The Official Weekly LIVE iMPACT Wrestling Thread!

GTR63

Wow Chirsty Hemme has really good hearing

Omackeral

Dixie taking credit for beards being cool was kinda cool. Saying she invented the Yes Movement more or less calling them a top off

I think having a former Knockouts Tag Champion as your Heavyweight champion is laughable though.

Machismo Fan

Spud is my favourite person on this show.

Machismo Fan

Seiya Sanada is my second favourite person on this show.

EdmondShiels3

I think it is great, he is a good wrestler and has been there a long time and I have not one bad thing to say about EY.

Machismo Fan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqhV2HghXQI

CastorTroy

So Sam Shaw moved out of his apartment and into the basement? Is that also where he has the shrine? And thought he was locked up.

So who's Knux's girlfriend(I'm guessing that's who she is)? Is she a new signing?

rovert

When Lashley is motivated he is a World beater but sadly his motivation waives then the flakiness kicks in. His match with John Cena from Great American Bash 2007 is genuinely exceptional:
http://network.wwe.com/video/v31303273/milestone/31340427

CastorTroy wrote: »

So Sam Shaw moved out of his apartment and into the basement? Is that also where he has the shrine? And thought he was locked up.

So who's Knux's girlfriend(I'm guessing that's who she is)? Is she a new signing?

Entirely new to Wrestling it seems.

Machismo Fan

His reverse leapfrog into a powerslam was really neat too.

gnfnrhead

Have to give Lashley credit. He seems to be really trying this time. Last time he was going through the motions but he does seem to actually want to be there now. Just wish he had an actual feud now. Lashley in the X-Division could be fun, assuming he never speaks.

Not happy with Aries losing clean to MVP. Aries is a Triple Crown winner while MVP has done nothing in the States in many years. Absolutely no reason for MVP to be winning that match unless they plan on having Aries job on the way out.

Machismo Fan

The World title will be defended for the fifth time in six weeks on iMPACT! this week.

beakerjoe

Machismo Fan wrote: »

The World title will be defended for the fifth time in six weeks on iMPACT! this week.

They have so many great assets in relation to talent but the booking has to change now. Get a new booking team in, start a fresh and try salvage whats left before more damage makes things irreverseable.

Machismo Fan

I'd begin to think TNA have a long running story motif of the corruptibility of power if I didn't know better that they just have no other ideas.

Machismo Fan

The Kazarian/Menagerie segment on this weeks show made me really sad.

gnfnrhead

Didnt see it mentioned but apparently Brooke and Taryn are due back after Slammiversary.

Daniels has said that he and Kazarian wanted to work with the Wolves and were asking for the feud. If TNA werent going to keep Bad Influence they should have done the feud as soon as the Wolves signed (skipping the BroMans stuff) and built to a Loser Leaves town match to write out Daniels and presumably Kazarian. Better than paying them to sit at home.

Machismo Fan

gnfnrhead wrote: »

Didnt see it mentioned but apparently Brooke and Taryn are due back after Slammiversary.

Both worked the ONO taping tonight. Maybe we'll finally reach a stage where more than a handful of women are on the show!

Machismo Fan

Pretty bad show this week.

rovert

Machismo Fan wrote: »

Pretty bad show this week.

Very little talk of it online. Review An Impact said it was a decent show.

Machismo Fan

rovert wrote: »

Very little talk of it online. Review An Impact said it was a decent show.

I don't have a list of worst iMPACT!'s ever but if I did this would probably be under consideration for that list. Maybe it's just my deep gut dislike of yet another authority figure/heel stable story line.

rovert

Machismo Fan wrote: »

I don't have a list of worst iMPACT!'s ever but if I did this would probably be under consideration for that list. Maybe it's just my deep gut dislike of yet another authority figure/heel stable story line.

