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

[Tenese Sarwieh]

Homecoming was an enjoyable show. The Ultimate X and the Tag titles match totally delivered, everything else was solid with the exception of the botched ending with Impact/Cage. Impact had a good 2018 and I've been enjoying their product. Hoping the best for them in 2019 and hoping that Callis/D'amore find a big money backer like AEW did with the Khans.

[Alucard]

Great review, Thread Killer. I agree with most points though I did like Johnny/Cage a good bit before the finish (and I actually like Moose a lot). While Tessa/Taya was good, the first match from Bound for Glory, which was their straight up wrestling match without any outside gimmicks, was pretty great.

[sek69]

They announced that they will be simulcasting their TV shows on Twitch, which is both good news for the vast majority of folks who don't get Pursuit and also a tactit admission of how bad their TV situation is. 

[tallmike]

I have not had a chance to watch the show yet since I worked last night, but while everything sounds like it was pretty solid, the only buzz-worthy news at all was the Twitch news and Rosemary coming back.

Feels like the company could have desperately used something to really spike interest and it just wasn't there.

[The Thread Killer]

2 hours ago, Alucard said:

Great review, Thread Killer. I agree with most points though I did like Johnny/Cage a good bit before the finish (and I actually like Moose a lot).

Thanks brother.  I think if the finish hadn't been so wonky, I probably would've been a lot more favorably disposed towards the Main Event.

I wanted to like Moose, I really did.  When I first saw him in ROH, I thought the guy looked like money.  I especially thought if they built towards a feud between Moose and Donovan Dijak they might really be onto something, but that never really transpired to the best of my knowledge, for whatever reason.  I can overlook most of my issues with him except two.  I find that he moves really slow most of the time ("plodding" is the word I use) but even worse, his selling drives me nuts. I can't count the number of times I saw him get hit with some type of offensive maneuver, when his only reaction was to stumble backward two or three steps, wave his arms comically in a circular motion like he was losing his balance, and shake his head a couple of times as if he was confused.  It was so damn cartoonish, it drove me up a wall.  Maybe he was trained with the mindset that "you're a big guy, you don't have to sell" or maybe he just isn't any good at it, but either way, it drives me nuts.

But hey, I am the first to admit that my opinion is just that...an opinion.  Maybe Moose is better than I give him credit for being. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe it's just me. Here I am singing the praises of the Willie Mack/Sami Callahan match, and I haven't seen one other person online today mention it favorably.  Just goes to show what is awesome for some people is "meh" for other people.  I agree with you as well that Tessa/Taya without the referee angle was much better.

[SomethingSavage]

I haven't had a chance to see the show yet due to my work schedule, so I'll reserve comments on anything specific just yet.

But regarding Moose, he reminds me of Matt Morgan. Big dude. Should work like a beast. But something is way off. His selling doesn't gel with his look. Plus he lacks presence for his size. And his athleticism is clear to see, but he's also somehow very uncoordinated and clunky at the same time.

There are times & instances where I've really enjoyed Moose, to be sure. But his output is inconsistent. Same was said for Matt Morgan in his day, too.

Moose is much more entertaining as a character nowadays though. "Money Moose" is one of my favorite character upgrades to come out of TNA/Impact. And, believe it or not, they've had several.

I mean, sure. The guy still speaks like Ahmed Johnson. And I'm still not convinced he could lay out a match if his life depended on it. But he's capable of being led at times, and the character can be fun when placed in the right spots.

I fully realize that's a list of backhanded compliments & not-so-glowing remarks, but it is what it is.

Oh, wait. I dig the Moose music/chant thing, too. Like, I enjoy it to an absurd degree. I offer no excuses either. No rhyme. No reason. Don't judge me.

[Zoo Enthusiast]

Man, I liked this show a lot, other than Drake/Abyss (and that was really derailed by the zip tie spot for me), and then the finish of the main event really sucked.  I am a massive Survivor fan and even I hated it

[SirEdger]

So, Impact literally had their In Your House: Beware of Dog moment tonight. While taping the 2nd episode of Impact of the night, power went out in the production truck and they had to stop the tapings. I guess they'll have to pick up where they left off tomorrow.

https://www.ringsidenews.com/2019/01/07/impact-wrestling-television-tapings-stopped-due-to-power-outage/

[Alucard]

1 hour ago, SirEdger said:

So, Impact literally had their In Your House: Beware of Dog moment tonight. While taping the 2nd episode of Impact of the night, power went out in the production truck and they had to stop the tapings. I guess they'll have to pick up where they left off tomorrow.

https://www.ringsidenews.com/2019/01/07/impact-wrestling-television-tapings-stopped-due-to-power-outage/

It went out for like 15-20 mins, came back and they resumed.

