Impact (8/14/2008)

[Guest]

This Thursday night, TNA Wrestling returns to Spike at 9pm ET with two hours of Total Nonstop Action, featuring the aftermath from Sunday's "Hard Justice" Pay-Per-View event!

 

The following is scheduled for the huge broadcast:

 

- There are two BIG questions coming out of "Hard Justice" - how did TNA World Heavyweight Champion Samoa Joe get ahold the familiar guitar he used to beat Booker T...and why did Sting attack "The Phenomenal" AJ Styles? Will both questions be answered this Thursday night on Spike? Tune in and find out!

 

- Speaking of Samoa Joe, he will team with "Big Sexy" Kevin Nash on "iMPACT!" to battle Team 3D (Brother Ray and Brother Devon) in one of the major bouts on the broadcast!

 

- Sources tell us that Olympic gold medalist Kurt Angle will have a special challenge for "The Phenomenal" AJ Styles this Thursday night! After their epic battle at "Hard Justice', what does Angle have planned - and what is his condition after the war with AJ?

 

- "iMPACT!" will also feature an update on the condition of LAX's Homicide, who was badly injured at the hands of new TNA World Tag Team Champions Beer Money at Sunday's PPV. This Thursday night, Hernandez of LAX will take on Beer Money's "Cowboy" James Storm in singles action.

 

- In tag team action, it will be "The Instant Classic" Christian Cage and "The War Machine" Rhino taking on The Rock N' Rave Infection of Lance Rock and Jimmy Rave

 

- Also on the broadcast, TNA Knockout Women's Champion Taylor Wilde will battle Christy Hemme

 

- The latest installment of "Karen's Angle" will feature The Beautiful People - Angelina Love and Velvet Sky

 

- "The Blueprint" Matt Morgan will be in action

 

- Plus, "Black Machismo" Jay Lethal has been signed to take on TNA newcomer Sheik Abdul Bashir

 

All this and much more this Thursday night on Spike on the huge post-PPV "iMPACT!" broadcast!

[Matt Young 0]

I can't even explain it, but I marked out for that Matt Morgan/Abyss segment.

 

I want a threesome with Gail and Katie Kim.

[claydude14 0]

Abyss and Matt Morgan could be a fun little partnership, I thought it was cool too. I like how Sheik's music keeps playing during the promo. It's pretty cool.

[Matt Young 0]

"I just love raping her!"

 

"OOOOOOOH YEEEEEEEEEAHHH!"

 

Best combination ever.

[cd213 0]

James Storm is fucking GOLD!!!

 

"Don't go all steer and queer on us."

 

Beer Money is great!

[Burning Pirate Ship Sex 0]

No Surrender is being held in the Dirty? Wow

[cabbageboy 0]

That Storm promo was hilarious because Hernandez did just cut a disturbing promo basically saying he was going to treat Beer Money like prison bitches.

 

And I know some here probably enjoy Daivari's work, but him going over Black Machismo.....why? Let's be honest here. There are two kinds of people who recall Daivari's WWE work:

 

1. Those who remember him as Muhammed Hassan's lackey and hated him.

2. Those who remember his singles work where he was a jobber.

 

Putting him over anyone of note on your roster is like throwing bad money after bad, especially with him doing the same Hassan type gimmick he was doing in 2005.

[Scroby 0]

Because they want to get Sheik Abdul over as a heel.

[RedJed 0]

That Storm promo was hilarious because Hernandez did just cut a disturbing promo basically saying he was going to treat Beer Money like prison bitches.

 

And I know some here probably enjoy Daivari's work, but him going over Black Machismo.....why? Let's be honest here. There are two kinds of people who recall Daivari's WWE work:

 

1. Those who remember him as Muhammed Hassan's lackey and hated him.

2. Those who remember his singles work where he was a jobber.

 

Putting him over anyone of note on your roster is like throwing bad money after bad, especially with him doing the same Hassan type gimmick he was doing in 2005.

 

I don't get your point, what do you want them to do, him playing that evil Arab arrogant heel seems to be his strong point for obvious reasons. They're trying to get him over, and having him go over Lethal isn't really that bad of an idea.

