Rebook it: TNA iMPACT January 4th, 2010

**Swiss Ultimate** · 03-29-2014, 06:14 PM

RECAP: It was the first Monday iMPACT, it was when everything was supposed to change. Hogan's first appearance in TNA, Ric Flair and Jeff Hardy's return...(also Bubba the Love Spong and the Nasty Boys for some stupid reason). The results were...less than exemplary.

Promised:
The X Division in the Steel Asylyum,
ODB challenging Tara for the Knockout Title,
Rhino vs. Abyss in a barbed wire match,
and Beer Money vs. British Money in Full Metal Mayhem

Delivered:
Clusterfuck in a red cage + Jeff Hardy
ODB and Tara
TAYLOR WILDE & SARITA vs. AWESOME KONG & HAMADA
RAVEN & DR. STEVIE (w/Daffney) vs. HERNANDEZ & MATT MORGAN
DESMOND WOLFE vs. "THE POPE" D'ANGELO EINERO
ABYSS vs. SAMOA JOE
A.J. STYLES vs. KURT ANGLE

WTF?

You talked about it as it was happening and after:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stealth-Icon

Besides seeing Jeff Hardy show up, i didn't care for the other old geezers showing up. Kurt vs. AJ was a great match, but they obviously won't be doing that every week.

Tonight I thought that they had better "wrestling" matches, but it remains to be seen if they can keep that up.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xero

They brought in a bunch of jobbers and old fucks. I don't see how anyone can see that as "good" outside of Jeff.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xero

The cage match ended in a DQ.

THE CAGE MATCH ENDED IN A DQ.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beauser

The cage match was bullshit. I kind of wonder if they quickly realized what an awful way to start a show, and ended it quick. It was hard to see what was going on inside the cage most of the time.

If I ever hear Mike Tenay say "historic" one more time, I'll crush his throat myself. I stopped counting at 20.

Hall had to be drunk.

The Nasty Boys...well, they'd make great jobbers for the Dudleys. Thats about it. I remember them wrestling in like 94 starcade or something. They were awful, fat, sweaty slobs. Although, they were the Dudleys of the early 90s. I remember having a Brian Knobbs figurine.

Hogan...well, we knew they were going to do some sort of nWo angle. It will be him talking shit, with his hounds doing the dirty work. He'll probably work 1-2 matches a year. If that.

It was a decent show, I watched it much more than Raw. Thank god for Picture-in-Picture, I was able to switch over at the Bret Hart spots.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dorkchop

I bet it's going to take TNA all year just to pay off last night's expenses.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Schlomey

cuz the nasty boyz charge so much for a quick appearance.

Quote:

Originally Posted by erickman

flair an hardy probly cost something big.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Schlomey

some prescription pills & a new fancy divorce lawyer....certainly I jest.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigDaddyCool

TNA is such a joke.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DTTS

TNA had some good points but, they buried the X Division, confused the audience with the whole NWO thing and Hogan/Jarrett angle. They did a lot of stuff that was sort of like, "wink, wink". Them ripping up the "format" and replacing it with a "format" was dumb. They should have played it like they were going to let it all hang loose, just go crazy.

Paul Heyman had nothing to do with the show. RVD was not there.

:/

Quote:

Originally Posted by DTTS

Jeff Hardy going to TNA is mind bogglnig.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xero

You hear that? That's the sound of a WrestleMania payout going out the window.

And that's the sound of TNA taking a pretty big risk in bringing him back, even though he may be sent up the river.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DTTS

Scott Hall gained some weight. Still love him.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DTTS

I thought they were being silly with Sting in the rafters...

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Show Off

RAW

The Good:
--Any moment Bret was on screen.
--The Miz coming along as quite a good worker.
--Randy Orton/Kofi Kingston match

The Bad:
--Hornswoggle, Hornswoggle, Hornswoggle.
--Chris Jericho continually being made to look like a bitch.
--The overall blandness of the show.

The Ugly:
--As always the WWE runs a "pretty" show, if not bland.