[SirEdger]

OK, I didn't know if they had been able to resume the tapings.

[Blehschmidt]

When it comes to Moose and selling, I am almost certain it is a combination of him being taught from the beginning that he is big and doesn't need to sell, mixed with "I used to be an NFL guy, I am above this shit."

I say that because one of the little promotions I worked for in West Virginia brought him in pretty much fresh out of training school. He hadn't even started with RoH yet and he big shotted everyone in the building. Spent the whole night on his cell phone, didn't talk to the people on the show, didn't talk to the fans, and when he got in the ring with the biggest guy on the roster, he ate him up and didn't sell the little bit he did take.

Maybe you can chalk it up to him being green at the time, but I think it's more likely attitude and training.

[SomethingSavage]

I made it halfway through the show, but I had to press pause for now. I'll finish it up later, but I'll offer up my thoughts on what I've seen so far.

That opener was everything it needed to be. Ultimate X is one of those gimmick matches that can be exciting, or it can just as easily turn into a disaster. But I dug this one. Plenty of flashy, imaginative spots. And everything moved at a quick clip.

I can understand the criticism about the Tombstone on the outside, but I think it's more a fault of the layout than the performers themselves. I realize they go hand in hand to produce what we see on our screens, but really. The Piledriver really warranted more room to resonate and register before Swann got involved again.

Even so, I'm pleasantly surprised that Swann worked the whole match as a serious, determined baby face. I mean, sure. He danced along to his entrance theme, but after that? The comedy was dialed all the way down, and he just put in the work & remained focus until the finish. Good stuff there. It made his win all the more satisfying in my eyes.

I actually enjoyed the Knockouts tag for what it was. The supernatural stuff isn't exactly up my alley (ay!), but I really dug this as a match. The work itself was solid. Kiera continues to improve & impress. She's quickly surpassing the rest of the pack as a fiery baby face, a role previously upheld by Allie herself.

I know Jordynne is the darling of the day, and she's okay. Her power spots are fun enough, but I thought she actually looked lost and uncoordinated quite a lot here. Kiera carried her end of things very well though.

And damn. Su Yung is still one of the greatest gimmicks going. The music, the mannerisms, the look, the entrance, and everything just adds up to a complete package. And Su herself pulls it off perfectly. She never seems to drop out of character or slip up for even a second. She owns the scene anytime she's on screen.

Dark Allie is the other side of that same coin. To her credit, Allie has been a major bright spot in TNA/Impact for years now. And she's basically been doing Bayley better than Bayley for years now as well.

I get why people don't care for the angle or the sillier aspects of it, but it *is* refreshing to see her character mature, grow, and change over time. If the alternative is to see her grow stagnant, then yeah. I'm cool with a temporary change. But I'd be lying if I said I want to see it stick. I miss the wholesome, innocent Allie and hope to see her return to form someday.

In the meantime? Yeah. Dark Allie is kind of hokey. She's playing it way over-the-top with the constant crawling and laughing and shit. And maybe that wouldn't stand out so much if she wasn't sharing screen time with Su Yung right there next to her so much. But she is, and so it does.

Su Yung looks creepy and eerie in a convincing fashion. Dark Allie just looks like she's doing Dungeon of Doom auditions. But hey. I will say it looks like she's relishing the role and having some fun with the chance to do something different. So there's that.

The post-match stuff was weird. I mean, I won't lie. I popped huge for Rosemary's return. I managed to stay spoiler free for that, and I'm glad. Stood straight up & threw a mean working punch in the air when I saw her emerge from that casket.

But everything slowed way down and seemed to move at half-speed after that. They were definitely going for bigger, broader theatrics. And that works fine for a live audience. But it played out poorly on screen. It was all in slow motion, and it felt kind of awkward there for a moment.

I still enjoyed it all well enough. The story has been mainly a misfire for me up until the last month or so, but I think it's actually turned a corner for me now. Maybe it would bother me more if it were strangling the Knockouts division, but as a separate story? It's fine as its own thing - an alternative to the more serious title feud.

