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

[El-P]

On 3/11/2024 at 10:46 PM, Tenese Sarwieh said:

Sacrifice delivered a decent performance overall, with Nemeth/Maclin's standout performance earning a spot in my notebook. 

Much more a case of Maclin being awesome than anything else. From what I've seen of Nemeth lately, I'm not overly impressed. He really strikes me as a guy who was thought to be great "by 2008 WWE standards", which doesn't cut it in today's landscape. He's good, but he's nothing special, and has some pretty annoying traits (the sub-sub-Micheals style mixed with some Billy Gunn stuff). 

On 3/11/2024 at 10:46 PM, Tenese Sarwieh said:

However, my primary concern with TNA is the stagnation in their programming, despite having talents like Maclin, Speedball, and Something underutilized. Seeing Bailey relegated to pre-shows, 

Agreed. I've not felt the women division either lately, it seems like Jordynne has no really credible challengers, and although Ash by Elegance is actually a fun presentation, she's not gonna set the division on fire. There is some really strong matches thanks to the MCMG/Kushida/GYV/System/Ali/Rascalz/ABC/Bailey/Maclin/Alexander (although he's not been given the most exciting talent lately, and Hammerstone is definitely seriously overrated) core, but something has been kinda missing, I don't see where they are going toward, and that's the first time in a long while it has happened. Usually you get a good feel of the long and middle-term feuds. 

I wonder about Maclin too. He would be lost in the shuffle in AEW, although he would be pretty fun in ROH for a while. Gimme Maclin vs Briscoe already. In TNA, he should be boosted straight back up to the main event picture really, but losing to Nemeth is not a good sign. I wonder if TNA is not feeling the absence of D'Amore already in term of vision...  I guess the key is what they build for Slammiversary. By then things will get clearer in term of what has changed, if anything, in the booking approach. 

[historyofhwa]

I watched Sacrifice and thought it was a good show but haven't watched TNA since. Their TV feels very stagnant and doesn't have as much energy as the live shows do on TNA+ or the PPVs. Doesn't really help either that they do a bunch of bulk tapings in different locations every few weeks. Not terribly excited about their direction either ... Moose vs. Nemeth and Mustafa Ali vs. Jake Something at Rebellion do nothing for me unfortunately but I'm sure they will be fun matches. The Machine Guns possibly leaving too would create a big void in the roster.

[bobholly138]

The weekly shows are a fast watch. Sure lots of the time I am watching it on my  phone while in the car riding to a show. 

The PPVs and TNA+ specials haave been a blast for about 3 years now.

 

 

[El-P]

Can't really complain when on the same weekly show you got matches like Josh Alexander vs Tracy Williams, Eddie Edward vs Mike Bailey and Chris Sabin vs Steve Maclin. Ash by Elegance keeps on being a fun character, Xia Brookside definitely has lots of potential. AJ Francis does what he does, that is being charismatic and talk while the work gonna be on the shoulders of a way more talented guy (in this case Rich Swann, who really needed a change, so a heel turn is welcome). Mustafa Ali has been straight awesome in every way, and the ABC/Rascalz/GYV are high quality always. Won't complain either about a TNA OG Full Metal Mayhem match between Kazarian and Eric Young. So far so good, the next PPV is shaping up nicely.

Not sold on Nemeth nor Hammerstone yet, and Kon vs PCO is a pretty shitty program, but thus far the post D'Amore product really has not changed from what it was before. I wonder what is the status of Gisele Shaw though, she hasn't been seen in a while, she is also D'Amore's girlfriend, so there. If she's done, I would hope AEW would grab her, she's good. 

[El-P]

Thus far, the departure of D'Amore hasn't affected the product. This is pretty much exactly the same week-to-week logical storytelling approach, with regular really good matches, some fun segments (Ash by Elegance has been a fun character) and really good produced vignettes (the Gresham stuff). The build to Rebellion has been effective, some promising stuff on the show, Hammerston vs Alexander 3 last man standing, Eric Young vs Kazarian in a Full Metal Mayhem (basically TLC) match of the OGs, Mustafa Ali vs Jake Something which should be spectacular. The result of the main is interesting too, I could see it going either way, with Nemeth putting over Moose before moving on to other things or Nemeth becoming the champ until Slammiversary, possibly against Alexander (depending where his booking is going with D'Amore gone, the result of the Hammerstone match will probably be a giveaway). Leon Slater & ABC vs Rascalz on the pre-show should be a killer match too.

