Impact is Terrible
 

Now, I should point out that I live in Scotland and I think the show we get over here is about two weeks behind you guys in the States, but I sat down and watched about half an hour of TNA on Tuesday night. I then went out and got drunk but I like to think that was more cause of it being my mates 25th birthday and not to do with the horrible TV I had just witnessed.

For a guy who claims that keeping a viewer interested is the key to good TV, Russo sure is coming out with shit that makes his old shit look not so shitty. I must have watched 30 minutes and I think I saw 4 minutes of wrestling. And two of those minutes involved this God awful Angelina Love/Velvet Sky/Wynter angle (I really hope whoever came up with this gets fired). As a side note, for two girls who were called the Beautiful People, Christ they look rough.

The other two minutes was a match between Sabin (a real talent) and the other guy in the Mexican America stable. As far as I'm concerned pre-match promos shouldn't last longer than the match.

The rest of the show was made up with terrible backstage segments (who care about Ken Anderson's truck and the line "I'm an asshole" is horrific). Why do the backstage interviews and segments look so bad in TNA?

To close though the point I turned off was when old man Sting and old man Hogan were rambling through an interview segment in the ring and then I find out that if I kept watching, I would be given the joy of watching Sting face Bubba Ray in the main event. With that kind of competition, Vince must be quaking in his boots.

This is a shocking revelation that has shook me to my very core.

I realise this is probably discussed regularly but I never realised just how bad things are now. Just that TNA marks are everywhere saying how great it is but compared to the WWE, it's just awful.

I watched a bit of it. it is getting into B-Movie territory where it's so bad and cheesy, it's entertaining.

So is a 20-car pileup, but that doesn't make it good.

If watching WCW circa 1997 is more interesting then yes, yes it is.

WCW 1997 was fantastic.

The sky is blue.

See wha i did thar

It's like they're trying to spend soooo much time developing characters, that they don't do... anything else.

Example: It's great that the whole point of Anderson's persona right now is that he's been screwed out of having a 1 on 1 rematch that is pretty much guaranteed in the mythos of wrestling ever since he lost the belt. We get that Sting is anti Bisch/Hogan since WCW/nWo. We get that Winter is supposed to be a female Raven of sorts, mind controlling a shemale she's obsess'd with for some reason by giving her "magical roofies" or somesuch shit, or that Karen Angle is becoming a monster heel at the expense of Kurt while Jarret is the pussy whipped husband, or that Morgan is the "next big thing"...

But, why should we give a fuck? The angles build to nowhere. We either get the same match 800 times with bullshit finishes, or they just inexplicably stop fighting and/or turn heel/face.

TNA needs to hire Charles Barkley to be the filter for creative.

<object style="height: 390px; width: 640px"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/TGw9N5DGT-Q?version=3"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/TGw9N5DGT-Q?version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="640" height="390"></object>

Depends who is in the pileup. :D

Seriously though (well, I was being serious, but I digress) the best thing you can do with TNA is fast forward through most of it, and watch the talent you know can deliver in the ring. Because, they DO have some real talent on he roster.

They just can't use it for shit.

You have to understand that when viewers aren't interested in what Russo puts on, he decides it's their fault, not his.

TNA literally gives me a headache when I watch it. I haven't had a sky subscription since the summer of 2004 (was a obsessive wrestling fan 1991-2004, even though wrestling lost it's glow for me after WrestleMania XV) and was pretty pleased at the prospect of having wrestling on freeview but bloody 'ell, what a shite sundae the show is. Even worse than WCW in it's dying days. The Winter/Love angle is absolute BOLLOCKS. That episode where Winter was screaming down the aisle at Love...I had to turn it over, it was that cringe-worthy. Mr Anderson and his little baseball cap can f-ck right off too.

I always get to these threads too late. I was going to post "grass is green," but now I can't...

I hope Ryan Clark picks up this story before it's too late.

ryan clark is a tna fanboy

Damn. Poor Ryan Clark, if only we knew sooner we could have warned him :(

My apologies, I was in a rush when I wrote that comment. What I meant was if you mean watching WCW circa 1997 minus the talent in the midcard, then yes it.

Agree with this thread. Everything they are currently doing is completely counter to what Bischoff did in the past that made WCW good. They really do need to cut the crap with the promos and return to a wrestling show where the majority of the storytelling is done in and around the matches. Otherwise they are just another version of WWE.

I might point something out here that I've mentioned before; I wouldn't be surprised if Russo was eventually fired.....not saying it would happen anytime soon, but his style of booking is not what will work to get TNA a better wrestling show, and I think Bischoff knows this. When WCW finally had some clear direction, it was a few years before it took off, so it is no surprise to me that Impact is still dominated by the Russo booking and not doing much better.