IMPACT!

The Good:
--AJ/Angle putting on a great match and Hogan flat out calling them the best wrestlers in the world.
--Pretty much every winner of a match was a TNA home grown talent.
--Teasing but not giving away a face to face confilt between Foley & Hogan or Sting & Hogan.
--The big night feel of the show.
--Hogan actually establishing that "You have to be in it 4 Real" indicating a serious willingness to victory.

The Bad:
--Homicide going from bad ass to laughing stock in a matter of a minute. Not being able to get out of the Steel Asylum might be a very talented Homicide's "Shockmaster" moment, which would be a shame.
--Jarrett not being established as either a heel or face... Tweener for him just won't do.
--Too many commercial breaks.
--I don't recall one time TNA mentioning when you can normally watch Impact, a big over sight.

The Ugly:
--Going up against Raw shows how low budget TNA looks.
--The Steel Asylum is too blocky for proper viewership.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Narcissus

The gave way too much camera time to the Nasty Boys. I mean, Jesus.

Quote:

Originally Posted by NoRoolz

Is Hogan meant to be tweener? It seems like he's going for the 'I'll do whatever I want' type boss, where sometimes he'll do stuff and be cheered, sometimes he'll do stuff we won't like.

I enjoyed Impact a lot more than Raw, I always do though.

Impact was good, but could have been a lot better.

RAW:

Good: Everything with Hart.

Bad: Divas.

Ugly: Just how out and out boring the show is. And how terrible the crowds are. This isn't really specific to this RAW though. Although it's a shame the crowds aren't hot like the late 90s early 00's - imagine a Bret return with one of them crowds.

IMPACT

Good:
- The quality of the matches, AJ/Kurt especially.
- The debuts, unexpected ones like Val Venis.
- The huge feel of the night.
- The crowd, aside from way over-doing the 'THIS IS AWESOME' chants. They're passionate and it's nice to see the bundle at ringside bouncing around in excitement after a 'big move'.

Bad and Ugly mixed into one:
- The lack of clarity TNA often has. Distinguishing who's heel and who's face. Hogan/Jarrett/Foley
- Following up from that, the Bobby Lashley segment. WTF, was that a heel turn?
- The Steel Asylum match. Awful finish. And, like someone else said, you can barely see what's happening in the ring, the bars of the asylum are far too thick.

SPOILER: show

Now rebook it.
Make it not terrible (Noid). You can leave off all of Hogan's posse if you choose, but you have to keep Hogan in there because he was the one advertised thing and the reason for the dumb move to Monday.

**Lock Jaw** · 03-29-2014, 06:53 PM

I will maybe make a more detailed post later, but for now I will say this...

I definitely would have opened the show with Kurt Angle. Pretty much act like he had just jumped ship. Hype up his own legitimacy and talk about how he came to TNA to face the very best, etc.

Than have AJ Styles come out and talk about his own (TNA) legitimacy... And for Kurt to bring it on, etc... The challenge is thrown and accepted.

Hype it up the rest of the night with vid packakges about both men, etc...

**James Steele** · 03-29-2014, 06:57 PM

They should have cut out all the debuts besides Hardy, Flair, and Hogan. They should have done a shitload of video packages highlighting the X-Division,superstars, and rivalries. I also would have had Foley, Taz, and Tenay as a 3-man announce team.

Change the X-Division clusterfuck cage into a 1 on 1 Ladder Match for the X Title to open the show. At the end of the match, Hardy jumps the rail and challenges the new heel X-Division Champion. It ends up being a brawl which ends with the champ taking a powder and Hardy sending a message by doing a swanton off the ladder onto the babyface left in the ring.

Then, you tease Hogan.

Video highlighting Knockout's division and hyping Tara and Kong.

Awesome Kong def. Tara

Interview with Ric Flair backstage and he hypes about the great wrestling and how he wants to be watch the main event of Angle and Styles in person.

Hype Video
Abyss def. Raven in a 10-minute bloody brawl.

