Is TNA the worst wrestling promotion in history?

[El-P]

Out of sheer morbid curiosity, I checked the first few weeks of Hogan's debut in 2010. It's amazingly awful. By week three, we already got an lame nWo reunion, WWE rejects Jeff Hardy & Ken Anderson showing up, WWE hasbeen Sean Morley re-doing the Val Venis to utter silence and disdain from the Impact Zone crowd, Bubba the fucking Love Sponge (wonder where his wife was), the Nasty Boys in some sort of meta-joke, old-ass Ric Flair soon ruining AJ Styles perfectly fine title stint, and a FUCKING MONTREAL RE-ENACTMENT, complete with Angle spitting on Hogan. Who the fuck thought this was not a disaster already ? It's amazing, like Russo was all of a sudden motivated again to be at its dirt worst (although 2009 was also mostly horrible in term of booking anyway), like he thought this was a good time for WCW 2000 redux again, because it worked so well the first time around. Amazing. And plugs for Dixie Carter's Twitter all the time, because that's important. Yeah, the company was doomed the day they signed Hogan & Bischoff apparently, the drop of quality from the last months of 2009, which got quite decent from nowhere, is insane. We're clearly in the "so bad it's almost fun" level.

[NintendoLogic]

You can't really call Jeff Hardy a WWE reject when he left of his own volition. Jeff in TNA is example 1,086,820 of the company's staggering incompetence. The hottest wrestler on the planet fell into their laps and they couldn't do a thing with him.

[El-P]

I call anyone coming from the WWE machine into TNA at this point a WWE reject. Not as "rejected by the WWE" but as "a product of them". And again, considering how fucked up Jeff Hardy would soon become, I don't see how TNA could have done anything with him anyway. 

[fakeplastictrees]

The first 6 months of Hogan's run was like putting all of the good and bad stuff of the MNW era into a blender. NWO, Val Venis, Montreal, ECW, Sting, Monday Night Wars Part II, Russo & Bischoff being major players in creative, and other non-sense. It's really amazing how committed Impact was to being a 90's nostalgia promotion.

[SomethingSavage]

They were eventually able to turn it around. TNA from Lockdown 2011 up to Lockdown 2013 is one of the best week-to-week wrestling television shows in the last 20 years.

But yeah. 2010 was one misstep after another. Did anything good come from that time period? I dug the Kennedy/Angle cage match and... Literally can't remember much else that's worth watching.

I *seem* to recall that Angle/AJ Genesis match being really solid up until the shit-show finish, but I'm not 100% on that and may be confusing it with one of their other encounters.

The Jeff Hardy "anti-Christ of professional wrestling" deal is truly an all-time career low for the guy.

[El-P]

17 minutes ago, SomethingSavage said:

I *seem* to recall that Angle/AJ Genesis match being really solid up until the shit-show finish, but I'm not 100% on that and may be confusing it with one of their other encounters.

Just watched it a few weeks ago. It was a terrific match. The Montreal redux was on the next Impact. Because you have to give your main event re-match right away on TV of course. And make it stupid.

Not overly familiar with Ken Kennedy (I knew of him obviously, but his days in WWE really were are part of my biggest blind spot). Damn, you weren't lying about him being a Rock cosplay act. The intro stuff is cute, but I can see it getting old really REALLY quick. Also, thus far, he doesn't strike me as very good at all. He also has the most stereotypical 00's WWE style : big guy, short hair, tribal tatoo, dull in the ring. 

Crazy to think TNA had the Young Bucks at this time. TNA really is the biggest pond of missed opportunities ever. 

[SomethingSavage]

The Bucks of 2010 were not the same Bucks of 2013 onward, tbf.

And yeah. Kennedy is really rough as a worker. He has the cage match with Angle (which, to me, is still top notch) and a fun street fight with Bully Ray to his credit. Outside of those two brawls, the dude's pretty much bankrupt in the quality matches department.

