Is Impact* the best wrestling promotion in history? *(Now TNA again, 2024)

[sek69]

On 9/10/2019 at 10:37 PM, hammerva said:

It is strange that Impact has tried everything in the book to get back in New Japan's graces.   And New Japan wants literally nothing to do with them it seems.  Now since they gutted AXS TV  with Anthem guys and girls, they may have no choice

 

New Japan has wanted nothing to do with Impact since Okada went their on excursion and they made him do a Green Hornet gimmick, among other things. Ever since, Impact has been the ex boyfriend trying to woo back the girl that couldn't make it more obvious they want nothing to do with them. 

To be far to Impact, no one who was in charge back then is still around and it's not like New Japan doesn't know anything about Don Callis since he worked with them. It's just a Japanese business culture thing that once you piss someone off they're dead to you forever. 

Impact has two routes to take here:

1. Leave everything the way it is: don't mess with the announce crews,  keep producing the shows the same way, and hope New Japan warms up to the idea of working with them by the time the contract ends after next year. This seems unlikely considering the scorched earth approach Anthem is taking with everything else.

2. Get completely hands on: replace the announcers with Impact guys, turn the NJPW on AXS show into Impact Japan, and watch as New Japan looks for any way they can to nuke their contract into space. 

 

[SirEdger]

You're probably the only guy so far that I've seen showing some kind of optimism/excitement about Johnny Swinger debuting soon. Personally, I'll give it a chance, like I do with everything. For me, it will depend what use they'll make out of Swinger but you're right in if they push this to a big level of cheesiness, this could indeed be something good. I wouldn't even be surprised if they book Swinger vs Fallah Bahh pretty early on.

[El-P]

4 minutes ago, SirEdger said:

You're probably the only guy so far that I've seen showing some kind of optimism/excitement about Johnny Swinger debuting soon.

If you read my post from last week or something before I saw the vignette, I was like yawning so badly. But the vignette actually had me chuckle with the total meta 80's cheesiness. I have never ever cared about Swinger one way or another and it's probably the very first time I actually got a positive reaction from anything Swinger, which is shocking in itself. Hell, I already care more about him now than I do about Elgin (that IS a backhanded compliment).

[Alucard]

I think the Swinger stuff so far has been great. I imagine his use ultimately won't be too far off from how they used Glenn Gilbertti, mostly for comedy. But it should be fun.

Looks like we end up with one last LAX match next week so that's cool.

[Tim Evans]

So what are they going to do for the big AXS debut in October? I'm guessing that will be the Tessa world title win. Watching clips from the Impact youtube and this show still has way more Sami Callihan than I want. Add in the useless Fulton and that makes it worse.

[El-P]

6 hours ago, Alucard said:

I think the Swinger stuff so far has been great. I imagine his use ultimately won't be too far off from how they used Glenn Gilbertti, mostly for comedy. But it should be fun.

Looks like we end up with one last LAX match next week so that's cool.

Yeah, WTF is with Swinger being really funny all of a sudden ?

One final babyface match for LAX is indeed really cool.

Yeah ! A wedding party in two weeks ! You KNOW what is gonna happen there. 

I wonder where they are going with Tessa for Bound for Glory though. The card is shaping up to be quite cool, as usual, with the special attraction of Shamrock coming in (match is gonna suck probably, but hey), Marufuji vs Elgin (which should be excellent despite Elgin having less personality than a dead oyster), Wagner jr. & luchadors vs Rascalz, probably Ace Austin vs Eddie Edward in a blowoff match with Alesha being involved, either Dashwood or Rosemary vs Taya. Maybe Cage is not gonna be cleared after all and they are gonna switch to Tessa vs Callihan after the wedding destruction angle... 

In a less positive spin, IMPACT punishing Kross by preventing him from working the AAA show at MSG is not good business. The guy is a goner anyway at this point.

[TonyPulis'Cap]

3 hours ago, El-P said:

I wonder where they are going with Tessa for Bound for Glory though. The card is shaping up to be quite cool, as usual, with the special attraction of Shamrock coming in (match is gonna suck probably, but hey), Marufuji vs Elgin (which should be excellent despite Elgin having less personality than a dead oyster), Wagner jr. & luchadors vs Rascalz, probably Ace Austin vs Eddie Edward in a blowoff match with Alesha being involved, either Dashwood or Rosemary vs Taya. Maybe Cage is not gonna be cleared after all and they are gonna switch to Tessa vs Callihan after the wedding destruction angle... 

