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Impact Wrestling - November 19, 2014

Impact Wrestling 
Date: November 12, 2014 
Location: Sands Bethlehem Events Center, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania 
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Tazz

Reviewed by Tommy Hall 


And so, it ends. Well at least on SpikeTV. Tonight is the last episode of Impact Wrestling on the major network before it takes two months off and returns on a network in about 40 million less homes. To be fair though, it's better than no network at all.....in theory. Tonight is about setting up Roode vs. Lashley III so let's get to it.


We open with a recap of Roode taking the title from Lashley a few weeks ago, followed by Lashley being driven insane by not being champion.

Here's Roode to get us going. He talks about having a few real friends in wrestling and two of them are Eric Young and Austin Aries. Now Lashley is going around trying to put those two out of wrestling. If Lashley wants a shot at the title, he can certainly have one, but not tonight. Tonight isn't about the World Title or professional wrestling. Instead it's about fighting with no referee and no rules. Roode calls Lashley out right now and the fight is on in the aisle. They fight into the stands and Lashley misses a big chair shot. Security breaks them up after only a few seconds though.

Ethan Carter says he's giving Spud a chance to prove that he's a man tonight.

The next show on SpikeTV is in two weeks on December 3 for a best of the year show.

Video on Havok's dominance, which has spanned about five matches. Taryn and Gail are ready to slay the best.

Knockouts Title: Havok vs. Gail Kim vs. Taryn Terrell

Havok is defend and this is one fall to a finish. The challengers go right at Havok but get dropped with a double clothesline. Havok throws Gail onto Taryn and then sends her shoulder first into the post. A spinebuster plants Taryn but Gail tries AJ Lee's Black Widow on the champ. Havok is in trouble and Taryn adds an Indian Deathlock for good measure. Somehow Havok powers out of it and they all fight to the floor with Havok catching Terrell, only to have Gail dive on both of them as we take a break.

Back with Havok still on the floor and Taryn rolling Gail up for two. A running flip neckbreaker puts Gail down again but Havok pulls Taryn from the ring and drops her throat first across the barricade. Gail heads outside also but gets spinebustered onto the floor. Back in and Havok splashes both girls for two but Gail is up first and drapes Havok across the top rope.

A kind of Fameasser from the top puts Havok on the floor but Taryn jumps Gail from behind. Terrell takes her to the top but Havok comes back in to make it a Tower of Doom. The champ stacks them up again but misses a middle rope splash. Taryn and Gail break out of a double chokeslam attempt and hammer away until Gail scores with a DDT. A cross body gets two each before Eat Defeat and an RKO get two for Terrell. Gail rolls up Taryn but gets caught in a sunset flip to give Terrell the title at 14:32.

Rating: B-. This was the best Knockouts match in awhile but it doesn't mean what TNA wants it to be. First of all, as mentioned, Havok has won something like five matches in TNA over the course of six weeks with one of those being a battle royal. That's hardly taking the title off Roode after seven months. Also, Terrell pinned Gail, which likely sets up a showdown later. It's a good match but nowhere near the moment they were hoping for.

MVP rants at Kenny King about being called a manager. King sounds pleased.

Recap of Joe vacating the X-Division Title last week. There's a fourway for the title later tonight.

Recap of the opening brawl.

Roode isn't going to let his friends get taken out or be intimidated by Lashley. Now the champion is challenging Lashley to a fight. Didn't he do that already?

Kenny King vs. Chris Melendez

Melendez shoves him into the corner to start and King mocks the mechanical leg. Chris finally hammers away but walks into an elbow in the corner. A hiptoss sends Kenny to the floor but he jumps up and kicks Chris in the face. Melendez gets snapped down across the top rope but Chris comes back up with a mechanical kick to the chest. A fisherman's suplex gets two for Chris and he kicks King in the face, only to have MVP come in with a chair for the DQ at 5:05.

Rating: D. I probably should but I just do not care about Chris Melendez. It's amazing how he's come this far, but after you get over the shock of seeing someone being able to do this, he's just a green wrestler that can't do much in the ring yet. The match was nothing special and just there to set up stuff (likely a tag match) for the future.

MVP goes after Chris' good leg until Mr. Anderson makes the save.

Spud agrees to meet EC3 tonight.

Melendez is sent to the hospital but Anderson wants revenge. Kurt Angle says he'll deal with it.

