First Ever TNA Match On Spike TV Announced

[Sadistic]

The following is a press release:

A "PHENOMENAL" START FOR TNA ON SPIKE TV

AJ Styles to compete in first match on iMPACT!

Nashville, TN (September 22, 2005) - It will be a phenomenal start for TNA Wrestling's debut of "iMPACT!" on Spike TV on Saturday, October 1. TNAwrestling.com has learned X Division Champion AJ Styles will kick-off the show in the first match.

In a website poll, TNA Wrestling asked fans who they wanted to see in the first bout. The masses overwhelmingly voted for Styles, who earned nearly 60 percent of the votes.

TNAwrestling.com has also learned that "The Phenomenal One" will face newcomer Roderick Strong in the opening bout on Spike TV in a match that will truly showcase the high-flying, daredevil, X Division action fans can expect to see in the coming months.

TNAwrestling.com will post more major announcements in the upcoming days about the debut of "iMPACT!" on Spike TV.

Check back tomorrow for news on the TNA "iMPACT!" return of a free-agent star!

[Nervous Ferret]

ughughughugugh

edited------------------


cool :cool:

[redoneja]

cool

[SuperSlim]

hmmm sounds cool

[Sadistic]

They're going to go all out with this match. It will make present day WWE matches seem so shit.

[Nervous Ferret]

So Sadistic, do you pretty much hate the world?

[Sadistic]

I like TNA :D

[Joey Slugs]

sounds like a good beginning for the upstart TNA.

[Kane Knight]

AJ styles will be a great way to kick shit off.

[PureHatred]

I :love: AJ. F you people who say he's a spot-fest.

[vampiro03]

this is where all the "i love tna" comes in and MARK MY WORDS in two months the same people will say "tna sucks the show lacks quality" bla bla bla. im not hoping for much, I expect the show to be mediocre. not blazing super exciting stuff. I don't know seeing flying elvises kind of puts a bad taste in your mouth

[Kane Knight]

Well, I've been one of the naysayers, and even I'm willing to give them a shot.

[McLegend]

AJ FUCKING STYLES

Can't wait for this

[thecc]

Thats awesome to see rod strong in the first tna match on spike. If this is anything like their ring of honor match from 7/16 then it should be a great one.

[The One]

I didn't have a doubt in my mind about AJ being in the first match. He is the personification of TNA, and having the X-Division be the debut of national exposure to TNA is only logical. Now I personally would have had Styles take on Jerry Lynn...but hey I guess this will be good too.

[The One]

Oh, and TNA still hasn't been delivering on the goods latly, but they seem to be investing some top dollar into making this work, so why not have some high hopes for it.

[Funky Fly]

God damn, this will be nuts.

People will tune in until they fuck it up with Jarrett going over half the locker room with the finger poke of doom.

[Innovator]

Their match at Fate Of An Angel was the best match on the card, it should be a money match

[JH]

this is where all the "i love tna" comes in and MARK MY WORDS in two months the same people will say "tna sucks the show lacks quality" bla bla bla. im not hoping for much, I expect the show to be mediocre. not blazing super exciting stuff. I don't know seeing flying elvises kind of puts a bad taste in your mouth


dumbass the flying elvises ended almost 3 years ago

and besides yang was in the flying elvises and jimmy yang is f'n awesome

[The One]

Estrada wasn't bad either...and actually Siaki was decent back then as well.

[JH]

estrada was good and siaki was good in the ring til his injury and he has'nt been the same since

[Loose Cannon]

I loved Siaki when he had the X Belt and was in S.E.X.

[Mr. JL]

I like the fact that AJ Styles will be in the first ever match on TNA's Spike TV debut but I wonder about the opponent. Now, I know from being a smarky-internet fan that Roderick Strong is a pretty good wrestler and that these two will have a great match but I think they should have chosen another opponent. The casual fan will have no fucking clue who either one of these two guys are. It will just be some two guys that the fans do not yet know beating each other up for a belt.

Now if they put AJ Styles up against someone who has had previous national exposure and someone who the fans reconize, like Jeff Hardy. Immediately people will reconize Jeff Hardy and stay tuned because he is someone familiar. Now if AJ Styles could defeat Jeff Hardy, then instantly I believe the fans will take more notice of the win and of AJ Styles.

[Mr. JL]

I like the fact that AJ Styles will be in the first ever match on TNA's Spike TV debut but I wonder about the opponent. Now, I know from being a smarky-internet fan that Roderick Strong is a pretty good wrestler and that these two will have a great match but I think they should have chosen another opponent. The casual fan will have no fucking clue who either one of these two guys are. It will just be some two guys that the fans do not yet know beating each other up for a belt.

