Hello again. If you guys have a chance, scroll down to the bottom of this column and click on the “Read more Balrog Babblings” link. There are some great columns that I published during the month of January in prior years. Take a look – you’ll enjoy.
Some of you may know that I have another quasi-column on TBLWrestling.com called TNA Major Impact. At one point, I was preparing weekly reviews of TNA Impact, but the truth is that when the show flipped to 2 hours, I just didn’t have the extra time in the week to review the show. I’m sure that I’ll regularly write the TNA Major Impact column again at some point, but that won’t be anytime soon.
Given the statement above, I wanted to write a little something about last week’s TNA Impact on Spike TV so it looks like my thoughts go into the BB column. First of all, the show was great. One of the things that I always liked about TNA was that their 1 hour show was a nice, concise program that gave me something much different from the WWE product and in a short period of time. While switching to a 2 hour show has lessened the differences between WWE and TNA, some of TNA’s in-ring action is just unbeatable.
The matches that stick out in my mind include the opening bout between the Motor City Machine Guns and the remnants of Triple X, Senshi and Elix Skipper. These two teams did things in that ring that you just don’t see in the other wrestling company. The first few clips from the video below will show you some of their high-flying action, though not necessarily the high spots that I was talking about.
Those Motor City guys (Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin) are easily becoming my favorite wrestlers in any promotion. And Senshi (formerly Low Ki) isn’t that bad, either…
Also in this show we had a lot of AJ Styles/Christian Cage/Kurt Angle hijinx, but it really wasn’t the best use of these stars. These wrestlers are all great in the ring (especially AJ Styles) and I would much rather see them engaging in a wrestling match than hiding underneath a desk or wearing a crown while sitting on a throne in the middle of the ring. I will admit, though, that TNA took a great dig at WWE with that throne and coronation ceremony. King Booker anyone? Ha ha ha!
Finally, anyone who watched TNA Impact had to be extremely impressed with the Awesome Kong vs. Gail Kim match for the TNA Knockout Championship. TNA had an article up at their website that gave a little more information on Awesome Kong for those fans who may not know much about the new women’s champion, though I can’t seem to find it now. Oh yeah, she decimated Gail Kim on Impact and is now the new TNA Knockout Champion. Anyway, if you get a chance I would suggest reading the article – it was a quick, fun read.
What really made this match stick out was the fact that the in-ring action was NOT reminiscent of what you see on WWE or what many of today’s younger fans may be accustomed to when they think of women’s wrestling. Let’s put it this way – Awesome Kong (a 200+ pound black woman) won the match with a smooth, fluent triple powerbomb. And when I think about the Knockout Division in TNA, the words smooth and fluent pop into my head because their matches are not the spotfests that you see in the other wrestling promotion. It’s a nice, needed changee for women’s wrestling.
And the fans were into the match as much as they could be with alternating chants of “Let’s go Kim,” and “Let’s go Kong!” It was a good women’s match that came across well on television.
So there you have it. As you can see, I didn’t really have any one thing in particular to talk about or any profound wisdom to pass on to any of you out there, but I wanted to get some thoughts out. I guess before I go, I’ll add some random thoughts on WWE.
WWE is going high-definition and I couldn’t be happier — I feel like Chuck Palumbo should be associated with The Undertaker somehow — It REALLY bothers me that The Great Khali is so bad in the ring yet he still has a job — Is there anyone better at igniting the younger generation of wrestling fans than Jeff Hardy? — Who is the Women’s Champion? Better yet, what happened to the Cruiserweight Title after Hornswaggle became champion? — I’d fire Triple H TODAY (even if he did marry my daughter) — HBK should get another title run, even if it’s a short one — Is there anyone in WWE right that is even worthy of ending Ric Flair’s legendary career? I don’t think so — Coach might be the worst announcer in the history of wrestling and that include Mark Madden and Bob Ryder — Jerry Lawler brought another lawsuit on himself and WWE; I think he’s got some record at this point — Hey, what happened to The Iron Sheik getting his own interview segment on RAW?
Until next time, that’s all, folks!
– E-mail feedback to joe1897@gmail.com
– Read more Balrog Babblings!