Here are EC3 and Tyrus to address Spud. Carter likes the idea of Spud trying to come across the pond and make himself big. Along the way Spud has picked up some friends like Eric Young, who is now in the hospital and Jeremy Borash, who Carter slapped so hard that the entire Borash family died. Well tonight, Spud can fight Carter for one night only. Cue Spud in a suit that looks like a brick wall (seriously) and Carter even has Tyrus go to the floor.

Spud gets right in his face and Ethan offers a free shot but Spud can't do it. Instead he kicks Carter low and then hits him in the face as the brawl is on. Carter gets the better of it and takes Spud down as the fans tell him that he can't wrestle. Spud pulls himself up but Carter lets him go from the 1%er. Spud pulls himself up again but Tyrus comes in for the Tongan Death Grip into a clothesline. Now Ethan (busted open a bit) gets a mic and threatens to rip Spud apart until he decides to stop. First up, Ethan cuts off some of Spud's hair and holds it up like a trophy. Nice segment here.

Angle yells at King but gets jumped and beaten down by MVP. Even King thinks that was too far.

Bram vs. Tommy Dreamer

Hardcore of course. They start in the aisle as Dreamer looks older than ever. Bram slams him down on the ramp and nails Tommy with a trashcan. Dreamer is already busted open so Bram fires off more right hands, only to get sent into the post. Tommy hits Bram with the old WWE spinner US Title for a bizarre moment. We take a break and come back with Bram sending Tommy face first into the steps.

Back in and we hit a chinlock before Dreamer gets a boot up in the corner to stop a charge. Some kendo stick shots and Russian legsweep gets two for Tommy and he crotched Bram on an opened chair. A clothesline knocks Bram out of the chair for two and Tommy ties him in the Tree of Woe. Dreamer shouts T-N-A and hits a basement dropkick into a trashcan but Bram counters the DDT with a legsweep.

The top rope elbow with the chair is blocked with a raised boot and Dreamer's DDT gets two more. Now it's a barbed wire chair but Magnus runs in with a Rock Bottom to plant Dreamer. The Brits load up something else but Al Snow of all people runs in for the save. Dreamer gets up and grabs the cheese grater as Snow punches Magnus up the ramp. Bram's cut is grated open even worse but he comes back with a low blow and sends Tommy face first into the barbed wire chair in the corner. An inverted DDT pins Dreamer at 14:54.

Rating: F. It got fifteen minutes, Bram needed help to beat Tommy Dreamer, Al freaking Snow ran in (wearing wrestling gear for some reason) and Tommy Dreamer is STILL ON MY TV IN 2014. I would love to know what Dreamer has on the management of this and all those other wrestling companies he works for because it must be gold.

Angle is going to deal with MVP once and for all.

Sheera asked Manik what he needs to do to get Storm to like him. Manik tells him to awaken.

X-Division Title: DJZ vs. Low Ki vs. Tigre Uno vs. Manik

The title is vacant coming in and this is one fall to a finish. Tigre and Manik fight to the floor, leaving Low Ki to kick DJZ across the ring but Manik comes back in to jump Ki. DJZ dropkicks both of them down as Tigre comes back in to speed things up. A quick dropkick gets two for Uno but Manik suplexes him down and puts on a surfboard. As he has Tigre in the air, DJZ covered Manik, only to have Low Ki hit a Warrior's Way onto Tigre, crushing everyone else at the same time for a scary looking landing.

Manik charges into Low Ki's kick to the face but DJZ elbows Ki in the face. Tigre sends Manik to the floor and hits a huge twisting springboard moonsault to take everyone down. Back in and Low Ki gets Tigre in the Tree of Woe but Manik breaks up a top rope double stomp. DJZ hits a tornado DDT on Ki but Manik dives onto DJZ for the save. Manik covers, looks DIRECTLY AT TIGRE, and stays there while Tigre dives on him. Come on man. Tigre and Ki go up top and a Ki Crusher off the top gives Ki the title at 5:58.

Rating: C+. Of all the multiman cruiserweight spot fests that I've seen, this one is the most recent. That's really all there is to it. They did some spots, there was no flow to the match, they did a lot of stupid stuff that got on my nerves and one guy hit a big move for the win. That's every almost cruiserweight match in this company for months now and this was just another on the list.

MVP calls someone and leaves a voicemail about burning the place down.

Here's Angle to call out MVP. He talks about watching MVP cheat his way to the top when he was in charge but here's MVP to cut him off. MVP is sick of being here but mocks Angle for running to the Board of Directors when something goes wrong. Angle isn't going to fire him and the fight is on. Kenny King comes out to help but MVP shoves him away and keeps stomping before hitting the Blackout Kick (Drive-By) to send Angle outside. Anderson comes out to get King but Lashley takes him down. This brings out Roode to take out King and brawl with Lashley to end the show.

