The SmarK Rant for TNA Impact – 08.30.12
I’m on a bit of a time crunch today, so I might have to zip through some stuff I would otherwise cover in more detail.
Live from Orlando, FL
Your hosts are Mike Tenay & Taz
Austin Aries, who thankfully has his belt back after a real life theft attempt, starts us out by recapping the Aces & Eights attack from last week. He doesn’t need to be medically cleared to FIGHT. Well, most UFC fighters would disagree with that, but I’ll go with it. And he’s left-handed. Nice touch. Aries throws out the challenge to the Aces, but Hogan and Sting answer instead. Sting’s got a weird half-Joker half-Crow facepaint thing going on tonight. Hogan pledges their total support to Aries tonight. The Aces show up on the screen, and they’re not going to be dictated to.
Meanwhile, ODB remains bored and horny.
Bound For Glory Series: James Storm v. Rob Van Dam
Storm works a headlock to start as Tenay announces that the winner of the Series gets to choose his opponent in the semi-finals. Storm holds on through a suplex attempt from RVD, and they trade spinkick attempts before Storm puts him down with a forearm for two. They slug it out and Storm stomps away in the corner, but Rob kicks him off the apron. He follows with a dive and we take a break. Back with Rob hitting the dragon whip kick or whatever he calls it. Springboard kick and Rolling Thunder get two. Storm comes back with a DDT for two and follows with the Eye of the Storm helicopter slam for two. Rob fights back with a monkey flip, but a second try is met with a superkick for the pin at 11:08. Slick finish. ***1/4 Rob was looking pretty winded at the end, but then he’s getting old for that style.
Madison Rayne v. ODB
Madison was assuming that this would be her Knockouts title rematch. Clearly not. ODB spits the moonshine in her face and destroys her with the F5 at 0:20. This brings Eric Young back, and he’s got fried chicken! And a suit, which has ODB thrown off. So he gets rid of it, and the happy couple is reunited again.
Meanwhile, the World tag team champions of the World meet with Hogan & Sting, and they want to reiterate that they can’t be fired. Hulk notes that payback and revenge are still coming from AJ, but for the moment they’ll defend their titles when and where they’re told.
Bound For Glory Series: Samoa Joe v. AJ Styles
Joe throws kicks and gets nowhere, and Styles dodges him and bails. Back in, Joe powers him down, but Styles pops up with a headscissors out of nowhere, only to run into an elbow. Joe misses a charge and hurts the knee, so AJ goes to work on it and tosses Joe…but lands on a VICIOUS kick when he tries a dive. Tremendous. Back in, Joe goes to work with the kneedrop for two, and the powerslam gets two. AJ fights back and gets chopped down, and Joe counters another headscissors attempt into the STF. AJ reaches for the ropes, so Joe wraps him up in a Rings of Saturn instead. AJ uses his foot to make the ropes instead. Joe misses a senton and AJ gets the springboard forearm to make the comeback. Pele Kick and he rolls into a cross armbreaker, but Joe is in the ropes. Joe blocks a charge with the uranage, which is never not awesome, but AJ reverses the choke into a rollup for two. Another rollup gets two, but this time Joe gets the choke. AJ counters that into the armbreaker, but Joe rolls him over for the pin at 8:07. That’s why Joe used to be my favorite wrestler once upon a time. Great TV match, with crazy counters and both guys smartly going for the submission points. Joe WANTED the submission, but took the pinfall because he had the chance. ***1/2
Gut Check: Kris Lewie gets JUDGED. Taz says no because TNA is above his head, Bruce says he’s got a great backstory, but the business isn’t for him, so it’s a no, and we don’t even get to hear from Snow this time. I like that they changed it up! And I totally agree, he was all promo video and then cacked it in the ring. Joey Ryan continues protesting from ringside, and this time takes a shot at Al Snow before running away. Funny that they gave out contracts like candy, but Ryan is the only guy making TV.
Meanwhile, Joseph Park asks Hulk for permission to investigate the Aces & Eights, much like he investigated his brother, Chris Park, you know, Abyss. KAYFAB!
