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

[SirEdger]

Speaking of the ROH invasion, what's the status of the ROH invaders with Impact? I know that PCO has officially signed with Impact but I had read that the Bennetts did too and I wouldn't honestly mind to see both Matt Taven and Vincent be with them on a regular basis.

[Flyin' Brian]

On 1/16/2022 at 6:06 PM, DMJ said:

Not sure if this belongs here, but I've been digging that they've been playing old TNA PPVs on AXS TV. If you have a DVR and you set it to record Impact Wrestling, you will find yourself with not only the weekly episodes but random TNA PPVs from the 2010s and earlier. For example, I'm watching Destination X from 2010 right now.

I'm not saying these shows are essential viewing or anything - like how essential could a Shannon Moore/Doug Williams ever be? - but its been fun for me to go back and watch these shows that I'd never seen before and the ease of access is a + if you're an old fogey like me and watch most of your wrestling on TV/On Demand. 

If I were WWE, I'd strongly consider pitching the idea of putting old PPVs on one of the bajillion lower tier channels that NBC or FOX own at graveyard shifts. I mean, its not going to draw a rating, but if you're WWE, this is stuff that you could license or sell to low tier cable channels (like AXS) and maybe make a small bit of coin on. Like, if AXS and Impact can somehow make money playing Hard Justice 2009 at 2 in the morning, the WWE should surely be able to make some money letting FS2 play random shit like Vengeance 2001 at the same time?

WWE did this a few years ago when Covid started and the channels needed filler because of all the cancelled sporting events. I think it’s a great idea. I enjoyed watching the older PPV’s. 

[sek69]

17 hours ago, SirEdger said:

Speaking of the ROH invasion, what's the status of the ROH invaders with Impact? I know that PCO has officially signed with Impact but I had read that the Bennetts did too and I wouldn't honestly mind to see both Matt Taven and Vincent be with them on a regular basis.

I believe the plan is to get them all on deals or at least "we have first dibs" arrangements. This seems to be the next Big Angle the company is centered around so I would expect them to want to make sure they have access to everyone. 

This reminds me of how a weird position Impact is in right now. If you have a run there and it's good there's just enough people watching where you can kind of build yourself a nice little following that can lead you to a WWE deal like MSK. Yet somehow if you have a run there and it flops people will be like "eh, it was in Impact so it doesn't really count" and everyone just kind of agrees with it. 

[SirEdger]

When you think of it, Impact isn't necessarily a bad place to fall back on if your WWE run doesn't go as planned. Granted he had a following back there but Eric Young has bounced back nicely. Same for Rhyno & Heath. Looks like Maclin is doing some great work too. I feel like Impact is in a much more enviable position now than they were let's say 5 or 6 years ago.

[El-P]

8 hours ago, SirEdger said:

Looks like Maclin is doing some great work too.

He is. He's been a favorite of mine since day 1 he step foot in IMPACT. His match with Trey at the PPV was awesome. I love his work, so crisp and brutal looking.

Right now IMPACT is where it is in term of audience, but as far as the product goes, I've said it before and I'll say it again, Scott D'Amore is the best booker today, has been for a few years, in term of getting the most out of his roster and planning a week-to-week show that always has a direction for everyone involved, with a visible long-term planning. They finally kinda made me care or at least nor frown at the idea of watching W. Morrissey (I was at first and for a good while, but he's been booked very well in term of making him look the best possible), which is quite a feat. The ROH invasion thus far has been a terrific little angle and I love the fact I'm getting a PCO run in a company I follow in 2022. 

No idea what was his rep in WWE, but Tom Hannifan certainly is a step up from Striker, whom I have a soft spot for but could be cringe still sometime. I have no doubt getting away from the controlled "get yelled at by Vince on the earpiece" environment can only do you good too.

[Al]

Impact has risen to a point where even if it's not must see tv week-to-week I'll rarely be unhappy that I devoted an hour or two (or three) to watching them and I'd gladly attend a house show. 

[Stiva]

10 hours ago, El-P said:

Right now IMPACT is where it is in term of audience, but as far as the product goes, I've said it before and I'll say it again, Scott D'Amore is the best booker today, has been for a few years, in term of getting the most out of his roster and planning a week-to-week show that always has a direction for everyone involved, with a visible long-term planning.

I think I'm right there with you on D'Amore. In anyone else's hands, the Impact roster goes nowhere. For all of the talk of THE FORBIDDEN DOOR, the fact that Tony Khan either, didn't want to, or didn't see the potential in using Impact for anything more than having Kenny Omega hold a few extra belts on Dynamite is disappointing. I have a sneaky suspicion that the ROH invasion program may well have been what D'Amore foresaw when they struck a deal with AEW and it'll play out as he planned originally.

