INSIDE THE RING NEWSLETTER
Edition 39
By Trevor Hunnicutt and Eddie T.
TNA IMPACT REPORT
(by George Champlin)
Hello everyone and welcome to this week’s review of TNA Impact. My name is George “TMI” Champlin and I am making my return after dealing with some personal issues. The format of my review will be the same with a Meltdown of the week and a trivia question at the end. And now it’s time for this weeks MELTDOWN OF THE WEEK. JJ for the love of God if you want TNA to continue to grow you need to put someone over and let them run with the belt for awhile. The company has done a great job of building up their own wrestlers to a star status. It is now time for you to do what all great champions do and that is giving someone the rub. My pick would be AJ Styles, yes he may be a small man but with his abilities and his popularity he could carry many a main event PPV. And one more thing JJ please stop with the guitar smash over the head. You have been doing it for so long that it’s not even fun to watch anymore. 1997 has been gone for awhile now Jeff time for a gimmick change. Ok its time for the meat and potatoes.
This week’s show started off with Dusty’s secretaries arguing over some paperwork when Abyss jumped into the back of “the office” and at the same time AJ Styles walked by the truck as Abyss pointed to Trinity as we went to a commercial.
We came back from the commercial to be welcomed by Don West and Mike Tenay and they then went back to the scene in the back where AJ and Abyss got into a little bit of tussle which was quickly separated by security.
Trytan defeated Buck Quartermain at 2:28: Ok after week’s of buildup we finally got to see Trytan makes his Impact debut. Granted he is a big man but would not be that huge up in Vinnie Mac land but for TNA he fits in nice. Pretty much a squash match but Trytan did show some moves for a big guy which of late is not the norm if you have been watching any WWE product. Trytan hit Buck with what was called the “T-3” which was a F5 from the WWE. I GIVE THIS MATCH THREE RINGPOSTS OUT OF SIX FOR SEEING THE BIG MAN FOR FREE AND FOR HIM BEING ABLE TO ACTUALLY PULL OFF A WRESTLING MOVE OR TWO.
We got to see a recap of JJ on Blue Collar TV which later on the commercials were for Larry “The Cable Guy” new album so it must have been a trade off.
I hate to say this but I missed the inter action between K-Dogg and The Outlaw due to some TIVO issues.
Shocker & Jeff Hardy defeated Lex Lovett & David Young at 5:01: I was looking forward to this match up. Shocker has impressed me with his style and he is larger than what he seems on TV. Some nice action from all of the wrestlers with two near falls near the end of the match. It had your classic jobber team hot in the beginning only to get knocked down and out with the “SHOCKWAVE” for the win: I GIVE THIS MATCH 5 RINGPOSTS OUT OF 6 AND IF THEY WOULD OF GIVEN MORE TIME IN THIS MATCH IT MIGHT GOT 6 FOR 6. LET’S HOPE THAT HARDY AND SHOCKER WILL BE A TEAM BECAUSE TNA NEEDS A BREATHE OF FRESH AIR IN THE TAG DIVISON.
Disciples of Destruction (Ron & Don Harris) (w/Traci) defeated Shark Boy & Cassidy Riley at 3:33: Sorry everyone but I will not waste my time with this match. I have never liked Ron and Don and Shark Boy needs to be doing dark matches for the kids. I feel bad for Riley for being booked in this match: I WILL NOT EVEN RATE IT BECAUSE TNA COULD OF LET THE PREVIOUS MATCH GO LONGER AND SKIPPED THIS MESS.
DDP comes to the ring and demands that Dusty comes our and informs everyone who will be in one of the Six Sides of Steel match at the PPV. (ok sidebar time, we all love gimmick matches but to have two of the same kind in one PPV is going overboard) anyhow long story short Dusty agreed to a JJ, Monty Brown and The Outlaw will face DDP, Kevin Nash, and Sean Waltman at the PPV in the steel. As DDP runs his gums the camera shows Chris Candido and The Natural beating down Kevin Nash in the back. DDP leaves the ring to go help as we go to a commercial.
Apolo defeated Sonny Siaki at 2:39: For a quick match this one really surprised me. Both men traded moves on each other and Apolo got the win and a handshake from Siaki: I HAVE TO GIVE THIS MATCH 5 RINGPOSTS OUT OF 6. IT MIGHT OF BBEN A SHORT MATCH BUT WE GOT TO SEE SOME TECHNICAL WRESTLING WITH A SHOW OF SPORTMANSHIP IN THE END. IT WAS ONE OF THE FEW TIMES THAT I ENJOYED A QUICK MATCH.
Kid Kash and Lance Hoyt came out to the ramp and basically ripped Siaki to shreds on the mike. Kash did a outstanding job with the little mike time he had. TNA needs to give this man more of a push.
