OAO 2/1 Impact Thread

[Chazz 0]

I'm guessing Lance doesn't watch any WWE shows as of late, or remembered how they handled his career. Seriously, If watching TNA gets you that upset, then don't watch it anymore. I swear there are some people who watch Impact just waiting to rip any big or little thing that Russo does. And has it occured to any of Russo's detractors that if TNA was firing on all cylinders to begin with, then Russo wouldn't be needed at all? Same could be said for when Russo went to WCW in '99.

[Corkscrew_Senton 0]

I'm guessing Lance doesn't watch any WWE shows as of late, or remembered how they handled his career. Seriously, If watching TNA gets you that upset, then don't watch it anymore. I swear there are some people who watch Impact just waiting to rip any big or little thing that Russo does. And has it occured to any of Russo's detractors that if TNA was firing on all cylinders to begin with, then Russo wouldn't be needed at all? Same could be said for when Russo went to WCW in '99.

 

WCW with Russo was bad, but I would take his version of it over the early 2000 Sullivan era with Sid and THE HULKSTER feuding. I would also take Russo's booking over what was going on in the summer of '99 with the No Limit Soldiers and Hogan winning the belt AGAIN, after Savage won it in a fuckin' tag team match.

 

That said, I still watch and enjoy TNA moreso than Raw or ECW, but TNA was better this past summer than it is now.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Same could be said for when Russo went to WCW in '99.

And what a great job he did in WCW. I can understand that Russo's big fans want to defend the guy, but mentioning his runs in WCW is not the way to do it, because they are shining examples of everything that is wrong with Russo and show what a waste it was to bring him in.

[cabbageboy 0]

WCW was a sinking ship anyway. I don't think Russo being there or not being there mattered in particular. He was the wrong guy to go after though, since he brought a psycho version of his WWF style of booking to a promotion that was historically much more conservative and about serious wrestling. It's damning with faint praise but his WCW stuff was in fact a lot more entertaining than the Nash or Sullivan booked crap in 1999/2000. The upper management of guys like Bischoff and Bill Busch wrecked WCW more than Russo.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

I'll agree that WCW was sinking even when Russo came on board the first time, but they were still doing half-decent numbers in the 3.5 range for Nitro and had the nucleus for what could have been a solid product. The only thing was that making something of that involved bringing in someone who had a respect for the audience and what they wanted, neither quality Russo possessed. Bischoff and company might have done more damage overall than Russo, but Russo was the one who did the crucial damage at a time when WCW couldn't afford it.

[Corkscrew_Senton 0]

Russo did some things right, namely pushing Benoit and Hart ('99) and Steiner (2000). What's frustrating, and along the lines of something I said in the WWE folder, is when somebody/thing shows potential but does boneheaded things to negate the positive. Russo's the perfect example, because he pushed these fresh faces fans wanted to see in the main event. Yet, he would simultaneously make 10 dumb booking calls to negate the one positive. While Bischoff and Co. built the casket, Russo sealed it shut and dumped it in the ocean.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Russo did some things right, namely pushing Benoit and Hart ('99)...Russo's the perfect example, because he pushed these fresh faces fans wanted to see in the main event. Yet, he would simultaneously make 10 dumb booking calls to negate the one positive.

The best example being the Hart/Benoit match at Mayhem in Canada. All that was needed was for the two to go out and wrestle for twenty minutes in a ****+ match that would have gotten over huge and would have elevated both men. Instead, we got a 17-minute match marred by run-ins and interference that did nothing but take the match down and turn it into a clusterfuck.

[Corkscrew_Senton 0]

Russo did some things right, namely pushing Benoit and Hart ('99)...Russo's the perfect example, because he pushed these fresh faces fans wanted to see in the main event. Yet, he would simultaneously make 10 dumb booking calls to negate the one positive.

The best example being the Hart/Benoit match at Mayhem in Canada. All that was needed was for the two to go out and wrestle for twenty minutes in a ****+ match that would have gotten over huge and would have elevated both men. Instead, we got a 17-minute match marred by run-ins and interference that did nothing but take the match down and turn it into a clusterfuck.

 

Yeah, that's exactly what I was thinking. I remember reading in an interview with Hart that he went to Russo asking for a 60-minute match with Benoit, with Chris coming up just short but looking great, which would eventually build to him winning the title. That would have been great booking, and clear alternative from what WWF was doing at the time. It amazes that the higher-ups running WCW didn't realize that the more it tried to be like WWF, the worse the company became.

 

 

 

 

 

HEY! Sounds like a fed these days...

[cabbageboy 0]

I actually agree with Russo not to give that one 60 mins. It would have likely been boring as hell, and besides it was a tourney so there were a couple of other matches that night. A solid 20 minute match that was clean though? Definitely.

 

TNA is making the same mistake as WCW did in 1999/2000 with Russo. TNA is a company right now in desperate need of a dominant champion that the fans can get behind and trumpet as their guy, preferrably with a solid chase and title win. They do not need bullshit shades of gray angles like this Sting/Abyss stuff or Christian/Joe/Angle. Just "Here's Christian, he's a douchebag. Here's Joe, he's the face. Joe chases Christian and kicks his ass and takes the belt."

 

Almost since TNA's inception in 2002 they have NEVER had a decent world champion. It's always just lame heel Jarrett holding the belt and needing 20 run ins and screwjobs to retain, or it's some mediocre placeholder guy until Jarrett gets the belt back. I mean when the WWWF first broke off from the NWA, I don't think Bruno Sammartino was relying on guitar shots, 5 guys running in, and crooked refs. He beat people's asses clean for 8 years and gave the belt and promotion some credibility.

