TNA Discussion Thread

More like a rant thread, if you ask me.

Hogan in TNA. Do you care?

I care. I think ulitmitlely it'lll work out for TNA. Everybody who is screaming about how this is going to be just like in WCW and how he killed WCW needs to notice something. In WCW he came in by way of parade, in TNA he came way of press conferance. Big differeance. This is a business deal for Hogan not an ego trip. I'm intrested to see how alll of this will play out.

I just watched his interview for the Hour and he seemed to dis spell the myth or rumours he going to TNA to bring in his buddies and put the belts on him. Hogan is serious about this thing, and it's going to be interesting for sure. Hopefully he takes their storylines in a different direction because I hate almost all of them save the way McGuinness was brought in.

I don't usually watch TNA, so I have to ask. Is TNA always this blatant about running off of the history of the WWF/E? I'm watching the January 28th episode of Impact, and through the little bit I've seen (Ken 'Anderson' promo, Sean Morley Match, and a re cap of an apparent shot for shot remake of the Montreal Screwjob from the week before) there has yet to be an ounce of anything TNA had done on its own.

Hogan and Bischoff continue to be like WWE despite, you know, not actually working for WWE.

Or as Nick and I came up with in an AIM chat, this is actually a conspiracy by the WWE, purposefully having Hogan and Bischoff run TNA into the ground. But they couldn't be that devious, could they?

We fund the wars, select the winners and take the resources for ourselves...







NEW


NEW


NEW

WORLD

ORDER!!!!!

Ha, so Bischoff and Hogan really are the poison

Cue guitar riff

Easier wrote:

I don't usually watch TNA, so I have to ask. Is TNA always this blatant about running off of the history of the WWF/E? I'm watching the January 28th episode of Impact, and through the little bit I've seen (Ken 'Anderson' promo, Sean Morley Match, and a re cap of an apparent shot for shot remake of the Montreal Screwjob from the week before) there has yet to be an ounce of anything TNA had done on its own.

I was thinking the same thing actually and they even had Hebner saying both screw jobs were all on him!! They didn't even care that people would notice the blatant copy!

For anyone not catching iMPACT! last night, here's basically what happened:

Pope cuts a Shane Douglas-esque promo.

Orlando Jordan went over Samoa Joe in a couple minute match.

Frankie Kazarian was in the house some random reason in a match, forgetting that he's still Suicide.

TNA Global champ Rob Terry gets practically squashed.

Hogan gives Abyss his HoF ring, and says it contains the power of Hulkamania and the universe, and make him 10 times more powerful than hogan ever was. Abyss tells him he can feel that power.

Christopher Daniels is squashed in 20 seconds against Angle, I don't know who he pissed off.

NWO beat up Eric Young.

Yep, the quality I've come to expect from the #2 promotion in the world.

And your brother thinks there's gonna be another war brewing.

Bah.

PX wrote:

Hogan gives Abyss his HoF ring, and says it contains the power of Hulkamania and the universe, and make him 10 times more powerful than hogan ever was. Abyss tells him he can feel that power.

...good to see Hulk has switched bodies with the Ultimate Warrior.

Okay, I've been avoiding spoilers all week in preparation for watching it, but there's one spoiler I couldn't avoid:

Jerry Lynn is out for HardCORE Justice.

Fuck. I was actually really really really looking forward to the match. I wanted to see the two go at it one more time and damnit fate had to give Jerry a back injury a day before the PPV. Damn. Now who knows who'll they put against RVD. They could put him against Sabu but...eh, it's just not the same.

But yeah, I don't care what anyone says I'm watching the PPV tonight and plan to enjoy it without letting any smarks try and take away from it.

I will watch it, I will enjoy it, but fuck if Paul Heyman isn't there it isn't ECW's night no matter how much they want it to be. The performers were great, but he was ECW.

New Jack's supposedly backstage.

RVD is without an opponent.

Thus, it should be New Jack vs. RVD for the title.

Just for shits and giggles.

New Jack is there for a reason.

And it ain't for RVD or so I heard.

Is that reason to kill TNA creative?

No, because from what I read the Gangstas will be in the house, and if I hear "Natural Born Killaz" I will mark.

BTW, The Cradle Piledriver as done by Jerry Lynn is so underrated.

RCA wrote:

No, because from what I read the Gangstas will be in the house, and if I hear "Natural Born Killaz" I will mark.

BTW, The Cradle Piledriver as done by Jerry Lynn is so underrated.

...

...

...

Quoted for truth. Even the Gangstas bit.

