Category: TNA Impact Zone (2024)

Yeah, we’re going back to this banner again…

There’s a couple reasons for that. First off, our patron saint of wrestling memes – that person’s name you say and he appears – is now a officially contracted WWE Superstar working in NXT, so good luck to him there because he’ll need it. But secondly, I want to denote a piece of business that took place on this particular show that had me going… why?

So I just saw last week’s episode of Impact and saw then-TNA champion Mike Santana – who won the title at Bound For Glory, which I also happen to have seen a short while back – defend his title against Ryan Nemeth (brother of more popular Nemeth Nic a.k.a. Dolph Ziggler) only to get involved in an NXT invasion (what, again?) that got him incapacitated, which allowed longtime TNA veteran Frankie Kazarian to cash in his MiTB-like contract and pin Santana with a roll-up to win the title. At which point I’m shaking my head and going “Why?”

Nothing against Kazarian; guys been there many years on and off, always been a great talent, always put on his best work even against challenging opponents, and I’ve no problem with the guy getting another run with the belt to put over his king of TNA gimmick. I just wish you hadn’t done it against a guy whom people actually liked and were happy to see finally win the big one, only to have it stripped away a month later. And just as he announced a thousand days of being sober. Good on you, Mike.

It’s not like the rest of the show was any better. They built up some stuff for their Turning Point premium show that aired the next night (which I did NOT watch) and the matches in general were just okay. But, man, that main event angle really soured me on that whole deal, especially after you built the guy up for a year and a half as being main event caliber, people actually dug him and wanted to see him succeed, and then he gets his big moment and a month later, you piss it all away. I realize you’re in cahoots with WWE these days, but that doesn’t mean you should adopt some of their shittier booking aspects.

It’s such a shame because I actually did like the Bound For Glory show despite the obvious WWE/NXT taint around some of the booking. While I wouldn’t go so far as to call it their best show in years (it was, as the kids say, mid at best), I still found myself enjoying a good bit of it and was looking forward to seeing where they take things. And then I saw where they took things and the above banner should tell you where we’re at with TNA right now. I don’t even want to watch tonight’s episode because I just saw a downer that pretty much turned off TNA for good.

And THAT’s a real uber-shame because last year, TNA was putting on what I feel was some of their best work in a long, long time. And it took them years to rebuild a reputation that was pretty piss-poor for a good while and I’ve applauded them for it. Now they’re on the verge of potentially pissing away that goodwill over some shitty booking decisions. Now they’ve got this NXT deal going on and I do not give enough of a fuck about NXT to contribute viewership to this thing that holds no interest for me.

Man, wrestling has really passed me by these days. It feels like nothing I’m watching out of the current products is doing anything worthy of my time. Maybe I should just stick with old Nitros. That’d probably be the safer bet these days.

The first LIVE episode of IMPACT in eight years opens with newly minted TNA World Champion Joe Hendry coming out and sending out an open invitation for anyone from anywhere to step up and challenge him for his new title. This immediately brings out Santino Marella – yes, for those who don’t regularly watch TNA, SANTINO MARELLA not only got to keep his name, but he is also the on-air authority figure for TNA – who not only congratulates Hendry on his title win, but also introduces his first challenger for the World title…

Continue reading “TNA Impact (January 23rd, 2025) – “Say His Name” Shouldn’t Apply To REDACTED”

On the flip side, I also saw a little bit of last week’s Impact, which featured a tremendous video package on Joe Hendry, giving the viewer some background on the guy’s early days, his efforts to get into the business, his songwriting, and that sort of stuff. It’s the kind of video package that is designed to get you invested in someone who is challenging for the World title at the next big PPV event and for what it’s worth, I think they’ve hit the mark. One thing you can always count on from TNA is that their video packages have been excellent at getting you up to speed on things and this was no exception. There’s a small part of me that thinks all this hyping up Joe will mean that they will do the thing that probably should have been done at Bound For Glory when Joe was at his hottest and not this “third time’s a charm” bullshit that they’re going for here.

In addition to a good video package, Joe Hendry got the main event slot, teaming up with Rhyno to take on and defeat the Nemeth Bros. in a pretty solid main event. Part of me wonders how things are going to play out now that JBL has been announced for a future RAW segment. Does he still make his presence felt at the PPV or has the role of wrestling outlaw god guy gone over to Ryan Nemeth of all people? Because if that’s the case… woof.

Like I said, I didn’t catch the whole show, but apparently, more matches were named for the Genesis PPV, which I believe is this weekend. I’ll probably give that a watch and post some musings if it turns out to be a good show with good booking… but not until I get the Ramble out of the way first.

Yes, we’re doing the first episode of Impact in 2025… but this one is a little more significant in that it’s the first new Impact to air on Sportsnet 360, the Canadian sports channel that, up until recently, was home to WWE programming and with that having gone to Netflix, that left an opening for programming that could have been filled with MOAR CANADIAN CONTENT… but I guess because TNA is now owned by Anthem Sports (a Canadian group – yes, TNA is owned by Canadians, which would made one-time heel faction Team Canada the rulers of TNA until they shitcanned Scott D’Amore), that makes them Canadian content and thus slots were filled.

