OAO 5/18 Impact Thread

[razazteca 0]

ECW is where all of the immigrants get deported to.

[Angle-plex 0]

First Impact I've watched since Christian's debut. The content is ok but the presentation is awful. It reminds me of that WMCA Masters karate show or whatever it was called. They really have to work on that before they can be taken seriously.

[Conspiracy_Victim 0]

The ending of that match made me want to quote Dark Helmet when he said, "Now you see that evil will always triumph because good is dumb."

[Astro101 0]

WMAC Masters was cool Don't touch that cage or you'll lose a point!

[death_by_burrito 0]

Gotta love that awful theme song.

 

Yeah, theme music has never been a strongpoint of TNA.

Abyss' and Christian's themes are cool to me.

 

Ditto. I think Abyss' is prolly the best in TNA.

[ChrisMWaters 0]

WMAC Masters was cool Don't touch that cage or you'll lose a point!

Plus the hostess from the first few eps, who I believe was Bruce Lee's daughter, was pretty good looking.

[HollywoodSpikeJenkins 0]

So...the entire World X Cup tournament was just so Nash could come out and jerk himself off?

[Astro101 0]

Christian's theme, imo, is the best one.

[Guest Chris Xtreme]

TNA themes have actually really grown on me over the years. My favorites are AJ Styles', and Christian's

[death_by_burrito 0]

Can someone fill me in on the rules to the KotM match?

[Angle-plex 0]

So...the entire World X Cup tournament was just so Nash could come out and jerk himself off?

 

Could someone upload this?

[Zack Malibu 0]

For those of you who like Christian's theme, download Evanescence's "My Last Breath". His theme is simply the instrumental to that song.

[Astro101 0]

KOTM: Basically, first person to hook the title to the ceiling wins. It's really a reverse ladder match.

 

To be eligible to hang the belt up, a wrestler first has to pin another wrestler. The pinned guy has to go into a caged penalty box for two minutes.

[JustJoe2k5 0]

TNA themes have actually really grown on me over the years. My favorites are AJ Styles', and Christian's

 

TNA has made a few good ones, New Church and Triple X come to mind. Christian's is alright, but TNA didn't make A.J. Styles' theme music as he used "I Am" on the independent circuit before TNA existed.

[death_by_burrito 0]

KOTM: Basically, first person to hook the title to the ceiling wins. It's really a reverse ladder match.

 

To be eligible to hang the belt up, a wrestler first has to pin another wrestler. The pinned guy has to go into a caged penalty box for two minutes.

 

So, is it like once you pin a guy, you can go up one level, and everytime you pin someone else you are allowed to go to the next? Or is it once you pin someone you have access to try and put the title up there?

[Exslade ZX 0]

KOTM: Basically, first person to hook the title to the ceiling wins. It's really a reverse ladder match.

 

To be eligible to hang the belt up, a wrestler first has to pin another wrestler. The pinned guy has to go into a caged penalty box for two minutes.

 

So, is it like once you pin a guy, you can go up one level, and everytime you pin someone else you are allowed to go to the next? Or is it once you pin someone you have access to try and put the title up there?

Once you pin a guy, you're free to go up the ladder and grab the title.

[Astro101 0]

No, you're free to hang the belt up there. You don't take it down.

[Guest C3THIR]

TNA iMPACT (May 18, 2006)

 

The Christian promo was going well, and then freaking Monty Brown returned and just immediately throws his name into the title picture followed by Sting in the rafters, and Rhino and the rest of the lot. That was probably the best Zbysko bit he's ever been involved in. It wasn't too much, and he actually came across as a professional instead of a whiny little bitch.

 

World X Cup Finals

Chris Sabin v. Petey Williams

These two always have awesome encounters when they lock up because they know each other so well. Match was fast paced, an awesome and just for the record, I love when Williams stands on his opponents nuts in the corner. However, the crowd which is supposed to be Anti-Canada not only chants for Petey, but sings the Canadian anthem. Backwards ass Orlando crowd. I was just getting into the match when they cut to Nash backstage, and then the commercial, leaving me pissed. Sabin turning the tables on Petey and standing on his balls was awesome, and then the sitout bomb left me thinking he almost had it, but I was wrong. Petey busting out the Sharpshooter (which Tenay refused to call a Sharpshooter) was cool, and then a reversal of the Cradle Shock. Pretty good match thus far at the 8 minute mark (counting commercials). Sabin hit the Cradle Shock and won the match and the World X Cup at 9:03! Good little match for iMPACT.

