Professional wrestling thread

Happened right at the start of the show. They made it no DQ so cue Umaga, who hit Cena with the belt. K-Fed stood outside the ring until the pin, so it's not like he won because they had him beat Cena, in a true sense.

 

Who's watching IMPACT tonight? The main event is Kurt Angle v. Christian Cage. I'll probably watch Impact, then catch the Lakers-Kings game at 1030.

 

Oh, well I didn't see that. Oh well.

 

I'm going to try because I like TNA, warts and all. They're really botching this money feud between Angle and Joe, though. Not so much that they're doing it now instead of building towards it, because you never know when Angle's going to say he can't feel his hands and goes off to have career-ending neck surgery, so better to do it now while he can still answer the bell instead of waiting six months while he smacks around Christian or Jarrett, then see the big build to Joe go to hell because of it.

No, the problem is that instead of letting Angle be Angle and Joe be Joe and leaving them alone, they're blurring the face/heel dynamic so badly that it's tough to get a feel for who's what anymore. Angle snaps Joe's deus ex machina girlfriend's ankle to force Joe to grant him a rematch. Straight out of the HHHeel playbook, right? So why was Angle teaming with Rhyno (face) while Joe teamed with A.J. Styles (newly-turned heel)? And why did Joe and Abyss doubleteam Angle, while Angle's been helping AMW and Petey Williams against LAX? If they left the two to their devices, that'd be one thing, but getting them mixed up in other angles confuses the issue and their character development. That said, I still like most of what TNA offers, even including the Paparazzi Championship Series for light humor (Kevin Nash wouldn't sell a lightning bolt from God's own hand, but at least he's good for some laughs).

I can seriously do without Eric Young, though. And they need to get Russo away from the face/heel switch, because there's been too many switches in the last couple of months (Petey Williams to face, A.J. Styles to heel, Chris Sabin to heel, AMW to face and then James Storm to heel again, not counting the Angle/Joe hijinx, Brother Runt's deal with Team 3-D and the teased dissention between Bobby Roode and Miss Brooks just weeks after they made a big deal of her managing him).

 

You're right. It has been really confusing week by week. I don't know whether to cheer or boo Angle at times, and why is he fighting another heel tonight? It sounds like a great match, but I don't like the whole mixing of storylines. When it's done well (i.e. Tommy Dreamer/Raven in old ECW), it's great. However, all of this neutrality between wrestlers in TNA, it's hard to really cheer or boo.

 

It won't be a great meat if they don't give it the time it deserves, which Impact just hasn't been doing lately.

 

All thanks to Vince fucking Russo.

 

Russo doesn't help with his Crash TV shit, but at the same time when you have a one-hour show, you either have to choose between short matches that don't develop or long matches that keep most of the roster off the show, which is why it's been nearly a decade since Raw was 60 minutes. And for most people, this is the only TNA show (there's the syndicated Xplosion, but few get it and it serves a Heat-like purpose of getting jobbers and non-Impact workers in the ring, not to advance storylines). They need to go to 2 hours, but Spike won't do it until the ratings make it worth their while, and 1.0 probably won't do it.

 

Decent show last night. Nothing truly special. Maybe the whole Angle-Joe streetfight was entertaining, but other than that, it was OK at best. I liked the fact that Samoa Joe was wearing a Gears of War t-shirt last night.

 

Yeah, the Gears of War T was an interesting sight to see. Wonder what that might mean in terms of future advertising ventures.

 

I've been away from this thread for a little more than a week. WWE and TNA aren't really keeping my interest these days.

I'll be interested in the Royal Rumble because of who gets eliminated and how that shows what guys are being seen as the top names and who isn't.

I hope Joe/Angle goes well next weekend, but I agree with something I saw in a recent interview with Dr. Tom Pritchard. I initially thought the first Joe/Angle match should not have been around WM time, but he feels the first match should have been in April. He didn't say the same day as WM, but what if TNA did a Saturday PPV the night before WM with this match?

After all, Saturday night PPVs for boxing and UFC are now commonplace. Wrestling has always been a Sunday PPV day.

 

Totally agree. Really hope Joe/Angle goes off well. I love Angle, and hope he can stay healthy while with TNA. Joe is a real talent, and this feud is just further elevating him. Great stuff.