[El-P]

4 minutes ago, Stiva said:

I think I'm right there with you on D'Amore. In anyone else's hands, the Impact roster goes nowhere. For all of the talk of THE FORBIDDEN DOOR, the fact that Tony Khan either, didn't want to, or didn't see the potential in using Impact for anything more than having Kenny Omega hold a few extra belts on Dynamite is disappointing. 

I mean, I have loved Omega on IMPACT and the various great matches it got me, but yeah, they could have done so much more. Especially with Deonna who could have been something special on AEW TV.  Kazarian & Daniels going back was cool but it only ended up being cameos, really. And I know people on the board hated the Good Brothers, but the fact they did not do a Young Bucks match was kind of a waste.

6 minutes ago, Stiva said:

I have a sneaky suspicion that the ROH invasion program may well have been what D'Amore foresaw when they struck a deal with AEW and it'll play out as he planned originally.

Yep, maybe. One thing I enjoy too thus far is that you have the ROH champ and announcer acting with respect toward IMPACT which host them as they consider the other four guys creating chaos as renegades, so it's a cool attention to detail here.

[NintendoLogic]

I haven't really been following Impact, but I noticed that Madison Rayne is challenging for the Knockouts tag titles next week. Didn't she retire a while back? At this rate, she'll have more retirements than Terry Funk. On that note, it's well past time to retire the Knockouts name for the women's division. It's too evocative of Divas-era sleaze.

[El-P]

59 minutes ago, NintendoLogic said:

I haven't really been following Impact, but I noticed that Madison Rayne is challenging for the Knockouts tag titles next week. Didn't she retire a while back? At this rate, she'll have more retirements than Terry Funk. 

She retired during the pandemic but came back last year (so yeah, a few months only after, totally Terry Funk-like, which honestly is awesome). Glad she came back, she deserves a great public send-off when she decides to hang-it up. She's the best (doh!).

59 minutes ago, NintendoLogic said:

On that note, it's well past time to retire the Knockouts name for the women's division. It's too evocative of Divas-era sleaze.

Probably won't happen. It's an Impact trademark and from day one it has been the opposite of the Divas, as it was built on Gail Kim and Amazing Kong having great, brutal wrestling matches. The name is what it is, like the infamous X-division that "we don't know what it means" as idiots like Bischoff and Brucie would say (when infact *everybody* knows what it means implicitly in the IMPACT audience), it's a staple of the company at this point. One thing I enjoy about IMPACT is that they embrace their own little flawed legacy as it is. Now, does that mean I want Dixie to show up at Slammiversary for the 20 years ? Well... I kinda do actually !

[Flyin' Brian]

On 1/21/2022 at 8:35 AM, El-P said:

She retired during the pandemic but came back last year (so yeah, a few months only after, totally Terry Funk-like, which honestly is awesome). Glad she came back, she deserves a great public send-off when she decides to hang-it up. She's the best (doh!).

Probably won't happen. It's an Impact trademark and from day one it has been the opposite of the Divas, as it was built on Gail Kim and Amazing Kong having great, brutal wrestling matches. The name is what it is, like the infamous X-division that "we don't know what it means" as idiots like Bischoff and Brucie would say (when infact *everybody* knows what it means implicitly in the IMPACT audience), it's a staple of the company at this point. One thing I enjoy about IMPACT is that they embrace their own little flawed legacy as it is. Now, does that mean I want Dixie to show up at Slammiversary for the 20 years ? Well... I kinda do actually !

In the beginning they hyped constantly on the X Division being about ‘no limits’ instead of weight limits like the Cruiserweight division. 

[TheDuke]

I would enjoy seeing Dixie Carter show up managing EC3.

[sek69]

Doesn't Dixie still own like 5% of the company? I wouldn't mind seeing her back in a non management capacity. She seems like a sweet person who genuinely loves pro wrestling, just not someone who should have been running things. 

[El-P]

Mickie James talking about winning the Royal Rumble and going to Mania for a title vs title match on IMPACT was pretty surreal. Of course this is not happening and D'Amore not being an idiot, the segment did not end on that note but instead planted the seeds for many upcoming title defenses, including Tasha Steelz and maybe Chelsea Green (I can sense a hell turn in the futur maybe). Still, between this, the ROH invasion and Gresham having killer matches on the show, this is quite the interesting beginning of the year.

[El-P]

Lance Storm just signed with IMPACT as a producer/coach. That's pretty interesting. Totally forgot he actually had signed with WWE only to get fired 6 months later.

