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

[Alucard]

Agreed. Loved what we got of Giulia/Deonna.  Giulia had amazing presence for her US debut.

Trey's been having a career year. His solo theme is the best.

[TheDuke]

I love how the 1000th episode of Impact is 2 episodes long.

[El-P]

Trinity has been killing it in IMPACT. She absolutely made the right choice signing with them. Sure, she would have got a whole lot more money from AEW, but she obviously wanted to be featured in a company that takes its women division super seriously and has a legit track-record at it. I wasn't overly familiar with her WWE work, but she's been so much fun. I would not be surprised if she came back to the E. after this, at the Rumble for instance, but she obviously is having the time of her life being the big fish in a small pond, but a small pond of super talents. Her vs Mickie James is quite the perfect storm for BfG, but she's still going to the UK with them, so no idea when she finishing up. 

Wonder what Tenille Dashwood is doing these days. Not going to Australia with WWE, that's for sure. She would be much better off coming back too.

So, Mike Bailey vs Will Ospreay / Josh Alexander vs Alex Shelley at BfG.

And Josh Alexander vs Will Ospreay at the tapings ? 

Damn IMPACT, what the hell. How am I supposed to take a break from watching this ?

[TheDuke]

Trinity is my favorite woman to watch on Impact right now.

I really liked Tommy Dreamer's promo on Crazy Steve. I had no idea Crazy Steve was legally blind or about anh of the other stuff Dreamer said. I did like Crazy Steve's promo after winning the briefcase and after not caring about him for years, I am suddenly interested in watching Crazy Steve. Then he stabbed Tommy Dreamer in the back! Literally! With a fork!

I don't really care about him in the ring but now want to see more Crazy Steve segments and promos.

[El-P]

Come on Punk. Do it. BfG is in Chicago. Just help pro-wrestling as a whole and make IMPACT the n°2 company in the US. I dare you ! Now that's a true challenge.

[strobogo]

Impact gets like 30k viewers, Punk ain't taking it to number 2.

[TheDuke]

I liked the 2 out of 3 falls match between Eddie Edwards and Frankie Kazarian. During the second fall Edward's was chopping Kazarian, and Kazarian came up bleeding from the chest. It was so gross. Did Kazarian blade his chest, or is Eddie just that rough with his chops? I was surprised the ref didn't put on gloves like they all do now because blood was getting all over on both guys. And they hadn't even reached the third fall which was the No DQ part. 

[El-P]

5 hours ago, strobogo said:

Impact gets like 30k viewers, Punk ain't taking it to number 2.

He's also not showing up in IMPACT. What I'm saying, is that Mr. "Everything I do is a love letter to pro-wrestling" who also does not need the money, could make a bold move and show up in a smaller promotion, just for the heck of it, instead of feeding his ego and wallet.

3 hours ago, TheDuke said:

Did Kazarian blade his chest, or is Eddie just that rough with his chops? 

Eddie's chops have always been super impactful (see what I did ?).

[strobogo]

Hey Phil not feeding his ego lol

[Stiva]

So, I’ve just found out that Turning Point is being taped in the rough and ready of Newcastle so for £40, I’m now off to see Ospreay and the boys with what looks like a pretty outstanding card. Thanks, Impact

[El-P]

If Ospreay is really "testing the waters" with IMPACT, they sure are serving him the best they can possibly deliver. "Hey, have a match with Mike Bailey. Hey, have a match with Josh Alexander. Hey, Have a match with Eddie Ewards". And that's a bunch of dream matches for the audience too. Whatever happens, this little Ospreay in IMPACT stint is the gift of the end year that I did not expect. The idea that he may up end there is not as absurd as it would have seemed some time ago. The fact Trinity choose to sign with them instead of AEW (which she could have in a heartbeat) is saying a lot about how that company is seen in term of getting a fine productive stint with creative freedom and not too much pressure. 

Catching up on the shows, Eddie Edwards vs Frankie Kazarian was brutal, in a good way. It really picked up with Eddie just bloodiing Kaz chest, and that was quite gory. Terrific match, and this is why Kaz left AEW to sign with IMPACT, he would not have that kind of matches over there (not stylistically, but in term of spot on the card). 

Ace Steel is getting a try out as a producer at BFG, uh ? Come on Phil. DO IT.

[Ricky Jackson]

Time for a new thread, or I guess start using the old TNA one again

Why?

[SirEdger]

Because, according to what PWInsider reported, international partners were already referring to Impact as TNA. So it looks like TNA is much more marketable than Impact.

Personally, it's a move that I like for the growth of the brand. There still are a lot of people being very fond of the TNA brand.

[sek69]

This caught my eye in that press release:

"Company officials confirmed that the new year will launch a new-look TNA Wrestling that runs from the entrance ramp to turnbuckles in the ring to larger, more prestigious venues and much, much more," Impact wrote.

Seems like Anthem is going to start putting bigger money into it and make a run at taking us back to the Big Three era again? There were already reports out before this that they were going to be increasing the production budget and now this?

[KawadaSmile]

Anthem is bringing in CM Punk!

[SirEdger]

Yeah, people can keep dreaming about it.

[Jmare007]

I think most of us still called them or perceived them as TNA and never as Impact Wrestling so I don't think this change is that big of deal.

Them trying to put more money into it is way bigger news.

