King Kamala
Integral Poster
I'm not going to say the weekly PPV era TNA is as good of a contribution to the history of pro wrestling as Up in Smoke is to the history of cinema but it's probably as good as How High.
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Random TNA Bullshit Vol. 2
- Thread starter King Kamala
- Start date
Lazgistics Supervisor
Making dumb observations since 2002
Scary Movie 2 was better. And How High is hilarious, you bastard.
King Kamala
Integral Poster
Remember when SANADA was a heel lackey for James Storm in TNA?
No? OK.
No? OK.
King Kamala
Integral Poster
Man, besides the first few years, 2014 has a case for being the weirdest year in TNA History. All of the storylines were built around "the storylines suck and our owner is incompetent!" Like I don't know if '00 WCW was even this self effacing.
EC3 bringing in WWECWE guys to troll the NYC crowd is an awesome, awesome troll heel move though.
EC3 bringing in WWECWE guys to troll the NYC crowd is an awesome, awesome troll heel move though.
King Kamala
Integral Poster
Lazgistics Supervisor
Making dumb observations since 2002
Johnny Devine was supremely fucking underrated
King Kamala
Integral Poster
King Kamala
Integral Poster
Apu @Laz-sapeemapetilon
King Kamala
Integral Poster
cc @The Art of Postin'
Andrew "Test" Martin had one match in TNA, which is honestly one more than I expected.
Medium warm take: I feel like if Test went to TNA after his first WWE run ended in '04, he might have had a damn decent run. By the era in the clip above, he was too roided/immobile to make too much of, ahem, impact.
Andrew "Test" Martin had one match in TNA, which is honestly one more than I expected.
Medium warm take: I feel like if Test went to TNA after his first WWE run ended in '04, he might have had a damn decent run. By the era in the clip above, he was too roided/immobile to make too much of, ahem, impact.
King Kamala
Integral Poster
TNA hyped this for what felt like months but was definitely at least like 3 weeks.
EC3 bringing in Ezekial Jackson and Mike Knox as "true ECW legends" aside, this whole angle was the culmination of TNA completely killing whatever was left of their credibility throughout 2014.
IIRC, this did play a part in Spike TV canceling TNA. These Manhattan Center tapings were their last ditch effort to really impress them and it did a good rating by 2014 TNA standards but Spike was like "Joyously celebrating a middle aged woman getting thrown through a table is too low rent even by OUR standards."
Final final death knell was them lying about Vince Russo being employed there, right? Why the eff was Dixie so loyal to Russo? If I had to pick one reason why TNA/Impact failed, it's Dixie's weird loyalty for over a decade (off and on) to a guy that even the company founders openly acknowledge was a cancerous presence. More than starting with the stupid weekly PPV format. More than bringing in Hogan & Bischoff to revive late '90s WCW basically. I feel like even '99-'00 WCW handled Russo less terribly than TNA.
EC3 bringing in Ezekial Jackson and Mike Knox as "true ECW legends" aside, this whole angle was the culmination of TNA completely killing whatever was left of their credibility throughout 2014.
IIRC, this did play a part in Spike TV canceling TNA. These Manhattan Center tapings were their last ditch effort to really impress them and it did a good rating by 2014 TNA standards but Spike was like "Joyously celebrating a middle aged woman getting thrown through a table is too low rent even by OUR standards."
Final final death knell was them lying about Vince Russo being employed there, right? Why the eff was Dixie so loyal to Russo? If I had to pick one reason why TNA/Impact failed, it's Dixie's weird loyalty for over a decade (off and on) to a guy that even the company founders openly acknowledge was a cancerous presence. More than starting with the stupid weekly PPV format. More than bringing in Hogan & Bischoff to revive late '90s WCW basically. I feel like even '99-'00 WCW handled Russo less terribly than TNA.
King Kamala
Integral Poster
There's probably an alternate reality where Jay Lethal is a TNA/Impact Wrestling Lifer and AJ Lee is in the Impact Wrestling Hall of Fame for her groundbreaking work in the Knockouts Division.
King Kamala
Integral Poster
Bring back Mike Tenay, Tony Khan, you coward!!!
