TNA Impact Wrestling Spoilers for 8/7

[Hooker]

Crowds have been going apeshit booing Dixie during her promos over the last year.  The crowd popped huge for the spot.

 

This is not complicated, guys.  He didn't give her a black eye or whipped her with his belt or anything.  He performed a goofy powerbomb off the top rope.  The things that happen to Catwoman / Black Widow / Megan Fox in Transformers / whatever the Hunger Games' character's name is are far more violent than the cartoonish spot Bully gave Dixie.

 

Go ahead and dislike it, but let's ease up on the moralizing over professional wrestling, please.  Are you people really this easily offended?

[Victator]

And we've well established that in retrospect, the Attitude Era was a blight apon humanity that should be forgotten.

 

As was 75% of ECW, to be honest.

Uh no...

[Hollywood Cibernetico]

Re: Dixie Spot

 

I don't think anyone thinks this will 'save' TNA or even usher in anything new really. The only, possible, remifications is that Dixie is not on TV for the next six months. But then again, there may not even be any TV after September. TNA can use the spot to take the company is a new direction, but its not going to happen. Not at all. If/When TV returns to TV- its going to be the same shit.

[EN090]

And we've well established that in retrospect, the Attitude Era was a blight apon humanity that should be forgotten.

 

As was 75% of ECW, to be honest.

 

Umm, we've established that how exactly?

 

WWE is still living off the attitude era in large part, would have been out of business and would have never went public without it.

 

Oh, and not to mention that it served as an environment which allowed for the creation of Rock and Austin, the 2 biggest stars in the last 20 years.

 

But yeah, blight on humanity..

[Petey]

To be fair, Bubba once put Mae Young through a table. For obvious reasons, that's slightly more offensive. 

BS. Mae told Bubba not to protect her because she was a tough SOB. I don't think I've ever respected someone more after they were done as an on-screen talent than Mae.

 

EDIT:

 

 

 

And we've well established that in retrospect, the Attitude Era was a blight apon humanity that should be forgotten.

 

As was 75% of ECW, to be honest.

 

Umm, we've established that how exactly?

 

WWE is still living off the attitude era in large part, would have been out of business and would have never went public without it.

 

Oh, and not to mention that it served as an environment which allowed for the creation of Rock and Austin, the 2 biggest stars in the last 20 years.

 

But yeah, blight on humanity..

 

I like Raz but I disagree with him here. Yeah, a lot of the Attitude Era stuff was childish at best and offensive at worst, but it wasn't all terrible. Like EN said, it led to Rock and Austin and also Mick Foley: WWF Champion (not sure what other era that could have happened in) plus the Mr. McMahon character which even though it overstayed its welcome, was one of the great heel characters ever.

[Raziel]

Ok, so I admit, might be guilty of a bit of hyperbole there.  Lot of it comes from embarassment in my later years with kids that I enjoyed Attitude Era stuff when it ran.  But you're right, without that time, no Austin, no Rock, no Foley title run, and no best of Mr. McMahon.  There was good with bad.  And ECW's a weird thing with me, I'm more attached to my experience that happened because ECW existed.

 

I want to shit on the Dixie Table Bump, but I can't.  Not because I enjoyed it, I didn't.  But because I can't make a legit argument and have a leg to stand on.  Can't use man on woman because I do watch CHIKARA and ICW, and I'm on Team "If a woman is trained and signed up for intergender matches, so be it".  Dixie signed on to take the bump, its on her.  I can use the "a 50 year old non-wrestler shouldn't take that damn bump", but there've been non-workers taking dumb ass bumps I liked (like Bischoff taking a Jackknife through a table/stage) that I popped for, so yeah.

[NintendoLogic]

Personally, I'd rather see no physical interaction whatsoever between men and women on wrestling shows. I am willing to make an exception in the case of a heel getting heat by brutalizing a defenseless female. But it has to be like the James Gandolfini/Patricia Arquette fight scene in True Romance where it's legitimately uncomfortable to watch and there's no chance of a face reaction. None of this Dudleys get-the-tables bullshit.

[BEN!]

There are absolutely people internally that thought Dixie Carter getting put through a table would be a turning point for the company.  Just like getting two hours, moving to Monday nights, leaving the Impact Zone, etc.

 

My biggest problem with all this isn't even the man on woman violence.  It's after a year of heel Dixie Carter and like 6 months of Bully stalking her, what was the point of it all?

 

Dixie Carter generated heat.  Now she's gone.  Her heat didn't get transferred to anyone that could actually wrestle.  Magnus got shuffled over to a nothing happening tag team.  EC3 didn't gain any credibility.  Over 40 Bully Ray certainly didn't need to be put over anymore and now he's back teaming with another old man in yet another attempt to relive the past.

 

So after several months, they made no new stars, created no intriguing future match-ups, Dixie Carter got legitimately hurt, and they still have no domestic TV deal.

[Hooker]

In other words, they had a hot angle and here's how negative you can be on it.

[Ace]

Was Bully vs. Dixie a hot angle?

[nate]

For TNA.