 

Anyway, the rest of the show was hit and miss, highlights included numerous Christy Hemme crotch shots, Salinas with limes, those tremendously cheesy promos by Hernandez and Beer Money, most matches weren't that bad for TV, strong Kong/Gail Kim stuff to lead to their match next week, etc.

 

The few really significant problems I had with the show was the way they treated the whole Angle "injury", especially how Angle himself did (although, granted, doing a "match" like this didn't play upon the injury at all) and also, the way Joe was booked this week just boggled my mind. They GOTTA be turning him heel or something.

[LuckyLopez 0]

At this stage it certainly SEEMS like Joe and AJ are both going to turn heel with Jarrett. Both have been vicious and heel like and that's seemingly why Sting has attacked them when they were crossing the line. If they are conspiring with Jarrett it would seem to be a heel move.

 

Of course if they are conspiring with JJ it was to counter balance Booker and Angle seemingly conspiring with Sting. So I don't know. Seems like Russo's shades of grey and potential swerves. At this stage Joe and AJ seem to be acting so heelish that I'm expecting to find out that JJ has been the one helping Angle and Booker and just using Sting's bats, and AJ and Joe found out so were screwing with people. So we get face Joe/AJ/Sting vs heel JJ/Angle/Booker. Just because it would be all screwy. But logic would seem to suggest Joe and AJ headed heel with JJ. And I guess Booker and Angle face? I dunno.

 

 

The Angle injury thing did bother me until the match. In the end that match didn't pose much threat or need him to be at 100%. It was stupid and arrogant for him to do it but I guess you chalk it up to Angle being arrogant, especially given his clear advantage in that match. But yeah, I didn't love that. On the other hand all those complaints in the spoiler thread about them booking it the Impact after the Last Man Standing match strike me as silly. That is not a match I would pay money for and I'm more then satisfied with the match I did pay money for.

[Scroby 0]

I have a feeling Joe/AJ teaming up with Jarrett is a scapegoat just in case Booker T/Angle teaming with Sting as the heel group doesn't work out.

[cabbageboy 0]

Yeah the way it played out on TV I didn't mind Angle being there as much as when I read the spoilers. I wish TNA would just chill a bit and have a guy off TV for a week or two, but maybe with the way they do TV tapings they have to have guys there.

 

What I meant with Daivari is that it might be okay to bring him in for stuff like the World X Cup and have him put people over, but giving him a big push to the X Division title won't work. All it does is job out a bunch of TNA's roster to a guy who fans saw in WWE as a jobber.

[cd213 0]

I can understand what you are saying about Divari, but after reading the results for next week, I don't think they are going to put him over everyone. It's not so bad since he had to cheat to win anyway.

[DarKnight 0]

Daivari will most likely just have a cup of coffee in TNA. I think he will be there for a few months, then get released, as I don't really see anything long term with him. The Impact last night was ok, but I have a real bad feeling about TNA's future, since they treated Jarrett's return like a return of a legend or something. Hell, isn't everyone thats a TNA fan glad to see Jarrett off the show for good, since pushing him makes them look 2nd rate? I heard that Russo wants to do the Millionaire's Club/The New Blood feud again, and this can be the 2nd time he ran a promotion out of business doing that storyline.

[CubbyBr 0]

I heard that Russo wants to do the Millionaire's Club/The New Blood feud again, and this can be the 2nd time he ran a promotion out of business doing that storyline

 

This could be really good if done right. TNA needs an overarching storyline that affects the whole promotion.

[LuckyLopez 0]

I'm a Jarrett fan so I don't think pushing him ever made them look 2nd rate. But maybe I'm in the minority. The problem is that he was the top of that company for too damn long and TNA never let AJ, Joe, Killings, or anyone else grow into main eventers. But Jarrett's been gone for 2 years almost and I have no problem seeing him back. I am however hesitant to see how he gets booked, but he IS the guy who was TNA for years so his return SHOULD be a big deal to TNA.

 

Part of me thinks it shouldn't be a problem this time. I really do think that JJ's booking had less to do with his ego and more to do with a theory that TNA had to have an "established main eventer" on top. When Killings was hot. When AJ was hot. When Raven was hot. It always seemed to come back to the idea that JJ was a former WCW Champion so TNA and JJ thought he made a better face for the company. I don't agree with the thinking but I think its what it was. If Sting, Nash, Hogan, Savage, or any of the like had ever proven reliable I think he would have gladly dropped the belt to them. And when Sting did sign full time he went right into a program designed to end with Sting taking the belt from him.

