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

[C.S.]

17 minutes ago, El-P said:

Precisely what I said illustred right there : Conformation bias and WWE reference. "I would not have cared if this match would have happened in WWE so I don't care here." Like, precisely.

Let's re-post the part you left out because it wasn't convenient to your manufactured talking point:

"The same would be true if they were the main event of Raw or previously in a different promotion entirely. I'm just not interested in these guys or their match. I will give props to Brian Myers though for not coming in with the same character. I didn't see enough to determine what his new gimmick is all about, but anything different is a step in the right direction. Eric Young was the most impressive in this regard."

17 minutes ago, El-P said:

Swann is a great worker and had some of the best match in IMPACT this year. Terrific babyface, elevated by Callihan last year, memorable performances before and after his injury. The idea that he's an opening card guy is ludicrous to anyone who's followed him this last two years.

Compared to a real star and real main eventer like Kenny Omega, Rich Swann looked like Tony Anthony if Hulk Hogan came down to Smoky Mountain to face him (this never actually happened, but you get the point). If you don't see that, I don't know what to tell you. Swann may be a big fish in a small pond, but he's not a star - and I don't think he's a particularly great worker from what I've seen, but I'll defer to you on that since you've seen his recent run and I haven't. Either way, he's not the Best Bout Machine, baby!!!

Edit: And you seem to be missing the part where Impact made its own champ look like a chump by preventing him from exiting the building because the real star and real World Champ Kenny Omega gave that order.

Swann was exposed badly.

17 minutes ago, El-P said:

BTW, are Eric Young and the Good Brothers tattooes indie geek ugly ones or because they worked in NXT and WWE/NJPW they are considered the right kind of tatooes ? 

Absolutely. Their tattoos are amazing!

No, seriously, I have no idea WTF you're talking about right now - but it's funny. 

[El-P]

9 minutes ago, C.S. said:

Let's re-post the part you left out because it wasn't convenient to your manufactured talking point:

"The same would be true if they were the main event of Raw or previously in a different promotion entirely. I'm just not interested in these guys or their match. I will give props to Brian Myers though for not coming in with the same character. I didn't see enough to determine what his new gimmick is all about, but anything different is a step in the right direction. Eric Young was the most impressive in this regard."

Except you are not interested in these guys because you know them from... well, WWE, and not "a different promotion entirely". Case in point, you mentioned two specific context which were 205 Live and RAW.;)

I wasn't a fan of Myers at first, but as always with IMPACT I just waited for it to developp and I enjoy him ok now. Hey, at least we agree on Eric Young (and Rohit Raju, who's terrific).

9 minutes ago, C.S. said:

Compared to a real star and real main eventer like Kenny Omega, Rich Swann looked like Hulk Hogan coming down to Smoky Mountain to face Tony Anthony

BUT THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT IT IS !!!!! AND THAT'S WHY IT'S COOL !!!! Like it would have been super cool to have, well, not Hogan because blah, but for instance Bret Hart or Randy Savage working with Tony Anthony in SMW in 1994. Would have been fucking awesome too ! Or like, if Flair had actually worked Shane Douglas in ECW in 95 or 96 ! That would have been sooo fun. Of course there's the big fish in small pond effect, because it's the case ! But that doesn't make it less cool.

9 minutes ago, C.S. said:

No, seriously, I have no idea WTF you're talking about right now - but it's funny. 

Well, that was the point.

[C.S.]

15 minutes ago, El-P said:

BUT THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT IT IS !!!!! AND THAT'S WHY IT'S COOL !!!! Like it would have been super cool to have, well, not Hogan because blah, but for instance Bret Hart or Randy Savage working with Tony Anthony in SMW in 1994. Would have been fucking awesome too ! Or like, if Flair had actually worked Shane Douglas in ECW in 95 or 96 ! That would have been sooo fun. Of course there's the big fish in small pond effect, because it's the case ! But that doesn't make it less cool.

I can see that point.

I'd argue that Shane Douglas came across as a major star in ECW though. It's WWE and WCW (Russo era) that didn't know what to do with him. To my teenage mind at the time, Douglas was just as much a big deal as the WWF and WCW Champions.

Tony Anthony, well, I didn't watch enough SMW, but I'm guessing he came across as the Southern regional star he was.

17 minutes ago, El-P said:

Hey, at least we agree on Eric Young (and Rohit Raju, who's terrific).

I expected Young to have the same terrible Sanity look/gimmick, but so I was very pleasantly surprised when he came out as a jacked Mike Modest type. WWE really fucked up with him. I knew before that he was versatile, and this is proof of that.

Rohit is going to be a major star. If AEW only steals one guy, it should be him. (And Aunty Tenille if they steal a girl. Another one WWE dropped the ball on.)

[El-P]

2 minutes ago, C.S. said:

I'd argue that Shane Douglas came across as a major star in ECW though.

Different context though, it's really hard to come off like a big star in IMPACT in 2020, without a crowd. Swann with the IMPACT crowd going batshit insane would maybe change your perception. Tessa sure came off like a total star.

4 minutes ago, C.S. said:

Rohit is going to be a major star. If AEW only steals one guy, it should be him. (And Aunty Tenille if they steal a girl. Another one WWE dropped the ball on.)