I honestly thought the Moose/Eddie match was a fucking blast. It kicked off in high gear & pretty much stayed there all the way through. It didn't even stall whenever they had to start introducing weapons, which is something I absolutely hate about almost every WWE gimmick match these days. They maintained a sense of urgency and recklessness from start to finish.

Eddie's first dive looked gnarly - falling right across Moose's shoulder blades and flattening him. And that first Moose Powerbomb against the apron looked nasty, too. They just hooked me early on and never let go.

I guess I could go back and find small faults in some of the selling or whatever, but nah. This was a super fun, messy brawl in the moment. And the finish felt like a proper payoff. Alisha getting involved is what it is, but it made sense to shut the lid on the rivalry.

Oh. And Moose ate that backdrop through the ladder like a fucking champ. The visual of him just lying there like he'd been hit by a truck was pretty awesome.

The buildup for Eddie/Moose was bad though. I'll admit that. It was late 90s "wrestling needs crash TV skits" level bad. But I will say - I love all the little cameos they've found time for with these guys from the past. Mitchell, Raven, and even Dreamer. They aren't detracting from anything by popping in here & there this way. In fact, I think it's quite neat as a nod to the past.

Callihan/Willie Mack was solid albeit unspectacular. Nothing stuck with me, but nothing was actively bad. My main takeaway was Sami's pre-fight promo. I don't care at all for all the "draw" talk, and hearing the ring announcer actually introduce him as "Hashtag THE DRAW" was all kinds of awful.

But Callihan's actual ability on the mic is something I've got time for, honestly. The guy speaks with such conviction and purpose. And that crazed, wild look in his eyes makes it easy to buy in. Dude doesn't feel like an act. He doesn't function like a pretender. Sami strikes me as genuine & authentic as this shitty, horrible person. And that's money.

Callihan is also a complete furnace of heat with me, because I know people like him in real life. He's the pudgy, meth-slinging, trailer park trash with the ratty, pencil-thin facial hair & the shitty white trash tats, who gets a few beers in him & suddenly believes he's a cage fighter. They're an infuriating, obnoxious, but very true to life & familiar breed of folk in my neck of the woods. And that's instant heat.

I say all that just to say - yeah. Callihan's whole act works for me. I'm surprised they haven't made a move to put the belt on him yet. I like the spot they've found for him, and his feud with Penta last year was right up there as one of my favorites anywhere in the world. But I could seriously see them cranking up the volume on him & crowning him champ at any point in 2019.

Eli Drake is another strong promo. I know people knock him for the Rocky ripoff cadence or whatever, but the dude is completely confident in everything he says. He's hit a new stride again lately, although the guy's been really good for a long time for those that have cared to keep up with him.

His line about this being Abyss in the monster's ball against the man "with MONSTER BALLS" cracked me up. It's Rocky college humor, but the delivery was on point. Drake didn't miss a beat.

I had to stop there for now, but hopefully I get around to finishing the show before the end of this week.

[El-P]

Damn, TNA, sorry, iMPACT delivered again. 

LAX vs Lucha Brothers was the closest thing to a legit great match on that show. Tons and tons of crazy shit and sequences, the kind of which you've never seen before. Penta jumping on the other two bodies on the floor to execute a Canadian Destroyer on the third guy was insane and beautiful. Konnan's promo at the end was quite cool too. Damn, Konnan is not selling the MLW assault ? 

Then again, I loved Moose vs Eddie Edwards. The old ECW fan in me just popped huge for every brutal stuff they did. Love me some Moose and Eddie Edwards is the greatest uncharismatic butterface super-worker since Tim Horner. Ok, he's better looking. Honestly, I didn't see the Alesha spot coming at the end, and I popped huge for that one too. Gotta love a happy crazy couple. Totally lived up to my expectations.

Well, and like it wasn't enough, yeah, another garbage match, dummies. Damn, Drake is fascinating in his cosplaying glory. Yeah, "monster balls" was a nice one. The match was pretty damn good for an Abyss match in 2019 honestly. Eli taking the table spot outside was really impressive, and I didn't expect him to take the tacks bump at all. He got game. Too bad the finish was all fucked up because of the zip-tie, I guess they were going for more cosplay with Eli bashing Abyss, Rock-on-Foley style. Worst match of the night, but apart from the screwed up finish, I'd still call it pretty good.