Overall Rating: C. This show had some decent wrestling but it felt like any other show for TNA. At the end of the day though, you can see one of the things that has held them back for years right there front and center: an old, past his prime guy living on nostalgia got the longest match of the night, including longer than two matches with new champions crowned.

Maybe the time off will do TNA good, but they need to stop doing stupid stuff like having Tommy Dreamer around to score nostalgia points from a tiny number of people they might bring in. They have a big roster but can't fit them in because of stuff like that. That's a badly run business and it's killed them for years. I'm hoping it gets better on the new network, but 12 years have taught me not to get my hopes up for TNA.

Results
Taryn Terrell b. Gail Kim and Havok – Sunset flip to Kim
Chris Melendez b. Kenny King via DQ when MVP interfered
Bram b. Tommy Dreamer – Inverted DDT
Low Ki b. Tigre Uno, DJZ and Manik – Top rope Ki Crusher to Tigre Uno


Remember to check out my website at kbwrestlingreviews.com and head over to my Amazon author page with wrestling books for under $4 at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

Comments

  1. So I watched this whole show and I liked it enough. If it's my only TNA program I ever see I'd say I picked a good one.

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  2. Yeah it's kind of annoying that the show is getting tolerable again now that it's leaving.

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  3. How much is TNA paying Destination America to have them broadcast their show?

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  4. Virgil's Gimmick TableNovember 19, 2014 at 9:42 PM

    Free under the desk blowjobs from Dixie for life. That includes all the Amish guys from all their Amish shows. And their livestock too.

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  5. Are they going to do anything to bridge the 2 month gap or are they just going to pretend that time never happened?

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  6. Andrew . if you, thought Roger `s postlng is terrific, last tuesday I bought a brand new Bugatti Veyron since I been bringin in $6750 this past 5 weeks and over 10 grand last-munth . with-out a doubt this is the best job Ive ever had . I actually started 7-months ago and pretty much immediately startad bringin in at least $71... p/h . more information.....>

    ☛☛☛☛☛☛ w­w­w.r­e­v­i­e­w­s-2­4­7.c­o­m

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  7. Virgil's Gimmick TableNovember 19, 2014 at 10:16 PM

    If they're smart they'll change their ridiculous name and reboot entirely.

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  8. I mean...don't they have to just start over? Do they really have anything going that's worth pretending anyone is keeping up with?

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  9. Nothing worth waiting 2 months for. I say go WCW New Blood style and just vacate the belts and start fresh.

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  10. Adam "Colorado" CurryNovember 19, 2014 at 10:44 PM

    Go shit in your own mouth.

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  11. Repeating this joke here, because it went up too late in the other thread. Fast-forward to February:

    "We lost to Channel Ocho? What the hell is that?"

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  12. "Yep Mode" Abeyance Brown ©November 19, 2014 at 11:06 PM

    They have a few ONO PPV shows planned.

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  13. What percentage of TNA's audience overlaps with the people who thought Tommy Dreamer was a big deal 15 years ago and have stuck with him? I just don't get why this guy gets the legendary treatment. He got his recognition and then proceeded to get it again about 5 times since. Every fucking year we get Tommy Dreamer history month.

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  14. Yeah, no way she can afford a Bugatti Veyron making only 10K a month!

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  15. That match took away the little hope I had for TNA's future. It's the same nostalgia nonsense we've sat through for years with no one but the hardcore ECW fans caring.

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  16. "..but 12 years have taught me not to get my hopes up for TNA."

    And that there's the problem. For all of the supposed good they've done this year, I haven't watched any of it, because the last 12 years have taught me that another fuck-up is hanging around the corner, waiting to pounce.


    I can't really blame them for this show, though. How enthused could you be not knowing whether or not it's your last day?


    All we can hope is that scaling back convinces Dixie to listen to someone worthwhile. But I'm not holding my breath.

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  17. Total Nonstop Assholes!

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  18. Dreamer is there because

    A. He get's a pop. People like him. God forbid a promoter puts drawing wrestlers on their card! It's the same reason why WWE booked people like The Rock, Haitch, Jericho and RVD, despite all of them being past their prime. He's only 43. Terry Funk was headlining ECW ppvs at 53!

    B. He's an old dog who teach the young 'uns some new tricks

    C. He's cross promoting with TNA for his HOH promotion. Makes sense to have him on TNA.

    This review is very nitpicky and it feels like the writers is looking for things to be negative about.

