Is TNA the worst wrestling promotion in history?

[Grimmas]

I'm sure a few gems can be picked out even during TNA's darkest periods. But it's like, I'm sure Nickelback has a few good songs too, but I'm not going to scour their discography to try to identify them. Life is too short.

They had a great song on the album before they got big. I think the song is Leader of Men.

[Boss Rock]

Leader of Men is a great song.

[SomethingSavage]

I'm sure a few gems can be picked out even during TNA's darkest periods. But it's like, I'm sure Nickelback has a few good songs too, but I'm not going to scour their discography to try to identify them. Life is too short.

That sounds good and all, but if you're currently spending 3 or 5 or 10 or whatever hours a week watching modern WWE, then you're doing it wrong & at least a little hypocritical. (Okay, a lot.)

 

I can't speak for anyone else, but - with me - it's not even a case of needing to "scour" or search for anything. Hell, the majority of my posts here are clearly plucked straight from memory at random, usually spurred on by something EL-P posts beforehand. It's a minimum effort deal at best.

 

And yeah. Clearly these memories are rosier in hindsight. But there are plenty of enjoyable things out there in their history. Of course there's also plenty of shit. Those Russo-written TV shows felt like frantic, overstuffed bags of trash. I cannot even imagine watching those week to week shows again, but it's not like I'm going to criticize anyone else for doing it either.

 

With all that being said, this is why we make match recommendations and offer recommended viewing lists for one another. It bypasses the whole need to search & scour. If you're not going to go out of your way to watch any TNA, then okay. Good for you. Some might appreciate it and find it useful though.

[NintendoLogic]

For the record, I haven't watched WWE regularly in years. I catch maybe half the PPVs in real time and cherry-pick matches with positive buzz from the ones I don't. And I tune into Raw once in a blue moon.

[Alucard]

The great 2011-2012 period of TNA was a lot of fun to watch at it's time not just looking back. When they went live for the summer of 2012, there was a genuine excitement watching week-to-week Impact. As has been mentioned before, there were loads of excellent things going on at that time. Bully Ray's great run, Aries rise to the top, Roode's heel title run, Angle/Styles v. Daniels/Kazarian matches, Samoa Joe having great matches again, etc.

[Mad Dog]

Impact won the Observer award for best weekly TV in 2012 as well.

[SomethingSavage]

Oh, it definitely deserved it. I've defended it here before, but that was the last time the company really felt like it had a serious chance of breaking through.

 

The ascension of Austin Aries, the rejuvenation of Bully Ray, the redemption of Jeff Hardy, the homegrown appeal of James Storm, the reign of Roode, the sleazy machinations of Bad Influence, and on & on - they had so much stuff worth checking out on their weekly show.

 

Even though they fell short in their execution, I'll actually defend a few of the concepts they tried out, too. Open Fight Night, Gut Check, and the weekly TV Title defense deal didn't produce guaranteed winners or anything, but they were fun for a time. And they were unique, without being convoluted - which is something TNA has forever struggled in achieving.

 

I'd actually extend the timeframe, too. For me, the product started to improve almost immediately after the Jeff Hardy debacle at Victory Road. Following that, Lockdown was an surprisingly enjoyable show. Suddenly, Impact became watchable again. Then, in the run up to BFG 2011, they really found their stride. It only got better throughout all of 2012 & didn't truly start to come off the rails until sometime in 2013. If I had to pick a specific point, I'd probably go with the Bully Ray reveal and all the shenanigans with Lockdown - which looked intriguing on paper, but turned out to be such a terrible show in execution.

 

So yeah. Interestingly enough, I'd give them Lockdown 2011 to Lockdown 2013 - a full two years where Impact was honestly worth watching week to week without fail.

[SomethingSavage]

I realize it's technically SPOILERS that haven't aired yet and all, but since nobody's really talking about modern TNA here...

 

 

 

 

 

... I'm stoked to hear Homicide & Hernandez are returning. I've been digging Konnan's new crew this last year, and I can only hope a new LAX/original LAX feud will produce some crazy violent grudge matches along the way. Plus, I mean, Eddie Kingston y'all.

[Laz]

Hasn't Homicide been with them since EYFBO joined?

[Bix]

Hasn't Homicide been with them since EYFBO joined?

Yeah. It looks like they're doing EYFBO & Eddie Kingston vs. Homicide, Hernandez, and... someone. I guess Konnan or an emissary.

 

I saw Homicide & Hernandez vs. EYFBO 2.5 years ago at the Rey-Ki show. First half was an excellent brawl all over the building. Second half was EYFBO getting the heat really badly. They're MUCH better now, so I'm totally into this.

[Alucard]

 

Hasn't Homicide been with them since EYFBO joined?

Yeah. It looks like they're doing EYFBO & Eddie Kingston vs. Homicide, Hernandez, and... someone. I guess Konnan or an emissary.

 

I saw Homicide & Hernandez vs. EYFBO 2.5 years ago at the Rey-Ki show. First half was an excellent brawl all over the building. Second half was EYFBO getting the heat really badly. They're MUCH better now, so I'm to

 

Switch around, Kingston is with Homicide & Hernandez while Konnan is with Ortiz & Santana

[Bix]

 

 

 

Hasn't Homicide been with them since EYFBO joined?

Yeah. It looks like they're doing EYFBO & Eddie Kingston vs. Homicide, Hernandez, and... someone. I guess Konnan or an emissary.I saw Homicide & Hernandez vs. EYFBO 2.5 years ago at the Rey-Ki show. First half was an excellent brawl all over the building. Second half was EYFBO getting the heat really badly. They're MUCH better now, so I'm to

Switch around, Kingston is with Homicide & Hernandez while Konnan is with Ortiz & Santana

I didn't realize I was that far behind. I'm still at the Eddie procures hookers for EYFBO phase.