[Alucard]

TNA got

Spoiler

BROKEN Matt Hardy back! Along with Mike Santana, and Sami Callihan

 

[Zoo Enthusiast]

We are so back.

[El-P]

Best place for the three of them, really. Callihan was doing stuff in MLW, but that company is a hot mess. Been enjoying Revolver lately, and it is a LOT of TNA talent anyway, he's basically a lifer. Mike Santana is a good fit for the promotion too. He would have gone nowhere in WWE. Let's see what he can bring to the table in a smaller pond. And Matt Hardy, you know what, he peaked as a character in TNA years ago, and he's now basically physically broken, so he can have way more fun doing more cinematic stuff, and this will only get some focus in TNA at this point (although apparently he's still a free agent). Totally fine with all of this.

[Tenese Sarwieh]

Just give Sami the book and see where things go. With Santana coming back TNA is stacked on the men's side of their roster, they somehow need to get quality women. 

[El-P]

There's either some strange irony, or maybe it's just a perception bias, that after a few months of the re-branding into TNA, the company actually feels a bit more like... ya know... TNAesque, for the better (the still excellent matches from great talents) and the worse (some questionable booking and some truly WTF stuff like Jonathan Gresham going all Great Muta/Fiend on your ass, coughing poisonous ink and shit like he's Alexa Bliss worst nightmare).

Slammiversary in Montreal certainly is intriguing, when you have both PCO and Mike Bailey in your roster. One should try to kill himself, Daddy Darby style, the other one should be crowned with a singles title, really. And yeah, the women division has been hurt lately with Jordynne badly needing some competition, although Ash by Elegance has been super entertaining in totally different ways.

[The Thread Killer]

Apparently there have been some resignations from the TNA creative team, specifically Robert “RD” Evans and yesterday TNA laid off a bunch of administrative staff.  Meltzer is also reporting they have nothing on the schedule past the first week of August. Mike Johnson pointed out that they still haven’t announced a date or venue for Bound for Glory yet, which seems odd.

The other huge news is that Dave Sahadi is gone. He’s been a huge part of that company for years and is apparently very well liked and respected. He was a producer in WWE during the Attitude Era and everybody from Jeff Jarrett to Jim Cornette to Bruce Prichard have spoken in glowing terms about him.

Anthem is apparently classifying these moves as part of “restructuring.”

I suppose this could mean a variety of different things? Either TNA really is going to start working a lot closer with WWE, including getting managerial help from them, or they are actually finally circling the drain…or it’s just another example of Anthem’s cheapness and overall ineptitude, but TNA will continue to survive like cockroaches and Keith Richards.

EDIT: I originally saw this story on Twitter, but 411 just picked it up…

“PWInsider reports that several staff members were let go by TNA Wrestling yesterday, as part of cutbacks and a ‘restructuring’ from Anthem. 

These included Dave Sahadi, who had been working as the Creative director. Sahadi has long been associated with TNA, originally working there from 2004-2017, and then again from 2019 to now. He was director of TNA television and before that worked as the creative director for WWE. 

Several of the releases were from the live events division. Anthem is currently deciding who will run that in the future, as they haven’t decided on plans for anything after the summer. There is still no location or venue for Bound for Glory, for example. It is possible there have been other releases, however, it’s believed that talent were not included in that.

Meanwhile, RD Evans has also exited the company. Evans was working as the head of creative and as a producer. The relationship between Anthem and Evans reportedly deteriorated over the past several weeks and Evans became “increasingly frustrated” with them. Evans reportedly made the decision to leave, although some in TNA have tried to say it was mutual. It should be noted that Evans leaving was not related to the firings and was a separate matter.”

[The Thread Killer]

Lou “Sign Guy Dudley” D’Angeli is out too. He’s another guy who has been there forever and was reportedly pretty popular with the talent. He was in charge of marketing.