My thought on Impact the last few weeks can probably be best summed up by the phrase "I like where they are going, I'm just not quite enjoying how they are getting there". fully agree that the Bound for Glory card is looking like a good one, but the last few weeks of TV from Mexico have been pretty uninspiring. I'm hoping that the Vegas tapings step things up and have more energy to give us a hot lead into the PPV. I agree that the wedding party being crashed angle should be something to look out for. 

On top of what you've outlined already, I think (hope) we will get The North vs. Rich Swann & Wille Mack for the tag titles, which should be very good.  In terms of Tessa's match, I've been saying for a while that I could see her winning the X Title from Jake Crist (he's an offshoot of the Sami storyline and cost her the No. 1 contenders match so it makes sense) as a trial run for putting her in a world title feud with Callihan if he beats Cage for the title. 

[Migs]

3 hours ago, TonyPulis'Cap said:

On top of what you've outlined already, I think (hope) we will get The North vs. Rich Swann & Wille Mack for the tag titles, which should be very good.  In terms of Tessa's match, I've been saying for a while that I could see her winning the X Title from Jake Crist (he's an offshoot of the Sami storyline and cost her the No. 1 contenders match so it makes sense) as a trial run for putting her in a world title feud with Callihan if he beats Cage for the title. 

It also solves her getting a title match (Option C) and solves her losing (since she gives up the belt to cash it in).

[El-P]

Well, at least it was a nice send-off for LAX with the entire babyface locker room coming to the ring to carry them in triumph. The match against Swann & Mack was excellent too, I guess these two are next in line for a title shot.

In other news, Su Yung stapled Jessica Havoc's pussy. Then Havoc hung her. Then Su Yung died, then she woke up. I like how IMPACT is keeping a bit of the LU spirit alive. I wonder how Su Yung's character is gonna be altered by dying (but wasn't she some kind of zombi anyway ? I guess not, seems like she had a pulse in the ambulance).

Next week, I hope a wedding ceremony gets thrashed.

[Blehschmidt]

Is there anywhere I can watch Impact if I don't have AXS, or the hunting network (or whatever it's on now) and I am not around to watch Twitch on Friday nights?

[SirEdger]

If you were in Canada, I could've told you to watch tonight on GameTV at 7 PM but obviously, that's not the case. They always upload highlights of matches and segments of their shows every week. The Havok/Su Yung segment is shown in its entirety on their YouTube channel.

[Alucard]

3 hours ago, Blehschmidt said:

Is there anywhere I can watch Impact if I don't have AXS, or the hunting network (or whatever it's on now) and I am not around to watch Twitch on Friday nights?

Their streaming service, Impact Plus (Impactplus.tv). I believe they go up on about a week delay, the latest episode is up is last week (Sept 13). You just have to make an account and should be able to view Impact freely there. (only have to pay/subscribe for the PPV archives and Impact+ exclusive events)

[Tenese Sarwieh]

That was a fantastic send off for LAX. From the showing of past clips, the tag match with Mack/Swann, and everyone coming down to salute presented them as one of the greatest acts in company history. They had such a great run they've leapfrogged over Homicide/Hernandez as my favorite incarnation of LAX. 

Bound for Glory is looking to be another stellar show from Impact and I'm guessing they'll be adding Tessa/Crist for the X Division title soon.

Would've been cool if it was Aeroster who revived Su Yung after Havok killied, god I miss Lucha Underground wackiness.

[Migs]

23 hours ago, Alucard said:

Their streaming service, Impact Plus (Impactplus.tv). I believe they go up on about a week delay, the latest episode is up is last week (Sept 13). You just have to make an account and should be able to view Impact freely there. (only have to pay/subscribe for the PPV archives and Impact+ exclusive events)

They go up on the Tuesday after they air.

[Alucard]

11 hours ago, Tenese Sarwieh said:

That was a fantastic send off for LAX. From the showing of past clips, the tag match with Mack/Swann, and everyone coming down to salute presented them as one of the greatest acts in company history. They had such a great run they've leapfrogged over Homicide/Hernandez as my favorite incarnation of LAX. 

Bound for Glory is looking to be another stellar show from Impact and I'm guessing they'll be adding Tessa/Crist for the X Division title soon.

Agreed. Looks like a multi-person ladder match for the X Title as they announced Tessa vs. Dave Crist in a qualifier for it this week.

[KawadaSmile]

On 9/21/2019 at 11:57 AM, El-P said:

In other news, Su Yung stapled Jessica Havoc's pussy. Then Havoc hung her. Then Su Yung died, then she woke up. I like how IMPACT is keeping a bit of the LU spirit alive. I wonder how Su Yung's character is gonna be altered by dying (but wasn't she some kind of zombi anyway ? I guess not, seems like she had a pulse in the ambulance).

