Yes! The whole time I was watching that convoluted mess, I was thinking, Kevin Eck is going to put tna on full blast. What a mess.
I find wrestling corny, funny, interesting, and strange. I'm so smartened up, all I'm really watching is a strange business and how it's run. That said, what a disaster. 41 minutes into bad old wcw shenanigans i realized there'd been no match yet. And the knockouts? Boooo...I could not believe my eyes with that bunkness. Remember when awesome kong lost her handler and went crazy? Where's that? Tna. Not doomed yet, but somethings gotta give. They stink. They've stunk. Since right about the time hogan and his goons rolled up. So lame. Damn I hope Linda mcmizzle would hurry up and lose her dumb election. Maybe www will try to be good again. Shout out to my man Spanish...it's a shame he doesn't get ROH on comcast. At least that's a legit wrestling show.

I turned the show off half way through and im glad i did...in plain english..it was pure s***!
I keep trying to give TNA a chance and they keep treating me like garbage..screw them!.

I will never watch TNA again..and good riddance to those ignorant f****.

And , here I am thinking that I missed something because I fell asleep during the show.

Hey eck why do yu even bother covering tna? Just cover wwe and roh so everyone can be spared your holier than thou smart a** critique. You must truly be bitter about your time with wcw because you have never given a fair shake to anyone in tna who came over from wcw. Spare me the excuse that it was a bad show and your just giving your opinion. If that was the case then what every tna show over the last few yrs has been terrible? Not only do your opinions seem biased but your reasoning is outdated and flawed.

RESPONSE FROM KE: I always give TNA a fair shake, whether you want to believe that or not. My opinions are just that -- my opinions. And I have written "good reviews" when I think the show has been good.
I guess you missed this one since "I never" say anything positive:
Ihttp://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/wrestling/blog/2010/08/thoughts_on_tna_impacts_the_whole_fn_show.html

I'm seriously considering giving up on watching TNA. I suggest you'd do the same. I'd rather see you report on ROH instead. That promotion deserves the publicity more than WCW. I mean, TNA.

Again you're totally off on Jeff Hardy, you're just not a man for drama, you don't get it. But had the night featured 5 matches of Motor City Machine Guns like wrestling you would of loved it. I for one don't understand what entertainment you get from these spot fests, you do know it's fake right? Maybe it's time to move on to UFC since you like althletes. TNA is theater, thats what the industry is, fighting theater.

Jeff Hardy's explanation for going heel wasn't great but it's okay because it's suppose to be mysterious and he's so cool as heel, the guy so has the look in a time when movies like Twilight are all the rave. The delivery wasn't monotone or maybe it was but that was the point, they're shooting for cult like. Man I've watched those promos like 20 times today, that's how good it was.

I agree Hogan and Biscoff totally reak of NWO, but this faction has some elements of cult. Hogan calling Abyss son. You picked that up right? The whole undertone of how the story was formed, I mean you've been watching Abyss perform for the past several months leading up to this right? Abyss and Hardy fit the bill but Hogan, Bischoff, and Jarett don't so TNA needs to get this straight. I don't expect Hogan to turn emo, but those 3 guys need to do a bit something to their characters if they want this to work. Hogan, Bischoff, and Jarett emo? My god that is a tough fit if there ever was one.

Madison Rayne has something special, not sure what but she's quickly been turning into the premiere heel of the womens division, she's smart and has leadership skills and that comes out in her bossy heel character and like anything good she also has humor as her character comes off as a spoiled brat in a comical way, she never gets annoying for real.(Angelica Pickles from Rugrats comes to mind) Tara laying for her was great, it adds to the story and both did it well.

The old fashion group of made men golden boys known as 'Fourtune', still bores the hell out of me almost as much as that group of 'never was-is' known as EV2.

I think we can all agree, BOW WOW or whoever that was, needs to go. Compared to that thing, the segments of SHORE that came before with just Robbie and Cookie were likable. Ratings are in and it was also by far the segment that got the lowest ratings of the night.

If there's anyone who should be in "Immortal," it's Ric Flair. His career never ends!

