Impact Spoilers for December 11th

[Scroby 0]

Is it me or does TNA seem to backstage segment/promo heavy.

You're only now noticing the heavy reliance on skits and talking? There was apparently a mere 17 minutes and 55 seconds of wrestling on this edition of Impact as well as a gap of 37 minutes between matches at one point.

I noticed that the show felt segment/promo heavy a few weeks ago but I haven't watched the past two weeks so I figured it may have just been that show.

[The Truthiness 0]

It wasn't even as if the MEM were deceitful. They did leave the building. They were outside in the loading dock or wherever. I'm guessing the Frontline were busy doing shots at the corner bar.

 

They was playing video games, reading comic book, and checking wrestling websites to see if they had a 4 star match.

[The Buzz 0]

Does anyone else get a feeling like they are watching Glacier 2.0 when Suicide makes his interest and goes hog wild on the machine guns.

[Molotov The Bear 0]

No, but I do feel like I'm watching Kaz pretend to be a video game character.

[Golgo 13 0]

4-5 months too late to boot.

[CubbyBr 0]

What is up with Tenay/West needing to call play by play for that backstage beatdown on Bubba? Those two fools were yelling over each other the whole time.

[dorianb 0]

I honestly believe that if Tenay and West weren't commentating, I could enjoy TNA so much more. They're just too loud and uninteresting to me. Now West has come a long way since TNA began, but I just don't like hearing him.

 

I wish TNA would go to a heel/face commentating team but not by keeping West face and turning Tenay. Heel Tenay makes me cringe lol.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

What is up with Tenay/West needing to call play by play for that backstage beatdown on Bubba? Those two fools were yelling over each other the whole time.

I almost think that TNA hold the belief that if there is ever no talking, of any kind, for more than a few seconds, then people will change the channel.

[CubbyBr 0]

I almost think that TNA hold the belief that if there is ever no talking, of any kind, for more than a few seconds, then people will change the channel.

 

Exactly. I found it hilarious that when Bubba had Angle sitting up against the dumpster and started talking crap to him Tenay kept yelling at first and then had to stop himself.

 

I honestly believe that if Tenay and West weren't commentating, I could enjoy TNA so much more. They're just too loud and uninteresting to me. Now West has come a long way since TNA began, but I just don't like hearing him.

 

I wish TNA would go to a heel/face commentating team but not by keeping West face and turning Tenay. Heel Tenay makes me cringe lol.

 

There's proof of this. I remember last year they did an angle where Christian's Coalition did a huge beatdown on Abyss, hit him with a barbed wire bat, etc and left him in a pool of blood. Konnan was doing guest commentary and it came off so much better because of the heel/face dynamic. Konnan kept talking about how this was great and they were teaching Abyss how to follow orders, etc and Tenay just acted disgusted. With Tenay/West, they just describe what we can see with our own two eyes and do it in a loud way.

[Silence 0]

With Tenay/West, they just describe what we can see with our own two eyes and do it in a loud way.

 

Tenay:"He just threw him off the ramp!"

 

Yeah, we know.

 

 

[DCH 0]

WELCOME BACK TO TNA IMPACT LIVE IN HD ON SPIKE AND WHATS THAT? IS THAT KURT ANGLES MUSIC? I THINK HE HAS SOMETHING HE WANTS TO SAY KURT ANGLE HAS HAD A LONG HISTORY HE IS THE ONLY OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALLIST IN WRESTLING TODAY

 

 

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Is it me or does TNA seem to backstage segment/promo heavy.

You're only now noticing the heavy reliance on skits and talking? There was apparently a mere 17 minutes and 55 seconds of wrestling on this edition of Impact as well as a gap of 37 minutes between matches at one point.

I noticed that the show felt segment/promo heavy a few weeks ago but I haven't watched the past two weeks so I figured it may have just been that show.

I think the average amount of wrestling on any edition of Impact in the last few months is something around 22 minutes or so. That's maybe a quarter, if that, of the amount of actual program time they have to use.

[Star Ocean 3 0]

A reason why the great Police Squad! was taken off the air was because there were so many visual jokes. People don't sit and watch TV, they leave the TV on while they iron, cook, and do other things. Obviously TNA has the right idea with their play by play; we can follow it without looking.

[garfieldsnose 0]

I hope you're joking.

[LuckyLopez 0]

I think there's something to be said for wrestling being like sports that many people keep it on in the background or zone in and out. You don't have to stay focused to the story as you would a drama. And if you are talking or washing dishes or what have you then the commentators can act as cues to tune in and out and follow the story.

 

The problem is that I think the announcer drawing you back in for something notable is a big part of that. The announcer's tone changes when the bases are loaded or the team is in the red zone. They get excited when there's a HR or a TD. But Tenay and West are always so ON their excitement becomes the baseline and there are no moments in which your attention is drawn because they just got MORE excited. They're ALWAYS yelling for you to be watching.

[cd213 0]

Lucky, I agree with you as far as Teney and West always being ON. I think people might be able to tolerate them more if they didn't yell at EVERYTHING. Teney is better than this, and he should know better. West is just not very good, and I agree with the statement that they need a heel announcer to play against Teney.

[garfieldsnose 0]

In wrestling, when a beatdown occurs like it did on Bubba Ray this past week, silence is the best form of getting it over to the audience. Silence is key in professional wrestling sometimes.