I don't know if I would go that far, but I had been clamoring for a Rohit push forever and now that he's getting it he's been awesome at it. He reminds me of Chris Candido in some ways.

Tenille has struggled for a long time before she finally hit it with this current character, which is absolutely great. Taya, Tenille, Deonna, Grace, Su Yung, Rosemary, Hogan, IMPACT's women division is just stacked with talent and cool characters.

[MoS]

The Tony Khan heel thing was absolutely deliberate. Khan is a big wrestling nerd and I am sure he was paying tribute to Vince's excellent heel promos in 1993 Memphis

 

 

 

[Stiva]

That's exactly what I thought of when I saw Khan's promo. It feels like a trial run and he really isn't a bad promo, all things considered. Omega's title collector gimmick is a great idea but trying to book when and how he loses/wins the titles seems like a headache I could never want,.

[TonyPulis'Cap]

The AEW 'paid advert' with Tony Khan was fantastic - and was a perfect way of continuing the story line following Dynamite the week before - it managed to effectively balance being entertaining and funny (Tony S was ace in it) with being logical e.g. them paying for the time and Tony K talking about why he hasn't taken out an injunction, which companies never work hard enough to make sense of when doing competing promotion stories. I'm a regular Impact watcher, but even if I wasn't, this angle would have me intrigued enough to tune in, and I really enjoyed the closing segment. As many have said, Callis was so great in his role, while Kenny - someone I can blow hot and cold on - was also really good. As C.S said, he managed to translate comic book collecting into an effective promo point about winning titles.

Clearly on a straight up level, Impact is not going to directly match up with AEW, and nor are a lot of the guys, but I agree with EL-P's point that it doesn't really matter - I don't want this to be an 'invasion' angle or lead to some 'AEW vs Impact supercard', to me it's interesting and cool to see what further crossover we might get, and the idea of a smaller 'renegade' (if you can call Impact that) promotion interacting with it's much bigger counterpart. The Dreamer/D'Amore segment was nice, in that you had D'Amore happy about the publicity and the eyeballs it was getting, while Dreamer was voicing the concern about what this could lead to and the consequences. I wonder if we might get a development where D'Amore has to end up confronting Callis about going to far in provoking AEW, or being more wrapped up in promoting Kenny rather than safeguarding the interest of Impact? Who knows, but the fact I'm speculating and really intrigued is the good part!

As for the wider criticisms people might have of the rest of the product that have tuned in to see the Kenny angle, then I agree again with EL-P - a lot of the guys in Impact are the misfits and broken toys that other companies didn't want, but I think that in the majority of cases their strengths are accentuated in the way they are presented and Impact uses them better than they were elsewhere. If someone argues that guys like Rich Swann, Eric Young, TJP, Brian Myers etc. are WWE rejects, then it's hard to disagree on the most obvious level, but in most of these cases, guys are given a chance in Impact and again *most* tend to take advantage.   

[Mad Dog]

Watching Final Resolution now. Madison Rayne is a shockingly decent color commentator. 

[El-P]

Madison Rayne is really good at everything she does.  She is totally killing it on announcing and making her team with Matthews as fun as Callis was, Locker Room Talk is always a highlight whenever it's on. And she was a terrific character pretty much as soon as she left The Beautiful People for her first single push in 2010.

[TheDuke]

I was watching the TJP vs Curt Hawkins match and I thought it would be funny if there has been a miscommunication in booking or management.  Like if some higher up in Anthem or at AXS had said "there's going to be a lot more eyes on us because of Omega. Let's keep them wanting to watch by putting on a WWE main event match." As in, putting on a match that was the calibre of a match that would headline a WWE pay per view. But the Booker or agent misheard and thought he meant a WWE Main Event(tm) match! As in, the C show that showcases matches been WWE jobbers or 205 Live guys, and so booked Myers vs TJP.

[Mad Dog]

I thought Final Resolution was pretty good. The last 4 matches were all pretty good and I thought Swann/Bey delivered in the main. I was intrigued enough to sign up for Impact Plus and give the promotion a shot. I will say though, Josh Matthews really drags the product down with his low energy and the dumb shit he says.

[Migs]

4 hours ago, Mad Dog said:

I thought Final Resolution was pretty good. The last 4 matches were all pretty good and I thought Swann/Bey delivered in the main. I was intrigued enough to sign up for Impact Plus and give the promotion a shot. I will say though, Josh Matthews really drags the product down with his low energy and the dumb shit he says.

After all these years, his phrasing is still so WWE that it's really hard to enjoy. He's serviceable, but it's an area where they could use an upgrade. 

[Mad Dog]

Yeah. I kind of like the dynamic where he would say something dumb to Madison Rayne and she would just toss it back in his face. But his delivery is weak and he really doesn't give the other person in the booth anything to work with. 

[sek69]

I thought Josh and Callis were a good team in the before COVID times. I don't think he's the best announcer or anything but Josh is way better when he was trying to be the discount Heel Michael Cole he was doing before. Him and Madison have that Gorilla and Bobby vibe where they bicker but you know deep down they like each other (obviously in Josh and Madison's case). 

