TNA Relaunch thread

[Str8Shooter]

Has anybody watched the first episode or read about what's been happening? Unfortunately Canada is left in the cold, figuratively and literally, as we don't get TNA here now as they haven't been able to secure a new Canadian TV deal to no surprise from me.

I read the results of the first show and I'll admit is sounds intriguing. For those who haven't.

http://www.lordsofpain.net/reports/tna/impact/LIVE_SPOILERS_FOR_TONIGHT_S_TNA_IMPACT_WRESTLING_1_7_15.html

Spoiler:

This new stable idea seems interesting, although the whole heel stable running amok doesn't exactly have a shining history in TNA. Awesome Kong being back sounds great. Hopefully TNA with the smaller roster and staff might be able to focus more on the actual in ring stuff now with no bells and whistle.

What's everyone think?

[CubsIn5]

I would say I'm nervously optimistic.

[The Legend]

I would say a heel stable running amok is the only thing that has a shining history in TNA. They just don't know how to wrap it up and use it to get a face over.

[Westcoastvibes]

I don't want to make any assumptions yet. I will wait another couple weeks before official statements happen

[Hanley!]

I was reading the results and thinking that it all sounded fairly decent. Promising enough start and the show seemed like it'd be entertaining to watch due to all the wrestling if nothing else.

And then ... Random Fucking Heel Stable #513

TNA you desperately need a new move. This has been your only move forever. There has been so many large heel stables in this company. Every time they want to shake things up they invent another one. MVP already had a stable. Storm is also forming a heel stable. Before that we had Aces & Eights and Fortune and it goes on and on. It's at a point where it's almost impossible to remember who was in what stable. Several wrestlers have been in a bunch of them.

That's part of the problem too. A lot of the time the stables are just a bunch of guys thrown together, without any really obvious thing in common. Which tends to make the stable ineffective and very unmemorable after the fact.

This show basically suggests that nothing has changed in TNA since they were last on the air. They'll be giving us some of the best wrestling on television, which will be enough to entertain the fans who think to tune in. They might even end up putting on the best American wrestling shows week after week (not too hard given where Raw & Smackdown are at right now). But they still don't have a clue how to book properly or how to promote themselves well.

Spoilers below for the next few shows:

Spoiler:

They still come off as overbooked and Russo-ish too. Roode is losing the title too soon after he won it. There was also two swerves in the one match (and three heel turns). Spreading these things out makes them more effective. Fans can't properly digest this many swerves so close together.

Aries winning the title and then losing it back again the next week also seems like ridiculous attention-grabbing booking too. This is not how you build up your championships, your divisions or your wrestlers.

Kong returning was the best piece of news of the show, but I hated that they did that cheap turn the lights out trick for her re-debut. There's nothing more exciting in wrestling than hearing an unexpected entrance theme for someone you like (and Kong's theme is boss). There's nothing more contrived and stupid in wrestling than the lights going off and on again to give someone time to appear out of nowhere. It's small in the grand scheme of things, but it sucks that they sacrificed the former for the latter.

[KaiserGlider]

Marked the fuck out for Awesome Kong, didn't expect that at all. I thought it was a very good show until the ending. The main problem I have with it is putting the belt on Lashley again. I feel that he did everything he could as champion. He beat everybody: Aries, Hardy, Joe, Roode. So the only person Lashley could feud with now that he has the belt again is Roode... and they've already had 3 matches. It also highlights TNA's inability to book a babyface world champion. AJ Styles' last reign was very poorly executed and now Roode got fucked as well. I totally get why TNA wanted to do a big angle on this show; they should have. But ultimately, I think this will go down as a shock just for the sake of a shock, with no true long-term benefits.

[EmperorWu]

Poor TNA man, let's see if they can at least pull better ratings than Lucha Underground. Which is a pretty damn good show. I feel the channels will kill both those shows regardless of how good they can make their product. Anyway I'll try to find a way to see it. I think Hanley got me into it a few years back and it was leagues better than WWE at the time. But now with NXT, Lucha Underground, WWE's better roster on the main shows, and NJPW making waves state side among all the bigger indy promotions, I don't know where that leaves TNA. Most of us can watch only so much wrestling, even those of us who watch a ton.

[Twister]

Really enjoyed the show, Awesome Kong coming back was brilliant. They kept that under wraps! The heel stable was a bit 'been there, done that' but I didn't expect EY to turn heel. I'll be looking forward to the next few shows, especially the ones filmed in the UK.

[Str8Shooter]

Found a version of the show on youtube and watched the first little bit. First thing I noticed was how much lower budget it looked compared to TNA past. The lighting was terrible, you could barely even see the crowd at all. I've seen RoH shows at the Manhattan Center that looked more big time.

Maybe they'll play around with it for future shows, but at first it was pretty jarring.

[Westcoastvibes]

I must say i am impressed with how much backing they have from the discovery network in terms of promoting. Since the announcement of the switch i have seen countless commercials on discovery, history, fx, fs1, and i even seen one tonight during raw.

Its nice to see that they are at least with a network that is willing to fight for them.