Is TNA the worst wrestling promotion in history?

[Mad Dog]

It's not a great match and probably not even a good match. But the Hogan vs. Sting match from Bound For Glory is shockingly fun and well done when you take into account Hogan couldn't really bump for it. The post match is also great as Hogan brings the house down.

[Ricky Jackson]

I really liked Hogan vs Sting as well. I think it's the last TNA match I ever saw. Kinda underrated as a great moment. I believe it was Hogan's last singles match and it attempted to capture a Hogan vs Rock vibe, while also in a way righted the wrong of Starrcade 97. Hogan getting one last huge pop from the Philly crowd was great 

[Alucard]

Co-signed, I always praise that match and thought about mentioning it in my initial post. To me that's the match/moment that kicked off my favorite period of TNA from BFG to BFG 2011-2012. Biggest pop in TNA history for Hulkamania running wild. Loved it and it was perfectly executed all the way around.

[fakeplastictrees]

I don't believe anyone at the time took a shit on the match. We all knew what it was going into it and everyone delivered what was expected. Hogan and Sting didn't go overboard in the match or try and make it a 40 minute epic. Both came into that match with a realistic mindset and I think that is why it ultimately worked.

[SomethingSavage]

That was Hogan, devoid of every ounce of his physical athleticism, still managing to create magic and a memorable moment. His sheer showmanship and charisma carries that performance, and it's fucking fantastic.

You will never silence some of the Hulk critics and haters, but that BFG match with Sting is basically Hogan having a crazy fun match using the only attribute he had left.

I love it. Absolutely adore it. And that point in the post-match where Hogan rips the shirt? Goosebumps. Brought a legit grin to my face at the time, too.

[BruiserBrody]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAmbK135FVw

TNA uploaded their first ever PPV. Worth it alone just to watch them open with 3 of their biggest stars (Jarrett, Hall and Shamrock) all come out 1 by 1 and bury the main event battle royal for the NWA World title as a stupid way to crown a champ. 

- NASCAR drivers get a big pop as the scary black heel confronts them. 

- Toby Keith sings about putting boots in terrorist asses a year after 9/11 as the crowd goes nuts

- AJ Styled jobs to Jimmy Wang Yang dressed as Elvis

- Midget hardcore wrestling

- Ed Ferrara grew out a full long dreadlocks!?!

- Mickie James in the underwear battle royal 

- The Infamous Wrestling Penises 

 

[EricR]

It's probably been said a zillion times, but ed Ferrara's fury pink shirt, pleather pants, and dreadlock extensions is the Hindenburg of mid-life crisis disasters. 

[Memphis Mark]

Who going to buy the assets of TNA/Impact ? The top contenders would be the WWE and Sinclair . Now we also have BEIN network backed  MLW and the Khan backed  AEW  on the scene  .  I guess any one of the 4 could buy Impact from Anthem . They have all of the footage to sell , which is the big prize. . The  overseas TV deals and key talent contracts are short term assets that might have some value.

 

 The announce move to Pursuit TV is does not too promising . The new TV home is in about 6 million households. I would think that ROH with over 100 broadcast stations and various regional cable deals gets in far more homes. I wonder how long Anthem will continue operating Impact? Is the  India TV has the only  significant source of income? Should be a interesting few months.

[artDDP]

Impact content is already popping up on WWE Network so they have that relationship established. 

[C.S.]

No sign of Impact on the redneck Pursuit app for Roku. Impact's incompetence is staggering to me.

Yes, I realize Impact can be found on Twitch now (at least I assume the shows are archived there after being streamed "live"), but there's no "official" way to watch Twitch on Roku.

Unofficially: Twitched Zero (free) or Twitched ($1), as long as you don't mind giving a potentially sketchy third-party app your Twitch login details. (Probably not a big deal to sign up with a new Twitch account for the purposes of this though.) I haven't tried either of these, so I can't vouch for them.

 

[artDDP]

I found Impact on my cable provider.

It's only available on a Spanish station.

Time to learn, I guess.

[Slasher]

7 hours ago, artDDP said:

I found Impact on my cable provider.

It's only available on a Spanish station.

Time to learn, I guess.

 

Or time to do this.

[C.S.]

Abyss and Sonjay Dutt have left Impact to take jobs with WWE (presumably in non-wrestling roles, but who knows).

I thought Abyss would be a lifer there. Guess not...

Wonder if he regrets not signing with WWE a decade ago when an Undertaker match was apparently dangled in front of him?

[El-P]

Yeah, Abyss leaving iMPACT, ever, is really unexpected. Surprise Rumble spot anyone ?

[El-P]

I have closed up on TNA 2009, just for the hell of it. These last few months are pretty much a continual infomercial for Hogan showing up. You can also see how Dixie's ego blew up at that point, with the ridiculous "talk to the talent" bit where she really comes off as the entitled rich daddy's girl that she was. In retrospect, the whole angle with Foley worried that Hogan was gonna run wild on the company with his old friends and fuck the party up is pretty ironic, because that's exactly what ended up happening.