Thursday night’s TNA Impact was one of the worst episodes of the show that I have seen in some time...........................

You keep on telling yourself that. The rise and fall of TNA wrestling DVD is officially on my bucket list.

I have watched wrestling on television for over 25 years. I have seen many things good(the weekly UWF show, Chris Adams and Gino Hernandez as a tag team, Chris Jericho on the microphone, the original DX and Kurt Angle) and bad(NWA Worldwide wrestling hyping a match and then only showing a minute of it, the slow death of WCW, the Invasion Storyline, and Katie Vick). But the October 14th episode of Impact may have been the worst episode of wrestling I have ever seen.

It was a trainwreck, but I have to admit I was captivated.

One hilarious note: There was more new professional wrestling featured on their recap show than on their wrestling show.

"Perhaps it will be revealed that Rayne is blackmailing Tara or something along those lines, but it’s still counterproductive to do these “BS” title changes. ..."

Kev, did you forget that it was Madison Rayne who beat Tara to force her to leave TNA and then allowed her reinstated. That would be the reasoning behind Tara laying down for Madison. It makes more sense than the Nash-Hogan fiasco.

RESPONSE FROM KE: No, I didn't forget. But why does Tara have to listen to her now that she's been reinstated?

So I see that WCW is back.....under the umbrella of tna but still.........
A great senerio that would make this stupid storyline actually good would be that after turning point on Impact Dixie Carter goes to the ring alone and after alot of talk, announces a new partner to take down Immortal. First Paul Heyman. Then he calls out Hernandez, Homicide, Shelton Benjamin, Bobby Lashley, and Kevin Nash. Nash claims he called a "friend" and out comes Shawn Micheals. Shawn will then say he brought someone too, Batista. Eh, who am I kidding.

I have to agree with you, this was a horrible show. The ratings show that TNA got a lot of interest after BFG but, the ratings went down as the show went on. Which means that people without blogs simply turned the channel once they saw what was happening. I have one question though, with most of impact containing mostly talk why in the blue hell would I watch Reaction?

Actually, at the same time that J-Woww was on, there was also an episode of South Park on at the same time that was parodying all the "Jersey Shore"-esque stuff on TV. By far the best TV of the three!!!

Man, are you kidding? The J-Woww segment was off the charts. It reminded me of other powerful segments from the past (Andre & Hogan on Pipers Pit, the original NWO takeover, the Flair tribute)

I like watching wrestling on TV. It's like eating a big bowl of popcorn: harmless fun. So I've stuck through a lot of bad episodes of Impact because there's enough good stuff to enjoy.

But Thursday's show was the end. No more Impact for me. Talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, and not much of it interesting. Rehashing of old WCW plotlines that didn't work the first time, and way, way too much Bischoff.

Beyond the rerun factor, there's a fundamental problem with the whole Bischoff/Hogan/Fortune takeover angle: if it's true, then there's literally nothing anyone can do. Taz could have been fired on the spot (and why wasn't he?). Any wrestler who opposed the faction could be fired or beaten senseless. This isn't a battle between two evenly-matched sides; it's about as interesting as North Korean political gathering.

Laugh line of the night: when Bischoff (or was it Hogan?) criticized Carter for holding down TNA by bringing in a bunch of washed-up old wrestlers. Pot, meet kettle.

Usually I'm ticked on what was horrible on IMPACT and bash Bischoff but today I'm only going to write positively.

The End.

Well Kev i stongly disagree with you on this one.To me I thought this was the best Impact I ever seen. The opening segment with Hogan and Company was priceless.Ive been a fan of this sport/entertainment for over 30 years,so theirs not to much that can really surprise me,but to see Hogan and Flair hug I was stunned! I really enjoyed Hogan looking Dixie in the eye telling her he screwed her.How about Jarrert and Angle shooting with us. I feel TNA is about to turn that curve. Stay tuned things are about to get interesting

RESPONSE FROM KE: Like I said, I did really like the Angle-Jarrett stuff. Angle is an awesome performer, and unlike a lot of fans, I think Jarrett is underrated, not overrated.