Interview with Kurt Angle

Hype Video
Desmond Wolfe def. Samoa Joe

Hype Video hyping Sting's run in TNA that many may have missed.

Interview with AJ Styles

Hype Video over Tag Team Division
Beer Money def. Team 3D and MCMG in a Triple Threat Tornado Tag.

Hype Video over Angle and Styles
Ric Flair joins commentary.

Hulk Hogan debuts and does ring introductions.

AJ Styles vs Kurt Angle wrestle to a time limit draw.

Flair and Hogan give standing ovation and get in ring to celebrate with both men. Kurt Angle goes a long with a bit before snapping and attacking all 3 men with a chair. Eventually, AJ Styles gets the upper hand and AJ stands tall in the ring with Flair and Hogan as heel Kurt Angle looks pissed off on the ramp as the show comes to a close.

**James Steele** · 03-29-2014, 06:59 PM

Open with an adrenaline rush and close with a hot ending that makes people wonder where it will go next. In between is all about hyping your goods.

**Swiss Ultimate** · 03-29-2014, 07:16 PM

My solution would have been simple.

Open the show with Hogan entrance, promo, out comes Sting, promo, out comes Flair, promo, out comes Foley, promo. This takes about 10-15 minutes, but for the casual viewer tuning in to see Hogan this highlights all the familiar faces etc.

Hogan makes a match for the Main Event Sting and Foley VS. Flair and AJ Styles (C), then sits at the announce table to do color with Taz.

First match is a Beer Money VS. Motor City Machine Guns. No clue who the champs were at this point, but start off with a good match and let Hogan sell the guys.

Next, Kurt Angle comes out for a promo where he lays down an open challenge to the X Division. Homicide comes out says he wants it, then Amazing Red comes out and demands the match. Three-way ensues. 15 minute match with several near pinfalls and then the lights go out, Raven, Brother Ray, Brother Devon and Dr. Stevie are in the ring beating down Kurt Angle. Jeff Hardy hits the ring with a chair, nails Raven, Stevie and Team 3D retreat.

Hogan makes a match for the ppv, selling it hard, ECW VS. Kurt Angle, Jeff Hardy, Homicide and Amazing Red in an ECW street-fight.

Next up Samoa Joe comes out and destroys Suicide in 15 seconds. Magnus comes out and the two have a proper match with Joe winning via choke.

Pope comes out for a promo. Mr. Anderson comes out and the two promo it up a bit. No match set, but again the fans see Mr. Anderson and Pope talking.

Next up Rhino Vs. Matt Morgan. Rhino wins a shortish match, but after the match Abyss comes to the ring, the two fight, Abyss pours thumbtacks on the mat but Rhino rolls out of the ring.

Diva promo, Hogan sets up a Diva battleroyale at the next PPV, again selling the PPV hard.

Jeff Jarrett comes out complains about Hogan being on the show to the crowd. Kevin Nash comes out says he needs to go. On the spot retirement match, Jarrett retires in the ring to a Jacknife powerbomb, gives his TNA retirement speech.

Main Event, everybody makes AJ Styles look golden, Foley gives Socko to Flair, both get knocked out of the ring and AJ Styles defeats Sting in the highest rated TNA iMpact ever.

**Swiss Ultimate** · 03-29-2014, 07:29 PM

Simple.

**SlickyTrickyDamon** · 03-29-2014, 07:37 PM

My rebook is simple.

The show happens on January 7th.

**Swiss Ultimate** · 03-29-2014, 07:59 PM

Ick, clusterfuck on a Tuesday is just...wrong.

**Shisen Kopf** · 03-29-2014, 08:05 PM

I'd have all the rasslers wear masks and no-one knows who anyone else is and everyone is put into a mask vs mask battle royal. Thats a good idea 8/10

**Swiss Ultimate** · 03-29-2014, 11:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shisen KOTF

I'd have all the rasslers wear masks and no-one knows who anyone else is and everyone is put into a mask vs mask battle royal. Thats a good idea 8/10

Even the announcers should wear masks. And promos should be made with voice manipulators.