That being said, the booking not giving a fuck anymore and putting Angle vs Wolfe and AJ vs Joe vs Daniels in feuds for the last two PPV delivered four great matches. The 1-2 punch of Final Destination was pretty amazing, really capped off the decade in grand fashion for TNA. AJ vs Daniels in particular was fascinating, as it seemed like they were aware with Hogan coming down nothing was certain as far as what opportunity they would get, so they go all out to have a really sick match, and a sick match it is. MOTYC, hell maybe even MOTD contender. Kinda too bad that Chris Daniels will never be talked in the same respect with Styles & Joe for obvious reasons (never got the same sustained push, never got the big WWE stint), he was just as bit as great a worker as they were (and that's without having watched his ROH stuff).

[Big Pete]

That was a golden period for TNA, and even though they would have shot themselves in the foot eventually, it's amazing how quickly it goes downhill. Obviously guys like AJ, Daniels, Joe, Wolfe and Angle were highlights but I remember fans being excited for The Pope D'Angelo Dinero, Hernandez, The World's Elite, The British Invasion, The Knockout's Tag Team division etc. had a ton of excitement.

Then the show was replaced by the Hogan and Bischoff variety hour featuring TNA wrestlers. It's such a strange show where Hogan plays this reformed corrupt booker while his best friend appears to be doing a lot of sketchy stuff and that's basically the show. A ton of Hogan's friends and adversaries try to sabotage the show, they have to deal with talent and in the background they have wrestling matches.

From what I remember, it gets worse when they bring in Rob Van Dam and start introducing all these different stables. At one point you've got generic store-brand nWo, generic store-brand IV Horseman and generic store brand ECW when they already did a decent ECW storyline with Dr. Stevie, Raven, Foley and Abyss the year prior. I know you're bit of an ECW fan El-P, did you ever see Hardcore Justice 2010? I don't remember it being an especially good show, but it was certainly one of the more memorable shows of the period and maybe of some interest to you.

[El-P]

4 hours ago, Big Pete said:

That was a golden period for TNA, and even though they would have shot themselves in the foot eventually, it's amazing how quickly it goes downhill. Obviously guys like AJ, Daniels, Joe, Wolfe and Angle were highlights but I remember fans being excited for The Pope D'Angelo Dinero, Hernandez, The World's Elite, The British Invasion, The Knockout's Tag Team division etc. had a ton of excitement.

I wouldn't go so far to say golden period, but 2009 had been mostly a terrible year and all of a sudden you get some really strong in-ring stuff (the booking was always rotten, Russo gaining power without counterbalance anymore, with Dutch & Corny getting fired, really showed). The last show of the year with the knockouts tournament had Ayako Hamada really killing it and ODB stepping up too (while Tara was the champ, of course since she was the WWE girl, despite being not very good at all and not even compelling nor fun as a character either). Sarita & Taylor Wilde really were a cool tag-team. Oh, makes me think WWE is just gonna revolutionize women's wrestling *again* today with their tag team championships, a whole decade after TNA mind you....

4 hours ago, Big Pete said:

I know you're bit of an ECW fan El-P, did you ever see Hardcore Justice 2010? I don't remember it being an especially good show, but it was certainly one of the more memorable shows of the period and maybe of some interest to you.

Yes, this last ECW reunion angle of sorts is something I want to watch eventually. I remember hearing about it back then, seems like in another life though... The whole Hogan debacle and the ECW stuff definitely picks my (twisted ?) interest in TNA 2010. I thought I was done for good with this stuff, but apparently I'm not.

[SomethingSavage]

TNA 2010 is the fucking pits, but Hogan & Eric get it right the following year. Lockdown 2011-Lockdown 2013 is a hell of a fun stretch for the company.

But yeah. 2010 sucks a dick something fierce. Hall, Nash, Syxx, and EY (for some reason) being the off-brand nWo was terrible. Nasty Boys returning was bizarre. Sean Morley showing up out of the wild blue yonder to beat Christopher Daniels was awful. Jeff Hardy was a mess. AJ was nearly impossible to enjoy underneath the cheap garments with their glued-on feathers. (Wooo!)

Was anything good happening? I mean, I thought the Kurt/Anderson cage match was aces. And the Pope looked like a money player for an all-too-brief moment there. But that's really about it.

Things didn't get good again until after the Jeff Hardy drug debacle. They went all in on developing new guys in Roode, Storm, Aries, a rejuvenated Bully Ray, etc. And the product felt sooo refreshed for awhile there.

Even if you wanted to skim through & filter out the less desirable stuff, you still owe it to yourself to follow the Angle/Jarrett feud, the redemption run of Jeff Hardy, the retooling of Bully Ray, the rise of Roode & especially Aries, and that remarkable Hogan/Sting happening from BFG.

You've come this far. And you could do much worse with your time. Like, I don't know, keep up with current WWE.

[Alucard]

On 2/17/2019 at 5:27 AM, El-P said:

The last show of the year with the knockouts tournament had Ayako Hamada really killing it and ODB stepping up too (while Tara was the champ, of course since she was the WWE girl, despite being not very good at all and not even compelling nor fun as a character either). Sarita & Taylor Wilde really were a cool tag-team. Oh, makes me think WWE is just gonna revolutionize women's wrestling *again* today with their tag team championships, a whole decade after TNA mind you....