[Ace]

Yet it drew absolutely no extra viewers.

[BEN!]

In other words, they had a hot angle and here's how negative you can be on it.

 

I was actually holding back.

 

This week's ratings will determine how hot this was.  And even if they do manage a bump up, the follow through is what's important cause they've never been able to maintain any new viewers past the initial curiosity viewing.

[Hooker]

 

This week's ratings will determine how hot this was. 

 

No it's not.  People don't flock to something the exact moment something interesting happens.

 

the follow through is what's important

 

And now the goalposts have changed.

 

Honestly, TNA is bad.  I'm not arguing with that (I think it's less bad than RAW, and am willing to defend that point, if you want?).  But people seem to refuse to give them credit for anything.  Something on the last episode worked.  It was something they were building towards.  It was a distinct improvement over pretty much everything they've tried building between it and the Aries win.  But, I guess it didn't also give me a blowjob, so how good is it really?

[nate]

This week's ratings will determine how hot this was.

No it's not. People don't flock to something the exact moment something interesting happens.

the follow through is what's important

And now the goalposts have changed.

Honestly, TNA is bad. I'm not arguing with that (I think it's less bad than RAW, and am willing to defend that point, if you want?). But people seem to refuse to give them credit for anything. Something on the last episode worked. It was something they were building towards. It was a distinct improvement over pretty much everything they've tried building between it and the Aries win. But, I guess it didn't also give me a blowjob, so how good is it really?

I bet if it did give blowjobs, I bet they'd draw past 1.2.

[EN090]

 

 

This week's ratings will determine how hot this was. 

 

No it's not.  People don't flock to something the exact moment something interesting happens.

 

the follow through is what's important

 

And now the goalposts have changed.

 

Honestly, TNA is bad.  I'm not arguing with that (I think it's less bad than RAW, and am willing to defend that point, if you want?).  But people seem to refuse to give them credit for anything.  Something on the last episode worked.  It was something they were building towards.  It was a distinct improvement over pretty much everything they've tried building between it and the Aries win.  But, I guess it didn't also give me a blowjob, so how good is it really?

 

I actually would like to hear your theory on how TNA is less bad than Raw?

 

Because, IMO, even though nobody will believe me, TNA has been dreadful for the last year. While Raw is very hit and miss, the hits (Bryan, Wyatt, The Shield, Lesnar, etc) have blown anything TNA has done lately out of the water.

 

Beyond nonsensical booking, TNA has just lacked any kind of life for a good year.

[Hooker]

It's not so much a theory as a preference.

 

I watch a lot of bad movies / TV with a friend of mine.  When you enjoy that sort of thing, you quickly pick up on much of the background cynicism, and what you're watching tends to be enjoyable more when the creators are more genuine and sincere in their passion for making the thing, regardless of how well it turns out.  It's how Man of Steel can bore you to tears despite all the talent and force behind it while something like Troll 2 can enthral you despite the total absence of talent.  TNA in general and Dixie Carter in particular seem far more sincere and genuine in their attempt to put on an entertaining product than the WWE.  Certainly nobody could claim Dixie is just trying to squeeze as much money out of TNA as possible.  The WWE and particularly RAW, meanwhile, is the most insincere, passionless three hours of television I've ever had to skip through half of.  I know that there are a lot of people here (the vast majority?) who are able to derive a lot of pleasure out of random, context-less, eight minute matches between two talented wrestlers on RAW, but that's just too clinical for me.  I really enjoy truly great matches (for me, the last one that stood up despite having no broader context was Bryan vs Cesaro), but try as I might, I just can't behind pointless matches.

 

TNA reminds me a lot of the last few years of WCW.  Nobody's going to hold up 98-01 WCW as a template for how to book wrestling, but there were some really great things going on and it wasn't just an awful cash grab.  I, and countless other fans judging by his debut in the WWF, fell in love with a guy named Chris Jericho because he could spread his wings in WCW.  Meanwhile, in the WWE, I see a guy like R-Truth killing every segment he's on, Zack Ryder fermenting his own fan support with no TV time, and this massive Big E. Langston guy shows up and starts talking and acting with this weird and wonderful jive-ish attitude, and each one of them had the legs cut out from under them.  Why bother getting behind any one?  Meanwhile, while they've failed to capitalize on any of them, I've never felt punished for liking Austin Aries, Chris Daniels, Rockstar Spud, Joseph Park, or any other enjoyable character TNA has or had.

 

So, yeah, fuck the WWE.  I skip through half of it every week.  I watch every Impact in full.  I know NXT is supposed to be great and, clear of the influence of Vince, I imagine it's a distinct possibility.  But I'm just too sick of the WWE at this point.

[Stay Gold]

I'm not a TNA hater by any means, but that closing angle was a bit cringeworthy. 

 

And I actually attended that taping in NYC and popped for everything. But it was way different watching it on TV, probably due to not being amped up on adrenaline and hype. 

 

I enjoyed the episode overall though. 

[Big Fresh]

To be fair, Bubba once put Mae Young through a table. For obvious reasons, that's slightly more offensive.

That was self-defense.