Disclaimer: This week I will be talking about the Bound For Glory PPV and some interesting opinions I have read on that show. I will be talking about the Post-BFG Impact Broadcast and unfortunately the SHIT rating this Impact got.
Bound For Glory Was a Wrestling Success But a Booking Disaster
Bound For Glory Was a Wrestling Success But a Booking Disaster
In the infamous Talon column (It's a New Day) that turned into the first of many pro vs. con Vince Russo arguments (Which I hope doesn't happen here but given my closing statements, we might go at it again), I made the statement that the roster is so good that every ppv will be wrestling quality. Hardy, Aries, Roode, Angle, Styles, Storm, Bully Ray, Zema Ion, Daniels, Kazarian, Samoa Joe, Magnus and RVD are all quality in the ring. (Some more quality than others but all these men can have great matches when facing the right opponent) I named 13 guys who are all regulars on Impact and PPVs. They are so good that no one can screw up the in-ring work (Yes not even Russo to all those Russo bashers on the site) these guys give you on ppv.
At BFG all these guys delivered and then some: Roode and Storm was a bloody and violent feud capper (Roode’s tack bump was the sickest thing I have seen in years), the tag team 3 way was amazing with Kaz, Daniels, Styles, Chavo, Hernandez (shocking as that is) and Angle all pulled out some great and dangerous moves, Ion and RVD had a great high flying opener (that tornado corkscrew DDT from Ion to RVD was sick), Joe and Magnus had a good technical match with some nice submissions by Joe, Aries and Hardy lived up to the hype (Hardy is criminally underrated as an in-ring worker as he is more than a spot monkey these days) and delivered a memorable main event. Oh and Bully Ray wore Sting facepaint which was the markout moment of the show for me and got a huge pop when he revealed that (It’s amazing how over a face Bully Ray has been). The wrestling on this show was top-notch which is why I said at TNAsylum that this was the best BFG ppv ever and on other sites I gave this show an A when I reviewed them or took part in a grade BFG poll.
However the booking decisions were mind-boggling at times and at other times questionable. Chavo and Hernandez have NOTHING and I mean NOTHING that says they should be tag team champions over the team of Daniels and Kaz or Angle and Styles. Those other two teams are better in the ring, on the mic and in terms of being over with the TNA audience. Those two teams are just simply better and more qualified to be champions over Chavo and Hernandez and the TNA crowd in Arizona (who were great all night and that includes HH4Lyfe who was in the crowd that night) let TNA know what they thought of Chavo and Hernandez winning the match when they booed the hell out of them during the post match interview. Chavo had to use the Eddie card to get some very cheap cheers. I’m not as against RVD beating Ion as others but Ion as X-Division champ was really good (when Ion got TV and PPV Time) and RVD just didn’t need that win.
The Devon reveal while logical and a legit surprise was also disappointing and laughable. It was disappointing because it’s Devon who has been so “meh” for SO LONG and so unneeded on the TNA roster (Which he proved Thursday night with ho-hum mic work and ho-hum in-ring work). It was laughable because of how over the top TNA had Hogan, Sting, and Bully Ray react and how the announcers played it up as this shocking turn of events. This wasn’t a main event face turning heel like Hogan or Jeff Hardy; this was a lowcard guy who barely got TV time before he left turning heel. Speaking of over the top, the promo leading to Jesse Godderz debut was ridiculous. I put that promo out of my mind but I know it made me “facepalm” while poor Lisa Marie Varon had to sell that garbage of how “Super Big-time Hollywood” this guy was before Jessie showed up. The “Who Are You” chants were really appropriate.
I haven’t even gotten to the main event yet which was weird booking too. TNA really misread the audience (I don’t think Arizona is an uber-smark town where you can’t take their chants as a representation of the rest of the American audience like Chicago is) and Aries is more popular than TNA thought. I wouldn’t be shocked if Aries regains the belt the next time he faces Hardy because TNA now realizes how over Aries is. I remember when Jeff Hardy had that moment in WWE when he got the crowd to back him in a match against The Undertaker in November 2008. The fans took Hardy’s side over Taker’s and in 2008 NO ONE saw that coming. Within a month, Hardy was WWE Champion in a move that was deemed to be a surprise by many if my memory is correct. I fully expect TNA to realize that Aries is worthy of carrying the belt and they will give him the belt again in the very near future. Aries loss deflated the crowd and ironically enough sent the fans home annoyed rather than happy. Aries lost Sunday night but he came out of BFG a bigger star. 5 of the 8 matches that occurred at BFG was mentioned in this section of the blog.
That’s What You Have To Complain About
I read two funny things about TNA’s Bound For Glory ppv: One was the fact that TNA was dumb to have 4 title changes on this show. A month after there was complaints (by the same people) about how TNA’s No Surrender ppv yielded NO title changes. Just a no win situation yet again for the Nashville/Florida based wrestling company. The other was just a headline for a blog by Prowrestling.Net’s Will Pruett, the title was about the lack of confetti and pyro for Jeff Hardy’s victory celebration. I ask did that bother any of you. There are plenty of booking decisions you can question/complain about but these two reasons to complain is just retarded.
That’s Your Follow-Up, Really?
I stated last week and the week before that BFG on October 14th and the Impact that follows are two of the biggest broadcasts in TNA history. TNA is going backwards when it comes to their TV product and the BFG ppv and post-BFG show can change all that. BFG yielded great wrestling but lacked a hook for the follow-up show (which BFG 2011 and BFG 2010 provided and then some). So TNA had virtually no hook for Thursday’s show and the ratings showed it. However that doesn’t explain why Impact Thursday night was so pointless. The follow-up to the ppv was few and far between because again we got POINTLESS matches instead. It’s ok to have a light wrestling show once in awhile (despite what the IWC usually tells you) and THIS was a week to do it. Did Chavo and Hernandez need to beat Gunner and Kash again? No they didn’t. Did Sting and Devon need to have a TWELVE minute match? No they didn’t. Did Tara need to wrestle and lose to ODB on her first Impact as Knockout champion? No she didn’t. Did Angle, Styles and Daniels need to wrestle a match of little consequence on Impact? No they didn’t. GIVE THEM PROMO TIME INSTEAD. Let these guys and gals talk about what happened at the biggest show of the year, set-up the storylines for the future. TNA followed up the biggest ppv of the year (in TNA’s history) with an episode of Impact straight out of what you’ll see on an Impact in December as the wrestlers are readying to go on holiday for a bit.
I said two months ago Lagana and Pritchard are living off of a placebo effect because they are simply not Vince Russo and I have had that feeling reinforced in recent weeks. I have seen so many comments to the effect of “It’s not Russo so it’s good” when it comes to Impact. Look wrestling quality is subjective but I have seen comments to that effect without any explanation of why the shows TNA is airing are good. One thing Crossfire does in these columns and on the site’s comment section is that I explain my position. I don’t state something without a follow-up backing my POV. Your opinion of what you see on screen is subjective but ratings are COLD HARD FACTS. Russo booking led to TNA’s ratings gradually increasing every year while Pritchard and Lagana booking is leading TNA’s ratings to decrease. Post-BFG 2011 Impact got 2 million viewers, Post BFG 2012 got 1.248 million viewers and you can’t argue that point no matter how much you want to. The current TNA creative team needs to fix this ratings problem now before there is a new TNA creative team in their place to do that same task.
