Big Red Machine wrote:
Despite one or two booking missteps, this almost certainly the best episode of Impact in a very long time. Maybe since Destination X 2014, which would have been almost a year ago. I’d definitely call this a great show, but I don’t know I’d go so far as to call it awesome. It’s close, though.

cero2k wrote:

Big Red Machine wrote:
Despite one or two booking missteps, this almost certainly the best episode of Impact in a very long time. Maybe since Destination X 2014, which would have been almost a year ago. I’d definitely call this a great show, but I don’t know I’d go so far as to call it awesome. It’s close, though.

by your writing, you can tell you came in with a lot of hate, good to see that by the end you thought it was an awesome show

Big Red Machine wrote:
EY AND ANGLE BRAWL IN A PARKING LOT- Kurt is pacing the parking lot waiting for EY. They brawled. It got broken up by security. It was stupid. Why the hell was Kurt pacing the parking lot waiting for Eric to show up? Did they do some big heat angle that I’m not remembering? If so, they should show a video package of it to start things off in case someone (like me, apparently) doesn’t remember it because it’s been not one but now two weeks since the last show.
Oh. And EY’s screaming t the end just sounded pathetic.
i loved this, it got me hyped for the main event

Oh look. Now the Dollhouse’s entrance has some set pieces that they bought at a local Toys R Us.
and thus it's now the best entrance in the company!

STEEL CAGE MATCH FOR THE TNA KNOCKSOUTS: Taryn Terrell(c) (w/the Dollhouse) vs. Gail Kim- 3.5/10
The steel cage match should be the match you build to for Slammiversary! Not a no-hype throwaway match on a random episode of Impact with a million other things going on! GRRRRR!
While i agree, i'm sure they'll have something meaningful, this match played out perfectly once I saw the post match stuff. I would imagine that by Slammaversary they'll wanna add something with Kong

Interference in a cage match. Well… it is TNA. You’d think they would build a cage with smaller camera-holes already, but apparently not.
aw c'mon, every company has those holes, I for once am happy that they used them, it pissed me off that they're always ignored.

Josh decided to point out to us that TNA’s product “isn’t PG. This is grown-up stuff.” That it may be, Josh, but that doesn’t make it good.
but it makes it different, the thing that most people bitch about WWE. It sounded bitter, like everything else that Josh says, but it's true



KURT AND EY HAVE BEEN SEPARATED FOR THE NIGHT AND LOCKED UP ALONE- the idea was good and Kurt’s whole caged tiger body language was good, but the stuff with EY was bad. Headbutting the glass was just stupid, and the Tweet… IT’S A F*CKING TWEET! Big deal. What’s he going to do that’s so terrible? Flame Kurt on Twitter? Come on.
i loved the window thing, completely unexpected and made eric seem extra crazy


JOSH RUNS DOWN SOME IMPORTANT INFO- meanwhile, Al Snow stands there looking stupid. Can we please get Al out of the booth?
if having Snow there means we get annoying heel Josh, i'll take it, i love annoying voice heel josh

2ND MATCH IN THE BEST OF 5 SERIES FOR THE TNA WORLD TAG TEAM TITLES: The Wolves vs. Austin Aries & Bobby Roode- 7.75/10
I really wish they had managed to find a way to give this match more than the mere eleven minutes it got.
it's a best out of 5 with no stipulations, i think keeping some of these matches short will make the rest seem different. it still felt like the longest match of the night (not sure if it was)

ANDERSON PROMO- good. He explained why this match would be different. It would have been a lot better if they had actually hyped this match up earlier in the night.
I saw hype during the week, but this was the first time i saw the cage thing, so as you point out later, i do believe this was never sanctioned and was just a plan from anderson, which actually looks cool because it's not illegal, he took matter into his own hands, and he actually managed to do it, and still lost making ECIII look legit.

