TNA SuperThread SPOILERS

[Big Pete]

Mmm...

Most of them I wouldn't touch. Chikara was it's own little niche project but on a national stage I don't think there is a lot of long term value there.

Kingston & Touchdown are the only regulars I can see becoming anything. Jigsaw at a stretch.

 

[Misanthrope]

Mmm...

Most of them I wouldn't touch. Chikara was it's own little niche project but on a national stage I don't think there is a lot of long term value there.

Kingston & Touchdown are the only regulars I can see becoming anything. Jigsaw at a stretch.

The older Ants (Soldier, Fire, and Green) are all capable workers. Quackenbush (but he 'ain't going anywhere). Cabana. Brodie Lee is a CHIKARA guy. Saturyne is a pretty good female worker. Archibald Peck is a great manager type. Chuck Taylor.

Not a lot of main event level stars in the making, but some good undercard guys who know how to entertain a crowd.

 

[DB]

Mmm...

Most of them I wouldn't touch. Chikara was it's own little niche project but on a national stage I don't think there is a lot of long term value there.

Kingston & Touchdown are the only regulars I can see becoming anything. Jigsaw at a stretch.

WAS it's own little niche... It is either running an awesome storyline atm that they have closed down, or they have really closed down.

 

[Misanthrope]

WAS it's own little niche... It is either running an awesome storyline atm that they have closed down, or they have really closed down.

Nobody seems to know just yet :lol: The alternate timelines stuff is confusing as hell.

 

[DB]

On Chikara101 (their message boards) they have a 'My Memories' thread, and all wrestlers have come in there and posted.... It's getting very weird.

When it first went down I immediately went this has to be a storyline.... Now I'm not sure.

If it is a storyline, it has to be the most elaborate one ever, and apparently there were seeds planted as early as 2007 for this.

 

[Misanthrope]

When it first went down I immediately went this has to be a storyline.... Now I'm not sure.

If it is a storyline, it has to be the most elaborate one ever, and apparently there were seeds planted as early as 2007 for this.

CHIKARA is very comic book. Now that I'm about to have a lot of free time, I might try and track down their stuff from day #1 and follow it.

 

[Big Pete]

The older Ants (Soldier, Fire, and Green) are all capable workers. Quackenbush (but he 'ain't going anywhere). Cabana. Brodie Lee is a CHIKARA guy. Saturyne is a pretty good female worker. Archibald Peck is a great manager type. Chuck Taylor.

Not a lot of main event level stars in the making, but some good undercard guys who know how to entertain a crowd.

Cabana (who is more or less a CHIKARA guest star but anywho) maybe...

Peck, sure, although fans know him better off of ROH.

The rest shouldn't be anything other than short term prelim acts. Maybe Taylor & Saturyne in time but they both need more seasoning before they can work in the big leagues.

Lee obviously doesn't factor into this conversation.

TNA have to be smart with who they acquire and not go after guys just because they can work a 10 minute sprint.

 

[Iafeta]

Lovin the new version of the Main Event Mafia. Often when you get a stable like this you have one or two stars and then a few turds who couldn't wrestle for the life of them (such as the now). The first four are all excellent wrestlers (yes I know Sting is now in the extreme veteran stage but this role suits him to a tee IMO), and the fifth man they added will get a lot of rub from it. The one thing TNA does need to do now is start trying to get Bischoff, Brisco, Knux and Doc over. They've fallen into the 'come to the ring, stand in the ring and nod and laugh' role that was so prevalent in the now. It'd be good to see them starting to get some action to get real heat on this feud.

Also, great Knock-Outs match between Gail Kim and Taryn Tyrell. Not sure I've ever seen the move Gail used at the end, but it builds her character brilliantly.

 

[Manurewa_Marlins]

wait...didnt Angle step to Rampage on his debut...now theyre buddies? Hmmm.

Have any of you seen Mickey Babylon's "How I would book Rampage in TNA" video? f**king dynamite. Check for it on youtube.

 

[Iafeta]

Yeah there's no doubt there's been a change of direction. TNA have been a lot better in continuity in their storylines. I wonder whether they may have the classic 'misunderstanding' and then back-track that back into the storyline?

The other thing I'm a little unsure of is there is generally a golden rule of not booking two heels against one another. Or at least having a babyface in a match. In the match between Aries and Daniels v Roode and Kazarian, am I not not mistaken in assuming all four men are heels? The idea of a heel is to have someone to boo against so the 'classic' fan is cheering for the fan to go over against the odds, how does that happen if they're all heels?

