pretty well. And Team 3D got some retribution. So it might not be such a bad thing here. But it's certainly obvious that they only have a job because of Hogan.

 

[noumenon]

Storylines:
Everyone is flip flopping from face to heel to tweener back to a different alignment again so quickly I can't keep up with who's who. Is the World Elite dissolved completely? Is it still around and just not being used? Am I supposed to see Bischoff or Foley as the bad guy here? Is Kurt Angle in the right or in the wrong? Where does Hogan stand in all of this? Far too many questions. Not enough answers. And if we know WCW booking then only more questions will be brought up with only half answers put out for the previous questions.

That's one of the things I love right now. Why shouldn't it be open ended? Why does someone have the be the good guy and someone be the bad guy? Not everything is completely black and white. I love when shit like this happens when the fans can get completely torn down the middle. Awesome booking IMO. I wish WWE did more shit like that instead of everything being so clear cut and fuckin boring.

Also the older talent is being used perfectly at the moment. They didn't make a mad dash for the belts and they sure as hell aren't squashing young talent. Daniels losing to Morely isn't that bad. As I said before, TNA aren't booking any super men here. Everyone seems to be on a level playing field and on any given night anyone could beat anyone. It adds some shock value and surprise to the product IMO. TNA are doing a lot of things correctly right now, simple shit that WWE ignores. Sure, Kong is a huge blow to the Knockout division, but let's say WWE picks her up. Is that really going to make WWE's Diva's division any better?

Oh, and one little nit pick... I preferred the new logo, didn't think bringing back the old one was necessary.

 

[xtremebadass]

I like the new TNA for the most part.

Sean Morley definitely needs more air time.

 

[He who knows more than Nation]

The good: Went back to a traditional ring. After a few weeks of some sheer garbage things are starting to come together. Ric Flair giving some legitimacy to AJ Styles and saving everyone from AJ having to wrestle out of his mind to substantiate his spot. Old school WCW ramp is sweet. The possibility that Eric Young is done is nice as well, just have Orlando Jordan take the strap off of him and rename it the TV title (umm, sorry, Global is a stupid name, especially if you have a "world" title) then have Pope take it off of him, as he's been a bright spot.

The bad: Ken Anderson. YUCK. The Nasty Boys, double YUCK. The failed follow up on Tomko .The continuous re-hash of angles from years past in other promotions. Why the fuck is Sting back in the rafters? He's been talking like fuckin Mr. Ed for the last four years. Why the fuck is Val still a porn star? That shit got old fast 10 years ago, give him a new dimension or character. And especially WHY THE FUCK ARE THEY DOING A SCREW JOB?? Especially when the E is running an angle on the ACTUAL EVENT WITH THE PEOPLE WHO WERE ACTUALLY IN IT?? I mean, seriously, come the fuck on, that was the dead rat to top off the can of rotten garbage that was TNA Impact last night. (It's ok, i read the spoilers and know things get a bit better)

The Ugly: Possibly pushing the wrong people out the door. They just lost Cheerleader Melissa, Raisha Said of whatever the fuck they call her now, Awesome Kong, whom to me, is hands down the best and most entertaining female worker on the planet could be on her way out in favor of some Hogan cocksucker Radio DJ, and Daniels, and Homicide are out of favor already. Why? They're supposed to be pushing the young talent, and they have to an extent, but why did Pope lose to the biggest no-namer last night, how did Daniels go from headlining a PPV to jobbing to the WWE king of jobbers in Val, and the X-division is still being played down? And its rumored a bunch of those X guys want out, things aren't really all that great in Orlando. I don't get it.

Wrestling is in a sad state right now, and if it wasn't for the awesome possibilities of what the WM card can shape up to be and me hoping that TNA can do what it hasn't been able to do in many years, and that is to entertain me beyond awesome matches with a few awesome wrestlers, I'd just be youtubing what matches I want to see. I wish I hadn't watched the first airing last night, because as awful as Raw was on Monday, I didn't feel half as stupid for watching that as I did Impact. And yes, I've read the spoilers for the next few shows and things look promising, but as of right now, this very moment, the new direction fails. Epically.