RAW vs iMPACT! Jan 4th Shows Reviewed

jaykhunter

TNA's 3-hour live edition of iMPACT (with the promise of Hulk Hogan, amongst others) went head to head with WWE's RAW (which features Bret 'The Hitman' Hart as guest GM) How did it all go down?

--the following is a recap of what I thought were the high, low and middling points of both shows, and an overall impression. I know there's separate threads but I wanted to make it my own post --

RAW





Good Points :
- Awesome build-up to Bret's return. He uses a new theme, which I didn't like (Nostalgic purposes I'd like to hear his old one - Shawn still uses his old one!) ..but also means he'll be around for a while
- Bret's speech was great to hear but I think it could've been a bit more articulate or referencing more specifics. It was mark-out time when he went straight to HBK...burying the hatchet was nice, although for some reason HBK was the reluctant one - shouldn't Bret be reluctant, since he's been wronged? (Same with Vince, actually)
- Calling out Vince, and Vince not coming (although the "i'm in a meeting during RAW" is such a terrible excuse) was great, so they could main event RAW.
- The Bret Vince segment was a bit unreal, I didn't like Vince's fawning speech, considering he still said "you screwed you"....well it was all for a reason; Vince turning on Bret, which should make for interesting viewing. Although it's a bit hard since Bret's already forgiven Vince...he should've stated otherwise to keep the grievance growing to build up to their Match at Mania.
- The Jericho/Hart backstage segment was interesting, and kept Bret as a face
- Sheamus' thick dub accent is hilarious. He battered the awfully scripted/terribly sounding Evan Bourne. I wonder if Sheamus could start "irishing" up people's name, like calling him Eoin Bourne lol....
- Nice to see WWE acknowledge a death in the wrestling world (Dr Death Steve Williams)

^^^ This is why no-one respects wrestling. This damn polish midget is over.

Bad Points :
- Lawler's awful on the headset and Cole annoys me lol
- The red light on the fans annoys me too lol!
- Miz was pretty poor on commentary. Quite generic, I thought he'd be much better.
- I can't stand Hornswoggle or DX's humour. I'm sure there's a crowd, but it's really not for me. I'm sick of those bastards hocking merchandise. It's not funny, it's just corporate.
- The matches were an afterthought, nothing special here.



General Points :
- Bret didn't act like a GM at all - and was only there for the start, finish and one quick backstage segment. Although it's probably better this way, as he's here for a specific agenda.
- Miz has new music. It's really pop. Maryse didn't contradict Miz, she did a good job at looking attracted to him.
- Orton and McMahon segment was interesting, and good to hear the Rumble's getting a mention. I thought they might do an Orton/Bret Legend Killer Match but it's too late for that...oh well...
- "Iron Mike Tyson" graphic for GM got NO REACTION the first two times, and an indifferent with a smattering of boo's when McMahon announced it, lol!

Match Run-Down :
Match 1 : Diva's Championship Tournament First Round - Maryse vs. Brie Bella w/ Nikki Bella
Sucked.

Match 2 : United States Championship No. 1 Contenders Fatal Four-way - Montel Vontavious Porter v. Jack Swagger v. Carlito v. Mark Henry
Meh.

Match 3 : Unified Tag Team Championships - D-X (champs) w/Hornswoggle v. JeriShow
Show looked pretty bad in the match...Didn't interest me at all. Enjoyable finish but that's about it. I guess JeriShow is over (unless Big Show gets ported to SD)

Match 4 : WWE Champion Sheamus v. Evan Bourne
Pretty quick squash match but did everything it was supposed to. Odd that Cena wasn't around (he's throwing out a pitch or something)

Match 5 : Kofi Kingston v. Randy Orton
Not a great match, Kingston looked outclassed again and was beaten clean. I would've liked him to control more of the match, but his next fued will show everyone what WWE think of him.

Overall the segments with Bret was great, but the show was pretty meh. But Bret's stuff was great to watch, even if it wasn't everything it could be. Definitely setting the seeds for Mania and not just doing it to squash TNA.