TOTAL EQUALITY! WOOOO!

**Swiss Ultimate** · 03-30-2014, 04:12 PM

Seriously though, when I said my idea was simple, I was really meaning to refer to the solution of Hogan. A lot of people were tuning in JUST to see Hogan on TV again. Hogan on commentary with a few spots where he uses his authority to make matches and promote the PPV would have been awesome and I'm someone who doesn't like Hogan particularly or at all even.

The way they introduced him was stupid, should have given the fans Hogan early and throughout the entire show. Definitely should not have given him creative control and the ability to bring in his friends.

Also, I really miss the 6 sided ring. Trading that for the 4 corners was a waste of money TNA didn't have to spend.

I think Hogan could have been good for TNA if used properly, but we all saw how that went. Even the biggest Hogan marks didn't get what they wanted out of the whole deal.

The strategy should have been airing the big familiar names/faces alongside homegrown TNA stars. Having AJ Styles go over Sting on a night where a lot of WCW fans were watching would have been cool for his character.

Pushing Samoa Joe hard, displaying their best most exciting wrestling with Beer Money VS. MCMGs, Show off the X-division by having Homicide and Amazing Red going toe-to-toe with fucking Kurt Angle and bringing in Jeff Hardy at the same fucking time.

**Lock Jaw** · 03-30-2014, 04:55 PM

Opening the show with anyone but Kurt Angle is a bad idea. People who regularly watch WWE, and knew who Angle was, would have immediately been like "Yes! Kurt Angle! I miss that guy!"

Of course, Raw opened with Bret Hart returning to the WWE for the first time since 1997 and confronting Shawn Michaels, which is pretty damn huge... so not sure if TNA could have done ANYTHING to draw viewers away from that.

Even opening with Angle would have just been like "Ah, damn, Kurt Angle is out first. Sucks that I have to miss him, but I CAN'T miss this on Raw"

**Lock Jaw** · 03-30-2014, 05:03 PM

Would have had a video package off the top, and then had RAW on in the back. Would have had Hogan and Angle both ready to go out depending on what was kicking off RAW.

Since Bret/HBK kicked RAW off, I would have sent out Hogan to put over the company and get interrupted by whoever their biggest heel was at the time. Hogan could maaaybe pull some viewers away from Bret/HBK.

If anything other than Bret/HBK opened up the show, I would have opened with the Angle/Styles segment I described above and saved Hogan for the top of the hour.

**Lock Jaw** · 03-30-2014, 05:07 PM

I also definitely would have made a bigger deal out of Jeff Hardy rather than just have him basically show up and do nothing. Although the dude was having a myriad of legal trouble at the time, so not a HUGE main event deal or anything. Still have him involved in the X-division stuff and use him to put over that division. Give a promo where again he puts over the company being the place to find the best competition.... refer to the X-division guys as "living in the moment" like him, so naturally he wants to fight them.

Dude was a big star when he left WWE, let him do more than come out and sit quietly on a cage while the announcers go "JEFF HARDY IS IN THE IMPACT ZONE!!!"

**Swiss Ultimate** · 03-30-2014, 05:16 PM

By 2010 Kurt Angle had dropped in prestige significantly. Don't get me wrong, having him involved is cool, but the people who were tuning in were there specifically to see Hogan. If they wanted to watch Kurt Angle, how many of them really didn't know by this point that he was in TNA?

I definitely agree he should have been utilized heavily, but Hogan was the draw and the reason for the poorly thought out move to Monday.

Opening the show with Hogan and putting him on commentary with promises of big stuff and having him, Flair, Sting and Foley in the ring at the same time would have meant something special that night for old school fans. Booking them in a "huge" main event with TNA World Champion AJ Styles would keep some of the old school fans flipping back and forth between Raw and iMPACT potentially. (Though yeah, again if they hadn't moved it, the show would have mattered more).