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  19. Adam "Colorado" CurryNovember 20, 2014 at 12:35 AM

    I was a hardcore ECW. I don't care, because it's (A): fucking 2014, and (B): TNA.

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  20. Virgil's Gimmick TableNovember 20, 2014 at 12:47 AM

    Dixie needs to give up on her wrestling dreams and do Total Nonstop Anal.

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  21. Adam "Colorado" CurryNovember 20, 2014 at 12:48 AM

    See, I'd watch that on any channel.

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  22. A. For the live crowd. As Lance Storm once said, there are a lot more people on the other side of that camera. Each one of those people that you named are far bigger names than Dreamer, who was the face of a glorified indy promotion.


    B. Which he can do from behind a curtain.


    C. Which benefits TNA how?

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  23. The fact that we're coming up on the ten year anniversary of One Night Stand should tell TNA all they need to know, yet somehow it looks like we're getting Snow/Dreamer vs. Bram/Magnus soon.

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  24. This has to be Tommy Dreamer's Discus account. Because only Tommy Dreamer would compare Tommy Dreamer to Rock, Flair, Jericho Terry Funk and RVD.

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  25. It's bad business to book guys who get pops but fans won't pay money to see. You also don't need to put him on TV to use him to mentor younger wrestlers. That's what trainers and road agents are.

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  26. Kinda doesn't make sense to use a guy whose better days are behind him; and said better days can be seen on the opposition's Network for $9.99/month.

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  27. I hear it's a cigar box holding 1) a blurry photo of Bigfoot, 2) a tape recording of a ghost sneezing, and 3) a grizzly bear tooth.

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  28. Adam "Colorado" CurryNovember 20, 2014 at 1:54 AM

    I'd imagine there's a recipe for some some bitchin' baby-back ribs in there too.

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  29. So now that Ring of Honor is the #2 wrestling promotion in America...

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  30. Adam "Colorado" CurryNovember 20, 2014 at 2:08 AM

    Ring of Honor has been # for quite a while now.

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  31. Yeah but now it's official.

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  32. Popping the live crowd is important for a TV presentation. Remember a few days ago when a lot of the people here were talking about how bad RAW came off with a dead crowd? A hot crowd makes for more compelling TV. No, Dreamer is not Rock or Jericho -- I don't think anybody is saying that -- but as far as who TNA can realistically get, he's considered a big name. Besides, there's no way for us to tell exactly which wrestlers are getting people to watch TNA and which wrestlers are causing people to tune out TNA. Dreamer may have a big TV following for all we know.

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  33. At the moment I was like "WTF" when Taryn won the Knockouts title (and without even pinning Havok), but the more I thought about it the more it makes sense. When this episode was taped, TNA didn't yet know their future. So if you're thinking you'll have to go out there and pitch your company to TV networks trying to get a deal, having an attractive smiling blonde as your marquee female talent probably helps you get a deal quicker than a thick post-apocalyptic monster with a half-shaved head.

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  34. I'm not necessarily a Dreamer fan, but ... I see a lot of people on here wishing WWE would bring back blood and bemoaning the "PG era," but then TNA gives us blood and people complain about them being ECW copycats.

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  35. ROH was a ways to go to catch SSW.

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  36. Adam "Colorado" CurryNovember 20, 2014 at 2:48 AM

    I think calling them Ecw copycats has less to do with blood and more to do with using a bunch of the same guys that were in a promotion that died over 10 years ago.

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  37. The Observer does quarter hour breakdowns showing the ups and downs. Quite often the show starts well and declines in every quarter, so it's the show itself that makes people tune out. The only guy I can remember always spiking the ratings was Sting several years back.

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  38. Well, more fool me, but if they're sticking around I'll give them another chance.

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  39. John "my opinion is official" Petrie.

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  40. "the face of a glorified indy promotion."

    Come on, you can't seriously get away with that. ECW was a lot more than a glorified Indy promotion. Even the WWE, who famously are super introverted and petty when it comes to acknowledging other companies give it credit and even used it's name to make a tv show.
    if the live crowd like it, there's a good chance that people at home will too. granted, not always, but it's likely.

    It benefits TNA, because Dreamer can put them over at HOH, as he did. it also helps when TNA stars wrestle for HOH because it gives them another platform.

    Still, If the biggest problem with TNA at the moment is Tommy Dreamer, it really shows how good they are. For those in the know, it's been great this year. Hopefully next year can sustain that.

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  41. Which is why IMO new channel-new reviewer.