[Stiva]

Kennedy was the rare combo of being absolutely awful to watch and, by all accounts, absolutely awful to work with. He would kick his legs on suplexes in an attempt to make things look "real" which gave his opponent twice as much work to do in terms of lifting his useless ass over.

[Alucard]

I couldn't stand him in his WWE run when many were high on him but came to enjoy his work in TNA, starting with the Angle cage match which came off like a proper epic blowoff to a feud. Overall I liked him as a babyface better, he did get really over for a little bit there in early 2011.

[SomethingSavage]

He was inexplicably over a few separate times. It's weird.

Overall, I don't think I dislike him quite as much as most. I mean, he's tolerable. And I've come to enjoy him (at times) in brawls. But he's not very good at the fundamentals or the in-betweens that matter where it counts.

The guy got by on presence. He carried himself like a star, and so some influential people perceived him to be a star. He came along at a time when that loud, brash, bombastic personality and cadence was what EVERYBODY thought they should ape in order to be a top guy.

Everyone had it embedded in their mind that they needed to talk like The Rock, essentially. Kennedy did that. Dude literally talked like Rock and walked like Austin - even did the head bob trash talk mannerisms.

Kennedy was like a living, breathing CAW where somebody mashed up the traits and movesets of the Attitude Era's most over guys or something. Really strange to look back on now that I think about it.

But yeah. Check out that cage match with Kurt, if nothing else. It's violent. It's bloody. It's a glorious, fitting finale of a dogfight that just doesn't get enough love in the grand scheme of things.

[El-P]

Because if there's ever a time to revisit the last Monday Night War, it's now. Plus it's only 8-9 weeks I believe, so there.

TNA LIVE on Monday Night ! Week 1

Oh yeah. Dixie Carter sighting. She was such a daddy's little girl money mark. I'll give her credit, she had that really hot cougar thing going on.

So, TNA's plans (Russo on creative, mind you, it really is fake-WCW 00) for pro-wrestling in 2010 was Hogan vs Flair on TV basically, with TNA originals as tag along. Abyss is a Hulkamaniac, he's basically Evad Sullivan. GENIUS ! Hogan even has a fake NWO theme. Hey, Brooke Hogan in the crowd ! Things are setting up to be really good. I'm glad I'm not watching this shit in HD, Flair in tights in 2010 is gross enough in shitty resolution. AJ Styles with a Flair style robe is yet another ridiculous idea. I won't even mention the earring and the blondie stripes. He doesn't look like the TNA World Champ and ace, rather like El Hijo del Charles Robinson. Sting shows up three minutes after the match begins. If I says I guessed the swerve from a thousand miles, would you believe me ? So yeah, Sting turns on Hogan. 10 minutes in, and you have pretty much the worst of WCW 2000 already. This is so awesome. That's a nostalgia show people !

Backstage, Brooke Hogan and a bimbo friend of hers showing huge cleavage. Or maybe that's her mother. No idea. She's officially a character too now I guess.

Holy shit, Kazarian looks young. Daniels looks pretty much the same. Yeah, TNA had talent, that's the saddest part. They have a really fun three-way with Doug Williams for the X-div title. Although it's pretty tame by today's standards, I'm sure people back then complained about too much movez and such. Shannon Moore with his cyberpunk look shows up. Well, this is quite ok.

Dixie Carter is also an on-cam talent now I guess. Russo is such a perfect suck up.

So, the women tag team champs of Hamada & Kong are no more because... basically because Kong slapped the fuck out of useless racist shit Bubba the Love Sponge who only got his job because he's a wife sharing friend with some other racist shit. Huge loss for TNA.

Taylor Wilde & Sarita, really good workers. Beautiful People, really good gimmick. I love their music theme. Lacey Von Erich is clueless yet still worth more my time than either Ross or Marshall, since she's supposed to play clueless. Tara is an overrated WWE product, Angelina Love is miscast as a babyface and... yeah, ok, short nothing match, Daffney fucks over Tara, Beautiful People are the new champs. These women matches aren't the priority of the new regime, obviously. Post match, JB ask to "bring in the bubbly" to celebrate. Damn. 