Hogan should have been on the mic the whole night like an infomercial trying to sell TNA to new fans, and the first match would have been one of the hottest things going on in TNA at that point. Beer Money and MCMG were fantastic together and uniquely TNA, how badass of a sell would it have been to have a "5 star match" with Hogan just praising the fuck out of the product? Between a hot crowd and Hogan, fans might have thought TNA was better in quality than what was going on in the WWE.

**Swiss Ultimate** · 03-30-2014, 05:23 PM

Also, Jarrett retirement would have been beautiful. Crowd loved him at this point and he could have played a role as a good manager.

**Lock Jaw** · 03-30-2014, 05:23 PM

In the end, though, Hogan was not a wrestler, and Angle was. As their most recognizable and big star, he should have been the one to be heavily featured throughout the night.

Sure, a lot of fans knew he was there and didn't care to watch... but that was on a whole other day when a lot of them would be like "I already watched enough wrestling this week". Being on Monday was like a giant reset switch, though, and a lot of fans who had never given it a chance on a different day would be like "Well, I'm already here in front of my TV to watch wrestling anyways..."

**Swiss Ultimate** · 03-30-2014, 05:32 PM

I get that, which is why I thought what ACTUALLY happened was so bad. Hogan's appearance and role wasn't good for anybody.

I'm all about pushing Kurt Angle to the fans, but I don't agree it needed to be from the start, (they could have shown a picture of him when they were announcing the can't-miss lineup.)

"Olympic Hero Kurt Angle will be laying down an open challenge to the High flying High impact X-Division later in the show."

Of course, we both know TNA didn't know what to do with Kurt since the very beginning when they wasted the opportunity they had with Samoa Joe.

**SlickyTrickyDamon** · 03-30-2014, 06:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DTTS

Ick, clusterfuck on a Tuesday is just...wrong.

Can't happen on Tuesday. The tractor beam and Photon Torpedoes are being installed.

The wrestling would have happened on a Thursday.

**Swiss Ultimate** · 03-30-2014, 06:35 PM

It probably would have worked out better.

**SlickyTrickyDamon** · 03-30-2014, 06:40 PM

Yeah but SpikeTV needed a lead in to advertise Blue Mountain State and old episodes of Entourage (On Tuesday)

**Swiss Ultimate** · 03-30-2014, 06:59 PM

Hogan could have just done some promos for the network. You know? Instead of making TNA the worst it had been for a long time.

**SlickyTrickyDamon** · 03-30-2014, 07:25 PM

How'd that turn out for the WWE when he debuted launch of the "WWE Universe"?

**Swiss Ultimate** · 03-30-2014, 08:29 PM

I honestly don't know. I personally can't imagine Hogan significantly helped or hurt it.

**Rollermacka** · 03-30-2014, 10:44 PM

Cody Deaner vs Murphy in a match where the only way to win is to climb a ladder, get a key, escape a cage, and drive to an abandoned warehouse then design and make a completely new and innovative shirt that you must make then sell 50 of them to the audience live that night on Impact....

... Now that would equal ratings (and the winner of this match would then automatically become both the X Division and Knockouts champions)

**Swiss Ultimate** · 04-04-2014, 11:23 PM

I make half my threads for Noid and he rarely shows up.

**DAMN iNATOR** · 04-05-2014, 02:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DTTS

Ick, clusterfuck on a Tuesday is just...wrong.

Especially if they happen on PPV (This Tuesday In Texas, Taboo Tuesday...).

03-29-2014, 06:53 PM	#2
Lock Jaw Skibbidy Lock Jaw Posts: 88,874	I will maybe make a more detailed post later, but for now I will say this... I definitely would have opened the show with Kurt Angle. Pretty much act like he had just jumped ship. Hype up his own legitimacy and talk about how he came to TNA to face the very best, etc. Than have AJ Styles come out and talk about his own (TNA) legitimacy... And for Kurt to bring it on, etc... The challenge is thrown and accepted. Hype it up the rest of the night with vid packakges about both men, etc...