 

These days TNA has more name power with Booker and Angle. Christian, Joe, and AJ also might be "established" now depending on what TNA thinks of itself. But Jarrett doesn't NEED to be the face of TNA anymore by any logic. Sting, Booker, and Angle all have the same "established main eventer in WCW/WWE" thing that switching the belt to Jarrett prior to the Spike debut seemed to be based on. And to Jarrett's credit the last match he had in TNA was used to put over Bobby Roode of all people. So I do tend to think Jarrett wants to help his company. I just think he thought he had to carry the company for a long time. But in the last 2 years Christian, Sting, Angle, and Booker plus the elevations of Joe and AJ might have changed that.

 

Or maybe he's just got a massive ego like so many wrestlers and he'll win the belt from Joe at BFG and I'll be sick of him within months.

 

 

EDIT: And yeah, I don't see anything wrong with the basic idea of the New Blood vs Millionaires' Club story. It was just poor execution in WCW. When it started in WCW it had people interested. But most of the "New Blood" people wanted pushed was already gone to WWE and things just got all muddled with the old guys people were sick of being faces. And lets remember that weeks into that story Russo gave the title to Arquette. That whole story had potential, I think, but was just shot in the foot a dozen times. I think he did a much better job with it with the SEX story, although that too had its flaws.

[CubbyBr 0]

In order for the storyline to work they need to give the perception that it's different than everything else they put on. They need to have less scripting and a little more reality for this. They could have Nash, Sting, Booker, Angle, Team 3D as the main older guys against AJ, Joe, Jarrett, Guys like Abyss and Morgan, and Maybe the MCMG's. I doubt Jarrett would be part of the older crowd since he's probably going to come in as a face. If they could bring Foley in he could be part of the older guys as well.

[DarKnight 0]

Well, I think if Russo booked that storyline again, that we can all say it wouldn't be as bad as the WCW version, but I don't think it will be good either. Russo is too obsessed with doing shades of gray crap, that I don't think anyone can really get over in the storyline. I think Jarrett's return should be just to put people over, but its a gamble.

[luke-o 0]

I'm going to make a wild claim on this one and call a Russo swerve that it'll be JJ with the bat and Sting with the guitar.

[DarKnight 0]

I'm going to make a wild claim on this one and call a Russo swerve that it'll be JJ with the bat and Sting with the guitar.

 

Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a winner!

[The Ghost of bps21 0]

If we look at the two times that Sting has physically interjected himself...both times the young guy (Joe and then AJ) were going over the line with their violence towards a veteran (Booker and Angle). Even though I still don't get what Joe did wrong in his match last month with Booker (the bell never rang!!!) AJ was crossing a line going back and attacking Angle. If the storyline is that Sting is pissed that they don't respect the veterans...Ok. I don't see how that makes him the heel when he's actually correct... But I think they'll get away with it since fans are going to cheer AJ and Joe over Booker and Angle anyway. The problem will be getting them to boo Sting. I think that Jarrett will get cheered...but that doesn't mean booing Sting...especially when he's right. It'll take a hell of a Sting promo to get it over...which means someone has to write one that makes sense. Odds are not high.

[DarKnight 0]

Yeah, I don't know what Joe did that was so bad in the Booker match. He was just playing by the rules and just beating him down. Even though AJ may have done a heel move by attacking Angle after the match, I didn't feel sorry for Angle, since he and Team 3-D have beat down Styles really bad on shows.

[Chazz 0]

I heard that Russo wants to do the Millionaire's Club/The New Blood feud again, and this can be the 2nd time he ran a promotion out of business doing that storyline

 

This could be really good if done right. TNA needs an overarching storyline that affects the whole promotion.

 

Yep, cause we all know it was Russo and Russo alone that caused WCW to go out of business with that particular storyline.