RVD is the surprise appearance everyone knows about apparently. Can't hate that one, although he's still kind of a WWE stapled guy short-circuiting the entire promotion. Pins Sting in 3 seconds. Sting beats him up forever. Hogan does a walk-in. Bubba the Love Sponge sighting. Look at those two racists shit. Bat shots galore. Gawwwwwwwd. This IS WCW 2000.

And now, Kevin Nash and... Eric fucking Young as Vincent or something... calling Hall & 6-Pac... The Battle of fake-NWO vs The Band aka Hall & Nash aka the Rehab-Wolfpack. This IS WCW 2000. Yeah, that was the plan for TNA going live in 2010. Well, Young vs Waltman was a fun very short match at least, as these two can go, but really...

Kurt Angle was then working this whole patriotic, sucking up to the army gimmick. So Republican of him. I always hated jingoist shit, so this is a huge pass for me, thank you. Although Angle is good at *every* kind of promo, he really is. Brawl with Ken Anderson. Yeah, it seems like Angle can carry anyone, in any kind of angle. I'll admit too, Mr. Anderson does carry himself like a star and does take a good beating. Still, jingoist angles don't work for me brother.

Speaking of which, more of the Racist Wife Fucking Friends. Earl Hebner sighting, because 12 years old buzz is the way to go.

Jeff Jarret is pissed because he's not the chosen one anymore. Beer Money (babyfaces turning heel ?) beat on him. Mick Foley special ref. Ok what the fuck ? Was this set up during the commercials ? Could be a really good match or something, it kinda is actually all things considered because all three are super solid workers, but, WCW 2000 people : barb wire bat, second ref run-in etc...

 Brooke is a TERRIBLE actress. I wonder if she cries because she realize she doesn't make the best choices of boyfriends...

Main event : AJ Styles & Flair vs Hogan & Abyssmaniac reboot. Old-ass Flair juicing like a pig. Really disgusting. He can still throw mean chops. Apart from this, Hogan vs Flair is pretty damn pathetic. Like the worst Nitro main event imaginable from 95, with guys 15 years older. Ok, nice, old-ass Hogan bleeding again too. I wonder why Styles ended up in NJPW, why would he want to work against Tanahashi in the Tokyo Dome ? Desmond Wolf was there too. (how many talent did TNA waste ?) And the Pope (who had been a highlight of the previous month). And... fucking Jeff Hardy, because we need MORE WWE rejects. So we're in the era of Jeffrey having been a huge star, which I never ever got, but whatever, so I guess he's a name.

Pathetic show. The only good segment was the X-div match. 90% of the rest was trash. The focus was all on Hogan. Brooke on camera. Dixie on camera. Bubba the fucking racist Sponge on camera. WWE rejects Jeff Hardy & RVD shot to the top of the cards. NWO redux angle. Jingoist shit because when in doubt, get some american flag out there. The women, once the highest rated and hottest part of the show,  were a complete afterthought.

Yeah, WCW 2000, only even worst because of the wasting of great young talent. At least in 2000, WCW had barely anything to waste.

[El-P]

TNA LIVE on Monday Night ! Week 2

Flair is bleeding like a pig cutting a promo. Gross. Hey, total hotshotting of Jeff Hardy vs AJ Styles sounds like a good idea. No ? What the fuck is Hardy mean by "breeze" ? Did I miss something ? 

Corporate Mick Foley ? That's a fresh idea. Straight from 12 years ago.

