TNA/Impact - Spoilers inside

[Jamie G]

I don't watch much anymore really but always keep an eye on what's happening.

Latest news is :

TNA is no more, it's now Impact
Jarrett back in the company
Pritchard in the company, on air and maybe other roles
Del Rio/El Patron new world champ
JR has put a tweet out that could mean he's joining the commentary team

Thoughts?

They are at such a low point to start with that it's going to take a long time to get some real momentum going again.

Part of me feels like they are flogging a dead and cremated horse, but I would love them to succeed.

This all feels like the biggest changes for a while, if not ever, so I wish them luck in moving forward, in some way/shape/form.

[deezy]

RIP loltna.....Now I have to think of something else.

Did you know Anthem spelled backwards is mehtna?

Get off a channel that you have to pay for and get in one that pays you and maybe I will think this ship was righted.

Also, el patron over Mike Bennet/Maria, Drew Galloway and the fucking Hardys is a head shaker.

[rocketking]

JR denying any involvement with TNA:

[Christian Small]

Haven't they tried calling it Impact since the Hogan era in 2010? It didn't take then and it won't take now, it'll still be called TNA in the fans eyes.
In my view they've lost out in the talent department. The Hardy's were the ones who got people talking about TNA again with the Broken gimmick, Maria was one of the key figures on that show and Galloway is a guy you could build a company around and they just didn't. Instead they've gone with a guy who only gets talked about when he's getting into legit fights, no showing events and when something happens with his girlfriend. I don't mind TNA but this sums up the problem I've had with them for years, they rarely make their own top stars as champions and instead just go with an ex-WWE name. They've always had a talented roster but they just don't use it right. I can't blame people for wanting to leave as I bet you can easily make a better living off the indies than on that roster, you'd probably be used better as well.

[Milky]

Mar 4, 2017 10:24:40 GMT -5 Christian Small said:

Haven't they tried calling it Impact since the Hogan era in 2010? It didn't take then and it won't take now, it'll still be called TNA in the fans eyes.
In my view they've lost out in the talent department. The Hardy's were the ones who got people talking about TNA again with the Broken gimmick, Maria was one of the key figures on that show and Galloway is a guy you could build a company around and they just didn't. Instead they've gone with a guy who only gets talked about when he's getting into legit fights, no showing events and when something happens with his girlfriend. I don't mind TNA but this sums up the problem I've had with them for years, they rarely make their own top stars as champions and instead just go with an ex-WWE name. They've always had a talented roster but they just don't use it right. I can't blame people for wanting to leave as I bet you can easily make a better living off the indies than on that roster, you'd probably be used better as well.

I think this is just a lot of pent-up frustration coming out on your part (which is fair enough if you've been following the product for a long time).

I disagree though that TNA only use WWE guys as their top starts. Fair enough, Matt Hardy and Drew Galloway I guess are "WWE guys" in the sense that they were in WWE before TNA, but both got way more over in TNA than they ever did in WWE (with the exception of maybe the Hardy Boyz in their prime tag-team days, but even then the Broken Hardys are so different that you can't really say it's an extension of what they started in WWE. Broken Matt is a totally different and new character). Even Lashley is way better now than his WWE days and I would argue also a different character now too.

Personally I look at guys like Ethan Carter III, Pope, Matt Hardy, Drew Galloway and others more as TNA guys because that's where they largely got over, but however you want to define them their departure is a definite loss for "Impact Wrestling." Speaking of which….

I agree that fans will always call it TNA but for a long time now the company has at least been using Impact Wrestling for marketing purposes. I care more about the on-screen product than their marketing department though so this is really neither here nor there for me.

I actually think the TNA on-screen product has been quite good for the last year or so. There are always a few bad segments (DLC or whatever they're called, I always skip those segments, and the X Division isn't even a shadow of what it once was) but even RAW has skippable segments so this isn't unique to Impact. For me the big question regarding the future of TNA is how they replace the talent they've lost. There are still good wrestlers on their roster but from top to bottom they have to make sure that everyone has a long-term direction and that every character's motivation is believable and makes sense. Sounds simple but with so many backstage changes you get one regime with one idea and another with another, etc.

