TNA iMPACT! Wrestling

TNA Impact! Review: TNA arrived on the scene in 2002 as the new wrestling alternative. At first it was horrid. 50$ a month for Russo-era WCW booking and writing, TNA stunk. After showing idiot Russo the door, They got Dusty Rhodes. Dusty was not better and TNA still stunk. TNA fired Dusty and finally TNA got their asses in gear in the spring of 2005. TNA stripped TNA tyrant Jeff Jarrett of the title and actually gave others the run with the title and booking was effective. Better yet, the company was intent on pushing the youngsters and TNA was becoming a force. With Samoa Joe, The Fallen Angel, Abyss, Alex Shelly, Chris Sabin, Petey Williams, and many other wrestlers, TNA delivered some incredible PPVs in the summer and fall of 2005. That finally got TNA a TV deal. Then they gave the title back to Jarrett. TNA suddenly started to lag a little. Then they signed Christian, as a face. Not good. Christian sucks as a face. Then TNA did the worst and signed Sting. Sting has not done anything for TNA other than to put himself over. Selfish. TNA is now losing direction. With enormous talent on the roster, TNA has a lot to push. Alas, TNA a-hole Jarrett has reclaimed the title and sting is #2 around here. TNA can be a great division but, when double J has top billing, TNA is doomed. Sting isn't helping either. TNA needs to dump the dinosaurs and stick to pushing the talent. They can do it. Double J needs to get his head out of his ass first. Also the booker needs to push the future of TNA and not just his pals. Especially the ones who can't wrestle.

The Last Word: TNA was awesome in the summer and fall of 2005. TNA is now falling apart. Some matches are still good though. TNA also needs to branch out to other venues other than Orlando. Also, The TNA PPVs have no design. Looks just like another Impact taping than a PPV. TNA isn't bad, just has bad booking and ego maniacal old-timers. Hope 2007 is better than now.

Talent Roster, My take: Tag teams***

America's Most Wanted: Excellent tag team. From the look to the name, and are very talented workers. Should be booked as faces more often. Still, a great tag team.

The Naturals: Easily one of the best. Young and very experienced. The Naturals have a good look and give the tag team division something to enjoy. My pick for best of 2005.

Team 3D: Washed up. Brother Ray and Devon are living in the past. Still trying to cash in at the gimmick that Paul E. and Vinne Mac. made famous. Also 3D, even at their best, matches are mediocre. 3D also gets stale fast.

The James Ga..I mean the Voodoo Kin Mafia: First off, that name sucks. Second, we got two dinosaurs living in the past as well. They are not cool or fresh. The New Age Outlaws was their day. Now, It's a little sad. Also, what's with Kip's red hair??? Ick.

LAX: Great heel team. Lead by Konnan, LAX are a nasty group of people. Konnan has natural heel charisma. Like Jerry Lawler to Randy Orton, he comes of really unlikeable. That's good. Homicide and Hernandez are a good team. Konnan must be really banged up. He makes a good mouthpiece

Single wrestlers***

Sting: A known "icon". Sting as a stand alone wrestler was great. Everyone knows Sting. As of now, Sting should stay quiet. Having Sting say "It's Showtime!" is lame. Having Sting let his actions speak louder than his words, Cool. And let us forget about the Steve Borden crap.

Rhino: Still got it. Now the war machine, Rhino has led a path of destruction. He still got the attitude and intensity, more than ever. The booking of Rhino is great. Only flaw is that Rhino held the NWA title for TWO DAYS! The ultimate transitional champ. Next reign had better be much longer.

Christian: Although not as good as his previous days, Cage is still good at being a heel. He clearly is not as athletic as he used to be. He has a lame look, and has about 50% less charisma that he used to have in the WWE. The booking of Cage is much better here though. At least he isn't a joke.

Abyss: One of the best in TNA. Abyss is tough. Abyss would have been an excellent fit to the original ECW. He's got a cool look and has the same gimmick as WWE wrestler Kane(back when Kane was cool looking). TNA is booking Abyss correctly and all they really should NOT do is take his mask off. Abyss will be ruined if that happens.

Samoa Joe: Easily TNA's biggest success. Samoa Joe is despite his flabby appearance is TOUGH. Never has a guy this big been this MENACING. Unlike Goldberg, Samoa Joe WRESTLES his opponent to remain undefeated. From the Muscle Buster, to the rear naked choke, Joe is a wrestling machine in brutality and submission. Joe should remain undefeated for a long time. (Joe's streak is over to Kurt Angle at Genesis. So much for that.)