Bound For Glory Series: Kurt Angle v. Jeff Hardy
Winner continues on, and the loser is eliminated from the Series. Angle takes him down with an armbar and Hardy recovers with his own before Angle pounds him in the corner. Hardy puts him on the floor with a headscissors and follows with a dive (to the narrow side, yikes!) and takes over back in the ring. And we take a break. Back with Hardy hitting the legdrop and dropkick for two. Angle escapes the Twist and fires off the german suplexes as Hardy folds like a ragdoll. Angle Slam is reversed into the Twist of Fate for two. He’s doing it more like a stunner now, which I like. Swanton gets two. Angle comes back with a belly to belly and PERFECT Angle Slam for two. Hardy is just letting Angle throw him around and it’s great. Anklelock, but Hardy rolls him up for two and hits the Twist into the swanton…for two. Seemed like that would have been the finish. Angle grabs the ankle again, but Hardy fights out and goes up again, fights off Angle’s superplex and another swanton finishes at 11:36. So Angle is done. ***1/2 This leaves us with Storm, Samoa Joe, RVD, Bully Ray, AJ Styles and Hardy still with an outside shot if he wins next week.
Austin Aries comes out to face the Aces’ challenge, and Hogan brings out the backup just in case. The leader is clearly being played by D-Lo Brown, at least this week. So the Aces send out a big guy, and Aries takes him out, which leads to the giant brawl again. Aries isolates the big guy and tries to unmask him, but a new guy comes in and lays him out with a blackjack. Bad couple of weeks for Aries.
The Pulse
After what I thought was a mis-step last week, this was an awesome show to rebound and never felt like it dragged at all. On the other hand, the PPV is only a week away! We don’t even have a main event yet! So, you know, there’s always stuff to work on.
Wonder who the leader is, with Joe and Bully both out at ringside while he was watching.
ReplyDeleteA motivated Joe is still one of the best, if not the best, wrestlers in the world. I'm really, really hoping for a Joe v Aries match because that would be awesome.
ReplyDeleteIf they start building the promotion around Samoa Joe again I will give them my money.
ReplyDeleteRVD can't be getting old! Because he was the newish young guy when I was in high school so if he's getting old that...means...I'm...... NOOOOOOOOOOO
ReplyDeleteMy only two issues:
ReplyDelete1) Needed to advance the Aces & 8's storyline better
2) Who in the world is rassling at the PPV?
Joey Ryan is a godsend! The guy is is just fun to watch and he has not even wrestled a match.
ReplyDeleteKris Lewie was terrible but I am surprised TNA did not give him a contract just to put themselves over as a company that cares about putting people to work, If this were a WWE Gutcheck, Linda McMahon would have arrived into the arena and handed the guy a contract and take a photo op with his family.
Aces and 8's is chugging along but what can you do. I am not against Jeff Jarrett being the leader because it makes sense. I am getting headaches hearing the crazy choices from Jeff Hardy to Dave Batista.
I don't like the idea of Joe being the leader. I rather have him be his own man. Hopefully we see Aries vs Joe, but I would not recognize their ROH past and just create it as their very own feud.
Devon is gone. Hopefully the TV title is buried for good. It was useless.
You know, I've heard that a lot, I don't know how old you are but I think some people might be overreacting to getting older and hitting your 30's. I mean, nowadays, 30's are the new 20's.
ReplyDeleteI did like Bruce Prichard shouting GUTCHECK. It was like an ode to Vince McMahon.
ReplyDeleteSting had the same make-up last week.
ReplyDeleteThat segment with Daniels and Kazarian explaining themselves to Hogan and Sting was so amazing. Iron clad contracts!
ReplyDeleteI feel bad for D'Lo Brown. He has that weird shaped head that it is a total giveaway.
ReplyDeleteI'm almost 29. That was mostly tongue-in-cheek. I know I'm not really old.
ReplyDeleteNot when you have kids!
ReplyDeleteMeh, would rather they build around Styles/Aries.
ReplyDeleteI sure do hope the fifties are the new forties then.
ReplyDeletethe TV title is taily made for Robbie E.
ReplyDeleteOOOOOOOH, you aint on the list bro!
I'm 24 and I'm starting to feel ancient with some of the guys reaching or having reached retirement.
ReplyDeleteAnother good thing that's happened since Russo has been turfed that a lot of wrestlers are motivated again in putting great matches.
ReplyDeleteKAYFAB is the best thing EVAH.
ReplyDelete"Fried chicken and lovin'" is pretty good, too. Like I said in the live thread, this week's Impact is why we rave about it. Good in-ring action, non-insulting storyline development, no one is over exposed, and inoffensive and often amusing comedy segments.
I'm not a TNA fan, but I can't help but notice the growing trend of Scott enjoying this show week after week.
ReplyDeleteSince Joe and the main A&8 guy were both present at the same time, that might kill the idea of Joe being involved, at least directly on screen. The big guy looks like he could be Joe, so unless they got a doppelganger, that guy ain't Joe.
