TNABaddboi

This will be my first taste of Joe, and this isn't a knock on him, but I like that they aren't using Joe to be the mystery guy. I think that would be a mistake just like I think they would be making a mistake to not establish the guy to the audience that's never seen RoH first. It's not like a Matt Hardy, who casual and internet fans have mostly seen, but even in that case, they shouldn't just push him into the main event right away. In both, they should take the path they took with Raven. Make him a big deal, but build him for a title shot

Here's some news from TNA's website:

I agree with this too. Siaki was over huge during his "ace in the hole" period, especially during the feud with D'Lo that followed D'Lo feud with AJ. TNA really elevated Siaki there, but totally dropped the ball afterward and followed it up with a lame face turn with him and Desire.

I always thought that TNA left money on the table by not inserting Lynn into the heavyweight division after AJ made it ok for the X guys to challenge for the World Title. Right after Jarrettt's heel turn, I think they would have been wise to run with him doing the owner/establishment character they hinted at and Jerry representing all the boys, culminating with him winning the big one in a moment sort of like him defeating Justin Credible for the ECW title. I'd still love to see him in the ME mix, but I don't think my idea would work as well now since the height of his TNA run came in Nashville. I could be wrong though. Inserting him would be about a good a surprise as TNA could pull off here, but I still thinking the "surprise" will be the predictable Waltman or Raven.

Credit: PWInsider.com The fact that are having an event is a good sign, but I wonder what they are going to do with it. I saw it suggest on another board that they release the event as a DVD, like a Too Hot for TV type of thing, which is an interesting idea, in addition to what Mike said about broadcasting it online. I don't know how feasible either idea is though. Thoughts...

The card for the PPV, as announced on TNAWrestling.com so far, is...

Credit: Wrestling Observer and Credit: TNAWrestling.com That ME is interesting. I wonder if they are considering making another AJ another transition champion since I know the long term plan is to build around Monty. They could turn Brown face in that match or establish him as a heel, but for him to truly get over as a heel, I think he needs to be far from Jarrett to get rid of the stench of a henchman. And I think TNA would be wise to try to book Tito against Shamrock on one of its PPV. That could be a good draw for them. AJ and Daniels resigning is nothing but a plus because they, along with Monty and Abyss, are who TNA needs to focus on getting over and establishing as prime-time, PPV main event caliber guys.

RANDOM THOUGHTS: Interesting match-ups being set up for the PPV. Looks like the Naturals are officially faces now. That ought to be interesting. And it looks like they are either going to split AMW or turn them heel based on a losing streak. I hope Sean Waltman isn't the fifth entrant into the KotM match. The X title match should kick all sorts of ass...I have been waiting to Sabin and Daniels hook it up ever since Daniels won the belt. I'm glad to see Monty being prominently featured again....hopefully that's a good sign for his negiotations.

Don't know how true this is, but I saw this posted on the TNARevolution board... Thoughts?

I think they should do the taping and air it in Xplosion's place. As it is, Xplosion really hasn't served much purpose with the Impact replays and replacing it in the syndicated line-up with Impact would be a good start. They'd have to be careful not to still call it Xplosion though, because that has been branded a useless recap show. If they announce on Friday that Impact will be moving to syndication and check the website for broadcast info and then when the new show debuts, give it a different name, I think they'd be ok. That'd certainly be better than going completely dark. They have only set up half the PPV card. There aren't even any angles set up where you could see what they'd do for the rest of the card, so I'd think that if they don't have a deal in place to not miss more than one week of cable broadcast, they'd basically have no choice, or they'd risk killing the Slam buyrate. And since HJ only did 16,500 (I think I saw that number from Meltzer), they'd be wise not to run that risk, or they'd dip back into weekly era type numbers (which I don't think ever topped 10,000, except maybe the first show). I do like your idea of moving Impact to syndication permanently and using it to run secondary angles. That way they can maximize the talent roster and set up the lower card PPV angles, and as long as they run highlights of what happened on Impact on the prime time, people who didn't get the show would still no what was going on.