From what I hear Bischoff has no real say (I doubt this for one) and Dixie Carter still calls the shots and everything I see of her (Christ she's dull), leads me to think that she is a massive Russo mark and clearly knows nothing about the business.

The thing about TNA is that, while it IS illogical and a clusterfuck, it sustains its ratings for the most part. Unless they're doing something stupid with their timeslot, like going against the pro wrestling juggernaut that is WWE, they sustain a 1.0+ rating and are usually in the top 50-100 programs every week.

Clearly, they're doing something right. If their ratings were plummeting (it's currently trending downward, but nothing too bad right now), yeah, they'd be in bad shape. But they do pretty consistent numbers.

I assume they want to expand, and realistically they haven't expanded since the jump to Spike, and that's really the only entirely wrong thing they're doing from a public numbers perspective. And I'm sure PPV is tanking, but I doubt that was never a strong point for them.

So really, no matter how much we dislike the product, somehow they're succeeding in a sense.

Fuck what a Sheep pen we have here.

I like Bully Ray, everything else is fucking awful.

Oh finally a proper bite! Please, do extol the virtues of TNA Impact.

Virtues of a wrestling show? Does Raw have any virtues? Do any tv shows have virtues?

Tonight's show was a complete abortion of "creative" tv.

Bischoff and Russo should be ashamed for tonight's entire episode seriously. So the x division guys are non working punks now? God they just don't get that the x division put them on the map and is easily the best matches their company puts on.

I'm trying to get into it a little. I watched a lot of stuff from when Mr. Anderson debuted. That man could potentially be the best thing going in wrestling. He's just stellar as a character.

Raw is horrifically bland for the most part. TNA atleast has some substance to it's storylines and a mid-card scene. It's just not the phenomenon WWE is and I doubt it really ever can be. Smackdown has been the best wrestling show on a consistent basis for a while though. Way better than TNA.

Also, watching Impact right now... holy shit, the presentation is just awful. It's all over the place.

+ rep points. And how do I do that? I wanna rep you for that. This is how I feel sometimes about TNA. TNA can be shit but oftentimes good depending on the segments every week.

Click on the little http://tpww.net/forums/images/buttonsred/reputation.gif button under their name.

I seldom watch Smackdown so I'm not sure about that show, but I'd definitely agree with the rest of this.

I'm really starting to like Fortune, especially when Bobby Roode called out Hulk Hogan.

I didn't expect Tommy Dreamer joining the Immortal group when he piledrived AJ..

And I'm diggin the Mexican American alliance of Hernandez. VIVA LA RAZA LATINO!! Y PUTA AMERICANOS GRINGOS!! LOL. :P

Cause it doesn't make any fuckin sense.

I swear TNA try to make stupid shows on purpose. Just to piss people off. They could book solid shows with the talent they have. I've not watched an episode of TNA in about a year, but Sting vs Bubba Ray... *Facepalm*

Does anyone else notice the Network Hogan keeps rambling about how THEY are taking advantage over TNA? Really does sound like Raw's unknown GM plotline.. But instead of a computer, the network uses phone calls and letting the wrestlers announce it on air.. Cool storyline... At least, I don't have to hear another FUCKING STUPID, "I'VE JUST RECEIVED AN E-MAIL ON MY LAPTOP AND I QUOTE" SHUT THE FUCK UP, COLE!!!!

I would like that if I thought it was going to go anywhere but I can almost guarantee this will end up like when the nWo buried the Horsemen.

ONE GOOD THING I WILL SAY ABOUT IMPACT,




Ms. Tessmacher is fucking hot, hot entrance, and she was 100x better in the ring than I thought she would be.

I like how she purposefully drops her glasses in front of the referee and suddenly bends her ass over to his face and pick it up herself instead. :p

I am in love with Brooke Adams. I don't know how talented she may or may not be -- but her ass is always welcome on my television set.

There are so many problems with TNA. Basically, they over complicate shit to the point where even the things that do make sense, don't seem to anymore. For example: Dreamer has every reason to hate Fortune still (who are now faces). I have no problem with that. I don't know why he is aligned with Bully Ray, but whatever.

Also, don't hate on Ray. The man is DAMN good on the mic and DAMN good as a heel. And you know what -- the guy actually knows how to work, too. He might not be a brilliant technician, or anything like that, but he's competent, and one of the best characters TNA has.