I use TNAsylum as lol bait/guilty pleasure but Garrett's TNA reviews are pretty succinct and on point. The best thing on the site:
http://www.tnasylum.com/2014/05/last-night-on-impact-wrestling_16.html

This is the most frustrated I've been with this company in quite a long while. This isn't 2009, TNA can't afford this kind of TV anymore. This show is falling off the rails. There's no sense that anybody is going anywhere, it's the same angle on top that we've seen a million times. It doesn't appear that there's a plan. Things seem to change and happen at random week to week and the show just isn't very good. Nothing feels like it matters, nothing has enough time to develop and there's a million segments per show.

TNA are in trouble. And this creative regime are just digging the hole deeper instead of building the ladder out. The ratings and ratings patterns can't be ignored and yet those in charge insist on holding this course that leads nowhere. There's no sense that they're learning, just seemingly becoming more desperate (and doing more damage in the process particularly to the World title). The show is just all over the map. And there's no sense that it's going to get any better any time soon.

A POV that reminds me of yours for this show and weeks past, MF.

Eventually will watch but I don't feel compelled for any reason.

Machismo Fan

rovert wrote: »

A POV that reminds me of yours for this show and weeks past, MF.

I agree. They're usually thoughtful, insightful and well written (though I do write them so I would say that).

rovert

Dang

Machismo Fan

Interview with Kazarian about leaving:

What led to his departure from TNA:
"My contract with TNA is up in early June. To be honest, I saw this coming a long time ago, just the way the company is going and the direction they’re going. Chris Daniels, his contract was up before mine and he had a talk when we went to do a One Night Only taping and they basically told him that they're going in a different direction. At that point I saw the writing on the wall. I went for the tapings two weeks in a row, and after the first week John Gaburick pulled me aside and said 'Hey, I want to talk next week.' So I got to the next week and we sat down and talked. I explained my side of the story and they explained theirs. They said 'We wish we could afford to keep you but we can't' which I understand from a business line to go forward and wanting to be cost efficient. I told them that TNA is my home, but I made up my mind about this for a long time. The door's always open; I never want to end any type of business on bad terms. But I've prepared myself for this, mentally, for 4-5 months. Right now I think it’s really for the best."

If he would have stayed in TNA without Christopher Daniels:
"I don't think so and here's why. I know that they can never match the deal we’re making now, and I’m not saying that I’m making ridiculous money. The last contract I signed, I knew that they weren't going to offer me that, just from talking to friends and talking to AJ Styles and stuff like that. I invested a lot of myself into TNA, but I also invested a lot of myself into the tag team with Chris Daniels – there’s so much chemistry and there's so much that we haven’t done yet. I just think that's the better option right now than sticking around in TNA. Even if the offer was there, it would have taken some convincing for me to stay."

His last few months with TNA and being lost in the shuffle:
"I understand wanting to cut costs, but if you want cheap wrestlers, expect cheap wrestling matches. Honestly, since after Bound For Glory, there just wasn't any direction for Bad Influence as a tag team. We continued to ask questions, we continued to pitch ideas and it was just like 'Okay, we're thinking of this or that' but we never got a straight answer and we were just kind of floating. It kind of bothered us because, honestly, we're too good for this. We should really be involved in something. When Davey (Richards) and Eddie (Edwards) came in, we were kind of licking our chops. Sweet! This could be six months, a year. A lot of folks on the internet and within the wrestling community were excited for the potential match-up of us and The Wolves. So were we and so were they when they came in. So we thought we were going to get back in the fold and it never happened and we never got a straight answer other than we're going with other teams. What can you say other than okay? After the UK, we did Lockdown with Muta and Sanada. That was great and after that we were left off television. Right then it was like okay, they literally have nothing going on for us. And here we are now. The direction they’re going, it doesn't really include guys like us, AJ Styles and Chris Sabin right now."