TNA iMPACT

-- the pics here are just to break up the text, because I enjoyed each of the segments featured below...



Good Points :
- It was hilarious/entertaining seeing the old faces there
- Hogan cut a face promo saying he's gonna try push the youth; set up nicely by Hall and X-Pac looking to get a paycheck and ruin another company (kayfabe)
- Weird but great to see Jeff Hardy. Looks odd with his new short hair and dyed partially black.
- Hamada/Kong vs Sarita/Wilde was a short match but was the 2nd best of the night.
- The Beautiful People have amazing breasts
- The Pope's really over, and good to see him get a high-profile win, even if it's at the well-protected Desmonde Wolfe's expense
- Angle/AJ was a great match, although I was hoping AJ would break out a new move to finish Angle, like we saw with AJ/Daniels (well I've never seen a middle rope Styles Clash!)
- Hilarious to see The Nasty Boyz. I'm sure that goodwill will end soon lol
- Enjoyed the idea of wrestlers trying to get in to see Hogan...reminds me of Heenan trying to get into the first ever Monday Night Raw.
- The Foley/Hogan thing progressed with a pseudo-nWo (which I'm enjoying) but leaves it open for next week (which is also great)
- Seeing Bischoff is awesome. I'd love it even more as a commentator but he's got a "bigger" on-screen role.
- All in all, iMPACT was easier to watch than RAW, the three hours really flew by, and i'm looking forward to next week
- The first time seeing Sting in the rafters was cool
- TNA booked liked their life depended on it
- Steve Roe booked it a few months ago, where Dixie/Foley and Hogan do a brand split deal, two factions fighting (that will probably turn out to get a new show) - great work Steve!
- Hogan really hammered home that he's gonna put over the new talent, but the last scene cliffhanger speaks differently - which was satisfying
- Krystal Lashley is impressive on the mic - with the black hole of Bobby Lashley's charisma pulling her down She abruptly broke the news that Lashley is leaving TNA, which she also reiterated to Bischoff's face towards the end of the show. I've stayed off the newsboards and i'll let it play out on TV. But i'd imagine when he signs a deal with an MMA company he'll be out of TNA.



Bad Points :
- Not much wrestling/too many segments (i.e. same pace; a flurry of things happened!)
- They had so many people showing up, they kinda stole each other's thunder
- Homicide obviously botched the finish of the match as he could Xscape the cage...hilarious...I'm sure they had something else planned lol
- The Beautiful People are just terrible actors, their performance was just excruciating. Thankfully you could just oogle them instead
- They completely squandered the return of Ric Flair
- Does everyone on the roster have to be on this show?
- I don't particularly care but Orlando Jordan and The Big Valbowski are in TNA...I can't see either of them doing well, but meh.
- Seeing Sting in the rafters after the break/waiting around backstage was a bad idea. If he wasn't going to make an impact on the show, once is enough per show.
- The anonymous backstage beat-ups were pretty lame angle to do, especially since they already have the co-running "masked man" attacker with AJ - at least he showed his "face" (he's still anonymous - don't spoil it for me) - that angle looked awful as his run-in with completely inconsequential and only harms AJ. Why is someone trying to make a name for themselves off AJ if he needs to establish himself as a true maineventer?
- Taz is still terrible on the headset. He persisted with the word "curtsy" and obviously doesn't care about his work. It's aggravating!
- Jeff Hardy is so much less impressive in TNA...his song sucks but hopefully TNA can do better with him this time. That segment with those 3 young girl fans was so artificial...Couldn't they have gotten any of those plants in the crowd to mob him earlier today?