But TNA basically needs to keep things simple. Don't have eight guys after the World Title at one time -- each with legitimate cases. Sting and RVD have a match set? Fine. Have Anderson do something to prove he deserves a title shot, and rap up this Angle/Jarrett stuff.

There's a market for straight-forward writing that actually gives it's audience wrestling. It's a shame no one is taking it.

Every time I watch impact, I am confused as to who the faces and who the heels are.

Wasnt that Russos whole concept at one point though, shades of grey or whatever, he didn't believe in faces or heels?

You can have complex characters without it being a clusterfuck.

That would take away from their "style". :roll:

Each Impact! taping just leads to more questions: Wasn't Shannon Moore feuding with Scott Steiner by pretty much being a disrespectful prick and teasing an Ink Inc breakup? Moore was clearly the heel. Suddenly, Steiner goes heel on Morgan, and the mohawk bros. are suddenly on the same page as faces against Mexican-America? And isn't Crimson supposed to be Amazing Red's brother? They haven't had association one since his debut except for matching ring attire- so why bother trying to bill him as the guy's blood if you're not going anywhere at all with it? Didn't Gen Me just split as a team? Now they're paling around with TBK and Amazing Red... are they the new Filthy Animals now? And most of all, will all this fucking change next month at the following Impact! tapings???

It's like they're flipping the bird to the people who are trying to give them a chance. "We'll teach you for wanting to like us!"

I tried to watch the episode s ondemand. The only two matches I got in the first hour was a female match and Pope vs An asian guy. It was decent. Everything else was talk. Hogan,bischoff, rvd, anderson, flair, matt hardy, bully ray, talk talk talk. Bully Ray was the only one that was entertaining. The backstage stuff was horrible. It s like the wrestlers aren't suppose to know that the camera guy is behind a corner filming or something. Even tho in one segment, samoa joe walks right by the camera. Also if you're gunna have Hogan as this authority figure, why not be creative and have him come out in a suit and be a major dick or something. He basically comes out and is being Hulk Hogan. He's trying to be a dick, but he just comes off as Hulk Hogan. How bout a different wardrobe or something. I probably won't watch another one. It was tough to get through.

I'm watching an episode now.

Looks like it might be after Lockdown

Styles come s down from the ceiling to do some serious talking.

Styles isn't horrible on the mic.

I'm half interested in Styles vs BULLY Ray cause they both can cut promos.

These guys are threatening to wrestle.

Bully Ray is too smart to get tricked into wrestling.

Cage match? No ref.

Test???

I thought Test was dead. Apparently he's Gunner now.

Two dudes just came out two talk some more

There might be a match here. I don't know.

Budweiser product placement

16 minutes in. tag title match. Not bad.

The steel cage has a random hole in it.

Beer Money won. Decent match.

Jeff jarret and this skank are riding a horse carriage. Pretty random.

Hogan coming out in Terry Bolea attire.

Yeah i've seen that, not sure what the point in a hole like that is for.

Hogan is suppose to be angry but comes out and plays a pipe like a guitar which leads to this gem by Mike Tenay. " while hogan plays to the crowd on his entrance, something tells me he is p.o' ed".

...

RVD seems like he shoots on Hogan sometimes. " A wrestler can't make a living just doing a leg drop Hulky".

Sting comes out now. Things are getting confusing.

I could take Hogan a little more seriously if he'd stop saying dude and brother.

32 minutes, one match, a ton of talking.

Funny backstage skit with Angle and done guy named Eric feeding horses beans. Pretty funny.

Female match. Mexicans. Fast forwarding

Jeff Jarret is marrying Kurt Angles wife. However that works.

Or something is about to happen. I think Jarrett is gunna do something bad.

she has good cans

Ehhhh

Anyways

Hogan and Anderson backstage overreacting

I don't think I can take much more

The only thing that matters in this thread is what kareru posted on post #41.

I'm going to reword your comments just a little here to better illustrate a point that I feel is sometimes missed with TNA. It isn't that TNA is doing something right, it's more like they aren't doing anything terribly wrong. There is a difference here; they've managed to get themselves in a position where they have a sustainable viewership that is relatively low, but sustainable. At the same time, unless they do something very right, that viewership will not see an increase in numbers. It unfortunately hasn't since I can remember and has remained in the lower 1's on average. Take this for what it is....if you look at history, only big changes came when something was done very correctly.

I find it funny in the grand scheme of things that TNA averages the same numbers ECW did, and ECW did it without advertising outside of their own timeslot- hell, without any network help whatsoever- while TNA is being treated as a flagship show.

Yeah, I know there are a bunch of other factors about other things, including the station name change, but this still amuses me.

To stick a camera in the hole.