 

Now TNA is putting Christian in the Jarrett role of the lame heel who doesn't have the talent to beat anyone legit so he needs a plethora of run ins. What Russo fails to grasp is that his chaotic booking worked for a time in the WWF because it was a change of pace from the norm, a needed kick to the nuts of stale WWF mid 90s booking. In WCW (and now in TNA) this has become the norm under Russo.

 

I wish TNA would take a look at some OVW TV shows. While OVW's in ring action is largely mediocre, the presentation of characters, title scenes, and overall booking are much clearer than TNA. Watch one show and you'll get a good idea of who you're supposed to cheer, who you are supposed to boo, and who is fighting for what belt. This is what draws in viewers. For all the talk about how wonderful the Austin/Hart Foundation stuff was in 1997 the WWF never truly started drawing huge money until they moved away from that shading of gray crap and gave fans a face (Austin) chasing the title against a dickhead heel (HBK), and then the subsequent evil Vince stuff. Shades of gray can work up to a point, but at the end of the day we need to be able to cheer for one guy and boo the other. Right now TNA can't seem to figure that out.

[Si82 0]

I actually agree with Russo not to give that one 60 mins. It would have likely been boring as hell, and besides it was a tourney so there were a couple of other matches that night.

I agree with the match not being part of the tournament but I don't see how it would have been "boring as hell" considering the excellent, and well received, match the two had on Nitro in October '99.

 

As for Impact this week, it was awful. I just kept thinking how little sense most the show made. Lance Storm was spot on with his comments on the show. I felt like I was watching a particularly bad episode of Nitro from 2000 during Russo's second reign of terror. The whole thing just emphasised everything that is wrong with TNA today. They need to get rid of Russo now before he totally runs the company into the ground with his illogical, "crash TV" booking style. Nothing is given any kind of time to have a lasting impression. You simply can't take it all in. Why he was re-hired I'll never understand because he is just fucking awful.

[luke-o 0]

A lot of "arrests" have taken place on wrestling shows, just harken back to the Attitude era where Austin would constantly get hauled away for attacking McMahon or something.

 

This is a good point, but Ausint was a face, or "shades of grey bullshit" that we keep using to describe Russo. Austin being face and being arrested which made us hate the heel (mcmahon). that worked. Why do an angle where the heels get arrested? The faces win, and thats boring. So whats the point? Now that LAX havent been arrested, Team 3D have more of a reason to hate them because, "they got away with it".

[razazteca 0]

A lot of "arrests" have taken place on wrestling shows, just harken back to the Attitude era where Austin would constantly get hauled away for attacking McMahon or something.

 

This is a good point, but Ausint was a face, or "shades of grey bullshit" that we keep using to describe Russo. Austin being face and being arrested which made us hate the heel (mcmahon). that worked. Why do an angle where the heels get arrested? The faces win, and thats boring. So whats the point? Now that LAX havent been arrested, Team 3D have more of a reason to hate them because, "they got away with it".

Too bad that storyline will lead up to the 78479487943 run ins making the match look like shit as usual.

[luke-o 0]

True, but at least im sorta right for once.

[Corkscrew_Senton 0]

I agree luke-o that the Dudleys reporting LAX to the police makes them look chicken shit (in wrestling terms of course). But as someone else already said it would have made sense for Tenay to report it to the police, but then the Dudleys tell the cops they won't press charges and they'd rather get LAX in some violent match for retribution.

[razazteca 0]

Konnan beating up Bullet Bob to get at BG James was stupid then and this shit of LAX beating up Uncle Dudley is just as bad the whole deal about the police is pointless.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

I agree luke-o that the Dudleys reporting LAX to the police makes them look chicken shit (in wrestling terms of course). But as someone else already said it would have made sense for Tenay to report it to the police, but then the Dudleys tell the cops they won't press charges and they'd rather get LAX in some violent match for retribution.

 

Which plays into why Team 3D should have demanded Cornette put them in a match against LAX rather than challenging LAX, which made no sense for a number of reasons. They tell Cornette they want revenge against LAX but know if they go after them on the streets LAX will cry foul and go to the cops, but if they do it in a Streetfight they get their revenge legally and LAX can't go to the cops over it.

[Corkscrew_Senton 0]

I agree luke-o that the Dudleys reporting LAX to the police makes them look chicken shit (in wrestling terms of course). But as someone else already said it would have made sense for Tenay to report it to the police, but then the Dudleys tell the cops they won't press charges and they'd rather get LAX in some violent match for retribution.

 

Which plays into why Team 3D should have demanded Cornette put them in a match against LAX rather than challenging LAX, which made no sense for a number of reasons. They tell Cornette they want revenge against LAX but know if they go after them on the streets LAX will cry foul and go to the cops, but if they do it in a Streetfight they get their revenge legally and LAX can't go to the cops over it.

 

Exactly. Booked that way, it makes sense.

 

And raza, I agree about the Bullet Bob stuff from last year, I didn't see the point of bringing him in. This angle however fits in with the LAX thug gimmick, so I wouldn't mind it if it had been booked logically, like HTQ maps out.

[razazteca 0]

Even if it was booked as described by HTQ the PPV match itself would still have run-ins from every Scarface mark living in Florida and Brother Runt would still walk in doing his drunk Taxi Driver gimmick and Senshi would probably run-in for no other reason but to team up with Homicide again. There is no closure to Russo angles just never ending run-ins, swerves, and shoots to confuse people.

[Corkscrew_Senton 0]

Even if it was booked as described by HTQ the PPV match itself would still have run-ins from every Scarface mark living in Florida and Brother Runt would still walk in doing his drunk Taxi Driver gimmick and Senshi would probably run-in for no other reason but to team up with Homicide again. There is no closure to Russo angles just never ending run-ins, swerves, and shoots to confuse people.

 

Well yeah, that's 100% true.