POST-MATCH- it took my brain a moment to snap out of Ring of Honor “ALWAYS SHAKE HANDS!” mode and realize that not shaking would be better for Ethan, but I got there before Ethan slapped Anderson’s hand away.
found it really funny that ECIII was walking away without Tyrus, and he was just caged wondering who would let him out

SPUD PROMO- GREAT!
I could be wrong, but I believe that he cut this promo in the same place he cut the promo after the losing the belt, which was a nice touch that elevated this just a little bit more.
my memory fails me on some other promos this year, but could be TNA promo of the year or me, so much babyface power right there

I QUIT MATCH FOR THE TNA WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE: Kurt Angle(c) vs. Eric Young- 7.5/10
LET THEM FIGHT ALREADY! It’s a G-d damn I Quit match! Why is it so f*cking imperative that we do JB’s long-winded official introduction? Ah. There we go. Apparently they had to wait for the bell to ring to be allowed to start fighting.
if there was ever a reason to copy those Ishii starts, it was this one, i loved that there was security there trying to control the match until the bell rang
The tapping out spot was stupid. Tapping out IS saying I quit. Aside from that one spot, I thought this as a great match.
I've always hated that tapping out doesn't count, but it's something that has always been enforced, i think the argument is that you don't only beat down your opponent physically, but you beat him down mentally to the point where they'll swallow their honor and admit defeat in the most shameful way (case that made me hate Cena/Rusev and those matches with towels)

cero2k wrote:finally finished the stuff i was missing

Big Red Machine wrote:

Oh look. Now the Dollhouse’s entrance has some set pieces that they bought at a local Toys R Us.
and thus it's now the best entrance in the company!
Not sure if you're being sarcastic or not, but I hope you are.


STEEL CAGE MATCH FOR THE TNA KNOCKSOUTS: Taryn Terrell(c) (w/the Dollhouse) vs. Gail Kim- 3.5/10
The steel cage match should be the match you build to for Slammiversary! Not a no-hype throwaway match on a random episode of Impact with a million other things going on! GRRRRR!
While i agree, i'm sure they'll have something meaningful, this match played out perfectly once I saw the post match stuff. I would imagine that by Slammaversary they'll wanna add something with Kong

Interference in a cage match. Well… it is TNA. You’d think they would build a cage with smaller camera-holes already, but apparently not.
aw c'mon, every company has those holes, I for once am happy that they used them, it pissed me off that they're always ignored.
Yeah, but in TNA they're freakin GIGANTIc In other companies you can MAYBE fit your arm through, and if you didn't you probably wouldn't have a verY big range of motion, and would be at risk of cutting your arm on the cage. In other words, even if you did stick your hand through, it'd be extremely difficult to interfere. In TNA, these things are so big that you can fit AN ENTIRE HUMAN BODY through it.
The point of the gimmick is to prevent interference. Having these gigantic holes kills the gimmick.



Josh decided to point out to us that TNA’s product “isn’t PG. This is grown-up stuff.” That it may be, Josh, but that doesn’t make it good.
but it makes it different, the thing that most people bitch about WWE. It sounded bitter, like everything else that Josh says, but it's true
And "different" doesn't by default mean that it is good. The Storm-Magnus-Mickie stuff has been handled well so far, but many other things (EY vs. Angle or BDC vs. Rising) haven't been. I'm sick and tired of this delusion that PG=bad and non-PG=good.


KURT AND EY HAVE BEEN SEPARATED FOR THE NIGHT AND LOCKED UP ALONE- the idea was good and Kurt’s whole caged tiger body language was good, but the stuff with EY was bad. Headbutting the glass was just stupid, and the Tweet… IT’S A F*CKING TWEET! Big deal. What’s he going to do that’s so terrible? Flame Kurt on Twitter? Come on.
i loved the window thing, completely unexpected and made eric seem extra crazy
And to me, crazy Eric Young doesn't come off as crazy. He comes off as a guy trying to play someone who is crazy, and the result is corny and almost comical.

JOSH RUNS DOWN SOME IMPORTANT INFO- meanwhile, Al Snow stands there looking stupid. Can we please get Al out of the booth?
if having Snow there means we get annoying heel Josh, i'll take it, i love annoying voice heel josh
I don't think heel Josh is really a heel. He is only a heel when EC III is involved, and Josh has a 100% solid point. If the guy hasn't been pinned or submitted in over a year and a half, how the f*ck has he not gotten a world title shot yet?