General Points of Interest :
- Hogan was wearing black and came out to a cover of the nWo theme; which suggests he's heel. It completely contrasts all the yellow hogan/impact t-shirt plants in the crowd - he should've been wearing red and yellow and came out to 'American Made', which Jimmy Hart owns.
- Dixie didn't seem pretty receptive to Hogan, Bischoff or Jarrett!
- Bischoff ripping up the setlist for the show is a bit stupid to just replace it with another one that was already typed up - it would've been more interesting if he just said we're going on the fly tonight, sink or swim.
- I don't care for Bubba the Love Sponge.
- Hogan mentioned that he's been in the back all day more than once, although for the first hour they hyped that his limo is getting closer to the arena.
- Hilariously, there was a DQ in the Steel Asylum match - to which the crowd chanted "this is bull****!" TNA still managed to beep it out, even to the point of inadvertently also bleeping hogan, lol!



Match Listing :
Match 1 : Alex Shelley vs. Chris Sabin vs. Jay Lethal vs. Consequences Creed vs. Homicide vs. Kiyoshi vs. Suicide vs. Amazing Red - X Division Steel Asylum Match
Cluster**** match that only lasted maybe 5 minutes.

Match 2 : ODB (challenger) vs. Tara (champion) - TNA Knockouts Championship Match
Apparently Tara won the KO title on that 4 hour new years' special, this dud of a match finished with a new champion. Wow that belt is worthless!

Match 3 : Awesome Kong and Hamada (challengers) vs. Sarita and Taylor Wilde (champions) - TNA Knockouts Championship Match
2nd best Match of the night (after the Main event of course) . A few awkward transitions but a very well received match. Well done, I'd like to see this match on PPV.

Match 4 : Dr. Stevie and Raven vs. Matt Morgan and Hernandez
Throw-away squash match. Daffney looks amazing and straight out of a Manson rock video. Awesome.

Match 5 : Desmond Wolfe vs. The Pope
Another enjoyable match but was pretty short. I'd love to see these two on PPV. Since McGuinness has been so well protected, the loss doesn't hurt him at all, and they could have a great match on PPV, really helping out the Pope.

Match 6 : Abyss vs. Samoa Joe
These two didn't really gel together, the match was nothing special. The Special man-child Abby tapped to a Cochina Clutch.

Match 7 : Main Event : Kurt Angle (challenger) vs. AJ Styles (champion) - TNA World Heavyweight Championship Match
Great match, but would've preferred it to be on PPV, and with Styles using a new move or a more inventive move to win. But great stuff lads.

Overall, very enjoyable iMPACT, but don't dissect it because then you'll probably cry bull****!

We'll have the ratings come out in a few days, but I thought iMPACT was the better show. I'd just watch the bookends of RAW (the opening and closing segments) and forget the rest.

A quick update, iMPACT's TV rating was 1.5 (which is higher than it's usual unopposed ~1.0) and WWE's rating is roughly 3.8 (up from it's usual 3.3 - although last week got 3.6) so everyone won! Considering previously TNA got trounced by WWE (getting a 0.4 when they last went head-to-head) and seeing as they not only kept their entire audience, but gained over half a million 'new' eyes, iMPACT! was a huge success! Congratulations TNA!

flahavaj

Always enjoy seeing a thread that jaykhuntr has sytarted as its usually good stuff. No different here. Only point I'd disagree with is that I thought the Hardy debut made no sense to me. Why throw the hottest face in wrestling into a feud with a low card guy like Homicide?

waltersobchak

Another classic read, agree with everything here, especially about how bad Taz's commentary was.. I think TNA should go with the old WCW 3 man team, maybe even bring in Larry Zbyszko or somebody like that, allowing Taz to be more of a heel

jaykhunter

flahavaj wrote: »

Always enjoy seeing a thread that jaykhuntr has sytarted as its usually good stuff. No different here. Only point I'd disagree with is that I thought the Hardy debut made no sense to me. Why throw the hottest face in wrestling into a feud with a low card guy like Homicide?