And on the crazy spotfest subject, I pretty much always enjoy Ultimate X. This one was interesting in that it was clearly destined to make a new guy. I kinda guess Swann would get it, but everyone looked good here. You can argue the fact they would launch themselves outside instead of going for the belt at points was goofy, but to me it kinda played in the idea they are not that smart and inexperienced in that kinda match, and their inclination for jumping on each other is too strong. Well, not the best Ultimate X or anything, but quite a cool opener.

I admit Callihan vs Mack kinda got the resting spot for me, as I was not very involved in it despite really enjoying both. I love Callihan in that he's a full-fledge dirty, disgusting heel. And his work is solid as hell. Good match though, better than good even, I was just a bit out at this very spot of the card.

Grace & Hogan vs Allie & Su Young started kinda sloppy, Kiera I don't think is that solid. She's got some nice burst of offense though. I love Allie, as goofy as her gimmick may seem, she's got a terrific presence and she's really solid. Su Yung, yeah, she's the best entrance since Gangrel and she's the best Bad Nurse Nakamura ever in the ring. Grace, jury's still out, but I enjoy her power spots a lot. You know what tells you a story is well told ? I started to watch iMPACT back again after the Rosemary angle, I only heard about her and saw her appear in the underworld, yet when I saw the coffin come up on the ramp, I totally guessed what was about to happen. Because it made sense. Anyway, enjoyed the whole thing.

Taya vs Tessa was a bunch of bad bitches working stiff. Damn, Tessa has some cool torturous submission spots. Loved Taya's new look by the way, less Valkyrie and more street-cred. Also, is there a Luna Vachon tribute with that hairstyle ? Anyway, apart from the referee stuff which again could be seen coming from a mile away, but if the goal is to get Gail out of retirement for a match against Tessa it's totally fine with me, I thought this was their best work together. Really looked like they beat the shit out of each other. Tessa, well... Tessa.

The main event was good but again, not enough dynamics between the two except at the beginning (when Johnny basically uses his speed to escape Cage) and the end (when Cage is on full Terminator mode). The Survivor dorks stuff was odd. Maybe I would I loved it if I had followed Johnny on the show, I dunno. At it is it looked like the beginning of a heel turn, which I highly doubt considering the cool post-match angle. Odd to see Taya get booed thirty minutes after she was cheered. Well, the match was excellent in spots but lacked a strong dynamic (see also, the babyface vs babyface matches of Johnny in LU, and pretty much every Cage match that isn't a crazy brawl). The finish got all fucked up, well shit happens, it didn't look that bad actually.

Well, I hope good things are to come for iMPACT in 2019, I'd hate to see them go away or lose all their talent, they have been very easy and fun to follow week to week and the three PPV I've seen have all delivered. Kudos to Callis & D'Amore for being able to turn the promotion around. (gotta love the "TNA" chant. that was kinda cute, in a way...)

[SomethingSavage]

I read some disappointing reviews, but shit. Even the Monster's Ball brought the goods. They went the right route by keeping it short. Abyss is definitely hobbled & broken down nowadays, but he wasn't really out there long enough to overstay his welcome. I appreciate that. It instills confidence when they recognize the limitations of novelty acts this way.

Kudos to Drake for manning up and taking that fall into the tacks. Another small thing I liked was the way he bumped off the rolling stage box. It was one of those well-timed comedic bumps, where it's funny enough to offer a moment of relief - but not so hokey that it takes the serious edge away from the ensuing fight.

I dug the straightforward simplicity of the finish, too. The mishap with the zip-ties aside, it was just Drake putting the hurt on Abyss & pulverizing the monster to a pulp. It wasn't pretty or fancy or athletic in any way. It was just a BEATING, and then a pin. It's just an emphatic win, plain & simple.

That tag title match was INCRRRREDIBLE as far as stunt shows go. This brought back memories of Lee/Everett vs Evans/Angelico or Lee/Everett vs Bucks from 2015 PWG for me. It was just wall-to-wall action. Penta leaping off the back of a pinning predicament to pull off that Canadian Destroyer was sweet. But I thought the real show-stealer was Fenix's double stomp to help spike Penta's package piledriver. They STUCK that landing. Super fun match that's worth seeking out, for sure.

And again, it didn't linger around for too long. If anything, I'd call it criminally short actually. And I'm normally someone that overvalues a nice, crisp sprint over these needlessly long, drawn out, time-filler matches. But yeah. This was a blast from bell to bell.