ReplyDeleteso why wouldn't you give it a chance then, instead of declaring that you're not a fan?
ReplyDeleteI'm only two years younger than you, but it's been nearly 20 years since I first heard of RVD. Whether that's a side effect of being an Apter mag geek at a young age or just the fact that even as a guy in his 20s, I'm old in spirit, I'll let you judge.
ReplyDeleteI've given it a chance so many times in the past that I really just gave up, respectively. Plus, I'm such of a long time WWF/E fan, so that plays a role as well. If I happen to run across an episode of Impact, I may check it out, but I'm in no hurry to do so.
ReplyDeleteSee I thought it was Bully Ray in the first promo, but then maybe D-Lo later on? It was definitely Samoa Joe 2 weeks ago.
ReplyDeleteThat's because they're actually allowed to wrestle again.
ReplyDelete"Taz says no because TNA is above his head..."
ReplyDeleteThere's a lot of things above Taz' head. OH TAG!
9 year old me thought Robbie V was gonna take WCW by storm
ReplyDeleteIt's funny how anti-WCW I was back in the day. I'd watch it because I loved wrestling, but I was so pro-WWF. I didn't care that WCW was the better show, or that they had the better talent, I'd watch a Raw main event of Skip and Marc Mero and be furious if anyone talked shit about it...
ReplyDeleteNow I'm cheering for TNA.
I don't know, when athletes who are close to your age retire or start showing age it makes you feel terrible about yourself.
ReplyDeleteI'm Kobe Bryant's age and have been following the Lakers so when people mention that he's the elder statesman of the league and is a worn out old dog without a hint of irony I feel bad about myself. I'm years older than Andy Roddick and he'll be retiring from tennis any day now so that feels like crap.
This also makes college sports hell to watch. The freshman kid playing quarterback was not even born when I was already a real person with actual ideas and stuff. Shoot me now.
And yeah I know that real life wise 30s is young and you have 40 years to finish your life's work and athletics/wrestling bear no resemblance to the real world but it doesn't make it FEEL any better.
It bugs me that it's already happening to me before I'm 30, but it is. It's funny because I love indie wrestling, and yet if I look at a good number of the wrestlers on the rosters of most companies, I'm older than them, I'm bigger than them, I'm stronger than them, and I probably make more money than them. So it really takes away from that "hero worship" thing that people used to have with wrestling.
ReplyDeleteI was just like you, MrMaye, longtime WWF/E fan dating back to before the Monday night wars, attended a few TNA shows here and there, watched it when it happened to be on but never really got into it.
ReplyDeleteThat said, you really should check it out because it's a fast two hours with some great matches that you don't get on Raw most weeks... and it's now found a permanent spot on my DVR. Also will likely purchase Bound for Glory, which would be a first for me.
I can respect that, however, I'm not going to go out of my way to watch Impact. If I run across it, I may take a look, but don't count on it, lol. I'm only being honest.
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean. It's astonishing how well-run TNA is right now. If Joseph Park was a break-out character in WWE, he'd be featured in a sextillion different segments on RAW and Smackdown like AJ. Instead, TNA shows him in short bursts and the audience still loves the character.
ReplyDeleteIs this TNA turnaround all Bruce Prichard and no Vince Russo? It's incredible!
Ah! The dreaded W-word! 8 )
ReplyDeleteThat's assuming they let Park breakout in the first place, which likely wouldn't happen because he doesn't have the look to get hired there.
ReplyDeleteI don't know who's behind it but they really just simplified things. Guys wrestle matches because winning matters. Guys want to win. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. Sometimes it gets personal. A guy won the title because he's really good, albeit sneak and will cheat to keep it if he has to...and another guy has been dominant for a year. Let's see what happens when the face one another....seems simple, but WWE and Russo can't seem to leave it at that - Roode would have had to hit on Aries wife to kick off the feud, during which Aries wife would have turned on him because she was banging Roode all along. Which would then turn out to be a setup to fool Roode somewhere down the line. Then after all of that Aries would finally win the title, then lose it in a 3 way without being pinned and forgetting all about the title a month later.
I even like Hulk Hogan in his role right now. He shows up and talks about everyone and their titles as if it's really important and serious business. I suspect he has a hand in going back to basics. I don't think he was ever stupid, he knows wrestling. He just tended to do what was best for himself regardless.
At this point the only one who could be the masked leader is Abyss and I'd be fine with that if that's going to be his character reboot.
ReplyDeleteThe question is who the higher power is. That's still in doubt and could still be anyone.