This episode actually exceeded my expectations.

Yes, you could see Flair & Fortune aligning themselves with Hogan, Bischoff & company down Sixth Avenue.

Yes, I could have done without the Jersey Shore mess.

But I enjoyed the episode and particularly liked the confrontation between Jarrett and Angle. BTW, why wouldn't Jarrett be afraid of Taz?

Suffice it to say I strongly disagree with your assessment.

While you might not have been into it the fans in the Impact Zone most certainly were. There might have been more talk than action but the fans definitely liked what they saw (with the notable exception of the Jersey Shore bit.) They weren't sitting on their hands.

Which brings me to this question. What's your problem with Samoa Joe? You always sell him short. Yet he has always been over with the TNA fans and for good reason. His intense persona inspires fans to chant, "Joe's gonna kill you." And why not? The man can flat out wrestle. I am amazed by Joe's agility. Now I agree that his match with Abyss was way too short. But how many men his size could do a suicide dive threw the ropes? He moves like Rey Mysterio.

RESPONSE FROM KE: I agree that Joe moves very well for his size. My problem with that match wasn't his work; it was that it went two minutes and had a BS finish. That's not the fault or Joe or Abyss.

Just a massive cluster-you-know-what. Okay, I understand that after BFG they had to do some explaining, but for God's sake - counting the lie-down it took 75 minutes just for the first "match" to take place!

The whole thing was abysmal.

Oh yeah; draw attention to a TV show with which your own show competes head-to-head . They must teach that at Harvard Business.

Kevin,
Why don't you tell us what you REALLY thought of the episode?
richard
excellent as always

I was hoping that you Kevin Eck, with your vast knowledge of pro-wrestling, could confirm if this episode holds the record for the least amount of wrestling on a wrestling show? The Anderson v. RVD match didn't even start until Reaction so for Impact it was Joe v. Abyss, Madison v. Tara and Fourtune v. Pope. That had to add up to less than 10 minutes. Even Nitro in its death throes would have more matches than that.

I was actually hoping after the first hour passed with no real matches that TNA would go for it and just a full episode of nothing but promos. Just to see it happen. Maybe next week.

How long till RVD turns heel and sides with Hogan's group??

What happens when everyone joins Immortal? They aren't going to wrestle each other...

I think you are being too harsh on TNA here - this episode of Impact was more compelling than anything put out by WWE this week. There was too much talking, but that fitted in with the storylines as TNA is coming off its biggest show and angle of the year. The purpose of the show was to offer explanation for the "They" storyline and begin developing fueds on the back of this storyline. I think the show achieved that with Jarrett/Angle, RVD/Hardy, Dixie/Bischoff, Fortune and the Immortals aliging, Joe and the Pope on their missions for revenge, Sting/Nash walking out, and much more. All of these fueds were begun on this one show and should serve TNA well for the months ahead. Of course, if every Impact was like this, then the lack of wrestling would be a huge concern. However, as a one-off show that has set the direction of TNA for the future, I thought the show was very good. Let's hope TNA do not mess this up from here as there is potential for lots of great (albeit not original) storylines on the back of this Impact!

That Jersey Shore crap is.. well.. crap. I don't think I ever heard go away heat quite like that haha. All those heels in the ring together in the beginning was pretty impressive I thought. I wasn't watching wrestling yet during the nWo era in WCW so a stable to that extent is kinda new for me, since Nexus and the Spirit Squad was just always a bunch of rookies and Evolution was just 4 guys. So I am kinda excited for the "they" and Fortune together.. although I don't see Hardy as a heel.

One thing I did like about the show though was The Pope standing up, that should be the push to push him into the main event status.

Hopefully though the high ratings don't make TNA think that is was just because it was talk heavy.. hopefully there's a lot more wrestling next week. But I didn't think this show was too bad.

"Bischoff finally realized that Miss Tessmacher has, um, loose lips, so he demoted her to being a wrestler in the Knockouts division."

Yup, that's right: according to Eric Bischoff and TNA, being a Knockout is a step DOWN from whatever Tessmacher was. (Secretary? Prostitute? Both?)

