The Impact Wrestling Thread

[Nash Diesel]

Exactly my point.

It used to be TNA, the place where Hogan was booking his daughter to marry Bully Ray, but now it's a place to acquaint with folks like Trey/Bey/Alexander/Gisele. Makes you wonder how they'd do on grander stages.

I mean, look at the viewership and star power of the Hogan era versus now. And I'm not just talking about Hulkster but AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, James Storm, or even guys that weren't really treated as main event level WWE guys that proved they could be i.e. Jeff Hardy, RVD, hell even Bully Ray.

I'm just saying, when you it's become a MASSIVE BREEDING GROUND FOR FUTURE STARS, who? Who has gone on to do anything because it's like going to OVW in 2001 and saying "look at this massive breeding ground" but nobody had done anything yet. 10 years from now if we go damn Josh Alexander is main eventing Summerslam, that's an Impact guy! I mean even AEW doesn't really push any "Impact talent". Like that weak ass AEW v. Impact storyline where CHRISTIAN got the W, not an actual Impact guy, but someone who was a TNA guy. Even Moose did the job.

[VHS]

I mean, look at the viewership and star power of the Hogan era versus now. And I'm not just talking about Hulkster but AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, James Storm, or even guys that weren't really treated as main event level WWE guys that proved they could be i.e. Jeff Hardy, RVD, hell even Bully Ray.

I'm just saying, when you it's become a MASSIVE BREEDING GROUND FOR FUTURE STARS, who? Who has gone on to do anything because it's like going to OVW in 2001 and saying "look at this massive breeding ground" but nobody had done anything yet. 10 years from now if we go damn Josh Alexander is main eventing Summerslam, that's an Impact guy! I mean even AEW doesn't really push any "Impact talent". Like that weak ass AEW v. Impact storyline where CHRISTIAN got the W, not an actual Impact guy, but someone who was a TNA guy. Even Moose did the job.

I gave you names already.

It’s taken Impact quite a while to find it’s current form, it’s a square one. Time will tell how and if it’s current roster goes on to become big time players. It’s called optimism.

[VHS]

Season finale of Diary.

[MTR]

Alex Shelly is the Impact World Champ. Never thought I would see that. I am a fan but never thought of him as top guy stuff. Love the Machine Guns and love them individually as well. Good for him. Didn't think Maclin's reign would be long but didn't expect Shelly to win and now Aldis gets a shot at the title.

[Nash Diesel]

I almost teared up when I saw that he won. First I saw Sabin won his 9th X division title and I thought, that would be fucking awesome if we had a Benoit/Guerrero Mania 20 type moment with them.

I always felt like Alex was always at the wrong place at the wrong time. The company might've put more effort into him if they didn't have so many "names". I always saw him as a Chris Jericho type. A guy you could slide in everywhere and he would deliver. Alex Shelley put in the work. Now he has Aldis in July and I'm pulling for Shelley. Macklin just never felt right to me.

[MTR]

Maybe that is why I never thought of him as the guy. Bad timing I mean I am fan and he is talented. I am glad he is getting a run with it. Been around the business a long time and deserves it. I am hoping he retains against Aldis. I expect that to be a really good match as well.

[Nash Diesel]

Maybe that is why I never thought of him as the guy. Bad timing I mean I am fan and he is talented. I am glad he is getting a run with it. Been around the business a long time and deserves it. I am hoping he retains against Aldis. I expect that to be a really good match as well.

Yeah it was just too top heavy. It reminds me of when you had Benoit, Eddie, Jericho, a few others in WCW that just couldn't break that ceiling. A-they weren't at that level yet and B-the guys above them still had drawing power. They could've worked, but it would've felt forced. IDK if I would've bought Alex Shelley v. Sting, Kevin Nash, Kurt Angle, even guys like Samoa Joe and AJ Styles simply because the company hadn't pushed Alex that hard. Even in the X division, he's only had the belt maybe twice. Tag scene he was on fire fucking love MCMG.

With Josh Alexander going down with an injury I am curious what Impact's plan was for him. I don't think it involved losing to Macklin or Alex Shelley.

[MTR]

Yeah I love the MCMG and glad that I got see them live earlier this spring at an indy show. Hell Shelly bounced a guys head off the seat right in front of me as the fight went into the crowd.

I doubt Alexander was losing anytime soon so yeah I wonder what the plan was.

[Murphy]

Pleased to hear that for Alex Shelley. Around 2005/6, I thought he'd have gone on to bigger and better things in his career. Always enjoyed his work in ROH and TNA.

