2463 replies to this topic

[Pete]

This was the first time I'd watched Impact in at least 2 months. Other than Morgan's run-in on the main event (which was executed perfectly IMO), about the only thing I like is Cornette's angle where he's going insane... which makes perfect sense in this show's context.

[Samurai Driver '67]

Super Eric makes me wish - for the first and likely only time - that I had become a pro wrestler.  

Mostly, so I could turn heel on him and club him with something.  

What an awful gimmick.

[Omar Little]

I was watching Impact with my dad and he found LAX the funniest thing ever.

[TOCMFIC]

Samurai Driver, on Apr 17 2008, 09:49 PM, said:

Super Eric makes me wish - for the first and likely only time - that I had become a pro wrestler.  

Mostly, so I could turn heel on him and club him with something.

HA! Nice.

One thing I did find funny on "Lockdown" was when they introduced the UFC guy to look after the belt. You could practically hear crickets.

[Phantom Lord]

Samurai Driver, on Apr 17 2008, 11:49 PM, said:

Super Eric makes me wish - for the first and likely only time - that I had become a pro wrestler.  

Mostly, so I could turn heel on him and club him with something.  

What an awful gimmick.

What drives me nuts is not only does his top say EY but the back of his titles say Showtime which are the very same tights he wears during the match. I was begging for Jim to point that out. Now maybe if they made Eric Young into a schizophrenic like Dustin is supposed to be with Black Reign perhaps it would be something interesting. But tonight with the whole I'm not Eric thing it was easily the most stupid thing TNA has done in ages.

But God bless James Storm. His put down on Kip James was one for the ages.

Hey MG, you think you can grab a couple screen caps of Nash rising up from behind Joe out of nowhere? The look on his face during a few of those scenes was great as Joe kept going on about the title.

[LooseCannon]

MGFanJay, on Apr 17 2008, 10:15 PM, said:

His stuff with the knockouts backstage made no real sense - the women haven't all been established as selfish before tonight, nor have their been any on-air complaints made about the shit Cornette babbled about, plus he gave a long BACK IN MY DAY, WE DROVE 500 MILES IN THE SNOW!!! speech that made him come off like an insane old coot when he's supposed to be taken seriously, and it didn't even lead to anything beyond a vague announcement of something for next week's Impact, THE NEW BIGGEST IMPACT EVER IN THE HISTORY OF IMPACT!

Wherever did you get the idea that Cornette was supposed to be taken seriously?  I came up with this analogy awhile back, but Impact backstage is like chaos behind the scenes at the Muppet Show and Cornette is like a beleaguered Kermit the Frog dealing with wacky crap.  Cornette is commonly used as the straight man opposite the various zany characters.  That's different from him being a serious, dramatic character.  I don't think the stuff with the knockouts was supposed to make any sense other than him exploding for no reason because of all the crap he has already had to put up with on the show.  He's a guy trying to keep his head above water when the inmates are running the asylum and he's getting annoying directives from unseen TNA management.  We're supposed to sympathize with him, have pity for him as pawn of fate and uncontrollable forces, but he's a part of this shared delusion that is TNA.

[MGFanJay]

Phantom Lord, I didn't even notice Nash on the show tonight, so I'd be surprised if I had any shots of him doing that.

LooseCannon, you raised some good points, but he's the GM of the show - he should, ideally, be someone who can be taken seriously by the audience. I cannot fathom such a thing happening when they've got him going ballistic for no reason, and being stuck in a position to announce matches like the DOOMSDAY CHAMBER OF BLOOD! as if they make perfect, logical sense.

[LooseCannon]

MGFanJay, on Apr 18 2008, 02:03 AM, said:

LooseCannon, you raised some good points, but he's the GM of the show - he should, ideally, be someone who can be taken seriously by the audience. I cannot fathom such a thing happening when they've got him going ballistic for no reason, and being stuck in a position to announce matches like the DOOMSDAY CHAMBER OF BLOOD! as if they make perfect, logical sense.

I'm not sure why the GM has to be someone taken very seriously by the audience.  Pro wrestling in the US has evolved to the point where no sane authority figure would sanction what goes on, so you can't really have a strong face in charge without explaining why he lets crap happen.  The heel authority figure has been done to death.  The only real alternative to the heel GM (other than maybe an amoral and possibly insane GM similar to the Mr. McMahon character without the personal vendettas) is the face who is in a bit over his head, hampered by backstage lunacy, bosses who don't understand wrestling, and his own sense of fair play.  Cornette's character reminds me a bit of how Teddy Long was used when he was in charge of Smackdown; no matter how crazy things got, you always got the sense that Teddy Long was as smart as the fans.