More than anything else (at least in terms of the on-screen product) Impact Wrestling needs some creative stability behind what they produce on air. The business side of things isn't really my concern. I only care that they continue to exist because I enjoy Impact for the most part and I think more jobs for wrestlers is good for the industry as a whole.

[Christian Small]

Mar 5, 2017 7:12:09 GMT -5 Milky said:

Mar 4, 2017 10:24:40 GMT -5 Christian Small said:

Haven't they tried calling it Impact since the Hogan era in 2010? It didn't take then and it won't take now, it'll still be called TNA in the fans eyes.
In my view they've lost out in the talent department. The Hardy's were the ones who got people talking about TNA again with the Broken gimmick, Maria was one of the key figures on that show and Galloway is a guy you could build a company around and they just didn't. Instead they've gone with a guy who only gets talked about when he's getting into legit fights, no showing events and when something happens with his girlfriend. I don't mind TNA but this sums up the problem I've had with them for years, they rarely make their own top stars as champions and instead just go with an ex-WWE name. They've always had a talented roster but they just don't use it right. I can't blame people for wanting to leave as I bet you can easily make a better living off the indies than on that roster, you'd probably be used better as well.

I think this is just a lot of pent-up frustration coming out on your part (which is fair enough if you've been following the product for a long time).

I disagree though that TNA only use WWE guys as their top starts. Fair enough, Matt Hardy and Drew Galloway I guess are "WWE guys" in the sense that they were in WWE before TNA, but both got way more over in TNA than they ever did in WWE (with the exception of maybe the Hardy Boyz in their prime tag-team days, but even then the Broken Hardys are so different that you can't really say it's an extension of what they started in WWE. Broken Matt is a totally different and new character). Even Lashley is way better now than his WWE days and I would argue also a different character now too.

Personally I look at guys like Ethan Carter III, Pope, Matt Hardy, Drew Galloway and others more as TNA guys because that's where they largely got over, but however you want to define them their departure is a definite loss for "Impact Wrestling." Speaking of which….

I agree that fans will always call it TNA but for a long time now the company has at least been using Impact Wrestling for marketing purposes. I care more about the on-screen product than their marketing department though so this is really neither here nor there for me.

I actually think the TNA on-screen product has been quite good for the last year or so. There are always a few bad segments (DLC or whatever they're called, I always skip those segments, and the X Division isn't even a shadow of what it once was) but even RAW has skippable segments so this isn't unique to Impact. For me the big question regarding the future of TNA is how they replace the talent they've lost. There are still good wrestlers on their roster but from top to bottom they have to make sure that everyone has a long-term direction and that every character's motivation is believable and makes sense. Sounds simple but with so many backstage changes you get one regime with one idea and another with another, etc.

More than anything else (at least in terms of the on-screen product) Impact Wrestling needs some creative stability behind what they produce on air. The business side of things isn't really my concern. I only care that they continue to exist because I enjoy Impact for the most part and I think more jobs for wrestlers is good for the industry as a whole.

I agree with you fully that TNA give these guys a better platform and a chance to show what they truly have, a guy like Bully Ray was only a tag wrestler in WWE but showed he has top level potential in TNA. My issue is that TNA usually pushes these guys to the World title straight away instead of letting them develop on their show first. Someone like Mr. Anderson is a 2 time World champ and looking back he should not have been, they went with RVD ending AJ Styles reign randomly on an Impact with 0 build I think it was mostly because of his "name value" and Del Rio has literally just stepped into the company and he has already been World champ. Some times TNA seem to be wanting to say "look what you missed out on WWE" instead of saying "this is our star now". And to extend on your Matt Hardy point, yes the Broken gimmick got him extremely over but he wasn't at World champ level when he got the belt and had his reigns, which I think is my point. TNA can let guys make themselves big stars but they give you the ending before the process has begun.