[Nash Diesel]

Yeah I love the MCMG and glad that I got see them live earlier this spring at an indy show. Hell Shelly bounced a guys head off the seat right in front of me as the fight went into the crowd.

I doubt Alexander was losing anytime soon so yeah I wonder what the plan was.

I need to go and watch some more Alexander matches. I saw one match, it was 6-man tag against MCMG and Kushida. He was good but not "OMG I see why he's been champ for so long" good. Impact is such a different animal than what it was even 5 years ago let alone when I stopped watching (whenever they did that stupid ass tournament Matt Hardy won and then vacated the title-that was it for me lol) So maybe this guy was tearing it down, great promos/feuds/matches, and the viewership was going up.

[MTR]

I haven't watched a ton of Impact. I try to somewhat keep up with and watch some stuff here and there. I have seen some Alexander matches and I am a fan. The build to put him as a main event player was pretty good. They could have taken the title off of him I am sure and it would have been fine but I think just wanted a big run from him and yeah not sure they were going to eventually use to beat him since he had beaten most of the people I think.

[MTR]

Alexander is back so lets see if they put the title back on him right away.

Trinity is the women's champ. Interested to see how this plays out.

[Nash Diesel]

Alexander is back so lets see if they put the title back on him right away.

Trinity is the women's champ. Interested to see how this plays out.

I'm curious if they'll do that or not. I'm curious as to what the original plans were for Alexander. I don't think Alex Shelley and Forgotten Sons guy was on the menu but you never know.

I love Trinity/Naomi but I feel like her being gifted the title so early on is just to put eyes on Impact. And maybe not for the right reasons. They know there was the controversy with the WWE and where she was going to wind up. I think I would be more into it if she didn't win the title until 4-5 months down the road. That would show me they have something long term planned for her and not just trying to capitalize on the drama. Impact has always been stacked in the women's division so this is a nice addition because she's a name.

[MTR]

Yeah I don't think Maclean was in the plans. Alexander was going to defend against Kushida when he was hurt. Then it turned into Kushida vs Maclean so yeah Alexander was probably supposed to hold on to the belt longer. Shelly and Sabin win titles on the same night because of this was a nice story especially with Shelly winning the big one for first time.

How long has Trinity been there? Not long. Like what a couple months. So I agree probably would have been better to hold off on her winning. They have a stacked division. Could have held off on her winning.

[MTR]

Anthem just fired Scott D'Amore and replaced him. So TNA has a new president now and Anthem is going to be more involved in the day to day operations of the promotion but the person replaced D'Amore has lots of executive experience and experience in sports like pro wrestling is like a whole other thing.

[Nash Diesel]

Anthem just fired Scott D'Amore and replaced him. So TNA has a new president now and Anthem is going to be more involved in the day to day operations of the promotion but the person replaced D'Amore has lots of executive experience and experience in sports like pro wrestling is like a whole other thing.

Kind of odd they fired him instead of demoting him to only being on the booking team. So I'm not totally sure what role this cat Cicione will entail. Here's something that stood out and with TNA (Per Santino) trying to secure a big tv deal maybe this is why:

Before joining Anthem, he was instrumental in elevating The Score's success as a producer of sports content, notably by securing WWE programming for the channel.

[MTR]

I think the person does bring stuff to the table for sure but to just take over completely is kind of crazy. Some aspects will go great and some not so much. It will be interesting to see what happens.

[Nash Diesel]

I think the person does bring stuff to the table for sure but to just take over completely is kind of crazy. Some aspects will go great and some not so much. It will be interesting to see what happens.

You and I will probably be the only two people who even care lol. I'm ignorant to what Scott did in TNA but this just feels ultimately like Anthem wants more of their own people in charge. Kind of like WCW, they got sick of the "wrestling" people including Bischoff and just turned it over to the suits.

[MTR]

You and I will probably be the only two people who even care lol. I'm ignorant to what Scott did in TNA but this just feels ultimately like Anthem wants more of their own people in charge. Kind of like WCW, they got sick of the "wrestling" people including Bischoff and just turned it over to the suits.

Honestly this is what I was thinking too.

I don't even really watch. I sometimes record it and watch. I keep tabs of sorts on what is going on. But this is just insane. He was running TNA and yeah just gone. He has kept that place going and just gets the fucking boot.

[Nash Diesel]

Honestly this is what I was thinking too.

I don't even really watch. I sometimes record it and watch. I keep tabs of sorts on what is going on. But this is just insane. He was running TNA and yeah just gone. He has kept that place going and just gets the fucking boot.