So, yeah, while the title might sound like a bit of a joke, it’s not technically wrong. And honestly, it’s a big deal for TNA. Sportsnet has much greater visibility in Canada than the Fight Network does. And apparently, TNA programming was all over Sportsnet on New Year’s Day, which would’ve been nice to had known beforehand, but… whatever. What’s important is that we have a new year of Impact to check out and it’s… another episode of Impact.

See, the move to Sportsnet is a big deal in Canada to a degree, but not so much in America, where it’s business as usual, I suppose.

Continue reading “TNA Impact (January 2nd, 2025) – Filling In The Slots Left Behind By WWE”

It’s the Go Home show for tonight’s Bound For Glory PPV, which I’ll be watching and musing about… though don’t expect said musings for another week or so. Also, don’t expect any more Impact musings on a regular basis after this. Maybe once in a while, but that’s about the extent of it. I’ve got plenty of other stuff to catch up on, including prep for next week.

Continue reading “TNA Impact (Oct. 24th, 2024) – The Final Push To Bound For Glory”

Show opens with a memorial graphic of Joe Koff, former Ring Of Honor head during the Sinclair years. I know nothing about the guy other than he was a well-liked dude. Thoughts and prayers to his friends and family.

In the opening match, PCO defeated Rhino in a hardcore match to retain both his belts – because even though the Lutte Internationale title isn’t an official TNA title, we’re defending it like a TNA title. I thought that I was watching Impact, not Dynamite. This is followed by a promo from Nic Nemeth hyping up his match against Matt Cardona… oh great, just what we need; a rehashing of the Dolph Ziggler/Zack Ryder rivalry from a decade ago.

Speaking of old WWE gimmicks, Ash By Elegance – the former Dana Brooke – made short work of some NXT girl whose name I don’t recall, but Xia Brookside comes along to keep Ash from doing anything questionable. This is followed by a pretty good match between Speedball Bailey and some dude who is quickly disposed of by Bailey to retain his X-Division title.

Main event sees Nic Nemeth retaining his TNA title over Matt Cardona… no Z True Island Story success to be found here, but this was a pretty good match. You look at the match they had at one of the old WWE PPVs from 2011 compared to this and they’re night and day.

Oh and Kazarian puts on a ref shirt to announce that he’ll be the special ref for the Nemeth/Hendry title match at Bound For Glory. Isn’t it enough we have the specter of John Layfield hovering over this title match already? Do we really need another heel ref to color this thing even further?

I’m at a point where I’m not really feeling the build up for Bound For Glory. There’s some good stuff here and there – I’m liking Mike Santana’s war on the System, going through each one before getting to Moose – but it seems like there’s a lack of anticipation in this show that’s supposed to be the biggest show of the TNA calendar. I wouldn’t necessarily call this Impact a bad show; it remains an easy two hours of wrestling for me to watch, but as a show building up to a PPV… it’s not exactly hitting that sweet spot.

I’m a little lagging in these Impact things, so rather than talk about the AEW PPV that I didn’t watch or the AEW Dynamite show that I also didn’t watch, I’m going to talk about the Impact show from last week that I did watch.

Continue reading “IMPACT (Oct. 10th, 2024) – This Was Better Than Bound For Glory 2010”

Hey, where’s Joe Hendry?

He’s not on the show; therefore, no Joe Hendry.

TNA was supposed to hold tapings, but then the hurricane kick and those tapings were cancelled. So last Thursday gave us a best of Bound For Glory show… although it’s mostly best of Bound For Glory from the past couple years, highlighting the current talent in TNA and pretty much attempting to tie it back to the current happenings now.

For what it is, it’s a more than adequate Best Of show. Given that this was a last-minute deal, I thought it was fine. I’m not sure if “Best Of” is the right moniker for something like this considering I’ve seen better Bound For Glory matches, but then again, that would involve talent no longer with the company. So in retrospect, this is just fine.

For those wondering, the matches featured were:

X-Division Championship Match
Mike Bailey (c) vs. Frankie Kazarian
Bound for Glory 2022

Call Your Shot Gauntlet Match
Bound for Glory 2021

Knockouts World Championship Match
Jordynne Grace (c) vs. Masha Slamovich
Bound for Glory 2022

Monster’s Ball Match
PCO vs. Moose vs. Rhino vs. Steve Maclin
Bound for Glory 2023

World Championship Match
Josh Alexander (c) vs. Eddie Edwards
Bound for Glory 2022

Anyway, that’s it. If you know how to help and want to do so, do so.

Yes, we’re posting some quick Impact thoughts the night after… because I’ve got nothing else at the moment. Also, yes, this was quickly written at five in the morning because reasons…

Continue reading “TNA Impact (Sept. 26th, 2024) – Kaz Is Good, But Not As Good As Joe Hendry”

With TNA’s Victory Road event in the back-burner, we begin the road to Bound For Glory, which should be an interesting show if nothing else. All I know is that you better believe that I will be watching… though I respect that you don’t believe my genuine anticipation for an upcoming TNA PPV from 2024.

Anyway, on with the show.

Continue reading “TNA Impact (September 19th, 2024) – I Swear, They’re Doing This As A Gag”