03-29-2014, 06:57 PM	#3
James Steele TPWW's HHH Mark Since '04 Posts: 29,886	They should have cut out all the debuts besides Hardy, Flair, and Hogan. They should have done a shitload of video packages highlighting the X-Division,superstars, and rivalries. I also would have had Foley, Taz, and Tenay as a 3-man announce team. Change the X-Division clusterfuck cage into a 1 on 1 Ladder Match for the X Title to open the show. At the end of the match, Hardy jumps the rail and challenges the new heel X-Division Champion. It ends up being a brawl which ends with the champ taking a powder and Hardy sending a message by doing a swanton off the ladder onto the babyface left in the ring. Then, you tease Hogan. Video highlighting Knockout's division and hyping Tara and Kong. Awesome Kong def. Tara Interview with Ric Flair backstage and he hypes about the great wrestling and how he wants to be watch the main event of Angle and Styles in person. Hype Video Abyss def. Raven in a 10-minute bloody brawl. Interview with Kurt Angle Hype Video Desmond Wolfe def. Samoa Joe Hype Video hyping Sting's run in TNA that many may have missed. Interview with AJ Styles Hype Video over Tag Team Division Beer Money def. Team 3D and MCMG in a Triple Threat Tornado Tag. Hype Video over Angle and Styles Ric Flair joins commentary. Hulk Hogan debuts and does ring introductions. AJ Styles vs Kurt Angle wrestle to a time limit draw. Flair and Hogan give standing ovation and get in ring to celebrate with both men. Kurt Angle goes a long with a bit before snapping and attacking all 3 men with a chair. Eventually, AJ Styles gets the upper hand and AJ stands tall in the ring with Flair and Hogan as heel Kurt Angle looks pissed off on the ramp as the show comes to a close.

03-29-2014, 06:59 PM	#4
James Steele TPWW's HHH Mark Since '04 Posts: 29,886	Open with an adrenaline rush and close with a hot ending that makes people wonder where it will go next. In between is all about hyping your goods.

03-29-2014, 07:16 PM	#5
Swiss Ultimate Amazon Affiliate Posts: 42,694	My solution would have been simple. Open the show with Hogan entrance, promo, out comes Sting, promo, out comes Flair, promo, out comes Foley, promo. This takes about 10-15 minutes, but for the casual viewer tuning in to see Hogan this highlights all the familiar faces etc. Hogan makes a match for the Main Event Sting and Foley VS. Flair and AJ Styles (C), then sits at the announce table to do color with Taz. First match is a Beer Money VS. Motor City Machine Guns. No clue who the champs were at this point, but start off with a good match and let Hogan sell the guys. Next, Kurt Angle comes out for a promo where he lays down an open challenge to the X Division. Homicide comes out says he wants it, then Amazing Red comes out and demands the match. Three-way ensues. 15 minute match with several near pinfalls and then the lights go out, Raven, Brother Ray, Brother Devon and Dr. Stevie are in the ring beating down Kurt Angle. Jeff Hardy hits the ring with a chair, nails Raven, Stevie and Team 3D retreat. Hogan makes a match for the ppv, selling it hard, ECW VS. Kurt Angle, Jeff Hardy, Homicide and Amazing Red in an ECW street-fight. Next up Samoa Joe comes out and destroys Suicide in 15 seconds. Magnus comes out and the two have a proper match with Joe winning via choke. Pope comes out for a promo. Mr. Anderson comes out and the two promo it up a bit. No match set, but again the fans see Mr. Anderson and Pope talking. Next up Rhino Vs. Matt Morgan. Rhino wins a shortish match, but after the match Abyss comes to the ring, the two fight, Abyss pours thumbtacks on the mat but Rhino rolls out of the ring. Diva promo, Hogan sets up a Diva battleroyale at the next PPV, again selling the PPV hard. Jeff Jarrett comes out complains about Hogan being on the show to the crowd. Kevin Nash comes out says he needs to go. On the spot retirement match, Jarrett retires in the ring to a Jacknife powerbomb, gives his TNA retirement speech. Main Event, everybody makes AJ Styles look golden, Foley gives Socko to Flair, both get knocked out of the ring and AJ Styles defeats Sting in the highest rated TNA iMpact ever.