Something is definitely going on behind the scenes in the land of LOLTNA.

Dave Meltzer noted on last night’s WOL that D’Angeli’s assistant is also gone from the promotion. 

“They now have no marketing team, they have no live events team, they have nothing booked after the first weekend of August.” - Dave Meltzer

[NintendoLogic]

With all the recent layoffs, TNA currently has no marketing or live events team. They also have no events scheduled after the first week of August. Between that and the recent work with NXT, there's been increasing speculation about the possibility of sale to WWE.

[The Thread Killer]

16 minutes ago, NintendoLogic said:

With all the recent layoffs, TNA currently has no marketing or live events team. They also have no events scheduled after the first week of August. Between that and the recent work with NXT, there's been increasing speculation about the possibility of sale to WWE.

Anthem is never going to invest the money needed to make TNA even a minimal success. I don’t even know if they have the money that would be required, even if they wanted to. They made it clear from day one that they bought the thing just to provide them with cheap programming for their TV channels.

A sale might be for the best. Honestly, the video library is probably the most valuable asset TNA has. I’d hate to see WWE swallow it up, but it’s not like Tony Khan (as witnessed by ROH) or Billy Corgan or Court Bauer could or would do any better.

Then again, this is the WWE without Vince, so who knows. Maybe Triple H would use it as another developmental territory or something.

Or Double J could buy it back!

 

[sek69]

7 hours ago, The Thread Killer said:

Or Double J could buy it back!

This is definitely going to be what happens. Not because it would make any sense whatsoever, but just because it would be the most TNA thing ever.

[SirEdger]

18 hours ago, The Thread Killer said:

Anthem is never going to invest the money needed to make TNA even a minimal success. I don’t even know if they have the money that would be required, even if they wanted to. They made it clear from day one that they bought the thing just to provide them with cheap programming for their TV channels.

A sale might be for the best. Honestly, the video library is probably the most valuable asset TNA has. I’d hate to see WWE swallow it up, but it’s not like Tony Khan (as witnessed by ROH) or Billy Corgan or Court Bauer could or would do any better.

Then again, this is the WWE without Vince, so who knows. Maybe Triple H would use it as another developmental territory or something.

Or Double J could buy it back!

 

Looking at it, there was a time where WWE had two developmental systems (OVW and Deep South) so I wonder if they would use TNA as a bridge gap between NXT and the main roster.

[Timbo Slice]

“That’s former NXT Champion Nic Nemeth!”

Gonna be hilarious. 

[sek69]

I wonder what changed. I would assume TNA's losses or whatever were pretty consistent and up to this point Anthem seem to just view them as the cost of doing business to have their programming on the station they own. Unlike like with happened to ROH under Sinclair, Anthem didn't have another part of their business blow up like Sinclair's RSNs. Was their some change in leadership that soured them on wrestling? Just seems so odd that just as TNA was just about to break out to a higher level they get the rug pulled out.

[NintendoLogic]

As with Japan, it might be a currency issue. The Canadian dollar is weak against the US dollar, which makes booking American talent more expensive. That could be a dealbreaker for a company like Anthem that likes to pinch pennies.

[KawadaSmile]

Never let Matt Hardy cook again

[sek69]

lol what in the actual fuck

[NintendoLogic]

TNA did us all a favor and posted the full segment to YouTube.

Sorry, I can't bring myself to watch 13 minutes of this. All I know is that Alisha Edwards gets beheaded by a guillotine at one point.

[RazorBladeKiss]

Classic move. Possibility of new eyes on the product and they do something like this. I wasn't watching when the original Broken stuff happened. Did it give Impact a boost?

[Autistic Dragon]

4 hours ago, RazorBladeKiss said:

Classic move. Possibility of new eyes on the product and they do something like this. I wasn't watching when the original Broken stuff happened. Did it give Impact a boost?

Speaking as someone who did watch the Broken saga unfold in real time, yes it did.

[Alucard]

the original saga made the Hardyz the hottest thing in wrestling for a bit there, until they had a month back in WWE.