[C.S.]

20 hours ago, TonyPulis'Cap said:

Rich Swann, Eric Young, TJP, Brian Myers etc. are WWE rejects, then it's hard to disagree on the most obvious level, but in most of these cases, guys are given a chance in Impact and again *most* tend to take advantage.   

Swann and TJP seemed like the same old shit to me last week. If they've tweaked their presentation at all, it wasn't apparent to me.

I was most impressed with Eric Young in that regard. It's night and day.

Aunty Tenille has nicely reinvited herself too. 

Brian Myers deserves credit as well (even if I couldn't quite bring myself to care about his match with TJP).

Sami Callihan is obviously very different from Solomon Crowe, but I wasn't impressed with his goofy as fuck indie rasslin' fake tough guy community theater bullshit. And his tattoos weren't as big league as Kenny Omega's.  

1 hour ago, Migs said:

After all these years, his phrasing is still so WWE that it's really hard to enjoy. He's serviceable, but it's an area where they could use an upgrade. 

We're talking about this in the Dynamite thread too.

I posted: If I'm whoever runs Impact these days, I'd do everything in my power to get Mauro. It's a Canadian company now, Mauro is the greatest Canadian hero since Bret Hart himself, and Impact could use a fresh voice. It would be a perfect match!

[El-P]

5 hours ago, C.S. said:

I posted: If I'm whoever runs Impact these days, I'd do everything in my power to get Mauro.

Stop this bullshit NOW ! Don't touch to my beloved IMPACT promotion with your godawful Screamin' Useless Cultural References Mauro' ! The guys is the worst announcer since Mark Madden. 

Calling Eric Young is WWE reject is really missing the point completely. Young is a TNA guy who had a cup of coffee in WWE. Him coming back to IMPACT is really coming back to his home promotion.

6 hours ago, sek69 said:

 Him and Madison have that Gorilla and Bobby vibe where they bicker but you know deep down they like each other (obviously in Josh and Madison's case). 

Yeah, it's awesome, especially since Madison is so quick with her putdowns. At times you almost you "hear" the smile on Matthews face when Madison just drops insults on him. Matthews is not a guy I'd want by himself or with a weak or annoying partner, but he has excellent chemistry with both Callis & Madison.

[Mad Dog]

So if I say picked up at Slammiversay is that a good jumping on point for the current product? 

[El-P]

58 minutes ago, Mad Dog said:

So if I say picked up at Slammiversay is that a good jumping on point for the current product? 

I'd say yes because it's where they had to shuffle the deck after the Tessa debacle and a bunch of people getting fired from #SpeakingOut. It's not the best show (but again, IMPACT with no crowd has not been the same) but it's really the starting point of what you have today, basically it jumpstarts the story of Eric Young coming back and the Swann rise to the top. I love the whole Wrestlers House stuff during the summer.

[NintendoLogic]

When Madison Rayne started on commentary back in like May, I thought she was awful. Like a bad parody of a heel color commentator. I checked out the Grace/Purrazzo iron man match recently, and she's improved greatly. However, the dynamic where Matthews says something idiotic and Madison puts him down doesn't work for me at all. We were talking in the Dynamite thread about how the announcer's role is to put over everything on the show. I don't see how a play-by-play guy who's presented as a clueless putz can be effective in that role.

[El-P]

It works because it's cute and fun, because they are married, and everybody knows it. 

[The Thread Killer]

6 hours ago, El-P said:

Stop this bullshit NOW ! Don't touch to my beloved IMPACT promotion with your godawful Screamin' Useless Cultural References Mauro' ! The guys is the worst announcer since Mark Madden. 

Mauro Ranallo going to work for Impact is highly unlikely.  Ranallo worked for the Fight Network in Canada which is owned by Anthem (that's how they got into business with Dixie Carter to begin with and ended up being one of the many people she owed money, which resulted in then eventually purchasing the company.)  Apparently, Mauro's tenure at The Fight Network was not pleasant for all involved, and he ended up departing under less than friendly circumstances, so a return to the same parent company is probably not going to happen.

 

[Mad Dog]

He doesn't detract from it like Kevin Kelly did with RoH for me. But I think he's a definite weakness in the company for me. 

I will see how I feel down the road with him. 

[El-P]

2 minutes ago, The Thread Killer said:

Mauro Ranallo going to work for Impact is highly unlikely. 

I know. Thankfully ! 

[C.S.]

8 hours ago, El-P said:

Stop this bullshit NOW ! Don't touch to my beloved IMPACT promotion with your godawful Screamin' Useless Cultural References Mauro' ! The guys is the worst announcer since Mark Madden. 

NEVAH! Bwahahahaha! 

MAMMA MIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

8 hours ago, El-P said:

 Calling Eric Young is WWE reject is really missing the point completely. 

Except I didn't. I fully realize that Eric Young spent many years in TNA/Impact.

[El-P]

3 minutes ago, C.S. said:

Except I didn't. 

Well, I did not said you did, it was a reply to what was said in the thread earlier. That's the issue with Mauro fans, they don't hear shit anymore because they spent years getting screamed at straight in the ears.