I'm not sure how much of your concern is that you think the authority figure on a wrestling show should be a serious character and how much is your desire for specifically Jim Cornette to be made out as a serious character because of the respect that you hold for the man behind the onscreen figure.  If they replaced Jim Cornette with Vince Russo, i suspect that you'd hate it, but you'd be less offended if Russo were made out to be a clownish buffoon than if they did that to Cornette (and I think Cornette has done a fair job of protecting his character so that he is not portrayed as a fool).

[shoogbear63]

I've seen several pages of blasting TNA (and I took part in it myself), but to change the pace... what has TNA done well? Surely there are a few things that stand out within the promotion or things that you've seen that kept you coming back. I can remember when LAX was a hot act, I was making sure all of my attitude era friends would check it out when they came... for a few months it was such a hot act was it was reasonably well promoted.

I'd also mention last year's Bound For Glory as a whole (pretty excellent card from top to bottom), even the Team 3D vs. Steiners match was memorable and I'd chalk that up to 3D more so that the Steiners work. I still believe that Team 3D has a place in wrestling and TNA for that matter, but I'd prefer seeing them in a show up every once in a while role to keep them as fresh as you could. I think they've always had a problem staying fresh, be it in WWE or TNA.

[Charlie Tokyo]

Pete, on Apr 18 2008, 03:31 AM, said:

This was the first time I'd watched Impact in at least 2 months. Other than Morgan's run-in on the main event (which was executed perfectly IMO), about the only thing I like is Cornette's angle where he's going insane... which makes perfect sense in this show's context.

That's probably the visual of the Louisville native working on an ulcer. I'm amazed how Cornette can say his lines so clearly while biting his lip continually.

[Pete]

I forget if I've mentioned this in the past, but I think Impact is 100 times more fascinating if you don't watch it as a pro wrestling show... rather, you watch it as a reality show about pro wrestlers.

• The writers constantly at odds with each other over how to present their angles, knowing that their boss will find a way to supersede all of their hard work.
  
• The public figurehead of the company, a well-respected veteran who has to make sense out of what the booking team gives him, knowing that he will be blamed for the bad ideas while someone else will loudly and publicly take credit for the good ones.
  
• The aging veterans content to stay in their comfort zones because they're ex-WWE/WCW guys who will have a paycheck with Dixie's signature no matter what they do.
  
• The young hot-shot kids slowly and painfully coming to grips with the reality that no matter what they do to get over, management will find a way to put the screws to them. Many of them (Abyss, Eric Young, Jay Lethal, Shark Boy) go insane as a result.
  
• The entire roster constantly boiling over and picking fights with each other, on and off TV, even if they're on the same team. This is why dissension in the ranks is always a huge plot point in TNA... it's because everyone there hates everyone else, and the head booker loves incorporating real life into his plots no matter if it draws a dime or not.

Picture this and imagine plenty of behind-the-scenes interviews... tensions brewing, wrestlers bursting into tears, guys going on huge benders after the shows, awkward hook-ups. Guarantee your entire outlook on the show will change for the better.

[silver1973]

LooseCannon, on Apr 18 2008, 02:22 AM, said:

MGFanJay, on Apr 17 2008, 10:15 PM, said:

His stuff with the knockouts backstage made no real sense - the women haven't all been established as selfish before tonight, nor have their been any on-air complaints made about the shit Cornette babbled about, plus he gave a long BACK IN MY DAY, WE DROVE 500 MILES IN THE SNOW!!! speech that made him come off like an insane old coot when he's supposed to be taken seriously, and it didn't even lead to anything beyond a vague announcement of something for next week's Impact, THE NEW BIGGEST IMPACT EVER IN THE HISTORY OF IMPACT!

Wherever did you get the idea that Cornette was supposed to be taken seriously?  I came up with this analogy awhile back, but Impact backstage is like chaos behind the scenes at the Muppet Show and Cornette is like a beleaguered Kermit the Frog dealing with wacky crap.  Cornette is commonly used as the straight man opposite the various zany characters.  That's different from him being a serious, dramatic character.  I don't think the stuff with the knockouts was supposed to make any sense other than him exploding for no reason because of all the crap he has already had to put up with on the show.  He's a guy trying to keep his head above water when the inmates are running the asylum and he's getting annoying directives from unseen TNA management.  We're supposed to sympathize with him, have pity for him as pawn of fate and uncontrollable forces, but he's a part of this shared delusion that is TNA.

It would be so, so great if TNA had two old guys in the upper deck commenting on every segment like the Muppet Show had. And the Swedish Chef. Swedish Chef gimmick = $$$

[Eivion Thanotos]

Wait weren't people supposed to start doing that with Impact? I'm almost positives there were promises for that a month or so back.