[NintendoLogic]

Now that the end is near, I think we can safely conclude that Impact was not, in fact, the best promotion in wrestling history. It looks like Betteridge's law of headlines also applies to thread titles.

[Autistic Dragon]

10 hours ago, Jmare007 said:

I think most of us still called them or perceived them as TNA and never as Impact Wrestling so I don't think this change is that big of deal.

Them trying to put more money into it is way bigger news.

Many of us paying attention to Impact Wrestling may have still thought of them as TNA but the majority of wrestling fans weren't paying attention. Bringing back old name may bring back people who remember the good times.

And it already seems to be having a effect. TNA was trending on Twitter earlier today and WhatCulture had 4 articles about them after ignoring them for months at least.

[strobogo]

It's wild that it took them over a DECADE to recover from Hogan/Bischoff killing the brand. What a disaster they were for TNA. 

[KawadaSmile]

There were reports of CM Punk being at the most recent tapings.

Let's fucking go

[SirEdger]

You mean, just like Mercedes Moné was at the Impact tapings when Trinity debuted and nothing came out of it?

I don't see Punk going to TNA in any stretch of the imagination. Even though his buddy Ace Steel is a producer now there.

[El-P]

Bound for Glory was a terrific show, delivering on all front. The Ospreay vs Speedball match was as awesome as it sounds (really, Ospreay in 2023 has been completely ridiculous, the guy's output is untouchable, not even by Danielson who is having a career year, but whose schedule is not nearly as heavy), some cool surprises like Sunny Kiss and Juventud Guerrera (who was already announced for the next show which will honor lucha libre), PCO winning basically "his" match and shining through and through (how long can he go like this ?), tons of very good matches up and down the card, with both main events delivering. Mike Tenay's speech was GREAT, this guy is such a class act.

As far as the TNA brand being used again, I guess it's part of a global strategy of reclaiming their most popular name, streamlining the product as a whole (went though two name changes in the past, which kinda was confusing I guess for some partners), playing on nostalgia (and before anyone laugh at this idea that TNA actually has produced both fans and workers themselves think again, hell, Will Ospreay just said TNA made him a pro-wrestling star, which is mind-blowing when you think of it) and obviously get some attention before they obviously put more ressources in the thing as told by what's un store for next year. The story of this company, which for the last 5 years has consistently been at the very least good and fun, and with a lot of actual great stuff, and a great place for talent to find a spot where they could express themselves the best (latest example being Trinity, who's having the run of her life right now), is fascinating. I hope they eventually get the Jarrett AEW crew for one Slammiversary angle and match now.

[Alucard]

PCO ended up signing a new contract after it was initially going to expire next week. Glad to see he'll be sticking around, he's been a highlight for the past year+

[strobogo]

On 10/24/2023 at 5:42 AM, El-P said:

Bound for Glory was a terrific show, delivering on all front. The Ospreay vs Speedball match was as awesome as it sounds (really, Ospreay in 2023 has been completely ridiculous, the guy's output is untouchable, not even by Danielson who is having a career year, but whose schedule is not nearly as heavy), some cool surprises like Sunny Kiss and Juventud Guerrera (who was already announced for the next show which will honor lucha libre), PCO winning basically "his" match and shining through and through (how long can he go like this ?), tons of very good matches up and down the card, with both main events delivering. Mike Tenay's speech was GREAT, this guy is such a class act.

As far as the TNA brand being used again, I guess it's part of a global strategy of reclaiming their most popular name, streamlining the product as a whole (went though two name changes in the past, which kinda was confusing I guess for some partners), playing on nostalgia (and before anyone laugh at this idea that TNA actually has produced both fans and workers themselves think again, hell, Will Ospreay just said TNA made him a pro-wrestling star, which is mind-blowing when you think of it) and obviously get some attention before they obviously put more ressources in the thing as told by what's un store for next year. The story of this company, which for the last 5 years has consistently been at the very least good and fun, and with a lot of actual great stuff, and a great place for talent to find a spot where they could express themselves the best (latest example being Trinity, who's having the run of her life right now), is fascinating. I hope they eventually get the Jarrett AEW crew for one Slammiversary angle and match now.

I agree, first time I checked out TNA in quite a while and it was definitely a big step up from the last PPV I watched which was probably during the Kenny Omega title run. Did think Trinity/Mickie was quite bad, though. 

 

A few things I hope they improve with the rebrand and bigger budget:

Get straighter ropes. Nothing says rinky dink to me than wobbly, bent ropes. Unless it's some random JCP from the early to mid 80s.

The ring seems too...I don't know what. I think the lack of sound just makes it seem soft and floppy. Mic that mf up. 

Tell the announcers to stop yelling or at least adjust where they sit in the mix, because at least to me it feels like they're constantly yelling and it is ear tiring. 

Ease up on the ex-WWE guys. There's all the talk about AEW overdoing it, but they're taking in guys like Bryan, Christian, Edge, Joe, Adam Cole. TNA has a gang of 2010-2016 WWE mid carders. Like I'm watching the battle royale and it seems that the bulk of their mid card is comedy, ironic, or former mid card WWE guys from 8 years ago. Also, why the fuck is Tommy Dreamer still around?

With Sting retiring, PCO should be Darby's new dad, and then they can see who can take the most horrific bumps for no reason.