OAO 10/8 Impact Thread

[Placebo Effect 0]

I recognize that music Ortiz came out too. Who used to use that?

 

That used to be the music used by all the jobbers on FSN

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I only watched the FSN show once or twice. It goes back to the weekly PPV days.

 

Dames will probably recognize it when he does the recap.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

Whether either company has the better talent is irrelevant, it's whether or not they can successfuly convey the impression that they have the best division that matters. If they can build the impression that their division is better through (1)having more "stars", (2)having more teams, (3)being more competitive, and (4)having hot matches, then they have the better division. In essense, if they are able to create matches that people want to see, then they have the better division. Right now, I think NAO vs. Dudleys is more of a match that people want to see than MnM vs. LOD or... whoever the tag champs and #1 contenders on RAW are.

[Guest JMA]

Could BG and Kip James get away with calling themselves "The Outlaws," or would that be a lawsuit waiting to happen? It seems like they'd be able to, seeing as how they got away with calling Kip "The Outlaw" for a time.

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Well, there's a reason The Outlaw was changed to Kip James (hint: WWE)...TNA has already trademarked "The James Gang" so, if they ever go through with teaming them together, there's your team name.

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"The James Gang," eh? That's not bad.

[Guest MikeSC]

Whether either company has the better talent is irrelevant, it's whether or not they can successfuly convey the impression that they have the best division that matters.  If they can build the impression that their division is better through (1)having more "stars", (2)having more teams, (3)being more competitive, and (4)having hot matches, then they have the better division.  In essense, if they are able to create matches that people want to see, then they have the better division.  Right now, I think NAO vs. Dudleys is more of a match that people want to see than MnM vs. LOD or... whoever the tag champs and #1 contenders on RAW are.

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Thing is, TNA has that WITHOUT the Duds and I have no reason to believe that it will be the case WITH the Duds.

 

Again, the WWE had a smoking hot tag division --- but who was the only team who remained in what quickly became a terrible tag division?

 

Let The Naturals take out the Duds AND NAO (I do not care that the Nats and Duds are both faces), as they NEED the rub more, but are considerably more gifted and consistent in the ring.

 

This is a time where TNA would be wise to allow "TNA talent" to annihilate former WWE talent.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

I agree with the assessment that TNA talent need to stand out on their own and beat WWE talent. I don't necessarily think that should be right away, though. Ultimately, the WWE names are bigger than TNA names, they are the names a casual pro wrestling viewer would recognize - familiarity is extremely important with any television show, so TNA shows are more accessible with that fan, all they have to do is learn the storylines, not the wrestlers. I wrote the following a month or so ago in regards to the situation as a whole...

 

I can see this moving into a Raven/Dudleys vs. JJ/AMW** feud, which is actually a pretty strong feud for TNA on television (The Dudleys' "big surprise" on TV is a pretty good hook, you have the ECW connection, and a 6 man feud can last for a few months), but only as a secondary feud with a bigger headliner. The X title would be an OK headliner in general, but when trying to capture the most audience possible, you need a big name to get their attention, and then in between the big name(s), you sneak in the unknown guys and try to get them over as fast as possible so you can shift the focus towards them. I don't really see any big names out there right now (Jericho would be border-line) that would do that, so maybe they may have to bite the bullet and get the X-title over as the main title through force and hope that the fans cling to it.

 

(** the more I think about it, the more a Dudz/Raven (how was Raven able to keep the name, btw??) vs. AMW/JJ sounds good. It can have legs in that you have more guys joining the cause - Jeff Hardy joins Dudleys and Raven (Hardys history with the Dudleys, and the fact that he is an "outsider" in TNA along with the ECW guys), Monty Brown joins AMW/JJ cause he's TNA born and bred. Rhyno has to make a choice, since I believe he is with JJ, and he eventually joins the Extreme Team. Abyss gives his loyalties to the TNA team. That way you can mesh the guys the fans would know with the guys they wouldn't know. I don't know how much TV time TNA will get, but one big arch with lots of wrestlers would be PERFECT for this day-and-age in a very serialized/hour-long-drama television season. Booking/writing television would be a breeze if you had that one big storyline, some storylines that surround it (and eventually become a part of it), and then your headlining X-Division staying outside of it.