[LuckyLopez 0]

And in theory silence works as effectively as an announcer raising his voice. Either deviation from the norm implies to the viewer that something of note is happening. But yeah, Tenay and West do neither. I've learned to deal with the announcers. You tone them out, you lower the volume a bit, whatever. But there's never those moments in which you stop and say "Hey, the announcers are excited/silent. What about?" And even if you ARE paying attention stuff like that works as subtle storytelling devices. I'm not a big fan of JR but the two things he undeniably does well are turn it up for a big moment (usually with the catchphrases) and shut up when its appropriate and let the wrestlers/images do the talking.

[garfieldsnose 0]

I won't disagree the announcer being excited works just as effectively. But not every week for two hours. If they did it once or twice a week, I'd be able to deal with their shortcomings. Maybe TNA should implement a system like WWE has with someone feeding them lines and telling them through the headset how to announce. It certainly wouldn't be worse than they are now.

[CubbyBr 0]

I won't disagree the announcer being excited works just as effectively. But not every week for two hours. If they did it once or twice a week, I'd be able to deal with their shortcomings. Maybe TNA should implement a system like WWE has with someone feeding them lines and telling them through the headset how to announce. It certainly wouldn't be worse than they are now.

 

I disagree..I think the problem is that they're already being told how to commentate. I remember them reading off of scripts one time during an Abyss/Sting angle. I think they should actually withhold some of the things that are going to happen on the show from the announcers that way their reactions are more real. Sometimes they talk so fast that they say stuff before it actually happens making everything seem completely scripted. If they are given just bullet points and outlines of what will happen it might make the show seem more realistic and less scripted.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

I disagree..I think the problem is that they're already being told how to commentate. I remember them reading off of scripts one time during an Abyss/Sting angle. I think they should actually withhold some of the things that are going to happen on the show from the announcers that way their reactions are more real. Sometimes they talk so fast that they say stuff before it actually happens making everything seem completely scripted. If they are given just bullet points and outlines of what will happen it might make the show seem more realistic and less scripted.

The announcers have to know what is happening, and why, so they can guide the audience and take them in the direction the bookers want.

[Chazz 0]

It's got to be something they are doing wrong, as I don't remember Tenay being this bad when he was announcing for WCW. That could just be my faulty memory, though.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

It's got to be something they are doing wrong, as I don't remember Tenay being this bad when he was announcing for WCW. That could just be my faulty memory, though.

Tenay is a great color guy. The problem with Tenay, and West, is the direction they're getting with the non-stop talking and treating everything as something major. Ideally, they would move West backstage and him shill the merchandise, and put Tenay on color with someone else as the main announcer.

[CubbyBr 0]

The announcers have to know what is happening, and why, so they can guide the audience and take them in the direction the bookers want.

 

I'm not saying that they should be kept in the dark completely but some of the big moments can be withhold from them, thus producing a more genuine response.

 

Take the Suicide debut for example...they could have simply told them that he would debut sometime during the match without telling them when or how.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

The announcers have to know what is happening, and why, so they can guide the audience and take them in the direction the bookers want.

 

I'm not saying that they should be kept in the dark completely but some of the big moments can be withhold from them, thus producing a more genuine response.

 

What point is there in eliciting a genuine reaction when it doesn't allow the announcers to get the points across that the bookers want in the way they want? Keeping the announcers in the dark, which was done heavily in WCW, never works, for the reason already stated.

[CubbyBr 0]

What point is there in eliciting a genuine reaction when it doesn't allow the announcers to get the points across that the bookers want in the way they want? Keeping the announcers in the dark, which was done heavily in WCW, never works, for the reason already stated.

 

How would not telling the announcers, for example, every detail of Suicide's debut, prevent them from getting across the point that after months of promos Suicide has finally debuted, in surprising fashion, and sent a message to the MCMG's?

 

You give them enough info to get the points across they need to get across but you don't tell them every little detail so the show actually comes across as somewhat real. Because right now it comes across as basically the most non-real wrestling show on TV.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

You give them enough info to get the points across they need to get across but you don't tell them every little detail so the show actually comes across as somewhat real. Because right now it comes across as basically the most non-real wrestling show on TV.

The show doesn't need to come across as real, just believable. And you stand a much better chance of that if the announcers know what is happening and why and can lead the audience the appropriate direction.

[CubbyBr 0]

The show doesn't need to come across as real, just believable. And you stand a much better chance of that if the announcers know what is happening and why and can lead the audience the appropriate direction.

 

The show becomes a lot better if there are some elements that make the audience say to themselves, "was that really supposed to happen?" THat element sucks people into the show more. Great example of this is Mayweather/Big Show from No Way Out. TNA is incapable of producing moments like that because Tenay and West would kill it by commentating on it in a way that takes any bit of realism out of it. A good way to correct that would be to give them less details and force them to react naturally. And there is a way to do that while still giving them enough information to lead the audience in the appropriate direction.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Or you could tell them everything so they know where to lead the audience but when it comes to something you want to them to react 'naturally' still tell them everything but also tell them to react naturally as if they didn't know that particular thing was going to happen. Otherwise, you risk getting a reaction that is counterproductive to what it is you're trying to get across. There's no sense in leaving something out of your control when you don't have to and can still get the result you want.

[lee_hero 0]

With Tenay/West, they just describe what we can see with our own two eyes and do it in a loud way.

 

Tenay:"He just threw him off the ramp!"

 

Yeah, we know.

 

Don't forget Don West's always present during an AJ Styles match,

 

"HE HIT HIM WITH THE PELE!"