[MGFanJay]

LooseCannon, on Apr 18 2008, 09:11 AM, said:

MGFanJay, on Apr 18 2008, 02:03 AM, said:

LooseCannon, you raised some good points, but he's the GM of the show - he should, ideally, be someone who can be taken seriously by the audience. I cannot fathom such a thing happening when they've got him going ballistic for no reason, and being stuck in a position to announce matches like the DOOMSDAY CHAMBER OF BLOOD! as if they make perfect, logical sense.

I'm not sure why the GM has to be someone taken very seriously by the audience.  Pro wrestling in the US has evolved to the point where no sane authority figure would sanction what goes on, so you can't really have a strong face in charge without explaining why he lets crap happen.  The heel authority figure has been done to death.  The only real alternative to the heel GM (other than maybe an amoral and possibly insane GM similar to the Mr. McMahon character without the personal vendettas) is the face who is in a bit over his head, hampered by backstage lunacy, bosses who don't understand wrestling, and his own sense of fair play.  Cornette's character reminds me a bit of how Teddy Long was used when he was in charge of Smackdown; no matter how crazy things got, you always got the sense that Teddy Long was as smart as the fans.

I'm not sure how much of your concern is that you think the authority figure on a wrestling show should be a serious character and how much is your desire for specifically Jim Cornette to be made out as a serious character because of the respect that you hold for the man behind the onscreen figure.  If they replaced Jim Cornette with Vince Russo, i suspect that you'd hate it, but you'd be less offended if Russo were made out to be a clownish buffoon than if they did that to Cornette (and I think Cornette has done a fair job of protecting his character so that he is not portrayed as a fool).

Very accurate, and Cornette's done an admirable job of at least trying to blame as much of the idiocy he's forced to announce on someone else - it still bugs me to see him treated like an idiot on-air, but I'm sure he's being paid well to do it.

As for really good TNA shows besides BFG '07 (which is top-to-bottom the best show TNA has produced since '05), Genesis '07 (with another Guns-3D match, and Booker's debut) comes to mind as being worth a look.  I remember Slammiversary '07 being pretty good as well, and Sacrifice '07 has a tremendous James Storm-Chris Harris match on it.

[LooseCannon]

shoogbear63, on Apr 18 2008, 08:13 AM, said:

I've seen several pages of blasting TNA (and I took part in it myself), but to change the pace... what has TNA done well?

One thing that TNA does that I like is that they avoid the magic camera that people constantly complain about WWE having.  In backstage segments, there is always a reason for things to be caught on tape. People may act like idiots on camera, but they seem to know the camera is there, or should be aware that there is apparently a cameraman dedicated to following Borash everywhere.

We've had some complaints about how Cornette is treated on-screen.  Yes, he's had to put up with crap and serve as a mouthpiece for delivering stupid matches, but at the same time, he's been reasonably consistent in his rulings for a wrestling authority figure.  He doesn't just show up when the writers need a crutch to explain things.  A few times in the past, he's been described as away from the show (meeting with TNA management was one kayfabe reason) in situations where something happens that would have led to him doing something if he were present at the show.  They let some of the dumb crap come from Matt Morgan.  I wouldn't be shocked if they gave him a new mild-mannered assistant Eric Young, who spouts off wacky ideas, while acting like the wrestler Super Eric is someone completely different (that is, Young acts that way, while Cornette gets increasingly annoyed).

[martysugar]

McSuperfly, on Apr 17 2008, 08:00 PM, said:

Can TNA go a week without mentioning ECW, WCW, or WWE? Fucking Christ.

This bugs me, too.  Why can't they be simply referred to as Philadelphia, Atlanta, and New York?  This desperate need to dredge up the past and glom off other companies' success is so cheap.

[Omar Little]

The Wrestling Observer is reporting that last night's 4/17 edition of TNA Impact drew a final 1.0 cable rating. This is the same number the show drew last week.

Well I was wrong Samoa Joe as champ did not boost the ratings. Oh well never will at this point.

[KoC]

Jesus Christ could be resurrected at the Impact Zone and they still wouldn't get anything above a 1.2 rating.

[Phantom Lord]

Omar Little, on Apr 18 2008, 11:31 PM, said:

The Wrestling Observer is reporting that last night's 4/17 edition of TNA Impact drew a final 1.0 cable rating. This is the same number the show drew last week.

Well I was wrong Samoa Joe as champ did not boost the ratings. Oh well never will at this point.

Jesus could return to earth and become the TNA World Champion and they still would only draw a 1.1 or so rating. The problem is stuffing instead of potatoes as a whole. It just doesn't do anything to lure in new fans. All TNA does is hope that old fans will tune in.

Unfortunately for them, there current ratings are just about the core of the old fans they are looking for.

[TOCMFIC]

Not trying to be snarky here, but why would it boost ratings? Anyone who'd care already appears to watch already. I mean they could put two hours of white noise on and they'd still get a 1 rating.