Blogamania: iMPACT in London!
Oh, and there was some wrestling too.
- Shows opens and that is one HUGE crowd. The set-up looks very impressive and already TNA looks like a genuine company for once by getting out of Orlando and still looking like a wrestling company.
- Storm and Ray start the show with pleasantries. Ray is playing Orndorff to Storm’s Piper. The ”Hello Ireland!” joke doesn’t work because it’s more likely to piss off the Irish and make the Brits think you’re a fuckwit. Wembley Arena booed because they’re
Southernpolite. - Storm will wrestle two matches tonight (against Roode and Ray) because Hardy isn’t here. Two Storm matches and no Hardy? Ambassador, you’re really spoiling us.
- Joe and Magnus beat on Crimson in a ‘Buckingham Brawl’ match, which meant JoeMag didn’t need to tag in but CriMorg did. Even when booked as the underdogs the crowd hated Crimson and Morgan, which made for an entertaining match. Literally every move was booed and everything Joe and Magnus did was cheered. Magnus thankfully scored the pin.
- Bischoff gets flipped off and the censor it. of all the things TNA does, they decide to censor that? The blurring made it look like the fan was waving his cock at Bischoff.
- Garrett comes out and words are said but the crowd gives him a David Cameron welcome as the TNA Sound Mixer works like a gaggle of Polish factory workers to make it sound positive. Crowd also chants ”Hogan” before it’s announced, showing that Loose Women has a bigger audience than I previously thought.
- If they ever do a ‘IS GARRETT BISCHOFF REALLY ERIC’S SON?’ storyline, it will last less than a week because there’s no way he could be anybody else’s dad as no-one else in TNA is that characterless or dull.
- Mark Haskins vs. Austin Aries. TNA expected a positive reaction for Haskins, presumably expecting the crowd to go OH LOOK IT’S THAT GUY WHO LOST BOTH MATCHES HE HAD WITH TNA LAST YEAR, WE’D BEST CHEER as opposed to hyping the guy beforehand (and no, I don’t mean ‘immediately before the match’). Brits aren’t like Americans, we’ll not cheer just anybody just because they’re from our country. We’ll get behind them if they’ve proven their worth, but this is the country that came up with the expression ‘You can’t shit a shitter’. Oh, and they put him against a crowd favourite. If they put him against Gunner the crowd would have chanted the lyrics to ‘Rule, Britannia!’ to support the guy.
- They had a good match, albeit one that played to ”Austin Aries!” chants. Sadly Haskins’ Shooting Star Press ended the same way Brock Lesnar’s did. Aries showed his compassion by immediately kicking him in the face.
- Tenay said at one point: ”We’re going to be back in the UK next week with a Star Wars special”. If it’s TNA, Han’s going to shoot first, shoot on George Lucas, rip up his contract and call himself Indiana Harrison.
- Roode pinned Storm after interference from Ray. Not sure why they did Roode/Storm first given it’s the main feud, but the match was the usual good stuff from these two. Weird that these two have wrestled a bunch of times since the feud has begun but none of them have been on PPV.
- Tara pinned Gail Kim. Not as bad as you’d think actually and the crowd was polite for it.
- Forget what I said earlier, the TNA Sound Mixer goes even crazier when Garrett returns to the ring to thank ”each and every one of you”, to the point where even what Garrett is saying sounds odd. Hogan was announced as Garrett’s trainer. I hoped it was Jarrett, so they could name him Garrett Jarrett and also blame the booing he receives on him being a good heel.
- They’re using Hogan to get Garrett over. One of the disadvantages of doing things in front of an actual audience was that fans who care about the product and pay to watch the show live were able to give a completely different reaction to the Garrett/Eric storyline than what TNA usually gets from it’s paid extras, models and Hogan relatives. Will they change their storyline because of this? Of course not.
- Sting comes out with a BLACK CRICKET BAT to watch James Storm’s back at ringside. I liked the idea. Shame it looked a bit like a spank-pad. Which in fairness, would certainly deter me from interfering.
- Storm pinned Ray and that’s all folks. Entertaining show due to a white-hot crowd and a lack of backstage bollocks. Also no Hardy, Anderson, Mexican America or Shannon Moore appearances. The Bischoff stuff was as pointless as ever (neither of them are wrestlers and no-one cares in the slightest about either one of them because of this) but there was a lot less crap than there was usually from TNA.
Big Arse Screen Caps of Signs (Thanks again Namesless Fans!)