The Nasty Boys. With Jimmy Hart. In 2010. DA FUCK. Spike Dudley Brother Runt. Oh, fuck me. This show is getting worse by the minute. FOLLOW DIXIE CARTER ON TWITTER !!!! Did Knobs ate Brooke Hogan ? No, not that way. Fuck me twice, Jimmy Hart is part of the match. WCW 2000 heaven. Seriously, poor Team 3D, they have been nothing but troopers in TNA, they did not deserve that shit. WTF JIMMY HART PINS BUBBA ???!!! I have no words. The show wasn't good since Hogan showed up, but it's like going live on Monday made everything ten times shittier. Amazing. I wasn't ready. I have watched way too many good/great pro-wrestling TV lately.

Waltman legit shitting on the company was kinda funny though, saying "We've been kicked out of better places than this." No fucks left to give I guess.

Desmond Wolfe & Mr. Anderson vs Kurt Angle vs D'Angelo Dinero was a good short TV match. No complaint. Could have been much more with actual time. Anderson stayed the fuck away from the three good workers and honestly did not look bad when he was doing stuff in the post match, work or promo wise. Whatever happened with the Pope ? Quite a good worker, shitloads of charisma. Went nowhere I guess. TNA... I guess this segment will end up being the only good one of the show...

Angelina against one of the Beautiful People. Of course, they choose Daffney, because it really doesn't make any sense. I like those girls though, less of a match than an angle. Daffney getting a tool box was cool, the beatdown was ok, much like the save by Tara. Title match for Daffney, which I can get behind. Ok segment, but once again, women are totally rushed.

Racist Hogan cuts a promo, jack ! Hulk confronts Sting. He's in the catwalk. WCW circa sometime in the late 90's... Meanwhile, we're one week away from John Cena vs Batista at Mania....Meanwhile, in the IMPACT Zone, RVD jumps Sting from behind like any babyface would. Hogan is gonna use the bat and Bischoff interferes like he's still the boss of the nWo. He talks about Hogan's daughter > reaction shots of Brooke. Yay. 

"5 minutes challenge" match between Nash & Hall. Write the jokes yourselves. Waltman mock-facefucks Eric Young. Girls in the audience laugh. Almost sounds like a haïku.

Ok, so Beer Money are heels, because. Against Hernandez in a handicap match. With Jeff Jarrett as a special ref. Not enough stip if you ask me. Plus, Matt Morgan is now basically turning heel on his partner (and tag team champ) too. No, no overbooking at all. That doesn't sound like the worse of Russo in 2000 at all.

Eric Bishoff wants to cut Foley's hair now. Seriously, I don't think TNA has been that bad, like, ever. Not even during the weekly PPV era. Mr. Socko in the mouth of Uncle Eric. Then shaves his head. Whatever. Bischoff's hair kinda looks like Flair's now, only grayer...

Motor City Machine Guns cutting a promo about Generation Me. aka, the Young fucking Bucks. This is surreal to think the Bucks where part of Hogan era TNA, but here they were. They really look like Young Bucks too. Brian Kendrick was also on the payroll. Crazy X-div roster, when you see Amazing Red showing up too. And Daniels. And Kaz. All these guys in an Ultimate X match is the stuff TNA was built on, so at least we'll get that at the PPV. Of course they have to already do stupid dives on TV from ladders, because Russo.

Abyss using Hogan's old WCW theme (Jimmy Hart trademarked) is mind blowing, honestly. How transparent can you be ? 

Gotta love the announcers talking about how reckless Jeff Hardy is as he's grabbing a headlock 30 seconds in during a TV match after one offensive move. Apart from that, this was a good TV main event, considering how much I think of Hardy as a worker. Styles in 2010 was just ridiculous. Abyss counts three. I guess the power of the Hulkamaniacs contained in the WWE HOF Ring that Hogan gave him (yeah, the entire angle is based around a WWE HOF ring, I'm not even kidding) also allows him to referee any match. 

Holy shit, Abyss chokeslamming Flair INTO the ramp was an awesome spot. Idiotic, but awesome looking.

