TNABaddboi

Credit: PWInsider.com This kinda sucks. Waltman has been great in his role since returning in May and would have given TNA a familar face for casual fans come Spike. And I was really hoping he and Shelley would take the tag titles and freshen up the division a lil' bit. I thought we'd have seen them win them at the PPV and then drop them to someone on the first Impact show...but I guees that wasn't meant to be. Thoughts?

PWInsider is reporting that they are putting the three way on last, which IMO is a good choice because they'll send the fans home happy no matter who goes over and b/c it'd be difficult as hell for Raven and Rhino to top that. And that's coming from someone expecting Raven & Rhino to have a good match. Here's the rest of the backstage news PWI is reporting:

The only Apolo match I ever remember enjoying was the one he had with Jarrett, either the week Killings won the title, or the week before. That was 3 years ago....that's a long time to go without a decent match.

I don't think they're usually that TNA heavy, but what's unusual is that D'Amore acknowledges it's a test for a future tour, which they have never done before IIRC. Usually they say they are exploring the possibility based on which areas have the best buyrates.

Slam Wrestling has a story saying that an upcoming show from Scott D'Amore's Border City Wrestling will be pretty heavy with TNA talent. The two top matches will be Raven defending the title against Jarrett and Christopher Daniels defending the X title against Chris Sabin (which could foreshadow the outgoing at Unbreakable, but doesn't necessarily have to). D'Amore acknowledges in the story that they are looking at the attendance of the show as a barometer of how house shows in Canada would draw. Here's the story: I gotta say I think this a smart move for TNA, and one I thought they should have made a long time ago with the smaller NWA affliates when they're relationship was the NWA was stronger (when they were promoting other NWA shows on their PPVs). If the show draws well, I wouldn't be surprised to see the first non-Orlando show take place in a venue BCW regularly runs (unless it's really small, then they might look for something a little bigger). It'll be interesting to see what kind of crowd they draw for this though. We've pretty much established that Raven/JJ II is the biggest drawing one-on-one match they have right now, which they apparently feel too by having it headline their big show, so the pieces should be in place for a decent turnout.

I think the Vince and HHH skits leading up the video where ten times funnier than the actual video. Tim Welch did a great Vinnie Mac impersonation and whoever played HHH was hilarious with the water and the sledgehammer. TNA is traditionally been absolutely horrific in the humor department (think Johnsons, Dupp Cupp, and midgets in trash cans), but I thought that was some of the best intentional humor TNA has done since the Shark Boy/New Jack skits.

IMO, Monty Brown will have to be the person to lead TNA through they're growth period. I love AJ, Daniels and Joe, but I caught the midnight replay of Impact with some non-fans a couple of times last year and just about the only thing that they remember was Monty and the Pounce. To this day, they still mention Monty and joke about Pouncing people. Monty has a unique charisma that most TNA wrestlers lack. He's probably one of the only homegrown talents that appeals to people who are not workrate fanatics. So IMO, while the trio of goodness are keeping us satisfied, Monty will call to people who have never posted on a message board, but will sing along when he calls for the Pounce. I'd say all he needs is some new entrance music (something that will immediately let the fans know he's coming) and a sustained push with the rub from some veterans.

I agree...I was watching Final Resolution the other day and the fans were just dying to see Jarrett eat a Pounce at the end of that match. TNA really screwed the pooch there, though at the time I didn't realize it. Logical booking then would have had Monty hang with JJ on the Impact match, but go to a DQ ending, and even if he jobbed like he did at FR, he should have gone over in some stip match at the next PPV. It certainly would have made more sense than Kevin Nash, who Monty beat to earn the shot, jobbing to JJ. Either way, I don't think TNA fans have wanted to see the belt on one guy more other than Raven's first few months with the company (and MAYBE Truth's first run). Sure they wanted a new champ both times AJ ended long JJ reigns, but I don't necessarily think they were fully behind him as a challenger. Not like they were with Brown. Brown's first (or second) match with Jarrett should have been like Hogan/Goldberg (obviously not in historical significance), with the cagey veteran physical overwhelmed by the rising monster. If Jarrett put Brown over either on Impact or at the PPV, he would have been cemented as a main event player in TNA. Instead, Jarrett got the rub of extinguishing his flame and he has languished in the midcard ever since.

Here's another column on what TNA has to do to succeed on Spike, this time from the Observer: Thoughts?

Nokia, will they show the current shows or will they be a few months behind. I ask that because I remember TNA had a deal to show the shows in Europe for a while, but they were like 2-3 months behind.