Thanks! I'm trying to be more positive about wrestling this year (lol)...I completely agree, Hardy's debut was poorly handled. After the "this is bull****" chants, Homicide couldn't escape the cage, and Hardy came out of the crowd --looking 'normal'-- attacked him for some reason. Jeff didn't interact with any other TNA wrestler (i'm not counting his mate Shannon Moore)

I did hear that he only finalized the contract earlier that day so I'm guessing they just wanted to throw him in at the start of the show so that everyone would keep watching iMPACT. They didn't wanna start anything they couldn't go back on so they just put him with a random wrestler. (Hopefully that's the case). I'm hoping that Jeff will attack someone else next week, and someone else the week after, until he stops at a bigger wrestler (Kurt maybe? Samoa Joe? Styles?) A fued with a pretty low-key TNA wrestler like Homicide is definitely a big step down and backwards.

It's a small point but he looks like a regular guy when he showed up, not arguably the biggest name in wrestling 6 months ago! It's madness!

Although he did attack Homicide (unprotected head shot ) he did just sit at the top of the dome, so maybe he won't enter a feud with him - it's a really bad idea and will kill Jeff Hardy's momentum

Ham'nd'egger

jaykhunter wrote: »

A quick update, iMPACT's TV rating was 1.5 (which is higher than it's usual unopposed ~1.0) and WWE's rating is roughly 3.8 (up from it's usual 3.3 - although last week got 3.6) so everyone won! Considering previously TNA got trounced by WWE (getting a 0.4 when they last went head-to-head) and seeing as they not only kept their entire audience, but gained over half a million 'new' eyes, iMPACT! was a huge success! Congratulations TNA!

I'll wait until the ratings in February before I'd brag on this weeks rating. A 1.5 is very good for Impact but a Hogan debut won't be a Hogan debut next week let alone a few weeks time while Raw had a decent set up for some good plots in weeks to come.

flahavaj

A few random thoughts of my own:

Disgusted with the unprotected chairshot to Homicide. Aside from the fact that it was in no way needed in an angle at that stage opf teh show and in no way made Hardy seems any bigger or better of a star, theres just no room for that kind of thing in wrestling anytime anyplace.

TNA have some SERIOUS talent on the microphone on their hands. Theres no reason why they can't have some of the best promos and build up to matches in the next few months with the likes of Hogan, Nash, Bischoff, Flair, Jarrett, Angle not to mention DiNero who looks an absolute superstar in the making both in his ringwork and the way he carries himself. Even Krystal is awesome on the mic.

The ladies tag match was a fantastic liottle TV match. loved the missile dropkick into awesome bomb combo. Hamada is a terrific worker and I've always maintained Kong plays her role as well as anyone male or female in the world.

The debuts of Venis and OJ were totally unnecessary and I don't see what they can add to the TNA roster, unles they've been brought in as well enough names that'll put younger talent over.

Stevie and Raven have to be worried for their jobs after being destroyed in 20 seconds.

Its imposible to see whats going on in the ring the way the bars on the Steel Cage Asylum are constructed. Bad time for Cide to find out he's not the best with heights.

Nigerl, sorry Desmond Wolfe looks too bland at the moment. He looked more like a star in ROH with the Union Jack tights and teh over the top hairstyle. He should grow the hair back or do something to make him stand out appearance wise. While its sad to see him losing the manner of the defeat to Pope kinda didn't hurt him too badly as it was a roll up out of nowhere.

AJ/Angle was very good but not as good as the initial hype. They totally killed the Styles Clash as a finisher, AJ hit it three times and even the third time had to add a Spiral Tap before getting the win. A new audience who mightn't be familiar with AJ or his finisher would now see it as aove thats not gonna put people away. I blame Kurt, he always does this in his matches. AJ did come across like an absolute star by the end of the show which was so important. I worry for Kurt, I hat seeing the way he hols his arm after his matches these days as if its gone entirely dead or numb or something. Hes going to come to a tragic end I just know it.

flahavaj

Oh forgot the most confusing bit.