I always loved that knockouts new years eve show. Hamada was absolutely on fire, killing it with ODB & Nikki Roxx.

On 2/17/2019 at 6:37 PM, SomethingSavage said:

TNA 2010 is the fucking pits, but Hogan & Eric get it right the following year. Lockdown 2011-Lockdown 2013 is a hell of a fun stretch for the company.

But yeah. 2010 sucks a dick something fierce. Hall, Nash, Syxx, and EY (for some reason) being the off-brand nWo was terrible. Nasty Boys returning was bizarre. Sean Morley showing up out of the wild blue yonder to beat Christopher Daniels was awful. Jeff Hardy was a mess. AJ was nearly impossible to enjoy underneath the cheap garments with their glued-on feathers. (Wooo!)

Was anything good happening? I mean, I thought the Kurt/Anderson cage match was aces. And the Pope looked like a money player for an all-too-brief moment there. But that's really about it.

Things didn't get good again until after the Jeff Hardy drug debacle. They went all in on developing new guys in Roode, Storm, Aries, a rejuvenated Bully Ray, etc. And the product felt sooo refreshed for awhile there.

Even if you wanted to skim through & filter out the less desirable stuff, you still owe it to yourself to follow the Angle/Jarrett feud, the redemption run of Jeff Hardy, the retooling of Bully Ray, the rise of Roode & especially Aries, and that remarkable Hogan/Sting happening from BFG.

You've come this far. And you could do much worse with your time. Like, I don't know, keep up with current WWE.

I thought 2010 was a lot of fun in a 2002 'who the hell is gonna show up next' sorta way, but agreed on all things 2011/12 being excellent.

[Migs]

Have been watching a good amount of the 2012-13 TNA, and this AJ Styles-Dixie Carter storyline... that's Russo returning, right? It's terrible, logic-less melodrama. There's even a tournament based on a wheel of stipulations, which is just a redo of the Deadly Game tournament.

[SomethingSavage]

The Claire Lynch story *was* six shades of shit, but what's truly awful is how WWE couldn't copy it fast enough.

I'm not about to defend the angle either way, but at least Daniels & Kazarian stirring shit up (in the sleaziest, slimiest possible ways) was enjoyable most weeks.

There were basically zero redeeming qualities in the Cena/AJ Lee ripoff though.

[clintthecrippler]

1 hour ago, SomethingSavage said:

The Claire Lynch story *was* six shades of shit, but what's truly awful is how WWE couldn't copy it fast enough.

I'm not about to defend the angle either way, but at least Daniels & Kazarian stirring shit up (in the sleaziest, slimiest possible ways) was enjoyable most weeks.

There were basically zero redeeming qualities in the Cena/AJ Lee ripoff though.

I actually ended up enjoying the Claire Lynch angle because Daniels and Kazarian. Instead of being mopey about it and going through the motions, they got how stupid it was and just hammed it up the entire time. And honestly, it was the first time Daniels showed me any true personality outside the Curry Man persona. I'll take "Christopher Daniels: Appletini-drinking dickhead trying to ruin a rival's marriage" over "Christopher Daniels: guy that does wrestling moves well" any day. 

[SomethingSavage]

Exactly. Daniels REALLY hit his stride as a character during that time. The Bad Influence team was a consistent highlight on TV every week there for awhile.

I really dug the way they had him finally beat AJ in a meaningful match - using the Styles Clash - and Styles going into a self-imposed exile in the aftermath of that. It really sold the significance of that defeat at the hands of Daniels. You want to talk about the importance of wins & losses? THAT is how you make them feel like they mean something.

It's too bad they didn't do much with it after AJ's return. I think there was a throwaway segment and match on TV, but it was more about getting AJ to the belt than anything else. They'd already had proper payoffs with the I Quit and LMS matches for two years running, but I still felt like the feud needed a fitting finale after AJ's absence.

So yeah. The Claire Lynch stuff was trash. But a lot of good came from it, like some sort of happy accident. I should actually go back and check out some of those AJ/Kurt team-ups to see how they hold up.

[Migs]

Actually, the problem is less the Claire Lynch stuff and more the payoff of the sad AJ angle. The match at Bound for Glory, with Dixie's convoluted motivations and involvement, and then her heavy involvement afterwards... it just screams Russo "Powers That Be" booking, where it's all about who's in control and main things happen, and all the matches are determined by what the authority wants (except when it's not, then we're "shooting"). 

[G. Badger]

Really enjoyed the Sting vs Angle match from Bound for Glory 2007. Most of that enjoyment came from the first 2/3rds. It was very good wrestling although it had a couple stumbles. Then Karen came out, then f-ing Nash, then the ref bumps, then the bat. Sting won so it made him look strong and made me OK with it all, I suppose. But, man there was no reason for all of that crap...I gotta think this was when Russo was on board. If they would have picked just one then, alright, I'm buying. But damn, they pulled out everything but the kitchen sink. Still, a fun match...but messy.