[cd213 0]

If we look at the two times that Sting has physically interjected himself...both times the young guy (Joe and then AJ) were going over the line with their violence towards a veteran (Booker and Angle). Even though I still don't get what Joe did wrong in his match last month with Booker (the bell never rang!!!) AJ was crossing a line going back and attacking Angle. If the storyline is that Sting is pissed that they don't respect the veterans...Ok. I don't see how that makes him the heel when he's actually correct... But I think they'll get away with it since fans are going to cheer AJ and Joe over Booker and Angle anyway. The problem will be getting them to boo Sting. I think that Jarrett will get cheered...but that doesn't mean booing Sting...especially when he's right. It'll take a hell of a Sting promo to get it over...which means someone has to write one that makes sense. Odds are not high.

 

Actually, if Nash also joins Angle, Sting and Booker, then Nash can be the one that cuts the promo and I think he might be able to get Sting over as a heel, at least for a short time.

[LuckyLopez 0]

I think the idea was that Joe was wrong because he disrespected Sting and lacked compassion for Sharmell. So not so much wrong as an asshole. But yeah, it was iffy. No referee declaring the match done meant Joe was in his rights to keep wrestling and leaving would risk a CO. But if the ref declares the match done then Joe has no valid reason to keep beating on Booker. I do think they're trying to do shades of grey here and that's why they booked that screwy situation so Joe isn't QUITE a heel in that situation. The same with AJ attacking Angle. That's more of a heel act since its after the match, but then again Angle's laid how many beatings on AJ over the last few months? Both cases are the young guys being understandably angry and letting their anger get the best of them. That's easily forgivable, Sting just doesn't seem to be forgiving. And in fairness he DID try to get Joe to stop without attacking him.

 

So yeah, I think they are keeping everyone in shades of grey. Even Booker and Angle since revealing that Karen DID cheat on him or having AJ do something really nasty or boast about breaking up their family could turn him in theory. And Booker, while resorting to heel actions, never did get a "fair shake" at the title. I don't think they're terribly strong face cases which is why Joe and AJ as the faces makes so much more sense. But I think they're trying to leave the door open either way with everyone.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Didn't anyone tell Russo that if everyone is 'shades of grey' then nobody stands out, you wind up being unable to distinguish the babyfaces from the heels, and people get confused about who to cheer for?

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

I don't agree with what Russo is doing here but I can see why he is. In real life, everyone is not really cut from one cloth or another. Everyone in life have their motivations, their strengths that endear themselves to others and flaws that might turn others off from them. The problem is, pro wrestling is supposed to be an escape from our real life problems or issues or whatever, and it's a release. To see people like ourselves on TV, but exaggerated, isn't going to fly.

[Chazz 0]

I don't think it worked out too bad for Vinne Ru during The Attitude Era. The most popular characters during that time were written in shades of gray. Although I agree that not every wrestler show be booked this way, it's 10 times better than going back to this PG kiddie bullshit type of product that The WWE is headed in.(How can you have a nearly 30 minute Hell In A Cell match without any blood?)

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

I don't think it worked out too bad for Vinne Ru during The Attitude Era. The most popular characters during that time were written in shades of gray. Although I agree that not every wrestler show be booked this way, it's 10 times better than going back to this PG kiddie bullshit type of product that The WWE is headed in.(How can you have a nearly 30 minute Hell In A Cell match without any blood?)

 

First of all, you can have a hell in cell match without blood if you have them portraying real hate. Second of all, both men DID bleed. Just not in the head or in the Muta scale fashion.

[Chazz 0]

I don't think it worked out too bad for Vinne Ru during The Attitude Era. The most popular characters during that time were written in shades of gray. Although I agree that not every wrestler show be booked this way, it's 10 times better than going back to this PG kiddie bullshit type of product that The WWE is headed in.(How can you have a nearly 30 minute Hell In A Cell match without any blood?)

 

First of all, you can have a hell in cell match without blood if you have them portraying real hate. Second of all, both men DID bleed. Just not in the head or in the Muta scale fashion.

 

 

Someone did a commentary on Meltz's website saing that there was no blood in the match. Obviously I didn't see S.S. However, I agreed with the writer who basically said for the amount of violent things both men did to each each other, the type of match it was, and the fact it was on PPV, there should have been more bloodshed. Not that I'm saying that it was a must for it to be a bloodbath to be considered a great match, but logic dictates that there should be given as what kind of a brutal match The WWE pushes it as, but it involved 2 superstars who were in the culmination of a 6 month feud.