I think the BFG Series Final will main-event the PPV. TNA has no credible World Title challenger available right now because of the stipulation of last month's main event, so the BFG Series Final works as a main event.
ReplyDeleteI think I read somewhere that the Gutcheck winners get development deals. That would explain why they voted no on Joey Ryan because he's ready now and they're doing an angle with him. Kris Lewie was blown-up on the post-show last week after that 2 or 3 minute match, so I'm glad he wasn't signed. He doesn't have the stamina to wrestle even a short TV match.
TNA has put on consistently good shows since Pritchard took over as booker last year following Bound for Glory. Under Russo, the TV show could be entertaining in a train wreck sort of way, but the PPVs were usually awful. Under Pritchard, the TV show has moved at a slower pace and the matches have gotten plenty of time and the PPVs have usually been good to great. TNA did have an off month in March this year, but that was due to the transition from Russo to Lagana as the writer and the show really picked up once Lagana got comfortable in his role. Lockdown (except the main event) was the one PPV that just didn't click in this era of TNA.
I'm willing to accept Garrett Bischoff as a part of the show because Eric Bischoff is doing a great job in his role as Executive Producer. I believe Hogan and Bischoff probably had a role in running Russo out of TNA and in the new direction for the company. It took them a few years before they finally figured things out in WCW and the same thing seems to have been the case in their TNA run. I think we can probably attribute the mistakes of the Monday Night period and Immortal to Hogan and Bischoff's lack of familiarity with what they had to work with in TNA.
By stronger you mean you're capable of drinking more without dying, right?
ReplyDeleteanyone else noticed rvd looked FUUUCCCKED up on something...
ReplyDeleteI just finally got through Raw, and couldn't help but notice that AJ was getting booed as she was making her announcement of the Night of Champions main event.
ReplyDeletethat actually is what makes me enjoy college sports now.. a guy like colt mccoy was young enough to not be in high school when i was, so there was no underlying resentment that he went on to run the Horns..
ReplyDeleteLoved Hogan telling them to go do their JOBS
ReplyDelete3 killer matches for free, not much to complain about this week.
ReplyDeletei think the earlier in the show van dam is booked, the more baked he will be.
ReplyDeleteto be fair: this is only what guys who are 30 (or older) say.
ReplyDeleteit's Vince.
ReplyDeleteHardy has more than an outside chance next week. If he pins Samoa Joe next week, he's in. Unless RVD and Bully conspire to go to a draw and both take 2 points to shut him out.
ReplyDeleteStyles is the one with the outside shot. He needs Joe to beat Hardy, and either RVD or Bully to get DQed. Since they didn't even bother bringing him out to hype up next week, that probably ain't happening.
I think Bully's chances are based on if he signs his contract or not.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, good show tonight. They need some new Knockouts though.
I still have the weird feeling that it's Abyss.
ReplyDeleteThey NEED the TV belt for second-tier wrestlers that don't fit in the X Division. If anything, they should give it to Bully Ray (if he reigned) and have him working with mid-card talent every week.
ReplyDeleteThat too. But no seriously I know damn well some of the really egregiously small guys couldn't outlift me in the gym.
ReplyDeleteDvr
ReplyDeleteWelcome to the party...pal!
ReplyDeleteSeriously, it really makes you feel old when the kids of the guys you grew up watching are the stars now, or just starting to get used. Like Cody, Ted Jr, Ritchie Steamboat, Dakota Darsow, Tamina, Natty, etc. Nothing like watching and saying "I remember watching his/her dad main event a show".
Another huge difference between TNA and WWE: its willingness to have its top stars lose clean. Styles and Angle both looked at the lights tonight, but you think that weakens them in anyone's eyes? No.
ReplyDeleteSimple yet effective.
ReplyDeleteBut is it more iron clad than Big Show's?
ReplyDeleteMcDonald's is tailor made for Robbie E.
ReplyDeleteAw guys, it ain't so bad. RVD was 6 when he was in ECW.
ReplyDeleteHehe. What's funny is I read about him having a big match against Sabu in 93 and it mentioned that RVD was going into hiatus and considering retirement. So in my head he's always been simultaneously really old and young in spirit.
ReplyDeleteIf the rumours are accurate, I imagine he is just trying to get a sweeter deal. He knows he's a big part of the show, and he's really one of the best heels in wrestling. I doubt he'd want to go back to the WWE, but you never know.
ReplyDeleteYou'd think that the LATER in the show, the higher the baked-ness...
ReplyDelete