The female wrestlers in that company must feel so loved right now.

Thanks, Kev. You just saved me two hours of regret when I get off work.

It's like TNA has become WCW, but managed to completely skip the good years and went straight to when it was horrible. When will people learn that Eric Bischoff is the Ted McGinley of professional wrestling.

RESPONSE FROM KE: Same Ken Doll looks and all!

I had to chuckle a bit when I read that first line in your post. Because that is exactly how I would have summed up this week's Impact, and basically the promotion as a whole as of late (minus the MCMG). What a disaster this show was. The funny part is that Raw was WAYYY better this week, because it did all the things people have criticized it for not having enough of and the stuff TNA used to brag about doing. It's like they are trying to swtich roles or something. When Raw absolutely blows your show (in this case Impact) out of the water in terms of quality and actual wrestling, you know something is wrong.

Bischoff and Hogan. Hogan and Bischoff. Where, oh where, have I seen this before. 14 years ago. Flair and the Horseman concept. ECW. Title changes via laying down. No wrestling, all talking. No wonder I feel like some sort of Vietnam vet...I'm having flashbacks. The sad part of this is that TNA just isn't very good at copying all this rehashed stuff. Jeff Hardy as both "top heel" and world champion has disaster written all over it. THE MAN HAS FELONY DRUG CHARGES HANGING OVER HIM. I don't care that it's taken forever and it might be delayed even further. They are still there and they're not going away. For TNA to put their top championship on a guy like this is still an extreme risk in terms of reality out of the ring and in terms of whether he can actually pull this off. Early returns...not promising.

Why not just put the title on Tommy Dreamer and really go off the deep end. (*Sarcasm*) The biggest problem is that Jeff Hardy is not even the top guy in his own stable. As long as Hogan wants to cash Dixie's paychecks and hobble out their on crutches (are you kidding me?) he will be the #1 guy. He doesn't know anything else. He can't imagine anything else. Maybe I'm wrong, but point to another time in the last 25 years where he's taken a back seat to anyone other than The Ultimate Warrior (and he's bitched about that ever since). He thinks "getting guys over" means building himself back up to megasuperhulkster level so that somewhere down the imaginary line, maybe (if he doesn't get hurt of change his mind...ask Bret Hart, HBK and anyone in WCW about that) just maybe, they could possible get the win. Even if he never steps inside the ring to wrestle again, he can't let it go. Vince McMahon understood this and is part of the reason Hogan didn't get more than a cursory run in WWE in the past decade. He gets one-offs. In this new super heel stable (which consists of half the roster) they were forced to draft Fortune into it, because...well...they weren't enough wrestlers. Hardy and Abyss. That was it. Now with Fortune involved, you have 4 authority figures and 8 wrestlers. Should we even count Douglas Williams and Matt Morgan?

The Motor City Machine Guns are the only thing right now worth watching in TNA, which is great for them, but not so good for TNA. I know the rating was high, but it was the post-Bound For Glory show, let's wait awhile before the true ratings returns come in. Cause if this is what TNA gives us on a weekly basis...No Thanks.

I was more of a fanboi of WWF back in the day so I look at it as my chance to relive the WCW days I missed out on. I can't wait for Shane to show up saying it's his name on the contract and we get to rewatch the merger.

laz ruiz it's called an OPINION lol hell you have one too

"RVD remarked that he and Hardy are lifelong friends"

so many jokes of irony with that one I'm not going to go there....smh

Can we launch an investigation into how Jeff Hardy ever got the "charismatic enigma" nickname? He is to charisma what feces is to pleasant smelling.

He's barely charismatic as a face, how is he supposed to be a heel?

Hey Kevin,

I usually am VERY critical of TNA, but to me this was the best iMPACT of the last six weeks. That may not be saying much, but I did find it both compelling and exciting.

TNA loves to recycle booking ideas from 10 years ago. Always. That's just what they do. But tonight they did it well at least. I enjoyed the opening promo, and I was okay with the lack of wrestling, because there was storyline work to be done.