Winner: Chris Sabin & Team USA

Rating: **1/4

 

Out of nowhere, Nash blindsides Sabin and breaks the plastic little trophy. He grinds the broken piece on Sabin who blades -- albeit shitty. Nash drops him with the Jacknife Powerbomb, and takes the stick. Nash as a heel is neat, and I can get in to this Nash v. X-Division angle. Shelley siding with Nash was a nice touch as Shelley is one of the best parts of TNA. It'll give him some good heel heat. But this is a nice way to set up Sabin v. Nash at Slammiversary.

 

The little bit with Borash, Brown, Abyss, Jarrett and Steiner was weird. It's like, why the hell are all of them going to be training together? Lame. On a side note, I really liked the little moving graphic for Slammiversary. I am not a Steiner fan, but seeing him halfway dismantle Don West made me moist. The staredown between Joe and Steiner sets up what will probably be Joe v. Steiner at Slammiversary, and if kept at around 10 minutes, COULD be decent.

 

Samoa Joe v. Chase Stevens

Before the match started, I was immediately distracted by the damn ref in little biker shorts with his skinny bird legs showing. Ridiculous. Your basic Joe squash match, with all the chants of "JOE'S GONNA KILL YOU" booming throughout the crowd. He makes Stevens tap out to the Kokina Clutch in less than two minutes and then beats him down after the match which brings out Andy Douglas who has been missing since Steiner beat his ass. Joe backs down and then Shane Douglas returns as well and his looking on at the Naturals. Douglas looks considerably aged since his stint in rehab, and now the Naturals are going to be hooked up with another legend/manager? Could work, I suppose.

Winner: Samoa Joe

Rating: N/A

 

The Team 3D promo, was crap. I cannot express how incredibly sick of Team 3D I am. Seeing them shoot on WWE and the new ECW was just retarded. TNA and everyone who is a former WWE guy needs to stop shooting on WWE. You don't see WWE acknowledging TNA every week? I dread the fact that they're continuing the feud with The James Gang. It's unneeded. Last Team Standing match at Slammiversary? If it's a brutal encounter, then it'll be good because their match at Sacrifice was a piece of asshole.

 

King of the Mountain Qualifier

Abyss v. Rhino

These two have had some good clashes, and it seems as though it'll get about 12 minutes, so it can be decent. ARG! Commercial ONE minute into the match. GORE gets reversed when Abyss kicked him square in the face. I love when that happens. Commercial lasted entirely too long, but Abyss has been controlling during the break Tenay says. Abyss dominating Rhino makes him look entirely too weak, but nothing worse than what WWE did to him, I suppose. Running splash in the corner almost gets a two. Also, the fact that they're going to be holding these over the course of the next three weeks is poop. They could put two on one show. Especially if they wanna attempt to get people to watch. 4 minutes left in the show, and Abyss is STILL dominating. I suspect a Rhino comeback in the last 10 seconds of the match, a GORE and the win. FINALLY Rhino gets a move in. Random Bobby Roode run in, and he takes down Roode and D'Amore, and Abyss gets the Blackhole Slam and the win at 10:47. All of that Abyss dominance, and he STILL wins the match. An extended squash.

Winner: Abyss

Rating: *

 

D'Amore talks some trash to a fallen Rhino. I am glad Roode is getting a decent push, but that match was a crock. Build up all that, and don't deliver on the Rhino comeback/win. Little promo for the King of the Mountain match, and a little hype for next week to end the show.

 

The Bottom Line: The show started out good, but died after the Samoa Joe match. Sabin/Williams was a good match, and that's good. TNA needs to try and deliver at least one decent match per week and some better segments. Team 3D promo was a boring load, and went on entirely too long. The Nash stuff was decent, the Joe/Steiner stuff was decent, and the opening promo was pretty hot. The show wasn't at all awful, but as a "fallout show", I expected a little more. Maybe I just have high expectations. I hate the King of the Mountain match and concept, and I believe that if they're going to build Slammiversary as their WrestleMania-esque PPV, they need to build up to an awesome 1 v. 1 encounter, not a 5 person clusterfuck, but that's just me. These next few weeks should have some decent build since it's their "big" PPV, so I won't be too harsh. I'll give the show a 3/5

 

Thumbs up

[Astro101 0]

Bound For Glory is their Wrestlemania. This is more of a Summerslam I think. I love the qualifiers idea each week. Gives the match more importance come KOTM as the contenders had to wrestle just to have a shot at the title.

[Guest Chris Xtreme]

Bound For Glory is their Wrestlemania. This is more of a Summerslam I think. I love the qualifiers idea each week. Gives the match more importance come KOTM as the contenders had to wrestle just to have a shot at the title.

 

Yeah and its a good way to keep the casual fans interested. Since they need to watch every week to see who is fighting who in the qualifying matches.