ANDERSON PROMO- good. He explained why this match would be different. It would have been a lot better if they had actually hyped this match up earlier in the night.
I saw hype during the week, but this was the first time i saw the cage thing, so as you point out later, i do believe this was never sanctioned and was just a plan from anderson, which actually looks cool because it's not illegal, he took matter into his own hands, and he actually managed to do it, and still lost making ECIII look legit.
Agreed on that point

POST-MATCH- it took my brain a moment to snap out of Ring of Honor “ALWAYS SHAKE HANDS!” mode and realize that not shaking would be better for Ethan, but I got there before Ethan slapped Anderson’s hand away.
found it really funny that ECIII was walking away without Tyrus, and he was just caged wondering who would let him out
I didn't even notice that.
SPUD PROMO- GREAT!
I could be wrong, but I believe that he cut this promo in the same place he cut the promo after the losing the belt, which was a nice touch that elevated this just a little bit more.
my memory fails me on some other promos this year, but could be TNA promo of the year or me, so much babyface power right there
Spud's promo after losing the belt was better.

I QUIT MATCH FOR THE TNA WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE: Kurt Angle(c) vs. Eric Young- 7.5/10
LET THEM FIGHT ALREADY! It’s a G-d damn I Quit match! Why is it so f*cking imperative that we do JB’s long-winded official introduction? Ah. There we go. Apparently they had to wait for the bell to ring to be allowed to start fighting.
if there was ever a reason to copy those Ishii starts, it was this one, i loved that there was security there trying to control the match until the bell rang
If you're going to do that, do it right, like Hero and Kingston's blow-off in CZW, with a million security guys standing between them.
The tapping out spot was stupid. Tapping out IS saying I quit. Aside from that one spot, I thought this as a great match.
I've always hated that tapping out doesn't count, but it's something that has always been enforced, i think the argument is that you don't only beat down your opponent physically, but you beat him down mentally to the point where they'll swallow their honor and admit defeat in the most shameful way (case that made me hate Cena/Rusev and those matches with towels)
Then Kurt is an idiot for letting the hold go.

cero2k wrote: Josh decided to point out to us that TNA’s product “isn’t PG. This is grown-up stuff.” That it may be, Josh, but that doesn’t make it good.
but it makes it different, the thing that most people bitch about WWE. It sounded bitter, like everything else that Josh says, but it's true
And "different" doesn't by default mean that it is good. The Storm-Magnus-Mickie stuff has been handled well so far, but many other things (EY vs. Angle or BDC vs. Rising) haven't been. I'm sick and tired of this delusion that PG=bad and non-PG=good.
no one (including Josh) is saying that non-pg is good and pg is bad, we're just saying it's different. People ask for different, TNA is giving it, that's all. and it's not a delusion, it's a personal taste people have, some don't consider PG to be good, some are ok with it
The way it came across to me was that PG=bad.

KURT AND EY HAVE BEEN SEPARATED FOR THE NIGHT AND LOCKED UP ALONE- the idea was good and Kurt’s whole caged tiger body language was good, but the stuff with EY was bad. Headbutting the glass was just stupid, and the Tweet… IT’S A F*CKING TWEET! Big deal. What’s he going to do that’s so terrible? Flame Kurt on Twitter? Come on.
i loved the window thing, completely unexpected and made eric seem extra crazy
And to me, crazy Eric Young doesn't come off as crazy. He comes off as a guy trying to play someone who is crazy, and the result is corny and almost comical.
wrestling IS corny and comical sometimes.
Main event programs shouldn't be comical

The tapping out spot was stupid. Tapping out IS saying I quit. Aside from that one spot, I thought this as a great match.
I've always hated that tapping out doesn't count, but it's something that has always been enforced, i think the argument is that you don't only beat down your opponent physically, but you beat him down mentally to the point where they'll swallow their honor and admit defeat in the most shameful way (case that made me hate Cena/Rusev and those matches with towels)
Then Kurt is an idiot for letting the hold go.
it's completely understandable to let go after seeing someone tap out, you'd been winning matches like that over 15 yrs already
I still don't like it. You'd never see that happen in a ladder match, and tap-outs don't count there.

Big Red Machine wrote:
wrestling IS corny and comical sometimes.
Main event programs shouldn't be comical
Have you not been watching WWE since Lesnar lost the title? or all of Rollins vs Ambrose? or Sheamus's time as main event? or Cena's career?


it's completely understandable to let go after seeing someone tap out, you'd been winning matches like that over 15 yrs already
I still don't like it. You'd never see that happen in a ladder match, and tap-outs don't count there.
a ladder is a very particular match, but i've seen pins in submission matches or royal rumbles
And they're always dumb in the Rumble, too