I loved the Jarrett & Angle promo (Im a mark for Jarrett, I've always enjoyed his work) and I finally feel Hogan and Bischoff are in roles that work to their strengths.

To me this was the first impact with clearly defined faces and heels, and I hope that continues too.

"Even Nitro in its death throes would have more matches than that."

I agree. Even with the crap that WCW had in their dying days, they would still have some good matches, especially from their younger talent. One problem I have with TNA is the lack of younger talent. For years, Jay Lethal was the youngest guy on the roster until Consequences Creed came in. Since then, the only new "homegrown" talent they've had come in are Terry, Magnus, and Williams. I say homegrown because Wolfe and Generation Me made names for themselves in ROH.

Even though we all agree this was a crappy show, we all were a part of the 1.4 rating that it had.

Dixie Carter can only blame her self she just got sucked in by Hulks celebrity Hogan is old news she should have done her homework on Easy E .

A lot of people are mentioning ROH and if there's any chance of you adding that to the stuff you review on a weekly basis, Kev, I'm all for it.

According to Wikipedia, "On Youtube, user ROHBrazil reached a deal with HDNet to post episodes three days after each show's broadcast." So I imagine that ROH has no problem with you watching the shows on that YouTube channel, even if you don't get HDNET. And I would be interested to see what you have to say about, say, the feud between Kevin Steen and El Generico, or how you liked the recent main event between Christopher Daniels and Roderick Strong. And for that matter, what you think of Roderick Strong as a world champion, even if he's only a transitional one.

Last year's BFG was the best PPV of that year; it set up Matt Morgan and Hernandez as break out stars, it had top wrestling and great storylines to keep you interested.

In the last year, TNA has dropped right off the quality charts. The angles are terrible, they have ruined some of the best talent in the world (Nigel McGuiness anyone?) and even the wrestling has suffered. Hogan and Bischoff have even managed to influence the quality of wrestling.

They have ruined TNA. They have to go.

With WWE's decision to follow a PG line, TNA have a perfect opportunity to put out a real alternative for the "Attitude Era" fans. Instead they seem determined to put out the same product that was buried by the attitude era in the first place.

How you can call a company Total Non stop Action and then have so little wrestling on it?, is beyond me. In my own opinion TNA has actually taken a step backwards in the last year rather then taking a step forward. Their knockout division, has gone from being the best in pro wrestling to a complete joke. Their storylines have been made so complicated that they alienate casual viewers. On top of that, these same complicated storylines often make little to no sense and smack of lazy writing.

I agree with you on Jeff Hardy, turning him heel is a terrible idea. When Jeff joined TNA he was probably one of the most over guys in the business. whose whole style is centered around his daredevil attitude in the ring. His match with the Undertaker summed his persona perfectly, he threw everything he had at him, refused to give up and eventually earned his respect. That persona doesn't work for a heel, that ring style doesn't work for a heel. Heels are cowards and do not put their body on the line like that to win. To do so would make them brave or courageous. On top of that, Hardy is not good enough on the mic to be a main event level heel. Booking Hardy as a heel is just another example of TNA not thinking things through. Yes it will get heat and a bit of interest in the short term, but long term it just won't work

In my own opinion TNA need to get back to basics and they need to do it fast. They should also purchase "The rise and fall of WCW" DVD and make sure every single one of their writers watch it

Agree that this show was utter garbage. It's like Bish & Hogan have forgot that that they LOST the Monday Night Wars, why else would they employ all the same tactics again?

The biggest problem i had was Hogan saying that he and his great new HEEL faction screwed Carter out of the company so they could steer it in the right direction...did i mention they are supposed to be a heel faction? As most people would agree that Carter has so far had a less-than-positive effect on TNA then surely anybody who makes a move to take power from her and take the company to new heights is a babyface!

I cannot understand why the TNA fanbase is so defensive of the current product, they pride themselves on being the 'smart-fans' etc, and yet they are happily watching whilst the X-Division gets pushed into the dark, Ex WWE & WCW guys take top spots & talented TNA originals are made to look like idiots, jobbers or worse, released.

As for Jeff Hardy...stick to throwing yourself off big ladders dude, the microphone is not your friend!