03-29-2014, 07:29 PM	#6
Swiss Ultimate Amazon Affiliate Posts: 42,694	Simple.

03-29-2014, 07:37 PM	#7
SlickyTrickyDamon Quark is Less Impressed. Posts: 38,371	My rebook is simple. The show happens on January 7th.

03-29-2014, 07:59 PM	#8
Swiss Ultimate Amazon Affiliate Posts: 42,694	Ick, clusterfuck on a Tuesday is just...wrong.

03-29-2014, 08:05 PM	#9
Shisen Kopf They're eating the dogs.. Posts: 27,469	I'd have all the rasslers wear masks and no-one knows who anyone else is and everyone is put into a mask vs mask battle royal. Thats a good idea 8/10

03-30-2014, 04:12 PM	#11
Swiss Ultimate Amazon Affiliate Posts: 42,694	Seriously though, when I said my idea was simple, I was really meaning to refer to the solution of Hogan. A lot of people were tuning in JUST to see Hogan on TV again. Hogan on commentary with a few spots where he uses his authority to make matches and promote the PPV would have been awesome and I'm someone who doesn't like Hogan particularly or at all even. The way they introduced him was stupid, should have given the fans Hogan early and throughout the entire show. Definitely should not have given him creative control and the ability to bring in his friends. Also, I really miss the 6 sided ring. Trading that for the 4 corners was a waste of money TNA didn't have to spend. I think Hogan could have been good for TNA if used properly, but we all saw how that went. Even the biggest Hogan marks didn't get what they wanted out of the whole deal. The strategy should have been airing the big familiar names/faces alongside homegrown TNA stars. Having AJ Styles go over Sting on a night where a lot of WCW fans were watching would have been cool for his character. Pushing Samoa Joe hard, displaying their best most exciting wrestling with Beer Money VS. MCMGs, Show off the X-division by having Homicide and Amazing Red going toe-to-toe with fucking Kurt Angle and bringing in Jeff Hardy at the same fucking time.

03-30-2014, 04:55 PM	#12
Lock Jaw Skibbidy Lock Jaw Posts: 88,874	Opening the show with anyone but Kurt Angle is a bad idea. People who regularly watch WWE, and knew who Angle was, would have immediately been like "Yes! Kurt Angle! I miss that guy!" Of course, Raw opened with Bret Hart returning to the WWE for the first time since 1997 and confronting Shawn Michaels, which is pretty damn huge... so not sure if TNA could have done ANYTHING to draw viewers away from that. Even opening with Angle would have just been like "Ah, damn, Kurt Angle is out first. Sucks that I have to miss him, but I CAN'T miss this on Raw"

03-30-2014, 05:03 PM	#13
Lock Jaw Skibbidy Lock Jaw Posts: 88,874	Would have had a video package off the top, and then had RAW on in the back. Would have had Hogan and Angle both ready to go out depending on what was kicking off RAW. Since Bret/HBK kicked RAW off, I would have sent out Hogan to put over the company and get interrupted by whoever their biggest heel was at the time. Hogan could maaaybe pull some viewers away from Bret/HBK. If anything other than Bret/HBK opened up the show, I would have opened with the Angle/Styles segment I described above and saved Hogan for the top of the hour.

03-30-2014, 05:07 PM	#14
Lock Jaw Skibbidy Lock Jaw Posts: 88,874	I also definitely would have made a bigger deal out of Jeff Hardy rather than just have him basically show up and do nothing. Although the dude was having a myriad of legal trouble at the time, so not a HUGE main event deal or anything. Still have him involved in the X-division stuff and use him to put over that division. Give a promo where again he puts over the company being the place to find the best competition.... refer to the X-division guys as "living in the moment" like him, so naturally he wants to fight them. Dude was a big star when he left WWE, let him do more than come out and sit quietly on a cage while the announcers go "JEFF HARDY IS IN THE IMPACT ZONE!!!"