Hate to say it, but I thought Tessa/Taya was the worst match of the night. It's the only thing that really left me underwhelmed. Very disappointing after what felt like am excellent first chapter to their rivalry back at BFG.

The match started off really rough, with Taya looking a little lost & neither of them syncing up or getting on the same page for a good a while. The middle portion was alright. Nothing outstanding, aside from maybe Tessa's drop kick with Taya's head smashed against the guardrail.

The finishing stretch was an absolute disaster though. The whole flow of the match came to a screeching halt so they could focus on the angle with Gail, and things just never recovered from there. There were WAYYY too many silly miscue spots with Gail. The little tug of war deal with the belt was embarrassingly lame.

Worst of all? Taya became a total afterthought for the finishing stretch. She was treated like a nuisance or a pest instead of a top challenger. So when she gets her crowning moment by, ya know, actually winning the belt... It just seems so flat.

To her credit, Taya wears her emotions on her face and soaks up the celebration. So that helps to galvanize the moment & make it mean something. I still wish they would've found a better way to get there and have it feel wholly earned. I understand they wanted to set up Gail/Tessa, but I don't know. I think this outcome was the one altogether wrong decision on the show.

Johnny/Cage was a fine main event in terms of action. But yeah. That finish was another misfire. Looking back at the BFG stuff with Aries, it makes me wonder if they are just trying to do too much of this cutesy/creative stuff in their main events lately. I get the logic. I can understand why they'd want to make waves and try new things. But this idea should have been filtered out & left on the cutting room floor somewhere.

The execution was botched, because it was always a long shot that they'd be able to pull it off. And both guys are insane athletes, but yeah. It was just too convoluted and uncertain.

Beyond that, it's one of those fluke wins that leaves the company with a World Champion who looks 100% lucky. Beyond THAT, it makes the senior referee look like a naive, clueless moron for being so distracted for so long.

Beyond even THAT, it called for Johnny to kick out after the Drill Claw. And fuck, man. I just wish there could be one or two protected, sacred FINISHERS in wrestling again. I'm talking about instant kill shots. And the Steiner Screwdriver should be one of them. I don't care if there's a three-minute delay before the pin. Fuck it. You take that move, you're eating a loss. Lights out. Done deal. End of story.

In any case, don't get me wrong. This was still a mostly enjoyable show. I'd rate it comfortably somewhere below All In and last year's two Impact PPVs, but it was still easily watchable and preferable over almost every main roster WWE PPV since 2014.

Now just for some random thoughts that struck me throughout the show...

LAX are still one of my favorite acts. They don't feel at all stale to me yet. Their work, their entrance, their energy, and everything about their presentation is still FIYAH. Both guys are crazy underrated as talkers, too.

This show actually had several strong promos. Drake. Sami. LAX. It's too bad we didn't get a chance to hear from Tessa. Instead, Cage and Johnny both got some time. And woof. I realize that's your main event - and I like both guys just fine for what they are - but they really could have benefited from more attention in terms of production & direction. These guys need to be guided through. Without supervision, we get stuff like Johnny rambling about strict diets & Cage (in full 80s wrestler form) yelling about how he "sacrificed the birth" (!?) of his daughter for the business. The fuck.

And gawt damn, y'all. Gail Kim was looking mighty fine. It's only a matter of time before Vince sees her ref uniform & we start to see Charles Robinson's chest meat on a weekly basis.

[Stiva]

Anyone watch Impact this week? Another, easy, enjoyable two hours of wrestling but I'm less than enthused with the programs they're setting up around the belts. Killer Kross has time to grow on me, I guess but I'm starting to bounce off Sami Callihan in a big way and OVE make sense as the next challengers for LAX but I'm not personally pumped for it. But, all is made up by the return of BIG POPPA PUMP. Scarlett Bordeaux in lingerie was a very Attitude Era segment but, and not to be crude, that is a very attractive woman, my word.

[Tenese Sarwieh]

1 hour ago, Stiva said:

Anyone watch Impact this week? Another, easy, enjoyable two hours of wrestling but I'm less than enthused with the programs they're setting up around the belts. Killer Kross has time to grow on me, I guess but I'm starting to bounce off Sami Callihan in a big way and OVE make sense as the next challengers for LAX but I'm not personally pumped for it. But, all is made up by the return of BIG POPPA PUMP. Scarlett Bordeaux in lingerie was a very Attitude Era segment but, and not to be crude, that is a very attractive woman, my word.