Lol
This show is so stupid

Raven, Dreamer, Sabu, RVD, Foley all old to middle aged men, some of which ended up in ECW in the first place because the 'old guys' wouldn't give up their top spot and give the younger generation a chance. 15 odd years later and here they are on an 'ECW reunion' card, that basically means that most of the younger wrestlers won't get a paycheck cause i'm guessing they won't be wrestling matches.

Do we really need to see Raven vs Dreamer again?

I really believe this is the last hooray for the ECW crew, the final bow out. I think most of them believe ONS 2005 was going to be it, but then Vince brought it back, and I don't think of any of them could have predicted that. Well, that really really didn't turn out how they wanted, and I think most of them just want to go out on their own terms, go out like a true ECW show rather than a watered down version of themselves.

Honestly, this is closure. I mean alot of them are pretty much retired now. Sandman is out of the game as is New Jack, this is them coming out for last show. Raven's day is over. Sabu...is immortal. RVD can still go. But yeah, I don't forsee any more reunion shows after this one. I honestly think this will be it as the they'll all pretty much have retired soon.

Yeah, Raven and Dreamer are old, but if I know Raven he'll think of something that might just surpise even the most hardened smarks.

Anyways, this night be be ECW's tombstone, and the ECW guys want it to read something cool, not something WWE put on it.

But really why does it need a last hoorah?

It's not going to add anything new, Tommy Dreamer will do something 'HARDCORE YAY' RVD and Sabu will flip Foley will bring out something with barbedwire and Raven will hold his arms out stretched.

It's already dead, it was dead 9 years ago now and nothing they do tonight will make it any more exciting or even any more relevant than it has been in the past, this just screams out against everything ECW was in the past anyway, not that i care about the legacy or anything, but doing this will shit on it even more than Vince could've. Everyone says WWECW was watered down, sure it wasn't as violent as the original but it had new wrestlers who were given oppurtunities to rise to the top they did that a couple became successful in WWE just as what happened in the original ECW.

It's not about a last hoorah Celt, it's about them squeezing as many pennys out of the name as possible.

It needs a last hoorah because the ECW Originals just won't fucking let it die. They've had tons of farewell shows before this. They just think the fans still want ECW to live on. They're somewhat right, but the majority wants otherwise.

I tend to disagree.

The majority would be the marks who think that the world revolves around just one company and their PG Bullshit.

If we're leaving a decision in the hands of millions of kids/retards/foreigners then we might as well go An Hero right now.

I'm happy that TNA and ECW are doing one last hurrah and I am happy they're fucking doing it right. God knows they deserve it after the bastardazation Vinny Mac put that name through. God knows it isn't going to matter if it increases the ratings because 10 years from now when people hear ECW they're going to think of the pissy little show on Sy Fy where it was about as hardcore as Romeo's sex life.

...yeah, I went there.

The point is, TNA Ratings are up, people were making in the iMPACT Zone, and I'd rather watch an ECW Repeat over and over and over than to try and figure out what the hell Hogan and Bischoff are doing next.

Dixie do us all a god damn favor and fire those two assclowns and bring in Heyman and Dreamer for creative. Then make a play for Jericho and save that damn company from diving nose first into the dirt.

I'm starting to get worried, because yet again I find myself agreeing with you Omega.

ECW needed that proper sendoff, unlike the bullshit Vince McMahon passed off for ECW for months before burying it like a dead pet. I will quite happily admit that I marked out big time the first time Dreamer turned up at the iMPACT zone because I will always be 100% an original ECW fan. It was ECW that made me realise that there was more to wrestling than fancy entrances and repetative storylines.

Now, I haven't actually watched Hardcore Justice yet (it's not shown here in the UK till Friday night and last time I watched a TNA PPV online my comp crashed and it took me 3 days to get the fucker working again) but I have read some of the reviews and I'm pleased that Bischoff and Hogan didn't stick their over-paid noses in because personally I think they would've ruined the whole experience for everyone involved and watching.

And I have actually tweeted Dixie (yes I know I'm sad for having twitter but it's a brilliant way to talk to Shannon Moore and Jesse Neal ) and told her the exact same thing. TNA doesn't need Hogan and Bischoff ... Bischoff and Hogan need TNA because without it nobody would even care if they'd died 5 years ago! TNA does however need guys who know what the fans want not what they think they want, so I agree 1000000000000000000000000000% that TNA needs Heyman and Dreamer as their bookers. With two icons of the business behind the scenes TNA's ratings would FLY passed WWE's and they'd also find a lot more wrestlers banging on their doors to get signed with them (I've been begging Matt Hardy, Blue Meanie, Helms, Jericho on Twitter to jump).

Hopefully now that Dixie is starting to listen more to what the fans want, she'll realise that everyone wants these guys and will get rid of Hogan and Bischoff so that it will happen.

blah blah blah ecw.