Petey Williams: All hail the Canadian Destroyer! Petey is awesome. With a cool look and lots of experience, Petey is a perfect fit in TNA. Did I mention The Canadian DESTROYER?! Possibly the best finisher of all time. I can watch that all day.

The Fallen Angel: Daniels is awesome. One of the most hardest workers in wrestling finally gets his credit where credit is due. Daniels also never gets stale and is hard to hate, even though he is an awesome heel. Daniels should get a title shot in the future.

Chris Sabin: Very Talented. Lousy haircut. His finisher is okay but nothing special. Sabin is however good for the business.

TNA 2002 2009 9/10 TNA 2010 2013 7/10 Perhaps 2007 has been their best season. There have been seasons where the characterizations of their personas has been great, and their extra ring was at the same levels as the in ring quality. What was great was their innovative style mixing strong style and high flying moves with great TV production, they had great teams, the X Division, innovative gimmick matches like the Ultimate X, the King of the mountain match, hardcore matches, and at one point they introduced the women's division which for the American wrestling standards at that time, has been innovative too, they even introduced the women tag team's titles. Jeff Jarrett is the founder,their best products over the years have been AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, Abyss, Awesome Kong, Daniels, Gail Kim, Monty Brown, Hernandez, James Storm, Bobby Roode, Chris Sabin, Alex Shelley, Low Ki, Austin Aries, Petey Williams,Kazarian and their best acquisitions over the years have been Sting, Jeff Hardy, Jerry Lynn, Kurt Angle, Christian, Team 3D, Rhyno, Scott Steiner, Elix Skipper, Kevin Nash, Booker T, Mick Foley (he should have been in there as manager for other years) RVD(It would have been awesome if he would have been hired even before 2010, like in 2006 2007). Thanks to Jeff Jarrett, Dixie Carter, Vince Russo, Dutch Mantell, Jim Cornette, Scott D'Amore, Eric Bischoff and Hulk Hogan. In 2017 they had a good momentum again with the GFW, they had deals with other international promotions. Other great acquisitions over the years Lashley, The Wolves, Matt Sydal, Moose. At one point they had a title based on points.

IMPACT on AXS is a consistent show, which is the best compliment I can say about it. It's a consistent show week to week, but there has not been a significant turnaround. Some of the content is derivative from the WWE. Tasha Steelz and Kiera Hogan are clearly a rip-off of Sasha Banks. Kylie Rae's happy-go-lucky gimmick is blatantly ripped-off from Bayley. And The Rascalz logo is derived from the New Day's logo and colors. IMPACT has given Ken Shamrock a second career as a wrestler and the creative team didn't tinker with Tenille Dashwood's gimmick too much; it's the same as her character in the WWE. But the fans who gush over IMPACT on Twitter and Freakin' Awesome Networks are paid IMPACT employees who aren't legitimate fans.

I have to admit I did not start watching TNA until they debuted on Spike TV a few months ago, but I have been impressed. As a lifelong WWE fan and wrestiling fan, I have enjoyed different aspects of all different promotions throughout the years. WWE has excelled in the "larger than life" entertainment aspect of wrestling. WCW when it was successful featured what WWE was doing, just with different characters. ECW was of course the outlet for furstrated fans who were sick of what the big 2 were doing. Then you have TNA, which is building a grassroots organizations based on one thing, IN RING PERFORMANCE.

The bottom line with this business is that in the end, it all comes back to how you can perform in the ring. TNA is wisely signing younger, smaller wrestlers and featuring a different type of in ring style than what WWE is doing. At the same time, they are not trying to compete with WWE, which is extremely smart. TNA is akin to what ECW was in the 90s, not in terms of style, but in terms of its approach to its place in the world. What I mean by that is that even though TNA has people like Jeff Jarrett, Raven, Rhino among other WWE or WCW guys, they realize that they cannot be going head to head with WWE.

I certainly enjoy watching TNA though for the action and its unique in ring content.

The WWE will need to change fast!! TNA is the future of wrestling. After spending several years watching and enjoying the WWE product, to be able to be awestruck at the level of commitment and ability of these competitors astonishes me! Not only are the story lines and characters more believable, the addition of wrestlers from the independent circuit (Styles, Daniels, Dutt etc.) but make better use of the former superstars of the WWE and WCW brands (Jarrett, Raven, Hardy, Killings) The X division is also a refreshing change to the face of wrestling and a smaller roster makes for a tighter, well constructed show!! Excellent work!