I'm 50/50 on Killer Kross being pushed as a top guy but I can't blame them for trying. One thing I can say is he can talk and has a presence about himself. 

[Zoo Enthusiast]

Who is Killer Kross?  I saw him on the PPV and can’t say I have ever seen him before.

[El-P]

He looks like a nazi officer, he has some really creepy (and beautiful, if you're into this kind of stuff) tattoos, he's a pretty good promo and has a good grasp on his character and he throws some mean suplexes. He was the White Rabbit in Lucha Underground (that's where I saw him for the first time).

Scarlett Bordeaux stripping, why the hell not since she's pretty much the only one now doing this kind of gimmick. She's been pretty effective and funny in her role thus far.

[The Thread Killer]

41 minutes ago, Zoo Enthusiast said:

Who is Killer Kross?  I saw him on the PPV and can’t say I have ever seen him before.

He trained at the "Future Stars of Wrestling" school in Las Vegas, mostly by Sinn Bodhi.  He debuted with them in 2014.  He has some MMA training as well but I don't think he's fought professionally. As El-P mentioned, he wrestled in Lucha Underground and he has also worked in AAA.  I think the main reason he ended up in IMPACT is because Sonjay Dutt is a big fan of his.  When Dutt was working for Global Force he booked Kross there, and now that he's an agent in Impact it looks like he made sure to get Kross in there as well.

From what I've seen, he is a very solid promo but I haven't seen enough of him in the ring to have a strong opinion one way or the other.  If he's even average as a wrestler, then IMPACT are smart to push him, in my opinion.  He can talk, but most importantly he's new and isn't viewed as a WWE reject or cast-off.  He's an original star and a new face and Impact is really going to need guys like him and Eli Drake if they want to succeed on their own merit and not end up looking like TNA used to, obsessed with getting WWE retreads.

[SirEdger]

I don't think I've seen Killer Kross work a singles match yet on Impact as I've only seen him work tag matches and 6-men tag matches. So I don't know if it's indicative of his skills but like everyone says, he's pretty strong on the mic and he has a different presentation about himself that certainly warrants our attention every week. To be fair, I think he's been outshined lately by Moose since his heel turn (I mean, Moose's fashion statement is the awesomest thing on Impact every week) so it's why it might be a bit weird to see Killer Kross now in that singles program. But I'm curious to see where they'll be going with this.

[The Thread Killer]

So now that January 1 has come and gone, there seems to have been a noticeable shift in the content available on The Fight Network here in Canada.  UFC has moved to ESPN from FOX, and as part of that deal, UFC is no longer available on The Fight Network.  As I suspected, that seems to have left quite a large hole in the programming schedule.  The Fight Network used to have infomercials in the morning until about 10:00 am or so, and then have a mix of UFC programming and a fair bit of "classic TNA" content.  They show the weekly ROH show as well, and old NJPW and Pancrase, as well as combat related movies like Bloodsport, etc.  But honestly, every time I looked at the Fight Network guide it seemed it was always either an old UFC card or special or live prelims or the post fight press conferences, or TNA or new IMPACT programming.  Now that UFC is gone, they are showing a ton of obscure European minor league MMA shows, or Impact, Impact and more Impact.

I saw an interview with Ed Nordholm of Anthem Sports and Entertainment this past week online.  He reiterated that the main reason Anthem bought Impact was to provide content for The Fight Network and their other channels like The Game Show Network and Pursuit.  I know the popular reaction online to Impact ending up on Pursuit is "LOL Impact can't get a TV deal" and that is partially true.  I'm sure they would have loved to land a TV deal where they were getting paid to provide their show.  But I don't think it's the death knell that some people seem to think it is.  The Fight Network is literally loaded with classic TNA content, old PPV's, specials focusing on past stars and classic matches, etc. Today alone, by my calculation there is 8 hours of TNA and Impact related content scheduled on The Fight Network.

The idea that Anthem bought Impact specifically to run as an independent Pro Wrestling company and make money via the traditional revenue streams isn't entirely true, I don't think. I don't think you can discount the need Anthem had for fairly cheap programming that they own themselves.  At this point, The Fight Network may as well change their name to The Impact Network.