[Tenese Sarwieh]

Also they officially sign Laredo Kid, now he might actually get a push.

[NotJayTabb]

On 2/6/2022 at 10:46 AM, El-P said:

Lance Storm just signed with IMPACT as a producer/coach. That's pretty interesting. Totally forgot he actually had signed with WWE only to get fired 6 months later.

I wonder if they'll have him mainly working with the Knockouts division. Chelsea Green and the debuting Gisele Shaw are both Storm trainees, so there's already a connection there.

[Alucard]

Josh Alexander's Impact contract has expired thus along with his US work VISA, so he is off all events he was scheduled for this month including the next Terminus event.

[Tenese Sarwieh]

I hope it's a work but if not I hope this issue gets resolved quickly. 

[El-P]

The Josh Alexander situation is just bizarre since they have made a big angle on TV sending him back home and then talked about him on the special as "former IMPACT wrestler", which is something they really don't do usually, and it was systematic here. So I'm guessing they're working the situation inside the long-term storyline which should have him win the title back from Moose. If not, then, yeah, just odd.

The special was tons of fun, as it usually is. Two MAJOR swerves happening, with the GoD basically ejected from the Bullet Club by Jay White, reuniting with the Good Brothers. Interesting in the NJ front, as Tama especially has been really good last year during the G1 working as kind of a fiery babyface. Finally brings some fresh dynamic for those two and probably the GB back in NJ whenever they can fly there.

The other one is much bigger for IMPACT, in that Eddie Edwards turning is about the most shocking you can have in the company. Eddie has been the heart and soul of IMPACT for years, so it's a mini "Hogan turns heel" moment for them. Main-event multi men against the Honor No More crew was terrific, PCO not surprisingly doing the most crazy shit and even making the most out of an exchange with Rhino.

TK really should get Mickie James to work a big angle for them. Really enjoying her post WWE sting a lot. That Chelsea Green heel turn is so incoming, especially now that her husband has finally brought his awesome douchebagery to IMPACT, stealing Jordynne Grace's Digital Media title (and having really good matches with her).

And of course, well Deonna ruled against ROH's Miranda Allizee. Surely IMPACT is paying her well, because they don't want her to ever go away.

4 men X-div qualifier match was an excellent opener too. 

Hopefully though the Morrissey experiment is over, as he did the honor clean for Moose. As much as he looked quite ok in multi-men and garbage matches against Eddie, in a straight single match, it was not pretty. Brian Myers on commentary calling him Giant Gonzalez got a good chuckle out of me.

Really intrigued in where they are gonna go now, keeping on with Honor No More and Eddie as main heels.

[Tenese Sarwieh]

This week's impact was alright. They Eddie good reason for turning with him wanting to be the hero. Also they dropped Josh Alexander's name too many times, has me thinking they are working on his contract and Visa so he can come back and be Impact's savior against Honor No More and finally get the belt from Moose. Speaking of Moose they really couldn't do a better challenger for the title than HEATH? And I hope they start giving the X-Division and Deonna's on challenge more time to flush out their shows.

[El-P]

IMPACT running two shows at Wrestlecon, first of which being a Multivers of Matches show, with Good Brothers vs Briscoes announced already (same night as Supercard of Honor mind you). So I guess we can expect some more interpromotional stuff, considering the title of the event. Second show will be yet another IPWF show, which are always very fun. With ROH now being part of TK's catalogue, I wonder how IMPACT will position themselves in that new landscape. 

[El-P]

Sacrifice was quite an excellent show for what looked only like a nice transitional Impact + special. Trey Miguel vs Jake Something was great, Alex Shelley vs Jay White was MOTYC level, PCO vs Jonah was as brutal and fun as it sounds, Mickie James is having the most fun stint of her career, some quite surprising results with 3 title changes (which helped the main event, as really no one would believe Heath had any chance), and Josh Alexander showing up at the and was great, as expected all led to him eventually winning the title back from Moose, possibly at the next PPV (since Moose works injured too). The promotion is looking really good these days.

[El-P]

The commercial for Swingers' Dungeon legit had my jaw ache from laughing. Not to mention it was introduced by Zicky Dice out of nowhere "Maybe I suck as a wrestler", which really took me by surprise.

Between Eddie Edwards vs Rich Swann the previous week and MCMG vs Jay White & Chris Bey this week, IMPACT has delivered big time. Also, PCO vs Jonah II seems on the books, which is really promising. They are on a roll lately with the booking and the new talent coming in (Gisele Shaw has won me over in no time, gotta love the pseudo-Beyonce theme that would make Jimmy Hart proud too).

[Alucard]

Love that Gisele theme! She's got star quality for sure