03-30-2014, 05:16 PM	#15
Swiss Ultimate Amazon Affiliate Posts: 42,694	By 2010 Kurt Angle had dropped in prestige significantly. Don't get me wrong, having him involved is cool, but the people who were tuning in were there specifically to see Hogan. If they wanted to watch Kurt Angle, how many of them really didn't know by this point that he was in TNA? I definitely agree he should have been utilized heavily, but Hogan was the draw and the reason for the poorly thought out move to Monday. Opening the show with Hogan and putting him on commentary with promises of big stuff and having him, Flair, Sting and Foley in the ring at the same time would have meant something special that night for old school fans. Booking them in a "huge" main event with TNA World Champion AJ Styles would keep some of the old school fans flipping back and forth between Raw and iMPACT potentially. (Though yeah, again if they hadn't moved it, the show would have mattered more). Hogan should have been on the mic the whole night like an infomercial trying to sell TNA to new fans, and the first match would have been one of the hottest things going on in TNA at that point. Beer Money and MCMG were fantastic together and uniquely TNA, how badass of a sell would it have been to have a "5 star match" with Hogan just praising the fuck out of the product? Between a hot crowd and Hogan, fans might have thought TNA was better in quality than what was going on in the WWE.

03-30-2014, 05:23 PM	#16
Swiss Ultimate Amazon Affiliate Posts: 42,694	Also, Jarrett retirement would have been beautiful. Crowd loved him at this point and he could have played a role as a good manager.

03-30-2014, 05:32 PM	#18
Swiss Ultimate Amazon Affiliate Posts: 42,694	I get that, which is why I thought what ACTUALLY happened was so bad. Hogan's appearance and role wasn't good for anybody. I'm all about pushing Kurt Angle to the fans, but I don't agree it needed to be from the start, (they could have shown a picture of him when they were announcing the can't-miss lineup.) "Olympic Hero Kurt Angle will be laying down an open challenge to the High flying High impact X-Division later in the show." Of course, we both know TNA didn't know what to do with Kurt since the very beginning when they wasted the opportunity they had with Samoa Joe.

03-30-2014, 06:35 PM	#20
Swiss Ultimate Amazon Affiliate Posts: 42,694	It probably would have worked out better.

03-30-2014, 06:40 PM	#21
SlickyTrickyDamon Quark is Less Impressed. Posts: 38,371	Yeah but SpikeTV needed a lead in to advertise Blue Mountain State and old episodes of Entourage (On Tuesday)

03-30-2014, 06:59 PM	#22
Swiss Ultimate Amazon Affiliate Posts: 42,694	Hogan could have just done some promos for the network. You know? Instead of making TNA the worst it had been for a long time.

03-30-2014, 07:25 PM	#23
SlickyTrickyDamon Quark is Less Impressed. Posts: 38,371	How'd that turn out for the WWE when he debuted launch of the "WWE Universe"?

03-30-2014, 08:29 PM	#24
Swiss Ultimate Amazon Affiliate Posts: 42,694	I honestly don't know. I personally can't imagine Hogan significantly helped or hurt it.

03-30-2014, 10:44 PM	#25
Rollermacka Gets Hardcore in the gym Posts: 4,565	Cody Deaner vs Murphy in a match where the only way to win is to climb a ladder, get a key, escape a cage, and drive to an abandoned warehouse then design and make a completely new and innovative shirt that you must make then sell 50 of them to the audience live that night on Impact.... ... Now that would equal ratings (and the winner of this match would then automatically become both the X Division and Knockouts champions)

04-04-2014, 11:23 PM	#26
Swiss Ultimate Amazon Affiliate Posts: 42,694	I make half my threads for Noid and he rarely shows up.