TNA Wrestling Megathread

I know this company has become a bit of a joke in recent years but for the first time in awhile I have a bit of hope for them in 2018.

Scott D'Amore and Don Callis were hired as Executive Vice Presidents of the company back in December. I think Callis could be great in this role. I find him to be a clever man when it comes to wrestling (from listening to Killing the town) and his ties with NJPW could come in handy. He also had a big hand in the Jericho Vs Omega match coming together.

Their first set of tapings took place yesterday and the 2 bits of big news were the return to a 4 sided ring and

The return of Austin Aries who defeated Eli Drake for the Global championship

More tapings are due to take place over the next couple of days.

The tapings under the new regime will begin to air from the 1st of February in the States. You can watch it on 5Spike over here on the 2nd of February. The channel can be tuned in on Sky if you have Sky. Airs every Friday night at 9pm.

Anyway looking forward to see what they do moving forward.

jaykhunter

Hey anyone watch impact on a weekly basis still? Just wondering how many here partake.

CastorTroy

I usually go through it quickly, which could explain not caring about many of the guys involved. Or knowing who's who

Jerichoholic

They seem to be getting their **** together now. I wont spoil the new tapings for the 2 people in Ireland that watch it.

jaykhunter

jaykhunter wrote: »

Hey anyone watch impact on a weekly basis still? Just wondering how many here partake.

Giving it a watch tonight in preparation for the new regime. Just to get to know some of the faces on the roster.

I like JB in other roles but I really hope himself and Josh Matthews are replaced on commentary.

Green ring ropes were a horrible choice.

One thing I hope they try to get away from in 2018 is the bulk TV tapings.

Like NXT it's just too hard to stay away from spoilers.

montyrebel

honestly cant remember the last time I watched an episode of impact or any of their ppvs

Jeremy Borash has left and signed a contract with WWE.

I wasn't a huge fan of him on commentary recently especially with Josh Matthews beside him bringing him down but he was brilliant in the backstage interviewer role and did a lot of work behind the scenes.

Huge loss but Jeremy deserves it.

Bounty Hunter

Borash joining WWE is one of those things that makes me check if Impact is still running, at least everyone good that seems to be getting out is finding a home in the WWE. Borash will no doubt team up with Matt Hardy again.

The new era for Impact Wrestling not off to a good start.

JB did all the commentary for all the tapings they did that will begin airing this week and the amount of wrestlers that will feature in these shows that have now left. EC3, Lashley etc

And not to mention all the stuff behind the scenes JB would do.

CastorTroy

Thought those tapings were done after EC3 and Lashley left and that's why the title change occurred.

CastorTroy

CastorTroy wrote: »

Thought those tapings were done after EC3 and Lashley left and that's why the title change occurred.

No, they'll be on some of these shows as well.

EC3 is in a tag match on this Thursdays episode.

*EDIT* EC3 will be on episodes till April according to people on twitter

spektorfive

and JB is now gone WWE. Abyss most one of the last TNA guys still there now.

Snakeweasel

So is tonight the last night before the new era for us? I may give it a go again and unfollow them on social media so that i dont get constant spoilers and see if i can actually get back in to impact. Although they just dont have a roster that I am interested in

Snakeweasel

Snakeweasel wrote: »

So is tonight the last night before the new era for us? I may give it a go again and unfollow them on social media so that i dont get constant spoilers and see if i can actually get back in to impact. Although they just dont have a roster that I am interested in

Tonight is the start of the new era.

hufpc8w3adnk65

Is impact shown here?

MrMac84

MrMac84 wrote: »

Is impact shown here?

Spike in the UK. If you have Sky you can tune it in.

It usually shows up on dailymotion though. I'll post a link if it does.

Full episodes usually show up on this channel around Friday evening - http://www.dailymotion.com/Impact-Wrestling/videos

It's not an official Impact channel so sometimes the episodes dissapear so watch as soon as you can when the episodes are uploaded.

I can tune in spike on sky but you can't pause or record the channel so it's a bit of pain in the arse trying to watch at 10pm on a Friday night.

hufpc8w3adnk65

Ya was just going to say I’d be recording it.. never at home that time on fridays

MrMac84

MrMac84 wrote: »

Ya was just going to say I’d be recording it.. never at home that time on fridays

It's a bit ridiculous we're tied in with the British TV rights and we can't get the channel officially over here.

Even on the GWN app the likes of Australia get new episodes straight away when they air and we get a 10 day delay on the app.