Seeing so many longtime TNA wrestlers leave the company:
"It's different. My last day at TNA, I said this to a few people, I didn't feel like I was leaving TNA because I didn't feel like I recognized the company. There was still people I'll miss, but it didn't feel like I was leaving TNA. Honestly, there was a couple of red flags, and this was even preceding when I was starting to make up my mind about my current situation. AJ Styles leaving obviously, because I'm very close to AJ and knowing what he was going through and talking to him, that was huge. I was like wait a minute. I say this as his friend and I say this selfishly, I don't understand why they didn't do whatever it took to keep him there. And I'm not just saying that because he's a friend. I'm saying that because he's a franchise guy. He's one of the best in the world. He's a good human being. He's a guy you can continue to build the company around. He leaves and real soon thereafter Jeff Jarrett leaves so that was a big red flag being waved. Wait a minute ... things are changing. I don't know that they're changing for the better. It could just be me. Internally, management, complete turnover, people on the creative team, people in management. It really is just different."

On the talk last year of TNA being close to being sold:
"I didn't know. I heard the rumors and there's no one I can really ask. It's not like I can call Dixie Carter and go hey, are we being sold? I could but I would never do that. Obviously, it's none of my business. I would hope and pray that if that were to go down that they would call a meeting and say 'hey guys, by the way, we're selling the company.' When it was all going down, I had people here in the gym near where I live asking me if TNA is being sold. I was like I don't think so. And then we all got an email from Janice Carter one day saying, first email and last I promise you I'll get from Janice Carter, believe it or not, saying please don't believe the rumors, we're not being sold. And I thought that was odd because I was like wow, all these years and all these rumors of TNA and everything that's ever been said and now we finally get a letter saying don't believe the rumors. Okay, all I can do is take that at face value but we later found out that maybe that was ... I still don't know what the situation was because that's all part of the business side. I had hopes that whoever wanted to buy it wanted to buy it because they were passionate about wrestling and wanted to try and do something different with the product. But apparently it's not being sold, it's not for sale, there's not a for sale sign on it."

On the talk of TNA being too much like WWE:
"Trying to be like WWE does not behoove any wrestling company. I understand why wrestling companies want to because WWE is the industry leader – they always have been and they always will be – so I understand the thought process behind wanting to follow suit. But at the same time you’re never going to do it as good as they’re doing it, so what you do is like what ECW did back in the day: You hide your weaknesses and you accentuate your positives. I think TNA’s positive for a long time was the roster; I don’t think it was ever exposed the way it could have been. We should have been having 15-20 minute matches with guys like the Machine Guns, Austin Aries, Samoa Joe and AJ Styles. There are so many talented guys there, and a lot of times we were handcuffed to 3-5 minute matches. Do something production-wise to make yourself stand out. Like I said, I get the process behind wanting to see what the big dogs do and maybe do something like that, but sometimes you have to think outside the box, especially to a very smart television audience. I think that’s what’s missing with TNA. I think they can go in a different direction and be successful. I don’t know if the drive is there or if they are afraid to take that risk. I just think the wrestling fans and the TV audiences are primed to grasp something like that."

rovert

Kaz and Daniels were always at a disadvantage cost wise as they were fly ins from LA. Interesting interview that confirms the obvious.

Machismo Fan

The pay peanuts, get monkeys comment he makes about the quality of wrestling and the comment about TNA not seeming like TNA anymore were the most interesting things for me (bar the whole they couldn't afford us thing of course).

rovert

Machismo Fan wrote: »

The pay peanuts, get monkeys comment he makes about the quality of wrestling and the comment about TNA not seeming like TNA anymore were the most interesting things for me (bar the whole they couldn't afford us thing of course).

The cheap wrestler thing made me think of these pics:



Not picking on Robbie specially but you know.

Machismo Fan

I never want to see MVP's face again and I'm only half way through this weeks show.

rovert

Heard a lot of things about this week's show. From how by the number's MVP's faction leader spiel is to about six months worth of wrestler beatdowns in one two hour show.

Machismo Fan

Eric Young got beaten up three separate times, Aries and Edwards twice. At least Bully and Davey got away with only being laid out once.

rovert

A close up of fake money;