If Fortune was going to join Immortal, wouldn't it have made sense for "They" to have helped Fortune win Letal Lockdown at Bound for Glory?

The biggest offense was Dixie Carter's husband's shirt. 70's much?

I know you love WWE, but why do you have to make it so obvious? Everything that Tna does is horrible and everything WWE does is golden

RESPONSE FROM KE: Wrong.

You say wrong, but even when you give Tna credit, you put a bad spin on it. See the headline ratings good for Tna, but.................

RESPONSE FROM KE: That's because there was a "but." It's not spin, it's a fact that ratings went down as the show went on. That means people were tuning out, which is not a good sign.

In regards to another promotion being an alternative to WWE:

ROH is doing it the right way.
TNA is doing it the wrong way.

I gave TNA an honest shot...just can't get into it. I wasn't sure why but I think I've figured it out. Pro wrestling is DRAMA, and TNA reminds me of 70's pro wrestling that's more about the guys standing around screaming and threatening. Boring. They have a lot of talent and it should be a good show. They need to re-tool their strategy if they are going to compete with the WWE.

i agree impact was pretty bad this week, my main question is how can aj styles be aligned it a group that has jeff hardy as the champ? styles has been telling us for months that this is the house that he built so it doesnt make since to me that he's ok with an outsider coming in and being handed the title. hopefully the alignment between fortune and immortal will be short lived... i think its about time aj drops the tv title to someone who will actually have time to defend it every week like its supposed to be. i'm still a huge tna fan so hopefully they will get the kinks worked out soon... p.s. if tna insists on tryin to turn itself into wcw then i vote to bring back vampiro he was always my favorite anyways

"I know you love WWE, but why do you have to make it so obvious? Everything that Tna does is horrible and everything WWE does is golden"

Dude, are you serious? I'm going to make you a list of things that Kevin Eck doesn't like about WWE:

-Hornswoggle
-LayCool
-The cheesy music that played when Kane talked
-The predictable finish to the Taker vs. Kane match at HIAC
-The fact that we're seeing a Taker/Kane feud after it's gotten old and also that everybody was able to see it coming
-Many of the Raw guest hosts and the stupid segments that went along with them
-Kaval jobbing to everybody
-Daniel Bryan jobbing to everybody, before they finally started pushing him
-CM Punk jobbing to almost everybody
-Alberto Del Rio's crappy commentary when he joined the announcers
-The very disappointing 900th episode of Raw
-The lousy match between Vince McMahon and Bret Hart at WrestleMania 26
-John Morrison's incredibly lame insults that were directed at Maryse on one Raw, which as I recall involved comparing her to a platypus or something
-The fact that Sheamus squashed Daniel Bryan after Bryan became UNITED STATES CHAMPION and was supposed to look like more than a jobber

Try reading his reviews of the WWE shows in their entirety sometime before you say that he thinks WWE never does anything wrong.

The fact is that he's writing about how TNA's product mostly sucks because TNA's product DOES mostly suck. It doesn't have to suck. They have a ton of talented wrestlers on their payroll that they could be using better, but instead they waste time with nonsensical storylines and "shocking swerves" that shock absolutely nobody. He's not saying anything about TNA that almost every other wrestling blogger is also saying. What do you think is more likely: that all of these people are bashing TNA because the people booking the shows are doing a rotten job, or that every...single...last...one of them is a WWE shill?

There's a big problem with both TNA and WWE right now. Good wrestling involves equal opposing forces. Fans must perceive the matches as a good matchup to make it entertaining. Unfortunately THEY (the simple minded writers) think it's fun to watch 8 against 1 (Nexus crap) or THEY + Fortune against 1 (TNA crap). Personally I find it very boring. Even a 2 year old can figure out what's going to happen. Opposing forces should be equally matched up to create intrigue and suspense. They need to make you wonder who is better. Unfortunately wrestling today is just pure cartoon garbage. The other stupid nonsense that they (WWE) wants you to believe is that beginners or rookies (who are weak individually) can take over the entire company. It seems that their story lines are designed for retards.