I signed up for the app around the 10th of December for a 30 day trial. I didn't give any payment details and nearly 2 months later I still have access :P

CastorTroy

Deleted User wrote: »

Tonight is the start of the new era.

And that's why I thought EC3 would be gone. But the fact he'll be there til April then suddenly gone makes it feel like SSDD.

Poor Chris, you know, Abyss must be sitting there getting lonely watching all these new guys coming in. Does he have any kind of role backstage?
James Storm must be kicking himself for going back to Impact.

CastorTroy

CastorTroy wrote: »

Poor Chris, you know, Abyss must be sitting there getting lonely watching all these new guys coming in. Does he have any kind of role backstage?
James Storm must be kicking himself for going back to Impact.

Abyss along with Jimmy Jacobs, Callis, D'Amore and Sonjay Dutt make up the creative team I think.

Episode is up on that dailymotion channel I linked.

Last night's episode was....ok.

Matt Sydal Vs Fallah Bahh and the tag main event were ok matches. Nothing else stood out.

EC3 I thought was the most entertaining person on the show.

Eli Drake seems like a good talker.

Not a huge AA fan so wasn't thrilled to see him win the title but they needed to do something to create some buzz I suppose.

Don't like JB and Josh Matthews on commentary but supposedly plans are for a new announce team with JB gone.

Impact zone crowd were awful as usual.

I think they could have done with being a 1 hour show for a few months of this new era.

It's only the first week of a new era for the company but the roster is really weak with no one star that would get you to tune in. A roster that will lose EC3 and Bobby Lashley in the next few weeks won't help things.

I suppose the way to look at is that there's no match that they could announce would happen next week that would get me excited. There's not 1 match between 2 wrestlers on that roster that would get me to tune in. So hopefully they can sort out the roster in the next couple of months.

Current roster - http://impactwrestling.com/roster/

CastorTroy

And their filler consists of showing old matches with now WWE guys.

So are Ally and Laura the 2 top women in the company now? Are Sienna and Rosemary still there?

edit: Just looked at the roster link you posted now. It's obvisously based on current airing episodes rather than who is currently signed with them.
They have Joseph Park and Abyss there. And Sienna and Rosemary are still there

Snakeweasel

Impact need to get out of the Impact zone, get somewhere like the asylum again. 'member the Bentley bounce and heel corner?
Needs that kind of a cocoon that full sail gave to the Nxt stars. Watching on Friday I just got a sense that Bahh v Sydal could have gotten a decent reaction and the Aries return/win would have blown the roof off the place were it somewhere with fans that actually cared and were familiar with the product.

Also agree with the above point of making it one hour, they need to cover up how short they are on talent.

A Rogue Hobo

Snakeweasel wrote:

Impact need to get out of the Impact zone, get somewhere like the asylum again. 'member the Bentley bounce and heel corner? Needs that kind of a cocoon that full sail gave to the Nxt stars. Watching on Friday I just got a sense that Bahh v Sydal could have gotten a decent reaction and the Aries return/win would have blown the roof off the place were it somewhere with fans that actually cared and were familiar with the product.

I'm pretty sure Don Callis said on Killing the Town a few weeks ago that one of his immediate goals he hopes to achieve is to leave the Impact Zone, or to at least not to be there every week.

Snakeweasel

A Rogue Hobo wrote: »

I'm pretty sure Don Callis said on Killing the Town a few weeks ago that one of his immediate goals he hopes to achieve is to leave the Impact Zone, or to at least not to be there every week.

Its so badly needed. It was a watchable show, and as someone who hadnt watched in months it actually looked better than I remember (not as dark) but the flat crowd just killed it

This weeks episode

Part 1 - http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6eh3mw

Part 2 - http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6eh3uw

Snakeweasel

Watched bits on Friday, not as good as the week before.

This weeks episode

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6etugv

Part 2 should play when part 1 ends.

I've been staying away from the spoilers from the tapings (except for the spoilers Impact themselves revealed) but it looks like it could be a good show this week hopefully.

Drake Vs AA for the title.
Callihan Vs Lashley
Fantasma Vs Ishimori for X division title
EC 3 and mystery partner Vs Sydal and Morrison
Brian Cage debut

Enjoyable episode I have to say.

Snakeweasel

I watched Cages debut on youtube but power was out on Friday so missed the rest. I liked Cage and would like to see him just running through guys for a while.

I find its easier to watch Impact if you accept that this new era is really like hitting the reset button. View it as essentially a new company and forget about the few glimmers of glory years back in the mid/late 00s

CastorTroy

See Aries nearly took some kid out with his dive, but looks like he was ok.