Ok, so although mostly really terrible, it was not as terrible as the previous week, thanks to two good matches and a decent build to the PPV.

Still, this show, which has been pretty poor anyway since the beginning of 2010, has totally fell off a cliff. And people are nitpicking every little things AEW does ? Comparing it to TNA in some respect (yes, Meltz actually said this, funny for someone who got so much shit for being "AEW's boy") ? Like, really ? You have no earthly idea.

[Alucard]

Love it! They were definitely trying a lot of things in this time and had quite the roster. Some gems in there among the hilariousness, Doug Williams had a real good year.

[El-P]

Destination X was kinda crazy in that it painted a perfect picture of TNA.

On one side, they had the Motor City Machine Guns vs Generation Me totally stealing the show in an Ultimate X match. Awesome stuff that totally precedes the style of the 2010's by a few years. Throw this shit on Dynamite, and it's still an amazing match. And also, the fact TNA signed the Young Bucks and showcased them in their signature match on a PPV in 2010 shows how progressive this company could be. Much like they were in the 00's when they were running AJ Styles vs Samoa Joe vs Chris Daniels, which was the state of the art pro-wrestling emerged from the most advanced indies like ROH at the time. Much like when they were putting women in position to have strong serious match and draw viewers as early as 2007. This match is the same, it's basically the wrestling of the future.

But then, the main event concluded with this infamous sequence :

 

Which is funny as fuck, but also tragic in the grand scheme of things, because it sums up what TNA really was instead of what it could have been.

[gordi]

Somehow, simultaneously, I wish you would stop doing this to yourself and I am so glad that you keep doing this. 

[El-P]

9 hours ago, gordi said:

Somehow, simultaneously, I wish you would stop doing this to yourself and I am so glad that you keep doing this. 

Well, like @Alucard is saying, there's a thing about finding the little gems in the pile of dogshit. Plus I find TNA to be a fascinating case. I mean, the fucking Young Bucks stealing the show ten years ago on PPV. How crazy is that ?

Also, this won't last, since there's only a bunch of Monday Night shows. 

Plus, I'm not doing it because I'm legit depressed like I was when I actively dove into TNA some years ago.  So, it's just for the heck of it.

[El-P]

TNA LIVE on Monday Night ! Week 3

Great classic Spanish guitar piece by Uncle Eric. As fake as Jarrett's signing, but hell, it is kinda smart, actually... Bischoff is a lot of things, but he's always a really good character and game performer. Well, that angle worked, with Eric taking a perfect guitar shot to a molten Impact Zone. What an odd promotion, really...

The whole Daffney stealing Tara's spider is ok. Tayor Wilde is a forgotten worker of the era.

Ric Flair on a wheelchair acting batshit crazy and rolled around by Chelsea (she had to be a model or something, she's that hot) is both completely ridiculous and oddly compelling in a completely over-the-top awful way.

Abyssamania, on the other hand, is WCW 1995 level of dumbfuckery. Also, Abyss was nowhere near as carryable in 2010 as he was five years before apparently, as AJ Styles really had a match with himself at the PPV, while they had a legit great match in TNA's first years. But yeah, this Abyss as Evad Sullivan push is insufferable. I'm waiting for the Zodiac to show up any moment, as they are going straight into a Wargames Lethal Lockdown match, with heel Sting as a captain, mind you. Mix of Fall of 95 with Summer of 00 level booking. Ok, the crowd is molten too for the complete clusterfuck that is this angle (Hogan handcuffed, Pope run-in). This people were drugged up on coke. Flair takes a clothesline bump from his chair. Hey, I bagged on Flair quite a bit, but he's going insane and it's ok.

Rob Terry was a complete waste of roids. Hey, this show is more and more fast-forwadable, so good for me.