FWIW, I thought either Roode or Aries was going to turn babyface to join MEM. There was one or two hints. Roode said something like "Is that good enough to get in" or something like that in a match a few weeks. Aries I thought may have been propelled as a face against Bully Ray. But then that seemed to be back tracked back to Sabin. That storyline to a degree felt to me like they had a couple of chapters they needed to build in to meet the publisher's minimum page contract, so they added some fluff in. It in a sense also devalued the X Division title.

 

[Big Pete]

Really mixed on this angle.

On one hand, I could really care less about a Main Event Mafia reformation - especially as a babyface team. They had their run in 08/09, it had potential but it pittered out into disappointment very quickly. For me, this would be like Randy Orton bringing back Legacy to face off against Team Heyman.

However, as long as it's just a way to label this new babyface group and it gets the likes of Magnus, Joe and Rampage over then there's nothing really wrong with it.

I'm still not really feeling this angle. Bully is basically carrying this entire team and nobody else is doing much for me.

The sooner Bound For Glory approaches the better.

 

[Scott Gourley's Lovechild]

It's WCW booking all over again. Got nothing, well lets reform the nWo.

TNA needs to move Sting down the card to bring up younger wrestlers, not lead the top of the card at 54 running around in a t-shirt trying to stay with the main event guys. They have genuine top guys like Angle, Aries, Roode, Hardy, etc that can go. They would be better off doing what WWE did with The Nexus, and have faces + heels come together to defeat the Aces + Eights rather than the Babyface All-Stars.

 

[Big Pete]

I still think TNA needs to bring in new talent and introduce them in a less contrived manner than gut check.

And not just bring them in, but build them up and make them out to be big deals.

What I'm saying is, they need to take a page out of the WWE's book from 1996.

 

[Scott Gourley's Lovechild]

They used to do that early on, I remember Mike Tenay and Don West would talk about the wrestler backgrounds in WWE, ROH, CHIKARA, Japan, Mexico, etc. It made TNA look like the place everyone came to as a proving ground. I reckon both Taz and Tenay would still be able to do that, becuase TNA's audience already knows of these rivals as opposed to the WWE.

 

[Big Pete]

That's one way of going about it but I'd also like to see wrestlers given new gimmicks ala Mankind (Foley) & Stone Cold (Austin).

For instance, I'd drop the 'Psychedelic' gimmick for Morrison and try and find a new gimmick for him to sink his teeth into.

 

[Scott Gourley's Lovechild]

Well Austin debuted as The Ringmaster, which was similar to his WCW gimmick but with shorter hair and Ted DiBiase as his manager. Would of been interesting to find out where Austin would of gone if DiBiase hadn't left for WCW.

Some wrestlers would need new gimmicks no doubt. Some even go backwards, Austin Aries TNA return was his gimmick from around his return to ROH after his first TNA run.

 

[Big Pete]

Aye, he was originally brought in as The Ringmaster as WCW and WWF were scouring the globe for talent. It would have only been a matter of time until Austin & Dibiase broke up - it was clear the 'Stone Cold' persona was set in motion before Dibiase had even left. However, the character was different, the original Stone Cold was a soft talking sinister heel who came across as a murderer.

It's neither here nor there. What matters is the type of talent TNA signs. If they sign say...Roderick Strong, then a gimmick change maybe in order since they aren't THAT well known but if they brought in Randy Orton then obviously you capitilise on his celebrity.

 

[Scott Gourley's Lovechild]

The issue there being TNA has ways had a big mark + smark following be they devoted or occasional viewers. Rebranding someone needs to be done for the right reasons. Lets not forget some of TNA's dumb ideas like Rubix or Austin Starr. The worst one I can think of is Senshi, where Jeremy Borash first introduced him as "formerly known as Low Ki".

 

[Big Pete]

Chris Sabin is your new TNA World Heavyweight Champion.

Congratulations to him. He's one of the last remaining TNA Originals and after suffering through two major setbacks it's a very nice thank you from Hogan, Dixie and co. As long as Bully regains the belt shortly I won't have a problem with the decision.

Impact itself gave Raw a real run for it's money, which is actually saying something given how warmly Raw was received this week. Aries/Roode kicked off the show with a calibre of match you'd expect from these two and the show was padded out with three X-Division contenders matches which were all shallow but fun sprints.

 

[Scott Gourley's Lovechild]

Those X Title Contender matches had some great names in them though. Homicide, Trent Baretta, Jigsaw, Sonjay Dutt, all top quality.