By Ryan Frye
IMPACT Wrestling has been a pretty solid show since its debut on POP TV in January. Nothing groundbreaking, but it's produced solid, consistent television that's been based around a strong in-ring product. It's received praise from many people, including Mike Johnson of PW Insider, who inspired this article. I will warn you, though: if you click the embedded link, your computer may explode.
IMPACT Wrestling has been a pretty solid show since its debut on POP TV in January. Nothing groundbreaking, but it's produced solid, consistent television that's been based around a strong in-ring product. It's received praise from many people, including Mike Johnson of PW Insider, who inspired this article. I will warn you, though: if you click the embedded link, your computer may explode.
We've seen the renaissance of Matt Hardy's career with a fresh, interesting heel character. We've witnessed the continued ascent of Ethan Carter III who now is the top babyface in the company. We saw the debut of "The Miracle" Mike Bennett alongside Maria. We've enjoyed the reunion of Beer Money and watched as the pairing of Abyss and Crazzy Steve with Rosemary as The Decay has been surprisingly compelling.
All of these things are positives. And while the viewership numbers may have yet to bear it out, if this continues, one would hope that TNA is rewarded for their steps forward with more eyeballs on their product.
I can't help but think I've seen this movie before, though. Just last year, in fact.
Last year, Destination America was the new network.
You had the Beatdown Clan—the group of MVP, Samoa Joe, Low Ki and Kenny King—burst onto the scene. While they were initially unwanted, the group quickly became the best part of IMPACT on a week-to-week basis.
EC3 and Rockstar Spud had become entangled in a bitter, bloody feud that was one of the best TNA had seen in its history. Lashley was tearing it up as world champion before Kurt Angle took the gold for one last hurrah. Drew Galloway would add a fresh, promising face to the mix.
It's like deja vu.
Now, it appears as if POP is more solidly behind TNA than Destination America was, so that's a bonus. However, that doesn't erase my concern that this spike in the quality of IMPACT Wrestling is only temporary.
Last year, aside from the soured relationship with their new network, two things were largely to blame for the downfall of the product:
-First, Josh Mathews would take the place of Mike Tenay as the play-by-play guy alongside Taz. This duo lasted a few months until Taz departed and was eventually replaced by "The Pope" D'Angelo Dinero.
If you've ever wondered how much bad commentary can be draining to a wrestling product—as if RAW wasn't proof enough—all you need to do is watch IMPACT over the course of the past year. It's absolutely awful.
-Secondly, following the tour of the United Kingdom, TNA returned to the IMPACT Zone.
If you've watched a show emanating from the IMPACT Zone in the past couple of years, I don't need to explain how negatively this affects the product. No energy, no excitement, hardly any noise at all. Hell, if they didn't show the "fans" in attendance, I'd think the studio was empty.
Fast forward a year and not only does the commentary team remain the same, but TNA has already announced that they will be returning to the IMPACT Zone for television tapings in March.
Therefore, no matter how good the product itself is, these two factors will zap all energy and excitement out of it and make the show downright depressing to watch on a weekly basis, yet again.
I would have loved to write a glowingly positive article about the progress TNA is making, like Mr. Johnson did in the column linked earlier. But given how I've seen this before, I can't. It would be the very definition of insanity, and I'm not insane.
I wish TNA nothing but success, and I'll continue watching until I can't stomach their show any longer, just as I did last year. But I'm not buying into the hype this time. In the famous words of The Who, I won't get fooled again.
All of these things are positives. And while the viewership numbers may have yet to bear it out, if this continues, one would hope that TNA is rewarded for their steps forward with more eyeballs on their product.
I can't help but think I've seen this movie before, though. Just last year, in fact.
Last year, Destination America was the new network.
You had the Beatdown Clan—the group of MVP, Samoa Joe, Low Ki and Kenny King—burst onto the scene. While they were initially unwanted, the group quickly became the best part of IMPACT on a week-to-week basis.
EC3 and Rockstar Spud had become entangled in a bitter, bloody feud that was one of the best TNA had seen in its history. Lashley was tearing it up as world champion before Kurt Angle took the gold for one last hurrah. Drew Galloway would add a fresh, promising face to the mix.
It's like deja vu.
Now, it appears as if POP is more solidly behind TNA than Destination America was, so that's a bonus. However, that doesn't erase my concern that this spike in the quality of IMPACT Wrestling is only temporary.
Last year, aside from the soured relationship with their new network, two things were largely to blame for the downfall of the product:
-First, Josh Mathews would take the place of Mike Tenay as the play-by-play guy alongside Taz. This duo lasted a few months until Taz departed and was eventually replaced by "The Pope" D'Angelo Dinero.
If you've ever wondered how much bad commentary can be draining to a wrestling product—as if RAW wasn't proof enough—all you need to do is watch IMPACT over the course of the past year. It's absolutely awful.
-Secondly, following the tour of the United Kingdom, TNA returned to the IMPACT Zone.
If you've watched a show emanating from the IMPACT Zone in the past couple of years, I don't need to explain how negatively this affects the product. No energy, no excitement, hardly any noise at all. Hell, if they didn't show the "fans" in attendance, I'd think the studio was empty.
Fast forward a year and not only does the commentary team remain the same, but TNA has already announced that they will be returning to the IMPACT Zone for television tapings in March.
Therefore, no matter how good the product itself is, these two factors will zap all energy and excitement out of it and make the show downright depressing to watch on a weekly basis, yet again.
I would have loved to write a glowingly positive article about the progress TNA is making, like Mr. Johnson did in the column linked earlier. But given how I've seen this before, I can't. It would be the very definition of insanity, and I'm not insane.
I wish TNA nothing but success, and I'll continue watching until I can't stomach their show any longer, just as I did last year. But I'm not buying into the hype this time. In the famous words of The Who, I won't get fooled again.