Would that even be possible? That's certainly not desirable, but even that would be better than nothing. I wonder how much they had to pay to offer that 1 cent PPV awhile back...if they could do that again, they could tape the rest of the PPV build next Tuesday and offer it on PPV. Just a wild guess, I know, but I can't believe they're going dark with 3 weeks until a major event. Another option they have would be to make Xplosion the A show until they work out a deal, though I don't know how viable an option that is because I don't know how well they've kept up the syndicated network. I know we got it in Atlanta for awhile, but I haven't looked for it in so long, I don't know if it still airs. Either way, I think that would be a better option then cancelling the taping and going dark.

Here's an update from PWInsider.com: This is bad....I don't think there's any other way to look it at.

I still can't believe they haven't made an annoucement. If they are still waiting to hear from Spike, at this point they might need to consider cutting there losses and hooking up with WGN. They are already going to loss a week of build for the PPV apparently, but if they don't act soon, they could loss the whole time. And even if they really want Spike, the WGN is just as good for them as the FSN deal was. It's almost a tradeoff, yes, FSN has more penetration, but with WGN, you're not paying, have a primetime, steady spot and a longer programming block to establish your stars. TAKE THE DEAL ALREADY TNA! Sorry, that's the end of my rant. But I do hope they have a plan.

An outdoor show would be so cool, and it would be a great way for them to present a different look while still remaining at Universal. I doubt they'd be able to pull it off though.

Wow...so they'd be live from Universal on Monday. I kinda assumed they do like the old Raw schedule and tape the show the day after the live show, which would work in this instance. But if they don't make this official soon, they'll have trouble drawing a crowd for the first show, which would be terrible. Remember how empty the place looked for the Best Damned Wrestling Show when no one knew they were taping on a Wednesday? I'd hate to see that happen here. Thanks for posting the info though.

Red, is this from this week's edition? I'm trying to make sure I understand that he's saying that this next Impact could be the last edition and they could debut on WGN the following week? I don't see how they can debut next Monday unless they do it live because the taping is scheduled for Tuesday and they only taped 2 episodes last week. Is that addressed anywhere else in the report?

Credit: TNAWrestling.com

I believe that is what Banks said in his column a while back.

Credit: PWInsider.com IMO, it's good that TNA isn't letting Hardy off the hook. There's no excuse for him missing a PPV when he hasn't worked in 3 weeks. He had all month to make sure he was in Orlando.

Wow...that's a bout as good a deal as TNA can hope for at this time. I hope they get the slot and make the most of it. I'm surprised they're going live, but i think it's a good move. If they have strong live show and then follow up with a taped show that features a match that people are talking about, it could work. They could have a formula of running lots of buzzworthy angles on the live edition to set up buzzworthy matches on the taped one. I think they should keep the ring. It's been identified with them and they'll need some brand identity if they try to expand any.

I thought it was a good episode too. I actually popped for Abyss hitting JJ with the Black Hole Slam, which kinda suprised me. And I love the way the Sabin/Shane feud is going so far. The Raven thing is interesting. I don't think they are going to put him in the KotM match because than it would be 4 heels and 1 face, but I do think it may set him up to challenge Styles in July. Also, it was good to see the crowd pop for AJ and for once, it seemed like Jarrett was getting legitimate heel heat as opposed to go away heat.

Today's Impact seemed to have more going on in one episode than the past 3 months worth of shows. I liked the way they told multiple stories, and even though Jarrett was on the show a little more than I would have liked, I think TNA could be turning a corner booking wise. We'll see with how they fill the rest of the PPV line-up though.

If they are gonna do Mondays, I think the 8-10 slot would be much better off for them, because if the theory is to capitalize on Mondays being wrestling night, wrestling fans will probably want to get started early. That way they have a chance to hook them. Run a strong angle in the beginning and start a hot match near the top of the hour. During the original Monday Night Wars, I'd tune into Nitro at 8 to see what was going on, and I was never a WCW fan in any way, shape or form, even at the peak. If they ran a hot angle or something caught my eye, I'd come back during the commercial breaks of Raw.

I agree. The fact that it looks like AJ's first feud as champ with be with Abyss is a good sign for PPV main events, and at some point, he'll probably have to face Daniels as well. The fact that they didn't use Brown's mistaken Pounce to start a face turn (they still might, but it won't be as effective if Jarrett fires him for it instead of him saying it was on purpose) makes me think that the long term plan is Styles/Brown, maybe at this big PPV they are planning for September. As long as Monty stays, he'll have that belt by the end of the year, though it will most likely be a heel reign.