America’s Most Wanted (Chris Harris & James Storm) and Phi Delta Slam (Big Till & Big Bruno) (w/Trinity) wrestled to a No Contest at 6:55 in a non-title tag team match: I have to add that before this match Dusty and Bobby Roode exchanged some insults back and forth. Anyhow for a main event this fell flat. PDS does not impress me at all no matter how much TNA shoves them down our throat. And AMW is falling into a rut where you can almost know what the next move is going to be before they do it. In the end AMW went for “The Death Sentence” only to be broke up by Team Canada to which Dusty came down so we had the Canadians having a stare down with the country bumpkins: MAN WHAT A LAME MAIN EVENT. I GIVE THIS MATCH 2 RINGPOSTS OUT OF 6 FOR JUST BEING PREDEICABLE AND BORING. I DON’T KNOW WHY BUT LATLEY THE MAIN EVENTS ON IMPACT ARE THE WEAKEST MATCHES. IT REMINDS ME OF DAVID LETTERMAN’S TOP TEN WHERE THE NUMBER 6 JOKE IS ALWAYS THE BEST ONE.
Ok it is trivia time folks and if you forgot how this works it is real simple. I will ask a question related to wrestling and the first three people who email me at gchamplin at excite.com with the correct answer will get a shout out in next week’s Impact report.
Question: DDP started his career in wrestling in the AWA as a manger for what tag team? Bonus points of you can tell me the names of the wrestlers.
Until next week take care and be good or be gone.
Thanks to a returning George Champlin for his TNA Review, as well as partial thanks to PWTorch for the report.
THE LATEST NEWS
HALL OF FAME CEREMONY PRESENTERS ANNOUNCED…
WWE announced the Hall of Fame ceremony presenters last night. On 4/2, from the Universal Amphitheater in Los Angeles, CA, the following people will induct the respective legends into the WWE Hall of Fame:
Sylvester Stallone for Hulk Hogan
Steve Austin for Roddy Piper
Jim Ross for Nikolai Volkoff
Randy Orton for Bob Orton Jr.
Bobby Heenan for Paul Orndorff
Sgt. Slaughter for Iron Sheik
SpikeTV will air a one-hour special on Saturday during the time of the ceremony, mostly centered around Hulk Hogan’s induction.
… AND QUICKLY CHANGED
The latest Hall of Fame ceremony update has Chris Jericho replacing Steve Austin in the Induction Ceremony. As posted on TBL several days ago, the original plan was for Steve Austin to present Roddy Piper. However, WWE.com is now stating that Chris Jericho will do so. I’m guessing tihs was done either because Austin wanted no part of it, or because they felt it wouldn’t be credible to have Austin induct Piper, then deliver a Stunner at WrestleMania the next night.
Jericho has always teased a confrontation with Roddy Piper, even when Hot Rod made a return to WWE a couple of years ago. Y2J mentioned in a storyline on RAW, that if Roddy Piper can have the Piper’s Pit, then he can have a talk-show of himself on RAW, which is how the Highlight Reel was born. That would be the link between the two that I’m sure Jericho will play off of at the ceremony.
The SpikeTV special on the same day is still on. Check your local listings for correct time.
PAST WEEK’S RAW & ULTIMATE FIGHTER RATINGS
RAW scored a 3.9 rating this week, up from the recent 3.8 streak the show was on.
Ultimate Fighter was the story of the night in ratings, as the show jumped back to a 1.7 with huge increases in some of its key demographics.
LANCE SORM RETURNS TO THE RING
Lance Storm came out of retirement the other night, as he participated in a six-men tag team match. He partnered up with MNM against the Dudley Boyz and Tommy Dreamer at the OVW tapings. As many of you probably are thinking, the reason behind it is to get in ring shape for the upcoming ECW PPV in June.
SHANNON MOORE IN AN ACCIDENT
As many of you might have heart, Shannon Moore got into an automobile accident a few days ago. Apparently, it was a nasty head-on collision, as he was pulling out of the arena from a live RAW taping he attended to. Shannon is said to be feeling okay, and although his condition isn’t exactly the greatest, he’s recovering nicely. The other vehile involved in the crash was operated by a law enforcement officer, so Moore was in luck.
We should have a special WrestleMania edition out later this week, before the big PPV.
Make sure to check out the TBL Forums for the TBL Forums PPV Prediction Contest! It’s your last chance to join the competition, as there will be plenty of extra credit points for getting the right predictions for the next round – WrestleMania 21. The update should be on the Forums within a day or two! Stay tuned.
CONTACT US
Eddie T. — Levski11 at aol.com
Trevor Hunnicutt — THunnicutt at aol.com