Jarrett vs Foley, loser gets fired. Beer Money (both of them) special refs. Maybe not enough stips. This match in 1996 would have been awesome. Considering how limited Foley is, it's OK because Jarrett is still super solid, although is finisher still is the drizzling shizzit. So, Foley is gone. Because much like Luger in 1991, he had exceeded the number of his requisite contractual appearances already or something. So WCW. So apparently he's gonna be back for the ECW tribute angle. And now Beer Money attacks Jeffrey. This show is so tiring. And now Jeff Hardy & RVD run in. Just like I said... And I like most of those guys apart from Hardy. I can't wait to go back watching current IMPACT to enjoy old-ass RVD shitting on millenials instead.

Bubba the Racist Sponge has not been fired already ? He's not even worthy to bump for Foley. Fuck Hogan and his racist wife pimping friend for fucking up TNA even more.

The only compelling storytelling of this whole era is Hogan being the straight boss and Bischoff working him as he's really the old abusive asshole he was in WCW pretending he's here doing business. I think I'm throwing way too much compliment toward Uncle Eric on this show, but he really was a good performer no matter what shit he was working with. Well, not in WCW in 2000, but here his segments are usually pretty decent at least.

Hey, tag team champs partner against each other. Funny to think Matt Morgan was someone Corny was having a hard on for. Because he was big. Yeah, Matt Morgan surely was the prototype of the pro-wrestling of the future... Wait, no, that would be the Young Bucks, who aren't featured on this show after stealing the PPV (well, none of the X-division guys are on this show despite ALL OF THEM having the best matches on the PPV). Hernandez never developed much beyond "big guy who does cool spots" either. He was never better than in LAX. Anyway, I'm not even paying attention. Morgan as a heel had potential though. Hey, dramatic injury angle with Taz selling it as it's "real". Shoot-angle, bro. So, I guess they are tag team champs no more. Can I guess ? TOURNAMENT !!!! Because we haven't had a TOURNAMENT in what, two weeks ?

Beer Money vs the WWE Rejects Express. Can't lie, RVD and Jeff Hardy do come off like stars, but this crowd has been popping for any kind of shit all night long, so I dunno... Beer Money is SO holding this together. People shitting on Roode in WWE have no idea. It's actually quite a good TV match, easily the best in weeks, so no complaint. Although it's obvious the former WWE guys are just propelled at the top of the promotion and the TNA guys are used to put them over. Fuck, serious Eric Young calling out the Wolfpack is lame. And he's getting the rub of the two WWE guys ? Da fuck ? 

Probably the less worse show since they got on Monday, although the World title feud is rotten and pathetic.

[El-P]

TNA LIVE on Monday Night ! Week 4

Cool. Bubba the Racist's got a T-shirt and apparently is aligned with the nWo. "Fire Bubba" chants. And it's not a work. Not watching this shit. Nash wants to "apologize" to Young. I think it has to be the third or fourth "I'm gonna apologize" angle already on this show. Russo was such a bottomless pit of creative ideas. Speaking of which, steel cage match on TV "in honor of Lockdown". Because that's how you build a PPV with only cage matches, you do one on TV a few weeks before.

Moore & Kazarian have a good TV match with Kendrick & Williams. Shannon Moore sure bulked up...

Debut of Miss Tessmacher. Ok. Hot secretary girl. Miss Hancock redux. Yeah, WCW 2000... 

Ok, so now Chelsea is cunning Pope by saying she always wanted to become a ho. And then, after Pope dispose of Desmond Wolf (because it's a ruse you see), he does the old "babyface forces himself on the girl". Yeah. A babyface whose catchphrase is "Pope is pimping" just sexually harrassed a girl who tried to trick (see what I did here) him by saying she wanted to become a ho. Rusoo Russo Russo...

Orlando Jordan sporting the infamous Lady Gaga crime scene tape outfit. Hey, at least it was very topical. I guess this was Russo's new attempt at doing a Goldust character. It looks sloppy as hell too.

More backward booking, with Tara vs Daffney in a first blood match. BEFORE the cage match PPV. Plus the champ wins, so really no reason to do another match. This show is the most Russo show ever since this debacle started. I enjoy Daffney.