(honestly though would 2021 Mike Tenay be any worse than 2021 JR? Erm...actually maybe he would Idk)
(honestly though would 2021 Mike Tenay be any worse than 2021 JR? Erm...actually maybe he would Idk)
King Kamala
Integral Poster
Can't wait to post more about this in the Wrestling Merch thread.
King Kamala
Integral Poster
Idk if there's any company in the history of wrestling that's more outspokenly self conscious than TNA/Impact. WWE had a few moments in the late '00s/early '10s where they were talking about how things were falling apart but not as extensively as TNA.
King Kamala
Integral Poster
King Kamala
Integral Poster
King Kamala
Integral Poster
And somehow they came close to signing AJ Styles & The Good Brothers in January 2016. Young Bucks confirmed in their book that three of them were really on fence about which one to choose and Matt & Nick and Christopher Daniels had to talk sense into them.
That's one of if not the absolute only example in past ten years where I'm grateful that someone chose WWE. AJ's WWE run hasn't been spectacular but man, how depressing would it'd have been if he had spent last half decade in struggling to rebuild, late 2010s Impact?
All that being said, I'm still hoping AJ ends his career in Impact. Especially now that they've grown back to semi-respectability.
That's one of if not the absolute only example in past ten years where I'm grateful that someone chose WWE. AJ's WWE run hasn't been spectacular but man, how depressing would it'd have been if he had spent last half decade in struggling to rebuild, late 2010s Impact?
All that being said, I'm still hoping AJ ends his career in Impact. Especially now that they've grown back to semi-respectability.
Valeyard
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I want one last AJ/Daniels match. Daniels can't really go anymore but they need to just do one last one.
But like, post-Spike during what should've been a major rebuilding process, AJ would've made a huge difference. That pop when he debuted at the Rumble shows people cared about him despite being off American TV for some time. He, Angle, Bob, EC3, Storm, the Hardys, and the knockouts doing a transition into a new era properly would've been so good. Good enough to get on a real network and remember how to advertise.
But like, post-Spike during what should've been a major rebuilding process, AJ would've made a huge difference. That pop when he debuted at the Rumble shows people cared about him despite being off American TV for some time. He, Angle, Bob, EC3, Storm, the Hardys, and the knockouts doing a transition into a new era properly would've been so good. Good enough to get on a real network and remember how to advertise.
King Kamala
Integral Poster
Drew was there in 2016 and would've had some absolute belters with AJ. Getting rid of AJ, Daniels and Sting in the same month is what singlehandedly drove Impact into irrelevancy.
Valeyard
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I'd throw in cutting the production budget. I know they had to cut corners all over but part of why I had trouble watching anything not related to the Hardys was that it went real downhill real fast. They could've at least kept the lights on to have an atmosphere.
King Kamala
Integral Poster
You know given that Dan Lambert is one of top heels in AEW basically doing same character he did in Impact and Lashley and Drew Galloway are top guys in WWE, I'm starting to wonder if mid-late 2010s Impact was secretly actually good?
Lazgistics Supervisor
Making dumb observations since 2002
It was better than people are willing to admit, that's for sure, but all of the garbage that Dixie pulled from 2008 onward kinda ruined whatever hint of goodwill could've existed.
King Kamala
Integral Poster
They were better at developing main event talent than they were creating compelling programming but in summation, I think any promotion that runs an angle where Rockstar Spud tries to murder Hornswoggle by violently beating him over the head with a hammer cause Swoggle pantsed him ain't all bad.
Valeyard
Retarded sexuality and bad poetry.
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Dixie secretly hiring Russo under the table is not brought up enough. Bad as it was it's really funny now.
Bob's run is incredible. When everything finally clicked for him he became one of the most fun guys out there, to where as great as he is now it's a little frustrating it took WWE so long to figure it out. But you had Angle still going, people all in love with EC3, Aries with a good following, and the women's division. Put them on real TV and it might've been alright.
I just will never understand why they've spent almost their entire existence being horrible at both advertising and locking people down.
Bob's run is incredible. When everything finally clicked for him he became one of the most fun guys out there, to where as great as he is now it's a little frustrating it took WWE so long to figure it out. But you had Angle still going, people all in love with EC3, Aries with a good following, and the women's division. Put them on real TV and it might've been alright.
I just will never understand why they've spent almost their entire existence being horrible at both advertising and locking people down.