TNA iMPACT! on Spike TV Talkback (2-4-06)

[Sigma]

http://www.tnawrestling.com/impact/images/previews/jeffcageconference.gif
SATURDAY ON "iMPACT!" ON SPIKE TV
The road to "Against All Odds" continues!

This Saturday night on "iMPACT!", the road to the February 12 "Against All Odds" Pay-Per-View continues as all of your favorite TNA stars will be in attendance! TNAwrestling.com has received the following preview from TNA management.

WORLD TITLE PRESS CONFERENCE: JEFF JARRETT AND CHRISTIAN CAGE
TNA management has informed TNAwrestling.com that a special press conference will be held to formally announce the NWA World Heavyweight Title Match between champion Jeff Jarrett and challenger "Captain Charisma" Christian Cage at the "Against All Odds" Pay-Per-View. Highlights of the press conference will air on Saturday's "iMPACT!", which will be attended by Jarrett and Cage, as well as TNA management officials, Championship Committee member Larry Zbyszko along with special guest and former NWA World Champion Dory Funk, Jr.

STING CLOSES THE BOOK ON HIS CAREER - THE REACTION THIS SATURDAY NIGHT ON "iMPACT!"
The icon known as Sting certainly shocked the wrestling world on Saturday night by saying goodbye, a move that came as a surprise to many in TNA. The question is, how will Sting's decision to close the book on his heralded career effect the TNA roster? Tune into "iMPACT!" this Saturday night to find out more on this unfolding major story.

Scheduled for action this Saturday night on SpikeTV:

"The Phenomenal" AJ Styles prepares for his shot at the X Championship at "Against All Odds" when he faces talented newcomer Jay Lethal on "iMPACT!".

Konnan's "Latin American Exchange" will be in action as they gear up for their war with The James Gang on Sunday, February 12!

Also scheduled to compete is "The War Machine" Rhino, who is still feeling the effects of his ongoing battle with Abyss! The question is, will James Mitchell's "weapon of mass destruction" be waiting for his opportunity to attack Rhino again? Tune in and find out!

All this and much more on Saturday's "iMPACT!" - including the high-flying stars of the X Division, the lovely TNA Knockouts, plus more matches announced for the February 12 "Against All Odds" Pay-Per-View!

[Djm912]

My Austin Aries markdom is now in question.

I don't know if his outfit was absolutely awesome, or unspeakably horrible.

[prodigal]

Anything that separates the wrestles from one another is good.

[MGFanJay]

Wow, Aries looked like Rico and Rob Conway. I love that Generation Next is now involved in their own angle, and a main event storyline. Any Impact that ends with EY acting nutty is fine by me, but this show did fall a bit flat. That press conference was just sad, and why is AJ's dressing room surrounded by sheet metal?

[Tapout]

Lots of good and bad tonight.

Rhino/Kenny King and AJ Styles/Jay Lethal were both decent enough for squashes, and the announcement or Rhino/Abyss falls count anywhere sold me on AAO.

The tag team tournament was a good idea, but TNA's one hour a week makes it kind of lame. Aries/Strong vs. the Naturals was good, but Team Canada vs. Sabin/Dutt was way too short. And totally concur with Djm912 on Aries' new getup.

Worked press confrences = horrendous and Eric Young = :p.

Give TNA another hour Spike!

[VCXZX]

Mostly a series of squash matches which were predictable and thus not good.

Styles/Lethal though was good. Lethal got a chance to shine here.

I liked how they edited the press conference. Instead of doing the whole show on it, they spent 4 or 5 minutes on them.

http://67.18.37.14/html/emoticons/laugh.gif http://67.18.37.14/html/emoticons/laugh.gif at Eric Young. I like how his character is slowly developing. And how it separates him from the rest of his stable.

[Condiment King]

iMPACT's matches are becoming more and more a series of squashes without that really cool match or matches to get me to love the episode. Rhino/Kenny King and AJ Styles/Jay Lethal were more of the same. Jay Lethal did show some mild offense, but hey, he also did against Jarrett last week, so the matches were similar.

The entire Gail Kim storyline is so melodramatic and annoying at this point, especially when you consider the horrendous acting taking place during it, like how Gail will go to a guy on interview and say these things which basically give away how bad and important it is.

The Tag Team Tournament was cool, but again, since its a one hour show, starting this week was weird. Plus, I hate Larry Zybesko. I'm fine with him making the cruiserweights (who have been picking up win after win) out to be whiners, since that's the angle, but why pull down The Naturals as well? The Naturals are former tag team champions. As much as I like Austin Aries and Roderick Strong, in a tag team tournament, it seemed wrong for them to score the upset victory. With not winning the tournament, the Naturals are most likely doomed to another pre-PPV match, not even on the card. Particularly when the match pretty much sucked before then, with Aries and Strong acting like jobbers and then doing the traditional 1-2-3 Kid miracle victory.

The press conference between Jeff Jarrett and Christian Cage was actually pretty well edited and did the usual job that press conferences do. I just wasn't a fan of it being hyped up the whole night and I just didn't care because it was predictable. I would have rather seen in-ring promos because of their energy and unpredictability.

I like the fact that Jarrett and company went to Alex Shelley to do the work for them. Not to mention Eric Young having the final line of the night was hilarious.