Jeff Jarrett sv AJ Styles in a surprisingly long, really good TV match. Booking fuckery apart, with Bischoff screwing with Jarrett, it was the best pro-wrestling match on iMPACT in eons.

Black Machismo returns. Of course he does, so we get more old WWF references with Hogan. Wins a handicap match against Beer Money. Ok.

Desmond Wolfe vs Pope. Can't complaint about that one. Chelsea shows legs to the ref (old Hebner), Desmond uses a chain and wins. So at least Chelsea didn't "like it". Good little match.

I've gotta say, they did a good job with the whole Angle vs Anderson feud, despite me not caring one bit about the "army" part of it. Making me care about a Ken Anderson match is no small feat. And yeah, Anderson is a really good promo, no doubt. BUT WAIT. They do an Angle vs Anderson match on TV the following week in a ladder match. For a key for the door of the cage. Ok, the booking is still classic idiotic Russo. I retract what I just said about doing a good job. The talent was always fucked in this company.

Hall, Six-Pac & Nash vs Young, RVD & Hardy (aka one of these is not like the others). In a CAGE, as we said. I hope Hardy takes a stupid ass dive on TV. Well, Eric Young does it to end a terrible, nothing match. Hall basically watched the other do spots. He was so done. As I am. I mean, I have a bunch of 2019 IMPACT shows, which I LIKE, on my hard drive, and some AEW coming up. This TNA on Monday was just BAD. Lots of talent on the roster, lots of idiots backstage. After the spectacular dumbfuckery of the first weeks, the novelty has already worn off on me.

Back to the present people. That's all that matters, in more ways than one.

[SomethingSavage]

No need to torture & torment yourself with more 2010 TNA, man. It's mostly an awful year for them. I'd still go out of my way to recommend everything from Lockdown 2011 up until Lockdown 2013. They really felt like they were onto something. Acts felt over. There was a certain momentum to things for a moment there.

I don't have the time to go back and watch week to week like I used to, but I *am* curious as to how much was me hoping they'd finally put the pieces together and how much of it actually holds up today.

But yeah. I dig your reviews, so I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts if you ever get around to it. Jackass heel Jarrett, the unexpected ascension of Aries, the awesome overhaul of Bully Ray, Roode killing it in classic NWA champ fashion, the redemption saga of Jeff Hardy, James Storm feeling as over as he'd ever be, Kid Kash being the Bob Holly of the X Division, and even an incredibly underrated capper to the Hogan/Sting story all unfolded around that time.

There are some supremely enjoyable matches to be found, for sure. But it's more about the feel of their momentum and the way they finally seemed to have found direction & focus for awhile. Guys like Bully, Storm, Roode, Styles, Aries, etc. all had arcs and stories. In real time, it was fun to follow week to week.

For me, there was this and there was CWF Hollywood. WWE wasn't doing a whole lot for me. The way I remember it - I'd mostly tapped out on everything except TNA and Marquez' studio wrestling in Hollywood, with PWG BOLA and Wrestle Kingdom getting buzz and being what kept me a fan through a pretty dire period. So I admittedly am I bit biased, I guess.

[El-P]

13 minutes ago, SomethingSavage said:

I'd still go out of my way to recommend everything from Lockdown 2011 up until Lockdown 2013. They really felt like they were onto something. Acts felt over. There was a certain momentum to things for a moment there.

I don't have the time to go back and watch week to week like I used to, but I *am* curious as to how much was me hoping they'd finally put the pieces together and how much of it actually holds up today.

But yeah. I dig your reviews, so I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts if you ever get around to it. Jackass heel Jarrett, the unexpected Ascension of Aries, the awesome overhaul of Bully Ray, Roode killing it in classic NWA champ fashion, the redemption saga of Jeff Hardy, James Storm feeling as over as he'd ever be, Kid Kash being the Bob Holly of the X Division, and even an incredibly underrated capper to the Hogan/Sting story all unfolded around that time.