The Jarrett promo. Is he meant to be a heel or face? He came out and cut a total babyface promo and gave a passionate, heartfelt speech putting over the young guys to a great reception from the fans. And then Hogan appears and even though we know hes the massive babyface cut a kinda heelish promo cutting Jarrett down to size, even drawing some bullsh*t chants from the crowd. Left me a little nonplussed I have to say, that segment and confused as to where it goes from here. they probably should have left the Hogan interaction out of this altogether and turned Jarrett heel on a later show (if thats even the plan?).

Also anyone any guesses as to who the masked guy that attacked AJ is? They were right to have him interfere early in the match rather than have him ruin the finish. They furthered the angle without taking away from what was a good match. Good booking right there.

EdK

flahavaj wrote: »

Oh forgot the most confusing bit.

The Jarrett promo. Is he meant to be a heel or face? He came out and cut a total babyface promo and gave a passionate, heartfelt speech putting over the young guys to a great reception from the fans. And then Hogan appears ang even though we know hes the massive babyface cut a kinda heelish promo cutting Jarrett down to size. Left me a little nonplussed I have to say, that segment.

That segment went abit wrong ,Jarrett is supposed to be the heel and Hogan was supposed to be the face but with all the rewrites and involvement from different people alot of stuff was cut from Jarretts promo like him putting himself over the young talent for years etc as it was felt it was abit too close to the truth, I'll agree here it appeared like Hogan just went off on him for no reason but Jarrett didnt do enough to heel up his promo

EireGunner

I watched both shows together with an open mind, I've always been a WWE head but I watch TNA regularly even went to see it last year in the national stadium. I watched the show hoping that TNA would blow the industry out of the water but I found myself having the volume up on Raw morethan Impact. I think Impact has to steady the ship in the next few weeks with what way the are going to use Hogan, Hal, X Pac and especially Hardy. Hardy was easily the biggest crowd favourite right up until he left WWE a few months. He should be the main guy in this company with Angle and Styles who easily had the best match of both shows, even JR admitted it in his blog he was impressed by the match.

It's going to be interesting as a wrestling fan in the coming weeks I just hope like Monday night wars in the past hat it pushes both company's forward and for me I hope it gets WWE to bring their A game.

Does anyone know when Impact will air on Bravo, is it the show on Saturday night?

the flananator

Has Impact been uploaded anywhere? Can't seem to find it!

citytillidie

I had to turn Impact off as the camera work was making me ill too much movement and cutting to different angles not good

gerrybbadd

flahavaj wrote: »

Oh forgot the most confusing bit.

The Jarrett promo. Is he meant to be a heel or face? He came out and cut a total babyface promo and gave a passionate, heartfelt speech putting over the young guys to a great reception from the fans. And then Hogan appears and even though we know hes the massive babyface cut a kinda heelish promo cutting Jarrett down to size, even drawing some bullsh*t chants from the crowd. Left me a little nonplussed I have to say, that segment and confused as to where it goes from here. they probably should have left the Hogan interaction out of this altogether and turned Jarrett heel on a later show (if thats even the plan?).

Also anyone any guesses as to who the masked guy that attacked AJ is? They were right to have him interfere early in the match rather than have him ruin the finish. They furthered the angle without taking away from what was a good match. Good booking right there.

I know who the masked guy is...

Tomko

jaykhunter

flahavaj wrote: »

Oh forgot the most confusing bit.

The Jarrett promo. Is he meant to be a heel or face? He came out and cut a total babyface promo and gave a passionate, heartfelt speech putting over the young guys to a great reception from the fans. And then Hogan appears and even though we know hes the massive babyface cut a kinda heelish promo cutting Jarrett down to size, even drawing some bullsh*t chants from the crowd. Left me a little nonplussed I have to say, that segment and confused as to where it goes from here. they probably should have left the Hogan interaction out of this altogether and turned Jarrett heel on a later show (if thats even the plan?).

