Champ, Again

Photo from Impactwrestling.com

By Kevin Hunsperger
@kevinhunsperger on Twitter

I'm not going to pick about the Hardcore Justice pay per view from Impact Wrestling, because honestly I didn't see the show.  I don't feel like it's totally fair for me to write a recap of an event that I didn't watch.  And reading the results doesn't always give you a true sense of what happened.

With that being said, I am going to focus on Kurt Angle's new reign as the Impact Wrestling champion.  At 42, he's obviously no spring chicken.  But clearly, Kurt can still go.  I saw him at an Impact show earlier this summer and he looks great.  A lot leaner and meaner than his days in the WWE.  And considering the man he beat for the title, Sting, is 52.  It's not exactly a young man's business.  Or at least it doesn't seem to be right now.

Again, I have nothing against Kurt Angle as the heavyweight champion.  A while back though, Kurt had announced plans to start training for the U.S. Olympic wrestling team.  He won the gold on Team USA back in 1996.  He's one of the few professional wrestlers today who I believe could actually do it again.  But I don't know if the aspirations to be an Olympian are real or just part of an angle (not Kurt or Karen).

The decision to switch the title again so quickly also brings up a topic we've talked about often: the devaluation of the world championship.  The WWE has a history of playing hot potato with its titles too.  I think it's safe to blame this phenomenon on the short attention spans of today's society and the fact that there are 12 PPVs by each company every year and hundreds of hours of programming on free television. The days of a 6 month title reign appear to be over.  Could you imagine another 4 year champion like Hulk Hogan in the mid 80's?  Or a 7 1/2 year reign like Bruno Sammartino had?  If you've not heard of Bruno, google him...

Back on the focus of this post, Impact Wrestling has had six world title changes in 2011.  Each one of those champions (Sting, Kurt Angle, Jeff Hardy, and Mr. Anderson have been top stars in another company)  It goes back to the argument we've made before, Impact Wrestling really needs to create and/or groom some of their originals for a run with the title.  Now that the WWE has released a handful of superstars, will Impact pick them up too?  Only time will tell.

Kurt Angle is a great wrestler (in my top 5 of all time greats), but I think it's time to start developing some younger talent and giving them a push.  This is a statement that can be said about the WWE as well.

What are your thoughts?  Post them here.  And don't forget to like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and subscribe to the YouTube channel.  Thanks!

Positive Review of Impact Wrestling

Photo from impactwrestling.com

By Chad Smart

No, it’s not April Fool’s Day and I’m not joking. The 6/16/11 episode of Impact Wrestling was actually entertaining and didn’t have me pulling my hair out in frustration. Was it perfect? No, but then every show has room for improvement. Impact was a huge step up from the last time I watched and has me interested in next week’s shows. As a disclaimer though, I caught an online repeat at 11pm that didn’t include commercials. Maybe the lateness of watching the show, or the fact I didn’t have to sit through 4 minute annoying commercial blocks that can cause me to lose interest in any show skewered my perception. Whatever the case, I figured since I’ve spent months criticizing TNA, it’s only fair I also give them praise when I like the show. Onto my review of the show.

From impactwrestling.com

I started watching towards the end of the Mr. Anderson/Gunner promo. Since I didn’t have to sit through an extended promo (which has become stale http://my123cents.blogspot.com/2011/06/wrestling-format-best-if-used-before.html) my annoyance level was kept to a minimum.  The Mr. Anderson character doesn’t do anything for me. I think he’s quickly entered John Cena territory as far as being repetitive and juvenile on the mic. Mr. Anderson being champion doesn’t make me interested in any upcoming title matches either. I haven’t seen enough of Gunner to really have an opinion. From reading the results over the last few weeks it seems someone in TNA is really high on Gunner and is trying to make him a star. I have no problems with TNA using homegrown talent and making them the focus. That’s something I’ve been begging them to do for years. Though Gunner doesn’t really look like a star. He looks like generic indy wrestler template #3. But I’m willing to give TNA the benefit of a doubt and see if they can continue to focus on Gunner or if they get distracted and forget about him after a month.

From impactwrestling.com

The Bound For Glory Series is an interesting concept. Since every match counts (TV and house shows) I’m curious to see if the numbers are correct or if there will be some creative accounting done to ensure a specific wrestler wins the tournament. Most of the top tier guys don’t work house shows while the wrestlers who do house shows don’t wrestle at every show. Will we see some guys kept off of TV for a few weeks to keep their numbers low?  Or am I looking for a fire when there isn’t any smoke?  The bigger question will be if TNA can actually stay focused on this until Bound For Glory. How long did the rankings system last before it magically disappeared?

From impactwrestling.com

While I’m not really a fan of ODB or Miss Jackie, I do like the idea of them coming in and attacking Velvet Sky. Curious to see if they go after other “beautiful” knockouts as well or if they only feud with Velvet before disappearing again. The beat down was one of the most intense I’ve seen from women’s wrestling. It’s stuff like that that will separate TNA from WWE.

I’m a sucker for good comedy, which is why I enjoyed the Eric Young challenging, and beating Jason Hervey segment. It came out of nowhere and was kept short. Still don’t understand why EY goes from wacky character to serious wrestler on a weekly basis, but this week was entertaining. Don’t understand why Matt Morgan wouldn’t want to be TV champion though.

Destination X pay per view could be good if they let the wrestlers go all out and don’t overbook the show. Hopefully this will lead to the X division being more than an afterthought. It was interesting to see Kid Kash back in TNA given his history with the company. Would have liked to seen some interaction between Jimmy Rave and Christy Hemme for continuity’s sake. I’m not a huge Austin Aries fan but I can’t deny he has presence and has a solid fan base. The 3-way match with these guys was a great reminder of how good the X-Division can be when given the chance. Curious to see next’s week match with three new stars to TNA.