Yeah, I always keep your recommandation about this period in the back of my mind, since there are people I'm interested to watch being featured (Aries, Roode, Storm, heel veteran Jarrett + Karen, I'm intrigued about veteran Kid Kash, Bully Ray, the return of Gail Kim too). 

The only thing I'm really interested in checking out still in 2010 is the whole ECW angle leading to the PPV, the last of its kind I believe.

[Stiva]

FWIW, I also co-sign that period of TNA as being really good, though it still carries some of the TNA stink in some places but it's never enough to ruin the shows. The Styles/Bully Ray LMS is a total miracle match. The kind of match you can point to for when Styles became the best in the world.

[Alucard]

I always agree when talk of that time period comes up. 2012 was probably my favorite overall year of TNA. They are currently running a poll for Impact's match of the decade, Aries/Roode is mine, such a great rivalry, match, and moment. The quality dipped in the years that followed before 2016 rocked back to that level. And yeah all the love for Hogan/Sting BFG 2011.

[El-P]

So yeah, since I'm confined are bored, I watched the TNA "ECW" build-up and show. Really cool stuff. That promo by Dreamer two weeks or the week before was something else and if there's only one thing to credit Dixie for, that would be it. Sabu vs RVD and Dreamer vs Raven matches were terrific old-school ECW stuff. Loved it. TNA 2010 actually became quite watchable around that time, despite the booking that was as stupid as ever (and the women division really got fucked over, although Madison Rayne was already beginning to become really fun). Really cool last ride show for the ECW guys (no idea why Shane Douglas did not appear though).

[El-P]

Bound for Glory 2010 is like the story of TNA. At the same time, ahead of its time with the opening match of Motor City MachineGuns vs GenMe (Young Bucks), which is a great match even by today's standards. Really crazy to think the Young Bucks were already that good ten years ago (no, really), as they looked like kids back then. Crazy also to think they were in the same promotion as Hogan, Angle, Flair, AJ Styles, Samoa Joe and plenty others. How could TNA fuck this up ? Well, like I said, story of TNA. Some actually really good things, like the Lethal Lockdown match between Fortune and EV2 (with the babyfaces winning mind you, which really was a shock to me). Some god-awful stuff too like the team of Orlando Jordan & Eric Young, one of the most FF inducing stuff I've ever seen. Eric Young has to be one of the most consistently awful character in pro-wrestling. Thus far his "best" role was the idiot in Team Canada years before. Some cool stuff like Mickie James showing up, Doug Williams having a really good match with uncharismatic as fuck Jay Lethal (it's striking how much when this guy is not doing Savage cosplay or Flair impersonation, he displays zilch in term of personality), yet another strong promo/angle involving Team 3D.

And of course the main event of Angle vs Jeff Hardy vs Mr. Anderson (which honestly has surprised me positively both in promos and in-ring work after a shaky debut). Which was excellent. And so, bam. LOLTNA in action. Russo in all his glory. Match stops, bunch of run-ins, SWERVE BRO and yet another kinda nWo reunion sorta. I died laughing. It's insane how much potential, ideas and talent TNA had and how badly they fucked it up. They were ahead of the curve stylistically with AJ, Joe and the bunch, they were not afraid of still doing blood & guts, they had a few actual name value guys, they had great vets, they had a strong TV station. They had everything to be what AEW has been in the last few months. And yet they always were TNA. 

[Alucard]

46 minutes ago, El-P said:

Doug Williams having a really good match with uncharismatic as fuck Jay Lethal (it's striking how much when this guy is not doing Savage cosplay or Flair impersonation, he displays zilch in term of personality),

So true. I couldn't stand Lethal after Black Machismo was over, still see nothing in him. Doug Williams was on fire that year.

Always good to see more classic recaps added here!