Clearly, I'm the oddball, but having not watched either match in over 2 years, I honestly remember enjoying XV better than X-7. I though the build to XV was way better and the payoff made more sense. Yes I thought X-7 was worked better, but in all, I was more into XV. It was the sole bright spot on absolutely abysmal show, but both guys played their roles to perfection. Though the mark in me was dying a slow death at the point, I really wanted to see the Rock get his because I was still heartbroken from the heel turn. I thought that if Austin beat the Rock, Vince would abandon and Rock would turn back (and I was right).

TNA released the final card for the PPV today, adding these three matches: I guess we'll see Sabin vs Shocker on the pre-show, though I think it would have made more sense to have the 3LK/Diamonds match on the pre-show and put the Sabin/Shocker match in its place on PPV. Having seen the entire card, it does look kind of lackluster. If I had PPV access, I'd probably skip this one and wait for BFG too. Raven/Rhino would be an interesting match-up if it wasn't a foregone conclusion. If the 3-way is awesome, I'd probably buy the DVD though. I got Against All Odds just for the Iron Man Match. lol.

I'm well aware of the fact that WCW went out of business....I was just making the point that the late replay on Monday would help them get more eyeballs on the product. Like someone else said, people already thinking wrestling can watch Raw and then they can come across Impact and stick with it for awhile, like I used to do when Nitro had the late nite replay. WCW going out of business does not change the fact the replay will be good for TNA, just like it was for them.

They announced on their website that December's PPV will once again be Turning Point, though they did not set a date for it yet. I guess it makes sense that they want to use that name ago since the original had a buzz of being one of the best shows TNA's ever produced. That's makes the confirmed annual events: LockDown (April), Slammiversary (June), Bound for Glory (October) and Turning Point (December). It's good that they have lost of time between Slam and BFG and between TP and LD, so that they can really build blowoffs at those shows.

PWInsider posted this today: This is great for TNA. The only way it could have been better would have been if it was at 11, but I think they might still get some channel surfers at midnight. I was never a WCW fan, but I used to watch some of the Nitro replay if I flipped by it and nothing else was on. In a semi-related note, Spike is also supposed to be opposing the first USA Raw with a live UFC show, according to the same report. Thoughts?

I made this point on the TNA Revolution board a little while ago. I was watching the Monday Night War DVD and during the pre-Hogan WCW portion, the similiarities where striking. You have a big promotion that had been unchallenged for years and became so stuck in their ways that they were practically begging for a challenge. You have a money-losing promotion putting on a different type of show with lesser known talent. A company that doesn't tour much outside of TV and PPV (well TNA doesn't travel at all, but follow me here..), and produces all their shows for a weekend timeslot in a studio that looks good on TV but is really small (I was young when WCW did Saturday Night at Center Stage in Atlanta, but I seem to remember admission being free then too). Like I said, the similarities between early WCW and TNA are really striking. Hopefully they won't meet the same fate.

Has that length been confirmed HTQ? It certainly makes more sense than a 13 week deal. I could see them giving them a year to decide if the ratings are in the range they want.

Here's a torch column supporting the "JJ is bad for TNA" theory...

credit: PWInsider.com Lots of good news there for TNA, other than Foley not signing obviously...

Well, Bill Banks shot this rumor down in his latest column. Here's what he wrote:

I agree that the fact that Spike took the initative to produce the commercial bodes well for TNA. I'm also positive this was a knee-jerk reaction to USA beginning to promote Raw. The fact that they are reportedly upset at WWE will help TNA as well, as they will want TNA to succeed to thumb their noses at Vince. Anway, I'm sure some longer, TNA produced spots will start showing up soon.

PWInsider reported that not surprisingly, WWE was unhappy that TNA was advertised to their audience. Here's what Mike Johnson posted:

That's what I thought too.

PWInsider is reporting that the clip was produced by Spike and not TNA, which is great because it shows Spike is serious about promoting Impact. Here's what he posted:

Spike just aired a commercial for Impact during Raw. It had a narrator who said "do you like wrestling? well we're giving you more of what you like" or something like that, and then it had clips of TNA (the only one I noticed was from the AMW/XXX Six Sides of Steel). They then showed the TNA logo with the word Impact under it and said coming Oct. 1 at 11 pm. Wow! That one commercial will probably do more to increase awareness about TNA than anything they've done in the past 3 years. So much for this being just like FSN. Hopefully Spike keeeps it up and they pop a great rating for the debut!