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  42. -Pours a forty for TNA-

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  43. A. Did you just compare Tommy Dreamer to the Rock? Seriously?

    B. Exactly what tricks can Tommy teach besides getting hit with cookie sheets and bleeding?

    C. How does cross promoting HoH help TNA? Now that they're on channel whatever, how does this even help HoH?

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  44. Just for reference purposes, Dreamer-Sandman was 1994.

    Other 1994 happenings: Bret vs Owen and Hogan arriving in WCW. Dreamer showed up THAT long ago!

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  45. "an old, past his prime guy living on nostalgia got the longest match of the night." Sounds familiar, WCW. Reviewing current TNA and most of WCW, especially 1999 and onward seems very similar.
    I think when Father and Son Jarrett started TNA, it was like they took the WCW (company that went out of business mind you) playbook and just duplicated it. The Cruiserweight division became the X Division. Instead of Hogan hogging the Main Event there was Jarrett. Heck at one point instead of the NWO we had the Main Event Mafia, which was the same concept of the Old time Stars dominating the top of the card.
    I know that every non-American WWE company has its problems, but I just really enjoy seeing mostly younger guys (few exceptions like Christopher Daniels who is amazing for his age) go out their and mostly wrestle, with much less Sports entertainment.
    I doubt the new Channel TNA will change their core playbook, which has always been, be WWE-Lite.

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  46. But we don't want Mr Anderson as world champion.

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  47. I thought the Main Event Mafia was a rip off the Millionaires Club.

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  48. TNA could get its fans cheering for a Mighty Mouse cartoon. Also what good is it if they're chanting for a promotion that died nearly 14 years ago?

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  49. And currently in WWE we have "young" John Cena (who is now actually 2 years older than the "old" Jeff Jarrett was in 2002) bogarting the top spot for the last 9 years, waiting in line to get the title off of "young" Brock Lesnar (again, 2 years older than Jarrett was in 2002), after a failed program where they tried to get "young" Dave Batista (who is the same age as the "old" Hulk Hogan was in 1998) over as a face.


    Of course, their highly-original programming includes them trying this daring new "evil authority figure" storyline, while having "young" Kane (who is 2 years OLDER than the "old" Hulk Hogan was in 1998) wrestle for them.


    I'd say that WWE is now doing just as well emulating WCW as TNA was.


    But the only point of your post I TRULY disagree with is "X-Division = Cruiserweight". For a good amount of time, the X-Division was the pinnacle of wrestling, and was given high-profile slots on a lot of the TNA shows. They fucked it up, yeah, but in it's hey-day, it was never treated as a "lower" title. Saying that they based it off of the Cruiserweight title as a clone is misinformed BS, where you're just stretching to try to find a parallel that doesn't exist.


    As for the Main Event Mafia, its initial premise was totally unique (based off of the fact that Sting felt disrespected, and Angle was using that to build a group and achieve other goals). Unfortunately, it got Russofied way too quickly, and turned into a mess, but the initial premise wasn't much like the Millionaire's Club at all, and could have been awesome if someone else had been booking the long game.

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  50. Elgin fucking up his visa has all their cards fucking wierd right now though.

    Cole should win it back at FB and we continue like before

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  51. You do realize that RoH, via Sinclair Broadcasting, is now likely available to more homes than TNA will be via Destination America, don't you? Not to mention them being an actual active touring promotion, which TNA currently isn't. Sorry if the actual, you know, *facts* conflict with your worldview.

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  52. Sure, utilize him, but in a 14 minute TV match? I realize though that TNA pretty much had to use whoever they could to fill time for the last set of tapings. I would hope though that when they return on DA that his use is to help build younger talent. You might also be able to make the case that he could help draw fans to their TV tapings given he's running his own promotion--assuming they do the taping in the vicinity of where he runs his shows. But continuing to bank on ECW nostalgia is silly when they aren't even allowed to refer to it on TV.

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  53. It's only ECW nostalgia if you let it be. Dreamer made a point to slowly and specifically start a "TNA" chant during the match; and it's not like he's out there wearing ECW shirts and saying everything is "extreme." Yes, Dreamer made his name with ECW and that's how everyone will remember him, but at some point isn't he allowed to move on? That's like saying every RVD match in WWE is a grab at ECW nostalgia, or every Booker T match is a grab at WCW nostalgia.

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  54. TNA's main-event scene and world-title picture is clearer, easier to follow and honestly more compelling than WWE's right now. Not saying it's been that way all year, but recently ... The Roode-Lashley feud has been booked and laid out better than Cena-Lesnar (or is it Cena-Authority?)

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