They probably think he's great if we want TNA to average 100 fans and no tv deal but to grow, gotta do something more and he hasn't been able to pull that off.

[lotjx]

Scott D'Amore was released.

[MTR]

Did you not read anything posted right above this? Don't answer that

[VHS]

[NeseToTheFace]

I really wanted to get back into watching TNA/Impact but my cable dropped them. This thread coming back reminded me. So what are the alternatives for watching them?

[lotjx]

Over/Under that TNA will be around next year...?

[Nash Diesel]

Over/Under that TNA will be around next year...?

22 years later we're still playing that game? lol

I would imagine they'll be around next year because that was the whole purpose of this "re-branding" back to the old name is about. They're out there trying to secure a tv deal that doesn't suck cock and trust me, they've dealt with worse than Scott D'Amore being released.

[MTR]

I really wanted to get back into watching TNA/Impact but my cable dropped them. This thread coming back reminded me. So what are the alternatives for watching them?

Pretty sure they have a streaming service with all the old content and not sure how long they wait to put new stuff up. Beyond that not sure.

[MTR]

22 years later we're still playing that game? lol

I would imagine they'll be around next year because that was the whole purpose of this "re-branding" back to the old name is about. They're out there trying to secure a tv deal that doesn't suck cock and trust me, they've dealt with worse than Scott D'Amore being released.

Yeah they have been in worse situations and honestly they are not in a bad situation now. They are putting on good shows and working on getting a better tv deal. But I do worry about down the road how they will fair after this decision but I bet they don't die. They never die. They were never supposed to be around this long. lol

[Nash Diesel]

Yeah they have been in worse situations and honestly they are not in a bad situation now. They are putting on good shows and working on getting a better tv deal. But I do worry about down the road how they will fair after this decision but I bet they don't die. They never die. They were never supposed to be around this long. lol

Whatever they were doing with D'Amore wasn't doing much for them. They had the working relationships with AEW, WWE, NJPW but they've always kind of had a few promotions they work with in some capacity. It might be more of a morale issue as Scott was well liked apparently by everyone and he was a lifer. 20 years. I had no clue he had been there this whole time I thought they released him and then he came back years later.

Do we bring back #LOLTNA yet?

[MTR]

He was gone briefly working for that GWF or whatever company Jarrett started that turned around and merged with TNA.

From what I gather they were in bad shape and he really kept them going the last year or so. And yeah from a moral point of view some of the guys have said the only reason for not leaving for AEW, WWE, or anywhere else was because of him so could be some shake up talent wise as contracts come up.

[Nash Diesel]

I just still don't see why dude had to be fired but I'm sure that'll come out sooner than later. It wasn't like WCW fired Bischoff when they made Bill Busch or whoever the new President.

[MTR]

Yeah I am with you. I don't understand why they just didn't change what he was doing and have him and the new person work together as a team because I bet that would have been the best option.

[NeseToTheFace]

Pretty sure they have a streaming service with all the old content and not sure how long they wait to put new stuff up. Beyond that not sure.

Thanks man appreciate it. I'd used Pluto TV for their Impact channel which was just old PPVs but with their repackaging the show it seems like it would be cool to have more to watch.

[MTR]

I used to record stuff on AXS tv since I have cable and they used to run like old PPVS sometimes on top of the weekly shows. But I barely have time to watch the WWE and AEW stuff I want to watch.

[Donald]

I remember reading a few weeks ago that TNA was poised to become the #2 promotion in the country. I hope that's still in the cards.

[MTR]

Reading some reports and again just taking things with a grain of salt because you never know that D'More tried to buy TNA off of Anthem and they turned it down.

[Nash Diesel]

Reading some reports and again just taking things with a grain of salt because you never know that D'More tried to buy TNA off of Anthem and they turned it down.

I don't blame them for turning him down because they could sell that TNA library for several million if they really wanted and I don't think Scott had the money it would realistically take for Anthem to sell it to him. IF that was even a thing. For all we know that was 2 years ago. Still it's very interesting to me that a guy who was there for 20 years simply gets fired but I'm sure he'll drop some knowledge.

[lotjx]

The reports seem to be that Scott wanted them to spend more money and Anthem was like no....cut everything. That kinda signals that if there is a wrestler revolt or exodus, Anthem maybe ok just selling it. Tbf this has gone on longer than anyone thought and the talent that has gone through there has been tremendous. I still would take their women's division over any other company's division including Stardom.