[Alucard]

 

 

 

Hasn't Homicide been with them since EYFBO joined?

Yeah. It looks like they're doing EYFBO & Eddie Kingston vs. Homicide, Hernandez, and... someone. I guess Konnan or an emissary.I saw Homicide & Hernandez vs. EYFBO 2.5 years ago at the Rey-Ki show. First half was an excellent brawl all over the building. Second half was EYFBO getting the heat really badly. They're MUCH better now, so I'm to

Switch around, Kingston is with Homicide & Hernandez while Konnan is with Ortiz & Santana

I didn't realize I was that far behind. I'm still at the Eddie procures hookers for EYFBO phase.

 

 

the latest Homicide/Hernandez return portion won't actually air on TV for probably another month

[SomethingSavage]

Has Homicide stuck around all this time? I don't watch week to week, but I thought he dipped back out for awhile.

 

Either way, I'm stoked for the potential in this one.

[sek69]

Yeah, on top of all the other bizarro world things happening in 2018 in and out of wrestling, Impact is actually pretty good now.

[Alucard]

Has Homicide stuck around all this time? I don't watch week to week, but I thought he dipped back out for awhile.

 

Either way, I'm stoked for the potential in this one.

 

He's always in and out, he'd usually appear in their backstage segments at the "LAX clubhouse" and when he wasn't at whatever taping, they would refer to him taking care of LAX business in Mexico or something along those lines. I believe he last worked the barbed wire massacre against oVe in November (aired in January) and then a couple Xplosion matches at the following tapings.

[Mad Dog]

New LAX vs. OG LAX might be the most excited I've gotten for a feud so far in 2018.

[sek69]

In further good news, they dropped the stupid "Grand Championship" so now they're back to just the World and X title along with the tag belts.

[sek69]

So I've been enjoying Tessa Blanchard the last few weeks, and I've always wondered if her rumored attitude issues were legit or just "a woman has self confidence so that must mean she has a bad attitude" type BS.

[C.S.]

So I've been enjoying Tessa Blanchard the last few weeks, and I've always wondered if her rumored attitude issues were legit or just "a woman has self confidence so that must mean she has a bad attitude" type BS.

 

Wonder if they're reading into her attitude because Tully was apparently such an arrogant little shit back in his day.

[Bix]

Impact really is more than fine now. But the Impact Zone, especially the current smaller version (or any building they try to make look like it like Sony Studios the Canadian airplane hangar) is an absolute killer. They barely get enough fans to fill the side opposite the hard camera, the atmosphere is terrible, and the lighting is not great to try to hide the fan issues. I thought that the bigger, livelier crowd made it so that it wasn't as big an issue during the last PPV, but fixing the look and feel of the TV is the biggest hurdle they need to get over before they can fully rebuild.

 

I'm not really sure if there's an answer. Pop is allowing them to use plenty of indie stuff that doesn't look major league, so maybe it's just a matter of doing something with some of the partner Indies? Shows with their key talent draw solid crowds all the time.

[Alucard]

Impact really is more than fine now. But the Impact Zone, especially the current smaller version (or any building they try to make look like it like Sony Studios the Canadian airplane hangar) is an absolute killer. They barely get enough fans to fill the side opposite the hard camera, the atmosphere is terrible, and the lighting is not great to try to hide the fan issues. I thought that the bigger, livelier crowd made it so that it wasn't as big an issue during the last PPV, but fixing the look and feel of the TV is the biggest hurdle they need to get over before they can fully rebuild.

 

I'm not really sure if there's an answer. Pop is allowing them to use plenty of indie stuff that doesn't look major league, so maybe it's just a matter of doing something with some of the partner Indies? Shows with their key talent draw solid crowds all the time.

 

For what it's worth, after the next 2 weeks of TV air from Orlando, the July TV, Slammiversary and the following TV for August into September will all be from Canada so hopefully they'll have a real lively crowd there.

[Grimmas]

 

Impact really is more than fine now. But the Impact Zone, especially the current smaller version (or any building they try to make look like it like Sony Studios the Canadian airplane hangar) is an absolute killer. They barely get enough fans to fill the side opposite the hard camera, the atmosphere is terrible, and the lighting is not great to try to hide the fan issues. I thought that the bigger, livelier crowd made it so that it wasn't as big an issue during the last PPV, but fixing the look and feel of the TV is the biggest hurdle they need to get over before they can fully rebuild.

 

I'm not really sure if there's an answer. Pop is allowing them to use plenty of indie stuff that doesn't look major league, so maybe it's just a matter of doing something with some of the partner Indies? Shows with their key talent draw solid crowds all the time.

 

For what it's worth, after the next 2 weeks of TV air from Orlando, the July TV, Slammiversary and the following TV for August into September will all be from Canada so hopefully they'll have a real lively crowd there.

 

I didn't even both going and it wasn't really a great location or easily accessible without a car.

[El-P]

Fuck me for mentioning the Highway to Hell thread somewhere else, as TNA 2009 was getting on a pretty decent path (two terrific match at Genesis in Angle vs Jarrett and Sabin vs Shelley), despite Foley's useless stint so far, and there on January 29, Russo delivers a classic unwatchable, nonsensical, awful gimmick show that gets me right down the pits of the worst of the worst of WCW 2000. Worst iMPACT show ever. (and possibly worst TNA show ever to that point, including the weekly PPV era) Was Mantell on vacation or what ?

[sek69]

Today in 2002 was the very first NWA-TNA show, so happy birthday Impact! You're now old enough to get a learner's permit to drive.