Yep, definitely right. Jarrett cut a face promo and Hogan buried him, which had the fans turn a bit on Hogan. I blame the writing, as Hogan should be portrayed as a face - Jarrett should've cut a heel promo (I built this company, it's all thanks to me etc etc). If I may be optimistic, maybe that heel promo was to set the seeds for a Hogan heel turn, in that his "helping the company" was all a charade, like when Nash said "that's not what you said for the last few weeks to me" - for all these little things to add up -- only problem is that it's not really swerving anyone in TNA, just the fans.

So if/when Hogan turns heel (please, no spoilers!) then it'd actually make sense.

About AJ's attacker, again please no spoilers, was a horrible first 'in-ring' appearance - getting pushed out and also not even stopping the match - awful! Anyway, my new year's resolution is to enjoy wrestling more, which means knowing less news and spoilers etc. I don't want to stop talking about wrestling but I might have to!!

JP Liz

a great thread again op

Wompa1

TNA was strange. Hogan is heel? I'm guessing or was he angry when he came in and saw NWO kicking 7 shades of ****e out of Foley?

Things are going to be different than the old days then they do a storyline in which they change things up on the spot...which is one of the big talking points of the fall of WCW.

Homicide botched the first match of the evening. It was a terrible way to start the show!

I like Velvet Skye

Val Venus was angry to begin with and then just told Mick where to find Hogan and laughed....? was he on it? WTF?

I assumed Hogans interuption of Jarrett was a heel move and that he's taking over TNA blah blah but it was very confusing and didn't get it across very well


On the flipside RAW didn't fair any better...They had Hart lay down..since when was he begging to come back? Neither HBK and Vince didn't apologise and Bret just accepted that and buried the hatchet...never really conveying that he still felt he was screwed...it was like he accepted he screwed himself...very very confusing!...Also DX humour does suck! Though Santino is the man!

jaykhunter

Hamndegger wrote: »

I'll wait until the ratings in February before I'd brag on this weeks rating. A 1.5 is very good for Impact but a Hogan debut won't be a Hogan debut next week let alone a few weeks time while Raw had a decent set up for some good plots in weeks to come.

Don't worry, we can sh*t on TNA in a few weeks time when the numbers and angles have played out. Don't take away my cautious optimism! Let TNA have their moment, they deserve it, and God knows they are VERY FEW and far between! I wouldn't call MVP vs The Miz, A Divas Tournament or Jericho leaving good plots for RAW! (Although I'll tune in to see Bret - I think they might just move him to SD though, unless the Hart Dynasty move to RAW)

There'll be time to give out about the Nasty Boyz vs Team 3D when the nostalgia wears off

wrestlingfan

I hope TNA get rid of kid, nash and hall quick. Those guys will ruin a company. As for hardy going there. Clever by him....Im sure having a job will make it look good for him in court and TNA would be dumb enough to sign him. I hope TNA do well tho cos it will get WWE to step up their game and they need too.:cool:

Wompa1

jaykhunter wrote: »

Don't worry, we can sh*t on TNA in a few weeks time when the numbers and angles have played out. Don't take away my cautious optimism! Let TNA have their moment, they deserve it, and God knows they are VERY FEW and far between! I wouldn't call MVP vs The Miz, A Divas Tournament or Jericho leaving good plots for RAW! (Although I'll tune in to see Bret - I think they might just move him to SD though, unless the Hart Dynasty move to RAW)

There'll be time to give out about the Nasty Boyz vs Team 3D when the nostalgia wears off

Already time to give out about the Nasty Boys!...see Foleys blog on TNA's site from the 31st of Dec?...he said He remembers Nash saying if Knobbs gets into TNA he's quitting....
Hogan got Nasty Boys a job and Bubba The Love Sponge...terrible!

MuscleShark

I love seeing Jeff Hardy and Ric Flair on Impact. I really hope that this company will compete seriously with the WWE we really need to see good wrestling back again. I dont get it why so many people want to criticise TNA this company is the closest company that could compete with WWE. Lets just hope wrestling will get better. Its good to see the hitman again on TV!