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I've only dabbled in TNA the past few years, but recently I've decided to give it a chance because Vince has really been doing his best to make me uninterested. After watching two hours of TNA I was left with mixed feelings. I've already read reaction to the show by "TeH TNA mArKS" so I know how they feel about it but here's a fan who isn't afraid to criticize a wrestling program. The opening segment felt really rushed and that's something that has always been a problem with TNA, nothing is ever able to sink into your memory because before you know it you're getting another angle or video package shoved down your throat and tonight's opening was no different. Another Samoa Joe squash match, but I guess they're trying to introduce him to the "primetime audience". The Eye Spy videos were humorous, but how come people criticize late 30/early 40 something's Triple H and HBK for bathroom humor but no one is going to say anything about Nash sitting in his "chamber"?
Team 3-D is old, boring and outdated, another good move by Vince letting these two go a few years back. Another quick match, with clunky interference by Shane Douglas. Is Eric Young trying to channel the Miz? God the "New Age Outlaws" segment just screams boring. I used to be a huge Road Dogg mark and its sad to see what a bitter individual the man has become. Nothing like seeing Russo try and bring the "insider" terms back to television. Cage and Rhino had a great match, but the barbed wire cage is hardly as innovative as they pushed it. Another rushed X-Division match and rushed title change. The IC belt and X-Division belt are like cheap whores these days, passed around every few weeks. Abyss and Angle was an average match with a hot crowd. Why is TNA giving you 10 free minutes of Joe and Angle, don't they want you to pay for it? Sting appeared in the end, I'm not sure why, wasn't Christian talking about the title? Joe ended the show with the upper hand, so I guess a former WWE star will end the great TNA hope's winning streak.
To wrap it up, the only reason this was different from Raw was because they gave away a PPV match in Cage/Rhino in the uh cage, and because Angle made his debut. Aside from that: Toilet humor segment-check, tired finishes (Christian gored out of the cage for the win)-check, hotshot title changes- check, inconsequential squash matches-check. Welcome to primetime guys.
Joseph
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Even though I watch RAW and Smackdown every week. I don't watch the whole show because the WWE puts on a lot of crap these days. What a treat it was watching TNA for two hours. There might be a chance for wrestling to survive yet.
I have only one complaint, and that is that TNA gave a contract to that useless twit Kevin Nash. In his prime he only had about five moves (I may be generous with that estimate). Speaking of five moves another useless twit is Hulk Hogan, but that's another story. The stunts that they put him in, are not funny and a complete waste of time. This is nothing but WWE garbage. It must really piss off some of the younger guys that bust their ass and don't make half the money that the no talent Nash gets. Come on TNA, you have a good product going for. Stop the stupid segments with Nash or you will be a clone of WWE.
Thanks Bob
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I tuned into Impact! tonight for the first time since Christian jumped to TNA a couple months ago. I had high hopes for TNA's primetime debut but I don't think I will be tuning in again.
Here are my thoughts on tonight's program:
I know this isn't politically correct to say, but Kip James has never looked more gay than he looks right now with his dyed red ponytail. Not during his "Mr. Ass" gimmick. Not even during his Billy and Chuck gimmick. So there's something strangely ironic about Kip making homosexual innuendos like "Shawn Kiss-my-bottom" while reprising the same, tired "we're declaring war" gimmick that has been done to death for the last ten years on tonight's TNA primetime debut.
The DX and nWo wars worked because those guys were at the top of the card and we're able to come to casual fans as each other's equals. Here, that isn't the case. The James Gang is lucky if they look like the DX B-Team. What is the point of this angle? Everything about it is so completely bush league.
Placing the James Gang angle near the top of the card, right around the same Team 3-D segment I feel like I have watched for the whole of their careers, was a poor decision by TNA. Likewise, the Kevin Nash bathroom skits, with Nash showing his ass to the world, should have made Vince McMahon proud. We already have three shows each week that are booked for Vince's amusement, do we really need a fourth? Combine all of that with the cheap green laser show that seems to accompany every wrestler's ring entrance, it makes TNA look completely inferior as a product. The lasers have to go, they wouldn't add anything to the ambiance of a star show at the local planetarium.
If nothing else, the first hour of the show should have focused on what makes TNA unique. Samoa Joe is a pleasure to watch in the ring. The triple threat X-Division match was special and different from what I am used to seeing on RAW or Smackdown. This should have been more of a focus. I have heard a lot of positives about LAX, I would have liked to have seen them in action tonight. Instead I got to listen to Konnan talk about burning the American flag, and I felt like I was watching any old episode of WCW Nitro. Anybody of average intelligence could figure out they weren't going to burn the flag. Why weren't LAX in action in the ring?
Abyss is talented but he looks like a Mankind rip-off. This isn't news but please give the guy a look that differentiates him. Kurt Angle is a good addition to the product but he isn't enough to make me watch it on his own. Speaking of Angle, he looks terrible. His body looks small and atrophied.
If TNA wants new fans to get behind the brand and support the product, they need to do a couple of things in my opinion:
1. Build their own stars - I'm not interested in watching guys who I perceive couldn't cut it in the WWE or WCW (and whether that perception of those guys is fair or unfair is irrelevant - it exists). I want to see LAX, Samoa Joe, and AJ Styles.
2. Ignore the WWE - When you bring up the WWE, whether it's through the James Gang angle or Kevin Nash referencing Shawn Michaels in the bathroom, it makes TNA look like the guy at the bar who is always name dropping to try to get laid, because he can't do it on his own merits.
3. Upgrade the production values - I'm not saying that they have to be on level with the WWE. That's not necessarily a bad thing but the WWE is sometimes overproduced. However, everything about the production of the show, from the lasers in the ring entrances to the backstage vignettes, is weak. It was OK for a show that was on at 11 PM, but now TNA is on primetime. If TNA wants to be compared to the WWE, it at least needs to be comparable. Right now it isn't close.