Now if they put AJ Styles up against someone who has had previous national exposure and someone who the fans reconize, like Jeff Hardy. Immediately people will reconize Jeff Hardy and stay tuned because he is someone familiar. Now if AJ Styles could defeat Jeff Hardy, then instantly I believe the fans will take more notice of the win and of AJ Styles.

[Kane Knight]

Oh, come on. Booking a nobody will be an awesome way to draw in fans.

[Destor]

They are all nobodies to the average viewer. As long as they get it done in the ring it wont matter.

[The One]

Destor...the point of the Hardy/Styles idea was every fan of the Attitude Era (dare I say a good 95% of wrestling fans right now) know Jeff Hardy as the most extreme risk taker ever (not I title I would defend, I am saying for a mark POV) and even the most casual TNA fan has seen at least one AJ Styles match, so to have Styles go over Hardy in the first match on Spike would be huge as both casual TNA fans and casual wrestling fans on a whole would know at least one of them, and then on top of that, we know Styles and Hardy have good matches together, and with Styles' way of moving in the ring, it would be like Hardy passing on the tourch to Styles in the eyes of all the "Team Extreme" marks left over from 1999-2001. That having been said this move isn't like they will be on Prime Time on NBC, even to catch the eye of old fans they would need to flip though to Spike TV at just the ring time to see it anyway.

[Kane Knight]

They are all nobodies to the average viewer. As long as they get it done in the ring it wont matter.

Bullshit. AJ styles has made a minor name for himself outside the smarks. People like Hardy and Raven ARE well known.

[Destor]

I The casual fan will have no fucking clue who either one of these two guys are. It will just be some two guys that the fans do not yet know beating each other up for a belt.
I was more or less addressing this opposed to Jeff Hardy, Raven, etc. Allow to clarify, weather it be Strong or Abyss or any other Johny b. bad these guys are going to have to get over sometime so it might as well be the first show, imo, the average wrestling fan will not no A.J. Styles (imo) nor 80% of the locker room. And maybe that can be a good thing, I believe the wrestling audience is ready for some new blood.

As far as promoting the likes of a Jeff Hardy or a Raven it would (again imo) make the TNA look as if they are just picking up the WWE's scraps. To promote new young talent is probably the wisest choice.

[Londoner]

Sounds good about AJ debuting, they should've asked the fans who his opponent would be aswell, ah well.

[Kane Knight]

I was more or less addressing this opposed to Jeff Hardy, Raven, etc. Allow to clarify, weather it be Strong or Abyss or any other Johny b. bad these guys are going to have to get over sometime so it might as well be the first show, imo, the average wrestling fan will not no A.J. Styles (imo) nor 80% of the locker room. And maybe that can be a good thing, I believe the wrestling audience is ready for some new blood.

As far as promoting the likes of a Jeff Hardy or a Raven it would (again imo) make the TNA look as if they are just picking up the WWE's scraps. To promote new young talent is probably the wisest choice.

Building people up on your first show isn't exactly a great idea. You want to attract people with names before you...You know...Throw nobodies in there.

[Destor]

But if you build it as new wave of wrestling (new style, wrestlers, gimmicks, shampoo, etc) you don't want established, you want... well new. Like I said originally, if they put on a five star match it wont matter, provided they are still booking themselves as wrestling and not sports entertainment. (I hope that hasn't changed.) I understand your logic, put someone they know on TV so people wont turn the channel, but if the match is good enough it wont matter. I'm only expecting a 1.5 at best anyway. (raitings wise)

[The Gooch]

I hope they find success with this move to Spike, but I must admit the first time I saw TNA it was very hard to get past the low production value as opposed to the WWE. I love wrestling so I'm willing to look past it, but will casual fans be as forgiving.

[vampiro03]

I hope they find success with this move to Spike, but I must admit the first time I saw TNA it was very hard to get past the low production value as opposed to the WWE. I love wrestling so I'm willing to look past it, but will casual fans be as forgiving.

thats what I was trying to say. no, I don't order wrestling for $10 per week to keep up with it, but when I did see it, all I saw was midgets, flying elvises, and bad gimmics that make Boogey man look interesting. If Russo isn't involved it will probably be cool. I hope it is, but I'm not getting my hopes up too much.

[The Naitch]

damn I wanted X-pac vs. Jarret as the main event

[McDoogle]

An eightball of yayo says TNA won't last that long.

[Mr. JL]

An eightball of yayo says TNA won't last that long.
with my addiction I am going to have to hold you to that