I cannot imagine the reaction of someone new to TNA reading this.

[Blehschmidt]

1 hour ago, KawadaSmile said:

I cannot imagine the reaction of someone new to TNA reading this.

The best part is how they would find further description declaring how much better the show is now!

[El-P]

1 hour ago, Blehschmidt said:

The best part is how they would find further description declaring how much better the show is now!

If what I described does not seem awesome, you're not watching the right show.

[Tenese Sarwieh]

17 hours ago, Alucard said:

Agreed. Looks like a multi-person ladder match for the X Title as they announced Tessa vs. Dave Crist in a qualifier for it this week.

Cool, she should win the title from Crist then hold it for bit to cash in on Callihan. 

[El-P]

And win it at Slammiversary.

[TonyPulis'Cap]

On 8/9/2019 at 1:30 AM, TonyPulis'Cap said:

Thankfully moving onto the last couple of weeks and the venue in Windsor, Ontario comes across pretty well on TV with a hot crowd. The main thing from 2 weeks ago was the really unexpected changing of the X Division Title from Rich Swann to Jake Crist. It was a fun match, but considering the strong run that Swann has been on I was shocked to see the result, as after PPV wins over Callihan and John Morrison, I thought he was doing really well to elevate the belt. Jake Crist winning it is interesting in terms of him doing something that Callihan couldn't, but I do wonder if they are setting things up for Tessa to win the X Division Title with Crist being the transition to her...

This seems to be the way things are going, so allowing myself the slightest "I thought that would be a good idea!" pat on the back as I'm not sure anything I've ever predicted/fantasy booked as ever actually come true! Still plenty of time for them to put the title on Cody Deaner of course...

[Tenese Sarwieh]

The wedding ceremony cheesy but had me chuckling at certian parts. If Johnny Swinger's gimmick is a guy who's stuck in the 90s then I'm all for it. The big angle with Callihan/Cage went over well. Using Santos to move things along was the logical choice to make things more heated between the two. 

Also everyone is talking about how fun FOX announcers promoting Smackdown, well you can have that cause I'm ready for seeing Steve Harvey promoting the hell out of Impact. 

[SirEdger]

I don't know if it's the fact it happened at the "wedding" but compared to the similar angle with Chris Jericho, Shawn Michaels and his wife Rebecca, I thought that the one with Sami/Cage/Santos had the bigger impact on me, with all the people gathering around Melissa to check on her, Sami apologizing and Tommy Dreamer almost punching him on the spot. I thought that ending was really well done.

[TonyPulis'Cap]

16 hours ago, SirEdger said:

I don't know if it's the fact it happened at the "wedding" but compared to the similar angle with Chris Jericho, Shawn Michaels and his wife Rebecca, I thought that the one with Sami/Cage/Santos had the bigger impact on me, with all the people gathering around Melissa to check on her, Sami apologizing and Tommy Dreamer almost punching him on the spot. I thought that ending was really well done.

Yeah, not much to get excited about in ring this week on Impact, but the show long angle of the wedding was pretty well done to me - just a classic piece of wrestling TV. When it needed to be cheesy and campy, it was, and I like the use of the Afterbuzz TV host to give it that modern, this could be a feature on E! News vibe, and then the final angle was dramatic to add heat to the main event at BFG. While Sami hitting Melissa with a bottle might have been a bit over the top, the reactions of the people felt quite real and it was a decent piece of storytelling. As anyone will tell you from her time on Lucha Underground, Melissa was an integral part of some really good storylines, and getting angles over.

[El-P]

The whole wedding is exactly why IMPACT is my favourite show right now, and has been for a year and a half. Dreamer cracked me up when he reacted to Swann saying that it was one woman for your whole life with "Wait, no, that's not how it works". Good balance between the comedic part of the first half and the serious angle at the end. The fan of LU in me really enjoyed to see these guys working a major angle in another context, and IMPACT has done a really good job making me care about Cage as a character (which really wasn't the case in LU). Again, Santos involvement truly helped. And Callihan is the best heel/heat feud worker of the last two years. He again proved it. Can't wait to see the whole story unfold culminating with Tessa finally winning the big one at the end.

Oh, and Ken Shamrock looks ridiculous. Again, they did a really good job making me care about this one. Also, I did not realized the "new" IMPACT was beginning this week. What a week indeed. I wonder if IMPACT will remain my favourite once AEW Fusion kicks in. The one thing they miss as far as presentation goes to me is a guy like Don Callis.