[TNABaddboi 0]

I like that they are doing the qualifying too, but I think they need to have Larry or Tenay sit down and explain the rules of gimmick and how it became a June tradition. And Raven should eventually call Jarrett on still calling himself KotM when he is, in fact, the reigning KotM. Anyway, if they continue to build it up properly (which they have so far the past 2 year, to their credit), eventually the gimmick can be a way to earn a title shot and bragging rights for a year, a la King of the Ring in WWE. Then, you could have a world title main event and the KotM match as draws for Slammiversary.

[Magus 0]

I think the KOTM is a good gimmick, but they should get rid of the penalty box stipulation. It's stupid to try to "control" wrestlers in a big match like that. It's like the Straightjacket Match in WCW where one guy got the straightjacket off the pole, the match was stopped, and the other guy ALLOWED the officials to put a straightjacket on him to continue the match. It's asinine and unrealistic.

 

More thoughts on the show: The X Cup should've gotten more of a celebration. Hell, it needed to be built up more this entire time. I agree that Rhino got buried, but its all so he and Scotty can keep playing together in their neverending fued. Rhino's not being used right. Neither is Monty, but his cred is pretty much gone anyway. Hanging out with JJ's crowd is not the way to book him.

[The Decemberists 0]

The problem with the X Cup was the same with the first one (I think).

 

Team USA did not win the X Cup. Sabin won the X Cup, which totally defeats the idea they were pushing of it being about the national teams and people having to work together.

[claydude14 0]

I've enjoyed Impact more than RAW and Smackdown! for the past few weeks. Here's hoping TNA keeps it up.

[Astro101 0]

I think the KOTM is a good gimmick, but they should get rid of the penalty box stipulation. It's stupid to try to "control" wrestlers in a big match like that. It's like the Straightjacket Match in WCW where one guy got the straightjacket off the pole, the match was stopped, and the other guy ALLOWED the officials to put a straightjacket on him to continue the match. It's asinine and unrealistic

 

Well, with 5 people in a match involving a ladder, it'd be kind of unrealistic to think that anyone would have a shot at making it to the top without being knocked off or pulled down by the other 4 people. That's where the penalty box comes into play. You actually have to wrestle a match, pin the guy, and use that to your advantage by shortening the number of competitors.

[FroGG_NeaL 0]

I just watched this. It was the first time I've caught Impact in forever, and I dug it.

 

For the most part, I liked it better then what WWE has been doing lately.

 

If they can get 2 hours, it would improve thier product alot. Shit went by a little too fast.

 

 

And this is the best Nash has been in forever.

[TNABaddboi 0]

And this is the best Nash has been in forever.

 

To their credit, TNA is doing a better job than they ever have booking the retreads and have made them as interesting as they have been in 5 years (10 in Nash's case). With the exception of Sting, they are all in very compelling angles right now and appear positioned to give guys who it the rub. I don't think that gets said enough. I'm probably looking forward to Steiner/Joe more than any match in the past year. Who would have thought I could ever care about a Steiner match after watching him stink it up with HHH.

[Magus 0]

I think the KOTM is a good gimmick, but they should get rid of the penalty box stipulation. It's stupid to try to "control" wrestlers in a big match like that. It's like the Straightjacket Match in WCW where one guy got the straightjacket off the pole, the match was stopped, and the other guy ALLOWED the officials to put a straightjacket on him to continue the match. It's asinine and unrealistic

 

Well, with 5 people in a match involving a ladder, it'd be kind of unrealistic to think that anyone would have a shot at making it to the top without being knocked off or pulled down by the other 4 people. That's where the penalty box comes into play. You actually have to wrestle a match, pin the guy, and use that to your advantage by shortening the number of competitors.

 

But what if Abyss gets pinned and has to go to the penalty box? I think it's kind of stupid to expect that the ref or whoever is going to be able to escort a guy like him to the box. Fuck shortening the number of competitors. People aren't paying to watch their favorite wrestler sit in a box in the main event. And its just not believable that a wrestler who really wants his shot would cow down to a stupid rule like that and sit out for two minutes. Heels especially would just cheat. The match is better served if a wrestler can disable a few others momentarily while two more are distracted by each other. Then he can climb the ladder and, if no one stops him, win the match.

 

Side note, I like the idea of the title belt being an active part of the match like this. There's lots of cool spots that could be worked from that idea.

[Astro101 0]

They could always say that if you don't get in the box, you get DQ'ed. Of course, I haven't seen a DQ in forever in TNA.

[TNABaddboi 0]

The ratings are in:

 

This past Thursday's edition of TNA Impact scored a 1.1 rating. Among Males 18-49, the show garnered a 1.2. In the most desired demographic among networks, Males 18-34, Impact scored a 1.4.

 

An average audience of 1.2 million viewers tuned in on the show. The show is averaging a 1.0 in it's new timeslot, up 23% from it's old Saturday night slot.

credit: PWI