It’s been a while since I’ve posted on here. I’ve had a great summer, and I hope our readers and the TNAStars.com staff had a good one too! But now, I’m back, and I’m ready to get back into the groove. And I have a number of things on my mind in terms of Impact Wrestling.
Impact in Other Arenas
If I wasn’t giving off the impression that Impact needs to leave the Impact Zone before, I am going to make it crystal clear right now. Impact Wrestling needs to leave the Impact Zone. The energy from not being in the Impact Zone? It’s real. It’s pure. It makes any flaw in the way the show may have been produced seem insignificant. Part of the story you don’t like? Doesn’t even matter while you’re watching because the crowd is way into it. I was definitely watching the last two episodes, totally into each and every match and promo, and it wasn’t until after the show where I analyzed if any of it made sense.
But by that time, it didn’t really matter to me, because at the end of the day, I totally enjoyed the show.
The IWC and Me
Sometimes, I wish I wasn’t a part of the IWC.
I hate spoilers. Hate ’em, hate ’em, hate ’em. If I miss an episode of Impact Wrestling, I will avoid wrestling websites like the plague until I finally get to see it, because everyone has the results, their reactions, aftermath, etc., and this tells the story that I’d rather see for myself. I literally stayed off of wrestling websites for two weeks because I missed two episodes of Impact. Yes. It’s that serious.
So when I inadvertently land on a spoiler, I get very upset. I think it was yesterday when I read something about an Angle interview that stated the main event of No Surrender. He basically ruined the result of his own Championship match on Thursday for me (and if it was taped in the Impact Zone, it’d be worse, ten-fold). And don’t get me started on a ridiculous hinted detail that I saw in a video about October….
Another reason I wish I wasn’t a part of the IWC is because… well, sometimes, it just doesn’t make sense. Remember the CM Punk fiasco before he won the WWE title, where he did a “worked shoot?” Remember when there was a big deal about Triple H taking over Vince McMahon’s spot as the head of the company? Well, can someone explain to me how this is NOT copying, no, I’ll try to be “fair” with my word choice, inspiration from TNA? Impact has already been drawing off of real life situations in promos. People rag on TNA for being “WCW Lite” and whatnot, but when WWE finds “inspiration,” it’s new and it’s fresh? No, it’s bull. Be consistent.
Like this rumor about Kevin Nash reviving the nWo. You mean like he tried to do in TNA?
The Bound For Glory Series “Results”
Clearly, Crimson was number one, right? He should be in the final set of matches at No Surrender, and theoretically challenge for the Title at Bound for Glory, right? Maintain his undefeated streak and become Impact Wrestling’s top dog… right?
Well, Samoa Joe injured him. He injured Devon too, who had a strong showing in the series as well. RVD had a pretty strong showing, but… you know… Jerry Lynn struck.
Now this is a problem with the Bound for Glory series. It started off and seemed like it was going to be this amazingly competitive series of matches, allowing matches at House Shows to directly effect the flow of things during taped showed and PPVs. Unfortunately, we got an injury here (which is excusable), some interference there (which is inexcusable), and ultimately, skewed results.
However, I don’t like Crimson yet. I saw the guy “wrestle” live against Jeff Jarrett, and Jarrett carried the match, only for Crimson to do three moves of doom and win. And that’s when I noticed that he doesn’t actually have anything worthwhile yet, but I do feel he has potential. It doesn’t help that he sounds relatively generic on the mic either.
So as much as it irks me that the Bound for Glory series’s results have been skewed a bit, Crimson not being in a position to win the title doesn’t bother me as much. He needs to grow, and I think he has plenty of time to do so.
Quick bit on Angle
I mean… from what I’ve read, according to the lawyers, Angle’s pretty much in the clear. Obviously, Angle really needs to avoid these kinds of situations like the plague, but at the end of the day, he is only human. Being human may not be an adequate excuse for all you mortals that look up to celebrities like gods, but situations like this, where a top player of some kind of organization has a few troubles that need to be dealt with, happen often enough. No one cares though. You know why? Because they’re not the pseudo-gods know as celebrities. Hopefully it’s not as big as the IWC is making it out to be and he gets through this with little to no problem.
Speaking of troubles that need to be dealt with…
The Return of Nero
Jeff Hardy came back, he said some things, he admitted that he messed up, virtually apologized over his act, and asked for one more shot. Not to mention, he’s going to miss the next set of Impact tapings because he’s going to be in jail for ten days.
I remember I was very upset at the disgrace that was the Victory Road main event. I wanted an apology and everything.
Well, it wasn’t really an explicit “I’m sorry,” but it was apology enough. There are a lot of skeptics, but you know what? I want to see him go. One more shot… then maybe he should retire on good terms.
Glad to have another column, Mark! The part about the IWC made me remember conversations that I used to have with my buddy who currently owns and operates NetWrestling.com and used to run TBLWrestling.com as well as TPWW.net (and I think he ran a few other websites over the years, too). Back during the WWF vs. WCW days, we used to always talk about how things were acceptable when one organization did them, but not acceptable when another organization did them. And you’re right – that happens all of the time these days, too.
For example, the IWC rants and raves about iMPACT Wrestling spending cash on big money contracts for “old” performers. Meanwhile, Kevin Nash and Booker T sign contracts with WWE and all of a sudden WWE is the smartest organization on the planet. Unfortunately, there’s no tit-for-tat when it comes to the IWC’s blind allegiance to WWE.
Think about this,two of the highest paid performers in the WWE are over 40 and rarely wrestle. HHH and the Undertaker. Can you imagine the IWC’s rants about TNA spending millions on guys who don’t even do house shows? It’s ridiculous.
Undertaker (and believe me I respect the hell out of him and think he is great) has not worked a full time schedule in years and not a peep. Flair missing a house show is headline material.
The thing is CM Punk promo/shoot was the first in the wwe for a couple of years man, thast why its sounded more awesome, aggressive and shocking. Thats the big difference in TNA, they do it all the time, when you do something all the time, it loses the impact.
About the live crowd outside the impact zone, yeah they are way better, but i would love if they just don’t put so much canned heat, its unbearable at times.
So in other words, TNA needs to be bland and boring for years on end, and THEN pull off something… shocking?
No. I honestly feel that promos that push the envelope a bit, whether they’re worked shoots or not, should be used more often. That’s my issue with WWE. They don’t push the envelope. So it got bland to me. And boring. And thus I stopped watching it. Because unlike the IWC, I don’t waste time with things I don’t like. Life’s too short.
It’s stop being shocking if your using it all the time, yeah you need to be edgy and push the envelope, but not in every SINGLE storyline you do, thats silly, when everything its edgy, then nothing its edgy.
But if everything is bland, then everything is bland…
Yeah, I’m still not getting it… how does it benefit to be boring on a regular basis?