[hobbyfan]

Points to ponder:

1. Kenny King either should be pushed based on his notoriety (TE2), or TNA might as well give him a ticket to Ring of Honor. Rhino squashed him in virtually nothing flat. Cribbing AJ Styles' Pele kick didn't help his cause at all.

2. Speaking of Styles, Jay Lethal should treat him to dinner for giving him his best match since coming in. This was good stuff, right down to a new variant on the Styles Clash.

3. I'd get Samoa Joe out of the X division as soon as he drops the title. I'd rather see Joe choke out Jeff Jarrett and win the NWA title.

4. A year ago, Sonjay Dutt was a JTTS anytime I saw him on TV (while Impact was on FSN). Now, they're teasing a tag title run for him & Chris Sabin, but you know that won't happen just yet. And wasn't Sabin feuding with Petey Williams over the X title around this time last year? A Team Canada match w/o Donuts D'Amore is more entertaining.:D

5. Raise yer hand if you recognized the LAX's bulldog finisher as an old Steiner Bros. finisher, with Homicide playing Rick to Apolo's pre-Big Poppa Pump Scott. Unfortunately, Konnan felt he had to be the one to collect the pin w/o being tagged in. Lame. The bulldog looked crisp, though.:D

6. Gail Kim, if I were you, I'd seriously consider kicking Donuts, Jarrett, and the rest of those losers into the nearest alleyway and give Vinny McPerv a call. You deserve better.

7. The whole soap opera over an incriminating tape is one more reason TNA isn't that much better or worse than WWE.:(

8. Austin Aries, IMPO, looked like a 60's beatnik with that goatee. Now, they're trying him with 70's style attire? Where's Mike Awesome?!;) :cool: Good thing the dude didn't get stuck with a Zodiac gimmick.;)

9. Why don't they let Terry Taylor give Don West a night off before the Major gets a case of laryngitis? TT can work as a color analyst, and here's why. In the AWF, TT did some killer mimics of Hogan, Savage, Dusty, & Flair. Dead-on solid stuff that puts that amateur Rich Little wannabe, HHH, to shame.:D :p ;)

10. They really need to break up Team Canucklehead. They can save Eric Young's job by making him a total wackazoid, and let Petey Williams & Bobby Roode develop as stars on their own. Just get Donuts outta here!!;)

11. Jingles Jarrett got outclassed at the podium at the press conference. What a surprise. Christian was at his best here, looking more assured than he was in his peak years in WWE. Do us a favor, Jingles, and drop the title, then go away, like maybe to Brokeback Mountain with Donuts.;)

12. I smell two title changes at Against All Odds. Joe, sadly, will finally lose (to Chris Daniels), and Cage will play a tune of his own on Jingles. It's called, the "Unprettier Blues", and you don't need a guitar.:D

[The Penguin]

And Tean 3D's title shot will have to wait. Well I guess that's how the fans voted.

As I watched Rhino squash Kenny, I couldn't help but think about the fact that other than the ones WWE themselves picked up from the first season, he is the only person not to win (the regular) Tough Enough to "make it" in any real way. Shame TNA can't give him that credit. Seems like they could just say MTV's Tough Enough and not talk about WWE.

"I'm gonna call Dr. Phil." Who knows? It might be a good move for Larry.

Since Tenay and West were talking about it again during Styles-Lethal, did this "code of the X division" really exist before Joe broke it? I can't believe it was something they really talked about.

Gail should really stop finding help when that person is in the middle of being interviewed by TV cameras.

I'm not really feelin' Sabin and Sonjay as a tag team. I'd rather have seen Petey and A1 move on, but I suppose with everything else going on you don't want Canada vs. AMW.

Man, A.J. and Christopher just can't get along, can they?

And LAX beats down some guys. I don't think Tenay even bothered to say their names once Borash did. He was just waiting for the James Gang to come out.

The Against All Odds press conference felt staged to a pathetic degree. The WWE ones have guys cutting promos, but they don't have reporters asking storyline questions and I can't remember the last time there was a brawl. WWE tries to treat them as local news events (save for WrestleMania). I found this just a sorry excuse to advance the storyline. I bet the reporters were TNA employees.

I suppose it advanced the story, but Strong & Aries should not have beat the Naturals. Are they really gonna put Sabin & Dutt (faces vs. heels) against AMW?

So Alex Shelley and his video camera are going to spy on Jackie? You'd think Double J could have bought a camera or hired a private eye. A young wrestler doesn't sound like the best spy to me.

Eric Young is a little crazy, but he's probably right.

[EinBebop]

Hmm... is Shelley really the only guy in the promotion with a camera? Or does having a camera automatically make you a SUPERSPY~!~??

I think the way to go at the upcoming triple threat would to be have Styles win the title by pinning Daniels, turning Styles in the process. Styles is losing his heat, and a good 6-12 month heel turn would be a good way to freshen up his act and put him in position to be main eventing again.

After Cage and Sting, Styles-Daniel-Joe are the money guys for this promotion, and would all make good competitors for Cage/Sting. Their matches are already considered the defacto main events; it's time to move them all into the world title picture.

Couple random pictures I ran across today...

http://www.obsessedwithwrestling.com/pictures/c/chrisdaniels/12.jpghttp://www.obsessedwithwrestling.com/pictures/c/chrisdaniels/13.jpg