 

Some people would contend that having the TNA guys has heels wouldn't be wise, since TNA is the show. Why would you want the fans to hate TNA? First of all, it's easier to hate someone you don't know, than to get behind them. And, ultimately, fans are more likely to cheer the guys they DO know, than cheer the guys they don't know. With that said, I would have the feud play out in a way where most of the TNA guys turn on JJ, to get the TNA guys over as faces. The way this feud could be booked, there's like months worth of TV to use.)

[Guest MikeSC]

I think it makes more sense for the Duds to be the heels as they don't really work a compelling face style. They have a hard time, IMO, generating much empathy from the audience, which means that they only get over as faces when they're beating the snot out of heels.

 

Did AMW need a heel turn? Yes and no. They never could figure out how to make the fans pop for a hot tag --- but they had a solid formula for their matches that seemed to work pretty decently for them. But I don't think face Duds v heel AMW is going to do AMW any favors, whatsoever.

 

And that could be a real slap in the face to the TNA guys --- that guys who have been there for a long time (even if they tend to be bitchy when booked to lose) get sacrificed to a team that had gotten exceptionally stale at their last place of employment.

[Corey_Lazarus 0]

But they'd be ultimately losing to a team that was, at one point, the most over team in all of the United States. Say what you will, Mike, about their popularity once the WWF/WWE tag scene started dying out, but right up until their release they were still popular (which is likely, IMO, part of the reason that WWE wouldn't let them have the Dudley name: because then TNA would have the advantage of having one of the most decorated tag teams of the past decade or so in their ranks).

 

BTW, Rudo, if you haven't already been told, Raven kept his name because he himself trademarked back in his first ECW run.

[Michrome 0]

I thought the show was...okay. No good matches for the second week in a row really hurts, especially when that is supposedly their strong suit when compared to WWE.

[Guest MikeSC]

But they'd be ultimately losing to a team that was, at one point, the most over team in all of the United States. Say what you will, Mike, about their popularity once the WWF/WWE tag scene started dying out, but right up until their release they were still popular (which is likely, IMO, part of the reason that WWE wouldn't let them have the Dudley name: because then TNA would have the advantage of having one of the most decorated tag teams of the past decade or so in their ranks).

 

BTW, Rudo, if you haven't already been told, Raven kept his name because he himself trademarked back in his first ECW run.

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I equate the pops they got to Hogan pops --- nostalgia, but nobody would pay to see them.

 

They are a neat novelty, but TNA has teams significantly better in every area of wrestling. They will weaken their own product by dumbing it down to aid the Duds and NAO.

[Corey_Lazarus 0]

I don't think they'll necessarily dumb it down, but rather play to everybody's strengths. TNA's been fairly good at that recently. I could see The Naturals flat-out out-wrestling Team 3D (still trying to get used to that name), but if the match becomes a brawl? It's all Ray and Devon. I could also see that happening with the James Gang/NAO/whatever you wanna call them.

 

It isn't entirely necessary to dumb down the tag division just because the new team can't keep up with the rest of them. Just book the matches so that the new team plays to their strengths while the established TNA teams play to their strengths as well.

[Downhome 0]

I think if they allowed both teams to go all out, say on a PPV, that it could be one hell of a match. I don't think we should go by what we saw on Impact.

[Guest JMA]

I think if they allowed both teams to go all out, say on a PPV, that it could be one hell of a match. I don't think we should go by what we saw on Impact.

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Agreed. If they had fifteen minutes they could tear the house down. The important thing is that the crowd was very into the match.

[Guest MikeSC]

I think if they allowed both teams to go all out, say on a PPV, that it could be one hell of a match. I don't think we should go by what we saw on Impact.

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I'm going by every Dudleys match since about 2001. They cannot and will not keep up. AMW --- who I'm not positive can actually WORK a match as heels (it is not part of their usual formula) --- will have to work an unfamiliar style and just dumb it down enough to allow the Duds to use their same stale offense.

 

The match will inevitably become a brawl because the Duds HAVE to do that (NAO are even more guilty of that as they really never got carried to even a **** affair in their entire tenure). They can't DO a wrestling match and I don't think any of TNA's teams are suited for hardcore brawling.

 

And that, mind you, is actually praise. Being able to work good wrestling matches tend to be difficult then working the usual garbage brawl that NAO and the Duds both enjoyed.

[Guest JMA]

Hopefully Joe is one of AJ's three picks, if his schedule allows it.

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It would make sense for AJ to do that. After all, he wants to send credible opponents after Daniels.

 

I'm glad that The Naturals will be featured in some way on the next show. They ARE the tag team champions after all (but probably not for much longer).