Enjoyed this weeks episode again and I think they've built up the matches nicely for the episode next week which is being built as basically a PPV.

I'm enjoying Impact, NXT and ROH lately by just staying away from spoilers from the bulk TV tapings they do.

Snakeweasel

Deleted User wrote: »

I'm enjoying Impact, NXT and ROH lately by just staying away from spoilers from the bulk TV tapings they do.

I have stopped following Impact on social media to avoid spoilers, now if only I could remember to watch it on Fridays! Although it is on a bit late for my liking's.

CastorTroy

This week's ended pretty abruptly after the baseball bat strike. To be expected.

Snakeweasel

James Mitchell's promo was really enjoyable. Kinda sad to see Abyss move so awkwardly though. Decay really suited him and covered up for the damage he has done to himself by having him just part of a tag team/group.

Impact wrestling have renewed their deal with SpikeUK and will continue to air on a Friday night.

Good news though is that as part of the new deal, Impact episodes will be added to the GWN app at the same time they air in the States and for free so you just have to set up an account for the app but don't have to pay to watch new episodes of Impact each week.

SpikeUK won't be showing Impact PPVs anymore though and the PPVs will be shown on the GWN app but only for paid subscribers (E7 a month)

CastorTroy

Figured I'll bump this for the renewed interest in the show.

This week's episode:

So Santino Marella now works for Impact?

When I see Bone Soldier I'm reminded of Low Ki from his walk and all.

Rebel seems curvier than when she was on TNA before. Looks like she put on weight and it went to the right places.

I can see them giving Tessa a title shot soon though not against Su.

I, too, am sick of being hot-shamed.

The venue in Toronto where they held Slammiversary and these TV tapings looks great. I know they have more tapings planned for the same place in August so hopefully they might be done with the Impact zone in Florida for awhile or even better for good.

Good episode. Enjoyable TV matches.

Scarlett........ Wow

Can't believe Tessa Blanchard is only 23.

HandsomeBob

I was taken aback by how good that Scarlett promo was.

Blue_Dabadee

I don't much about her, but is Allie bascially Impact's version of Bayley?

CastorTroy

She went from Maria's assistant who knew nothing about wrestling to being the top face Knockout. If comparing to Bayley I think it would be more NXT era Bayley. But it helps that she's also probably the longest one there

Ali Bomaye

Bound for Glory tomorrow night.

Eli Drake's Open Challenge

Allie vs Su Yung (Allie goes to the undead realm)

Matt Sydal & Ethan Page vs Rich Swann & Willie Mack

KNOCKOUTS CHAMPIONSHIP
Tessa Blanchard vs Taya Valkyrie

Eddie Edwards vs Moose

OVE RULES
OVE vs The Lucha Brothers & Brian Cage

IMPACT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Austin Aries vs Johnny Impact

CONCRETE JUNGLE DEATH MATCH
LAX & Konnan vs The OGZ & King

Apparently a Concrete Jungle Death Match means the teams will wrestle on the hard wooden base of the ring, with the turnbuckle pads taken away.

Sounds like there'll be some sort of pre tape segment involved in Allie vs Su Yung with the Allie goes to the undead realm thing.

Ellie Drake's open challenge is only open to New Yorkers.

I'm looking forward to Edwards vs Moose, any exchanges they've had have been very good. Seems the long term plan should be Edwards beating Aries for the title.

Taya Valkyrie has only appeared to challenge via video package, she wasn't 9n TV to build this.

Impact is really struggling for ratings, hitting record lows and having their timeslot moved, but this should be a good show after an awesome Slammiversary during the summer.

HandsomeBob

Bit of controversy from the main event last night to say the least. Aries just gone done ****ed himself.

CastorTroy

Yeah just watched the show. Not sure what the story is there but seems a stupid decision if it's a work.

Small venue and looks like the ring has shrunk as well.

The LAX match looked dangerous. Nothing to do with the concept but more the execution and the way the boards kept moving

hufpc8w3adnk65

I take it Jericho didn’t turn up?

Furious-Red

What happened with Aries?

ERG89

Furious-Red wrote:

What happened with Aries?

Worked shoot most likely but with his attitude you can't as a fan 100% rule out that he went into business for himself.
Kinda clever in a lazy way.

CastorTroy

Furious-Red wrote: »

What happened with Aries?

Title match spoiler

Basically he lost the title but no sold the finisher by popping to his feet after the Morrison got off him(so obviously should have been able to kick out) He then shouted something up to Don Callis then flipped everyone off as he left.

Can see both at this article