Samoa Joe and RVD put on a good match to kick off the Bound for Glory series. It’s a shame these two have been put on the back burner for no apparent reason.

The main event was all right. As I said earlier, Anderson doesn’t interest me and Gunner is still too new for me to get excited about. With Kurt Angle being the number one contender will Gunner hang around long enough to get a title shot he deserves after beating both Anderson and Sting while they were champ?

From impactwrestling.com

The street fight between Jeff Jarrett and Kurt Angle was something different. I don’t think there’s been a televised street fight since Eddie Guerrerro had one in 2002 or 2003. (I don’t remember his opponent and don’t have time to look it up. Sorry) I liked how they had the rest of the guys out there watching. Though I don’t know why they didn’t have Taz and Tenay doing commentary. Wait, did I just say I wanted to hear TNA commentary. Something must be wrong with me. Actually the commentary on the show wasn’t intolerable. Maybe TNA is starting to come around.

Overall, I was entertained by more than I was annoyed by while watching Impact. Hope this is a new direction TNATNA. 

We’re on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Tell your friends.

Saving My Clever Wordplay for the Lockdown Reaction Blog

By Chad Smart

I haven’t seen that much of Impact over the past month. My social life has been booked pretty solid on Thursday’s, and the shows have been leading up to Lockdown, which is one of my least favorite shows of the year. Therefore I haven’t felt a real desire to watch Impact lately.

With that said, I tried to watch last night’s Impact. 

That’s right, I tried. I think I got a little over an hour into the show and then Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff made their third or fourth appearance on the show and I had seen enough. There’s no reason for them to be on the show that often. No one on the roster is getting over when the focus is put on two guys who don’t, and shouldn’t ever actually wrestle for TNA.  My other main complaint with the show is there were too many backstage segments that felt forced. While I may not agree with the current wrestling show philosophy of spending more time talking backstage, I can appreciate it when done competently. Bad, stilted dialogue in front of a mystery camera just scream FAKE to me.

Moving on from Impact, let’s take a look at this Sunday’s Lockdown pay per view line up.

Ink Inc. vs. British Invasion vs. Orlando Jordan/Eric Young vs. Scott Steiner/Crimson:  4-Way tag team match, in a cage. This is going to be a long show. From what little pieces of Impact I’ve caught over the past few weeks it seems Steiner/Crimson spend more time hitting the rides at Universal Studios than actually wrestling. Ink Inc. have had their day in the sun as credible tag team contenders and are now teasing a break up. Orlando and Eric are the comedy fodder while British Invasion just got back together. All that leads me to believe the British Invasion will pick up the victory.

X-Division X-scape match: Jeremy Buck vs. Max Buck vs. Robbie E. vs. Chris Sabin vs. Brian Kendrick vs. Suicide vs. Jay Lethal vs. Amazing Red: Just typing out this preview is going to drive me to drinking. A TNA trademark, the multi-person cluster match. Good to see someone remembered Jay Lethal was still under contract. Remember when he beat Ric Flair and people thought it was the start of pushing Lethal up the card? Neither does Vince Russo or Dixie Carter or Eric Bischoff or Hulk Hogan. Flip a coin to pick a winner. I’m going with Suicide for no better reason than I like waffles.

Pope Dinero vs. Samoa Joe: Remember when Samoa Joe came into TNA and was unstoppable for a year? Remember when Pope Dinero entered TNA and the crowd wanted him to be a main eventer?  Well stop remembering that and accept both guys are below Matt Hardy in the pecking order now. Match will end in a way where there’s no winner and this feud, which ran out of steam two months ago, will continue because TNA has no idea what to do with either guy.

Hernandez vs. Matt Morgan: Let’s try this feud again with the roles reversed. Guessing Hernandez wins to make Mexican American, or whatever his group is called, look dominating until they get put up against a more popular faction.

TNA Knockouts  Title vs. Hair, Madison Rayne vs. Mickie James I’m surprised TNA hasn’t put the Knockout title on before now. Don’t see Mickie trying to promote her music career ala Sinead O’Connor so expect a new Knockout Champion to be crowned.

Best of 3 Falls, Kurt Angle vs. Jeff Jarrett; Each fall has a different stipulation for winning. Where’s the stipulation for the fans to not have to endure real life situations turned into wrestling angles? Kurt Angle wins and picks up another DUI after realizing he’s in Cincinnati and deciding to pretend he’s a member of the Cincinnati Bengals.

Lethal Lockdown, Immortal vs. Fortune: Ric Flair is listed as being in the match. Ric Flair+TNA+Cage Match=Flair’s starting the match a blonde and ending as a ginger. Good storytelling would say Fortune wins. Vince Russo booking says Daniels turns on Fortune and helps Immortal wins. Stupidity trumps common sense. Immortal picks up the victory.

TNA Title Match, Sting vs. Mr. Anderson vs. Rob Van Dam (or Rob Dam Van): I want this feud to end. I want Anderson and RVD to go away. I want TNA to put the title on someone fresh. In the swerve of the night Jeff Hardy enters the match and regains the TNA title. Or we get another swervey swerve and Sting joins Immortal.

I think TNA refers to this as the most brutal PPV of the year. (maybe they don’t, and I’m making it up. But I seem to have heard that recently.) I’m guessing their phrasing has a different meaning to them than it does to me. I think this is going to be a brutal PPV, but for all the wrong reasons. We’ll find out Sunday night.

Follow @my123cents on Twitter. Watch Kevin’s videos on the my123cents YouTube channel and Like my123cents on Facebook. We crave attention.