[TonyPulis'Cap]

16 hours ago, SirEdger said:

I don't think I've seen Killer Kross work a singles match yet on Impact as I've only seen him work tag matches and 6-men tag matches. So I don't know if it's indicative of his skills but like everyone says, he's pretty strong on the mic and he has a different presentation about himself that certainly warrants our attention every week. To be fair, I think he's been outshined lately by Moose since his heel turn (I mean, Moose's fashion statement is the awesomest thing on Impact every week) so it's why it might be a bit weird to see Killer Kross now in that singles program. But I'm curious to see where they'll be going with this.

I've liked him so far in Impact in terms of his look and presentation and he does have a charisma to him, but the major singles match I can recall him in - he faced Johnny Impact for the title on TV just before Christmas - wasn't very good. I was looking forward to it in the buildup, but it was slow and plodding and he didn't show any of the aggression or intensity that he does in his promos. Still think there's an upside to him though, and as others have said, he's not a WWE castoff or a guy who has made a big rep for himself elsewhere so he feels fresh. Fingers crossed his next match, or series of matches, with Johnny are more impressive.  

[TonyPulis'Cap]

On 1/8/2019 at 12:47 AM, The Thread Killer said:

Thanks brother.  I think if the finish hadn't been so wonky, I probably would've been a lot more favorably disposed towards the Main Event.

I wanted to like Moose, I really did.  When I first saw him in ROH, I thought the guy looked like money.  I especially thought if they built towards a feud between Moose and Donovan Dijak they might really be onto something, but that never really transpired to the best of my knowledge, for whatever reason.  I can overlook most of my issues with him except two.  I find that he moves really slow most of the time ("plodding" is the word I use) but even worse, his selling drives me nuts. I can't count the number of times I saw him get hit with some type of offensive maneuver, when his only reaction was to stumble backward two or three steps, wave his arms comically in a circular motion like he was losing his balance, and shake his head a couple of times as if he was confused.  It was so damn cartoonish, it drove me up a wall.  Maybe he was trained with the mindset that "you're a big guy, you don't have to sell" or maybe he just isn't any good at it, but either way, it drives me nuts.

But hey, I am the first to admit that my opinion is just that...an opinion.  Maybe Moose is better than I give him credit for being. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe it's just me. Here I am singing the praises of the Willie Mack/Sami Callahan match, and I haven't seen one other person online today mention it favorably.  Just goes to show what is awesome for some people is "meh" for other people.  I agree with you as well that Tessa/Taya without the referee angle was much better.

I think there's some really valid criticisms of Moose here, and to be honest, I used to think very similarly about him - he would frustrate me by not showing any fire or intensity in his matches, just seemingly going through the motions and trying too hard to work an 'indie work rate style' rather than more of a dominating monster. However over the last year or so I've really started to like him. I thought he delivered in his title match against Aries (although a lot of that I think was down to Aries being very good and leading him through it) and I'd recommend checking out his match with Eddie Edwards he had on the 8 November Impact (I reviewed it here:

 In that match he showed a lot of fire and I wonder if you might see that as a better performance than his one at Homecoming if you get the chance to check it out.

[Alucard]

I thought this past week's Kross/Johnny no DQ match was good stuff with Kross looking great as the monster that can't be kept down. Agreed on the above mentioned Moose/Eddie match.

[SomethingSavage]

Kross is good for his experience, but there is clearly still room for improvement. Dude's got a great look, decent presence, and a truckload of potential. Time will tell whether he continues to develop & improve or not.

I both like & dislike his interviews at different times, which I realize sounds odd. But it's true. There are instances where he nails it & carries it off like a certified psychopath. And then there are times when I cringe at how hammy he can be.

I don't know what the immediate future holds for him in Impact though. I don't expect the deal with Johnny to be too long-lasting, as it looks like they're doubling down on the Cage/Johnny feud up top for now, with Moose and Kross hanging in the peripheral as fall guys to eat some losses and further build them up.

I dig Cage, and I actually would've been cool with them putting the belt on him at Homecoming. But Callihan still feels like the hottest act in the company (for a year running now), and it's kind of a waste if he's only going to exist around the X-Division with Swann for very long.

Historically, the X-Division has been a direct conduit to the main event at times though. So I ain't mad at it or anything. Maybe this will lead to Sami mixing it up with the top dogs before long. I certainly feel like he belongs there, as the guy's been crazy consistent in getting angles over and making feuds feel like they matter in Impact.