Disclaimer: This week I will be talking about an “analysis” piece on TNA Impact that made me shake my head at first and then I read the comments which put a big smile on my face, I will be talking about what I think was the main reason why I thought last week’s Impact was bad, I will be talking about what the follow-up should be to Austin Aries broken arm cliff-hanger, I will be discussing a few “outside the box” names who could be the leader of the Aces and Eights and finally as I do every so often I will talk about the Dirtsheets.
TNA Fans Defend TNA and Cite TNAsylum as the Better Site
On PWTorch.com one of their writers wrote an entire blog taking potshots at TNA for some logic holes in the stories TNA told on the most recent episode of Impact. (It was written on Friday August 24th) This was clearly James Caldwell trolling a bit and instead of PWTorch followers joining in on “the fun” they instead threw it back in his face, badmouthed him (called him a biased anti-TNA smark), badmouthed the site (the question was asked why isn’t there a piece like this about WWE? And the lack of one shows that PWTorch is clearly an anti-TNA site) and one of the posters referenced TNAsylum as a place they go to now for TNA news, columns and analysis. This poster whose name shall remain anonymous also praised the community TNAsylum has. I am only bringing up this topic because TNAsylum got a shoutout.
The Biggest Problem I Had With Last Week’s Impact
I know some of you disagreed with that notion when it was discussed in the Impact Discussion thread last week about it being a bad show but I thought it was a bad show. The main reason why it was a bad show in Crossfire’s opinion was the lack of Austin Aries, James Storm and Bobby Roode on the show. Since last Fall, these 3 guys have been carrying the Impact show with Kurt Angle, Jeff Hardy, Bully Ray, AJ Styles and Daniels playing supporting roles in carrying Impact. Last Thursday night: Roode, Aries and Storm got a combined 2 minutes of screen time. Aries and Storm were involved in the melee at the end and Roode wasn’t even there.
2 minutes out of 83 were devoted to the 3 men who have been nothing but quality for TNA both in the ring and on the mic for months now. That is simply unacceptable no matter the circumstances. I can let Roode not being there as it’s a storyline reason that I pitched by the way 2 months ago but with Aries and Storm there, they need more face-time. The supporting players weren’t put in all that great of positions as Styles and Hardy got a fair amount of mic time which really doesn’t suit them, Kurt Angle was in the same spot as Aries and Storm, Bully Ray had a fine match but no mic time and Daniels was stuck eating crow to end the Claire Lynch stuff. It’s not the end of the world for TNA to have a bad episode of Impact once in a while but the reason why that was the case must be avoided in the future.
Where Is It Stated That A Broken Arm Will Stop a Wrestler From Wrestling a Match?
TNA ended a bad episode of Impact with a nice hook for next week: The TNA World Champion had his arm broken by the Aces and Eights. Now I am reading people lay out scenarios for the World Title going forward without Aries as champion. That side of the hypothetical argument is fine but I have not seen anyone look at it hypothetically from the other side of the argument where Aries refuses to give up the title and defend it with the broken arm. We have seen countless times in wrestling where an injured (in kayfabe) champion still goes out there and fights for the belt they value so dearly. Kurt Angle wrestled at Royal Rumble 2003 with a “torn” ACL/MCL/PCL. Triple H wrestled at Wrestlemania 18 with his quadriceps muscle “holding together by a thread”. Bill Goldberg wrestled at Survivor Series 2003 with a crushed ankle. The Rock in 1999 wrestled a few matches with a “broken arm” as well. I am using WWE examples because I don’t remember TNA running this kind of angle with their World Champion ever.
This is the perfect story to cement Aries as a babyface hero. The fans can certainly get behind a guy who won’t let a broken arm stop him from carrying and fighting for the biggest title in the company. It is also not a babyface story that would go against the character Aries is playing. It would be a story a veteran like Aries can excel at playing. With the one arm, Aries’ workrate won’t be as great but the storytelling should be phenomenal. I hope and pray TNA lets Aries story play up like this as opposed to stripping him of the title and putting him on the sidelines for a bit.
Some Outside The Box Names To Lead The Aces And Eights
We have the usual suspects as the leader of the gang (Jarrett, Joey Ryan and Eric Bischoff) but here are some other choices with reasons being both a shoot on real-life and kayfabe:
Jim Cornette:
He was always a scheming kind of character. He is a guy who could be viewed as a leader of a red-neck biker gang. He has a history with everyone who was attacked so far. There is no love lost between Aries and Cornette stemming from their falling out in ROH in 2010. He wouldn’t push James Storm and Roode in 2009 and it pisses him off that they have become so successful after Cornette left. Kurt Angle's freak out in 2009 after the Jeff and Karen affair was revealed helped lead to Cornette being ousted from TNA. He doesn’t like Hogan and Sting because they are old. The Gutcheck guy picked TNA over ROH. Finally AJ Styles didn’t fight TNA management for Cornette so he must pay too. That covers every talent/personality the Aces and Eights have attacked so far. Cornette also hates TNA so trying to destroy their top talent makes sense as well.
Konnan
Samoa Joe
Bully Ray
Bully Ray has never been attacked only threatened which in essence means nothing. He is always throwing out accusations of others leading the gang. He is also trying to eliminate the competition so Bully Ray can rise to the top of the promotion. Plus Bully's character is a guy who hangs out in bars and strip clubs. Pretty sure he can find a biker gang in those places.
Joseph Park
Vince Russo
Dirtsheets Always Post Useless “Updates”
This was a late addition to this particular Crossfire blog and it stems from an argument I got into with someone on the site this past Monday night. The way dirtsheet articles are written, it is basically an exercise in pretending to tell you something when in reality they are telling you nothing. Every backstage creative update is a prime example of this because “EVERY STORYLINE IN WRESTLING IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE”. Telling us the exclusive creative plan for who will win the Royal Rumble in November is absolutely useless since it changes every single week for 2 months. This week we got a run of the mill backstage update from PWInsider stating that “Bully Ray and Devon still haven’t signed new TNA deals and the contracts expire soon”. So basically this update was given to tell the Internet fan that nothing had changed. There was no talk about how the negotiations are going or how close or how far apart both sides are when it comes to negotiating the deal, there was just nothing said other than the deal hasn’t been signed yet.
It’s not that they are lying to the internet fan; it’s just that they aren’t telling us anything of value. If Bully Ray and Devon signed new deals tomorrow, than what was the point of Monday’s news post? The only point to it was to get web traffic to PWInsider which in turn might lead to more people subscribing to PWInsider and to get more advertising dollars. Now TNAsylum posted this update for "nefarious" reasons as well but it wasn’t a monetary reason. They posted it so it can lead to some spirited (and clean) discussions and get more people onto the site so TNAsylum’s community can expand. (I believe I interacted with a new person to the site Monday night) These tidbits of news from PWInsider, PWTorch, Wrestling Observer and other news creating sites are all created to get website hits which lead to subscription money and advertising money for the site’s creators. TNAsylum is indeed refreshing in that the site creator’s aren’t in it for the money, rather they are in the internet wrestling website genre to have good discussions and debates about professional wrestling. (with TNA wrestling being it’s focus)