/opinion

What's with everyone thinking Jericho would make the jump? He's a company guy and has stated before on his Twitter his disdain for TNA, or words to that effect.

Easty wrote:

What's with everyone thinking Jericho would make the jump? He's a company guy and has stated before on his Twitter his disdain for TNA, or words to that effect.

Because Vince has got his corporate internet geeks watching everything the WWE guys post to make sure that they're A) Not giving away storyline ideas, and B) Not planning on jumping to TNA (or anyone else for that matter). That was why Matt Hardy was constantly getting booked to job to Drew McIntyre. It was because Vince found out that Matt had posted on Twitter that he was planning to jump to TNA to join Jeff and Shannon once his contract was up.

Seriously Easty, learn to look into something before opening ya yapper and making yourself look like a numpty.

Doublemummy wrote:

(I've been begging Blue Meanie on Twitter to jump).

lolwut?

Also Jericho shall never, EEEVVVEEERRR jump to TNA.

Also Matt Hardy "jobbed" to McIntryre because it made storyline sense. Also he's a complete company man so I also doubt he has any plans to go to TNA.

Matt Hardy Jobs to Drew McIntyre because its the right for him to do as it puts Drew over but doesnt hurt Matt's image. Matt's in a place where putting younger talent over is the best thing he can do right now

Doublemummy wrote:

Easty wrote:

What's with everyone thinking Jericho would make the jump? He's a company guy and has stated before on his Twitter his disdain for TNA, or words to that effect.

Because Vince has got his corporate internet geeks watching everything the WWE guys post to make sure that they're A) Not giving away storyline ideas, and B) Not planning on jumping to TNA (or anyone else for that matter). That was why Matt Hardy was constantly getting booked to job to Drew McIntyre. It was because Vince found out that Matt had posted on Twitter that he was planning to jump to TNA to join Jeff and Shannon once his contract was up.

Seriously Easty, learn to look into something before opening ya yapper and making yourself look like a numpty.

That has to do with Jericho... how?

I still LOL so hard at the argument that "Vince raped ECW". May I ask how he did such a thing? Was it by putting over young talent like Sheamus, Jack Swagger, Kofi Kingston, and The Miz? Was it by giving guys like CM Punk and Evan Bourne a chance to show their talents to the entire world instead of some high school gym in Bumfuck, USA? Was it by giving vets like Mark Henry and William Regal the opportunity to revitalize their careers? Or was it by putting on arguably one of the best pure wrestling shows on TV at the time?



Because you know, that is all ECW was ever about. ECW was a place where Aldo Montoya, Mr. JL, Scotty Flamingo, and Leif Cassidy were main-eventing. ECW was a place where Tajiri, Super Crazy, and Masato Tanaka were introduced to American audiences. ECW was a place where vets like Bam Bam Bigelow, Shane Douglas, and Mike Awesome could stop in and become forces again in professional wrestling before moving on to greener pastures.


ECW was a feeding ground to the WWF. Call bullshit all you want but it is pretty common knowledge that Vince was funneling money to ECW for some time and also allowed ECW talent to compete on WWF television INCLUDING allowing Taz(z) to face Mike Awesome for the ECW title on Awesome's way out to WCW and then face Triple H in a champion vs. champion match on Smackdown.


I was a huge ECW fan growing up in no small part thanks to the hardcore bullshit they did. As an older, wiser man; however; I do not want to see wrestlers do that anymore because I am smart enough to know it is bad for their health and I ESPECIALLY don't want to see the wrestlers who were doing it in my youth trying to do it now. Looking back ECW's gift to the industry was never about being hardcore. It was about giving a bunch of talented guys first and second chances to move on to the higher echelons of the industry and that is EXACTLY what Vince did in his ECW as well.


Meanwhile, TNA took an entire PPV out of their schedule to put over guys who are washed up, beaten up, and mostly just cannot go anymore. Honestly, in the big picture, what is the difference between TNA putting over Hogan and such and TNA putting over Raven and such? Either way, these are NOT guys you can currently build a company around. AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, Mr. Anderson (as much as I hate him), D'Angelo Dinero, and Desmond Wolfe are the type you build companies around but most of them were pushed to the side to promote this cheap attempt to pop buyrates.




EDIT: And on Jericho, he would be a goddamn fool to jump to TNA. Quite simply, Jericho is a man intelligent enough to diversify his interests outside of wrestling through music, game shows, and such. If he were in TNA, his name value would drop and these opportunities would be less common. Basically, to a TV show or game show or such; it goes like this:


Chris Jericho in WWE > Chris Jericho in TNA



That and that alone should be enough to convince Chris that for his long term financial shape and career prospects, WWE is just a better option.